A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages (Brief Histories) - Softcover

Using wide-ranging evidence, Martyn Whittock shines a light on Britain in the Middle Ages, bringing it vividly to life. Thus we glimpse 11th century rural society through a conversation between a ploughman and his master. The life of Dick Whittington illuminates the rise of the urban elite. The stories of Roger ‘the Raker’ who drowned in his own sewage, a ‘merman’ imprisoned in Orford Castle and the sufferings of the Jews of Bristol reveal the extraordinary diversity of medieval society. Through these characters and events – and using the latest discoveries and research - the dynamic and engaging panorama of medieval England is revealed. Interesting facts include: When the life expectancy for women dropped to 26 years in Sierra Leone in 2002, following a catastrophic civil war, it was one year longer than the estimate for early medieval women. So great was the extent of church construction in the thirteenth century that it has been calculated it was the equivalent, in modern terms, of every family in England paying £500 every year, for the whole century! Murder rates for East Anglia, in the fourteenth century, were comparable with those of modern New York. For England generally the homicide rate was far higher than that of the urban USA today.

Martyn Whittock graduated in Politics from Bristol University in 1980, where his degree special study was in the Development of the Soviet State. He taught history at secondary level for thirty-five years, teaching Soviet History at A-Level and writing an A-Level text book entitled Stalin's Russia and a GCSE textbook on Russia and the Soviet Union 1917-1941. He has acted as an historical consultant to the National Trust, the BBC and English Heritage and is the author or co-author of forty-eight books, including A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages, A Brief History of the Third Reich and Norse Myths and Legends.