From the medieval bazaars of Tabriz,to the mysterious island of Caldihe,where sheep were said to grow on trees,Anthony Bale brings history alive in A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages,inviting the reader to travel across a medieval world punctuated with miraculous wonders and long-lost landmarks. Journeying alongside scholars,spies and saints,from western Europe to the Far East,the Antipodes,and the ends of the world,this is no ordinary travel guide,containing everything from profane pilgrim badges,Venetian laxatives and flying coffins to encounters with bandits and trysts with princesses.Using previously untranslated contemporary accounts from as far and wide as Turkey,Iceland,Armenia,north Africa,and Russia,A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a living atlas that blurs the distinction between real and imagined places,offering the reader a vivid and unforgettable insight into how medieval people understood their world.
Publisher: Penguin Books LtdISBN: 9780241530849Number of pages: 448Weight: 685 gDimensions: 240 x 162 x 39 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A joyful,erudite book,and a global Middle Ages for our times. Journeying from a monastery in Wiltshire to Ethiopia,India and China,Anthony Bale reinvents the period through its intrepid travellers,and in the process redefines the period.'- Jerry Brotton,author of A History of the World in 12 Maps
'Intrepid,entertaining,and unfailingly curious,he has now travelled far and wide in their company; balancing sympathy with scepticism,he marvellously reconfigures the contours of our forebears'knowledge.'- Marina Warner
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