Terry Jones' Medieval Lives

Oct 21, 2024 5:12 PM

Author:Alan Ereira,Terry Jones

Was medieval England full of knights on horseback rescuing fainting damsels in distress? Were the Middle Ages mired in superstition and ignorance? Why does nobody ever mention King Louis the First and Last? And, of course, those key questions: which monks were forbidden the delights of donning underpants... and did outlaws never wear trousers?

Terry Jones and Alan Ereira are your guides to this most misrepresented and misunderstood period, and they point you to things that will surprise and provoke. Did you know, for example, that medieval people didn't think the world was flat? That was a total fabrication by an American journalist in the 19th century. Did you know that they didn't burn witches in the Middle Ages? That was a refinement of the so-called Renaissance. In fact, medieval kings weren't necessarily merciless tyrants, and peasants entertained at home using French pottery and fine wine.

Terry Jones' Medieval Lives reveals Medieval Britain as you have never seen it before - a vibrant society teeming with individuality, intrigue and innovation.

Reviews

Jones laces the latest academic research with his own increasingly avuncular humour. Who says history can't be fun? In the hands of Professor Jones, how could it be anything else?

—— Observer

Jones really knows his subject, he is also a passionate apologist for the Middle Ages.... and you also learnt things which made your view of the period a little more complex

—— Independent

Jones is a reliable and accurate guide to his period, mercifully free from the pomposity that afflicts so many telly historians. Three cheers for Terry Jones

—— London Evening Standard

Brimming with life, colour, and yes, facts too

—— Daily Telegraph

A fluent and lively account

—— Guardian

extensive knowledge...uses her sources to good effect

—— Jonathan Mirsky , Literary Review

Fascinating history...Sian Rees is to be congratulated on telling the story so vividly

—— Ian Thomson , Times Literary Supplement

All in all it is a complex tale of cruelty, skulduggery, diplomacy, high principles, naval action and the like, but all held together well and told very readably

—— www.thebookbag.co.uk

The book is a joy to read: well-written and fast-paced... Rees succeeds admirably in bringing to life the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade...

—— Emma Christopher , History Today

A live and amusing... interesting and entertaining read

—— TNT Magazine

The author of Suite Francaise had a life as dramatic and as tragic as her fiction

—— Telegraph Review

A fascinating biography

—— Lesley McDowell , Herald

This book is excellent

—— Andrew Holgate , Sunday Times

This dramatic biography recreates her tragic life and the turbulent times in which she lived...Nemirovsky is one of those rare writers whose life is every bit as interesting as her work

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

This is a scholarly biography of a literary paragon... It is saturated with her writings, revealing her passions, hubris, moods and anxieties, as well as her thoughts of fiction, Jewishness and mothers... Russian social history, anti-Semitism and the Vichy regime's collusion with the Nazis are handled adroitly

—— Maggie Armstrong , Irish Times

a terrifically entertaining read

—— Carla McKay , Daily Mail

extremely diverting, essentially kind-hearted and well written

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

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