A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Medieval Eyes

Europeans of the Middle Ages were the first to use travel guides to orient their wanderings, as they moved through a world punctuated with miraculous wonders and beguiling encounters. In this vivid and alluring history, medievalist Anthony Bale invites readers on an odyssey across the medieval world, recounting the advice that circulated among those venturing to the road for pilgrimage, trade, diplomacy, and war. Journeying alongside scholars, spies, and saints, from Western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes and the ends of the earth, Bale provides indispensable information on the exchange rate between Bohemian ducats and Venetian groats, medieval cures for seasickness, and how to avoid extortionist tour guides and singing sirens. He takes us from the streets of Rome, more ruin than tourist spot, and tours of the Khan’s court in Beijing to Mamluk-controlled Jerusalem, where we ride asses across the holy terrain, and bustling bazaars of Tabriz. We also learn of rumored fantastical places, like ones where lambs grow on trees and giant canes grow fruit made of gems. And we are offered a glimpse of what non-European travelers thought of the West on their own travels. Using previously untranslated contemporaneous documents from a colorful range of travelers, and from as far and wide as Turkey, Iceland, North Africa, and Russia, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a witty and unforgettable exploration of how Europeans understood—and often misunderstood—the larger world.

About the Author :
Anthony Bale is professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge and fellow of Girton College, Cambridge. He has received research fellowships from Harvard University and the Huntington Library, among others, and was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize. He lives in London.

Review :
"A global Middle Ages for our times. Anthony Bale reinvents and redefines the period through its intrepid travelers.… A joyful, erudite book." "Stunning.… [W]eird and wonderful and quietly hilarious, but the enormous fun of this book would not be possible without…Bale’s dogged research and his diligent crafting of perfect prose." "Brings us close to the past it experiences and allows us to be transformed in the process." "A Lonely Planet book for the medieval traveler, full of tips, conversion rates, and lists of what to pack. In this deeply researched but witty and readable guide, Anthony Bale brings us face-to-face with medieval travel—the sights and smells, the thrill and the homesickness—in a way that feels instantly recognizable even at so many centuries’ distance." "Rich and wonderful.… This is the world as you have never seen it before?and as it will never be seen again. And it’s more surprising, extraordinary, and bizarre than anything you can possibly imagine." "A success, both as a celebration of the beauty, wonder, and wrongheadedness of early travel writing, and of the value of an informative stylish guide to what for most will be unmapped territory." "Intrepid, entertaining, unfailingly curious…balancing sympathy with skepticism, Anthony Bale marvelously reconfigures the contours of our forebears’ knowledge." "Breezy and engaging.… An informative and entertaining account of medieval travel that will be appreciated by readers of both popular history and travel stories." "An enthralling journey into the past and across the world, packed with incidents that any reader will find deliciously exotic, yet wryly familiar." "A wise, well-informed historical study." "Beautifully written and vividly imagined, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a book to be savored." "A gorgeous and fascinating storybook and a richly satisfying journey into the medieval mind." "Informative and entertaining.… Medieval history buffs will relish this." "An exhilarating and erudite combination of historical learning and imagination.… A wondrous journey through the real and fantastical worlds of the late Middle Ages." "This endlessly delightful book replicates the promises and pleasures of real travel, as we bump into and then lose sight of familiar faces in unfamiliar places. Anthony Bale is an adroit, companionable, and non-judgmental host on the road; he wears his deep knowledge lightly." "Vivid, exciting and astonishing, Anthony Bale’s medieval world is one populated by marvels and fantasies. Bale’s exploration is informed always by gentle and empathetic reflection upon what it means to be a fragile human being in motion through strange lands, both then and now." "What a fascinating read! A new fact to be discovered on every page, written with enthusiasm and wisdom."