Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter

£15 £22

We tend to think of the Middle Ages as a dark, backward and unchanging time characterised by violence, ignorance and superstition. By contrast we believe progress arose from science and technological innovation, and that inventions of recent centuries created the modern world. We couldn't be more wrong.

As Ian Mortimer shows in this fascinating book, people's horizons - their knowledge, experience and understanding of the world - expanded dramatically. Life was utterly transformed between 1000 and 1600, marking the transition from a warrior-led society to that of Shakespeare. Just as The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England revealed what it was like to live in the fourteenth century, Medieval Horizons provides the perfect primer to the era as a whole.

It outlines the enormous cultural changes that took place - from literacy to living standards, inequality and even the developing sense of self - thereby correcting misconceptions and presenting the period as a revolutionary age of fundamental importance in the development of the Western world.

Publisher: ‎ Vintage; 1st edition (22 Feb. 2024)
Language: ‎ English
Paperback ‏
256 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 1529920809
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1529920802
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.9 x 1.6 x 19.8 cm

About the author;

Dr Ian Mortimer has been described by The Times newspaper as 'the most remarkable medieval historian of our time'. He is best known as the author of The Time Traveller's Guides: to Medieval England (2008); to Elizabethan England (2012); to Restoration Britain (2017); and to Regency Britain (2020). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and has published research in academic journals touching on every century from the twelfth to the twentieth.

He also writes in other genres. His latest novel, 'The Outcasts of Time', which takes place across the years 1348-1942, won the 2019 Winston Graham Prize for historical fiction. His first three novels, the Clarenceux Trilogy, set in the 1560s, appeared under his middle names, 'James Forrester'. In the year he turned fifty he wrote a memoir about the meaning of running, Why Running Matters (published in 2019).

He lives on the northeast of Dartmoor, in the southwest of England.

Share

More information View images

Christmas 2024

Last order dates for Christmas delivery. Orders placed after these dates aren't guaranteed to arrive before Christmas.

SERVICE	LAST ORDER DATE
UK Standard	16th December 2024
UK Express	18th December 2024

The museum will be closed on 24th, 25th and 26th December. Orders placed from 23rd December onwards may not be processed until 27th December.

Shipping

We process orders daily, Monday to Friday.

Collect instore (Leeds Museum) Collect within 7 days	FREE
UK Standard - 3-5 Working Days	£3.95 FREE on orders over £60
UK Express - 1-2 Working Days	£5.95
UK Express - 1-2 Working Days - AGE CHECK For full-size replicas (Swords, Gimli's Axe, Gandalf Staff)	£14.50
International	Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout based on destination and weight.

Please ensure that someone is available at the delivery address to receive your order. Any undelivered or uncollected parcels will be returned to sender. We will automatically issue a refund for all products once they have been received back at the museum, however, shipping is non-refundable.

Age Check - 18+

All sales of replicas and alcohol require age verification. You will be asked for proof of age at point of delivery.

Collect in store

Collections can be made from the shop at Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds during opening hours.
You will be notified via email once your order is ready for collection.
Once you receive this notification, we will hold your order for 30 days.
Please bring your order confirmation and ID that matches the name on the order.
Limited short stay, road-side parking is available on Clarence Road or Citipark operate the nearby Leeds Dock multi-storey car park. Please note that parking charges may apply.

International Shipping

The estimated delivery time for Europe, USA and Canada is 7-10 working days and 10-14 working days for rest of the world, however this is not guaranteed.

Please note that some products are not available to ship outside of the UK. A full list can be found on the Restricted Items page. Orders placed with a non-UK delivery address that include a restricted item may be subject to cancellation and a refund will be issued. If you are unsure, please contact us before ordering.

Please be advised that you are responsible for any import duty that may be charged on delivery of your order. If you are unsure, we advise you to check with your own customs and excise department before placing an order.

Contact us

You can find all the ways to contact us on our Contact Us page