Medieval Towns, Trade, and Travel

These books in The Medieval World series (there are 20), published by Crabtree Publishing Company, serve myriad purposes. For the intended reading age, 9-12, they present medieval life--very confusing to our contemporary conventions--in a perfectly understandable fashion. For that age range, I could not recommend these books higher. If I'd had such materials when I was younger, I might have ended up as a medieval scholar. Yet they also serve a purpose that the publisher may not have intended, and that is for the casual researcher of medieval life. There are accessible texts for the casual researcher, this is true, but none that I've seen contain simple explanations and diagrams. For example, this book is full of wonderful illustrations that depict: travelling from town to town (and paying a fare); how towns are defended by different structures such as castles, and what people in castles did to keep attackers out, craftspeople and tradespeople at work in their respective businesses and the implements they employ, and a two page numbered diagram of a fair. Every page in this book (there are 32 pages in every book in the series), is presented in full color, the pages colored to resemble parchment, and the illustrations done to wonderfully evoke the period. The "chapters" included are: Growing Towns Town Defense Living in Town Craftspeople and Tradespeople Religion and Education Markets Fairs Measuring Goods Money Fun at Fairs The Silk and Spice Routes Other Travelers Transportation Explorers Glossary and Index (wonderful to have!) If you're a writer, and you're looking for simple information on what medieval life looked like, this series of books can't be beat. To buy the entire series may be prohibitive, but if you have an idea of exactly what you want, this is a great starting point.