A stunning book . . . weird and wonderful and quietly hilarious, but the enormous fun of this book would not be possible without solid graft - Bale’s dogged research and his diligent crafting of perfect prose -- Gerard deGroot - The Times

Superb . . . In his remarkable and expertly executed prose, Bale demonstrates his skill as a historian in his handling of the expansive source material available . . . The micro personal experiences told against the backdrop of macro topography is a Herculean task and one that is undertaken with immense passion and knowledge. A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a stunning example of the point where true scholarship meets popular history -- Helen Carr - Engelsberg Ideas

An enthralling account of medieval travellers . . . [Bale's] enthusiasm is infectious . . . this is a work of serious scholarship -- Rosemary Goring - Scottish Herald

Ambitious, sweeping across continents with a keen eye for detail . . . moves fluidly between travelogue and scholarly text, imaginative literature and nonfiction . . . In a way that imaginative fiction arguably cannot, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages brings us close to the past it experiences and allows us to be transformed in the process -- Imogen Marchant - TLS

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

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 -- Ian Mortimer, author of The Time-Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England

A fascinating read . . . a new fact to be discovered on every page, written with enthusiasm and wisdom -- Reverend Kate Bottley

Masterful, panoramic, beautifully written and vividly imagined, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a book to be savoured -- Dr Helen Castor, author of Blood and Roses and She-Wolves

Anthony Bale's fascinating book immerses us in all the experiences of medieval travel . . . An enthralling journey into the past and across the world, packed with incidents that any reader will find deliciously exotic, yet wryly familiar. Like the most memorable journeys, this book takes us to barely imaginable places - but the most remarkable thing we find may be ourselves -- Seb Falk, author of The Light Ages




Vivid, exciting and astonishing, Anthony Bale's medieval world is one populated by marvels and fantasies. Bale's exploration, told through the many travellers' texts produced in the later Middle Ages, is beautiful, gripping and fascinating, and 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 -- John Arnold, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge

Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval Studies at Birkbeck, University of London and a former President of the New Chaucer Society. His previous books include Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life (Reaktion Books). He has edited and translated several medieval texts, including The Book of Marvels & Travels by John Mandeville, The Book of Margery Kempe, and Medieval English Travel: A Critical Anthology, all with Oxford University Press. He was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize (2011) and holds a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023-26). He has held fellowships at institutions including Harvard University, The Huntington Library and the University of Melbourne.