Weird Medieval Guys

A highly unusual, unreliable survival guide to a very real medieval world

Need a medieval dog name? Wondering how to improve your chances in love when you cannot joust? Concerned about dragons, aggressive rabbits or the spiritual implications of an unexpected bird at your sickbed?

Weird Medieval Guys turns manuscript art and medieval beliefs into an irreverent guide to an entire life, from birth to an inevitably unpleasant end. Quizzes, diagrams, flow charts and how-to guides lead through names, work, courtship, saints, animals, danger, death and the apocalypse.

Behind the jokes is a revealing encounter with the way medieval people organised their world. Bestiaries, saints’ lives, biblical stories and strange manuscript images become evidence for ideas about morality, identity, desire and divine order.

For history lovers, medieval-art obsessives and readers who enjoy their learning with a large dose of absurdity, this is a visual tour through a past that was often stranger, funnier and more inventive than the label ‘Dark Ages’ suggests.

‘FASCINATING’ Guardian

‘THE BEST GIFT BOOK THERE IS’ Independent