An original work of social history focusing on numerous fascinating aspects of life in an English town in the late Middle Ages. Welcome to a world which ordered people not to leave their homes after nightfall and not to let their pigs wander the streets, where butchers who sold bad meat to the public were locked into a pillory with the meat burning beneath them, and where dirt heaps, common scolds, and attempts to cure diseases with dead animal flesh were a normal part of life. Were medieval towns really as filthy as we might think? If not, how did people wash themselves and their clothes? What did being drawn on the hurdle mean? What did people eat, and where did they buy it? What happened to criminals? Did women work outside the home, and if so, in which professions? What were people’s houses like? How did they entertain themselves? How much did they earn, and how much did things cost? What kind of medical treatment was available? Did people travel to other towns, and if so, how did they get there?

Kathryn Warner holds a BA and an MA with Distinction in medieval history and literature from the University of Manchester, and is the author of numerous books on fourteenth-century history. Kathryn has had work published in the English Historical Review, has given a paper at the International Medieval Congress, and appeared in a BBC documentary.