The definitive classic used as a source for Game of Thrones: “The Gieses succeed in making a remote and unfamiliar world accessible.” —Kirkus Reviews

A bestseller by two widely respected historians, Joseph and Frances Gies’s Life in a Medieval Castle remains a timeless work of popular medieval scholarship.

Focusing on Chepstow, an English castle on the Welsh border that survived the turbulent Middle Ages with a relative lack of violence, the book offers an exquisite portrait of what day-to-day life was actually like during the era, and of the key role the castle played. The Gieses take us through the full cycle of a medieval year, dictated by the rhythms of the harvest. We learn what lords and serfs alike would have worn, eaten, and done for leisure—and of the outside threats the castle strove to keep at bay.

“The authors allow medieval man and woman to speak for themselves through selections from past journals, songs, even account books.” —Time

Includes photographs and maps