A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages Audiobook By Anthony Bale cover art

A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages

The World Through Medieval Eyes

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection of titles.
Yours as long as you’re a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for $8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages

By: Anthony Bale
Narrated by: Esh Alladi
Try Standard free

$8.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.00

Buy for $21.00

Europeans of the Middle Ages were the first to use travel guides to orient their wanderings, as they moved through a world punctuated with miraculous wonders and beguiling encounters. In this vivid and alluring history, medievalist Anthony Bale invites listeners on an odyssey across the medieval world.

Journeying alongside scholars, spies, and saints, from Western Europe to the Far East, the Antipodes and the ends of the earth, Bale provides indispensable information on the exchange rate between Bohemian ducats and Venetian groats, medieval cures for seasickness, and how to avoid extortionist tour guides and singing sirens. He takes us from the streets of Rome and tours of the Khan's court in Beijing to Mamluk-controlled Jerusalem.

We also learn of rumored fantastical places, like ones where lambs grow on trees and giant canes grow fruit made of gems. And we are offered a glimpse of what non-European travelers thought of the West on their own travels.

Using previously untranslated contemporaneous documents from a colorful range of travelers, A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a witty and unforgettable exploration of how Europeans understood—and often misunderstood—the larger world.

©2023 Anthony Bale (P)2024 Tantor Middle Ages Europe Medieval Witty Middle East Ancient History Military Crusade Africa
All stars
Most relevant
The Middle Ages were much more varied and exotic than I ever suspected . Even some of the realities read like fantasies . Given travel conditions the voyages recounted are truly epic.

Amazing scholarship

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It reminded me of a textbook, and I was glad when it was over. The one positive is I learned a lot. And that it is a good thing.

Interesting-Slow-I finished it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The information was interesting, but it kept losing my focus as it read a bit academically, rather than for general consumption. Not memorable at all. Overall, I wish I'd have kept the credit.

Bit Academic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is well written, well read, and pulls you in encouraging you to listen to one chapter after the next. My only complaint is the highly religious Christian emphasis on every single aspect of the book. While other cultures and religions are mentioned the entire book is based through the eyes of a medieval Christian pilgrim and no other viewpoint is offered nor is this mentioned in the description. While a pleasant listen and while this book does offer an interesting view of the medieval world it would have been nice to be warned it is only through Christina eyes that we get to see it.

Very well written

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Though I’m no medieval scholars, I’ve read many books. Still I encountered new information about daily life and traveling.

Totally fun and informative!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews