MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
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The wacky world of the Middle Ages
MADELEINE S KILLACKY admires a deeply researched book that takes you on a romp through the Middle Ages
An image from the Codex Manesse (c. 1304), an anthology poetry and songs. The literary works are preceded by a portrait of their author, in this case Reinmar II von Brennberg. It is unclear why this illustration was picked to represent Reinmar but his status as a ministerialis, an unfree noble elevated from the peasant class, could have been a factor.
[Weird Medieval Guys]
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
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Three great releases of lost concerts by Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Taylor & Stan Sulzman, and Joe Henderson
To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
Weird Medieval Guys
Olivia Swarthout, Square Peg, £16.99
PACKED full of satire, stunning imagery and interactive maps and quizzes, Weird Medieval Guys is a deep dive into some of the most extraordinary – and quirky – aspects of medieval daily life. This little book, which should appeal to older children as well as adults, is split into two parts: The Struggle: Surviving Life, Love, and Death, and The Bestiary.
Weird Medieval Guys is a riot, packed full of brilliant medieval facts. Its author, Olivia Swarthout, has been creative in using quizzes and puzzles to engage readers who might like history but don’t get on with dense scholarly texts in the wonderful, wacky world that is the Middle Ages.
What is particularly evident to me, as an expert in medieval literature, is the number of hours she has spent consulting digitised manuscripts from the first century onwards, as well as old and recent scholarship on medieval manuscript culture and life in general.
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