Adam Johnson

The book is very informative. However, it has several inaccuracies that I would like to address. The book says that the freeman, John, may start running out of food near the end of the winter. If so, how would his family survive until the next grain harvest? The book answers with saying that the cows and such could produce more milk to make cheese and butter. One cannot live just off of cheese and butter for months. Speaking of milk, the book says that "They drink milk[...]". Although this is true, I would like to inform readers that milk was not commonly drank. Because pasteurization was centuries in the future, medieval people would usually just make it into cheese or butter. One of the biggest things I noticed was the clothing. On page 27, it illustrated what John and Alice would wear. John's hosen, which the book called stockings, would go over his braies, which the book called "breeches", not stopping at his knees like women's hosen. Alice's gown is much too short. Her gown stops above the ankle, revealing part of her hose. This is as short as a man's tunic of the upper classes would be. Her gown should raise barely above the soles of her feet. (If she were of a higher class it would be much longer than even this.) With wimples being introduced in the 12th century, Alice could wear that, too. The book also says that the lord of the manor could afford silk and velvet. This is near impossible. Silk and velvet could only be afforded by the most wealthy. Also, the book says that the lord of the manor's wife would sew him a surcoat with his coat of arms on it if he were to go to battle. Although the coat of arms would be sewn onto the surcoat in the 14th century, the coat of arms would not be sewn onto the surcoat in the 13th century, the century in which this lord of the manor lived. The illustration of the lord of the manor's clothes seems to be inaccurate as well, due to the length of his tunic being uneven or because of his tunic being split down the middle or the side. These are all I can think of at the moment, but there may be more. Other from these inaccuracies, this book was informative and fun to read. Also, I am sorry that I did not separate the my review into paragraphs, for I thought that if I pressed enter, it would post my review. I am not sure if this would have happened.