Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval & Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge. He is a former President of the New Chaucer Society. His previous books include Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life (Reaktion Books) and A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: the World through Medieval Eyes (Penguin). He was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize (2011) and a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023-26). He has held fellowships at institutions including Harvard University, The Huntington Library and the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the British Academy.

A stunning book . . . weird and wonderful and quietly hilarious, but the enormous fun of this book would not be possible without solid graft — Bale’s dogged research and his diligent crafting of perfect prose

Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval & Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge. He is a former President of the New Chaucer Society. His previous books include Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life (Reaktion Books) and A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: the World through Medieval Eyes (Penguin). He was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize (2011) and a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023-26). He has held fellowships at institutions including Harvard University, The Huntington Library and the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the British Academy.

A stunning book . . . weird and wonderful and quietly hilarious, but the enormous fun of this book would not be possible without solid graft — Bale’s dogged research and his diligent crafting of perfect prose

Anthony Bale is Professor of Medieval & Renaissance Literature at the University of Cambridge and Professorial Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge. He is a former President of the New Chaucer Society. His previous books include Margery Kempe: A Mixed Life (Reaktion Books) and A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: the World through Medieval Eyes (Penguin). He was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize (2011) and a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023-26). He has held fellowships at institutions including Harvard University, The Huntington Library and the University of Melbourne and is a Fellow of the British Academy.

A stunning book . . . weird and wonderful and quietly hilarious, but the enormous fun of this book would not be possible without solid graft — Bale’s dogged research and his diligent crafting of perfect prose