Anthony Bale

Anthony Bale is a British historian and professor of medieval studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He is one of the leading scholars of medieval travel, pilgrimage, and cultural encounter, and his writing makes the medieval world vivid and accessible for modern readers. A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is a wonderfully inventive and entertaining book that reimagines medieval travel through the eyes of the people who actually undertook extraordinary journeys across the medieval world — from pilgrims and merchants to missionaries and adventurers. The book was praised for its wit, its scholarship, and the way it brings a distant era to life through the lens of travel and exploration. Bale's academic work includes editions and translations of medieval texts, and he brings both scholarly depth and a gift for storytelling to his popular writing. His approach makes the Middle Ages feel immediate, human, and endlessly fascinating. A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages is available as an audiobook alongside the print edition, giving listeners a delightful and informative way to explore the medieval world as its inhabitants experienced it.