Medieval sans Fantasy

I know this is an odd topic for a sci-fi/fantasy group, but have you read any books based in medieval times times that aren't fantasy? Given all the superstition of the era, I can understand why they're typically considered one and the same.

Trashy romance novels don't fall under the category I'm trying to build. I know there are plenty of romanticized versions of medieval courtship.

EDIT: Sans sci-fi, too. Not to shoot down anyone's suggestions or say that they're bad. I'm just wondering how many books out there are straight-up medieval.

I had no idea that authors have put "medieval" and "mysteries" together. That's interesting.

I don't know titles or authors off the top of my head, but I've seen some novelizations of the life of King Arthur that try to be more historical and downplay the more mythic elements.

Timeline by Michael Crichton is about a group of people who get sent back to medieval times, so a good chunk of the novel takes place there.

Would Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett work?

Books #1 & #3 of the Riverside series (Swordspoint, The Privilege of the sword) are alternate Renaissance, about as low-magic as possible, though they may not suit you as they don't claim to recreate a real place and era.

There are historical mystery series that tend not to have, or downplay or ultimately explain rationally any "supernatural" stuff, Ellis Peters' Cadfael and at least a couple other similar ones in medieval England/Ireland, and lots of other places/eras.

I read mysteries set in Medieval times by Ellis Peters and also have enjoyed ones by Margaret Frazer. If you want books which are more historical fiction, I've heard that Ellis Peters also writes great stories by her real name Edith Pargeter. Another author I enjoy, but she writes YA books, is Rosemary Sutcliff.

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, if you don't mind a bit of (carefully constructed and very well-written) time travel. If you don't mind reading young-adult books, I'd recommend the Pagan Chronicles by Catherine Jinks, starting with Pagan's Crusade. She's also written some medieval mysteries - The Notary and The Inquisitor, which are quite good. She has a masters in medieval history, so her detail is quite good. The adult ones come with a warning - they contain some LGBT content (thought it's definitely not the main point of the story) in case you're put off by it.

Possibly sir apropos of nothing would match what you are seeking -- I don't remember any magical elements in it, although its been a while since I've read it.

Another of the time-travel influenced books would be the cross-time engineer.

Both are firsts in series.

I'll also recommend Ellis Peters. Very enjoyable mysteries, with a war constantly in the background. I don't know my British history very well but I've heard the details about the war Peters uses are accurate.

The Vertigo comics series Northlanders is about Northern Europe in the middle ages. I read one of the storylines and really enjoyed it.

I have been reading a lot of Medieval Mysteries by various authors including some of the ones mentioned already in this thread. Some of the others I have been reading are Alys Clare, Maureen Ash & Michael Jecks. All of these authors seem to have done much research about the period & the details in their books are wonderful! I own all of the Brother Cadfael series & many of the other authors books (see my library). I have also read & own several non-fiction books on the Middle Ages (also listed in my library). Thomas Cahill's series The Hinges Of History is very excellent Too! 8^)

As with #3, I also have to go with Timeline by Michael Crichton. Set in medieval times, but without the touch of fantasy, has a bit of sci-fi in it, but not much. I found that book to be pretty interesting.

When it comes to that, what about Black horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey? Arthurian YA novel with not a hint of magic.

speaking of crichton, Eaters of the Dead.

Elizabeth Chadwick writes historical novels set in the Mediaeval era (mostly C11-13 from what I can tell). While most are more or less romantic, I don't think they are trashy.

Hilda Lewis wrote Wife to the bastard, about William the Conqueror's wife, which is well written and researched and not trashy. Harlot Queen, despite the appalling title, is an excellent novel of the life of Isabella the "She-Wolf", wife of Edward II.

Loved Eaters of the Dead! I have Timeline and never cracked it. Might have to move that to my 'TBR soonish' stack.

Morality Play by Barry Unsworth is a short novel about an acting troupe in medieval England.

I enjoyed Death And The Devil by Frank Schätzing, but apparently the english translation suffers from a few problems. Set in 1260, it's mostly about power struggles between the church and the wealthy patricians, surrounding the death of the architect of the cathedral of Cologne.

Two works TRULY stand out as exemplary for historicals of this period:

Edith Pargeter's The Heaven tree trilogy - it covers the building of a cathedral/is SUPERB!!!! with rich characters, period and story - I loved this a lot more than Follett's Pillars of the Earth.

Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles - these books are huge, complex, rich, entirely unpredictable, with about the finest research into renaissance period EVER. She wrote another series that takes place earlier, the House of Niccolo. These are not light reads - but the depth is stunning, and the intricacy of plot and subtlety without parallel.

Both of these authors stand up to multiple re-reads. These books are not fantasies.

What about The Time Traveller's Guide To Medieval England?

Like others I'm going to mention the Cadfael books, by Ellis Peters. Also, The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, should qualify.

Bernard Cornwell has written several books that are medieval in nature but lack fantasy elements. The most obvious is the Grail Quest series (Harlequin, Vagabond, and Heretic), which despite the name does not have any fantasy, and is set during the Hundred Years War.

He's also written the Saxon Stories (The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North, Sword Song, and The Burning Land) all set during the time of Alfred the Great. And also the Warlord Chronicles (The Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur), which is a retelling of the Arthur story set in a historical pre-Saxon Britain.

I forgot Sharon Kay Penman, she wrote wonderful, long, well-researched books set in the Mediaeval era. Her fans are many and devoted. Try When Christ and his saints slept which is about the war between Stephen and Maud and Here be dragons which is about the many border wars between the Welsh and the English.

I just finished the first in a series of Medieval mysteries called The Unquiet Bones by Melvin Starr which was quite nice. The protagonist is a surgeon and the "medical" material was a nice touch.

22> Bernard Cornwell came immediately to mind when I saw this thread title.

Company of Liars by Karen Maitland is set in medieval England during an outbreak of plague and centers on a group of travelers and their stories - a bit like The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer.

Year of Wonders is set during a plague outbreak, as well. Really enjoyed that one.

Will be adding many of these to my massive lists, now, and I don't know whether to be happy or sad about it! LOL

I'd like to second the Sharon Kay Penman recommendation. The books are wonderfully involving, and the series aspect of them might be appealing to fantasy series fans (it certainly worked on me.) She's also written a series of Medieval mysteries - I think there are three or four of them - which are very fun, and much shorter reads than her historical books if you just want to dip a toe in.

I also really like Rosemary Hawley Jarman's historical fiction, some of which takes place in the late Middle Ages.

There's a list here with apparently over 800 divided into sections by date/location:

Medieval Novels.

Unless it has to be England, one of the best novels I've ever read regardless of time period is Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. Medieval Norway FTW.

There are lots of Mysteries. Baudolino is a strange medieval book.

I didn't see any one mention Sister Fidelma by Peter Tremayne

31> Oh yeah, mysteries! I read C. J. Sansom's Dissolution earlier this year, and it was great.

Zoe Oldenburg The world is not enough is set in Mediaeval France.
Helle Haasse In a dark wood wandering is also set in continental Europe.

A couple I've read and enjoyed

Watermark : A Novel of the Middle Ages - Vanitha Sankaran is set in Medieval France.

Flint by Margaret Redfern is about castle building in Wales during the reign of Edward I

I also second Sharon kay Penman and Edith Pargeter

There's always The Name of the Rose if you can handle a lot of philosophising in your novel.

Noroh Lofts had several. The Suffolk House series, The Town House, The House at Old Vine, and The House at Sunset chronicles the lives of the people who live in a house, beginning in 1381 until the 1950s.

The Lute Player is the story of Richard the Lionheart's companion Blondel.

Eleanor the Queen is about Eleanor of Acquitaine.

A Wayside Tavern covers the lives of a tavern from Roman times to mid-20th century.

Madselin is set during the Norman Conquest, told from the point of view of an English woman.

The Maude Reed Tale was marketed as a juvenile book, but I didn't read it til I was an adult. Maud is sent to be learn to be a lady, but she really wants to work in her family's wool business.

I read all these 30+ years ago, but a quick look at Amazon reviews seem to indicate the authors' books are still popular.

I'm just wondering how many books out there are straight-up medieval.

Thousands! People have already mentioned Edith Pargeter (I enjoyed the Brothers of Gwynedd quartet) and Rosemary Sutcliff. If you are happy reading books aimed at "young adults" then Henry Treece might also be worth a look. I don't know what period you rate as "medieval", but one of my favourites is John Buchan's The Blanket of the Dark, which is set in the reign of Henry VIII.

Almost but not quite fantasy-free is Poul Anderson's Mother of Kings, set in medieval Scandinavia.

I don't know if she's been translated much, but if you can find and read her books, Jeanne Bourin has written quite a few around characters in the medieval era, which I personnally liked better than Pillars of the earth.

If I remember rightly Down the Common is set in medieval times (ah there it is right in the touchstone). This book gets very little press, but I liked it a lot. It made me VERY glad to be a child of the latter half of the 20th century.

P.F. Chisholm's Sir Robert Carey books - magnificent stories of the Scots Border Marches in the time of Elizabeth, drawn from actual history (Sir Robert Carey was really there and did at least some of the things he does in the books - though the books add motivations that aren't supported). A Famine of Horses is the first one. P.F. Chisholm is also Patricia Finney - I haven't read any of her books under that name, though they've been recommended to me. And no magic at all.

#40 I have read A Shadow of Gulls and would recommend it also.

Thank you for all of your suggests! My to-read list has grown. :)

One more tip: King Raven by Stephen R. Lawhead. Robyn Hood places a little earlier, in Wales, but quite convincing.

It's MG/tween, but I highly recommend Rebecca Barnhouse's The Book of the Maidservant

#43 - Another added to my wishlist. I liked what Lawhead did with King Arthur, so I'm sure I'll like this as well.

Rebooting this discussion to say that I've read a couple of Ellis Peters Cadfael books. :) Has anyone watched the TV series?  I watched everything from Netflix before reading the books.

I think I've seen a couple episodes - or movies, were there movies separate from a TV show? I've read all the books, though, and _love_ them. Cadfael is great.

Derek Jacobi plays Brother Cadfael and as you might expect, he's wonderful in it. They moved me to go back and reread some of the books.

rozax> I've watched all of the Cadfael TV series starring Derek Jacoby. I believe it was shot mostly in Hungary. Great stuff. I've read the books as well. It may be time to check these out again.

The Engineer trilogy by K. J. Parker takes place in a simili-late medieval/renaissance era with no magic, though advanced engineering by the protagonist sort of takes it place. Warning though, while its not technically a "crapsack world" it does exhibit the traits that usually go with one.

Jacobi's also a wonderful audio narrator. I have Josephine Tey's A Daughter of Time done by him - fantastic. And I'm very picky about my audio, particularly when it was a favorite book in text first.

I second the Ken Follett books (post #4) and Sigrid Undset's (#30), both Kristin Lavransdatter and The Master of Hestviken. Follett's are not so strong at the sentence level, but they are good for plot, character, and sweep. Undset's have more depth of heart and finer texture.

Curiously enough, I recently read Company of Liars, by Karen Maitland, which I enjoyed--nothing great, really, but adequately entertaining--and I honestly can't remember whether it contained magical elements or not. I think maybe not, just superstitious beliefs. Your question has made me realize that they're so much a part of so many stories with medieval settings that I almost take them for granted.

A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is the first one that comes to mind

@29--Scorbet. Thanks for posting that link!

Rebooting again because of a similar discussion in FantasyFans: recommendations for fantasy books without magic

From the recommendations in this thread, I've read several Cadfael books, I'm listening to Pillars of the Earth (and griped about it, already), and I need to get my hands on the YA McCaffrey book, because I frak'n love her work.  Given the comparison to Pillars, I'll see if I can find any of Jeanne Bourin's work in English.

Thanks again!

The Midwife's Apprentice and Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman, The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli; all are Newbery Award books. If you don't mind reading kids' books. They are on the higher level, more YA than children's. I haven't read them in a very long time, but I remember them being good. There's also Good Masters, Sweet Ladies: Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (also a Newbery); it's format is a series of short one-person plays.

I'm working on a Newbery-themed activity for my 4th graders---which is why these came to mind.

I have a friend who just published one. I have no idea if I'm allowed to tell you the title, since the author is a friend. I haven't read it but have been told by others that it is good.

Spill the beans! Please.

#57:  Seconding!

There's also a mystery series by Pat McIntosh that begins with The Harper's Quine. I remember being rather impressed with the sleuth in that as well as with the depth of research that the author was able to bring into the book without it being blatant or intrusive.

And yes, re #57, you can't give that much of a hint and then NOT tell. That just wouldn't be fair.

Ok, I just didn't want to break any rules. :) the book is titled Etta's Lessons and the author is T. M. Palecki.

60: The book doesn't seem to be on LT yet, @catzteach. Perhaps you can add it?

#59-I love that series & have read 5 books so far & will read more as soon as I can get my hands on them!

Sam Thomas has a series and I just recently read the 2nd one, called The Harlot's Tale. Pretty good mystery, takes place in England in the 1640's. A midwife is the main protagonist.

Arianna Franklin's short series starting with Mistress of the Art of Death.