I wanted to pass along this resource to you. Back in my college days, I discovered this book at the local library. Then tried for years to re-locate it (apparently, our library's copy had either been lost or damaged). It is now available for free on the Internet Archive. http://archive.org/details/growingupin13thc006734mbp

This book gives five accounts of life in the 1260s. Alfred Duggan uses the same family members, but sets them as an earl's family, a country knight's family, a peasant's family, a rich merchant's family, and a craftsman's family. The details were helpful for me in fleshing out some of the details of daily life - rising with the sun, washing in the horse trough, daily mass, etc. The earl's family gives good info for a bachelor knight - where he sleeps, eats, etc. And the country knight matches the single manor vassal knight well.

Hope it helps someone else out as well.

Thanks! I'm sure I'll enjoy this!


T.

This is really good, I like it; it's evocative, accessible without being insulting, and written with genuine respect for its audience. I really wish I had known about this ten years ago.

That looks like a useful book - downloading now to peruse later. Thanks!

Thanks for the link SirBrian. I have nearly all of Alfred Duggan's books but not this one! One of the best historical fiction writers of the 20th century in my opinion. He also wrote one or two non-fiction books. I have The Romans and Growing up with the Norman Conquest. The latter is similar to your description of Growing up in the 13th Century and might be useful for Pendragon as well.

GR

I've just checked, they have Lord Geoffrey's Fancy there as well. That's a cracking book. A young Knight goes out to make his fortune in Romanie in Outremer in the thirteenth century. Fantastic stuff for household knights, loyalty, family and warfare!

GR

I know that Duggan wrote a historical novel set in Arthurian Britain (a straightforward Dark Age historical take) called "Conscience of the King" about Cerdic of Wessex, a kind of black comedy portraying him as a sneaky schemer. (I haven't read it, just read about it in books on 20th century Arthurian fiction. Arthur appears as a mainly off-stage opponent, from what I've read about it.)

Thank you. I did not know about the Norman book. I'll be looking for that.

That looks like a very interesting read. I will download when I get in tonight and take a look. Cheers for the heads up on this.

The hackney Horses mentioned with - Palfreys or Rouceys in KAPD rules context?
Palfreys methinks