How different are we from those in the past? Or, how different do we think we are from those in the past. Medieval people were more dirty and unhygienic than us as novels, TV, and film would have us believe but how much truth is there in this notion? This book seeks to challenge some of these preconceptions by examining medieval society through rules of conduct, and specifically through the lens of a medieval Latin text entitled The Book of the Civilised Man or Urbanus magnus, which is attributed to Daniel of Beccles.

Urbanus magnus is a twelfth-century poem of almost...