The Middle Ages span a thousand years, from the fall of Rome in the West to the end of the Wars of the Roses, and historical fiction has found great stories in every century of that period. Warlords and saints, cathedral builders and plague survivors, queens, archers, monks, and mystics: few periods give novelists so much to work with.
This list picks 26 of the best medieval novels, from the classics that shaped the genre to modern prize-winners. It moves through the period in order, from post-Roman Britain to the eve of the Tudors, and then looks beyond Western Europe. Every entry is a novel, and every summary is spoiler-free.
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Quick Picks
| If you want… | Read |
|---|---|
| The best place to start | The Pillars of the Earth |
| Battles and Vikings | The Last Kingdom |
| A literary mystery | The Name of the Rose |
| King Arthur, told realistically | The Winter King |
| A great love story | Katherine |
| Royal politics | The Sunne in Splendour |
| A cosy medieval mystery | A Morbid Taste for Bones |
| The Black Death | Company of Liars |
| Something outside Europe | The Physician |
| A modern prize-winner | Matrix |
For the wider period, including the best series set in the Middle Ages, see our medieval Europe historical fiction hub.
The Early Middle Ages (c. 450 to 1066)
The centuries after Rome left Britain were long called the Dark Ages, partly because so few written records survive. That silence is exactly what draws novelists in: Arthur, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and the Viking raids all live in the gaps of the record.
1. The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell (1995)
Setting: Britain in the late 5th and early 6th centuries
Cornwell strips the Arthurian legend of its castles and courtly romance and asks what the real Arthur might have been: a warlord trying to hold Britain together against the Saxons, the feuding British kings, and his own oaths. The story is told years later by Derfel, a Saxon-born warrior who is now an old monk writing down what he remembers.
Merlin is here, but his magic is always open to doubt, and Camelot is a timber hall rather than a fairy-tale palace. The Winter King opens the trilogy that continues with Enemy of God and Excalibur, and many Cornwell readers rank it as his best work. Our Warlord Chronicles reading order covers all three books.
Perfect for readers who love: Arthurian legend grounded in history, first-person narrators, and shield-wall battles.
2. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1983)
Setting: Britain in the Arthurian age
The same legend, seen from the other side. Bradley retells the whole Arthurian cycle through the women at its edges: Morgaine (Morgan le Fay), Gwenhwyfar, Igraine, Morgause, and the priestesses of Avalon, who serve an older faith that is slowly giving way to Christianity.
The book has more magic and mysticism than anything else on this list, so it sits closer to historical fantasy. It earns its place because it changed how the Arthurian story is told, and the conflict between the old religion and the new is rooted in a real turning point in British history. For more novels like it, see our list of the best Arthurian historical fiction.
Perfect for readers who love: women’s perspectives on familiar legends, religious conflict, and a touch of the mystical.
3. Hild by Nicola Griffith (2013)
Setting: 7th-century Northumbria
Almost nothing is known about the early life of Hild, who later became the abbess of Whitby and one of the most powerful people in Anglo-Saxon England. Griffith imagines her girlhood at the court of her uncle, King Edwin, where a sharp-eyed child becomes the king’s seer. Every prediction she makes carries a price if she gets it wrong.
Few novels have captured this world so well: its politics, its languages, its textiles and birdsong, and the slow arrival of Christianity among the kings of the north. The story continues in Menewood (2023).
Perfect for readers who love: clever heroines, political survival, and immersive literary prose.
4. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (2004)
Setting: England from 866, during the Danish invasions
Uhtred is the son of a Northumbrian lord, taken as a boy by Danish invaders and raised as one of them. As the Danes sweep through England, he is caught between the people who raised him and the kingdom of Wessex, where a sickly, bookish young man named Alfred is the last hope for the English.
This is the first of the 13 Saxon Stories, and the start of one of the most popular series in historical fiction. The books were adapted as The Last Kingdom on the BBC and Netflix. See our Last Kingdom reading order for the whole saga.
Perfect for readers who love: divided loyalties, Viking warfare, and a narrator with plenty of attitude.
5. Raven: Blood Eye by Giles Kristian (2009)
Setting: England and the North Sea in the late 8th century
A young Englishman with no memory of his past and one blood-red eye is taken by a crew of Norse raiders. Among the Norsemen, he finds a new name, a new family, and a place in a shield wall, and the chance to become something his village never allowed him to be.
Kristian writes Viking life from the inside, with a real feeling for the brotherhood of a ship’s crew and the pull of the old gods. Blood Eye opens a trilogy, covered in our Raven series reading order. For more books like it, see the best Viking historical fiction.
Perfect for readers who love: seafaring adventure, Norse myth, and coming-of-age stories.
6. The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett (2020)
Setting: England from 997
Follett’s prequel to The Pillars of the Earth goes back to the end of the first millennium, when Kingsbridge is not yet a town. A young boatbuilder, a Norman noblewoman married into an English family, and an idealistic monk each come up against the same ruthless and ambitious bishop.
Written for readers who don’t know the later books, it works as a perfect starting point for the Kingsbridge saga and a vivid picture of England on the eve of the Norman Conquest. Our Kingsbridge series reading order explains how all five books fit together.
Perfect for readers who love: big sagas, clear heroes and villains, and ordinary people shaping history.
The High Middle Ages (1066 to 1300)
After the Norman Conquest came the great age of cathedrals, castles, crusades, and Plantagenet kings. These novels cover civil war, chivalry, and the lives of people who built the medieval world.
7. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (1989)
Setting: England in the 12th century, during the Anarchy
A master builder dreams of building a cathedral. A determined prior needs one to save his struggling priory. Around them, over several decades, a civil war between rival claimants to the throne tears England apart, and a cast of builders, monks, nobles, and outlaws fight over the town of Kingsbridge.
This is probably the most-read medieval novel ever written, and still the best place to start. Follett makes cathedral building as gripping as any battle, and the 900-plus pages go by fast. Read more about Follett’s career on our Ken Follett author page or on his official website.
Perfect for readers who love: epic scope, underdogs, and stories built across a lifetime.
8. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott (1819)
Setting: England in 1194
A disinherited knight returns from the Crusades to an England ruled by Prince John while King Richard is held captive abroad. Saxons resent their Norman lords, Jewish families face persecution, and a band of outlaws in the forest is led by one Locksley.
Scott’s earlier novel Waverley (1814) is usually credited as the first true historical novel, but Ivanhoe is the book that made the Middle Ages fashionable. Its tournaments, sieges, and outlaws shaped how readers and filmmakers have pictured the period ever since. The pace is slower than modern fiction, and the rewards are worth it.
Perfect for readers who love: classic literature, Robin Hood, and the roots of the genre.
9. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters (1977)
Setting: Shrewsbury and Wales in 1137
Brother Cadfael is a Welshman who fought in the Crusades, sailed the Mediterranean, and then chose the quiet life of a monk, tending the herb garden at Shrewsbury Abbey. When his ambitious prior sets out to bring the bones of a Welsh saint back to the abbey, Cadfael goes along as interpreter, and a death in the village makes the journey far more complicated.
This is the first of 20 Cadfael mysteries, set during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, the same conflict that runs through The Pillars of the Earth. The series was adapted for television with Derek Jacobi as Cadfael. See our Brother Cadfael reading order and our Ellis Peters author page.
Perfect for readers who love: gentle mysteries, wise detectives, and medieval monastic life.
10. The Greatest Knight by Elizabeth Chadwick (2005)
Setting: England and France in the late 12th century
William Marshal was a younger son with no land and no fortune, and he rose to serve Henry II and his sons as the most famous knight of his age. Chadwick follows his early career on the tournament circuit and in the service of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Chadwick is known for the depth of her research, and her portrait of the Plantagenet court is full of everyday detail. The story continues in The Scarlet Lion, and our William Marshal reading order covers both books. See our Elizabeth Chadwick author page for the rest of her work.
Perfect for readers who love: true stories of real knights, tournaments, and royal intrigue.
11. Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman (1985)
Setting: Wales and England in the early 13th century
Llewelyn the Great is fighting to unite Wales. Joanna is the illegitimate daughter of King John of England. Their marriage is meant to buy peace between two nations, and Penman turns it into one of the great love stories in historical fiction while never losing sight of the politics.
This is the first book of Penman’s Welsh Princes trilogy, followed by Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning. King John in particular is drawn with rare complexity. See our Sharon Kay Penman author page for her full bibliography.
Perfect for readers who love: romance with real historical weight, Welsh history, and complicated kings.
12. Matrix by Lauren Groff (2021)
Setting: An English abbey from 1158
Marie is seventeen, too tall, too plain, and too illegitimate for the royal court, so Eleanor of Aquitaine sends her away to be prioress of a starving, disease-ridden abbey in England. Loosely based on the medieval poet Marie de France, the novel follows Marie as she takes charge of the abbey and her own life.
Groff writes in rich, strange, poetic prose, and the result feels like nothing else on this list. Matrix was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and won the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. For more novels led by strong women, see our list of the best historical fiction with female leads.
Perfect for readers who love: literary fiction, powerful women, and faith and ambition.
The Fourteenth Century: Plague and War
The 14th century brought famine, the Black Death, the Hundred Years’ War, and a divided Church. Novelists keep returning to it because its people lived through something that felt like the end of the world.
13. World Without End by Ken Follett (2007)
Setting: Kingsbridge from 1327
Almost two centuries after The Pillars of the Earth, four children see something in the woods that will shape their lives. They grow up into a builder, a young woman who wants to practice medicine, a knight, and a poor laborer’s daughter, and the Black Death is coming.
Follett’s plague chapters are some of his most powerful writing, and the book is as much about the clash between medieval medicine and new ideas as it is about love and ambition. It stands alone, but readers of Pillars will enjoy seeing how Kingsbridge has changed.
Perfect for readers who love: the Black Death, medicine, and long family sagas.
14. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (1980)
Setting: A Benedictine abbey in northern Italy, November 1327
The English Franciscan William of Baskerville and his young novice Adso arrive at a wealthy abbey for a meeting on a heated question of Church doctrine. A monk has died in suspicious circumstances, and the abbey’s great library, which no one may enter, seems to hold the key.
Eco was a professor of medieval studies, and his murder mystery doubles as a novel of ideas about books, heresy, laughter, and power. It is demanding in places, especially early on, but it has sold tens of millions of copies. It won Italy’s Strega Prize and was filmed in 1986 as The Name of the Rose with Sean Connery.
Perfect for readers who love: clever puzzles, libraries, and big ideas.
15. Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell (2000)
Setting: France in the 1340s, during the Hundred Years’ War
Thomas of Hookton is a young English archer who joins Edward III’s army in France with one aim: to take back a relic stolen from his village church. His search takes him through the English campaign all the way to the Battle of Crécy.
Published in the US as The Archer’s Tale, this is the first Grail Quest novel, followed by Vagabond, Heretic, and 1356. Cornwell shows better than anyone how the English longbow changed medieval warfare. See our Grail Quest reading order for all four books.
Perfect for readers who love: archers, great battles, and a quest with a mystery at its heart.
16. Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman (2012)
Setting: France in 1348
Thomas is a knight who has lost everything and turned to banditry. Then he meets a young girl who claims she can see angels, and she asks him to take her across a France where the plague has emptied the towns and something even worse walks the roads.
This is the darkest book on the list, a mix of historical fiction and horror, with real supernatural elements. Buehlman’s picture of plague-stricken France is so convincing that the horror feels at home there.
Perfect for readers who love: dark fiction, horror, and flawed heroes.
17. Company of Liars by Karen Maitland (2008)
Setting: England in 1348
As the plague reaches England, a one-eyed relic seller called Camelot joins a group of travelers fleeing ahead of it: a storyteller, a musician, a conjuror, a pair of young lovers, a painter, and a strange, silent child who reads the runes. Every one of them is hiding something.
Maitland’s structure echoes The Canterbury Tales, but the mood is closer to a psychological thriller. It is a tense, eerie novel about a society falling apart. You can read the Historical Novel Society’s review for another take.
Perfect for readers who love: unreliable companions, slow-building suspense, and a dark atmosphere.
18. Katherine by Anya Seton (1954)
Setting: England from 1366
Katherine de Roet is a young woman of little fortune at the court of Edward III. Her story with John of Gaunt, the king’s son and one of the richest men in England, became one of the most famous love affairs in English history.
Seton researched Katherine’s life for years, and the novel brings Chaucer’s England to life, from the royal court to the Peasants’ Revolt. Generations of readers have called it the book that made them love historical fiction. Alison Weir’s biography Katherine Swynford tells the true story behind it.
Perfect for readers who love: classic romance, true stories, and strong heroines.
The Fifteenth Century: Agincourt and the Wars of the Roses
The last medieval century saw England’s greatest victory in France, the career of Joan of Arc, and a civil war that brought the Plantagenet dynasty to an end.
19. Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell (2008)
Setting: England and France in 1415
Nicholas Hook is a forester and archer with a violent past and a price on his head. He escapes to fight in France and ends up in Henry V’s army, which marches across Normandy until a small, sick, starving force is trapped by a much larger French army near the village of Agincourt.
This is a standalone novel, published in the US as Agincourt, and it has some of Cornwell’s most intense battle writing. Read about the rest of his work on our Bernard Cornwell author page or at his official website.
Perfect for readers who love: the longbow, underdog battles, and fast pacing.
20. The Maid by Kimberly Cutter (2011)
Setting: France from 1412 to 1431
A peasant girl from a small village hears voices telling her to save France. Within a few years, she will be leading an army. Cutter tells Joan of Arc’s story from the inside: her faith, her fear, and the strain of being a teenage girl at the head of an army of men.
The novel neither dismisses Joan’s voices nor asks the reader to take them on faith, making it a thoughtful and moving portrait of one of the most famous figures of the Middle Ages.
Perfect for readers who love: true stories, remarkable women, and questions of faith.
21. Stormbird by Conn Iggulden (2013)
Setting: England and France in the 1440s and 1450s
Henry VI is a gentle, pious, and weak king who cannot hold together what his father won. As England’s lands in France slip away and rebellion breaks out at home, the king’s spymaster Derry Brewer and the great lords around the throne start the maneuvers that will lead to civil war.
Iggulden is one of the most readable writers in the genre, and Stormbird opens his four-book Wars of the Roses series. See our Conn Iggulden author page for his full bibliography.
Perfect for readers who love: political scheming, spies, and fast-moving history.
22. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (2009)
Setting: England from 1464
Elizabeth Woodville is a widow from the losing side of the war when she catches the eye of the young Yorkist king, Edward IV. Their secret marriage turns her into a queen and makes enemies of the most powerful men in England.
This is the first of Gregory’s Cousins’ War novels, and it was adapted as the 2013 TV series The White Queen. See our Plantagenet and Tudor reading order for how it fits into her wider saga, and our Philippa Gregory author page.
Perfect for readers who love: queens, court intrigue, and women ‘s-eye views of history.
23. The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman (1982)
Setting: England from 1459 to 1485
Shakespeare made Richard III the most famous villain in English history. Penman sets out to show the man behind the legend, following Richard from his childhood during the Wars of the Roses through his loyalty to his brother Edward IV and beyond.
Over 900 pages long and hugely detailed, this is one of the most admired historical novels of its generation. Even readers who don’t share Penman’s view of Richard come away with a new understanding of the period.
Perfect for readers who love: the Wars of the Roses, long immersive reads, and reconsidering history’s villains.
Beyond Western Europe
The European Middle Ages happened in a much wider world. These novels travel to Persia, the Mongolian steppe, and medieval Russia.
24. The Physician by Noah Gordon (1986)
Setting: 11th-century London and Persia
Rob Cole is a poor boy from London who discovers he has a gift: he can sense when someone is dying. Determined to become a true healer, he makes the long journey to Isfahan to study under the great physician Ibn Sina, even though he must pass as a Jew to be admitted.
Gordon’s novel contrasts the medicine of Christian Europe with the far more advanced learning of the Islamic world. It has been especially popular in Germany, where it was adapted as a film in 2013.
Perfect for readers who love: epic journeys, the history of medicine, and meetings between cultures.
25. Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden (2007)
Setting: Mongolia in the 12th century
Temujin is a boy left for dead on the steppe with his mother and brothers, surviving through a brutal winter. Iggulden follows him as he grows into the leader who will unite the tribes and become Genghis Khan.
This is the first book of Iggulden’s Conqueror series (published in the US as Genghis: Birth of an Empire), and it is one of his most gripping. See our Conqueror series reading order for all five books.
Perfect for readers who love: survival stories, horsemen of the steppe, and the rise of empires.
26. Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin (2012)
Setting: Russia and beyond in the 15th and 16th centuries
Arseny is a herbalist’s grandson who grows up to be a gifted healer. After a personal loss, he spends his life seeking redemption as a wandering healer, a holy fool, a pilgrim to Jerusalem, and finally a monk.
Vodolazkin is a scholar of medieval Russian literature, and his novel plays with time and language in a way that feels both ancient and modern. It won Russia’s Big Book Award and was translated into English by Lisa C. Hayden in 2015. Laurus is unlike any other book on this list, and readers who connect with it tend to love it.
Perfect for readers who love: spiritual journeys, literary fiction, and something new.
Honourable Mentions
- Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (1986): A modern journalist relives the life of a woman from the 12th-century Welsh borders. A classic time-slip novel.
- The Once and Future King by T. H. White (1958): The best-loved fantasy take on Arthur, and the book behind Disney’s The Sword in the Stone.
- The Armour of Light by Ken Follett (2023): The latest Kingsbridge novel, set in the 1790s. Not medieval, but essential for readers of the series.
Nonfiction Companions
These are not novels, but they are ideal for readers who want to know the real history behind the fiction.
- A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman (1978): A vivid history of the 14th century, following one French nobleman through plague, war, and schism. The perfect companion to World Without End or Company of Liars.
- Katherine Swynford by Alison Weir (2007): The true story of Katherine and John of Gaunt. More from Weir on our Alison Weir author page.
Medieval Sub-Genres to Explore
Crusades fiction. For knights and the Holy Land, try Elizabeth Chadwick’s Templar Silks, Robyn Young’s Brethren trilogy, and Jack Whyte’s Templar Trilogy.
Medieval mysteries. Brother Cadfael is where the sub-genre begins, and The Name of the Rose is its high point. If you enjoy both, C. J. Sansom’s Shardlake series moves the monastic mystery into the Tudor age with the dissolution of the monasteries. For more detectives across the centuries, see our list of the best historical mystery fiction.
Arthurian fiction. Cornwell and Bradley are just the beginning. Our Arthurian historical fiction list covers the full range.
Viking fiction. The Last Kingdom and Raven are two of the best. Find more in our best Viking historical fiction list.
Big medieval series. Many of the novels above are the first in a series. Our guide to the best historical fiction series will help you choose your next long read.
After the Middle Ages. The Wars of the Roses end at Bosworth in 1485, and the Tudor century begins. For what comes next, see our list of the best Tudor historical fiction and our Tudor England guide.
Where to Start
If you are new to medieval fiction, start with The Pillars of the Earth. It is long but easy to read, and it will show you whether big medieval sagas are for you. If you prefer action, start with The Last Kingdom or The Winter King. If you want something shorter and gentler, try A Morbid Taste for Bones. And if you already know the classics, Matrix, Hild, and Laurus show where the genre is going now.
New to historical fiction altogether? Our guide to historical fiction for beginners is a good place to begin.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best medieval historical fiction book?
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is the most popular and most recommended medieval novel, and it is the best place for most readers to start. Readers who want more action often prefer The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell, while those who like literary mysteries often choose The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
What order should I read Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge books in?
Follett published the Kingsbridge novels in this order: The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, A Column of Fire, The Evening and the Morning, and The Armour of Light. Each works as a standalone. Publication order works well, but you can also read them in story order, starting with The Evening and the Morning, which is set around the year 1000.
Are Bernard Cornwell’s medieval novels historically accurate?
Cornwell researches the history of each period carefully, especially warfare, and each novel ends with a historical note that explains what is real and what he has invented. His main characters, such as Uhtred and Thomas of Hookton, are fictional, but the battles, the politics and many of the people around them are real.
What is the difference between medieval fantasy and medieval historical fiction?
Medieval historical fiction is set in real places and times, and its events could have happened even when the characters are invented. Medieval fantasy borrows medieval settings but adds magic and invented worlds. Some novels, such as The Mists of Avalon, sit between the two.
What are the best medieval novels with female main characters?
Popular choices include Katherine by Anya Seton, Hild by Nicola Griffith, Matrix by Lauren Groff, The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, The Maid by Kimberly Cutter and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Elizabeth Chadwick and Sharon Kay Penman have also written many novels about real medieval women.
What is the best medieval mystery series?
The Brother Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters are the most beloved medieval mysteries. The 20 novels are set in 12th-century Shrewsbury during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, and they begin with A Morbid Taste for Bones. For a single standalone mystery, The Name of the Rose is the classic choice.
Are there good medieval novels about the Black Death?
Yes. World Without End by Ken Follett, Company of Liars by Karen Maitland and Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman are three of the best, each with a very different tone. Follett’s is a family saga, Maitland’s is a suspenseful journey, and Buehlman’s is a horror novel.
Is medieval historical fiction suitable for teenagers?
Many adult medieval novels include violence and mature themes, so it depends on the book. Brother Cadfael and Ivanhoe suit older teenagers well. For younger readers, Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman, Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi and The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli were written for young audiences.