Young Adult Historical Novels: Medieval TimesThis page lists historical novels for young adult readers set in medieval times (the Middle Ages), from approximately the sixth century (beginning in 500 A.D.) up to the Renaissance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Life in the Middle Ages was harsh for many people, sometimes even for the nobility and royalty. Major events that occurred in medieval times include the Norman Conquest of England in 1066; the Crusades, when Christian soldiers from across Europe fought against the Arabs who ruled Jerusalem; and the Hundred Years War, when the teenaged peasant girl Joan of Arc led a French army to victory against the English. Many of these novels are also read and enjoyed by older adults. The Renaissance began at different times in different places, earliest in Italy where the Medici family (the great banking family who ruled Florence) sponsored philosophers, artists and other educated men who began a great flowering of culture in the fifteenth century that soon spread across Europe. Novels set in Renaissance Italy and Tudor England will appear on the forthcoming Renaissance page. Jump to: Medieval Celts, A.D. 500-1300 Abbreviations for Awards and Honors: ALANCB = American Library Association Notable Children's Book Medieval Celts, A.D. 500-1300
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Frewin Jones, Destiny's Path (2009), historical fantasy about a fifteen-year-old Welsh princess who is called by the Shining Ones to lead her people in battle; #2 in the Warrior Princess series. Frewin Jones, The Emerald Flame (forthcoming in October 2010), historical fantasy about a Welsh princess called by the Shining Ones to lead her people in battle; #3 in the Warrior Princess series.
Elizabeth Laird, The Witching Hour (2010), about a fourteen-year-old Scottish girl who falls into English hands after her grandmother is accused of witchcraft. Janet McNaughton, An Earthly Knight (2004), historical fantasy about a sixteen-year-old girl in twelfth-century Scotland who falls in love with a mysterious stranger instead of the king's brother she is meant to marry. BBYA. Donna Jo Napoli, Hush: An Irish Princess's Tale (2007), about a fifteen-year-old Irish princess and her younger sister who are taken captive by raiders and forced into slavery in the tenth century. Madeleine Pollard, The Queen's Blessing Joni Sensel, The Humming of Numbers (2008), about a boy in Ireland gifted with the ability to hear the energies of living things who is prepared to take monastic vows until he meets a girl who also has unusual abilities. Recommended for ages 12 and up. Rosemary Sutcliff and Margaret Lyford-Pike, We Lived in Drumfyvie Jennifer Sparlin, The Sea at Mughain (2010), historical fantasy about a 6th-century Irish princess who must battle her family to gain the life she wants. Medieval Anglo-Saxons, A.D. 500-1066
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Gareth Hinds, Beowulf (2007), a graphic novel that retells the Anglo-Saxon story of the warrior who defeats a terrible monster who has been killing the king's men. Katy Moran, Bloodline (2009), about a boy whose father has abandoned him in a village threatened by an attack from King Penda of Mercia. Rosemary Sutcliff, Beowulf: Dragonslayer (1961), a retelling of the Anglo-Saxon story of the warrior who defeats a terrible monster who has been killing the king's men. Rosemary Sutcliff, Blood Feud Rebecca Tingle, The Edge on the Sword (2001), about the eldest daughter of King Alfred, fifteen-year-old Athelflaed, and how she learns the arts of war. BBYA. Recommended for grades 6-10. Rebecca Tingle, Far Traveler (2005), about the sixteen-year-old daughter of Athelflaed, the Lady of Mercia, who after her mother's death disguises herself as a bard in order to escape a diplomatic marriage to an older man; sequel to The Edge on the Sword. BBYA. Theresa Tomlinson, Wolf Girl (2006), about a girl in Anglo-Saxon times who sets out to prove the innocence of her mother, at risk of being hanged for stealing a valuable necklace. Robert Westall, The Wind Eye Medieval England from 1066
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Rebecca Barnhouse, The Book of the Maidservant (2009), about a fifteenth-century servant girl who works for the bad-tempered, fanatically pious Margery Kempe and accompanies her on a pilgrimage to Rome. Recommended for ages 12 and up. Review Henrietta Branford, Fire, Bed and Bone (1998), about a dog whose devotion to her human family leads her to help save the children when the family is captured and imprisoned after a rebellion. Susan Coventry, The Queen’s Daughter (2010), about Joan, the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II, who is caught between her parents as their discord intensifies. Kevin Crossley-Holland, Gatty's Tale (2006), about a peasant girl of the Welsh Marches who joins a pilgrimage to Jerusalem without how far away it is. Karen Cushman, Catherine, Called Birdy (1994), about an English nobleman's daughter in 1290 who longs for adventure and doesn't want to get married. Recommended for grades 6-9. BBYA. Review Karen Cushman, The Midwife's Apprentice (1995), about an orphaned girl taken in by a midwife in medieval England. Recommended for grades 6-9 by TRA. NA. BBYA. Karen Cushman, Matilda Bone (2000), about a well-educated girl in medieval England whose life changes when she becomes the assistant to a bonesetter. Joanne Dahme, The Plague (2009), about a peasant girl orphaned in a plague epidemic who is chosen to become a body double for Princess Joan and, when the princess dies, is sent to Spain to marry the Prince of Castile in Joan's place. Jill Eckersley, The Silver Rose Joan Elizabeth Goodman, The Winter Hare Joan Elizabeth Goodman, Peregrine Kristiana Gregory, Eleanor, Crown Jewel of Aquitaine (2002), about Eleanor of Aquitaine in the years before she becomes the queen of France at age fifteen. Berit Haahr, The Minstrel's Tale Mollie Hunter, The King's Swift Rider: A Novel on Robert the Bruce Sherryl Jordan, The Raging Quiet (1999), about a sixteen-year-old girl who, after being forced to marry an older man, discovers a boy the villagers believe to be possessed by demons is actually just deaf. BBYA.
Gladys Malvern, My Lady, My Love Gladys Malvern, So Great a Love Gladys Malvern, The Queen's Lady
Margaret Moore, Gwyneth and the Thief Laura Amy Schlitz (illustrations by Robert Byrd), Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village (2007), linked verses (mostly) in the voices of children aged about ten to fifteen in a medieval village. NA. Recommended for ages 10 and up. Review
Rosemary Sutcliff, Shield Ring (1956), about a Saxon boy and girl living in a secluded valley that has become the last holdout against the Normans after the Norman Conquest of England. Recommended for ages 12 and up. Rosemary Sutcliff, Knight’s Fee (1960), about an orphaned boy in Norman England who is wagered in a game of chess after he angers the lord of Arundel Castle. Recommended for grades 9-12. Rosemary Sutcliff, The Witch's Brat Rosemary Sutcliff, The Minstrel and the Dragon Pup
Theresa Tomlinson, Child of the May Theresa Tomlinson, The Path of the She-Wolf Henry Treece, Man With a Sword (1962), about Hereward, the Saxon who led the resistance to William the Conqueror after the Norman invasion. Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris, Girl in a Cage (2002), about the daughter of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland, Princess Marjorie, publicly imprisoned in a cage after she is captured by the English. BBYA. Recommended for grades 6-10. BBYA. Medieval Europe, the Continent and Byzantium
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Elizabeth Borton de Trevino, Casilda of the Rising Moon Nancy Garden, Dove and Sword: A Novel of Joan of Arc (1995), about the brother and a childhood friend of Joan of Arc who remember her life. Recommended for grades 7-12. Donna Jo Napoli, Breath (2003), about a boy in Hameln, Germany, who has a chronic lung disease and escapes a plague of madness suffered by the other townfolk; based on the legend of the pied piper and actual historical events. BBYA. Gloria Skurzynski, Spider's Voice (1999), about a boy in Paris who carries messages between his master, Abelard, and Abelard's beautiful student Eloise. BBYA. Frances Temple, The Ramsay Scallop (1994), about a fourteen-year-old English girl who goes on a pilgrimage to Spain with her husband-to-be. BBYA. Recommended for ages 12 and up. Jill Paton Walsh, The Emperor's Winding Sheet (1974), about an English boy who lands in Constantinople after a shipwreck, where the emperor adopts him as a good luck charm shortly before the city's fall to the Turks. WCBA. Recommended for ages 12 and up. The Crusades
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Karleen Bradford, There Will Be Wolves Michael Cadnum, The Book of the Lion Olivia Coolidge, Tales of the Crusades
Kevin Crossley-Holland, At the Crossing Places (2004), historical fantasy about a thirteen-year-old boy who has achieved his dream of becoming a squire and now dreams of becoming a Crusader and winning the hand of a fair lady; #2 in the Arthur trilogy. Kevin Crossley-Holland, King of the Middle March (2004), historical fantasy about a young Crusader whose "seeing stone" shows him the destruction of King Arthur's court and the origins of an enduring legend; #3 in the Arthur trilogy. Kevin Crossley-Holland, Crossing to Paradise (2008), about an English country girl who joins a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; a sequel to the King Arthur trilogy.
K.M. Grant, Green Jasper K.M. Grant, Blaze of Silver
Catherine Jinks, Pagan in Exile (2004), about a squire to a Templar knight who returns to France in 1188 after Jerusalem falls; #2 in the Pagan series. Recommended for grades 7 and up. Catherine Jinks, Pagan's Vows (2004), about a squire to a former Templar knight who enters a convent and finds all is not well within its walls; #3 in the Pagan series. Recommended for grades 7 and up. Catherine Jinks, Pagan's Scribe (2005), about a boy hired by an Archdeacon 1209 to serve as his scribe as a crusade against the Cathar heretics in France begins; #4 in the Pagan series. Recommended for grades 7 and up. The Albigensian Crusades in France
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K.M. Grant, White Heat (2009), about a young couple in love who have been separated during a time of religious conflict; #2 in the Perfect Fire trilogy. K.M. Grant, Paradise Red (2009), about a young couple in love who have been separated during a time of religious conflict; #3 in the Perfect Fire trilogy. Mary Hoffman, Troubadour (2009), about a young troubadour and the noblewoman who loves him during the thirteenth-century persecution of the Cathars in southern France. Scandinavia and the Vikings
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Michael Cadnum, Raven Of The Waves (2001), about a seventeen-year-old Viking on his first raiding mission and his encounter with an Anglo-Saxon captive. Joan Clark, The Dream Carvers Nancy Farmer, The Sea of Trolls (2004), historical fantasy about an eleven-year-old boy and his younger sister who are kidnapped by Vikings in the year 793. BBYA. Jackie French, Rover (2007), about a farm girl and her dog who are taken captive by Viking raiders. Julia Golding, Wolf Cry (2009), about a Viking girl whose reluctant father brings her along on the search for her brother after he is kidnapped by raiders. Erik Christian Haugaard, A Slave's Tale Louise E. Schaff, Skald of the Vikings Rosemary Sutcliff, Chess-Dream in a Garden Rosemary Sutcliff, Sword Song (1997), about a sixteen-year-old boy in Viking Scotland who becomes a warrior after he is exiled from his home; a manuscript discovered and published after the author's death in 1992. Recommended for ages 10 and up. Diane Lee Wilson, Raven Speak (2010), about the fourteen-year-old daughter of a Viking chieftain and her struggle to survive a terrible winter when the women and children are left behind while the men go to sea in search of food. Medieval Mysteries
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Felicity Pulman, Rue for Repentance (2006), about an girl who disguises herself as a young man and takes refuge at a manor, but doesn't know who to trust after a child disappears; #2 in the Janna mystery series; Australian publication difficult to find in the U.S. Felicity Pulman, Lilies for Love (2008), about a girl who travels to Wiltune Abbey in search of her absent father and the truth about her mother's death; #3 in the Janna mystery series; Australian publication difficult to find in the U.S. Felicity Pulman, Willows for Weeping (2008), about a girl who travels to Stonehenge in search of her father during the war between Stephen and Maud for the throne of England; #4 in the Janna mystery series; Australian publication difficult to find in the U.S. Martha Bennett Stiles, The Star in the Forest Top of Page
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(1964), about an eleven-year-old Scottish girl who swears revenge after her parents are killed by King Malcolm's army.
(1975), about people who lived in a town in Scotland over the course of seven centuries.
(1963), a retelling of the Anglo-Saxon tale of Havelok the Dane.
(1976), about a boy in tenth-century England who is captured by Vikings and sold into slavery.
(1976), about a present-day English family vacationing on the coast of Northumberland who travel back to the time of St. Cuthbert.
(1998), about a girl who runs away from her father to find the boy she loves, who is fighting on the side of the future King Richard III during the Wars of the Roses.
(1996), about a twelve-year-old boy who becomes a page in his uncle's household during the war between Stephen and Matilda for the throne of England. 
(2000), about a fifteen-year-old widow who goes on pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to avoid a second marriage and meets a strange Welsh girl along the way; sequel to The Winter Hare.
(2000), about a thirteen-year-old girl in fourteenth-century England who disguises herself as a boy so she can travel to King Edward's court and become a minstrel. Recommended for ages 9-12.
(2000), about a sixteen-year-old boy who the army of Robert the Bruce of Scotland as a courier and spy during the rebellion against England. Recommended for grades 7-12.
(1962), about a sixteen-year-old girl from an aristocratic Saxon family during the Norman invasion of England.
(1957), about Princess Isabella of Valois, who at the age of six in 1396 was married to King Richard II of England.
(1962), about a lady-in-waiting.
(1963), a romance about a charmaid who rises to become a confidante of Queen Anne of England during the reign of Richard III.
(2002), historical romance about a fifteen-year-old girl who inherits her family estate when her parents die and, desperate to avoid marrying her unpleasant neighbor, blackmails a thief into training the townsfolk to fight for her. 
(1950), a retelling of the Robin Hood story about an outlaw in medieval England.
(1970), about a boy in twelfth-century England whose grandmother, a healer and wisewoman, is suspected of being a witch.
(1993), about a minstrel who raises a dragon from an egg; a picture book for readers in grades 1 and up that may appeal to older readers as well.
(1993), about a fifteen-year-old girl who flees to Sherwood Forest to escape an arranged marriage and joins a community of outlaws; #1 in the Forest Wife trilogy, available in an omnibus edition titled 
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(1998), about a girl who grew up in Sherwood Forest after her mother was murdered; #2 in the Forest Wife trilogy, available in an omnibus edition titled 
(1998), about a woman of the forest whose healing skills are needed during an uprising against King John; #3 in the Forest Wife trilogy, available in an omnibus edition titled 
(1967), about a daughter of the Moorish King Alamun of Toledo.
(1996), about a girl condemned as a witch who escapes execution by going on crusade with her father during the First Crusade. BBYA. Recommended for grades 6-8.
(2000), about a seventeen-year-old boy who serves as squire to a knight on his way to join Richard the Lionheart's army in the Holy Land during the Third Crusade. Recommended for grades 7-12.
(1970), about the three hundred years of war between Europe and the Middle East.
(2005), about two thirteen-year-old boys, one Christian and one Muslim, fighting on opposite sides during a battle between the armies of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin during the Third Crusade; #1 in the De Granville trilogy. Recommended for grades 5-9.
(2005), about two English brothers who return from the Crusades to find England in turmoil because King Richard has not returned; #2 in the De Granville trilogy. Recommended for grades 5-9.
(2007), about a young Englishman chosen to help collect and deliver the ransom to free King Richard from imprisonment, and a young Arab in the Middle East who is in trouble for refusing to kill Saladin; #3 in the De Granville trilogy. Recommended for grades 5-9.
(1995), about a Viking boy from Greenland who, on a trip in search of lumber, is captured by a native Greenlander.
(1965), about a slave girl who travels from Norway to Brittany with her master.
(1966), about a young Viking skald, or singer, who takes part in an expedition from Greenland to Vinland.
(1993), historical fantasy inspired by a twelfth-century chess set; a picture book likely to have more appeal for older readers.
(2005), about a girl in medieval England who refuses to believe her mother's death was an accident and sets out to find the truth; #1 in the Janna mystery series.
(1979), about a sixth-century lord's daughter in Gaul who witnesses her brother's death and fears it may be the first step in a plot to steal her father's lands.