MEDIEVAL COVER ART

I like the covers of Ariana Franklin's two books [Mistress in the Art of Death and The Death Maze] featuring the forensic expert from the Great School of Medicine in Salerno Adelia Aguilar. They are simple clear and attractive and reading the first in the series Mistress in the Art of Death, which won the Ellis Peters Award, has revived my interest in medieval history.

This is convenient because BBC4 are in the middle of their Medieval season which includes In Search of Medieval Britain, a fascinating series in which Medieval art historian, Dr Alixe Bovey uses the oldest surviving route map of Britain to make a series of journeys through Britain in the Middle Ages.

I have watched three episodes and while at times the camera man does seem to concentrate more on the attractive Dr Bovey than the castles and cathedrals, it still shows the wealth of history that has survived the depredations of various monarchs, politicians and town councils.