This course aims to provide students with an introduction to a burgeoning field of historical inquiry in medieval studies: the everyday life of common people in the middle ages. The focus will be on 'history from below,' and topics covered will include how people made a living; family life, kinship, love, sex, marriage, and childhood; ordinary women’s lives in the middle ages; popular religion; material culture, leisure, and play; schooling, apprenticeship and education; neighbours and community; and outsiders. By the end of the course, students should have a good understanding of the principal kinds of primary sources used to approach these topics and the problems and potential each kind of source offers, as well as the main debates in the field at the moment.