Skip to content

Ian Mortimer Quotes

born 1967 England

Ian James Forrester Mortimer (born 1967) is a British historian and writer of historical fiction. He is best known for his book The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England.

England
Historians
Non-fiction authors
Novelists

Random Ian Mortimer quote

42 quotes

In the fifteenth century it was Henry’s grandfather, Edward III, who was regarded as the model for greatness: a man who took the war to France and Scotland and won, and who presided over peace at home for half a century. Henry IV was not deemed ‘great’ by his contemporaries for the simple reason that he failed to live up to this example.

The Fears of Henry IV: The Life of England's Self-made King (2007)

At the end of the day—at the end of the century—this is what history is. History is not just about the analysis of evidence, unrolling vellum documents or answering exam papers. It is not about judging the dead. It is about understanding the meaning of the past—to realize the whole evolving human story over centuries, not just our own lifetimes.

The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England (2008)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ian Mortimer (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.