I've been asked more than once about how much research I do for my books. It's hard to quantify something like that, especially after you've been writing about a time period for over 20 years.
Generally, though, I do as much as I feel necessary to "put the reader there," without letting the research overwhelm the characters and the action.
In the name of "putting the reader there," I've amassed several books about medieval times. Here are ones I that I've found particularly useful. (I've also written books set in other time periods. Here's a link to lists of books for those time periods.)
LOST COUNTRY LIFE by Dorothy Hartley (absolutely one of the best for me -- it's about how folks actually did things, organized by months of the year)
LIFE IN A MEDIEVAL CASTLE by Joseph and Frances Gies
LIFE IN A MEDIEVAL CITY by Joseph and Frances Gies
LIFE IN A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE by Joseph and Frances Gies
MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY IN THE MIDDLE AGES by Frances and Joseph Gies (yes, changed the order of the names on this one -- wonder why? And yes, apparently I buy any book they write -- because they're good!)
CASTLE by David Macaulay
LIFE IN THE CASTLE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND by John Burke (this one is past my usual setting, but interesting nonetheless)
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF ENGLAND: FROM DOMESDAY BOOK TO MAGNA CARTA 1087-1216 by A.L. Poole
A MEDIEVAL BOOK OF SEASONS by Marie Collins and Virginia Davis
THE ENGLISH: A SOCIAL HISTORY, 1066-1945 by Christopher Hibbert
MISTRESS, MAIDS AND MEN: Baronial Life in the Thirteenth Century by Margaret Wade Labarge
A SMALL SOUND OF THE TRUMPET: Women in Medieval Life by Margaret Wade Labarget
FOOD & COOKING IN MEDIEVAL BRITAIN: History and Recipes by Maggie Black
A MEDIEVAL HOME COMPANION: Housekeeping in the Fourteenth Century, translated and edited by Tania Bayard
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF BRITAIN: THE MIDDLE AGES by John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths
MEDIEVAL WOMEN: A Social History of Women in England 450-1500 by Henrietta Leyser
ENGLISH WEAPONS AND WARFARE 449 - 1660 by A.V.B. Norman and Don Pottinger
THE COUNTRYSIDE OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND, edited by Grenville Astill and Annie Grant
WOMEN IN ENGLAND 1500 - 1760: A Social History by Anne Laurence
MEDIEVAL PANORAMA: The English Scene from Conquest to Reformation by G.G. Coulton (this was published in 1938 and was, I believe, a school textbook. It's interesting to see how the perceptions on some aspects of English history have changed over time.)
THE MEDIEVAL VILLAGE by G.G. Coulton (Like the previous, somewhat outdated, but still useful)
MEDIEVAL BIRDS IN THE SHERBORNE MISSAL by Janet Backhouse
THE KNIGHT IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 1000-1400 by Peter Coss
THE KNIGHT IN HISTORY by Frances Gies (hey, what happened? Has Joseph died? I'm going to have to look this up now!)
THE FOURTH ESTATE: A History of Women in the Middle Ages by Shulamith Shahar
GROWING UP IN MEDIEVAL LONDON: The Experience of Childhood in History by Barbara A. Hanawalt (I haven't actually used this one much, but if I ever decide to write another medieval YA....)
EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE MEDIEVAL ENGLAND by Christopher Dyer
A HISTORY OF PRIVATE LIFE: Revelations on the Medieval World, edited by Georges Duby, translated by Arthur Goldhammer (this one has a lot about the society of countries other than England, and also tends to be too late for my time period, but fascinating nonetheless)
CASTLES AND CASTLE TOWNS OF GREAT BRITAIN by David Mountfield (one of those books I got from the sale table and never regretted -- it has blueprints, for one thing!)
MEDIEVAL WARFARE by H.W. Koch
CHRONICLES OF THE AGE OF CHIVALRY -- The Plantagenet dynasty from 1216-1377: Henry III and the three Edwards, the era of the Black Print and the Black Death ("eye witness" testimony), Elizabeth Hallam, General Editor
ENGLISH CASTLES by Richard Humble
THE HOUND AND THE HAWK: The Art of Medieval Hunting by John Cummins (I got this at The Cloisters in NY -- everything you ever wanted to know about hunting in medieval times.)
PEOPLE OF THE PAST: THE NORMANS by Patrick Rooke (a kid's book - you never know where you might find some interesting tidbit left out of more "serious" histories)
SAXON AND NORMAN LONDON by John Clark from the Museum of London
THE PENQUIN ATLAS OF MEDIEVAL HISTORY by Colin McEvedy
EVERYDAY LIFE THROUGH THE AGES, Readers Digest
KING JOHN: NEW INTERPRETATIONS, edited by S.D. Church
THE HOUSEHOLD KNIGHTS OF KING JOHN by S.D. Church (This one was really fascinating -- knights were also what we'd call civil servants.)
THE MEDIEVAL SURGERY by Tony Hunt
A MEDIEVAL FLOWER GARDEN by Anonymous, Pavilion Books
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