Are historical settings too restrictive to write for non-historians?

I want to write some kind of political intrigue-y story, and as the history buff that I am, I really want it to take place somewhere in the past. However historical fiction feels too restrictive, mostly because I don't think I could remotely accurately represent matters of warfare, daily life, medieval/ancient governance and so on; nor would I know where to find the answers to the very specific and hard to answers questions that will eventually come up. Can it be done or should I just make up a world or something?