The Twelfth-century Renaissance

This volume surveys the wide range of cultural and intellectual changes in western Europe in the period c.1050-c.1250. It first establishes the broader context for the changes and introduces the debate on the validity of the "renaissance" label for the period. Later chapters range widely over the major themes in educational structures; attitudes towards the classics and the past; changes in law and political thought and the rise of government; the creation of academic disciplines of philosophy and theology; the artistic changes of the period and the question of how the changes affected women. Summarizing current scholarship, the book provides an accessible introduction to a vibrant and vital period in Europe's cultural and intellectual history.