Texts in Context: The Chalice and the Sword
The thirteenth century was the high noon of Christendom; which also means it is when its light began to decline.
Texts in Context: The Chalice and the Sword Read More »
The thirteenth century was the high noon of Christendom; which also means it is when its light began to decline.
Texts in Context: The Chalice and the Sword Read More »
Both the origin and the ultimate development of courtly love are to be found in far stranger places than we might predict.
Texts in Context: The Secret of the Rose—Part II Read More »
Romantic love certainly existed before the eleventh century. What the troubadours invented was the idea that it was a good thing.
Texts in Context: The Secret of the Rose—Part I Read More »
The Inquisition might be the single most faultily-understood institution in history; and yet there is a core of truth in all the errors about it.
Texts in Context: An Examination of the Holy Office Read More »
One of the most potent forces throughout medieval society was the apostolic poverty movement, heretical and orthodox by turns; but what was it?
Texts in Context: The Apostolic Poverty Movement Read More »
“What great advantages would philosophy give us over other men, if by studying it we could learn to govern our passions?” — Peter Abelard
Texts in Context: The Queen of the Sciences Read More »
If there is an era that truly deserves to be hailed as possessing a new energy of civilization-spanning rebirth, it is the beginning of the High Middle Ages.
Texts in Context: The Real Renaissance Read More »
Just as Roman law and Christian faith were being torn to pieces in the Mediterranean, parchment and pen had appeared among the barbarians of the north …
Texts in Context: Timeline of the Early Middle Ages Read More »
The High Middle Ages are almost upon us. With them come two movements that will transfigure Europe and, eventually, the globe.
Texts in Context: In the Year of Our Lord Read More »
England as we know it, the England of the High Middle Ages and thereafter, finally attains recognizable shape.
Texts in Context: 1066 and All That Read More »