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*** CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title *** John D. Cotts''s Europe''s Long Twelfth Century is an award-winning overview of a key phase in Europe''s medieval history. It reflects on how the region grappled with a variety of cultural possibilities that would ultimately transform the way people thought, lived and thought of themselves. Cotts convincingly contends that the 12th century was fundamentally a period of difficult decisions, adaptation and anxiety, rather than the glorious ''renaissance'' mooted in earlier assessments of the era. The book presents a balanced appreciation of social, economic and religious developments at a time when Europeans were needing to re-imagine their place in the world. It reflects on the vital significance of the Crusades and offers an unparalleled gateway into 12th-century political and intellectual life. This new editions includes: - A wealth of material which considers Europe in the context of a global Middle Ages - New and expanded sections on kingship, political life in the Latin West, environmental history, architecture/visual culture and the Bible''s role in intellectual life - Enhanced coverage of topics like family, sexuality, the medieval peasantry, and religious minorities/persecution - Historiographical updates throughout, a range of new maps and a chronology
List of contents
Preface to the 2nd Edition
Introduction: The Twelfth Century and Its 'Renaissance'
1. Kingdoms, Communities, and the Political Order
2. Material Conditions and Social Life
3. Spirituality and Its Discontents
4. Intellectual Syntheses
5. Europe and the Wider World
Chronology of Events, 1095-1229
Further Reading
Index
About the author
John D. Cotts is Professor of History at Whitman College, USA. He is the author of The Clerical Dilemma: Peter of Blois and Literate Culture in the Twelfth Century (2009).
