Europe’s Long Twelfth Century: Order, Anxiety and Adaptation, 1095-1229

257 Pages·2012·1.077 MB·English

by  John D. Cotts

The Palgrave Macmillan
Europe’s Long Twelfth
Century
Order, Anxiety, and Adaptation, 1095–1229
JOHN D. COTTS
‘An excellent introduction to one of the most fascinating periods of
theEuropeanMiddleAges.’–BjornWeiler,AberystwythUniversity,UK
Between1095and1229,WesternEuropeconfrontedaseriesofalter-
native cultural possibilities that fundamentally transformed its social
structures, its intellectual life, and its very identity. It was a period of
difficultdecisionsandanxietyratherthanatriumphant‘renaissance’.
Inthisfreshreassessmentofthetwelfthcentury, JohnD.Cotts:
∗ shows how new social, economic, and religious options
challengedEuropeanstore-imaginetheirplaceintheworld;
∗ providesanoverviewofpoliticallifeanddetailedexamplesofthe
originalthoughtandreligiousenthusiasmofthetime
∗ presentstheCrusadesasthecentury’sdefiningmovement.
Ideal for students and scholars alike, this is an essential overview of
a pivotal era in medieval history that arguably paved the way for a
unitedEurope.
John D. Cotts is Associate Professor of History at Whitman College,
USA.
EuropeanHistoryinPerspective
GeneralEditor:JeremyBlack
BenjaminArnold MedievalGermany
RonaldAsch TheThirtyYears’War
NigelAston TheFrenchRevolution,1789–1804
NicholasAtkin TheFifthFrenchRepublic
ChristopherBartlett Peace,WarandtheEuropeanPowers,1814–1914
RobertBireley TheRefashioningofCatholicism,1450–1700
DonnaBohanan CrownandNobilityinEarlyModernFrance
ArdenBucholz MoltkeandtheGermanWars,1864–1871
PatriciaClavin TheGreatDepression,1929–1939
JohnD.Cotts Europe’sLongTwelfthCentury
PaulaSutterFichtner TheHabsburgMonarchy,1490–1848
MarkR.Forster CatholicGermanyfromtheReformationtotheEnlightenment
MarkGaleotti GorbachevandHisRevolution
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Europe’s Long Twelfth
Century
Order, Anxiety, and Adaptation, 1095–1229
JOHND.COTTS
©JohnD.Cotts2013
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction:ApproachestotheTwelfthCenturyandIts
‘Renaissance’ 1
1 VarietiesofPoliticalOrderintheLatinWest 14
TheGermanEmpire,thePapacy,andNorthernItaly 20
MulticulturalKingdomsandtheMediterraneanWorld:
SicilyandIberia 34
CompetingMonarchiesinFranceandEngland 49
ChristianizationandtheKingdomsofNorthernand
EasternEurope 72
2 People,Economy,andSocialRelations 80
Population 81
Peasants,Lords,andPatternsofSettlement 84
TownsandCities 92
Trade,Commerce,andEconomicGrowth 99
3 SpiritualityandItsDiscontents 107
PatternsofReligiousExperience 109
TheChurchandItsReligiousOrders 120
HereticsandFriarsintheUrbanContext 136
Order,Exclusion,andtheFourthLateranCouncil 143
4 IntellectualSyntheses 151
TheIntellectualWorld:Contexts,Institutions,
andPersonnel 152
VarietiesofLatinCulture 167
TheUsesofVernacularLiterature 173
vii
viii CONTENTS
5 TheCrusadesandtheIdeaofChristendom 183
TheConceptionandMeaningoftheCrusades 185
PopularPietyandtheFirstCrusade 188
TheCrusaderStatesandtheCrusadingMovement
to1229 190
TheTravailsoftheCrusadingIdeal 194
ChristendomandtheWiderWorld 197
Conclusion 199
Notes 202
SuggestionsforFurtherReading 227
Index 234
Preface
Given its broad scope, this book must have modest goals. It was
conceived as an attempt to fit, between two relatively inexpensive
covers, a general survey of the twelfth century that could articulate
what this period has meant and continues to mean to medievalists.
It seeks, that is, to provide a basic introduction to the politics, soci-
ety, and culture of Western Europe between 1095 and 1229 while
also introducing the academic study of the period as a subject of
considerable interest in its own right. As a result, I have annotated
the work more thoroughly than is usual in such a survey. In cases
where a particular point is common knowledge to medievalists, or
has been discussed in several secondary sources, I have cited the
one I thought would be most accessible and interesting to readers
approaching the period for the first time. When presenting primary
sources, I have tried to discuss things that work well when assigned
as readings in introductory courses, and that are available in good
English translations. Many of the texts cited are available online or
in popular sourcebooks, so that readers may proceed to their own
explorations as easily as possible. Several other aspects of this book
havebeenshapedbytheundergraduateclassroom.Sincemanyofthe
sections started out as lectures, they focus on material and examples
that serve to illustrate key points rather than to provide comprehen-
sive coverage (which would, at any rate, be impossible in a book of
fewerthan90,000words).Thechaptersandtheirsubsectionsdonot
follow a single template, but vary based on the kinds of questions
andproblemsthatparticularsubjectsinspirefromengagedandmoti-
vated students. Although I am deeply indebted to many friends and
ix