Overview

*** 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 edition 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

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9781350446670

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Reviews

Ideal for classroom use, this updated edition of John Cotts’s 2012 work offers a concise history of the Latin West from c. 1050 to 1200. Incorporating recent scholarship, Cotts addresses classic debates—like the twelfth-century renaissance and reformation—as well as newer questions about medieval Europe’s global context and the evolving direction of medieval studies. * Dr Michael Stewart, Honorary Research Fellow in History, University of Queensland, Australia * Neither a Dark Age nor a Renaissance, Cotts brings us into an pivotal moment in medieval history that emerges, instead, as profoundly human - with all the messiness that entails. * David M. Perry, Journalist and Historian, co-author of Oathbreakers, USA *

Author Information

John D. Cotts is Associate 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).

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