Medieval Essays "covers so wide a field in space and time that it may be difficult for the reader at first sight to grasp their connection with one another. True, they all deal with some aspect of 'medieval' culture, but the word medieval is in itself unsatisfactory or insignificant. It was coined by post-Renaissance scholars to cover the gap between two periods of positive achievement which were regarded as the only ones worthy of the attention of the educated man - the classical civilization of
Greece and Rome and the civilization of modern Europe. But this conception is the very opposite of that
on which this book is based. What I am concerned with is not the interim period between two civilizations, but the study of Christian Culture - a culture which is not only worthy of study for its own sake, but is the source of the actual sociological unity which we call Europe.