The Two Cities

Covering a colourful period of medieval history from the schism between the eastern and western churches to the death of Dante, The Two Cities provides an introduction to key topics such as: - The Crusades - The expansionist force of the Normans - Major developments in the way kings, emperors and popes exercised their powers - A great flourishing of art and architecture - The foundation of the very first universities Four major sections covering The Social and Economic Structure, The Church, Political Change and Perceptions of the World, analyse and discuss the delicate relationship between the spiritual and secular worlds - the two 'cities' of the title. This third edition has been updated throughout to incorporate new literature and ideas that have emerged since the previous edition including sexuality and the environment, as well as additional material on Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Making extensive use of primary sources and new trends in historical research and scholarship, this book provides a fresh approach to students in the most rounded, lively and integrated view of the High Middle Ages available.

Malcolm Barber is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading, UK. He is the author of books on the Templars, the Cathars and the Crusader States in the twelfth century, and the co-author of texts on the Templars, letters from the East in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (with Keith Bate) and Ambroise's history of the Holy War (with Marianne Ailes). He taught history at the University of Reading for nearly forty years until his retirement in 2005.

Introduction Part I The social and economic structure 1 The physical environment 2 Social structure 3 Economic development Part II The Church 4 The Papacy 5 The Crusades 6 Monasticism and the friars 7 Popular religion and heresy Part III Political change 8 The Empire 9 The Kingdom of Sicily 10 The Italian city-states 11 The Capetian monarchy 12 The Kingdom of England 13 Wales and Ireland 14 The Kingdom of the Scots 15 The Iberian kingdoms 16 The states of eastern and northern Europe 17 The Crusader States Part IV Perceptions of the world 18 The medieval world view 19 Intellectual life 20 Art and society 21 Western Christendom and the wider world