15 - THE TWELFTH-CENTURY RENAISSANCE

Summary

Of all generalizations in medieval European history, that of a twelfth-century Renaissance has generated the most discussion, ever since Charles Homer Haskins launched it in 1927. Both the secular and the sacred spheres in twelfth-century Europe were the beneficiaries of systematizing tendencies. The recovery of a manuscript of Justinian's corpus of Roman law in Italy in the eleventh century marked a watershed. The whole compass of the secular arts of Greece and Rome was regarded as philosophia. The humanistic interest in cosmology as an extension of philosophia is noticeable among scholars associated with the cathedral school at Chartres in the twelfth century. The principal medieval guide to the intricacies of the Latin language was Priscian's Grammatical Institutes. One of the most conspicuous and distinctive features of twelfth-century thought is the rapid assimilation of Euclid's Elements and engagement with its methodology. The case of astrology exemplifies a prerequisite for the advancement of the natural sciences.