Thomas Cahill''s appealing approach to distant
history has won the attention of millions of readers in North
America and beyond. Cahill is the author of four previous volumes
in the Hinges of History series:
How the Irish Saved
Civilization,
The Gifts of the Jews,
Desire of
the Everlasting Hills, and
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea.
They have been bestsellers, not only in the United States but also
in countries ranging from Italy to Brazil. He and his wife, Susan,
also a writer, divide their time between New York and Rome.
1. Why did future generations characterize the Middle Ages as a
time of destruction and ignorance? Who was served by that
depiction? Which progressive aspects of this period were the most
surprising to you?
2. The author attributes the rise of powerful women during the
Middle Ages to the Madonna''s central place in religious culture.
How did perceptions of the Madonna shape the notion of the ideal
woman during this era?
3. What similarities exist between the ways Hildegard of Bingen
and Eleanor of Aquitaine used their power? How did the politics of
church and state mirror one another during the Middle Ages?
4. What was Hildegard''s guiding premise in her written
exchanges with authority figures in the Church? How did her
mystical visions seem to affect her tenacity? How would modern-day
Roman Catholicism respond to a nun like her, or to an
unconventional believer like Francis of Assisi?
5. How might European history have unfolded if Eleanor had
ruled, rather than Henry (and later, Richard)? Would she have
created an atmosphere of greater or less political stability?
6. What does the story of Abelard and Héloïse indicate about the
changing concept of love during the Middle Ages? How does this
couple compare to the ideals of courtly love also flourishing at
the time? Were Héloïse''s views on marriage realistic or
idealistic?
7. What contemporary fallout does the West experience today as a
result of the Crusades? Why was Francis of Assisi''s approach to
diplomacy-to sail to Egypt and meet with the Sultan al-Kamil in
person-both rare and futile during the Middle Ages?
8. How was Francis able to find so much universal beauty in the
world, as evidenced in "The Canticle of the Creatures," while
nature was dealing his health such horrific blows? How did
humanity''s understanding of the natural world change during his
lifetime?
9. How would you characterize the scientific inquiries spurred
by figures such as Roger Bacon? What can be learned from Thomas
Aquinas''s attempts to reconcile mystery and reason, or faith and
facts? In what way do the intellectual pursuits of the Middle Ages
speak to twenty-first-century quests for knowledge?
10. Do the chapters on medieval art indicate that art captures
and preserves the way a community perceives the world, or does art
change (even control) the way a community perceives the world? What
is the significance of the fact that art turned realistic,
particularly through the vision of the Florentine painter
Giotto?
11. What were your reactions to the book''s numerous photographs
of medieval art and architecture? Do the artists and artisans seem
to share a common definition of beauty?
12. What do Dante''s poetry and life story tell us about the
medieval understanding of God? What did Dante himself try to tell
us about earthly concerns versus eternal ones, and the quest for
peace?
13. What do the book''s maps demonstrate about the role of land
in the power struggles of the Middle Ages? On a smaller scale,
which regions were more culturally permissive (did communities
flourishing along the Rhine differ from those along the Seine)?
What are the contemporary effects of these geographic shifts
occurring centuries before?
14. The intermezzo, "Entrances to Other Worlds," provides a
portrait of an early form of globalization. In what ways did
religion and commerce intersect at that time? Were there any
secular realms in business then?
15. Mysteries of the Middle Ages begins and
ends with reflections on classical civilization. How did medieval
societies respond to these legacies? From the death penalty (see
the author''s note regarding Dominique Jerome Green in the book''s
introduction) to the church scandals described in the postlude, how
does the twenty-first-century world respond to the legacies of the
Middle Ages?