MYSTERIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES --- THE RISE OF FEMINISM, SCIENCE, AND ART
FROM THE CULTS OF CATHOLIC EUROPE by Thomas Cahill. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2006
    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (xiii-xiv)

    A CHAUCERIAN INVITATION (p1-3)

      All across Europe, a "pilgrimage" in company with others was a life-defining event and one of the principal satisfactions of a well-tuned life. Most Medieval travelers had never gone beyond the nearest market town, so every pilgrim could look forward to the marvelous sights and strange encounters. Whether you journeyed to a national shrine or to the most exotic goal of all --- the Holy Land itself, you would have enough stories to tell on your return to fill what remained of your span of days. (p2)

      You are invited on a special pilgrimage, dear Reader, to places you have never seen before and to people you could otherwise never have expected to know. (p2-3)

      We are surely sundry folk, as Chaucer would have called us. And we shall meet sundry folk even more exotic than ourselves. "By aventure" (from Chaucer's words) --- by happenstance (= anything that happens by chance without an apparent cause) [and by choice = the freedom you have because of your human brain!] --- we have fallen into fellowship.

    PRELUDE --- Alexandria, city of reason (p5-30)

      The "Great Confluence"

      Including a listing of the 16 most famous Ancient Thinkers who contributed most to what we know of our Western civilized heritage (p26-27)

    INTRODUCTION --- Rome, crossroads of the world (p31-64)

      How the Romans became the Italians

      Dating the Middle Ages (p63)

      Relevant Romans (p64)

    1) Bingen and Chartres, Gardens Enclosed --- the Cult of the Virgin and its consequences (p65-116)

    2) Aquitaine and Assisi, Courts of Love --- the pursuit of love and its consequences (p49-85)

    INTERMEZZO --- Entrances to other worlds (p176-186)

      The Mediterranean, the Orient, and the Atlantic

    3) Paris, University of Heavenly Things --- the exaltation of reason and its consequences (p187-213)

    4) Oxford, University of Earthly Things --- the Alchemist's quest and its consequences (p215-229)

    5) Padua, Chapel of Flesh --- the artist's experiment and its consequences (p230-268)

    6) Florance, Dome of Light (p269-300)

    7) Ravenna, City of Death --- the politician's emptiness and its consequences (p301-312)

      Major Medieval People (p312)

    8) Love, in the Ruins --- a Dantesque reflection (p313-317)

    NOTES AND SOURCES (p319-326)

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (p327)

    PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (p328)

    PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS (p329-330)

    INDEX (p331-343)

    A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR (p345)

    A NOTE ABOUT THE TYPE (p346-347)

Return to essay #3: 3. Focus on Your Creative Mind and Body Together
Go to master index: Interactive Index of Factual Ideas