Author: Münster-Swendsen, Mia
Title: Masters and Paragons : Learning, Power, and the Formation of a European Academic Culture c. 900-1230
Description: [Copenhagen], [Department of History], 2004. orig. wrappers. 29x20cm, ix,527,(2) pp. Cover title. University of Copenhagen doctoral dissertation. Weighs 1.4 kilos.. Minor wear. Inscribed by author on first page. VG. ¶ [Abstract: "This dissertation investigates the formative stages in the creation of a European 'res publica litterarum' in the tenth- to early thirteenth centuries.The history of the intellectual world of medieval Europe is also the social history of the rise of a privileged elite who did not legitimise its authority through inheritance, economic wealth, military power or bloodties, but through acquired abilities and merits, personal relationships, intellectual affiliations, and not least through a wide-embracing transnational network established by the schools. It is contended that these schools became a central formative force in (re) creating early- and high-medieval society. The study consists of three individual, yet interconnected sections, involving three perspectives through which we may assess the cultural history of medieval education in this period. The first section inscribes the medieval men-of-letters within a larger social and especially political frame, as authors of an ideology which came to have profound effects on social reality. Concurrently, it draws a sketch of the development of the centres of learning from a transnational perspective. The second section analyses social relationships and educational practices within the school milieus, particularly in relation to the structures of power and authority. As part of this, it deals with strategies of identity-formation and the self- perceptions of the medieval schoolmen. The final, third section is devoted to the content of learned discourse as a coherent system of knowledge.."].

Keywords: Medieval History, University, Education, Learning, Pedagogy, , , ,