Introduction

tudents of the Middle Ages, whatever their special area of interest, will know that interdisciplinary study is no recent invention but an approach older than the modern system of organizing knowledge by “disciplines.” Through a study of the medieval period, the student can come to an understanding of a civilization as a whole in both its unity and diversity. Such a study offers coherence rather than fragmentation. If a liberal education is to be developed round an understanding of the past and present in terms of the connections among various phenomena, then medieval studies will be central to that education.