Scholastic disputation, the formalized procedure of debate in the medieval university, is one of the hallmarks of intellectual life in premodern Europe. Modeled on Socratic and Aristotelian methods of argumentation, this rhetorical style was refined in the monasteries of the early Middle Ages and rose to prominence during the twelfth-century Renaissance. Strict rules governed disputation, and it became the preferred method of teaching within the university curriculum and beyond. In "The Medieval Culture of Disputation," Alex J. Novikoff has written the first sustained and comprehensive study of the practice of scholastic disputation and of its formative influence in multiple spheres of cultural life.Using hundreds of published and unpublished sources as his guide, Novikoff traces the evolution of disputation from its ancient origins to its broader impact on the scholastic culture and public sphere of the High Middle Ages. Many examples of medieval disputation are rooted in religious discourse and monastic pedagogy: Augustine's inner spiritual dialogues and Anselm of Bec's use of rational investigation in speculative theology laid the foundations for the medieval contemplative world. The polemical value of disputation was especially exploited in the context of competing Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Bible. Disputation became the hallmark of Christian intellectual attacks against Jews and Judaism, first as a literary genre and then in public debates such as the Talmud Trial of 1240 and the Barcelona Disputation of 1263. As disputation filtered into the public sphere, it also became a key element in iconography, liturgical drama, epistolary writing, debate poetry, musical counterpoint, and polemic. "The Medieval Culture of Disputation" places the practice and performance of disputation at the nexus of this broader literary and cultural context.

Sometime toward the middle of the twelfth century, it is supposed, an otherwise obscure figure, born a Jew in Cologne and later ordained as a priest in Cappenberg in Westphalia, wrote a Latin account of his conversion to Christianity. Known as the "Opusculum," this book purportedly by "Herman, the former Jew" may well be the first autobiography to be written in the West after the "Confessions" of Saint Augustine. It may also be something else entirely.In "The Conversion of Herman the Jew" the eminent French historian Jean-Claude Schmitt examines this singular text and the ways in which it has divided its readers. Where some have seen it as an authentic conversion narrative, others have asked whether it is not a complete fabrication forged by Christian clerics. For Schmitt the question is poorly posed. The work is at once true and fictional, and the search for its lone author--whether converted Jew or not--fruitless. Herman may well have existed and contributed to the writing of his life, but the "Opusculum" is a collective work, perhaps framed to meet a specific institutional agenda.With agility and erudition, Schmitt examines the text to explore its meaning within the society and culture of its period and its participation in both a Christian and Jewish imaginary. What can it tell us about autobiography and subjectivity, about the function of dreams and the legitimacy of religious images, about individual and collective conversion, and about names and identities? In "The Conversion of Herman the Jew" Schmitt masterfully seizes upon the debates surrounding the "Opusculum" (the text of which is newly translated for this volume) to ponder more fundamentally the ways in which historians think and write.

The twelfth century was a time of new ideas and creative innovation spurred on by patron-monarchs like King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, poets like Marie de France and Chr tien de Troyes, lovers and intellectuals like Abelard and Heloise, and religious thinkers like Bernard of Clairvaux and Hildegard of Bingen. In his thoughtful introduction, Novikoff explores the term "twelfth-century renaissance" and whether or not it should be applied to a range of thinkers with differing outlooks and attitudes. With reference to this ongoing historiographical debate, Novikoff embraces the harmony of disharmonies and allows the authors of the twelfth century to define the period for themselves. He situates classic works against a broad backdrop of other sources, many appearing in translation for the first time, in order to highlight the period's diverse currents of thought. Sixteen black-and-white images are included.