From the dawn of ancient civilization to modern times, the Mediterranean Sea looms in the imagination of the people living on its shores as a space of myth and adventure, of conquest and confrontation, of migration and settlement, of religious ferment and conflict. Since its waters linked the earliest empires and centers of civilization, the Mediterranean generated globalization and multiculturalism. It gave birth to the three great monotheisms-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-religions of the book, of the land and of the sea. Over the centuries, the Mediterranean witnessed the rise and fall of some of the oldest civilizations in the world. And as these cultures succeeded one another, century after century, each left a tantalizing imprint on later societies. Like the ancient artifacts constantly washed up from its depths, the lost cities and monuments abandoned in its deserts or sunk beneath its waves, Mediterranean topography and culture is a chaotic present spread over a palimpsest many layers deep. No region grappled more continuously with, nor was more deeply marked by Mediterranean culture and history than Europe. Europe's religions, its languages, its learning, its laws, its sense of history, even its food and agriculture, all derived from Greek, Roman, and-in the Middle Ages-Muslim and Jewish cultures. The essays in this book lay bare the dynamics of cultural confrontation between Europe and the Mediterranean world from medieval to modern times. One momentous result of this engagement was the creation of vernacular languages and the diverse body of literature, history, and art arising from them. The achievements of the arts reveal-to borrow a geological metaphor-the grinding tectonic pates of Mediterranean cultures and languages butting up against pre-existing European strata.

From Parchment to Cyberspace argues the case for studying high-resolution digital images of original manuscripts to analyze medieval literature. By presenting a rigorous philosophical argument for the authenticity of such images (a point disputed by digital skeptics) the book illustrates how digitization offers scholars innovative methods for comparing manuscripts of vernacular literature - such as The Romance of the Rose or texts by Christine de Pizan - that reveal aspects of medieval culture crucial to understanding the period.

From the dawn of ancient civilization to modern times, the Mediterranean Sea looms in the imagination of the people living on its shores as a space of myth and adventure, of conquest and confrontation, of migration and settlement, of religious ferment and conflict. Since its waters linked the earliest empires and centers of civilization, the Mediterranean generated globalization and multiculturalism. It gave birth to the three great monotheisms-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-religions of the book, of the land and of the sea. Over the centuries, the Mediterranean witnessed the rise and fall of some of the oldest civilizations in the world. And as these cultures succeeded one another, century after century, each left a tantalizing imprint on later societies. Like the ancient artifacts constantly washed up from its depths, the lost cities and monuments abandoned in its deserts or sunk beneath its waves, Mediterranean topography and culture is a chaotic present spread over a palimpsest many layers deep. No region grappled more continuously with, nor was more deeply marked by Mediterranean culture and history than Europe. Europe's religions, its languages, its learning, its laws, its sense of history, even its food and agriculture, all derived from Greek, Roman, and-in the Middle Ages-Muslim and Jewish cultures. The essays in this book lay bare the dynamics of cultural confrontation between Europe and the Mediterranean world from medieval to modern times. One momentous result of this engagement was the creation of vernacular languages and the diverse body of literature, history, and art arising from them. The achievements of the arts reveal-to borrow a geological metaphor-the grinding tectonic pates of Mediterranean cultures and languages butting up against pre-existing European strata.

"This is a substantial and readable volume, and it is supplied with a rich array of documentation in the notes and bibliography. It deals with a question of critical importance for current research on medieval 'literature': namely, the relationship between this literature and us... This is an important collection, and one may congratulate the editors of their ambitious undertaking." -- Paul Zumthor, "Speculum."

Bernart de Ventadorn was a twelfth-century Catalan poet and troubador. These forty-one poems, filled with nostalgia, joy, and tenderness, were written between 1150 and 1180. This edition, with notes and a complete glossary, contains the original texts accompanied by the only English translations available at the time of publication.

This study shows that the Chanson de Roland is clearly the work of an individual creativity that could, by deliberate repetition of important parts and careful arrangement of the order of events, transcend speech limitations to hint at the complex reaction and subtle character development of the protagonist.