High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages were a golden period for historical writing in England. The craft of history was not a professional subject taught in school, such as the scholastic subjects of logic, theology, law and natural science, but rather something practised by well-educated men of learning, not subjected to the process of systems and procedures of Academia. It was a realm for educated men in monasteries and the courts of kings, bishops and barons, who had the time and position and particular talents to pursue it. As a result the quality and variety of the histories from this period are highly variable, with some entertaining and appealing examples.
After the Norman Conquest there was an explosion of interest in English history. It has been theorized this was due in part to the native English desire to reclaim their cultural identity from the debacle of 1066. As well the new Norman rulers were interested in discovering who it was they had reigned over, which fuelled demand for legends of England's early Kings, such as Geoffrey’s King Arthur.
Read more about this topic: Historians Of England In The Middle Ages
Famous quotes containing the words middle ages, high, middle and/or ages:
“In public buildings set aside for the care and maintenance of the goods of the middle ages, a staff of civil service art attendants praise all the dead, irrelevant scribblings and scrawlings that, at best, have only historical interest for idiots and layabouts.”
—George Grosz (1893–1959)
“If I must choose which I would elevate
The people or the already lofty mountains,
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The only fault I find with old New Hampshire
Is that her mountains aren’t quite high enough.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Radicalism is the opium of the middle class.”
—Christina Stead (1902–1983)
“How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)