J. R. R. Tolkien

The internal diversity in Europe in the Middle Ages and early Modern period (social, linguistic, religious and national) created communities with parallel interests across political divides. The links between these groups and their mobility across the Continent, creating international communities bound together by religion, profession, trade, skill or craft, are highlighted in the five chapters of this book. The opening chapter discusses practical and conceptual maps, travel and the ideas of cartography and navigation. 'The Classics and Christendom' presents models of unity, spiritual and secular, provided by the inheritance from the ancient world. 'International Languages - International Learning' focuses on the Latin language, the shared language of religion, learning, and administration, which facilitated the mobility of book producers, of the educated classes and of the books they carried with them. The following chapter traces the development of European vernacular languages. The final section looks at how European identity was sharpened through increased knowledge with other worlds and traditions, for example, by reference to a Latin translation of an Arabic medical manual, which served for centuries as a textbook in European schools of medicine. Each item is illustrated in full-page colour and accompanied by a facing-page description. These are supplemented by listings of provenance and printed literature. Originally written to accompany an exhibition in the Library in 1994, this is a beautifully-illustrated and elegantly written testament to the cross-fertilization of European culture and tradition, and to Britain's involvement with that culture.