How Medieval Thinkers Analysed Cultural Differences

Medieval intellectuals were fascinated to compare their culture with others, often, though not always, looking at differences in religion. They did so using a number of different genres, among them dialogues between representatives of different ‘laws’ (i.e., religions), travellers’ stories, geographies, philosophical treatises and ethnographic reports. Historians have greatly underestimated the sophistication and variety of this facet of medieval intellectual life, because it does not fall neatly into one of our current subject divisions (such as history of philosophy or history of literature) and because anthropology and comparative religion are usually presumed to be modern disciplines, without medieval ancestors. The aim of this short book is to establish Cultural Comparisons as an area of medieval studies by looking at some of the outstanding texts, mainly from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries. Although the main focus will be on Western European Christian writers, there will also be some discussion of cultural comparisons made by Jews and Muslims.