A significant contribution to the study of cross-cultural communicationa "and accommodationa "in the ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse world of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean as reflected in Byzantine, Latin and Islamic archival sources and chancery traditions.

This is the first of two volumes on theological quodlibeta, records of special disputations held before Christmas and Easter ca. 1230-1330, mostly at the University of Paris, in which audience members asked the great masters of theology the questions for debate, questions de quolibet, "about anything." The variety of the material and the authors' stature make the genre uniquely fascinating. In Volume I, chapters by acknowledged experts introduce the genre, cover the quodlibeta of Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, Giles of Rome, Godfrey of Fontaines, and 13th-century Franciscans, and demonstrate...