More about learning
Learning is one of my passions. Over the years I have seen a number of references to Leclercq's book and then I read it. In the Middle Ages (Eleventh century and beyond) learning happened in two social contexts: monastery and school. Leclercq focuses on the monastery, where the monks learned in order to praise God and live devout lives. To pray they had be be able to read the scriptures and other texts - both Christian and classical. What they read and prayed about prompted them to write their own expositions. The more famous of these are ones by Bernard of Clairvaux, Anselm and a few others. In general, the monks had little interest in abstract or conceptual learning; they left this to those teaching at the schools. Overall, Leclercq clearly and thoughtfully describes the learning at the monasteries, which influence later Western thought. The Middle Ages were not as "dark" as we sometimes think they were.