Image: the Romanesque Mont Saint Michael --
                                                Dedicated to the (Warrior) Archangel Michael

                    THE ARABIC WORLD                       WESTERN EUROPE                        THE BYZANTINE WORLD

            Avicenna 1050 C.E.                                                                                                     Eastern Christianity
        Arabic philosopher                                 Benedictine monk, of Cluny,                                     breaks with Rome

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                                 Key Images:  Major universities (e.g. University of Paris and University of Oxford)
                                                                Also the British Parliament
In the
1st two                                    New Mendicant Orders are approved by Church.
quarter of                        Also a cruel crusade against the Cathars in the south of France, followed by
century,                    the founding of the Inquisition which finished what was left of the rich, tolerant culture of Provence.

                                        ST. FRANCIS             (both die c. 1225)                     ST. DOMINIC
                    Founder of FRANCISCAN order                                         Founder of DOMINICAN order
                        (brown monk's robes)                                                             (black and white robes)

In 2nd                                        the Franciscan                                                                   the Dominican
& 3rd                            SAINT BONAVENTURE                                             SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
quarter of                         ( c. 1225-1275)                                                                                        (c. 1225-1275)
century
 

In 4th                            JOHN DUNS SCOTUS                                                       MEISTER ECKHART
quarter                                 (c. 1266-1308)                                                                         (c. 1260-1329)
of
century                                                                                      DANTE ALIGHIERI
                                                                                    (1265-1321)

         Dante's Divine Comedy is written during the time of his excile from the city of Florence
                                                from 1302 until shortly before his death in 1321.

         The scholasticism of the previous century goes into a decline.  The fourteenth century sees the Papacy at Avignon in France and the start of the Hundred Years War between England and France.

        The Black Death occurred c. 1350 -- the year in which William of Ockham died.