The Enchantment of the Middle Ages

This volume presents the work of the French medievalist Michel Zink Collecting his inaugural lecture to the College de France and four essays that expand on its themes, the volume explores the changing nature of our understanding of the period and its literature, revisiting questions of what is old and new in medievalism - and in medieval culture itself. For answers, Zink returns to the body of literature that has defined medievalism for two centuries: the chansons of the troubadours. In the text he examines how the chansons have served numerous contradictory aims, as expressions of youthful passion and as reliquaries of antiquated customs.