Primitivism and Related Ideas in the Middle Ages

These essays emphasise the continuity between pagan and Christian cultures with relation to concepts of primitivism, and examine the latter period's modifications of a group of classical themes. The essays demonstrate the growth of primitivism and anti-primitivism from the first to the thirteenth centuries, and include discussion of topics such as the Noble Savage, earthly paradise, the original condition of human beings, and cynicism and Christianity.