Book excerpt: Books and learning in 12th-century Europe are the broad concern of the nineteen papers assembled here. The discussion of 'books' ranges from important individual manuscripts, to collections manufactured in 'scriptoria' and kept in 'libraries'; the 'learning' is primarily the composition, transmission and study of Latin literary texts, both ancient and contemporary. Special attention is given to the Latin classics, to the literary culture of the larger Benedictine houses, to the phenomenal quantity of Latin satirical writing of the period, and to the dissemination and reception of texts and ideas over time. While the geographical focus is England, the relationship of English materials and developments to the wider European context is constantly emphasized.