Los reyes bibliófilos: bibliotecas, cultura escrita y poder en el Occidente medieval

Abstract

The spiritual ascendancy of the classical tradition in the Medieval West meant that in the illiterate society of the dark centuries (and perhaps precisely because of it) there continued to be a link between books and Latin culture and power and social elites. This was true to a certain degree, although not in such an unequivocal way as with the sword and power or land and power. Nevertheless, most literate medieval rulers perceived books and libraries with reverence. The libraries reunited by Germanic kings and Carolingian and Ottonian Emperors followed monastic or episcopal models, given that the late-Roman palace library tradition had fallen into oblivion. However, most Feudal royal libraries resembled those of the nobility. The so-called Renaissance of the Twelfth Century started to modify this trend and the rulers of the Latin West became “clerical”kings in possession of ever-growing libraries.