In building his argument for "another Middle Ages" (un autre moyen âge), Le Goff documents the emergence of the collective mentalité from many sources with scholarship both imaginative and exact.

    He knows nothing of his parentage and has little hope for a future outside the familiar but sometimes restrictive monastery walls. Abbot Michael alone knows Leo's story and family line and unexpectedly, when the heir to the house of Wardlock is killed in the Crusades, he sets in motion events in which Leo will need every scrap of wisdom and endurance. For he is not only heir to Wardlock, but also to its rival?the house of Tr?moine! Vividly set in the pious but turbulent England of the twelfth-century this authentic and stirring tale of suffering and courage shows a boy who?to claim his heritage?must first see it transformed by the power of love and forgiveness.Ages 10 and up