Peter Dronke, Sacred and Profane Thought in the Early Middle Ages. Millennio Medievale: Strumenti e Studi, 109. Florence: SISMEL/Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2016, pp. XXXIV, 298, 4 ill.

With these seventeen retrospective essays (all dating from 1988–2015) peerless medieval Latinist Peter Dronke unearths certain links between sacred and profane notions and images, as well as Christian-Platonic motifs, particularly from the early Middle Ages. The first two parts of the book dwell on aspects (in the widest sense) of Christian Platonism, focusing on themes like sensuality, allegory, and the theme of silence, whether in the Latin tradition or in the vernacular (Old French or Middle High German, for example). The second (middle) segment touches on some of the greatest thinkers in the Latin world, from Boethius in the sixth century to John Scotus Eriugena, Hildegard of Bingen, William of Conches, and Thierry of Chartres in the twelfth. The emphasis throughout is on transformations and syncretisms far more than on disjunctions. The final group of essays is concerned with poetic texts, Latin and vernacular, in which non-sacred elements make their way into the sacred, the biblical and the saintly realms. A brief Epilogue glances at early medieval profane poetry outside (Japanese) as well as within Europe.