The High Middle Ages in Germany
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loginor many years now there has been an astonishing interest in the Middle Ages. The popularity in Germany of exhibitions such as on the Staufer (1977) and the House of Wittelsbach (1980) and the tremen-dous number of books recently published on historical matters bear witness to this. Opinions differ as to the cause and depth of this interest. The publication of Umberto Eco's immensely popular mediaeval novel The Name of the Rose can certainly be said to have roused this interest and stimulated it, although it is doubtful whether the majority of readers would understand and appreciate the vast number of historical references in it. It is probably largely the ambience of the distant, mysterious world of the monastery and the events described that account for the fascination of this book for readers. For many people, the historical imagination needs the stimulation of the senses if it is -perhaps - to develop into an interest based on facts.
