ABSTRACT
This introduction provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyzes the group cultures of large social categories such as classes, stations and professions as well as of smaller groups such as the monks of a specific monastery, the residents of a particular city, clans and factions. The book deals with group cultures of respectively the clergy, the secular aristocracy, the peasantry, and merchants and townspeople in the period from the seventh to the eleventh century. It addresses whether specific cultures were entangled with these social strata and describe the shared values, norms, attitudes and emotional patterns of members of a social stratum, addressing the question whether certain components of their culture were shared with members of other social strata and in what respects their culture differed from cultures of other social strata.
