ABSTRACT
Despite the amount of attention that has centred on the twelfth century, a more fruitful period to examine could well be the tenth. Integral to this was a revival in learning which embraced secular as well as religious studies that were fundamentally Platonic in content, a fact borne out by some of the principal sources consulted in tenth-century monasteries. However, since the history of the tenth century is perhaps not generally as well known as that of the twelfth or thirteenth, it may be helpful to present rather more of its background than might be thought necessary for a later century. In considering the objection, the tenth century may now perhaps be seen as a more profitable period to investigate than a later one, because it was during this century that Ottonian rule brought about a general revival in Western culture.
