ABSTRACT
The previous chapters placed Urbanus magnus within the context of twelfthcentury England, in terms of both daily living and contemporary literary production. In addition, we have seen how the text was manipulated or put to other uses over subsequent centuries. This deeper understanding of the text as a whole allows us to return to the key problems that were raised in Chapter 2 to examine the question of the origin of Urbanus magnus, and more specifically the impetus behind its creation. It is important to view Urbanus magnus as part of contemporary literature, and not simply as the beginning of a broadly European-wide development of courtesy literature. By removing it from the straitjacket of genre and assessing it simply as a work from the twelfth century, we will be better able to ascertain the reasons for its creation.
