"In this book, French historian Jacques Le Goff places the genesis of Europe firmly in the Middle Ages. He contends that it was in the Middle Ages that many of the institutions and beliefs we consider to be "European" were defined and developed for the first time: ideas about a common Christian society, public spaces, courtship, and marriage." "The Birth of Europe presents the historical facts and events that shaped the period, but also the formation of attitudes and concepts of a European "dream.""--Jacket.