motto, Sanctus amor patriae dat animum, linked “holy love for the Fatherland” with
soul, spirit, and inspiration.)
In the end, then, the Middle Ages matter today because they are not so far away
as to be entirely foreign, and yet they are far enough away. As the Middle Ages
unfolded and became something else (however we may want to define the period that
comes next), we can see slow change over time, which we cannot do with our own
period. We can then assess what both its stability and its changes may mean for our
understanding of human nature, human society, ourselves, and our future.
