OF MODERN CIVILIZATION: OR, SKETCHES OF THE SOCIAL CONDITION FROM THE TWELFTH TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. LONDON: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY: Instituted 1799. PREFACE. THE sketches now submitted to the public are intended to form a sequel to "GLIMPSES OF THE DARK AGES." In the preface to that work, it was remarked, that in the twelfth century a new epoch in European society commenced; that new social elements were formed; that old one's received new life; and that events and institutions made their appearance, which belong to the later period of social progress. In this volume, an attempt is made to develope some of the leading phenomena of society, from the twelfth to the sixteenth century-the period of the dawn of modern civilization. |