The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century, by Paul Collins With this post, I will complete my review of Collins’ book. The Nuns Technically a secular canoness, not a cloistered nun; bound to celibacy and obedience, but not to poverty. Probably the best known of this era is Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, the first woman dramatist in Europe. Hrosvitha was part of the intellectual renaissance of the tenth century (wait a minute; there was a renaissance before The Renaissance?), to include the males Liutprand of Cremona and “the greatest scholar and polymath … Continue reading ‘Oppressive’ Western Civilization