The Two Cities is a history of Western Christendom in the high middle ages. Assuming no prior knowledge of the period, it nevertheless seeks to explore the medieval mentality in greater depth than could be gained from a conventional outline of political events. Physical and material conditions, religious belief and organization, political structures, and medieval perceptions of the world, are presented as parts of an integrated whole. Running through the book is the perceived tension, at the heart of the medieval world view, between the spiritual and material sides of men`s nature, the two cities of the title.