City and Cosmos: The Medieval World in Urban Form Keith D. Lilley Cities have deep meaning in the human imagination, for the city is much more than simply a collection of people and houses - it is an idea. In City and Cosmos, Keith D. Lilley sets out to show how medieval Christians viewed their urban surroundings symbolically, both as a 'body' writ large and as a miniature model of the wider world. For the first time, this book explores how material and imagined forms of European medieval towns and cities were imbued with Christian meanings deriving from contemporary beliefs and practices. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, including manuscript accounts, visual art, science, literature, drama and architectural history, Lilley presents an innovative interpretation of how medieval towns and cities were understood by those who shaped them. H combines textual and visual evidence to reveal how these 'urban worlds' were imagined, formed, and experienced at the time. A book that crosses traditional subject boundaries, City and cosmos will appeal to a wide range of medievalists working in history, archaeology, philology, philosophy and theology. It will be also a sure guide for students of architectural history, urban planning, art history and human geography seeking to re-evaluate medieval urbanism and European urban forms. Keith D. Lilley is Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Queen's University, Belfast. His previous books include Urban life in the Middle Ages, 1000-1450>/i> (2002).