Accordingly, as a result of the Crusades, Western Europe indulged a taste for foreign travel, which stimulated a prodigious adventurousness that operated in the things of the spirit and the intellect as well as in the material conduct of life. Geography, for example, began to arouse a practical interest. It changed the attitude of men’s minds to the outside world, opening up new paths of travel by land and sea and, equally, new conceptions of the possibilities of the world and of life. The interest also in Crusades aroused the desire to record them and an impetus was given to historical writings, which, partaking largely of romance, led to a renewed interest in such old romances as those of the Knights of the Round Table of the Arthurian Legend and of Charlemagne’s Paladins. A most significant testimony to the character of the civilisation of the thirteenth century is afforded by the voluminous writings of Vincent of Beauvais, who held the post of “reader” in the monastery of Royaumont, on the Oise near Paris, which was founded by Louis IX. His work, written in Latin and entitled the “Speculum Universale” or “Universal Mirror,” is an encyclopædia of the knowledge of the Middle Ages; a mirror, in fact, of the mind of the age of great cathedral building. It is divided into three parts: the _Speculum_, respectively, _Naturale_, _Doctrinale_, and _Historiale_; to which a _Speculum Morale_ was added by another hand, being mainly a compilation from the works of Thomas Aquinas and other contemporary writers. The “Speculum Naturale” has been described as a gigantic commentary on the first chapter of Genesis. It opens with an account of the Trinity, and of the attributes and orders of angels; proceeds to discuss our own world, light, colour, the four elements, and Lucifer and his fallen angels. Then it proceeds to the phenomena of time, the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the wonders of the sky in thunder, dew, rain, and so forth. Thence it treats of dry land, seas, and rivers, agricultural operations, precious stones, plants, fruits, not omitting their use in medicine. Other chapters discuss birds, fishes; another domesticated and wild animals, serpents, bees, and insects, the seasons, and the calendar. Then man is dealt with, his anatomy, his organs, and five senses, and the phenomena of sleep, dreams, ecstasy, memory, reason, and so forth.