The other day, reading the very engaging Ships of Heaven, a book about a ‘curated’ [my word] selection of British cathedrals, I was struck by the author’s use of the verb ‘to monetize’. ‘Struck’ for several reasons. (Actually, four – I think – as we'll see.) First, because the context in which they used it put the Middle Ages in your face in a way that forced me ‘to sit up and take notice’.