Alexander of Roes, a the dean of Cologne. In an essay written in 1288, Notitia saeculi, reflected on the term "Europe" and the cultural, political and ethnic implications associated to it. In fact, one of the first works on Europe as a civilization given the Classical antiquity was Mediterranean sea centered (in contactwith Egypt, Judea, Greece, Syria, Anatolia, Carthage) instead of European centered.

He categorized Europeans in 4 groups. The Greeks in the East. Hispania to the West. The Franks to the North (basically Germanics) and the Romans to the South (Italians).

>inb: but le slavs
He did not put about them in a specific category as a whole, maybe greeks or franks, idk

>>508019957 (OP)
Europe as a single cultural entity surely predates the 13th century, it's basically the catholic church with the latin lingua franca which had existed since carolingian times