preview

Life Changing Movements In The Middle Ages

Decent Essays

In A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester, the Early Middle Ages, the ‘Dark Ages’, is painted as a period of intellectual death, where illiteracy was common, war was rampant, and disease was ubiquitous. In the Late Middle Ages, Medieval people were still stuck in a life of despair in which the elite controlled the people’s minds. Thus, the Church worked towards crafting mind where the people would devote their lives to the Church and their pope. They crafted a mind where the Church was almighty, omniscient, and unchallenged. As a result, medieval people had diminished their self-worth, exalted the Church, and unknowingly submitted to lives of ignorance. However, throughout this period, there were few who were curious, pursued the truth, and brought about life changing movements. In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, there was a revival of life, culture, truth, faith, and the medieval people. Medieval people were exposed to new discoveries and revelations regarding their world and the Church. Ultimately, the medieval mind, which was once characterized by a lack of ego and ingenuity, a devotion to the Roman Catholic Church, and undisputed knowledge, was revolutionized by the major figures of the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Age of Discovery.
Throughout the fifteenth century, medieval people, because of their belief in a lack of ego and ingenuity, underwent a struggle against a new, powerful spirit, the Renaissance, and its protagonist. Medieval

Get Access