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World Lit only by Fire Reading Journal

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World Lit only by Fire Reading Journal
Reading Journal: A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance – Portrait of an Age.

Medieval Mind
Summaries
P.7: The Dark Ages brought war, famine, high crime, and widespread ignorance to the once thriving Roman Empire.
P.8: Civil wars were waged across the Roman Empire to quell different interpretations on Catholicism.
P.9: The pious Saint Augustine orchestrated one of the first Great Works that set the foundations to the Medieval Mind. The “Decivitate Dei” was created to denounce the old Roman ways of promiscuity.
P.11: In the early thirteenth century, papal influence peaked under the guidance of Pope Innocent III. Ascension of the social ladder was most easily done by worship of Christ.
P.13: The Church adopts old pagan traditions in hope of transitioning those who still had faith in the old Roman Gods.
P.14: Emperor Leo III of the Byzantine Empire denounced the integration of pagan traditions especially attempts to render holy figures into image. He considered these acts as vile sacrilege and ordered all religious arts to be destroyed.
P.16: Economically, the empire was shattered. The rich and noble rose while the serfs and the unhealthy remained known as common rabble.
P.21: It was widely believed among religious figures of the Church that the creation of the papacy was a divine creation. For this reason they believed that adding or changing any of the dogmas that were the basis of the papacy was heresy. They made it a priority to keep the beliefs of the Church intact.
P.22: Widespread lack of identity due to the Church’s desire to keep the people in line with Catholicism.
P.23: Differences between centuries seemed minimal considering the lack of innovation or any change whatsoever in how the Church conducted its affairs.
P.25: Christendom began to parish as many nations in Europe began to realize national identity and free thinking.
P.26: During the birth of the Renaissance, the most influential men became the scholars,

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