I wrote this for my AP Euro Summer Assignment :)
It
is rare to find a historical work that is as engaging as A World Lit Only By Fire. Historian William Manchester wrote the
text in a narrative style, a literary choice that some critics believe lessened
his credibility as a historical author. The critics have it all wrong,
however—it is his style which makes the book work. While the main text focuses
on Magellan, the controversies of the Roman Catholic Church, and the eventual
fall of the church, it is the minute details that paint the image of the age. These
facts make the book more accessible to modern readers; it shows that humans
were still motivated by the same forces that motivate humans today. By making
this period of time fascinating, Manchester is able to present his thesis to an
intrigued reader—that the ten centuries of the Middle Ages were corrupt,
ignorant, and ruled by an all too powerful church. The latter half of the book
focuses on Ferdinand Magellan’s trip around the globe, and how his quest to
explore juxtaposes itself with the era’s negative view of knowledge. Overall,
the book explores how the church’s attempt to suppress doubt achieved nothing
except facilitating it.
Based on Manchester’s descriptions of daily life in the
Middle Ages one could conclude that he agrees with Thomas Hobbes that, at that
time at least, life was “nasty, brutish, and short.” (92) He spends a great
deal of the work setting up the circumstances of the time period-from the fall
of the Roman Empire to the rise of the Roman Catholic Church (and eventual
decline) and by describing the lives of every class of people he shows how
people viewed the world, and this helps to explain why the world was really
only lit by fire, to be frank. Bathing was irregular. Promiscuity was a way of
life. Illiteracy was high. People believed in mythological legends—fairies and
curses and superstitions. (67-68)This, according to
Manchester, is why this period of darkness could continue for so long and why
it only took a few voices (of humanists and especially of Martin Luther’s) to
bring the entire institution of Europe crumbling down. Manchester wrote the
work almost as a war between the power of the church and the various threats to
the Vatican by knowledge. The printing press, Martin Luther, and Leonardo da Vinci
all made dents in the control of the church. (140)Eventually Magellan
circumnavigated the world and this revelation in the value of knowledge for
knowledge’s sake would shake Europe until it crumbled.
As stated previously, William Manchester uses some
unorthodox methods in his attempt to present his message. Some historians might
say he uses too many details, many of them crude and gratuitous, and they
overbear the real facts and points in the work. If anything, these details
uphold the overall historical record. It is easy enough to write “The Papacy
was corrupt,” but much more intriguing to read about Lucrezia Borgia and her
affair with her father, the pope. (85) These gritty details
add color to the story that textbooks lack. Other historians may have been
interested in teaching history, Manchester teaches history through life
experience.
Manchester ends the text with some insight on doubt.
Doubt, above all else, was the greatest enemy of the church. Knowledge and life
experience facilitated it, which is why the Roman Catholic Church was so
against the spread of the printing press, and why Martin Luther’s idea to print
The Bible in German changed absolutely everything about religion in the Middle
Ages. “Suppressing doubt is hard.” (296) Manchester included
this in the final paragraph. The entire text is essentially the idea that
because the church had so many people fooled into believing in indulgences and
the afterlife and their sins they had an immense power over everyone in Europe.
This can only last so long however, before the glass ceiling shatters and sends
doubt spreading across Europe—in the form of Lutheranism, vernacular
literature, or new of corruption in the papacy. Knowledge was the only way to
light the world once the candles burned to the stub, and nothing would stop it.
This book is paralleled perhaps only by William and Ariel
Durant’s eleven volume series on the history of civilization. (To which
Manchester frequently refers.) No other work is so comprehensive and engaging,
and no other work makes such an impact with its message. The idea of living in
a world in which the acquisition of knowledge must be done in secret (as with
Leonardo da Vinci) sounds horrific in modern times. How could that have ever
happened? As Manchester tells the story, it progressed as the wrong people took
power. He brings up the modern world in his final paragraph—discussing the
current Christian population. Do they still
believe in heaven and eternity? Not really, and certainly not in the
same way the people of Europe did in the Middle Ages. “The specter of skepticism haunts shrines and altars.” (296) Knowledge has done
its work in the modern era. As long as it is valued, it will remain very much
alive, and feed doubt throughout its existence. Do not feel too comfortable,
however. Manchester began A World Lit
Only By Fire by discussing the Roman Empire. Knowledge was valued and doubt
common. It was a golden age for Europe, much like the Renaissance that would
follow it. However the fact that there were ten centuries of oppression in
between should not be forgotten. Hopefully Manchester is correct when he states
that “the serenity of medieval faith is lost forever.” (296) If that is serenity,
knowledge is much more useful, and a much stronger force.
