A World Lit Only by Fire
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A World Lit Only by Fire (1992) by American historian William Manchester, is an informal history of the European Middle Ages.
The book is structured into three sections: The Medieval Mind, The Shattering, and One Man Alone.
The opening section, The Medieval Mind, extensively covers notable occurrences centered in approximately in the year 500, including a lavish description of the fall of the Roman Empire and the reasons for its fall. Manchester then continues, delineating why "Europe was troubled since" the Empire's demise. He speaks of the Dark Ages that immediately followed the collapse of the Roman Empire, including details regarding a number of adverse events that were characteristic of what Manchester notes as a "stark" era. He speaks of the Black Death as well as various "climatic changes," such as severe flooding, that socially and economically brought ruin to the already frail condition that many European nations resorted to after the Roman Empire ceased to exist.
The second section of the work, The Shattering, is the book's most extensive section; expanding upon a great deal of happenings that embodied the latter end of the Middle Ages as well as the early period of the Renaissance. Manchester in this section focuses primarily upon the corruption of the Catholic Church. He attacks many medieval clergymen, including numerous popes, speaking of inappropriate financial and carnal acts. He relates extensive anecdotes regarding a pope from the formidable medieval Borgia family, Pope Alexander VI, speaking of "wild" celebrations and extensive nepotism exercised by this pope. In conjunction with his inscriptions on the state of the Vatican, or the "Holy See," Manchester also speaks in depth about the Protestant Reformation as led by former Catholic monk Martin Luther. Continuing with his focus in regards to spirituality, he writes on the rise of humanism in the early Renaissance days and its celebration of secularism over piety. He covers humanist scholars, and concentrates upon the humanist tendencies of Renaissance leaders such as Michelangelo and Da Vinci. Speaking also of the European nobility of the era, Manchester elaborately describes the life and decisions made by England's King Henry VIII. He writes of Henry's wives and the King's eventual separation from the Church despite his being once, according to Manchester, an "ardent Catholic."
The final section of the work, One Man Alone, is a description of the voyage of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who circumnavigated the globe. Manchester fully expands upon the life and personality of Magellan, his setbacks, and his eventual death in the Philippines in an attempt to convert the natives to Catholicism there. His argument is ultimately that Magellan's voyage was concurrent with and, on several levels, symptomatic of the shattering of what he defines as the medieval mind.
A World Lit Only By Fire is an informative read, yet as its purpose does not possess educational intentions, it tends to include humor, perspectives, biases, and anecdotes that readers may consider not to be objective.
[edit] Reference
- A World Lit Only by Fire ISBN 0-316-54556-2
