A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind & the Renaissance - Portrait of an Age

Interesting, but unreliable

It's well-written and interesting enough to read if you're into scandals and Medieval gossip. I read it like a history book at first, so I was shocked by some of the anecdotes Manchester presents as factual history. I'm glad I double-checked and did my research because much of what's here isn't as widely accepted by historians as the author suggests. Personally, I had a lot of trouble with this because I like getting my facts straight, and I didn't enjoy the feeling afterwards that I had believed a lot of scholarly tall tales.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Highly readable!

Manchester's work in this volume is, admittedly, not scholarly in the usual sense of the term. That being said, this book is hard to put down. Manchester's style is engaging and he paints such a picture of medieval times that, upon reading him, one feels as if he has emerged from a brief sojourn in the era.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

One of My Favorite Books EVER

Manchester won me over with his gentle, flowing narrative about the Middle Ages. All the information was there, and so was the warmth and humanity of Manchester.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

If you need to know what happened in Europe in the Middle ages, this is the book.

I originally came across this book due to a course in Medieval European History I took in College. I quickly fell in love.
One of the few non-fiction books I can read more than once, William Manchester's "A World Lit Only By Fire" is a tour de force of history outlining the great events, ideas, and people that brought Europe through the "Dark Ages" into the renaissance.
What makes it a great book is it's readability. I have given it as a gift to several friends, none of whom have backgrounds in history, and all have enjoyed it- and most have gone on to delve into more specific themes Manchester touches on.
Manchester knows his history- and knows how to write about history in a way that not only teaches, but creates enjoyment in the learning.
I'd love to meet him, to say "Thank you."

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Kept My Attention..AP Euro book

I'm in AP Euro and read it for summer assignment. It kept my attention and thats most important. I'm no historian so I don't know about the facts, all I know is it could have been way more boring

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

riveting overview of the period

While I'll bow to experts in other reviews who question Manchester's sources and conclusions, I thought this was a wonderful read (perhaps because I read it voluntarily, rather than for ap history.)

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Informative, but not Chronological

This book was very informative and the writing style was okay, but what really got me was that it skipped around A LOT. Manchester went from one time period to another in the blink of an eye. You may be okay reading that, but just made it confusing for me. He seemed to just write down whatever popped into his head.

And for those of you who may be wondering, this book was originally supposed to be about Magellan. The author ended up writing this book because he had to do so much research on the time period when writing his Magellan book that he figured he'd just write the whole thing.

Fun to read, but not always accurate

William Manchester is Professor of History Emeritus at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Over the years he has written many popular works on history; this is his contribution to the medieval period.

Manchester's particular interest and area of expertise is the life and accomplishments of Ferdinand Magellan. This book sets up the picture of Magellan's world, beginning with the Dark Ages and moving to the beginning of the sixteenth century. He sees in Magellan a symbolic figure-the personification of the end of the medieval mind and the beginning of the modern age. The last major section of the book is about Magellan himself.

After discussing the medieval mind in general, Manchester proceeds to show how their world progressed and then came to an end. He traces the major events in Europe over a five hundred-year period. He conceives of the medieval mind as being superstitious, subject to the authority of the church, and full of erroneous ideas. One notes throughout the book a pronounced dislike of religion, especially of Christianity and the institutional church. His sharpest barbs are reserved for popes and Protestant reformers. With the coming of the scientific age, he sees the intellectual demise of religion in general and Christianity in particular. Religion is relegated to ethical values and encouraging legends. It is disappointing to see how he ignores the fact that Christianity, and Protestant Christianity in particular, spurred the modern scientific method.

Manchester admits that he depends almost exclusively on secondary sources. This is a major weakness of the book. While writing in my own field (Reformed theology) Manchester betrays an abysmal ignorance of Calvin's ideas and positions and history, accepting the most common stereotypes. He gives a very unbalanced picture of Calvin, and I think of Luther as well.

I would rate this book as two stars, except that his excellent discussion of Magellan's life, adventures, and significance raises it up in my opinion to three stars.

This book is written for a popular audience, and one can see while reading it that he is used to college students. He writes in a quick, racy style that is easy to read and often entertaining. He often writes about sexual topics, more often it seems than called for and giving more detailed information than necessary; but then maybe this was necessary in his lectures to keep his college students listening.

Worried

Personally, i thought that this book was going to be a lot better. I had to read it, take notes, and write an essay in order to get into AP European History for 10th grade. As a 9th grader reading this that already had a lot of work to do, it was honestly quite stressful. With very little time to read, and not at all thrilling or enlightening ideas i had a very hard time. In fact, i am still not finished and have to hand it in tomorrow. Obviously, since i am writing this instead, it is a very hard book to get into. For historical content, check. it had a great amount of information. Still, for a freshman who wants to be a historian it is a nightmare. Perhaps it is only because of the short time frame, but i believe it was exceedingly disappointing.

AP Euro summer reading

I had to read this book for my AP European History class, as most of those classes have to read the book over the summer, and despite the fact that I absolutely love history, I did not like this book. I found it dry and hard to read at times, and I often was confused as to the cronology of the events. I found myself rereading pages numerous times to fully understand what Manchester was trying to get across and even then, I felt as though he didn't always make a complete point. Some parts of the book were more interesting, particularly the parts about the lives of the Medieval people and the last section about Magellan wasn't too bad either, but other parts were incredibly boring and repetitive. Normally, I can read summer assignment books, including all other nonfiction books, easily and within a few days, but this took me almost a whole summer to complete...I had to make myself read about 10-15 pages a day in order to finish it. I felt as though I were reading a textbook that was just bound in nonfiction book format. Even though I really don't have a problem with other nonfiction books, this was way too textbook-y. Bottom line: unless you love Medieval history, I do not recommend this book.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Book Lit Only By Fire

In this, one of his last works, William Manchester's research is sadly swamped by the Bible, recent events and the information age. Scripture is replete with admonishments that one can only be saved by God's Grace through the Blood of Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9 Acts 4:12). Tawdry suits against Roman Catholic priests have become commonplace in today's world, eclipsing the sins of the past in the monetary settlements Rome continues to sign off on as collateral damage. Access to historical records continues to exponentially accelerate thanks to Al Gore (a jest, only.). Nonetheless, the work deserves to be recommended for the research first of all. Secondly, it is wonderful to be encouraged by the late Mr. Manchester's command of the written word, especially since we have so much more light to contend with, which sometimes becomes so embarrassingly revealing of our own shortfalls electronically obviated. TL Farley, author, When Now Becomes Too Late.

Had to read it for AP Euro

The book is pretty much a smaller version of a text book in my opinion, like most text books extremely boring, this is nothing compared to the upcoming work in AP Euro so be ready if your in the class.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

AP European History - sdd

A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester is a history book that explains events that have happened leading up to Magellan¿s voyage. The books talks about the impacts of some major popes for example Pope Alexander VI. A World Lit Only by Fire touches on corruption, incest, and mutiny causing certain outstanding citizens to be killed. Pope Alexander VI was one of the most corrupt popes of them all. He had Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1492) was killed for what he believed in. Because of the fact that Savonarola was killed for speaking out against the pope, people started to learn the lesson that no matter what you do, do not speak out against your pope. Savonarola said that the papal palace ¿sits upon the throne of Solomon and signal to the passersby. Whoever can pay enters and does what he wishes.¿ (p. 43) This means that whatever the pope wanted, the people had to do, and you do not want to irritate the pope by not doing what he asked. During the regain of and after Alexander VI, the priests were taking money for absolution. For example, ¿suppose a youth slipped into his mother¿s bed and spent his seed inside her. If that boy put the right coins in the pontiff¿s bowl, `the Holy Father has the power in heaven and earth to forgive that sin, and he forgives it, God must do so also.¿ . . . . . . . `As soon as the coin rings in the bowl, the soul for whom it is paid will fly out of purgatory and straight to heaven.¿¿ The churches corruption was much worse than the corruption of just the pope. The church just having sins forgiven by money, was telling the people that no matter what a sinner did, he could pay to get into heaven. You could murder and for the right about of money you were forgiven. Not actually having to ask for forgiven lead to incest not only among the people but among popes themselves. In the Vatican during the reign of Alexander VI, incest was a major part of the Borgia family. The sexual relations going on between not only the pope and his daughter but also Lucrezia and her brother, in turn she became pregnant. This pregnancy came from incest. Now days, people know that incest cause mental handicaps. Not knowing much about what happened to Lucrezia¿s bastard son, that only assumption left to make is that the was not right in the head. The saying is ¿incest breeds insanity.¿ This could have been exactly what happened. The pope and his son, Cesare, not having to ask for forgiveness for the death of Juan, the son and brother, and the pregnancy of Lucrezia, allowed them both to keep killing and impregnating other people. Already known that Juan, Cesare, and Lucrezia are bastard children, the pope must have paid his way for forgiveness. The incest of people during this time, and the corruption of the church and papacy lead to a mutiny aboard Magellan¿s ship. A mutiny among Magellan¿s crew was the product of Magellan being a mislead leader but also from the crews lack of faith in religion and also in lack of faith for Magellan himself. Magellan¿s crew only asked for respect for their higher birth and treated better at his hands. Magellan was a good leader but every unaware of the way he was treating his men, although he knew a mutiny was expected, he did not actually think his crew would rebel. Magellan being unaware of the warning the men gave him and his own gut instinct caused the deaths of many people. Some of them his closest companions such as, ¿Mesqita¿s officer, awakening by the tumult, demanded explanation, and one of them, the ship¿s master. Juan de Elorriga, roughly challenged the mutineers . . . . . . . the officer fell to the deck mortally wounded.¿ (p. 257) this showed that the men had no faith in Magellan, or faith that he would accept their demands. By killing men at sea, they showed they have no faith in the moral or virtues set forth to them by God and Jesus. I really thought this book was more for adults then young adults. It had a level of disgusting that most young adults do not want

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Hidden World Of The Dark Ages

The book ¿A World Lit Only By Fire¿ was written by William Manchester to give a sense of the progression our world went through until around the year of 1000. Beginning with the illiterate rulers of the Dark Ages¿such as Charlemagne¿it leads to the accomplishments of the Renaissance artists and ends with the adventures and death of Magellan. ¿So what?¿ In all honesty, this book is more important than it may occur. ¿A World Lit Only By Fire¿ has a big influence to those studying history, chiefly the Renaissance. The events of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance had a great effect in Christianity, with our papal leaders and even in Magellan¿s journeys and choices. The slow subjugation of Christians and the College of Cardinals in ¿A World Lit Only By Fire¿, was an occurrence that students, like myself, have been unaware of. This is the particular reason why it was most interesting. Although ¿Christianity had been firmly established as the state religion of the Roman Empire¿ (p.8), Manchester explained that it was starting to go downward. For example, ¿Over three thousand Christians thus died at the hands of fellow Christians.¿ (p.8) Their whole city was demolished, the populace of Christians was cut and eventually, the Collage of Cardinals was detained by the Frenchmen. These events caused multiple problems, even some which had arisen in the future with papal leaders. The fifteen-hundreds were a corrupt and dangerous time with the Vatican and other church leaders, which were other hidden historical events brought upon by William Manchester. Although this may seem somewhat irrelevant, it is an important aspect of the book because of its secrecy. ¿At any given moment the most dangerous enemy in Europe was the reigning pope¿.The papal palace itself was often home to killers and their accomplices.¿(Both on p.37) The Vatican and the papal palace, filled with cardinals and bishops, was one of the places where people should have stayed clear of. The leaders of the papal palace were murderous and also were involved in sexual relations with multiple prostitutes and mistresses. Though they, the leaders of our church, seemed to be the most virtuous and chaste, Manchester tells us the tales of all the lies that were secretly hidden from us. Many of those respectful leaders were not as they may seem today which is why this section of ¿A World Lit Only By Fire¿ is important. Leaders often were taken advantage of or were not listen to, and that is another portion of the book that is important. Important leaders and adventurers, like Magellan, often had their aspirations and ideas neglected. Magellan was mentioned multiple times in ¿A World Lit Only By Fire¿ and seemed to play an important role in Manchester¿s book. He had accomplished many things under the rule of Spain. Although Magellan was neglected by the king, for example, he ¿urged the king to help him stake Portugal¿s claims there [the Spice Islands]¿ (p.226), but he was unfortunately neglected. Many of his accomplishments, however, included, befriending King Carlos I¿who made him ¿governor-to-be of all new lands to be discovered by the expedition¿ (p.226) ¿being the first European to reach Tierra del Fuego (S. America), leading the first successful effort in sailing around the globe, and reaching the Philippines. I did find ¿A World Lit Only By Fire¿ a very useful and interesting book, however, there were some parts which I did not exactly enjoy reading. Manchester was a great historian because he revealed to me lots of information that I was unaware of especially parts about the teenage and papal shameful sexual activities or aspirations¿ which I did not enjoy reading of in great detail. I also did not particularly like the way he chose to structure the book. Everything was mixed about in, for example, Magellan was a reoccurring subject in multiple sections of the book. Other important people were also mentioned the same way, as were the various events that occ

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

BORING!

i had to read this book for my ap euro class and it was a drag. It is honestly one of the most boring books i have ever read. I suggest people not to read this book..unless you just want to be bored. If your looking for a book to read for pleasure keep on looking...

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Proff From Georgetown Was Right

I bought this book on the recommendation that this would a be good quick reference book for the transitional period of the Medieval period to the Rennaissance. As a student of the Middle Ages I was astounded at how out of date, inaccurate, and disproven so many of the authors sources and judgements were. The good Proffs opinions presented in the (unfortanetly belated read) review were quite correct. For eaxample: Every educated man since the Ancient Greeks knew the world was round (knowledge never lost), Magellan only confirmed how large the Earth was. He had a good idea of the distances but did not know of the scale of the obstacles he faced (Pacific Ocean and all). As an Iberian he had access the best Church libraries outside Italy and knew of the measurements of the church scientists. The MEDIEVAL CHURCHS scholars, turns out, were off by only a small margin. Many simply thought a voyage over such distances was likely impossible (and it very nearly was) and thus a horrible financial investment (it was the equivelent monatarliy of the space program of the '60s, with no guarentee of ever seeing ANY return). Not ignorance, simply good financial sense held Magellan up. Most scholars today now see the Rennaissance as the ultimate flowering of the knowledge painfully accumalated over the Middle Ages by such as St. Thomas Aquinas (who put Aristotle on top an thus paved the way for modern scientific thinking), and Fr. Bacon (who popularized methodical, logical experimentation). This book rather continues to popularize disproven myths and those looking for a good history need to go elsewhere (and by the way, women and children were treated and thought better of, than the dead dog in the back yard). If you want something to reinforce old, out of date views of the Middle Ages, feel free to indulge.

Definately four and a half stars

The question that begs an answer¿has anything changed much? ¿History is not a random sequence of unrelated events. Everything affects and is affected by everything else.¿ This of course we know is very clear!!! Taking place shortly after the downfall of the roman empire, Europe was in kaos from the medieval age to the renaissance. However during that time there was a continuation of the Greco-roman empire, (Europes most advanced civilization thru the renaissance of more of the same. This age was as barbaric as any could get¿the interpretation of Christianity was flawed in scope and where applied was brutal, reckless, domineering. The aristocracy was corrupt, greedy incestuous, murderous¿the general populace, diseased, savage, ignorant, starving. The order of the day, warlords attacking each other for assets in every portion of the euro vicinity¿the author describes the time from 400 ad to 1500 ad, an awful long time to be in this condition¿Prison, well no, execution by way of burning at the stake, slash and quarter, beheadings, the use of the jungfer (this sent a 1000 chills up my spine) was the norm. Some of the most evolved individuals, such as Martin Luthier, Leonardo di Vinci, Nicolus Copernicus, Sir Thomas Moore, Eramas, exploring advances and taking the church to task were murdered, discredited, assassinated banished. OH MY EUROPE WUZZ OFF THA CHAIN¿For anthing different beyond their world was inconceivable. The once awesome pied piper was actually a psychopathic child dismembering murderer, robin hood was actually a cold blooded rogue and guinevere, well it is questionable as to whether she was even real. During their age of reconnaissance folk like Magellen sailing to the east and the Medici¿s sailing to the south for merchandise (they had the monopoly on slavery) took this whipa@#&s attitude all over once they discovered how to navigate by trial and error¿If you are very sensitive about your Christianity, this one is not for you,if you are a feminist, well you will be offended by the fact that women and children were ranked near the bottom next to the dead dog buried in the back yard. However, if you are up to a mind boggling history that borders on the unbelievable, well William Manchester is your man¿.

not that bad compared to whats next in ap euro

well i read this book in 2 days cuz i had to switch into ap euro like a weekend before takin a test on it and as fast as i read it i stillw as able to which was surprising because i cant read books that id ont like really.

It's a great book for people who are going to take AP Euro..

I had to read this book for the summer assignment for AP Euro History and this book had helped me to read about specific events/names/dates and understand more deeply about the Medieval times and the renaissance. If you guys are going to take AP Euro, then I would recommend you guys to read this book before the school year starts since Renaissance is first topic that you will learn in AP Euro.

This book will be the death of me!

I am quite sure that the only reason this book is being read is because you are a) taking an AP Euro Class or something.. b) just does not have a life..But I'm sure this book here will be the death of me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.