Middle Ages and the Renaissance

The leading thinkers of the Middle Ages were overwhelmingly preoccupied with the individual's responsibility to his god and his feudal lord. Medieval thinkers held the ancient Greek philosophers sacrosanct, and focused their attention either up to the heavens or back to their predecessors. Theophylact Simocattes formed a bridge from the Middle Ages to the Greek Philosophers, connecting the traditional Greek respect for reason with the nascent force of Christianity, when he opined "reason, which he possesses, is an admirable and divine trait by which he renders to God his adoration and homage" (Perry, 198). Simocattes is transfers the power of reason from man's purview to God's. The preponderant force of Christianity was the engine which drove the Medieval era.

The greatest Medieval ruler, Charlemagne, was such a proponent of Christianity that he forcibly converted the people he conquered to the Church. As the famous historian Einhard observes that the long war against the Saxons only e

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possessions, and the lord submits to the same guide. The purpose of life, according to Fulbert, is to honorably discharge one's obligation to their lord or vassal. At the very center of all Medieval thinking was the idea that God is perfect and infallible while man is a wretched being destined to sin. This idea informs all the thinkers we have already looked at, and can be seen in the structure of power as well. The vassals, or feudal serfs, were wicked and depraved and needed their lord's educated guidance in order to thrive. With God's grace, human beings could gain salvation despite their base origins. This pessimistic view of the human condition can clearly be seen in the work of Lothario dei Segni, who notes: "man was formed out of earth, conceived in guilt, born to punishment. What he does is depraved and illicit, is shameful and improper, vain and unprofitable" (272). Dei Segni captures the very core of the Medieval view of the world and man's place; namely that man is a wicked sinner who can only be saved through the intervention of the Church. This reasoning is implicit in all Medieval thinking. The Renaissance scholars, by contrast, were focused on individualism. Renaissance thinkers did not repudiate Chr
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