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Originally Posted by SeeBass
Fair points but were not many of these savages Christian lead or not?
There is also evidence of research being destroyed by the church too. There is debatable evidence that the Great Library of Alexandria was burned by Christians as it was a Pagan symbol. A monk had destroyed the scrolls that had the works of Archimedes (The palimpset).
I guess it is a matter of pros vs cons and did the good outweigh the bad.
I appreciate your opinion and enjoy this type of discussion.
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The savages adopted Christianity after they came into contact with the Romans. The kings of the various tribes found that Christianity was very useful as a means of control of their subjects and in perpetuating hereditary rule (king as the representative of god, etc...).
Often old manuscripts were destroyed or almost destroyed because latter writers needed something to write on, and simply wrote over top of the previous writing. It wasn't malicious - it was merely accidental. I am sure there were cases of wanton destruction, but all I am saying is that whatever did survive was mostly due to Church scholars. The Church was often the only avenue open to "smart" kids, and churchmen often rose to very prominent positions as advisers to monarchs because they were the smartest people in the land. Think back to Three Musketeers
and the "bad guy" Cardinal Richelieu, the king's "prime minister". Louis the XIV's (the Sun King) foremost adviser was Cardinal ....... damn, what's his name... Mazzini? These weren't "spiritual" advisers - they directed economic policy, foreign policy, etc.