The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature Chapter Summary & Analysis | Chapter I: The Medieval Situation

Chapter I: The Medieval Situation Summary and Analysis

The beliefs and values of the medieval man may, at first glance, bear many similarities to those of less civilized people. The belief of so-called "savages" is usually the result, ultimately, of an immediate response to one's environment. That is, it is a kind of belief that develops without long or rigorous mental exercise; rather, it develops spontaneously out of one's circumstances. With time, in some civilizations, this can even evolve to being a somewhat kind of scientific belief, but that connection to the original "savage" beginnings is always there. Medievals differ in this respect. As strange and obsolete as many of their beliefs may seem, how they came to believe them is utterly different from less civilized nations. Above all, Medieval men were book readers and gave an almost slavish amount of authority to them; it was almost as if a proposition being in a book guaranteed its truth....
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