Medieval Europe was a time when nobles ruled and knights battling to the death were Saturday evening entertainment. This era, which seems so ancient from Europe as we know it today, shifted rather quickly from a backwards society into a flourishing period called the Renaissance. In Manchester's historical essay, A World Lit Only By Fire, four main events happened which helped 'shatter' medieval Europe, allowing the Renaissance to bloom. In his essay, the Black Death, Manchester explores the beginnings of formalized education, the fall of the Catholic Church, and the invention of the printing press, which are all explained and analyzed to provide the reader with a story of how medieval Europe transformed into the Renaissance.…
