The Authority of the Fathers: Patristic Texts in Early Medieval Libraries and Scriptoria
Bernice M. Kaczynski
In the 1100s Bernard of Chartres described himself and his contemporaries in words that have since become familiar. He said they enjoyed a legacy bequeathed to them by earlier generations: “We are like dwarfs perched on shoulders giants. We can see more farther than our predecessors, not indeed because acuteness own vision or bodily size, but we lifted up raised high their gigantic stature.” Over time this vivid image came describe what many viewed as characteristically “medieval” attitude towards authority, particularly authority Fathers Church. Medieval scholars often been seen no guardians an inherited tradition, content perch comfortably greater men – Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory Great, other writers Christian Antiquity.
The Journal of medieval Latin