3 ms·

And thanks to monk studiousness, hundreds of classical books were preserved during the dark ages, after Rome fell. We also got a lot of technology preserved and

• makeitdouble 4y ago
  Some monks and monasteries in general were of course pretty inventive and contributed to technology advancement. Yet I think those were fundamentally incremental and were more based in craftsmanship than in field shifting insights. For instance during the “dark ages” we saw construction technique leap forward (think cathedrals like Paris’ one), accounting techniques saw the shift to double entry book-keeping, and so many deeply impacting innovations that didn’t cone from monks while they were supposed to have such knowledge and education. You mention classical books reproduction which was a important occupation for monks, yet the printing revolution came from a completely different direction. Not rocking the boat was a principle they adhered to that basically tied their hand.