Why does William Manchester think that Ferdinand Magellan was the first Real Renaissance Man?
Anitha V asked:
In William Manchester’s book a world lit only by fire he goes into great depths about ferdinand magellan why does he believe tht Ferdinand Magellan was the First Real Renaissance Man?
In William Manchester’s book a world lit only by fire he goes into great depths about ferdinand magellan why does he believe tht Ferdinand Magellan was the First Real Renaissance Man?
Tags: Ferdinand Magellan, Renaissance Man, Tht
That’s his opinion. You have a different view, write a book about it if you think you can prove your thesis!
Someone here asked who the top 5 people were in the last 1,000 years and I thought only of technology people. I could give a rat’s asss about Waldon, Newton and Einstein were more important to today.
Magellian made a round world out of a flat world and discovered so many new things it was rediculous.
He deserves a bow. Was he the first!? You tell me. Write a book about someone better that came before him!
Comment by Earl D — June 25, 2008 @ 3:32 am
Manchester portrayed the Middle Ages as a time when the strong and the clever survived, while the imaginative, brainy types suffered. Remember the period: aristocracy fo the day was corrupt, and murderous, while the general puplic was ignorant and hungry… and these conditions lasted from 400 ad to 1500 ad.
Manchester thinks that Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe and proof that the world was round broke forever the power of the closed, dark medieval mind.
To quote: Every educated man since the Ancient Greeks knew the world was round (knowledge never lost), Magellan only confirmed how large the Earth was. He had a good idea of the distances but did not know of the scale of the obstacles he faced (Pacific Ocean and all). As an Iberian he had access the best Church libraries outside Italy and knew of the measurements of the church scientists. The MEDIEVAL CHURCHS scholars, turns out, were off by only a small margin. Many simply thought a voyage over such distances was likely impossible (and it very nearly was) and thus a horrible financial investment (it was the equivelent monatarliy of the space program of the ’60s, with no guarentee of ever seeing ANY return). Not ignorance, simply good financial sense held Magellan up.
Comment by Mimi M — June 26, 2008 @ 8:02 pm
“it’s widely believed that Magellan was the first to sail around the world (1518-1522.) It’s not as well known that he never made it. He was killed in the Philippines and his crew completed the journey back to Iberia.
Does anyone know what he believed? A “renaissance man” has ideas about many things. He might have been a “renaissance man,” but I know of no recordation of his ideas and thoughts which would tend to give him that appellation.
Comment by Jane N Hottie — June 30, 2008 @ 7:12 am