Their minds had a quite different bent.

They were under the spell of different ideals; all their mental efforts were directed into different channels.

What these different channels were cannot be in doubt--they were the channels of oriental ecclesiasticism.

One all-significant fact speaks volumes here.
It is the fact that, as Professor Robinson( 1) points out, from the time of Boethius (died 524 or 525 A.D.) to that of Dante (1265-1321 A.D.) there was not a single writer of renown in western Europe who was not a professional churchman.

All the learning of the time, then, centred in the priesthood.