Quote Originally Posted by Orb
Untrue. Entirely. Medieval Europe was hardly a completely backwards culturally devoid wasteland. Medieval Christian authors often referenced ancient ones with no stigmas about it at all. It's just presented as that a lot by various elements of the same popular media that depicts Saladin as a knight in shining armour. He did noble acts, but he was a warlord. He killed many to get to power, and he killed even more once he was there.
That seems to be misrepresenting the issue. Until the Renaissance classical texts were referenced, that is undeniable, but they were very rarely actually studied or subjugated to critical analysis.