I confess I haven’t read the book, but here are some things that I believe will help you with your paper: Go to: “Research your answer” on your question page. Type in: The Medieval Mind / William Manchester Go to: # 2. Take the portion in the first paragraph that reads:”technological stagnation, short-sightedness, bloodshed, feudalism, and an oppressive church.” Using examples of all of these from the book, write at least one paragraph on each as proof that situations / circumstances of the period, because of all of the things you’ve sited in the paragraphs, “stagnated” the development of the people as a whole. Because the church, at the time, was given so much power to control, short-sightedness, bloodshed, feudalism, in the form of being afraid to become an individual thinker, led to oppression by the church and, hence, the “stagnation” spoken of.

http://www.theatrehistory.com/medieval/mysteries001.html