The survival rate of ancient literature

[Sean Manning]

In my course on the Carolingian, Twelfth Century, and Early Modern renaissances, I learned that the Italian Humanists were very strong on emphasizing that they were the proper heirs of Roman culture, not those barbarians north of the Alps. So these insistences that the Classics were being neglected in dust were at least partly a way of staking claim on them- "see, only we can truely appreciate the Romans."

On the other hand, most monasteries weren't capable of doing much with the Classics, even if they had and respected copies. After the early middle ages, most clergy with intellectual aspirations were in other parts of the church.