Introduction

The exerts of Alfred The Great, among others, brought an end to the period of Viking conquests across the British Isles.  The Norman conqueror, William I, expelled the age of Vikings once and for all.  Within a few years, neighbouring Europe across the continent was applicated to the practice of Christianity, both in devotion and philosophical thinking.  Termed today as "Scholasticism", religious, philosophical and ontological thinking came from monastic communities.  It came from monastic communities, who possessed the craft of writing and the necessary education to reason through the medium of literature.  

Monastic communities blossomed under the study of these art forms. These ranged from the early Benedictan Monks (a monastic community that was initiated as early as the 6th Century AD and are today considered the first of such an order) towards later developments that emerged during what we describe as the medieval period, such as the Orders of the Friars (which includes the Dominican Friars).

It was, within this community of Dominican Friars, that the foremost writer of "Scholasticism" emerged.  He came from Italy and was named Thomas Aquinas.  Born roughly around 1225 AD, in the county of Aquino in the Kingdom of Sicily, he would advance from his early years as the son of a privileged family, to one of the most influential philosophers of all time.