Medieval Christian culture disapproved of self-made social mobility rather than admiring it.
Evidence
There was no feeling for the self-made man, save disapproval. There was, however, a sense of dramatic contrast between the poor orphan of humble origin and the princeps Saracenorum that he became. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 487
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- DEEPTHINKING: A compact, paradigm-shifting inversion of modern meritocratic instinct: an entire culture found the rags-to-riches arc itself suspect, treating rise from low birth as a mark against rather than for a figure. This resists one-sentence summary and rewards repeated sitting-with.