Carlo Ginzburg's The Cheese And The Worms

Carlo Ginzburg’s, “The Cheese and the Worms”, displays the life of Mennochio, a miller in the 16th century that has been accused of heresy because of his radical beliefs. Mennochio is interrogated and eventually sentenced to death, but through his trials we learn his ideas and the social and religious problems of Europe in the 16th century. As a miller, Mennochio is able to gain knowledge and access to books, despite his lower class upbringing, which allows him to challenge these traditional views on religion and social matters. In Mennochio’s trials he cites close to a dozen books that he has not only gaining meaningful knowledge from, but also has created new ideas and ways to view the world from. Menocchio challenges the status quo of

life in the 16th century and uses oral and written history to defend his ideas on social and religious matters. When analyzing Ginzburg’s text there are two questions that help understand the true meaning of, “The Cheese and the Worms”. First, how Mennochio made history? And, second, the factors and circumstances during his life that played a pivotal role in the formation of Mennochio and the world he lived in.
Mennochio was primarily influenced through the books and literature that he was able to access.

He would digest the knowledge and history learned from these novels and create new ideas. Mennochio also would apply his views and ideas to the stories he was reading within the literature. “Sir, I have never met anyone who holds these opinions; my opinions came out of my head”. Menocchio explains in the novel, that despite all of the acquired information through his readings, he himself orchestrated the ideas and came up with his own thoughts. During the trials, inquisitors mention Nicola da Porcia, a painter and friend of Menoccio who could have aided him in his controversial ideas. But during the trials on numerous occasions Menoccio continues to reveal that it was his own doing and that he solely established his ideas being questioned. Of the books Menocchio read, almost all of them were lent to him, except for one in which he bought. Despite this, there are a lot of questions surrounding who specifically gave Menocchio most of his literature as most of the books have been disseminated in a variety of homes that hold different class stations. Nicola Da Porcia gave Menocchio, “Il Sogno”, which is why the inquisitors assumed his assistance in helping formulate Menocchio’s ideas, but Menocchio proved to be more radical as he questioned the scripture and God’s divinity. Mennochio illustrates his ideas through oral history given the platform of his class station and trials in

which he is able to explain his thought process. “The crucial element is a common store of traditions, myths, and aspirations handed down orally over generations. In both cases, it was contact with written culture through their schooling, that permitted this deeply rooted deposit of oral culture to emerge”. Oral history is far easier to access when one is stationed in a lower class, whereas written history is seen as more “powerful” and of the “elite” status. From “Il Fioretto della Bibbia”, Menocchio’s oral culture was one of religious materialism and the idea that god is everywhere around us. He continues to state that God is far simpler than we are imagining and how the holy spirit is amongst all of us, but can not be found. Additionally, there are two historical events that gave Menocchio a platform for his history. First, is the Reformation which allowed for a miller of Menocchio’s social status to speak out about religious and social views. Second, the invention of printed material which allowed him to gain knowledge and become literate, which at the time was a privilege for someone of the lower-middle class. The introduction of print culture in the 16th century formed a class divide due to the upper class not wanting the peasants and lower class people to understand the information they knew. “Out of