One cannot discuss this re-emergence and dominance of Aristotle on medieval thought without referring to Thomas Aquinas. He was they key figure in translating the ideas of Aristotle into a Christian framework, which in turn drove the scholastic and liturgical direction of Christendom for centuries to come. And one cannot discuss Aquinas' work on Aristotle without discussing Averroes, Islamic scholar in Andalusia (southern Spain) who was Aquinas' counterpart as Aristotelian scholar from an Islamic perspective. For it was Averroes' commentaries on Aristotle that sparked the extreme Christian interest in Aristotle.
Aquinas' teacher, Saint Albert the Great, was the first western thinker to comment on the full catalog of Aristotle's work. He commented on Averroes commentaries on Aristotle (negatively) as part of that. As such, he introduced study of Aristotle back into western Christendom (and to Aquinas in particular) and linked it to Averroes.
But Aquinas himself dedicated a lot of time interpreting and critiquing Averroes' work and those criticisms formed a central part his own thinking of how Aristotle aligned with Christianity. Note: Aquinas didn't agree with a lot of Averroes stuff, but in formulating his reasoning for why it was wrong, he worked out what he thought was correct. And that's what he went forward with. Medieval Christian philosophy isn't driven by Averroes ideas, it was simply ignited by them.
It's nice to imagine that the Byzantine Christians drove western Christian philosophy, but that thread runs from Aristotle to Averroes to Aquinas.
You ar right, the works weren’t lost, they were just forgotten and ignored.
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No! the muslims destroyed all that thy had no use for - “if it is not in the koran, it is anathema and must be destroyed; if it is in the koran, it is superfluous and must be destroyed.”