Hello friends at AskHistorians! After many different attempts to Google what I am looking for, I have been met with many failures. I am hoping that you will be able to assist me.

I am in search of older literature. Some background to this is back in college for a class about medieval history, we read excerpts from the book that I am currently searching for. I cannot remember the title or the author, but I can remember different parts of it.

From what I remember, the main theme of the book seemed to be the nature of man and the author's attempt to show that man's nature is shaped by his surroundings.

The story is set in what seemed to be medieval times and is about a boy. It starts where his village is attacked by some renegade brigands and he escapes. He eventually finds or is found by an old hermit living in the woods. This hermit follows the Christian bible and thus passes on these beliefs and ways of living to the boy. The boy learns and lives what are the Christian values. After some time, the old hermit dies and the boy is left alone again. Some time later, the boy finds a town and struggles with what the hermit taught him and with what he sees. He begins to be influenced by others and thus is slowly corrupted.

That is about all I can recall. The only "title" that comes to mind is something like "Simply Kissimus", but no matter what I have searched through online, I cannot seem to find this literature.

I may have unintentionally messed up some of the details as this was back in either 2008 or 2009 and for a class that was not my major. Yet, it has since that time burned in me to finish this story and know the ending.

If you could offer any help or assistance in my search for this book, I would be most sincerely thankful!