Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-30T10:54:44.311Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Natural Knowledge in the Early Middle Ages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2013

Get access

Summary

Knowledge of the natural world was an integral part of a broader kind of learning. Medieval natural knowledge juxtaposed practical knowledge with the theoretical findings of classical antiquity. Ostrogothic leader Theodoric, who had received some education in Constantinople, valued the Roman ideal of learning. Medieval scholars saw the order of nature as an expression of the Creator's activity. The relation between God's dominion and the natural order was elaborated in an eighth-century gloss on the Psalms by an unknown Northumbrian or Irish author. One widespread practical use of the concept of natural order in the early Middle Ages was to provide a guide for religious rituals. Thus the solstices and equinoxes provided a framework for a cycle of Christian feasts marking the turnings of the year. Computus became an essential part of the education of clerics and guided much of the preservation, transmission, and development of natural knowledge from the time of Bede to the rise of the universities.
Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×