Medieval Biological
Knowledge
Medieval Period
(aka the Middle Ages)
• 476 AD – 800 (“Dark Ages”)
• 1000-1300 “High Middle Ages”
• 1300-1450 End of the Middle ages
“War in Heaven,” France, c. 1320, in The Cloisters Collection, New York City
http://www.mythinglinks.org/euro~west~medieval.html
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
• The beginning of the middle ages
witnessed the destruction of the Western
Roman Empire
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
• Various “barbarian”
tribes conquered the
previously Roman
controlled territories
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
• Civilization collapsed and there was a
return to a simpler, more rural form of
society
• Cities were depopulated
• Trade and arts declined
• Learning and knowledge declined
(including biological knowledge)
• Literacy almost disappeared
• Reading and writing barely survived.
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
• Most importantly, the philosophical
approach to understanding reality also
declined
• The ancient Greek and Roman texts
almost completely disappeared
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
• One institution did survive from Roman
times:
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
The Roman Catholic Church
Its explanation of reality was deeply
influenced by the Bible and by the teachings
of the Church fathers.
The Dark Ages
476-800 AD
The Roman Catholic Church
There was a return to supernatural
explanations of reality
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• However, beginning in
the 11th century, trade,
commerce, and urban
life revived.
• Knowledge also revived
and the first European
universities were built in
this period.
The
High
Middle
Ages
Damn! I wish
somebody
1000-1300
AD
would invent a
Wordprocessor
Marie de France – some Medieval female scholars existed too.
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
Will this be on the
test, sir?
Medieval students at the University of Paris
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
One reason for the revival of knowledge
was the rediscovery of ancient Greek and
Roman texts.
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• Many of these texts
were discovered in
Arabic translation in
Muslim Spain
• Spain had been
conquered by Muslim
forces since the 8th
century
• Cities like Toledo,
Cordoba and Granada
became centers of
great learning.
The Alhambra of Granada (Spain).
Picture by G. Tordjman
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
Cordoba had dozens of libraries, some of
which contained the writings of Aristotle, and
other great Greek, Roman, Jewish and
Arabic thinkers.
The Great Mosque (“Mesquita”) of Cordoba (Spain). Picture by G. Tordjman
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• As the Christian Spanish forces in the
north slowly re-conquered Spain (The
Reconquista), they came across these lost
ancient works.
• Jewish and Arabic translators translated
them into Latin.
• These works made a huge impact on the
elite back in Europe.
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
Leaf from an Arabic
translation of the Materia
Medica of Dioscorides
("The Pharmacy"), dated
1224
Iraq, Baghdad School
Colors and gilt on paper; 12.3
x 9 in. (31.4 x 22.9 cm)
Cora Timken Burnett
Collection of Persian
Miniatures and Other Persian
Art Objects, Bequest of Cora
Timken Burnett, 1956
(57.51.21)
Ancient Greek texts like this in
Arabic translation were then
translated again in Latin (a language
of Europe)
Euclid, Elements of Geometry with
commentary by Persian scholar Nasr al din
Al Tulsi
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• Thanks to the re-discovery of these lost
Greek and Roman texts, the Europeans
rediscovered the philosophical approach
to understanding reality
• This included the stress on:
– observation of fact (empiricism)
– Logic and deduction (rationalism)
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• Even the Catholic Church was influenced
by the Greek philosophical approach
• This produced a kind of “fusion” of the
Greek philosophical approach with the
Christian religious approach to knowledge
• Two examples of this are:
– The Great Chain of Being concept
– Natural theology
The High Middle Ages
The Great Chain of Being
• The Great Chain of Being was a Christian
inspired view of the universe but also
contained philosophical concepts
borrowed from the ancient Greeks
• It pictured the entire world as divided into
a hierarchy of “beings” from lowest to
highest (finally ending up in God).
• On the lowest rung was
inanimate matter,
rocks, minerals and the
sort, themselves
subdivided into ranks
• Higher up were the
plants, themselves also
subdivided into higher
and lower
• Then came the lower
animals, higher
animals and human
beings, which, as
Psalm 19 says “are just
lower than the angels”.
Imagine this picture so that the center is like
the bottom of a well and the outside rings
are “higher” and more “spiritual”
The High Middle Ages
The Great Chain of Being
• Above humans were the angels and then
God, the “Architect” of the entire chain.
• Thus, as one moved up the Chain, one
moved from the purely material to the
purely spiritual
• Each rung or link on the chain ruled over
the rung below.
• The Chain was
static, meaning
nothing could
move up or down
the Chain and no
being could be
removed or added
to the Chain.
• Everything was in
its place and there
was a place for
everything
The High Middle Ages
The Great Chain of Being
• The Chain was anthropocentric, meaning
that humans occupied the central position
(between God and the rest of creation)
and were the highest creatures on earth.
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• Natural theology
– “regular” theology is the study of religion, esp.
the study of Sacred Scriptures
• Aka “the study of God’s word”
– Natural Theology is the study of nature to
reveal evidence of the existence, power,
wisdom, goodness of God.
• Aka “the study of God’s works”
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• The two main arguments of natural
theology:
– The argument from design
– The cosmological argument (or, the argument
from first cause)
(we will be examining only the former here)
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• Natural theology
– The argument from design
• 1. Things in the universe (esp. living things) show
evidence of purposeful design (i.e., they show nonrandom, complex structure and organization)
• 2. Designed things must have a designer
• 3. The Designer of such things must be none other
than God
• Therefore, 4. God exists
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• Darwin’s theory posed a serious challenge
to the argument from design
• Darwin’s theory also gave the last blow to
the Great Chain of Being concept.
The High Middle Ages
1000-1300 AD
• There are few believers in the Great Chain
concept today,
• However, the argument from design is still
popular among some religious groups
Medieval Biological Knowledge
Summary
• Dark ages see collapse of Western civilization and
decline of knowledge
• High Middle ages revival of learning due partly to
rediscovery of ancient Greek philosophy found in Arabic
translation in Muslim Spain
• Two key concepts show evidence of revival of
philosophy: natural theology and great chain of being
concept
• Natural theology includes “argument from design”
seeking to prove God exists by using evidence from
nature
• Great Chain concept of universe as a hierarchy of beings
from lowest to highest with God at the summit
Credits
•
•
•
•
•
Mark Damen, USU 1320: History and Civilization, SECTION 8: The Fall of Rome
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/08ROMFAL.htm
Elizabeth Swanstrom, Comparative Literature 30C: Major Works of European Literature from the
Romantic to the Contemporary Period, University of California at Santa Barbara.
http://cl30c.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/links-the-victorians/
British Views Of 18th Century Africa, http://courses.wcupa.edu/wanko/LIT400/Africa/index.htm
http://www.roman-empire.net/
Kathleen Jenks, Ph.D., “Mything Links An Annotated & Illustrated Collection of Worldwide Links to
Mythologies, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Sacred Arts & Sacred Traditions”
http://www.mythinglinks.org/euro~west~medieval.html