Astronomies And Cultures In Early Medieval Europe

Author : Stephen C. McCluskey
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2000-11-20
Category : History
ISBN : 0521778522

Get Book

Astronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe by Stephen C. McCluskey Pdf

This book provides an overview of the astronomical practices that continued through the so-called "Dark Ages." Like the astronomies of traditional societies, early medieval astronomies established a religious framework of sacred time and ritual calender; here Christian feasts tied to a pre-Christian ritual solar calender, the date of Easter tied to the Hebrew lunar calender; and the timing of monastic prayers in terms of the course of the stars. Coupled with the remnants of ancient geometrical astronomy, these provided the framework for the rebirth of astronomy with the rise of the medieval universities.

Author : C. Philipp E. Nothaft
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2018-02-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9780192520197

Get Book

Scandalous Error by C. Philipp E. Nothaft Pdf

The Gregorian calendar reform of 1582, which provided the basis for the civil and Western ecclesiastical calendars still in use today, has often been seen as a triumph of early modern scientific culture or an expression of papal ambition in the wake of the Counter-Reformation. Much less attention has been paid to reform's intellectual roots in the European Middle Ages, when the reckoning of time by means of calendrical cycles was a topic of central importance to learned culture, as impressively documented by the survival of relevant texts and tables in thousands of manuscripts copied before 1500. For centuries prior to the Gregorian reform, astronomers, mathematicians, theologians, and even Church councils had been debating the necessity of improving or emending the existing ecclesiastical calendar, which throughout the Middle Ages kept losing touch with the astronomical phenomena at an alarming pace. Scandalous Error is the first comprehensive study of the medieval literature devoted to the calendar problem and its cultural and scientific contexts. It examines how the importance of ordering liturgical time by means of a calendar that comprised both solar and lunar components posed a technical-astronomical problem to medieval society and details the often sophisticated ways in which computists and churchmen reacted to this challenge. By drawing attention to the numerous connecting paths that existed between calendars and mathematical astronomy between the Fall of Rome and the end of the fifteenth century, the volume offers substantial new insights on the place of exact science in medieval culture.

Author : Bruce Eastwood,Gerd Grasshoff
Publisher : American Philosophical Society
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Science
ISBN : 0871699435

Get Book

Planetary Diagrams for Roman Astronomy in Medieval Europe, Ca. 800-1500 by Bruce Eastwood,Gerd Grasshoff Pdf

Early medieval astronomy, esp. in the era of Charlemagne & his successors, consisted of texts that went far beyond the boundaries of computus, which modern scholars have long believed to be the only significant context for astronomical studies of that time. The texts contained innovative diagrams where no other sign of divergence from the text could be seen. Such diagrams were found to provide an indication of understandings of the texts -- which were different from those of modern scholars. Contents: Astronomy & Its Teaching in Carolingian Europe; Functions & Locations of Planetary Diagrams; Sources & Topics of Planetary Diagrams; Plinian Diagrams; Macrobian Diagrams; Calcidian Diagrams; & Capellan Diagrams. Illus. This is a print on demand publication.

Author : Benjamin Anderson
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2017-02-28
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780300228496

Get Book

Cosmos and Community in Early Medieval Art by Benjamin Anderson Pdf

In the rapidly changing world of the early Middle Ages, depictions of the cosmos represented a consistent point of reference across the three dominant states—the Frankish, Byzantine, and Islamic Empires. As these empires diverged from their Greco-Roman roots between 700 and 1000 A.D. and established distinctive medieval artistic traditions, cosmic imagery created a web of visual continuity, though local meanings of these images varied greatly. Benjamin Anderson uses thrones, tables, mantles, frescoes, and manuscripts to show how cosmological motifs informed relationships between individuals, especially the ruling elite, and communities, demonstrating how domestic and global politics informed the production and reception of these depictions. The first book to consider such imagery across the dramatically diverse cultures of Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic Middle East, Cosmos and Community in Early Medieval Art illuminates the distinctions between the cosmological art of these three cultural spheres, and reasserts the centrality of astronomical imagery to the study of art history.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : PediaPress
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2024-05-19
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Astronomy by Anonim Pdf

Author : Bruce S. Eastwood
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2017-11-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781351744188

Get Book

The Revival of Planetary Astronomy in Carolingian and Post-Carolingian Europe by Bruce S. Eastwood Pdf

This title was first published in 2002: Before the introduction of Greco-Arabic mathematical astronomy in the 12th century, what astronomy was there in the medieval West? While we know of developments in computus, which calculated with solar and lunar cycles to create Christian calendars, and in monastic time-telling by the stars, was anything known of the five planets? Using glosses, commentaries, and diagrams to the early manuscripts of four classical Latin authors - Pliny, Macrobius, Martianus Capella, and Calcidius - Bruce Eastwood provides evidence for the extensive development of the sixth liberal art, astronomy, from the time of Charlemagne forward, with a particular focus on the diagrams used and invented by Carolingian and later scholars. Learning to understand the motions of planets in terms of spatial, or geometrical, arrangement, they mined these Roman writings for astronomical and cosmological doctrines, in the process not only absorbing but also creating models of planetary motions. What they accomplished over three centuries was to establish a basic set of models that showed the reasoned order of the planets in the heavens.

Author : J.L. Mancha
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 325 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2023-07-21
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000938449

Get Book

Studies in Medieval Astronomy and Optics by J.L. Mancha Pdf

In this selection of studies, J.L. Mancha explores aspects of the development of medieval optics and astronomy, including some medieval antecedents of the work of early modern astronomers. The articles deal with Latin, Hebrew and Arabic texts, and the process of translation and transmission of knowledge, and focus on three main themes. First, the theory and astronomical use of the pinhole camera in the 12th and 13th centuries; the texts edited here contain a solution to the problem of the formation of images cast by light through triangular apertures, equivalent to Kepler's, a description of the correct procedure for measuring solar apparent diameters using finite apertures, and a derivation of the Sun's eccentricity from its apparent diameters at apogee and perigee. Second, the characteristics of the Latin and Provençal versions of Levi ben Gerson's astronomical work, composed in collaboration with the author, as well as his tables and canons for finding syzygies and the mathematical methods used in the derivation of parameters. Third, different aspects of the survival of homocentric astronomy in the Middle Ages, especially al-Bitruji's model for trepidation and the technique for calculating the hippopede resulting from Eudoxan couples.

Author : Albrecht Classen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 706 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2015-08-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110267303

Get Book

Handbook of Medieval Culture by Albrecht Classen Pdf

A follow-up publication to the Handbook of Medieval Studies, this new reference work turns to a different focus: medieval culture. Medieval research has grown tremendously in depth and breadth over the last decades. Particularly our understanding of medieval culture, of the basic living conditions, and the specific value system prevalent at that time has considerably expanded, to a point where we are in danger of no longer seeing the proverbial forest for the trees. The present, innovative handbook offers compact articles on essential topics, ideals, specific knowledge, and concepts defining the medieval world as comprehensively as possible. The topics covered in this new handbook pertain to issues such as love and marriage, belief in God, hell, and the devil, education, lordship and servitude, Christianity versus Judaism and Islam, health, medicine, the rural world, the rise of the urban class, travel, roads and bridges, entertainment, games, and sport activities, numbers, measuring, the education system, the papacy, saints, the senses, death, and money.

Author : Eric M. Ramírez-Weaver
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 797 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2017-02-24
Category : Art
ISBN : 9780271078250

Get Book

A Saving Science by Eric M. Ramírez-Weaver Pdf

In A Saving Science, Eric Ramírez-Weaver explores the significance of early medieval astronomy in the Frankish empire, using as his lens an astronomical masterpiece, the deluxe manuscript of the Handbook of 809, painted in roughly 830 for Bishop Drogo of Metz, one of Charlemagne’s sons. Created in an age in which careful study of the heavens served a liturgical purpose—to reckon Christian feast days and seasons accurately and thus reflect a “heavenly” order—the diagrams of celestial bodies in the Handbook of 809 are extraordinary signifiers of the intersection of Christian art and classical astronomy. Ramírez-Weaver shows how, by studying this lavishly painted and carefully executed manuscript, we gain a unique understanding of early medieval astronomy and its cultural significance. In a time when the Frankish church sought to renew society through education, the Handbook of 809 presented a model in which study aided the spiritual reform of the cleric’s soul, and, by extension, enabled the spiritual care of his community. An exciting new interpretation of Frankish painting, A Saving Science shows that constellations in books such as Drogo’s were not simple copies for posterity’s sake, but functional tools in the service of the rejuvenation of a creative Carolingian culture.

Author : Marion Dolan
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 356 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2021-09-17
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783030765118

Get Book

Decoding Astronomy in Art and Architecture by Marion Dolan Pdf

For centuries, our ancestors carefully observed the movements of the heavens and wove that astronomical knowledge into their city planning, architecture, mythology, paintings, sculpture, and poetry. This book uncovers the hidden messages and advanced science encoded within these sacred spaces, showing how the rhythmic motions of the night sky played a central role across many different cultures. Our astronomical tour transports readers through time and space, from prehistoric megaliths to Renaissance paintings, Greco-Roman temples to Inca architecture. Along the way, you will investigate unexpected findings at Lascaux, Delphi, Petra, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, and many more archaeological sites both famous and little known. Through these vivid examples, you will come to appreciate the masterful ways that astronomical knowledge was incorporated into each society’s religion and mythology, then translated into their physical surroundings. The latest archaeoastronomical studies and discoveries are recounted through a poetic and nontechnical narrative, revealing how many longstanding beliefs about our ancestors are being overturned. Through this celestial journey, readers of all backgrounds will learn the basics about this exciting field and share in the wonders of cultural astronomy.

Author : Albrecht Classen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 747 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2015-08-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9783110377613

Get Book

Handbook of Medieval Culture by Albrecht Classen Pdf

A follow-up publication to the Handbook of Medieval Studies, this new reference work turns to a different focus: medieval culture. Medieval research has grown tremendously in depth and breadth over the last decades. Particularly our understanding of medieval culture, of the basic living conditions, and the specific value system prevalent at that time has considerably expanded, to a point where we are in danger of no longer seeing the proverbial forest for the trees. The present, innovative handbook offers compact articles on essential topics, ideals, specific knowledge, and concepts defining the medieval world as comprehensively as possible. The topics covered in this new handbook pertain to issues such as love and marriage, belief in God, hell, and the devil, education, lordship and servitude, Christianity versus Judaism and Islam, health, medicine, the rural world, the rise of the urban class, travel, roads and bridges, entertainment, games, and sport activities, numbers, measuring, the education system, the papacy, saints, the senses, death, and money.

Author : Nicholas Campion
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2009-04-16
Category : History
ISBN : 9781441107497

Get Book

A History of Western Astrology Volume II by Nicholas Campion Pdf

Astrology is a major feature of contemporary popular culture. Recent research indicates that 99% of adults in the modern west know their birth sign. In the modern west astrology thrives as part of our culture despite being a pre-Christian, pre-scientific world-view. Medieval and Renaissance Europe marked the high water mark for astrology. It was a subject of high theological speculation, was used to advise kings and popes, and to arrange any activity from the beginning of battles to the most auspicious time to have one's hair cut. Nicholas Campion examines the foundation of modern astrology in the medieval and Renaissance worlds. Spanning the period between the collapse of classical astrology in the fifth century and the rise of popular astrology on the web in the twentieth, Campion challenges the historical convention that astrology flourished only between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. Concluding with a discussion of astrology's popularity and appeal in the twenty-first century, Campion asks whether it should be seen as an integral part of modernity or as an element of the post-modern world.

Author : José Chabás,Bernard R. Goldstein
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 271 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2012-05-31
Category : Reference
ISBN : 9789004230583

Get Book

A Survey of European Astronomical Tables in the Late Middle Ages by José Chabás,Bernard R. Goldstein Pdf

This is a survey of the numerous astronomical tables compiled in the late Middle Ages, which represent a major intellectual enterprise. Such tables were often the best way available at the time for transmitting precise information to the reader.

Author : Margot E. Fassler
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 393 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2022-12-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781512823080

Get Book

Cosmos, Liturgy, and the Arts in the Twelfth Century by Margot E. Fassler Pdf

In Cosmos, Liturgy, and the Arts in the Twelfth Century, Margot E. Fassler takes readers into the rich, complex world of Hildegard of Bingen’s Scivias (meaning “Know the ways”) to explore how medieval thinkers understood and imagined the universe. Hildegard, renowned for her contributions to theology, music, literature, and art, developed unique methods for integrating these forms of thought and expression into a complete vision of the cosmos and of the human journey. Scivias was Hildegard’s first major theological work and the only one of her writings that was both illuminated and copied by scribes from her monastery during her lifetime. It contains not just religious visions and theological commentary, but also a shortened version of Hildegard’s play Ordo virtutum (“Play of the virtues”), plus the texts of fourteen musical compositions. These elements of Scivias, Fassler contends, form a coherent whole demonstrating how Hildegard used theology and the liturgical arts to lead and to teach the nuns of her community. Hildegard’s visual and sonic images unfold slowly and deliberately, opening up varied paths of knowing. Hildegard and her nuns adapted forms of singing that they believed to be crucial to the reform of the Church in their day and central to the ongoing turning of the heavens and to the nature of time itself. Hildegard’s vision of the universe is a “Cosmic Egg,” as described in Scivias, filled with strife and striving, and at its center unfolds the epic drama of every human soul, embodied through sound and singing. Though Hildegard’s view of the cosmos is far removed from modern understanding, Fassler’s analysis reveals how this dynamic cosmological framework from the Middle Ages resonates with contemporary thinking in surprising ways, and underscores the vitality of the arts as embodied modes of theological expression and knowledge.

Author : J.M. Steele
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2013-04-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9789401595285

Get Book

Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers by J.M. Steele Pdf

Eclipses have long been seen as important celestial phenomena, whether as omens affecting the future of kingdoms, or as useful astronomical events to help in deriving essential parameters for theories of the motion of the moon and sun. This is the first book to collect together all presently known records of timed eclipse observations and predictions from antiquity to the time of the invention of the telescope. In addition to cataloguing and assessing the accuracy of the various records, which come from regions as diverse as Ancient Mesopotamia, China, and Europe, the sources in which they are found are described in detail. Related questions such as what type of clocks were used to time the observations, how the eclipse predictions were made, and how these prediction schemes were derived from the available observations are also considered. The results of this investigation have important consequences for how we understand the relationship between observation and theory in early science and the role of astronomy in early cultures, and will be of interest to historians of science, astronomers, and ancient and medieval historians.