Others, however, began to wonder whether the possession of roots might not bring them success in other areas as well—wealth, popularity, or the power to control their own and other people’s destinies, and took to wearing them as good luck charms.
The Scientific World of the Crown of Aragon under James I
March 3, 2013 By
This article seeks to provide a general overview of the cultural landscape during the reign of James I, with a particular focus on science.
The teaching of astronomy in medieval universities, principally at Paris in the fourteenth century
February 10, 2013 By
Obviously, however, learned men of antiquity and the Middle Ages showed the greatest interest in such genuinely astronomical activities as the observation of the skies, of the heavenly bodies and of their movements, positions, orbits, and anomalies.
The Rise of Alchemy in Fourteenth-Century England
February 6, 2013 By
However the alchemical source of the early fourteenth century also explicitly maintained that knowledge of the secret of secrets involved an understanding of the hidden forces within the earth, and this in turn would bring earthly power. The most obvious manifestation of this interest in alchemical secrets lay in the belief that controlled experimentation with mercury and sulphur could effect transmutation of base metals into gold.
Reconstruction of the diet in a mediaeval monastic community from the coast of Belgium
January 31, 2013 By
The aim of the present article is to report the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on skeletons from a Belgian mediaeval population, and to look at variations in diet that may relate to age and social status.
The Eternity of the World and Renaissance Historical Thought
January 27, 2013 By
Medieval and Renaissance controversies over the Aristotelian doctrine of “the eternity of the world” have hitherto been treated as disputes restricted to natural philosophers and theologians.
Body Mass and Body Mass Index estimation in medieval Switzerland
January 27, 2013 By
The aim of the present study is to test the available BM estimation formulae based on the femoral head breadth (Auerbach and Ruff 2004, Grine et al. 1995, McHenry 1992, Ruff et al. 1991) on skeletal populations from medieval Switzerland and to reconstruct the BM and the BMI within a specific temporal and geographical setting.
Syphilis in Renaissance Europe: rapid evolution of an introduced sexually transmitted disease?
January 22, 2013 By
When syphilis first appeared in Europe in 1495, it was an acute and extremely unpleasant disease. After only a few years it was less severe than it once was, and it changed over the next 50 years into a milder, chronic disease.
The Trebuchet
January 13, 2013 By
Recent reconstructions and computer simulations reveal the operating principles of the most powerful weapon of its time
The Use of Gunpowder Weapons in the Wars of the Roses
January 7, 2013 By
During the fourteenth century, while continental gunpowder holdings were largely in local control England’s gunpowder weaponry never fell under a similar local control, but was always exclusively a royal possession.
Observational Archaeoastronomy at Stonehenge: Winter and Summer Solstice Sun Rise and Set Alignments Accurate to 0.2 o in 4000 BP
December 21, 2012 By
Our studies since 1980 of Solstice and Equalnight Sun Rise and Set alignments at an ancient site in southern Alberta, the Majorville Medicine Wheel Complex (MMWC), have drawn our attention to Stonehenge (Atkinson 1979; Burl 1976, 1993). While there might have been no ideological or religious similarities between societies in North America and Britain 5000 years ago, we know of no evidence that there was not. Indeed, Sun worship was world-wide at that time.
An Ecoritical Approach to Chaucer. Representations of the Natural World in the English Literature of the Middle Ages
December 15, 2012 By
The choice to write and present a study of nature in medieval English literature from an ecological perspective has been originated by a personal interest in the urgency of the deep environmental crisis we are faced with and by the drive to expand the eco- oriented study of representations of nature in literature to chronological and spatial areas well beyond those originally typical of ecological criticism.
The myth of Jewish male menses
November 25, 2012 By
Several scholars have asserted that medieval Christians believed that Jewish men menstruated. Their arguments, made in support of a grander claim that Jews as a collectivity were gendered feminine in Christian thought, rest on numerous misreadings.
Tycho Brahe was not killed by mercury poisoning, tests reveal
November 20, 2012 By
One of the most persistent theories has been that he died of mercury poisoning, either because he voluntarily ingested large quantities of mercury for medicinal purposes, or because mercury was used to poison him.
Why the Scientific Revolution Did Not Take Place in China – or Didn’t It?
November 11, 2012 By
Why, between the first century BC and the fifteenth century AD, Chinese civilization was much more efficient than occidental in applying human natural knowledge to practical human needs
Jewish Lightning Rod: Between Magic and Science
October 21, 2012 By
People learned how to “tie up a portion of lightning” only recently. We have no information aboutany experiments of medieval scientists with lightnings, and even the fundamental dictionary of thehistory of science by Mayerhöfer is silent about it.
Coptic Dress In Egypt: The Social Life Of Medieval Cloth
October 21, 2012 By
Coptic textiles in most collections present a very rich iconography, somewhat derived from classical traditions, which has also attracted the attention of art historians. Very little of their work, however, has made any headway in our understanding of the contemporaneous meanings of Coptic textile images and other decorations.
You Are What You Eat: Hildegard of Bingen’s Viriditas
October 21, 2012 By
Hildegard argues in the beginning of Physica that humans become what they eat.
Building a Model Astrolabe
October 15, 2012 By
This paper presents a hands-on introduction to the medieval astrolabe, based around a working model which can be constructed from photocopies of the supplied figures.
Organa doctorum: Gerbert of Aurillac, organbuilder?
October 11, 2012 By
He was born a peasant. Yet, through intelligence, political skill and uncommon good luck he came to be one of the most influential people in the Europe of his time…Pope Sylvester II.
Solar Eclipses in Medieval Islamic Civilization
October 8, 2012 By
In ancient times, the births and deaths of leaders or dignitaries were often supposed to be associated with celestial omens. However, Islamic theology does not accept that eclipses are indications of events on earth.
Understanding the Language of Alchemy
September 30, 2012 By
The editing of medieval alchemical texts poses a number of challenges to the modern scholar.
The Reference Corpus of Late Middle English Scientific Prose
September 25, 2012 By
This paper presents the current status of the project Reference Corpus of Late Middle English Scientific Prose, which pursues the digital editing of hitherto unedited scientific, particularly medical, manuscripts in late Middle English, as well as the compilation of an annotated corpus
Jewish Collaborators in Alfonso’s Scientific Work
September 16, 2012 By
What is remarkable about the Jewish translators whose work was sponsored by Alfonso, following an already old tradition of Jewish translation activity, was their concentration almost exclusively on scientific literature and their significant contribution to the development of the Spanish language.
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