Daily Medieval

In the 6th and 5th centuries BCE, Anaximander looked for an origin of life that did not rely on the gods. He theorized that life arose from ...

Fastitocalon is the name given to a sea creature in an Old English poem called "The Whale." This time I will with poetic art rehea...

Rabies, from the Latin rabies  which means "madness," has been noticed for a long time. The Codex of Eshnunna (c.1930BCE), foun...

Boethius (left, with numbers from India) debating Pythagoras (right, with an abacus) while Arithmetic looks on Boethius has been mentio...

St. Peter Damian, letter writer Peter Damian (c.1007 - 21 February 1072/3), the author of the Liber Gomorrhianus , was more than just a ...

A perpetual motion machine powered by magnetism, described by Peter Peregrinus Magnets/lodestones have fascinated people for at least ...

from a Latin copy of  Gynæcology by  Soranus of Ephesus Hysteria describes two different states: exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion o...

Nicholas Oresme While re-examining Aristotle, Jean Buridan used observation and brainpower to anticipate some of the ideas we attribute...

Realism [ link ] At the foundation of philosophy is a question: what defines reality? There are several questions that are connected to ...

Statue commemorating Averroes in C órdoba Averroes (1126-1198) was born in Córdoba into a family of distinguished jurists and scholars a...

Daily Medieval has frequently mentioned the importance of Arabic texts in the transmission of knowledge to Western Europe. Arabic, however...

How long has the universe existed? Has it been around forever? Did it have a beginning? Could it have a beginning? These questions troubl...

15th century portrayal of Ptolemy's map Prior to the Age of Exploration, human beings in the western hemisphere did not attempt to t...

Expositio & questiones manuscript Jean Buridan (c.1300-c.1361) was a University of Paris scholar who was not afraid to tackle some ...

Buridan's Ass is the name given to a paradox: that a hungry and thirsty ass placed exactly in the middle between water and hay will be...

Abu Ma'shar, from his Introduction to Astronomy Albertus Magnus , Robert Grosseteste , Geoffrey Chaucer —well-known names from the M...

Since the last two days have been about reconciling opposing views, and since today is the anniversary of the death of Albertus Magnus, it ...

Silk was not a medieval invention. According to Chinese tradition , Empress Si-Ling-Chi in 2460 BCE watched silkworms spinning cocoons; she ...

The formation of a rainbow is a complex matter, inspiring both wonder and curiosity. How they come about took a great deal of time, speculat...

Frederick II of Sicily (1194-1250) has crossed the path of this blog more than once, but has not yet been featured. He declared the Edict ...