Spring 2014
Dr. Livesey
History of Science 3823
Science in Medieval Culture
Readings
The following readings are available in the bookstore:
Warren Hollister, Medieval Europe. A Short History. 10th
edn. New York: McGraw-Hill 2006. Please note: you
may use any edition of this work from the fourth
onward.
David Lindberg, Science in the Middle Ages. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press 1980.
Edward Grant, God and Reason in the Middle Ages. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press 2001.
Lynn White, Jr., Medieval Technology and Social Change.
Galaxy 1962.
Oxford:
Richard of Wallingford, Abbot of St. Albans;
London, BL Cotton Claudius E.iv, fol. 201.
We will be reading part or all of the following text that is currently out of print:
Edward Grant, A Source Book in Medieval Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard 1974.
This text and the individual articles or book chapters assigned in the following schedule of readings will be
available in the “Content” section of the D2L site for this course.
Topics
Week 1: January 14, 16
Introduction to the course
Science and Christianity in Late Antiquity.
Assignment: David C. Lindberg, “Science and the Early Church,” in God and
Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science, ed. David
Lindberg and Ronald Numbers (Berkeley 1986) 19-49. Hollister, chapter 1.
Week 2: January 21, 23
The Patristic Period, Monastic Culture, and the Breakdown of Society. The Carolingian
Reform
Assignment: Hollister, ch. 2-7; John Marenbon, Early medieval philosophy (4801150): an introduction. London ; New York: Routledge, 1988. pp. 27-52; Grant,
God and Reason Introduction.
Feudal Society.
Assignment: Hollister, ch. 8-9; Richard W. Southern, The Making of the Middle
Ages (New Haven 1968) ch. 2.
NB: PLEASE ARRANGE AN APPOINTMENT TO DISCUSS THE ANALYTICAL
ESSAY
Week 3: January 28, 30
Knowing It All: Medieval Fascinations with Encyclopaedic Knowledge
Assignment: Pre-Modern Encyclopedic Texts. Proceedings of the Second COMERS
Congress, Groningen, 1-4 July 1996, ed. Peter Brinkley. Leiden: E. J. Brill 1997. pp.
47-61 (article by Ribémont), 63-74 (article by Hoogvliet), and 183-199 (article by
North).
Medieval Technology.
Assignment: Lynn White, Medieval Technology and Social Change (Oxford 1962) esp.
ch. 3; Lynn White, “The Historic Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis,” Science
155(1967) 1203-1207
Week 4: February 4, 6
The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century: The Investiture Contest.
Assignment: Hollister, ch. 10-12; Southern, Making of the Middle Ages, ch. 3;
Grant, God and Reason ch. 1.
The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century: Politics, Religion and Sex
Assignment: Lindberg, chapter 2; Marenbon, Early pp. 113-127; Alexander
Murray, “Nature and Man in the Middle Ages,” in J. Torrance, ed., The Concept of
Nature (Oxford 1992) 25-62; George Makdisi, “The Scholastic Method in
Medieval Education: An Inquiry into its Origins in Law and Theology,”
Speculum 49(1974) 640-661; Grant, God and Reason ch. 2.
ITEM DUE: IDENTIFY SUBJECT OF ANALYTICAL REVIEW
Week 5: February 11, 13
Medieval Understandings of Aristotle
Assignment: B. G. Dod, “Aristoteles Latinus,” and Charles H. Lohr, “The
Medieval Interpretation of Aristotle,” The Cambridge History of Later Medieval
Philosophy, ed. Norman Kretzmann, Anthony Kenny, Jan Pinborg. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press 1982. pp. 45-79, 80-98; Grant, God and Reason ch.
3. Listen to In Our Time podcast, “The Translation Movement”
Medieval Universities: Paris.
Assignment: Lindberg, ch. 4; Jacques Verger, “The Universities and
Scholasticism,” in The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 5, ed. David Abulafia.
Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1999. pp. 256-276; Verger, “The Universities,” in
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The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 6, ed. Michael Jones. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP 2000. pp. 66-81. Listen to In Our Time podcast, “The medieval
University”
Week 6: February 18, 20
Medieval Universities: Oxford.
Assignment: none.
Medieval Universities: Curriculum and Teaching.
Assignment: James Weisheipl, “The Curriculum of the Faculty of Arts at
Oxford in the Early Fourteenth Century,” Mediaeval Studies 26(1964) 143-185.
Week 7: February 25, 27
Scriptoria and Book Production
Assignment: none.
Classification of the Sciences.
Assignment: Lindberg, ch. 14.
ITEM DUE: SUBMIT BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH OF AUTHOR AND
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Week 8: March 4, 6
The Condemnations of 1270 and 1277:
Theology and Science in the Middle Ages.
Brunetto Latini, Le trésor; Florence, Biblioteca
Medicea Laurenziana, Ashb. 125, fol. 60r
Assignment: J. M. M. H. Thijssen, Censure and Heresy at the University of Paris
1200-1400. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1998. pp. 40-56,
113-117; Edward Grant, “Science and Theology in the Middle Ages,” in God and
Nature, ed. Lindberg and Numbers, pp. 49-75; Grant, God and Reason ch. 6.
Scotus, Ockham, and Nominalism.
Assignment: Marenbon, Later medieval philosophy (1150-1350): an introduction.
London ; New York: Routledge & K. Paul, 1987. 93-108, 154-188; Grant, God
and Reason ch. 4. Listen to In Our Time podcast, “Ockham’s Razor”
Week 9: March 11, 13
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The Analytic Languages of Science: The New Logic and Grammar.
Assignment: Armand Maurer, Medieval Philosophy ch. 17; John Murdoch, “The
Analytic Character of Late Medieval Learning: Natural Philosophy without
Nature,” Approaches to Nature in the Middle Ages, ed. Lawrence Roberts
(Binghamton, NY 1984) 171-213; Grant, God and Reason ch. 5.
God and Mammon: Theology, Nature, Money, and Quantification
Assignment: Joel Kaye, “The Impact of Money on the Development of
Fourteenth-Century Scientific Thought,” Journal of Medieval History 14(1988) 251270.
March 15-23
Week 10: March 25, 27
Spring Break
Medicine and Natural History.
Assignment: Lindberg, ch. 12-13. Listen to In Our Time podcast, “The Four
Humours”
Medieval Mathematics.
Assignment: Lindberg, ch. 5
ITEM DUE: OUTLINE OF IMPORTANT QUESTIONS/ISSUES IN THE TEXT
Week 11: April 1, 3
Medieval Mathematics.
Assignment: Grant, Sourcebook no. 19, 25, 31.
Medieval Optics.
Week 12: April 8, 10
Assignment: Lindberg, ch. 10.
Medieval Optics.
Assignment: Grant, Sourcebook no. 61.1, 62.6, 62.9, 62.15, 62.18, 62.24, 62.27,
62.32.
Cosmology and Astronomy.
Assignment: Lindberg, ch. 8-9.
Week 13: April 15, 17
Cosmology and Astronomy.
Assignment: Grant, Sourcebook 67.4, 67.5,
68.1-3.
Statics and Motion.
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Assignment: Lindberg, ch. 6-7.
Week 14-15: April 22, 24, 29
Statics and Motion.
Assignment: Grant, Sourcebook, 42, 43.
Statics and Motion.
Traité de l’espere;
Paris, BnF fonds français 565, fol. 1r
Assignment: Grant, Sourcebook, 46, 48, 49, 50.1, 51.1.
Week 15: May 1
Why did medieval science decline after 1350?
Assignment: William J. Courtenay, “The Effect of the Black Death on English
Higher Education,” Speculum 55(1980) 696-714; E. D. Sylla, “The Fate of the
Oxford Calculatory Tradition,” in Chr. Wenin, ed., L’homme et son univers au moyen
âge (Louvain-la-Neuve 1986) 692-698; Jacques Verger, “Schools and
Universities,” in The New Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 7, ed. Christopher
Allmand. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 1998. pp. 220-242; Elźbieta JungPalczewska, “Why was Medieval Mechanics Doomed? The Failure to Substitute
Mathematical Physics for Aristotelianism,” in J. A. Aertsen and M. Pickavé, eds.,
Herbst des Mittelalters? Fragen zur Bewertung des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts. Berlin-New
York: de Gruyter 2004. pp. 495-511; Grant, God and Reason ch. 7 & Conclusion.
Listen to In Our Time podcast, “The Black Death”
ITEM DUE MAY 1: COMPLETED ANALYTICAL ESSAY
Special Note
Any student in this course who has a disability that may prevent him or her from fully demonstrating his or
her abilities should contact me personally as soon as possible so that we can discuss accommodations
necessary to ensure full participation and facilitate your educational opportunities.
Requirements
1. The most important requirement is, of course, the completion of the readings as assigned. Because the
course will not be a traditional lecture, but rather lecture punctuated by discussion, it is imperative that
everyone be able to contribute.
2. We will have two examinations, both of the take-home variety, one approximately in the middle of the
semester, the other during finals week.
3. Students will complete a detailed analytical essay focused on a primary source text from the middle ages.
During the second half of the course, you will gain some practice in doing this orally, since class time will
be devoted to discussions of important texts in a variety of disciplines in the late middle ages. The
analytical essay is designed to give you the opportunity to develop this kind of investigation on a topic of
your own choice. The exercise will be spread over the entire semester. During the second week of the
course, I want to meet with each of you to help identify an area of interest and to suggest places where
you can begin looking for an appropriate source. By the end of the fourth week, I ask that you identify (in
writing) the text you have selected as the focus of your review. By the end of the seventh week, you must
provide a biographical sketch of the author of that text and a bibliography of materials that you will use
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in the analysis of your text. By the end of the tenth week, you must provide an outline of important
questions or issues that the text addresses. On the last day of the course (May 1), you must submit the
analytical essay. Each of these steps will be described in greater detail as we progress through the
semester, and I will give you handouts of suggested materials that you can consult to find a primary
source and for information on the author or related issues.
Academic Integrity
Please be aware of the seriousness of plagiarism. It is imperative that you acknowledge all sources.
Plagiarism is defined as the unacknowledged use of specific ideas, arguments, or extended passages from any
source. It is an extremely serious academic offense (to say nothing of the moral issues involved); you may
wish to consult the Student Code for penalties. For your convenience, the Provost has created a
comprehensive website on academic integrity at
http://www.ou.edu/provost/pronew/content/integritymenu.html.
Just for Fun (and a Little Extra Credit)
The theme of Edward Grant’s final chapter is that the Middle Ages has suffered a ‘bad rap’ at the hands of
modern popular (and often high) culture. And yet, the Middle Ages has remained a popular period for
modern people, as evidenced by all of you who signed up for the course (see, I’m either naïve or an optimist);
as Umberto Eco has wryly suggested, “It seems that people like the Middle Ages.” But of course liking
something doesn’t necessarily mean understanding it, and this seems to be Grant’s point. As an extra-credit
exercise, I ask you to analyze a substantial piece of modern exposition about the Middle Ages, on the basis of
what you have come to learn about the period in this course. What is substantial?
• It might be a novel: two of the more popular choices from the past generation are Umberto Eco’s
Name of the Rose and Michael Crichton’s Timeline, to say nothing of the whole series of mysteries by
Ellis Peters on Brother Cadfael. But if you range a little farther afield, you will find other interesting
works that purport to give insight into the Middle Ages, but may often tell us more about the
modern world.
• It might be a film: both Eco’s and Crichton’s works have been turned into feature films. Classics are
Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” (1957) or John Huston’s “A Walk with Love and Death”
(1969). At the other end of the scale, of course, there is “Monte Python and the Holy Grail” (1975)
or “A Knight’s Tale” (2001). You can find an extensive list of films in Kevin Harty’s The Reel Middle
Ages (1999).
• It might be works of modern art: the German-American artist Kiki Smith includes emblems of
Books of Hours and Bestiaries among the themes she uses; and while he is 18th-19th century, William
Blake was well-known for his (then) modern portrayals of medieval themes.
• It might be a portfolio of modern advertisements: Xerox’s Brother Dominic (1975) who
miraculously copies documents with his 9200, or AOL’s monks who have taken vows of silence, but
communicate via Instant Messenger, or Pepsi’s alternating images of monks chanting and a rock
band.
Whatever you choose, I ask that you produce a 3-page analytical essay that explores the way by which the
modern medium has either captured an essential aspect of the Middle Ages, or as Eco has suggested,
“reimagined” the Middle Ages in his (or her) own image. Essays will be due April 15. Those who submit an
essay will be able to count it as 10% of the final grade; in other words, the three written exercises outlined
above will constitute 90% rather than 100% of the total grade, thus distributing your effort and reducing the
significance of each exercise. Only one such essay will be accepted from each student.
Contacting me…
Don’t hesitate: a question delayed is a problem created. My office is Old Chemistry 312; scheduled office
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hours are Monday 11:00 – 12:00 and Wednesday 4:00 – 5:00, but you may call me (325-6490 or 325-2213)
and arrange an appointment at most other hours during the week.
You can also send me email at [email protected].
I also don’t mind your calling me at home (at reasonable hours) 360-0282.
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