IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 150: Scientific, Empirical, Biblical, and Hagiographical Knowledge in the Middle Ages, I: Astronomy, Computus, and Medicine

Monday 2 July 2018, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:	School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast
Organiser:	Sarah Baccianti, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast
Moderator/Chair:	Ciaran Arthur, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast
Paper 150-a	Anglo-Saxons' Visions of Modern Science (Language: English) Marilina Cesario, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast Pedro Lacerda, School of Mathematics & Physics, Queen's University Belfast Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Old English, Science
Paper 150-b	Why Write Computus in English?: Vernacularity and Computistical Inquiry (Language: English) Rebecca Stephenson, School of English, Drama & Film, University College Dublin Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Literacy and Orality, Science
Abstract	This session will focus on attitudes to knowledge, which constitutes one of the most complex concepts in the Middle Ages, as suggested by the vast semantic range of the Latin terms commonly translated as 'knowledge', including scientia, cognitio, notitia, eruditio and sapientia. It will consider how scientia was transmitted and manipulated in the Middle Ages by looking at diverse sources ranging from astronomical, computistical, and mechanical texts (medicine, agriculture, and navigation), maps and the environment, and liturgical and hagiographical compositions from England, Scandinavia, and the Continent. Furthermore it will discuss the ways in which scientific knowledge and biblical and hagiographical learning were used to exercise power and the role that beliefs played in shaping and promoting scientific thinking.