IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 218: Blending the Boundaries: The Four Elements in the Middle Ages, I - Earth and Water
Monday 6 July 2020, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Queen's University Belfast |
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| Organisers: | Marilina Cesario, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast Elisa Ramazzina, School of Arts, English & Languages, Queen's University Belfast |
| Moderator/Chair: | Helen Appleton, Balliol College, University of Oxford |
| Paper 218-a | 'Wormes woweth under cloude': Animal Collaboration and Working the Earth in Medieval English Lyrics and Bestiaries (Language: English) Index terms: Biblical Studies, Language and Literature - Middle English, Science, Teaching the Middle Ages |
| Paper 218-b | Earth: The World as Bird in Medieval Islamic Maps (Language: English) Index terms: Geography and Settlement Studies, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Mentalities, Science |
| Paper 218-c | 'The boiling hot water, that punishes the dead in hell, is the same one that, sent to us, brings us help': Bathing in the Middle Ages between Medicine and Allegory (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - German, Language and Literature - Italian, Medicine, Science |
| Abstract | This is the first of two sessions exploring the four elements in the medieval worldview. The elements - earth, water, air, and fire - constituted the macrocosm. The human body, being a reflection of the macrocosm, was considered a microcosm, and was thus composed of four humours, each related to a specific element, the imbalance of which caused disease. The two sessions examine the elements as wide natural categories, that is either as boundaries or as 'bridges' between the microcosm and the macrocosm. The first session considers Earth and Water from different perspectives and in a variety of contexts. It will explore earth in medieval English lyrics and bestiaries and in medieval Islamic world maps. Water will then be analysed in Middle High German texts and medieval Italian medical literature. |