Medieval Astronomy and Cosmology
A lot of the Ordered Universe eneded up focusing on astronomy and cosmology. These were areas of very significant importance to the ancient and medieval worlds, and to Grosseteste and his contemporaries. Discussion of how the universe came to be, how it was structured, and how it worked, provided a rich array of answers and debate, then as now. The assumptions which underpin the ancient and medieval universe are important to bear in mind – the universe was divided into spheres associated to planets or the fixed stars; a sharp distinction was made between the spheres above the moon, and those of the earth below; that which is heavy falls to the centre of the universe; and everything below is affected by everything above. Planets matter. Astronomy and astrology were in some senses two sides of the same coin, and with wider implications for medicine and life on earth.
Medieval learning on astronomy came from many different places. Grosseteste recieved his information from Latin translations of Greek and Arabic texts, as well, perhaps, as the experience of his contemporaries. Whether he himself practised astronomy is not clear; that he thought deeply about it and its immplications is certaintly the case.
We have grouped our project resources in this section around Grosseteste’s treatise On the Sphere in particular, a study of astronomy and its implications which, though it dealt with advanced subjects, was popular, and, although limited in number had several illustrated versions. We provide a Guide to the Medieval Cosmos; a more detailed context for the treatise – its history, structure, subjects, and images; our translation of the text and a 3D model of the universe that Grosseteste describes; and broader contexts – different modern responses to visualising the medieval cosmos through some of the Ordered Universe Creative partners from a 2D model to Sound and Light Projection to line drawing and sculpture; and comparison to modern astronomy – including Grosseteste’s Medieval Big Bang.
We hope that you enjoy these resources as much as we enjoyed collaborating in putting them together.
