A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2): During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our EraThorndike, Lynn
History
A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 2 (of 2): During the First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era
Thorndike, Lynn
Magic -- History; Science -- History
While the Breton, Abelard, and the Saxon, Hugh of St. Victor, were
reviewing patristic literature from somewhat new angles and were
laying the foundations of scholastic method, an Englishman, Adelard
of Bath,[26] was primarily interested in exploring the fields of
mathematical and natural science. As Hugh came from Saxony to Paris
and Abelard went forth from his native Brittany through the towns of
France in quest of Christian teachers, so Adelard, leaving not only his
home in England but the schools of Gaul where he had been teaching,
made a much more extensive intellectual pilgrimage even to lands
Mohammedan. “It is worth while,” he declares in one of his works, “to
visit learned men of different nations, and to remember whatever you
find is most excellent in each case. For what the schools of Gaul do
not know, those beyond the Alps reveal; what you do not learn among
the Latins, well-informed Greece will teach you.”[27] Adelard seems to
have devoted himself especially to Arabian learning and to have made
a number of translations from the Arabic, continuing at the beginning
of the twelfth century that transfer of Graeco-Arabic science which we
have associated with the name of Gerbert in the tenth century and which
Constantinus Africanus carried on in the eleventh century. Adelard
himself hints that some of his new ideas are not derived from his
Arabian masters but are his own, and Haskins has well characterized him
as a pioneer in the study of natural science.
[Sidenote: Some dates in his career.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account