Medieval

Exhibit items from the Medieval period.

Exhibit Items

	Introduction to Astronomy, 1489 Abu Ma'shar, (1489) Abu Ma’shar, an astronomer in 9th century Baghdad, was one of the most prolific writers on astrology during the Middle Ages. This work was cited by Albert the Great, Roger Bacon, Pierre d’Ailly, and Pico della Mirandola, among others.
	Perspective Peckham, John (1556) The Perspectiva of Peckham (13th century) became the established university textbook on perspective. It was the text Galileo likely used in his early studies of optics. Renaissance artists were well-versed in the classic works on perspective.
	Treasury of Optics al-Haytham, Ibn (1572) The frontispiece depicts a variety of optical phenomena: Reflection. Refraction. Perspective. The rainbow. Burning mirrors.
1	The Divine Comedy Dante, (1757) Dante’s love for astronomy pervaded this epic poem. Not by accident did he bring each of the three volumes to a close with the word “stelle,” or star.
1	Anatomy, 1507 Luzzi, Mondino dei (1507) Medieval human dissection manual: Written in 1316 by a professor of medicine at the University of Padua, the Anatomy of Mondino was the most widely-used manual for human dissection in the middle ages.
2	Workes, Chaucer Chaucer, (1598) Chaucer’s astronomical knowledge, like Dante’s, was anything but casual; in addition to his stories, this volume also contains his detailed technical manual for use of the astrolabe.
2	Avicenna's Canon of Medicine Sina, Ibn (1608) University medical textbook: Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine became a standard medical text in European universities. Ibn Sina, or “Avicenna” as he became known in Europe, flourished around 1000.
2	Anatomy, 1541 Luzzi, Mondino dei (1541) Art and anatomy converging in an illustrated manual: These human figures are more than utilitarian: walking against a real background, posed as if revealing to our eyes the unseen beauty and wonder of human anatomy; they also reflect an increasingly artistic approach to the human body.
2	Euclid's Elements of Geometry, 1594 Al-Tusi, Nasir ad-Din (1594) This Arabic text of Euclid came from the circle of the Persian astronomer al-Tusi (13th century). Al-Tusi worked in Baghdad and in the observatory of Maragha, in modern northwestern Iran. Printing Arabic with moveable type was a technological challenge.
3	Heights of Theology Aquinas, Thomas (1496) Wormholes appear on the cover of this otherwise well-preserved medieval masterwork of theology. Aquinas represents the medieval synthesis of science and religion. He endorsed the principle of accommodation.
3	Medical Remedies Hildegard of Bingen, (1533) Free medical care from the medieval Abbess who composed music, rebuked rulers, saw visions and wrote many books: In the Middle Ages, convents were places where anyone might seek free health care.
4	Meteorology, 1506 D’Ailly, Pierre (1506) This commentary on Aristotle’s meteorology contains numerous contemporary annotations and drawings (not yet studied). D’Ailly was a theologian, mathematician, astronomer, and cosmographer who helped the medieval church heal the schism of three rival popes.
8	100 Tales Boccaccio, Giovanni (1925) Eyewitness to Black Plague: In the opening section, the Florentine writer Boccaccio (1313-1375) recounted his observations of the plague. According to Boccaccio, most people died within about three days of the appearance of tumors.
9	Commentary on Al-Qabisi Al-Qabisi, (1512) This medieval introduction to astrology was frequently translated from Arabic into Latin. Al-Qabisi lived in the 10th century in Syria.
10	On the Sphere of the Universe bar Hiyya, Abraham (1546) Abraham bar Hiyya, also known as Savasorda, was a 12th century Jewish mathematician and astronomer in Barcelona. In this beautiful introduction to astronomy, bar Hiyya’s text appears in Hebrew alongside a Latin translation.
11	On the Sphere Sacro Bosco, Joannes de (1490) In University study from the 13th through 16th centuries, the most common introduction to the geocentric cosmos was the medieval work, On the Sphere, by Sacrobosco.