Genesis 2.0

In the beginning... there was a History Student at Durham University, desperately clinging onto University life at Masters level after being unceremoniously dumped into the real world upon the completion of his under-graduate degree. It was here, at Durham, where said student would stumble upon the area of history that interested him the most - Science in Medieval Europe.
It would also be where he began learning a whole new language that specialised in the classification of horses' penises - Old Norse (the language has no less than six different words for it).
Wishing to combine the comedy of the language with the seriousness of a real research topic, he decided to pursue a PhD; the ultimate aim of which was to research the transfer of knowledge between central Europe and the Scandinavian countries during the High Medieval Period (That's roughly 1100-1400 AD).

Which leads us to the present day, where this first year PhD student of legend is now popping his blogging cherry in an attempt to focus his thoughts and ideas as and when he has them. To be quite honest, having an audience (imaginary or otherwise) will allow me to get used to the idea of reporting on my findings rather than simply reading stuff and then going for a lie down in the dark.

I am attempting to trace the transfer of scientific thought and reasoning from Central Europe through to the Scandinavian countries (focusing on Norway, Iceland and Denmark). I am looking for evidence of texts existing within these countries that shows not only an understanding of the traditions within central Europe but also examples of original thought - contributions to the greater intellectual milieu of the time.

Which is all fine and dandy, but what is Medieval Science? What is it I am looking for exactly? In order to ascertain the answer I am getting stuck into some primary sources (these are original texts, rather than commentaries upon said texts, which are known as "secondary sources") that were the common treatises to be found in places of learning - such as cathedral schools, monasteries and the burgeoning universities of the time.

The texts in question are; Isidore of Seville's Etymologies, John of Salisbury's Policraticus and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy.

My next post will be me surmising what I have read and learned within the Etymologies so far; its a BIG text and will require several days reading. I am starting with this book as it is, in essence, the book that would come to define the nature of scholarly learning throughout Europe.

So, next time - The Seven Liberal Arts!