How people adjust the truth according to their agenda
There is a piece of 'common knowledge' about the Middle Ages we have heard repeated over and over again: that medieval people thought the earth was flat. In addition, there's a second claim we've heard a few times: that Columbus faced opposition to his attempt to find a western route to Asia because people thought the earth was flat and he'd fall off. Widespread 'facts' with one very, very big problem: Columbus, and many if not most medieval people, knew the earth was round. As did many ancient Europeans, and those since.
The Truth
By the Middle Ages, there was a widespread belief among the educated that the Earth was a globe. Columbus did face opposition on his voyage, but not from people who thought he’d drop off the edge of the world. Instead, people believed he’d predicted too small a globe and would run out of supplies before he made it around to Asia. It was not edges of the world people feared, but the world being too big and round for them to cross with the technology available.
Understanding the Earth as a Globe People in Europe probably did believe that the earth was flat at one stage, but that was in the very early ancient period, possible before the 4th century BCE, the very early phases of European civilization. It was around this date that Greek thinkers began to not only realize the earth was a globe but calculated the precise dimensions of our planet.
There was much discussion about which competing size theory was correct, and whether people lived on the other side of the world. The transition from the ancient world to the medieval one is often blamed for a loss of knowledge, a “move backward”, but the belief that the world was a globe is evident in writers from across the period. The few examples of those who doubted it have been stressed instead of the thousands of examples of those who didn’t.
Why the flat Earth myth?
The myth of a flat Earth during the Middle Ages was perpetuated by Protestant reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin, who sought to discredit Catholic teachings and portray Catholics as ignorant and superstitious.
This myth was further popularized in the 19th century by writers like Washington Irving and Andrew Dickson White, who exaggerated the extent of flat Earth beliefs during the Middle Ages.
Professor Jeffrey Russell argues that the Columbus myth originated in a history of Columbus from 1828 by Washington Irving, which claimed that theologians and experts of the period opposed funding the voyages because the earth was flat. This is now known to be false, but anti-Christian thinkers seized upon it. Indeed, in a presentation summarizing his book ‘Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians,’ Russell states:
No one before the 1830s believed that medieval people thought that the Earth was flat.
In reality, most medieval scholars and intellectuals accepted the Earth's spherical shape, based on ancient Greek and Roman knowledge. The concept of a spherical Earth was widely accepted by:
1. Early Christian scholars like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas 2. Medieval philosophers like Roger Bacon and Thomas Bradwardine 3. Astronomers like Gerardus Cremonensis and John of Holywood
It's fascinating to explore how historical misconceptions can arise and persist!
1. Sources for my post: Robert Wilde and other information has been checked with AI info for more context.
2. Sources~ "The Myth of the Flat Earth" by Jeffrey Burton Russell (1991)
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Orthodox Church
I. Style
There is a piece of 'common knowledge' about the Middle Ages we have heard repeated over and over again: that medieval people thought the earth was flat. In addition, there's a second claim we've heard a few times: that Columbus faced opposition to his attempt to find a western route to Asia because people thought the earth was flat and he'd fall off. Widespread 'facts' with one very, very big problem: Columbus, and many if not most medieval people, knew the earth was round. As did many ancient Europeans, and those since.
The Truth
By the Middle Ages, there was a widespread belief among the educated that the Earth was a globe. Columbus did face opposition on his voyage, but not from people who thought he’d drop off the edge of the world. Instead, people believed he’d predicted too small a globe and would run out of supplies before he made it around to Asia. It was not edges of the world people feared, but the world being too big and round for them to cross with the technology available.
Understanding the Earth as a Globe
People in Europe probably did believe that the earth was flat at one stage, but that was in the very early ancient period, possible before the 4th century BCE, the very early phases of European civilization. It was around this date that Greek thinkers began to not only realize the earth was a globe but calculated the precise dimensions of our planet.
There was much discussion about which competing size theory was correct, and whether people lived on the other side of the world. The transition from the ancient world to the medieval one is often blamed for a loss of knowledge, a “move backward”, but the belief that the world was a globe is evident in writers from across the period. The few examples of those who doubted it have been stressed instead of the thousands of examples of those who didn’t.
Why the flat Earth myth?
The myth of a flat Earth during the Middle Ages was perpetuated by Protestant reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin, who sought to discredit Catholic teachings and portray Catholics as ignorant and superstitious.
This myth was further popularized in the 19th century by writers like Washington Irving and Andrew Dickson White, who exaggerated the extent of flat Earth beliefs during the Middle Ages.
Professor Jeffrey Russell argues that the Columbus myth originated in a history of Columbus from 1828 by Washington Irving, which claimed that theologians and experts of the period opposed funding the voyages because the earth was flat. This is now known to be false, but anti-Christian thinkers seized upon it. Indeed, in a presentation summarizing his book ‘Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians,’ Russell states:
No one before the 1830s believed that medieval people thought that the Earth was flat.
In reality, most medieval scholars and intellectuals accepted the Earth's spherical shape, based on ancient Greek and Roman knowledge. The concept of a spherical Earth was widely accepted by:
1. Early Christian scholars like St.
Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas
2. Medieval philosophers like Roger
Bacon and Thomas Bradwardine
3. Astronomers like Gerardus
Cremonensis and John of Holywood
It's fascinating to explore how historical misconceptions can arise and persist!
1. Sources for my post: Robert Wilde and other information has been checked with AI info for more context.
2. Sources~ "The Myth of the Flat Earth" by Jeffrey Burton Russell (1991)