The Neomedievalist

You've probably heard that the Medieval people thought the Earth was flat. Is this true? I'll show you some images from various manuscripts, as well as quotes from two well-known Medieval scholars. Regarding this issue, here’s what Bede Venerabilis (673-735) says: “ Why the same days are unequal in length? The reason why the same (calendar) days are of unequal length is the roundness of Earth ...”  Bede, The Reckoning of Time , trans. Faith Wallis (Liverpool University Press, 1999), pp. 91.  God the Geometer 13th century . Full quote:  The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise (1445) by Giovanni di Paolo St. Thomas Aquinas O.P. (1225-1274), the most famous Medieval and Catholic thinker, knew that the Earth was round. Here's what he said: “[ T]he astronomer and the physicist both may prove the same conclusion—that the earth, for instance, is round: the astronomer by means of mathematics (i.e., abstracting from matter), but the physicist by means of matter i...

The Ancient of days by William Blake (1794) I’m a graduate in Medieval Studies, and when I try to explain some myths about it, people look at me as if I was insane. The Enlightenment propaganda is so strong, that telling the truth about Medieval era sounds like a crazy right-wing conspiracy theory. And this is a serious problem. Many school textbooks, media, etc. promote most of these myths, which are inherently biased and dangerous, because they distort the truth.  The Enlightenment historiography is still the most successful propaganda ever made; it refused to die, because the [anti-Christian] sentiment which these thinkers had promoted seems to be popular ever since. Demonizing the Other is the best way to begin a fight, because it gives you the feeling of the moral superiority. In our case, this has been done by distorting and misinterpreting historical facts, and inventing myths and false villains and heroes. This genius propaganda has affected and influenced most of us, there...

Conservative writer and philosopher Roger Scruton, photographed in London in March last year © Greg Funnell (www.ft.com) Remembering Sir Roger Scruton, the profound English philosopher, writer and artist who, unlike his contemporary colleagues, was a thinker as much as a doer; and to me, a Professor and mentor whom I never had the chance to meet in real life, but only through his writings and virtual lectures. The news of his passing away last year touched and saddened me, among many other people, who valued him, his cause, and thinking. Therefore, today I'm writing a short reflection, as a sign of gratitude and to honour his memory. I began reading Sir Roger Scruton, for the first time in 2016; it was for my political ideology class at University. Back then, I have to say, my views were much different than now. More or less, liberal-left-leaning, like most Humanities' students. I was warned to be careful, and I had prejudices not only towards him, but the conservative philos...