Medieval People Essay, Research Paper

Martin Galas

HIS 231

What was expected in year 1000?

People who lived thousand years ago viewed Earth as the center of a cosmos. Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle mapped the cosmos and placed the earth in the center of it. Christians and Jews claimed that Earth was round and flat. Another thought was that the terrestrial region was composed of four parts. Those four parts were earth, water, air and fire. Medieval people were also very interested in studies of the earth’s atmosphere and weather conditions. They studied phenomena like lighting, thunder, rain, snow, rainbows, comets and shooting stars.

The globe was divided into five climatic zones according to medieval people. The terrestrial land was divided into three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. This idea was represented as a circle with a letter T inside it. The letter T represented three major water bases: the Mediterranean Sea, Nile and Don River.

Phenomena like earthquakes, volcanoes and the uplift were explained as results of winds blowing.

Medieval people also focused their attention on the living forms of the Earth. It was explained that all living forms of the Earth were present because of God. God created all living forms in the beginning and he made it possible that they could reproduce themselves into a future.

Medieval people had also knowledge about local flora and they used herbs to medical purposes. Moreover, they also had knowledge about animal life. Many medieval people believed that far away lands were occupied by extremely ugly races. Roman first century author, Pliny the Elder was one of the main sources for such beliefs. Demons , angels, nymphs, elves, satyrs, centaurs and all others monsters were believed to exist.