Lecture 2/7. The medieval world view
Topics this hour:
- Anecdote about Galilei
- The medieval view on man and world view
- Cosmology according to Hildegard of Bingen
- Continuation medieval world view
- Mysticism in the medieval world view
- Mysticism and the Roman-Catholic church
Introduction
Welcome to this second lecture of the course Medieval Dutch Mysticism in the Low Countries.
As I told you last week, in all these lectures I will use the hour before the break to tell something about the cultural-historical context; and the hour after the break to read medieval texts. This hour I will continue with the subject 'the Middle Ages' and thoroughly discuss the medieval realm of thought, the medieval world view. This will thereafter be an anchor when we'll read Hadewijch's visions after the break; and for understanding what medieval people thought about visions and mysticism.
Last week I've tried to sketch a picture of the medieval world. I've discussed the three pillars of the medieval culture (Greek-Roman, jewish-christian and Germanic); the three classes in society (clergy, nobility and farmers/citizens); who could read and write in the medieval society; I've discussed education, schooling, the importance of Latin; and furthermore the rise of the written Dutch literature from the 12th century onward. So last week I've tried to bridge the distance between our time and the medieval society.
Today, before the break, I want to take this a step further. I will explain in more detail the way of thinking of the medieval man. What was his view on man, the world, the cosmos? We will try to crawl into the mind of a medieval person. And there are not only many centuries of space in between us and a medieval person, but their opinions and ideas about the world and the place of mankind in that world also are very different from ours today.
First I will describe the medieval view on man and on the world. What were their thoughts about the universe, the place of the earth in that universe, and the place of man on earth? After that I'll discuss the medieval opinion about mysticism - of the common man and of the church -, that derives from that world view.
Anecdote about Galilei
To get an idea of how different a medieval person thought about the world and his place in that world, I'll start with an anecdote about the Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642).
During the Middle Ages, and already during the Antiquity, people knew that the earth is round, but they assumed that the earth was in the center of the universe and that the sun and the planets circled around the earth. This astronomical model is called the geocentric or Ptolemaic world view.

The earth in the center
(the Ptolemaic or geocentric world view).
-click to magnify-
Well, in 1632 Galilei claims that the earth circles around the sun: that the sun is in the center and not the earth. Galilei didn't come up with that idea himself, but he defends a theory of the Polish mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). In his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543) Copernicus worked out a hypothesis that not the earth, but the sun is the immoble center of the universe: the heliocentric world view.
Copernicus
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1543
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sun in centre (heliocentric)
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Galilei
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1632
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sun in centre (heliocentric)
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So Copernicus' theory dates back to the very last years of the Middle Ages; and at the moment that Galilei publishes his book, in 1632, the Middle Ages officially have ended for almost a century. But the astronomical model that was under discussion here, is rooted very firmly in the Middle Ages.
Because of his statement, Galilei had to appear before the Inquisition (the court of the church). The church demanded that Galilei would declare that he didn't believe in Copernicus' theory and he risked to end up in prison for the rest of his life.
Why was this such an important issue for the Catholic church? It's hard to imagine that the nowadays church would commit astronomers for trial, because they have some theory about black holes or something like that. But that's what in fact is happening in this case. The church believed that the earth is the motionless centre of the universe and that the sun and all the planets circle around the earth. Apparently, the church felt that it was heretical to claim something else.
Church
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earth in centre (geocentric)
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Copernicus
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1543
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sun in centre (heliocentric)
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Galilei
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1632
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sun in centre (heliocentric)
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Well, there's more at stake here than stubbornness or obstinancy of the catholic church. These are ideas about the earth and the place of man within creation, on which the whole medieval thinking was based. And the medieval view on man and on the world, was fully based on religious convictions.
The medieval view on man and world
I've told you last time, that medieval culture evolved out of three pillars: the Greek-Roman pillar, the jewish-christian pillar and the Germanic pillar, and that Christianity had a leading part in this.
The cosmology (the ideas about the cosmos, the universe, the earth) in the Middle Ages derives from two of those pillars: the Greek-Roman and the christian. Already during the Greek-Roman Antiquity people knew that the earth is round and they were acquainted with five planets.
How did they know during the Antiquity that the earth is round?
The proof of the stars in the sky
As soon as you sail beyond the equator, all the stars in the sky completely change. This is impossible if the earth were flat. The only possible cause is that the surface of the earth is curved.
The proof of the well
When you dig a well on the northern hemisphere, at noon the sun beams will fall into it with an angle. When you dig an identical well around the equator, the sun beams will fall straight into it at that point in time, and they will reach the bottom of the well. This proves that the earth is curved. Based on this, mathematicians were even able to determinate, very accurate, the circumference of the earth.
The proof of the eclipse of the moon
A lunar eclipse means that the shadow of the earth falls on the moon. This shadow always has a round shape, the shape of a disc, never the shape of a flat beam. So the earth is not a flat pancake, but a sphere.
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Ptolemy, a mathematician and astronomer in the Greek Antiquity, made a schematical image of this geocentric world view (that's why it's also called the Ptolemaic model of the cosmos). In the Middle Ages they adopted this view on the cosmos from the Antiquity.

The earth in the center
(the Ptolemaic or geocentric world view).
-click to magnify-
This picture shows the earth as the center of the universe. Thereabout circle successively the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Next to that you see the firmament with the stars and constellations. Still further ahead is the so called Primum Mobile (meaning: the 'first mover') and around that the Empyrean, the residency of God (in Latin: the Coelum Empireum Habitaculum Dei: the 'fiery heaven, God's residence'). So the Empyrean is in fact nothing more but God; the cosmos is God's creation and God embowers that creation and also penetrates that whole creation.
The word 'empyrean' is derived from the Greek empyros, 'fiery', 'consisting of pure fire': in Greek mythology actually the highest heaven was nothing but pure fire. The residence of the christian god still is called the 'fiery heaven', the 'empyrean heaven'.
During the Middle Ages the complete thinking was soaked with religion, from that jewish-christian pillar. Also the ideas about the cosmos and the place of earth and human in that cosmos. Cosmology, the view on the world and the view on man are completely interwoven with religious ideas; it's impossible to cleave the two during the Middle Ages. And because the whole of Europe (between the sixth and the tenth century) became Roman-Catholic, the fundament of this all is the Bible.
And that geocentric cosmos, heaven and earth, was created by God in six days, according to the first book of the Bible, Genesis; and according to the jews this happened approximately 6000 years ago. On the first day, God separated light from darkness, on the second day He created the heaven firmament, and more and more comes into existence: the sea, the plants and trees, and the sun, moon and stars. On the fifth day the living creatures, fish and birds; and on the sixth day the terrestrial animals and human beings. And according to Genesis, God created the human being after His image. So according to medieval faith, the human being is an (unique) divine creation, the only creature formed after the image of God himself.
Regarding humanity, the catholic faith believed in the salvation history of mankind. This history begins, according to Genenis, with creation and will end with the Last Judgement. The christian church presumes that this involves a linear history, with a starting point and an end point (creation and last judgement). This contrary to Antiquity, when people believed in a cyclic history (everything always returns, believe in reincarnation). The Catholic Church rejected reincarnation; they regard life and history as linear, from creation until last judgement.
After creation, man and woman live in paradise. A crucial moment in the salvation history of mankind is the moment of the fall of man. The human being possesses intellect and a free will and voluntarily they then turn away from God; this is the story of Adam and Eve, you will all know it.
The view on man within medieval Christianity is therefore dual: positive and negative. On the one hand the human being is created by God after His image - the human being is image-bearer of God, has a free will, is able to reason, able to love, can choose to do good. On the other hand, since the fall the human being is a sinner - the human is sinful, falls short, is inclined to all evil, is imperfect.
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Salvation history of mankind
- creation (beginning)
- fall of man (turning away from God)
- last judgement (end)
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But that moment of the fall, that sinful fall, turning away from God, that moment also has been decisive on the cosmic scale: it has determined the place of the earth within the universe. And the earth has gotten the worst spot within the cosmos: it is the motionless center.
Everything in the cosmos is moving, according to the medieval man, out of love for God. The Primum Mobile turns from east to west, and the planets give some counter-motion from west to east (to give an explanation for their different velocities). During this movement, they produce beautiful sounds, and all those sounds together form a beautiful harmony (the so called 'Harmony of the Spheres').
But what about the earth, the static center? The earth is motionless, it doesn't move out of love for God. Furthermore, the earth is at the farest distance from the Empyrean and subsequently from God; the above picture shows that clearly. And in the deepest core of the earth, so the place that is the very farest away from God, there the hell is located.
So the earth is motionless and at the farest distance from God. But furthermore, the earth is situated in the so called sublunary sphere: the region in the geocentric cosmos below the moon. You can see it in above picture: the last celestial body that moves, is the moon. After that you arrive in the sublunary sphere, the sphere of the motionless earth.
Well, this sublunary sphere is very deviating, very different from the other, celestial spheres. First of all, in the sublunary sphere everything is liable to decline, perishableness, and mortality. Paradise was still ruled by eternity, but since the fall, the human being is living in a declining and mortal world. In the celestial spheres, above the moon, everything is eternal.
Second of all, the sublunary sphere is made out of matter, it's a material world, and it consists of four elements: earth, water, air and fire. Adversely, the celestial spheres consist of only one element: ether. These are the etherial spheres (etherial means: thin/airy, immaterial, metaphysical, heavenly).
And on the third place: the earth is inhabited by mankind. The planetary spheres though, are also inhabited according to the medieval man: they are inhabited by angels. These angels are divided in nine choirs or orders; and that is the exact number of the planetary spheres (seven celestial bodies, the firmament and the Primum Mobile). These nine Angels' Choirs are usually subdivided in three groups (the order can vary a bit per historic source). Mostly, the lowest orders (closest to earth) are the Angels, Archangels and Principalities. The middle orders are the Powers, Virtues and Dominions. And the highest three orders are the Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. So these highest choirs are closest to God.
Empyrean
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domicile God
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Pr. Mobile
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Seraphim
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Firmament
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Saturn
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Thrones
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Jupiter
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Dominions
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} dmcl. angels
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Mars
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Virtues
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Sun
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Powers
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Venus
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Principalities
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Mercury
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Archangels
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Moon
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Angels
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Earth
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domicile mankind
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Since the sinful fall of man, it's no longer possible for God to have direct contact with a human being (which had been the case in paradise). Buth through the angels He still is connected with humanity. The angels are messengers of God, intermediaries between God and mankind.
The lowest choir is closest to mankind, you could imagine this as what are called guardian angels. The second order, the Archangels, only have contact with human beings on very rare occasions, according to the Bible. For example in the New Testament, Archangel Gabriel heralds the birth of Jesus to Mary (others that are mentioned by name are Michael and Rafael).
Origin of angels
Already the Mesopotamian mythology, about a thousand years before the eldest jewish writings, contains winged creatures as messengers or mediators.
The people of the old Mesopotamia distinguished four kinds of gods: earthly gods, sky gods, water gods and underworld gods. Because the sky gods were unreachable, in their mythological body of thought came winged creatures into existence to maintain contact.
During the Babylonian exile the jews copied many images and motives from the Mesopotamian mythology. The god of Abraham, Jahweh, was a one of those sky gods and therefore these mythical, winged messengers also play an important role in the jewish and later the christian writings - then called 'angels'.
The Greek word 'angelos' and the Latin 'angelus' litterally mean 'messenger'. It's a translation of the Hebrew word 'mal'ach' ('messenger').
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So roughly the cosmos in the medieval world view consists of three parts: the earh, created matter, the material sphere (domicile of mankind); the celestial spheres, the planetary spheres and firmament, etherial, created ether (domicile of the choirs of angels); and the Empyrean, the uncreated (domicile of God) - and together they form one whole, one cosmos, one creation.
empyrean
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divine (uncreated)
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God
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planetery sph.
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celestial (ether)
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angels
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earth
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Try to imagine what this means. When we look up at night, we see a cold, empty, endless universe. When medieval men looked up at night, in a way they looked to the inside, they were covered by an enormous dome. They were embrassed by God, by spheres they believed were filled with angels and music (although they could not see or hear this, because ether is invisible for the material eye). And they knew that they were in the worst place, the sublunar, where everything is decaying, short-living, mortal; the motionless center, farest away from God.

Dante Alighieri describes a journey
along the planetary spheres/angels' choirs
to the Empyrean (with God as three radiant circles)
in La divina commedia, 1310-1320
(ill. by Gustave Doré, 19th century).
-click to magnify-
Cosmoly according to Hildegard of Bingen
Several miniatures of Hildegard of Bingen (12th century) clearly show this medieval cosmology. In last week's hand-out we've seen the vision 'God and the cosmos' (the second vision in her book Liber Divinorum Operum).

Hildegard of Bingen,
vision God and creation, in LDO.
-click to magnify-
Depicted is a human being in the cosmos: in the middle the spherical earth, around the earth the planetary spheres, domicile of the choirs of angels (the white, waving lines), then the firmament with all the stars (the red dots). Around that the divinity (the Empyrean), depicted as a human figure (with a head, hands and feet), that surrounds and encloses the whole creation. The red colour, as I told before, Hildegard explains as 'God's mother love': God's love encloses everything.
All around animals are depicted, in groups of three at a time, and they are blowing. They represent the powers of God that keep creation in existence. In the left low corner, you see Hildegard herself. She is sitting in her cell and looks up: she watches the vision. On the table is a wax tablet on which she writes down the things she sees and hears. Later a monk drew a miniature of the vision (so she didn't drew them herself).

Hildegard of Bingen,
vision of the creation, in LDO.
-click to magnify-
Another miniature, the vision named 'The creation' (also from the Liber Divinorum Operum), also shows many of these elements. You see again the round, spherical earth in the center of the cosmos, and as the outer circle, the divinity, that encloses creation (the blue divine light and the red divine love). The earth is depicted with all the seasons and in her comment Hildegard philosophises about the idea 'God is life'.
At the left side again you see Hildegard, she watches the vision and writes it down. The strip of parchment, at the bottom, was meant for a text, a short comment, but it's not filled in.
On these two pictures, the planetary spheres and the nine choirs of angels are not clearly highlighted, they're nothing more than white waving lines. But it's depicted in another vision.

Hildegard of Bingen,
vision of the choirs of angels, in the Scivias.
-klik voor vergroting-
Hildegard describes the nine angels' choirs (in her book the Scivias) as above picture. The nine orders of angels are situated around a center. Every choir has it's own characteristics, clearly distinguishable, but within a choir, all agels are alike.
So this is Hildegard's representation of the Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, Dominions, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim.
All of these 12th-century visions, clearly show the medieval model of the cosmos. The earth is in the center of the cosmos (geocentric world view). Around it are the planets with the angels' choirs, the stars and the Empyrean (domicile of God). And the earth, the motionless center, clearly is the farest away from God.
These pictures visualise how medieval cosmology (the way of thinking about man, the earth and the universe) completely is interwoven with religious thinking. The earth is surrounded by planets and angels, by stars and by God.
The question is asked: how widespread, how generally known was this medieval cosmology? Were these ideas known by the common man? Well, remember I told you last week, that the educational system used by the cathedral schools and monastery schools, was called the artes liberales or seven free arts (the Roman educational system). This consisted of three linguistic subjects and four arithmetical subjects - and these latter four were arithmetic, geometry, music and... astronomy. So everyone who received an education, learned about cosmology.
Well, schooling of course only was accessible for a small group of boys, but later on these men got important positions within society. They became priests, pastors, vicars; every week they preached before the people, held sermons, they took care of ministry (taking care of spiritual welfare), they spoke with their parishioners - and this was all based on that way of thinking and way of believing: the view on the world according to the medieval cosmology and the beliefsystem of the catholic doctrine.
Education always is the transfer of knowledge, the current state of knowledge. So during the Middle Ages, the subject Astronomy will teach the generally accepted state of knowledge from the Greek-Roman and the medieval civilisation. And subsequently the parish churches essentially will reach everyone; for Catholicism was the commonly accepted faith, everyone was catholic and visited church. Of course the priest won't have given lectures in cosmology, but in their sermons and conversations they will have referred to the salvation history of mankind, the nine choirs of angels, the mortality in the sublunary sphere, and so on.
So you may assume that the state of knowledge of that time defined the world view of the priests and from there could seep through to the whole population. So this medieval world view, the cosmology, and this medieval faith system, the catholic doctrine, that were completely interwoven in those centuries, shape the very common background of the medieval way of thinking.
See also the complete hand-out about the Liberal arts and te difference between Artes-literature and scientic texts.
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Artes liberales
Since the Antiquity there were three groups of subjects a pupil could choose to study: the 'liberal arts' (artes liberales: l a n g u a g e a n d c a l c u | | | |