Middle Ages Misconceptions: Debunking Common Historical Myths
The Middle Ages are often portrayed in popular culture as a period of intellectual darkness, superstition, and ignorance. From the image of sailors fearing they would sail off the edge of a flat world to philosophers wasting their lives on absurd debates, these narratives have become deeply embedded in our collective consciousness. However, historical evidence reveals that many of these "facts" are actually modern inventions designed to make the medieval era seem more primitive than it truly was.
The Myth of the Flat Earth
One of the most persistent errors is the belief that people in the Middle Ages—particularly the uneducated—believed the Earth was flat. A common version of this story claims that Christopher Columbus's voyages were revolutionary because they finally disproved the common opinion of a flat Earth.
In reality, this narrative was invented in the early 19th century by Washington Irving in his 1828 book, A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. The myth gained further traction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during early debates over evolution. Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell notes in Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians that almost no educated person in Western Civilization believed the Earth was flat from the third century B.C. onward. He attributes the spread of this myth to the writings of Irving, John William Draper, and Andrew Dickson White.
Medieval texts consistently refer to the Earth as a sphere. For instance, Johannes de Sacrobosco (1195–1256) explained in his De sphaera mundi (Treatise on the Sphere) that the way stars rise and set at different times in the east versus the west, and the timing of lunar eclipses, provide clear evidence of the Earth's bulge.
Other prominent figures, such as Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica and John Mandeville in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, also discussed or demonstrated the sphericity of the Earth. Even Isidore of Seville, a 6th-7th century scholar sometimes cited as a flat-earther, explicitly taught that the Earth was spherical.
[ไม่มีภาพประกอบ]
The "Angels on a Pin" Fallacy
Another frequent claim is that medieval scholastic philosophers—scholars who used a rigorous method of dialectical reasoning—spent their time in fruitless debates over how many angels could fit on the head of a pin or a needle. This story is typically used to mock the perceived inefficiency of medieval intellectual pursuits.
However, these debates never actually happened. Historian Peter Harrison explains that this is a myth invented in the 17th century. He traces the origin of the story to William Sclater's An exposition with notes upon the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (1619) and William Chillingworth's The Religion of Protestants (1638). Harrison suggests the myth may have evolved from a pun, where critics claimed scholastics argued over "needless points" rather than "needles' points."
Cats and the Black Plague
A more recent myth suggests that the Catholic Church orchestrated a massacre of cats during the Middle Ages, which subsequently caused the Black Plague to spread more rapidly because the rodent population (which carried the plague) flourished without feline predators.
This claim was popularized in a 2001 book by Donald Engels titled Classical Cats: The rise and fall of the sacred cat. Engels based his assumption on a papal bull issued by Pope Gregory IX called Vox in Rama. While this document describes a ritual involving a black cat used by a "sect of the damned," it never mentions the killing of cats or labels cats as evil.
Historians have criticized Engels for using his imagination to fill historical gaps, with some describing him as a "fanatic." Furthermore, scientific and historical analysis suggests that cat massacres would not have significantly impacted the spread of the Black Death for several reasons:
- Exterminating cats on a scale large enough to affect rodent populations is extremely difficult.
- The fleas that spread the plague may have moved from person to person rather than exclusively from rats.
- Cats themselves can contract the illness and transmit it to humans.
Contrary to the myth of hatred, cats were often valued. The 13th-century text Ancrene Wisse specifically advised female hermits that they should not possess any animal except for a cat.
[ไม่มีภาพประกอบ]
Key Facts
- Flat Earth: A 19th-century invention by Washington Irving; educated medieval people knew the Earth was spherical.
- Angels on Pins: A 17th-century myth likely based on a pun about "needless points."
- Cat Massacres: A modern claim (2001) not supported by the text of Pope Gregory IX's Vox in Rama.
- Plague Spread: Cat populations were not the primary factor in the Black Death's transmission.
| Common Myth | Historical Reality | Origin of Myth |
|---|---|---|
| Medievals believed the Earth was flat | Educated people recognized the Earth as a sphere | Washington Irving (1828) |
| Philosophers debated angels on pins | No such debates occurred in scholastic records | 17th-century writers (Sclater/Chillingworth) |
| Church massacres of cats caused the Plague | No evidence of mass killings; cats were often kept as pets | Donald Engels (2001) |
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Christopher Columbus prove the Earth was round?
No. The sphericity of the Earth was already accepted by educated people in Western Civilization long before Columbus's voyages. The idea that he had to disprove a "flat Earth" belief was a later literary invention.
Who were the scholastic philosophers?
Scholastic philosophers were medieval scholars who used a specific method of critical thought and dialectical reasoning to reconcile faith with reason.
What is the Vox in Rama?
It is a papal bull issued by Pope Gregory IX. While it mentions a black cat in the context of a heretical ritual, it does not order or mention the massacre of cats.
Why is the "angels on a pin" story so famous?
It became a popular way for later critics to characterize medieval intellectualism as pedantic, irrelevant, and disconnected from practical reality.
How did medieval people know the Earth was round?
They observed celestial phenomena, such as the fact that stars rise and set at different times depending on one's longitudinal position and the behavior of lunar eclipses.