Editing Flat Earth (section)

====Europe: Early Middle Ages====
Early medieval Christian writers felt little urge to assume flatness of the Earth, though they had fuzzy impressions of the writings of Ptolemy and Aristotle, relying more on Pliny.<ref name="Inventing Flat Earth" />

[[File:Macrobian Planetary Diagram.jpg|thumb|9th-century Macrobian cosmic diagram showing the ''sphere of the Earth'' at the center ({{lang|la|globus terrae}})]]

With the end of the [[Western Roman Empire]], [[Western Europe]] entered the [[Middle Ages]] with great difficulties that affected the continent's intellectual production. Most scientific treatises of [[classical antiquity]] (in [[Greek language|Greek]]) were unavailable, leaving only simplified summaries and compilations. In contrast, the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] did not fall, and it preserved the learning.<ref>Lindberg, David. (1992) ''The Beginnings of Western Science''. University of Chicago Press. Page 363.</ref> Still, many textbooks of the Early Middle Ages supported the sphericity of the Earth in the western part of Europe.<ref>B. Eastwood and G. Graßhoff, ''Planetary Diagrams for Roman Astronomy in Medieval Europe, ca. 800–1500'', ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', 94, 3 (Philadelphia, 2004), pp. 49–50.</ref>

[[File:Diagrammatic T-O world map - 12th century.jpg|thumb|left|12th-century [[T and O map]] representing the inhabited world as described by [[Isidore of Seville]] in his ''[[Etymologiae]]'' (chapter 14, {{lang|la|de terra et partibus}})]]

Europe's view of the shape of the Earth in [[Late Antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]] may be best expressed by the writings of early Christian scholars:

[[Isidore of Seville|Bishop Isidore of Seville]] (560–636) taught in his widely read encyclopedia, the ''[[Etymologiae|Etymologies]]'', diverse views such as that the Earth "resembles a wheel"<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville |author=Isidore of Seville |translator1=Stephen A. Barney |translator2=W. J. Lewis |translator3=J. A. Beach |translator4=Oliver Berghof |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2010 |chapter=XIV ii 1 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ep502syZv8C |isbn=978-0-521-83749-1}}</ref> resembling Anaximander in language and the map that he provided. This was widely interpreted as referring to a disc-shaped Earth.<ref>{{cite book |title=Geography, Cartography and Nautical Science in the Renaissance |author=W. G. Randles |date=2000 |publisher=UK, Ashgate Variorum |page=15 |isbn=978-0-86078-836-2 |quote=In other passages of the ''Etymologies'', he writes of an ''orbis''}}. Also in: {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1LEmKPgJ8MC |title=The Classical tradition and the Americas, vol.&nbsp;1 |page=15 |editor1=Wolfgang Haase |editor2=Meyer Reinhold |access-date=November 28, 2010 |isbn=978-3-11-011572-7 |date=1994|publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}</ref><ref>
{{Cite book |title=The House of Wisdom |last=Lyons |first=Jonathan |publisher=Bloomsbury |date=2009 |pages=34–35 |isbn=978-1-58574-036-9}}</ref> An illustration from Isidore's ''De Natura Rerum'' shows the five zones of the Earth as adjacent circles. Some have concluded that he thought the [[Arctic]] and [[Antarctic]] zones were adjacent to each other.<ref>{{cite book |author=|last1=Brehaut |first1=Ernest |author-link1=Ernest Brehaut |title=An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages |date=1912 |publisher=Columbia University |url=http://bestiary.ca/etexts/brehaut1912/brehaut1912.htm |access-date=December 3, 2010 |archive-date=December 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213143040/http://bestiary.ca//etexts/brehaut1912/brehaut1912.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He did not admit the possibility of antipodes, which he took to mean people dwelling on the opposite side of the Earth, considering them legendary<ref>Isidore, ''Etymologiae'', [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/isidore/14.shtml XIV.v.17].</ref> and noting that there was no evidence for their existence.<ref>Isidore, ''Etymologiae'', [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/isidore/9.shtml IX.ii.133].</ref> Isidore's [[T and O map]], which was seen as representing a small part of a spherical Earth, continued to be used by authors through the Middle Ages, e.g. the 9th-century bishop [[Rabanus Maurus]], who compared the habitable part of the northern hemisphere ([[Aristotle]]'s northern temperate clime) with a wheel. At the same time, Isidore's works also gave the views of sphericity, for example, in chapter&nbsp;28 of ''De Natura Rerum'', Isidore claims that the Sun orbits the Earth and illuminates the other side when it is night on this side. See French translation of ''De Natura Rerum''.<ref name=Fontaine>{{cite book |last=Fontaine |first=Jacques |title=Isidore de Seville: Traité de la Nature |date=1960 |publisher=Bordeaux |language=fr}}</ref> In his other work ''[[Etymologiae|Etymologies]]'', there are also affirmations that the sphere of the sky has Earth in its center and the sky being equally distant on all sides.<ref>Isidore, ''Etymologiae'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=igxC93_A-fIC III. XXXII].</ref><ref>Isidore, ''Etymologiae'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=6jjsJ9NP6hYC XIV. I].</ref> Other researchers have argued these points as well.<ref name="Inventing Flat Earth">{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Jefrey Burton |title=Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians |url=https://archive.org/details/inventingflatear00russ |url-access=registration |date=1991 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-275-95904-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/inventingflatear00russ/page/86 86–87]}}</ref><ref>Wesley M. Stevens, "The Figure of the Earth in Isidore's De natura rerum", ''Isis'', 71 (1980): 268–77. {{Cite journal |doi= 10.1086/352464 |last= Stevens |first= Wesley M. |title= The Figure of the Earth in Isidore's "De natura rerum" |journal= Isis |volume= 71 |issue= 2 |pages= 268–77 |date= 1980 |jstor= 230175 |s2cid= 133430429}}, page 274</ref><ref name="Sourcebook in Medieval Science">{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |title=A Sourcebook in Medieval Science (Source Books in the History of the Sciences) |date=1974 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-82360-0}}</ref> "The work remained unsurpassed until the thirteenth century and was regarded as the summit of all knowledge. It became an essential part of European medieval culture. Soon after the invention of typography it appeared many times in print."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Thomas Glick |author2=Stephen John Livesley |author3=Faith Wallis |title=Medieval Science Technology and Medicine, an Encyclopedia |date=2005 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location= NY}}</ref> However, "The Scholastics&nbsp;– later medieval philosophers, theologians, and scientists&nbsp;– were helped by the Arabic translators and commentaries, but they hardly needed to struggle against a flat-Earth legacy from the early middle ages (500–1050). Early medieval writers often had fuzzy and imprecise impressions of both Ptolemy and Aristotle and relied more on Pliny, but they felt (with one exception), little urge to assume flatness."<ref name="Inventing Flat Earth" />

[[File:Isidore-wheels.jpg|thumb|Isidore's portrayal of the five zones of the Earth]]

[[Vergilius of Salzburg|St Vergilius of Salzburg]] (c. 700–784), in the middle of the 8th century, discussed or taught some geographical or cosmographical ideas that [[St Boniface]] found sufficiently objectionable that he complained about them to [[Pope Zachary]]. The only surviving record of the incident is contained in Zachary's reply, dated 748, where he wrote:<ref>English translation by {{Cite book |title=Thought and Letters in Western Europe: A.D. 500 to 900 |last= Laistner |first=M. L. W. |edition=2nd |date=1966 |orig-year=1931 |pages= [https://books.google.com/books?id=sI0OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA184 184–185] |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, NY |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sI0OAAAAQAAJ }} The original Latin reads: {{lang|la|De perversa autem et iniqua doctrina, quae contra Deum et animam suam locutus est, si clarificatum fuerit ita eum confiteri, quod alius mundus et alii homines sub terra seu sol et luna, hunc habito concilio ab ęcclesia pelle sacerdotii honore privatum.}} (''[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica|MGH]]'', [http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000525.html?pageNo=178&sortIndex=040%3A040%3A0001%3A010%3A00%3A00 1, 80, pp. 178–79]).</ref>
{{blockquote|
As for the perverse and sinful doctrine which he (Virgil) against God and his own soul has uttered&nbsp;– if it shall be clearly established that he professes belief in another world and other men existing beneath the Earth, or in (another) sun and moon there, thou art to hold a council, deprive him of his sacerdotal rank, and expel him from the Church.
}}

Some authorities have suggested that the sphericity of the Earth was among the aspects of Vergilius's teachings that Boniface and Zachary considered objectionable.<ref>[[#CITEREFLaistner1966|Laistner]], (1966, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sI0OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA184 p. 184]).</ref><ref>Simek ([[#CITEREFSimek1996|1996]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=gXBSKZAlAdMC&pg=PA53 p.&nbsp;53]).</ref> Others have considered this unlikely, and take the wording of Zachary's response to indicate at most an objection to belief in the existence of humans living in the antipodes.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi= 10.2307/2852184 |last= Carey |first= John |author-link= John Carey (Celticist) |title= Ireland and the Antipodes: The Heterodoxy of Virgil of Salzburg |journal= Speculum |volume= 64 |issue= 1 |pages= 1–10 |date= 1989 |jstor= 2852184 |s2cid= 162378383 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Creational Theology and the History of Physical Science: the Creationist Tradition from Basil to Bohr |first= Christopher B. |last= Kaiser |date=1997 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=BBgXuy_D8WEC&pg=PA48 48] |publisher=Koninklijke Brill |location=Leiden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBgXuy_D8WEC |isbn= 978-90-04-10669-7 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Classical Tradition and the Americas |editor1-first=Wolfgang |editor1-last=Hasse |editor2-first=Meyer |editor2-last=Reinhold |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |date=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1LEmKPgJ8MC |isbn=978-3-11-011572-7 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title= The Other World and the 'Antipodes'. The Myth of Unknown Countries between Antiquity and the Renaissance |last= Moretti |first= Gabriella |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=I1LEmKPgJ8MC&pg=265 265] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1LEmKPgJ8MC&pg=241 |date=1993 |publisher= Walter de Gruyter |isbn= 978-3-11-011572-7 }} In [[#CITEREFHasseReinhold1993|Hasse & Reinhold]] (1993, pp. 241–284).</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature |first= Charles Darwin |last= Wright |date=1993 |page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=0ROrL2luVQYC&pg=PA41 41] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ROrL2luVQYC |ref=wright-1993 |isbn= 978-0-521-41909-3}}</ref> In any case, there is no record of any further action having been taken against Vergilius. He was later appointed [[Archbishopric of Salzburg|bishop of Salzburg]] and was [[canonised]] in the 13th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15353d.htm |title=Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Vergilius of Salzburg |publisher=Newadvent.org |date=October 1, 1912 |access-date=February 9, 2013}}</ref>
[[Image:Hildegard von Bingen- 'Werk Gottes', 12. Jh..jpg|thumb|12th-century depiction of a spherical Earth with the four seasons (book ''Liber Divinorum Operum'' by [[Hildegard of Bingen]])]]

A possible non-literary but graphic indication that people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth (or perhaps the world) was a sphere is the use of the ''orb'' ([[globus cruciger]]) in the regalia of many kingdoms and of the Holy Roman Empire. It is attested from the time of the Christian late-Roman emperor [[Theodosius II]] (423) throughout the Middle Ages; the ''Reichsapfel'' was used in 1191 at the coronation of [[Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor|emperor Henry VI]]. However the word {{lang|la|orbis}} means "circle", and there is no record of a globe as a representation of the Earth since ancient times in the west until that of [[Martin Behaim]] in 1492. Additionally it could well be a representation of the entire "world" or [[cosmos]].<ref>
{{citation
 | title=Manoscritto Voynich e Castel del Monte: Nuova chiave interpretativa del documento per inediti percorsi di ricerca
 | language=it
 | trans-title=The [[Voynich manuscript|Voynich Manuscript]] and [[Castel del Monte, Apulia|Castel del Monte]]: A new interpretive key to the document through unpublished courses of research
 | first1=Giuseppe
 | last1=Fallacara
 | first2=Ubaldo
 | last2=Occhinegro
 | publisher=Gangemi Editore
 | page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=MiNOAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT128 127]
 | year= 2013
 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MiNOAgAAQBAJ
 | isbn= 9788849277494
 }}
</ref>

A recent study of medieval concepts of the sphericity of the Earth noted that "since the eighth century, no cosmographer worthy of note has called into question the sphericity of the Earth".<ref>{{cite thesis |first=Klaus Anselm |last=Vogel |title=''Sphaera terrae'' – das mittelalterliche Bild der Erde und die kosmographische Revolution |language=de |publisher=PhD dissertation Georg-August-Universität Göttingen |date=1995 |page=19 |doi=10.53846/goediss-4247 |s2cid=247015048 |url=http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/diss/2000/vogel/index.htm#inhalt |type=doctoralThesis |doi-access=free }}</ref> However, the work of these intellectuals may not have had significant influence on public opinion, and it is difficult to tell what the wider population may have thought of the shape of the Earth if they considered the question at all.