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The Medieval Concept of the Four Elements
How medieval scholars believed all matter was built from earth, air, fire and water, and how that idea shaped their views of nature, weather, medicine and the cosmos.
Life and Learning
Elements, Humors and Senses
Medieval theories of matter, the body and perception.
The Medieval Concept of the Five Senses: A Guide to Perception
How medieval writers described sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, why they ranked them, and the moral warnings attached to each sense.
The Medieval Concept of the Four Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water
A walk through each medieval element, its pairing of hot, cold, wet and dry qualities, and the place each was thought to hold in the layered cosmos.
The Medieval Concept of the Four Humors
An overview of the medieval theory that blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile shaped the body and temperament, with notes on where it came from.
The Medieval Concept of the Four Humors: A Theory of Medicine
How medieval physicians used humoral theory to diagnose illness and plan treatment through diet, regimen, purging and bloodletting, and where it fell short.
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Learning and Science Schools, universities, stars and maps. Food and Drink What people ate and drank, from peasant pottage to noble feasts. Dress, Festivals and Folklore Clothing, holy days, customs and legends. Literature and Legends Poems, sagas and tales told across the Middle Ages. Music and Entertainment Songs, dance, jesters and court amusements. Science and Technology Alchemy, astronomy, ships and the tools that changed work. Women in Medieval Society Work, law, family and religious life for medieval women. Poets and Authors Writers of the medieval world and those who shaped how it is remembered. Medieval Lives Typical lives of a peasant, a knight and a monk. Courtly Love and Ideals Love, chastity and etiquette in noble circles. Medieval Worldview How medieval people thought about time, seasons, life stages and fate. Universities, Oxford and Cambridge How universities arose and how Oxford and Cambridge took shape. Everyday Life Details Homes, hygiene, childhood, marriage and death in ordinary medieval lives.