[gerdesj]

We can't really decide what is going on right now, let alone get all whizzed up about how funky European history was doing in 1660.

Why should a bunch of Londoners decide: "to start a club devoted to “improving Natural Knowledge.""

Yes, there were Universities etc but what did they actually teach (Classics, Theology etc) Bear in mind that cutting edge medicine until around 2025 involves leeches. Yes I am being a bit cruel but the point largely stands. Leeches are still used but for their anti-coagulant properties.

There was something more needed. More than what the Romans and Greeks had managed. Obviously we are ignoring vast tracts of the planet here with our Western View.

Anyway, that's only one story. There are several more in the article.

There is a final flourish too - why not read the whole article?

[wahern]

A classic medieval university education wasn't theology or reading Greek and Latin literature like epic poetry. It was the Trivium and Quadrivium, which emphasized logic, math, and astronomy, along with analytical writing skills so these ideas could be synthesized and communicated. What we today consider a classical, humanities-based education began to form, I think, near the start of the Renaissance, which in many ways was a reaction to the overly science-based curricula.

The highest degrees were in law, medicine, and theology, but these were professions and prerequisites for the same; i.e. professional degrees, much like today[1].

[1] I'm curious what percentage of those obtaining masters and doctorates in theology today go on to work as pastors, and specifically if still[citation needed] a majority.

[gerdesj]

Thank you for correcting me. On HN I tend to go for "common knowledge" and wait for someone who knows what they are on about to rock up. You didn't disappoint!

You mention Trivium and Quadrivium, so three and four subjects/things. So, the notion of "University" in the medieval and renaissance needs to be understood, compared to our modern preconceptions.

I studied post scola at a Polytechnic which was a UK thing. That's in living memory and yet many people have no idea what I'm on about. Dealing with notions and ideas beyond living memory soon gets a bit tricky.

I suppose I probably looked at a classical Victorian education (with rose tinted specs) and assumed that a medieval uni might be something like that with rather more Gothic Black Letter, more intransigent word spellings. That's me being lazy.

Would you mind recommending some reading matter? I'll never forget discovering "Courtesans and fishcakes" as a commentary on how ancient Greeks might have seen the world and themselves. Weirdly I found that work in a bookshop in Yeovil in the noughties, despite going to school in Abingdon and regular trips to Oxford and generally being surrounded by Oxbridge as a child.

Your note [1] and query are something I can't answer from authority but I suspect the majority. Theology is no longer considered Science! So if you choose to study Theology, I think you will be inclined towards to wanting to wear some really odd collars as a sign of your work.

[foxglacier]

By "vast tracts", you mean just China? They invented some technology but I don't think anybody else or anybody at all got to Roman level technology. Certainly nobody did science anywhere else that we have any historical record of.