Spaces of Knowledge: Four Dimensions of Medieval Thought

Medieval thought, traditionally associated with great figures and with the works generated by an intellectual elite, encompasses, however, a much wider variety, and an extraordinary wealth, of texts, if one’s perspective is broadened to include all the individuals that made up the society in which it developed. Delving deep into the thought of an age entails an exercise of interdisciplinarity in which different dimensions and intellectual expressions all have a place. This volume provides a space where the various disciplines that tackle the multifaceted subject of medieval thought unfold. Through an analogy to the different levels of the acquisition of knowledge developed by the epistemology of the time, the volume is divided into four separate, albeit related, ways of approaching medieval thought: the sphere of senses and experience; the domain of opinion and language; speculation and the product of fantasy; and the activity of intellect and reason. This approach allows the conceptualisation of the many different ways in which the intellectual production of the Middle Ages manifests itself, but also demands expanding the meaning of what is understood as the thought, or knowledge, of an era. Next to major philosophical, theological, political and medical works and those related to other scientific areas, we find technical treatises devoted to various arts and disciplines. In short, the thought of an age consists of a rich diversity of elements, and branches into numerous expressions that involve all social strata.

Noemi Barrera is a PhD candidate at the Department of History of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona. She is the author of “Bartholomaeus Anglicus como compilador” in The Compilation of Knowledge in the Middle Ages, and writes about medieval encyclopedias.

Gemma Pellissa-Prades is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University and she holds a PhD in Catalan Literature from the University of Barcelona. She has written several articles about medieval sentimental romances, such as “Creating New Myths in the 15th-century” in Comparative Becomings: Cultures in Translation.

Delfi-Isabel Nieto-Isabel has earned a pre-doctoral fellowship and is completing her PhD at the University of Barcelona. She contributed to the volume Women’s Networks of Spiritual Promotion in the Peninsular Kingdoms, with the article “The Network of Beguin Spirituality in the Early 14th-century Languedoc”.

Laia Sallés Vilaseca is a PhD candidate in History and an Assistant Researcher and Teacher at the University of Barcelona. She has been awarded with a pre-doctoral fellowship and her PhD dissertation’s title is “The knowledge of Islam from the Latin Western Christianity prior to the 13th century”.

Georgina Rabassó is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Barcelona. She has published “Las virtudes, fuerzas vivas del alma en Hildegarda de Bingen” in Cauriensia, and “El cielo y la tierra en el Hortus deliciarum de Herrada de Hohenbourg” in The compilation of Knowledge in the Middle Ages.

Ivo Elies graduated in History from the University of Barcelona and he has an MA in Medieval Cultures. He has published various articles about agrarian history, such as “Infra terminum castro Subirads: els agents estructuradors del territori a petita escala” in the scientific journal Recerques: història, economia i cultura.

Josep Bellver is Senior Research Fellow in Islamic Studies at the University of Barcelona. He has published in the Journal of the American Oriental Society; Arabica; Intellectual History of the Islamicate World; al-Qantara; and Anales del seminario de historia de la filosofía, among others.

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Noemi Barrera

Cécile Codet

Laura de Castellet

Ivo Elies Oliveras

Noemi Barrera Gómez

Carlos López-Arenillas

Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel

Carolina Obradors

Gemma Pellisa Prades

Georgina Rabassó

Laia Sallés Vilaseca