Mediæval lore from Bartholomaeus Anglicus / by Robert Steele, with preface by William Morris.

  • Bartholomaeus, Anglicus, active 13th century.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Mediæval lore from Bartholomaeus Anglicus / by Robert Steele, with preface by William Morris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The first years of the modern commercial system gave its death-blow to the popularity of this characteristically mediaeval work, and though an effort was made in 1582 to revive it, the attempt was unsuccessful—quite naturally so, since the book was written for men desirous to hear of the wonders of strange lands, and did not give an accurate account of anything. The man who bought cinnamon at Stourbridge Fair in 1380 would have felt poorer if any one had told him that it was not shot from the phtenix’ nest with leaden arrows, while the merchant of 1580 wished to know where it was grown, and how much he would pay a pound for it if he bought it at first hand. Any attempt to reconcile these frames of mind was foredoomed to failure. The Interest of Bartholomew’s Work.—The interest of Bartholomew’s work to modern readers is twofold : it has its value as literature pure and simple, and it is one of the most important of the documents by the help of which we rebuild for ourselves the fabric of mediaeval life. The charm of its style lies in its simple forcible language, and its simplicity suits its matter well. On the one hand, we cannot forget it is a translation, but the translation, on the other hand, is from the mediaeval Latin of an Englishman into English. One of the greatest difficulties in the way of a student is to place himself in the mental attitude of a man of the Middle Ages towards nature ; yet only by so doing can he appreciate the solutions that the philosophers of the time offered of the problems of nature. Our author affords perhaps the simplest way of learning what Chaucer and perhaps Shakespeare knew and believed of their surroundings—earth, air, and sea. The plan on which his work was constructed led Bartholomew in order over the universe from God and the angels—through fire, water,