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HISTORY

The Claim

During the Middle Ages, scholars thought the Earth was round.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

Historical evidence shows medieval scholars generally regarded Earth as spherical. Primary texts and standard scholastic teaching support that conclusion, especially in Latin Christian and university contexts. The common idea that medieval thinkers believed in a flat Earth is largely a later myth and often confuses popular belief with learned scholarship.

Caveats

  • This applies to scholars and educated traditions, not necessarily to all medieval people.
  • The evidence is strongest for Latin European and university-centered scholarship, not every region of the medieval world.
  • A few obscure writers disagreed, but they were exceptions rather than the scholarly norm.

The Receipts

  1. Ancient Greek Astronomy and Cosmology

    Library of Congress

  2. Cosmology and Theology

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

  3. God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science

    Oxford University Press

  4. The Venerable Bede: The Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione)

    Fordham University Internet Medieval Sourcebook

  5. History of Europe – The medieval mind

    Encyclopaedia Britannica

  6. The Myth of the Flat Earth

    Medievalists.net

  7. The Persistent Myth of the Flat Earth and Why Historical Research Matters

    North Dakota State Museum

  8. Washington Irving's Columbus and the Flat Earth

    Vatican Observatory

  9. The Debunking of the Flat-Earth Myth

    Smithsonian Magazine

  10. Columbus and the Flat Earth Myth

    Stand to Reason

+ 5 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

EarthMedieval Period

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