UCMS lecture: "The Light Ages: A Medieval Journey of Discovery"

On 26 November, the next (online) edition of the lecture series of the Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies will take place. This time the lecture will be given by Dr Seb Falk (University of Cambridge).

The Light Ages

Falk talks about his book The Light Ages: A Medieval Journey of Discovery, published in Dutch as De verlichte middeleeuwen. Histories of medieval sciences, especially those written for non-academic audiences, have often focused on big ideas and famous names. The Light Ages is an attempt to write a history of science in the later Middle Ages which focuses on everyday practices of calculation, demonstration, teaching, learning and instrument use.

Falk's talk will examine what we can know about the astronomical skills of a poorly-recorded monk in fourteenth-century England. He discusses what the remarkable life and (perhaps) ordinary achievements of John Westwyk tell us about the place of precise planetary astronomy within monastic life, and within medieval culture more generally.