ChaucerWorldView
From Wyclif
To understand how people living in the Middle Ages thought about the universe -- so radically different is it from our own -- we have to think in rigid verticalities. The system -- from angels to the dumbest rock -- worked because of laws that defined each entity's position. With the exception of some angels and most humans, all other entities in the universe were satisfied with their position and only wanted to be the perfect whatever-they-were. Thus, lead did not want to be gold; it wanted to be the best and most perfect lead that was possible.
If this system is vertical and rigid, there is also a rather horizontal aspect to it. Basically, the idea of "correspondences" stated that all things above were reflected in things below. Thus the tri-part organization of the state was a reflection of the same organization of heaven; the tri-part organization of the household reflected that same organization of the state which reflected the organization of the heavens. This is also true of the organization of the body.
To understand the literature before us, we have to understand this system because we will see it on every page. Characters look as they do because of the imbalances of the humours, because they are proud and will not accept the vertical laws, because their bodies are influenced by the Zodiacal signs and because their actions confirm astrological influences.
What I intend to do here is present descriptions appropriate for my classrooms based on my own reading, contemplation and understanding of what is needed from this material to support readings of medieval and early renaissance literature. These descriptions fall into the following categories:
TheGreatChainofBeing
ThePtolemaicDesign
PlanetaryInfluence
TheHumours
FreeWillandPredestination
TheZodiacandtheBody
TimeandtheZodiac
MedievalMedicine
I will include links when appropriate and available.
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