Fig. 16.—Heavens of the Middle Ages.
Here we see the earth placed immovable in the centre of the universe, and represented by a disc traversed by the Mediterranean, and surrounded by the ocean. Round this are circumscribed the celestial spheres. That of the moon first, then that of Mercury, in which several constellations, as the Lyre, Cassiopeia, the Crown, and others, are roughly indicated, then comes the sphere of Venus with Sagittarius and the Swan. After this comes the celestis paradisus, and the legend that, "the paradise to which Paul was raised is in this third locality; some of these must reach to us, since in them repose the souls of the prophets." In the other circles are yet other constellations: for example Pegasus, Andromeda, the Dog, Argo, the He-goat, Aquarius, the Fishes, and Canopus, figured by a star of the first magnitude. To the north is seen near the constellation of the Swan a large star with seven rays, meant to represent the brightest of those which compose the Great Bear. The stars of Cassiopeia are not only misplaced, but roughly represented. The Lyre is curiously drawn. The positions of the constellations just named are all wrong in this figure, just as we find those of towns in maps of the earth. The cartographers of the middle ages, with incredible ignorance, misplaced in general every locality. They did the same for the constellations in the celestial hemispheres. In the heaven of Jupiter, and in that of Saturn we read the words—Seraphim, Dominationes, Potestates, Archangeli, Virtutes cœlorum, Principatus, Throni, Cherubim, all derived from their theology. A veritable muddle! The angels placed with the heroes of mythology, the immortal virgins with Venus and Andromeda, and the Saints with the Great Bear, the Hydra, and the Scorpion!
Another such richly illuminated manuscript in the library at Ghent, entitled Liber Floridus, contains a drawing similar to this under the title Astrologia secundum Bedum. Only, instead of the earth, there is a serpent in the centre with the name Great Bear, and the twins are represented by a man and woman, Andromeda in a chasuble, and Venus as a nun!
Several similar ones might be quoted, varying more or less from this; one, executed in a geographical manuscript of the fifteenth century, has the tenth sphere, being that of the fixed stars, then the crystalline heaven, and then the immovable heaven, "which," it says, "according to sacred and certain theology, is the dwelling-place of the blessed, where may we live for ever and ever, Amen;" "this is also called the empyreal heaven." Near each planet the author marks the time of its revolution, but not at all correctly.
The constructors of these systems were not in the least doubt as to their reality, for they actually measured the distance between one sphere and another, though in every case their numbers were far from the truth as we now know it. We may cite as an example an Italian system whose spheres were as follows:—Terra, Aqua, Aria, Fuoco, Luna, Mercurio, Venus, Sol, Marte, Giove, Saturno, Stelle fixe, Sfera nona, Cielo empyreo. Attached to the design is the following table of dimensions which we may copy:—
Plate VII.—Heavens of the Fathers.
The author states that he cannot pursue his calculations further, and condescends to acknowledge that it is very difficult to know accurately what is the thickness of the ninth and of the crystalline heavens!