Ordering the Heavens: Astronomy & Cosmology in the Carolingian Renaissance

在加洛林文艺复兴时期(9-10世纪)，有没有自然科学，特别是天文学和宇宙学的地方，有什么值得注意的创新吗？对这个问题的回答是肯定的，该项目扩展了文艺复兴的文化和制度动机，并重视对自然世界秩序的研究。加洛林的学者、教师和学生复兴和使用了罗马帝国的一套四本关于天文学和宇宙学的文本，开启了科学意识的一个新阶段，远远超出了前三个世纪在计时和日历建造方面的重点。新的天序概念在使用数字时更加详细，在对空间的关注方面也明显新颖和创造性。在九世纪，对天空的常规研究开始包括图表，这既是为了澄清，也是为了指导新的主题。在四个罗马文本中添加的评注和图表不仅提供了解释，而且还提供了问题和对其内容的替代方案。图表尤其被用来澄清、质疑和改变这些文本中的教义。图表是加洛林时代天文学中建立假说和模型的工具。天文学和宇宙学的教学和研究是通过借阅、复制、摘录和润饰古代文本而实现的。加洛林的许多机构都参加了，使这项活动成为文艺复兴的重要组成部分。每一篇文章都激起了一些不同的兴趣和问题。对这一时期的许多拉丁文手稿的研究表明，在一大组主题中，以下几个是值得注意的：行星顺序、绕太阳的行星、四季的不同长度、行星的逆行、行星运动的偏心和周转模型，以及太阳力作为行星的影响。这些话题得到了加洛林学者的讨论和图表。在九世纪和十世纪初的过程中，创造了大量的新知识，这些知识主要以定性模型为特征，辅之以定量数据。加洛林文艺复兴重新唤起了人们对在古代晚期消失的行星秩序和运动形式的认识。这一理解是11世纪和12世纪进一步研究和发展的重要基础，因为当时遇到了希腊-阿拉伯天文学，然后活跃起来。该项目是一个图书馆研究课题，旨在研究中世纪的拉丁文手稿。在每个文本的许多副本中，文本的变化，页边空白的学术评论，以及作为解释或问题添加的不同图表，揭示了不同时期不同加洛林学者对这些文本的不同理解。因此，该项目将极大地促进科学史、科学哲学、跨文化知识转移的研究以及加洛林文艺复兴的历史研究。

In the Carolingian Renaissance (ninth-tenth centuries) was there any place for natural science, especially astronomy and cosmology, and did any notable innovation occur? Answering "yes" to this question, the project expands the cultural and institutional motivations of that renaissance and accords importance to the study of the natural world order. The revival and use of a set of four texts on astronomy and cosmology from the Roman Empire by Carolingian scholars, teachers, and students initiated a new stage in scientific awareness, advancing well beyond the focus of the previous three centuries upon time-keeping and the construction of calendars. New concepts of celestial order were more elaborated when using numbers and were distinctly novel and inventive in their attention to space. Routine studies of the heavens came to include diagrams, both for clarity and for instruction in new themes, during the ninth century. Both commentary and diagrams added to the four Roman texts provided not only explanations but also questions and alternatives to their contents. Diagrams especially were used to clarify, question, and redirect doctrines in these texts. Diagrams were a tool for the creation of hypotheses and models in Carolingian astronomy.Teaching and research on astronomy and cosmology was enabled by the lending, copying, excerpting, and glossing of the ancient texts. Many Carolingian institutions participated, making the activity an essential part of the renaissance. Each of the texts stimulated a somewhat different set of interests and questions. Study of the many Latin manuscripts from the period shows attention to the following few among a large group of topics: planetary order, circumsolar planets, the different lengths of the four seasons, retrograde motion of planets, eccentric and epicyclic models of planetary motion, and the force of the sun as a planetary influence. These topics received discussion and diagrams by Carolingian scholars. Over the course of the ninth and early tenth centuries a tremendous body of new knowledge was created, a body of knowledge characterized primarily by qualitative models and complemented by subordinate quantitative data. The Carolingian Renaissance created anew an awareness of forms of planetary order and motion that had disappeared in late Antiquity. This understanding was an essential basis for further inquiry and development in the eleventh and twelfth centuries as Greco-Arabic astronomy was encountered and then actively sought.The project is a library research topic, designed to study of medieval Latin manuscripts. Among the many copies of each text the variations in text, scholarly comments in margins, and varying diagrams added as explanations or questions reveal the different understandings of these texts by different Carolingian scholars at different times. As a result, the project will significantly advance knowledge in the history of science, the philosophy of science, the study of knowledge-transfer across cultures, and the historical study of the Carolingian Renaissance.