Honors College World Literature
For further information on medieval science, see early-twentieth-century works by Pearl Kibre, E.K. Chambers, and Chaucer and the Country of the Stars .
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Four contraries |
Four elements |
Four humors |
Four spheres |
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HOT |
fire (hot and dry) |
choler (yellow bile, from gall bladder, hot and dry) |
sun |
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MOIST |
air (hot and moist) |
blood (hot and moist) |
planets |
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COLD |
water (cold and moist) |
phlegm (cold and moist) |
moon |
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DRY |
earth (cold and dry) |
melancholy (black bile, cold and dry) |
fixed stars |
Numerology looms large in much medieval literature. Here's a very simple chart of a general philosophy of numbers. See work by, among others, Vincent Hopper.
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1 unity, circularity, truth |
2 division, shadow, female |
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3 trinity |
4 causality, earth (elements, directions) |
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5 animals, senses |
6 perfect number: 1 + 2 + 3 and 1 x 2 x 3 |
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7 totality |
8 eternity, start of new 7 |
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9 circular, one short of ten |
10 unity, extension of 1 |
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11 sin |
12 fallenness |
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This page created by
Louise M. Bishop |
Last updated 9 January 2001