Chapter VII: The Earth and Her Inhabitants Summary and Analysis

Just as the celestial spheres were guided by their own intelligences, so too did the Medievals believe that Earth has an intelligence which governs it. However, as the Earth is the center of the Universe, and as such does not orbit, this intelligence was identified as Fortune or Luck which governed chance events which happened on Earth.

Physically speaking, nearly all Medievals believed the Earth was spherical, contrary to the myths common in the modern world that they believed the Earth to be flat. To be sure, there were some vocal advocates of the flatness of the Earth, but those have persisted even in more modern times and were certainly a minority consciously arguing against the majority belief. Medievals even grasped many of the implications of the spherical nature...