Saints, Witches and Poets: Nature and Religion in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, humans developed a stronger impression of control over nature, but it was largely influenced by religion. Nature seemed ambiguous by then: at times, a nurturing mother; on other occasions, a punishing tyrant. Since this age covered no less than 1000 years, it is of course by no means uniform. The chapter explores three distinct perspectives on the nature of mediaeval times: the religious (examining the thought of Saint Augustine, Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Thomas Aquinas), the political (by taking witch-hunting as a case study) and the poetic (especially the literature of Bocaccio and Chaucer). Nature was very much present in mediaeval arts and literature, often as analogy or metaphor for the human self. Science, in turn, gradually advanced to producing a fusion between Ancient Greece’s understanding of nature with Christian doctrine, which was essential for its advancement into Modernity. A number of ideas and values that emerged in mediaeval times are still present in contemporary society, either in active or dormant state. As in Ancient Greek times, contradictions and disputes about human-nature relationships that emerged in mediaeval times have implications even in today’s debates around environmental ethics.