Celestial Divination and Arabic Science in Twelfth-Century England: The History of Gerbert of Aurillac’s Talking Head

2012/04/01 by E. R. Truitt · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Augustinian Studies and Theology #Medieval and Classical Philosophy

paper · doi:10.1353/jhi.2012.0016

openalex publication_date 2012/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract

The legend of Gerbert of Aurillac’s oracular head reveals significant information about contemporary medieval attitudes toward foreign knowledge from outside of the Latin Christian West, and in particular about the quadrivium, astral science, and celestial divination. In particular, William of Malmesbury’s account—the most well-known in the medieval period—demonstrates the extent to which scientific knowledge from the Arabic tradition had penetrated the intellectual climate of England in the early twelfth century.

Citations

• The talking brass head as a symbol of dangerous knowledge infriar baconand inAlphonsus, king of Aragon

Cited by

• Pope Sylvester II [wikipedia]

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• 984: Some Letters to and by Gerbert d’Aurillac Dealing with “Arabic” Mathematics and Astronomy
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• The occult tradition in the English universities of the Renaissance: a reassessment