652 schools
Further reading: John W. Baldwin, The Scholastic
Culture of the Middle Ages, 1000–1300(Lexington, Mass.:
Heath, 1971); Étienne Gilson, History of Christian Philos-
ophy in the Middle Ages (New York: Random House,
1955); George Makdisi, The Rise of Humanism in Classical
Islam and the Christian West: With Special Reference to
Scholasticism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
1990); James H. Overfield, Humanism and Scholasticism in
Late Medieval Germany(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1984); Josef Pieper, Scholasticism: Personali-
ties and Problems of Medieval Philosophy,trans. Richard
and Clara Winston (New York: Pantheon Books, 1960);
Erika Rummel, The Humanist-Scholastic Debate in the
Renaissance & Reformation(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1995); Jacques Verger, “The Universities
and Scholasticism,” in The New Cambridge Medieval His-
tory. Vol. 5, c. 119–c. 1300, ed. David Abulafia (Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 256–276.
schools SeeUNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS.
science Science in the Middle Ages in Europe and
ISLAMinvolved the search for truth in many branches of
knowledge. The roots of modern science were planted in
the Middle Ages. THEOLOGY, regarded as the queen of sci-
ences, had a considerable impact on the free exercise of
the intellect. Moreover, irrational superstition, religious
assumptions, and strong beliefs in MAGICinhibited scien-
tific investigation into natural phenomena. Real advances
nonetheless occurred in mathematics, OPTICS, ALCHEMY
or chemistry, natural history, and MEDICINE. The scientific
culture and knowledge of the classical world, especially
Aristotle’s natural philosophy, were also transmitted in
the Middle Ages, often through Arabic texts and scholars.
The development of UNIVERSITIES furthered scientific
study and speculation and provided opportunities for
advanced research.
Christianity accommodated secular learning, but
within limits. Attitudes toward science could vary enor-
mously in both Islam and Christianity in that both reli-
gions were obliged to reconcile it with revelation from
divinely inspired texts. Various individuals and ideas
were condemned at specific moments. However, both
religions often cautiously accepted and justified the pur-
suit of scientific knowledge as possibly useful for reli-
gious understanding. Both perceived that positive
technological advances could also be derived from scien-
tific enterprise.
See also BACON, ROGER; AL-BIRUNI, ABU RAYHAN
MUHAMMAD;FIBONACCI,LEONARDO;IBN AL-HAYTHAM,
ABUALI AL-HASAN IBN AL-HASAN, AL-BASRA;IBNSINA,ABU
ALI AL-HUSAYN; ORESME, NICHOLAS; SEVEN LIBERAL ARTS;
SYLVESTERII, POPE.
Further reading: A. C. Crombie, Medieval and
Early Modern Science,2d ed., 2 vols. (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1961); Edward Grant, ed., A
Source Book in Medieval Science(Cambridge, Mass.: Har-
vard University Press, 1974); Claudia Kren, Medieval Sci-
ence and Technology: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography
(New York: Garland, 1985); Y. Tzvi Langermann, “Sci-
ence, Jewish,” DMA, 11.89–94; A. I. Sabra, “Science,
Islamic,” DMA11.81–89; Howard R. Turner, Science in
Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction(Austin: Uni-
versity of Texas Press, 1997); Ziauddin Sardar, Explo-
rations in Islamic Science(London: Mansell, 1989).Scone, Stone of The Stone of Scone, or Stone of Des-
tiny, was taken to Scone by Kenneth MACALPIN, who took
possession of the throne of the PICTSin 843. He placed a
royal stone in a church built on the hill of Scone. For the
next 500 years, each new king of SCOTLAND traveled
there “to be raised on the stone.” The stone was an
important part of medieval Scottish coronation rites until
1296, when it was either hidden to prevent it from falling
into the hands of EDWARDI, or, according to legend,
taken to WESTMINSTERABBEYin LONDONto be controlled
and used by the kings of ENGLAND. What was once in
London was only recently returned to Scotland.
See alsoROBERTI THEBRUCE.
Further reading:A. D. M. Barrell, Medieval Scotland
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000); G. W. S.
Barrow, Kingship and Unity: Scotland, 1000–1306(Lon-
don: Edward Arnold, 1981).Scotland Scotland became a kingdom in the northern
part of the British Isles in the ninth century. In the fifth
century, it had been inhabited by the PICTS, Scots,
Britons, and Angles. These peoples eventually formed the
Scottish kingdom. The Picts occupied the region north of
the Forth River. From northern IRELAND, the Scots in the
late fifth century took over the Argyll region. The some-
what Romanized Britons lost southern Scotland to the
Angles in the early seventh century; but they did retain a
kingdom of Strathclyde in the southwest. The Angles
from across the North Sea began migrating to Scotland
from the fifth century and created in the seventh century
the kingdom of Northumbria between the Humber River
and the Forth.
Irish monks settled in Scotland and introduced
Christianity. The most famous of them was Saint
COLUMBA, who traveled to Iona in 563 and converted
the northern Scots. In the eighth century these four eth-
nic elements began to coalesce into a political organiza-
tion but still retained in a tribal basis. Clans with
chieftains remained the organization of the mountainous
Highlands. The VIKINGraids in the ninth century, mainly
from NORWAY, forced these tribal units to defend them-
selves better. In 844 Kenneth MACALPIN, the king of the
Scots, assumed leadership over the Picts, uniting the two
groups into Scotland. In the 10th century, this kingdom