Age of information A 14th-century illustration shows German scholar Hermann the Lame (right) with an astrolabe (also shown far left). This device for making astronomical measurements was invented by the ancient Greeks and recovered via medieval information exchange
GETTY IMAGES/AKG-IMAGES/BRIDGEMAN
In the 11th century, a physically disabled and extremely learned German monk called Hermann the Lame worked out how to build an astrolabe –a sophisticated piece of technology, since dubbed the “medieval iPhone”, that was invaluable for timekeeping and navigation.
It had been invented by the ancient Greeks but in the first half of the Middle Ages its secrets were understood only by the Byzantines and Arabs. From Hermann’s time, however, Europeans began to study and build astrolabes, part of a revolution in learning and information exchange culminating in what is sometimes called the “12th-century renaissance”.
This influx of new learning into Europe was driven by scholars who spent many hours translating ancient scientific and philosophical texts that had been preserved only in Arabic in the great libraries of the Islamic world. It transformed the intellectual landscape of the west.