Reply #57: no, that was reasoned "scientific" thought at the time.

[ashmanonar]

the greeks actually acknowledged that the earth was spherical some few hundred years before the middle ages. (i wish i could remember what book i read that in)

people also reasoned that there were 4 elements: water, earth, fire, and air...that there were 4 humors that controlled human health...that demons were the cause of psychological problems in humans...that witches could fly on brooms and had "familiars"...

(interestingly enough, it was religio-political pressure that maintained that the earth was flat (and the center of the universe; silly geocentrists): (the bible says nothing about the shape of the earth.) the church (and thereby the spanish monarchy) had a vested interest in maintaining that it was right, and it was wrong about the earth's shape. it put galileo to the inquisition, along with most every other major scientist of the time: rebellion against the church was heresy.)