Robert Grosseteste and the Four Elements

Author(s): Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

De Impressionibus Elementorum is a treatise written by Robert Grosseteste, English scientist and philosopher, shortly after 1220 AD. In this treatise we can find a discussion of some phenomena involving the four classical elements (air, water, fire and earth), in the framework of an Aristotelian physics of the atmosphere. For its referring to experiments, this treatise strongly differentiates from similar previous works. Moreover, it contains some descriptions of phase transitions which are rather interesting, in particular when Grosseteste is discussing of bubbles.

History of Science, Medieval Science

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9. Francis of Assisi was born in 1182. Son of a wealthy merchant in Assisi, he lived as a wealthy young man. After a pilgrimage in Rome, he started to live in poverty as a friar, and founded the Franciscan order, authorized in 1210 by Pope Innocent III. He is considered the author of the “Cantico delle Creature”, in English known as the Canticle of the Sun. This is a religious song, considered to be among the first works written in the Italian language. In it, besides Brother Sun and Sister Moon, the Canticle thanks God for Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire and Mother Earth, that is he thanks God for the Creation. Francis of Assisi composed most of the canticle in late 1224 while recovering from an illness, the end of it on his deathbed on 1226
10. The Latin text is that given by “The Electronic Grosseteste”, http://www.grosseteste.com, which is reporting the printed source: Ludwig Baur, Die Philosophischen Werke des Robert Grosseteste, Bischofs von Lincoln, 1912, Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, pages 72-78
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