LEADER 04619nam 2200805 450 001 9910817606303321 005 20210427014051.0 010 $a0-8122-2357-8 024 7 $a10.9783/9780812291407 035 $a(CKB)2670000000610518 035 $a(EBL)3442519 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001502599 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11842343 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001502599 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11455381 035 $a(PQKB)10726936 035 $a(OCoLC)907964739 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse42184 035 $a(DE-B1597)451285 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780812291407 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3442519 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr11045929 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL772125 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3442519 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000610518 100 $a20150427h20152015 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|nu---|u||u 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aMedieval robots $emechanism, magic, nature, and art /$fE. R. Truitt 210 1$aPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania :$cUniversity of Pennsylvania Press,$d2015. 210 4$dİ2015 215 $a1 online resource (296 p.) 225 1 $aMiddle Ages Series 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 0 $a0-8122-9140-9 311 0 $a0-8122-4697-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tAbbreviations --$tIntroduction. The Persistence of Robots: An Archaeology of Automata --$tChapter 1. Rare Devices: Geography and Technology --$tChapter 2. Between Art and Nature: Natura artifex, Neoplatonism, and Literary Automata --$tChapter 3. Talking Heads: Astral Science, Divination, and Legends of Medieval Philosophers --$tChapter 4. The Quick and the Dead: Corpses, Memorial Statues, and Automata --$tChapter 5. From Texts to Technology: Mechanical Marvels in Courtly and Public Pageantry --$tChapter 6. The Clockwork Universe: Keeping Sacred and Secular Time --$tNotes --$tBibliography --$tIndex --$tAcknowledgments 330 $aA thousand years before Isaac Asimov set down his Three Laws of Robotics, real and imagined automata appeared in European courts, liturgies, and literary texts. Medieval robots took such forms as talking statues, mechanical animals, and silent metal guardians; some served to entertain or instruct while others performed disciplinary or surveillance functions. Variously ascribed to artisanal genius, inexplicable cosmic forces, or demonic powers, these marvelous fabrications raised fundamental questions about knowledge, nature, and divine purpose in the Middle Ages. Medieval Robots recovers the forgotten history of fantastical, aspirational, and terrifying machines that captivated Europe in imagination and reality between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. E. R. Truitt traces the different forms of self-moving or self-sustaining manufactured objects from their earliest appearances in the Latin West through centuries of mechanical and literary invention. Chronicled in romances and song as well as histories and encyclopedias, medieval automata were powerful cultural objects that probed the limits of natural philosophy, illuminated and challenged definitions of life and death, and epitomized the transformative and threatening potential of foreign knowledge and culture. This original and wide-ranging study reveals the convergence of science, technology, and imagination in medieval culture and demonstrates the striking similarities between medieval and modern robotic and cybernetic visions. 410 0$aMiddle Ages series. 606 $aMachine theory$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aMechanical toys$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aMechanical engineering$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aCivilization, Medieval 606 $aNature and civilization$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aMagic$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aImagination$xHistory$yTo 1500 606 $aRobots$xHistory$yTo 1500 610 $aHistory. 610 $aMedieval and Renaissance Studies. 615 0$aMachine theory$xHistory 615 0$aMechanical toys$xHistory 615 0$aMechanical engineering$xHistory 615 0$aCivilization, Medieval. 615 0$aNature and civilization$xHistory 615 0$aMagic$xHistory 615 0$aImagination$xHistory 615 0$aRobots$xHistory 676 $a629.8 700 $aTruitt$b Elly Rachel$01634544 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910817606303321 996 $aMedieval robots$93974801 997 $aUNINA