Artes Mechanicae

The seven arts of making and doing that Hugh of St Victor sets beside the liberal arts, each a page of readings

In the Didascalicon (c. 1127) Hugh of St Victor sets beside the liberal arts a second group, the mechanical arts, and names seven: wool-working, armament, navigation (commerce), agriculture, hunting, medicine and the theatrical. He says they are called mechanical, that is “adulterate”, because the artificer’s work borrows its form from nature. Each page below opens on Hugh’s own short chapter and then reads further, in Scripture, the ancient writers, the Fathers, Aquinas and the modern teaching of the Church, wherever the library holds a text on the same art.

Begin hereWhat the mechanical arts areHugh’s own chapters on the arts and their place beside the sciences, read with the voices that answer him.Read →

The seven arts Didascalicon II.21–28, in Hugh’s order

1Wool-workingLanificiumWeaving, sewing and the making of cloth, cords and coverings.2ArmamentArmaturaMaking from stone, wood and metal: the mason, the carpenter and the smith.3Navigation and commerceNavigatioBuying, selling and exchanging goods, at home and across the sea.4AgricultureAgriculturaThe field, the orchard, the pasture and the garden.5HuntingVenatioThe chase, fowling and fishing, and the provision of food.6MedicineMedicinaThe physician’s art: occasions, operations and surgery.7The theatrical artsTheatricaGames, spectacles and the stage.

This section is separate from the liberal arts. Each page can be read on its own, and the order is Hugh’s.