The Medieval Flat-Earth Myth
Ask when Europe accepted that the Earth is round and many people answer "1492, Columbus." Historians of science say educated Europeans had taken a spherical Earth for granted long before he sailed.
10 established, 1 disputed, 3 debunked, 1 unresolved. We do not pick an answer; the evidence places each claim. How we decide
53 citations from 13 independent sources - 40 echo the same voices and count once. Graded B1-D1.
Added 3 Jul 2026 - updated 29 Sept 2026
What the four states mean
- Establishedsupported, uncontested
- Disputedcredible sources disagree
- Debunkedrefuted by the evidence
- Unresolvedno settled answer
Established 10supported, uncontested
With extraordinarily few exceptions, no educated person in Western civilization from the third century BC onward believed that the Earth was flat.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- It must first be reiterated that with extraordinary few exceptions no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the earth was flat.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- From the seventh century to the fourteenth, every important medieval thinker concerned about the natural world stated more or less expliclity that the world was a round globeLesley B. Cormack, 'Medieval Christianity and the Flat Earth', in Galileo Goes to Jail (Harvard UP, 2009), excerpted at Afterall.net analysis
- Virtually all major medieval scholars affirmed the earth’s roundness.Stephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
Bede wrote that the Earth is not merely circular like a shield but resembles a ball, and Roger Bacon and Thomas Aquinas affirmed its roundness.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- In The Reckoning of Time, Bede (who lived circa CE 673-735) refers to the Earth as an “orb” and says that “it is not merely circular like a shield or spread out like a wheel, but resembles more a ball.”Shiloh Carroll, 'Getting to the Bottom of the Flat Earth' (The Public Medievalist) analysis
- Roger Bacon (1220-1292) and Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) affirmed roundness via Aristotle and his Arabic commentatorsStephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
- Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274), for example, followed Aristotle’s proof in demonstrationg that the changing positions of the constellations as one moved about on the earth’s surface indicated the spherical shape of the earth.Lesley B. Cormack, 'Medieval Christianity and the Flat Earth', in Galileo Goes to Jail (Harvard UP, 2009), excerpted at Afterall.net analysis
Lactantius and Cosmas Indicopleustes did argue for a flat Earth. In 1837 William Whewell pointed to them as evidence of a medieval flat-earth belief, and later historians imitated him. They could find few other examples.▰▰▰▱▱ likely5 points
Supports- Or is there any one so senseless as to believe that there are men whose footsteps are higher than their heads? or that the things which with us are in a recumbent position, with them hang in an inverted direction? that the crops and trees grow downwards? that the rains, and snow, and hail fall upwards to the earth?Lactantius, Divine Institutes III.24 (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) primary
- They insisted that people like Cosmas (who wrote in CE 500s, at the very beginning of the Middle Ages) and Lactantius (who wrote around CE 250-375, well before the Middle Ages), who did argue for a flat Earth model were much more influential than they actually were.Shiloh Carroll, 'Getting to the Bottom of the Flat Earth' (The Public Medievalist) analysis
- Russell shows that the great English philosopher of science William Whewell first identified major culprits ... published in 1837Stephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
- Whewell pointed to the culprits … as evidence of a medieval belief in a flat earth, and virtually every subsequent historian imitated himStephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
- they could find few other examples.Stephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
Aristotle argued that the Earth is a sphere of no great size, because its shadow in lunar eclipses is always curved and because the stars seen change as one moves north or south.▰▰▰▱▱ likely4 points
Supports- As it is, the shapes which the moon itself each month shows are of every kind straight, gibbous, and concave-but in eclipses the outline is always curved: and, since it is the interposition of the earth that makes the eclipse, the form of this line will be caused by the form of the earth's surface, which is therefore spherical.Aristotle, On the Heavens (De Caelo) II.14, trans. J. L. Stocks (Internet Classics Archive) primary
- There is much change, I mean, in the stars which are overhead, and the stars seen are different, as one moves northward or southward.Aristotle, On the Heavens (De Caelo) II.14, trans. J. L. Stocks (Internet Classics Archive) primary
- All of which goes to show not only that the earth is circular in shape, but also that it is a sphere of no great sizeAristotle, On the Heavens (De Caelo) II.14, trans. J. L. Stocks (Internet Classics Archive) primary
- A round earth appears at least as early as the sixth century BC with Pythagoras, who was followed by Aristotle, Euclid, and Aristarchus, among others in observing that the earth was a sphere.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
Sacrobosco's Sphere, first circulated about 1230, became the single most popular university text on astronomy and argued that the Earth is a sphere. It was printed again and again from 1476 up to the beginning of the 17th century, and used Eratosthenes' figure of 252,000 stadia for the Earth's circumference.▰▰▰▱▱ likely4 points
Supports- First circulated about 1230 C.E., Sacrobosco’s Sphere became the single most popular university text on astronomy, circulating in manuscript for 240 years, and then being printed again and again from 1476 all the way up to the beginning of the 17th century.Linda Hall Library, 'Johannes de Sacrobosco' (Scientist of the Day) analysis
- the section on the shape of the Earth is of interest, since Sacrobosco argued every which way from Sunday that the Earth is a sphereLinda Hall Library, 'Johannes de Sacrobosco' (Scientist of the Day) analysis
- it is intriguing that Sacrobosco used the figure of 252,000 stadia, calculated in Hellenistic Greece by Eratosthenes, for the Earth’s circumferenceLinda Hall Library, 'Johannes de Sacrobosco' (Scientist of the Day) analysis
- Sacrobosco’s book was used as a basic textbook throughout the Middle agesLesley B. Cormack, 'Medieval Christianity and the Flat Earth', in Galileo Goes to Jail (Harvard UP, 2009), excerpted at Afterall.net analysis
The idea that medieval people thought the Earth was flat did not appear before the 1830s. Antoine-Jean Letronne and Washington Irving established it almost contemporaneously.▰▰▰▱▱ likely4 points
Supports- No one before the 1830s believed that medieval people thought that the earth was flat. The idea was established, almost contemporaneously, by a Frenchman and an AmericanJeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- One was Antoine-Jean Letronne (1787-1848), an academic of strong antireligious prejudices who had studied both geography and patristics and who cleverly drew upon both to misrepresent the church fathers and their medieval successors as believing in a flat earthJeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- The American was no other than our beloved storyteller Washington Irving (1783-1859)Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- None of the great eighteenth-century anticlerical rationalists ... accused the scholastics of believing in a flat earth, though these men were all unsparing in their contempt for medieval versions of Christianity.Stephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
The flat-earth falsehood became part of a larger story of an eternal war between science and religion, propagated by the historian John Draper and followers such as Andrew Dickson White.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- The answer is that the falsehood about the spherical earth became a colorful and unforgettable part of a larger falsehood: the falsehood of the eternal war between science (good) and religion (bad) throughout Western history.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- This vast web of falsehood was invented and propagated by the influential historian John Draper (1811-1882) and many prestigious followers, such as Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918), the president of Cornell University, who made sure that the false account was perpetrated in texts, encyclopedias, and even allegedly serious scholarship, down to the present day.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- Draper extolled the flat-earth myth as a primary example of religion’s constraint and science’s progressive powerStephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
Samuel Rowbotham claimed he could see further along the straight Old Bedford River than the Earth's curvature would allow, and his work is generally credited with the modern revival of belief in a flat Earth.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- Thirty years earlier, Samuel Rowbotham had been a member of a short-lived utopian commune in the notoriously flat Fens of East Anglia, beside the Old Bedford River, an artificial drainage channel that runs completely straight for 6 miles.'Bedford Level Experiment: Flat-Earthers in the Fens' (Historic UK) analysis
- Rowbotham claimed to be able to see much further along this straight, flat canal than the curvature of the earth would allow and this convinced him, beyond any doubt, of the flatness of Earth'Bedford Level Experiment: Flat-Earthers in the Fens' (Historic UK) analysis
- Rowbotham's work is generally credited with the modern revival of belief in a flat Earth.Samuel Rowbotham (Wikipedia) summary
In approximately 240 BC Eratosthenes measured the Earth's circumference, arriving at a figure within a few percent of the modern value.▰▰▱▱▱ likelysummary-sourced2 points
Supports- Using elegant mathematical reasoning and limited empirical measurement, in approximately 240 b.c., Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276-194 b.c.) accurately measured the Earth's circumference.'Eratosthenes Calculates the Circumference of the Earth' (Science and Its Times, via Encyclopedia.com) summary
- Using this measure, Eratosthenes was able to calculate a circumference that varies only a few percent from the modern value of 24,902 miles (40,076 km) at the equator.'Eratosthenes Calculates the Circumference of the Earth' (Science and Its Times, via Encyclopedia.com) summary
Columbus and all his detractors knew that the Earth was round. Columbus concluded that the unexplored part of the Earth's circumference was much smaller than contemporary cosmographers accepted, and Irving himself attributed Columbus's success to two happy errors, including the supposed smallness of the Earth.▰▰▱▱▱ likely4 points
Supports- Columbus and all his detractors knew that the earth was round.Darin Hayton, 'Washington Irving's Columbus and the Flat Earth' analysis
- According to Columbus’s calculations, only a third of the earth’s circumference remained unexplored.Darin Hayton, 'Washington Irving's Columbus and the Flat Earth' analysis
- The third of earth’s circumference was, Columbus concluded, much smaller than that accepted by contemporary cosmographers.Darin Hayton, 'Washington Irving's Columbus and the Flat Earth' analysis
- As Irving pointed out in various places, Columbus was aberrant in his beliefs, which beliefs were, in fact, wrong: It is singular how much the success of this great undertaking depended upon two happy errors, the imaginary extent of Asia to the east, and the supposed smallness of the earthDarin Hayton, 'Washington Irving's Columbus and the Flat Earth' analysis
Disputed 1credible sources disagree
Isidore of Seville thought the Earth was flat.▰▰▰▱▱ unlikely2 against4 points
Supports- But, although it could mean that, ‘orbis’ more usually means a disk.James Hannam, 'Did Isidore of Seville Think the Earth is Flat?' (Bede's Journal) analysis
- In 1996, William McCready (McCready, 1996) found that Isidore is, at least, conflicted on this point while twenty years later, Andrew Fear stated “the notion of the flat earth runs throughout”James Hannam, 'Did Isidore of Seville Think the Earth is Flat?' (Bede's Journal) analysis
Against- Forty years ago, W.M. Stevens (Stevens, 1980) robustly defended the view that Isidore was a globalist, but more recent scholarship has swung the other way.James Hannam, 'Did Isidore of Seville Think the Earth is Flat?' (Bede's Journal) analysis
- He had pondered over ancient thought in science, and, as we have seen, had dared proclaim his belief in the sphericity of the earth; but with that he stopped.Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896) (Project Gutenberg) primary
Debunked 3refuted by the evidence
People in the Middle Ages believed the Earth was flat.Refuted by
Virtually all major medieval scholars affirmed the earth’s roundness.
refuted2 against4 pointsThe claim rested on- It is the notion that people used to believe that the earth was flat--especially medieval Christians.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- They have learned that the Church tried to prevent Columbus from sailing west to Asia, fearing that he and his seamen would sail off the edge of the earth or plunge into a chasm.Darin Hayton, 'Washington Irving's Columbus and the Flat Earth' analysis
Refuted by- Virtually all major medieval scholars affirmed the earth’s roundness.Stephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
- With the exception of Cosmas, no medieval writer denied that the earth was sphericalLesley B. Cormack, 'Medieval Christianity and the Flat Earth', in Galileo Goes to Jail (Harvard UP, 2009), excerpted at Afterall.net analysis
Columbus was opposed at a council of Salamanca by churchmen who all believed the Earth was flat like a plate.Refuted by
Well, yes, there was a meeting at Salamanca in 1491, but Irving's version of it, to quote a distinguished modern historian of Columbus, was "pure moonshine.
refuted2 against3 pointsThe claim rested on- It was he who invented the indelible picture of the young Columbus, a "simple mariner," appearing before a dark crowd of benighted inquisitors and hooded theologians at a council of Salamanca, all of whom believed, according to Irving, that the earth was flat like a plate.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
Refuted by- Well, yes, there was a meeting at Salamanca in 1491, but Irving's version of it, to quote a distinguished modern historian of Columbus, was "pure moonshine.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- The council’s grave objections focused on the existence of other humans, not on the shape of the earth.Darin Hayton, 'Washington Irving's Columbus and the Flat Earth' analysis
The early Church drew from the Bible proofs that the Earth could not be a sphere.Refuted by
at least two and at most five--early Christian fathers denied the spherically of earth by mistakenly taking passages such as Ps. 104:2-3 as geographical rather than metaphorical statements. On the other side tens of thousands of Christian theologians, poets, artists, and scientists took the spherical view throughout the early, medieval, and modern church.
refuted2 against4 pointsThe claim rested on- As to the movement of the sun, there was a citation of various passages in Genesis, mixed with metaphysics in various proportions, and this was thought to give ample proofs from the Bible that the earth could not be a sphere.Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896) (Project Gutenberg) primary
- According to Cosmas, the earth is a parallelogram, flat, and surrounded by four seas.Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896) (Project Gutenberg) primary
Refuted by- at least two and at most five--early Christian fathers denied the spherically of earth by mistakenly taking passages such as Ps. 104:2-3 as geographical rather than metaphorical statements. On the other side tens of thousands of Christian theologians, poets, artists, and scientists took the spherical view throughout the early, medieval, and modern church.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
- the Catholic church never took a stand on the issue.Lesley B. Cormack, 'Medieval Christianity and the Flat Earth', in Galileo Goes to Jail (Harvard UP, 2009), excerpted at Afterall.net analysis
Unresolved 1no settled answer
The historians' case concerns scholars and educated people, and leaves open how uneducated people pictured the Earth.▰▰▰▱▱ likely1 against3 points
Supports- There never was a period of “flat earth darkness” among scholars (regardless of how many uneducated people may have conceptualized our planet both then and now).Stephen Jay Gould, 'The Late Birth of a Flat Earth' (Dinosaur in a Haystack, 1996) analysis
- The point is that no educated person believed otherwise.Jeffrey Burton Russell, 'The Myth of the Flat Earth' (American Scientific Affiliation, 1997) analysis
Against- who believed in (or at least wrote about) people with giant feet to shade their heads, wrote about a spherical Earth, time zones, and people not falling off the other side of the planet.Shiloh Carroll, 'Getting to the Bottom of the Flat Earth' (The Public Medievalist) analysis
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