Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?

Question

There seems to be almost a consensus that the medieval belief on flat earth is a myth. [Wikipedia even has a whole article dedicated to this subject](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_flat_Earth), and the general argument is that [the "flat earth myth" was constructed by 19th century scholars who wished ill on the Church](https://www.thoughtco.com/did-medieval-people-believe-in-a-flat-earth-1221612). However, I recently came across this book "The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization". In chapter two, the author Jonathan Lyons claims that most medieval scholars indeed did believe earth to be flat. He bases this on the fact that a 6th century scholar, Isidore of Seville, made a mistake when translating ancient Greek texts to Latin, which lead to a hugely popular medieval encyclopedia claiming that the Earth was actually flat. Lyons proposes that while another author of the same era, a British monk named Beda, did indeed study the original texts of Plinius and did discover that the earth was round, his work was not as widespread as Isidores and thus the "Flat Earth" became a consensus among the scholars of the Middle Ages, even though some retained knowledge of the spherical form of Earth. Since most internet sources on medieval flat earth theory do not even mention *Etymologiae*, yet it does seem to have been an influential work, it is left unclear whether most medieval scholars in Europe believed Earth to be round or flat. Which one is it?

Answer 1

Actually, Greek mathematicians had already proved the Earth was round long before the medieval era. They had noticed that a pole placed vertically in the ground cast a shadow of different lengths in cities far enough part. By performing precise measurements in these cities and combining their data, they even calculated the size of our planet using trigonometry. They weren't spot-on, but the inaccuracy was surprisingly small for such a simple technique. In fact, the famous Archimedes paper The Sand Reckoner, which tried to estimate the number of grains of sand on every beach on the planet, was only off by about 100% -- not bad when you consider that he had no idea how many continents there were nor the shape of their coastlines!

The myth that all European explorers were working with the belief in a flat Earth is also nonsense. Like Archimedes, European explorers had no idea how many continents there were or how they were shaped, and so were seeking routes to India and any other potential trading partners they might find. Anyone who sailed knew that a ship's body (and then mast) slowly vanished over the horizon, which meant the world must be curved.

I recommend consulting the magazine The Skeptical Inquirer, which only recently published an article on the modern belief in the flat Earth and its origins.