Wonder, Sorcery, and Technology: Contribute to the History of Medieval Robotics - History of Computing: Learning from the Past - page 19

water clock and for craftsmen (probably as maintenance men); he comments the epi-
sode with revealing words: the reason why the Burgundian king insisted so much, is
that he considers as a “miraculum” (wonder) an object that for Theodoric is instead
“cottidianum” (daily) [15].
Although we can suppose that Theodoric overemphasized his acquaintance with
these devices, it is clear that at the beginning of the 7 th century in Europe there were
still craftsmen capable of building a water clock.
3.2 Middle Ages
Another important secondary source consists in romances [16]: whether they belong
to the Matter of Britain (King Arthur's stories) or of France (Charles the Great's sto-
ries), or of Rome (the main character is taken from ancient history, such as Julius
Caesar or Alexander the Great), references to automata are frequent; they are primar-
ily used as guardians of a strategic place (a tomb, a bridge, a cave, or a castle) and
their makers are usually magicians, not technicians.
The reason is easily explained: all mechanical arts were in no esteem throughout
the Middle Ages to the point that, for a cultured man, technical practice was consid-
ered morally, religiously, and socially dishonorable [17]. On the contrary, knowledge
and practice of magic were reserved for a selected group of people, who had chosen
to engage in “religiously illicit pursuits, illegitimate knowledge, and trafficking with
the Devil” [18]; by attributing the construction of automata to magicians, any moral
conflict was avoided.
Even the legends about the French monk Gerbert d'Aurillac (946-1003), later Pope
Sylvester II, and the Dominican philosopher Albertus Magnus (1206-1280) as auto-
mata builders, reveal an explicit moral intent: both episodes end with the destruction
of the automaton (Albertus' talking head would have been broken by one of his stu-
dents, St. Thomas Aquinas), which is moreover impossible to restore.
3.2.1 The Great Sorcerer Gerbert d'Aurillac?
In Gerbert's biography by William of Malmesbury (1080/1095-1143), an interesting
event is reported [19-20]. During his stay in Rome, the future pope had decided (by
sheer greed) to rescue Octavian's treasure, buried, according to a legend, in a cave
beneath the Roman Forum; the cave entrance was indicated by a statue. Many others
had unsuccessfully tried to find the entrance, being less artful than him: he marked the
place, where the shadow of a statue's finger fell at noon-day; at night he made
the earth open by means of his magical arts and, attended by a servant with a lantern,
he entered a beautiful golden palace, where they found a court of golden automata.
The light source was a small carbuncle of the first quality, standing on a base. At the
opposite corner of the room, stood a young archer, holding a bow and an arrow. Ger-
bert and his servant soon noticed that, if they tried to take anything, all these automata
appeared to rush forward to attack them. So Gerbert guessed what would be the con-
sequences of such an attempt, and decided to give up, but his servant, unable to resist,
decided to steal a superb knife. Immediately, the automata cried loudly and began
moving, and the archer shot the carbuncle with his arrow, so that all was in darkness;
Gerbert ordered his servant to drop the knife, otherwise their lives would have been in
danger. He obeyed, and they left the palace, though without any treasure.