The diversity and depth of medieval literacy and scientific thought has often been underestimated. Even though there was no continuous process of rising human consciousness and awareness and no rise of complexity in thought in comparison between antiquity, the earlier and the later middle ages, there was a growing corpus of knowledge and an intense development of institutions, starting from the monastic and cathedral schools and leading to universities and other later forms of schools. The book follows these developments as well as the evolvement of the various disciplines, starting from the seven liberal arts, philosophy, theology and law to history, political theory, and the seven mechanical and magical arts. Thus, it will demonstrate the rising compexity of scientific ideas and methodological approaches which provided an important starting point for the modern developments.