The Middle Ages were not only a time of endless wars and epidemics, but also an era of scientific discoveries and a selfless pursuit of knowledge. Medieval thinkers and practitioners explored the world around them, founded the first universities, invented mechanical clocks and devices for observing celestial bodies.

In this book, our guide to the world of medieval science will be a real person, a monk named John Westwick, who lived in the 14th century and was educated in the largest monastery in England. The fascinating history of his scientific works allowed the author to show not the ceremonial world of star names and discoveries, but the atmosphere of scientific research of that time, to present the ideas and achievements of the nameless majority of people with a scientific mindset, so often escaping the attention of historians. As Brother John travels across Britain and beyond, we meet some of the most intriguing characters of the era: an English abbot who made clocks, a French craftsman who became a spy, and a Persian polymath who founded the world’s most advanced observatory. We learn how these men navigated by the stars, multiplied Roman numerals, cured illnesses, and told time with an astrolabe, and rethink the dark ages as the Middle Ages.