Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Birgit van Den Hoven -- Introduction / Birgit van Den Hoven -- The Ideology of Labour Under the Principate / Birgit van Den Hoven -- Technical Arts in Ancient Classifications of Knowledge / Birgit van Den Hoven -- Work and the Monastic World / Birgit van Den Hoven -- The Mechanical arts in Medieval Classifications of Knowledge / Birgit van Den Hoven -- Ad Status Sermons and the Recognition of Work and Occupations in the Thirteenth Century / Birgit van Den Hoven -- Conclusion / Birgit van Den Hoven -- Bibliography / Birgit van Den Hoven -- Index / Birgit van Den Hoven.

The main object of this study is to find out whether the differences between classical and medieval thinking about work, occupations and technology are so significant that we are justified in speaking of a real break between Antiquity and the Middle Ages in this connection; or whether there is a possible continuity of ideas. From a comparative perspective five themes are being researched to shed light on this ques-tion. In the first two chapters the author looks into the traditional view of negative ideas about work in Antiquity. Chapter three subsequently deals with monks and their attitude towards labour. In chapter four the place of the so-called artes mechanicae in medieval classifications of knowledge is being studied. In chapter five we find an analysis of twelfth-century sermons ad status. These three chapters principally deal with the question whether Christianity brought about a change in attitude towards work.

English

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