The medieval encyclopaedic phenomenon: a shared vision of knowledge

The encyclopaedic phenomenon was very significant in the Middle Ages. Studies on it, however, are few. This shared vision of the encyclopaedic genre in the three cultures which have a strong tradition – the Chinese, Arab and western – reveal their common ground and their divergences: in each case, they depend on the relation with power, which determines their origins, their objectives and the factors which influence their development. Although there are considerable similarities between the encyclopaedias of these civilisations, only one influence has been located: the acceptance in the West of a series of Arab texts, including encyclopaedias, which altered its pattern of thinking, and therefore also its attitude towards encyclopaedias.