Dr. Maximilian Schuh on Scientific Weather Forecasting in Late Medieval Oxford

On September 11, 2025, Dr. Maximilian Schuh presented an editorial research project on De prognosticatione aeris by the Oxford scholar William Merle (†1347).

Largely neglected by previous scholarship, this tract on weather prediction departs from traditional medieval astro-meteorological approaches by emphasising the systematic observation of natural phenomena. In doing so, Merle introduced an innovative approach to weather forecasting in the fourteenth century. The paper introduces the structure and content of the work, its embedding within the intellectual and institutional contexts of Oxford, and the significance of Merle’s ideas for the history of late medieval science.

Photos by Jana Říhová

Centre for Medieval Studies, Reading Room, Thursday 11 September, 2 p.m.