Eyeglasses

Eyeglasses appear as a useful reading aid and, in the author’s account, as an instrument of Divine Providence. By making reading possible or more comfortable for people with failing eyesight, they served both individual readers and those working on the Scriptures for the benefit of others.

Invention and Use

The author dates the invention of Eyeglasses to about the end of the thirteenth century and names Alexander Spina, a monk of Pisa, as their inventor. Their value was especially apparent later in life, when judgment might be mature and reading beneficial even as eyesight grew dim. Without Eyeglasses, reading could become uncomfortable and at times impossible.

Their usefulness extended beyond personal reading. The author argues that Eyeglasses increased the labor that scholars and others could devote to the Bible, helping those engaged in different kinds of scriptural work. They thus appear not merely as a convenience for learned readers but as practical support for the study and communication of Scripture.

Providence and the Reformation

The account places Eyeglasses within a theological interpretation of invention: abilities and discoveries that serve the spread of the Gospel are not to be treated as products of chance alone. The author contrasts the monk’s practical invention with Lord Kaimes’s praise of its literary utility, arguing that Christians should recognize its service to reading the Word of God as well.

The timing gives the invention particular significance in this argument. Eyeglasses, invented near the end of the thirteenth century, were available by the beginning of the sixteenth, when the Reformation put the Bible into the hands of the people. The author therefore presents their emergence as fitting them to assist Bible reading at a consequential moment in its wider circulation.