The idea that the Age average would have been a dark and gloomy time has always been wrong and the work of historians has finally banished it. In the words of one specialist, such a concept "is a historical corpse that refuses to die". Indeed, the Age average can boast a long list of successes and, among other things, was imbued with a deep desire to know.

Among these successes is the great feat of the finding of America, which was made possible by the interaction of many small stories. The high school of Navarre of the University of Paris, which in itself is another of the successes of medieval culture, also played a role in the history of finding. In the context of this university high school developed an important scientific work that was to prepare the take-off of modern science a few centuries later.

The high school of Navarra was one of the most prestigious institutions of the University of Paris. Queen Joan of Navarre (+1304) provided in her will the foundation of a university high school framed in the framework the Parisian university. The colleges emerged in this university throughout the thirteenth century as institutions where students without sufficient resources resided and studied in the different Schools of the university: Philosophy, law, medicine and theology. Queen Juana's will also endowed the high school with an important annual income of two thousand pounds. This income was used to cover all the expenses of its residents, a total of seventy students who could not afford to stay in Paris in a dignified manner. In addition to the students, there were also some professors who collaborated in the integral training - academic, human and Christian - of the residents.

The high school of Navarra began its activities in 1315, once the construction of its headquarters was completed. Until the suppression of the university colleges during the French Revolution, for almost five centuries it was one of the most important institutions of the Parisian university and exerted an influence B . From its very beginning, prestigious personalities in various branches of knowledge succeeded each other in different positions at high school. Among many other names that could be mentioned, Nicolas Oresme (+1382), first master and then Grand Master of the high school, is one of the scholars who were part of the so-called Physical School of Paris, and is recognized as a precursor of modern science.

However, the figure that interests us most at this time is Peter d'Ailly (+1420), first resident, then master and finally Grand Master of high school. He would later be named Bishop of Cambrai and Cardinal of the Church. He was a man of broad intellectual concerns, and dedicated his work to many different branches of knowledge: cosmography, geography, astronomy, Philosophy, theology and others. In the field of cosmography, he published in 1410 a book graduate Imago mundi (Representation of the world), which was printed in Louvain around 1480 and which soon after would occupy a place in the history of finding of America. In this book, d'Ailly deals, among other things, with the size of the Earth's sphere, the climatic zones into which it is divided, the different continents and the Ocean that would bathe both the coasts of Asia and Western Europe.

Bartolomé de las Casas writes with respect to Pedro dAilly that "this doctor I believe it is certain that Christopher Columbus more than among the past moved his business [the voyage of finding]" and that the book we have been talking about "was so familiar to Christopher Columbus, that he had everything in the margins annotated and initialed by his hand in Latin". In fact, this copy of Imago mundi with its 898 annotations in Columbus' handwriting can be consulted at Library Services Colombina. According to one of his biographers, this book "seems to have been his bedside book for some years". Some think that Columbus would have read and annotated this copy after finding, but there are three annotations in his own handwriting dated 1481 and 1488.

Once he obtained the royal sponsorship in April 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos on the following August 3 with the intention of opening a commercial route to the East through the "Oceana Sea", that is to say, the Atlantic Ocean. One of the most important difficulties he had to face before the royal commissions that studied his plan was the idea that it was a voyage of incredible distances, impossible to carry out successfully. The calculations of the Greek geographer Eratosthenes (3rd century B.C.) regarding the size of the Earth's sphere seemed to make the business impossible. However, the calculations of Ptolemy (2nd century AD) were more favorable, and even more so those of Peter d'Ailly. "For it is evident that the sea is navigable in a very few days if the wind is favorable" wrote the latter, based on classical authors. Columbus calculated the distances between the Peninsula and the East even more at leave , arguing on the basis of the accounts of framework Polo that the Asian continent extended towards us more than previously thought. However, Columbus' calculations were actually quite wrong. He thought that the distance separating Japan from the Canary Islands was about 4,450 km, when in fact it is about 22,000 km. Had it not been for the Caribbean islands and the American continent in between, his voyage would have ended in failure.

As can be seen, neither Columbus nor any of his interlocutors doubted the spherical shape of the Earth. It was a common idea since the time of ancient Greece, with only a few exceptions. It is true that there have always been peregrine and picturesque images of the world. We still have the judgmental statement of a French farmer in the 13th century who imagined the Earth as a cheese. Also today, 27.5 percent of Spaniards believe that the Sun revolves around the Earth, according to the VII survey of Social Perception of Science carried out in April of this year. However, the majority current of the Antiquity and the Age average maintained with normality that the Earth is a sphere.

The idea that Christopher Columbus would have been forced to convince his interlocutors that the Earth was in fact a sphere is an interesting idea that has only one drawback, that it is a false idea. The difficulties Columbus faced in convincing the Catholic Monarchs of the feasibility of opening a sea route to the East by sailing to the West were mainly economic and practical, and were in no way due to the idea that the Earth was flat. The celebration of the anniversary of finding this October is a good occasion to remember this.