Editing Artes mechanicae (section)

{{Short description|Medieval concept of ordered practices}}
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[[Image:Maciejowski Tower of Babel.jpg|thumb|right|A [[high medieval]] construction site from the [[Maciejowski Bible]]]]
'''''Artes mechanicae''''' ('''mechanical arts''') are a medieval concept of ordered practices or skills, often juxtaposed to the traditional seven liberal arts (''[[Liberal arts education|artes liberales]]''). Also called "servile" and "vulgar",<ref>See for instance Cicero's ''De Officiis'', 1.150-1.</ref> from antiquity they had been deemed "unbecoming" for a free man, as they minister to basic needs.