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Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Also within this zodiac belt appear the Moon and the brightest planets, along their orbital planes. The zodiac is divided along the ecliptic into 12 equal parts ("signs"), each occupying 30° of celestial longitude. These signs roughly correspond to the astronomical constellations with the following modern names: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
Herman of Carinthia, also called Hermanus Dalmata or Sclavus Dalmata, Secundus, by his own words born in the "heart of Istria", was a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and translator of Arabic works into Latin.
Astrological belief in correspondences between celestial observations and terrestrial events have influenced various aspects of human history, including world-views, language and many elements of social culture.
Astrology and astronomy were archaically treated together, but gradually distinguished through the Late Middle Ages into the Age of Reason. Developments in 17th century philosophy resulted in astrology and astronomy operating as independent pursuits by the 18th century.
Abu Ma‘shar al-Balkhi, Latinized as Albumasar, was an early Persian Muslim astrologer, thought to be the greatest astrologer of the Abbasid court in Baghdad. While he was not a major innovator, his practical manuals for training astrologers profoundly influenced Muslim intellectual history and, through translations, that of western Europe and Byzantium.
A Treatise on the Astrolabe is a medieval instruction manual on the astrolabe by Geoffrey Chaucer. It was completed in 1391. It describes both the form and the proper use of the instrument, and stands out as a prose technical work from a writer better known for poetry, written in English rather than the more typical Latin.
Abu al-Saqr Abd al-Aziz ibn Uthman ibn Ali al-Qabisi, generally known as Al-Qabisi,, and sometimes known as Alchabiz, Abdelazys, Abdilaziz, was a Muslim astrologer, astronomer, and mathematician.
Māshāʾallāh ibn Atharī, known as Mashallah, was an 8th century Persian Jewish astrologer, astronomer, and mathematician. Originally from Khorasan, he lived in Basra during the reigns of the Abbasid caliphs al-Manṣūr and al-Ma’mūn, and was among those who introduced astrology and astronomy to Baghdad. The bibliographer ibn al-Nadim described Mashallah "as virtuous and in his time a leader in the science of jurisprudence, i.e. the science of judgments of the stars". Mashallah served as a court astrologer for the Abbasid caliphate and wrote works on astrology in Arabic. Some Latin translations survive.
In astrology, the Arabian/Arabic parts or lots are constructed points based on mathematical calculations of three horoscopic entities such as planets or angles. The distance between two of the points is added to the position of the third to derive the location of the lot.
Tetrabiblos, also known as Apotelesmatiká and in Latin as Quadripartitum, is a text on the philosophy and practice of astrology, written by the Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy in Koine Greek during the 2nd century AD.
Abū l-Ḥasan 'Alī ibn Abī l-Rijāl al-Shaybani was an Arab astrologer of the 10th to 11th century CE / 4th to 5th century AH best known for his Kitāb al-bāri' fī aḥkām an-nujūm.
Thomas Allen (or Alleyn) (21 December 1542 – 30 September 1632) was an English mathematician and astrologer. Highly reputed in his lifetime, he published little, but was an active private teacher of mathematics. He was also well connected in the English intellectual networks of the period.
The Centiloquium, also called Ptolemy's Centiloquium, is a collection of one hundred aphorisms about astrology and astrological rules. It is first recorded at the start of the tenth century CE, when a commentary was written on it by the Egyptian mathematician Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Misri.
Some medieval Muslims took a keen interest in the study of astrology, partly because they considered the celestial bodies to be essential, partly because the dwellers of desert-regions often travelled at night, and relied upon knowledge of the constellations for guidance in their journeys.
Astrology had support in early Christianity, but support declined during the Middle Ages. Support for it grew again in the West during the Renaissance.
John Chamber was an English writer on astronomy and astrology, fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and later of Eton College, and a clergyman of the Church of England. He taught grammar, Greek, and medicine. His name is sometimes given in a Latin form as Johannes Chamberus.
Leo Tuscus was an Italian writer and translator who served as a Latin–Greek interpreter in the imperial chancery of the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Manuel Komnenos.
Raymond of Marseilles was a French astronomer and astrologer who is known only from his manuscripts on the use of astrolabes and translations of Arab astronomical texts of the period. His manuscript on astrolabes Traite de l'astrolabe or Vite presentis indutias silentio, a copy of which is in Paris served as a source for European astronomers in the Medieval period. The texts, originally of unknown authorship, were noted by Pierre Duhem in 1915 and in the 1920s by Lynn Thorndike and Charles Homer Haskins. The Paris manuscript which is the most complete version was found by Emmanuel Poulle in 1954. Another work was the first volume of Opera omnia which included Liber cursuum planetarum. Raymond's work included translations of the astronomical tables of al-Zarqālī. In 1972 another text, Liber judiciorum, on astrology was discovered by Marie-Thérèse d’Alverny.
Latin 7432 is a medieval astronomical manuscript preserved as a part of the Latin collection in Bibliothèque nationale de France. This is an outstanding example of a presentation manuscript. It was produced under the supervision of Swiss astrologer and physician Conrad Heingarter for his patron Jean II, Duke of Bourbon in the second half of the 15th century. The content of this manuscript mainly concerns astrology and astronomy. It includes major texts on the astrological subject such as Ptolemy's Quadripartitum, Pseudo-Ptolemy Centiloquium and the works of Mashallah ibn Athari. It also contains Parisian Alfonsine tables complemented by the respective canons composed by John of Saxony. This manuscript is highly illuminated and contains a large number of decorative miniatures and technical diagrams.
References
- Burnett, Charles (2004). "Hereford, Roger of (fl. 1176–1198)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press . Retrieved 20 May 2010.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
- https://archive.org/details/herefordiapoem00jame/page/n11/mode/2up?q=%22roger+of+hereford%22
- https://archive.org/details/historyofmagicex02thor/page/170/mode/2up?q=%22roger+of+hereford%22
- Whyte, Nicholas (1991), Roger of Hereford's Liber de Astronomice iudicandi: A twelfth-century astrologer's manual , retrieved 17 February 2021
- Mitchell, Chris (2020), Roger of Hereford's Judicial Astrology: England's first astrology book?, doi:10.25392/leicester.data.11793636 , retrieved 17 February 2021
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