Abstract
On the basis of the evidence we have presented so far, it would seem that at the close of the reign of Richard II astrology had aroused only occasional interest throughout England, whether in the monasteries, the universities, or the court. The twin forces of theological censure and political scandal were largely successful in suppressing the ambitions of all but a few from attempting to practise judicial astrology for personal profit and influence. Nevertheless, some were not deterred, and in this chapter we shall consider the evidence for that activity that survives in the form of artefacts, especially horoscopes.
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Notes
Ptolemy Tetrabiblos, trans. F. E. Robbins (Loeb, 1980) III. 10, 274–7; See Bouché-Leclercq, Astrologie grecque, pp. 289–96, for the Lot of Fortune. Pingree, ‘Cairo Geniza’, p. 142, glosses: ‘Lot. A point on the ecliptic as distant from some other point as are two other variable points (normally planets) from each other. The Lot of Fortune is as distant from the ascendant as the Moon is from the Sun.’ The classical source for many of the lots is the poem of Dorotheus of Sidon (fl. 25–75 AD), known through the Arabic translation of ‘Umar ibn al-Farrukhan’ (c.800) ed. David Pingree, Dorothei Sidonii Carmen Astrologicum (Teubner, Leipzig, 1976); the index lists nineteen different lots.
E. Poulie, ‘Astronomie théoretique et astronomie pratique au moyen âge’, Conférence donnée au Palais de la découverte D119 (Paris, 1967).
F. S. Benjamin and G. J. Toomer, Campanus of Novara and Medieval Planetary Theory: Theorica planetarum (Madison, Wisconsin, 1971).
For the equatorium, see E. Poulie, Les instruments de la théorie des planètes selon Ptolémée: Equatoires et horlogerie planetaire 13e au 16e siècle, 2 vols (Paris, 1980); J. D. North, ‘The Place of the Albion in the History of the Equatorium’, in Richard of Wallingford, II, 249–86; E. Poulie, ‘Astronomie théorique et astronomie pratique’, pp. 17–32.
For a vernacular treatise on the instrument, see The Equatorie of the Planetis ed. D. J. de Solla Price (Cambridge, 1955). Chaucer’s association with this treatise is discussed by North, Chaucer’s Universe, pp. 156–81. See above p. 134 for an equatorium and astrolabe belonging to Henry V. 9. E. Poulie, ‘Astrologie et tables astronomiques au Xïïe siècle: Robert le Fébre et les tables de Malines’, Bulletin philologique et historiques (1964) 793–831.
Lynn White, Jr., ‘Medical Astrologers and Late Medieval Technology’, Viator 6 (1975) 295–308.
For Greek horoscopes see Otto Neugebauer and H. B. van Hoesen, Greek Horoscopes, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, no. 148 (Philadelphia, 1959).
For Islamic and Byzantine horoscopes see the articles and editions of David Pingree, ‘Gregory Chioniades and Palaeologan Astronomy’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 18 (1964) 135–60; At p. 138, n.29 Pingree discusses horoscopes for the coronations of Alexius I Comnenus in 1081 and Manuel I Comnenus in 1143;
David Pingree, ‘The Astrological School of John Abramius’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 25 (1971) 191–215, concerns the activities of the astrological advisor to Andronicus IV in the last quarter of the fourteenth century. At p. 193 Pingree discusses the attempt of the patriarchal court to suppress the practice of the occult sciences, including astrology. Although there are a number of horoscopes of imperial Byzantine coronations, there is only one example of an imperial nativity, that of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, for which see Dumbarton Oaks Papers (1973) 219–31. Pingree suggests that the lack of further examples, ‘must be due to fear of the police’, ibid. p. 230, n.12. Judging by the examples edited by Pingree and others, Islam also favoured horoscopes on the occasion of the coronation rather than the birth of kings, and used them as opportunities for political comment.
See the eleven ninth-century horoscopes cast by al-Quasrani in David Pingree and Wilfred Madelung, ‘Political Horoscopes relating to late ninth century “Alids”’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 36 (1977) 247–75. However, few horoscopes have been preserved from the Islamic period outside literary compilations, and actual practice may have been more concerned with the individual.
Six such personal horoscopes are edited by B. R. Goldstein and David Pingree, ‘Horoscopes from the Cairo Geniza’, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 36 (1977) 113–44.
For astrological history or the horoscopes of places see David Pingree, ‘The Horoscope of Constantinople’, in Prismata. Festschrift für Willy Hartner ed. Y. Maeyama and W. G. Saltzer (Wiesbaden, 1977), pp. 305–15. ‘Historical Horoscopes’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 82 (1962) 487–502. An example of such a history, commencing at the Deluge and ending in the year 828, is The Astrological History of Masha’ allah ed. and trans. E. S. Kennedy and David Pingree (Cambridge, Mass., 1971). See also The Thousands of Abu Mashar ed. David Pingree (London, 1968). There was less interest in astrological history in the Latin west but see North, Chaucer’s Universe, p. 377, and ‘Astrology and the Fortunes of Churches’, Centaurus 24 (1980) 181–211, for the influence of the astrological doctrine of the great conjunctions.
For one contemporary account of Friar Randolfs affairs see Chronicle of London, ed. C. L. Kingsford (Oxford, 1905), pp. 73, 80, 273 and 298, n.5.
Chronicon Rerum Gestarum in Monasterio S. Albani ed. H. T. Riley (London, 1870) I. 38.
For the nefarious habits of other minorite friars and their predeliction for sorcery see Thomae Walsingham Historia Anglicana ed. H. T. Riley R.S.28/1 (London, 1864) II. 249, 250, 251.
For Randolf see also K. H. Vickers Humphrey of Gloucester (London, 1907) p. 276 and n.1.; Jones, ‘Sorcery’ pp. 682–683.
D.N.B. However, Bruen is not described as Canon of Windsor in Ashmole’s own The Antiquities of Berkshire (London, 1719) III. 260–1.
The Victoria County History of Berkshire ed. P. H. Ditchfield and William Page (London, 1907), II. 106.
Cal Pat. Rolls 3 Henry VII, p. 219; 7 Henry VII, p. 365. Cited by Pearl Kibre, ‘Lewis of Caerleon, Doctor of Medicine, Astronomer and Mathematician’ Isis 43 (1952) 102–3.
Jean Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan Gods 76–83; Fritz Saxl, La fede astrologica di Agostino Chigi; interpretazione dei dipinti di Baldassare Peruzzi nella sala di Galatea della Farnesina, pub. by the Reale Accademia d’Italia (Rome, 1934).
The Catalogue of the Digby Collection ed. W. D. Macray (Oxford, 1883).
The Anonimalle Chronicle 1336–1381 ed. V. H. Galbraith (Manchester, 1927);
The Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops, ed. James Raine, 3 vols, R.S. 71 (London, 1879–94).
Leland Collectanea ed. T. Hearne, 6 vols (Oxford, 1715) I. 22; Anonimalle Chronicle, p. xiv.
Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. 1v. See Appendix III, no. 7. According to Bryant Tuckerman, Planetary, Lunar and Solar Positions A.D.2–A.D.1649 (Philadelphia, 1964), the moon did not approach 20° Capricorn (=290° until 8 January 1367. The astrologer must have made some error, perhaps for 20° Virgo.
Handbook of English Chronology ed. F. M. Powicke and E. B. Fryde, 2nd ed. (London, 1961), p. 448, only notes the birth of Salisbury as ‘before 14 June 1388’. Sir John Fastolf is more usually said to have been born in 1380. See D.N.B. and Poulie, ‘Horoscopes princiers’, p. 75.
A list of 104 books belonging to Henry V is printed by K. B. McFarlane in Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights (Oxford, 1972) Appendix C, pp. 233–235, contains no astrological books. But as the books formed part of the spoils of the French war it is not to be expected that they would reflect the king’s personal taste. Wylie, Henry V, I, p. 50 n.5 notes a Livre de Spera owned by the Duke of Berry.
Handbook of English Chronology p. 435, n.2. J. H. Wylie, History of England under Henry IV (4 vols, London, 1884–98) III, pp. 323–4, notes arguments for August 1386.
K. B. McFarlane, Lancastrian Kings and Lollard Knights (Oxford, 1972) p. 17,
Citing J. H. Wylie and W. T. Waugh, The Reign of Henry V (3 vols, Cambridge, 191–29) III, pp. 427 (App. B) prefers 16 September 1387. Henry V was born in Monmouth.
For Henry V’s political career, see Henry V. The Practice of Kingship ed. G. L. Harriss (Oxford, 1985).
The First English Life of King Henry the Fifth, ed. C. L. Kingsford (Oxford, 1911) 17. Cited by McFarlane, Lancastrian Kings, p. 123.
McFarlane, Lancastrian Kings pp. 123–4; Wylie, Henry V, I, pp. 199–201. Bishop Courtenay told Jean Fusoris in 1415 that he believed that the king had remained chaste since his accession to the throne. This is mentioned in the account of the trial of Jean Fusoris, Le Procès de Maître Jean Fusoris (ed. Léon Mirot) in Mémoires de la Société de l’ Histoire de Paris 29 (1900) 137–287, at p. 243.
For a biography of Fusoris see E. Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biographique des médecins en France au moyen âge (Paris, 1936) I, p. 403, and for an account of his instruments and other writings see Emmanuel Poulie, ‘Un constructeur d’instruments astronomiques au XVe siècle -Jean Fusoris’, Bibl. de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes IVe Section, fasc. 318 (Paris, 1963). The incident as it relates to Henry V is described in considerable detail by Wylie and Waugh, Henry V, I, pp. 498–510 et passim.
Statutes of the Realm, ed. A. Luders et.al. (London, 1916) II. 144.
E. F. Jacob, Oxford History of England, V, The Fifteenth Century 1399–1485 (Oxford, 1961) p. 480.
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© 1992 Hilary M. Carey
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Carey, H.M. (1992). Horoscopes and Henry V: Astrology in the Ascendant. In: Courting Disaster. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21800-4_7
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