Courting Disaster. Astrology at the English Court and University in the Later Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan

Transcription

1 COURTING DISASTER

2 Courting Disaster Astrology at the English Court and University in the Later Middle Ages Hilary M. Carey Lecturer in History University of Newcastle. Australia Palgrave Macmillan

3 ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Hilary M. Carey 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1992 All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y First published in the United States of America in 1992 ISBN Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carey, Hilary M. (Hilary Mary), Courting disaster : astrology at the English court and university in the later Middle Ages / Hilary M. Carey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN Astrology-History. 2. Great Britain-Kings and rulers -Miscellanea. I. Title. BFI714.G7C '0942'0902-dc CIP

4 To Bernard

5 Contents List of Plates Preface Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1 The Problem of Astrology 2 The Royal Art: Astrology before The Astrologers: Books, Libraries and Scholars 4 The High and Noble Science: Astrology and the Merton Cirele 5 Astrology Ignored: The Court of Edward III 6 Astrology at the Courts of Richard TI and Charles V 7 Astrology in the Ascendant: Horoscopes and Henry V 8 Courting Disaster: Astrology and Henry VI 9 Astrology in the Fifteenth Century Notes ix xi xü xiü Appendix I: Manuscripts of known provenance with texts conceming astrology, divination and some related matters, with their owners, donors and readers 221 Appendix 11: Books on astrology in the medievallibraries of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge 234 vü

6 viii Contents Appendix III: Horoscopes in English manuscripts 241 Appendix IV: Bibliographical guide to technical practice of medieval astrology 258 Bibliography 260 Index 273

7 List of Plates 1. Ptolemy was a 'fulle wisman', but 'no king'. 2. Alexander reeeives a eopy of the Secreta secretorum from Aristotle. 3. Charles V of Franee in his study. 4. The horoseope of Charles V of Franee. 5. Charles V of Franee using an armillary sphere. 6. Charles V of Franee reeeives a translation from Nicole Oresme. 7. Geomantie figure of Letitia ('joy'). 8. Possible answers to judicial questions. 9. A quadrant with Riehard fi's badge of the white hart. 10. The same. 11. A medical use of the Zodiae man. 12. Illumination from a Book of Physiognomy. 13. A king eonsults with his astrologers. 14. A king eonsults a medical astrologer. 15. At birth a ehild's natal eonstellation shines into the delivery room. ix

8 Preface I have many people to thank for their assistance in the course of this book's creation. The research was made possible with funding from the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. Professor John North of the Filosofisch Instituut der Rijksuniversiteit, Groningen, undertook the supervision of my doctoral thesis at the University of Oxford, on which Courting Disaster is based, and has been unfailingly generous with his unrivalled knowledge of medieval English astronomy and astrology. I hope I have absorbed his dictum that the technical side of astrology matters and that astrology is misserved by being regarded merely as the vehicle for grand sociological and historical theses. My former colleagues at the University of Sydney, Dr John O. Ward and Dr Deirdre Stone, read the manuscript and gave me the necessary pleasure of talking about medieval astrology in a wider intellectual context. Dr Maurice Keen, Mr Francis Maddison, Mr Keith Thomas and Professor Brian Vickers offered useful criticism at various stages of writing, much of which I have incorporated. My husband, Bemard, not only provided many sensible suggestions but also shared the care of the three children we have produced during the course of the rival gestation of this book and allowed me time to think, write and research. H.M.C. xi

9 Acknowledgements I am grateful to the following libraries for their permission to reproduce copyright material: Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale Albert ler; Chantilly, Le Musee Conde; London, The British Library and The British Museum; Oxford, The Bodleian Library, University College, and St John's College. xii

10 List of Abbreviations Most references will be self-evident, with the exception of the fouowing short titles. DNB Emden BRUC Emden BRUO Fusoris Proces KerMMBL RS Rot. ParI. Talbot and Hammond Register Thomdike and Kibre Incipits Wickersheimer Dictionnaire Dictionary of National Biography, new ed. 22 vols, (London, ) A. B. Emden, A Bibliographical Register of the University of Cambridge to 1500 (Cambridge, 1963) A. B. Emden, A Bibliographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3 vols, (Oxford, ) Le Proces de MaUre Jean Fusoris (ed. L. Mirot) in Memoires de la SocieU de l'histoire de Paris 27 (1900) N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, 2 vols, (Oxford, ). RoUs Series Rotuli Parliamentorum: Edward I-Henry VII, 6 vols, (London, 1783) C. H. Talbot and E. A. Hammond, The Medical Practitioners in Medieval England. A Biographical Register (London, 1965) Lynn Thomdike and Pearl Kibre, A Catalogue of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. ed. (London, 1963). Emest Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biographique des medecins en France au Moyen Age (Paris, 1936). Arabic names are generauy given in the Latin form favoured by Thomdike and Kibre Incipits. xiii