CAREY, Hilary M. Courting Disaster. Astrology in The English Court and University in The Later Middle Ages

COURTING DISASTER
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
ISBN 978-1-349-21802-8 ISBN 978-1-349-21800-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21800-4
Hilary M. Carey 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992
All rights reserved. For information, write:
Scholarly and Reference Division,
St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue,
New York, N.Y. 10010
First published in the United States of America in 1992

ISBN 978-0-312-06723-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carey, Hilary M. (Hilary Mary), 1957-
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 978-0-312-06723-6
1. Astrology-History. 2. Great Britain-Kings and rulers-
-Miscellanea. I. Title.
BFI714.G7C37 1992
133.5'0942'0902-dc20 91-17383
CIP
To Bernard
Contents
List of Plates ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgements x
List of Abbreviations xi
1 The Problem of Astrology 1
2 The Royal Art: Astrology before 1376 25
3 The Astrologers: Books, Libraries and Scholars 37
4 The High and Noble Science: Astrology and the

Merton Cirele 58
5 Astrology Ignored: The Court of Edward III 79
6 Astrology at the Courts of Richard TI and Charles V 92
7 Astrology in the Ascendant: Horoscopes and Henry V 117
8 Courting Disaster: Astrology and Henry VI 138
9 Astrology in the Fifteenth Century 154
Notes 165
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
v
viii Contents
Appendix III: Horoscopes in English manuscripts 241
Appendix IV: Bibliographical guide to technical practice

of medieval astrology 258
Bibliography 260
Index 273
List of Plates
1. Ptolemy was a 'fulle wisman', but 'no king'.

2. Alexander reeeives a eopy of the Secreta secretorum from Aris-
totle.
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
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. Pro-
fessor 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 Maur-
ice 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
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
List of Abbreviations
Most references will be self-evident, with the exception of the

foUowing short titles.
DNB Dictionary of National Biography, new ed.

22 vols, (London, 1908-9)
Emden BRUC A. B. Emden, A Bibliographical Register of
the University of Cambridge to 1500 (Cam-
bridge, 1963)
Emden BRUO A. B. Emden, A Bibliographical Register of
the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500, 3
vols, (Oxford, 1957-9)
Fusoris Proces Le Proces de MaUre Jean Fusoris (ed. L.
Mirot) in Memoires de la SocieU de l'His-
toire de Paris 27 (1900)
KerMMBL N. R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British
Libraries, 2 vols, (Oxford, 1969-77).
RS RoUs Series
Rot. ParI. Rotuli Parliamentorum: Edward I-Henry
VII, 6 vols, (London, 1783)
Talbot and C. H. Talbot and E. A. Hammond, The
Hammond Medical Practitioners in Medieval England.
Register A Biographical Register (London, 1965)
Thomdike and Lynn Thomdike and Pearl Kibre, A Ca-
Kibre Incipits talogue of Medieval Scientific Writings in
Latin, rev. ed. (London, 1963).
Wickersheimer Emest Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire bio-
Dictionnaire graphique 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
1
The Problem of Astrology
Alexander, der sonne, I pray the and it may be that thou nothir
ryse, nor sitte, nor eite, nor drinke, nor do no thinge withoute
the Conseill of som notable Clerke that hath the perfeccion of the
Science of Astronomye.
Oxford, MS University College 85, p. 96.
From an anonymous fifteenth-century English
translation of the Secreta secretorum.
See p. 36.
INTRODUCTION
This book is about astrology in England at the late medieval court

and university. This time and place is critical for tracking one of the
elusive transformations of astrology from elite to popular culture
which have been a characteristic feature of its history in the west.
I should point out from the beginning that this book is not about
astrology itself, although many scholars have written on that topic
with erudition. 1 While not despising the craft of the astrologers,
who were often scholars of considerable computational skill, I have
only provided as much explanation of the technical side of astrol-
ogy as is necessary to support my larger argument. What I have
written concerns the social and intellectual context in which astrol-
ogy operated and the people who found themselves attracted to it
in the later Middle Ages.
There are three main issues on which I hope this book will shed
some light. The first issue concerns the reasons for the immediate
attraction of astrology. What is it that has made astrology so
perennially fascinahng to the people of western Europe? I will
argue that, in the context of the late medieval English court, it was
a combination of fashionable appeal, scholarly vacillation as to the
moral and rational legitimacy of astrology and the extraordinary
1
2 Courting Disaster
tensions of the court and competitive university environments. I

do not promise to provide a universal explanation for the popu-
larity of astrology. This is a case study. It explains why some
people in a particular place were attracted to the science of the
stars. It is more difficult to explain why astrology then progressed
from influence at court to a more popular audience. Many factors
were at work, with the most important seeming to be the spread of
elite fashion initiatives throughout the social strata.
The second issue is the association between astrology and the
learned on the one hand, and between astrologers and courts on
the other. What explains the particu1ar attraction of astrology for
the clever, the rich, the famous and the powerfu1? There is no
denying the strength of this particular attachment in antiquity, the
medieval court or its contemporary equivalents. 2 Astrology en-
tered the Latin west already supporting a tradition which gave it
an honoured place among the branches of learning. Astrology was
a royal art and a high and noble science, as I will argue in Chapters
Two and Four. In harmony with this tradition it found its first
adherents in the twelfth century among independent scholars and
later, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, at the royal court.
In the fifteenth century, the French astrologer Symon de Phares
was able to write a long and carefully-researched book giving
details of all the princes, courtiers, famous and leamed people who
had made use of astrology from the time of Noah till his own day.
Symon de Phares would be smugly delighted to know that his
catalogue can be extended forward to our own times. When Nancy
Reagan consulted San Francisco astrologer Joan Quigley about
propitious times to guide the presidential movements she was
doing something which satisfied a 2000-year-old tradition, and
probably for reasons very similar to those which motivated her
predecessors. 3
The third issue concems the reason for the scandal and odour of
intrigue which surrounded late medieval astrology. What made
astrology such a dangerous pastime for its adherents and prac-
titioners? Why, to borrow some useful astrological terminology,
did so many court 'disaster' by practising astrology and why did
they choose a court environment for their activities? 'Disaster' is, of
course, one of those words like 'influence', 'humour', 'mel-
ancholy', 'aspect', 'sanguine', 'choleric' or 'lunatic' which are the
linguistic artefacts of the impact of astrology on our thinking. 4
Paradoxically, the notoriety of astrology and the astrologers who
The Problem of Astrology 3
were prosecuted for the too liberal dispensation of their services

seems to have fuelled the popular demand for and validation of
astrological practice. I will address these three issues in turn.
THE ATIRACTION OF ASTROLOGY
The impulse which has prompted men and women to interpret the
fixed stars, sun, moon, and planets as portents of earthly events,
appears to be one of the most enduring, as weIl as universal, of
cultural experiences. 5 The direct ancestor of the astrology known
and practised in western Europe in the later Middle Ages is the
system of astral omens observed in ancient Babylonia. Scientific
astrology, such as we encounter in the writings of Ptolemy and
Manilius, is not however a Babylonian invention, but the product
of Hellenic Greece, where astrology flourished in the first five
centuries after Christ. 6 Greek, Indian and Iranian elements com-
bined to form the basis of Muslim astrology which, when trans-
lated in turn into Latin, formed the almost exclusive source of
medieval western astrological theory and practice.
Astrology reached the apogee of its popularity and influence in
the west in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but after its
apparent defeat by the twin agents of rationalism and heliocentricity,
it has undergone a major revival in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. 7 Today, including the adherents of astrology in India
and most Islamic countries, astrology is probably as popular and
influential as at any time in history.
The very fact of astrology' s tenacious hold on western society
over aperiod of about two and a half millenia poses a fundamental
question. What sustains our belief in supernatural and occult
forces and agents in the face of rational modes of thought, or
mainstream religious explanations of natural phenomena? Even
modern historians have found themselves drawn into the ancient
argument as to the validity of astrology, either by an open avowal
of their own beliefs, or by vigorous denunciation of the foolishness
and gullibility of their historical subjects. In 1920 Theodore Wedel,
whose study of the astrology debate remains valuable, opened his
preface in this derogatory vein:
Mediaeval astrology has long suffered a neglect which, judged

intrinsically, it deserves. Little more than a romantic interest
4 Courting Disaster
now attaches to a complex divinatory art, that for centuries has

been looked upon as one of the aberrations of the human mind. 8
Writing in 1972, Wayne Shumaker found it necessary to disc1aim

any belief in the reality of the occult, and devote considerable
space to 'disproving' the tenets of astrology. 9 In the past, his-
torians have described the history of astrology as if it were some
kind of irrational disease suffered by western culture, which sub-
jected it to bouts of insanity of varying intensity, until mental
equilibrium was eventually restored after the scientific revolution.
Fritz SaxI, for example, liked to characterise the astrology debate as
a struggle between western Greek rationalism and oriental super-
stition. In a lecture delivered in January 1936 he commented:
In the fourteenth century c1assieal Greek philosophy was again

engaged in the great struggle with the Oriental creeds against
whieh it had always fought its brave humanist fight in the cause
of pure science. 10
And later in the same lecture:
Kepler's science based on the achievements of the c1assies, Pieo's

enthusiasm born of Platonie ideas, and the Aristotelian attacks of
the fourteenth century touched the nerve of astrology. It was the
c1assieal heritage of philosophy and science that enabled man-
kind to overcome the c1assieal heritage of demonology and
fatalism. 11
Whereas this approach provides a satisfying dialectical image of

intellectual progress, it fails to account for the fact that most
cultural traditions contain, simultaneously, both 'rational' and
'irrational' elements. The particular fallacy of the confliet in Greek
society between traditional and scientific patterns of thought, or
more crudely between 'magie' and 'science' has been put to rest by
G. E. R. LloydY
Contemporary historians of medieval astrology are generally
content to consider their subject in a more culturally objective
fashion. The impressively complicated mathematics employed by
astronomers and astrologers can be appreciated for its own sake,
for its place in medieval scientific culture, or for the occasional
shred of historical detail that horoscopes can be made to yield Up.13
More importantly, astrology must be acknowledged as an integral

part of medieval intellectual and sociaillfe. This same point has
been argued by Patrick Curry in a study which asks why astrology
fell out of favour in England after the Restoration. 14 Curry insists,
correctly, that astrology must be treated seriously as a pivotal
element in the social and intellectual histories of the societies in
which it has so often played a significant part. To understand why
astrology was first embraced and then rejected by English society is
to understand that society' s intimate inner workings and priorities.
If leamed discussion of astrology continues to arouse misgiv-
ings, condescension and charges of trivialisation, this is confirma-
tion of the unique potential of scholarly examination of astrology to
uncover some of our most embarassing secrets. In our own day,
the secret may weIl be that we are not, ultimately, a rational society
and that we retain far more of the cultural assumptioRs of our
pre-industrial past than we would like to acknowledge.
If we must reject the notion that, since classical times, astrology
has faced unrelenting opposition from the forces of reason and
morality, we must seek new answers to two basic questions: What
was the intellectual and practical function of astrology in medieval
thought and society? And secondly: What form did contemporary
opposition to the tenets to astrology take, given the limited med-
ieval value given to modem notions of rationality? In answer to the
first question, borrowing some ideas from anthropological studies
of magic15 could provide the means to escape the temptation of
subjectivity that is a particular problem for histoirans of the
esoteric arts. As early as 1925, Malinowski argued that magic
serves two primary functions, namely, to provide a reasoned
explanation for forces and events outside people' s immediate
experience, and a possible means of control over these forces and
events. 16 Hence, in those domains most subject to the forces of
chance and uncertainty, notably health and death, magic is allotted
accordingly a large part. 17 More recently anthropologists have
preferred to emphasize the perceived affective, rather than effec-
tive, power of magic. 1B That is to say, the performance of magic is
intended, not to change the natural order, but to confirm it, or
simply manipulate it for personal advantage. Within these par-
ameters, criticism of the powers or the operational procedures of
individual magicians or practices is normal and even to be ex-
pected. Outright scepticism would seem to be practically, or at
least psychologically, impossible. In his classic analysis, for example,
6 Courting Disaster
of a trial for sorcery held among a small group of Nambicuara

Indians in central Brazil in September 1938, Claude Levi-Strauss
argued that the true objective of the participants in the trial,
including the accused sorcerer himself, was not the eradication of
the sorcerer, who was apparently innocent, but the reaffirmation
of the power and efficacy of the magical forces in question, and
hence the communally-held view of the nature of the world. 19
Astrology and the medieval model
How far, if at all, is it possible to apply this model of the function of

magic in primitive societies to that of astrology in medieval society,
and the astrology debate? Can astrology be seen as acting to fill in
the gaps of uncertainty left after the intellectual construction of the
medieval model of the cosmos, like a kind of sociological glue?
Medieval astrology was, after all, a learned and elite practice. It
must be distinguished sharply from magic, which had its own
place in popular culture. Just because we now reject both magic
and astrology as irrational, is no grounds for assuming they were
equated in any way in medieval thinking. It must also be acknowl-
edged that there is no single view of the universe which dominated
all social and culturallevels in medieval Europe, or which main-
tained a constant presence throughout the medieval centuries.
Bearing in mind these important reservations, let us first try and
describe the place astrology held in the intellectual view of the
cosmos that domina ted western Europe from the twelfth to the
fifteenth centuries. In the later Middle Ages, after the radical
transformation of the curriculum of studies brought about by the
translation of scientific works from Arabic, an educated person
would draw from an eclectic range of texts for notions of the
structure and nature of the universe.
In foremost place would be the book of Genesis and the formid-
able body of commentaries on it, chiefly in the form of commen-
taries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Plato' s Timaeus and the
commentary of Chalcidius, together with works inspired by neo-
Platonism such as the Celestial Hierarchy attributed to Dionysius the
Areopogite, retained a powerful hold on the literary imagination.
But undoubtedly the chief source of medieval cosmological notions
was the works of Aristotle, especially the De caelo, but also the
Metaphysica, Physica, Meteorologica, and De Generatione et Corrup-
tione. 20 However, just as the interpretation of the Book of Genesis
or Plato' s Timaeus would be inconceivable without extensive re-

liance on commentaries, so Aristotle' s natural science was received
in the light of his Arabic and Greek commentators, notably 'the
Commentator', Averroes, and Albumasar, whose Great Introduc-
tion to the Science of Astrology was one of the main sources for the
introduction of Aristotelian philosophy in the twelfth century. 21 It
was this Arabic leaven which lifted the status of astrology and
other branches of the occult sciences to that of an integral part of
the body of doctrines available to the medieval student of the
natural sciences.
It would be impossible to summarise in a few words the various
views of the universe contained in the texts mentioned above,
which alone comprise a mere fraction of the texts devoted to the
analysis of this topic of fundamental importance to all societies. 22
We shall simply describe here the astrological model of nature,
having emphasized that this was simply one universe among the
manyavailable to the medieval audience. For the multitude, astrol-
ogy was and is no more than a method of divination, but it can be
much more than this. Bouche-Leclercq aptly characterised Greek
astrology as the bastard issue of an oriental religion and Greek
science. 23 By the second century Ptolemy had conferred on astrol-
ogy its unique status among the sciences, partly by virtue of his
own authority as author of the fundamental treatise on astronomy,
the Almagest, partly through the allure of the systematic descrip-
tion of the terms and principles of astrology in the Quadripartitum,
and partly by drawing on a number of Aristotelian doctrines. It
was not Ptolemy, however, but Albumasar who effected the com-
plete amalgamation of Aristotle' s theories of the processes of
natural change, growth and decay, with the determining principle
of celestial control of sub-lunar events that gave astrology its chief
claim to credibility in the Middle Ages. Very simply, a believer in
astrology who had read Ptolemy, Aristotle and the works of Arabic
astrologers, might describe the natural world in the following
terms. 24
The Universe can be divided into two regions with the moon as
their frontier. The Heavenly bodies are etemal, composed of a fifth
element called 'ether', and move perpetually with a circular move-
ment. 25 The sub-Iunary bodies, on the other hand, are composed
of a primary matter, imbued with some combination of the four
Aristotelian qualities, namely, hot, cold, dry and moist. Hence Fire
has the qualities, hot and dry; Air is hot and moist; Water is cold
8 Courting Disaster
and moist; while Earth is cold and dry. Matter in the sub-Iunar
regions is subject to the continual process of mutual transforma-
tion of these four qualities, and suffers growth, change and
decay.26 Aristotle identified the annual movement of the sun from
north to south along the path of the ecliptic as the formal cause of
generation and corruption in the sub-Iunar regions. 27 Albumasar
elaborated that the uniform movement of the celestial sphere was
the principle of continuity, whereas the erratic movements of the
planets were the cause of change and diversity of the world. 28
From these basic principles, the entire complex apparatus of a
predictive science dealing with the sum total of events in the
sub-Iunar sphere was built up. The terms and principles of astrol-
ogy, which cannot be elaborated here, remained more or less
constant from the time of Ptolemy,29 who seems to have been the
first to identify the planets with the four Aristotelian qualities. The
mechanism by which the stars exerted their influence on the
inferior world was borrowed from the speculations of the Platon-
ists, Pythagorians and others. The physical parts of man, the
microcosm, formed initially by the constant action of astral forces,
and all the constituents of the mundane world: plants, animals,
metals, colours, winds, numbers, and even geographie areas and
their inhabitants, were under the domain of particular planets. Just
as the sun maintained control over vegetable life, and the moon
over the tides and the female menstrual cyde, so earthly events
harmonised with heavenly events, like a string tuned to the same
pitch. The same principle governed the operation of other occult
sciences such as magie, alchemy and geomancy. 30 By an awareness
of the complex rules determining the relationship between the
various planets and their earthly domain, the astrologer was able
to forewarn a dient of any potential disaster, or provide the
pleasure of anticipation, if some good thing was prefigured in the
stars.
The sodal function of astrology
This is a highly-compressed account of what was an ornately

developed theory, maintained and elaborated over many cen-
turies. Nevertheless, it would seem that there is some ground for
daiming that astrology functioned in medieval society in much the
same way that Malinowski described the function of magie in
non-literate societies.
It cannot be denied that from the modem scientific point of

view, all the explanations of natural phenomena available in the
Middle Ages, whether Greek, Latin or Arabic, were seriously
defective. The factors which controlled events of such fundamental
importance as the weather, the cyde of the seasons and the
behaviour of animals and plants, or the processes of health and
sickness, decay and regeneration, let alone such sudden and
unforeseen happenings as floods, earthquakes, comets, plagues,
violent storms or unnatural births, remained as inexplicable to
medieval people as to their modem counterparts described by
anthropologists.
Just as magic could provide a coherent theory to account for the
most unaccountable of natural events, so did astrology, in a tour de
force of rationalisation. Moreover, unlike the Aristotelian or Pla-
tonic models, upon which the astrologers were substantially de-
pendent, astrology provided a model to explain not just natural
phenomena, but the erratic and inscrutable behaviour of men and
women, their personalities, prejudices, politics, religion, wars,
fortune and misfortune. Just as an understanding of the operation
of magic in the natural world offered to an adept the opportunity
to reinforce, control and take advantage of magical forces, so the
astrologer daimed the power to predict and control the natural
course of events. As we shall see in the later chapters, the astrol-
oger, like the sorcerer, was called on to arbitrate in areas of greatest
uncertainty and danger, such as court politics, and medical diag-
nosis and treatment. Given this interpretation of the function of
astrology, we need not be surprised that astrology has maintained
such a tenacious grip upon the western imagination: rather we
should question how the model postulated by the astrologers came
to be questioned at all.
It becomes increasingly difficult to describe astrology in med-
ieval society in terms of the function of magic in contemporary
non-industrial societies, the more we examine particular cases and
individuals. In the wider perspective, the analogy seems useful
enough, but as we magnify our viewing lens, the concept is
revealed as no more than that - a useful analogy. Astrology wore
many faces. In the schools of medieval Oxford, astrology was
debated as a theological issue, and at the same time incorporated
with deference into the curriculum of the mathematical sciences,
the quadrivium. In the reign of Edward III we can observe the first
tentative gestures by university-trained astrologers toward the
10 Courting Disaster
court. Elevated in subsequent years by a regular association with

the monarchy and nobility, yet retaining the taint of theological
heterodoxy, and later political scandal, the status of an astrologer
did not rely on the charismatic or ascribed authority of the witch-
doctor, sorceror or shaman. His status came instead from the
authority which attached to all men of leaming, and from the
patron who was prepared to protect and respect him. The astrol-
oger' s position was socially ambiguous and a source of political
tension and suspicion. Investigating this tension provides us with
an instructive insight into the nature of the society that could never
quite decide whether astrology should be piously denounced or
pragmaticallyaccepted.
ASTROLOGY, SCHOLARS AND PRiNCES
In England at the beginning of the fourteenth century, astrology

was of academic interest to a small number of scholars and of
ethical concem to rather more. Astrology and all other branches of
the occult sciences were regarded as dangerous, difficult to leam,
and theologically unsound. Astrology alone attracted the attention
of the occasional isolated individual in the better-equipped mon-
asteries and some university specialists. In the course of the later
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries a remarkable transformation
occurred. By the reign of Henry VI astrology had succeeded in
obtaining a relatively secure and respected place in both the uni-
versities and the courts. Scholars delivered lectures and wrote
treatises on the subject; courtiers sought the advice of astrologers;
and kings feared their judgments. A working relationship devel-
oped between scholars with expertise in the science of the stars,
and members of the nobility seeking new ways to obtain political
advantage over their opponents.
The English were much slower to take up astrology than their
Italian and French compatriots. Henry 11, who seems to have
employed the astrological services of Adelard of Bath, is an excep-
tion, but both Adelard and Henry were exceptional in many ways.
Why, putting Henry 11 aside for consideration in Chapter Two,
were the English so slow to take up the promises of the astrol-
ogers? What factors govemed the intellectual appeal of astrology
first to English scholars and then to their royal patrons?
The Problem 0/ Astrology 11
Theologians and astrology
The first and perhaps the major disincentive to the medieval

practice of astrology was a sophisticated and venerable body of
theological and philosophical arguments against attempting to
predict the future and know the present by occult means. It is
probably best to go elsewhere for a complete account of the
astrology debate in the Middle Ages,31 but I include here abrief
account of its more important features. The medieval Church was
ostensibly opposed to the practice of divination in all its forms. The
arguments and counter-arguments of the astrology debate are very
ancient, and probably arise naturally in any society which claims to
hold a religious and/or rational world view. Theologians and
philosophers in the ancient, Byzantine and Arabic worlds all raised
similar objections to the determinism, irrationality and paganism
implicit in the tenets of astrology. 32
Despite the extensive corpus of texts on astrology, alchemy,
geomancy, physiognomy, palmistry, phrenology, magic and other
arts produced by medieval writers in Arabic and later eagerly
translated into Latin, Islamic philosophy was in general opposed
to the claims of the practitioners of the occult sciences. 33 In the
early centuries of Islam, astrology was respected as a fundamental
branch of the mathematical sciences. 34 Polemic against astrology
developed in intensity from the tenth Christian century. The
philosophers Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes, and Ibn Qayyim al-
Jaziyah, whose confutation of astrology is compared by Nallino to
Pico della Mirandola' s Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinit-
ricem, decried the practice of astrology.35 According to Toufic
Fahd, Arabic sympathy for doctrines of supematural causation
derives from the pre-Islamic tradition. 36 This might explain the
divergent reception given to the occult sciences in the Arabic and
Latin worlds. The point to note is that although astrology was
practised and believed in by both Islam and the West, the official
line was against it. The interesting part for the historian is to
explain why the theoretical ban on astrology was avoided in these
disparate societies.
The West did not take advantage of Islamic philosophical and
theological consideration of the evils of astrology. Islamic treatises
against astrology were not translated into Latin in the twelfth
century while the works of Arabic and Greek science and philos-
0l'hy fascinated western scholars. Despite a dear patristic prohibition

on astrology in all its forms, the science of the stars, considerably
embellished during its Islamic sojourn, was greeted with extraor-
dinary tolerance, at least initially. Indeed, Latin scholars were
more concerned to justify the practice of astrology37 than to sup-
port the reservations of the Church Fathers.
Perhaps this is an unfair way of looking at it. There were always
two agendas in the astrology debate. The first agenda was the one
with which the contemporary world is most familiar and con-
cerned the rational foundation of astrological premises. Even here,
the argument had a particular medieval flavour. It is easy to make
clumsy errors when attempting to und erstand the subtleties of the
medieval intellectual position. To put it very simply, to the ques-
tion, 'do the stars influence earthly affairs?', the medieval answer
was a universal 'yes'. Looking for non-believers in celestial influ-
ence in the Middle Ages is about as productive as looking for
medieval atheists. It was just possible for a philosopher such as
Anselm, in a theoretical kind of way, to imagine with the psalmist
that 'the fool has said in his heart, there is no God' (Psalm 14).38 For
everyone else, saint and sinner, princess and pauper, the existence
of God, some kind of God however theologically determined, was
a sine qua non of sodal and intellectual life. It is the same with
celestial influence. Even the most ardent critic of astrology baulked
at denying to the stars any influence in mundane affairs. However,
to the question, 'can those who practise the sdence of astrology
correctly interpret the nature of the relationship between the stars
and earthly affairs?' the answer was much more equivocal. There
were a significant number of astrological agnostics in the medieval
west, agnostics who accepted the prindple of celestial influence
but for rational or, more usually, theological grounds, did not
accept that astrologers knew what they were talking about.
Dealing first with those who addressed the rational agenda in
their attack on astrology, Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was prob-
ably the most influential. Augustine borrowed from classical Stoic
sources the clever argument that astrology was unable to explain
the different 'fates' of twins, or even children born at the same time
in more or less the same place. Medieval scholars profident in the
necessary calculations and aware of the limitations of the available
technology - Grosseteste is the best known example - were weH
aware that existing instruments were simply not accurate enough
to distinguish between the conflicting natal fortunes of twinS. 39
Trinkaus has recently pointed out that the humanist Coluccio

Salutati, writing in 1396, included an 'empirical, proto-scientific
element' in his critique of astrology.40 Yet Salutati's arguments,
which recall Grosseteste' s observations of the limitations of the
instruments on which astrologers depend for the reliability of their
predictions, are not systematic or original, though they certainly
are more sophisticated than most. 41 To our rational way of think-
ing, once the empirical basis on which astrology is established was
successfully attacked, the whole edifice should fall. This is not a
medieval way of thinking. The principle of celestial influence
remained entrenched in the minds even of astrology's most 'ra-
tional' critics, including Grosseteste, Nicole Oresme, Henry of
Langestein and Pico della Mirandola.
The reality of astrological influence and the competence of as-
trologers were important issues. But, for medieval thinkers, astrol-
ogy raised more significant questions than these. The core issue in
the astrology debate was not the validity of astrology, but rather its
legitimacy. It was interesting to ask if an astrologer was able to
predict the future, but it was more important, and probably more
interesting, to ask if it was right for him to do so. Moral objections
to astrology were made at a number of levels, and in general early
medieval theologians were more severe than later ones. The Fathers
objected to the determinism which was implied by astrologers'
claims to be able to interpret mundane events from the pattern of
celestial events. Their rejection of astrology, which they associated
with paganism and heresy, was absolute. Isidore of Seville and
Cassiodorus could hardly bear to describe the doctrine of melothesia
or the association of body parts with particular signs of the zodiac,
though this became the orthodox basis of astrological medicine.
Following the lead of Islamic astrologers, particularly Albuma-
sar, Christian philosophers of the twelfth and thirteenth century
gave astrology a key role in driving the operations of the Aristo-
telian cosmos. The reality and nature of astrological influence
could be and was discussed as part of natural philosophy. The
'physics' of astrological operations was a legitimate, if imperfectly
defended, concept in the schools. There was a general tolerance for
astrological prediction which involved general affairs or the public
good, such as medical astrology, weather prediction and general
predictions for the year, based either on the positions of the
constellations when the sun entered the first degree of Aries, or at
the time of conjunctions of the major planets, or during the
passage of comets. Predictions about the fates of individuals were

always theologically suspect.
By the second half of the thirteenth century, a complete reassess-
ment of Aristotle was underway. Astrology, which had come to
intellectual legitimacy in Aristotle's wake, was implicated in the
Paris condemnations of 1270 and 1277. What was the relationship
between God, the First Cause and secondary causes? Did God use
astrology to run the cosmos or did he keep his hand at the wheel at
all times? Even general predictions were tainted with the old
objection of determinism. After 1277, theologians insisted on the
primacy of human free will and divine providence. In Paris, theo-
logians were also insisting on the primacy of their faculty over the
students of natural philosophy. However harmoniously the uni-
verse could be imagined to work with the aid of Aristotle and
celestial infIuence, God could no longer be shut out. The key
question came to be the extent to which God, identified as the First
Cause, intervened directly in mundane affairs. 42
For those interested in astrology, the rational agenda was taken
over by a moral and theological one, and it was the moral agenda
which fascinated a stream of fine minds throughout the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries. For thinkers such as Nicole Oresme, Henry
of Langestein, Coluccio Salutati and Pico della Mirandolla, the
question of the reality of the phenomena astrology purported to
explain was much less interesting and worthy of philosophical
consideration than the moral status of astrological predictions. 43
The question of the reality of astrological infIuence could safely be
put to one side, or answered, as it usually was, in the affirmative,
while the serious issue of the status of secondary causes, the action
of providence and the freedom of the will were addressed.
It is not difficult to become enmeshed in the intricacies of this
debate as schoolmen and humanists fought a personal and public
battle about the extent of God's interest in them and their world.
But what about those with neither the intellect nor the tempera-
ment for such scruples? What about the princes, students, sol-
diers, physicians and aspiring politicians who had a professional
or private reasons for seeking out the services of an astrologer?
How were they placed? Even as the theologians continued their
arguments, astrology was being studied and encountered by more
people, particularly in universities with a strength in medical
teaching or the natural sciences such as Padua, Bologna or Oxford.
Although the theologians argued chiefIy with themselves, pres-
sure to subvert the prohibition against the practice of judicial

astrology, which dealt with the fates of individuals, was exerted by
the court from the time the earliest translations of Arabic works on
the occult sciences were available in the west.
Princes and astrology
By the fourteenth century, the question of whether or not princes

and members of their courts should make use of the services of
astrologers was actively debated. But it was still a small-scale
activity, judging by the tiny number of surviving astrological
figures which relate to actual people and events from this period.
Treatises against astrology were frequently written at the request
of or for the information of princes, not simply as part of a
theological debate within an ivory tower. Bradwardine wrote against
astrology for Edward III of England and Nicole Oresme for Charles
V of France. The theologians were quite dearly not in full agree-
ment, and allowed exceptions to the general ban on the practice of
astrology, particularly for more general predictions. One text of
this kind, describing what could and could not be said in the way
of divination, the Speculum astronomie attributed to Albertus Mag-
nus, found its way into a book of geomancy compiled for Richard 11
of England in 1381. 44
There had been a steady erosion in lay resistance to the practice
of judicial astrology since Latin translations of astrological texts
had become available in the west. The theology of astrology was in
disarray with no real consensus emerging between the conserva-
tism of the theologians on the one hand and the impetuous enthusi-
asm of the natural philosophers, such as Roger Bacon, on the
other. For educated laypeople of the fourteenth century, one
consequence of the theologians' equivocation was to allow a danger-
ous sense of their own freedom to experiment with the possible
uses of astrology. After aH, the dominant line being pushed was in
support of the freedom of the will, and who could complain when
non-theologians went ahead and made their choices? Given the
choice, and increasingly a pool of expertise to draw on, students
started reading and practising astrology, and weH-to-do patrons
began to consult them. In this the universities were simply per-
forming their natural and customary role of providing professional
expertise and advice to the aristocracy.
Even when Stephen Tempier and Robert Kilwardby, the two
bishops with pastoral responsibility for the Universities of Oxford

and Paris, moved together in 1277 to suppress the practice of the
occult sciences and other suspect doctrines derived from Arabic
science and philosophy, there is little evidence that their efforts
were successful. 45 0' Alvemy has described the sternly orthodox
reaction of at least one Paris student,46 but more characteristically
the many writers who addressed themselves to the problem of
astrology were generally concemed only to repudiate the single
charge of astral determinism, and otherwise tolerated the practice
of judicial astrology, under certain restrictions. It is clear from the
questions published for discussion in the Universities of England
and Paris throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that
the issues of the composition, movement and influence of the
heavenly bodies were the subject of considerable interest and
controversy,47 but there was no consensus of opinion.
This was an awkward state of affairs, because although at the
beginning of the fourteenth century astrology was still essentially
an honest member of the quadrivium, and chiefly of interest to
scholars, it had the potential to become much more than this. By
the sixteenth century astrology had developed into a social move-
ment of considerable importance, exercising a profound influ-
ence over popular notions of cosmology, weather, medicine, the
destinies of princes and nations, and the formation of indi-
vidual character. In the course of two centuries astrology was
transformed from a leamed science into the basis of a popular
movement. It is difficult to recall comparable instances of this
remarkable achievement, although it has features in common with
the rise of the heresies of John Wyclif and John Huss in the same
period.
Mention of these heresies brings us to another important ques-
tion conceming astrology. What part does astrology have in the
great transformations of mentality which affected later medieval
Europe? The rise to influence of astrology follows the rise of a
number of alternative belief systems to that of the dominant
orthodox Catholicism. Groups as diverse as the Flagellants, Be-
guines, Lollards, Spiritual Franciscans, and a host of minor here-
sies and non-conformists attracted enthusiastic interest. The lay
patronage given to so many more-or-Iess radical and more-or-Iess
reforming groups speaks of considerable dissatisfaction with the
available interpretations of reality and each person's place in the
scheme of things.
In England observers noted the remarkable popularity of politi-

cal prophecy at the end of the fourteenth century, and it is clear
that Richard 11 gave privileged access to some charismatic hermits,
particularly in the period shortly before his deposition. 48 Symon de
Phares, though not the most reliable of witnesses, is adamant that
the period of the Hundred Years' War was one during which both
French and English combatants constantly sought the advice of
astrologers. 49 At the very least the late Middle Ages, in England
and elsewhere in Europe, can be seen to be a time in which there
was a willingness, even an eagerness, to believe new claimants to
truth, new sources of advice, newagents of spiritual and intellec-
tual authority.
ASTROLOGY AND DISASTER
The third and final issue which is considered in this book is the
association between astrology and political intrigue and scandal.
Perhaps the most significant evidence for a change in people' s
relative sense of security and their confidence in the prevailing
systems of control is the dramatic rise in the fourteenth century of
political trials for sorcery. Astrologers joined with those accused of
using magic, witchcraft or plain poisoning to bring about harm to
those in power. 50 Historians of medieval witchcraft have pointed
out that late medieval witch accusations were not a popular but a
court phenomenon. 51 The characteristic victim of a fourteenth or
early fifteenth-century witch trial is not the village spinster of the
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century witch crazes, but rather the
marginalized court parvenu - the dowager queen, the king' s
physician or chaplain, the prophet taken up by a court clique, such
as Joan of Arc. Peters styles them 'sorcerors' apprentices'. The
unfortunate astrologers and their clients caught up in this vicious
process, such as Eleanor Cobham, Thomas Southwell or John
Argentine (see Chapters Seven and Eight) could as well have been
witches or their clients. All those with access to occult knowledge
and without impregnable patrons were feared and vulnerable.
Witchcraft shares with astrology the privilege of spawning, from
late medieval seed, a popular movement out of a previously elite
preoccupation.
The proliferation of witch beliefs and accusations and the rise in
secular interest in and consultation of astrologers which paralleis
it, can be seen as symptoms of what R. I. Moore has referred to as

the 'persecuting society' of medieval Europe, weIl established by
the thirteenth century. 52 InitiaIly intolerance was not focussed on
those who were attracted to non-rational systems of explanation
such as magie, witchcraft or the occult, but on heretics. It was only
later that society came to institutionalise its simmering but diffuse
intolerance to other aberrant groups, including homosexuals, Jews,
witches and astrologers.
Why did late medieval society develop in this way, and why was
the court the focus of particular paranoia and intolerance? One
favoured explanation is that the late medieval court was character-
ised by inordinate levels of stress and insecurity and sorcery
accusations are just symptoms of this. This draws on the work of
anthropologists and anthropologistlhistorians, particularly of witch-
craft. Fourteenth-century Europe was subjected to repeated visita-
tion from the three horsemen of the apocalypse: war, famine and
disease. The privileged participants of the courts of the kings of
England, France, Burgundy or the Pope may not have been per-
sonally troubled by these catastrophes to the extent endured by the
rest of the population. But within the court itself, access to power,
privilege and status depended on the favour of a patron, the fragile
coalition of political convenience, the whim of the prince, the
capricious changes of fashion, the turn of the wheel of fortune.
Even for those with established wealth and position, who main-
tained courts of their own, the strain of this milieu was consider-
able and suspicion, inconstancy and betrayal their daily bread. For
the majority who depended entirely on a patron it was particularly
difficult. Not only did they have to live in constant expectation of a
fall from personal favour, they were also subject to suspicion from
their patron's enemies. It was difficult to effect revenge or attack a
powerful lord directlYi he was more vulnerable to indireet attack
through his dependents.
In an atmosphere of fear, the existence of sorcery, witchcraft and
magie seemed real enough. Accusations of sorcery are one way of
marking out the lines of greatest tension, guilt and suspicion in
this enclosed and dangerous arena. The tragedy of this situation is
that accusations were all too often deflected away from the major
players to the dowager queen, the king' s chaplain, the astrologer
consulted by the duke's wife, or some other court hopeful. Some-
times the accusations were justified. The powerless found that the
temptation to turn to occult means to secure their position was too
strong to resist, or they were pressured by their patrons to provide

these illicit services. Astrologers were implicated in sorcery trials in
both ways. By the fourteenth century, it must be accepted that
astrology' had become secularised and the high intellectual ideals
of earlier times had been abandoned.
This kind of explanation has a ring of truth. It explains why
astrology, a difficult and expensive art to acquire, was associated
with witchcraft and poisoning at the sorcery trials. It also suggests
why astrology acquired so many new adherents at the late me-
dieval courts after having struggled in 'high and noble', but lonely,
obscurity for so long. But it also has some problems. The theory
does not explain why the rise in the popularity of astrology hap-
pened at this particular time. It is very difficult to believe that the
courts of the later Plantagenets were any less stressful environ-
ments than those of their predecessors, which did not breed
sorcery accusations and astrologers.
One object of this book is to provide a study of contrasting court
environments to test out their responses to internal stresses and to
find out what part astrology played in forming their unique charac-
ters. Astrology is a volatile material, but it needs the right chemical
conditions to explode. It can exist as a stable constituent of the
intellectual world of scholarship, or it can synthesise within the
cauldron of the court into a potent and noxious compound. In
Chapters Four to Seven I outline the status and reception given to
astrology in the courts of five English and French monarchs.
Throughout the reigns of these kings it is possible to plot an
increasing interest in astrology, measured by surviving books,
translations commissioned, number of individuals who had astro-
logical figures cast and other factors. This material is presented in
Chapter Three and the Appendices. I do not think that the courts
and regimes of these successive kings are marked by any measur-
able increase in tension - they all have their own personal and
public agonies, their own akhemy. To explain the different recep-
tion given to astrology in various courts it is best not to rely too
much on generalised social theory. Rather an explanation must be
found in the individual dispositions of kings and courtiers and the
scholars, physicians and advisers skilled in astrology whose advice
they sought.
This is not to deny the existence of overlying trends. As a case
study this book highlights the quirkiness of individuals and their
response to astrology: the piety of Edward III and the fashion-
consciousness of Richard 11 meant, for example, that the former

resisted the introduction of astrology at court while the latter was
more tolerant. But in the period reviewed astrology does become
more influential, and I think that this can be seen as one measure
of the weakening in the coherence of the medieval world view.
Astrology was significant not only for what it can indicate about
the more sinister aspects of late medieval society. Astrology was
also part of the brilliant cultural efflorescence of the late medieval
court. The courts of Charles V of France, Richard 11 of England,
Wenceslaus of Bohemia, John, Duke of Berry and many others,
cultivated the occult sciences as they did a taste for avant-garde
styles of music, literah1!,c, books, i'aintings and objects to collect.
Books on astrol0gy, along with astrologers and learned men to
write them, cast horoscopes, choose propitious times for journeys,
coronations and political intrigue, were collectables and emblems
of style in an era of conspicuous consumption. The rise of astrol-
ogy and, by the fifteenth century, its adoption by. the English
middle classes, is good evidence of the increasing spread of literacy
and numeracy from the schools, universities and monasteries into
the lay worlds of the court and the town.
Astrology represents two features of late medieval sociallife. On
the one hand there was an increasing interest in the exotic, the
learned and the cultivated, often flowing from the quixotic tastes of
the elegant courts of later medieval Europe. On the other, there
was an increasing heterodoxy of belief and reliance on alternative
systems of explanation. Over all hangs a pall of intolerance and
fear of change married to intense competition at court, in the
church and among the newly-enriched merchant classes.
The English court and university can be seen as a microcosm of
the European experience, albeit somewhat later in date and less
enthusiastically expressed than on the Continent. Both astrology
and witchcraft accusations came later to England and developed
on a somewhat smaller scale than across the English Channel.
Whether this was due to any innate principle of moderation which
affected the English character or was simply the result of a less
fully-developed sense of fashion, as the French were inclined to
complain, can be left as an open question. The distinguishing
feature of astrology, however, is the way in which it was nurtured
by the forces of the establishment, the universities, the Church and
the court. This is not to suggest that the Church did not object to
astrology, but simply that, in England at least, these objections
were accommodated by those with an interest in practising the art.
OUTLINE OF ARGUMENT
I have so far emphasized that it is not possible to explain astrology

away by reference to one theory, although useful insights can be
gained from a number of anthropological, sociological and other
approaches. The rest of this chapter is devoted to presenting an
outline of the argument developed in this book, the result of a
detailed study of the response of one cu1tural and intellectual
milieu to the problem of astrology.
In England, university scholars were the first to give astrology
their systematic attention. For them, astrology provided a key to
the great mysteries of the nature and function of the heavenly
bodies, and the forces which controlled events in the natural
world. At Oxford in the first half of the fourteenth century a
number of outstanding mathematicians, astronomers, physicists
and logicians, especially from Merton College, built a formidable
reputation for their advancement of the mathematical sciences.
This material is outlined in Chapter Four. There is some evidence
that certain of the most influential of the patrons of Merton,
including Nicholas Sandwich, William Rede, and Simon Bredon,
had a particular interest in astrology. It is thus only natural that the
first signs of a deeper interest in astrology in medieval England
come from Merton College. Stilllimited by the restraint of theologi-
cal censure, early ventures into the field of English scholars such as
Walter Elvedene, lohn Somer or Reginald Lambourne, were gener-
ally somewhat inexpert and small in scale. There seems to have
been a deliberate policy to avoid matters relating to the fates of
individuals, such as the casting of nativities, or judicial questions.
Instead, English astrologers primly followed the example of Grosse-
teste and stuck to the uncontroversial business of astrological
weather prediction. 53
The work of one Merton astrologer cannot be dismissed as either
timid or amateurish. lohn Ashenden, inspired by the apparent
success of his predictions based on the conjunctions of 1345,
devoted his scholarly llfe to the joint purposes of explicating the
natural causes of the plague and other general catastrophes, and to
seeking the ear of King Edward. It is this latter purpose which sets
Ashenden aside so distinctly from his predecessors. Like a number
of his French and Italian contemporaries, Ashenden seems to have
regarded the astrologer as having some proper role in the king' s
counci1 chambers. In Edward ill's manyencounters with the French
and Scots, Ashenden was ready with appropriate advice, if only
the king would call. This case, outlined in Chapter Five, illustrates
weIl the tensions that could arise between theologians, princes and
astrologers on the proper limitations to be placed on the use of
astrology.
Edward III did not call however, and perhaps preferred to follow
the advice of his chaplain, Thomas Bradwardine, who had a very
low opinion of astrology and divination of all kinds. It remained
for Richard 11 to make some tentative moves toward incorporating
the occult sciences into the rich and eclectic life of his fashionable
court, as outlined in Chapter Five. Richard II's beautifully decor-
ated book of divination, which inc1udes a geomancy especia1ly de-
signed for ease of use, allies his court with those of Charles V of
France, Wenceslaus of Bohemia, and later John, Duke of Bedford,
and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Although ultimately the rise
in popularity of astrology signalied far deeper changes in medieval
society, for these great lords, astrology was not a tool for statecraft,
but an exotic game, a pretty ornament, something to pass the time,
like listening to romances, or playing chess. Although certain
members of French court circles had attempted to develop a chris-
tianised astrology, and recommended that the king should consult
astrologers both for his own good and for that of his kingdom,
Richard 11 was more conservative.
Yet while the English king maintained only a limited interest in
the occult sciences, many of his nobles, particularly those with
contacts in France, had already sought out the advice of astrologers
on all sorts of practical and personal matters. The gradual rise to
influence of the university educated medical practitioner, at a time
when astrology was an intrinsic part of medical diagnosis and
treatment, probably had a lot to do with this. The calendars
commissioned by Joan of Kent and John of Gaunt, from John
Somer and Nicholas of Lynne respectively, include astrological
tables, probably for the use of physicians, almost as a matter of
course. Of equal importance for the rise in importance of astrology
at the English court in the early fifteenth century was its increasing
role in political life. Astrologers, many of them with at least a
smattering of university training, and occasionally men of con-
siderable academic or professional eminence, were called on to
arbitrate in affairs of intrigue, ambition, treachery, and even trea-
son. It cannot be doubted that John Ashenden would have been
dismayed at this dishonourable development.
Inevitably perhaps, with this closer association with court poli-
tics, there also came the scandals and executions. The fates of Friar
John Randolf, Roger Bolingbroke and Thomas Southwell, and later
John Stacy and Thomas Blake,54 attest to the dramatic change in
the perceived status of astrological predictions. These trials are
analysed in Chapter Eight. Astrology, from being agame for
princes, became a vehic1e for the manipulation of political oppo-
nents, a symptom of the insecurity of the times. England, or rather
the English court, had become a persecuting society.
The execution of astrologers did not precipitate a decline in the
role of these talented individuals at the English court. On the
contrary, during the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, Edward V,
Richard III, and Henry VII, an ever increasing number of astrol-
ogers, many of them educated in the medical schools of the great
Italian universities, enjoyed the patronage of English kings. It was
also at this time that the practice of astrology reached the literate
middle c1asses, and families such as the Pastons, or the modest
clients of the physicians Robert Tresillian and John Crophill, reveal
an acquaintance with the science of the stars. Nevertheless, a
change had occurred. The new breed of court astrologer was more
cautious, and more likely to restrict his judgments to medical
matters than were his predecessors. There even seems to have
been an antiquarian movement among physician-astrologers such
as Lewis of Caerleon and John Argentine i:o collect and preserve
the writings of earlier English astronomers, mathematicians and
astrologers. In short, medieval English astrology succumbed to the
new fashions of the Renaissance, discussed in Chapter Eight.
This transformation was probably necessary if astrology was to
rise, phoenix-like, from the oblivion of political scandal to new
heights of popularity and influence. The medieval notion of astrol-
ogy, cherished by such people as John Ashenden, as part of a
noble branch of learning, of inestimable value to statesmen, and
one moreover demanding the highest measure of computational
prowess and precision, was too exacting to be the basis of a
popular movement. Before the advent of the printing presses,
which made cheap ready-made astrological predictions available to
more or less everyone, astrology remained the preserve of the
educated and the rich.
The function and audience of astrology underwent a number of
transformations in the course of the later Middle Ages. Perhaps it
is this adaptability which is the key to the remarkable durability of
astrology. Almost as if it had an instinct for its own survival,
astrology was nurtured in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries

within the universities, despite theological opposition. In the fif-
teenth century, not without some casualties, astrologers began to
make discreet appearances at the English court, winning supporters
among the nobility. In the final stage, astrologers established
themselves at court behind the respectable front of the medical
practitioner.
The medieval history of astrology can be seen as a prime exam-
pIe of the triumph of a sodal movement over intellectual and
theological argument. At the same time, the moral, rational and
politicallegitimacy of astrology remained an issue because, as the
theologians perceived, it implied a world view fundamentally
0pp0.:ied to Christian models, in which both human action and
natural events depended on the omnipotent and loving interven-
tion of God. To a lesser extent it was also opposed because, as the
medieval inheritors of Greek rationalism, most notably St Augus-
tine, could argue, its basic premises were mere articles of faith
without logical foundation. Finally, astrology could never become
entirely secure because, as English monarchs from the time of
Henry V were acutely aware, it was politically intolerable for the
enemy even to purport to have the power of predicting the time
and manner of the king's death, or his personal and tactical
failings. The attempt to obtain and regulate this elusive and il-
lusory power can be traced through the chapters which follow.
2
The Royal Art: Astrology
before 1376
The dose association between astrology and the courts of the
mighty is one of the most characteristic features of the science of
the stars in both dassical and medieval times. 1 The reason for this
must be partly practical. For most of the period covered by this
book, astrologers took a long time to train, and their services -
when available - were only for the rich or those in the know. Yet
there was also something of a romantic, traditional attachment
between a king, sultan, or emperor, and the astrologer, which
remained potent in later medieval England, but disappeared with
the popularisation of astrology in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
The tradition of the royal status and antiquity of astrology is
found in both Latin and Islamic sourees. In the Middle Ages, the
most commonly accepted theory as to the origin of the 'science of
the stars' was that it had been accomplished in two stages. The
Egyptians had first discovered astronomia and the Chaldeans had
first perfected astrologia and the observance of nativities. This, at
least, was the theory favoured by Isidore of Seville and Cassio-
dorus, those great authorities for everything one might wish to
know. Altematively, following Albumasar, it was alleged that after
Noah's flood, when allieaming had been swept away, Sem and
Abraham had rediscovered the science of the stars. Astrology, it
was daimed, was the oldest science from which all others were
derived. 2
The image of the leamed king, surrounded by scholars of all
disciplines, and especially astrologers, is a favoured motif in both
Islamic and Latin discussions of the value of leaming for good
govemment. In the Islamic world, the courts of the Abbasid khalifs
at Baghdad were regularly attended by astrologers, and there are
numerous works on the science of the stars dedicated to khalifs,
sultans and princes. Nallino comments that even in the nineteenth
25
century, the position of chief astrologer was one of the most

important posts at the Turkish court, and similarly in Persia, India
and Islamic central Asia. 3 In medieval Europe, astrologers did not
gain such institutionalised royal favour, but there are other signs of
their importance. The frequent confusion of the Greek astronomer
Ptolemy with the Ptolemies who ruIed Egypt in the second and
third centuries before Christ, illustrated in Latin manuscripts as
'Ptolemaeus Rex', is particularly revealing as to the force of the
image of the philosopher king as an intellectual, if not an actual
ideal. Isidore of Seville implied in the Etymologies 111.26 that
Ptolemy was a king of Egypt and this was reinforced by Albumasar. 4
Also significant is the huge success throughout western Europe of
the compendium known as the Secreta secretorum, which is cast in
the form of a letter from 'the philosopher', Aristotle, to the ar-
chetypal emperor, Alexander. This was a long-lived tradition. In a
fifteenth-century English version of the Secreta secretorum a picture
of Ptolemy the astronomer the text carries the warning that he was
not a king. 5
There is a splendid representation of the tradition of astrology,
the royal art, in a text known as the Mirror of the World. Originallya
Latin compilation, it was translated into French in 1245 at the order
of a Duke of Berry and Auvergne. In 1480 the French Mirrour was
translated into English and published by Caxton. Astronomy, it
was daimed, is the most favoured science of all:
The vii and the laste of the vii scyences liberal is astronomye
which is of alle dergye the ende. By this scyence may and ought
to be enquyred of thinges of heuen and of therthe, and in
especyal of them that ben made by nature, how ferre that they
be. And who knoweth wel and undirstandeth astronomye, he
can sette reson in alle thinges; Hor Our Creatour made alle
thynges by reson and gaf his name to euerythyng.
By this Arte and scyence were first emprysed and goten alle
other scyences of decrees and of dyuinyte ....
In like wise as an hamer or an other tool of a mason ben the
instruments by whyche he formeth his werke and by whyche he
doth his crafte, in like wise the right maistrye ben the other the
instruments and fondements of Astronomye. 6
Ptolemy it was daimed, in traditional error, was a king 'moche

subtil in Astronomye' who invented the church dock.
The Royal Art: Astrolagy befare 1376 27
Traditions are aIl very weIl, but did this one have any substance?
Did medieval European princes actively seek out an association
with astrology? Astrology was brought back to western Europe,
not by princes but by independent scholars, exasperated by what
they saw as the limitations of intellectual enquiry in the French
schools of Paris or Laon. Two Englishmen, Adelard of Bath and
Daniel of Morley, were among those most eloquent in praising the
learning of the Arabs and decrying the old leaming. 7 Both Adelard
and Daniel of Morley went to Spain out of sheer inteIlectual
curiosity. But it is clear from their writings that one strand within
the corpus of Arabic and Greek scientific and philosophical works
which they encountered in Spain gleamed with particular bright-
ness. That strand was astrology and the occult sciences. Scholars
went to Spain to read, translate, and collect books of Greek and
Arabic science and thus become wise and famous. Many of them
came back to Europe with a knowledge of astrology, tables of the
stars, planets, astrological houses and other matters, astrolabes and
other astronomical instruments, with treatises on their operation. B
When they found patrons, they set to work re-ca1culating their
Spanish astronomical tables for the local meridians. Without such
tables, or the availability of instruments, practical astrology is
impossible, or possible only with great computational effort. The
casting of any figure would involve direct observation of the
positions of the sun, moon and other planets. This was often
impossible given the sun' s disguising light by day and the vagaries
of the weather at all times. This had to be supplemented with
additional ca1culations of purely astrological significance such as
the houses, the lot of fortune or the caput draconis, before interpret-
ation could begin. 9 The fact that English scholars, particularly
around Worcester, Malvern and Hereford, worked to compile local
tables, suggests that efforts were being made to practise astrology
in England from at least the mid-twelfth century.lO Southern argues
that English lords were keen to patronise scholars of the new
learning because of the promise they made, through a mastery of
the science of the stars, to predict the future. This is what a certain
Raymond of Marseille hints in the dedication of his treatise on the
astrolabe to Robert, earl of Leicester, in 1140. 11
Other twelfth-century commentators found these developments
alarming. The association of astrologers and other purveyors of
bogus promises to predict the future with the royal court was seen
as an ominous development which threatened the balance of good
govemment and patronage of true leaming. This, at least, is what

can be gathered from the writings of those who attended twelfth-
century courts. The problem arises when it comes to trying to give
some substance to the accusations and innuendo. In England, John
of Salisbury and Walter Map exerted considerable rhetorical pro-
wess in condemning the practice of magic and consultation with
astrologers. In particular they identified the court of Henry 11 as a
_place which was particularly susceptible to indulgence in these
practices. 12 But was it? Both of these writers, as Peters points out,
worked within a literary tradition and relied heavily on classical
and patristic sources. The figure of the clerk, leamed in the magical
arts (later in the fourteenth century he was often a friar), some-
times a Jew or a re-incamation of Simon Magus, was something of
a stock literary figure. It was an anti-intellectual device which
reflected the suspicion of the new learning and the new profes-
sional scholarly class, more than being any indication of the way in
which the occult had really made its mark either at court or among
the ranks of the leamed. 13
The extent to which the potent image of the king and his
association with an astrologer or prophet had entered literary
consciousness in the twelfth century is indicated in the work of the
most famous English myth-maker of all, Geoffrey of Monmouth.
The seventh-century Northumbrian king, Edwin, is best known
through Bede' s account of his conversion from paganism at the
eloquent and dramatic instigation of his own chief priest Coifi.
Writing in about 1136, Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that Edwin
also employed a 'sapientissimus augur' from Spain called Pellitus
who assured hirn of victories by consulting the stars and the flights
of birds. 14 This tradition may have risen out of a twelfth-century
confusion of Coifi with the worthy, but unmagical Roman mission-
ary Paulinus, who according to Bede first brought the king to God.
There are other indications that Geoffrey of Monmouth regarded
an astrologer as a fit companion for a king. Arthur's seat of
Caerleon is said to have contained:
a school of 200 philosophers, leamed in astronomia and the other

arts, who diligently observed the movements of the stars and
who at that time foretold to king Arthur by accurate calculations
the coming of any remarkable thing. 15
Tatlock suggested that this picture of Caerleon may incorporate

rumours of Toledo carried to England by such people as Adelatd of
The Royal Art: Astrology before 1376 29
Bath. 16 Geoffrey describes several early English kings as attended

by magi or auguri, probably using Nennius as his source. 17 How-
ever the great Merlin is generally described as uates or 'prophet',
though he can also confidently interpret the meaning of a star
when called upon. 18 Merlin even rebukes Aurelius for wishing,
like Saul, to know the future, although his reasons are less than
Christian:
Such mysteries are not fit to be revealed unless some dire

necessity impels it. For if I should publish these things for a
derisory or vain purpose the spirit which informs me would
become silent and when the immediate task had been ac-
complished it would go away. 19
If Merlin and Arthur were concerned about the proper application

of the prophetic art, perhaps it is no wonder that mere earthly
kings and their advisors were worried. English kings faced a
dilemma. What could be more useful than the facility of knowing
the future? Yet how could the numerous and weIl-known theologi-
cal objections to this art be put aside? For the advisors to kings,
astrology, despite its intellectual pretensions and Spanish prov-
enance, was no better than old-fashioned English magic and pro-
phecy.
The problem seems to have been of particular concern to John of
Salisbury, whose guide for statesmen, the Policraticus, was written
about 1159 and may weIl have been directed at the court of Henry
11 (1154-1189) with whom he was then in disfavour. The Policraticus
had the sub-title De Nugis Curialium et Vestigiis Philosophorum, and
it is dear from John's account that one of the favourite pastimes or
'trifles' of courtiers was the practice of divination. 2o Book 11 of the
Policraticus, which is about 13 per cent of the whole work, is
entirely devoted to a commonsensical and good-humoured attack
on magicians, diviners, fortune-tellers, omens, dreams, signs and
occult practices and practitioners of all kindS. 21 Under the influence
of the new theories of natural science and Psalm 18.2 ('Celi ennarant
gloriam Dei et opera manuum eius annuntiat firmamentum'), John was
prepared to believe that it was possible to study the laws of Nature
and hence, theoretically, to discover the future. But there was no
indication that God had entrusted this knowledge only to those
who daimed to have discovered the secrets of the heavens. 22 There
may indeed be some truth and a little benefit in the divinatory
arts, which shared some matters in common with medicine (physica)
and astronomy (astronomia and mathesis).23 But astrologers must

not be allowed to overreach their own powers or they would
plunge into an abyss of error, heresy and pagan nonsense. 24
As his title indicates, John's treatise is based on older Latin
sourees, and as such is unremarkable. 25 It certainly cannot be taken
as any indication that astrology was actively practised at the court
of Henry 11. Yet even here, John of Salisbury gives no indication
that he was familiar with the practice of astrology whether as a
practitioner, a dient or an observer. John was simply concemed at
astrology's potential for implicating secular leaders in activities
which he found morally repugnant.
How much truth is there in the eloquent complaints of John of
Salisbury and WaIter Map? For astrology the evidence is slight
indeed. Despite the existence of twelfth-century astrological tables
calculated for local English use, there is a dearth of surviving
horoscopes cast for any purpose. Haskins, Lipton and North have
located only fifteen horoscopes from the Latin west which date
from the twelfth century.26 This may be because, as North sug-
gests, astrology was an intensely private business and few records
were kept of the advice given by astrologers or of the figures they
cast. On the other hand, there are good reasons to believe that the
poor surviving records of astrological practice in the west in the
twelfth century reflect a vacuum of competence. Many might take
the first steps on the road to expertise, and this might indude
leaming how to use the available tables or modify them for local
use, but few would achieve real mastery. There may weIl have
been considerable kudos attached to the mere fact of acquiring
some knowledge of the science of the stars and having a general
idea of the theory of celestial influence.
In his day, Adelard of Bath may have been the only man in
England with the skill to cast and interpret a horoscope. That he at
least had this level of skill can be gathered from his cosmological
treatise, De eodem et universo which shows familiarity with Albu-
masar,27 his knowledge of the tables of al-KhwrizmI, which he
was instrumental in bringing to popularity in the west, and the
astrolabe, on which he wrote a treatise for the young Henry 11. 28
Very cautiously, North dates Adelard's treatise on the astrolabe to
some time around Henry's sixteenth birthday on 4 March 1149,
when he was in Bristol. As the tutor of Henry 11, Adelard was
uniquely placed to advocate the glories of the new leaming, in
which he believed passionately. But did he do more than this?
In the British Library there are ten imperfect horoscopes jotted

into the flyleaves of a manuscript in the Royal Collection. 29 North
claims these horoscopes to be the work of Adelard of Bath, prob-
ably his autograph, and points out their deficiencies. If this is the
work of the most skilled astrologer in twelfth-century England,
John of Salisbury had little to fear. They contain a strange mixture
of Arabic and Roman numerals, western and Islamic styles of
dating; some planetary positions are entirely omitted, there are
many errors and the astrologer has made no attempt to adjust his
data for northern latitudes, probably relying on the tables of
al-Khwrizmi.
Six of the horoscopes indicate the purpose for which they were
cast, and they are by and large political in nature. But they may
weIl have been completely personal to the astrologer - let us call
hirn Adelard - who cast them. Perhaps Adelard used his art, not to
assist Henry 11, but to help Adelard hirnself determine for his own
purposes whether the king would succeed politicaIly. This is
certainly the impression one gains from one horoscope with this
tag: 'This figure concerns the association of two people, namely a
lord and the disciple of the servant of God'. This is dated by North
to 8 June 1151, when Adelard may have been considering whether
to remain in Henry's service. The horoscopes appear to have been
written down at more or less the same time, with the exception of
the last one, North dating the ten figures from September 1135 to
23 September 1160, with a cluster around the years 115{}-1151. 30 This
couId indicate that they were cast not to decide a current question
but to affirm an earlier opinion, perhaps given without the aid of
calculation. This all points to astrology having a less than stable
association with the court or with any source of secular patronage.
By the thirteenth century the situation was considerably im-
proved, or if you adopt the position of John of Salisbury or Walter
Map, it was considerably worse. Real expertise in the science of the
stars was more freely available. In Norman Sicily, the Emperor
Frederick 11 set up a court which was to serve as a model for later
medieval monarchs who wished to play the part of scholar king. 31
Among the intellectuals drawn to the emperor' s court and assist-
ing his cultivation of the sciences, the official title of 'philosopher'
was bestowed on two scholars whose chief interest seems to have
been astrology, namely Michael Scot and Master Theodore. Mi-
chael Scot, a native of the British Isles, dedicated several works on
astrology to the emperor,32 and according to one account Master
Theodore actually cast a horoscope for the emperor to determine

the most propitious time for an expedition. 33 Whereas astrology
can only be itemised as a tiny part of Frederick' s field of interest,
bis association with astrologers seems to have struck a chord of
appreciation in contemporaries. Malicious gossip alleged that a
whole tribe of astrologers and magicians was killed in the battle
before Parma,34 and, according to Saba Malaspina, Frederick was
completely devoted to the subject. 35 Michael Scot certainly claims
that he was successful in using astrology and physiognomy to aid
the emperor both in military campaigns and in bis assessment of
personal character. 36 Frederick was not alone in the thirteenth
century in enjoying the services of astrologers,37 and if even part of
the claims of Michael Scot was weIl founded, it is easy to see why.
In thirteenth-century England, the critique of astrology and its
patronage by princes had lost all its theoretical cast. Robert Grosse-
teste, the great Chancellor of the University of Oxford, was famous
in bis own day for mastering what was regarded as Aristotle' s
most demanding work, the Posterior Analytics. As a young man he
may weIl have calculated and assessed the significance of the great
conjunctions of Mars and Saturn and Jupiter in 1216. 38 Later he
wrote a well-regarded treatise on astrological weather prediction.
In his maturity, Grosseteste rejected astrology on rational as much
as theological grounds and he sympathised with Augustine' s in-
fluential critique. Although he never wrote about the dangers of
astrology in its association with princes, he is significant neverthe-
less as perhaps the first Englishman with total command of the
science of the stars. 39 English monarchs had still some time to wait
before astrologers were available to them, or they feIt compelling
need for their services.
Across the English Channel the Paris condemnations of 1277
show that undergraduates had access to occult material, and other
scholars wrote with real concern about the sort of reading that
students were undertaking. Astrology, previously enjoying some-
thing of a privileged status as against magic, necromancy and
witchcraft, came to be seen as the particu1ar vice of the learned
man. Michael Scot, once known as the most famous scholar in
Europe, patronised by the Emperor Frederick 11 of Sicily and Pope
Gregory IX, was placed by Dante in hell for presuming to predict
the future. 40
Flying in the face of considerable theological disapproval of
astrology, English aristocrats could cultivate the idea of themselves
as scholar kings, served by enlightened astrologers, through books. It

must be admitted that on the whole medieval English kings do not
seem to have been great lovers of books. Nevertheless they were
certainly able to read Latin and, with greater facility, read and
write in the vernacular from the twelfth century, although this is
unlikely to have included private reading. 41 Very few books can
now be associated with any king before Richard 11, though this can
be attributed at least in part to the spoliation of the royallibrary,
which was not formally established and protected until the reign of
Edward IV. 42 It is thus all the more remarkable that one work, the
Secreta secretorum43 attributed in the middle ages to Aristotle,
should feature so prominently among the extant medieval books
which once belonged to royal and noble owners.
Roger Bacon, an admirer of Robert Grosseteste, whose path he
sought to follow, differed from him in many ways.44 Not the least
of these differences concerned astrology. Bacon never lost his
enthusiasm for the sciences, nor his passionate endorsement of the
practical value of the science of the stars. Sometime be fore 1257
Roger Bacon compiled aversion of the Secreta secretorum, which he
supplemented and expanded with astrological matter. As the book
is designed to be used by a king, perhaps Roger Bacon had some
English prince in mind who might benefit from instruction in
astrology. After all, Bacon hirnself knew the value of royal edu-
cation, and even noted down in the Secreta secretorum a saying
attributed to Henry I of England to this effect: 'As Henry the son of
king William who was called the bastard used to say, "An un-
learned king is a crowned ass."'45 Bacon's edition survives in only
a few copies, but certain of his notes were added to British Library
MS Royal 12.E.xv, an English translation of the Secreta that once
belonged to Edward IV. 46
In 1326-7 Walter de Milemete, a clerk in the king's service, drew
up a copy of the Secreta for the use of Edward III, and sup-
plemented it with a shorter treatise of his own, entitled De nobilita-
tibus, sapientiis et prudentiis regum, which drew heavily on the Secreta. 47
Richard 11 possessed a book of divination which included extracts
from the Secreta including the physiognorny, compiled by an
anonymous Irishman in 1391. 48 When he died in 1360, Guy Beau-
champ, Earl of Warwick, bequeathed a French version to the
Abbey of Bordesley in Worcestershire, among forty-one other
books. 49 English translations, generally from the French, made for
noble and less noble patrons, especially in Ireland, appeared in
considerable numbers in the fifteenth century. Some time before

1422, James Yonge made such aversion for James Butler, Earl of
Ormond, chief govemor of Ireland. 50 Johannes de Caritate made a
translation from the Latin for Sir Miles Stapleton of Norfolk
(1408--66).51 Stapleton also received aversion of the physiognomy
taken from the Secreta together with a palmistry from James
Metham. 52 In 1456 Gilbert of the Haye made a translation for the
Earl of Orkney and John Lydgate made an English translation in
144S-9, completed after his death by Benedict Burgh. 53 In the next
century, the pious Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509), Countess of
Richmond and Derby and mother of the future Henry VII, pos-
sessed a copy. 54
The seventh book of John Gower' s Confessio Amantis,55 originally
wrltten in 1390 at the request of Richard 11, is based firmly on the
Secreta, and Thomas Hocdeve, who aspired with rather less suc-
cess than Gower or Lydgate to the status of court poet, used the
Secreta in the Regement of Princes, which he wrote for Henry of
Monmouth in 1410 or 1411. 56 John Shirley, who made two ver-
sions, dedicated one prose translation from the French to Henry
VI. 57 The young Edward IV (1461-83), as we have already men-
tioned, possessed an early fourteenth-century copy, which in-
duded part of the commentary made by Roger Bacon, as weIl as
some additional astrological material, medical tracts, and the Cen-
tiloquium attributed to Ptolemy.58 Later still, in 1548, Sir William
Forrest composed a version in rhyme royal which he addressed to
Edward VI with a dedication to the Protector, Edward Seymour,
Duke of Somerset. 59
The considerable number of copies of the Secreta still in the Royal
Collection suggests that other monarchs may weIl have had access
to the text. 60 Nor were English noble families alone in their affec-
tion for the Secreta. A cursory survey reveals that Wenceslaus 11 of
Bohemia owned a physiognomy which borrowed from it. 61 Jean de
Berri had a very attractive French copy, as did Elizabeth of Poland,
wife of Charles, Robert d' Anjou, King of Hungary (d. 1387), or her
son Louis d'Anjou, King of Hungary and Poland (d. 1382).62
Besides the original Arabic version, Frster lists 207 manuscripts of
the longer Latin version by Philip of Tivoli and sixty-two of that by
John of Spain, not to mention the numerous translations into most
of the European vemaculars as weIl as Hebrew. 63
What can explain the phenomenal popularity of the Secreta
among noble families, unparalleied by any other secular text, with
perhaps the exception of the ubiquitous Mandeville' s Travels? It is

probably fair to assurne that the popularity of the Secreta is an
indication of the growing appreciation of the general value of the
occult sciences, especiallyastrology, to the secular ruler. In the first
place, the Secreta was designed as a handbook for princes, and thus
made an eminently suitable gift for a king. Those of less exalted
status might choose to own the book for the pleasurable sensation
of placing themselves in the position of an emperor, receiving
advice from the most famous of all philosophers, Aristotle. Besides
this, the Secreta was in fact a useful book, full of practical advice
and information. It opens with a weIl-balanced account of the
nature and duties of a wise ruler, and indudes a code for good
health, followed by an encydopaedic survey of the divinatory arts
of physiognomy, alchemy, lapidary and of course astrology. It is
dear that for many readers, one of the chief attractions of the text
was its implicit approval of the practice of divination. The Physiog-
nomy, together with the medical sections, both of which circulated
independently of the whole text, were probably the most popular
parts.
Roger Bacon is perhaps the most extreme proponent of this view
of the text as a compendium of occult instruction for princes, and
Steele remarks that Bacon's introduction amounts to 'a defence of
legitimate divination and a preliminary text-book of the elements
of astrology, using the word in its modem sense'.64 Bacon elevates
the status of 'true' astrologers, distinguishing them sharply from
the 'false' astrologers attacked by the Fathers, and between the
magical and legitimate forms of geomancy, hydromancy, aero-
mancy and piromancy, distinctions only blurred through the bound-
less stupidity and linguistic ineptitude of previous commentators
and translators. 65 The Christian astrologer, and the physician
leamed in astrology, had the means to effect great good in their
patients, not just physically but in their characters as weIl. When
their charges induded great men, they were placed under a posi-
tive moral obligation: 'And these principles are especially relevant
in dealing with kings and their sons and other princes, and also
with bishops and other men of importance, not only for their own
good, but also for the good of their subjects, the church and the
whole world. 66 In the first part of the Secreta, which concems the
qualities of a prudent ruler, Bacon probably gave his most hearty
assent to the sentiments in Chapter 22 which advises that a king
rely at all times on the advice of astrologers:
o most element king, if it is at all possible, you should neither

rise up nor sit down nor eat nor drink nor do anything without
the advice of men learned in the art of astrology.67
Nevertheless, in spite or perhaps because of his enthusiasm for

the occult sciences, especially at court, Bacon's edition of the
Secreta did not become popular. His views were always irasci-
bleand idiosyncratic and he was suspected in his own lifetime of
being a magician. 68 He also wrote before the theological storm over
the Arabic sciences, particularly magie, divination, astrology and
a1chemy, reached its height in Paris in the 1270s. Later editors of
the Secreta, particularly of vernacular translations, drastically cur-
tailed the seetions tainted by theologically dubious principles.
The pattern of ownership of the Secreta secretorum indicates that
there was a wide appreciation of the appropriateness of princes
associating with astrologers and seeking wisdom through the
occult sciences. Prudence required that the prince did not under-
take such activities himself, but surrounded himself with those
who were qualified to do so. The Islamic and medieval tradition
that astrology was a royal art, an art fit for kings to know, was well
established as a literary tradition by the twelfth century. But it was
not till the thirteenth century that Continental rulers could find
astrologet:s of sufficient competence to indulge this affeetation. In
England, this stage was not reached until the fourteenth century.
For astrology to flourish it required three favourable develop-
ments: the first of these was the availability of books, instruments
and astronomical tables to supply the technical demands of astrol-
ogers; the second was a sympathetic intellectual environment to
provide training in the science of the stars; the third was a good
supply of tolerant patrons ready to accept the services of the
astrologers. In the next three chapters we will examine each of
these factors in turn.
3
The Astrologers: Books,
Libraries and Scholars
Who were the astrologers of medieval England, and where did
they come from? What books did they read and where did they
find them? Providing answers to these questions is the work of this
chapter. In the Middle Ages, astrology was a literary and scholarly
activity, dependent on the authority of written words and sup-
posedly ancient authors, and on books. I have made the assump-
tion that the best way to find English astrologers and their dients is
to look for their books. Combining the evidence provided both by
surviving books and contemporary library catalogues as to the age,
provenance and overall distribution of books on astrology, their
owners, donors and readers, it is possible to build up a topogra-
phy, albeit a partial view, of the evolution of a dass of English
astrologers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
METHODOLOGY
Before beginning this task, it must be acknowledged that there are
particular methodological problems attending any such attempt to
define an intellectual pattern - an elusive intangible in any age - on
the basis of surviving books. As N. R. Ker, who spent a lifetime
working with medieval manuscripts, pointed out, survival has
been usually a matter of chance. 1 It is dear that certain dasses of
books, and books from certain places and periods, had a much
better chance of survival than others, and there is little reason to
suppose that the overall pattern of surviving books resembles even
approximately that of the complete medieval corpus. The problems
involved have been summarised weIl by Ker, and they cannot be
dismissed lightly. 2
There are nevertheless good grounds for arguing that books
relating to astrology and other branches of the occult sciences form
37
a special case. By a convenient historical accident, the period

which saw the most effective attempts by various individuals to
colIect and preserve medieval manuscripts also coincides with the
period of peak interest by educated people in the occult sciences.
ColIectors such as Elias Ashmole, Kenelm Digby, John Dee, Tho-
mas Allen, Thomas Rawlinson, and Henry Savile, combined an
enthusiasm for old books with an equal, and sometimes an even
greater, enthusiasm for astrology, alchemy, geomancy, palmistry,
numerology, magic, Hermeticism, and the like. 3 Given the vigi-
lance of these Renaissance bibliophiles, it would seem quite likely
that there is a reasonably representative sampIe of surviving me-
dieval manuscripts relating to the occult sciences. The only danger
is that we may be tempted to overestimate the significance of
astrology in the Middle Ages because so much else was alIowed to
be destroyed. There is certainly a very large number of manu-
scripts on these topics still extant.
In order to locate material relevant for this book, I surveyed all
the printed catalogues of modern English manuscript collections
and the surviving medieval English library catalogues. I soon
realised that there was material not just for one book but for a
lifetime and I put aside any manuscript earlier than 1350. My
survey threw up about 600 manuscripts of English provenance,
written before the end of the fifteenth century, which contain
tracts concerning astrology, geomancy, palmistry, physiognomy
and other forms of divination, but exduding alchemy. What pro-
portion this might represent of the extant corpus of medieval English
manuscripts on all subjects, or of the manuscripts written but now
lost, would be extremely difficult to determine. It can only be
guessed that manuscripts on the occult sciences exist out of alI
proportion to their contemporary numbers on the shelves of
medievallibraries.
Some notion of the extent of the disproportion can be adduced
from a comparison of the number of manuscripts relating to the
occult sciences, with the total number of about 6000 manuscripts of
known provenance, listed by Ker in his guide to medieval English
libraries. 4 There are about 100 manuscripts of known provenance
which contain at least one item relating to the occult sciences,
which is rather less than 2 per cent of the totallisted by Ker. 5 Even
this tiny percentage, which at least suggests that astrology and the
occult maintained a position of some significance in medieval
English intellectual life, is not borne out by the corresponding
The Astrologers: BooTes, Libraries and Scholars 39
proportion of books in this area in medievallibrary catalogues. It

seems safe to assurne therefore, that Fortune has smiled on the
historian of medieval English astrology, in allowing a particular
abundance of manuscript materials relating to this topic to survive.
Not only have the manuscripts themselves survived in consider-
able numbers but they have been mapped with thoroughness by a
number of modem scholars. A good idea of the extent of the
manuscript materials relating to the occult in England can be
obtained from an examination of the unpublished notes, now very
much out of date, compiled by Dorothea Waley Singer early this
century. 6 Of Singer' s forty-four sections, almost a quarter deal with
some aspect of the occult. Singer' s work has been incorporated
into the indispensable guide to the manuscript sources compiled
by Thomdike and Kibre. 7 Thomdike and Haskins charted and
commented on the entire range of European manuscripts, and it
must be acknowledged that the present study would have been
impossible without the painstaking and methodical work of these
two scholars. 8 Various notices and editions of the Latin manu-
scripts are induded in the massive catalogue of Greek astrological
manuscripts compiled by Boll, Cumont and others. 9 More specifi-
cally related to Latin astrology, there is the handy guide to Arabic
astronomy and astrology in Latin translation compiled by F. J.
Carmody, which is unfortunately somewhat unreliable and incom-
plete. lO The illuminated manuscripts have received the dosest
attention of all in the series of catalogues initiated by Fritz Sax!. 11
Finally, Bennett has made a start in describing some of the English
vernacular writings on astrology. 12
Standing on the shoulders of these giants, as Bemard of Char-
tres liked to say, and on those of the cataloguers of the English
manuscript collections, an attempt can be made at an overall
assessment of the place of astrology in the intellectual life of the
later middle ages. The account which follows is intended to pre-
sent a thematic, rather than a chronological, view of the study of
astrology throughout England in this period. The major finding is
that astrology was a topic of only subsidiary interest in all areas,
but one which was generally studied within the university colleges
rather than the great monastic libraries. The chief disseminators of
astrological learning, as might be expected from the previous
statement, were university graduates and, to a lesser extent, the
minorite mars.
BOOKS ON ASTROLOGY IN MEDIEVAL ENGLISH LIBRARIES
From his study of the contents of the medievallibrary, based on

the eighty or so existing medieval English catalogues, R. M. Wilson
concluded that most libraries were inadequately furnished with
scientific books of any kindY Of the monastic libraries, only four,
namely St Augustine's, Canterbury, St Mary's, Leicester, Syon
Monastery, Isleworth, and the York Austin friars, had extensive
collections of scientific books, including works on astrology. In the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge the situation was rather
better. There were books on astrology in some numbers in the later
medieval period in the Cambridge foundations of Clare College,
Peterhouse, and King's College, and in Oxford in the library
founded by Duke Humphrey, All Souls' College, Merton and
Oriel. However, as a general rule, medievallibraries seem to have
feIt no loss in possessing no books on the sciences beyond certain
works of Aristotle, with their commentaries, a study of the compo-
tus, a bestiary or lapidary, the De proprietatibus rerum of Bartho-
lomew Anglicus, and perhaps Sacro Bosco or Grosseteste on the
sphere. Books on the occult sciences were very much an optional
extra indulged in only by the wealthiest and most extensive libraries.
The same general impression of the subsidiary importance of the
study of astrology and astronomy is obtained from the accounts of
the antiquarians John Bale and John Leland. Leland made his tour
of England searching the libraries of religious foundations for
antiquities, with a particular eye for manuscripts, after his appoint-
ment as 'King's Antiquary' by Henry VIII in 1533, gathering his
information chiefly over the next ten years. His findings were not
made public until after his death in 1552, when Hearne edited his
Collectanea, published in Oxford in 1615. 14
Leland, like his contemporary Bale, was chiefly concerned with
works by English writers, and he was active almost 100 years after
the period covered by this book. Nevertheless, Leland's notes
allow us the luxury of reviewing the state of English manuscripts
on their shelves, so to speak, before the worst damage of the
Dissolution had been effected. Leland observed small collections of
books on astrology and astronomy at the Cambridge colleges of
Gonville and Caius, Peterhouse and Queen's, and a rather smaller
number in Oxford at the University library and Merton College. He
saw Thebit's commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest at the Augusti-
nian priory in Bridlington, a wo,rk by Richard of Wallingford in
The Astrologers: Books, Libraries and Scholars 41
Wymondesham, the calendar of Nicholas of Lynne, with other

astrological and astronomical texts, at the Carmelite convent of
Norwich, and other books on the subject by Roger Bacon at Exeter
Cathedral. Leland gives us some confirmation of the view of
astrology drawn from contemporary library catalogues as a science
that was studied principally at the universities but which could
occasionally find shelter in the monastic houses.
Donors of astrological books
Although astrology was a topic of only peripheral interest to the

vast majority of medieval readers, certain scholars took up the
study of the science of the stars with near obsessional enthusiasm.
It is a distinctive feature of those medieval libraries that contain
books relating to the occult sciences, that these volumes are gener-
ally the donation of some wealthy scholar. This process can be
seen very dearly in the four libraries outside the universities which
had significant collections of occult books, namely St Augustine's,
Canterbury, St Mary's, Leicester, Syon Monastery, Luffield, and
the York Austin Friars.
Canterbury, St Augustine's Benedictine Monastery
At the end of the fifteenth century, St Augustine's had a huge
library of 1837 volumes of which fifty-six, or about 3 per cent, were
devoted to astronomy and astrology, geomancy, alchemy and
prognostication. Almost all these books were the result of bequests
by three donors, John of London, William of Clara and Michael of
Northgate. Down the lOad at Christ Church Priory, by way of
contrast, where there was also an excellent library in 1284-1331 of
1831 books, there were only seven books on astronomy and astrol-
ogy, and one of these (no. 505) was bequeathed by John of London. 15
York, Austin Friars
The situation is even more striking in the library of the York Austin
Friars, whose catalogue of 646 books was drawn up in 1372 con-
tains over 220 books given by John Ergum. Of this number forty-six
are on the subjects of astrology, astronomy, geomancy, chiro-
mancy, physiognomy and divination, and Ergum also left six
instruments to the convent. 16 Similarly, Leicester Abbey had over
941 books in the late fifteenth century, induding eight on astro-
nomy and astrology, and five astronomical instruments. Three of
the instruments were presented by William Charite (d. after 1502),
and there seems to have been adefinite policy on the part of Abbot
William Sadyngton (1420-1442) to buy scientific books, especially
on medicineY
Syon, Carthusian Monastery
Most of the astrological books listed in the library catalogue of
Syon Monastery, compiled before 1526, were left by the priest John
Steyke (d. 1513).18 Also at Syon, Thomas Betson (d. 1516) kept a
commonplace book in which notes on nativities and prognostica-
tion occur in a medley of information on the law, conjuring tricks,
translations of common prayers, medical receipts, Latin poems,
and other information. 19 Betson' s notebook gives the impression
that he incorporated astrology into his active literary and devo-
tionallife with an ease characteristic of the sixteenth century, but
not of the medieval religious houses. Whereas it was the nature of
medievallibraries to be built upon the bequests of donors, in the
case of astrology the process seems to have been much more
erratic, and dependent on the idiosyncratic enthusiasm of the
occasional individual, at least outside the universities.
Oxford and Cambridge, College Libraries
Even at Oxford and Cambridge the study of astrology appears to
have had a somewhat amateur status, in that the colleges generally
did not bother to buy books on the subject for the communal
library. In Oxford, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester and Archbishop
Chichele, founders of the libraries of the University and of All
Souls' College respectively, left an adequate number of books on
astronomy and astrology.20 However, at New College where Wil-
liam of Wykeham made specific provision in his foundation stat-
utes for two fellows, out of a total of seventy, to study astronomy,
he left only two books out of some 290 volumes to form the basis of
their researches. 21 It is not surprising therefore to hear that in the
founder' s lifetime there were complaints that fellows were failing
to proceed in divinity and astronomy after completing the required
lectures in the Faculty of Arts. 22 This may weIl be an indication that
there was no particularly lucrative living waiting for a university
trained astrologer, at least in England.
Ker does note one extant book on astronomy which does not
appear in the list of New College books printed by Leach,23 so
perhaps the catalogue was not complete in this area, or perhaps
more books were acquired after the original foundation to fill the
need. At least one New College scholar, Thomas Dryfeld, who was
elected on 26 March 1474 to study Theology, owned a copy of

Ptolemy's Quadripartitum whieh he later left to the College,24 so
perhaps some scholars took up the study of astrology as a hobby
while continuing to concentrate on more serious matters. EIse-
where, Oriel College library had six books on astronomy and
astrology out of about 100 volumes, but five of these were left by
John Cobbledik (d. by May 1337) who was a munificent benefactor
to the library. 25 There are not quite such complete records of the
original owners and donors of books to the various Cambridge
libraries whieh possessed books on astrology, but it is to be sus-
pected that like the books in other medievallibraries, these books
are in general the product of the occasional idiosyncratic bequest,
or a minor part of a large comprehensive donation of books on all
subjects.
Surviving books on astrology in medieval libraries
Books on astrology survive from some fifty medieval English

libraries, scattered throughout the country with no observable
geographie preference. Two more libraries which held books on
astrology, the York Austin friars and Leieester Benedietine abbey,
can be identified on the basis of their medieval catalogues. Thirty
of these libraries have only one book on the subject, usually
containing a minor text on prognostication or medieal astrology.
By far the largest holding, whieh can be confirmed by reference to
the medieval catalogue, is that from the library of St Augustine's
Benedictine abbey, Canterbury (twenty books). Smaller numbers
of books survive from the libraries of Merton College Oxford (eight
books), Durham Benedietine cathedral priory (six books), Christ
Church Benedictine cathedral priory in Canterbury (five books), St
Alban's Benedietine abbey (four books), Syon Bridgettine abbey
(three books), and four university colleges: Clare College and
Peterhouse in Cambridge, and New College and Oriel in Oxford
(three books each).26
It is surprising that so few books on astrology survive from the
larger medieval libraries, identified as such on the dubious criterion
of their surviving books, or from Carmelite and Dominiean con-
vents. Of the twenty largest libraries outside the universities whieh
are listed by Ker,27 only five have three or more surviving books on
astrology. If one wished to become a proficient practitioner of
astrology, it would be advisable to visit either the great library of
St Augustine's Canterbury, and perhaps the Benedictine houses of

St Alban' sand Durharn, or the small number of collegiate libraries
in Oxford and Cambridge with special holdings in the subject.
Restrictions on access to s trological books
It is quite evident that astrology could not have been studied by

every literate medieval Englishman. All the signs are that most
Iibraries actually avoided acquiring books on the subject, or indeed
on any scientific discipline. Why was astrology favoured by some
Iibraries, and overlooked by others?
One reason is that Iibraries tended to speciaIise: many of the
monastic foundations and their houses in the University owned
Iittle besides theology and service books,28 and certain university
colleges, such as Corpus Christi College Oxford, and King's Hall
Cambridge, concentrated on canon and civillaw. But beyond the
quite natural process of speciaIisation, astrology seems to have
been excluded from certain houses on principle. At Balliol College
Oxford, for example, Leland Iisted the contents of an excellent
library of about 100 items, yet the only work on astrology is one of
Bacon. There is also a book entitled De nominibus librorum astron-
omiae qui stant cum fide et non,29 almost certainly the Speculum
astronomie of Albertus Magnus. Similarly, the fine Iibrary of Canter-
bury College Oxford, which was sent books from the mother
house of Christ Church Canterbury, had no work on astrology,
unless an exception is made for Pico' s monumental attack on the
subject, Disputationes adversus astrologiam, printed posthumously in
1495, which was in the possession of the warden, Robert Holyng-
borne, in 1508. 30
Other reIigious foundations seem to have made an exception in
the case of medical astrology. It is not uncommon to find in
monastic Iibraries tracts on bleeding according to the mansions of
the moon, or on the influence of the planets on the progress of
disease, sometimes bearing the name of the infirmarian. 31 A good
illustration of the ambiguity of the status of astrology in reIigious
houses is provided by a manuscript that was once in the Augusti-
nian Priory of Thurgarton, the horne of the EngIish mystical writer
Walter Hilton. 32 The manuscript includes a tract entitled Disposicio
tocius anni per kalendas januarii, the commonly encountered prog-
nostic. An anonymous hand has added the comment, 'set ista
doctrina non est sapientium set pocius idiotarum'.33 Astrology does not
seem to have played a very significant part in the reading life of the
army of monks, friars, canons, priests and nuns who were the
chief retainers of the English intellectual tradition until the later
Middle Ages. Nevertheless, there have perhaps always been more
idiota than wise men, and there were certainly many exceptions to
the general rule of monastic and religious neglect or avoidance of
astrology and the occult sciences.
'ASTROLOGERS': INDIVIDUAL COLLECTORS OF

ASTROLOGICAL BOOKS
Regular clergy
Judging purelyon the basis of the extant manuscripts and library

catalogues, the two largest individual collections of books on the
occult sciences were owned, not by secular scholars, but by the
Benedictine monk, John of London, of St Augustine's Canterbury,
and the Augustinian canon, John Ergum, of York. John of London
seems to have shared a keen interest in astrology and astronomy
with at least two other monks, namely Michael Northgate, better
known as the author of the Kentish A3enbite o[ Inwit, and William
of St Clara. 34
At the Benedictine cathedral priory of Christ Church in Canter-
bury, a copy of Haly' s De nativitatibus and other works is bound
with a set of astronomical tables by John Trendeley, monk of Christ
Church. 35 Also at Christ Church, the monk Henry Gruftorreus alias
Cranebroke copied the works of various Arabic and English auth-
orities on astrology into a volume which also contains a tract
against the plague written for the prior, Thomas Goldstone, by Dr
Henry Horne. 36 Goldstone studied extensively at Oxford and Bo-
logna, where he was admitted Doctor of Theology in 1493, and he
is described by Emden as tone of the outstanding priors of Christ
Church, Canterbury, extolled for his benevolence and good works'.37
University-trained clerics
There is no doubt that a university education, especially an Italian

degree, brought many of the regular c1ergy into contact with a
wider spectrum of study than was generally encountered in the
monastries. The Benedictine monk Thomas Cory, subprior of
Muchelney Abbey in 1463, may well betray a possible period of

study at the University of Oxford in his copy of the astronomical
tables of William Batecombe, John Walter, William Rede and John
Somer, and an almanac for the years 1440 and 1459. 38 The same
manuscript contains an English tract on astrology and the lunar
mansions, which strengthens our view that the study of astron-
omy in the Middle Ages was invariably accompanied by at least an
acquaintance with astrology as well. Perhaps the astronomical
studies of Brother Robert Everdone of the Benedictine cathedral
priory of Coventry, William Exton, prior of Exeter, or Thomas
Lynne of Westminster, all of whom owned copies of Sacro Bosco
'on the sphere',39 or of Thomas Dun and John Manby of Durharn
cathedral priory, also extended to astrology.40 Thomas Dun was
given a copy of a text by Sacro Bosco with some astrological tables
by Dom John Manby, perhaps while they were both studying at
Durharn College, Oxford. 41 Dun later became bursar and confessor
of the College, and if he spent some of his time attending the usual
lectures in the Faculty of Arts, he is likely to have known a Httle
astrology, and must at least have studied Ptolemy's Quadripartitum.
The outstanding example of a member of the regular clergy with
an avid interest in astrology is undoubtedly the Augustinian friar,
John Ergum. 42 Ergum studied at the Oxford convent, but he may
well have received his doctorate in theology from Bologna at a time
when astrology was a fundamental part of the curriculum. He is
the author of the Vaticinia which he attributed to the saintly John of
Bridlington, prior of the Austin canons in Bridlington, a satire on
the court of Edward III. 43 This remarkably influential work con-
tains a number of astrological allusions, but the extent of Ergum's
interest in the occult sciences is only revealed by his remarkable
library of more than 250 books, which passed after his death to the
York convent, where he became prior on 25 May 1385. 44
An interesting, and probably not uncommon case of the export
of astrologicallearning to regional religious houses by graduates of
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, is revealed by the
example of John Kyngestone and John Gisbourne. 45 The Augusti-
nian prior at Merton in Surrey possessed what can only be de-
scribed as a teaching collection of texts on astronomy, inc1uding
the ubiquitous Sacro Bosco on the sphere, and treatises on the
working of various astronomical instruments. 46 This book was
issued in 1456 by John Kyngestone, prior from 1441 until his death
in 1485, to the canonJohn Gisbourne, 'scolar Oxon'. Gisbourne (d. 7
March 1502) who was elected prior after Kyngestone, also owned
Oxford Bod. Lib. MS Digby 147 which contains a number of short

tracts on the signs of the zodiac, William Merle' s De pronosticatione
aeris and medical items. Both Kyngestone and Gisbourne were
Oxford graduates, the former in theology and the latter in law.
These Merton manuscripts may be relics of lectures the two scholars
attended as undergraduates, and which occupied some of their
spare moments on their return to the priory. Kyngestone may even
have encouraged Gisbourne to develop an interest in astronomy
and astrology at Oxford, as it was not a study readily pursued in a
religious house.
Another Oxford graduate, John Alward, rector of the church at
Stoke Bruerne 1420-57, is responsible for a manuscript of astrologi-
cal texts by Ptolemy, A1cabitius, Albumasar, Roger Hereford and
others in the Augustinian priory in Kenilworth. 47 Alward also left a
manuscript to St John's College, Oxford, which contains texts on
the divination of dreams, a1chemy and medicine. 48
Even the spiritual directors of the university colleges were not
immune to the spell of the stars. John Philipp, MA, rector of Exeter
College, Oxford from 1464-70, owned a volume of astronomical
tables and astrology, induding Ashenden' s treatise on the eclipse
of 1365, which he sold to Master J. SeIde in 1468, together with 'una
volvella solis et lune hujus forme 0 0 et est deaurata'. 49 This gadget
may have been designed to indicate the phases of the moon if the
year and the month were known, or it could have been part of a
more elaborate device, such as the equatorium described in the
muniments of Merton College library. 50 There are a number of
judicial questions and the necessary data for the nativities of
Richard, duke of York, father of Edward IV, and his five children
in the end fly-Ieaves of Philipp' s manuscript, though it cannot be
assumed that he is responsible for them, but it is at least possible
that his interest in astrology extended to its practice. Richard
Carre, chaplain of New College, Oxford from 1464-5, like Philipp
took some interest in astrology, and copied out various short tracts
on the subject, induding Zael' s Liber introductorius de principiis
judiciorum, and Chaucer's treatise on the astrolabe. 51 At this point
two other professional dergymen who seem to have known some-
thing about astrology might be mentioned. Henry Jolypace, canon
of St Paul's in London (d. 1431), owned a manuscript with texts by
Haly, Albumasar, Sacro Bosco and others. 52 John Bamburgh, sub-
prior of the Benedictine priory at Tynemouth, in 1450 left a copy of
the Alfonsine tables, and works by Richard of Wallingford, to his
old house. 53
Astrologer in debt
These clerics, whose interest in astrology is only betrayed by their

books, were exceptions. In general, astrology was not a favoured
topic of study in the religious houses, but was a spedalised sdence
generally restricted to the universities. Nevertheless, there is the
occasional hint that in the course of the fifteenth century astrology
gradually became a subject of increasing interest to literate people
in all walks of life. This interest is reflected in a mysterious inddent
recounted in the Close Roll concerning Richard Monk, chaplain of
London in 1439, and Thomas Gosse, mercer. 54 On 4 December
1439 Monk gave recognisance to Gosse for twenty pounds to be
levied from his lands, chattels, and church goods in London,
undertaking to abide by the award of John Stopyndon, clerk
keeper of the chancery rolls, 'concerning all debts, trespasses,
debates etc. between the parties to this date, and certain opinions
of certain articles of the sdence of astronomy' .55 At the same time a
similar recognisance was laid on Gosse to Monk. What dispute can
have given rise to this stern legal restraint on the two parties?
Richard Monk is known as the author of certain Tabulae de Knlen-
dario compiled at Oxford in 1434, so it is quite likely that he studied
at Oxford before undertaking pastoral duties in London. Twenty
pounds was a very large sum of money at this time, and the debts,
trespasses and debates concerning astronomy between the chap-
lain and the merchant must have been on a similar large scale. Had
Monk attempted to give Gosse some personal or finaneial advice
based on his understanding of astrology, and had his calculations
and predictions gone awry? Or was Gosse, like the Lollards,
violently opposed to all forms of divination and intellectual en-
deavour? Perhaps astrology was not been involved at all, but
Monk and Gosse had a major disagreement, at first friendly, about
some intricate detail of (say) the Ptolemaic theory of epicycles. The
inddent itself is a welcome indication of the potent fascination of
the sdence of the stars in the midst of the drier textual evidence so
far reviewed. 55
St Alban's Benedictine Monastery
Certain religious houses may have found the time and resources to
devote to the sdence of the stars through the force of particular
circumstances. At St Alban' s, for example, the elaborate astro-
nomical dock constructed by the former prior, Richard of Walling-

ford, required constant maintenance, and may weIl have been
something of an inspiration to young scholars in the abbey. One
monk, Brother John Loukyn, owned a manuscript of the treatises
by Richard of Wallingford describing the operation of the dock and
other instruments. 56 St Alban's also possessed at least two other
manuscripts with matters relating to astronomy, astrology and
pronostication,57 and it can easily be believed that this subject was
at least of occasional interest to the religious community. Never-
theless, it was not scholarly concern alone which prompted John
Whethamstede, abbot of St Alban's from 1420 till his death in 1465,
to give books on astrology to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and
the Duke's brother, John, Duke of Bedford. 58 Whethamstede was a
man of ambition and learning, and wished to cultivate the two
princes by drawing on their common interest in fine books and
Italian humanism, for the betterment of his own career and the
good of his abbey. Like so many of the individuals who can be
identified in connection with astrology, Whethamstede was a
graduate attending the University of Oxford, incepting as a doctor
of theology in about 1417, and had traveIled to Italy.59
Franciscan friars
Of all the religious orders, the Franciscans seem to have taken

the greatest interest in astrology, both inside and outside the
universities. The minorite friars as a group enjoyed a popular
reputation as magicians and necromancers. Thomas Bungey, who
was Provincial Minister of the order in England from about 1272 to
1275, was later daimed to have worked with Roger Bacon in the
black arts. 6O Although Bale vaguely attributes him with 'libri plures'
on necromancy,61 this reputation was quite unfounded. In fact,
although Bacon's enthusiasm for astrology in particular is indis-
putable, Bungey seems to have written nothing besides the con-
ventional commentaries on the sentences and Aristotle' s De Celo et
Mundo. 62
There are other more definite signs that the Franciscans devel-
oped a particular skill in astronomy and astrology. In 1380, the
minorite friar John Somer composed his calendar for the period
1387 to 1462, 'at the request of the most noble lady, Joan Princess of
Wales, for the meridian of the University of Oxford, by the order of
the reverend father, brother Thomas Kyngesbury, Minister of
England'.63 In contrast, when John of Gaunt required a similar

work, he commissioned a member of his favourite order, the
Carmelite friar Nicholas of Lynne, to do the job. 64 Both Somer and
Lynne were members of their respective Oxford convents, though
in one manuscript Somer is described as 'gardianus' of Bodmin
Franciscan convent at about the time he composed his calendar for
the Princess of Wales. 65 One manuscript survives from Bodmin,
bequeathed to the Franciscan convent by Richard Pole OFM (fl.
1374). It contains texts by Albumasar, Campanus and others, and
includes one tract against the practice of astrology. 66
There was an interest in astrology at a number of other Francis-
can houses. From the Oxford convent two manuscripts survive
containing a physiognomy, with the handwriting of the friars'
great English patron, Robert Grosseteste, 67 and a more extensive
volume partially written by Roger de Notingham, including works
by Albumasar and others. 68 At least one quire of this manuscript
was loaned to, or perhaps written for, Notingham by Thomas
Ruvel of the Cambridge convent of the Franciscans,69 confirming
the preeminent role of the universities in the promulgation of
astrology and astronomy. Not every Franciscan picked up his
astrology at the university. Friar Nicholas de Hepworth of the
Franciscan convent of Babwe11left two manuscripts to the convent,
including works by Perscrutator, Roger Hereford, Richard of Wal-
lingford and Zael, with astronomical tables/o yet his name does
not appear in either of Emden' s registers of the universities of
Oxford and Cambridge.
Startling support both for the claim of Oxford to be the training
centre for English astrologers, and of the nefarious reputation of
the minorite friars, comes from the trial for treason of Queen Joan
of Navarre in 1419. In the course of the trial a certain Friar John
Randolf, who elsewhere claims Oxford as his alma mater, was
accused of practising sorcery for his patroness. 71
Parish clergy
The evidence presented so far strongly suggests that astrology was

not generally studied outside the universities, although university
graduates and the minorite friars seem to have made books on the
subject available more widely. Among the parish clergy there was
probably a profound ignorance of a11 astronomical matters. To
remedy this situation, in 1432 Charles Bothe, Bishop of Hereford
(d. 1515), directed that the basic calendar be translated into English
for the use of the simple priest, 'to enable him to compute and
confirm our calendar by the course of the sun'. This calendar is
accompanied by charts for uroscopy and phlebotomy, both depen-
dent on astrological considerations. 72 In general however, astrol-
ogy was an elite occupation, restricted in its practice to men of
extensive education, and especially medical practitioners.
INSTITUTIONAL SETTING OF ASTROLOGY
Before this select group is examined in more detail, it is important

to look more dosely at the medieval books on astrology, and to
outline the institutional setting for the study and practice of astrol-
ogy. The Universities of Paris, Oxford and Cambridge demon-
strated considerable reluctance to give astrology the status and
security of other branches of the medieval curriculum. Tradition-
aHy the teaching of astrology was conducted under the aegis of the
Faculty of Medicine, but at Oxford this Faculty was slow to de-
velop,73 and lectures on astrology were probably restricted to the
Faculty of Arts. Nevertheless, some idea of the texts which formed
the basis of the medieval practice of the subject in England can be
made from a comparison with Continental universities. The teach-
ing of astronomy and astrology did not get fuHy under way until
the later part of the thirteenth century.74 But by 1405 in Bologna,
the Faculties of Arts and Medicine insisted that medical students
undertake a four-year course in astrology which involved the
reading of the necessary technical and mathematical texts such as
Euclid's Geometry, the Alfonsine Tables with the Canons by John de
Linieres as weIl as the Sphere of Sacro Bosco, graduating in the
third and fourth years to handbooks of astrological theory and
practice such as Alcabitius' Introduction to Astrology, Ptolemy's
Centiloquium with the commentary by Haly, and finaHy Ptolemy's
Quadripartitum and Almagest with William of England' s 01 Urine
Unseen. 75 Also at Bologna, the doctor elected to a salary in astrol-
ogy was required to give judgments free to the scholars of the
university and to provide a more general annual judgment, as weH
as the usual disputation and lecturing obligations. 76 Similar foun-
dations were established throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries at the universities of Padua, Erfurt, Leipzig, Cracow and
Vienna, but not, apparently at Oxford or Cambridge. 77
University of Paris
Astrology was awarded the highest academic accolade when,

sometime around 1371, Charles V endowed a college of astrology
and medicine within the University of Paris, led by Gervais Chres-
tien, with a munificent collection of books, instruments and two
scholarships.78 The books were still there in about 1460 when they
were consulted by Symon de Phares for the Receuil of famous
astrologers which he hoped would persuade Charles VIII to allow
him to recover his books of astrology which had been confiscated
by the University of Paris. 79 The evidence of manuscript prove-
nance also favours the view that in the fourteenth century the
study of purely astrological texts had become a common practice in
the universities. 80 Whilst it is true that the study of astrology was
almost invariably associated with the Faculty of Medicine, and
occasionally mathematics,81 it is uncertain whether it was the
association of medicine with astrology, or astrology with medicine,
that assured the rise in professional status of the practitioners of
these arts on the Continent. According to one commentator, the
overwhelming appeal of the science of the stars for thirteenth and
fourteenth century scientists led to an imbalance in the quadrivium
such that mathematics became something of an adjunct to judicial
astrology .82
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge
Almost certainly, astrology never achieved the same level of ac-

ceptance in England that it was accorded in the universities of
Italy, Germany and France. Our view of the curriculum of the
Faculty of Arts at Oxford, and presumably at Cambridge, in the
Middle Ages owes much to the work of the late Father Weisheipl. 83
Both undergraduates, and bachelors preparing for their inception
as masters, were required to attend lectures on the trivium and
quadrivium and the 'three philosophies', as weIl as attending and
later participating in the public disputations. Astrology and astro-
nomy, considered as a single discipline, were naturally inc1uded in
the syllabus as a branch of the quadrivium. The one book on this
subject which was required by an early fourteenth-century forma
for the bachelor to hear before his inception as a master was Sacro
Bosco's De sphera. 84 It can be assumed that masters, on whom the
chief burden of lecturing and disputation fell, lectured on a wide
The Astrologers: BooTes, Libraries and Scholars 53
range of texts, determined by tradition as weH as personal taste

and expertise. Weisheipl lists some eight books which may have
formed the basis of lectures in astronomy at fourteenth-century
Oxford, including Ptolemy' s Quadripartitum for astrology. 85
Questions on the science of the stars would undoubtedly also be
discussed in the disputations 'de quaestione' and 'de quolibet', which
formed an essential adjunct to lectures within the medieval univer-
sities. Although evidence of such disputations on astronomy is
relatively abundant for the University of Paris,86 the English ma-
terial is less weH catalogued and indexed. 87 Yet the authorities cited
in John Ashenden's mighty Summa judicialis 88 confirm that the
works of Arabic astrologers such as Albumasar, Alkindi or Alcabi-
tius must have been freely available, at least in the library of
Merton College, Oxford. But as in Bologna, they may also have
formed the basis of lectures within the Faculty of Arts, or perhaps
Medicine. It seems most likely that, although all members of the
Arts Faculty acquired a basic grounding in astrology, those with a
particular interest in the subject developed their art by private
research and discussion, independently of the formal university
syllabus.
Astrological texts and authorities
Canterbury, St Augustine's Library

Library catalogues generaHy classified books on astrology with
other philosophia, after the various naturalia of Aristotle with their
commentaries, and with other works on the mathematical sci-
ences, especiaHy astronomy. The catalogue of the largest library, St
Augustine's, Canterbury,89 which dates from the end of the fif-
teenth century, divided its 170 or so scientific books into the
following rough categories: cosmology; music; algorism and ge-
ometry; architecture; agriculture; the computus and the calendar;
astronomy, astrology and perspective; medicine; geomancy; and
alchemy.
The authors on astrology held by St Augustine' s give us a useful
indication of what were considered to be the most important
writers on the subject in one exceptionally weH endowed centre of
learning. Among the works of classical or pseudo-c1assical writers
there were nine copies of the Secreta secretorum attributed to Aris-
totle,9 four copies of the Centiloquium attributed to Ptolemy, with
commentaries by Haly and a certain 'W. de Arragon',91 four copies
of Ptolemy' s Quadripartitum, one allegedly made directly from

Greek,92 and a work attributed to the same author on images. 93 Other
c1assical texts available inc1uded Hyginus' Astronomia,94 Egidius on
comets,95 various works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus,96 and
Dorotheus,97 and for good measure Cicero's seminal attack on the
principles of astrology, the De natura deorum. Arabic and Jewish
writers dominate the list of astrological books, headed by Albuma-
sar, then Abraham ibn Ezra, Alkindi, Zael, and Aomar, all of
whom contribute between five and three times, with lesser num-
bers of volumes containing works by Alcabitius, Haly, and
Japhar. 98
There are surprisingly few works by medieval Latin authors,
only Roger of Hereford, Roger Bacon, Robert Grosseteste, and a
certain monk of St Alban' s. 99 This fact alone is enough to suggest
that in spite of its fine library, astrology was studied and practised
with neither enthusiasm nor encouragement at St Augustine's. To
find English writers on astrology and astronomy such as the York
Perscrutator, John Ashenden, William Rede or Richard of Walling-
ford, it is necessary to search the catalogues of the medieval
university libraries. Finally, at St Augustine's there were a number
of texts devoted to the interpretation of dreams, amulets and
images, geomancy, palmistry, numerology and a1chemy.
This range of texts and authorities, whilst it cannot be described
as typical, is nevertheless representative of the texts available for
the study of astrology in England in the later Middle Ages, relying
first on Ptolemy and then upon a number of the more comprehen-
sive Arabic introductions to astrology by Albumasar, Alcabitius
and Alkindi. The same range of authorities is reflected in the
handful of other extant medievallibrary catalogues which contain
significant numbers of books on astrology, and in the extant books
on astrology, known to have been written and/or read in England in
the later Middle Ages, but without a specific known provenance.
Oxford and Cambridge, college libraries
Tuming to the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, the small, but
nevertheless vigorous interest in the science of the stars, is every-
where in evidence. lOO In his original bequest to All Souls' College,
Oxford, soon after 1440, Archbishop Thomas Chichele, who was
co-founder of the college with Henry VI, made a magnificent
donation of some 361 books inc1uding over twenty astronomia, 101
alkemia and four geomancia. Titles inc1uded Ptolemy's Quadriparti-
tum and Almagest, John Ashenden's Summa iudicialis de accidentibus

mundi and the commonly encountered compilation usuaIly known
as the Book of nine [also five and seven] judges, as weIl as works by
Haly Abbas, Hermes and Jean de Linieres.
In 1439, when Duke Humphrey of Gloucester made his first
large donation of about 125 items to his new library in Oxford,
which he sent, 'per dilectos et speciales nuncios suos', namely Gilbert
Kymer MD and Randolf Drewe, bachelor of common and civil
laws, he inc1uded thirteen books on astrology, again covering the
familiar field of Ptolemy, Albumasar, Haly Abenragel, Egidius,
Thebit, Zael and John Ashenden, with various books of astronomi-
cal tables, and the ubiquitous Secreta secretorum. 102 The catalogue
compiled in 1452 of King's College, Cambridge, Library, which is
almost certain to contain many books which Duke Humphrey
intended to leave to the Oxford University library, contains Haly's
Oe iudiciis astronomie, set of astronomical tables and a Liber geoman-
cie. 103 It is quite likely that the selection of works on astrology in
Duke Humphrey's bequest reflects the interest of his 'special
messenger' Gilbert Kymer, rather than his personal taste. Surpris-
ingly, among the forty-four extant manuscripts which bear Duke
Humphrey's autograph, only one touches on the sciences of astrol-
ogy and astronomy, namely Oxford Corpus Christi College MS
243. This book was given to the Duke in 1440 by John Whetham-
stede, abbot of St Alban's, and it contains the Oe divinatione by
Albertus Magnus, a tract Oe signis aquarum, and the Liber cursum
planetarum by Raymond of Marseille .104 However, undoubtedly the
chief attraction of the book to the humanist duke was not these
tracts but the Latin translations of Plato's Phaedo and Meno in the
same volume. What a prince might consider essential for a univer-
sity library was not necessarily what he would regard as essential
reading for himself. The book on astronomy which Whethamstede
gave to the Duke of Bedford probably found a more receptive
audience. 105
Research centres in astrology
The various masters from all disciplines, arts, philosophy, medi-

eine, law and theology, who possessed books on astrology, are too
numerous to be mentioned in this chapter. But it is possible to
identify two places where astronomy and astrology seem to have
been the object of particular study and research in the medieval

period. The first of these was Merton College, Oxford, which we
shall investigate in further detail in Chapter Four. Merton pro-
claims itself as a centre for the science of the stars, not only by the
writings of such men as John Maudith, Simon Bredon, John
Ashenden, William Rede, and John Killingworth, but also by the
strength of its library in this area.
Less well-known than Merton, a number of Cambridge colleges
developed in the fifteenth century a similar interest in encouraging
the study of astronomy, astrology, and the mathematical sciences
in general. Judging by the lists of books and authors described by
Leland some time after 1533, and by Bale after 1547, this later
flowering of academic astrology was a particularly English, almost
a nationalistic, development, in which the authority of Arabic and
Greek writers was challenged by English astronomers and astrol-
ogers. In Cambridge, at Clare College, Gonville and Caius, King' s
and especially at Peterhouse, the works of Ptolemy, Alcabitius,
Alkindi, Messahala and Albumasar, jostle for places in the college
libraries with Roger Hereford, Simon Bredon, Richard of Walling-
ford, lohn Ashenden, lohn Walter, Walter Elvedene, lohn Somer
and lohn Holbroke. 106 This second school of astrology will be
examined in turn in Chapter Eight.
CONCLUSION
The universities, nonetheless, did not maintain an exclusive mon-

opoly on the study and practice of astrology in later medieval
England. By its very definition, referring to Ptolemy, astrology is a
practical discipline, useful to men and women in need of advice
from all professions, from farmers and sailors, doctors and sol-
diers, to courtiers and kings. In practice, however, the appeal of
medieval astrology did not reach across the classes as it was to do
in the early modem period. Rather it remained the exclusive
domain of roughly three groups of readers, namely the court,
academic circles such as those of William Rede at Oxford and John
Argentine at Cambridge, and finally medical practitioners. No
doubt there was some intermingling among these three groups.
The fifteenth-century English physician and manuscript collector,
Lewis of Caerleon, for example, seems to have paddled in all three
ponds, to his greater profit and prestige. But with the exception of
Caerleon, who was an exceptional man in many respects, astrol-

ogy guarded its amateur status jealously. It was a subject studied
by a small number of individuals, within the confines of a small
number of institutions, and generally not within the religious
houses.
Having established in this chapter where astrology was studied,
what books formed the theoretical foundation for the study of
astrology in England, and something of the character of those
interested in the subject, the next chapter turns to the question of
the use this select group made of their skills. It is the interaction
between astrologers and their patrons which ensures the continu-
ing fascination of this area for historians. Did politicalleaders make
use of astrology and astrologers to determine the outcome of
important matters such as tactical marriages, military campaigns or
the loyalty of their followers? To what extent did the new fashion
for astrological methods of treatment and diagnosis displace more
traditional healing practices? Did the members of the courts of
successive English kings from Edward III to Henry VI call on the
services of men with a knowledge of astrology from (say) Merton
College, Oxford, or Peterhouse, Cambridge? Answers to these
questions can be found in the following chapters. Certainly on the
basis of the books which survive on astrology, and the medieval
library catalogues, it can be said with some certainty that astrology
was a topic of active, continuous, and ever increasing interest to a
small but significant number of readers in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries in England.
4
The High and Noble
Science: Astrology and the
Merton Circle
Ista enim scientia astronomiae tam nobilis est et tam alta ut quotquot
sibi inherent et eius fructus uberrimos adquirunt, tot habent despicien-
tes, quot ipsam scientiam sunt ignorantes.
lohn Ashenden, Summa judicialis
See below p. 75, n.83.
As a branch of learning, medieval astrology had its pretensions.

Not only was it a royal art, one that was fit to serve kings, it was
also a noble art. The study of astrology demanded exceptional
standards of personal integrity and a certain nobility of the mind.
This, at least, is what those who studied astrology liked to think.
In 1348, the English astrologer lohn Ashenden provided a de-
scription of qualities he thought necessary in an astrologer. This
occurs in Ashenden's Summa judicialis, a work which can fairly be
described as the foremost work by England' s foremost medieval
astrologer. Ashenden wrote in the confident belief that astrology
would permit the adept practitioner to predict disasters such as the
plague, which was even then ravaging the town of Oxford. In the
words of Thomdike' s paraphrase:
He should refer all his acts to the Creator, shun human praise
and glory, avoid presumptuous pride in his predicting, and
esteem all others superior to himself. He should not use obscure
language but should speak so that the simple can understand
him. He should shun verbosity. He should follow truth dosely
and not attempt to deceive, be guided by reason, not passion,
envy, luxury, or desire for riches. He should be chaste and
sober, and avoid intoxication. In his predictions he should take
times and persons into account. He should not answer what is
58
The High and Noble Science: Astrology and the Merton Circle 59
not lawful, or deal with matters too remote from the human
senses. Let him abstain from such illicit arts as magic, nigro-
mancy, and geomancy.,t
Ashenden seems to have been a sincere and hard-working man

and probably attempted to live up to this ideal hirnself. The
purpose of this chapter is to investigate the university milieu in
which Ashenden came to teach and practice. We will return to him
in due course.
In the last chapter it was established that throughout later
medieval England there were only a few places where expertise in
the science of the stars might be acquired. In the fourteenth
century the most important of these was the University of Oxford
and, in particular, Merton College. By and large, medieval univer-
sities acknowledged the preeminent status of theology over all
other disciplines. Few scholars chose to limit their intellectual and
personal horizons by specializing in the mathematical sciences,
which were regarded as preliminary studies. Scholars who achieved
international farne on the strength of their study of natural philo-
sophy alone, such as Roger Bacon, were rare indeed. Neverthe-
less, specialisation by particular institutions or individuals, in
studies other than theology was common. At Merton College,
Oxford, in the fourteenth century there was a small group of
scholars with the specialist interest, books, instruments and sup-
port necessary for the training of a competent astrologer. Not all
Mertonians approved of astrology in all its applications, but it was
tolerated as an integral part of the quadrivium. It was at Merton
that astrology was first established in England within an ongoing
tradition of learning, as opposed to being the occasional hobby of
the enthusiast. It is at Merton and through scholars and patrons
with Merton connections that astrology makes its first tentative
moves out of academia and into the royal court. This move in-
volved both scholars and courtiers in some awkward ethical and
political decisions. It was this move which constituted the first
stage in the popularisation of astrology. Merton should therefore
repay a dose look.
Merton was not set up as an academy of science in any form, but
as a college with the traditional emphasis on theology. In the final
revision of the statutes of the college, issued by the founder,
Walter of Merton, in August 1274, the majority of scholars were
directed to study the liberal arts and philosophy, and after incep-
tion as Masters of Arts, to proceed to the higher faculties of

theology and civil and canon law. 2 Although subsequent statutes
and ordinances confirm that it was the founder' s particular inten-
tion that his college nurture the study of theology, the writings of
Merton' s most distinguished alumni in the fourteenth century
demonstrate that the college was chiefly successful in the cultiva-
tion of the study of logic and the mathematical sciences. 3 Whereas
the chief interest of the Mertonians studied by Weisheipl was
physics, especially the problems of quantity and motion, and to a
lesser extent astronomy, astrology can also be included among the
interests of a number of fourteenth-century Oxford scholars, many
of them having some connection with Merton College.
A much clearer view of scientific studies at Merton in the four-
teenth century rnight have been possible were it not for the unfor-
tunate destruction of much of the college' s collection of mathernatical
and astronomical books during the royal visitation in the reign of
Edward VI. 4 Nevertheless there are exceptionally full records of
the medieval catalogues, and of books and instruments chosen by
the fellows in various years between 1372 and 1452. 5 From these it
is possible to obtain something of a chronological appreciation of
the intellectual interests of the college and its members in the later
Middle Ages. The basic picture to emerge reveals that astrology
and astronomy, as the founder would have approved, remained a
subject of subsidiary importance, especially in the early part of the
fourteenth century, but came into greater prorninence in the fif-
teenth century.
In the early fourteenth-century catalogue of 140 philosophical
books, there are no books on astrology at all, if we except a certain
Tractatus de celestibus and Liber vij planetarum atque draconis. 6 There
were however copies of such fundamental astronornical texts as
Ptolemy's Almagest and treatise on the planisphere, a Theorica
planetarum and the Toledan tables, and these were borrowed by a
number of fellows in subsequent years. 7 Such books as the library
did maintain on astrology depended almost entirely on the be-
quests of Simon Bredon, who died in 1372, and William Rede, who
died in 1385. The demand on these books does not seem to have
been particularly heavy, and the five books on astrology, astron-
omy, and geomancy left by Sirnon Bredon, and the seven or so on
the same subjects left by William Rede do not occur in later
electiones. In about 1410, however, Thomas Martyn held a book of
astronomy and a large astrolabe with five plates, 8 William Duffield
held the Alfonsine Tables/ Robert Brigham held Ptolemy's Quadri-

partitum,lO and in 1452 another master held some work by John
Ashenden. 11
It can be assumed that at least some of the books described
simply as 'a book of astronomy' or 'a particular book' disguise
other books touching on astrology. The library' s small collection of
texts in this area may have rested unread on their shelves, but the
continuing interest of many fellows in the science of the stars is
attested by the regularity with which the college' s fine collection of
astronomical instruments were held by various masters, including
the nine instruments left by Rede. At least one fellow, Roger
Gates, later chaplain to Henry V, seems to have combined the
study of medicine and astronomy, and probably astrology, in the
manner of medical students at the Italian and German universities,
as he borrowed an astronomical instrument together with a book
on medicineY
The gradual rise in the number of instruments held by fellows in
the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may reflect no more
than the college's increased holdings in this area, but it could also
indicate a growing awareness of the use of astrology. After all, the
chief purpose of instruments is to simplify astronomical calcula-
tions, in effect allowing masters, with little of the mathematical
prowess required to perform the most straightforward astrological
procedures, to produce their own horoscopes. In the early four-
teenth century the library possessed no more than an astrolabe,
but by about 1410 there was sufficient interest in the instruments
acquired by the college for six masters to hold instruments. In 1418
the numbers drop again so that only one master, John Woodward,
held a quadrant, but in 1452 ten instruments were in the posses-
sion of various masters. The medieval books and instruments of
Merton College indicate a general climate in which the practice of
astrology, and a knowledge of the basic principles of astronomy
were commonplace, and this is borne out by what is known of the
writings of various Merton masters on the mathematical sciences.
Although they had an important role to play, the formal institu-
tions did not have a monopoly on scientific learning. The role of
the college and the university syllabus in fostering these disci-
plines may have been a little exaggerated at the expense of private
patronage. As Powicke has suggested,13 the farne of the Merton
'calculatours' owes much to the sensibilities and money of a line of
illustrious patrons, namely Richard of Bury, Bishop of Durharn,
Nicholas of Sandwich, Simon Bredon, Canon of Chichester, and

William Rede, Bishop of Chichester. Books on the mathematical
sciences, and a congenial atmosphere for their discussion, were
provided not so much from the university libraries, as from the
resources and enthusiasm of the scientific humanists who adomed
both the court of Edward III and the University of Oxford.
In the unique circumstances of financial and intellectual inde-
pendence of the circles cultivated around Richard of Bury14 and, at
a less exalted level, William Rede, astrology seems to have feIt the
strength to assert herself. We are given some notion of the atmos-
phere of these extra-university, medieval'salons' by William de
Chambre15 in his account of the household of Richard of Bury.
According to Chambre, the bishop filled his house with books and
enjoyed the company of such intellectuals as Thomas Bradwar-
dine, Thomas Fitzralf, Walter Burley, John Maudith, Robert Holcot
and several others. 16 A number of Bury' s clerks, but not all, were
fellows of Merton, and it is possible that the bishop stayed at
Merton when he was appointed on 20 September 1334 to inquire
into the unrest in the University of Oxford that had precipitated
the secession to Stamford. 17 This event should also serve to remind
us that at this period the university was not comprised of a number
of centrally-located buildings and colleges, but rather of the body
of scholars, who were free to chose their own place of study,
whether it be the Oxford or Stamford, or the household of the
Bishop of Durharn.
The disciplines pursued by Bury's clerks were of the most
diverse nature, ranging from civil and canon law, to logic and
natural philosophy. Only John Maudith, who is described in the
Catalogus Vetus of Merton College as 'a good astronomer who
composed astronomical tables and a good physician',18 chose to
specialise in astronomy, though both Bradwardine and Walter
Burley are likely to have had some grounding in the subjeet.
Astronomy and astrology, it can be imagined, were occasionally
among the topics chosen for the daily readings and post-prandial
disputations described by Chambre.
Richard of Bury may been something of an ideal intellectual
patron for Merton scholars, but he is unlikely to have placed
particular emphasis on the mathematical sciences. The same need
not be said for Merton' s other donors and patrons, Nicholas of
Sandwich, Simon Bredon and William Rede. Sandwich19 was a
wealthy man, and more of a book colleetor and patron of scholars
than a scholar hirnself, though he studied at Oxford and was MA

by 1305. He gave many of his books to William Rede, including
two volumes which contain many of the most important and
influential texts on astrology and astronomy by Arabic, Greek and,
most importantly, English writers. 20 When Rede died in August
1385, these two books came to Merton College along with at least
113 others. Rede also gave twenty-five books to Exeter College, ten
books each to Queen's, Balliol and Oriel Colleges, and 100 books to
New College. Such munificence can rarely be equalled in the
medieval period, and when it is realised that Rede could make
some personal claim to areputation as an astronomer, it is not
surprising to find that during his time in Oxford, the study of
astronomy and astrology seems to have reached its greatest
academic popularity.
William Rede is first heard of as a fellow of Merton College in
1344, later becoming bursar and subwarden. In this time he would
certainly have made friends with Simon Bredon, physician, math-
ematician, and astronomer, to use the phrase of his biographer C.
H. Talbot,21 whose interest in the sciences, especiallyastronomy,
was the equal of his own. By his will, proved in 1372, Bredon left
about 500 books to various Oxford colleges and individuals, in-
cluding some fourteen on astronomy, astrology, geomancy, and
two astrolabes. To Rede he bequeathed his smaller astrolabe.
In the book collections of Bredon and Rede, astronomy and
astrology plays only a very minor part, but there is enough evi-
dence to show that for both patrons the science of the stars was
central to their intellectual concems. The most significant evidence
of this comes from their own writings. Bredon wrote extensively
on medicine, mathematics and astronomy, and according to Bale
composed a commentary on the Introductorium of Alcabitius and
certain Astronomia judiciaria. 22 Certainly his copies of Ptolemy's
Quadripartitum, Haly Abenragel, Geber and others, which he left to
Merton, would have provided him with sufficient information to
have written on astrology if he had so desired.
Bredon's most important contribution to astrology at Oxford is,
however, more likely to have been as a lender of books to other
less endowed scholars in the field. William Merle, who is famous
as the compiler of some of the earliest weather observations, which
he kept at Oxford from 1337-44, borrowed a medical book from
Bredon. 23 We obtain a strong sense of the circle of charitable
benevolence and intellectual patronage that surrounded Bredon,
all conducted at a personal level, from Bredon' s remarkable will. 24

It is very unusual for wills at this period to itemise bequests to
different beneficiaries, and even less the regular practice to itemise
books. 25 But Bredon goes to the trouble of describing bequests to
about twenty-six different people, rich and poor, ranging from the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Langharn, and William Heytes-
bury, Chancellor of the University, to various poor relations and
scholars. He takes some care to ensure that suitable books go to
particular places, so for example he gives the popular priests'
handbook Oculus sacerdotis to William de Wakefield, vicar of Seve-
noaks, and William Rede got an astrolabe. It might well be signific-
ant that Bredon gave all his books on astrology to two beneficiaries,
namely Merton College and Richard Camsale, rector of St Martin's,
Canterbury and a fellow of Merton from at least 1305 probably
until his death. 26 Merton's interest in astrology is explicable, but
Camsale' s acquaintance with astrology could not have been
guessed at. When Camsale died, William Rede was able to buy
another book on astrology from Camsale's executors, which he
incorporated into MS Digby 176, so evidently Camsale was not
forced to rely entirely on Bredon' s benevolence to acquire books on
the subject. Camsale also owned a copy of Grosseteste' s treatise on
astrological weather prediction and other tracts. 27
William Rede is most famous for his astronomical tables, which
are an simple adaptation of the Alfonsine tables to the longitude of
Oxford. Their great virtue was that they made use of a much
simpler system of time-reckoning than that in use in the Parisian
versions from which they were derived. 28 They were widely dis-
seminated in England, and copies could be found in the libraries of
Muchelney Benedictine abbey, the Benedictine cathedral priory of
Christ Church in Canterbury, Babwell's Franciscan convent,29 and
at Cambridge in the libraries of Clare College, and Peterhouse, and
at Oxford in Merton College. 30 In his will dated 7 March 1488,
William Wodcoke, fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, be-
queathed to his old college, 'my rede boke of astronomy conteyn-
ning hys tretes', which Emden suggests, perhaps implausibly, is
another reference to Rede's rables. 31 It would not be too far-
fetched to suggest that one of the most important factors encour-
aging the wide dissemination of the tables of William Rede was the
demand for aids in the complicated business of making hor-
oscopes. In this respect it is of note that Rede prescribes his canons
on the Alfonsine tables, 'for those desiring to predict the future
effects (effectus) of the planets'.32 Since the chief effects of the

planets in this context are their astrological influence on mundane
events, perhaps he intended this work to assist Oxford practition-
ers of astrology. An interest in the practical side of archaelogy
may also explain the acquisition of his fine coHection of instru-
ments, later left to Merton coHege. 33
Of the hundreds of books given away by Rede, there are only
five extant which contain one or more texts relating to the occult
sciences, ineluding a French treatise on chiromancy, geomancy,
tracts by many of the most important Arabic writers on astrology,
various astronomical tables, notes on the astrolabe, and related
matters. 34 Of aH Rede's surviving manuscripts, not simply those
which relate to astrology and astronomy, perhaps the most interest-
ing and the one that tells us most about Rede' s personal interests
and those of his cirele at Merton College, is MS Digby 176, which is
partly in Rede's own hand. 35 This is a collection of astronomical
and astrological items, many of them composed by various Merton
masters, ineluding William Merle, John Ashenden, Reginald Lam-
boume and Rede himself. Details of some of these tracts, and the
history of the manuscript are supplied in the opening folios by
Rede's secretary, Walter Robert. According to a note on fol. Iv the
book was compiled by Rede, partly from the gift of Nicholas of
Sandwich, part he bought from the executors of Thomas Bradwar-
dine, part he bought from the executors of Master Richard Cam-
sale, part Rede wrote himself, and part he had written for him. 36
Given his views on astrology, Bradwardine may weH have tumed
in his grave to find his money subsidising the compilation of a
volume of astrological works. It is a complicated manuscript.
Powicke said it would defy anyone who sought to disentangle the
contributions of these different Merton scholars and philosophers. 37
It seems to me to suggest a cirele in which scholars were learning
together about a new discipline in a spirit of some excitement and
pleasure at their growing expertise.
On the basis of Walter Robert' sindex, it is possible to identify two
more minor works by Rede. Robert states that the tables on fols
71-72v, which give the position of the sun in degrees, minutes,
and seconds, on every day of the year for the four years 1341-4, for
the longitude of Oxford to be 'per W. Reed anno Christi 1337
calculata et scripta' . Evidently this is an example of Rede's elear,
serviceable handwriting. He feIt sufficient need for accuracy to
tabulate the position of the sun, the most straightforward of all
planetary calculations, for a complete leap-year cyde. The index

also gives Rede credit for performing the calculations for the
treatises by lohn Ashenden on the total eclipse and conjunctions of
the three superior planets in 1345, and the first plague, and of the
great conjunction of Saturn and ]upiter in 1365. 38 This note is
generally taken to imply that Ashenden lacked the competence to
make the necessary calculations hirnself, but this is not necessarily
so. It is at least equally probable that Rede was regarded as
something of an expert on planetary calculations on the basis of his
Oxford tables, whereas Ashenden had an expert grasp of the
astrological basis of such prognostications, and the two scholars
formed a mutually advantageous collaboration.
Rede is not mentioned in connection with Ashenden' s treatises
on the conjunctions of 1349, 1357 and 1365, or his last treatise
which provided general predictions for the years 1368-74. With
regard to the latter treatise, Thorndike has suggested that the work
may have been written at the request of William Rede, through
some mutual friend. 39 This may indeed be true, but there is no
reason to assurne that Rede, who became Bishop of Chichester in
the year Ashenden composed his work, should have continued to
cover Ashenden's supposed mathematical incompetence. 40 Nu-
merical competence was a rare and highly-regarded skill, even in
Merton College. Those scholars who could add up - 'calculate' is
the word they liked to use -loved to flaunt their ability. Rede may
have been regarded as a 'calculator', whereas Ashenden was not.
Rede dearly went to considerable pains to collect the different
items in MS Digby 176, and it would seem likely that he intended
to make some permanent re cord of the writings by his Oxford
contemporaries and near-contemporaries on astrology. Tracts such
as Ashenden' s treatises on conjunctions belong to the dass of
ephemeralliterature least likely to survive until modern times, and
it is certain that Rede did us a useful service in binding them
together. It is also possible that Rede relied on this manuscript to
supply the texts required by an Oxford astrologer to practise his art.
For this latter purpose, Rede would have had particular use for
the set of tables by Master Walter Elvedene of the lords of the
month from the years 1332 to 1357 (fols 19-21v), and the lords of
the years for fifty-five years from 1332 to 1386 (fols 22v-23). Walter
Elvedene41 was a Master of Arts and Doctor of Common Law by
1350 of the University of Cambridge. He enjoyed a successful
public career as a Surrey lawyer, and in the service of William
Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, whom he accompanied to Flanders

on the business of Edward III in March 1349. Besides the little set of
tables in Digby 176, Elvedene compiled a Kalendarium, which was
Iater to form the basis for the calendar of Nicholas of Lynn,42 and
some tables drawn from the Decretals. When he died (by 1360)
Elvedene left nine books to Gonville and Caius College on law and
medicine, a bible concordance and an astrolabe. 43
Elvedene's tables of the pIanetary lords could have been a handy
reference for any Oxford astrologer, except for his lamentable
display of astrological incompetence. For each month of the years
1332-57, the dignity of the planets, excluding the moon, is assessed
according to the common point system from one to five. 44 To
compile his table Elvedene probably first determined the longitude
of the six planets at the time at which the sun enters the sign
associated with each month. 4S For March, this sign is Aries, for
April, Taurus, and so on. It would then be a simple matter for
Elvedene to complete !Us table by reference to a diagram such as
that in the commonly encountered treatise attributed to Gros-
seteste De impressionibus aeris, or perhaps to Richard of Walling-
ford's Exafrenon or the Ca non supra kalendarium. 46 If we take as an
example March 1345, the month of the total lunar eclipse and tripie
conjunction analysed by John Ashenden, we can make the follow-
ing readings: 47
TABLE 1
Marcius
Saturn ]upiter Mars Sun Venus Mercury Dominus

mensis
1345 5.3.2 3.2 2 0 2.1
2 2.1 2
3.2.1 4.3.1 5.3.2
Checking Elvedene' s figures for this example against the planet-

ary positions on 13 April 1345, when the sun entered the first
degree of Taurus, given in Tuckerman's tables, it is clear that he
encountered some difficulties in completing the tabulation. Instead
of giving the dignities of the planefs on a single day of the month,
Elvedene makes the meaningless step of citing the dignity of the
planet for each sign it passes through at any time during the
month. Naturally it is impossible for Elvedene to give any figures
for the Moon, which passes through each sign in turn in the course
of a lunar month, or to determine which planet is to be decreed
lord of the month, since thls depends as much on the planets'
positions within the mundane houses as upon their respective
dignity in the signs. Confronted by these difficulties, Elvedene was
forced to leave his table incomplete, and it is not surprising that
Rede seems to have kept the only copy.
Elvedene had rather more success with this second table, for the
lords of the years 1332-86. For each year Elvedene correetly gives
the horoscope of the heavens at the time the Sun entered the first
degree of Aries. These are the readings for the year 1345:48
TABLE2
a a a a a
Ascendens 2 3 4 5 6
1 domus
17 Virg. 16 Lib. 15Scorp. 12 Sag. 12 Cap. 13Aq
Mars 25Aq.
Jup. 18 Aq.
a a a a a a
7 8 9 10 11 12 Anni Dominus
Christi Annorum
17 Pisc. 16 Ar. 15 Taur. 12 Gern. 12 Canc. 13 Leo. 1345 4
501.1 Ar. Venus Luna Sol
Merc.2 Ar. 19 Ar. 22 Canc. 3
Since there are no planets in either the first house, the ascen-
dent; or the tenth, midheaven, Elvedene determines in orthodox
fashion that the Sun is to be lord of the year, being in the seventh
house, descendent, with 4.3 dignities, rather than Mercury in the
same house but with less dignity.49 The lord of the year is one of
the most fundamental principles in Arabic astrology, and of par-
ticular importance in the branch of astrology known as 'revolu-
tions', which concerned the general predictions for an entire year
made on the basis of the figure of the heavens with the sun in the
first degree of Aries. There is no doubt that Elvedene performed a
useful service for those with an interest in making these kinds of
predictions, a group which may weIl have included William Rede.

In the canon to his calendar,50 Elvedene writes that, like William
Rede, he had observed that men greatly desire to know the science
of astronomy, yet on account of the difficulties and demanding
nature of this science, they asked that he compile a calendar for
them. Moved by their prayers, Elvedene complied. The same spirit
is likely to have motivated both the composition of this calendar
and the astrological tables in Rede' s manuscript. It would be rash
to assert on this basis that Elvedene was part of a group of scholars
surrounding Rede interested in the practice of astrology, and
which included the other writers collected by Rede, namely John
Ashenden and Reginald Lambourne (see below). There are no
other grounds for connecting Elvedene, with his Cambridge de-
grees, with Rede, and since Elvedene had been dead at least nine
years when Rede was promoted to the see of Chichester, they are
not likely to have met in connection with Elvedene's duties to the
Bishop of Norwich. Nevertheless it is interesting that the names of
William Rede, Simon Bredon, Walter Elvedene, John Ashenden,
and other famous 'calculatours' from Plato to Robert Grosseteste,
are linked in the Middle English note printed by North51 dating
from the latter part of the fourteenth century.
More convincing evidence of the existence of a 'circle of astrol-
ogers' comes from another item in Rede' s manuscript, namely two
letters written by Reginald Lambourne,52 a monk of Eynsham
Abbey near Oxford. Lambourne was a fellow of Merton College in
1353, at which time Rede was subwarden, and second bursar in
1353--4, a post earlier held by Rede. Lambourne entered Eynsham
Abbey in 1363, and his two letters were written from there, the
earlier dated 27 February 1364, and the later concerning events in
the years 1368 to 1374. Possibly Lambourne felt somewhat isolated
by his intellectual interests in the more theological climate of a
great Benedictine house, and wrote his letters to maintain some
contact with his fellow lovers of the mathematical sciences at
Merton College.
The intended recipients of Reginald Lambourne' s two letters
must be the subject of speculation, for they are not described in
Rede's manuscript. The earlier letter is said to have been sent
'Domino Iohanni London', but as Thorndike pointed out, these
words appear to be the addition of another hand. 53 Thorndike
favoured the idea that both letters were originally sent to William
Rede hirnself, but there is no reason to reject out of hand the
manuscript ascription. As, even in the fourteenth century, London

was a big place, and John one of the most commonly encountered
forenames, it is probably impossible to identify this figure with any
degree of certainty. But I wonder if it is not the same as the monk
of St Augustine' s Canterbury who left so many books on the
sciences to the abbey library? On the basis of the books he col-
lected, we know that he must have flourished in the first half of the
fourteenth century, or some time late~ and it would be entirely
appropriate for the two Benedictines, Reginald Lamboume of
Eynsham, and John of London of Canterbury, to have exchanged
letters on the subject of astrology, and for Lamboume to have
visited London in Canterbury.
For whomever the letters may have been intended it is evident
that Lamboume held hirn in considerable esteern, referring to hirn
as 'my master', 'most reverend lord', and 'much beloved in Christ'. 55
The preface to the earlier letter explains that Lamboume had
recently been confirmed or established in his discipline in the
presence of his master. Urged repeatedly to write something
conceming those matters which seemed to him to hold significance
for the future of inferior events in this world, he had obliged by
attempting, according to his small skill, to explain the significance
of the two lunar eclipses in March and September 1363. It sounds
rather as if this piece of Lambourne' s may have been intended as a
teaching exercise, for he goes on to beg and claim most earnestly,
that he would be delighted if his master should notice any indiscre-
tions or errors in Lambourne's judgements, that he should note
against these sentences his own comments or corrections, as Lam-
bourne was nothing like so experienced in these matters. 56
Lambourne declares hirnself to be a novice, and in compiling his
judgements had attempted to obey all his master's instructions, so
it is apparent that the two had been discussing the proper method
for interpreting lunar eclipses, and probably other matters as weIl.
He commences the treatise by setting out the astrological figures
for the heavens at the time of the sun' s first entry into Aries at the
start of the astronomical year of 1363, and then at the time of the
lunar eclipses in March and September. A comparison with Tuck-
erman' s tables reveals that Lambourne' s calculations of the planet-
ary positions are competent enough, falling within the bounds of
accuracy generally achieved by other medieval casters of hor-
oscopes. 57 If an Oxford circle of astrologers existed, and both
Reginald Lambourne and Walter Elvedene formed part of it, they
do not seem to have enjoyed a high level of collaboration, for

Lamboume' s figures for the planetary positions at the time of the
new year in 1363, differ slightly from those given by Elvedene in
his table of the lords of the planetary year. 58 It is possible that both
astrologers relied on an instrument such as an equatorium to com-
pute the planetary positions. The considerable difference in the
point of the ascendant and consequently the boundaries of the
other mundane houses is best explained as the result of calculating
a different time for the moment the sun entered the first degree of
Aries. This again suggests that Elvedene and Lamboume operated
independently, at least during the time that Lamboume had left
Oxford and was living the relatively secluded life of an Eynsham
monk. One slightly unusual feature of Lamboume' s treatise is that
he draws due attention to the fact that several planets are retro-
grade at the times under consideration, a feature that is always
mentioned by astrological authorities, but is generally overlooked
by the compilers of English horoscopes. 59
Lamboume proceeds methodically in his discussion of the three
figures, first stating the conclusions he has reached conceming
their likely effects, and then justifying his conclusions from astro-
logical doctrine. In relation to the first figure of the sun's entry in
the first degree of Aries, Lambourne initially makes the optimistic
forecast that it will be a moist year, with prosperous and gentle
rain. On the other hand, although the year will be abundantly
grassy and fertile, the first figure also signifies a great and destruc-
tive wind. The third conclusion Lamboume reaches from the first
figure is that it signifies serious hostilities and unusual contentions
between men, and evil deeds against nobles, ecclesiastics, princes,
royalty, and dukes. 60
The second figure of the lunar eclipse in March 1363 is said by
Lamboume to magnify and accentuate all the evil and maleficent
effects signified by the first figure. He goes on to discuss where the
effects of the eclipse are most likely to be feIt, namely in airy states,
and in those things which originate in the earth. 61 He also discus-
ses in what places the effects are most likely to occur, and for how
long, citing here the opinion of Ptolemy in his Quadripartitum, and
Haly's commentary, that the figure of this eclipse signifies that the
coming year will be exceptionally windy.62 Numerous other signs
and evidences confirm that there will be many storms, with strong
rain, and hail will fall in the second part of the month of June
following, and there will be thunder in many places, especially in
summer. 63 Somewhat perversely after the promise of so much rain,

Lamboume then goes on to stress that this first eclipse signifies
principally, and most unfortunately, a dangerous dryness and heat
in the month of May and the later part of April and of winter
generally. 64 The second eclipse of the moon in September signifies
effects of a similar kind to those indicated by the eclipse in March,
especially the likelihood of strong winds. Overall, Lamboume
predicts high prices, serious illnesses, and the deaths of many
men. 65 It is not a happy scene that he foresees, and if such
pessimism were not the standard fare for compilers of yearly
predictions of this kind, we might suspect that Lamboume had a
morbid disposition. Unfortunately there are no medieval weather
records to which we can refer to verify Lamboume' s confident
predictions of bad weather, but with the benefit of historical
hindsight, 1363 does not stand out as a year of either exceptional
winds, or particular political disloyalty. The sensible astrologer
simply predicted the worst, and hoped for the best, knowing that
people are apt to expect disasters to have been foreseen, yet
attribute the good times to luck, fortune, or even God's mercy.
Reginald Lamboume' s predictions are very similar both in style
and content to those of the most famous and prolific of the Oxford
astrologers, namely John Ashenden. In fact both Lamboume and
Ashenden wrote treatises of astrological weather predictions for
the years 1368 to 1374. 66 1t seems most unlikely that the two fellow
Mertonians did not at least discuss their interpretations of the
astrological signs for these years, and they may have been encour-
aged in the exchange by William Rede.
In all the various astrological writings connected with Merton
College examined so far, there has been a noticeable lack of
professional polish. A wealthy scholar such as William Rede might
have made astronomical instruments available to others interested
in the practice of astrology, and Walter Elvedene might compile
tables of the lords of the months and the years, but the Fellows
needed to concentrate on other subjects, and Elvedene made
mistakes. The texts that were written by English scholars on
astrology are concemed almost exclusively with the innocuous
business of weather prediction. 67 Tracts on this minor branch of
astrology were compiled by the York writer known as Perscrutator,
Robert Grosseteste, Richard of Wallingford, and by Reginald Lam-
boume in the letters discussed above. Of the complex and all-
embracing science of astrology, with its claims to account for the
processes of the natural wodd, the fate of nations, and the person-
alities and daily cicumstances of individuals, there is hardly a
trace.
The most likely source for this curiously lopsided interest in
astrology can be traced back to the condemnations of various
occult doctrines enacted in Paris by Bishop Stephen Tempier in
1277, and extended to Oxford by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
Robert Kilwardby. Kilwardby' s acts were no doubt reinforced by
the weighty personal repudiation of astrology by Robert Grosse-
teste,68 Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Nevertheless, by
the second half of the fourteenth century, the memory of Tem-
pier' sand Kilwardby' s strictures against the practice of astrology
seems to have begun to fade. A new fashion arose for the produc-
tion of annual predictions, and individual judgments, to which the
Merton cirele of astrologers was ready to contribute. In spite of its
heavy emphasis on meteorological phenomena, Lamboume' s let-
ters can be seen to belong to the genre of annual prognostications
that was enjoying a resurgence of interest in Europe. 69 William
Rede' s manuscript contains treatises of this type by both English
and Continental writers, and it seems likely that he encouraged the
development of this branch of astrology in Oxford.
It was part of what might be called the 'general theory' of
astrology that an interpretation of the figure of the heavens at
certain critical times, such as the vernal equinox, could form the
basis of predictions for some time in the future, usually a year. This
branch of astrology was known as revolutiones annorum mundi, and
was the most important component of the yeady almanacs that
abounded after the establishment of the printing presses. 70
It seems certain that the extant manuscripts of these tracts
represent only a tiny fraction of the total that circulated at the time
of their currency. These little texts are quintessentially ephemeral,
written for the immediate moment, eagerly read at the beginning
of the new year, or at the time of a conjunction or eclipse, and just
as readily discarded when they became out of date. Writing in
about 1500, Symon de Phares seems to have known of the exist-
ence of many such tracts, and many writers who worked in this
profitable field. 71 In Oxford, the foremost exponent of the art was
the Merton astrologer John Ashenden.
John Ashenden is the first English writer who can be awarded
the title of 'astrologer'. Unlike his predecessors and colleagues at
Merton and elsewhere in England, the practice of writing of astrol-
ogy seems to have been the chief activity of his scholarly life. It is
thus a little frustrating that so little is known of Ashenden outside
his own writings. He was a Fellow of Merton College in 1336-7,
and still in 1355, but he was not appointed to any offices within the
college like Rede or Lamboume, nor did he achieve political or
ecclesiastical preferment,72 although I suspect that this was not for
want of trying.
H, as seems to be the case, Ashenden devoted his life to a study
of the astrological effects of the stars, and in particular weather
prediction, he was at least rewarded by eaming a wide and honoured
reputation, and an extensive distribution for his writings. There
are at least twenty-six full or partial versions of Ashenden' s major
work, Summa judicialis de accidentibus mundi. 73 While he was per-
haps still alive, an abbreviation of the Summa was made by John de
Ponte of Lyons, which he completed on Wednesday, 23 February
1379. 74 Another version was made in Cambridge by a certain
Thomas de Wyndfele. 75 A copy of the Summa was once in the
library of Charles VI of France,76 and Pico della Mirandola, who
cites Ashenden in his Disputationes, held a printed copy of the
same work, probably the Venice edition of 1489, in his library. It is
also likely that Pico drew on Ashenden's Summa for his references
to the York writer Perscrutator. 77 In a letter to Jacob von Speier,
Regiomontanus recommended the treatise of John Ashenden,
along with those of Albumasar, Messahalah, Pierre d' Ailly, and
Anthony of Mount Ulm. 78 In England, copies of Ashenden's
Summa and other writings were owned by John Ergum, William
Rede, John Holbroke, and the Duke of Bedford's musician, John
Dunstable, and were known to John Argentine and Symon de
Phares. 79 The monk of Christ Church Canterbury, Henry Gruftor-
reus, copied out Ashenden's treatises on the conjunctions of 1357
and 1365, and the three conjunctions. 80 EIsewhere, partly as the
result of bequests by the scholars and clerics just mentioned,
Peterhouse in Cambridge held a copy of the Summa judicialis, and
Leland noted a copy of the treatise on the conjunction of Mars and
Satum in 1357 in the same library, which was later owned by that
notable Renaissance book collector John, Lord Lumley.81 Bale saw
a copy of the Summa in Clare College, Cambridge, and in Oxford,
Duke Humphrey donated an unspecified work by Ashenden to the
University Library in 1439, a copy of the Summa was in the
fifteenth-century library of All Souls' College and probably Oriel,82
and there were at least two books containing works by Ashenden,
The High and Noble Science: Astrology and the Merlon Circle 75
one of them donated by William Rede, in the library of Merton

College.
The most likely explanation for Ashenden's remarkable popu-
larity in both England and Continental Europe, and in libraries as
disparate as those of the King of France, and the York Augustinian
canons, is that his writings supplied a current demand for astro-
logical prognostication. Besides the monumental Summa judicialis
de accidentibus mundi Ashenden wrote at least four tracts on the
significance of a number of eclipses and conjunctions between the
years 1345 to 1368. Thomdike has suggested that he chose to
specialise in conjunctions and revolutions, deliberately ignoring
the potentially profitable, but theologically suspect, parts of astrol-
ogy, which dealt with specific and individual predictions. 83 That in
fact there was a certain degree of theological hostility to the
practice and teaching of astrology seems likely, if only by analogy
with the better documented case of the University of Paris. But
Ashenden himself described in the preface of his Summa judicialis
the problems and difficulties he encountered in its composition,
induding the calumnies of the ignorant opponents of astrology:
In this work, so lengthy and so difficult, there were three things

which distressed me and disturbed my soul: namely the envy
and worthily cursed disparagement of those who are ignorant of
astrology; and the difficult and worthily admired prognostica-
tion conceming the accidents of the world, according to the
correct principles of astrology; and the burdensome number of
conflicting opinions among astrologers. For this science of astrol-
ogy, so noble and so high, although many have faith in it and
receive its benefits most abundantly, there are just as many who
despise it and who are ignorant of this science. 84
Ashenden then gave a leamed defence of the benefits that can be

derived from a proper practice of astrology, though elsewhere he
condemned fatalism or determinism in astrology, and too dose an
attention to the details of personal destinies, especially in the
branches of astrology known as nativities, interrogations and elec-
tions. 85 At the end of Ashenden' s treatise on the conjunctions of
1357 and 1365, written in March 1357, there is another hint of
academic controversy in Oxford concerning the limits of the appli-
cation of astrological predictions. Ashenden objects to the predic-
tion of a certain lecturer at Oxford, who attempted to predict the
end of the world by calculating, on the basis of scriptural refer-

ences, the time from the Deluge to the final conflagration. 86 He also
takes exception to the predictions of Joachim of Fiore for the years
1357-65, which we have good reason to suppose enjoyed extensive
popularity in England at this time. 87
Ashenden's complafnts are somewhat reminiscent of the stric-
tures of the Arabic astrologer Albumasar against the different
types of objections and objectors to astrology in the first part of his
Introductorium maius, a work Ashenden would certainly have read.
But there is no need to dismiss his testimony as mere convention,
as it is dear from other sources that theological questions concern-
ing astrology were occasionally raised in the schools. In spite of
this opposition, Ashenden was able to continue writing and
undertake the massive research that his Summa judicialis de-
manded. Undoubtedly he received considerable support from the
scholars at Merton College who like Ashenden regarded astrology
as 'tam nobilis et tam alta'. Among the Merton cirde, Ashenden was
associated with Rede, and Simon Bredon is cited in Ashenden's
treatise on the conjunctions of 1357 and 1365, and elsewhere in the
Summa judicialis. 88 This last tract, Ashenden states he wrote:
for the common good of the students in astronomy, and es-

pecially for the exercise and amusement of my fellows in Merton
Hall in Oxford, who, and our aforesaid house, may the Lord
preserve, the most high Lord for ever, Amen. 89
William Rede took a particular interest in the tripie conjunction,

or more correctIy the successive conjunctions of Jupiter and Mars
on 1 March 1345, Saturn and Mars on 4 March, and Saturn and
Jupiter on 21 March, together with the total lunar edipse of 18
March of the same year. Besides providing the computation for
Ashenden's prognostications, he collected in Digby 176 no less
than four treatises on the same event. 90 Thorndike has discussed
these treatises,91 which are grouped together in a number of
manuscripts, and they form an interesting contrast to that of
Ashenden.
The reason for the wide coverage given to this particular con-
junction by so many astrologers throughout Europe was that, after
the onset of the plague in 1348, many feIt that the spectacular
conjunction of the three major planets in succession in March 1345,
must have presaged or initiated the disaster. 92 A vivid insight into
the troubled inteHectual and spiritual questioning prompted by

this terrible event comes from the introduction to the treatise of
Geoffrey of Meaux. 93
Geoffrey of Meaux wrote his treatise, he says, having been asked
by his friends to demonstrate the natural causes of this general
plague, rather as if he were an economist urged to account for the
Great Depression. Why had it affected so many regions, and why
certain regions more than others, and certain towns and villages
within those regions more than others, and why within the same
town did it strike harder in one street than in another, and even
more within one house than another? And why should the nobles
and the wealthy be less affected than other people? Geoffrey goes
on to discuss and refute other astrological accounts of the cause of
the plague, mentioning that he had seen a copy of certain writings
in the Roman curia, one of which was addressed to the queen of
France. 94 He earlier states that it was known, 'to aH astrologers',
that in the year 1345 there was a total eclipse of the moon on 18
March, one ho ur after moon rise at the longitude of Oxford. 95
Someone, perhaps William Rede, has marked this reference to
Oxford in the margin of Digby 176. Geoffrey may be referring in
these two places to the treatises of Levi ben Gerson, who attended
the Avignon court, and John Ashenden of Oxford, or he may
simply have had access to Oxford eclipse tables, but Geoffrey's
figures for the time and duration of the eclipse do not taHy very
weH with those of either Gerson or Ashenden. Rather it seems that
Geoffrey of Meaux was writing on a popular theme, addressed
enthusiasticaHy by astrologers in England, France and Italy, and
probably elsewhere as weH. At least with regard to the rising
fortunes of astrologers, the plague was a propitious sign.
There can be little doubt that Ashenden wrote his treatise on the
conjunctions of 1345 before the advent of the plague. Later he liked
to boast that he predicted the plague year in his treatise written in
1345, making references to this effect in his Summa judicialis 96 and
in his treatise on the conjunction and lunar eclipse of 1348/7 but
the original emphasis of Ashenden' s earliest tract is rather different.
Ashenden' s careful attention to the details of his art, enlisting
the aid of William Rede to complete the trickier calculations,
defending hirnself against the detractors of astrology and those
who impiously took its precepts too far, suggests that he was
writing with a scholarly audience in mind. Undoubtedly, the onset
of the plague strengthened the perceived legitimacy of his re-
search, not only because he was able to claim that he had been able
to predict the onset of the pestilence, but because people in all
circles of life were crying out for a natural explanation of the event.
But Ashenden also hoped to extend his influence into the court of
Edward III. It is his political aspirations which set Ashenden apart
from his English predecessors, especially such Merton luminaries
as Simon Bredon, William Rede, Reginald Lambourne, or the
elusive John of London. Ashenden can be seen to emerge from a
milieu in which an amateurish acquaintance with astrology was
regarded as an essential part of a liberal education, but in which at
the same time severe restrictions were put on its application. A
curious obsession with weather prediction was the chief result of
the English compromise with the theologians. Ashenden chafed
under these restrictions, and his tentative overtures toward the
court initiated the most fruitful phase of medieval English astrology.
5
The Court of Edward 111:
Astrology Ignored
Throughout the reign of Edward 111 of England, John Ashenden
and those who shared his enthusiasm for astrology, practised their
art with little encouragement from the royal court. What did
Edward 111 know about astrology, and to what extent did he show
any interest in fostering the Continental enthusiasm for the science
of the stars within his own household?
An excellent starting-point for undertaking an investigation of
this question is Edward 111' s copy of the Secreta secretorum, the royal
book above all others which gave the seal of approval to princely
interest in astrology, as we have seen already in Chapter Two. A
version of the Secreta secretorum was put together for Edward 111 by
the clerk Walter de Milemete. But it is highly selective and reflects
the domination of Edward III's priorities by fighting and chivalry.
Walter de Milemete's treatise for Edward 111 resembles a handbook
of tactical warfare and diplomacy more that a treatise on any aspect
of the occult sciences. In the final paragraph of the De nobilitatibus
Milemete recommends Aristotle' s letter to Alexander for its useful
military precepts, which is hardly an accurate reflection of its
contents. 1
Nevertheless, Milemete provided Edward 111 with a reasonably
complete copy of the Latin version of the Secreta secretorum, and
included the sections describing the usefulness of astrology, the
virtues of precious stones and certain plants, and the physiognomy.2
In one miniature, illustrating the chapter De regis mundicia et eius
consilio ab astronomis sumendo, the king is illustrated accompanied
by a figure, either Aristotle or the man leamed in the science of the
stars that the king has been advised to make fu11 use of, pointing to
a representation of the universe within its concentric spheres (fol.
51 V ). In an earlier miniature accompanying a passage which discus-
ses the influence of the planets on the new-bom, the king is shown
with two advisors. With one hand they point to the eight planets,
79
with the other they point to two lower pictures which show a child
being born (fol. 31 V). In a third miniature, the king is shown with
his physicians. One holds a urine flask, another points to the moon
and a third holds an armillary sphere or perhaps an astrolabe (fol.
53 The chapter heading reads, 'Quod rex non assumat medicinam
V ).
nec sanguinem minuat sine consilio astronomi'.

We cannot know whether Edward III took this advice seriously,
or indeed ever opened his handsomely illustrated book. The English
nobility were probably as reluctant to patronise astrologers, as the
astrologers of Merton College and elsewhere, were willing to offer
their services. A small chink in the academic front resisting, or
simply uninterested in practising, astrology or divination for the
benefit of lay rulers, is the Canon supra kalendarium written by an
abbot of Saint Alban's, almost certainly Richard of Wallingford,3
for an English queen, either Philippa, consort of Edward III, or
Isabella, his politically active mother. 4 The Canones, in their present
fragmentary state, amount to a glossary of terms used in the
calculation of nativities such as 'masculine and feminine grades',
the 'dignities' of the planets, 'houses', 'exaltations' and so forth. 5
Perhaps they were intended as a crib to the meaning of the
horoscopes which occur in later manuscripts.
Like Robert Grosseteste, Wal1ingford had already written a treatise
describing a method of weather prediction by astrology.6 The
Canon was probably written to accompany a calendar like the one
John Somer wrote in 1380 at the request of Thomas Kingsbury,
provincial of his own order of the Franciscans, for Joan, the
Princess of Wales, or the one which the Carmelite mar Nicholas of
Lynn dedicated to John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster, in 1386. 7
The primary purpose of these calendars was to allow the ready
calculation of the date inc1uding saints' fe asts and the key move-
able feast of Easter, and the time of the day, but they also inc1uded
information that would have been useful to any astrologer or
astrological physician. Nicholas of Lynn's calendar, for example,
showed how to determine the ascendants and the beginnings of
the twelve houses, the successive reigns of the seven planets
through the hours of the day, as well as which sign the mo on was
in, vital information for the astrological blood-Ietter, and illustrated
ec1ipse tables. 8 Often, in canons following the main tables, calen-
dars would provide additional astrological notes particularly on
medical matters such as the regulations of the times for bleeding
and purging. 9 Clearly, if John of Gaunt or the Princess of Wales
The Court of Edward III: Astrology Ignored 81
had desired to practise certain of the procedures of astrology, they

had acquired one of the essential tools. Even if this was not their
express intention, it is a fair indication that astrology was influen-
cing common beliefs about the processes of health and sickness,
and perhaps also other aspects of natural change, such as the
weather, that the calendars of John Somer and Nicholas of Lynn,
both written for noble laypeople, took their particular forms.
John Somer may weil have cast a number of horoscopes, if not
for the Princess of Wales, possibly in a discreet private way. The
antiquarian William Worcestre took down some notes in a manu-
script now in the Bodleian Library written, as he says, 'de propria
manu JoJumnis Somour de ordine minorum'. 10 One of these notes
concems the determination of the length of life from the aphetic
points,11 a highly technical topic, but one of recurrent interest to
astrologers attending the royal court. Estimating the length of the
king's life by astrology or any other means was a highly dangerous
game, as several fifteenth-century English astrologers discovered
to their cost. From 1399 til11409 John Somer received a royal grant
of eight eils of russett and eight eils of blanket,12 which he then
presumably sold or distributed among his Franciscan brethren.
Perhaps the gratitude of the Princess of Wales to John Somer
extended beyond that for the composition of a calendar in 1380. If
he also provided Joan of Kent with astrological analyses and
predictions, he was not the last astrologer to obtain such a position
of influence in the entourage of the noble ladies of the court.
But what of the king himself? Did Edward III patronise astrol-
ogers, such as those we have observed to be loosely connected
with the figure of William Rede? Richard of Wallingford studied at
Oxford for at least seventeen years in the first quarter of the
fourteenth century, and John Somer attended the Oxford convent
of the Franciscans until about 1395. What was the relationship
between Oxford and the court, if any? Schemes of the nativity of
Edward III occur in a number of places, and of his son Edward the
Black Prince, but they are unlikely to have been composed in their
lifetimes. 13 According to Symon de Phares, Thomas Bradwardine
had sufficient knowledge of astrology to cast the king' s horoscope,
and those of a number of his captains who sought tactical advice in
their conduct of the French wars. 14 Can his assertions be supported
from other sources? If Bradwardine did function as Edward III's
astrologer, it would certainly add a curious and unexpected dimen-
sion to the character of this leading Oxford scholar.
Bradwardine once owned part of Digby 176, which contains

astrological items, and we can assurne some acquaintance with
astrology through his attendance at the regular lectures on the
quadrivium given in the Faculty of Arts. In spite of Symon de
Phares' s suggestion to the contrary, Bradwardine' s most important
work, the Tractatus de Proportionibus, belongs to the field of kin-
ematics, and has nothing to do with astrology. It was not however
as a scientist, but as a theologian that Bradwardine chose to
address hirnself to astrology. As chance would have it, or - as
Bradwardine would insist - as God has directed through the
operation of unknown secondary causes, we have the benefit of
Bradwardine' s considered opinion as to the claims of the astrol-
ogers. His views are delineated in a victory sermon which he
delivered in English before King Edward III and his nobles at
Neville's Cross, near Durharn, after the Battle of Crecy (26 August
1346), probably in October or early November 1347. 15 On the basis
of this sermon, assuming there is any consistency in human
nature, we can probably dismiss out of hand the suggestion made
by Symon de Phares that Bradwardine was Edward III' s astrologer.
Indeed, with Bradwardine in his train it is not difficult to see why
the king seems to have had less interest in the patronage of
astrologers than Bradwardine's colleague at Merton, John Ashen-
den, might have wished.
Bradwardine probably obtained his post as one of King Edward
III' s chaplains in 1339 at the request of Bradwardine' s patron, and
the king's great supporter, Richard of Bury. We do not know how
intimately Bradwardine was associated with the king, and he does
not seem to have accompanied him to France before the Crecy
campaign of 1346. 16 Bradwardine was deeply impressed by the
battle, which he viewed at first hand, and both the letter he wrote
afterward to Richard of Bury concerning the events of July 1346,17
and the descriptive passages of the Sermo epinicius, convey the
same sense of vivid recollection. In his turn, the king was suf-
ficiently appreciative of Bradwardine's abilities to appoint hirn as
one of the envoys in the negotiations with the French in the
following October 1346. 18
In another age, or endowed with a different personality, Brad-
wardine' s experience might have inspired him with a repugnance
for war, or convinced hirn of the occult influence of the stars
determining the fates of men. Instead, his faith in God's responsi-
bility for all things was confirmed more strongly than ever. Even
though the title of the sermon is qualified by an adjective deriving

from the technical Greek work for a victory song, Bradwardine' s
sermon is not triumphant but based on the text 'Deo gracias qui
semper triumphat nos', ( Cor.2.14), that is: 'Give thanks to God who
always leads us in triumph'. The main part of the sermon is
directed against seven erroneous views of the sources of victory,
ranging from such supernatural forces as the influence of the stars,
the crass hand of Fortune, and the three Fates, to the human
powers of military judgment, tactical advantage, or sexual prowess. 19
But, Bradwardine urges, none of these is the true source of victory,
but rather God alone, who chooses to award military honour to the
meek and virtuous, as can be confirmed by the present success of
the English, and many examples taken from the Old Testament.
It is of particular interest that the error which Bradwardine
chooses to address first is that maintained by 'quidam vani astrologi',
who attribute an things under the sun to the seeds of men, and the
virtue of the stars. 20 Bradwardine goes on to criticise the astrologi-
cal device of judging the victor in a battle from the place in a
horoscope known as the 'pars victorie', claiming that such people
are like the ancients who worshipped the sun and the stars as if
they were gods, and the Christians who engage in such practices
ought rather to be caned antichristiani or apostates. Taking his case
from Augustine and canon law, Bradwardine urges that it is God
who created the sun, moon and stars, and an that is on the earth,
and his power over his creation is demonstrated in scripture.
Addressing King Edward directly he asks:
What astrologer could predict this? What astrologer could judge

that this would happen? What astrologer could foresee such a
thing? Indeed, most beloved, here is one prediction which will
never be contradicted or falsified: whatever God wishes to hap-
pen or to be done, that is done; whomsoever God wishes to be
victorious, he is victorious; and whomsoever God wishes to
reign, he will reign. Although therefore the heavens and the
earth, and an things under the heavens should be against you, if
God is for you, what can harm you? And although the heavens
and the earth and an things under the heavens should be for
you, if God is against you, what can help yoU?21
Bradwardine then rebukes those who hold a second error as the

'sons and daughters' of the first, namely those who believe in
'Egyptian days', which were supposedly those days on which the

ancient Egyptians conquered their enemies. But Bradwardine as-
tutely objects, the constellations do not group themselves in the
same formations on the same day of the calendar months from
year to year (referring perhaps to the precession of the equinoxes).
In any case, if a certain day should have caused the Egyptians to be
defeated and is therefore called evil, it was nevertheless propitious
for the Egyptians' enemies. The third error concerns Fortune or
chance, and Bradwardine again reveals a certain familiarity with
astrological practice by condemning the reliance on the 'pars
fortune' .22
Bradwardine also tO'..1ched on ~he errors of the followers of
astrology in his great treatise on contingency, free will, and the
universal causality of God, the De Causa Dei contra Pelagium,23
published at London in 1344, that is two years before the Battle of
Crecy and the delivery of the Sermo epinicius. Bradwardine's re-
marks concerning astrology are c1early written in the long shadow
of the condemnations of Bishop of Paris, Stephen Tempier, in
1277, and the accompanying Oxford denunciation by the Bishop of
Canterbury, Thomas Kilwardby, both of whom are cited by Brad-
wardine in this section. The practice of astrology is repugnant to
Christians because it seems to deny the orthodox doctrine of the
freedom of the will. Hence Bradwardine, who is chiefly concerned
to defend the Augustinian emphasis on the power of God at the
expense of untrammelled human freedom against the new 'Pela-
gians', carefully rejects astrology along with other determinist
creeds. Bradwardine even goes so far as to suggest, citing Anse1m,
that beasts are perhaps free from the necessity of the destiny of the
stars, since they were created perfectly on the first day before the
creation of the stars. 24 In the De Causa Dei however, there is no hint
that Bradwardine regarded astrology as a contemporary threat, as
can be feIt from his warnings in the Sermo epinicius. Bradwardine
simply attacks astrology on the basis that it had been condemned
by the Church Fathers, canon law, and in John of Salisbury's
Policraticus,25 and the more recent pronouncements of Tempier and
Kilwardby, making no references to contemporary abuses of as-
trology. The mathematici represent the most extreme determinist
position on what Bradwardine describes as, 'that most celebrated
issue, that most thorny axiom, the most difficult problem, namely
whether all things which occur, occur by necessity'.26 We can only
suppose that Bradwardine's subsequent association with the court
of Edward III, especially during the Crecy campaign, made Brad-

wardine so aware of the particular theological dangers of astrology
and other fatalistic and deterministic creeds, that when given the
opportunity to preach before the king and his men in 1346, he gave
preeminent importance to attacking astrology. The De Causa Dei, in
contrast, was addressed to a scholarly audience, and in particular
to his, 'dear brothers and friends, the Warden and scholars of
Merton Hall in Oxford'. 27
Bradwardine died on 26 August 1349 at Lambeth in the first
great outbreak of the plague, only months after his appointment to
the see of Canterbury. It was this plague, it will be recaIled from
the previous chapter, which John Ashenden claimed to have
foreseen from his interpretation of the tripie conjunction of 1345.
Ashenden is first observed as a fellow of Merton College in 1336-7,
and since Bradwardine had relinquished his fellowship in 1335 and
joined the household of Richard de Bury, they may not have
known each other particularly weIl. Certainly their views on astrol-
ogy were diametrically opposed, and Ashenden may even have
had Bradwardine in mind when he complained of the ignorant
detractors of astrology who hindered hirn in his composition of his
Summa judicialis, finally completed on 18 December 1348:
in this time of pestilence, in which the whole world is in an evil

state, worn out by the labour of writing, not inspired by pre-
sumption or vain glory, but by brotherly love ... 28
It may weIl have been brotherly love which inspired Ashenden

to complete the Summa judicialis, which he fervently believed
provided a scientific base for the prediction of such natural events
as the plague or weather conditions. His motives are unlikely to
have been so pure when he composed his earliest known treatise
on the conjunctions of 1345. Thorndike has already given a very
full summary of this treatise,29 so we shall not refer to it in great
detail, but it does require some reassessment. Although Ashen-
den' s predictions cover a very wide range of likely and unlikely
possibilities, his main emphasis is on Edward III's prospects in a
new French war. A three-year truce had been signed on 19 January
1343 after the intervention of the Pope between Edward III and
Philip VI of France, but it is doubtful if either party was ever
serious in his intention to keep the peace. On 26 May, two months
after Ashenden had completed his treatise, Edward wrote to Pope
Clement that he no longer considered himself bound by the truce

and was dedaring war. 30 This was the beginning of the Crecy
campaign that established the English king' s martial reputation.
There is no direct evidence that Ashenden wrote his treatise on the
tripie conjunction of 1345 under the patronage of the royal court,
like, for example, Levi ben Gerson. Nevertheless, scholars as weIl
as courtiers have an interest in the political and physical state of
the realm, and such an interest is reflected in Ashenden's treatise.
With regard to the conjunction of Satum and Jupiter on 23
March,31 Ashenden points out that since the conjunction falls in
Aquarius, which is a human sign, its effects will be feit most
strongly among men. And because, among other categories af-
fected, the conjunction is in the tenth house, it has great signifi-
cance for kings. Considered together with the conjunction of the
'two unfortunates', Satum and Mars, on 3 March, Ashenden
predicts that the conjunction will give rise to wars and murders,
and, according to a marginal insertion, 'ad mortalitas'. A little later
another marginal note inserts a reference ' ad mortalitates et infirmi-
tates' . These two notes were written by the same hand as the final
paragraph of the same treatise which predicts 'magna mortalitas et
magna corruptio aeris'. As Thomdike pointed out,32 it seems more
than likely that these insertions were added in a somewhat cmde
attempt to justify Ashenden's later boast that he predicted the
coming of the plague on the basis of the conjunctions of 1345.
Viewed impartially, Ashenden's purpose may weIl have been to
attract the attention of the king, or at least to demonstrate his
enthusiastic support for the English cause. Citing Messahallah,
Ashenden points out that if a conjunction of Satum and Jupiter
falls in any of the angles, and especially in the tenth house, it
signifies the elevation of a king in the regions mIed by the sign,
and his victory and dominion, if that sign should be fortunate.
And, according to Albumasar, Aquarius has dominion over watery
lands which have many rivers and seas, and our region, namely
England, is an island placed among seas and surrounded by water.
This signifies that our king shall obtain a victory over his enemies
from the aforesaid cause. 33 The same point is stressed in Ashen-
den' s discussion of the conjunction of Satum and Mars on 3
March, which he states in his first sentence to have particular
significance for wars. 34
Of course, Ashenden does not restrict his predictions solely to
the theme of war. Because the conjunction of Satum and Mars falls
The Court o{ Edward III: Astrology Ignored 87
in the airy triplicity, it signifies strong winds, great cold, great

dryness, and many illnesses and, harking back to his constant
theme, many wars with great spilling of blood. The effects of the
minor conjunction of Jupiter and Mars are also said to relate more
to the weather, by bringing rain and snow,35 than to politics. But
Ashenden still notes that the effect of this final conjunction is
cumulative upon the previous two in its significance for wars. 36 In
summary he condudes37 that it is dear that the effects rising from
the three conjunctions will be dearth for a short time, and wars,
and much illness and bad weather, in the times and places aforesaid.
In his Summa judicialis Ashenden referred in passing to two
battles, the Battle of Crecy in 1345, and the Scottish disaster at
Neville's Cross, near Durham, at which King David Bruce was
captured, in the autumn of the following year. Ashenden' s com-
ments are not remarkable, but many of his readers mark these
places in the manuscripts. 38 Ashenden' s treatise on the conjunc-
tions of Satum and Mars in March 1349 and the total lunar eclipse
in July of the same year,39 like the Summa, is more concemed with
the plague and the weather than with politics. There is then a
break of six years before the appearance of another treatise from
Ashenden's hand, completed on 10 March 1357, on the conjunc-
tions of 1357 and 1365. This is the treatise dedicated, like the De
Causa Dei of Thomas Bradwardine, to the scholars and fellows of
Merton College Oxford.
After abrief introduction in which Ashenden explains that he
has been so busy lately that he has been unable to undertake his
scholarly pursuits for some time,4O he opens his remarks on the
conjunction of Satum and Jupiter in Cancer on 7 June 1345 by
noting that such a conjunction is generaHy marked by severe and
terrible effects, notably war, and battles, and upsets in the world,
changes of realms, and the deaths of kings. 41 He then outlines his
usual method in treatises of this kind, which is to consider four
matters: (1) Where the effects of a conjunction will be feIt; (2) When
the effects will occur, and for how long they will be feIt; (3) In what
manner of things the effects will arise; and (4) Of the manner of the
effects that will arise from this conjunction, either good or ill. 42
Proceeding in his customary methodical style, Ashenden states
that the effects of the conjunction will appear greatest in northem
regions, especiaHy in the realm of France and in the realm of
England, and in the lands which adjoin them, such as Flanders,
Gascony, Scotland and Ireland. 43 Omitting his extensive citations
and astrological arguments, Ashenden then predicts that there will

be heavy rains and strong winds, wars, evil deeds, dire events,
and various illnesses among men. 44 England, by a fortunate excep-
tion, will be spared, and instead derive much strength from the
conjunction, whereas all its most drastic effects will strike at
France. 45 Ashenden confidently predicts the overthrow of the
kingdom of France, and its transfer to the King of England and the
English, devoting several pages in the Digby manuscript to a
delineation of intricate astrological arguments in favour of this
outcome. 46 This is properly the climax of the treatise, and it would
not be unreasonable to describe Ashenden' s tract as designed
specifically to assure King Edward III of his ultimate victory. He
goes on to warn that certain features of the position of Mercury in
the horoscope signify that there will be many false and faithless
and cunning treatises of peace and friendship, espedally between
the Kings of England and France, and many wiles and deceptions
on the part of the French. 47
If the treatise on the conjunction of 1345 was written to assure
Edward III of his conquest of the French, Ashenden's analysis of
the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter on 30 October 1365, which
was written at the same time, would have satisfied hirn of his
security from the other great enemy of the English, the Scots.
Ashenden introduces his theme by dting Albumasar, Haly, and
the agreement of all astrologers to the effect that this great conjunc-
tion will have particular importance because it occurs in a new
triplidty, and espedally for kingdoms, the changing of religious
sects, and for all those changing their place of abode. 48 He then
considers the significance of the conjunction falling in Scorpio,
noting that Scorpio is the sign of falseness. He concludes that the
sign of Scorpio rules over the Scots and their king, and that the
effects of the conjunction should be feIt with particular force in
Scotland because men in that land, like the scorpion, are cruel,
proud, exdtable, luxurious, bestial, false and underhand, and
contemptuous of faith and faithfulness. 49 Calling additional evi-
dence, Ashenden points out that the ascendant and its lord,
namely Virgo and Scorpio, also attest that the effects of the con-
junction will strike the realms of France and Scotland. He then
dtes an English astrologer called Master Henry de Fenbi, to the
effect that the moon rules the English and Saturn rules the Scots,
as weIl as Haly and other authorities, concluding for a third time,
and it would seem conclusively, that the conjunction will affect
northem lands, and especially France and Scotland. 50

Next, Ashenden considers the accidental effects of the conjunc-
tion, namely in changes of kings, and the rise of a new sect, or at
least the destruction of an old one. 51 It is noted that the effects
associated with the planet Satum are all unpleasant and long-
enduring, including winds and bitter famine, fever, unhappy
fears, anxieties, deaths, and according to Albumasar, battles, wars,
and killing, the improverishment of rieh men, the deaths of paupers,
and other equally distressing events and conditions. And because
the conjunction falls in Scorpio, Ashenden cites Albumasar to the
effect that there will be many wars, depredations, moaning, sad-
ness, imprisonment, despair, murder, illness and darkness, as
weIl as a lot of rain,52 none of whieh looks very good for the Scots.
Entering into details, Ashenden suggests that the old sect that will
meet its destruction is that of the Saracens,53 and it is surely ironie
that his argument is based on the citation of Muslim authorities.
Secondly, Ashenden prediets that there will be a change, or de-
struction, or depopulation of the realm of Scotland, with wars,
battles and fires. 54 The third event anticipated is a major flood. 55
In March 1357, when Ashenden completed this treatise, Edward
III was at the height of his political and military career. The Battles
of Crecy and Durharn, and the Siege of Calais, whieh he entered
on 4 August 1347, were testimony to his tactical supremacy over
the French and the Scots. He had captured the Scottish king, David
11, in 1345, and King John of France was taken by the Black Prince
at Poitiers on 19 September 1356, and was even then in London. To
John Ashenden, not just an academic astrologer but a fervently
patriotic Englishman, and no doubt to Edward hirnself, the crown
of France must have seemed to be within reach. They were not to
know that a disastrous campaign in 1359-60 would force the
English king to compromise at the eventual signing of the Treaty of
Bretigny in 1361. 56
In these circumstances, it would be only natural for Ashenden to
construct as optimistic and victorious a case for King Edward as the
astrological indieators would allow. Is it possible to go further, and
suggest that Ashenden may have been writing at the request of the
king, or for some member of the court circle? If so, it would be a
definite sign that the memory of Thomas Bradwardine had been
eclipsed, for Ashenden would certainly have been guilty of the
eITor proscribed in the Sermo epinicius, of attributing the cause of
victory to the influence of the stars. The strongest argument against
Ashenden having any official contact with the court must be the
negative one that he nowhere lays claim to such a connection. It is
difficult, knowing so little about John Ashenden, to attempt to
reconstruct his career, but it is easy to imagine that for the best part
of his life he was occupied with lecturing in the schools, chieftyon
the principal books in the astrological corpus such as Ptolemy' s
Quadripartitum, or Albumasar's Introductorium. In the Merton Col-
lege circles cultivated by William Rede, there were a number of
fellows who shared Ashenden's interest in astrology, if not the
breadth of his reading, but he was always liable to encounter
hostility from the theology faculty, headed at one time perhaps by
Thomas Bradwardine. For his part, as a man of science, John
Ashenden despised the vague and simplistic formulae of the
prophecies of Joachim of Fiore, and was horrified by any attempt
to use astrology for what he regarded as blasphemous or unworthy
purposes. In 1345, Ashenden reveals in his first treatise on the
tripie conjunction, the aspiration to put his knowledge of astrology
at the service of the English king, beyond mere weather prediction.
The king does not seem to have responded to this. Perhaps the
coming of the plague served the twin purposes of raising the
general esteem in which astrology was held and inspiring Ashen-
den to undertake the immense research and labour of writing that
culminated with the completion of his Summa judicialis in 1348. For
the next eight years he wrote Httle, absorbed, he said later, with
the affairs of the world. Perhaps he was forced to eam a living.
Certainly he does not appear to have been a wealthy man, leaving
no gifts to his old college, and his name does not appear, like those
of Richard Bury, Nicholas of Sandwich, Simon Bredon or William
Rede, on any surviving books. But the great military victories of
Edward III fi1led hirn with new enthusiasm, so that he tried once
more to demonstrate the predictive and tactical advantages he
believed he could make available to his sovereign through the
medium of his art. Disappointed perhaps by the lack of response
from the court, Ashenden' s last known treatise on events in the
years 1368 to 1374, is concemed almost exclusively with weather
prediction.
Ashenden's writings became widely distributed, and survive in
remarkably large numbers, so I think it is likely that King Edward
did at least know of his particular skills, but chose to ignore them.
It is true that at this time greater and lesser nobles all over France
and other parts of continental Europe were consulting astrologers,
The Court o[ Edward III: Astrology Ignored 91
and there was even interest expressed by certain laymen in England.

At least one English layman achieved a level of skill equal to that
of any academic astronomer. John North has revealed the astonish-
ing astronomical and astrological faci1ity of the poet Geoffrey
Chaucer, much of it hidden from his audience. Chaucer was a
bureaucrat and a creature of the court. He had elose connections
with John, Duke of Lancaster, the royal protector during the
minority of Richard 11, after the death of Edward III in 1377.
Chaucer also secured patronage at the court of Richard 11. North
chooses not to speculate as to the source of Chaucer's expertise,
except to suggest that he may have had discussions on astronomi-
cal matters with an expert or a drele of experts. 57 He does not seem
to have studied at university and there is no confidence in the
tradition that he ever spent time in Oxford. But he was friends
with the logidan Ralph Strode, a Merton man who may weH have
been able to introduce Chaucer to other members of his college
who carried on Merton' s tradition of excellence in the sdence of
the stars. It would elearly be unwise to regard Chaucer as in any
way typical of the level of interest and expertise in astrology which
was sustained by other members of the English royal court or lay
readers without a university education. On the other hand, it
seems reasonable to suppose that Chaucer was not alone, and that
he wrote for an audience alert to the flavour of the astrological
allusions with which his work is so liberally endowed.
John Ashenden seems to have been unfortunate to have been
unable to capitalise on this growing awareness of the attractions of
astrology among the ruling elite. We cannot know for certain if
King Edward voiced some disapproval of astrologers, in spite of
the advice to the contrary in his copy of the Secreta secretorum, or if
Ashenden, like certain of the great Arabic astrologers, disdained to
solicit money for his services, and preferred to stick to theory. If
this is the ca se, Ashenden is a unique example of a purely aca-
demic astrologer. In the next stage, to which we now turn, astrol-
ogers struggled to establish themselves in a lucrative, personal and
socially acceptable profession at the periphery of the court.
6
The Courts of Richard 11 of
England and Charles V of
France: Royal Astrology
H is generally assumed that astrology enjoyed a vigorous revival,
centred on the European courts, in the late fourteenth and fif-
teenth centuries. According to Jourdain, for example:
A partir des Valois surtout, l'astrologie judiciaire prit en France

un developpement comparable a celui qu' elle avait en Halie, en
Allemagne et en Espagne, au temps de Frederick 11 et d' Al-
phonse X. Ses disciples se multiplierent et furent confondus
dans l' estime publique avec les veritables astronomes. 1
Thorndike agrees:
The Hundred Years War provided the astrologers with as happy

a predicting ground as did the Black Death. The pages of Simon
de Phares' review of celebrated astrologers teem with the names
of those who had predicted this or that battle through the long
struggle, or the popular sedition, civil strife, and dynastie
change which had accompanied it. 2
and again:
The reigns of Charles VI and Richard 11 saw no diminution in the

number of astrologers at the French and English royal courts. 3
Yet we have already seen that astrologers were not welcomed with
unreserved enthusiasm at the court of Edward III. And in England,
before the reign of Richard 11, it must be admitted that astrologers
are conspicuous chiefly by their absence, or their anonymity. Such
writers of astrological texts, or texts sympathetic to astrology, as
92
Royal Astrology 93
we can name, such as Roger Bacon, Reginald Lamboume, or John

Ashenden, can be regarded either as idiosyncratic individuals,
beginners whose main interests probably lay elsewhere, or as
displaying extreme theological caution in the limits they would
allow to the practice of their art. It is clear from the context that
Thomdike has based his confident assertion as to the popularity of
astrology in England on the evidence of the Recueil of Symon de
Phares, which is the most important source for our understanding
of the significance of the court astrologer in later medieval culture.
But Symon de Phares' testimony cannot be accepted uncritically,
as has been done in the past. Before we turn back to de Phares, we
will try to describe from other sources the place of astrology and
the divinatory sciences at the courts of two of the most brilliant
members of the Plantagenet and Valois dynasties, namely Richard
11 of England, and Charles V of France. It emerges that astrology
did not rise to sudden prominence in the reign of Richard 11.
Rather, for the first time, it began to receive a less ho stile reception
at court, in an atmosphere which was otherwise intensely sus-
picious of the practice of sorcery.
Anyone wishing to define the extent to which Richard 11 and the
members of his court cultivated the occult sciences, must first
contend with the conflicting accounts of his reign provided by
contemporary chroniclers. The issue of astrology, which so far we
have been able to regard as more or less a purely academic or
literary activity, is much confused in these sources with the con-
tentious and inflammable matter of sorcery. It was regarded as a
most unfortunate thing for a king, or any man, to spum his older
and wiser counsellors, and resort to pseudo-prophets, necro-
mancers, and younger men. Such a king was as foolish and
dangerous as Saul, who sought the advice of the Witch of Endor,
the pythonissa, when Yahweh had deserted him for David,4 or
Rehoboam, son of Solomon, who lost the kingdom of Israel by
following the counsels of younger men. 5 Charges of an ill-defined,
but slanderous intent, ranging from sexual irregularity to blas-
phemy and the practice of sorcery, were the stock-in-trade of
political propagandists throughout the period. 6 Not surprisingly
therefore, Richard 11 is characterised by his detractors as the very
type of a tyrant: extravagant, rapacious, irascible, inconstant, and
prone to associating with sorcerers. 7 The canon lawyer, Adam of
Usk, can quote chapter and verse of the Decretals which allowed
the deposition of such a king. 8 In general, chroniclers who sym-
pathised with the Lancastrian cause, such as Thomas Walsingham,

Adam of Usk, the monk of Evesham, and Thomas Favent, are
much readier to associate Richard 11 with sorcery than are chroni-
clers who sympathised with the king, such as Creton and the
Dieulacres Abbey chronicler. Walsingham's various chronicles9
are a particularly rich source for malicious gossip of every kind,
and must be used with an extremity of caution with regard to
Richard 11. Yet, if we are to believe Walsingham, the familiar
events of the tyranny and deposition of the last Plantagenet king
were played out against a back-drop of prophecy, omen and
prodigious events. lO
Walsingham was aware that comets could presage war and the
effusion of blood, and carefully noted their appearance in 1337,
1368, 1382 and 1402. 11 Even more significant was the conjunction
of Jupiter and Satum in May, 1385, 'which was followed by a great
confusion in the kingdoms, for earthly events are affected by the
heavens like a pen writing on paper'. 12 In 1399 several strange
events happened, 'signifying, as it is thought, the division of the
people and the realm, and the defection from King Richard, which
occurred in that year' .13 In the same year, a certain hermit called
William Norham was despatched by King Richard to the Tower for
his impudent prophecies in the king's presence. 14 Not all sooth-
sayers were given such a chilly welcome. As the last year of his
reign wore on, Richard became increasingly suspicious and anxious
about money.15 According to Walsingham, he took to hoarding his
treasures and surrounding hirnself with pseudo-prophets who
spurred hirn in his ambition to become the new Holy Roman
Emperor and one of the greatest princes of the world. 16 Aware also
of Richard's fondness for prophecy, they urged on hirn whatever
verses from ancient prophecies they could interpret in a way
favourable to the king. 17
One of the most inexplicable incidents of this troubled time
involved Richard Magdalen, 'a clerk and priest of King Richard'.
The king handed over to Parliament a roll containing instructions
in the magical arts said to have been found by persons unnamed in
Magdalen' s purse. Richard ordered them to consider it carefully
and then report back to him. Magdalen hirnself was tried the
following day by Convocation at Saint PauYs. According to Mag-
dalen, he had no understanding of the matters contained on the
roll. It had simply been entrusted to him along with many other
things of the king's.18 Convocation seems to have been satisfied by
Royal Astrology 95
this evasive reply, although they took possession of the book

under discussion. 19
What are we to make of all this? Walsingham is our only auth-
ority for these anecdotes, and his testimony is manifestly hostile,
and hearsay at that. It is probably significant that many of the
stories are told solely in the Annales Richard II, which was perhaps
more of a propaganda piece than his other histories. Nothing is to
be seen on the administrative record concerning either William
Norham or the parliamentary ineident of Magdalen' s magical
book. Magdalen himself was famous, or rather notorious, as a
rising administrator in the service of King Richard. He studied at
Cambridge as a Fellow of King' s Hall, was a king' s clerk by 1392
and travelled with the king to Ireland in 1399. 20 His dramatic
decline from royal favour can be followed in the Patent Rolls. On 4
January 1400 a commission was issued for his arrest and removal to
the Tower. He was later summarily executed an4his goods distrib-
uted throughout the rest of the year to the new )<ing's proteges.
Magdalen seems to have been one of the men most intimately
assoeiated with King Richard, as he was singled out for particular
opprobrium for his part in the tyranny of the later years of Ri-
chard's reign. According to Creton, he bore a startling resemblance
to the king, and there were reports that Magdalen had ridden .out
with the rebels under guise of the dead king, and even that it was
not Richard but Magdalen, his former chaplain, who lay in the
king' s coffin. 21 Perhaps Magdalen' s actions contributed to the
persistent rumours that Richard, like King Arthur or Charlemagne,
was not dead but alive and preparing to come again with the Scots
to retake his realm. 22 Walsingham was not alone in attributing an
interest and reliance on the supernatural to Richard 11 and his
assoeiates. The shorter Kirkstall Chronicle records aseries of prodi-
gies which occurred in 1377 and which are taken to have presaged
the Schism and the downfall of the new king. 23
Adam of Usk gives a detailed account of the omens that attended
Richard' s coronation, and augured its unfortunate end. 24 He also
records the propheeies of the rise of Henry of Lancaster and the
demise of Richard and his supporters, such as the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Roger Walden. 2S As Steel points out, although all
other authorities agree that Richard intervened in the judicial duel
between the Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford before a blow had
been struck, Usk, with gratuitous malice, maintains that 'Richard
had it by divination that the Duke of Norfolk would prevail, but
when it seemed that Lancaster would win he stayed the combat' .26
Usk also alleges that a greyhound, once devoted to Richard,
deserted him in the hour of his deposition and recognized Henry
of Lancaster as his master. 27 According to the Dieulacres Abbey
chronicle, what really happened was as folIows. When Richard
retumed to London under heavy guard, the Lancastrians had the
king's emblems, both of the white hart and the crown, taken
down. Richard' s greyhound was dragged along with them by the
collar, as if in a pillory, so that it might seem an omen of the future
to the detractors of the legitimacy of the new regime. 28 The conflict
between these two accounts is a good illustration of the propa-
ganda value to opposing factions of incidents involving sorcery,
prophecy, omens and the supernatural in general.
Since we are dealing here with deliberate distortion of the
evidence by those who were in the best position to discriminate, it
is probably impossible for us to decide now whether Richard 11 did
favour the pseudo-prophets, as Walsingham calls them, and the
occult arts. It is even more difficult to decide if these unnamed but
disreputable counsellors were practitioners of astrology, or any of
the other branches of scientific divination such as geomancy,
palmistry or physiognomy. On the whole I am inclined to think
that Richard 11, and his clerk, Richard Magdalen, were guilty of no
more than the universal English craze for political prophecies,
which are a feature of many of the chronicles of the reign of
Richard 11. 29 Astrological imagery is rare in these writings,3O which
generally operate through heraldic allusions. Prompted by ru-
mours of Richard 11' s second coming, legislation against prophecy
was enacted in 1402 and 1406. Prophecy based on, 'arms, fields,
names, cognizances, or badges', was declared a felony by Henry
VII, in an act confirmed by Elizabeth I. 31 The predilection of the
English for prophecies, particularly those which foretold the
downfall of their enemies and the triumph of their own party, can
be attested from many sources. If we consider only the major
chronicles of the fourteenth century, it would be a considerable
labour even for us to mention all the prophecies cited, let alone the
comets, earrhquakes, rains of blood, milk or frogs, celestial appari-
tions, prodigious births and other marvellous occurrences, that
may or may not be regarded as omens verifving the chronicler' s
narrative.
Best witness of the phenomenon is the French gentleman of
distinction who visited the court of Richard 11 in 1399 and stayed to
Royal Astrology 97
observe his overthrow and, on his return to France, wrote a

metrical his tory of his experiences. 32 The writer has been identified
by J. J. N. Palmer as Jean Creton, an attendant at the court of
Charles VI of France (1380-1422), Richard lI's father-in-Iaw. 33 Pal-
mer also argues that Creton is probably the most reliable of all the
chronic1ers of the deposition of Richard 11. 34 To set the scene,
Creton had stayed with Richard until he had been ambushed and
taken to Flint castle, having been tricked by the earl of Northum-
berland and Archbishop Arundel. For his own safety, Creton
decided to put hirnself in the hands of the usurper. He then rode
with a certain venerable knight of Duke Henry to join Lancaster at
Chester:
He told me as were riding along to Chester, that a destruction of

this kind had been prophesied in their time by Merlin and Bede,
and that if we were in his castle he could show me the precise
details written down, just as I had seen occur.
Creton then gives an outline of Merlin's words, adding that the

knight was convinced of the truth of this prophecy because such
was the nature of his country to believe most perfectly in phan-
toms and sorcery and to resort to them very willingly. However, it
seemed to hirn that this was not well done but was a great fault in
their belief. 35
Whilst we must not allow a 'c1oud of romantic illusion'36 to blur
our view of the character of Richard 11, we can probably purge him
of all the charges relating to sorcery that Walsingham and the
Lancastrian chronic1ers levelled at him. In fact the chronic1es reveal
themselves to be rather unsatisfactory sources for information
about the prevalence or otherwise of astrology and astrologers at
the English court. Searching for less controversial evidence, Ri-
chard 11 is known to have possessed a number of objects which
indicate he had an independent interest in the occult sciences. In
the inventory of the royal treasures kept in the Tower, which
Henry IV demanded almost immediately upon his accession, is
mentioned a golden quadrant in a leather case, enamelled with the
Salutation of Our Lady and garnished with over twenty pearls, of
two kinds. 37 There are also two quadrants engraved with Richard' s
personal badge of the white hart, one in the British Museum and
another at Dorchester. The existence of two such similar quadrants
does however raise the question of a possible forgery.38 Neither of
these instruments matches the description of the precious object

kept in the Tower. They are made of serviceable brass, without
cases or the necessary plumb bob. In July 1871 the contents of
Richard lI's tomb in Westminster were subjected to a none-too-
methodical search by the then dean. 39 Unfortunately, many of the
grave goods were described in such vague terms that they are now
unidentifiable. Certain wooden objects like twigs, one shaped like
a reel with some black lines around it, crumbled to dust when they
were touched. Dean Stanley, who supervised the excavation,
made the deduction that, 'They had doubtless been put there as a
precaution against witchcraft' .40 This is not an impossible hypoth-
esis, but it would certainly be difficult to prove, and there is room
for some doubt.
Reviewing the case so far, what conclusions can we reach con-
cerning the practice of astrology at the court of Richard II? The
example of his father and grandfather might have inclined Richard
to ignore astrology as theologically unsound. As far as we can
judge from the various contemporary chronicles, the English had
not yet acquired a taste for the complex Arabic sciences of divina-
tion, such as astrology or geomancy, and preferred the verses of
prophets. Richard 11 is accused by Walsingham of consorting with
pseudo-prophets, not with astrologers. We know that the king had
a quadrant in his treasure chests, but a quadrant is a very simple
astronomical device, and an astrologer would require far more
than this to make the most straightforward prediction according to
the rules of his art. We would probably have to dismiss the case
altogether were it not for one outstanding witness to the interest of
the king in the occult, namely Richard 11' s own book of divination,
commissioned and completed in, or so on after, March 1391.
MS Bodley 581 is a beautiful book, handsomely illustrated, and
equipped with chapter headings, alphabetical indexes, and other
aids to the reader. It is in Latin, but it gives every impression that it
was designed to be used by the king hirnself. A representation of
the king, seated and crowned, with a small forked beard, blue
robes with an ermine collar, holding a sceptre in his right hand and
an orb in his left, adorns a large initial on fol. 9. Margaret Rickert
has identified Bodley 581 as one of a group of late fourteenth
century London manuscripts, which may be the products of differ-
ent shops and artists, executed in what she terms the 'International
Style' Y This group of manuscripts includes a number of books
which were presented to, or commissioned by King Richard, and
Royal Astrology 99
there is thus every reason to believe that Bodley 581 was a presen-
tation copy. It does not appear in the earliest inventories of the
Royal Library, though a much less careful copy of fols 9--75, now
British Library MS Royal 12 C.v, had made its way there by 1666. 42
Richard 11' s book of divination has attracted the attention of a
number of art historians, historians of science, and literary critics,
particularly in connection with the court cu1ture of Richard 11. 43 In
referring to the book, Gervase Matthew once suggested that it may
hold the key to the personal interests of this enigmatic king. 44
Attractive though this possibility is, we can never be sure of the
extent of the king's interest in this particu1ar book. If he opened it
at all, or had it read to him, he left no marks upon it. In this context
it is worth considering the copy of the geomancy in the Royal
Collection. This version c10sely resembles the original in its colour
scheme, script and general composition, although the execution,
especially of the miniatures on fols 16v _23v , is much inferior. The
text is rather larger and easier to read, and it could have been
intended as an everyday edition of the finer text. However, this
manuscript has c1early been deliberately altered to serve another
reader than the king. In the opening prologue, references to
Richard 11 and to the original time of completion of the text have
been omitted. 45 A medieval Bowdler has also been at pains to erase
the words geomancia and arena, the sand of its operation. 46 As
Manzalaoui has pointed out, the representation of Richard 11 on
fol. 9 of Bodley MS 581 has been deliberately effaced. 47 These two
facts provide more evidence, if more were needed, of the intense
hostility in England to the last Plantagent king in his final years
and soon after.
There are other signs that Richard shared his love of fine things
with a taste for reading, and some learning. In 1384-5 he possessed
a collection of thirteen French Romances and a bible in two vol-
umes, some of which he had inherited from Edward III.48 In 1395
Froissart presented the king with a book of his own poetry and
described both the king' s real pleasure in the gift and thc collection
of books he kept in his chamber. 49 Bodley 581 may have been one
of these books kept conveniently at hand. We also know that
Richard on occasion purchased books, or perhaps had them pur-
chased for him by his tutor Sir Simon Burley.50 Between 1386 and
1388 over two pounds was paid to re-cover some nineteen books
Ide closett domini regis'. 51 According to the account of Pietro da
Verona, the one-time librarian of ]ean, Duke of Berry, Richard
seems to have been known as a purchaser of books. Pietro alleges

he sent a bible to the king and was forced to go to England in 1399
to recover payment. To Pietro's dismay, he discovered that Ri-
chard had been deposed, but he managed nevertheless to recover
his book and later sold it to the Duke of Berry. 52
Richard is also known as a patron of poets, such as Geoffrey
Chaucer, John Gower, Thomas Usk, Thomas Hoccleve and John
Lydgate, some or all of whose works may well have been recited at
the court of Richard 11. It was Chaucer who first introduced into
English poetry the Italian habit of using astrological allusions to
refer to time or anticipate events or describe character. 53 It seems
reasonable to suppose that Chaucer' s brilliant and informed refer-
ences to the occult sciences constituted some element in the re-
markable popularity of his poetry both at court and in town in his
own day and throughout the fifteenth century. Perhaps we can
take the matter no further . Richard 11 enjoyed both books and
reading. He probably also enjoyed hearing poetry read, such as
Chaucer's Franklin's Tale, that described the working of magie.
There is good reason to suppose that he read, understood and
enjoyed his book of divination, though he may weIl have preferred
a French romance. Indeed, the rise of educated lay readers made it
possible for books to introduce new audiences to arcane matters,
which they would never have been able to explore independently.54
Even without the charm of being able to establish that Richard 11
read and enjoyed it, his book of divination still has much to tell us
about the practice of such things at the royal court in the later
Middle Ages. It is also necessary to rely on internal evidence to
establish the date of the book' s composition, the circumstances
which prompted its original production, and the name of the
author or compiler. There are four principal texts:
(1) De quadripartita regis speeie, an extract from the Secreta Secre-

torum attributed to Aristotle, with some additional material on
the virtues of a good king (fols 1-3).55
(2) Phisionomia Aristotelis, the physiognQmy from the Secreta,
which often circulated independently (fols 3-5v ).56
(3) Philosophia Visionum eum sompnijs Danielis, the commonly en-
countered dream-book attributed to Daniel (fols 6-8,.57
(4) Liber Judiciorum, a geomancy with accompanying astrological
tables. (fols 9-89,.58
Royal Astrology 101
There is good reason to think that the same compiler is responsi-

ble for all four texts in the manuscript. In the preface to the first
text, the Quadripartita, he refers to hirnself as, 'ego . .. minimus
regis massarum erulus Hibernie'.59 Using a very similar turn of
phrase, the compiler of the geomancy refers to himself as, 'ego . ..
minimus servientium eius' (ie. Richard lI's).6O In so far as style can be
measured, the bombast of the preface to the Quadripartita is cer-
tainly matched by that of the Liber judiciorum. 61 Thirdly, in the final
paragraph of the Quadripartita, the compiler introduces the next
text, which is the physiognomy attributed to Aristotle, in the first
person 'Phisionomiam Aristotelis quam composuit ad opus Alexandri
conquestoris, presenti adiunxi libello'. 62
There is no link between the extracts from the Secreta and the
Sompniale Danielis, or the Sompniale and the Liber Judiciorum, but
there are frequent cross-references between the various parts of
the geomancy. There is of course an obvious similarity of subject
matter between the three books of divination, one by physical
attributes, the second by dreams and the third by the methods and
rules of geomancy. Genet has put forward the hypothesis that the
author thus described was one of the treasurers of Ireland in the
reign of Richard 11, possibly John Thorpe, Archdeacon of Suffolk in
Norwich cathedral, and treasurer from September 1393 to mid-1394. 63
Genet bases his argument on the interpretation of two rare words,
namelyerulus, 'servant', and massa, to which he gives the sense
'mass, or bullion', translating the whole phrase erulus massarum as
'servant of the bullion', that is, treasurer. To me this seems rather
strained. It is more likely that massa is simply a form of the very
common word for manse or estate. The most satisfactory rendering
of the phrase would then be something like, 'servant of the es-
tates', indicating that the author of Richard lI's book of divination
worked in some unspecified minor office connected with the king' s
land holdings in Ireland. Like the compiler of Edward III's fine
copy of the Secreta secretorum, Walter de Milemete, he was probably
just a clerk, and not a grand university-educated astrologer like
John Ashenden. In any case, the number of possible candidates is
many times greater than the nine or so candidates considered by
Genet.
All that we know of this Irish clerk, if that is what he was, is
what he chooses to tell uso He evidently had a characteristically
Irish love of fine phrases and grand words, and relished the
opportunity to display his rhetoric in the royal dedication of the

Quadripartitum, which may be translated:
The wise man who listens will become wiser and the clever man
will acquire the art of government. (Prov. I. v.). Although the
most powerful of princes, the lord Richard, by the grace of God
king of England and France, by a kind of marvel of intellect and
insight, not maintained for show but genuine, is seen to excel
the subjects of his own realm and his contemporaries.
I however, the least servant (erulus) of the king's estates
(massarum) in Ireland, having received the we1come of an inno-
cent exile, whose renewal (renovacio) is my comfort, giving deep
consideration to the excellent realm of my aforesaid lord, have
compiled certain counsels, sentences and precepts of wise men,
most necessary for both a king and his realm, that his wisdom
might shine forth the more, and all his subjects glory in his
intellect and bless his rule, and thus become obedient to him in
a11 things. This work I have entitled De quadripartita regis specie. 64
Genet has suggested that the author may have been the victim of
one of the several purges of the king's supporters. 65 However,
renovacio means not so much 'rehabilitation' as 'renewal' . The
author is in fact stating his hopes that his no doubt congenial
sojourn in England, if not at court, might be continued. It is the
indirect begging compliment of a foreign, probably lrish, writer
requesting some reward for his pains. Unfortunately, if payment
was ever made for this fine book and it was enrolled on the Close
or Patent Rolls, it was made in too vague a way to be recognizable
as such. A search of the unpublished Wardrobe accounts of Ri-
chard's reign may reveal more information, but for the time being
the editor of the four texts in Bodley 581 must remain the anonym-
ous compiler he chose to present himself as. 66
Something of the circumstances that prompted the compilation
of the Liber ]udiciorum is revealed in the preface:
I have compiled this present book of geomancy, in as brief a

form as I was able, at the special request of our most excellent
lord Richard, the most noble king of the realms of England and
France, who govems in sublime fashion not so much by the
force of arms as of philosophy and the two laws; and indeed he
Royal Astrology 103
has not declined to taste the sweetness of the fruit of the subtle
sciences for the prudent government of himself and his people. 67
Richard evidently commissioned the work especially, rather as he

had asked Gower for 'som newe thing' in the previous year, 1390.
There is however a hint that the present book of divination is the
first of the sweet fruits of these useful arts that Richard deigned to
consider. A book of geomancy was compiled for reason of its
simplicity:
Since the science of astronomy is both of great difficulty and it

time-consuming to learn, for which the present life is scarcely
adequate, I have compiled this present little book of geomancy,
not from my own views, but from the rules and precepts of
established authorities in this art, up to the year of our lord 1391,
in the month of March. 68
A book of astrology, such as Al-kindi's Introductorium, or the short

treatise that Pelerin of Prussia prepared for Charles V, or the
translations of Ptolemy prepared for the same king by Nicole
Oresme, was evidently considered too hard for Richard at this
stage. Moreover, the compiler had been warned against being. too
long-winded. 69
The compiler' s first concern is that the reader should be assured
that his work does not fall under the ban of the theologians. He
therefore refers to a short work commonly attributed to Albertus
Magnus, generally called the Speculum Astronomie but with the
alternative title De scientiis licitis et illicitis. 70 This work is hardly an
impartial authority, for it seems to have been written by a partisan
at the time the University of Paris was rejecting certain doctrines
propounded in the occult sciences, in an effort to rehabilitate
astrology and geomancy from the taint of heterodoxy and indis-
criminate identification with necromancy. 71 The explanation of the
working principles of geomancy is similarly worded to avoid any
suggestion of pagan star-worship or devil-working. The soul of the
practitioner, it is pointed out, is of angelic form and fiery nature
and therefore seeks its own element in the heavens. The sand,
which is the medium of the art of geomancy, simply translates this
into visible form. Further, as if to dispel any lingering doubts, the
reader is informed that the judgments arrived at by geomancy are
just as good as those achieved through the methods of astrology. 72

Like Edward 111, Richard 11 was inclined to be cautious in his
dealings with the occult.
Before moving on to an explanation of the operative principles of
geomancy, the major theological objection to the practice of any
form of divination had to be dealt with. Accordingly the compiler
states that Hermes, Ptolemy and other wise men agree that all
things whether made by nature or art, are under the control of the
celestial powers. However, in man there are two principles of
operation, namely nature and the will. Only nature is ruled by the
heavens; the will is free. 73 So the practice of geomancy in no way
impedes man' s free choice between good and evil. In fact only
benefit can come of knowing the future, for good or ill, for if some
bad thing is foreseen it may be possible to avoid it entirely or at
least lighten the burden by timely prayer to God, and if some good
thing, then it can be made even better by adequate preparation.
Moreover, creating a convenient scapegoat, the author alleges that
it is astrologia, not the science of geomancy that lays down that a11
judgments are necessary.74 As Ptolemy says in his Quadripartitum,
'The wise man rules the stars'. 75 I have not been able to locate a
precise source for this compact apologia for the practice of geo-
mancy, but it summarises in an adept fashion the orthodox theo-
logical objections to divination and the usual rejoinders made by
the proponents of, in particular, astrology. Evidently some gesture
was still required towards the smouldering embers of the theologi-
cal debate, even in a book commissioned by and presented to a
king.
The main source for the operative seetions of Richard 11's geo-
mancy is the treatise of William of Moerbeke. 76 However, the most
distinctive feature of the king' s book is the set of tables in which
are laid out the 3,200 possible answers to twenty-five representa-
tive problems. 77 This is by far the longest seetion in the manuscript,
and because of its comprehensiveness it effectively eliminates the
need for any astrologer or geomancer to be on hand to interpret the
products of the geomantie procedure. 78 As the compiler points out
on fol. 9a, although there are sixteen geomantie figures, the
method of production of the 'judge' and 'witnesses' imposes limits
on the total number of possible outcomes. The source for these
tables is the Latin translation of the treatise of the Arabic astrologer
and geomancer Abdallah which was probably made in the four-
teenth century. 79 Abdallah' s treatise seems to have had a medieval
Royal Astrology 105
popularity, and besides turning up in Richard lI's book of divina-

tion, there was a version in the grand library of the Sorbonne. 80
The questions posed by Abdallah are highly traditional, and
they occur in more or less the same form in all the divinatory
sciences, inc1uding astrology, palmistry, physiognomy and geo-
mancy, and cannot be expected to provide us with any insights
into the preoccupations of medieval men or kings in particular.
The same issues concerned the c1ients of Renaissance astrologers
Simon Forman, John Dee, Robert Tresillian and their lesser col-
leagues. 81 Many, if not most, are universal enough in their applica-
tion, inc1uding the first anxiety, whether it is wise to put the
question at all? Whether the questioner will become rich or not?
How a pregnancy will fare and what of the baby? Whether a stplen
object will be recovered? Whether to accept a proposal of marriage?
In a sickly and plague-prone age, the chances of recovery of a siek
person is an understandable concern, and since communieations
were slow and travel hazardous, it is not surprising that it should
be asked whether a proposed voyage should be undertaken or if an
absent friend would return. Of equally universal concern are the
questions concerning the weather, buying, selling and business
dealing, and the dearness of food, as weIl as the fate of someone in
prison. The concerns of a more martial era are reflected in the five
questions concerning military matters, the fate of a besieged city,
or the possibility of its capture, the movement of armies, and the
choiee of victory between two armies.
The most sympathetic interpreter of the personality of Richard 11
cannot fail to lament his want of judgment and consistency. With
these faults of character, and be set with the inevitable problems
attending his failure to inspire and maintain personal loyalty, it
may be that Richard 11 was more inc1ined to find easy answers to
his problems in the tables of his geomancy than had been his
vigorous and decisive father and grandfather. In March 1391,
when the geomancy was completed, Richard's memory of the
triumph of the five appellant lords at the 'Merciless' Parliament,
whieh sat from February to June 1388, must have still been green.
Richard's friends and supporters, Suffolk, Vere and Tresilian, had
been condemned to death. Suffolk had died in 1389, and Vere died
in 1392, both without returning to England. It may be significant
for the prevalent opinion of astrology and sorcery that in one hostile
account of the execution of Tresillian, who had been Richard 11' s
chief justice, he was allegedly found to have attempted to secure
his own safety by the use of protective amulets, including astrol-

ogical tokens. 82 In May 1389 Richard had dismissed the appellant
lords from the council, and undertaken a personal rule, which in
1391 had not yet tumed to despotism.
We are on unsteady ground as long as we try to interpret
Richard 11' s book of divination in the light of his personal prob-
lems. In many ways, a more satisfactory context for the book is
provided away from English political intrigues, and within the
culture of the later medieval court. Whatever his political failings,
Richard 11 had no peer among his compatriots when it came to
fashion, style and a taste for the elegant. His love of books, delight
in portraiture and apparent interest in the occult sciences invite
comparison with the brilliant courts of the Holy Roman Emperor,
the king of France and his great magnates. It is certainly of rel-
evance to Richard II's taste in books that his father-in-Iaw, the Holy
Roman Emperor from 1378-1400, Wenceslaus 11 of Bohemia
(1378-1419), also possessed both a handsomely-illustrated book
of geomancy containing a representation of himself, and a
physiognomy.83 Geomancy could be represented as something of a
courtly fad. Among Richard's near-contemporaries, handbooks on
the art were owned by Charles V of France84, Humphrey, Duke of
Gloucester85 and John, Duke of Bedford. The Duke of Bedford also
commissioned a very long and elaborate Summa of physiognomy
entitled Reductorium phisionomie from Roland Scriptoris, the author
of his geomancy. 86 In the Italy most private libraries of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, such as those of the Dukes of Urbino and
Ferrara, and the Gonzaga, Visconti, Sforza and Medici families,
were weH represented in the occult sciences, including geo-
mancy.87 Indeed the Italians probably led this fashion along with
so many others into northern Europe in the course of the quat-
trocento. FinaHy, Henry VII had a fine edition of a number of
astronomical and astrological texts drawn up including, 'Tabulae
Ducis Glowcestriae in judiciis artis geomancie' (fos 277"-287) as weH as
the geomancy of Alpharinus in the translation of Plato of Tivoli. 88
The manuscript includes a portrait of the king on fol. 20l.
If Richard 11 had sought out a model for the pattern of his own
court in the matter of books, portraits and patronage of the subtle
sciences, he could hardly escape the figure of Charles V of France
(1364-80). Richard 11 was remembered by the French chroniclers as
a particular friend of France and when, in 1394, he married the
seven-year-old daughter of Charles VI, he was demonstrating his
Royal Astrology 107
firm intention of maintaining peace with France. His books and

portraits and his French marriage link him firmly to the great court
patrons, Jean the Good and the Valois brothers Philip the Hardy,
Jean, Duke of Berry, and above all Charles V, and their cousins
Jean the Fearless and Louis 11 of Anjou. 89
On his death in 1380, there were more than 1000 books in the
library of Charles V of France. When it was purchased by John,
Duke of Bedford, regent of France in 1424, it was already sadly
depleted, and there"are now only about 100 volumes that can be
identified. The importance of astrology and divination even among
these small remains of Charles V's great library is quite striking. 90
Among the many pictures of Charles V, several place him in his
study reading, surrounded by books,91 and on one occasion seated
among students (yet still wearing his crown) listening to a
lecture. 92 Evidently Charles V regarded himself, and wished him-
self to be regarded by others, as a learned man, skilled among
other things in the natural and occult sciences. Nicole Oresme was
commissioned to translate the Quadripartitum attributed to Ptolemy,
with the commentary by Haly ibn Ridwan,93 although there was
another French translation in the collection,94 a task he completed
in 1358--63. In the Prologue Oresme explains that the future Charles V
had wished to possess:
des livres in fran<.;ois de la plus noble science de cest siede, c' est
vraie astrologie sans superstecion, et par especial ce que en ont
compose les philosophes excellens et approves. 95
Charles' wish to have copies of the most important astrological

authors in French, which is the best indication that they were
intended for his own use, immediately distinguishes his library
from Richard 11' s Latin book of geomancy. The French king took
these matters more to heart. He evidently approved of geomancy
as part of 'la plus noble science de cest siede' described by Oresme, as
he owned a French translation of the geomancy attributed to
William of Moerbeke made by Gautier le Breton. 96 In 1361, on
Christmas Eve, Robert Godefroy, 'maistre en ars et astronomien' of
the Dauphin, completed his translation, Le livre des neu! anciens
juges d'astrologie. 97 In the formal dedication portrait, Charles, who
was not yet king, is addressed by the nine judges - namely
Alkindi, Zael, Abemath (Abraham ibn Ezra?), Messehalla, Doro-
theus, Jergis, Aristotle, Albumasar and Omar (otherwise called
Tyberias) - in fact the whole galaxy of astrological authorities. The

work is in two parts, the first is described as 'general et introductoire'
and contains abrief introduction to the principles of astrology. The
second part which is 'plus especial' contains the replies of the judges
to the hypothetical problems posed by the prince. 98
The attitude of debate adopted by Charles in this miniature has a
certain appropriateness, for he chose to patronise both astrologers
and their opponents. The interested, indulgent side of this rela-
tionship with the noble art is represented most fully by another of
the translations commissioned for his collection by the king, Ox-
ford MS St John's College 164. 99 This manuscript contains a num-
ber of astrological texts compiled and translated by Pelerin de
Prusse, namely:
(1) Treatise on the Sphere (fol. 1).

(2) Treatise on the twelve houses of the planets by Pelerin de
Prusse (fol. 33). Dated 11 July 1361.
(3) Treatise, also by Pelerin de Prusse, on the use of the Astrolabe
(fol. 111). Completed on 9 May 1362.
(4) A translation of Alcabitius' Introductorium ad magisterium judi-
ciorum astrorum (fol. 119).
(5) Astrological tables (fols 155-156).
(6) Horoscopes of Charles V and four of his children (fols 158 -160).
V
With these treatises translated by Pelerin de Prusse, who refers to

himself in the most humble terms and about whom little else is
known,100 Charles would have been able to cast a nativity, elect a
suitable time for any major event, and judge when to be bled.
Pelerin adds that he has put special emphasis on matters that
would be of use to princes:
Et pour acomplir le mandement de mon dit tres redoubte seig-

neur, auquel ne ignorance ne autre occasion ne puist accuser, je
escriray soubz correction un petit livret, a mon pouoir, de la
partie des eleccions, uquel je assembleray les plus communes et
plus necessaire choses de la dite partie, et especialment matieres
touchans la sante du corps et fait humain generalment, et causes
royaulx et de princes pour garder naturelment leur commence-
ment en quekonques matire. 101
The horoscopes are not part of the original compilation but were
Royal Astrology 109
added after Charles became king, probably, as Poulle has demon-

strated, between 1366 and June 1377. 102
If we consult the various inventories of the library of Charles V
drawn up in his lifetime and shortly after, the extent of the king's
interest in the occult sciences becomes apparent. 103 Out of 1239
items listed by Delisie, 135 or about 11 per cent concern astrology,
geomancy, chiromancy and necromancy, so it would be wrong to
overemphasize this area of the great collector's many interests. 104
He owned Latin versions of many of the standard treatises on
astrology by Abraham ibn Ezra, Albumasar, MessahaHah, Alcabi-
tius, Haly, Ptolemy and Zael, as weH as more recent writers such
as John Ashenden, Guido Bonatti and Firminus de Bellavalle.
There are no less than thirty books on geomancy, many in French,
attributed variously to Bartholemew of Pairna, Jean de Murs,
William of Moerbecke, Peter of Spain, Robert de Marmillon 'an-
glois', and Gerard of Cremona, as weIl as five books of palmistry
and one on necromancy, in French. Besides this fine collection,
Charles V also set up, at the instigation of the court physician,
Master Gervais Chrestien, a college of astrology and medicine
within the University of Paris, and endowed it with a usefullibrary
and the necessary astronomical instruments. 105 The foundation
statutes of the College, which was named after Master Gervais, are
still extant. 106
But this would be to give only one side of the picture. Although
a fervent and interested patron of astronomers and astrologers,
Charles V was equally open to the opponents of astrology and all
forms of divination. In Le Songe du Vieil Pelerin, written in 1389 by
Philippe de Mezieres, at one time a trusted intimate of the king, a
particular warning is directed at captains of armies. They must
guard themselves and their men against:
all sorceries, of signs, divination, forbidden sciences and all

astrological judgments practised in contradiction to free will, by
which judgments a number of great lords have found them-
selves deceived. 107
Philippe goes on to bemoan the evil influence of the Saracens upon

the Spaniards as regards their dependence on signs, sorcery,
astrology and divination. Personal experience is reflected here for,
early in life, 'jeune et 101' as he puts it, Philippe was himself much
ensnared by the astrology of Spain. 108
Philippe can provide us with a link between the courts of

Charles V and Richard 11. Inspired by a sense of mission, the
former Chancellor of Cyprus can be found, some years after the
completion of his Songe, addressing the King of England with a
plea for the foundation of a new military order, and for the uniting
of Christendom. 109 In the course of the allegory of his letter to
Richard 11, Philippe describes belief in sorcery, divination and
astrology as one of the chief sources of the strife between princes
that impedes true christian unity. In Coopland's translation:
There flowed from the said troubled fountain four main rivulets,
from which all the inhabitants, or most of them, took their drink.
The effect of the first of these was to incline the people to various
heresies; the second to vile superstition and sorcery, the third to
magic arts and the invocation of demons; and the fourth to
replace free will by the judgments of astrology. The first rivulet
bore the name of Perpetual Fear, the second Labour without
Rest, the third Lack of All Good Things, and the fourth Mis-
understanding and Ingratitude Towards God. 110
Philippe de Mezieres may weIl have served the same function in

the courts of Charles V and Richard 11, as Thomas Bradwardine in
an earlier generation at the court of Edward III.
It is also at the court of Charles V that one of the first systematic
treatises attacking divination and astrology was written. Nicole
Oresme wrote his Tractatus contra astrologos before 1361, and a
French translation, the Livre de Divinacions, between 1361 and
1365. 111 A third treatise written against astrology, Quotlibeta, was
written by Oresme in 1370. 112 In the way of most medieval so-
called critiques of astrology, Oresme is in fact generally concemed
only to refute the attempt to apply predictions to individuals or
particular cases and thus fly in the face of the orthodox doctrine of
free will, allied with a defence of 'true' or 'legitimate' astrology,
which is of course a useful and noble science. 113
To princes he reserved this advice:
I say that a prince and others ought to show much honour to

true students of astrology who make tables of observations and
correct procedures for judgments and those who know how to
consider rationally the natures of things and are able to distin-
guish the true from the false. 114
Royal Astrology 111
In his Contra astrologos Oresme proceeds methodically to dis-

tinguish proper from improper astrology, and then to give his
recommendation that princes study and support sections of this
useful art. But where the Secreta secretorum had advised the prince
to do nothing without consulting his astrologers, Oresme was
more cautious. It was probably a good thing that they acquainted
themselves with the science of astrology, but it would be impru-
dent and even presumptuous for them to devote too much time to
the technical details. Rather they should rely on the advice of
experts. If necessary a prince should support students of the
approved branch of astrology out of the state purse, but they must
not be elevated to positions of public responsibility unless they
demonstrated the necessary qualities. Superstitious diviners ought
to be shunned for the false, worthless and dangerous deceivers
they are. 115
A similar position was adopted by Jean Gerson (1363-1429),
Chancellor of Paris University, and the great conciliarist, Pierre
d' Ailly (1350-1420), both of whom wrote extensively against the
practice of divination. 116 In a letter to d' Ailly, Gerson wrote of his
intention to warn the king directly of the dangers of
superstition. 117 Thls intention was fulfilled by his Trilogium astrolo-
giae theologizate written at Lyons in November 1419 and addressed
to the Dauphin, the future Charles VII and the son of Charles VI.
Like Oresme, Gerson is not wholly against astrology. Theology, he
says, does not denounce what is not worthy of denunciation in
astrology, a noble science and one revealed to the first patriarch
Adam and to his followers. But true astrology has been tainted and
Gerson feels bound to warn the Dauphin against certain profane
men, playing the philosopher under the guise of astrology. A
practical recommendation is that hopeful advisers to the king
should receive a professional examination in their art. llS
By the beginning of the fifteenth century, astrology had attained
a position of sufficient familiarity at the French court for it to
acquire its own theology. It is perhaps not too fanciful to imagine a
line of descent, in the royal imagination, stemming from the
Alexander who is represented in the Secreta secretorum, through
Alfonso the Wise of Spain, and the Emperor Frederick ll, to
Charles V of France. 119 The heritage of this line was a respect for
learning of all kinds, a particular affinity with the branches of the
occult sciences, in particular astrology, and a keen pleasure in the
company and patronage of scholars and of course astrologers.
Richard 11 was alert to all the trappings and glory of the royal
office, and even lobbied for the imperial crown. It is not unlikely
that his illuminated book of geomancy was acquired in the same
spirit as he developed other marks of his royal dignity, such as his
personal emblems of the white hart and the broomscod of the
Plantagenets, and his various portraits. Like the kings and em-
perors of continental Europe, Richard considered it fitting to com-
mission a book of geomancy, though he does not appear to have
gone so far as to have employed astrologers to cast judgments on
matters as they arose.
It is in the context of the openness of the French royal court to
astrologers, and the qualified enthusiasm of the court of Richard 11,
that we can turn to the Recueil des plus celebres astrologues et quelques
hommes doctes of Symon de Phares. 120 Symon wrote this treatise in
the year of the death of Charles VIII (d. 7 April 1498), after he had
been subjected to a determined but ultimately ineffectual attempt
to forbid his practice of astrology by the Archbishop of Lyon, the
Parlement de Paris and the faculty of Theology of the University of
Paris. 121 In spite of the fact that Symon had been consulted in
November 1490 by Charles VIII himself, on 26 March 1494 the
Parlement directed that his books be confiscated and that he be
handed over to the bishop and inquisitor of Paris for further
examination. The Recueil was written in the hope that a reasoned
defence of his art, and an account of the astrologers throughout
history who had faithfully served kings and princes, would per-
suade the king to take up his case and restore both his books and
his right to practise. Symon's book is full of historical detail and is
especially rich for the period of the Hundred Years' War and for
the realms of England and France. He evidently had the use of an
excellent library, quite possibly that of the college of medicine and
astrology originally set up under the patronage of Charles V at the
instigation of the royal physician, Master Gervais Chrestien. l22
In Symon de Phares' account of Thomas Bradwardine,l23 we
have already encountered a characteristic example of Symon' s
decided tendency to distort the available evidence, and even in-
vent appropriate material, in order to demonstrate his case. We
must assume that Symon had access to sources that have now
disappeared, yet his analysis is also curiously limited. He describes
such worthies as Adam, Bede, Roger Bacon, and Robert Gros-
seteste as astrologers in the service of kings, when this is emphati-
cally not the case, yet he omits to mention the possible connection
Royal Astralagy 113
between John Ashenden and the court of Edward m. 124 What

Symon can and does provide for us is a wealth of evidence as to the
more mundane, particular and domestic uses of astrology outside
the courts and the universities, for which we have very little
information. It would be unwise to place overmuch reliance on the
details of Symon' s account of the astrologers who were consulted
at many critical stages of the French wars. But even if we are
allowed to doubt that so many learned men predicted the out-
comes of the Battles of Crecy and Poitiers, the capture of King
John, and the same king's merciful deliverance from the English in
1360, or his death in London on 8 April 1364,125 it may weIl be true
that the captains of both sides regularly consulted astrologers in
the course of campaigns. Richard 11126 and his child queen, Isabella
of France,127 appear in many prophetie prognostications ascribed
by Symon de Phares to astrologers in both France and England.
Typical of the more extravagant claims made by astrologers is
Symon' s account of the feats of Yves de Saint Branchier whose
martial prowess was complemented by his skill in astrology. Mas-
ter Yves was an expert in the branch of astrology known as
'elections', by which he could choose propitious days to encounter
the enemy. On one notable occasion, he caused the overthrow of
30,000 English troops led by John de Montfort and the Duke of
Lancaster (Henry de Grosmont) because he took the precaution of
calculating their horoscopes and had discovered the unfortunate
days in their nativities. l28 A secret weapon indeed. Such men were
also to be seen on the English side. Master George Scorf, an
Englishman, a 'pansianaire' of Richard 11 when he was residing in
Bordeaux, is described as 'mault expert en la science des estailles':
He predicted to the king that he would become hateful to his

vassals in a certain year, soon after King Richard had returned
the town and castle of Brestz to the duke of Brittany and the
town of Cherbourg to the king of Navarre, which was why the
English came to so despise their said king Richard although he
had reigned over them peaceably for about 22 years. 129
This is a perceptive analysis of the final cause of the downfall of

Richard 11, but who was George Scorf? Richard was born at St
Andrew's Abbey, Bordeaux on 6 January 1367 but was taken to
England in January 1371, and he does not seem to have returned to
the country of his birth except for his wedding to lsabella, daughter
of Charles VI, in 1396. If he was maintained by the king, Scorf does

not appear in the Close or Patent Rolls for the years 1367-71. The
German 'George' would be a very unusual name for an English-
man in this period, so perhaps this is a case of mistaken identity.
Richard 11 was also served by astrologers in England. Master
William Derby, an Englishman, a devout Benedictine monk, was
also a scholar of the science of astrology.l30 Derby discovered the
disloyal plot of certain traitorous English lords against their king,
to set the Duke of Gloucester on the throne. Emden notes that a
William Derby was granted licence to study at Oxford on 4 March
1424, but if this is the same person he would have been a student at
a somewhat mature age. 131 Richard is also said to have consulted
Master Phelippe de Bardiz, alias Brandis, of Navarre and to have
taken hirn with hirn to Ireland as he was considered a most expert
astrologer and physician. 132 There are remarkably complete ac-
counts of Richard II's Irish expedition of 1399, but Phelippe de
Bardiz does not appear among them. 133 Perhaps we should there-
fore give slight credence to de Phares' account of the way Bardiz
predicted to the king all that would happen to him, yet how
Richard persisted with his intended voyage. The death of the king
was also foreseen by Master Thomas Scropz who, at the advanced
age of eighty-three, a most notable doctor in theology and astrol-
oger, predicted the division coming to England in 1398 and 1399. 134
Again, de Phares' testimony cannot be verified. No graduate of
that name is noted among the registers of fourteenth-century
graduates of Oxford, Cambridge or Scotland, though he may of
course have taken his degree from another university in Europe.
Yet another fore teller of Richard' s deposition was Monsieur
Pierre d'Illacq, a doctor of the order of the Templars, much ad-
mired for the particular judgments which he made for several
English at Bordeaux and in Guienne. He enjoyed noble favour and
was called to the service of the Duke of Gloucester, and predicted
by the revolution of the year the death and exile of many princes of
England and the division of nobles and the blood royal. For the
most part he relied on the casting of individual nativities but, by
way of an exception, he predicted from the revolution of the year
(predictions based on the configuration of the heavens each year
when the sun entered the first degree of Aries) the false behaviour
of the Parliament of London when, without cause, they would
degrade good king Richard. 135 A Master Edouart Wihrell, 'Englois
GaUois' foresaw the abusive insolence of the English dergy when
Royal Astrology 115
they would support Henry of Lancaster. l36 Master Eustace de

Fregin also predicted the violent death of good king Richard, who
was traitorously killed by lord 'Perre d'Exton' by the command of
King Henry. 137
For this incident, and his general attitude toward Richard 11,
Symon clearly relies on the French chronicle tradition. The account
of Richard' s murder by Sir Peter Exton is probably the invention of
the author of the Chronicque de la Traison et Mori de Richard II, the
most popular chronicle of the reign of the last Plantagenet. l38
Having uncovered one such fabrication - since Sir Peter Exton
never existed, Eustace de Fregin obviously cannot have predicted
his murder of King Richard - it is difficult not to feel justified in
suspecting many more. Yet Symon often alleges to have seen a
particular prediction, such as the judgments of Master Pol de
Berthol,139 or the nativity of Thomas Blunt, cast by Patrice
Beriulz,14O or the predictions of Richard de Vinderose 141 with his
own eyes. Indeed the nativity cast by Patrice Beriulz, Symon
claims to have received from an old man (or an old document?) in
Oxford, while on a trip to England. l42 He may be a liar, but we
cannot assurne that Symon did not take some pains to collect the
material for his book, if only to give an air of veracity to the whole.
In spite of his professed sympathy for Richard 11, Symon also
gives an account of a number of astrologers who gave faithful
service to Henry IV. A Master Geuffroy de Lestainx, doctor in
medicine and a native of Rouen, was according to de Phares,
'regent en l'Universite de Oxonfort' as well as a royal astrologer and
pensioner of Henry of Lancaster. Like so many others, he also
knew that 1399 would be a year of great significance for England,
as weIl as being able to give the new king useful advice regarding a
number of plots against him. l43 Master Henry Seldem was known
as a most subtle astrologer and calculator. He foretold the success
of King Henry at the siege of Rouen in 1419 and other military
matters. l44 If we have been tempted again to disbelieve Symon' s
claims, he mentions that he has seen predictions made by Richard
Vinderose for King Henry, written in Paris in his own little book,
in his own hand. l45
Enough has probably been said to demonstrate the folly of
relying too heavily on the Recueil to demonstrate the popularity of
astrologers at the courts of England and France in the later Middle
Ages. As Murray points out, Symon de Phares was a 'birth- and
class-snob',I46 and his livelihood and reputation rested on his
power to persuade King Charles VIII that astrologers, such as

himself, should be protected from the theologians, and hand-
somely patronised. As we have seen with the astrologers 5ymon
alleges to have been associated with Richard 11 and Isabella of
France, and later Henry IV, these circumstances are not conducive
to reliable and honest reporting. It is not altogether impossible that
astrologers were consulted by courtiers, military commanders, and
perhaps on occasion by the kings of England and France and their
families, especially in France, but this is not the same thing as
maintaining astrologers at court.
50 far as Richard 11 is concerned, he seems to have known little
about astrology, and was cautious even in commissioning a book
on the less controversial subject of geomancy. It is quite likely that
he was inspired even as much as this by the example and pre-
cedent of Charles V of France, or Richard's father-in-Iaw, Wences-
laus of Bohemia. Certainly the English tradition on matters relating
to the occult is marked by suspicion and scandal from both the
chroniclers and the theologians. Yet with the example of France,
and even Italy, so closely before the English upper classes, astrol-
ogy was beginning to make its presence feIt, particularly through
the agency of foreign astrologers on visits to England. The reign of
Richard 11' s usurper and his successors opens a new phase in the
history of English astrology.
7
Horoscopes and Henry V:
Astrology in the
Ascendant
On the basis of the evidence we have presented so far, it would
seem that at the dose of the reign of Richard TI 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. Never-
theless, 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.
The common Arabic system divided astrology into four branches,
namely revolutions, interrogations, elections, and nativities. 1 Rev-
olutions concemed events of a wide or universal application, such
as religion, wars, plagues, the political fortunes of kings and
empires, prices, and the weather, and depended on a dose
analysis of the celestial bodies at the moment the sun entered
Aries, the 'birthday' of the year. Interrogations were predictions
conceming a particular question, such as the suitability of a mar-
riage, the outcome of a battJ.e, or the prospect of a joumey, and
depended on the positions of the celestial bodies at the time the
question was put. Elections provided a means of selecting pro-
pitious times for the performance of an important function, such as a
coronation, or the entry of an army into battle. Finally, nativities
were predictions concerning the earthly fortunes, character,
health, and general future prospects of any individual, according
to the state of the heavens at the moment of birth, or occasionally
the supposed time of conception.
To determine matters raised under any of the branches of judi-
cial astrology, the astrologer would generally construct a scheme
117
(schema) of the heavens, also known as a horoscope. A horoscope is

a schematic representation of the disposition of the zodiac at a
given moment of time, or more precisely, when a given degree of
the zodiac, the ascendant, rises above the eastem horizon. A
competent astrologer must be able to find the ascendant, deter-
mine the longitudes of the sun, the moon and the other planets,
the ascending and descending nodes of the moon and the pars
fortune, and calculate the boundaries of the twelve mundane
houses. 1a Medieval astrologers, influenced as they were by Arabic
authorities, often included in their horoscopes other partes or 'lots'
formulated by analogy with the pars fortune, which alone was
recognised by Ptolemy. 2 The subsequent interpretation of this data
depended on the relative positions of the planets and other astro-
logically significant points within the scheme. The whole process of
casting and interpreting horoscopes has been described in all its
intricate detail by North, Hartner and others, and can be chased up
via the bibliographical appendix at the end of this book. 3
If no observation had been made at the time of birth, all was not
lost. The ascendant could be verified from the annimodar, if the
hour was known approximately. 4 This technique had particular
importance for the English horoscopes we shall now consider. The
most sophisticated and knowledgeable of astrologers might also
use a method known as the trutina to consider the positions of the
celestial bodies at the moment of conception. 5
The time involved in these calculations should not be underesti-
mated. Emmanuel Poulle has reckoned from personal experience
that, using ordinary tables, it would take at least four hours to
establish the longitudes of the five planets, the moon, the sun, and
the dragon for any prescribed moment. 6 It was possible, however,
to reduce the computational burden considerably by the use of
instruments, with or without auxiliary tables. An equatorium,
such as that described by Campanus of Novara in his Theorica
planetarum (c.1261-5)/ allowed the speedy location of the planets,
the most demanding task facing the potential astrologer. Through-
out the following centuries there was something of a drive among
European astronomers and instrument-makers to improve and
simplify mechanical devices which would permit the scholar with
no special mathematical skills to cast a horoscope. 8 The same
process of simplification and revision can be observed in the
astronomical tables compiled during this period, to which the
astrologer was obliged to turn if he wished to imbue his observa-
Horoscopes and Henry V: Astrology in the Ascendant 119
tions and judgements with an air of mathematical precision. 9 Lynn

White has argued that the practical requirements of medical astrol-
ogers, many of whom enjoyed court patronage, were responsible
for the technological advances represented by the new instruments
and tables. 10 In fact, it is possible to argue that the popularisation
of astrology, and its intimate association with political and court
affairs, depended on the development of new devices which re-
duced the time and effort required to cast horoscopes. Like the
Renaissance clients of Simon Forman, medieval courtiers de-
manded immediate answers to their enquiries, and were less
prepared to wait for the tedious computation of the planetary
positions. The practical consequence of these developments is the
appearance in manuscripts of more horoscopes, the earliest dating
from the later years of the fourteenth century, and gradually
building in numbers in the following century.
In total I have examined about twenty medieval English hor-
oscopes, most of which relate to the affairs of the English mon-
archy. Ordinary men mayaiso have arranged for their horoscopes
to be cast, but the evidence for this has not survived. Even the
nativities of kings are generally to be found, not in handsomely-
bound and illuminated volumes, but tucked away in the flyleaves
and vacant pages of other books, as if their compilers were
ashamed or careless of the value of their work. Almost without
exception the schemes are anonymous, and it would be very
unwise to assurne that these horoscopes were commissioned by
their subjects or even within their subjects' lifetimes. Nevertheless,
they amply repay a detailed examination, if only to demonstrate
the working principles of the craft of the medieval English astrologer.
The earliest English nativities I have encountered are those of
'Edward of Carnarvon' (Edward 11), born on 25 April 1282, 'Edward
of Windsor' (Edward III), born on 13 November 1312, and 'Edward
of Woodstock' (Edward, the Black Prince), born on 15 June 1330,
which occur in a fifteenth-century manuscript in the Royal collec-
tion, which otherwise contains a number of astrological and astro-
nomical texts. 11 If the three Edwards had commissioned, or at least
examined these nativites, they would certainly have been follow-
ing an ancient and well-established tradition. Horoscopes from
c1assical Greek and Roman times, Byzantium and Islam are domi-
nated by the concerns of noble, wealthy and influential clients. 12 In
all ages, moreover, the fortunes of such people have been of
interest to an audience wider than that of the subject' s family
circ1e. Emmanuel Poulle has discussed two French collections of

horoscopes of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 13 About the
year 1500, Antonius Gazius compiled a casebook, now in the
Bodleian Library, of the horoscopes of Italian noblemen and
women entitled Nativitates virorum Illustrium et alia Astrologica
notabilia. 14 The casebooks and astrological notes of the English
Renaissance astrologers, John Dee, Simon Forman, and William
Lilly, are also littered with the horoscopes of the great, some cast
on commission, others to secure patronage, others simply out of
their inherent political interest.
Poulle suggests that the horoscopes of Charles V and his chil-
dren to be found in Oxford St John's College MS 164, fols 158v-l60v
form an exception to the general pattern and were assembled as a
kind of 'livret familiel' by a solicitous father, anxious to have at hand
all the astrological data required by a physician. 15 It might be
objected that in the practice of astrological medicine, the nativity of
the patient was of less relevance than the phase of the moon and
the state of the other celestial bodies at the time an illness strikes,
or when phlebotomy, purging, or uroscopy was to be performed.
In France, as in England, the taste for collections of horoscopes of
powerful and famous individuals gained in popularity throughout
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 16
Retuming to the horoscopes of the three Edwards, it is c1ear that
the whole manuscript dates from no earlier than the second quar-
ter of the fifteenth century. A note of the nativity of Richard
Neville, Earl of Warwick, on 22 November 1428, occurs on fol. I,
and on fol. 180 there is similar astrological data for the coronation
of Henry VI, between ten and twelve a.m. on 6 October 1429. 17 A
partially erased note of ownership on folio one verso reads, 'Iste
liber est fratris Radulphi . . .'. We can only speculate, but this friar is
perhaps the same as the 'frater Randulphus' or 'Randolfe' who is
attributed with the authorship of a set of tables with canons of the
aspects of planets for Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in one
manuscript. 18 In the canon to his tables Friar Randolf refers to
Oxford as his lalma mater' but he seems to have escaped notice by
Emden. 19 There is another copy of the 'Tabulae illustrissimi principis
et nobilissimi domini mei Humfridi ducis Gloucestrie' in Lewis of Caer-
leon's autograph manuscript in the Cambridge University Library,
but it is anonymous. 20
The omission may well have been deliberate. In 1425, Duke
Humphrey was involved in serious dispute with the Chancellor,
Henry Beaufort, then Bishop of Windsor, over the extent of the

duke's jurisdiction. Part of the complaint against Gloucester was
that he had removed a certain Friar Randolf from the custody of
the Tower of London. Randolf was languishing in the Tower after
a sensational series of events. In May 1419 he was accused with the
widowed Queen Joan, whose confessor he then was, of having
attempted to destroy the king, 'by sorcerye and nygromancye'.
Sensible of his fate, Friar Randolf fled to Guernsey but was cap-
tured, brought before King Henry V at Nantes and committed. 21
According to the account in the Rolls of Parliament, where Randolf
is given the full title, 'Friar John Randolf of the order of friars
minor', Randolf accused Queen Joan of treason, but there is no
mention of his own guilt of sorcery.22 That he was spared an
immediate execution for treason suggests that there was some
doubt concerning his involvement. Ultimately he was returned to
the Tower where, according to one chronicler, he was murdered
bya sun-struck priest in 1429. 23 Although he is described as, 'Sacre
Theologie Professor' and, 'Maistre of Dyvynyte', Randolf' s tables
leaves no doubt that he was also a competent astrologer. By his
own account he sympathised with those who laboured under the
burden of calculations necessary for those who wished to analyse
the present, past and future effects of the planets. 24 Perhaps it was
this facility which lent substance to the belief that Queen Joan used
his particular skill to endanger the king. We cannot establish that
this same Friar Randolf owned MS Royal 12 F.xvii, or that he was
responsible for collecting or casting the three royal nativities it
contains, but he would certainly have possessed the necessary
expertise.
If we compare the horoscopes of the three Edwards with those
analyzed by Emmanuel Poulle of Charles V of France and his four
children, with their careful attention to the style of date and
astronomical usage, 25 it becomes apparent that the three English
nativities are very unlikely to be the result of observations made at
the time of birth. They might reasonably have been constructed on
the basis of contemporary recollections of the births of the three
Edwards, or of tradition recalled as late as the fifteenth century.
Besides the year and the day of the month, the date of these
horoscopes is expressed by reference to the relevant feast day, the
golden number and the dominicalletter, information which could
be extracted from any calendar. The time of the day is given with
considerably less precision. Edward II is said to have been born, on
25 April 1282, before noon. In fact the time indicated by the

horoseope is about 8.28 a.m. Edward III's time of birth is given as
'in principio aurore' or 17 hours, 43 minutes, and 24 seeonds after
the previous midday. As all other measurements in the horoseope
are expressed with an aeeuracy no greater than degrees, this time
looks like an approximation based on the known time of dawn
given in tables.
The time of birth of Edward of Woodstoek, the Blaek Prinee, is
also expressed idiosyneratieally as 'altitudo solis 50 gradu', or about
9.45 a.m. if we refer to the Kalendarium of Nicholas of Lynn for 15
June 1330. 26 By referenee to the horoseope however, the time
appears to be about 9.30 a.m. 27 It sounds rather as if these hor-
oseopes were eonstrueted from the living memories of the times of
births as being, 'about dawn', or 'in the morning', or 'with the sun
at about a eertain position in the sky'.
There is nothing to indicate how the horoseopes were inter-
preted. In fact, unlike most extant printed Greek, Islamic or Byzan-
tine horoseopes, the vast majority of late medieval English examples
are not aeeompanied by any astrologieal notes, however brief. 28
The possible interpretations of astrologieal data being legion, it is
best not even to attempt to deduee how these horoseopes might
reflect on the eharaeters of their subjects. But to sum up, on the
best interpretation of the evidenee, the nativities of Edward 11,
Edward III and Edward, the Blaek Prinee, in MS Royal 12 F.xvii
may be based on estimates of the times of birth subsequently
refined by one of several possible methods, eompiled for anti-
quarian or dynastie interest by some later astrologer sueh as Friar
John Randolf, eonfessor to Queen Joan and astronomer to Duke
Humphrey of Gloueester. They eannot be taken as evidenee that
the three Edwards had any interest in astrology.
Nativities of Edward III and Edward the Blaek Prinee are also to
be found in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 192, fos 109v
and 110. This is a seventeenth-eentury manuseript, but it eontains
eopies of mueh older manuseripts, most of which were made by
George Wharton (1617-82). The two nativities are in Ashmole's
hand, who claims a more ancient pedigree for both of them. The
nativity of Edward 11 is said to be taken from the window of the
house in which Master Bruen, eanon of Windsor, onee was. 29
Riehard Bruerne (1491?-1565), professor of Hebrew, fellow of
Lineoln College, Oxford and Eton, was installed Canon of Christ
Chureh in 1553 and Canon of Windsor in May 1557. 30 The eentral
square of the scheme reads 'Figura maximi Regis Edwardi Tertij huius
Collegij fundatoris Nativitatis anno domini 1312 Nov. 13.' The college
referred to is the Collegiate Church of Windsor, actually instituted
by Edward 11, but established by a charter of foundation by
Edward III on 6 August 1348. 31
5ince Windsor had already been favoured by centuries of royal
attention by the time Bruen noted down the nativity of Edward III
from one of the windows, it cannot of course substantiate any
putative interest by that sovereign in astrology, any more than his
horoscope in M5 Royal 12 F.xvii. But if we scan the horizon for
possible casters of this horoscope, it may be relevant that Lewis of
Caerleon, a physician and possibly astrologer to various members
of the family of Henry VII, was made on 3 August 1488 a grant for
life, 'to be one of the knights of the king's alms in the free chapel of
the college of 5t Mary the Virgin, 55 George the Martyr and
Edward the Confessor in Wyndesore castle'.32 We might suppose
that a practising astrologer, conscious of the tyranny of royal
favour as Caerleon certainly was, might well have chosen to cast
the nativity of his late royal benefactor.
The horoscope of Edward III taken by Bruen from 5t George' s
chapel, Windsor, is not quite identical with that in M5 Royal 12
F.xvii, but it shares the same ascendant and, evidently, the same
tradition as to the time of the monarch' s birth. 33 As it stands, the
horoscope of this highly-successful and admired king is so heavy
with auspices as to appear contrived. The sun in the house of the
ascendant is a mere thirty minutes past opposition with Jupiter,
and 2 after opposition with the Lot of Fortune. In the same house,
Mercury is in opposition to the Moon, who is 5 from her exaltation
and, most significantly, Mars in his day domicile, 5corpio, is 2
after conjunction with Venus. (In the M5 Royal horoscope, the
conjunction is exact.) Mars, moreover, is the day lord and Venus
the night ruler of the watery triplicity which includes 5corpio, and
the ascendant lies in the finis govemed by Mars. Ominously,
5atum is in his day domicile, Capricom, but his virtue is impeded
by his position in the weak second house ('cadens') and in the night
half of the horoscope. In the seventh house, also known as the
descendant or occasus, Jupiter is J030' from conjunction with the
Lot of Fortune. 34 We have already expressed the need for caution
in the interpretation of astrological schemes without contemporary
commentary. But generally the overwhelming dominance of Mars
in the nativity cannot be gainsaid, nor the overall propitious force
of the significators. Even on an unsophisticated reading of his

horoscope, Edward III was assured by the stars of his success in
battle, and the prosperity of his reign.
It was a scheme worthy to be set in a window, and forms an
interesting parallel to the Mercury Horoscope of Marcantonio
Michiel of Venice (15 June 1527),35 or the horoscopes incorporated
into the ceilings of a number of sacred and secular buildings of
Renaissance Italy, most notably those executed for Agostino Chigi
(b. 1 December 1466).36 By analogy with these magnificent Italian
schemes, we could see the horoscope of Edward III as an affirma-
tion of the celestial bounty that attended his reign, and the super-
natural concerns that consolidated their forces at his birth. As
such, it would be a statement more typical of the fifteenth century,
than of Edward III's own reign. From what we know already of
Edward III's attitude towards astrology, it would be most un-
characteristic for him to have commissioned his own nativity, or to
have displayed it in the royal chapel, and it is probably safe to
conclude that none of these horoscopes has any direct, contempor-
ary connection with the king. Rather they are evidence of the
sentiment of a slightly later period, when the astrological indi-
cators of a king's nativity, or those of his predecessors, were
assumed to provide insights into his character and prospects.
The scheme of the nativity of Edward, the Black Prince, in the
same manuscript, is dated 15 June 1330 and is taken, allegedly, 'ex
manuscripto veteri M. Allen'.37 Thomas Allen (1542-1632) was a
mathematician, collector of manuscripts, and astrologer to Dudley,
Earl of Leicester, and Elizabeth I, and Ashmole possessed copies of
a number of his astrological writings. 38 140 manuscripts once
owned by Allen are now in the Digby collection in the Bodleian
Library. If the horoscope of Edward, the Black Prince, is among
them, it has not been noted in Macray's index to the catalogue. 39
As with the two nativities of Edward III, there is considerable
agreement between the horoscopes of the Black Prince in Royal 12
F.xv and Ashmole 192, though the ascendant is not the same. A
third source gives yet another time for the king's birth. 40 Again,
there seem to be no compelling reasons for associating these
horoscopes with the Prince of Wales.
In the flyleaves of the last-named manuscript are five schemes
concerning the coronation of Edward III and the nativity, career
and coronation of Richard H. 41 These horoscopes are in a slightly
different class to those considered so far, as they have some claim
to being contemporary, or nearly contemporary, with the subjects

they consider. We approach first the figure concerning the corona-
tion of Edward III, 'prout repperi in libro monachi de eboraco'. The only
extant chronicle associated with the monastery of St Mary' s York is
the Anonimalle Chronicle 1333-1381, but this does not mention the
coronation of Edward III, nor do any of the historians of the church
of York edited by Raine. 42 Leland knew of two other 5t Mary' s
chronicles, so perhaps it is to one of these that our astrologer
refers, or to some other lost chronicle, or perhaps the reference is
contained in the unpublished French Brut which precedes the
Anonimalle Chronicle in the manuscript. 43 Although the reign of
Edward III was reckoned for administrative purposes to commence
on 25 January 1326, the day of his coronation according to Muri-
muth, it was 1 February in his fourteenth year of age. With the 5un
in 11 Aquarius and an ascendant of 18 Gemini however, the
horoscope is set for 23 January 1327 (more usually 1326), at about
four minutes after midday. By the astrologer' s own admission, this
horoscope was calculated after the event to which it refers by
gleaning the relevant time of the event from a writlen source.
It is evident that the horoscopes relating to Richard 11 in the same
manuscript have also been cast by someone who was not present
to make observations of the heavens at the significant moments. In
fact, these figures provide a good demonstration of the Annimodar
principle in action. 44 Fol. IV contains a figure of the heavens at the
time of the New Moon immediately preceding the nativity of
Richard 11, in 20 Capricorn on 1 January 1367 at 9.25 a.m. 4S The
astrologer, according to rules peculiar to himself, determined that
Jupiter ruled this syzygy and hence that Richard 11 was born with
16 Gemini in the ascendant. The Annimodar could only be used to
verify the ascendant when the sign of the zodiac was already
known. 5ince it takes approximately one hour and forty-five mi-
nutes for Gemini to rise at this time of the year, the astrologer
could not manipulate the time of birth to occur outside this time-
span. This was most important because the ascendant determines
the boundaries of the other houses, which is the foundation of the
predictions made from horoscopes. It might be objected that we do
wrong to so distrust the times given with such precision in medieval
horoscopes. The birth of a king, or rather a possible future king,
was after all an event carefully noted by many witnesses. In the
case of the birth of Richard 11, however, we know that the astrol-
oger who cast his nativity in Raw~~on 1227 was forced to rely
on invention rather than authority to determine the ascendant.

That careful observer, Froissart, was in Bordeaux on 6 January, the
Feast of Epiphany, when Queen Joan gave birth to her second son,
the future Richard 11. He teIls us that Richard 11 was born, not
at 1 p.m. as the astrologer would have it, but 'about ten of the
clock'.46
There can be no mistaking the anxiety of the astrologer to make
Richard 11' s horoscope accord with the disastrous facts of his reign.
The sun is Yleg, Satum in Alcocoden, Cauda Draconis is the first
significator, the second is Mars, and the third is Saturn, which the
native is not able to escape by Nature. 47 All the malevolent planets
dominate the figure and the references to Yleg, Alcocoden and the
three indicators show that the astrologer has been at work to
calculate the time of the king's death. This is definitely not the sort
of horoscope that Richard 11 or his supporters would have com-
missioned.
The third figure relating to Richard 11 at least claims to have
contemporary authority. It is a judicial question on the subject,
'Whether Richard of Burgundy would possess the throne of Eng-
land. This question with its figure was made immediately after the
death of Edward, prince of Wales, and before the death of King
Edward, the third after the conquest.'48 The sun is in 21 Cancer
and the ascendant is 1~ Virgo. As the Black Prince died on 8 June
1376, and his father died less than a year later on 21 June 1377, we
can adduce from the positions of the planets that the horoscope is
set for 5 July 1376, at about 9.08 a.m. A note at the head of this
figure boasts that the matter eventuated just as the figure indi-
cated, if interpreted according to judicial books concerning in-
terrogations. 49 A cynic might reflect that it requires no great
divinatory powers to fore see that the second son of the Prince of
Wales might one day inherit the throne of England. Richard's eIder
brother, Edward of Angouleme, died in 1371. Again, we are
tempted to suspect that this horoscope has been influenced by
political considerations. Ptolemy considers the question of the
fortunes of kings in Tetrabiblos IV.3. None of the conditions he
prescribes if children are to become kings is fulfilled in this
scheme, though with beneficent Jupiter in the ascendant, and
Venus and Mercury also angular at mid-heaven, the signs are
good.
It is not unlikely that the five schemes in the Rawlinson manu-
script were cast together, for a particular occasion. By the end of
the fourteenth century there was evidently sufficient confidence in

the promised insights of astrology to inspire those with the necess-
ary skill to scrutinise the horoscopes of kings for possible keys to
their intentions and characters. It is even more likely that by this
time members of the court who had a particular interest in the
king's prosperity or otherwise, consulted astrologers, at least in
private, to obtain an expert opinion on these issues. We can
imagine therefore that these five horoscopes represent the calcula-
tions of an astrologer for some noble dient, anxious to encourage
the overthrow of King Richard, whose imminent deposition was
apparent to all those in the know. It would be natural on this
occasion for the astrologer to examine the figure of the coronation
of Richard lI's nativity, with the ascendant verified from the
Annimodar of the previous conjunction. Richard' s prospects of
inheriting the throne after the death of his father, the Black Prince,
and Richard' s coronation, would all be of importance in establish-
ing the mode of the king's downfall. Altematively, the astrologer
might simply have been asked to confirm after the event that
Richard 11' s deposition had been written in the stars, and was thus
inevitable. In either case, we can probably assurne that the astrol-
oger told his dient what he wanted to hear, supporting in an
interesting way St Augustine' s warning of the insidious and mor-
ally pernicious consequences of the practice of divination. 50
Among extant English manuscripts there does not appear to be
any nativity of the first of the Lancastrian monarchs. However, as
Symon de Phares' catalogue reminds us, this was aperiod in
which the affairs of the realms of France and England were inextri-
cably linked and confused. It is no surprise to discover that Henry
IV, along with other major English actors in the Hundred Years'
War, had his nativity scrutinised by French astrologers. Emmanuel
Poulle has discussed two French collections of the nativities of
French and English notables, which date from the early fifteenth
century.51 The first collection of about sixty horoscopes in Bib-
liotheque Nationale MS lat.7443 falls into three groups, which
Poulle dates 1407-8, 1426-7 and about 1437, and are probably the
work of a number of different authors. Poulle and Thomdike
discount the theory that the collection was compiled by Jean
Halbourt de Troyes at the request of the English govemment,52
though both Henry V and Henry VI and their associates figure
prominently in the collection.
The transparent purpose of all three groups of horoscopes is to
provide an astrological explication of the rise and fall of a number

of important individuals and events, such as the advent of the
Valois dynasty, in the unstable politics and warfare that marred
the period. The births, anniversaries andlor the coronations of
Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy (d. 1467), Henry VI of England
(d. 1422) and Charles VII of France (d. 1461) are considered together
with the conjunction of 1437, which latter event was known to
presage the change of dynasties, the rise of religions, the corning of
prophets and other great events. 53 The final group of horoscopes in
the manuscript inc1udes the nativities of three key English particip-
ants in the French wars, John, Duke of Bedford (20 June 1389),
Thomas Montague, Earl of Salisbury (25 March 1388), and Sir John
Fastolf (6 November 1380).54 The nativity of Henry IV occurs in
both manuscripts, in different versions, 55 and that of Henry VI is
among the smaller collection of about twenty horoscopes which
are probably the work of Simon Belle, a physician said to have
worked in Avignon in 1477-8. 56
There is no English equivalent to these two French collections
until a much later period. They nevertheless provide surprising
corroboration for the general view, if not the details, of the realms
of France and England in the period of the Hundred Years' War
presented by Symon de Phares, in which all the chief protagonists
made extensive use of astrologers to gain tactical advantage in
battIe, and identify the weaknesses of their opponents. As the
fields of battle lay in France, so it seems did the greater number of
professional astrologers, defined as knowledgeable practitioners of
the science of the stars, willing and able to exercise their skill for
fee or patronage. However, as we shall see, this lamentable state
of the profession in England was radically reformed by the reign of
Henry VI. Unlike his two younger brothers, Humphrey, Duke of
Gloucester, and John, Duke of Bedford, Henry V does not seem to
have indulged in the commission of finely-illuminated divinatory
manuals. 57 However, besides the two horoscopes in the French
manuscripts noted by Poulle, the interest of this martial king in the
subject is attested by a remarkable document, not simply a bare
scheme, but an extensive treatise on his nativity. A similar treatise
on the nativity of Charles VII of France is, according to Poulle's
recollection, the only extant text of its kind relating to a medieval
French king. 58 The only other example known to us is the treatise
on the nativity of Henry VI, owned by Lewis of Caerleon, which
will be discussed in Chapter Eight.
The treatise, which bears the title Nativitas nocturna, survives

in only one contemporary or near-contemporary manuscript in
Oxford. 59 A seventeenth-century copy of the text is also extant in
the dear and elegant hand of Sir George Wharton (1617-82), a
friend of Elias Ashmole, who shared his enthusiasm for the occult
sciences. 6O The date of composition of Nativitas nocturna and the
name of its author are both elusive quantities, but the text provides
us with some dues to their identity. In the first paragraph Henry V
is said to have been born on 16 September 1369 at twenty-two
minutes after the eleventh complete hour, that is at 11.22 a.m.
However, this date has been crossed out and corrected in the
margin to the year 1376. This later date appears in the centre of the
scheme of the nativity on the same page, and it is also adopted in
Wharton' s copy.
As it happens, the exact date of birth of Henry V is not known
from contemporary sources with absolute certainty, though the
date most frequently cited is 16 September 1387. 61 Neither 1369 nor
1376 constitutes a likely, or even possible date for the birth of
Henry V as his father, Henry of Bolingbroke, only married Mary
Bohun in July 1380 when she was still a child of ten or eleven years
old. A rough calculation of the positions of the planets in the
scheme of the nativity resolves the problem. The planets were in
the places determined by the astrologer not in 1376, but ten years
later in 1386. 62 The former figure, where it appears, is probably the
result of a simple slip. However, the original date in the text, 1369,
cannot be explained so innocently.
If we turn to Chapter 5 of the treatise which is entitled De
quantitate vite huius nati per significatores, it is predicted that the
native will live, 'annuente Deo', for fifty-two years and in Chapter 14
that the native will die, 'Deo volente' in his fifty-third year. In fact,
Henry V died at Bois de Vincennes, of dysentery, on 31 August
1422 in his thirty-sixth year, if like the calculator of the nativity we
accept 1386 as the year of his birth. Evidently, some unscrupulous
or ingenuous reviser, who may of course be the author himself,
altered the date of Henry V's birth to aHow his predicted number of
years to taHy with the better-known fact of the year of his death. 63
However we may deplore the spirit of this alteration, it at least
aHows us to establish with some degree of certainty that the
treatise was composed in Henry V's lifetime.
Henry V's death in 1422 provides a terminus ad quem for the
composition of the treatise. An approximate terminus a quo can be
deduced from an examination of some of the other predictions

made for the life of Henry V in this treatise on his nativity. The first
chapter determines the 'significatores essentiales' for the native,
which are those planets which have the greatest 'dignity' at the
time of his birth. Dignities could be assessed by a points system,
but in this ca se a less mechanical method has been adopted. The
astrologer uses his discretion to balance such matters as domiciles
and exiles, triplicities, exaltation and dejection, position relative to
the sun and the relation of the planet' s house to the beginnings of
the four chief houses or 'angles' of the horoscope, as well as
considering the lord of the planetary hour and the day of the
nativity. The astrologer assesses that Mars, Jupiter, Venus and
Mercury, in that order, have the greatest significance for the
nativity, and that Saturn and the Moon are impeded in their
influence. 64 It is interesting that the actual planetary aspects which
according to Hartner 'have to be considered first by the astrol-
oger'65 receive only passing attention in the treatise. One good
reason for this, though it reflects the emphasis in the author's
authorities, is that the planetary aspects are fixed by their actual
positions in the heavens and cannot so easily be manipulated to
accord with an interpretation favoured by the astrologer.
The second chapter concerns the three 'significatores accidentales',
namely Yleg, Alcocoden and Alumptez. The determination of the
three planets or places accorded this status depends on an assess-
ment of their relation to the five 'loca Yleg' or aphetic points. 66 A
proper consideration of these accidental significators allowed a
determination of the length of life and manner of death of the
native. Having considered the aphets, the astrologer determines
that the degree of the preceding full moon should be Yleg and
Mercury should be both Alcocoden and Alumptez. The actual time
and manner of death which the significators indicated for Henry V
is set out in Chapter V of the treatise.
Having established the planets which have the greatest import-
ance for this particular nativity, both in regard to his life and his
departure from it, the following chapters analyse matters more
usually considered under their relevant houses. 67 The chapters
discuss the native's life and character (first house), his bodily
health or otherwise (sixth house), worldly riches (second house),
status (tenth house), journeys and religion (ninth house), friends
(eleventh house), enemies (twelfth house), marriage (seventh
house), children (fifth house) and death (eighth house) in the
1. Ptolemy, the text of this English version of the Secreta secretorum points out, was a
'fulle wisman', but 'no king'. (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 943, fol. 84v .)
2. Alexander receives a copY of the Secreta secretorum from Aristotle. IOxford, Bodleian
Library MS Rawl. C.538, fol. 3 v .)
3. Charles V of France in his study surrounded by books and astronomical instruments.
(Oxford, 5t John's College M5 164, fol. 1'.1
4. (Ieft) The horoscope of Charles V of France. (Oxford, St John's College MS 164,
fol. 158v .)
5. (above) Charles V of France using an armillary sphere. (Oxford, St. John's

College MS 164, fol. 2'.)
6. Charles V of France receives a trarislation from Nicole Oresme (upper left). The other
scenes depict the king with his family (upper right); and attending a lecture (lower left);
finally (bottom right) a student (perhaps one of Charles's children?) is ejected from a
lecture. (Brussels. BibI. Royale MS 9505-6. tol. 2 v .)
7. (above) A geomantie figure
of Letitia ('joy') from Riehard
:: ::
.
II's Book of Geomancy. 0111
(Oxford, Bodleian Library

0 10
MS Bodley 581, fol. 16 v .)

&~
: :
8. (right) A page displaying
possible answers to judicial
*.,,\ ~
~ ta
questions, also from Riehard
II's Book of Geomancy.
(Oxford, Bodleian Library
MS Bodley 581, fol. 24v .)
;
Uat
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o
o
0
'0. X
o~G
: , .'

.'."I. .:-
:,
.
II " . ~~
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9. and 10. A quadrant with Richard II's badge of the white hart: possibly a forgery. (British
Museum.)
' (;1lUC alt ..& (=""uC' ~
n~ &"~rR: ,,,,,c.;I1C 111 r.;:pllD
ut" fft.aC' ,'i .un u.\''Ilrnu \I.:r
lY,lYua '!lI" \Mnthd" \." 11;"
utlc ~ lii lu IJqc.; I.oa.:.
~~tl
(!'CII( tlb I"
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11. A medical use of the Zodiac man. The text warns against bleeding at astrologically
inauspicious times. (Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Digby 48, fol. 15v .)
0'
12. This illumination from a Book Physiognomy compiled by Roland Scriptoris for John,
Duke of Bedford, shows (on four levels): 1. the twelve signs of the Zodiac; 2. twelve
men influenced by the signs; 3. the seven planets; 4. seven men influenced by the
planets. Reading from left to right the planets are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus,
Mercury, the Moon. (Oxford, St John's College MS 18, fol. 1.)
13. A king consults with his astrologers (upper frame) about the natal fortunes of a child
born to a queen (lower frame). From a fourteenth-century copy of the Secreta
secretorum once owned by Edward 111. (British Library, Add. MS 46780, fol. 53'.)
14. A king consults a medical astrologer about his health. On the left, a physician holds an
instrument for bleeding while on the right the astral oger uses an armillary sphere to
observe the moon. (British Library, Add. MS 47680, fol. 53 v .)
15. At birth a child's natal constellation shines into the delivery room. From a copy of
Guido Bonatti de Forlivio' s Liber introductorium ad iudicia stellarum completed in 1490
tor Henry VII. (British Library, Arundel MS 66, fol. 148.)
fourteenth and final chapter. In a treatise which would purport to

be comprehensive there is a notable omission of discussion relating
to the third and fourth houses, namely those of brothers and
father, and an interesting addition in Chapter VI which makes a
general discussion of his fortune. After having intrigued against
his father from an early age and even for two years from 1410 to
1411 effectively usurped the king's authority, Henry V is said to
have come to a reconciliation with his father before the latter' s
death. Henry V also maintained cordial relations with his brothers,
so there is probably no maleficent significance in these omissions.
It certainly suggests, however, that Henry V's nativity was not
composed at the time of his birth at the order of his father. What
medieval author, hungry for patronage, would neglect such an
opportunity to compliment his patron?
The additional matters covered in Chapter VI also suggest that
the treatise was composed when Henry V had reached full man-
hood. Mars, the primary significator in the nativity, existing in his
exaltation in the second house succedent to the ascendant, and his
northem latitude, is said to make the native fortunate and victori-
ous in warfare. He will overthrow his enemies, moreover, because
Mars is lord of the house of enemies. 68 In Chapter VII it is added
that the native will acquire riches through war and those matters
pertaining to Mars. 69 This would be a particularly apposite predic-
tion for the career of the subduer of the Welsh; the victor, in 1415,
of Agincourt; and the conqueror of Normandy. Venus in the
eleventh house is also said to make the native fortunate in his
affairs with women - not a compliment normally reserved for a
married man.
Writing in 1428 Tito Livio commented that until the death of his
father, Henry V 'exercised equally the feats of Venus and Mars' but
that on his accession he was profoundly changed. 70 This change in
the king is confirmed by other contemporary witnesses. 71 All this
suggests that the treatise was composed before his marriage.
Concerning marriage, in Chapter 12 it is predicted that the king
will marry a woman of wonderful beauty, discretion and obedi-
ence in the second age of life, that is 'in iuventutem', a sufficiently
vague description. 72 In Chapter 13 it is forecast that he will sire
many sons and certainly more sons than daughters and that his
firstborn will be a son. 73
Fate apparently intervened. Henry interrupted his triumphant
campaigns in France to marry Catherine of Valois on 2 June 1420.
The union was blessed by only one child, a son, the future Henry
VII, who was born on 6 December 1421 to succeed his father a mere
nine months later. We might hazard on the basis of these various
predictions and mistaken prophecies that the Nativitas nocturna
was written before Henry's marriage in 1420, possibly at or soon
after his accession on 21 March 1413, and quite possibly after the
victories of the 1415--16 campaign which confirmed Henry's martial
reputation. A great event, such as the king's accession or marriage,
would be a most suitable occasion for the composition of a com-
plimentary treatise on the royal nativity, either at the request of the
king hirnself or as an object for his patronage. The simple invoca-
tion which opens the text in the place of a florid dedication, such as
prefaces Richard 11's geomancy, may be a reflection of Henry V' s
vaunted reputation for piety. 74
A number of possible candidates for authorship of the treatise in
the period under discussion are revealed by the interesting case of
Jean Fusoris, doctor of medicine, astrologer and instrument-maker
to kings, and Richard Courtenay, Bishop of Norwich (1413-15),
Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1407, 1411 and 1412, and
a dose personal friend of Henry V. 75 Jean Fusoris made himself
known to Bishop Courtenay in the course of the English embassies
sent to Paris in August-September 1414 and February-March 1415
for the purpose of negotiating a final settlement with France, and
to arrange a possible marriage between Henry V and Catherine,
daughter of Charles VI of France (d. 1422). By this time in his
career, Fusoris had established an illustrious clientele for his astro-
labes, spheres and astronomical clocks, including John I of Aragon,
Louis, Duke of Orleans, Pierre de Navarre, Comte de Mortain, and
Pope John XXIII. 76 On 30 August 1415, after the outbreak of
hostilities and in the midst of the siege of Harfleur, a clerk was
intercepted by the royal French garrison carrying a letter from
Courtenay to Fusoris. Fusoris was tried for treasonable correspon-
dence with the enemy and the records of the trial provide a very
full account of his relations with Courtenay and the English court.
Fusoris could probably count hirnself fortunate to have escaped
with a sentence of internal exile to the town of Mezieres-sur-Meuse.
Neither the first nor the second English embassies to France met
with any success, but Fusoris was able to seIl Courtenay seven
instruments and a canon describing their use, and later some more
books, but unfortunately he did not secure full payment for his
labours. According to Fusoris, Courtenay had a keen interest in
astrology and they conducted a long conversation on the subject at

their first meeting. 77 When they met again in 1415, Courtenay
allegedly told Fusoris how much the king hirnself would like to
meet him, as he also had an interest in astrology.7B In the course of
their discussions Fusoris says he answered several judicial ques-
tions with the aid of Courtenay' s astrolabe and almanac: Whether
the proposed marriage between Henry V and Catherine of Valois
would be a good thing for the king and the realm of England? Yes,
the figure of the heavens indicated the marriage would proceed to
the advantage of king and realm. Whether the marriage would be
concluded by the present embassy? No, the heavens did not
favour the idea. 79 Finally, Courtenay asked Fusoris to comment on
the figure of the king's nativity. Fusoris's servant, Jean du BerIe,
when asked if at any stage the 'philosomie' and the manner of the
nativity of Henry V had been constructed or shown to Fusoris, or if
Fusoris and other English clerks had ever met for the purposes of
discussing matters relating to astrology, had replied that he knew
nothing about the matter. BO He may have been trying to protect his
master from acharge of fatalism. Fusoris had made it plain to
Courtenay that he only considered judgments that were able to be
sustained, namely those conceming bodily illness and similar
matters, for other kinds of judgments which impinge on the free
will of men are neither certain nor based on sound theory. BI
Nevertheless, Fusoris hirnself tells us that before the end of the
second Paris embassy, Courtenay, having secured Fusoris's medi-
cal opinion as to the bishop's constitution and that of the king,
asked hirn if he had ever seen a scheme of the king's nativity. On
receiving a reply in the negative, Courtenay immediately led
Fusoris to his room and showed him such ascherne, and asked
hirn if he could assess from it whether the king was likely to fall ill
in the near future, or whether he would suffer a long convales-
cence. Fusoris seems to have been aware of the theological and
political difficulties invited by the bishop's request. He replied,
politely enough, that he was neither entirely at ease nor skilled in
the practice of judgments of this nature, and in any case it would
take hirn at least a year to make a competent reply.B2
In May 1415, when a French embassy was gathered to continue
the negotiations, Fusoris managed to secure hirnself a place in the
party, no doubt attracted as much by the prospect of the king' s
patronage as the opportunity to recover his 200 crowns from
Bishop Courtenay. In Winchester, Courtenay made good his
promise to introduce Fusoris to King Henry, at which time Fusoris

presented the king with two treatises, one on the solid sphere and
the other on the equatorium, an astrolabe with a tract describing its
operation, and a little book of puzzles or games of astrology and
geometry.83 It appears that Courtenay had already given the king
the equatorium recently designed by Fusoris which Courtenay
describes as 'your instrument of the seven planets ... in which it
is possible to see all the movements of the planets, their conjunc-
tions, oppositions and aspects in relation to the heavenly sphere,
continually and at every hour'.84 We might note that such an
instrument would be an invaluable aid to anyone wishing to cast a
horoscope, but lacking the necessary computational skill. The king
thanked Fusoris for his gifts and accepted all but the treatise on the
solid sphere and the puzzles, which Fusoris later took back to
Paris. 85 When he died in 1422, an 'Asterlabe d'argent' valued at f:3 4s.
2d. was listed among the king's possessions. 86 The instruments
Fusoris sold to Courtenay were cast in brass87 so we are left with
the possibility that Fusoris was not the only instrument-maker
patronised by the king. However, the proceedings of Fusoris's trial
and the Nativitas nocturna provide the only extant evidence of
Henry V's personal interest in astrology.
Bishop Courtenay himself cannot be discounted as a possible
author of Nativitas nocturna. He obviously had an interest in astrol-
ogy, but although he possessed a copy of the figure of Henry V's
nativity, the fact that he sought out Fusoris's opinion rather sug-
gests that he did not possess the expert skill necessary to interpret
the figure himself in any detail. He was, moreover, an exception-
ally busy man and at the centre of the king's councils and negotia-
tions with the French until his untimely death at the siege of
Harfleur, from dysentery, in 1415. Would he have had the time
either to master the voluminous authorities cited by the author of
Nativitas nocturna, or to write such a treatise himself? The
instrument-maker Fusoris makes a rather more likely candidate for
authorship. In the first place, he was asked by Courtenay to assess
by astrological means the time of the king's birth and his suscepti-
bility to disease. This is a dominant concern of the treatise and
receives the most lengthy consideration of any matter, being the
subject of Chapters 2, 4, 5 and 10. It will be recalled that when
Fusoris cast figures to determine the prospects attending the mar-
riage of Henry V to Catherine of Valois, he observed that the signs
for the marriage were good but that it would not be achieved by
means of the Paris embassy of 1414. If we turn to Chapter XII of the

treatise which concems the marriage of the native, the author
arrives at a similar conclusion. The native will have a wife, but not
without considerable hindrance, discomfort and loss for the sake
of the marriage. 88 On the matter of the time of the marriage, the
author is reduced to repudiating the authority of Ptolemy in order
to argue for a marriage in the native' s youth, rather than in middle
age. 89 The prospective bride is expected to be both virtuous of
mind and beauteous of body as weIl as obedient to her spouse, a
suitable description of the daughter and future wife of kings by an
aspirant to their favours. 90
If Fusoris was the author of Nativitas nocturna it makes explicable
the slighting reference made in Chapter VI to the servants of
Mercury, including clerics, messengers and other artificers such as
alchemists, magicians and others of a similar nature. Mercury
being combust in the tenth house, which is the house of the king
and honour, it signifies that traitors will be found in the royal
household itself. 91 This is a reasonable interpretation of the astrol-
ogical indicators, but it is scarcely a matter which would receive
emphasis from an astrologer who was a regular attendant at court.
It is probably no accident that the author neglects to mention that
the astrologer was as true a child of Mercury as any alchemist or
magician.
We know that Fusoris encountered at least one member of the
court of Henry V who had pretensions to a knowledge of judicial
astrology. On the moming before the French embassy to Winches-
ter came to its unsuccessful conclusion, Fusoris had a drink with
an 'English doctor of theology' whom Wylie identifies tentatively
as the Dean of the King's Chapel, Edmund Lacy.92 Wylie does not
give his reasons for this suggestion, but it is not improbable. Lacy
graduated doctor of theology from Oxford by 1414, and remained
in elose association with the king until Lacy was made Bishop of
Hereford in 1417. 93 When he died in 1455, he left a number of
books to Exeter Cathedral, ineluding a volume containing the
Introductorium of Alcabitius, and Ptolemy's Centiloquium. 94 Lacy's
dabbling in astrology is a good illustration of the increasing interest
of literate laypeople in astrology, especially by attendants at court.
Fusoris was asked whether Paris held many astrologers, to which
he replied that Paris held only a few students in that science,
because it was not a 'sciencia lucrativa'. However, there were others
who delighted in the 'sciencia de motibus', the study of the celestial
motions, which Fusoris distinguishes in the usual way from the

practice of judicial astrology. At this point the learned doctor drew
from his bosom a little book containing many figures including
revolutions of the nativity of King Henry, that is horoscopes cast
for successive birthdays. Fusoris claims that he declined even to
look at this book because of the present breach between the kings
of France and England. 95 Later he assured a member of the French
embassy that this English astrologer was ignorant of the basic
principles of the science of astrology.96
Fusoris may weIl have viewed his learned brother in the science
of the stars as a rival to the king's patronage, and his low estima-
tion of Paris astrologers mayaiso have sprung from professional
antagonism. However, his stated reluctance before both Courte-
nay and the English doctor to examine the king's nativity, and the
remarkable warning to the king in Nativitas nocturna to beware of
the children of Mercury, remind us that Henry V gave evidence of
being extremely nervous of practitioners of the occult sciences.
Alchemists are known to have practised in England from at least
the reign of Edward III and the satire of Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's
Tale implies considerable familiarity with at least the more disrepu-
table members of the profession in the reign of Richard 11. The first
statute against the 'Craft of Multiplication' was promulgated in
1403--4, probably to suppress fraud, and prosecutions for practis-
ing without a licence continued in the reign of Henry V. 97 Accord-
ing to Jacob, Henry V 'yielded to his dark superstitious vein' when,
in 1419, he supported accusations of sorcery against his step-
mother Joan of Navarre. 98 Even in his own day Henry V was
known as a devout man, and we can see the expression of the
same spirit both in the king's persecution of the Lollards, tempered
at the time of the Oldcastle RevoIt with mercy, and his suppression
of sorcery in his own court.
Evidently the court of Henry V was no more receptive to the
activity of astrologers than those of his predecessors. Yet there
were many factors which worked to encourage the practice of the
science of the stars at this time. We could almost say that the
practice would continue whatever the king's personal reservations
might have been. In the first place, the development of new
instruments and tables was making astrology more accessible to
the ordinary educated man. Whereas in the reign of Edward III,
astrology remained the reserve of scholars with some mastery of
astronomy and mathematics, such as Richard of Wallingford or
John Ashenden, in the reign of Henry V we can see amateurs, such

as Richard Courtenay, commenting on a nativity. With the help of
the equatorium presented to hirn by Fusoris, the king hirnself
would have been able to cast a horoscope. The second important
factor was the continued dose association between the realms of
France and England as a result of the French wars. With the
assurance of Symon de Phares we can probably assurne that it was
not uncommon for English protagonists to seek out the advice of
French astrologers, or for French experts in these matters, such as
Jean Fusoris, to make the trip to England in the hope of securing
patronage. Thirdly, it is more than likely that even if the king did
not give his personal approval to the casting of horoscopes, and
indeed the church maintained her theoretical objections to the
practice, there were many others at court who were prepared to
ignore these objections.
The handful of horoscopes of medieval English kings, at least
the majority of which we have argued were probably calculated in
the fifteenth century, are good evidence for the eagerness of
certain members of court to obtain secret information about their
monarchs, past and present. In short, by the reign of Henry V the
tide had turned for astrology. For the first time the English court
began to demonstrate an interest in the practical uses of the science,
which the French court had acknowledged for generations. With
this doser association with mundane politics, astrology com-
mences its inexorable disassociation from the universities and the
fields of higher learning that distinguishes the state of the art
today.
8
Astrology and Disaster at
the Court of Henry VI
If Edward m was too sensible to patronise astrologers, Richard 11
too cautious, and Henry V too pious, Henry VI seems to have feIt
no such reservations, at least in the early part of his reign. The
following investigation of astrology in the reign of Henry VI is built
around six conflicting and complementary horoscopes of the king' s
nativity which occur in English manuscripts.
The first horoscope occurs in a late fourteenth/fifteenth century
manuscript, where it is written over some erased writing. 1 An
almost identical version of the same horoscope was written in the
flyleaves of one of the autograph manuscripts of the astronomer
and mathematician John Holbroke. 2 Since Holbroke left this manu-
script to Peterhouse in 1426, and died in 1437, it is possible that it
was drawn up by Holbroke soon after Henry's birth in 1421, or the
king's accession in the following year. In this case, it could not be
associated with the Eleanor Cobham scandal in 1441, 3 though it
may of course be a later addition to the manuscript. The central
panel of this version of the nativity makes reference to another
horoscope of the same event, but with a different ascendant,
attributed to 'SuthweIl'.
The horoscope of Thomas SouthwelI and a certain Roger, together
with another version of the king's nativity attributed to John
Holbroke, are given extended analysis in a long treatise which
occurs in a single manuscript in the hand of the physician Lewis of
Caerleon. 4 The author of this treatise, which has the incipit 'Cum
rerum motu', attempts to provide a final and definitive version of
the king' s nativity in what was evidently a competitive field.
What could have prompted this tremendous interest in the
nativity of the king that we should possess so many horoscopes of
the event, five of them with a different ascendant, as weIl as a long
and elaborate treatise weighing the merits of three variant read-
ings? The answer lies in the records of the celebrated trial of the
138
Astrology and Disaster at the Court 01 Henry VI 139
Duchess of Gloucester, Eleanor Cobham, who was accused in July

1441 of conspiring with two clerks, Roger Bolingbroke and Thomas
Southwell, and the Witch of Eye, Margery Jourdemayne, to secure
the death of King Henry VI.5 WeIl advised, the Duchess fled to
sanctuary in Westminster. Roger Bolingbroke, ' .. gret and konnyng
man is astronomye', was examined before the king's council where
he accused Eleanor of encouraging him to tell her about her
fortune and future estate.
Eleanor herself was cited to appear for examination before a
panel of bishops. In the attempt to draw her out of sanctuary, a
commission of certain lay lords and judges of both benches was set
up, 'to enquire of al maner tresons, sorcery, and all othir thyngiz
that mY3te in eny wise towche or concerne harmfulli the kyngiz
persone' . Raising the spectre of treason would have the effect of
transferring jurisdiction for the case out of the ecclesiastical courts.
As a result of the findings of the commission, Bolingbroke and
Southwell, a canon of Saint Stephen's chapel within Westminster,
were indicted for treason and charged to appear in the Guildhall of
London, with Eleanor Cobham named as an accessory. With a fine
sense of her rights, Eleanor steadfastly refused to submit to any
correction but that of the bishops. This policy probably saved her
life, for after performing an elaborate penance she was committed
into the Care of Sir Thomas Stanley on a yearly pension of 100
marks for the rest of her life.
Bolingbroke and Southwell were found guilty of treason before
the court of King's Bench by Sir John Hody, then chief justice.
Southwell died in prison 'per dolorem' according to one account, 6
but Bolingbroke lived to be exhibited with his instruments and
then hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 18 November
1441. The Witch of Eye was burnt as a relapsed heretic at Smith-
field on the vigil of 55 Simon and Jude (27 October 1441). It is
interesting that at her trial Eleanor did not deny having applied to
Bolingbroke for magical assistance, but only for help in conceiving
a child by the Duke of Gloucester.
As in the case of Friar Randolf, the clerk of Eleanor' s estranged
husband, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, astrology is not directly
implicated in the charges raised against Southwell and Boling-
broke. They were simply accused of the not uncommon crime of
plotting a king's death by necromancy or the black arts, though it
was not always possible to make the mud stick. In the confession
of Thomas Samford in the Plea of Thomas Yokflete, for example,
heard before the court of King's Bench on 7 February 1401, it was

alleged that John Inglewood, clerk, Robert Marner, canon of Ips-
wich, and a certain friar preacher, 'late confessor to King Richard',
so he called hirnself, plotted the death of Henry IV, 'par nigromancie
et enchantment', also described as 'par clergie de les plus graundes clercs
Dengleterre'. The method involved the not-so-magieal deviee of
applying a potent poison to the king's saddle. The court decided
that because of Samford's criminal record, his word was not
sufficient to bring Yokflete to trial for treason. 7 The intellectual
reputation of magie and its close association with learned men and
especially friars are noteworthy features of this case. In 1419, a
similar charge was heard during the Plea of Roger Oliver and John
Russell. Roger objected that it had not been stated how exactly he
was meant to have conspired to kill the king, obviously a technieal
requirement, whether by poisoning hirn in person, 'aut arta ma-
gica', or otherwise. 8 In other words, magic was regarded as a
standard way to attempt to despatch the sovereign. There are
many such cases, and men of some learning about the court, such
as the royal confessors and physicians, were particularly liable to
be implicated in scandalous proceedings against the political tar-
gets of all factions and persuasions. 9
There are two features whieh distinguish the case of Bolingbroke
and Southwell from those of their predecessors, such as Friar
Randolf or John Inglewood. In the first place, it is remarkable that
so much evidence survives of the actual treasonable practices of
the two clerks, in the shape of the horoscopes described above.
Secondly, Southwell and Bolingbroke were not ordinary Oxford
clerks. Thomas Southwell lO graduated in medicine from Oxford
University by 1423, and became one of the profession's leading
spokesmen before his untimely fall from favour. He held a number
of choiee livings, including a prebendary in the royal chapel of St
George in Windsor Castle, whieh he exchanged in 1431 for the
canonry of St Stephen's Westminster, and he was probably Elea-
nor Cobham's personal physician. l l On 15 May 1423, Southwell
was one of a group whieh petitioned the Mayor and Aldermen of
London for the establishment of a College, 'for the better education
and control of physicians and surgeons practising in London'. 12
His fellow petitioners were Gilbert Kymer, one-time Chancellor of
the University of Oxford and physician to Duke Humphrey, John
Somerset, later physician to Henry VI, and the surgeons Thomas
Morstede and John Harwe, all men of stature and respectability,
Astrology and Disaster at the Court o[ Henry VI 141
leaving us in no doubt as to Southwel1's own professional stand-

ing. It is ironie that Southwel1, who died so dishonourably from
shame under accusation of sorcery and treason, should have put
his name to a petition intended in all probability to restriet the illicit
practice of medicine by unqualified quacks. Southwel1' s acquaint-
ance with astrology, which we could assume from his medieal
training, is confirmed from his hearing of a malpractice suit,
together with Gilbert Kymer and some others, in September 1424.
The committee found for the surgeons on the grounds that, bear-
ing in mind the extreme adversity of the astrological signs, desper-
ate measures had been cal1ed forY
Roger Bolingbroke was no less ostensibly respectable than Tho-
mas Southwell. Also a graduate of Oxford, Bolingbroke was princi-
pal of St Andrew's Hall in September 1438, and at some stage must
have joined the service of the Duchess of Gloucester. In some
circles at least, the news of his execution was greeted with shock
and dismay. An account of Bolingbroke' s arrest and trial occurs
among a miscellaneous collection of chroniele extracts in one of the
manuscripts of the antiquarian William Worcestre. 14 All the chron-
icler' s sympathles are with the unfortunate Bolingbroke, who
appears as the tragic, even messianie, hero of this nasty business:
And a certain clerk, one of the most renowned in all the world in
astronomy and the magical art, master Roger Bolingbroke, was
arrested, and publicly in the cemetery of Saint Paul' s, with the
vestments of his magie and with waxen images, and with many
other magical instruments, he sat in a certain high throne, so
that people from everywhere might see his works; afterwards he
was hanged, drawn and quartered, and his head placed on
London Bridge. This master Roger was one of the most notable
clerks in the whole world, and he was accused on account of the
aforesaid Lady Elianora, to whom he was an advisor in the magie
art, and after his death many lamented exceedingly greatly.15
Surprising confirmation of Roger Bolingbroke' s scholarly inter-

est in astrology and divination, and his service to the Duchess of
Gloucester in this capacity, comes from two little trads owned by
John Argentine, Provost of King's College Cambridge, and royal
physician. 16 The fact that so eminent a person should take care to
collect Bolingbroke' s writings is itself evidence for the astrologer' s
former reputation. Argentine entitled the first tract Capitula de
naturis domorum secundum Magistrum Rogerum Bultynbroke in sua

geomantia, and the second Capitula de qualitatibus secundum Rogerum
Bultynbroke in opere tripartito. These are evidently extracts from two
longer works, the first on geomancy, and the second from an Opus
tripartitum, neither of which is extant. It is possible that an copies of
Bolingbroke' s writings were destroyed after his disgrace and death.
In the first chapter of Argentine's first extract Bolingbroke refers
to another work, namely 'to the chapter on the planets in the tract
which I composed for my esteemed and most reverend lady, in the
mother tongue, conceming the principles of the art of geo-
mancy' .171t is reasonable to suppose that the lady he refers to is the
Duchess of Gloucester, and it is especially interesting that she
should request a vemacular guide to geomancy, a subject whkh
intrigued so many other noble figures of this time, including her
husband, the Duke of Gloucester. In fact, Argentine' s first extract
has nothing to do with geomancy but is a neat summary of the
procedures to be followed in the practice known as judicial ques-
tions. Bolingbroke lists the various questions that ought to be
considered under the twelve mundane houses, and the signifi-
cance of the seven planets in the houses. The information could
have been derived from any textbook on astrology, such as the
anonymous Introductorius in artern astronomie, also in Argentine's
manuscript.
Although Bolingbroke does no more than state familiar doctrines
and principles in astrology, with hindsight it is possible to accuse
him of a certain lack of prudence in his choke of subject matter,
given the sensibilities of the king and other potential patrons.
Under the first mundane house, he describes how to answer
questions conceming the life of the native, that is his length of life.
He makes the particular point that if there is a question conceming
an ill man, and the lord of the first house is in the eighth house,
then the man will die. He goes on to consider questions conceming
the native's personality and occupation (first house), the wealth of
a newbom, lost objects (second house), brothers and sisters (third
house), joumeys, return to the querant's native land, sterility and
fertility (fourth house), questions concerning conception and child-
birth, such as whether a woman is able to conceive, whether she
truly bears the foetus of the querant, the sex of the child, how long
the querant might have to wait, whether she can bear many
children, and if a boy is his or not, also if rumours are true or not,
the condition of a messenger. All these questions are considered
Astrology and Disaster at the Court of Henry VI 143
under the fifth house. Under the sixth house the astrologer should
consider whether an ill man will recover and whether a physician
is any good or not; under the seventh house, concerning objects
lost or stolen and their thieves, friends and lovers, legal cases,
arguments and wars; under the eighth house, if you wish to know
by what means any person will die. 18 We might pause to consider
Bolingbroke' s advice under this head, since this was the charge
that led to his own death.
If you wish to know concerning any man by what manner of

death he shall die. For this matter you should know the natural
sign of the ascendant. If Leo should be in the eighth house, a
fierce wild animal will devour him or savage hirn to death. If
Scorpio is in the eighth house with the lord of the eighth house,
or if Saturn is in Cancer or Pisces, he will die by water, or by
something of a cold and wet nature. But if Mars is in the eighth
house or with the lord of the eighth house, he will die of a fever,
or of some illness of a cold and dry nature. And if the tail of the
dragon is with the lord of the eighth house or in the eighth
house he will die a shameful and evil death, etc. Concerning the
other planets it should be understood that he will die his manner
of death according to the natures of the planets, according to
their goodness or wickedness. 19
This passage gives the flavour of the whole. There is a praise-

worthy dependence on established authority, but a total absence of
any political judgment. Was it ever entirely wise to provide advice
on the means to determine the faithfulness of a wife, the legitimacy
of one's children or the time any person, even the king, would die?
The treatise continues to cover comprehensively the questions that
should be considered under the four remaining houses, that is
long journeys (ninth house), whether the querant will receive
honour from a king, prince, general or great lord (tenth house), sea
journeys, buying a horse (eleventh house), and finally prisons and
prisoners (twelfth house). 20
Bolingbroke' s only token of awareness of some of the problems
he may have created for hirnself is a question which can be put
under the eleventh house, by means of which the astrologer can
determine whether the subject's question is put for a joke, or in
error, or with good intention by the influence of the planets, and
not for any other reason. 21 Argentine has noted against this pass-
age in the margin. 'Nota bene', and we can imagine that it was a
procedure he may have invoked himself to handle malevolent or
frivolous customers.
Argentine' s second extract from Bolingbroke' s writings gives
brief accounts of the characteristics of the twelve signs and what
matters should be undertaken when the moon is in each sign,
especially to do with medicine and physical health. Virgo, to take
just one example, is a heavy, southerly, feminine, earthly, cold
and dry, melancholy, sign and governs the womb, intestines and
male organs. When the Moon is in Virgo do not take medicine, nor
should you take blood with an iron instrument from these organs,
because it is dangerous. 22 Finally Bolingbroke adds that, as a
general rule, when the Moon is in any sign, it is not good to bleed
in the principal part of the body which is governed by that sign.
For example, if the Moon is in Gemini, it is not good to bleed in the
arms. Argentine has put 'Nota bene' against this passage, and he
evidently approved of Bolingbroke' s principles of astrological
medical practice.
From the treatise on the nativity of Henry V which we con-
sidered in the previous chapter, it is evident that the various
astrological indicators and procedures for determining the life of a
subject, such as the aphets, Alcocoden, Yleg, and the pars vite, were
perfectly familiar to English astrologers, and some did not hesitate
to invoke them over the king's nativity. Bolingbroke would have
known this method and some others, described in Argentine's
extracts. It is entirely plausible that if Bolingbroke and Thomas
Southwell, who also knew something of astrology, had been asked
by Eleanor Cobham to determine when and where the king would
die, they would have been willing and able to do so, if not actually
to plot the regicide. This is only to lend weight to what some
commentators, including William Worcestre's chronicler, have as-
sumed, that Eleanor Cobham was guilty as charged, and Boling-
broke and Southwell merely her unfortunate accomplices.
The effect on King Henry VI of realising that a horoscope cast by
two expert astrologers predicted his imminent death was under-
standably great, and brought a swift reaction. Two of the king' s
most trusted servants, John Langton and John Somerset, were
directed to see to the composition of an alternative reading of the
king's horoscope. The author completed his work on 18 July 1441,
and delivered it in person about a month later on 14 August to the
king' s household at Sheen. 23 It is chilling to realise that both
Southwell and Bolingbroke were dead a mere three months after

this delivery, and Eleanor Cobham committed to life imprison-
ment. Lewis of Caerleon is not the author of this treatise, which is
written in his handwriting in the sole surviving manuscript, al-
though this is implied by Kibre. 24 In 1441 Caerleon still had to wait
twenty-five years before receiving his first degree in medicine from
Cambridge, if he had been born at all.
The anonymity of the author of this important treatise on the
nativity of Henry VI is a puzzle, but it serves as a useful reminder
of the gaps in our knowledge of astrology, even at this late date.
There are a considerable number of more or less likely candidates
for authorship, including the Franciscan Ralph Hoby, Doctor of
Theology by 1442, perhaps of Oxford, whom William Worcestre
acknowledges in his verification of the 1022 fixed stars, which he
wrote in 1440 at the request of John Fastolf.25 Gilbert Kymer, who
attended Henry VI at the king's own request at Windsor in 1455,26
probably knew as much about astrology as Thomas Southwell,
although it is to be hoped that he would hesitate to compose a
treatise condemning the opinion of his colleague. On the other
hand, if the author of 'Cum rerum motu' knew Bolingbroke or
Southwell personally, as is likely, he may have had good reasons
to maintain his anonymity.
Another physician with a strong circumstantial claim for author-
ship is Roger Marshall (c.1417-77f7 Marshall was elected to a
fellowship at Peterhouse in 1437, the last year in which John
Holbroke, who died in July, was Master. These circumstances
might account for the enthusiastic admiration of Holbroke avowed
by the author of 'Cum rerum motu', and his personal acquaintance
with certain details of Holbroke's career. In presenting Holbroke's
version of the king's nativity, he describes the astronomer in the
following terms:
As many people acknowledge, he had a particular mastery of the

judgements which pertain to speculative astronomy, because, it
seems to me, that among all the astronomers whom England has
produced there are scarcely any worthy to be praised as his
equal, whose most noble farne flourishes and has flourished on
all sides. 28
The author of 'Cum rerum motu' is also our sole authority for the
information that Holbroke was chaplain to Henry V and Henry VI.
It is even asserted that Holbroke was despatched by Henry V at the

time of the birth of his son, when the king was delayed in France,
sending with him certain famous reHcs of the saints. The author
had it from Holbroke' s own mouth that he had been the very first
man to view the famous child with his very eyes. 29 In fact, since
Holbroke's horoscope, like the others of Henry VI's nativity, is
verified from the Annimodar, it would not be necessary for any
observations to be made at the instant of birth. Nevertheless the
story adds a touch of veracity to the ascendant devised by Hol-
broke for the king' s nativity. Roger Marshall may have continued
to cultivate royal connections, for after graduating Doctor of Medi-
eine in 1453-4, he was physician to Edward IV in 1468. Towards
the end of his Hfe, Marshall left his fine collection of books on
medicine and astronomy to the Cambridge colleges of Peterhouse,
Gonville Hall and Pembroke, and he probably wrote the table of
contents in John Holbroke's manuscript, Egerton 889, where it
immediately precedes the horoscope of Henry VI.
If Roger Marshall is the author of 'Cum rerum motu', it might also
explain an interesting reference in the treatise to another scheme of
the nativity of Henry VI cast by John Holbroke, written in Hol-
broke's own hand, which the author claims to have seen. 30 UnIike
the version attributed to him on fols 161 v _2v , the ascendant of this
version was verified 'ad Instar Iovis', rather than from the degrce of
mid-heaven. Since the anonymous nativity in the flyleaf of Hol-
broke's manuscript is also said to have been verified 'per Annimodar
ad Instar Jovis domus et Alumbtas coniunctionis precedentis ipsam nativi-
tatem', Marshall may well be referring here to the nativity in the
manuscript he was so careful to index. It is not difficult to imagine
that as a young scholar already embarked on the study of astron-
omy and medieine, Marshall had discussed the correct interpreta-
tion of the king's nativity with his old master. If he had been
requested by John Langton, then Chancellor of the University of
Cambridge, and John Somerset, the king's physician and Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer, to compose a treatise repudiating the hor-
oscope of Southwell and BoHngbroke, it is difficult to see how he
could have refused. He may have completed his work with Httle
thought for the possible consequences, or of the requirement to
forgo the glory of dedicating a work to the king in his own name.
The role of John Langton31 and John Somerse~2 in the composi-
tion of the treatise is also a Httle mysterious. As a lawyer, Langton
is unlikely to have known anything much about astrology. Somer-
set, however, received his schooling in medicine, and even owned a

work attributed to Avicenna, Expositiones secretorurn Arabicurn,
which suggests an interest in the occult sciences. Although the
wording of the final dedication predudes the interpretation that
Langton or Somerset wrote the treatise 'Curn rerurn rnotu', Somerset
may have contributed something towards its basic intent. How he
reconciled this part with his personal obligations to his colleague
Thomas Southwell, who was appointed with hirn supervisor of the
practitioners of surgery and medicine in London on 27 September
1423, is difficult to imagine. No doubt both Langton and Somerset
regarded their primary duty as being to the king and his political
interests, and the fates of the servants of his enemies were incidental.
The author of 'Curn rerurn rnotu' asserts his personality in the
contrived and rhetorical Latin of the preface,33 which is full of rare
words and stylistic peculiarities, reminiscent of that of the compiler
of Richard II's geomancy fifty years earlier. In fact the similarity
does not end there, for the substance of these opening paragraphs
is much the same in both, namely an exposition and defence of the
operation of the occult powers of the stars on earth. The author
then presents his own figure for the nativity of Henry VI, and
makes a detailed comparison of his computations with those of
Bolingbroke and Southwell, to the distinct disadvantage of the
latter. The author points out that the latitude of Windsor is about
5120', and it is thus more accurate to use the tables of Jean de
Linieres, as he has done, for the latitude of 51, than to rely, like
Roger, whose surname he does not give, and Thomas Southwell,
upon Oxford tables of William Rede for the latitude of 5150' .34 This
has the important consequence of distinguishing the cusps of the
houses delineated by the two figures. There are also marginal
differences in the planetary positions, with the author of 'Curn
rerurn rnotu' taking particular pride in the accuracy of his figures,
which are expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, a conceit he
may well have picked up from John Holbroke. These alterations
affect the choice of Yleg, the gradus interfectoris, and Atazir, and
hence the true determination of the time and manner of death of
the native. 35
Already the particular concern of the author is dear. This treatise
is not, like that devoted to the interpretation of the nativity of
Henry V, a good-natured and flattering account of the king' s
charader and prospects. Rather it is an earnest and elaborately-
argued plea to a man afraid he was destined soon to die. The
apparatus may be that of a leamed and scholarly disputation, but

the intent is clear. The author goes on to present the figure
ca1culated by Holbroke, which, as he says, he has the temerity to
criticise because Holbroke drew the ascendant of his nativity from
the Annimodar of mid-heaven, rather than the Annimodar of the
previous conjunction, a manifestly more accurate proceeding. 36
Also, as Ashenden says in the prologue of the second book of his
Summa judicialis, the highest degree of precision and diligence is
required in the calculating of nativities, and especially the ascend-
ant. Moreover, as Aristotle wams in the Eulogies, a small error in
the beginning will give rise to a much greater error by the end.
Having thus dismissed the two riyal versions of the king's nativity,
the author goes on to examine in some detail the figure of the
heavens in each month of the king's twentieth year, which Boling-
broke and Southwell had identified as a time of particular danger
to the king, providing more reassuring and scientific reasons for
rejecting their judgements.
In the third part of the treatise, the author summarises in seven
conclusions the controversial findings of Bolingbroke and South-
weIl conceming the king' s nativity. 37 The first conclusion is that,
according to the signs of the stars, King Henry would endure a
dangerous condition or event ('accidens') in his twentieth year,
unless he was able to avoid it 'per artern et industriam'. The second
conclusion is that the evil condition or event is especially prone to
affect the bodily disposition. The third conclusion is that these
effects will be of the nature of natural infirmities, which come
about through nature rather than some extemal source, such as by
a sword, or fire, or a wild animal, or by danger of the sea, or by
some other thing. Fourthly, the root and origin of the infirmity will
be of the nature of Satum, such as fever with great tremor, or moist
infirmities, or those brought on by great cold. Fifthly, although the
original illness will be associated with excessive cold, the recovery
will be characterised by excessive heat, such as continual fever,
and choleric abscesses. The author retorts that he believes that
medical opinion would regard this progress as impossible. The
sixth conclusion is that this condition or event would arise at any
time from the month of April 1441, and would continue at the most
for an entire year. The seventh and final conclusion of Bolingbroke
and Southwell is that there is good reason to fear that this condi-
tion or event would appear in July or August, unless it were
averted by wise action. As we attempt to assess the possible impact
of this treatise on the king, it is worth recalling that Bolingbroke
Astrology and Disaster at the Court 01 Henry VI 149
and Southwell were arrested and imprisoned in July 1441, in what

could weIl have been an act of ironic royal malice. The author
cleverly rebuts all of these conclusions, generally by referring to his
earlier argument that Bolingbroke and Southwell' s horoscope of
the king's nativity was inaccurate, and therefore their calculations
of the time of danger and possible death of the native cannot be
trusted. On reflection, there is nothing overtly treasonable in the
predictions, merely a warning of a possible illness. But unfortu-
nately the two astrologers had made the mistake of receiving
patronage from one of the king's enemies. The author concludes
with a smug paragraph extolling his faithful love of the truth,
stating that he has arranged his arguments as an aid to feeble
minds and hoping that his advice will be considered as if it was
received from the mouth of an honoured father in the spirit of
heartfelt affection, and not out of pride or elation. 38
The style and content of the treatise on the nativity of Henry VI
is in marked contrast to the treatise on the nativity of his father,
Henry V. From the very calculation of the ascendant, to the
determination of the details of the native's personal life, every-
thing has changed. Where Henry V' s astrologer does not even
refer to the planetary positions, let alone his preferred method for
the calculation of the mundane houses, or the lot of fortune, to the
author of 'Cum rerum motu' these matters are all-important. Where
the earlier author ranged widely over all aspects of the native' s
public and private lives, the later hesitates to commit himself
throughout the entire work to a single prediction. There is this
similarity, that both treatises put primary emphasis on estimating
the time and manner of their respective subjects' deaths. But
whereas the death of Henry V is given calm reflection, and the
proviso 'annuente Deo', there can be no mistaking the air of tense,
morbid trepidation that accompanies the equivalent passages in
'Cum rerum motu'. Of course there is a considerable difference
between predicting the death of a king in over twenty years' time
at the relatively mature age of fifty-two, and his imminent demise
at the age of twenty. But it is also true that in the interval between
the composition of these two treatises there had been a major
change in the style of astrology being practised in England. Where
the astrologers of Merton College, and the unknown calculators of
the nativities considered in Chapter Six, had been essentially no
more than part-time amateurs, and rather bungling and imprecise
at that, the new generation of astrologers demanded much more
stringent standards.
Chief harbinger of the new breed of astrologer was the old

master and hero of the author of 'Cum rerum motu', John Hol-
broke. 39 Holbroke was a Doctor of Theology by 1418, and Master of
Peterhouse in Cambridge from about June 1421 until his death in
1437. In November 1429, and for aperiod in 1430, he was Chancel-
lor of the University. He attracted some enthusiastic admirers,
including the author of Henry VI's 'Cum rerum motu', and was
given this accolade by a sixteenth-century reader of his astronomi-
cal tables: 'This man was the mathematicall glory of Cambridge for
ther was nower any one good in this knowledge before Hole-
brooke who was satis profundus' .40
In 1426 Holbroke left three manuscripts to Peterhouse which
give us a hint of his interest in astrology and in the calculation of
astronomical tables, namely a copy of Haly's De Iudiciis stellarum,
John Ashenden's Summa iudicialis de accidentibus mundi and a copy
of Holbroke's tables of the motion of the sun, moon and planets. 41
Copies of Holbroke's tables occur in the autograph manuscripts of
two later attendants at court with an interest in astrology, namely
Lewis of Caerleon and John Argentine, Provost of Kings College.
In 1460 Thomas Scalon, a scholar and fellow of King's, and poss-
iblya student of John Argentine, copied extracts from Holbroke's
tables into his own book. At about the same time, John Ingham, a
fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, also owned a copy of Hol-
broke' s tables. 42
This is a respectable following for a scholar by the standards of
medieval universities. What attracted these astrologers, astron-
omers and mathematicians to Holbroke' s work, and earned him
the title of the 'mathematical glory of Cambridge'? Holbroke's farne
rested on his remarkable versions of the Alfonsine tables. His Opus
primum is a set of tables of the true and mean motions of the sun,
moon and planets, and a table of the ascensions of the signs on the
oblique circle for the latitude of Cambridge, taken as 5219', calcu-
lated to four sexagesimal places. The Opus secundum extended the
illusion of accuracy of these tables to no less than ten sexagesimal
places. 43 Holbroke' s ambition may well have been to become the
Cambridge William Rede, and to see his tables disseminated
throughout England as widely as those of his fourteenth-century
Oxford predecessor. With ten sexagesimal places, and no-one it
seems to question the accuracy of his figures, Holbroke's reputa-
tion must have appeared to be unassallable.
If we turn to Holbroke' s manuscripts there is some evidence that
he brought the same notions of mathematical rigour, albeit of a

quite bogus variety, to his practice of astrology, as he exhibited in
his astronomical tables. In the Egerton manuscript there is a short
treatise with the title Ars inveniendi figuram conceptionis nati, which
is ascribed to Holbroke in the Catalogue, by Gordon Goodwin in
his article in the Dictionary of National Biography, and by Thorn-
dike. 44 In fact, this tract is identical to a text described elsewhere by
Thorndike, which has been attributed to Andalo di Negro.45 The
tract describes the application of an astrological technique for
discovering the ascendant at the time of conception, on the face of
it an even more evasive quantity than the time of birth. The same
process is described in a number of English manuscripts under the
name Trutina Hermetis. 46 Ptolemy discusses the moment of concep-
tion in the Quadripartitum and its possible infIuence on the life of a
native, admitting at the same time the difficulty of identifying this
moment with any exactitude. 47 Ptolemy did not provide any means
of overcoming this difficulty, as he did with the Annimodar and
the time of birth, but the remedy is described in the pseudony-
mous Centiloquium and the Commentary by Haly. 48 Following this
source closely, the tract in Holbroke's manuscript provides instruc-
tions for determining the time of conception with the aid of tables,
to the nearest hour. The theory is interesting as an example of one
of the more extreme conceits indulged in by 'scientific' astrologers,
and it is characteristic of Holbroke to be attracted to this esoteric
practice.
The only evidence available that Holbroke put his theories into
practice as an astrologer in the service of Henry V, and later Henry
VI, comes from the author of Tum rerum motu'. There are no
outstanding reasons for rejecting his report that Holbroke was
Henry V's chaplain and a trusted royal adviser, or that Holbroke
cast two versions of the nativity of Henry VI. In fact, knowing
Holbroke's scrupulosity in these matters, it would not be unusual
for hirn to have taken the trouble to caIculate the new king' s
ascendant by two different methods.
The dramatic events which surround the nativity of Henry VI
mark something of a watershed as far as the relationship between
astrologers and their patrons is concerned. There had perhaps
always been tension between the idealised conception of the art as
promulgated in the most widely-read authorities on astrology, and
the more practical demands of the astrologers' clients. The astrol-
oger was encouraged to regard hirnself as something of a priest of
the stars, entrusted with occult wisdom and under an obligation to

use his knowledge wisely and in the best causes. Furthermore, the
weighty authority of the Church Fathers and most subsequent
Christian theologians unanimously deplored the use of astrology
to determine specific events or concerning particular individuals.
Quite simply, to predict the future was regarded as tantamount to
dedaring that the future is fixed, and hence denying both the
omnipotent will of God and the freedom of the human will. For
those Mertonians who practised and wrote about astrology, it was
possible to make a simple accommodation to these theological
objections by avoiding those parts of astrology which supply
judgments to enquiries concerning individuals or specific events.
Edward III probably supported this tacit moratorium, and in any
case does not seem to have demanded any more from them.
The case was rather different for astrologers associated with the
courts of Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI. A doser acquaintance
with the services offered by astrologers trained in France and Italy,
such as Symon de Phares describes in his Recueil, seems to have
been followed by a demand for astrological judgments by members
of the nobility from English astrologers. During this period there
was a rise in the occurrence of horoscopes, especially nativities of
English kings, in English manuscripts. Because of the intellectual
status of astrology, which continued to be studied within the
Faculties of both Arts and Medicine, English scholars with some
knowledge of astrology were drawn into the retinues of great
lords, such as the Duke of Bedford or the Duke and Duchess of
Gloucester, from the universities. However, astrologers were no
longer asked, like Nicholas of Lynn and John Somer, to produce
calendars with certain canons on medical astrology, nor did they
labour independently, like John Ashenden, to use astrology to
predict such recurrent general evils as the plague, war, sickness
and bad weather. Rather it was demanded that they provide
advice on such delicate political issues as the state of the king's
health, or when he might be expected to die. The rest was probably
inevitable. Astrologers may have enjoyed some partial immunity
from the charge of sorcery or witchcraft, but they were not safe
from that of treason.
The case of Thomas Southwell and Roger Bolingbroke demon-
strates how inflammable the mixture of astrology and politics
could become. The counterweight to the politicisation of astrology
was provided at Cambridge with the development of a new style of
mathematical astrology and astronomy, with John Holbroke as its

founder. It was a member of this group, perhaps Roger Marshall,
who provided Henry VI's servants, John Langton and John Somer-
set, with a treatise rebutting Bolingbroke and Southwell's in-
terpretation of the king's nativity. If astrologers lamented the loss
of a number of the leading members of their profession, they could
at least take some comfort from the fact that their predictions and
abilities were at last being taken very seriously.
9
Astrology in the Fifteenth
Century
Astrology in medieval England has been reviewed so far only in
the universities and in the drcles surrounding the king and the
court. This has not been the result of an arbitrary or overly narrow
selection of material, but has been rather a reflection of the very
limited sodal groups which displayed any knowledge and interest
in astrology. In the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, it
could truly be said that astrology was a royal art. Hence it has been
possible to examine closely the career of each identifiable astrolo-
ger and his works. However, in the second half of the fifteenth
century, encouraged most significantly by the printing press,
astrology started to reach a much wider audience. From this time
astrologers become too numerous and active for us to follow in
detail, and we must become more selective in our choice of illustra-
tions.
Throughout the reigns of Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III,
John Crophill, a physician who lived in the parish of Wix in Essex,
maintained a notebook full of notes conceming the practice of
astrological medidne, accounts of patients and his fees, and similar
matters. 1 In his study of Crophill's notebook, Talbert concluded
that Crophill is unlikely to have had any university training, and
that his astrological knowledge was only superfidal. 2 Neverthe-
less, considered together with the pocket almanacs of medical
astrology which start to appear in considerable numbers from the
middle of the fifteenth century,3 Crophill can be seen as a rep-
resentative of one of the powerful sodal forces which eventually
secured the universal acceptance of astrology, namely medical
astrology. Keith Thomas has noted a similar notebook which
belonged to the physidan Richard Trewythian, who was practising
in London in 1442-58, and combined his medical business with
answering horary questions for a range of clients. Trewythian does
not seem to have had any university training and is described in
154
Astrology in the Fifteenth Century 155
his manuscript as an astrologer and money-Iender. North notes

the idiosyncratic astrological technique favoured by Trewythian,
including his production of tripie and even quadrupie hor-
oscopes. 4 Thomas refers to this Trewythian's remarkable notebook
as, 'the first unambiguous testimony to the existence of private
astrological practice in England' , 5 and we can probably date the
establishment of astrologers as a professional elass from this period.
At the level of the royal court, medical practitioners with a
training in astrology continued to assert themselves. Indeed, Hol-
broke seems to have been the last academically-trained astron-
omer/astrologer in the tradition of John Ashenden to have served
the king. Ultimately it may have been the continued threat of
sharing the fate of Roger Bolingbroke and Thomas Southwell as
the scapegoat in some grisly political scandal that deterred respect-
able scholars from the practice of judicial astrology. That this threat
remained very much alive is attested by the trial of two Oxford
clerks, John Stacy and Thomas Blake. On 19 May 1477 Thomas
Burdett of Arowe, a close friend of George, Duke of Clarence,
Edward IV's brother, was accused of treason. 6 It was alleged that
Burdett had employed John Stacy, 'late of Oxford, gentleman', and
Thomas Blake, 'late of Oxford, clerk', on 12 November 1474, 'to
calculate the nativities of the King, and of Edward, prince of
Wales, his eldest son, and also to know when the king would die',
and afterwards on 6 February 'in order to carry their traitorous
intention into effect, worked and calculated by art m<!gic, necro-
mancy and astronomy, the death and final destruction of the King
and Prince'. Clarence attempted to defend his friend but was soon
after himself arrested. There can be little doubt that Stacy and
Blake were accidental victims in the downfall of the Duke of
Clarence, but for our purposes the outstanding feature of the case
is that for the first time astrology is specifically implicated in a
charge of sorcery.
John Stacy may weIl have been conducting a general astrological
advisory service, for besides the unfortunate Thomas Burdett, he is
said to have offered advice to William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. 7
We have a good idea where the two clerks learned their craft. Both
Stacy and Blake8 were members of Merton College, Oxford, the
cradle of an earlier generation of astronomers. Stacy was elected a
fellow in about 1466, and Blake was the college chaplain. Accord-
ing to the Vetus Catalogus Stacy was esteemed as 'nobilis astrono-
mus', and Thomas Blake 'potius excellentior' in this art. As with the
execution of Roger Bolingbroke, the death of Stacy at Tyburn on 20

May 1477 may weH have aroused some uneasy feelings in high
places, for although he had been found guilty of treason, Stacy's
wife Marion was granted aH his goods on 13 June 1477. 9 On 3 June
1477 Blake was pardoned at the intervention of the Bishop of
Norwich, an extraordinary-escape for a suspected traitor.
Except for what seems to have been a weH-developed sense of
political survival, the physician and astronomer Lewis of Caer-
leonlO might weH have shared the fate of Bolingbroke or Stacy.
Caerleon was admitted Bachelor of Medicine of Cambridge in
1465-6 and was Doctor of Medicine, either of Oxford or Cam-
bridge, by 1481. He managed to build up a handsome medical
practice among the noble members of the Lancastrian faction,
numbering among his clients Elizabeth of York, widow of Edward
IV, Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and her son Henry,
Earl of Richmond, later Henry VII. In 1485, when Richmond
supported the Duke of Buckingham in a conspiracy to overthrow
Richard III, Lewis found himself arrested and imprisoned in the
Tower of London. He made profitable use of this enforced leisure
to produce a set of canons to his eclipse tables. Throughout what
must have been a fuH and adventurous life Caerleon compiled a
number of astronomical tables, and displayed an almost antiqua-
rian delight in coHecting and editing the works of earlier English
scholars. He admired the Oxford astronomers Richard of Walling-
ford, Simon Bredon, John Killingworth and John Somer, and knew
the tables compiled by Friar Randolf for Duke Humphrey.n How-
ever, he considered the attempt by John Walter to produce a
universal table of the ascensions of the signs, although laudable in
concept, a vain endeavour. 12
Like the author of 'Cum rerum motu', whose treatise on the
nativity of Henry VI he took such care to copy, Caerleon was
evidently also a great admirer of John Holbroke. 13 Indeed, with his
delight in computation,14 and his interest in English astronomy,
Caerleon can be seen as a pivotal figure linking the mathematical
traditions of fourteenth-century Oxford and fifteenth-century Cam-
bridge. With such a background, and although there is no firm
evidence for this, it would be more than likely that Caerleon
provided astrological judgements, as weH as medical advice and
political favours, to his noble clients. Living in dangerous and
treacherous times, he is probably most fortunate to have escaped
the ready accusation of sorcery reserved for clerks learned in the
science of the stars. Instead, with the overthrow of Richard III and
the accession of his patron Henry VII in 1486, he was awarded the
singular honour of becoming a knight of the king' salms in St
George's Chapel, Windsor, which he seems to have retained until
his death some time in 1493-4. 15
The true heir to the Cambridge tradition of John Holbroke, the
author of 'Cum rerum motu' and Lewis of Caerleon, has to be John
Argentine,16 born in 1442 and Provost of King's College from 1501
until his death in 1507 or 1508. Yet Argentine is also one of the first
representatives of the final stage of medieval court astrology, in
which a royal astrologer came to hold an institutionalised office,
under cover of the duties of the royal physician. As the foremost
medical schools of Europe were situated in the Italian universities
of Bologna and Padua, which had long included astrology in their
curricula, it is only natural that many of these astrologerl
physicians who attended the English court should have been
educated in Italy. Like Holbroke, Argentine ensured he would be
remembered by commissioning a fine memorial brass, which can
still be seen in King' s College Chapel. 17 Argentine was a product of
the foundations of King Henry VI, Eton College and King' s Col-
lege, Cambridge, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1461-2, and ulti-
mately Doctor of Divinity in 1504. At some stage he travelled to
Italy, and according to Emden was Doctor of Medicine by 1485,
probably of Padua. When Henry VII's son Arthur was born on 19
September 1486, Argentine was appointed as his physician and
chaplain. 18
There is a fascinating glimpse of Argentine' s royal practice in the
letter of the Italian Domenico Mancini, who visited England in the
1480s. 19 Mancini records that Argentine attended the unfortunate
child king, Edward V, and Rhodes assurnes that he would also
have served the king's brother, Richard, Duke ofYork, who joined
him in the Tower on 16 June 1483. 20 According to Mancini:21
Doctor Argentine, who was the last of his attendants whose

services the king enjoyed, reported that the young king, like a
victim prepared for sacrifice, sought remission of his sins by
daily confession and penance, because he believed death was
facing him.
Argentine cast the horoscopes of the nativities of Edward V, and

his father Edward I~ so he could have been the royal astrologer,
as much as a physician. In this case, however, neither medical

prowess nor the science of the stars was of much assistance, and
both children were probably dead by September.
Argentine was. more than an eminent physician who enjoyed
royal patronage. His fine coilection of books23 reveals him to be a
learned man, with a contemporary interest in the Italian Renais-
sance, and a professional and expert knowledge of the by now
inextricably-linked disciplines of astrology and medicine. As befit-
ted a royal physician, Argentine went to particular trouble to build
up his medical library. The fruits of an extensive reading are
evident in his treatise LC}ci communes seu Ziber de morbis et medicinis,24
which is an alphabetical listing of diseases and their treatments,
combined with anecdotes recounting Argentine's own experiences
with particular cases. As we would expect, astrology plays its part
in the diagnosis and treatment advocated by the author. Given the
eminence of Argentine's position, it is a little surprising that we do
not have some more ambitious work from his pen. Besides the Loci
communes, his only other known work is a grand poetic oration on
the arts of grammar, rhetoric and logic, and the sciences of geo-
metry, perspective, arithmetic, music, astronomy, the natural sci-
ences and medicine, and moral and metaphysical philosophy.
There are two survivihg copies, neither of them contemporary.25 A
note attached to the Oxford copy describes the poem as, 'the act of
Master John Argentine held public1y in the University of Cam-
bridge, against all the regents of this university, in the year 1470'.26
We can probably assurne that this was Argentine's graduation
speech. 27 Although he is not known to have taken any degree, or
taken up any new position in the year 1470, the poem could weil
have been composed at the time of his inception as BA in 1461-2,
or MA in 1465--6. Perhaps the date in the manuscript, a later
addition, is incorrect. The verses themselves are conventional in
tone, and it is disappointing that neither medicine nor astronomy
is singled out for special praise in this early work.
To leam anything more of Argentine it is necessary to turn to his
manuscripts, among which astronomy and astrology take up by far
the largest space. The manuscript which probably reveals most
c1early Argentine' s personal tastes and interests is Gloucester
Cathedral 21, which according to Ker was written, 'mostly by and
partly, perhaps, for John Argentine'.28 The longest tracts in the
manuscript are astrological treatises by such commonly-en-
countered Jewish and Arabic authorities as Abraham ibn Ezra,
Zael, and MessahaHah, as weH as tracts on various astronomical

instruments. Yet like Lewis of Caerleon, Argentine displays a
particular interest in the works of English astronomers, ineluding,
not unexpectedly, John Holbroke, the tracts of Roger Bolingbroke
discussed above, the York writer known as 'Perscrutator', and odd
notes taken from John Ashenden, Simon Bredon, William Worce-
stre, and Roger of Hereford. To compute his horoscope of Edward
IV, Argentine referred to the tables of the mundane houses for the
latitude of Norwich (5242'), compiled by William Norwich, a
monk of Horsham St Faith. This may have been convenient, since
a copy of these Norwich tables is in Argentine's manuscript, but
was not particularly accurate since Edward IV was born in Rouen,
which has a latitude of 4926'. Evidently the arguments of the
author of 'Cum rerum motu' on this issue were not generaHy ac-
cepted, and astrologers continued to cast horoscopes with what-
ever tables were available, ignoring the place of birth of the
subject. Argentine's manuscript gives us an exceHent idea of what
it was thought necessary for an astrologer to know, ranging from
the standard textbooks of the Arabic authorities, to treatises ex-
plaining the use of astronomical instruments, planetary tables,
such as those of John Holbroke, and tables of the mundane houses,
such as those of William Norwich.
Yet astrology was not aH study and intrigue. It must have been
fun as weH, as can be seen from another of the books of John
Argentine. 29 This little volume contains four short treatises on the
playing of a number of board games, namely: a set of about twenty
chess problems, written in English;30 John Shirwood's Ludus Arith-
momachie; De ludo philosophorum, actually another version of the
same game31 ; and a Ludus astronomorum. 32 All the games are highly
complex and would merit eloser attention, but we shaH concentrate
on the last game, which is most relevant to Argentine's astrological
interests.
The board, which should be three feet in diameter, is set out
with the signs of the zodiac in degrees, like the back of an astrol-
abe, or a chequerboard can be used, as in the previous game in the
manuscript, 'Arithmomachy'. The 'pieces' are the seven planets,
and the moves imitate their actual daily movements, as they were
understood in the Middle Ages. Limitations are accordingly placed
on the pieces' freedom of movement; the Sun, for example cannot
move backwards, and only moves one degree at a time (fol. 73).
The object of the game is to earn points by acquiring astrological
dignity for your pieces and depriving your opponent' spieces of

their dignity, which was calculated in the usual way according to
the planets' house, exaltation, triplicity, term and face, which are
valued at 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 dignities respectively (fol. 76V ). A piece
can only be moved operationally if it is put into some aspect to an
opponent's piece, that is, conjunction, opposition, sextile, trine
and quartile aspect, taking into account the varying extent of the
projection of the rays of influence of each planet (fols 76v-77), and
certain degrees where their power is impeded (fols 77-nv). It reads
Iike an excellent game, and one weIl worth reviving. Obviously,
however, one would need considerable familiarity with the rules
and procedures of astrology to play with any facility. When Jean
Fusoris was introduced to Henry V in 1415, he offered him what is
described as 'a little book of puzzles' (sixternum de enigmatibus), also
called 'ludi geometrie et astrologie'. 33 Henry V did not bother to
accept this, but it sounds very like the book of board games owned
by Argentine. It would seem that fifty years later, Argentine had
the acquaintance of sufficient potential opponents, with the necess-
ary knowledge of astrology and mathematics, to give point to the
ownership of such a book.
The game itself is dearly related to an Arabic game, with the
same name, which occurs in the book of games compiled at the
order of King Alfonso X of Castile in 1283. 34 Although it uses a
similar circular board, this game was in effect a simple race quite
different form the complex battle game, like chess, described in
Argentine's manuscript. Thomas Scalon, who copied a number of
the texts in Argentine's manuscripts, also copied down the Ludus
astronomorum, so we can imagine that master and pupil enjoyed
the occasional bout. 35 We are left with the intriguing possibility
that Argentine, perhaps inspired by Shirwood's example, devised
this new version of the Ludus astronomorum himself, though it
seems rather unlikely that he would not have daimed credit for
doing so.
Another foreign-trained physician, William Schevez (d. 1497),
Archbishop of St Andrew's, found great favour at the court of the
susceptible James III of Scotland, whose physician he was from
1471-80. Schevez studied at St Andrew's and Louvain under
Spiricus the astrologer. Although reputed a master of astrology,
medicine and theology, he was not a doctor of medicine and seems
to have served James III in administrative capacities. The astrol-
oger Gaspard Laet dedicated his work on the edipse of 8 May 1491
to hirn, so his reputation shone beyond Scotland. 36 With Schevez,

we are moving out of the period generally described as 'the Middle
Ages'. However it is interesting to examine briefly the careers of
two more astrologer-physicians who exemplify a new breed of
court retainer, educated outside England and imbued with the
ideals and fashions of the Italian Renaissance, not least its flirtation
with the occult sciences. John Baptista Boerio (c.1494-1514) was the
chief physician to both Henry VII and, for a short time, to Henry
VIII. 37 According to no less an authority than Erasmus, who
offered hirn a copy of his own translation of Lucianus de Astrologia,
'Boerio in his knowledge of astrology is superior to all others'. 38
His will reveals that he had established himself as a quite wealthy
man and could afford to make generous charitable bequests in his
native Taggia. 39
Henry VII must have been peculiarly susceptible to the charms
of the Italian astrologer-physician, because he also employed one
Master William Parron, artium et medicine doctor, for a short period
between roughly 1490 and the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1503. 40
Parron distinguishes hirnself from all his predecessors working in
England by his numerous publications. On the Continent, by the
mid-fifteenth century, the professional astrologer who combined
the patronage of some great lord with annual printed prognostica-
tions was a common phenomenon, but in England Parron was
obliged to break new ground. 41 Political prophecy had been a
favoured English literary genre since the time of Geoffrey of
Monmouth, but the imagery tended to be heraldic rather than
astrological. Similarly, English prognostications printed on single
sheets were probably some of the earliest issues from the English
presses. The earliest surviving example, printed by de Worde in
1497, can be attributed to Henry VII's able astrologerY Evidently,
Parron was able to ride the wave of a popular fashion which was to
be kept in motion for the next 300 years by cheap printing. Parron
probably also issued yearly almanacs from an earlier date, and by
1500 was dedicating Latin editions to the king. In a more discursive
style, he also addressed something of an apologia of his art to
Henry VII with the full title De astrorum succincte vi fatali hominum et
particulariter cuiusdam nati ac adversus detestantes astrologiam iudicalem. 43
Clearly the enemies of astrology who had be set Roger Bacon,
worried the compiler of Richard 11' s geomancy and ensured the
deaths of Roger Bolingbroke and Thomas Southwell in 1441, and
John Stacy in 1477, were still very much in evidence. There are
signs that Parron's panegyrical horoscope of Henry, Prince of

Wales, which he presented to Henry VII and Elizabeth of York,
was written in haste and presaged his departure from the court. 44
Parron may have secured a foot in the door of the court for the
professional astrologer, but there was no security of tenure.
By the sixteenth century, when Edward VI ineluded payments
made to 'Astronomours' together with those for 'Surgeons, Phisi-
tions rand] Appothicaries', it is elear that the position of the court
astrologer, and his intima te assoeiation with the practice of medi-
eine, had become something of an institution. It is probably true
that however comfortable the arrangement might have become,
this was an alien Italian institution, unknown for all intents and
purposes to the medieval English court. The antiquarian activity of
such fifteenth-century scholars as Lewis of Caerleon, John Argen-
tine, and William Worcestre, who worked so assiduously to collect
the writings of English astronomers and astrologers of the pre-
vious century, may weIl indicate their covert awareness that the
old age was passing and needed to be preserved. The days when
the researches and writings of Richard of Wallingford, William
Rede, John Somer, John Ashenden, Walter Oddington and others
ranked with the best European astronomy and astrology were not
to return, despite the strenous efforts of John Holbroke and his
admirers.
IronicaIly, the seeds of the decay of English astrology, from
being arespected field of higher research in the great universities
to a mere diagnostic tool for the royal physieians, lay in the
patriotic desire of astrologers such as John Ashenden to put astrol-
ogy at the service of the king. Almost inevitably, with a eloser
assoeiation with political events, which we can first observe at the
court of the pious Henry V, the image of astrology was tarnished
by the stain of sorcery. The practice of judieial astrology, which
had always been a theologically dubious activity, became a politi-
cally dangerous one as weH. Yet the demand in aristocratic cireles
for advice based on the influences of the stars continued to grow,
fueHed by the experiences of those who had made use of the
services of astrologers in France. The Duke of Gloucester patron-
ised Friar John Randolf, and commissioned from him a set of
astrological tables. The Duchess of Gloucester went a step further
and employed two Oxford scholars, Southwell and Bolingbroke, to
enquire into the nativity of the king himself. The regent of France,
John, Duke of Bedford, had a particular interest in popular seience,
commissioning books on surgery, physiognomy, geomancy and

employing more than one astronomer. 45 It is probably safe to
assume that other attendants at court made similar arrangements
with clerks willing to practise the art. Not surprisingly, the king
became sensitive to attempts to use astrology to predict the time of
his death, as indicated by the arrests of Friar Randolf, Southwell
and Bolingbroke. This was something which would affect the later
practice of judicial astrology by English scholars, and their patron-
age by the nobility.
Henry VI and his successors seem to have feIt less threatened by
the use of astrology in the practice of medicine. At a time when the
middle classes were also beginning to enjoy the services of physi-
clans who based their methods of diagnosis and treatment on
astrology, men such as John Crophill and Richard Trewythian,
astrologer-physicians, often boasting degrees from the Italian uni-
versities, were finding a welcome at court. John Argentine, Wil-
liam Schevez, John Baptista Boerio and William Parron are all
members of this new class of royal retainer. With this development
we can signal the end of medieval English astrology which had
drawn its main recruits from the centres of mathematical and
astronomical learning in the Universities of Oxford and Cam-
bridge, and from the English court. Renaissance astrology, with its
huge popular following, its Italian roots, and its reliance on medi-
ca! fashions, represents a transformation of the art and a funda-
mental departure from the native medieval tradition.
Astrology in the Middle Ages was not a subject for popular taste,
the unleamed, or the pious. Theologians frowned upon it, kings
were cautious about it, and only a few scholars specialising in the
branches of the quadrivium acquired a really expert knowledge of
its complex procedures. There was a gradual rise in the level of
interest taken in astrology and other occult sciences, including
geomancy, in the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Until the reign of Henry VII, judicial astrology can be characterised
in accordance with its own propaganda as a royal art patronised by
wise princes, a noble science accessible only to worthy scholars.
Astrology is an attractive and persuasive philosophy, and it only
needed a few informed and influentially-placed advocates to es-
tablish it more or less securely as a feature of English court life.
Despite this, it has always been politically dangerous to even
purport to know the future. What to Richard 11 was probably no
more than an amusing game was to Henry VI a seedbed for
treasonable speculations. Whereas no medieval English king ever

pursued the policy advocated by the Secreta secretorum to make an
astrologer his constant companion, doing nothing without his
advice, by the reign of Henry VII it had become impossible either
to ignore or to dismiss astrology. In the face of the overwhelming
belief in the efficacy of astrological predictions, the theological and
even political problems created by astrology were simply over-
looked. The royal art went downmarket and the noble science was
studied by anyone with the few coins in their pockets needed to
buy the latest almanacs. With this state of affairs, the medieval
phase of astrology had definitely drawn to a dose.
Notes
1 THE PROBLEM OF ASTROLOGY
1. See Appendix IV for a bibliographical guide to the technical side of

astrology.
2. For some further discussion of this theme see Hilary Carey, 'Astrol-
ogy at the English Court in the Later Middle Ages' in Patrick Curry
(ed.), Astrology, Science and Society: Historical Essays (Woodbridge,
Suffolk, 1987).
3. Symon de Phares, Receuil des plus celebres astrologues et quelque hommes
doctes faict par Symon de Phares du temps de Charles VIII, ed. Ernest
Wickersheimer (Paris, 1929) and see Chapter Six below. Nancy Rea-
gan and William Novak, My Turn. The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan
(London, 1989). Nancy Reagan comments 'When you're as fright-
ened as I was, you reach out for help and comfort in any direction.'
4. C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image (Cambridge, 1964).
5. For a handy comparative account of beliefs relating to the celestial
bodies in a number of societies, see the articles under the title 'Sun,
Moon, and Stars', in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics ed. James
Gardiner (Edinburgh-New York, 1921) XII, pp. 4~103.
6. The earliest Babylonian horoscope, that most characteristic artefact of
western astrology, is dated 29 April 409 BC, though Babylonian
horoscopes occur in greatest numbers from about 200 Be. There are
considerably more Greek horoscopes, although they date from after
the birth of Christ, and Neugebauer takes this as confirmation of the
Greek role in the development of astrology as a 'science': O. Neuge-
bauer and H. B. van Hoesen, Creek Horoscopes, Memoirs of the
American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, 1959) pp. 161-2 have a
distribution map, and see also A. Sachs, 'Babylonian horoscopes',
Journal vf Cuneiform Studies 2 (1948) 271-90.
7. For the modem occult revival see Robert Galbreath, 'The History of
Modem Occultism; A Bibliographical Survey', Journal of Popular Cul-
ture 5 (1971) 72~54. For a French analysis of modem believers in
astrology see Philippe Defrance, Claude Fischler, et. al., Le Retour des
astrologues (Paris, 1971). I would agree with the analysis of Mircea
Eliade, 'The Occult and the Modem World', in Occultism, Witchcraft
and Cultural Fashions: Essays in Comparative Religions (Chicago, 1976),
in a paper first delivered on 24 May 1974, that modem astrology, in
common with most of the varied products of the occult revival,
represents a rejection of the current values of western, material
society. As such it has more in common with the millenial cults of the
Middle Ages than with astrology, which remained largely the pre-
serve of the establishment elite, as we hope to demonstrate. For the
165
166 Notes
history of modem astrology, inc1uding its part in the rise of National

Socialism, see Ellic Howe, Urania's Children: The Strange World of the
Astrologers (London, 1967). Howe's The Magieians of the Golden Dawn.
A Doeumentary History of a Magieal Order, 1887-1923 (London, 1972:
2nd ed. 1985) is also of interest.
8. T. O. Wedel, The Mediaeval Attitude toward Astrology, Yale Studies in
English LX (New Haven, 1920) p. ili.
9. Wayne Shumaker, The Oeeult Scienees in the Renaissance (Berkeley,
1972) pp. xv-xvi, 7-16. See the comment, 'however pardonable belief
in astrology may have been in the Renaissance, in modem times faith
in it is more likely to tell us more about psychic needs than about the
actual workings of the cosmos'.
10. F. Saxl, 'The ReviV'al of Late Antique Astrology', in Leetures, 2 vols
(London, 1957) p. 82.
11. Ibid. p. 84.
12. G. E. R. Lloyd, Magie, Reason and Experience (Cambridge, 1979) pp.
18-19. See also the seminal study by E. R. Dodds, The Creeks and the
Irrational (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1951).
13. This is the approach adopted by J. D. North, Horoscopes and History
(London, 1986) preface and introduction. North does add, 'Heaven
forbid that the book should be judged as a manual for astrologers -
even though it may be safely expected to become compulsory read-
ing for all their introductory courses.'
14. Patrick Curry, Prophecy and Power. Astrology in Early Modern England
(Princeton, New Jersey, 1989), especially the heartfelt introduction
on the value of astrology studies, pp. 1-4.
15. This is a debt acknowledged by Lloyd, Magie, Reason and Experienee,
introduction, pp. 1-8. The new school of anthropological history,
much of it inspired by the early work of Claude Levi-Strauss and E.
E. Evans-Pritchard's c1assic study, Witehcraft, Orades and Magie among
the Azande (Oxford, 1937), has been remarkably prolific. See the
account by Donald Nugent, 'Witchcraft Studies, 1959-1971: A Biblio-
graphical Survey', Journal of Popular Culture 5 (1971) 71IJ-25, esp.
712-13.
16. Bronislaw Malinowski, 'Magie, Science and Religion', pp. 17-92, esp.
pp. 25-36, reprinted in Magie, Scienee and Religion and other essays by
B. Malinowski (New York, 1948). From his own work in the field,
E. E. Evans-Pritchard argued that, 'magie filled a gap left by lack of
knowledge in man' s pragmatic pursuits ... and provided an alterna-
tive means of expression for thwarted human desires', in 'The Mor-
phology and Function of Magie: A Comparative Study of Trobiand
and Zande Ritual and SpeIls', p. 3 in Magie, Witehcraft and Curing ed.
John Middleton (New York, 1967).
17. Malinowski, 'Magie, Science and Religion', p. 31. But see Lloyd,
Magie, Reason and Experienee, p. 48, n.207 for a counter view.
18. Lloyd, Magie, Reason and Experienee, pp. 2-3 and references.
19. Claude Levi-Strauss, 'The Sorcerer and his Magie', pp. 23-41, in
Magie, Witeheraft and Curing. First published as 'Le sorcier et sa
magie', in Les temps modernes 41 (1949).
Notes 167
20. Edward Grant, 'Cosmology' , pp. 265--302, in Science in the Middle Ages
ed. David C. Lindberg (Chicago, 1978) pp. 265--6; C. S. Lewis, The
Discarded Image (Cambridge, 1964); J. D. North, Chaucer's Universe
(Oxford, 1988) Part 1.
21. Richard Lemay, Abu Ma'Shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Middle
Ages ed. David C. Lindberg (Chicago, 1978) pp. 265--6.
22. The pioneering study of Pierre Duhem runs to ten volumes entitled
Le systeme du monde: Histoire des doctrines cosmologiques de Platon a
Copernic (Paris, 1913-59).
23. A. Bouche-Ledercq, L'Astrologie Grecque (Paris, 1899) p. 1.
24. Useful summaries of these various doctrines are contained in Wedel,
Medieaval Attitude toward Astrology, chs 1 and 4. Wedel rightly points
out (ibid. p. 4) that Platonism, although equally open to an astrologi-
cal gloss, did not form the same permanent alliance with astrology as
Aristotelianism. The Platonic notion of the macrocosm being re-
flected in the microcosm of man, nevertheless played an important
part in astrological medicine.
25. Aristotle, De Caelo, Bk 1.
26. Ibid., Bk III; De Generatione et Corruptione, Bk II, chs 1-4.
27. De Generatione et Corruptione, Bk II, ch. 10, Aristotle was none the less
no astrologer. For his contribution to astrological theory, see
Bouche-Ledercq, L'Astrologie Grecque pp. 25--7.
28. Introductorium maius, 1.2 (Augsburg, 1489) fol. a5v. I have used this
edition (by Ratdolt) of the translation by Herman of Dalmatia, for
convenience, although the unpublished translation made by John of
Spain is in fact more commonly encountered in the extant manu-
scripts.
29. See Appendix IV.
30. Bouche-Ledercq, L'Astrologie Grecque, pp. 324-5. The doctrine of the
macrocosm and microcosm has been the subject of much leamed
interest, particularly to historians of the Renaissance. The most
eloquent testimony to the force of the idea in medieval cosmology is
the small corpus of poems associated with the twelfth-century Pla-
tonists Bemard Silvestris, Alan of LilIe and WilIiam of Conches,
though Adelard of Bath's De eodem et diverso and Daniel of Morley's
Philosophia can legitimately be seen as products of the same impulse.
For this group see especially Winthrop Wetherbee, Platonism and
Poetry in the Twelfth Century (Princeton, N.J., 1972) and for Bemard
Silvester, Brian Stock's Myth and Science in the Twelfth Century (Prince-
ton, N.J., 1972). For the medieval development of the microcosml
macrocosm theme see M. T. d' Alvemy, 'Le Cosmos Symbolique du
XIIe Siede', Archives d'histoire doctrinale et litterature du Moyen Age 28
(1953) 31-81; F. Saxl, 'Macrocosm and Microcosm in Medieval Pic-
tures', in Lectures pp. 73-84; and for the Renaissance, S. K. Hennin-
ger, Jr., Touches of Sweet Harmony. Pythagorean Cosmology and
Renaissance Poetics (San Marino, Califomia, 1974); Rudolf Allers,
'Microcosmus. From Anaximander to Paracelsus', Traditio 2 (1944)
319-407; George P. Conger, Theories of Macrocosms.and Microcosms in
the History of Philosophy (New York, 1922). I would like to thank
168 Notes
Professor Brian Vickers for these references. For an Arabic account of

the theory of astral power, see Al-Kindi's De Radiis (or Theorica artium
magicarum) ed. by M. T. d' Alverny and F. Hudry in Archives d'histoire
doctrinale et litterature du Moyen Age 41 (1974) 139-260.
31. The best introduction to this topic is the monograph by T. O. Wedel,
The Mediaeval Attitude toward Astrology. Yale Studies in English LX
(New Haven, 1920). Astrology is also central to Edward Peters, The
Magician, the Witch and the lilw (University of Pennsylvania Press,
1978). For the dassical debate the central study is D. Amand's
Fatalisme et liberte dans l'Antiquite grecque (Louvain, 1945), but see the
artide by A. A. Long, 'Astrology: arguments pro and contra', in
Science and Speculation. Studies in Hellenistic Theory and Practice ed.
Jonathan Barnes (Cambridge, 1982) pp. 165-92. The topic is also
treated in the vast literature of c1assical astrology. See ego A. Bouche-
Ledercq, L'Astrologie grecque, pp. 57(kl09; idem, Histoire de la divina-
tion dans l'antiquite, 4 vols (Paris, 1879-82) I; Franz Boll, 'Studien ber
Claudius Ptolemus. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der greichischen
Philosophie und Astrologie', Jahrbcher fr classische Philologie, supp.
xxi (1894) 47-244, pp. 181-238; F. Boll and C. Bezold, Sternglaube und
Sterndeutung. Die Geschichte und das Wesen der Astrologie, 1st ed. 1917;
4th ed., ed. W. Gundei, (Leipzig and Berlin, 1931). Franz Cumont,
Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans (New York and
London, 1912) pp. 15~61. For an excellent account of early Christian
objections to astrology see M. L. W. Laistner, 'The Western Church
and Astrology during the Early Middle Ages', Harvard Theological
Review 34 (1941) 251-75. Laistner points out that the Church's official
condemnation of astrology was always subsidiary to her attack on
various superstitions and pagan practices, which she rightly recog-
nised as the real enemy, ibid., p. 265. For later periods see M. J.
Fontaine, 'Isidore de Seville et l'astrologie', Revue des etudes latines 31
(1953) 271-300; Joshua D. Lipton, 'The rational evaluation of astrol-
ogy in the period of the Arabo-Latin translations ca. 1126-1187 A.D.',
Dissertation of University of California-Los Angeles (California 1978);
M.-T. d' Alverny, 'Astrologues et theologiens au XIIe siede', Melanges
offerts aM.-D. Chenu (Paris, 1967) pp. 31-50; idem, 'Un temoins muet
des luttes doctrinales du XIIIe siede', Archives d'hist. doct. litt. Moyen
Age 17 (1949) 22~8; R. C. Dales, 'Robert Grosseteste's View on
Astrology', Mediaeval Studies 29 (1967) 357-63; Eugenio Garin, lil
zodiaco della vita: La polemica sull' Astrologia dal Trecento al Cinquecento
(Rome, 1976), published in English under the title Astrology in the
Renaissance: The Zodiac of Life, trans. C. Jackson and J. Allen (London,
Boston etc., 1983); G. W. Coopland, Nicole Oresme and the Astrologers:
A study of his 'Livre de Divinacions' (Liverpool, 1952); Fran<;oise Bon-
ney, 'Autour de Jean Gerson: Opinions de theologiens sur les super-
stitions et la sorcellerie au debut du XVe siede', Moyen Age 77 (1971)
85-98.
32. I am also sceptical about any of the daims made by astrologers, past
and present.
Notes 169
33. See the account by Ibrahim Madkur, 'Astrologie en terre d'Islam', in

Arts liberaux et philosophie au Moyen Age, pp. 1041-7.
34. See George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science III (Baitimore,
1947) pp. 899-900 (Ibn al-Akfani); p. 1773 (Ibn Khaldun), for two
Arabic dassifications of the sciences which indude astrology.
35. For examples of the arguments raised by either side to the dispute
see M. A. F. Mehren, 'Vues d' Avicenne sur l' astrologie', Le Museon
3 (1884) 383-403; J.-c. Vadet, 'Une defence de l'astrologie dans le
madhal d'abu Ma'sar al Balhi', Annales is/amologiques 5 (1963) 131-80.
36. Toufic Fahd, La divination Arabe (Leiden, 1966).
37. For this concern see M.-T. d'Alverny, 'Astrologues et theologiens'.
38. St Anselm's Proslogion, ed. and trans. by M. J. Charlesworth (Oxford,
1965) pp. 116-7.
39. For Augustine on astrology see his Oe diversis quaestionibus PL 40,
28-9; Oe Ooctrina Christiana, ii.22, PL 34, 51-2. R. C. Dales 'Robert
Grosseteste's Views on Astrology' Mediaeval Studies 29 (1967) 357-63.
R. W. Southern, Robert Grosseteste: the growth of an English mind in
medieval Europe (Oxford, 1986) pp. 101-7.
40. Charles Trinkaus, 'Coluccio Salutati's Critique of Astrology in the
Context of His Natural Philosophy' Speculum 64 (1989) 46-67, at pp.
65-7. .
41. Trinkaus (ibid.) traces the origin of Salutati' s 'proto-scientific' critique
to a work of Andrea da Sommaia, as noted by Lynn Thorndike,
History of Magie, III, pp. 597-89.
42. Edward Grant, 'The condemnation of 1277. God's absolute power,
and physical thought in the late Middle Ages' Viator 10 (1979) 211-44;
John F. Wippel 'The condemnation of 1270 and 1277 at Paris', Journal
of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 7 (1977) 169-20l.
43. Oresme's interest in the rationality of astrology is stressed by Stefano
Caroti, 'Nicole Oresme' s Polemic against Astrology in his Quodlibeta',
in Astrology, Science and Society: Historical Essays, ed. Patrick Curry
(Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1987) pp. 75-93, against the usual charge (by
Thorndike and Coopland) that he defends astrology more than he
attacks it. See also G. W. Coopland, Nicole Oresme and the Astrologers
(Liverpool, 1952). Henry of Langestein's Tractatus contra astrologos
coniunctionistas de eventibus futurorum and Oresme's Tractatus contra
astrologos are edited by Herbert Pruckner, Studien zu den astrologischen
Schriften des Heinrichs von Langestein, Studien der Bibliothek Warburg
14 (Leipzig, 1933). John D. North, 'Celestial InfIuence - the major
premiss of astrology' in '''Astrologi Hallucinati": Stars and the End of the
World in Luther's Time, ed. Paola Zambelli (Berlin, 1986) pp. 88-96. D.
J. Fitzgerald, 'Some notes on Picds disputes with astrology', Arts
liberaux et philosophie au Moyen Age, Actes du 4e Congres International
de Philosophie Medievale (Paris, 1969) pp. 1049-55.
44. See below, pp. 98-105
45. The various statutes have been edited by H. DenifIe and A. Chate-
lain, Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis (Paris, 1889) I, 543-60.
46. M.-T. d' Alverny, 'Un temoins muet des luttes doctrinales du XIII
siede'.
170 Notes
47. See for example the questions indexed by Palernon Glorieux, La

Litterature Quodlibetique de 1260 a 1320, 2 vols, (Paris, 1925--35). For
some English questions on these topics see below, p. 179 n. 87.
48. See below for King Richard and the hermit William Norham.
49. Symon de Phares, Recueil, and see Chapter Six.
50. Peters, Magician, the Witch and the Law pp. 118-37. W. R. Jones,
'Political Uses of Sorcery in Medieval Europe' , The Historian 34 (1972)
670--87.
51. Peters, Magician, the Witch and the Law, pp. 122-3.
52. R. I. Moore, The Formation of a Persecuting Society: power and deviance in
Western Europe, 950--1250 (Oxford, 1987).
53. Dales, 'Robert Grosseteste'; Stuart Jenks, 'Astrometeorology in the
Middle Ages', Isis 74 (1983) 185--210.
54. See Chapter Eight for these astrologers and their fates.
2 THE ROYAL ART: ASTROLOGY BEFORE 1376
1. For further development of this theme see Robert Eisler, The Royal
Art of Astrology (London, 1946). This curious book is as much an
attack on the principles of astrology in the tradition of Pico della
Mirandola as an historical study.
2. R. Bonnaud, 'Notes sur l'astrologie latine au VI siede' Revue be/ge X
(1931) 560. These are the theories of Isidore of Seville (Patrologia
Latina series (hereafter PL) 82, 109), Cassiodorus and Gregory the
Great. Caxton's Mirrour of the World ed. O. H. Prior (London 1913)
Early English Text Society (EETS), Extra Series (ES) 110, p. 156.
3. Encyc/opaedia of Religion and Ethics, XII, p. 93.
4. Richard Lemay, Abu Ma'shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth
Century (Beirut, 1962) p. 45.
5. Oxford MS Bodleian 943, fol. 84v. The text is edited by Margaret E.
Schofield, University of Paris thesis, 1936.
6. Caxton's Mirror, pp. 40, 150, 156.
7. See Southem, Robert Grosseteste, pp. 83--96 for a balanced assessment
of the hostility to the work of Laon and Paris expressed by Adelard
and Daniel of Morley.
8. See North, Horoscopes and History, pp. 96--7 for abrief chronology of
the appearance of tables of astrological houses in England from 1126
to 1178.
9. Ibid., pp. 1-69 for a definitive account of the mathematical principles
involved in the calculation of the various systems for determining the
astrological houses.
10. Southem, Robert Grosseteste pp. 102-7.
11. Ibid. p. 104, quoting from BL MS Royal 12 E xxv, fol. 172v.
12. John of Salisbury, Policraticus, ed. C. C. J. Webb, 2 vols. (London,
1909-32).
13. William of Malmsbury on Gerbert of Aurillac.
14. The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth, XII, 4 ed. Acton
Notes 171
Griscom (London, 1929) pp. 516-17. For the dating of the Historia,
ibid., p. 83. For Edwin's conversion see Bede's Ecclesiastical History of
the English People ed. B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1970)
II.xi.
15. Historia Regum, IX.12, p. 452: 'Preterea ginnasium ducentorum phyloso-
phorum habebat qui astronomia ceterisque artibus eruditi cursus stellarum
dilligenter obseruabant & prodigia, eo tempore uentura regi arturo ueris
argumentis predicebant.'
16. J. S. P. Tatlock, The Legendary History of Britain (Berkeley and Los
Angeles, 1950) p. 367.
17. Ibid., pp. 360-9.
18. Historia Regum, pp. 417-18.
19. Ibid., VII.lO, p. 410: 'Non sunt revelanda huiusmondi mistria nisi cum
summa necessitas incubuerit. Nam si ea in derisionem siue vanitatem
proferrem taceret spiritus qui me docet et cum opus superveniret recederet.'
20. John of Salisbury, Policraticus, ed. C. C. J. Webb, 2 vols, (London,
1909-32).
21. Ibid., I. 65-165.
22. Ibid., n. 113: 'Signa siquidem hominibus data sunt ad eruditionem, non illis
qui celestium conscii secretorum nullis indigent signis.'
23. Ibid., 11. 107-8. Cited by Richard Lemay, Abu Ma'shar and Latin
Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century (Beirut, 1962) p. 303 n.1. Accord-
ing to Lemay, 'The truth is that John is visibly embarrassed by the
aneient strlctures placed on mathesis by the Fathers', idem p. 303.
Lemay forgets that the Fathers had also allowed the utility of certain
astrological practices, espeeially in medieine.
24. Ibid., 11. 111.
25. See Policraticus, ed. eit. Introduction I, xxi-xlvii for a discussion of
sources.
26. J. D. Lipton, 'The Rational Evaluation of Astrology in the Period of
Arabo-Latin translation' Ph.D. dissertation, University of California,
1978, pp. 210 ff. Cited by North, Horoscopes and History, p. 97.
27. Richard Lemay, Abu Ma'shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth
Century (Beirut, 1962).
28. For Adelard of Bath see conference papers ed. C. Burnett, Warburg
Institute Survey and Texts, 14 (1987), and North, Horoscopes and
History, pp. 96-107.
29. London, British Library MS Royal App.85, fos lr-2v. Reproduced by
North, Horoscopes and History, Plates 1-3, pp. 98-100.
30. North, Horoscopes and History, p. 107.
31. C. H. Haskins, 'Seience at the Court of Emperor Frederick n: in
Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass.,
1927) pp. 242-71. First published in 1922. Note also Lynn Thorndike,
The Horoscope of Barbarossa' s First-Born', American Historical Review
64 (1958/9) 319-22.
32. Haskins, 'Frederick II', p. 259, i.e. the Physiognomy, Liber introducto-
rius and Liber particularis.
33. Ibid., p. 247, n.21, 258.
172 Notes
34. Haskins, 'Frederick 11', p. 258.

35. Ibid.
36. Ibid., pp. 258--9.
37. For other examples see Thorndike, History of Magic, 11 passim; B.
Boncompagni, pella vita e delle opere di Guido Bonatti (Rome, 1851) in
Atti dell'Accademia Pontificale IVA58 ff.
38. Southern, Robert Grosseteste, p. 107. The figures are in Bodleian Savile
MS 21, fol. 158. Southern supports R. W. Hunt's suggestion that this
is the earliest example of Grosseteste's handwriting.
39. Peters, Magician, the Witch and the Law, pp. 8~7; R. C. Dales 'Robert
Grosseteste's Views on Astrology', Mediaeval Studies 29 (1967) 357-63.
R. W. Southern, Robert Grosseteste, ibid.
40. Peters, Magician, the Witch and the Law, pp. 86-7; Lynn Thorndike,
Michael Scot (London, 1965); Dante, Divine Comedy, Inferno, canto 20.
41. V. H. Galbraith, 'The literacy of the medieval English kings', P.B.A.
21 (1935) 201-38; K. B. McFarlane, 'The education of the nobility in
later medieval England', in his The Nobility of Later Medieval England
(Oxford, 1973) 228--47.
42. Catalogue of the Royal and King's Manuscripts in the British Museum by
G. F. Warner and J. P. Gilson, 5 vols, (London, 1921) I.xi.
43. Secretum secretorum is the most common Latin version of the title,
although Secreta secretorum, which also occurs, is a more accurate
translation of the original Arabic. See M. A. Manzalaoui, 'The "Sec-
reta secretorum" in English Thought and Literature from the Four-
teenth to the Seventeenth Century', University of Oxford D.Phil.
(1954) p. vi n.i. No doubt because of the formidable linguistic,
textual and technical problems it presents, the Secreta has not at-
tracted the critical attention it merits. Manzalaoui's thesis, which
primarily concerns the English versions, is the fullest account, but
see also the introduction to Robert Steele's edition of the longer Latin
version, in Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconi (Oxford, 1909-40),
Fasc.5. All quotations are from this edition. See also M. A. Manzala-
oui, 'The pseudo-Aristotelian Sirr al-Asrar and three Oxford thinkers
of the Middle Ages' (Le. Roger Bacon, Bradwardine and Wyclif) in
Arabic and Islamic Studies in Honour of H. A. R. Gibb, ed. G. Makdisi
(Leyden, 1965) pp. 481-2. For the early transmission see M. Grignas-
chi, 'L' origine et metamorphoses du Sirr al-Asrar (Secretum secre-
torum)', Arch. hist. doct. litt. moy. age 43 (1976) 7-112. The shorter
Hispalensis version of the Latin text has been edited most recently by
J. Brinkmann, Die apo~hen Gesundheitsregel des Aristoteles fr Alexan-
der den Grossen in der Ubersetzung des Johann von Toledo (Leipzig, 1914).
The English versions have been edited by M. A. Manzalaoui, Secre-
tum secretorum. Nine English versions: Vol. I Text (Oxford, 1977) EETS,
276, Commentary forthcoming; and Fetcham's Anglo-Norman ver-
sion ed. by O. Beckerlegge, Le Secre dez Secrez (Oxford, 1944) Anglo-
Norman Text Society. The MSS are listed by R. Frster, 'Handschrif-
ten und Ausgaben des pseudo-aristotelischen "Secretum secre-
torum'", Centralblaat fr Bibliothekswesen 6 (1889).
44. Southern, Robert Grosseteste, pp. 13-19.
Notes 173
45. Secretum secretorum p. 58: 'Ut Henricus filius Willelmi regis qui dicebatur
"bastardus" solebat dicere pa tri et fratribus, "Rex illiteratus est asinus
coronatus",' This is one of Bacon's marginal additions to the text.
William of Malmsbury first attributed the saying to Henry I 'Beau-
clerk' , and it became something of a cliche. See Galbraith, 'Literacy of
English Kings', pp. 212-13, 232, nn.20-4.
46. Secretum secretorum, Introduction, p. vii. Steele notes four MSS of
Bacon's version.
47. Ed. M. R. James, Walter de Milemete's De nobilitatibus, sapientiis et
prudentiis regum (Oxford, 1913) Roxburgh Club. Now Oxford MS
Corpus Christi College 92 and British Library MS Additional 47680:
the Secreta and the De nobilitatibus may have been bound separately,
but were clearly always intended as companion volumes.
48. British Library MS Royal 12 C. v; Bodleian Library MS Bodley 581 and
MS Ashmole 4.
49. For the English transmission of the Secreta see Manzalaoui D.Phil.
thesis, pp. 205-389. For Beauchamp's books, Henry S. Todd, Illustra-
tions of Chaucer and Gower (London, 1810) pp. 161-2.
50. Ed. Robert Steele, Three Prose Vers ions of the Secretam Secretorum
(London, 1898) EETS ES 74, pp. 121-248.
51. lohannes de Caritate. De Priuyte of Priuyteis in Secretum secretorum. Nine
EngUsh Versions, pp. 114-202.
52. The Works of lohn Metham, ed. Hardin Craig (London, 1916) EETS 132.
53. Lydgate and Burgh's Secrees of old Philisoffres ed. Robert Steele (London,
1894) EETS ES 66. Steele suggests that British Library MS Sloane 2464
may be connected with Margaret, sister of Edward IV, ibid. p. xiv.
54. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS Additional 261.
55. The English Works of lohn Gower, ed. G. C. Macaulay (London 1900) 4
vols, EETS ES 81, 1.4.
56. Hoccleve's Works; III The Regement of Princes, ed. F. J. Fumivall (Lon-
don, 1897) EETS ES 72.
57. British Library MS Additional 5467, fol. 211.
58. British Library MS Royal 12 E.xv. See Catalogue by Gilson and Wamer
for details.
59. British Library, MS Royal 17. D.iii. This is probably the presentation
copy. The direct source is not the Secreta but the De Regimine Princi-
pium of Giles of Colonna, which made full use of the Secreta. This was
also a very popular book among noble book owners, especially in
translation. Simon Burley, Richard II's tutor, owned a copy as did
Thomas of Woodstock, the Duchess of Gloucester, and Sir Thomas
Charleton (d. 1465). See M. V. Clarke, Fourteenth-Century Studies
(Oxford, 1937) p. 120 n.2; K. B. McFarlane, art. eit., p. 237. R. H.
Jones, The Royal Policy of Richard II (Oxford, 1968) p. 161, n.45 also
notes copies in several monastic and collegiate libraries. Signifi-
cantly, just as the astrological parts of the Secreta were considerably
abbreviated in translation, the French translation of the De Regimine
Principium only mentions astrology in order to advise princes not to
indulge in it. Noted by G. W. Coopland, Nichole Oresme and the
Astrologers (Liverpool, 1952) p. 186, n.33.
174 Notes
60. Warner and Gilson's Catalogue lists sixteen full and partial versions in
Latin, French and English in the Royal and King's collections.
61. British Library MS Sloane 323.
62. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson C.538; MS Hertford College
D.2.
63. Frster, 'Handschriften des Secretum secretorum'. A number of me-
diaeval critics questioned the attribution to Aristotle, but without
affecting the work's popularity. Manzalaoui D.Phil., pp. 217-18.
64. Secretum secretorum, p. xxviii.
65. Ibid., pp. 3-12; 'De istis scienciis naturalibus que vocari possunt inproprie
geomancia, ydromancia, aeromancia, piromancia, que sunt vere partes philo-
sophie, intendit Aristtiles in hoc libro, set translator non habuit in Latino
nomina propria istis scienciis, ideo accepit nomina scienciarum magicarum
que sunt similes aliquibus veris scienciis.' Ibid., p. 12.
66. Secretum secretorum p. 9: 'Et hec maxime debent fieri in regibus et filiis
eorum et in aliis principibus, et eciam prelatis et omnibus viris magnificis,
non solum propter eorum utilitates, set propter utilitates subditorum ecclesie
et tocius mundis.'
67. Ibid. p. 60: '0 Rex clementissime, si fieri potest, non surgas nec sedeas nec
comedas nec bibas et nichil penitus facias sine consilio viri periti in arte
astrorum.'
68. A. G. Molland, 'Roger Bacon as a Magician', Traditio 30 (1974) 44~0
traces the development of this idea in the Renaissance.
3 THE ASTROLOGERS: BOOKS, LIBRARIES AND SCHOLARS
1. N. R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A list of surviving books,

2nd ed. (London, 1964) p. xi.
2. Ker, Medieval Libraries, pp. x-xv.
3. See, for example, C. H. Josten, Elias Ashmole 1617-1692, 5 vols
(Oxford, 1966); M. R. James, 'Manuscripts formerly owned by Dr
John Dee', Transactions of the Bibliographical Society Supplement 1
(1921). A. G. Watson, The manuscripts of Henry Savile of Banke (Lon-
don, 1969).
4. Ker, Medieval Libraries.
5. See Appendix I.
6. Dorothea Waley Singer, 'Hand-List of Western Scientific Manu-
scripts in Great Britain and Ireland dating from before the sixteenth
century', deposited in the British Library in 1920, with microfilms in
the Library of Congress and the Warburg Institute, London. Only the
section relating to alchemy was ever published.
7. Lynn Thorndike and Pearl Kibre, A Catalogue of Medieval Scientific
Writings in Latin, rev. ed. (London, 1963) Addenda: Speculum 40
(1965) 116-122; 43 (1968) 78-114.
8. Thorndike, History of Magie. Also Thorndike's many articles, usually
describing particular MSS. There is a bibliography of Thorndike's
writings from 1905-52 in Os iris 11 (1954) 8-22; C. H. Haskins, Studies
in the History of Mediaeval Science, 8 vols (New York and London,
1923-58).
Notes 175
9. Catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum. F. Foll, F. Cumont, G. Kroll

et al. 11 vols (Lamertin, Bruxelles, 1898-1912).
10. F. J. Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin
Translation. A critical bibliography, (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1956).
11. Fritz Saxl, Verzeichnis astrologischer und mythologischer illustriertes
Handschriften des lateinischen Mittelalters 4 parts: 1. In rmischen Bi-
bliotheken (1915) 2. Die Handschriften der National-Bibliothek in Wien
(1925) 3. Manuscripts in English Libraries (ed. Harry Bober) 2 vols,
(London, 1953) 4. Manuscripts in Italian Libraries (other than Rome) ed.
Patrick McGurk (London, 1966).
12. H. S. Bennett, 'Science and Information in English Writings of the
Fifteenth Century', Modern Language Review 39 (1944) 1-8. The up-
dating of Wells' Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1400 by
A. E. Hartung et al. has not yet reached Middle English scientific
writings.
13. R. M. Wilson, 'The Contents of the Mediaeval Library', in The English
Library before 1700, ed. Francis Wormald and C. E. Wright (London,
1958) p. 103.
14. DNB. Lelandi de rebus Britannicis Collectanea ed. T. Heame (Oxford,
1715; 2nd ed. 1774). Vol. mof the first edition, which contains lists of
manuscripts, is equivalent to Vol. IV of the second edition.
15. M. R. James, The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover (Cambridge,
1903).
16. M. R. James, 'The Catalogue of the Library of the Augustinian Friars
at York', Fasciculus Joanni Willis Clark dicatus (Cambridge, 1909) pp.
2-96. The instruments listed on p. 61 are: 1. Horologium auricalcium; 2.
Astrolabium cum 7 laminis; 3. Quadrans prefacii iudei; 4. Spera auricalcia;
5. Cloke eneum; 6. Astrolabium.
17. M. R. James, Trans. Leics. Archaeol. Soc. xix (1936-37), p. 126. William
Charite may well be the same as the William Cheryte, MA, described
by Emden BRUO p. 405, a monk of Hyde Abbey, Winchester, who
supplicated for the degree of Bachelor of Theology, after twelve years
of study at Oxford and elsewhere, in 1507 and again in 1512. Perhaps
an over-enthusiasm for the science of the stars contributed to his
apparent lack of success as a theologian.
18. Catalogue of the Library of Syon Monastery ed. Mary Bateson (Cam-
bridge, 1898). Syon had twelve books on astrology and astronomy, of
which Steyke left six, out of a total of 1421. Steyke's astrological
books in the sixteenth century catalogue are as follows:
B45 Tabule equacionum planetarum
B46 Haly Abenragel, De iudiciis astrorum
B47 Ptolemy, Quadripartitum with commentary by Haly
B48 Guido Bonatti, De iudiciis astrorum
B49 Albumasar, De nativitatibus
Note also B16, Regule quedam astronomie, presented by John Brace-
bridge, c.I428.
19. Cambridge, MS St John's College 109(E.6). For Betson, who gra-
duated in Common Law before entering Syon, see Emden BRUO p.
59; A. I. Doyle, 'Thomas Betson of Syon Abbey', The Library 11 (1956)
115-18. Betson is the author of two English devotional tracts, and the
176 Notes
donor of four other books to the abbey. A rather similar notebook,

which also includes occasional notes on astrology, was compiled by
the London Dominican Jaspar Fyloll in the early sixteenth century.
See Cambridge, Magdalene College MS 4.13(13); fos 13, 14, 15, 17, 18.
20. Alfonso Sammut, Unfredo duca di Gloucester e gli umanisti Italani
(Padua, 1980) Medioevo e Umanisimo 41. For a fifteenth-century cata-
logue of some 367 books given to All Souls' after 1440 by Chichele,
including twenty-one astronomia, see E. F. Jacob, 'Two Lives of
Archbishop Chichele', Bull. lohn Rylands Libr. xvi (1932) 469-81.
21. Arthur F. Leach, 'Wykeham's Books at New College', Oxford Ris. 50c.
Collectanea III (1896) 211-44. A number of other books on astronomy
were added to the library after Wykeham's original bequest. See
ibid., p. 244.
22. Wykeham's Register, ed. T. F. Kirby, 2 vols (London, 1896-9) 11,382-4.
Wykeham wrote in a letter dated 20 May 1386 to the then Master
insisting that Masters of Arts should, without further delay, apply
themselves to their studies in the faculty of theology or astrology,
referring to Rubric xxvi of the founder's statutes. Cited by Kirby,
p. 383 n.1.
23. Ker, Medieval Libraries p. 148. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Auct. 3. 5.
29(2635) 13-14c. This book was given by the executors of Henry
Jolypace, canon of St Paul's, in 1431.
24. Oxford MS New College 282. For Dryfeld see Emden BRUO pp.
596-7.
25. C. L. Shadwell, 'A Catalogue of Oriel College Library', (AD 1375)
Oxt. Rist. 50c. Collectanea I (1885) 66-70. For Cobbledik see Emden
BRUO, pp. 449-50.
26. See Appendix II for details of these books.
27. Ker, Medieval Libraries, p. xi.
28. This is true for the Oxford colleges of Durham and Lincoln. For lists
of books sent from Durham in 1315, c.1400, and 1409, see H. E. D.
Blakiston, Oxf. Rist. 50c. Collectanea III (1896) 36-41. In c.1390-14oo a
list of 109 books sent to the college contains some philosophy as weIl
as theology. See 'Catalogue of the Books of Durham College, Oxford,
c.1390-1400', ed. by W. E. Pantin in H. E. Salter, Formularies
c.1204-1420 vol. I Oxford Rist. 50ciety, n.s., IV (1942) 240-45. The
charter of foundation of Lincoln College aimed at the formation of
theologians, not lawyers. See R. Weiss, 'The earliest Catalogues of
the Library of Lincoln College', Bodl. Quart. Rec. 8 (1937), p. 346.
29. Leland, Collectanea III. 64.
30. W. A. Pantin, Canterbury College, Oxford, Oxtord Rist. 50c. n.s.6 (1947)
nO.36.
31. Treatises on medical astrology were owned by: Boxley, Cisterian
Abbey (Cambridge, MS Corpus Christi 37); Durham, Benedictine
cathedral priory (Cambridge, MS Magdalen Pepys 1662). Richard de
Segbrok; Coupar Angus, Cistercian abbey (Edinburgh, U.L. MS 126);
Coventry, Benedictine cathedral priory (London, B.L. MS Royal.12.
G.iv. Owned by 'fr lohannes de Grenborough, infirmarius'; Thurgarton,
Augustinian Priory (London, MS Royal College of Physicians 358);
Notes 177
Bridlington, Augustinian Priory (Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Digby 53);

Coventry, Franciscan convent (Oxford Bod. Lib. MS Rawl. D.238);
and Worcester Cathedral priory, (Gloucester Cathedral MS 25) Tho-
mas More.
32. London, MS Royal College of Physicians 358.
33. Ibid. fol. 50v For prognostics of this kind, and of illness by the age of
the moon or the day of the week, see M. Frster in Archiv fr das
Studium der neueren Sprachen, cxxix.30-36, cxxvi.296-308, cxx.296-301.
Cited by Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries; I London (Ox-
ford, 1969) p. 208.
34. John of London owned Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Bodley 679 (2596); MS
Rawlinson C.U7; MS Rawlinson C.328, and bequeathed fourteen
books to St Augustine's in the fifteenth-century catalogue, and two
to Christ Church, all on astrology, a1chemy and related topics.
Michael Northgate owned Cambridge, Univ. Lib. MS Ii.I.15; Oxford,
Bod. Lib. MS Bodley 464 (2458); Oxford, MS Corpus Christi College
221. William of St Gara owned Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS SeIden supra
25, 26 and Oxford, MS Corpus Christ College 283, both of which he
carried with him to St Augustine's in 1277.
35. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Digby 92, fol. 15.
36. Emden BRUO, p. 966; Talbot Medical Practitioners, p. 81.
37. Emden BRUO, p. 783.
38. For Cory see BRUO, p. 493. Cory's almanac is in Oxford, MS Lincoln
College Cod. Lat. 182, fos 1-53, 60-105 (not Magd. Coll. as in
Emden).
39. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Auct. F.5.23(2674); Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Rawl.
C.677 (with a tract on palmistry); Oxford, MS St John's College 178
respectively.
40. The name of another Durham monk, W. Hertylpulle, occurs on
London, Brit. Lib. MS Arundel 332, which inc1udes on fol. 52v ,
Probationes de astronomia practica. We simply note that a Robert Hartil-
pole, described by Emden BRUO, p. 882, was appointed to Durham
College Oxford as a secular scholar by Durham priory on 8 October
1434.
41. Emden BRUO, p. 604, 1212-13; Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Douce 129
(21703).
42. Emden BRUO, p. 644. Aubrey Gwynn, The English Austin Friars
(London, 1940) pp. 129-38.
43. T. Wright, Political Poems and Songs (London, 1859-61) R.S. I,
123-215.
44. For Ergum's library see M. R. James, 'The Catalogue of the Library of
the Augustinian Friars at York', in Fasciculus loanni Willis Clark dicatus
(Cambridge, 1919) 2-96. Nos. 597-646 belonged to Ergum.
45. Emden BRUO, pp. 1075, 771.
46. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 1522.
47. Emden BRUO p. 29. Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Auct. F.3.13.
48. Oxford, MS St John's College 172.
49. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Digby 57. For Philipp see Emden BRUO pp.
1476-77.
178 Notes
50. North, Richard of Wallingford, III. 132, 'Equatorium eneum cum epiciclo in
dorso cum volvellis Solis et Lune'.
51. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Digby 72; for Carre see Emden BRUO p. 362.
52. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Auct. F.29(2635).
53. Oxford, MS Corpus Christi College 44.
54. Cal. Close Roll (1435-41) pp. 347, 349-50. Noted by Emden BRUO, p.
1294.
55. Cal. Close Roll (1435-41) p. 349. For Richard Monk see G. V. Coyne
(ed.) Gregorian Reform of the Calendar (Vatican, 1983).
56. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 1976; for the knowledge of Richard of
Wallingford's instruments at St Alban's see John North, Richard of
Wallingford, 11. 311-12, 361-70.
57. Dublin, MS Trinity College 444; Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 304.
58. Oxford, MS Corpus Christi 243.
59. Emden BRUO, pp. 2032-4.
61. Bale Index, p. 433.
62. For Bacon's reputation see A. G. Molland, 'Roger Bacon as a Magi-
eian', Traditio 30 (1974) 445-60.
63. For Somer see A. G. Little, Grey Friars in Oxford (Oxford, 1892) Oxf.
Rist. Soc. 20, pp. 244-5; Emden BRUO p. 1727.
65. Oxford, MS Corpus Christi College 123. Leland Collectanea IV. 19
ascribes Somer to the Bridgwater convem, surely wrongly.
66. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 360. fols 49-88, 113, 114.
67. Oxford, MS Trinity College 17.
68. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Digby 93. For Notingham see Emden BRUO, p.
1377. Like Bungey, Notingham's writings reveal an exclusive interest
in theology.
69. Emden BRUO.
70. Cambridge, MS Univ. Lib. ILl.l; London, MS Royal Astronomical
Soeiety QB.7/1021.
71. This ineident will be described more fully in Chapter Seven.
72. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 789, 15c, fol. 371, 'Ista tabula equacionis
kalendarij, anno Christi 1432 composita per simplicem sacerdotem aliqualiter
in arte astronomie informatum, docet equale stabilire et confirmare kalendar-
ium nostrum ad cursum solarum.' For Bothe see Emden BRUO, p. 77.
73. C. H. Talbot, Medicine in Medieval England (London, 1967) pp. 68-70.
74. The evidence for the teaching of astronomy/astrology in the thir-
teenth century is assembled by Pearl Kibre, 'The quadrivium in the
13th-century Universities', pp. 175-97. The evidence for the later
period is discussed in a full and careful article by Richard Lemay,
'The teaching of Astronomy in Medieval Universities prineipally at
Paris in the Fourteenth Century', Manuscripta 20 (1976) 197-217.
75. Carlo Malagola, Statuti delle Universita e dei College dello Studio Bolog-
nese (Bologna, 1881) p. 276, trans. and summarised by Lynn Thom-
dike, University Records and Life in the Middle Ages (New York, 1971)
1st pub. 1944, pp. 279-82.
76. Statuti Bolognese, ed. eit. p. 264; University Records p. 282.
Notes 179
77. Lemay, 'The teaching of astronomy', pp. 199-200 and esp. 204-6. See
also Rashdall's Mediaeval Universities edd. F. M. Powicke and A. B.
Emden (Oxford, 1936) I, pp. 238, 243, 24~9 for astrology in medieval
universities.
78. The original statutes of the college were edited in Bulletin de la Societe
des Antiquaires de Normandie 31 (1916) 182-329. The foundation charter
is dated 1371 though it was probably operating, with papal approval,
well before this. Lemay, 'The teaching of astronomy', pp. 2~1.
79. Reeeuil des plus celebres astrologues et quelque hommes doetes faict par
Symon de Phares du temps de Charles VIII, ed. Ernest Wickersheimer
(Paris, 1929). For Symon's description of the foundation of the
college ibid. p. 228. He also gives two inventories of the college's
collection of instruments, ibid. pp. 4, 288. Cited by Lemay, pp. 'The
teaching of astronomy', pp. 200-1.
80. Lemay, ibid, pp. 206-9. Lynn Thorndike, 'The Study of Mathematics
and Astronomy in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries as Illus-
trated by Three MSS', Seripta Mathematiea 23 (1957) 65-76.
81. Lemay, ibid, pp. 210-12.
82. Guy Beaujouan, 'Motives and Opportunities for Science in the Me-
dieval Universities', in A. C. Crombie, ed., Scientifie Change, p. 223.
Quoted by Lemay, ibid, p. 215.
83. James A. Weisheipl, 'Curriculum of the Faculty of Arts at Oxford in
the early fourteenth century', Mediaeval Studies 26 (1964) 14~;
'Developments in the Arts Curriculum at Oxford in the Early Four-
teenth Century', Medieval Studies 28 (1966) 151-75.
84. Weisheipl, 'Curriculum', p. 161.
85. Weisheipl, 'Curriculum', pp. 172-3. The other books listed by
Weisheipl are: Ptolemy, Almagest; Theoriea planetarum ascribed to
Gerard of Cremona; Sacro Bosco, De sphera; Grosseteste, Compotus;
Robertus Anglicus, Traetatus quadrantis; astronomical tables for Ox-
ford; Tractatus de proportionibus.
86. See for example the questions indexed by Palemon Glorieux, La
Litterature Quodlibetique de 1260 a 1320, 2 vols (Paris, 1925-35).
87. See for comparison: Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Canon misc. 191, fol. 1:
'Questiones octo astrologieae alieque, seiliciter, 1. Utrum quis possit
astrorum vera loea iudieare, et subinde futura previdere, ubi velit, ete.'
Oxford, MS Corpus Christi College 116, fol. 1: 'Disputationes et suppo-
sitiones quorundam Ineeptorum in Artibus Oxoniensium, in physies et
logieis. Ine., 'Utrum a speris eelestibus eontinue mutabilibus motu eireulare
luminosis radiis.' For a question of the Oxford theologian, William
Woodford, 'Is it due to fate or to the stars whether we are good or
bad?', in which Woodford cautiously opposes the view of Thomas
Bradwardine, see J. I. Catto, 'William Woodford, O.F.M.
(c.133O-c.1397)' (Oxford, 1970) MS D. Phil. d. 4877, p. 116.
88. Printed at Venice in 1489.
89. James, Aneient Libraries.
90. Numbers refer to James' edition 1009, 1026, 1060. 14-18, 1175.
91. 1165, 1147.
92. 1136.22, 1137.23-4, 1151.
180 Notes
93. 1161.
94. 1157, 1173.
95. 1130, 1142.
96. 1131.15, 1277.
97. 1166.
98. 1135, 1144, 1145, 1146, 1147; 1141, 1158, 1161, 1167; 1141, 1147, 1166,
1181; 1161, 1163, 1165; 1152, 1161, 1166; 1156; 1161, 1171; 1161, 1162,
1163, 1155.
99. 1135.20; 1142; 1132, 1129.
100. See Appendix 11.
101. E. F. Jacob, 'Two lives of Archbishop ChicheIe', Bull. lohn Ry/ands Lib.
16 (1932) Appendix, pp. 477-80 includes the items on astronomy.
Most of the books seem to have been collected by Chichele himseif.
There are sixteen astronomia, perspectiva and geometria, four geomancia
and four other works on occult disciplines.
102. Alfonso Sammut, Unfredo duea di Gloueester egli umanisti Italiani
(Padua, 1980) Medioevo e Umanismo 41, pp. 68-9.
103. Ibid. pp. 85-94.
104. Sammut, Unfredo di Gloueester pp. 115-116 no. 26; Roberto Weiss,
'Portrait of a bibliophile XI. Humphrey, duke of Gloucester d. 1447',
The Book Collector 13 (1964), p. 164. The manuscript was copied in
Oxford in 1423 by the scribe Frederick Naghel of Utrecht. In 1577 it
was owned by John Dee.
105. See M. J. Barber, 'The Books and Patronage of Leaming of a 15th
Century Prince', The Book Collector 12 (1963), 312; Amundesham. An-
nales Monasteri S. Albani, ed. H. T. RiIey, R.S. no. 28, II 256.
106. See Appendix II for medieval catalogues of these libraries and the
lists of Bale and Leiand.
4 THE HIGH AND NOBLE SCIENCE: ASTROLOGY AND THE

MERTON CIRCLE
1. Thomdike, History of Magie, III, p. 334. Cited from Summa judieialis

II.12; Oxford, MS Oriel College 23, fol. 224v.
2. Merton Muniments ed. P. S. Allen and H. W. Garrod (Oxford, 1928),
p.21.
3. For the 'Merton School', see especially the thesis of James A.
Weisheipl, 'Early Fourteenth-Century Physics of the Merton School',
University of Oxford unpub. D.Phil. thesis (d. 1776). For the founder's
intentions see ibid, pp. 44-5.
4. F. M. Powicke, The Medieval Books of Merton College (Oxford, 1931)
p.26.
5. Ibid. For the instruments of Merton College, see North, Riehard of
Wallingford, Appx 15, III, 132-5.
6. Ibid, p. 49, nos. 44, 47; pp. 103-4, nos. 91, 94.
7. Ibid, pp. 103-4. PtoIemy's treatise on the Planisphere with the Almag-
est was held by Hugh de Staunton in 1372, and by Robert Hedeshaie in
1375; Liber septem planetarum was held by Richard Baron in c.1410 and
another master in 1452.
Notes 181
8. Powicke, Medieval Books, p. 67 nos. 6, 7.

9. Ibid, p. 67 no. 12; p. 191 no. 692.
10. Ibid, p. 69 no. 81; p. 191 no. 691.
11. Ibid, p. 79 no. 87; p. 197 no. 807.
12. For Roger Gates see Emden BRUO p. 748. In c.1410 he held Librum
Medicine and 'Equatorium ligneum cum epiciclo' with ten other books.
Powicke, Medieval Books, p. 68 nos. 26-37; Emden BRUO p. 1479 notes
that William Philipps M A supplicated for BM after four years of study
in medicine and astronomy on 27 March 1462, so the connection
between the two disciplines seems to have been established formally
by the second half of the fifteenth century.
13. Medieval Books, pp. 28-32.
14. For Bury see Emden BRUO pp. 323--6; N. Denholm-Young, 'Richard
de Bury', Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., 4th sero 20 (1937) 135-68.
15. Historiae Dunelmensis Scriptores Tres, ed. James Raine, Surtees Society
IX (London, 1839) pp. 127-30.
16. Denholm-Young, 'Richard of Bury', p. 165, gives a complete list of
Bury's intellectual cirele.
17. Ibid, p. 151. Foedera 11, . 892.
18. For Maudith see Emden BRUO, pp. 1243-4, which lists the manu-
scripts of his Tabulae mathematicae composed in Oxford in 1310. A copy
of these tables was in the library of the York Austin Friars, no doubt
one of the MSS of John Ergum.
19. Emden BRUO, pp. 1039-40.
20. Part of Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Digby 176; Oxford, MS Merton College
C.2.1O(259).
21. For Bredon see Emden BRUO, pp. 257-8; also C. H. Talbot, 'Simon
Bredon (c.I300-1372), Physician, Mathematician, and Astronomer',
British Journal for the History of Science 1 (1962-3) 19-30.
22. For Bredon's writings see Talbot, 'Simon Bredon'; Bale, Script. Illust.
Bryt., pt.i, pp. 488-9.
23. Powicke, Medieval Books, pp. 84-5. For Merle see Emden BRUO, pp.
1264-5.
24. Printed by Powicke, ibid, pp. 82-92.
25. See for comparison, the will of William Rede, Powicke, Medieval
Books pp. 87-91, who simply leaves 'one hundred books of various
faculties', or 'fifty precious books of theology and canon law', or
something similar, to various Oxford colleges. He does however
specifya very large number of individual beneficiaries (forty-three),
though most of these are members of his household rather than
personal friends.
26. Emden BRUO, pp. 344-5; E. A. Synan, 'Richard of Camsale: An
English Theologian of the fourteenth century', Mediaeval Studies 14
(1952) 1-8. Camsale received from Bredon's will the following items: 'i.
20 shillings; . A silver cup without a cover; i. A small book ('quater-
num') containing: Profatius Almanac; Opus de sinibus; Albumasar Minus
introductorium; John Maudith Tables; A book which begins, 'Que in
gloriosissimis' [ie. the Astrology addressed to Robert de Beaumont, Earl
of Leicester, see Incipits 1184]; Albertus Magnus De herbis lapidibus et
animalibus; Experimenta concerning serpents' skin; Battani Centiloquium;
182 Notes
and Arzaehel Canons; iv. Abumasar Maior introductorium; v. Martin

Chroniele; vi. My prayerbook ('iurnale') 'de laudibus et horis'; and vii. My
better robe.'
27. London, Brit. Lib. MS Royal 12 E.xxv. This MS also eontains the
'Optimus tractatus de astronomia' eomposed for the Earl of Leicester.
28. For Rede's work see J. D. North, 'The Alfonsine Tables in England', in
Prismata. Festschrift fr Willy Hartner ed. Y. Maeyama and W. G. Saltzer
(Wiesbaden, 1977) pp. 269--300, at p. 277. I thank Professor North for
this deseription of Rede's tables.
29. Oxford, MS Lineoln College Cod. lat. 182; Bod. Lib. MS Digby 92;
London, Royal Astronomical Society MS QB.7/l021.
30. See Appendix I for details.
31. Emden BRUO, 644.-
32. The Canons have the ineipit, 'Volentibus futuros effectus planetarum ....
Thomdike and Kibre's Incipits, 1709, lists ten manuseripts.
33. Listed by Emden BRUO, p. 1558.
34. Oxford, MS Balliol College, 285; Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Digby 176;
Oxford, MS Merton College 259; 281; 294. See Appendix I for brief
descriptions of these MSS.
35. Powicke, Medieval Books, pp. 167-8 (no. 537): 'This MS. is, at least from
the personal standpoint, the most interesting of Rede's books.'
36. Powicke, Medieval Books, p. 167.
37. Ibid.
38. Digby 176, fol. Iv.
39. Thomdike, History of Magic, III, p. 343.
40. North, 'The Fortunes of Churehes', pp. 208--9, nn.50 and 51, reealcu-
lated six of Ashenden's eonjunetions and suggests that at least some of
his figures may have been 'eovertly borrowed', and that there is 'room
for doubt' as to whether Rede is the author of the ealculations aseribed
to hirn in the index of Digby 176. In any ease, the original ealculator
seems to have used the Alfonsine rather than the Toledan tables.
42. Leland, Comment. de Script Brit., p. 429, noted a eopy in Gonville and
Caius College, Cambridge; there are three eopies of the Kalendarium
for three nineteen-year cydes from 1330-86, in Cambridge, MS Cor-
pus Christi College, Parker 37, fol. 27; this MS once belonged to the
Cisterian abbey at Boxley; London, Brit. Lib. MS Sloane 286, 14c, fos
15-24; Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Fairfax 27, 14e, fos 71-79. Incipits 1245,
1277. The eanon had the incipit, 'Quidam homines multum affectant
scienciam astronomie.' There are many copies of the calendar of Nicho-
las of Lynn, who deseribes in the prefaee his debt to Walter Elvedene.
I take the text from Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Laud. mise. 662, fol. 1. This
is a particularly fine version, which at one time belonged to
'Johanis ... monachus de Holand in co. lyncoln', aeeording to an erased
fifteenth-century inscription on fol. i, i.e. the Gilbertine house of
Holland Brigge: 'Ego frater Nicholaus de Lenea ordinis beate marie genitricis
dei de monte carmeli inter lectores sacre theologie minimus et indignus,
composui anno eiusdem domini nostri Jhesu Christi 1386 per quatuor cielis
decemnovenalibus immediate sequentibus. Et incipiet istud kalendarium ter-
minato kalendario Reverendi Magistri Walteri Elwedene videlicet anno Christi
Notes 183
1387 primo die mensis Januarii, prima eurrente per unum. Et durabit per 76
annos videlieet, usque ad annum domini 1463.' See the edition Nieholas of
Lynn. Kalendarium, ed. Sigmund Eisner (London, 1980).
43. Cambridge, MSS Gonville and Caius College 54, 78, 95, 115, 147,
242(?), 254, 468, 483(?). For the astrolabe see J. Venn, Bigraphieal
History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1901, 3 vols (Cambridge,
1897-1901) I.2. Cited by M. R. James in his catalogue of the college
library (Cambridge, 1907). At tlte end of Gonville and Caius MS 54 are
two letters, addressed 'wip gret loue' to Margaret. Evidently
Elvedene's career was not all'[aw and astronomy.
44. For the system of planetary dignities, which depend ultimately on
Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, I. 17-22, 23, see J. D. North, Riehard of Walling-
ford, II. 10&-111, and references.
45. For the 'lord of the month', and also the 'lord of the year', 'lord of the
hour' and a reference for the planetary week, see ibid. II. 121-2.
46. Printed by North, ibid, III. 17; See also 11. 119-21. Note however that
Elvedene seems to use slightly different values from those prescribed
by Richard of Wallingford.
47. Digby 176, fol. 19.
48. Digby 176, fol. 22v.
49. See North, Riehard of Wallingford, 11, 121 for the procedure of selecting
the lord of the year.
50. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Fairfax 27(3907), fol. 78. Some of the words are
unc1ear, but the first sentence seems to read: 'Quidam homines multum
affectant seieneiam astronomie seire, et ne ab aliis seire . .. offerre omnia
affectant, propter eontrivium et exaetium istius seieneie me rogaverunt ut adeo
leve opus eis faeerem, quorum preeibus inclinatus eomposui unum kalendar-
ium, quo possunt seire eoniunetiones soZis et lune, et ineeptiones earum et
finem earum.'
51. Riehard of Wallingford, Appendix 19; III. 140-41.
52. Emden BRUO, pp. 1086-7; For Lamboume's letters see Digby 176, fols
40-1v; 50-53.
53. Thomdike, History of Magie, III. 345; Digby 176, fol. 53v. Thomdike
lists some medieval Johns, connected in manuscripts with the natural
and occult sciences, in History of Magie 11. 94-8, inc1uding several Johns
of London. For other English scholars of this name see Emden, BRUO,
BRUC. North, Riehard of Wallingford 11. 118, notes another in connec-
tion with London, Brit. Lib., MS Royal 12.C. xvi.
54. Thomdike, History of Magie, II. 96 notes that the latest written works
among London's books were treatises by Jean de Linieres and William
of St Cloud, who made astronomical observations between 1285 and
1321. He thus cannot be the same as the John of London praised by
Roger Bacon, as suggested by James, Medieval Libraries, pp. 1xxiv-w
and p. 540. See also DNB, xxix, p. 448.
55. The prefaces are reproduced by Thomdike, ibid, III, pp. 34!H), nn.44
and 46.
56. Digby 176, fol. 50. Lamboume's Latin can best be described as tortu-
ous in this passage. This is the complete text of the preface: 'Magister
mi reverende et dilecte in Christo, et sub Christo domine. Quia me diseipline
iam tarde eoram reverentia vestra eonstitutum, votivus desideriis, pulsastis ut
184 Notes
vobis aliquid traderem incriptis de hiis que mihi videntur futura significari
inferiori huic mundi, prefiguras eclipsales celi futuras hoc anno instantis
domini nostri Jhesu Christi 1363 scilicet mentibus Martii et Septembris, in
luminare minori scilicet Luna. Curo nunc sicut tenior pro veribus votis vestris
parere, et quantum mei permitati ingenii datur in talibus huc usque sapere,
premissis primo figura introitus anni una, etiam secundum ambabus figuris
dictarum eclipsium consequenter earum significationes vobis insumendas,
conabor in his scriptis exprimere. Ita sane hoc dixerim, ut ego non tantum
paratissimus sim, si quid in hiis iudiciis, vestra profunda discretio Magistren
indiscrete seu erronee dictum deprehenderat, me humiliter accepere, contra
sententiates, aut de correxione mea, aut de responsa benevolentia, gavisurus
verum, etiam hoc a vobis postulem ac flagitem obnixius.'
57. See additional note, pp. 187-8 above for Lamboume's figures.
58. Digby 176, fol. 23.
59. For the effect of a planet being retrograde, see e.g. Richard Walling-
ford in his Exafrenon, eh. 4; Richard of Wallingford, 1.210.
60. Digby 176, fol. 5Ov.
61. Ibid. fol. 51: 'Tertio dico quod significatio huius eclipsi continget plurimum
in statibus aeris et proprie in hiis qui nascitur de terra.'
62. Digby 176, fol. 51v.
63. Ibid, fol. 52.
64. Ibid, fol. 52v.
65. Ibid, fol. 52v-53.
66. Digby 176, fos 40-41v contains the sole copy of Lamboume's tract.
Ashenden' s version also occurs in only one manuscript, namely Ox-
ford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole MS 393, fos 79-80, and a letter copy in
Ashmole 192, fos 12-16v.
67. For astrological weather prediction see Stuart Jenks, 'Astrometeorol-
ogy in the Middle Ages', Isis 74 (1983) 185-2. On p. 189, Jenks
describes William Merle and John Ashenden as 'university professors
of astrology' and Richard of Wallingford and Robert Grosseteste as
'men of the academy'. Whereas Ashenden in particular may weil have
offered lectures on astrology, Oxford had neither achair in astrology
nor research academies, and Jenks' terminology is therefore rather
loose. See also North, Richard of Wallingford, 11, pp. 8>-9.
68. R. C. Dales, 'Robert Grosseteste's Views on Astrology', Mediaeval
Studies 29 (1967) 357-63.
69. An excellent idea of the rise in importance of annual predictions can be
obtained from the Index of Kibre and Thomdike's Incipits, 1890, which
lists annual predictions, the earliest being for the year 1329, and the
latest for 1500. Dividing this period into fifty-year blocks, we can count
four surviving predictions for the years 1300-49, and 1350-99, twenty
for the years 1400-49, and sixty-nine for the years 1450-1500, of which
fifty-two concem the last twenty-five years (i.~. 1~75-1500).
70. For the later history of almanacs see E. F. Bosanquet, English Printed
Almanacs and Prognostications: A bibliographical history to the year 1600.
Bibliographical Sodety Illustr. Mon, no.17 (London, 1917). Additions
in The Library, 4th sero 8 (1928) 456-77; 10 (1930) 361-97; Bemard Capp,
English Almanacs 1500-1800: Astrology and the Popular Press (New York,
1979).
Notes 185
71. For the Recueil of famous astrologers of Symon de Phares, see below,
Chapter Five.
72. Emden BRUO, p. 56. Thomdike makes the intriguing suggestion that
John Ashenden is the same as Reginald Lamboume's master, and
recipient of his letter, John of London, History of Magie, III, p. 346. If
this, in turn, is the same as John of London of Canterbury, it would at
least explain Ashenden's absence from public life. For Ashenden there
is also an unpublished Oxford D. Phil. by K. Snedegar which I have
been unable to consult.
73. See additional note pp. 188-91 above for a list of the MSS of Ashen-
den' s writings and their owners.
74. Thomdike, History of Magie, III, p. 330.
75. Cambridge, Univ. Lib. MS Ii.I.27(1719), fols. 61a-140.
76. Paris, Bib. Nat. MS Univ. Paris, 1037.
77. Pearl Kibre, The Library of Pico della Mirandola (New York, 1936) pp.
92-3, no. 166.
78. Cited by North, 'Fortunes of Churches', pp. 184-5 from Maximilian
Curtze, 'Der Briefwechsel Regiomontans mit Giovanni Bianchini,
Jacob von Speier und Christian Roder', Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der
mathematischen Wissenschaften 12(1902), p. 306.
79. James, 'York Austin Friars', p. 58, nos. 376, 377; Digby 176; London,
MS Royal College of Physicians 390; Cambridge, MS Emmanuel Col-
lege 70; MS Gloucester Cathedral 21; Symon de Phares Recueil, pp.
222,225.
80. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 393, fos 81v-86; 79-80.
81. London, Brit. Lib. MS Royal 12 F.xvii; The Lumley Library ed. Sears
Jayne and Francis R. Johnson (London, 1955) p. 215, no. 1843. See
Appendix H for copies in the medieval libraries of Oxford and Cam-
bridge.
82. Oxford, MS Oriel College 23. It is reasonable to suppose that this is
one of the medieval books of the College.
83. Thomdike, History of Magie III, p. 345, conc1udes his account of
Ashenden's writings with this judicious assessment: 'It will have been
noted that all of John of Eschenden's particular predictions, as weB as
his more general Summa, were concemed with conjunctions and
ec1ipses of the planets, and the universal accidents of the world,
predictable from the revolutions of the years or annual entry of the
sun into the sign Aries. He spoke slightingly of the departments of
astrology known as interrogations and elections, to say nothing of the
art of constructing astrological images which formed an adjunct to the
latter. He does not seem to have drawn up any horoscopes for
individuals or to have written treatises on nativities. We should regard
hirn therefore as a specialist in the particular department of revolu-
tions and conjunctions.'
84. For the manuscripts of Summa judicialis see the note below. An English
version of this passage is cited by North, Richard of Wallingford, H. 87
from Cambridge, MS Trinity College 0.5.26, fols 146-7. I have taken the
text from Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Digby 225, a c1ear and well-written
manuscript produced before 1406, and circulating in Oxford: fol. 1a:
'Set in hoc opere tam grandi et tam arduo, tria sunt que multipliciter me
186 Notes
perterrent et animum meum perturbant, seilieet invidia ae detestanda imperi-

torum in astronomia detractio, et diffieilis ae miranda de aecidentibus mundi
seeundum sententiam astronomie pronostieatio, aeeciam librorum astronomie
et eontrarium opinionum astrologorum onerosa multitudo. Primum itaque
istorum que me in hoe opere infestant et impediunt est invidia et detestanda
imperitorum in astronomia detractio. Ista enim scientia astronomia tam
nobilis est et tam alta, ut quotquot sibi inherent et eius fructus uberrimos
adquirunt, tot habent despieientes quot ipsam scientiam sunt ignorantes.'
85. Summa judieialis, Bk.II, d.xii, ch. 3. Cited by Thomdike History of
Magie, III, pp. 333-4.
86. Digby 176, fol. 38-38v. Cited by Thomdike, History of Magie III, p. 342.
On the other hand, Ashenden himself makes a lengthy contribution to
the business of calculating the length of time from the Creation to the
Deluge, and from the Deluge to the Incamation in Bk.l, d.i. of the
Summa judicialis. J. A. Robson, Wyclif and the Oxford Sehools (Cam-
bridge, 1961) p. 102, tentatively identifies this lecturer with John
Ashton, a fellow of Merton College in 1365.
87. M. W. Bloomfield and Marjorie Reeves, 'The Penetration of Joachism
into Northem Europe', Speeulum 29 (1954) 775-780. For Ashenden's
comments see North, 'Fortunes of Churches', pp. 196-7.
88. Noted by Thomdike, History of Magie, III, p. 339.
89. Digby 176, fol. 40: 'Isla scripsi de signifieationibus predietarum eoniune-
tionum magnarum, ad eommunem valitatem studentium in astronomia, et
precipue ad exercitium et solaeium sociorum meorum aule de Merton in
Oxonia quos et domum nostram predictam eonservet dominus, dominus
altissimus per infinita seeula. Amen.'
90. I.e. John Ashenden (fos 9-16); Levi ben Gerson (fos 16-17v); Jean de
Murs (fos 17-18); Geoffrey of Meaux (fos 25-9). In other MSS, the
treatise attributed to Jean de Murs is ascribed to Firminus de Bel-
lavelle. Thomdike, History of Magie III, pp. 306-7.
91. Thomdike, History of Magie III, pp. 289-91; 303-17; 326-32.
92. Thomdike, History of Magie III, pp. 268, 289-92, 303-17. Other ac-
counts of the plague and the conjunctions of 1345 were written by
Giovanni Villani after Master Pagalo di ser Piero, Symon de Covino,
John of Bassigny and Trithemius. By a grim irony, Villani fell victim to
the plague in 1348. For Henry of Hesse' s objection to this theory see
ibid., 498-9.
93. Digby 176, fol. 26: 'Rogatus a quibus amicis meis ut de causa huius generalis
pestileneie aliquid scriberem eausam eius ostendendo naturaliter. Et quare
eontingit tot provinciis. Et quare illis provinciis plus quam aliis. Et quare plus in
quibusdam eivitatibus et villis earundum provinciarum quam in aliis predic-
tarum. Et in eadem villa quare eontingit plus in uno vico quam in alio, ae etiam
plus in una domo quam in alia. Et quare minus magnatibus et generosis quam
alteri papulo.' Cited by Thomdike, History of Magie III, p. 289.
94. Digby 176, fol. 27v.
95. Digby 176, fol. 26v.
96. Oxford, MS Oriel College 23, fol. 222v. Cited by Thomdike, History of
Magie III, p. 331 and n.11: ... prout eo scripsi anno Christi 1345.
Quiequid enim tibi dixi iam de predictis effectibus, illud idem predixi tune
seeundum sentenciam astronomorum. Et advenerunt predicta mala post sta-
Notes 187
tim nimis habundanter, tanta enim fuit mortalitas in mundo anno

Christi 1349 et 1348 quod totus mundus erat turbatus.'
97. Digby 176, fol. 30. Cited by Thomdike, History of Magie III, pp. 335-6.
ADDITIONAL NOTES TO CHAPfER FOUR
Digby 176, fol. 50
Reginald Lamboume's Figures for the Lunar Eclipses of 1363
Houses
I. Figura introitus solis in Arietis
1 2 3 4 5 6
23 Gern. 29 Can. 20 Leo 13 Virg. 3 Lib. 17Scorp.
Mars 21 Can. Jupiter
16 Leo.ret.
7 8 9 10 11 12
23 Gem.(sie) 29 Cap. 20Aq. 13 Pisc. 3 Ar. 17 Taur.
Luna Mercur. Sol Venus
16Aq. 6 Pies. 1 Ar. 15 Ar.
11. Figura ec1ipsis lune universalis in Martio
29 March 1363, 17h.7m. tempus equalis
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 Ar. 8 Taur. 6 Gern. 3 Can. 2 Leo. 4 Virg.
Mercur. Mars Jupiter Satum
8 Ar. 26 Can. no figure 6 Virg.
Sol
18 Ar.
7 8 9 10 11 12
7 Lib. 8Scorp. 6 Sag. 3 Cap. 2Aq. 4 Pisc.
Luna
18 Lib.
111. Figura ec1ipsis lune universalis in Septembris
23 September 1363, 8h.23m. tempus equalis

1 2 3 4 5 6
17 Gern. 5 Can. 23 Can. 5 Leo. 24 Virg. 8Scorp.
Jupiter Mercur. Mars
13 Virg. 19 Lib. no figure
Venus Satum
4 Virg. 12 Lib.
Sol
4 Lib.
188 Notes
7 8 9 10 11 12
17 Sag. 5 Cap. 23 Cap. 5Aq. 24 Pies. 8 Taur.
Luna
4 Ar.
Planetary positions
I
Horoscope Computed Difference
Satum 8 Lib.(ret) = 188 187(rett -1

Jupiter 16 Leo.(ret) = 135 136(rett 0
Mars 21 Can. = 111 113 +2
Sun 1 Ar. 1 360 -1
Moon 16 Aq. = 316 317,5 +1.5
Venus 15 Tau. = 45 44 -1
Mercury 6 Pisc. = 336 336 0
date 12 March 12 March
time 12.08 am 4 pm G.C.T.
11
Satum 6 Lib. = 186 186(rett 0
Jupiter ? Leo. ? 135(rett
Mars 26 Can. = 116 11~ +1
Sun 18 Ar. = 318 16 -2
Moon 18 Lib. = 198 189 -11
Venus 24 Tau. 54 53.5 -1.5
Mercury 8Ar. 8 4 -4
date 29 March 29 March
time 5.07 pm. 4pm G.C.T.
III
Satum 12 Lib. = 192 192 0
Jupiter 13 Vir. = 163 163 0
Mars ? Scor. = ? 218S
Sun 9 Lib. = 189 188 -1
Moon 9 Ar. 9 6 -3
Venus 4 Vir. = 154 153 -1
Mercury 19 Lib. = 23 203(rett +4
date 23 Sept. 23 Sept.
time 8.23 am. 4 pm G.C.T.
List of manuscripts of the writings of lohn Ashenden
Sourees (in order of comprehensiveness)

Emden BRUO p. 56; Thomdike History of Magie I1I, pp. 325-6; 717-21
(Appendix 20); Incipits passim; James A. Weisheipl, 'Reportorium
Notes 189
Mertonense', Mediaeval Studies 31 (1969) p. 175; Ernst Zinner, Verzeich-

nis der astronomische Handschriften des deutsches KuIturgebietes (Munich,
1925); Lynn Thorndike, 'Notes on some Astronomical, Astrological
and Mathematical Manuscripts of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris',
Jour. War Court. Inst. 20 (1957) 161-2; IncunabuIa in American Libraries. A
Third Census, F. R. Goff, (repr. New York, 1973) p. 231.
I: Summa judicialis de accidentibus mundi

First part completed 20 July 1347; second part completed 18 December
1348. Printed by John Lucilius Santritter at the expense of Francis
Bolanus, 7 July 1489. Inc. 'Intentio mea in hoc libro est compi/are senten-
tias'. Text begins, 'Dicit Iulius Firmicus libro 3, in principio.'
(1) Cambridge, Trinity College, 0.5.26(1307), late fourteenth-

fifteenth century. Fragmentary.
(2) Cambridge, Univ. Lib. Ii.I.27(1719), fols 61a-140. Revision by
Thomas de Wyndfele, inc. 'Primus tractatus huius Summe Judicialis.'
(3) Cracow, Univ. Lib. 565(DD.III.I7), 282pp; fourteenth century.
Text anonymous.
(4) Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Crawford 4.11, fols 1-150; mid
fifteenth century. Copied in Germany.
(5) Erfurt, Amplon. Fol. 207a(254 fols); fourteenth century. English
provenance.
(6) Erfurt, Amplon. Fol. 379, fols 99v-159; fourteenth century.
(7) London, Brit. Lib., Arundel 88, fol. 54; fifteenth, sixteenth cen-
tury.
(8) London, Brit. Lib. Hadey 5082; fifteenth century. Imperfect.
(9) London, Royal College of Physicians 390; fourteenth century.
Belonged to John Holbroke and bequeathed to Peterhouse, Cam-
bridge.
(10) Milan, Bibliotheca Ambrosiana A.inf.201.
(11) Munich, C.L.M. 221; fifteenth century.
(12) Naples, Oratoriana XV, xi (Mandarini, chart. 49), fols 1-141; first
half of fifteenth century.
(13) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 393, fols 91-123v; fifteenth century
English translation of Tract 1, dist. 12 only.
(14) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 576. Edition of Venice, 1489, but with
extensive corrections, probably from MS Bodley 714(2621) by Ri-
chard Forster (1546?-1616).
(15) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Bodley 369 (2479), fols 1-379v; mid-fifteenth
century.
(16) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Bodley 714 (2621), fols 1-235v; late fourteenth-
fifteenth century.
(17) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 225, fols 1-243v; before 1406.
(18) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Saville 25 (6571), fols 1-163; late fourteenth
century. Tract 2 only.
(19) Oxford, Bod. Lib., SeIden supra 79.
(20) Oxford, Oriel College 23, fols 1-226; late fourteenth century.
(21) Paris, Bib. nat., nouv. acq. 3034; 366 fols; fifteenth century.
190 Notes
Attributed to John de Oxonia, inc. 'Sicut dicit Aristoteles secundo

(septimo) Ethicorum.'
(22) Paris, Bib. nat., Univ. Paris 1037, 195 fols; fifteenth century. Copy
of Charles VI of France.
(23) Paris, Universitaire 598, fols 1-136; fifteenth century.
(24) Pennsylvania University 598.
(25) Rome, Vatic. Palat. 1443.
(26) Rome, Vatican (Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) 2880, fols
90a-114b. Incomplete.
(27) Vienna, Latin 5387, 256 fols; anno 1336.
II: Abbreviation of Summa judicialis by John de Ponte of Lyons

Completed on Wednesday, 23 February 1379. Ine. 'Causa enim que me.'
Text begins, 'Convenerunt astrologi quod initium orbis fuit ante diem Jovis.'
(1) Paris, Bib. Nat. 735, fols 1a-100bv.

(2) Lyons, 329(262), fols 80-167. Copy by Stephanus de Rupe alias
Villefranche.
III: Pronosticationes cuiusdem eclipsis universalis et coniunctionum
anno Christi 1345
Completed on 24 March 1345. Ine. 'Significatio eclipsis lune universalis
iuxta sententiam Ptholomeum et Haly.'
(1) Cambridge, Emmanuel College 70, fol. 144v; fifteenth century.
Belonged to John Dunstable.
(2) Oxford, Bod. Lib., Digby 176, fos 9-16; fourteenth century. Be-
longed to Nicholas Sandwich, William and others.
(3) Paris, Bib. Nat., nouv. acq. 3034.
IV: Pronosticationes de coniunctione Saturne et Martis et Jovis ac
eclipsis Lune universalis anno 1349.
Completed 6 March 1349. Inc. 'Sicut dicit Haly 20 Quadripartiti Tholomei
cao 60 cum fuerit eclipsis vel coniunctio.'
(1) Cambridge, Emmanuel College 70 fifteenth century. Belonged to

John Dunstable.
(2) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 176, fols 30-3; fourteenth century. Be-
longed to William Rede.
V: Pronosticatio coniunctionis Saturni et Martis in Cancro anno
Christi 1357 with Pronosticatio coniunctionis magne Saturni et
Jovis anno Christi 1365
Completed 10 March 1357 Inc. 'Sicut dicit philosophus (Ptholomeus) in
Centiloquio propositione SOa, Non obliviscaris.'
Notes 191
(1) Cambridge, Emmanuel College 70, fols 4v-14v; fifteenth century.

Belonged to John Dunstable.
(2) London, Brit. Lib. Harley 637, fols 129av-138v; fifteenth century.
(3) London, Brit. Lib. Royal 12 F.xvii, fols 172-80; fifteenth century.
Formerly in library of Peterhouse, Cambridge, where seen by Le-
land. Later owned by John, Lord Lumley.
(4) London, Brit. Lib. Sloane 1713, fols 1-14; fifteenth-seventeenth
centuries.
(5) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 192, pp. 1-106; Late sixteenth cen-
tury. Copy of Ashmole 393.
(6) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 345; late sixteenth century.
(7) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 393, fols 81v-86; fifteenth century.
(8) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 1471; fourteenth century.
(9) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 57; fourteenth century.
(10) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 176, fols 42-49v; 34-40; fourteenth cen-
tury. Belonged to William Rede and others.
(11) Paris, Bib. Nat. 7443, fols 221-227v; c. treatise on conjunction of
13650nly.
VI: De tribus coniunctionibus (Weather predictions for 1368-1374).

Completed in 1368. Inc. 'Carissime et Reverendissime, quoniam fide euius-
dam eommunis utriusque'.
(1) Oxford, Bod. Lib., Ashmole 192.1, fols 12-16v; seventeenth cen-
tury. Copy of Ashmole 393.
(2) Oxford, Bod. Lib., Ashmole 393, fols 79-80; fifteenth century.
Copied by Henry Gruftorreus, probably a monk of Christ Church
Canterbury.
Rejected
(1) Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 159. Contains Aristotelis eommentum in
Astrologiam of which see Haskins, pp. 74-5; the front fly-Ieaf has the
name 'Jo: Eschenden', and on fol. iii the title, 'Summa judicialis de
aecidentibus mundi'.
(2) Erfurt, Amplon. Quart. 383. Speculated by Thorndike History o[
Magie III, p. 719 to be Ashenden's Summa judicialis.
(3) Oxford, Bod. Lib., Ashmole 1471, fols 102-4v; late fourteenth
century. Actually treatise on causes of the plague by Geoffrey of
Meaux. See Thorndike, History o[ Magie III, p. 716.D.
5 THE COURT OF EDWARD III: ASTROLOGY IGNORED
1. Ed. Jarnes Walter de Milemete, fol. 79v.

2. The scheme of illustration for BL MS Add. 47680 was never com-
pleted, and the arrangement of the parts of the Seereta is rather
disorganized. See Catalogue o[ Additions to the Manuseripts 1951-1955
(London, 1982).
192 Notes
3. Richard of Wallingford. Writings ed. J. D. North, 3 vols (Oxford, 1976).

Text 1.555-563; Commentary H. 371-378. North notes five extant MSS
but, 'there is not a single good text in these'. ibid., H. 273.
4. Ibid., 11. 372.
5. Richard of Wallingford, I. 555-63.
6. North, Richard of Wallingford: Exafrenon Pronosticacionum Temporis, Text
I. 179--243; Commentary 11. 83--126; Diagram III. 17.
7. The Kalendarium of Nicholas of Lynne, ed. Sigmund Eisner (London,
1980). Eisner notes fifteen complete MSS but he overlooks British
Library MS Harley 1811 and MS Sloane 636. See also North's short
discussion of calendars, Richard of Wallingford H. 371-2, and much
fuIler account in Chaucer's Universe, pp. 87-133. For John Somer and
Nicholas of Lynn see ibid, pp. 91-5.
8. Eisner ed. Kalendarium, pp. 197-223.
9. Ibid., pp. 7-9.
10. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Laud misc. 674, fol. 24v. Also fos 42v, 99v, 102v.
11. For the aphets, see Hartner, 'Mercury Horoscope', p. 454.
12. Cal. Pat. Roll (1396--9) p. 532; (1399--1401) pp. 344, 434. For Somer's
biography see Emden BRUO, p. 1727; A. G. Little, Grey Friars in Oxford
(Oxford, 1892) Ox. Hist. 50c. XX. 244-5. An eIl is about 45 inches.
13. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 192, fos 109v and 110; MS Rawlinson
D. 1227, fol. 2v. Detailed times of birth, described as 'Radix nativitatis',
of Edward III and Edward, Prince of Wales, are given in London, Brit.
Lib. MS Royal 12 F.xvii, fol. 153v.
14. Recueil p. 201: 'En ce temp florit en Angleterre Thomas Bradvardin, singulier
homme et grant astrologien. Cestui predist et prenostica pleusieurs choses de
differans des princes et composa en astrologie ung traictE qui se commence,
"Omne motum successivum alteri." Cestui prenostica au roy d' Angleterre,
sur la revolusion de sa nativite, d'une grande maladie qui lui advint, dont il
fut moult apprecie et estime des plus grans.' The work referred to by incipit
is Bradwardine's De proportionibus.
15. H. A. Oberman and J. A. Weisheipl, 'The 5ermo Epinicius ascribed to
Thomas Bradwardine (1346)', Archives d'historie Doctrinale et Litteraire
du Moyen Age 25 (1958) 295-329. The argument Oberman and
Weisheipl present as to Bradwardine's authorship seems to me to be
quite convincing.
16. Oberman and Weisheipl, '5ermo Epinicius', p. 299; Emden BRUO, pp.
244-6.
17. Adam of Murimuth: Continuatio chronicarum ed. E. M. Thompson R.S. 50
(London, 1889) pp. 201-2.
18. Rymer, Foedera, III (London, 1825) pp. 1, 92.
19. Oberman and Weisheipl give a succinct summary of the sermon,
'5ermo epinicinus', p. 304.
20. Ibid., p. 308: 'Primi sunt quidam vani astrologi, qui omnia que fiunt sub sole
attribuunt germini hominum et virtute stellarum.'
21. Oberman and Weisheipl, '5ermo epinicius', p. 309: 'Quis astrologus
prognosticasset huius? Quis astrologus preiudicasset hec fieri? Quis astrolo-
gus talia predixisset? Verum, Karissimi, ecce prognosticacio una certa, que
numquam potest faUere, numquam falli; quicquid Deus vult fore seu fieri,
illud fiet; quemcumque Deus vult vincere, ille vincet; et quemcumque Deus
Notes 193
vult regnare, ille regnabit ... Lieet igitur eelum et terra et quiequid eelo
ambitu eontinentur fuerit vobis eontraria, si Deus sit vobis propieius, quid
potest vobis noeere? Et lieet eelum et terra et quiequid eelo ambitu eontinetur
fuerit vobis propicia, si Deus sit vobis eontraria, quid potest vobis valere?'
22. Oberman and Wisheipl, 'Sermo epinicius', p. 311. For the wheel or lot of
fortune see Hartner, 'Mercury Horoscope', pp. 454-5.
23. Ed. Henry Saville (London, 1618) Li, cor.12-16, pp. 8--12; III.x-xii, pp.
678--9.
24. De Causa Dei IIl.xLcor., p. 688: 'Est insuper in bestiis forsitan libertas a
neeessitate fati stellarum: Videtur enim quod si bestiae fuisssent ereatae
perfectae primo die mundi ante ereationem stellarum, quod tune potuissent
exereuisse suas actiones proprias naturales.'
25. De Causa Dei, III.xxi, p. 689.
26. De Causa Dei, III.xxi, p. 688: 'Hie autem ex praemissis patenter suboritur illa
famosissima quaestio, aeerrimum axioma, diffieullimumque problem, Nun-
quid seilieet omnia quae eveniunt, de neeessitate evenient?'
27. De Causa Dei, Epistola prior: 'Dilectis Fratribus et amieis Custodi as
Seholaribus Aulae de Merton in Oxonia.'
28. Cited by Thomdike, History of Magie III, p. 331, n.lO, from Oxford, MS
Oriel College 23, fol. 225v: 'Et quia auxillante deo iam in hoe tempore
pestilentiali in quo totus mundus in maligno positus est, fessus a labore
seribendi, non ex presumptione seu gloria inani sed fraterna earitate coactus
huie summe iudiciali de aecidentibus mundi finem imposui.'
29. Thomdike, History of Magie III, pp. 32fr8. We have taken the text of
this treatise from Digby 176, fols 9-16.
30. D.N.B., biography of Edward III by William Hunt.
31. The figure on fol. 12 actually provides two dates, and there is similar
inconsistency for the date of the lunar eclipse, suggesting that Ashen-
den's usual practice differed from that of William Rede. See North,
'Fortune of Churches', p. 208 n.50. Ashenden usually gives completed
days, not dates, and times from midnight, except for his treatise on
the conjunctions of 1357 and 1365 when he uses astronomical time, Le.
starting the day and time horn the previous midday. Rede, or Ashen-
den's calculator, apparently preferred to give the current day.
32. Digby 176, fol. 16. Cited by Thomdike, History of Magie III, p. 328.
33. Digby 176, fols 12v, 15: 'Item dicit Messahallah in Epistola sua de eoniune-
tionibus, eapitulo lOa, quod si eoniunctio Saturni et Jovis fuerit in aliquo
angulorum et precipue in 10a domo, signifieat elevationem regis in regionibus
illius signi, et victoriam et dominationem eorum, si signum illud fuerit
fortunatum. Sed sie est in propitio. Igitur reges earundum regionum victoriam
et dominationem optinebat super alios reges, et erit malum aliis regionibus
super reges eorum. Sed quia allevatum est primo per Albumasar, in eodem
libro de eoniunctionibus, tract. 4, ditto lla, videlieet quod Aquarius domina-
tur (fol. 15) super terras aquo ad specialiter, et longa fluviorum et marium, et
regio nostra, scilieet Anglie, est quedam insula situata inter maria et cireum-
data aquariis. Signifieat quod rex noster obtinebat vietoriam super inimieos
suos, et eausa predicta.'
34. Digby 176, fol. 15v: 'Pro signifieatione eoniunctionis Saturni et Martis, est
sciendum quod signifieatio speeialis illius eoniunctionis est ex guerris.'
35. Ibid., fol. 16.
194 Notes
36. Ibid.: 'Ista eoniunctio significat effeetum qui fit ex pluviis et nubiis et
eorruptionem aeris. Verum multam addit super significationes predictas, et
aliarum eoniunetionum in humiditas et precipue in caristia, eciam espeeialiter
addit de guerra.'
37. Ibid.: 'Ex predietis patet quod effectus proveniens ex, et ex istis tribus
eoniunetionibus, erit caristia breviter, et guerra, et prout dixit Messahallah,
magna opera regnorum, et multe infirmitates et tempestates, in temporibus et
locis predictis.' This appears to be the original condusion, but the word
'breviter' has been crossed out, and the underlined dause inserted in
the margin.
38. See e.g. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Bodley 369, fol. 371v, the fascinating
note, 'Ego fui in eodem loco iuxta Dunelmensis civitatem ubi Seoti erant
interfecti et ubi terra deperdidunt multos eorum,'i fol. 333vi Digby 225, fol.
130ai MS Oriel College 235, fols 189, 219vi MS Bodley 714 (2621), fol.
229 carries the note: 'Edward and his sonne spoiled Harmony and all
of Paris. David of Scotland came toward Engiand who was driven out
by the Archbishop of York by an army spiritual and temperall',
evidently referring to the Battle of Durham. The same note appears in
Ashmole 576, p. 306/D3v. This latter manuscript is a copy of the
edition of the Summa published in Venice in 1489, with painstaking
corrections from another version by Robert Forster, MD (1546?-1616),
the physician and astronomer. (D.N.B. VII.461). There are other notes
in common, and it is evident that Bodley 714 was Forster's exemplum.
The printed edition is fuU of errors, and Forster has put an appropriate
axiom beside the publisher's note to the reader. 'Sanitas sanitas et omnia
sanitas.'
39. Digby 176, fols 3~.
40. Digby 176, fols 42-42v. See Thorndike, History of Magie ill, p. 378.
41. Ibid., fol. 42v.
42. Ibid., fol. 42v: 'Ad habendum significationem istius eoniunctionis principali-
ter 4 sunt hie eonsideranda. Primo videlicet ubi evenient effectus significa-
tionis per hunc eoniunetione, 2 Quando venient effeetus, et per quantum
tempus durabitur, 3 In quo genere rerum eveniet, Et 4 euius modi effeetus
aecident ex ista eoniunctione sive bonus sive malus.'
43. Digby 176, fol. 43v.
44. Ibid., fols 44-6v.
45. Ibid., fol. 46.
46. Ibid., fol. 47.
47. Digby 176, fol. 47v: 'Et quia Mercurius eoniunctione super Franciam
participabit in dom istius eoniunctionis, et loeus eoniunetionis est in domo
amicitie, significabit multos falsos et fraudulentos et cantelosos tractatus de
pace et amicicia, et precipue inter regno Anglie et Francie.'
48. Ibid., fol. 34.
49. Digby 176, fol. 34v: 'Et dicit Albumasar istius in libro suo de annorum
revolutionibus quod Scorpio preest terre Scotie eo quod homines conveniunt
ipsi scorpioni in moribus, sunt ei crudeles, superbi, elati, luxuria et bestiali-
tati, falsi et subdoli, fidem et fidelitatem inflagrentos, et plus mori quam
similia cupierit.'
50. Ibid., fol. 34v.
51. Ibid., fol. 35.
Notes 195
52. Digby 176, fol. 36.

53. Ibid., fols 36v-37.
54. Ibid., fol. 37.
55. Ibid., fols 37-37v. In the Digby manuscript, Ashenden goes on to
condemn certain uses of the prophecies of Joachim, and other dubious
predictions heard in Oxford. See North, 'Fortunes of Churches', pp.
196-8.
56. For an account of this stage of the French wars see M. H. Keen,
England in the Later Middle Ages (London, 1973) pp. 134-42.
57. North, Chaucer's Universe, pp. 7--8, 19, 286, 325, 452.
6 THE COURTS OF RlCHARD 11 OF ENGLAND AND CHARLES V

OF FRANCE: ROYAL ASTROLOGY
1. Charles Jourdain, 'Nichole Oresme et les astrologues de la cour de

Charles V', Revue des questions historiques 18 (1875) 139.
2. Thomdike, History of Magic III, p. 585.
3. Ibid., III, p. 590.
4. I. Samuel xxvi.7. See, for example, the Vaticinium Bridlington, dist.
2, c.6, ed. Thomas Wright in Political Songs and Poems relating to
English History R.S.14. (London, 1859) I, 166, which is almost cer-
tainly intended as a rebuke to Edward II:
Rex Saul erravit quaerens occidere David,

Quem Deus elegit, ejus mandatoque fregit,
Sortilegis credens, et ab ejus lege recedens.
In bello stratus fuit inde Saul sceleratus.
Est opus inane Christo contendere vane.
5. Adam of Usk, Chronicon A.D. 1377-1421. ed. E. M. Thompson 2nd

ed. (London, 1904) p. 36: 'Sed Roboe Salamonis filio, consilium juvenum
quia insecuto, regnum Israel amittenti iste Ricardus merito poterit cum suis
juvenibus consilariis assimulari: iij. Regum, xij capitulo. (1 Kings xii)'
Thompson notes a similar sentiment expressed in Richard the Redeless,
3.254, ed. Thomas Wright in Political Poems and Songs, 2 vols, RS. 14.
(London, 1859-61) I, 397--8. It is raised again by the Kirkstall ChronicIe,
ed. John Taylor (Leeds, 1952) p. 127: 'Causa vero miserabilis casus regis
Ricardi et procerum Anglie iudicio discretorum virorum hec erat precipua et
principalis quod dominus rex Ricardus spreto consilio maiorum ducum
dominorum seniorum et sapienciorum Anglie nimis adhesit et consiIiis
iuvenum dominorum et aliorum virorum minus habiencium et valencium in
altis iudiciis minime expertorum quemadmodum rex Edwardus de Karnar-
van dictus secundus post conquestum: In his own day, Edward II had
also been compared to Rehoboam, for similar reasons. See Hilda
Johnstone, Edward of Carnarvon (Manchester, 1946) p. 1, n.3.
6. The charges laid against the Templars, which are repeated by Wal-
singham, Historia Anglicanum, ed. H. T. Riley RS.28 (London, 1863)
I. 127--8, exhibit the range of possible accusations. For numerous
196 Notes
other examples see the fascinating account by W. R Jones, 'Political

Uses of Sorcery in Medieval Europe', The Historian 34 (1971-2)
670--687.
7. The portrait of Richard 11 drawn by the monk of Evesham in his
Historia Vitae et Regni Rieardi Seeundi, ed. G. B. Stow (Philadelphia,
1977) p. 166, is a classk lustration of the type. See also C. M. Barron,
'The Tyranny of Richard 11', B.I.H.R. 41 (1968) 1-2 and references.
8. Chronieon, pp. 29-30. Adam of Usk was one of the lawyers who drew
up the deposition charges against Richard 11.
9. Hist. Angl.; Annales Rieardi Seeundi 1392-1399. ed. H. T. Riley, R.S.28c
(London, 1866) pp. 55-281; Ypodigma Neustria pp. 911-1419 ed. H. T.
Riley, RS.28g (London, 1876).
10. The standard biographies of Richard 11 are those of H. Wallon,
Riehard II, 2 vols (Paris, 1864), and Anthony Steel, Riehard II (Cam-
bridge, 1941). Despite the Freudian terminology, Steel's analysis of
Richard' s character demonstrates the lasting influence of Lancastrian
propaganda. For the historiography of Richard from Shakespeare to
McKisack, see the well-balanced account of R H. Jones, The Royal
Policy of Riehard II (Oxford, 1968) pp. 113--24.
11. Hist. Angl. I: 222, 306; 11: 68, 248; Annales, p. 338; Chron. Angl., pp. 61,
355.
12. Hist. Angl., 11. 126: 'Eodem tempore eonjunctio duarum maximarum
planetarum facta est, videlieet Jovis et Saturni, rnense Maio; quam seeuta est
maxima regnorum eommotio, prout patebit inferius, eom attigerit stylus
loeum'; Chroniea Anglie p. 364; Ypodigma Neustriae p. 341.
13. Annales p. 229: 'signifieans, ut putatur, divisionem populi atque regni et
defectionem a Rege Rieardo, quae eontigit eo anno.'
14. Annales pp. 231-2.
15. See the analysis by C. M. Barron, who suggests that Richard merited
at least some of the deposition articles in 'The Tyranny of Richard 11'.
Steel concludes, on the other hand, that Richard was a more reliable
debtor than Henry IV, Reeeipt of the Exehequer (Cambridge, 1954) eh.
3. Cited by Barron art. eit. 1, n.5.
16. For Richard's designs on the imperial title, Annales p. 199; ibid.
p. 233. '1399 Rex interea, lieet abundaret divitiis ultra omne praedeeessores
suos, eontinue tarnen sibi peeunias aecumulare sategit, niehil omino curans
quo titulo illas posset adquire de manibus (subidtorum). Deeipiebatur nempe
eotidie per quosdam pseudo-prophetas, suggerentes sibi quod Imperatoris
dignitate proeuldubio foret sublimandus, et maximus esse deberet inter
prineipes totius mundi.'
17. Annales, p. 234: 'Et ut eoncludam brevitus, euneta quae prophetiis antiquis
favorabilia possent elieere, suae personae mendaeiter applicabant.'
18. This explanation may be sound. On 14 December 1396 a messuage
was granted to one of the king's physicians, John de Medylton, 'as
well for his own abode as for the safe-keeping for the king's use of
divers goods of the king in his custody'. Cal. Pat. Roll (1396), p. 258.
Magdalen also had a London house which he forfeited with his other
goods in 1400. See Cal. Pat. Roll (1399-1401), p. 190.
19. Annales, p. 301.
Notes 197
20. Emden BRUC, p. 397.

21. Ed. John Webb, Archaeologia 20 (1824) 405: 'Qui resembloit si de certain/
Au bon roy richart de visage,/ De corps, de fait et de langage, Qui ce fust le
roy anciien;/ Apelle estoit madelein: ibid., p. 409: 'Mais certainement pas ne
croy/ Que ce fust le roy anciien;/ Ains croy que cestoit madelein,/ Son
chappellain. '
22. Cal. Close Rolls (1400) pp. 469, 548, 570; 1401, 999; Cal. Pat Rolls
(1401-5), p. 126; Seleet Cases before the King's Council, ed. L. G. Leadam
and J. F. Baldwin (Section Soc. 1918) p. xxxiv; See also Steel, Richard
II, pp. 287-8.
23. Kirkstall Abbey Chronicles, ed. John Taylor (Leeds, 1952) pp. 127-8.
24. Adam of Usk, Chronicon AD 1377-1421. ed. E. Maunde Thompson
(London, 1904) p. 42.
25. Ibid., pp. 24, 25, 28, 39.
26. Ibid., p. 24; Steel, Richard II, p. 252, n.3.
27. Ibid., pp. 40-1.
28. Chronicle of Dieulacres Abbey, 1381-1403, ed. M. V. Clarke and V. H.
Galbraith in 'The Deposition ofRichard lI', B.J.R.L. 14 (1930) 173. The
omen relied for its force, presumably, on an heraldic allusion to the
royal leopards, leporarium, meaning both greyhound and leopard:
'Tunc quidem erant signa regalia tam cervi quam corone sub abscondito
posita, unde creditur quod armigeri Ducis Lancastriae deferentes collistrigia
quasi leporarii ad destruendum insolenciam invise bestie albi cervi per annum
presignati sunt quodam presagio futurorum.'
29. For a fuller account of this considerable subject see: Rupert Taylor,
The Political Prophecy in England (New York, 1911); George L. Kit-
tredge, Witchcraft in Old and New England (Cambridge, Mass., 1929)
esp. eh. XIV, 'The Seer', where the eonneetion between propheey
and politics is described as 'almost primeval'; J. S. P. Tatlock, The
Legendary History of Britain (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1950) W. R.
Jones 'Sorcery'; Lucy Paton, Les Prophecies de Merlin (New York,
1926); Margaret E. Griffiths, Early Vaticination (Cardiff, 1937). For
some English prophecies see Historical Poems of the XIVth and XVth
Centuries ed. R. H. Robbins (New York, 1959) pp. xliv-xlv, 113-47,
307-317, and for Joachim of Fiore, the various studies of Marjorie
Reeves, esp. The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford,
1969).
30. Wedel, Mediaeval Attitude toward Astrology, p. 4.
31. Robbins, Historical Poems, pp. xliv-xlv.
32. Ed. and trans. John Webb, Archaeologia 20 (1824) 1-423. The full title
reads: 'Histoire du Roy d'angleterre Richard, Traictant particulierement la
Rebellion de ses subieetz et prinse de sa personne. Composee par un gentil-
hom'e franrais de marque qui fut a la suite dudiet Roy, avecq perm iss ion du
Roy de france. 1399.'
33. J. J. N. Palmer, 'The authorship, date and historical value of the
French chronic1es of the Lancastrian Revolution', B.J.R.L. 61
(1978-9), 145-181; 398-421. For Creton see 151-4.
34. Ibid., 421.
35. Creton, Histoire, pp. 374-5: 'Un autre ancien chevalier, qui estoit des
198 Notes
conseilles du duc henry, le quel me dist en chevaunchaunt a cestre, que la

prise du roy et la destruccion avoient merlin et Bede prophecise des leur
vivant; et que si iestoi en son chastel il le me monsterroit en la forme et
maniere comme ie lavoie veu advenir, disant ainsi:
Il aura en roy en albie, lequel regnera lespace xx a xxij ans engrant
honneur et en grant puissance, et sera deffait es parties du nort en une place
triangle. Ainsi me dist le chevalier quil estoit escript en un sien livre: la place
triangle Illa proprioit ala vill de cornuay ...
Ainsi tenoit le dit chevalier ceste prophecie vraie, et y adioustoit grant foy
et creance; car il font de telle nature en leur pays, que en prophecies en
fanthonnes et sorceries croient tres parfaitement; et en usent tres volentiers:
Maiz il mest advis que ce nest pas bon fait; ains est grant faulte de creance'.
See Symon de Phares, Recueil pp. 225--6, for Sir Thomas Dagworth,
lieutenant in Brit~ny, who is said to have foreseen the rise to
eminence of Bertrand Duguesclin by an analysis of key passages of
Merlin's prophecies.
36. The phrase is May McKisack's, The Fourteenth Century (vol. V of the
Oxford History of England) (Oxford, 1959) p. 496. McKisack's assess-
ment is judicious, but she nevertheless accepts at face value Walsing-
ham's slanderous account of the 'megalomania' of Richard's last
years, including his alleged dependence on the pseudo-propheta, ibid,
p.49O.
37. Kalendars and Inventories of the Treasury of His Majesty's Exchequer, ed.
Francis Palgrave (London, 1836) III. 41.
38. I was alerted to this problem by Mr F. R. Maddison, curator of the
History of Science Museum. See A Catalogue of European scientific
instruments in the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities of The
British Museum by F. A. B. Ward (London, c.1981). Ward regards
both quadrants as fakes.
39. A. P. Stanley, 'On an Examination of the Tombs of Richard 11 and
Henry III in Westminster Abbey', Archaeologia 45 (1880) 309-27.
40. Stanley, 'Tomb of Richard 11', p. 327.
41. Margaret Rickert, The Reconstructed Carmelite Missal (London, 1952)
pp. 76, n.2, 92; idem, Painting in Britain: The Middle Ages, 2nd ed.
(Penguin Books, 1965) pp. 152-3; idem, English Illumination of the 13th
and 14th Centuries (Oxford, 1954) P1.22a-d. Other representatives of
the group are Cambridge, MS Trinity HaU 17, a copy made for
Richard 11 of Dymok's Contra haereses; Cambridge, St John's 7, a book
of English statutes made after 1387; Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 1831,
a charter given by Richard 11 to Croyland Abbey in 1393; and two
Westminister MSS, the 'Lytlington Missa}', and the Liber Regalis.
There is certainly a marked resemblance between the portraits of a
king in the St John's MS (fol. I), the Croyland charter, and Bodley
581. See Rickert, Carmelite Missal, Plates XLIV, XLVb. The miniatures
on fos 15v-22v have been described by Fritz Saxl and Hans Meier, in
Catalogue of Astrological and Mythological Illuminated Manuscripts of the
Latin Middle Ages III ed. Harry Bober (London, 1953) 1.311-12, and
represent the sixteen geomantie figures, and not 'fourteen figures of
philosophers', as in Madan and Craster, Summary Catalogue, vol. 11,
Notes 199
pt. 1, p. 252, or 'figure(s) from a horoscope' as in Pcht and Alexan-

der, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, III, p. 61, Plate
LXX. The manuscript is also discussed by North, Chaucer's Universe,
p. 242 and Fig.32.
42. For the earliest inventory of the royal books, dating from Feb. 153415,
see H. Omont, 'Les manuscrits fran<;ais des Rois d' Angleterre au
chateau de Richmond', in Etudes Romanes dediees aGaston Paris (Paris,
1891); Henry Savile of Banke, who once owned Bodley 581, probably
copied certain parts of the older manuscripts into what is now
Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 4. For Savile's other books see A. G.
Watson, The Manuscripts 01 Henry Savile 01 Banke (London, 1969). In a
private letter dated 10 September 1982 Dr Watson kindly informed
me that he thought Ashmole 4 was probably one of Savile's books.
43. For the art historians, see n.1 on the previous page; Therese Char-
masson, Recherches sur une technique divinatoire: la geomancie dans
l'occident medieval (Geneva-Paris, 1980) provides the most enlighten-
ing account of geomancy; Jean-Philippe Genet, Four English Political
Tracts 01 the Later Middle Ages, Camden Soc. 4th sero 18 (London, 1977)
gives the fullest discussion of the manuscript, and edits the tract on
fos 1-3, pp. 31-9; Emilie Savage-Smith and Marion B. Smith, Islamic
Geomancy and a Thirteenth-Century Divinatory Device (Malibu, 1980) p.
68, n.9; Lynn Thomdike, History 01 Magic III, p. 590, n.23, refers to
MS Royal 12 C. v and, in error, to a non-existent copy in the Staats-
Bibliothek, Munich; Thomdike and Kibre Incipits, 1098, lists the
geomancy in both the Bodley and Royal MSS.
44. Gervase Matthew, The Court 01 Richard II (London, 1968) p. 40.
45. Royal 12 C. v, fol. 1.
46. Ibid.
47. Manzalaoui D.Phil., p. 377.
48. Edith Rickert, 'King Richard lI's Books', The Library 13 (1932) 144-7.
49. Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, 25 vols, (Brussels,
1867-77) XV.167.
50. E28 was paid on 12 September 1379 for a French Bible, the Romance 01
the Rose and the Romances of Percival and Gawain. Cited by M. V.
Clarke, 'Forfeitures for Treason in 1388', Fourteenth-Century Studies,
p. 122, n.1, from Devon, Issues, p. 213.
51. 'Rotulus expensarum diversarum in officio magne Garderobe domini regis',
9-11 Richard 11, P.R.O., E.101l401I15. Cited by Clarke ibid., n.2. The
precise sum was f.2 1I6d.
52. Cited by Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time 01 Jean de Berry 2
vols, 2nd ed. (London, 1969) I. pp. 64-5.
53. B. Soldati, La poesia astrologica nel quattrocento: Richerche e studi (Flor-
ence, 1906). An earlier use of astrology is studied by A. C. Cawley,
'Astrology in the Owl and the Nightingale', M. L. R. 46 (1951) 161-74.
Chaucer's use of the sciences has been studied extensively, but see
now J. D. North, Chaucer's Universe (Oxford, 1988) and North's
earlier' '''Kalenderes Enlumyned ben They". Some Astronomical
Themes in Chaucer', Review 01 English Studies, NS XX, no.78 (1969)
129-54; 257-85; 418-44; Chauncey Wood, Chaucer and the Country 01
200 Notes
the Stars (Princeton, N.J., 1970); W. C. Curry, Chaueer and the Medieval
Scienees (London, 1926).
54. See my 'Devout, literate laypeople and the pursuit of the mixed life in
later medieval England', Journal of Religious History 14 (1987) pp.
361-81, for an account of lay acquaintance with mystical devotion in
the same period.
55. Ed. Genet, Four Traets, pp. 31-9.
56. For physiognomy, the art of interpreting character from the size,
shape, colour etc. of the physical features, see Richard Frster,
Seriptores Physiognomici Graeci et Latini, 2 vols (Leipzig, 1893); there
are also some useful notes in Roger Pack' s edition of Oe Physiognomia
libellus. Auetoris ineerti in Areh. doet. et litt. du Moyen Age 41 (1974)
113--38.
57. For aversion of a similar book see A Mediaeval Oream Book, printed
from the original Latin with an English translation, tr. by B. S. Cron
(London, 1963).
58. The fundamental study is now Therese Charmasson, Geomaneie.
59. Bodley 581, fol. 1a; Genet Four Traets p. 31.
60. Bodley 581, fol. 11a.
61. Genet, Four Traets, p. 30, remarks, 'The author had astrange fond-
ness for a curiously intricate Latin which is often barely understand-
able, in the opening paragraphs for instance, he displays an open
contempt for Latin grammar and classical vocabulary. Even by low
medieval standards this is a poor piece of scholarship.' Genet does
not favour the theory that one compiler is responsible for the entire
MS. See ibid., p. 27.
62. Bodley 581, fol. 3a; Genet, Four Traets, p. 39.
63. Genet, Four Traets, pp. 25--6.
65. Genet, Four Traets, pp. 25--6.
66. Richard lI's Wardrobe accounts for 1393--4 have been published by
W. P. Baildon, Arehaeologia 62 (1911) 497-514. There is no mention of
books or book-makers. I have not seen the accounts for 1392-3 in the
British Library MS Additional 35115.
68. Bodley 581, fol. 9a.
69. Bodley 581, fol. 9a: 'Oe verborum prolixitas, animum legentis duleedinem
fruetus huiusmodi in amaritudinem eonuertendo desolaret'.
70. 'Ex Alberti Magni (1205-1280) Speeulo astronomieo excerpta libris licitis
et prohibitis', ed. Fr. Cumont and Fr. Boll, Catalogus eodieum Astrolo-
gorum Graeeorum V, pars I (Brussels, 1904) pp. 85-105. The complete
text was published in an unsatisfactory edition by Augusti Borgnet,
B. Alberti Magni Opera Omnia (Paris, 1891) X.629-650. For a discussion
of the authorship of the Speeulum, which he regards as a genuine
work of Albertus Magnus, see Thorndike, History of Magie 11, pp.
692-717 with an Appendix listing twenty-three MSS. The passage
cited by our author occurs in Borgnet's edition, p. 650; ed. Cumont
and Boll, pp. 104-5, and suggests the tone of the whole: 'Sunt
Notes 201
praeterea quidam libri experimentales, quorum nomina neeromantia sunt

eonterminalia, ut sunt geomantia, hydromantia, aeromantia, pyromantia, et
ehironmantia, quae ad verum non merentur dici scientiae sed garrimentiae ...
In geomantia vero nihil tale invenio, sed eonfidit in Saturno et domino horae,
qui ei prop radiee ponuntur, gaudetque numeri, ratione tuleiri: et multi sunt
qui ei testimonium perhibent.'
71. Thorndike, History o[ Magie, ibid.
72. Bodley 581, fol. 9a-9b.
73. Ibid., fol. 9b.
74. Ibid., fol. 9v.
75. Although generally attributed to Ptolemy, this frequently cited
aphorism does not occur in either the Quadripartitum or the pseu-
donymous Centiloquium.
76. Charmasson, Geomancie, p. 206. Charmasson discusses Richard II's
geomancy on pp. 206--7.
77. Bodley 581, questions from fos 24-74
1. Oe querente de intencione querentis vtrum insalubriter,

2. Oe querente Regem,
3. Oe querente vtrum justicia sibi flet in causa,
4. Oe querente vtrum erit diues uel non,
5. Oe querente vtrum acquiret rem quam optat uel non,
6. Oe querente de matrimonio proposito utrum flet uel non,
7. Oe querente de pregnancie mulieris et quid paritura sit,
8. Oe querente de inflrmo si euadet uel non,
9. Oe querente de divitate obsessa utrum capietur uel non,
10. Oe querente de prole si habiturus sit,
11. Oe querente vtrum recuperabit rem furatam uel amissam uel
non,
12. De querente de viagio proposito utrum flet uel non,
13. Oe querente utrum absens redibit uel non,
14. Oe querente de incarcerato utrum liberabitur uel non,
15. Oe querente de pluuia et cetera,
16. Oe querente utrum res sit occulta in loco uel non,
17. Oe querente in vendicione empcione et aliis negocionibus,
18. Oe querente de processu exercitus et cetera,
19. De querente de motu excercitus ad certum locum,
20. Oe querente de victoria duorum excercituum,
21. Oe querente naturam rei occulte,
22. Oe querente de peregrinacione si flet uel non,
23. Oe querente de pugna,
24. Oe querente de caristia victualium et cetera,
25. Oe querente qualiter annus disponetur.
These questions are repeated for sixteen sets of answers: fols 24-7,
27-30 (Populus), 3Qv_3v, 33 -5 (Via), 35v_9v , 40-3 (Fortuna minor) ,
V V V
43v--6, 46--9(Fortuna major), 49v_52v , 52 -5 (Acquisitio), 55v--8 (Amissio),

V V V
62-5, 65v _8v (Carcer), 68v-7P, 72-5(Coniuncio).

202 Notes
78. For geomancy see North, Chaueer's Universe, pp. 234-54. See also
Stephen Skinner, Terrestrial Astrology: Divination l7y Geomancy (Lon-
don, Boston etc., 1980) pp. 167-230. This is not an academic study
but mentions a number of medieval geomancies, induding Richard
II's (p.112), and is a readable account of the art.
79. Charmasson, Geomancie, pp. 200-4; Incipits 452, 'Dixit famulus
abdallah ... '
80. Charmasson, Geomancie, p. 204.
81. A. L. Rowse, The Case Books of Simon Forman (London, 1976); Keith
Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magie (London, 1971), esp. chs
10--11.
82. Thomas Favent, Historia sive narracio de modo et forma Mirabilis Par-
liamenti ed. May McKisack, Camden Miscellany XIV (London, 1926)
p.18.
83. Thorndike, History of Magie III, pp. 590--1, discusses Vienna MS 2352
(Philo.201). The MS is dated 1392 and 1393 and besides the geo-
mancy, contains a treatise on the constellations, the Alfonsine
Tables, a list of fixed stars and some notes on portents. The physiog-
nomy is preserved in British Library MS Sloane 323.
84. Cambridge, MS Trinity College 1447. Charles V's library is known to
have contained many more.
85. British Library MS Arundel 66.
86. The geomancy occurs in British Library MS Royal 12 C.xvi; MS
Sloane 3487 and Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Ashmole 434. The
physiognomy occurs in British Library MS Royal 12 C.xv and 12
G.xii. For Scriptoris, see Therese Charmasson, 'Roland l'Ecrivain,
medecin des ducs de Bourgogne', in Actes du 101e Congres national des
Soeietes savantes (Lille, 1976): Sciences, fasc. III, pp. 21-32.
87. Pearl Kibre, 'The intellectual interests reflected in libraries of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries', Journal of the History of Ideas 7
(1946) 257-97, esp. 285--7.
88. British Library MS Arundel66. See Thorndike, History of Magie, II, p.
121.
89. Meiss, French Painting, p. 287. See ibid., pp. 352-3, for bibliography
of inventories of Valois, Visconti, and other important late-medieval
private inventories.
90. The dassic studies of the library of Charles V were made by Leopold
DelisIe, Reeherehes sur la librarie de Charles V (Paris, 1907) 3 vols; idem,
Le Cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Imperiale vol. I (Paris, 1868);
More recently, La Librarie de Charles V, Bibliotheque Nationale (Paris,
1969), an illustrated inventory of the extant MSS, does not supersede
DelisIe.
91. BibI. Nat. MS fr. 24287, fol. 1; Oxford, MS St John's College 164, fols 1
and 33. For the portraits of Charles V, see C. R. Sherman, The
Portraits of Charles V of France (New York, 1969).
92. Brussels, BibI. Royale MS 9505--6, foI. 2v.
93. BibI. Nat., MS fr. 1348. See Thorndike and Kibre Incipits, 1148, 1406,
1687.
94. BibI. Nat., MS fr. 1349. This was probably inherited.
Notes 203
95. BibI. Nat., MS fr. 1348. Quoted by Delisie, La Librarie de Charles V, pp.
114-15.
96. Cambridge, MS Trinity College 1447.
97. Bruxelles, BibI. Royale de Belgique MS 10319 foI. 3; C. Gaspar and F.
Lyna, Les principaux manuscripts a peintures de la Bibliotheque Royale de
Belgique (Paris, 1937) I. 337-8, Plate LXXII.
98. Ibid., foI. 3.
99. This has been a much-discussed MS: L. Delisie, Recherehes I. 266-69;
idem, Cabinet des MSS. III. 336; La librarie de Charles V, pI. 5 (foI. 158v);
E. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers des XIVe et XVe siecles', Bulletin de
la societe des antiquaires de France (1969) 63-9.
100. Thorndike, History o[ Magie III, pp. 586-7.
101. Oxford, MS St John's College 164, foI. 33. Quoted by Delisie, Recher-
ehes I, pp. 267-8 from the prologue to Pelerin's treatise on the twelve
houses.
102. E. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', pp. 63-77.
103. The five extant copies of the inventories of books taken in 1373, 1411,
1413 and 1424, are tabulated by Delisie, Recherehes 11, pp. 3-200. Items
relating to astronomy, astrology, geomancy, chiromancy and nigro-
mancy are listed at nos. 556-771.
104. On the other hand, it certainly constitutes one of the largest classes
of books in the collection. If we separate the 379 books of scripture,
commentaries, prayer and service books, occult books are out-
classed only by the 211 romances. Other large groups are saints'
lives (seventy), law books (sixty-one) and books on astronomy
(seventy).
105. Symon de Phares, Recueil, p. 4.
106. Delisie, Recherehes I, pp. 122-3.
107. Philippe de Mezieres, Le Songe du Vieil Pelerin, ed. G. W. Coopland
(Cambridge, 1969) I. 517: 'Le chevelaire doit souverainement garder son ost
de toutes sorceries, de signes, divinations, de sciences deffendues, et de tous
jugemens d'astrologie encontre franc arbitre; desquelx jugemens plusieurs
grans seigneurs et autres se sont trouvez deceuz.'
108. Ibid., I. 518.
109. Philippe de Mezieres: Letter to King Richard II, ed. G. W. Coopland
(Liverpool, 1975). The 'letter' was completed in 1395.
110. Letter to King Richard II, pp. 56-7. Text, 130: 'Encores, de la dicte trouble
[ontaine partoient iiii. ruissiaux principaux, dont tous les habitans, ou la
plus grant partie, communement estoient abuvrez. Par le premier ruissiau les
habitans estoient enclins a diverses heresies; par le second a supersticions et
villaines sorceries; par le tiers a /'art magiques et invocacion des demons; et
par le quart as jugemens advenir qui cheent en franc arbitre aus jugemens
d' astrologie. Le premier ruissiau estoit appele paour continuelle, le second
labour sanz repos, le tiers deffaulte de tous biens, et le quart mescognoissance
et ingratitude envers Dieu.'
111. G. W. Coopland, ed. Nicole Oresme and the Astrologers. A Study o[ his
Livre des Divinacious (Liverpool, 1952). For Oresme's other writings
see A.D. Menut, 'A provisional bibliography of Oresme's writings',
Medieval Studies 28 (1966) 279-99.
204 Notes
112. History of Magie III, p. 404. Quotlibeta is the title adopted in one MS
and used by Thorndike.
113. Coopland, Nicole Oresme, pp. 39-41. Coopland's introduetion is an
exeellent and suecinet aeeount of the astrology debate in the middle
ages. For Oresme on astrology and divination see also Charles
Jourdain, 'Nicolas Oresme et les astrologues de la eour de Charles V',
Revue des questions historiques 18 (1875) 136-59; Thorndike, History of
Magie III, pp. 398-471.
114. Quotlibeta eap. 13. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Canon Mise. 248,
foI. 32v: 'Dieo quod prineeps et quilibet alter vero studentes in astrologia
facientes tabu las observationum et regulas de iudiciis examinatores multum
debent honorare et eos qui sciunt naturas rerum eonsiderare per rationes
verum a falso diseernendo.' Quoted by Thorndike, History of Magie II, p.
416, n.77.
115. Contra judieiarios astronomos, eap. 6, BibI. Nat. MS lat. 10709., foI. 57v.
116. Jean Gerson, Oeuvres Completes, X. 'L'Oeuvre poll~mique' ed. Mgr.
Glorieux (Paris, 1963) pp. 75-121. For Gerson and d' Ailly's writing on
astrology see Thorndike, History of Magie IV, pp. 101-31.
117. Quoted by Coopland, Nicole Oresme, p. 40: 'Intendo Domino Regenti
scribere ut eaveat a talibus superstitiosis ad quod motus sum ego ex iis quae
super audivi.'
118. Trilogium, ed. Glorieux, pp. 90-1.
119. See Chapter Two for an aeeount of 'royal astrology'.
120. Ed. Ernest Wickersheimer (Paris, 1927); For Symon see also Thorn-
dike, History of Magie IV, pp. 544--61; Alexander Murray, Reason and
Society in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1978) pp. 207-9.
121. Thorndike, History of Magie IV, pp. 544--61.
122. Reeueil, pp. 4, 37, 135, 228.
123. See above, p. 134.
124. For Ashenden, see Reeueil, pp. 222, 225 ('Jehan de Vishindem'), and
perhaps 'Johannes Wosfigram' on p. 219.
125. Recueil, pp. 216-28. See the predictions ascribed to Martin Hamel of
Rouen, Guillaume de Mehung sur Loire, Cardinal Guido de Bou-
logne, Symon de Cuvo, Henri de Malinis, Gervais Chrestien, Charles
V's physician, Symon de Bussy, Jaeques de Saint Andre.
126. Reeueil, pp. 231, 232, 234, 240, 244. See the predictions of George
Seorf, William Derby, Thomas Scropz, Pierre d'lliaeq, Edouart Wih-
rell, and Eustanee de Fregin.
127. Recueil, pp. 233, 242-3. See the aeeounts of Pol de Berthol, Denis
Plusdore and Patriee Beriulz.
128. Recueil, p. 229. 'Cestui surnome de Saint Branehier fut expert en la partie
des ellections de astrologie pour bailler et eslirejours propres aguerroyer son
ennemyon adifferer, fut aussi ala deseonfiture et deffecte de 30000 Anglois
que menoit Jehan de Montfort, filz aisne du duc de Bretagne, ne ou eastel de
Lerminer, duquel il savoit la nativit et aussi du duc de Lenclastre, Anglois; a
eeste cause, pour ce qu'ilz estoient ehefz par jours infortunez en leurs
nativitez, furent assaillis et destruiz, exeept environ 6000 qui se sauverent
par la garene en la mer.'
129. Recueil, p. 231: 'Maistre George Seorf, Englois, fut en ce temps pansionaire
Notes 205
du roy Riclulrt d'Angleterre, qui fut prince de Galles, residant lors a

Bordeaux, moult expert en la science des estoilles. Cestui predist au roy qu'il
seroit prins en hayne de ses vassaulx en celui an et tantost apres icellui roy
Richart fist la redicion de la ville et chastel de Brestz au duc de Bretaigne et
aussi le redicion de Cherbourg au roy de Navarre, qui fut la cause pourquoy
les Anglois prindrent leur dit roy Richart en hayne merveilleuse, jar;oit ce
qu'il, eust regne sur eulx paisiblement, environ vingt deux ans.'
130. Ibid., p. 232.
132. Recueil, p. 234; Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire, p. 599.
133. E. Curtis, Richard II in Ireland (Oxford, 1927).
134. Recueil, p. 240.
135. Ibid.
136. Ibid., p. 244.
137. Ibid.
138. J. J. N. Palmer, 'The authorship, date and historical value of the
French chronicles on the Lancastrian Revolution 11', Bulletin of the
John Rylands Library 62 (1979) 399-400. 'Sir Peter Exton', who is
otherwise unknown, is probably the product of confusion with Sir
Peter Buxton, one of Richard II' s goalors.
139. Recueil, p. 233.
140. Ibid., pp. 242-3.
141. Ibid., p. 257.
142. Ibid., pp. 242-3. 'Nostre reverand Patrice Beriulz, natif du royaulme
d'Escosse, de l' ordre de Saint Franr;ois, fut en ce temps, lequel estudia aParis
et fut a Losenne soubz Marende comme aucuns dient, cestui fut en ce temps,
suivant aucuns nobles envoyez avecques madame Ysabeau de France, royne
d'Angleterre et espouse du bon roy Richard. Cestui, ainsi que j'ay veu par
intitullacion expresse en certaine nativite dist l'infortune et miserable adven-
ture qui advint a ung encien baron, nomme Thomas BIont, et a plusieurs
autres.'
143. Recueil, p. 241: Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire, p. 179, gives de Phares
as sole authority. He is not noted in Talbot and Hammond, Register,
who name among Henry IV's physicians: Elias Sabot, Geoffrey
Melton, John the physician, John Malveme, John Middleton, Laur-
ence Gomes, Louis Recouches and William Bradwardine. 'Maistre
Geuffroy de Lestainx, docteur en medicine, natif de Rouen et regent en
l'Universite de Oxornfort, souverain astrologien et pensionaire du roy Henry
de Lenclastre. Cestui prenostica sur la revolucion de l'an 1399 choses
merveilleuses, qui advindrent par le monde, par especial en Angleterre.'
144. Recueil, p. 250: 'Maistre Henri Seldem fut moult expert astrologien en ce
temps et moult subtilleur carculleur, Cestui fist une nouvelle verifficacion des
estoilles fixes, l'an 1430, qui est moult precize. Cestui estoit bien usage es
cothidiennes experiences et jugemens de astrologie, tant des nativites que
elecions. Touteffois il prenostica sur la revolucion de L'an 1419 la venue du
roy Henri et le siege de Rouen.' Thomdike and Kibre Incipits, 398 list two
works ascribed to Henry Selder or Salder, Nomina stellarum verifica-
tarum ad annum ... 1340: BibI. Nat. 7277, fos 2r-v; 828 Canones
tabularum Alphonsinarllm; Brussels, BibI. Royale, MS 930, 15c, fols
206 Notes
125ra-151vb. H the date 1340 on the Paris manuscript is correct, it is

of course impossible that Master Geoffrey could have been a pen-
sioner of Henry of Lancaster.
145. Recueil, p. 257: 'Cestui Richard fist puis moult grant bruit et gouverna le
roy Henry d' Angleterre moult paisiblement et lui prenostica moult de choses,
que j'ay veUes escriptes aParis en ung sien livret que j'ay de sa main, comme
l'on dit.'
146. Murray, Reason and Society, p. 209.
7 HOROSCOPES AND HENRY V: ASTROLOGY IN THE

ASCENDANT
1. A dear description of this system is provided by C. A. Nallino in his

artide, 'Astrology - Muhammaden', in Encydopaedia of Religion and
Ethics XII, pp. 88-101. For astrology in fourteenth-century England see
North, Chaucer's Universe, pp. 192-255. North's account is based on
the commonly-encountered treatise by Alkabucius, Introductorium ad
scienciam astrologie judicialis, translated into Latin by John of Spain in
1144.
1a. See North, Chaucer's Universe, pp. 134-91 for an account of the calcula-
tions needed to establish this information. North, Horoscopes and
History, is a detailed analysis of the mathematics of the mundane
house system.
2. Ptolemy Tetrabiblos, trans. F. E. Robbins (Loeb, 1980) III. 10, 274-7; See
Bouche-Ledercq, 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 (nor-
mally planets) from each other. The Lot of Fortune is as distant from
the ascendant as the Moon is from the Sun.' The dassical 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 (Teub-
ner, Leipzig, 1976); the index lists nineteen different lots.
3. See Appendix IV.
4. Ptolemy Tetrabiblos III, 2, pp. 230-35. The Annimodar is taken as the
degree of the planet or point which maintains the greatest dignity over
the new or full moon (syzygy) immediately preceding the nativity.
5. Ptolemy Tetrabiblos III. 1, 244-7; see below Chapter Eight, for the
Trutina Hermetis.
6. E. Poulle, Astronomie theoretique et astronomie pratique au moyen
I
ge', Conference donnee au Palais de la decouverte D119 (Paris, 1967).

7. F. S. Benjamin and G. J. Toomer, Campanus of Novara and Medieval
Planetary Theory: Theorica planetarum (Madison, Wisconsin, 1971).
8. For the equatorium, see E. Poulle, Les instruments de la theorie des
planetes se/on Ptolemee: Equatoires et horlogerie planetaire 13e au 16e siede, 2
vols (Paris, 1980); J. D. North, 'The Place of the Albion in the History
of the Equatorium', in Richard of Wallingford, 11, 249-86; E. Poulle,
Notes 207
'Astronomie theorique et astronomie pratique', pp. 17-32. For a verna-

cular treatise on the instrument, see The Equatorie 01 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. Poulle, 'Astrologie et tables astronomiques au Xlle siede: Robert le
Febre et les tables de Malines', Bulletin philologique et historiques (1964)
793-831.
10. Lynn White, Jr., 'Medical Astrologers and Late Medieval Technology',
Via tor 6 (1975) 295-308.
11. London, Brit. Lib. MS Royal 12 F.xvii, fol. 153v
12. For Greek horoscopes see Otto Neugebauer and H. B. van Hoesen,
Creek Horoscopes, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, no. 1
48 (Philadelphia, 1959). For Islamic and Byzantine horoscopes see the
artides and editions of David Pingree, 'Gregory Chioniades and Pa-
laeologan 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; idem, '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, induding 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 Made-
lung, 'Political Horoscopes relating to Iate ninth century Alids"',
11
Journal 01 Near Eastern Studies 36 (1977) 247-75. However, few horo-

scopes 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 01 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 fr Willy Hartner ed. Y.
Maeyama and W. G. Saltzer (Wiesbaden, 1977), pp. 305-15. 'Historical
Horoscopes', Journal 01 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 o[ Masha'allah ed. and trans.
E. S. Kennedy and David Pingree (Cambridge, Mass., 1971). See also
The Thousands 01 Abu Mashar ed. David Pingree (London, 1968). There
was less interest in astrological history in the Latin west but see North,
208 Notes
Chaucer's Universe, p. 377, and 'Astrology and the Fortunes of Chur-

ches', Centaurus 24 (1980) 181-211, for the influence of the astrological
doctrine of the great conjunctions.
13. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', pp. 69-76.
14. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Canon mise. 24. This volume is now very faded
and scarcely legible in parts, even with the aid of ultra-violet light.
15. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', p. 76.
16. Ibid., pp. 76-7 and n.4.
17. Handbook of English Chronology, p. 37, gives the date of the coronation
as 5 November 1429.
18. London, Brit. Lib. MS Sloane 407, fos 223--6. See also Cambridge,
Univ. Lib. MS Ee. III. 61, fos 108v-116 (Canon), 108v-120 (Tables).
19. Cambridge, Univ. Lib. MS Ee. III. 61, fol. 108: 'Hec etenim opusculum
secundum distanciam cenith alme mater universitatis Oxonie a polo artico est
calculatum. '
20. Camb. Univ. Lib. MS Ee.III.61
21. For one contemporary account of Friar Randolf' s affairs see Chronicle of
London, ed. C. L. Kingsford (Oxford, 1905), pp. 73, 80, 273 and 298,
n.5.
22. Rotuli Parliament IV. 118. Randolf accused the queen of having
planned the king's death, 'en le plus haute et horrible manere qui l'en
purroit deviser.'
23. 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 predelic-
tion for sorcery see Thomae Walsingham Historia Anglicana ed. H. T.
Riley RS.28/1 (London, 1864) 11. 249, 250, 251. For Randolf see also
K. H. Vickers Humphrey of Gloucester (London, 1907) p. 276 and n.1.;
Tones, 'Sorcery' pp. 682-683.
24. Cambridge Univ. Lib. Ee. III. 61, fol. 108: 'Incipit prologus in tabulas
illustrissimi principis et nobilissime domini ducis Gloucestrie. Effectus
planetarum preteritos et futuros pronosticare volentibus, domorum
cuspides, signorum et graduum ascensiones, ac radiorum proiectiones
per singulas domos, necesse est ad tempus introitum aut propositum
certissime perscrutari. Sed omnibus diligenter inspectibus qui ad
premissa pertinant, nullas adquisitas priores tabulas repperi, pro quas
non nisi cum tedio et labore invenio.'
Randolf goes on to claim that the tables are named for Duke
Humphrey, 'quia ad eius complacentiam pariter et instantiam, incep-
turn fuerat et perfectum'. He then asks the reader to correct any errors
he might notice, according to the principles laid down in the treatise.
The main purpose of the tables was to compile in a handy compen-
dium all the information required in order to calculate the precise time
of any event, such as a nativity, which was to be scrutinised by te
astrologer.
25. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', pp. 66-77.
26. Nicholas of Lynn: Kalendarium, pp. 98-9.
27. See Appendix III for details of horoscopes, nos 1, 2 and 5.
28. Goldstein and Pingree, 'Cairo Geniza', p. 114, remarks on the slight
Notes 209
interpretation that generally accompanies horoscopes in antiquity,

Byzantium and Islam: 'This must have been provided orally by the
astrologer to his client - certainly a safer procedure than committing
himself in writing.'
29. MS Ashmole 192, fol. 109v , 'Erat hoc schema in Fenestra Domus, quae
aliquando fuit Mri Bruen Canonici de Windsor.' See Appendix III, no. 3.
30. 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.
31. The Victoria County History of Berkshire ed. P. H. Ditchfield and William
Page (London, 1907), II. 106.
32. Ca/. Pat. Rolls 3 Henry VII, p. 219; 7 Henry VII, p. 365. Cited by Pearl
Kibre, 'Lewis of Caerleon, Doctor of Medicine, Astronomer and Math-
ematician' Isis 43 (1952) 102-3.
33. According to a third opinion, Edward III was born about half an hour
earlier. See Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. 46v: 'Radix
nativitatis regis Edwardi secundi post conquestum anno Christi 1313 com-
pleto, 12 die, 17 hora 10 minuta et 56 secondis, de mense Novembre, et erat
hora Veneris.'
34. The astrological interpretation follows the guide of Hartner, 'Mercury
Horoscope.'
35. Hartner, 'Mercury Horoscope.'
36. Jean Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan Gods 7&-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).
37. Ashmole 192, fol. 110.
38. D.N.B.
39. The Catalogue of the Diglly Collection ed. W. D. Macray (Oxford, 1883).
40. Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. 47, 'Radix nativi-
tatis principis primogenitus dicti Edwardi regis, anno Christi 1330, 15 die
Junii, et erat sexta hora completa post meridiem diei precedenti, 21 hora, 36
minuta, secundum regionem London.' The reference to London is mys-
terious as Edward, the Black Prince, was born in Woodstock, unless
the astrologer made use of London astronomical tables.
41. See Appendix III, nos 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
42. 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, RS. 71 (London, 1879-94).
43. Leland Collectanea ed. T. Hearne, 6 vols (Oxford, 1715) I. 22; Anonimalle
Chronicle, p. xiv.
44. For the Annimodar see North Chaucer's Universe pp. 213-4.
45. Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. IV. 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. Applying Ptolemy's rule, to find the
Annimodar we determine which planet maintains the greatest dignity
over the point of the conjunction or opposition of the Sun and Moon,
in this case 20 Capricorn, considered under five heads: triplicity,
210 Notes
house, exaltation, term, and phase or aspect, Tetrabiblos III. 2, 228--35.

Referring to Ptolemy Tetrabiblos I. 18, 17, 19, 2~21, and 13, 20
Capricom is dominated in the following form:
Trine House Exaltation Term ('Egyptian') Aspect

Moon (n.)
Venus (d.)
Mars (companion)
It is evident from the nativity of Richard 11 that the astrologer chose

Jupiter (16 Sagittarius) to be the Annimodar of the ascendant (16
Gemini). This is quite inexplicable since from the tableabove Mars is
so clearly the ruler of the syzygy in question. For a fourteenth-century
English explication of the system, which differed somewhat from
Ptolemy and drew heavily from Albumasar's Introductorium, see Rich-
ard of Wallingford I. 2~5 and commentary 11. 108--11. According to the
points system used by Wailingford, tabulated for Capricom, ibid.
I. 204-5, 208--9, Mars scores 6 as to 5 for Satum and 4 for Venus.
Jupiter is nowhere evident. Evidently the astrologer has exercised his
discretion in effecting his interpretation of the two horoscopes, or
perhaps he was unsure of the rules.
46. Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. Iv. The central square reads, 'Figura nativitatis
eiusdem Ricardi anno et mense predicto, die 6a hora la. Sol est Yleg, Saturnus
Alcocoden, Cauda primus significator, secundus Mars, tertius Saturnus,
quam evadere non patet per naturam.' A note at the foot of the page adds,
'Vel secundum alios 25 Tauri fuit ascendens, et 2a minuta Sa. (? last three
words) foret figura.' With 25 Taurus in the ascendant on 6 January
1367, the time was 12 midday. If an astrologer had no idea of the time
of the native's birth and was therefore unable to devise an ascendant
from the Annimodar, he might weil set his horoscope for midday.
Froissart, cited by Harvey, Black Prince, p. 108. At 10 a.m. Pisces would
be ascending. Obviously it would be less than cautious to rely on these
horoscopes to verify the historical times of the births of their subjects.
47. Yleg and Alcocoden were determined from the aphetic points for which
see Hartner, 'Mercury Horoscope', p. 454. The significators were the
planets, usually three, which held the greatest dignity in the hor-
oscope. North, Chaucer's Universe, pp. 214-17. For significators see
ibid., p. 217.
48. Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. 2: 'Utrum Ricardus de Burdegal. possidebat
regnum Anglie. Hec questio cum sua figura facte erant cita post mortem
Edwardi principis Wallis et ante mortem Edwardi regis tertii post conques-
tum.' See Appendix III, no. 10.
49. Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. 2: 'Vide quod eventus rei correspondet figure
secundum libros iudiciales de interrogationibus.' Treatises on interroga-
tions were written by Zael, Omar and Messahallah, among others. See
Thomdike and Kibre Incipits for details.
50. Civitas Dei Bk V.
Notes 211
51. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', pp. 69-76. Paris, Bib. Nat. MS lat. 7443;
Bib. Nat., MS nouv. acq. lat. 398, fols 9a-3.
52. Ibid., pp. 69-70; Thorndike History 01 Magie IV, p. 99. Poulle suggests
that the collection was probably compiled or at least copied by Simon
de Boesmare, prior of Saint-Jean de Beaumont-Ie-Roger, and arbitrator
in the celebrated astrological dispute between Roland Scriptoris and
Laurent Muste in 1437, ibid., p. 70.
53. Ibid., p. 72; Poulle does not specify the type of conjunction. The
doctrine of great conjunctions was popularised in the west by Albu-
masar, especially the widely diffused De magnis eoniunctionibus. For a
discussion of the doctrine, particularly as it relates to the concerns of
the later medieval church see J. D. North, 'Astrology and the Fortunes
of Churches'.
54. Handbook 01 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 Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', p. 75.
55. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', p. 68, n.2; Bib. Nat. MS lat. 7443, fol.
80 and MS nouv. acq. lat. 398, fol. 90.
56. Ibid., pp. 75--6. E. Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biographique, p. 737.
57. 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 kings personal taste. Wylie, Henry V, I, p. 50 n.5 notes a
Livre de Spera owned by the Duke of Berry.
58. Poulle, 'Horoscopes princiers', p. 73; Bib. Nat. MS lat. 7443, fols
73v-78v.
59. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 393, fols 109-11.
60. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 192, fols 26-36.
61. Handbook 01 English Chronology p. 435, n.2. J. H. Wylie, History 01
England under Henry IV (4 vols, London, 1884-98) III, pp. 323-4, notes
arguments for August 1386. K. B. McFarlane, Laneastrian Kings and
Lollard Knights (Oxford, 1972) p. 17, citing J. H. Wylie and W. T.
Waugh, The Reign 01 Henry V (3 vols, Cambridge, 1914-29) 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 Praetiee 01 Kingship ed.
G. L. Harriss (Oxford, 1985).
62. Appendix III, no. 11.
63. On the surface it would have been more convincing simply to adjust
the predicted time of death, but this would have conflicted with all the
astrological indicators. A note in Ashmole MS 192, fol. 25v, in Ash-
mole' s hand, reveals he was aware of the problem of the date of birth
but failed to pursue the obvious solution, though he was himself an
accomplished astrologer: 'There is great diversity among our His-
torians concerning the Nativity of Henry the 5th. According to Speede
the Brook Yorke Herald, he was born anno 1388, anno 11 Richard 2.
The old Chronic1e in Bibliotheca Cotton. sub Effigie Vitel A.16 saith
anno 10 Richard 2. Saith Daniell, Sir R. Baker, of Holinshed, he dyed
212 Notes
the last of August 1422 in the 38th year of his age. But by the following
seheame of his nativity it appears to be 1376, anno 50 Edward 3. If so
he was 46 years old when he died.'
64. Ashmole 393, fol. 109.
65. Hartner, 'Mereury Horoseope', p. 458.
66. For the aphets see ibid., p. 454 and n.38.
67. The author of our treatise opens by explaining that he is abandoning
the usual method of those who write on nativities, which is to proeeed
by order of the houses, in order to adopt a more natural order:
Ashmole 393, fol. 109. For the mundane house system see Hartner,
'Mereury Horoseope', pp. 449-51.
68. The 'house of enemies' is the twelfth house whieh is oeeupied by
Seorpio, the domicile of Mars: Ashmole 393, fol. 210.
69. Ashmole 393, fol. 210.
70. The First English Life of King Henry the Fifth, ed. C. L. Kingsford
(Oxford, 1911) 17. Cited by MeFarlane, Lancastrian Kings, p. 123.
71. MeFarlane, 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 ehaste sinee his aeeession to the throne. This is
mentioned in the aeeount of the trial ofJean Fusoris, Le Proces de Maftre
Jean Fusoris (ed. Leon Mirot) in Memoires de la Societe de l'Histoire de Paris
29 (1900) 137-287, at p. 243.
72. Ashmole 393, fol. 1l0V.
73. Ibid.
74. MeFarlane, Lancastrian Kings, pp. 128--9.
75. For a biography of Fusoris see E. Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biogra-
phique des medecins en France au mayen age (Paris, 1936) I, p. 403, and for
an aeeount of his instruments and other writings see Emmanuel
Poulle, 'Un eonstrueteur d'instruments astronomiques au XVe siecle-
Jean Fusoris', BibI. de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes IVe Section, fase. 318
(Paris, 1963). The incident as it relates to Henry V is deseribed in
eonsiderable detail by Wylie and Waugh, Henry V, I, pp. 498--510 et
passim.
76. Proces, pp. 143-4, 182, 231. Fusoris also eame to the notiee of Charles V
of Franee, whom he says took great pleasure in the instruments of
astrology and wished to leam more of their scienee, ibid. p. 231.
77. Proces, pp. 173-4 (Dep. Jean Fusoris 7 Sept. 1415), 231-232 (2 Dep.
Jean Fusoris 26 Mar. 1415). Also present at these eonversations were
Pierre de Milan, a physician, the librarian and bookseller Renaut du
Montet, Ambroise des Milles, seeretary to Charles VI of Franee and a
'quidem juvenis vocatus Guillermus, multum habilis in sciencia predicta'.
78. Proces, p. 233.
79. Proces, pp. 24~ (Dep. Jean Fusoris 31 Mar. 1415) Fusoris forgot to
mention this incident in his earlier deposition.
80. Proces, p. 186 (Dep. Jean du Berle Sept. 1415).
81. Proces, pp. 245-6 (Dep. Jean Fusoris 31 Mar. 1415).
82. Proces, p. 236 (2 Dep. Jean Fusoris 26 Mar. 1415).
83. Proces, p. 244 (Dep. Jean Fusoris 28 Mar. 1415) Courtenay presented
Fusoris with this introduction, deseribing his gifts: 'Domini mi, ecce
Notes 213
magistrum Johannem Fusoirs, qui composuit instrumenta vestra septem

planetarum, de quo sum vobis locutus; qui credens repperire statum pacis vel
tractatus, apportavit composicionem spere vestre solide, compositionem in-
strumenti septem planetarum in quo possunt videri motus omnium plane-
tarum, conjunctiones, opposiciones et aspetus eorum cum figura celi continue
et omni hora, de quo instrumento alias loquebar vobis; apportavit eciam
astrolabium mediocris quantitatis, cum ejus practica quam composuit et eciam
sixternum de enigmatibus, que presentat regie majestati vestre.'
84. Ibid. Courtenay had instructed Fusoris to bring these items to show
the king if he decided to come to England. Proces, p.237.
85. Proces, p. 245.
86. Rot. ParI., IV. 225. 'Item. 1 asterlabe d'argent.' Weight: 3 pounds 3
ounces; price per pound: 22s 40.' Noted by Wylie, Henry V, I, p. 505,
n.2. who miscalculates the price as f3 5s 9lhd.
87. Proces, pp. 173-4.
88. Ashmole 393, fol. 110v
89. Ibid.
90. Ibid.
91. Ashmole 393, fol. 110.
92. Wylie, Henry V, I, p. 503, n.9.
94. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Bodley 463(2456).
95. Proces, p. 243 (Dep. Jean Fusoris 28 Mar. 1415) Fusoris describes this
man as 'unus gratus homo, doctor in theologia'.
96. Proces, p. 219 (Dep. Me Jean Andre 25 Feb. 1415).
97. Statutes of the Realm, ed. A. Luders et.al. (London, 1916) 11. 144.
98. E. F. Jacob, Oxford History of England, V, The Fifteenth Century
1399-1485 (Oxford, 1961) p. 480.
8 ASTROLOGY AND DISASTER AT THE COURT OF HENRY VI
1. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 369, fol. 182v ; see Appendix III, no. 12.
2. London, Brit. Lib. MS Egerton 889, fol. 5; see Appendix III, no. 12.
3. This discussion of these Henry VI horoscopes was included in my
doctoral thesis, submitted in 1984. They have now been considered, in
a rather different context, by North, Horoscopes and History, pp. 142-9,
along with some others. North gives a very interesting commentary
on the computational conventions adopted in these schemes. Note in
particular North's discovery that, despite some very elaborate claims
to the contrary, the astrologers responsible seem to have consistently
used planetary and house tables that were convenient rather than
tables relevant to their astrological subjects or even the tables they
claimed to be using! See Appendix III below for details. My schemes
12, 13, 14 and 15 equal North's G, A, E, and B respectively.
4. Cambridge, Univ. Lib. MS Ee. III. 61 (1017) fols 159-175; see Appendix
III, nos. 13, 14.
5. Jones, 'Political Uses of Sorcery', pp. 683-4; Kittredge, Witchcraft, pp.
81-4. The trial is described in numerous contemporary sources, for
which see Kittredge, Witchcraft, p. 416, n.4O. I have relied on the
214 Notes
version in the English Chronicle ed. J. S. Davies, Camden Soc. old sero
64 (1856), pp. 57-60.
6. Six Town Chronicles, ed. Ralph Flenley (Oxford, 1911) p. 102.
7. Select Cases in the Court 01 King's Bench under Richard II, Henry IV and
Henry V, ed. G. O. Sayles (London, 1971) SeIden Soc. 88, pp. 111-14.
8. Ibid., p. 251.
9. See Kittredge, Witchcraft, and Jones, 'Political Uses of Sorcery', for
other examples. Note Jones' judicious comment, 'Like royal counsel-
lors and papal courtiers, members of princely branches of the royal
families of France and England were also vulnerable to accusations of
using magic for political purposes. This was particularly true of those
great ladies, often the mothers-in-Iaw of kings, whose role in govem-
ment was ambiguous, and whose political influence was real but
subtle, and incapable of being constitutionally defined and regular-
ised.' Ibid., p. 679.
10. For Southwell's biography see Emden BRUO, pp. 1734--5; Talbot and
Hammond, Register, p. 356.
11. See Cal. Pat. Roll Henry VI (1441-6) pp. 3, 7 for the parcelling out of
Southwell's prebend in St. Stephen's and his moveable goods to John
Delabre, the king's almoner, in the year after Southwell's death.
12. City 01 London Letter Book K ed. R R Sharpe p. 11; cited by Emden
BRUO, p. 1735.
13. Talbot and Hammond, Register, pp. 61-2, translated from Roll A.52j
memb. 5 (Cal. 01 Pleas and Mem. RoUs, London, 1413--57, pp. 174-5):
'The arbitrators . . . found that the complainant William Forrest on
31 January last past, the moon being consumed in a bloody sign, to wit
Aquarius, under a very malevolent constellation, was seriously
wounded, in the said musdes and on 9 February, the moon being in
the sign of Gemini, a great effusion of blood took place ... With the
consent of the patient and the lack of another remedy [they] finally
staunched the blood by cautery, as was proper, and thus saved his
life.'
14. K. B. McFarlane, 'William of Worcestre: A Preliminary Survey', Studies
presented to Sir Hilary Jenkinson (Oxford, 1957) pp. 196-221, at pp.
206-7, demonstrates that Worcestre is not the author or the scribe of
the bulk of the manuscript, as Heame rashly assumed. Printed as
Annales Rerum Anglicarum from Heame' s edition of College of Arms,
Arundel MS 48, by Joseph Stevenson in Letters and Papers illustrative 01
the Wars 01 the English in France, II, pt ii (London 1864) RS. 22c, pp.
762-3. For Worcestre see also William Worcestre: Itineraries, ed. J. H.
Harvey (Oxford, 1969); Emden BRUO, pp. 2086-7.
15. Annales, p. 763. 'Et quidam clericus, lamossimus unus illorum in toto mundo
in astronomia et arte nigromantica, magister Rogerus Bolyngbroke, arrestatus
fuit, et in coemiterio Santi Pauli publice cum indumentis suis nigromanticis et
imaginibus cereis, et quam pluribus aliis instrumentis nigromanticis, sedebat
in quodam alto solio, ut ab omnibus viderentur opera ejus; postea tractus,
suspensus, et quartarizatus erat, et caput ejus super pontem Londoniae
positum. Iste magister Rogerus erat notabilissimus clericus unus illorum in
toto mundo, et accusatus est propter praedictam dominam Elianoram cui
Notes 215
eoneiliarius erat in arte magiea, post eujus mortem multi lamentabantur valde
nimis.'
16. MS Gloueester Cathedral21, fols 100-104v. For a eomplete description
of this manuscript see Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries
(Oxford, 1977) 11, p. 953.
17. Gloueester Cathedral 21, fol. 100: 'Et anni sunt determinati in capitulo
planetarum in tractatu quem eomposui predilecte et reverendissime mee
domine in lingua materna de prineipis arlis geomantie.'
18. Gloueester Cathedral21, fols l00-3V
19. Ibid., fol. 103v: 'Capitulum unieum octave domus. Si vis seire de quolicet
homine qua morte morietur, hoc seies seeundum naturam aseendentis. Si Leo
fit in Ba domo, fera perissima devorabit eum, vel mordet usque ad mortem. Si
Seorpio est in Ba domo eum domino Ba domus, vel si Saturnus est in Cancro
vel Piseibus, in aqua morietur, vel per aliquam rem frigi de nature et humide.
Sed si Mars est in Ba domo vel eum domino Be domus, ex febre morietur, vel ex
aliquo morbo ealide vel sieee nature. Et si Cauda draeonis est eum domino Be
domus, vel in Ba domo, morle mala et pudibunda morietur et eetera. De aliis
planetis est intelligendum quod morte sua morietur seeundum naturas plane-
tarum, seeundum bonitatem vel malieiam eorum.'
20. Ibid., fols 104-104v.
21. Gloueester Cathedral21, fol. l04v.
22. Ibid., fol. 105v.
23. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ee. III. 61, fol. 171: 'Completum est hoc opusculum anno
domini m.eeee.x1f, xviii" die mensis Julii, magistris meis specialibus, Magi-
stro Johanni Somersett et Magistro Johanni Langton, in vigilia assumptionis
Beate Marie eodem anno mense Augusti in familia regis apud Shene, per
manus meas liberatum.'
24. Pearl Kibre, 'Lewis of Caerleon; Doetor of Medicine', Isis 43 (1952)
p.103.
25. For Woreestre see above p. 214, n. 14; Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Laud tat.
mise. 674; text fols 81-99v; fol. 99v: 'Explieiant 1022 stelle fixe ad presens
verificater per Willelmum Woreestre aliter dietus Botoner de villa Bristoll
Wigornensis, et pro anno Christo 1440 seeundum tabulas Alfonsi et erudi-
eionem fratris Radulphi Hoby, Professor Theologie ae diseiplinam librorum
fratris Johannis Somour ordinis minorum videlieet utrique eorum.' For
Hoby, who is otherwise unknown, see Emden BRUO, p. 939.
26. For Kymer see Emden BRUO, pp. 1068-9; Talbot and Hammond,
Register, pp. 60-3.
27. For Marshall see Emden BRUO, pp. 392-3; Appendix for Marshall's
indexes; Talbot and Hammond, Register, pp. 314-15.
28. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ee. III. 61, fol. 16r; Also cited by Tanner, Bibliotheea,
pp. 4Ofr7: 'Istam figuram estimarem ego valde bonam ... Erat enim, ut
plurimi norunt, in magisterio iudieiorum exellens in astronomia speeulativa,
estimo quia inter omnes quos Anglia eontinet astronomos similem vix reliquit,
non mea eomprobandus laude, euius fama gravissima viget et viguit unde-
quaque.'
29. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ee. III. 61, fol. 161 'Ad maiorem huius figure eonfirma-
V
:
tionem faeit aliud, quod ipsomet referente didieeram, erat enim tune capella-
nus illustrissimi regis Henriei Quinti, qui tune moram trahens in partibus
216 Notes
Galicanis, hunc magistrum Johannem Holbrok, ob magnam [iduciJlm quam

circa eum habuit, transmisit in Angliam cum certis sandorum preclaris
reliquiis erga tempus nativitatis proposite, et ut ore eius suscepi, ipse primus
erat saltem masculus, qui nunc natum inclitissimum oculis conspexit.'
30. Camb. Univ. Lib., Ee. III. 61, fol. 161: '&perl nempe figuram quandam
magistri Johannis Holbrok manu propria conscriptum, et rectificavit gradum
ascendentis ad instar Iovis, et non gradum medium celi sicut ista figura.' This
method of verifying the ascendant is evidently rather different to that
described by Ptolemy, and may have some relevance to the difficulties
encountered in the nativity of Richard 11 in MS Rawlinson D. 1227. See
above, Chapter Six, p. 126.
31. Emden BRUC, pp. 351-2.
32. Emden BRUC, pp. 540-1.
33. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ee. IIT, 61, fols 159-159v
34. Ibid., fols 160-1.
35. Ibid., fol. 161.
36. Camb. Univ. Lib., fols 16JV-162.
37. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ee. IIT. 61, fols 173-4.
38. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ee. III. 61, fol. 175 'Veritatis indatum totaliter insis-
V
:
tens fideli quam amicitia quacumque preponendum Aristotilica sanciunt auc-

toritas premissorum singula, pro ut ingenioli tenuitas suppetiit qualitate qua
decet disserui que sincere caritatis affectione cuiuslibet inspectura reverenciJl
paternalis oro suscipiat. Sub supportatione clipeo favorabili patientie que
regenda minime cum non est superbie aut elationis seu cuiusquam presump-
tionis temerarie detruentur, seu urna, quia potius ex preclare veritatis cogni-
tionis appetitu inscitiabili laboriose permitentur ut concultata falsitatis tramite
veritas dilucidata intestat et error enerosa multium refutata vere sciencie
diledoribus via veritatis clarius ministretur. Amen.'
39. Emden BRUC, p. 309; D.N.B.; Thomas Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannico-
Hibernica (London, 1748) pp. 406-7. The remains of an effigy of
Holbroke in academical dress are noted by Mill Stephenson, A List of
Monumental Brasses in the British Isles (London, 1926) p. 59, in the
church of St Mary-the-Less, Cambridge. The inscription began, 'Quem
tegit iste lapis cavus cognomine torrens (Hollowbrook).'
40. Gloucester Cathedral MS. 21, fol. 163.
41. Oxford, MS Corpus Christi College 151; written in Oxford in 1380 by
the Carmelite friar Peter Bekklys, Emden BRUO, p. 145; London, MS
Royal College of Physicians 390; London, Brit. Lib. MS Egerton 889;
partly written by Holbroke. A note on fol. 6v states: 'Notandum quod
Magister Johannes Holbrook, quondam alme Universitatis Cantabrigiensis
Cancellarius, Sacre pagine professor, ac in artibus liberalibus precipuus, in
astronomia tamen peritissimus, et magister Collegii Sancti Petri Cantabri-
giensis, contulit ad collegio antedido, in festo Sancti Valentini, anno domini
1426, hunc librum astronomicum.'
42. Full or partial versions of Holbroke' s works occur in the following
manuscripts: Cambridge, Peterhouse 267, fols 3v; Univ. Lib., Ee. IIT.
61 (1017), fols 53--69 (Lewis Caerleon); Gloucester Cathedral 21, fols
163--87v Oohn Argentine); London, Brit. Lib. Egerton 889, fols 109-10;
133v (Holbroke's own manuscript); Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 340,
Notes 217
fol. 78; Ashmole 346 (both MSS contain extracts by Thomas Scalon)
Bodley 300, fol. 132v. Preface to Opus primum only, inc. 'Quoniam
eelestium motuum'. The list of contents indicates that the volume used
to contain both versions of Holbroke's tables; owned by John Ingham,
Emden BRUC, p. 326.
43. For the method employed by Holbroke to obtain these figures see
North, 'Alfonsine Tables', pp. 27H, where he states, 'The radices are
in principle non-terminating sexagesimals, and there was no limit to
the spurious accuracy to which an astronomer might lay claim by
deriving radices in thls way.'
44. Thorndike, History of Magie IV, p. 98. The mistake is rectified in
Thorndike and Kibre Incipits, 444.
45. L. Thorndike, 'Notes on some Manuscripts of the Bibliotheque Na-
tionale, Paris', Journal o[ the Warb. and Court. Inst. 20 (1957) 128-9.
Thorndike notes other copies in four Paris MSS. For the subject see
also Thorndike, History o[ Magie IV, p. 100. Holbroke's text seems
closer to Bib. Nat. 7307 than to Bib. Nat. 7316.
46. Trutina Hermetis, inc. 'Loeus lune in nativitate est ipse gradus aseendens'.
See Thorndike and Kibre Incipits for MSS.
47. Ptolemy: Quadripartitum III. 1, pp. 222-3.
48. Centiloquium Verb. 51, h.1, 'Locus lune in nativitate est ipse gradus
ascendens in cireulo hora casus spermatis in matrieem. Et loeus lune hoc casus
spermatis est gradus aseendens hora nativitatis.' For Ptolemy's theory see
Bouche-Leclerq, Astrologie greeque, pp. 376, 379.
9 ASTROLOGY IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
1. E. W. Talbert, 'The Notebook of a Fifteenth- Century Practising Phys-

ician', University o[ Texas: Studies in English 22 (1942) 5-30.
2. Ibid., p. 13.
3. For these almanacs see C. H. Talbot, 'A Mediaeval physician's Vade
meeum', Journal o[ the History o[ Medicine (New York) 16 (1961) 213-33.
For an excellent account of certain iconographical aspects of these MSS
see Harry Bober, 'The zodiacal miniature of the Tres Riches Heures of
the Duke of Berry - Its sources and meaning', Jour. War. Court. Inst. 11
(1948) 1-34.
4. North, Horoseopes and History, pp. 149-53.
5. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Sloane 428; Keith Thomas, Religion and the
Decline o[ Magie, p. 357, n. 81.
6. Indictments of Thomas Burdett, esq., John Stacy and Thomas Blake of
constructive treason in Third Report o[ the Deputy Keeper o[ the Publie
Reeords (London, 1842) Appx. 11. 213-14; Rotuli parliamentorum VI.
193-195.
7. English Chronicle, p. 69; see also Kittredge, Witehcraft, pp. 227-8, 534,
n.22.
8. For Stacy and Blake see Emden BRUO, p. 197, 1749.
9. Cat. Pat. Roll (1476-85), pp. 40, 43.
10. For Caerleon see Emden BRUC, p. 117; Talbot and Hammond, Regis-
218 Notes
ter, pp. 203-4; Pearl Kibre, 'Lewis of Caerleon'. Kibre's article includes
a list of Caerleon's writing, and those he collected by other writers.
11. Not of course 'the work of Duke Humphrey', as Kibre suggests, ibid.,
p.104.
12. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ee. III. 61, fol. 47. Caerleon does not question
Walter's authorship of this table, as Kibre states, ibid., p. 103, fol-
lowed by Emden BRUO, p. 1972 and North, Horoscopes and History, p.
126. For Walter's universal tables and his conventional tables see ibid.,
pp. 126-30.
13. For the works by Holbroke collected by Caerleon see Kibre, 'Lewis of
Caerleon', p. 107, n.29; North, Horoscopes and History, pp. 130-1.
14. For this 'love of calculating' see North, Richard of Wallingford, 11. 387.
15. Cal. Pat. Roll (1485-94) pp. 75, 145, 219, 365.
16. For Argentine see Emden BRUO, pp. 15-16; D. E. Rhodes, 'Provost
Argentine of King's and his Books', Trans. Camb. Bib. Soc. 2 (1956)
105-12; idem, 'The princes in the Tower and their Doctor', E.H.R. 77
(1962) 304-6; J. M. Fletcher, 'Addendum to "Provost Argentine of
King's and his Books"', Trans. Camb. Bib. Soc. 3 (1961) 263. There are
additional notes on Argentine, ex inform. N. R. Ker, in the copy of
Emden's BRUC in Duke Humfrey's library, Oxford.
17. Stephenson, Monumental Brasses, p. 57.
18. C. H. Cooper, Athenae Cantabrigiensis, 2 vols (Cambridge, 185~1) I,
p.12.
19. The Usurpation of Richard the Third: Domenicus Mancini ad Angelum
Catonem de occupatione regni Anglie per Riccardum Tercium libellus, ed.
and trans. C. A. J. Armstrong (London, 1936) p. 112; see Rhodes 'The
princes in the Tower', pp. 304-5.
20. Rhodes, 'The princes in the Tower', p. 305.
21. The Usurpation of Richard III; quoted by Rhodes, ibid. The translation is
Armstrong's with the emendation suggested by Rhodes.
22. MS Gloucester Cathedral 21, fol. 9 See Appendix III, nos. 16, 17.
V

23. See additional note on p. 317-18 for a list of Argentine's books.

24. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 1427, fols 11-30v ; 1-20v ; pp. 21-181.
25. Oxford, MS Corpus Christi College 255, fols 43-4. This is a sixteenth-
or seventeenth-century MS, not 'the original' as Rhodes describes it,
'The princes in the Tower', p. 206. The other copy is London, Brit. Lib.
MS Cotton Julius F.vii.37, fol. 165.
26. Corpus Christi 255, fol. 43.
27. For some prosaic representations of the same genre, but from an
earlier period, of which Argentine's poem seems to be a florid, poss-
ibly Italianate development, see P. Osmund Lewry, 'Four graduation
speeches from Oxford manuscripts (c.1270-131O)', Mediaeval Studies 44
(1982) 138-80. Note that the first speech reveals that the incepting
master had an interest in astronomy, ibid., pp. 168-70.
28. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries 11, pp. 952-5. Ker's
meticulous cataloguing of this MS was an invaluable aid in the study
of Argentine's astronomical and astrological studie.,. Argentine's
name occurs on fols 11v, 13 and 33 (Greek), 68, 188, 197v, 219, 219v.
29. Oxford, Bod., Lib. MS Ashmole 344.
Notes 219
30. Ashmole 344, fols 3--23. The problems are mostly end-games, es-
pecially those opposing rooks and knights. It bears no resemblance to
the more complex problems in King Alfonso' s Chess Book, for which
see below n. 34.
31. For the mIes of Arithmomachia or Ludus philosophorum which remained
in play in England until at least the early seventeenth century, when it
was mentioned by Robert Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) II.i.iv),
see H. J. Murray, A History of Board-Games other than Chess (Oxford,
1952) pp. 84-7. John Shirwood, Bishop of Durharn, taught his version
of the game to Richard Nevill, Earl of Warwick, in 1472 when his
patron was confined in Calais enduring a temporary set-back in his
career. The tract, which is addressed to Marco Bobo, Patriarch of
Aquileia and Cardinal of St Mark, was printed in Rome by Plannck.
Argentine's copy appears to be the only manuscript copy, and is
further evidence of his contact with humanist circles. For the text see
P. S. Allen, 'Bishop Shirwood of Durharn and his Library', EHR 25
(1910) 445--56.
32. Ashmole 344, fols 72-83; Inc.: 'Sume tabulam latam et planam in qua
describis circulum.'
33. Proces pp. 237, 244--5.
34. Published in facsimile by Karl W. Hiersemann, Das spanische Schach-
zabelbuch des Knigs Alfons des Weisen vom Jahr 1283 (Leipzig, 1913);
Alfonso elSabio Libros de Acedrex, Dados eTablas. Das schachzabelbuch
Knig Alfons des Weisen, edited by Arnald Steiger (Geneva-Zurich,
1941) Romanica Helvetica 10. For the astronomers' game see pp. 370--83;
fols 95--97. Unfortunately, Steiger's commentary is entirely linguistic.
For the mIes of this game and an illustration of the board see Murray,
Board Games, pp. 156-7.
35. Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS Ashmole 346, fol. 21-9. 'Incipit Ludus Astrono-
morum optime et subtilissime.' In the same MS. fol. 18a-b, Scalon seems
to have copies of the tables missing, though they are mentioned in
Argentine's copy, which would be an essential aid to a novice playing
the game.
36. DNB L, pp. 416-17; Talbot and Hammond, Register, pp. 413--14;
Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire, p. 264. According to Millar, as quoted in
D.N.B, 'William Schevez is invariably described by historians as a
scheming time-serving prelate, who obtained ascendancy over James
III by astrological quackery.' For the case of Master John Damian, a
French leech educated at Bologna, who spent some time at the court of
James IV of Scotland from about 1501 to 1513, practising alchemy and
attempting to fly, see Dunbar's amusing poem, 'The Fenyeit Freir of
Tungland', pp. 67-70 in The Poems of William Dunbar, ed. W. Mackay
Mackenzie (London, 1970).
37. G. Portigliotti, 'G.B. Boerio aHa Corte d'Inghilterra', L'Illustratzione
Medica Italiana 1 (1923) 8-10; Talbot and Hammond, Register, pp.
117-19.
38. P. S. Allen, Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdame, 12 vols (Oxford,
1906-58) Ep. 261. Quoted by Talbot and Hammond, Register, p. 118.
39. Talbot and Hammond, Register, pp. 118-19.
220 Notes
40. C. A. J. Armstrong, 'An Italian Astrologer at the Court of Henry VII',

in Italian Renaissance Studies, ed. F. F. Jacob (London, 1960) pp. 433-54.
41. Ibid., p. 433.
42. H. S. Bennet, English Books and Readers 1475-1557, 2nd ed. (Cam-
bridge, 1969) pp. 118-19; E. F. Bosanquet, English Printed Almanacs and
Prognostications, Bibliographical Society Monographs 17 (London,
1917) p. 70. See Armstrong, 'An Italian Astrologer', for the attribution
of this fragment to Parron.
43. Besides the annual prognostications, Armstrong discusses the follow-
ing treatises written by Parron: De astrorum vi fatali compieted 15
October 1499. What was probably the presentation copy is preserved
as Oxford, Bod. Lib. MS SeIden Supra 77. Anni MD Pronosticon. Dated
in Pynson's edition 24 December 1499. Uber de optime fato Henrici
Eboraci ducis et optimorum ipsius parentum. Probably completed for
Christmas 1502. What could be two presentation copies survive as
Brit. Lib. MS Royal 12 B. vi; Paris, Bib. Nat. MS. Latin 6276.
44. Armstrong, 'An Italian Astrologer', p. 453.
45. M. J. Barber, 'A fifteenth century Prince', pp. 311-12.
Appendix I: Manuscripts
Dating from c.1250-1500 of
Known Provenance with
Texts Concerning
Astrology, Divination, and
Some-Related Matters,
with their Owners, Donors
or Readers
This Appendix is based on a complete survey of the printed cataIogues of

EngIish manuscript collections, and Ker's Medieval Libraries. Place names
follow Ker's conventions, and the names of medieval authors and books
generally follow the conventions of the index of Thomdike and Kibre' s
Incipits. Biographical details have deliberately been kept to a bare mini-
mum. An asterisk (.) indicates amention in Ker' s list of donors, Medieval
Libraries pp. 225--321. Manuscripts are listed under the type of institution
which originally owned them. Entries appear divided between two col-
umns: the first describes the MS in question, and the second gives details
of individuals known to have owned the MS, and other relevant informa-
tion.
ABBREVIATIONS
BL = British Ubraryi Bod. Ub. = Bodleian Ubraryi Univ. Ub. = Univer-

sity Ubraryi 14c (etc) = fourteenth century (etc)
I AUGUSTINIAN CATHEDRAL PRIORY
Carlisle:
1. Durham Cathedral B.IV.38i 15c.
Prognostic (f.86)
Daniel's Dream Book (f.86v)
At end figures for phlebotomy and
chiromancy
221
222 Appendix I
11 AUGUSTINIAN PRIORIES
Bridlington:
2. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 53; 12c late.
Unfortunate times for phlebotomy (f.18)
Kirby Bellars:
3. Cambridge, Trinity 1144 (0.2.40); .. William Wymond-
late 15c. harn
Prognostics (fols 1-7) canon of Kirby Bellars
Calendar (fols 63--8v) See Roger Yonge de
Extracts from Ptolemy, Haly Abenragel Sutton, BRUC p. 568.
Merton:
4. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 1522; 14c. .. John Gysborne,
Astronomy BRUO p. 77l.
.. John Kyngestone,
BRUO p. 1075 .
5. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 147; 15c. .. John Gysborne, see
Notes on the age of the moon and the no.4.
twelve stars (fols 68, 69)
Simon Bredon, Arsmetrica (f.92)
William Merle, De pronosticatione aeris
(f. 125) with Haly De radiis (f.117v) etc.
Thurgarton:
6. London, Royal College of Physicians 358;
15c.
Astronomical and astrological notes on
planets, astronomical instruments,
prognostics etc.
III Benedictine Abbeys
Bury St Edmunds:
7. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius 225; 13c.
De fato puerorum s. lunam (f.142)
Prognostic (U64)
Canterbury, St Augustine's:
8. Cambridge, Univ. Lib., Ii.l.15; 13-14c. .. Michael Northgate,
Profatius Judaeus, New quadrant (f.3) monk of
Tabula ad sciendum quis planeta dominetur St Augustine' s.
(f.46v) with other astronomical texts.
9. Cambridge, Corpus Christi 466; 12c. .. Laurence Lenham,
Somniale Danielis (fols 131, 228) with monk of
medical texts St Augustine's.
Appendix I 223
10. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius 456; 12,

13c.
Biruni, Commentary on rabIes of
AI-Khwarismi (f.l) and astronomical
tables
11. Glasgow, Hunterian Museum 253; .. John of London,
13-14c. monk of
Alchemical tracts attributed to Rases, St Augustine' s.
Hermes, etc.
12. London, BL Harley 1; 13-14c.
Albumasar, Flores (f.24) and Revolutions
(f.31)
13. London, BL Harley 13; 13c.
Ptolemy, Centiloquium
Alkindi, De radiies (f.I42) etc.
14. London, BL Harley 647; mid-lOc.
Aratus (f.14)
Ex opere Ciceronis de astronomia (f.2v)
15. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 341; 12-13c.
Astronomy
Hermes, De quindecim stellis (f.12Ov)
16. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Bodley 464(2458); .. Michael Northgate,
c.1318 see no. 8.
Alcabitius, Introductorius (f.98)
Grosseteste, Impressionibus aeris
Amald of Villanova, Introd. ad judicia
astrologie quantum pertinet ad medicum
with other astronomical and astrological
pieces.
17. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Bodley 679(2596); .. John of London, see
end 13c. no.11.
Sacro Bosco on the sphere (f.56v) .. Clemens
Grosseteste, Compotus (f.65) Canterbury, BRUO,
Adelard of Bath, Quaestiones naturales p.350.
(f.108)
18. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Rawlinson C.1178; .. John of London, see
13-14c. no. 11.
Campanus, Compotus (f.l)
Profacius tables and almanac
Alkindi, Theorien (f.157)
19. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Rawlinson C.328 James Burdet.
Astrological medicine in flyleaves
20. Oxford, Bod. Lib. SeIden supra 25, .. John of London, see
26(3414) late 12; 13c. no. 11.
Arithmetic .. William of St Clare,
On Satum (f.l0l) monk of
St Augustine' s.
21. Oxford, Corpus Christi 125; 13, 14 and .. Thomas
15c. Wyvelesburgh, monk
224 Appendix I
Alchemy of 5t Augustine's,
Hermes on the lunar mansions (f.162) Canterbury
22. Oxford, Corpus Christi 221; 12, 14c. .. Michael Northgate,
John Folsham, De natura rerum (f.2) see no. 8.
23. Oxford, Corpus Christi 248; 13c.
Albumasar, Introductorium
24. Oxford, Corpus Christi 283; 11, 13c. .. William of 5t Clare,
Cicero, De natura deorum see no. 20.
On the astrolabe
25. Longleat, Marquess of Bath 177; 12c.
Astrology
On the astrolabe
Ceme:
26. Cambridge, Trinity College 1149 (0.2.45);
13c.
Once formed part of BL Egerton 843.
Spera Pythagore (f.l)
The Egerton M5 contains:
5acro Bosco (f.l)
On the cylinder (f.27)
Prognostics (fols 31, 31v)
Crowland:
27. London, BL Arundel230; 12-13c.
Table on unlucky days in each month
(f.230) in French
Hyde:
28. London, BL Arundel 60; 11c.
Table of days for phlebotomy (f.l)
Muchelney:
29. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 189.11; 15c. .. Richard Coscumbe
Astrological tables and notes in English alias WraxaU, prior of
Muchelney.
30. Oxford, Lincoln Cod. Lat. 182, fols 1-53, .. Thomas Cory, BRUO
60-105; 15c. p.493.
Tables of Batecombe, John Walter,
William Rede.
English tract on astrology
Pershore:
31. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Rawlinson C.81; 15c. .. 'Hic liber fuit quondam
On the 12 signs in English (f.13v) H.R. de T.'
On periIous days (f.58v, 32)
Ramsay:
32. Cambridge, Univ. Lib. Hh. VI. 11; .. fr. R. de Olneya,
1~14c. monk of Ramsay
Appendix I 225
Signs of the weather attributed to

prophet Ezra (f.67)
Thunder prognostic in verse (f.68 v)
St Alban's:
33. Dublin, Trinity College 444; 13c.
Astrological and astronomical tables
34. London, BL Cotton Julius D.vii; 13c. .. John de Wallingford,
Astronomy abhot of St Albans's,
Richard of Wallingford etc. d.1213.
35. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 304, 13c.
Bernard Silvester, Experimentarius
Prognostic of the twelve sons of Jacob
(f.52v), Pythagoras (f.56) and the seven
planets (f.64)
36. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 1796; 14--15c. .. fr. John Loukyn, see
De sphera ascribed to Accursius (f.l) North, Richard 0/
Richard of Wallingford, Exafrenon (f.l7) Wallingford, IL pp.
Albion, and other texts. 311-12, 316.
Westminster:
37. Oxford, St John's 178; 13-14c. .. Thomas Lynne,
Sacro Bosco on the sphere monk of Westminster,
Lunar mansions d.1473-4.
IV BENEDICTINE CATHEDRAL PRIORIES
Canterbury, Christ Church:

38. Cambridge, Trinity 987, 'Canterbury
Psalter'; c.1l50.
Notes on palmistry by scribe Eadwin
(f.285)
39. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 393. I; 15c. .. Thomas Goldstone,
Albumasar, Flores (f.95v) and Intro. BRUO p. 783. Henry
Ashenden (fols 79, 81v) Gruftoreus alias H. C.
Horoscope of Henry V (f.109) .. Henry Cranebroke,
BRUOp.50.
40. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 1525; 13c.
Ptolemy, Centiloquium (illustrated)
41. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 28; 14c.
Hippocrates, Prognosticon (f.81v)
Planimetria (f.108)
Liber de tempestatibus et presagiis (f.l36)
Merlin, Prophedes (fols 162, 168)
42. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 92; 14c. John Trendeley, monk
Haly, De dispositione aeris (f.5) of Christ Church.
Tables for 1374--86 and the Canons of
William Rede (f.ll)
226 Appendix I
John Trendeley, Nota de aequatione

planetarum (f.15) with other astrological
notes (f.16 ff.)
Coventry:
43. London, BL Royal 12 G.iv; c.1300. .. John Grenborough,
Astrological tables (fols 132, 160) with infirmarius.
notes on medical astrology, alchemy,
physiognomy etc.
44. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Auct. F.5.23(2674); 13, .. Robert Everdone,
14c. monk of Coventry.
Secreta secretorum (f.87) with a note on
the moon (f.109v)
Sacro Bosco on the sphere (f.207)
Durham:
45. Cambridge, Jesus Q.B.8(25); 12c.
Tract on the day and night stars (f.l)
46. Cambridge, Magdalene Pepys 1662; early
15c.
Folding medical calendar
47. Cambridge, St John's 112(E.9); 13c and
late 15c.
Thunder prognostic (f.401)
48. London, BL Arundel 332; 13c. .. William Hertylpulle,
Probationes de astronomica practica (f.52v) monk of Durham.
49. London, BL Arundel 507; 13-14c. .. Richard of Segbrok,
Medical astrology (f.91) monk of Durham
(fl. 1396).
50. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Douce 129(21703); 15c. .. Thomas Dun, monk
Sacro Bosco, Compotus (f.2) of Durham, BRUO
Astrological and calendrical tables (f.26) p.604 .
.. John Manby, BRUO
pp. 1212-13.
Norwich:
51. Cambridge, Univ. Lib. Gg.VI.3; 14c.
John Maudith, Tract. super quatuor tabulis
mirabiliter inventis (f.45)
Roger Hereford, De judiciis astronomiae
(f.139) with astronomical and astrological
tracts by Zael, Grosseteste, Jean de
Linieres, Richard of Wallingford (f.273)
etc.
52. London, BL Egerton 2724; 15c.
Folding calendar
Winchester:
53. Oxford, Bod. Lib. SeIden supra
76(34647); 13c.
Appendix I 227
Roger Hereford (f.3)

Alkindi, de radiis
Worcester:
54. Gloucester Cathedral 25; 13c. .. Thomas More, monk.
Treatises on the astrolabe (f.5) of Worcester.
Physiognomy (f.23v)
V. BENEDICTINE PRIORIES
Luffield:
55. Cambridge, Univ. Lib. Ee.l.1; 13c, 14c.
'Les diuinemenz de le jur de Nouel' (f.1)
'Le interpretaciun de Songes' (Uv)
Tynemouth:
56. Oxford, Corpus Christi 144; 14, 15c.
Alfonsine Tables
Richard of Wallingford
VI BRIDGETIINE ABBEY
Syon:
57. Cambridge Univ. Lib. Hh. V.18; 13c end.
Canons and astronomical tables, notes
on the astrolabe and other instruments
etc.
58. Cambridge, Magdalene F.4.13(13); early Jaspar Fyloll, a
16c. London Dominican.
Astrological notes (fols 13, 14, 15, 17, 18) .. Elisabeth Crychley of
Syon (nun in 1539) .
59. Cambridge, St John's 109(E.6); 15c. .. Thomas Betson,
Astrological notes (fols 25v, 26, 67v, BRUC p. 59.
86v, 115v)
VII CARMELITE CONVENT
Halifax:
60. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Rawlinson C.895 Hamman Gabrell
Calendar of Nicholas of Lynn (f.2v).
VIII CATHEDRAL CHURCHES
Exeter:
61. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Bodley 463(2456); early .. Edmund Lacy,
14c. bishop of Exeter,
Alcabitius, Introductorius (f.l) BRUO pp. 1081-2.
228 Appendix I
Ptolemy, Centiloquium (f.59) with

astrological pieces by Thebit, Alfraganus
and others
62. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Rawlinson C.677; 14c. 'liber W. Exton, prioris'.
Palmistry (f.1) Jac. Ware.
Sacro Bosco on the sphere
63. Oxford, Corpus Christi 224; 12, 13, 14c.
Alfraganus, Theorica planetarum
IX CISTERCIAN ABBEY
Boxley:
64. Cambridge, Corpus Christi 37(1.2); early * John Heriettsham.
14c. * John Renharn, rector
Campanus, Theorica planetarum (f.2) of Holyngboume.
Calendar of Walter Elvedene (f.27) with
other calendars and tables
X CLUNIAC PRIORIES
Bermondsey:
65. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 342.1, fols * dom John, monk of
69-94; early 14c. Bermondsey.
Prognostic by thunder (f.88v)
Tract on qualities of the signs (f.74v)
Bromholm:
66. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 1523; 14c.
Calendar with verses on evil days (f.l)
XI COLLEGIATE CHURCH
Tattershall:
67. London, BL Royal 12 E.xxv; c.1300.
Condemned propositions of Tempier
(f.2) and Kilwardby (f.2)
Kilwardby' s letter on Oxford errors
(f.115)
Tract. de astronomia for Robert de
Beaumont (f.l72v) with short pieces on
the quadrant, the planets, 'Spera
Pictagore' etc.
XII DIOCESAN REGISTRY
Hereford:
68. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 789. VIII; * Charles Bothe,
c.1432. bishop of Hereford,
Calendar for simple priests BRUC p. 77.
Spera Pictagore (f.367)
Appendix I 229
xm FRANCISCAN CONVENTS
Babwell:
69. Cambridge, Univ. Lib. ILI.1; I4c. .. fr. Nicholaus
Perscrutator, De impressionibus aeris (f.I3) (Richard) de
Richard of Wallingford, Exafrenon (f.25) Hepworth.
Roger Hereford, De iudiciis (f.40) with
other astrological tracts
70. London, Royal Astronomical Society .. fr. Nicholaus de
QB.71102I; I4c. Hepworth, see no. 69.
Astronomical tables of William Rede (f.I)
with other Oxford tables
Bodmin:
71. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Ashmole 360. fols .. fr. Richard Pole,
49--88, 113, 114, I5c. O.F.M., fl. 1374.
Albumasar, Flores
Gerard of Cremona, Theorica planetarum
(f.71)
Prognostic by the signs (f.113)
Coventry:
72. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Rawl.D.238; I4c.
Tables of John Walter (f.2)
Astrological medicine
Oxford:
73. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 93, fols 1-8; .. fr. Thomas Ruvel,
I4c. BRUC p. 1377.
Sem filli Haym on Saturn (f.I) .. fr. Roger de
Theorica planetarum (f.2v) Nottingham, BRUC
p.I377.
74. Oxford, Trinity 17; I2c. .. Robert Grosseteste,
Boethius BRUO pp. 830-3.
Physiognomy
Shrewsbury:
75. Oxford, University 41; I4c.
Astronomical treatises by Grosseteste,
Profatius, Sacro Bosco, Thebit and
others.
Haly, De impressionibus aeris (f.33)
Almanac of Profatius for Oxford meridian
(f.52)
XN GILBERTINE CONVENT
Holland Brigge:
76. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Laud. Misc.662; I4c. John, monk of Holland
Calendar of Nicholas of Lynne Brigge.
230 Appendix I
xv PARlSH CHURCH
Barbrooke:
77. Cambridge, St John's 37 (B.15); 14, 15c. Master Gent, rector of
Prognostics (ff.51v, 54) Barbrooke church in
Essex.
XVI TRINITARIAN CONVENT
Knaresborough:
78. Cambridge, Trinity 943; early 15c. .. John de Foxton,
Calendar with prognostications (f.) chaplain (fl. 1408).
Liber cosmographie by Foxton (f.l), with
illustrations of the temperaments, zodiac
man, planets etc.
XVII UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
Cambridge, aare College:

79. Carnbridge, Gare College 15(Kk.4.2); John Dewe, BRUC
c.I280. p.I86.
Astrological texts by Arabic authors John Dewe, BRUC
including Alkindi, Haly, Japhar etc. p.186.
Albumasar, Flores (f.170) John Bamby, BRUC,
p.39.
Roger Marshall, BRUC
pp. 392-3; Talbot,
Register pp. 314-15.
so. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Bodley 300(2474); 15c.
Richard of Wallingford, Quadripartitum
(f.64v)
John Holbroke, Canons (f.132v)
Formerly contained works of Jean de
Linieres, William Rede, John Walter and
Holbroke's rabies
81. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 178, fols 15--87; .. In hand of Simon
14c. Bredon, BRUO pp.
Richard of Wallingford, Quadripartitum 257-8.
(f.15)
Simon Bredon on the Almagest (f.42)
82. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 183; 14c. Lewis of Caerleon,
Alkindi, De radiis (f.38) BRUCp.117.
Albertus Magnus, De mineralibus (f.l)
Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College:

83. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius 35(141); John Beverly, BRUC
15c. p.6O.
Ptolemy, De compositione astrolabii (fols
137v-139)
Appendix I 231
84. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius 110(179); Roger Marshall, see

13-15c. no.79.
Astronomical tables and canons by Jean
de Linieres, John of Saxony etc.
Oe radiationibus (f.27)
85. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius 141(191);
early 14c.
Astronomical tables and canons
Albumasar, Flores (f.585) and
Oe revolutionibus (f.610)
86. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius 181(214); Roger Marshall, see
13-15c. no.79.
Hermes on alchemy (f.219) with other
alchemical tracts
87. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius John Argentine, BRUC
198(1040); 14, 15c. pp. 15-16; Talbot
Augurial diagram in flyleaf with medical Register pp. 112-15.
tracts
88. Cambridge, Gonville and Caius 249(277); John Harryson, BRUC
c.1464. p.290.
Prophecies and chronicles
Note of celestial appearance in 1472
(f.l44v)
Prognostic (f.246)
89. London, BL Harley 531; 12-14c. Roger Marshall, see
Liber novem judicium (f.139) nO.79.
Perscrutator (f.163)
Cambridge, Peterhouse:
90. Cambridge, Pembroke 227; 14, 15c. William Wodcoke,
Firminus de Bellavalle, Oe mutatione aeris BRUC p. 644.
(f.5) Roger Marshall, see
Liber novem judicium (f.107) nO.79.
Guido Bonatti, Oispositione aeris (f.116)
Zael, Revolutionibus nativitatum (f.133)
etc.
91. London, BL Egerton 889; 15c. .. John Holbroke,
Astronomical tables BRUC p. 309.
92. London, Royal College of Physicians 390; .. John Holbroke, see
226 fols; 14c. no. 91.
Ashenden, Summa judicialis .. Thomas Cloughe,
BRUCp.143.
Oxford, University Library:

93. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 40; early 13c.
Abraham ibn Ezra, De astronomia (f.52)
Albategni, De sciencia astrorum (f.116)
232 Appendix I
Oxford, St John's College:

94. Oxford, St John's 172; 15c. John Alwort, BRUO
Divination p.29.
Dreams
Oxford, Balliol College:

95. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 29; 15c. " Richard Stapleton,
Medical astrology (f.174v) BRUO p. 1766.
Tract on the sun dial (f.118v)
Hippocrates, Prognostica (f.167)
Spera Pythagore (f.193) etc.
Oxford, Corpus Christi College:
96. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Rawlinson C.543; 14, William Ludham,
15c. BRUCp.377.
Alfraganus, Compendium astronomie
Oxford, Lincoln College:

97. Oxford, Lincoln Cod. Lat. 114; 15c. Edmund Audley,
Julius Firmicus, Astronomia (f.133) bishop of Salisbury,
BRUO pp. 75-6.
Oxford, Merton College:

98. London, BL Royal 12 B.i; 14c. " Walter Stanton,
Medical astrology in margins (f.9Ov, BRUO p. 1770.
163v)
99. London, BL Royal 12 E.xxv; c.1300. " Richard Camsel,
See no. 67 BRUO pp. 344-5.
Richard Philyp.
100. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 67, fols 85-116; " John Reynham,
14c. BRUO pp. 1570-1.
Hermes, Liber de causis (f.85)
101. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 176; 14c. " William Rede, BRUO
Astrological tracts by various Merton pp. 155fHJO.
masters, William Rede, Ashenden, Nicholas Sandwich,
Reginald Lambourne BRUO pp. 1639-40.
Thomas Bradwardine,
BRUO pp. 244-56.
" Richard Camsale,
see no. 99.
Julius Firmicus, Astronomicon (f.11)
Abraham ibn Ezra, De nativitatibus (f.30)
103. Oxford, Merton C.2.1O(259); 13c. " William Rede, see
A1cabitius, Introductorius (f.56) no.101.
Albmasar, Flores (f.94v) Nicholas Sandwich,
Astronomical tables and other works of see no. 101.
Arabic astronomy and astrology
Appendix I 233
104. Oxford, Merton 0.3.1(281); 14c. .. William Rede, see

Albumasar, De magnis coniuctionibus and no.l01.
Introductorium Bks. -iv (f.215) Nicholas Sandwich,
see no. 101.
John Gilden, BRUO
p.768.
105. Oxford, Merton K.1.3(294); 14c. " William Rede, see
Coneordanee of philosophy aeeording to no. 101.
Aristotle, Plato, Albumasar etc. Nicholas Sandwich,
see no. 101.
Oxford, New College:

106. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Auct. F.5.29(2635); 13, " Henry Jolypace,
14c. canon of St Paul' s
Haly, De nativitatibus (f.l) (d.I431).
Albumasar, Flores (f.32) with William de
astronomical and astrological tracts by Hachecumbe.
Alexander of Villa Dei, Sacro Bosco, Byrkyn.
Abraham ibn Ezra ete.
107. Oxford, New College 162; 15c. William Worcestre,
Chiromancy (f.48) BRUO pp. 2086-7.
Weather prediction (f.64v)
108. Oxford, New College 282; 1423 Thomas Dryffeld,
Ptolemy, Quadripartitum (f.l) BRUO p. 597.
Oxford, Oriel College:

109. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Auct.F.5.28(3623); 13c. .. John Cobbledik,
Various scientifie treatises including Liber BRUO pp. 449-50.
de occultis from Dorotheus (f.72v) 'De fato William Bridby, BRUO
puerorum secundum Lunam' (f.l86v); p. 271.
Rases, Physiognomy (f.209v) .. Elias de
Trykyngham, BRUO
pp. 1905--6; Talbot
Register p. 43.
110. Oxford, Bod. Lib. Digby 37; 14c. " Elias de
Ptolemy on images (f.43) Trykyngham, see
no.109.
Abraham ibn Ezra, De revolutionibus (f.l)
On critical days (f.84)
112. Oxford, Oriel College 23; 14c.
Ashenden, Summa judicialis (224 fols)
Appendix II: Books on
Astrology and Some
Related Matters in the
Medieval Libraries of the
Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge
For the bibliographical details of the medieval catalogues and the compen-
diums of Leland (after 1533) and Bale (after 1547), see Ker's Medieval
Libraries.
Library Date and total Text

no. oi items in
catalogue
1. Cambridge, 1473/120 None
University
1424/330 Secreta secretorum (no. 66)
2. Cambridge, c.1440/11 2 astronomia (nos. 24, 25)
Clare College
1496/87 William Rede, Canons (no. 5)
(no. 6)
Leland/29 John Somer, Opuscula
Alkindi, Iudicia
Simon Bredon, Tabule
Lewis of Caerleon, Tabule
Messahala, Revolutionibus
annorum mundi
Dorotheus, Occultis
Haly, Flores de electionibus
Stephanus Messala, Flores de
judiciis
Alkindi, Radiis stellatis
Albertus Magnus, Mineralibus
234
Appendix II 235
Richard of Wallingford,
Quadripartitum
Alcabitius, Introductorium with
commentary of John of
Saxony
Geber, Speculativa astronomia
John Maudith, Corda recta et
umbra
Simon Bredon, Tabula latitudinis
5 planetarum
Richard of Wallingford, Albion
Roger Hereford or Robert
Grosseteste, Theorica
planetarum
Bale/18 John Ashenden, Summa
iudicialis
John Holbroke, Canones
astronomici
Lewis of Caerleon, De eclipsi
solarie et lunari etc.
etc.
Roger Bacon, De utilitate
astronomiae et operatione fidei
etc.
Roger Hereford, Theorica
planetarum De ortu et occasu
signorum
Simon Bredon on the Almagest
Tabule cordarum
Calculationes cordarum
3. Cambridge, 1376/55 none
Corpus Christi
College
c.1439/76 Roger Bacon, Secreta secretorum
(nos. 19, 63)
Sompniale delucidarium Pharaonis
(no. 67)
On the sphere (no. 70)
Bale/7 John Somer
4. Cambridge, Leland/23 Walter of Oddington, Motus

Gonville and planetarum and Almanach
Caius College Profatius Judaeus, Tabula motus
octavae sphaerae
Campanus, De inventione
annorum Arabum
Walter Elvedene, Calendarium
236 Appendix II
Jean de Linieres, Equatorium

Robert Grosseteste, Calendarium
and other works
Stanton on the canons of the
tables of Arzachel (see
Ineipits 1408).
5. Cambridge, 1452/175 Astronomical tables (no. 130)

King' s College Liber arithmetriee (no. 131)
Liber geomancie (no. 132)
Haly Abenragel, Iudieiis
(no. 133)
Liber septiformi intelligenciarum
(no. 134)
Avicebron, Liber (no. 135)
Tractatus eomputi (no. 136)
Boethius, Musica (no. 137)
(no. 138)
Euclid, Geometria (no. 139)
1556--7/84 none
Bale/13 William Sutton
John Killingworth, Canones
tabularum and other works
Thomas Stacy
Perscrutator
6. Cambridge, c.1364--1484/158 Theoriea planetarum et eanones

Pembroke tabularum eum tabulis (no. 80)
College Firminus de Bellavalle, De
mutatione aeris with other
texts on astrology by Guido
Bonatti, Zael, Albumasar,
Geoffrey of Meaux etc.
(no. 105)
Leland/7 none
Bale/12 none
7. Cambridge, Leland/26 Helias, Alehemy

Peterhouse Alphidius, Alchemy
Roger Hereford, Rebus metallicis
Liber alehimiea
Roger Bacon, Alehemy
Epistola alehimiea Rosini ad
Anehesiam
Theodosius, Spheris
Simon Bredon: Tabule;
Astronomia ealeulatoria;
Astronomia judieiaria
Appendix 1I 237
Hermes Trismegistus, Leges

astrorum
Ptolemy, Comets
Abraham ibn Ezra, Luminaribus
Alkindi, Impressionibus
Thebit ben Chorat, Motu octavae
spherae
Alkindi, Umbris et Aspectibus
Campanus, Computus
John de Sacrobosco, Algorismus
John Walter, Tabule
John Killingworth, Algorismus
Jean de Linieres, Diverse tabule
eclipsium
John Ashenden, Conjunctio
Martis et Satume
John Holbroke, Opus primus;
Opus secundus
Jean de Linieres, Canones
Simon Bredon, Arithmetica
Tabule Humphredis ducis
Gloucestrie
John Somer (probably the
Calendarium)
Liber alchimicus
8. Cambridge, 1472/224 none
Queen' s College
Leland/44 John Peckham, Sphera
Robert Grosseteste, Theorica
planetarum; Sphera
Alfraganus, Motibus celestium
rorporum with Euc1id, Geometria
9. Oxford, Duke 1439/270 Haly Abenragel (nos. 98-9)

Humfrey's Egidius, De cometiis (no. 100)
Zael, Deiudiciisastrorum(no.l0l)
(no. 102)
Tabule medie conjunccionis soZis et
lune (no. 103)
Liber astronomie, (no. 104)
Zael, de vita hominis (no. 105)
Ptolemy, Almagest (no. 106)
Thebit ben Chorat (no. 107)
Ashenden, (no. 108)
Ptolemy, Tripartitum (no. 109);
Tabula de motibus planetarum
(no. 116)
238 Appendix II
1441/10 none
1443/135 none
10. Oxford, All After 1440/382 Jean de Linieres (p. 477)

Souls' College Book of Nine Judges
Hermes, de xii signis
Tractatus spere
Commendacio antiquorum
PtoIemy, Quadripartitum
Astronomia Halsam (7Al
Hazen)
Ashenden, Summa iudicialis
PtoIemy, Almagest
Liber astronomie (3)
Canones Azar (7ArzacheI)
Alecenus in perspectiva (7Al
Hazen, Optica)
Theorica planetarum
Geometria
5 Astronomia (pp. 478-9)
Geomancia
Gerard of Cremona, Geomancy
Liber geomancie
Liber iudicum
Capud diaboli
Geomancia
Alkemia
Abbas (7Haly Abbas)
11. Oxford, 1315/37 none

Durham College
c.1390/109 Notule super librum de planetis et
de celo et mundo cum aliis
(no. 58)
12. Oxford, Lincoln 1474/135 none

College
1476/37 Liber plurimum tabularum in
paupero
13. Oxford, Merton early 14c1140 PtoIemy, Almagest (no. 86)

College PtoIemy on the planisphere
with the Almagest (no. 87)
Alfarabius, De ortu scienciarum
(no. 88)
Tractatus de celestibus (no. 88)
Toledan Tables (no. 92)
An astrolabe (no. 93)
Appendix II 239
Liber 7 planetarum atque draconis

(no. 94)
Theorica planetarum (no. 95)
Al Hazen, Optics (no. 96)
Euclid, Geometry (no. 97)
An astrolabe (no. 98)
1368 Will of Simon Bredon, canon of
Chichester (d. 1372):
Geomancia (no. 382);
Ptolemy, Quadripartitum
(no. 383);
Haly Abenragel, De iudiciis
astrorum (no. 384);
Geber, Astronomy (no. 385);
Minuta introductoria astronomie
(no. 386);
Larger astrolabe (no. 387)
1372/376 Thomas Swynham held
Exposicio spere (p. 60)
Hugh de Stanton held Ptolemy
on planisphere with the
Almagest (no. 87)
13851100 Bequest of William Rede,
bishop of Chichester: a book
on the quadrant with
Grosseteste on the sphere
(no. 531); William Merle,
John Ashenden and other
Merton treatises on
astronomy and astrology
(no. 537), MS Digby 176
Arabic astrology (no. 546), MS
Merton C.2.10(259)
Albumasar (no. 566), MS
Merton 0.3.1(281)
c.1410/185 Thomas Martyn held a Book of
Astronomy (no. 690) and an
astrolabe (p. 67)
William Duffield held the
Alfonsine rabies (no. 692) and
an instrument (no. 67)
Robert Brygham held Ptolemy' s
Quadripartitum (no. 691)
Richard Baron held a Book of
Astronomy (no. 94)
Various instruments were held
by masters William Warde,
Roger Gates, William Johns,
240 Appendix 11
Richard Pedyngton and

Walter Lugardyn (pp. 68-69)
140~7/153 John Wodward held a brass
quadrant (p. 77)
1452/228 A certain master held a work of
John Ashenden (no. 807) and
possibly a number of other
books on astronomy and
astrology ego nos. 88, 128,
189, 194.
Various instruments l were held
byeleven other masters. 2
1483/68 ?Ashenden(no.807)
Rede' s book of astronomy
(no. 537)
Geomancy (no. 1036)
A book of necromancy
(no. 1053)
260ct. 1490 Lewis of Caerleon deposits
copy of his astronomical
tables (no. 1090)
14. Oxford, 14-16c1297 William of Wykeham left

New College Tractatus de spera (p. 234)
William Rede left Arsmetrica
Boecii cum aliis (p. 235)
2 books on astronomy (p. 244)
15. Oxford, Oriel 1375/about Includes books donated by

College 100 John Cobbledik (d. by May
1337)
Arzachel, Canones astronomie
(p.68)
Book o[ 9 Judges (Cobbledik)
(p.68)
Canones astronomie (Cobbledik)
(p. 68)
Alfraganus (p. 70)
I, 2. For details of the instruments of Merton College see North, Richard o[
Wallingford Appx 15, 01. 132-135.
Appendix 111: Horoscopes
in Medieval Englisll
Manuscripts
A 'horoscope' is a representation of the heavens at a particular moment in

time with lines and points of astrological significance superimposed upon
it. Medieval astrologers did not use direct observation to ensure the
accuracy of their charts, but relied on tables or instruments to calculate the
planetary positions and the boundaries of the twelve astrological houses.
The fo11owing tables contain summaries of the seventeen individual
horoscopes which I have located in English manuscripts in the course of
my research. In fact a11 relate to the personallives of male members of the
English royal family, usua11y their births.
English astrologers, as I have been at pains to point out in the course of
this book, were not computational whizz-kids. They made many errors of
a quite basic kind in calculating these horoscopes. I have made a rough
check on their calculation of planetary longitudes by drawing on the
ephemeris of B. Tuckerman, Planetary, Lunar and Solar Positions AD 2 to AD
1649 (Philadelphia, 1964), using simple linear interpolation. These calcula-
tions are summarised in Table 3. Since the accuracy of the original hor-
oscopes is not very great (eg. no. 4!), and most if not all were drawn up
with the aid of the Toledan (eg. no. 2) or Alfonsine Tables modified for
Oxford use, or in other cases, York (no. 11), Paris (no. 13) and Norwich
(no. 16), I have ignored differences in time and place, and taken the short
cut of calculating my planetary longitudes as of 4 p.m. Greenwich Civil
Time. Very approximately, since the planets do not move with a constant
daily speed, the margin for error in the case of each of the planets in my
calculations is as folIows:
Satum O.03, Jupiter O.08, Mars 0.46, Sun O.98, Venus O.6,
Mercury 4.09, Moon 12.19per day
These figures represent the synodic period of the planets divided by the
number of days in an earth year. The actual error is rather larger owing to
the effect of the Earth's own movement, which also causes a11 the planets,
with the exception of the sun and moon, to appear to slow down, reverse
and then speed up again.
John North has further investigated these horoscopes, which were
origina11y apart of my Oxford D.Phil thesis submitted in 1984, and
concluded on the basis of an examination of the cusps of the planetary
houses that a11 were probably calculated with the aid of Oxford tables. I
have incorporated North's figures for the derived latitudes of the horo-
241
242 Appendix III
scopes into Table 1: see his Horoscopes and History, pp. 139--40, for further
infonnation. With the aid of the computer programme North provides in
this study it can be confinned that all the houses were calculated according
to North's 'standard' system.
Horoscopes are presented in chronological order of their subjects, from
the nativity of Edward 11 (1284) to the nativity of Edward V (1470). This is
no indication of when and where the original charts were drawn up. In the
manuscripts, horoscopes are invariably laid out in the traditional square
diagram, for which see North, Horoscopes and History, p. 2. Symbols for the
planets first appear in English manuscripts from the last years of the
fourteenth century. Symbols for the zodiacal signs are definitely a later
development. Both sets of signs derive from Byzantine usage, and were
popularised by printed books. See Fred Gettings, Dictionary of Occult,
Hermetic and Alchemical Signs (London, 1981).
When the time is not stated in the text of the manuscript, I have
generally worked it out from the ascendant with the help of a kit astrolabe
(available from the Greenwich Maritime Museum) using a plate for the
longitude of London. This is the 'Stated Time' in Table 1. Medieval
astrologers expressed celestial measurements as degrees, minutes and
sometimes seconds (or less) of are. I have reproduced these measurements
in the fonn '12; 3' with the minutes following the semi-colon. In my own
calculations I have adopted the modern system of decimal, rather than
sexagesimal degrees, in the fonn '12.3' using the usual decimal point.
Finally, in order to convert medieval celestiallongitudes, which made use
of the constellations of the zodiac, to modern usage, it is only necessary to
add the sum indicated to the relevant sign:
Aries (+0); Taurus (+30); Gemini (+60); Cancer (+90); Leo (+ 150); Virgo
(+ 150); Libra (+ 180); Scorpio (+ 210); Sagittarius (+ 240); Capricorn (+ 270);
Aquarius (+330); Pisces (+330).
Figures for derived latitudes of nos. 1-11, 16-17, are taken from North,
Horoscopes and History, p. 140. The manuscript references follow the
abbreviations used bfThorndike and Kibre's Incipits.
Appendix 3, TABLE 1 Summary o[ [ourteenth and fifteenth-century English royal horoscopes
Number Date Time Occasion Place True Lat. Derived /at.

Min. Mean Max
1 25.04.1284 8h28m am nat.Edw.II Caemarvon 53;08 50;48 51;12 52;04
2 13.11.1312 5h43m24 am nat.Edw.III Windsor 51;29 51;15 52;05 53;47
3 13.11.1312 5h39m am nat.Edw.III Windsor 51;29 48;02 50;06 50;54
4 23.01.1327 12h4m pm cor.Edw.lII Westminster 51;30 51;15 51;38 52;20
5 15.06.1330 9h30m am nat.Black Pr. Woodstock 51;52 50;37 51;47 54;32
6 15.06.1330 10ham nat.Black Pr. Woodstock 51;52 47;48 49;17 52;43
7 1.01.1367 9h25m am Prep. for 8 Bordeaux 44;50 51;22 52;24 53;03
8 6.01.1367 Iham nat.Ric.II Bordeaux 44;50 51;24 51;48 52;29
9 15.07.1377 8h 18m am cor.Ric.II Westminster 51;30 50;55 52;44 56;55
10 5.07.1376 9h8m am question Ric.II Westminster 51;30 49;10 51;25 52;26
11 16.09.1386 11h22m am nat.Hen.V Monmouth 51;50 52;08 53;11 53;37
12 (North G) 05.12.1421 3h20m56s pm nat.Hen.VI Windsor 51;29
13 (North A) 06.12.1421 3h41m pm ibid.(Cum rerum) ibid. ibid.
14 (North E) 06.12.1421 4h18m pm ibid.(RB and TS) ibid. ibid.
15 (North B) 06.12.1421 3h24m pm ibidGH) ibid. ibid.
16 28.04.1442 2h22m32 am nat.Edw.IV Rouen 49.26 52;26 52;44 52;55
17 02.11.1470 3h33m pm nat.Edw.V Westminster 51.30 51;41 51;48 51;59
1t
t
Appendix 3, TALE 2 Cusps 01 hauses
Number Cusps 01 houses

1 2 3 4 5 6
1 16 Can.(l06) 6 Leo 26 Leo 15 Virg. 25 Lib 10 Sag.
2 6 Seor.(216) 16 Sag. 16 Cap. 20 Aqu. 15 Pi. 11 Ar.
3 6 Seor.(216) 12 Sag. 16 Cap. 18 Aqu. 15 Pise. 12 Ar.
4 18 Gern.(78) 6Can. 24Can 12 Leo. 25 Virg. 9 Seor.
5 6 Virg.(156) 5 Lib. 2 Seor. 28 Seor. 29 Sag. 2 Aqu.
6 9 Virg. 8 Lib. 6 Seor. 3 Sag. 4Cap. 5 Aqu.
7 20 Aqu.(320) 29 Pise. 8 Taur. 14 Gern. 6Can. 27 Can.
8 16 Gern.(76) 4Can. 22 Can. 10 Leo. 23 Virg. 7 Seor.
9 15 Virg.(165) 15 Lib. 14 Seor. 10 Sag. 11 Cap. 12 Aqu.
10 17 Virg.(167) 18 Lib. 17 Seor. 13 Sag. 13 Cap. 14 Aqu.
11 28 Seor.(238) 6Cap. 13 Aqu. 24 Pise. 17 Ar. 8 Taur.
12 (North G) 15;54 Gern.(75-54) 3;34 Can. 21;22 Can. 9;52 Leo 22;29 Virg. 5;45 Seor.
13 (North A) 21;49 Gern.(81-49) 9;26 Can. 27;17 Can. 15;57 Leo 29;19 Vir. 12;45 Seor.
14 (North E) 22;35 Gern.(82-35) 9;45 Can. 27;28 Can. n.a. 29;31 Vir. 13;8 Seor.
15 (North B) 15;56 Gern.(75-56) 3;36 Can. 21;23 Can. 9;53 Leo. 22;30 Virg. 5;47 Seor.
16 3.33 Pise.(333-36) 11 Ar. 18 Taur. 30;7 Gern. 14 Can. 8 Leo.
17 14;19 Taur.(44-19) 6;30 Gern. 27;21 Gern. 18;35 Can. 26 Leo. 2 Lib.
7 8 9 10 11 12 MS ref.
16 Cap. 6 Aqu. 26 Aqu. 15 Pisc. 2S Ar. 12 Gern. BMr 12F.17f.153v
6 Taur. 16 Gern. 16 Can. 20 Leo. 15 Virg. 11 Lib. ibid.
6 Taur. 12 Gern. 16 Can. 18 Leo. 15 Virg. 12 Lib. BLas 192f.109v
18 Sag. 6 Cap. 24 Cap. 12 Aqu. 2S Pisc. 9 Taur. BLr D.1227f.2v
6 Pisc. 5 Ar. 2 Taur. 28 Taur. 29 Gern. 2 Leo. BMr 12F.17f.153v
9 Pisc. 8 Ar. 6 Taur. 3 Gern. 4 Can. 11 Leo. Blas 192f.11Or
20 Leo. 29 Virg. 8 Scor. 14 Sag. 6 Cap. 27 Cap. BLr D.1227f.1v
16 Sag. 4Cap. 22 Cap. 10 Aqu. 23 Pisc. 7 Taur. ibid.
15 Pisc. 15 Ar. 14 Taur. 10 Gern. 11 Can. 12 Leo. ibid., f.2r
17 Pisc. 18 Ar. 1317 Taur. 13 Gern. 13 Can. 14 Leo ibid.
28 Gern. 6Can. 13 Leo. 24 Virg. 17 Lib. 8 Scor. BLas 393f.109r
15;54 Sag. 3;34 Cap. 21;22 Cap. 9;52 Aqu. 22;29 Pisc 5;45 Taur. BLas 369, f.182v
21;49 Sag. 9;26 Cap. 27;17 Cap. 15;57 Aqu. 29;19 Pisc. 12;45 Taur. CU Ee.III.6lf.160
22;25 Sag. 9;45 Cap. 27;28 Cap. n.a. 29;31 Pisc. 13;8 Taur. CU Ee.III.61,f.160v-61
15;56 Sag. 3;36 Cap. 21;23 Cap. 9;53 Aqu. 22;30 Pisc. 5;47 Taur. CU Ee.III.61, f.161v
4 Virg. 11 Lib. 18 Scor. 20.7 Sag. 14 Cap. 8 Aqu. Glouc.Cath.21, f.9v
14;19 Scor. 6;30 Sag. 27;20 Sag. 18;35 Cap. 26 Aqu. 4 Ar. ibid.
~
N
oj:>.
Appendix 3, TABLE 3 P/anetary positions 0\
Number Stated Time Moon Mercury Venus Sun Mars ]upiter Saturn
1 8h28m am n.a. 53 64 42 126 267 304
Computed 4 pm GCT 151 59 54 42 127 268 297
2 5h43m24 am 29 250 229 238 229 56 278
Computed 4pmGCT 45 253 231 240 229.5 55 278
3 5h39m am 38 248 229 238 231 57.5 275
Computed 4pmGCT 45 253 231 240 229.5 54.9 278
4 12h04m pm 228 315 293 311 47 126 95
Computed 4pmGCT 295 298 284 310 41 126 97
5 9h30am 72 138 79 91 41 213 140
Computed 4pmGCT 74 78 82 91 40.5 213 141
6 lOham 70 78 79 91 41 212 136
Computed 4pmGCT 74 78 82 91 40.5 213 141
7 9h25m am 290 267 260 290 188 257 235
Computed 4pmGCT 293 270 260 289 182 256 235
8 lam 330 275 266 295 190 257 235
Computed 4pmGCT 2 278 266 294.5 191 257 235
9 8h 18m am 235 124 166 121 60 201 354
Computed 4pmGCT 226 127 166 121 59 202 354
10 9h8mam 333 92 76 111 148 173 333
Computed 4pmGCT 336 93 76 111 149 176 341
11 1h22m am 97 175 201 181 285 148 117
Computed 4pmGCT 98.5 180.2 201.13 181.59 285.08 144.22 116.74
12 3h24mpm 39.72 252.38 286.2 262.73
Computed 4pmGCT 39.43 252.23 286.12 262.54 235.63 135.92 190.62
13 3h41mpm 53.28 254.2 288.17 263.78 235.8 n.a. 190.73
Computed 4pmGCT 52.1 257.24 287.56 263.57 236.39 136.77 190.52
14 4h18m pm 113 284.11 n.a. 293.46 266.25 n.a. 220.45
15 3h24mpm 53 254.12 288.1 262.73 235.8 135.93 190.72
Computed 4pmGCT 52.1 257.24 287.56 236.57 235.39 135.93 190.52
16 2h22m32 am 256.6 61.73 32.33 46.1 126.67 28.75 65.27
Computed 4pmGCT 263.52 65.98 32.73 46.41 129.95 27.82 64.26
17 4h6m pm 338.4 235.52 193.83 229.2 224.32 177.08 55.83
Computed 4pmGCT 337.52 238.52 193.76 229.15 224.18 177.91 53.86
~
'I
248 Appendix III
1. Brit. Lib., MS Royal 12 F.xv, fol. 153v; Nativity of Edward 11 of

England, 25 April 1284. Born in Camarvon; d. 21 Sept. 1327.
Figura nativitatis Edwardi de Karnarvan anno Christi 1282 imperfecto, 25 die

Aprilis in festo Sancti Marce evangeliste, aureo numero currente per 12, littera
dominicali a. lsta nativitas est coniunctionalis 2, et ante meridiem.
1 2 3 4 5 6
16 Can. 6Leo 26 Leo 15 Virg. 25 Lib. 10 Sag.
Mars: Luna Jupiter:
6 Leo 27Seg.
7 8 9 10 11 12
16 Cap. 6 Aqu. 26 Aqu. 15 Pisc. 25 Ar. 10 Gern.
Satum: Sol: 12 Taur.
34 Cap. Mere. 23 Taur.
Venus: 34 Taur.
2. Brit. Lib., MS Royal 12 F.xv, fol. 153v; Nativity of Edward III of

England, 13 November 1312, 17h 43m 248; Born in Windsor; d. 21 June
1377.
Figura nativitatis Edwardi de Wyndesouer, filius regis Anglie, anno Christi 1312
imperfecto, in festo Sancti Bricij, 13 die Novembris, in principio aurore, hora 17,
minuta 43, secunda 24.
1 2 3 4 5 6
6Seor. 16Seg. 16 Cap 20 Aqu. 15 Pise. 11 Ar.
Venus: Mere.: Luna:
19Seor. 10 Sag. 29 Ar.
Mars: Cauda:
19Seor. 4Cap.
Sol: Satum:
28Seor. 8 Cap.
7 8 9 10 11 12
6 Taur. 16 Gern. 16 Can. 20 Leo. 15 Virg. 11 Lib.
Jupiter: Capud:
26 Taur. 4Can.
Appendix III 249
3. Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Ashmole 192, fol. 109v i Nativity of Edward

IH, 13 November 1312.
Erat hoc schema in Fenestra Domus, quae aliquando fuit Magistri Bruen, Canoni-
cis de Windsor.
Figura maximi Regis Edwardi Tertij hujus Collegij fundatoris Nativitatis, Anno
domini 1312, Nov. 13.
1 2 3 4 5 6
6 Seor. 12 Sag. 16 Cap. 18 Aqu. 15 Pise. 12 Ar.
Mere.: Saturn:
8 Seor. 5 Cap.
Venus:
19 Seor.
Mars:
21 Seor.
Sol:
28 Seor.
7 8 9 10 11 12
6 Taur: 12 Gern. 16 Can. 18 Leo. 15 Virg. 12 Lib.
Jupiter:
27.30 Taur.
Pars fortunae:
26 Taur.
Luna:
8 Taur.
4. Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. ri Coronation of

Edward III, 23 January 1327 (More usually 1326).
Figura coronacionis regis Edwardi 3 a conquesto prout repperi in libro monachi de

eboraco.
1 2 3 4 5 6
18 Gern. 6 Can. 24 Can. 12 Leo. 25 Virg. 9 Seor.
Saturn: Jupiter: Capud: Luna:
5 Can. 6 Leo. 2 Lib. 18 Seor.
250 Appendix III
7 8 9 10 11 12
18 Sag. 6 Cap. 24 Cap. 12 Aqu. 25 Pise. 9 Taur.
Venus: Sol: Mere.: Mars:
23d Cap. 11 Aqu. 15d Aqu. 17 Taur.
5. Brit. Lib., MS Royal 12 F.xvii, fol. 153v ; Nativity of the Black

Prince, 15 June 1330. Born Woodstock; d. 8 June 1376.
Figura nativitatis Edwardi de Wodestok, filius regis Edwardi tertij a conquesto,

anno Christi 1330 imperfecto, 15 die Junij ante meridiem, in festo sanctorum Vici
et Modesti, altitudo soZis 50 gradu.
1 2 3 4 5 6
6 Virg. 5 Lib. 2 Seor. 28 Seor. 29 Sag. 2 Aqu.

Jupiter:
3 Seor.
7 8 9 10 11 12
6 Pisc. 5 Ar. 2 Taur. 28 Taur. 29 Gern. 2 Leo.
Mars: Venus: Sol: Mere.:
11 Taur. 19 Gern. 1 Can. 18 Leo.
Luna: Satum:
12.11.25 Gern. 20 Leo.
6. Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Ashmole 192, fol. 110; Nativity of the Black
Prince, 15 June 1330.
Nativitas Edwardi fiZij regis Edwardi tertii post conquestum 15 die Junij anno
domini 1330. Ex manuscripto veteri Magistri Allen.
1 2 3 4 5 6
9 Virg. 8 Lib. 6 Seor. 3 Saq. 4 Cap. 5 Aqu.

Satum: Caput:
2 Seor. 22 Cap.
Appendix III 251
7 8 9 10 11 12
9 Pisc. 8 Ar. 6 Taur. 3 Gern. 4Can. 11 Leo.
Mars: Luna: Cauda: Jupiter:
11 Taur. 10 Gern. 22 Can. 16 Leo.
Venus:
19 Gern.
Merc.:
18 Gern.
Sol:
1 Can.
7. Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Rawlinson D. 1227, fol. r; Figures for the

nativity of Richard 11, 6 January 1367, 1h; Born in Bordeaux; d. bef. 17
February 1400.
Figura conjunctionis proximo precedans nativitatem regis Richardi 2; post con-

questum, ad meridiem Toleti, Januarii et primis diebus, 21a hora 25 minuto, anno
domini 1367'.
1 2 3 4 5 6
20 Aqu. 29 Pisc. 8 Taur. 14 Gern. 6Can. 27 Can.
7 8 9 10 11 12
20 Leo. 29 Virg. 8Scor. 14Seg. 6Cap. 27 Cap.
Mars: Satum: Jupiter: Sol)
8 Lib 25 Scor. 16Seg. Luna):
Venus: 20 Cap.
20 Sag.
Merc.:
27 Sag.
8. Ibid.
Figura nativitatis eiusdem Ricardi anno et mense predictis, die 6a hora 1a. Sol est
Yleg, Saturn Alcocoden, Cauda primus significator, secundus Mars, tertius
Saturn, quem evadere non patet per naturam.
252 Appendix III
1 2 3 4 5 6
16 Gern. 4Can. 22 Can. 10 Leo. 23 Vir. 7Seor.
Capud: Mars: Saturn:
8 Leo 1OUb. 25 Scor.
7 8 9 10 11 12
16 Sag. 4 Cap. 22 Cap. 10 Aqu. 23 Pisc. 7 Taur.
Jupiter: Merc.: Sol: Luna:
17 Sag. 5 Cap. 25 Cap. 30 Pisc.
Venus Cauda:
26 Sag. 8 Aqu.
9. Oxford, Bod. Ub., MS Rawlinson 0.1227, fot 2v i Figure for the

coronation of Richard 11, 15 July 1377, 20h 18m.
Figura coronacionis regis Ricardi 2 i Londonii, 1SO die Julii, hora 20a, minuta ur,
anno domini 1377.
1 2 3 4 5 6
15 Virg. 15Ub. 14Scor. 10 Sag. 11 Cap. 12 Aqu.
Venus: Jupiter: Luna: Capud:
16 Virg. 21 Ub. 25Scor. 14 Cap.
7 8 9 10 11 12
15 Pisc. 15 Ar. 14 Taur. 10 Gern. 11 Can. 12 Leo.
Saturn: Mars: Sol:
24 Pisc. 30 Taur. 1 Leo.
Merc.:
4 Leo:
10. Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Rawlinson 0.1227, fot 2i Judicial question

concerning Richard 11 for 5 July 1376 at about 9.08 A.M.
Vide quod eventus rei correspondet figure secundum libros iudiciales de interroga-
tionibus.
Appendix III 253
Utrum Ricardus de Burdegal. possidebit regnum Anglie. Hoc questio cum sua
figura facte erant cito post mortem Edwardi principis Wallie et ante mortem
Edwardi regis tertii post conquestum.
1 2 3 4 5 6
17 Virg. 18 Lib. 17 Seor. 13 Sag. 13 Cap. 14 Aqu.
Jupiter: Luna)
Pise.
23 Virg. Satum)
7 8 9 10 11 12
17 Pise. 18 Ar. 17 Taur. 13 Gern. 13 Can. 14 Leo.
Venus: Sol: Mars:
16 Gern. 21 Can. 28 Leo.
Mere:
2 Can.
11. Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Ashmole 393, fol. 109; MS Ashmole 192,
fol. 26. Nativity of Henry V, 16 September 1386 (more usually 1387).
Born in Monmouth; d. 31 Aug.-1 Sept. 1422.
Figura celi presentis nativitatem ad latitudinem 54 graduum, 1376 incompleto,

16 die mensis Septembris, 22 minutis post 11 horam completam. et hec figura
facta ad latitudinem 54 graduum.
1 2 3 4 5 6
28 Seor. 6 Cap. 13 Aqu. 24 Pise. 17 Ar. 8 Taur.

Pars vite: Mars: Pars regis atque
1 Sag. 15 Cap. victorie atque
Pars filiorurn: Cauda: regni:
1 Sag. 16 Cap. 20 Taur.
Pars nobilitatis: Pars amicorum: Pars inimicorum:
16 Sag. 15 Cap. 16 Taur.
254 Appendix III
7 8 9 10 11 12
1
28 Gern. 6 Can. 13 Leo. 24 Virg. 17 Lib. 8Scorp.
Luna: Jupiter: Sol: Venus:
2
7 Can. 28 Leo. 1 Lib. 21 Lib.
Satum: Pars Yleg: Mercur.: Pars
27 Can. 10 Virg. 25 Virg. excellentie:
Caput: Pars planete Pars regni 16 Lib.
16 Can interficientes: atque
3
11 Leo. victorie:
Pars mortis: 24 Virg.
4
27 Leo.
(Pars fortune:
4 Virg.)
In nomine saneta et individue Trinitatis, Patris et Filij, et Spiritus Sancti, incipit

judicium nativitatis cujusdam nobilissimi regis Anglie, scilicet Henrici Quinti, qui
natus est anno domini millesimo cee lxix ineompletus (5) 16 die Septembris, 22
minutis post 11am horam completam.
(1) Ashmole 192: 28 Taur.
(2) ibid.: 28 Virg.
(3) ibid.: Noted in eighth house.
(4) ibid.: 25 Can., ie. the eighth house.
(5) Ashmole 393 has the date corrected in the top margin to '1xxvj';
Ashmole 192: 1376.
12. (North G): Oxford, Bod. Lib., MS Ashmole 369, fol. 182v ; London,
Brit. Lib., MS Egerton 889, fol. 5. See also Cambridge, MS Univ. Lib.
1017 (Ee.III.61), fol. 160v ; Nativity of Henry VI, 5 December 1421, 3h
20m 56s PM; Born in Windsor; d. 21 May 1471.
Nativitas Henrici Sexti, sed secundum Suthwell ascendens nativitatis fuit 22.23
Geminorum, cuius ascentiones 48 g 25 ma.
Figura nativitatis Henrici Sexti anno Christi imperfecto 142r, 5a die Decembris
post meridiem, 3 hora 20 minuta 56 secunda, die Veneris, hora Saturni. Hec
nativitas fuit diurna et est rectificata per Annimodar ad Instar Jovis domus et
Alumbtas coniunctionis precendentis ipsam nativitatem.
Arcus equacionis domorum 42 ga 20 ma. Locus coniunctionis precedentis est 13
gradus Sagittarii, et nota quod in hac figura, cuiuscumque domus cuspis est
minutam proximam in ordinem ad minutam scriptum in angulo. (This effect is
not reproduced below.)
Appendix III 255
1 2 3 4 5 6
15.54 Gern. 3.34 Can. 21.22 Can. 9.52 Leo 22.29 Vir. 5.45 Seor.
Jupiter: Satum: Mercur.:
15.55 Leo. 10.37 Lib. 12.23 Sag.
Caput: Pars fortune: Mars:
25.7 Leo. 2.53 Seor. (1)25.38 Seor.
7 8 9 10 11 12
15.54 Sag. 3.34 Cap. 21.22 Cap. 9.52 Aqu. 22.29 Pisc. 5.45 Taur.
Sol: Venus: Cauda: Luna:
22.44 Sag. 16.12 Cap. 25.7 Aqu. 9.43(2) Taur.
1. Ashmole 369: 21.53 Lib.

2. Ashmole 369: 9.41 Taur.
13. North A:
Cambridge, MS Univ. Lib. Ee.III.61(1017), fol. 160; Nativity of Henry
VI, 6 December 1421, 3hr 41m PM, by author of 'Cum rerum mofu'.
Figura nativitatis illustrissimi principi Regis Henrici Sexti, anno Christi 1421
incomp1eto, post meridiem sexti diei Decembris, hora 3a minuto 4JO. Arcus
equationis . . .
1 2 3 4 5 6
21.49 Gern. 9.26 Can. 27.17 Can. 15.57 Leo. 29.19 Vir. 12.45 Seor.
Jupiter: Satum: Mars:
10.43.44 25.48 Seor.
Caput: Lib. Mere.:
25.7 Leo. 14.12 Sag.
Pars fortune:
21.19 Seor.
7 8 9 10 11 12
21.49 Sag. 9.26 Cap. 27.17 Cap. 15.57 Aqu. 29.19 Pise. 12.45 Taur.
23.47 Sag. 18.1 Cap. 25.7 Aqu. 23.17 Taur.
Hec figura rectificata est per Annimodar medij celi ad Instar Jovis domini, et
A1umptaz coniunctionis precedentis istam nativitam, cuius locus erat 13 gradus
Sagittarii. Hec autem figura et equatw domorum calculata est in gradibus et
minutis secundum tabu1am ascensionum signorum Magistri Johannis de Lineriis
elevatum super 1atitudinem 51 graduum, quam estimo precisiorem pro loco
nativitatis et magis accedentem ad veram latitudinem eiusdem 100 latitudo.
256 Appendix III
14. Cambridge, MS Univ. Lib. Ee.III 61(1017), fols 160v-161;

Comparison of nativity of Henry VI cast by author of 'Cum rerum
motu' (see no. 13), and Roger Bolingbroke and Thomas Southwell.
(North E) (See 13)

Cusp R.B. and T.S. 'Cum rerum' Difference
Aseendent/7 22.25 Gern.lSag. 21.49 Gern.lSag. +0.36
1 3
2/8 9.45 Can. ICap. 9.26 Can. ICap. +0.21
2 4
3/9 27.28 Can. ICap. 27.17 Can. ICap. +0.11
4/10 15.57 Leo/Aqu.
Sill 29.31 Vir. /Pies. 29.19 Vir. /Pise. +0.12
6/12 13.8 Seor. !Taur. 12.45 Seor. !Taur. +0.23
1,2,3,4. MS: Taur.
15. North B: Cambridge, MS Univ. Lib. Ee.III. 61(1017), fol. 16r;

Nativity of Henry VI attributed to John Holbroke by author of 'Cum
rerum mo tu'.
Figura Magistri Johannis Holbrok quam rectificauit per Annimodar medij celi cum
confirmatione eiusdem.
Figura nativitatis Henrici Sexti secundum Magistrum J. Holbroke, cuius archus
ascensionis est 42 ga 22ma, et est cuiusque domus cuspis minutam proximam ad
minutam scriptum in angulo.
1 2 3 4 5 6
15.56 Gern. 3.36 Can. 21.23 Can. 9.53 Leo. 22.30 Vir. 5.47 Seor.
Jupiter: Saturn: Mere.:
15.56 Leo. 10.43 Lib. 14.12 Sag.
Caput: Mars:
25.7 Leo 25.48 Seor.
7 8 9 10 11 12
15.56 Sag. 3.36 Cap. 21.23 Cap. 9.53 Aqu. 22.30 Pise. 5.47 Taur.
22.44 Sag. 18.1 Cap. 25.7 Aqu. 23.0 Taur.
16. Gloucester Cathedral, MS 21, fol. 9v ; Nativity of Edward IV,

28 April 1442, 14h 22m 32s. Born at Rouen; d. April 1483.
Nativitas Edwardi Quarti verificata secundum viam Ptholomei, anno Christi 1442
imperfecto, in Aprilis, completis 27 diebus, 14 horis, 22 minutis, 32 secundis,
Appendix III 257
secundum calculationem Magistri Johanni Arg. sed calculabat secundum tabulas

Norwici. Littera dominicalis fuit g., hora Veneris.
Sed nota hic quod tempus ascendentis fuit falsam per unam horam . . .
1 2 3 4 5 6
3.33 Pise. 11 Ar. 18 Taur. 20.7 Gern. 14 Can. 8 Leo.
Jupiter: Satum: Cauda:
18.45 Ar. 5.16 Gern. 20.41 Can.
Venus: Mere.: Mars:
2.20 Taur. 1.44 Gern. 6.40 Leo.
Sol:
16.6 Taur.
7 8 9 10 11 12
4. Virg. 11. Lib. 18 Seor. 20.7 Sag. 14 Cap. 8 Aqu.
Pars fortune: Luna: Caput:
23 Virg. 16.36 Sag. 20.41 Cap.
17. Gloucester Cathedral, MS 21, fot. 9 j Nativity of Edward V of

V
England, 2 November 1470,4.06 P.M. Born in Sanctuary at

Westminsterj rnurdered by September 1483.
Nativitas Edwardi, promogeniti Edwardi Quarti regis Anglie, fuit die Veneris,
scilicet 2 die Novembris, post meridiem completis 3 horis 33 minutis. Alumtaz
coniunctionis precedentis Mars, anno domini 1470 imperfecto. Tempus equalum
die 2, hora 4, minuta 6.
1 2 3 4 5 6
14.19 Taur. 6.30 Gern. 27.21 Gern. 18.35 Can. 26 Leo. 2 Lib.
Jupiter: Satum: Venus:
25.50 Taur. 27.5 Virg. 13.50 Lib.
7 8 9 10 11 12
14.19 Seor. 6.30 Sag. 27.20 Sag. 18.35 Cap. 26 Aqu. 4 Ar.
Mere.: Luna:
25.50 Seor. 8.24 Pise.
Sol:
19.12 Seor.
Mars:
14.19 Seor.
Appendix IV:
Bibliographical Guide to
Tecnnical Practice of
Astrology
The purpose of this appendix is to provide a guide for anyone who might
wish to understand or duplicate the astrological interpretation of the
schemes and situations discussed in this book. The authorities relied on by
medieval English astrologers are not available in modern critical editions,
with a very few exceptions. 1 will give an indication here of the most
important classical Greek and Latin, Arabic and medieval authorities.
The books which English astrologers used to teach them their craft can
be checked from Appendices 1 and 11. Classical authors clearly remained
authoritative and the works of Ptolemy, Dorotheus, and Firmicus Mater-
nus appear, though just as popular are pseudonymous works such as the
Centiloquium attributed to Ptolemy, or Aristotle's supposed Secreta secre-
torum. Despite the continued respect for classical Greek and Latin astrol-
ogy which this indicates, medieval astrology is based essentially on Arabic
authorities. The three 'most held' authors would appear to have been
Albumasar, Alcabicius, and Alkindi, with Messahalla, Haly Abenragel
and Abraham ibn Ezra bringing up the rear. As might be expected, shorter
compendiums, such as Albumasar's Flores astronomiae, which takes the
prize as the most-held text among the manuscripts listed in Appendix I
(seven copies), seems to have been more popular than more developed
and 'harder' texts, such as Albumasar's Introductorium in ariem astronomiae.
Of these texts, few are readily available, but see Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos,
known in its Latin translation as Quadripartitum, ed. and trans. by F. E.
Robbins, Loeb Classics (Cambridge, 1940), which lays down the principles
of the science of judicial astrology. The fundamental study of classical
astrological practice remains that of A. Bouche Leclercq, L'Astrologie
grecque (Paris, 1889) repr.1963, Culture et Civilisation, Brussels.
Among the Arabic astrologers, a taste of Albumasar is available in a text
which was never translated into Latin, The Thousands of Abu 'Mashar, ed.
David Pingree ~London, 1968) and similarly The astrological his tory 01 Masha
'allah ed. and trans. E. S. Kennedy and David Pingree (Cambridge, Mass.
1971). The other texts are only available in fifteenth-century editions,
which are listed in F. J. Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological
Sciences in Latin Translation (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1956).
One of the more interesting features of medieval English library hold-
ings on astrology is the popularity of contemporary English authorities
such as William Merle, Robert Grosseteste and John Ashenden, all notable
258
Appendix IV 259
writers on astrological weather prediction. Writers associated with the

'Merton School', discussed in Chapter Four, such as Simon Bredon,
Richard of Wallingford and William Rede are also much in evidence,
largely because of their useful service in customising astrological and
astronomical tables for English use. The Calendar of Nicholas of Lynn has
been edited by Sigmund Eisner (London, 1980) and a short astrological
tract by Richard of Wallingford, the Exafrenon, has been edited with
commentary by John North in his Richard of Wallingford, 3 vols (Oxford,
1976) 1.179-243; 11.83--126.
Medieval scientific astrology was fiendishly difficult. Among twentieth-
century writers, the most enticing introduction to at least apart of the
medieval world-view determined by astrology is C. S. Lewis's The Dis-
carded Image (Cambridge, 1963), especially the opening chapters. But
astrology was much more complicated than Lewis' s elegant essay indi-
cates. A more useful guide to the basic principles of scientific astrology is
provided by Patrick Curry in hls Prophecy and Power (Princeton, New
Jersey, 1989).
Those who wish to really understand medieval astrological practice
must consult the works of John North. North provides a short guide to
astrology and geomancy, based on what the poet Geoffrey Chaucer may
have known, in Chaucer's Universe (Oxford, 1988). North bases his account
on the Introductorium written, or rather compiled, by Alcabicius in about
948/9. This is an excellent choice, given the prominence of Alcabicius on
medieval English library shelves. North gives detailed attention to the
astrological house system in Horoscopes and History (London, 1986) and to
the theory of the great conjunctions in 'Astrology and the Fortunes of
Churches', Centaurus 24 (1980) 181-211. North's other articles, listed in
the Bibliography, should be consulted for the astronomy whlch was the
essential precursor and companion to all astrological interpretations in the
middle ages.
Willy Hartner gave a comprehensive account of the astronomical and
astrological interpretation of a horoscope in his imposing article, 'The
Mercury Horoscope of Marcantonio Michlel of Venice' in Oriens-Occidens.
Festschrift zum 6O.Geburstag (Hildesheim, 1968), pp. 440-95. I have relied
on North and Hartner for my (always implicitly tentative) interpretations
of astrological data. There are other useful guides to astrological practice
listed in Chapter Seven, n.12.
Mastery of astrology was rare in the Middle Ages and difficult even
today when the burden of calculating planetary positions and house
boundaries can be delegated to a computer program. Those who attempt
to check medieval schemes on modem software should note the modem
complication of standard time zones and errors introduced by adopting
tables calculated for some place other than that associated with the
scheme, and precession. Modem astrological practice is different in many
respects to that of medieval astrology, particularly in the manner of
calculating the house boundaries on which so much depended. Having
made these warnings, I add another. Medieval astrology is infectiously
involving and can wipe years off the span of your research career!
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Index
Arabic names are indexed according to their most convenient and fre-
quently encountered Latin form. Medieval names are indE!Xed by their
forenames, with some cross-referencing to well-known surnames.
Abdallah, 104-5 Ashenden, John, see John

Abraham ibn Ezra, 54, 109, 258 Ashenden
Adam, 112 Ashmole, Elias, 38, 122, 129, 174
Adam of Usk, 93-4, 195, 196, 197 astrology,
Adelard of Bath, 10, 27, 28-31, annual predictions, 51, 184
167, 170, 171 and anthropology, 8-10
Alan of Lille, 167 medieval books and readers of,
Albertus Magnus, 55 37-57
Speculum astronomie, 15, 44, 103, debate, 11-15, 44-5, 50, 168-9
200 dignity, 130, 183
Albumasar, 7, 13, 25, 26, 30, 47, disputation 53, 179
50, 54, 55, 86, 209, 210, 258 elections, 117
Introductorium maius, 76, 90, 209, games of, 134, 159-60
258 houses, 130, 170
Alcabitius, 47, 51, 54, 63, 108, 109, interrogations, 117
135, 206, 258, 259 judicial questions, 105, 126
alchemy, 38, 47, 54, 136, 174 Lord of the Year, 68, 183
Alcocoden, 130, 144, 210 lots, 118, 123, 206
Alfonso X, King of Castile and manuscripts, 38-9, 174-5
Leon, 111, 160 modern scholars of, 39
Alkindi, 54, 168, 258 and National Socialism, 166
Introductorium, 103, 100, 101, nativities, 117 see also
100-1 horoscopes
Allen, Thomas, 38, 124 resistance to, 75-6
almanacs, 46, 184 revolutions, 73, 117
Alumptez, 130 Pars Vite, 144
Andalo di Negro, 151 technical practice, 258-9
Annimodar, 118, 125, 127, 146, 148, traditional origins of, 25-6
209 weather prediction,
Anselm of Canterbury, 12,84 (astrometeorology) 73, 80,
Aomar,54 90, 170
Argentine, John, see John astronornical instruments, 41, 46,
Argentine 47, 61, 64, 97, 175, 178, 179,
Aristotle, 6-8, 26, 28, 35, 148, 167, 180, 198, 212,
258 astrolabe, 27, 63, 133, 134, 175,
arithmomachy, 159, 218 183,212
Arthur, legendary king of equatorium, 47, 134
England, 28 quadrant, 175, 198
273
274 Index
astronomical and astrological Caxton, William 26

tables, 27, 45, 47, 50, 51, 55, Charles V, King of France, 15, 20,
60, 61, 62, 64, 65, 68, 147, 22, 52, 93, 108, 110, 116, 120,
150, 156, 170, 179, 180, 181, 121, 202, 203, 212
182, 188--91, 202, 216, 241 Charles VI, King of France, 74, 92,
astrological tokens, 103, 106-7 97,114
Augustine, 12, 24, 83, 127, 169 Charles VII, King of France, 111,
Averroes, 7, 11, 169 128
Avicenna, 11, 169 Charles VIII, King of France, 52,
112,116
Bacon, Roger, see Roger Bacon Charles Bothe, 5~1
Baghdad,2 Chaucer, Geoffrey see Geoffrey
Bale, John, 40, 74 Chaucer
Bartholemew Anglicus, 40 chess, 218, 160, 218 see also games
Bartholomew of Pairna, 109 Chigi, Agostino, 124
Bede, 28--9, 97, 112, 171 chiromancy, 41, 65, 203
Belle, Simon, 128 Cicero, De natura deorum, 54
Bernard Silvestris, 167 Coifi,28
Bertrand Duguesclin, 198 Coluccio Salutati, 13,14
Boerio, John Baptista, 161, 163, compotus, 38
219 conjunctions
Bolingbroke, Roger, see Roger 1345, 76-7, 85-7, 88, 90, 186,
Bolingbroke 190
Bologna, University, 51, 53, 178 1349, 190
Bonatti, Guido, 109, 109, 172 1357, 74, 87, 19~1
Book of Nine Judges, 55, 107 1365, 74, 87, 88--9, 19~1
Bredon, Simon see Simon Bredon 1368-74, 191
Bruerne, Richard, 122-3, 208 1385,94
1437,128
Caerleon, Lewis of, see Lewis of courts, 106, 110
Caerleon Creton, Jean, see Jean Creton
calendars, 22, 80, 81, 182, 259 Cum rerum motu, 138, 145-7, 149,
Cambridge University, 44, 51-3, 150, 151, 156, 157, 255--6
150, 156, 163, 234-7 Curry, Patrick, 5
Clare College, 43, 56, 64, 234-5;
Corpus Christi College, 235; Daniel of Morley, 27, 167
Gonville and Caius College, 40, Dante, 32, 17232
56,67,235; Dee, John, 38, 120, 174, 180
Gonville Hall, 146; Digby, Kenelm, 38
King's College, 55, 56; Dionysius Areopagite, 6
King' s Hall, 44, 236; Dorotheus of Sidon, 54, 206, 258
Pembroke College, 146, 136; dreams and dreambooks, 47, 54,
Peterhouse, 40, 43, 56, 57, 64, 100,200
146, 150, 236; Duke of Berry and Auvergne, 23,
Queen's College, 40, 237 26
Campanus of Novara, 118
Cassiodorus, 13, 25, 170 Edmund Lacy, 135
Catherine of Valois, 131, 132, 133, Edouart Wihrell, 114
134 Edward 11, King of England, 121,
Index 275
122, 123, 195, 248 98, 99, 100, 102-7, 142, 162,
Edward III, King of England, 9, 180, 198--9, 200, 201, 202, 203
15, 19, 21, 33, 46, 62, 67, 78, George Scorf, 113, 114, 204
79, 80-3, 85, 88, 89, 90, 91, George, Duke of Clarence, 155
92, 110, 113, 122, 123, 124, Gerard of Cremona, 109--179
136, 138, 152, 193, 208, 248-50 Gervais Chrestien, 52, 109, 112
Edward, the Black Prince, 119, Geuffroy de Lestainx, 115
122, 124, 127, 209, 250-1 Gilbert Kymer, 55, 140, 141, 145
Edward IV, King of England, 23, Giles of Colonna, 173
33, 146, 154, 157, 256 Giovanni Villani, 186
Edward V, King of England, 23, Gregory the Great, Pope, 170
157,257 Grosseteste, Robert, see Robert
Edward VI, King of England, 60, Grosseteste
162 Guido Bonatti, see Bonatti, Guido
Edward of Angouleme, 126
Edwin, King of Northumbria, 28, Halbourt de Troyes, Jean, 127
171 Haly Abenragel, 45, 47, 51, 52, 54,
Egidius, 54, 55 55, 63, 71, 106, 107, 150, 151,
Egyptian days, 84 258
Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Henry I, King of England, 33, 173
Gloucester, 17, 138, 139, 140, Henry 11, King of England, 29--31
141, 142, 144, 145, 162 Henry III, King of England, 198
Elizabeth I, Queen of England, Henry IV, King of England, 97,
124, 161 115, 116, 127, 128, 130, 131,
Elizabeth, Duchess of York, 156, 140, 152, 196, 205
162 Henry V, King of England, 24,
Erasmus, 161 121, 127, 128, 129, 131, 132,
Euclid's Geometry, 51 133, 134, 136, 137, 138, 144,
145, 146--7, 149, 151, 152, 160,
Firminus de Bellavalle, 109, 186 162, 207, 210, 211, 212, 253-4
Forman, Simon, 105, 119, 202 Henry VI, King of England, 10,
Frederick 11, Holy Roman 23, 54, 120, 127, 128, 138, 139,
Emperor, 31, 111, 171 140, 144, 145, 146, 148, 149,
friars, 28, 39, 49 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 156,
Froissart, Jean, see Jean Froissart 157, 163, 213, 254-6
Fusoris, Jean see Jean Fusoris Henry VII, King of England, 2,
games, 218, see also chess 123, 132, 157, 161, 162, 163,
164,219
Gautier le Breton, 100-1, 103, Henry VIII, King of England, 40,
104-7 161,
Gazius, Antonius, 120 Henry Beaufort, 121
Geber, 63 Henry de Grosmont, Duke of
Geoffrey, master, 206 Lancaster, 113
Geoffrey Chaucer, 47, 91, 136, Henry Gruftorreus, alias
199, 207, 259 Cranebroke, 45, 74
Geoffrey of Meaux, 77, 186, 191 Henry of Hesse, 186
Geoffrey of Monmouth, 28, 161, Henry Horne, 45
171 Henry Jolypace, 47
geomancy, 41, 54, 55, 60, 63, 65, Henry of Langestein, 13, 14, 169
276 Index
Henry, Earl of Richmond, 156 James III, King of Scotland, 160

Henry Seldem, 115, 205 James IV, King of Scotland, 219
Henry Selder (or Salder), 205 Japhar,54
Herman of Dalmatia, 167 Jaspar Fyloll, 176
Hermes, 54, 55, 104, 106, 107 Jean du Berle, 133
hermeticism, 38 Jean Creton, 94, 95, 97, 197-8
horoscopes, 3G-2, 47, 81, 10&-9, Jean the Fearless, 107
11&-19, 122, 127, 128, 137, Jean Froissart, 99, 126
138, 146, 155, 162, 165, 171, Jean Fusoris, 132, 133, 134, 136,
199, 203, 207, 213, 241-57 137, 160, 211, 212
of Charles V, King of France, Jean Gerson, 111, 168, 204
120 Jean the Good, 107, 106, 105
of Charles VII, King of France, Jean de Linieres, 51, 55, 183
128 Jean de Murs, 109, 186
of Edward II, King of England Joachim of Fiore, 76, 90, 186, 195,
119, 121, 122, 248 197
of Edward III, King of England Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales,
119, 122, 124, 125, 192, 22, 49, 8G-81
24&-50 Joan of Navarre, 50, 121, 136
of Edward the Black Prince, 119, Joan, Queen, 122
122, 192, 25G-l John I, of Aragon, 132
of Edward IV, King of England, John, King of France, 113
256 John XXIII, Pope, 132
of Edward V, King of England, John Alward, 47
257 John, Argentine, 17, 23, 56, 141,
of Frederick II, Emperor, 31, 171 142, 143--4, 157, 160, 162, 163,
of Henry II, 31 217
of Henry IV, King of England, John Ashenden, 21, 22, 47, 54, 55,
128, 131 56, 58, 65, 66, 69, 72, 73, 74,
of Henry V, King of England, 75, 77, 79, 82, 85, 86, 88, 89,
127, 128, 129, 253--4 91, 93, 113, 137, 148, 150, 152,
of Henry VI, King of England, 155, 162, 184, 185, 186,
127, 128, 144, 146-7, 254-6 18&-91, 193, 195, 204, 258
of John, Duke of Bedford, 128 Summa judicialis de accidentibus
of John Fastolf, 128 mundi, 55, 58, 74, 85, 87,
of Philip the Good, 128 90, 148, 150, 186, 18&-90,
of Richard II, King of England, 202
124, 125, 126, 251-3 John Bamburgh, 47
of Richard Neville, 120 John, Duke of Bedford, 22, 47, 55,
of Thomas Montague, 128 128, 162, 180
Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, John, Duke of Berry, 20, 99
22, 42, 49, 55, 74, 114, 120, John Cobbledik, 43
122, 128, 139, 140, 142, 156, John Crophill, 23, 154, 163
162, 176, 180 John Damian, 219
Hyginus, Astronomia, 54 John Ergum, 41, 45, 46, 177, 181
John Fastolf, Sir, 128, 145, 210
Isabella (Isabeau) of France, 106-7, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster,
113, 116, 205 50,80,91
Isidore of Seville, 13, 25, 168, 170 John Gisbaume, 46, 47
Index 277
John Gower, 100 Lewis of Caerleon, 23, 56--7, 120,

John de Greenborough, 176 123, 128, 138, 145, 150, 156,
John Harwe, 140 157, 162, 208, 217
John Hody, 139 libraries, medieval, 40-5, 48-51,
John Holbroke, 56, 138, 145, 53-5, 56, 220-39
146-8, 150, 151, 153, 155, Lilly, William, 120
156--7, 21tHi, 217, 256 Livio, Tito, 131
John Huss, 16 Louis 11 of Anjou, 107
John Inglewood, 140 Louis, Duke of Orleans, 132
John Killingworth, 56, 156
John Kingestone, 46, 47 maeroeosm and mieroeosm, 167
John Langton, 144, 146--7, 153 magie and soreery, 94, 139-41,
John Leland, 40, 175 152, 155, 166, 213
John of London, 41, 45, 70, 78, Malinowski, Bronislaw, 5, 8
177, 183, 185 Mancini, Domenieo, 157
John Loukyn, 49 Manilius,3
John Lydgate, 100, 173 manuseripts, 220-33
John Manby, 46 Brussels, BibI. Royale MS, 930,
John Maudith, 56, 62 115, 205; BibI. Royale MS
John de Medylton, 196 950tHi, 107, 202; BibI.
John de Montfort, 113, 204 Royale MS 10319, 107, 203
John Philipp, 47 Cambridge, Corpus Christi
John de Ponte of Lyons, 190 College, MS 37, 44, 176; MS
John Randolph, friar, 23, 50, 221, 45, 177; MS 255, 218
120-2, 139, 140, 156, 162-3, Emmanuel College, MS 74,
208 185
John RusselI, 140 Fitzwilliam Museum, MS
John Saero Boseo, 40, 46, 47, 51, Additional 261, 34, 173
52, 179 Gonville and Caius College,
John of Salisbury, 29-38, 171 MS 54, 67, 183; MS 78, 67,
Policraticus, 29, 84 183; MS 95, 67 183; MS 115,
John Somer, 21, 22, 45, 49-50, 56, 67, 183; MS 147, 67, 183;
80, 81, 152, 156, 162, 192 MS 242, 67, 183; MS 254,
John Somerset, 140, 144, 146--7, 67, 183; MS 468, 67, 183;
153 MS 483, 67, 183
John Stacy, 23, 155, 161, 217 Magdalene College, MS
John Steyke, 42 F.4.13,42, 176; MS Pepys
John Thorpe, 26, 33--6, 79, 100, 1662, 44, 176;
101, 102 St John's College, MS 7, 98,
John Trendeley, 45 198; MS 109, 42, 175;
John Walter, 46, 56, 156, 217 Trinity College, MS 0.5.26,
John Whethamstede, 49, 55 75, 185; MS 1447, 106, 107,
John Wyclif, 16, 172 202, 203, 213;
Trinity Hall, MS 17, 98
Laet, Gaspard, 160 University Library, MS
Laurent Muste, 210 Ee.III.61, 120, 138, 144, 145,
Leland, John, 74, 125 208, 214, 254-6; MS Ii.I.15,
Levi ben Gerson, 77, 86, 186 45, 177; MS IL1.27, 74, 185;
Levi-Strauss, Claude, 6 MS ILI.1, 50, 178;
278 Index
Edinburgh, University Library, MS Ashmole 369,138,213,

MS 126, 44, 176 254; MS Ashmole 393,72,
Gloueester Cathedral, MS 21, 74, 129, 130-1, 184, 185,
74, 141-3, 150, 158, 185, 211, 253-4; MS Ashmole
214, 216, 25Cr-7; MS 25, 44, 576, 87, 194; MS Ashmole
177 789,51, 178; MS Ashmole
London, British Library: MS 1427,218; MS Ashmole
Additional 5467, 34, 173; 1522, 46, 177; MS Ashmole
MS Additional 47680, 33, 1831, 98, 198; MS Ashmole
79, 173, 191; MS Arundel 1976, 49, 178; MS Auet.
66, 106, 202; MS Arundel 3.5.29, 42, 176; MS Auet.
332, 46, 177; MS Cotton F.3.13,47, 177; MS Auet.
Julius F.v, 218; MS F.5.23, 46, 177; MS Auet.
Egerton 889, 138, 146, 150, F.29, 47, 178; MS Bodley
151, 213, 254; MS Hadey 369,87, 194; MS Bodley
1811; MS Royal App. 85, 31; 463, 135, 212; MS Bodley
MS Royal 12 B. vi, 219; MS 581, 15, 17, 21, 33, 98-104,
Royal 12, c'v, 33, 99, 173, 111, 132, 147, 161, 173,
199; MS Royal 12 C.xvili, 198-201; MS Bodley 679, 45,
69, 183; MS Royal 12.E.xv, 177; MS Bodley 714, 87,
33, 34, 173; MS Royal 12 E 194; MS Bodley 943, 26,
xxv, 27, 64, 170, 182;MS 170; MS Canon mise. 24,
Royal 12 F.xvii, 74, 81, 119, 120,208; MS Canon mise.
121, 122, 123, 124, 185, 192, 191, 53, 179; MS Digby 53,
207, 248, 250; MS Royal 12 44, 177; MS Digby 57, 47,
G.iv, 44, 176; MS Royal 17 177; MS Digby 147, 47; MS
D.i, 34, 173; MS Royal Digby 92, 45, 47, 177, 178;
App. 85, 31, 171; MS Sloane MS Digby 93, 50, 178; MS
286, 67, 182; MS Sloane 323, Digby 176, 63-77, 82, 85-9,
34, 106, 174, 202; MS Sloane 181-7,193-5; MSDigby
407, 120, 208; MS Sloane 225, 75, 185; MS Douee 129,
636,80, 192; MS Sloane 46, 177; MS Fairfax 27, 67,
2464, 34, 173; 68, 182; MS Laud.mise. 662,
Royal Astronomical SOciety, 67, 182, 183; MS Laud mise.
MS QB.7/1021, 50, 64, 178, 674,81, 192; MS Rawlinson
182; C.117, 45, 177; MS
Royal College of Physicians, Rawlinson C.328, 45, 177;
MS 358, 44, 176, 177; MS MS Rawlinson C.S38, 34,
390, 74, 185, 216 174; MS Rawlinson C.677,
Oxford, Balliol College, MS 285, 46, 177; MS Rawlinson
64,182 D.238, 44, 177; MS
Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson D.1227, 81,
Ashmole 4, 33, 99, 173, 199; 124-6, 126, 192, 209, 215,
MS Ashmole 192, 72, 81, 249, 251-3; MS SeIden
122, 124, 129, 130, 184, 192, supra 25, 45, 177; MS
208, 209, 211, 249, 250, SeIden supra 26, 45, 177;
253-4; MS Ashmole 304, 49, MS SeIden supra 77,219
178; MS Ashmole 346, 218; Corpus Christi College, MS
MS Ashmole 360, 50, 178; 44, 47, 178; MS 92, 33, 173;
Index 279
MS 116, 53, 179; MS 123, Merton College, see Oxford

SO, 178; MS 151,lSO, 216; Messahallah, 109, 258
MS 243, 49, 55, 178; MS Michael of Northgate, 41, 45, 177
255, 218; MS 283, 45, 177 Michael Seot, 31-2
Hertford College, MS D.2, Michiel, Marcantonio, 124
34,174 Mirandola, Pico della, 11, 13, 14
Lincoln College, MS monk of Evesham, 94,196
Cod.Lat.182,46, 64, 177,
182 Nativitas noctU17Ul, 129-36
Merton College, MS 259, necromancy, 108, 109
63, 65, 181, 182; MS 281, 65, Nennius,29
182; MS 294, 65, 182 Nicholas de Hepworth, 50
New College, MS 282, 43, Nicholas of Lynne, 22, 41, 50, 67,
176 BO, 81, 122, 152, 182, 192, 208,
Oriel College, MS 23, 74, 259
77, 85, 185, 186, 193; MS Nicholas Sandwich, 21, 62, 65, 90,
235, 87, 194, 202 190
St John's College, MS 164, Nicole Oresme, 13, 14, 15, 103,
107, 108, 120; MS 172, 47, 107, 111, 168, 169, 195, 203-4
177; MS 178, 46, 177, 203 Tractatus contra astrologos, 110
Trinity College, MS 17, 50, Quotlibeta, 110, 169
178; MS 444, 49, 178 numerology,38
Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale,
MS fr. 1348, 107, 202; MS occult revival, 165
fr. 1349, 107, 202; MS fr. Oldcastle Revolt, 136
1348, 107, 203; MS lat 6276, Oresme, Nicole, see Nicole
219; MS lat 7277, 115, 205; Oresme
MS lat.7443, 127, 210; MS Oxford University, 14, 16, 51-3,
nouv.acq. lat.398, 127, 210; 59, 62, 91, 140, 155-6, 163,
Westminster, 'Lytlington 179,237-8
Missal', 98, 198; Liber All Souls College, 42, 54, 176,
Regalis, 98, 198 238
see also manuscripts listed 188-91 Balliol College, 44
(MSS of John Ashenden) and Canterbury College, 44
220-33 (Appendix I) which Corpus Christi College, 44
have not been indexed. Duke Humphrey's Library, 42,
Maudith, 181 237-8
Margaret, Countess of Richmond, Durham College, 46, 176, 238
156 Lincoln College, 176, 238
Margery Jourdemayne, 139 Merton College, 21, 40, 43, 47,
Marshall, Roger, see Roger 57, 59, 64, 75, BO, 85, 87,
Marshall 90, 149, 155, IBO, 193, 238,
Mary Bohun, 129 259
Maternus, Firmicus, 258 Merton College masters, Hugh
medical astrology 43,44,51,52, de Staunton, IBO; John
BO, 154, 157-8, 161, 176, 177, Ashton, 186; Ralph Strode,
181, 207, 213-4, 215, 216 91; Richard Baron, IBO;
melothesia, 13 Robert Brigham, 61, Robert
Merlin, 29, 97 Hedeshaie, IBO; Roger
280 Index
Gates, 61, Thomas Martyn, prophecy, 20, 21, 33, 34, 91-94,
60, William Duffield, 61 see 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 161, 197
also John Ashenden, John Ptolemy, Oaudius, 3, 7, 47, 55,
Kyngestone, John 151, 168, 201, 215, 258
Gisbourne, Reginald Almagest, 51, 53, 55, 60, 179, 180
Lambourne, Simon Bredon, Centiloquium, 51, 135, 201, 258
William Rede and Ptolemies of Egypt, 26
New College, 42, 43, 47, 176, Quadripartitum (Tetrabiblos), 43,
240 46, 51, 52, 54-5, 61, 63, 71,
Oriel College, 43, 240 90, 151, 183, 201, 206
University Library, 40
Ralph Hoby, 145
palmistry, 36, 38, 54 Randolph Drewe, 55
Paris, University 16, 36, 51-2, 75, Rawlinson, Thomas, 38, 98
112, 135, 169 Raymond of Marseille, 27, 55
1270 Condemnations, 14 Reagan, Nancy, 2, 165
1277 Condemnations, 14, 32, Reginald Lamboume, 21, 65, 69,
170 70 71, 72, 78, 93, 183, 185,
Parron, William, 161, 163, 219 187-8
Pastons, 23 religious houses (mostly
Patrice Beriulz, 115, 205 conceming books and
Paulinus, 28 libraries)
Pelerin de Prusse, 103, 108,203 Canterbury, St Augustine's, 41,
Pellitus, 28 43, 53-4, 175, 177
Perscrutator of York, 50, 54, 72, 74 Bodmin, Franciscan convent, 50
Peter Buxton, 205 Canterbury, Christ Church
Peter Exton, 115,205 Benedictine cathedral
Peter Lombard, 6 priory, 41, 43, 44, 45
Peter of Spain, 109 Coventry, Benedictine cathedral
Phelippe de Bardiz, 114 priory,46
Philip the Good, Duke of Durham, Benedictine cathedral
Burgundy,128 priory,43
Philip tl:e Hardy, Duke of Leicester, St Mary's, 41, 43
Burgundy, 104, 105, 107 Luffield, Syon Bridgettine
Philip VI, King of France, 85 abbey,41,42,43,175
Philippe de Mezieres, 109, 110, Merton, Augustinian priory, 46
203 Muchelney, Benedictine abbey,
physiognomy, 34, 38, 41, 50, 162, 46,64
200,202 St Alban's, Benedictine abbey,
Pico della Mirandola, 44, 74, 169, 43,48-9
170, 185 Thurgarton, Augustinine priory,
Pierre d' Ailly, 111, 204 44
Pierre d'lliacq, 114 York, Austin Friars, 41-2, 43,
Pierre de Navarre, 132 45, 54, 175, 177
plague, 45, 76, 92, 186 Richard 11, King of England 20,
Plato,6 21, 33, 34, 91-94, 96, 97, 110,
Platonism, 167 111, 113, 114, 116, 126, 127,
Pol de Berthol, 115 136, 138, 140, 147, 163, 170,
Index 281
173, 196, 197, 198, 200, 203, Roger Oliver, 140

205, 209, 215, 151-3 see also Roland Scriptoris, 106, 107, 202,
Oxford, Bod.Lib., Bodley 581 210
Richard ill, King of England, 23,
155, 156, 157, 217 Sacrobosco, see John Sacro Bosco
Richard of Bury, 61, 62, 82, 85, 90, Salutati, Coluccio, 13, 14, 169
181 Savile, Henry of Banke, 38, 174,
Richard Camsale, 64, 181 199
Richard Carre, 47 scholar king, 25, 111-12
Richard Courtenay, Bishop of Secreta secretorum, 26, 33--6, 53, 55,
Norwich, 132, 133, 134, 136, 79, 111, 163, 172-3, 191, 258
137,211 Simon Bredon, 21, 56, 60, 62, 63,
Richard, Duke of York, 47 64, 69, 78, 90-1, 156, 181, 259
Richard Magdelen, 94, 95, 96, 196 Simon Burley, 99, 173
Richard Monk, 47, 178 Simon Magus, 28
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Somerset, John, see John Somerset
120 Sommaia, Andrea da, 169
Richard Pole, SO Southwell, Thomas, see Thomas
Richard Trewythian, 154--5, 163 Southwell
Richard de Vinderose, 115 Spiricus the astrologer, 160
Richard of Wallingford, 47, 48, 50, Stacy, 156
54, 56, 72, 80, 81, 136, 156, Stephen Tempier, 15, 73, 84
162, 178, 184, 209, 259 Symon de Phares, 17, 52, 73, 74,
ExafTenon, 67, 184, 259 81-82, 92, 93, 112-6, 127, 128,
Canon supra kalendarium, 67, 80 137, 152, 179, 185, 198, 204
Robert Everdone, 46
Robert Godefroy, 107 Tempier, Stephen, see Stephen
Robert Grosseteste, 12, 21, 32, 33, Tempier
40, SO, 54, 72, 67, 73, BO, 112, Templars, 195
168, 169, 179, 184, 258 Thebit, 40, 55
Robert Ho1cot, 62 Theodore, master, 31-2, 53
Robert Holyngbome, 44 Thomas, Betson, 42,175
Robert Kilwardby, 15, 73 Thomas Blake, 23, 155, 156, 217
Robert, Earl of Leicester, 27 Thomas Blunt, 115
Robert de Marmillion, 109 Thomas Bradwardine, 22, 62, 65,
Robert Mamer, 140 81-4, 87, 90, 110, 112, 172,
Robert Tresillian, 23, 105 192
Robertus Anglicus, 179 Sermo epinicius, 89, 192-3
Roger Bacon, 15,33, 35-6, 41, 49, Thomas Bungey, 49
54, 59, 93, 112, 161, 172, 174, Thomas Burdett of Arowe, 155,
178, 183 217
Roger Bolingbroke, 23, 138, 139, Thomas Chichele, 42, 54, 176, 180
140, 141, 143-5, 148, 149, 152, Thomas Cory, 45
ISS, 156, 161-3, 255 Thomas Dryfeld, 42, 176
Roger Gates, 181 Thomas Dun, 46
Roger Hereford, 47, 50, 54, 55 Thomas Favent, 94
Roger Marshall, 145-6, 153, 215 Thomas Fitzralf, 62
Roger de Nottingham, 50 Thomas Goldstone, 45
282 Index
Thomas Gosse, 48 Wharton, George, 122, 129

Thomas Hoccleve, 100 William Bateeombe, 46
Thomas Lynne, 46 William Bateman, 66-67
Thomas Kilwardby, 84 William Charite, 41, 175
Thomas Kyngesbury, 49 William Cheryte, see William
Thomas Montague, 128 Charite
Thomas Morstede, 140 William of Clara, 41
Thomas Ruvel, 50 William of Conches, 167
Thomas Samford, 139 William Derby, 114
Thomas Scalon, 150, 160 William Dunbar, 219
Thomas Scropz, 114 William of England, 51
Thomas SouthweU, 17,23, 138, William Exton, 46
139, 140, 141, 144, 145, 147, William Hunt, 193
148, 149, 152, 155, 161, 162-3, William Merle, 47, 63, 65, 184, 258
213,255 William of Moerbeke, 104, 106,
Thomas Stanley, 139 107
Thomas Usk, 100 William Norham, 94, 95, 170
Thomas Walsingham, 94, 96 William Philipps, 181
Thorndike, Lynn, 174 William de la Pole, Duke of
Toledo, 28 Suffolk, 155
treason, 199 William Rede, 21, 46, 54, 56 60-4,
trutina Hermetis, 118, 151, 216 65, 66, 68, 69, 72, 75, 76, 77,
78, 81, 90, 147.. 150, 162, 181,
University of Oxford, see Oxford 190, 191, 193, 259
University William Sadyngton, 42
University of Paris, see Paris William of St Clara, 45
University William of St Goud, 183
William Sehevez, 160, 163, 219
Walsingham, Thomas, see William Wodeoke, 64
Thomas Walsingham William of Wykeham, 42, 176
Walter Burley, 62 witchcraft, 98 see also magie and
Walter Elvedene, 21, 56, 66, 67, soreery
68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 182, 183 Woreestre, William, 81, 141, 144,
Walter Hilton, 44 145, 162, 214, 215
Walter Map, 30-1 Wyelif, John see John Wyclif
Walter of Merton, 59
Walter de Milemete, 79
Walter Oddington, 162 Yleg, 130, 144, 210
Walter Robert, 65 Yves de Saint Branchier, 113
Wedel, Theodore, 3
Weneeslaus 11, King of Bohemia, Zael, 47, 50, 54, 55, 109
20, 22, 34, 116

CAREY, Hilary M. Courting Disaster. Astrology in The English Court and University in The Later Middle Ages

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CAREY, Hilary M. Courting Disaster. Astrology in The English Court and University in The Later Middle Ages

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COURTING DISASTER

First published in the United States of America in 1992

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

1 The Problem of Astrology 1

2 The Royal Art: Astrology before 1376 25

3 The Astrologers: Books, Libraries and Scholars 37

4 The High and Noble Science: Astrology and the

5 Astrology Ignored: The Court of Edward III 79

6 Astrology at the Courts of Richard TI and Charles V 92

7 Astrology in the Ascendant: Horoscopes and Henry V 117

8 Courting Disaster: Astrology and Henry VI 138

9 Astrology in the Fifteenth Century 154

Appendix I: Manuscripts of known provenance with

Appendix 11: Books on astrology in the medievallibraries

Appendix III: Horoscopes in English manuscripts 241

Appendix IV: Bibliographical guide to technical practice

1. Ptolemy was a 'fulle wisman', but 'no king'.

I have many people to thank for their assistance in the course of

I am grateful to the following libraries for their permission to

Most references will be self-evident, with the exception of the

DNB Dictionary of National Biography, new ed.

Arabic names are generaUy given in the Latin form favoured by

This book is about astrology in England at the late medieval court

tensions of the court and competitive university environments. I

were prosecuted for the too liberal dispensation of their services

THE ATIRACTION OF ASTROLOGY

Mediaeval astrology has long suffered a neglect which, judged

now attaches to a complex divinatory art, that for centuries has

Writing in 1972, Wayne Shumaker found it necessary to disc1aim

In the fourteenth century c1assieal Greek philosophy was again

And later in the same lecture:

Kepler's science based on the achievements of the c1assies, Pieo's

Whereas this approach provides a satisfying dialectical image of

More importantly, astrology must be acknowledged as an integral

of a trial for sorcery held among a small group of Nambicuara

Astrology and the medieval model

How far, if at all, is it possible to apply this model of the function of

or Plato' s Timaeus would be inconceivable without extensive re-

The sodal function of astrology

This is a highly-compressed account of what was an ornately

It cannot be denied that from the modem scientific point of

court. Elevated in subsequent years by a regular association with

ASTROLOGY, SCHOLARS AND PRiNCES

In England at the beginning of the fourteenth century, astrology

Theologians and astrology

The first and perhaps the major disincentive to the medieval

0l'hy fascinated western scholars. Despite a dear patristic prohibition

Trinkaus has recently pointed out that the humanist Coluccio

passage of comets. Predictions about the fates of individuals were

sure to subvert the prohibition against the practice of judicial

Princes and astrology

By the fourteenth century, the question of whether or not princes

bishops with pastoral responsibility for the Universities of Oxford

In England observers noted the remarkable popularity of politi-

ASTROLOGY AND DISASTER

it, can be seen as symptoms of what R. I. Moore has referred to as

strong to resist, or they were pressured by their patrons to provide

consciousness of Richard 11 meant, for example, that the former

I have so far emphasized that it is not possible to explain astrology

astrology was nurtured in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries

century, the position of chief astrologer was one of the most

Ptolemy it was daimed, in traditional error, was a king 'moche

govemment and patronage of true leaming. This, at least, is what