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Three Astrological Predictions

Author(s): Lynn Thorndike


Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 26, No. 3/4 (1963), pp. 343-347
Published by: Warburg Institute
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750498
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NOTES
THREE ASTROLOGICAL eclipsed in 300 Capricorn, which, according
PREDICTIONS to Hermes, is the same thing as the beginning
of the sign Aquarius. The descendent of the
paper will illustrate the astronomical eclipse is in 26' Taurus. The revolution of
This
and further information offered by the past year falls in the fifth house and the
annual and other astrological predictions eclipse lasts an hour and a half. But astro-
from three examples of A.D. I377, 1430-31, nomers reckon its significance from the time
and 1474. All were composed in Italy, in when the eclipse was precisely half-way. It
two cases at least by Germanic authors, and signifies evil for kings, lords, magnates and
thus supplement in a way my previous princes; and that many will fall from power,
articles in this journal,' although one of the because the eclipse is in mid-sky and the
three is preserved in a manuscript at the tenth house, which is royal, and in the house
British Museum. of Saturn.
Mars is the lord of the present year. Suc-
I cessive paragraphs consider the state of kings,
princes and rulers, the state of peoples and
A prediction for the year 1377 by Konrad communities, the weather, whether the year
Stoll2 or Conradus Stollo3 or Scollo4 is pre- will be fertile or marked by failure of crops,
served in a manuscript at Munich.5 Conrad, and wars. Many novelties are predicted.
who speaks of himself as from Alamania There will be a conjunction of Saturn and
(Germany, Switzerland or Swabia), com- Mars on io April in 200 Pisces and the fifth
pleted it at Rome on 31 January 1377. He house. Then Conrad discusses the diseases
had also spent the past year, 1376, in Italy, and pestilences of the coming year, and the
but before that had lived and written predic- strength and weakness of each planet in the
tions for years past in the regions of Avignon revolution of the year.
and Orange of the sixth clime, whereas Rome A lunar eclipse will occur on 15 December,
is of the fifth clime.6 shortly after sunset in 4O Cancer, and the
Conrad begins the coming year concerning ascendent of the eclipse in io? Cancer. The
which he predicts on 12 March at 9.36 p.m. eclipse will be total and last three and a half
or two and a half hours before midnight. In hours.
the fifth clime the ascendent will be I20
Scorpio. He has considered first, however, II
the significations of the solar eclipse which
An annual prediction for the year 1430-31
preceded the revolution of the astronomical
year, occurring on the tenth of January, a by one Vernadigius (Bernadigius ? see Tira-
little before noon. About half of the sun was boschi, vi, I, p. 392) of Milan is preserved in
MS. Harley 3731 at the British Museum, a
1 'Notes on some Astronomical, Astrological and paper manuscript of the fifteenth century. In
Mathematical Manuscripts of the Bibliotheque the printed Catalogue of 18o8 of the Harleian
Nationale, Paris', this Journal, XX, 1957, PP. 112-72. collection (iii, 56) the contents were briefly
'Notes on some Less Familiar British Astronomical and
listed as follows:
Astrological Manuscripts', ibid., XXII, 1959, pp. 157-
17I.
SSo Zinner, Verzeichnisd. astron. HSS des deutschen I. Hermetis Trismegistae Astrologia.
1925, no. IO668,listing our MS.
Kulturgebietes, 2. Messeallae sive Messeallach, Epistola,
"Clm. 7762, fol. 216r: '. . ego ConradusStollo de rebus & eclipsibus Lunae, & con-
Alamannus magister in artibus gloriose astrologie
filius. .' junctionibus planetarum, cum aliis eius-
'Datus et in dem scriptis.
* Ibid., fol. 220v: scriptus completus
Roma per magistrum Conradum Scollo de Alamania 3. Almanzoris Sermones Astrologici.
anno domini 1377 die ultima mensis Ianuarii. deo 4. Hermetis, de accidentibus Sermones.
gratias.' 5. Tractatus de Eclipsibus, scriptus i431.
5Clm. 7662, fols. 216r-22oV. Zinner dates it as
fourteenthcentury; I would say fifteenthcentury. It Attention was called to the two Hermetic
opens: 'Novis supervenientibusvetera ricietis . texts, at fols. Ir-5or and 170v-I72v, in A
6Ibid., fol. 216r: 'Scripsi autem pluribus annis
preteritissuper sextum clima vz. super Avinion(?) et History of Magic and Experimental Science, ii,
Auriacefi.provinciasqua pro tunc moramtraxiibidem. pp. 221-22, and the former was printed by
Duobus (216v) autem annis quibus fui in Italia vz. Wilhelm Gundel, Neue astrologische Texte des
M. CCC. lxxvi preteritoet M. CCC. lxxvii presenti
scripsi super quinto climate quod Dyaromes vel Hermes Trismeisstus, in AbhlandlungenBayer.
Romanum vocatur, hoc est Romam et Italiam.' Akad. d. Wiss., Phil.-Hist. Abteilung, N.F.,
343

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344 NOTES
Heft 12, 1936. What the Catalogue erro- 'In the ascendent will be pars tritici 50 Io'
neously calls a treatise on eclipses written in Gemini, pars nucumin 21 8' Gemini; in the
1431 is the aforesaid annual prediction, which fourth house ascending will be parsfabarum,
was presumably composed early in i430. It pars milii in 270 2' Io" Leo. In the fourth
is written in a different hand from the pre- house from the ascendent will be Canta (?)
ceding contents of the manuscript.7 in i7' 22' Virgo, the moon in 280 2' 37"
The prediction opens by lamenting the Virgo. In the sixth house will be pars patris
lack of students of astronomy. Presently 'our in I9o 2' Scorpio. In the seventh house
illustrious prince and duke of Milan' is men- will be pars ordei in 13o 6' Sagittarius, pars
tioned (Filippo Maria Visconti). In making olivarum in 8' 58' Sagittarius. Pars mellis,
this prediction from the course of the stars, parsfortunae,pars evasionumin 190 o' Scorpio.
Vernadigius recognizes that God created In the ninth house will be Saturn in 12 O35'
them, and that they do not influence human Capricorn direct and northerly. In the
free will necessarily. He has taken into tenth house will be pars guerre in 150 o'
account the influences from previous years Aquarius, pars lentis in o 5' Pisces. In the
that are still pending and operative, before eleventh house will be Jupiter in 120 5'
turning to the next revolution of the year on Aries direct and southerly, the sun in
i iMarch, the vernal equinox. He has also 280 35' Pisces, Mercury in 18? 37' Pisces,
considered whether between that time and the head (of the dragon) in 15' 22' Pisces.
the next revolution of the year in March 1431, In the twelfth (i ia in MS.) house will be
any eclipses will occur, and has found that a Venus in i i? 46' Taurus and direct.'
partial solar eclipse will begin on I2 Feb-
ruary 1431, at 2.19 p.m., 'diebus equatis', The entry of the sun into the first minute of
and will last about two hours, 'with 20 Cancer Aries will be on ii March at 7.Io p.m.,
ascending on our horizon'. Its effects, how- diebus equatis with 13' Libra the ascendent
ever, will not be felt during the coming year; 'above our horizon in the hour of the moon',
indeed, they will not appear until eight years and at that moment planets and parts will be
have passed, because the sun at the time of thus disposed:
the eclipse will be eight unequal hours distant
from the eastern horizon. Therefore Verna- 'In the ascendent will be the moon in
digius will treat of it separately at another 160 49' Libra, parsfrumenti in 240 5' Libra,
time. pars nucum in 30 17' Scorpio. In the
Of more immediate interest is an opposi- fourth (?) house from the ascendent will
tion of sun and moon just before the sun's be Saturn in 120 4' Capricorn, direct and
entry into Aries at the vernal equinox. This northerly. In the third house will be pars
opposition will take place on 9 March at fabarum, pars milii in 120 Io' Capricorn. In
20.24 p.m. (i.e. io March at 8.24 a.m.). The the fifth house pars uvarum13 43 ' Aquarius,
position of the planets and partes8 at that pars pacis 17? 44' Aquarius. In the sixth
moment is given thus: house will be the sun in o0 o' Aries, pars
mellis 260 i i' Pisces, Mercury 21 33' Pisces
7 It occupies fols. I94ra-205vb, where it and the and direct, the head in I5' I8' Pisces. In
manuscript end. It opens: 'Numquam laude vel the seventh house will be pars olivarum in
premio dignos putavi . . .' The following is a partial
80 49' Aries, Jupiter in 13 13' Aries, direct
indication of various miscellaneous bits preceding it and southerly, pars evasionis in 13 o' Aries,
which are not covered in the above contents from the
printed catalogue. pars ordei in 90 23' Aries, Mars in 11' 5'
Aries, direct and southerly. In the eighth
I72v. 'Quando per questionem iam factam...' (i.e.
astrological interrogation).
house will be medium in 130 5' Taurus,
175v. Tables. direct. In the ninth house will be pars
I76r. Rubric. 'Revelata est mihi hec veritas quod laudis in 130 5' Cancer. In the tenth house
additio 5 minutorum in omni anno in motu will be pars guerre in 170 9' Cancer. In the
8e spere est vera et naturalis, et iudicandum eleventh house will be the Tail (of the
est per 9m celum et non per 8m, cum spere
sint 9m et non 8m ut quidam voluerunt. dragon) in 17I 18' Virgo. Pars intersectionis
Oriffiel Sachariel Samael Michael Annael in 20 59' Libra.'
Raphael Gabriel. Isti sunt septem angeli
secundum septem planetas quorum quilibet
ducit mundum 354 annis et 4 mensibus in 8 Pars fortunae etc. corresponds to the Greek xX?poq,
numero dierum lune . . .' which Bouch6-Leclercq, L'astrologie grecque, p. 642,
181v. 'Cum igitur volueris significatorem aliquem defines as 'en astrologie, point du cercle obtenu par
dirigere .. .' un calcul sp6cial A chaque cas'.

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THREE ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS 345
As was common with annual astrological The autumnal equinox will be on 14 Sep-
predictions, ours is divided into four parts for tember at 7.52 p.m. with 20 Taurus ascending
the four seasons of the year. As spring was and these planetary positions:
begun from the vernal equinox, so summer
came in with the sun's entry into the first Moon, 4th house, 160 38' Leo.
minute of Cancer. The opposition imme- Mars, 4th house, 180 23' Leo, direct.
diately preceding this will be on 6 June at Venus, 4th house, 14 58' Leo, direct.
approximately 5.09 p.m. with 230 Scorpio Cauda draconis, 5th house, 50 24' Virgo,
ascending 'above our horizon'. The position Mercury, 5th house, 230 2' Virgo.
of the planets at that time will be: Sun, 5th house, o0 o' Libra.
Saturn, 9th house, 60 43' Capricorn, direct.
In the 2nd house, Moon 230 46' Sagittarius. Caput draconis, I Ith house, 50 24' Pisces.
Saturn 11 24' Capricorn, retrograde
and northerly. On 29 November at approximately
In the 4th house, Capud draconis o1 42' 4.02 p.m. (i.e. 30 November, 4.02 a.m.) with
Pisces. I
11 Scorpio in the ascendent, would occur
In the 6th house, Jupiter 2 o 58' Taurus, the last opposition before the winter solstice,
direct. with the planets located as follows:
In the 7th house, Mars 130 51' Gemini,
direct. Mercury o0 59' Gemini, direct. Sun, Ist house, 160 54' Sagittarius.
In the 8th house, Sun 230 46' Gemini. Mercury, Ist house, 30 51' Capricorn,
Venus 120 49' Cancer, retrograde. direct.
In the Ioth house, Cauda draconis Io0 421 Saturn, 3rd(?) house, 10o 20' Capricorn,
direct.
Virgo.
Caput draconis, 4th house, i 21' Pisces.
The sun will enter Cancer on 12 June at Jupiter, 7th house, 10 58' Taurus, retro-
7.05 p.m. with 50 Leo ascending 'above our grade.
horizon'. The planetary positions given are: Moon, 8th house, 16' 54' Gemini.
Cauda draconis, I oth house, 10 2I' Virgo.
Cauda draconis, 2nd house, 1 o 21' Virgo. Mars, I I th house, 20 51' Libra, direct.
Saturn, 6th house, Ioo 55' Capricorn,
retrograde. The winter solstice would be on 12 Decem-
Caput draconis, 8th house, 100 21' Pisces. ber at 10.54 p.m. with 180 Virgo in the
Moon, 9th house, oo Io' Aries. ascendent and the planets placed thus:
Jupiter, ioth house, 40 37' Gemini.
Sun, I2th house, o0 o' Cancer. Mars, in ascendent, 80 37' Libra, direct.
Venus, 90 57' Cancer, retrograde. Moon, 3rd house, 250 23' Scorpio.
Venus, 3rd house, o0 29' Sagittarius.
In the following prediction it is said that the Sun, 4th house, oo o' Capricorn.
most serene emperor will not be fortunate in Saturn, 5th house, 130 54' Capricorn,
this quarter. direct.
The opposition immediately preceding the Mercury, 5th house, 180 42' Capricorn,
autumnal equinox will occur on 2 September direct.
at 3.25 p.m. with 140 Capricorn in the ascen- Caput draconis, 6th house, 00 4' Pisces.
dent and these planetary positions: Jupiter, 8th house, 70 32' Taurus, retro-
grade.
Moon, 2nd house, 180 4' Pisces. Cauda draconis, 12th house, 0o 40' Virgo.
Capud draconis, 2nd house, 60 3' Pisces.
Jupiter, 4th house, i 1o 7' Taurus, retro- III
grade. The astrological prediction of the coming
Venus, 7th house, 2' 20' (29'?) Leo, direct. of antichrist which was composed by John of
Mars, 7th house, o10 55' Leo, direct. Ltibeck at Padua in 1474, was printed in that
Sun, 8th house, 10o 4' Virgo.
Cauda draconis, 8th house, 60 3' Virgo. city by Bartholomaeus de Val de Zoccho in
the same year. Inasmuch as there is but one
Mercury, 9th house, o0 18' Libra, retro-
copy of the printed edition in America (at the
grade.
Huntington Library),9 I may perhaps be per-
Saturn, I2th house, 60 32' Capricorn,
direct. * IAL,
J337. The British Museum also has a copy,.
23

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346 NOTES
mitted to give some account of it as found in a ninth sphere coincided. And the Tiburtine
manuscript copy made by Hartmann Schedel sibyl at Rome showed the emperor Octavian
which is now preserved at in the solar ray a virgin holding a boy in her
(1440-I514)
Munich. 10 arms, and said: 'Worship him as greater than
Arguing that the time of the coming of thou, since the sun in mid-sky in a royal
antichrist can be foreseen from the stars, John house marks this child as king of kings and
cites the pseudo Ovidius de vetula that religious lord of lords.'
change and the advent of prophets may be John of Liubeck hastens to add that the
predicted from conjunctions of the superior advent of our lord Jesus Christ was reserved
planets and the influence of the superior to the Supreme Power, and that one should
bodies. 'For Jupiter essentially signifies sects, not believe that He was subject to the celestial
cults and prophets.' Judaism followed the bodies as other prophets and sects, past or
first major conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. future, were and will be. He quotes Albertus
Then came Chaldeanism, Egyptian religion, Magnus In suis mineralibus that man is ruled
sun worship (et gens Tartarica hodie), and by two principles, nature and will. Nature is
Mohammedanism. subject to the stars, but the will is free. He
Ovidius de vetula further tells that in his time then qualifies this in turn by a remark attri-
from 'a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter buted to Boethius, that the well born should
in the house of Jupiter, with the sign Virgo not rejoice in their parentage but in the
rising and Mercury dominant there, a beauti- strength of the stars, and a passage from the
ful virgin ascended in the first facies of that letter on government of a family attributed
sign' according to the constellations, as the to St. Bernard, that the state of all worldly
authority of the Indians has it. He saw and affairs and outcome of business transactions
recognized that the pure and immaculate is subject to fortune.
Virgin without male intercourse would con- Antonius de Monte Ulmi13 said that this
ceive a great prophet and give birth to the Christian faith would last until in another
son of the highest God, to whom on his death- conjunction Jupiter was joined with the
bed he commended himself with utmost moon, 'whence will result a faith and prophet
humility."1 removing every cult and sect and corrupting
The Cimmerian sibyl testified to the same the Christian faith by suspension. Ovid knew
effect, saying in her prophecy: that this prophet would come, on whose
advent from the influence of the stars I shall
'In prima facie Virginis ascendit quedam base my prognostication.' The vernal equi-
puella facie pulchra prolixa capillis sedens nox or revolution of the year and a mean con-
super sedem sceatam (?) nutrit puerum junction of Saturn and Jupiter will occur on
dans ei ad comendum lac proprium.'"2
So March 1504, at 6.04 p.m. and 57 seconds.
The true conjunction will be on 9 June, at
And at that time the eighth sphere and the
I 1.58 p.m. John holds that this conjunction
IA 29826; and the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, announces the coming of the Jewish Messiah
Res. D. 86o8. and advent of a lunar prophet. He cites Albu-
10 Clm. 841, folio, fifteenth century, 48 fols. Scripsit masar, Antonius de Monte Ulmi, Ptolemy,
H. Schedel. At fols. 39-48 (original numbering 139r- Messahala and Alcabitius, and meets the
I48r), 'Pronosticum Ioannis de Lubec Almani super
antecristi adventu Iudeorumque messiae'; Incipit, objection that there will be no change of the
'Interrogatus ne fore possibile per astrorum calculum planets from one triplicity to another in 1504,
ad temporis notitiam adventus antechristi (sic) posse by saying that there was none in the case of
pervenire . .' the conjunction of 6 which preceded the
11 Clm. 841, fol. 139v: 'Ovidius de vetula suo birth of Christ. The B.c. mother will be a deaf
tempore ex Saturni et Iovis coniunctione in Iovis
domicilio signo Virginis oriente ibidem Mercurio Jewish virgin impregnated by a demon. The
dominante in cuius prima facie secundum celorum moment of birth will be I0.07 p.m. on
imagines, ut vult Indorum autoritas, pulchra ascendit 13 September, I5o6, in southern parts.14
virgo. Vidit et cognovit virginem puram et immacu- Their offspring will work many natural
latam absque maris cohitu magnum prophetam con-
cepturam filiumque Dei altissimi parituram cui in suo wonders, which seem supernatural to the
extremo se sibi humilime recommendavit.' common crowd, and many supernatural
12 This passage more closely resembles the transla-
tion ofAlbumasar, Introductoriummaius,tract. vi, Diff. I,
cap., 'De ascensionibus imaginum', in John of Seville's 13 On him see A History of Magic and Experimental
translation (quoted in Speculumastronomiae,cap. 12; Science,iii, pp. 602-10.
OperaB. Alberti Magni, ed. A. Borgnet, x, 644), than 14 Clm. 841, fol. 144r, 'et credo quod erit in pro-
in the translation of Hermann of Carinthia. vincia Erzcidie in qua est tercius Babilonie.'

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THREE ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS 347
which have no reality, such as apparent resur- give a sophistical appearance of knowledge
rection of the dead, as Cecco d'Ascoli did which one does not possess. John hopes to
with a dead Florentine woman whom by aid calculate the conjunction of Jupiter and
of the devil he kept for some time apparently Saturn for the deluge of fire. The work then
alive, eating, drinking, sleeping, and so forth. ends:
This antichrist will be at the height of his
'Padue calculatum per me Ioannem de
power and glory in 1530. This story about
Cecco is new to me. The rest of John's Lubec anno gratie millesimo quadrigen-
treatise is a defence of astrology against tesimo septuagesimo quarto currente de
mense Aprilis.
hypocrites and the ignorant, which termi-
nates with a quotation from Picatrix,15 that Bartolomaeus de Val de Zoccho. F.F.'
there is nothing worse in men than wishing to
Since this last is the printer's name, it would
1' 'Picatrix'. Das Ziel des Weisen von Pseudo-MaZritf.
seem that Hartmann Schedel made his
Translated into German from the Arabic by H. Ritter written copy from the printed edition.
and M. Plessner, Studies of the Warburg Institute 27,
1962, 435 pp. LYNN THORNDIKE

REYNARD THE FOX AND THE hind legs. A goose to the right holds a bow
SMITHFIELD DECRETALS and arrow, and one to the left holds an asper-
gillum. The goose which pulls the rope from
Smithfield Decretals (British Museum, ground level is armed with sword and buckler.
The Royal MS. Io E. Iv) is a large volume of Two ducks look on. (P1. 37b)
the glossed decretals of Gregory IX, written 3. Fol. 49r. In the lower margin, the fox
in Italy but illuminated in England in the is carried in funeral procession. Two weeping
first half of the fourteenth century, probably human beings (nuns?) support the out-
near the middle. stretched fox whose posture is hardly that of
The subject-matter of the illustrations is a dead animal. Six geese, in pairs, harnessed
very varied and includes Bible history, saints' by a rope which is attached to the fox's hind
lives, romances, fables, allegories and scenes legs, pull him to his grave. A cock leads the
of everyday life, but one is struck by the fre- procession and carries a mace. A rabbit
quent appearances of the fox whom one sus- brings up the rear and carries an aspergillum.
pects on numerous occasions to be no other (Plate 37c)
than Reynard of the Roman de Renart.' The 4. Fol. 49v. In the lower margin, left, a
object of this essay is to describe, identify, mitred fox, holding a crozier, preaches to a
group and comment on these fox illustrations group of nine birds, including a cock, a goose,
in the Smithfield Decretals. goslings, hens and a stork. (P1. 37d)
They occur in the following order: 5. Fol. 49v. In the lower margin, right, a
I. Fol. 48r. In the lower margin, right, a fox runs off to his hole with a goose (its neck
fox runs off with a rabbit held between his held between his jaws) flung over his back.
jaws and flung over his back. To the left, The fox's hole is shown and one can just make
observing this scene, is a richly robed person out two foxes' heads peeping out of it. A
blowing a hunting horn. (P1. 37a) woman pursues the fox and aims a blow at his
2. Fol. 48v. In the lower margin, a fox is rump with her distaff. (P1. 37d)
hanged from a tree by poultry. Geese pull on 6. Fol. 53r. In the lower margin, a fox has
the rope, a cock and hen (?) pull at the fox's gone to ground with a man or a woman hot
on his tail. Another person kneels before the
The author wishes to acknowledge the help and hole's exit and holds a net over it.
advice of Professor L. C. Sykes, Head of the French
Department, University of Leicester. 7. Fol. 53v. In the lower margin, a fox,
1 As edited by M. D. M. MWon,4 vols., Paris, 1826; carrying a stave and wearing a belt round his
or by E. Martin, 3 vols., Strasbourg, 1882-87. For middle from which hang three pouches, is
other examples of the use of the Roman de Renart in
marginal illustration, see L. M. C. Randall, 'Exempla
approached by a messenger rabbit carrying
as a source of Gothic marginal illumination', Art a sealed letter and a spear. (P1. 37e)
Bulletin, xxxix, 1957, P. 105. 8. Fol. 54r. In the lower margin, a fox,

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