Chicago Journal

The Fiery Trigon Conjunction: An Elizabethan Astrological Prediction
Author(s): Margaret Aston

Source: Isis, Vol. 61, No. 2 (Summer, 1970), pp. 158-187
Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society
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The Fiery Trigon Conjunction:
An Elizabethan Astrological
Prediction
By Margaret Aston*
Prince. Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction!
What says th'almanac to that?
Poins. And look whether the fiery Trigon his man
be not lisping to his master's old tables, his
note-book, his counsel-keeper.
-SHAKESPEARE: 2 Henry IV, II, iv, 261-265
ASTROLOGY STILL HAS ITS PRESS, but it long ago lost the familiarity which
r-it held for the Elizabethans. There is no need to suppose that any profound astro-
logical study lay behind this and the numerous other astrological allusions in Shake-
speare'splays.1 Such learning belonged to the sphere of general knowledge, and the fact
that almanacs, with their annual prognostications based upon planetary conjunctions,
eclipses, and other astronomical events, were ordinary household books, makes it
unnecessary to look for specific explanations for lines such as these. Set within the
context of accepted belief, laughter came readily to satirical asides at the expense of
astrologers and their predictions. Yet there were particularevents which may well have
contributed to the amusement of this passage in 2 Henry IV. The allusions it contained
may have passed over the heads of some of the groundlings, as they have been passed
over by modern commentators, but it seems likely that for many contemporaries
these lines would have recalled recent astrological writings and occurrences-whether
or not this was the dramatist's conscious intention. And these events may seem to
provide a more meaningful subject for comment than the annotators' customary
repetition-or refutation-of Dr. Johnson's quotation from Marsilio Ficino to the
effect (which was wrong) that "Saturnand Venusare never conjoined."2
* Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, (Boston: Occult Publishing Co., 1903), p. 10,
D.C. 20003.The researchfor this articlewas pro- this passage and Troilus and Cressida, IL, ii,
moted by research fellowships at the Folger 45-46 show that "years of study had made the
Library and the Henry E. Huntington Library, author so familiar with the properties of the
San Marino, California. I am grateful for the conjunctions that he could toy with them
editorial assistance of this journal, and I also correctly...." Cf. M. Sondheim, "Shakespeare
thank Mrs. BarbaraJones of SomervilleCollege and the Astrology of his Time," Journalof the
and Mr. Emrys Jones of Magdalen College, WarburgInstitute, 1939, 2:250.
Oxford, for their comments, and Mr. LeRoy 2 "Thiswas indeeda prodigy.The Astrologers,
Doggett of the U.S. Naval Observatory,Washing- says Ficinus, remark, that Saturn and Venus are
ton, D.C. for his help with astronomicaldata. never conjoined," annotated Johnson. Ficino
1 According to William Wilson, Shakespeare has plenty to say about the opposing qualitiesof
and Astrology from a Student's Point of View the two planets, includingthe statement"Astro-
159

Antoine Caron's painting "Astronomers (or Astrologers) Studying an Eclipse"
(c. 1580) reflects the powerful hold of astrology in the late sixteenth
century. The science was encouragedat the Valois court where Caron (d. c. 1600)
worked and Catherinede' Medici -whose tastes the painter may specially have
been serving-took astrologers' advice and had her own private observatory
(possibly representedby the high tower on the left) built in Paris in 1572.
The atmosphereof mysterious excitement contrasts with the antique setting of
architectureand costumes. In the foreground at the center of discussion
are the diagram of a horoscope, an armillary sphere, and a celestial globe.
(Painting owned by Mr. John Gaskin, reproducedby permission of Sir AnthonyBlunt.)

160 MARGARET E. ASTON
For those who were alive and aware during the 1580s, associations with planetary
conjunctions centered upon a specially momentous event. In the year 1583 there took
place a conjunction of the superior planets Saturn and Jupiter which held such
astrological importance that it was being hailed in European predictions years before
it took place. English writers, considering this event not long before it was due to
occur, became embroiled in 1583 in a notable astrological controversy which attracted
considerable attention and went on being remembered for years afterwards.3 The
reason why this conjunction was so outstanding was that it was to happen at the
end of the watery trigon or triplicity of the signs of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, and at
the beginning of the fiery trigon or triplicity of the signs of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius.
It was a conjunction of a very rare and significant kind; as the astrologers emphasized,
there were only six parallels in the entire history of the world, only one of which fell in
the period since the birth of Christ.4The circumstances could not recur for centuries:
tremendous possibilities seemed to be open. So exceptional was the moment that
various astrologers linked it with the old prophecy-which had become increasingly
renowned since Regiomontanus versified it in the fifteenth century-predicting the
end of the world, or huge upheavels, for the year 1588.5It seemed to some that the last
judgment and the consummation of the world were at hand.
logi Venerem& Saturnuminimicos invicemesse 3Various writers have already drawn atten-
ferunt," but I have not been able to locate a tion to the conjunction and the contemporary
source for Johnson's words. Marsilio Ficino, notice which it attracted. Its bearing upon the
Operaomnia,reproductionof 1576 Basel ed. by propheciesfor 1588 has lately been examinedby
M. Sancipriano and P. 0. Kristeller (Turin: Professor Carroll Camden in "The Wonderful
Bottega d'Erasmo, 1959), Vol. I, i, p. 523; The Yeere," Studies in Honor of De Witt T. Starnes,
Plays of William Shakespeare, ed. ed. Thomas P. Harrisonet al. (Austin:Univ. of
Samuel
Johnson (London, 1765), Vol. IV. p. 283. Cf. Texas Press, 1967),pp. 163-179, which I did not
The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ed. M. A. see until this article was written. Among earlier
Shaaber (New Variorum Ed., Philadelphia, examinations of the question, see in particular
1940), p. 201; The SecondPart of King Henry IV, Don Cameron Allen, The Star-Crossed Renais-
ed. A. R. Humphreys (Arden Ed., London, sance (Durham:Duke Univ. Press, 1941), pp.
1966), p. 81, where the misapprehension is 121 ff.; C. Camden,"ElizabethanAlmanacs and
excused on the grounds that such a conjunction Prognostications,"The Library, 1931-1932 (4th
"is rarelyobservable,being low on or below the Ser.), 12:194-200; R. Pruvost, "The Astro-
horizon,"as was stated by W. T. Lynn, "Shakes- logical Predictionsof 1583,"Library, 1933-1934
peare'sEditorsas Astronomers,"TheAthenaeum, (4th Ser.), 14:101-106; The Works of Thomas
July 17, 1886,No. 3064:92. Nashe, ed. R. B. McKerrow,reprintedand ed.
Saturnand Venus are in fact often in conjunc- F. P. Wilson (Oxford:Blackwell, 1958),Vol. IV,
tion and by no means always near the horizon. p. 122, Vol. V, pp. 166-167. Professor Camden
Thus in the 1960s they conjoined on the follow- ("Elizabethan Almanacs," pp. 197-198) sug-
ing dates: Feb. 7, and Nov. 28, 1960; March20, gested, withoutpursuingthe question,that "It is
1963; Jan. 9, 1964; May 1, 1966; Feb. 23, 1967; just possible that Shakespearerememberedthese
April 23, 1968; and June 11, 1969. Of these eight predictionsandmadeuse of themin 2 HenryIV."
conjunctionsfour took place above the horizon Thejustificationfor reviewingthis evidenceagain
at altitudes of 150, 170, 320, and 430 respectively. here is to indicatemore fully (1) the significance
The visibility of such conjunctions is limited, of the fiery trigon and (2) the way in which the
however,by the proximityof Venus to the sun, Harvey-Nashecontroversykept alive memories
which sometimes excludes any observation and of the conjunction.
at other times means that the planet is only 4These six greatest conjunctions since the
visiblein the east before sunrise,in the west after Creationwere respectivelythose assigned to the
sunset,or whenthe sun is verylow in the sky. For times of Enoch, Noah, Moses, the ten tribes of
a conjunctionof Saturn and Venus to be visible, Israel, the Roman Empireat the birth of Christ,
therefore, the sun really has to be below the and the translation of the empire by Charle-
horizon and the planets a little way above it, magne.
which was not the case with any of these con- 5 This prophecyis consideredmore fully below,
junctionsof the 1960s. n. 67.

THE FIERY TRIGON CONJUNCTION 161
These predictions were rememberedlong after the conjunction had come and gone.
This is to be explained partly by the forecasts themselves, which postulated that the
dire events prefiguredby the heavens in 1583 would not be completed until some years
later. Another reason was the contribution made to the conjunction controversy by
the three Harvey brothers, Gabriel, Richard, and John, a triad of writers who were all
published in the 1580s and 1590s, though it was chiefly Gabriel, the eldest, who was
responsible for making their names known. Thanks to the pugnacity of his gifted
opponent, Thomas Nashe, many Elizabethan readers who kept up with one of the
most celebrated literary quarrels of the day were still being reminded of the 1583
prediction up to the time when the second part of Henry IV was written and produced
in the 1590s. A conjunction coupled with the fiery trigon had come to hold a special
meaning in the late sixteenth century. So, although Shakespeare's lines referred to
quite another conjunction, one of Saturn and Venus (which was both much more
frequent and much less significant than a congress of Saturn and Jupiter6) there is
nevertheless reason to think that the fiery trigon would have recalled to an Elizabethan
audience the great furor of 1583.
II
In order to appreciate the astrological fracas of 1583 it is necessary to understand

something of the theory of conjunctions. Any conjunction or meeting of planets in the
same degree of a given sign of the zodiac was of astrological interest, to be observed
with special care for its bearing upon the affairs of the world. A conjunction of
Saturn and Jupiter, the two highest planets, was generally agreed to be of the greatest
astrological importance. It was in effect for the macrocosm what a horoscope was for
the microcosm: it patterned the terrestrial future.7 Many astrologers, remarked Pico
della Mirandola scathingly in his extensive attack upon the divinatory art, believed that
nothing remarkableever happened in human affairs which had not been preceded by a
conjunction of this sort.8Conjunctions of Saturn and Jupitertook place approximately
every twenty years in a cycle, to which astrologers attributed varying degrees of
significance, of great, greater, and greatest conjunctions. This cycle depended upon the
four trigons or triplicities into which the signs of the zodiac were divided, a trigon
being a set of three signs, each 120? distant from the other (and therefore forming an
equilateral triangle), each of which corresponded to one of the four elements.9 A
6An almanac, therefore (concerned with (Florence: Vallechi, 1946-1952), Vol. I, p. 520.
astronomicalphenomenaof general interest), as In this fifth book of his work Pico gives a
opposedto a horoscope(predictingan individual thorough critique of the whole theory of great
destiny)was likely to be more concernedabout a conjunctions.
conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter than one of 9The four triplicities, which were also, as
Saturnand Venus. (See n. 2 for the frequencyof Ptolemy explains, associated with different
the latterconjunctions.) planets and regions, are as follows: (1) the fiery;
Aries, Leo, Sagittarius; (2) the earthly; Taurus,
7Otto Loth, "Al-Kindials Astrolog,"Morgen-
Virgo, Capricorn; (3) the airy; Gemini, Libra,
ldndische Forschungen. Festschrift Herrn Pro-
Aquarius; (4) the watery; Cancer, Scorpio,
fessor Dr. H. L. Fleischer (Leipzig, 1875), p. 267; Pisces. Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, ed. F. E. Robbins
Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and Ex- (London: Heinemann; Cambridge, Mass.:
perimental Science (New York: Macmillan, 1929-
HarvardUniv. Press, 1948),pp. 82. ff.; Ptolemy's
1958),Vol. 1, pp. 648-649. Tetrabiblos or Quadripartite, trans. J. M.
8G. Pico della Mirandola, Disputationes Ashmand(Chicago:Aries Press, 1936; originally
adversus astrologiam divinatricem, ed. E. Garin pub. London, 1822),pp. 29 ff.

great conjunction occurred every twenty years when the two planets conjoined in a
new sign within a given triplicity; a greater conjunction, which recurred every 240
years (or every 200 according to some calculations) happened when they moved into a
new triplicity; a greatest conjunction came at the end of the complete cycle of all four
triplicities after 960 (or about 800) years.10This, the most critical of all conjunctions,
took place at the end of the watery triplicity, with the beginning of a whole new
sequence of conjunctions in the first, fiery trigon of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. It was
an epoch-making event, looked upon as portending the arrival of a new phase of
history, the prophetic fulfilment of religious innovation, great political mutations. A
conjunction of this, the greatest kind, was awaited in 1583, and astrologers augmented
the alarms by attributing special significance to the fact that-according to their
calculations-this was the seventh such conjunction in world history, from which
exceptional results were to be expected. Hence the excitement.
The theory of conjunctions reach the West through the work of Arab astrologers, in
particular the De magnis coniunctionibus of Albumasar (Abu Ma'shar, d. 886).
In this text the celebrated astrologer, closely following the exposition of his master
Alkindi, expounded a theory of conjunctions which still profoundly influenced
Christian astrology centuries later.1"Among those who were impressed by Albuma-
sar's theory was Roger Bacon, who went into the question of conjunctions in the
mathematical section of his Opus majus.12 This passage is worth quoting, since it
10The datingof the cycle of greatconjunctions Inquisitionearlyin the 14thcentury.(Thorndike,

encounteredvarious difficulties,owing partly to History of Magic, Vol. II, pp. 896-898). It is
differences of astronomical measurement and notable that the scheme of seven great world
partly to differencesof astrological interpreta- conjunctions used by 16th-centuryastrologers
tion. For long the acceptedtiming was (as indi- omitted the cornerstone of Arab theory-the
cated, for instance,by Pico della Mirandola)that conjunctionof Mohammed'sbirth, of 571 (Loth,
of Albumasar, of 20, 240, and 960 years. If, "Al-Kindi,"loc. cit., pp. 267-270).
however, allowance was made-as Brahe made 11It was with Alkindi(d. c. 850 or 873)that the
it-for the precessionof the equinoxes,240 years teachingabout conjunctionsapparentlymade its
had to be adjustedto 196.6and the full cycletook first appearance in Arab astrology. It was
less than 800 years (786.4), which was the figure through Albumasar, however, that it became
accepted by Leowitz, Brahe, and other 16th- known in the West, and his De magnisconiunc-
century writers. I have unfortunatelynot been tionibus,introducedthere in the 12th century in
able to consult JosephDrecker,Zeitmessungund the translationof John of Spain (or of Seville),
Sterndeutung in geschichtlicher Darstellung was printedat Augsburgin 1489 and reissuedat
(Berlin, 1925), but for a discussion of this Venice in 1515. Loth, "Al-Kindi,"pp. 263-309;
question see C. Doris Hellman, The Comet of G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science
1577: Its Place in the History of Astronomy (New (Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1927-1948),
York:ColumbiaUniv. Press, 1944),p. 135, n. 37. Vol. I, pp. 568-569; Thorndike, History of
Another problematicalissue, referred to by Magic, Vol. I, pp. 648-650.
variousmodernwriters,but of which I have dis- 12 The theory of conjunctionstransmittedby
coveredno adequatediscussion,concernsthe pro- Albumasarincludedthe idea that the congressof
cess of adjustmentby whichChristianastrologers Jupiterwith one of the other planetssignifiedthe
tailored Arab theory to fit their own interpreta- appearanceof a prophet and change of religion;
tion of history. Some latitude was of course that of Jupiterand Saturnwas associatedwith the
possible in that the effect of such conjunctions rise of the Hebrew religion, and that of Jupiter
was expectedto continue for a numberof years and Venus with the Mohammedan.Thorndike,
after they had taken place. But, given a rudi- History of Magic, Vol. VI, p. 512; Theodore
mentary understandingof chronology, it was Otto Wedel, The Mediaeval Attitude towards
obviouslydifficult(let alone desirable)to fit both Astrology, particularly in England (New Haven:
Christ and Mohammed into the same scheme, Yale Univ. Press,1920;reprinted,ArchonBooks,
though even this was done-witness the case of 1968), pp. 72-73; Albumasar de magnis coniunc-
Peterof Abano,who wasproceededagainstby the tionibus (Augsburg, 1489), sig. D 8r.

explains the significance which was attributed to the different conjunctions in the
sixteenth century, as in the thirteenth:
Albumasar,then, in his book on Conjunctionsand other astronomersdeterminethat

thereare three conjunctionsof Saturnand Jupiter,namely,a great one, a greater,and
the greatest.A great one happensat their conjunctionevery twentyyears, in whatever
sign it may take place. For Jupitercompleteshis orbit in twelve years, and Saturnin
3ntrodNcrziwnin aftronominm
nnen lizoo par ale
Ii
I~~
-
I~~~~~~ato
*
E'
Astrologer observingthe stars: woodcutfrom Albumasar,Introductoriumin

astronomiam (Venice, 1506). This was Albumasar's most important work,
which, like the text on conjunctions,was translatedfrom the Arabic in the twelfth
century and printed at Augsburgin 1489. (Reproducedby permission of the
Trustees of the British Museum.)

164 MARGARETE. ASTON
about thirty,and thereforeit happensthat aftertwentyyears they are in conjunctionin

the ninth sign from that one in whichthey werepreviouslyconjoined;and afteranother
twentyin the fifth sign from the first;and after the thirdtwentyagain in that first sign.
This is a great conjunction,which occurs in this triplicitytwelve times, or sometimes
thirteentimes. For the firstsign, the fifth, and the ninth makea triplicity.This conjunc-
tion is said to have referencefrequentlyto the elevationof kings and potentatesand to
dearnessin the cost of provisions,and to the rise of prophets.After they have been in
conjunctionin this triplicityso many times that they change to another it is then
called a greaterconjunction.This happensevery two hundredand forty years or there-
abouts,and has referenceto a sect and to its changein certainregions.When the con-
junctionhas changedfrom this triplicityto anotherone, as from the end of Cancerto
the beginningof Aries, it is then said to be the greatestone, throughthe revolutionof
Saturn thirty-twotimes, and happens every nine hundredand sixty years, and has
referenceto changesin empiresand kingdoms,to impressionsof firein the air, to flood,
earthquake,and dearnessin the priceof food.13
It was not until early in the year of its occurrence that the fearful expectations of the
impending conjunction were emphatically impressed upon English readers. Such was
the nature of the event, however, that it had well before this received attention from
leading European authorities. Tycho Brahe had closely associated the effects to be
expected from the amazing new star of 1572 with the shift from the watery to the
fiery triplicity, and this was among the reasons why he judged that the nova portended
great political and religious changes in the world. He thought that the events it
prefigured would continue for some time and in his De nova stella (1573) looked
ahead ten years to the coming great congress of all the superior planets at the end of
Pisces, which would bring the watery trigon to an end and mark the beginning of the
fiery trigon. In a later work Brahe-who showed caution in his predictions-en-
visaged the influence of the new star and the fiery trigon which it had announced,
continuing down to 1592 and beyond, to 1632.14
The work of another Continental astronomer, a generation older than Brahe

and much less restrained with his astrology, had close bearing upon the English
controversy. This was the De Coniunctionibusmagnis insignioribussuperiorumplaneta-
rum, Solis defectionibus, & Cometis, in quarta Monarchia, cum eorundem effectuum
historica expositione by Cyprian Leowitz, which was reprinted ten years after its
composition, in London in 1573. Cyprian Leowitz (1514?-1574) was a Bohemian
astronomer who served as mathematician to the Elector Palatine, Otto Henry, and
spent many years in the Upper Palatinate at Lauingen, Bavaria, where this book of
13 The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon, trans. R. Vol. III, pp. 311-313, 231-233. Various other
Burke (Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Jupiter-Saturnconjunctions attracted attention
Press, 1928), Vol. I, pp. 284-285 (I have slightly and arousedalarmin this period, includingthose
altered this translation); The 'Opus Majus' of of 1503-1504,1563,1603,and 1623;but none was
RogerBacon, ed. J. H. Bridges(Oxford:Claren- as momentous or as publicizedas that of 1583,
don Press, 1897-1900),Vol. I, p. 263. These and with its change of triplicity.Thorndike,History
other calculations appear in Albumasar de of Magic, Vol. V, p. 179; Rupert Taylor, The
magnisconiunctionibus (1489),sigs. A 3r'-A 4r. Political Prophecy in England (New York:
14 J. L. E. Dreyer, TychoBrahe. A Picture of ColumbiaUniv. Press Studies in English, 1911),
ScientificLife and Workin the SixteenthCentury pp. 121-122. For a 17th-century attempt to
(Edinburgh,1890),pp. 49-50, 193-195;Hellman, relate the effects of Saturn and Jupiter and the
Cometof 1577,pp. 135-136; TychonisBraheDani fierytrigonto the Dutch wars-with a backward
OperaOmnia,ed. J. L. E. Dreyer (Copenhagen: glance at the Armadayear-see Thomas Trigge,
Gyldendal,1913-1929),Vol. I, pp. 30-32, 34, 71; TheFieryTrigonRevived(London, 1672).

his was first published in 1564.1' Among those from whom Leowitz received recogni-
tion was Tycho Brahe, who visited him at Lauingen in the 1560s, though Brahe's
own interests made him regret that Leowitz had not devoted himself more to astro-
nomical calculations and less to astrology.'6 It was indeed thanks to his astrology,
rather than his astronomy, that Leowitz earned his repute, and the book on con-
junctions notably contributed to this. Although a considerably slighter work than his
earlier book on eclipses, it found a wide market-as the various editions and transla-
tions witness-and this may well be explained by its prophetic content and its associa-
tions with the alarming forecasts for 1588.1"This certainly accounts for much of the
quotations and borrowings by English writers, who made Leowitz's arguments
familiar to English readers.
As its title indicates, the major part of the De Coniunctionibuswas concerned with
the effects of greater conjunctions and oppositions of the superior planets, solar
eclipses, and comets upon political and ecclesiastical happenings in the empire from
the times of Julius Caesar, Diocletian, and Constantine up to the time of writing-
with greater detail for the later history. A final section of the book was a prognostica-
tion for the twenty years after 1564, which included a prediction of the events to be
expected as the result of the great conjunction of superior planets at the end of Pisces,
due to occur, according to the author's reckoning, in May 1583, and to be followed in
1584 by a great conjunction of nearly all the planets in Aries.18 Leowitz was concerned
throughout his work to relate the notable astronomical phenomena he was con-
sidering to the distribution of the trigons, stressing that great changes were associated
with the changes of triplicity, especially when the fiery followed the watery: "Since
therefore a new trigon, which is the fiery, is now imminent, undoubtedly new worlds
will follow, which will be inaugurated by sudden and violent changes, for this has
happened before when one trigon ended and another began, but especially if the
watery trigon is being followed by the fiery."'19
15 The year of Leowitz'sbirth is often given as 16The date of this visit is given variously as
1524, but it has been plausiblyarguedthat it was 1567, 1568, and 1569. According to Mayer
1514; see Jos. Mayer,"Der AstronomCyprianus ("AstronomCyprianusLeovitius,"p. 136)it took
Leovitius (1514-1574) und seine Schriften," place in 1567; cf. Dreyer, Tycho Brahe, p. 29, and
Bibliotheca Mathematica, 1903 (Folge 3), 4:134- Tychonis Brahe Dani Opera Omnia, Vol. VIII, p.
135. This date was acceptedby Dreyer, Tychonis 458.
Brahe Dani Opera Omnia, Vol. VIII, p. 458; cf. 17 Mayer, "Astronom Cyprianus Leovitius,"
Thorndike,History of Magic, Vol. VI, p. 111, n. pp. 148-150; Thorndike,History of Magic, Vol.
35. Leowitz "was well known in England,where VI, pp. 117-118. The book appearedin German
his calendarsandprognosticationswerereprinted the sameyearas the firstLatinedition-i 564.
in translation" (Allen, Star-Crossed Renaissance, 18C. Leowitz, De Coniunctionibus magnis
p. 73). The Huntington Librarycopy of the De insignioribus superiorum planetarum (London,
Coniunctionibusbelonged to William Camden, 1573), sig. L 3r. The English writerswith whom
whose name and the date April 18, 1573, and we are concerneddifferedfrom Leowitzin dating
some notes in the text, appearto be in his hand- the conjunction to later April rather than May
writing. Another owner of Leowitz was Sir (see below).
Thomas Smith, whose library in 1566 included 19Ibid., sig. K 4r. "Cum ergo nunc novus
some work of his (J. Strype, The Life of the Trigonus impendeat, qui Igneus est, haud
learned Sir Thomas Smith, London, 1820, p. 279; dubie nova saecula sequentur,quae repentinas,
Johnstone Parr, Tamburlaine's Malady and other & violentas mutationesinducent,id quod etiam
Essays on Astrology in Elizabethan Drama, antea evenit, quando Trigono aliquo cessante
Tuscaloosa: Univ. of Alabama Press, 1953, p. alius recens inchoavit,maximevero si Trigonum
116). AqueumsequereturIgneus."Thorndike(History

1:66 MARGARET E. ASTON
The 1583 conjunction was therefore momentous because of the phase of the trigons
in which it was situated, and there were two emphases of Leowitz's arguments which
were not lost upon the English authors who utilized his work. First there was the
significance of the fact that this great conjunction was to take place at the end of the
watery and beginning of the fiery triplicity, which had only happened once since the
birth of Christ (in 789 at the time of Charlemagne) and therefore certainly portended
cataclysmic changes, new worlds, perhaps the very end of the world. Second, there was
Leowitz's conviction that the conjunction "undoubtedly announces the second coming
of the son of God and man in the majesty of his glory."20At the great conjunction in
the time of Charlemagne the world, not yet having completed its allotted span of six
thousand years, was not ready for this consummation, but now it was approaching its
term, and Leowitz turned in support of his prediction both to the prophecy for 1588
and another similar forecast, based on the new star of 1572.21 There were grounds for
alarm:
... for this greatconiunctionis of all the last, whichshall happenin the ende of watrie
Trigon,and watryTrigonshall perish,and be turnedinto fire. Neither any more in the
spaceof eyghthundredyeeresthe end of watrieTrigonshall be nigh. But becauseabout
the end of watrieTrigonthis Monarchieshal begin,it is lykely,that the same also in the
end of the sameTrigon shall have an end, sith the sonne of God himselfeJesusChrist
our Lordeevenin the endeof watrieTrigontooke upponhim the natureof man.22
So ran the translation of Leowitz's words in Sheltco 'a Geveren's Of the ende of this
world,and second commingof Christ(1577), which found major support in the Bohem-
ian's prognostication for the author's own thesis that the world was to come to an end
in 1588.
The work which initiated the controversy among English astrologers was Richard
Harvey's Astrological Discourse upon the great and notable Coniunction of the two
superiour Planets, SATURNE & IUPITER, which shall happen the 28 day of April,
1583.23 The first part of this book, which was written in 1582 and published early in
of Magic, Vol. VI, p. 117)remarkedof Leowitz's 23The book is in three parts: the first and
book that "Especialnote is taken of those reigns longest section on the conjunction is followed
which were marked by the passing of the con- (pp. 56-73) by another "Of the Eclipse of the
junction of Saturnand Jupiterfrom one trigonus Sunne, which happened the last yeare, 1582"
to another...." (which also portended various misfortunes);
20 Leowitz, De Coniunctionibus,sig. L 3 "& finally(pp. 73-76) thereis "A short ludgementof
nunc secundo talis coniunctio magna eveniet, the foure partes of this yeare, 1583,"and a table
quae procul dabio alterum adventum filii Dei of bloodletting. The work is dated "From my
ac hominis, in Maiestate gloriae suae praenun- fathers in Walden the 6. of December. 1582"
ciat...." (p. 84), so the date at the end of the dedicatory
21
epistle, Jan. 23, 1581, is presumablya misprint
According to a note in the Huntington for 1582/3.Therewas a second edition-differing
Library copy of the De Coniunctionibus,this from the first only in that the Latin quotations
Latin verse on the 1572 nova was by Theodore weretranslatedinto English-before Apr. 1, 1583
Beza, whose poem is referredto by Hellman, when John Harvey referredto it in his Astrolo-
Cometof 1577, pp. 116-117; cf. also p. 453 and gicall Addition.Also accordingto John Harvey,
Mayer, "Astronom Cyprianus Leovitius," pp. Richard had by then written a second work in
151-152, for Leowitz's own work on the new defense of judicial astrologyand his own predic-
star of 1572,whichhe publishedin 1573. tion, "concerningthe effects of this great April
22 S. a Geveren, Of the ende of this world coniunction,"which is apparentlynot extant. J.
(London, 1577), fols. 18v-19r; cf. Leowitz, De Harvey, An Astrologicall Addition (London,
sig. L 3v. A Geveren'swork is
Coniunctionibus, 1583), sig. A 6v; Pruvost, "AstrologicalPredic-
consideredfurtherbelow. tions of 1583,"p. 102.

1583, was devoted to predicting the effects of the coming conjunction and in so doing
considered various other astronomical occurrences between the years 1580 and 1588.
The crux of the forecast derived from the fact (already explained by Leowitz) that this
conjunction was one of the greatest (Coniunctioplanetarummaxima),24 since it was to
take place in the last face of Pisces, the final sign of the watery trigon, and at the be-
ginning of Aries, the first sign of the fiery trigon:
Touchingwhich,forasmuchas it is the last coniunctionthat ever shal happenin the end

of watrieTrigone,I am Astrologicallyinducedto this coniecture,that we aremost like to
have a new world,by some sodaine,violent, & wonderfulstrangealteration,whicheven
heretoforehath alwayshapned,at the endingof one Trigone,& beginningof an other,
but now most especiallyis like to happen bicause ye contraryTrigone succedeth his
contrary,ye fierie followeth ye watrie, under which or ye like succession,a notable
mutationhathalreadyhapnedtwo severaltimes:...25
namely at the establishment of the fourth monarchy by Caesar Augustus and at the
"reedifying of the imperiall Monarchie" by Charlemagne. It was at such a phase of
transition from the watery to the fiery trigon that Christ had been born, and the re-
currence of these circumstances might well prefigurehis return in majesty, to judge the
quick and the dead, consuming the world with fire. In the time of Charlemagne the
world was not ripe for consummation, but now calculations based upon the prophecy
of Elias showed otherwise.26"So that all circumstances being weyed, and all Astrolo-
gical likehoods togither with prophetical predictions considered, what doubt is there,
but we may, and ought to perswade ourselves, that the foundation of the world is in a
manner worne out, and also this goodly frame ready to fall upon our shoulders?" 27
Having thus far recited and supplemented the argument of Leowitz with small
acknowledgement, Harvey then followed him further by connecting the effects of these
"liklihoods" with "that olde and common prophecie, touching the yeare 1588, whych is
nowe so rife in every mannes mouth, and was so resolutely defended in a publique dis-
putation in the laste Commencement, by one, sufficient to maintaine his assertion."28
He then repeated the Latin verse of the prophecy, naming Leowitz as his source.
Everything combined to convince Richard Harvey that "eyther a finall dissolution, or
a wonderfull horrible alteration of the worlde" was to be expected in that year.29He
had, in fact, committed himself and his reputation in no uncertain way to the meeting
of the two planets about which he had written. He elaborated upon the diversity of the
forthcoming disasters: "many fierce and boysterous winds," extraordinary floods,
much cold weather, unusual troubles and sorrow, envy, hatred, contention, strife,
24 R. Harvey, An Astrological and William Perkins. In 1588 the world would
Discourse
(London, 1583), p. 8, where Harvey is quoting still have been short of the stipulated6,000years,
fromPtolemy,"thePrinceof Astrologers." but this was accountedfor by the fact that Christ
25 Ibid., pp. 38-39; cf p. 29. himself had promisedto shortenthe time (Matt.
26 It was believed, according to the Hebrew 24:22).
tradition of this prophecy, that the world's 27 R. Harvey,AstrologicalDiscourse,p. 42.
durationwas to be 6,000 years. This period was 28 Ibid., p. 44. On the 1588 prophecy see
divided-as explained by Francis Shakelton in below, n. 67. Richard Harvey's indebtednessto
A blazying Starre or burnying Beacon (London, Leowitzis evidentin a numberof placeswherehe
1580), sig. Aviir-into 2,000 years without law, does little more than translatepassagesfrom the
2,000 underthe law, and 2,000 Christian.Among De Coniunctionibus; e.g., cf. Leowitz, sigs. B 11,
the writersconsideredbelow who discussedthis B 3r, and L 3vAr with Harvey,pp. 37-39, 44-45;
prophecy in the context of the 1580s were or Leowitz,sig. D 1vwith Harvey,pp. 61-62.
Sheltco 'aGeveren,RobertTanner,John Harvey, 29 AstrologicalDiscourse,p. 45.

violent oppression, extreme poverty and hunger, great persecution of ecclesiastical

persons, ruin to many great men, dearth, shipwrecks and burnings, and other "waterie
and fierie calamities"-to be crowned by the final dissolution of the world and the
second coming of the son of man. And he was ready to stake himself upon these
events: "if there appeare not a sensible differencebetwene certaine yeares immediatelye
following, and other ordinary yeares, let me lose the credite of my Astrologie."30It was
a rash challenge. Richard Harvey was later to experience all too painfully the danger of
so openly committing his repute to his prophecy.
Very shortly after Harvey's work there appeared another, dealing with the same
subject in much the same terms. This was Robert Tanner's Prognosticall iudgementof
the great coniunction of the two superiour Planets, Saturne and Iupiter, which shall
happenthe 28 day of Aprill, 1583, which appeared not long before the event with which
it was concerned, having been completed some time before February 12, 1583.31
Although Tanner did not refer explicitly to Harvey's book, the similarity of titles
makes it likely that he knew of it.32 The tenor of his argument was also similar. Tan-
ner likewise repeated (with fuller acknowledgment than Harvey and some long trans-
lated quotations) Leowitz's statements about the significance of the conjunction's
occurrence at the end of the watery and beginning of the fiery trigon, and agreed with
the supposition that the two previous parallels of that event undoubtedly suggested
"the other comming of the Sonne of God and man, in maiestie of his glory."33Like
Harvey, Tanner committed himself to the imminence of the end:
I having atchievedthis my simple skill, in the setting foorth many reasons & probable
coniecturesfrom the course of times, of these great coniunctionsof the 2. superiour
Planets Saturne& Iupiter,in the beginningof waterieTrigon,& now the sameconiunc-
tions in the end of the same Trigonis like to happen, & then turnedin to finieTrigon.
The whicheventsof the said Planetsdoethmarveilouslyagreewith the famousprophesie
of Elias, & many otherplaces of scriptures,of the latterdayesof the worldsdestruction
to be neere at hande, & that the commingof our Lord & SaviourJesusChristto iudge-
ment,will not bee long.34
There was no certainty as to the exact moment, but "what doubt is there but that we
may perswade with our selves that the comming of Christ to iudgement will not be
long," for "These Planets conioyned together in firie triplicities, is a great token to bee
marked of the worldes destruction & that the latter daye is at hande. Therefore let us
watche and bee mindful of the Lords comming."35 Tanner called for apocalyptic
repentance. Despite a certain wariness as to exact timing-"I will not take upon me to
tell the very houre, day, and yere, which is knowen to God alone" 36-he was as ready
30Ibid.,pp. 8, 16-17 et seq., 36, 48. pen at the end of the waterytrigon (sig. B 5").Cf.
31 1 have used the HuntingtonLibrarycopy of also Camden,"'The WonderfulYeere,"' p. 166.
this book (STC 23675),which lacks the title page 32 Pruvost,"AstrologicalPredictionsof
1583,"
and was referredto by Camden ("Elizabethan p. 103; cf. McKerrow's remark, Works of
Almanacs") from its subheading and running ThomasNashe,Vol. V, p. 169,n. 1.
titles as ProbableConjecturesfrom the courseof 33 R. Tanner, A Prognosticall iudgement
tymes. Pruvost ("Astrological Predictions of (London, 1583),sig. B ir.
1583," p. 104) pointed out its identity with the 34 Ibid.,sigs. A 2v-A 3'.
copy in the BodleianLibrary(STC23676).Tanner
gave Feb. 12, 1582/3as the date on which "these 35 Ibid.,sigs. C 21,C 4'.
greateconiunctionsof the Planets"were to hap- 36Ibid., sig. A 4r.

as the other writers had been to connect the conjunction with the 1588 prophecy. For
him both historical parallels and the concordance of prophecy and astrology together
suggested 1588 as "that especial tyme of the end of this world," and as the year in
which the great conjunction would come into full effect.37 Some of the "probable
conjectures" of the astrologers began to resemble startling certainties.
Opposition to these predictions, both confidant and tentative, did not take long
to appear. At about the same time as Richard Harvey was being complemented by
Robert Tanner, he was also being attacked in no uncertain terms by another astro-
loger. On March 25, 1583 (according to his own statement) Thomas Heath, M.A., was
writing A manifest and apparent confutation of an Astrological discourse, lately pub-
lished to the discomfort (without cause) of the weake and simple sort, as will by the
sequel of that which followeth, evidently appeare. Heath does not actually name
Harvey, but it is obvious from his title to whom he was chiefly replying.38And Leo-
witz was to be numbered among those about whom he objected that "they seem to
bring the world into such admiration, that they of the better sort, knowe not what to
thinke thereof, and the rest more simple, [are] brought into no small feare and dis-
comfort therby."39The center of Heath's confutation lay in the allegation that Harvey
(and Leowitz) had miscalculated: the conjunction would occur on April 29 not 28,
and therefore the effects would be quite other than those predicted. There was no
reason to suppose that the conjunction of the two planets portended the dissolution of
the world or any of the other dangerous particulars which had been described. Heath
recalculated and explained the astronomical situation again in order to consider
"whetherit ought to seeme so fearefull and terribleunto us, as it is thought by some."40
His conclusion was definitive. There would not be any such heavy calamities, imprison-
ments, disturbances, tribulations, anguish, and sorrow as had been foretold; "in very
truthe, there is not one Aphorisme in the whole tract, that agreeth with ye figure of the
true Coniunction."4' Among the points he considered was the possibility that the
effects of a conjunction occurring in a change of trigon might be deferred for a num-
ber of years, and the supposition that the ending of the watery and beginning of the
fiery trigon signified that "the ende and consumation of the world, shoulde be in the
yeere of our Lord 1588."42His comparison of the 1583 conjunction with other earlier
ones showed him, however, that the circumstances were different; at the present
moment signs of "notable subversion" were lacking, and anyway "it is no reason to
thinke that the watry Trygon, which beganne the fourth Monarchy, shoulde likewyse
finish the same."43 Heath's own astrological calculations convinced him that "the
coniunction simply of it selfe, unlesse it hath a further consent of the premisses, can
not pretend or foreshew any great matter worthy the penning. Much lesse the altera-
37 Ibid., sigs. B 4', B 3r. 39T. Heth, A manifestandapparentconfutation

38 Camden, "ElizabethanAlmanacs," p. 197; of an Astrological discourse (London, [1583]),
"It seems obvious that he [Thomas Heath, or fromthe addressto Sir GeorgeCarey.
Heth] is replying to Harvey." According to 40 Ibid., sig. B 3r.
Allen, Star-CrossedRenaissance,p. 123, "Heth
was no opponent of astrology, but, on the con- "I Ibid., sigs. C 3v-C 4r.
trary,a verycompetentastrologerwhose purpose 42 Ibid.,sig. D 1v.
in writing this book was to correct the mathe-
maticalerrorsof RichardHarvey." 43 Ibid. sg.p D 1 Ir-

tion of Kingdomes, the comming of Christe in iudgement, or consumation of the

world."44On the contrary,
it is manifestthat this said Coniunctionof the two superiour[planets]followeththe in-

fluence, operation, and propertie of the moste happy, prosperous and benevolent
PlanetteIupiter,whose influenceand irradiationis not at any tyme to workhurtto any,
muchelesse when as he is strongin hymself,well affected,and disposed,and havyngthe
prorogativeandpreheminenceabovethe rest....45
People had been unnecessarily perturbed, and Heath was amazed that "every slender
student" in the science of astrology should audaciously have taken it upon himself to
pronounce "such great and wonderful effects," the result of which has been to bring
discredit upon the art itself. 46 He was right. The predictions of 1583 provided plenty of
ammunition, then and later, for differentsorts of polemic.
As criticism grew and disagreement mounted, the Harveys returned to the fray. In
An Astrological Discourse Richard Harvey had already promised his readers that if he
himself should be prevented, his brother John would treat more fully of the same
subject.47 This promise was fulfilled with the appearanceof John Harvey's Astrologicall
Addition,or supplementto be annexed to the late Discourse uponthe great Coniunctionof
Saturne, and lupiter. Wherinare particularly declared certaine especiall points before
omitted, as well touchingthe elevation of one Plannet above another, with theyr severall
significations: as touching Oeconomical and houshold provision: with some other
Iudicials, no lesse profitable. The book was said to have been "made and written this
last March," and was entered in the Stationers' Register on April 12, 1583, eleven
days after the date of the dedicatory epistle. Apparently it was only after he had com-
pleted the main part of the work that the author lighted upon the treatise of Robert
Tanner, to which he referred slightingly as "a mingle mangle of stealths, and patcher-
ies,"48 including unacknowledged borrowings from his brother. John Harvey's book
supplemented Richard's by accumulating evidence in support of his thesis about the
conjunction, and it was clear that a main motive for the Addition was the defense of
Richard from his critics, to stop the mouths of his envious and carping enemies.
"Good Brother," began John, addressing his brother Gabriel just as Richard had
done, "understandinghere in Walden, how desirous some have been both in London
and Cambridge, to espie a hole in my brother Richards cote. . . 9 he had undertaken
the work, in which he contributed further details and calculations about the state of
the heavens at the time of the conjunction, in order to demonstrate more clearly the
effects of the meeting. That he was as convinced as Richard had been of the fearful
occurrences to be expected is clear, for he wrote of the ensuing "great store and
abundance of rayne," the "many fierce and boysterous winds" and tempestuous
weather, the "terrible Accidents and feareful events threatned by this grand Copula-
tion of Saturne and Jupiter," and of the "great new Monarchie [that] is like to be
established."50John Harvey also believed that the results of the conjunction would be
prolonged, and though he refrained from recapitulating in detail "the horrors of the
44Ibid.,sig. D 6'. 48
J. Harvey, An Astrologicall Addition, sigs.
45 Ibid.,sig. E. 5V. E 6V-E 7V; quoted by Allen, Star-Crossed
Renaissance, p. 123.
46 Ibid., sig. D 7r. 49 AstrologicallAddition, sig. B 1r.
47 AstrologicalDiscourse,p. 33. 50Ibid., sigs. C 5V,D 5T-D 6r.

marveilous yeare, 1588,"51 he expressed the view that the dangerous effects of the
planets' congress would continue for ten years and would not be finally worked out
until the next conjunction in the year 1603.
It can be seen, therefore, that the Harvey brothers figured prominently among the
astrologers who had expressed themselves unambiguously about the effects of the 1583
conjunction. In the inevitable stock-taking which took place when that event had
come and gone without the predicted disasters, the Harvey family was accordingly
conspicuous among those whose reputation suffered. And their ignominy had a pecu-
liarly long history.
Thomas Heath was certainly correct to suggest that the astrologers' disagreements
about the conjunction brought them into discredit. The planetary events of 1583
became notorious in large part because of the fact that polemicists can always wring
profit from a grandiose public error. Heath himself had benefited from the passage of
time to point out that certain events predicted for February and March 1583 had not
occurred. Others did not lose the opportunity to discredit the astrologers when Saturn
and Jupiter conjoined without the prognosticated misfortunes, and, still more, when
the foretold day of judgment had successfully been outlived. Opponents of astrology
had been presented with an outstanding occasion, and they were already making use of
it in the year 1583.
In the second part of his Anatomy of Abuses, published in 1583, Philip Stubbes
directed damning words at "a certeine kinde of curious people, and vaineglorious,
called astronomers, and astrologers, the corruptions and abuses of whom are in-
explicable."52His arguments against the abuses of astrology were largely conventional,
but he added to their force by making use of a recent example of "the untruth and the
uncerteintie of this foolish curious science":
For therebeinga marvellousstrangeconiunction(as they said) of two superiourplanets,

So manie as writ of the same, neitheriumpedtogitherin one truth,nor yet agreedto-
gither,either of the day, houre, or moneth,when it should be: but in al things shewed
themselveslike themselves,that is, plaine contradictorieone to another.Insomuchas
theywritin defenceof theirerrors,and confutationof the contrarie,one againstanother,
shamefullyto behold.By whichmore than presumptuousaudacitie,and rash boldnesse
of these, they broughtthe world into a woonderfullperplexitieand cease, expecting
either a woonderfullalterationof states and kingdomes(as these foolish starretooters
promised)or else a finallconsummationand overthroweof all things. Or if not so, yet
the strangestthingsshouldhappen,that ever wereheardor seene since the beginningof
the world. Wheras,God be thanked,at the verie houre and momentwhen (as some of
them set downe) these woonders and portents should have happened,there was no
alterationnor changeof any thingseene or heardof, the elementbeingas faire,as bright,
as calme,and as pleasant,and everiethingas silent,and in as perfectorderand forme,as
evertheyweresincethe beginningof the world.By all whichapeereththe vanitieand un-
certeintieof theircuriousscience.53
Stubbes ended the passage with an ironical speculation about the celestial seat occu-
pied by men who thus claimed to see things invisible to everyone else. Jupiter's meet-
51Ibid., sig. E 5V where among the fearful signs and wonderful

52 Philip Stubbes's Anatomy of the Abuses in portentslisted as declaringthat "The day of the
England,ed. F. J. Furnivall(London, 1877-1879), Lord cannot be farre of," are "most dreadfull
Pt. II, p. 55. coniunctions of Starresand Planets, as the like
53 Ibid., pp. 57-58. Cf. Pt. I, pp. 187-188, this thousandyeereshavenot been heardof."

ing with Saturn undoubtedly presented the carperswith plenty of scope.

Another writer who made use of the same example this same year, as part of a
general attack upon all forms of supposed knowledge of future events, was Henry
Howard, Earl of Northampton. His Defensative against the poyson of supposed
Prophesiesincluded, besides his assault upon divination by dreams, oracles, conjuring,
and revelations, a lengthy section on astrology, whose practitioners were to be
shunned "lyke a Dragons denne, which impute all fayles of nature, all accidentes of
fortune, all over-sightsof errour,all escapes of stubbornewyll, to the rage of influence."54
His method was as searching as his conclusion was emphatic. In the section where he
examined the claim of astrologers to work by "experience," Howard cited as an ex-
ample their use of the Saturn-Jupiterconjunction. "For if the straungest accidentes
that ever were (saye they) as that of Noes floud, of the death of Caesar, of the byrth of
Christ, &c. have chaunced at such tyme, as Jupiter and Saturne were conioyned in
Cancer, Scorpio, & Pisces: it is a ground whereby we may presume, that when we
see the like revived in this age, some straunge event is not unlyke to follow."55Howard's
answer to this-which suggests that he must have written this passage before the
conjunction took place-was to answer the astrologers in general terms ("by generall-
itie of reason to refell their groundes"56),pointing out that since precisely the same
astronomical conditions could never be repeated, there could be no certain rules for
judging experience. The doctors of astrology, aware of this "straite gripe,"tried to meet
the difficulty by supposing that "it is inough for the greatest Planets to concurre,
though the rest be neyther understoode nor numbred."57But this was not good enough
for Howard, who went on further to argue that the matter upon which the planets were
allegedly operating differed at differenttimes. And there were other factors, such as the
varying qualities of the planets, which made it impossible to accept the theory that
planetary conjunctions would produce like effects at different moments of history.
Later in his work, when considering the religious dangers of astrology, Howard once
again used the example of Jupiter and Saturn-this time to illustrate the peril of
idolatry:
Werethe Fatherspraysedfor condemningJupiterand Saturneto the pytte of hell; and

shall the true professoursof Religion,not onely restorethem to the creditewhich they
had withoutdesart,but to the places which they never helde from the first beginning?
.... I knowenot whatto conceyveor iudge,for as well may we make,not onely lupiter
and Saturnewith the rest, but a blasing Starrea god, as the Romanesdyd, as beleeve
them to be signes or causes of so many straungeeffectes, as betyde eyther states or
Princes.58
54 H. Howard, A defensative(London, 1583), opening wedge for an onslaught against prog-

sig. Y i'. nosticationsin generaland astrology in particu-
55Ibid., sig. T iV.McKerrow-who, however, lar." The circumstances of 1583 would fit
was unable to spend long with this book-was Howard'sexampleof people being "causedsome-
doubtful about whetherA defensativeshould be tyme to beleeve, that the Starreswyll fall, that
regardedas a reply to Richard Harvey'sAstro- domes-daye is at hand, that the world shall be
logicalDiscourse(Worksof ThomasNashe,Vol.V, consumedsuch a tyme with fire, and of late that
p. 167; cf. Vol. IV, p. 184). While it is true that they should be drowned almost with a second
Howard does not specify any particularwritings floudde."A defensative,sig. Ii 4'.
on the conjunctionof 1583, he seems to assume 56
A defensative,sig. T ij.
knowledge of the predictionsconcerningit, and
accordingto Camden("ElizabethanAlmanacs," 57 Ibid.,sig. T i v.
p. 198) "the 1583 propheciesserve merely as an 58Ibid.,sig. Dd 4'

By the time that the Defensative was entered on the Stationers' Register on June 13,
1583, the celebrated conjunction had happened, and it may be wondered whether the
statement in the book's title about its being "Very needefull to be published at this
'4 *j~~j
4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A9
*jt~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~S
Woodcutillustrating the effects of the general conjunctionof all the planets in

Pisces in February1524. This event produced a large numberof writings, andfears
of a second Flood; it is here seen linked with Germanpeasants' risings.
(Reproducedby courtesy of Praeger Publishers, Inc., from ChristopherMcIntosh,
The Astrologers and their Creed, an Historical Outline, London/New York,
1969.)

time, considering the late offence which grew by most palpable and grosse errours in
Astrology" 59had referenceto that event.
mI
If we now begin to return from the 1583 prediction to the fiery trigon of 2 Henry IV,
a major concern must be to determine whether the notoriety gained by this conjunc-
tion was such that it could still have been recalled by the mention of another, different
planetary conjunction in a play produced fifteen years afterwards. It is undoubted
that the 1583 conjunction not only caused a great stir at the time, but also that it went
on being remembered years after it had happened. Contemporary writers have left
ample evidence on the matter, and it is worth quoting them in order to establish this
point.
Now that belief in astrology has long ceased to be general, it is perhaps hard to
realize the widespread dismay which was caused by prognostications such as those we
have described.60Contemporaries leave no doubt, however, that much notice was
taken of what the astrologers were saying, and that great alarm, as well as a great
amount of talk, was occasioned by their assertions. Others besides Philip Stubbes com-
mented upon the excitement which was generated-particularly, it seems, by Richard
Harvey's prediction.
Although we have it only on the evidence of Thomas Nashe, it is significant that
John Aylmer, Bishop of London, is reported to have preached at Paul's Cross-that
most public of all pulpits-against Richard Harvey's Astrological Discourse.6' For it
was to this bishop that the book was dedicated, and such a sermon would have helped
(even through condemnation) to publicize the subject matter of the work. Moreover,
Aylmer's refutatory action presupposes that rumor and common gossip were already
at work on the topic of the conjunction.
An indication of this gossip appears in a work written about two years later.
W[illiam] P[erkins]'s Foure Great Lyers used the example of the conjunction to de-
monstrate to the countryman the author's main theme that astrological predictions
were unlawful since (among other reasons) they caused neglect or contempt of divine
providence:
An experienceof this I found in thee, about two yearesago. A learnedman (yet in this
case far deceived)wrote an Astrologicalldiscourseof the coniunctionbetwenelupiter&
Saturne,whereinhe shewed of great alterationin every thing to fall. At this thou wast
59The full title of Howard's book in the first omitted, and "late offence" becomes "great
edition was A defensative against the poyson of offence." See also n. 95 below, for Shakespeare's
supposed Prophesies: Not hitherto confuted by the use of A defensative.
penne of any man, which being grounded, eyther 60 Cumberland Clark, Shakespeare and Science
uppon the warrant and authority of olde paynted (Birmingham,Ala.: Cornish Bros., 1929), pp.
bookes, expositions of Dreames, Oracles, Revela- 52, 54, refers to scenes of alarm which accom-
tions, Invocations of damned spirites, Iudicialles paniedthe eclipse of 1597and the comet of 1618.
of Astrologie, or any other kinde of pretended On the excitementsof the 1570s and 1580s see
knowledge whatsoever, De futuris contingentibus: the remarks of H. G. Dick in his edition of
have beene causes of great disorder in the com- Albumazar(Berkeley:Univ. of California Press,
mon wealth, and cheefely among the simple and 1944),pp. 37-40.
unlearnedpeople: very needefull to be published at 61 See below. (John Aylmer was Bishop of
this time, considering the late offence which grew London from 1577 until his death in 1594). M.
by most palpable and grosse errours in Astrology. Maclure, The Paul's Cross Sermons (Toronto:
In the title of the 1620 edition "at this time" is Univ. of TorontoPress, 1958),pp. 212-213.

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The shepherdkeeping his sheep in the fields, under the celestial bodies of which
he needed to have knowledge: woodcutfrom The kalendayr of the shyppars (Paris,
1503). The Kalender of Shepherds,a popular encyclopaedic work which
includeda section on astrology, was often reprinted-including this woodcut-up
to 1656. (Reproducedby permission of the Trusteesof the British Museum.)

sore agast, thy mind was incombred with settling thy goodes to set them in order against
that day: thy song for halfe a yeare was nothing els, but, the coniunction the coniunc-
tion: the day being come, what staryng was there and gazing into heaven, to see the
meetyng of those 2 Planets.62
And where, he asked, all this time was trust in God's providence?
The expectations and fantasies aroused by Richard Harvey's book are fully des-
cribed by Holinshed, who was familiar with its arguments:
In this yeare 1583.... by the meanes of a certeine astrologicall discourse, upon the great
and notable coniunction of the two superior planets, Satume and Jupiter, prognosti-
cated to be the eight and twentieth of Aprill; the common sort of people, yea and no
small multitude of such as thinke scorne to be called fooles, or counted beggers, whilest
they were in expectation of this coniunction, were in no small imaginations, supposing
that no lesse would have beene effectuated, than by the said discourse was prophesied.
Into these fansies not void of feare and mistrust they were drawne with the more facilitie,
for that they had read, and heard, & pondered, and suspected, and in part beleeved the
predictions of such events as should insue by influence of that coniunction. For it was
termed the great and notable coniunction, which should be manifested to the ignorant
sort, by manie fierce and boisterous winds then suddenlie breaking out. It was called the
greatest and most sovereigne coniunction among the seven planets: why so? Because
lawes, and empires, are regions and ruled by the same: which foretelleth the coniming of a
prophet, & the destruction of certeine climats and parts of the earth, and new found
heresies, and a new founded kingdome, and damages through the pestilence, and abun-
dant showers: which dooth prognosticat the destinie of a great and mightie king, much
sorrow & heavinesse to men, losses to rich and noble men, yea and those too which are
accounted and reputed like to prophets, and a multitude of locusts: which dooth fore-
shew that weightie and woonderfull things shall come into the world: which dooth
threten continuall overflowes of waters, and particular deluges in some countries:
finallie, which menaceth much mischiefe. The publication, oft reading, and talking of
this coniunction, with the remembrance of the instant wherin it should be, made manie
(when the daie foretold was come) to looke for some strange apparition or vision in the
aire; and withall, put them in mind of an old and common prophesie, touching the yeare
1588, which is now rife in everie mans mouth.63
Holinshed then went on to repeat the prophecy for 1588, describing the "marvellous
fearfull and horrible" effects it foretold:
So that by this prophesie, either a finall dissolution, or a woonderfull horrible alteration

of the world is then to be expected. All these considerations laid togither, as well the
prediction of the coniunction in expectation, as also the dreadfull events, which were to
insue thereupon: and upon the necke of these, the great yeare of 1588 in everie mans
mouth, the more frequent and common by occasion of a booke extant under the title
of the end of the world, and the second comming of Christ, made diverse diverslie
affected; insomuch that some conversing and conferring, looked for no lesse than was
62
W. P., Foure Great Lyers, Striving who shall Great Lyers (1585)," Library, 1938-1939 (4th
win the silver Whetstone. Also, A Resolution to Ser.),19:311-314.
the countri-man,proving it utterly unlawfull to buye
or use our yeerly Prognostications (London, 63 R. Holinshed, Chronicles(London, 1587),
[1585]),sig. B 41. On the authorshipof this work Vol. III, p. 1356;Holinshed'sChronicles(London,
see F. P. Wilson, "Some English Mock-Prog- 1807-1808),Vol. IV, pp. 510-511. Cf. above, the
nostications,"Library,1938-1939 (4th Ser.), 19: "fierce and boysterous winds" mentioned by
14-15; H. G. Dick, "The Authorship of Foure Richardand JohnHarvey.

THE FIERYTRIGONCONJUNCTION 177
prophesied;and talkingverie religiouslie,seemedas thoughthey would becomesancti-

fied people: howbeit, the day of the coniunctionbeing past, with a certeine counter-
checke against the said astrologicalldiscoursein some points defective, and no such
events palpablieperceivedas were prognosticated;people fell to their formersecuritie,
andcondemnedthe discourserof extreamemadnesseand follie: ...64
Because of the frequent association-which we have now had ample opportunity

to observe-of fears for 1583 and for 1588, writings about the latter year served to
keep alive recollections of the conjunction. This was the case with the popular book
mentioned by Holinshed in this passage, which provided documentary support for
belief in the 1588 prophecy. Sheltco 'aGeveren's Of the ende of this world, and second
comming of Christ first appeared in England in the translation of Thomas Rogers in
1577 and was reprinted five times before 1588.65The translator's dedication to the
Archbishop of Canterbury explained that the book had been written to recite the
signs of the imminence of the world's destruction. Among the supports for this argu-
ment Cyprian Leowitz was quoted on the "great coniunction of the superiour Planets
in the last end of Pisces" of the year 1583, which "great coniunction is of all, the last,
which shal happen in the end of Watrie Trigon, and Watrie Trigon shal have an ende,
and be turned into firie Trigon."66The familiar assertions about the momentousness
of the conjunction were followed by a recitation (in German, Latin, and English) of
the 1588 prophecy, in order to show that 1588 was the fatal year when the full force
of the planets' congress would be realized.67Events in fact "marveylously agree to-
geather"68to point to 1588 as the time when the world would be utterly destroyed and
the Lord would appear in triumph.
Although Elizabeth may have tried to suppress and refute prophetic alarms in the
Armada year, the astrologers' predictions found plenty of believers. Even a Puritan
64 Holinshed, Chronicles(1587), Vol. III, p. When afterChristsbyrththerebe expyrde

1357. Of hundredsfifteene,yeares,eightyand eight,
66 As well as the editions of 1577 (2), 1578, Thencomes the tyme of daungersto be fearde,
1582, and 1589listed in STC 11804-11807,there And al mankyndwith doloursit shal freight,
are also editions of 1580 (in the Folger Library) For if the worldin thatyearedoo not fall,
and of 1583 (at Harvard University), both of If Sea and Landthen perishne decay:
which are noted in the annotated STC in the Yet Empyresall, and kingdomesaltershall,
Huntington Library.I have examinedboth the And man to easehym selfe shal haveno way.
1577 and 1578 editions of this work and quote
from the latter since it is an augmentededition, Of theende,fol. 26v;Thorndike,HistoryofMagic,
stated to be "Nowe the thirde tyme corrected." Vol. V, pp. 373-374, where the prophecy is dis-
The Folger Library copy of STC 11805 has cussed in relation to John Harvey's Discoursive
numerousannotations which include references Probleme, without reference to the English
to events of 1588, 1591, and 1592: on the notes antecedents of that work. On the prophecies
relating to 1588 see Camden, "'The Wonderful about 1588see, in additionto the recentarticleby
Yeere,"'p. 174. Camden referredto above, G. Mattingly, The
66 S. a Geveren, Of the ende of this worlde
Armada (Boston:Houghton Miffin, 1959), pp.
175-186, whereit is suggestedthat Elizabethmay
(London, 1578),fol. 25v. have taken steps to refute the predictions,which
67 A Germanversionof the prophecypredicting spreadthroughwesternEurope as well as reach-
the end of the world in 1588 was publishedwith ing England. A new version of the prophecy,
commentsby GasparBruschin 1553.Regiomon- adapted to Fifth Monarchy ideas for the year
tanus (Johann Miullerof K6nigsberg) was re- 1698, was printed in 1650. A brief Description of
sponsible for a Latin verse prediction,of which the future History of Europe from Anno 1650 to
therewas more than one Englishversion.As put An. 1710 ([London], 1650), p. 21; Taylor,
into English by a Geveren it ran (expanding Polit cal Prophecy in England, pp. 100-102.
somewhatin the translation): 68 A Geveren,Of the ende,fol. 28r.

moralist, Thomas Lupton, was prepared to lend some credence to the significance of
1588, though William Perkins, more characteristically,was arguing the case against it
in 1587. In Perkins' tract A FruitfullDialogue, Christian put Worldling right about the
impiety of setting a precise date to the consummation of the world, especially the
year 1588, which they discussed with reference to both Leowitz and 'a Geveren,
Worldling maintaining that "the strange coniunctions of planets will shew their opera-
tion this next yeare."69
The arrival of the wonderful year brought the Harveys back into print in a way
which was hardly destined to improve their fame as astrologers. The full title of John
Harvey's new book was A Discoursive Probleme concerningProphesies, How far they
are to be valued, or credited, according to the surest rules, and directions in Divinitie,
Philosophie, Astrologie and other learning: Devised especially in abatement of the
terrible threatenings,and menaces, peremptorily denouncedagainst the kingdoms, and
states of the world, thispresentfamous yeere, 1588, supposedthe Greatwoonderfull,and
Fatall yeere of our Age.70John Harvey, as we have seen above, had in 1583 endorsed
the views of his brother Richard as to the fearful effects to be awaited in 1588 (and
thereafter) from the famous conjunction. In his new book, however, he accomplished
a complete volte-face, writing against the prophecies of 1588 as a year of disaster, and
ignoring with grand abandonment his own earlier expressions on the subject. Having
in the first half of this work examined the problem of prophecies in general (writing
against "supposed oracles," false prophecies, and counterfeit predictions), Harvey
devoted the second part to "the imagined mightie, and woonderfull casualties and
hurliburlies of the present yeere 1588.''71 As he himself confessed, this particular had
occasioned the general. "I cannot denie, but this whole Treatise was originally
occasioned by that onely famous prophesie, as also therat it finally aimeth."72Now,
unlike his own (discreetly ignored) work of 1583, Harvey was skeptical of the idea that
anything specially terrible or calamitous was to be feared of the mirabilisannus, 1588.
In fact it was marked out as a "prosperous and gladsome yeere," not one of any
"tragicall, and tyrannicall consequents."73In considering the grounds for the predic-
tions about 1588 John Harvey pointed out that among the "cheefest and notablest
69 M. M. Knappen,TudorPuritanism (Chicago: for doingpreciselywhathe andRichardhaddone,

Univ. of ChicagoPress, 1939),pp. 377-378; The his outburstmakes ratherentertainingreading."
Workes of . .. W. Perkins. (Cambridge, 1616- Perhapssomething of John Harvey'suneasiness
1618),Vol. III, p. 476, cf. 472-473. at his position may be inferredfrom the alman-
70 The second copy of this book in the Folger ac and prognosticationwhich he published for
Library is the author's presentation copy to the year 1589. "Concernyng predictions," he
GabrielHarveyand is inscribedon the title page wrote, "I wyshe no man so to understandethem,
"Gabrielis Harveii. Ex dono Jo. fratris." as though of meere necessitie they should so
McKerrow (Works of Thomas Nashe, Vol. V, p. come to passe, but to take them onely Contin-
170) pointed out that "The prophecies with genter, et non necessario." Many natural causes
which he [John Harvey] deals are, it must be could prevent the foretold effects from coming
remembered,not forecasts based on astrology, about; errors were made by astrologersjust as
but merely those vague or cryptic sayingswhich much as by practitionersof other sciences, and
have at all times beencommonamongthe vulgar, werenot to be marvelledat. McKerrow,Worksof
as those attributedto Merlin,Nostradamus,and Thomas Nashe, Vol. V, p. 171.
others."But in attackingthe 1588 prophecyJohn 71 J. Harvey, A Discoursive Probleme (London,
Harvey necessarilybecame involved in astrolo- 1588), from the dedication to Sir Christopher
gical arguments,becauseof the connectionswith Hatton, sig. A 4r.
the prediction about the conjunction, and, as
Pruvostsaid ("AstrologicalPredictionsof 1583," 72Ibid., p. 87.
p. 105), "Seeing. . . that he now condemnsothers 73 Ibid.,pp. 98, 102.

points" and "principall grounds" was "the great Coniunction of Saturne and Jupiter
in the last Decane of Pisces, which happened in the yeere 83. last passed."74 Con-
tinental writers, including Leowitz, but no English ones, were quoted for the argu-
ment that this conjunction had been momentous since it was the last great conjunc-
tion which would occur in the watery triplicity, for thereafter the fiery trigon would
succeed, so that all great conjunctions for about two hundred years to come would
be in fiery signs.75But, asked John Harvey, retracinghis own steps,
Is the shifting of a Trygon so perillous, and dangerousa matter, which ordinarily

fallethout every 198yeere,and a little more,to wit, less than halfea quarterof one yeer,
howsoever there are commonly, but erroniously240. yeeres ascribedthereunto? Or
is the Coniunction of Saturne and Jupiter so hainous a meeting which happeneth
usuallyevery 19. yeere, 315 daies. and 19. houres? Or to descendto the very point it
selfe, is their congressein the end of the watrie,and beginningof the fierie Trigon so
ominous, and fatall, which happeneth not preternaturally,or supernaturally,but
accordingto the naturalcourse once every 800. yeeres and somewlhatlesse, and hath
already Sixe times escaped, without any such universallunnaturallmysteries,or im-
periallconfusions?76
Contrary to much that had been written-some of it by himself-he concluded that

"this Coniunction of Saturne and lupiter is so far from working or inforcing any such
horrors, as this 88. prophesie pretendeth, that of all likelihood it should seeme rather
(in case it hath any notable significations at all) to presignifie much final good, and
great ioy, or happines in conclusion."77Harvey marvelled scornfully at the learned
men who had attributed so excessively much to "that silly Coniunction."78His present
vantage point, though allowing still for some qualifications, sounded superior and was
not uncertain. The conjunction could not be taken to augur the coming end of the
world, and there was no reason to suppose that its effects would appear specifically
in the year 1588. Whatever the signs and probabilities might be of "a Tragedy insuing
in the world," there need be no great fears for "this 88. shall at the uttermost proove
but the Prologue thereof."79
The annus mirabilis came and went-not without its marvels, though they were not
exactly of the kind to make prophets' reputations. Rather the reverse, in fact, and once
more failure itself vivified the memory of the astrologers' forecasts. "That 88 by whose
horrible predictions, Almanack-makers stood in bodily feare their trade would bee
utterly overthrowne" was still wonderful fifteen years later for its prophetic celebrity.80
For the enemies of astrology, 1588 stood for its practitioners' pretensions and public
shame. "I can tell the minute of thy byrth, the moment of thy death, and the manner. I
can tel thee what wether shall be betweene this and Octogessimus octavus mirabilis
annus," claims the Astronomer in Lyly's Gallathea, which was probably produced six
or seven years before the extant edition of 1592.81 "An astronomer? of all occupations
74 Ibid.,pp. 102-103. 80 The Non-Dramatic Works of Thomas

75 Ibid.,p. 103. Dekker, ed. A. B. Grosart (London: Privately
76 Ibid., pp. 106-107, quoted by Pruvost, printed, 1884-1886), Vol. I, p. 94, from The
"AstrologicalPredictionsof 1583,"pp. 105-106. Wonderfull Yeare (1603).
For the six greatestconjunctionsHarvey refers 81 The Complete Works of John Lyly, ed. R. W.
to, see aboven. 4. Bond (Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1902), Vol. II,
77 Discoursive Probleme,p. 110. p. 452. Gallatheawas entered on the Stationers'
78 Ibid.
Register on Apr. 1, 1585, by which time it may
79 Ibid.,p. 130. alreadyhave beenperformed.

thats the worst...." remarks Raffe, later in the same play. "He told me a long tale of
Octogessimus octavus, and the meeting of the Coniunctions & Planets, and in the
meane-time he fell backwarde himselfe into a ponde."82 The wonderful year cer-
tainly seemed, to those who were predisposed to doubt astrological forecasts, to have
occasioned a bad fall in that art. And it continued to be associated with planetary
conjunctions. Through their predictions about conjunctions, including the "ridiculous
scare" of the year 1588, astrologers had "made themselves ridiculous to the whole
worlde," pronounced William Covell, writing about the divinations based upon con-
junctions of the "hye Planets."83 "It were infinite to lay their lies together," wrote
John Chamber in A Treatise against Iudicial Astrologie, which appeared in 1601 and
constituted one of the leading attacks of the time upon the principles of astrology. Of
the infinite lies manufacturedby the astrologers "that one of 1588. may stand for many,
and the rather because it hapned in our memory. It were well that all of that trade had
those two figures. 88. seared in their foreheads, that when they meet, they might laugh
one at another, as did the Aruspicesin olde time."84Yet ChristopherHeydon, replying
at length to John Chamber two years later in A Defence of Iudiciall Astrologie, was
prepared "to hazzard the credit of Astrologie" upon the "unusall and strange" events
of 1588.85Taking up the challenge, he catalogued the remarkable occurrences of that
year which had taken place in all parts of Europe, from Poland and Hungary to Den-
mark and France, including England's glorious victory over the Armada. When so
much accorded with the prophecy it was, concluded Heydon, Chamber himself who
should be branded as a liar, rather than the prognosticators of 1588. Yet there were
enough people, it seems, who were ready to jeer at the astrologers, and behind the
mockery of 1588 lay the terrors and errors of 1583.
For one who had contention in his lifeblood and had made controversy his career,
the astrological writings of the Harveys offered an irresistible bait. Thomas Nashe
(1567-1601) was not one to lose the opportunity to profit by others' mistakes, and he
fully exploited the Harveys' awkward role in the dispute over the conjunction. More
than once he cast in Gabriel Harvey's teeth the public failure of Richard's Astrological
Discourse, and if any of Nashe's readers had been on the point of forgetting the fear
and fracas caused by that book, his writings helped to keep the memory green until at
least 1596.
The ridicule earned by Richard Harvey for his 1583 prediction played its part in the
genesis of the famous quarrel between Nashe and Gabriel Harvey. The insulting
passage in Robert Greene's Quipfor an Upstart Couirtierof 1592, which appears to
have been what brought Gabriel Harvey into the fray in defense of his family, in-
cluded the following description of John Harvey, third and youngest son of John
Harvey the rope maker of Saffron Walden. "The second sir, is a Physitian or a foole,
but indeed a physitian, & had proved a proper man if he had not spoiled himselfe with
82Ibid., Vol. II, p. 462. Bond argues(pp. 421- History of Magic, Vol. VI, p. 118.
422)thatLyly"hadbeforehim"RichardHarvey's 84
J. Chamber, A 1 reatise against Iudicial
Astrological Discourse, and that the "meeting of Astrologie (London, 1601), p. 43; quoted by
the Coniunctions & Planets" is an allusion to Allen, Star-Crossed Renaissance, p. 127.
this work. 85 C. Heydon, A Defence of Iudiciall Astrologie.
83 W[illiam]C[ovell],Polimanteia(Cambridge, In answer to a Treatise lately published by M.
1595), sig. I 11. Covell referredto Bodin, who in Iohn Chamber(Cambridge,1603), pp. 204-205;
the Republichad criticizedLeowitz's prediction for this argument see Camden, "Elizabethan
of the 1583-1584 conjunctions. Thorndike, Almanacs,"p. 200.

his Astrological discourse of the terrible coniunction of Saturne and Jupiter."86John

Harvey who, as described,had written An AstrologicallAdditionin support of Richard's
Astrological Discourse, died in July 1592, just at the time of this attack. Greene's
insulting passage was withdrawn, but that did not prevent Nashe from later making
some rude asides at the expense of all three Harveys, though the main brunt of his
jibes about their astrological pretensions was directed at Richard. In Pierce Penilesse
his Supplication to the Divell (1592), which marked his full entry into the quarrel,
Nashe included this abuse of Richard Harvey:
Gentlemen,I am sureyou have heardeof a ridiculousAsse that manyyearessince sold

lyes by the great,and wrotean absurdAstrologicallDiscourseof the terribleConiunction
of Saturneand Iupiter,wherein(as if hee had lately cast the Heavenswater,or beene at
the anatomizingof the Skies intrailesin Surgeonshall) hee propheciethof such strange
wonders to ensue from stars destemperatureand the unusuall adultrie of Planets,
as none but he that is Bawdto those celestiallbodiescouldeverdiscry.Whatexpectation
there was of it both in towne and country,the amazementof those times may testifie:
and the rather, because he pawned his credit upon it, in these expressetearmes: If
these thingsfall not out in everypoint as I have wrote,let mefor everhereafterloose the
creditof my Astronimie.Well, so it happened,that he happenednot to be a man of his
word; his Astronimiebroke his day with his creditors,and Saturneand Iupiterprov'd
honestermen then all the World tooke them for: whereuponthe poore Prognosticator
was readyto runnehimselfethroughwith his IacobsStaffe,and cast himselfeheadlong
from the top of a Globe (as a mountaine)and breakehis necke. The whole Universitie
hyst at him, Tarltonat the Theatermade iests of him, and Eldertonconsumedhis ale-
crammednose to nothing, in bearbaytinghim with whole bundles of ballets. Would
you, in likely reason,gesse it were possiblefor any shame-swolnetoad to have the spet-
proofe face to out live this disgrace?It is, dearebrethren,Vivit,imo vivit;and, whichis
more,he is a Vicar.87
This passage initiated a series of exchanges concerning Richard Harvey's prediction

about the conjunction. The same year Gabriel Harvey, defending the honor of his
family in Foure Letters, and certaine Sonnets, tried to rescue his brother from Nashe's
attack; though, as McKerrow pointed out, he probably did so more from personal
loyalty than from agreement with the argument of the Astrological Discourse. "I
dare undertake," wrote Gabriel, "the abused Autor of the Astrologicall discourse,
(everie page thereof, under correction of inspired and supernaturall conceits, dis-
covereth more Arte and ludgement, then the whole Supplication of the Parturient
Mountaine) notwithstanding the notorious Diabolicall discourse of the said Pierce, a
man better acquainted with the divels of Hell, then with the Starres of Heaven: shall
unfainedly pray for him: and onely pray him to report the knowen truth, of his ap-
86 Robert Greene, Ciceronis Amor: Tullies Astrologicall Addition in its support. John Harvey
Love (1589) and A Quzpfor an Upstart Courtier refers to "my yeerely Almanacke," and his
(1592), ed. E. H. Miller (Gainesville, Fla.: almanacs for 1584 and 1589 are extant. Astro-
Scholars' Fascimiles & Reprints, 1954), sigs. logicall Addition, sig. D 5r; Works of Thomas
E 3V-E 4r; Works of Thomas Nashe, Vol. V, Nashe, Vol. V, pp. 73, 169-171.
Supplement, p. 76; G. R. Hibbard, Thomas Nashe 87 Works of Thomas Nashe, Vol. I, pp. 196-197.
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962),pp. As McKerrowpointed out (Vol. IV, p. 122), the
184-185. The Astrological Discourse itself was of nearest passage to the one Nashe gives for
course the work of Richard Harvey, but John RichardHarvey's"pawning"of his creditseems
had been mentioned in it as well as writing his to be that quotedabove.

prooved learning, & living, without favor."88Nashe came back the same year to
argue the same point, as irrepressibly as usual. "Most voices, most voices, most
voices; who is on my side, who? Whether is the Astrologicall Discourse a better booke
then Pierce Pennilesse? Gabriel hangtelow saies it is; I am the Defendant, and denie
it"-and he went on to do so.89
Thanks largely to Nashe, Richard Harvey's mistake of 1583 was not allowed to sink
comfortably into oblivion. Nashe was still harping on it in 1596. In Have with you to
Saffron-Waldenhe dealt as mercilessly as ever with all three Harveys, and Richard-
stigmatized as Pigmey Dick-was caught on the same old grounds.
I have not yet seald and shakt hands with him for makingtwo such false Prophetsof
Saturne& Iupiter,out of whose iumblingin the darke and coniunctioncopulativehe
denouncedsuch Oraclesand alterationsto ensue, as if (like anotherThebitBencorat)he
had liv'd 40. yere in a mountainto discernethe motion of the eighth Orbe: but as he
(for all his labour) could not attaine to it, no more could Dick (with his predictions)
compasseaniethingbut derision,beingpubliquelypreachtagainstfor it at PowlesCrosse
by the Bishop of Londonthat then was, who (accordingto Arte, if such a Coniunction
had chanc'd)disproov'dthe revolutionsto bee cleanecontrarie,90
besides which (he continued) there was the refutation of Thomas Heath.
Nashe did not lose the occasion to associate the other Harveys with Richard's
astrological ill fame. "Three to one, par ma foy, is oddes; not one of them writes an
Almanacke, but hee reckons up all his brothers," he had written in 1592.91The charge
was not altogether unjust, though (Nashe's allegations to the contrary) John is the only
one of the three to whom almanacs can certainly be attributed. But all three Harveys
had been associated in the writings about the 1583 conjunction; Richard and John
had both published books on the question, and in doing so both of them had invoked
the support of Gabriel. Whatever Gabriel's personal opinion, he could hardly avoid
sharing his brothers' dishonor. The conjunction made them a joint laughing stock.
Indeed it seems possible-after all that had been written about Jupiter and Saturn's
88 The Works of Gabriel Harvey, ed. A. B. proofe what generalgood I can do my countrie
Grosart (London:Privatelyprinted, 1884-1885), thereby"; and by John's statement that "my
Vol. I, p. 199. Opinions have differed as to brother Gabriel,beeing of him selfe otherwise
GabrielHarvey'sviews upon astrology.Camden affected,hath not disliked either of my brother
("ElizabethanAlmanacs,"p. 195, n. 1), referring Richards,or of my exercise in this kinde" (R.
to his statementthat astronomicalknowledgewas Harvey, Astrological Discourse, p. 3; J. Harvey,
necessaryfor a poet, remarked:"That Gabriel Astrologicall Addition, sig. A 6r; cf. also n. 70
was a believer in astrology is attested in many above).
passages." McKerrow, however, noting that 8 Works of Thomas Nashe, Vol. I, p. 308, from
Gabriel Harvey's view of earthquakeswas in Strange Newes, Of the intercepting certaine
effect much the same as Nashe's, observed that Letters.
he "wasnot himself an indiscriminatebelieverin 90 Works of Thomas Nashe, Vol. III, pp. 82-83.
the supernaturalwarnings conveyed by natural 91 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 298, from Strange Newes. For
phenomena" (Works of Thomas Nashe, Vol. IV, John Harvey'salmanacssee above, n. 86. It has
p. 186). Gabriel's reservationsabout astrology, been suggestedthat Nashe's attempt to identify
and perhapsaboutthe writingsof his brotherson Gabriel Harvey with the Gabriel Frend or
the conjunction, are suggested by Richard's Friendwho publishedvariousalmanacsbetween
referenceto his "laterequeste,whereinyou adver- 1589 and 1621, should be taken seriously;
tise mee either not so muchto addictmy selfe to Chauncey Sanders, Robert Greene and the
the studie, and contemplation of Judiciall Harveys (13loomington: Indiana Univ. Studies,
Astrologie, or else by some evident and sensible No. 93, 1931), pp. 39-40; Works of Thomas
demonstration,to make certaine and infallible Nashe,Vol.111,p. 70; Vol. IV, p. 337.

congress at the shifting of the triplicities-that talk of trigons was itself suggestive (in
certain circles at certain moments) of the triplicity of the brothers Harvey. "Let him
denie," Nashe challenged Gabriel Harvey in 1596, "that there was a Shewe made at
Clare-hall of him and his two Brothers, called,
Tarrarantantaraturba tumultuosaTrigonum,
Tri-Harveyorum,Tri-harmonia."92
IV
Despite the prevalence of astrological talk in the sixteenth century and the fre-
quency of conjunctions, the events of 1583 were outstanding. They impressed many
people. "The Fiery Trigon" had indeed-in Gabriel Harvey's words-"seemed to give
the Alarme."93The year 1583-1584 marked the change from the watery to the fiery
trigon which had also coincided with the birth of Christ. It also witnessed a conjunc-
tion of which there were only six parallels in the entire history of the world since Adam,
only one of these being since the time of Christ. Plenty of notice, in England as well as
abroad, had been taken of the momentousness of these signs. And it should scarcely be
necessary, after the citations given above, to labor the stress which had been given to
the significance of the world's re-entry into the fiery trigon. The crux of the predic-
tions-for those who were skeptical, as for those who were convinced-lay in the con-
junction's occurrence at the shifting of the triplicities. The fiery trigon, so often
referred to in the works we have cited, must have become the subject of discussion
not only among the astrologically learned but also among commoners, who heard the
predictions refuted or ridiculed in public places, including the London stage and the
pulpit at Paul's Cross. Richard Harvey's book, according to Holinshed, had "set
peopls toongs on woorke, and filled their minds with strange conceipts."94 As the
result of all this publicity, perhaps many people who would not normally have
bothered much with such things were made conversant with astrological terminology,
including the fiery trigon, rather in the same way as in our day, at moments of special
alarm, nonscientists have become familiar with technical terms such as strontium-90.
Those who had lived through the years 1583 to 1588, as well as those who were inter-
ested in astrological writings or in following the misfortunes of the Harvey brothers in
Gabriel's literary war with Thomas Nashe, might well have collected associations with
conjunctions and trigons-associations in which the personal and particular out-
weighed the general. To many people the very mention of a conjunction and the fiery
trigon must have brought reminders of the fears of the 1580s, when "the conjunction,
92
Works of Thomas Nashe, Vol. III, p. 80. with the jibe over the fierytrigon. So perhapsthe
"Taratantara"according to the OED is "A title of the show at Clare Hall summoned the
word imitating,and hence denoting,the sound of Harveysto judgmentfor theirerrorsin predicting
a trumpet or bugle." It seems possible that as the last judgment. It is also possible that some
well as conveying the sound of trumpets in astrologicalallusionmightstill have been present
general,the word had associationswith the last in Middleton's reference to the Harveys in
trump and the day of judgment.It was certainly Father Hubburd'sTales (1604): "Or if in bitter-
used in this context by Stubbes (Anatomyof ness thou raile, like Nash... Thou hadst a strife
Abuses,Pt. I, p. 24): "And thereforethe fearfull with that Trigemini" (The Works of Thomas
daie of the Lord cannot be farreof; at whichday Middleton,ed. A H. Bullen, London, 1885, Vol.
all the Worldshall standin flashingfier, and then VIII, p. 62).
shall Christ our Saviour come marchingin the 93 Worksof GabrielHarvey,Vol. II, p. 70.
clowdesof heaven,with his Taratantarasounding
in each mans eare, 'ariseyou Dead, and come to 94 Holinshed, Chronicles(1587), Vol. III, p.
iudgement."'Such a meaningwould have fitted 1356.

the conjunction" was so much on the lips of star-gazingcountrymen.

Shakespeare was in his twentieth year when Saturn and Jupiter conjoined in 1583.
He was twenty-four at the time of the Armada and the "wonderful year" of 1588.
Apart from the fact that he can hardly have remained oblivious of the astrological
expectations we have been describing, there is evidence that he knew and used some of
the books in which they were considered. As well as Holinshed's Chronicles(used as a
major source for Henry IV in the 1587 edition, which contains the above comment on
the conjunction), it has been argued convincingly that Shakespeare read Henry
Howard's Defensative, part of whose interest may have derived from the controversy
of 1583.95Also significant are the parallels, long ago collected by Professor Dover
Wilson, between passages in the works of Nashe and lines in both parts of Henry IV.
One such possible allusion occurs in the scene quoted from above, and it may be
judged from these many echoes that by the time he wrote 2 Henry IV Shakespearehad
read Pierce Pennilesse, and conceivably also Have with you to Saffron-Walden.96
Allowance must surely be made for his familiarity with the discussions which focused
upon Richard Harvey's Astrological Discourse. If the reference to "these late eclipses"
in King Lear suggests a knowledge of the prognostications of the years 1600-1605,97
memories of an earlier comparable astrological controversy may have contributed to
the wit of 2 Henry IV.
Yet, of course, it was Saturn and Venus, not Saturn and Jupiter, whom Shakes-
peare conjoined in the Boar's Head Tavern.98To forget this would be to reject a
primary facet of the jest, which depended upon no specific contemporary allusion,
and which would have been obvious to any spectator with the most cursory astro-
logical knowledge. Saturn and Venus were apt metaphors for Falstaff and Doll-as
was the fiery trigon for Bardolph with his blazing, lanternlike nose. Saturn, planet of
melancholy, old age and death, "the Lorde of horrible misrule,"99 was perhaps
95 C. G. Harlow, "A Source for Nashe's dronicus, II, iii, 30-31, where Aaron says to
Terrors of the Night, and the Authorship of I Tamora;
Henry VI," Studies in English Literature, 1965, Madam, thoughVenus governyour desires,
5:31-47, 269-281, esp. pp. 277-280. Cf. n. 59 Saturnis dominatorovermine.
above. 99R. Harvey, Astrological Discourse, p. 9,
96 Doll's remarkabout Falstaff'sbeing-"like a refersto Saturn"being(as it were) the Lorde of
church" is certainly suggestive of Bacchus' horrible misrule, and tragicall mischiefes." In
paunch "built like a round church" in Nashe's the process of accretion and transformation,
Summer's Last Will and Testament. The First Saturn's attributes came to include association
Part of the History of Henry IV, ed. John Dover with thieves and rebels, and Albumasar had
Wilson (Cambridge:CambridgeUniv. Press, included such persons among those whom the
1946), pp. 191-196; The Second Part of King planet presided over, alongside men and old
HenryIV, ed. Humphreys,pp. 78, 127, notes on things in general. In this context it is worth
II, iv, 226 and IV, ii, 12. quoting lines from the translation of a 15th-
97 LingLear,ed. K. Muir(ArdenEd., London, century German verse illustrative of popular
1963),pp. xxi-xxii; KingLear,ed. H. H. Furness views of the nature of Saturn (and for which
(New Variorum Ed., Philadelphia, 1908), pp. thereareapparentlyEnglishparallels).
379-380; Parr, Tamburlaine'sMalady, pp. 70-79; Thief, spoiler,murderer,untrue
G. T. Buckley, "'These Late Eclipses' Again," Blasphemerin all mannertoo,
Shakespeare Quarterly, 1962, 13:253-256. As Never in favourwith womenor wife,
Parr pointed out, it is importantto considernot In drinkingdoes he spendhis life.
only the eclipses but the prognosticationscon- R. Klibansky,E. Panofsky, and F. Saxl, Saturn
cerning them, which included John Harvey's andMelancholy(New York: Basic Books, 1964),
Discoursive Probleme. pp. 131, 194; E. Panofsky, Studies in Iconology
98The only other place where Shakespeare (New York:Oxford Univ. Press, 1939), pp.
associated these two planets was in Titus An- 69-93.

' w~,<eof5altus.e
LW~~~E 4Sofwt.ofsrI.
nv'+r.rtwo irtgarafmt cur

*w:att cott.g w en
Woodcutsshowi'ngthe properties of Saturn and Venus, anidof those born under

theseplanets,from The kalendayr of the shyppars (Paris, 1503). (Reproducedby
permissionof the rusteesof the BritishMuseum.)

particularly appropriate for Falstaff's present mood, reluctantly reminded of his age
and his mortality; ("Peace, good Doll, do not speak like a death's-head, do not bid me
remembermine end"-"I am old, I am old"100).Venus' sensual attributes were no less
suited to Doll; ("I'll canvass thee between a pair of sheets"101).It was a neat figure for
this encounter of sadness and sensuousness, gravity and levity. And the conjunction
itself, variously referred to as a "copulation" or "adultery" of the planets, could be
taken in the same spirit. There was, however, astronomically speaking, no need to con-
sider the Saturn-Venus conjunction only in this way, for (despite Marsilio Ficino)
Venus and Saturn could and did conjoin. Robert Tanner in his Prognosticall iudge-
ment had predicted that such conjunctions would occur in Pisces on February23, 1583,
and in Aries on April 13, 1586.102 Richard Harvey, too, in An Astrological Discourse
had examined the effects of a conjunction of Saturn and Venus, as well as the con-
junction which was his main concern. "For if the Infortune had bene greater and
stronger than the Fortune, as if Saturne had beene ioyned with Venus, which is called
Fortuna minor, Saturne no doubt would have chalenged the prerogative or pre-
emince unto him selfe, as being mightier and of more force."''03He predicted that there
would be such a conjunction, among others in the fiery triplicity, in 1584.104
Part of the stock of general astrological knowledge contributing to the wit of
Shakespeare's lines was the significance of such a planetary configuration for indi-
vidual horoscopes. It was a popular subject about which much was known and
written, and various contemporary dramatists made use of horoscopes and astrologi-
cal predictions to illuminate the motivation of their characters and the movement of
their plots. The misfortunes of Marlowe's Mycetes, for instance, are comprehensible
by reference to the conjunction of Saturn and the moon at his birth.'05 Shakespeare
did not use horoscopes for any of his characters, though he clearly possessed enough
astrological learning to have done so. And astrological wit of this kind also lurks-
far from obscurely-in the passage in question.
The combined influence of Saturn and Venus upon individual destinies was well
known and certainly not fortunate. Henry Howard used this example to refute the
common assumptions of astrologers. "They warre not about any poynt more mort-
ally," he said, "then the properties of planets and theyr severall effects in us: and yet
theyr owne best authors are enforced to confesse, that the men which in our time have
beene moste famous both for witte and courage, were borne under Saturne and
Venus."106 Such qualities in such circumstances were clearly not to be expected. Some
of the misfortunes associated with such nativities would have provided fit horoscopes
for Falstaff and Doll. As Oger Ferrierwrote in his popular manual on the judgment of
nativities, which appeared in England in the translation of Thomas Kelway in 1593,
"the coniunction of Saturne and Venus, denote that the man shal have no male
chyldren, that he shal espouse some old woman, or some widdowe, or some of evil
100 2 Henry IV, II, iv, 231-232, 268. 105 Parr, Tamburlaine's Malady, pp. 24-31.
1L0 Ibid., 221. This work considersthe use of astrologicalpre-
L02Prognosticall iudgement, sigs. B 7V, D 2'.
dictions in a number of dramatic contexts,
See n. 2 above.
showinghow "To most Elizabethansastrological
motivation was not a mere figurativeembellish-
103 Astrological Discourse, p. 10.
ment"(p. 56).
104 Ibid., p. 29 106 Howard, A defensative, sig. R 4r.

condition, or a bastard: or other staine of hys honour...."107 Or, as William Lilly

later put it, Venus ill placed (as she was with Saturn) made a man
Riotous, Expensive, wholly given to Loosnesse and Lewd companies of Women,

nothing regardinghis Reputation,coveting unlawfulBeds, Incestuous,an Adulterer,
Fantastical,a meerSkip-jack,of no Faith,no Repute,no Credit;spendinghis Meanesin
Ale houses, Taverns,and amongstScandalous,Loose people; a meer Lazy companion
nothing carefulof the things of this Life, or any thing Religious; a meer Atheist and
naturalman.'08
In this lull in the dramatic theme of misrule and rebellion, Falstaff, dallying with Doll
Tearsheet and of whom Mistress Quickly had alleged three scenes earlier that he had
sworn to make, her his wife, accorded with the auguries. Nor was Doll herself mis-
placed in the effects, as stated by Ferrier, of Saturn and Venus upon marriage. "If
Venus or lupiter, or the Lord of the seaventh house be ioyned to Saturne, or if
Saturne be within the seaventh house, the woman shall have some note of
infamie.... 9109 Whether or not there were astrological experts in Shakespeare's
audience, there was laughing matter enough in the linking of Saturn and Venus.
These considerations may appear disproportionate as a footnote to four dramatic

lines. Yet such an investigation is justifiable if it enlarges our understanding of possible
contemporary interpretations. The works I have quoted show that among the possible
grounds for laughter included in this exchange between the Prince and Poins was an
old and not forgotten controversy of the 1580s, in which the fiery trigon had particular
bearing upon a planetary conjunction. It may be supposed that recollections of that
famous and famously unsuccessful prediction contributed to the amusement of the
lines in question-the conjunction at the entrance to the fiery trigon which had not
ushered in the day of judgment. The laughter was no doubt various since the joke,
like all the best jokes, Shakespeare's included, was condensed-multiple not single.
Astrological familiarity being what it was, Falstaff and Doll could be entertainment as
Saturn and Venus at the same time as play was made with conjunctions and predic-
tions in general. The almanac brings us into contact with much that is unfamiliar, but
it also leads back to Elizabethan commonplaces, and the commonplaces of an Eliza-
bethan audience form part of a greater, more delicate subject-the workings of Shakes-
peare's mind. Poetical conjunctions, after all, are not delimited by lines.
107
0. Ferrier, A Learned Astronomical dis- year he published a treatise on dreams. Thorn-
course, of the iudgement of Nativities, trans. dike, Historyof Magic, Vol. VI, pp. 478-480.
Thomas Kelway (London, 1593), fol. 37r. Oger 108
WilliamLilly, ChristianAstrology(London,
Ferrier,or AugeriusFerrerius,1513-1588,was a 1647),p. 74.
physicianof Toulouse and a famous astrologer.
His Des jugemens astronomiques sur les nativitez 109Ferrier, Learned Astronomical discourse,
was publishedat Lyons in 1550,and the previous fol. 22 .


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The Fiery Trigon Conjunction: An Elizabethan Astrological Prediction

Author(s): Margaret Aston

This content downloaded from 205.133.226.104 on Mon, 19 Aug 2013 11:40:07 AM

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In order to appreciate the astrological fracas of 1583 it is necessary to understand

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10The datingof the cycle of greatconjunctions Inquisitionearlyin the 14thcentury.(Thorndike,

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Albumasar,then, in his book on Conjunctionsand other astronomersdeterminethat

nnen lizoo par ale

Astrologer observingthe stars: woodcutfrom Albumasar,Introductoriumin

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about thirty,and thereforeit happensthat aftertwentyyears they are in conjunctionin

The work of another Continental astronomer, a generation older than Brahe

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Touchingwhich,forasmuchas it is the last coniunctionthat ever shal happenin the end

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violent oppression, extreme poverty and hunger, great persecution of ecclesiastical

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37 Ibid., sigs. B 4', B 3r. 39T. Heth, A manifestandapparentconfutation

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tion of Kingdomes, the comming of Christe in iudgement, or consumation of the

it is manifestthat this said Coniunctionof the two superiour[planets]followeththe in-

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For therebeinga marvellousstrangeconiunction(as they said) of two superiourplanets,

51Ibid., sig. E 5V where among the fearful signs and wonderful

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ing with Saturn undoubtedly presented the carperswith plenty of scope.

Werethe Fatherspraysedfor condemningJupiterand Saturneto the pytte of hell; and

54 H. Howard, A defensative(London, 1583), opening wedge for an onslaught against prog-

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Woodcutillustrating the effects of the general conjunctionof all the planets in

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skt ffi4 totc etOa6"nWOCtXcft o!oX 26of0on9

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So that by this prophesie, either a finall dissolution, or a woonderfull horrible alteration

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prophesied;and talkingverie religiouslie,seemedas thoughthey would becomesancti-

Because of the frequent association-which we have now had ample opportunity

64 Holinshed, Chronicles(1587), Vol. III, p. When afterChristsbyrththerebe expyrde

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69 M. M. Knappen,TudorPuritanism (Chicago: for doingpreciselywhathe andRichardhaddone,

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Is the shifting of a Trygon so perillous, and dangerousa matter, which ordinarily

Contrary to much that had been written-some of it by himself-he concluded that

74 Ibid.,pp. 102-103. 80 The Non-Dramatic Works of Thomas

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his Astrological discourse of the terrible coniunction of Saturne and Jupiter."86John

Gentlemen,I am sureyou have heardeof a ridiculousAsse that manyyearessince sold

This passage initiated a series of exchanges concerning Richard Harvey's prediction

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the conjunction" was so much on the lips of star-gazingcountrymen.

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nv'+r.rtwo irtgarafmt cur

Woodcutsshowi'ngthe properties of Saturn and Venus, anidof those born under