This essay analyzes the astrolabe and its ability to transfer ideas and culture across traditional geographic boundaries, from the perspective of Europe in the Medieval and Early Modern eras.
A Portal to the Universe: The Astrolabe as a Site of Exchange in Medieval and Early Modern Knowledge
January 21, 2015 By
Assessment of early-modern observations of comets and supernovae: Focus on pre-telescopic European astrometric and physical data
November 16, 2014 By
It will be worth while in this investigation to inquire whether comets have the same nature as the planets and stars … A comet seems to have certain things in common with them: rising and setting, the same appearance, although a comet is scattered and extends farther. It is also fiery and bright. And so, if all planets are earthy bodies, comets will also have the same condition. ~ Seneca
Flee the loathsome shadow: Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) and the Medici in Florence
November 9, 2014 By
This article examines the changing political landscape of Medicean Florence, from Cosimo de’ Medici (1389-1464) to his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-1492), through the letters of the celebrated neo-Platonist philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-99).
Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel
August 8, 2014 By
A detailed examination of the themes, motifs and secrets held with Michelagelo’s masterpiece.
A New Set of Fourteenth Century Planetary Observations
July 27, 2014 By
The Astronomy of Levi ben Gerson (d.1344) is unusual for recording 45 observations he made of planetary longitudes and latitudes that are presented here for the first time.
A Medieval Multiverse
March 26, 2014 By
Ideas in a thirteenth-century treatise on the nature of matter still resonate today, say Tom C. B. McLeish and colleagues.
Eclipses in the Middle East from the Late Medieval Islamic Period to the Early Modern Period
January 10, 2014 By
This paper deals with the analysis of data obtained from observations of two sets of three lunar eclipses in the Late Medieval Islamic Period.
Depicting the Medieval Alchemical Cosmos: George Ripley’s Wheel of Inferior Astronomy
December 10, 2013 By
Alchemical writing often develops the idea of a physical or analogical correspondence between heaven and earth: a relationship most fre- quently and conveniently expressed by the use of the seven planetary symbols (Sol, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) to denote the seven metals (usually gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin and lead respectively).
Ironing Out the Myth of the Flat Earth
November 21, 2013 By
It seems there’s one fact about the Middle Ages that always seems to astound people: medieval people did not actually think the world was flat.
Galileo, the Impact of the Telescope, and the Birth of Modern Astronomy
October 19, 2013 By
Galileo would have dearly loved to explain to his examiners how his observations made belief in the Copernican system more intellectually respectable even though he had no irrefutable proof of the Earth’s motion, but this was an opportunity he never got.
From Rome to the antipodes: the medieval form of the world
October 9, 2013 By
Here we discuss how some medieval scholars in the Western Europe viewed the form of the world and the problem of the Antipodes
Islamic Astronomy in Medieval China
September 15, 2013 By
In 1271, Kublai Khan founded the Bureau of Islamic Astronomy in Peking, which operated alongside the long-established Chinese Astronomical Bureau.
The Night the Moon exploded and other Lunar tales from the Middle Ages
July 21, 2013 By
People in the Middle Ages asked what was the moon made of? How far away was it? Could it make my child vindictive? Here is what they found out.
The Calamitous Fourteenth Century in England: All Doom and Gloom?
May 28, 2013 By
This was a fantastic paper given at the Crown and Country in Late medieval England session at KZOO. There were only two papers but both were interesting and enjoyable. This paper delved into the history of science in late medieval England and examined why the fourteenth century, a time that is usually synonymous with doom and gloom, plague and uprising, wasn’t all that bad upon closer observation.
Medieval Astrology and The Buke of the Sevyne Sagis
April 20, 2013 By
It is useful to begin by comparing the way the sages are initially described to the Emperor in the Latin, Middle English, and Middle Scots texts. Although the Middle Scots text is not connected to the English ones, they serve as a useful backdrop to illustrate the singular nature of the Scottish version of the story.
The teaching of astronomy in medieval universities, principally at Paris in the fourteenth century
February 10, 2013 By
Obviously, however, learned men of antiquity and the Middle Ages showed the greatest interest in such genuinely astronomical activities as the observation of the skies, of the heavenly bodies and of their movements, positions, orbits, and anomalies.
Observational Archaeoastronomy at Stonehenge: Winter and Summer Solstice Sun Rise and Set Alignments Accurate to 0.2 o in 4000 BP
December 21, 2012 By
Our studies since 1980 of Solstice and Equalnight Sun Rise and Set alignments at an ancient site in southern Alberta, the Majorville Medicine Wheel Complex (MMWC), have drawn our attention to Stonehenge (Atkinson 1979; Burl 1976, 1993). While there might have been no ideological or religious similarities between societies in North America and Britain 5000 years ago, we know of no evidence that there was not. Indeed, Sun worship was world-wide at that time.
Tycho Brahe was not killed by mercury poisoning, tests reveal
November 20, 2012 By
One of the most persistent theories has been that he died of mercury poisoning, either because he voluntarily ingested large quantities of mercury for medicinal purposes, or because mercury was used to poison him.
Building a Model Astrolabe
October 15, 2012 By
This paper presents a hands-on introduction to the medieval astrolabe, based around a working model which can be constructed from photocopies of the supplied figures.
Solar Eclipses in Medieval Islamic Civilization
October 8, 2012 By
In ancient times, the births and deaths of leaders or dignitaries were often supposed to be associated with celestial omens. However, Islamic theology does not accept that eclipses are indications of events on earth.
One World under the Sun: Cosmography and Cartography in the Liber Floridus
September 2, 2012 By
To a modern cartographer a map should represent geographic reality by means of coordinates such as latitude and longitude. Not one of the cartographic images in the Liber Floridus corresponds to this definition, yet not a single work on historical cartography omits the early-twelfth-century encyclopaedia
Instruments and demonstrations in the astrological curriculum: evidence from the University of Vienna, 1500–1530
July 8, 2012 By
The University of Vienna presents something of a puzzle for his- torians of astronomy and astrology. During the fifteenth century the university was alma mater to Johannes de Gmunden, Georg von Peuerbach, and Johannes Regiomontanus, who were central to developments in astronomy and astrology throughout Europe. Yet there is little evidence of advanced instruction in astronomy or astrology by any of these masters.
Alternatives to Ptolemy: Astronomy in Carolingian Schools
June 6, 2012 By
But was there any real science in those tumultuous times?
From Pagan Cosmos to Christian Creation: A Historical Path from Late Antique Priscillianus to Medieval Hildegard
May 3, 2012 By
Why and how do ancient and medieval Christians look so different to the sky, future and world as the pagans did?
Islamic astronomy
March 26, 2012 By
Although the story of how Greek astronomy passed to the Arabsis comparatively well known, the history of its transformation by Islamic scholars and subsequent retransmission to the Latin West is only now being written
How you can Follow Us!