The writing in the wittenberg sky: Astrology in sixteenth-century Germany

Journal of the History of Ideas

Volumn 66, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 557-576

  Brosseder, Claudia ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH   (Germany)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 31044431626     PISSN: 00225037     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jhi.2005.0049     Document Type: Review

References (118)

1. Joachim Camerarius, Sen., Commentarius de generibus divinationum, ac graecis latinisque earum vocabulis (Leipzig, 1576), 56f.
2. Girolamo Cardano, De subtilitate: libri XXI. Nunc demum recogniti atque perfecti (Basel, 1554), 444
3. Nicodemus Frischlin, De astronomicae artis cum doctrina coelesti et naturali philosophia congruentia ex optimis quibusque Graecis Latinisque scriptoribus (Frankfurt, 1586), 2.
4. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Discorsi contra l'astrologia, ed. Eugenio Garin (Florence, 1952).
5. For instance Martin Luther, "Predigt am Pfingstdienstag nachmittags. 18. Mai 1529," D. Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, vol. 29 (Weimar, 1904), 376-79.
6. Erasmus of Rotterdam, "Luciani Samosatensis dialogi aliquot. Desiderio Erasmo Roterdamo interprete. Tomus I," Opera omnia in decem tomos distincta. Recognovit Joannes Clericus (reprint Hildesheim, 1961), cols. 185-340, 340.
7. See Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science. Volumes V and VI: The Sixteenth Century, vol. V (New York, 1941), 378;
8. Robert Westman, "The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus and the Wittenberg Interpretation of the Copernican Theory," Isis, 66 (1975), 165-93.
9. See note 5.
10. Philipp Melanchthon, Initia doctrinae physicae. Dictata in Academia Vitebergensi. Iterum edita (Wittenberg, 1550), 134vf.;
11. Caspar Peucer, Commentarius de praecipuis divinationum generibus (Frankfurt, 1593), 109f;
12. Sachiko Kusukawa, The Transformation of Natural Philosophy. The Case of Philip Melanchthon (Cambridge/England, 1995);
13. Charlotte Methuen, "The Role of the Heavens in the Thought of Philip Melanchthon," JHI, 57 (1996), 385-403.
14. Anthony Grafton, Cardano's Kosmos. Die Welten und Werke eines Renaissance-Astrologen, tr. Peter Knecht (Berlin, 1999);
15. Anthony Grafton, idem, Cardano's Cosmos: the Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer (Cambridge, Mass., 1999).
16. Dino Belluci, "Genèse 1,14 et astrologie dans l'exègèse de Philippe Melanchthon," in Théorie et pratique de l'exégèse, ed. Irena Backus (Geneva, 1990), 177-90;
17. Brosseder, Im Bann der Sterne, 259.
18. Melanchthon, Oratio de dignitate astrologiae (1535), Corpus Reformatorum (hereafter CR), ed. C. G. Bretschneider (Halle, 1834-60), XIII, cols. 261-66.
19. See the fundamental study by Paolo Zambelli, "Astrologi consiglieri del principe a Wittenberg," Annali dell'Istituto storico-italo-germanico in Trento/Jahrbuch des italienisch-deutschen historischen Instituts in Trient, 17 (1992), 497-543;
20. Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke, Astrologisch-magische Theorie und Praxis in der Heilkunde der frühen Neuzeit (Stuttgart, 1985).
21. Aby Warburg, "Heidnisch-antike Weissagung in Wort und Bild zu Luthers Zeiten (1920)," in Aby Warburg. Die Erneuerung der heidnischen Antike: kulturwissenschaftliche Beiträge zur Geschichte der europäischen Renaissance, ed. Horst Bredekamp et al. (Berlin, 1998), 487-558.
22. "Astrologi hallucinati," in Stars and the End of the World in Luther's Time, ed. Paola Zambelli (Berlin, 1986).
23. See, for example, Francesca Rochberg-Halton, "Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology," Journal of the American Oriental Society 108 (1988), 51-62.
24. John D. North, Horoscopes and History (London, 1986);
25. David Pingree, "Historical Horoscopes," Journal of American Oriental Society, 82 (1962), 487-502;
26. S. J. Tester, A History of Western Astrology (Wolfeboro, N.H., 1987);
27. Mary E. Bowden, The Scientific Revolution in Astrology: the English Reformers, 1558-1686 (Ph.D. thesis, Yale, 1974, Reprint, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1980);
28. Patrick Curry, Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England (Princeton, N.J., 1989);
29. Ottavia Niccoli, Prophecy and People in Renaissance Italy, tr. Lydia G. Cochrane (Princeton, N.J., 1990).
30. An exception is Barbara Bauer, "Die Rolle des Hofastrologen und Hofmathematicus als fürstlicher Berater," in Höfischer Humanismus, ed. August Buck (Weinheim, 1989), 93-117.
31. The practice of astrology in Italy is much better studied. See Grafton, Cardano's Kosmos.
32. Also regarding France we have more studies at our disposal, see Pierre Brind'Amour, Nostradamus astrophile. Les astres et l'astrologie dans la vie et l'oeuvre de Nostradamus (Ottawa, 1993).
33. See note 12.
34. Franz Machilek, "Astronomie und Astrologie. Sternforschung und Sternglaube im Verständnis von Johannes Regiomontanus und Benedikt Ellwanger," in Astronomie und Astrologie in der frühen Neuzeit: Akten des interdisziplinären Symposions 21.122. April in Nürnberg, ed. Stephan Füssel (Nuremberg, 1989-90);
35. Ernst Zinner, Regiomontanus: His Life and Work (New York, 1990).
36. Melanchthon, Praefation to Schöner, Tabulae astronomicae (Nürnberg 1936), 1b.
37. See Noel M. Swerdlow, "Annals of Scientific Publishing: Johannes Petreius' Letter to Rheticus," Isis, 83 (1992), 270-74.
38. Thadäus Hayk, Astrologica opuscula antiqua (Prague, 1564), p3v.
39. Grafton, Cardano's Kosmos, 173f.
40. Paola Zambelli, "Many Ends for the World. Luca Gaurico, Instigator of the Debate in Italy and Germany," in "Astrologi hallucinati." Stars and the End of the World in Luther's Time, ed. Paola Zambelli (Berlin, 1986), 239-63;
41. Paola Zambelli idem, "Da Giulio II a Paolo III. Come l'astrologo provocatore Luca Gaurico divenne vescovo," in La città dei segreti, ed. F. Troncarelli (Milan, 1985), 299-323.
42. Karl Heinz Burmeister, Georg Joachim Rhetikus, 1514-1574: Eine Bio-Bibliographie, 3 vols. (Wiesbaden, 1967-68), I, 30.
43. See for instance the archival material in the Landesarchiv Oranienbaum, Gar NS Nr. 52, I.
44. Compare Christoph Schöner, Mathematik und Astronomie an der Universität Ingolstadt im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert (Berlin, 1994).
45. Melanchthon, Initia doctrinae physicae ( 1549), CR, XIII, 181-411.
46. This suspicion was uttered by such contemporary scholars as Flacius Illyricus, Thomas Birck, Thomas Erastus, Augustin Lercheimer, Wolfgang Musculus, Nikodemus Frischlin, Nicolaus Winkler, etc. following the verdict of the church fathers. Compare Melanchthon, Initia, col. 338ff.
47. Brosseder, Im Bann der Sterne, 257-75.
48. Thomas von Aquin, Summa Theologiae, Secundo secundae, quaest. 95, art. 5
49. Thomas von Aquin idem, Summa Theologiae, pars prima, quaest. 115, art. 3,4.
50. For instance, Peucer, Commentarius (1593), 105:
51. Melanchthon, Ethicae doctrinae elementa, et enarratio libri quinti ethicorum (s.l., 1550).
52. The writings of Petrus Hosmann, also called Petrus Cnemiander, are in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz, signature Ms. Boruss. quart. 374-83 and in the Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin/Dahlem I. HA Rep. 9 Allg. Verwaltung: K.lit. m. I fasc. 1, 2, 4;
53. BPHA Rep. 29 V 4, 5.
54. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: MS. Boruss. Quart. 377;
55. Petrus Hosmann, Iuditium Revolutionis Illustrissimi Principis ac Domini, Domini Ioannis Marchionis Brandenburgensis, Stetini et Pomemniae et Ducis et Burggravii Noribergensis: ad annos Christi MDLII et MDLIII, fols. 20rff.
56. So in the unpublished manuscript that Anthony Grafton kindly put at my disposal: The Diamond and the Horoscope: Reference, Interpretation and Verification in Renaissance Astrology, Lecture in Wolfenbüttel, 1998.
57. See Brosseder, Im Bann der Sterne, 27-71.
58. See Karl Heinz Burmeister, Achilles Pirmin Gasser, 3 vols. (Wiesbaden, 1970-75), 3, 102-18.
59. e siècle," Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France (1969), 63-77;
60. Anne Soprani, Les rois et leurs astrologues (Paris, 1987).
61. Compare Sachiko Kusukawa, "Aspectio divinorum operum: Melanchthon and astrology for Lutheran medics," in Medicine and the Reformation, eds. O. Grell and A. Cunningham (London, 1993), 33-56.
62. Landesarchiv Oranienbaum, LAO GAR NS, Nr. 52 I, fols. 124-38: Erasmus Reinhold, Nativität von Erasmus Reinhold mit Kommentar auf einen Geboren; 1528 am 5. Dez. deutsch und lateinisch.
63. Melanchthon, De locis communibus ratio, CR, XX, 695-98.
64. Kathy Eden, Hermeneutics and the Rhetorical Tradition. Chapters in Ancient Legacy and its Humanist Reception (New Haven, Conn., 1997).
65. Hieronymus Wolf, "Admonitio de astrologiae usu," in Brevis et perspicua ratio iudicandi genituras ex physicis causis extructa, ed. Leowitz von Leonitzeno (London, 1558), B3v.
66. The work of Peucer that provides the best insight into his thinking is Commentarius de praecipuis divinationum generibus (Wittenberg, 1553). After 1553 he revised this text repeatedly.
67. Philipp Melanchthon, Caspar Peucer, Chronicon Carionis (Wittenberg, 1572), 717f; see also the German edition from 1578.
68. Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, MS Stadtbibliothek, 935.
69. Girolamo Cardano, Libelli duo. Unus, de Supplemento Almanack. Alter, de restitutione temporum et motuum coelestium Item Geniturae 67. insignes casibus et fortuna, cum expositione (Nuremberg, 1543);
70. Girolamo Cardano idem., Libelli quinque, quorum duo priores, iam denuo sunt emendatu, duo sequentes iam primum in lucem editi, et quintus magna parte auctus est.... V. De exemplis centum geniturarum. . . . (Nuremberg, 1547).
71. Luca Gaurico, Tractatus astrologicus in quo agitur de praeteritis multorum hominum accidentibus per proprias eorum genituras ad unguem examinatis. Quorum exemplis consimili-bus unusquisque de medio genethliacus vaticinari potent de futuris, Quippe qui per varios casus artem experientia fecut, exemplo monstrante viam (Venice, 1552).
72. Grafton, Cardano's Kosmos, particularly 133-71.
73. Laura Ackermann Smoller, History, Prophecy, and the Stars. The Christian Astrology of Pierre d'Ailly, 1350-1420 (Princeton, N.J., 1994).
74. Girolamo Cardano, In Cl. Ptolemaeii de astrorum iudiciis, out (ut vulgo appellant) quadripartitae constructionis lib. IIII, Commentaria, ab autore postremum castigata et locupletata (Basel, 1578), e.g., 308.
75. Compare for example Paulus Eber, Calendariutn historicum conscriptum a Paulo Ebero (Wittenberg, 1550), 18;
76. Christoph Pezel, Nötige und nützliche Erinnerung / von zeit und ursachen /der allgemeinen und sonderbaren verenderung / in hohen und nidrigen Regimenten. Aus heiliger Göttlicher Schrifft / und aus den Büchern gelerter / vernünfftiger Heiden / und aus teglicher erfarung weiser verstendiger Leut / gründlich und uffs kürtzte zusammen gezogen (Wittenberg, 1571).
77. The only exception is Cyprian Leowitz von Leonitzeno and his De magnis coniunctionibus, Solis defectibus, et Cometis in quarta Monarchia, cum eorundem effectuum historica expositione. His ad calcem acc. Prognosticon ab anno Domini 1564 usque ad annum 1584 (Wittenberg, 1586).
78. Compare Philipp Melanchthon, Caspar Peucer, Chronicon Carionis (Wittenberg, 1572), preface;
79. David Chytraeus, Chronologia Historiae Herodoti et Thukydidis. Cui adiecta est series temporum mundi à prima conditione usque ad hunc annum MDLXXXV deducta (Helmstedt, 1585), 9;
80. and Adalbert Klempt, Die Säkularisierung der universalhistorischen Auffassung. Zum Wandel des Geschichtsdenkens im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert (Göttingen, 1960).
81. See Johannes Garcaeus, Jun., Meteorologia (Wittenberg, 1568), 24-25v;
82. Johannes Schöner, Conjectur oder abnemliche Auszlegung Joannis Schoners uber de Cometen so im August-Monat, des MDXXXI jars erschinen ist, zu ehren einem erbarn Rath, und gemainer Burgschaffi der Stat Nürnberg außgangen (Nuremberg, 1531), b1r.
83. See for example Georg Caesius, Catalogus, nunquam antea visus, omnium cometarum secundum seriem annorum a diluvio conspectorum, usq. ad hunc praesentem post Christi nativitatem 1579 annum, cum portentis seu eventuum annotationibus, et de Cometarum in singulis Zodiaci signis, effectibus . . . (Nuremberg, 1589).
84. Thomas Cajetan, Secunda Secundae Sancti Thomae, cum commentariis Cardinalis Caietani (Lyon, 1548).
85. Franciscus Toletus, Opera omnia philosophica (Cologne 1615/1616) IV: Commentaria in octo libros Aristotelis de physica auscultatione; V: Commentaria in libros Aristotelis de generations et corruptione, reprint (Hildesheim, 1985).
86. Benito Pereira, Adversus fallaces et superstitiosas artes (Ingolstadt, 1591).
87. Peucer, Commentarius (1576), 84v.
88. See, for instance, Eckhard Kessler, "The intellective soul," The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy, ed. Charles B. Schmitt et al. (Cambridge, 1988), 485-535.
89. Peucer, De essentia, natura et ortu animi hominis. Recensente Rodolpho Goclenio, Professore in Academia Marpurgensi Philosophico (Marburg, 1590).
90. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Discorsi contra l'astrologia, ed. Eugenio Garin (Florence, 952).
91. See also, for example, Thomas Erastus, Astrologia confutata (Schleusingen, 1557).
92. Peucer, Commentarius (1576), 398v.
93. From the 1560s edition onward Peucer attributed a new role to the analysis of light within his cosmology and we can find certain similarities between Peucer's and Dee's argumentation about the role of light within natural philosophy. Compare, e.g., Peucer, Commentarius, 1576, 399rv.
94. Peucer probably knew John Dees work, Propaideumata aphoristica, de praestantioribus quibusdam naturae virtutibus (London, 1558)
95. in the edition of Leowitz von Leonitzeno, Brevis et perspicua ratio iudicandi genituras (London, 1558). In one hundred aphorisms, Dee presents the priniciples of his reform of astrology, entirely based on the optical measuring of the intensity of radiation, combining these with Alkindi's ideas.
96. The list of those who refused to accept astrology as a science is long. See Juan Luis Vives, Pico della Mirandola and even Marsilio Ficino. See, e.g., Marsilio Ficino, "Disputatio contra iudicium astrologorum (1477)," in Supplementum Ficinianum, ed. O. Kristeller 2 (1937), 11-76.
97. am referring to Pietro Pomponazzi, De naturalium effectuum causis sive de incantationibus (reprint of the 1567 Basel edition; Hildesheim, 1970).
98. Compare also Giancarlo Zanier, Ricerche sulla diffusione e fortuna del "de incantationibus" di Pomponazzi (Florence, 1975), p. 86.
99. Peucer, Commentarius, 1576, 360vff.
100. See Brosseder, Im Bann der Sterne, 165-231.
101. For a closer analysis of this complex argumentation see the detailed study in Brosseder, Im Bann der Sterne, 202-31.
102. Compare Peucer's argumentation cited according to Rudolf Goclenius, Lexicon Philosophicum quo tanquam clave philosophiae fores aperiuntur (Frankfurt, 1613, reprint, Hildesheim, 1964), 1049.
103. See Brosseder, Im Bann der Stern, 213-31.
104. See Brosseder, Im Bann der Sterne, 183-202.
105. Johannes ab Indagine, Chiromantia (Strasbourg, 1534). See the copy of this book in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel: 117. Quodl. 2.
106. See, for example, Peucer, Commentarius (1576), 355r-362r.
107. Girolamo Cardano, De subtilitate: libri XXI. Nunc demum recogniti atque perfecti (Basel, 1554), book 16.
108. Regarding the idea of natural divination (Peucer calls it physica divinatio), see Peucer, Commentarius (1576), 13r, 17r.
109. Brosseder, Im Bann der Sterne, 252ff.
110. Victor Strigel, Epitome doctrinae de primo motu aliquot demonstrationibus illustrata (Leipzig, [1563]), A2rv.
111. Brind' Amour, Nostradamus astrophile.
112. There are no hints in the books of the Wittenberg scholars showing that they adapted to Ficino's astrology. Compare Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life, ed. and tr. Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark (Binghamton, 1989).
113. Girolamo Cardano, "Encomium Astrologiae," idem, Libelli quinque (Nuremberg, 1547), Aiiir.
114. Melanchthon, Initia, 187f.
115. Aegidius Strauch, Aphorismi astrologici (Wittenberg, 1664).
116. There is no comprehensive study of this complex process. See, for instance, George MacDonald Ross, "Okkulte Strömungen," in Die Philosophie des 17. Jahrhunderts. Vol. 1,1: Allgemeine Themen. Iberische Halbinsel, Italien, ed. Jean-Pierre Schobinger (Basel, 1998), 196-224;
117. Simon Schaffer, "Newton's Comets and the Transformation of Astrology," in Astrology, Science and Society. Historical Essays, ed. Patrick Curry (Woodbridge, 1987), 219-43.
118. Theodor W. Adorno, "The Stars Down to Earth," in Jahrbuch für Amerikastudien 2 (1957) = Soziologische Schriften, ed. S. Buck-Morss and R. Tiedemann, vol. II, 2 (Frankfurt, 1975), 11-120.