Horoscopes and World Events: the Doings of High-End Astrology

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Do curso por Universitat de Barcelona

Magic in the Middle Ages

640 ratings

Universitat de Barcelona

Magic in the Middle Ages

640 ratings

Magical thought has always attracted human imagination. In this course we will introduce you to the Middle Ages through a wide conception of magic. Students will have an approach to medieval culture, beliefs and practices from the perspective of History and History of Science. Popular magic, as well as learned magic (alchemy, geomancy and necromancy) will be addressed. Moreover, we will also deal with how eastern practices and texts influenced western culture. In July 2016, the course will contain a brand-new module devoted to astrology. Magic in the Middle Ages offers a captivating overview of medieval society and promotes reflection about certain stereotypes associated with this period. At the end of the course, the students: a) will have overcome the usual prejudices about the Middle Ages, b) will be able to analyze historical documentation from the Middle Ages and recognize the most common patterns of juridical documents regarding witchcraft, and c) will be capable of distinguishing between popular magic and the magic of the learned people; will have a notion of which spiritual practices were allowed in medieval Europe and which ones were related to the devil, and will be aware of the link between a cultural product and the society that produced it. This course is taught in English, although subtitles in English, Catalan and Spanish will also be provided. COURSE SYLLABUS Week 1. Introduction to medieval magic (Pau Castell). Week 2. Magic & Heresy (Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel). Week 3. From Magic to Witchcraft (Pau Castell). Week 4. Magic in Islam (Godefroid de Callataÿ and Sébastien Moureau). Week 5. Astrology & Geomancy (Theo Loinaz, Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel, Godefroid de Callataÿ and Blanca Villuendas). © Gemma Pellissa Prades (coord.), Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel and Joana Palau Mumany Magic in the Middle Ages by Gemma Pellissa Prades (coord.), Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel and Joana Palau Mumany is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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UNIT 5: ASTROLOGY & GEOMANCY

Medieval Astrology: Between Science and Magic5:57

The Melting Pot of Medieval Astrology6:10

Early Medieval Astronomy: the Moon, the Zodiac, Thunders and Dreams7:08

Horoscopes and World Events: the Doings of High-End Astrology6:37

Optional video-On World Cycles 1: The Great Year Doctrine in Antiquity (1)5:42

Optional video-On World Cycles 1: The Great Year Doctrine in Antiquity (2)7:14

Optional video-On World Cycles 2: The Great Year Doctrine in the Middle Ages (1)9:52

Optional video-On World Cycles 2: The Great Year Doctrine in the Middle Ages (2)6:35

Conheça os instrutores

Godefroid de Callataÿ - University of Louvain
Professor
Oriental Institute (University of Louvain)
Dr Pau Castell Granados
Research and Teaching Scholar at University of Barcelona
Sébastien Moureau - University of Louvain
Chargé de recherches du F.R.S.-FNRS
Institut Orientaliste (CIOL)
Dr Gemma Pellissa Prades
Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of the Classics, Harvard
Delfi I. Nieto-Isabel
BSc, BA, MA
Dept. of Medieval History, Palaeography & Diplomatics, Institute for Research on Medieval Cultures, University of Barcelona
Blanca Villuendas
PhD Candidate
Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

[MUSIC]

Hi again, welcome to the last video of this series devoted to medieval astrology in

Christian Europe.

As promised in our last lesson, today,

we are going to discuss the evolution of the discipline in the post Islamic period,

that is, in the centuries that followed the period of greatest expansion of Islam.

During the 10th century, several Latin translations and treatises on

divinatory astrology enriched the local popular astrological tradition,

which maintained its success among the lowest sector of the profession until

the Modern period.

But the Arabic Islamic influence was especially remarkable on technical

astrology from the 12th century onwards.

European learned astrology,

the only one deserving the name 'science of the stars' according to its practitioners

was inextricably related to Arabic names such as Albumasar or Albohazen.

The new texts available were manuals that compiled the principles of

the astrological science as it was practiced by Greek, Persian,

Indian and Chaldean authorities, among others.

Turning back to Europe, it was thanks to the task of 12th-century translators that

the names of Dorotheus of Sidon and Ptolemy make their way back to

the elite of astrological authorities of Christian Europe and

that their works entered university syllabi.

Some of those translators also authored their own compilations

on the basis of Arabic sources.

This so to speak, new astrology had its own apparatus and

its own degree of pomp, much as the rest of the sciences of the period.

The amount of complex calculations needed to cast a horoscope involved three things.

One, mathematical skills that went beyond arithmetic.

Two, the use of instruments such as the astrolabe, which was explained in

several Arabic Islamic manuals that also taught how to make one.

And three, the use of comprehensive and accurate astronomical charts that had

to be adapted to the latitude of the city where the astrologer exercised his trade.

Once the relative positions of planets for a specific moment were determined and

represented, the astrologer had to consult one of the many canonical

compilations to find the meaning of that particular astral configuration and

cast the prediction for his client.

The purpose of the prediction also defined different types of astrological practices,

which were Interrogative Astrology, the <i>electiones</i> we mentioned a couple of periods ago.

World Astrology and Natal Astrology.

Each of them had its own methods and history,

which were included in specific manuals.

Interrogative Astrology, basically

dealt with determining the advisability of carrying out a certain activity,

depending on the relative positions of the planets at that specific moment.

The client could pose a question about the most adequate moment to embark on

a journey towards the East, take a purgative or

choose the best day of the week or month to plant his vineyard.

World Astrology, also known as political astrology and foreign to Graeco-Roman

tradition tried to establish the precise moment of each of the major astral

conjunctions and their qualities.

On the basis of these data, the astrologer could predict great historical events such

as wars, the fall of kingdoms or the appearance of sects and prophets.

Finally, natal astrologers were concerned about determining the future of their

clients from the astral configuration present at the time of their birth.

Natal Astrology already developed in the Hellenistic period with its

characteristic play of ascendants and aspects

is probably the most renowned and

stereotypic representative of medieval astrology.

Evidence of these are the large number of authors who wrote planet books in Arabic,

Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and vernacular languages, and

the homonymus treatises that were authored anonymously or under a pseudonym.

In sum, from the 15th century onwards,

Western Europeans had a large astrological literary corpus within their reach.

A corpus that included a great variety of techniques from the most basic and

divinations to the most complicated mathematical calculations.

The circulation and use of the former or the latter mainly depended

on social circumstances for both responded to a specific audience.

Horoscopes were obviously reserved for the few erudites that had the necessary

books and instruments and for the clients who could afford their services.

It is not by chance that this kind of astrology developed within courtly milieus.

For instance, Kepler and Tycho Brahe were both appointed as imperial astrologers and

Galileo made his predictions at the service of the powerful Medicis.

In contrast, without astrolabes, astronomical charts or

without the essentials skills to use them,

astrologers still could turn to far simpler techniques.

They looked at the position of the moon or

the debasing the principles of the science of the stars,

they added the numbers that correlated with the letters of the name of their clients and

ascribed them a sign of the Zodiac, then they turned to their simpler manuals,

which provided a series of predictions somewhat similar to those offered by

high-end astrology.

Back then, just as it happens now,

the social and intellectual context determined the type of astrology people

turned to and the laws of supply and demand were just as prevalent.

The Christian demand for astrological texts fostered the task of the translators

that resulted in the massive incorporation of the Arabic-Islamic tradition.

In the same way, the demands of the audience who lived outside the courts and

universities favored the survival of a different corpus that was far more

primitive and scientifically inferior, which was no competition for

mathematics astrology, but simply offered an alternative to it.

[MUSIC]

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