Abstract
Caesius as a court astronomer was able to successfully market his yearly prognostications and writing calendars. In comparison to other authors, his meteorological forecasts were more reliable, and his argumentative defense of the worth of astrology against a large group of astute critics was impressive. He motivated his readers to repent, so that God would reduce the negative prognostications for the harvest, for diseases, and for wars. In the discussion about the comet of 1577, he qualified it as a wonder star and therefore, together with the leading theologians of Wittenberg, opposed the interpretation of astrological naturalism.
Caesius fulfilled Margrave Georg Friedrich’s expectations. His texts achieved high circulation numbers, delivered prognostications based on astronomical and astrological justifications, formulated the existential anxiety of the common man, and finally increased their belief in a strict but also merciful God as helper in need. The love of science and the unity of the Lutheran faith—humanism and confessionalization—should strengthen the state.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The certificate of appointment is now in the Staatsarchiv Nürnberg, formerly in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (GMN). Dr. Burger informed the author by e-mail on 13.8.2014 that the old archive numbers of the GMN are no longer registered in the state archive, so that this document is not yet listed in the inventory.
- 2.
This has been known since 1781 (Schnizer 1786, p. 7). According to Reinhold Ohlmann (Neustadt-Aisch), many of Caesius’s astronomical books are in this library.
- 3.
Sebastian Theodoricus (about 1520–1574), born in Windsheim, was Professor of Mathematics in Wittenberg from 1550 onward.
- 4.
And what I know myself and can in Astrologia […] I have learned it at the praiseworthy University of Wittenberg in the years [15]63 [15]64 and [15]65 from the blessed Herr Sebastiano Theodorico, who read unexplained studies and learnt us the books Ptolemaei de praedictionibus Astronomicis publice.
- 5.
“Spiritus vitalis” are flames, which arise from the purest blood in the heart, transport the warmth of life to the other limbs, and grant them the strength of activities caused by the warmth of life.
- 6.
In the sixteenth century, authors also used the word “theoria” to explain the calculation of cosmic movements.
- 7.
This reference was first given by Claudia Brosseder (Brosseder 2004, p. 31).
- 8.
The highly worthy houses of the Electors of Sachsen and Brandenburg and the house of Hessen, have, as well as the teachings of the Holy Gospel, always loved the liberal arts and astronomy and astrology among them. And at great cost, they have supported the universities of Wittenberg, Leipzig, Frankfurt an der Oder, Königsberg in Prussia, and Marburg.
- 9.
Note from Klaus Matthäus to the author during the conference on 19.9.2014 in Nuremberg.
- 10.
Here recorded for Rothenburg: On the 10th day of March, 11 h and 55 min, the sun reaches the first point of the hot and dry sign, Aries, at which time the winter ends, and according to astronomical calculations, the 1568th year begins.
- 11.
Summer, according to the astronomical calculation, starts in this 79th year on the 12th of June, 1 h and 3 quarters after midday.
- 12.
Entrance of the sun in the first degree of Libra, which will happen in this 1568th year the 13th of September: 1 h 45 min after midday
- 13.
At the sun […] 25th of February or 7th of March new calendar/at the dragon head/at 10 and 11 o’clock toward high noon/because the sun 27 min over 11 in./that is/almost completely from the moon is darkened.
- 14.
Moreover, he is well versed in the interpretation of horoscopes. This darkness in the star sign Pisces also means that a high potentate, born in the sign of Pisces or in the counterglow of Virgo, will die, for which he quotes Proclos (Caesius 1598, p. D2).
- 15.
He could not say what the influence of this would be; the readers should consult Cardanus and other scholars on this (Caesius 1579b, pp. K8r-v, P5r).
- 16.
Cardanus, on the other hand, despised Pontanus as one who had no idea of the “technical-mathematical demands of the art” of astrology (Grafton 1999, p. 252).
- 17.
He also recommends to his readers the commentary of Giovanni Pontanus on the Centiloquium and the Cometographia of Mizaldus 1549 (Caesius 1579b, p. R3v). He quotes this book with an extensive catalog of comet phenomena, because it contains many agreeable quotes from Pontanus. Mizaldus himself cited Potanus (Mizaldus 1549, pp. 15, 19, 25).
- 18.
Stars with their powers. […] omnipotence benevolence, and inexplicable wisdom of God.
- 19.
To comprehend many verses in the holy scriptures and the delight of such glorious and loving knowledge of the stars
- 20.
The epitaph hung in the church of Burgbernheim until 1840. It was found in Bergheim/Erft in 1940, and today it hangs in the Plenary Hall of the Kreistag (Kempkens 2011).
References
Primary Literature
Several authors. Horoskope für Markgraf Georg Friedrich von Brandenburg-Ansbach. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz Signatur BPH, Rep. 41 V Markgraf Georg Friedrich, F Nr. 1 […] Manuscript.
Caesius, Georg (1568): Practica oder Prognosticon, auff das Jhar, nach unsers Herren und Seligmachers Jesu Christi Geburt, 1568. Regensburg: Burger 1567.
Caesius, Georg (1569): Practica Oder Prognosticon auf das Jar nach vnsers Herrn vnnd sehligmachers Jhesu Christi geburt 1569. Regensburg: Burger 1568.
Caesius, Georg (1579): PROGNOSTICVM ASTROLOGICVM || Oder || Practica Teutsch/Von || den vier Zeitten/vnd andern zufellen/Auff || das Jar/nach vnsers Herrn vnd Seligmachers Jesu ||Christi geburt M.D.LXXIX. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann 1578.
Caesius, Georg (1579a): Catalogus nunquam antea visus, omnium cometarum secundum Seriem annorum a diluvio conspectorum usq. ad hunc praesentem. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann.
Caesius, Georg (1579b): Chronick Oder ordenliche verzeichnuß unnd beschreibung aller Cometen. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann.
Caesius, Georg (1581): PROGNOSTICON ASTROLOGICVM || Oder || Teutsche Practick/von den || vier Zeiten/Finsternussen vnd andern zufellen/|| dises nach Christi vnsers Herrn vnd Seligmachers Geburt || M.D.LXXXI. Jars. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann 1580.
Caesius, Georg (1590): Prognosticon Astrologicum, oder Teutsche Practick.|| Auff das Jar nach vnsers || Herrn vnnd Seligmachers Jesu Christi Geburt/|| M.D.LXXXX. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann 1589.
Caesius, Georg (1594): Prognosticon Astrologicum, oder Teutsche Practick || Auff das Jar/nach vnsers || HErrn vnd Seligmachers Jesu Christi Geburt/|| M. D. XCIIII. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann 1593.
Caesius, Georg (1598): Prognosticon Astrologicum, oder Teutsche Practick || Auff das Jahr/nach vnsers || HERRN vnd Seligmachers JEsu Christi Geburt || M.D.XCVII. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann 1597.
Caesius, Georg (1601): Prognosticon Astrologicum, oder Teutsche Practick:|| Auff das Jahr/nach vnsers || HERRN vnd Seligmachers JEsu Christi Geburt || M.D C I. Nürnberg: Fuhrmann 1600.
Leowitz, Cyprian (1557): Ephemeridum Novum Atque Insigne Opus Ab Anno Domini 1556 Usque in 1606 accuratissime supputatum. Augsburg: Uhlhard.
Mizaldus, Antonius (1549): Cometographia: crinitarum stellarum quas mundus nunquam impunè vidit, aliorumq[ue] ignitoru[m] aeris Phaenomenōn, natura[m]& portenta duobus libris philosophicè iuxtà ac astronomicè expediens. Paris: Wechelus.
Ptolemäus, Claudius (1553): De Praedictionibus Astronomicis, cui titulum fecerunt Quadripartitu[m],Grecè &Latinè, Libri IIII. Philippo Melanthone interprete. Eiusdem Fructus librorum suorum siue Centum dicta, ex conversione Ioviani Pontani. Basel: Oporinus.
Suevus, Sigismund (1578): Cometen Was sie f[ue]r grosse Wunder vnd schreckliche ding zu bedeuten vnd anzuk[ue]ndigen pflegen. Mit viel gedenckwirdigen Historien vnd Exempeln erkleret. Aus guten Chroniken vnd andern B[ue]chern mit fleiß zusammen getragen vnd menniglichẽ zur trewen warnung vnd ernsten Bußpredigt [fue]rgestellet. Görlitz: Fritsch.
Secondary Literature
Asch, Ronald Gregor (2008): Europäischer Adel in der Frühen Neuzeit. Köln/Weimar/Wien: Böhlau.
Brosseder, Claudia (2004): Im Bann der Sterne. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
Brosseder, Claudia (2005): The writing in the Wittenberg sky. Journal of the history of ideas 66, pp. 557–576.
Christianson, John Robert (1979): Tycho Brahe’s German treatise on the comet of 1577, Isis 70, pp. 110–140.
Dear, Peter (2005): What is the history of science the history of? Isis 96, pp. 390–406.
Endres, Rudolf (1997): Die Festigung der neuen Lehre. In Andreas Kraus (Ed.), Geschichte Frankens (Handbuch der bayerischen Geschichte, 3) (pp. 478–481). München: Beck.
Gindhart, Marion (2006): Das Kometenjahr 1618. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
Grafton, Anthony (1999): Cardanos Kosmos. Die Welten und Werke eines Renaissance-Astrologen. Berlin: Berlin Verlag.
Jardine, Nicolas (1998): The places of astronomy in early modern culture. Journal for the history of astronomy 29, pp. 49–62.
Kempkens, Dieter (2011): Ein Bild mit vielen Geheimnissen – Das Epitaph für Georg Caesius in Bergheim. Geschichte in Bergheim, 20, pp. 65–90.
Kempkens, Dieter (2014): Der Erfolg der Prognostica auf dem Buchmarkt in der frühen Neuzeit. Jahrbuch für Kommunikationsgeschichte 16, pp. 5–27.
Kepler, Johannes (1995): Briefe 1604–1607. In Max Caspar (Ed.), Gesammelte Werke, Bd. XV. (2nd ed.) München: Beck.
Kohler, Alfred (2011): Von der Reformation zum Westfälischen Frieden (Oldenbourg Grundriss der Geschichte, 39). München: Oldenbourg.
Matthäus, Klaus (1969): Zur Geschichte des Nürnberger Kalenderwesens. Die Entwicklung der in Nürnberg gedruckten Jahreskalender in Buchform. Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens 9, pp. 965–1396.
Ritter, Moriz (1895): Deutsche Geschichte im Zeitalter der Gegenreformation und des Dreißigjährigen Krieges (1555–1648). Bd. 2, 1586–1618. Stuttgart: Cotta.
Salatowsky, Sascha (2006): De Anima. Die Rezeption der aristotelischen Psychologie im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert (Bochumer Studien zur Philosophie, 43). Amsterdam: Grüner.
Schnizer, Georg Matthäus (1786): Die Kirchen-Bibliothek zu Neustadt an der Aysch, Fünffte Anzeige. Nürnberg: Bauer.
Sommer, Wolfgang (2002): Theologie und Frömmigkeit. In Gerhard Müller, Horts Weigelt, Wolfgang Zorn (Eds.): Handbuch der Geschichte der evangelischen Kirche in Bayern. Bd.1. (419–456). St. Ottilien: EOS.
Ulshöfer, Kuno (1990–1991): Das einfache Leben des Rothenburger Gymnasialrektors Abdias Wickner (1528–1564). Jahrbuch des Historischen Vereins für Mittelfranken 95, pp. 125–145.
Ulshöfer, Kuno (2002): Abdias Wickner, der vierte evangelische Titularabt von Heilsbronn (1560–1608). Zeitschrift für bayerische Kirchengeschichte 71, pp. 69–96.
Westman, Robert S. (2011): The Copernican Question. Prognostication, skepticism, and celestial order. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press.
Weichenhan, Michael (2004): „ergo perit coelum“. Die Supernova des Jahres 1572 und die Überwindung der aristotelischen Kosmologie. Stuttgart: Steiner.
Wolfschmidt, Gudrun (2012): Ein neuer Blick ins Weltall – Simon Marius, der fränkische Galilei, und das Fernrohr. In: Gudrun Wolfschmidt (Ed.). Simon Marius, der fränkische Galilei und die Entdeckung des astronomischen Weltbilds. (pp. 195–258). Hamburg: tredition.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kempkens, D. (2018). Georg Caesius as Official Court Astronomer of the Margrave Georg Friedrich of Brandenburg-Ansbach. In: Gaab, H., Leich, P. (eds) Simon Marius and His Research. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92621-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92621-6_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92620-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92621-6
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)