Abstract
After the fall of the Greek and Roman Empires, scientific learning in Europe went into a period of decline. By the latter half of the first millennium, the works of Ptolemy and other Greek astronomers had more or less been lost in Western Europe, fortunately to survive either in the original Greek or in Arabic translation in the Near East. But that is not to say that astronomy had no place in Medieval Europe. Instead, a new form of “practical” astronomy developed whose goals were to assist in solving some of the problems, such as determining the date of Easter and the times of prayers in monasteries, of religious and civil life.1 By the twelfth century AD, however, European interest in science had been rekindled and there began a search to recover ancient scientific texts. This led to the many scientific achievements of the European Renaissance in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD.
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References
McCluskey (1998).
King (1996).
Samsó (1991).
A wide spectrum of astronomical events are reported in the chronicles including solar and lunar eclipses, meteors, and comets.
With the exception of some of the eclipse records in the historical chronicles. However, as I have said, these records will not be used in the present study. For details of the eclipse records in the chronicles, see Newton (1972) and Stephenson (1997b).
For a detailed description of the Toledan Tables, see Toomer (1968).
Note, however, that Alfonso’s patronage was not limited to scientific works; he also sponsored books of historical, legal, and literary studies. For limited biographical details of Alfonso, see Thomas (1970) and the references therein.
Procter (1945).
However, Poulle (1988) has argued, although not fully convincingly, that the Latin version of the Alfonsine Tables was not a translation of the Castilian original, but a new set of tables compiled in Paris by Jean de Murs in the fourteenth century.
The canon of Jean de Saxe and the Alfonsine Tables have been translated into French by Poulie (1984). Extracts have also been translated into English by Thoren & Grant (1974).
Thorndike (1957) suggests Oxford for some of them, but I do not believe that there is sufficient justification to make this claim.
Levi ben Gerson was almost unique in the Medieval World in mainly using his own observations, rather than those of the ancients, to construct his astronomical models. See Goldstein (1972, 1974).
These have been edited by Goldstein (1974).
For a biography of Peurbach, see Hellman & Swerdlow (1978).
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An alidade is basically a straight edge used for sighting the reference object and then used as a marker on a graduated scale.
For a full discussion of the construction and use of an astrolabe, see North (1974).
Zinner (1990: 138).
Some of Regiomontanus’ eclipse observations were made jointly with Georg Peurbach.
See, for example, the many eclipse observations collected by Pingré (1901).
Procter (1945).
Cf. Dreyer (1920) who incorrectly remarks that Isaac Israeli only refers to three eclipse observations.
See Section 4.3 above.
See Section 4.3 above.
Ben Gerson calls this town ‘ir ha-ezov in Hebrew, which is translated into Latin as Aurayca. On the identification of Aurayca with Orange, see Goldstein (1974: 19–20).
For a detailed biography of ben Gerson, see Samsó (1973).
For a description of the Jacob’s Staff, see Samsó (1973).
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For detailed biographical accounts of Jean de Murs, see Poulle (1973) and Gushee (1969).
Escorial, MS O.II.10.
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See Section 4.4 above.
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Shortly after Regiomontanus’ death, rumours spread that he had been the victim of a terrible crime. The sons of Trebizon, whose translation of the Almagest Regiomontanus had criticized, were said to have murdered him. However Zinner (1990: 152) notes that there is little evidence in support of this story, and suggests instead that Regiomontanus was probably the victim of a plague that was epidemic in Rome in that year.
Schoener (1544). Regiomantanus’ observations are given in folios 36–43, entitled loannis de Monteregio, Georgii Peurbachii, Bernardi Waltheri, ac aliorum, Eclipsium, Comentarum, Planetarum ac Fixarum observationes.
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Zinner (1990: 146–147).
Schoener (1544). Walther’s observations are given in folios 44–60, entitled Observationes factae per doctissimum virum Bernardum Waltherum Norimbergae.
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Zinner (1990: 122).
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Arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.
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This has been translated into English by Raeder, Strömgren, & Strömgren (1946).
Four volumes of this collection are filled with Tycho’s observations: Dreyer (1923, 1924, 1925, 1926).
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The choice of these observations is based upon whether Tycho’s sketches seem to relate to the moment of a contact or not, and so is inevitably rather subjective. I have tried to be as cautious as possible, rejecting some observations where it was questionable whether the sketch was of a contact or not.
Hellman (1970).
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Steele, J.M. (2000). Late Medieval and Renaissance Europe. In: Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers. Archimedes, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9528-5_5
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