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University of Oklahoma Graduate College UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE ENCOUNTERS WITH ALCABITIUS: READING ARABIC ASTROLOGY IN PREMODERN EUROPE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By MARGARET GAIDA Norman, Oklahoma 2017 ENCOUNTERS WITH ALCABITIUS: READING ARABIC ASTROLOGY IN PREMODERN EUROPE A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE BY ______________________________ Dr. Rienk Vermij, Chair ______________________________ Dr. Steven Livesey ______________________________ Dr. Kathleen Crowther ______________________________ Dr. Kerry Magruder ______________________________ Dr. Roberta Magnusson ______________________________ Dr. Charles Burnett © Copyright by MARGARET GAIDA 2017 All Rights Reserved. For my children Acknowledgements I had the very generous support of many mentors, colleagues, librarians, institutions, friends, and family members throughout the research and writing of this dissertation. First I would like to thank my advisor, Rienk Vermij, whose office door was always open for my endless questions, no matter how big or small, and who was supportive and understanding during the most challenging periods of my graduate career. Conversations with Steve Livesey shaped much of my thinking about transmission, and he was a regular supplier of catalogs and other resources that I had overlooked. Kerry Magruder’s enthusiasm for my research and for the history of science more generally, as well as his thoughtful questions, brought new energy to the project on several different occasions. The dissertation would have been impossible without the extensive scaffolding constructed by Charles Burnett’s decades of research on the subject, and I am extremely grateful for his careful reading and criticism of my work. Kathleen Crowther and Roberta Magnussen provided thoughtful feedback in conversations and on chapter drafts throughout the writing process. I have been very fortunate to have worked with other extraordinary teachers and mentors. Jamil Ragep and Rob Wiznofsky were patient and willing instructors of Islamic Science and Arabic during my semester at McGill. Katherine Pandora has been a challenging mentor and friend for the duration of my studies at the University of Oklahoma. Marilyn Ogilvie provided a much-welcomed perspective over the years on navigating the discipline and simultaneously managing a career and a household. iv I would like to express my thanks to several institutions who supported the research and writing of this dissertation. The American Academy in Rome provided a gorgeous backdrop and a stimulating environment to conduct research at the Vatican Library. I was grateful to have the support of the Council for American Overseas Research Centers to work in Istanbul. And I was very fortunate to receive the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. Lastly, the History of Science Collections at the University of Oklahoma Libraries was central to my research both at home and abroad. I wish to thank the Head Librarian JoAnn Palmeri for her support and friendship over the years, as well as the rest of the Collections staff. There are several colleagues and friends whom I also wish to thank, especially Stella Stuart, whose regular supply of coffee, friendly discussion, and administrative support got me through many trying times. Henry Zepeda gave thoughtful comments on chapter three, and John Stewart, Petar Markovski, Emily Margolis, Leila McNeill, and Amy Rodgers, for kept me sane during the first few years. Carolyn Scearce deserves special mention for her enormous support as a friend and colleague, but also as a babysitter for two of my children when they were infants. More recently, I have slogged along the graduate school path with Brent Purkaple, James Burnes, Anna Reser, Nathan Kapoor, Jackson Pope, and Kraig Bartel. In Rome, I wish to thank my fellow Fellows David Morris, Joseph Viscomi, Nathan Dennis, Marilynn Desmond, Paula Matthusen, Abinadi Meza, and Cynthia Madansky. I was also very grateful in Rome for the friendship of Maria Robles, Pina Pasquantonio, and Kim Bowes. v When I started the program, my oldest child, now seven, was 10 months old. I now have two additional children, the most recent now almost 10 months old. My children travelled with me to Montreal and Rome. They attended conferences. They put up with the stress of a parent in graduate school. I am extremely grateful for their love and their support, which they provided in their own way. My work also would have been impossible without the support of extended family. My mother-in-law Nejiba Gaida, may she rest in peace, stayed with us for two months in Rome before she passed away unexpectedly three months later. My father-in-law Essaied Gaida and sister-in- law Chiraz Gaida spent five months with us last summer so that I could write in peace during my pregnancy. My father Michael Gleason swooped in at precisely the right moments to help me navigate various crises. My aunt, Suzanne Gonzalez, has made numerous trips to Norman and also came to Rome to help. My mother, Vicki Gleason, has given countless hours of her time and energy shepherding me through the stresses of motherhood and graduate life. She spent two months looking after the children while I was in Istanbul, and made many, many trips to Norman in the months leading up to the dissertation defense. Lastly, my husband Chekib spent six years keeping the wheels spinning for the family so that I could pursue my dream. His love, encouragement, and constant support during difficult circumstances enabled me to continue the program and finish the degree. I could not have done it without him. vi Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Composition 8 Introduction 8 Overview of al-Qabīṣī’s Introduction 19 Comparison of the Introduction with the Abbreviation and Tetrabiblos 34 Astrology in Tenth-Century Intellectual Court Culture 43 Conclusion 52 Chapter 2: Translation 54 Introduction 54 Arabic-Latin Translations 57 The Transformation of Astronomy and Astrology 62 John of Seville 67 Textual Transformations 72 Transliteration and Interpretation 78 Interpretative Explanations 97 Religious Elements in the Introduction 106 Vernacular Translations 113 Conclusion 117 Chapter 3: Marginalia and Annotations 120 Introduction 120 Examples of Marginalia from Manuscripts and Printed Texts 122 Readers and Contexts of Readership 129 Citations of Arabic Authors 147 Astrology as Arabic in Medieval Europe 154 Conclusion 160 vii Chapter 4: Commentaries 162 Introduction 162 Astrology at Universities 165 Cecco d’Ascoli’s Commentary 171 John of Saxony’s Commentary 179 Valentin Naibod’s Commentary 190 Conclusion 196 Chapter 5: Forms and Materialities 199 Introduction 199 Manuscripts 199 Printed Books 220 Conclusion 236 Conclusion 238 Bibliography 241 viii Abstract This project examines the transmission and reception in medieval and early modern Europe of the Introduction to Astrology, written by the tenth-century Arabic author al-Qabīṣī and known to his Latin readers as Alcabitius. First composed in Aleppo and translated into Latin in the twelfth century, the work became one of the most influential texts on astrology in medieval and early modern Europe, particularly at universities. A close study of different forms of readership (translations, annotations, commentaries, and materialities) demonstrates how attitudes and perceptions of Arabic astrology shifted (or remained stable) among diverse groups of medieval and early modern readers in Europe. The readership of the Latin manuscript and print traditions, understood in conjunction with a contextualized study of the Arabic original, reveals how the astrological tradition in Europe emerged and evolved by assimilating and adapting Islamic ideas. ix Introduction The most popular text on astrology in medieval Europe was al-Qabīṣī’s Kitāb al‐mudkhal ilā ṣināʿat aḥkām al‐nujūm, or Alcabitius’s Introductorius ad magisterium iudiciorum astrorum, which was translated from Arabic into Latin by John of Seville in the 1130s. The extant manuscripts of the Introduction to Astrology number more than two hundred. Coupled with this fact, the commentaries written on the Introduction from Paris and Bologna in the 1320s and 1330s suggest that the text was taught at universities. In addition to the Latin manuscripts, there were additional translations made into Hebrew, Castilian, Italian, French, German, English, and Dutch, which indicate the broad and diverse medieval readership of the text. Twelve printed editions, ranging from 1473 to 1521, and two commentaries from the 1560s, show the longevity of the text’s popularity. The Introdution to Astrology was also not entirely unique; several other Arabic astrological authors attained a broad readership in the medieval period, including Abū Maʿshar (Albumasar), Sahl ibn Bishr (Zael), Māshā’allāh (Messehalla), and ʿAli ibn Rijāl (Haly Abenragel). Each of these authors composed texts of which there are now at least one hundred extant manuscripts.1 Judging from the numbers of manuscripts alone, it is evident that Arabic texts were central to medieval European astrological knowledge and practice. Despite this fact, the importance of the Arabic influence on the development of European science continues to be downplayed or underestimated. Alcabitius’s Introduction, for example, did not garner much attention among historians until fairly 1 David Juste, “The Impact of Arabic Sources on European Astrology:
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