THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA The Use of Military Astrology in Late Medieval Italy: The Textual Evidence A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of History School of Arts & Sciences Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Robert S. Hand Washington, D.C. 2014 The Use of Military Astrology in Late Medieval Italy: The Textual Evidence. Robert S. Hand Director: Katherine L. Jansen, Ph. D. This study examines the thirteenth-century astrologer Guido Bonatti’s Liber Astronomicus as a case study to investigate one aspect of the many practical applications of astrology in the later Middle Ages. Specifically, it looks at the application of military astrology to analyze Bonatti’s use of his source material in relation to his own practice. The dissertation develops a methodology to discern the astrologer’s practice from his textual inheritance. Bonatti was possibly the most important astrologer of the high middle ages. His work was an encyclopedic, yet detailed survey of the entire field of astrological study in the Europe of his day. He acknowledged his Arab sources but was not merely a compiler of their material. Like many of his European contemporaries in other fields such as Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon, Bonatti put his own stamp on the field of astrology. Staying within the basic traditions as he inherited them, he systematized and expanded often terse material, and frequently innovated in certain applications of astrology. By close and detailed examinations of Bonatti’s text and comparison with his sources, we can see the changes that reflect his personal experience which in turn caused him to alter and emend the tradition. From this we can distinguish the practitioner from the compiler of astro- logical materials. This study argues that such close internal textual analysis of the astrological treatises themselves reveals the medieval uses of astrology far better than external narrative sources. Ultimately over the course of this study it also becomes clear that in the area of astrology Bonatti carried out the same kinds of intellectual synthesis and systematization that we see in the works of notable contemporaries in other fields. This dissertation by Robert S. Hand fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in History approved by Katherine L. Jansen, Ph.D., as Director, and by Timothy Noone, Ph.D. and Ronald Calinger, Ph.D., as Readers. __________________________________________ Katherine L. Jansen, Ph.D., Director __________________________________________ Timothy Noone, Ph.D., Reader __________________________________________ Ronald Calinger, Ph.D., Reader ii I would like to thank Dr. Katherine L. Jansen for the considerable time and effort that went into assisting me in the process of researching and writing this dissertation and Dr. Timothy Noone and Dr. Ronald Calinger for their efforts on my behalf as well. In addition I would like to thank all of the faculty and staff at The Catholic University of America with whom I have studied and worked for the last several years in the process of attaining the M.A. and Ph. D. degrees in History. I want especially to thank my wife Elyse not only for the intellectual stimulus she has always provided but also for urging me to start on this process in the first place. iii Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction ............................ .............................1 The Thesis......................................... .......................12 A Brief Survey of the Literature. ............................14 Source Texts. ...................................... .......................20 The Structure and Arrangement of this Study. .............................22 Chapter 2. The Divisions of Astrology . ..............................26 Natural Versus Judicial or Divinatory Astrology. ..............................26 Five Topic Areas and Types of Writings in Medieval Astrology. .....................34 The Speculum Astronomiae. .......................... ....................36 The Introductorium ................................. ....................41 Interrogations ..................................... .....................44 Electional and Inceptional Astrology . .........................47 Revolutions ........................................ ...................51 Natal or Genethliacal Astrology. ........................54 Chapter 3. The Kinds of Astrology that Became Acceptable as Defined by the Compromise of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. .............................60 The Early Medieval Position of the Church on Astrology through 1277. ...............61 Aquinas and the Compromise ......................... .......................63 Roger Bacon and the Compromise. ........................66 The Condemnations of 1277 and Astrology. ..........................76 Astrology in the Medieval University. ............................84 Chapter 4. The General Evolution of Astrological Ideas as Evidenced in the Texts An Overview of Change versus Tradition in Astrology. ...........................101 The Evolution of Astrological Ideas in General. .............................101 The Firdaria – a Study in the Transmission of a Complex Astrological System. 115 Chapter 5. The Astrology of Conflict and Warfare Before Bonatti and the Life of Guido Bonatti. ................................................... ....................129 Bonatti’s Predecessors and Sources. ..........................130 Guido Bonatti’s Life and Its Relationship to the Astrology of Warfare ...............147 Chapter 6. Texts and Methods. ...................... ...........................158 The Authors and the Texts. ......................... ........................158 iv The Ratdolt Edition and the Divisions of the Liber astronomicus . ...................160 The Preparation and Editing of the Texts. ............................164 The Relationship Between Interrogations and Elections. ..........................170 The Objective of the Remaining Chapters. ..........................173 A Final Note on the Material That Follows. ...........................183 Chapter 7. The Basics of Conflict Analysis in Interrogations and Elections. 184 Definition of the Significators. ................... ...........................185 Whether the Parties Will Come to an Agreement – Part 1 Without the Aid of a Mediating Party. ........................187 Whether the Parties Will Come to an Agreement – Part 2 Agreement Involving a Mediator without Formal Litigation. ................................................... .................198 Which Side Comes Out Better in a Settlement? . ..........................201 The Qualities of the Mediator. ..................... ..........................205 The Role of the Sun and Moon in Supporting Either Side. .........................207 Relations Between the Litigants and the Mediator. .............................209 Indications for the Outcome of Litigation If There Is No Mediation. .................211 A Technique for Analyzing Conflict Peculiar to Bonatti. ..........................225 Bonatti’s Final Comment in §VI.2.7.9. ..........................229 Chapter 8. Interrogations and Inceptions Concerning Wars and Military Actions in General ................................................... ....................232 Who is competent to ask about the outcome of a possible battle or war and how are the significators of the two sides derived? . ..........................233 Will the sides make peace before going to war or before there has been serious conflict? ................................................... .................241 The Sides Do Not Make Peace and Indications as To Which Side Will Win. 250 Chapter 9. Shorter Chapters on Warfare, §VI.2.7.22-28. .............................266 Bonatti Chapter §VI.2.7.22. Which Side Has More Support. .......................266 Bonatti Chapter §VI.2.7.24 – What Is the Cause for Which War Has Arisen, and Whether or Not the Cause Is Just. ............................. ......................273 Bonatti Chapter §VI.2.7.25. Concerning whether Armies Are Large or Small. 281 Bonatti Chapters §VI.2.7.26 and §VI.2.7.27. ............................283 Chapter 10. The Astrology of Siege Craft. ..............................294 A Siege Chart from Haly Abenragel. .........................311 Bonatti’s Influence on Later Astrologers and a Modern Example of Bonatti’s Influence on The Astrology of Siege Craft. ...................... ......................317 Appendix — Dating Haly’s Chart. .................... .......................323 Chapter 11. Summation, Conclusions, and the Implications of this Study. 327 Further Suggestions Concerning the Relationships Between Bonatti and his Sources. 327 v Summary and Concluding Remarks. ......................332 Appendix I – An Introduction to Medieval Astrology . ...............................334 The Basic Components ............................... .....................335 The Planets........................................ ...................335 The Signs of the Zodiac ............................ .....................342 Houses or Places ................................... ...................350 Combinations of the Basic Components. .........................358 Conditions of the Planets by Themselves . .......................358 Relationships Among the Planets .................... .....................360 Relationships Between Signs and