the-astrology-book

History of Western Astrology
aspect of astrology, which had been such a cause of concern for Saint Augustine, was
now no longer an issue. The scientific aspect of astrology (its relation to alchemy,
medicine, and meteorology) was still of interest in this environment.
With the founding of Oxford University (in 1249), astronomy was included in
the liberal arts curriculum for its contribution in understanding medicine, meteorology,
and alchemy. Judicial astrology, however, was explicitly opposed in the writings of
Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln and chancellor of Oxford University, on the
basis of Augustine’s position (that astrology denies the will of God). The opposition of
the Church to astrology also surfaced in 1277 in the list of statements of condemnation
by the bishop of Paris, Stephen of Tempier, who condemned astrology and
authors who connected astrology with the sublunar world. Some scholastic theologians
(who were influenced by Saint Augustine and later by Aristotelianism), including
Albertus Magnus of Cologne (Albert the Great, 1206–1280), accepted the influence
of the planets on the lower world. Nevertheless, they denied planetary influence
over the human will, because they believed the soul is the image of God. Albertus
Magnus recommended the Almagest for the study of astronomy and the Tetrabiblos for
astrology (in their Latin translations). Thomas Aquinas (1255–1274), Magnus’s pupil
and one of the greatest scholastic theologians, declared, in Summa theologica that
heavenly bodies indirectly influence the human intellect and thus astrologers can
make true predictions. In De sortibus and De judiciis astrorum, however, he expressed
his opposition to horoscopes and election of propitious days.
Although Church intellectuals of the thirteenth century were opposed to the
superstitious aspects of astrology, Roger Bacon (1214–1294), the greatest scientist of
his time, fully accepted medical astrology. In the following century also, intellectual
churchmen were using astrology as an instrument for further understanding science
(and for interpreting the Scriptures). Judicial astrology, however, is not even mentioned
by such authors as Thomas Bradwardine (archbishop of Canterbury) and Henry
of Langestein. The “scientific” application of astrology is reflected in the efforts of the
University of Paris to explain the Black Death epidemic that ravaged Europe from
1347 to 1350; contemporary intellectuals were more inclined to attribute the plague to
conjunctions of the stars rather than to conduct physical and medical investigations.
At the University of Bologna, founded in 1119 for the education of a lay public and less
influenced by the Church (though still under its control), students of medicine were
required to undertake a four-year program in astrology, which culminated with the
Tetrabiblos and the Almagest. Guido Bonatti, one of the most famous astrologers of the
13th century, was professor at this university and author of De Astronomia.
There were a number of other famous astrologers in this period. Michael Scot
was court astrologer for Frederick II in Sicily and wrote the Liber introductorius as a student
manual. Campanus of Novara, one of the few good mathematicians of the time,
according to Bacon, wrote the Sphaera and the Theorica planetarum. In 1327, during
the Inquisition, Cecco d’Ascoli was burned at the stake as a heretic. He was an
astrologer and magician who had lectured at the University of Bologna and applied
astrology to the birth and death of Christ. Although there were undoubtedly political
factors behind Cecco’s execution, the charge of heresy nevertheless reflected the concern
of the Church over astrological matters.
[316] THE ASTROLOGY BOOK