The limits of influence : : Pico, Louvain, and the crisis of Renaissance astrology / / by Steven Vanden Broecke.

• Superior document: Medieval and early modern science ; Volume 4
• VerfasserIn: Broecke, Steven Vanden,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2003]; ©2003
• Year of Publication: 2003
• Language: English
• Series: History of science and medicine library. Medieval and early modern science ; Volume 4.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

Historians of science often acknowledge the academic status of astrology in the early modern period, but mostly fail to explore its relation with other disciplines and its role in society. This book seeks to fill that gap. The first part of the book examines the practices and functions that shaped late medieval astrology, and relates how its academic status became discredited, both in northern Italy and the Low Countries. The second part of the book examines various counter-strategies of astrological reform, and shows how these ultimately failed to restore public trust in academic astrology. This book provides a new level of detail to the history of astrology. It also establishes important new links with other fields, like the history of universities, humanism, astronomy, medicine, and instrument building.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments -- List of Illustrations -- Introduction -- 1. Some preliminary remarks on astrology -- 2. Astrology and late medieval academic culture. Louvain, 1425-1516. -- 3. Between astrological reform and rejection: Giovanni Pico's Disputations (1494) -- 4. Humanism and court astrology: the 1524 conjunctions at Louvain -- 5. Astrology and the Louvain cosmographical tradition -- Intermezzo. A few comments on the use and nature of astrological reform -- 6. Copernican astronomy and Louvain astrology -- 7. Ptolemy, parapegmata , mathematics, and monsters. The reform of mundane astrology -- 8. Prorogations, houses, and natal astrology -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Indices.