Reading and copying annual prognostications in the 15th century
Abstract
Anecdotic before the 15th century, annual prognostications seem to peak in the wake of the development of Alfonsine astronomy. Based on key astronomical events (equinoxes, solstices, eclipses…), they detailed their potential impact on weather patterns, agricultural yields, wars and epidemics, and other important aspects of daily life. Unlike the more traditional astrological predictions (nativities, interrogations, elections), dedicated to one patron and generally kept secret, annual prognostications were aimed at a wider audience and made publicly available in universities, but also in courts and towns, and progressively through manuscript and printed booklets. They were particularly eagerly collected and copied in regions in which they were less common. Could they be considered the result (or the mean) of a “cultural exposure” to Alfonsine astronomy?
This paper seeks to provide a broad overview of the dissemination and reception of annual astrological predictions in fifteenth-century Europe, before and after the invention of printing, and questions their relationship with the networks of Alfonsine astronomy.