Ain fast nutzlich Büchlin zü diser Zeit, zülesen/ Von dem Sindtfluß oder grossen wasser: das solchs durch den einfluss des hymels nit berzaichent/ wie etlich Astrologi ungeschicklich davon geschriben/ auch sich niemant des besorgen soll/ durch den hochberümten ... Paulum Bischoffen Forosempronieñ an Bapst Clementē den sibenden aussgangen uñ zü trost den förchtigen zü teütschem bracht.
Augsburg: Simprecht Ruff, 1524.
Price: $4,500.00
Quarto: 20.3 x 15.4 cm. [12]p. Collation: A4, B2
FIRST GERMAN-LANGUAGE EDITION.
Bound in modern boards. A fine copy.
First German edition of a book written to quell the growing hysteria around the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of Pisces in February 1524, which was rumored to herald a catastrophic flood.
Written by Paul of Middelburg, renowned astrologer, professor of astronomy at the University of Padua, and personal physician to the Duke of Urbino, the book, “A most useful book to read at the present time concerning the Deluge, or the Great Flood: That is, that one will not be caused by the heavens, as some astrologers have clumsily written, and that no one should worry about it… Translated into German to bring consolation to the fearful.”, first appeared in Latin as “Prognosticon ostendens anno 1524 nullum diluvium futurum”(1523).
“The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of February 1524 proved a stimulus to industry—about sixty Renaissance authors penned more than 160 pamphlets… Even a remove of nearly five-hundred years has done little to dampen scholarly interest in this signal episode of the intellectual history of the 1500s.”
“In a world view shaped by a natural philosophy much imbued with, and indebted to, astrology, the theory of great conjunctions, which was originally formulated by the Arab scholars Messehala (Masha’allah) and al-Kindi and more fully articulated thereafter by Albumasar (Abu Ma'shar) in his ‘De magnis coniunctionibus’, played a particularly important role…
“The most important of these conjunctions involved the more slowly revolving planets—Jupiter and Saturn… Little wonder, then, that the attention of astrologers was drawn to the powerful planetary alignment even many years before it would supposedly take place in the watery house of Pisces in February 1524. But this time not only would Mars, Jupiter and Saturn unite in celestial embrace, they were also to be joined in a far more massive display by the Sun, Mercury and Venus, viz. six of the then seven known planets…
“On 20 March 1523 a libel bearing the imperial seal was published in Vienna by the court astrologer Georg Tannstetter, who noted that ‘…this rumour [about the impending flood] has already taken root everywhere, in every sense, creeping into everyone’s mind: it has provoked the wise and the learned to heated debate, and in some it has caused such consternation that they can no longer manage their affairs properly: they sell their lands, fields and other properties, or refuse to purchase those for sale, because they believe it will be easier to convey money up to the mountains than castles and farms. Others still postpone weddings, rescind contracts, refuse holy orders, listlessly tend to their crops while exclaiming (if I understand rightly): what good are riches if in a few years no one will be able to enjoy them?’
“The Spanish astrologer and theologian Pedro Ciruelo, a man of vast erudition who was widely acclaimed in his own time, wrote an analysis in Spanish of the 1524 conjunction that was later translated into Latin, Italian and German. He even advises his readers at a certain point about precautionary measures they might take: ‘those of means should store provisions of flour, oil, wine, firewood, salted beef, dried fish, […] so that if any watery event were to occur in the months hither, everyone shall have their store and can go with it to a safer place.’ For the poor who cannot afford such provisions, Ciruelo recommends that their needs be seen to at public expense. He also suggests that peasants refrain from sowing lowland fields and that shepherds and cowherds drive their animals to highland pastures where forage is abundant…
“A pre-eminent figure in the reform of the calendar taken up at the Lateran Council of 1512-1517, Paul of Middelburg, who had long refrained from publishing any predictions, was finally persuaded to a change of heart by the tightening grip of anxiety and fear throughout Italy and published in 1523 his ‘Prognosticon’, which was addressed to Pope Clement VII and refuted any possibility of either a universal deluge or a more local flash-flood.”(Barillà, Drawing Nigh to February 1524: The Spate of Fear, p. 2 ff.).
Zinner 1264; Thorndike V 217ff.