nd

Litt

a r t i c l e i n f o

John of Paris

a b s t r a c t

maillatraditiorigins in divine revelation, and the belief in the ancient Sibyls predictions of

enteenth centuries, as well as to the harnessing of astrology for the defense of the faith in the form of

e use t

S

Thirtee

of twelve Sibyls, including physical descriptions of these suppos-edly ancient female seers and brief excerpts from the propheciesattributed to them. Among the twelve Sibyls depicted in Barbierisseries was the following mysterious woman: labeled the Sybilla

dressed in heavenly clothing, with golden hair spread abouther shoulders, young, about whom Ennius said, In the rst faceof Virgo, there rises a maiden with a beautiful face and lovely

E-mail address: lasmoller@ualr.edu1 Text of the supposed prophecy of Albumasar (Abu Mashar), in the translations by John of Seville (1133) and Hermann of Carinthia (1140), can be found in Chenu (1964), n. 5;

and in Abu Mashar (19951996), Vol. 5, pp. 224225 (John of Seville, trans., tr. 6, diff. 1) and Vol. 3 (Part 2), p. 101 (Hermann of Carinthia, trans., Bk. 6, Ch. 1). Some noted citationsof this passage: Albertus Magnus (1977), Ch. 12, pp. 3637; Pseudo-Ovid (1968), Bk. 3, ll. 623633; Bacon (1897), Pars 4, Vol. 1, p. 257; Jean de Meun (1992), vv. 1918119188,following a citation of the Sibyl from Virgils Bucolics (= Fourth eclogue), Anonymous (Renart le Contrefait) (1914), Vol. 1, pp. 230231. See the discussion of the citations of thispassage in Lemay (1962), pp. 3839; Alverny (1985), pp. 136147; Roy (2000), pp. 175177. The source of the appellation Chimica is not clear; nor is it apparent whether some

nt.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological andBiomedical Sciences

.e lsevier .com/locate /shpscreference to alchemy (which increasingly was borrowing Christian imagery) was meaIn the early 1480s, the Dominican humanist Filippo de Barbieripublished a treatise in which he set out to resolve disagreementsbetween Augustine and Jerome by appealing to the words of theSibyls. To illustrate his text, Barbieri included woodcut portraits

Albumasar gives a description of a constellation rising with therst decan (face) of the zodiacal sign Virgo, namely, a gure of amother nursing a child whom some peoples call Jesus.1 The cap-tion below Barbieris Sybilla Chimica expands the quotation to in-clude Albumasars famous prediction of the virgin birth of Christ:

Sybilla Emeria, also known as Sybilla Chimica, born in Italy,1. Introductionductorium maius in astronomiam by the ninth-century Arabicastrologer Abu Mashar (Albumasar to the Latin West). There,(When citing this paper, pleas1369-8486/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Adoi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.04.003an astrological natural theology, sacralizing science as well as nature. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

he full journal title Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

Dies irae, dies illa,olvet saeclum in favilla:Teste David cum Sibylla.nth-century sequence)

Chimica or Sybilla Emeria, she holds a scroll that reads in equallypuzzling fashion, In the rst face of Virgo, there rises a young girl(Fig. 1). What is odd here is that the Sibyls text repeats the openingwords of perhaps the most widely quoted passage from the Intro-Abu Mashar the birth of Christ and other Christian truths. Medieval authors from the twelfth century on began to citethese traditions together, thereby simultaneously authorizing the use of astrology to predict religiouschanges and blurring the categories of natural and supernatural as applied to human understanding. Thisblending of astrology and prophecy appears notably in works by such authors as John of Paris, John ofLegnano, Johannes Lichtenberger, and Marsilio Ficino. Ultimately the trajectory that produced Barbierisastrological Sibyl would lead to a wave of astrological apocalyptic predictions in the sixteenth and sev-SibylsProphecy

astrologer Abu Mashar. Insometimes interlocking traKeywords:Astrology

John of Legnano

In the 1480s Dominican hufemale seer called the Syb

the assertion of astrologysTeste Albumasare cum Sibylla: astrology a

Laura Ackerman SmollerDepartment of History, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Avenue,

journal homepage: wwwll rights reserved.the Sibyls in medieval Europe

le Rock, AR 72204-1099, USA

nist Filippo de Barbieri published an illustration of a supposedly ancientChimica, whose prophetic text repeated the words of the ninth-centurycing the origins of Barbieris astrological Sibyl, this article examines threeons: the attribution of an ante-diluvian history to the science of the stars,

L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689 77hair; sitting on a throne, she nurses a boy, giving him her ownjuice (ius) to eat, that is, milk sent from heaven.2

In short, what Barbieri presented to his readers was an astrologicaltext disguised as a Sibyls prophecy.

The route by which an astrologers words became those of a Si-byl is not a simple one, and to trace it promises to teach us muchnot simply about astrology and prophecy in the later Middle Ages,but also about the ways in which knowledge was conceived andcongured. It involves both Christian apologists citing Albumasarstext in conrmation of their faith and proponents of astrologyreaching back to an imagined history that had Old Testament patri-archs, thanks to divine instruction, practicing the science of thestars. Both of these acts tended to strengthen a growing set ofclaims that made astrology a valid tool for the analysis of religions.

Fig. 1. Sibylla Chimica from Filippo de Barbieri (1482), fo

2 Filippo de Barbieri (1966[1482]). An earlier edition from 1481 also contains parallel(1979), esp. pp. 407408 n. 168; Bergquist (1979), pp. 521529. Barbieris Sybilla ChimicaSibylla emeria in Italia nata alias Chimica vestita celestia veste deaurata capillis per scapufacie prolixa capillis: sedens super sedem stratam nutrit puerum: dans ei ad comedendumdoes this text deviate signicantly from that of Albumasar, who here mentions Jesus.) Ennin the Divine institutes 1.14 in a discussion of the genealogy of the gods, which he says is co(1964), Kaeppeli (19701993), Vol. 3, pp. 271273.

3 See, for example, Chenu (1968), pp. 1118; Hansen (1985), p. 54; Gregory (1975), pp.Astrologys ability to predict Christian truths merged with claimsof its ancient, revealed origins, blurring the lines between knowl-edge attained by the exercise of human reason and that grantedthrough supernatural revelation. Although medieval scholasticsfrequently drew a rm line between natural and supernaturalcauses, and increasingly attributed even seeming marvels to theformer,3 the blending of astrology and prophecy seen in the SybillaChimica points to the simultaneous existence of another mode ofthinking, one in which the distinction between natural and super-natural was nowhere so clear.

The origins of Barbieris astrological Sibyl lay along three some-times interlocking paths. The rst of these is a long-standing tradi-tion that attributes an ancient and mythological history to thescience of the stars, a narrative common to many of the occult arts.

l. 6r (photograph courtesy of The Newberry Library).

portraits of Old Testament prophets. See discussions in Clercq (1979), p. 12; Dotsonholds a scroll that reads, In prima facie virginis ascendit puella. The caption reads,

las sparsis et iuvenis de que Ennius ait: In prima facie virginis ascendit puella pulchraius proprium id est lac de celo missum. (Only in the last phrase about heavenly milkius must refer to the Latin author Quintus Ennius (239169 BCE), quoted by Lactantiusnrmed by the Erythrean Sibyl: Lactantius (n.d.). On Barbieri, see Filippo de Barbieri

193218; Daston (1991), pp. 93124.

In this scenario, introduced to medieval readers through JosephusJewish antiquities, knowledge of astrology dates back to the time ofAbraham, Noah, or even Adam. One important implication of thisimagined history was to give the Hebrews priority over the Egyp-tians or Greeks in the invention of astrological science. It alsoserved, defensively, to answer the charges of those detractorswho insisted that humans had not had sufcient experience ofthe stars movements and their effects to make accurate astrolog-ical predictions. We know through Cicero, for example, that in re-sponse to just such objections the ancient Chaldeans claimed tohave been observing the heavens for 470,000 years.4

The second intertwined tradition important to the appearance ofBarbieris astrological Sibyl involves another set of myths aboutastrologys origins, namely the assertion that humans had attainedknowledge of the stars paths and inuences through divine revela-tion. These foundation stories originate in the late antique CorpusHermeticum and the attempts there to give precedence to a revealedbody of esoteric wisdom known to the ancient Chaldeans, Hebrews,and Egyptians over Greek philosophy.5 Josephus, again, lay at theroot of medieval versions of this invented history of astrology, which

pointed to the birth of Christ.9 Early medieval authors paired Sibylswith Old Testament prophets to refute the Jews non-belief10 andeven described a gure called the Tiburtine Sibyl pointing out tothe emperor Augustus a vision of the Virgin and child in the heav-ens.11 A prophetic text attributed to that same Tiburtine Sibyl,including predictions of the Incarnation, passion, and apocalypse,circulated from the late fourth century on. As Anke Holdenreidhas demonstrated, the appeal of this Sibylline text lay preciselyin its offering a specimen of a paganwithout access to Scrip-turepredicting the birth of Christ.12 Since astrology, too, had itsroots in extra-Scriptural revelation, and, as in Albumasars text,also appeared to predict the Incarnation, it was only natural thatthe stars and the Sibyls would begin to be quoted in the samebreath.

This interpenetration of astrology and religious prophecy in thelater Middle Ages is a phenomenon whose depth is not always suf-ciently acknowledged.13 True, some late medieval authors simplyfailed to distinguish, in their vocabulary, astrological prediction fromdivine revelation (a distinction that, according to Jean-Patrice Bou-det, most practicing astrologers were extremely careful to main-

tiontotleentu

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78 L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689suggested that God had transmitted to venerable Old Testament g-ures certain secrets not contained in holy scripture. These two tradi-tions found new vigor in western Christendom from the twelfthcentury on, as translations of texts like Albumasars made possiblefor the rst time since antiquity the real practice of astrology.6 Andthis mythological history of astrology served not simply to defendthe science of the stars with the double guarantee of long experienceand divine origin, but also to bring closer to one another astrologicalprognostication and religious prophecy7at the very time thatincreasing numbers of European authors began to believe that astrol-ogy could offer valid predictions of religious events.

Hence, already in the twelfth century, one begins to seeastrologyand its invented historyappearing in conjunctionwith a third long-standing mythological tradition: the Sibyllineprophecies. Ancient pagan writers had catalogued a number ofwomen, collectively known as Sibyls, who received special divinerevelations. The new Christian church co-opted this belief, withnewly discovered (and piously forged) Sibylline texts showinggentile seers predicting the birth of Christ and the Last Judg-ment. Lactantius, for example, cited both the Sibyls and HermesTrismegistus as witnesses to Christian truths; his catalogue often different Sibyls became canonical for later generations.8

Augustine praised the so-called Erythrean Sibyl, whose verses

4 Cited in Bokdam (1987), p. 57.5 Ibid. Hermetic ideas of revealed knowledge, ltered through the Ismaili Shiite no

occult arts that were translated and read in the Latin west, including the pseudo-Aris6 Although the number of truly competent astrologers in the twelfth and thirteenth c

pp. 7475.7 Bokdam (1987), p. 61. Perhaps the most noteworthy example of this use of astrolo

1999), for example, Vol. 1, pp. 4041 (Adams knowledge of astrology), Vol. 1, p. 52astrologie de par le Createur).

8 Dronke (1990), pp. 67.9 Ibid., p. 9; Augustine (1984), XVIII:23.

10 Dronke (1990), p. 12. For example, a pseudo-Augustinian sermon Against Jews, paprophets and the verses of the Erythrean Sibyl.11 The source is another pseudo-Augustinian text, De natale Domini (On the birth of the(Magister Gregorius, n.d.). According to the text, the vision took place at and furnished tAges through the Speculum humanae salvationis, Ch. 8, based on the Chronicon ponticumOur Lord Jesus Christ (Jacobus de Voragine, 1993, Vol. 1. p. 40), as well as through sa12 The text survives in ca. 100 manuscripts, constituting a medieval best seller. See13 Pace, here, Hilary Careys comment in her ne article, Astrology and Antichrist inastrology and prophecy of the kind attributed to Merlin, the Sybil, Joachim and others516).14 Boudet (1990), esp. the remarks at pp. 618628.15 See Smoller (1994).

16 In the Fourth eclogue, citing the Cumaean Sibyl, Virgil speaks of the start of a new goldenof God X.27 (Augustine, 1984, p. 411).17 Quoted by Trexler (1997), p. 4 (Trexlers translation from the Latin Vulgate).tain).14 But there were also those who happily and deliberatelycombined the words of astrologers and inspired seers in writingabout future events. In cases such as that of the early fteenth-cen-tury cardinal Pierre dAilly, astrology could serve as a welcome andindependent check to wilder visionary claims of an impending apoc-alypse.15 For other authors, the intermingling of astrology andprophecy bolstered their own faith, offering a comforting glimpseof non-Christians having access to fundamental truths of doctrine.

In this practice of collecting gentile testimony to Christiantruths, which also saw renewed vigor from the twelfth century,one can observe a fundamental blurring of the categories of naturaland supernatural as applied to human understanding. Albumasarslines about the Virgin and child, as well as the poet Virgils sup-posed prediction of the Incarnation in his Fourth eclogue, are primeexamples of such gentile witness.16 In such an instance, whatcounted was that a non-Christian uttered Christian doctrine, offer-ing, in the words of the apostle Paul, witness from outsiders (1 Tim-othy 3:7).17 As long as the message came from outside the realm ofChristian scripture, it mattered little whether such conrmation ofthe faith had natural or supernatural origins. This tendency to meldnatural and supernatural is particularly marked among those whodefended the science of the stars by tracing its mythologically an-cient roots. One could easily confuse such types of knowledge, when

of hidden truths in religion, informed a number of Arabic works of alchemy and theSecretum secretorum (Eamon, 1994, pp. 4042, 4553).ries was rather low: see, for example, North (1987), pp. 151, 155, 160; Boudet (2006),

mythic history occurs in the 149498 defense of astrology penned by Phares (1997icus infused knowledge: il eut par grace science infuse, par especial la science de

s, and arians, whose author refuted the Jews with both the words of Old Testament

). See Settis (1985), p. 94. The story appears as well in theMirabilia urbis Romae, Ch. 11ame of the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The tale was diffused in the later MiddleMartinus Polonus (Wilson & Wilson, 1984, p. 157), and the Golden legend, The Birth oftheater and numerous artistic representations.magisterial study of Anke Holdenried (2006). There is an edition in Sackur (1898).later Middle Ages: But it can be acknowledged that, for much of the Middle Ages,

e distinct genres and there was little in the way of cross-fertilization (Carey, 2003, p.age at the birth of an unnamed boy. Augustine commented on the passage in the City

the bottom line, but not the method by which one arrived at the an-swer, was what really mattered.

2. The mythic history of astrology

Medieval readers were acquainted with the ancient origins ofastrology through Josephus Jewish antiquities, in its sixth-centuryLatin translation, and through the elaborations of Josephus laterreaders. According to Josephus, the art of astrology dated backto the time of the patriarchs. For example, Noahs long life, forJosephus, was due to his thorough knowledge of astrology andgeometry.18 Abraham, too, was well versed in the science of thestars, and, while he was in Egypt, taught the Egyptians arithmeticand astrology, from whence the Chaldeans and, eventually, theGreeks learned the science.19 Similarly, in the widely-read apoca-

thia, incorporated in his 1143 work De essentiis both the predic-tion of the virgin birth from the Introductorium maius and tracesof Albumasars own history of the origins and progress ofastrology.

Further, Hermanns use of Albumasars texts indicates the wayin which such material served both to defend the validity of astrol-ogy and to bolster the Christian faith. The mythological history ofastrological science plays an important role in both tasks. Thus,Hermann notes that Albumasar took his information about the g-ure of the Virgin from the Persian astrologers Hermes and Asta-lius, who, as Hermann explains, were disciples of Abidemon,king of the Indians, . . . whom the Arabic histories concerning therst authors of astronomy mention, long before Porus who was acontemporary of Alexander of Macedon . . . 310 years before thebirth of Christ.25 Not simply does astrology here have a long anddistinguished history, including the revered name of Hermes, but

he A

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L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689 79lypse of pseudo-Methodius, translated into Latin in the eighth cen-tury, Noahs son Jonitus appears as a divinely-inspired founder ofastronomy (astronomiae), having received from God the gift of wis-dom. In turn, he teaches the art to the giant Nimrod.20 Likewise, inthe twelfth-century Historia scholastica, widely cited by later scho-lastic authors, Petrus Comestor echoes Josephus and pseudo-Methodius in describing Noahs expertise in astrology, Jonitus in-fused knowledge of astronomy, and his subsequent instruction ofNimrod. Further, according to Petrus, Jonitus predicted (praevidit),presumably using astrology, the succession of four kingdoms thatlater would be foretold by the prophet Daniel. In addition, Petrushas Abraham teaching astrology not simply to the Egyptians, butalso to Zoroaster, inventor of magical arts.21 He also relates thatMoses was expert in the stars, enough so that he was able to en-grave two gems with images that caused memory and forgetting.22

Through such sources, the notion that astrology was an ancient andrevealed art, practiced by the patriarchs, passed into the main-stream of Christian lore.23

With the wave of translations of astrological texts from theArabic in the twelfth century, and the subsequent compositionof new Latin astrological works, this supposedly ancient historyof astrology was pressed into service defending the science ofthe stars. While Albumasars aforementioned Introductoriummaius, translated in 1133 and again in 1140, largely offered aphilosophical proof of the validity of astrology along Aristotelianlines, Albumasar elsewhere had traced the origins of astrologyand, indeed, of all knowledgeto an initial revelation long be-fore the ood.24 Not surprisingly, then, it was relatively simplefor translators and readers of the Latinized Albumasar to add tohis philosophical defense of astrology the sort of mythologicalhistory of the science described by Josephus and his followers.For example, one of Albumasars translators, Hermann of Carin-

18 Blatt (1958), I.3 (pp. 136137). According to Blatt, there are 171 manuscripts of t19 Ibid., I.8 (p. 145).20 Pseudo-Methodius (1998), Vol. 1, p. 83 (pseudo-Methodii textus Latinus, rec. 1). Forpseudo-Methodius Nebroth) was the author of a revelation of Nimrod, specically amedieval Book of Nimrod, a Latin astronomical text in which the astronomer Nimrod21 Petrus Comestor (19962010), cols. 1087 (astrology and longevity), 1088 (Jonithu22 Ibid., col. 1144. On Petrus Comestors treatment of astrology and magic, see Boud23 That these sorts of mythological histories also formed part of Arabic esoteric lore24 See Pingree (19701980). According to Pingree, the initial recipient of the revelatiowho in turn passed on the knowledge to a number of pupils from various nations, inclutradition that had an initial revelation to Hermes Trismegistus.) See also Burnett (1976in Babylon and revived astrological knowledge after the ood; and the third lived in EHermeticum). In later Latin versions, the second Hermes is equated with Noah.25 Hermann of Carinthia (1982), p. 8183 (Burnetts translation).26 Ibid., p. 83: No one can object that this account is our invention (Burnetts trans

27 Ibid. (Burnetts translation; my emphasis).28 Ibid. In the commentary (p. 245), Burnett mentions a Castilian drama-fragment29 All quotations ibid., p. 83.el Authe antiquity of the science demonstrates that the prediction ofthe Incarnation transmitted by Albumasar was indeed made centu-ries before the factand was not invented by the ninth-centuryastrologer or by twelfth-century Christians.26

Most importantly, astrology offers Hermann a key example ofthe ways in which Christian truths were in fact available to anyonewho chose to look for them. For Hermann, Hermes and Astaliuswords demonstrate that even in natural speculation . . . the truthof Jesus Christ was in fact rst known by a foreign nation.27

Although Hermann at times plugs into Albumasars mythical historyof astrology as revealed art, he simultaneously praises the science asa form of natural knowledge of the future and therefore one avail-able to gentiles as well as to Jews and Christians. Indeed, Hermannprefaces his discussion of Albumasars passage about the Virgin bynoting that it is one of many arguments by which we are accus-tomed to counter the wretched Muslim when he carps at our salva-tion. Later, in the same vein, Hermann says that this textdemonstrates the blindness of the Jews. He even notes that inmy opinion the Magi were able to recognize Jesus being informedby reading this [passage], and having seen his star.28 He also pointsout that the astrologers clearly were predicting the virgin birth, forthe passage states both that the young girl holding the boy called Je-sus is completely chaste and that she is nourishing the boy with herius, which Hermann glosses as her own milk, a substance no womancould produce unless she had given birth beforehand. For Hermann,the astrologer sees the whole situation more clearly and thus couldannounce a wonder which he saw would happen in the futureagainst the laws of nature!29 In the De essentiis, Hermann brings to-gether the ancient origins of astrology and Albumasars descriptionof the gure rising with Virgo in a compelling demonstration of gen-tile foreknowledge of Christian truth.

ntiquities in Latin still in existence, indicating the wide readership for the book.

sible sources of this legend of Noahs fourth son, and the later assertion that Nimrod (=ssianic prophecy known to the Magi, see Gero (1980). See also the discussion of theucts his disciple, Ioanton, in Livesey & Rouse (1981).d Nemrod), 1093 (Abraham instructs Egyptians), and 1095 (Zoroaster).006), pp. 213214, and Weill-Parot (2002), pp. 149152.entered the Latin west is traced in Eamon (1994), Ch. 2.as a certain Hermes, identied with the Iranian Hushank and the Semitic Enoch-Idris,two more named Hermes. (Abu Mashar hoped to make more universal the Harranian. 231234. The rst Hermes (= Enoch) lived in Egypt before the ood; the second lived, taught alchemy, and passed his wisdom on to Asclepius (= the Hermes of the Corpus

n).to de los Reyes Magos, which similarly presents the Wise Men as astrologers.

3. Enter the Sibyls

Later in the De essentiis Hermann also juxtaposes astrology withSibylline prophecy as two harbingers of Christs advent.30 This pair-ing is not uncommon in the twelfth century and is not restricted toastrological texts per se.31 The Sibyls and astrologyin the form ofAlbumasars passage about the young girlappear together again aswitness from outsiders in a sermon on the nativity of the Virginpreached by Garnier de Rochefort, abbot of Clairvaux, in the latetwelfth century. In a list of prophets of the advent of Christ, which in-cludes various animals, John the Baptist, Simeon, Balaam, and Sibylla,the preacher also cites Hermes and Asterius [sic], philosophers of theking of Persia, as having foretold the virgin birth. Continuing, Garnierquotes a text remarkably similar to Albumasars description of the vir-gin nursing the child called Jesus from Hermann of Carinthias trans-lation of the Introductorium maius.32 After putting the astrologerswords in themouths ofHermes andAsterius, Garnier adds that a thirdpoet [!], whose name is Albumazar, agrees with them.33

This trio of gentile witnesses to the virgin birth becomes the

Astrologers, too, could place the Sibyls and the science of thestars on equal footing. Thus, astrologys ancient revealed originsand the authority of the Sibyl rub shoulders in the work of oneof the most important practitioners of the science in the early thir-teenth century, Michael Scot, astrologer to the emperor FrederickII.37 Scots own Liber introductorius, a huge compendium of astron-omy, astrology, and physiognomy, contains a long prologue includ-ing yet another twist on the tale of astrologys mythic origins.38

For Scot, revelation and experimentation stand side-by-side inastrologys past, which, it turns out, somewhere includes a Sibyl.Scots tale begins with Noah, to whom the Lord God often spoke,revealing many secret future events.39 Of Noahs three sons, Chamwas naturally of the most subtle intelligence and began to seekout those who had been taught by the demons who then inhabitedthe air, learning from them various doctrines that today are calledarts. The demons brought to humans both useful and nefarious arts(such as spatomancy and nigromancy), but Cham in his prudencecarefully investigated and experimented to sort out the true fromthe false ones. After the Flood, Cham taught the arts of divinationto his son Chanaam. Chanaam, in turn, wrote down all he knew of

th thermn erldcen

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80 L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689real subject of Garniers sermon, which is as much an extendedcommentary on the words of Hermes, Asterius, and Albumasar asit is an elucidation of the scriptural passages with which he beginsthe sermon. The main point he wishes his fellow monks to grasp isthat, in hearing the words of Gods consolation, you should not payattention to who is talking, but to what is being said.34 Followingthat advice, Garnier himself does not seem particularly to distinguishbetween the insight of such animals as storks or Balaams ass, bibli-cal prophecy, the oracles of the Sibyls, and the utterings of an astrol-oger. Nor does he particularly seem to care whether the source oftheir knowledge is natural or supernatural. In fact, Garnier says thathe does not know whether Hermes and Asterius spoke out of greatlearning or in the spirit of prophecy, although he perhaps leans to-wards the former interpretation. Noting that common people saythat an unskilled pig many times turns up a good trufe [root], Gar-nier allows that he would call them pigs who, not ruminating, but asif digging in the ground, that is, scrutinizing terrestrial things, see theroot of the tree of Jesse.35 And in some sense, for Garnier, all thesepigs are interchangeable, for they all clearly offer an outsiders testa-ment to the truth: Such is the glory of the truth of the Catholic faith,he writes, that our enemies are judges [that is, witnesses to thefaith], and in the mouths of three witnesses we see the glory ofthe word and testimony of the glorious Virgin.36 For Garnier, thanksto Albumasars passage about the Virgin, astrology and the Sibylsperform exactly the same function.

30 In Book 2, in a passage where he echoes Albumasars association of Christianity wiAfter quoting a pseudonymous description of portents surrounding Christs birth that Hvirgin has given birth), Hermann then quotes Sibylline prophecy concerning a Romarevolution of the Sun (a reference to fridaric years in Albumasar), will restore the wo31 For the same pairing in a list of gentile predictions of Christs birth in a late twelfth-(1985).32 Garnerius Lingonensis (19962010), col. 775; Chenu (1964), p. 63. Garniers sermmaius or his De essentiis, since the references to Hermes and Astalius are found inIntroductorium.33 Descriptions of gures, such as the constellation rising in Virgos rst face, were c34 Garnerius Lingonensis (19962010), col. 774.35 Ibid., col. 775; my translation and emphasis.36 Ibid., col. 776.37 See, most recently, Boudet (2006), pp. 175177, 181187.38 This prologue occurs in both the long and the short version of Scots text. (On the187.) I have examined the shorter version, as contained in Paris, Bibliothque nationa39 BNF, MS N. A. Lat. 1401, fol. 37v: Noe iustus . . . cum quo dominus deus sepe loqua40 Ibid., fols. 37v38r.41 Ibid., fols. 38r38v.42 Ibid., fol. 38v: Unde multi fuerunt doctores huius artis tempore precedente ut pr

Boecius, Averroys, Johannes Yspalensis, Ysydorus, Zael, Alcabicius, etc. Cum vero diversi etareperta libros compillates eos intitulverunt.43 Jostmann (2006), Boudet (2006), pp. 174187.these subjects in thirty volumes and instructed his own son, Nimrod,along with a number of other pupils.40

After Chanaams house and library were burned by the armiesof the king of Egypt, however, these volumes were lost. Nimrodand Chanaams other pupils collected as much of this lost knowl-edge as they could recall, particularly, Scot notes, the art ofastronomy/astrology. Nimrod, in turn, taught this art to a disciplenamed Iohanton, for whom he composed a book, the Liber Nem-roth. Another son, Habraam, also acquired great skill in astrologyand taught it to a certain Demetrius and Alexander, who in turninstructed Ptolemy, the king of Egypt. From Egypt, the sciencewas brought to Spain, and thence to France.41 Concluding this fan-ciful history, Scot appends a list of the many doctors of this art,including alongside the more familiar astrological names Thabit,Messahalla, Zael, and Alcabitius, a number of gures more associ-ated with mystical revelations, such as Solomon, Hermes, and Sib-illa.42 For Michael Scot, then, astrology appears part asexperimental science and part as revealed art. Perhaps in acknowl-edgment of the latter, a Sibyllike Hermesappears among a list ofastrologys luminaries. And it is probably worth remembering thatboth Sibylline prophecies and astrological predictions swirledaround the larger-than-life gure of Michael Scots patron, Freder-ick II.43

e Sun, Hermann also brings in the Sibyl as another gentile prophet of Christian truth.ann calls Jeromes Annals (a passage in which Augustus hears a voice announcing that amperor who will reign for 120 years and when his horoscope measures the greaterto a pristine state of glory (ibid., pp. 169 and 308309 (commentary)).tury Advent sermon other than that of Garnier de Rochefort mentioned below, Alverny

etrays a familiarity with either Hermanns translation of Albumasars Introductoriummann of Carinthia, but not in the earlier John of Seville translation of Albumasars

d picturae poeticae, making Albumasar, then, a poeta (Chenu, 1964, p. 65).

versions, the longer of which contains more demonological magic, see ibid., pp. 186e France, MS N. A. Lat. 1401, the earliest extant copy of this text.r ei revellans secreta multa futurorum . . . habuit 3 lios scilicet Sem Cham et Iaphet.

minati ac etiam Salomon, Sibilla, Thebit, Bechorath, Messahalla, Dorotheus, Hermes,

te tempore omnis aliquid in hac arte sedulo studio collegerunt et propter experimenta

4. Astrology as a tool for predicting religious change

By the thirteenth century, a number of authors were beginningto make even larger claims about astrologys ability to speak reli-gious truths. Albumasar again lies at the end of the trail, not simplyin the frequently-cited passage about the Virgin and child, but alsoin his analysis of astrological causes of religious change in the trea-tise De magnis coniunctionibus.44 And again, the voice of the Sibyls ispaired with the messages written in the stars. Thus, in a poem enti-tled De vetula, a curious thirteenth-century forgery attributed to theRoman love-poet Ovid, astrology and the Sibyls together are shownto predict the Virgin birth from outside the faith.45 In book 3, draw-ing on Albumasars De magnis coniunctionibus, the poet offers, rst,an astrological prediction of a religion (lex) signied by the planetMercury, in which there shall be born of a virgin one who is simul-taneously God and man.46 Continuing, Ovid points to a conjunctionof Saturn and Jupiter in the twelfth year of the reign of the emperorAugustus, which, according to the poet, signied that six years later,

cal history, Bacon also attributed the latter not just to Albumasar,but also to all ancient Indians, Chaldeans, and Babylonians.51 Fur-thermore, Bacon insisted that, just as astrology had foretold thebirth of Christ, it could also predict the advent of Antichrist.And he urged the pope that astrology, along with other sciences,and the prophecies of the Sibyl, and Merlin and Aquila and Sesto,Joachim and many others would help to give greater certaintyabout the time of Antichrist.52 Although Bacon distinguishes, inthis passage, between astrology on the one hand and prophecyon the other, his belief in the revealed origins of all sciences blursthe line between the two considerably. Just as the Tiburtine Sibylhad foreseen the worlds nal days, so, too, could astrologers, forRoger Bacon.

5. Astrology and the Sibyls in the fourteenth century

Beginning with the appearance of Arnald of Villanovas De

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L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689 81there should be born a prophet to a virgin, without her carnallyknowing a man.47 But revelation, too, had foretold this birth, accord-ing to pseudo-Ovid. In fact, long before the time of Augustus, Noah,the venerable prophet, wrote the same and taught Shem, his rst-born son.48 Furthermore, the poet alludes to many other prophetswho led a spiritual life and had also spoken of this child, specicallynaming the Cumaean Sibyl.49 Astrological knowledge and inspiredrevelation again serve the same functionand seem to blend intoone anotheras Noah the prophet and the Cumaean Sibyl both antic-ipate the astrologer Albumasars lines about the Virgin. But theastrological prediction of the Incarnation has received a new preci-sion and mechanism through the analysis of Saturn-Jupiterconjunctions.

Even more exalted claims for astrology appear in the work ofone of the De vetulas most avid readers, the thirteenth-centuryFranciscan Roger Bacon. And, again, astrology and Sibyllineprophecy operate in tandem to predict religious change. Just asin the legendary histories of astrology, Bacon contended thatall knowledge had initially been revealed to the patriarchs,prophets, and a handful of other worthy recipients.50 Given hisbelief in the original unitary character of all knowledge, Baconhad an afnity for citing gentile predictions of Christian truths.In Part 4 of his 1266 Opus maius, addressed to Pope Clement IV,Bacon followed Albumasar and the De vetula in showing thatChrists birth had been foretold in the stars, citing both Albuma-sars De magnis coniunctionibus and the Introductorium passageabout the Virgin and child. With echoes of astrologys mythologi-

44 Abu Mashar (2000). Description of the doctrine of the great conjunctions in Care45 The author of this poem is sometimes identied by modern scholars as Richard de(1967), pp. 7899; Hamilton (2007), pp. 97119.46 Pseudo-Ovid (1968), Bk. 3, vv. 554654.47 Ibid., vv. 611615. This passage bears close similarities to the text associated withnamely the Sybilla Delphica, whose scroll reads, Nascetur propheta absque matris coivetula: Post annum sextum nasci debere prophetam / Absque maris coitu de virgconjunctions, occurring roughly every 240 years, in which the pattern of Saturn-Jupi48 Ibid., Bk. 3, vv. 634635.49 Ibid., vv. 655656 (Nam super hoc puero sunt olim multa locuti / Quidam, qui vitNuper in urbe sacra, quasi cuncta des oculata, / Predocuisset eam, vel in aure sua so50 Bacon (1897), Pars 4, Vol. 1, pp. 381, 392. See also Molland (1993), pp. 140160regrettably, corrupted.51 Bacon (1897), Pars 4, Vol. 1, p. 257.52 Ibid., pp. 268269 (also quoted in Carey, 2003, pp. 517518).53 On the brouhaha surrounding Arnald of Villanovas work, see Carey (2003), pp. 554 Orlando (1973). See Orlando (1976), pp. 202218; Denie (1888), 312329; Smol

55 Orlando (1973), pp. 7273.56 Ibid., p. 73: Dicit etiam ipse Albumasar quod hoc scripsit primus propheta veneranduastrorum.antichristo in the years around 1300 in Paris, a number of scholarscame down strongly against the sort of astrologizing of the apoc-alypse advocated by Roger Bacon.53 Even so, their condemnationsdid not quash the tendency to pair astrologers and Sibyls as gentilewitnesses to the Incarnation. In fact, such a pairing appears in awork by John of Paris, one of several authors who wrote in re-sponse to Arnalds treatise. Drawing heavily on Roger Bacon, Johnof Pariss De adventu Christi concludes with a long chapter on gen-tile predictions of Christs virgin birth.54 Here, once again, loomlarge both the Sibyls and astrology. Among Sibylline texts, Johncites the Erythrean Sibyls verses noted by Augustine, the CumaeanSibyl of Virgils Fourth eclogue, the legend of Augustus and the Tib-urtine Sibyl, and pseudo-Ovids citation of the Cumaean Sibyl fromthe De vetula. Interspersed are references to Ethicus the astrono-mer, Albumasar, Ovid (of De vetula), Ptolemy, Alchabitius, andthe pseudo-Aristotle of the Secretum secretorum. As an example ofastrologers foreseeing Christs nativity, John adduces pseudo-Ovidsprediction of the Incarnation based on Saturn-Jupiter conjunctionsfrom the De vetula. He also brings forth the now familiar passageabout the Virgin from Albumasars Introductorium, according toeither translation and chiey according to the second [that is, Her-mann of Carinthias].55

The mythical history of astrology has a crucial role in Johns pre-sentation. As in the De vetula, John attributes Albumasars wordson the Virgin and child rst to the venerable prophet Noah, notingin addition that Noahs son Shem rst taught the Chaldeans thisand the other things pertaining to judgments of the stars.56 He alsocites the Secretum secretorum to the effect that God had rst revealed

03), pp. 524534; Smoller (1994), pp. 2022; North (1980), pp. 181211.rnival, as in Pseudo-Ovid (1968), pp. 410; Roy (2000), pp. 166167. Cf. Pseudo-Ovid

her of Barbieris Sibyls, who perhaps should be considered a second astrological Sibyl,virgine eius. (Filippo de Barbieri, 1482, Sybilla Delphica). Cf. vv. 614615 of the De

. .. The conjunction in question is meant to represent one of the so-called greatonjunctions enters a new triplicity, or group of zodiacal signs.

ucebant spiritualem.) and vv. 709711 (Hec sunt que cecinit Cumane Musa Sibille /sent).on saw his own role as one of restoring and correcting that body of tradition, now,

34; Smoller (1998), pp. 220221; (2000), pp. 165166, 182187.2007), pp. 432436.s Noe, et lius eius Sem, hoc primus Caldeos docuit et alia qui pertinent ad iudicium

arcane wisdom to his saints the prophets and to certain others,from whom later arose the philosophers of the Indians, Latins, Per-sians, and Greeks.57 This imagined history is clearly important toJohn, who returns to it in the nal paragraphs of the treatise to makethe point that his gentile witnesses to the faith did not obtain alltheir knowledge through natural reason, but also through revela-tion and through the instruction of our prophets.58 Nodding againat Albumasars prediction of the Virgin and child, John reminds hisreaders that it was transmitted to the Chaldeans by Shem, son ofNoah, whom he now, however, calls the astrologer and not, as be-fore, the venerable prophet.59 Did Noah have this knowledge byprophecy or by astrology? John remains ambiguous. Once again,the desire for outsider witness, combined with the mythologicalhistory of astrology, serves to obscure the lines between naturaland supernatural forms of knowledge.

In the work of the fourteenth-century Bologna jurist John ofLegnano, astrology and the Sibyls appear on nearly equal footing.Best known for his legal works, Legnano also had a keen interestin astrology and theology, both apparent in his 1375 treatise De

of the day.63 Building upon a medieval artistic tradition of pairingOld Testament prophets and Sibyls, Niccol also nds a place for Leg-nanos other non-Christian witnesses. Down the left side of theframe, at the right hand of God and in a line including the angel Gab-riel of the Annunciation as well as the angel of the annunciation tothe shepherds, appear rows of Old Testament prophets, bearing textscrolls and gesturing upwards towards (and literally witnessing) theNativity at the top of the page.64 Down the right (gentile) side, therealternate ranks of Sibyls, astrologers, and poets (Ovid, Virgil, andMartial), together with their texts, and who also point to the Virginbirth. Above them, to the right of the nativity scene and where onemight expect to see depicted the three Magi, the artist has suppliedthe vision of the Virgin shown to Augustus by the Tiburtine Sibyl. Inthe bottom left corner, beneath the Old Testament gures, Plato sitsenthroned, proclaiming his faith in Christ to be born of a Virgin. Inthe bottom right corner, the Jew of Toledo appears, with text fromthe prophetic book discovered in 1239. And in the very center of thepage, the prophet Moses and the astrologer Albumasar gestureupwards towards the Virgin, nearly touching hands. The artist distin-

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82 L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689adventu Christi, which opens a lavish illustrated manuscript ofLegnanos works that he presented to Pope Gregory XI.60 In theopening tractate of the De adventu Christi, which shows somedependence on the work of John of Paris, Legnano brings togethera number of gures who had predicted of the birth of Christ: OldTestament prophets, poets (by which he means the Ovid of theDe vetula), astrologers (including Albumasar and the passage fromthe Introductorium maius), and other non-Christian authors. In thislatter category, Legnano includes Virgil (and his citation of theCumaean Sibyl in the Fourth eclogue); the Tiburtine Sibyl; the Ery-threan Sibyl praised by Augustine; Plato, in whose tomb was alleg-edly found a gold tablet asserting that Christ will be born of avirgin; and a Jew in Toledo who in 1239 found an ancient bookpredicting that a Virgin would bear the son of God.61 Like RogerBacon, Legnano goes beyond simply including astrologers in thestable of gentile witnesses to the Incarnation, adding as well sev-eral attempts to calculate the advent of Antichrist by usingastrology.62

A stunning full-page illumination at the opening of the Vaticanmanuscript beautifully encapsulates Legnanos argument that pa-gans and gentiles, as well as Old Testament prophets, had all ar-rived at foreknowledge of the Virgin birth, which is depicted nearthe top of the image (Fig. 2; see Appendix for captions). The man-uscripts illustrations are signed by Nicolas of Bologna (Niccol diGiacomo da Bologna), the most prominent Bolognese illuminator

57 Ibid., p. 81: Unde Aristotiles in Libro Secretorum, loquens de archanis sapientie huprelegit et illustravit spiritu sapientie divine, et dotavit eos dotibus scientie; et ab istisPerse et Greci.58 Ibid., pp. 8889: Notandum tamen quod non intelligo dictos philosophos vel poetasrevelacionem et per doctrinam prophetarum nostrorum acceperint aliqua de predictis59 Ibid., p. 89: cum etiam et ipse Albumasar dicat, ut supra allegatum est, illud mira60 On John of Legnanos life and writings, see Donovan & Keen (1981), McCall (1967),Gianazza & DIlario (1983, 1975, 1973; I have not been able to see the later editions of tmanuscript Legnano had prepared for presentation to Pope Gregory XI sometime betVaticana, MS Vat. lat. 2639, fols. 491 (internally dated to 1375 at fol. 28v). There are tw46137v XV; Valencia, Bibl. De la Catedral, MS 48, fols. 2184 XV, the latter being incom(1943), pp. 4446 (nos. 45 and 48), in which the editor notes the presence of genealogsuch as those which open the Vatican manuscript.61 Vat. lat. 2639, fol. 9r9v. Legnano could have taken some of this material from Johnis found in the Chronicon of Martinus Polonus (1963, p. 472). On the long history of thBalesma (citing Albumasar and the Sibyls as well) and Martinus Polonus Chronicon, seea discussion dividing the worlds history into millennia associated with signs of thePirovano, archbishop of Milan (ibid., pp. 155158), perhaps Legnano had seen his Adv62 For details, see Smoller (2007), pp. 434435.63 Vat. lat. 2639, fol. 2v; Nicolauss signature is at 3v and 4r. On Niccol, see Conti (164 The only exception here is a gure labeled Flavianus, the late fourth century ce Rom

(Vat. lat. 2639, fol. 9v).65 That is, leaving aside the gure of Plato (see n. 62, above).66 Vat. lat. 2639, fol. 10v.guishes visually between witnesses to the Incarnation from withinand from outside the faith,65 but does not draw rm lines betweennatural and supernatural sources of such testimony. The words ofSibyls, astrologers, and poetsalong with the fruit of the ToledanJews excavationsare all equivalent in Niccols illumination, whileastrology (Albumasar) and prophecy (Moses) both reveal the mys-teries of the faith.

As with many of the authors cited previously, John of Legnanoblurs the lines between knowledge of the future acquired by natu-ral reason and that resulting from divine inspiration. Admittingthat humans can have natural foreknowledge of future eventsnot in themselves, but through their causes, Legnano also plugsinto the mythical origins of human arts in revelation, noting thatGod had revealed the principal arts and sciences to his servantsthe holy prophets. The prophets, in turn, had instructed the Per-sians, Greeks, and Latins.66 Thus, while, on the one hand, Legnanodistinguishes between revealed prophecy and natural precognition(or reasoning from causes), on the other hand, he insists that the ori-gins of the methods for such reasoning lay ultimately in revelation.Just as in the illustration heading the De adventu Christi, in John ofLegnanos treatise, astrology and prophecy offer two routes to thesame truth, paths that at times seem to run parallel and at othertimes to intersect.

Hence, it is not really surprising that when Legnano composedan analysis of the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in October

ne, dicit quod deus revelavit ea primo prophetis sanctis suis et quibusdam aliis quosentes viri philosophi philosophie principius et originem habuerunt, Indi scilicet Latini

tu naturali rationis habuisse omnia predicta ad dem nostram pertinencia, quin et per

m, quod dixit de virgine, fuisse traditum primo Caldeis a Sem, lio Noe astrologo.nazza (1973), De Matteis (1990), pp. 2946; Valois (18961902), Vol. 1, pp. 126128;ork), Smoller (2007). The De adventu Christi is the rst treatise in a lavishly illustratedn November 1376 and the popes death in 1378: Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolicaher manuscripts of this treatise in existence (Valencia, Bibl. De la Catedral, MS 45, fols.te). They evidently lack the lavish illuminations of Vat. lat. 2639. See Olmos y Canaldatrees in the De adventu Christi, but makes no mention of any full-page illuminations,

ariss De adventu Christi. See Smoller (2007), pp. 432433. The tale of the Jew in Toledory of Platos alleged faith in Christ, which also appears in a sermon by Humbertus derny (1985), pp. 128135. Both Legnanos treatise and Humbertus sermon also containiac (ibid., pp. 147151). If Alverny is correct that this Humbertus was Hubertus desermon as well in some now lost manuscript.

), Morozzi (19912002), LEngle & Gibbs (2001), pp. 225237.consul whom Legnano cites as Augustines source for the verses of the Erythrean Sibyl

L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689 831365, he also included excerpts from several Sibylline prophe-cies.67 The work is not dated; since, however, Legnano makes refer-ence to his De adventu Christi, the treatise must have been composedafter 1375. It seems likely that the treatise also postdates the out-break of the Great Schism in 1378, for Legnano predicts that in

Fig. 2. Illustration from John of Legnano, De adventu Christi. Vatican City, Biblioteca Aporeproduced by permission of Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, with all rights reserved).

67 The treatise, known only in two manuscripts, one vernacular and one Latin, is ostensiblvernacular conjunction treatise appears in Gianazza (1973), pp. 264273 (from Florence, BLatin text is in Paris, Bibliothque nationale de France, MS lat. 2599. I am grateful to Jean68 Gianazza (1973), p. 264; Florence, BN, MS Gaddi 342, fol. 25r.1378 . . . the church will sustain great and momentous persecutionor that there will appear some false prophet, just as the conjunctionof Saturn and Jupiter with a change from the airy to the watery tri-plicity introduced Muhammad, the false prophet.68 In fact, Legnanosuggests, as he had in his De adventu Christi, that Antichrist will

stolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 2639, fol. 2v ( 2010 Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana;

y a commentary on the conjunction of 22 October 1365. A facsimile and edition of theiblioteca Nazionale Centrale, MS Gaddi 342 con segnatura II.IV.313, fol. 25r29v). The-Patrice Boudet for a copy of his transcription of this text.

appear under a constellation similar to the one that signied Muham-mads advent. After adducing several astrological sources (Albuma-sar, Ptolemy, and the mid-fourteenth-century English astrologerJohn of Eschenden), Legnano turns, however, to prophecy.69

Specically, Legnano introduces a prophecy attributed to theErythrean Sibyl, whom Abbot Giovanni [whom he later calls Giov-achino, meaning Joachim of Fiore] adduces in one of his prophe-cies. Legnano appears to have before him a contemporarypseudo-Joachite prophecy, with its familiar pattern of crisis and re-newal, and concern with apostolic poverty. Hence, the Sibyl pre-dicts a period of menace under an evil emperor, during whichtime the church will also suffer in that holy things will be per-verted in the hands of sinners who will divide the clothing (a ref-erence to the Schism?). Then, however, three remaining [good]cardinals, out of fear will follow the footsteps of Peter and Pauland will elect a holy pope, who will get rid of all [the churchs]temporal goods and will return the church to its pristine status.Furthermore, Legnano notes, the Sibyl writes that the Germans willlose control of the empire and will return all those things to the

Only after these extensive quotations from apparently contem-porary Sibylline prophecies does Legnano return to the full explica-tion of the horoscope for October 22, 1365. Here, too, he nds theexpected pattern of crisis and renewal, for although the stars pointto oods, frosts, murders, and changes in kingdoms, Legnano antic-ipates good news for the Mercurial religion (Christianity) and in-jury to the Venereal one (Islam).73 In particular, he predicts achanging of the seat of the Saracens . . . by the siege of Christian peo-ple who will make a passage there.74 Furthermore, the fact that Vir-go, whose lord is Mercury, is the ascendant in the horoscope, alsopoints to the fact that Christians favored by Mercury will greatlyharm the lands of the Saracens.75 According to Legnanos analysis,Saturn overpowers Jupiter in the chart, which is not usually astrolog-ically propitious. Rather than nd alarm in the predominance of coldSaturn over benign Jupiter, however, Legnano returns to Albumasarsastrological analysis of religions to conclude that the older religion(Christianity) will triumph over the younger one (Islam).76 Nonethe-less, Legnano ends on a down note, predicting a great depression inthe state of the church.77 In this curious treatise, Legnano moves

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84 L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689church. And, Legnano happily adds, this saying agrees with thedisposition of the stars and the great conjunction.70

Before turning to a full interpretation of the horoscope he haserected for the SaturnJupiter conjunction of 1365, Legnano quotesfrom two other Sibylline prophecies, one attributed to the Cuma-ean Sibyl, and the second attributed to another Sibyl calledDesponsio [Despair]. The short prophecy attributed to the Cuma-ean Sibyl describes a lion with a humble roar who brings peaceto Italy, a prediction that conform[s] to the emperor Charles whois today, according to Legnano, perhaps thinking of the French kingCharles V (d. 1380) or, depending on the date of composition,Charles VI, subject of a text Marjorie Reeves has dubbed the sec-ond Charlemagne prophecy.71 The prophecy Legnano attributes tothe Sibyl called Desponsio, who he says lived in the time of Solomon,also makes reference to a lion who will humble himself like thelamb and likewise looks forward to the advent of an emperor namedCharles into Italy. In this confused and confusing prophecy, whichLegnano gives both in Latin verses and in a vernacular translation,the Sibyl foresees the coming of another judgment from the east1379 years after Marys giving birth, in the form of a lion similarto a small dragon. This judgment will apparently bring in the famil-iar pattern of tribulation followed by renewal, for although theprophecy has the lion deposing tyrants everywhere, that descriptionis followed by a prediction of Woe to the clergy, after which comesthe promise of peace and holiness and abundance.72

69 Ibid., p. 265 (fol. 25v).70 Ibid., pp. 266267 (fol. 26r26v). I have not been able to identify this Sibylline prophclose to many of the prophecies circulating in the late fourteenth century.71 Gianazza (1973), p. 266 (fol. 26v), see Reeves (1969), pp. 328329.72 Gianazza (1973), p. 267268 (fol. 26v27r). Again, I cannot identify this prophecy73 Ibid., p. 268 (fol. 27r). Legnano is here following the association of planets with varihas recently noted, the equation of Islam with Venus could be used to praise Islam (antexts (Cuffel, 2007, pp. 183184, 186187).74 Gianazza (1973), p. 269 (fol. 27v).75 Ibid.76 Ibid.77 Ibid., p. 271 (fol. 28v). This remark provides perhaps more evidence that LegnanoLegnanos interpretation of the chart was entirely colored by his reading of Sibylline mcontradictory they could be, Legnano was clearly following here. Other authors more s1365 conjunction (for example, John of Eschenden predicted suffering for both the Sa78 Hlin (1936), pp. 349353; Settis (1985), p. 96; Clercq (1979), p. 8.79 Hlin (1936), p. 360.80 Sibila Cyemeria. Annorum .xviij. in ytalia nata de qua scribit Albumazar astrologus

honesta et munda et est pulchra facie prolixi capilli sedens super sedem stratam nutriereproduced in Drigsdahl & CHD Center for Hndskriftstudier i Danmark (2005), after the(1976), p. 526 n. 31.effortlessly between astrological and Sibylline materials. Legnanosastrology appears as an equal partner to revealed wisdom, epito-mized in the writings of the Sibyls.

6. Towards the astrological Sibyl

After Legnano, Sibylline oracles continued to blend with astro-logical materials and to appear in parallel with Old Testamentprophecies in art and letters. By at least the 1420s, the minglingof astrological and Sibylline predictions of the birth of Christ re-ceived a mark of permanence. Sometime in that decade, CardinalGiordano Orsini (d. 1434) had painted in his palace in Rome theportraits of twelve Sibyls, together with the texts of what each seerhad predicted about Christ.78 Among the twelve was a Sibilla Chi-meria. According to the inscription, she was the one about whomEminius [sic] and Albunazar [sic] the astrologer, men of great intelli-gence, said this: In the rst face of Virgo there ascends a certainmaiden, honest and clean . . ..79 In Orsinis palace, Albumasars pre-diction now served to describe the Sibilla Chimeria, who, in turn,had prophesied the birth of Christ. Similarly, a German block-bookof 14701475 also depicted a Sibilla Cyemeria . . . about whomAlbumazar the astrologer wrote, including as her prophecy the textabout the gure of the virgin rising with the rst face of Virgo.80 Itwas just a short step thence to Filippo de Barbieris Sybilla Chimica,who spouts Albumasars words without any reference to the astrologer,

; it is not the same as any of those that appear in Reeves (1969), although elements are

religions outlined by Albumasar and Christianized by Roger Bacon. As Alexandra Cuffelur Christianity) in the hands of Muslim writers, as well as to attack Islam in Christian

ote this interpretation after the outbreak of the Schism. I do not mean to imply thatials. There were rules for interpreting charts, that, however confusing and sometimestical of such prophecies also could nd the same pattern of good and bad news in thens and the Catholic church) (North, 1980, pp. 194196).

icinatur commodo virgo lactat puerum. In primo facie virginis ascendit virgo quedam

ns puerum dans ei ad commedendum lac quem quedam gens vocat Jhesum. Textfacsimile in Heitz & Schreiber (1903). See Bergquist (1979), pp. 523527, and Wind

or a Vatican fresco of a similar Sybilla Cimeria in the 1490s, or amid-sixteenth-century engraving by Hermann tom Ring, in whichAlbumasar is grouped with the Erythrean and Phrygian Sibyls.81

In late medieval and Renaissance occult thought, one increas-ingly sees Scripture, extra-Scriptural prophecies, and astrology alloccupying the same territory, frequently within an overtly eschato-logical framework.82 In the wildly popular Pronosticatio of JohannesLichtenberger, rst printed in 1488, astrological analysis of the 1484Saturn-Jupiter conjunction combines with the prophecies of two Sib-yls, St. Bridget of Sweden, Brother Reinhard, and other gures topaint an apocalyptic vision of turmoil and eventual peace, includingfalse prophets, a Last World Emperor, Turks, and Jews. In the Pronos-ticatio, Lichtenberger specically aims to fuse astrology and proph-ecy, an attempt that Lichtenberger expert Dietrich Kurze ndswoefully inept.83 According to the preface to the Pronosticatio, hu-mans possess three different ways of knowing about the future: 1)through reason and experience; 2) through the science of the stars;and 3) through divine revelation.84 Still, Lichtenberger wishes to ob-

child not simply by its brightness and movement, but also becausethey know how to interpret the arrangement of the heavens aroundthe star.89 For Ficino, the star of the Magi was a comet, and he drawsupon Origin and Calcidius to support the contention that comets cansometimes signal good tidings, and not just death and destruction.90

The Magi based their interpretation of the new sign in the heavenson the color of the comets rays, as well as on the positions of theSun, Jupiter, and Venus in Sagittarius, and the Moon in the rst faceof Virgo, all of which pointed to the appearance of a king both greatand poor, born in conditions of sterility and virginity.91 Later in thesermon, Ficino, too, will cite Albumasars lines about the image ofthe maiden in the rst face of Virgo.92

In Ficinos Magi sermon, astrology and prophecy come togetheronce again. Ficino, as had earlier writers, concluded that the cometwas of supernatural origin, and he suggests that the angel Gabrielhimself moved the comet along to guide the Magi, making him theagent of announcing Jesus birth both to Mary and to the gentileMagi.93 True, the Magi were guided by astrology, but what was

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L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689 85scure any distinction between these three modes of knowing, forexample by claiming all three for himself, or by plugging into themythic history that made of Moses an astrologer.85 At other timesLichtenberger seems to collapse all true knowledge into revelation.Thus, for example, after distinguishing between knowledge . . . giventhrough instruction and that obtained through divine inspiration,he adds, nonetheless it proceeds from one and the same spirit.86

Immediately thereafter, he quotes Ambrose to the effect that alltruth, by whomever uttered, is from the Holy Spirit, adding thatthe inventors of the sciences could not have made as many true pre-dictions as they did, unless they were instructed by the Holy Spir-it.87 As if in conrmation, on the preceding page, a woodcutdepicts God in the heavens blessing and sending rays of illuminationto ve gures: Ptolemy, Aristotle, Sibylla, Bridget, and Reinhard(Fig. 3). This divine origin of all truth guaranteed, for Lichtenberger,that reason (Aristotle), astrology (Ptolemy), and prophecy (Sibyl,Bridget, and Reinhard) were fundamentally interchangeable.

As humanist scholars embraced ancient learning, and with itthe notion of a prisca theologia revealed to such gures as HermesTrismegistus and Moses,88 the drive to syncretism guaranteed thecontinued blending of astrological and Sibylline material in such away that validated both as sources of true religious knowledge. BothHermes and the Sibyls appear on the pavement of the cathedral inSiena; Sibyls and Old Testament prophets line the walls of the SistineChapel. For Marsilio Ficino, astrology was similarly one more way inwhich gentiles had arrived at a knowledge of Christian mysteries. Inhis sermon De stella magorum, the star leads the Magi to the Christ

81 The Prophet Ezekiel and the Cimmerian Sibyl, fresco (14921495), commissioneVatican City. The Sybilla Cimeria holds a banner that reads: Puella quedam pulcra faCimeria. The fresco was executed by Bernardino Pinturicchio and his workshop, inclu(Information and image from ARTstor, accessed 30 December 2009.) For the Hermann82 For example Broecke (2003), pp. 6263; Niccoli (1990).83 Kurze (1958), p. 64; (1960), esp. pp. 4043; (1986), pp. 184185, 191. As Kurzeastrology and prophecy in Lichtenbergers work is surely due to the fact that the PronKurze admits, it is precisely this unwarranted jumbling together of these two schoreaders wanted and which was, therefore, an important reason for the broad and end84 Lichtenberger (1511), fol. 1v (exemplar at the Wellcome Library).85 See Kurze (1986), pp. 184185; Kurze (1960), pp. 1617, 31, 4043.86 Lichtenberger (1511), fol. 3v.87 Ibid.88 See, for example, Walker (1972), Schmidt-Biggemann (1998), Hanegraaff (2005).89 Buhler (1990), p. 352. There is an English translation of this sermon in Ficino (2090 Buhler (1990), p. 354.91 Ibid., p. 355.92 Ibid., p. 358.93 Ibid., p. 356.94 Ibid., p. 357: For Ficino, Maimonides reading of the passage indicates that astrol

95 Bacon, Opus maius, quoted ibid., p. 361.96 Settis (1985), p. 106; my translation.97 Ibid., pp. 105106; my translation and emphasis.the source of the Magis astrological knowledge? Ficino implies thatit was ultimately divine, nodding to astrologys mythic past in theform of Maimonides conclusion that Abrahams deep knowledgeof the stars led him to the worship of the One True Cause of All.94

And not simply does this independent conrmation of Christiantruth offer Ficino what Roger Bacon called great solace in ourfaith,95 but the Magis astrological discernment of Christs birth of-fers important validation for astrology and the whole prisca theolo-gia, just as the conation of Albumasars Virgin text with a Sibylsprophecy also conrmed the science of the stars.

Astrology, the Sibyls, Hermes Trismegistus, and Biblical proph-ecy mutually reinforced and cross-pollinated one another in a waythat validated non-revealed knowledge even as it blurred theboundaries between reason and revelation. Most tellingly, in theearly sixteenth century, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettes-heim justied his own blend of magic, cabala, ancient science,Christian theology, and Neoplatonic philosophy by insisting thathe did nothing other than what the ancient Sibyls had done, writ-ing that the Sibyls were magi.96 In the words of Salvatore Settis, byAgrippas times there existed a divinatory tradition that recognizedin the Sibyls an unsurpassable model of natural vaticination, true,exercised among the gentiles, but capable nonetheless of graspingin the world the presages of the Redemption and the Judgment.97

But to represent the Sibylline utterings as natural vaticination, Iwould suggest, required precisely the sort of blurring of lines be-tween natural and supernatural knowledge shown by those authorswho traced astrologys mythological history back to its origins in

Pope Alexander VI. Sala delle Sibille, lunette, Appartamento Borgia, Vatican Palace,prolixa capillis sedens super sedem estratam nutrit puerum dans ei lac proprium. S.Benedetto Bongli, Pietro dAndrea da Volterra, and Antonio del Massaro da Viterbo.Ring engraving: Clercq (1979), pp. 6061.

onstrates, part of the explanation for what he sees as the unsuccessful blending ofatio is largely a compilation of the words (often unacknowledged) of others. Still, asf thought . . . which corresponded most precisely to what Lichtenbergers fascinatedg success of the Pronosticatio (Kurze, 1986, p. 191).

was part of the very beginnings of the light of grace and prophecy.

86 L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689revelation and who paired astrologers and Sibyls as gentile wit-nesses to Christian truth.

The sort of astrological analysis of religion I have been discuss-ing often forms part of a larger story, namely that of the rise ofwhat has been called naturalism in later medieval philosophy.98

Historians have frequently read the increasing scope of medievalnatural philosophy, including astrology, from the twelfth centuryon, in terms of a Weberian disenchantment of nature.99 The exam-ple of astrology and the Sibyls, however, suggests that this narrativeis too simplistic.100 Proponents of using the stars to speak Christiantruths aimed not so much to disenchant the natural as to sacralize itin two key ways. The rst was through sacralizing nature itself byinsisting that God had written his message into his creation. And

Fig. 3. Lichtenberger (1511), fol. 3r (cr

98 Naturalism is, as Leah DeVun puts it, the systematic study of nature through disciplin2009, p. 165 n. 5).99 For example, most classically, Chenu (1968), who speaks of a desacralizing of nature

100 Michael Bailey, for example, has recently also brought this concept into question inMedieval Academy of America, March 2009, based on his current book project). See also B101 DeVun (2009), esp. pp. 91 (on Arnald of Villanova), 138139 (Rupescissa on reading Na114 (physicians possession of caritas, a prerequisite for prophetic knowledge), 125 (divin102 As DeVun points out, Petrus Bonus claimed that biblical prophets knew alchemy throuand the Trinity (DeVun, 2009, p. 116).the second was by sacralizing science, by claiming that the methodsavailable to humans for analyzing nature, including astrology, werethemselves divine in origin. This pose was not unique to astrologersin the later Middle Ages. An amalgamation of naturalism and proph-ecy can be seen in such gures as John of Rupescissa and Arnald ofVillanova, along with a sense that knowledge about nature was ulti-mately of divine origin.101 Alchemists like Rupescissa and Petrus Bo-nus similarly taught that their art was not simply revealed by God,but that it could lead its adepts to religious truths.102 For a numberof late medieval thinkers, the natural and the divine were not sepa-rate categories, but were rather deeply intertwined.

The implications of this blending of categories were enormous.Strengthened by interweaving with the known and respected

edit: Wellcome Library, London).

es such as natural philosophy, astronomy/astrology, medicine, and alchemy (DeVun,

.the context of late medieval analysis of superstition (especially in his paper for theailey (2007).ture as a book); Ziegler (1998), pp. 53 (astrologer, physician, and lawyers as prophets),e origin of medical knowledge). See also Gregory (1992), pp. 291328.gh divine inspiration and had been able to foresee, using the art, both the Incarnation

gures of the Magi and the Sibyls, the astrological analysis of theCh nth nturies, as a number of scholarsha astrologizing of religion took thefo rial with apocalyptic prognostica-tio n portions of the De adventu Chris-ti onjunction. But astrology was alsopr defense of the faith. When astrol-og linked brother Hermes Trismegi-st footing with the Old Testamentpr a natural theology rooted in theas gion. Ficinos De stella magorum,fo and widely read Christian apolo-ge , which used the prisca theologia(in rim u fm i eam e ,w l -pl sby t dof

A

domino regnum. (cf. Abdias

18:31. The doubling ofsanctum is found at 6r, but

4. Iulius Firmicus [Maternus].Tercius mundi statusmercurialis quo dei lius estde virgine processurus.

Sibyl)

7. Sibilla. Nascente eo eruntangeli a dextris dicentesgloria in excelsis. (cf. fol. 10r;Tiburtine Sibyl)

(continued on next page)

L.A. Smoller / Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 41 (2010) 7689 87Thanks to Hilary Carey, Lauren Kassell, and Rob Ralley for orga-nizing the conference Astrology and the Body 11001800 (89September 2006) at which this article had its inception, albeit ina somewhat different form. I am also grateful to Emily SohmerTai for a careful read of an earlier draft, as well as to the anony-mous reviewers for Studies in History and Philosophy of Science.

Appendix

Captions from Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MSVat. Lat. 2639, fol. 2v (numbers run left to right; folio numbers referto passages in Legnanos treatise).

Rank 1 (prophets withscrolls):1. Iacob moriens. Non afferamseptrum de Iuda donec veniatqui mittendus est et ipse eritexpectation gentium. (cf. fol.4v; Gen. 49:10)

2. Ionas. Ut quid enimconceptus est venter beluinoet die tercio redittis. (cf. fol.5v, De civ. Dei 18:30)

3. Iohel. Post hec effundiamde spiritu meo super omnemcarnem et prophetabunt liivestri et lie vestre. (cf. fol.5v; Joel 2:28; De civ. Dei18:30)

4. Abdias. In montem autemSyon erit salvus et eritsanctum sanctum et erit

Rank 1 (Tiburtine Sibyl, notidentied as such, gesturingto vision of Virgin and child,with Emperor Augustus and anumber of admiringonlookers):

1. Sibilla. Hic puer maior teest. Et ideo ipsum adora.(Tiburtine Sibyl; not inLegnanos text)10

10e sixteenth and seventeenth ceve shown.103 Quite often thisrm of mingling astrological matens, such as John of Legnano did iand in his treatise on the 1365 cessed into service in the simpley and the Sibyls (and their oftenus) were viewed on an equalophets, the way was open fortrological interpretation of relir example, lay behind importanttic texts in Elizabethan Englandcluding astrology) to refute conpulse in the seventeenth centaterial from the natural worldalgamation of astrology and th

as the equivalent of divine reveied the origins of the science ofwhich one read the Book of NaScripture and prophecy.

cknowledgements3 For example Crouzet (1990), Vol. 1, pp4 Buhler (1990), p. 364; see also his sumtemporary atheists.104 A similary brought together all sorts on afrmation of the faith. In thSibyls, Nature, as Gods creationation, while revelation itself supthe stars. In that light, the toolure were as valuable as the worristian faith would prove immensely powerful and popular i. 10131053; Curry (1989); Capp (1979); Barnes (mary of Lancelot Andrewess 1622 Christmas sermDavid. (cf. fol. 7r; Ezechiel34:23)

9. Moyses pontifex. Obsecrodomine, mitte quemmissuruses. (cf. fol. 4v; similar toExodus 4:13; text of anantiphon for Dom. 1Adventus, In tertio nocturnoResponsorium)

Rank 3. (kings with scrolls;there are ten? gures, ofwhom four have scrolls)10. Blank (or perhaps scrapedoff)

11.Malachius. Non suscipiammanus de manu me ab ortusolis usque ac occasummagnum nomen meum. (cf.fol. 7r; Malachias 1:1011)

12. Flavianus. Signum telussudore madescet celo viradvenit. (cf. fol. 9v; De civ. Dei18:23 = Erythrean Sibyl.Flavianus was a Romanconsul in 394 ce)

13. David rex. Propter servumtuum non advertas faciemchristi tui. (cf. fol. 4v; Psalm 131)1988), esp. pp. 141181; Niccoli (1990).on at pp. 368370.Rank 3. (Sibyls with scrolls;all texts are from theTiburtine Sibyl; there are tengures here, only ve ofwhom have scrolls)

5. Sibilla. De stirpehebreorum surget muliernomine Maria ex queprocreabitur lius dei nomineYhs sine viri miscione. (cf. fol.10r; Tiburtine Sibyl)

6. Sibilla. Descendet voxdicens Hic lius meusdilectus. (cf. fol. 10r; Tiburtinenot in Augustine.)

5. Naum. Ascendit qui insuatin faciem tuam eripiens te extribulationem. (cf. fol. 6r; Deciv Dei 18:31)

Rank 2. (prophets withscrolls)

6. Abachuc. In medio duorumanimalium cognosceris. (cf.fol. 6r; Habakkuk 3:2; De civ.Dei 18:32)

7. Ageas. Movebo omnesgentes et veniet desideratuscunctis gentibus. (cf. fol. 7r;Aggaei 2:8)

8. Ezechiel. Suscita superpecora mea pastorem unumqui pascat ea servum meumRank 2. (astrologers withscrolls) (there are six guresin all, here, but only three arenamed)

2. Albumasar astrologus.Ascendit in prima facievirginis quedam virgo tenenspuerum vocatum Yhesum. (cf.fol. 9r)

3. Calcidius astrologus. Estquedam stella nunciansdescensum venerabilis dei adhumane conservationisgratiam. (cf. fol. 10r)17, 21; fol. 6r; De civ. Dei

8. Sibilla. Deus celi geniturusest lium qui similis erit patrisuo. (cf. fol. 10r; Tiburtine Sibyl)9. Sibilla. Procreabitur exvirgine sine conmixstione viri

10. Ovidius poeta. Hic deusomnipotens ut carnemsument ex te: lius ille tuus

hand)

20a. In scripture Platonicis.Credo in cristumnasciturum de virgine

20b. passurum pro humanagenere. (cf. fol. 9v, story oftext found in sepulturaPlatonis)

88 of Biolnascetur lius dei de virginepro salvatione hominum. (cf.fol. 9v, story of Jew nding atablet buried in his vineyard)14. Osee. Erit in loco in quodictum est eis: Nonpopulus meus vosvocabunt sed ipsi lii deivivi. (cf. fol. 5r; Hosea 1:10)

15. Mica. Bethleem domusEufrata ex te prodiet michidux ut in principes Israel.(cf. fol. 5v; Micah 5:2; Deciv. Dei 18:30)

16. Ysaias. Intelliget puermeus et exaltabitur etgloriacabitur valdeerudicio pacis nostre in eolivore eius sanati sumus.(cf. fol. 5v; similar to Isaiah52:13; De civ. Dei 18:29)

17. Yeremias. Spiritus orisnostri dominus Christuscaptus est in peccati nostri.(cf. fol. 6v; De civ. Dei18:33)

18. Daniel. Ecce cumnubibus celi erat liushominis veniens et usquead vetustam dierumpervenit. (cf. fol. 6v; Daniel7:13; De civ. dei 18:34)

19. Zacharias. Exulta liasion iubila Yerusalem. Eccerex tuus veniet tibi iustussalvator. Ipse pauper. (cf.fol. 7r; Zecharias 9: 9; Deciv. Dei 18.35)

Rank 5. (single beardedgure seated on a throne,holding a scroll in eachvirginem postquam surrexitl [???] ad beatam virginem.(cf. fol. 8r; De vetula)

11. Marcialis poeta. Beatovirgo tantis rapidis vigil protalles que siderum choreisque supernatrane [?]. (cf. fol.10v)

12. Virgilius poeta. Iam novaprogenies celo descendit exalto. (cf. fol. 9v; Fourtheclogue = Cumaean Sibyl)

13. (not labeled, but it isOvid, De vetula). Vivere quodpossim laudum preco tuarum.(cf. fol. 8r; De vetula)

14. (not labeled, but it isOvid, De vetula). Et iamprocessit de quedam virgineper quam habeas hancmediatricem humano generirerum. (cf. fol. 8r; De vetula)

15. (not labeled, but it isOvid, De vetula). Virgo felix ovirgo signicata. (cf. fol. 8r; Devetula)

Rank 5. (single gure digging)

16. Iudeus. In tercio mundoRank 4. (prophets withscrolls; many gures)de spiritu sancto lius deinomine yesus. (cf. fol. 10r;Tiburtine Sibyl)

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