Written in the Stars: The 15th & 16th Century Astrologers of Kraków
Since ancient times, astrologers have offered horoscopes that were meant to reveal the secrets of the future. Foretelling the future of kings, the founding of cities, and the location of hidden treasures, the work of astrologers was thought to translate knowledge hidden in the heavens.
Ancient, medieval, and early modern astrologers offered a variety of horoscopes. Natal horoscopes were done at the moment of birth and the moment of conception, while rectified horoscopes were provided as a corrective due to the lack of precise knowledge about the hour of birth. So called ‘solars’ were done on the anniversary of birth when the sun was in the same position as during the moment of birth. Elective horoscopes were offered to determine the optimal moment for performing various activities and events. All these horoscopes had a predictive character and were supposed to reveal the secrets of the future to astrologers and their clients.
Horoscope charts from Kraków were often enriched with extensive texts – called iudicium – that constituted their interpretation. It was here that the astrologer had the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge not only of the secrets of astrological and astronomical knowledge, but also of the then current works of both ancient and medieval scholars.
Astrologers in the Royal Court
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Jan Długosz, image: Polona.pl / public domain
The recipients of horoscopes were usually the wealthy because the services of professional, academically trained astrologers were not cheap. It thus is not surprising that in the Middle Ages every royal, princely, and episcopal court (and even at the papal court) had a resident astrologer employed for his prognostic skills and knowledge, usually in the field of medicine. Astrologers at that time also acted as court physicians, as was the case with the royal physician Herman of Przeworsk, the Italian physician Johannes de Saccis from Pavia, Marcin Król of Żurawica (who at the court of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus performed the function of both physician and astrologer), Petrus Gaszowiec, Maciej of Miechów, Jakub of Zalesie, and many others. As one might assume, compiling horoscopes was one of the duties of these resident astrologers.
In the collections of the Jagiellonian Library in Kraków, one can find the horoscopes of royal children, including the natal horoscope of Casimir IV Jagiellon, composed in 1427 by Henryk Czech himself, a controversial astrologer whose services were used by the royal couple, Władysław Jagiełło and his wife Sophia. Information on the royal horoscope was provided by early Polish historian Jan Długosz, who quoted Henryk Czech’s divination concerning the future that was to await the next royal sons. The astrologer was supposed to recognise that the eldest son, Vladislaus, ‘will gain power over many kingdoms and principalities if fate does not envy him a long life’.
Casimir IV, 17th-century depiction bearing a close resemblance, photo: Wikimedia Commons The second son, Casimir, was supposed to love his mother very much, but, unfortunately, Henryk Czech predicted his imminent death (Casimir lived less than a year). As for his next son, Casimir IV Jagiellon, Dlugosz wrote that he was not only conceived but also born ‘under an unlucky star’, and his reign was to bring Poland various misfortunes and even doom unless God's mercy saved both the King and the country.
As we can see, this prognosis was extremely diplomatic, as it combined people's trust in the causal power of celestial bodies with faith in the power of God. Casimir IV Jagiellon, already as the king, was equally keen to use the services of a medic-astrologer, hiring the outstanding expert, Petrus Gaszowiec. Following his father's example, he also had birth horoscopes drawn up for his sons, Vladislaus, Alexander, Sigismund, and Frederick. These horoscopes are also partly preserved in the codices. These sons went on to do the same. Above all, Sigismund I the Old was famous for his predilection for astrological predictions. He had a prognostication made for his long-awaited son, no doubt intended to reassure him about the future of the desired heir to the throne.
In addition to the horoscopes of royal children, those of noblemen and the bourgeois have been preserved, including the star chart of the later Archbishop of Gniezno, Primate of Poland, Grand Chancellor of the Crown Maciej Drzewicki.
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Krakow, Jagiellonian Library. The exhibition 'Treasures of the Jagiellonian Library'. In the photo: Maciej from Miechów known as Miechowita 'Chronica Polonorum', or 'Chronicle of Poles'. On the left side there is an exlibris – a woodcut by Łukasz Cranach the Elder. On the right, a portrait of St. Stanisław, the bishop of Kraków, book from 1521, photo: Grzegorz Kozakiewicz / Forum
There are also horoscopes of, let's say, international character, an example of which is the birth horoscope of Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, i.e. Pope Leo X. Records of rectified horoscopes also prove interesting. These horoscopes improved upon natal horoscopes by specifying the date of birth, i.e., hour and minute (this was connected with the fact that before 1428 the ‘Alphonse Tables’ were used, which did not take into account the latitude of Kraków). Often the correction was made many years after the birth, as was the case with the horoscope of Casimir Jagiellon.
Powerful and influential people succumbed to the temptation to know the events awaiting them – hence, many horoscopes were set on the anniversary of the birth, expecting the fulfilment of promises foretold by the natal horoscope in the following year of life. For example, if in the natal horoscope Jupiter was in the X house, which, according to the interpretation of the works of ancient scholars, promised honours and career, then the heralds of this promised success were sought in the solar horoscope.
One must therefore agree with Henryk Barycz, who wrote:
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The influence of astrology deeply penetrated the lives and actions of not only individual people, who did not make any important decisions without the advice of the stars, but also heavily affected internal and even international relations. Astrologers often had a say in important political issues.
This opinion is confirmed by horoscopes done for royal coronations (usually the astrologer chose the most suitable date for the coronation), enthronements, and even sublimations. Both the horoscope for the coronation of Casimir Jagiellon, Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary, and the horoscope for the coronation of Vladislaus II Jagiellon King of Hungary and Bohemia, Alexander Jagiellon, have been preserved, as have the horoscopes for the coronation of Sigismund I the Old as Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, as well as for the enthronement of Barbara Zápolya, the first wife of Sigismund I the Old. It is said that the monarch believed so deeply in astrological predictions that he did not make any important decisions without prior consultation with an astrologer. The king’s decision to go to the Congress of Vienna, for example, was made only after consulting with a horoscope composed by Maciej of Miechów.
A look into the future
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The geometry room at the Collegium Maius, photo: Erich Lessing / Album / East News
Clergymen also willingly used the services of astrologers. In the collection of the Jagiellonian Library, there is a horoscope referring to the nomination of Jan Konarski as Bishop of Kraków in 1503. Bishop Piotr Tomicki also is remembered as open to astrological forecasts, as he interpreted a comet visible in the sky in 1533 as an announcement of future events. The bishop's faith in astrological forecasts was also demonstrated when, after learning about Sigismund I the Old's illness in 1529, he sought consolation precisely in the signs, or rather their absence from the sky. Horoscopes of illness, so-called ‘decumbiture’, were often practised at that time. And although the Bishop Tomicki was undoubtedly aware of the fallibility of many astrological predictions, he himself wrote in a letter to Dantiscus ‘[...] we have convinced ourselves that their prophecies and divinations are not completely inane and useless’.
The Jagiellonian Library also keeps a horoscope of Bologna, which was based on the legendary date of the foundation of Venice in the year 421 AD (25 March), and which was supplemented by a note referring specifically to Bologna. Unfortunately, the chart is not accompanied by explanations, which could undoubtedly provide a lot of interesting information, if only to explain the motives of the anonymous author in creating this horoscope. A similar horoscope for Venice was written in 1501 by Leonard of Dobczyce.
In the instance of the elective horoscope concerning the reconstruction of Saint Anne’s School in Kraków after a fire, however, the intentions of the anonymous author are known. The horoscope was created in 1510, a year before the school was rebuilt. The first wooden school building burnt down completely and in 1511 Maciej of Miechów provided funds for the construction of a new, magnificent, brick building of the school, which survived until 1689, when it was demolished due to the construction of a new, Baroque Saint Anne's Church, which was erected on the site of the former Gothic temple. It is possible that Maciej of Miechów himself was the author of that horary horoscope, in which he ascertained whether the initiative he was planning was likely to succeed. He was perhaps convinced to invest in the venture by a short note under the chart, which reads, ‘nothing is visible [in the alignment of celestial bodies] that would constitute an obstacle’.
In the Jagiellonian collection we also find other, very interesting horary horoscopes, which were supposed to give an answer to a concrete question. These horoscopes offered advice to those setting out on a journey, answers about the whereabouts of missing acquaintances, and even the locations of hidden treasures. With the help of the ‘stars’, astrologers even attempted to help a client find an escaped thief in a timely manner. A similar aim was pursued by the author of an anonymous iudicium from 1512, whose conclusion was, ‘the lost thing to which the horoscope referred was undoubtedly left in the taberna’. Another horoscope was to answer a question about the theft of two horses from a certain doctor Mikołaj de Comprivnicz; yet another was to help a customs officer decide whether to travel to Košice or ‘to carry out his duties in Kraków’.
Relations with the Church
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St. Mary’s Basilica in Kraków, photo: Andrzej Rubis / Forum
Undoubtedly, the latter examples of horoscopes aroused the greatest opposition in the Catholic Church because the official position of the clergy was that astrologers were not allowed to assume the prerogatives reserved to God. Stanislaus of Skarbimierz, Doctor of Decretals and the first Rector of the renewed University of Kraków, claimed that it was impossible to divine anything about random things, which are deprived of their nature and specified cause. For this reason, he stated that the use of astrological knowledge for utilitarian purposes or even to satisfy human curiosity is a mistake that stands in opposition to the Christian faith. People who seek help from astrologers seem to doubt the power of God.
However, as we can guess from the abundance of surviving sources and their authors, though forceful, the objections from the church had little effect. Astrology was practised even in its negated form (natural astrology, including astrological medicine and astrometeorology, was approved, while superstitious astrology, including above all elective astrology, and thus horary and natal astrology, concerning the prediction of the future, was negated). It was termed ‘practical astronomy’, and claims were made that the knowledge it offered could lead man to a better understanding of God. The ubiquity and persistence of astrological predictions was probably due to the fact that the majority of scholars of that time admitted or even accepted the conviction that celestial bodies affected life in the sublunar world; the only disagreements concerned the scope and extent of this influence.
Originally written in Polish by Sylwia Konarska-Zimnicka (IH UJK Kielce), Oct 2021, translated by Agnes Dudek, Dec 2021
