Astrolabes from Medieval Europe

Abstract

Contents: Preface Part I General: Astronomical instruments between East and West. Part II The Earliest European Astrolabe: The earliest known European astrolabe in the light of other early astrolabes. Part III An Astrolabe Featuring a Remarkable Number Notation: Rewriting history through instruments: the secrets of a medieval astrolabe from Picardy. Part IV More Individual European Astrolabes: The medieval Catalan astrolabe of the Society of Antiquaries, London (co-authored with Kurt Maier) A remarkable Italian astrolabe from ca. 1300 a witness to an ingenious tradition of non-standard astrolabes An astrolabe from Einbeck datable ca. 1330. Part V Astrolabe Stars: The star-names on three 14th-century astrolabes from Spain, France and Italy. Part VI Universal Horary Devices: A vetustissimus Arabic text on the quadrans vetus 14th-century England or 9th-century Baghdad? New insights on the elusive astronomical instrument called the Navicula de Venetiis. Part VII Two Renaissance Astrolabes: The astrolabe depicted in the intarsia of the studiolo of Archduke Frederico in Urbino The astrolabe presented by Regiomontanus to Cardinal Bessarion in 1462 (co-authored with Gerard L'E. Turner). Part VIII An Aid to Future Research: An ordered list of European astrolabes up to ca. 1500 Index.