Studies in Medieval Star-Gazing

Abstract

This article considers human acts of looking at the stars or at what were thought to be stars. Star-gazing is aligned with richly generative literary works of naming, translation, word-play, with cosmological speculation, and with cultural practices. The problem of the star and of the constellation is exposed through examples from Arthurian texts, the Cicero-Aratus, the Bayeux Tapestry, and works by Geoffrey Chaucer. (SMA)