The Jagiellonians and the Stars: Dynasty-Sponsored Astrology in the Fifteenth Century

Abstract

Mediaeval scholars attempted to fit received data and information from empirical observation into a pre-ordained model of the universe. Astrology was, and in many cases still is, a form of applied astronomy held by its adherents to be verifiable by events, that is, history. Drawing connections between celestial coincidences and events known to have happened under such circumstances in the past seemed to offer a possibility for predicting types of occurrence which might take place given a similar stellar conjunction in the future. In their turn some historians, especially those with university connections, subsequently seem to have used astrological records annotated with details of actual events as a source of information for their own work and were able to present, where relevant (in their view), a star-told causation of events. The importance of astrology at royal courts in England, France and Italy has been a subject of special study for a considerable time but the largest centre for astrological study in the fifteenth-century was the University of Cracow. The use of astrology at Jagiellonian courts in the fifteenth century is examined here with reference to the use of such data by court historians such as Jan Długosz and Bernard Wapowski.