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1400Medieval Caesarean
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1400Illegal English Bible
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1400Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
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1407Monsters in hell
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1407Ptolemy's World Map
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1410Medieval woman poet
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1415Old Hall manuscript
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1423Bedford Hours
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1425Medicinal plants
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1430Chess playing
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1435Medical Treatise by John Aderne
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1440Recipe for 'custarde'
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1455Gutenberg Bible
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1455The Temptation of Eve
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1457Pregnancy
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1469The Legend of King Arthur
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1470Caxton's Chaucer
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1477Valentine's day love letter
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1486Medieval zodiac chart
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1487Heretics burned at the stake
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1490Royal feast
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1490Courtly love
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1492Columbus in America
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Intro
This is a zodiac illustration from a medical almanac, 1486. Ideas of astrology in medieval Europe were a long way from today's star sign horoscopes. Although some medieval astrologers were thought to be magicians, many were highly respected scholars. Astrologers believed that the movements of the stars influenced numerous things on Earth, from the weather and the growth of crops to the personalities of new born babies and the inner workings of the human body.
Ancient studies of astrology were translated from Arabic to Latin in the 12th and 13th centuries and soon became a part of everyday medical practice in Europe. Doctors combined Galenic medicine (inherited from the Greek physiologist Galen - AD 129-216) with careful studies of the stars. By the end of the 1500s, physicians across Europe were required by law to calculate the position of the moon before carrying out complicated medical procedures, such as surgery or bleeding.
Shelfmark: Egerton 2572, f.50v
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