Późnośredniowieczne krakowskie prognostyki astrologiczne o zdrowiu, chorobach i sposobach leczenia

res historica 50, 2020 DOI:10.17951/rh.2020.50.79-97 Sylwia Konarska-Zimnicka (Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Poland) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8337-1637 E-mail: Late Medieval Krakow Astrological Prognostics Concerning Health, Disease and Treatment Methods Późnośredniowieczne krakowskie prognostyki astrologiczne o zdrowiu, chorobach i sposobach leczenia Abstract Late medieval astrological predictive texts (iudicia, calendars, almanacs etc.) are an interesting source of knowledge about the past. The practice of publishing such texts was a result of the development of the so-called Krakow school of astronomy and astrology. The Krakow masters, who held the position of professors at the chair of astronomy and astrology, were obliged to prepare the said predictive texts annually. The publications included astrological predictions based on forthcoming positions of heavenly bodies and concerned almost every sphere of life of the contemporary society. They referred to trade and agriculture, including prognoses of abundant or failed harvests. They covered political issues, but also problems pertaining to marriage, as well as to children and their upbringing. Vast passages were devoted to weather forecasting, that is, astrometeorology. However, special emphasis was put on the medical topics, as health and disease were an PUBLICATION INFO e-ISSN: 2449-8467 ISSN: 2082-6060 THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS: Sylwia Konarska-Zimnicka, the Institute of History of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, 17 Uniwersytecka Street, Kielce 25-406, Poland SOURCE OF FUNDING: miniGrant of Rector of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce SUBMITTED: 2019.08.08 WEBSITE OF THE JOURNAL: https://journals.umcs.pl/rh ACCEPTED: 2020.01.14 PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2020.12.28 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE E-mail: 80 Sylwia Konarska-Zimnicka issue of key importance for the representatives of all social strata. Astrological predictive texts, indicating the best (from the viewpoint of astrology) time for attempts to maintain or regain health, were meant to interpret theoretical knowledge with recommendations concerning the practice, which was difficult to verify with regard to sources. Key words: astrology in the Middle Ages, prognostics, calendars, almanacs, the University of Krakow Astrological predictions are a ‘treasure trove of knowledge’ about different subjects related to the so-called everyday life of people in the late 15th and early 16th century. That period of their increased ‘discovery’ was owed to the invention of printing (even though handwritten works, also in scope of the title predictions, were still being produced). It was not only the result of the enormous interest and demand for that type of creation, both on the part of the society eager for astrological knowledge and the printers counting on considerable profits1, but also of the belief in the great power of influence of the lunar world on the sublunar one, of which man was a component. Astrology was triumphant at that time, the prognosticators’ output being the best testimony to that fact2. The practice of publishing astrological predictions is connected to the foundation of the chair of astrology at the University of Krakow, i.e. in the mid-15th century. Although there are preserved examples of 1 A. Kawecka-Gryczowa, Rola drukarstwa polskiego w dobie Odrodzenia, Warszawa 1954, pp. 68–69, wrote that while the average edition of most titles was approx. 300 copies, their amount reached 10,000 in the case of calendars, and, importantly, the circulation spread very quickly both within the country and abroad, reaching ‘apud exteras remotissimasque nationes’. See: Codex diplomaticus Universitatis Studii Generalis Cracoviensis continet privilegia et documenta quae res gestas academiae eiusque beneficia illustrant, Pars quarta, Ab Anno 1507 ad Annum 1548, Kraków 1884, no. 350, p. 92; cf. E. Potkowski, Książka i pismo w średniowieczu. Studia z dziejów kultury piśmiennej i komunikacji społecznej, Pułtusk 2000, pp. 199–207. L. Birkenmajer, Zapiski historyczne wśród starych almanachów Biblioteki Jagiellońskiej, ‘Kwartalnik Historyczny’ 1902, 16, pp. 445–457; 1903, 17, pp. 405–421, presented notes testifying to their popularity among readers. 2 Due to the subject matter, strictly defined in the title, the article does not draw out the extremely complex considerations on the approval and criticism of astrology. That topic has been extensively treated in: S. Konarska-Zimnicka, ‘Wenus panią roku, Mars towarzyszem...’ Astrologia w Krakowie XV i początku XVI wieku, Kielce 2018, where broad chapters are titled precisely Krytyka astrologii and Aprobata astrologii. See also: eadem, Why Was Astrology Criticised in the Middle Ages? Contribution to Further Research (on the Basis of Selected Treaties of Professors of the University of Krakow in the 15th Century), ‘Saeculum Christianum. Pismo Historyczno-Społeczne’ 2017, 24, pp. 91–99; eadem, Astrologia Licita? Astrologia Illicita? The Perception of Astrology at Kraków University in the Fifteenth Century, ‘Culture and Cosmos. A Journal of the History of Astrology and Cultural Astronomy’ 2011, 15, 2, pp. 65–90. DOI: 10.17951/rh.2020.50.79-97 Late Medieval Krakow Astrological Prognostics Concerning Health... 81 that type of creations from the beginning of the century, which can be associated with the establishment of the cathedral of astronomy in the first decade of the 15th century3, the forecasts from the first half of the 15th century are more astronomical than astrological, in contrast to the later ones (second half of the 15th, early 16th century). The custom of writing regular astrological predictions for the new year to come was initiated by Marcin Król of Żurawica (approx. 1422–1453)4, the founder of the chair of astrology5, who himself was the author of the forecast for 14516. Every professor of the chair of astrology and, according to the statutes of 1476, also of the chair of astronomy, was obliged to prepare an annual forecast in three versions: a comprehensive, professional one, with references to the authorities of the contemporary world of science, probably addressed to adepts of the science of celestial bodies, i.e. astronomers and astrologers 3 The Chair of Astronomy and Mathematics was founded in the early 15th century thanks to the foundation of a Mr Stobner, hence it was often called the Stobnerian Chair. K. Morawski, Historia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, vol. 1, Kraków 1900, p. 103; cf. A. Birkenmajer, Uniwersytet Krakowski jako międzynarodowy ośrodek studiów astronomicznych na przełomie XV i XVI stulecia, in: Odrodzenie w Polsce. Materiały sesji naukowej PAN 25–30 października 1953 roku, vol. 2: Historia nauki, part 2. ed. B. Suchodolski, Warszawa 1956, p. 364; Z. Kozłowska-Budkowa, Odnowienie jagiellońskie Uniwersytetu Krakowskiego (1390–1414), in: Dzieje Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego w latach 1364–1764, vol. 1, ed. J. Zathey, Kraków 1964, p. 52; H. Barycz, Nowa synteza dziejów Uniwer (...truncated)