John Vimond and the Alfonsine Trepidation Model

See Poulle E. , “John of Lignères”, “John of Murs”, and “John of Saxony”, in Dictionary of scientific biography , vii, 122–33, 139–41.

For these claims, see Poulle E. , “The Alfonsine Tables and Alfonso X of Castille”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xix (1988), 97–113, espec. p. 105: “All we know for sure about the new Alfonsine astronomy is that it had Paris as its birthplace and 1321 as its birthdate.” Some of the reasons for rejecting these claims appear in North J. D. , “Just whose were the Alfonsine Tables?”, in Casulleras J. Samsó J. (eds), From Baghdad to Barcelona: Studies in the Islamic exact sciences in honour of Prof. Juan Vernet (Barcelona, 1996), 452–75; and others in Goldstein B. R. Chabás J. , “The maximum solar equation in the Alfonsine Tables”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xxxii (2001), 345–8 (espec. p. 347, n. 2). As we noted in that article, in the Expositio John of Murs refers to both the canons and the tables of Alfonso. We can now add that he also disputes a value for the solar radix corresponding to the epoch of Alfonso, but the value he rejected is the very one that is found in the Parisian Alfonsine Tables. He remarks that, in his view, the difference of 0;20° between the value he found in the Alfonsine Tables and the value he determined on the basis of an observation by William of St.-Cloud was due to a corrupt reading in the text he had before his eyes (Quod ideo dico quia in libris nostris et eis quos vidimus scriptum est 2[s] 16;37,13° quam de 20 minutis unius gradus estimamus corruptam vel ex ymaginatione ut pluries accidit aut ex vicio scriptoris mutatam ut, credens scribere 17, scripsit 37…): See Poulle E. , “Jean de Murs et les tables alphonsines”, Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen âge , xxxxvii (1980), 241–71 (espec. p. 264). This statement would be most peculiar if John of Murs had been the inventor of the Alfonsine Tables. We intend to deal at greater length with the relationship of the Parisine Alfonsine astronomers to their predecessors in Castile in a forthcoming book on the Castilian Alfonsine Tables where other reasons will also be given.

See Boudet J.-P. , Le “Recueil des plus celebres astrologues” de Simon de Phares (2 vols, Paris, 1997–99), i, 467: Maistre Jehan Vymond fut a Paris, homme moult singulier et grant astrologien, lequel eut en ce temps grant cours pour la science des estoiles. Entre ses euvres, fist une verifficacion de la conjunction des lu[mi]naires, aussi des eclipses et estoiles fixes pour plusieurs ans. Cestui predist les grans vens qui furent en son temps et fist plusieurs beaulx jugemens, dont il acquist grant loz et renommee en France et fut moult devost en Nostre Seigneur. Master John Vimond lived in Paris, a most singular man and a great astrologer, who had at that time much prestige because of (his knowledge of) the science of the stars. Among his works is a verification of the conjunction of the luminaries, as well as eclipses and the fixed stars, for many years. He predicted the great winds which took place in his time and made many fine judgements for which he acquired great praise and renown in France and he was most devoted to our Lord. The work mentioned in this passage is the set of tables under discussion in this article.

Tabulae astronomice illustrissimi Alfontij regis castelle , ed. by Ratdolt E. (Venice, 1483).

A description of Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS lat. 7286C, appears in Pedersen F. S. , The Toledan Tables: A review of the manuscripts and the textual versions with an edition (Copenhagen, 2002), 157. Another description of this manuscript appears in Saby M.-M. , “Les canons de Jean de Lignères sur les tables astronomiques de 1321”, unpublished thesis, École Nationale des Chartes (Paris, 1987), 516–20. According to Pedersen , this manuscript dates from the first half of the fourteenth century, whereas Saby assigns it to the fifteenth century.

See Neugebauer O. , The astronomical tables of al-Khwārizmī (Copenhagen, 1962), 11, n. 2.

Millás J. M. , Estudios sobre Azarquiel (Madrid and Granada, 1943–50), 49; Pedersen , op. cit. (ref. 5), 431; and Kremer R. L. Dobrzycki J. , “Alfonsine meridians: Tradition versus experience in astronomical practice c. 1500”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xxix (1998), 187–99 (espec. p. 194).

Nallino C. A. , Al-Battānī sive Albatenii Opus Astronomicum (2 vols, Milan, 1903–7), ii, 108–37; Toomer G. J. , “A survey of the Toledan Tables”, Osiris , xv (1968), 5–174 (espec. pp. 45, 60–68); Ratdolt , op. cit. (ref. 4), ff. e7r–g5v; cf. Poulle E. , Les tables alphonsines avec les canons de Jean de Saxe (Paris, 1984), 154–83.

Samsó J. Millás E. , “The computation of planetary longitudes in the Zīj of Ibn al-Bannā'”, Arabic sciences and philosophy , viii (1998), 259–86 (espec. p. 269).

For John of Saxony's canons to the Alfonsine Tables, see Ratdolt , op. cit. (ref. 4), and Poulle , op. cit. (ref. 8).

See, e.g., Mercier R. , “Studies in the medieval conception of precession (Part II)”, Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences , xxvi (1977), 33–71 (espec. pp. 58–60). For the tables that represent the standard trepidation model, see Ratdolt , op. cit. (ref. 4), ff. d3v–d4v; and Poulle , op. cit. (ref. 8), 131–3. On trepidation models in al-Andalus, see Comes M. , “Ibn al-Ha'im's trepidation model”, Suhayl , ii (2001), 291–408; and Samsó J. , “Trepidation in al-Andalus in the 11th century”, Essay VIII in idem, Islamic astronomy and medieval Spain (Aldershot, 1994). See also Ragep F. J. , “Al-Battānī, cosmology, and the early history of trepidation in Islam”, in Casulleras Samsó (eds), From Baghdad to Barcelona (ref. 2), 267–98.

Ratdolt , op. cit. (ref. 4), f. d4v.

See Goldstein B. R. , “Historical perspectives on Copernicus's account of precession”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xxiv (1994), 189–97.