The Star Catalogue Commonly Appended to the Alfonsine Tables

There may be mentioned, as the most influential, Ideler L. , Über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Sternnamen (Berlin, 1809), and Allen R. H. , Star-names and their meanings (New York, 1899; reprinted as Star names, their lore and meaning (New York, 1963)). Allen largely depends on Ideler as far as Arabic matters are concerned.

Printed in Libros del Saber de Astronomia del Rey D. Alfonso X de Castilla , ed. by Rico y Sinobas M. , iv (Madrid, 1866), 111–83 (“Libro que a por nombre el de las taulas Alfonsies”). This text originally was not part of the Libros del Saber, but was included by Rico in his monumental edition; cf. Bossong G. , Probleme der Übersetzung wissenschaftlicher Werke aus dem Arabischen in das Altspanische zur Zeit Alfons des Weisen (Tübingen, 1979; Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, 169), 62 (no.4) and 69.

See North J. D. , “The Alfonsine Tables in England”, in ΠPIΣMATA. Naturwissenschaftsgeschichtliche Studien: Festschrift für Willy Hartner (Wiesbaden, 1977), 269–301; cf. also Gingerich O. , “The astronomy of Alfonso the Wise”, Sky & telescope, lxix (1985), 206–8. In a useful edition (Les tables alphonsines avec les canons de Jean de Saxe (Paris, 1984)) E. Poulle has recently presented what can be taken as the nucleus of the Alfonsine Tables and which consists of chronological and planetary tables, always in harmony with the accompanying canons of John of Saxonia; the star catalogue, as being part of the “membra adjuncta”, was not included in this edition; cf. there, pp. 6f., 26 (at c), 224. For a Hebrew translation, made in 1460 from the Latin, see Goldstein B. R. , “The survival of Arabic astronomy in Hebrew”, Journal for the history of Arabic science, iii (1979), 31–39 (esp. pp. 36f.). Most striking is the lack of reference to the Alfonsine Tables in the work of the Hebrew astronomer Levi ben Gerson (in southern France, 1288–1344), cf. Goldstein B. R. , The astronomical tables of Levi Ben Gerson (Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, xlv; New Haven, Conn., 1974), 21.

1 June 1252 was the date of Alfonso's accession to the throne and was afterwards applied as the epoch for his Tables; cf. North , op. cit. (ref. 3), 270. While the Alfonsine precession value was adopted by the compilers of our ‘Alfonsine’ star catalogue, the Spanish text of the Ptolemaic catalogue in the Libros del Saber remained without any visible influence on the Latin text of our catalogue which is pure Gerard of Cremona. Gerard's Latin version of the Almagest star catalogue was similarly included in what could be called the “mediaeval Latin tradition of al-Ṣūfī”, here using the longitude value of al-Ṣūfī, i.e., Ptolemy + 12°42′(cf. Kunitzsch P. , “Ṣūfī Latinus”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, cxv (1965), 65–74). The star catalogue in Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Nuremberg, 1543) (at the end of Book II, 46v-62v) is an exact replica of Ptolemy's catalogue in the Almagest (with the only difference that the longitudes of the stars are smaller by 6°40′ than those in the Almagest, because Copernicus started the counting at Ptolemy's 1st star of Aries, γ Ari — thus avoiding the problem of precession, while Ptolemy started with the vernal equinox as Ari 0°0′, and therefore in his system the longitudes are subject to precession); but the wording of the star descriptions in Copernicus's catalogue is related neither to Gerard's translation from the Arabic nor to Georgius Trapezuntius's translation from the Greek (printed in Venice, 1528; Basel, 1541 and again in 1551), nor to the Latin translation made from the Greek in Sicily around 1160 (I am grateful to Prof. M. Folkerts of Munich who allowed me to examine his microfilm of MS Vat. lat. 2056; R. Lemay of New York is about to present new evidence for the origin of this translation). L. A. Birkenmajer earlier had found a series of parallels between De revolutionibus and Valla's George De expetendis et fugiendis rebus… (Venice, 1501), which includes a Latin version by Valla of Ptolemy's star catalogue made from the Greek , cf. Birkenmajer L. A. , Stromata Copernicana (Cracow, 1924), 154–68, esp. pp. 161–2 (in Polish; I have used a German translation: “Dienstliche Uebersetzung der Publikations-Stelle in Berlin-Dahlem”, ausgeführt von Gymnasial-Prof. Bassman (no date [c. 1942], reproduction from the original typescript); I am indebted to Dr H. M. Nobis who put the copy kept in the Copernicus-Forschungsstelle, Deutsches Museum, Munich, at my disposal); see also Dobrzycki J. , “Katalog gwiazd w De revolutionibus”, Studia i materialy z dziejów Nauki Polskiej, Seria C, Z. 7 (Warsaw, 1963), 109–52 (English summary on p. 153). In order to verify these contentions, I recently made my own comparison between Valla's star catalogue (from a xerox-copy kept in the Copernicus Research Centre mentioned above; the catalogue is found in vol. i, Book XVII, pp. ddii–eevi, of Valla's De expetendis… (Venice, 1501)) and Copernicus's catalogue (from a new critical edition: Copernicus Nicolaus , Gesamtausgabe, ii: De revolutionibus libri sex , ed. by Nobis H. M. and Sticker B. (Hildesheim, 1984); the catalogue is here to be found on pp. 114–79). This comparison proved that Copernicus's verbal descriptions of many stars are identical to those of Valla, and many others are obviously inspired by Valla's formulae. In several other stars, however, Copernicus's text deviates from Valla's to a greater or less extent (or is correct where Valla's is defective), so that it must be assumed that Copernicus had at his disposal other source material in addition to Valla's work. The source background of Copernicus's star catalogue, therefore, still needs more detailed investigation.

An easy means in star catalogues to find the longitude applied in the catalogue, is to examine the star α Hya (12th star of Hydra in Almagest), which in the Almagest has longitude Leo 0°0′ so that the addition can directly be read off (e.g., in the Alfonsine Tables: Leo 17°8′).

Almagestum Cl. Ptolemei Pheludiensis Alexandrini Astronomorum principis… (Venice, 1515) — to be distinguished from other editions containing the Renaissance translation of Georgius Trapezuntius made from the Greek.

There are c. 35 manuscripts of Gerard's version that are complete with regard to the star catalogue. A critical edition is presently prepared by Kunitzsch P. , to appear later as vol. ii of a major edition project.

Even in cases where Arabic names were already used by Gerard, the addition of at2 can be clearly discerned; cf. α Cyg(5th star of Cygnus in Almagest): Lucida que est in cauda: Et est aridef [at 2: Arided]: Et dicitur Denebadigege, where the element opened by the words et dicitur is ‘new’.

Kunitzsch P. , Arabische Sternnamèn in Europa (Wiesbaden, 1959).

John of Saxonia in his canons, datable to around 1327, speaks of a recent verification of the coordinates of the fixed stars by Alfontius (Canon 26, ed. Poulle (ref. 3), 100–1) which seems to be a reference to what we here call the Alfonsine star catalogue (cf. also Poulle , loc. cit., 6f. and 224). Further there exist some longer excerpts from the Alfonsine Tables' star catalogue dating from the fourteenth century: 276 stars, by Jean de Lignères, one of the first commentators of the Alfonsine Tables (in the 1320s — the table is found, e.g., in Ms Paris, BN lat. 10264, fol. 36v-38v; the longitudes are Alfonsine, i.e. Ptolemy + 17°8′. Of the'new'names, it has already two: benenarum = no. 3 above, and Razcaben = no. 4); 60 stars for epoch 1340, long. = Ptol. + 18°0′ by Heinrich Selder, another commentator of the Alfonsine Tables (he wrote in 1364), found, e.g., in MS Munich, Clm 27, fol. 178r-179r (none of our 29′new'names appears, but instead two others both of which are taken from one of the sources from which the ‘new’ names were also borrowed); 226 stars, anonymous, for epoch 1338, long. = Ptol. + 17°52′, found, e.g., in Ms Erfurt, Ampl. 2° 395, fol. 104v-105v, and Munich, Clm 26667, fol. 46v-47v (here, many of the stars are without textual description; the names are often utterly corrupted; cf. ref. 44, below); 87 stars of 1st, 2nd and 3rd magnitudes, anonymous, for epoch 1357, long. = Ptol. + 18°15′ in most of the stars (in a few stars the minutes end in 1′, 2′, or 4′), ms Vienna, 2352 (datable to 1393), fol. 100r-v (of the ‘new’ names there appear Edub = no. 2, Benenan = no. 3, Raschaben = no. 4, vega = no. 7, and rigel Algebar = no. 23; η Peg is curiously called Adam, or “in the right knee of Adam”, of unknown connection. On fol. 101r-v there is a further list of 51 1st, 2nd and 3rd magnitude stars, now with long. = Ptol. + 18°18′, partly containing the same stars as the first list, and mentioning some more of the ‘new’ names, but the additional nomenclature cited here in the last two columns is often in wrong arrangement).

See Kunitzsch , Arabische Sternnamen in Europa, 45 and 92–94.

See Kunitzsch P. , “John of London and his unknown Arabic source”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xvii (1986), 51–57.

Reference is here made to certain types of mediaeval star tables as edited by Kunitzsch P. , Typen von Sternverzeichnissen in astronomischen Handschriften des zehnten bis vierzehnten Jahrhunderts (Wiesbaden, 1966).

Not edited; I compared MSS Munich, Clm 374 and Clm 122.

From Munich, I mention the star catalogues of MSS Cgm 595 (15th cent.), fol. 44v-59v (long. = Ptol. + 17°8′, i.e. the Alfonsine value); Clm 10662(15th cent.), fol. 129v-146r(long.= Ptol.+ 18°56′, as in Vienna 5415); and Clm 24103 (15th cent.), fol. 141r-155r (epoch 1424, long. = Ptol. + 18°56′, also as in Vienna 5415). But even the older Ms Munich, University Library 4° 740 (13/14th cent.), fol. lr-17r, with its ‘pure’ Ptolemaic-Alfonsine catalogue (long. = Ptol. + 17°8′) has at least added two of our ‘new’ names: Edib (= our no. 2), and benenaz (= no. 3). Cf. also ref. 10, above.

I.e., “Typ XV” (fol. 129v; on the top of the page, another [later?] hand has added a longitude computation for the year 1428), “Typ III” (fol. 130rb), “Typ VI” (fol. 130v), and “Typ XIII” (fol. 131r; again computation for the year 1428 added on top). Evidence for the use of 5311 by the compiler of the inflated star catalogue in 5415 can be gleaned from the mention of alhadib among the names of the constellation Lupus in 5415 (and its Munich relatives Cgm 595 (here added to the 1st star of Lupus), Clm 14583 and 24103 (in these two MSS spelled alhadibh)). alhadib is the traditional Arabic name of β Cas and was transmitted to the West in the star table of “Typ III” (in Kunitzsch's edition cited in ref. 13, above). In some branches of the “Typ III”-tradition, Alhadib was explained in a Latin gloss as in telo (which was incorrect because the star has no relation to telum which could hardly be anything other than the northern constellation of Sagitta). In 5311, fol. 130rb, instead of the traditional gloss in telo, to the right of alhadip is written lupus. This was the source for the compiler of the catalogue in 5415 who, subsequently, entered alhadib among the names of the constellation Lupus.

I.e., “Typ VIII”, in MSS 2323 (14th cent.), fol 80v-81r, and 2367 (15th cent.), fol. 194r.

See Klug R. , Johannes von Gmunden, der Begründer der Himmelskunde auf deutschem Boden (Vienna and Leipzig, 1943; Akad. d. Wiss. Wien, Phil.-hist. Kl., Sitzungsberichte, 222. Band, 4. Abhandlung), 18.

As a specimen we may use the two neighbouring star tables in MS Vienna 5268, fol. 30v-31 r, written in 1437 by John of Gmunden himself; the first: 44 stars computed for the epoch 1436, long. = Ptol. + 19°2′ (identically found in MS Munich, Univ. Libr. 4° 738, fol. 10r-v, but here the longitudes are 1′ greater, for the year 1438), and the second: 41 stars computed for 1432, with mediatio coeli and declination (identically found in Munich, Univ. Libr. 4° 738, fol. 1lr; Munich, Clm 14504, fol. 226r-227r; and Nuremberg, Cent. VI 18, fol. 73r (autograph by Regiomontanus)).

The reference is to the edition cited above, ref. 13.

Already found with Jean de Lignères; cf. above, ref. 10.

It should be mentioned that Typ III (followed later by Typ VIII) and Typ VI had different types of spelling. Later, with John of Gmunden, in Vienna 5415 etc., we find that these two traditions were merged and confused. The Vienna authors applied Razd alhawe (Typ III-spelling in the second word) for α Oph, and Razd alangue (thus spelt, from the Typ VI-tradition) for α Ser (perhaps mislead by the assonance of alangue to Latin anguis, “serpent”; but in reality alangue, originally spelled alaugue, was but a Latinized rendering of Arabic al-hawwā', “the Snake Collector”, the traditional Arabic term in the Almagest for Ophiuchus). In modern times, Rasalhague is used for α Oph, in a ‘corrected’ Renaissance spelling.

The Latin gloss, id est oculus vel cor Tauri, is found in VI, no. 10 (MS d), and in VIII, no. 9.

Originally, the Arabic name was added to a Gem (VI, no. 15, MSS d and f; VIII, no. 14; John of Gmunden (ref. 19), first table, no. 16; second table, no. 16; MS Munich, Cgm 595 (ref. 15)), while in some texts it was transferred to the next star, β Gem (thus in Vienna 5415). α and β are both located on “heads”, each on the head of one Twin.

Here, only Typ VI has been involved; Typ VIII has another name that stems from Typ III.

While Typ VI (and subsequently Typ VIII) and most of the fifteenth-century texts gave this name to γ Eri (10th star in Almagest), at2 has applied it more fittingly to the 19th star = τ² Eri.

Originally given to ρ Pup) (2nd star of Argo in Almagest), but transferred to the 17th star (ζ Pup) in Vienna 5415, Cgm 595, Clm 10662 (here added both to the 2nd and to the 17th star on the outer margin), and Clm 24103. Not in John of Gmunden's two star tables (ref. 19), but in some other tables by him, e.g., MSS Melk 1099 (dated 1445), p. 228, and St Florian, XI. 619, fol. 192v (no. 14) — here for the 1st star of Argo (= 11 Pup); equally so in Clm 10662, fol. 99v (computed for the year 1430). In at2, eventually, given to the 6th star of Argo (k Pup). In modern times, Markeb lives on as a name for the star k Vel.

In III and VIII given to θ UMa. The transfer to α UMi is effected in Vienna 5415, Cgm 595, Clm 24103, and John of Gmunden (ref. 19).

The element Bennenazc occurs in all three types, III, VI, and VIII. But the element Elkeid only occurred in some of the oldest Western astrolabe treatises (MS Paris, BN lat. 7412, fol. 19v: Alkais, cf. Kunitzsch , Arabische Sternnamen in Europa, 90; and MS Ripoll 225: Alkaid, cf. ibid., 78, no. 40) and must have been borrowed from that tradition. Typ III as such is also related to those oldest texts.

The other sources use another Arabic name or, in VI, only the constellation name adigege, without the deneb element. But XIII, no. 20, is complete.

Some manuscripts still have retained the fuller form of XIII, no. 12, as, e.g., Vienna 5415: fomahant algeista, similarly also Clm 10662 and Clm 24103. The modern form is Fomalhaut, derived, with a slight change, from a ‘corrected’ Renaissance spelling.

Here, the basic standard form rigil algebar (XIII, no. 2) has been broken up and rearranged contrary to the original Arabic formula. But John of Gmunden's second table (cf. ref. 19), no. 12, has the correct Rigil Algebar (whereas his first table, no. 9, applies Rigil Algeuze, after the Typ VI-tradition). Rigil algebar also appears in further star tables of John of Gmunden, e.g. in MS Melk 1099, and St Florian XI. 619, Munich Cgm 739, and Clm 10662.

Typ VIII, no. 5 contains the same star, calling it by the Latin name finis fluxus alone (without an Arabic parallel name), but it is not known from which source it was derived. (The declination (called “latitudo”), 4°30′, must be a mistake for 40°30′; MS f alone has 32°30′.)

For details cf. Kunitzsch P. , “Abū Ma'šar, Johannes Hispalensis und Alkameluz”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, cxx (1970), 103–25. A Vienna MS showing this strange application (to α Aur) is Vienna 3124 (15th cent.), fol. 163r. The original Arabic form lying behind Bellatrix cannot be guessed; corresponding Arabic texts still must be found.

E.g., in Vienna 5415, Munich Clm 10662, Clm 24103; cf. also Vienna 2352 cited above in the present article.

Book II, ch. 1. Cf. MSS Munich, Clm 374 (13th cent), fol. 15rb-va (spelling abbreviated: al'es id est uas), and Clm 122 (spelling: albes id est uas). The translation of Hermannus de Carinthia has crater libri patris (!) instead, cf. the edition of Venice, 1506, p. b3.

I.e., the 10th lunar mansion of the Arabs consisting of ζγηα Leo. The confusion about this star is already observed in the oldest Spanish-Arabic star table, by Maslama , cf. Kunitzsch , op. cit. (ref. 13), 18, note to no. 8. The many various spellings of the name sometimes show a relationship to our no. 5 (cf. Aldirahemin, MS Paris, BN lat. 7412, fol. 19v, cited in Kunitzsch , Arabische Sternnamen in Europa, 91 [sub q]; Aldiranemin, ibid., 72, no. 24).

See Kunitzsch , op. cit. (ref. 12), 55 and ref. 25.

Apart from the possible implications of Typ III, there is also the 7th lunar mansion of the Arabs consisting of αβ Gem, called in Arabic al-dhira^c, whose name was spread in the West in countless translations and varieties among which some are quite close in spelling to the Typ VI-spelling, as, e.g., Alderaaim (MS Berlin, Phill. 1830 (12th cent.), fol. 3r); Alderaam (see Svenberg E. , Lunaria et Zodiologia Latina (Göteborg, 1963), 49ff., from MS London, Brit. Libr. Egerton 821 (12th cent.), fol. 17vff.)

Cf. North , op. cit. (ref. 3), 269.

In at4, pp. 106r–107v; in the edition of Paris, 1545, pp. 208–11.

With the exception of a&çubene (1545: acubenae), now used as Acubens for α Cnc; almucedie alaraph, now sometimes mentioned separately as Almuredin for ε Vir, and Alaraph for β Vir; and alascha which gave rise to an erroneous conjecture in Renaissance times as a result of which the ‘corrected’ spelling Lesath is now used for ν (and sometimes λ) Sco.

The text of Plato's translation can be consulted in some early printed editions, the fullest being that of Venice, 1493, which gives the two translations of Plato Tiburtinus and of Aegidius de Tebaldis as well as the commentary of 'Alī ibn Ridwān (Haly Heben Rodan), the three texts for each section being assembled together. In Kunitzsch , Arabische Sternnamen in Europa, Plato's version is abbreviated as Pq, and the derived survey in at4, etc. as Pqg (cf. ibid., 39 and 43).

The anonymous list of 226 stars (mentioned in ref. 10, above) is also related to the Tetrabiblos chapter, but some of the Arabic names used here are derived from another, anonymous, Latin translation from the Arabic dated 1206, found, e.g., in MS Wolfenbüttel, Gud. lat. 147 (14th cent.), fol. 162ff. (the section on the fixed stars is on fol. 166v-167v).

Spelled menkeb alpharaz, and twisted into alferaz mentel, etc., in Typ VII, no. 30, a direct derivate from Typ VI.

Also authentic, from Arabic yad al-faras, “The Horse's Fore-foot”.

But MSS o and p have the ‘better’ spelling mekebalfera.

Again continued in Typ VII, no. 29, in corrupted spellings such as scenath, etc.

Continued in Typ IX, no. 24, as straach, scheat, etc. The same star is spelled Cenok in a related star table in MS Cambridge, Univ. Libr. Add. 6860 (14th cent.), fol. 71r.

In reality, the term crus, “shin” is not used for any star of Pegasus in the Almagest, but it was used there for δ Aqr (the 18th star in Aqr).

Thus corrupted from the correct forms mankab, menkeb, etc.

Also in the Almagest tradition, humerus occurs in the description of β Peg.

This erroneous Vienna arrangement of the two names was also followed by Johannes Stöffler in the star tables of his Elucidatio fabricae ususque astrolabii (Oppenheym, 1512; at the end of the book: 1513), p. XX^V (second table, giving ecliptical coordinates). His first star table (giving mediatio coeli and declination) is incomplete in the edition, for it breaks off after α Aql (p. XVIII^r); but the rest of the table exists in the manuscripts, as, e.g., MS Cologne, Historisches Archiv, GB fol. 64 (17th cent.), fol. 265r, where the same Vienna arrangement is found.