MEDIEVAL LUNAR ASTROLOGY A Collection of Representative Middle English Texts

Presents a critical edition of eighteen Middle English astrological texts in verse and prose, based upon lunar astrology and its prognostics for all areas of life -- personality, physical appearance, profession, health, medicine, sexuality, marriage, agriculture, commerce, and travel. None of these works has received a full, critical edition; few have been studied, several important and extensive texts in multiple redactions have never before been noted, including The Moon of Ptolemy and The Sothfast Conyng of Astrology. An extensive introduction explains the common astrological conditions upon which they are based. Because the texts constitute a large number of individual manuscripts, they can be studied as an important body of popular literature which circulated widely, whether as deluxe illuminated documents or the poorest of household documents. The texts raise several topics which need to be better understood within the context of late medieval thought, notably determinism, physiognomy, and medicine.