Description
The manuscript includes Guido Bonatti’s Decem tractatus astronomiae. The image shows an astrological chart detailing the zodiac signs (such as Taurus, Aquarius, Sagittarius, Libra, etc), planets (like Saturnus, Venus, etc) and numbers. This is because making an astrological chart implies dividing the celestial sphere into four equal parts by the Meridian and Horizon, and again into four quadrants, and every quadrant again, until the whole Heaven is divided into twelve equal segments, which the astrologers call Houses. There are twelve signs of the zodiac and also twelve houses of Heaven. Like a clock, the houses represent the 24 hours of the day and each house is ruled by a different sign and so each house is associated with a set of traits. To be able to interpret an astrological chart, not only the meaning of each planet but also the house it is in and the sign it is in must be taken into account, and the study of the chart’s elements helps to explain aspects of the interpreter's life. Astrology gives a particular meaning to every house and the judgment of the Houses, Planets and Signs, explains that which might appear to be purely accidental in a person's life but is not, since everything has, in one way or other, a relation to one of the twelve houses of Heaven.
Bibliography
Joanna Fronska, 'The Royal Image and Diplomacy: Henry VII’s Book of Astrology (British Library, Arundel 66)', Electronic British Library Journal (2013).
