Michelle Pfeffer

Diagram of the lunar phases from an Ottoman historical calendar, c.1430-50. Chester Beatty. Public Domain.

‘Forgotten Experts’ by A. Tunç Şen review

Forgotten Experts: Astrologers, Science, and Authority in the Ottoman Empire, 1450-1600 by A. Tunç Şen follows the fortunes of the sultan’s stargazers.

A page from Libro de la ventura, by Lorenzo Spirito, 1547. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich. Public Domain.

Hopes, Fears, and Early Modern Astrology

The concerns of daily life prompted early modern people to seek reassurance in fate, stars, and astrologers.

The great conjunction in Pisces. Titlepage from Leonhard Reinmann’s Practica uber die grossen und manigfeltigen Coniunction der Planeten (1524). Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo.

Bad Omens: When the Astrologers Got it Wrong

Europe panicked when astrologers predicted a huge flood in 1524. When it failed to appear, astrology had to defend itself.