Alfonsine Astronomy

The Tabule Resolute : The Central European Type of Alfonsine Tables

Hadravová, Alena
Hadrava, Peter

Astronomers and astrologers in medieval Europe used sets of numerical tables, accompanied by detailed instructions for use, to calculate the motions of the planets. The Castilian Alfonsine Tables, created at the court of Alfonso X in Toledo from the middle of the thirteenth century onwards, form the basis of the Latin Parisian Alfonsine Tables (1320s). These tables became the starting point for the further dissemination and elaboration of astronomical tables in European universities and other cultural centres between the fourteenth and first half of the sixteenth century.
A central European version of the Alfonsine Tables is the so-called Tabule Resolute. This version was initially compiled for the meridian of Wroc?aw in 1424 and later recalculated for the meridians of Prague, Cracow, Leipzig, Salamanca, Bologna and other cities. The Tabule Resolute are preserved in dozens of manuscripts and in several early modern prints, containing both the tables and the rules (‘canons’) for them. This volume presents the first edition of both the Wroc?aw tables and variants for other meridians and selected canons for their use, compiled by Petrus Cruciferus, Nicolaus Wodka and John of G?ogów. The Latin editions are accompanied by annotated English translations. The work is concluded with an explanation of the mathematical principles of the tables and an analysis of the errors in the edited tables.