Medieval Astronomy

The oldest scientific manuscript in the National Library is NLW MS 735C, which contains various Latin texts on astronomy. The volume, written in Caroline minuscule, consists of two sections, the first copied c. 1000, in the Limoges area of France, probably in the milieu of Adémar de Chabannes (989-1034), whilst the second, from a scriptorium in the same region, may be dated c. 1150. The main text in the older part is the Latin translation by Germanicus (15 BC-19 AD) of the Greek Phaenomena by Aratus of Soli (c. 315-c. 240 BC), which describes the constellations. This is illustrated with a series of remarkable diagrams and coloured drawings reflecting the overlap between myth, astronomy and astrology at this period.