Astrology in the Middle Ages

Astrology occupies a prominent place in the history of philosophy and science. Thirteenth-century scholars--even more than the poets and philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome--regarded the rule of the stars over human destiny as an indisputable fact, entering into their every conception of the universe. Theologians credited the stars with a power second only to that of God. This volume traces the development of medieval conceptions of astrology from the fifth through fifteenth centuries, highlighted by interpretations of astrological references from a fascinating variety of literary sources, including extracts from medieval romances and the works of Chaucer.