{"id":{"repo_id":"uwtsd","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:3798"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uwtsd/oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:3798","repository":{"repo_id":"uwtsd","name":"University of Wales Trinity Saint David","base_url":"https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"‘Arabic Astrology’ in Early Medieval England? A Re-Examination of Prognostics and Planetary Knowledge in Three Winchester Manuscripts, c. 1023-1060","abstract":"Questions around whether some form of astrology was practiced in early Medieval England often engage with textual ‘tools’ known as ‘prognostics’. Prognostics range from lists of ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ calendar days to weather omens to prescribed activities according to the lunar cycle. Some scholars have questioned whether certain prognostics have their origins in ‘Arabic astrology’, thereby suggesting an earlier dating for the revival of horoscopic astrology. This dissertation queries whether prognostics can be considered as evidence of horoscopic astrology by analysing three manuscripts from eleventh-century Winchester. In treating the manuscripts as a corpus of interconnected cosmological and astronomical knowledge, this dissertation demonstrates the importance of considering texts within their original manuscript context. This dissertation also argues that previous scholarship may have underemphasized the role these texts could have played in non-predictive contexts. While the contents of a prayerbook and psalter likely did not facilitate more technical astrological practices, a mathematical procedure found in a treatise included within a computus anthology may have permitted approximate calculations of planetary longitudes. Although the procedure does not yield accurate results and therefore casts doubt on whether it could have enabled more technical astrological practices, these manuscripts taken together illustrate the diverse astronomical and cosmological interests of a single monastic community in the early eleventh century. Finally, this dissertation revisits the contested ‘pastoral hypothesis’ in which scholars have debated how prognostics may have been deployed by their manuscript users. This dissertation proposes that the realities of daily life in a monastic community coupled with the spiritual and administrative responsibilities of an abbot could suggest that prognostics may have been consulted in specific circumstances. This research adds nuance to previous studies of the history of astrology, proposing that prognostics may have enabled a subtle expansion of what came to constitute ‘natural astrology’ in the twelfth century.","abstract_html":"Questions around whether some form of astrology was practiced in early Medieval England often engage with textual ‘tools’ known as ‘prognostics’. Prognostics range from lists of ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ calendar days to weather omens to prescribed activities according to the lunar cycle. Some scholars have questioned whether certain prognostics have their origins in ‘Arabic astrology’, thereby suggesting an earlier dating for the revival of horoscopic astrology. This dissertation queries whether prognostics can be considered as evidence of horoscopic astrology by analysing three manuscripts from eleventh-century Winchester. In treating the manuscripts as a corpus of interconnected cosmological and astronomical knowledge, this dissertation demonstrates the importance of considering texts within their original manuscript context. This dissertation also argues that previous scholarship may have underemphasized the role these texts could have played in non-predictive contexts. While the contents of a prayerbook and psalter likely did not facilitate more technical astrological practices, a mathematical procedure found in a treatise included within a computus anthology may have permitted approximate calculations of planetary longitudes. Although the procedure does not yield accurate results and therefore casts doubt on whether it could have enabled more technical astrological practices, these manuscripts taken together illustrate the diverse astronomical and cosmological interests of a single monastic community in the early eleventh century. Finally, this dissertation revisits the contested ‘pastoral hypothesis’ in which scholars have debated how prognostics may have been deployed by their manuscript users. This dissertation proposes that the realities of daily life in a monastic community coupled with the spiritual and administrative responsibilities of an abbot could suggest that prognostics may have been consulted in specific circumstances. This research adds nuance to previous studies of the history of astrology, proposing that prognostics may have enabled a subtle expansion of what came to constitute ‘natural astrology’ in the twelfth century.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cap, Krystyna"],"institution":"University of Wales Trinity Saint David","degree_name":"ma","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-07","date_published":"2025-07","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:53:05Z","subjects":["BF Seicoleg","DA Prydain Fawr"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.grantnumber","label":"Dc Identifier Grantnumber","values":["UWTSD"],"render_values":[{"text":"UWTSD","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.82227/repository.uwtsd.ac.uk.00003798","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.doi"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["University of Wales Trinity Saint David"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cap, Krystyna"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-07-09"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2025-07"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.commercial","label":"Dc Publisher Commercial","values":["University of Wales Trinity Saint David"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Traethodau Meistr","Institute of Education and Humanities: Humanities and Social Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Wales Trinity Saint David"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3798/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Gosodiad"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["ma"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["BF Seicoleg","DA Prydain Fawr"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.82227/repository.uwtsd.ac.uk.00003798"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.grantnumber","label":"Dc Identifier Grantnumber","values":["UWTSD"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3798/1/Cap_K_MA_Thesis.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Questions around whether some form of astrology was practiced in early Medieval England often engage with textual ‘tools’ known as ‘prognostics’. Prognostics range from lists of ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ calendar days to weather omens to prescribed activities according to the lunar cycle. Some scholars have questioned whether certain prognostics have their origins in ‘Arabic astrology’, thereby suggesting an earlier dating for the revival of horoscopic astrology. This dissertation queries whether prognostics can be considered as evidence of horoscopic astrology by analysing three manuscripts from eleventh-century Winchester. In treating the manuscripts as a corpus of interconnected cosmological and astronomical knowledge, this dissertation demonstrates the importance of considering texts within their original manuscript context. This dissertation also argues that previous scholarship may have underemphasized the role these texts could have played in non-predictive contexts. While the contents of a prayerbook and psalter likely did not facilitate more technical astrological practices, a mathematical procedure found in a treatise included within a computus anthology may have permitted approximate calculations of planetary longitudes. Although the procedure does not yield accurate results and therefore casts doubt on whether it could have enabled more technical astrological practices, these manuscripts taken together illustrate the diverse astronomical and cosmological interests of a single monastic community in the early eleventh century. Finally, this dissertation revisits the contested ‘pastoral hypothesis’ in which scholars have debated how prognostics may have been deployed by their manuscript users. This dissertation proposes that the realities of daily life in a monastic community coupled with the spiritual and administrative responsibilities of an abbot could suggest that prognostics may have been consulted in specific circumstances. This research adds nuance to previous studies of the history of astrology, proposing that prognostics may have enabled a subtle expansion of what came to constitute ‘natural astrology’ in the twelfth century."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["‘Arabic Astrology’ in Early Medieval England? A Re-Examination of Prognostics and Planetary Knowledge in Three Winchester Manuscripts, c. 1023-1060"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.sponsor":["University of Wales Trinity Saint David"],"dc:creator":["Cap, Krystyna"],"dc:date":["2025-07-09"],"dc:date.issued":["2025-07"],"dc:description.abstract":["Questions around whether some form of astrology was practiced in early Medieval England often engage with textual ‘tools’ known as ‘prognostics’. Prognostics range from lists of ‘lucky’ or ‘unlucky’ calendar days to weather omens to prescribed activities according to the lunar cycle. Some scholars have questioned whether certain prognostics have their origins in ‘Arabic astrology’, thereby suggesting an earlier dating for the revival of horoscopic astrology. This dissertation queries whether prognostics can be considered as evidence of horoscopic astrology by analysing three manuscripts from eleventh-century Winchester. In treating the manuscripts as a corpus of interconnected cosmological and astronomical knowledge, this dissertation demonstrates the importance of considering texts within their original manuscript context. This dissertation also argues that previous scholarship may have underemphasized the role these texts could have played in non-predictive contexts. While the contents of a prayerbook and psalter likely did not facilitate more technical astrological practices, a mathematical procedure found in a treatise included within a computus anthology may have permitted approximate calculations of planetary longitudes. Although the procedure does not yield accurate results and therefore casts doubt on whether it could have enabled more technical astrological practices, these manuscripts taken together illustrate the diverse astronomical and cosmological interests of a single monastic community in the early eleventh century. Finally, this dissertation revisits the contested ‘pastoral hypothesis’ in which scholars have debated how prognostics may have been deployed by their manuscript users. This dissertation proposes that the realities of daily life in a monastic community coupled with the spiritual and administrative responsibilities of an abbot could suggest that prognostics may have been consulted in specific circumstances. This research adds nuance to previous studies of the history of astrology, proposing that prognostics may have enabled a subtle expansion of what came to constitute ‘natural astrology’ in the twelfth century."],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.doi":["10.82227/repository.uwtsd.ac.uk.00003798"],"dc:identifier.grantnumber":["UWTSD"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3798/1/Cap_K_MA_Thesis.pdf"],"dc:publisher.commercial":["University of Wales Trinity Saint David"],"dc:publisher.department":["Traethodau Meistr","Institute of Education and Humanities: Humanities and Social Sciences"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Wales Trinity Saint David"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3798/"],"dc:subject":["BF Seicoleg","DA Prydain Fawr"],"dc:title":["‘Arabic Astrology’ in Early Medieval England? 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