Using the Astronomicum Caesareum Book - The MET

With its hand-colored illustrations, this splendid book is a feast for the eyes just to leaf through. But it was designed and marketed to meet a specific function: detailed instructions explained to privileged owners—amongst them Tudor King Henry VIII—on how to turn the paper dials according to dates and star signs, to create their own astrological charts and forecasts. Sixteenth-century royalty and scholars alike combined the desire for knowledge with the long-held belief that it could be gathered from the movement of the stars: from predicting one’s health to the weather and ideal moments of susceptibility—or conversely, obtuseness—the heavens provided meaning and guidance in an unstable world.

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