A History of Western Astrology Volume II

The Medieval and Modern Worlds

Nicholas Campion

• Publisher: Continuum
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9781441181299
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781441107497
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Astrology is a major feature of contemporary popular culture. Recent research indicates that 99% of adults in the modern west know their birth sign. In the modern west astrology thrives as part of our culture despite being a pre-Christian, pre-scientific world-view.

Medieval and Renaissance Europe marked the high water mark for astrology. It was a subject of high theological speculation, was used to advise kings and popes, and to arrange any activity from the beginning of battles to the most auspicious time to have one's hair cut.

Nicholas Campion examines the foundation of modern astrology in the medieval and Renaissance worlds. Spanning the period between the collapse of classical astrology in the fifth century and the rise of popular astrology on the web in the twentieth, Campion challenges the historical convention that astrology flourished only between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries.
Concluding with a discussion of astrology's popularity and appeal in the twenty-first century, Campion asks whether it should be seen as an integral part of modernity or as an element of the post-modern world.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Origins and Background
• 1 The Latin West: Decline and Disappearance
• 2 The Carolingian World: Survival and Recovery
• 3 The Twelfth Century: Renaissance and Revival
• 4 The Thirteenth Century: The Aristotelian Revolution
• 5 The Thirteenth Century: Practice and Problems
• 6 The High Middle Ages: The Uses of Astrology
• 7 The Renaissance: The Pagan Revival
• 8 The Renaissance: Radicalism and Reform
• 9 The Sixteenth Century: Reformers and Magicians
• 10 The Seventeenth Century: Horoscopes and Telescopes
• 11 The Seventeenth Century: Practitioners and Politics
• 12 The Eighteenth Century: Newton’s Children
• 13 The Eighteenth Century: Magicians and Poets
• 14 The Nineteenth Century: Enlightenment Entrepreneurs
• 15 The Nineteenth Century: Magicians and Sociologists
• 16 The Nineteenth Century: The Theosophical Enlightenment
• 17 The Twentieth Century: New Age and Ancient Teachings
• 18 The Twentieth Century: Psychology and the Popular Press
• 19 The Twentieth Century: Sceptics and Scientists
• 20 The Twenty-first Century: Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index