JHA
https://doi.org/10.1177/0021828618820215
Journal for the History of Astronomy
2019, Vol. 50(1) 82–96
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0021828618820215
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The Master and the Disciple:
The Almanac of John
of Lignères and the
Ephemerides of John
of Saxony
José Chabás
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
Bernard R. Goldstein
University of Pittsburgh, USA
Abstract
In this paper, we analyse and compare two sets of tables in the framework of Alfonsine
astronomy composed by John of Lignères and his disciple, John of Saxony, respectively,
both belonging to the first generation of scholars using the Alfonsine tables in Paris in
the early fourteenth century. John of Lignères’s almanac is limited to the five planets,
whereas the similar work by John of Saxony deals with the two luminaries as well.
Moreover, there are other differences between these sets of tables concerning their
principle of organization, precision, and accuracy.
Keywords
Azarquiel, Jacob ben Makhir, Parisian Alfonsine Tables, planetary periods of return,
Regiomontanus
In a previous study, we addressed an almanac compiled by John of Lignères (fl. 1320–
1335), uniquely preserved (as far as we knew) in an incomplete copy, in Philadelphia,
Free Library, MS Lewis E.3, 3r–10r.
1
In this manuscript, the set of tables begins abruptly
in the middle of a table for Saturn, and thus no complete copy of the almanac was known
at the time. In a recent visit to the Vatican Library, one of us examined two more copies
of it, hitherto not known to contain this work. Both manuscripts preserve a complete set
Corresponding author:
José Chabás, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Carrer Roc Boronat 138, 08018, Barcelona, Spain.
Email: josechabas@gmail.com
820215JHA 0 0 10.1177/0021828618820215Journal for the History of AstronomyChabás and Goldstein
research-article 2018
Article