Galileo Astrologer Astrology and Mathematical Practice in The Late-Sixteenth and Early-Seventeenth Centuries H 782. Darrel Rutkin 2005 PDF

Galilreana, II, 2005, pp.
107-143
STUDI I STUDIES
H. DARREL RUTKIN
GALILEO ASTROLOGER:
ASTROLOGY AND MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE IN THE
LATE-SIXTEENTH AND EARLY-SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES
SUMMARY
This article presents arguments and evidence to make two main points:
(1) that Galileo was a practicing astrologer during most if not all of his
career, and (2), its corollary, that practicing astrology was still a normal
activity for a mathematician, a mathematicus, in the early 1rh century. In
surveying the extensive evidence for Galileo's astrological practice - most
of which has long been published - I emphasize how certain themes which
run throughout Galileo's career may be used to coordinate his multifaceted
practice. It will emerge that Galileo's profession as a mathematicus, as
learned, practiced and taught within a social context deeply conditioned by
patronage dynamics, can provide such themes. In particular, awareness of
the premodern disciplinary configuration of mathematics and astronomy
- and their relationship with astrology - may serve to integrate our
understanding of Galileo's studies and teaching at Pisa, his teaching and
extracurricular activities at Padua, and further aspects of his career at
Florence and Rome. 1bis research on Galileo is part of a larger project
including my dissertation and first book - which attempts to sharpen and
revise our understanding of astrology's central place in premodem natural
knowledge, and the precise contours of its removal from the domain of
legitimate knowledge during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Keywords: Astrology, Mathematics, Patronage, Politics, Universities, Galileo Galilei.
The intention of this article is straightforward, simply to establish, once

and for all, that Galileo was a practicing astrologer during most if not all of
Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology - drutkin@stanford.edu
The translations are mine unless otherwise noted. My thanks to the two anonymous
referees for Lheir hdpful suggestions.
8
108 H. DARREL RUTKIN
his career. I will also provide evidence to put this practice into perspective:
into the seventeenth century it was a normal part of the profession of a
mathematicus to study, teach and practice astrology.1 This essay surveys
a broad range of the extensive evidence for reconstructing Galileo's astro
logical practice, almost all of which was published during the late-nine
teenth and twentieth centuries. I will emphasize how certain themes which
run throughout Galileo's career may be used to coordinate his multifaceted
practice. It will emerge that Galileo's profession as a mathematicus, as
learned, practiced and taught within a social context deeply conditioned
by intensely-competitive patronage dynamics, can provide such themes.
In particular, awareness of the premodern disciplinary configuration of
mathematics and astronomy - and their relationship with astrology -
may serve to integrate our understanding of Galileo's studies and teaching
at Pisa, his teaching and extracurricular activities at Padua, and further as
pects of his career at Florence and Rome.
Unlike Kepler's study and practice of astrology2 - and Newton's of al
chemy3 - Galileo's astrological practice has been much more difficult for
modem scholarship to acknowledge.4 But if we are to understand Galileo
in his own terms, we must base our interpretation of his life and work on
the proper foundation of all the relevant evidence at our disposal. Galileo's
autograph astrological MS Galileiana 8 1 has been known at least since the
time of Antonio Favaro's Galileo Galilei e lo Studio di Padova of 1883.5 Yet
in the 1970s, Charles B. Schmitt - a colleague of Frances Yates and D.P.
Walker at the Warburg Instititute - could say, after reconstructing the
astrological teaching of Galileo's immediate predecessor at the University
of Pisa, that at least Galileo himself was not attracted to occult mathe-
1 I will establish this in greater detail in a complimentary essay entitled: Toward the modern
configuration of the mathematical dsi ciplines: Christoph Clavius, Galileo Galilei and the rejection of
astrology. For now, see chapters three and seven of my doctoral dissertation, Astrology, natural
philosophy and the history of science c. 1250-1700: studies toward an interpretation of G iovanni
Pico della Mirandola's Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem, PhD thesis, Indiana Uni
versity, 2002, and MAR.Io BIAGIOLI, The social status of Italian mathematicians, 1450-1600, «His
tory of science», 27, 1989, pp. 41-95.
2 See MAxCASPAR, Kepler, eng. tr. C. Doris Hellman, New York, Dover, 1993, and GERARD
SIMON, Kepler astronome astrologue, Paris, Gallimard, 1979.
3 See BETIY JoTEETERDoBBS, The foundato i ns of Newton's alchemy: or, "the hunting of the
greene !yon", Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975, and RICHARD S. WESTFALL, Never
at rest: a biography of Isaac Newton, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1980, index, sub
voce "alchemy".
4 For a recent example, see The Cambridge companion to Galileo, edited by Peter Macha
mer, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, where astrology is completely ignored.
5 ANTONIO FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo Studo
i di Padova, 2 vols, Firenze, Successori le
Monnier, 1883.
GALILEO ASTROLOGER 109
matics, by which he meant astrology.6 Such a statement by a profound and

open-minded scholar clearly indicates an important blind spot in the his
toriography of science in general, and of Galileo in particular. It is simply
a fact of premodem science that astrology and astronomy were the sister
sciences of the stars, and, together with arithmetic, geometry and music,
were taught as an integral part of the quadrivium, what we would call
the mathematical side of the liberal arts curriculum. This fundamental pre
modern disciplinary configuration is ignored to our historiographic peril. 7
I am not a pioneer in such studies. In his ground-breaking 1881 article
Galileo astrologo secondo documenti editi ed inediti, Antonio Favaro pointed
out some of the evidence for Galileo's astrological activities.8 He was also
quite emphatic about the larger historical point of astronomy's profound
debt to astrological studies, as we will see. Caveat lector: this is a preliminary
study, a survey of evidence. Many important questions of interpretation are
left unaddressed as subjects for further research, most significantly: how
does this evidence for Galileo's practice of astrology relate to his overall
scientific views, especially those in the Dialogue and Two new saences.
As Charles Schmitt correctly pointed out, the lion's share of scholar

ship devoted to the early years of Galileo's career focused on Padua, most
notably Antonio Favaro's fundamental studies published in Galileo Galilei
e lo studio di Padova ( 1 883 ), which are still largely unsuperceded. As
Schmitt notes, much of interest remains in the Pisan archives which have
never been systematically researched. He refocuses attention back to Gali
leo's time of study and teaching at Pisa, most notably by beginning to re
construct the content of the teaching that took place in and around the
time he studied (15 81-85) and taught ( 1589-92) there.9 For our purposes,
6 This passage is discussed in more detail below.

7 For discussion and bibliography, see chapters three and seven of my dissertation, As
trology, natural philosophy and the history of science (cit. note 1). Astrology was also taught in
different respects in the natural philosophy course with core texts of Aristotle and in the medical
course with Galen, as also discussed in chapter three of my dissertation.
s FAVARO, Galileo astrologo secondo documenti editi e inediti, «Mente e Cuore», 8, 1881,
pp. 99-108. Other partial studies related to Galileo's astrologiciU praxis are discussed below.
Most recently, see NICHOLAS KOLLERSTROM, Galileo's astrology, in J. MONTESINOS and c. SoLts
(eds.), Largo campo di filosofare, Eurosymposium Galileo 2001, La Orotava, Fundaci6n Canaria
Orotava de Historia de la Ciencia, 2001, pp. 421-432, and «Culture and Cosmos», 7, 2004,
which is dedicated to Galileo's astrology. It came out too late to be taken into account in this
article.
9 CHARLES ScHMIIT, The faculty of arts at Pisa at the time of Galileo, in his Studies in Re
naissance philosophy and science, London, Variorum Reprints, 1981 (originally published, 1972),
pp. 243-272: 247.
it is of most interest to note that there was one professor of mathematics in

the faculty of arts at Pisa when Galileo began to teach there in 1589, Ga
lileo himself, 10 and that «this lectureship encompassed astronomy, as
trology, and geography in addition to mathematics».11
The statutes for the teaching of mathematics from 1543 , when the uni
versity reopened under Grand Duke Cosimo I de Medici, are straightfor
ward; I quote them in full: «Astronomi primo anno legant Auctorem
Spherae, secundo Euclidem interpretent, tertio quaedam Ptolomaei».12
Since the Ptolemy requirement was left open concerning the specific work
to be taught, we find that some professors taught from the Almagest, some
from the Geography, and some from the Tetrabiblos.13 It is worthwhile to
quote in extenso Schmitt's discussion of the Tetrabiblos at Pisa:
In fact, this brief work of Ptolemy's, one of the mainstays of the astrological ...
side of medieval and Renaissance thought, played quite a central role in mathe
matics and astronomy teaching at Pisa. [...] Lectures on the Tetrabiblos were given
quite often at Pisa and there are a number of manuscript commentaries, especially
by Ristori and Fantoni, which remain to be studied.14 The teaching of this material
was apparently considered to be useful particularly fo r medical students, for when
Filippo Fantoni lectured on the First Book of the work in 1585 it was spelled out
that he was to deal with the quaestiones ad /acultatem medicam pertinent. Ristori in
particular was strongly oriented toward the occult sciences and produced, in ad
dition
. to his lectures and commentary on the Tetrabiblos, a Prognostico sopra la
genitura [. . ] [dz] Cosimo I, works on chiromancy and physiognomy, and perhaps
.
also a series of horoscopes.15 Fantoni was perhaps not so completely oriented to
ward the occult side of astronomical and mathematical science, but he did expand
upon and embellish Ristori's extensive In quadripartz'tum Ptolomaei Regis expositio
praeclara. All of this indicates quite clearly that there was a strong [astrological]
element in the teaching of mathematics and astronomy at Pisa from the reopening
of the studio in 1543 until the time of Galileo.16
to Ibid., p. 252.
11 Ibid. , p. 255. The passage continues: «In the university records the subject seems to be
listed indifferently as 'mathematics' and 'astrology' and one year at least, the two teachers are
called "mathematicho" and "astrologo"».
12 Ibid., p. 257.
n Ibid., p. 258.
14 He discusses Pantoni in more detail in Filippo Fantom; Galileo Galilet"s predecessor as
mathematics lecturer at Pisa, in his Studies (cit. note 9, originally published, 1978), pp. 53-62,
which will be discussed just below.
is All of which are extant; Schmitt provides references.
16 I substitute «astrological» for Schmitt's term «occult» in the last sentence. I also removed
«and pseudo scientific» following «astrological>> from the first sentence. Although there is some
justification for using these terms, they are much more misleading than useful as terms of ana
lysis. This is discussed funher below.
In fact, however, far from the 'occult sciences' being taught at Pisa,
Schmitt's description places the teaching of astrology during Galileo's time
there squarely into the premodern configuration of the mathematical dis
ciplines at Italian (and other) universities. Pietro d'Abano developed the
arts and medicine curriculum at Padua in this manner in the early four
teenth century. It is also clearly articulated in the 1405 statutes at the Uni
versity of Bologna, and in Regiomontanus's famous 1464 inaugural oration
at the University of Padua. This disciplinary configuration remained extra
ordinarily consistent well into the seventeenth century at both Bologna and
Padua, and at many of the universities they influenced, in Italy and else
where.17 We can see this clearly for Bologna in Angus Clarke's richly infor
mative dissertation on Giovanni Antonio Magini, Galileo's contemporary,
a professor of mathematics at Bologna from 1588 until his death in 1617 . 18
Schmitt develops some of this material in a fuller treatment of Filippo

Pantoni, Galileo's immediate predecessor as professor of mathematics at
Pisa. He focuses on the record of what Fantoni taught, including what
he taught during the years that Galileo was a student there.19 He also treats
the books Fantoni left in manuscript, including an exposition of all four
books of the Tetrabiblos, which he taught in 1585-86.20 Schmitt notes:
«from this we can get a good indication of what was being taught in the
Pisan classroom at the time Galileo was himself a student and in the imme
diately succeeding years».21
Schmitt also discusses Galileo's activities as a mathematics lecturer at
Pisa. This too is worth quoting at length:
When we come to Galileo himself as a mathematics lecturer, we find that his

teaching follows more or less the same pattern as his predecessors, though he cer
tainly must have had little to do with the astrological tradition of the Tetrabiblos. I
say this fully realizing the importance of the pseudo-scientific tradition and its in
fluence on early modern science. Galileo, however, was somewhat unusual and
seems to have been influenced much less by Hermetic, Neoplatonic, gnostic, ma
gical, astrological, and pseudo-scientific themes than most of his contemporaries.
11 For bibliography and further discussion, see chapters three 'and seven of my dissertation,
Astrology, natural philosophy and the history of science (cit. note 1).
is
ANGUS CLAR.KE, Giovanni Antonio Magini (1555-1617) and late renaissance astrology,
PhD thesis, Warburg Institute (University of London), 1985, pp. 22ff.
19 There is, however, no direct evidence that Galileo heard his lectures; ScHMJTI, Filippo
Pantoni (cit. note 14), p. 58.
20 Schmitt reconstructs Fantoni's teaching at ibid., p. 57.
21 Ibid.
1 12 H. DARREL RUTKIN
Only very rarely, e.g. in the letter to Piero Dini (d. 1625) of 1615, which has re
cently been called to our attention by Garin ,22 did Galileo take up such themes
in a serious way. Rather his adherence to the Platonic tradition seems to have been
largely confined to the view that the physical world is intelligible primarily through
the application of mathematical methods as Koyre and Cassirer have pointed
out.23
Beside the problematic lumping together of Hermetic, Neoplatonic, gnos

tic, magical, astrological, and pseudo-scientific as some sort of overpopu
lated intellectual field - under the general rubric «the Platonic tradition» -
all on the wrong side of rationality's iron curtain, we shall see that his state
ment is simply not accurate, at least in relation to astrology.24
We should probably go further, not only denying that astrology is to be
classified as a pseudo-science during this period; rather, we should prob
ably call it 'normal science ' , in that the teaching and practice of astrology
were a normal part of the duties of a mathematicus both at university and at
court.25 It is interesting to note that Schmitt can grant such «pseudo-scien
tific» influences on Kepler and Newton, but not Galileo.26 Whether Gali
leo himself actually taught astrology per se at either Pisa or Padua, how
ever, is an open question. There is no decisive evidence regarding Galileo's
public teaching at Pisa, as reconstructed by Schmitt, nor at Padua, as re
constructed by Favaro. He may have taught astrology privately at Padua,
but there is no certain evidence to this effect either. That he practiced as
trology, on the other hand, is well established by a broad range of evidence,
as we will see shortly.
22 See also Galileo's letter 532 of 21 May 1611 to Dini regarding the astrological influence
of the Medicean stars to be discussed below: OG, XI, pp. 105-116. See GERMANA ERNST, Nuovi
cieli e nuovi secoli: astrologia e profezia in Campanella e Galileo, in her Religione, ragione e natura:
ricerche su Tommaso Campanella e ii tardo Rinascimento, Milan, Franco Angeli, 1991 (originally
published, 1983), pp. 237-254: 248.
23 SCHMITI, Faculty of arts (cit. note 9), pp. 260-261.
24 We can see here very clearly how modern disciplinary and conceptual configurations can
deeply inform and thereby distort even an excellent intellectual historian's reconstruction of the
past.
25 For some of the evidence and bibliography, see chapters three, four and seven of my dis
sertation. Astrology should also probably be considered 'normal science' in the Kuhnian sense
that astrology provided problems for generations of students educated within the premodem
Aristotelian-Ptolemaic 'scientific paradigm', including, inter alios, Regiomontanus, Tycho and
Kepler, for all of whom the ever-increasing accuracy of astronomical observation and theory were
in large measure oriented toward astrological ends.
26 SCHMITT, Faculty of Arts (cit. note 9), p. 261 (n. 93): «Such an influence seems clear, for
better or worse, in the case of figures like Kepler and Newton».
GALILEO ASTROLOGER 1 13
Next to be treated is Galileo's teaching at Padua (1592-1610). As at

Pisa, Padua had only one professor of mathematics during Galileo's tenure,
himself.27 Indeed, the chair had been empty for four years, since Moleto's
death in 1588.28 Favaro's valuable sketch of the teaching of mathematics at
Padua before Galileo provides the evidence for the continuing tradition of
the teaching of astrology there by professors of mathematics, from Pietro
d'Abano via Regiomontanus to Giuseppe Moleto (Magini's teacher and
Galileo's immediate predecessor).29 The chairs of astronomy and mathe
matics were conjoined in 1506.30 In this context Favaro clearly states as
tronomy's profound historical debt to astrology: «chi con animo spassiona
to si fa ad interrogare la storia, apprende facilmente di quanto la scienza
astronomica vada debitrice agli studi astrologici>>.31 This context must be
kept in mind when approaching our understanding of Galileo's study
and teaching of mathematics, since, without it, his astrological activities
discussed below might appear anomolous.32
The basic patterns of Galileo's teaching of mathematics at Padua con
form closely to the normal patterns - as with F antoni at Pisa (and Galileo
there), and of the Bologna statutes - except that they include Aristotle's
Quaestiones mechanicae and they apparently leave astrology out. 33 But
one should not leap to what may seem to us a reasonable further conclu-
21 Favaro prints the yearly rotoli for the teaching of all the professors at Padua in Theology,
Medicine and Philosophy. These full documents exist only for 1592 [FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo
Studio (cit. note 5), II, pp. 111-113), 1599-1560, 1603-1604, and 1609-1610 (FAVARO, Galileo
Galilei a Padova, Padua, Antenore, 1968, pp. 105-114).
2s FAVARO, Galt'leo Galilei e lo Studio (cit. note 5), I, p. 107.
29 He notes at ibid., I, pp. 100-101 that there is almost a complete lack of specific evidence
through the end of the sixteenth century. See also his I lettori di matematiche nella Universita di
Padova dal principio del secolo XIV alla fine de! XVI, «Memorie e documenti per la storia della
universita di Padova>>, I, 1922, pp. 1-70.
30 FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo Studio (cit. note 5), I, p. 131.
3 t Ibid., I, pp. 106-107.

32 To be sure, there is no explicit evidence that Galileo taught astrology as part of the
mathematics curriculum at Padua. Stillman Drake has this to say: «Galileo's official lectures dealt
with Euclid in every year, and in alternate years with spherical and planetary astronomy. The lat
ter were given mainly for medical students, who had to be able to cast horoscopes; speculative
astronomy was taught by professors of philosophy who lectured on Aristotle's De caelo» (Galileo
at work: his scientific biography, Chicago, University of Chicago•Press, 1978, pp. 35-36). The evi
dence for Galileo's teaching of mathematics at Padua is compiled in FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo
Studio (cit. note 5), II, pp. 143-145, except for 1592 (p. 148); see also I, pp. 137ff for a fuller
discussion of Galileo's teaching of mathematics at Padua.
33 The evidence is incomplete, but what there is suggests that Galileo did not teach as
trology in the mathematics course at either Pisa or Padua. Perhaps he was influenced in this
by Christoph Clavius's rejection of astrology from its teaching in the mathematics course within
the Jesuit universities, as I argue in chapter seven of my dissertation.
sion, namely, that Galileo rejected astrology, as Schmitt claims. Indeed,

there is a broad range of undeniable interrelated evidence that Galileo
practiced astrology and perhaps even taught it privately while at Padua,
as we will see in just a moment.
Before examining this evidence, however, I will first draw attention to

some of the books recorded in Favaro's reconstruction of Galileo's li
brary.34 Among the books of practical astronomy which Galileo owned,
we should note in particular Giovanni Antonio Magini's Ephemerides for
1598-1610 (1599),35 which covers the period in which Galileo calculated
and constructed a number of the horoscopes now in MS Galileiana 81
to be discussed below; it has an extensive astrological introduction.
Another work mentioned by Favaro that is potentially of great interest
is a 1559 edition of a late-antique commentary on Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, to
which is added an introductory astrological treatise.36 As Favaro reports,
this volume, containing marginal annotations in Gahleo's hand, is extant.37
Galileo also had an edition of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos with a translation by
Philip Melanchthon.38 And in his copy of Tommaso Campanella's Astrolo
gicorum libri VII (1630), Galileo marked all of Campanella's references to
him, as reported by Luigi Firpo. 39
Finally, we should note a work by Adam Tanner, S.J. entitled Astrolo
gia Sacra, with the informative subtitle: Orationes et quaestiones quinque
quibus explicatur qua ratione fas sit homini Christiano de rebus occultis ex
astris judicium /erre (1615).40 Its title notwithstanding, Massimo Buccianti-
34 FAVARO, La librerr'a di Galileo Galilei, «Bollettino di bibliografia e di storia Jelle scienze

matematiche e fisiche», 19, 1886, pp. 219-293. The number in parentheses after the full entry
refers to Favaro's numeration.
3S ANTONIO MAGIN!, Ephemerides coelestium motuum Jo. Antonii Magini Patavini ab anno
domini 1598, usque ad annum 1610, secundum Copemici obseroationes accuratissime supputatae et
correctae, ecc. Venetiis, apud Damianum Zenarum, 1599.
36 In Claudii Ptolemaei Quadripartitum ena"ator ignoti nominis, quem Proclum fuisse existi
mant, cui additur introductio in Ptolemaeum, Porphyn'i et Hermetis Philosophi de revolutionibus
nativitatum libri duo. Basileae, ex officina Petriana. 1559.
37 «L'esemplare citato contiene pastille autografe di Galileo a pp. 177, 211, 214, 215, 218,
278». Favaro does not describe their contents, FAVARO , La libreria di Galileo Galilei (cit. note
34), p. 43.
38 Claudii Ptolemaei de predictionibus Astronomicis cui titulum fecerunt Quadripartitum,
Graece et Latine libn' III!. Philippa Melanchtone interprete, Basileae, per Joannern Oporinum,
1535 (182).
�9 LU IGI FIRPO, Appunti Campanelliam� XXVIII, «Giornale Critico di Filosofia ltaliana>>,
41, 1962, pp. 371-372, as cited in JOHN M. HEADLEY, Tommaso Campanella and the transforma
tion of the world, Princeton, N.J, Princeton University Press, 1997, p. 114.
40 Adami Tannen· S.]. Astrologia Sacra hoc est. Orationes et quaestiones quinque quibus ex-
ni's description of this work does not include anything astrological. Rather,
Tanner and his associates analyzed Galileo's new cosmological findings in
terms of their relation to the end of time.41
I would now like to approach an important but understudied tool in

Galileo's patronage toolkit, his practice of astrology. Mario Biagioli treats
this briefly, but does not give it the coverage it deserves.42 More evidence
may be developed to provide a fuller picture. Biagioli properly focuses on
one of the crucial moments in Galileo's playing of the patronage game, his
dedication of the Sidereus nuncius (1610) to the newly-crowned grand duke
of Tuscany, Cosimo II de' Medici. A central feature of this dedication is
Galileo's fashioning of Jupiter's satellites into Medicean stars by relating
them to the powerful placement of Jupiter in Cosimo H's nativity (natal
horoscope), which we actually find drawn up in Galileo's hand among
the lunar wash drawings he made from his telescopic observations.43
This crowning moment in Galileo's use of patronage techniques fully
warrants the attention it has received so far.44 Although it was probably
the most important use of astrology in his career as a courtier, it was by
no means the only one. Indeed, in January 1609, after tutoring Prince Co
simo at court during the summers since 1605,45 the Grand Duchess Chris
tina, who figures so prominently in Galileo's story soon after, requested
Galileo's assistance in a matter of urgent concern. But before we turn to
this urgent matter, it is worthwhile to note how well esteemed Galileo
plicatur qua ratione /as sit homini Christiano de rebus occultis ex astris judicium ferre, Ingolstadii,
t:x Lypugraphu Ederiano, 1615.
41 MASSIMO BuccIANTINI, Novita celesti e teologia, in MONTESINOS and SoL1s (eds.), Largo
campo (cit. note 8), pp. 795-808. This is apparently the first and only scholarly discussion of this
work.
42 MAR.Io BIAGIOLI, Galileo courtier: the practice of science in the culture of absolutism,
Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1993.
43 GUGLIELMO R.rGmNI (L'oroscopo galileiano di Cosimo II de' Medici, «Armali dell'Istituto e
Museo di Scoria della Scienza di Firenze», 1, 1976, pp. 29-36) describes the two horoscopes that
survive, but only publishes the one that corresponds to the dedication. Isabelle Pantin corrects
Righini's account, primarily by usin } contemporary tables (Magini's) instead of Ahnert's (Astro
nomische Chronologische Tafeln, 2° ed., Leipzig, Barth, 1961); ISABELLE PANTIN (ed.), Le messa
ger celeste, Paris, Belles Lettres, 1992, p. 53, n. 22. Several of the horoscopes in MS 81 also have
two figures with slightly different house structures; this is apparently a normal feature of Gali
leo's astrological praxis, as we will see below.
44 In addition to Biagioli, see my Celestial offerings: astrological motifs in the dedicatory let
ters of Kepler's Astronomia nova and Galileo's Sidereus nuncius, in Secrets of nature: astrology and
alchemy in early modern Europe, ed. by W.R. Newman and A. Grafton (eds.), Cambridge, MA,
MIT Press, 2002, pp. 133-172.
4s PANTIN, Messager celeste (cit. note 43 ), p. 54 (n. 23) provides the references.
had become in her eyes during the time just prior to this request. She
speaks of him in the most glowing terms when inviting him back to spend
the summer of 1608 at court tutoring the prince.46
At the very beginning of 1609, however, the Grand Duke Ferdinand,
Christina's husband and Cosimo's father, was gravely ill. We have Galileo's
epistolary response {letter 204) to Christina's urgent request for Galileo to
determine the accurate dating of the grand duke's birth - between the two
dates they had, July 19, 1548 and the same date in 1549 in order to con -
struct his horoscope accurately. By this means they hoped to understand

fully the gravity of his malady.47 Galileo makes his determination for
1549 based on an astrological technique of rectification, whereby what
happened during Ferdinand's life (ti acci.denti) is compared with what
should have happened based on each of the two horoscopes in question.48
As of Jan 16, 1609, the date of Galileo's letter with the requested determi
nation, Ferdinand was apparently still alive. Soon after, he died. His nine
teen year old son, Galileo's tutee, then became the grand duke of Tuscany
in February of that same year. Galileo was apparently in attendance at the
coronation. Indeed, it was later in that same fateful year that Galileo made
his epoch-making telescopic discoveries.
But Galileo did not only perform astrological services for members of
the Tuscan court. In a grossly understudied document of striking interest,
46 Ibid., p. 54 (n. 23 ): «[E]n 1608, il exigea que !'invitation soit confirmee en des termes
sans equivoques (OG, X, 190), et Vinta dut lui transmettre ce message de Christine de Lorraine:
'Scrivi al Galilei che essendo egli il primo et il piu pregiato matematico della Christianita, che il
Granduca et Noi desideriamo che questa estate venga qua [ ... ], per cscrcitare il S<igno>r Prin
cipe nostro figliulo, in dette matematiche, che tanto se ne diletta; et che con lo studio che fara
seco questa estate, potra poi rispiarmalo di non lo far venire cosi spesso qua; et che c'ingegne
remo di far di maniera che non si penta d'esser venuto' (11 juin 1608, OG, X, 192); Galilee vint
done a la cour des la fin du mois de juin et y passa tout l'ete; en fevrier 1609 eut lieu le couron
nement de Cosme».
47 OG, X, pp. 226-227, Galileo a Cristina di Lorena [in Firenze], Padova, 16 Gennaio. 1609:
«Per calcolare con le tavole Pruteniche et emendare il moto dd sole con quelle di Tico Brae per
l'uno et per l'altro ddli due tempi dubii dd nascimento dd Ser. G.D., mi e bisognato consumar
tanto tempo, che non prirna di adesso ho potuto assicurarrni a dire a V.A.S. cosa alcuna di resoluta
circa il suo dubbio. Hora li dico, che confrontando Ii accidenti decorsi con l'uno et con l'altro tema,
mi par assai piu conforme alle regale il credere che S.A.S. nascesse li 30 di Luglio dd 1549, che li 19
di Luglio dd 1548; tal che S.A.S. corra adesso l'anno cinquantesimo nono, et non il sessantesimo, et
sia dd suo climaterico nono il principio fra due anni e mezzo, et non fra 18 mesi: il quale anco spero
che S.A.S. sia per superare felicissamente, col favore di Sua Divina Maesta, nelle cui mani princi
palmente risiede il govemo di qudli che ha destinati a reggere i popoli>>.
4s See FANTIN, Messager celeste (cit. note 43), p. 53, n. 22. For rectification, see JOHN CRIS
TOPHER EADE, The forgotten sky: a guide to astrology in English literature, Oxford, Cl are ndon
Press, 1984, pp. 95-100.
we possess quite a few horoscopes and several brief judgments (astrological

interpretations) from Galileo's own pen. These are found in Ms. Gal. 81
of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence, which Favaro notes in �
volume XIX of the Edizione nazionale.49 He transcribed and published
the astrological judgments, written in Latin, of Galileo's two daughters,50
which, along with the construction of his own horoscope, undercuts the
argument that Galileo only practiced astrology toward patronage ends.
In addition to those of his family and himself, there are twenty additional
horoscopes in MS 81; only seven, however, provide an actual interpreta-
tion. There is, unfortunately, nothing like a presentation copy, nor even
a fair copy for one. Most if not all of these horoscopes were constructed
during Galileo's years in Padua. By far the most elaborate was made for
one of his patrons, Giovanfrancesco Sagredo, a Venetian noble who has
attained immortality through his postumous appearance in Galileo's Dialo-
go.51 Most, however, are anonymous. The 48 folios of the manuscript are
numbered by a modern hand; the numbering is incomplete.52 This manu
script may be characterized as the working notebook of a practicing astrol
oger, where we can watch Galileo doing the work necessary both for con
structing the horoscopes and for their interpretation.53
I will now discuss a few of Galileo's autograph horoscopes. We may
thus begin to get a feel for his astrological praxis. First we should look
at an example of what I call a 'basic horoscope'. Indeed, it is Galileo's
own horoscope dated 15/16 Feb 1564.54 It is of interest to note that the
horoscope is immediately preceded by sketches more usually associated
with his activities as a mathematicus. With respect to Galileo's horoscope,
49 And in FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo Studio (cit. note 5), II, pp. 158-160. This is what
Drake has to say in toto about ms. 81; Galileo at work (cit. note 32), p. 55: «In volume 81 of
the Galileian manuscripts there are many horoscopes and related calculations by Galileo belong
ing probably to the years 1601-2 for the most part. The horoscopes relate to members of his own
family, friends, students, and some unidentified persons. Sagredo was the subject of particularly
detailed astrological calculations. Among these papers (f. 32) there is also a drawing related to the
"wheel of Aristotle", suggesting that Galileo's analysis of that paradox began very early and per
haps put him on to the consideration of continuous magnitude on which he wrote a treatise, now
lost, while at Padua».
50 He does not, however, publish the actual horoscopes, nor rpe related tables which also
appear in MS 81.
51 His horoscope is discussed in more detail below.
52 The modern hand on the manuscript writes at the beginning (f. 2): «Fascia di pagine 48
continente diversi appunti astrologici, autografo di Galileo, meno due fogli di mano del Viviani».
Two further horoscopes appear also to be by another hand.
53 A critical edition of MS 81 is a desideratum.
54 For further discussion of this horoscope, see NOEL M. SWERDLOW, Galileo's horoscopes,
«Journal for the history of astronomy>>, 35, 2004, pp. 135-141.
there is only a basic horoscope with two figures, each having slightly differ
ent ascendants and house structures, and a brief vertical column for deter
mining the dignity of Mercury. There is no judgment.
A 'basic horoscope' consists of a horoscopic figure and two brief, clo
sely related tables. The first table is horizontal and serves to determine the
actual position of each of the planets plus the sun and moon, and the north
node of the moon (Caput draconis). The table consists of four rows (top to
bottom). The first has the symbol for each of the planets in order next to its
relevant sign for the day in question. The second row provides two ephe
meris entries for each planet at noon. The first entry is for noon on the day
of or just before the date and time in question; the second is for noon the
day of or the following day, depending on whether the time for the figure is
before or after noon. The third row provides the difference between these
two numbers, that is, how far the planet or luminary traveled during the 24
hours between the two ephemeris entries. Based on this information, the
final column provides the number to be added to the first ephemeris figure
in row two to arrive at the proper location of each planet. In other words,
Galileo determines how far each planet moved between the ephemeris en
try for noon and the time for which the horoscope was constructed.
The second table, then, provides this last figure for each of the planets in
a vertical column in the same order, but top to bottom this time, along with
the planet's direction (direct or retrograde) and speed, two further astrolo
gically significant characteristics. These two tables for a basic horoscope are
found with almost all of the horoscopes in MS 81; they provide the mini
mum information required for erecting the figure. In addition, one must de
termine the ascendent, midheaven and house cusps, for which Galileo used
tables of houses, namely, those of Stadius and Magini, whose ephemerides
he used for the planetary data. Once the figure has been erected, then one
may construct the other tables which we find in Galileo's manuscript, all of
which - for example, tables of aspects, dignities and directions - are or
iented toward making the judgment, that is, the astrological interpretation.
Thus there are two basic parts to an astrological consultation: (1) erecting
the horoscope (our 'basic horoscope'), and (2) determining the judgment
(drawing up the relevant tables, and composing the judgment).
The next horoscopes to be discussed are those of Galileo's now famous
daughters, Virginia and Livia. First, Virginia, Galileo's oldest daughter,
who was born Aug 12, 1600, and later became Sister Maria Celeste. We
find a basic horoscope, which also has a table of dignities on the same
sheet; there are two figures, with one literally pasted over the other. This
is followed by another table of dignities. There is also a brief judgment
in Latin. Let us now look over Galileo's paternal shoulder, as it were, at the
astrological interpretation of Virginia's horoscope. The elementary expla
natory glosses are mine:
Virginia's character (De monbus Virginiae)

First, therefore, Saturn, Mercury and the Moon in separated places, that is,
with no aspect between them, indicates a certain discord between the rational
[Mercury and Saturn] and sensitive faculty [Moon] , because Mercury is the stron
gest and in the sign it rules.5 5 But since the Moon [which rules the affects] is weak
and found in an obedient sign, reason rules the affects.56
Saturn, the significator of mores, since it is exalted,57 promises that they [the
mores] are proper and severe, although mixed with some poison, which, although
mitigated and tempered by a beneficial sextile [60 degree] aspect of fortunate Ju
piter with a powerful Mercury, makes one, additionally, patient of labors and dis
turbances, solitary, taciturn, sparing, desirous of one's own advantage, jealous, but
not always t ruthful in promises. Also, a f o rtunate Sun bestows a certain air of
authority and arrogance of manner on a person. Spica rising adds in addition
charm and piety. Libra, a human sign, supplies humanity and civility.58
Her mind (De ingenio)

With respect to her mind, Mercury endowed with many dignities 59 promises
a fine mind. Moreover, since Jupiter is conjoined,60 it increases wisdom, prudence
and humanity. Also a fortunate and powerful Saturn especially benefits memory.
And Libra rising with many planets favors intelligence.61
ss Mercury is at 3 Virgo 9 in Virginia's horoscope; Mercury rules Virgo according to the
rules of astrology.
S6 «Primo itaque [Satumus] [Mercurius] et [Luna] in locis separatis, et nullo aspectu se
intuentibus discordiam quandam inter rationalem atque potentiam et sensitivam denotent, quia
tamen [Mercurius] fortissimus ac in signo imperante. [Luna] vero debilis et in signo obediente
reperitur dominabitur ratio affectibus». The transcription is from FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo
Studio (cit. note 5), II, p. 158 with minor corrections (in italics) based on my reading of MS
81. I write out the names of the planets, signs and aspects in brackets where Favaro prints
the symbols.
s7 A planet's exaltation is one of its essential dignities; see EADE, Forgotten sky (cit. note 48),
pp. 64-65. Saturn is indeed exalted in Libra; Virginia's Saturn is at 21 degrees Libra.
ss « [Saturnus] significator morum cum somissus sit [F. est] eos rectos et severos pollicetur
icet
l veneno aliquo permixtos, quod tamen beneficio [Iovis] felicis cum [Mercurio] validissimo
aspectu [sextile] mitigatur et contemperatur facit preterea laborum et molestiarum patientem,
solitariam, taciturnam, parcam, proprii comodi studiosam, zelotipam, in promissionibus tamen
non semper veracem. [Sol] quoque fortunatus autoritatem quandam' persone et mon's [F. mos] su
perbiam tribuit. Spica ascendens leporem et religionem superaddit. [Libra] quoque [F. quaque]
humanum signum humanitatem et mansuetudinem prestat».
S9 In the table of dignities on f. 25a, Mercury does indeed have 8 dignities. Dignities are
added up and then compared with debilities to determine the relative strengths of the planets
in a horoscope. See EADE, Forgotten sky (cit. note 48), pp. 59-88.
60 J upiter at 29 Leo 41 is less than 4 degrees away from Mercury at 3 Virgo 9.
61 «Quo ad ingenium [Mercurius] pluribus dignitatibus praeditus [F. preadictus] felicem

For Livia, Galileo's younger daughter, born Aug 18, 160 1 , we have a
basic horoscope, with a table of dignities, and a judgment in Latin. Here
is Galileo's judgement of Livia's horoscope:
Livia's character (De moribus Liviae)

Mercury and the Moon in separated signs indicates a certain discord between
the rational faculty [Mercury] and the affects of the senses [Moon]. Nevertheless,
the weak Moon is dominated by a most fortunate Mercury to such an extent that
2
the sensitive part is wholly subject to the rational. 6
Mercury, here the significator of mores, when conjoined with benign Jupiter
in a partile sextile aspect to Venus promises quite elegant and praiseworthy affects
and mores. And since Spica, preceding graceful Mercury, adds charm and piety,
accordingly she will be powerful in sharpness of wit, alert and cautious, doing
everything with ease; [she is] a poet [and] mathematician; learning many things
without a teacher, she is a good imitator, adapting herself to every time and per
son.63
Her mind (De ingenio)
Mercury on the rising angle produces a powerful mind fitted to all things.
Moreover, by its approaching to Jupiter, wisdom, probity, simplicity, erudition,
prudence and humanity are increased. Moreover, sextile Venus wonderfully in
creases enthusiasm and charm of speech and manners. Nevertheless, let her be
ware lest, because of the Moon's bad placement,64 she understands well but de
liberates badly, and she counsels others well, but herself very badly.65
The last horoscope to be examined is by far the most detailed found in

MS 81, that of Giovanfrancesco Sagredo, born June 19, 1571. There is a
pollicetur ingenium. Cum autem [Iupiter] associetur, sapientiam prudentiam et humanitatem au
get. [Satumus] quoque felix et potens memoriam praecipue adiuvat. [Libra] quoque cum pluri
bus planetis ascendens ingenio favet».
62 FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo Studio (cit. note 5), II, pp. 159-160: «[Mercurius] et [Luna]
in signis separatis discordiam quandam inter rationalem atque potentiarn et sensuum affecrus,
denotant, verumtamen a [Mercurio] fortunatissimo [F. fortunatissima] adeo [Luna] debilis su
peratur ut omnino sensitiva pars rationali subiicietur [F. subiici et]».
63 «[Mercurius] morum hie significator cum [love] coniunctus benigno [Venere] [sextili]
aspectu partibili affectus mores elegantes ad modum et laudibiles pollicetur. Spica quoque [Mer
curio] precedens lepore cum venustate et religione superaddit erit itaque et ingenii acumine pol
lens docilis cauta cum desteritate omnia faciens poeta matematica sine doctore multa discens,
bona immitatrix cuivis tempore et persone se accomodans».
64 Indeed, the Moon at 17 Aries 22 is in a squared (90 degree) malefic aspect to Venus and
Mars at 20 Cancer 29 and 10 Cancer 2 respectively.
65 «[Mercurius] in angulo ascendente fortissimum ingenium rebus omnibus accomodatum
exibet: per accessum autem ad [Iovem] sapientia augetur probitas simplicitas eruditio prudentia
humanitas. [Sextilis] autem [Venus] alacritatem et gratiam sermonis et morum mirifice auget.
Caveat tamen ne ob malum [Lunae] positum bene quidem intelligat sed male deliberet, atque
aliis [F. aliquem (?)] bene szbi [F. om.] vero pessime consulat>�.
basic horoscope with a table of dignities; another table of dignities; a table

of directions of Venus; and a page of three tables: (i) progressions of the
ascendent; (ii) directions of the midheaven; and (iii) directions of the
moon. There is also a quite extensive table which goes through each house
of the horoscope noting every astrologically significant feature. The judg
ment follows, or at least a brief sketch thereof. The tables preparatory to
this judgment are by far the most elaborate. Indeed, the thoroughness of
Galileo's astrological praxis is quite striking. From the extensive tables
and the language of the judgments, we can see how deeply immersed Ga
lileo was in the technical details of astrological practice.
In addition to MS 8 1 , there is a further rich source of evidence for Ga

lileo's astrological knowledge and practice within a patronage context and
otherwise, his letters.66 The earliest instance of astrology in Galileo's corre
spondence is letter 87, from Giovanfrancesco Sagredo in Venice to Galileo
in Padua, dated October 1 8, 1602. There are two relevant passages. First
Sagredo tells Galileo that he told an unnamed gentleman about the nativity
Galileo composed and sent to Sagredo, and that he will leave it up to the
gentleman to ask him questions about it, which, presumably, he will then
foiward on to Galileo. Sagredo then tells Galileo that he can wait on his
own nativity (presumably the same one in MS 8 1 ) until it is convenient
for Galileo. 67 The second relevant part of the letter provides a critical dis
cussion of an otherwise unidentified Moresini's time and date of birth.68
Although he does not explicitly say so, this is very likely in order for Ga
lileo to construct Moresini' s horoscope. In these two passages, then, it
seems that Sagredo, one of Galileo's most important patrons in Venice,
was functioning as a middleman as well as a client for Galileo's astrological
practice in Padua. 69
66 OG, XX , p. 78, sub voce «astrologia (giudiziaria)», for the references: ERNST, Nuovi cieli
(cit. note 22), pp. 250-251, briefly discusses some of these.

67 OG, X, pp. 96-97: «Ho detto a quel gentil'huomo dalla nativita quello che V.S. Ecc.ma
mi scrive: lasciero a lui la cura di sollecitarmi; della mia [sc. nativita] prendero la sua commodita
(lines 8-9)». The editorial and explanatory bracketed insertions in this and the following letters
are Favaro's. I wish here to record my thanks to Guido Giglioni for helping me grasp some of the
intricacies and archaisms of Galileo's and his correspondents' expression in this and the other
letters.
68 Ibid. , lines 10-21. There are several Venetian Morosini mentioned in Favaro's lndice Bio
grafico (OG, XX, pp. 490-491), but none with this exact birthday. The closest, Tommaso (3),
was born May 25, 1586.
69 For Galileo's patronage relationship with Sagredo, see BIAGIOLI, Galileo courtier
(cit. note 42), .3 1-2.
Letter 838, from Francesco Rasi - a gifted tenor who sang at the wed
ding of Marie de' Medici to Henry IV, king of France - in Mantua to Ga
lileo in Florence, dated Jan 28, 1 6 1 3 , refers to Galileo's earlier trip to Man
tua, probably the one in March 1604, when he was seeking patronage from
the Gonzaga. Taward the beginning of this extensive letter, which Rasi
wrote after quite a long hiatus in their correspondence, he refers to the mis
fortunes which all amazingly (cosa di stupore) happened point-by-point as
Galileo had told him they would in passing as a joke (quasi da scherzo in un
subito) when Galileo had cast his horoscope many years before. 70 Most of
the letter is taken up with him recounting his misfortunes, many of which
concern his stepmother.
The most extended astrological correspondence Galileo had was with a
Veronese physician, Ottavio Brenzoni.7 1 They had an ongoing relationship
involving the interpretion of astrological material toward a medical end. All
the relevant letters are from Brenzoni to Galileo. In the first letter (nr. 1 3 0)
of Dec 19, 1605,72 after a brief discussion of two different ephemerides
(lines 9-15), Brenzoni discusses the case of a man, apparently with an ad
vanced case of syphilis. First (11 . 20-3 3 ) he discusses the man's medical si
tuation in some detail; then (ll. 3 3-44) he discusses certain particularities of
his horoscope, including several future directions.
In their second letter (nr. 194), dated June 2 1 , 1608,73 there are also
astrological matters, and originally a horoscope was attached (lines 8-
1 1 ).74 The third letter (nr. 20 1), from Dec 18, 1608,75 is actually from Cur-
70 OG, XI, p. 472, lines 7-10: «[. . .] essendomi puntualmente occorse (cosa di stupore) tutte
quelle disgrazie che gia V.S., in facendo molti anni sono in quel mio studio in Mantova la mia
figura [sc. astrologica], quasi da scherzo in un subito mi diceva». See also letter 97 (May 22,
1604), also from Galileo's time of seeking patronage in Mantua, where he writes from Padua
to Vincenzo Gonzaga in Mantua responding to Vincenzo's request for information on a physi
cian, Aurelio Capra, from Milan, and his son Baldassar. This is Galileo's description of the son
(OG, X, p. 106, lines 25-30): «Il figliuolo, che gia e di 24 anni circa, oltre a i paterni stud.ii attende
anco alla medicina Secondo la via Galeno, per mescolarla con l'altra empirica et fame un com
posto perfetto; et oltre a cio ha fatto, et tuttavia fa, studio nelle cose di astronomia et di astrologia
giudiciaria, nella quale da mo[lti] e tenuto che habbia et prattica et giudizi[o] [es]quisito».
11 There s i no DBI article (Dzionari
i o Biogra/ico degli Italanz1.
i This is all Favaro has to say
in his Ind.ice Biografico (OG, XX, p. 402): <<l3RENZONI, 0rr AVIO, di famiglia nobile veronese,
nacque di Alessandro e di Livia Mona in Verona verso il 1576. Fu ascritto al Collegio dei medici
di Verona il 13 novembre 1604. Mori il 1° maggio 1630». Brenzoni also seems to appear in the
inquisitorial records of 1604 to be examined in the following section.
n
OG, X, pp. 152-153.
73 Ibid., p. 194.
74 In a footnote ( 1 ), Favaro notes: «A questa lettera non e allegata alcuna figura; abbiamo
bensi trovato un oroscopo, accompagnato da uno schema di nativita, che fu annesso alla lettera
no. 1 15 [also from Brenzoni]; ma e per il dubbio che sia proprio la cosa qui richiamata, e per le
nessuna sua importanza, ne abbiamo omessa la riproduzione>>.
75 Ibid. , p. 224.
zio Picchena, an important Medici secretary,76 in Florence to Galileo in Pa

dua. It is relevant here because in this letter Picchena tells Galileo about
the communication he had had with Brenzoni concerning his daughter's
time of birth. She almost died in parturition, which dramatic circumstance
Picchena used as significant information for rectifying the time of her birth.
The time was in doubt because the problems with the birth kept those in
attendance from indicating its precise time to those waiting outside. 77 In
their final relevant letter of Dec 15, 1609 (nr. 258), Brenzoni sends Galileo
a judgment in Latin on a horoscope with some medical content, which Fa
varo prints (OG, X, p. 272, lines 12-27). Further research is required to
better understand what appears to be a unique relationship for Galileo
with Brenzoni.
There are three further letters with astrological content from 1 6 1 1 .
Two will be discussed here; the third, from Galileo to Piero Dini (nr.
532), will be discussed shortly in the section treating Galileo's own views
on astrology. Both letters are associated with the cultural circle around
Margherita Birago Sarrocchi, who had a salon in Rome for some thirty
years, about which I would like to know a great deal more. 78 In letter
469 (Jan 28, 1 6 1 1 ), Luca Valerio in Rome wrote to Galileo in Florence that
Jupiter's companions, that is, the Medicean stars, will be very useful for
astrological judgments because it has been observed many times that that
planet (Jupiter), even when it has the same aspects 79 or conjunctions or
76 According to Favaro (Indice Biografico; OG, XX, p. 506), Picchena was born in 1553
and became a secretary of state at a very young age (which Favaro does not indicate) under
the protection of Belisario Vinta. Picchena was secretary of the embassy to France, then Madrid,
then the Imperial court. From 1601-13 he was granducal secretary, which he was in this letter to
Galileo. On Vinta's death, he became the premier secretary of state, dying in 1626. See BIAGIOLI,
Galileo Courtier (cit. note 42), for discussion of Picchena in context ad indicem.
77 OG, X, p. 224, lines 18-22: «Da tale accidente potette forse awenire che si tardo un poco
a dar awiso della nascita a quelli che stavano fuor della camera per notar l'hora. Et il sopradetto
pericolo mi par assai notabile per poter rettificare la nativita, non essendocene fin hora occorso
alcun altro».
78 She has no DBI entry. Favaro has this to say (Iodice Biografico; OG, XX, p. 392): «Nac
que a Napoli; ma le scarsissime notizie che ce ne sumministrano l'Eritreo nella Pinacotheca ed il
Cappaccio negli Illustrium mulierum elogia non ci permettono di fissarne nemmeno approssima
tivamente l'anno della nascita, che pero deve essere stato verso il 1560. Condusse la maggior
pane della sua vita in Roma; e nella sua casa, prima e dopo il suo m:ttrirnonio con uno de' Biraghi
[whom Favaro does not further identify], tenne per oltre trent' anni fiorente circolo, nel quale
convenivano i piu illustri letterati di Roma ed i cospicui personaggi che per Roma erano di pas
saggio. [One wishes that Favaro had gone into more detail here ! ] La storia letteraria registra il
suo poema eroico la Scanderbeide, che canta le gesta dell'eroe epirota Scander-beg. Manco ai vivi
in Roma nel 1618». Luca Valerio, the author of the first letter, was a devoted member of her
circle.
79 Aspects are astrologically significant angular relations between the planets: normally 60,
90, 120 and 180 degrees; see EADE, Forgotten sky (cit. note 48), pp. 61-62.
9
other circumstances, has been shown to be very different in its effects. Va
lerio says that the cause of this variation has not been known before now
due to the ignorance of these new lights, that is, the moons of Jupiter.80
Indeed, Galileo develops this theme in his letter of five months later to
Piero Dini, as we will see.
The second letter (nr. 579), of Sep 10, 1 6 1 1, is from Margherita Sarroc
chi herself in Rome to Galileo in Florence. She tells Galileo that a certain
Padre Innocentio, an Augustinian friar in Perugia, sent a note to one of her
servants asking her to examine a certain nativity, and to tell him, on behalf
of the University of Perugia, her opinion about the new stars which Galileo
discovered.8 1 «l did him the favor concerning the nativity», she told
Galileo:
and he asked me to look at another, of a little girl who had suffered an amazing
experience (un accidente maravigliosa). Her mother, thinking that she had
strangled her, threw her into a ditch. The little girl was then heard crying, and,
having been rescued, she recovered splendidly and is alive. This happened in Per
ugia, where the said Father lives, to whom I wrote that he should send me the na
tivity. He is sending it to me already calculated. 82
Letter 916, from Franciotto Orsini in Rome to Galileo in Florence, da

ted Aug 24, 1 6 1 3 , is quite interesting.83 Orsini wrote to Galileo concerning
a certain Prosper0 Aldorisio, about whose character and knowledge he
should like to learn more. Orsini then proposes an astrological experiment:
Since I am a bit curious, if there were a famous astrologer in Florence, I would

send from here someone's nativity and I would ask that he give his opinion about
it; and from there I would ask that there be sent to me the character of someone
else, so that Aldorisio here could write his opinion for you (Galileo); so that per-
80 «[ . . . ] e dicendole che i compagni di Giove, scoperti da V.S., apporteranno grand'utile alli

giudicii astrologici, poi ch'e stato osservato molte volte che tal pianeta, con li medesimi aspetti o
congiuntioni et altre circostanze, si e mostrato negli effeti da se medesimo molto differente, non
sapendosi la causa della varieta non per altro che per la ignoranza di quest'altri lumi» (OG, XI,
p. 37, lines 4-9).
81 Ibid. , p. 206, lines 6-9: «Scrisse gia un Padre Innocentio, frate di S.10 Agostino, che Sta in
Perugia in S.ta Maria Novella, ad un rnio servitore, che desiderava che io vedessi una sua certa
nativita, et insieme mi fece pregare, da parte dello Studio di Perugia, che io gli dicesse la mia
opinione circa le nuove stelle ritrovate da V.S.».
82 Ibid. , p. 206, 11. 9-15: «lo le feci il piacere della nativita, egli ne fece chiedere un'altra
d'una fanciulla, alla quale era succeduto un accidente maraviglioso; la cui madre, pensando ha
verla strangolata, la getto in una chiavica, et la fanciulla fu poi sentita piangere, et pigliata se ri
sano benissimo, et vive. Il caso successe in Perugia, dove si trova detto Padre, al quale io scrissi
che mi mandasse la nativita. Egli me la mando calculata [. .. ]». The egli in line 9 is Guido Giglio
ni's suggestion for the «[et] gID> printed by Favaro.
83 Ibid. , pp. 556-557.
haps we could judge how this new knowledge (questa nova scienza) harmonizes
with astrology. 84
Another part of the same letter dealing with astrology is set off typogra
phically on the left side of the page:
If you think that there is a better experiment (esperienza) than asking the as
trologer to make two nativities and asking Aldorisio here to make his judgement
from what is written from these two [nativities], please let me know, because I
cannot deny that I am amazed and curious to see to what point astrology can
reach.85
At the bottom of the letter is printed a character description of both

body and mind:
Giudica il temperamento del corpo sanguigno: habbia I'occhio piu presto ca
vato in dentro, la fronte grande, il color della came biondo scuro, di pelo casta
gnaccio lucido, di statura conveniente, piu presto aha. De l'anima, sii persona nel
l'attioni violento (lines 33-6).
Although the contents of this letter are not perfectly clear due to the
convoluted nature of the language, 86 the astrological experiment seems re
latively clear: Galileo should find a famous astrologer in Florence (perhaps
himself? ) to whom he will give Aldorisio' s character description and a horo
scope. This astrologer will then describe the character reflected in the horo
scope and, working backward, reconstruct the horoscope from which the
character description came. Aldorisio will then do the same with the similar
material sent by the astrologer in Florence. Galileo apparently never re
spond ed to Orsini's interesting b u t seemingly ill-conceived experiment.
Letter 1308 is from Cardinal Alessandro d'Este in Modena to Galileo
in Florence, dated March 2, 1618 . 87 Cardinal Alessandro requests that Ga-
84 «Et perche mi trasporta un poco la curiosita, desiderarei, se vi fosse in Firenze qualche

astrologo erninente, mandarei di qua la nativita di alcuno, che vi facesse sopra il suo discorso, et
di la mi si mandasse il carattere di alcun altro, che qui dall'Aldorisio vi farrei scrivere; che forse
cosi si potrebbe giudicare come convenisse questa nova scienza con l'astrologia» (lines 14-19),
«Questa nova scienza» here seems to refer to Galileo's telescopic cilkoveries, especially Jupiter's
moons.
85 «Se altra esperienza megliore che il far l'astrologo due nativita, e dallo scritto dell'istessi
due (con il carattere) si facesse il giuditio qui dal Sr. Aldorisio, mi facci piacere avisarmene, che
non posso negare non mi apporti amiratione e curiosita di vedere a che arivi all'astrologia>> (lines
25-30).
86 The translation here is more of a paraphrase than a precise translation.
s7 Favaro described this letter as «autografa la firma>>; OG, XII , p. 375.
lileo construct his horoscope; in recompense he offers any way he can help,
forever, in any matter. This letter is brief and worth quoting in full :
Con la confidenza che mi promette l'amorevolezza di V.S. le mando l'inclusa

nota,88 pregandola di fare la nativita, conforme a quello che vedra in essa. Di qui
argomenti V.S. la stima che fo della sua virtu; e creda che altrettanta sara l'obliga
tione che le ne havro, per contracambiarle questo piacere in ogni cosa sempre di
suo gusto. E le auguro somma prosperita.
Although we apparently do not possess this horoscope, it is extremely

unlikely that Galileo would have refused such a request from the Este car
dinal. This letter provides another splendid example of Galileo's use of as
trology in a patronage context. 89
Antonino Poppi recently discovered some interesting documents con
cerning the Venetian Inquisition.90 Most relate to Cesare Cremonini, Ga

lileo's colleague at Padua, a professor of natural philosophy; but some re
late to Galileo. We learn that Galileo had been denounced to the Inquisi
tion in Padua in 1 604 for practicing a deterministic astrology; that he was
denounced by his former amenuensis, Silvestro. Pagnoni (from Pesaro),
who had lived in Galileo's house for eighteen months; 91 and that the
powers that were in Venice reviewed and summarily dismissed the
charges.92 What is even more interesting, especially for understanding Ga
lileo's relation to astrology, is the light the accuser's testimony throws on
Galileo's practice of astrology in the earliest years of the seventeeenth cen
tury, while he was professor of mathematics at Padua, and during the very
time that he drew up the horoscopes in MS 8 1 . The value in Pagnoni's tes
timony comes from his being an eye-witness - however hostile - who ac
tually lived in Galileo's house. We learn that Galileo drew up various na
tivities for a variety of people. I quote from Pagnoni's official denuncia
tion: 93
88 Favaro notes here (1): «Non e presentemente allegata alla lettera».

89 Biagioli refers to this letter in a discussion of gift giving; Galileo Courtier (cit. note 42),
p. 43.
90 .ANTONINO POPPI, Cremonim; Galilei e gli inquisitori del santo a Padova, Padova, Centro
Studi Antoniani, 1993.
9 1 This is Poppi's very probable conjecture; zbid. , p. 19f.
92 This is recorded in document VI: <<ll govemo veneziano valuta l'inconsistenza delle de
nunce contro Cremonini e Galilei>>; ibid. , pp. 55-56. Poppi's note ( 1 ) is very informative.
93 Document V: «La Denuncia contro il Galileo». It is dated April 2 1 , 1604; ibid. ,
pp. 5 1 -54.
For the discharge of my conscience and by the commandment of my father

confessor, I have come forward to the Holy Office to denounce Signor Galileo
Galilei public mathematicus at the University of Padua, because I saw him, in
his office (camara sua), make numerous nativities for numerous persons, upon
which he made his judgment. He made one judgment on one nativity, where he
said that the person had twenty more years to live, and he held it as firm and in
dubitable that that judgment would follow. He spoke one day with a gentleman
from beyond the Alps, a German, named Giovanni Svainim, for whom he had
made a nativity. When he had left, Galileo said that another nativity which had
been made for him was no good; it was wholly to the contrary.94
We should note that the onus of the charge is not that Galileo was
practicing astrology per se, which has now been shown to be a normal part
of a premodern mathematician's practice. Rather, Pagnoni accuses Galileo
of practicing a deterministic astrology which must tum out the way he says,
implying, therefore, that the client does not have free will .
In the documents published by Poppi, Pagnoni says that they can get
further information about these activities from a Signor Ottavio who lives
on Via Rudena.95 Poppi reasonably identifies this Signor Ottavio with Ot
tavio Brenzoni, the Veronese physician whose astrological correspondence
with Galileo was just discussed. Brenzoni was in Padua in June 1601 to
make a declaration of faith for his doctorate there. In Feb 1604 he ap
peared as a witness for a doctorate in philosophy and medicine in the ca
pacity of a philosophiae et medicinae doctor.96 Pagnoni says that he knows
him, but that he only saw Ottavio once during the eighteen months he
lived in Galileo's house. 97
After discussing Galileo's mother and Cremonini among others, the in
terrogator returns to the facts at issue: «You said before that this Galileo
makes a firm judgment in the nativities he made; this is a heresy. What can
94 «lo, per scarico della consciencia mia et commandamento del mio padre confessore, io
son venuto a denonciare al S. Officio el signore Galileo Galilei mathematico publico nel Studio di
Padova, per che io gli ho veduto in camara sua fare diverse nativita per diverse persone, sopra le
quali gli fece el suo giudicio. Et glie ne fece una a uno, che gli disse che haveva da viver ancora 20
anni, et el suo giudicio lo teneva per fermo et indubitato che dovesse seguire. Et un giomo par
lando con un gentilhuomo oltra montano todescho, chiamassi Giovanni Svainim, per el quale
fece una nativita, che e partito gli disse che un'altra nativita che lui se haveva fatto fare non
era buona, et era tutta al contrario» (ibid. , p. 5 1 ).
95 «Dicens interrogatus: De queste nativita se potrebbe haver informatione da un signor Ot
tavio: soleva stare in Ruina [Rudena], in casa de un Iseppo Bressam, col quale com.municava assai
de queste nativita»; ibid., p. 52.
96 Ibid., p. 57 (n. 5).
97 Ibid., p. 58.
you say he believes, then, in matters of the faith»?98 Fagnoni responds: «l

know that he said that, and that he makes firm judgements in the nativities,
but I did not know that that was considered heresy».99 On May 5 , 1604,
the Venetian authorities dismissed the charges as groundless. 1 00
There are two points to be made here. First, no one is disputing that
Galileo had an astrological practice. The only point at issue is whether Ga
lileo practiced a problematic deterministic astrology. 101 The other point is
that this evidence, which clearly indicates that Galileo had an office in Pa
dua where he constructed and interpreted horoscopes, can then be used to
flesh out evidence presented in Galileo Galilei e lo Studio di Padova, where
Favaro edited the contents of one of Galileo's notebooks which recorded
money he received in various contexts, but primarily for private teaching
and for supplying instruments. 102 In addition to payments received for lec
tures on De sphera, mechanics, perspective and fortification, there are also
five notices for payments received per sortem, one of which is dated Jan 1 ,
1603: dall'illustre signor Sweinitz per sortem, for which Galileo received 60
Venetian lire. This is the same person mentioned in Pagnoni's accusation
of the following year. Another, dated Feb 28, 1603 , is for Giovanni's
brother: dal signor Giovanni Sweinitz per letioni de.Ila Sfera et da suo fratello
per sortem. 1 03 There are also three other persons registered for payments
per sortem: March 2 , 1 603 Lerbac per sortem (p. 152). The last two are re
corded together for Oct 22, 1603: Sig. Massimiliano in name dei signori
Cristofaro e Marco Stettner per sortes (p. 153 ) . The horoscope for Christo
foro Stettner exists in MS 8 1 (f. 36).
It is now time to discuss the much less easily tractable question of Ga
lileo's personal views and beliefs regarding astrology. We have indubitable
98 «Voi havette detto di sopra che esso Gailleo nelle nativita che fa , Jui fa el suo giudicio fermo:
questa e un'heresia; come potete dire adonque che nelle cose della fede Jui creda» (ibid. , p. 54).
99 «lo so che ha detto questo et che fa el suo giudicio fermo nelle nativita, ma non so mo
che questo sia stato deciso heresia>> (ibid.).
1 00 «[. ..] non potendosi vedere, per la qualita di esse, che ne possa esser comprobatione sus
sistente nelle imputationi che sono state date alli sopradetti lettori; scuoprendosi esser leggieris
sime et di nessuno memento quelle del Gaillei>> (ibid. , p. 55).
1 01 Once again, Poppi has an informative footnote; ibid. , p. 62, n. 1: «In effetti, l'astrologia
giudiziaria era praticata in quei tempi anche su richiesta di cardinali e altri uomini di chiesa, senza
comportare percio sospetto di eresia. Dimostrare, poi, che J'influsso astrale nell'intenzione di Ga
lilei fosse escludente la liberta dell'agire umano non era questione facile ne sicura; quanto alla sua
vita privata, infine, non doveva esser questa materia pertinente al Sant'Ufficio».
1 02 FAVARO, Galileo Galilei e lo Studio (cit. note 5), II, pp. 147££. Poppi discusses this in
detail in Cremonini e Galilei (cit. note 91), pp. 5 1-52 (n. 3).
to3 FAVARO, Galileo Galtlei e lo Studio (cit. note 5), II, p. 1 5 1 .
evidence that Galileo practiced astrology rather extensively, as we have

seen from both his autograph manuscript of horoscopes, with their exten
sive tables and several judgments, and from the evidence of his letters.
Furthermore, it is quite clear that he did not only practice astrology qua
courtier, for he drew up his own, his daughters' and other family members'
horoscopes, apparently for his own consultation. Unfortunately, none of
this provides specific details of Galileo's own personal views regarding
astrology. 1 04
We do, however, have an extensive letter (532) from Galileo to Mon
signor Piero Dini at Rome, dated May 2 1 , 161 1 , where Galileo responds to
critiques made about his claims in the Sidereus nuncius.1 05 In this letter,
Galileo could be seen as explicitly discussing his own views concerning ce
lestial influences. 1 06 I will only discuss three passages here. 107 Galileo's let
ter to Dini responds to letter 530, which Dini received in Rome from Co
simo Sassetti in Perugia, dated May 14, 161 1 . Dini apparently communi
cated this letter to Galileo, in which Sassetti tells Dini that there is a gran
rumore against Galileo in Perugia about two things in particular: one, that
the telescope makes something appear that does not exist, and, two, that
even if they (the Medicean stars) do exist, they are so small that they have
no influence.108
1 04 Perhaps his marginal annotations in books or manuscripts which he read may give us
more insight into his personal views. Certainly the extent of detail in the tables indicates that
he took his practice of astrology seriously.
1 0s This brief biographical sketch of Dini is distilled from the 1991 DBI article (40, pp. 158-
159) by G. Fonnichetti: Born in Florence in the second part of the sixteenth century to a noble
family, Dini began an ecclesiatical career at Rome in the train of his increasingly powerful mater
nal uncle, Cardinal Ottavio Bandini (see DBI sub voce). He was a member of two prestigious
Flon::nline academies: the Accademia della Crusca and the Accademia Fiorentina, of which he
was consul in 1605. In April 1 6 1 1 along with Cardinal Bandini and others he assisted with Ga
Weo's demonstrations concerning sunspots in the gardens of the Quirinal at Rome at the time he
began his friendship with GaWeo. In 1615 Dini was actively involved with Ciampoli and Cesi
supporting GaWeo in the troubles concerning his orthodoxy. In 162 1 , Gregory XV made Dini
archbishop of Fermo, where he died, August 14, 1625.
106 Although this letter could indicate GaWeo's own views, one would not want to push this
evidence too hard, primarily because GaWeo would have been obligated to argue strongly for the
efficacy ofJupiter's moons' influences. Otherwise, his gift to the Medici would be of considerably
less courtly value. Furthermore, in the key passage discussed below, GaWeo builds his argument
on an increasing series of conditionals, with the protases of the so�: 'if we grant x, then y', with x
being something that his interlocutor (an unnamed Roman astrologer) would grant. Indeed,
there seems to be a studied ambiguity here between his strongly rhetorically conditioned argu
ments for Jupiter's moons' efficacy in a semi-public epistolary courtly context and his own per
sonal views.
101 I hope to treat the contents of this letter more fully in the near future.
1 0s OG, XI, p. 103, lines 1-5: «[ ..] Qua e un gran rumore contra al S. GaWeo; e a dua de'
.
principali [ . ] cio e, che 0 l'occhiale faccia apparire quello che non e, 0 si vero, quando pur sieno,
..
sieno tanto minimi, che non influischino».

Galileo treats both of these concerns in his response to Dini, who will
broker his response to Perugia. The first part of the letter treats their ex
istence (lines 1 -66); the second and much larger section is devoted to de
fending their influence (11. 67 -3 54). I will only treat here one general state
ment asserting and two arguments defending their influence, where Galileo
could be interpreted as presenting his own views. First the assertion:
Let us allow to the larger celestial bodies the greater actions (operazioni) on
things below, as the changes of season, commotions of the seas and the winds, dis
turbances of the air, and (if they have actions on us) the constitutions and disposi
tions of the body, the general qualities and complexions, and other similar influ
ences. 1 09
The two arguments I will discuss occur toward the end of the defense,
in his response to an unnamed Roman astrologer whom Galileo had re
cently encountered. First he discusses the mechanisms of planetary influ
ence: light and motion, demonstrating that although they are small, they
are still quite powerful:
Now I add, furthermore, that if that which these astrologers and many philo
sophers affirm is true, that the stars operate by means of light and motion; and
further, if it is true that the larger lights influence more effectively, it should also
be the case that the speed of their motion and the swift and frequent changes give
them much advantage over the heaviness and slowness of the stars which travel
slowly: and if that is the case, the actions of the four new planets should be very
strong indeed ( operazione ... veementissime) , being endowed with such swift per
iods that the slowest of them finishes its revolution around Jupiter in little more
than 16 days, and the fastest in less then two days. 1 10
Therefore, that which is lacking in them due to the weakness of their light, can
be compensated splendidly by the swiftness of their motion; and if all four to
gether, for example, are half the size of Saturn, they are, in contrast, thousands
of times faster than it. How much, then, they can help and alter the operations
1 09 Ibid. , p. 1 1 1 , 11. 188-92: <<Lascinsi dunque a i corpi celesti piu vasti le operazioni piu
grandi nelle cose inferiori, come le mutazioni delle stagioni, le commozioni de i mari e de i venti,
le perturbazioni dell'aria, et (se hanno operazione sopra di noi) le costituzioni e disposizioni del
corpo, le generali qualiti e complessioni, et simili altri influssi>>.
1 1 0 Ibid. , p. 1 14 , ll. 270-78: «Hora io soggiungo, di piu, che se e vero quello che essi astro
logi et molti filosofi affermano, che le stelle operino lumine et motu; et piu se e vero che i lumi piu
grandi piu efficacemente influischino; dovera anco la velocita del moto et le celeri et frequenti
mutazioni vantaggiarsi molto sopra la pigrizia e tardita delle stelle che lentamente caminano:
et se questo e, le operazioni de i 4 nuovi pianeti doveranno essere veementissime, sendo loro do
tati di periodi cosi veloci, che il piu tardo di essi finisce la sua revoluzione intomo a Uupiter] in
poco piu di 16 giorni, et il piu veloce in meno di giorni 2». See DRAKE, Galileo at work (cit. note
32), p. 166 on Dini.
of Jupiter itself (if we even wish to place it first among the five), could b e gathered
with respect to particulars from future observations; and at present, in general, it
is thought by he who can conjecture the importance the four stars have, now con
junct, now divided, now all east, now all toward the west, now all part on the right
and part on the left, now all or part direct, now, on the other hand, retrograde,
now full of light and now in shadow and eclipsed; all these differences come chan
tt
ging day by day. t
Motion and light are, indeed, the two main natural philosophical me
chanisms by means of which the heavenly bodies influence the earth; this is
true from Aristotle through Albertus Magnus up to Galileo's time and be
yond. Indeed, even Giovanni Pico della Mirandola in his extensive attack
on astrology agrees that the heavens act in this way. 1 1 2 Furthermore, we
will notice that Galileo's discussion at the end of the various ways the sa
tellites of Jupiter can be related to Jupiter is very much like the description
in Luca Valerio's letter to Galileo ofJan 28, 161 1 . We should also note that
Galileo seems to consider the speed of the planets important in MS 8 1 ,
where their speed and direction is noted in most of the preliminary tables
for the basic horoscopes constructed there.
The second argument is even more striking:
But if someone should wish to go so far as to deny influence where the light of
the influencing celestial bodies does not arrive, and therefore to say that motion
without light has no efficacy to act, I, first, would ask him what light do those
places of the heavens have where there is not any star, and thus not its light; as
is the case with the ascendent, the midheaven, the part of fortune, and then all
those other places which move through directions, and that, without having any
star, are operative of all the effects which follow, by their opinion. 1 1 3
1 1 1 OG, XI, p. 1 14, ll. 278-91: «Quello dunque che mancasse in loro per la tenuita dd
lume, puo benissirno esser compensato dalla vdocita dd moto; et se tutti 4 insieme sono, v.g.,
la meta di Saturno, ei sono bene, all'incontro, rnille e mille volte piu vdoci di Jui. Quanto poi
ei possino coadiuvare et alterare le operazioni dell'istesso Giove (se pure noi lo vogliamo porre
per prirnario tra loro cinque), potra dalle osservazioni future particolarmente esser raccolto, et al
presente in generale stirnato da chi puo conietturare quello che irnporti !'haver quattro stelle,
hora congiunte, hora divise, hora tutte orientali, hora tutte verso occidente, hora parte a destra
e parte a sinistra, hora tutte o parte dirette, hora all'incontro retrograde, hora ripiene di luce et
hora ottenebrate et eclissate; le quali tutte diversita si vanno di giQrno in giomo alternando».
1 12 For Aristotle and his influence in the middle ages, see e.g. EDWARD GRANT, Medieval and
renassance
i scholastic conceptions of the influence of the celestial region on the terrestrial, <<Journal
of medieval and renaissance studies», 17, 1987, pp. 1-23, and chapter two of my dissertation. For
Pico's views in his Disputationes adversus astrologami divinatricem, see chapter six of my disser
tation Astrology, natural ph£losophy (cit. n. 1 ) .
1 13OG, XI, p . 1 14, ll. 292-99: «Ma quando pure alcuno volesse ristringersi a negare gl'in
flussi dove non arrivi il lume de i corpi celesti influenti, et pertanto a dire, il moto senza il lume
essere inefficace ad operare, io, prirna, gli domanderei che lume hanno quei luoghi dd cielo, dove
Galileo continues his argument with further evidence of this point, for ex
ample, asking whether the stars below the horizon have no influence be
cause their light cannot reach us through the earth? But we need not follow
him any further.
We should note, first, that in Galileo's argument he does not question
the efficacy of his four new stars. Even more striking is the nature of his
argument that, although important points of an astrological figure have
no light, they still, nevertheless, have influences, namely, ( 1 ) the ascendent,
the horoscopus, the point of the zodiac crossing the horizon at the time for
which the figure was cast at a given place; (2) the midheaven, the point of
the zodiac crossing the meridian of the place for which the horoscope was
cast at the time in question; (3) the part of fortune, a point corresponding
to a relationship between the sun, moon, and ascendent; and (4) the direc
tions of various planets, and of these and other points of a horoscope, all
important astrological predictors . 1 1 4 These are some of the most important
technical features of astrological practice to be subjected to criticism from
Pico on.
The rethorical exigencies of the letter, however, strongly conditioned
its content and render any j udgments about it expressing Galileo's own
views subject to grave doubts. Indeed, by virtue of its subject - to demon
strate against an astrologer's objection that the newly discovered moons of
Jupiter have astrological influence - Galileo is compelled to argue for their
influence regardless of his own personal views concerning celestial influ
ences or how they work. They must have influence because the value of
his courtly gift would be greatly diminished if the Medicean stars were de
termined to be so small as to lack any influence whatsoever.
His rhetorical strategy, then, is to choose premises that his opponents
embrace (see the «per lor sentenza>> caveat above) , from which he may
then draw conclusions to support arguments for influence. Unfortunately,
we can not then draw any unambiguous inferences about Galileo's own
personal views. This evidence does, however, provide some indication of
Galileo's knowledge about both normal natural philosophical positions
concerning how celestial influences work and about certain fundamental
features of astrological practice, including important points of a horoscope
and how astrologers' conceive their influence. Nevertheless, his own views
non e pure stella alcuna, non che suo lume; come e l'ascendente, il mezzo cielo, la parte della
fortuna, et poi tutti quegli' altri luoghi che loro per dirrezzioni muovono, et che, senza havervi
stella veruna, sono di tutti gl'effetti che seguono, per lor sentenza, operatori>>.
1 1 4 For all of these, see EADE, Forgotten sky (cit. note 48).
remain effectively veiled beneath his rhetorical persona, as they also were
so brilliantly veiled in the dedicatory letter to the Sidereus nuncius. At
any rate, we can see these same technical astrological features put to use
in MS 8 1 , further establishing his knowledge thereof and his willingness
to use this knowledge toward rhetorically advantageous ends.
In addition to this evidence for Galileo's knowledge of astrology, and

perhaps some indications of his own views , at least concerning the physical
nature of celestial influences, we should also treat three texts used to argue
for a rejection of astrology later in his career: two passages from the Dia
logue ( 1 632) and one in a letter to Elia Diadoti ( 1 63 3 ). 1 1 5 The first argu
ment concerns Galileo's account of the tides. Galileo's new mechanical
theory of the tides, with its explicit rejection of Kepler's views of lunar 'in
fluences' on the earth's water, is the central pillar of an argument that Ga
lileo thereby rejected «natural astrology >> . 1 1 6 What the evidence indicates,
however, is that Galileo rejected Kepler)s lunar theory of the tides, com
plete with its view that the moon effects the tides through its influence,
without in any way attacking in general the view that celestial influences
have effects on other features of life on earth. 1 1 7 That is to say, Galileo
did not directly attack natural astrology at all, but, rather, he attacked a
particular theory that used an explanation embracing celestial influences.
It is the case that Galileo could have used this attack on tidal lunar theory
as the basis of a more thoroughgoing critique of - or attack on - the basic
premise of natural astrology, namely, celestial influences overall. But if this
was his intent, he was very quiet about it. We shall be safer not to jump to
this broader conclusion in interpreting the evidence from the Dialogue.
The second text to be considered comes at the beginning of the Dialo
gue)s second day. 1 1 8 The passage directly related to astrology comes as one
in a series of examples of how certain interpreters of texts can find any
thing they desire in the particular text they are concerned with, but only
us The only extended argument I know of along these lines is by Joel B. Pollak, in his essay
for Owen Gingerich and William Newman's freshman seminar at Harvard University on the his
tory of astrology: Galileo's belief in astrology, «Journal of undergr�duate sciences», special issue
(August 1 996), pp. 35-4 1 .
1 1 6 Pollak notes that Galileo (ibid. , p . 37) had earlier held the view that the celestial bodies
effect the water as indicated in the letter to Piero Dini just discussed: <<Lascinsi dunque a corpi
celesti piu grandi nelle cose inferiori, come le mutazioni delle stagioni, le commozioni de i mari
de i venti».
l l 7 GALILEO GALILEI, Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems - Ptolemaic and Coper
nican, Stillman Drake (tr.), Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1953, p. 462.
1 1 s Ibid. , pp. 108-110.
ex post facto, whether it be a telescope in the text of Aristotle or an astro

logical prophecy in a given horoscope. 1 1 9 Pollak claims that this passage
indicates Galileo's complete and utter rejection of astrology, but there
are two major problems with using this passage to establish such a claim.
First, as any reader of Plato will immediately acknowledge, it is one thing
to say that a character in Galileo's (or Plato's) Dialogue made a statement.
It is rather more problematic to leap from this modest and accurate state
ment to the much stronger claim, that a statement by one of the characters
in the Dialogue is an accurate reflection of Galileo's own views on the sub
ject in question. To be sure, Salviati, Galileo's mouthpiece in the Dialogue,
uttered the opinion, and not, say, Simplicio who is ridiculed, which does at
least provide some measure of plausibility - or at least possibility - to the
larger claim. Even so, the passage arises as one in a series of examples ri
diculing an improper method of interpreting texts of different sorts; in
deed, it is sandwiched between Joachimite prophecies and alchemical in
terpretations of mythological events. Instead of reading the passage, then,
as a blanket condemnation of all astrological practitioners, it seems more
prudent, at the very least, to interpret the passage as a criticism of an ob
jectionable type of astrological practice. Indeed, astrologers at all times
have been highly critical of their fellow practitione ;s without in any way
impugning their art itself. Indeed, even in the letter to Dini just discussed,
there is a passage ridiculing the stupidity of some astrologers (lines 209 ff).
Furthermore, even if we were to interpret Salviati's passage here as evi
dence for the stronger interpretation on both counts : ( 1 ) that this is Gali
leo's personal view, and (2) that it refers to astrology tout court, it is still
merely a three-line passage in a work of over 400 pages, which occurs in
a section that is not in general directed towards astrology at all, let alone
toward a thoroughgoing and devastating critique.
The third text Pollak cites is from letter 2 3 84 to Elia Diodati (dated Jan
15, 1633) regarding Jean-Baptiste Morin. The issue at stake is certainty : 120
I am surprised by the truly great respect he (Morin) shows toward judicial as
trology and that he should pretend to establish its certainty by his conjectures
1 19 «Salv. E dove lasciate voi le predizioni de' genetliaci che tanto chiaramente doppo l'esito
si veggono nel tema o vogliam dire nella figura celeste»? (OG, VII, p. 136, lines 1-.3). Drake
translates it thus GALILEI, Dalogue
i (cit. note 1 17), p. 1 10: <<And why do you leave out the pro
phecies of the astrologers, which are so clearly seen in horoscopes (or should we say in the con
figurations of the heavens) after their fulfillment»? See also the notes in GALILEO GALILEI, Da i
logo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo, Tolemaico e Copernicano, 2 vols., ed. by 0. Besomi
and M. Helbing, Padua, Antenore, 1998, ad II, 16.
120 OG, XV, pp. 2.3-26, in Finocchiaro's translation The Galileo a/fair: a documentary history,
ed. by Maurice Finocchiaro, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1989, pp. 22.3-226: 224.
(which seem to me very uncertain, not to say most uncertain). It will be really as
tonishing if he has the cleverness to place astrology in the highest seat of the hu
man sciences, as he promises; I shall be waiting with great curiosity to see such a
1
stunning novdty. 2 1
In this passage, Galileo is astounded that Morin has claimed to estab

lish the certainty of judicial astrology within a geocentric context in his De
telluris motu vel quiete ( 1 63 1 ) . Galileo responds here to Morin's fifth argu
ment, that the earth needs to be at the center of the universe in order to
receive astrological influences. 1 22
Astrology had indeed been seen as the most important of the human
(as opposed to divine) sciences by (e.g.) Albertus Magnus, Regiomontanus
and Melanchthon because of its ability to allow the greatest amount of hu
man insight into the most important matters, including God's Providence
and the larger movements of history.123 But in the second half of the six
teenth century, and moreso in the seventeenth century, certainty was in
creasingly becoming the most important criterion, although some natural
philosophers fought this claim tooth and nail against the mathematicians
in their bid to reorient the disciplinary hierarchies in their favor. 124 Thus,
in this new mathematically-oriented scheme of values, astrology as a con
jectural science could no longer claim its most supreme status among the
sciences, and, in line with Galileo's statement here, anyone who claimed
such was worthy of astonished ridicule. Nevertheless, we must be clear that
none of this implies a rejection of astrology itself in any way, shape or form,
only that Morin's claim of certainty for his argument concerning astrology
- and its supreme placement - are worthy of derision, especially in the con
text of a geocentric world system.
12 1 OG, XV, p. 24, lines 18-24: «Nd Morino, resto maravigliato della stima verameme
molto grande che egli fa della giudiciaria, e che ei pretenda con le conietture sue (che pur mi
paiono assai incerte, per non dire incertissime) stabilire la certezza dell'astrologia: e mirabil cosa
veramente sara se con la sua acutezza collochera nd seggio supremo delle scienze humane l'astro
logia, come egli promette; e io con gran curiosita staro attendendo di vedere si maravigliosa
novitil>>.
122 Ibid. , pp. 560 and 567-568.
123 For further discussion of this tradition, see chapters two, three and seven of my disserta
tion Astrology, natural philosophy (cit. note 1).
124 A recent study on the si sue of the certainty of mathematics is PAOLO MANcosu, Philo
sophy of mathematics and mathematical practice in the seventeenth century, New York, Oxford
University Press, 1996. For the broader issue of the reorientation of the disciplinary hierarchies,
see ROBERT S. WESTMAN, The astronomer's role in the sixteenth century: a preliminary study, <<His
tory of Science», 18, 1980, pp. 105-147, and BIAGIOLI, Social status (cit. note 1).
Let us now turn to a later phase of Galileo's career. First I will briefly
describe a work that Luigi Guerrini has recently brought to light. 125 Guer
rini associates Galileo directly with Roman astrological prognosticatory cul
ture in 1626. In particular, Guerrini discovered that Galileo was instru
mental in making and publishing an Italian translation of a recently-pub
lished partially-censored Portuguese prognostication by Manuel Bocarro
Franees y Rosales that Portugal would soon be liberated from Spanish rule.
Guerrini publishes Galileo's prefatory letter to the reader praising the
astrological contents of the work:
Lectori amico. Hoc viri admirandi, et supra rnodum doctissirni Doc. I. Ma
nuelis Bocarri Frances, qui etiarn Rosales nornine gaudet, iudicium astrologicum,
vaticinio simile, ad nostra pervenit rnanus, cum excell. personae, lusitano idiornate,
illud obtulerit. Et quarnvis huiusrnodi opusculum cum I Anacephal. de quo agitur,
converti in italicum serrnonern curavissemus, sic quac eo fruarnur, nihilorninus, ty
pis rnandare propria autoris verba, sunt enim rnagis significativa, ob commune stu
dium et scientiae arnorem curavirnus, ut adhibito, quern exponit, libro rnundus vi
ri astrologorum principis, ingenium miretur, arnet et laudet. Romae 1 Julii anno
1626. G.G. Mathern.126
Guerrini was unable to find any other documents to clarify the precise
context further.
Now that it has been established that Galileo was a practicing astrolo
ger, and of a rather serious sort (as we might have expected with any math
ematical discipline he practiced) - and that both his study and practice of
astrology fit into the normal patterns for a premodern mathematicus I -
would like us to look fin ally, and all too briefly, at a curious set of colorful
circumstances surrounding the publication and early reception of the Dia
logue, which serve, I think, to cast a rather unexpected light on the trial
more generally, and particulary on Pope Urban VIII's extreme anger to
wards Galileo. 1 27 Although this material does not bear directly on Galileo's
12s LUIGI GUERRINI, 'Lui. pequena'. Galileo /ra gli astrologi, «Bruniana e Campanelliana>>, 7,
2000 , pp. 233-244.
126 Ibid., pp. 24 1 -242.
127 This account is constructed from: WILLIAM R. SHEA, Melchior lnchofer's 'Tractatus syl
lepticus': a consultor of the holy of/ice answers Galileo, in Novita celesti e crisi del sapere, edited by
P. Galluzzi, Florence, G. Barbera, 1983, pp. 283-292; GERMANA ERNST, Astrology, religion and
politics in counter·re/ormation Rome, translated by Angus Clarke, in Science, culture and popular
belief in renaissance Europe, edited by S. Pumfrey, P.L. Rossi and M. Slawinski, Manchester,
Manchester University Press, 1991, pp. 249-273, esp. pp. 265-27 1; EAD., Scienza, astrologia e po
litica net/a Roma barocca. La biblioteca di Don Orazio Morandi, in Bibliothecae selectae da Cusano
astrological practice, it places him in close proximity to significant features

of the contemporary astrological ambiente in Rome.
There are two acts to this curious drama. First, to set the context, let
me introduce a tangentially related figure in the overall story, and a central
figure in the first act: Tommaso Campanella, a Dominican from the famous
convent in Naples, which had most famously produced Thomas Aquinas,
and most infamously - and quite recently - Giordano Bruno, who was
burned at the stake in Rome as a heretic in 1600.128 After eight years in
the Inquisition's prisons, Bruno was finally put to death immediately after
the Calabrian revolt of 1599, which sent his confrere Campanella into Nea
politan prisons for 27 years. In 1603 , after abominable torture, Campanella
was condemned to perpetual imprisonment as a heretic.
His years in prison were anything but idle, however, as one glance at
his voluminous opera omnza will immediately attest. One of his most fa
mous compositions is his defense of Galileo, which he wrote in 1 6 1 6 soon
before the Inquisition prohibited Copernicus's De revolutiont'bus orbt"um
coelestium. It was published in Frankfurt in 1622, while Campanella was
still imprisoned in Naples. In 1626 he was finally transferred to the prison
of the Holy Office in Rome, where he arrived July 8. Two years later (July
27, 1628), he was removed to detention at the headquarters of the Domin
ican order in Rome, Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Finally, on Jan 1 1, 1629,
after almost thirty years of incarceration, he won complete freedom and his
works were removed from the Index of prohibited books. 129
Apparently Urban himself was quite interested in astrology, to such an
extent that he was in the peculiar habit of casting the horoscopes of cardi
nals resident in Rome, and of predicting their deaths. But by 1626 he had
a Leopardi, edited by E. Canone, Florence, Olschki, 1993, pp. 2 17-252; LUIGI FIORANI, Astrologi,
superstiziosi e devoti nella societa Romana def seicento, «Ricerche per la storia religiosa di Roma»,
II, 1978, pp. 97-162; and A. BERTOLOTTI, Giornalistz; astrologi e negromanti in Roma nel secolo
XVII, <<Rivista Europea>>, V, 1878, pp. 466-5 14. See also most recently, BRENDAN DooLEY, The
Ptolemaic astrological tradition in the seventeenth century: an example from Rome, «International
journal of the classical tradition», 5, 1999, pp. 528-48, and Io., Morandi's last prophecy and the
end of renaissance politics, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2002. This material is so impor
tant and interesting that the extensive manuscript in the Archivio di Stato at Rome should be
published in its entirety. For the purposes of this paper, I will not gQ into the well-known details
of the circumstances surrounding the publication and reception of the Dialogue. For suggestive
recent interpretations, see RICHARDS. WESTFALL, Essays on the trial of Galileo, Vatican City, Va
tican Obseivatory, 1989, and BIAG IOLI, Galileo courtier (cit. note 42), esp. pp. 3 13-352.
12s For all things Campanellian, see}OHN M. HEADLEY, Tommaso Campanella and the trans
formation of the world (cit. note 39), with extensive bibliography, including the indefatigable re
cent researches, textual and cultural, of Germana Ernst, and the older penetrating researches of
Luigi Amabile and Luigi Firpo.
129 See ibid., pp. 103-104, for a livdy narrative and reference to the rdevant bibliography.
himself become the object of such predictions, which became rather per
sistent by 1628. These rumors were apparently being stirred up by pro
Spanish factions who were trying to scare the pope to death. The two most
dangerous years were 1628, when there was an eclipse of the moon in
January and of the sun in December, and 1630, with a solar eclipse in
June.130
During this time, Campanella's reputation had apparently come to the
pope's attention in relation to these menacing predictions of maleficent ce
lestial influences. 13 1 Not wanting to take this sitting down, Urban released
Campanella to implement a program of prophylactic astrological magic, of
a Ficinian variety, which he had formulated in late 1 626 soon after arriving
in Rome, the De Jato siderali vitando.132 It seems likely that Campanella de
veloped his magical practice for this extremely important occasion; there is
no evidence for anything like it before in his writings. 133 During the sum
mer of 1628, both the Florentine and the Venetian ambassadors reported
on the frequent secret meetings between Urban and Campanella. 134 When
the pope's brother Carlo died in Feb 1630, Urban was relieved in that he
believed that the malign influence intended for him had instead expended
itself on his brother.135 The pope had Campanella assist him once more in
1630 to protect his nephew. 1 36
But Campanella was not long to enjoy his favor with the pope untarn
ished. In Oct 1629, Urban's violent wrath was inflamed against him due to
the publication of his Astrologicorum libri VII, which published these col
orful procedures, thus publically associating the pope with these question
able activities. Campanella pleaded that the publication of the problematic
De Jato siderali vitando, the seventh book, was unauthorized; indeed, it was
published by his enemies and inserted surreptitiously (with its own sepa-
1 30 D.P. WALKER, Spiritual and demonic magic from Ficino to Campanella, Notre Dame, IN,
University of Notre Dame Press, 1 975 (originally published 1958), pp. 205-206, also with refer
ence to the relevant bibliography. For a convenient edition with a very useful introduction, Latin
text and Italian translation, see now TOMMASO CAMPANELLA, Opuscoli astrologici, ed. and tr. by
Germana Ernst, Milan, Rizzoli, 2003.
1 3 1 See ERNST, Astrology, religion (cit. note 126), pp. 263££.
132 For an evocative account of Campanella's procedure, see Walker's classic description
Spiritual and demonic magic (cit. note 129), pp. 206-208. For Campanella's dependence on Fi
cino, pp. 2 1 0ff.
rn Ibid. , p. 209.
1 34 Ibid. , p. 206. See also HEADLEY, Tommaso Campanella (cit. note 129), p. 108.
135 ERNST, Astrology, religion (cit. note 126), p. 266.
1 36
WALKER, Spiritual and demonic magic (cit. note 129), p. 209; HEADLEY, Tommaso Cam
panella (cit. note 39), p. 1 10.
rate pagination) after book six, he claimed, precisely in order to discredit

him and thus to keep the pope from making him a qualificator of the Holy
Office. 137 These enemies were apparently Campanella's Dominican con
freres, their General (and former Master of the Sacred Palace) , Niccolo Ri
dolfi, and the current Master of the Sacred Palace (and Gahleo's close
friend), Niccolo Riccardi, with the ostensible (and very powerful) support
of the cardinal protector of their order, the cardinal nephew, Francesco
Barberini. 1 38 In a letter of 1635 from Paris to Urban VIII, Campanella does
his best to slander these two, along with Raffaello Visconti (another Do
minican, whom we will meet again soon), implicating them all in predicting
the pope's death back in 1630, to which we will now tum.139
But even with the death of his brother, the pope was not yet out of the
woods, as we begin the second act. Our story here converges on issues that
were still active at the time of the complex negotiations surrounding the
publication of the Dialogue. 1 40 When Galileo arrived in Rome in early
May 1630 with his completed manuscript of the Dialogue, he was invited
forthwith to a dinner with an old friend, Orazio Morandi, abbot of the Val
lambrosan church of Santa Prassede 1 4 1 - the central figure in this second
act - with Raffaello Visconti, a Dominican with astrological interests, and
with Ludovico Corbusio, a consultor to the Holy Office. 142 Visconti was a
close associate of Niccolo Riccardi, Galileo's close friend, who had become
Master of the Sacred Palace on June 2, 1629, with its powers as the ulti
mate censor of books published in Rome. When Riccardi initially received
the manuscript of the Dialogue from Galileo, he passed it on to Visconti to
review.
1 37 ERNST, Astrology, religion (cit. note 128), p. 265, calls the office «qualificator>>; WALICER
(Spiritual and demonic magic [cit. note 131], p. 208) and HEADLEY , Tommaso Campanella (cit.
note 129), p. 109, on the other hand, call it «consultor>>.
1 38 Ibid. , p. 109. For Francesco Barberini's powerful position, see (e.g.) LAURIE NussDOR
FER, Civic politics in the Rome of Urban VIII, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992,
pp. 33-38.
1 39 FIORANI, Astrologz; superstiziosi (cit. note 126), p. 106.
140 See (e.g.) WESTFALL, Essays (cit. note 126), and BIAGIOLI, Gal£leo courtier (cit. note 42).
141 For what we know of Morandi's biography, see ERNST, Scienza, astrologia (cit. note 126),
pp. 221££.
142 OG, XIV, p. 107 (May 24, 1630, letter 2016): «Domenica prossima della Santissima Tri
nita sto attendolo esser favorito da V.S. a far penitenza quassu a S. ta Prassedia, dove sara il
P. Consultore, Maestro Lodovico Corbusio, gia Inquisitore di Firenze, et il P. Visconti, com
pagno del P. Rev.mo Maestro di Sacro Palazzo. Non occorera che s'incomodi di rispondere,
ma prepararsi a venire, aspettandolo infallantemente». See also ERNST, Astrology, religion (cit.
note 126), p. 269.
10
As it turns out, Morandi also seems to have been involved with the pro
cess of officially reviewing books in Rome. I recently came across explicit
evidence to this effect in the 1629 edition of Andrea Argoli's Novae caele
stium motuum ephemerides, published in Rome by Guillelmo Facciotti.
The relevant section from the imprimatur reads as follows: 143
De mandato Reverendiss. Patris, et Domini Fr. Nicolai Rodulfi Sacri Palatii
Apostolici Magistri. Ego infrascriptus accurate consideravi, et perlegi diligenter li
bros tres Astronomicorum, et Ephemeridas [sic] Andreae Argoli, et quia nil con
tinent, quod fidei dogmatibus, aut decretis de Impressione librorum praepositis
adversetur; Censerem licentiam impertiri posse, ut Imprimatur. Datum in Mona
sterio S. Praxedis de Urbe die 4. Octobris 1628.
Ego Don Horatius Morandius Congregationis Vallisumbrosae Monachus, et

Abbas, ita censebam, et in fidem propria manu subscribebam. 144
Unbeknownst to Galileo, however, and just before he arrived in Rome,

Morandi had published in newssheets prophecies based on astrological cal
culations, including astrological predictions of the death of the pope and of
his nephew. Furthermore, after Galileo's arrival in Rome, but before he was
invited to dinner with Morandi on the 24th, GalileQ himself somehow be
came associated with these predictions. I quote from a passage in a con
temporary Roman avviso of May 1 8, 1630:
Galileo, the famous mathematician and astrologer, is here (in Rome) to try to
publish a book in which he attacks many opinions held by the Jesuits. He has been
understood to say that D. Anna (that is, Anna Colonna, the wife of Taddeo Bar
berini, the pope's nephew) will give birth to a son, that we shall have peace in Italy
at the end of June, and that shortly thereafter Taddeo and the pope will die. This
last point is confirmed by the Neapolitan Caracioli, by Father Campanella and by
several writings that discuss the election of the new Pontiff as if the Holy See were
already vacant . 1 45
143 I do not know of any other discussion of this intriguing evidence. I have not yet been
able to investigate whether Morandi officially reviewed other books during his tenure at Santa
Prassede. Germana Ernst notes that Argoli was a regular patron at Santa Prassede, but does
not provide any further information than that some of his ephemerides were in the library there;
Scienz.a, astrologia (cit. note 126), p. 240. My profound thanks to Owen Gingerich for kindly al
lowing me to use his magnificent collection of ephemerides, among which I made this discovery.
For Argoli, who after leaving Rome became professor of mathematics at the University of Padua
until his death in 1657, see DBI 4 , 1962, 132-134.
1 44 For the full text of this imprimatur, see my Note on Orazio Morandi, <<Bruniana & Cam
panelliana>>, 9, 2003, p. 230.
1 45 Shea's translation (slightly modified), Melchior Inchofer (cit. note 126), p. 284. The av
viso is printed in letter 2009 (OG, XIV, p. 103): <<Qua [Rome] si trova il Galileo, ch'e famoso
matematico et astrologo, che tenta di stampare un libro nel qual impugna molte opinioni che sono
Galileo was s o concerned about these rumors that he had his friend
Michelangelo Buonarroti (the painter's nephew) inquire directly of the pa
pal nephew, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, as to how the powers that be
were talcing these rumors, and to explain that he, Galileo, was innocent
of any astrological foul play. Galileo was relieved to find out in early June
that the cardinal did not believe these rumors for a moment. 146
Galileo left Rome on June 26, 1630 after having received a letter from
Visconti that Riccardi was pleased with the dialogue.147 Soon after, in mid
July, Morandi was summoned to the Holy Office and thrown into pris
on.148 Galileo, greatly concerned, requested information from a mutual
friend. The Morandi case was very big - many people were involved; the
imposed secrecy made accurate information hard to come by, he was in
formed. 149 Apparently Santa Prassede had been an important center for
producing astrological information on the major political figures of the
day - a sort of astrological political think-tank. 150 Indeed, dozens of nativ
ities were discovered when the church was searched after Morand.i's arrest.
There were horoscopes of popes and cardinals; and the cardinals who were
papabiles, that is, most likely to become pope, actually had judgments
drawn up on their nativities, which indicated their respective astrological
strengths and weaknesses. 1 5 1 Oddly enough - and this cries out for further
sostenute dalli Giesuiti. Egli si e lasciato intendere che D. Anna partorira un figliolo maschio, che
alla fine di Giugno haremo la pace in Italia, e che poco doppo morira D. Thadeo et il Papa. L'ul
timo punto viene comprovato dal Caraciolo Napolitano, dal Padre Campanella, e da molti di
scorsi in scritto, che trattano dell'elettione del nuovo Pontefice come se fosse sede vacante>>.
146 See esp. Michelangelo Buonarroti a Galileo (OG, XIV, pp. 1 1 1-12) and Geri Bocchineri
a Galileo (ibid., pp. 1 18-1 19).
141 Raffaello Visconti a Galileo (ibid. , p. 120).
14s
FIORANI, Astrologi; superstziosi
i (cit. note 126), p. 107: «Con chirografo del 13 luglio
1630 Urbano VIII ordina l'incarcerazione dell'abate e la perquisizione del convento e della bi
blioteca».
149 Letter 2048 from Vicenzio Langieri in Rome to Galileo in Florence, Aug 17, 1630; OG,
XIV, pp. 134-35, lines 10-18: «Qui ancora si dicono gran cose e si sentono molte ciarle intomo
alla causa criminale della quale V.S. desirera esser ragguagliata; ma in sostanza passa con tanta
secretezza, che niente si puo afferrnar di sicuro: tuttavia dell'amico [Morandi] che lei accenna,
se ben si e qualche poco imbrogliato nell'esarnina, pare si possa sperar bene, riguardando alla
retta intentione e natura del Principe, che senza gran causa non verra a risolutioni straordinarie
contro persona cosi qualificata. Per la moltitudine de'carcerati si dice che l'intitolano la Causa
Magna, che insieme con altri rispetti fa credere alla Corte che si voglia procedere con esattezza
e rigore».
1 50 ERNST, Astrology, religion (cit. note 126), pp. 267-268: «The Monastery of Santa Pras
sede was a well known and influential meeting place for a number of astrologer-politicians who,
by means of horoscopes, kept a close eye on and tried to influence the Italian and international
policies of the Roman court>>.
1 51 Ibid., p. 268: «The thick folder of trial docwnents included dozens of horoscopes of
popes and cardinals - effectively an astrological database for the Vatican. [. . ] Apart from the
.
investigation - Galileo's and Campanella's horoscopes were also found in

this cache.152 Furthermore, Visconti reported during the course of Moran
di's trial that he, Morandi, and Galileo had spoken recently, and on an
astrological topic, perhaps at the dinner in May at Santa Prassede. 1 53 There
are 2800 folio pages of evidence in the Archivio di Stato in Rome relating
to this case, which include the cache of horoscopes, many letters, a catalo
gue of the library at Santa Prassede 154 and depositions from the trial.155
As an aftermath to the Morandi case, Urban promulgated a Papal Bull,
Inscrutabdis, against astrology in April 163 1 , which basically repeated the
content of Sixtus V's similar Bull of 1586. 1 56 Urban's Bull , although direc
ted against astrology overall and its practitioners, focused primarily on
those who predicted the death of the pope and his kin to the third degree
of consanguinity, as we saw was the case with Morandi's predictions. By
the way, Morandi mysteriously died in prison later in 1630. 157 This infor
mation related to Galileo's trial is not ordinarily taken into account; it tends
to cast Galileo's role in a somewhat unusual light. Further research in this
direction may lead to a fuller understanding of the peculiar nature of the
predictions of his death the pope was also annoyed by a number of astrologers who used the
pretext of examining the horoscopes of cardinals who might be chosen to succeed to the papacy
to find their vices and defects. According to the admission of several copyists, Morandi had gone
so far as to write a paper on the subject. He identified three factions within the Holy College and
prepared a copy, embellished with portraits of the cardinals, for the Venetian ambassador>>.
1 52 FIORANI, Astrologz� superstiziosi (cit. note 126), p. 104: «Nella carte sequestrate al Mo
randi e conservate all' Archivio di State di Roma queste operazioni si succedono monotonamente
foglio dopo foglio, incasellate in quelle rappresentazioni grafiche consuete all'astrologia delle ge
niture, ossia delle predizioni formulate in base alla data di nascita; l'uno dopo l'altro si emettono
pronostici peril Galilei, per il Campanella, per Francesco Bracciolini, per una quantita Ji allri per
sonaggi di tutte le estrazioni sociali e dalla fama piu diversa, fino a Urbano VIII, che gli sara
fatale».
l53 FIORANI, Astrologz; superstiziosi (cit. note 126), p. 102, n. 8: «Che poi al prartzo effetti
vamente intervenisse ii Galileo e ricordato dallo stesso Visconti, che nel corso del processo riferi
sulle conversazioni del Morandi con lo scienziato e lo scambio di idee proprio in tema di geni
ture». See also Visconti's deposition and detailed astrological discourse on Urban's horoscope
published by BERTOLOTII, Giornalisti (cit. note 126), pp. 495-497 and 507-510.
1 54 See especially ERNST, Scienza, astrologia (cit. note 126), for a rich discussion of Morandi
and his library, with a transcription of its contents from the trial records.
1 55 FIORANI, Astrologz; superstiziosi (cit. note 126), p. 100, n. 2: «Gli atti processuali sono
raccolti in una posizione di oltre mille fogli conservata nell'Archivio di Stato di Roma, Tribunale
del Govematore, Processi 1630, n. 251 (poi sempre abbreviato ASR, Processi 1630, n. 251). Vi
sono accumulati, ma certamente solo in piccola parte, gli effetti personali del Morandi, liste di
libri della biblioteca del monastero, lettere, manoscritti letterati e astrologici, tavole di geniture:
insomma un materiale di estremo interesse in cui si riflette, nei suoi diversi aspetti, la situazione di
un filone culturale romano all'incirca nel terzo decennio del secolo». See also p. 107, n. 18.
1 5 6 ERNST, Astrology, religion (cit. note 126), p. 270.
157 Ibid. , p. 270.
political situation in Rome immediately prior to and contemporaneous with

the events of Galileo's trial, which will hopefully lead to a more accurate
understanding of that important event . 1 58
We can see from the evidence presented in this survey that various
sorts of astrological concerns occured throughout Galileo's career, from
his student days at Pisa through the Trial in Rome. Indeed, in the course
of this survey, we have seen five different roles that astrology played in the
Early Modern cultural-intellectual landscape: ( 1 ) astrology as an integral
part of the premodern configuration of the mathematical disciplines,
namely, as astronomy's sister science of the stars; (2) astrology in relation
to medicine, both (i) regarding the university curriculum, as we saw at Pisa
and Padua, where study of mathematics and astrology was propaedeutic to
the study of medicine, and (ii) in practice, as in Galileo's correspondence
with Ottavio Brenzoni; (3) astrology in relation to politics, in particular,
Orazio Morandi and the Roman astrologico-political think-tank at Santa
Prassede; (4) what an important role astrology could play in a client's pa
tronage strategies, e.g. both (i) Galileo's construction and interpretation of
his patron Giovanfrancesco Sagredo's horoscope, and (ii) his central use of
an astrological modf in dedicating the Sidereus nuncius to Cosimo II de'
Medici; and, finally, (5) a magical use of astrology, as we saw in Campanel
la's Ficinian prophylactic measures for protecting the pope from malevo
lent celestial influences. By failing to take this material into account, we
may be ignoring information vital to understanding fully Galileo's life
and work.
Galilreana on line
http://moro.irnss.fi.it: 9000/galilreana
Available on the Website:
N G. GALILEI, Astrologica nonnulla, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Firenze, Ms.

V Gal. 8 1 .
1 58 Brendan Dooley also makes suggestions of this sort, DOOLEY, Morandi's last prophecy
(cit. note 126).
Galilreana, II, 2005, pp. 145 - 1 80
SVEN DUPRE
AUSONIO'S MIRRORS AND GALILEO'S LENSES:

THE TELESCOPE AND SIXTEENTH-CENTURY
PRACTICAL OPTICAL KNOWLEDGE
SUMMARY
This article revises the standard view of Galileo's optics. While Galileo is
traditionally portrayed as an outsider to the optical tradition, this article shows
that Galileo's optics only appears to be an outsider's view if juxtaposed to
medieval optics, not when it is embedded within sixteenth-century practical
optical knowledge. On the basis of an analysis of the catoptrics of Ettore
Ausonio, an important source of Galileo, this article argues that sixteenth
century optics was sufficiently different to appreciate on its own terms. By
placing Galileo's optics in its proper context, this article shows that Galileo
developed an understancling of the optics of his telescope on the basis of
knowledge embodied in sixteenth-century mathematical and workshop practice.
Keywords: Instruments, Optics, Telescope, Ettore Ausonio, Galileo Galilei.
INTRODUCTION
After having introduced the telescope in his Sidereus Nuncius ( 1 610) ,

Galileo concluded with promising a discussion of the optics of the newly
invented instrument.
Let it suffice for the present, however, to have touched on this [the optics of
the telescope] so lightly and to have, so to speak, tasted it only with our lips, for on
another occasion we shall publish a complete theory of1this instrument.1
Ghent University - Sven.Dupre@UGent.be
1 <<llaec tamen sic leviter tetigisse, et quasi primoribus libasse labiis, in praesentarium sit
saris; per aliam enim occasionern absolutam huius Organi theoriam in medium proferernus»,
OG, ill , p. 62, translation in GALILEO GALILEI, 5idereus Nundus or the Sidereal Messenger, tran
slated by Albert Van Heiden, Chicago & London, The University of Chicago Press, 1989, p. 39.

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Galilreana, II, 2005, pp.

Keywords: Astrology, Mathematics, Patronage, Politics, Universities, Galileo Galilei.

The intention of this article is straightforward, simply to establish, once

Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology - drutkin@stanford.edu

matics, by which he meant astrology.6 Such a statement by a profound and

As Charles Schmitt correctly pointed out, the lion's share of scholar­

6 This passage is discussed in more detail below.

it is of most interest to note that there was one professor of mathematics in

Schmitt develops some of this material in a fuller treatment of Filippo

When we come to Galileo himself as a mathematics lecturer, we find that his

Beside the problematic lumping together of Hermetic, Neoplatonic, gnos­

Next to be treated is Galileo's teaching at Padua (1592-1610). As at

3 t Ibid., I, pp. 106-107.

sion, namely, that Galileo rejected astrology, as Schmitt claims. Indeed,

Before examining this evidence, however, I will first draw attention to

34 FAVARO, La librerr'a di Galileo Galilei, «Bollettino di bibliografia e di storia Jelle scienze

I would now like to approach an important but understudied tool in

struct his horoscope accurately. By this means they hoped to understand

we possess quite a few horoscopes and several brief judgments (astrological

Virginia's character (De monbus Virginiae)

Her mind (De ingenio)

ss Mercury is at 3 Virgo 9 in Virginia's horoscope; Mercury rules Virgo according to the

61 «Quo ad ingenium [Mercurius] pluribus dignitatibus praeditus [F. preadictus] felicem

Livia's character (De moribus Liviae)

The last horoscope to be examined is by far the most detailed found in

basic horoscope with a table of dignities; another table of dignities; a table

In addition to MS 8 1 , there is a further rich source of evidence for Ga­

(cit. note 22), pp. 250-251, briefly discusses some of these.

zio Picchena, an important Medici secretary,76 in Florence to Galileo in Pa­

Letter 916, from Franciotto Orsini in Rome to Galileo in Florence, da­

Since I am a bit curious, if there were a famous astrologer in Florence, I would

80 «[ . . . ] e dicendole che i compagni di Giove, scoperti da V.S., apporteranno grand'utile alli

At the bottom of the letter is printed a character description of both

84 «Et perche mi trasporta un poco la curiosita, desiderarei, se vi fosse in Firenze qualche

Con la confidenza che mi promette l'amorevolezza di V.S. le mando l'inclusa

Although we apparently do not possess this horoscope, it is extremely

Antonino Poppi recently discovered some interesting documents con­

cerning the Venetian Inquisition.90 Most relate to Cesare Cremonini, Ga­

88 Favaro notes here (1): «Non e presentemente allegata alla lettera».

For the discharge of my conscience and by the commandment of my father

you say he believes, then, in matters of the faith»?98 Fagnoni responds: «l

evidence that Galileo practiced astrology rather extensively, as we have

sieno tanto minimi, che non influischino».

In addition to this evidence for Galileo's knowledge of astrology, and

ex post facto, whether it be a telescope in the text of Aristotle or an astro­

In this passage, Galileo is astounded that Morin has claimed to estab­

astrological practice, it places him in close proximity to significant features

rate pagination) after book six, he claimed, precisely in order to discredit

Ego Don Horatius Morandius Congregationis Vallisumbrosae Monachus, et

Unbeknownst to Galileo, however, and just before he arrived in Rome,

investigation - Galileo's and Campanella's horoscopes were also found in

political situation in Rome immediately prior to and contemporaneous with

Available on the Website:

N G. GALILEI, Astrologica nonnulla, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Firenze, Ms.

AUSONIO'S MIRRORS AND GALILEO'S LENSES:

Keywords: Instruments, Optics, Telescope, Ettore Ausonio, Galileo Galilei.

After having introduced the telescope in his Sidereus Nuncius ( 1 610) ,

Ghent University - Sven.Dupre@UGent.be

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As Charles Schmitt correctly pointed out, the lion's share of scholar

Beside the problematic lumping together of Hermetic, Neoplatonic, gnos

In addition to MS 8 1 , there is a further rich source of evidence for Ga

zio Picchena, an important Medici secretary,76 in Florence to Galileo in Pa

Letter 916, from Franciotto Orsini in Rome to Galileo in Florence, da

Antonino Poppi recently discovered some interesting documents con

cerning the Venetian Inquisition.90 Most relate to Cesare Cremonini, Ga

ex post facto, whether it be a telescope in the text of Aristotle or an astro

In this passage, Galileo is astounded that Morin has claimed to estab