The usual suspects...?

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Another very interesting snippet from Siraisi's M&ERM:-

p.36
        Not all astrologers were medici, but many medici practised
        astrology. A glimpse of the situation in the fifteenth cntury is
        provided by the French royal astrologer Symon de Phares,
        who around 1498 attempted to defend himself against charges
        of practising illicit magical arts by writing a self-serving
        "Collection of the Most Famous Astrologers". In it... he listed
        by name 114 astrologers who flourished between 1412 and
        1495; he identified 39 of them, including himself, as
        physicians or surgeons.

To my way of thinking, examining the life, times, and works of those 39 
astrologer-physicians that de Phares listed would be a pretty good "Usual 
Suspects" list for the VMS' author. As "Phares" doesn't appear in the 
mailing-list archive, has anyone thought to do this?

Siraisi's notes list three references for this:-

        Symon de Phares, "Recueil des plus celebres astrologues et
        quelques hommes doctes", ed. Ernest Wickersheimer (Paris,
        1929), v-xii, 14-15, 245-69.

        Lynn Thorndike, "A History of Magic and Experimental
        Science", 4 (New York, 1934): 544-58;

        Maxime Preaud, "Les astrologues a la fin du Moyen Age"
        (Paris, 1984), 21-50.

The French webmistress of citadelle.org also lists:-

        D. Jacquart
        Le milieu médical en France du XIIe au XVe siècle,
        En annexe 2e supplément au "Dictionnaire" d'Ernest
        Wickersheimer,
        Genève, 1981, p. 479 (Hautes Etudes médiévales et
        modernes, 46)

        J.-P. Boudet
        Simon de Phares et les rapports entre astrologie et
        prophétie à la fin du Moyen Age,
        in Mél. de l'Ecole Française de Roime, Moyen Age,
        t. 102 (1990), pp. 617-648)

Finally, here's a reference to a short review of the J.-P. Boudet paper:-

        Dr Laura Smoller
        Review of Jean-Patrice Boudet, ed., Le Recueil des plus
        celebres astrologues de Symon de Phares, Tome Ier,
        Édition critique (Paris: Champion, 1997). Speculum 74
        (1999): 507-08.

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....