Re: VMs: Hello and Voynich Manuscript

[Nick Pelling <incoming@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 18:05 17/12/02 +0100, Petr Kazil wrote:
> > IMO, trying to understand the medieval and early modern periods without
> > understanding astrology will likely only give you half a picture -
>
> During my business trip to Curacao I took with me "Johan Huizinga - Hersttij
> der middeleeuwen" (The autumn of the middle ages). A study on the late
> medieaval - early renaissance culture. More than 600 pages. Although this is
> a major classic - astrology is not mentioned. Barbara Tuchman in her
> monumental work on the 14th century does not mention astrology either (if I
> remember correctly). Why could this be ?

Here's one answer (of many): censorship - both explicit and implicit - is a 
big issue in the history of ideas, and the influence of astrology was a 
heavily politicised (and hence censored) area.

So: because of the Church's policy, the vast majority of primary sources on 
astrology probably have been destroyed - historians will naturally prefer 
to rely on what remains, rather than what might have remained. :-/

Note that proscribing individual pages of a document only became practical 
in the 16th century with the advent of page-numbering - before that, the 
whole ms went on the fire. :-o

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