Northern Humanism in European Context, 1469-1625: From the 'Adwert Academy' to Ubbo Emmius

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
Brill’s New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version.

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Publications & Services> Books> Book Series> Northern Humanism in European Context, 1469-1625: From the 'Adwert Academy' to Ubbo Emmius

Northern Humanism in European Context, 1469-1625: From the 'Adwert Academy' to Ubbo Emmius

Edited by F. Akkerman, A.J. Vanderjagt and A.H. van der Laan

Books

Available
Publication year: 1999


Series:	Brill's Studies in Intellectual History, 94
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 11314 5
ISBN-10:	90 04 11314 2

Cover:	Cloth with dustjacket
Number of pages:	xiv, 378 pp. 8 illus.

List price:	€ 99.00 / US$ 147.00

Table of contents

Plates
Preface
Contributors

1. The early Reformation in Groningen. On two Latin disputations, F. Akkerman
2. Agricola musicae studiosus, F. Akkerman & P. Kooiman
3. Alexander Hegius als Dichter, J.C. Bedaux
4. Ist, wer den rechten Zungenschlag beherrscht, auch schon ein Humanist? Nikolaus Blanckaert (Alexander Candidus) O. Carm. (†1555), C.P.M. Burger
5. Magister consensus. Wessel Gansfort (1419-1489) und die geistliche Kommunion, C.M.A. Caspers
6. Das Bremer Gymnasium Illustre und seine Vorläufer in ihrer Bedeutung für den Ramismus in Deutschland (1560-1630), T. Elsmann
7. The Study of Boethius’s Consolatio in the Low Countries around 1500: The Ghent Boethius (1485) and the Commentary by Agricola/Murmellius (1514), M. Goris & L.W. Nauta
8. At the crossroads of scholasticism and northern humanism, M.J.F.M. Hoenen
9. Northern humanism and philosophy: Humanist theory and scholastic practice, H.A. Krop
10. The reception of Agricola’s De inventione dialectica in the teaching of logic at the Louvain faculty of arts in the early sixteenth century, J. Papy
11. Humanism and the Reformation: Was the conflict between Erasmus and Luther paradigmatic?, E. Rummel
12. The geography of Erasmus, R.J. Schoeck
13. Juristen und Humanisten: Rudolf Agricola an der Universität Pavia, A. Sottili
14. The Italian connection: The Iter Italicum and the Northern Netherlands (1425-1575), A. Tervoort
15. Rudolf Agricola’s method of dialectical reading: The case of Cicero’s De lege Manilia, M. van der Poel
16. Between Orosius and Ubbo Emmius: On the tradition of geographical descriptions in historical writings, Z.R.W.M. von Martels
17. Zu den gelehrten und politischen Verbindungen zwischen der Kurpfalz un den vereinigten Niederlanden im konfesionellen Zeitalter – am Beispiel der Korrespondenz des Heidelberger Oberrats Georg Michael Lingelsheim (1558-1636), A.E. Walter
18. The Dutch Brethren of the Common Life, critical theology, Northern Humanism and Reformation, A.G. Weiler

Bibliography
Index

Reviews

'...the volume is of high quality and represents an important contribution.'
Andrew Fix, Religious Studies Review, 2001.

This is the third and final volume of a set of studies on the development of humanism in the northern Netherlands and the adjoining parts of Germany between 1469, when, in the oldest letters preserved of Rudolph Agricola and Rudolph von Langen, first mention is made of a group of early humanist scholars at the Adwert monastery near Groningen, and 1625, when the humanist Ubbo Emmius died, who was the first rector of the university of Groningen. The earlier two volumes are Rodolphus Agricola Phrisius (1444-1485) (1988) and Wessel Gansfort (1419-1489) and Northern Humanism (1993).
This last volume has papers on Regnerus Praedinius (1510-1559), Alexander Hegius (ca.1433-1498), Alexander Candidus (†1555), Wessel Gansfort (1419-1489), the Bremen Gymnasium Illustre between 1560-1630, humanist commentaries on Boethius, scholasticism and humanism, humanism and philosophy, Agricola Latinus, Ubbo Emmius's 'art of description', Agricola's dialectics at Louvain, Agricola on deliberative speech, humanism and reformation, Erasmus and geography, Agricola in Pavia, Dutch students at Italian universities (1425-1575), relations between Heidelberg and the Low Countries in the late 16th century, the Modern Devotion and humanism.
Many of the papers were originally presented at a conference in 1996, but they have been extensively rewritten and edited, and a number of new pieces have been included. An updated bibliography in this volume makes the three volumes together an indispensable tool for scholars of philology, literature, history, philosophy and theology of the period.

Contributors include: F. Akkerman, J.C. Bedaux, C.P.M. Burger, C.M.A. Caspers, T. Elsmann, M. Goris, M.J.F.M. Hoenen, P. Kooiman, H.A. Krop, Z.R.W.M. von Martels, L.W. Nauta, J. Papy, M. van der Poel, E. Rummel, R.J. Schoeck, A. Sottili, A. Tervoort, A.E. Walter, and A.G. Weiler.

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