century—that astrology was very useful in tracing the development of society.[1] Aquinas, chief of the mediæval theologians, accepted astrological theory, except as limited by human free will, and further admitted that most men make little use of their liberty of action but blindly follow their passions, which are governed by the stars.[2] Among other great mediæval churchmen and canonists, d'Ailly and Gerson both believed that God signified important events in advance through the stars, and d'Ailly made some astrological predictions himself. Astrology was much taught in the mediæval universities,[3] and was regarded as the climax of mathematics and as an essential part of medicine.
It is with such beliefs, accepted by educated men and forming a part of the learning and science of the times, that we are concerned in this essay. First, it is necessary to give some further evidence of the nature and of the general acceptance of these beliefs. This object will be most quickly and effectively secured by a résumé of the views of a few of the men most prominent in the intellectual history of the past. These men should offer fair, if not flattering, illustrations of the learning and culture of their times. In especial we shall notice the curious notions of those who wrote on scientific subjects or showed even a considerable
- ↑ République, book iv, ch. 2, cited by W. E. H. Lecky, History of Rationalism (1900), vol. i, p. 28. The chapter upon "Magic and Witchcraft" contains considerable material bearing upon our theme. A similar attitude to that of Bodin is found in a political treatise of about the year 1300, probably written by Pierre du Bois, where an argument for the universal rule of a French monarch is based on astrology. N. de Wailly, Mémoire sur un opuscule anonyme (Mémoires de l'Institut Impérial de France), vol. xviii, pt. ii, p. 442.
- ↑ Summa Theologica, pars prima, quæst. 115, arts. 3 and 4.
- ↑ For some data on this point see Hastings Rashdall, The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages (1895), vol. i, pp. 240-250; vol. ii, pp. 290, 452, 458, 459.
