Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roger of Hereford

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686001Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 49 — Roger of Hereford1897William Fellows Sedgwick

ROGER of Hereford (fl. 1178), mathematician and astrologer, seems to have been a native of Herefordshire, and is said to have been educated at Cambridge. He was a laborious student, and was held in great esteem by his contemporaries. His chief studies were natural philosophy and astrology, and he was an authority on mines and metals. The following tracts are attributed to him: 1. ‘Theorica Planetarum Rogeri Herefordensis’ (Digby MSS. in Bodl. Libr. No. 168). 2. ‘Introductorium in artem judiciariam astrorum.’ 3. ‘Liber de quatuor partibus astronomiæ judiciorum editus a magistro Rogero de Herefordia’ (Digby MSS. in Bodl. Libr. No. 149). 4. ‘De ortu et occasu signorum.’ 5. ‘Collectaneum annorum omnium planetarum.’ 6. ‘De rebus metallicis.’ In the Arundel collection in the British Museum is an astronomical table by him dated 1178, and calculated for Hereford.

[Bale's Script. Brit. Gent. iii. 13; Pits, De Illustr. Angl. Script. p. 237; Tanner's Bibl. Brit.; Brian Twyne's Ant. Acad. Oxon. Apol. ii. 218–21; Fuller's Hist. of Cambridge; Thomas Wright's Biogr. Brit. Lit. ii. 218; Hardy's Cat. of Hist. Materials, ii. 415; Mag. of Pop. Science, iv. 275; Cat. MSS. in Bodleian Library.]

W. F. S.