Cordoba, Alonso de

Tabule astronomice Elisabeth Regine (Isabel de Castilla)

      Venice, Petrus Liechtensteyn Coloniensis. 1503 (or 1517) (Palau 61824; Adams C 2622; Honeyman 760).Small in quarto, old vellum. 51 of 52 leaves (B8, authentic blank; lacking last leave *e4, with colophon). Added are 9 leaves in contemporary manuscript. Of the 9 additional leaves 8 are tables and one is a horoscope dated: calculata anno 1553, aprilis 6 for Prince Henry (Henrici dauphini) born March 31 1518 between 7 and 8 hours. This Prince Henry, son of King Francois I, became King Henri II of France (1547-1559), married Catharina de Medici who gave birth to Francois II; Charles IX and Henri III.*Alfonso’s (Alfonso el Sabios‘) astronomical tables, as adapted by Alonso de Cordoba. The Alfonsin tables, tables of Toledo, were based on development of Arabic astronomy which in turn was based on Greek classical (for example Ptolomys Amalgesta) and Hindu knowledge. Concrete measurements with Toledo at the zero prime meridian started in 1061. The name of Azarquiel is remembered as its main author. We do not know how these measurements were documented. The first written elaboration of the Alfonsin Tables is carried out by two Jewish astronomers: Jehuda ben Mose and Isaac ben Sid between 1263 and 1272. The Alfonsin Tables did not stand alone: in various places in Western Europe similar tables were developed and adapted. The one outstanding characteristic of the Alfonsin tables is that the instrument translates calculations, based on movements of the sun (Christian) to calculations movements of the moon (Islamic) (Fernandez, Museo Naval. 2006). The Alfonsin tables were used all over Europe and found in the late XIII century in Florence, in 1320 in Paris etc. In those cases the prime meridian was adapted to the city of its use, e.a Florence or Paris. The adaptions of Johannes de Saxonia in Paris in 1327 were selected by Radtholt for the first printed edition (Venice 1483). Were the Alphonsin tables (based on the Paris adaptations) were used for two centuries all over Europe, they played a marginal role in Spain itself, were astronomy and science went lost. Only the arrival of Nicholaus Polonius in Salamanca in 1460 revived this interest and led to Alfonsin tables, adapted on a prime meridian through Salamanca: Tabulae probatae. The printed versions of the Alfonsin tables continued in Venice and elsewhere. In the meantime Alonso de Cordoba adapted the Alfonsin tables, using Sevilla as prime meridian and using as first year the year of the coronation of Isabel la Catolica in Spain in 1474. That is our copy. Alonso de Cordoba was born in Sevilla c 1450 and studied medicine. He was astronomer to the King of Portugal and published various books with astronomical tables and an almanach.#[604]