Christopher
Columbus, Astrology, and the Discovery of America
Ponder
with Dr Z just how pivotal a role astrology ended up playing in
Christopher Columbus discovering the Americas. Would there even
be an "America" such as we know it today without astrology
and astrological forecasting?
The
Untold Story
“In
1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”
Yep...
this wee bit of insightful information, that Columbus (1451-1506)
discovered America on October 12, 1492 (Old Style Calendar) pretty
much sums up what I carried away from my early school years regarding
Columbus' discovery of America.
Somewhere
along the line, I also learned that my distant ancestors
in Spain had decided to pick up the massive check for the trip
and that it involved three ships named the Niña, the
Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
With
my formative school years occurring in the late 1950s and early
60s, the textbook image of Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo
or Crostóbal Colón) was that of a courageous, fearless,
and dashing explorer.
In
recent years - in the genre of “tell it like it really
was”
books - the image, reputation, actions, and motivations of Admiral
Columbus have all been painted with somewhat darker and more
realistic colors.
However,
the still untold story is that there was a little known rationale
and/or motivation
spurring on the voyages of Christopher Columbus. This little
known motivation was a mixture of astrology, astrological
forecasting,
and apocalyptic (end of the world) Christian zeal.
Columbus
and Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly
How do we know about this untold motivating factor for Columbus?
According
to Laura Ackerman Smoller in her book History, Prophecy,
and the Stars... like many of us, Admiral Columbus had
a practice of scribbling in the margins of his books. Like
us... the more interesting
he found a certain passage to be, the more he scribbled his
notes.
What's
fascinating (and important) about this bit of Columbus trivia
is that facsimiles of his
"scribbled-in books" are still available. One such facsimile
is the Imago Mundi written by Petrus de Aliaco (most
recently republished facsimile; Boston: Massachusetts Historical
Society 1927).
Petrus
de Aliaco is the
Italian rendering of the French name Pierre d’Ailly.
It
just so happens that this particular Pierre d’Ailly was
a well known and respected French Cardinal in the Roman Catholic
Church
during
the later
Middle
Ages and
just
prior to the life and times of Christopher Columbus.
In
this facsimile of the 288 page d’Ailly book republished
in 1483 AD, there were almost
900
hand scribbled notes by Admiral Columbus (some possibly by
his son).
The
Great Schism
During Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly’s lifetime (1350-1420
AD), a “Great Schism” (1378-1414 AD) had occurred within
the Roman Catholic Church. At one point, the schism had become so
dreadfully outrageous that there were simultaneously three different
popes appointed by three differing authorities within the church.
It
was commonly believed by church leaders of the time that the “Great
Schism” was a sign of the end times and of the imminent
coming of the antichrist. Cardinal d’Ailly from France
was a highly regarded cleric and leader within the church,
and as such he played
a crucial role in its restoration at the Council of Constance
held from November 5, 1414 to April 22, 1418 AD. (Whew!
Talk about long
meetings. I thought 3 hour meetings were unbearable.)
Cardinal
Pierre d’Ailly and the Almost Apocalypse
So, with patience now wearing extremely thin, you might rightly
ask: "What
in the heck does an obscure book written by an even more obscure
medieval French cardinal
in the Roman Catholic Church have to do with astrology?"
It
might surprise you to know that Cardinal d’Ailly was an advocate
of astrology and of astrological forecasting. Based on his own astrological
forecasting, d’Ailly shared, preached, and (most importantly)
wrote with increasing confidence that the "Great Schism"
of the church could be healed and was not meant as a signal that
world was at an end.
Based
on the French Cardinal d’Ailly's knowledge of astrology,
he had become convinced that the coming of the antichrist
would not
take place until around the year of 1789 AD. When you're writing
and living in the early 1400s AD, the year of 1789 AD probably
seems like a long way away...
For
d’Ailly the astrological planets appeared to be revealing
a religious change of great magnitude that was to take place in
1789 AD. The eschatological (end time) scriptures in d'Ailly's Christian
Bible provided him with the interpretation that this great change
in religion would likely take form as the coming of the antichrist
and the resulting apocalypse.
In
hindsight, we know that 1789 actually marked the beginning of the
French Revolution. Due to the nature of the French Revolution -
focusing its sites on the wealth and privileges of nobility, the
church, and royalty - Cardinal d'Ailly might well have thought that
his beloved France was going to hell in a hand-basket.
Forward
Back To Columbus
Moving slightly forward in time, Admiral Columbus - based
on his readings of Cardinal d'Ailly's Imago Mundi -
became convinced that our world had less than 200 years to go
before "the
end,"
and said as much in a letter to his patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella
of Spain.
“Astrology
dictated that the world would endure only some 155 years to
come.
Preceding its destruction, however, Columbus told the monarchs:
all of the races would be converted to Christianity. He saw
his
own voyages as part of the universal missionizing of the last
days.” From: History, Prophecy, and the Stars
by Laura Ackerman Smoller
Changing
Of Dates
If you've been paying attention (yawn), then you might have noticed
that for some odd reason Columbus felt the need to move up
d’Ailly’s
astrological prediction by over 100 years.
Why
Columbus did this, I’m clueless. Perhaps he was just really
bad at math. However, my best guess is that he thought d’Ailly’s
forecast (placing the end of the world in 1789 AD in around 300
years) wouldn’t be pressing and/or convincing enough for his
rich Spanish benefactors to cough up the vast fortune needed to
fund his voyages.
Ponder
This
Yep! It's fascinating to ponder just how pivotal a role astrology
played in Columbus discovering the Americas. Would there even be
an "America" such as we know it today, if it weren't for
Pierre d'Ailly's admittedly less than perfect apocalyptic and astrological
forecasting of the end of the world? I wonder...
Recommended
Reading: The following two books are likely to be of most
value to those folks interested in the history of astrology especially
as it pertains to the Medieval Period. These two books do not contain
practical information on how to practice Medieval Astrology.
History,
Prophecy, and the Stars by Laura Ackerman Smoller
The
Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe by Valerie Flint
Related
Article:
Great
T-Shirts at WestWindWorld.com
American
History 101 Indians Discovered Columbus - You are lost -
My Native American friend, Colleen Lloyd, creator
of the popular Homeland Security Fighting Terrorism
Since 1492 T shirt and poster, would like me to remind
you that I've got things a wee bit back ass-wards
and that it was the Native American Indians that discovered
Columbus.
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