There remains the question, when and why was the Speculum astronomiae written? Its tone suggests that it is not merely a general defense of astronomy and astrology but a specific reply to some particular attack upon astrological literature made by a party inclined to connect and condemn astrology together with necromancy and other forbidden occult arts. Such an attack can perhaps be seen in the condemnation at Paris in 1277 of two hundred and nineteen opinions attributed to Siger de Brabant. Many of them are astrological and with them are condemned a treatise of geomancy, works of necromancy, and books “containing experiments of lot-casters, invocations of demons, and conjurations perilous to the soul.”[2322] It is natural to associate the writing of the Speculum astronomiae with this affair, and the idea had occurred to me before I read any of Mandonnet’s works. It is also natural, especially if one holds the old view that Roger Bacon was persecuted for science’s sake and suspected of magic, to wonder if there is not some connection between the condemnation of 1277 and his own condemnation in 1278 “on account of certain suspected novelties”; and Mandonnet is not the first to do so.[2323] But he is the first to suggest that Bacon was condemned in 1278 for having written the Speculum astronomiae in connection with the other condemnation of 1277. But we have seen that there is little reason for thinking that Bacon’s condemnation was for astrology or magic. Second, it may be doubted whether anyone would have been condemned for so mild a work as the Speculum astronomiae, nor in 1277 could its contents have been regarded as “novelties.” Third, we have shown that Albert and not Bacon wrote the Speculum. Fourth, we have already heard that in 1270 Albert sent a treatise to Paris to help Aquinas in connection with the affair of Siger de Brabant, and that in 1277 he came to Paris himself to defend his own Aristotelian teaching and the memory of Aquinas in connection with the condemnation of the 219 articles. If so, who could have been better fitted to write on that occasion as a representative both of the Faith and of Philosophy than the venerable dean both of Christian theologians and of Aristotelian scientists?

The Speculum was written before 1277.

But there is a serious objection to dating the Speculum astronomiae as late as 1277, especially if Albert is its author, as we have shown every reason to believe. It is that the writer of the Speculum speaks of the twelfth and thirteenth (meaning our thirteenth and fourteenth) books of the Metaphysics of Aristotle as “not yet translated.”[2324] But Albert is acquainted with these books and gives a paraphrase of them in his own Commentary on the Metaphysics, which, as Mandonnet himself has elsewhere shown,[2325] was completed in 1256. It is true that Aquinas in his De unitate intellectus contra Averroistas, written in 1270, still seems to regard the last books of the Metaphysics as untranslated,[2326] which leads Grabmann to argue that Albert must have revised his Commentary to include the last books of the Metaphysics after 1270.[2327] But this fails to explain how Albert or anyone else writing in 1277 or 1278 could still speak of these books as “not yet translated,” since Albert could neither have translated nor commented upon them after 1277, since he died in 1280 and Ptolemy of Lucca tells us that for about three years before his death his intellectual faculties had declined. Thus the Speculum astronomiae was apparently written before 1277 and perhaps before 1256.

Condemnation of Siger de Brabant.

Although it thus appears to have no actual connection with the Speculum astronomiae, we may nevertheless consider here as bearing on the same topic of theological opposition to certain occult arts and even to astrology, the condemnation in 1277 by Stephen, bishop of Paris, and “doctors of sacred Scripture” of 219 opinions attributed to “Siger de Brabant, Boetius of Denmark, and others.” Siger seems to have been an Averroist of somewhat pronounced type and to have held views more evidently incompatible with the Christian Faith than most astrologers or occult scientists. It is possible, however, that his opponents misinterpreted or exaggerated his views. Mandonnet holds that he would have disowned many of the articles, and that, on the other hand, his persecutors inserted also moderate opinions such as were held by Albertus Magnus and Aquinas, in an effort to give the impression that infidels, Averroists, and moderate Aristotelians were all alike, and to discredit the reconciliation of Aristotle and Christian doctrine which Albert and Aquinas fathered.[2328] Dante speaks well of Siger in the Paradiso.

Condemned opinions connected with astrology; with science and religion.

We may note those articles which bear upon astrology, a very considerable number, with the addition of a few concerned with the relations of science and theology. It will be observed that the moderate thirtieth article is scarcely consistent with some others, and that the last clause of the 207th article, which seems an explanation inserted by the condemners, indicates that even they accept the influence of the stars within certain limits. In any case, while it is to be remembered that the condemnation is not primarily directed against astrology, the articles are of interest as showing both what adherents of astrology might believe and what its opponents might accuse them of and condemn them for.

“6.That when all the celestial bodies return to the same point, which happens every 36,000 years, the same effects will recur as now.
30.That superior intelligences create rational souls without motion of the sky, but that inferior intelligences create the vegetative and sensitive souls by means of the motion of the sky.
38.That God could not have made first matter except by means of a celestial body.
61.That God can do contrary things, that is, by means of a heavenly body which is variable in its whereabouts.
65.That God or intelligence does not send science to the human soul in sleep except by means of a heavenly body.
74.That the intelligence which moves the sky influences the rational soul just as the body of the sky influences the human body.
92.That the heavenly bodies are moved by an intrinsic principle which is the soul; and that they are moved by a soul and by appetitive virtue just like an animal.
94.That there are two eternal principles, namely, the body of the sky and its soul.
102.That the soul of the sky is intelligence, and the celestial circles are not instruments of intelligence but organs.
112.That superior intelligences impress inferior ones just as one soul impresses another; ... and by such impression a certain enchanter by his mere gaze cast a camel into a pit.[2329]
132.That the sky is the cause of the physician’s will, that he cures.
133.That the will and intellect are not moved in acts by themselves but by an eternal cause, namely, the heavenly bodies.
142.That from diversities of places come the necessities of events.
143.That from diverse signs of the sky are signified diverse conditions in men, as well of spiritual gifts as of temporal things.
150.That man ought not to be content with authority to gain certitude on any point.
152.That the utterances of theology are founded on fables.
154.That philosophers are the world’s only wise men.
161.That the influences of the stars on free will are occult.
162.That our wills are subject to the power of the heavenly bodies.
163.That the will of necessity follows that course of whose advisability the reason is firmly convinced, and that it cannot abstain from that course of action which reason dictates. This necessity is not compulsion but the nature of the will.
164.That man in all his acts follows appetite and always the greater.
167.That by certain signs men’s intentions and changes of mind are known, and whether their intentions will be achieved; and that by such figures are known the outcome of journeys, the captivity of men, their freedom from captivity, and whether they will become sages or scoundrels.
174.That there are fables and false statements in Christian Scripture as in others.
175.That Christianity hinders science.
189.That when intelligence is full of forms, it impresses those forms on matter through the heavenly bodies as through instruments.[2330]
195.That fate, which is the disposition of the universe, proceeds from divine providence, not immediately but by means of the motion of the superior bodies; and that this fate does not impose necessity upon inferior things, because they have contrariety, but upon superiors.[2331]
206.That he attributes health, infirmity, life and death to the position of the stars and the aspect of fortune, saying that if fortune regard him, he will live; if not, he will die.
207.That in the hour of a man’s generation, in his body and hence in the mind which follows the body, there exists in man from the order of superior and inferior causes a disposition inclining him to certain actions or results. An error, unless understood only of natural results and by way of disposition.”[2332]

In our chapter on Raymond Lull we shall speak of a treatise written by him in 1297 in which he deals with some of these opinions condemned in 1277.

Other later moves against magic at Paris.