Paper presented by Seb Falk at the Biennial London Chaucer Conference, 10 July 2015
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Paper abstract:
Those scholars who have sought to argue that Chaucer’s interest in astronomy went beyond that of a curious amateur have often called on evidence from The Equatorie of the Planetis. This treatise has been suggested as the ‘theorike to declare the moevyng of the celestiall bodies’ promised as the fourth part of the Astrolabe, but numerous differences between the Astrolabe and Equatorie have made most scholars doubt Chaucer’s authorship of the latter. Nevertheless, despite contrasts in content and style, the two treatises share a concern with pedagogy, each employing didactic techniques to communicate scientific content to its specific audience.
This paper examines the way that English was used in the Equatorie of the Planetis to teach the attitudes and subject matter of the science of astronomy, as well as the craft of producing a complex instrument. Although the treatise is a draft, the varied didactic methods (as well as diagrams) show that the writer thought carefully about the best ways of using the vernacular - an unusual choice for science in this period - to communicate the results of his experimentation and experience to his audience.
If, as now seems likely, Chaucer did not write the Equatorie, we must reflect that there was at least one other person communicating science with great clarity to a vernacular audience, who cited Chaucer and quoted from his work. This treatise thus has much to tell us about the communities of astronomers who shared theories, tables and ideas about instruments in the late medieval period.
17 окт 2024
