ASTROLOGICAL FORECASTING AND THE TURKISH MENACE IN THE RENAISSANCE BALKANS Cover Image

ASTROLOGICAL FORECASTING AND THE TURKISH MENACE IN THE RENAISSANCE BALKANS
ASTROLOGICAL FORECASTING AND THE TURKISH MENACE IN THE RENAISSANCE BALKANS

Author(s): Scott E. Hendrix
Subject(s): Cultural history, History of ideas, Social history, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, 15th Century, 16th Century
Published by: Институт за етнологију и антропологију
Keywords: Mathias Corvinus; astrology; Martin Bylica; Antonio Bonfini; Hungary; Steven Lukes;Pierre Bourdieu; habitus; Peter Winch; Stephen Krasner; epistemic regimes;

Summary/Abstract: Astrology played a prominent role at the court of the late-fifteenth-century Hungarian king, Mathias Corvinus (1458-1490). In fact, his chief adviser was the astrologer Martin Bylica. This interest in predictive astrology has sometimes been seen as a singular blemish on the rule of an otherwise exemplary Renaissance monarch. However, understood within the context of his times, King Mathias’ astrological interests reinforce his image as a man of learning. An acceptance of predictive astrology was a core belief within the intellectual worldview of the day, allowing the presence of a court astrologer to function as an anxiety-reduction mechanism in the face of the massive threat represented by the Ottoman Turks.

  • Issue Year: 13/2013
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 57-72
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English
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