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    A Treatise on the Astrolabe
    A Treatise on the Astrolabe
    A Treatise on the Astrolabe
    Ebook56 pages58 minutes

    A Treatise on the Astrolabe

    By Geoffrey Chaucer

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    Geoffrey Chaucer, born in London most likely around 1340, was an English poet, author, philosopher, scientist, diplomat and politician. He has been called the “father of English literature”, or, alternatively, the “father of English poetry”, but he should be considered, in a broader sense, for the breadth of his interests and the richness of his works, the father of English Humanism.
    He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin.
    Parallel to his activity as a prolific writer, he maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, comptroller of the customs for the port of London and member of parliament.
    Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe, addressed in 1391 to his ten old son Lowys, is considered the oldest work in English written upon an elaborate scientific instrument or the first example of technical writing in the English language. It describes the form and use of the astrolabe in detail and it indicates that Chaucer was versed in science in addition to his literary and philosophical talents.
    With a preface by Boris Yousef.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEdizioni Aurora Boreale
    Release dateSep 29, 2022
    ISBN9791255041160
    A Treatise on the Astrolabe
    Author

    Geoffrey Chaucer

    Often referred to as the father of English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer was a fourteenth-century philosopher, alchemist, astrologer, bureaucrat, diplomat, and author of many significant poems. Chaucer’s writing was influential in English literary tradition, as it introduced new rhyming schemes and helped develop the vernacular tradition—the use of everyday English—rather than the literary French and Latin, which were common in written works of the time. Chaucer’s best-known—and most imitated—works include The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde, The Book of the Duchess, and The House of Fame.

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      Book preview

      A Treatise on the Astrolabe - Geoffrey Chaucer

      SYMBOLS & MYTHS

      GEOFFREY CHAUCER

      A TREATISE

      ON THE ASTROLABE

      LOGO EDIZIONI AURORA BOREALE

      Edizioni Aurora Boreale

      Title: A Treatise on the Astrolabe

      Author: Geoffrey Chaucer

      Publishing series: Symbols & Myths

      With a preface by Boris Yousef

      Editing by Nicola Bizzi

      ISBN: 979-12-5504-116-0

      LOGO EDIZIONI AURORA BOREALE

      Edizioni Aurora Boreale

      © 2022 Edizioni Aurora Boreale

      Via del Fiordaliso 14 - 59100 Prato - Italia

      edizioniauroraboreale@gmail.com

      www.auroraboreale-edizioni.com

      GEOFFREY CHAUCER, THE FATHER OF ENGLISH HUMANISM

      By Boris Yousef

      Geoffrey Chaucer, born in London most likely around 1340 (the precise date remain unknown), was an English poet, author, philosopher, scientist, diplomat and politician. He has been called the father of English literature, or, alternatively, the father of English poetry, but he should be considered, in a broader sense, for the breadth of his interests and the richness of his works, the father of English Humanism.

      He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer’s contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as «the firste fyndere of our fair langage». Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts.

      Parallel to his activity as a prolific writer, he maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, comptroller of the customs for the port of London and member of parliament.

      Chaucer’s first major work was The Book of the Duchess, an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster who died in 1368. He also wrote masterpieces such as Anelida and Arcite, The House of Fame, Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde, but is especially remembered internationally for his magnus opus, The Canterbury Tales, a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400.

      Chaucer also translated Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy and The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris (extended by Jean de Meun). Eustache Deschamps called himself a «nettle in Chaucer’s garden of poetry».

      According to tradition, Chaucer studied law in the Inner Temple (an Inn of Court). He became a member of the royal court of Edward III as a valet de chambre, yeoman, or esquire on 20 June 1367, a position which could entail a wide variety of tasks. His wife also received a pension for court employment. He travelled abroad many times, at least some of them in his role as a valet. In 1368, he may have attended the wedding of Lionel of Antwerp to Violante Visconti, daughter of Galeazzo II Visconti, in Milan. Two other literary stars of the era were in attendance: Jean Froissart and Petrarch. Around this time, Chaucer is believed to have written The Book of the Duchess in honour of Blanche of Lancaster, the late wife of John of Gaunt, who died in 1369 of the plague.

      Chaucer travelled to Picardy the next year as part of a military expedition; in 1373 he visited Genoa and Florence. Numerous scholars such as Skeat, Boitani, and Rowland suggested that, on this Italian trip, he came into contact with Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio. They introduced him to medieval Italian poetry, the forms and stories of which he would use later.

      Chaucer died of unknown causes on 25 October 1400, although the only evidence for this date comes from the engraving on his tomb which was erected more than houndred years after his death. There is some speculation that he was murdered by enemies of Richard II or even on the orders of his successor Henry IV, but the case is entirely circumstantial. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey in London, as was his right owing to his status as a tenant of the Abbey’s close. In 1556, his remains were transferred to a more ornate tomb, making him the first writer interred in the area now known as Poets’ Corner.

      Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe , addressed in 1391 to his ten old son Lowys, is considered the oldest work in English written upon an elaborate scientific instrument or the first example of technical writing in the English language. It describes the form and use of the astrolabe in detail and it indicates that Chaucer was versed in science in addition to his literary and philosophical talents.

      Chaucer’s exact source is undetermined but most of his conclusions go back, directly or indirectly, to Compositio et Operatio Astrolabii, a Latin translation of Messahala’s Arabic treatise of the 8th century. His description of the instrument amplifies Messahala’s, and Chaucer’s indebtedness to Messahala was recognised by

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