Alfonsine Tables
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Created from 1262 to 1272 by the Toledo School of Translators, a scholarly organization established by King Alfonso X of León and Castile (1221-1284) to translate scientific texts from Arabic to Castilian, the Alfonsine Tables contained data required to calculate the position of the planets, sun, and moon in relation to the fixed stars. A team led by Jehuda ben Moses Cohen and Isaac ben Sid produced this updated version of the Toledan Tables (completed by Arabic scholars c. 1080), which circulated widely in Europe after being translated into Latin in Paris during the 1320’s.
This manuscript contains the complete Alfonsine Tables (including average planetary motions, solar and lunar conjunctions, geographic coordinates of cities, and eclipses) and supplementary texts by the fourteenth-century astronomers John of Saxony, Jean de Lignières, and Henricus Selder. It also contains emendations made to the tables for use in Prague, and a short passage on weather prediction by the Baghdad-born Jewish astronomer Māshāʼallāh (משאללה; c. 730-c. 815). Bound in contemporary limp vellum with string ties, this manuscript shows signs of frequent use, with five leaves that have been completely or partially removed (two after fol. 12; fol. 84; two at end), as well as two pages of notes laid in after fol. 1.