Medical and Astrological Miscellany

This codex contains a Latin calendar for the diocese of Constance in southern Germany; a text on the zodiac; a treatise on the planets and their “children” (the zodiac signs that they rule); medical texts on the four temperaments, bloodletting, bathing, and powder making; and finally, notes in a different hand on the genealogy of the Gundelfingen family. Most of the manuscript is illustrated with vivid pen and ink drawings, including the appropriate zodiac sign and labor for each month of the calendar, a depiction of bloodletting (fol. 52r), and a zodiac man (fol. 54v). The pages on display are part of a short treatise on the skies, with an image showing two astronomers comparing their astrolabe readings to the information in a sturdy tome; the treatise on the humors begins on the next page. The diversity of texts in this volume speaks to the holistic medieval view of the universe, in which one’s work, body, and soul are all affected by the movement of celestial bodies.