Reading God´s will in the stars. Petrus Alfonsi and Raymond de Marseille defend the new Arabic Astrology

Abstract

Pedro Alfonso y Raimundo de Marsella intentaron justificar la teorfa y la pnictica de la astrologfa en medio de un clima de escepticismo y de oposici6n. Ambos defendieron con firmeza el arte de la adivinacion celeste, afirmando que forma parte del plan racional trazado por Dios para el Universo. Atacaron a sus oponentes (los practicantes de la astrologfa inferior y el clero opuesto a Ia astrologfa), llamandolos ciegos, pervertidos y bestias inacionales. Sus discusiones contribuyeron a en tender Ia importancia de la recepci6n de la ciencia arabe en la Europa latina durante el siglo XII y a que se apelase cada mas a la raz6n.

Petrus Alfonsi and Raymond of Marseille both attempt to justify the theory and practice of astrology in the face of considerable skepticism and opposition. They aggressively defend the art of celestial divination, affirming that it is part of God's rational plan for the universe. They attack their opponents (both practitioners of inferior astrology and clerical opponents of astrology) as (inter alia) blind, perverse, inational beasts. Their polemics shed light on the reception of Arabic, science in Latin Europe in the first half of the twelfth century and on the invocation of "reason" (ratio) as an increasingly popular rhetorical weapon.