IBERIAN APPROACHES TO ASTRONOMY DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Abstract

The aim of this work is to describe different kinds of astronomical and astrological works written in the

sixteenth century, with special emphasis on Portuguese and Spanish texts. This period is especially relevant

in the development of astronomical culture in Portugal and Spain, since this was the age of the great

overseas explorations, when astronomical navigation became of fundamental importance. The astronomical

culture of that time involved ancient and new concepts, and old revisited narratives about the cosmos and

its influence in many facets of the sublunary world. The present research describes the influence and

transformation of the classical and medieval astronomical culture in the specific context of sixteenth century

Iberian texts. There were different publics involved in the production and study of those works, such as

navigators, priests, physicians, farmers, astrologers and scholars. Those different aspects of astronomical and

astrological knowledge were not distinct, there was a significant overlap between them; and the educated

public required some broad acquaintance with those several approaches. Some popular treatises, called

Chronographia, or Reportorio dos tempos, provided astronomical and astrological information required by the

general public. This overview of those sources can contribute to a better and more comprehensive

understanding of the astronomical culture in that period.