Book Launch

England's First Astrology Book

The Sophia Centre University of Wales Trinity Saint David and The Sophia Centre Press

Hosted by the Celestial Arts Education Library (CAELI)

We are proud to announce the launch of England's First Astrology Book: Roger of Hereford's Judicial Astrology, by Dr Chris Mitchell, translated into English for the first time.

5 pm – 6.30 pm GMT, 4 March 2022

Hiding in Latin for over eight centuries, England's first textbook of astrological techniques finally enters the English-speaking world through the masterful translation of Dr. Chris Mitchell. We cannot understand the history of ideas without the history of astrology and Chris's book adds significantly to our understanding of the Medieval European mind.

The twelfth century saw a huge renaissance of astrology in Christian Europe, as numerous astrological texts were translated from Arabic into Latin. An English scholar called Roger, teaching in the cathedral school at Hereford, made use of these new translations to produce a textbook of horary astrology for his students, creating the first astrology textbook in England.

Roger was teaching in England but, like all scholars of his time, wrote his textbook in Latin, and until now it has never been translated, meaning Roger’s innovative work has been largely hidden for over eight centuries. This book addresses that gap; it's the result of nearly a decade of research that Chris Mitchell did for his PhD, unearthing the original manuscripts, transcribing the scrawling and heavily abbreviated handwriting, and translating the often confusing text into English.

Registration

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About the Author

Dr. Chris Mitchell was awarded his PhD by the University of Leicester on 'Roger of Hereford's Judicial Astrology: England's First Astrology Book?', a study of Roger of Hereford, the twelfth-century translator and astrologer. Chris is a graduate of the MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology and currently teaches on the programme at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He also teaches at the University of Leicester. He holds a diploma in Medieval Astrology from Astrologos and has given talks to groups and conferences in Europe and the US. He is the author of England's First Astrology Book (Almuten Figuris Press, 2021), which is based on his PhD.