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Conclusion

The Afterlife of Medieval Meteorology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2019

Anne Lawrence-Mathers
Affiliation:
University of Reading
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Summary

The Conclusion traces the importance of astrometeorological forecasts from the seventeenth century onwards. It finds surprising evidence that they finally disappeared only in the nineteenth century, despite increasing criticism. In fact, one of the attackers mourned the continuing high sales of Moore’s almanac in the 1830s. A central finding is that the increasing rejection of astrology in the eighteenth century, and the attacks on astrometeorology, led to the absence of any accepted basis for making weather forecasts. This problem, together with ongoing demand for knowledge of coming weather, led to the revival of old-fashioned weather-signs. The support given by Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler to both astrometeorology and the keeping of waether records is considered, as are early modern treatises on weather prediction. A detailed study of English 18th-century almanacs shows use of weather journals and instruments such as barometers, alongside traditional astrometeorological methods. The final conclusion is that it was only the production of FitzRoy’s new, ‘practical’ system of forecasting the weather that finally ended the age of medieval meteorology.

Type
Chapter
Information
Medieval Meteorology
Forecasting the Weather from Aristotle to the Almanac
, pp. 194 - 202
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Conclusion
  • Anne Lawrence-Mathers, University of Reading
  • Book: Medieval Meteorology
  • Online publication: 08 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108289948.011
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  • Conclusion
  • Anne Lawrence-Mathers, University of Reading
  • Book: Medieval Meteorology
  • Online publication: 08 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108289948.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Anne Lawrence-Mathers, University of Reading
  • Book: Medieval Meteorology
  • Online publication: 08 November 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108289948.011
Available formats
×