Tracing the history of medieval astronomy
I’m heading to Pennsic in a few hours and am happy I was able to get this finished before heading out.
If you’re going to be at Pennsic, make sure to attend some of the classes I’ll be teaching! While the content is generally the same as the YouTube videos, I’ll be bringing along actual period books relevant to many of them that attendees can examine.
A few SCA updates:
1. I have several classes that I’ll be teaching coming up.
2. The boon was begged1 for my elevation to the Order of the Laurel.
Details for both beneath the fold. Continue reading “SCA Updates – Upcoming Classes & Vigil Information”
This video is an adaptation of one of my more recent SCA classes. It was prepared for a Canterbury Tales themed event last September, but I’d held off on converting it into a video, because I thought it would be appropriate to release the video on April 18th: The date of the pilgrimage Chaucer gives. Unfortunately, a bunch of real life got in the way…
Last month, I visited Germany for a conference on medieval Islamic astrolabes. Unfortunately, that was not particularly suitable for a video on my channel (as it was too deep in the weeds). But, if I was already heading across an ocean, I decided to take some additional time to visit some of Germany’s other astronomical locations.
Apologies for being so quiet lately. There’s a few things that have been on my plate recently. One of the big ones has been some research for a new video for the YouTube channel. What I thought was going to be reading 2 books and a handful of paper has turned into 6 books an undergraduate thesis, and a handful of papers. Needless to say, it’s taken much longer than expected.
However, while doing that research I encountered this image.
This is from the Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, cod. Pal. germ. 832, fol 16r (1491) and it’s a stunningly beautiful volvelle. I knew I wanted to look into it further and thought I bookmarked it, but, when I came back a few days later, I couldn’t find it. I did remember some key words, and was able to find some similar volvelles. Continue reading “A 15th-16th Century Luni-Solar Volvelle”
2025 was a busy year. Outside the astronomy work, my (then) fiancée was diagnosed with MS, we had our wedding, had to put down our cat, adopted a new cat, bought a house and moved, and had our honeymoon. So, it was a big year.
But how did I do with astronomy? Continue reading “2025 in Review”