Comet Sketches

The Comet Book ('Kometenbuch') 

is a 16th century album of

stylised watercolour sketches

of both comets and meteors

"The ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans [..] by a long Cour?e of Ob?ervations, were able to predict the Apparitions of Comets. But ?ince they are al?o ?aid, by Help of the ?ame Arts, to have progo?ticated Earthquakes and Tempe?ts, 'tis pa?t all Doubt, that their Knowledge in the?e Matters, was the Re?ult rather of meer A?trological Calculation, than of any A?tronomical Theories of the C�le?tial Motions.

And the Greeks, who were Conquerors of both tho?e People, ?carce found any other ?ort of Learning among?t them, than this. So that 'tis the Greeks them?elves as the Inventors (and e?pecially to the Great Hipparhchus) that we owe this A?tronomy, which is now improv'd to Such a Heighth.

But yet, among?t the?e, the Opinion of Ari?totle (who wou'd have Comets to be nothing el?e, but ?ublunary Vapours, or Airy Meteors) prevail'd So far, that this mo?t difficult part of the A?tronomical ?cience lay altogether neglected; for no Body thought it worth while to take Notice of, or write about, the Wandring uncertain Motions of what they e?teemed Vapours floating in the �ther; whence it came to pa?s, that nothing certain, concerning the Motions of the Comets, can be found tran?mitted from them to us.

But Seneca the Philo?opher, having con?ider'd the Phenomena of Two remarkable Comets of his Time, made no ?cruple to place them among?t the C�le?tial Bodies; believing them to be ?tars of equal Duration with the World, tho' he owns their Motions to be govern'd by Laws not as then known or found out. And at la?t (which was no untrue or vain Prediction) he foretells, that there ?hould be Ages ?ometime hereafter, to whom Time and Diligence ?hou'd unfold all the?e My?teries, and who ?hou'd wonder that the Ancients cou'd be ignorant of them, after ?ome lucky Interpreter of Nature had ?hewn, in what Parts of the Heavens the Comets wander'd, what, and how great they were. Yet almo?t all the A?tronomers differ'd from this Opinion of Seneca; neither did Seneca him?elf think fit to ?et down tho?e Ph�nomena of Motion, by which he was enabled to maintain his Opinion; Nor the Times of tho?e Appearances, which might be of u?e to Po?terity, in order to the Determining the?e Things.

And indeed, upon the Turning over very many Hi?tories of Comets, I find nothing at all that can be of ?ervice in this Affair, before, A.D. 1337. at which time Nicephorus Gregorus, a Con?tantinopolitan Hi?torian and A?tronomer did pretty accurately de?cribe the Path of a Comet among?t the Fix'd Stars, but was too laxe as to the Account of the Time; ?o that this mo?t doubtful and uncertain Comet, only de?erves to be in?erted in our Catalogue, for the ?ake of its appearing near 400 years ago."

'A Synopsis of the Astronomy of Comets' IN: 'Miscellanea Curiosa: Containing a Collection of Some of the Principal Ph�nomena in Nature, Accounted for by the Greatest Philosophers of this Age..' Edited by Edmund Halley, 1708. [Harvard || GBooks || Amazon |||| long ?]

Domina capillorum (Sol)

Veru, ein Komet aus dem Jahre 69 n. Chr.

?Pertica orientalis und occidentalis

Scutella

Rosa

Miles

Gebea ou Tenaculum (Luna) aus der Zeit Kaiser Neros

Etoiles courants

Aczime aultrement Dominis Aschone (Merkur)

Aurora oder Matuta (Feuer)

Argentum im Zeichen des Jupiters

'Kometenbuch' was produced in Flanders or NE France in 1587. Two editions are known to exist; the other copy is owned by the Warburg Institute in London, and contains near-identical sketches, but has an extra chapter of writing. The names of the author and illustrator are unknown. The text would appear to reflect the rather outlandish, or at least exaggerated, qualities we see in the painted miniatures. In other words, the text purports to compile a history of comet science from ancient times up to the late Medieval period, but it does so in such a way that the emphasis is on 'popularising' the content. Early Modern pop-science, if you will. So what began as factual depictions of celestial phenomena, morphed into spectacular genre paintings.

The writing isn't so distorted that it masks the true origins, however. Our author incorrectly (or pretentiously) names Ptolemy as a source - but the papers cited in 'Kometenbuch' contain no reference to comets at all. Instead, it has been determined that the true source for the manuscript contents lies with an anonymous Spanish book, 'Liber de Significatione Cometarum', published in 1238. The 13th century book contained astrological and astronomical information and observations from ancient history and was translated into many languages; one edition in simplified French from the 15th century likely provided the 'Kometenbuch' author's foundation material.

The painting scenes tend to follow from the descriptions in the text; for instance, comet Aurora was said to trigger wars, fire, strong winds and the like, which is why the corresponding image depicts burning houses, fleeing people etc. The Miles comet is described as being "as big as a horse" and the harbinger of upheaval to laws, social norms and hard times for royalty: cryptically sketched as a man defecating beneath a sky filled by a giant-tailed comet (the tails were said to carry the 'effects' from the heavens), while a perplexed owl looks on from a tree.

Throughout history, the appearance of these beautiful and colourful comets has been regarded as significant events. In general, people held superstitious beliefs about comets and were convinced that they were bad omens and associated with the forces of dark magic or a sign of punishment to come from displeased Gods. Comets 'announced' that war, famine, pestilence and other consequences of sinful behaviour were on their way. This kind of religious punishment explanation of comets persisted up until the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, when the speculative literature (and illustrations!) gave way, over time, to a more scientific appreciation of the phenomena.

• 'Kometenbuch' 1587, is available online from Universit�tsbibliothek Kassel in Germany.
• The majority of writing above is paraphrased from a translated manuscript commentary/bibligraphy book^: 'Kasseler Handschriftensch�tze' c. 1985 by Hartmut Broszinski.
• I am, for the manyeth time, deeply grateful for the translational assistance provided by typographer-extraordinaire, Nina St�ssinger (@ninastoessinger). THANKS NINA!! Nina is studying again now, so if there's anybody out there who is very fluent in BOTH English AND German, and who wouldn't mind giving me some occasional translational assistance, please get in contact: gmail/peacay or @BibliOdyssey.
• Thanks also to Harvard Library's John Overholt.
• Previously: The Comet Book (includes more background links) and, in general: astronomy & astrology.
• Addit: never let it be said that I d/won't allow criticism to appear here (however factually incorrect it may be - they regard the details of the write-up here - with which they disagree - the fault of 'the blogger'. Perhaps they ought to read all these bullet points. My opinion doesn't really surface. A lot of work and a few people were responsible for producing this commentary which, as noted, is essentially a summarised translation.)
• This post first appeared on the BibliOdyssey website.