UROP Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme
Almanacs, Astrology and the Origins of
Weather Forecasting
Aoife Lintin – Dr Anne Lawrence
Historical Archive Project
The first purpose of this UROP project is to study Almanacs in the
archives of the University in order to make a comprehensive ‘handlist’, to be used by researchers for further study. Many have not
been catalogued or studied before. The University archives cover
a broad range of Almanacs dating from the mid-sixteenth century
to the late nineteenth century. The research focuses on the nature
of the weather forecasts found, and the role of astrology in
producing them.
The Buckminster
Almanac 1590
[Special Collections and
RESERVE--528.2-BUC]
This Almanac fragment by
Thomas Buckminster,
1531-1599, is the oldest
weather forecasting
fragment in the university
collection, and the only
known fragment of his
1590 edition to survive.
Almanacs
Almanacs, produced yearly, were amongst other things the
forerunners of the modern pocket diary containing all sorts of
useful information. These included; an accurate calendar for the
coming year; times for the rising and setting of the sun; dates for
the phases of the moon; lists of important dates and individuals
like the Kings and Queens of England. They also made
‘prognostications’ for the weather and events of both political and
national importance. They were as important to the ordinary
individual in the past as the calendar is to us today. Almanacs are in
fact still sold today, though their status has changed.
The reader can clearly see
that he predicts some
‘Colde’ weather for the
first and second of
October.
Sources and Methodology
The primary resources studied for this project are the
Almanacs in the Archives of three departments at the
University of Reading; the History department; the Mr John
Lewis Collection at Special Collections and the Ephemera
Centre at the Department of Typography. This is an
archive-based project ranging from the sixteenth to the
nineteenth century.
I
‘Old Moore’s Almanac’
The ‘Vox Stellarum,’ (Voice of the
stars) by ‘Francis Moore, physician’
or 'Old Moore’s Almanac’ as it was
called, was enormously successful.
In 1768 it sold 107,000 copies;
1789, 365,000; 1839, 560,000 - in
an age of relative illiteracy! Moore
made a fortune: well over £600 a
year, when the usual income would
have been £7 or £8 a year.
Circulation
In the 17th century, English
almanacs were bestsellers, second
only to the Bible. By the middle of
the century, 400,000 almanacs
were being produced annually.
The compilers of Almanacs were scientific people who believed
that as ‘the moon affects the tides then the planets must have an
effect on the weather’. They used astrological tables and astrolabes
to calculate the movements and inter-relationships of the planets,
for the whole of the coming year. Their weather forecasts were
astrological forecasts.
Astrolabe
This is a picture of a medieval
Astrolabe from the British
Museum. The astrolabe is an
astronomical computer for solving
problems relating to time and the
position of the Sun and stars in
the sky. They were introduced to
Europe from the Spanish-Islamic
world. http://www.astrolabes.org/
The Hand-List was created using the University Catalogue
as a template and adding categories as required, such as;
Weather forecasts using Astrology are given.
Only Almanacs that have not already been catalogued
have been fully described, but overall lists are given.
Research Findings
The research established that weather forecasts using
Astrology were published in England as soon as printing
was introduced – long before the establishment of the
Met Office in 1831.
These were enormously popular and made their authors
rich and influential.
‘Weather Forecasting’ - or
‘Weather Prognostications’
It was Robert Fitzroy the first head
of the Met office who coined the
phrase ‘Weather Forecasting’ for the
first newspaper Weather Forecast in
1861. Earlier Almanacs referred
to them as ‘Weather
Prognostications’.
This image shows a sixteenth century astrologer at
work
Hurricanes and Heatwaves: The highs and Lows of the British weather. BBC 4
HD Broadcast Tuesday 23 September 2014.
.
Acknowledgements;
I must at this point mention the staff at both
the Special Collections and the Ephemera
Centre. They were wonderful, a joy to work
with, making my introduction to archive
research a pleasure. Thank you.
This project was supported through the University of Reading UROP (Undergraduate Research
Opportunities Programme). UROP is managed by the Careers, Placement and Experience Centre.