Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on the Handbook of 809, explores how the liberal arts, and in particular astronomy, experienced a revival in the ninth-century court of Charlemagne. Documents the utility of the constellations for prelates who needed to fix the floating feast of Easter and reckon time.
Trade Review“[This book] provides some of the clearest writing on computus in English, a topic that eludes many writers. . . . This is one of the first extended discussions of this type of Carolingian manuscript and there is much to recommend in it.”
—Judith Collard Parergon
“This erudite book is not for the faint of heart. . . . The Carolingian period is not as widely studied as others, so any contribution of this order is welcome. However, this focused investigation will be most valuable for an audience seeking specific expertise, especially concerning manuscript illumination and medieval computistics or the period organization of the Christian calendar. In the course of discussion, Ramírez-Weaver probes the intersection and roles of science, religion, astronomy, and artistry in understanding the cosmos. The book has excellent illustrations (including many color plates) of obscure illuminated pages. The scholarly apparatus is exemplary. This will prove a useful resource for those investigating the intellect and art in the Carolingian period.”
—A. V. Coonin Choice
“The pictures and texts in Drogo’s handbook created a cohesive, ordered presentation of the cosmos and an irreproachably Christian interpretation of the heavens. It will be interesting to see how scholars react to this dimension of Ramírez-Weaver’s work. I am persuaded.”
—Thomas F. X. Noble CAA.Reviews
“I was most impressed by the last chapter because of the wealth of contemporary text sources selected to clarify the view of a ninth-century monk or bishop on the constellations and offering a (quasi-psychological) understanding of the study of Carolingian star pictures: preoccupation with a prominent area of the liberal arts as a means of personal sanctification.”
—Mechthild Haffner Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture
“Very useful indeed as a thorough, balanced, and nuanced study of a cultural product that deserves to be better known.”
—William J. Diebold Speculum
“Eric Ramírez-Weaver’s A Saving Science adds depth and detail to our emerging appreciation of the role of science at the Carolingian court. The beauty, regularity, and order of the circling heavens were more than just flattering analogies of imperial power: they were the syntax of a visual language in which a new ideology of Christian kingship could be articulated. Ramírez-Weaver’s analysis initiates us into that language, its poetics and its politics, with insight and sympathy.”
—Faith Wallis,McGill University
“Ramírez-Weaver’s fine book focuses on the complex factors affecting the creation, function, and understanding of astronomical manuscripts and their illustrations produced during the Carolingian period. His deeply learned study offers a leap forward from an older view, especially prevalent in art-historical scholarship, that regarded these manuscripts as copies chiefly valuable as reflections of lost ancient materials, and/or looking forward to the ‘Renaissance,’ without placing them in a contemporary context.”
—Lawrence Nees,University of Delaware
Table of ContentsContents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Drogo and the Handbook of 809
Part One: Unveiling the Heavens over Carolingian Skies
Chapter One: Illuminating Science: Creating the Handbook of 809
Chapter Two: Drogo’s Copy of the Handbook of 809: A Simulacrum of Celestial Order
Part Two: Representing the Cosmos for Carolingian Hearts and Minds
Chapter Three: Revealing Astronomy: Itinerant Painters and Shifting Signs
Chapter Four: Restoring What Was Lost: Astronomy and Natural Astrology in the Carolingian Era
Notes
Bibliography
Index
