Astronomical Images : Providential historical calendar

Paul Eber

Astronomical Images

<p style='text-align: justify;'>From the second half of the sixteenth century, annual almanacs began to incorporate historical snippets, which echoed the earlier, pre-Reformation custom of including saints' lives in the Book of Hours. Given the attack on the cult of saints by the Protestant reformers, one would expect some changes reflected in calendars. A good example is the <i>Calendarium historicum</i>, first published in 1550, compiled by Paul Eber. This calendar contains a chart of the rising and setting of constellations, which were derived from the <i>Prutenic Tables</i>. The main purpose of Eber's calendar was to replace the devotion to the saints with memories of providential history. For every day of the year, instead of the saints' days, events that happened on that day throughout biblical, classical and recent history were recorded. This page, for example, showing 9 April, is explained as the Cerealia, the Roman feast named after Ceres, when plays took place. Four ancient names of April are then given: Nisan (Hebrew), Xanthikos (Macedonian), Thargelion (Attic), and Pharmouthi (Egyptian). It was also recorded that Mahomet II began the assault on Constantinople on that day. The changing fortunes of kingdoms were reminders of the fragility of human existence and prompted the reader to put trust in divine providence. Some copies of Eber's <i>Calendarium</i> were interleaved so as to encourage the inclusion of personal events in this calendar. This format was probably inspired by the rise of <i>Schreibkalendar</i> developed in the middle of the sixteenth century in which people recorded their personal events on the blank page facing the calendar. Personal events were yet one further way in which users of Paul Eber's calendar were encouraged to reflect on God's providential care.</p>