Prognostic for the Year 1488

To the most illustrious and most serene Emperor of the Romans, Augustus.
The Prognostic for the year 1488 by Johannes Canter of Frisia.

Since the divine science of astrology is seen to be torn apart daily by wicked and ignorant men, who would stain the secrets of this sacred discipline with certain superstitions of dice or the casting of lots, and who imagine themselves to be excellent astrologers, seers, and mathematicians when they can scarcely count the calculations of celestial movements or understand them, I have judged it difficult to express the judgment of my own mind. Especially so because they make such lies that even those speaking the truth are not believed. Impelled, however, by your humanity, most serene prince, I have decided to reveal, with praise to God, some of the fates of the stars that are about to flow into the world. You, therefore, most serene prince, our sweet ornament, according to your accustomed kindness, by which you always pursue the students of the liberal arts with wonderful love, receive this our prognostic with a benign face. I will set forth the chapters whose custom I intend to follow, so that it may be more easily clear to the readers of what I am about to speak.

i. On the lord of the year.
ii. On the significance of eclipses in general.
iii. On the shortage and abundance of grain.
iv. On wars and disturbances.
v. On certain effects taken from the position of the planets in the figure.
vi. On infirmities.
vii. On the status of our most serene lord the Emperor.
viii. On the status of the most illustrious King of the Romans, Maximilian.
ix. On the status of the King of Hungary.
x. On the status of the Doge of Venice.
xi. On the status of Rome and Italy.
xii. On the status of the nobility and the magnates.
xiii. On the status of the people and various men.
xiv. On the conjunctions and oppositions of the luminaries.
xv. On chosen days for the phlebotomy of the arms.
xvi. On chosen days for taking solvent medicine.
xvii. On chosen days for sowing and planting.