Prognostication for the Year 1491

appear and strive to manifest themselves more vehemently, and generally every eclipse is evil because of the deprivation of light. Therefore, I by no means judge that that eclipse which passed in the year 1495 on the Kalends of December, in the 14th degree of Gemini, not far from the nodes of the tail of the dragon, should be passed over in silence. For it will complete its evil effect in the months of September and October of the present year. For Mars, the lord of this eclipse, is found in a human and double-bodied sign, threatening evils to kings, princes, sanctuaries, and also to birds. Therefore, Mars will cause every evil and damage that occurs because of drought joined to vehement heat. Also, in the characters of men, this same Mars inclines his complexion to such human characters as merit arising from a hot and dry complexion with a superabundant vehemence in the heart and brain. These are great anger, cruelty, and tyranny. And wars, great and many disputes will happen between the people of one region and another, and between kings and cities. Truly, some will suffer sudden death or infirmity of fevers, especially tertian ones. Coughing up blood, corrosion of the flesh, and impetuous killings will occur. And this specifically in the age of the end of adolescence. Ancients also will suffer force because of the strength of the stars and pride. Fires also should be feared, and changes of laws, and men will incline toward foreign laws. Many robberies, plunderings, and ambushes of the roads will be dangerous. In the harvest, too, damage should be feared. That evil will also appear more in Asia toward the Turkish peoples and in places subject to the sign of the eclipse, such as Armenia, England, Flanders, Egypt, and in the regions of the Lombards, in White Russia, Prussia, Greater Poland, and around Constantinople. And because the sign of the angle occupies the first figure after the eclipse, that evil is also suspected in our neighboring places.

Chapter 3. Concerning the Lord of the Year

Concerning the lord of the year, there are some and indeed many doubts which each person will determine for himself to follow. For diverse and almost contrary opinions are found in their election. Guido note: Guido Bonatti in the revolutions of the years of the world, chapter 2; Hermes, that most ancient one; Albumasar in his books of flowers and experiments; Messechalach note: Mashallah ibn Athari; Leupoldus, one of the moderns—all of these, indeed, proclaim the lord of the year for the people solely from the ingress of the sun into Aries. The wise Hispalensis note: John of Seville, Ptolemy, and Hali, whose dicta almost all astrologers approve, [agree on] the ingress