Jesuit Astrology: Prognostication and Science in Early Modern Culture, written by Luís Campos Ribeiro

In 1574, the crown endowed the College of Santo Antão (Saint Anthony's) in Lisbon with a generous rent on the spice trade.The royal donation was made in perpetuity and was contingent on the creation of a public course of mathematics.Borrowing its name from John of Sacrobosco's (c.1195Sacrobosco's (c.-c.1256) elementary treatise of astronomy, this course came to be known as "Aula da Esfera" (Class on the sphere).Since there was no fixed schedule nor textbook, the teachers enjoyed considerable autonomy in the preparation of the lessons.The main restriction was linguistic.Because it was mostly attended by mariners, naval officers, and engineers, the course was always delivered in vernacular.It was taught between 1590 and 1759 by Portuguese and foreign Jesuits, including renowned mathematicians and astronomers from the Collegio Romano, such as Cristoph Grienberger (1561-1636), Giovanni Paolo Lembo (1561-1636), and Cristoforo Borri (1583-1632).The lessons were varied and were not confined to a single mathematical discipline.Significantly, conventional subjects such as cosmography, nautical astronomy, algebra, and geometry were taught alongside controversial ones such as astrology and chiromancy.Historians of science have known since the 1970s that the students' notebooks of the "Aula da Esfera" included astrological material.The matter became widely known in the field of Jesuit studies with the