The So-Called ‘Chaucer Astrolabe’ from the Koelliker Collection, Milan

Bennett, Jim; Strano, Giorgio

The So-Called ‘Chaucer Astrolabe’ from the Koelliker Collection, Milan

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Bennett, Jim

Strano, Giorgio

Date published

2014

Abstract

The so-called “Chaucer Astrolabe” from the Koelliker collection, Milan, is a remarkable 14th-century English instrument. In addition to recounting its recent story and expounding its detailed description, this article offers a multi-sided approach to the object. The instrument is examined in relation to some of the early manuscript copies and to other astrolabes that have most commonly been seen as linked to Geoffrey Chaucer’s . In particular, the article provides stylistic and astronomical analyses through comparisons with the illustrations in the early copies of the , a selection of very similar instruments, and the data of the Pseudo-Messahalla star table. This multi-sided approach has some implications for existing scholarship on the astrolabes in the Chaucer tradition.