Laura Ackerman Smoller

A study of the late medieval French astrologer/theologian Pierre d'Ailly who attempted to use astrology "scientifically" to understand history and predict the coming of Antichrist (which he set for 1789, interestingly enough).This is a serious work of intellectual history on how Pierre reconciled astrology with traditional Catholicism, especially on the issue of free will, which often got astrologer into trouble.
However, its main focus is on how Pierre's own attitude toward astrology developed in response to his response to the Great Schism. Initially he had the conventional reservations about astrology of his time and also adopted the widespread view that the Great Schism was the "division in the church" which many writers and preachers associated with the coming of Antichrist and ultimately the Last Judgement and the end of the world. However, as the schism dragged on and he became more familiar with previous attempts to apply astrology to analyzing the past and predicting the future, he concluded that the schism could be ended in a way that would restore (and hopefully reform) the church and put off the danger of the apocalypse indefinitely.… (mehr)