1. For a concise and illuminating account of Oresme's career, see Marshall Clagett, "Nicole Oresme," Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York: Scribner, 1974), vol. 10, 223-30. For references to other biographical sources and Oresme's bibliography, see Babbitt, Oresme's Livre de Politiques , 1, n. 2. A full reconsideration of the life and work of Nicole Oresme and his family is included in the introduction to the new critical edition of his Livre de divinacions by Sylvie Lefèvre (Ph.D. diss., University of Paris III, 1992), 203-302. I am grateful to Mlle Lefèvre for sharing this information with me. [BACK]

2. Delachenal, who wrote the definitive biography of Charles V, denies the existence of a formal relationship ( Historie de Charles V , vol. 1, 14-15). The tradition that Oresme was an actual tutor of the young prince has a long history. See Charles Jourdain, "Nicole Oresme et les astrologues de la cour de Charles V," Excursions historiques et philosophiques à travers le moyen âge (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1888), 582. Jourdain cites a fifteenth-century manuscript (Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS fr. 1223, fol. 116), which uses the term "son instructeur." For a recent critique of Jourdain's interpretation, see Lefèvre, ed., " Livre de divinacions ," 218-20. See also Babbitt, Oresme's Livre de Politiques , 3, n. 14. Others believe that Oresme played the part of an informal director of studies. See Emile Bridrey, La théorie de la monnaie au XIVe siècle: Nicole Oresme, étude d'histoire des doctrines et des faits économiques (Paris: Giard & continue

Brière, 1906), 445; and De proportionibus proportionum and Ad pauca respicientes , ed. and trans. Edward Grant (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1966), 6, n. 17. [BACK]

3. For a summary of views on the influence of nominalism on Oresme, see Nicole Oresme and the Marvels of Nature: A Study of His De causis mirabilium , ed. and trans. Bert Hansen, Studies and Texts, 68 (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1985), 104-9. [BACK]

4. For a short discussion of this topic with references to the literature, see Claire Richter Sherman, "The Queen in King Charles V's Coronation Book : Jeanne de Bourbon and the Ordo ad reginam benedicendam," Viator 8 (1977): 258, n. 9. [BACK]

5. Raymond Cazelles, "Le parti navarrais jusqu'à la mort de Etienne Marcel," Bulletin philologique et historique (1960): 860-62. See idem, Société politique , 30 and 102. [BACK]

6. The De moneta of Nicholas Oresme and English Mint Documents , ed. and trans. Charles Johnson (London: Thomas Nelson, 1956). For an evaluation of the De moneta in the scholarly literature, see Babbitt, Oresme's Livre de Politiques , 4, n. 25. [BACK]

7. De moneta , 11 and 37-38. See Cazelles, Société politique , 102. [BACK]

8. De moneta , 42. The references are to the Politics , V.3 1302b-1303a and V.11 1314a. [BACK]

9. As evidence that Oresme himself translated the De moneta , in the Ethiques and Politiques he refers to "his" treatise by a French title. Oresme frequently cites works in the language in which they were written. See the introduction by John E. Parker to his edition of the Traictié des monnoyes (Ph.D. diss., Syracuse University, 1952), 8a-11a. For Oresme's citations, see Ethiques , Book V, Ch. 11, Gloss 6, 295, and Politiques , Book I, Ch. 10, Gloss, 64, and Ch. 12, Gloss, 67. The full title of the French translation, with spelling variants, is the Traictié de mutacions de monnoies . [BACK]

10. Traictié de la première invention des monnoies de Nicole Oresme et Traité de la monnoie de Copernic , ed. M. Louis Wolowski (Paris, 1864; Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1976). The problems with the manuscripts on which Wolowski's translation is based are discussed by Bridrey, Théorie de la monnaie , 62-64. The revealing form of address appears in the conclusion of the Traictié , which states that the work is destined for "la correction des saiges et prudens hommes, et mesmement de vous, mon très chier et honnoré seigneur, qui en la plupart d'icelles vous congnoissez et estes expert; car selon que dit Aristote, les besongnes civilles sont plus souvent doubteuses et incertaines" (ed. Wolowski, 86).

Charles is referred to as "chier sire" in the frontispiece of the roughly contemporary Livre des neuf anciens juges d'astrologie (Fig. 1). See below at n. 23. The phrase "mon tres chèr et redoubté seigneur" occurs in the prologue of the French translation by Jean Daudin of Petrarch's De remediis commissioned by Charles V (Delisle, Recherches , vol. 1, 93). The Traictié couples a compliment to the wisdom of the "seigneur" with a reference to Aristotle. In the prologue, Oresme declares that certain basic arguments of the present treatise accord with "les raisons d'Aristote" ( Traictié , ed. Wolowski, 2). [BACK]

11. Bridrey, Théorie de la monnaie , 71-72; Parker, ed., " Traictié des monnoyes ," 14a, and Grant, ed., De proportionibus , 12, accept this early dating. break [BACK]

12. John Bell Henneman, Royal Taxation in Fourteenth-Century France: The Captivity and Ransom of John II, 1356-1370 , Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 116 (Philadelphia: The Society, 1976), 117-18. [BACK]

13. Théorie de la monnaie , 460-64. [BACK]

14. The document cited by Bridrey ( Théorie de la monnaie , 449) comes from a lost register of the Chambre des Comptes dated 2 November 1369. See Abraham Tessereau, Histoire chronologique de la grande Chancellerie de France (Paris: Pierre Emery, 1710), vol. 1, 22. [BACK]

15. Ferdinand Lot and Robert Fawtier, Histoire des institutions françaises au moyen âge (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1958), vol. 2, 87-89. [BACK]

16. Bridrey, Théorie de la monnaie , 449. Lefèvre, ed. (Oresme, " Livre de divinacions ," 220), says that Oresme was not involved in this transaction, which dates from 1370. In general, Lefèvre challenges the accuracy of Bridrey's documentation. [BACK]

17. "A Case Study in Medieval Nonliterary Translation: Scientific Texts from Latin to French," in Medieval Translators and Their Craft , ed. Jeanette Beer, Studies in Medieval Culture, 25 (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 1989), 308. [BACK]

18. De causis mirabilium , 22. In her discussion of astrological translations made for Charles V, Shore seems to share Hansen's evaluation (see "A Case Study," 307-10). [BACK]

19. "Christine de Pizan: The Astrologer's Daughter," in Mélanges à la mémoire de Franco Simone (Geneva: Editions Slatkine, 1980), 97-98. For further discussion see also Willard's recent study, Christine de Pizan: Her Life and Works (New York: Persea Books, 1985), 20-22. [BACK]

20. Fais et bonnes meurs , vol. 2, 15-19. [BACK]

21. Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science (New York: Columbia University Press, 1934), vol. 3, 585-86. Thorndike draws upon a fifteenth-century treatise by Symon de Phares ( Recueil des plus célèbres astrologues et quelques hommes doctes , ed. Ernest Wickersheimer [Paris: Champion, 1929], 221-29). Phares gives the names of the astrologers connected with John the Good and others employed by the Dauphin in the 1360s. [BACK]

22. See Shore, "A Case Study," 308-10. [BACK]

23. See Camille Gaspar and Frédéric Lyna, Les principaux manuscrits à peintures de la Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique (Paris: Société Française de la Reproduction de Manuscrits à Peintures, 1937), vol. 1, 337-38; Avril, La librairie , no. 200, 116. The other copy of the text is Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, MS 2872. [BACK]

24. For the identification of the judges and the history of the Latin text, see Francis J. Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin Translations: A Critical Bibliography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1956), 103-12. For Charles's image, see Sherman, Portraits , 18-19. break [BACK]

25. Delisle, Recherches , vol. 1, 267-68; Thorndike, History of Magic , vol. 3, 587; Sherman, Portraits , 22; Avril, La librairie , no. 99, 115; and Shore, "A Case Study," 310. [BACK]

26. "Et se son estude bel à devis estoit bien ordenné, comme il voulsist toutes ses choses belles et nettes, polies et ordennées, ne convient demander, car mieulz estre ne peust" ( Fais et bonne meurs , vol. 2, 42). [BACK]

27. Emmanuel Poulle, "Horoscopes princiers des XIVe et XVe siècles," Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France (1969): 63-77. [BACK]

28. De causis mirabilium , ed. Hansen, 17-25.

29. Ibid., 21. [BACK]

28. De causis mirabilium , ed. Hansen, 17-25.

29. Ibid., 21. [BACK]

30. Nicole Oresme and the Astrologers: A Study of His Livre de divinacions , ed. George W. Coopland (Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press, 1952), 51. This edition has the French and English versions of the text on facing pages.

31. Ibid., 105.

32. Ibid., 107; Politiques , 44. [BACK]

30. Nicole Oresme and the Astrologers: A Study of His Livre de divinacions , ed. George W. Coopland (Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press, 1952), 51. This edition has the French and English versions of the text on facing pages.

31. Ibid., 105.

32. Ibid., 107; Politiques , 44. [BACK]

30. Nicole Oresme and the Astrologers: A Study of His Livre de divinacions , ed. George W. Coopland (Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press, 1952), 51. This edition has the French and English versions of the text on facing pages.

31. Ibid., 105.

32. Ibid., 107; Politiques , 44. [BACK]

33. The Arabic commentary was translated into Latin by Aegidius de Thebaldis in 1256. For the history of this text, see Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences , 18-19. For an edition of Oresme's translation by Jay Gossner, see " Le quadripartit ptholomée ," edited from the text of MS Français 1348 of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (Ph.D. diss., Syracuse University, 1951). For a recent discussion of this text, see Max Lejbowicz, "Guillaume Oresme, traducteur de la Tetrabible de Claude Ptolémée," Pallas 30 (1983): 107-33. On paleographic and textual grounds Lejbowicz believes that Guillaume Oresme is the translator. [BACK]

34. Delachenal, "Note sur un manuscrit," 33-38; Avril, La librairie , no. 198, 114-15. Marshall Clagett, The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1959), 338-39, n. 11. See also Ethiques , 26, n. 33. Shore attributes the Quadripartitum to Guillaume Oresme ("A Case Study," 308-9), as do Lusignan ( Parler vulgairement , 156) and Lefèvre, ed. (Oresme, " Le Livre de divinacions ," 245-46). The latter two scholars agree with Lejbowicz, "Guillaume Oresme," as in n. 33 above. My adherence to the attribution to Nicole Oresme is based on the iconography of the dedication portrait (Fig. 3) and the similar language of Nicole's prologues to those of his Aristotle translations. [BACK]

35. Delachenal, "Note sur un manuscrit," 36. See Ch. 1 above, n. 30. [BACK]

36. Ethiques , Book VII, Ch. 1, Gloss 5, 364, and Ch. 10, Gloss 8, 384; Politiques , Book VII, Ch. 10, 291, and Ch. 11, 297. [BACK]

37. I was not familiar with this image until after the publication of Portraits . The style of the miniature can be attributed to the workshop of the Master of the Bible of Jean de Sy. This master and his atelier later worked on Charles V's official library copies of the Ethiques (MS A ) and the Politiques (MS B ). See above, Appendixes I and III. break [BACK]

38. Delachenal, "Note sur un manuscrit," 37-38. [BACK]

39. Oresme states: "il veut aussi avoir des livres en françois de la plus noble science de cest siècle, c'est vraie astrologie sans superstecion et par especial ce que en ont composé les philosophes excellens et approuvés." Idem, "Note sur un manuscrit," 38.

40. Ibid. [BACK]

39. Oresme states: "il veut aussi avoir des livres en françois de la plus noble science de cest siècle, c'est vraie astrologie sans superstecion et par especial ce que en ont composé les philosophes excellens et approuvés." Idem, "Note sur un manuscrit," 38.

40. Ibid. [BACK]

41. Oxford, St. John's College, MS 164, fols. 1-32. This treatise, which contains no evidence of Oresme's authorship, was not attributed to him by Delisle ( Recherches , vol. 1, 266). In Portraits , I mistakenly credited Pélerin de Prusse with authorship of this treatise, since the latter translated several astrological works collected in this volume. Although two critical editions of the Traitié de l'espere exist, neither is based on the St. John's College MS, perhaps the earliest extant example of the text. See "Maistre Nicole Oresme, Le traitié de l'espere ," ed. Lillian M. McCarthy (Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1943), and "Maistre Nicole Oresme, Le traité de la sphère ," ed. John V. Myers (Master's thesis, Syracuse University, 1940). Both critical editions are based on Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS fr. 1350. Scholars now believe that Oresme's Traitié de l'espere is not a translation of John of Sacrabosco's De sphaera but an original work that uses that text as a source. See Shore, "A Case Study," 302. Nor is there general agreement on the dating of the St. John's College manuscript, which ranges from 1361 to 1367. Lefèvre, ed. (Oresme, " Le Livre de divinacions ," 245), dates the work around 1364 to 1365.

42. "A tout homme, et par especial a prince de noble engin" (Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS fr. 1350, fol. 37, ed. Myers, 83). The warning that the ruler should limit his knowledge of astrology in order to devote himself to the government "de la chose publique" echoes the message in the Livre de divinacions , to which Oresme then indirectly refers (ibid., fol. 37v, ed. Myers, 83). [BACK]

41. Oxford, St. John's College, MS 164, fols. 1-32. This treatise, which contains no evidence of Oresme's authorship, was not attributed to him by Delisle ( Recherches , vol. 1, 266). In Portraits , I mistakenly credited Pélerin de Prusse with authorship of this treatise, since the latter translated several astrological works collected in this volume. Although two critical editions of the Traitié de l'espere exist, neither is based on the St. John's College MS, perhaps the earliest extant example of the text. See "Maistre Nicole Oresme, Le traitié de l'espere ," ed. Lillian M. McCarthy (Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 1943), and "Maistre Nicole Oresme, Le traité de la sphère ," ed. John V. Myers (Master's thesis, Syracuse University, 1940). Both critical editions are based on Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS fr. 1350. Scholars now believe that Oresme's Traitié de l'espere is not a translation of John of Sacrabosco's De sphaera but an original work that uses that text as a source. See Shore, "A Case Study," 302. Nor is there general agreement on the dating of the St. John's College manuscript, which ranges from 1361 to 1367. Lefèvre, ed. (Oresme, " Le Livre de divinacions ," 245), dates the work around 1364 to 1365.

42. "A tout homme, et par especial a prince de noble engin" (Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS fr. 1350, fol. 37, ed. Myers, 83). The warning that the ruler should limit his knowledge of astrology in order to devote himself to the government "de la chose publique" echoes the message in the Livre de divinacions , to which Oresme then indirectly refers (ibid., fol. 37v, ed. Myers, 83). [BACK]

43. For the glossaries in Oresme's translations, see below, Ch. 3 at nn. 35-39. [BACK]

44. For documentation of these events in Oresme's career, see Babbitt, Oresme's Livre de Politiques , 3. [BACK]