This is essentialy a new edition of the Quadripartitum with Haly Abenrudian’s commentary in Egidius de Tebaldis’s translation (C.2.2), prepared by Conrad Heingarter for the Duke Jean II of Bourbon at the Belleperche Castle (Bagneux) in or shortly before 1477. The exact nature of Conrad’s contribution remains to be investigated but, at the very least, he composed a preface to Jean II, rewrote Haly’s commentary to some extent and added notes of his own, as well as a short conclusion at the end of Book IV. Conrad says that he improved the text and verified the position of the fixed stars for the meridian of Belleperche at Jean II’s time. The two Paris MSS have basically the same text, including the same incipit and explicit for each book, but they nevertheless differ from one another. Two notable differences are that in Paris, BnF, lat. 7305, the preface is more elaborate and much longer, and each lemma of Ptolemy’s text is given in both Plato of Tivoli’s (A.2.1) and Egidius de Tebaldis’s translations, the latter being called ‘alia translatio’. Paris, BnF, lat. 7432 was copied under Conrad’s supervision and contains, among others, three Ptolemaic works together with Conrad’s commentary (Quadripartitum, Centiloquium and De cometis), which, according to the colophon f. 148v, were completed on 3 January 1477. This magnificent manuscript was evidently meant to be the presentation copy, but it was apparently still unfinished when Jean II died on 1 April 1488. This manuscript is unlikely to have been the model, even indirectly, of Paris, BnF, lat. 7305, which was copied in 1493, and the relationship between these two manuscripts is unclear. The fragment contained in the third manuscript, Zurich, ZB, B.244, reflects yet a third version of the text, a revision written in or after 1489, that is after the duke’s death.
Text ‘(Paris, BnF, lat. 7432) (3v-4r) [conrad heingarter’s preface] Deus illum vere diligit in quo posuit superioris scientie intellectum, que procul dubio est scientia astrorum… Ego autem, Conradus Heingarter, verus amator scientie inspiciens librum quatuor partium… ex glosis sapientissimi Haly Alben Rudiani phisici (qui sua consideratione mirabili sententias occultas in eo contentas apperuit) declarare breviori sermone quo potero et solummodo pro intelligendo dictum librum ea que maxime necessaria sunt, ponam et stellas celi ad nostrum clyma sextum ad orizontem arcis Bellepartice, cuius longitudo est 23 gradu cum 15 minutis, latitudo vero 46 et semis et ad eram Iohannis Borbonii atque Alvernie ducis illustrissimi verificare dignum putavi — tua fama cunctis temporibus immortalis vigebit. (3v-33r) [book i] [comm.] (4r) Dicimus quo iudicium stellarum est scientia a principiis certis proveniens… (5r) [text] Ptholomei scientie astrorum peritissimi Quadripartitum feliciter incipit, cuius quidem prima pars in XXIIII distinguitur capitula, quorum primum ostendit quod scientia iudiciorum astrorum non adeo est demonstrativa ut scientia motuum, que pure mathematicalis est. Sunt autem huius primi capituli aphorismorum. Aphorismus I. Res, o Mizori, quibus pronosticationes accepte de astronomia maiores et nobiliores due sunt — (32v) [text] … sunt debiles et virtutem non habent. Finit pars prima. [comm.] … sibi dabis tot unicuique gradui distribues. (33v-65r) [book ii] [comm.] Incipit commentum libri secundi. Ex dictis Ptholomei et haly Albenrudiani in glosis primi libri monstramus quod… (34r) [text] Ptholomei scientie astrorum doctissimi Quadripartiti secunda pars (cuius sunt capitula XIII) iocundissime incipit. Capitulum primum (cuius sunt VII amphorismi) de divisione huius artis. Amphorismus primus. Bene sufficit nobis id quod universaliter sumus locuti — (64v) [text] … in nativitatibus hominum secundum quod huic ordinationi convenit.Finit pars secunda. [comm.] … tua cunctis temporibus immortalis erit, vigebit atque florebit. (65r-103r) [book iii] [comm.] Monstrabimus in hoc tertio et quarto volumine regulas quibus… (66r) [text] Ptholomei astrorum scientie inter omnes doctissimi Quadripartiti tertia pars, cuius XV sunt capitula, incipit feliciter. Capitulum primum qualiter sciri possunt ea que accidunt homini cuilibet in natura propria, cuius sunt aphorismi IIII. Aphorismus primus. Postquam narravimus ante et incepimus in accidentibus generalibus — (102v) [comm.] … ex regulis sapientisimi Haly Albenrudiani glosavimus tibi ad laudem et ad utilitatem studentium. (103r) [text] … ad magnum usum et ad magnum augmentum de illis. Finis tercius. (103v-126r) [book iv][text] Ptholomei astrorum scientie predicissimi (?) Quadripartiti pars quarta incipit, et sunt huius quarte partis capitula decem. Capitulum primum de fortuna nati, cuius sunt aphorismi duo. Aphorismus primus. In rebus hominis potest iudicari… (104r) [comm.] Monstramus et declaravimus quam brevius potuimus tria volumina huius libri et adhuc te favente serenissime princeps — (125v) [text] … finem in hoc loco huic libro conveniens existimamus. Ptholomei viri illustrissimi qui pectore suo totum pene celum clausit Quadripartitum finit foeliciter. [comm.] … sunt regule et radices quibus ars ista componitur. Laus Deo glorioso et sublimi. (125v-126r) [conrad heingarter’s conclusion] Hec sunt commentaria, excellentissime princeps, tuus ego Conradus Heingarter ad tui nominis laudem atque tue artis Bellepartice famam et pro communi studentium in hac arte utilitatem, ex sapientibus fontibus (et precipue Haly Albenrudiani viri pre ceteris clarissimi) hansi, castiganda (propter vicia scriptorium) castigavi et stellas atque signa celi ad tuam eram, illustrissime princeps, verificavi, quia tu solus nostro tempore viros doctos amas, colis atque honoras, per quos quando aliorum regum et principum fama liquescet, tua cunctis temporibus florescet. Finit commentum Quadripartiti Ptholomei principis astrologorum doctissimi. (125v-134r) [haly’s appendix] Incipiunt exempla trium nativitatum Haly, et primo nativitas sua. Volo in hoc loco dare exempla trium nativitatum — et Deus te dirigat in viam rectam. (134r) [additional note] Volui autem probare utrum ille auctor secundum 9 speram vel secundum octavam et inveni per loca planetarum que ponit in figura sue nativitatis quod ipsa fuit annis Christi perfectis 986, 10 mensibus, 15 die Ianuarii, qua die equavi planetas secundum tabulas Machabeorum (!), inveni sic.’
Bibl. L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, IV, New York, 1934, 362-365; M. Préaud, Les méthodes de travail d’un astrologue du XVe siècle, Conrad Heingarter, thèse de l’école nationale des Chartes, Paris, 1969, xiii-xiv; M. Préaud, ‘Les méthodes de travail d’un astrologue du XVe siècle, Conrad Heingarter’, Position des Thèses de l’école des Chartes (1969), 143-149: 144.
