When English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (d. 1400) was writing the Canterbury Tales sometime between 1385 and 1400, the study of physiology was tied to the study of astronomy. For this reason, the pilgrim Chaucer in the famous General Prologue introduces his readers to the character of the doctor, saying:
With us ther was a doctour of phisik
In al this world ne was ther noon hym lik,
To speke of phisik and of surgerye,
For he was grounded in astronomye.
He kepte his pacient a ful greet deel
In houres by his magyk natureel.
Wel koude he fortunen the ascendent
Of his ymages for his pacient.
He knew the cause of everich maladye,
Were it of hoot, or coold, or moyste, or drye,
And where they engendred, and of what humour.
He was a verray, parfit praktisour… (GP, 411- 422).
Instructed in astronomy, Chaucer’s doctor is described as a “perfect practitioner,” who treats his patients during astronomically suitable hours through the use of natural science, his knowledge of planetary positions, and his command of humoral theory. How did he learn this? Books. Chaucer’s pilgrim jokes that the doctor has read everything except the Bible.
Physicians in Late Medieval Europe were obliged to carry small folding almanacs that contained images, charts, and tables relating to medical astrology. Also known as a vade mecum (Latin for “carry with me”), a portable almanac — such as MS G.47 at the Morgan Library or MS.40 in the Wellcome Collection — could be fastened to a belt and used as a handbook for ready reference about planetary and lunar movements and their relationship to the human microcosm. Celestial bodies were understood to have a direct impact upon human bodies: Just as the position of the planets moved and changed with the time of year, so too the proper medical treatment was seasonally and situationally dependent. The larger movement of the spheres was thought to impact the harmony of a patient’s individual humoral balance — often referred to as a patient’s general “complexion.”
By the 1490’s, simplified versions of these almanac charts featuring an image known as the “Astrological Man” or the “Zodiac Man” began to appear in Books of Hours. Contemporary readers may find it odd that a popular medical image associated with bloodletting would be included in a prayer book, but the image was most often positioned at the beginning of the book in proximity to its calendrical elements. Both the Zodiac Man and the Hours of the Virgin in the Book of Hours had a place within a larger conception of health that aimed to bring the microcosm of the individual devotee’s body and soul into a harmonious unity with the greater macrocosm of the universe and its celestial motions.
During the last part of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries, Parisian publishers of printed Books of Hours, such as Simon Vostre and the Hardouyn brothers, regularly included the Zodiac Man in their editions. The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division contains many examples of these editions, which have been digitized and highlighted through this blog post. Viewers will observe that the specific woodcuts of the Zodiac Man differ in their artistry and detail depending upon the edition, but the disposition of the image’s primary components remain consistent in most respects.
Representing a kind of universal human being, the Zodiac Man occupies the central place in the composition and is framed by symbolic representations of the four primary personality types: choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholic. Typically the choleric and sanguine temperaments are shown in the top corners of the image, while the phlegmatic, and melancholic temperaments are depicted at the bottom.
Inherited from the ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen, the theory of the four humors posited that an individual’s humoral balance was connected intimately with other phenomena like diet, age, climate, and planetary movements, so that what benefited one person might cause another to become imbalanced and therefore ill. Disease was not understood as a pathogen but as a state of individual humoral imbalance. Each temperament was associated with certain strengths and weakness both in body and in spirit, and these are represented in the Book of Hours.
An individual with a choleric temperament was thought to be brave, determined, ambitious, hot-tempered, vengeful, and prefer action over contemplation. Characterized by the element of fire, the choleric man in the Book of Hours is shown dressed for battle, with a lion at his feet, shoving a knife through his armor, and surrounded by flames. The lion represents his brave, loyal nature, and the knife illustrates his tendency to do harm through violence.
The sanguine temperament was thought to be cheerful, the life of the party, and a passionate lover. Characterized by the element of air, the sanguine temperament in the Book of Hours is shown holding a falcon. The monkey at his feet represents his changeable, agreeable, but lusty nature.
The phlegmatic temperament was thought to be easy-going, generally accommodating, and unemotional. Characterized by the element of water, the phlegmatic man in the Book of Hours is shown near a river with a lamb at his feet. The lamb represents a docile demeanor that can have a stubborn streak.
The melancholic temperament was thought to be brooding, solitary, contemplative, and fearful. Shakespeare’s troubled Prince Hamlet is famously melancholic. Characterized by the element of the earth, the melancholic temperament in the Book of Hours is shown walking in a field. He carries a monastic staff to represent his hermit-like nature, and the boar beside him, an animal that roots in the dirt, symbolizes the melancholic’s tendency to brood. The purse at his belt illustrates a desire to be frugal to the point of being miserly.
Surrounded by the four temperaments, the image of the Zodiac Man at the center shows the reader which organs are governed by which planets. The text ribbons explains universal relationships: the sun rules the stomach, Saturn rules the lungs, Jupiter rules the liver, Mars rules the liver, Venus rules the kidney, Mercury rules the kidney, and the moon rules the head.
The texts between the images provide specific directions, such as “when the moon is in Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, it is good to bleed the choleric.” This direction would make sense to Chaucer’s Physician, who knows “the cause of every malady, were it of hot or cold, of moist or dry.” Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are all fire signs, and the choleric temperament, characterized by the element of fire, is considered hot and dry; therefore, under these fire signs, the choleric temperament would have excess fluids and might benefit from a purge.
Oddly, these seasonally-specific directions are retained in this printed edition of a Book of Hours shown below, where, in the woodcut image, the centrally positioned, fleshy body of the Zodiac Man has been replaced with a skeleton. A “Zodiac Skeleton” does not make a lot of practical sense.
Not present in foldable almanacs or medical manuscripts, the skeleton in the Book of Hours is a visual adaptation that likely functions more as a memento mori than a physiological aid for improving or maintaining the wellness of the body. After all, skeletons have no blood, bile, or organs to be influenced by lunar cycles and are beyond the skill of the physician — even a “perfect practitioner” like the one from the Canterbury Tales.
The grinning skeleton appears to be laughing, and the jester seated at its feet may add to the morbid black humor (no pun intended) of the inverted message: if carried out on a skeleton, each instruction to the physician becomes a comically foolish action. Smile, Skelly seems to say, there’s ultimately no cure for mortality.
Sources:
Brenner, Elma. The Enigma of the Medieval Almanac. In Modern Encounters with a Medieval Almanac. 10 January 2022.
Harvard University. Harvard’s Geoffrey Chaucer Website.
Silva, Chelsea. 2018. “Opening the Medieval Folding Almanac.” Exemplaria 30 (1): 49–65.
Yale University. “Zodiac Man” In Medical Astrology: Science, Art, and Influence in early-modern Europe. 2023. Interactive exhibit.
Further Reading:
Lyon, Karen. “The Four Humors and Eating in the Renaissance.” Shakespeare & Beyond. December 4, 2015.
National Library of Medicine. “And there’s the humor of it!” Shakespeare and the Four Humors. January 30, 2012–August 17, 2012.
Noga, Arikha. Passions and Tempers : a History of the Humours. New York, NY : Ecco, c2007.
Nutton, Vivian. Ancient Medicine. London ; New York : Routledge, 2004.
Nutton, Vivian. Renaissance Medicine : A Short History of European Medicine in the Sixteenth Century. London; New York : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2022.
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Source: https://blogs.loc.gov/bibliomania/2024/10/24/a-humorous-skeleton/
