The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c5.s5.1

c5.s5.1

Most medieval people of all creeds and countries believed in astrology. Astrology literally means the science of the stars. The name was formerly used as equivalent to astronomy, but later on became restricted in meaning to the science or psuedo-science which claims to enable people to judge of the effects and influences of the heavenly bodies on human and other mundane affairs. Astrology was not to the medievals an unscientific aberration. It was based on the understanding that the relationship of man to the Universe is as the microcosm (the little world) is to the macrocosm (the great world). Thus a knowledge of the heavens is essential for a true understanding of man himself. A knowledge of the movements of the planets and their position in the heavens, would therefore be of the utmost importance for man since, in the medieval phrase, superiors (in the heavens) ruled inferiors (on earth): and not only man but all were subject to the decrees of heavens, which themselves expressed the will of God.⁴² Roger Bacon (1214-1292?) considered astrology as the most practical of sciences.⁴³