Cardan on Edward VI: Jerome Cardan’s horoscope study of King Edward VI with the additional commentary of Johannes Stadius and William Lilly by Deborah Houlding and Jerome Cardon

Drawn from Jerome Cardan’s Geniturarum exemplar (1555), this work presents the first complete English translation of Cardan’s extensive judgement of the nativity of King Edward VI. Translated, one of the most substantial and remarkable horoscope studies of the Renaissance.

In the autumn of 1552, Cardan – internationally renowned physician, mathematician and astrologer – met the 15-year-old king at the end of his visit to Britain. Impressed by Edward’s intelligence, grace and philosophical interests, he calculated his horoscope and prepared a detailed judgement of his character, humoral temperament and prospects as king, including anticipated periods of crisis in adulthood.

Six months later, Edward was dead.

Shocked by this news, he returned to the horoscope, explored it more deeply and applied a wider range of progressive techniques. He then recognised a striking convergence of testimonies that had not been considered in his initial assessment.

His hindsight review, added at the end of the original judgement delivered to Edward, offers a candid account of the political environment surrounding the king. Taken together, the initial assessment and follow-up analysis provide a rare and deeply illuminating demonstration of Renaissance natal astrology in practice. They show what Cardan judged, what he overlooked and why, and how a fuller use of predictive techniques transformed his understanding of the king’s fate and sharpened his astrological method.

His conclusion was explosive. Arguing that Edward had not died naturally, Cardan described the danger and treachery surrounding both the king and himself, and identified the person he held responsible for Edward’s death.

This edition is illustrated with modern charts and biwheels, making Cardan’s reasoning easier to follow. Annotations explain the historical setting and technical procedures and draw out the wider significance of the case for students and practitioners of traditional astrology. It also includes Johannes Stadius’s subsequent critique and rectification of the horoscope, translated by Morgan Le Gall, together with William Lilly’s observations based on the Stadius chart.

For modern astrologers, the study offers a wealth of practical and technical interest. Cardan demonstrates the rectification of an uncertain birth time, the animodar, directions, aphetic and anaretic significators, profections and solar returns, while showing how major events emerge from a convergence of testimonies. His judgement draws on his expert knowledge of Ptolemaic principles, providing a valuable demonstration of how the theoretical doctrines of Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos were actually applied in 16th-century natal analysis.

Cardan’s detailed assessment of planetary humours reflects the close relationship between his astrological practice and his work as a physician, adding interest for those exploring traditional theories of temperament. Unfamiliar terms and usages shed light on the language and development of predictive techniques. His calculations provide evidence that he used the Naibod key years before Valentin Naibod published his explanation of it, while his Ptolemaic use of the term ‘ingress’ for a solar return challenges the prevailing view that this technique was neither used nor mentioned by Ptolemy.

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