Pedro Ciruelo

Pedro Sánchez Ciruelo (c. 1465 – 1548) was a Spanish philosopher, theologian, mathematician, astrologer, astronomer and writer on topics of natural philosophy.

Memorial relief at the Faculty of Medicine in Zaragoza

Ciruelo was born at Daroca somewhere between 1460 and 1470. Daroca was among 10 large towns in Aragon. Ciruelo came from a family of Jews and of judaizers according to papers that traced his genealogy during the Spanish Inquisition. He was however brought up as a Catholic and he claimed to be an orphan, although he came from a poor family. This claim may have been to distance himself from his Jewish ancestry. His grandfather Francisco Sánchez Ciruelo was condemned for apostasy and an uncle Bartolome was a confeso, who confessed to reverting from Catholicism to Jewish beliefs. Early studies at Daroca's Studium Artibus in grammar and rhetoric made him interested in scholarship and he went to the University of Salamanca in 1482 where he found logic, mathematics of interest. His teacher Abraham Zacuto made an impression and he took a special interest in astronomy and astrology. He then studied theology at the University of Paris, living there for ten years and creating a circle of Spanish calculatores interested in mathematical physics along with Juan Martinez Siliceo[1] which included Gaspar Lax, Miguel Francés, Jacobo Ramírez and Alfonso Osorio. He believed that knowing the cosmos was a way of admiring God's creation. He returned to Spain in 1502 and taught philosophy at the Colegio de San Antonio de Portaceli in Sigüenza and later the University of Zaragoza. In 1509 he moved to the University of Alcalá teaching theology and mathematics, among his students being Domingo de Soto. In 1533 he moved to Segovia where he served in the Cathedral until 1537. He later moved to Salamanca where he continued to write until his death.[2]

Ciruelo wrote a commentary on the Sphaera de Sacrobosco, on Thomas Brawardine's arithmetics and geometry among others. His main astrological work Apotelesmata astrologiae Christianae was published in 1521. Ciruelo was also opposed to certain beliefs, and in his 1538 book Reprobacidn de supersticiones y hechizerias he condemned the belief in the evil eye, dream divination,[3] the use of amulets, horoscopes and rain making but he considered the flights of witches to be real.[4]

Publications

References
  1. Wallace, William A. (1969). "The "Calculatores" in Early Sixteenth-century Physics". The British Journal for the History of Science. 4 (3): 221–232. doi:10.1017/S0007087400009936. ISSN 0007-0874.
  2. Lanuza Navarro, Tayra M. C. (2020). "Pedro Sánchez Ciruelo. A Commentary on Sacrobosco's Tractatus de sphaera with a Defense of Astrology". In Valleriani, Matteo (ed.). De sphaera of Johannes de Sacrobosco in the Early Modern Period. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 53–89. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-30833-9_3. ISBN 978-3-030-30832-2. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
  3. Redden, Andrew (2013). "Dream-Visions and Divine Truth in Early Modern Hispanic America". In Plane, Ann Marie; Tuttle, Leslie (eds.). Dreams, Dreamers, and Visions. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 147–165. doi:10.9783/9780812208047.147. ISBN 978-0-8122-0804-7. Retrieved 2021-11-28.
  4. Campagne, Fabián Alejandro (2003). "Witchcraft and the Sense-of-the-Impossible in Early Modern Spain: Some Reflections Based on the Literature of Superstition (ca.1500-1800)". The Harvard Theological Review. 96 (1): 25–62. ISSN 0017-8160.
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