A Kingdom of Stargazers

During the later Middle Ages, says Ryan (history, U. of New Mexico), attitudes about the legitimacy of occult practices, especially involving astronomy and astrology, were never stable or fixed. He focuses on the Crown of Aragon, on the Mediterranean coast of Iberia, which many considered the center of magic, during the late 14th and 15th centuries. His topics include divining the future and expecting the end of days, the Iberian Peninsula as a land of astral magic, the inquisitor and the notary condemn a king, and a return to orthodoxy and end of an era with the ascension of Mart穩 I. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)