Interreligious transfers in the Middle Ages: the case of astrology

This article describes the discipline of astrology as an example of manifold interreligious
contacts and transfers in the Middle Ages. Over against an image of the Middle Ages as being predominantly Christian and striving to violently suppress science, philosophy, and astrology, it is shown that in fact Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities shared common interests and participated in an ongoing communication, even if in polemical diff erentiation. Th e case of astrology also illuminates the intellectual ties between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, which are much stronger than traditional historiography would like to portray them as.