Two Books and a Plot: When Mathematics Meets History

ThisGil, M. Pilar chapter explores two mathematical books of Spanish origin deposited in the Russell LibraryMaynooth, Russell Library within the Salamanca collectionMaynooth, Salamanca Collection, a compendium of administrative documents and books pertaining to the wide network of Irish collegesIrish colleges in the territories of modern-day SpainSpain, Spanish and PortugalPortugal, Portuguese. Through the examination of the two volumes: Juan de Aguilera’s Canones AstrolabiiAguilera, Canones astrolabii universalis Universalis andZamora, Liber de cometis Antonio Núñez de Zamora’sZamora, Antonio Núñez de Liber de Cometis, written in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, respectively, topics such as the influence of astrologicalAstrology, astrological concepts in the treatment of astronomicalAstronomy, astronomical questions, as well as the increasingly sought-after mathematical precision in the literature of the period, are considered. The chapter focuses mostly on the materialityBooks, materiality of these books, in particular in the marks of ownershipBooks, ownership, the significance of annotationsBook annotations in the margins and of interspersedBooks, engagement with notes on their pages while discussing the collection's provenance and placing it in context with the relevance of mathematical sciencesMathematical sciences in the Iberian PeninsulaIberian Peninsula, Spain; Portugal in general and the collection's importance in the background of the Jesuit programme of instruction in particular. The analysis of these books, combined with the description of the Salamanca collection's provenance, provides us with a broad perspective that extends beyond mathematics to the social and political aspects of those centuries, which include not only the territories of the Spanish crown, but also the British IslesGreat Britain, British.