Chaucer's Mathematical Works and the Astrolabe 1391

The first half of the manuscript has received the most attention from engineers as the first European treatise on the nature and applications of the magnet.

Epistola de Magnete was written in 1269 by a soldier, scientist and engineer called Pierre de Maricourt, usually known as Peter Peregrinus or Peter the Pilgrim.

It is a result of his attempts to solve the problem of perpetual motion using a wheel driven by a magnet. 

This particular manuscript was used as the text for the first printed edition published in Augsburg in 1558, a copy of which is also held in the IET Archives.

Chaucer’s treatise starts in the middle of the folio, thus saving on expensive materials.

There is a preface, followed by a section describing the design of the astrolabe and a longer section describing how it is used for various tasks.

The technical descriptions in the treatise were taken from published works: Chaucer describes himself as a ‘lewd compilator’.

The Preface is Chaucer’s justification for the style and language of the work. As it is addressed to a child, ‘Little Lewis’ (probably the son of a friend), Chaucer uses simple language and repetition to explain how the instrument works. He also justifies his use of ‘light Englissh’. 

Despite the fact that Chaucer was a robust pioneer of the use of vernacular English, rather than ‘courtly’ French or ‘academic’ Latin in contemporary literature, its presence in a scientific work was very unusual.