ALMUCANTARS
, Almacantars, or ALMICANTARS, from the Arabic almocantharat, are circles parallel to the horizon, conceived to pass through every degree of the meridian; serving to shew the height of the sun, moon, or stars, &c; and are the same as the parallels of altitude.
Almucantar-Staff, was an instrument formerly used at sea to observe the sun's amplitude at rising or setting, and thence to determine the variation of the compass, &c. The instrument had an arch of 15 degrees, made of some smooth wood.
ALPHONSINE Tables, are astronomical tables compiled by order of Alphonsus, king of Castile. In the compiling of these it is thought that prince himself assisted. See Astronomical tables.
ALPHONSUS the 10th, king of Leon and Castile, who has been surnamed The Wise, on account of his attachment to literature, and is now more celebrated for having been an astronomer than a king. He was born in 1203; succeeded his father Ferdinand the 3d, in 1252; and died in 1284, consequently at the age of 81.
The affairs of the reign of Alphonsus were very extraordinary and unfortunate for him. But we shall here only consider him in that part of his character, on account of which he has a place in this work, namely, as an astronomer and man of letters. He understood astronomy, philosophy, and history, as if he had been only a man of letters; and composed books upon the motions of the heavens, and on the history of Spain, which are highly commended. “What can be more surprising,” says Mariana, “than that a prince, educated in a camp, and handling- arms from his childhood, should have such a knowledge of the stars, of philosophy, and the transactions of the world, as men of leisure can scarcely acquire in their retirements? There are extant some books of Alphonsus on the motions of the stars, and the history of Spain, written with great skill and incredible care.” In his astronomical pursuits he discovered that the tables of Ptolemy were full of errors; and thence he conceived the first of any the resolution of correcting them. For this purpose, about the year 1240, and during the life of his father, he assembled at Toledo the most skilful astronomers of his time, Christians, Moors, or Jews, when a plan was formed for constructing new tables. This task was accomplished about 1252, the first year of his reign; the tables being drawn up chiefly by the skill and pains of Rabbi Isaac Hazan a learned Jew, and the work called the Alphonsine Tables, in honour of the prince, who was at vast expences concerning them. He fixed the epoch of the tables to the 30th of May 1252, being the day of his accession to the throne. They were printed for the first time in 1483, at Venice, by Radtolt, who excelled in printing at that time; an edition extremely rare: there are others of 1492, 1521, 1545, &c. (Weidler, p. 280).
We must not omit a memorable saying of Alphonfus, which has been recorded for its boldness and pretended impiety; namely, “that if he had been of God's privy council when he made the world, he could have advised him better.” Mariana however says only in general, that Alphonsus was so bold as to blame the works of | Providence, and the construction of our bodies; and he says that this story concerning him rested only upon a vulgar tradition. The Jesuit's words are curious: “Emanuel, the uncle of Sanchez (the son of Alphonsus), in his own name, and in the name of other nobles, deprived Alphonsus of his kingdom by a public sentence: which that prince merited, for daring severely and boldly to censure the works of divine Providence, and the construction of the human body, as tradition says he did. Heaven most justly punished the folly of his tongue.” Though the silence of such an historian as Mariana, in regard to Ptolemy's system, ought to be of some weight, yet we cannot think it improbable, that if Alphonsus did pass so bold a censure on any part of the univerfe, it was on the celestial sphere, and meant to glance upon the contrivers and supporters of that system. For, besides that he studied nothing more, it is certain that at that time astronomers explained the motions of the heavens by intricate and confused hypotheses, which did no honour to God, nor anywise answered the idea of an able workman. So that, from considering the multitude of spheres composing the system of Ptolemy, and those numerous eccentric cycles and epicycles with which it is embarrassed, if we suppose Alphonsus to have said, “That if God had asked his advice when he made the world, he would have given him better council,” the boldness and impiety of the censure will be greatly diminished.
