Abstract

This chapter analyzes the mathematical astronomy in the printed annual Schreibkalender and prognostications authored by Simon Marius for the years 1601–1629. It considers how Marius determined the times of the new and full moons, eclipses, and Sun’s entry into the four cardinal points of the year and finds frequent discrepancies between his actual procedures and his descriptions of those procedures. This chapter suggests that the highly competitive world of calendar production, especially in Nuremberg, may have prompted Marius to deploy combative rhetoric against other calendar makers and to exaggerate his own originality. And the chapter briefly examines Marius’s description, in his calendars, of his relationships with two contemporary astronomers, David Fabricius and Kepler. The goal of this chapter is to explore how Marius represented himself in the world of print calendars.