Noticia chronologica by Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora: commentary and critical edition

Abstract

Usually more commented on than researched in, it is well-known that Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (1645-1700) wrote and published astrological forecasts that ¾oftentimes forgotten¾ he made during his thirty years of public career, almost with no interruptions, until the year of his death. And, although he achieved a certain notoriety through them, he did not cease to distrust this practice because, as he said, “sé muy bien cuál es el pie de que la astrología cojea y cuáles los fundamentos debilísimos sobre que levantaron su fábrica”. The lunariums, even so, offered him an income and, even more, a platform from which he was able to display his research, findings and hypotheses. Thus, together with the lunarium of 1681, the "Noticia chronologica" was published, a text more than once mentioned by critics that —until now— was lacking an accessible and reliable edition, which made its study difficult. Here we offer, as a result of the comparison of the only two versions known to date (one manuscript, the other printed), an edition of this singular text, together with a brief apostille.