Gauriko, Luca

Born in a poor family in the kingdom of Neapolitan. From his youth he studied mathematics and astrology. In 1529, Luca Gauriko predicted Alessandro Farnese receiving the dignity of the Pope of Rome. When the latter was elected pope under the name of Paul III (1534 - 1549), he summoned Gauriko to Rome, later making him Bishop of Civita-Ducale (Capitanata, Neapolitan Kingdom). For a long time he taught mathematics at universities in Italy, and then resigned from his position and returned to Rome again. For some time, Gauriko also lived in France and Germany, where he traveled to meet Johann Faust Goethe. Thanks to accurate predictions, Luka Gauriko became widely known as an astrologer. In particular, he compiled horoscopes for the Medici family. Thanks to the predictions come true Catherine de Medici, she was invited by her to the royal court, advised as an astrologer at the royal courts in Italy and France, along with Michel Nostradamus. However, astrology also brought Gauriko and trouble. In 1506, he made a horoscope for the ruler of Bologna Bentivivio, giving advice without delay to reconcile with Pope Julius II, and warning that otherwise the pope would expel him from the city that year and leave the ruins of his palace. Benvivolio, having heard the forecast, became enraged and subjected the astrologer to four times torture and imprisonment. However, this prediction Gauriko soon exactly fulfilled.

• Predicted Giovanni Medici that he will become the head of the Catholic Church (in 1513 he was elevated to the papal throne under the name of Leo X)
• Predicted Alessandro Fernese to receive the dignity of the Pope in 1534
• Predicted to young Catherine de Medici that she would become Queen of France
• Predicted Catherine's husband Henry II death in the tournament from the defeat of the eye
• Predicted to the ruler of Bologna Benvivolio that if the former does not go to reconciliation with Pope Julius II, the latter will drive him out of the city and destroy his palace.

Gauriko Luka left after many astrological and astronomical treatises. In 1539 he published a book in which he tried using astrological methods to establish the date of the crucifixion and other events in the life of Jesus Christ. His other book was devoted to astrological medicine.

The most popular was the treatise "Tractatus astrologicus", published in 1552 in Venice. It consisted of 6 horoscope collections: 1. horoscopes of cities 2. horoscopes of Roman popes and cardinals 3. horoscopes of kings and princes 4. horoscopes of people of art and science 5. horoscopes of the dead by violent death 6. horoscopes of dwarfs, giants, human freaks. Each horoscope was attached historical information, which served as proof that the prediction came true. After the death of Gauriko, in 1575, a collection of astrological works of Gauriko was published in Basel in three voluminous volumes.

Selected Works

• De astronomiae inventoribus, utilitate, fructu et laudibus
• Astrologia judicaria de nativitatibus
• Machinae s. sphaerae coelestis totius descriptio
• Stellarum fixarum longitudines et latitudines
• Opera omnia, quae quidem extant, Lucae Gaurici etc., astronomi et astrologi praestantissimi etc. 3 vol. - Basilii, 1575

In honor of Gauriko named lunar crater Gauricus.

• Smirnova I. "Astrology from different points of view"
• Kovalevsky K. "School of Astrology. Fifth lesson" // Science and Religion. - 1992. - N9
• Poggendorff JC "Biographisch-literarisches Handwoerterbuch zur geschichte der exacten Wissenschaften ..."
• Becker U. "Lexicon der Astrologie"
• "Astrologi hallucinati. Stars and the End of the World in Luther's time" / Ed. by P.Zambelli
• Naylor PIH Astrology: an historical examination
• Dictionnaire de l'astrologie. / Comp. Jean-Louis Brau