*Astrologomania* (1624) / George Carleton / John Chamber / Thomas Vicars

Topic: George Carleton, Astrologomania (1624), John Chamber, and Thomas Vicars

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• A local rendered title-page witness reads:

“ASTROLOGOMANIA: The Madnesse of Astrologers. Or An Examination of Sir Christopher Heydons Booke, intituled A defence of iudiciarie Astrologie, Written neere vpon twenty yeares ago, by G.C. And by permission of the Author set forth for the vse of Such as might happily be misled by the Knights Booke. Published by T. V. B. of D.”

• The same title page reads:

“London, Printed by W. Iaggard, for W. Turner of Oxford. 1624.”

• The Folger catalog record states:

“Astrologomania: the madnesse of astrologers. Or An examination of Sir Christopher Heydons booke, intituled A defence of iudiciarie astrologie. Written neere vpon twenty yeares ago, by G.C. And by permission of the author set forth for the vse of such as might happily be misled by the Knights booke. Published by T.V. B. of D.”

• The same Folger record states:

“London : Printed by W. Iaggard, for W. Turner of Oxford, 1624.”

• The Folger catalog record identifies the associated names as:

“Carleton, George” and “Vicars, Thomas”

• The same Folger record states:

“Stationers' register: Entered 18 July 1623.”

• The same Folger record states:

“Pollard, A.W. Short-title catalogue ... (STC), 4630”

• The same Folger record states:

“English short title catalogue (ESTC), S107657”

• The TCP/EEBO witness is:

A17971

• The University of Michigan EEBO-TCP item page identifies the authorial metadata as:

“Carleton, George, 1559-1628.”

• The Bodleian Archives catalogue preserves a manuscript witness for John Chamber's unpublished answer to Heydon:

“‘A confutation of astrologicall daemonologie’, by John Chamber, canon of Windsor and fellow of Eton (d. 1604), in defence of his ‘Treatise against Judiciarie Astrologie’ attacked by Sir Christopher Heydon”

• The same Bodleian catalogue states that the manuscript preface was:

“dedicated to James i and dated from Windsor”

• The public-domain Dictionary of National Biography entry for Christopher Heydon summarizes the controversy: Chamber published A Treatise against Judicial Astrologie in 1601; Heydon answered in A Defence of Judiciall Astrologie in 1603; and Heydon was answered by Chamber in an unpublished treatise and by George Carleton in Astrologomania in 1624.
• A later 1651 Folger catalog record confirms that Astrologomania was reprinted after the 1624 edition, under the title:

“Astrologomania: the madnesse of astrologers. : With an examination of Sir Christopher Heydons book, intituled a defence of judiciary astrologie.”

• A local ESTC image witness states:

“G.C. = George Carleton; T.V. = Thomas Vicars.”

• A local rendered dedicatory-epistle witness reads:

“To the Worshipfull my very good Cousin M. Thomas Carleton, of Carleton Hall in Cumberland; Esquire, and one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the Countie of Cumberland, Grace, and Peace.”

• The same dedicatory epistle reads:

“this Discourse hath gotten Feet to walke abroad in the Light”

• The same dedicatory epistle reads:

“upon that good experience of your former loue & kindnes towards it, while it was but yet a breeding.”

• The same dedicatory epistle reads:

“by Letters ; what by word of mouth of divers other intelligent and Iudicious Scholars ... for a publication”

• The same epistle reads:

“Now the prayers of you, and the requests of others well affected, haue at the length prevailed.”

• The working transcription of John Chamber’s will states:

“Item whereas I have made Bookes of divers argumentes ... concerninge these my will is that so many of them as shall happen to be unprinted at the daye of my deathe shalbe then printed by my Executors ...”

• The same working transcription preserves a partially secured George Carleton clause:

“...[desyre] that that booke be printed together wth [one]

of the same arguments ... [I desire] that the aforesaid Mr Carleton ...”

• The same will transcription names Chamber’s executors as:

“The Right worshippfull Sr Henry Nevile knight and Mr Henry

Savile Provost of Eaton Colledge”

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• No Ken Feinstein Twitter/blog material is isolated in this packet at present.

3. Quoted Source Text

1624 title page

• “ASTROLOGOMANIA: The Madnesse of Astrologers. Or An Examination of Sir Christopher Heydons Booke, intituled A defence of iudiciarie Astrologie, Written neere vpon twenty yeares ago, by G.C. And by permission of the Author set forth for the vse of Such as might happily be misled by the Knights Booke. Published by T. V. B. of D.”
• “London, Printed by W. Iaggard, for W. Turner of Oxford. 1624.”
• STC 4630
• ESTC S107657
• TCP A17971

ESTC identification image

• “G.C. = George Carleton; T.V. = Thomas Vicars.”

1624 dedicatory epistle

• “To the Worshipfull my very good Cousin M. Thomas Carleton, of Carleton Hall in Cumberland; Esquire, and one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace for the Countie of Cumberland, Grace, and Peace.”
• “this Discourse hath gotten Feet to walke abroad in the Light”
• “upon that good experience of your former loue & kindnes towards it, while it was but yet a breeding.”
• “by Letters ; what by word of mouth of divers other intelligent and Iudicious Scholars ... for a publication”
• “Now the prayers of you, and the requests of others well affected, haue at the length prevailed.”

John Chamber will transcription

• “Item whereas I have made Bookes of divers argumentes ... concerninge these my will is that so many of them as shall happen to be unprinted at the daye of my deathe shalbe then printed by my Executors ...”
• “...[desyre] that that booke be printed together wth [one]

of the same arguments ... [I desire] that the aforesaid Mr Carleton ...”

• “Executors of this my Will The Right worshippfull Sr Henry Nevile knight and Mr Henry

Savile Provost of Eaton Colledge ...”

Wider Chamber-Heydon-Carleton controversy

• “A Treatise against Judicial Astrologie”
• “A Defence of Judiciall Astrologie”
• “‘A confutation of astrologicall daemonologie’, by John Chamber”
• “dedicated to James i and dated from Windsor”
• “Astrologomania: the madnesse of astrologers”

4. Citations

• Carleton, George. Astrologomania: the madnesse of astrologers. Or An examination of Sir Christopher Heydons booke, intituled A defence of iudiciarie astrologie. Written neere vpon twenty yeares ago, by G.C. And by permission of the author set forth for the vse of such as might happily be misled by the Knights booke. Published by T.V. B. of D. London, Printed by W. Iaggard, for W. Turner of Oxford, 1624. STC 4630. ESTC S107657. Folger record.
• Carleton, George. Astrologomania. Facsimile reprint. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; New York: Da Capo Press, 1968. Folger record, https://catalog.folger.edu/record/68082.
• Carleton, George. Astrologomania: the madnesse of astrologers... TCP A17971. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections / EEBO, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A17971.0001.001.
• Carleton, George. Astrologomania: the madnesse of astrologers. London: printed by R.C. for John Hammond, 1651. Folger record, https://catalog.folger.edu/record/142276.
• Chamber, John. "A confutation of astrologicall daemonologie, by John Chamber." Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts, https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/archival_objects/174094.
• "Heydon, Christopher." Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900. Wikisource transcription, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Heydon,_Christopher.
• Carleton_George-Astrologomania_the_madnesse_of-STC-4630-1060_19-p1to73.pdf, local PDF witness.
• Chamber, John. Will proved 10 Aug. 1604. Prerogative Court of Canterbury, PROB 11/104/339. Working transcription: john_chamber_will_transcription.md. Local PDF witness: PROB-11-104-339-John-chamber-will.pdf.
• ESTC record image preserved in tweet media: 1385697720753528833-Ezr8u72UYAA2xJw.jpg.
• John Chamber packet, for the currently preserved Chamber-will statement.

5. Notes on Access

• This packet treats Astrologomania as a separate 1624 Carleton book. It is not treated here as a reissue of Heroici characteres.
• The 1624 book itself directly establishes the title, printer, publisher, date, “written neere vpon twenty yeares ago” wording, and the dedication to Thomas Carleton.
• The literature-search update adds a stronger controversy frame: Astrologomania is part of the John Chamber / Christopher Heydon judicial-astrology dispute, with Chamber's unpublished manuscript rejoinder separately preserved in the Bodleian catalogue.
• The Folger records now supply accessible catalog support for both the original 1624 edition metadata and the later facsimile record; the facsimile record also preserves the original-title-page formula in a modern catalog context.
• The 1651 Folger record shows later reuse/reprinting of the same anti-Heydon Carleton text; it should not be confused with the 1624 first-edition witness.
• The John Chamber will-connection is now anchored in the working transcription and local probate images rather than only in local source-note paraphrase. The will clearly contains a general printing clause and names Neville and Savile as executors; the George Carleton clause is present but still not secure enough for a fully normalized quotation.
• Source-hardening result, 2026-04-27: automated pdftotext extraction of the Chamber probate PDF returns only National Archives metadata/copyright text. The packet should keep citing the working transcription and image witness, and should not treat the probate PDF as machine-readable until OCR/manual checking is complete.
• The explicit identification of T. V. B. of D. with Thomas Vicars is currently preserved through the ESTC image note and local archive mirrors rather than a separate primary witness in this packet.
• Local project materials also preserve a further Vicars/Carleton family interpretation, but this packet does not treat that interpretation as a sourced fact until a direct family witness is added.