This is a sixteenth century printed manual on chiromancy and physiognomy by Johannes ab Indagine, a German clergyman, printed by Johannes Schott in Strasbourg in 1522. It belongs to the same genre as other early modern hand reading and face reading manuals, a practitioner setting out his own system of correspondences between bodily signs and character or fate, presented as established knowledge rather than as a claim he argues for. Its value to the atlas is as a primary record of what educated Renaissance Europe believed chiromancy and physiognomy could tell you, not as evidence that the system describes anything real. It carries no external verification of its claims, no revisions correcting earlier editions, and no modern editorial apparatus attached to this printing, so any reading of it here should be understood as reporting the source's own claims, not endorsing them.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier3
An early modern practitioner's own manual of chiromantic and physiognomic correspondences, printed without outside verification, cited here as the tradition's own account rather than as independent evidence, in line with how this register holds works of the same kind. NotesPrimary text. One of the earliest printed chiromantic manuals, and the one in which the planetary rulership of the mounts of the palm is already fully set out alongside physiognomy and natural astrology. Evidence for the 1522 layer and for the astrological derivation of the mount names.
Citation
AuthorJohannes ab Indagine (Johannes Rosenbach)
PublisherJohannes Schott, Strasbourg
Publication Year1522
Source Typeprimary-text
Connections
Associated With
This source names Europe directly: "record of what educated Renaissance Europe believed chiromancy and physiognomy could tell you, not as evidence that the system describes anything real."
Source Introductiones apotelesmaticae elegantes in chyromantiam, physiognomiam, astrologiam naturalem, complexiones hominum, naturas planetarumJohannes ab Indagine (Johannes Rosenbach)
Claims Backed By This Source (100 claims)
This source backs 100 claims across the atlas. As facts: 73 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 1 holds, 9 connected. Plus 15 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Palm Mounts, 52 claims: 34 well-attested, 9 connected, 9 general references.
- Articles, 22 claims: 21 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Fingers, 18 claims: 11 well-attested, 2 scholarly debate, 5 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 holds.
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