GUIDO BONATTI AND THE SIEGE OF A CITY
Famed Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti was renowned for the remarkable accuracy of his predictions. While trapped in a besieged Italian city, he consulted with the commanding general, Count Montserrat, regarding the appropriate time for an attack. Eventually, Bonatti calculated a favorable moment and declared that the sortie would be successful, though an unfavorable aspect indicated that the count might suffer a minor knee injury. So confident was the astrologer in this prediction that, accompanying the count on the sortie, he brought along the necessary bandages and dressings.
The prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. The enemy was routed, but in the hand-to-hand combat, the count received a slight knee wound exactly as Bonatti had described, and summoned the astrologer with his poultice and bandages. We have no written record of Bonatti’s exclamation, “I told you so!”—but the occasion certainly warranted it.
