Image: Clément Doctoral research
The Treatise on the Albion was composed in 1326–1327 by the Benedictine monk Richard of Wallingford, during the last year of his stay in the University of Oxford. This text presents an instrument, called al[l]-by-on[e], which merges in one circular brass layout all the materials needed to carry out pretty much any computation useful in astronomy and trigonometry. The goal of my dissertation is to study the practices of instrumented computation described in this text, focusing mostly on the English manuscripts from the 14th century.
Using the Treatise on the Albion as a case study, my dissertation explores general questions related to the history of mathematics:
Material practices of computation (in astronomy)
How can one compute with the Albion? What are the other mathematical instruments involved in the practices associated with this instrument?
Teaching mathematics with instruments in Oxford and St. Albans
What role could the Treatise on the Albion have played in teaching practices developed in the schools of Oxford and St. Albans, especially for the disciplines of the quadrivium? How can this text fit different pedagogical and didactic uses?
Publications
Contributions to collective books
- forthcomming Clément Cartier, "Printing the Tables of King Alfonso", in Alfonsine Astronomy: Expanding the Scences edited by José Chabás, Richard Kremer and Matthisu Husson (Turnhout: Brepols).
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Abstract
In an article published in 1998, Emmanuel Poulle and Denis Savoie showed that, untill the 17th century, almanacs and ephemerides printed in Latin were computing using parameters matching those found in the "Alfonsine Tables". These tables, copied in a (very) large number of manuscripts during the 14th century, were first pritned in Venice in 1483 by Erhard Ratdolt. In the following decades, three other printers chose to produce their own editions of the "Tables of King Alfonso" in the Republic: Johannes Hamman in 1492, Petrus Liechtenstein in 1518, and Luc'antonio Giunta in 1524. In this chapter, I study the editorial choices made in each of these four endeavrs. For each of them, I first try to identify which tables and which texts were included in the books. I then look at the typographical and paratextual features employed by the printer to tie these materials together. Finally, I analyse how these different elements are ordered in the bound books. All of this allows me to show an evolution in how actors and actresses who participated to these editions understood the core principles of "Alfonsine Astronomy" between the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century.
Forthcomming (2026)
Seminar and conference presentations
See my publications on the HAL platformSeminars and events I organise
Ongoing seminars
Lecture de textes mathématiques anciens
with Agathe Keller
- Description
- This monthly seminar, which I organise with Agathe Keller since 2023, is articulated around the presentation of a primary sources and of the problems it creates, followed by a reading of this source, edited and translated. One session usually lasts up to 3h, directed by confirmed researchers, PhD students, or even Master's students. The language is generaly English, sometimes French.
- Upcoming sessions
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- Jun 25, 2026
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Discussion de l'année prochaine
- Past events
Past events
Séance du séminaire Historie et philosophie des mathématiques sur les "diagrammes"
Paris, May 11, 2026
This day was an occasion to gather contributions on the topic of diagrams and procedures in mathematics, spanning from 7th-century Arabic astrolabes until 21st-century cluster theory developed by Lauren Williams, Sergey Fomin and Andrei Zelevinsky's.
> See moreSession of the History of Science, History of Texts seminar on "Readers and reading practices"
Paris, Apr 23, 2026
As part of the History of Science, History of Texts seminar, this day was an occasion to focus on the role of readers towards the texts, exploring both linguistics and philological approaches.
> See moreJournées jeunes chercheurs et chercheuses du réseau thématique HiDiM
Paris, Mar 30, 2026–Apr 1, 2026
Les journées jeunes chercheurs et chercheuses du réseau thématique HiDiM (Histoire et Didactique des Mathématiques) ont permis de rassembler les doctorant⋅es et jeunes docteur⋅es qui travaillent à la fois en histoire et en didactique des mathématiques.
> See moreDISc seminar
Paris, 2024–2025Le séminaire doctoral interdisciplinaire d'histoire et philosophie des sciences (DISc) est conçu comme étant un espace scientifique collectif répondant aux besoins des doctorant.es de SPHERE. Il s’agit de s’interroger et d’échanger autour de problématiques méthodologiques mobilisées en histoire, philosophie, épistémologie et sociologie des sciences. Chaque séance est organisée autour d’une thématique en lien avec les travaux des doctorant.es du laboratoire.
> See moreJournées de l'école doctorale 623—Savoirs, sciences, éducation
La journée doctorale de l'ED 623 permet aux doctorant⋅es de l'école doctorale de présenter leurs sujets de recherche et d'échanger sur les problèmes de méthode rencontrés au cours de leur thèse, en regroupant les approches des différentes disciplines couvertes par notre école doctorale (histoire des sciences, philosophie, didactique, sciences de l'éduction, sociologie, etc.). Elles étaient suivies par les journées scientifiques, organisées sur le thème des "invisibles et indicibles dans la recherche", qui étaient l'occasion d'échanger avec des intervenant⋅es mieux installé⋅es dans la discipline.
> See moreCollective projects
(2025–2028) Les concepts de science au Moyen Âge tardif (CAPES-COFECUB) | Principal investigator: Aurélien Robert, Marco Aurélio Oliveira da Silva
Ce project franco-brésilien, porté par Aurélien Robert et Marco Aurelio da Oliveira, a pour vocation d'interroger la manière dont le concept de «science(s) » est mobilisé dans les sources latines à la fin du « Moyen Âge ». Le projet rassemblant essentiellement des spécialistes de l'histoire de la philosophie, ma participation vise à présenter un point de vue basé sur les sources mathématiques et astronomiques.
> See more(2023—2027) EIDA ("ÉDIter et analyser les Diagrammes astronomiques historiques avec l'intelligence Artificielle" - ANR PRC ANR-22-CE38-0014) | Principal investigator: Matthieu Husson
The collaborative research project EIDA associates a research team in computer vision from the laboratoire d'informatique Gaspard Monge (UMR 8049) and the team of historians of astronomy from the laboratory Systèmes de référence temps-espace (UMR 8630), to think about the role and the circulation of diagrams in the history of astral sciences with the help of artificial intelligence. My doctoral researches on instruments used to compute eclipses allow my to contribute to this project with questions raised by this particular type of diagrams, sometimes articulated, which sometimes make up for a computing instrument.
> See more(2022-2023) ALFA ("Shaping a European Scientific Scence: Alfonsine Astronomy" - ERC n°723085) | Principal investigator: Matthieu Husson
Since 2017, the ALFA project was interested to the diffusion of the Alfonsine Table used by Latin-writing astronomers between the end of the 13th century and the middle of the 16th century. In the making of my master's thesis, I completed an internship in the laboratory Systèmes de référence temps-espace (UMR 8630) to study the printed editions of these tables, at the end of the considered period.
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