The Dedicatory Letter and the Prologue of Levi ben Gershom's: Tractatus instrumenti astronomiae

In 1342, Levi ben Gershom dedicated to the newly elected Pope Clement VI a revised version of chapters 4 through 11 of the Latin translation of the astronomical section of his Wars of the Lord. The text was preceded by a dedicatory letter and a prologue, of which no Hebrew version is preserved. The paper presents a critical edition of both texts, with translation and commentary. The circumstances of the Latin translation of Gersonides' astronomical text (date, authorship, modality) are again discussed and some of the author's previous conclusions revised.