A More Perfect Heaven (34 page)

Johannes Werner publishes a collection of astronomy papers in Nuremberg.

1523
Bishop Fabian Luzjanski dies, January 30.

Copernicus serves as interim bishop through October, even after Maurycy Ferber is elected Bishop of Varmia in mid-April.

1524
Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces.

Copernicus writes
Letter Against Werner
, June 3.

1525
Treaty of Krakow dissolves Order of Teutonic Knights, establishes

Duchy of Prussia under Duke Albrecht.

1526
Duke Albrecht marries Princess Dorothea of Denmark, February 12.

King Sigismund orders Protestant homes in Krakow burned; issues royal decree regarding new currency, July 17.

Bishop Ferber banishes Lutherans from Varmia, September 22.

1528
Rheticus’s father convicted of swindling and beheaded.

1529
Johannes Dantiscus, Polish ambassador to Spain, becomes a canon of Varmia.

1530
Canon Dantiscus, still in Spain, chosen as Bishop of Kulm.

Confession of Augsburg establishes the articles of faith for Lutherans.

1531
Copernicus, as guardian of the chapter’s counting table, writes his
Bread Tariff
.

1532
Canon/Bishop-designate Dantiscus returns to Poland from Spain.

Rheticus matriculates at Wittenberg using his mother’s name, de Porris.

1533
Johannes Dantiscus installed as Bishop of Kulm, April 20.

Pope Clement VII hears Copernicus’s theory described, summer.

1534
Alessandro Farnese elected Pope Paul III.

Luther Bible printed (in German) in Wittenberg.

1535
Bernard Wapowski visits Copernicus, tries to publish his almanac of planetary positions.

1536
Rheticus becomes lecturer in mathematics at Wittenberg.

Cardinal Schönberg’s November 1 letter asks Copernicus to release his theory.

1537
Bishop Maurycy Ferber dies, July 1, replaced by Johannes

Dantiscus.

Canon Tiedemann Giese becomes Bishop of Kulm.

Cardinal Schönberg dies, September 9.

1538
Rheticus goes to Nuremberg in autumn, meets Johann Schöner.

Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII.

1539
Canon Felix Reich dies, March 1.

Dantiscus issues new edict against Lutheran heresy in March.

Rheticus arrives in Frauenburg in May, completes the
First Account
September 23.

1540
First Account
published in Danzig in March.

Rheticus returns briefly to Wittenberg to teach in December.

1541
Second printing of
First Account
in Basel.

Melanchthon and colleagues attempt reconciliation with Catholic Church.

Rheticus returns to Wittenberg, elected dean of Faculty of Arts in October.

Rheticus publishes
On the Sides and Angles of Triangles
by Copernicus.

1542
Rheticus’s term as dean ends in April; he goes to Nuremberg.

Johannes Petreius begins printing
On the Revolutions
at his press in May.

Copernicus writes his dedication to Pope Paul III in June.

Pope Paul III establishes the Roman Holy Office of the Inquisition.

Rheticus leaves Nuremberg for Leipzig in October.

Copernicus suffers a stroke in late November or early December, is left paralyzed on right side.

1543
Printing of
On the Revolutions
concludes in April.

Crown Prince Sigismund Augustus marries Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria.

Copernicus dies, May 24.

1545
Pope Paul III convenes the Council of Trent.

1546
Martin Luther dies, February 18.

1547
Rheticus suffers a five-month spiritual crisis, moves to Zurich at year’s end.

1548
Returning to Leipzig, Rheticus is elected dean of Faculty of Arts, October 13.

Bishop Dantiscus dies, October 27.

1549
Tiedemann Giese becomes Bishop of Varmia, January 25.

Rheticus’s works listed on the
Index of Prohibited Books
along with those of Martin Luther and Johann Schöner.

Duke Albrecht appoints Andreas Osiander head theologian of new university in Königsberg.

1550
Bishop Giese dies, October 23.

1551
Rheticus publishes his
Canon of the Science of Triangles
.

Accused of sodomy, Rheticus flees Leipzig in April.

1554
Rheticus moves to Krakow in spring, works as a medical doctor.

1562
Copernicus’s relative Jan Loitz renounces his canonry in order to marry, February 8.

1564
Decrees of Council of Trent prohibit interpretation of Scripture by laymen.

1566
Second edition of
On the Revolutions
published in Basel.

1572
Tycho Brahe observes “new star” in November, writes
De nova stella
.

1574
Rheticus dies, December 4.

1582
Pope Gregory XIII replaces the Julian calendar with the Gregorian.

1588
Tycho publishes his geo-heliocentric system.

1595
Bartholomew Pitiscus, Calvinist theologian and mathematician, composes his
Trigonometry
, which title establishes the enduring term for the science of triangles.

1596
Johannes Kepler publishes his
Mysterium cosmographicum
.

Valentin Otto publishes Rheticus’s work as
Opus palatinum
, full of errors.

1604
Kepler observes a nova.

1609
Galileo observes the Moon and Milky Way with an early telescope.

1610
Galileo’s discovery of Jupiter’s moons, in January, convinces him

Copernicus was right; he publishes
The Starry Messenger
.

1613
Pitiscus publishes new summary of Rheticus’s work,
Mathematical Treasury
, in Frankfurt.

1616
On the Revolutions
appears on the
Index of Prohibited Books
, “until corrected.”

1617
Third edition of
On the Revolutions
published in Amsterdam.

1619
Kepler’s books listed on the
Index
.

1620
The
Index
names corrections that must be made to
On the Revolutions
.

1627
Kepler publishes the
Rudolfine Tables
.

1632
Galileo publishes his
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World
.

1772
Ignacy Krasicki, the last independent Bishop of Varmia, sees his diocese absorbed into the Kingdom of Prussia by the first partition of Poland.

1835
On the Revolutions
and Galileo’s
Dialogue
dropped from the
Index.

1972
Copernicus
satellite launched to study ultraviolet and X-ray sources in space.

2008
First-edition copy of
On the Revolutions
sold at auction for more than $2 million.

2010
Copernicus’s remains, having been exhumed for scientific study, reburied in the cathedral at Frombork (formerly Frauenburg).

Notes on the Quotations

The late Edward Rosen, professor of history of science at the City University of New York, translated all of Copernicus’s works into English. Charles Glenn Wallis and A. M. Duncan also made translations of
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
, often called by its Latin title,
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
, or
De rev
for short. In some of the quoted passages, I have combined their translations.

Astronomer and historian Noel Swerdlow, now a visiting associate at Caltech, translated several Copernican documents, including the
Brief Sketch
, or
Commentariolus
, and printer Johann Petreius’s open dedication letter to Rheticus.

CHAPTER 1

p.
3
“The cricket … the wayfarers.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 30.

p.
4
“marvelous symmetry of the universe.”
De rev
, I, 10 (Rosen, 22).

p.
7
“What could be more beautiful … divine ruling.”
De rev
, I, Introduction (Rosen, 7; Wallis, 8).

p.
7
“Among the many … the stars.”
De rev
, I, Introduction (Rosen, 7; Wallis, 8).

p.
9
“between the … night.”
De rev
, IV, 27 (Wallis, 223).

p.
10
“with two stout … salt pork.”
Banville, 40–41.

p.
11
“The inns … spilled out.”
Banville, 43.

p.
11
“To produce … vinegar.”
BLTC Research, “Arnold of Villanova,”
http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/images/arnold-of-villanova.html
.

p.
14
“O right … country.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 29.

p.
14
“Theophylactus … garden.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 29.

p.
14
–15
“Among mares … Nature’s tears.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 31.

p.
15
“Just as … rectified.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 29.

p.
15
“conspicuous … demeanor.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 27.

p.
15
“the scholar … principles.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 27.

p.
16
“Stroll through … dust.”
Rosen,
Minor Works
, 50.

CHAPTER 2

p.
17
“The center … lunar sphere.”
Rosen,
Treatises
, 58; Swerdlow, “Derivation,” 436.