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Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve. Episode two hundred and sixty five Copernicus

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Part two. We're going to jump
right in this time. Last time,

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we covered pure Back and Reggio Montanus, the two key predecessors to Copernicus,

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plus his early life, which we
will continue today. In the fall of

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fourteen ninety one, Nicholas Copernicus and
his brother Andreas left home for the first

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time and traveled to Krakau to begin
their studies. Krakow was beautiful. It's

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town square would have dwarfed the town
of Turin, where Copernicus grew up,

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and it had wide streets and elegant
churches and townhouses. Wawel Castle, where

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the king reigned, stood like a
century on the hill overlooking the town.

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Krakow and its citizens were rich from
trade. The city was located at the

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intersection of the Prague of Crimea road
and the Amber route between Gansk and Southern

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Europe. It had twice the population
of Turin, and it was a diverse

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population which included Poles, Germans,
Lithuanians and also Italians, Hungarians and Jews.

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In fact, the Jewish population of
Krakau was one of the largest in

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Europe. But at this time the
Jews were being pushed out of the city

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to a neighborhood on the Outskirts.
Nicholas was nineteen years old, considered too

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old actually to be beginning university at
that time. In the fifteenth century.

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The University of Kraka had been founded
by the King of Poland, Casimir the

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Great, in thirteen sixty four.
It was therefore the second oldest university in

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all of Central Europe, behind only
the University of Prague founded in thirteen forty

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eight. From its inception, the
University of Krakau placed an emphasis on astronomy

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and astrology. From the classes he
took, we know Nicholas immersed himself in

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both subjects immediately. He took seven
courses in astronomy slash astrology, with courses

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titled the Spheres, Euclid's Geometry,
and planetary theory, to name a few.

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When Copernicus arrived in Krakau, the
chair of astronomy was Adalbert of brut

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Swap. Adalbert was no longer teaching
astronomy when Copernicus arrived, he was teaching

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philosophy, but he may have even
studied under regiomontane on Us, and he

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still held Saturday astrology astronomy workshops at
his home. The early fourteen nineties were

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remarkable years in Krakow. The old
king passed away in fourteen ninety two and

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the successor's coronation was a site to
see. Months later, word reached Krakow

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that someone across the Atlantic. Also
in fourteen ninety two a large portion of

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the university burned down and we need
to be rebuilt. In fourteen ninety four

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and Islamic Sultan visited the university camels
in tow But as I mentioned, what

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is going to turn out to be
the most important event of young Copernicus's life

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took place thousands of miles away in
the Bahamas. There, when Nicholas was

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twenty years old, Columbus landed in
the New World. From this point on

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the world was a different place.
Upon Columbus return there was an explosion of

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interest and demand for cartography, surveying, and of course astronomy. Sailors,

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after all, used the stars to
guide them. The future father of astronomy

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bought his first books on the subject
during this period of his life. The

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volumes were obviously chosen carefully and considered
prize possessions. They followed him everywhere he

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went for the next five decades of
his life, and were still in his

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personal library when he died. Books
were very expensive at the time and represented

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a significant purchase for a constantly cash
starved student. Coupernicus bought copies of Euclid's

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Elements, the Alphonsine Tables, and
Reggio Montanus's Tables of Directions. Coaupernicus had

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the latter two bound together, along
with sixteen blank pages. In the back.

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Several of the blanks contained tables from
pure box tables of ellipses. The

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Alphonsine tables were the standard source of
charting the wandering stars against the fixed stars

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in the night sky. Recall that
Reggio Montana's volume contained projections for the daily

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rotation of the heavens. From the
notes and observations he recorded on the blank

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pages in the years to come,
it is evident that Copernicus used his Book

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of Tables extensively. Nicholas's purchase of
these expensive books while still an undergraduate reveals

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how serious he was about astrology and
astronomy at this early age. In fourteen

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ninety five, probably at the end
of the spring semester, Nicholas and Andreas

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Copernicus left the University of Krakow after
four years of study. Most scholars assumed

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they had finished their bachelor's degrees by
then, but there's no record to confirm

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that. From Krakow, the brothers
were turned to Varmia, where uncle Lucas

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was the bishop. In fourteen ninety
six, Nicholas enrolled at the University of

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Bologna, intending to acquire a degree
in canon law. From fourteen ninety six

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to fifteen o three, Copernicus lived
and studied in Bologna in Italy. We

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don't have a ton of specifics from
his time there, but it was another

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crucial period in terms of his development
as an astronomer. No sooner had Copernicus

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arrived in Bologna than a Venetian publisher
published Reggio Montanus's work Epitome of Alma Guest.

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Copernicus must have borrowed and read this
work with extreme interest in it.

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Reggiomontanus argued Ptolemy's theory of the motion
of the moon was not correct. If

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it were, then the moon would
vary much more in its appearance. Ptolemy

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argued that the moon moved an elliptical
and was twice as far from the Earth

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during some points in the year than
it was during others. This was objectively

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false. Reggio Montanus wrote that if
Ptolemy was right, then the moon would

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look different in the night sky when
it was further away, But anyone who

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observed a full lunar cycle would immediately
note that the moon always looks the same,

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so Ptolemy was wrong. This argument, of course, excited a young

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Copernicus, or it must have a
man who was already skeptical of many of

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Ptolemay's claims. While taking his required
courses on canon law, Copernicus continued studying

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astronomy in Italy. He even rented
rooms from one of the most important astronomers

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at the time, Domenico Maria de
Novada. Coupernicus would later write that he

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was not so much the pupil as
the quote assistant and witness and quote of

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Nevada. Coupernicus, the astronomer,
made first official entrance on the celestial stage

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on March ninth, fourteen ninety seven, when he made his first known observation

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with Nevada. At eleven PM,
they witnessed the eclipse of a bright star

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Atlbaran by the moon. This type
of an eclipse is called an occultation.

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The observation was used by Navarra in
his astrological forecast for the next year,

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and it was later used by Copernicus
in On the Revolutions to provide proof for

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his theory of the motion of the
moon. Copernicus soon began making his own

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observations. In early fifteen hundred,
he recorded studying two conjections of the moon

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with Saturn. They occurred on the
ninth of January at two am and March

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fourth at one am. Kaupernicus made
notes of his observations on the blank pages

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of his Alphacine Tables volume. He
spent some months in Rome in the second

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half of fifteen hundred. He later
said well in Rome that he quote lectured

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on mathematics before a large audience of
students and a throng of great men and

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experts in this branch of knowledge end
quote. While there he also made his

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fourth observation, a lunar eclipse on
November sixth, fifteen hundred, at two

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in the morning. It was during
this time in Italy that something happened back

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in Varmia that would make Copernicus's study
of the heavens possible. Uncle Lucas arranged

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for his election as a canon of
the Cathedral Church of Varmia. A quick

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refresher. A canon is a church
official. He may or may not be

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a priest. The Chapter of the
Cathedral is an official group made up of

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the Dean and chapter of Canons who
meet in the Chapter House. They run

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the cathedral basically, especially it's business
affairs. Crucially, this position was a

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lifetime appointment and it came with a
yearly salary. After briefly returning to Varmia

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in fourteen ninety seven, Nicholas had
been elected in absentia. Nicholas spent the

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next two years at the University of
Padua, where he studied medicine. Well,

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you might not think that medicine would
be relevant to astronomy and vice versa.

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In the fifteenth century, a huge
part of medicine was astrology. The

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doctor was supposed to pay close attention
to a patient's horoscope because that could be

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used to determine health. Some scholars
also believe that Copernicus learned about Arab astronomy

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while in Padua, but there's no
evidence to support that contention, Copernicus finally

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finished his higher education in fifteen o
three. That year he got a doctorate

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in canon law from the University of
Ferrara. Wait, but why switch universities

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again? Hear? The answers actually
simple. Upon graduation in this age,

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a student was supposed to host and
pay for a large celebration. Ferrera was

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a much smaller university, so the
party was cheaper. Degree in hand,

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Copernicus traveled back to Varmia. He
would never leave Poland again. It was

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the summer of fifteen oh three,
and Copernicus more or less spent the rest

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of his life working in isolation.
Many of the big thinkers of the scientific

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Revolution worked at major universities or at
the courts of royal officials in major cities.

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Coupernicus was the exception. He lived
about as far away as one could

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from any major European center of learning. Copernicus's first job after leaving the university

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was to work as his uncle's private
secretary. He performed in that capacity for

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seven years in the small town of
Lidzbark. Then in fifteen ten he left

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uncle Lucas and moved to Fromborg,
where he would spend essentially the rest of

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his life. Fromborg isn't absolutely picturesque
Polish town on the very southern end of

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the Baltic Sea. There, Copernicus
didn't take up a job per se.

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He didn't need to. As a
canon of the cathedral, his needs were

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met. Over the course of the
next decade, Copernicus developed his heliocentric theory

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of the universe. Most of his
work he wrote down in a report which

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is today called the Commentaries. Copernicus's
own inventory lists the document as a quote

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manuscript of six leaves expounding the theory
of an author who asserts that the Earth

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moves while the Sun stands still end
quote. Quite the understatement. Most likely,

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Copernicus never gave the common terry's a
title, As we will see,

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if left to his own devices,
it's extremely unlikely he ever would have published

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it, or really anything. The
Commentaries begin with the following pronouncement. Yet,

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the planetary theories of Ptolema and most
other astronomers, although consistent with the

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numerical data, seemed likewise to present
no small difficulty. For these theories were

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not adequate unless certain equals were also
conceived. It then appeared that a planet

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moved with uniform velocity, neither on
its deferent main orbit nor about the center

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of its epicycle center orbit. Hence, a system of this sort seemed neither

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sufficiently absolute nor sufficiently pleasing to the
mind. Having become aware of these defects,

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I, Copernicus often considered whether there
could be perhaps found a more reasonable

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arrangement of circles from which every apparent
inequality would be derived, and in which

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everything would move uniformly about its proper
center, as the rule of absolute motion

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requires end quote. Then, barely
a few pages into the essay, Copernicus

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asked the reader to grant him seven
assumptions, which he refers to his axioms.

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The second axiom is, quote the
center of the Earth is not the

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center of the universe. End quote. The third is all spheres revolve around

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the Sun is their midpoint, and
therefore the Sun is the center of the

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universe. The fifth axiom is the
Earth performs a complete rotation on its fixed

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poles in daily motion, while the
firmament and highest Heaven abide unchanged. One

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cannot stress how revolutionary these three pronouncements
were. After listing all of his axioms,

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Copernicus goes on to state the proper
order of the planets. He looks

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in great detail at the motions of
the Earth, the Moon, the superior

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planets that is Mars, Jupiter,
and Saturn, and finally Venus and Mercury

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in the end. Based on the
commentaries, here is basically what Copernicus's new

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heliocentric theory of the universe propounded.
One, the Earth and the other planets

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revolve around the Sun, not the
Earth. Two the Moon is the only

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heavenly body that does revolve around the
Earth, thus separating the Moon from the

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other wandering stars. Three the Earth
rotates on its axis once every twenty four

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hours. Four The revolutions of the
outer planets take much longer than Talamy thought.

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Saturn takes thirty years to revolve around
the Sun, Jupiter twelve years,

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Mars two years, Earth one year, Venus nine months, and Mercury three

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months. Copernicus is sent, by
the way, were essentially correct, and

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he placed the planets in their proper
order for the first time in Western history.

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Number five, and lastly, the
universe is profoundly larger than previously believed,

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with the firmament or non wandering stars
so far away, as to quote,

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make the distance from the Earth to
the Sun imperceptible in comparison that the

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height of the firmament end quote by
firmament. Again, he's talking about the

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distant stars outside of our own solar
system. Though the Commentaries is a very

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short work, it was clearly the
product of mature thought and years of observation.

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Within the Commentaries, however, there's
also a reference to a much larger

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manuscript which would in time become On
the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Copernicus's

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seminal work. It's hard to restate
the importance of this reference from a historic

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perspective. The reason that I say
that is because it makes it clear Copernicus

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had really crystallized his heliocentric theory at
least thirty years before On the Revolutions would

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be published. How did Copernicus arrive
at this revolutionary heliocentric concept. The only

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direct statement that he made, both
in the Commentaries and later on in On

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the Revolutions is that Ptolemay's use of
the equant was problematic because his model did

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not exhibit uniform circular motion. This
serious flaw in Ptolemay's conception had bothered Arabic

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astronomers in centuries before Copernicus, as
well as a rigorous scientific thinker. Copernicus

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could not accept the fact that the
cosmos could behave without obeying the first principles,

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specifically uniform circular motion. When Copernicus
placed the Sun in the middle of

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the planetary orbits, as he would
later say, the pieces all fit together.

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Quote. Not only do their phenomenon
follow that, but also this correlation

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binds together so closely the order and
magnitudes of all the planets, and of

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their spheres or orbital circles, and
the heavens themselves, that can nothing be

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shifted around in any part of them
without disrupting the remaining parts and universe as

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a whole. End quote. Probably
because of the commentaries. In fifteen fourteen,

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Copernicus was one of the astronomers invited
by Pope Leo the Tenth to participate

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in the ongoing vexing issue of church
reform. The Julian calendar had been in

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effect since the reign of Julius Caesar, when he took the bold step of

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radically reforming the Roman calendar, which
had been out of sync with the seasons.

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Caesar made a year three hundred and
sixty five days long, with a

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leap year every fourth year. Though
the Julian calendar was similar to our modern

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one, small discrepancies between the calendar
and the annual revolution of the earth around

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the sun only about eleven minutes a
year had added up. The eleven minute

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discrepancy, by the way, equals
about five days every thousand years, and

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the actual weather seasons were now clearly
off. Winter came earlier than it should

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have, as did spring. By
the early sixteenth century, there was pressure

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to make a major adjustment. Reggio
Montanas had been called to Rome, as

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I talked about last time, to
reform the calendar in fourteen seventy five,

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but his untimely death had brought the
earlier reform effort to a halt, and

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it was only revisited in the second
decade of the sixteenth century. To be

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invited by the committee for this important
task indicates that Copernicus was now known in

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the astronomical circles as an outstanding member
of the community. Copernicus did send a

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response to the committee, but it
has not survived and it's not known what

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he wrote, And in the end, the calendar wasn't reformed at this time

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either. Many have wondered why Copernicus
did not produce more written work in his

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early years, and there's essentially two
explanations. First, on the Revolutions is

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enormously complicated, and that alone would
have taken years to produce. Second,

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he still had some duties to fulfill
as a church canon. He didn't get

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the money for nothing. At a
minimum, each cannon was expected to help

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serve mass twice per day, once
in the early morning and once in the

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early evening. But Kapernicus's secular duties
were much more burdensome. Cannons were essentially

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minor nobles. Kapernicus had lands to
manage and was required to keep weapons and

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servants on hand. While technically the
bishop was in overall control, in practice,

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the bishop and the cannons were joint
rulers of this tiny kingdom. Many

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cannons had other honorary positions called benefices, which allotted them more financial resources.

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Whatever we can say about Kapernicus,
he certainly never wanted for money. Moreover,

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because of his medical training, Kapernicus
became the chapter's doctor as soon as

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he arrived in Fromborg. He would
actually practice medicine for the rest of his

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life. In fact, you might
be surprised to learn that in most correspondents

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he's actually referred to as doctor Nicholas, a nod to his medical background.

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He wasn't a search and, however, instead he seemed to follow normal traditional

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sort of concoction based medicine. Copernicus
also joined the other Canons and taking turns

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holding the post necessary to run their
chapter in its territories. Over the years,

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he served in each of the various
positions such as chancellor, treasurer,

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cantor, archdeacon, and even custodian. In fifteen sixteen, Copernicus assumed the

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important job of supervising the lands around
the Cannon governed town of Austellin. He

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left Frombork and moved into the castle
there. Like the castle at Litzburg where

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he had lived with his uncle,
the castle at Austellin was built the Teutonic

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Knights and was massive. The doctor
was now immersed deeply in his astronomical studies

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and he was making regular observations.
Copernicus left behind evidence of his intense focus

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on astronomy while ruling Ostellin and his
environs his etchings in fact remain on the

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plaster walls one of the studies in
the castles. You can still see it

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today. While the Knights Templar had
been decisively deeded previously, they still existed

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as a minor military order, and
they still caused problems every once in a

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while for the Polish king. For
example, in December fifteen nineteen, the

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Knights crossed the border into Warmia with
about five thousand soldiers and a few cavalry.

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They seized, looted, and then
burned many villages. In January of

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fifteen twenty, they attacked Kapernicus' hometown
of Frombork. They torched the entire town,

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destroying nearly every home, including the
homes of the Cannons. Kapernicus is

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amongst them. Only the cathedral was
spared. The Cannons scattered to places like

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Ghanst and Elblag before the Knights could
capture them. After torching Frombork, the

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Knights occupied many parts of Warmia,
but the aggression seems to have ended for

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most of the year. Then,
toward the end of fifteen twenty, then

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Teutonic Knights Grand Master was again at
work and his troops were on the move,

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threatening Ostlin, where Kapernicus was currently
in charge. On January sixteenth,

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fifteen twenty one, the Knights demanded
the surrender of Austalin, but Copernicus refused

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to yield. A small contingent of
Polish cavalry had arrived by them, and

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the Polish soldiers confronted the Knights in
a skirmish which surprised the enemy and delayed

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the attack for more than a week. But then the Knights assaulted Astallin on

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January the twenty sixth and broke through
the first gate before being repulsed and forced

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to retreat. In February, the
Knights lifted the siege. The hostilities ended

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several months later, when the Knights
abruptly halted their campaign. The King of

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Poland threatened to send a large army
to confront them, and the Master of

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the Teutonic Knights was running out of
money. Not only had Copernicus effectively dealt

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with a siege while continuing his astronomical
study, but he was then part of

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the small delegation that represented Warmia at
the peace negotiations. This was the last

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time that the Teutonic Knights would invade
a territory, so for the citizens of

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Warmia, the threat on their immediate
border was finally over. The rest of

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the fifteen twenties passed without any major
disruptions in the bishopric, though the rebuilding

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of towns, villages and farms would
take years. Copernicus finished his term at

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Austelin and moved back to what remained
of Frombork. There he continued his ambitious

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astronomical research, making numerous observations,
and his manuscript on the Revolutions kept growing.

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Unfortunately for him, as the threat
from the Teutonic Knights receded forever,

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a new threat was just being berthed
several hundred miles to the south in a

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small town, cold Wittenberg. As
always, if you've enjoyed the show,

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00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:10.039
check out the links in the show
notes, we've got links to the podcast.

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00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:14.480
There a free trial of Western Cive
two point zero and also you can

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00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:18.400
do a free trial now of our
Patreon account which has a whole deep dive

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00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.200
episode on the Teutonic Night. So
if it's something you're interested in, go

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00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:26.000
ahead and check it out and see
what we've got there. And as always,

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00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:27.319
of course we appreciate the support