Hello, and welcome to Western Sieve. Episode two hundred and sixty five Copernicus
Part two. We're going to jump right in this time. Last time,
we covered pure Back and Reggio Montanus, the two key predecessors to Copernicus,
plus his early life, which we will continue today. In the fall of
fourteen ninety one, Nicholas Copernicus and his brother Andreas left home for the first
time and traveled to Krakau to begin their studies. Krakow was beautiful. It's
town square would have dwarfed the town of Turin, where Copernicus grew up,
and it had wide streets and elegant churches and townhouses. Wawel Castle, where
the king reigned, stood like a century on the hill overlooking the town.
Krakow and its citizens were rich from trade. The city was located at the
intersection of the Prague of Crimea road and the Amber route between Gansk and Southern
Europe. It had twice the population of Turin, and it was a diverse
population which included Poles, Germans, Lithuanians and also Italians, Hungarians and Jews.
In fact, the Jewish population of Krakau was one of the largest in
Europe. But at this time the Jews were being pushed out of the city
to a neighborhood on the Outskirts. Nicholas was nineteen years old, considered too
old actually to be beginning university at that time. In the fifteenth century.
The University of Kraka had been founded by the King of Poland, Casimir the
Great, in thirteen sixty four. It was therefore the second oldest university in
all of Central Europe, behind only the University of Prague founded in thirteen forty
eight. From its inception, the University of Krakau placed an emphasis on astronomy
and astrology. From the classes he took, we know Nicholas immersed himself in
both subjects immediately. He took seven courses in astronomy slash astrology, with courses
titled the Spheres, Euclid's Geometry, and planetary theory, to name a few.
When Copernicus arrived in Krakau, the chair of astronomy was Adalbert of brut
Swap. Adalbert was no longer teaching astronomy when Copernicus arrived, he was teaching
philosophy, but he may have even studied under regiomontane on Us, and he
still held Saturday astrology astronomy workshops at his home. The early fourteen nineties were
remarkable years in Krakow. The old king passed away in fourteen ninety two and
the successor's coronation was a site to see. Months later, word reached Krakow
that someone across the Atlantic. Also in fourteen ninety two a large portion of
the university burned down and we need to be rebuilt. In fourteen ninety four
and Islamic Sultan visited the university camels in tow But as I mentioned, what
is going to turn out to be the most important event of young Copernicus's life
took place thousands of miles away in the Bahamas. There, when Nicholas was
twenty years old, Columbus landed in the New World. From this point on
the world was a different place. Upon Columbus return there was an explosion of
interest and demand for cartography, surveying, and of course astronomy. Sailors,
after all, used the stars to guide them. The future father of astronomy
bought his first books on the subject during this period of his life. The
volumes were obviously chosen carefully and considered prize possessions. They followed him everywhere he
went for the next five decades of his life, and were still in his
personal library when he died. Books were very expensive at the time and represented
a significant purchase for a constantly cash starved student. Coupernicus bought copies of Euclid's
Elements, the Alphonsine Tables, and Reggio Montanus's Tables of Directions. Coaupernicus had
the latter two bound together, along with sixteen blank pages. In the back.
Several of the blanks contained tables from pure box tables of ellipses. The
Alphonsine tables were the standard source of charting the wandering stars against the fixed stars
in the night sky. Recall that Reggio Montana's volume contained projections for the daily
rotation of the heavens. From the notes and observations he recorded on the blank
pages in the years to come, it is evident that Copernicus used his Book
of Tables extensively. Nicholas's purchase of these expensive books while still an undergraduate reveals
how serious he was about astrology and astronomy at this early age. In fourteen
ninety five, probably at the end of the spring semester, Nicholas and Andreas
Copernicus left the University of Krakow after four years of study. Most scholars assumed
they had finished their bachelor's degrees by then, but there's no record to confirm
that. From Krakow, the brothers were turned to Varmia, where uncle Lucas
was the bishop. In fourteen ninety six, Nicholas enrolled at the University of
Bologna, intending to acquire a degree in canon law. From fourteen ninety six
to fifteen o three, Copernicus lived and studied in Bologna in Italy. We
don't have a ton of specifics from his time there, but it was another
crucial period in terms of his development as an astronomer. No sooner had Copernicus
arrived in Bologna than a Venetian publisher published Reggio Montanus's work Epitome of Alma Guest.
Copernicus must have borrowed and read this work with extreme interest in it.
Reggiomontanus argued Ptolemy's theory of the motion of the moon was not correct. If
it were, then the moon would vary much more in its appearance. Ptolemy
argued that the moon moved an elliptical and was twice as far from the Earth
during some points in the year than it was during others. This was objectively
false. Reggio Montanus wrote that if Ptolemy was right, then the moon would
look different in the night sky when it was further away, But anyone who
observed a full lunar cycle would immediately note that the moon always looks the same,
so Ptolemy was wrong. This argument, of course, excited a young
Copernicus, or it must have a man who was already skeptical of many of
Ptolemay's claims. While taking his required courses on canon law, Copernicus continued studying
astronomy in Italy. He even rented rooms from one of the most important astronomers
at the time, Domenico Maria de Novada. Coupernicus would later write that he
was not so much the pupil as the quote assistant and witness and quote of
Nevada. Coupernicus, the astronomer, made first official entrance on the celestial stage
on March ninth, fourteen ninety seven, when he made his first known observation
with Nevada. At eleven PM, they witnessed the eclipse of a bright star
Atlbaran by the moon. This type of an eclipse is called an occultation.
The observation was used by Navarra in his astrological forecast for the next year,
and it was later used by Copernicus in On the Revolutions to provide proof for
his theory of the motion of the moon. Copernicus soon began making his own
observations. In early fifteen hundred, he recorded studying two conjections of the moon
with Saturn. They occurred on the ninth of January at two am and March
fourth at one am. Kaupernicus made notes of his observations on the blank pages
of his Alphacine Tables volume. He spent some months in Rome in the second
half of fifteen hundred. He later said well in Rome that he quote lectured
on mathematics before a large audience of students and a throng of great men and
experts in this branch of knowledge end quote. While there he also made his
fourth observation, a lunar eclipse on November sixth, fifteen hundred, at two
in the morning. It was during this time in Italy that something happened back
in Varmia that would make Copernicus's study of the heavens possible. Uncle Lucas arranged
for his election as a canon of the Cathedral Church of Varmia. A quick
refresher. A canon is a church official. He may or may not be
a priest. The Chapter of the Cathedral is an official group made up of
the Dean and chapter of Canons who meet in the Chapter House. They run
the cathedral basically, especially it's business affairs. Crucially, this position was a
lifetime appointment and it came with a yearly salary. After briefly returning to Varmia
in fourteen ninety seven, Nicholas had been elected in absentia. Nicholas spent the
next two years at the University of Padua, where he studied medicine. Well,
you might not think that medicine would be relevant to astronomy and vice versa.
In the fifteenth century, a huge part of medicine was astrology. The
doctor was supposed to pay close attention to a patient's horoscope because that could be
used to determine health. Some scholars also believe that Copernicus learned about Arab astronomy
while in Padua, but there's no evidence to support that contention, Copernicus finally
finished his higher education in fifteen o three. That year he got a doctorate
in canon law from the University of Ferrara. Wait, but why switch universities
again? Hear? The answers actually simple. Upon graduation in this age,
a student was supposed to host and pay for a large celebration. Ferrera was
a much smaller university, so the party was cheaper. Degree in hand,
Copernicus traveled back to Varmia. He would never leave Poland again. It was
the summer of fifteen oh three, and Copernicus more or less spent the rest
of his life working in isolation. Many of the big thinkers of the scientific
Revolution worked at major universities or at the courts of royal officials in major cities.
Coupernicus was the exception. He lived about as far away as one could
from any major European center of learning. Copernicus's first job after leaving the university
was to work as his uncle's private secretary. He performed in that capacity for
seven years in the small town of Lidzbark. Then in fifteen ten he left
uncle Lucas and moved to Fromborg, where he would spend essentially the rest of
his life. Fromborg isn't absolutely picturesque Polish town on the very southern end of
the Baltic Sea. There, Copernicus didn't take up a job per se.
He didn't need to. As a canon of the cathedral, his needs were
met. Over the course of the next decade, Copernicus developed his heliocentric theory
of the universe. Most of his work he wrote down in a report which
is today called the Commentaries. Copernicus's own inventory lists the document as a quote
manuscript of six leaves expounding the theory of an author who asserts that the Earth
moves while the Sun stands still end quote. Quite the understatement. Most likely,
Copernicus never gave the common terry's a title, As we will see,
if left to his own devices, it's extremely unlikely he ever would have published
it, or really anything. The Commentaries begin with the following pronouncement. Yet,
the planetary theories of Ptolema and most other astronomers, although consistent with the
numerical data, seemed likewise to present no small difficulty. For these theories were
not adequate unless certain equals were also conceived. It then appeared that a planet
moved with uniform velocity, neither on its deferent main orbit nor about the center
of its epicycle center orbit. Hence, a system of this sort seemed neither
sufficiently absolute nor sufficiently pleasing to the mind. Having become aware of these defects,
I, Copernicus often considered whether there could be perhaps found a more reasonable
arrangement of circles from which every apparent inequality would be derived, and in which
everything would move uniformly about its proper center, as the rule of absolute motion
requires end quote. Then, barely a few pages into the essay, Copernicus
asked the reader to grant him seven assumptions, which he refers to his axioms.
The second axiom is, quote the center of the Earth is not the
center of the universe. End quote. The third is all spheres revolve around
the Sun is their midpoint, and therefore the Sun is the center of the
universe. The fifth axiom is the Earth performs a complete rotation on its fixed
poles in daily motion, while the firmament and highest Heaven abide unchanged. One
cannot stress how revolutionary these three pronouncements were. After listing all of his axioms,
Copernicus goes on to state the proper order of the planets. He looks
in great detail at the motions of the Earth, the Moon, the superior
planets that is Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and finally Venus and Mercury
in the end. Based on the commentaries, here is basically what Copernicus's new
heliocentric theory of the universe propounded. One, the Earth and the other planets
revolve around the Sun, not the Earth. Two the Moon is the only
heavenly body that does revolve around the Earth, thus separating the Moon from the
other wandering stars. Three the Earth rotates on its axis once every twenty four
hours. Four The revolutions of the outer planets take much longer than Talamy thought.
Saturn takes thirty years to revolve around the Sun, Jupiter twelve years,
Mars two years, Earth one year, Venus nine months, and Mercury three
months. Copernicus is sent, by the way, were essentially correct, and
he placed the planets in their proper order for the first time in Western history.
Number five, and lastly, the universe is profoundly larger than previously believed,
with the firmament or non wandering stars so far away, as to quote,
make the distance from the Earth to the Sun imperceptible in comparison that the
height of the firmament end quote by firmament. Again, he's talking about the
distant stars outside of our own solar system. Though the Commentaries is a very
short work, it was clearly the product of mature thought and years of observation.
Within the Commentaries, however, there's also a reference to a much larger
manuscript which would in time become On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, Copernicus's
seminal work. It's hard to restate the importance of this reference from a historic
perspective. The reason that I say that is because it makes it clear Copernicus
had really crystallized his heliocentric theory at least thirty years before On the Revolutions would
be published. How did Copernicus arrive at this revolutionary heliocentric concept. The only
direct statement that he made, both in the Commentaries and later on in On
the Revolutions is that Ptolemay's use of the equant was problematic because his model did
not exhibit uniform circular motion. This serious flaw in Ptolemay's conception had bothered Arabic
astronomers in centuries before Copernicus, as well as a rigorous scientific thinker. Copernicus
could not accept the fact that the cosmos could behave without obeying the first principles,
specifically uniform circular motion. When Copernicus placed the Sun in the middle of
the planetary orbits, as he would later say, the pieces all fit together.
Quote. Not only do their phenomenon follow that, but also this correlation
binds together so closely the order and magnitudes of all the planets, and of
their spheres or orbital circles, and the heavens themselves, that can nothing be
shifted around in any part of them without disrupting the remaining parts and universe as
a whole. End quote. Probably because of the commentaries. In fifteen fourteen,
Copernicus was one of the astronomers invited by Pope Leo the Tenth to participate
in the ongoing vexing issue of church reform. The Julian calendar had been in
effect since the reign of Julius Caesar, when he took the bold step of
radically reforming the Roman calendar, which had been out of sync with the seasons.
Caesar made a year three hundred and sixty five days long, with a
leap year every fourth year. Though the Julian calendar was similar to our modern
one, small discrepancies between the calendar and the annual revolution of the earth around
the sun only about eleven minutes a year had added up. The eleven minute
discrepancy, by the way, equals about five days every thousand years, and
the actual weather seasons were now clearly off. Winter came earlier than it should
have, as did spring. By the early sixteenth century, there was pressure
to make a major adjustment. Reggio Montanas had been called to Rome, as
I talked about last time, to reform the calendar in fourteen seventy five,
but his untimely death had brought the earlier reform effort to a halt, and
it was only revisited in the second decade of the sixteenth century. To be
invited by the committee for this important task indicates that Copernicus was now known in
the astronomical circles as an outstanding member of the community. Copernicus did send a
response to the committee, but it has not survived and it's not known what
he wrote, And in the end, the calendar wasn't reformed at this time
either. Many have wondered why Copernicus did not produce more written work in his
early years, and there's essentially two explanations. First, on the Revolutions is
enormously complicated, and that alone would have taken years to produce. Second,
he still had some duties to fulfill as a church canon. He didn't get
the money for nothing. At a minimum, each cannon was expected to help
serve mass twice per day, once in the early morning and once in the
early evening. But Kapernicus's secular duties were much more burdensome. Cannons were essentially
minor nobles. Kapernicus had lands to manage and was required to keep weapons and
servants on hand. While technically the bishop was in overall control, in practice,
the bishop and the cannons were joint rulers of this tiny kingdom. Many
cannons had other honorary positions called benefices, which allotted them more financial resources.
Whatever we can say about Kapernicus, he certainly never wanted for money. Moreover,
because of his medical training, Kapernicus became the chapter's doctor as soon as
he arrived in Fromborg. He would actually practice medicine for the rest of his
life. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that in most correspondents
he's actually referred to as doctor Nicholas, a nod to his medical background.
He wasn't a search and, however, instead he seemed to follow normal traditional
sort of concoction based medicine. Copernicus also joined the other Canons and taking turns
holding the post necessary to run their chapter in its territories. Over the years,
he served in each of the various positions such as chancellor, treasurer,
cantor, archdeacon, and even custodian. In fifteen sixteen, Copernicus assumed the
important job of supervising the lands around the Cannon governed town of Austellin. He
left Frombork and moved into the castle there. Like the castle at Litzburg where
he had lived with his uncle, the castle at Austellin was built the Teutonic
Knights and was massive. The doctor was now immersed deeply in his astronomical studies
and he was making regular observations. Copernicus left behind evidence of his intense focus
on astronomy while ruling Ostellin and his environs his etchings in fact remain on the
plaster walls one of the studies in the castles. You can still see it
today. While the Knights Templar had been decisively deeded previously, they still existed
as a minor military order, and they still caused problems every once in a
while for the Polish king. For example, in December fifteen nineteen, the
Knights crossed the border into Warmia with about five thousand soldiers and a few cavalry.
They seized, looted, and then burned many villages. In January of
fifteen twenty, they attacked Kapernicus' hometown of Frombork. They torched the entire town,
destroying nearly every home, including the homes of the Cannons. Kapernicus is
amongst them. Only the cathedral was spared. The Cannons scattered to places like
Ghanst and Elblag before the Knights could capture them. After torching Frombork, the
Knights occupied many parts of Warmia, but the aggression seems to have ended for
most of the year. Then, toward the end of fifteen twenty, then
Teutonic Knights Grand Master was again at work and his troops were on the move,
threatening Ostlin, where Kapernicus was currently in charge. On January sixteenth,
fifteen twenty one, the Knights demanded the surrender of Austalin, but Copernicus refused
to yield. A small contingent of Polish cavalry had arrived by them, and
the Polish soldiers confronted the Knights in a skirmish which surprised the enemy and delayed
the attack for more than a week. But then the Knights assaulted Astallin on
January the twenty sixth and broke through the first gate before being repulsed and forced
to retreat. In February, the Knights lifted the siege. The hostilities ended
several months later, when the Knights abruptly halted their campaign. The King of
Poland threatened to send a large army to confront them, and the Master of
the Teutonic Knights was running out of money. Not only had Copernicus effectively dealt
with a siege while continuing his astronomical study, but he was then part of
the small delegation that represented Warmia at the peace negotiations. This was the last
time that the Teutonic Knights would invade a territory, so for the citizens of
Warmia, the threat on their immediate border was finally over. The rest of
the fifteen twenties passed without any major disruptions in the bishopric, though the rebuilding
of towns, villages and farms would take years. Copernicus finished his term at
Austelin and moved back to what remained of Frombork. There he continued his ambitious
astronomical research, making numerous observations, and his manuscript on the Revolutions kept growing.
Unfortunately for him, as the threat from the Teutonic Knights receded forever,
a new threat was just being berthed several hundred miles to the south in a
small town, cold Wittenberg. As always, if you've enjoyed the show,
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