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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE THE EXACT SCIENCES IN LUTHERAN GERMANY AND TUDOR ENGLAND A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By KATHERINE ANNE TREDWELL Norman, Oklahoma 2005 UMI Number: 3163319 UMI Microform 3163319 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 THE EXACT SCIENCES IN LUTHERAN GERMANY AND TUDOR ENGLAND A Dissertation APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE BY _____________________________ Peter Barker _____________________________ Steven J. Livesey _____________________________ Marilyn B. Ogilvie _____________________________ Kenneth L. Taylor _____________________________ Laura K. Gibbs _____________________________ James S. Hart © Copyright by KATHERINE ANNE TREDWELL 2005 All Rights Reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I wish to thank my advisor, Peter Barker, who introduced me to the fascinating world of early modern astronomy. This dissertation could not have been completed without his constant encouragement and patient suggestions. I consider it a privilege to have worked with a teacher of his caliber. Special thanks are also due to Steven J. Livesey, who has assisted me in the arcane fields of postclassical Latin and computer software. In the past year, I have learned a great deal from him about biographical and institutional research. Some of it, unfortunately, came too late to be incorporated into this dissertation; I hope to put it to good use in my future work. I am also grateful to the other readers of my dissertation, Laura K. Gibbs, James S. Hart, Marilyn B. Ogilvie, and Kenneth L. Taylor, for their comments and support. Much of what I have learned from them has found its way into my dissertation in some form. Throughout graduate school I have been supported by teaching and research assistantships at the Department of the History of Science at the University of Oklahoma. For two summers I was also allowed to teach courses with full faculty responsibility. In 2001 I was awarded the DeGolyer Presidential Fellowship in the History of Science at the University of Oklahoma, which came with an additional stipend. I owe a debt of gratitude to the staff of the History of Science Collections at the University of Oklahoma. On several occasions they have assisted me cheerfully when I insisted on turning the Collections inside-out in search of a book. Kerry Magruder, another graduate of our program who has acquired the enviable position of Librarian at iv the Collections, deserves to be singled out. Since returning to the university he has brought in the resources necessary to create digital images of rare books and other holdings of the Collections, and he generously donated his time to assist in preparing images for my dissertation as well as for my first article. All images in this dissertation come from books owned by the university and are copyright History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude for the support of friends and family. Special thanks are due to my parents, who provided me with both emotional and material support. To my sister Mary, both for dragging me away from my writing and for sending me back again. And to Kenneth Green, as well as Merle and the other good folk at the Blue Bonnet, for cheering me on and for reminding me that there really is life after the Reformation. v CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iv TABLE OF CONTENTS . vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . x ABSTRACT . xi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 2. THE GREEK ASTRONOMICAL TRADITION AND PHILIP MELANCHTHON'S EDUCATIONAL REFORM . 8 3. ORIGINS OF COPERNICAN ASTRONOMY . 55 4. THE LUTHERAN REFORM OF ASTRONOMY . 88 5. THE WITTENBERG TRADITION IN GERMANY . 120 6. THE EXACT SCIENCES IN EARLY TUDOR ENGLAND . 151 7. ASTRONOMY AND NAVIGATION IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND . 197 8. CONCLUSION . 242 ILLUSTRATIONS . 268 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 293 APPENDIX 1. PHILIP MELANCHTHON'S PREFACE TO SACROBOSCO'S COMPUTUS . 313 2. COSMIC SIZES AND DISTANCES ACCORDING TO PTOLEMY . 319 vi 3. COSMIC SIZES ACCORDING TO DE REVOLUTIONIBUS . 320 4. TRANSLATIONS FROM GEORG JOACHIM RHETICUS' NARRATIO PRIMA (EXCERPTS) . 321 5. ERASMUS REINHOLD'S COMMENTARY ON PEURBACH'S THEORICAE NOVAE PLANETARUM (1543 AND 1553): SELECTED PASSAGES WITH TRANSLATION . 328 6. COSMIC SIZES AND DISTANCES ACCORDING TO CASPAR PEUCER . 336 7. COSMIC SIZES AND DISTANCES ACCORDING TO MICHAEL MAESTLIN'S EPITOME ASTRONOMIAE (1610) . 338 vii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1. Ptolemaic cosmological diagram showing spheres in cross-section . 268 2. Armillary sphere representing the cosmos in miniature . 269 3. Ptolemaic solar model represented as orbs in cross-section with Sun in apogee. 270 4. Ptolemaic planetary models . 271 5. Sphaera recta and sphaera obliqua . 272 6. Argument for the sphericity of the cosmos . 273 7. Argument for the Earth’s centrality . 274 8. Arguments for the sphericity of the Earth and of the element water . 275 9. The five zones of the Earth . 276 10. The seven climes defined by the duration of the longest day . 277 11. Medieval trepidation as described by Peurbach . 278 12. Observed effects of Copernicus’s theory of trepidation . 279 13. The usefulness of mathematics . 280 14. The heliocentric system of De revolutionibus . 281 15. Cosmologies of early modern Europe . 282 16. Lunar parallax . 283 17. Combined Ptolemaic models for Sun and Venus . 284 18. Copernicus’s annual motion of inclination . 285 19. Librations of the pole . 286 viii 20. Tūsī couple . 287 21. Apollonius’s theorem . 288 22. Advanced version of Apollonius’s theorem . 289 23. Copernican solar model . 290 24. Kepler’s version of Copernican cosmology . 291 25. Maestlin’s version of Copernican cosmology . 292 ix ABBREVIATIONS Almagest Ptolemy. Almagest. Translated by G. J. Toomer. New York: Springer- Verlag, 1984 CR Melanchthon, Philip. Corpus Reformatorum Philippi Melanthonis Opera quae supersunt omnia. Edited by Carolus Gottlieb Bretschneider. 28 volumes. Frankfurt am Main: Minerva, 1834-1900; reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint, 1963-1964. De rev. (1543) Copernicus, Nicolas. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Libri VI. Nuremberg: Ioh. Petreius, 1543. DNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in Association with the British Academy: From the Earliest Times to the Year 2000. Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. DSB Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Edited by Charles Gillispie. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970- . GCNS Randles, W. G. L. Geography, Cartography and Nautical Science in the Renaissance: The Impact of the Great Discoveries. Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, 2000. HAMA Neugebauer, Otto. A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1975. JHA Journal for the History of Astronomy NP (1540) Rheticus, Georg Joachim. Ad clarissimum virum D. Ioannem Schonerum, de libris revolutionum . NARRATIO PRIMA. Danxig: Franciscus Rhodus, 1540. x ABSTRACT This dissertation compares the astronomical works of two sets of writers in the sixteenth century: university professors in Lutheran territories, and mathematical practitioners and popularizers in Tudor England. The opening chapters establish the intellectual and institutional context by summarizing the development of the western astronomical tradition, including the place of mathematics in the university. Special attention is given to three problems in astronomy and the solutions proposed by Claudius Ptolemy and Nicolaus Copernicus: the prediction of the apparent motion of the Sun; the correct arrangement of stars and planets; and the measurement of the distances from Earth to the Sun, Moon, and other celestial objects. The educational reforms of Philip Melanchthon, who believed that divine providence manifested itself especially clearly in astronomy, ensured that Wittenberg and other Lutheran universities produced a number of highly competent and creative astronomers. The next two chapters examine the early responses to Copernicus at Wittenberg and the ongoing efforts among Melanchthon's followers to incorporate Copernican astronomy into the curriculum. Lutheran mathematicians agreed that Copernican models were superior in some respects to existing astronomical models, but most looked for ways to convert his controversial heliocentric cosmology to a geocentric framework. Both the geocentric majority and the tiny group of heliocentrists expected that a complete course of astronomical studies would include both Ptolemaic and Copernican models. The final chapters shift focus to England, where a revival of mathematical xi education was underway by mid-century. In this section, astronomy is defined broadly to include astronomical navigation, since the potential economic and political benefits of undertaking voyages of discovery provided part of the justification for mathematical studies. Elizabethan authors frequently cited and even translated Lutheran works, suggesting that Lutheran influence played an important role in the English mathematical renaissance. Most readers turned to Lutheran sources for technical guidance, in part because Melanchthon's followers had produced the leading works on Copernican astronomy. A smaller group, including some of the leading Tudor