Abstract
That a period of scientific revolution coincided with a period of theological, social and economic change in Europe is an obvious commonplace in literature dealing with the history of early modern science. The question of how specific elements in sixteenth-century society affected the actual process of discovery and the diffusion of new ideas is less clearly understood. In particular, the structure of informal methods of scientific interaction which made possible the transmission of new procedures, discoveries, and technical innovations among mathematicians, astronomers, and naturalists prior to the development of formal scientific organizations,has been left, for the most part,unexplored. One of the aims of this study, then, is to delineate an important mode of scientific interaction during the late Renaissance by examining the role of princely courts in the construction of informal patterns of scientific and technical information exchange. Among various forms of aristocratic patronage, it is possible to reconstruct a special type of courtly involvement characterized by the direct participation of princes in scientific and technical projects. Such courts not only provided an environment for the development of technical proficiency and innovation but also were capable of initiating vast networks of scientific correspondence based upon pre-existing religious and political avenues of communication.
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Notes and References
Concerning the Flacian-Philippist controversy see: Wilhelm Prager, Matthias Flacius und Seine Zeit (Erlangen, 1859-1861); Lauri Haikolu, Gesetz und Evangelium bei Matthias Illyricus: eine Untersuchung zur Lutherischen Theologie vor der Konkordien- formel (Lund, 1952 ); Hans-Werner Gensichen, We Condemn: How Luther and 16th- century Lutheranism Condemned False Doctrine, trans, by Herbert J. A. Bouman ( St. Louis, 1967 ).
Robert Calinich, Kampf und Untergang des Melanchthonismus in Kursachsen in den Jahren 1570–1574 (Leipzig, 1866).
Ludwig Zimmermann, Der Okonomische Staat Landgraf Wilhelm IV (Marburg, 1933 ), vol I, pp. 167–168.
Most of Wilhelms botanical correspondence with other princes must be consulted in manuscript: Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 32. 28; 4A. 32. 18; 4A. 32. 19; 4B. 40. 20; 4B. 40. 25; 4B. 40. 44; 4B. 40. 60; 4B. 5. 3.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4B. 40. 24; letters 1578-1580. See also Hermann Friedrich Kessler, Landgraf Wilhelm IV von Hessen als Botaniker (Cassel, 1859 ), p. 18.
Richard J. Durling, Conrad Gesners Liber amicorum: 1555 1565, Gesnerus: Viertel- jahrschrift flir Geschichte der Medizin und der Naturwissenschaften 22 (1965), 134– 159. See also the section Einfuhrung zum Bilderteif, by Rudolf Steiger in Conrad Gesner 1516–1565: Universalgelehrter, Naturforscher, Arzt (Zurich, 1967 ), pp. 129–130.
Conradi Gesneri… historiae animalium lib. I. de quadrupedibus viviparis… (Tiguri, 1551 ).
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Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 36. See also Maximilian Reess, ifber die Pflege der Botanik in Franken von der Mitte des 16. bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts (Erlangen, 1884 ).
Christian Bay, Conrad Gesner (1516-1565): The Father of Bibliography, The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 10 (April, 1916 ), 53-86. Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 36; Wilhelm to Camerarius, April 14, 1581.
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Kessler, p. 15. Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4B. 40. 23; 4A. 32. 12; 4A. 31. 37. See also Gy. Istranffi, Etudes et commentaires sur le Code de L Escluse, Augmentis de quelques Notices Biographiques (Budapest, 1900 ).
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The term is used by Herbert Menzel, Planning the Consequences of Unplanned Action in Scientific Communication, in Communication in Science: Documentation and Automation, ed. De Reuck et al. (Boston, 1967), 57–71. Idem., Informal Communication in Science: Its Advantages and Its Formal Analogue in The Foundations of Access to Knowledge, ed. Edward B. Montgomery (New York, 1968 ), pp. 153–163.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 36; Camerarius to Wilhelm, March 13, 1585;May 27,1587;March 2,1588;March 14, 1591.
Paul Lawrence Rose, The Italian Renaissance of Mathematics: Studies on Humanists and Mathematicians from Petrarch to Galileo (Geneve, 1975).
See: A. G. Keller, Mathematicians, Mechanics and Experimental Machines in Northern Italy in the Sixteenth Century, in The Emergence of Science in Western Europe, ed. Maurice Crosiand (New York, 1976 ), pp. 15–34.
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Bruce T. Moran, Princes, Machines and the Valuation of Precision in the Sixteenth Century, Sudhoffs Archiv 61 (1977), 209–228. 27% Erwin Neumann, Der Konigfiche Uhrmacher Moritz Behain und seine Tischuhr von 1559 (Luzern, 1967 ), pp. 8–9.
Bruce T. Moran, Princes, Machines and the Valuation of Precision in the Sixteenth Century, Sudhoffs Archiv 61 (1977), 209–228. 27% Erwin Neumann, Der Konigfiche Uhrmacher Moritz Behain und seine Tischuhr von 1559 (Luzern, 1967 ), pp. 8–9.
Ernst Zinner, Deutsche und Niederldndische Astronomische Instrumente des 11.–18. Jahrhunderts (Munchen, 1956 ), p. 385.
Bernard Sticker, Landgraf Wilhelm IV und die Anfange der Modemen astronomischen Messkunst, Sudhoffs Archiv 40 (1956), 15–25; p. 18. Reprinted in Sticker, Erfahrung und Erkenntnis (Hildesheim, 1976 ), pp. 234–240.
These obervations were recorded by Schoner in the Landgrafs copy of Peter Apianus’s Astronomicum Caesareum (Ingolstadt, 1540 ), Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel und Landesbibliothek, Kassel: MS astron. 2° 16.
Susanne Voight, Ebert Baldewein, der Baumeister Landgraf Ludwigs IV von Hessen- Marburg, 1567–1592, Dissertation at the University of Marburg, 1942, p. 32.
Max Engelmann, Sammlung Mensing: Altwissenschaftliche Instrumente (Amsterdam, 1924), p. 34, number 237. A second sundial signed Ό. H. P. (Ott-Heinrich Pfalzgraf) was discovered in 1970 by the curators of the Mensing collection, Adler Planetarium, Chicago, as part of a private collection in Amsterdam.
Max Engelmann, Die Wegmesser der Kurfiirsten August von Sachsen, Mitteilungen aus den Sachsischen Kunstsammlungen 6 (1915), 11–43. Also, Ad. Drechsler, Mathe- matisch-Physikalischer Salon im Westlichen Fliigel des Zwingers (Dresden, 1874 ), p. 5.
Niedersachsisches Staatsarchiv, Wolfenbuttel: 2 Alt. 5228. See Gerd Spies, Werk- zeuge, Gerte und Maschinen in Braunschweigischen Steinbruch, Museum und Kultur- geschichte: Festschrift fur Wilhelm Hansen, ed. Martha Bringmeier et ah (Miinster, 1978 ), pp. 233–244.
Zimmermann, Okonomische Staat…, Vol I, pp. 111–288.
Tycho Brahe, Opera Omnia, VoL VI, p. 31.
Ibid., VoL III, p. 127.
Tycho Brahe, Tycho Brahe’s Description of His Instruments and Scientific Work as Given in Astronomiae Instauratae Mechanica, trans, and ed. by Hans Raeder et al. (Kobenhaven, 1946), p. 79.
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Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4F Kursachsen 82; November 17, 1586.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 8.
Tabulae Observationum Stellarum Fixarum… anno 1586, Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS astron. 2° 6. Partially transcribed by Rudolf Wolf, Astronomische Mitteilungen 45 (Zurich, 1856-1896), pp. 126 ff.
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Johann Schoner, Opera Mathematica (Niirnberg, 1561). so Joannis Regiomontani… fundamentum operationum… Neuberg a.d. Donau, 1557 ).
Johann Schoner, Opera Mathematica (Niirnberg, 1561). so Joannis Regiomontani… fundamentum operationum… Neuberg a.d. Donau, 1557 ).
Cf. Bernard Sticker, Die Wissenschaftlichen Bestrebung des Landgrafen Wilhelm IV, Zeitschrift des Vereins fur Hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde 67 (1956), 130 - 137. Idem., Landgraf Wilhelm IV und die AnfSnge der Modernen astronomischen Messkunst, he. cit.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 26; 4F Kursachsen 71. Wilhelm to August, October 24, 1580.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4F Kursachsen 60. Wilhelm to August, November 2, 1576.
Among these are the Praedictiones Astrologiae, 1558, of Nicolas Caesareus Leuco- petraeus and Cyprianus Leovitius’s De Conjunctions Magnis. Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: 4° MS astron. 10. Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A, 31. 13; 4A. 31. 8.
TychonisBrahe, Dani, De Nova etNullius Aevi Memoria Prius Visa Stella… (Hafniae, 1573 ).
Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS 2° astroa 5, number 7, fol. 8r. Wolf, Astron- omische MitteUungen 45, pp. 133 - 134.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 17.
Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS 2° astron. 5, number 19.
Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS 2° astron. 5, number 4; MS 2° astron. 6; MS 2° astron. 7.
Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS 2° astron. 6. Wolf, Astronomische Mitteilungen 45, p. 126.
Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS 2° astron. 5, number 8,48r.
The use of Venus had already been employed at Niirnberg and was further refined by Tycho. Ibid
Sticker, Landgraf Wilhelm IV und die Anfange der Modernen Astronomischen Messkunst, loc. cit.
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H. von Bertele, Precision Timekeeping in the Pre-Huygens Era, Horological Journal (December, 1953 ), 794–816.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 29.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 12. Also, Tycho Brahe, Opera Omnia, Vol. III, pp. 114 ff.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4F Kursachsen 51; December 21, 1572.
Ibid
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4F Kursachsen 51.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 12. Also, Tycho Brahe, Opera Omnia, Vol. Ill, p. 114.
Apianus’s letter was later published by Tycho, Opera Omnia, VoL III, pp. 158–161.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 13.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4A. 31. 8.
С. Doris Hellman, The Comet of4577: Its Place in the History of Astronomy, 1944 (rept. New York, 1971 ), Chapter III.
Ibid., Chapter IV.
Tycho Brahe, Opera Omnia, VoL VI, p. 49.
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Oratio Valedictoria a Jordano Bruno Nolano D. Habita, ad amplissimos et clarissimos professores, atque auditores in Academia Witebergensi anno 1588, 8 Marti inJordani BruniNolani Opera Latine conscripta (Neapoli, 1879 ), VoL I, pars 1, pp. 18 f.
See: Robert S. Westman, Magical Reform and Astronomical Reform: The Yates Thesis Reconsidered, in Westman and McGuire, Hermeticism and the Scientific Revolu-tion (Los Angeles, 1977 ), pp. 1–91.
Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS 2° astron. 5, number 8, fol. 36r-v. Wolf, Astronomische Mitteilungen 45, p. 147. Also, Willebrord Snellii Descriptio Cometae qui anno 1618… effulsit. Hue accessit Christophori Rothmanni… descriptio accurata cometae anni 1585 (Lugduni Batavorum, 1619 ), pp. 146–155.
Robert S. Westman, The Melanchthon Circle, Rheticus and the Wittenberg Inter-pretation of the Copernican Theory, Isis 66 (1975), 165–193. Zofia Wardeska, Die Universitat Altdorf als Zentrum der Copernicus-Rezeption um die Wende vom 16. zum 17. Jahrhundert, Sudhoffs Archiv 61 (1977), 156–164. G6tz von Selle, Geschichte der Albertus - Universitat zu Kdnigsbergin Preussen (Wurzburg, 1956 ), pp. 72–73.
Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Marburg: 4F Kursachsen 82
Westman, The Melanchthon Circle…, loc. cit. Students at Wittenberg most likely encountered the ideas of Copernicus initially through Erasmus Reinhold’s commentary on Peurbach’s Theoricae Novae Planetarum (1542), a basic text in astronomy. See: Owen Gingerich, The Role of Erasmus Reinhold and the Prutenic Tables in the Dissemination of the Copernican Theory, Colloquia Copernicana 2 (Warsaw, 1973 ), 43–62.
This correspondence is published by Tycho Brahe in his Epistolae Astronomicarum (Uraniburgi, 1596).
Murhardsche Bibliothek, Kassel: MS 4° astron. 11.
Tycho Brahe, Opera Omnia, VoL VI, pp. 118–119. For a discussion of Rothmann’s model see Christine Schofield, The Geoheliocentric Hypothesis in Sixteenth-Century Planetary Theory, The British Journal for the History of Science 2 (1965), 291–296.
See Derek J. Price, Is Technology Historically Independent of Science? A Study in Statistical Historiography, Technology and Culture 6 (1965), 553–568; Idem., Structures and Publication in Science and Technology, in Factors in the Transfer of Technology, ed. by William Gruber etal. ( Cambridge, Mass., 1964 ), pp. 91–104.
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Moran, B.T. (1980). Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Kassel: Informal Communication and the Aristocratic Context of Discovery. In: Nickles, T. (eds) Scientific Discovery: Case Studies. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 60. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9015-9_5
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