TRANSLATED FROM THE HISTORISCH-POLITISCHE BLATTER.
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS.
The material for the biography of this remarkable man is not very abundant. More than a century after his death, Gassendi published a life of Copernicus in Latin; this life, however, was compiled from printed sources only. A German biography, by Westphal, appeared at Constance in 1822. In 1856, an anonymous author in Berlin wrote concerning Copernicus. Besides these we have essays by L. Prowe. Last of all, a life of Copernicus has appeared by Dr. Hipler; of which we purpose in this article to give a compendium.
There are nineteen folio volumes among the episcopal archives of Frauenburg, which contain the remnants of an uncommonly rich correspondence by Dantiscus, Bishop of Ermland, who was for a time the ambassador of Sigismond of Poland at the court of Charles V. Rich as this collection still remains, it is to be regretted that the greater part of it was carried off to Sweden by Gustavus Adolphus and his successors, to be there divided and scattered.
A portion of the fragments was collected and returned in 1833, upon a demand made by the Prussian government; another portion was subsequently discovered by Prowe in the library of the university of Upsal. Through the mediation of the Prussian minister of worship, this collection was put at the disposal of Dr. Hipler. In both collections, that of Frauenburg and that of Upsal, very interesting essays on Copernicus are contained. Of these Dr. Hipler has made good use, and thereby elucidated the history of the celebrated canon. According to Hipler's researches, the life of Copernicus may be summed up as follows:
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on the 19th of February, 1473, at Thorn. His father, "Niklas Copernigk," was a respectable merchant of extensive business relations. His mother Barbara was the daughter of Lucas Watzelrode, who left besides Barbara a son, also named Lucas, afterward Bishop of Ermland and the chief patron of his nephew Copernicus. It is probable, as Hipler shows, that after receiving primary instruction in the excellent schools of his native town, Copernicus completed his third and fourth years' course in the high-school of Kulm. In the autumn of 1491, we find him matriculated at the university of Cracow, which was then famous for the remarkable ability of its professor of mathematics, Adalbert Blar, commonly known as Brudjewski.
It was in this university that the foundations were laid of the subsequent success of Copernicus in astronomy. He commented already on the writings of the great astronomers, Peurbach and Regiomonban; and he afterward declared that he was indebted for the principal part of his learning to the university of Cracow; a fact to be attributed, without doubt, to the superior instructions of Brudjewski.
At the expiration of four years, being then twenty-two, he returned to Prussia, where he obtained from his uncle, the bishop a canonry at Frauenburg in 1495. A statute of the chapter required that every canon who had not received a degree in theology, jurisprudence, or medicine, should before taking rank enter one of the chartered universities, and there during three years apply himself without interruption to one of the three afore-mentioned branches. Copernicus not being a graduate, went to Bologna in 1497, and there gave his attention to law. His choice of this branch of learning was determined by the circumstance of his being a member of the cathedral chapter, which naturally constituted the senate or council of the bishop, who in those days was also a temporal sovereign. We can easily conceive that the youthful canon would make special endeavors to excel in his department, that he might by the eminence of his knowledge be able to cast a veil, as it were, over his great youth. We know nothing further concerning his legal studies, but the skill with which as ambassador of the chapter and administrator of the diocese he defended, both orally and by writing, the privileges of the seignory of Ermland against the aggressions of the German order clearly proves that he had passed his three years in the study of law with great success.
At Bologna, his legal studies did not hinder him from perfecting his mathematical and astronomical acquirements. An efficient aid to him for this purpose was his intercourse with the learned Dominican, Maria of Ferrara. It seems that he first led Copernicus to doubt the truth of the system of Ptolemy. It is possible, also, that through him he became acquainted with Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy, and its theory regarding the motion of the earth. In 1499, Copernicus was still sojourning at Bologna, where he experienced the common misfortune of students, financial embarrassment. The maintenance of his brother Andrew, who had followed him to that city, occasioned him considerable expense; but he was finally rescued from his troubles by his uncle, the bishop. In 1500, we find him at Rome lecturing on mathematics before a large assembly of hearers. He returned to Frauenburg with the resolution, however, to revisit Italy at any cost. It was a cause of annoyance to him, as he himself discloses, that the motion of the great mechanism of the world, devised for our sake by the greatest and most orderly of artificers, had not been more clearly and satisfactorily explained. That he might enter upon this investigation with a greater prospect of success, he determined to learn Greek also; for the acquisition of which, Italy alone at that period afforded good opportunities. He therefore, in 1501, applied to the chapter for another leave of absence for two years. At the same time his brother Andrew, who had become a canon, requested permission to enter upon the three years' course prescribed by a statute of the chapter.