Christoph Rothmann’s Discourse on the Comet of 1585: An Edition and Translation with Accompanying Essays

396 Pages·2014·1.82 MB·English

by  Miguel A Granada

ChristophRothmann’sDiscourseontheCometof1585
History of Science
and Medicine Library
volume 44
Medieval and
Early Modern Science
Editors
J.M.M.H.Thijssen(RadboudUniversityNijmegen)
C.H.Lüthy(RadboudUniversityNijmegen)
P.J.J.M.Bakker(RadboudUniversityNijmegen)
EditorialConsultants
JoëlBiard(UniversityofTours)
SimoKnuuttila(UniversityofHelsinki)
JürgenRenn(Max-Planck-InstitutefortheHistoryofScience)
TheoVerbeek(UniversityofUtrecht)
volume 22
Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/mems
Christoph Rothmann’s Discourse
on the Comet of 1585
AnEditionandTranslationwithAccompanyingEssays
By
MiguelA.Granada
AdamMosley
NicholasJardine
leiden|boston
Coverillustration:W.Schickard,CometenbeschreibunginzwenunderschidlichePartesabgetheilt.
WürttembergischeLandesbibliothekStuttgart,Cod.math.qt.43,f.77v/oldPag.140.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Rothmann,Christoph,active16thcentury.
ChristophRothmann'sDiscourseonthecometof1585:aneditionandtranslationwithaccompanying
essays/byMiguelA.Granada,AdamMosley,NicholasJardine.
pagescm–(Historyofscienceandmedicinelibrary;volume44.Medievalandearlymodernscience,
ISSN1567-8393;volume22)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-26034-4(hardback:alk.paper)–ISBN978-90-04-26035-1(e-book)
1.Comets–1585–Earlyworksto1800.2.Astronomy,Medieval–Earlyworksto1800.3.Cosmology,
Medieval–Earlyworksto1800.I.Granada,MiguelAngel,1949-II.Mosley,Adam,1974-translator.III.Jardine,
Nicholas,translator.IV.Rothmann,Christoph,active16thcentury.Dialexiscometae.V.Rothmann,
Christoph,active16thcentury.Dialexiscometae.English.VI.Title.VII.Title:Discourseonthecometof1585.
QB721.R68132014
523.6'4–dc23
2014011554
Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characterscovering
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∵

Contents
Preface xi
MiguelA.Granada
1 Introduction 1
MiguelA.Granada
1 ChristophRothmannandAstronomyinWittenberg 1
2 AstronomyinKassel:LandgraveWilhelmIVandHisProgrammeof
StellarAstronomy 19
3 TheCometof1585andtheDialexiscometae 24
4 PhasesofCompositionoftheDialexiscometae 30
5 Rothmann’sCosmologicalInnovationsintheDialexiscometae 36
6 TheStatusofAstronomicalHypotheses 55
7 TheTitleoftheWork 64
2 DialexisCometaequiAnnoChristiM.D.LXXXV.mensibusOctobriet
Novembriapparuit 67
LatintextpreparedbyMiguelA.Granada
ADiscourseontheCometWhichAppearedintheMonthsofOctoberand
Novemberof1585 67
TranslationbyNicholasJardineandAdamMosley,withannotations
byMiguelA.Granada,NicholasJardineandAdamMosley
Chapter1.OntheObservationsofThisComet 78
Chapter2.ConcerningtheMotionofThisCometinLongitudeand
Latitude 92
Chapter3.WhetherThisCometHadParallax 104
Chapter4.InWhichSphereThisCometWas 114
Chapter5.SinceItIsCommonlyBelievedThattheSpheresofthe
PlanetsAreSolidBodies,HowCouldtheCometHaveProgressed
inThem?AndWhatIstoBeThoughtonThisQuestion? 120
Chapter6.ARefutationofSomeOpinionsConcerningComets;
Namely,ThatTheyAreNeitherSpeciesAppearingwithoutMatter,
NorPerpetualBodiesTogetherwiththeRestoftheStars,Nor
VapoursIgnitedintheAir 146
Chapter7.TheOpinionoftheAuthorabouttheMatterandEssence
ofComets 164
viii contents
Chapter8.TheUsesoftheExaminationofComets 178
Chapter9.ThatThatMatterFlowingaroundthePlanetsDiffersNot
atAllfromPureSublunarAir,andWhere,Moreover,theContrary
ArgumentsAreRefuted 186
DescriptionoftheCometWhichShoneintheYear1596intheMonth
ofJuly,butSetOutinaFullerFormfromthePapersoftheSame
Rothmann 202
3 Appendices:RelatedTextsandTranslations 207
MiguelA.Granada,NicholasJardineandAdamMosley
1 LettersofChristophRothmanntoLandgraveWilhelmIVof
Hesse-Kassel,1585–1586 208
2 LetterofWilhelmIVofHesse-KasseltoHeinrichRantzau,20October
1585 246
3 LetterofWilhelmIVtoChristophRothmannof18November1585,
AuthorisingtheDraftingofascriptumontheComet 250
4 EliasOlsenMorsing’sAccountoftheCometof1585 252
4 HowtoPresentaCopernicanComet:TheFormandTacticsofChristoph
Rothmann’sDialexisontheCometof1585 258
NicholasJardine
1 Introduction 258
2 Disciplines:Mathematicsvs.Philosophy 260
3 Disciplines:Theology 262
4 Genres:Dialexis,‘CriticalDoxography’,Historia,Observationes 267
5 PersuasiveTactics 273
6 CometsasBoundaryObjects 280
5 TheHistoryandHistoriographyofEarlyModernComets 282
AdamMosley
1 1577andAllThat:WhatEveryHistorianofAstronomyKnows 282
2 Historia:Comets,Astronomy,andHistoricalAstrology 287
3 1577andAllThatRevisited 323
6 ABriefNoteonCometaryParallax 326
AdamMosley
1 Tycho,Regiomontanus,andtheProblemsofParallax 326
2 RothmannandtheParallaxoftheCometof1585 334
3 Conclusion 339
contents ix
Bibliography 341
IndexofPersons 367
IndexofPlaces 373
IndexofSubjects 374