The Age of Two-Faced Janus: The Comets of 1577 and 1618 and the Decline of the Aristotelian World View in the Netherlands

618 Pages·1998·34.18 MB·English

by  Tabitta van Nouhuys

BRILL'S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
A J. VANDERJAGT, University of Groningen
Editorial Board
M. COLISH, Oberlin College
J.I. ISRAEL, University College, London
J.D. NORTH, University of Groningen
H.A. OBERMAN, University of Arizona, Tucson
R.H. POPKIN, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA
VOLUME 89
THE AGE OF
TWO-FACED JANUS
The Comets of 1577 and 1618 and the Decline of
the Aristotelian World View in the Netherhnds
BY
TABITTA VAN NOUHUYS
£ J *
* S
BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON · KÖLN
1998
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nouhuys, Tabitta van.
The age of two-faced Janus : the comets of 1577 and 1618 and the
decline of the Aristotelian view in the Netherlands / by
Tabitta van Nouhys.
p. cm. — (Brill's studies in intellectual history, ISSN
0920-8607 ; v. 89)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004112049 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Comets—1577. 2. Comets—1618. 3. Astronomy—Netherlands-
-History. 4. Janus (Roman deity) 5. Aristode—Knowledge-
-Astronomy. I. Tide. II. Series.
QB724.N68 1998
509.492Ό9Ό32— dc21 98-36297
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufhahme
Nouhuys, Tabitta van:
The age of two-faced Janus : the comets of 1577 and 1618 and the
decline of the Aristotelian view in the Netherlands / by Tabitta van
Nouhys. - Leiden ; Boston ; Köln : Brill, 1998
(Brill's studies in intellectual history ; Vol. 89)
ISBN 90-04^11204-9
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 11204 9
© Copyright 1998 by Koninklijke Bull NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No pan of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
To Honza, Laura, Schelte, Odile, and Mischa
Έπε! δε περί ν ώτν ώναφα η τ αισθήσει
νομίζομεν ίκανώς άποδεδείχθαι κατά ν οτλόγον,
ναέ ςιε οτδυνατό ν άναγάγωμεν,
κ ετε ν ώτνυν ν ωνέμονιαφ ύπολάβοι τις αν ε δω
περ ί νωτύοτμάλιστ α συμβαίνειν.
ΣΥΟΛΕΤΟΤΣΙΡΑ ΜΕΤΕΩΡΟΛΟΓΙΚΩΝ Α.
We consider that we have given a sufficiently rational explanation
of things inaccessible to observation by our senses
if we have produced a theory that is possible:
and the following seems,
on the evidence available,
to be the explanation
of the phenomena now under consideration.
Aristotle, Meteorology Lvii.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
Chapter One Introduction: Opinio loquitur, Ratio
Respondet? 1
A: Preliminaries
Chapter Two Comets After the Cessation of Dialogue:
A Historiographical Introduction 15
1. Dialogue 15
2. The Cessation of Dialogue 20
3. The Comets: Stock-Taking 25
4. Recent Historiography of Comets 29
a. Astronomy: Solving the Copernican Problem 31
b. Astrology: Reinstating the Discarded Image 36
Chapter Three Comets Before the Cessation of Dialogue 42
1. Introduction 42
2. Aristotle's Choice 44
3. The Stoic Outlook 46
4. Seneca's Choice 53
5. Ptolemy: A Choice of Choices 56
6. Comets and the Early Christians 59
7. Aristotle and Christianity: a Problem-Fraught Love Affair 63
8. Comets: The Dominicans 67
9. Comets: Measuring Distances 76
10. Sixteenth-Century Heterodoxy 84
Chapter Four Greek meets Greek:
The Culmination of Dialogue 89
1. Pride and Prejudice 89
2. A Chameleonic World View 93
3. "Doubt that the Sun doth Move" 104
4. The Comet of 1577: Its Proper Perspective 115
a. The Optical Theory of Comets 115
b. The Nova's Novelty 122
Vlll CONTENTS
c. The Comet and Copernicanism 130
d. Lesser Gods 135
5. Conclusion: The * Aristotelian World View' Revisited 141
:Β The Netherlands
Chapter Five Seneca Saves Aristotle: Cosmology
in the Dutch Tracts 145
1. Learned Tracts and Pamphlets 145
2. Dutch Reactions to the Comet of 1577 161
a. Order Out Of Chaos 161
b. Cornelius Gemma: "Materies Minime Sublunaris" 169
c. Johannes Heurnius: "In the Astral Element" 189
d. Nicolaus Bazelius: "Many Fatty Exhalations Mixed with
Slimy Vapours" 200
e. Van Mauden and Portantius: Aflame and Hatched
by Saturn 207
3. Forty Years of Development: 1577 to 1618 213
a. Dutch Pamphlets on the Comets of 1596 and 1607:
Heymensz and Mulerius 214
b. Magnetic Forces 219
c. "Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist Views" 226
4. Dutch Reactions to the Comet of 1618 237
a. Counter-Reformation at Louvain 237
b. Thomas Fienus: "Esse corpus caeleste,
atque esse in caelo" 253
c. Libertus Fromondus: "Peregrinum in Regione
Planetarum Sidus" 276
d. Erycius Puteanus: "Caeli civem esse, Solis sobolem,
aetheris partem & partum" 303
e. New Universities at Leiden and Groningen 321
f. Willebrord Snellius: "Solis άποσπασμάτιον" 337
g. Nicolaus Mulerius: "Rather an Eternal
Creature of God" 360
5. Conclusion: Seneca Saves Aristotle 368
Chapter Six Cometary Concomitants: Astrology
and Teratology in the Dutch Tracts 376
1. Introduction 376
a. The Mysterious Demise of the Final Cause 376