Albertus Leoninus (1543–1614) and Copernicus's “Third Motion” of the Earth

Leoninus Albertus , Theoria motuum coelestium, referens doctrinam et calculum Copernici, ad mobilitatem solis, eamque sequentes hypotheses, cum nova de motu ipsius terrae sententia & hypothesi; De vera quantitate anni tropici, ejusque correctione, quo hactenus respublica Christiana usa est, cum nova anni civilis forma, quae a vero tropico naturali, quam minimum semper discrepet; Isagoge ad astromiam, geometriam & horolographiam (Colonia Agrippina [= Cologne], 1578), Theoria 5^v (it should be noted that the Theoria is foliated separately from De vera quantitate and Isagoge): “Praeterea sciendum est, Copernicum huic terrae motui secundum Nychthimenon sive revolutionem diurnam annectere, quam nos firmamento tribuentes, solumque aequinoctiorum praecessionis & obliquitatis motum tardissimum in terrae globum referentes praesupponimus, quod necessum est polos revolutionis firmamenti, sive digitos motricis virtutis sequi polos terrae apparentes, ubicunque hi imagionatione utrinque producti coelum stellatum contingunt, illic etiam ut videantur poli firmamenti sive puncta super quae tota coelestis sphaera singulis 24. horis circumversitur….” I know of only a single copy of this edition, preserved at the university library at Utrecht. The book was re-edited in 1583, again at Cologne. For this edition some quires were replaced, but otherwise it is identical to the 1578 edition. The 1583 edition is preserved in Groningen Berlin , Wolfenbüttel, and the Edinburgh observatory. Houzeau J. C. Lancaster A. , Bibliographie générale de l'astronomie , i (two parts, repr. London, 1964) do mention the work under several headings (nos. 2723, 13032, 13761); no. 2756, attributed to a M. A. Lonicerus, is probably the same work.

Leoninus , Theoria motuum coelestium 6.

Ibid. .

His work is briefly discussed by Zinner E. , Geschichte und Bibliographie der astronomischen Literatur in Deutschland zur Zeit der Renaissance (1941; repr. Stuttgart, 1964), 281 (no. 3086), see also p. 36; and by Hooykaas R. , “The reception of Copernicanism in England and the Netherlands”, in Wilson C. The Anglo-Dutch contribution to the civilization of early modern science (Oxford, 1976), 000–00, p. 35. Among the late Hooykaas's papers, there is a draft (in English), dated 1967, of an article devoted to Leoninus, as well as a student's paper (by W. Ganzevoort) on the subject. My work is based partly on these papers, to which I was allowed acces by courtesy of H. F. Cohen. Today, Hooykaas's papers are in the State Archives at Haarlem.

The term “Wittenberg interpretation” was coined by Westman R. S. , “The Melanchthon circle: Rheticus and the Wittenberg interpretation of the Copernican theory”, Isis , lxvi (1975), 165–93.

Leiden On , see Vermij R. H. , The Calvinist Copernicans: The reception of the new astronomy in the Dutch Republic (Amsterdam, 2002), esp. pp. 15–52, 98–99. On Louvain, see Broecke Vanden S. , The limits of influence: Pico, Louvain and the crisis of Renaissance astrology (Leiden etc, 2003).

Leoninus's life is documented in more detail in Vermij R. H. , “Sterrenkunde en eindtijdverwachting tijdens de Nederlandse opstand: Albertus Leoninus en de theorieën van Copernicus”, Gewina , xxvii (2004), 187–206.

Kaltenbrunner F. , “Beiträge zur Geschichte der gregorianischen Kalenderreform, I: Die Commission unter Gregor XIII nach Handschriften der vatikanischen Bibliothek”, Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften , xcvii (1880), 7–54; Coyne C. V. Hoskin M. A. Pedersen O. (eds), Gregorian reform of the calendar: Proceedings of the Vatican conference to commemorate its 400th anniversary 1582–1982 (Rome, 1983); and van Wijk W. E. , De gregoriaansche kalender: Een technisch-tijdrekenkundige studie (Maastricht, 1932).

da Ponte Nicoló (1491–1585) was elected doge in March 1578; Leoninus's dedication is from May of that year. Da Ponte was an opponent of papal interference in Venetian politics. Brown W. A. , “Nicolò da Ponte: The political career of a sixteenth-century Venetian patrician”, Ph.D. thesis, New York University, 1974.

Heuser P. A. , Jean Matal: Humanistischer Jurist und europäischer Friendensdenker (um 1517–1597) (Cologne, 2003), 253. Schmid J. , “Zur Geschichte der gregorianischen Kalenderreform, I: Die der Reform vorausgehenden und unmittelbar folgenden wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten”, Historisches Jahrbuch , iii (1882), 401–2. In a letter of 25 August 1578, Latino Latini wrote from Rome to Jean Matal: “Quod autem cupere videtur Albertus, ut aliquam gratiam (quam praeventivam vulgo vocant) a pontifice impetret in vigiliarum, laborumque, suorum praemium, eam vereor ne frustra omnino aut tentet, aut speret; iampridem enim audio nihil eiusmodi solere concedi, unde mortis votum videatur concipi, aut captari posse.” Latini Latino , Epistolae, coniecturae et observationes sacra profanaque eruditione ornatae , ed. by Domenico Magro , ii (Viterbo, 1667), 173–6. I am grateful to Dr Heuser for kindly communicating to me the text of this letter, as well as other relevant correspondence of Matal.

Heuser , Jean Matal (ref. 10), 317–414.

Kaplan B. J. , Calvinists and libertines: Confession and community at Utrecht, 1578–1620 (Oxford, 1995); and Pollmann J. , Religious choice in the Dutch Republic: The reformation of Arnoldus Buchelius (1565–1641) (Manchester, 1999).

Leoninus Albertus , Comoedia moralis, de reducendi pace (Basel, 1589).

Leoninus , Theoria (ref. 1), dedication to the Doge (1578) and to the Utrecht town government (1583); De vera quantitate (ref. 1), dedication to the Pope.

Leoninus , De vera quantitate , dedication to the Pope.

Leoninus , Theoria 26^v (the three superior planets), 31 (Venus).

Leoninus , Theoria 11.

These three elements are mentioned in Leoninus, De vera quantitate, dedication to the Pope. These are indeed the points on which Leoninus in his work refers to Copernicus: Leoninus, Theoria , 1–8v (precession), 14v-17 (solar apogee), 19–21 (theory of the Moon). Copernicus's theories are explained in Swerdlow N. M. Neugebauer O. , Mathematical astronomy in Copernicus' De revolutionibus (2 vols, New York, 1984). Dreyer J. L. E. , A history of astronomy from Thales to Kepler 2nd edn, (New York, 1953) can also still be used with profit, see pp. 305–44.

See the translation by Rosen E. in his Three Copernican treatises (1939; repr. New York, 1959), 121–2.

North J. D. , “Chronology and the age of the world”, in Yourgrau W. Breck A. D. (eds), Cosmology, history, and theology (New York and London, 1977), 307–33, esp. pp. 325–7.

Stadius Johannes , Tabulae Bergensis aequabilis et adparentis motus orbium coelestium (Cologne, 1560), dedication. Theodorus Graminaeus, Weltspiegel, oder algemeiner Widerwertigkeit / des fünfften Kirchen-Alters / kürze Verzeignuss (Cologne, 1578), 4–5. Mercator von Heinrich Rantzau , 31, in van Durme M. (ed.), Correspondance mercatorienne (Antwerp, 1959), 192.

Leoninus , Theoria (ref. I), 63.

Leoninus Albertus , Contemplatio exegetica in Apocalypsim (Traiectum ad Rhenum [= Utrecht], 1607), 246. The dedication of the work is dated 15 October 1602.

Leoninus , Theoria (ref. 1), dedication (1578): “Iucundissimum vero omnibus, calculi huius excellentiam cognoscere, & cum interiori Philosophia, Pythagorae & sacrae scripturae mysterijs comparare”.

Leoninus , De vera quantitate (ref. 1), 10^v, 14.

Leoninus , Theoria (ref. 1), 7–7^v.

Leoninus , Contemplatio exegetica (ref. 23), 25, 153. On p. 24, there is a reference to “abbas Joachim”, i.e. Joachim of Fiore.