TYCHO BRAKE. OF THE UK 1 7. ZR SIT 7 TYCHO BRAKE A PICTURE OF SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY BY J. L. E. >REYER, PH.D., F.R.A.S. DIRECTOR OF THE ARMAGH OBSERVATORY THE UHIVERSIT7 EDINBURGH ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1890 TO RALPH COPELAND, PH.D., F.R.S.E., &C., ASTRONOMER ROYAL FOR SCOTLAND, JSoofc ie 5)eDfcate& BY HIS FRIEND THE AUTHOR. PBEFACE. ASTRONOMERS are so frequently obliged to recur to observa- tions made during former ages for the purpose of supporting the results of the observations of the present day, that there is a special inducement for them to study the historical development of their science. Much labour has accordingly been spent on the study of the history of astronomy, and in particular the progress of the science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries has of late years formed the subject of many important monographs. The life of Copernicus has been written in considerable detail by Prowe, Hipler, and others. Of Kepler's numerous works we owe a complete edition to the patient industry and profound learning of the late Dr. Frisch of Stuttgart, while the life of Galileo, and particularly his persecution and trial, have called forth quite a library of books and essays. In the present volume I have attempted to add another link to the chain of works illustrating the birth of modern astronomy, by reviewing the life and work of Tycho Brahe, the reformer of observa- tional astronomy. Although not a few monographs have been published from time to time to elucidate various phases in the career of Tycho Brahe, while several popular accounts of his life (by Helfrecht, Brewster, &c.) have appeared, the only scientific viii PREFACE. biography hitherto published is that of Gassendi. This writer obtained valuable materials from some of Tycho Brahe's pupils, and from the Danish savant Worm, but he chiefly derived his information from a close scrutiny of Tycho's own writings, never failing to make use of any particulars of a biographical nature which might be recorded in passing by Tycho. In studying Tycho's works, I have repeatedly come across small historical notes in places where nobody would look for such, only to find that Gassendi had already noticed them. In 1745 a biography was published in a Danish journal (Bang's Samlinger, vol. ii.), the contents of which are chiefly taken from Gassendi, but which also contains a few documents of interest. Of far greater im- portance is a collection of letters, royal decrees, and other documents, published in 1746 by the Danish historian Lan- gebek in the Danske Magazin, vol. ii., which still remains the principal source for Tycho's life. A German translation of this and the memoir in Bang's Samlinger was published in 1 7 5 6 by Mengel, a bookseller in Copenhagen, who wrote under the high-flown pseudonym Philander von der Wei- stritz ; and as his book has naturally become more generally known than the Danish originals, I have, when quoting these, added references to Weistritz's book. During the present century several Danish historians have brought to light many details bearing on Tycho's life which will be referred to in this volume; and in 1871 a Danish author, F. R. Friis, published a popular biography in which were given various hitherto unpublished particulars, especially of Tycho's beneficiary grants and other endowments. The same writer has also published a number of letters ex- changed between Tycho and his relations, and various con- temporary astronomers. Of great scientific interest is the correspondence between Tycho and Magini, published and PREFACE. ix commented by Professor Favaro of Bologna with the care and learning by which the writings of this author are always distinguished. Some other letters from the last years of Tycho's life have recently been published by Pro- fessor Burckhardt of Basle. Lastly, we must mention the meteorological diary kept at Uraniborg, which is of great historical value as affording many interesting glimpses of Tycho Brahe's home life. It was published in 1876 by the Eoyal Danish Society of Science. Among other publications of importance for the study of Tycho Brahe's life and activity must be mentioned the biography of Kepler, by Frisch, in the last volume of Kepler's Opera Omnia, and several papers by Professor Kudolph Wolf of Zurich on Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse- Cassel, and his astronomers Kothmann and Btirgi. Though only indirectly bearing on Tycho (of whose merits Professor Wolf on every occasion speaks somewhat slightingly), these valuable papers throw much light on the state of science at the end of the sixteenth century, and will often be found quoted in the following pages. Having for many years felt specially interested in Tycho Brahe, it appeared to me that it would be a useful under- taking to apply the considerable biographical materials scattered in many different places to the preparation of a biography which should not only narrate the various inci- dents in the life of the great astronomer in some detail, but also describe his relations with contemporary men of science, and review his scientific labours in their connection with those of previous astronomers. The historical works of Montucla, Bailly, Delambre, and Wolf have indeed treated of the astronomical researches of Tycho Brahe, but as the plans of these valuable works were different from that adopted by me, I believe the scientific part of the present x PREFACE. volume will not be found superfluous, particularly as it is founded on an independent study of Tycho's bulky works. To these I have given full references for every subject, so that any reader may find further particulars for himself without a laborious search. Many details, especially as to the historical sequence of Tycho's researches, have been taken from his original MS. observations in the Royal Library at Copenhagen, which I was enabled to examine during two visits to Copenhagen in 1888 and 1889. On the same occasions I also studied three astrological MSS. of Tycho's, of which an account will be found in Chap- ter VI. It may possibly be thought by some readers that I have devoted too much space to the consideration of the astrological fancies of the Middle Ages. But my object throughout has been to give a faithful picture of the science of the sixteenth century, and for this purpose it is impossible to gloss over or shut our eyes to the errors of the time, just as it would be absurd, when writing the scientific history of other periods, to keep silence as- to the phlogistic theory of combustion, the emission theory of light, or the idea of the sun as having a solid nucleus. If the study of the history of science is to teach us anything, we must make ourselves acquainted with the by-paths and blind alleys into which our forefathers strayed in their search for truth, as well as with the tracks by which they advanced science to the position in which our own time finds it. With the exception of the astronomical manuscripts in the Royal Library at Copenhagen (for facilities in using which I was indebted to Dr. Bruun, chief librarian), I have not made use of any unpublished materials ; but the scanty harvest reaped by modern searchers makes it extremely unlikely that anything of importance remains to be found PREFACE. xi among unpublished sources. I believe, however, that certain periods of Tycho Brahe's life in this volume will be found to appear in a light somewhat different from that in which previous writers have seen it. Especially it seems difficult to deny that Tycho's exile was almost entirely due to him- self, and that there was no absolute necessity for his leaving Hveen, even though he had lost most of his endowments. As an amusing instance of the manner in which many inci- dents have been misunderstood by those who consider Tycho a martyr of science, we may mention that the trouble into which the minister of Hveen got with his superiors and with his parishioners (for his unwarranted interference with the Church ritual), has been described as a riot or fight, instigated by a wicked statesman, in which Tycho's shepherd or steward (pastor !) was injured. I should scarcely have been able to write this book far from great libraries if I had not for many years taken every opportunity of acquiring books or pamphlets bearing in any way on the subject, or of making excerpts from such as could not be purchased. I have, however, been under great obligations to the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, who most kindly allowed me to consult the literary treasures on the star of 1572 in the Crawford Library of the Royal Observa- tory, Edinburgh. Hereby I have been enabled to examine even some writings on the new star which were unknown to Tycho Brahe. That I have adopted the Latin form of the astronomer's name, by which he is universally known, instead of his real baptismal name of 'Tyge, scarcely requires an apology. It would indeed only be affectation to speak of Schwarzerd or Koppernigk instead of Melanchthon or Copernicus. The portrait of Tycho Brahe in this volume (about which see p. 264) has already appeared in Woodburytype in the xii PREFACE. Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, vol. vi., and in woodcut in Nature, vol. xv. Most of the other illustrations are taken from Tycho's own works. For photographs, from which the illustrations in Chapter XI. were made, I am indebted to Professor Safarik of Prague, who has also kindly communicated various par- ticulars about Tycho's life in Bohemia. J. L. E. DREYER THE OBSERVATORY, ARMAGH, September 1890. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE REVIVAL OF ASTRONOMY IN EUROPE. PAGE Revival of science in Germany Purbach Greek astronomy studied Regiomontanus Ephemerides Walther Apianus Copernicus New system of the 'world proposed State of astronomy in the sixteenth century . . , . . i CHAPTER II TYCHO BRA HE'S YOUTH. Family Childhood At Copenhagen University Becomes in- terested in astronomy Sent to Leipzig Commences to take observations Returns home Stay at Wittenberg At Rostock At Augsburg Construction of a large quadrant Resides at Heridsvad Chemical studies . . . .10 CHAPTER III. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. First appearance Tycho's observations His book on the star His calendar for 1573 Other observations of the star' Measurements Moment of first appearance Opinion as to nature of star Alleged earlier appearances of new stars Its supposed significance ....... 38 CHAPTER IV. TYCHO'S ORATION ON ASTROLOGY AND HIS TRA VELS IN Tycho's wife and children Oration on astrology Travels in Germany Landgrave Wilhelm IV. King Frederick II. Island of Hveen granted to Tycho Pension .... 70 xiv CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN AND TYCHO BRA HE'S OBSER- VATORIES AND OTHER BUILDINGS HIS ENDOW- MENTS. PAGE Description of Hveen Local traditions Uraniborg Instru- ments Stjerneborg Observatory Grant of Kullagaard manor Prebend of Roskilde Nordfjord estate in Norway . . 88 CHAPTER VI. TYCHO'S LIFE AT HVEEN UNTIL THE DEATH OF KING FREDERICK II. Home life Printing press Tenants at Hveen Students and assistants Flemlose Wittich Elias 01 sen Longomon- tanus Chemical researches Correspondence Visitors Relations with the King Horoscopes of Princes Tycho's opinion of judicial astrology Death of the King . . .114 CHAPTER VII. TYCHO'S BOOK ON THE COMET OF 7577, AND HIS SYSTEM OF THE WORLD. Comet of 1577 Six other comets Tycho's book on cornet of 1577 Comets celestial objects Tychonic system of the world System of Copernicus yet incomplete Reymers (Ursus) and his system .158 CHAPTER VIII. FURTHER WORK ON THE STAR OF 1572. Tycho's larger book on the star Its great distance Dimensions of the universe Nature of star Its astrological effect . 186 CHAPTER IX. THE LAST YEARS AT HVEEN, 1588-1597. New Government New grant to Tycho House at Copenhagen Sophia Brahe Visit of James VI. Visit of Rotlmiann Correspondence with the Landgrave and Magini Visit of the young King Tycho's quarrel with a tenant Neglects to repair chapel of his prebend Quarrel with Gellius Volume of Epistles Accession of King Christian IV. Tycho de- prived of Norwegian fief Valkendorf Pension stopped Tycho leaves Hveen Troubles about clergyman at Hveen . 198 CONTENTS. xv CHAPTER X. TYCHO'S LIFE FROM HIS LEAVING HVEEN UNTIL HIS ARRIVAL AT PRAGUE. PAGE Tycho at Copenhagen Departs for Eostock Letter to the King Lends money to the Dukes of Mecklenburg The King's reply Tycho at Wandsbeck Vain attempts to reconcile the King Publishes description of instruments Star catalogue Calumnies of Eeymers Invitation from the Emperor Tycho winters at Wittenberg 239 CHAPTER XL TYCHO BRAHE IN BOHEMIA HIS DEATH. Rudolph II. Tycho's salary Castle of Benatky Financial difficulties Work resumed Kepler's youth His arrival at Benatky and quarrel with Tycho Reconciliation Tycho settles at Prague His assistants Solar and lunar theory Tycho's death and funeral 277 CHAPTER XII. TYCHO BRAHE' S SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS. Zodiacal and equatorial armillse Meridian quadrant Altazi- muth quadrant Time determinations Sextants for distance measures Subdivision of arcs Nonius Transversal divisions Improved pinnules Theory of sun's motion Re- fraction Lunar theory Discovery of lunar inequalities Kepler and the annual equation Motion of planets Posi- tions of fixed stars Absolute longitude Star catalogue Precession Trepidation disproved Accuracy of observations Alleged error of Tycho's meridian Trigonometrical formulas 315 APPENDIX. Fate of Tycho's instruments His family in Bohemia Publica- tion of his books Tycho's manuscript observations Hveen after Tycho's time . . . . ' 365 xvi CONTENTS. NOTES. PAGE Specimen of Tycho's early observations with the cross-staff List of Tycho Brahe's pupils and assistants Tycho's opinion about astrological forecasts Kepler's account of Tycho Brahe's last illness Comparison of Tycho Brahe's positions of stan- dard stars with modern results On the alleged error of Tycho's meridian line Huet's account of the state of Hveen in 1652 Catalogue of the volumes of manuscript observa- tions of Tycho Brahe in the Koyal Library, Copenhagen Bibliographical Summary 381 PLATES. PORTRAIT OF TYCHO BRAHE . . . . Frontispiece MURAL QUADRANT To face p. 101 CASTLE OF BENATKY . ,, 282 FERDINAND I.'s VILLA ,,298 TYCHO'S TOMBSTONE . 311 (The above by S. B. BOLAS & Co., London.) ERRATA. Page 54, last line, for " Locus in Sagit.," read " Locus in Sagit." 66, Footnote 2, line 7 from end, add : That Hardeck speaks of the comet of 1264, although he gives the year 1260, may be seen from his references to Pope Clement IV. (1265-1268) and the battle of Benevent (1266). According to Pingr^, several writers have been confused with regard to the year of this comet. 127, line 2, for " Coll," read " Crol." ^ UHIVERSITT TYOHO BEAHE, CHAPTER I. THE REVIVAL OF ASTRONOMY IN EUROPE. THE early part of the sixteenth century must always rank among the most remarkable periods in the history of civilisation. The invention of printing had made literature the property of many to whom it had hitherto been in- accessible, and the downfall of the Byzantine Empire had scattered over Europe a number of fugitive Greeks, who carried with them many treasures of classical literature hitherto unknown in the Western world, while Raphael, Michael Angelo, and other contemporaries of Leo X. revived the glory of the ancients in the realm of art. The narrow limits of the old world had vanished, and the Portuguese and Spanish navigators had led the way to boundless fields for human enterprise, while the Reformation revolutionised the spirit of mankind and put an end to the age of ignorance and superstition. During this active period there were also signs of renewed vigour among the devotees of science, and the time was particularly favourable to a revival of astronomical studies. Students of astronomy were now enabled to study the Greek authors in the original language, instead of having to be content with Latin reproductions of Arabian transla- tions from the Greek, which, through the Italian Univer- 1 2 TYCHO BRAKE. sities, liad been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another impulse was given by the voyages of discovery, as navigators were obliged to trust entirely to the stars and the compass, and therefore required as perfect a theory as possible of the motions of the heavenly bodies. We see accordingly at the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth considerable stir in the camp of science, but as yet only in Germany a circumstance not difficult to explain. Though divided into a great number of semi-independent states, Germany "bo/e still the proud name of the Holy Eoman Empire, and on account of the claims represented by this name the Germans had for a long time been in constant intercourse with Italy, the land with the great past, and still, notwithstanding its political misery, the leader of civilisation. It was an intercourse of a peaceful and commercial as well as of a warlike character ; but in both ways was this of benefit to the Germans, pro- ducing among them much knowledge of foreign affairs, and giving them greater facilities for taking up the scientific work of the ancients than were found in other parts of Europe. The first astronomer of note was Georg Purbach (1423 1461), who studied at the University of Vienna, and afterwards for some time in Italy. His principal work on astronomy (Theories Novce Planetarum) attempted to develop the old hypothesis of material celestial spheres, and was but a mixture of Aristotelean cosmology and Ptolemean geometry ; but he was the first European to make use of trigonometry, the principal legacy which astronomers owe to the Arabs. Purbach endeavoured to get beyond the rudiments of spherical astronomy, which hitherto had formed the only subject for astronomical lectures, and had been taught through the medium of a treatise written in the thirteenth century by John Holy- REVIVAL OF ASTRONOMY IN EUROPE. 3 wood (Johannes de Sacrobosco) for use in the University of Paris. While lecturing at Vienna, Purbach's attention was drawn to a young disciple of great promise, Johann Miiller, from Konigsberg, a small village in Franconia, where he had been born in 1436. He is generally known by the name of Eegiomontanus, though he does not seem to have used this name himself, but always that of Johannes de Monteregio. He entered heart and soul into his teacher's studies of the great work of Ptolemy, which embodied all the results of Greek astronomy, and the talented pupil soon became an invaluable co-operator to Purbach. They did not confine themselves to theoretical studies, but, with such crude instruments as they could construct, they convinced themselves of the fact that the places of the planets computed from the astronomical tables of King Alphonso X. of Castile differed very considerably from the actual posi- tions of the planets in the sky. 1 In the midst of these occupations the two astronomers had the good luck to become acquainted with a man who was well qualified to help them to carry out their greatest wishes. This man was Cardinal Bessarion, a Greek by birth, who, as Bishop of Nicaea, had accompanied the Byzantine Emperor on his journey to the Council of Ferrara in 1438, where he tried to bring about a reconciliation between the Greek and Roman Churches. Bessarion remained in Italy and joined the Roman Church, but he never forgot his old country, and contributed very much to make the classical Greek literature known in the West. The translation of the original Almagest (as Ptolemy's work was generally called, from a corruption of the Arabic Al megist, in its 1 The Tabulae Alphonsinae had been computed in the middle of the thirteenth century by a number of Arabian and Jewish astronomers under the personal .direction of King Alphonso el Sabio. They were founded on the theory of Ptolerny and the observations of the Arabs, and were first printed at Venice in 1483. TYCHO BRAKE. turn derived from fAeyia-rt] crvvTafys) was a subject in which he was particularly interested, and during his stay at Vienna as Papal Nuncio he succeeded in communicating to Purbach his own anxiety to make Ptolemy better known in the scientific world. Purbach was on the point of starting for Italy for the purpose of collecting Greek manuscripts, when he died suddenly in 1461, but Regiomontanus suc- ceeded to his place in the Cardinal's friendship, and set out for Italy with Bessarion in the following year. Regiomontanus stayed about seven years in Italy, visit- ing the principal cities, and losing no chance of studying the Greek language and collecting Greek manuscripts. At Venice he wrote a treatise on trigonometry, which branch of mathematics he also, during the remainder of his life, continued to develop, so that he constructed a table of tangents (tabula fecunda), and probably only was prevented by his early death from completing his treatise by intro- ducing the use of tangents therein. 1 After his return to Germany, he settled, in 1471, at Niirnberg. This city was one of the chief centres of German industry and literary life, and no other German city had such regular commercial communication with Italy, from whence the produce of the East was brought into the market, and nowhere did the higher classes of citizens use their wealth so willingly in support of art and science. The new art of printing had recently been introduced at Niirnberg, where a regular printing-press was now working a circumstance of parti- cular importance to the collector of Greek writings. A wealthy citizen, Bernhard Walther (born 1430, died 1504), became at once the friend and disciple of Regiomontanus, 1 The treatise De Triangulis Omnimodis, libri v., was first published at Niirnberg in 1533, while Regiomontanus himself printed the TabuLw Dircc- tionum in 1475, containing both a table of sines for every minute, and the above-mentioned table of tangents for every degree, extended to every minute by Reinhold in a new edition in 1554. REVIVAL OF ASTRONOMY IN EUROPE. 5 and arranged an observatory for their joint use. Instru- ments, as fine as the skilful artisans of Niirnberg could make them, adorned the earliest of European observatories, and the two friends made good use of them (they observed already the comet of 1472), and originated several new methods of observing. But Eegiomontanus did not forget the printing operations, and published not only Purbach's Theories Novce and trigonometrical tables, but also his own celebrated Ephemerides, the first of their kind, which, some years afterwards, were made known to the navigators through the German geographer Martin Behaim, and guided Diaz, Columbus, Yasco de Gama, and many others safely across the ocean. Nothing spread the fame of the astronomer like these Ephemerides, and the Pope was thus induced to invite Eegiomontanus to Eome to reform the confused calendar. The invitation was obeyed in 1475, but Eegiomontanus died in July 1476 very suddenly at Eome. He only reached the age of forty, and no doubt much might have been expected from him if death had not so early stopped his career; but he had rendered great service to science, not only by his endeavours to save the Greek authors from oblivion, 1 but by his Ephemerides, his development of trigonometry, and his observations. Walther survived him twenty-eight years, and continued his observations, which were published in 1544. By Purbach and Eegiomontanus the astronomy of the Alexandrian school had been introduced at the German Universities, and the increased demands which navigators made on astronomers continued to help forward the study of astronomy in Germany, which country, by having a sovereign in common with Spain, for a while had much intercourse with the latter country. Of the astronomers 1 The Greek text of Ptolemy's work from the MS. brought home by Regiomontanus was published at Bale in 1538. 6 TYCHO BRAHE. who worked during the first half of the sixteenth century we shall here mention Peter Apianus or Bienewitz, who taught at the University of Ingolstadt. Besides other works, he published in 1540 a large book, Astronomicum Ccesareum, dedicated to Charles the Fifth. In this beau- tiful volume the author represented, by means of movable circles of cardboard of various colours, the epicyclical motions of the planets according to the Ptolemean system, and ex- pected to be able in this way to find their positions without computation. The book was received with much applause, and is really in some ways to be admired, though one cannot help agreeing with Kepler in regretting the "miserable industry " of Apianus, which after all only produced a very rough approximation to the real motions of the stars, but which is eminently characteristic of the low state of science at that time. Apianus deserves more thanks for having paid much attention to comets, and for having discovered the important fact that the tails of these bodies are turned away from the sun. This was also pointed out about the same time by Fracastoro of Verona in a work published in 15385 containing an elaborate attempt to revive the theory of concentric spheres of Eudoxus, which had been pushed into the background by the Ptolemean system of the world. Only three years after Apian's volume appeared the great work of Nicolaus Copernicus, De Eevolutionibus (1543), which was destined to become the corner-stone of modern astronomy. We shall in the following so often have occasion to refer to the labours of this great man, that a few words will suffice in this place. Copernicus, who not only dis- covered the greatest truth in astronomy, but who even by his opponents was admitted to be an astronomer worthy of being classed with Hipparchus and Ptolemy, was born in 1473 at Thorn, on the Vistula, a town which belonged to the Hansa League, and a few years before had come under the suzerainty REVIVAL OF ASTRONOMY IN EUROPE. 7 of Poland. He studied first at the University of Krakau, where astronomy was specially cultivated, and at the age of twenty-four he proceeded to Bologna, where he enjoyed the teaching of Domenico Maria Novara. Thus Copernicus not only became acquainted with Ptolemy's work, but also acquired some familiarity with the astrolabe or astronomical circle, one of the few crude instruments then in use. From about the end of 1505 till his death in 1543, Copernicus lived in the diocese of Ermland, in Prussia, most of the time in the town of Frauenburg, where he held a canonry at the cathedral. It is much to be regretted that we are utterly unacquainted with the manner in which Copernicus came to design the new system of astronomy which has made his name immortal. But he had probably early per- ceived that, however valuable the labours of Eegiomontanus had been, they had not improved the theory of celestial motion, so that the most important problem, that of com- puting beforehand the positions of the planets and account- ing for their apparently intricate movements, was practically untouched since the days of Ptolemy. That great mathe- matician had completed and extended the planetary system of Hipparchus, and had in a wonderfully ingenious manner represented the complicated phenomena. But more than 1400 years had elapsed since his time, and the system, however perfect from a mathematical point of view, had long been felt to be too complicated, and not agreeing closely enough with the observed movements of the planets. This circumstance led Copernicus to attempt the construction of a new system, founded on the idea that the sun, and not the earth, is the ruler of the planets. But though Copernicus on the basis of this idea developed a theory of the planetary movements as complete as that of Ptolemy, he was unable to do more than to demonstrate the possibility of explaining the phenomena by starting from 8 TYCHO BRAHE. the heliocentric idea. Having no materials from which to deduce the true laws of the motion of the planets in elliptic orbits, he was obliged to make use of the excentric circles and epicycles of the ancients, by which he greatly marred the beauty and simplicity of his system. 1 He did not possess accurate instruments, and took but few observations with those he had. The idea does not seem to have struck him that it was indispensable to follow the planets through a number of years with carefully constructed instruments, and that only in that way could the true theory of planetary motion be found. There was much to be done yet ere the reform of astro- nomy could be accomplished. The pressing want of new tables to take the place of the antiquated Alphonsine tables was supplied a few years after the death of Copernicus by Erasmus Keinhold, but though the positions of the planets could be computed from them with greater accuracy than from the old tables, the " Prutenic tables " (published in 1551) did not by this superiority offer any proof of the actual truth of the Copernican principle. A century had now elapsed since the study of astronomy had commenced to revive in Italy and Germany, but as yet the work accomplished had chiefly been of a tentative and preparatory kind, Copernicus alone having attempted to make science advance along a new path. Still, much useful work had been done. The labours of the ancients had now become accessible in the originals ; the Arabs and Regiomontanus had developed trigonometry, and thereby greatly facilitated astronomical computations; Copernicus had shaken the implicit conviction of the necessity of clinging .to the complicated Ptolemean system, and had offered the world an alternative and simpler system, while new tables had been computed to take the place of the 1 We shall return to this subject in Chapter VII. REVIVAL ajJjfaflSTROXOMY IN EUROPE. 9 Alphonsine table sjM* But otherwise the astronomy of the ancients reigned undisturbed. No advance had been made in the knowledge of the positions of the fixed stars, those stations in the sky by means of which the motions of the planets had to be followed ; the value of almost every astronomical quantity had to be borrowed from Ptolemy, if we except a few which had been redetermined by the Arabs. No advance had been made in the knowledge of the moon's motion, so important for navigation, nor in the knowledge of the nature of the planetary orbits, the uniform circular motion being still thought not only the most per- fect, but also the only possible one for the planets to pursue. Whether people believed the planets to move round the earth or round the sun, the complicated machinery of the ancients had to be employed in computing their motions, and crude as the instruments in use were, they were more than suffi- cient to show that the best planetary tables could not fore- tell the positions of the planets with anything like the desirable accuracy. No astronomer had yet made up his mind to take nothing for granted on the authority of the ancients, but to deter- mine everything himself. Nobody had perceived that the answers to the many questions which were perplexing astronomers could only be given by the heavens, but that the answers would be forthcoming only if the heavens were properly interrogated by means of improved instruments, capable of determining every astronomical quantity anew by systematic observations. The necessity of doing this was at an early age perceived by Tycho Brahe, whose life and work we shall endeavour to sketch in the following pages. By his labours he supplied a sure foundation for modern astronomy, and gave his great successor, Kepler, the means of completing the work commenced by Copernicus. CHAPTER II. TYCHO BRAHE'S YOUTH. TYCHO BRAHE belonged to an ancient noble family which had for centuries flourished not only in Denmark, but also in Sweden, to which country it had spread in the fourteenth century, when one of its members, Torkil Brahe, fled thither from Denmark to escape punishment for manslaughter. The family still exists in both countries. In the sixteenth cen- tury the Danish nobility was still of purely national origin, unmingled with the foreign blood which became merged in it in the course of the next two hundred years, when every new royal bride brought with her a train of needy adven- turers, with empty purses and long titles, from the Holy Roman Empire. Like their foreign fellow-nobles, they were descended from men who had received grants of land on tenure of military service, and until about the end of the thirteenth century they can hardly be said to have formed a separate class, as their privileges and duties were not yet of necessity hereditary. They were untitled (till 1671), but all the same they were as proud and jealous of the privileges of their order as any Norman count or baron, and were called by the characteristic names of " free and well- born " or " good men." In the first half of the sixteenth century they had successfully resisted the attempts of King Christiern II. to curb their power, and had driven him from his throne ; and when the lower orders afterwards had attempted to replace him on the throne rendered vacant 10 TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 11 by the death of his brother and successor, the nobles had, after a hard struggle, crushed their opponents, though the latter were backed by the powerful Hansa city of Liibeck. The ^Reformation had broken the rival power of the Church, and the nobles had in consequence (though not to the same extent as in Germany and England) increased in wealth and possessions. And during the next fifty years they did not abuse their worldly advantages, but were, as a rule, faithful servants of their king and country, generous and kind to their tenants, fond of studies and learning. Most of them had in their youth travelled abroad, frequently for years at a time, and studied at foreign universities, where they acquired knowledge not only of books, but also of the world. At their country-seats many of them encouraged and protected men of learning, and kept up their acquaint- ance with classical literature, as well as with the more humble folk-lore which, in the shape of old epics and ballads (Kjcempemser), had been handed down from one generation to another among the humble as well as among the high-born. Almost every country-seat pos- sessed what was at that time considered a fine library, so that it was quite natural that hardly a pamphlet or book was published without a dedication to some noble patron. The father of the great astronomer was Otto Brahe, born in 1517, from 1562 or 1563 a Privy Councillor, and successively lieutenant of various counties, finally governor of Helsingborg Castle (opposite Elsinore), where he died in 1571. His wife was Beate Bille, whom he had mar- ried in 1544, and their second child and eldest son, Tyge, was born on the I4th December 1546 at the family seat of Kuudstrup, in Scania or Skaane, the most southern pro- vince of the Scandinavian peninsula, which at that time still belonged to Denmark, as it had done from time 12 TYCHO BRAHE. immemorial. 1 Tyge, or Tycho (as lie afterwards Latinised his name), had a still-born twin-brother, a fact alluded to in a Latin poem which he wrote and had printed in I 5/2. 2 Otto Brahe had in all five sons and five daughters (in addition to the still-born son), the youngest being Sophia, born in 1556, who will often be mentioned in the sequel. Though he was the eldest son and heir to the family estate of Knudstrup, Tycho did not remain under his father's care for more than about a year, as his father's brother, Jorgen (George) Brahe, who was childless, had been promised by Otto, that if the latter got a sou, he would let Jorgen bring him up as his own. The fulfilment of the promise was claimed in vain ; but Jorgen Brahe was not to be put off so easily, and as soon as a second boy had been born to Otto, the uncle coolly carried off his eldest nephew by stealth as soon as he got an opportunity. The parents of Tycho gave way when the thing was done, knowing that the child was in good hands, and doubtless expecting that the foster-parents would eventually leave their adopted son some of their wealth, which they also seem to have done. We know nothing of Tycho's childhood except that he was brought up at his uncle's seat of Tostrup, and was from the age of seven taught Latin and other rudiments of learning by a tutor. 3 He acquired the necessary familiarity with the only language which was then properly studied, so that he was afterwards able not only to converse in and write Latin, but also to write poetry in this language, which was then and for a long time afterwards considered a very desirable accomplishment for a learned man. We shall often have occasion to quote his poetry, some of which 1 In several places in his writings Tycho alludes to the I3th December as his birthday, but this is astronomically speaking, counting the day from noon, as he was born between nine and ten o'clock in the morning. 2 Reprinted in Danskc Magazin, ii. p. 1 70 (Weistritz, ii. p. 23). 8 Autobiographical note, Astron. Inst. Mechanica, fol. G. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 13 is not without merit. Thus prepared, he was sent to Copenhagen in April 1559 to study at the University there. 1 This seat of learning had been founded in the year 1479 by permission of the Pope, but it had languished for a number of years for want of money and good teachers. The confiscation of the property of the monasteries enabled King Christian III. to commence improving it, and by the statutes of 1539 (which were still in force in Tycho Brahe's time) the number of professors was fixed at fourteen, three of Divinity, one of Law, two of Medicine, and eight in the Faculty of Arts, among whom were several whose names were honourably known outside their own country. Tycho now commenced his studies here, devoting himself specially to rhetorics and philosophy, as being the branches of learning most necessary to the career of a statesman, for which he was destined by his uncle, and probably also by his father, who had at first objected to his receiving a classical education. 2 But astronomy very soon claimed his attention. On the 2 1 st of August 1 5 60 an eclipse of the sun took place, which was total in Portugal, and of\ which Clavius has left us a graphic description. Though it was only a small eclipse at Copenhagen, it attracted the special attention of the youthful student, who had already begun to take some interest in the astrological predictions or horoscopes which in those days formed daily topics of conversation. When he saw the eclipse take place at the predicted time, it struck him " as something divine that men could know the motions of the stars so accurately that 1 In those days students frequently entered a university at a very early age, and with an exceedingly slender stock of knowledge. At Wittenberg one of the professors in the Faculty of Arts was bound to teach the junior students Latin grammar, and one of the Wittenberg professors in his opening address pointed out how simple the rudiments of arithmetic were, and how even multiplication and division might be learned with some diligence. Prowe, Nic. Coppcrnicus, i. p. 116 2 Gassendi, p. 4. V 14 TYCHO BRAHE. they could long before foretell their places and relative positions." 1 He therefore lost no time in procuring a copy 1 of the Ephemerides of Sfcadius in order to satisfy his curiosity as to astronomical matters ; and not content with / \ the meagre information he could get from this book, he very soon made up his mind to go to the fountain-head, and at the end of November in the same year he invested two Joachims-thaler in a copy of the works of Ptolemy, published at Basle in 1551. This copy is still in existence, and may be seen in the University Library at Prague ; there are many marginal notes in it, and at the bottom of tho title-page is written in Tycho's own hand that he had bought the book at Copenhagen on the last day of Novem- ber for two thaler. This book contained a Latin translation of all the writings of Ptolemy except the Geography, the Almegist being in the translation of Georgios from Tre- bizond. The study of this complete compendium of the astronomy of the day must have given the youthful student enough to do ; indeed, it may well be doubtful whether he was at that time able to master it. Tycho remained at Copenhagen for three years, chiefly occupying himself with mathematical and astronomical studies. We are not acquainted with any details as to this period of his life; all we know is that he formed an intimate friendship with one of the professors of medicine, Hans Frandsen, from Ribe, in Jutland (Johannes Francisci Kipensis), and especially with Johannes Pratensis, a young man of French extraction, who also afterwards became professor of medicine. 2 Jorgen Brahe now thought that the time had come to send his nephew to a foreign uni- 1 Gassendi, p. 5. 2 His father was Philip du Pre, from Normandy, who had come to Den- mark with Queen Isabella, the wife of Christiern II. He afterwards became a Protestant and Canon of Aarhus Cathedral. N. M. Petersen, Den Danske Literaturs Uisorie, iii. p. 190. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 15 versify, as was then customary. He probably hoped that, when removed from his friends at Copenhagen, the young worshipper of Urania might be induced to give up his scientific inclinations and devote himself more to studies which would in after years enable him to take the place in his native land to which his birth entitled him. The university he selected for his nephew was that of Leipzig. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries Danish students had followed the universal custom of the age and repaired to the University of Paris, where several of them had risen to great distinction, and even occupied the rectorial chair; 1 but gradually as the German universities improved they became more frequented by Danes than Paris. To accompany Tycho as tutor, Jorgen Brahe chose a young man of great promise, who, although only four years older than his pupil, was known to be steady enough to be intrusted with this responsible office. Anders Sorensen Vedel, son of a respected citizen of Yeile, in Jutland, had been less than a year at the University, where he attended lectures on divinity, and at the same time devoted him- self to the study of history. He became afterwards Koyal Historiographer, and is particularly known by his translation of the Latin Chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus, an important source of Danish history from the end of the twelfth century, and also by his edition of the ancient national ballads or Kjaempeviser. 2 Yedel was only too happy to accept the proposal of accompanying the young nobleman abroad, as there was at that time no Professor of History 1 There were four times in the fourteenth century Danish Rectors of the University of Paris (N. M. Petersen, Den DansTce Literaturs Historic, i. p. 74). Students from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway (provincia Daciae) belonged to Anglicana Natio, one of the four Nations of the University. 2 HistorisTce Efterretninrjer om Anders Sorensen Vedel, af C. F. Wegener. Appendix to a new edition of Den DansTce KroniTce af Saxo Grammaticus, translated by Vedel, Copenhagen, 1851, fol. This book is a valuable source for Tycho' s early life. 16 TYCHO BRAHE. in the Copenhagen University, while it was not uncommon to find professors in German universities who combined the chair of History with some other one. 1 Yedel and his pupil left Copenhagen on the 1 4th February 1562, and arrived at Leipzig on the 24th March following. They were at once installed in the house of one of the pro- fessors, 2 possibly on the recommendation of some of their learned friends in Copenhagen, several of whom were in constant communication with their colleagues at the Leipzig University. They had at once their names entered in the book of matriculation, where they may still be seen as "Andreas Severinus Cimber" and " Tyho Brade ex Scan- dria." There is, however, no sign whatever that Tycho -devoted himself to the study of law, while we know that he at once sought the acquaintance of the professor of mathe- matics, Johannes Homilius ; of his disciple, Bartholomasus Scultetus (Schultz), and probably also of the "electoral mathematician," Valentine Thau. 3 Homilius died on the 5th July, a little over three months after Tycho's arrival, but we shall afterwards see that he had even in that short time imparted valuable and practical knowledge to the young student. Yedel did his best to carry out his instructions by trying to keep Tycho to the study of juris- prudence, but Tycho would not allow himself to be hindered in his favourite pursuits, and spent most of his money on 1 Though the University of Leipzig did not get a chair of History till 1579, Camerarius (about whom see next page) was to some extent considered as being Professor of History, and is even once styled " Historiarum et utriusque linguae professor" (Wegener, I.e., p. 31). 2 His name is not known. Tycho only mentions him once in a note among his observations : " 1564, 1 4th Dec. Sub coenam Pfeffigerus, qui apud doctorem nostrum hospitem convivabatur, dicebat . . ." (then follows an account of the conversation in German). 3 Thau is mentioned by Vedel as a friend of his own, and appeal's to have been the inventor of an artificial car (rheda, viameter ?). See Wegener, p. 32. Is he identical with Lucius Valentinus Otho, who edited the Opus Palatinum de Triangulis of Rhaticus in 1596 ? TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 17 astronomical books and instruments, though lie had to receive the money from his tutor and account to him for the way it was spent. He made use of the Ephemerides of Stadius l to find the places of the planets, having first learned the names of the constellations by means of a small celestial globe not larger than his fist, which he hid from Yedel, and could only use when the latter was asleep. Though this state of things at first produced some coolness between tutor and pupil, it appears that they soon renewed their friendly intercourse. Tycho could not but see that Yedel was only doing his duty, and Vedel gradually had to acknowledge that the love of astronomy had become so deeply rooted in his pupil that it was utterly impossible to force him against his will to devote himself to a study he disliked, or at least looked on with indifference. Another circumstance which was a bond of union between them was that the learned men whose society Yedel sought were to a great extent the same to whom Tycho looked for instruction. Thus the above-mentioned Yalentine Thau had a great regard for Yedel, and even tried to get him to enter the service of the Elector, while Homilius was a son-in-law of Camerarius, the most renowned of the professors at Leipzig, and a man whom Yedel later in one of his writings mentions as his beloved teacher. 2 Drawn together through their intercourse with these and other men of learning, Yedel and Tycho laid the foundation of a warm friendship which lasted through life. 1 Published at Cologne in 1556 for the years 1554-70, again in 1559 and 1560, being continued to the year 1576. Founded on the Prutenic tables. 2 Joachim Liebhard (who changed his name to Camerarius because there had been several Kdmmerer in his family), born at Bamberg in 1500, died at Leipzig in 1574; published the Commentary of Theon as an appendix to the edition of Ptolemy edited by Grynaeus in 1538; wrote a book on Greek and Latin arithmetic (see Kastner, Gesch. d. Mathem., i. p. 134), and published in 1559 a book, De eorum qvi Cometce appellantur, Nominibus, Natura, Caussis, Significatione, in which he shows from history that comets sometimes announce evil, sometimes good events. 2 18 TYCHO BRAKE. Though Tycho was during the greater part of the time he spent at Leipzig obliged to study astronomy in secret, he did not long content himself with the use of the Epheme- rides of Stadius, but procured the Alphonsine tables and the Prutenic tables. 1 We have already mentioned that the former were founded on the Ptolemean planetary system and the observations of the Arabs, as well as those made under the direction of Alphonso X. of Castile in the thirteenth century ; while the latter, which got their name from being dedicated to Duke Albrecht of Prussia, were the work of Erasmus Eeinhold, a disciple and follower of Copernicus. Tycho soon mastered the use of these tables, and perceived that the computed places of the planets differed from their actual places in the sky (even though he only inferred the latter from the relative positions of the planets and adjacent stars), the errors of the old Alphonsine tables being much more considerable than those of their new rivals. He even found out that Stadius had not computed his places correctly from Reinhold's tables. And already at that time, while Tycho was a youth only sixteen years of age, his eyes were opened to the great fact, which seems to us so simple to grasp, but which had escaped the attention of all European astronomers before him, that only through a steadily pursued course of observations would it be possible to obtain a better insight into the motions of the planets, and decide which system of the world was the true one. An astronomical phenomenon which took place in August 1563, a conjunc- tion of Saturn and Jupiter, which in those days was looked on as a very important one, owing to the astrological signifi- cance it was supposed to have, induced him to begin at once to record his observations, even though they were taken with the crudest implements only. A pair of ordinary 1 In his observations from 1563-64 he also mentions the Ephemerides of Carellus (Venice, 1557). TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 19 compasses was all lie had to begin with; by holding the centre close to the eye, and pointing the legs to two stars or a planet and a star, he was able to find their angular distance by afterwards applying the compasses to a circle drawn on paper and divided into degrees and half degrees. His first recorded observation was made on the i/th August I 5 ^S, 1 and on the 24th of August in the morning he noted that Saturn and Jupiter were so close together that the interval between them was scarcely visible. 2 The Alphon- sine tables turned out to be a whole month in error, while the Prutenic ones were only a few days wrong as to the moment of nearest approach. Tycho continued his obser- vations, partly with the above-mentioned tool, partly using eye -estimations as to which stars formed with a planet a rectangular triangle, or which stars were in a right line with it. But in the following year he provided himself with a "radius," or "cross-staff," as it used to be called in English, one of the few instruments employed by the intrepid navigators who discovered the new worlds beyond the ocean. 3 It consisted of a light graduated rod about three feet long and another rod of about half that length, also graduated, which at the centre could slide along the longer 1 Die 17, H. 13, M. 15, Erat in 7 Gr. 8 lat. Mer. 3 Gr. ad fixas. 2 " Intervallum Tj et 7| matutino teinpore vix observations oculari notari potuit : in hac nocte enim uteique se invicem obumbrabat suis radiis sed latitude ipsorum diversa adhuc erat, \ enim meridionalior ipso H erat. Die 27 (astron. 26) Mane vidi I/ cum \ obtinere eandein alt. ab horizonte, hinc licet conjicere eorum 6 jam prseteriisse sed propius erant ab invicem dispositi quam ante triduum : quare etiam tempus avfvyias propinquius huic 27 Aug. quam priori 24 fuisse manifestum est. In utroque autem die paulo ante ortum distantiam ipsorum observavi." MS. volume of observations, 1-563- 1581 incl., in the Royal Library at Copenhagen (Gamle Kongelige Samlinger, 4to, No. 1824). The early observations (up to 1577) only exist in this copy, the originals would seem to be lost, at least they are not at Copenhagen. 3 In French called arbaUte or arbalestrille, in Spanish ballestitta, in German Jacolsstab. It seems to have been invented by Regiomontanus, and is de- scribed in his Prollemata XVI. de Cometce Longitudine, written in 1472. an d printed in 1531 in Schoner's Descriptio Cometce. 20 TYCHO BRAKE. one, so that they always formed a right angle. The instrument could be used in two ways. Two sights might be fixed at the ends of the shorter rod, and one at the end of the longer rod, and the observer, having placed the latter close before his eye, moved the cross-rod along until he saw through its two sights the two objects of which he wanted to measure the angular distance. Or one of the sights of the shorter arm might be movable, and the observer first arbitrarily placed the shorter arm at any of the graduations on the longer one, and then shifted the movable sight along until he saw the two objects through it. and a sight fixed at the centre of the transversal arm. In either case the graduations and a table of tangents furnished the required angle. Tycho's instrument was of the latter kind, and was made according to the directions of Gemma Frisius. He got his friend Bartholomaeus Scultetus to subdivide it by means of transversals, which method of subdividing small intervals was then beginning to be used, and which Tycho ascribes to Homilius. The earliest obser- vations stated to have been made with the radius are from the i st of May I 5 64, and Tycho says that he had to use it while his tutor was asleep, from which we see that Yedel had even at that time not given up his resistance to his pupil's scientific labours. The observer soon found that the divisions did not give the angles correctly, and as he could not get money from Yedel for a new instrument, he con- structed a table of corrections to be applied to the results of his observations. 1 This is deserving of notice as the first indication of that eminently practical talent which was in the course of years to guide the art of observing into the paths in which modern observers have followed. Kepler, who more than any one else was able to appreciate his great 1 Astronomice Instauratce Mcchanica, fol. G. 2. For a specimen of the observations see Appendix A. at end of this volume. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 21 predecessor, justly says that the " restoration of astronomy " was ' ' by that Phoenix of astronomers, Tycho, first con- ceived and determined on in the year I 564." l While occupied with the study of astronomy and occa- sional observations, Tycho, like everybody else at that time, believed in judicial astrology, and now and then worked out horoscopes for his friends. He even kept a book in which he entered these " themata genethliaca." He men- tions in a letter, 2 written in 1588 to the mathematician Caspar Peucer, the son-in-law of Melanchthon, that he had during his stay at Leipzig made out the nativity of Peucer, and found that he was to meet with great misfortunes, either exile or imprisonment, and that he should become free when about sixty years of age, through the agency of some "martial" person. This prediction chanced to turn out correct, as Peucer in I 574 was deprived of his professorship at Wittenberg, and kept in a rigorous imprisonment till 1586, being suspected of a leaning to Calvinism. From a lunar eclipse which took place while he was at Leipzig, Tycho foretold wet weather, which also turned out to be correct. 3 Tycho left Leipzig on the 1 7th May 1565 with Vedel 1 Tab alee Rudolphince, title-page. 2 Printed in Resenii Jnscriptiones Hafnienses (Hafniae, 1668), pp. 392 et seq. ; and in Weistritz, LebensbescTireibung dcs T. v. Brake, i. pp. 239 et seq. (the matter referred to occurs on p. 259). 3 In the volume of observations, 1563-81, there follow, after April 19, 1565, sixteen pages headed "Notationes interiectge," of various contents. On a vacant quarter page is written in a different hand: "Duobus sequentibus annis nulloe extant observationes Brahei, sed earum loco sequebantur anno- tationes qualescunque in codice." Also in another hand is the following: "Tycho Brahe Tomo II. Epistolarum aliqvando excuso sed non edito fol. 54 scribit se hujus eclipsis tempore adhuc Lipsise studiorum causa coin- moratum, et pluvium tempus cum meteoris humidis ex hac eclipsi prae- dixisse." Among the notes is also "Observatio XII. dierum et noctiurn statim sequentium natalem Christi in Anno 1564 complete, pro constitution et temperamento 12 mensium Anni 1565 proxime seqventis." The probable weather for January is concluded from the weather on December 26th ; that for February from the 27th, and so on. 22 TYCHO BRAKE. to return to Denmark. During Ms absence from home war had broken out between Denmark and Sweden, and his uncle, Jorgen Brahe, who held the post of vice-admiral, probably considered that his nephew's proper place at such a time was in his native country. Travelling by way of Wittenberg, they reached Rostock on the 25th May, and succeeded in crossing to Copenhagen without meeting any hostile cruisers. Whether the uncle had become reconciled to the substitution of the study of astronomy for that of law, is not known with certainty ; but the two relatives did not long enjoy each other's company, as Jorgen Brahe, who had just returned from a naval engagement in the Baltic (near the coast of Mecklenburg), died on the 2ist June 1565. It happened that King Frederick II., when riding over the bridge which joined the castle of Copenhagen and the town, fell into the water. Jorgen Brahe was in his suite, and hastened to help . the king out ; but a severe cold he caught in consequence developed into an illness which proved fatal in a few days. After his uncle's death there was nothing to keep Tycho at home. Another uncle, Steen Bille, maintained that he should be left to follow his own inclinations ; but, with this exception, all his relations and other nobles looked with coldness at this young man with his odd taste for star-gazing and his dislike to what they considered sensible occupations. He was, therefore, glad to escape from these surroundings to others more congenial, and early in 1566 he left Denmark for the second time, and arrived at Wittenberg on the I 5th April. The University of Wittenberg had been founded in 1502, and had then for nearly fifty years been one of the most renowned in Europe, possessing great attractions for Pro- testant students. Here Luther had lived, and from this hitherto insignificant spot had shaken the spiritual despotism under which the world had suffered so long ; and a few years TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 23 Lad only elapsed since the death of Melanchthon had deprived the University of an accomplished scholar as well as a faithful and indefatigable worker for the Reformed faith. There were still many men of celebrity following in their footsteps, and keeping up the high reputation they had made for the University. Mathematics were specially cultivated at Wittenberg, because, as the Statutes stated, without them Aristotle, " that nucleus and foundation of all science," could not be properly understood. At the instance of Melanchthon, two chairs of Mathematics were founded, " Mathematum superiorum " and u inferiorum," the holder of the former having to lecture on astronomy that of the latter on algebra and geometry. To Danish students Wittenberg had since the Reformation been a favourite resort, and, among a number of young countrymen, Tycho Brahe also found his former tutor, Yedel, who had arrived a few months before. We do not possess any information as to how Tycho spent his time at Wittenberg ; all we know is that he had the advantage of studying under the above- mentioned Caspar Peucer, Professor of Medicine and Phy- sician in ordinary to the Elector of Saxony. This man, who was distinguished both as a mathematician, a physician, and a historian, had been invested with unusual authority over the University. 1 In the history of astronomy Peucer is known as the author of a few treatises, among which is one on spherical astronomy. Tycho, however, did not profit very much from Peucer's instruction, as the plague broke out at Wittenberg, so that he was induced to leave it on the 1 6th September, after a stay of only five months, 2 1 As Praeceptor primarius totius Academiae. We have already mentioned Peucer's subsequent misfortune. He died in 1602. 2 Tycho probably remembered that the well-known astronomer Erasmus Reinhold, author of the Prutenic tables and professor at Wittenberg, had ' n I 553 vainly tried to escape the plague by flying from Wittenberg to Saalfeld, where he died. 24 TYCHO BRAHE. and to go to Rostock, where he arrived on the 24th September, and was matriculated at the University a few weeks later. 1 Though not as celebrated as the University of Wittenberg, Eostock was also much frequented by Scandinavian students, a natural consequence of its being situated close to the shore of the Baltic, and within easy reach from the Northern countries. It can hardly have been the wish of studying astronomy under any of the professors at Rostock which induced Tycho to take up his abode there, for there was not at that time any savant attached to the University of Rostock who occupied himself specially with astronomy ; and only one, David Chytrseus, otherwise well known as a theological author, is very slightly known in the history of astronomy as one of the numerous writers on the new star of 1572. But if there were no astronomers at Rostock (and, indeed, they were not numerous anywhere), there were several men who devoted themselves to astrology and alchemy, in addition to mathematics or medicine. It must be remembered that it was at that time easy enough to be thoroughly acquainted with the little that was known in several sciences, and men frequently exchanged a pro- fessorship of medicine for one of astronomy or divinity. The connection of medicine in particular with astronomy was supposed to be a very intimate one, and as physicians, if they kept to what we should call their proper sphere, could do little but grope in the dark, they were only too glad to call in the aid of astrology to make up for the deficiency of their medical knowledge. The idea of a connection between the celestial bodies and the vital action of the human frame was a natural consequence of the i As " Tycho Brahe, natus ex nobili familia in ea parte regni Danici quse dicitur Scania." See G. C. F. Lisch, Tycho Brake und seine Verhaltnisse zu Mecklenburg, in Jalir'bucher des Vereins fur Mecklenburgische Geschichte, xxxiv., 1869 (Reprint, p. 2). TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 25 Aristotelean and scholastic views of the kosmos and of the dependence of the four elements of the sublunary region on the movements in the sethereal part of the universe. The dependence of vegetable life on the motion of the sun in the ecliptic, and the similarity of the period of the moon's orbital motion to that of certain phenomena of human life, were looked upon as proofs of the connection between the sublunary and the aethereal worlds ; and as the human body was composed of the elements, it would, like these, be influenced by the forces, chiefly the planets, by which the celestial part of the kosmos exercised its power. Thus it was supposed that the state of the body was de- pendent on the positions of the planets among the signs of the zodiac, and that the power of the Deity over the fate of man was also exercised by the medium of the stars. 1 Galileo had not yet overthrown the Aristotelean system of Natural Philosophy, and Bacon had not yet taught us to look for the explanation of the phenomena of nature by seeking for the mechanically acting causes through observation and in- duction, instead of through metaphysical speculation. Until this was done, it is not to be wondered at that the greatest minds believed in astrology ; and it only shows the narrow- mindedness of some modern writers, and their ignorance of the historical development of man's conception of nature, when they, on every occasion, sneer at the greatest men of former ages for their belief in astrology. Among the professors at Rostock was Levinus Battus, Professor of Medicine, born in the Netherlands, and origi- nally a mathematician. He has left writings on alchemy, and was a follower of Paracelsus ; so that it is likely enough that Tycho, who afterwards paid a good deal of attention to chemistry, attended his lectures. Tycho does not seem to have taken observations regularly at that time ; at 1 " Astra regunt hominem, sed regit astra Deus." 26 TYCHO BRAKE. least we do not possess any made at Rostock earlier than January 1568. But shortly after his arrival, on the 28th October 1566, a lunar eclipse took place, and Tycho posted up in the college some Latin verses, in which he announced that the eclipse foretold the death of the Tur- kish Sultan. It was natural to think of him, as Soliman, who was about eighty years of age, had the year before startled Christendom by his formidable attack on Malta, which was heroically and successfully defended by the Knights of St. John. A few weeks later news was received of the Sultan's death ; but unluckily he had died before the eclipse, so that the praise Tycho received for the prophecy was not unmingled with sneers, while he defended himself by explaining the horoscope of Soliman, from which he had drawn his conclusions as to the Sultan's death. 1 An event took place at Rostock soon after this, which was a good deal more unfortunate for Brahe, and which has become more widely known than many other and much more important incidents in his life. On the I oth Decem- ber I 566 there was a dance at Professor Bachmeister's house to celebrate a betrothal, and among the guests were Brahe and another Danish nobleman, Manderup Parsbjerg. These two got into a quarrel, which was renewed at a Christmas party on the 27th, and finally they met (whether acciden- tally or not is not stated) on the 29th, at seven o'clock in the evening, " in perfect darkness," and settled the dispute with their swords. The result was that Tycho lost part of his nose, and in order to conceal the disfigurement, he 1 In a marginal note in the volume of observations, 1563-81 (printed in Danslce Magazin, ii. p. 177), Tycho states that Soliman died a few days before the eclipse. In reality he died on 6th September, while besieging the Hungarian fortress Szigeth, though his death was kept secret for more than a fortnight. There is a written pamphlet by Tycho, apparently intended to be printed, in the Hofbibliothek at Vienna, De Eclipsi I/unari, 1573, Mense Decembri, in which the eclipse of 1566 and the prediction of the Sultan's death are also treated of. Friis, in DansTce Samlinr/er, 1869, iv. p. 255. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 27 replaced the lost piece by another made of a composition of gold and silver. Gassendi, who recounts all these details, adds that Willem Jansson Blaev, who spent two years with Tycho at Hveen, had told him that Tycho always carried in his pocket a small box with some kind of ointment or glutinous composition, which he frequently rubbed on his nose. 1 The various portraits which we pos- sess of Tycho show distinctly that there was something strange about the appearance of his nose, but one cannot see with certainty whether it was the tip or the bridge that was injured, though it seems to be the latter. A very venomous enemy of his, Eeymers Bar, of whom we shall hear more farther on, says that it was the upper part of the nose which Tycho had lost. 2 As already remarked above, Tycho does not seem to have taken many observations about this time, but on the Qth April 1567 an eclipse of the sun took place which he observed. At Eostock the eclipse was of about seven digits, but at Eome it was total, and the solar corona was seen by Clavius. In the summer of 1567 Tycho paid a visit to his native country, but he does not appear to have been altogether pleased with his reception there, and at the end of the year he returned to Eostock, where he arrived on the 1st January 1568. Already, at six o'clock on the following morning, he commenced to take observations, though he had not an instrument at hand, and therefore had to content himself with noting down the positions of Jupiter and Saturn among the stars. On the 1 4th he wrote a letter to 1 Gassendi (p. 10) adds, that according to the Epistles of Job. Bapt. Laurus (Protonotarius Apostolicus of Pope Urban VIII.), the dispute between Brahe and Parsbjerg was as to which of them was the best mathematician. But this is probably only gossip. They are said to have been very good friends afterwards. Towards the end of this book we shall see that Parsbjerg com- plained of the fight being referred to in Tycho's funeral oration. 2 Delambre, Astr. Modcrne, i. p. 297 ; Kastner, Qeschichte der Afatkematik, in. p. 475. 28 TYCHO BRAKE. a countryman Johannes Aalborg (whose acquaintance he had probably made at Rostock the previous winter), that he had since his arrival been staying at the house of Professor Levinus Battus, but that he hoped the same day to take up his residence in the College of the Jurists, where he would have a convenient place for observing. (We find that he commenced to use the radius or cross-staff there on the I pth.) In this letter, which is printed by Gassendi, 1 Tycho says that he intends remaining over the winter in his new abode, and adds : " But you, my dear Johannes, must keep perfect silence with regard to those reasons for my departure which I have confided to you, lest anybody should suspect that I complain of anything, or that there was some- thing in my native land which obliged me to leave it. For I am very anxious that nobody should think that I am com- plaining of anything, as in truth I have not much to com- plain of. I was indeed received better in my native land by my relations and friends than I deserved ; only one thing was wanting, that my studies should please everybody, and even that may be excused. There are many denunciators everywhere." But though Tycho was dissatisfied with the want of sympathy which his countrymen showed for his love of the stars, it appears that there must have been those in Den- mark who appreciated the steady perseverance with which the young nobleman devoted himself to study, and the first sign of this appeared soon after. On the 1 4th May 1568, King Frederick II. granted him under his hand a formal promise of the first canonry which might become vacant in the Chapter of the Cathedral of Eoskilde in Seeland. 2 To understand this, we must mention that the Danish cathedral 1 Page II, and reprinted in Tychonis Brahei et ad eum doctor urn Virorum Epistolce, Havniae, 1876-86, p. I. 2 The letter may be seen in Danske Magazin, ii. p. 180 (Weistritz, ii. P- 45)- TYCIIO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 29 chapters were not abolished at the Eef ormation (1536), but that their incomes for more than a century were spent to support men of merit (or who were supposed to be such), and especially men of learning. The members were still called canons, and if they lived about the cathedral, they formed a corporate body and managed the temporalities of the cathedral and its associated foundations. Gradually the canonries became perfect sinecures, and the kings assumed the right to fill them, until their property, in the course of the second half of the seventeenth century, was taken possession of by the Crown. One of these sinecures was thus by royal letter promised to Tycho Brahe, who now might feel certain that means of following his favourite pursuit would not be wanting. He was possibly still at Rostock when this letter was issued, and it is not known when he left this town (his last recorded observation there is of the gib. February), but it must have been early in the year, as he was at Wittenberg some time in I568, 1 and went to Basle in the course of the same year, where he was matriculated at the University. 2 He must have stayed at Basle till the beginning of the following year, when we find him at Augsburg, where he began to observe on the 1 4th April. On the way he had paid a visit to Cyprianus Leovitius (Livowski), a well-known astronomer, who lived at Lauingen, in Suabia, 3 who had published an edition of the trigonometrical tables of Regiomontanus (Tabula Directionum, 1552), various Ephemerides, and an astro- logical book on the signification of conjunctions of planets, eclipses, &c. 4 Leovitius thought the world was likely to 1 Mechanica, fol. G. 2. 2 R. Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomie, p. 271. 3 Born in 1524 in Bohemia, died at Lauingen in 1574. 4 The original edition (of 1564) is in German (see Pulkova Library Cat., p. 382), and not in Latin, as stated by Lalande. The London edition of 1573 (of which more below) is in Latin, and has the title given by Lalande. 30 TYCHO BRAHE. come to an end in 1584, after the next great conjunction, and he was, on the whole, more of an astrologer than of an astronomer. Tycho asked him, among other things, whether he ever took observations, as he might thereby see that the Ephemerides, which he had with some trouble computed from the Alphonsine tables, did not agree with the heavens. To this Leovitius answered that he had no instruments, but that he sometimes "by means of clocks" observed solar and lunar eclipses, and found that the former agreed better with the Copernican (Prutenic) tables, the latter better with the Alphonsine, while the motion of the three outer planets agreed best with the Copernican, the inner ones with the Alphonsine tables. 1 It does not seem to have struck him, nor, indeed, any one before Tycho, that the only way to produce correct tables of the motions of the planets was by a prolonged series of observations; and not by taking an odd observation now and then. In the ancient free city of Augsburg Tycho seems to have felt perfectly at home. Dear to all Protestants as being the place where the fearless Reformers had declared their faith, and where the Protestant princes and cities of Germany had signed the " Confession of Augsburg," the city possessed the further attraction of having many hand- some public and private buildings and spacious thorough- fares, while the society of many men of cultured tastes and princely wealth (such as the celebrated Fugger family), made it an agreeable place of residence. Among the men with whom Tycho associated here were two brothers, Johann Baptist and Paul Hainzel, the former burgomaster, the latter an alderman (septemvir). Both were fond of astro- nomy, but Paul particularly so, and they were anxious to procure some good instrument with which to make observa- tions at their country-seat at Gb'ggingen, a village about an 1 Astr. lust. Progymnasmata, p. 708. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 31 English mile south of Augsburg. 1 Tycho tells us in his principal work, Astronomies Instauratce Progymnasmata, at some length, that he was in the act of making out how large an instrument would have to be in order to have the single minutes marked on the graduated arc, when Paul Hainzel came in and a discussion arose between them on the subject. Tycho was convinced that no good would result to science from using " those puerile tools" with which astronomers then observed, and he concluded that it was necessary to construct a very large quadrant, so large that every minute could readily be distinguished, and fractions of a minute estimated ; " for he did not then know the method of sub- dividing by transversals." This last remark is curious, as we have already seen that he attributed his acquaintance with the method to Scultetus, but he evidently means that it had not yet occurred to him to use this plan on an arc as well as on a rectilinear scale. He spoke in favour of con- structing a quadrant, as he had already made several of three or four cubits radius (this is the only evidence we have of this fact), and was sufficiently familiar with the cross-staff to know that no accurate results were to be expected from it. The outcome of this discussion was that Paul Hainzel undertook to defray the expense of a quadrant with a radius of 14 cubits (or about 19 feet). The most skilful workmen were engaged, and within one month the huge instrument was completed. Twenty men were scarcely able to erect it on a hill in Hainzel's garden at Goggingen ; it was made of well-seasoned oak ; the two radii and the arc were joined together by a framework of wood, and a slip of brass along the arc had the divisions marked on it. Unlike all Tycho's later quadrants, it was suspended by the centre, i The latitude of Goggingen is 48 20' 28", and that of St. Ulrich's Church, Augsburg = 48 21' 41" (Bode's Jahrbuch, Dritter Supplcmcntland, pp. 166- 167). Hainzel found, in 1572-73, the latitude of Goggingen = 48 22' with the great quadrant (Proyymnasmata, p. 361). 32 TYCHO BRAHE. and was movable round it, the two sights being fixed on one of the radii, and the measured altitude being marked by a plumb-line. The weighty mass was attached to a massive beam, vertically placed in a cubical framework of oak, and capable of being turned round by four handles, so as to place the quadrant in any vertical plane. The frame- work or base was strongly attached to beams sunk in the ground. There was no permanent roof over it, but some kind of removable cover. The instrument stood there for five years, until it was destroyed in a great storm in December 15/4, and some observations made with it of the new star of 1572 and other fixed stars are pub- lished in Tycho's Progymnasmata. 1 He does not himself appear to have observed with it, although we possess his observations made at Augsburg, with few interruptions, from April 1569 to April 1 5 70. Some of these are, as formerly, mere descriptions of the positions of the planets, stating with which stars they were in a straight line or in the same vertical ; others are made with the cross-staff; others again with a " sextant" or instrument for measuring angles in any plane whatever, which he had designed about this time. This instrument, which he presented to Paul Hainzel, consisted of two arms joined by a hinge like a pair of com- passes, with an arc of 30 attached to the end of one arm, while the other arm could be slowly moved along the arc by means of a screw. 2 We shall farther on describe this instrument in detail. In addition to these instruments, Tycho while at Augsburg arranged for the construction of a large celestial globe five feet in diameter, made of wooden plates with strong rings inside to strengthen it. It was afterwards covered with 1 Pages 360-367. The quadrant is figured ibid., p. 356; also in Astron. Inst. Mechanica, fol. E. 5, and in Barretti Historia Coslcstis, p. cvii. About its destruction, see T. B. et ad eum Doct. Vir. Epistolce, p. 17. 2 Figured in Mechanica, fol. E. 2. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 33 thin gilt brass plates, on which the stars and the equator and colures were marked. It was not finished when Tycho left Augsburg ; but Paul Hainzel, who was under great obligations to him for having designed the quadrant and given him the newly-constructed sextant, readily undertook to superintend the completion of it. At Augsburg Tycho made the acquaintance of Pierre de la Eamee, or Petrus Eamus, Professor of Philosophy and Ehetoric at the College Royal at Paris, who had been obliged to leave France several times owing to his adherence to the Huguenot party, and the odium he had drawn on himself by his opposition to the then all-powerful Aristotelean philosophy. He wanted to discourage the exclusive study of this time-honoured system of philosophy, now worn to a shadow, which had become a mere cloak for stagnation, bigotry, and ignorance, and to introduce in its place the study of mathematics in the University of Paris. But his zeal only procured him much enmity and persecution ; he had to apologise for his abuse of the Peripatetic philosophy before the Parliament of Paris, and by sentence of special royal commissioners appointed to investigate the matter, Aristotle was reinstated as the infallible guide to learning. Eamus had therefore for a while withdrawn from France, but, unluckily for himself, he returned in 1571, and perished the following year in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. This man, who was naturally inclined to hail with pleasure a rising star in a science closely allied to his own, happened to be at Augsburg in 1570, and became acquainted with Tycho Brahe through Hieronymus Wolf, a man of great learning, especially in the classical languages, and himself drawn to Tycho by his love of astrology. Having been invited by Hainzel to inspect the great quadrant, Eamus expressed his admiration of this important undertaking, so successfully carried out by a young man only twenty-three 3 34 TYCHO BRAHE. years of age, and begged him to publish a description of it. In his work Scholar um Mathematicarum Libri XXXL, published at Basle in 1569 (only a few months before his conversation with Tycho), Ramus had advocated the building up of a new astronomy solely by logic and mathematics, and entirely without any hypothesis, and had referred to the ancient Chaldeans and Egyptians as having had a science of this kind, which had gradually by Eudoxus and that terrible Aristotle been made absurd through the introduc- tion of solid spheres and endless systems of epicycles. Ramus explained his views to Tycho (who has left us an account of this conversation *) ; but he answered that astronomy without an hypothesis was an impossibility, for though the science must depend on numerical data and measures, the apparent motions of the stars could only be represented by circles and other figures. But though Ramus could not bring over the young astronomer to his views, they could cordially agree in the desire of seeing the science of astronomy renovated by new and accurate observations, before a true explanation of the celestial motions was attempted ; and it can hardly be doubted that the conversation of this rational, clear thinker (so different from a Leovitius, with his brain crammed full of astrology and other hazy and fanciful ideas) took root in the thought- ful mind of the young astronomer, and bore fruit in after years in that reformation of his science for which Ramus had hoped. Tycho Brahe left Augsburg in 1570, but the exact month is not known, nor the route by which he travelled. We only know that he passed through Ingolstadt, and called on Philip Apianus, 2 a son of Peter Apianus (or Biene- witz), whose name is well known both by his having pointed 1 In a letter to Rothmann, Epist. Astron., p. 60 ; see also Progymn., p. 359. 2 Prwjymn., p. 643. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 35 out that the tails of comets are turned away from the sun, and also by his work Astronomicum Ccesareum, to which we have already alluded. He was probably called back to Denmark by the illness of his father, Otto Brahe, for the first sign of his having returned is an observation made on the 3Oth December 1570 at Helsingborg Castle, where his father was governor, 1 and it is known that his brother, Steen Brahe, who was also abroad at that time, was called home by the alarming state of his father's health. 2 Otto Brahe died at Helsingborg on the Qth May I 5 7 1 , only fifty-three years of age, surrounded by his wife and family. Tycho has in a letter to Vedel given a touching description of his last moments. 3 His property of Knudstrup seems to have been inherited jointly by his eldest two sons, Tycho and Steen, the latter of whom was already the following year in a still existing document styled "of Knudstrup." 4 Tycho remained at home after his father's death, paying occasional visits to Copenhagen, but spending most of his time in Scania. He seems to have found it too lonely at Knudstrup, and soon took up his abode with his mother's brother, Steen Bille, at Heridsvad Abbey, about twenty English miles east of Helsingborg, and not very far from Knudstrup. Formerly there had been here a Benedictine monastery, which, like several others in Denmark, was not at once abolished at the Reformation ; but in 1565 Steen Bille had been ordered to take possession of the Abbey, " because ungodly life was going on there," and to maintain 1 It can hardly be called an observation : " Hor. quasi post occasum vidi quod d limbi illuminati extremitate distabat a 11 per duplicem diametrum sui corporis, habebatque eandem prsecise cum 11 latitudinem visam." 2 Danske Magazin, ii. p. 182 (Weistritz, ii. p. 50). 3 T. B. et ad eum Doct. Virorum Epistolce, pp. 1-3. In this letter Tycho, at Vedel's request, gives him a prescription against fever, and adds that he could give him others, but will wait till he sees him, as he does not like to put them in writing. 4 Danske Magazin, 4th Series, vol. ii. pp. 324-325. 36 TYCHO BRAKE. the Abbot, and to keep up divine service according to the Lutheran ritual, while he was to drive out " all superfluous learned and useless people." The Abbey does not appear to have been granted to him formally in fee till I5/6. 1 We have already mentioned Steen Bille as the only one of Tycho's relations who appreciated his scientific tastes, and he seems indeed to have been a man of considerable culture, who took an interest in more than one branch of learning or industry. Tycho says that he was the first to start a paper-mill and glass-works in Denmark. Whether it was from living with this uncle, or from some other cause, that Tycho for a while devoted himself more to chemistry than, to astronomy, is uncertain, but from the 3Oth December I 570 till November 1572 we do not possess a single astro- nomical observation made by him, while during this time he worked with great energy at chemical experiments, to which he had already paid some attention at Augsburg. His uncle gave him leave to arrange a laboratory in an outhouse of the Abbey, and was evidently himself much interested in the work carried on there. 2 Whether the object of this work was to make gold, as was most frequently the case with chemical experiments made in those days, there is no evidence to show ; but even if this was not the case, there is nothing surprising in seeing an astronomer in the six- teenth century turn aside from the contemplation of the stars to investigate the properties of the metals and their combinations. We have already alluded to the idea of the universe as a whole, of which the single parts were in mystical mutual dependence on each other an idea which had arisen among Oriental nations in the infancy of time, had thriven well owing to the mystical tendency of the Middle Ages, and had been gradually developed and formed into a complicated system by the speculations of philosophers 1 Friis, Tyge Brake, p. 31. 2 Progymn., p. 298. TYCHO BRAKE'S YOUTH. 37 of successive periods. The planets were the rulers of the elementary world and of the microcosmos, the moon being represented among the metals by silver, Mercury by quick- silver, Venus by silver, the sun by gold, Mars by iron, Jupiter by gold or tin, and Saturn by lead. It is therefore very probable that Tycho while working in the laboratory considered himself as merely for a while pursuing a special branch of the one great science, to the main branch of which he had hitherto felt specially attracted. But if these mystical speculations had as yet some power over his mind, they would seem gradually to have been pushed into the background, while cool and clear reasoning took their place, and guided him safely to his great goal the reformation of practical astronomy. We have now followed Tycho through what may be con- sidered the first period of his life. By study and intercourse with learned men he had mastered the results of the science of antiquity and the Middle Ages. But though he had to some extent already, as a youth seventeen or eighteen years of age, perceived the necessity of a vast series of systematic observations on which to found a new science, he had hitherto shrunk from carrying out this serious undertaking himself, or had perhaps despaired of getting the means of doing so. But a most unusual and startling celestial phenomenon was now to occur, to rouse him to renewed exertion, and firmly fix in his mind the determination to carry out the plans he had so long entertained. CHAPTER III. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. ON the evening of the I ith November 1572, Tycho Brahe had spent some time in the laboratory, and was returning to the house for supper, when he happened to throw his eyes up to the sky, and was startled by perceiving an exceedingly bright star in the constellation of Cassiopea, near the zenith, and in a place which he was well aware had not before been occupied by any star. Doubtful whether he was to believe his own eyes, he turned round to some servants who accompanied him and asked whether they saw the star ; and though they answered in the affirmative, he called out to some peasants who happened to be driving by, and asked the same question from them. When they also answered that they saw a very bright star in the place he indicated, Tycho could no longer doubt his senses, so he at once prepared to determine the position of the new star. He had just finished the making of a new instrument, a sextant similar to the one he had made for Paul Hainzel, and he was therefore able to measure the distance of the new star from the principal stars in Cas- siopea with greater accuracy than the cross-staff would have enabled him to attain. 1 In order to lessen the weight, the instrument was not made of metal, but of well-seasoned walnut-wood, the arms being joined by a bronze hinge, and the metallic arc only 30 in extent, and 1 The sextant is figured and described in Astr. Inst. Progymnasmata, p. 337 et seq. 38 THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 39 graduated to single minutes. The arms were four cubits, or about five and a half feet long, 1 three inches broad, and two inches thick ; and to steady the instrument an un- divided arc was attached to the arm which held the graduated arc, about eighteen inches from the centre, and passing loosely through a hole in the other arm, where it could be clamped by a small screw. This undivided arc and the long screw which served to separate the arms steadied the instrument, and kept its various parts in one plane. The graduated arc was not, as in his later instru- ments, subdivided by transversals, and the two sights were still of the usual kind, which he afterwards discarded, viz., two square metallic plates with a hole in the centre. The error of excentricity, caused by the unavoidable position of the observer's eye slightly behind the centre of the arc, was duly tabulated and taken into account. With this instrument Tycho measured the distance of the star from the nine principal stars of Cassiopea. We can easily picture to ourselves the impatience with which he must have awaited the next clear night, in order to see whether this most unusual phenomenon would still appear, or whether the star should have vanished again as suddenly as it had revealed itself. But there the star was, and con- tinued to be for about eighteen months, north of the three stars (now called /3, a, 5 J 9'> an d 5 2'. Tycho remarks (ibid., p. 593) that the latter results are corrected for the error of excentricity, and were made with the improved pinnules which he afterwards adopted. 48 TYCHO BRAKE. which passed the meridian nearly at the same time, both at upper and lower culmination, and found no difference what- ever ; whereas he shows that there would have been a parallax at lower culmination equal to 58^' if the star had been as near to us as the moon is. 1 Therefore the star could not be situated in the elementary region below the moon, nor could it be attached to any of the planetary spheres, as it would have been moved along with the sphere in question in a direction contrary to that of the daily revolution of the heavens, while his observations show that it has since its first appearance remained im- movable. Consequently, it must belong to the eighth sphere, that of the fixed stars ; and it cannot be a comet or other fiery meteor, as these are not generated in the heavens, but below the moon, in the upper regions of the air, upon which all philosophers agree, unless we are to believe Albumassar, who is credited with the statement that he had observed a comet farther off than the moon, in the sphere of Venus. Here again Tycho expresses the hope that he will some time get a chance of deciding this matter (as to the distance of comets) ; but anyhow, he adds, this star cannot have been a comet, as it had neither the appearance of one nor the proper motion which a comet would have been endowed with. The third paragraph deals with the magnitude and colour of the star. The volume of a star is very considerable ; the smallest are eighteen times as great as the earth, those of the first magnitude 105 times as great. Therefore the new star must have been of immense size. He then describes its gradual decline, until it " now, at the beginning of May, does not exceed the second magnitude." It must, 1 He assumed that the parallax would be = o at the upper culmination, but in his later work he remarks that this is a mistake, and that it would be nearly 7'. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 49 therefore, at first have been much more than a hundred times as large as the earth, but it has decreased in size. It twinkles like other stars, while the planets do not twinkle, which is another proof of its belonging to the eighth sphere. Having mentioned the change in colour, he finishes the astronomical part of the treatise on the star by remarking that the change in colour and magnitude does not prove it to be a comet or a similar phenomenon, for if it is possible that a new body can be generated in the aethereal region, as he has proved to be the case in opposition to the opinions of all philosophers, it must be considered far less impossible and absurd that this new star should change in brightness and colour. And if it could ever, beyond the ordinary laws of nature, have been seen in / the heavens, it would not be more absurd if it should again cease altogether to be visible, though again in opposition to those laws. Tycho now proceeds to give his opinion about the astro- logical effects of the new star. 1 These cannot be estimated by the usual methods, because the appearance of the star is a most unusual phenomenon. The only known precedent is the star said to have appeared at the time of Hipparchus, about B.C. 125. It was followed by great commotions both among the Jewish people and among the Gentiles, and there is no doubt that similar fatal times may be ex- pected now, particularly as the star in Cassiopea appeared nearly at the conclusion of a complete period of all the Trigoni. 2 For in about ten years the watery Trigon will 1 Fol. D. 2 verso to E. 3. 2 As some readers may not be familiar with the phraseology of astrology, it may be well to mention here that each Trigonus consists of three signs of the Ecliptic, 120 from each other; the four Trigoni correspond to the four elements, and each of them is in turn the ruling one, until a conjunction of planets has taken place within one of its signs. In about 800 years the four Trigoni will all have had their turn, and a cycle is completed. See, e.g., 4 50 TYCHO BRAKE. end with a conjunction of the outer planets in the end of the sign of Pisces, and a new period will commence with a fiery Trigon. Referred to the pole (i.e., according to right ascension), the new star belongs to the sign of Aries, where the new Trigon will also begin, and there will therefore be great changes in the world, both religious and political. The star was at first like Venus and Jupiter, and its effects will therefore first be pleasant ; but as it then became like Mars, there will next come a period of wars, seditions, captivity, and death of princes and destruction of cities, together with dryness and fiery meteors in the air, pestilence, and venomous snakes. Lastly, the star became like Saturn, and there will therefore, finally, come a time of want, death, imprisonment, and all kinds of sad things. As it is not exactly known when the star first appeared, he follows the example of Halus, a commentator of Ptolemy (on the occasion of the appearance of a comet), and assumes that it appeared at the time of new moon, the 5th of November, 1 at jh. 55m., for which moment he finds that Mars was the ruling planet. The places most affected by the star will be those in latitude 62 (in the zenith of which the star could be) ; but as the star belongs to Aries, its influence will be felt nearly over the whole of Europe, and particularly after the great conjunction (of April 1583) has added its great power to that of the star. It will be seen that this prediction is only expressed in very vague terms, and we shall find, when we come to analyse Cyprianus Leovitius, De Conjunctionibus Magnis, London, 1573 ; Kepler, DC Stella Noiu, 1606, p. 13 (Opera Omnia, ii. p. 623) ; Ideler, Ilandbuch dcr Chronologic, ii. p. 401. More about this in Chapter VIII. 1 No doubt he was right, as this would be a capital day for a celestial explosion to take place! The date and time of the first appearance was - /.. i required to prepare the horoscope of the star in the usual manner (see below, Chapter VI.). THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 51 Tycho's later writings, that lie afterwards modified and ex- tended it. When he wrote his preliminary treatise on the new star, he was evidently chiefly inclined to ascribe a direct physical and meteorological influence to the celestial bodies, though he was by no means blind to the difficulty of fore- telling the results of this influence, but he became gradually more inclined to disregard the physical effect (dryness, pesti- lence, &c.), and solely to look to the effect of the stars on the human mind, and through that on the human actions. That an unusual celestial phenomenon occurring at that particular moment should have been considered as indicating troublous times, is extremely natural when we consider the state of Europe in 1573. The tremendous rebellion against the Papal supremacy, which for a long time had seemed destined to end in the complete overthrow of the latter, appeared now to have reached its limit, and many people thought that the tide had already commenced to turn. In the south of Germany and in Austria the altered tactics of the Church of Rome, due to the influence of the fast rising Society of Jesus, were stamping out the feeble attempts of Reformers ; in France, the Huguenots were fighting their unequal battle with the fury of despair against an enemy who a year ago had attempted to end the strife by the infamous butchery of St. Bartholomew ; l in the Nether- lands, hundreds had suffered for their faith, while the country was being devastated with fire and sword in the vain efforts of the Spanish Government to make a free nation submit to their own sanguinary religion ; in England, the hopes of Protestants might at any moment be seriously threatened if the dagger of an assassin should find way to the heart of their queen, or if her most formidable and venomous enemy should turn his dreaded power against her. Who could 1 The year 1572 was, according to the custom of the age, remembered by the line " LVtetla Mater sVos natos DeVoraVIt." 52 TYCHO BRAKE. doubt that fearful disturbances were in store for the genera- tion that beheld the new star as well as for the following one ? The moderation of Tycho's astrological predictions is therefore remarkable, and becomes more conspicuous if we compare his opinions with the many silly ones expressed by contemporary writers. Before we say a few words about these, we shall, how- ever, finish the review of the contents of Tycho's book. We have already mentioned that he did not think it worth while to print the astrological calendar for the year 1573, of which the treatise on the new star originally formed a part, but that he contented himself with publishing the introduction, setting forth the principles on which the calendar, or diary, as he calls it, had been constructed. This fills sixteen and a half pages. It begins with a good deal of abuse of the ordinary prognostications, the absurdi- ties of which he intends to expose in a book to be called Contra Astrologos pro Astrologia. This intention he does not seem to have carried into effect, and two other treatises, which he says were already written, seem not to have been preserved. 1 He remarks that both the Alphonsine and the Prutenic Tables are several hours wrong with regard to the time of the equinoxes and solstices, and it is use- less to give the time of entry of the sun into any part of the Zodiac to a minute, as the sun in an hour moves less than 3', a quantity which cannot be observed with any instrument. Some writers are foolish enough to give minutes and seconds when stating the time of any particular position of a planet, although at the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in 1563 the Alphonsine Tables were a whole 1 One of these was DC rariis Astrologorum in Ccelestium Domorum Divisione Opinionibus, earumque Insujficientia, in which he proposed a new plan of dividing the heavens into " houses " by circles through the points of inter- section of the meridian and horizon. The other treatise was De .Horis Zodiaci incequalibus, quas Planetarias vacant. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 53 month in error, while even the Prutenic Tables could hardly fix the day correctly, not to speak of minutes or seconds. 1 A calendar should contain the usual information as to the aspects, time of sunrise and sunset, time of rising and setting of the moon and planets, and the names of the principal stars rising and setting at the same time. The moon is of particular importance as it is nearest to the elementary world, but even the planets must influence the weather. Lastly, a calendar should give the probable weather for every day, concluded from the configurations of the celestial bodies. He would warn the reader not to expect too much from the weather predictions, partly because much remains yet to be done in exploring the motions of the stars and their effect, partly on account of the fluidity of the inferior matter, which sometimes delays, sometimes hastens the effect produced by the stars. But any blame should rest on him and not on the art. Besides terrestrial influences must act differently in different parts of the earth, so that one configuration of the stars cannot have the same effect in several localities. Therefore he has undertaken this work principally in order by observation to learn the effect of the stars on this part of the earth, so that our posterity may profit thereby, and in order to secure this object he exhorts all meteorologists to take observations of the weather. The only part of the diary given in the book is that relating to the total eclipse of the moon on December 8, 1573. It fills twenty-four pages, including two full-page woodcuts one of the progress of the eclipse, the other of the earth, moon, and planets at that time. He gives first the calculation of the eclipse by the Prutenic Tables, with all 1 O audaces astronomos, O exquisites & subtiles calculators, qui Astro- nomiam in Tuguriis & popinis, vel post fornacem, in libris & chartis, non in ipso coslo (quod par erat) exercent. Plerique enim ipsa sidera (pudet dicere) ignorant. Sic itur ad astra " (fol. G.). 54 TYCHO BRAKE. the details step by step, and for the sake of comparison, the resulting time of the various phases (without details of calculation) by the Alphonsine Tables and Purbach's Tables ; also the same data after correcting the places of the sun and moon by his own observations. 1 He adopts the meridian 35 ab occasu, by which he probably means 35 east of the peak of Teneriffe. He recommends observers to discard clocks of any kind, but to fix the time by observing alti- tudes of some stars not too far from the east or west horizon, but which, when on the meridian, would have a considerable altitude, and he gives the altitudes of a few stars for the beginning and end of the eclipse and of totality. The astrological significance he computes by the rules given by Ptolemy in the second book of his Tetrabiblion. Mercury, and in the second place Saturn, are the ruling planets. The former means robbery, stealing, and piracy ; the latter want, exile, and grief. The regions chiefly affected by the eclipse are those which Ptolemy specially connected with the sign of Gemini, where the moon is. These are Hircania, Armenia, Gyrene, Marrnaria, and Lower Egypt, to which later astrologers have added Sardinia, Lombardy, Flanders, Brabant, and Wlirtemberg. It has been observed that the sign of Gemini has a special significance for Nurnberg whenever an eclipse or a conjunction took place in it, and the Niirnbergers may therefore expect some- thing, possibly pestilence, as Gemini is a " human sign," 1 It may not be without interest to insert these data here : Tabulae Prut. Ex propria Motuum ratione. Initium primse obscurationis Initium totius obscurationis H. M. S. 5 55 4i 6 59 5 7 5 1 2 9 H. M. 6 15 7 20 8 10 Finis totius obscurationis . Finis ultimse obscurationis Locus in Sagit. . . . 8 43 8 9 47 17 26 29' 9 o 10 5 26 40' THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 55 and also on account of the positions of Mercury and Mars. Countries whose rulers were born when Gemini was cul- minating may also be on the look-out, and generally speak- ing kings and princes are more affected by eclipses than private people ("as I have observed myself"), because the sun and the moon are the princes among the planets. The effect will last as many months as the eclipse lasted hours, and the beginning of it depends on the moon's distance from the horizon at the commencement of the eclipse. This eclipse will take effect from March till July 1574 (for latitude 56). As examples of this kind of prognostica- tions he quotes several recent eclipses. First, the lunar eclipse of April 3 , 1558, after which Charles Y. died ; then the solar eclipse of April 18, 1558, which did not begin to take effect till the end of the year, and then Christian III. of Denmark and Norway died ; and shortly afterward the deposed king, Christiern II., a captive for many years, died also; and Tycho shows how beautifully this agreed with their horoscopes. On November 7, 1565, a lunar eclipse took place near the Plejades, a group of stars with a moist and rainy influence, and consequently rainy weather came on, as he had at the time predicted at Leipzig. Similarly a lunar eclipse occurred on the 28th October 1566 close to Orion, and the effect should, according to Ptolemy, begin at once ; and so it did, and the whole winter turned out wet, as he predicted himself at Eostock. He does not say a word about the old Sultan ! The book is wound up with In Vraniain Elegia, Autoris, filling more than eight pages, and a page of verses by Vedel. In the Elegy, Tycho promises soon to produce something better, as neither the sneers of idle people nor the hardships of study shall deter him ; let others boast of their achievements in war or of their ancient family, let others seek the favour of princes or hunt for riches, or waste 56 TYCHO BRAKE. their time gambling and hunting, he does not envy them, for though sprung from ancient races both on the father's and on the mother's side, he does not value it, and calls nothing his but what has originated with himself. 1 But his mind is planning great things, and happy above all men is he who thinks more of celestial than of earthly things. I have given a very full account of the contents of Tycho's little book, not only because it is now extremely scarce, but also because it is very characteristic of him, and presents us with a perfect picture of the young author, his plans and his difficulties. We see him thoroughly aware of the great desideratum of astronomy, a stock of accurate observations, without which it could not possibly advance a single step further, and hoping that life and means might be granted him to supply this deficiency ; we see in him at the same time a perfect son of the sixteenth century, believing the universe to be woven together by mysterious connecting threads which the contemplation of the stars or of the elements of nature might unravel, and thereby lift the veil of the future ; we see that he is still, like most of his contemporaries, a believer in the solid spheres and the atmospherical origin of comets, to which errors of the Aristotelean physics he was destined a few years later to give the death-blow by his researches on comets ; we see him also thoroughly discontented with his surroundings, and looking abroad in the hope of finding somewhere else the place and the means for carrying out his plans. At the same time the book bears witness to the soberness of mind which distinguishes him from most of the other writers on the subject of the star. His account of it is very short, but it says all there could be said about it that it had no parallax, that it remained immovable in the same place, 1 "Nil tamen his moveor. Nam qvse non feciraus ipsi Et genus et proavos, non ego nostra voco." THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 57 that it looked like an ordinary star and it describes the star's place in the heavens accurately, and its variations in light and colour. Even though Tycho made solne remarks about the astrological significance of the star, he did so in a way which shows that he did not himself consider this the most valuable portion of his work. To appreciate his little book perfectly, it is desirable to glance at some of the other numerous books and pamphlets which were written about the star, and of most of which Tycho himself has in his later work (Progymnasmata) given a very detailed analysis, devoting nearly 300 pages to the task. It would lead us too far if we were to follow him through them all, but it will not be without interest briefly to describe what some of the more rational of his contemporaries published about the star, and to what absurdities a fervid imagination led some of the common herd of scribblers. At Cassel the star was observed by Landgrave Wilhelm IV., an ardent lover of astronomy, of whom we shall hear more in the sequel. He did not hear of the star till the 3rd December, and took observations of its altitude in various azimuths from that date and up to the 1 4th March following. From the greatest and smallest altitude Tycho found afterwards a value of the declination differing less than a minute from that found by himself. From the azimuths and altitudes observed at Cassel Tycho deduced the right ascension and declination : the single results for the latter are in good accordance inter se, while those for right ascen- sion differ considerably, the greatest difference being more than 2. Tycho justly concludes that this must be caused by the bad quality of the clock employed by the Landgrave, who merely gave the time of observation in true solar time, without furnishing the means of correcting for the error of his clock. In a letter to Caspar Peucer, the Landgrave stated that the star might have a parallax not exceeding 3', 58 TYCHO BRAKE. as there was that difference between the polar distances above and below the pole ; but his instruments had at that time not reached the degree of accuracy which they did ten years later, and the difference is not surprising. Peucer and Wolfgang Schuler at Wittenberg found a parallax of 1 9', which Tycho believed was a consequence of their having used an old wooden quadrant ; and, in fact, when he learned that the Landgrave had found little or no parallax, Schuler had a large triquetrum constructed, and also found that the star had no parallax, or at most a very small one. 1 Many observers measured the distance of the new star from the neighbouring ones, but the results found were generally considerably in error. Thus the Bohemian, Thaddaeus Hagecius, physician to the Emperor, in an otherwise sensible book, 2 gives a number of observed distances, some of which are 7' to I2 f (one is even 16') wrong, and even the English mathematician, Thomas Diggs (or Digges), who had made a special study of the cross staff, and had his instrument furnished with transversal divisions, differed ij-' to 4' from Tycho, possibly, as the latter thinks, because he did not allow sufficiently for the error of excentricity. 3 Cornelius Gemma, a son of the well-known astronomer, Gemma Frisius, and professor of medicine at Louvain, had a great 1 The triquetrum had been much in use from the time of Ptolemy. It con- sisted of two arms of equal length and movable round a hinge, while a third and carefully graduated arm gave the means of measuring the angle between the two former by the aid of a table of chords. 2 "Dialexis de novae et prius incognitae Stellas invsitatae Magnitudinis et splendissimi Luminis Apparitione et de eiusdem Stellas vero loco constituendo. Per Thaddaeum Hagecium ab Hayek." Francofurti, a. M. 1574. 176 pp. 4to. In an appendix are two papers on the star by Paul Fabricius and Corn. Gemma. Some years after Hagecius sent Tycho a copy with many MS. corrections and additions, which Tycho quotes extensively in his Proyymnas- mata (p. 505 et seq.). In this corrected copy the most erroneous measures had been improved or struck out, whereby the greatest differences from Tycho's results were reduced to 4' or 6'. 3 "Alae sen Scalse Mathematicae, quibus visibilium remotissima Coslorum Theatra conscendi, et Planetarum omnia itinera novis et inauditis methodis explorari . . . Thoma Diggeseo authore." Londini, 1573. 4to. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 59 deal to say about the star, but most of his distance measures are upwards of a degree wrong. On the other hand, Michael Mcestlinj the teacher of Kepler, though he possessed no instruments, determined the place of the star with fair accuracy simply by picking out four stars so placed that the new star was in the point of intersection of two lines drawn through two and two of them. As the star did not move relatively to these four stars during the daily revolution of the heavens (of which he assured himself by holding a thread before the eye, so that it passed through the three stars), Mcestlin concluded that it had no parallax, and that it was situated among the fixed stars, whose distance Co- pernicus, of whom he was a follower, had shown to be extremely great. Digges tried the same method, using a straight ruler six feet long, which he first suspended verti- cally until he found two stars which were in the same vertical as the new star; six hours afterwards he tried again, holding the ruler in his hand, whether the three stars were still in a straight line. He found the star to be exactly in the point of intersection of the line joining j3 Cephei and y Cassiopese, and the line joining i Cephei and $ Cassiopese, and concluded that it could not have a parallax amounting to 2 r . Tycho afterwards computed the place of the star from these data, using his own accurate positions of the four stars, and found the longitude only 2 r greater and the latitude J ; greater than what he had deduced from his own observations. 1 Digges had hoped to test the Coper- nican theory of the motion of the earth by trying whether the star had an annual parallax, but he could find none. 1 Digges, I.e., chapter x., fol. K 3. By a mistake he says that the two lines join 5 Cassiopeje, /3 Cephei, and i Cephei, 7 Cassiopese. Tycho remarks that one can see at a glance that these two lines do not intersect each other between the stars, but pretending not to see that it is merely a lapsus calami, he gravely calculates places from these data, using his own distances, and of course gets absurd results (Progymn., p. 681), after which he interchanges the stars, and gets the correct result given above. 60 TYCHO BRAHE. The question of the star's distance from the earth being one of special interest, all observers tried to determine the daily parallax, but the results varied immensely according to the skill of the observer. While several writers, in addition to those already mentioned, state that they could find no per- ceptible parallax, 1 others found a large one. Thus Elias Camerarius at Frankfurt on the Oder had at first thought that he had found a parallax of 12', but in January 1573 he could only find one of 4^', from which he concluded that the star had in the meantime receded from us in a straight line (so that its apparent place was not altered), and that this was the cause of its diminished brightness. A German writer of the name of Nolthius tried to find the parallax by a method suggested by Regiomontanus from the hour angle, the azimuth and the latitude of the observing station, com- paring the altitude computed from these with the observed one. He chose, however, a bad time for the experiment, when the altitude was very great (77), and it is not to be wondered at that he found an absurd result 39' for the parallax and it does not seem to have struck him that this would correspond to a parallax equal to 2 42' at the lowest altitude of the star, which could not have escaped even casual observers, as pointed out by Tycho. 2 Of greater interest than these crude attempts are the statements of the various writers as to the time when the star first became visible. Some writers say that the star was already seen early in October, but none of them are entitled to much credit. The above-named Elias Camerarius at Frankfurt on the Oder says that it appeared " in principio Octobris Anni 1572 uesperi circa horam I o prope Meridi- 1 Thus Paul Fabricius at Vienna, Hainzel (using the great quadrant at Augsburg), Reisacher at Vienna, Corn. Gemma (not stating how found), Hieronimus Munosius at Valencia, Valesius from Covarruvias (physician to Philip II. of Spain), and Johan Prsetorius (Richter), professor at Wittenberg. z Progymn., i. p. 760. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 61 anum ; " but as lie appears to be utterly unknown in the history of science, too much weight ought not to be attached to his unsupported statement. 1 Annibal Raimundus of Verona (of whom we shall hear more presently) tells us that the star was seen "circa principium Octobris, a plurimis Nobilibus et Ignobilibus, eruditis atque indoctis," but further on he contradicts himself, saying that the star has now been visible three months, and as he wrote at the end of January 1573, this would make the appearance of the star date from the end of October or the beginning of November. 2 A little French book, published in 1590, states that the star was seen " aii mois d'Octobre " in Spain by shepherds keeping watch over their flocks, but this reminds one too much of the words used by St. Luke, and is contradicted by other testimony. 3 According to Paul Fabricius at Vienna it appeared "sub Octobris finem." 4 All these statements are contradicted by Munosius, professor in the University of Valencia, who maintained that he was certain the star had not yet appeared on the 2nd November, as he was showing his pupils the constellations on that night, and could not have failed to see it, and Spanish shepherds agreed with him therein. As Munosius took very fair distance measures of ihe star, and wrote in a sensible strain, there is every reason to believe him. 5 The first trustworthy observation 1 Ibid., p. 692. Tycho never saw the book, and only knew it from a MS. abstract made for him by Hagecius. It is in the Poulkova Library, and W. Struve mentions, that the writer states in two places that he saw it "principle Octobris." Astron. Nachr., xix. p. 334. Elias Camerarius is not mentioned in Jocher's Gelehrten Lexicon, nor in any other historical work that I have at hand. 2 Progym., i. pp. 721-723. Tycho remarks that Raimundus has forgotten the proverb that liars should have a good memory. 3 La novvelle Estoille apparve svr tons les Climats dv Monde : Et de ses effects. Paris, 1590. 28 pp. small 8vo. This book was not known to Tycho Brahe. 4 Hagecii Dialexis, p. 129. Tycho remarks (Progym., p. 548) that if it had been visible in October, Mcestlin (who saw it " the first week in November ") would probably have noticed it. 5 Progymn., i. pp. 565, 566. 62 TYCHO BRA HE. seems to have been made by Wolfgang Schuler at Witten- berg, who says that he saw it at six o'clock in the morning on the 6th November. 1 On the 7th at 6 P.M. it was seen by Paul Hainzel, 2 and the same evening by Bernhard Lindauer, minister at Winterthur in Switzerland. 3 Mau- rolycus, the well-known astronomer at Messina, and David Chytreeus at Rostock, saw it on the 8th. 4 Many writers have quoted the words of Cornelius Gemma, stating that the star appeared first on the pth November, and that it had not been visible on the previous evening in clear weather, 5 but they have overlooked the fact that Gemma, in his book De Naturae Divinis Cliaracterismis, seu raris & admi- randis Spectaculis, Libri ii. (Antwerp, 1575, 2 vols. 8vo), tells quite a different story, viz., that some people had already seen it before the end of October. He does not say when he first saw it himself, but he did not begin to observe its position till the 2 6th November, as he thought it idle talk when he first heard of a new star. 6 Gemma's 1 Progymn., i. p. 621. 2 Ibid., p. 536. 3 Rudolf Wolf in Astr. Nachr., Ixv. p. 63. 4 About the observation of Maurolycus, see Nature, xxxii. p. 162 (June 18, 1885). About Chytraeus, see R. Wolf, Geschichte der Astronomic, p. 415. 5 "Nona Nouembris, die Dominico vesperi, cum tamen obseruantibus proxi- mum cceli locum die octauo, etiam sereno fethere non apparuerit" (Hagecii Dialcxis, p. 137), also in his separate pamphlet, "Stella Peregrinse iam primum exortse et Coelo constanter hserentis (fiaivdfJLevov .... per D. Cor- nelium Gemmam." Lovanij, 1573. 13 pp. 4to (fol. A2). There is one re- print (s.a.e.l.) of this, with some omissions, and coupled with a paper by Postellus, and another coupled with a reprint of a paper by Cyprianus Leo- vitius. Among writers who have quoted Gemma may be mentioned Newton (Principia, iii., ed. Le Seur and Jacquier, p. 670), who thought that Gemma himself had looked at the sky on the 8th without seeing it ; but this was a mistake, as we have just shown above. 6 Gemma's book is a very curious one. The first volume is about terrestrial curiosities, Siamese twins, and much queerer beings (well illustrated) ; vol. ii. is about celestial wonders, comets, &c., chapter iii. being "De prodigioso Phaenomeno syderis noui" (pp. 111-155). Page 113 : "Sed qui se primos ob- seruasse voluerunt, nonum diem pro initio tradiderunt : cum tamen interea conuenerim plures, quorum alij diem secundum aut tertium annotarint, plerique vel ante Octobris finem ferant etiain a vulgaribus obseruatum. . . . Primum observationis tempus fuit nobis die Nou. 26." THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 63 testimony is therefore worth nothing, and it may safely be assumed that the star became visible between the 2nd and the 6th of November, and was seen by an apparently trust- worthy observer on the morning of the 6th. That many different attempts should be made to explain the nature of the new star and the cause of its sudden appearance is very natural. Most writers contented them- selves by saying that it was some sort of a comet, though not of the usual kind, as these, according to Aristotle, were sublunary, while the star was far beyond the moon. That it did not in the least look like a comet was generally not considered an objection to this theory, as instances could be quoted of comets having appeared without tails ; 1 a greater difficulty was the absence of motion relatively to the other stars in Cassiopea, as only very few writers had the hardihood to maintain that it had actually moved before it disappeared. 2 Gemma sought to explain this by supposing, with Elias Camerarius, that the star was moving in a straight line away from us, 3 but this could not account for the sudden appearance of the star with its maximum brightness. Others thought it more probable that the star was not a new one, but merely an old and faint star, which had become brighter through some sudden transformation 1 In a pamphlet, "La Declaration d'vn comete ou estoille prodigieuse laqvelle a commence" a nous apparoistre a Paris, en la partie Septentrionale du ciel, au mois de Nouembre dernier en 1'an present 1572, & se monstre encores auiourd'huy. Par I. G. D. V.," Paris, 1572, 4to, 8pp., it is said that people who had good sight could see several rays, of which the longest, which might be called the tail of the comet, was always turned to the east ! Its distance from the pole-star, when above the pole, was "le plus souv^nt " 25 30', but afterwards it became 24 40', and below the pole 24 30', which the author takes to be the effect of parallax ! The author was probably Jean Gosselin de Vize, librarian to the King. The pamphlet was not known to Tycho ; it is not in Lalande's Billiographie. 2 Leovitius, writing in February 1573, says it seems to him that the star had during the last month moved three degrees towards the north ! 3 The English astronomer, John Dee, was of the same opinion (Progymn., p. 691). 64 TYCHO BRAKE. of the air between it and the earth, or a condensation of part of one of the spheres through which its light had to pass. The principal reason why some writers (e.g., Reisacher and Vallesius) adopted this explanation was, that God had ceased creating on the sixth day, and nothing new had been made since then. Reisacher had at first thought that the star was identical with K Cassiopeas, which had merely become brighter, but when the light of the star had become less dazzling he perceived that K was still in the heavens, and that he had merely failed to see it hitherto owing to the overpowering light of the new star. More obstinate was Raimundus of Verona, who in two publications main- tained that it was nothing but K. He seems to have done so with unnecessary heat, and using contemptuous expres- sions about people who thought differently, as Tycho in reviewing his writings uses stronger language than usual, and Hagecius thought it necessary to publish a refutation full of the most violent invectives and written in a very slashing style. 1 Another Italian, Frangipani, also took the star to be K Cassiopese, and as its place did not agree with that assigned to the latter by Ptolemy, he calmly assumed that the old star must have moved. He quotes the old story about the seventh star of the Plejades (Electra) hav- ing disappeared after the destruction of Troy, and asserts that the pole-star did the same for a while after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks. 2 All this is, however, very tame compared with the fancies of a German painter, Georg Busch, of Erfurt, who wrote two pamphlets "Von dem Cometen." According to him it was a comet, and these bodies were formed by the ascending from the earth of human sins and wickedness, formed into a kind of gas, 1 " Thaddaei Hagecij ab Hayek, Aulas Cesarese Medici, Responsio ad viru- lentum et maledicum Hannibalis Rayirmndi Scriptum," &c. Pragoe, 1576. 4to. 2 Progymnasmata, p. 743- THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 65 and ignited by the anger of God. This poisonous stuff falls down again on people's heads, and causes all kinds of mischief, such as pestilence, Frenchmen (!), sudden death, bad weather, &c. Perhaps it was the night of St. Bartho- lomew which made Busch think of Frenchmen in this connection. The question as to whether new stars had ever appeared before was touched on by several writers, who referred to the star of Hipparchus and the star of Bethlehem. Land- grave Wilhelm IV., in his letter to Peucer, also alludes to the star stated by Marcellinus to have appeared A.D. 389.* Cyprianus Leovitius states that similar stars appeared in the same part of the heavens in the years 945 and 1264, the " comet " of the latter year being without a tail and having no motion, and says that this information was taken from an old manuscript. 2 It is certainly a very suspicious circumstance that real comets appeared both in 945 and in 1264, and the absence of tail and motion might merely be subsequent embellishments by the writer of the manu- script referred to by Leovitius ; but, on the other hand, it is quite possible that new stars may have appeared in those 1 About this star see Calvisii Opus Chronologicum, p. 413 (second edit., 1620), and The Observatory, vii. p. 75. 2 " De Nova Stella. Judicium Cypriani Leovitii a Leonicia, Mathematici, de nova stella sine cometa, viso mense Nouembri ac Decembri A.D. I57 2 - Item mense Januario & Februario A.D. 1573. Lavingse ad Danubium, 1573." 4to, 8 fol. : "Histories perhibent tempore Ottonis primi Imperatoris, similem stellam in eodem fere loco Coeli arsisse, A.D. 945. Vbi magnse mutationes plurimaque mala, uarias Prouincias Europae peruaserunt, potissitnum propter peregrinas gentes infusas in Germaniam. Verum multo locupletius testi- monium in historijs extat de A.D 1264, quo Stella magna & lucida in parte Coeli Septentrional! circa Sydus Cassiopeae apparuit, carens similiter crinibus, ac destituta motu suo proprio." In the margin, opposite the date 1264, is : "Descriptio huius Cometae desumpta est ex antiquo codice, manu scripto. Euentus hi congruent cum significationibus stellse propositee : quod bene notandum est : videoque hie aliquid insigne. " Tycho has reprinted the whole pamphlet (pp. 705-706), leaving out the "Judicium breve" at the end, and also the marginal notes. The latter are also omitted from a reprint pub- lished (s. 1.) in 1573, together with a reprint of Gemma's pamphlet. 5 66 TYCHO BRAHE. years without being noticed by other chroniclers, as science was then at it its lowest ebb in Europe, and a new star of perhaps less than the first magnitude and of short dura- tion (like the stars of 1866 and 1876) could easily escape detection. 1 The only other contemporary author who alludes to the years 945 and 1264 is Count Hardeck, who in 1573 was Rector of the University of Wittenberg ; but as his little book is dated the I st May 1573, and that of Leovitius the 2Oth February, he would have had time to copy from Leovitius, and in any case it is certain that he speaks of a real comet of the year 1264, as he mentions its tail, while it is doubtful whether he means a comet or a star when speaking of 94 5. 2 It has been repeatedly sug- gested that the star of Cassiopea might be a variable star, with a period of about three hundred years, in which case it should again become visible about the present time, but it is needless to say that the vague assertions of Leovitius form a very slender foundation on which to build such a 1 According to Klein, Der Fixsternhimmel, p. 102, the Chronicle of Albertus Stadensis (Oldenburg) mentions a bright star in Capricornus in 1245 (not alluded to elsewhere), as bright as Venus, but more red, and which lasted for two months. 2 " Orationes duae. Vna de legibus et disciplina. Altera de Cometa inter Sidera lucente in mensem septimum, continens commonefactionem de impendentibus periculis. A Joh. Comite Hardeci. Wittenberg, 1573." 8vo. Fol. C., p. 2 : "Reperimus Cometas qui ante heec tempora in eodem octaui orbis loco fulserunt, fere gentes concitasse Boreas, suis excitas sedibus, ad quaerendas nouas. Qui Honorij principatu conspectus est, cuius meminit Claudianus, baud dubie finem Imperio occidentis cum tristi ac horribili ruina attulit . . . Qui Ottone primo imperante ad eandem Cassiopaeam flagrauit Cometa, Vngaros in Germaniam, Ottonem in Italiam impulit . . . Qui anno a nato Christo sexagesimo supra millesimum ducentesimum ibidem luxit inter- regni tempore, coma ad coeli medium usque dispersa, Carolum Andegauensem e Gallia, per furiosa & scelerata consilia dementis Pontificis attraxit in Italiam." This book is not mentioned by Tycho Brahe. In his Cometo- grapkia, p. 817, Hevelius quotes Christianus as mentioning the star of 945. This may seem to some readers to refer to the Chronicle of Christianus of 1472 (Pulkova Cat., p. 76), but, as Professor Copelaud has pointed out to me, it is merely a quotation of D. Christiani Tractatus de Cometarurn, Essentia, 1653, and therefore it does not prove anything as to the correctness of the statement of Cyprianus. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 67 theory. All the same, it is desirable that the place where the star of 1572 appeared should be examined from time to time. Argelander has, from a discussion of all Tycho's distance-measures, found the most probable position of the star for the equinox of 1865 to be : KA = oh. i/m. 2OS., Decl. = +63 2 3'. 9. This position agrees remarkably well with that of a small star of the 10.1 1 magnitude, No. 129 of D' Arrest's list of stars in the neighbourhood of Tycho's Nova, which is for 1865 : oh. 17:01. 193.4-63 23'. I. Whether this small star is variable or not must be left for the future to decide. Argelander stated in 1864 (speaking from memory) that he had about forty years pre- viously failed to see any star in the place with the transit instrument at Abo (of 5^ inches aperture), and that he had also later probably in 1849 been unable to see anything with the transit circle at Bonn. 1 There is thus a possibility that D'Arrest's star may have increased in light of late years, and observations made at Twickenham by Hind and W. E. Plumrner in 187273, and at Prague by Safarik in 188889, seem to indicate that it is subject to very slight fluctuations of light. 2 The map of all the stars in the neighbourhood, prepared by D'Arrest (which is com- plete down to the fifteenth or sixteenth magnitude, within a radius of I o' from the place of the Nova) may in future be compared with photographs of this interesting spot, which deserves to be watched from time to time. 1 D'Arrest, Oversigt over det Icgl. Danske VidensTc. Selskabs Forhandlinger, 1864, p. I, where a list of stars near the place and a map are given. Micro- metric observation of the star No. 129 in Astr. Nachr., vol. Ixiv. p. 75. Argelander, Ueber den neuen Stern vom Jahre 1572, Astr. Nachr., vol. Ixii. p. 273. 2 Monthly Notices, It. Astr. Soc., xxxiv., p. 168 ; Astr. Nachr., vol. cxxiii. p. 365, D'Arrest in 1863-64 found no variability. The place was already examined by Edward Pigott between 1782 and 1786, but without finding any variable star (Phil. Trans., 1786); it was first photographed by Mr. Roberts in 1890 (Monthly Notices, L. p. 359). 68 TYCHO BRAKE. I shall not here enter into a lengthy examination of the various prognostications and more or less wild speculations to which the new star gave rise in 1572. As remarked by Tycho, the usual methods of astrology were of no avail in this exceptional case, and there is therefore little to be gained even to the student of the history of astrology (a subject of considerable interest) by an examination of the literature on the star. I shall only point out a few curious particulars. That the star portended great events, possibly of an evil character, seemed evident to most writers, and the star of Bethlehem was frequently referred to as a phenomenon of a similar nature. As the star seen by the wise men foretold the birth of Christ, the new one was generally supposed to announce His last coming and the end of the world. This was already suggested by Wilhelm IV. in his above-mentioned letter to Peucer, and among others who declared their belief in this idea was the successor of Calvin at Geneva, Theodore Beza, who announced it in a short Latin poem. 1 He even says that it is the very same star which was seen by the Magi ; but, as Tycho remarks, perhaps that was only said "poetica quadam festivitate." Gemma, in his book on the comet of 1577, points out the great disturbances which followed the star seen by Hip- parchus, and expects similar ones to occur now ; Tycho justly remarks that it looks as if Gemma had copied all this from his own little book. 2 Catholic authors naturally thought that the star foretold the victory of their Church ; among these is Theodore Graminseus, Professor of Mathe- 1 Published in the above-mentioned reprint " De Nova Stella Judicia Dvorum Prsestantium Mathematicorum, D. Cypriani Leovitii et D. Cornelii Gemmse," 1573, s.l. ; perhaps also elsewhere. Reprinted by Tycho, Progymn., p. 327. 2 "De Prodigiosa Specie Naturaque Cometse . . . 1577. Per D. Cornelium Gemmam, Antwerp, 1578," Svo, p. 42 (compare Progymnasmata, p. 565). There is a curious picture in this book of Belgica weeping amidst the burning ruins of a city, while the paternal government of Philip II. is represented by gibbets and wheels in the background, and the comet is blazing overhead. THE NEW STAR OF 1572. 69 matics at Cologne, author of a book in which there is nothing astronomical, but a great deal about old prophecies. 1 According to one of these, dating from 1488 and founded on the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in 1484, a false prophet was soon to arise, who, of course, turned out to be Luther, and a picture is given of the prophet dressed like a monk, with a shrivelled little devil sitting astride on his neck, and followed by a small monk or choir-boy. Un- luckily Luther was not born in 1484, but in 1483, and not on the 22nd October, as assumed by the mathema- tician Cardan, who worked out his horoscope (in what spirit may easily be conceived), but nineteen days later. The above-mentioned French pamphlet of 1590, printed at a time when Henry IV. had not yet come to the conclusion that " Paris vaut bien une messe," also declares that the star meant the victory of the Church and the King, but the latter must not be a heretic, but fide plenus. The author also states that the star disappeared the 1 8th February 1574, " qui fut le propre iour que le feu Eoy Henry de Yalois feist son entree en Cracouie." 2 Doubtless the star expired from grief at seeing this charming creature bury himself so far from his admiring country. Strange that it did not light up again with joy when he bolted from his Polish kingdom a few months later ! After this digression we shall now return to Tycho, de- ferring to a later chapter an account of the researches and speculations on the subject of the new star which he made in after-years, and which it would not be possible to describe in this place without a serious break in the continuity of our narrative. 1 "Erklerung oder Auslegung ernes Cometen. . . . Durch Theodorum Graminseum Ruremundanum. Collen am Rhein, 1573, 4to." Tycho mentions him as "Autor Stramineus, Graminseus volebam dicere" (Prog., p. 77^). 2 This beautiful remark is also made in Gosselin's Historia Imaginum Coelestium, Paris, 1577, 4to, p. u. CHAPTER IV. TYCHO'S ORATION ON ASTROLOGY AND HIS TRA VELS IN 1575. AFTER the publication of the book on the new star Tycho Brahe had intended to go abroad for some time, and it appears, even, that he was inclined to leave his native land for ever, but the journey had to be put off owing to an attack of ague, which continued during the greater part of the summer of 1573. Another circumstance which doubtless contri- buted to keep him at home, was that he had formed an attachment to a young girl some months before. Her name was Christine, but otherwise nothing is known about her ; some authors say she was the daughter of a farmer on the Knudstrup property, others that she was a servant-girl ; others, again, believed her to have been the daughter of a clergyman. At any rate, it is certain that she was not of gentle blood, and this contributed greatly to estrange his proud relations from him, as they, of course, considered the connection a disgrace. Tycho had no scruples in this respect, and probably considered that a quiet and domestic woman was more likely to be a suitable companion for him through life than a high-born lady to whom his scientific occupations, perhaps, might be distasteful. It is nowhere expressly stated that he and she were united by a Church marriage, and it is almost certain that this was not the case, as it is stated in several contemporary genealogies that Tycho was not married, but that he had children by 70 ORATION ON ASTROLOGY. 71 an " unfree woman." l Twenty-nine years after his death his sister Sophia and several others of his relations signed a declaration stating that Tycho's children were legitimate, and that their mother (though his inferior in rank) had been his wife, adding that he would not have been allowed to live with an unmarried woman in Denmark for twenty- six years. Cut this does not in the least prove that Christine had been formally married to Tycho. According to the ancient Danish law, a woman who publicly lived with a man and kept his keys and ate at his table was after three winters to be considered as his wife. In this rule the Reformation made no change, as Luther and his followers did not consider a Church ceremony necessary to legalise a marriage, but adopted the old rule of canonical law, that the consent of the parties made the marriage, which, there- fore, really dated from the betrothal (matrimonium in- ckoatuiri)j though the full consequences only began when the parties went to live together or were married (matri- monium consummatum). A natural result of these views was, that the parties frequently began to live together immediately after the betrothal, as they did not see the necessity of the Church ceremony, which could make no difference as to the legal effects of the connexion. Gradu- ally a change took place in these views, as the Church could not look with indifference at this setting aside of its authority; but though in Denmark betrothed people about 1 Danslce Magazin, ii. p. 192 (Weistritz, ii. p. 70). The English traveller, Fynes Moryson, tells us that Tycho was said "to liue vnmarried, but keeping a Concubine, of whom he had many children, & the reason of his so liuing was thought to be this ; because his nose hauing been cut off in a quarrell, when he studied in a Vniversity of Germany, he knew himselfe thereby dis- abled to marry any Gentlewoman of his own quality. It was also said that the Gentlemen lesse respected him for liuing in that sort, and did not acknow- ledge his sonnes for Gentlemen." Moryson heard this at Elsinore in 1593; see his " Itinerary of his ten Yeeres Travell through the twelve Domjnions of Germany, Bohmerland, &c." London, 1617, p. 59. 72 TYCHO BRAKE. the year 1566 began to be punished if they commenced living together before the wedding, and an ordinance of 1582 declares that a formal betrothal before a minister and witnesses shall precede a wedding, it was not yet expressly ordered that a Church ceremony was the only way of legalising a marriage, and, in fact, this was not done till a hundred years later. 1 Tycho Brahe lived just at a time when the law of the land was still formally unaltered, and it is therefore intelligible how his children might be con- sidered legitimate, and the companion of his life have been looked upon as his lawful wife. Doubtless the only fault anybody had to find with her was her low origin, and if she had been his equal in rank nobody would have thought that she was anything but his wife. 2 Tycho's eldest child, a daughter of the name of Christine, was born in October 1573, but died in September 1576. His other children were Magdalene (born in 1574), Claudius (born in January 1577, died six days after), Tyge (born in August 1581), Jorgen (born 1583), and three other daughters, Elizabeth, Sophia, and Cecily, as to the dates of whose birth nothing is known. 8 The ague seems to have left Tycho in August 1573, as 1 By the Danske Lov of 1683 and the Church ritual of 1685. See an article in the Historisk TidssJcrift, fifth series, vol. i. 1879, by the Danish Minister of Justice, J. Nellemann. 2 Early in the sixteenth century a Danish nobleman, Mogens Lb'venbalk, brought a young Scotch lady, Janet Craigengelt (on the female side said to have been related to the Grahams of Montrose), home to his castle, Tjele, in Jutland, where she lived for many years and bore him two children. Her son tried in vain to obtain recognition as his father's legitimate heir, and his claims were set aside chiefly because his mother had clearly not been treated as the mistress of the house, but rather as a dependent. On the other hand, the University of Wittenberg declared in favour of the legitimate birth of the children, evidently guided by the then ruling principle of canonical law, that a long intercourse with all the outer resemblance of wedlock had the same legal weight as a formal marriage. 3 The eldest daughter was buried in Helsingborg church. In the epitaph she is called filiola naturalis, which has made Langebek doubt whether she had the same mother as the other children (D. Magazin, ii. p. 194) ; but this ORATION ON ASTROLOGY. 73 we still possess a couple of observations from the I4th of that month. The lunar eclipse of the 8th December, which he had computed in the book on the new star, was duly observed, and he was on that occasion assisted by his youngest sister Sophia, at that time a girl seventeen years of age, highly educated, and not only conversant with classi- cal literature, but also well acquainted with astrology and alchemy, and therefore in every way fit to assist her great brother. She was the only one of his relations who showed any sympathy with his pursuits, and was a frequent visitor in his home. In March, April, and May 1574 Tycho observed at Heridsvad, but the remaining part of the year he chiefly spent at Copenhagen, where his daughter Mag- dalene was born. 1 In the capital his rising fame had now attracted considerable attention, and some young nobles who were studying at the University requested him to deliver a course of lectures on some mathematical subject on which there were no lectures being given at that time. His friends Dancey and Pratensis urged him to consent to this proposal, but Tycho was not inclined to do so, until the King had also requested him to gratify the wishes of the students, and at the same time to give the University a helping hand. He then yielded, and the lectures were commenced on the 23rd September 1574, with an oration on the antiquity and importance of the mathematical sciences. This was printed after his death, but has long ago become very scarce, for which reason we shall give an abstract of the contents. 2 very expression, which originated in the Roman 'jurisprudence, shows that the humble companion of Tycho's life was her mother (see Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter xliv.). 1 He had also observed at Copenhagen on the 24th April. Nearly all these observations are distance-measures of planets from fixed stars, doubtless with the sextant, " satis exquisite, subtracta instrumenti parallax! ; " but a small quadrant is also mentioned. 2 " Tychonis Brahei de Disciplinis mathematicis oratio publice recitata in 74 TYCHO BRAHE. The oration begins with an allusion to his having been requested to lecture, not only by his friends, but also by the King, and then goes on to describe the various branches of mathematics cultivated by the ancients. Geometry has a higher purpose than merely measuring land, and the divine Plato turned all those away from his teaching who were ignorant of geometry, as being unfit to devote them- selves to other branches of philosophy. To this he attri- butes the high degree of learning reached by the ancient philosophers, as they were imbued with geometry from their childhood, " while we, unfortunately, have to spend the best years of our youth on the study of languages and grammar, which those acquired in infancy without trouble." Astronomy is a very ancient science, and, according to Josephus, it can be traced back to the time of Seth, while Abraham from the motions of the sun, moon, and stars perceived that there was but one God, by whose will all was governed. It was next studied by the Egyptians ; while we owe our knowledge, above all, to Hipparchus, Ptolemy, and more recently to Nico- laus Copernicus, who not without reason has been called a second Ptolemy, and who, having by his own observations found both the Ptolemean and the Alphonsine theories in- sufficient to explain the celestial motions, by new hypotheses deduced by the admirable skill of his genius, restored the science to such an extent, that nobody before him had a more accurate knowledge of the motions of the stars. And though his theory was somewhat contrary to physical principles, it admitted nothing contrary to mathematical axioms, such as the ancients did in assuming the motions Academia Haffniensi anno 1574, et nunc primum edita . . . studio et opera Cunradi Aslaci Bergensis. Hafnise, 1610, 4to." Dedicated to Tycho's brother, Sten Brahe of Knudstrup, and the editor has added some of his own speeches. Second edition, Hamburg, 1621, to the title is added "in qua simul Astrologia defenditur et ab objectionibus dissentientium vindicatur. Cum Prseloquio Joach. Curtii." Both editions are very scarce. OEATION ON ASTROLOGY. 75 of the stars in the epicycles and eccentrics to be irregular with regard to the centres of these circles, " which was absurd." The lecturer next alludes to the beauty of the celestial phenomena, and shows that we must distinguish between the casual contemplation of the heavens and their scientific examination, as only the latter will detect the variation in the moon's distance from us, the revolutions of the planets, &c. The utility of astronomy is easy to per- ceive, as no nation could exist without means of properly dividing and fixing time, while the science exalts the human mind from earthly and trivial things to heavenly ones. A special use of astronomy is, that it enables us to draw conclusions from the movements in the celestial regions as to human fate. The remainder of the lecture is devoted to considerations on the importance and value of astrology, and tries to answer the objections which philosophers and theologians had made against it. It is evident, from the detailed manner in which this is done, how important Tycho considered this subject to be. We cannot, he says, deny the influence of the stars without disbelieving in the wisdom of God. The importance of the sun and moon is easy to perceive, but the five planets and the eighth sphere have also their destination, as they cannot have been created without a purpose, but were placed in the sky and given regular motions to show the wisdom and goodness of the Creator. The sun causes the four seasons, while during the increase and decrease of the moon all things which are analogous to it, such as the brain and marrow of animals, increase and decrease similarly. The moon also causes the tides, and its influence on these becomes greatest when that of the sun is joined to it at new-moon and full-moon. Sailors and cultivators of the soil have noticed that the rising and setting of certain stars cause stormy weather, and more experienced observers know that the 76 TYCHO BRAKE. configurations of the planets have also great influence on the weather. Conjunctions of Mars and Venus in certain parts of the sky cause rain and thunder, those of Jupiter and Mercury storms, those of the sun and Saturn turbid and disagreeable air. The most ancient writers on agricul- ture, as well as poets and astrologers, have observed that the rising and setting of the more conspicuous stars simultaneously with the sun produced rain, wind, and other atmospheric changes, particularly when the planets joined their effect to that of the stars. 1 The sun and stars move in the same manner from year to year, but this is not the case with the planets, and the weather of one year cannot, therefore, be like that of another. Among planetary con- junctions, he mentions that of Jupiter and Saturn in 1563, in the beginning of the sign of Leo near the hazy stars of Cancer (Prassepe), which Ptolemy already considered pesti- lential. This conjunction was in a few years followed by an outbreak of the plague. While many people admitted the influence of the stars on nature, they denied it where mankind were concerned. But man is made from the elements, and absorbs them just as much as food and drink, from which it follows that man must also, like the elements, be subject to the influence of the planets ; and there is, besides, a great analogy between the parts of the human body and the seven planets. The heart, being the seat of the breath of life, corresponds to the sun, and the brain to the moon. As the heart and brain are the most important parts of the body, so the sun and moon are the most power- ful celestial bodies ; and as there is much reciprocal action between the former, so is there much mutual dependence between the latter. In the same way the liver corresponds i " Habent se enim stellae fixse in coelo veluti matres, quae nisi a septem errantibus stellis stimulentur et impregnentur, steriles sunt et nihil in hac inferior! natura progignunt " (Oratio, p. 20). ORATION ON AST110LOGY. 77 to Jupiter, the kidneys to Venus, the milt to Saturn, the gall to Mars, and the lungs to Mercury, and the resem- blance of the functions of these various organs to the assumed astrological character of the planets is pointed out in a manner similar to that followed by other astrological writers. He believes experience to have shown that those who are born when the moon is affected by the evil planets (Saturn and Mars) and is unluckily placed, have a weak brain and are under the influence of passions, while those in whose case the sun was influenced by those planets suffered from palpitation of the heart. But if both lumi- naries are in unlucky aspects, those born at that time are of weak health and intellect. Those people at whose birth Saturn, the highest planet, was favourable, are inclined to sublime studies, while those whom Jupiter has influenced are attracted to politics. The solar influence makes people desire honour, dignities, and power; that of Venus makes them devote themselves to love, pleasures, and music ; while Mercury encourages people to mercantile pursuits, and the moon to travelling. Many philosophers and theologians, continued Tycho in his lecture, have contended that astrology was not to be counted among the sciences, because the moment of birth was difficult to fix, because many are born at the same moment whose fates differ vastly, because twins often meet with very different fortunes, while many die simultaneously in war or pestilence whose horoscopes by no means foretold such a fate. It had also been maintained that a knowledge of the future was useless or undesirable, and theologians added that the art was forbidden in God's Word and drew men away from God. To these objections Tycho answered, that even if there was an error of an hour in the assumed time of birth, it would be possible from subsequent events to calculate it accurately. With regard to war or pestilence, 78 TYCHO BRAHE. prudent astrologers always made a reservation as to public calamities which proceed from universal causes. Difference of education, mode of life, and similar circumstances ex- plained the different fates which people born at the same time met with ; and as to twins, they were not born exactly at the same moment, and one was always naturally weaker than the other, and this the stars could not correct. Astrology was not forbidden in the Bible, but sorcery only. So far Tycho's astrological ideas are in accordance with those of contemporary and previous writers on such sub- jects, but towards the end of his discourse he shows more distinctly than most of these, that he did not consider the fate of man to be absolutely settled by the aspect of the stars, but that God could alter it as He willed. Nor was man altogether bound by the influence of the stars, but God had so made him that he might conquer that influence, as there was something in man superior to it. The objection to" astrology, that it was a useless art, as knowledge of the future was undesirable, would only hold good if it were impossible to resist the influence of the stars; but being forewarned, we might try to avert the threatening evils, and in this way astrology was of great use. In conclusion, Tycho stated that as the doctrine of the primum mobile (spherical astronomy) was very easy, and was frequently lectured on in the University, he had thought it more advisable to take for his subject the motions of secundum mobile, explain the method of calculating the motions of the seven planets by the Prutenic tables, which were the most accurate ones, and describe the circles by means of which the tables had been computed. Early in 1575 these lectures were finished, and Tycho Brahe shortly afterwards started on the long-deferred TRAVELS IN 1575. 79 journey. 1 Leaving his family at home until lie had decided where he would finally settle down, he went first to Cassel to make the acquaintance of the distinguished astronomer, Landgrave Wilhelm IV. of Hesse. Wilhelm was born in 1532, and was the son of Landgrave Philip the Magnani- mous, one of the most determined champions of the Kefor- mation, who, after the disastrous battle of Mlihlberg (1547), had surrendered to the Emperor, and had been kept a close prisoner for five years, during which anxious time his dominions had been governed by Wilhelm. When Philip became free in 1552, Wilhelm gladly turned back to the learned occupations, to which he had already for some years been devoted. By accident he came across the curious work of Peter Apianus, Astronomicum Ccesareum, in which the orbits of the planets are represented by movable circles of cardboard, and he became so much interested in the subject, that he had circles of copper made for the same purpose. Having afterwards studied Purbach's planetary theory and the other principal works of the time, he became, like Tycho, convinced of the necessity of making systematic observations, as he found considerable errors in the existing star cata- logues. In 1561 he built a tower on the Zwehrer Thor at Cassel, of which the top could be turned round to any part of the sky, and here he observed regularly up to 1567, when the death of his father and his own consequent accession to the government of his dominions gave him less leisure for scientific occupations. As yet he had not any astronomer 1 Shortly before starting he had occasion to show his friendship for his former tutor Vedel and his patriotism. Vedel was just in the act of finishing his translation of the Danish Chronicle of Saxo Grammaticus (from the end of the twelfth century), but the cost. of the paper necessary for so large a work was so great, that Vedel's friends feared that the work might remain un- printed. Tycho wrote a Latin poem to encourage his friend, calling on the Danish women to sacrifice some of their linen, and to send it to the paper- mill in Scania, lest the deeds of their ancestors should be buried in oblivion (Wegener's Life of Vedel, p. 83). 80 TYCHO BRAKE. to assist him, and the work at his observatory had for a long time made little or no progress, when Tycho Brahe arrived at Cassel in the beginning of April 1575. The Landgrave was well pleased to receive the young astronomer as his guest, and they conversed by day about their favourite science, and observed the heavens by night together, the Landgrave with his own quadrants and unwieldy torqueta, Tycho with some portable instruments, among which was probably his sextant. Among other observations they deter- mined the position of Spica Virginis. 1 Naturally they dis- cussed the nature and position of the new star, and the Landgrave told Tycho how he had once been so intent on determining the greatest altitude of the star, that he had not even desisted when he was told that part of the house was on fire, but had calmly finished the observation before leaving the observatory. Tycho was also interested to learn that the Landgrave had remarked how the motion of the sun became retarded when it approached the horizon at sunset, which might be seen by watching a sun-dial. Tycho recol- lected having read the same in the observations of Bernhard Walther (before whom, however, Alhazen had recognised in this phenomenon an effect of refraction), and he determined to follow up the matter by-and-by, so as to be able to cor- rect observations made at low altitudes for refraction. 2 More than a week had elapsed in thus exchanging ideas and opinions, when a little daughter of the Landgrave died, and Tycho, who did not wish to intrude his company on the 1 Tychonis Epi*t. Astron., Dedication. In his Progymn., p. 616, Tycho states that the Landgrave on this occasion gave him a copy of his own cata- logue of improved star-places. Tycho prints as specimens the places of Alde- baran, Betelgeux, and Sirius ; but though superior to the positions given by Alphonsus and Copernicus, those of the Landgrave were as yet very inferior to Tycho's. We shall, farther on, see how the observations made at Cassel afterwards became much more accurate than they were at the time of Tycho's visit. 2 Gassendi, p. 29. TRAVELS IN 1575. 81 afflicted father, took his departure. He never saw the Land- grave again, but the visit of the young enthusiast had re- newed the wavering scientific ardour of his host, and the friendship thus commenced was revived in after-years by frequent correspondence and the interchange of obser- vations. From Cassel, Tycho went to Frankfurt -on -the -Main, where he purchased some books at the half-yearly mart, particularly some of the numerous pamphlets on the new star. He went thence to Basle, where he had already spent some time in the winter of 156869, and where he now found his stay so agreeable that he thought seriously of settling down there. The University of Basle was one of the most important centres of learning in Europe, and Tycho might hope to find the same refined tastes and culture among the scientific men living there which, some sixty years before, had decided Erasmus to take up his residence at Basle. The central situation of the city, between Ger- many and France and not far from Italy, seemed also very convenient. 1 Deferring, however, for the present the final step of returning home for his family, Tycho went through Switzerland to Venice, and spent some days there, after which he retraced his steps back to Germany, and went in the first instance to Augsburg. The friendships with the brothers Hainzel and Hieronimus Wolf formed during his former visit had in the meantime not been forgotten, and several letters had been exchanged between them. Thus, Paul Hainzel had in March 1574 written to express his warmest thanks for a copy of Tycho's book on the new star, and in March 1575 both he and Wolf had written to tell Tycho that they had succeeded in procuring for him from Schreckenfuchs of Freiburg a zodiacal sphere constructed according to the description of Ptolemy as formulated by 1 Astr. Inst. Mechanica, fol. G. 2. 82 TYCHO BRAKE. Copernicus. 1 The money sent by Tycho had been stolen by the carrier, who had never since been heard of, but the instrument had now arrived, and would be forwarded. 2 Tycho can hardly have received these letters before starting from home, and was therefore possibly still ignorant of another piece of news contained in them, namely, that the great quadrant at Goggingen, which he had designed six years before, had in the previous December been blown down and destroyed in a great storm. 3 The great globe which he had ordered to be made during his former visit was now nearly completed, and was the following year brought to Denmark with great trouble. At Augsburg, Tycho on this occasion made the acquaintance of a painter, Tobias Gemperlin, and induced him to go to Denmark, where he afterwards painted a number of pictures for Uraniborg and the royal castles. At Eatisbon great numbers of princes and nobles from all parts of the empire were just then gathering to witness the coronation as King of the Romans of Rudolph the Second, King of Hungary and Bohemia, on the 1st November. Tycho also betook himself thither in the hope of meeting the Landgrave, and perhaps some other scientific men. He was, however, disappointed as to the Landgrave, who did not appear ; but he had the consolation of meeting, among others, the physician-in-ordinary to the Emperor, Thadda3us Hagecius or Hayek, a Bohemian, whose name we have already met with among the writers on the new star. He gave 1 Erasmus Oswald Schreckenfuchs (1511 1579)> Professor of Mathematics, Rhetorics, and Hebrew, first at Tubingen, afterwards at Freiburg in Breisgau ; editor of the works of Ptolemy (Basle, 1551), and author of commentaries on the writings of Sacrobosco, Purbach, and Regiomontanus. 2 By Petrus Aurifaber, "cum supellectile sua" (Was he the maker of the globe ?) These letters are published in T. Brake et ad eum doct. vir. Epist. , pp. 1 1 seq. Whether Tycho ever got the sphere is not known. 3 It may have been re-erected later, as Joh. Major wrote to Tycho Brahe in 1577 that it was still in use ; but, on the other hand, P. Hainzel wrote in 1579 that he had not observed the comet of 1577 for want of convenient instru- ments (T. B. et doct. vir. Epist., pp. 42 and 46). TRAVELS IN 1575. 83 Tycho a copy of a letter he had received from Hieronimus Munosius of Valencia on this subject, and Tycho tried in vain to dissuade him from publishing an answer to the scurrilous and absurd assertions of Raimundus of Verona. 1 Another and most precious gift which Hagecius bestowed on Tycho on this occasion was a copy of a MS. by Coperni- cus, De Hypothesibus Motuum Ccelestium Commentariolus, an account of the new system of the world, which its author had written for circulation among friends some ten years before the publication of his book, De Revolutionilus, but which had never been printed. 2 In after years Tycho communicated copies of this literary relic to various German astronomers. Probably he presented to Hagecius in return a copy of his own paper on the star, as the latter is quoted in Hagecius' reply to Raimundus. 3 From Eatisbon Tycho returned home via Saalfeld and Wittenberg. At the former place he visited Erasmus Rein- hold, the younger, a son of the author of the " Prutenic Tables," who showed him his father's manuscripts, among which were extended tables of the equations of centre of the planets for every 10' of the anomaly. 4 At Wittenberg he inspected the wooden triquetrum with which Wolfgang 1 Profjymn., pp. 567 and 734; see also above, p. 64. 2 Progymn., p. 479. Though the description there given of the MS. ought to have attracted attention, and have led to a search for copies of it, the Com- mentariolus remained perfectly unknown till the year 1878, when it was noticed that there was a copy of it in the Hof-Bibliothek at Vienna, and immediately afterwards another copy was found at the Stockholm Observatory. The Vienna MS. had been presented by Longomontanus on his departure from Prague in 1600 to another of Tycho Brahe's disciples, Job. Eriksen, and it is therefore doubtless a copy of the MS. belonging to Tycho. See Prowe, Nicolaus Coppcrnicus, i. part ii. p. 286. 3 Danske JMayazin, ii. p. 196, quotes Thomasini Elog. Viror. Jllustr., according to which, Tycho, in his younger days, received an offer of an appointment at the Emperor's court. There is no confirmation anywhere of this statement ; but if the offer was ever made, it was probably done .at Ratis- bon in 1575. 4 Progymn., p. 699. 84 TYCHO BRAHE. Schuler and Johannes Praetorius had observed the new star. 1 About the end of the year Tycho returned home, appa- rently intending very soon to leave his native land for ever in order to reside at Basle. He had, however, not yet con- fided his intentions to anybody, but luckily King Frederick II. had his attention specially drawn to Tycho through an embassy to Landgrave Wilhelm, which happened to return to Denmark from Cassel about that time. The Landgrave had requested the members of the embassy to urge the king to do something for Tycho, so as to enable him to devote himself to his astronomical studies at home ; as these would do much credit to his king and country, and be of great value for the advancement of science. 2 When Tycho paid his respects to the king, the latter offered him various castles for a residence, but Tycho declined these offers. King Frederick was, however, fond of learning, and anxious to retain in the kingdom so promising a man; and he shortly afterwards sent off a messenger with orders to travel day and night, until he could deliver into Tycho's own hands the letter of which he was the bearer. On the I ith of February, early in the morning, as Tycho was lying in bed at Knudstrup, turning over in his mind his plan of emigrating, the royal messenger, a youth of noble family and a connection of Tycho's, was announced, and was at once brought to his bedside to deliver the king's letter. In this Tycho was commanded immediately to come over to Seeland to wait on the king. He started the same day, and arrived in the evening at the king's hunting-lodge at Ibstrup, near Copenhagen. 8 The king now told him that 1 Progymn., p. 636 ; see also above, p. 58. 2 Epist. Astron., Dedication, fol. 2. 3 Afterwards called Jaegersborg, about five English miles north of Copen- hagen ; it was demolished long ago. The present king's summer residence, Bernstorff, is close to the place. TRAVELS IN 1575. 85 one of his courtiers had understood from Tycho's uncle, Sten Bille, that Tycho was thinking of returning to Germany, and asked him whether he had perhaps refused to accept a royal castle because he feared to be disturbed in his studies by affairs of court and state. The king next told him how he had lately been at Elsinore, where he was building the castle of Kronborg, and that his eye had fallen on the little island of Hveen, situated in the Sound, between Elsinore and Landskrona in Scania, and that it had occurred to him that this lonely little spot, which had not been granted in fee to any nobleman, might be a suitable residence for the astronomer, where he might live perfectly undisturbed ; adding, that he believed he had heard from Sten Bille before Tycho went to Germany that he liked the situation. The king offered him the island and promised to supply him with means to build a house there. He finally told Tycho to think the matter over for a few days, and give his final answer at the castle of Frederiksborg ; if he accepted the offer, the king would immediately give the necessary orders for payment of a sum of money for the building. Having returned home, Tycho at once wrote a long letter to his friend Pratensis, telling him in detail all that had happened, and confessing his former intention of leaving Denmark. He asked Pratensis to show the letter only to Dancey, and requested them both to advise him in the matter. 1 They both strongly urged him to accept the king's offer, which he accordingly did, and already on the 1 8th of February the king by letter granted Tycho "five hundred good old daler " annually until further orders. 2 1 T. B. et Doct. Vir. Epist., p. 21 et seq. In the letter of February 14, Tycho asks Pratensis to tear up or burn the letter as soon as Dancey had seen it, and in his reply next day, Pratensis writes that he had destroyed it. Tycho must therefore have kept a copy. 2 About 114, but of course this represented at that time a much greater sum. In Denmark the first Joachimsthaler had been coined in 1523, exactly of the same value as those first issued in North Germany in 1519, which value 86 TYCHO BRAKE. Four days after, on the 22nd February 1576, Tycho paid his first visit (at least as far as we know) to the little island which was destined to become famous through him, and the same evening took his first observation there of a conjunction of Mars and the moon. 1 If he could have foreseen that he was destined to furnish the means of cir- cumventing the tricks of the inobservable Sidus (as Pliny called Mars), 'and himself to add more to our knowledge of the moon's motion than any one had done since Ptolemy, he would certainly by this coincidence have been confirmed in his belief in astrology. On the 23rd May a document was signed by the king of which the following is an exact translation : 2 11 We, Frederick the Second, &c., make known to all men, that we of our special favour and grace have conferred and granted in fee, and now by this our open letter confer and grant in fee, to our beloved Tyge Brahe, Otte's son, of Knudstrup, our man and servant, our land of Hveen, with all our and the crown's tenants and servants who thereon live, with all rent and duty which comes from that, and is the Danish daler retained nearly unaltered, though the name changed, first to species (from in specie, or in one piece), then to rigsdaler species. The coinage had greatly deteriorated during the war with Sweden, hence doubtless the expression " good old daler." 1 Februarii die 22. Existente in M. C. ultima in capite Hydrse quse est versus ortum, et sola juxta collum, apparebat visibilis conjunctio d et ad- modum partilis, adeo ut d inferiore et meridionaliore cornu fere attingeret corpus clistans saltern ab eo parte sexta sui diametri accipiendo distantiam hanc ab inferior! cornu limbi. Erat autem circa idem teinpus per observa- tionem alt. lucidiss. in pede Orionis II g. 2O m. H. 9 M. 30. Infimus vero d limbus circa quern <$ conspiciebatur elevari visus est 10 g. 50 m. Observatio haec facta i. Huennse. Langebek in Danske Mag., ii. p. 194 (Weistritz, ii. p. 73), refers to this visit to Hveen as made in the year 1574. In the original the year is not given, and the observation follows after one of May 19, 1574. But on February 22, 1574, the moon was only a few days old, and Mars was at the other side of the heavens, while they were very close together on the same date in 1576. 2 Danske Magazin, ii. p. 198. TRAVELS IN 1575. 87 given to us and to the crown, to have, enjoy, use and hold, quit and free, without any rent, all the days of his life, and as long as he lives and likes to continue and follow his studia mathematices, but so that he shall keep the tenants who live there under law and right, and injure none of them against the law or by any new impost or other unusual tax, and in all ways be faithful to us and the kingdom, and attend to our welfare in every way and guard against and prevent danger and injury to the kingdom. Actum Frederiksborg the 23rd day of May, anno 1576. " FREDERICK." The same day the chief of the exchequer, Christopher Valkendorf, was instructed to pay to Tycho Brahe 400 daler towards building a house on the island of Hveen, for which Tycho was himself to provide building materials. This money was paid on the 27th May. 1 Just at the moment when everything was settled and Tycho's prospects in life were most brilliant, he had the grief to lose his friend Johannes Pratensis, who died suddenly on the 1st June from a bleeding of the lungs while lecturing in the University. He was only thirty-three years of age, and had been professor of medicine since 1571. Tycho had promised to write a Latin epitaph over his friend in case he should survive him, and he had it printed in 1584 at his own printing office at Uraniborg. He also caused a monument to be erected to the memory of Pratensis in the Cathedral of Copenhagen. 2 1 Friis, Tyge Brahe, p. 58. 2 The epitaph is reprinted in Danske Magazin, p. 199 (Weistritz, ii. 84), and in T. B. et ad eum Doct. Vir. Epist., p. 28. CHAPTER V. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN AND TYCHO BRA HE'S OBSERVATORIES AND OTHER BUILDINGS HIS ENDOWMENTS. IN the beautiful scenery along the coast of the Sound between Copenhagen and Elsinore, the isle of Hveen with its white cliffs, rising steeply out of the sea, forms a very conspicuous feature. It is about fourteen English miles north of Copenhagen, and about nine miles south of Elsi- nore, rather nearer to the coast of Scania than to that of Seel and. The surface is a nearly flat tableland of about two thousand acres, sloping slightly towards the east, and of an irregularly oblong outline, the longest diameter extending from north-west to south-east and being about three miles long. From time immemorial it was considered an append- age to Seeland, but in 1634 it was placed under the jurisdic- tion of the court of justice at Lund in Scania, because the inhabitants had complained of the long distance to their former court of appeal in Seeland. 1 In consequence of this change the island was ceded to Sweden in 1658, when the Danish provinces east of the Sound were conquered by the king of Sweden. Though there are no considerable woods on the island and the surface is but slightly un- dulated, the almost constant view of the sea in all directions, studded with ships and bounded by the well- wooded coasts 1 There is still extant a Latin poem written by T. Brahe in 1592, "In itinere a Ringstadio domum," in which he charges the judge who had tried some lawsuit of his with injustice. Danske Magazin, ii. p. 279. About the change of jurisdiction see Bang's Samlinger, ii. p. 265 (Weistritz, ii. p. 226, and i. p. 56). 88 of Se attra :j MURAL QUADRANT. THE ISLAND OF HVEEK 89 of Seeland and Scania in the distance, helps to form very attractive scenery, which adds to the peculiar charm the island has for any one who is interested in the great memories connected with it. One can understand why Tycho calls it " Insula Venusia, vulgo Hvenna," as if it were worthy of being called after the goddess of beauty. Another name, which Tycho mentions as sometimes applied to the island by foreigners, is "Insula Scarlatina," and with this name a curious and probably apocryphal story is connected, which is told by the English traveller, Fynes Moryson (who was in Denmark in 1593), in the following words : " The Danes think this Hand of Wheen to be of such importance, as they have an idle fable, that a King of England should offer for the possession of it, as much scarlet cloth as would cover the same, with a Kose -noble at the corner of each cloth. Others tell a fable of like credit, that it was once sold to a Merchant, whom they scoffed when he came to take possession, bidding him take away the earth he had bought." * The island forms one parish, and the church, which is the only building to be seen with the naked eye from the Danish coast, is situated at the north-west corner of the island, close to the edge of the cliff. As already men- tioned, the island is a table-land, with steep cliffs round nearly the whole circumference, through which narrow glens in several places form the beds of small rivulets, the pret- tiest one being Bakvik, on the south-east coast. At the time of Tycho Brahe the inhabitants lived in a village called Tuna (i.e., town, Scottice, "the toun"), towards the north coast; there were about forty farms, and the land was tilled in common. From the map in Blaev's Grand i An Itinerary written by Fynes Moryson, &c., London, 1617, fol., p. 60. The story also occurs in P.D. Huetii Commentarius de Rebus ad eum pertinenti- bus, Amsterdam, 1718, 8vo, p. 85. Tycho merely mentions the name Scarlatina, Astr. Inst. Mech., fol. G. 2, and De Mundi Aeth. Rec. Phaen. ii. Preface. 90 TYCHO BRAKE. Atlas it appears that most of the land in the south-eastern half of the island was only used for grazing. We give here a reduced copy of Blaev's map, which agrees well with HVEEN AT THE TlME OP TYCHO BRAHE. EXPLANATION OP THE MAP. A. Uraniborg. B. Stjerneborg Observatory. C. Farm. D. Workshop. E. Windmill. F. Village. G. Paper-mill. H. Church. I. Hill where Petty Sessions were held. K, L, M. Fish-ponds. N. Grove of nut-trees. 0. Morass with alder trees. P, Q, E, S. Ruins of old forts. T. A small wood. Tycho's own map, 1 except that we have slightly altered the contour of the island, in accordance with modern maps. 1 Astr. Inst. Mcchanica, fol. I. 2, and Epist. Astron., p. 264. There is a small copy of it on the frontispiece of Kepler's Tabulce Rudolpliince. 2 I possess another large map (18 in. by 13 in.), with one page letterpress on the back, " Topographia Insulse Huense in Celebri Porthmo Rcgni Danise THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 91 Neither before Tycho's time nor afterwards has this little island played any part in the history of Denmark, and yet tradition points to a time long ago when even this little spot is supposed to have been the scene of heroic deeds. On the map appear the ruins of four castles or forts, which are supposed to have been destroyed in 1288, when the Norwegian king, Erik the Priesthater, ravaged the coasts of the Sound. Nowadays a few stones and a slight rise of the ground scarcely marks the site of each fort, but in Tycho's time there were more distinct traces of them left. 1 Their names were Nordborg, on the north coast ; Sonderborg, on the south-west coast ; Hammer, at the north-east, and Carlshoga, at the south-east corner. Tycho's friend and former tutor, Yedel, published a collec- lection of ancient Danish popular ballads and romances, quern vulgo Oersunt uocant. Effigiata Colonise, 1586." I believe it belongs to Braunii Theatrum Urbium. There are very few details on it, and the coast-line is very incorrect, but the plans and views of Uraniborg in the corners of the map, and the descriptive letterpress on the back, are of value, as they contain some particulars not to be found elsewhere, and the author has evidently got reliable information, probably from A. S. Vedel, who is known to have contributed to the work. Willem Janszoon Blaev (1571- 1638) had himself lived at Hveen with Tycho. The following particulars from the description of the island in his son's Grand Atlas, ou Cosmographie Blaviane (Amsterdam, 1663, vol. i. p. 61), are of interest : "Elle est fertile en bons fruits et n'a aucune partie qui soit sterile, elle abonde en toutes sortes de gros bestail, nourrit des daims, lievres, lapins et perdrix en quantitd La pesche y est de tous costez : elle a un petit bois de couldriers, noisettiers, dont jamais les noix ne sont mangees des vers ny vermolues. II ne s'y trouve aucun loir ny taulpe. . . . Cette isle n'a point de riviere, mais quantity des ruisseaux et fontaines d'eau douce. Vne entre autres qui ne gele jamais, ce qui est tres- rare en ces quartiers." A similar account is given in Wolf's Encomion Regni Danice, Copenhagen, 1654, p. 525. 1 The Swedish antiquarian, Sjoborg, who visited the island in 1814, men- tions a place close north of the south-east ruin, called Lady Grimhild's grave, of which he could find no trace. On the north-east coast there was another ruin, apparently a quadrangular building, So feet by 24, with a walled-in enclosure in front. It was called the Monks' Kirk, but nothing is known about it, and it is not mentioned by Tycho. See Sjoborg, Samlinyar for Nordens FornalsJcare, T. iii., Stockholm, 1830, pp. 71-82. About the four castles see also Braun's map, where it is stated that there were (in 1586) no ruins left, but only traces of the foundations. 92 TYCHO BRAHE. among which are three which give the following account of the traditions about these ruins. 1 Lady Grimhild, who owned the whole island, made a festival at Nordborg, to which she, among others, invited her brothers, Helled Haagen and Folker, the minstrel, both well-known figures in Danish mediaeval ballads. She in- tended, however, to slay the two brothers, with whom she was at enmity, but they accepted her invitation, though they were warned while crossing the Sound, first by a mermaid and next by the ferryman, both of whom were beheaded by Helled Haagen as a punishment for the evil omen. On arriving at Nordborg they were well received by Grimhild, who, however, soon persuaded her men to challenge the brothers to mortal combat. She was specially infuriated against Helled Haagen, and enticed him into promising that he would confess himself defeated if he should merely stumble. To bring about this result, she had the lists covered with hides, on which peas were strewn, and of course Helled Haagen slipped on these, and, true to his vow, remained lying and was slain. His brother, Folker, was likewise killed. But one of Grimhild's maids, Hvenild, after whom the island got its name, bore a son who was called Kanke, and who afterwards avenged the death of his father Helled Haagen. The poems merely mention the revenge, without going into details, but in his introduction Yedel tells how Eanke enticed Grimhild into a place in Hammer Castle, where he said his grandfather, Niflung or Niding, had hidden his treasure, but when she had gone inside, he ran out and bolted the door, leaving her to die of hunger. The resemblance of this story to the principal events of the Niebelungenlied is striking, and doubtless the story is, both in the German epic and 1 I take the following account from the Danish poet Heiberg's delightful article on Hveen and its state in 1845, in his year-book, Urania, for 1846. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 93 in the Scandinavian tradition, derived from a common source. 1 Nearly in the centre of the island, 160 feet above the level of the sea, 2 Tycho selected a site for his new residence and observatory, which he very appropriately called Urani- burgum or Uraniborg, as it was to be devoted to the study of the heavens. The work was at once commenced, and on the 8th August 1576 the foundation-stone was laid. The French minister Dancey had asked to be allowed to perform this ceremony, and had provided a handsome stone of porphyry with a Latin inscription, stating that the house was to be devoted to philosophy, and especially to the contemplation of the stars. Some friends and other men of rank or learning assembled early in the morning, *' when the sun was rising together with Jupiter near Eegulus, while the moon in Aquarius was setting; liba- tions were solemnly made with various wines, success was wished to the undertaking, and the stone was put in its place at the south-east corner of the house at the level of the ground." 3 The building operations were now steadily proceeded with under the direction of the architect, Hans van Stenwinchel from Emden, but Tycho doubtless super- intended the work himself, as he seems to have almost constantly resided in the island. We find, at least, that 1 According to another tradition mentioned by Sjoborg (1. c., p. 74), Ranke threw the keys of Hammer Castle into the sea, and bewitched the castle so that it sank into the earth or into the sea ; but if there shall ever be three posthumous men in the island at the same time, each called after his father, then Hammer Castle shall again stand in its old place, and the keys be found. Other traditions say that Hvenild was a giantess (Jettekvinde), who carried pieces of Seeland in her apron over to Scania, where they formed the hills of Runeberga, but as her apron-strings burst on the way, she dropped a piece in the sea, which formed the island of Hveen. The hill close to Uraniborg, Hellehog, where in Tycho's time the local court was held, is evidently called after Helled Haagen. 2 According to Picard 2J toises (Ouvmges de Mathematique, p. 71). 3 Astron. Inst. Mcchanica, fol. H. 6. 94 TYCHO BRAHE. he took observations pretty regularly from December 1576. On his birthday, the I4th December, he commenced a series of observations of the sun, which were steadily con- tinued for more than twenty years. 1 Having now plenty of occupation, Tycho thought it best to decline an offer made to him the following year by the professors of the University, who on the 1 8th May 1577 unanimously paid him the compliment of electing him Kector of the Uni- versity for the ensuing year, although it had not, since the Reformation, been customary to elect anybody to this post who was not a professor. Tycho replied on the 2 1 st May, expressing his appreciation of the proffered honour and his regrets that the building operations and other business obliged him to decline the post offered him. 2 Although the house was probably soon sufficiently ad- vanced to enable Tycho to take up his residence in it, it does not appear to have been completed till the year 1580. Uraniborg was situated in the centre of a square enclosure, of which the corners pointed to the four points of the com- pass. The enclosure was formed by earthen walls, of which the sides were covered with stones, about 1 8 feet high, 1 6 feet thick at the base, and 248 feet from corner to corner. 3 At the middle of each wall was a semicircular bend, 7 3 feet in diameter, and each enclosing an arbour. 4 At the east 1 "Die 14 qui mihi est natalis feci primam observationem H venae ad Solera circa ipsum Solstitium hybernum et inveni alt. meridianam minimam quae illic potest 10 43'." Previous to this date there is only an observation of Mars on the 22nd October. 2 Tycho's answer is printed in Danske Magazin, ii. p. 202, see also Rordain, Kjcibenliavns Universitets Historic, Copenhagen, 1872, vol. ii. p. 174. 3 Here and in the following, English measures are always used. Tycho expresses all his measures in feet, of which one is 0.765 French foot = 0.815 English foot, or in cubits of 1 6.1 English inches. See D'Arrest's paper on the ruins of Uraniborg in Astron. Nachrichten, No. 1718. 4 On the figure on Braun's map (see above, p. 90 note) the four walls are perfectlystraight, and the four arbours are in the middle of the flower-gardens. The semicircular bends were therefore later improvements. THE ISLAND OF HVEEX. 95 and west angles gates gave access to the interior of the enclosure, and in small rooms over the gateways English mastiffs were kept, in order that they might announce the arrival of strangers by their barking. At the south and north angles were small buildings in the same style as the main edifice, and affording room respectively for the printing URANIBORG AND GROUNDS. office and for the domestics. Under the latter building was the castle-prison, probably used for refractory tenants. 1 In- side the walls were first orchards with about three hundred trees, and inside these, separated from them by a wooden 1 See letterpress on Braun's map. This cellar is one of the very few rem- nants now left of Tycho's buildings. 96 TYCHO BRAHE. paling, flower-gardens. Four roads ran through the orchards and gardens from the four angles of the enclosure to the open circular space in the middle, where the principal build- ing was situated on a slightly higher level than the sur- rounding grounds. Uraniborg was built (apparently of red I bricks with sandstone ornaments) in the Gothic Eenaissance style, which towards the end of the sixteenth century was becoming more generally adopted in the North of Europe, where the heavier mediaeval style had hitherto still been the ruling one, so that Tycho Brahe's residence became epoch-making in the history of Scandinavian architecture. The slender spires and tastefully decorated gables and cornices were indeed in better harmony with the peaceful and harmonious life of a student of the heavens than the more severe and dry Gothic style which the Renaissance was superseding ; and the pictures, inscriptions, and ornaments of various kinds profusely scattered through the interior reminded the visitor at every step of the pursuits and tastes of the owner. The woodcut below (which, like the previous and follow- ing ones, is a reduced copy of a figure in Tycho's own description) gives a general idea of the aspect of the edifice from the east, and by comparison with the plan of the ground-floor on the next page, the reader will get a clear idea of this remarkable structure. 1 The base of the principal and central part was a square, of which each side was 49 feet long, and to the north and south sides of this there were round towers 1 8 feet in diameter, surrounded by lower outhouses for fuel, &c., while narrow towers on the east and west sides contained the entrances. Including the towers, the entire length of the building from north to south 1 The buildings and instruments are described in Epist. Astron., p. 218 et seq., and Astron. Inst. Mech., fol. H. 4 et scq. Some short Latin inscriptions, with which various places in the house were ornamented, are given in Resenii Inscriptions Hafnienses (1668), p. 334, reprinted in Weistritz, i. p. 225. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 97 was about 100 feet. The central part was surmounted by an octagonal pavilion, with a dome with clock-dials east and west, and a spire with a gilt vane in the shape of a Pegasus. In the pavilion there was an octagonal room with a dial in the ceiling, showing both the time and the direction of the wind, and round the pavilion ran an octagonal gallery, north and south of which were two smaller domes with allegorical ORTHOGRAPHIA PRAECIPVAE DOMVS ^ ARCIS VRANTBVBGI IN INSVLA PQPTHMI DANKTI v\ HV^NNA Astnmomtffinjiauran- TftHoNE B & A H* ftuua UEANIBORG FROM THE EAST. figures on the top. The height of the walls of the central building was 37 feet, and the Pegasus was 62 feet above the ground. The two towers north and south were about 1 8 feet high, and had each a platform on the top surmounted by a pyramidal roof made of triangular boards, which could be removed to give a view of any part of the sky. North and south of these observatories were two smaller ones, each standing on a single pillar, and communicating with the 7 TYCHO BRAKE. larger ones ; they were also covered with pyramidal roofs, and were not built till after the completion of the house. Galleries around the towers gave the means of observing with small instruments in the open air, and on the east and west side of each gallery there was a large globe to serve as a support for a sextant. When not in use these globes were protected by pointed covers, of which the two eastern ones are visible on the figure. This also shows the founda- PLAN OF THE GROUND FLOOR OF URANIBORG. A. East entrance. B. Fountain. C. West entrance. D. Sitting-room in winter. E, F, G. Guest-rooms. H. Kitchen. K. Well. L. Stairs to upper storey. P. Stairs to laboratory. R, 0. Aviaries. T. Library. W. Great globe. S. Cellar for charcoal for the laboratory. Z. Wood cellar for kitchen. V. Tables. Y. Beds. 4. Chimneys. tion-stone in the south-east corner, and next to it a door leading down to the basement. The south-east room on the ground-floor was the sitting- room of the family in winter ; later on it was enlarged by pulling down the wall between it and the passage west of THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 99 it. The three other rooms were guest-rooms, but the south- west room, in which a large quadrant was attached to the west wall, was probably also used as a study. In the storey above there were the red room to the north east, the blue room to the south-east, the yellow room (a small octagonal one) over the porch on the east side, and on the west side one long room, the green one, with the ceiling covered with pictures of flowers and plants. Tycho specially mentions the beautiful view from this room of the Sound, with its numerous sails, particularly in summer. Above the second storey there were eight little rooms or garrets for students and observers. The south tower contained in the basement a chemical laboratory with furnaces, &c., above that on the ground floor was the library, and above that the larger southern observatory. In the north tower the centre of the basement was occupied by a deep well built round with masonry, which reached to the kitchen above. 1 Over the kitchen was the larger northern observatory. In the library the great globe from Augsburg was mounted. It was five feet in diameter, the inside made of wooden rings and staves firmly held together. When returning to Augsburg in 1575, Tycho found that it was not perfectly spherical and showed some cracks, but after it had in the following year been brought to Denmark, the cracks were stopped and the sphericity made perfect by covering it with numerous layers of parchment. It was then left to dry for two years, and as the figure remained perfect, it was covered with brass plates, on which two great circles were engraved to represent the equator and the zodiac, divided into single degrees, and by transversals into minutes. Gradually the stars and constellations were laid down on it as their positions resulted from the observations, and not 1 This well, from which the water could be pumped up and sent to the various rooms by concealed pipes, is still in existence. 100 TYCHO BRAKE. till about twenty-five years after tlie construction of the globe had been commenced was it completely finished. 1 It was mounted on a solid stand, with graduated circles for meridian and horizon, and a movable graduated quad- rant for measuring altitudes. On the horizon was the unavoidable inscription stating how the great work of art was made. A hemispherical cover of silk could be lowered over it from the ceiling to protect it from dust. In addi- tion to this great globe, the library or museum contained four tables for Tycho's assistants to work at, also his collec- tion of books and various smaller knicknacks, portraits of astronomers and philosophers, among whom Hipparchus, Ptolemy, Albattani, Copernicus, and the Landgrave figured conspicuously. There was also a portrait of George Buchanan, who played so important a part in the religious and political revolutions in Scotland, and whose acquaint- ance Tycho had probably made in 1571 when Buchanan was in Denmark. This portrait had been presented to Tycho by Peter Young. 2 Under the pictures were versified inscriptions composed by Tycho. 3 We may form some idea of the elegance and taste which pervaded Tycho's residence by examining the large picture which adorned his great mural quadrant. This instrument was, as already mentioned, mounted on the wall in the south-west room on the ground-floor, and consisted of a 1 Astr. Inst. Mechanica, fol. G. The globe must have been quite finished about 1595 ; it is said to have cost Tycho about 5000 daler (Gassendi, p. 135). 2 Young had been the first tutor to James VI., and became afterwards his almoner. He was several times in Denmark. Tycho had sent his little book about the new star to Buchanan, who thanked him for it in a letter dated Stirling, the 4th April 1575. In this letter Buchanan (who was then Lord Privy Seal) expresses his regret that he has not had leisure to finish his poem on the sphere (it was published after his death), and praises Tycho's book for having refuted popular errors. T. Brahei et ad eum Doct. Vir. Epist., p. 1 8. 3 As specimens Tycho prints the poems on Ptolemy and Copernicus. Epist. Astron., pp. 239-240. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 101 brass arc of 6| feet radius, 5 inches broad and 2 inches thick, fastened to the wall with strong screws, and divided in his usual manner by transversals ; it was furnished with two sights, which could slide up and down the arc. At the centre of the arc there was a hole in the south wall, in which a cylinder of 'gilt brass projected at right angles to the wall, and along the sides of which the observer . sighted with one of the sliding sights. This was one of the" most important instruments at Uraniborg, and was much . used. It is, therefore, no wonder that Tycho (who claimed it as his own invention) wished to fill the empty space on the wall inside the arc with a picture of himself and the interior of his dwelling. Tycho is represented as pointing up to the opening in the wall, and he says the portrait was con- sidered a very good likeness; at his feet lies a dog, "an emblem of sagacity and fidelity." In the middle of the picture is a view of his laboratory, library, and observatory, and on the wall behind him are shown two small portraits of his benefactor, King Frederick II., and Queen Sophia, and between them in a niche a small globe. This was an automaton designed by Tycho, and showing the daily motions of the sun and moon and the phases of the latter. The portrait was painted by Tobias Gemperlin of Augsburg, whom Tycho had encouraged to come to Denmark ; the views of the interior of Uraniborg by its architect, Sten- winchel ; and the landscape and the setting sun by Hans Knieper of Antwerp, the King's painter at Kronborg. The picture bears the date 1587, but the quadrant itself had been in constant use since June I582. 1 Another instrument on which Tycho found room for a picture was his smallest quadrant, one of the earliest in- struments constructed at Uraniborg. The radius of the 1 There are a few meridian altitudes of Spica observed in April 1581, "per magnum instrumentum," which probably were also made with this quadrant. 102 TYCHO BRAKE. quadrant was only 1 6 inches (one cubitus) ; the divided arc was turned upwards, and within it were forty-four concentric arcs of 90 to subdivide the single degrees according to the plan proposed by Pedro Nunez. On the empty space be- tween the centre and the smallest of these arcs was a small circular painting, representing a tree, which on the left side is full of green leaves and has fresh grass under it, while on the right side it has dead roots and withered branches. Under the green part of the tree a youth is seated, wearing a laurel wreath on his head and holding a star-globe and a book in his hands. Under the withered part of the tree is a table covered with money-boxes, sceptres, crowns, coats of arms, finery, goblets, dice, and cards, all of which a skeleton tries to grasp in its outstretched arms. Above is the pentameter, " Vivimus ingenio, csetera mortis erunt," pointing out the vanity of worldly things, while only earnest study confers immortality. The first part of the sentence is over the green part, the second over the withered part of the tree. In another place * Tycho had a similar picture, in which there appeared among the green leaves symbols of the life and doctrine of Christ, while the symbols of philosophy are moved over to the withered side under the dominion of Death, and the inscription is changed to ' ' Vivimus in Christo, csetera mortis erunt," so that the two pictures showed the superiority of the noble efforts of the human mind over trivial occupations, and yet the insuffi- ciency of either except man turns to the Redeemer. This small instrument does not seem to have had any fixed place, and was afterwards removed to the subterranean observatory, but the larger ones were all erected in the observatories at the north and south ends of Uraniborg. 1 It is not stated where. I conclude from the description in Epistolce Astron., p. 254, that these were two different pictures, and not one picture seen from two points of view, as one might almost conclude from As'.r. Inst. Meek., fol. A. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 103 In each of the two small observatories there was an equa- torial armillary sphere, of which the northern one was ornamented with pictures of Copernicus and Tycho himself. 1 In the large southern observatory were the following in- struments. A vertical semicircle (eight feet in diameter) turning round a vertical axis, and furnished with a hori- zontal circle for measuring azimuths (fol. B. 5); a tri- quetrum, or, as Tycho calls it, " instrumentum parallacticum sive regularum " (fol. C.) ; a sextant for measuring altitudes with a radius of 5-^ feet (fol. A. 5) ; and a quadrant of two feet radius with an azimuth circle (fol. A. 4). In the large northern observatory were another triquetrum of peculiar construction, with an azimuth circle 1 6 feet in diameter, resting on the top of the wall of the tower (fol. 0. 2) ; a sextant of 4 feet radius for measuring distances (fol. E.) ; and a double arc for measuring smaller distances. Probably the last two instruments were removed or used on the open gallery when the triquetrum was erected, as the latter must have been large enough to nil the whole room, and, indeed, even in the southern observatory there cannot have been much elbow-room for the observers. In the northern observatory was also preserved an interesting astronomical relic, the triquetrum used by Copernicus, and made with his own hands. By degrees, as Tycho's plans for collecting observations became extended and a greater number of young men desired to assist him, he felt the want of more instruments and of more observing rooms, in which several observers could be engaged at the same time without comparing notes. In 1584 he therefore built an observatory on a small hill about a hundred feet south of the south angle of the enclosure of Uraniborg, and slightly to the east. In 1 Astr. Inst. Meckanica, fol. C. 5 (north one) and D. (south one). The first observations, "per armillas astrolabicas," are from 1581. References to the descriptions and figures of the other instruments are given above in the text. 104 TYCHO BRAKE. this observatory, which he called Stelleeburgum (Danish, Stjerneborg), the instruments were placed in subterranean rooms, of which only the roofs rose above the ground, so that they were well protected from the wind. As shown by the view and plan on p. 106, there were five instrument rooms, with a study in the centre, and the entrance to the north. The north-east and north-west rooms were built somewhat later than the others, and were nearly at the STJERNEBORG, SEEN FROM THE WEST. level on the ground. 1 The whole was surrounded by a low wooden paling, forming a square with semicircular bends at the middle of each side, and the sides facing north, south, 1 This appears from the stone steps leading up to the crypt E., found in 1823, as we shall see in the Appendix. The above figure also shows that not only the roofs, but most of the walls of crypts D..and E. were above ground. The quadrant in the crypt D. was erected in December 1585, twelve months after Tycho had placed in position the stone on which the lower end of the axis of the instrument in crypt C. was supported. When he had built the three crypts, he perhaps regretted having sunk them in the earth, and there- fore built the two new ones higher. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 105 east, and west. The enclosure was 5 7 feet square, and the diameter of the semicircles was 20 feet. The entrance was on the north side, and a door and some stone steps led down to the study. Over the portal were three crowned lions hewn in stone, with the appropriate inscription "NEC FASCES NEC OPES SOLA ARTIS SCEPTRA PERENNANT." Below this and over the door was the coat of arms of the Brahe family, and some other allegorical figures. On the back of the portal, towards the south was a large tablet of porphyry, with a long inscription in prose, stating that these crypts had, like the adjoining Uraniborg, been constructed for the advancement of astronomy, at incredible labour, diligence, and expense, and charging posterity to preserve the building for the glory of God, the propagation of the divine art, and the honour of the country. Going down the steps to the " Hypocaustum," another slab 1 over the door exhibited a versified inscription, expressing the surprise of Urania at finding this cave, and promising even here, in the bowels of the earth, to show the way to the stars. The study was about 10 feet square, and only the vaulted roof and the top of the walls were above the ground. The vault was sodded over to look like a little hill, " represent- ing Parnassus, the mount of the Muses," and on the middle of it stood a small statue of Mercury in brass, cast from a Roman model, and turning round by a mechanism in the pedestal. 1 The study was lighted by four small windows just above the ground, and contained a long table, some clocks, &c., and on the wall hung a semicircle in brass, 8 feet in diameter, for measuring distances of stars, and which, 1 In addition to this, Tycho possessed several other automata, which startled the peasants of the island, and made them believe him to be a sorcerer. Gassendi, p. 196. 1.06 TYCHO BKAHE. wlien required, could be placed on a stand outside, similar to those which Tycho used for his sextants. On the ceiling was represented the Tychonian system of the world, and on the walls were portraits of eight astronomers, all in a re- clining posture, namely, Timocharis, Hipparchus 3 Ptolemy, PLAN OF STJERNEBORG. A. Entrance. B. Study. C. Crypt with large armillse. D. ,, ,, azimuthal quadrant. E. ,, zodiacal armillse. F. ,, azimuthal quadrant. G. ,, ,, sextant. H, I. Stone piers for portable armillse. K, L, N, T. Globular stands for sextants. M. Stone table. 0. Tycho Brahe's bed. P. Fireplace. V. Table. Q. Bedroom for assistant. S. Unfinished subterranean passage to- wards Uraniborg. Albattani, King Alphonso, Copernicus, Tycho, and lastly Tychonides, an astronomer who is still unborn. Under each portrait was the name, approximate date, and a distich THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 107 setting forth the merits of each. While that under Tycho's picture leaves posterity to judge his work, the lines under the picture of his hoped-for descendant are less modest, expressing the hope that the latter might be worthy of his great ancestor. Tycho was represented as pointing up to his system of the world, while his other hand held a slip of paper with the query, " Quid si sic?" In the centre of each crypt was a large instrument, the floor rising gradually by circular stone steps up to the walls. 1 The instruments were an azimuthal quadrant (quadrans whibilis) of 5-^ feet radius, with an azimuth circle at the top of the wall (Mfchanica, fol. B. 2), a zodiacal armillary sphere (C. 4), a large quadrant of brass (radius 7 feet) enclosed in a square of steel, and likewise furnished with an azimuth circle on the wall (B. 4) ; a sextant of 5^ feet radius for measuring distances (D. 5), and in the largest southern crypt a large equatorial instrument, consisting of a declination circle of 9! feet diameter, revolving round a polar axis, and a semicircle of 1 2 feet diameter, supported on stone piers, and representing the northern half of the Equator (D. 2). In addition to these fixed instruments, there were various smaller portable ones kept at Stjerne- borg, which could be mounted on the pillars and stands out- side or held in the hand ; namely, a portable armilla 4 feet in diameter, 2 a triquetrum, a small astrolabium or plani- sphere, the small quadrant described above, and two small instruments made by Gemma Frisius, namely, a cross-staff and a circle (annulus astronomicus), both of brass. With the exception of these two and the triquetrum of Copernicus, all the instruments in Tycho's possession were made in his 1 The number of steps in each crypt may be seen on the plan above. The floor of the crypt G (where the sextant was placed) was flat. 2 This was placed either at H or at /, and served to measure declinations of stars near the horizon which could not be got at with the subterranean in- struments. See Epist. Astron., p. 229. 108 TYCHO BRAKE own workshop, which was situated close to the servants' house, about I OO feet to the west. 1 Tycho would scarcely have been able to construct these magnificent instruments if he had not continually been pro- vided with new sources of income through the liberality of his royal patron. We have seen that Tycho, from February I 5765 enjoyed an annual pension of 500 daler (i 14). In addition to this, the king granted him on the 28th August I 577 the manor of Kullagaard, in Scania, to be held by him during the king's pleasure. Kullagaard is situated near the north-western extremity of Scania, on the mountain of Kullen, which forms a steep promontory in the Kattegat. The king's letter stated expressly that Tycho Brahe should not, like his predecessor, be bound to keep the lighthouse of Kullen in order ; but apparently the king soon found that this exemption was a mistake, and already on the 1 8th October I 5 7 7 a second royal letter was issued, in which it was stated that as the late holder of the benefice had received it for the purpose of keeping the light going, in order that seafaring men should have no cause for complaint, the same should be done by Tycho, if he wished to continue to hold the manor. 2 This obligation was apparently not to the taste of Tycho ; at least he must have been negligent in seeing that the light was regularly attended to, for already in the autumn of 1579 the governor of Helsingborg Castle was ordered to take possession of Kullagaard manor, in order to keep the lighthouse properly attended to, as complaints had frequently been made about it. As Tycho, however, begged to be allowed to keep the manor, on the plea that he had no other place from which to get fuel for Uraniborg, the king again granted him the manor on the I 3th November 1579, on condition that the light was regularly lighted. 3 In May 1 In 1577 Tycho had employed a smith at Heridsvad, but he was not able for the work. T. B. et Doct. Vir. Epist., p. 42. 2 Friis, Tyye Brahe, pp. 80-81. 3 Ibid., p. 96. THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 109 1578 he had also been granted the use of eleven farms in the county .of Helsingborg, free of rent, to be held during the king's pleasure. These and the Kullen manor he lost again for a while in August 1580, probably because he had in the meantime been granted other sources of income ; but he received them again in June of the following year, " to enjoy and keep, free of rent, as long as he shall continue to live at Hveen," with the repeated injunction to keep the light at Kullen in order. On the 27th October 1581 the customs officers at Elsinore were instructed, that whereas the light was in future to be kept burning in winter as well as in summer, they were out of the increased lighthouse fees received from navigators to pay Tycho Brahe 300 daler a year for the increase of trouble. This seems, however, to have been more than the additional fees amounted to, and on the pth July 1582 the order about the 300 daler was cancelled by a royal decree, in which it was stated that Tycho was already in receipt of sufficient payment for keep- ing the lighthouse. 1 In 1584 the governor of Helsingborg Castle and the chief magistrate of Scania were ordered to proceed to Kullen, together with Tycho, to examine the light- house, which was said to be very dilapidated. The tower was ordered to be rebuilt in August 1585 at the public expense, and at the same time the indefatigable generosity of the king dictated a letter to the customs officers at Elsinore, com- manding them until further orders to pay Tycho 200 dalers annually, in order that the light might be kept burning sum- mer and winter as long as navigation lasted. 2 We have seen that Tycho Brahe already in 1568 received the king's promise of the first vacant canonry in the cathedral of Roskilde. In 1578 this promise was more distinctly renewed, as by royal letter, dated Frederiksborg the 1 8th May, Tycho was appointed to succeed to the pre- 1 Friis, Tyge Brahe, pp. 116-117. 2 Ibid., p. 148. 110 TYCHO BRAHE. bend attached to the chapel of the Holy Three Kings 1 in the said cathedral whenever the holder of it should die. In the meantime he was to enjoy the income of the Crown estate of Nordf jord in Norway, with all rent and duty derived from it. 2 He had not to wait very long for the prebend, as Henrik Hoik, who had held it since the Eeformation, died in 1579, on the 5th June of which year the canonry was conferred on Tycho. In the patent all the temporalities of the above-mentioned chapel were granted to Tycho during pleasure, including the canon's residence, farms, and other property belonging thereto, on the condition that hymns were daily to be sung in the chapel to the praise of God, and that for this purpose two poor schoolboys were to be kept in food and clothes in order to assist the vicars-choral in the daily service. Furthermore, he was to maintain two poor students at the University of Copenhagen, and to see that these, as well as the two choir-boys, were diligent, and fit to devote themselves to learned pursuits. The chapel and residence were to be kept in proper repair, and the tenants to be dealt with according to law and justice, and not to be troubled by any new tax or other impost. 3 About a month after the prebend had been granted to Tycho, he was ordered, in accordance with the rules of the chapter, to allow the widow of his predecessor and the University of Copenhagen to enjoy annum gratice of the rents and other income of the prebend. With characteristic coolness the astronomer seems to have turned a deaf ear to this injunction, and he even went so far as to forbid the tenants to pay anything to the widow. On the 3rd December 1579 the king therefore found it necessary to send 1 Anglice, the Three Wise Men of the East. The chapel is an excrescence on the south side of the cathedral, built in 1464. Among other royal tombs, that of Tycho's patron, Frederick II., is in this chapel. 2 Royal letter, printed in Danske Magazin, ii. p. 203 (Weistritz, ii. p. 92.) 3 Ibid., p. 204 (Weistritz, ii. p. 94). THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. Ill a second and peremptory order to pay to the widow and the University what was due to them. 1 Three years later Tycho thought that he saw a chance of making the heirs of Henrik Hoik disgorge some of the money he had been obliged to let them have, for it appears that some repairs had to be made to the chapel, and that Tycho demanded payment for these from the heirs. But here again the king showed that, however favourably disposed he was to the renowned man of learning, he would have no injustice done to any- body ; and in July 1582 he directed that the repairs were to be paid for out of public funds, but that in future Tycho, or whoever else might hold the prebend, was to pay for them. 2 We shall afterwards see that the possession of this prebend gave rise to more serious troubles to Tycho Brahe. It was mentioned above that Tycho obtained a grant of the Crown estate of Nordf jord on the west coast of Norway, to be held by him during the time that he was waiting for the vacancy in the prebend. But when he got possession of the latter, the king did not deprive him of the Nordf jord estate, but granted it to him again on the i 3th June I 579, during pleasure, free of rent, and merely with the usual stipulation that he was to keep the tenants under the laws of Norway, and not injure any of them, nor was he to cut down any of the woods on the estate. 3 This benefice may only have been intended to indemnify Tycho for the year of grace which he was to pay out of the Roskilde prebend, for on the loth August 1580 the king's lieutenant at Bergen was ordered to receive the Nordf jord estate from Tycho Brahe, and in future to account to the king's exchequer for the in- come of the same. Tycho must, however, have persuaded the king that he could ill afford to lose this income, for already, 1 DansJce Magazin, ii. p. 208 (Weistritz, ii. p. 100). 2 E. C. Werlauff, De hellige tre Kongers Kapel i Roeskilde DomUrTce (Copenhagen, 1849), p. 17. 3 Danske Magazin, ii. p. 206 (Weistritz, ii. p. 97). 112 TYCHO BRAKE. on the I ith November I 580, a new grant of the estate was made to Tycho in exactly the same terms as the previous one, and two months afterwards the lieutenant at Bergen was directed to hand over the estate to Tycho Brahe, and to re- fund all money received from it during the time he had been deprived of it. 1 The king evidently now thought that he had done enough for Tycho, for on the 2pth March 1581 he wrote to him that although Tycho had applied to have the pen- sion of 500 daler continued, still, as he had been provided for in other ways, the pension was to be paid for the past year, but was then to cease. The same day the chief of the exchequer, Yalkendorf, received instructions to this effect; but already six months after he was directed again to pay the pension to Tycho, who seems to have received it without interruption till I59/. 2 Tycho continued in undisturbed possession of the Nor- wegian estate till March 1586, when he and several other tenants of Crown estates in Norway received notice to surrender them, as " fish and other victuals " which they produced were wanted for the navy. It was, however, stated that they were not to consider this as a sign of disgrace, but that they would be indemnified in other ways. Thus Tycho got in the first instance 300 daler from the treasury, 3 and on the I ith September following he was informed that he would, until further notice, receive an annual sum of 400 daler from the customs paid at Elsinore. This grant was renewed on the 4th June 1587, the money to be paid annually on the 1st May. d The estate 1 Both letters to the lieutenant are printed in Danske Magazin, ii. pp. 2II-2I2 (Weistritz, ii. p. 106). 2 Letter to Tycho Brahe of March 29th, printed in Eriis, Tyge Brahe, p. 114 ; letter to Valkendorf of same date, in Danske Magazin, ii. p. 217 (Weis- tritz, ii. p. 117). 3 Friis, Tyge Brahe, p. 161. 4 Letters of I ith September 1586 and 4th June 1587, printed in Danske Magazin, ii. pp. 244-245 (Weistritz, ii. p. 165-166), where is also a letter from THE ISLAND OF HVEEN. 113 of Nordfjord was restored to Tycho in June 1589, and the grant was renewed in June 1592, when the allowance from the Sound duties was discontinued. 1 It would not at the present time be easy to form an accurate opinion as to the actual amount of income enjoyed by Tycho Brahe during the years he lived at Hveen (though we may mention here that, according to his own statement, it was about 2400 daler a year), and on the other hand we have no way of knowing exactly how much he spent on his instruments and buildings. 2 But at any rate, it will be evident from the above account of the various grants of land and money that King Frederick II. had very amply provided for his wants, and never forgot the promises made to Tycho when the latter was prevailed on to settle in his native country. The circumstances which gradually led to his being deprived of most of these grants will be detailed in a future chapter ; but we may here mention that Tycho, shortly after the death of King Frederick II., in 1588, represented to the new Government that his great expenses in connexion with the scientific work at Hveen had caused him to be in debt to the amount of 6000 daler. This sum ' was at once ordered to be paid by the Government, so that Tycho might reasonably hope, even after the death of his royal patron, to be able to continue the work so munificently supported by the late king. Tycho to Niels Bilde, who doubtless then was lieutenant at Bergen, asking him to assist Christopher Pepler, formerly Tycho's steward at Nordfjord, to get payment for some money still due to him. 1 Friis, p. 180; Danske Magazin, ii. p. 280 (Weistritz, ii. p. 228). 2 Tycho in 1598 estimated the total cost of all his buildings and instru- ments at 75,000 daler (about 17,000). See below, Chapter X. CHAPTER VI. TYCHO'S LIFE AT HVEEN UNTIL THE DEATH OF KING FREDERICK II. AT Uraniborg Tycho spent more than twenty years, from the end of I 5 7 6 to the spring of 1597, the happiest and most active years of his life. Surrounded by his family and numerous pupils, many of whom came from great distances to seek knowledge in the house of the renowned astronomer and assist him in his labours, frequently honoured by visits from men of distinction both from Denmark and abroad, Tycho during these years steadily kept the object in view of accumulating a mass of observa- tions by means of which it would be possible to effect that reform of astronomy which was so imperatively demanded, and for which the labours of Copernicus had merely paved the way. But though the scientific work was never neglected, the pleasant little island afforded many means of recreation. The map in Braun's Theatrum Urbium shows that provision was made for games of various kinds in the orchards which surrounded Uraniborg, and in the south and east of the island there were places arranged for entrapping birds. There were plenty of hares and other small game, and Tycho caused a great number of fishponds to be made. Most of them lay in the south- western part of the island, connected by sluices into two rows which met in a lake, the second largest of all, from , which a small river made its way through the cliff to the sea. On this spot Tycho afterwards built a paper-mill. 114 LIFE AT HYEEN. 115 None of these fishponds are seen on Braun's map, and they would therefore seem to have been constructed after 1585, as the map bears the date I 586. Thus Tycho contrived to add to the comfort and convenience of his surroundings. In addition to these means of recreation, Tycho Brahe possessed others of a higher kind. In 1584, the same year in which the Stjerneborg was built, he put up a printing-press in the building at the south angle of the enclosure surrounding Uraniborg. It was originally in- tended for the printing of his own works, but when not required for this purpose he occasionally employed it to print poems in memory of departed friends, and similar poetical effusions. Thus we have already mentioned that in 1584 he printed an epitaph of his friend Pratensis, 1 and in the same year he printed a poem addressed to a Danish nobleman, Jacob Ulfeld, to give the printer some- thing to do, as he informs us. 2 Of greater interest is a longer poem of 288 lines, dated the I st January 1585, and addressed to the Chancellor, Niels Kaas. 3 In this Tycho complains of the neglected state of astronomy in most countries, and contrasts this with its present flourishing state in Denmark, where buildings have been erected and instruments constructed such as the world never saw. But envy and malice attempt to speak slightingly of this great work, and he might almost be inclined to regret having undertaken it and look for another home elsewhere, 4 if he 1 A poem in memory of another friend, Job. Francisci Ripensis, given in Gassendi's book, p. 261, was possibly also printed at Uraniborg. 2 Printed in Danske Magazin, ii. pp. 223-224 (Weistritz, ii. p. 130 et seq.). 3 Printed ibid., pp. 226-234 (Weistritz, ii. 135 et seq.). 4 " Undique Terra infra, ccelum patet undique supra, Omne solum patria est, cui mea sacra placent." The first of these lines and part of the second occur in Astr. Instauraice Mcchania, fol. D., where he mentions that one of his armillse could be taken asunder and transported to any place where it might be wanted. It is remarkable how strongly imbued he always was with the cosmopolitan character of his science, even when Fortune smiled most on him. 116 TYCHO BRAKE. did not remember that the Chancellor was interested in it for the sake of the honour thus conferred on his country, and would therefore continue to protect it. Another but shorter poem was soon afterwards printed at Uraniborg, addressed to the learned Heinrich Rantzov, governor of the Duchy of Holstein. In this poem, which is dated the 1st March 1585, Tycho complains that Rantzov, in a book on astro- logy which he had just published, had used the word specula when speaking of Uraniborg, which magnificent building did not merit so mean an appellation. 1 The considerable building operations in which Tycho engaged at Hveen obliged him to require a great deal of work from his tenants there, and when we remember his naturally hot temper, and his habit of exacting without scruple what was due to him (and even more, as in the case of Hoik's widow), it is not to be wondered at that com- plaints were more than once made by the tenants at Hveen of his arbitrary treatment of them. Already on the loth April 1578 an order was issued by the king to the peasants at Hveen, that they were not to leave the island because Tycho Brahe required more labour than had formerly been demanded from them. 2 But Tycho, who was perhaps not worse (and certainly not better) than his fellow-nobles were generally in the treatment of their inferiors, continued in the following years to make such great demands on the peasantry at Hveen to get his buildings, plantations, fish- ponds, &c., finished, that fresh complaints were made. The king therefore sent two noblemen, the governor of Helsing- borg Castle and the governor of Landskrona Castle, to Hveen to investigate matters. When these two officials had presented their report, the king, on the 8th January 1581 (the same day on which he ordered his lieutenant at 1 Printed in DansTce Magazin, ii. pp. 235-238 (Weistritz, ii. p. 148 et seq.). 2 Friis, Tyge Brahe, p. 89. LIFE AT HVEEN. 117 Bergen to restore the Norwegian estate to Tycho), issued an " Arrangement and rule for Tycho Brahe and the in- habitants at Hveen," which both parties were ordered to obey and follow. 1 In this document the amount of labour to be furnished by each farm was fixed at two days a week, : from sunrise to sunset, and rules were laid down about various other matters ; thus a tenant who did not keep his dikes and fences in order was to pay a fine in money to the landlord and a barrel of beer to the townsmen ; nobody was to gather nuts or cut wood without leave from Tycho Brahe or his steward ; a petty sessions court was to be held every second Wednesday, 2 and appeals were to be heard in Scania in future, instead of in Seeland. 3 The peasants were not to consider their holdings as their own property, as they had no legal authority for doing so, but in future, when any farmer died, his holding was to be treated as any other farm on a Crown estate. If the buildings and other works at Hveen required much manual labour, the scientific researches for the sake of which they were erected required a great deal of work to be done by practised observers and computers, and these Tycho readily found in the young men who soon began to flock to Hveen in order to enjoy the privilege of studying under his guidance. The first to arrive seems to have been Peder Jakobsen Flemlose, born about 1554 in a village called Flemlose, in the island of Fyen (Funen). He had already, in 1574, published a Latin poem on the solar eclipse of that year, in which he showed that though eclipses have a perfectly natural cause, they are signs of the anger of God ; but the eclipse of I 574 he believed to mean that the second coming of Christ was soon to take place. This 1 Printed in Danslce Magazin, ii. pp. 213-217 (Weistritz, ii. pp. 110-116). - The court was held on a hill close to Uraniborg (/ on the map). 3 This does not seem to have been carried out. ' See above, p. 88. 118 TYCHO BRAKE. little book lie dedicated to Tycho Bralie. 1 He seems to have studied medicine in his youth, for his second publica- tion, in 1575, was a translation of Simon Musasus' book against melancholy. He must have entered Tycho's service in the beginning of 1578, and did so (according to Longo- montanus) on account of the supposed intimate connection between medicine and astronomy. 2 That Tycho had great confidence in him may be seen from the fact that he sent him to Cassel in I 586 to deliver a letter to the Landgrave and report to Tycho on the new instruments lately mounted there. In June 1579 he received by royal letter a promise of the first vacant canonry in Roskilde Cathedral, on condition that "he shall be bound to let himself be used in studiis mathematicis at Tyge Brahe's." He had, however, to wait a long time for this reward of his services at Hveen, as he did not obtain the canonry till I 590, when he had left Tycho, after more than ten years' service in the observatory, and had become physician to Axel Gyldenstjern, one of the two noblemen whom the king had sent to Hveen to report on the affairs of the tenants, and who had since been made Governor-General of Norway. Flemlose died suddenly in 1599, just when about to proceed to Basle to obtain the degree of Doctor of Medicine. 3 Whether his medical studies had derived much benefit from his astro- nomical labours is not known, but while at Uraniborg, he not only spent his time on "pyronomic" (i.e., chemical) and astronomical matters, but also compiled a little book which was printed there in 1591, some years after his 1 "^Ecloga de eclipsi solari anno 1574 niense Novembri futura et tempore plenilunii ecliptici anno 1573 conspecti, Succularum ortu obiter descripto, breuique Meliboei pastoris querela. . . . Autore Petro Jacobo Flemlossio." Hafniae, 1574, 4to. 2 He made observations with the sextant on the 1 5th March 1578, and the distance measures on and after January 21 are possibly also by him. 3 See N. M. Petersen, Den Danske Literaturs Historic, iii. pp. 176-179, and the preface by Friis to the reprint of Flemlose's book (1865). LIFE AT HVEEN. 119 departure, containing 399 short rules by which to foretell changes in the weather by the appearance of the sky, the sun, moon, and stars, or by the behaviour of animals. 1 In the absence of the author, the introduction was written in his name by his fellow-student, Longomontanus, at the dictation of Tycho. In this it is stated that King Frederick took a great interest in weather prognostications, and had desired Tycho Brahe, from books and his own experience, to compile a treatise on the subject, but as Tycho had other and more important work to look after, he had requested Flemlose to do so. It is not said whether the author had collected his materials at Hveen, but most of the rules contained in the book are chiefly such as farmers and similar observers might imagine they had deduced from their experience, and here and there it affords curious reading, at least to a modern student. 2 Another of the early assistants of Tycho was a German, ^auXJ\Yittich, from Breslau, whose name, but for his early death, would probably be much better known in the history of astronomy than it is. He had been recommended by 1 "En Elementisch or JovdischAstrologia Om Lufftens forendring. . . . Til- sammen dragen aff Peder Jacobson Flemlos paa Hueen. Prentit paa Vrani- borg Aff Hans Gaschitz, Anno 1591," xvi. + 143 pp., I2mo. Keprinted at Copenhagen in 1644 (by Longomontanus), 1745, and 1865. According to Friis, Tyge Brake, p. 362, a German translation was printed at Hveen in September 1591, of which there is a copy in the library of the Polytechnic Institute at Vienna (see also Kcpleri Opera, viii. p. 705, first line). Of the Danish original, only two copies are known to exist, both at Copenhagen. 2 I shall give a few examples : Flies and fleas announce rain when they are more than usually troublesome to men, horses, and cattle (ccv.). When goats are so very greedy that you can neither by words nor blows drive them away from small shrubs, which they bite off though they are not very hungry, then it is a sure sign of rain or storm (ccix.). When pigs with their snouts are throwing sheaves of corn or bundles of straw round about as if they were mad, you need not doubt that there will soon be rain (ccxxii.). All kinds of unusual fire in the air, appearing like an army or like stars running to and fro or against each other, or falling down to the earth, are forewarnings of comets (ccclx.). [This looks like an unconscious anticipation of modern ideas about the nature of comets.] Earthquakes generally follow after great and long-continuing comets (ccclxiii.). 120 TYCHO BRAKE. Hagecius, and arrived at Hveen in the summer of 1580, where he took part in the observations of the comet of that year from the 2 1st to the 26th October. 1 He showed him- self a very able mathematician, according to Tycho's own testimony, 2 and declared it to be his wish to stay at Urani- borg and be a " fidus Achates " to Tycho. But when he had been about three months at Hveen, he announced that he had to go home to Breslau, as a rich uncle of his was dead and he wanted to secure the inheritance, but he would return to Hveen in seven or eight weeks. He took with him a letter from Tycho to Hagecius (dated 4th November 1580), and Tycho became very uneasy when he neither heard anything from Wittich (who never returned to Hveen) nor received an answer from Hagecius for more than a year. He learned at last, in 1582, that the letter had been duly delivered. 3 A few years after he heard that Wittich had, about 1584, turned up at Cassel, where his descriptions of Tycho's improvements in instruments, particularly of the sights and the transversal divisions, as well as of Tycho's sextants for distance measures, created so great a sensation that the Landgrave immediately had his instruments im- proved and altered by his mechanician, Joost Blirgi, in accordance with Wittich's descriptions. 4 When Tycho 1 In the observations (Tychonis Brake. Olservationes Scptem Cometarum, Hafnise, 1867, p. 30) there is a note written in October 1600, and signed Jacob Monaw, certifying that the observations of October 2ist to 26th were written in Wittich's hand. I find in Jb'cher's Gelehrten Lexicon that this Monaw was a Jesuit from Breslau (1546-1603), where he had evidently known Wittich. 2 In Tycho's Mechanica, fol. I. 3, he is mentioned as " quidam insignis mathematicus," and in Progymn., ii. p. 464, he is called "quidam Vratislauien- sis non vulgaris Mathematicus." In a letter to Rothmann (Epist. Astr., p. 61) Tycho says that Wittich ingratiated himself with him " quod hominem ob ingeniosam in Mathematicis, prsesertim quo ad Geometriam attinet, solertiam magnifacerem." We shall see farther on that Tycho and Wittich together deduced convenient formulae whereby multiplication and division of trigono metrical quantities were avoided. See also Epist., p. 296. 3 T. Brake et Doct. Vir. Epistolce, pp. 54, 58, 64. 4 Epist. Astron., p. 3. LIFE AT HVEEN. 121 learned this lie was extremely annoyed, and seemed to think that Wittich had pretended to be the inventor of all he had described to the Landgrave (although the latter had not said so), and in his first letter he took care to tell the Landgrave that Wittich had seen all these things at Hveen, as might already be seen from the word ' ' sextant." 1 How long Wittich remained at Oassel is not known; he was there in November 1584, when he observed a lunar eclipse, and the Landgrave's astronomer, Eothmann, mentions him in a letter of April 1586 as having left a good while previously. He died on the 9th January ISS/, 2 and Tycho seems on learning this to have regretted that he had suspected Wittich of robbing him of his fame, for he wrote in August 1588 that he would have written more mode- rately about him had he known he was dead. 3 Though Wittich spent but a short time at Uraniborg, his name deserves to be remembered by astronomers, as he was apparently the ablest of all Tycho's pupils. 4 Most of these pupils spent a much longer time at Urani- borg than Wittich had done. Thus Gellius Sascerides stayed about six years there. He was born at Copenhagen in 1562, and was a son of Johannes Sascerides of Alkmaar, in Holland, professor of Hebrew in the University of Copenhagen. Gellius had studied at Copenhagen and at Wittenberg, and came to Hveen early in 1582, where he 1 Ibid., p. 7. 2 According to a MS. in the library at Breslau, quoted by Rud. Wolf in the Vierteljahrsschrift dcr Astron. Gcsellschaft, xvii. p. 129. 3 Epist. Astron., p. 113. Tycho here again praises his cleverness "in Geometricis et Triangulorum ac mimerorum tractatione." In the letter of 2oth January 1587 (to which he refers) he had, after all, only said : " Si mea inventa . . . pro suis venditat, nee fatetur per quern ea habuerit, rem a viro bono et grato, ac sinceritate integritateque Mathematica alienam committit." 4 In Chalmers' General Biogr. Dictionary, London, 1815, vol. xx. p. 243, it is stated, on the authority of a Life of the Scotch mathematician Duncan Liddel by Prof. Stuart (1790), that Liddel studied mathematics at Breslau, 1582-84, "under Paul Wittichius, an eminent professor." 122 TYCHO BRAHE. remained until 1588, when he went abroad to continue his medical studies in Italy. Tycho gave him a letter for Kothmann, to whom he recommended Gellius as having assisted him both in astronomical and in chemical work. 1 We shall afterwards hear how he and Tycho got on together after his return. We know much less about another assistant who observed at Hveen about the same time as Gellius, called Elias Olsen Cimber (or Morsing, i.e., from the Isle of Mors, in the Limfjord), although he must have spent a number of years with Tycho. When he first came to Hveen is not known, but he seems to have been there in April 1583, when his handwriting is believed to occur in the meteorological diary. This diary (of which the original is now in the Hofbibliothek at Vienna) was regularly kept from the 1st October 1582 up to the 22nd April 1597, about the time when Tycho left Hveen for ever. 2 It contains for every day short notes about the weather, stating whether it was clear or cloudy, hot or cold, rainy or dry, &c. These notes are always written in Danish, except where halos, auroras, or similar phenomena are described, which is generally done in Latin. But the principal interest attached to this diary arises from the numerous very short notes about the arrival or departure of Tycho, his pupils or visitors, which occur frequently from April 1585. These historical notes are always written in Latin ; they are often very much abbre- viated and difficult to decipher. This diary, which forms a most interesting record of the life at Hveen, was kept now 1 Epist. Astron., p. 104. 2 It was published at Copenhagen in 1876 : Tyge Brake's meteorologiske Dayboy holdt paa Uraniborg for Aarene 1582-1597. Appendice aux Collec- tanea Meteorologica publics sous les auspices de I' Academic Rot/ale des Sciences et des Lettres a Copenhague. The value of the diary (263 pp. 8vo) is greatly increased by an index to the historical names by a Danish historian, H. F. Rordam. There is also a discussion of the meteorological results by P. la Cour (with a French resume"). LIFE AT HVEEN. 123 by one, now by another assistant (though their names are not given), and a great deal of it was written by the above- mentioned Elias Olsen, whose writing appears in it for the last time in April 1589. Probably he left Tycho's service at that time, as he is mentioned in the diary as having arrived and departed several times after that date. 1 In 1584 Elias Olsen was sent by Tycho on an astro- nomical expedition of some importance. At Hveen the inclination of the ecliptic had been found equal to 23 3 1 '.5, while Copernicus had found 23 28'. Tycho correctly ex- plained this by pointing out that Copernicus had measured the meridian altitudes of the sun at the summer and winter solstices without taking refraction into account, and for the latitude of Frauenburg in Prussia this would at the winter solstice cause an error of over 4' in the altitude. Tycho, however, believed the solar refraction at the altitude of I 2 to be equal to 9' ; but, on the other hand, he assumed with Copernicus, that the solar parallax was 3', so that one mis- take is somewhat compensated by the other. He had also found that the solar theory of Copernicus often deviated considerably from the observed places of the sun, and he suspected that Copernicus had reduced his solar observations with an erroneous value of the latitude. He, therefore, gladly took an opportunity of verifying this latitude when, early in 1584, an embassy from George Frederic, Margrave of Ansbach, 2 headed by a nobleman of the name of Levin 1 He was at Hveen June 9 to II, and July I to 3, 1589, November 5 to March 1 1, 1590. Under the last date the printed edition has " Elias obiit H. U^ noct.," but doubtless the original has abiit and not obiit, for the words "Elias Olai " occur again on the 8th May 1596, so he cannot have died in 1590. In 1589 he went with Vedel on a tour through Denmark to observe latitudes and azimuths for Vedel's topographic survey of the country. See E. 0. Horsing og hans Observations, af F. R. Friis, Copenhagen, 1889, 28 pp. 8vo. 2 Regent of the Duchy of Prussia (for his cousin, Duke Albrecht Frederic, who was insane). The house of Hohenzollern is descended from him. 124 TYCHO BRAHE. Billow, returned to Germany after having carried out its mission to the Danish Court. As the embassy was sent to Dantzig in some royal ships, it was easy for Tycho Brahe to obtain permission for Elias Olsen to make the voyage on one of these. He happened to be keeping the meteoro- logical diary at that time, and continued on the journey to record in it the state of the weather. We learn thus that he started from Copenhagen on the 1st May, reached Dantzig the loth, and Frauenburg on the I3th. In this quiet little cathedral town Copernicus had lived many years, engaged solely in building up his great astronomical work, and only now and then turning aside from this to assist with his clear mind in the government of the little diocese-principality of Ermland or in the affairs of the chapter of Frauenburg. Elias Olsen remained on this clas- sical spot from the 1 3th May till the 6th June, and, with a sextant which he had brought with him, he found by meridian altitudes of the sun and stars the latitude to be 5 4 2 2^', while Copernicus made it 5 4 19^ (the modern value is 54 21' 34 /x )- Tycho remarks that the solar decli- nations of Copernicus are consequently 2 ' in error, which, together with his omission of refraction, was sufficient to explain the shortcomings of his solar theory. We shall afterwards examine this question again when discussing Tycho's labours on the solar theory. While Elias Olsen was at Frauenburg he was requested to determine the lati- tude of Konigsberg, and went there on the 8th June. He found 54 43', greatly different from 54 17', which Erasmus Keinhold had assumed in the Prutenic tables on the autho- rity of Apianus. 1 On the 28th June Elias left Konigsberg 1 Progymnasmata, pp. 34-35 ; Epist. Astr., p. 74. The latitude of the Konigsberg observatory is 54 42' 51". Most of the observations made at Frauenburg are given in Baretti Historia Coclestis, p. 104, and are correctly reproduced, except that the date of the observations of May 1 1 should be May 17. In the Hist. Ccel. are not given the " Observationes factas in LIFE AT HVEEN. 125 for Frauenburg, spent five days there, departed for Dantzig on the 4th July, started from thence on the 7th, and was back at Hveen on the 23rd. 1 Valuable as these results of the journey were, Elias brought something else home with him which was perhaps even more valued by Tycho. One of the canons at Frauen- burg, Johannes Hannov, sent him the instrument used by Copernicus and made by his own hands. It was a trique- trum eight feet long, made of pine-wood, and divided by ink-marks, the two equal arms into IOOO parts, the long arm into 1414 parts. Tycho placed this scientific relic in the northern observatory at Uraniborg, and the very day he received it (the 23rd July) he composed a Latin poem ex- pressing his enthusiastic delight at possessing an instrument which had belonged to this great man, whose name he never mentioned without some expression of admiration. 2 This feeling he also gave vent to in the poem which he a few months later wrote and placed under the portrait of Coper- nicus in his library. Possibly he had received this portrait on the same occasion as the instrument. 3 The name of Elias Olsen is also connected with the first book printed at Uraniborg, an astrological and meteorolo- gical diary for the year 1586, somewhat similar to the one drawn up by Tycho for the year 1573. It also contains an account of the comet of 1585, which had been observed at Hveen from the I 8th October to the I5th November. The little book is dated the 1st January 1586, and is dedicated yEdibus Hortensibus illustrissimi Marchionis duels Borussise Regiomonti ; " they are similar to those made at Frauenburg, and extend from June 1 1 to 26 (MS. volume of Obs.). 1 The dates are from the meteorological diary. Friis (T. Brake, p. 133) tells his readers that Elias went to Regensburg (Regiomontum !!) without remarking the wonderful speed with which he would have had to travel to reach Regensburg from the shore of the Baltic in less than two days. 2 pist. Astr., p. 235; Gassendi, p. 57. 3 Epist., p. 240. 126 TYCHO BRAKE. to the Crown Prince, who was then between eight and nine years of age. 1 Of Tycho's other pupils, Longomontanus is the best known. Christen Sorensen Longberg was born on the 4th October 1562, at the village of Longberg or Lomborg, in the north-west of Jutland, where his father was a poor farmer. 2 When his father died in 15/0, his uncle took charge of him for some time, but as the means of the family were too small to allow the boy to follow his inclinations and go to school, the uncle sent him home to his mother to help her on the farm. The boy persuaded the mother to allow him to get some lessons during the winter-time from the .clergyman of the parish, but during the summer he had to lay aside his books and take to farming again. At last he got tired of this, and in the spring of 1577 he took his books, and, without telling any one, walked off to the town of Viborg, some fifty miles from his home. He attended the grammar-school of Viborg for eleven years, and in addition to the ordinary school course of those days he learned the rudiments of mathematics. At the age of twenty-six he left the school for the University of Copenhagen, and the fol- lowing year (1589) he was, on the recommendation of some of the professors, received as an assistant at Uraniborg, where he remained till 1597, when he left it together with Tycho. 3 Of most of the other young men who for a longer or 1 " Diarium astrologicum et metheorologicum anni anato Christo 1586. Et de Cometa qvodam rotundo omniqve cavda destitute qui anno proxime elapso, mensibus Octobri et Nouembri conspiciebatur, ex observationibus certis de- sumta consideratio Astrologica : Per Eliam Olai Cimbrum, Nobili viro T_ychoni Brahe in Astronomicis exercitiis inservientem. Ad Loci Longitudi- nem 37 Gr. Latitudinem 56 Gr. Excusum in Officina Vranibvrgica." See Weidler, Hist. Astr., p. 623 ; Petersen, DansJce Literaturs Historic, iii. p. 180. 2 West of the town of Lemvig, about four miles from the west" coast. In Latin, Longberg called himself Christianus Severini Longomontanus. 3 Petersen, DansTce Literaturs Historic, iii. p. 177. LIFE AT HVEEN. 127 shorter time assisted Tycho Brahe, we know little but the names. A certain Hans Coll, or Johannes Aurifaber, who had charge of the workshop, must have been with him a long time, as he is mentioned as observing in 1585, and he died at Hveen in I 59 i. 1 Many details as to the life at Hveen were communicated to Gassendi by Willem Janszoon Blaev, the celebrated printer at Amsterdam, who in his youth (he was born at Alkmaar in 1571) had spent a few years at Hveen, and to whom we also owe the large map of the island in his son's Grand Atlas. 2 Two other inmates of Tycho's house may also be men- tioned here. One was a maid of the name of Live (or Liuva) Lauridsdatter, who afterwards lived with Tycho's sister, Sophia, and later was a sort of quack-doctor at Copenhagen, where she also practised astrology, &c. She died unmarried in 1693, when she is said to have reached the ripe age of 12/j.. 3 The other was his fool or jester, 1 Obserrationes Feptem Comctarum (1867), pp. 63-64; Baretti Historia Ccelestis, p. 429; Diary, 3