The making of a Tychonic cosmology: Cristoforo Borri and the development of Tycho Brahe's astronomical system

Journal for the History of Astronomy

Volumn 39, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 313-344

  Carolino, Luís Miguel ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LISBON   (Portugal)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 48849107862     PISSN: 00218286     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/002182860803900303     Document Type: Article

References (252)

1. On the reception of Tycho Brahe's cosmology by the Jesuits, see particularly C. J. Schofield, Tychonic and semi-Tychonic world systems (New York, 1981), esp. pp. 277-89;
2. A. Krayer, Mathematik im Studienplan der Jesuiten: Die Vorlesung von Otto Cattenius an der Universität Mainz (1610/11) (Stuttgart, 1991), 135-51:
3. U. Baldini, 'Legem impone subactis': Studi su filosofia e scienza dei gesuiti in Italia, 1540-1632 (Rome, 1992), 217-50;
4. J. M. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo: Christoph Clavius and the collapse of Ptolemaic cosmology (Chicago and London, 1994), 180-219;
5. M.-P. Lerner, "L'entrée de Tycho Brahe chez les jésuites ou le chant do cygne de Clavius", in L. Giard (ed.), Les jésuites à la Renaissance: Système éducatif et production du savoir (Paris, 1995), 145-85;
6. A. Ziggelaar, "Jesuit astronomy north of the Alps: Four unpublished Jesuit letters, 1611-1620", in U. Baldini (ed.). Christoph Clavius e l'attività scientifica dei gesuiti nell'età di Galileo (Rome, 1995), 101-32;
7. and C. Dollo, "Le ragioni del geocentrismo nel Collegio Romano (1562-1612)", in M. Bucciantini and M. Torrini (eds), La diffusione del copernicanesmo in Italia: 1543-1610 (Florence. 1997), 169-88 (reprinted in idem, Galileo Galilei e to cultura delta tradizione (Soveria Mannelli, 2003), 167-233).
8. Giuseppe Biancani, Sphaera munch seu cosmographia demonstrativa ac facili methodo tradita (Modena, 1653), 27.
9. This work was first published in Bologna in 1620. Nevertheless, the Swiss Jesuit astronomer Johann Baptist Cysat (1587-1657), in his treatise on the 1618 comets, had already suggested the superiority of the Tychonic system: "Atque hanc nos arbitramur esse caeteris expeditiorem ac clariorem sphaerarum coelestium hypothesin cui sane quam proxime respondent motuum et phaenomenorum coelestium praesertim eclipsium observationes." J. B. Cysat, Mathemata astronomica de loco, motu, magnitudine et causis cometae qui sub finem anni 1618 et initium anni 1619 in coelo fulsit (Ingolstadt, 1619), 36 [56].
10. On Cysat, see H. Siebert, Die große kosmologische Kontroverse: Rekonstruktionsversuche anhand des Itinerarium exstaticum von Athanasius Kircher SJ (1602-1680) (Stuttgart, 2006), 316-25.
11. See Baldini. 'Legem impone subactis' (ref. 1), 217-50.
12. See also Richard J. Blackwell, Galileo, Bellarmine, and the Bible (Notre Dame, 1991), 148-53.
13. Lerner, "L'entrée de Tycho Brahe" (ref. 1), 178.
14. Pasquale M. D'Elia, Galileo in Cina: Relazioni attraverso il Collegio Romano tra Galileo e igesuiti scienziati nussionari in Cum (1610-1640) (Rome, 1947), 36-38;
15. and Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo (ref. 1), 204-5.
16. Schofield, Tychonic and semi-Tychonic world systems (ref. 1), 227:
17. "the majority of those who rejected the Copernican system on religious grounds, and who, when developments in cosmology rendered obsolete an entirely geocentric planetary theory, found that of Tycho an acceptable compromise, were members of the Society of Jesus." Similar statements are made by Ziggelaar, "Jesuit astronomy north ofthe Alps" (ref. 1), 109 and, recently, by William Donahue, "Astronomy", in K. Park and L. Daston (eds), The Cambridge history, of science, iii: Early modern science (Cambridge, 2006), 562-95, p. 589.
18. Schofield, Tychonic and semi-Tychonic worlds systems (ref. 1), 187.
19. There is no comprehensive study of the cosmology of Borri. References to his cosmological thought can be found in Lynn Thorndike, A history of magic and experimental science (New York, 1958), vii,55-58;
20. Schofield, Tychonic and semi-Tychonic world systems (ref. 1), 95-96, 187-8, 227-8 and 281;
21. W. H. Donahue, The dissolution of the celestial spheres, 1595-1650 (New York, 1981), 117 and 236-8;
22. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo (ref. 1), 208-13;
23. Lerner, "L'entrée de Tycho Brahe" (ref. 1), 157-63;
24. idem, Le monde des sphères (2 vols, Paris, 1996-97), ii, 114-15;
25. M. P. M. Lourenço, "Compromisso e inovação teórica no ensino da astronomia em Portugal no século XVII: O contributo de Cristóvão Bruno", Revista portuguesa de filosofia, liv (1998) 247-83;
26. W. G. L Randles, "Le ciel chez lesjésuits espagnols et portugais (1590-1651)", in Giard (ed.), Les jésuites à la Renaissance (ref. 1), 139-41;
27. idem, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos, 1500-1760: From solid heavens to boundless aether (Aldershot, 1999), 174-8;
28. Dollo, Galileo Galilei (ref. 1), 228-31;
29. O. Besomi and M. Camerota, Galileo e il Parnaso Tychonico (Florence, 2000), 120-4;
30. L. M. Carolino, Ciêcia, astrologia e sociedade: A teoria do influência celeste em Portugal (1593-1755) (Lisbon, 2003), 260-71;
31. and G. Strano and G. Truffa, "Tycho Brahe cosmologist: An over-view on the genesis, development and fortune of the geo-heliocentric world-system", in M. Bucciantini, M. Camerota and S. Roux (eds), Mechanics and cosmology in the medieval and early modern period (Florence, 2007), 89-91.
32. Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo (ref. 1), 208;
33. Lerner, "L'entrée de Tycho Brahe" (ref. 1), 157;
34. Dollo, Galileo Galilei (ref, 1), 228;
35. and Strano and Truffa, "Tycho Brahe cosmologist" (ref. 8), 89.
36. In considering Borri's cosmological ideas, historians such as Lattis, Lerner ("L'entrée de Tycho Brahe" (ref. 1)), Dollo and Besomi-Camerota have analysed only the 1612 Milan lessons while others have focused exclusively on the 1631 Collecta astronomica. These others are Schofield, Donahue, Lerner (Le monde des spheres (ref. 8)) and Randles (ref. 8).
37. According to Ugo Baldini, Borri probably received instruction in mathematics from the Italian teacher G. B. Biamino, U. Baldini, "L'insegnamento della maternatica nel Collegio di S. Antão a Lisbona, 1590-1640", in N. S. Gona̧lves (ed.), A Companhia de Jesus e a missionacção no Oriente (Lisbon, 2000), 275-310, p. 289
38. (also in idem, Saggi sulla cultura della Compagnia di Gesù (secoli XVI-XVIII) (Padua, 2000), 129-67, p, 146).
39. The most extensive biographical study of Borri is that of Domingues Maurício Gomes dos Santos, "Vicissitudes da obra do Pe. Cristóvão Borri", Anais da Academia Portuguesa de História, 2nd ser., iii (1951), 117-50.
40. For more details see Baldini, "L'insegnamento della matematica" (ref. 11), 287.
41. Important information on Borri's life as a missionary in East Asia can be found in A. Mercati, "Notizie sul gesuita Cristoforo Borri e su sue 'inventioni' da carte finora sconosciute di Pietro della Valle, il Pellegrino", Pontificia Academia Scientarum. Acta, xvii (1951), 25-46,
42. and F. Surdich, "L' attività di padre Cristoforo Borri nelle Indie Orientali in un resoconto inedito", in E Surdich (ed.), Fonti sulla penetrazione europea in Asia (Genoa, 1979), 67-122.
43. Borri reported his missionary experience in Vietnam in his Relatione della nuova missione delli PP. della Compagnia di Giesu, al regno della Cocincina (Rome, 1631), a book that was widely disseminated in seventeenth-century Europe, being translated into French, Dutch, Latin, German and English between 1631 and 1633.
44. The Colégio de Santo Antão was the main mathematical and nautical training centre in Portugal during the seventeenth century. On the mathematical and nautical teaching at this college, see Baldini, "L'insegnamento della matematica" (ref. 11)
45. and L. de Albuquerque, A 'aula da esfera' do Colégio de Santo Antão no seculo XVII (Coimbra, 1972).
46. See also H. Leitão, "Jesuit mathematical practice in Portugal, 1540-1759", in M. Feingold (ed.), The new science and Jesuit science: Seventeenth century perspectives (Dordrecht 2003), 229-47, for the context in which mathematics was taught and promoted in early modern Portugal.
47. J. Carvalho, "Galileu e a cultura portuguesa sua contemporanea", Biblos, xix (1943), 399-482
48. (reprinted in idem, Obra completa (Lisbon, 1982), iii, 405-84);
49. A. A. B. de Andrade, "Antes de Vemeinascer ... o Padre Cristóvão Borrilança, nas escolas, a primeira grande reforma científica", Brotéria, x1 (1945), 369-79;
50. L. de Albuquerque, "Sobre o conhecimento de Galileu e de Copérnico em Portugal no século XVII", Vertice, xxv (1965), 14-27
51. (also in idem, Para a história da ciência em Portugal (Lisbon, 1973), 121-42);
52. N. Cunha, "Cristóvão Borri: A revolução pela reforma (1593-1983)", Revista portuguesa de filosofia, x1 (1994), 175-85;
53. Lourenço, "Compromisso e movação teórica" (ref. 8);
54. Randles, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 174-8;
55. and L. M. Carolino, "Philosophical teaching and mathematical arguments: Jesuit philosophers versus Jesuit mathematicians on the controversy on comets in Portugal (1577-1650)", History of universities, xvi/2 (2000), 65-95.
56. From a letter that Borri addressed in Rome to the General of Society of Jesus (ref. 24), it is clear that Borri departed to Rome in search of support for the publication of his Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), a book which - as mentioned below - was facing difficulties in being published in Portugal due to the opposition of the influential Portuguese Jesuit Sebastião do Couto.
57. According to Charles De Visch, in Rome Born left the Jesuits and entered the Cistercian Order, taking the name of Father Onofrio. See De Visch, Bibliotheca scriptorun sacri ordinis Cisterciensis elogiis plurimorum maxime illustrium adornata (Cologne, 1656), 71.
58. There is some controversy, however, over whether or not he actually managed to be accepted by the Cistercians. See Carlos Sommervogel, Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jesus (Paris. 1890), i, 1821-2.
59. Borri's major work is Collecta astronomica ex doctrina ... de tribus caelis aereo, sydereo, empyreo: Opus sane mathematicum, philosophicum et theologicun sive scripturarium (Lisbon, 1631).
60. Nevertheless, although Borri, in his Collecta astronomica, published data from earlier astronomical observations, his book is not a collection of different pieces on astronomy written by Borri at different periods. as Francesco Surdich has said: " i Collecta astronomica] è un volume costituito da vari scritti di carattere astronomico redatti dal Borri in diversi periodi." Surdich, "L'attività di padre Cristoforo Borri" (ref. 13), 71.
61. Cristoforo Borri, De astrologia universa tractatus. Dividitur in duas partes quarum prima de contemplatrici astronomia, secunda de practica breviter sed dilucide ita pertractat ut deesse plane out desiderari posse nihil videatur, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Rome, Ms. Fondo Gesuitico 587.
62. Ugo Baldini seems to have been the first historian to take notice of this manuscript: Baldini, 'Legem impone subactis' (ref. 1), 169.
63. The manuscript consists of a copy by Albertus de Albertis, Jesuit professor of mathematics in Milan, in 16 15, of the lecture notes delivered by Borri in 1612. On the frontispiece one reads as follows: "Rdo P. Christoforo Burro Societatis Jesu. Auctore in amplissimo Braydensi Collegio scientiarum mathematicum doctore praestantissimo Anno MDCXII. Qui deinde ad Indos migravit Anno 1615. Albertus de Albertis." Another copy of his De astrologia universa tractatus, dated from 1611-12, is preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan (Tractatus astrologiae, Ms. A.83 sussidio). This document was identified by Besomi and Camerota, Galileo e it Parnaso Tychonico (ref. 8), 119.
64. See ref.21.
65. To be noted is the fact that Borri did not deal with astrology again in his works. The section De astrologia practica expounds the widespread seven teenth-century theory of the influence of celestial bodies on the terrestrial region. As Borri presented no original point with regard to this theory, I shall not be concerned with the issue of astrology in this paper. For details on the early modern theory of celestial influence, see J. North, "Celestial influence - the major premiss of astrology", in P. Zambelli (ed.), Astrologi hallucinati': Stars and the end of the world in Luther's time (Berlin and New York, )986), 45-100;
66. E. Grant, "Medieval and Renaissance scholastic conceptions of the influence of the celestial region on the terrestrial", Journal of medieval and Renaissance studies, xvii (1987), 1-23;
67. and Carolino, Cuência, astrologia e sociedade (ref. 8), esp. pp. 45-77.
68. This letter, entitled Al motto Reu. Pre. Generale, Christoforo Borri sopra it libro che ho composto per stampare delli tre Cieli, was published by Santos, "Vicissitudes da obra do Pe. Cristóvão Borri" (ref. 12), 143-50 (see pp. 143-4).
69. "Intendento questo [that the Chinese believed the heavens to be fluid] il Padre Francesco Viera che all'hora era Visitatore in Macao mi ordinò facesse un tratatto, con che persuadesse alli Nostri Padri defla Cina a lasciare l'opinione delli XI Cieli d'Europa, et si conformassero con li Cinese già che mostraua esser piú verissimile la loro opinione che la nostra di quà", in Santos, "Vicissitudes da obra do Pe. Cristóvão Borri" (ref. 12), 144.
70. On the relationship between Borri and Pietro della Valle, see Mercati, "Notizie sul gesuita Crisotoforo Borri (ref. 13).
71. [P. Borri] haveva composto un libro in questo proposito, e dichiarando la opinione di Tichone, la verità di essa co'i suoi discorsi, per via di Theologia, di Mathematica, e di Filosofia, distesamente havava mostrata. Questo libro del Padre, come la presenza dell'istesso mi disse, prima che si mandasse alle stampe, conforme è l'uso nostro, quando egli veniva da Cocincina, si perdè nel mare, per ragion di una tempesta che si levò; e cosi un'hora cattiva se ne portò via le fatiche di molto tempo." Borri / Della Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Persiano 9, 4-5.
72. This title was mentioned by Sommervogel, Bibliothèque (ref. 18), 1822. Note, nevertheless, that Sommervogel did not have access to the original treatise. It is most likely that lie translated the Italian title of the volume held at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana directly into Latin (see ref. 30).
73. According to Borri, his treatise, translated into Persian under the title of Risalah- i Padri Khristafarus Burris Isavi dar tufiq-i jadid dunya, was very well received by the sages of the Middle East: "Venendo poi per Europa, net camino dell'Indie ritrouai it Signor Pietro delta Valle, al quale come curioso comunicai questa dottrina [fluidity of the heavens], et lui di poi la comunicò alli savij della Persia, Armenia, et Arabia, quali tutti come lui stesso afferma tanto sodisfatti ne restarono, che l'antepongono ad ogn'altra opinione". Borri, Al molto Reu. Pre. Generate (ref. 24), in Santos, "Vicissitudes da obra do Pe. Cristóvão Borri" (ref. 12), 144.
74. There are two copies of Risalah- i Padri Khristafarus Burris Isavi dar tufiq-i jadid dunya, Compendio di un trattato del Padre Christoforo Borro Giesuita delta nuova costitution del mondo secondo Tichone Brahe e gli altri astologi moderni, both held at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, respectively Ms. Vat. Persiano 9 and Ms. Vat. Persiano 10. A. Sayili described the first manuscript in "An early seventeenth century Persian manuscript on the Tychonic system", Anatolia, iii (1958), 84-87. In this paper, I use the Italian version.
75. Capitolo primo delta figura del Mondo", Borri / delta Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Persiano 9, 8-9.
76. "Capitolo secondo, nel quale si mostra come con questa figura del Mondo tutte le apparenze in cielo si salvano", Borri / delta Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Persiano 9, 10-17.
77. Capitolo terzo delle apparenze che non possono salvarsi nella costitution della figura ordinaria del Mondo, che in questa che noi faciamo si salvano meglio", Borri / delta Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Persiano 9, 17-22.
78. "Capitolo quarto che è sigillo (cio è conclusione) de' sopradetti discorsi", Borri / delta Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Persiano 9, 22-27.
79. A couple of years later, Borri was sent to Coimbra to teach mathematics. He would remain in Coimbra for one academic year (1626/27), returning again to Lisbon to teach at the Aula da Esfera (Class on the Sphere) at the Colégio de Santo Antdo (1627/28). From this period in Portugal, there exists a manuscript work by Borri entitled Tractatus aliquot de mathematica disciplina traditi a Pe. Christophoro Brono e Societate Iesu, which is now preserved at the Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa (Ms. FG. 2378). This tractatus is made up of three parts: "Quaestio unica: Num matematicae disciplinae verae scientiae nomen induant?" (ff. 52r-59r), "Sphaera mundi" (ff. 60r-90v) and "Sphaera mundi quo ad earn pattern quae est de figura et magnitudine corporum universorum" (ff. 91r-107r).
80. According to Borri's statement, after being sent to Coimbra to teach mathematics, he was ordered by the Spanish king, who by that time ruled over Portugal, to write a book on nautical science. In 1627, the work was already completed: "mi mandò [the king] per i suoi ufficiali che componessi on libro dell'arte del navigare, it che ho fatto con tanta sollecitudine che gia sta in procinto di useire alla stampa, insieme con la vera sentenza delta tenuith e fluidità de Cieli" in Surdich, "L' attività di padre Cristoforo Borri" (ref. 13), 122.
81. Borri was most likely referring to his Arte de navegar, a treatise on nautical science which he had taught at the Aula da Esfera of the Colégio de Santo Antão in 1627/28, in addition to his Nova astronomia (see refs 37 and 39). Two manuscript copies of his Arte de navegar are held respectively in the Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra, ms. 44, and the Biblioteca Pública de Évora, cod. CXVI/1-17 no2. The Coimbra text was edited by A. Fontoura da Costa, Arte de navegar pelo Padre Mestre Cristóvão Bruno [= Borri] (1628) (Lisbon, 1940).
82. Two copies of Borri's Lisbon lectures on cosmology, entitled Nova astronomia no qual se refuta a antiga do multidão de 12 ceos pondo so tres: aereo, cidereo e impireo, are preserved in the Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra (ms. 44, ff. 65r-143v) and in Biblioteca Pública de Évora(cod. CXXVI/1-17, no 1). Except for some orthographic differences and the occasional use of synonyms, the texts are similar. Nevertheless, the Coimbra manuscript lacks the fifth part which focuses the physical questions on the heavens according to the new astronomy, and the sixth part on the creation of the heavens is incomplete in this manuscript. The Évora manuscript is provided with some diagrams absent in the Coimbra copy.
83. Fr Le Jeunehomme, "Relation d'un voyage de la Flèche à Lisbonne", in Documents inédits concernant la Compagnie de Jésus (Poitiers, 1864), iv, 39-40. I quote from Randles, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 175.
84. There is no doubt that the Nova astronomia (as well as the Arte de navegar) consists of the lectures Borri read at the Colégio de Santo Antão: on the final page of the Coimbra manuscript we are told that "all these subjects were given at the College of S. Antão by Father Cristovão Bruno"), ("Todas estas materias forão dadas em o Collegio de S. Antão pello Pe. Me.Christouão Bruno"), Borri, Nova astronomia (ref. 37), BGUC, f. 153v. In Portugal, Borri adopted the surname Brono (or Bruno) for the reason that 'Borri' is regrettably similar to the Portuguese word for 'ass'.
85. The Collecta is made up of six sections: (1) On ancient astronomy and its confutation (De antiqua astronomia et eius confutatione) (1-72);
86. On the new phenomena observed in recent times (De novis apparentiis quae nostris temporibus observatae sunt) (73-159);
87. On the fluidity of the heavens and planetary motion in the 'aura aetherea'(De coelorum tenuitate, ac motu planetarum in aura aetherea) (161-221);
88. On the threefold number of the heavens (De numero caelorum tribus conclusionibus absolvemus hanc quartam partem, quae est resolutoria nostrae hac de re sententiae) (223-93);
89. Physical questions on the heavens according to the new astronomy ( Quaestiones physicae de caelo iuxta novam astronomiam) (295-390);
90. and (6) On the creation of the heavens (De creatione caelorum) (391-470).
91. This point has already been made by Santos, "Vicissitudes da obra do Pe. Cristóvão Borri" (ref. 12), 134.
92. Certainly Borri's book was previously submitted to the internal Jesuit censorship. However, I have no knowledge of documental evidence of that censorship.
93. See ref. 24.
94. See Santos, "Vicissitudes da obra do Pe. Cristóvão Borri" (ref. 12), 146. Indeed Borri, in dealing with the celebrated quaestio de certitudine mathematicarum, emphasized the scientific character of mathematics and openly criticized the position defended by Couto in the Coimbran Commentaries on Aristotle's dialectics (1606).
95. See C. Borri, Tractatus aliquot de mathematica disciplina: Num matematicae disciplinae verae scientiae nomen induant (ref. 35), ff. 52r-59r.
96. Berri, Al molto Reu. Pre. Generale (see ref. 24), in Santos, "Vicissitudes da obra do Pe. Cristóvão Borri" (ref. 12), 143.
97. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21 ), f. 24r.
98. Borri reported his approach to the Tychonic planetary system in De astrologia universa (ref. 21), ff. 24r-24v.
99. Schofield, Tychonic and semi-Tychonic world systems (ref. 1), 28.
100. "nostra hypothesis eodem modo constituit omnium planetarum circulos respectu solis, et terrae, ergo et haec salvat." Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 26v.
101. "Iam ex tunc mecum ipse statui nullo modo ponendos tot caelos reales, et in tot partes divisos, ne dicam confusos, sed puros circulos a planetis describi, et hos solum imaginarios." Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 24r.
102. Borri referred to the Aristotelian theory of comets in three different places in the context of his description of the "terrestrial sphere" (see Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), ff. 6v, 7r and 10v). This fact, together with his position on celestial incorruptibility, demonstrates that, in his Italian period, Borri almost certainly endorsed the position that comets reach to the upper boundary of the region of the air.
103. On the relation between Tycho's defence of a geo-heliocentric system with no solid orbs and these two astronomical arguments (observation of the movement of the 1577 comet and speculation about the parallax of Mars), see J. L. E. Dreyer, Tycho Brahe (New York, 1963), 158-85;
104. Victor E. Thoren, The Lord of Uraniborg: A biography of Tycho Brahe (Cambridge, 1990), 236-64, esp. pp. 255-8;
105. Miguel A. Granada, El debate cosmológico en 1588: Bruno, Brahe, Rothmann, Ursus, Röslin (Naples, 1996), 31-59;
106. and idem, "Did Tycho eliminate the celestial spheres before 1586?", Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxvii (2006), 125-45.
107. A broad interpretation of Tycho's abandoning of solid orbs, taking into account not only astronomical and optical reasons, but also Tycho's philosophical and scriptural motivations, can be found in Michel-Pierre Lerner, Tre saggi sulla cosmologia alla fine del Cinquecento (Naples, 1992), 73-104, and Lerner, Le monde des sphères (ref. 8), ii, 39-66.
108. See also Steven Van den Broecke, "Teratology and the publication of Tycho Brahe's new world system (1588)", Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxvii (2006), 1-17.
109. Borri used this example in De astrologia universa (ref. 21), ff. 26v-27r.
110. "Dicendum [est] secundo certissimum esse lunam non esse perfectissime rotundam sed multis vallibus, ac montibus esse inacqualem. Probabilius etiam est cetera astra esse montibus referta sicut luna. De luna non indiget probatione cum sensu pateat beneficio perspicilij, quod nuper a Galileo de Galileis florentino Patavinii Gymnasij publico mathematico repertum esse dicitur, quod quidem perspicilium statim ac praemanibus habui, observavi hos montes, et valles in luna, sed non sum ausus ante proferre ne alicuius temeritatis notam subirem, sed postquam haec et alia, quae suo loco dicemus iarn video ab ipso Galileo observata immo et in lucem edita, veritatem hanc confirmare, et propalare non dubito." Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), ff. 13r-13v (our italics).
111. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 15v.
112. See Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 16r. Borri mentioned having himself verified Galileo's observations of the moons of Jupiter: "Hoc non indiget phantasiae ut dictum est de montibus in luna, cum sensu pateat ope eiusdem perspicilli, quae quidem stellae ab ipso Gallileo omnes observatae sunt, et ego ipse quam diligentissime potui observavi" (f. 16r). As far as the rings of Saturn and the phases of Venus are concerned, Borri seemed to have based himself upon Galileo's Sidereus nuncius and Kepler's Dioptrice.
113. As is clear, for example, in the case of the phases of Venus: Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 16.
114. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 24v.
115. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 25r. Nevertheless, unlike the case with the diagram of Tycho, in Borri's diagram the orbit of Venus is tangent to that of the Moon, and the orbit of Saturn apparently touches the heaven of the fixed stars.
116. See, particularly, Besomi and Camerota, Galileo e il Parnaso Tychonico (ref. 8).
117. See also F. Rurale, I gesuiti a Milano: Religione e politica nel secondo cinquecento (Rome, 1992), 137-76.
118. Besomi and Camerota, Galileo e il Parnaso Tychonico (ref. 8), 105-33, esp. pp. 129-30.
119. O. Cattenius, Libri IV Matheseos, in Krayer, Mathematik im Studienplan der Jesuiten (ref. 1), 287-8.
120. On Cattenius's adherence to the Tychonic system, see Krayer, Mathematik, 135-7.
121. Cattenius, Matheseos (ref. 62), 284.
122. Cattenius, Matheseos (ref. 62), 288-9.
123. Cattenius, Matheseos (ref. 62), 289.
124. At the time that Cattenius was teaching mathematics at Mainz, the theses of celestial fluidity and corruptibility were strongly criticized by Jesuit philosophers and, in general, by the Jesuit hierarchy. For example, Gerolamo Piccolomini, a Jesuit professor of philosophy at the Collegio Romano, in 1612, stood against those positions, by arguing that heavenly bodies move inside solid orbs and celestial matter should be considered to be incorruptible. See Dollo, Galileo Galilei (ref. 1), 224-8.
125. See ref. 66.
126. In fact, this position of Borri's broadly dem onstrates the increasing tendency amongst Jesuit mathematicians to accept the notion of the fluidity of the heavens by that time. In 1627/28, Borri described to his Lisbon pupils a meeting he had had with Giuseppe Biancani, when he was still a professor at Milan (in the early 1610s), in which Borri had outlined to the professor of mathematics at Parma his position on the fluid nature of celestial matter. According to his statement, Biancani showed a profound attachment to this theory and very likely then decided to write his Aristotelis loca mathematica (1615). Borri related the episode in the following terms: "E mais claramente ainda que estes authores, affirma set esta nossa doctrina [celestial fluidity] uerdadeira o Pe Joseph Blancano, mestre insigne na sciencia da mathematica e lente della na Cidade de Parma, o qual no mesmo tempo que eu lia em Milõ [no anno de t614, in the Évora ms, f. 45v], nos encontramos e falando eu com elle nesta materia se mostrou mui afeiçoado a esta doctrina, e parese que daqui nasceu tomar a peito defendela, e dala a conhecer ao mundo no livro que depois imprimiu no anno de 1615 In loca mathematica Aristotelis." Borri, Nova astronomia (ref. 37), BGUC, ff. 109v-110r, BPE, f. 45v. Borri also alluded to this episode in his Collecta astronomica(ref. 19),168.
127. This increasing tendency to defend the fluidity of the heavens is also clear in the case of Christoph Schemer. See C. Scheiner, De maculis solaribus et stellis circa lovem errantibus accuratior disquisitio (Augsburg, 1612), 50, and idem, Rosa ursina sive sol (Bracciano, 1626-30), 755ff. Biancam, referring to Scheiner's position on celestial fluidity, mentioned that certain Jesuit philosophers greatly appreciated it: "L'opinione sua della liquidezza dei cieli è piacciuta molto ad alcuni dei nostri Padri, lettori di Filosofia di questo Studio", in Galileo, Le opere, edited by A. Favaro (Florence, 1890-1909), xi, 509.
128. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 2 1), f. 25v.
129. See L. de Molina, Commentaria in primam Divi Thomae partem (Venice, 1594; 1st edn, Cuenca, 1592), 705,
130. and R. Bellarmine, The Louvain Lectures ('Lectiones Lovaniensis') of Bellarmine and the autograph cop), ofhis 1616 declaration to Galileo, edited by U. Baldini and G. V. Coyne (Vatican City, t984), 17. Nevertheless, since the Lectiones Lovaniensis remained unpublished until recently, Borri most likely had no knowledge of this text in the 1610s.
131. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 25r.
132. Randles, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 177.
133. Ibid., 116.
134. Epistolarum astronomicarum libri was later reprinted in 1601 (Nuremberg) and in 1610 (Frankfurt). On the correspondence between Tycho and Rothmann on the nature of celestial matter, see Randles, The unmaking ofthe medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 63-77.
135. See also Adam Mosley, Bearing the heavens: Tycho Brahe and the astronomical community ofthe late sixteenth century (Cambridge, 2007), 70-80 and 89-96.
136. See Tycho Brahe to C. Rothmann, 21 February 1589, in Tycho Brahe, 0Tychonis Brahe Dam epistolae astronomicae, i (Tychonis Brahe opera onmia, ed. by J. L. E. Dreyer, vi (Copenhagen, 1919)), 167.
137. Berri, De astrologia universa(ref. 2t), ff. 25v-26r. With few exceptions, Berri did not mention explicitly which books he used in the Milan lecture notes. Although it seems very difficult to establish whether or not Borri based himself on the reading of Epistolarum astronomicarum libri, I think that it is likely that Berri had the correspondence of Tycho and Rothmann in mind when he hypothesized that celestial matter could be made up of air or fire.
138. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), ff. 25v-26r.
139. "ll secondo il cielo ethereo ò delle stelle, che sara alcuna quinta essenza, conforme al detto d'Aristotile." Borri/Della Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Pers. 9, 22.
140. See ref. 78. Two other references to celestial incorruptibility can be found inf.7r and f. 12v. However, these allusions were made in the context of the exposition of traditional theory.
141. See ref. 52.
142. Giuseppe Biancani, Aristotelis loca mathematica (Bologna, 16151), 91-94.
143. Biancani repeated this theory in his Sphaera mundi (ref. 2), 158.
144. See ref. 45.
145. While in Vietnam, Borri also observed the 1621 May 21 solar eclipse. He mentioned his observations of eclipses in Borri, Relatione della nuova missione delli PP. della Compagnia de Giesu at regno della Cocincina (Rome, 1631), 177-93.
146. For details on Wremann, see Baldini, "L'insegnamento della matematica" (ref. 11), 285-6.
147. Although Borri mentioned that Wremann bad taught mathematics in Coimbra, according to Baldini he was responsible for a private course on mathematics at the Lisbon college, in 1614/15, just before he went to China. See Baldini, "L'insegnamento della maternatica" (ref. 11), 285-6.
148. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 117[115]-6.
149. A similar diagram, although representing more comets, can be found in Cysat, Mathemata astronomica (ref. 2), 57.
150. The complete passage reads as follows: "La prima [appearance] son le Comete, ò corpi lucidi ... che in cielo apparvero nell'anno 1572 e nel 1579 di Christo, che Tychone Brahe, e tutti gli altri mathernatici più famosi di quel tempo osservarono che a poco a poco salirono sopra'l cielo della Luna e di Mercurio, e dopo sopra'l cielo di Venere e del Sole, e di tutti gli altri Piancti fin'all cielo delle stelle fisse." Borri / Della Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Pers. 9, 17.
151. Note that comets are incorrectly identified in this section: the one of 1572 was most likely the 'new star' of 1572 and the "1579 comet" referred certainly to the comet of 1577 or that of 1580. In contrast to Borri's statement that the 1577 comet presented an ascending motion up to the fixed stars, Tycho and the "most famous astronomers of that time" rather maintained that the comet moved with a circular orbit about the Sun in the heaven of Venus. See, for example, Tycho, De mundi aetherei recentioribus phaenomenis in Tychonis Brahe opera omnia (ref. 75), iv (Copenhagen, 1922), 160- 1,
152. and Michael Maestlin, Observatio et demonstratio cometae aetherei qui anno 1577 et 1578 constitutus in sphaera Veneris (Tübingen, 1578), 28-34 and 38-39.
153. Borri did not state clearly that comets were meteorological phenomena ascending from the terrestrial region up to the celestial region. Nevertheless, his view of the comets' motion suggests that this was his position at that time. Later, in his Collecta astronomica, Borri took up the position that comets were made up of terrestrial exhalations, very well blended, that reached to the planetary region. He considered that this view had a single disadvantage: it would require a huge number of exhalations to produce just one comet. See Borri, Collecta astronomica (fef. 19), 369.
154. See refs 77 and 78.
155. This position was defended, for example, by the Portuguese Aristotelian philosopher Domingos Barbosa, who served as a professor of philosophy at the Colégio de Santo Antão (Lisbon) in 1631/33. See D. Barbosa, Philosophia moralis et naturalis, 1632, Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra, ms. 2368, ff. 5r and 65r-66r.
156. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 298-300.
157. "Tertio valde probabile, cometas conflari per quandam condtnsationem partium aliquarum aurae aethereae, quae quidem condensatio fiat, aut immediate per Angelos, aut etiam per exhalationes elementares, aut per qualitates occultas planetarum in tali, ac tali concursu et aspectu cum reliquis astris." Berri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 369.
158. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 370-1.
159. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 372.
160. P. Barker, "The optical theory of comets from Apian to Kepler", Physis, xxx (1993), 1-25.
161. See R. Ariew, "Theory of comets at Paris during the seventeenth century", Journal of the history of ideas, liii (1992), 355-72, especially p. 359.
162. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 309.
163. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 320-4.
164. Note that by distinguishing three different zones of air - the regio infinia (lower zone), the regio media (intermediate zone) and the regio suprema (higher zone) - Borri persists with a pseudo-Aristotelian tripartite division of the sphere of the air. For example, as the celebrated Jesuits of the Coimbran Colégio das Artes ('Conimbricenses') expounded in their commentary on Aristotle's Meteorologica, there are three different zones in the sphere of the air. The higher zone (regio suprema), which is the space from the concave surface of the sphere of fire down to a position just below the tops of the highest mountains, is very hot because of its proximity to fire and for the reason that a high concentration of fiery exhalations occur there, causing the appearance of comets in this upper zone of the air. The middle zone (regio media) is the zone from the peak of the highest mountains down to the place where the reflected rays of the Sun cannot reach. Because of this, the middle zone is thought to be very cold. The fact that the Sun's reflected rays disperse below that zone allows the formation of clouds there. The lower zone (regio infima), being the space from the air surrounding the Earth up to the point where the Sun's rays reflecting on the Earth's surface disperse, is moderately hot. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Iesu in libros meteororum Aristotelis Stagiritae (Lisbon, 1593), 10-11.
165. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 324.
166. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 259.
167. Borri. Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 309.
168. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 310.
169. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 326-30.
170. Randles, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 176.
171. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 258.
172. J. Pena, De usu optices praefatio, in Pena, Euclidis optica et catoptrica (Paris, 1557);
173. J. Muñoz, Libro del nuevo cometa (Valencia, 1573), ed. by V. Navarro Brotóns (Valencia, 1981);
174. and M. Bocarro Francês, Tratado dos cometas que appareceram ent Novembro passado de 1618 (Lisbon, 1619).
175. See ref. 76.
176. As Rothman wrote to Tycho on 2 October 1587, "inter Terram, vt scis, et inter Sphaeram Stellarum Fixarum nihil aliud contineri statuo quam Aërem septem Errantia sidera ambientem". Tycho Brahe, Epistolae astronomicae, i, ed. by Dreyer (ref. 75), 112.
177. Descriptio accurata cometae anni 1585 was originally sent by Rothmann in manuscript form to Tycho, in 1586, and later published as an appendix to W. Snell, Descriptio cometae, qui anno 1618 mense Novembri primum effulsit (Leiden, 1619), 69-155.
178. In the fifth chapter, Rothmann argued that, instead of celestial orbs, the region between the Earth and the fixed stars is filled by air: "nos ... ostendemus, inter sphaeram stellarum fixarum et tellurem nihil aliud esse, quam animalem hune aërem septemque errantia sidera tantum in aëre pendere." Rothmann, Descriptio cometae, 102-3 (see Rothmann's exposition at pp. 102-18).
179. On this treatise of Rothmann, see M. Granada, Sfere solide e cielo fluido: Momenti del dibattito cosmologico nella seconda metà del Cinquecento (Milan, 2002), 47-66.
180. It is most unlikely that Borri had access to the Rothmann's text in manuscript form. Consequently, in the period before the publication of Descriptio cometae, if Borri had direct knowledge of Rothmann's ideas on celestial matter, it could only have been by means of the Brahe-Rothmann correspondence published in Tycho's Epistolae astronomicae. After its publication, it is probable that Borri had access to the Descriptio cometae, as Snell ("Smelius" from Snellius) is mentioned by Borri as one of the "modern" astronomers defending the celestial location of comets. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 120.
181. On Rothmann's position and the likely influence of Pena, see E. Rosen, "The dissolution of the solid celestial spheres", Journal of the history of ideas, x1vi (1985), 13-31;
182. M.-P. Lerner, "Le problème de la matière céleste après 1550: Aspects de la bataille des cieux fluides", Revue d'histoire des sciences, xlii (1989), 255-80;
183. B. Goldstein and P. Barker, "The role of Rothmann in the dissolution of the celestial spheres", The British journal for the history of science, xxviii (1995), 385-403;
184. M. A. Granada, "Eliminazione delle sfere celesti e ipotesi astronomiche in un inedito di Christoph Rothmann: L'influenza di Jean Pena e la polemica con Pietro Ramo", Rivista di storia della filosofia, iv (1997), 785-821
185. (also reprinted in Granada, Sfere solide e cielo fluido (ref. 111), 115-36);
186. and Randles, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 58-77.
187. See, among other letters, those of Rothmann to Tycho, 2 October 1587;
188. Tycho to Rothmann, 17 August 1588;
189. Rothmann to Tycho, 13 October 1588;
190. Tycho to Rothmann, 21 February 1589;
191. and Rothmann to Tycho, 22 August 1589, respectively at Dreyer (ed.), op. cit. (ref. 75), 110-19, 134-48, 149-61, 166-81 and 181-4.
192. See also Rothmann, Descriptio cometae (ref. 111), 103-7.
193. Dreyer, Tycho Brahe (ref. 52), 180;
194. Thoren, The Lord of Uraniborg (ref. 52), 312.
195. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 24v;
196. Borri, Nova astronomia (ref. 37), BGUC, ff. 117r-v, BPE, f. 54v;
197. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 187-8.
198. "... Como a morte Ihe foi occasião de ficar em branco sem provar o que prometeu e deseiava levar ao cabo tão insigne astronomo [Tycho]. Nos pello deseyo que tinhamos de ver aclarada e provada huma doutrina tão boa nos demos por obrigados provala ainda que breve e recopiladamente por agora." Borri, Nova astronomia (ref. 37), BGUC, f. 117v, BPE, f. 54v.
199. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), ff. 25r, 27r-v.
200. Edward Grant, Planets, stars, and orbs: The medieval cosmos, 1200-1687 (Cambridge, MA, 1994), 469-87.
201. See also Richard C. Dales, "The de-animation of the heavens in the Middle Ages", Journal of the history of ideas, xli (1980) 531-50.
202. And, in fact, Borri occasionally used the expression "propria forma" to characterize the virtue of planetary motion. See ref. 121. On the Mertonian position, see J. A. Weisheipl, Nature and motion in the Middle Ages (Washington, DC, 1995), 166-9.
203. "Cum et Coelum animatum esse, ipsaque coelestia corpora animantia quaedam Coeli vitali spiritu praedita, non abs re sensisse videatur Divina illa Platonicorum Philosophia." Tycho Brahe, Avthor Lectori svo de praecentibvs Rothmanni litteris et ad eas responsione, in Tycho Brahe, Epistolae astronomicae, i, ed. Dreyer (ref. 75), 221.
204. Note, however, that in Borri's lecture-notes, the passage reads as follows: "Dico totam auram aetheream moveri spatio 24 horarum ab occidente in orientem motu naturali videlicet a propria forma." Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 27r. This is obviously an inaccuracy of the copyist.
205. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 27r.
206. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 27v.
207. Borri, De astrologia universa (ref. 21), f. 27r, See also ff. 25v and 27v.
208. Schofield, Tychonic and semi-Tychonic world systems (ref. 1), 100 and 222ff;
209. M. A. Granada, "The defence of the movement of the Earth in Rothmann, Maestlin and Kepler: From heavenly geometry to celestial physics", in Bucciantini, Camerota and Roux (eds), Mechanics and cosmology (ref. 8), 100-1.
210. Borri / Della Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Pers. 9, 11-12.
211. "... le stelle fanno i moti loro ò per virtù de gli Angioli che a loro diano moto, ò per altra virtù propria data a loro da Dio", Borri / Della Valle, Compendio (ref. 30), Vat. Pets. 9, 22.
212. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 175-81.
213. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 181.
214. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 208-12. A description of Borri's theory can be found in Schofield, Tychonic and semi-Tychonic world systems (ref. I), 227-9.
215. Bocarro Francês, Tratado dos cometas (ref. 108), ff. 4r-5r. On the cosmology of Bocarro Francês,
216. see Randles, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 100-1;
217. and L. M. Carolino, "Scienza, politica ed escatologia nella formazione dello 'scienzato'nell'Europa del XVII secolo: Il caso di Manuel Bocarro Francês - Jacob Rosales", Nuncius, xix (2004), 495-501.
218. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 211-12.
219. Borri devoted a substantial part of Section III to proving this point. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 189-212. See pp. 223-5 for trepidation.
220. G. B. Riccioli, Astronomia reformata (Bologna, 1665), prolegomena, ff. IV-V;
221. and V. Stansel, Uranophilus caelestis peregrinus (Gand, 1685), 164.
222. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 235-6.
223. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 172.
224. It is well known that the regulations of the Society of Jesus recommended Jesuits to follow the doctrines of Thomas Aquinas on theological matters. As Ignatius of Loyola put it in the founding Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, "in theology there should be lectures on the Old and New Testaments and on the scholastic doctrine of Saint Thomas". St Ignatius of Loyola, The constitutions ofthe Society of Jesus, transl. by G. E. Ganss (St. Louis, 1970), 220.
225. For details on Thomas Aquinas's account, see Summa theologica 1a, q. 105, a.5.
226. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 172-3.
227. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 243 and 246.
228. Hence Borri rejected the thesis that because angels were spiritual entities, a single angel was able by itself to move all the celestial bodies. See Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 244-5.
229. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 173.
230. Borri's purpose is clear in the front of his book, since the sub-title describes the Collecta astronomica as an "opus sane mathematicum, philosophicum et theologicum sive scripturarium". Randles has considered this work to be "one of the last thorough attempts by a Catholic astronomer to integrate astronomy with the Bible". Randles, The unmaking of the medieval Christian cosmos (ref. 8), 175-6.
231. The crucial observations Borri analysed, in his Collecta astronomica, were Tycho's of Mars, of the 1577 comet and of the 1572 'new star', together the observations of Galileo and contemporary astronomers of the Moon's surface, sunspots, the satellites of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, Saturn, and comets. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 73-159.
232. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 75.
233. Borri misunderstood the theory of Martianus Capella according to which only Mercury and Venus have Sun-centred orbits (and not Mars, as Borri thought). B. S. Eastwood, "The 'chaster path of Venus' (orbis Veneris castiori] ) in the astronomy of Martianus Capella", Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences, xxxii (1982), 145-58.
234. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 97-98.
235. In fact, Borri gave no details about Kepler's planetary theory.
236. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 214.
237. This was a very common criticism amongst Jesuit astronomers. See John L. Russell, "Catholic astronomers and the Copernican system after the condemnation of Galileo", Annals of science, xlvi (1989), 375-80.
238. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 31-32 and 42-43.
239. Clavius presented these arguments in In sphaermn loannis de Sacro Bosco commentarius (Rome, 1606), 222-3.
240. On Clavius see Lattis, Between Copernicus and Galileo (ref. 1), 121-2. These arguments against the movement of the Earth had already been considered by Aristotle (De caelo, 1, 3; II, 13) and Ptolemy (Amagest, 1, 7) and discussed in the medieval and Renaissance commentaries on the Sphere.
241. See J. Sarnowsky, "The defence of the Ptolemaic system in late medieval commentaries on Johannes de Sacrobosco's De sphaera", in Bucciantini, Camerota and Roux (eds), Mechanics and cosmology (ref. 8), 29-44.
242. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 42-43.
243. Clavius had already used this argument. Cf. Clavius In sphaeram (ref. 151), 606.
244. Curiously, although familiar with the volume on the Tycho's scientific correspondence, Borri did not examine the arguments presented by Tycho and Rothmann in the course of their discussion over the heliocentric hypothesis. On those arguments, see Granada, "The defence of the movement" (ref. 125), 99-107.
245. "Non enim ex eo quod corpus aliquod sit tenue, illico sequitur esse corruptioni obnoxium; nam cum propria corruptio sit unius substantiae in aliam conversio, nihil hic tale necessario est." Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 302. Nonetheless, despite this, in his Collecta astronomica Borri preferred to interpret accidental change (such as the concentration ofcelestial matter) as a possible way to explain the hypothetical existence of substantial change in the heavens.
246. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 326.
247. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 331-3.
248. "Confirmatur hoe idem ex maculis solaribus, quae iuxta Christophorum Scheinerum penetrant ipsum Solem, unde per eundem authorem corpus Solis tenue est et corruptibile." Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 329.
249. Quite surprisingly, Boni did not give his own account of sunspots. He seems to hesitate between the two positions Christoph Scheiner defended at different times: first, that sunspots were celestial bodies moving around and very close to the Sun (cf. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 148-50 and 164);
250. secondly, that sunspots were indeed maculae on the Sun's surface, so proving its corruptibility (cf. Borri, Collecta astronomica (ref. 19), 148-50 and 329). Borri considered, regardless of Galileo, that no one had treated the issue of sunspots better that Schemer (Galileo's name is mentioned in the Nova astronomia (ref. 37), BGUC, f. 104r).
251. Scheiner defended these two positions respectively in Tres epistolae de maculis solaribus (Augsburg, 1612) and Rosa ursina (ref. 68). On Scheiner's positions on this subject and his dispute with Galileo, see Luigi Ingaliso, Filosofia e cosmologia in Christoph Scheiner (Soveria Mannelli, 2005).
252. See also Corrado Dollo, "Tanquam nodi in tabula - tanquam pisces in aqua: Le innovazioni della cosmologia nella Rosa Ursina di Christoph Schemer", in U. Baldini (ed.), Christoph Clavius e l'attività scientifica dei gesuiti (ref. 1), 133-58.