ii4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and intimate. The bishop of Ermeland was a great noble in a place 

 of power. Affairs of much import to the church had to be treated. 

 The knights of the Teutonic order (founded at Acre in 1190) had 

 conquered the Duchy of Prussia in the thirteenth century. West 

 Prussia had been ceded to Poland in 1466, while East Prussia, in- 

 cluding Ermeland, was a Polish fief. A part of the policy of the 

 order was to extend the lordship of their metropolitan Bishop of Eiga 

 over the diocese of Ermeland. It was the policy of Bishop Lucas to 

 oppose all such efforts, to attain entire independence, and even to be- 

 come spiritual over-lord of a part of the territory of the Teutonic 

 order. These plans came to nothing; but a legacy of hatred remained 

 among the knights, who left nothing undone to provoke and degrade 

 the Ermeland bishop and his friends, and to excite disorder in his own 

 territory. The pressure of the invading Tartars on the borders kept 

 the knights occupied, however, and left them little leisure for hostile 

 action. Constant vigilance was required on the part of the bishop, 

 and many journeys to different parts of the bishopric were required. 



Copernicus was charged with missions of this sort from the very 

 first. It was during one of these journeys to Petrikau in 1509 that 

 he printed his Latin version of the 'Epistles' of Theophylactos. 

 Greek epistles — invading Tartars — feudal rights — church privileges — 

 Polish and Prussian politics — these were the preoccupations of his 

 mind. We can hardly think that much time was left for astronomy, 

 yet the lunar eclipse of June 2, 1509, was duly observed. One of 

 Copernicus 's biographers calls him 'a quiet scholarly monk of studious 

 habits — in study and meditation his life passed — he does not appear as 

 having entered into the life of the times.' This is the legend. It is 

 obviously only a small part of the truth. In March, 1512, the bishop 

 of Ermeland died and Copernicus returned to his cloister at Frauen- 

 burg. He was now thirty-nine years old. 



In the dedication of his 'De Eevolutionibus' to the Pope (1542), 

 Copernicus says that it is now 'four nines of years' since the helio- 

 centric theory was conceived. Strictly interpreted this brings the 

 date of its birth to 1506. It is, at all events, safe to say that the idea 

 was elaborated on German, though it may have been born on Italian, 

 soil. 



From 1512 to 1516 Copernicus was in constant residence at the 

 Cathedral of Frauenburg, where indeed the greatest part of his life was 

 spent. For two periods (1516-19 and 1520-21) he lived at Allen- 

 stein, administering certain estates belonging to his chapter. His ob- 

 servatory was on one of its towers and commanded a wide horizon. 

 Few observations were necessary for his great discovery of the helio- 

 centric motion. He knew beforehand the phenomena to be explained. 

 Ptolemy had offered a solution that had been accepted for fourteen 



