GALILEO AND HIS JUDGES. 5 



all the phenomena of the heavenly bodies that could 

 be observed without the use of the telescope ; natu- 

 rally it held undisputed sway for many generations. 



The first writer who revived the doctrine of 

 Pythagoras as to the Earth's movement (if, indeed, 

 Pythagoras ever really taught it) was Nicholas de 

 Cusa ; he was a German by birth, having, in fact, 

 been born at Treves, in 1401 ; but he was educated 

 in Italy. He rose to a high ecclesiastical position, 

 and was created cardinal by Pope Eugenius IV., in 

 1448 ; his book just alluded to was entitled " De 

 Docta Ignorantia," and was dedicated to Cardinal 

 Cesarini. 



The first, however, whose work obtained any great 

 notoriety, and who upheld the doctrine that the Earth 

 revolved around the Sun, was Nicholas Kopernik, 

 commonly called by the Latinised form of his name, 

 Copernicus. He, too, was a German, born at Thorn, 

 in 1473 ; he studied for a time at the University of 

 Cracow, and like Nicholas de Cusa, afterwards in 

 Italy, and was subsequently raised to the eccle- 

 siastical dignity of a Canon. It is probable that he 

 was not a priest (though he is frequently spoken 

 of as such), but a Canon in minor orders. In 1500 

 he was appointed professor of mathematics at 

 Kome ; and such was his scientific reputation that 

 he was consulted by the Council of Lateran, held 

 in 1512, on the question of the reform of the calendar 

 a reform carried out at a later period by Pope 

 Gregory XIII. 



