94 A Short History of Astronomy [CH. iv. 



precise nature of which was a continual subject of quarrel 

 between him, the citizens, and the order of Teutonic knights, 

 who claimed a good deal of the neighbouring country. 

 The astronomer's father (whose name was most commonly 

 written Koppernigk) was a merchant \\.io came to Thorn 

 from Cracow, then the capital of Poland, in 1462. Whether 

 Coppernicus should be counted as a Pole or as a German 

 is an intricate question, over which his biographers have 

 fought at great length and with some acrimony, but which 

 is not worth further discussion here. 



Nicholas, after the death of his father in 1483, was under 

 the care of his uncle, Lucas Watzelrode, afterwards bishop 

 of the neighbouring diocese of Ermland, and was destined 

 by him from a very early date for an ecclesiastical career. 

 He attended the school at Thorn, and at the age of 17 

 entered the University of Cracow. Here he seems to have 

 first acquired (or shewn) a decided taste for astronomy 

 and mathematics, subjects in which he probably received 

 help from Albert Bradzewski, who had a great reputation 

 as a learned and stimulating teacher ; the lecture lists of 

 the University show that the comparatively modern treatises 

 of Purbach and Regiomontanus (chapter in., 68) were 

 the standard textbooks used. Coppernicus had no intention 

 of graduating at Cracow, and probably left after three 

 years (1494). During the next year or two he lived 

 partly at home, partly at his uncle's palace at Heilsberg, 

 and spent some of the time in an unsuccessful candidature 

 for a canonry at Frauenburg, the cathedral city of his 

 uncle's diocese. 



The next nine or ten years of his life (from 1496 to 

 1505 or 1506) were devoted to studying in Italy, his stay 

 there being broken only by a short visit to Frauenburg in 

 1501. He worked chiefly at Bologna and Padua, but 

 graduated at Ferrara, and also spent some time at Rome, 

 where his astronomical knowledge evidently made a favour- 

 able impression. Although he was supposed to be in 

 Italy primarily with a view to studying law and medicine, 

 it is evident that much of his best work was being put 

 into mathematics and astronomy, while he also paid a good 

 deal of attention to Greek. 



During his absence he was appointed (about 1497) to 



