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134-427: The park has an area of 21 ha (52 acres) and a length of 4 km (2.5 mi). It consists of a chain of thirty smaller gardens designed in varied styles and adorned with numerous monuments and fountains. There are over twenty statues of noble historical figures in the park including monuments to Nicolaus Copernicus , Jan Matejko , Queen Jadwiga and King Wladyslaw II Jagiello . There are also several plaques in

268-461: A Benedictine nun and, in her final years, prioress of a convent in Chełmno (Kulm); she died after 1517. His sister Katharina married the businessman and Toruń city councilor Barthel Gertner and left five children, whom Copernicus looked after to the end of his life. Copernicus never married and is not known to have had children, but from at least 1531 until 1539 his relations with Anna Schilling,

402-677: A lunar eclipse on the night of 5–6 November 1500. According to a later account by Rheticus , Copernicus also—probably privately, rather than at the Roman Sapienza —as a " Professor Mathematum " (professor of astronomy) delivered, "to numerous ... students and ... leading masters of the science", public lectures devoted probably to a critique of the mathematical solutions of contemporary astronomy. On his return journey doubtless stopping briefly at Bologna, in mid-1501 Copernicus arrived back in Warmia. After on 28 July receiving from

536-694: A sinecure at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross and St. Bartholomew in Wrocław (at the time in the Crown of Bohemia ). Despite having been granted a papal indult on 29 November 1508 to receive further benefices , through his ecclesiastic career Copernicus not only did not acquire further prebends and higher stations ( prelacies ) at the chapter, but in 1538 he relinquished the Wrocław sinecure. It

670-553: A Greek story. They are of three kinds—"moral," offering advice on how people should live; "pastoral", giving little pictures of shepherd life; and "amorous", comprising love poems. They are arranged to follow one another in a regular rotation of subjects. Copernicus had translated the Greek verses into Latin prose, and he published his version as Theophilacti scolastici Simocati epistolae morales, rurales et amatoriae interpretatione latina , which he dedicated to his uncle in gratitude for all

804-589: A comedy in Latin , Morosophus (The Foolish Sage), and staged it at the Latin school that he had established there. In the play, Copernicus was caricatured as the eponymous Morosophus, a haughty, cold, aloof man who dabbled in astrology , considered himself inspired by God, and was rumored to have written a large work that was moldering in a chest. Elsewhere Protestants were the first to react to news of Copernicus's theory. Melanchthon wrote: Some people believe that it

938-431: A degree, probably in the fall of 1495, Copernicus left Kraków for the court of his uncle Watzenrode, who in 1489 had been elevated to Prince-Bishop of Warmia and soon (before November 1495) sought to place his nephew in the Warmia canonry vacated by 26 August 1495 death of its previous tenant, Jan Czanow. For unclear reasons—probably due to opposition from part of the chapter, who appealed to Rome—Copernicus's installation

1072-572: A fragment from the Commentariolus in his own treatise, Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata , published in Prague in 1602, based on a manuscript that he had received from the Bohemian physician and astronomer Tadeáš Hájek , a friend of Rheticus . The Commentariolus would appear complete in print for the first time only in 1878. In 1510 or 1512 Copernicus moved to Frombork, a town to

1206-406: A good knowledge of the philosophical and natural-science writings of Aristotle ( De coelo , Metaphysics ) and Averroes , stimulating his interest in learning and making him conversant with humanistic culture. Copernicus broadened the knowledge that he took from the university lecture halls with independent reading of books that he acquired during his Kraków years ( Euclid , Haly Abenragel ,

1340-476: A live-in housekeeper, were seen as scandalous by two bishops of Warmia who urged him over the years to break off relations with his "mistress". Copernicus's father's family can be traced to a village in Silesia between Nysa (Neiße) and Prudnik (Neustadt). The village's name has been variously spelled Kopernik, Copernik, Copernic, Kopernic, Coprirnik, and modern Koperniki . In the 14th century, members of

1474-484: A loan of sixty times the amount of 37,000 Prague groschen (approximately seven tonnes of pure silver), 16 rich salt-producing towns in the area of Spisz (Zips) , as well as a right to incorporate them into Poland until the debt was repaid. The towns affected were: Biała , Lubica , Wierzbów , Spiska Sobota , Poprad , Straże , Spiskie Włochy , Nowa Wieś , Spiska Nowa Wieś , Ruszkinowce , Wielka , Spiskie Podgrodzie , Maciejowce , Twarożne . Wenceslaus I sold

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1608-455: A month the patient recovered, and Copernicus returned to Frombork. For a time, he continued to receive reports on von Kunheim's condition, and to send him medical advice by letter. Some of Copernicus's close friends turned Protestant, but Copernicus never showed a tendency in that direction. The first attacks on him came from Protestants. Wilhelm Gnapheus , a Dutch refugee settled in Elbląg , wrote

1742-489: A more detailed work. At about 1532, Copernicus had basically completed his work on the manuscript of Dē revolutionibus orbium coelestium ; but despite urging by his closest friends, he resisted openly publishing his views, not wishing—as he confessed—to risk the scorn "to which he would expose himself on account of the novelty and incomprehensibility of his theses." Crown of the Kingdom of Poland The Crown of

1876-582: A negligible Polish population and had until then been governed by Lithuania ), passed under Polish administration, thus becoming Crown territory. During that period, a term for a Pole from the Crown territory was koroniarz (plural: koroniarze ) – or Crownlander(s) in English – derived from Korona – the Crown. Depending on context, the Polish "Crown" may also refer to " The Crown ", a term used to distinguish

2010-749: A prominent Polish family who had been well known in Poland's history since 1271. The Watzenrode family, like the Kopernik family, had come from Silesia from near Schweidnitz (Świdnica), and after 1360 had settled in Toruń. They soon became one of the wealthiest and most influential patrician families. Through the Watzenrodes' extensive family relationships by marriage, Copernicus was related to wealthy families of Toruń (Thorn), Danzig (Gdansk) and Elbing (Elbląg), and to prominent Polish noble families of Prussia:

2144-456: A result, Watzenrode quarreled with the king until Casimir IV's death three years later. Watzenrode was then able to form close relations with three successive Polish monarchs: John I Albert , Alexander Jagiellon , and Sigismund I the Old . He was a friend and key advisor to each ruler, and his influence greatly strengthened the ties between Warmia and Poland proper. Watzenrode came to be considered

2278-614: A seat of medical learning, and—except for a brief visit to Ferrara in May–June 1503 to pass examinations for, and receive, his doctorate in canon law—he remained at Padua from fall 1501 to summer 1503. Copernicus studied medicine probably under the direction of leading Padua professors—Bartolomeo da Montagnana, Girolamo Fracastoro , Gabriele Zerbi, Alessandro Benedetti—and read medical treatises that he acquired at this time, by Valescus de Taranta, Jan Mesue, Hugo Senensis, Jan Ketham, Arnold de Villa Nova, and Michele Savonarola , which would form

2412-399: A second return to Italy in 1503) than to studying the humanities —probably attending lectures by Filippo Beroaldo , Antonio Urceo , called Codro, Giovanni Garzoni , and Alessandro Achillini —and to studying astronomy. He met the famous astronomer Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara and became his disciple and assistant. Copernicus was developing new ideas inspired by reading the "Epitome of

2546-620: A study on the value of money, " Monetae cudendae ratio ". In it he formulated an early iteration of the theory called Gresham's law , that "bad" ( debased ) coinage drives "good" (un-debased) coinage out of circulation—several decades before Thomas Gresham . He also, in 1517, set down a quantity theory of money , a principal concept in modern economics. Copernicus's recommendations on monetary reform were widely read by leaders of both Prussia and Poland in their attempts to stabilize currency. In 1533, Johann Widmanstetter , secretary to Pope Clement VII , explained Copernicus's heliocentric system to

2680-754: A wealthy merchant and in 1439–62 president of the judicial bench, was a decided opponent of the Teutonic Knights. In 1453 he was the delegate from Toruń at the Grudziądz (Graudenz) conference that planned the uprising against them. During the ensuing Thirteen Years' War , he actively supported the Prussian cities' war effort with substantial monetary subsidies (only part of which he later re-claimed), with political activity in Toruń and Danzig, and by personally fighting in battles at Łasin (Lessen) and Malbork (Marienburg). He died in 1462. Lucas Watzenrode

2814-823: Is a duchy in the Baltic region that existed from 1562 to 1791 as a vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . In 1791 it gained full independence, but on March 28, 1795, it was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Third Partition of Poland . The duchy also had colonies in Tobago and Gambia. The Duchy of Prussia was a duchy in the eastern part of Prussia from 1525 to 1701. In 1525 during

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2948-477: Is excellent and correct to work out a thing as absurd as did that Sarmatian [i.e., Polish] astronomer who moves the earth and stops the sun. Indeed, wise rulers should have curbed such light-mindedness. Nevertheless, in 1551, eight years after Copernicus's death, astronomer Erasmus Reinhold published, under the sponsorship of Copernicus's former military adversary, the Protestant Duke Albert,

3082-418: Is unclear whether he was ever ordained a priest. Edward Rosen asserts that he was not. Copernicus did take minor orders , which sufficed for assuming a chapter canonry. The Catholic Encyclopedia proposes that his ordination was probable, as in 1537 he was one of four candidates for the episcopal seat of Warmia , a position that required ordination. Meanwhile, leaving Warmia in mid-1496—possibly with

3216-717: The Alfonsine Tables , Johannes Regiomontanus ' Tabulae directionum ); to this period, probably, also date his earliest scientific notes, preserved partly at Uppsala University . At Kraków Copernicus began collecting a large library on astronomy; it would later be carried off as war booty by the Swedes during the Deluge in the 1650s and has been preserved at the Uppsala University Library . Copernicus's four years at Kraków played an important role in

3350-500: The Prussian Tables , a set of astronomical tables based on Copernicus's work. Astronomers and astrologers quickly adopted it in place of its predecessors. Some time before 1514 Copernicus made available to friends his " Commentariolus " ("Little Commentary"), a manuscript describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis. It contained seven basic assumptions (detailed below). Thereafter he continued gathering data for

3484-602: The Archbishop of Gniezno also played an important role; its boundaries coincided with those of the kingdom. Gniezno , as the second centre of the state, and the place of coronation, nurtured the cult of the second patron saint, St Adalbert . His influence, however, was less. In 1295, the Duke of Greater Poland Przemysł II, although his power did not extend to Kraków, and was crowned king in Gniezno Cathedral , as

3618-566: The Czapskis , Działyńskis , Konopackis and Kościeleckis . Lucas and Katherine had three children: Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447–1512), who would become Bishop of Warmia and Copernicus's patron; Barbara, the astronomer's mother (deceased after 1495); and Christina (deceased before 1502), who in 1459 married the Toruń merchant and mayor, Tiedeman von Allen. Lucas Watzenrode the Elder,

3752-684: The Great Sejm convened, and they read and adopted the new constitution. It enfranchised the bourgeoisie, separated the government into three branches, abolished liberum veto , and stopped the abuses of the Repnin Sejm . It made Poland a constitutional monarchy with the King as the head of the executive branch with his cabinet of ministers , called the Guardians of the Laws . The legislative branch

3886-526: The Jagiellon realm , becoming a vassal of Władysław II on September 26, 1387. This gesture was to have unexpected consequences: Petru supplied the Polish ruler with funds needed in the war against the Teutonic Knights , and was granted control over Pokuttya until the debt was to be repaid; as this is not recorded to have been carried out, the region became disputed by the two states, until it

4020-556: The Kraków astronomical-mathematical school , acquiring the foundations for his subsequent mathematical achievements. According to a later but credible tradition ( Jan Brożek ), Copernicus was a pupil of Albert Brudzewski , who by then (from 1491) was a professor of Aristotelian philosophy but taught astronomy privately outside the university; Copernicus became familiar with Brudzewski's widely read commentary to Georg von Peuerbach 's Theoricæ novæ planetarum and almost certainly attended

4154-572: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth on July 1, 1569 with a real union between the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Before then, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania only had a personal union . The Union of Lublin also made the Crown an elective monarchy; this ended the Jagiellonian dynasty once Henry de Valois was elected on May 16, 1573 as monarch. On May 30, 1574, two months after Henry de Valois

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4288-901: The Protestant Reformation , the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights , Albert of Hohenzollern, secularized the Prussian State of the Teutonic Order , becoming Albert, Duke in Prussia . His duchy, which had its capital in Königsberg ( Kaliningrad ), was established as a fief of the Crown of Poland , as had been Teutonic Prussia since the Second Peace of Thorn in October 1466. This treaty had ended

4422-579: The Russian Empire for any political reform; she argued that Poland had fallen prey to radical Jacobinism that was prominent in France at the time. Russia invaded the Commonwealth in 1792. The Constitution was in place for less than 19 months; it was annulled by the Grodno Sejm . The creation of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was a milestone in the evolution of Polish statehood and

4556-677: The Siege of Marienburg ), and placed his own choice of rulers in Wallachia. His reign was one of the most successful in Moldavia's history, but also saw the first confrontation with the Ottoman Turks at Cetatea Albă in 1420, and later even a conflict with the Poles. A deep crisis was to follow Alexandru's long reign, with his successors battling each other in a succession of wars that divided

4690-514: The Sun made in 1515, led to the discovery of the variability of Earth 's eccentricity and of the movement of the solar apogee in relation to the fixed stars , which in 1515–1519 prompted his first revisions of certain assumptions of his system. Some of the observations that he made in this period may have had a connection with a proposed reform of the Julian calendar made in the first half of 1513 at

4824-589: The Swedish-Polish War under the same favorable conditions the House of Pomerania had enjoyed before. Lauenburg and Bütow Land was officially a Polish fiefdom until the First Partition of Poland in 1772 when King Frederick II of Prussia incorporated the territory into Prussia and the subsequent Treaty of Warsaw in 1773 made the former conditions obsolete. The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia

4958-622: The Teutonic Order after the Thirteen Years' War . A polyglot and polymath , he obtained a doctorate in canon law and was a mathematician, astronomer, physician , classics scholar , translator , governor , diplomat , and economist . From 1497 he was a Warmian Cathedral chapter canon . In 1517 he derived a quantity theory of money —a key concept in economics—and in 1519 he formulated an economic principle that later came to be called Gresham's law . Nicolaus Copernicus

5092-579: The Treaty of Wehlau in Wehlau (Polish: Welawa; now Znamensk), whereby Frederick William renounced a previous Swedish-Prussian alliance and John Casimir recognised Frederick William's full sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia. Full sovereignty was a necessary prerequisite for upgrading the Duchy to Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. The Duchy of Livonia was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – and later

5226-579: The Vistula River from Toruń, which prepared pupils for entrance to the University of Kraków . In the winter semester of 1491–92 Copernicus, as "Nicolaus Nicolai de Thuronia", matriculated together with his brother Andrew at the University of Kraków . Copernicus began his studies in the Department of Arts (from the fall of 1491, presumably until the summer or fall of 1495) in the heyday of

5360-611: The Vistula River , was at that time embroiled in the Thirteen Years' War , in which the Kingdom of Poland and the Prussian Confederation , an alliance of Prussian cities, gentry and clergy, fought the Teutonic Order over control of the region. In this war, Hanseatic cities like Danzig and Toruń, Nicolaus Copernicus's hometown, chose to support the Polish King , Casimir IV Jagiellon , who promised to respect

5494-416: The congress of Visegrad in 1335, Casimir bought off John of Bohemia claims to the title of king of Poland. This allowed for the expansion of the semantic scope of the term "Kingdom of Poland," ( Lithuanian : Regnum Poloniae ) which was often interpreted in a particularistic manner and limited only to Greater Poland. From that moment, in a territorial sense, it began to denote all the lands currently under

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5628-612: The flag of Poland . The concept of the Crown also had geographical aspects, particularly related to the indivisibility of the Polish Crown's territory. It can be also seen as a unit of administrative division , the territories under direct administration of the Polish state from the Middle Ages to the late 18th century (currently part of Poland , Ukraine and some border counties of Russia , Belarus , Moldova , Slovakia , and Romania , among others). Parts formed part at

5762-542: The prince-bishops of Warmia ; currency reform ), he, together with part of the chapter, represented a program of strict cooperation with the Polish Crown and demonstrated in all his public activities (the defense of his country against the Order's plans of conquest; proposals to unify its monetary system with the Polish Crown's; support for Poland's interests in the Warmia dominion's ecclesiastic administration) that he

5896-623: The Árpád dynasty , heirs to St. Stephen's crown . The shift came with the twilight of the Anjou dynasty , as the diet legitimized the succession through the female line. During the rule of Sigismund of Luxembourg the Holy Crown was finally distinguished from the King, and the Hungarian estates emphasized the ruler’s obligations to the Crown. By the 15th century, the Crown gained legal personality, standing above both King and Estates, becoming

6030-442: The 13th century, when it had fully developed, the term corona regni Angliae signified the inalienable and enduring royal dignity, authority, and rights, primarily encompassing the king’s judicial power and the state as a whole, including territories that had been lost. Similar developments occurred in other European regions, each shaped by local conditions. In France, the term appeared slightly later and initially referred mainly to

6164-853: The Almagest" ( Epitome in Almagestum Ptolemei ) by George von Peuerbach and Johannes Regiomontanus (Venice, 1496). He verified its observations about certain peculiarities in Ptolemy's theory of the Moon's motion, by conducting on 9 March 1497 at Bologna a memorable observation of the occultation of Aldebaran , the brightest star in the Taurus constellation, by the Moon. Copernicus the humanist sought confirmation for his growing doubts through close reading of Greek and Latin authors ( Pythagoras , Aristarchos of Samos , Cleomedes , Cicero , Pliny

6298-403: The Brave , Duke of Poland , became the first crowned King of Poland in 1025. And although his son and successor Mieszko II was forced to relinquish the crown, as was his great-grandson Boleslaw II the Bold , the idea of a kingdom survived. Even during the period of deep partition and the collapse of the central ducal power, Poland was still regarded as a kingdom, and the Piast princes, ruling

6432-406: The Council proposals for the calendar's emendation. During 1516–1521, Copernicus resided at Olsztyn (Allenstein) Castle as economic administrator of Warmia, including Olsztyn (Allenstein) and Pieniężno (Mehlsack). While there, he wrote a manuscript, Locationes mansorum desertorum ( Locations of Deserted Fiefs ), with a view to populating those fiefs with industrious farmers and so bolstering

6566-431: The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia ( Polish : Biskupie Księstwo Warmińskie , ) was a semi independent ecclesiastical state , ruled by the incumbent ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia , and a protectorate of Kingdom of Poland , later part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Peace of Thorn (1466–1772) After

6700-432: The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The union concluded at Krewo was not an ordinary personal union, common in Europe at that time, precisely because one party was the Corona Regni , that is, the community of the Kingdom of Poland, and not a dynasty or ruler, as was the case with the agreement between Casimir the Great and Louis the Great , which elevated the latter to the throne. Both Jogaila and Jadwiga were elected to

6834-410: The Duchy of Siewierz to the Archbishop of Kraków , Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki , for 6,000 silver groats in 1443. After that point it was considered to be associated with the Lesser Poland Province and was the only ecclesiastical duchy in Lesser Poland. The junction of the duchy with the Lesser Poland Province was concluded in 1790 when the Great Sejm formally incorporated the Duchy, as part of

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6968-478: The Elder , Plutarch , Philolaus , Heraclides , Ecphantos , Plato ), gathering, especially while at Padua , fragmentary historic information about ancient astronomical, cosmological and calendar systems. Copernicus spent the jubilee year 1500 in Rome, where he arrived with his brother Andrew that spring, doubtless to perform an apprenticeship at the Papal Curia . Here, too, however, he continued his astronomical work begun at Bologna, observing, for example,

7102-409: The European identity. It represented the concept of the Polish kingdom (nation) as distinctly separate from the person of the monarch. The introduction of the concept marked the transformation of the Polish government from a patrimonial monarchy (a hereditary monarchy ) to a "quasi- constitutional monarchy " ( monarchia stanowa ) in which power resided in the nobility, the clergy and (to some extent)

7236-430: The Great's testament in 1370 was essentially the first act undertaken in the name of the interests of the Crown. Ludwik was initially inclined to recognize the will, but strong opposition forced him to refer the matter to the court, which ruled that the ruler could not diminish the territory of the Crown of the Kingdom, a decision that Ludwik accepted. Similarly, the new king, Louis the Great, committed himself to reclaiming

7370-463: The King), such as the Duchy of Prussia (        ) and the Duchy of Courland (        ). Prior to the 1569 Union of Lublin , Crown territories may be understood as those of the Kingdom of Poland proper, inhabited by Poles , or as other areas under the sovereignty of the Polish king (such as Royal Prussia ) or the szlachta . With the Union of Lublin, however, most of present-day Ukraine (which had

7504-408: The Kingdom of Poland ( Polish : Korona Królestwa Polskiego ; Latin : Corona Regni Poloniae ) was a political and legal concept formed in the 14th century in the Kingdom of Poland , assuming unity, indivisibility and continuity of the state. Under this idea, the state was no longer seen as the patrimonial property of the monarch or dynasty, but became a common good of the political community of

7638-426: The Kingdom of Poland also referred to all the lands under the rule of the Polish king. This meaning became especially significant after the union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , when it began to be commonly used to denote the Polish part of the joint Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . The idea of the Crown in Central Europe first appeared in Bohemia and Hungary, from where the model was taken by kings Ladislaus

7772-637: The Moon on 9 March 1497. Copernicus also observed a conjunction of Saturn and the Moon on 4 March 1500. He saw an eclipse of the Moon on 6 November 1500. Having completed all his studies in Italy, 30-year-old Copernicus returned to Warmia, where he would live out the remaining 40 years of his life, apart from brief journeys to Kraków and to nearby Prussian cities: Toruń (Thorn), Gdańsk (Danzig), Elbląg (Elbing), Grudziądz (Graudenz), Malbork (Marienburg), Königsberg (Królewiec). The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia enjoyed substantial autonomy , with its own diet (parliament) and monetary unit (the same as in

7906-467: The Old in Kraków (1507). Watzenrode's itinerary suggests that in spring 1509 Copernicus may have attended the Kraków sejm . It was probably on the latter occasion, in Kraków, that Copernicus submitted for printing at Jan Haller 's press his translation, from Greek to Latin, of a collection, by the 7th-century Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta , of 85 brief poems called Epistles, or letters, supposed to have passed between various characters in

8040-527: The Old . Some time before 1514, Copernicus wrote an initial outline of his heliocentric theory known only from later transcripts, by the title (perhaps given to it by a copyist), Nicolai Copernici de hypothesibus motuum coelestium a se constitutis commentariolus —commonly referred to as the Commentariolus . It was a succinct theoretical description of the world's heliocentric mechanism, without mathematical apparatus, and differed in some important details of geometric construction from De revolutionibus ; but it

8174-415: The Padua years that saw the beginning of his Hellenistic interests. He familiarized himself with Greek language and culture with the aid of Theodorus Gaza 's grammar (1495) and Johannes Baptista Chrestonius's dictionary (1499), expanding his studies of antiquity, begun at Bologna, to the writings of Bessarion , Lorenzo Valla , and others. There also seems to be evidence that it was during his Padua stay that

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8308-422: The Planty-park-belt along the Royal Road ( Polish : Droga Królewska ) crossing the park from the medieval suburb of Kleparz – through Florian Gate – at the northern flank of the old city walls. The historic Wawel Castle at the Wawel Hill , adjacent to Vistula River meander, form the southernmost border of Planty. The green belt was established in place of the medieval walls between 1822–1830 as part of

8442-432: The Polish Crown." In 1504–1512 Copernicus made numerous journeys as part of his uncle's retinue—in 1504, to Toruń and Gdańsk , to a session of the Royal Prussian Council in the presence of Poland's King Alexander Jagiellon ; to sessions of the Prussian diet at Malbork (1506), Elbląg (1507) and Sztum (Stuhm) (1512); and he may have attended a Poznań (Posen) session (1510) and the coronation of Poland's King Sigismund I

8576-437: The Polish Royal Physician. In the spring of 1541, Duke Albert —former Grand Master of the Teutonic Order who had converted the Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights into a Lutheran and hereditary realm, the Duchy of Prussia , upon doing homage to his uncle, the King of Poland, Sigismund I —summoned Copernicus to Königsberg to attend the Duke's counselor, George von Kunheim , who had fallen seriously ill, and for whom

8710-406: The Polish throne by the nobles; their natural rights to the throne were weak, and their power rested solely on the agreement between them and the Crown of the Kingdom. According to Robert I. Frost, the aim of the Union of Krewo was not the annexation of Lithuania by Poland, but its incorporation into the community of the kingdom, that is, the Crown. The Union of Lublin created the single state of

8844-458: The Pope and two cardinals. The Pope was so pleased that he gave Widmanstetter a valuable gift. In 1535 Bernard Wapowski wrote a letter to a gentleman in Vienna , urging him to publish an enclosed almanac , which he claimed had been written by Copernicus. This is the only mention of a Copernicus almanac in the historical records. The "almanac" was likely Copernicus's tables of planetary positions. Wapowski's letter mentions Copernicus's theory about

8978-456: The Pope. In 1320, the Archbishop of Gniezno crowned him king in Kraków, which formally did not infringe on the rights of the Přemyslids ' successor, King John of Bohemia , who still considered himself king of Poland. Władysław's successor Casimir III the Great was also crowned in Kraków in 1333. Casimir, like his father, considered himself the inherent ruler of the kingdom, the heir of the ancient Bolesławs. He strove to extend his power over

9112-426: The Province of Greater Poland. The history of Moldavia has long been intertwined with that of Poland. The Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned Moldavians (under the name Wallachians ) as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under King Władysław I , against the Margraviate of Brandenburg . The Polish state was powerful enough to counter the Hungarian Kingdom which was consistently interested in bringing

9246-423: The Prussian doctors seemed unable to do anything. Copernicus went willingly; he had met von Kunheim during negotiations over reform of the coinage. And Copernicus had come to feel that Albert himself was not such a bad person; the two had many intellectual interests in common. The Chapter readily gave Copernicus permission to go, as it wished to remain on good terms with the Duke, despite his Lutheran faith. In about

9380-411: The Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres ), just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science , triggering the Copernican Revolution and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution . Copernicus was born and died in Royal Prussia , a semiautonomous and multilingual region created within the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from part of the lands regained from

9514-525: The Session of the Senate of the Republic of Kraków to legislate the partial preservation of the old fortifications, namely, the Florian Gate and the adjoining Barbican , one of only three such fortified outposts still surviving in Europe . [REDACTED] Media related to Planty at Wikimedia Commons 50°03′52″N 19°56′40″E  /  50.064347°N 19.944321°E  / 50.064347; 19.944321 Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543)

9648-623: The Short and Casimir III the Great to strengthen their power. During the reign of Louis the Great in Poland, who spent most of his time in Hungary , as well as during the interregnum following his death and the regency during the minority of his daughter Jadwiga , the idea was adopted by the lords of the kingdom to emphasize their own role as co-responsible for the state. The concept of corona regni first emerged in early 12th-century England . By

9782-597: The War of the Cities or Thirteen Years' War and provided for the Order's cession of its rights over the western half of its territories to the Polish crown, which became the province of Royal Prussia , while the remaining part of the Order's land became a fief of the Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569) . In the 17th century King John II Casimir of Poland submitted Frederick William to regain Prussian suzerainty in return for supporting Poland against Sweden. On July 29, 1657, they signed

9916-438: The Younger , the astronomer's maternal uncle and patron, was educated at the University of Kraków and at the universities of Cologne and Bologna . He was a bitter opponent of the Teutonic Order, and its Grand Master once referred to him as "the devil incarnate". In 1489 Watzenrode was elected Bishop of Warmia (Ermeland, Ermland) against the preference of King Casimir IV, who had hoped to install his own son in that seat. As

10050-703: The area that would become Moldavia into its political orbit. Ties between Poland and Moldavia expanded after the Polish annexation of Galicia in the aftermath of the Galicia–Volhynia Wars and the founding of the Moldavian state by Bogdan of Cuhea . Bogdan, a Vlach voivode from Maramureș who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathian Mountains in 1359, took control of Moldavia, and succeeded in transforming it into an independent political entity. Despite being disfavored by

10184-478: The beginning of 1504, Copernicus accompanied Watzenrode to sessions of the Royal Prussian diet held at Malbork and Elbląg and, write Dobrzycki and Hajdukiewicz, "participated ... in all the more important events in the complex diplomatic game that ambitious politician and statesman played in defense of the particular interests of Prussia and Warmia, between hostility to the [Teutonic] Order and loyalty to

10318-400: The benefits he had received from him. With this translation, Copernicus declared himself on the side of the humanists in the struggle over the question of whether Greek literature should be revived. Copernicus's first poetic work was a Greek epigram , composed probably during a visit to Kraków, for Johannes Dantiscus 's epithalamium for Barbara Zapolya 's 1512 wedding to King Zygmunt I

10452-477: The brief union of Angevin Poland and Hungary (the latter was still the country's overlord), Bogdan's successor Lațcu , the Moldavian ruler also likely allied himself with the Poles. Lațcu also accepted conversion to Roman Catholicism around 1370, but his gesture was to remain without lasting consequences. Petru I profited from the end of the Hungarian-Polish union and moved the country closer to

10586-405: The chapter a two-year extension of leave in order to study medicine (since "he may in future be a useful medical advisor to our Reverend Superior [Bishop Lucas Watzenrode ] and the gentlemen of the chapter"), in late summer or in the fall he returned again to Italy, probably accompanied by his brother Andrew and by Canon Bernhard Sculteti. This time he studied at the University of Padua , famous as

10720-419: The chapter's economic enterprises (he would hold this office again in 1530), having already since 1511 fulfilled the duties of chancellor and visitor of the chapter's estates. His administrative and economic duties did not distract Copernicus, in 1512–1515, from intensive observational activity. The results of his observations of Mars and Saturn in this period, and especially a series of four observations of

10854-660: The childless death of the last of the House of Pomerania , Bogislaw XIV in 1637, Lauenburg and Bütow Land again became a terra (land, ziemia ) of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1641 it became part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . After the 1657 Treaty of Bydgoszcz , which amended the Treaty of Wehlau , it was granted to the Hohenzollern dynasty of Brandenburg-Prussia in return for her help against Sweden in

10988-438: The cities' traditional vast independence, which the Teutonic Order had challenged. Nicolaus's father was actively engaged in the politics of the day and supported Poland and the cities against the Teutonic Order. In 1454 he mediated negotiations between Poland's Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki and the Prussian cities for repayment of war loans. In the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) , the Teutonic Order formally renounced all claims to

11122-610: The clause which formed the personal union. After being baptized at the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków on February 15, 1386, Jogaila began to formally use the name Władysław. Three days after his baptism, the marriage between Jadwiga and Władysław II Jagiełło took place. Over the next few years, the Lithuanian princes from the Gediminid dynasty paid homage to Jogaila, himself a Lithuanian and Gediminid, his wife Jadwiga, and

11256-616: The conquered lands, which returned to Poland as Royal Prussia and remained part of it until the First (1772) and Second (1793) Partitions of Poland . Copernicus's father married Barbara Watzenrode, the astronomer's mother, between 1461 and 1464. He died about 1483. Nicolaus's mother, Barbara Watzenrode, was the daughter of a wealthy Toruń patrician and city councillor, Lucas Watzenrode the Elder (deceased 1462), and Katarzyna (widow of Jan Peckau), mentioned in other sources as Katarzyna Rüdiger gente Modlibóg (deceased 1476). The Modlibógs were

11390-511: The country until the murder of Bogdan II and the ascension of Peter III Aaron in 1451. Nevertheless, Moldavia was subject to further Hungarian interventions after that moment, as Matthias Corvinus deposed Aron and backed Alexăndrel to the throne in Suceava . Petru Aron's rule also signified the beginning of Moldavia's Ottoman Empire allegiance, as the ruler agreed to pay tribute to Sultan Mehmed II . The principality of Moldavia covered

11524-404: The death of Ludwik in 1382, which ended with the coronation of Jadwiga in 1384, was evidence of the vitality of the Crown of the Kingdom. During this period, the magnates ( regnicolae regni Poloniae ) managed the affairs of the state, avoiding a bloody civil war and successfully leading to the coronation of new ruler. Moreover, the basis of power began to rest on an agreement between the dynasty and

11658-403: The development of his critical faculties and initiated his analysis of logical contradictions in the two "official" systems of astronomy—Aristotle's theory of homocentric spheres, and Ptolemy 's mechanism of eccentrics and epicycles —the surmounting and discarding of which would be the first step toward the creation of Copernicus's own doctrine of the structure of the universe. Without taking

11792-533: The early Kingdom of Poland , then, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until its final collapse in 1795. At the same time, the Crown also referred to all lands that the Polish state (not the monarch) could claim to have the right to rule over, including those that were not within Polish borders. The term distinguishes those territories federated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (        ) from various fiefdom territories (which enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy or semi-independence from

11926-573: The economy of Warmia. When Olsztyn was besieged by the Teutonic Knights during the Polish–Teutonic War , Copernicus directed the defense of Olsztyn and Warmia by Royal Polish forces. He also represented the Polish side in the ensuing peace negotiations. Copernicus for years advised the Royal Prussian sejmik on monetary reform , particularly in the 1520s when that was a major question in regional Prussian politics. In 1526 he wrote

12060-430: The elites of Lesser Poland, who saw it as a way to elevate their role. This was facilitated by the rule of a foreign king, the regency in Poland by his mother, Elizabeth , as well as disputes over the succession after his death, which resulted in a woman, Queen Jadwiga , ascending the Polish throne. In the perception of the time, this violated the old laws and required the consent of the lords. The interregnum following

12194-410: The embryo of his later medical library. One of the subjects that Copernicus must have studied was astrology , since it was considered an important part of a medical education. However, unlike most other prominent Renaissance astronomers, he appears never to have practiced or expressed any interest in astrology. As at Bologna, Copernicus did not limit himself to his official studies. It was probably

12328-717: The end of his life, despite the devastation of the chapter's buildings by a raid against Frauenburg carried out by the Teutonic Order in January 1520, during which Copernicus's astronomical instruments were probably destroyed. Copernicus conducted astronomical observations in 1513–1516 presumably from his external curia; and in 1522–1543, from an unidentified "small tower" ( turricula ), using primitive instruments modeled on ancient ones—the quadrant , triquetrum , armillary sphere . At Frombork Copernicus conducted over half of his more than 60 registered astronomical observations. Having settled permanently at Frombork, where he would reside to

12462-506: The end of his life, with interruptions in 1516–1519 and 1520–21, Copernicus found himself at the Warmia chapter's economic and administrative center, which was also one of Warmia's two chief centers of political life. In the difficult, politically complex situation of Warmia, threatened externally by the Teutonic Order 's aggressions (attacks by Teutonic bands; the Polish–Teutonic War of 1519–1521 ; Albert's plans to annex Warmia), internally subject to strong separatist pressures (the selection of

12596-595: The entire geographic region of Moldavia. In various periods, various other territories were politically connected with the Moldavian principality. This is the case of the province of Pokuttya , the fiefdoms of Cetatea de Baltă and Ciceu (both in Transylvania ) or, at a later date, the territories between the Dniester and the Bug rivers. As one of the terms of the Treaty of Lubowla , the Hungarian crown exchanged, for

12730-597: The family began moving to various other Silesian cities, to the Polish capital, Kraków (1367), and to Toruń (1400). The father, Mikołaj the Elder (or Niklas Koppernigk  [ de ] ), likely the son of Jan (or Johann ), came from the Kraków line. Nicolaus was named after his father, who appears in records for the first time as a well-to-do merchant who dealt in copper, selling it mostly in Danzig (Gdańsk). He moved from Kraków to Toruń around 1458. Toruń, situated on

12864-679: The first Piast since 1076. He was, however, assassinated a year later. He was succeeded by Wenceslas II , King of Bohemia, who from 1291 ruled Lesser Poland , conquered Greater Poland and in 1300 was crowned King of Poland in Gniezno. This meant the loss of central power for the Piast dynasty . This situation did not last long, however, as Wenceslas II died in 1305, followed by his son and successor, Wenceslas III, in 1306. The Duke of Kuyavia , Władysław Łokietek , managed to occupy first Lesser Poland and then Greater Poland, and made efforts to be crowned by

12998-445: The hand of Queen Jadwiga of Poland. Once Jogaila confirmed the prenuptial agreements on August 14, 1385, Poland and Lithuania formed a personal union . The agreements included the adoption of Christianity, repatriation of lands lost by the Crown. Jogaila also pledged to permanently attach his Lithuanian and Ruthenian lands to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( terras suas Lithuaniae et Rusie Corone Regni Poloniae perpetuo aplicare) ,

13132-962: The idea finally crystallized, of basing a new system of the world on the movement of the Earth. As the time approached for Copernicus to return home, in spring 1503 he journeyed to Ferrara where, on 31 May 1503, having passed the obligatory examinations, he was granted the degree of Doctor of Canon Law ( Nicolaus Copernich de Prusia, Jure Canonico ... et doctoratus ). No doubt it was soon after (at latest, in fall 1503) that he left Italy for good to return to Warmia . Copernicus made three observations of Mercury, with errors of −3, −15 and −1 minutes of arc. He made one of Venus, with an error of −24 minutes. Four were made of Mars, with errors of 2, 20, 77, and 137 minutes. Four observations were made of Jupiter, with errors of 32, 51, −11 and 25 minutes. He made four of Saturn, with errors of 31, 20, 23 and −4 minutes. With Novara, Copernicus observed an occultation of Aldebaran by

13266-473: The king's rule, and in an ideological sense, all the territories that once belonged to the Piast dynasty. Particularly noteworthy was the situation of Ruthenia , which was conquered by Casimir III. Formally, it was a separate kingdom, on whose throne Casimir sat as the heir of his relative, Yuri II Boleslav of the Piast dynasty. The king, however, regarded himself as a patrimonial ruler who could freely manage

13400-460: The kingdom and its lands. An expression of this attitude was the appointment of his nephew, King Louis the Great of Hungary, as his successor, rather than any of the numerous male representatives of the Piast dynasty. In his testament, he bequeathed a significant portion of the borderlands to his grandson, Casimir IV , Duke of Pomerania from the House of Griffins . However, the court annulled this provision after Louis's coronation, as it fragmented

13534-403: The kingdom's community. The nobles respected the natural right of Louis's daughters to the throne, but this right was conditional upon adherence to the oaths and obligations made by the ruler to the Crown of the Kingdom. The Union of Krewo was a set of prenuptial agreements made at Kreva Castle on August 13, 1385, between Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila and Polish lords, who were offering him

13668-439: The kingdom's territory. This was an open challenge to the ruler's claim of having the full freedom to manage the territory and resources of the state. The concept of Corona Regni appears in the documents of Casimir the Great only three times, and all three documents were produced by foreign chanceries in the king's name. This idea, which limited the monarch's power, gained popularity only after his death. The annulment of Casimir

13802-411: The kingdom. This notion allowed the state to maintain stability even during periods of interregnum and paved the way for a unique political system in Poland, characterized by a noble-based parliament and the free election of the monarch. Additionally, the concept of the Crown extended beyond existing borders, asserting that previously lost territories still rightfully belonged to it. The term Crown of

13936-489: The lectures of Bernard of Biskupie and Wojciech Krypa of Szamotuły , and probably other astronomical lectures by Jan of Głogów , Michał of Wrocław (Breslau), Wojciech of Pniewy , and Marcin Bylica of Olkusz . Copernicus's Kraków studies gave him a thorough grounding in the mathematical astronomy taught at the university (arithmetic, geometry, geometric optics, cosmography, theoretical and computational astronomy) and

14070-424: The lost territories not for himself, but for the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, during his coronation. Jan Radlica was the first royal chancellor who stopped referring to himself as "of Kraków" or "of the court" chancellor and began to use in 1381 the title regni Poloniae supremus cancellarius (supreme chancellor of the Kingdom of Poland). The concept of the Crown being the real sovereign began to be promoted by

14204-499: The most powerful man in Warmia, and his wealth, connections and influence allowed him to secure Copernicus's education and career as a canon at Frombork Cathedral . Copernicus's father died around 1483, when the boy was 10. His maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447–1512), took Copernicus under his wing and saw to his education and career. Six years later, Watzenrode was elected Bishop of Warmia. Watzenrode maintained contacts with leading intellectual figures in Poland and

14338-407: The motions of the Earth. Nothing came of Wapowski's request, because he died a couple of weeks later. Following the death of Prince-Bishop of Warmia Mauritius Ferber (1 July 1537), Copernicus participated in the election of his successor, Johannes Dantiscus (20 September 1537). Copernicus was one of four candidates for the post, written in at the initiative of Tiedemann Giese ; but his candidacy

14472-678: The northwest at the Vistula Lagoon on the Baltic Sea coast. There, in April 1512, he participated in the election of Fabian of Lossainen as Prince-Bishop of Warmia . It was only in early June 1512 that the chapter gave Copernicus an "external curia"—a house outside the defensive walls of the cathedral mount. In 1514 he purchased the northwestern tower within the walls of the Frombork stronghold. He would maintain both these residences to

14606-589: The notion of the corona regni Bohemiae , incorporating the Silesian and Upper Lusatian territories bounding them to the perpetual Crown. The history of Poland as an entity has been traditionally traced to c.  966 , when the pagan prince Mieszko I and the West Polans adopted Christianity . The Baptism of Poland established the first true Polish state, though the process was begun by Mieszko's Piast ancestors. His son and successor, Bolesław I

14740-720: The oldest codified national constitution in Europe; the oldest being the United States Constitution . It was called the Government Act ( Ustawa Rządowa ) Drafting for it began on October 6, 1788, and lasted 32 months. Stanisław II Augustus was the principal author of the Constitution, and he wanted the Crown to be a constitutional monarchy, similar to the one in Great Britain. On May 3, 1791,

14874-468: The other parts of Royal Prussia ) and treasury. Copernicus was his uncle's secretary and physician from 1503 to 1510 (or perhaps until his uncle's death on 29 March 1512) and resided in the Bishop's castle at Lidzbark (Heilsberg), where he began work on his heliocentric theory. In his official capacity, he took part in nearly all his uncle's political, ecclesiastic and administrative-economic duties. From

15008-409: The park commemorating, among others, Jan Dlugosz and Stanislaw Wyspianski . And of famous Polish Mathematician Hugo Steinhaus , Stefan Banach and Otto Nikodym . The park forms a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians. In summer, sprinkled with ponds and refreshment stalls, it is a cool and shady retreat from the nearby bustling streets. Most historic sites of the old Kraków are located inside

15142-635: The personal influence and private assets of the Commonwealth's current monarch from government authority and property. It often meant a distinction between persons loyal to the elected king (royalists) and persons loyal to Polish magnates (confederates). After the Union of Lublin (1569) Crown lands were divided into two provinces : Lesser Poland (Polish: Małopolska) and Greater Poland (Polish: Wielkopolska). These were further divided into administrative units known as voivodeships (the Polish names of

15276-439: The physician had treated his uncle, brother and other chapter members. In later years he was called upon to attend the elderly bishops who in turn occupied the see of Warmia—Mauritius Ferber and Johannes Dantiscus—and, in 1539, his old friend Tiedemann Giese , Bishop of Chełmno (Kulm). In treating such important patients, he sometimes sought consultations from other physicians, including the physician to Duke Albert and, by letter,

15410-570: The remaining Piast princes and to regain all the lands ruled by the former kings of Poland. The Silesian princes were referred to in Poland as duces Poloniae , although they paid homage to the Bohemian Crown . Casimir also abandoned the coat of arms of the Kuyavia line of the Piasts, a hybrid of eagle and lion, in favour of a crowned white eagle, which was also the symbol of the Kingdom. At

15544-653: The request of the Bishop of Fossombrone , Paul of Middelburg . Their contacts in this matter in the period of the Fifth Lateran Council were later memorialized in a complimentary mention in Copernicus's dedicatory epistle in Dē revolutionibus orbium coelestium and in a treatise by Paul of Middelburg, Secundum compendium correctionis Calendarii (1516), which mentions Copernicus among the learned men who had sent

15678-759: The retinue of the chapter's chancellor, Jerzy Pranghe, who was going to Italy—in the fall, possibly in October, Copernicus arrived in Bologna and a few months later (after 6 January 1497) signed himself into the register of the Bologna University of Jurists' "German nation", which included young Poles from Silesia , Prussia and Pomerania as well as students of other nationalities. During his three-year stay at Bologna, which occurred between fall 1496 and spring 1501, Copernicus seems to have devoted himself less keenly to studying canon law (he received his doctorate in canon law only after seven years, following

15812-513: The royal domain but also extended to the lands held by royal vassals. In Aragon , the Crown denoted a collection of kingdoms and territories united chiefly by their shared ruler, the King of Aragon . For Poland, the significant development was the emergence of the concept of corona regni in Hungary in the late 12th century. Initially, it represented the kingdom as a territorial entity linked to

15946-459: The true sovereign. In Bohemia, the concept of the corona regni emerged primarily in connection with the territorial expansion and consolidation of the state. The Luxemburg dynasty 's unsuccessful pursuit of the Polish throne underscored the necessity of uniting the Silesian principalities with the Bohemian crown. In 1348, Charles IV formalized the feudal structure of the state and introduced

16080-553: The urban development projects to preserve the concept of a "garden city". By the beginning of the 19th century the expanding city had begun to outgrow the confines of the old defensive walls . The walls had been falling into disrepair due to lack of maintenance after the Partitions of Poland . As a result, Emperor Franz I of Austro-Hungary ordered the dismantling of the old fortifications. However, in 1817 Professor Feliks Radwański of Jagiellonian University managed to convince

16214-409: The various provinces, as members of a royal dynasty and princes of Poland. A special role was played by Kraków , which was regarded as the main city of the kingdom, as the Wawel Cathedral held the royal jewels. Also important was the cult of Saint Stanislaus Bishop of Kraków , who was presented as the patron saint of the kingdom and its unification. A unified ecclesiastical metropolis headed by

16348-430: The voivodships and towns are shown below in parentheses). Royal Prussia ( Polish : Prusy Królewskie ) was a semi-autonomous province of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1772. Royal Prussia included Pomerelia , Chełmno Land (Kulmerland) , Malbork Voivodeship (Marienburg) , Gdańsk (Danzig) , Toruń (Thorn) , and Elbląg (Elbing) . Polish historian Henryk Wisner writes that Royal Prussia belonged to

16482-512: The working class, also referred to as an "elective monarchy" . A related concept that evolved soon afterward was that of Rzeczpospolita ("Commonwealth"), which was an alternate to the Crown as a name for the Polish state after the Treaty of Lublin in 1569. The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was also related to other symbols of Poland , such as the capital ( Kraków ), the Polish coat of arms and

16616-531: Was a Renaissance polymath , active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon , who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center . In all likelihood, Copernicus developed his model independently of Aristarchus of Samos , an ancient Greek astronomer who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier. The publication of Copernicus's model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ( On

16750-503: Was a friend of the influential Italian-born humanist and Kraków courtier Filippo Buonaccorsi . There are no surviving primary documents on the early years of Copernicus's childhood and education. Copernicus biographers assume that Watzenrode first sent young Copernicus to St. John's School, at Toruń, where he himself had been a master. Later, according to Armitage, the boy attended the Cathedral School at Włocławek , up

16884-554: Was actually pro forma , since Dantiscus had earlier been named coadjutor bishop to Ferber and since Dantiscus had the backing of Poland's King Sigismund I . At first Copernicus maintained friendly relations with the new Prince-Bishop, assisting him medically in spring 1538 and accompanying him that summer on an inspection tour of Chapter holdings. But that autumn, their friendship was strained by suspicions over Copernicus's housekeeper, Anna Schilling, whom Dantiscus banished from Frombork in spring 1539. In his younger days, Copernicus

17018-442: Was already based on the same assumptions regarding Earth's triple motions. The Commentariolus , which Copernicus consciously saw as merely a first sketch for his planned book, was not intended for printed distribution. He made only a very few manuscript copies available to his closest acquaintances, including, it seems, several Kraków astronomers with whom he collaborated in 1515–1530 in observing eclipses . Tycho Brahe would include

17152-686: Was bicameral with an elected Sejm and an appointed Senate ; the King was given the power to break ties in the Senate, and the head of the Sejm was the Sejm Marshal . The Crown Tribunal , the highest appellate court in the Crown, was reformed. The Sejm would elect their judges for the Sejm Court (the Crown's parliamentary court) from their deputies ( posłowie ). The Government Act angered Catherine II who believed that Poland needed permission from

17286-457: Was born on 19 February 1473 in the city of Toruń (Thorn), in the province of Royal Prussia , in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland , to German-speaking parents. His father was a merchant from Kraków and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Toruń merchant. Nicolaus was the youngest of four children. His brother Andreas (Andrew) became an Augustinian canon at Frombork (Frauenburg). His sister Barbara, named after her mother, became

17420-526: Was challenged by Sigismund of Hungary , whose expedition was defeated at Ghindăoani in 1385; however, Stephen disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Although Alexander I was brought to the throne in 1400 by the Hungarians (with assistance from Mircea I of Wallachia ), this ruler shifted his allegiances towards Poland (notably engaging Moldavian forces on the Polish side in the Battle of Grunwald and

17554-615: Was consciously a citizen of the Polish–Lithuanian Republic . Soon after the death of uncle Bishop Watzenrode, he participated in the signing of the Second Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski (7 December 1512), governing the appointment of the Bishop of Warmia , declaring, despite opposition from part of the chapter, for loyal cooperation with the Polish Crown . That same year (before 8 November 1512) Copernicus assumed responsibility, as magister pistoriae , for administering

17688-401: Was crowned King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania on February 22, 1574, he was made King of France , and was crowned King of France on February 13, 1575. He left the throne of the Crown on May 12, 1575, two months after he was crowned King of France. Anna Jagiellon was elected after him. The Constitution of May 3, 1791 is the second-oldest, codified national constitution in history, and

17822-479: Was delayed, inclining Watzenrode to send both his nephews to study canon law in Italy, seemingly with a view to furthering their ecclesiastic careers and thereby also strengthening his own influence in the Warmia chapter. On 20 October 1497, Copernicus, by proxy, formally succeeded to the Warmia canonry which had been granted to him two years earlier. To this, by a document dated 10 January 1503 at Padua , he would add

17956-617: Was lost by Moldavia in the Battle of Obertyn (1531). Prince Petru also expanded his rule southwards to the Danube Delta . His brother Roman I conquered the Hungarian-ruled Cetatea Albă in 1392, giving Moldavia an outlet to the Black Sea , before being toppled from the throne for supporting Fyodor Koriatovych in his conflict with Vytautas the Great of Lithuania . Under Stephen I , growing Polish influence

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