Doctor Copernicus (24 page)

“I’ll not mince words, Herr Canon,” she said. “I have begged, I have whored, and I have survived; but now I have nothing left. You are my last hope. Refuse me, and I
shall perish.”

“My child,” he began, and stopped, helpless and embarrassed. “My child . . .”

Moonlight shines through the arched window; the candle flickers. The books, the couch, the desk, all crouch like enchanted creatures frozen in the midst of a secret dance, and those strange
ghostly instruments lift their shrouded arms into the shadows starward, mysterious, hieratic and inexplicable things. All fade; the dark descends.

*     *     *

N
icolas Koppernigk, Canonicus: Frauenburg

Rev. Sir: I presume to write to you, remembering our many interesting conversations of some years ago, when we met at Cracow. I was then adviser to the Polish King, & you, as I recall, were
secretary to your late uncle, His Grace Bishop Waczelrodt: on whose death may I be permitted now to offer you belated condolences. I admired the man greatly (although I knew him not at all), &
would hear more of his life & works. His death was indeed a tragedy for Ermland, as events have proved. I dearly hope that your many public duties do not keep you from that great task which you
are embarked upon. Many wonderful reports of your theories come to me, especially from Cardinal Schönberg at Rome, whom I think you know. You are fortunate indeed to have such allies, who
surely will stand you in good stead against the bellowing of ignorant schoolmen & those others that you have outraged by the daring of your concepts. For myself, I have so little power at my
command that I hesitate to assure you that you have my best wishes for your great & important work, which I pray God to bless, in the name of Truth. I hesitate, as I have said: yet who can know
but that even the friendship of one so humble as myself may not at some future date prove useful? The Church in these perilous days, I fear, shall not for long be able to sustain that generous
liberality which hitherto She was wont to extend to Her ministers (a liberality, I might add, for which I myself have been grateful on more than one occasion!). Dark times are coming, Herr Canon:
we are all under threat. However, it is my conviction that, so long as we maintain strict vigilance over our lives, & do not leave ourselves open to accusations of corruption & lewdness by
the Lutherans, we shall be safe, no matter how
revolutionary
our notions. I pray you, sir, regard me as your most devoted friend.

ex Löbau, 11 November, 1532

+
Johannes Dantiscus

Bishop of Kulm

*

Tiedemann Giese, Visitator: at Allenstein

Dear Giese: I have had a letter from Dantiscus, which I enclose herewith: please tell me what you think of it, & how I should reply. I do not trust the man. He has a daughter in Spain, they
say. Perhaps our own Bishop has asked him to write to me thus? I suspect a conspiracy against me. Destroy this letter, but send back the other, with your suggestions as to how I should proceed. I
am not well: a catarrh of the stomach, & my bowels do not move, as usual. I think I shall not reply to him. Please say what I am to do.

ex Franenburg, 16 December, 1532
Nic: Koppernigk

*

Johannes Dantiscus, Bishop of Kuim Löbau

I have Your Rev. Lordship’s letter, full of humanity & favour, in which he reminds me of that familiarity with Your Rev. Lordship which I contracted in my youth: which I know to have
remained just as vigorous up to now. As for the information you required of me, how long my uncle, Lucas Waczelrodt of blessed memory, had lived: he lived 64 years, 5 months; was Bishop for 23
years; died on the last day but one of March,
anno Christi
1512. With him came to an end a family whose insignia can be found on the ancient monuments in Torun. I recommended my obedience to
Your Rev. Lordship.

ex Frauenburg, 11 April, 1533

Nic: Koppernigk: Canonicus

*

Johannes Dantiscus, Bishop of Kulm: Löbau

My Lord: I write to you on behalf of one that is dear to us both:
id est
Doctor Nicolas Copernicus, the astronomer, & Canon of this Chapter. As you are aware, the Frauenburg canons
shall assemble this month for the purpose of electing a Bishop to the throne of Ermland, following the lamented death of Our Rev. Lordship Mauritius Ferber. The list of candidates, decided upon, as
is the custom, by His Royal Highness Sigismund of Poland, comprises four names: Canons Zimmermann, von der Trank, & Snellenburg: the fourth name you know, of course. While it is not my wish to
attempt to influence the course of this lofty affair, I feel it my duty humbly to suggest that one of these names, that of Canon Heinrich Snellenburg, be removed from the list, in order to protect
the Chapter from ridicule, & the Polish throne (whose interests I hold as closely to my heart as does Your Rev. Lordship) from accusations of gross misjudgment. Your Lordship knows the manner
of man it is that I speak of here. Canon Snellenburg is not a great sinner: but the very pettiness of his misdemeanours (unpaid debts et cetera) surely must exclude him from consideration as a
candidate for this highest of offices. Therefore I suggest that he be removed forthwith from the list, his name to be replaced by that of Canon Nicolas Koppernigk. The Rev. Doctor, need I say, does
not aspire to so high an office as the Bishopric of Ermland (and is not aware of this petition, be assured of that): yet even to name him a candidate would, I feel, & I think I am not alone in
this opinion, be an indication, however subtle, of the high regard in which the Rev. Doctor is held both by the Church & the Polish throne: it would also, of course, be a means of arming him
against his enemies, who are, alas, legion. Doctor Copernicus is an old man now, & in ill-health. He does not sleep well, & is plagued by hallucinations: sometimes he speaks of dark figures
that hide in the corners of his room. All this indicates how he feels himself threatened & mocked by a hostile world. Your Rev. Lordship’s generous praise for his great work (which even
yet he refuses to publish, for fear of what reaction it may provoke!) is not universally echoed: not long ago, the Lutheran Rector of the Latin School at Elbing, one
Ludimagister
Gnapheus,
ridiculed the master’s astronomical ideas (or those debased versions of them that this Gnapheus in his ignorance understands) in his so-called comedy,
Morosophus
, or
The Wise
Fool
, which was performed publicly in that city as a carnival farce. (However, in this respect, as the Rev. Doctor himself remarked, Master Gnapheus has obviously never heard of the divine
Cusan’s great work,
De docta ignorantia
, or he would have seen the irony of choosing for his scurrilous farce the title that he did!) As another example of how the Doctor is
persecuted, Your Rev. Lordship will forgive me, I hope, for mentioning this absurd but painful incident: Some ten years ago, a young girl was brought to him here in order that, in his capacity as
physician, he might treat her for an unspeakable disease which the child had contracted we know not how. He could do nothing, of course, for the disease was already far advanced. The girl has since
died at the Cistercian Convent in Kulm, & now her father, mad with grief no doubt, has begun to put it about that the Rev. Doctor is to blame for the tragedy, for the girl said, so the father
claims, that when he was examining her he cast a spell upon her, making passes with his hands & speaking a strange word that she could not understand et cetera. The accusation is absurd, of
course, but Your Lordship will understand how these things go; matters have come to such a pass that the sick will no longer trust themselves to his care. However, I fear that by now I have begun
to stretch Your Lordship’s patience with my ramblings. Let me close by saying that, having considered all these factors which I have mentioned, Your Lordship will recognise that our beloved
Canon Nicolas deserves whatever honours it may be in our power to bestow upon him—& deserves also whatever small comforts, of the spirit
or of the flesh
, that he is himself able to
wrest from a cruel world.

ex Frauenburg, 10 September, 1537

Tiedemann Giese: Canonicus

*

Tiedemann Giese, Bishop of Kulm: Löbau

Lord Bishop: Disturbing reports continue to reach me regarding the Rev. Doctor & this matter of the woman, Anna Schillings. It is suggested that he keeps her as his
focaria
, &
that she fulfils
all duties
attaching to such a position, being housekeeper & also concubine. I obliged you, my Lord, by substituting his name for that of Snellenburg on the King’s
List, despite the grave reservations which I entertained at the time, for I confess that the substitution of the name of one sinner by that of another did not recommend itself to me as a wise act:
however, I did so because of the high regard I had for the Doctor’s work, if not for his character. Now I think that I should have been swayed not by your arguments & entreaties, but by
my own feelings. Anyway, the matter is past: I mention it only so that you may now repay this favour by speaking to him, & encouraging him to put away this woman.
He must yield.
There is
more at stake now than the reputation of the Frauenburg Chapter. He maintains close friendship with Sculteti: that is bad. Admonish him that such connections & friendships are harmful to him,
but do not tell him that the warning originates from me. I am sure that you know that Sculteti has taken a wife, & is suspected of atheism.

ex Heilsberg, 4 July, 1539

+
Johannes Dantiscus

Bishop of Ermland

*

Johannes Dantiscus, Bishop of Ermland: Heilsberg

My dear Lord Bishop: Doctor Nicolas is staying with us briefly here, along with a young disciple. I have spoken earnestly to the Rev. Doctor on the matter, according to Your Most Rev.
Lordship’s wish, & have set the facts of the matter plainly before him. He seemed not a little disturbed that although he had unhesitatingly obeyed the will of Your Rev. Lordship,
malicious people still bring trumped-up charges of secret meetings, & so forth. For he denies having seen that woman since he dismissed her. I have certainly ascertained that he is not as much
affected as many think. Moreover, his advanced age & his never-ending studies readily convince me of this, as well as the worthiness & respectability of the man: nevertheless I urged him
that he should shun even the appearance of evil, & this I believe he will do. But again I think that it would be as well that Your Rev. Lordship should not put too much faith in the informer,
considering that envy attaches so easily to men of worth, & is unafraid even of troubling Your Most Rev. Lordship. I commend myself et cetera.

ex Löbau, 12 August, 1539

+
Tiedemann Giese

Bishop of Kulm

*

Johannes Dantiscus, Bishop of Ermland: Heilsberg

Your Grace . . . As regards the Frauenburg wenches, Sculteti’s hid for a few days in his house. She promised that she would go away together with her children. Sculteti remains in his
curia with his
focaria
, who looks like a beer waitress tainted with every evil. The woman of Doctor Nicolas sent her baggage ahead to Danzig, but she herself stays on at Frauenburg . . .

ex Allenstein, 20 October, 1539

Heinrich Snellenburg: Visitator

*

Nicolas Koppernigk: Frauenburg

Sir: I write to you directly in the hope that you may be made to understand the peril into which you have delivered yourself by your stubborn refusal to yield upon the matter of the woman, Anna
Schillings. Surely you realise how great are the issues at stake? If it were merely a matter of this
focaria
, I should not be so intemperate as to hound you thus, but it is more than that,
much more, as you must know. On my recommendation, Canon Stanislas Hosius was nominated candidate for the office of Precentor of the Frauenburg Chapter. I shall dare to be frank, my dear Doctor: I
do not like Hosius, I do not like what he represents. He is a fanatic. You & I, my friend, are children of another age, a finer & more civilised age: but that age is past. Some years ago I
warned you that dark times were coming: that darkness is upon us now, & its avatars are Canon Hosius and his ilk—the inquisitors, the fanatics. I do not like him, as I have said, yet I
appointed him to a canonry at Frauenburg, & would see him Precentor: for, like him or not, I must accept him. For Ermland, the future is one of two choices: this province must become either
Prussian & Lutheran, or Polish & Catholic. There is no third course. The autonomy of which your uncle was the architect & guardian is about to be taken from us. The choice, then, is
clear: whatever our feelings regarding Poland, we must bow to the Jagellon throne, or perish. Now, the Frauenburg Chapter, foolishly allowing itself to be misled by forces who have not the good of
Ermland, nor Frauenburg, at heart, has elected the unspeakable Sculteti to be Precentor, thereby thwarting my carefully laid plans. This is intolerable. Do those damned clerics among whom you have
chosen to live not realise that Sculteti is backed by that faction at the Papal Court which imagines that Ermland can be brought under the direct control of Rome? Even if this were feasible, which
it is not, Rome rule would spell disaster for all of us.
We must cleave to Poland!
It is the only course. I must have Hosius: & the corollary of that need is that I must destroy
Sculteti. I shall use whatever weapons against him that I can find. The scandalous manner of his life is one such weapon, perhaps the most lethal. I trust that these revelations, which I am foolish
to commit to paper, will make clear why, for so many years, I have striven to force you to be rid of this woman. This shall be my last warning; ignore it, & you shall be in grave danger of
going down along with Sculteti when he falls. That is all I have to say.
Vale.

ex Heilsberg, 13 March, 1540