Valentin Naboth
Encyclopedia
Valentin Naboth (13 February 1523 – 3 March 1593), known by the latin
ized name Valentinus Naiboda, was a German
mathematician
, astronomer
and astrologer
.
(Niederlausitz) to an originally Jewish family. He was the younger brother of the Lutheran theologian
and author
Alexius Naboth. In 1544, Valentin immatriculated
at the University of Wittenberg, at the time Philipp Melanchthon
, Erasmus Reinhold
, Johannes Bugenhagen
, Paul Eber
, and Georg Major
taught there. In 1550 he transferred to the University of Erfurt
.
Valentin Naboth was Baccalaurean when he came from Wittenberg to Erfurt, and had certainly an outstanding mathematical ability. The Faculty council took on the risk to turn the courses in Mathematics over to this gifted but troubled Renaissance spirit even though he had not yet a Magister degree. That decision was made at the meeting of 16 August 1551, and from then on Naboth taught Mathematics and Sphaera materialis
. He also taught in the summer semester and winter semester of 1552. There was a plague epidemic, and the courses were shortened; Liborius Mangold taught only rhetoric and Naboth Sphaera. The conscientious Liborius Mangold from Warburg
, who was Dean, did not seem to get along with the much favored mathematician Naboth, and when the latter even borrowed money from the University for the Magister's examination, Liborius wrote to the Dean's book, "quod prius nunquam nec visum nec auditum fuit". Valentin Naboth passed the examination. But right after he had his Magister’s degree, he wrote on February 6 a letter to the Faculty about which the Dean remarked that a letter in such a tone had never been seen or heard of before. Maybe it was one of the reasons why Liborius Mangold gave up after twelve years as rector of St. Georgsburse and a professor of physics and rhetoric, and accepted an administrative position in his native town of Warburg. But not only he left. Without saying a word Valentin Naboth went as well. The faculty waited in vain for him for the summer semester 1553, he didn’t come. The Faculty was still hoping for Naboth’s return and waited some more before replacing him. But Naboth had gone to the University of Cologne and matriculated there with the intention to teach mathematics at this major University – which he succeeded to do. Naboth remained in Cologne for a decade, but then this restless spirit couldn’t stay any longer, he moved on to the center of the mathematical studies of that time, at the University of Padua, and taught and wrote there. He had always been an eccentric, and became even more so over there.
From 1555 mathematician and physician Valentin Naboth taught mathematics at the University of Cologne
, first privately, and from 1557 to 1564 as the holder of a "City" Professorship of mathematics. He succeeded Justus Velsius
, who in 1556, on account of teachings deemed heretical by the Church, was obliged to leave Cologne. Dutch mathematician Rudolph Snellius
was one of his students in Cologne
.
In 1556 he published the first book of Euclid
, and then his own mathematical commentary on the Arab astrologer Alchabitius, 1560, in which he opposed magic and superstition. In his mathematical work he followed Regiomontanus
; but further on he preferred Ptolemy
– in agreement with Cardanus. He prepared an edition of Ptolemy’s Quadripartitus, but that was never published. In his commentary, he thanked the City that they had him remunerated in the early years, when mathematics was the only discipline not yet integrated into the general University curriculum. If this remark is true – and that can hardly be questioned – then the official Professorship of Mathematics had in fact only now been established. However, in 1563 Laurentianer Petrus Linner requested that Naboth’s lecture be moved to another time, since he himself taught mathematics at his Gymnasium
at the very same time. With that he opened up the discussion about competition from the Faculty and College curriculum. Furthermore, he argued that Naboth didn’t have a Magister degree from Cologne, but from somewhere else. And indeed, the Dean decided that henceforth no one could teach a course in the Schola Artium when simultaneously a lecture took place in one of three Gymnasiums. The basic problem with the Arts studies in Cologne could not have been made any clearer than that. Right away, Naboth took the consequences: he left Cologne and later taught in Padua.
In March 1564 Naboth resigned from his position at the University of Cologne. He visited Paris
, where he met Czech
humanist
Šimon Proxenus ze Sudetu (1532–1575), who introduced him to Petrus Ramus
. Afterwards Naboth traveled to Italy
, eventually settling in Padua
, where he taught astronomy. Among his students there was a nephew of Prince Stephen Báthory of Transylvania
.
of Erasmus Reinhold. He advocated a measure of time, by which (the mean daily motion of the Sun in longitude) is equated to 1 year of life in calculating primary directions. This was a refinement of Ptolemy
’s value of exactly 1 degree per year. This book was banned by the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1573 Naboth published an astronomy textbook for gymnasium
students Primarum de coelo et terra, which was dedicated to Stephen Báthory. There can be no doubt that Naboth was working from De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
when he wrote this textbook, since in this book he provides schematics of the conventional model of the solar system, Martianus Capella's geo-heliocentric model, as well as Copernicus' heliocentric model. Tycho Brahe
owned an early copy of this book, and since this book contains the first schematic representation of Capella's geo-heliocentric model it is likely that this book provided the inspiration for Tycho's geo-heliocentric
model. Wittich
may also have been influenced by Naboth's book in adopting the Capellan system to explain the motion of the inferior planets, and Kepler
may have used this book as well. In this book Naboth introduced the expression world system (systema mundi, mundanum systema, systema universitatis, and also systema coeleste, systema caelorum and systema aethereum), a concept that was later adopted by Tycho, Kepler, and by Galilei
as well.
, in a work published in Lyon
s in 1629, tells the story that Naboth was living in Padua, Italy, when he deduced from his own horoscope that he was about to enter a period of personal danger, so he stockpiled an adequate supply of food and drink, closed his blinds, and locked his doors and windows, intending to stay in hiding until the period of danger had passed. Unfortunately, some robbers, seeing the house closed and the blinds drawn, decided that the resident was absent. They therefore broke into what they thought was an empty house, and, finding Naboth there, murdered him to conceal their identities. Thus he did not escape the fate predicted by his own astrological calculations: "Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt".
Abraham Sandeck recorded in the Acts of the German Artistennation 1593 the following event: "On the third of March, there happened a tragic incident involving Valentin Naboth of Silesia, sixty years old, a famous mathematician: he was found dead in his study, some ways away from frequently travelled areas, wounded by five wounds: one in the breast under the left nipple, another on his left side, the third in the right abdomen, the fourth under his navel, and the fifth in the left hand."
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
ized name Valentinus Naiboda, was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
mathematician
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, astronomer
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and astrologer
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
.
Life and academic career
Valentin Naboth was born in CalauCalau
Calau is a small town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 14 km south of Lübbenau, and 27 km west of Cottbus...
(Niederlausitz) to an originally Jewish family. He was the younger brother of the Lutheran theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Alexius Naboth. In 1544, Valentin immatriculated
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...
at the University of Wittenberg, at the time Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
, Erasmus Reinhold
Erasmus Reinhold
Erasmus Reinhold was a German astronomer and mathematician, considered to be the most influential astronomical pedagogue of his generation. He was born and died in Saalfeld, Saxony....
, Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Bugenhagen
Johannes Bugenhagen , also called Doctor Pomeranus by Martin Luther, introduced the Protestant Reformation in the Duchy of Pomerania and Denmark in the 16th century. Among his major accomplishments was organization of Lutheran churches in Northern Germany and Scandinavia...
, Paul Eber
Paul Eber
Paul Eber , German Lutheran theologian, was born at Kitzingen in Franconia, and was educated at Nuremberg and Wittenberg, where he became the close friend of Philipp Melanchthon....
, and Georg Major
Georg Major
George Major was a Lutheran theologian of the Protestant Reformation. He was born in Nuremberg and died at Wittenberg.-Life:...
taught there. In 1550 he transferred to the University of Erfurt
University of Erfurt
The University of Erfurt is a public university located in Erfurt, Germany. Originally founded in 1379, the university was closed in 1816 for the next 177 years...
.
Valentin Naboth was Baccalaurean when he came from Wittenberg to Erfurt, and had certainly an outstanding mathematical ability. The Faculty council took on the risk to turn the courses in Mathematics over to this gifted but troubled Renaissance spirit even though he had not yet a Magister degree. That decision was made at the meeting of 16 August 1551, and from then on Naboth taught Mathematics and Sphaera materialis
De sphaera mundi
De sphaera mundi is a medieval introduction to the basic elements of astronomy written by Johannes de Sacrobosco c. 1230...
. He also taught in the summer semester and winter semester of 1552. There was a plague epidemic, and the courses were shortened; Liborius Mangold taught only rhetoric and Naboth Sphaera. The conscientious Liborius Mangold from Warburg
Warburg
Warburg is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia on the river Diemel near the three-state point shared by Hessen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is in Höxter district and Detmold region...
, who was Dean, did not seem to get along with the much favored mathematician Naboth, and when the latter even borrowed money from the University for the Magister's examination, Liborius wrote to the Dean's book, "quod prius nunquam nec visum nec auditum fuit". Valentin Naboth passed the examination. But right after he had his Magister’s degree, he wrote on February 6 a letter to the Faculty about which the Dean remarked that a letter in such a tone had never been seen or heard of before. Maybe it was one of the reasons why Liborius Mangold gave up after twelve years as rector of St. Georgsburse and a professor of physics and rhetoric, and accepted an administrative position in his native town of Warburg. But not only he left. Without saying a word Valentin Naboth went as well. The faculty waited in vain for him for the summer semester 1553, he didn’t come. The Faculty was still hoping for Naboth’s return and waited some more before replacing him. But Naboth had gone to the University of Cologne and matriculated there with the intention to teach mathematics at this major University – which he succeeded to do. Naboth remained in Cologne for a decade, but then this restless spirit couldn’t stay any longer, he moved on to the center of the mathematical studies of that time, at the University of Padua, and taught and wrote there. He had always been an eccentric, and became even more so over there.
From 1555 mathematician and physician Valentin Naboth taught mathematics at the University of Cologne
University of Cologne
The University of Cologne is one of the oldest universities in Europe and, with over 44,000 students, one of the largest universities in Germany. The university is part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, an association of Germany's leading research universities...
, first privately, and from 1557 to 1564 as the holder of a "City" Professorship of mathematics. He succeeded Justus Velsius
Justus Velsius
Justus Velsius, Haganus, or Joost Welsens in Dutch was a Dutch humanist, physician, and mathematician....
, who in 1556, on account of teachings deemed heretical by the Church, was obliged to leave Cologne. Dutch mathematician Rudolph Snellius
Rudolph Snellius
Rudolph Snellius Rudolph Snellius Rudolph Snellius (Rudolph Snel van Royen (Oudewater, 5 October 1546 – Leiden, 2 March 1613) was a Dutch linguist and mathematician who held appointments at the University of Marburg and the University of Leiden...
was one of his students in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
.
In 1556 he published the first book of Euclid
Euclid
Euclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
, and then his own mathematical commentary on the Arab astrologer Alchabitius, 1560, in which he opposed magic and superstition. In his mathematical work he followed Regiomontanus
Regiomontanus
Johannes Müller von Königsberg , today best known by his Latin toponym Regiomontanus, was a German mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, translator and instrument maker....
; but further on he preferred Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
– in agreement with Cardanus. He prepared an edition of Ptolemy’s Quadripartitus, but that was never published. In his commentary, he thanked the City that they had him remunerated in the early years, when mathematics was the only discipline not yet integrated into the general University curriculum. If this remark is true – and that can hardly be questioned – then the official Professorship of Mathematics had in fact only now been established. However, in 1563 Laurentianer Petrus Linner requested that Naboth’s lecture be moved to another time, since he himself taught mathematics at his Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
at the very same time. With that he opened up the discussion about competition from the Faculty and College curriculum. Furthermore, he argued that Naboth didn’t have a Magister degree from Cologne, but from somewhere else. And indeed, the Dean decided that henceforth no one could teach a course in the Schola Artium when simultaneously a lecture took place in one of three Gymnasiums. The basic problem with the Arts studies in Cologne could not have been made any clearer than that. Right away, Naboth took the consequences: he left Cologne and later taught in Padua.
In March 1564 Naboth resigned from his position at the University of Cologne. He visited Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he met Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
humanist
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
Šimon Proxenus ze Sudetu (1532–1575), who introduced him to Petrus Ramus
Petrus Ramus
Petrus Ramus was an influential French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was killed during the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Early life:...
. Afterwards Naboth traveled to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, eventually settling in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, where he taught astronomy. Among his students there was a nephew of Prince Stephen Báthory of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
.
Work
Naboth was the author of a general textbook on astrology Enarratio elementorum astrologiae. Renowned for calculating the mean annual motion of the Sun, his writings are chiefly devoted to commenting upon Ptolemy and the Arabian astrologers. Naboth teaches the calculation of the movement of the planets according to the Prutenic TablesPrutenic Tables
The Prutenic Tables , were an ephemeris by the astronomer Erasmus Reinhold published in 1551. They are sometimes called the Prussian Tables after Albert I, Duke of Prussia, who supported Reinhold and financed the printing...
of Erasmus Reinhold. He advocated a measure of time, by which (the mean daily motion of the Sun in longitude) is equated to 1 year of life in calculating primary directions. This was a refinement of Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
’s value of exactly 1 degree per year. This book was banned by the Roman Catholic Church.
| Naboth's representation of the conventional view of the solar system (left), Martianus Capella Martianus Capella Martianus Minneus Felix Capella was a pagan writer of Late Antiquity, one of the earliest developers of the system of the seven liberal arts that structured early medieval education... 's geo-heliocentric astronomical model (center) and Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe.... ' heliocentric model. |
||
In 1573 Naboth published an astronomy textbook for gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
students Primarum de coelo et terra, which was dedicated to Stephen Báthory. There can be no doubt that Naboth was working from De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus...
when he wrote this textbook, since in this book he provides schematics of the conventional model of the solar system, Martianus Capella's geo-heliocentric model, as well as Copernicus' heliocentric model. Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brahe , born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, was a Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations...
owned an early copy of this book, and since this book contains the first schematic representation of Capella's geo-heliocentric model it is likely that this book provided the inspiration for Tycho's geo-heliocentric
Tychonic system
The Tychonic system was a model of the solar system published by Tycho Brahe in the late 16th century which combined what he saw as the mathematical benefits of the Copernican system with the philosophical and "physical" benefits of the Ptolemaic system...
model. Wittich
Paul Wittich
Paul Wittich was a German mathematician and astronomer whose Capellan geoheliocentric model, in which the inner planets Mercury and Venus orbit the sun but the outer planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn orbit the Earth, may have directly inspired Tycho Brahe's more radically heliocentric...
may also have been influenced by Naboth's book in adopting the Capellan system to explain the motion of the inferior planets, and Kepler
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. A key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution, he is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican...
may have used this book as well. In this book Naboth introduced the expression world system (systema mundi, mundanum systema, systema universitatis, and also systema coeleste, systema caelorum and systema aethereum), a concept that was later adopted by Tycho, Kepler, and by Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
as well.
Final years
Naboth came to a bad end. Tommaso CampanellaTommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella OP , baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.-Biography:...
, in a work published in Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
s in 1629, tells the story that Naboth was living in Padua, Italy, when he deduced from his own horoscope that he was about to enter a period of personal danger, so he stockpiled an adequate supply of food and drink, closed his blinds, and locked his doors and windows, intending to stay in hiding until the period of danger had passed. Unfortunately, some robbers, seeing the house closed and the blinds drawn, decided that the resident was absent. They therefore broke into what they thought was an empty house, and, finding Naboth there, murdered him to conceal their identities. Thus he did not escape the fate predicted by his own astrological calculations: "Ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt".
Abraham Sandeck recorded in the Acts of the German Artistennation 1593 the following event: "On the third of March, there happened a tragic incident involving Valentin Naboth of Silesia, sixty years old, a famous mathematician: he was found dead in his study, some ways away from frequently travelled areas, wounded by five wounds: one in the breast under the left nipple, another on his left side, the third in the right abdomen, the fourth under his navel, and the fifth in the left hand."
Selected works
- Elementorum Geometricorum liber primus, cui ex sequentibus libris accesserunt Propositiones selectae atque ita ordinatae, ut demonstrari queant observata Geometrarum Methodo, Cologne 1556.
- De calculatoria numerorumque natura Sectiones quatuor, Cologne 1556.
- Enarratio elementorvm astrologiae in qva praeter Alcabicii, qvi Arabum doctrinam compendio prodidit, expositionem, atq[ue] cum Ptolemaei principijs collationem, reiectis sortilegijs & absurdis vulgoq[ue] receptis opinionibus, de verae artis praeceptorum origine & usu satis disseritur, Cologne 1560.
- Primarum de coelo et terra institutionum quotidianarumque mundi revolutionum, libri tres, Venice (1573)
- Astronomicarum institutionum libri III, quibus doctrinae sphaericae elementa methodo nova, facili et ad captum tyronum aptissima traduntur, Venice (1580)
- De annui temporis mensura in Directionibus and De Directionibus, published by Giovanni Antonio MaginiGiovanni Antonio MaginiGiovanni Antonio Magini was an Italian astronomer, astrologer, cartographer, and mathematician.-Life:...
in De astrologica ratione, Venice (1607)
Further reading
page 32- Merlo, J. J., „ Naibod, Valentin“, in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 23 (1886), S. 242–243 page 168