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Articles

Giordano Bruno and the heresy of many worlds

Pages 345-374 | Received 28 Nov 2015, Accepted 20 May 2016, Published online: 11 Aug 2016
 

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the importance of Giordano Bruno's belief in many worlds, including the Moon, the planets and the stars, in the context of his trial by the Inquisitions in Venice and Rome. Historians have claimed that this belief was not heretical and therefore was not a major factor in Bruno's trial or execution. On the contrary, by examining neglected treatises on theology, heresies and Catholic canon law, I show that the belief in many worlds was formally heretical. Multiple Christian authorities denounced it. A systematic analysis of the extant primary sources shows that Bruno's belief in many worlds was, surprisingly, of primary importance in his trial and execution. The evidence includes recent and newly discovered primary sources.

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Acknowledgments

I warmly thank Hilary Gatti, William R. Shea, Frances Y. Rivera Avilés, Miriam Bodian, Alexander P. D. Mourelatos, Michele Di Sivo, Martha Newman, H. Darrel Rutkin and two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions and assistance. I also thank the College of Liberal Arts of the University of Texas at Austin for funding my research trips to Rome. I've presented parts of this research at conferences: the American Physical Society, the 12th Biennial Conference on the History of Astronomy at the University of Notre Dame and the History of Science Society. I thank the participants for their feedback, especially Michael J. Crowe, Steven J. Dick and Stephen Case.

Notes

1 Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964; reissued, Abingdon: Routledge, 1999), vol. 2, p. 355.

2 Steven J. Dick, Plurality of Worlds: The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), p. 10, see also p. 69. However, in later writings Dick moved away from that opinion, without much discussion; see Steven J. Dick, Extraterrestrial Life and Our World View at the Turn of the Millennium (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Libraries, 2000), p. 9; and Dick, Life on Other Worlds: the 20th-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 10.

3 Michael J. Crowe, The Extraterrestrial Life Debate 1750-1900: The Idea of a Plurality of Worlds from Kant to Lowell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), p. 8. Crowe's important book focused on the period from 1750 onwards, so he did not take into account any of the evidence presently discussed; he mainly echoed Dick's impression in Plurality of Worlds.

4 Gabriel Meier, ‘Bruno, Giordano', in Charles G. Herbermann, et al., The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church (New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1913), vol. 3, p. 17.

5 Jole Shackelford, ‘Giordano Bruno as the First Scientific Martyr', in Galileo Goes to Jail, and Other Myths about Science and Religion, edited by Ronald L. Numbers (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), pp. 59–67 (pp. 65, 66).

6 It was common to prepare an official ‘sommario' of a trial. However, it is unclear whether the present document was that final ‘sommario' or another internal summary. For discussion, see Francesco Beretta, ‘Giordano Bruno e l'Inquisizione Romana. Considerazioni sul Processo', Bruniana & Campanelliana, 7 (1), (2001), 15–49 (pp. 6, 14).

7 For example, see Jean Seidengart, ‘L'Infinitisme Brunien devant l'Inquisition', in Cosmología, Teología, y Religión en la Obra y en el Proceso de Giordano Bruno (Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona, 2001), pp. 21--38; and Maurice A. Finocchiaro, ‘Philosophy versus Religion and Science versus Religion: The Trials of Bruno and Galileo', in Giordano Bruno: Philosopher of the Renaissance, ed. by Hilary Gatti (Burlington, VT: Ashgate: 2002), pp. 51--85.

8 Leen Spruit, ‘Una Rilettura del Processo di Giordano Bruno: Procedure e Aspetti Giuridico-Formali', in Giordano Bruno. Oltre il Mito e le Opposte Passioni, ed. by P. Giustiniani, et al. (Naples: Biblioteca Teologica Napolitana, 2002), p. 225.

9 Aristotle, On the Heavens (ca. 340? BCE), bk. 2, sec. 13.

10 [Falsely attributed to Plutarch], Placita Philosophorum [actually by another writer, based on a work by Aetius, ca. 50 BCE, as noted by Theodoret], Peri ton Areskonton Philosophois Physikon Dogmaton [and falsely attributed to Qusta ibn Luqa by Ibn al-Nadim], in Aetius Arabus: Die Vorsokratiker in Arabischer Überlieferung, ed. by Hans Daiber (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1980), bk. 2, chap. 30.

11 Placita, (note 10), bk. 2, chap. 13, trans. author.

12 Ibid., bk. 3, chap. 9.

13 Epicurus, ‘Ἐπίκουρος Ἡροδότῳ χαίρειν', quoted by Diogenes Laertius, in Βίοι και Γνώμαι τον εν Φιλοσοϕίαι (ca. 225 CE), reissued in Lives of Eminent Philosophers, ed. by Tiziano Dorandi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), bk. 10, p. 765, trans. author.

14 M. Tullii Ciceronis, Academicarum Quaestionum Liber Primus, ad M. Terrentium Varronem (ca. 45 BCE), in M. Tullii Ciceronis Philosophica, 4 vols. (Paris: Roberti Stephani, 1538) bk. 4, p. 19, trans. author.

15 M. Tullii Ciceronis, De Natura Deorum, ad M. Brutum (ca. 45 BCE), in Opera Ciceronis Philosophica (n.p.: Ioanni Parvo & Iodico Badio, 1538), bk. 1, p. 127 reverso.

16 Valerii Maximi, Dictorum Factorumque Memorabilium Libri IX (L. Elzevirii, 1650), p. 283.

17 Caii Plinii Secundi, Naturalis Historia Libri XXXVII (Paris: Franciscum Muguet, 1685), bk. 2, chap. 1, pp. 30--31.

18 Plutarch, ‘On the Apparent Face in the Orb of the Moon', in Plutarch, Plutarch's Morals. Theosophical Essays, trans. C. W. King (London: George Bell and Sons, 1898), sec. 28, p. 252.

19 Meanwhile, the minds that departed from their souls might approach and reach the attractive Sun, revolve around it, and finally come into contact with it. As minds reach the Sun they would become impregnated with vitality that would produce new souls, for which the Earth would furnish new bodies. According to Plutarch, the character named Sylla argued that humans consist of three parts: body, soul, and mind. And, that while bodies are created on Earth, souls originate on the Moon, and minds are engendered in the Sun.

20 Lucian of Samosata, ‘The True History', in The Works of Lucian: From the Greek, Vol. 1 edited and translated by Thomas Francklin (London: T. Cadell, 1780), bk. 1, pp. 416--17.

21 Ibid., bk. 2, p. 438.

22 Ibid., preface, p. 414.

23 Hippolytus [traditionally misattributed to Origen], Ὁ κατὰ πασῶν αιρέσεων ἔλεγχος (ca. 225 CE), in Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium, ed. Miroslav Marcovich (Berlin: Walter De Gruyter, 1986), bk. 1, sec. 13, pp. 72--73, trans. author.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid., sec. 14, p. 74.

26 Ibid., bk. 6, sec. 24, p. 231.

27 Ibid., bk. 1, sec. 6, p. 64; and sec. 12, p. 72.

28 Origen, Peri Archon, bk. 3, trans. Rufinus [400 CE], in Origenis Adamantii, Operum Origenis Adamantii, quorum Tertius complectitur, post Apologiam Explicanda (n.p.: Iacobo Giunti, 1536), vols. 3--4, 205; see also bk. 1, chap. 6, trans. author.

29 Ibid., bk. 2, chap. 10.

30 Dionysius of Alexandria, ‘Against the Epicureans', in Roberts and Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. 20: The Writings of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Archelaus (1871), p. 171.

31 Lactantii, De Ira Dei (ca. 313), published with Divianae Institutiones (Lugduni: Thomam Soubron, 1594), chap. 10, p. 700, trans. author.

32 [Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius] Macrobius, Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis (ca. 430? CE); Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, trans. William Harris Stahl (New York: Columbia University Press, 1952), p. 134.

33 Iamblichi, De Vita Pythagorica (ca. 300 CE), reissued as Iamblichus, On the Pythagorean Way of Life, ed. and trans. by John Dillon and Jackson Hershbell (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991), chap. 6, p. 14.

34 Augustine of Hippo, De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos (ca. 412-427 CE); City of God Against the Pagans, bk. 10, chap. 11.

35 Ibid., bk. 10, chap. 23.

36 Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, trans. Edward Berwick (London: T. Payne, 1809), bk. 1, chap. 2, p. 4.

37 Athanasius, Contra Gentiles (ca. 320), in Divi Athanasii Alexandrini Vero Episcopi Opera Omnia (Lugduni: Melchioriis et Gasparis Trechsel, 1532), bk. 1, p. 217, trans. author.

38 Philastrius, De Haeresibus Liber (ca. 384 CE), in Franciscus Oehler, ed., Corporis Haereseologici (Berolini: A. Asher et Socios, 1860), vol. 2, p. 121, trans. author.

39 Saint Ambrose, ‘Ad Sabinum Enarratio’ (385 CE), in Operum Sancti Ambrosii Mediolanensis Episcopi (Rome: Dominici Basae, 1580), vol. 1, p. 332, trans. author.

40 Saint Ambrose, Hexameron (ca. 389), bk. 1, preface; and bk. 2, chap. 2; both in Ibid., pp. 1, 13, trans. author.

41 Hermias the Philosopher, Irrisio Gentilium Philosophorum (ca. 250-550? CE), in The Writings of the Early Christians of the Second Century, ed. by Rev. Dr. Giles (London: John Russell Smith, 1857), p. 199.

42 He wrote: ‘because it is idiomatic in Hebrew to use the name of a single thing in the plural; if there were several heavens the Holy Spirit would not have neglected to teach us through the tongue of this blessed author [Moses] about the creation of the other ones. Keep a close grasp on these matters, I beg you, so as to be able to curb those people wanting to come up with objections against the Church, and be quite sure in your knowledge of the efficacy of what is contained in the Sacred Scriptures’. Ioannes Chrysostom, ‘Fourth Homily on Genesis', in The Fathers of the Church: St. John Chrysostom, trans. Robert C. Hill (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1986), Homily 4, secs. 8--10, pp. 55--57.

43 Chrysostom, Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, on the First Epistle of S. Paul the Apostle to the Corinhtians (Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1845), Argument [Introduction], sec. 2, p. 3; see also p. 92.

44 Jerome, Ad Pammachium et Marcellinum Apologia Hieronymi adversum Ruffinum, bk. 2 (402 CE), in Sancti Hieronymi Stridoniensis, Opera Omnia, ed. Mariani Victorii (1624), p. 511, trans. author.

45 Jerome, Confessio Hieronymiana, ex Omnibus Germanis B. Hieronymi Operibus Optima Fide Collecta, ed. Cornelii Schultingi Steinuvichii (Paris: Michaelem Sonnium, 1585), pp. 41, 45, 236.

46 Augustine to deacon Quodvultdeus, ca. 427 CE, in Saint Augustine, Letters 211-270, ed. by Edmund Hill and John E. Rotelle (New York: New City Press, 2005), letter 222, p. 81.

47 Augustine, De Haeresibus Liber (ca. 430? CE), in Oehler, ed., Corporis Haereseologici, vol. 2, bk. 1, pp. 195, 218, trans. author.

48 Augustine, De Civitate Dei, bk. 8 chap. 2, and bk. 11, chap. 5.

49 Theodoreti, Graecarum Afectionum Curatio (ca. 430), ed. by Thomas Gaisford (Oxford: Typographeo Academico, 1839), bk. 4, p. 162.

50 Proclus, Σισ τον του Πλατωνοσ Τιμαιον; In Platonis Timaeon Commentariorum Procli Libri Quinque (n.p., 1534), bk. Γ (i.e., bk. 3), p. 154, lines 6-7; see also bk. Δ (bk. 4), p. 283, lines 11--12, trans. author.

51 Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus (ca. 195 CE), trans. as Exhortation to the Heathen, in Roberts and Donaldson, eds., Ante-Nicene Christian Library, vol. 4: Clement of Alexandria, trans. William Wilson (1884), chap. 1, p. 19.

52 Justiniani Imperatoris, Λογος κατα 'Ωριγενους (Liber Adversus Origenem) (ca. 538-543 CE), in Patrologiae Cursus Completus: sive Bibliotheca Universalis, vol. 2, ed. by J. Migne (Paris: Editorem in Via Dicta D'Amboise, 1848), p. 182.

53 The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, ed. by Stephen Barney, W. Lewis, J. Beach and Oliver Berghof (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), vol. 8, sec. iii, p. 178.

54 Ibid., sec. v.

55 Praedestinatus (ca. 461) attributed this heresy to the Ametritae. See Oehler, ed., Corporis Haereseologici, vol. 2, bk. 1, p. 261. One commentator on Augustine's list of heresies wrote: ‘In the index attached to his [Augustine's] work, those who have embraced this madness are called Ophei, or who originated from the Ophitis heretics, or of whom Opheus was their author, or which may have originated from the Valentinians or the Basilidians, I think, who envisioned 365 heavens'. Lamberti Danaeum, ed., D. Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis Episcopi Liber De Haeresibus ad Qoudvultdeum (Geneva: Haered. Eustachij Vignon, 1595), 223, trans. author.

56 Christian Gottlieb Joecher, De Opheorum vel Orpheorum Haeresi Disserit (Literis Breitkopfianis, 1730), pp. 3--4.

57 Pope Zacharias to Bishop Bonifacio, 1 May 748, in F. Laurentio Surio Carthusiano, De Vitis Sanctorum ab Aloysio Lipomano, Episcopo Veronæ, viro Doctissimo olim Conscriptis, Vol. 3 (Venice, 1581), p. 160, trans. author. Apparently there are no records of what happened immediately afterward, how Virgilius replied to such accusations. But he seems to have defended himself convincingly, because he was not removed from the priesthood. Presumably he had to explain that Bonifacio had misunderstood or misrepresented his remarks. Later, he became a bishop and was eventually canonized in 1233.

58 Photius, ‘Clementis Alexandrini Presbyteri Scripta', (ca. 850), in Photii, Myriobiblon, sive Bibliotheca, trans. Andreas Schottus (Antwerp: Oliva Pauli Stephani, 1611), pp. 286--87, trans. author.

59 Rupert, ‘In Librum Ecclesiastes, Sancti Laurentii extra Muros Leodienses', bk. 1 (ca. 1120?), in R. D. D. Ruperti Abbatis Monasterij and S. Heriberti Tuitiensis, Opera (Moguntiae: Hermanni Mylii Birckmanni, 1631), p. 1200, trans. author.

60 Albertus Magnus, De Caelo et Mundo (commentary on Aristotle) (ca. 1250) in Alberti Magni, Opera Omnia, ed. Augusti Borgnet (Paris: Ludovicum Vivès, 1890), vol. 4, bk. 1, chaps. 1, 6, pp. 66, 80-81.

61 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Part 1: Treatise on the Work of the Six Days, ‘Question 68: On the Work of the Second Day', article 4, Reply to Objection 1, trans. author.

62 Thomae Aqvinatis, Svmmae Theologiae, Part 1 (Venetiis: Dominicum Nicolinum & Socios, 1593), ‘Distinction of Things in General', Question 47, Art. 3, folio 165, trans. author.

63 Rustici Diaconi, Contra Acephalos (ca. 560), in Antidotum Contra Diversas Omnium Fere Seculorum Haereses (Basel: Henricus Petrus, 1528), p. 248 reverso. Also in Ludovico Ricchieri, Haereseologia, hoc est Opus Veterum tam Græcorum quam Latinorum Theologorum, per quos omnes, quæ per Catholicam Christi Ecclesiam grassatae sunt (Basil: Henrichum Petri, 1556), 715, trans. author.

64 Thomae Aquinatis, In Quatuor Libros Arsitotelis De Coelo, & Mundo Commentaria (Venice: Hieronymum Scotum, 1555), bk. 1, lesson 16, pp. 16--17.

65 For a discussion of Aristotle's denial that more than one world can exist, see Dick, Plurality of Worlds (note 2), pp. 12--19.

66 Alphonsum Alvarez Guerrero, Thesaurus Christianae Religionis et Speculum Sacrorum Summorum (Venetiis, 1559), p. 261. Lamberti Danei, D. Aurelii Augustini Hippon Ensis Episcopi Liber De Haeresibus, ad Quodvultdeum (Genevae: Eustathium Vignon, 1578) p. [M.v] reverso.

67 For example: Jerome, Confessio Hieronymiana, ex Omnibus Germanis B. Hieronymi Operibus Optima Fide Collecta, ed. Cornelii Schultingi Steinuvichii (Paris: Michaelem Sonnium, 1585), pp. 41, 45, 236.

68 Gregorii de Valentia, Commentariorum Theologicorum Tomi Quatuor: in quibus Omnes Materiae quae continentur in Summa Theologica Divi Thomae Aquinatis Ordine Explicatur (Ingolstadt: David Sartorius, 1591), vol. 1, p. 991, trans. author.

69 Vittorio Frajese, ‘La Revoca dell' Index Sistino e la Curia Romana (1588-1596)', Nouvelles de la République des Lettres, 1 (1986), 15--49; Frajese, ‘La Politica dell'Indice dal Tridentino al Clementino (1571-1596)', Archivio Italiano per la Storia della Pietà, XI (1998), 304--54. Gigliola Fragnito, La Bibbia al Rogo: La censura Ecclesiastica e i Volgarizzamenti della Scrittura (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1997); Fragnito, ‘La Censura Libraria tra Congregazione dell'Indice, Congregazione dell'Inquisizione e Maestro del Sacro Palazzo (1570-1596)', in La Censura Libraria nell'Europa del Secolo XVI, edited by Ugo Rozzo (Udine: Forum, 1997), 163--75.

70 Neil Tarrant, ‘Censoring Science in Sixteenth-Century Italy: Recent (and Not-So-Recent) Research', History of Science, 52 (1) (2014), 1–27, (p. 12).

71 Ibid., 17.

72 Decretum Gratiani Emendatum et Notationibus Illustratum, unà cum glossis, Gregorii XIII. Pont. Max. iussu editum (Rome: Aedibus Populi Romani, 1582), part 2, causa 24, question 3, column 1895 [unnumbered p. 1011], trans. author. The title Decretum Gratiani shows that this work began as a revised edition of the work of the theologian Franciscus Gratianus, Concordia Discordantium Canonum (ca. 1150), which in subsequent editions became known as the Decretum Gratiani; for example, see Bartolomeus da Brescia and Franciscus Moneliensis, Decretum Gratiani (Venice: Johann Herbort, 1482); for the passage on ‘innumerable worlds' which echoes Isidore, see causa 24, question 3. The much-revised Decretum issued by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 became reissued later as: Corpus Iuris Canonici Emendatum et Notis Illustratum: Gregorii XIII. Pont. Max. iussu editum, with new indices and appendices by Pauli Lanceloti (Lugduni: [n. p.] ‘Cum Licentia', 1591), part 2, causa 24, question 3, column 877 [unnumbered pages].

73 Nicolai Eymerici, Directorium Inquisitorium (1378), corrected edition, with commentaries by Francisci Pegñae (Venice: Simeonis, 1595), p. 246. For information on Peña, see Vincenzo Lavenia, ‘Francisco Peña', in Dizionario Storico dell'Inquisizione, ed. Adriano Prosperi, Vol. III (Pisa: Scuola Normale Superiore, 2010), pp. 1186–89. Since 1588, Peña was auditor (judge) in the Rota (the papal supreme court); see, Thomas F. Mayer, The Roman Inquisition: A Papal Bureaucracy and Its Laws in the Age of Galileo (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), pp. 152--59. The Roman advocate, Quintiliano Mandosio, for example, stated: ‘the Rota speaking, all other tribunals fall silent', quoted in ibid, p. 157. See also Quintilliani Mandosij, ed., Repertorium Inquisitorum Pravitatis Haereticae (Venice: Damianum Zenarum, 1588), p. 396: ‘Aliae innumerabiles mundos opinantur'.

74 Mayer, The Roman Inquisition: A Papal Bureaucracy (note 73) p. 159.

75 Bruno, La Cena de le Ceneri (London: n. p., 1584), pp. 10--11, 55, 65, 69--70.

76 There seems to be no clear evidence as to whether Bruno read the work by Digges. However, both Digges and Bruno read Marcello Palingenio Stellato's Zodiacus Vitae (1543), which argued that the universe is infinite but has a hierarchical structure: there exists life and misery only on the Earth while the unchangeable heavens are illuminated by spiritual and immaterial lights, unlike the Sun. For discussion, see Miguel A. Granada, ‘Bruno, Digges, Palingenio: Omogeneità ed Eterogeneità nella Concezione dell'Universo Infinito', in Rivista di Storia della Filosofia, 47(1) (1992), 47--73.

77 Giordano Bruno Nolano, De l'Infinito Universo et Mondi (‘Venice' [London]: n.p., 1584), p. [xxix], trans. author.

78 Ibid., pp. 71, 87, 111.

79 Lucretius, De Rerum Natura (ca. 50 BCE), in On the Nature of the Universe, trans. by Ronald Latham (Baltimore: Penguin, 1951), p. 91.

80 Bruno, De l'Infinito Universo et (note 77), dialogue 3, pp. 74--75, trans. author.

81 Bruno, De gli Heroici Furori (‘Paris’ [London]: Ant. Baio, 1585), Fifth Dialogue (unnumbered pages).

82 Bruno, De Immenso et Innumerabilibus, seu de Universo et Mundis (1591), bk. 3, in Opera Latine Conscripta, ed. by Francesco Fiorentino and Felice Tocco (Naples: Dom. Morano, 1879), vol. 1, part 1, p. 324, trans. author.

83 Ibid. (Stuttgart-Bad Canstatt: F. Frommann Verlag, 1961), vol. 1, part 2, pp. 171, 291. For discussion, see Miguel A. Granada, ‘Bruno, Digges, Palingenio' (note 76), p. 67.

84 Elisheva Carlbach, Palaces of Time (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011), pp. 60, 65.

85 Deposition of the Reverend Father Sebastiano Taiapetra, professor of Hebrew, Venice, Archivio di Stato, Sant'Uffizio 69, Case 25, June 9, 1592; quoted in Ingrid Rowland, Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2008), p. 235.

86 Seidengart, ‘L'Infinitisme Brunien', (note 7), p. 23, trans. author.

87 Third Deposition, 2 June 1592; Fourth Deposition, 2 June 1592; Fifth Deposition, 3 June 1592; Sixth Deposition, 4 June 1592; in Luigi Firpo, Il Proceso di Giordano Bruno (Rome: Salerno Editrice, 1993), pp. 165, 172, 184, 192.

88 ‘Verbale di Seduta dell'Eccellentissimo Collegio fi Venezia', 28 September 1592, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 202.

89 Ibid., and ‘Verbale di Seduta dell'Eccellentissimo Collegio di Venezia', 22 December 1592, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), 207.

90 Celestino seemingly confirmed only three of Mocenigo's accusations: that Bruno said that ‘Christ was a wretch', that many worlds exist, and that souls transmigrate from body to body. See Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), pp. 259--60, 267--68, 283--84.

91 Celestino, in Firpo, Il Proceso, (note 87), p. 284, trans. author.

92 Bruno, Fourth Deposition, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 181, trans. author.

93 Bruno, ‘Terzo Constituto del Brun', in Firpo , Il Proceso (note 87), pp. 167--68. Originally published as Jordanus Brunus, deposition of 2 June 1592, in Domenico Berti, ed., Vita di Giordano Bruno da Nola (Firenze: G. D. Paravia, 1868), doc. 9, p. 353, trans. author.

94 Beretta, ‘Giordano Bruno e l'Inquisizione Romana', (note 6), p. 35.

95 Ibid., and Francesco Beretta, ‘Orthodoxie Philosophique et Inquisition Romaine au 16e-17e Siècles. Un Essai d'Interprétation', Historia Philosophica 3 (2005), 82--96 at p. 90. E.g., see Francisco Peña, “Schol. XXIII. In quaestionem iiij. de erroribus Philosophorum Priscorum,” in N. Eymerich, Directorium Inquisitorum; cum Scholiis seu Annotationibus Eruditissimis D. Francisci Pegnae (Rome: Aedibus Pop., 1578), pp. 53--54; and p. 242 in the edition of 1587.

96 Fifth Lateran Council, session 8 (19 December 1513), in Bullarum Diplomatum et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum (Turin: Seb. Franco et Henrico Dalmazzo, 1860), vol. 5, 602.

97 Ibid.

98 Peña, “Schol. XXIII,” p. 53. Tertullian, Adversus Hermogenem, in J. Waszink, ed.,Tertulliani Opera (Turnholti: Brepols Editores Pontificii, 1954), vol. 1, chap. 8, p. 404. Tertullian, De Anima (ca. 215 CE), in Tertulliani Opera, Vol. 2, chap. 28, pp. 824--25. See also: Roberto Bellarmino, De Amissione Gratiae et Statu Peccati Libri Sex (1613); reissued in Disputationum Roberti Bellarmini Politiani S. J., S. R. E. Cardinalis, De Controversiis Christianae Fidei Adversus Huius Temporis Haereticos (Naples: Josephum Giuliano, 1858), vol. 4, bk. 4, chap. 11, p. 161.

99 Bruno, 17th Deposition, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 269, trans. author.

100 Iacobi Menochij, De Arbitrarii Iudicum Quaestionibus & Causis Libri Duo (Frankfurt am Main, 1576), Casus 374: ‘Est relapsus, qui bis in eandem haeresim reincidit'. Ioannis Bernardi Diaz de Luco, Practica Criminalis Canonica (Rome: Vincentium Accoltum, 1581), p. 225: ‘quando fuerit inventus in haeresi, aut abiuravit eam, & fuit relapsus, aut quando se compurgavit, & reincidit eam … '. Quintilliani Mandosij, ed., Repertorium Inquisitorum Pravitatis Haereticae (Venice: Damianum Zenarum, 1588), p. 676: ‘verè relapsus dicitur ille, qui per confessionem, vel veram probationé primò fuit convictus de haeresi, & ipsam abiuravit, deinde reincidit in errorem illum’. Caesare Carena, Tractatus de Officio Sanctissimae Inquisitionis et Modo Procedendi in Causis Fidei (Cremonae: Marc Antonium Belpierum, 1641), p. 253: ‘qui haeresim in Juditio abiurauerat, & postea reincidit in ipsa, censeri debeat iuris fictione haereticus relapsus’.

101 It seems that the list of books that were obtained is not extant. However, several titles of Bruno's books appear in the trial accusations, depositions, etc. I list the titles as they appear in the trial documents, with transcription defects, and in the sequence in which they were mentioned. I have marked each book that claims the existence of many worlds with an asterisk: De Minimo, Magno et Mensura; *Li Heroici Furori; *Dell'Infinito, Universo et Mondi; Cantus Circeus; De Memoria; De Lampade Combinatoria; De Umbris Idearum; De Numero, Monade et Figura; Delle Sette Arte Liberali; De Sigillis Hermetis, Ptolemei et Aliorum; Centovinti Articuli contra li Peripatetici; *De Immenso et Innumerabilibus; De Compositione Imaginum; *De Causa, Principio et Uno; *La Cene delle Cenere; De' Segni de' Tempi; *Trionfante Bestia.

102 Theologian consultors drafted the list of censured propositions. In Sept. 1596 the list was submitted to three reviewers: Master [Garcia?] Guerra, Fra Pedro Juan Zaragoza (a consultor of the Index since 1592), both Dominicans, and a Jesuit presbyter named Gallo. See Firpo, Il Proceso, 235, and Thomas F. Mayer, The Roman Inquisition on the Stage of Italy c. 1590-1640 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), pp. 121, 289. Apparently nothing else is known about Guerra or Gallo.

103 Visita dei Carcerati nel Sant'Uffizio Romano, 16 December 1596, in Firpo, 241, trans. author.

104 ‘Item, ponit plures mundos, plures soles, continentes necessario res similes in genere et in specie sicut iste mundus, ac etiam homines, ut supra fol. 139, et sequentibus, longo digressu', in Firpo, Il Proceso, (note 87), p. 304.

105 Bellarmine made his vow of secrecy as Consultor to the Holy Office on 5 February 1597, see the document reproduced in Peter Godman, The Saint as Censor: Robert Bellarmine between Inquisition and Index (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 456,

106 Roberti Bellarmini, Disputationes de Controversis Christianae Fidei, Adversus hujus Temporis Hæreticos (1575), vol. 1, ‘Præfatio', reissued in (Venice: Joannem Malachinum, 1721), x, trans. author.

107 ‘Deinde fuit admonitus ad relinquendum huiusmodi eius vanitates diversorum mundorum, atque ordinatum quod interrogetur stricte. Postea detur ei censura', Visita dei Carcerati nel Sant'Uffizio Romano, 24 March 1597, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 244, trans. author.

108 Bellarmine showed that he knew Philaster's Diversarum Hereseon Liber and Augustine's De Haeresibus, for example, in Bellarmino, Disputationes; De Controversiis Christianae Fidei Adversus Huius Temporis Haereticos, second ed. (Ingolstadii: Davidis Sartorii, 1588), pp. 14, 20, 145, 343, 359. Bellarmino, Disputationum; De Controversiis Christianae Fidei Adversus Huius Temporis Haereticos (Naples: Josephum Giuliano, 1858), vol. 4, pp. 33, 122, 136, 161, 164, 278, 384, 398, 639, 654, 678, 683. Bellarmine was also very familiar with works on heresies by Tertullian, Epiphanius, Irenaeus, and others, which he also cited often.

109 Io. Baptistae Crispi, De Ethnicis Philosophis Caute Legendis Disputationum (Rome: Aloysij Zannetti, 1594), [p. xi], trans. author.

110 For primary sources, see, Ugo Baldini and Leen Spruit, eds., Catholic Church and Modern Science: Documents from the Archives of the Roman Congregations of the Holy Office and the Index (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2010), vol. 1.

111 Paul F. Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), pp. 190, 294.

112 Ibid., pp. 300--09. Beretta, (note 95), pp. 82--96.

113 Grendler, The Universities of the Italian Renaissance, pp. 306–09. Between 1604 and 1626, the Paduan Inquisition interrogated the philosopher Cesare Cremonini several times, but they did not imprison him. Antonino Poppi, ‘Cremonini, Galileo e gli Inquisitori del Santo a Padova', Il Santo: Rivista Antoniana di Storia Dottrina Arte, ser. 2, vol. 33 (1-2) (1993), pp. 5–112.

114 I have found that, during Bruno's trial, nine of the ten propositions that were censured in his books were Pythagorean. See, Alberto A. Martinez, ‘Ten Censured Propositions in Giordano Bruno's Books’, Bruniana & Campanelliana, forthcoming.

115 Godman, The Saint as Censor, p. 219.

116 ‘Decreto de la Congregazione del Sant'Ufficio', Rome, 14 January 1599, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 312.

117 Mayer, Roman Inquisition, (note 102), p. 124. Beretta, ‘Giordano Bruno e l'Inquisizione Romana', (note 6), pp. 46--47.

118 Adrianus, notary, ‘Decreto della Congregazione del Sant'Uffizio', 4 February 1599, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 314, trans. author. Two more documents echoed this claim; and one of them added that these propositions were ‘heretical and contrary to the Catholic faith' and that the ancient Church Fathers had ‘rejected and condemned' them; in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), pp. 314--15.

119 For example, F. Beretta, Galilée devant le Tribunal de l'Inquisition; Doctoral Dissertation, Faculty of Theology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland (1998), 210--11; and Leen Spruit, ‘The Invention of Solitude: Giordano Bruno's Self-Presentation in Speech, Works and Trial', Fragmenta, 4 (2011), 169--70.

120 Andrew Graham-Dixon, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), pp. 253--54.

121 Adrianus, notary ‘Decreto della Congregazione del Sant'Uffizio', 24 August 1599, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 324. This same statement is reiterated in another document, the ‘Bella Copia Sommaria', of 24 August 1599, in ibid., p. 325. Bruno did not revoke two propositions: ‘namely the first, about the Novatian heresy, and the 7th, which treats the soul being in the body as a sailor in a ship'. Neither heresy was explained in this Decree.

122 ‘Visita dei Carcerati nel Sant'Uffizio', 21 December 1599, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 133.

123 For a discussion of the differences between kinds of heresies and errors, in connection with Bruno's trial, see Spruit, ‘Una Rilettura del Proceso di Giordano Bruno', (note 8), pp. 217--34.

124 ‘Decreto della Congregazione del Sant'Uffizio', 20 January 1600, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 338, trans. author.

125 ‘Fu brugiato il Processo co'l quale quel curato già scritto haveva nominato tanti ⊙ et per questo brugiato, et sta per brugiarsi un relasso ostinato chiamato Tadeo Bruno da Nola grandissimo letterato … ', Report, [12 February 1600, Rome], Archivo Orsini. I. Corrispondenza, b. 380, n. 385 Archivo Storico Capitolino, Roma, trans. author. See also Federica Favino, ‘ “Et Sta per Brugiarsi un Relasso Ostinato”: Una Testimonianza Inedita intorno a la Condanna di Giordano Bruno', Galilæana: Journal of Galilean Studies, 7 (2010), 85–95 (pp. 85--86).

126 See Favino (note 125), pp. 91--93. On May 1599, Celestino wrote to the Roman Inquisition, to turn himself in for some reason. Soon, they arrested and interrogated him in Rome. See Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), pp. 43--46, 126--27. Most records of his trials seem to be lost.

127 The fact that the curate was from Verona is noted in another letter, dated 29 January 1600, in Orsini I, Corrispondenza, 280, n. 304, in the Archivio Storico Capitolino; quoted in Favino, (note 125), p. 91.

128 Roman Inquisition, document of 24 August 1599, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 126.

129 Francisco Vialardo, 27 September 1599, Archivio Mediceo, Collezione di Avvisi già dell' Archivio Urbinate, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana; quoted in Luigi Amabile, Fra Tommaso Campanella (Naples: Antonio Morano, 1882), vol. 1, p. 69, trans. author.

130 Gaspar Schoppe to Konrad Ritterhausen, 17 February 1600, printed in Gaspari Scioppii, ‘Epistola, in qua haereticos jure infelicibus lignis cremari concludit', [also titled: ‘Epistola, in qua sententiam de Lutheranis tanquam haereticis atram Romae fieri asserit & probat'], in Machiavellizatio (Saragossae: Didacus Ibarra, 1621), p. 31, trans. author.

131 See John Tedeschi, The Prosecution of Heresy (Binghamton, NY: Medieval & Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1991), pp. 94--95.

132 Some writers (but not all) characterize Schoppe's list as beginning with other items: denying transubstantiation, doubting Mary's virginity, having lived in heretical places, etc. Such writers mix Schoppe's narrative account of Bruno's early transgressions with the subsequent and separate list of Bruno's ‘doctrines'. Note, however, that Schoppe specified that Lutherans were not executed for their teachings (such as about transubstantiation) so it is unjustified to construe Bruno's transgressions, in Schoppe's narrative, as the doctrines for which he was found to be an impenitent and obstinate heretic, and for which he was executed. Bruno was neither obstinate nor impenitent about transubstantiation, Mary's virginity, or about having lived in countries where Protestants lived.

133 Cicero and Lactantius disdained the claim that ‘mundos esse innumerabiles' as insane. Valerius Maximus and Seneca quoted the expression, attributing it to Democritus. Philaster declared that ‘mundos esse infinitos et innumerabiles’ was a heresy. Jerome too criticized Origen for asserting ‘mundos esse innumerabiles'. Augustine described this heresy as ‘Alia dicit esse innumerabiles mundos’. Likewise, Praedestinatus denounced the heresy of ‘innumerabiles esse mundos'. Echoing Valerius Maximus, both Ficino and Erasmus quoted the expression ‘mundos esse innumerabiles'. Among various critics, the Lutheran Jacob Schegk ‘refuted' this belief in 1550. Among the various other expressions that were used instead, especially by philosophers, to discuss the notion of many worlds, are the following: ‘multos mundos', ‘mundos alios', ‘pluribus mundis', ‘plures esse mundos', ‘mundos asserit innumerabiles'; and in Italian, ‘innumerabili mondi', ‘molti mondi', ‘infiniti mondi', etc.

134 Scioppii, ‘Epistola', p. 34, trans. author.

135 He had been a patron of Bruno in Prague, in 1588. And he was a patron of Schoppe, so we don't know if he heard of Bruno's execution from Schoppe or if Wackher too witnessed it.

136 Johann Wackher to Johannes Kepler, 19 February 1600, in Giordano Bruno, Documents: Le Procès, ed. by L. Firpo and P. Segonds (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2000), p. 521, trans. author. Other extant primary sources show that Bruno was executed on Thursday the 17th. Wackher's letter mistakenly says that it was on Thursday the 16th. The Simonians were a heretical Christian sect that followed Simon Magus, reputed magician who was rebuked by the apostles. The Simonians were some of the earliest Gnostics. They were denounced as heretics who believed in transmigration.

137 Pope Zacharias (748 CE), paraphrased by Cardinal Baronio, in Caesare Baronio, Annales Ecclesiastici, Vol. 9 (Rome: Typographia Vaticana, 1600), p. 191, trans. author.

138 ‘ … plures statuisse mundos, divina repugnat scriptura, ac proinde haeresis esse convincitur'. Ibid., trans. author.

139 Baronio, Annales Ecclesiastici (Rome: Typographia Vaticana, 1596), vol. 7, p. 282

140 Caesare Baronio, Annales Ecclesiastici (Rome: Typographia Vaticana, 1588), vol. 1, pp. 54, 183, 309, 314, 318, 363, 582--83, 612, 663, 665, 695. Baronio, Annales Ecclesiastici (Rome: Typographia Vaticana, 1592), vol. 3, pp. 51, 137, 564, 721--22, 734.

Baronio, Martyrologium Romanum (Venice: Minimam Societatem, 1593), pp. 60, 391.

141 Joannis Heckij [Joannes Heckius], ‘Super Plinij. ii. Historias Na[tura]les', (Archivio Linceo, Rome, manuscript 21), 11 verso, trans. author. The title page seems to superimpose two dates: ‘Incepi die i9a, Septembris anno i600' or ‘i60i'.

142 Stobaeus had written that ‘Metrodorus [of Chios], the teacher of Epicurus', spoke of the production of the infinite, and Stobaeus then noted that ‘Anaximander, Anaximenes, Archelaus, Xenophanes, Diogenes [of Apollonia], Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, [posited] infinitely many in infinity according to the entire circuit'. See Ioannis Stobaei, Eclogarum Physicarum et Ethicarum (Göttingen: Vandenhoek et Ruprecht, 1792), bk. 1, pp. 497--98, trans. author. See also, pp. 57, 293, 491. Also, Metrodorus had reportedly argued: ‘It would be strange if a single ear of corn grew in a large plain or if there were only one world in the infinite', according to Simplicius, quoted in Francis Cornford, ‘Innumerable Worlds in Presocratic Philosophy', Classical Quarterly, 28 (1) (1934), 1–16 (p. 13).

143 See also, Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu, Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 12, 16, 57, 85, 88, 199--208, 218, 221, 224. I have found an account of 1626 that reports that one of the heresies that led to Bruno's conviction was Manichaean; I will discuss this document in a future paper.

144 ‘ … ab Ecclesia S. Romana damnatur omnino mundorum ponere pluralitatem', Heckius, ‘Super Plinij', (note 141), 18 verso, trans. author.

145 For discussion, see Eugenio Canone, ‘L'Editto di Proibizione delle Opere di Bruno e Campanella', in Bruniana & Campanelliana, 1(1-2) (1995), 43--61.

146 Io. Brisichellen, ‘Magistri Sacri Palatij’, 7 August 1603, in Alexandri VII, ed., Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Rome: Cameræ Apostolicæ, 1664), pp. 321--22, trans. author.

147 Thomas F. Mayer overstates Bruno's compliance: ‘Unlike Galileo, Bruno did not need accusers. He was perfectly happy to incriminate himself'. Mayer, The Roman Inquisition on the Stage of Italy (note 102), p. 117. But no, Bruno's depositions show that he was very concerned with the accusations and directly denied nearly all of them; acknowledging almost only those very few that he construed as not opposing Catholicism.

148 Mocenigo, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 279. Bruno (unspecified deposition), in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 280.

149 Beretta, ‘Giordano Bruno e l'Inquisizione Romana', (note 6), 5.

150 Indeed, Luigi Firpo points out that the partial document omits Mocenigo's accusations, Celestino's accusations, the censures, and Bellarmine's eight propositions; Firpo, Il Proceso, (note 87), p. 99. Ingrid Rowland, however, conjectures that since the ‘Copia Parziale' quotes Mocenigo's first accusation against Bruno, about transubstantiation, then the eight propositions were probably all from Mocenigo's initial list. However, this cannot be, mainly because an Inquisition Decree of 24 August 1599 specifies the 1st and 7th of the eight propositions, and neither of them are in Mocenigo's accusations: ‘prima videlicet, ubi de haeresi Novatiana, et VII, ubi tractat an anima sit in corpore sicut nauta in navi’.

151 E.g., see Firpo, Il Proceso, (note 87), p. 78.

152 In Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 265.

153 Still, the Inquisitors asked Bruno whether he had asserted, ‘that Christ was not God but a wretch'. Bruno waved his arms, agitated, and replied: ‘I am amazed that this interrogation is brought to me, not having had any such opinions, having said no such thing, nor thought anything against that which I just said about the person of Christ, which is that I uphold that which is upheld by the holy mother Church'. Bruno, Fourth Deposition, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 174, trans. author.

154 See Tedeschi, The Prosecution of Heresy, (note 131), pp. 94--95.

155 Scioppii, ‘Epistola', February 1600, in Machiavellizatio (1621), 34, ‘imò Monstra'. Also in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 352.

156 Ibid, in Firpo , Il Proceso (note 87), p. 169, trans. author.

157 Fratris Alfonsi de Castro, Adversus Omnes Hæreses. Libri XIIII (Paris: Vivantium Gaultherot, 1543), bk. 5, p. 80. Sebastiani Medicis, Summa Omnium Hæresum (1581), pp. 134, 647, and Summa Omnium Hæresum (1587), part 1, p. 62 verso. Tiberii, Deciani, Tractatus Criminalis Omnium Hæresum, Vol. 1 (Venice: Ioannem & Andream Zenarios, 1590), 236--37.

158 Third Deposition and Fourth Deposition, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), pp. 170, 172.

159 Fourth Deposition, in Firpo, Il Proceso (note 87), p. 174, trans. author.

160 Ugo Baldini and Leen Spruit, ‘Catholic Church and Modern Science. Prolegomena to the Edition of Inquisition and Index Documents', in Verbotene Bücher. Zur Geschichte des Index im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, edited by Hubert Wolf (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2008), pp. 391–426 (p. 410).

161 ‘Giornale' dell'Arciconfraternita di San Giovanni Decollato (Rome), busta 8, num. 16 (5/1/1598 – 9/1/1602), Archivio di Stato di Roma. Summaries of records for the missing months and years are available in the inventory by Luigi De Santis and Giovanni Ricci Parracciani, ‘Nomi dei Giustiziati Assistiti negli Ultimi Momenti a dall' Archiconfraternita di S. Giovanni Decollato in Roma’, 285/II (1878), also titled ‘Repertorio dei Giustiziati', at the Archivio di Stato di Roma.

162 The time frame is arbitrary: I considered counting how many people were executed in Rome only during the rule of Governor Taverna, from April 1599 until June 1604. However, since Bruno was executed soon after Taverna began as governor, I expanded the scope a bit more, from January 1598 until December 1604.

163 Christopher F. Black, The Italian Inquisition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010), p. 90.

164 Likewise, for an even broader timeframe, from 1596 until 1606, the extant records seem to show that no other heretics were burned in Rome. And, for the twenty-year period from April 1590 until the July 1610, the city of Rome executed eleven heretics, apparently, four of which were burned alive: Lorenzo dell'Aglio (1590), Chuplenich Pietro di Carniola and Merse Gualtieri (1595, both burned alive), Giovanni Antonio “Celestino” (1599, burned alive), Giordano Bruno (1600, burned alive), Gio. Pietro di Tunis (1607), Antonio di Jacopo, Fortunati Aniello, Vincenti Pietro, and Uberti Marcantonio (1609), and Manfredi Fulgenzio (1610). ‘Giornale' dell'Arciconfraternita di San Giovanni Decollato, busta 7--8, num. 16--17, Archivio di Stato di Roma.

165 It was common to refer to the marketplace square as the ‘Campo di Fiore' or ‘Campo di Fiori', while now it is known as the ‘Campo de' Fiori'. From 1598 until 1604, only two men, Celestino and Bruno were burned alive at the Campo di Fiore. One other, Ottaviano Cesaroni, was hanged and then burned there, in 1603. Meanwhile, 130 were executed at Ponte, while roughly 45 others were executed in other places.

166 ‘Giornale', busta 8, num. 16, pp. 69 verso, 87 verso, trans. author.

167 Philipp Melanchthon, Initia Doctrinae Physica, Dicta in Academia Vuitebergensi (Wittenberg: Iohannem Lufft, 1549), 22 reverso. Melanchthon blamed the opinion of many worlds on Democritus, Epicurus, Archelaeus, the Stoics, and Empedocles.

168 Melanchthon, ‘Preface', In Genesim Enarrationum Reverendi Patris, Domini Doctoris Martini Luteri (Nuremberg, 1555), p. 1. See also Iacobi Schegij (Lutheran), Reliquos Naturalium Aristotelis Libros Commentaria Plane Philosophica (Basel: Ioannem Harvagium, 1550), pp. 25, 547.

169 Melanchthon, Initia Doctrinae Physica, (note 171), 23 verso, trans. author.

170 Ibid., 53 verso.

171 Gabriel Naudé to Ismaël Boulliau, 15 August 1640, in René Pintard, Le Libertinage Érudit dans la Première Moitié du XVIIe Siècle (Geneva: Éditions Slatkine, 2000), pp. 473--74, trans. author. See also, Petrus Cazraeus to Pierre Gassendi, 3 November 1642, in Petri Gassendi, Epistolae [Opera Omnia] (Lugduni: Laurentii Anisson, 1658), vol. 6, p. 451.

172 Gabriel Naudé, Apologie pour Tous les Grands Personnages qui Ont Esté Faussement Soupçonnez (Targa, 1625); Second ed. (La Haye: Adrian Vlac, 1653), 331, trans. author.

173 Dan. Georgi Morhofi, Polyhistoris Continuatio, Tomum Philosophicum & Practicum, ed. Johanne Möllero (Lubecæ: Petri Böckmanni, 1708), 239, trans. author. Morhof lived from 1639 to 1691; this volume was published posthumously. His Polyhistor volumes grew from lectures he gave at the University of Kiel around 1666.

174 Ibid., p. 26; see also pp. 303, 343.

175 Ibid., p. 260, see also p. 303.

176 Jo. Alberti Fabricii, Bibliotheca Græca (Hamburg: Christiani Liebezeit, 1705), bk. 1, chap. 20, pp. 132--33, trans. author.

177 Ibid., p. 133.

178 For example, in 1803, Niccolò Haym claimed that only ‘a portrait' of Bruno had been burned. Niccolò Haym, Biblioteca Italiana, o sia Notizia dei Libri Rari nella Lingua Italiani (Milan, 1803), 184. In 1885 a professor of philosophy at Versailles, Théophile Desdouits, argued that the claim that the Inquisition burned Bruno was ‘a legend'. He argued that Schoppe's letter was not authentic, and that Schoppe was not its author. Desdouits concluded: ‘Absolutely nothing proves that Giordano Bruno was burned in Rome'. Théophile Desdouits, La Légende Tragique de Jordano Bruno (Paris: Ernest Thorin, 1885), pp. 8-24, trans. author.

179 For example, Hans Blumenberg, ‘Not a Martyr for Copernicanism: Giordano Bruno', in his The Genesis of the Copernican World (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987), chapter 5 (p. 366).

180 Finocchiaro, ‘Philosophy versus Religion’, (note 7), pp. 81--82; Beretta, ‘Orthodoxie Philosophique et Inquisition’, (note 95), pp. 88--94.

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