Transcript שקופית 1

Jordano Bruno - English
Internet Culturali - Italia
http://www.internetculturale.it/genera.jsp?id=127
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Bruno was born in the first half of 1548 in the hamlet of San Giovanni del Cesco, near Nola, in
the Kingdom of Naples. The son of Giovanni Bruno, a professional soldier of modest means, and
Fraulissa Savolino, the philosopher was named Filippo at his baptism. He later preferred the name
Giordano, which he took at the time of entering the Dominican order.
Bruno spent his childhood in Nola, where he conducted his first studies. In 1562 he went to Naples
to continue his studies at the city “Public Study”, where he attended the philosophy classes on
Averroism given by Giovan Vincenzo Colle, known as Il Sarnese. At the same time, the Augustinian
Teofilo da Varano, who introduced him to both ancient and recent fundamental works of the
Platonic tradition, also taught him. It is during these years that Bruno read some of the texts, which
were to prove extremely important for the development of his own philosophy, such as works by the
philosopher and theologian Niccolò Cusano (1401-1464), whose criticism of Aristotelian logic and
reflection on the concept of infinity he embraced. Both the treaties of combinatory art by the
Catalan Ramon Lull (1232-1316), where the essential principles of knowledge are reduced to
letters of the alphabet and other symbols, and the many treaties on the arts of memory, also had
an important role in the philosopher’s formation: so much so that the combinatory methods inspired
by Lull and the mnemotechnical works would constitute the main themes of Bruni’s philosophic
investigations. Finally, it is probable that during his years in Naples, Bruno became interested in
some heterodox movements, particularly through the circle that formed around the doctrines by
theologian Juan de Valdés (1490-1541) which were given a radical interpretation tending towards
the negation of the Trinity.
On 16 June 1566 Bruno, just over seventeen, entered the convent of San Domenico Maggiore in
Naples assuming the name Giordano. The convent was known for its excellence in the quality of
university education offered. Entering the convent allowed Bruno to follow a regular course of
study; between 1566-1570 he attended lessons in rhetoric, dialectic, metaphysics and natural
philosophy, whereas the years 1570-1577 he dedicated to the study of theology, in which he
graduated in July 1575. During the time spent at the Convent, Bruno was able to conduct extensive
reading, supported by the wealth of holdings in the library annexed to San Domenico Maggiore. His
readings focused especially on works by Aristotle and by the great Dominican masters, first of all
Thomas of Aquinas, who had taught and lived in San Domenico Maggiore during the last years of
his life.
However, the eleven years Bruno spent in the convent were also years of deep anxiety, caused by
his doubts concerning Catholic doctrine (in particular on the cult of saints and on the dogma of
Trinity), clashes with his superiors and disciplinary problems. At the beginning of 1576, a trial for
heresy was prepared by the provincial father of the order against Bruno, who travelled to Rome to
clarify his position with the order’s Procurator. However, the discovery in Naples, in his library, of
volumes
2 containing works by the church fathers with commentary by Erasmus of Rotterdam (14661536) (whom Bruno appreciated but whose reading was firmly condemned by the Church)
worsened the charges against him and caused his decision to abandon the religious order and flee
to Rome. This was the beginning of the philosopher’s long peregrinations within Italy and Europe.
After a brief stay in Liguria in 1577, Bruno spent a few months in Venice, where (as he declared
himself at his trial hearings) published the pamphlet De’ segni de’ tempi, lost today, whose content
probably revolved around astrological themes. After wandering in Northern Italy earning his living
with private lessons in elementary Latin and Astrology, he crossed the Alps and headed to
Chambery in France, where he spent the winter of 1587. In the spring of 1580 he moved to
Geneva where he was welcomed by the large community of Italian exiles, among whom Galeazzo
Caracciolo, marquis of Vico. On 20 May he enrolled in the faculty of Theology and embraced
Calvinism. However, his illusion of achieved security and freedom suffered a serious blow only a
few months later. In August Bruno was tried for defamation, following his publication of a
broadsheet denouncing the errors made during a lesson by the theologian Antoine de la Faye, a
mediocre professor, who could notwithstanding count on the support of Theodore de Beze, Calvin’s
successor at the head of the Geneva Church. As a result of the trial, Bruno was excommunicated
and forced to destroy the defamatory text. Despite his subsequent rehabilitation, the philosopher’s
disappointment and bitterness at the discovery of the intolerance of the Calvinist Church matured
his decision to leave Geneva. After a short period in Lyon, in the Autumn of 1579 he reached
Thoulouse, seat of one of the most important French Universities of the time, where he stayed until
the summer of 1581 giving lessons both on Aristotelian philosophy and Lullian combinatory art. The
increasingly violent clashes between Catholics and Protestants convinced him to leave the city and
move to Paris.
G. di Sacrobosco, Sphaera mundi (Venice, 1519)
During the questioning to which he was subjected at his trial,
Bruno recalled how, during his peregrinations through
Northern Italy, he had given lessons in Astronomy based on
one of the most renowned and commented treaties of the
Renaissance, the Sphaera mundi by the Dominican Giovanni
di Sacrobosco (XIII century), a text still firmly anchored to
Ptolemy’s geocentric tradition.
Portrait of Jean Calvin (engraving, XVI century)
Jean Calvin (1509-1564), of French origins, introduced
a rigid vision of the Reformation doctrine in Geneva.
The intolerant nature of Calvinism is exemplified in the
person of Miguel Servet, tried and burnt alive in Geneva
in 1553 because of his criticism of the dogma of the
Trinity.
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Portrait of Théodore de Bèze (engraving, XVII century)
After Calvin’s death, Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) took the lead
of the city of Geneva and its Church. In 1554 he had published the
treaty De haereticis a civili magistrato puniendis, to justify Servet’s
execution. In it the intolerance of the Calvinist faith is manifested
fully, which Bruno would also experience personally during his brief
sojourn in Geneva in 1579.
Breviarium Praedicatorum (Venice, 1573)
The order – also known as the Order of the Preachers – was
founded in 1206 by Saint Domenico of Guzmàn. Of great tradition in
the field of studies, among the many theologians and philosophers
that flourished there the most notable were, in the XIII century,
Alberto Magno and Thomas of Aquinas.
Portrait of Erasmus (engraving, XVI century)
Since 1559 the Catholic church had forbidden the reading and
possession of works by the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam, the
advocate of a profound and radical reformation of religiosity. Such
prohibition however did not stop the clandestine circulation of Erasmus’s
works, beginning with Encomium Moriae (The Praise of Folly) whose
fame and availability are attested by Bruno’s familiarity with the text
during the years he spent in Naples.
Arriving in Paris in the autumn of 1581, Bruno then remained in the city for three years, during
which he became associated with the court of the French king Henry III, where his knowledge of
the techniques of the art of memory won him much appreciation. The years spent in Paris were
extremely important for the development of his philosophy: in these years, in fact, Bruno elaborated
some of the essential tenets of his philosophical investigations and conducted careful readings of
texts which would prove fundamental for him, such as De revolutionibus orbium coelestium by the
Polish astronomer Niccolò Copernicus (1473-1543), whom he had already heard about during his
studies in Naples. After a first cycle of 30 lectures revolving around logic and metaphysics, the
philosopher took part in the group of the “extraordinary readers” who taught at the Cambrai College
rather than at the Sorbonne University, an establishment which they criticised for its traditionally
Aristotelian tendencies.
In 1582 Bruno published four works: De umbris idearum – containing also an Ars memoriae, the
first example of Bruno’s mnemotechnic work - Cantus Circaeus, De compendiosa architectura et
complemento artis Lullii and a comedy in Italian, Candelaio (The Candlemaker). In these writings
some of his themes were first outlined, such as for instance, the question of the soul, the concepts
of substance,
“vicissitude” and infinity. These would have a decisive role in his future investigations
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and constitute the core of the “Nolan philosophy”.
In the spring of 1583, with the deterioration of the political and religious conflicts, Bruno left Paris
and moved to London.
Portrait of the French king Henry III (engraving, XVI century)
His first work published in Paris in 1582, the De umbris idearum
was dedicated to the French king Henry III, to whom, as Bruno
said during his trial, he had publicly demonstrated his
extraordinary skills in the art of memory.
G. Bruno, Cantus Circaeus (Paris, 1582)
Comprising an art of memory, the work was
dedicated to Henry of Angoulême, brother of
Henry III, confirming Bruno’s willingness to
maintain his ties with the King’s court.
N. Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Basilea, 1566)
This work, first published in Nuremberg in 1543, marked what has been
defined as the “Copernican Revolution”, the theory that the planets
revolve around the Sun and not, as in the Ptolemaic conception, around
the Earth. According to Copernicus, however “immense”, the universe
was still finite. Bruno went further, supporting the infinity of a universe
made of “divine worlds”.
G. Bruno, Candelaio (Paris1582)
The comedy set in Naples, the city of Bruno’s youth and of his cultural
formation, had profound philosophical implications strongly influenced by
the theories of Pythagoras and the neoplatonic Plotino. The plot was
characterized by constant changes in the character’s roles, which can be
interpreted as metaphors of the transmigration of the soul.
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In the spring of 1583 Bruno arrived in London with the French ambassador Michel de Castelnau.
He lived there for two and a half years, developing all the central themes of his philosophical
investigation began in Paris.
In England the philosopher sought to find a place within the academic circles. After publishing,
soon after his arrival, the Ars reminiscendi, he went to Oxford in June 1583, where he started a
public debate and subsequently a series of lectures in which he expounded the fundamental tenets
of his philosophical system. This centred on the concept of the “soul of the world”, on a vision of
infinite worlds and of a universe with no centre or periphery. However he was soon forced to
suspend his lectures because of the hostile reception that a then strongly Aristotelian academic
circle reserved for him, which culminated in accusation of plagiarism. However, this incident and
the ensuing polemic did not interrupt the intense period of philosophic elaboration that
characterized the English period. In the summer, Bruno published the Explicatio triginta sigillorum
and started working on some of the most important philosophical dialogues in Italy, La cena de le
Ceneri (“The Ash Wednesday Supper”), the De la causa, principio et uno (Concerning the Cause,
Principle, and One) De l’infinito, universo et mondi (On the Infinite Universe and the Worlds), all
strongly critical towards the then dominant Aristotelianism and pedantry of the English doctors,
published in 1584 by John Charlewood. Also in 1584 Bruno wrote the first of his moral dialogues,
Lo Spaccio de la bestia trionfante (The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast), followed by the Cabala
del cavallo pegaseo (“Cabal of the Horse Pegasus”) a harsh criticism of the whole Jewish-Christian
tradition, and finally, the De gl’eroici furori (The Heroic Frenzies).
Bruno left London to return to Paris at the beginning of November 1585.
Portrait of Elisabeth I, Queen of England (engraving, XVII century)
In March 1583, Francis Walsingham, Secretary of State to Elisabeth I,
received a letter from the English ambassador in Paris Henry Cobham
announcing Bruno’s arrival in England, whose opinions in matters of
religion were judged with great suspicion.
G. Bruno, La cena delle Ceneri (London, 1584)
In this work Bruno gave the first systematic exposition of his natural
philosophy, reaffirming Copernicus heliocentric theory, and offered a
sarcastic representation of English academia. Bruno’s anti academic
stance underlined his choice to return, in the composition of all the works
he wrote whilst in London, to the form of the philosophical dialogue in
Italian, in contrast with the dominating use of Latin.
G. Bruno, De gl’heroici furori (London, 1585)
Central
6 in this work – dedicated like the Spaccio de la bestia trionfante to the
writer and poet Philip Sidney (1554-1586) – was the need for a radical reform
in the world of laws and values.
In the autumn of 1585, again with the ambassador Michel de Castelnau, Bruno came back to Paris
where he remained until June 1586, in a changed political and religious atmosphere. His second
and last sojourn in Paris was characterized by harsh disputes stemming from his strong criticism of
Aristotelian philosophy, as it had already been evident in England.
In the first half of 1586 Bruno published the Figuratio Aristotelici Physici auditus, in which he
commented Aristotelian physics, and two short dialogues, the Mordentius and the De Mordentii
circino – with an appraisal of the Mathematician Fabrizio Mordente, also residing in Paris and the
inventor of a special kind of compass. However these two dialogues were not free of criticism. As a
result of the ensuing polemic, the Nolan philosopher published two more dialogues, the Idiota
triumphans and the De somnii interpretatione, this time overtly critical of Mordente.
The most important work published at this time were the Centum et viginti articuli de natura et
mundo adversus Peripateticos, where Bruno expounded his natural philosophy theories already
proposed and discussed on 28 May 1586 at the college de Cambrai. Their content, strongly critical
of Aristotle’s theories in works such as Fisica and the De coelo, had provoked such strong protests
that the dispute had to be suspended.
The worsened political and religious tensions (in July 1585 Henry III had abrogated the edict of
pacification with the Protestants) and the increasing hostility shown by the academic world towards
Bruno led the philosopher to resume his peregrinations. Leaving Paris in June 1586, he headed
towards Lutheran Germany..
G. Bruno, Dialogii duo de Fabricii Mordentis (Paris, 1586)
The “Differential compass” invented by the Geometrician Fabrizio
Mordente, from Salerno, made many geometric calculations possible,
such as the measurement of the proportion between two unequal
lines and the division of a circle into grades or minutes. Although
Bruno acknowledged the value of this tool, he criticised Mordente for
limiting his reflection to the purely empirical and mechanical aspect of
his invention and failing to explore its theoretical implications.
Scenes from the religious strife in France (engraving,
XVI century)
The religious strife between the Catholics and the
Huguenots (French Protestants), culminated on 24 March
1572 in the massacre of over 10.000 Huguenots during
the night of Saint Bartholomew, re-ignited in 1584 when
the death of Henry III’s only surviving brother gave rise to
the possibility of the Calvinist Henry of Navarre’s
accession
to the French throne. .
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Portrait of Aristotle (xylography, XVI century)
Aristotle, whose doctrines are the foundation of European
culture, was the main target of Bruno’s criticism. In all of his
works, including in the Figuratio Aristotelici Physici auditus and
the Centum et viginti articuli of 1586, Bruno set out to throw off
the heavy yoke of Aristotelian authority.
After a short stay in Magonce and Würzburg and a longer permanence in Marburg – soon
abandoned because of some contrasts with the University Rector, Bruno moved to
Wittemberg. On 20 August 1586 he was enrolled at the Academy, where he remained for two
years teaching private lessons in the art of memory and commenting on Aristotle. This
period was perhaps the most serene in his life and productive as far as his philosophical
production was concerned. In 1587 Bruno wrote the De lampade combinatoria Lulliana and
the De progressu et lampade venatoria logicorum. The same year witnessed the writing of
the Artificium perorandi, published posthumously in 1612, the Animadversiones circa
Lampadem Lullianam and the Lampas triginta statuarum, the latter two published in the
second half of the 19th Century, along with his commentaries and some works on physics
by Aristotle, written between 1587 and the beginning of 1588.
In 1588 he wrote the Camoeracensis acrotismus, followed by the Oratio valedictoria, which
Bruno had expounded on 8 March 1588 to the University of Wittenberg professors, who in
1586 had welcomed him as a man exiled, fugitive and disgraced. He then left Wittemberg.
In the spring of the same year Bruno reached Prague to seek the protection of the emperor
Rudolf II of Hapsburg. He remained six months, during which he published the De
specierum scrutinio et Lampade combinatoria Raymundi Lullii and the Articuli adversus
mathematicos, with a dedication to Rudolf II amounting to a proper manifesto in favour of
freedom of thought and religious tolerance.
Portrait of Martin Luther (silografia, sec. XVI)
Fu proprio nella città tedesca di Wittenberg che Martin Luther (14831546) rese pubbliche nel 1517 le sue celebri «95 tesi», dando così
avvio alla Riforma protestante.
G. Bruno, Oratio valedictoria (Wittenberg, 1588)
In this vibrant and passionate text Bruno praised not only the
University of Wittenberg and its learned professors, but also the
whole8of German society and its values – protecting philosophy
and science – as “in these times, it is here that knowledge has built
its dwelling place”.
Camoeracensis Acrotismus
The work was an extended, amended version of the Centum et viginti
articuli previously published in Paris in 1586. In it Bruno bitterly
criticised the Aristotelian notions of infinity, space, time and
movement.
View of Prague (engraving, XVI century)
Several philosophers artists and men of science were
welcomed and bestowed protection at the court of Rudolf II
of Hapsburg, who had elected Prague as his residence,
where he lived in magnificent, increasing isolation. Among
them was the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601),
to whom Bruno gave a copy of his Camoeracensis
Acrotismus. Already in the Oratio valedictoria Bruno had
praised Brahe’s theories in astronomy.
After having left Prague in November 1588 and spent a short period of time in Tubingen,
Bruno arrived in Helmstedt in the duchy of Braunschweig in January 1589, where he was to
remain until April 1590. There he attended the Academy Julia, founded by Duke Giulio. After
the latter’s death in May 1589, a solemn funeral ceremony was celebrated at the same
academy, and in that occasion the philosopher pronounced an Oratio consolatoria,
published soon after.
Publicly excommunicated by the local Lutheran Church superintendent, at Helmstedt Bruno
worked nonetheless on the composition of some works on natural magic, the De magia, the
Theses de magia, the De rerum principiis, elementis et causis, which together with the De
vinculis in genere, the Medicina Lulliana and the De magia mathematica – written between
1590 and 1591 – were not published until the second half of the 19th century.
After a brief sojourn in Magdeburg, in 1590 the philosopher arrived in Frankfurt, one of the
major contemporary centres of the German book market. The three poems the De minimo,
the De monade the De immenso published at the Johann Wechel print shop, constituted the
so called “Frankfurt trilogy”, rightly defined as Bruno’s philosophical testament, focussing
on the elaboration of a proper encyclopaedia of knowledge. The beginning of 1591 he spent
in Zurich, where he gave a series of lectures on Aristotelian terminology which were
published in part in 1595 and entirely in 1609 with the title of Summa terminorum
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metaphysicorum.
In the spring of 1591 Bruno was back in Frankfurt to publish the De
imaginum compositione, which circulated in the Autumn, when he had already left the city.
Making a choice that had astounded his German entourage, Bruno had returned to Italy.
G. Bruno, De triplici minimo et mensura (Frankfurt, 1591)
The De minimo – the first in the “Frankfurt poems” to be published -- was
Bruno’s most widely disseminated text. As was stated in the dedication by
Joahnn Wechel to the Duke of Brauschweig Enrico Giulio, Bruno himself
had participated to the printing by carving some of the xylography
embellishing the edition.
Map of Frankfurt am Main (XVI
century)
Every year, in spring and autumn, two
book fairs renowned across the whole
of Europe took place in Frankfurt. In
the one of 1591 the 4 editions (the
three “Frankfurt Poems” and the De
imaginum compositione) that Bruno
had commissioned to the typographer
and printer Johann Wechel were sold.
G. Bruno, De imaginum, signorum, et idearum compositione
(Frakfurt, 1591)
In what was his last work published before his arrest, Bruno resumed
and re-elaborated some of the reflections begun with the De umbris
idearum in 1582, identifying the faculty of imagination as the tool that
allowed man to develop the ability to memorize. This work confirmed the
continuity of such themes in his chosen course of philosophical
speculation.
Map of Padua (engraving, XVI century)
Among the German students at his lessons
in mathematics at the University of Padua, Bruno met again
Hieronymus Besler (1566-1632), who had been his disciple and
assistant in Germany. To him we owe the manuscript copies of the
commentaries on Aristotle written by the philosopher during his
sojourn in Wittenberg.
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Venice, Mocenigo Palace (engraving, XVIII century)
Giovanni Mocenigo enclosed with his letter of accusation
some of Bruno’s works, like the Cantus circaeus, printed in
Paris in1582.
In the summer of 1591 Bruno received two letters from the Venetian patrician Giovanni Mocenigo,
who invited him to Venice so that he could teach him the art of memory. From Venice, where he
had probably arrived at the end of August, Bruno went to Padua, starting a private course of
lectures there on Geometry and Mathematics for the German students attending the University.
These were only published under the titles of Praelectiones geometricae and Ars deformationum in
1964.
In March 1592 Bruno was installed in Giovanni Mocenigo’s Venetian house. During the night of 22
May the nobleman locked him in a room of the house and, the next day, denounced him to the
Inquisition for his heretical theories. Mocenigo’s denunciation letter constituted the key document of
the trial against Bruno, as it already included many of the charges which would later be contained
in the death sentence, such as his denying of the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the
flesh and blood of Christ, his belief in the doctrine of reincarnation, and the practice of magic. The
Venetian nobleman wrote two more letters containing additional, equally serious charges against
Bruno, who was accused of having lived in heretic countries, “sharing their costumes”.
Bruno was incarcerated in San Domenico di Castello, and on the 26 May 1592 his trial began. The
first hearing was followed by another six, with the last taking place on 30 July. Demands of the
Roman Inquisition for his extradition were sent in August and were initially rejected. However, to
increasingly pressing requests the Venetian Senate responded, on 7 January 1593, with the
approval of Bruno’s extradition to Rome.
Rome, S. Offizio palace (engraving, XVII
century)
The Congregation of the Roman Inquisition, also
known as the S. Offizio Congregation, was
founded in 1542 by Paul III, with the aim of
contrasting the Protestant movement. Its
jurisdiction extended to all accusations concerning
matters of faith, such as heresy, schism and
magic.
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On 27 January 1593 Bruno entered the jail of the Roman palace of Sant’Offizio.The long trial
prepared by the Roman Inquisition, during which Bruno was summoned and questioned in
fifteen sittings, underwent different phases and some suspensions. The case was greatly
complex as the charges included accusations in three categories: disciplinary charges, for
his abandoning of the religious habit and his invectives against the Church and its
hierarchy; theological charges, as identified in Mocenigo’s letter; and finally, philosophical
charges, for his doctrines concerning the Infinite and Eternal Universe, the Earth’s
movement (thus his adherence to Copernican theory). In order to reach a rapid conclusion
of the trail, the cardinal Roberto Bellarmino, a member of the Roman Inquisition and the
future protagonist of the trial against Galileo Galilei, put forward eight propositions for
Bruno to abjure because of their heretical character. After initial hesitation, the philosopher
became increasingly resolute and finally declared, at his last hearing on 21 December, that
he had nothing to retract. On 20 January 1600 the Pope Clement VIII ordered the trial
conclusion with a death sentence. On 8 February, the sentence was read before the
inquisitors and other witnesses condemning the accused as “an impenitent, pertinacious
and obstinate heretic”. At the same time, all his books and writings were sentenced as
heretical, forbidden, and included in the Index of Prohibited Books, a catalogue published
periodically listing the books whose reading and possession was forbidden by the Catholic
Church.
Bruno was moved to the jail of the Governor of Rome in Tor di Nona, near Piazza Navona. In
the early hours of Thursday 17 February he was brought to the Campo de’ Fiori, where he
was stripped of his clothes and burned alive at the stake.
Rome, Campo de’ Fiori (engraving, XVIII century)
Evidence of Bruno’s execution in Campo dei Fiori, the Roman
piazza where death sentences were executed, can be found in a
manuscript notice of 19 February 1600: “Thursday morning in
Campo di Fiore that wicked Dominican friar from Nola was burned
alive [...] he said he died a martyr and willingly, and that his soul,
ascending together with that smoke, would go to Heaven”.
Edict of 7 August 1603 forbidding Bruno’s works
The publication of edicts prohibiting books and of the Index of Prohibited Books
were the responsibility of the Congregation of the Index, funded in 1571 by Pio
V with the duty of examining works on suspicion of heresy. Bruno’s books were
still forbidden in the Index of 1948, the last edition ever published.
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Rome, Monument to Bruno in Campo de Fiori
The monument to Bruno in Campo de’ Fiori, where he was executed, was created
by Ettore Ferrari and inaugurated on 19 June 1889. The bas-reliefs at the foot of
the statue commemorate the salient events of his life.
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