Letter
to Copernicus from Cardinal Schoenberg, included by Copernicus in the
introduction to On the Revolutions (1543)
Nicolaus Schoenberg, Cardinal of Capua, sends his greetings
to Nicolaus Copernicus.
When several years ago I heard your diligence unanimously
praised, I began to feel an increasing fondness for you and to deem our
compatriots lucky on account of your fame. I have been informed that you not
only have an exhaustive knowledge of the teachings of the ancient
mathematicians, but that you have also created a new theory of the Universe
according to which the Earth moves and the Sun occupies the basic and hence
central position; and that the eighth sphere [i.e., of the fixed stars] remains
in an immobile and eternally fixed position and the Moon, together with the
elements included in its sphere, placed between the spheres of Mars and Venus,
revolves annually around the Sun; moreover, that you have written a treatise
[this would be the shorter Commentariolus] on this entirely new theory
of astronomy, and also computed the movements of the planets and set them out
in tables, to the greatest admiration of all. Therefore, learned man, without
wishing to be inopportune, I beg you most emphatically to communicate your
discovery to the learned world, and to send me as soon as possible your
theories about the Universe, together with the tables and whatever else you
have pertaining to the subject. I have instructed Dietrich von Rheden to make a
fair copy of this at my expense and send it to me. If you will do me these
favors, you will find that you are dealing with a man who has your interests at
heart, and wishes to do full justice to your excellence. Farewell.
Rome, November 1, 1536