The Sleepwalkers (137 page)

Accordingly,
a royal instrument, signed on 23 May, 1576, decreed that:

"We,
Frederick
the
Second,
&c.,
make
known
to
all
men,
that
we
of
our
special
favour
and
grace
have
conferred
and
granted
in
fee,
and
now
by
this
our
open
letter
confer
and
grant
in
fee,
to
our
beloved
Tyge
Brahe,
Otto's
son,
of
Knudstrup,
our
man
and
servant,
our
land
of
Hveen,
with
all
our
and
the
crown's
tenants
and
servants
who
thereon
live,
with
all
rent
and
duty
which
comes
from
that,
and
is
given
to
us
and
to
the
crown,
to
have,
use
and
hold,
quit
and
free,
without
any
rent,
all
the
days
of
his
life,
and
as
long
as
he
lives
and
likes
to
continue
and
follow
his
studia
mathematices
..."
⁵

Thus
came into existence the fabulous Uraniburg on the island of Hveen,
where Tycho lived for twenty years and taught the world the methods
of exact observation.

Tycho's
new
domain,
which
he
called
"the
island
of
Venus
vulgarly
named
Hveen",
had
an
old
tradition
of
its
own.
It
was
often
referred
to
as
the
"Scarlet
Island"
–
for
reasons
which
a
sixteenth
century
English
traveller
explains
in
his
account:

"The
Danes
think
this
Island
of
Wheen
to
be
of
such
importance,
as
they
have
an
idle
fable,
that
a
King
of
England
should
offer
for
the
possession
of
it,
as
much
scarlet
cloth
as
would
cover
the
same,
with
a
Rose-noble
at
the
corner
of
each
cloth."
⁶

It
also
had
some
thirteenth
century
ruins,
to
which
Danish
folklore
attached
a
Niebelung
saga
all
of
its
own.
Its
inhabitants,
distributed
over
some
forty
farms
grouped
around
a
small
village,
became
Tycho's
subjects,
who
lorded
over
them
like
an
oriental
despot.

Tycho's
observatory,
the
Uraniburg,
built
by
a
German
architect
under
Tycho's
supervision,
was
a
symbol
of
his
character,
in
which
meticulous
precision
combined
with
fantastic
extravagance.
It
was
a
fortress-like
monster
which
is
said
to
have
been
"epoch-making
in
the
history
of
Scandinavian
architecture",
but
on
the
surviving
woodcuts
looks
rather
like
a
cross
between
the
Palazzo
Vecchio
and
the
Kremlin,
its
Renaissance
façade
surmounted
by
an
onion-shaped
dome,
flanked
by
cylindrical
towers,
each
with
a
removable
top
housing
Tycho's
instruments,
and
surrounded
by
galleries
with
clocks,
sundials,
globes,
and
allegorical
figures.
In
the
basement
were
Tycho's
private
printing
press,
fed
by
his
own
paper
mill,
his
alchemist's
furnace
and
private
prison
for
unruly
tenants.
He
also
had
his
own
pharmacy,
his
game
preserves
and
artificial
fishponds;
the
only
thing
he
was
missing
was
his
tame
elk.
It
had
been
dispatched
to
him
from
his
estate
but
never
reached
the
island.
While
spending
a
night
in
transit
at
Landskroner
Castle,
the
elk
wandered
up
the
stairs
to
an
empty
apartment
where
it
drank
so
much
strong
beer
that
on
its
way
downstairs
it
stumbled,
broke
its
leg
and
died.

In
the
library
stood
his
largest
celestial
globe,
five
feet
in
diameter,
made
of
brass,
on
which,
in
the
course
of
twenty-five
years,
the
fixed
stars
were
engraved
one
by
one,
after
their
correct
positions
had
been
newly
determined
by
Tycho
and
his
assistants
in
the
process
of
re-mapping
the
sky;
it
had
cost
five
thousand
dalers,
the
equivalent
of
eighty
years
of
Kepler's
salary.
In
the
south-west
study,
the
brass
arc
of
Tycho's
largest
quadrant
–
fourteen
feet
in
diameter
–
was
fastened
to
the
wall;
the
space
inside
the
arc
was
filled
with
a
mural
depicting
Tycho
himself
surrounded
by
his
instruments.
Later
on,
Tycho
added
to
the
Uraniburg
a
second
observatory,
the
"Starburg",
which
was
built
entirely
underground
to
protect
the
instruments
from
vibration
and
wind,
only
the
dome-shaped
roofs
rising
above
ground
level;
so
that
"even
from
the
bowels
of
the
earth
he
could
show
the
way
to
the
stars
and
the
glory
of
God".
⁷
Both
buildings
were
full
of
gadgets
and
automata,
including
statues
turning
on
hidden
mechanisms,
and
a
communication
system
that
enabled
him
to
ring
a
bell
in
the
room
of
any
of
his
assistants
–
which
made
his
guests
believe
that
he
was
convoking
them
by
magic.
The
guests
came
in
an
unceasing
procession,
savants,
courtiers,
princes
and
royalty,
including
King
James
VI
of
Scotland.