The Sleepwalkers (57 page)

Copernicus'
diploma
reveals
another
interesting
detail:
that
the
candidate
was
not
only
a
Canon
of
Frauenburg
Cathedral,
but
also
enjoyed
a
second
absentee
prebend
as
"Scholasticus
of
the
Collegiate
Church
of
the
Holy
Cross
in
Breslau".
What
rights
and
duties,
apart
from
drawing
a
steady
income,
this
impressive
title
entailed,
the
historians
are
unable
to
tell.
It
is
doubtful
whether
Canon
Koppernigk
ever
visited
Breslau;
one
can
only
assume
that
he
obtained
this
additional
benefice
through
some
Silesian
business
relation
of
his
late
father's,
or
the
loving
care
of
Uncle
Lucas.
He
kept
the
matter
characteristically
secret
throughout
his
life;
neither
in
the
records
of
the
Frauenburg
Chapter,
nor
in
any
other
document,
is
Canon
Koppernigk's
second
ecclesiastical
function
mentioned;
it
appears
only
in
his
promotion
paper.
It
is
not
difficult
to
guess
that
on
this
particular
occasion
the
candidate
in
Canon
Law
found
it
expedient
to
reveal
his
learned
title.

In
between
his
studies
in
Bologna
and
Padua,
he
also
spent
a
year
in
Rome
–
the
jubilee
year
1500.
There,
according
to
his
disciple,
Rheticus,
Copernicus
"being
twenty-seven
years
of
age,
more
or
less,
he
lectured
on
mathematics
before
a
large
audience
of
students
and
a
throng
of
great
men
and
experts
in
this
branch
of
knowledge."
¹²
This
assertion,
based
on
the
Canon's
scant
remarks
about
his
life
to
Boswell
Rheticus,
was
eagerly
taken
up
by
subsequent
biographers.
Yet
neither
the
records
of
the
University,
nor
of
any
college,
seminary
or
school
in
Rome
mention
lectures
by
Copernicus.
It
is
now
assumed
that
he
may
have
given
some
casual
talks,
as
travelling
scholars
and
humanists
usually
did
when
visiting
a
centre
of
learning.
The
lectures,
and
his
ten
years'
presence
in
Italy,
left
no
echo
or
trace
in
the
countless
letters,
diaries,
chronicles
or
memoirs
of
that
hyper-awake,
garrulous
and
graphomane
age,
when
Italy
was
like
a
floodlit
stage
over
which
no
foreign
scholar
of
any
personality
could
pass
without
being
noticed
and
recorded
in
one
way
or
another.

The
only
treat
for
the
biographer,
during
these
ten
Italian
years,
is
a
letter
which
shows
that
on
one
occasion
the
Koppernigk
brothers
(for
Andreas
had
joined
Nicolas
as
a
student
in
Bologna)
ran
out
of
money
and
had
to
borrow
a
hundred
ducats.
They
were
lent
to
them
by
their
Chapter's
representative
in
Rome,
one
Bernard
Sculteti,
and
were
refunded
to
the
latter
by
Uncle
Lucas.
It
is
the
only
episode
with
a
flicker
of
human
interest
in
Canon
Koppernigk's
uneventful
youth,
and
his
starved
biographers
understandably
tried
to
squeeze
the
last
drop
out
of
it.
But
Sculteti's
letter
to
Bishop
Lucas,
which
is
the
source
of
the
story,
merely
reports
the
bare
facts
of
the
financial
transaction
–
and
adds
that
Andreas
has
threatened
"to
offer
his
services
to
Rome"
¹³
unless
he
could
repay
at
once
the
debts
which
the
brothers
had
contracted
scholarium
more
,
after
the
habit
of
students.
By
reporting
Andreas'
blackmailing
threat
and
passing
over
Nicolas
in
silence,
the
diplomatic
Sculteti
(who
later
became
Leo
X's
private
chaplain
and
chamberlain)
obviously
meant
to
lay
the
blame
for
the
affair
on
the
elder
brother;
so
that,
whatever
interest
the
episode
contains,
it
primarily
concerns
Andreas,
the
rake.

4.
Brother Andreas

Since
he
evidently
exerted
a
strong
and
lasting
influence
on
Nicolas,
it
will
be
of
interest
to
know
a
little
more
about
Andreas.
Every
single
fact
that
has
emerged
about
him
confirms
the
contrast
in
character
between
the
brothers.
Andreas
is
the
older
one,
but
he
immatriculates
at
Cracow
University
some
time,
and
at
Bologna
two
full
years,
later
than
Nicolas;
and
pays
only
part
of
the
fee
at
Cracow,
whereas
Nicolas
pays
the
full
fee.
Nicolas
is
made
a
Canon
by
Uncle
Lucas
in
1497;
the
older
brother
again
two
years
later,
in
1499.
In
1501,
both
apply
for
a
three-year
extension
of
their
leave
of
absence.
Nicolas
is
readily
granted
his
request:
having
promised
to
study
medicine,
it
is
hoped
"that
he
will
later
on
be
useful
to
the
revered
head
of
the
diocese
and
the
Canons
of
the
Chapter";
whereas
at
the
same
session,
Andreas'
request
is
granted
with
the
dry
motivation
"because
he
is
considered
capable
of
continuing
his
studies."