Nicolaus Copernicus’ student years

What did Copernicus read? What lectures did he attend as a student? What figures did he encounter on his educational path? These are just some of the questions that Prof. Marian Chachaj seeks to answer in the book „Mikołaj Kopernik. Czasy studenckie” („Nicolaus Copernicus. Student Days”). The publication was released by the Scientific Publishing House of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń to commemorate the Year of Copernicus.

For the first time in historiography, the author presents Copernicus’ student days in a separate study, shedding light on the realities of his stay in Krakow, Bologna, Rome, Padua, and Ferrara. „Year after year, more and more publications about Copernicus are being released”, notes Prof. Marian Chachaj in the introduction to his book. „A large portion of them primarily contain new interpretations of the views of the great astronomer based on source materials, while very few deal to some extent with his years as a student. Since no one has so far attempted to present Copernicus' student days in a separate text, and the treatments appearing in many works are based on outdated literature and do not utilize many newer source publications or studies, I have taken on the challenge – at the urging of Prof. Krzysztof Mikulski (Director of the Center for Copernican Studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University – ed.) – of attempting to fill this gap in historiography”.

Due to the scant information available on Copernicus himself, Prof. Chachaj primarily describes the environment in which the astronomer lived, i.e., the cities and universities, and mentions the people Copernicus met or could have met. Also discussed are the books he acquired or read during that time. A lot of space is devoted to the issues addressed by professors in specific universities, such as liberal arts in Krakow, law in Bologna and Padua, and medicine in Padua. The author also addresses many controversial issues, such as the view that Copernicus earned a doctorate in philosophy and medicine from Padua, the place of learning Greek, the giving of lectures by the astronomer in Rome, and his contacts with the painter Giorgione.

The entire study, based on source analysis and critical use of multilingual publications, is contained in three chapters.

In the first chapter, Prof. Marian Chachaj discusses, among other things, the problems associated with identifying the location of Copernicus’ education before he arrived in Krakow, as well as the careers of selected Krakow students enrolled in the registry in the years 1489–1493.

The second chapter is devoted to Copernicus’ stay in Bologna. The author recreates the organization of the university there and its significance for Polish culture in the second half of the fifteenth century. Here we find profiles of leading Bolognese lecturers and information about their possible connections with Copernicus.

The third chapter deals with Copernicus’ studies in Padua (in medicine and law) and his doctorate in canon law obtained in Ferrara at the end of May 1503.

Publication on the website of the Scientific Publishing House of the Nicolaus Copernicus University

Prof. dr hab. Marian Chachaj completed his studies in history at the Faculty of Humanities of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin in 1970, and for the next few decades, he worked at the Institute of History of UMCS. His research focuses on Old Polish culture, national and foreign education of various social strata, the influence of university education on social advancement, and Polish-Italian cultural relations. He is the author of over a hundred publications, including books such as „Foreign education of the Radziwiłł family from the beginning of the 16th to the middle of the 17th century” (Lublin 1995), „Cultural relations between Siena and Poland until the end of the 18th century” (Lublin 1998). As part of the Peregrinationes Sarmatarum publishing series (vol. 1–2, 4–5, 7–8, Krakow–Wroclaw 2014; Krakow 2021), together with Prof. Bogdan Rok and independently, he prepared for publication the travel diaries of Jakub Lanhaus, Stanisław Kleczewski, Antoni Węgrzynowicz, Michał Witosławski, Tomasz Stanisław Wolski, Remigiusz Zawadzki, and Teofil Szemberg.

 

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