XO67 Commentarius in IV libros de coelo Aristotelis a Joanne Zorn exceptus

Commentarius in IV libros de coelo Aristotelis a Joanne Zorn exceptus [Ingolstadt, 1614]

Penn Libraries, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 770

This manuscript, scribed by the otherwise unknown Johannes Zorn, is likely based on classroom explanations of Aristotle’s On the Heavens, Meteorology, and On Generation and Corruption held in Ingolstadt in 1614 (see f. 13r). The context is almost certainly the University, which had been taken over by Jesuit professors. The unnamed author of these considerations offers a series of questions and dubia in typical scholastic style and mentions fairly recent developments in astronomy, such as the observation of comets and sunspots. Although the professor does not agree (given the evidence of experience and the Holy Scriptures) with newer cosmological views, on ff. 27v–28v the notes refer to the models of the universe by Nicolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe; the figure reproduced here (f. 28r) offers a depiction of the heliocentric system, which was to be considered alongside illustrations based on the standard geocentric model given on previous pages. It is an open question to what extent such illustrations were part of classroom teaching or were created and inserted by students after the fact, but the commentator is aware of recent developments and discusses them openly, often adducing the authority of the Scriptures and Catholic theologians. The scribe, Johannes Zorn, also scribed UPenn Ms. Codex 771, which contains a commentary on Aristotle’s Physics. That work contains no illustrations, but proceeds in a very similar manner.

David A. Lines