The Life and Science of Giordano Bruno

Filippo Bruno was born in Nola, a small town in Italy located north-east of Naples. At the time of his birth, religion and philosophy were deep rooting subject matters spreading throughout all of Europe. With the growing power of the Catholic church and the ability of the Pope to interpret the word of God, many different sects of Christianity felt prosecution and disregard within their systems, and the Reformation had begun. With the bible being translated into more languages and the popularity of figures like Martin Luther championing the protestant reformation, deep rifts began to form in the religion. Catholicism is no quiet matter though, and it began to greatly extend the arm of its might, punishing heresy by royals and cultivating evangelical movements to spread even further throughout Europe, even going so far is to create a council, the Council of Trent, to establish the illegitimacy of Protestantism and further define Catholic dogma.

From the 1500s to the 1600s, much of Southern Italy was under the direct control of Spanish viceroys, wealthy rulers working on the behalf of a state. Although their forms of rule and levels of insistence varied, Catholic influence was a common theme, with Pedro Alvarez de Toledo being an example of the more extreme side, going so far as to establish the Spanish Inquisition in Naples, which would have led to openly punishing and possibly killing those who did not truly follow Catholic doctrine and would refuse to denounce their “inaccurate” beliefs. Europe was a dangerous place to many with new beliefs and strong conviction, but at the same time many great scientific and cultural beliefs still took hold.

At either the age of 11 or 14, Bruno began his studies in Naples. His major lines of study included logic, humanities, and the study of learning to argue and discussing things in an attempt to find the truth known as dialectics (the latter being very prominent during his tumultuous parts in life). The ancient Greeks like Aristotle seemed to have some of the greatest influence on him. Although Aristotle did have incorrect observations in astronomy, his belief in mnemonics was something Bruno saw and he became a champion in this memorizing system, using clues and images to retrieve thought.

He began to use the name Giordano in 1565, with his entrance into the Dominican convent San Domenico Maggiore in Naples. He took this title in honor of his tutor in Metaphysics, Giordano Crispo. In 1572 he became an ordained priest, after which he continued his studies in the convent, but began to get into trouble. Probably his first prominent mark in civil disobedience was his open discussion in a subject commonly known as the Arian heresy. In Christianity the Holy Trinity is an established truth, marking the God, Son, and Holy Spirit as three things but at the same time as one God. This quantum state of the holy makes God and Jesus as god himself, keeping the religion monotheistic. Arianism is a belief system directly contradicting this, stating Jesus to be in fact the son and therefore lower than God, but still keeping the belief God is Son. Arianism does not make Jesus into a separate god, but just a lower manifestation of the one. Giordano was discovered to openly discuss this and other non-conformist ideals, which was unfortunately extremely frowned upon by the convict with which he was studying. Facing persecution and fearing he would be imprisoned for heresy, Giordano had to flee to Rome in February of 1576.

The fleeing to Rome quickly became wasted effort. In the early 1500s, another prominent Protestant Theologian by the name of Desiderius Erasmus had made quite an impact on the New Testament translations that were being newly publicized. Erasmus himself had worked greatly on these translation, traveling all abroad Europe and releasing many revisions, even being praised for his work at a time. His hard work and attention to detail in the subject matter eventually gained him much criticism. With further adaptions, he was attempting to establish more word literal translations than his predecessors, publishing many revisions and changes, even going so far as to publish mistakes in the Vulgate, the main Latin translation already recognized as correct by the church. Many of Erasmus’ writings became banned by the church, but Giordano was a curious mind and would further go into detail with these publications. Unfortunately, while in Rome, his copy of these forbidden texts with annotations by Bruno himself were discovered, and he had to quickly flee again or face the wrath of the inquisitions occurring in Rome. He departed the city in April of 1576, just two months after entering.

Having been chased out of these very prominent cities, there were not many options for Giordano. For two years, not much is known of his whereabouts, only that he wandered through northern cities in Italy, possibly releasing a lost work of literature, and eventually ended up in Geneva, Switzerland. Being further from attack, he began to make a living for himself once again. He took work and after a bit of time began a short attendance at the University of Geneva. Here he yet again made enemies though, publishing strong criticisms of one of their most distinguished professors, very quickly being arrested for this act. He mocked the churches there for being no more tolerant than those he escaped before, and after some time was allowed to leave the country. Seeking refuge once more, his trails led him west, eventually finding a better home in 1581.

While in Toulouse, France, he attempted to reestablish himself in the Catholic church but was denied. After a short period, he continued and found better refuge in Paris. While here, life seemed to make a much better turn for our hero. His talents were widely discovered, opening many opportunities for him to lecture about thigs he knew, and being especially discovered for his acquired abilities in memory. King Henry III of England, having heard of the abilities Giordano had with memory, called upon his council and eventually offered him a position as a royal lecturer, giving him a salary and level of protection for working for the crown. During this time, he was able to publish multiple books in regards to attaining better memory with reality and also published The Candlemaker, a comedy designed to criticize plagues and moral issues in the then modern society.

Having good experiences with the king during his time in France, Giordano received invitation to move to England and took it. He took interest in Oxford and began to lecture there during the summer, hoping to try and teach. While lecturing, Giordano was clearly a large proponent of the heliocentric Copernican model. Prior beliefs of the solar system, especially those backed by the church concluded that the earth was the center of the universe, with all other celestial bodies orbiting in circular motions around it. In the newer Copernican model, the sun was designated as the center, with all other planets revolving around it. The subject matter was so controversial though that it was almost immediately rejected by many large communities, as it directly contracted so many established thoughts backed by the church and even philosophers of old. Aristotle himself was a believer that the earth stood in the center of the solar system. Unfortunately for Bruno, he was later ostracized again as his beliefs were unaccepted by the intellectual minds working at Oxford, rejecting his request for a professorship there. Elizabeth I seemed to agree more with his writings, and during his three year stay he would frequent her court, get a chance to establish with more elites in London, and continue to publish his works. His genius extended from merely mocking the society Oxonian doctors had created, as he published more articles to support heliocentric models, and even expanding upon the thought by stating the universe is infinite, with there being many more worlds and systems like the one we live in. He preached that the words of the bible should be admired for their morals, but not an established guide for astronomy. Although his words for scientific endeavors and against establishments always brought with it much criticism, he thought it was the duty of the philosophers to show discipline and dedication to the knowledge in order to govern those unable to discipline themselves.

Eventually Giordano returned to Paris. Shortly after his return in October of 1585, he continued his smear campaign against what he deemed to be incorrect thoughts, criticizing other scholars and even publishing pieces to publicly criticize the Aristotle. At this time in France, a group known as the Politique held much power in social situations. They believed that securing the then struggling France was the most important cause, and ostracized Bruno, causing him to leave the country. Becoming a wandering philosopher once again in mid-1586, he landed next in the country of Germany. Five years he remained in Germany, moving from place to place and never truly holding any position, as his works would quickly get banished by groups that would control universities. On many occasions he continued to seek publication for his works but would be rejected. Finally, in 1591 the was invited back to Venice, Italy by a nobleman wishing to learn from him. He accepted the invitation.

Although having originally escaped Italy in fear of persecution, he decided to go to Venice as it was then known as the most liberal city in the country. He was originally hired as a private tutor for Giovanni Mocenigo, but of course attempted to gain positions at the universities. These attempts came at folly though, and eventually so did the tutoring. Over the course of a year, Mocenigo had become quite unsatisfied with his progress from the mnemonic tutoring he had been receiving, and through his frustration he turned in Bruno to the Venetian Inquisition, knowing well he would be tried and punished for his beliefs as they were held to be heretical by the catholic church. In early 1593, the Roman Inquisition called for his extradition to Rome, so he was delivered.

For seven long years, he was held and questioned. Giordano would argue his philosophies were not strictly designed to contracted the words of the bible, but instead he was reaching these things through purely scientific thought. He attempted to separate the Theology from the Philosophy, using observations of reality and the stars as a basis for his beliefs, but the Romans were not so keen to believe this. They demanded he completely retract his words. His beliefs were unfortunately ahead of his time, because as history shows many would go on to continue his works just 100 years later, and even now we can truly see the brilliance in his thoughts. Giordano Bruno was unable to convince his science to work with religion to the Romans, and in early 1600 he was burned at the stake for he would not retract the words he knew to correct.