Learning Journal #17

Today while I was listening to Averyl's presentation at the Inquiry Conference, I started wondering about another aspect of my project topic that I haven't yet done more than glaze over: the political implications of the Copernican Revolution. Since the theory had so many religious implications, and because Church and State always seem to be getting tangled up in each others affairs, I'd predict that there were definite political implications. While this isn't the focus of my project, I think it's important to try to look at the various aspects of life that would have impacted the literature being produced at the time, which is also something that Averyl pointed out in her presentation. With all the talk of Queen Elizabeth I, I started wondering what she would have thought about it. She was, after all, depicted as patron of Geography and Astronomy...

Queen Elizabeth I as Patron of Geography and Astronomy
(I'm really starting to question how I find things like this ... )

Some preliminary research brought me not only a basic answer to this question, but also rounded up a whole load of other sources for me as well (hoorah!). The short, quick answer is that Elizabeth I might have been quite the fan of Copernicus' theory, but not for any scientific reasons. The theory was out by the time Elizabeth took the throne, but controversy on the topic didn't really spike until after her death. Plus, Copernicus was Polish, not English. Elizabeth was a staunch Protestant, and while the religious implications of the theory impacted Protestants and Catholics alike, it was the Catholic Church that was deeply impacted by Copernicus' theory. Because science had brought the teachings of the Church into question, people began to lose trust in it. This wasn't such a problem for England, which was officially Protestant (thanks to Elizabeth) but for the rest of Western Europe, where the Catholic Church was essentially the unofficial ruler, a problem it was. Without the support of the people, the Church fell. 

So was Elizabeth a Copernicus fan? I can't give a 100% absolutely certain answer here, but if she would have enjoyed watching the Catholic Church lose its power over Western Europe (and I think she would have), then I'd say it's a very definite possibility.