Sibylle Gluch: Die mathematisch-astronomisch-astrologische Spezialbibliothek des Kurfrsten
August
von Sachsen*
About 1560 Elector August of Saxony created an unusual library – one distinguished within
its period by both its specialization and location. Situated within the
Kunstkammer this library was mostly dedicated to the mathematical sciences and
related disciplines. It contained works by the most important authors on
mathematics, astronomy, and astrology from the classical, medieval, and early
modern periods.
This
essay traces the formation and composition of AugustŐs library, and examines its
function: What kind of relationship existed between the library and the
Kunstkammer? In what way did the library mirror the interests of the Elector,
and to what extend does it permit inferences regarding the ElectorŐs knowledge
of mathematics?
From
the analysis August emerges not as a specialist with a deep understanding of
mathematics, but as a particular aficionado of mathematical applications. As a
practitioner and general follower of the mathematical arts he took part in a
far-reaching intellectual network the center of which lay in the University of
Wittenberg. Here, Melanchthon had effectively strengthened the importance of the mathematical
disciplines within the university curriculum. He regarded mathematics as the
foremost science, arguing that before all other disciplines its method enabled
man to recognize the harmonic order of the world, and to discern divine
providence. Thus, mathematics offered consoling stability and support in an
often seemingly chaotic world torn by religious controversies. This kind of esteem
for the mathematical sciences did not presuppose expert knowledge. Hence, the
fact that August does not appear to have read
the mathematical books he collected does not come as a contradiction. On the
contrary, for August it sufficed to recognize the
potential of the mathematical sciences, which he brought into life through the
creation of a specialized library that developed a rhetoric of its own. The
collection of his Kunstkammer library spoke of a harmonically ordered world
while at the same time memorializing August as a lover of mathematics and an important figure within the group of
mathematical experts and enthusiasts.
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