MODELS OF EXEMPLARITY: URANIBORG AND SOLOMON’S HOUSE
MODELE DE EXEMPLARITATE: URANIBORG ŞI CASA LUI SOLOMON
Jacob HALFORD
Lancaster University, UK
j.j.s.halford@lancaster.ac.uk
Abstract
In Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis the heart of Bensalem was Solomon’s House. This was the home for a diverse range of instruments and apparatus and hub of intellectual life on the island. This paper addresses the question of where did Bacon derive the inspiration for such an organisation? In this article I shall argue that the case can be made that part of the inspiration for Solomon’s House came from Tycho Brahe’s astronomical castle Uraniborg. This was the home of Tycho Brahe’s vast and incomparable collection of instruments, and during the early-seventeenth century had a reputation as a prestigious site of learning, as such it become a model of exemplarity with political and ideological associations that was drawn upon by many of Bacon’s peers to legitimise their own projects. Evidence for this can be seen from the works of Edward Wright, John Dee, Libavius and Johannes Andreaes. That Bacon is likely to have also drawn upon Uraniborg as an influence can be seen through a comparison of the key features of Uraniborg and Solomon’s House, which exposes a number of similarities between the two organisations.
Key Words: instruments, Uraniborg, Solomon’s House, ideology, Tycho Brahe.
Cuvinte cheie: instrumente, Uraniborg, Casa lui Solomon, ideologie, Tycho Brahe.