The Sky's Dark Labyrith by Stuart Clark

In the sixteenth century the Church of Rome was riven by the theological schism known as the Reformation.   Taken aback at first the Church lost ground to the Lutherans especialy in northern Europe but towards the end of the century it began a fight back lead by a group of intellectual priests known as the Jesuits.   The Jesuits were determined to take on the Protestants not only in theology but also in art, music and natural philosophy or science as it is now known.   At this time astronomy was dominated by the ancient theories of Aristotle and Ptolemy who said that the universe was static and unchanging, a theory that theologians of all churches felt fitted in with the teachings of the Bible.   Anyone, such as Copernicus, who suggested that the stars and planets moved or that the earth was not the centre of the universe was likely to be accused of heresy which often lead to a painful death.

At the end of the sixteenth century a Danish nobleman, Tycho Brahe, was appointed Mathematician to the Holy Roman Emperor and used his position to make the most accurate observations of the stars to that date.   Despite being employed by a Catholic monarch he took as one of his assistants a Lutheran mathematician Johannes Kepler.   Kepler used his mathematics to prove from Brahe's observations that the planets were moving and that the sun was the static object not the earth.   At the same time the Vatican's astronomer Galileo came to the same conclusion.   As on so many other subjects science and theology were in conflict and Galileo was prevailed upon to recant.

The end of the sixteenth century saw the application of mathematics and geometry to astronomy with Brahe commisioning the manufacture of instruments that enabled the most accurate measurements of the motions of heavenly bodies that had ever been acheived.   Galileo supplemented these observations with his own using a telescope for the first time and despite opposition from theologians, Protestant as well as Catholic, the Aristotelian concept of the universe as static was doomed.   Clark also makes it clear that Galileo was neither imprisoned or tortured as many Protestant and Marxist writers have averred in their desire to blacken the reputation of the Catholic Church.

All in all a very entertaining and informative read.