Statesman and Scholar: Herwart von Hohenburg as Patron and Author in the Republic of Letters:

INTRODUCTIONBetter known in his own day as Bavarian Chancellor, Johann Georg Herwart von Hohenburg (1553-1622) was also a patron and scholar of major significance. More than "a scientific intermediary" who spread the ideas of others,1 Herwart won renown for his original work in several areas of study. His publications and surviving papers testify to his talents as "a connoisseur of law and ancient languages, a mathematician and a chronologer",2 while his extensive correspondence with many of Europe's leading luminaries confirms his place as a pivotal figure in the Republic of Letters. Herwart was praised by Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) as "an extraordinary man excellently well versed in mathematics".3 In a letter to Joseph Scaliger (1540-1609), Tycho asked the dean of chronology to consider an eclipse that Herwart had calculated to revise the record of history. Convinced that real references to the heavens had been couched in the rhyme and verse of ancient Greece and Rome, Herwart harboured a habit of plotting eclipses from early poetry. It was his eclectic chronology, in fact, that first brought Herwart into contact with his favourite client and fast friend, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). Herwart exchanged more than ninety letters with Kepler over the course of nearly fifteen years.4 Their vibrant discourse involved a variety of topics and good turns. While their early correspondence explains why Herwart first called on Kepler, it also reveals how a rising star in astronomy secured the support of a powerful and worldly patron.Despite his relative obscurity in the secondary literature, Herwart was a scholar in his own right who played an important role in the trajectory of Kepler's career. Intellectually, Herwart is described by some as "a sober thinker",5 whose "critical objections urged Kepler to reconsider his ideas more objectively".6 Others regard Herwart as an unrelenting client who led Kepler to "reluctant philological reflections on obscure passages in Lucan, Manilius and others".7 While Kepler complained privately about the "great pains" he took to appease his patron,8 it is clear that Herwart served as a sounding board for Kepler, encouraging his client to share his ideas and interests openly.9 When they fathomed the field of optics, for example, Kepler oudined his opinion that "the doctrine of Copernicus" was "secretly contained in Euclid's Optics"}0 At critical points in the career of Kepler, Herwart advised and endorsed his client to others. As Kepler descended into misery during his final turbulent years as District Mathematician in Styria, Herwart brought his first book, the Mysterium cosmographicum (1596), to the wider attention of the mathematical community." When Kepler sought the employ of Tycho, Herwart counselled him carefully. He duly dissuaded Kepler from associating with Nicolaus Reimarus Ursus (1551-1600), whom Tycho had recently replaced as Imperial Mathematician. In a letter to Kepler, Herwart expressed surprise that Kepler had met with Ursus in Prague. "I wonder", Herwart announced in alarm, "how you could still associate with Ursus so closely".'2 To support the succession of Kepler after the sudden death of Tycho in 1601, Herwart wrote to the High Councillor of the Holy Roman Emperor. "It is in the best interests of His Imperial Majesty and the Republic of Letters to keep Kepler in Prague", Herwart wrote, referring to the new tables begun by Brahe that "only Kepler" could complete.'3 To add leverage to his appeal, the Bavarian Chancellor suggested the prospect of losing Kepler to a local academy in Lauingen, where Philipp Ludwig (1547-1614), Count Palatine of Neuburg, had recently invited Kepler to work.In the following essay, I focus on the place of Herwart as a patron and author in the Republic of Letters. Herwart supported the intellectual endeavours of his clients, in part, to promote his own calling in chronology. While he aided the revolutionary astronomy of Kepler, Herwart peppered his prize client with requests to calculate eclipses that helped him rewrite history. …