Bruno, Giordano ...............................
(1548–1600)
Italian philosopher who was executed for
his teachings and beliefs that were con-
trary to Catholic doctrine. Born in Nola,
in the Kingdom of Naples, Bruno was the
son of a soldier. He was a prodigy as a
scholar and joined the Dominican Order,
becoming a priest in 1572. He studied a
wide range of philosophies and also took
a keen interest in astronomy and math-
ematics, training himself to prodigious
feats of memory that led many to suspect
him of dabbling in the occult arts. He took
up the Hermetic tradition, based on the
writings of the ancient seer Hermes Tris-
megistus, a renowned figure since the
Middle Ages and a representative of an-
cient Egyptian wisdom and magic. Bruno
also studied the works of Saint Thomas
Aquinas, a leading medieval scholar; Mar-
cilio Ficino, a Renaissance Neoplatonist, or
follower of Aristotelianism; and German
philosopher Nicholas of Cusa. Bruno grew
familiar with the heliocentric universe pro-
posed by Nicolaus Copernicus, but took it
a dangerous step further by teaching that
the universe was infinite, and that the
earth was only one among an infinite vari-
ety of worlds with no particular impor-
tance. This ran counter to Christian doc-
trine.
Accused of heresy by the order of fri-
ars called Dominicans, Bruno left Naples
in 1576 for Rome, then traveled to Geneva,
where he joined the Protestant Calvinist
sect but was excommunicated for slander-
ing the philosopher Antoine de la Faye. In
1579 he left Geneva, unhappy with the
strict Calvinist methods, and became a
professor of philosophy at Toulouse,
France. Under constant scrutiny wherever
he went, he spent time in Paris and then
London, where he worked in the service of
French ambassador Michel de Castelnau.
In England his published works and his
promotion of the Copernican system of-
fended some. He also came under suspi-
cion for a powerful mnemonic system of
memory that he described in his works
The Shadow of Ideas, The Art of Memory,
andCirce’s Song. In 1584 he completed two
of his most important works,On the Infi-
nite Universe and WorldsandThe Expul-
sion of the Triumphant Beast. Bruno ar-
rived in Prague in 1588. He was
excommunicated there by Lutheran
Church officials and had to flee the city.
He returned to Germany in 1591. At the
invitation of a Venetian noble, Giovanni
Mocenigo, he moved back to Italy and be-
came a memory tutor to Mocenigo. The
two were soon at odds over Bruno’s un-
yielding philosophy and abrasive personal-
ity. Mocenigo denounced Bruno, who was
arrested in May 1592 and charged with
heresy and blasphemy. He was transferred
to Rome and imprisoned, finally tried for
his negative views on Catholic dogma, in-
cluding the rites of the Mass and the na-
ture of the Trinity, for practicing magic,
and for his heretical belief in a multiplic-
ity of worlds. He was found guilty after a
trial that lasted seven years and burned at
the stake in 1600.Byrd, William ...................................
(1540–1623)
Prolific English composer whose works are
believed to have begun the Baroque style
of harpsichord and keyboard music. Born
in Lincolnshire, he joined the Chapel Royal
as a boy and apprenticed to Thomas Tallis.
Under the Catholic queen Mary I, this in-
stitution, which produced and performed
music by appointment to the monarchy,
was flourishing. Talented composers fromBruno, Giordano