JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 742  Blog Bookstore

This engraving Le
Monde Selon l’Hypthese de Copernic. Le Systeme du Mondeau movement de la
Naissance de Louis le Grand le 5 de Septembre 11. heures 20 minutes du matin
1638, is a

singular representation of the universe at a singular moment in
time.  And that moment in time was the
birth of Louis le Grand, or Louis XIV, the Sun King, pictured at the moment of
his birth at the center of the Copernican universe. The future (72-year-long
reign) king smiles benignly at us from the center of the universe.

On the other side of the coin is the all-reaching embrace of
the deity-like Queen Elizabeth, who cradles the nine successive spheres of the
universe.  The innermost sphere is
occupied by the Earth, the center of all things, around which are labeled the
seven spheres of the planets:  “urbetas
rerum” (immovable justice) of the Earth, “facundia” (eloquence) of Mercury, “Clementia”
(clemency) of Venus, “Religio” as the Sun, “Fortitudo” (fortitude) of Mars, “Pridetia”
(prudence) of Jupiter, and “Majestas” (majesty) of Saturn.  Beyond the sphere of Saturn is that of the
fixed stars (consisting of the Star Chamber, the nobles, Lords, Counsellors);
and beyond that, in the last sphere, is Elizabeth.   

The image appears in John Case’s Sphaera Civitatis  (1588,
The Sphere of the Commonwealth) who
writes in his preface “How well civic machinery accords with heaven’s form, and
how it is distinguished by like figures, our republic, unique, will declare on
behalf of many. Do you see the stars, wheeling around in their alternating
course, and Justice, who weighs causes in her balanced pans, the unchangeable
center of our universe?” [Full text here.]