Melchior Inchofer

Tractatus syllepticus , 1633

Melchior Inchofer (* 1584 in Vienna , † September 28, 1648 in Milan ) was a Jesuit and Catholic theologian .

He created for the trial of Galileo Galilei in 1633 the report Tractatus syllepticus , should reinforce the accusation that the heliocentrism of astronomers is contrary to Scripture statements.

Under the pseudonym Lucius Cornelius , a utopian-satirical work was published in 1646 with the title LVCII CORNELII EVROPAEI MONARCHIA SOLIPSORUM . The aim of the satire was the order of the Jesuits , whose Latin name Societas Iesu was already played in the title, as the abbreviation SI (today SJ ) was dissolved to Monarchia Solipsorum , which can be translated as the Kingdom of Self-Suns . The work was so well received that it was translated into French, Italian and German shortly after it was published. Inchofer was soon suspected of being the author of the satire and was subsequently kidnapped. At the intervention of Pope Urban VIII with the Jesuit general, Inchofer was brought back to the German college in Rome. Inchofer’s authorship was controversial again and again, and the ex-Jesuit Julius Clemens Scotti was also considered a possible author.

Works

• Tractatus syllepticus . ( Digitized version )
• LVCII CORNELII EVROPAEI MONARCHIA SOLIPSORUM Ad Virum Clarissimum LEONEM ALLATIVUM . Venice 1645.
• La Monarchie des Solipses, traduite de l'original latin de Melchior Inchofer, de la Compagnie des Jesus. Chez Herman Uytwerf, Amsterdam 1754.

literature

• Richard J. Blackwell: Behind the Scenes at Galileo's Trial. Including the First English Translation of Melchior Inchofer’s Tractatus syllepticus, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006.
• Franz Heinrich Reusch:  Inchofer, Melchior . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 64 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ADB: Inchofer, Melchior