Dudith to Henry Neville (1581): Copernicus, Savile, and Books

Topic: Dudith to Henry Neville (1581): Copernicus, Savile, and Books

Overview

Andreas Dudith's letter to Henry Neville of 7 August 1581 is one of the strongest direct witnesses for Neville's continental learned network. Dudith writes directly to Neville, then in the Venice orbit, and asks him to spur Henry Savile to work on ancient mathematicians and Copernicus. The letter also refers to Neville's books left with Dudith and asks Neville/Savile to look for mathematical and philosophical books or manuscripts.

This packet is mixed rather than verified because the modern printed edition is strong and gives a witness list, but the autograph manuscript image has not yet been inspected locally.

1. Verified Sourced Facts

• The modern edition Andreas Dudithius, Epistulae. Pars VII: 1581-1589 prints the letter as no. 1072: Dudith to Henry Neville, Breslau/Wroclaw, 7 August 1581.

• The 2019 edition identifies the principal witness as an autograph draft: Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Depot Breslau, R 253, no. 19, f. 10r. Older Costil shorthand gives this as cod. Rhed. 253, no. 19.

• The letter shows Dudith responding to a courteous letter from Neville and grieving the departure of Neville's party.

• Dudith asks Neville to restore "our Savile" to him if possible, then asks Neville to rouse Savile to work on obscure passages in ancient mathematicians and on Copernicus.

• Dudith explicitly names Paul Wittich in the Copernican comparison, saying Copernicus may be compared with the ancients or, if Wittich is to be believed, preferred to them.

• Dudith refers to books belonging to Neville that Neville had left with him and asks Neville what should be done with them.

• Dudith asks Neville to dig out excellent mathematical and philosophical material, whether manuscript or printed, that Dudith has not yet seen.

• The same-date companion letter to Savile, no. 1071, strengthens the context: Dudith asks Savile to search Venice for Greek mathematical and philosophical material and to examine public, private, and monastic libraries.

• Pietro Daniel Omodeo's MPIWG preprint on Duncan Liddel and Copernican transmission is useful context for the Dudith-Wittich-Breslau mathematical milieu. It independently discusses Dudith's house as a place frequented by English scholars including Robert Sidney, Henry Neville, and Henry Savile, and quotes the same Costil passage from Dudith's 1581 letter to Savile about Ptolemy, Copernicus, and the ancient authorities. Use it cautiously: the preprint gives a wrong Neville date line, ca.1529-1593, and should not be used as a biographical authority for Henry Neville (c.1563-1615).

2. Ken Feinstein Twitter and Blog Information

• Ken's tweet/image trail correctly identified the Costil passage and its importance for Neville, Savile, Copernicus, and the search for a Billingbear Copernicus copy.

• The Billingbear-Copernicus inference must stay separate: this letter proves Neville's direct connection to Copernican mathematical discussion and book exchange in 1581; it does not yet prove that any later Billingbear copy of Copernicus was Neville's personal copy.

3. Quoted Source Text

Excita, rogo te, maiorem in modum atque acrius stimula Savile
ut mihi aliquid elaboret in obscura loca veterum mathematicorum
et Copernicum veteribus comparandum aut, si credendum est
Wittichio, anteponendum.

Working translation: "Rouse, I beg you, and more sharply spur Savile, so that he may work out something for me on the obscure passages of the ancient mathematicians, and on Copernicus, to be compared with the ancients or, if Wittich is to be believed, to be preferred to them."

De libris tuis, quos hic reliquisti ... monebis quid fieri velis.
Interea mihi praeclari aliquid eruite mathematicorum et
philosophicorum sive illud manuscriptum exstet in aliqua
bibliotheca sive typis editum, quod ego nondum viderim.

Working translation: "Concerning your books, which you left here ... you will advise what you wish to be done. Meanwhile, dig out for me something excellent in mathematics and philosophy, whether it exists in manuscript in some library or has been printed, which I have not yet seen."

4. Citations

• Andreas Dudithius, Epistulae. Pars VII: 1581-1589. Ed. Nicolaus Szymanski and Ida Radziejowska. Budapest: Reciti, 2019, no. 1072, pp. 87-88. Local PDF: Dudithius_Epistulae_Pars_VII_1581_1589_2019.pdf.

• Dudith-to-Neville dossier with Latin, translation, witness list, and Costil-image context: Dudith_Neville_Copernicus_1581.

• Pierre Costil, Andre Dudith, humaniste hongrois, 1533-1589: sa vie, son oeuvre et ses manuscrits grecs (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1935), pp. 444-445, fragmentary earlier printed witness. Current local evidence is from user-supplied images; full scan still needed.

• Related printed 1581 witness: hagecius_apodixis_1581_sidney_neville_savile.md.

• Dedicated Savile/Wittich/Copernicus context packet: henry_savile_wittich_copernicus_and_tychonic_world_system.md.

• Related itinerary packet: savile_neville_sidney_european_itinerary_1578_1582.md.

• Omodeo, Pietro Daniel. "L'itinerario copernicano di Duncan Liddel (1561-1613): Scambi scientifici e formazione matematica tra Scozia e Germania." MPIWG Preprint 438. Local PDF/text: MPIWG_P438_Dudith_Wittich_Copernicanism.pdf. Access URL: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/sites/default/files/Preprints/P438.pdf.

5. Notes on Access

• Use the 2019 Dudith edition as the current text-control source. It is stronger than the Costil fragment and gives the witness list.

• The autograph image is still the highest-value next step because it would verify the text and clarify any manuscript features, deletions, docketing, or address information.

• This packet should be used as direct evidence for Neville's learned travel, book-search, and mathematical/Copernican network. It should not be used as direct evidence that Neville owned a particular surviving Copernicus volume.

• Do not copy the Neville dates from the MPIWG preprint. Its contextual use is the Dudith-Wittich-Copernicus milieu, not Neville biography.

Third-Batch Fact-Source Update, 2026-06-24

• The 2019 Dudith edition remains the controlling text source for this letter until an autograph image is obtained and collated.
• The letter is direct evidence for Neville's learned continental travel, book-search requests, and proximity to Dudith/Savile/Copernican exchange. It is not direct evidence for ownership of a surviving Copernicus volume.
• Book use: use the MPIWG preprint only for Copernican/Dudith-Wittich context, and avoid its Neville chronology because the packet already flags a visible date error.