Johannes van Heeck
Together with Prince Federico Cesi, Anastasio de Filiis and Francesco Stelluti, he was one of the four founding members of the Accademia dei Lincei,[3] the first learned society dedicated to understanding of the natural world through scientific enquiry.
For this reason, when Protestant forces under Maurice of Nassau took the city in 1591, Willem van Heeck was fined 150 guilders for being a leader of the Catholic party and a collaborator of the hated Philip II of Spain.
[6] Johannes received a humanist education, studying Latin, Greek, theology, astronomy and astrology, and making an exact observation of the comet that appeared in 1591, which he described in one of his later treatises as a bad omen for a life full of bitterness and pain.
He stayed for a while in Spoleto as a guest of Count Gelosi, with whom he maintained a connection throughout his life, and on whose estate was the villa known as the "museum deauratum" where many of his manuscripts were composed.
Among the more significant of his works while he studied at university were: He practised as a doctor first in Maenza and then in Scandriglia in the province of Rieti, part of the domain of Duke Giovanni Antonio Orsini.
For this reason, he came into conflict with the apothecary of Scandriglia, one Casolini Ranieri, who made his living selling medicines with exotic names, more magical than scientific.
[9] This close partnership between Cesi, van Heeck and Stelluti soon led to their founding the Accademia dei Lincei, together with Anastasio de Filiis, on 17 August 1603.
[6] Van Heeck referred to the Accademia as 'the most sagacious investigators of the secrets of nature, and dedicated to the Paracelsan disciplines' – indicating thereby that like the Swiss physician, they believed that empirical observation was essential for developing an understanding of the world, rather than reliance on established scholarly authorities.
[11] There has been speculation that the connections between the Accademia's members were not confined to the intellectual sphere, and, specifically in the case of the relationship between Federico Cesi and Johannes van Heeck, that they were probably sexual in nature.
[12][13][14] In the spring of 1604, Prince Cesi's father the Duke of Acquasparta was so concerned about the activities of the Accademia dei Lincei and what he considered the nefarious influence of van Heeck over his son that he denounced him to the Roman Inquisition.
[6] While van Heeck was travelling, Federico Cesi sent him money regularly, to buy rare books on alchemy and the natural sciences, which were then added to his collection the Accademia dei Lincei.
[note 2] After several months on the road, he eventually found a place in Prague at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, an enlightened and generous man who was interested in the research of the Accademia dei Lincei.
Van Heeck was ready to publish before them, sending his manuscript of De Nova Stella Disputatio ('Discussion of the New Star') to Federico Cesi in Rome in January 1605.
[25] Cesi believed that the Accademia needed to publish something of scientific significance in order to establish its scholarly credibility, and that a book from van Heeck which reaffirmed orthodox Catholic positions would both remove suspicions about the group's activities and pave the way for his return to Rome.
Claiming to use the measurement techniques developed by Tycho Brahe, he concluded that the supernova of 1604 showed no sign of parallax, which meant that the event could not have taken place near the earth, among the planets, but must have been located much further away, among the 'fixed' stars of the firmament or perhaps even further beyond.
He went further, accusing those who argued for a fluid heaven of writing contrary to Holy Writ, and attacking Tycho Brahe for his religious beliefs as well as for his purported scientific errors.
One of the Accademia's original founders, Anastasio de Filiis, had died in 1608[32] and Cesi invited the elderly and highly esteemed Giambattista della Porta to join in his place.
