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Johannes Kepler's Fight for his Mother
by Ulinka Rublack
The little-known story of how Johannes Kepler, one of the most admired astronomers who ever lived, defended his mother from the accusation of witchcraft.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the most admired astronomers who ever lived and a key figure in the scientific revolution. A defender of Copernicus's sun-centred universe, he famously discovered that planets move in ellipses and defined the three laws of planetary motion. Perhaps less well known is that in 1615, when Kepler was at the height of his career, his widowed mother Katharina was accused of witchcraft. The proceedings led to a criminal trial that lasted six years, with Kepler conducting his mother's defense.
In The Astronomer and the Witch, Ulinka Rublack pieces together the tale of this extraordinary episode in Kepler's life, one that takes us to the heart of his changing world. First and foremost an intense family drama, the story brings to life the world of a small Lutheran community in the center of Europe at a time of deep religious and political turmoil - a century after the Reformation and on the threshold of the Thirty Years' War.
Kepler's defense of his mother also offers us a fascinating glimpse into the great astronomer's world view, on the cusp between Reformation and scientific revolution. While advancing rational explanations for the phenomena that his mother's accusers attributed to witchcraft, Kepler nevertheless did not call into question the existence of magic and witches. On the contrary, he clearly believed in them. And, as the story unfolds, it appears that there were moments when even Katharina's children wondered whether their mother really did have nothing to hide...
"Starred Review. Rublack superbly conveys the tension among the Keplers as well as the personalities of the accusers and officials, who were not single-handedly determined to convict a witch. Readers will discover the complexities of early 17th-century German society through figures whose motivations remain familiar." - Publishers Weekly
"...[A]n enthralling, many-sided book... [A]t once a vivid introduction to a fascinating social and cultural world; a profound analysis of a witch trial...and a deep study of one of the greatest scientists who ever lived." - Professor Anthony Grafton, Princeton University
"Gripping and inspiring, this tale of the six-year battle to clear Katharina Kepler of the charge of witchcraft yields striking new insights into the personalities and families involved, their communities and their culture... The past, with its hopes and fears, comes wonderfully to life in this scholarly masterwork." - Professor Nicholas Jardine, University of Cambridge
"This book takes you right to the heart of life in the seventeenth century, with all its sense of intellectual possibility, its dreams and its fears. Rublack tells a shocking story. How was it possible for the mother of the famous scientist Kepler to be accused of witchcraft, and why did she come to trial?...The most compelling book I have read for a long time." - Professor Lyndal Roper, University of Oxford
This information about The Astronomer and the Witch was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ulinka Rublack is Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John's College. One of the most original historians of her generation, she has published widely on early modern European history, including Reformation Europe (2005), Dressing Up: Cultural Identity in Renaissance Europe (2010), which won the Roland Bainton Prize, and (as editor) A Concise Companion to History (2011).
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