Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/153

UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER CENTRES OF LEARNING 141 lectures in several colleges. In Padua lie expounded the Arab astronomer Alfragan, made astronomical observations at Viterbo and other places, and completed in 1463, at the monastery of St. George at Venice, a masterpiece of mathematical literature, which still forms the basis of trigonometry. As a man of science and a believing Christian he opposed the superstitious errors of astrology. Richly supplied with manuscripts and other literary treasures, and possessor of nearly the whole substance of mathematical science of the ancients, Eegiomontanus returned in 1468 to Vienna. He first busied himself with arranging a library for Mathias Corvinus, King of Hungary, a classical student, for whom he had pur- chased many valuable manuscripts in Greece, and he then went home to Nuremberg, and devoted himself entirely to study. Thence he wrote as follows to the celebrated mathematician, Christian Roder of Erfurt : ' I have chosen Nuremberg as a permanent dwelling- place, because I can easily procure here all necessary instruments, particularly those which are indispensable for the study of astronomy, and also because I can easily keep up a connection with scholars of all coun- tries from here, for this city, on account of its con- course of merchants, may be considered the central point of Europe.' The work that Eegiomontanus accomplished in the short space of four years in Nuremberg belongs to the record of phenomena in the history of human develop- ment. In proportion as his own many-sided love of science and learning increased, so did the desire grow in him to spread these blessings around him. And verily it was granted to him to succeed in inspiring