Reply #12: Giordano Bruno's Trial, Imprisonment and execution is weird

[happyslug]

Giordano Bruno had become a priest at age 24 having entered the Dominican Order at age 17. He stayed in the Dominican Order for 11 years, then ended up in Geneva (Where he gave up his priestly dress, more to keep the Calvinist the Geneva happy then anything else). He was forced to leave Geneva, then Lloyd and Paris. In 1583 he ended up in England but left in 1585. In 1585 he returned to Paris and attacked Aristotelian natural science, which had been the stable of Western Science since the time of Aristotle in the 3rd Century BC and was forced to flee to Germany in 1586. In 1591 he was back in Italy, he was arrested in 1592 and transferred to Rome, where he underwent a "Seven Year trial".

For more on Giordano Bruno see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno

The biggest problem when it comes to Giordano Bruno is trying to determine WHY he was executed AND why was he in prison for Seven years BEFORE he was executed. Unlike today, when it may take years to execute someone, at that time you had your Trial, you had the right to appear, but that was generally done within 30 days and then executed. Why seven years in the case of Giordano Bruno? He had no followers, he had turned off not only the Catholics but the Protestantism based on his statements saying Christ was NOT God (Christ being one with God is the heart of Christian belief). The Christian view is that Christ was God living as a man NOT as a God living among men (This later concept is found in many Ancient Greek and Roman Myths and rejected by the early Christian Church).

By 1600, the Catholic Church had adopted the concepts of the Counter-Reformation and was on the march to reclaim Protestant Europe. In fact the Religious wars of the 1600s reflects more Protestant opposition to this re-adoption of Catholicism then any advance of Lutheranism or Calvinism. We have to remember one of the side affects of the Protestant Reformation was a massive take over of Church Properties in Protestant Countries. These lands were taken from the Catholic Church without compensation and then given to the ruling elites of those Protestant Countries. The side affect of this land theft was massive opposition to anything Catholic in Protestant Countries. This opposition was based on the fear of these new land owners that they knew their lands had been stolen from the Catholic Church AND if the Catholic Church became the major religion in their area the Catholic Church would sooner or later demand that the land be returned (Remember the land had been stolen). Given this background the Protestant hated Catholics BUT it was on economic grounds not religious grounds. Giordano Bruno seems to have been to much for the Protestants and later for the Catholics, but for what people at that time would call eccentric religious beliefs. Giordano Bruno appears to have been his own victim, he had a long history of being very sarcastic and finally it appears he lost whatever Friends he had and then the most radical Catholic saw someone they could execute without offending anyone else. Thus it appears Giordano Bruno was executed in 1600 NOT for his observation that the earth revolved around the sun, nor even his religious outlooks (if either had been the case he would have been executed in 1593, when he was captured not seven years later) but as a person everyone in Europe had come to hate (Both Catholics and Protestants) AND whose execution would cause no harm for Giordano Bruno had no followers.

Giordano Bruno had been well known during his life time, he had connections and even been the friend of various Popes. At the end, he seems to have no friends and thus he was a free ticket for those radicals who wanted to execute Protestants without causing any long term harm. No one wanted to defend him, so the radical had a free hand. Compared this with Galileo whose own actions regarding the Earth Circling the Sun was only 16 year later (Through his actual Conviction for Hearsay would be 38 years later). Both men were tried by the same Cardinal but given different sentences, Galileo was given house arrest (in his old age) while Giordano Bruno was executed. Something else is up in regards to the execution of Giordano Bruno, I suspect he was just thrown to the dogs for people who dealt with him grew to hate him and that caused him to be executed, while Galileo would live out his life in his own home.