monarch

The king and Robert quietly returned to Hampton Court Palace two days later. The official explanation for His Majesty's absence in the past few days was that His Majesty had caught a cold.Since the king also had a record of not appearing in public for a period of time before, the disappearance of the king this time did not arouse any suspicion.

With the arrival of April, the temperature is gradually rising, and the British Isles also ushered in the best season of the year.The shattered ice that had been floating on the river in March was gone, and tender green shoots emerged from the dry branches of last year.Flowers of all colors bloom in the gardens and in the field, turning the whole island into a colorful tapestry in the bright sunlight.

Compared with previous springs, this spring seems much deserted.Now that the God of War has reached the steps at the gate of the kingdom, whether it is a garden tour or a garden party, it seems that it is not so timely, and neither the host nor the guests are interested in this aspect.The newspapers were filled with reports of the Spanish fleet, and all society talked of the coming war.This war is like a fine net, covering everyone in it.

By mid-April, the attention of the whole society was finally partially shifted to a new topic.Ever since King Edward established the Royal Academy, the institution has received a lot of attention.For many renegade scientists, under the protection of the king, they could carry out some eccentric experiments that would cause them a lot of trouble on the Continent, such as the study of autopsies on cadavers.In order to promote the development of medicine and biology, the king even contributed a lot of corpses to the Academy of Sciences out of his own pocket, which naturally aroused the inexplicable surprise of conservatives.

In addition to autopsy, another highly controversial topic being conducted by the Academy of Sciences is the research and promotion of the heliocentric theory.Since Ptolemy BC put forward the geocentric theory, this ancient theory has been regarded as the standard by later generations of astronomers, and the church has also publicly declared that the geocentric theory is the truth of the universe. After all, if the universe was created by God, then he will naturally Put his ultimate creation - human beings at the center of the universe.

In such an atmosphere, the heliocentric theory, as a representative of the "heresy" that is now hated by the church, was severely attacked and suppressed in the European continent. Its proposer, Copernicus, did not dare to publish his "celestial bodies" until his death Theory of Operation", and this book was banned by the Catholic Church as soon as it was published, and the Protestants were more hostile to Copernicus than the Catholic Church. The Pope from the Vatican was even more stubborn, and even publicly called Copernicus "a madman who wants to overthrow the entire astronomy."

Religious tensions have grown across the continent since Philip II came to power, and the black-robed judges of the Spanish Inquisition are now spreading their religious terror beyond the Iberian Peninsula.According to the encyclical issued by the Pope, the Inquisition already has the power to "purify heresy by all necessary means" in the entire Christian world, and the fanatical missionaries of the Jesuits are also inducing lords and kings to pass through courts and churches throughout Europe. More and more stringent purge laws.In the Republic of Geneva, where the Protestants were in power, they burned even more "heretics" than the Spaniards.

A large number of persecuted astronomers, in order to escape the shadow of the stake, came to Britain across the sea to work at the newly built observatory in Greenwich.Together with them, the new theory of Copernicus took root on this free island, countless papers and books were published through the channels of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and the precise observation instruments of the Greenwich Observatory are using more and more every day. Evidence to prove the correctness of the heliocentric theory.

The church was naturally very dissatisfied with the king's generous sponsorship of the Royal Academy of Sciences.While the pious monarchs of the Continent were donating money to the church in favor of God, King Edward rewarded a group of eccentric lunatics with money to disembowel their corpses or stare at the stars all night.The church's tax-free privileges were taken away, but those so-called "scientists" received tax breaks and life annuities from His Majesty. For more than 1000 years, science has been the handmaiden of theology, and now it is about to enter the room!What the King was encouraging was a new thought, a new philosophy, a new way of looking at the world, in which there was no place for an Almighty God - and that would spell the end of the Church.

In order to attack the Academy of Sciences, conservative forces represented by the church united one after another.But today's church has been castrated, like castrated eunuchs, who dare not confront their master face to face, and can only hide in the dark and play tricks. The breakthrough they chose is exactly the heliocentric theory that the Academy of Sciences is vigorously promoting .If the theory can be denied, then the person who put forward the theory will also be denied, and even the person standing behind can be denied.

Therefore, since February, criticisms of the heliocentric theory have been flooding newspapers and salons dominated by conservative forces. Even if war is in sight, they can allocate some time and space every day to "refutation of heresy."There was a big-budget new play in the theatre, with the most popular actors in the city, and the content was to describe how a posturing astronomer went crazy, turned himself into a babbling madman, and was finally ignored. The devil who went down put on chains and pulled all the way into the gate of hell.

In Yorkshire, the local bishop bought two hundred copies of "The Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" from a bookstore, and in a pompous ceremony in the square in front of York Minster, he displayed these "Books of Satan" in front of the crowd of onlookers. Burned face to face.As he wished, the news hit the headlines of the newspaper the next day.Churches throughout Britain followed suit. For a while, Luoyang paper was expensive for "On the Movement of Celestial Spheres", and the happy publisher had to rush to print more than [-] copies.

When the farce finally attracted national attention, the Church asked the Astronomical Society of the Royal Academy of Sciences to hold a public debate, which was readily granted.With His Majesty's approval, the debate will be held on April 25th, and the venue will be in the lobby of the newly completed Royal Theater in Coventry Gardens. People of any class can enter the venue for free, and His Majesty also promised to hold the debate on that day Visit the site.

April 25th is coming soon, and the time for the debate is set at two o'clock in the afternoon. However, before dawn, the seats in the Royal Theater are already full. Occupy seats, as for ordinary people, they can only wait in line at the entrance of the theater overnight without sleep.By noon, thousands of people had already crowded into this huge building, whether it was the lounge, the corridor or even the window sills were filled with curious people.

Seeing his theater turned into a crowded beehive, the theater manager was very worried and kept wiping his shiny forehead with a handkerchief, fearing that the columns of his theater were not strong enough to support the weight of hundreds of thousands of pounds of human flesh. And when they start walking or bouncing on the ground, the force on the whole building is even greater.Although the architect assured the manager with everything he held dear that the building would still be standing in 100 years, the manager's concerns showed no signs of abating.

"If something happens after your majesty comes, my life will be lost!" He sighed exaggeratedly, looking as if he had appendicitis.

At two o'clock in the afternoon the King appeared punctually in the royal box, accompanied by Robert Dudley and a grizzled foreigner, who the informed spectators recognized as It is the president of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Andre Vesalius, who has now been named Viscount Vesalius by the king in recognition of his contribution to human anatomy.

Like his colleagues at the Academy, Viscount Vesalius had emigrated from the Continent to Britain.Four generations of the Vesalius family were court physicians to the emperors of the Habsburg family, and Vesalius himself was educated at the famous Universities of Paris and Padua. When he was teaching at the University of Padua At that time, Vesalius was able to dissect a large number of executed criminal corpses and draw a large number of detailed anatomical drawings.He discovered the function and structure of the heart, explored the circulation of blood in the human body, and in 1543 published his magnum opus, The Structure of the Human Body in seven volumes.

In the preface of this book, Vesalius dedicated this book to Emperor Charles V, but the Catholic Church did not favor him because of this, so Vesalius had to leave Padua and go to Spain for the rest of his life. Enlisting the help of his protector, Emperor Charles V, and serving as his physician, King Philip grew in power as the emperor aged.The Inquisition could not do anything to Vesalius before, but now the situation is different, and their claws are stretched towards the great scientist again.

Three years ago, Vesalius performed an autopsy on a Spanish nobleman. However, the Inquisition falsely accused Vesalius of murder when he opened the chest cavity of the corpse, saying that the heart inside was still beating. death penalty.The aging emperor intervened, and Vesalius was commuted to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to atone for his sins, but as soon as he left the Spanish borders he changed direction and went straight to Britain, where he received a tribute from King Edward VI. Warm reception.

In the pool seat below, priests in church robes glared at the scientist sitting next to the king with spiteful eyes. They were really unhappy watching His Majesty talking to Vesalius beside him.The glorious position in the past always belonged to the church, but now, they are like a used rag, thrown away by the king.

In the box above, the king watched as the curtain on the stage gradually opened, "Who is the knight you sent?"

"It's Professor Letik, Your Majesty." Vesalius reported to the king respectfully, just like he did when he faced the Habsburg emperor, "Professor Letik will never allow others to compete with him for this honor. "

"Of course." The king said softly, Copernicus' friend, he remembered this name, without this person, Copernicus would not have had the courage to publish his manuscript, and now he is going to the stage to defend the honor of his friend .

"Who is the one sent by the church?" The king looked at the big nose of the priest in purple robe on the stage. For some reason, the appearance of that person always reminded the king of a fox.

"Bishop Wilberforce." This time it was Robert who spoke, "I met him at a banquet a few years ago... I have to say, he was a man who no one would forget , he has the tongue of Cicero, and I am not surprised at his climb up the Church."

"How did Jesus Christ attract the believers?" The king squinted his eyes and looked at the bishop on the stage. "Those miracles are just rumors. In the final analysis, they rely on one mouth, just like a salesman. It's just that the salesman sells Groceries are more popular, while priests sell ideas, different religions are just different brands of products, packaged differently, and used in the same way."

Vesalius gave the king a surprised look, and then wisely decided to ignore this truly blasphemous statement.

Bishop Wilberforce had already begun to speak, and Robert leaned forward and whispered into the king's ear, "I don't know why you waste your time looking at this... how the planets in the sky work, and how we have What does it matter? Those planets are millions of miles away, and the Spanish fleet is coming to our porch."

"Some things are more important than disputes in the world." The king rubbed his nose, "A new era is coming, the light of reason is dispelling the dark fog of ignorance, Mr. Copernicus's theory is piercing This is the first ray of golden light that covers the fog of human wisdom. Bishop Wilberforce can turn his tongue around and turn black and white. The pope of Rome and the king of Spain can burn everyone who is baptized by this golden light, but this era will end will come and crush them and all that they stand for... If I can become the midwife of this age, then that will be my proudest achievement, more worthy of boasting than the conquest of a continent."

"I still don't understand." Robert took the king's hand, "but no matter what you think, I stand with you."

"Even if I'm running to hell?" quipped the king.

"Anywhere without you is hell to me." Robert said seriously, and he gripped the king's hand even tighter.

Edward coughed a few times, "Go ahead and listen."

Bishop Wilberforce on the stage was completely brought to a climax by his emotions at the moment. He used the stage of the theater as the pulpit of his own church, and the audience in the audience even included the guy in the upstairs box The sinners of the crown are all lost lambs waiting for him to save.

"My friends! Man is the spirit of creation. When God created His children, what other place would be more appropriate than to place them in the center of the universe? The universe was created by God to rule this wonderful What the system operates is not some ridiculous scientific theory, but the eternally correct theology blessed by God! To deny this exquisite system is to deny that the universe was created by God, and to deny God himself!"

"These astronomers want to explain everything. They claim that the celestial phenomena are just natural phenomena, and the comet that brings bad luck is just a strange celestial body in the universe." Bishop Wilberforce sneered a few times with disdain, "But they But they forget that God’s will cannot be deconstructed by cold formulas. The sacred celestial sphere is a tool used by God to communicate with human beings, and its sanctity cannot be defiled! It’s like my house mouse hears my footsteps at nine o’clock in the morning and thinks this is the iron law of the universe.”

The priests in the audience applauded.

Bishop Wilberforce bowed to the audience, and at the same time glanced provocatively at Professor Retick opposite.

Professor Retik's expression was as serious as the other Germans the king had seen, and he walked up to the podium with a serious look.

"Phenomena should guide astronomers." Professor Retick started his speech, and looked at Bishop Wilberforce sternly, "The geocentric theory that the bishop supports is precisely incompatible with this principle. Astronomers, use the geocentric theory Explain the movement of the celestial bodies, but it is full of mistakes and omissions."

Professor Letik spent the next 15 minutes listing the inconsistencies between the geocentric theory and celestial phenomena: the actual position of the planets always deviates from the results calculated by the geocentric theory; the cycle of the sun does not change significantly, which means that the earth and the sun The distance between them has not changed significantly throughout. Doesn't this just mean that the sun does not revolve around the earth, but the opposite?As for the so-called comets, they revolve around the earth like other planets, but their periods are not as easy to calculate as other planets.It is ridiculous to arbitrarily think that they are the so-called early warnings of God because of their appearance.

"The geocentric theory has already explained the phenomena you mentioned!" Bishop Wilberforce retorted, "By adding the epicycle and deferent to the planet's orbit, the calculation accuracy has been greatly improved. improvement."

"More than 80 epicycles and deferents have been added!" Professor Letik slammed his fist on the table, "The essence of the universe should be simple, not stacked! You put together a set of theories, When reality differs from theory, put some poor patches on your precious theory. Those scholars who stand in your position, use some individual, isolated observations to piece together what epicycles and deferents try to explain theory and The inconsistency between the realities is like someone trying to piece together a human body out of limbs and heads, what they make will never be a human, it will only be a monster!"

The heated debate lasted for an hour. When the magistrate announced the end of the debate, both sides still insisted on their own opinions, and neither could convince the other. Therefore, according to the rules agreed in advance, the result of the debate was handed over to the king in the box.

Bishop Wilberforce raised his head proudly. He looked at the resplendent royal box on the opposite floor. The red and white Tudor rose decoration was so eye-catching that it could be seen from any corner of the theater. , this is a reminder to tell everyone that the king's thunder is hanging over their heads... How arrogant is it for a mortal king to want to play the role of God!

The bishop saw the magistrate enter the box, and the king said something to him.Needless to say, the result of the Holy Judgment must be that those heretics are favored by the king, but so what?The truth determined by the authority is difficult to convince the public after all, and it may even lead to counter-effects. The bishop is sure that after today, those who support him will inevitably become more fanatical about the church because of the king's arbitrariness.Given time, these trickles of discontent may not fail to overwhelm the foundations of the tyrant's throne.

To the bishop's surprise, the king did not make a divine order.

"The truth is not determined by the king or anyone else. The only criterion for judging truth is the facts." The judge repeated the king's words loudly, "Therefore, His Majesty will not make a ruling on academic issues."

Bishop Wilberforce looked in surprise at the royal box, which was empty.

Downstairs, the king's carriage drove out from the king's special exit. In the carriage, Robert looked at the king with the same surprise, "You obviously think the heliocentric theory is correct, so why are you unwilling to make a ruling?"

"Correct?" The king laughed, "Bishop Wilberforce is right in one thing. The laws of the universe are not so easy to calculate... maybe one day, but it must not be foreseeable future."

"So you don't think the sun is the center of the universe?"

"Why does the universe have to have a center?" said the king. "The sea is so vast. When you are sailing on the ocean, you are surrounded by endless sea. Can you point out where the center of the sea is? Then the universe is bigger than the sea." The ocean is countless times bigger, so why does it have a center? Human beings think they are the spirit of all things, but perhaps human beings, the earth and the sun are just a speck of dust suspended in the universe. For the center of the universe, that's the really funny thing."

"If that's the case," Robert's voice trembled, "doesn't that mean..."

"It means that the universe may not have a creator." The king shrugged his shoulders, "But I'm afraid we won't see the answer to this question in our lifetime."

"You must never say these things to others." Robert looked at the king worriedly.

"Didn't you ask me why I don't want to make a judgment?" The king looked out the window at the bustling street. Compared with when he took the throne, everything seemed to have changed drastically, "because human beings must learn to find the truth by themselves, not Hearing the verdict of a voice, whether it comes from a priest, a king, a prophet, or even a savior, is the key to the future. When humans use this key to open the door of reason, a new world will unfold in our Right now, only then will we discover how ignorant we were in the past."

The carriage ran faster and faster, and soon what passed outside the window turned into some blurred shadows.