Helisaeus Röslin and freedom of religion

• Main Author: Miguel A. Granada
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Universidad Complutense de Madrid 2014-06-01
• Series: Anales del Seminario de Historia de la Filosofía
• Subjects: cronología; escatología; final de la historia; libertad de conciencia; libertad de religión; novedades celestes; planetas mediceos; proporciones numéricas en historia; reforma del calendario; segunda venida de Cristo; Tabella des Welt Spiegels.
• Online Access: http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ASHF/article/view/45612

Helisaeus Röslin does not figure significantly in historical surveys of religious tolerance. Nevertheless, Carlos Gilly has shown in several works that the Swabian-Alsatian physician tirelessly defended throughout his life the need to uphold the freedom of religion and of conscience, both as a religious postulate and as a factor for economic progress and social peace. This article focuses on Röslin’s concept of religious freedom in relation to his concept of history, his work on chronology and his interpretation of the celestial novelties of the period, particularly the nova of 1604 and Galileo’s discovery of the Medicean planets in 1610, just as they appear in two of Röslin’s later works: Mitternächtige Schiffarth (1611) and the Tabella des Welt Spiegels (1612).