User:Scienceapprentice/Roderigo Saenz de Santayana y Spinosa

Rodrigo Saenz de Santayana y Spinosa
Rodrigo Saenz de Santayana y Spinosa: There is minimal information available about him as an individual leaving much of his life hidden in the past. The little information we know about him can't be confirmed only inferred. He is primarily recognized for his translation and added commentary of Johannes de Sacrobosco book De Sphaera Mundi, which he titled La Sphera de Iuan de Sacrobosco. Through careful examination of this work, we are able to glean the majority of what is known about him from small but revealing details. Roderigo was born in either 1539 or 1540. Roberto de Andrade Martins published an article that describes his careful analysis of Roderigo's book. In the article Martins states that Roderigo Saenz de Santayana y Spinosa was a noble of sort. Martins goes on to explain that in the book Rodrigo places his family seal filled with lambrequins and a hand holding a sword over a shield. This seal signifies that his previous ancestors provided military services to the king (Martins, 2004, p.331). We can also infer that he was of noble descent because of the writings of the people at the beginning of the book. The praises do not seem to come from people knowledgeable in the field of astronomy.

La Sphera de Iuan de Sacrobosco
Johannes de Sacrobosco's De Sphaera Mundis was not considered groundbreaking for its time. It was written to be used as a textbook for students at the University of Paris. The book is heavily based on Ptolemy's Almagest and it includes teachings from different Islamic astronomers. De sphaera mundi Rodrigo Saenz de Santayana y Spinosa isn't the only one who wrote a commentary on the book. There are dozens of other astronomers who also wrote commentaries on the book in many different languages all over Europe. Rodrigo's commentary La Sphera de Iuan de Sacrobosco was written in 1565, however it wasn't published until 1567 by Adrian Ghemart in Valladolid (Martins, 2004,p.331). In the commentary Rodrigo places a large emphasis on the importance of understanding astronomy. Which at that point was extremely controversial and risky because the Catholic Church placed heavy scrutiny on astrology. Rodrigo believed that the more one knew about the universe the more he was able to appreciate the work of God and thus love God more deeply (Crowther, 2020). While Rodrigo produced one of the largest commentaries in Spanish (containing 78 pages) it was not the most accurate. In the book he makes several mistakes that Martins and Crowther mention in their article. Martins and Crowther point out that Rodrigo wasn't a well-trained astrologist because the mistakes he made are very simple. Such as confusing the phases of the moon with eclipses. Rodrigo Saenz de Santayana y Spinosa also had a hard time understanding the horizon.

La Sphera de Iuan de Scrobosco was dedicated to Don Iuan of Austria, but it has been mentioned in the libraries of many other nobles. It has been mentioned that nobles such as Don Alonso de Osorio Seventh Marquis of Astorga also had a copy. Which he may have kept in Valladolid or in Astorga. It has also appeared in talks of the collection of the Count of Gondomar Acuna y Sarmiento (Lorenzo, 2022).

If you're interested in reading La Sphera de Ian de Sacrbosco there is a copy on google books that you can look at for free.