This map displays the religious division of Europe circa 1560. Copernicus died 1543 long after the reformation began in 1517, but before the Council of Trent (1545--1563) helped firm the Roman Catholic side of the divide. Galileo was born in 1564; Keplerin 1571.

Copernicus was born in Torun (Thorn in German) on the Vistula in the Kingdom of Poland: Thorn is marked on the map. From 1496--1506, Copernicus was mainly in Italy mostly in Bologna (in the Emilia Romagna region of northern Italy) and Padua (near Venice). From 1512 to the end of his life Copernicus lived in Frombork (Frauenberg in German) on Frisches Haff on the coast of Ermland. Frombork is not marked on the map, but it lies between Koenigsberg and Elbing seen on the north-east region of the map.

Kepler was born in Weil der Stadt in the region of the Duchy of Wuerttemburg (Ca-32. The city was an imperial free city, but a very small one and it is not located on the map. From 1600--1612, Kepler lived in Prague in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Prague was then the capitol of the Holy Roman Empire and Kepler served the Emperor Rudolf II as Imperial Mathematician. He died in 1630 in Regensburg (marked as Ratisbon) on the Danube in Bavaria.

Credit: Willliam R. Shepherd, 1926 Historical Atlas (now public domain). Download site Perry-Casta~neda Library Map Collection. An excellent site for public domain maps.