Kircher’s Bohemia: Jesuit Networks and Habsburg Patronage in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

This study analyzes the relations between the Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) and his correspondents in Bohemia and elsewhere in Central Europe. This research began as a digital humanities project. By analyzing data from Kircher’s correspondence with the Palladio visualization tool, we discovered a remarkable number of letters that had been sent from Bohemia, especially early on. The Jesuit network proved crucial for Kircher’s early career advancement, and he benefited, for example, from Jesuit immigration to Bohemia after the Battle of White Mountain. Our research considers how a correspondence network, that was Jesuit in origin, had expanded to include scholars, noblemen, and even the emperor and his court. All of them supported Kircher, discussed his works, and were highly invested in them. Finally, we turn to explore why Kircher ultimately fell out of favour with the imperial court, while remaining a major figure in Jesuit scholarship in Central Europe throughout the seventeenth century.