To the Heavens in Rural Lancashire: Jeremiah Horrocks and His Circle, and the Foundation of British Astronomical Research

Abstract

In continental Europe, the astronomical revolution of the Renaissance was the product of great urban centres and powerful patrons who backed and promoted the work of figures such as Galileo and Kepler. In the British Isles, however, things were very different. Queen Elizabeth I and the succeeding Stuart kings were relatively hard up, by European standards, whereas England in particular had one of the richest and most powerful middle classes in the world. This chapter describes how it was from these people that Britain’s own astronomical revolution was born.