The Man in the Moone is a book by the English divine, and Church of England bishop Francis Godwin (1562–1633), describing a "voyage of utopian discovery", Godwin's astronomical theories were greatly influenced by Galileo Galilei's short astronomical treatise (or "pamphlet") published in New Latin on March 13, 1610?
The Man in the Moone The Man in the Moone is a book by the English divine and Church of England bishop Francis Godwin (1562–1633), describing a "voyage of utopian discovery". Long considered to be one of his early works, it is now generally thought to have been written in the late 1620s. It was first published posthumously in 1638 under the pseudonym of Domingo Gonsales. The work is notable for its role in what was called the "new astronomy", the branch of astronomy influenced especially by Nicolaus Copernicus. Although Copernicus is the only astronomer mentioned by name, the book also draws on the theories of Johannes Kepler and William Gilbert. Godwin's astronomical theories were greatly influenced by Galileo Galilei's "Sidereus Nuncius" (1610), but unlike Galileo, Godwin proposes that the dark spots on the Moon are seas, one of many parallels with Kepler's "Somnium sive opus posthumum de astronomia lunari" of 1634.
Sun and moon allegory The Sun and Moon Allegory is used to image a medieval political theory that was espoused by the Roman Catholic Church and instantiated to some extent in medieval political practice. Finding this imagery in the "Book of Genesis", the Allegory images authentic spiritual authority as the Sun and any and all civil, or political or secular, authority as the Moon. By doing so, it illustrates that the Roman Catholic Pope, as "Supreme Pontiff", "Vicar of Christ", et cetera, and therefore the supreme universal spiritual authority on Earth, is like the Sun that is the one source of light for itself and all other celestial bodies orbiting it; while the Holy Roman Emperor, as symbolic and intended supreme civil, political, and secular authority on Earth, and having theoretically received his authority from and at the pleasure of the Pope, is like the Moon - that is, dependent upon the Sun for any illumination, merely reflects solar light, and ultimately has no light without the Sun. This theory dominated European political theory and practice in the 13th century. It is related to the general theory of Papal supremacy and "plenitudo potestatis" as articulated by the Roman Catholic Church.