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John Napier and the Devil | References |
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At the turn of the 16th century, the
Catholic Church had power equal to that of the Roman Empire; In
Scotland, Catholic rule was being enforced by Queen Mary, but uprisings by
the protestants were tearing the country apart. John Napier, like
his father before him, was a devout protestant who was very much involved
in the religious controversies of the era, , the same way many of today's
great minds take an interest in politics.
As we now know, Napier considered mathematics a hobby, and Theology, his lifelong career. When in 1593, Napier published "A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John", a work in which he claimed his calculations based on the Book of Revelations pointed to Pope Clement VIII being the "Antichrist", and that the end of the world would come in either 1688 or 1700. Napier sent the following text as a letter to which he addressed to King James VI: "Let it be your Majesty's continuall study to reforme
the universall enormities of your country, and first to begin at your
Majesty's owne house, familie and court, and purge the same of all
suspicion of Papists and Atheists and Newtrals, whereof this Revelation
forthtelleth that the number shall greatly increase in Not only did Napier consider this (throughout his entire life) to be his greatest achievement, but it was also considered important by the Scots as it was the first Scottish text to interpret the Scriptures. The book also achieved some degree of popularity in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. However, not everyone saw Napier as an "enlightened" man. Many believed the reclusive thinker to be in league with the horned one himself, to be a servant of the Devil. After all, the grass on his estate was greener (due to his great agricultural skills), and he was highly intelligent, not to mention his late night walks in his nightgown and cap, and his reported usage of a black cock (rooster) to root out a thieving servant. One can only imagine his critics exclaim: For this must surely be the work of a warlock! But far from it, to catch one of his servants who had been pilfering tools from the supply shed, Napier, the "Marvelous Merchiston”, simply put lamp soot on his black rooster, and put it in the dark shed, and lined up his servants, telling them his black cock had the mysterious power of divination, and could single out the culprit. Each man was sent in and asked to simply touch the bird, knowing full well that the thief would sneak by without touching the cockerel, when all the servants emerged with black hands except for one, Napier nabbed the thief. It was much easier for average folk to consider Napier's ingenuity to be wizardry than plain old ingenuity, for it required no further reasoning on their part. |
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