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The Medieval Church · 1377
The Book of the Heavens and the World
Livre du ciel et du monde
Nicole Oresme · c. 1320–1382
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What it is
A translation of and commentary on Aristotle for the king of France, arguing at length that nothing observable rules out the earth turning daily on its axis — and then declining to believe it.
Why it lasted
The most searching pre-Copernican discussion of the earth's rotation, written in French so that a layman could follow it.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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