Lansbergen, Philip

Born Ghent, (Belgium), 25 August 1561

Philip Lansbergen was an early advocate of a moving Earth and Sun‐centered system.

Born of Protestant parents who left the Netherlands for religious reasons in 1566, young Philip Lansbergen grew up in France and England, where he was educated in mathematics and theology. Upon his return to the Netherlands without a degree in 1579, he accepted employment as a minister in Antwerp, but when this city was conquered by the Spanish in 1585, Lansbergen went to Leiden to apply himself to theology. Shortly after he married Sara Lievaerts in 1586, Lansbergen moved to Goes to be a minister again. Here, alongside his religious acts, he developed his liberal views on astronomy, was engaged in politics, and practiced medicine.

In 1613, after a series of minor incidents, Lansbergen