Conviction of Giordano Bruno

In 1600, the Vatican convicted scholar Giordano Bruno to death.

Giordano Bruno lived a life on the move, his philosophy rejected by many. Born in 1548, Bruno received a high education after entering a Dominican convent in 1565. In 1572 they ordained him a priest but almost immediately regretted it. A few years later they charged Bruno with heresy. He fled.

From that time on he wandered to different countries developing his philosophies. He taught that the planets moved around the sun, but he insisted on infinite universes rather than the teaching of a finite universe. He also felt that religions could coexist if they opened up discussion rather than argue.

For these and other reasons, most of the religions rejected him, especially the Roman Catholic. In the 1590s he was caught and put on trial. His trial lasted eight years. The Pope wanted him to completely reject all his previous teachings. He refused and in 1600 they convicted him and sentenced him to death. He burned at the stake on February 17, 1600.