The Death of Tycho Brahe

JAN 01 1601 · 12:00

Tycho Brahe's tomb in the Týn Church on Old Town Square, where he was buried with imperial honours by Rudolf II eleven days after his death. Place: The Curtius house, Hradčany; buried at the Týn Church Figures: Tycho Brahe · Johannes Kepler, present at the deathbed · Peter Vok of Rožmberk, at whose banquet Tycho fell ill On 13 October 1601 Tycho dines at the house of Peter Vok of Rožmberk in Hradčany. He drinks generously. He is fifty-four and does not, by the etiquette of the imperial court, rise from the table before his host. By the time the meal ends his bladder will not empty. He is carried home in pain. Eleven days of agony follow. Kepler is at the bedside and keeps notes. Modern forensics, including a 2010 exhumation at the Týn Church, finds elevated mercury in the moustache hair. Whether self-administered (Tycho practiced iatrochemistry on himself), accidental (his apothecary supplies were not clean), or poisoned by an enemy (the literature has nominated several, including Kepler) is still argued. Probably the first.