The discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, Magellan, and other navigators,
had proved the earth to be a globe. Copernicus, a Prussian
astronomer, now demonstrated the fact that it both turns on its axis
and revolves around the sun, but the discovery was not accepted until
many years later.
On the other hand, astrology, witchcraft, and the transmutation of
copper and lead into gold were generally believed in. In preaching
before Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Jewell urged that stringent measures be
taken with witches and sorcerers, saying that through their demoniacal
acts "your Grace's subjects pine away even unto death, their color
fadeth, their flesh rotteth." Lord Bacon and other eminent men held
the same belief, and many persons eventually suffered death for the
practice of witchcraft.