Ferdinand Verbiest (南懷仁)

Overview

The translated histories identify Ferdinand Verbiest as an astronomer, official, priest, and scientist. This record brings together 29 passages from 4 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Ferdinand Verbiest	南懷仁	Nan Huairen
Personal name	Ferdinand Verbiest	南懷仁	Nan Huairen
Native language	Ferdinand Verbiest	南懷仁
Native language	Ferdinand Verbist	佛迪南特斯
Personal	Nan Huai Ren	南懷仁	Nan Huairen
Posthumous	Qinmin	勤敏
Title	supervising official	監臣
Given name	Verbiest	懷仁	Huairen
Personal name	Verbiest	南懷仁	Nán Huáirén
Surname	Verbist	阜泌斯脫氏
Surname		南	Nan

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:027:s0005, qingshigao:028:s0051, qingshigao:091:s0141, qingshigao:272:s0097

Roles

Astronomer
Official
Priest
Scientist

Life and dates

Death

Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十七年 · Western Year: AD 1688
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0114

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 康熙十三年 · Regnal Year: 13 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit · qingshigao:028:s0051
Source Date: Text: 康熙八年 · Regnal Year: 8 · Western Year: AD 1669
Explicit · qingshigao:027:s0005
Source Date: Text: 儀象志 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:028:s0054, qingshigao:028:s0051
Source Date: Text: 康熙二十七年 · Western Year: AD 1688
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0114
Source Date: Text: 康熙八年 · Western Year: AD 1669
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0084, qingshigao:272:s0103
Source Date: Text: 康熙初 · Western Year: AD 1662
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:091:s0140, qingshigao:091:s0141
Source Date: Text: 康熙初 · Western Year: AD 1662
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0098
Source Date: Text: 比儀象志 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:028:s0057, qingshigao:028:s0051

Origins and identity

Label: Belgian / 比利時國人
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0097

Career and standing

Label: supervising official / 監臣
Explicit · qingshigao:027:s0005
Label: Director / 監正 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙八年十二月 · Western Year: AD 1669
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0108
Label: Assistant Director / 監副 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0102
Label: Vice Minister of Works / 工部侍郎 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0113
Label: supervising official of the Directorate / 監臣 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙十三年 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit · qingshigao:028:s0051
Label: Directorate of Astronomy / 欽天監 · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:091:s0141
Label: supervising official / 監臣 · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:027:s0005
Label: Vice Minister of Works / 工部侍郎 · Action: posthumously-granted
Explicit · qingshigao:091:s0141
Title: Qinmin / 勤敏 · Action: granted-posthumously
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0114
Status: exempt-from-kneeling-kowtow · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:091:s0141

Places and affiliations

Polity: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:027:s0005, qingshigao:091:s0141, qingshigao:272:s0101
Place: Belgium / 比利時國
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0097
Place: Shengjing / 盛京 · Relation: traveled-to · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十一年 · Western Year: AD 1682
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0112

Learning and skills

Belief: Catholicism / 天主教 · Relation: adherent-of
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:272:s0120

Works and attributed material

Work: Kangxi Perpetual Tables / 康熙永年表 · Relation: author
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0111
Work: Treatise on Observatory Instruments and Phenomena / 靈臺儀象志 · Relation: author
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0110
Work: Tang Ruowang's unfinished eclipse tables / 湯若望未竟之書 · Relation: completed
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0111
Work: Observational Instruments Treatise / 儀象志 · Relation: reviser
Explicit · qingshigao:028:s0051, qingshigao:028:s0054, qingshigao:028:s0057
Kind: memorial · Role: author · Action: impeached Mingxuan calendar errors
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0082
Kind: counsel · Role: author · Other Person Id: Kangxi Emperor (聖祖) · Quoted: false
Explicit · qingshigao:027:s0005

Events and relationships

Kind: administrative · Role: advisor · Action: advised · Other Person Id: Kangxi Emperor (聖祖) · Label: advised remaking of six astronomical instruments / 用監臣南懷仁言，改造六儀 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙八年 · Regnal Year: 8 · Western Year: AD 1669
Explicit · qingshigao:027:s0005
Kind: scientific · Role: observer · Action: calendar testing matched observations
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0084, qingshigao:272:s0086
Kind: court · Role: attendant · Action: inner-court-audiences-standing
Explicit · qingshigao:091:s0141
Kind: technical · Role: maker · Action: rebuilt observatory instruments
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0107, qingshigao:272:s0108, qingshigao:272:s0109
Kind: scholarly · Role: reviser · Action: revised-star-catalog · Outcome: 259 offices and 1,129 stars matching antiquity / 二百五十九座，一千一百二十九星 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 康熙十三年 · Western Year: AD 1674
Explicit · qingshigao:028:s0051
Relation: advisor-of · Person Id: Kangxi Emperor (聖祖)
Explicit · qingshigao:027:s0005

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: writings judged deep and fine versus Yang's attacks · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:272:s0126

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 27Volume 27 Treatises 2: Astronomy 2, Astronomical Instruments · 1 passage

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康熙八年，聖祖用監臣南懷仁言，改造六儀，曰黃道經緯儀、赤道經緯儀、地平經儀、地平緯儀、紀限儀、天體儀。 In Kangxi 8 the Kangxi emperor, on Verbiest's advice, commissioned six new instruments: ecliptic theodolite, equatorial theodolite, azimuth theodolite, altitude quadrant, sextant, and celestial globe.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 28Volume 28 Treatises 3: Astronomy 3, Sun, Moon, and the Five Planets, Fixed Stars, Yellow and Red Paths, the Twelve Stations, and Lunar Lodges, Hun Dan Zhong Xing · 3 passages

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儀象考成云：「康熙十三年，監臣南懷仁修儀象志，星名與古同者，總二百五十九座，一千一百二十九星，比步天歌少二十四座，三百三十五星。 The Compendium records: "In 1674 Verbiest revised the star catalog to 259 offices and 1,129 named stars matching antiquity—24 offices and 335 stars fewer than the Steps to Heaven Song.

近年以來，累加測驗，星官度數，儀象志尚多未合。 Recent remeasurements show many coordinates still diverging from Verbiest's treatise.

計三垣二十八宿，星名與古同者，總二百七十七座，一千三百一十九星，比儀象志多十八座，一百九十星，與步天歌為近。 The revised Three Enclosures and Twenty-eight Mansions list 277 offices and 1,319 classical stars—18 offices and 190 stars more than Verbiest, nearer the Steps to Heaven Song.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 91Volume 91 Treatises 66: Rites 10, Bin Li · 1 passage

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南懷仁官欽天監，贈工部侍郎，凡內廷召見，並許侍立，不行拜跪禮。 Ferdinand Verbiest held office in the Directorate of Astronomy and was posthumously granted the rank of vice minister of works; whenever summoned to the inner court, he was permitted to stand in attendance and was not required to kneel or kowtow.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 272Volume 272 Biographies 59: Tang Ruowang, Yang Guangxian, Nan Huai Ren · 24 passages

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湯若望楊光先南懷仁 Tang Ruowang, Yang Guangxian, and Nan Huai Ren

聖祖既親政，以南懷仁治理曆法，光先坐譴黜，復用新法。 Once Kangxi took personal rule, he put Nan Huai Ren in charge of the calendar, punished and dismissed Yang Guangxian, and restored the new method.

是時朝廷知光先學術不勝任，復用西洋人南懷仁治理曆法。 By then the court knew Yang Guangxian's learning was inadequate and again put the Westerner Nan Huai Ren in charge of the calendar.