From Flanders to Lisbon to the Mughal Empire: Hendrick Uwens and the Mathematical Backstage of a Jesuit Missionary’s Life

Abstract

Abstract Hendrick Uwens (1618-1667) was a Flemish-educated Jesuit who became a missionary to the Mughal Empire. Prior to embarking on his missionary work, he taught mixed mathematics in Lisbon in the early 1640s. Both in Europe and India, Uwens often insisted on portraying himself as a mathematician. Mathematics allowed him to be amongst the first teachers of certain aspects of Galileo’s physics and to promote a mechanical worldview – unusual ideas in early Jesuit circles. He also used mathematics to negotiate his missionary appointments in Asia. This paper analyzes the manuscript writings produced by Uwens throughout his life: the letters he wrote in Flanders to the Superior General requesting to be made a missionary, his Portuguese textbook on mechanics, and his correspondence from India to his Jesuit Superiors in Flanders and Rome.