Comment by consp

4 hours ago

> no state grants or public research funds for mathematics during the 17th century.

Since the state was the wealthy privates, for all practical purposes there was by patronage (or the wealthy elite themselves).

Not so relevant to this discussion, since if you are funded by patronage networks, you need to justify your work to your patron. If you are funded by grants or public research funds, you need to justify your work to the general public.