Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Volume I Part 12

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 58. Western Hemisphere of Ulpius Globe, 1541.]

To the continent of South America is given both the name "America" and "Mundus Novus," while numerous provincial names appear, as "Peru,"

"Bresilia," "Terra de giganti." The land areas of both the New and the Old World are liberally ornamented with representations of the local animal life, the traditional belief in the existence of cannibals in Mundus Novus being especially prominent. The oceans are made to abound in sea monsters, and vessels sail hither and thither over the courses then followed by navigators. Though South America has the entire coast line represented, that section stretching southward from Peru is marked as "terra incognita." Separated from the mainland by the Strait of Magellan, marked by the legend, "initium freti magellanici," is an extensive land area, that part lying to the southwest of the strait being called "Regio Patalis," that to the southeast as "Terra Australis adhuc incomperta," while from this particular region there stretches away to the east, as far as the meridian pa.s.sing through the southern point of Africa, a peninsula across which is the legend "Lusitani ultra promotorium bone spei i Calicutium tendentes hanc terra viderut, veru non accesserunt, quamobrem neq nos certi quidq? afferre potuimus." "The Portuguese sailing beyond the Cape of Good Hope to Calicut, saw this land but did not reach it, wherefore neither have we been able to a.s.sert anything with certainty concerning it."

In the main Ptolemy served as a source of information for the regions of the East, although much of the information which the earlier years of the century had contributed to a knowledge of that far-away country is recorded.

The large size of the globe gave opportunity for the inscription of numerous geographical details, and of this opportunity the engraver fully availed himself. It may well be referred to as one of the most interesting of the early globes, and its map records as possessing great scientific value.

Tiraboschi alludes to a globe possessed by Cardinal Pietro Bembo (1470-1547), citing a letter written by Giacomo Faletti at Venice, June 3, 1561, to Alfonso II D'Este of Ferrara, in which mention is made of the same. "I have bought," says Faletti, "the globe of Cardinal Bembo for fifteen scudi which is the price of the metal composing it, and I have given it out to be decorated hoping to make of it the most beautiful globe which is possessed by any Prince in the world. It will cost altogether 25 scudi."[251] This globe must have been made before the year 1547, in which year occurred the death of the cardinal. Fiorini expresses the opinion that it probably was owned by him while making his residence at Padua, when, free from care, he was giving himself to study and to the collection of scientific and artistic objects.[252]

One of Spain's distinguished chart makers of the middle of the sixteenth century was Alonso de Santa Cruz (1500-1572).[253] Although but few of his cartographical productions are known, there is to be found in the survivals abundant evidence of his marked ability. We learn concerning him that by royal order of July 7, 1536, he was created cosmographer of the Casa de Contratacion at a salary of 30,000 maravedis, that in this capacity it was his duty to examine and pa.s.s upon sailing charts, that shortly after the above-named date he became Cosmografo Major, and that some time before his death, which occurred in the year 1572, Philip II appointed him to the office of Royal Historian.[254] His best-known work is his 'Yslario general del mondo,' of which three signed ma.n.u.script copies are known, no one of which, however, appears to be complete. Two of these copies are to be found in the Royal Library of Vienna;[255] the third, now belonging to the City Library of Besancon, was at one time in the possession of Cardinal Granvella.[256] The National Library of Madrid possesses a fine ma.n.u.script atlas, which has been generally attributed to Garcia Cespedes, since his name appears on the frontispiece, but which now is thought by those who have most carefully examined it to be the work of Santa Cruz. There are evidences that it has been somewhat altered in parts, which alterations may have been the work of Cespedes.[257]

In addition to his 'Yslario' we still have his remarkable map of the city of Mexico, belonging to the University Library of Upsala,[258] and one copy of his world map in gores (Fig. 59), preserved in the Royal Library of Stockholm. It is this last-named map which especially interests us here.[259]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 59. Gore Map of Alonso de Santa Cruz, 1542.]

Though the form of the map suggests that it had been the author's intention to paste it on the surface of a prepared sphere, there appears to be good reason for thinking that this particular copy was not intended to serve him in a terrestrial globe construction. It is surrounded with an ornamental border finely executed in gold and white, and stretching across the top is a waving scroll in which has been written the inscription "Nova verior et integra totius...o...b..s descriptio nunc primum in lucem edita per Alfonsum de Sancta Cruz Caesaris Charoli V. archicosmographum. A.D. M.D.XLII." "A very new and complete description of the whole world now first prepared by Alfonso de Santa Cruz Cosmographer Major of the Emperor Charles V. 1542." The original map is drawn on three connected sheets of parchment, as Dahlgren states in his excellent monograph, the total dimensions of which are 79 by 144 cm. In the lower corner on the left is the dedication: "Potentiss. Caes.

Carlo V. Usi sumus et hic ad terrae, marisque simul, demonstractionem, sectione alia, Augustiss. Caesar, per equinotialem lineam Polum quemque, dividui ipsius globi, singula medietas obtinens, depressoque utroque in planum Polo, equinotialem ipsam secantes, rationem prospectivam servavimus, quemadmodum et in alia, veluti solutis Polis, itidem in planum discisis meridianis propalavimus, neque pretermissis hic longitudinum lat.i.tudinumque graduum parallelorum climatumque dimensionibus. Vale." "O powerful Caesar! we have, here also in this map of land and sea, made use of a new division of the globe; namely, at the equator, so that each half of the globe thus divided has one of the poles as its center. By depressing the pole to the plane of the equator and by making incisions from the equator to the pole, we have made a projection similar to that presented to the public on the other map with detached poles and with the meridians separated on the same plane, without disregarding the correct dimensions of the longitude, lat.i.tudes, degrees, parallels, and climates. Farewell."

The map represents the world in two hemispheres, a northern and a southern, each drawn on thirty-six half gores or sectors. The following appears to have been the method of construction. With the poles as centers, and with a radius equal to one fourth of the length of a meridian circle of the globe he drew his large circle or circles representing the equator and forming the bases of each of the half gores. Each of the large or equatorial circles he divided into thirty-six equal arcs, and from the points establishing such divisions he drew a meridian line extending in each hemisphere to the pole or center of his circle. These meridian lines were graduated and lines or arcs representing parallels of lat.i.tude were drawn intersecting them at intervals of ten degrees, having the pole as the common center in each hemisphere. Marking off on each of these parallels or arcs both to right and left a distance representing five degrees of the earth's longitude, he thus established the points through which to draw his meridians which marked the boundaries of each sector, leaving between the sectors equal s.p.a.ces to be cut away should the sectors be used for pasting on the surface of a sphere. Every fifth meridian and every tenth parallel is drawn in black; the equator, the tropics, the polar circles, and the prime meridian are gilded. The prime meridian runs somewhat to the west of the Island of Fayal. At longitude 20 degrees west is the papal line of demarcation which is called "Meridia.n.u.s particionis," crossing South America south of the mouth of the Amazon. On the one side of this line in the southern hemisphere appears the flag of Spain, on the other that of Portugal, thus designating specifically the "Hemisperium Regis Castelle," and the "Hemisperium Regis Portugalie." California is referred to as "y? q descubrio el marq's del valle," "island discovered by the Marquis del Valle," and the coast north of this point is called "tera q cnbio(?) a descubrio de ant? d' medoca," "land to discover which Don Antonio de Mendoza sent out an expedition." In drawing the outlines of his continents he seems to have made use of the best available sources. The New World follows the Sevillan type, as represented in the Ribeiro maps, particularly the eastern or Atlantic coast regions, including, though in somewhat abbreviated form, the references to Gomez, Ayllon, and Narvaez. There is no distinct coast line north of California, which line follows the meridian of 105 degrees as far north as the Arctic circle, hence there is no positive representation of an Asiatic connection, but rather the indication of a doubt, as was indicated on maps of the type.

If Santa Cruz intended his peculiar gores to serve in the construction of a terrestrial globe, we cannot find that he impressed his method on the globe makers of the period. We seem to have but one striking imitation of his work, viz., in the gore map of Florianas, to which reference is made below.[260]

To that striking feature of many of the globe maps of the second quarter of the sixteenth century, in which an Asiatic connection of the New World is represented, attention has been called in the preceding pages; there likewise has been noted the fact that not a few of the map makers of the period expressed a certain degree of doubt as to whether the prevailing idea of the first quarter of the century (that the lands discovered in the west const.i.tuted a veritable New World) should be given over, preferring to omit altogether the west and northwest coast line of North America, or to make very indefinite allusion to the geography of the region.

We now come to the consideration of a map and globe maker who carries us back to the geographical notion of the earlier years of the century, namely, to the idea that the New World was nothing less than an independent continent. The activities of Gerhard Mercator (1512-1594) (Fig. 60) were epoch making, and a reference to him more detailed than has been accorded his predecessors is fitting.[261] He was a native of Rupelmunde, a small town situated in the Pays de Waes in East Flanders, not far from the city of Antwerp. His parents died while he was still a mere lad, but in a great-uncle he found a faithful guardian and a generous benefactor, who took care that his education should be the best that was afforded by the schools of the Netherlands. In 1527, at the age of fifteen, he entered the College of Bois-le-Duc in Brabant, where he studied for three and one half years, and in 1530 he was matriculated as a student in the University of Louvain, famous throughout Europe at that early date as a center of learning.[262]

During his university career he appears to have given much thought to the problems of science, including the "origin, nature, and destiny" of the physical universe. While these studies did not bear directly upon that branch of science in which he was to win for himself such marked distinction in later years, they indicate the early existence of a desire for knowledge scientific rather than for knowledge theological, notwithstanding the fact that his guardian and patron was an ecclesiastic.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 60. Portraits of Gerhard Mercator and Jodocus Hondius.]

In Gemma Frisius, an eminent professor of mathematics in the University of Louvain, and at one time a pupil of Apia.n.u.s, he appears, as before noted, to have found a sympathetic friend and counselor.[263] It probably was Frisius who suggested a career for the young scientist, since we find him, shortly after graduation, turning his attention to the manufacture of mathematical instruments, to the drawing, engraving, and coloring of maps and charts, wherein he found a vocation for the remainder of his life. In 1537 his first publication, a map of Palestine, appeared, to which he gave the t.i.tle "Amplissima Terrae Sanctae descriptio."[264] Immediately thereafter, at the instance of a certain Flemish merchant, he undertook the preparation of a map of Flanders, making for the same extensive original surveys. This map was issued in the year 1540.[265] Mercator's first published map of the world bears the date 1538. This map was drawn in the double cordiform projection which seems first to have been employed by Orontius Finaeus in his world map of 1531.[266] In this map Mercator departed from the geographical notions generally entertained at this particular period which made America an extension of Asia. He represented the continent of Asia separated from the continent of America by a narrow sea, an idea which increased in favor with geographers and cartographers long before actual discovery proved this to be a fact. This map is one to which great importance attaches, but it is not the first world map on which there was an attempt to fasten the name America upon both the northern and the southern continents of the New World, although it frequently has been referred to as such; this honor, so far as we at present know, belongs to a globe map referred to and briefly described above.[267] His large map of Europe, the draughting of which appears to have claimed much of his time for a number of years, was published in the year 1554, and contributed greatly to his fame as a cartographer.[268] In 1564 appeared his large map of England,[269] and in the same year his map of Lorraine based upon his own original surveys.[270] In the year 1569 a master work was issued, this being his nautical chart, "ad usum navigantium," as he said of it, based upon a new projection which he had invented.[271] It is the original chart setting forth the Mercator projection which is now so extensively employed in map making. In the year 1578 he issued his revised edition of the so-called Ptolemy maps, and eight years later these same maps again, revised with the complete text of Ptolemy's work on geography. Mercator expressly stated it to be his purpose, in this last work, not to revise the text in order to make it conform to the most recent discoveries and geographical ideas, but the rather to have a text conforming, as nearly as possible, to Ptolemy's original work. This edition still ranks as one of the best which has ever been issued. His great work, usually referred to as his 'Atlas of Modern Geography,' the first part of which appeared in 1585, and a second part in 1590, was not completed during his lifetime, though but four months after his death, in the year 1594, Rumold Mercator published his father's collection of maps, adding a third part to those which previously had been issued. It was this publication which bore the t.i.tle 'Atlas sive cosmographicae meditationes de fabrica mundi et fabricati figura.' Apparently for the first time the term "atlas" had here been employed for a collection of maps, a term which we know had its origin with Gerhard Mercator himself. A reference to his general cartographical work more detailed than the above cannot here find place.

It is his globes which call for special consideration.

There is reason for thinking it was Nicolas Perrenot, father of Cardinal Granvella, who suggested to Mercator the construction of a globe; it at least was to this great Prime Minister of the Emperor Charles V that he dedicated his first work of this character, a terrestrial globe dated 1541.[272] That Mercator had constructed such a globe had long been known through a reference in Ghymmius' biography, yet it had been thought, until 1868, that none of the copies of this work had come down to us. In that year there was offered for sale, in the city of Ghent, the library of M. Benoni-Verelst and among its treasures was a copy of Mercator's engraved globe gores of the year 1541, which were acquired by the Royal Library of Brussels, where they may still be found. Soon thereafter other copies of these gores, mounted and unmounted, came to light in Paris, in Vienna, in Weimar, in Nurnberg, and later yet other copies in Italy, until at present no less than twelve copies are known.

These gores were constructed to cover a sphere 41 cm. in diameter, and the map represents the entire world, with its seas, its continents, and its islands. The names of the various regions of the earth, of the several empires, and of the oceans are inscribed in Roman capital letters; the names of the kingdoms, of the provinces, of the rivers, are inscribed in cursive Italic letters, while for the names of the several peoples he employed a different form of letter. The gores, twelve in number, were engraved and printed in groups of threes (Fig. 61), each gore having an equatorial diameter of thirty degrees. Mercator worked out mathematically the problem dealing with the proper relation of the length of each of the gores to its width, or of its longer diameter to its shorter, in his endeavor to devise a map as nearly perfect as possible in shape for covering a ball, knowing full well the difficulty of fitting a flat surface to one that is curved. Each of the gores he truncated twenty degrees from the poles, and for the polar areas he prepared a circular section drawn according to the rule applicable to an equidistant polar projection. It appears, as before noted, that he was the first to apply this method in globe construction.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 61. Six of Twelve Terrestrial Globe Gores by Gerhard Mercator, 1541.]

The ecliptic, the tropics, and the polar circles are represented at their proper intervals, with other parallels at intervals of ten degrees, and meridians at intervals of fifteen degrees. As in his double cordiform map of 1538, his prime meridian pa.s.ses through the island of "Forte Ventura," one of the Fortunate Islands of the ancients, but which had long been known as the Canary Islands. To his globe map he added a feature of special value to seamen. From the numerous compa.s.s or wind roses, distributed with some regularity over its surface, he drew loxodromic lines, or curved lines cutting the meridians at equal angles.[273] This feature could not have failed to win the approval of navigators, since they well knew that the previous attempts to represent these rhumbs as straight lines on maps drawn on a cylindrical projection, led to numerous errors in navigation. A second somewhat curious and interesting feature of his globe, a feature which I do not recall to have noticed in any other, is the representation in various localities on land and on sea of certain stars, his idea being that he could thus a.s.sist the traveler to orient himself at night. In his list of stars on his globe map, we find, for example, "Sinister humerus Bootes" near lat.i.tude 40 degrees north, longitude 210 degrees; "Corona septentrionalis" near lat.i.tude 29 degrees north, longitude 227 degrees; "Cauda Cygni" near lat.i.tude 44 degrees north, longitude 305 degrees; "Humerus Pegasus" near lat.i.tude 12 degrees north, longitude 340 degrees; "Crus Pegasi" near lat.i.tude 26 degrees north, longitude 339 degrees; six of the important stars in "Ursa Major," including "Stella Polaris," and in the present California, somewhat strangely prophetic, "Caput Draconis."

On the ninth gore, counting from the prime meridian eastward, is a legend giving the author's name, the date of issue, and a reference to the publication privilege, reading "Edebat Gerardus Mercator Rupelmunda.n.u.s c.u.m privilegio Ces Maiestatis ad an s.e.x Lovanii an 1541."

"Published by Gerard Mercator of Rupelmunde under the patent of His Imperial Majesty for six years at Louvain in the year 1541." In a corresponding position on the seventh gore is the dedication "Ill.u.s.tris: Dno Nicolao Perrenoto Domino a Granvella Sac. Caesaree Ma?? a consiliis primo dedecatu." "Dedicated to the very distinguished Seigneur Nicholas Perrenot, Seigneur de Granvella; first counselor of His Imperial Majesty," over which is the coat of arms of the Prime Minister. On gore six we read "Ubi & quibus argumentis Lector ab aliorum descriverimus editione libellus noster indicabit." "Reader, where and in what subjects we have copied from the publications of other men will be pointed out in our booklet," in which there appears to be a reference to an intended publication wherein his globe was to be described and its uses indicated. No such work by Mercator is known to exist, although we find that in the year 1552 he issued a small pamphlet bearing the t.i.tle 'Declaratio insigniorum utilitatum quae sunt in globo terrestri, caelesti et anulo astronomico. Ad invictissimum Romanum Imperatorus Carolum Quintum.' 'A presentation of the particular advantages of the terrestrial, celestial, and armillary spheres. Dedicated to the invincible Roman Emperor Charles Fifth.'[274]

He tells us in one of his legends how to find the distance between two places represented on the globe, observing, "Si quorum voles locoru distantia cognoscere ... trasferto, hic tibi, q libet particula itercepta millaria referet, Hisp: 18, Gal: 20, Germ: 15, Milia pa.s.s; 60, Stadia 500," from which it appears that he gives as the value of an equatorial degree 60 Italian miles or 500 stadia, equivalent to 18 Spanish miles, to 20 French miles, and to 15 German miles. Finding numerous errors in Ptolemy's geography of the Old World, he tells us that he undertook to correct these errors from the accounts of Marco Polo, whom he calls "M. Paulo Veneto," and from the accounts of Vartema, whom he calls "Ludovico, Rom Patricii." Between parallels 50 degrees and 60 degrees south lat.i.tude and meridians 60 degrees and 70 degrees east longitude is the inscription "Psitacorum regio a Lusitanis anno 1500 ad millia pa.s.sum bis mille praetervectis, sic appellata quod psitacos elat inaudite magnitudinis, ut qui ternos cubitos aequent longitudine."

"Region of parrots discovered by the Portuguese in 1500 who sailed along 2000 miles; so called because it has parrots of unheard-of size, measuring three cubits in length." America, he notes, is called New India, "America a multis hodie Noua India dicta." In the Antarctic region an inscription tells of the notion entertained by many geographers of his day and by some in an earlier day, that in addition to the four known parts of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, there is here a fifth part of large size stretching for a number of degrees from the pole, which region is called "terra Australe." Mercator undertook, in Chapter X of his 'Atlas,' to demonstrate that a large Antarctic continent must of necessity exist as a balance to the weight of the other four continents or parts of the world lying in the northern hemisphere.[275]

In 1551 he issued his copper engraved gores for a celestial globe, dedicating the same to Prince George of Austria, natural son of the Emperor Maximilian, who was Bishop of Brixen, Archbishop of Valencia, and Bishop of Liege in the year 1544. A set of these gores was likewise acquired by the Royal Library of Brussels at the same time it acquired the terrestrial globe gores referred to above.[276] The dedication reads "Ampliss: Preculi Principiq? Ill?? Georgio ab Austria Dei dispositione Episcopo Leodiensi, Duci Bullonensi, Marchioni Francimotensi, Comiti Lossensi &c~ mecaenati optime merito dd. Gerardus Mercator Rupelmunda.n.u.s." "To the Magnificent Protector and Prince, the very distinguished George of Austria, by the Grace of G.o.d, Bishop of Liege, Duke of Bouillon, Marquis of Francimontensi, Count of Lossensi, the very splendid patron of arts and science, dedicated by Gerard Mercator of Rupelmunde." Near the above inscription we find the date and place of issue given as follows, "Lovanii anno Domini 1551 mense Aprili," and a reference to his privilege "Inhibitum est ne quis hoc opus imitetur, aut alibi factum vendat, intra fines Imperii, vel provinciarum inferiorum Caes: Mtis an: te decennium, sub poenis & mulctis in diplomatibus cotentis. Oberburger & Soete subscrib." "All persons are forbidden to reproduce this work or to sell it when made elsewhere within the Empire or the Low Countries of His Imperial Majesty until after ten years, under the penalties and fines prescribed in the patent. Signed by Oberburger and Soete." It clearly was the intention that this should serve as the companion of his terrestrial globe of 1541, described above, since the gores are of the same size, each of the twelve being truncated in the same manner, and the circular section being prepared for the polar areas. Mercator's merits as an astronomer by no means equaled his merits as a geographer. However, his celestial globe, by reason of the exactness of the composition, by reason of its simplicity, and by reason of the artistic skill exhibited in the workmanship, is a most worthy work of that great scientist. On this globe are represented the forty-eight constellations of Ptolemy, to which have been added three which he calls Antinous, Lepus and Cincinnus, the first formed of six stars and located on the equator below the constellation Aquila, the second in the southern hemisphere under the feet of Orion, and the third in the northern hemisphere near the tail of Ursa Major.[277] His constellations, as well as the princ.i.p.al stars in the same, have, in the majority of instances, Greek, Latin, and Arabic names. It does not appear that Mercator felt himself bound to a strictly scientific representation and interpretation of the celestial bodies, for he pays more or less homage to astrology, inscribing on the horizon circle of his globe the horoscope as used by astrologists in calculating nativities, perhaps recognizing, from a business standpoint, the advantage of an appeal to certain superst.i.tions which he found still lingering among both the learned and the unlearned.

By reason of their size and the great care with which they had been prepared, his globes must have found general favor, not only with those of rank and distinction, for whom copies _de luxe_ were issued, but with geographers and scholars in general, who found it possible to obtain at a comparatively small price the more modest copies. That they found favor in Germany is a.s.sured us by Mercator's correspondence with Camerarius of Nurnberg, in which mention is made of the sale of six pairs of his globes in that city, and of others at the Frankfort book market.[278] Thomas Blundeville tells us in his 'Exercises' that Mercator's globes were in common use in England until 1592,[279] and the number of his globes which have become known since 1868 in various parts of Europe a.s.sure us that copies of that master's work must have been easily obtainable by those interested. Ruscelli, in referring to printed spheres, notes that they usually were made small, and that those of large size are not exact, but he adds that he had seen some that were three and one half palms in diameter, such as that which years ago Aurelio Porcelaga sent to him to examine, printed in Germany, and given to him by Monseigneur Granvella, to whom or to whose father, not recalling which, it had been dedicated, but which he remembered was very beautiful and very exact, being evidently engraved by one very expert, judged by the beauty of the design and the artistic quality of the letters.[280] Fiorini is of the opinion that these globes were Mercator's, and that they were carried into Italy in the late years of the sixteenth century when a friendly relationship existed between certain Italian princes and the Spanish authorities then ruling in Flanders.[281]

Attention has been called above to the acquisition by the Royal Library of Brussels of a copy each of the terrestrial and the celestial globe gores, and that the discovery of the same having created an especial interest in his work, other examples were soon brought to light in Italy, in Spain, in France, in Germany, and in Austria. A pair may be found in the Museum Astronomique of Paris, a pair in the Royal Library of Vienna, a pair in the Germanisches National Museum in Nurnberg, a pair in the archives of the town of St. Nicholas de Waes, a copy of the terrestrial globe in the Grand Ducal Library of Weimar, a copy of the celestial in the Convent of Adamont, Istria, and a copy of the terrestrial in the Convent of Stams, Tyrol. Dr. Buonanno, director of the Biblioteca Governativa of Cremona, in 1890 briefly described a pair of Mercator's globes belonging to that library, and what he was able to learn as a result of their damaged condition of Mercator's method of construction is not without interest. He found that over a framework composed of thin, narrow strips of wood had been pasted first a cloth covering, over this a thin layer of plaster and that to this was added a covering of a pastelike substance about six or seven millimeters in thickness, consisting of plaster, wood fiber, or sawdust, and glue. On this prepared surface had then been pasted the engraved gores. The learned librarian's conjecture as to the manner in which these globes found their way into Italy, if correct, is of interest, pointing as it does to the formation of a great art collection in that period. He recalls that Caesar Speciano, Bishop of Cremona, had been sent in 1592 as nuncio to Germany, and that he had occasion, during his mission, to attend to certain matters pertaining to the inheritance of William, Duke of Cleves, in whose country there must still have existed the workshop of Mercator. The opinion is expressed that on the return of the Bishop to Italy he carried with him many books and art objects, which had come into his hands either through purchase or through gift, and that the same pa.s.sed into the possession of the Cremona Library, a library belonging to the Jesuits until the time of the suppression of that order.[282]

The Biblioteca Munic.i.p.ale of Urbania possesses a pair of Mercator's globes of 1541 and 1551, which are reported to be in a fair state of preservation. It is thought that they may have come into the library's collection through the last reigning member of the house, Duke Francesco Maria.

In the Museo Astronomico of Rome two copies of the terrestrial globe of 1541 may be found, and a copy of the celestial of the year 1551. These, it will be seen from the reproduction (Fig. 62), are not in a good state of preservation, although a very considerable portion of the map records can be read.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 62. Terrestrial Globe of Gerhard Mercator, 1541.]

In addition to the globes of Mercator referred to above, it is known that after taking up his residence in Duisburg he constructed a small celestial globe of gla.s.s, on the surface of which he engraved with a diamond the several constellations, and that he likewise constructed a very small terrestrial globe of wood, apparently such as were later called pocket globes, having all geographical records given as accurately presented as on the larger globes.[283]

How great was the direct influence of Mercator on globe making activities, it may not be easy to trace, but the evidence seems to be conclusive, as Breusing has noted, that his should be counted the greatest, among those active within this field, for fifty years and more, following the issue of his first work in the year 1541. It is among the Italian globe makers, and those in the peninsula interested in such instruments, that we seem to find the first and most striking evidence of his influence, which will be noted in the following pages.

Giovanni Gianelli of Cremona is referred to, by certain early Italian writers, as a clock and globe maker of remarkable ability,[284] the justice of which estimate is abundantly supported by the character of the one example of his handiwork extant, belonging to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana of Milan, to which it came from the collection of Canon Manfred Settala about the middle of the seventeenth century. This is an armillary sphere of bra.s.s, the diameter of its largest or zodiacal circle being 14 cm. This circle is graduated and has engraved on its outer surface the names of the twelve constellations. It is likewise provided with a graduated equatorial circle, with polar circles and those representing the tropics. At the common center of the several rings is a small ball, 5 cm. in diameter, which is made to serve as a terrestrial globe. On one of the circles is the inscription "Janellus MDXLIX Mediolani fecit," and we further find inscribed the name "Hermetis Delphini," which perhaps tells us of a one-time possessor. In a volume describing the museum of Canon Settala, and issued in the year 1666, Gianelli and his work are thus referred to:

"To that great man Gianelli of Cremona there is due great honor, whose personal qualities made him an especial favorite of His Catholic Majesty Philip II. Among the many globes which he constructed our museum possesses one of surpa.s.sing excellence, in that it exhibits, in addition to other movements, that which astrologers call the movement of trepidation, and which movement was set forth in theory by Thebit."[285]

The Emperor Charles V, when in Pavia, we are told, had his attention directed to an armillary sphere constructed by Dondi in the fourteenth century. On finding this sphere much injured by rust and usage he called upon Giovanni Gianelli to restore it, but it was reported to be beyond repair. Thereupon the Emperor gave direction to have the sphere reproduced, which, when completed, was carried by His Majesty to Spain.

No trace of this work by Gianelli can now be found.

Girolamo Fracastoro, a distinguished Italian physician, a famous man of letters, and a great philosopher of the first half of the sixteenth century, was also a skilful globe maker, as we learn from Ramusio,[286]

and from the sketch of his life which usually appears as an introduction to his collected works.[287]

Vasari also gives us certain information concerning him, noting that he a.s.sisted Francesco dai Libri in the construction of his large globe,[288] and we are led to believe that he was often consulted as an expert by globe makers of his day. While none of those he may have constructed are extant, what is known of his interest in these aids to geographical and astronomical studies ent.i.tles him here to a word of reference.

Ramusio says[289] that on the occasion of a visit, with the architect Michele S. Micheli, to the home of their common friend, Girolamo Fracastoro, at Caffi, they found him in the company of a gentleman, a very distinguished philosopher and mathematician, who was showing him an instrument based on a newly found movement of the heavens; that after they had considered for some time this new movement, they had brought before them a large and very detailed globe of the entire world, and about this the distinguished gentleman began to speak. Fiorini argues, somewhat ingeniously, that this globe may have been one constructed by Mercator in 1541, if not one by Libri, in the making of which Fracastoro himself had a.s.sisted. The letters of Fracastoro a.s.sure us that he made use of globes in his geographical and astronomical studies, and that his friends did likewise. January 25, 1533, he wrote Ramusio, "If you should chance to speak to that master who made your metal spheres, I should like you to ascertain how much a simple but perfect one, one foot in diameter, would cost." Writing again to Ramusio January 10, 1534, concerning the "Southern Cross," he adds: "Just reflect a little, and if you have not sent away the celestial globe, look at that Centaurus and you will find all that I am writing to you. You might perhaps write about these doubts to Mr. Oviedo, or perhaps I might; it would be a good idea and we might ask him about the very prominent star in the right foot to ascertain whether it is a separate star or is one of those in the 'Southern Cross.'" On the twenty-fifth of January, 1548, he again wrote to Ramusio: "On my globe Zeilan is just below the Cape of Calicut, on the equinoctial line, and it may be that which Jambolo discovered was Zeilan or Taprobana; I am inclined to believe it was Taprobana." His letter of May 10, 1549, also to Ramusio, is of special interest, indicating, as it does, his estimate of the value of terrestrial and celestial globes in the study of astrology (astronomy) and geography.

"In regard to what you write me about M. Paolo, I thoroughly approve of his taking up the sacred study of astrology and geography, subjects of study for every learned gentleman and n.o.bleman, as he would have as his guide and teacher the very well-known Piedmontese to whom we owe so many excellent things, but first I should advise you to have M. Paolo construct two solid spheres. On one of these should be represented all the celestial constellations, and the circles should all have their place, that is to say, not as Ptolemy represents the stars as they were located in his time, but according to the investigations of our own times, that is, about twenty degrees further east. The other should be a terrestrial globe constructed according to modern ideas, which he should always follow in his studies. He will use the first globe for a thousand and one things; it will be his guide by day and by night, and by making use of the quadrant he will be able easily to locate the things to be seen in the heavens. Then when he shall have been well started I want that you should have him read that little book of mine on h.o.m.ocentricity, wherein he will be able to learn what astrology is, but for the present let him learn ordinary astrology which has been treated in so barbarous a manner as to lose much of its dignity." Writing again from Verona January 21, 1550, to Paolo, after telling him what he should point out to his father, he says: "You will tell him also that M.

Michele di San Michele has seen my globe and that he likes it.... When I come I will make note of the princ.i.p.al places, for I desire very much to verify them with the report of navigators telling what they have found, concerning which matter, I think, no one knows more than you do, or especially your distinguished father. As to the celestial sphere, I should like very much to compare one I have with the one your father is having made, that I may learn how the constellations compare, and how many more of the fixed stars have been inserted. I have changed their position twenty degrees. Whether he agrees with me or not I do not know."

NOTES

[198] Harrisse. Discovery, p. 247.

[199] This is clearly recorded in such important maps as the Cantino, Canerio, Waldseemuller, Schoner globe maps of 1515 and 1520, Boulengier gores, Liechtenstein gores, et al.

[200] Wieser, F. R. v. Die Karte des Bartolomeo Columbo uber die vierte Reise des Admirals. Innsbruck, 1893.

[201] See above, p. 88.

[202] A letter written by Maximilia.n.u.s Transylva.n.u.s to the Cardinal of Salzburg, dated Valladolid, October, 1522, and published in Cologne in January, 1523, under the t.i.tle 'De Molucca insulis ...,' gave the first printed notice of Magellan's voyage. See Harrisse. B. A. V. Nos. 122, 123, 124. There are numerous editions of Antonio Pigafetta's account of the Magellan voyage, which account is the princ.i.p.al original source of information concerning that eventful circ.u.mnavigation. See J. A. Robertson (Ed.), Pigafetta, Antonio. Magellan's Voyage around the World.

[203] Mac.n.u.tt, F. A. Letters of Cortes to Charles V. New York, 1908. This English edition of the letters of Cortes contains a brief biographical sketch with valuable notes.

Cortes, to the last, appears to have believed in the existence of a strait through which one might find a shorter way from Spain to the Indies of the East than was. .h.i.therto known. Sanuto Livio. Geographia distincta. Venitia, 1588.

Argument against the idea of an Asiatic connection is advanced by Sanuto on the ground that the natives were frightened at Cortes's horses. Asiatics were acquainted with the horse.

[204] Estevan Gomes, who had sailed with Magellan, undertook in 1524, under a royal commission, "the search for a new route leading to Cathay between the land of Florida and the Baccalaos," says Peter Martyr. Decad VI, lib. x.

[205] In this volume, verso of seventh leaf, Franciscus states that in attempting to prepare his description of a globe, he had collected all the maps of the world he could find. He especially commends one attributed to Maximilia.n.u.s Transylva.n.u.s, and although constructed with much skill, he could not agree with its geographical representations, admitting, however, that many did accept the same, but objecting to the separation of Calvacania (Mexico) from the eastern country because he believed it to be joined to the kingdom of the Great Khan. See Harrisse. Discovery. pp. 281, 548.