Volume I Part 5 (2/2)
The globe, which still belongs to the Behaim family, was removed in the year 1907, by Baron W. Behaim, from his residence in Egedienplatz, Nurnberg, to the Germanic Museum, where it may now be found. It originally stood on a tripod base of wood, but this was later replaced by one of iron. The iron meridian circle is doubtless the work of Behaim himself, while its bra.s.s horizon circle probably dates from the year 1510.[105]
In his scholarly work Ravenstein thus describes this remarkable monument of a period in which there was a rapid expansion of geographical knowledge. ”The globe has a circ.u.mference of 1595 mm., consequently a diameter of 507 mm. or 20 inches. Only two great circles are laid down upon it, viz., the equator, divided into 360 degrees, and the ecliptic studded with the signs of the zodiac. The Tropics, the Arctic and the Antarctic circles are likewise shown. The only meridian is drawn from pole to pole 80 degrees to the west of Lisbon. The sea is colored a dark blue, the land a bright brown or buff with patches of green and silver, representing forests and regions supposed to be buried beneath perennial ice and snow. Perhaps the most attractive feature of the globe consists of 111 miniatures, for which we are indebted to Glockenthon's clever pencil. The vacant s.p.a.ce within the Antarctic circle is occupied by a fine design of the Nurnberg eagle with the virgin's head, a.s.sociated with which are the arms of the three chief captains by whose authority the globe was made.... There are, in addition, 48 flags (including 10 of Portugal) and 15 coats of arms, all of them showing heraldic colors. The miniatures represent a variety of subjects. Forty-eight of them show us kings seated within tents or upon thrones; full-length portraits are given of four Saints (St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Matthew, and St. Iago), of missionaries instructing natives, and of travelers. Eleven vessels float upon the sea, which is peopled by fishes, seals, sea-lions, sea-cows, sea-horses, sea-serpents, mermen, and a mermaid. The land animals include elephants, leopards, bears, camels, ostriches, parrots, and serpents.... The only fabulous beings which are represented among the miniatures are a merman and a mermaid, near the Cape Verde Islands, and two Sciapodes in central South Africa, but syrens, satyrs, and men with dogs' heads are referred to in some of the legends. Nor do we meet with the 'Iudei clausi,' or with a 'garden of Eden,' still believed in by Columbus.... The globe is crowded with over 1100 place names and numerous legends in black, red, gold, or silver.”[106]
The legends, in the South German dialect of the period, are very numerous (Fig. 23), and are of great interest to students of history and of historical geography. The following will serve to indicate the character of Behaim's numerous legends. ”Nach cristi unsers lieben hern gepurt 1431 jar also regiert in portugal jinfante don pedro wurden nach notlusse zegericht zway schiff auf 2 Jar gespeisst von den hochgeburnen Jnfanten don heinrichen dess koniks aufs portogalli bruder zu erfahren wa.s.s do wer hinder sanct Jacob finisterre weliche schiff also gerust segelten alweg nach den untergang der sonnen bey 500 teutsche meilen zuletst wurden sy ains tags ansichtig dies 10 inseln und aufs landt trettendt funden nichts dann wildness und vogel die waren so zam da.s.s sy vor niemandt flohen aber von leutten oder thieren mit vier fussen war von wege der wildnuss keins darkhumen zu wohen um desswillen die vogel mit scheuh waren also wurden sy geheissen insuln dos azores das ist auf teutsch so vil als der hab.i.+.c.hen inseln und umb weliche wellen der konik von portugal das ander jar schikt 16 schiff mit allerley zame thiere und liess auf jede insel sein tail thun und darzu multiplieieren.” This legend, which lies to the southeast of the Azores Islands, reads in translation: ”1431 years after the birth of our dear Lord, when there reigned in Portugal the Infant Don Pedro, the infant Don Henry, the King of Portugal's brother, had fitted out two vessels and found with all that was needed for two years, in order to find out what was beyond the St. Jacob's Cape of Finisterre. The s.h.i.+ps thus provisioned sailed continuously to the westward for 500 German miles, and in the end they sighted these ten islands. On landing they found nothing but a wilderness and birds which were so tame that they fled from no one. But of men or of four footed animals none had come to live there because of the wildness, and this accounts for the birds not having been shy. On this ground the islands were called dos Azores, that is, Hawk Islands, and in the year after, the king of Portugal sent sixteen s.h.i.+ps with various tame animals and put some of these on each island there to multiply.”[107]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 23. Globe of Martin Behaim in Hemispheres.]
The following legend relates to the islands of Antilia. ”Als man zelt nach cristi gepurt 734 jar als ganz hispania von dn heiden auf affrica gewonon wurdt do wurdt bewont di obgeschriben Insuln Antilia genant Septe citade von einem erzbischoff von porto portigal mit sech andern bischoffs und andern cristen man und frawen dj zu sciff von hispanie das geflohen kommen mit Irem vieh hab und gut anno 1414 ist ein schiff aus hispania ungefert darbei gewest am negsten.” ”In the year 734 of Christ when the whole of Spain had been won by the heathen of Africa, the above island Antilia called Septa Citade (Seven Cities) was inhabited by an archbishop from Porto in Portugal, with six other bishops and other Christians, men and women, who had fled thither from Spain by s.h.i.+p, together with their cattle, belongings and goods. 1414 a s.h.i.+p from Spain got nighest it without being endangered.”[108]
Through the inspiration of Behaim the construction of globes in the city of Nurnberg became a new industry to which the art activities of the city greatly contributed. The chief magistrate induced his fellow citizen to give instruction in the art of making such instruments, yet this seems to have lasted but a short time, for we learn that not long after the completion of his now famous ”Erdapfel,” Behaim returned to Portugal, where he died in the year 1507.
Martin Behaim's map of the world was drawn on parchment which had been pasted over a large sphere. The Laon globe,[109] apparently following closely in time the former, is an engraved and gilded copper ball, having a diameter of 17 cm. There is evidence that at one time it was part of an astronomical clock.[110] The engraved surface, on which appear the outlines of continents and islands, is well preserved. It has two meridian circles, which intersect at right angles and which can be moved about a common axis, likewise a horizon circle which is movable.
Numerous circles appear engraved on the surface of the ball, including meridians and parallels. The prime meridian pa.s.ses through the Madeira Islands, a fact which suggests a Portuguese origin, since these islands are generally thought to have been discovered by Lusitanian seamen. One hundred and eighty degrees east of this prime meridian, a second meridian is engraved, equally prominent, pa.s.sing through the middle of the continent of Asia, and 90 degrees still farther to eastward is a third. Each of these meridians is divided into degrees, which are grouped in fifths and are numbered by tens, starting at the equator. The meridians are intersected by a number of parallels, lightly engraved in the northern hemisphere, less distinct in the southern, and represent the seven climates employed by the cosmographers of the Greek and Roman period, as well as by those of the middle ages, in their division of the earth's surface.
As to its geographical representations, this terrestrial globe appears to be older than that of Martin Behaim, yet at the southern extremity of Africa we find the name ”Mons Niger,” inscribed with the legend ”Huc usque Portugalenses navigio pervenere 1493.”
The great enterprise of Christopher Columbus (Fig. 24), wherein he may be said to have achieved a final victory for the doctrine of a spherical earth, ent.i.tled his name to a place of prominence in the history of terrestrial globes. That Columbus himself constructed globes, as has been sometimes inferred from a statement of Las Casas, may, however, be questioned, since this statement touches the reputed correspondence between Columbus and Toscanelli, which correspondence, in the light of the very searching studies of Mr. Henry Vignaud, must now be considered to be of doubtful authenticity.[111] It appears, however, from this letter that the famous Italian cosmographer, Pauolo Toscanelli, himself was accustomed to explain problems arising in the field of discovery by the use of the globe, and Las Casas tells us that Columbus resolved to write to him, making known his intentions, which he desired to be able to fulfil, and sent to him a globe through Lorenzo Girardi, a Florentine, at that time residing in Lisbon.[112] Ferdinand Columbus, referring to this incident, says that ”the globe was a small one.”[113]
In referring to Bartholomew, the son of Christopher Columbus, Las Casas observes that ”he was a man of prudence and of great intelligence in all matters pertaining to the seas. I believe not much less learned in cosmography and in what relates thereto, the making of navigator's charts and globes and other instruments of that kind.”[114] Again, we find in a letter which Christopher Columbus directed to their Catholic Majesties, that he ”sent to their Majesties a certain round representation.”[115] None of these references to globes, as before stated, necessarily give us to understand that Christopher Columbus was a globe maker. Certain it is that none is now known attributed to him or to his son.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 24. Lorenzo Lotto Portrait of Columbus.]
The explorer, John Cabot (1450-1498) (Fig. 25), is likewise reputed to have been interested in the construction of globes. In a dispatch sent from London, December 18, 1497, by the envoy Raimondi di Soncino to the Duke of Milan, we read that ”this Master John has a description of the world on a map, and also on a solid sphere, which he has made, and it shows where he landed, and that sailing toward the east (west) he had pa.s.sed far beyond the region of the Tanais.”[116]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 25. Portrait of Sebastian Cabot, Son of John Cabot.]
That terrestrial globes were constructed toward the close of the fifteenth century is of significance, not only as a response to a new desire for more nearly accurate representation of the earth's surface than could be set forth on a plane map, but it is likewise significant by reason of the fact that such globes as were constructed served to demonstrate the value of globe maps, and this value once demonstrated, they served to awaken a still further interest in globe making, which bears abundant fruitage in the following century.
There is a very remarkable celestial globe of the fifteenth century now belonging to the Lyceum Library of Constance, Switzerland. It is the work of Johannes Stoffler (1452-1531),[117] at one time a pastor in the town of Justingen, later a professor of mathematics in the University of Tubingen, where he achieved renown as mathematician, astronomer, cosmographer, and mechanic. It appears from the t.i.tle of a publication attributed to Stoffler, 'De artificiosa globi terrestris compositione,'[118] that he was a maker of terrestrial globes, though no such globe of his is now known, and from his letters to Reuchlin we learn that he made no less than three celestial globes.[119] One of the latter he sent to his friend, Probst Peter Wolf of Denkendorf, which represented the movements of the sun and of the moon. A second was constructed for Bishop von Dalberg of Worms, on which the stars were represented in gold.[120] Nothing further is definitely known of these two globes. A third was constructed for Bishop Daniel of Constance, which is the one now to be found in that city's library.[121] This sphere has a diameter of 48 cm., rests upon a wooden base, and is furnished with a meridian and with a horizon circle. The forty-eight constellations of Ptolemy are represented on a dark background and are outlined in accord with recognized traditions. To a few of the constellations double names are given, as ”Hercules” and ”Genuflexus,”
”Auriga” and ”Agitator.” Stars of the first magnitude are especially distinguished by name, the majority of which are of Arabic origin, and more than one thousand stars are clearly indicated.
To the globe makers themselves, who were active agents in creating a demand for globes, there should here be added the name of Conrad Celtes (1459-1508),[122] the distinguished German humanist, as that of one who contributed most in the first years of modern times toward arousing an interest in the use of globes in the schools. Aschbach, in his History of the Vienna University,[123] tells us of the school founded in Vienna in the year 1510 by the Emperor Maximilian I, and of the instruction given in this school by Celtes. We are informed that in his lectures on mathematical geography he introduced a good text of Ptolemy in the original Greek; this he translated into Latin, interpreting the same in German, explaining the several sentences by reference to a terrestrial and to a celestial globe. Having no record that such a method had been earlier employed we may therefore conclude that this distinguished teacher was the first to proceed in the manner designated, that is, he was the first in modern times to make use of globes in geographical and astronomical instruction.
NOTES
[97] Major, R. H. Life of Prince Henry the Navigator.
London, 1868. This is one of the first, and, at the same time, one of the most satisfactory biographies of Prince Henry; Beazley, C. R. Prince Henry the Navigator. New York, 1895; Azurara, Gomez Eannes de. Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Tr. and ed. by Charles Raymond Beazley and Edward Prestage. (Hakluyt Society Publications.
London, 1896. 2 vols.)
[98] D'Avezac, M. A. P. Description et histoire des iles de l'Afrique. Paris, 1848; same author, Notice des decouvertes faites au moyen age dans l'Ocean Atlantique. Paris, 1845; same author, Les iles fantastiques de l'Ocean occidental au moyen age. Paris, 1845; Margry, P. La conquete des iles Canaries. Paris, 1896; Beazley. Dawn of Modern Geography.
Vol. III, chap. iv.
The Canary Islands, and perhaps others in the eastern Atlantic, were known to the Romans, but appear to have been lost to the knowledge of the Europeans during the greater part of the middle ages, to be rediscovered in the period in which modern geographical exploration was being entered upon.
[99] Ravenstein, E. G. The voyages of Diogo Co and Bartholomew Diaz. (In: Geographical Journal. London, 1900.
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