Volume I Part 11 (2/2)
55), which rod serves as an axis about which it may be revolved. A thick layer of paint covers the surface of the ball, on which the geographical names, legends, and configurations have been inscribed with a pen in a running hand. The poor calligraphy suggests that it is not the work of an expert cartographer, but of one who somewhat hastily and carelessly had undertaken to copy a globe map of the type represented in the work of Franciscus, of the maker of the Paris Gilt globe, or of Schoner in his globe of 1533. Meridians are represented at intervals of ten degrees commencing at a prime meridian which pa.s.ses through the Cape Verde Islands, while the parallels are similarly marked, the graduation being indicated on the prime meridian. The globe maker has retained in his representations the old climatic idea, of which climates there are nine specifically designated. We find on this globe such inscriptions as ”Baccalarum Regio,” with its neighboring ”Pelagus Baccalarum,” ”Terra Francesca,” ”Hispania Major,” ”Terra Florida,” with the Gulf of Mexico bearing the name ”M. Cathayum” as in the Nancy globe. The South American continent is conspicuously marked as ”America Nova Orbis Pars,” and contains in addition many regional names. The western ocean, beginning with that part which washes the coast of Mexico, thence southward, is called ”Mare di Sur,” ”Mare Culuacanum,” ”Mare Indic.u.m Australe,” ”Mare Pacific.u.m,” and ”Ocea.n.u.s Magellanicus.” The location of the colony which was planted by Pizarro in 1532, and which is called ”S. Michaelis,” is made prominent.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 55. Paris Wooden Globe, 1535.]
Caspar Vopel,[234] born at Medebach near Cologne, in the year 1511, was of that group of German cartographers and globe makers active in the second quarter of the sixteenth century in giving to the general public a knowledge of the great geographical discoveries of the day. Though much of the information through the maps which they constructed was strikingly inaccurate, their work is none the less interesting to the student of historical geography. It appears that Vopel entered the University of Cologne in the year 1526, that at a later date he became a professor of mathematics in a Cologne gymnasium, and that he continued to reside in this city until his death in the year 1561. During these years he became well known as a maker of maps and globes. Of his very large and important world map, issued in the year 1558, and which so admirably sets forth his geographical notion of an Asiatic connection of the New World, an original copy may be found in the collection of Prince Liechtenstein, which is reproduced, after Giriva's redraughting, in Nordenskiold's 'Facsimile Atlas.'[235] In the history of cartography his map of Europe and his Rhine map especially merit a place of prominence.
Nine of his globes are known, most of which are constructed as armillary spheres, having within the numerous armillae or circles a small terrestrial globe, or at least that which pa.s.ses as a representation of the same. His first work of which we have knowledge, now belonging to the city of Cologne, and to be found in the collection of its archives, is inscribed ”Caspar Medebach opus hoc astronomic.u.m fecit 1532 Martii.”
It is a credit to the youthful artist and cosmographer, suggesting, says Korth,[236] the possession of a technic resembling that of Durer. This is a celestial globe 28 cm. in diameter, having its star map drawn by hand, which is now somewhat discolored with age.
Four years later Vopel constructed a second celestial globe, apparently a reproduction of the first but having its map printed on gores which he pasted on the surface of the sphere. It bears the inscription ”Caspar Vopel, Medebach, hanc Cosmogr. faciebat sphaeram Coloniae Ao 1536,” has the same diameter as the one of 1532, and is now its companion in the city archives of Cologne.[237]
The National Museum of Was.h.i.+ngton possesses a fine example of Vopel's work (Fig. 9), concerning which Mr. Maynard, curator of Mechanical Technology, writes that ”the globe in this Museum is an armillary sphere of eleven metal rings, 4 inches in diameter, with a very small globe in the center. The rings are elaborately inscribed with astronomical signs and scales, with names in Latin. On one of the rings is the inscription, 'Caspar Vopel, Artium Professor, Hanc Sphaeram Faciebat Colonia, 1541.'”[238]
In 1542 he constructed his first terrestrial globe, a copy of which is to be found in the Cologne archives.[239] It has a diameter of 28 cm., its map gores, as in the case of the celestial globe of 1536, being printed from an engraved plate. Excepting the discoloration of age and a slight indentation near the north pole, it is well preserved. The t.i.tle legend reads ”Nova et integra universi orbis descriptio.” ”A new and complete description of the entire globe.” A second legend, placed in the middle Atlantic, reads ”Caspar Vopel Medebach geographicam sphaeram hanc faciebat Coloniae A. 1542.” ”Caspar Vopel of Medebach made this globe in 1542 at Cologne.” His terrestrial map a.s.sures us of his acceptance of the idea that the American continent could be but an extension of the continent of Asia; that is, like his predecessor Schoner and others of the second quarter of the sixteenth century, referred to above, he had concluded after Magellan had found a termination of the newly found transatlantic region at the south, and no pa.s.sageway from the Atlantic to the Pacific north of the equator had been found though search had frequently been made for the same, this country could therefore no longer be considered as an independent continent. The river ”Cham,” which on his map he made to empty into the Gulf of Mexico, he gives as the dividing line between ”Hispania Nova”
and ”Cathay.” There is striking evidence that Vopel was acquainted with Orontius Finaeus' map of 1531 or its source, as, for example, he writes across the great austral continent, ”Terra Australis recenter inventa, sed nondum plene cognita,” adding the words ”Anno 1499,” which also appear on the Paris Wooden globe of 1535.
In the Old Nordiske Museum of Copenhagen is an armillary sphere of Vopel, composed of eleven bra.s.s rings representing the equator, the ecliptic, the tropics, the polar circles, etc., within which is a small terrestrial globe, on the surface of which is a ma.n.u.script world map.
Quad refers to this globe in the following words: ”Item ein Astrolabium novum varium ac plenum das auff alle Landschafften (kann) dirigiert werden beide den Mathematicis unnd Medicis sehr nutz, in funffzehen Stock und auff acht bogen gedruckt, darunder auch ein kleine artige Mappa Mundi ins runde gelegt ist.”[240]
On the circle representing the Tropic of Cancer is engraved the legend ”Caspar Vopell Medebach hanc sphaeram faciebat Coloniae 1543.” ”Caspar Vopel of Medebach made this globe in Cologne in the year 1543.” On the bottom of the box in which the globe is kept is a modern label reading ”Nocolaus Copernicus 1543 ... ty ... Brah.” Copernicus died in the year designated, and Tycho Brahe was born in the year 1546. It appears, therefore, that this globe once belonged to the great Danish astronomer.
In the Library of Congress, acquired from L. Friedrichsen of Hamburg, is a fine example of the work of Vopel.[241] This armillary sphere of eleven rings, encircling a terrestrial globe 7.2 cm. in diameter, is mounted on a copper base. On the circle representing the Tropic of Cancer is the inscription ”Caspar Vopel artiv profes. hanc sphaeram faciebat Coloniae 1543.” ”Caspar Vopel professor of arts made this globe in Cologne in the year 1543,” while on the remaining circles are engraved numerous cosmographical signs and names. The terrestrial globe is covered with a ma.n.u.script map in colors, and bears the t.i.tle legend ”Nova ac generalis...o...b..s descriptio,” and the author legend ”Caspar Vopel mathe. faciebat.” Most of the regional names on the map are in red, and a red dot is employed to indicate the location of certain important cities, the names in general being omitted. The globe is remarkably well preserved (Fig. 56).
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 56. Vopel Globe, 1543.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 56a. Western Hemisphere of Vopel Terrestrial Globe.]
In the collection of Jodoco del Badia, state archivist of Florence, is a Vopel armillary sphere of the year 1544.[242] The engraved inscription on the Tropic of Cancer reads ”Caspar Vopel Me. Matem. hanc sphaeram faciebat coloniae 1544.” Within the eleven armillae is a very small wooden sphere intended to represent a terrestrial globe of wood, about 3 cm. in diameter, on which the equator and the tropics are represented, but no geographical details of any value appear because of the small size of the ball.
A Vopel armillary sphere, apparently like the preceding, bearing the same date and legends, is reported as belonging to the city museum of Salzburg.[243]
A somewhat detailed description, by J. H. Graf, of a Vopel armillary sphere in the possession of the Herr Forstinspector Frey of Bern, appeared in the year 1894, in the Jahresbericht of the Geographical Society of Munich.[244] It is composed of twelve instead of eleven armillae, and at the common center is a small terrestrial ball. The inscriptions appearing on each of the several rings are given by Graf, and the work of Vopel is compared with that of other map makers of the time. On circle 3, for example, counting from the outermost, is a citation from Ovid (Amores I. 6. 59), ”Night, love, and wine are not counselors of moderation.” On circle 5, which represents the Tropic of Cancer, is the author and date legend, reading ”Caspar Vopellius Mathe.
Profes. hanc sphaeram faciebat Coloniae 1545.” On circle 7 we read ”Fate rules the world, all stands secure according to unchangeable law, and the long lapse of time is marked by certain course.” On one of the circles movable about the pole of the ecliptic is the inscription ”The sun, called Helios, moves through the entire circle of the zodiac in 365 days and about 6 hours.” Graf notes the striking similarity of this sphere to that belonging to the Old Nordiske Museum of Copenhagen, and adds to his paper a reproduction of the terrestrial globe map in plane projection.[245] The feature common to all of the Vopel maps, viz., the connection of the New and the Old Worlds, is particularly emphasized.
The name ”America” appears only on South America, and rightly so, if at all, in keeping with his geographical ideas.
Gunther reports that there may be found in the Hof- und Staatsbibliothek of Munich (Sig. Math. A 41, fol.), a volume of drawings and engravings once belonging to the Nurnberg mathematician, George Hartmann.[246] In this collection there are two sets of celestial globe gores, the one containing nine, originally ten parts, dated February, 1535, the other containing ten undated parts. It is thought by Gunther that we have here, in all probability, the earliest example of engraved celestial globe gores, a second example in date being that by Vopel of 1536, and referred to above.
In the year 1859 Mr. Buckingham Smith obtained in the city of Madrid an engraved copper globe of striking scientific value and interest. On the death of Mr. Smith this globe, now known as the Ulpius globe (Fig. 57), was purchased by Mr. John David Wolf and later was presented to the Library of the New York Historical Society, where it may now be found among that society's rich collection of historical treasures.[247] It is of large size, having a diameter of 39 cm., rests upon an oak base, and measuring from the bottom of the base to the top of the iron cross which tips the north polar axis, its entire height is 111 cm. The hollow hemispheres of which the ball is composed are made to join at the line of the equator, the parts being held together by iron pins. In addition to its copper equatorial circle, which is neatly graduated and engraved with signs of the zodiac, it has a meridian and an hour circle of bra.s.s.
On the surface of the globe itself the princ.i.p.al parallels are drawn, and meridians at intervals of thirty degrees, the line of the ecliptic being very prominent, and the boundary line proposed by Pope Alexander VI, marking a terminus for the claims of Spain and Portugal to newly discovered regions, is strikingly conspicuous, with its legend reaching from pole to pole, ”Terminus Hispanis et Lusitanis ab Alexandro VI P. M.
a.s.signatus.”[248] ”Limit to Spain and Portugal set by Pope Alexander VI.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 57. Terrestrial Globe of Euphrosynus Ulpius, 1541.]
That a globe of such large dimensions, and of date so early, should come down to our day scarcely injured in the slightest degree, is a source of much delight to students of early cartography and of early discovery and exploration.
In a neat cartouch we read the following inscription: ”Regiones...o...b..s terrae quae aut aveterib traditae aut nostra patruq memoria compertae sint. Euphrosynus Ulpius describebat anno salutis M.D.XLII.” ”Regions of the terrestrial globe which are handed down by the ancients or have been discovered in our memory or that of our fathers. Delineated by Euphrosynus Ulpius in the year of salvation 1542.” The work is dedicated to ”Marcello Cervino S. R. E. Presbitero Cardinali D. D. Rome,”
”Marcellus Cervino, Cardinal Presbyter and Doctor of Divinity of the Holy Roman Church, Rome,”[249] the dedication being inscribed in a cartouch ornamented with wheat or barley heads, a device to be found in the coat of arms of the Cervino family, and with the deer which may be taken as an allusion to the name.
Not the least interesting feature of its geographical record in the New World is that wherein testimony is given to the voyage of Verrazano in the year 1524. The outline of the North American continent is strikingly like that given in the Verrazano map of 1529 (Fig. 58), showing an isthmus in the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay, beyond which stretches a great unnamed sea to the west, called in some of the early maps the Sea of Verrazano. Ulpius attests the discovery in the following legend, ”Verrazana sive Nova Gallia a Verrazano Florentino comperta anno Sal.
M.D.” ”Verrazana or New France discovered by Verrazano a Florentine in the year of salvation 1500.” The date in this legend is taken to be an incomplete rather than an erroneous record, the correct date being obtainable from the following legend appearing on the map of Hieronimus Verrazano, brother of the explorer, ”Verrazana sive nova gallia quale discopri 5 anni fa giovanni di verrazano fiorentino per ordine et commandamento del Christianissimo re di francia.” ”Verrazana or New France discovered five years since by Giovanni Verrazano a Florentine by order and command of the Most Christian King of France.”[250] Ulpius must have made use of this Verrazano map in drawing the outline of North America, though he did not copy slavishly, as we find that he greatly improved on that map in the trend he has given the Atlantic coast line of North America, and in the numerous details he has inscribed. In very many of the Atlantic coast names, however, there is a practical agreement between those on the globe and those on the map.
<script>