Chapter VII: Globes of the Second Quarter of the Sixteenth Century (1)

Globes indicating (a) an Asiatic connection of the New
World, (b) globes expressing a doubt of such Old World
connection, (c) globes showing an independent position of
the New World.--Franciscus Monachus.--Hakluyt's
reference.--The Gilt globe.--Parmentier.--Francesco
Libri.--Nancy globe.--Globes of Gemma Frisius.--Robertus
de Bailly.--Schöner globe of
1533.--Scheipp.--Furtembach.--Paris Wooden globe.--Vopel
globes.--Santa Cruz.--Hartmann gores.--Important globe of
Ulpius.--Cardinal Bembo's globes.--Mercator's epoch-making
activity.--Fracastro.--Ramusio's references to
globes.--Gianelli.--Florence celestial globe.

As in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, so in the second we find engraved brass and copper globes, globes with manuscript maps, and those with printed or engraved gore maps. Since the latter in this period have especially found favor, attention is more and more directed toward the shaping of the segments or gores with that mathematical nicety which, as previously stated, would admit of a perfect or almost perfect adjustment when they were applied to the surface of a prepared ball.

To the independent position of the New World as represented on the globe maps prior to 1525 attention has been called in the preceding chapter, but the idea of such independence, it may here be noted, is one contrary to that very generally though erroneously entertained by historians who have written of the period, an error doubtless in large measure due to a failure on their part to give proper heed to the record of the maps as expressing the geographical notions commonly accepted. Harrisse has well stated the case in referring to the geographical opinions of the earliest explorers, observing that the moment search began for a waterway leading from Oceanus Occidentalis to Oceanus Orientalis, that moment opinion began to become conviction that a new continental region had been found, that a New World had been discovered,[198] and practically all of the early explorers had hope of finding such a waterway. It is very true that more than two hundred years passed from Columbus' day before there was positive proof of an independence of the newly found land, but the earliest map makers outlined it as if believing in its independence of an Old World or Asiatic connection.[199] The so-called Bartholomew Columbus sketch maps,[200] probably drawn in the first decade of the sixteenth century (Fig. 47), alone can be cited, among the maps of any particular importance in the first quarter of this century, as distinctly indicating a belief in an Asiatic connection. Attention was likewise called in the preceding chapter to the fact that toward the close of the century's first quarter the idea that a veritably independent new continent had been found was beginning to be doubted.[201] This doubt seemed to follow close upon the publication of the report of Magellan's expedition.[202] It indeed appears to be generally accepted that to the report of that remarkable circumnavigation, to the letters of Cortes respecting his Mexican expedition,[203] and to the failure of his and of other Spanish attempts to find a strait north of the equator through which one might pass from Oceanus Occidentalis to Oceanus Orientalis,[204] the changed conception of the geography of the New World was due.

This changed conception seems to have found first expression, on a map, in a little volume prepared by Franciscus Monachus, a friar of Mechlin, about 1525. The title of this volume reads in part,[205] 'De orbis situ ac descriptione. ad Reuerendiss. D. archiepiscopum Panormitanum, Francisci, Monachi ordinis Franciscani, epistola sane quã luculenta ...' 'A very excellent letter from Franciscus, a monk of the Franciscan Order, to the Most Reverend Archbishop of Palermo, touching the site and description of the world,' with a colophon reading "Excudebat Martinus Caesar, expensis honesti viri Rolandi Bollaert ..." "Martinus Caesar prepared this at the expense of the upright man Roland Bollert." Its two small woodcut maps representing the world in hemispheres, respectively the Old and the New World (Fig. 48), are of striking historical interest, while the text contains many references which are of importance for the light they cast upon the geographical opinions of the time respecting the New World. Here, as noted, the New World is first represented on a map as having distinctly an Asiatic connection, the southern continent (South America) being separated from the northern only by that narrow strait which we find so prominently represented on the Maiollo map of 1527, and there called "stretto dubitoso."[206] While these hemispheres cannot themselves be referred to as a globe, they may serve to give us a general idea of the geographical representations on the globe, which, as appears probable, was at that time constructed by the author of the text. To the Ecclesiastical Prince, to whom Franciscus dedicated his little volume, information was sent concerning his globe on which he had drawn by hand a map of the world as he said, the reply to his letter containing the following statement, "Orbis globum, in quo terrae ac maria luculenter depicta sunt, una cum epistola accepimus." "We accept the globe of the world on which the land and the seas are elegantly depicted, together with the epistle."[207] Being a gift it would seem reasonable to conclude that the globe was not duplicated and offered for sale and that the example referred to was therefore probably unique. The text of the 'De orbis situ ...,' as it appears, was printed because it was thought there was much contained therein that was new and not in harmony with geographical ideas hitherto expressed. The first edition was undated, nor was the second dated, but it agreed in practically all particulars with the first excepting a slight alteration in the title. A third edition was issued in the year 1565, and is still known in many copies, of which Gallois gives an excellent reprint in his biography of Orontius Finius.[208] It is in the first and second editions that the hemispheres appear; they are wanting in the third, but as a substitute therefor a small globe resting on a base appears on the verso of the title-page, which in its general features may be a representation of Franciscus' globe.

Hakluyt, in his 'Discourse on Western Planting,' alludes to "an olde excellent globe in the Queenes privie gallory at Westminster which also seemeth to be of Verarsanus makinge, havinge the coste described in Italian, which laieth oute the very selfe same streite necke of lande in latitude of 40. degrees, with the sea joynninge harde on bothe sides, as it dothe on Panama and Nombre di Dios; which would be a matter of singule importannce, yf it shoulde be true, as it is not unlikely."[209] To this particular globe we do not seem to be able to find any other allusion.

In the geographical department of the Bibliothèque Nationale there may be found an exceedingly well-executed globe, neither signed nor dated, but which appears to have been constructed about the year 1528.[210] It is an unmounted gilded copper sphere (Fig. 49), having a diameter of about 23 cm. Its title reads "Nova et integra universi orbs descriptio," "A new and complete description of the entire world," which, with all legends and local names, is engraved in small capitals. Based upon the description we possess of the Schöner globe of 1523, and upon the close resemblance of its coast outlines to those of the Weimar globe of 1533, there is reason for assigning it to the Schönerian school. It, however, is to be noted that the nomenclature of the northeast coast of North America is very different from that which appears on the last-mentioned globe, and that it more nearly resembles in that region the simple cordiform map of Orontius Finius of the year 1536.[211] The latest geographical information which it records seems to relate to the expedition of Verrazano. In the region corresponding to the present New England, we find the legend "TERRA FRANCESCA NUPER LUSTRATA." The Gulf of Mexico is called "SINUS S. MICHAELIS," and the Caribbean Sea, "MARE HERBIDIUM." In South America are the conspicuous legends "AMERICA INVENTA 1497," "BRAZILIO REGIO," and "TERRA NOVA." The great Antarctic land bears the inscription "REGIO PATALIS." The Amazon appears as a river of considerable length, with numerous tributaries. The course of Magellan's voyage, so frequently laid down on the maps of the period, here finds record in the threadlike line which encircles the globe. As in the hemispheres of Franciscus, so here, America is laid down as a part of the Asiatic continent. The workmanship of the globe is equal to the best that one could find in the Italy, France or Germany of that day, while the few German words among the numerous Latin names, as "Baden," "Braunschweig," and "Wien," give some support for the claim that it is of German origin. A Spanish origin, as has sometimes been claimed for it, can hardly be accepted.

Parmentier, a native of the famous seaport Dieppe, had in his day, as a maker of charts, a very substantial reputation. Whether one should conclude from references to him as a cartographer that he busied himself with the construction of globes cannot be definitely determined, as these references indicate that his maps were merely constructed on a projection which enabled him in some measure to represent the curved surface of the earth. Schefer, in his work 'Le discours de la navigation de Jean et Raoul Permentier,' says, "Permentier estoit bon cosmographe et géographe, et par lui ont esté composez plusieurs mappes monde en globe et en plat et plusieurs cartes marines, sur les quelles plusieurs ont navigué seurement." "Parmentier was a good cosmographer and geographer, and many maps of the world both in the form of globes and as plane maps were made by him, also numerous marine charts by means of which many sailed the seas with safety."[212]

Vasari gives us information concerning one Francesco Libri, member of a famous Veronese artist family, who won distinction as a globe maker in the early sixteenth century, and who apparently was most active in this field of endeavor about the year 1530. Although all trace of the globes he is said to have constructed is lost, Vasari's reference is worthy citation.

"Among other things," says that interesting, if not always accurate, Italian biographer, "he constructed a large globe of wood, being four feet in diameter; this he then covered externally with a strong glue, so that there should be no danger of crack or other injury. Now the globe or ball thus constructed was to serve as a terrestrial globe. Wherefore when it had been carefully divided and exactly measured under the direction and in the presence of Fracastro and Baroldi, both well versed in physics and distinguished as cosmographers and astrologers, it was afterward to be painted by Francesco for a Venetian gentleman, Messer Andrea Navagero, a most learned orator and poet, who intended to make a present of the same to King Francis of France, to whom he was about to be sent as ambassador from the Republic. But scarcely had Navagero arrived in France and entered on his office, when he died. The work consequently remained unfinished, which was much to be regretted since, executed by Francesco, under the guidance and with the advice and assistance of two men so distinguished as were Fracastro and Baroldi, it would doubtless have turned out a very remarkable production. It remained unfinished, however, as I have said, and what is worse, even that which had been done received considerable injury, I know not of what kind, in the absence of Francesco; yet spoiled as it was, the globe was purchased by Messer Bartolommeo Lonichi who has never been prevailed upon to give it up, although he has been frequently much entreated to do so, and offered large sums of money for it."

"Francesco had made two smaller globes before commencing the large one; and of these one is now in the possession of Mazzanti, Archdeacon of the cathedral of Verona; the other belonging to the Count Raimondo della Torre, and is now the property of his son, the Count Giovanni Battista, by whom it is very greatly valued, seeing that this also was constructed with the assistance and after measurements of Fracastro, who was a very intimate friend of Count Raimondo."[213]

As before noted, the exact date when Francesco constructed his globes is unknown. Vasari, however, informs us, as noted above, that the large one was constructed for Andrea Navagero, who wished to present it to the King of France, and that very shortly after his arrival in France on his special mission his death occurred, which we know to have been the eighth of May, 1529. It must therefore have been in that year that Francesco completed the construction of his globe. It would be interesting to know the geographical configuration of the New World as laid down by Fracastro and Francesco on this large globe, remembering that it was not long after the mission of Navagero to King Francis that the first Cartier expedition sailed for the western continent. We cannot be certain, as stated, of its geographical data, but it seems probable that it followed the Verrazanian type as represented, for example, in the Maiollo map of 1527, or in the Verrazano map of 1529.

The Lorraine Museum of Nancy possesses a fine globe, neither signed nor dated, but which usually is referred to as the Nancy globe (Figs. 50, 50a), and is thought to have been constructed about the year 1530.[214] It is a silver ball 16 cm. in diameter, divided on the line of the equator into hemispheres, and is supported on a small statue of Atlas. The equator, the tropics, the polar circles, the zodiac, and one meridian circle passing through the western part of Asia in the Old World and through the peninsula of Florida in the New World, are represented. It is an object of interest not only for its scientific value in giving us a geographical record of the period, but it is also of interest for its fine workmanship, having its land areas gilded and its seas blue enameled, in which sea monsters and ships of artistic design appear. We have the record that in the year 1662, Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, presented it to the church of Nôtre Dame de Sion in his residence city, and that by this church it was long used as a pyx.[215] There is a striking resemblance of its land configurations, and of its geographical nomenclature to that of the Gilt globe, of the Wooden globe, and of the World map of Orontius Finaeus of 1531. The New World is represented as a part of the Asiatic continent, and the central section of that region, to which we may refer as North America, is designated "Asia Orientalis" and "Asia Major." To the east of these names are numerous regional names, conspicuous among which are "Terra Francesca," "Hispania Major," and "Terra Florida." The Gulf of Mexico appears as "Mare Cathayum." Mexico bears the name "Hispania Nova," while the sea to the west is named "Mare Indicum Australe." The South American continent is called "America Nova," and the names are very numerous which have been given to the various sections, among which we find "Terra Firma," "Papagelli," "Terra Canibale," "Parias," and "Peru Provincia." The large austral land bears the name "Brasielie Regio," which name is placed southeast of Africa, and the name "Patalis Regio" appears southwest of South America.

Gemma Frisius (1508-1555), a native of Docum (Fig. 51), and for a number of years professor of medicine and mathematics in the University of Louvain,[216] issued a little book, in the year 1530, bearing the title 'De principiis Astronomiae et Cosmographiae, deque usu globi, ab eodem editi, item de orbis divisione et insulis, rebusque nuper inventis ... Antverp, 1530.'[217] It seems probable that this was issued to serve as explanatory text for a globe or globes he had constructed or was preparing to construct. In it we have one of the earliest technical yet practical explanations of the parts and uses of the globe, and a somewhat detailed statement how such instruments may be serviceably employed in cosmographical studies. On the title-page there appears the representation of a globe resting on a base having three feet, which has been thought to be a representation of his completed work.[218] We are told in his 'Epistola salutatoria,' at least in an implied manner, that there were to be numerous copies of the globes, seeing that they were intended for the trade, and Roscelli's statement would lead us to believe that they had found their way into Italy. All copies, however, appear to have been lost until a few years since, when both a terrestrial and a celestial globe of Frisius' making was found in the Gymnasium Francisceum of Zerbst, to which discovery a very considerable interest and importance attaches. In a paper read before the International Congress of Americanists in 1904, Dr. W. Walter Ruge, all too briefly, describes them, from which paper the following information is taken.[219]

The terrestrial globe, he notes, is not well preserved, being in certain parts so injured as to render the inscriptions illegible; but in this fact he, however, finds a certain compensation, as these injuries are of such character as to disclose the manner of construction. The globe ball, he finds, consists of two hemispheres of papier-mâché 3 mm. in thickness over which is a layer of plaster 1½ mm. in thickness. On the smooth surface thus furnished the twelve gores of which the map is composed had been pasted, these gores extending from pole to pole.[220] Though undated, the following inscription gives information concerning the map maker and the engravers. "Gemma Frisius Medicus ac Mathematicus ex varijs descripsit geographicorum observationibus, atque in hanc formam redegit; Gerardus Mercator Rupelmundanus coelavit cum Caspare a Myrica, cui et sumptibus permaximis et laboribus nequaquam minoribus opus constat." "Gemma Frisius, physician and mathematician, made (this globe) from the various observations of geographers, and fashioned it in this form. Gerhard Mercator of Rupelmunde with Caspar Miracus engraved (it) and expended on the work a large sum and no little labor."

Frisius appears in this legend as the maker of the map, with Mercator and Myrica as the engravers. The date of construction is not given, but it clearly does not belong to the issue of 1530 referred to above. We read, for example, along the west coast of South America such names as "Tumbes," "tangara siue s. michaelis," and "Turicarami fluvius," and find that this west coast is sketched as far as latitude 5 degrees south. S. Michaelis was founded in 1532, and information concerning Pizarro's discoveries probably did not reach Europe until 1534. Europe has still many of the Ptolemaic features, as has also the continent of Asia. North America, which is rather better drawn than on any of the earlier maps, has the legend "Hispania Maior a Nuño Gusmaño devicta anno 1530." The west coast becomes a very indefinite line at latitude 25 degrees north, at which point we read "Matonchel siue petra portus." It then sweeps northeastward in a flattened curve to "Baccalearum Regio" with its "Prom[=o]tori[=u] agricule seu cabo del labrador." From the land around the north pole, which is connected with Asia, the continent is separated by a narrow strait which is referred to as "Fretum arcticum siue trium fratrum, par quod lusitani in orientem et ad Indios et Moluccas nauigare conati sunt." "The Arctic strait or the strait of the three brothers through which the Portuguese attempted to sail to the East and to the Indies and the Moluccas." No general name is given to South America, but we find such regional names as "Nw Peru Provincia" and east of this "Bresilia." In the interior are such legends and local names as "Caxamalca fuit regis Atabaliape," "Cuzco," "Cincha," "Collao." The nomenclature shows decided Spanish influence, as we find "la laguna poblada," "R. de los esclavos," "R. d. los furmos," "Cabo corto."

Ruge further notes the finding in the same Gymnasium of Zerbst of a celestial globe on which appears the following legend, "Faciebant Gemma Frisius medicus ac mathematicus, Gaspar a Myrica & Gerardus Mercator Rupelmundanus anno a partu virgineo 1537." "Gemma Frisius physician and mathematician, Gaspar Myrica and Gerhard Mercator of Rupelmunde made this globe in the year 1537." A comparison of this legend with that of the terrestrial globe leads to the somewhat ingenious argument that the latter, though undated, is the older of the two. We know that Mercator was a pupil of Gemma Frisius,[221] and that after leaving his university studies he found employment with the master in draughting maps and in the construction of mathematical instruments. In the dated legend of 1537 Mercator and Myrica appear to have advanced in importance, seeing that in the undated legend they are merely referred to as the engravers, while Frisius alone is mentioned as the maker of the map. Since this discovery we are better informed as to the source of Mercator's information which he gives in his map of 1538; the evidence being conclusive that in the main he followed the records of Frisius, adapting his map, however, to the double cordiform projection.[222]

Harrisse describes a gilded copper globe, belonging to the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale, having a diameter of 14 cm. and bearing the author and date legend reading "Robertus de Bailly 1530."[223] It is composed of two parts rather insecurely joined on the line of the equator, and is entirely without mountings. The engraving of the names, all in small capitals, has been remarkably well done. In outlining the contour of the New World the draughtsman of the map has been influenced by the Verrazanian data, and although exhibiting minor differences in details there is a striking resemblance to the map of Maiollo of 1527,[224] to that of Verrazano of 1529,[225] and to that of Ulpius of 1541.[226] The region called by Maiollo "Francesca," by Verrazano "Verrazana sive Gallia nova," by Ulpius "Verrazana sive Nova Gallia," Robertus calls "Verrazana." In addition we find such names as "TERRA LABORATORIS," "BACHALIAO," "LA FLORIDA," "TENUSTITAN," "PARIAS," "MUNDUS NOVUS," "AMERICA," "ST. CRUSIS," "TERRA MAGELLANICA."

A second globe by Robertus de Bailly may be found in the library of Mr. J. P. Morgan of New York City (Fig. 52). This example, signed and dated "Robertus de Bailly 1530," and acquired a few years since, may be counted one of the finest metal globes of the period. None can be referred to which is in a better state of preservation, if we can accept its mounting as the original.[227] In Rosenthal's catalogue No. 100 it is referred to as a "Verrazzano-Globus," which is clearly an error, if there was thought of ascribing it to Giovanni Verrazano, the explorer, or to his brother Hieronimus, the chart maker. The outlines of its map of the New World are clearly of Verrazanian origin (Fig. 53), which therefore give to it a particular interest and value.

Harrisse, in 1896, called attention to his discovery of two globes apparently of the early fourth decade of the sixteenth century.

The first of these he refers to as a gilded copper sphere about 12 cm. in diameter, and fashioned to contain the mechanism by means of which it is made to revolve. It is neither signed nor dated. At the extremity of the rod passing through the sphere is an arrangement apparently for attachment to a second piece of mechanism, probably a planetarium. It is surrounded by a disc on which the hours are engraved in Roman numerals. The geographical outlines are clearly of Verrazanian origin, representing the New World relatively long and narrow and having no Asiatic connection. With few exceptions the nomenclature is in the Latin language, but we read for instance "El pasaie de S. Michel" and "Rio de las Amazonas". The name "America" appears only on the southern continent, where we also find such legends as "Francisi Pizarri hoc m(onticu?) lo contra indos insignis victoria anno 1533," and off the coast of Peru "Ulterius incognitum."

The second of these globes is likewise of copper, having a diameter of 21 cm. and carries the inscription "Christoff Schiepp sculpsit. Augusta," which is placed around a cartouch especially designed for a representation of the coat of arms of the Welser family. This family, it will be remembered, figured conspicuously in connection with the German attempt at the colonization of Venezuela. The engraved title of the map is practically the same as that to be found on the Paris gilt globe and reads "Nova et integra universi orbis descriptio." It omits, however, the legend "Francesca" and "Verrazana sive nova Gallia," which fact may be due to its German origin. The nomenclature in Mexico and in South America is very detailed. The La Plata River, for example, as in the Gilt globe and in the Wooden globe, is called "Sinus Juliani"; the Pacific is called "Oceanus Magnus Gelanicus." The austral land is referred to as "Terra australis nuper inventa, sed nondum plene examinata."

While the first of these globes is unmounted, Scheipp's globe is furnished with gilded meridian and horizon circle, the whole being supported by a dolphin on a plinth of ebony.

In the year 1533 Johann Schöner issued a small tract bearing the title 'Joannis Schoneri Carolostadii Opusculum Geographicum ex diversorum libris ac cartis summa cura & diligentia collectum, accomodatum ad recenter elaboratum ab eodem globum descriptiones terrenae.' 'A geographical tract of John Schöner of Carlstadt, extracted from various books and maps with much care and diligence and arranged for a recently elaborated globe, being a description of the earth.'[228] This little book was dedicated to John Frederick of Saxony "Ex urbe Norica Id. Novembris Anno MDXXXIII." To it more than usual interest attaches. As the title states, it was issued as an explanatory text for a new globe,[229] while in referring to the geography of the New World it clearly sets forth a reason for the changed notion concerning that geography, to which allusion has already been made,[230] a change from a belief in the independent position of the new lands to a belief that these lands were but a part of the continent of Asia. With reference to this point Schöner says, "Unde longissimo tractu occidentem versus ab Hispani terra est, quae Mexico et Temistitan vocatur superiori India, quam priores vocavere Quinsay id est civitatem coeli eorum lingui." "By a very long circuit westward, starting from Spain, there is a land called Mexico and Temistitan in Upper India, which in former times was called Quinsay, that is the city of Heaven, in the language of the country." He adds the statement, "Americus tamen Vesputius maritima loca Indiae superioris ex Hispaniis navigio ad occidentem palustrans, eam partem que superiore Indiae est, credidit esse insulam, quam a suo nomine vocari institituit. Alii vero nunc recentiores Hydrographi eam terram ulterius ex alia parte invenerunt esse continentem Asiae nam sic etiam ad Moluccas insulas superioris Indiae pervenerunt." "Americus Vespuccius, sailing along the coasts of Upper India, from Spain to the west, thought that the said part which is connected with Upper India, was an island which he had caused to be called after his own name. But now other hydrographers of more recent date have found that that land (South America) and others beyond constitute a continent, which is Asia, and so they reached as far as the Molucca Islands in Upper India." A later passage in this tract is likewise interesting in this connection. After noting that America had been called the fourth part of the world he adds, "Modo vero per novissimas navigationes, factas anno post Christum 1519 per Magellanum ducem navium invictissimi Caesaris divi Caroli etc. versus Moluccas insulas, quas alii Moluquas vocant, in supremo oriente positas, eam terram invenerunt esse continentem superioris Indiae, quae pars est Asiae." "But very lately, thanks to the very recent navigations accomplished in the year 1519 A. C. by Magellan, the commander of the expedition of the invincible, the divine Charles etc. towards the Molucca Islands, which some call Maluquas which are situated in the extreme east, it has been ascertained that the said country (America) was the continent of Upper India, which is a part of Asia."

It seems very probable that the globe referred to in this tract is one of those (Figs. 54, 54a), bearing neither date nor name of maker, to be found in the Grand Ducal Library of Weimar.[231] This conclusion, it may be stated, is based upon the fact of a striking agreement between the configurations on the globe and the descriptions to be found in Schöner's tract. The date 1534, which appears on the support, is doubtless of later origin than the globe itself, just as the date 1510 inscribed on the horizon circle of the Behaim globe is known not to indicate the year in which that work was completed. Wieser expresses the conviction that this globe is an improved reproduction of the one constructed in the year 1523, and he notes the interesting fact of its configurations resembling closely those of the Orontius Finaeus map of 1531, believing that it was the latter, however, who was the borrower.

The Schiepp globe, referred to above, appears to have been constructed for a member of the Welser family, a rich patrician of South Germany. To Raymond Fugger, likewise a South German patrician, a member of a rich banker family of Augsburg, one Martin Furtembach dedicated a terrestrial globe which he had constructed in the year 1535.[232] This date and the wording of the dedication we get from a record of the year 1565. "Viro Magnifico Dn. Raymundo Fuggero, Invictissimorum Caroli V. Imperatoris, Ferdinandi primi Regis Romanorum a Consilijs, prudentissimo, studiosorum Mecaenasi, pauperum Christi asylo cantatissimo, Martinus Furtenbachius Abusiacus, Astrophilus typum hunc Cosmographicum universalem composuit atque dedicavit Anno a nato Christo M.D.XXXV." "To the Magnificent Dn. Raymond Fugger, most competent counselor of the most invincible Prince Charles V Emperor, and Ferdinand the First King of the Romans, a Maecenas of scholars, a most provident supporter of the poor in Christ, Martin Furtembach lover of astronomy, composed and dedicated this universal cosmographical figure, in the year of Christ 1535." This globe, which we learn was taken from the Fugger castle of Kirchbay to the Vienna Imperial Library, in what year we do not know, seems to have disappeared some time after 1734, since, as Harrisse notes, no reference to it can be found after that date. It is described as a gilt copper ball of large size and an object of real art, being "ornamented on all sides with various figures of exquisite engraving, and is supported by a figure of Atlas with his right hand holding a compass, but with the rest of his body supported by his left hand, in a stooping posture."

In addition to the globes previously referred to as belonging to the Bibliothèque Nationale, there is one supposed to have been constructed about the year 1535. It is neither signed nor dated, but is usually referred to as the Paris Wooden globe.[233] The diameter of the sphere is 20 cm. It is without the usual mountings of meridian and horizon circles but is supported by an iron rod attached to a wooden base (Fig. 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 Schöner in his globe of 1533. Meridians are represented at intervals of ten degrees commencing at a prime meridian which passes 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 Indicum Australe," "Mare Pacificum," and "Oceanus Magellanicus." The location of the colony which was planted by Pizarro in 1532, and which is called "S. Michaelis," is made prominent.

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 Nordenskiöld'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 passes 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 astronomicum 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 Dürer. 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 Washington 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, 4½ 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 title 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 assures 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 Schöner 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 passageway 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 brass 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 manuscript 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 Stöck 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 arti[=v] 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 manuscript map in colors, and bears the title legend "Nova ac generalis orbis 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).

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.

Günther 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 Nürnberg 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 Günther 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 brass. On the surface of the globe itself the principal 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. assignatus."[248] "Limit to Spain and Portugal set by Pope Alexander VI."

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 orbis terrae quae aut aveterib traditae aut nostra patr[=u]q 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.

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 passing 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[z] 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 assert 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 pass 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 manuscript 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 Besançon, was at one time in the possession of Cardinal Granvella.[256] The National Library of Madrid possesses a fine manuscript 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]

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 orbis 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 latitudinumque 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, latitudes, degrees, parallels, and climates. Farewell."