Slide #258
TITLE: Behaim Globe
DATE: 1492
AUTHOR: Martin Behaim
DESCRIPTION: It was Martin Behaim of Nuremberg (1459-1507), who,
in so far as we have knowledge, constructed one of the first modern terrestrial
globes, and it may, indeed, be said of his "Erdapfel," as he called
it, that it is the oldest terrestrial globe extant. Globes in his age, and
even earlier, were by no means unknown. Giovanni Campano (fl. 1261-64),
a distinguished mathematician of Novara, wrote a Tractus de Sphera solida,
in which he describes the manufacture of globes of wood or metal. Toscanelli,
when writing his famous letter in 1474 (Slide #252), refers to a
globe as being the best adapted for demonstrating the erroneous hypothesis
as to the small distance which he supposed to separate the west of Europe
from eastern Asia. Columbus, too, had a globe on board his vessel upon which
was depicted Cipangu [Japan], and which may have been the work of
his brother Bartholomew, who, according to Las Casas, produced charts as
well as globes. But only two globes of a date anterior to the discovery
of the New World have survived, namely this one in Nuremberg, and a smaller
one at the Depôt des planches et cartes de la marine, Paris (Laon
Globe, Slide #259).
Behaim belonged to the merchant class of a flourishing south German city.
He took advantage of the opportunities which were offered him for travel,
though, according to both Ravenstein and Stevenson, it is hardly probable
that he is entitled to that renown as an African coast explorer with which
certain of his biographers have attempted to crown him, nor does it appear
that he is entitled to a very prominent place among the men famed in his
day for their astronomical and nautical knowledge. It was doubtless, for
reasons primarily commercial, that he first found his way to Portugal, where,
shortly after his arrival, probably in the year 1484, he was honored by
King John with an appointment as a member of the junta dos mathematicos
[a nautical or mathematical council]. During his earlier years in Portugal
he was connected with one or more expeditions down the coast of Africa,
was knighted by the king, presumably for his services, and made his home
for some years on the island of Fayal.
In the year 1490 he returned for a visit to his native city, Nuremberg,
and there is reason for believing that on this occasion he was received
with much honor by his fellow townsmen. It was the suggestion of George
Holzschuher, member of the City Council, and himself somewhat famed as a
traveler, that eventually brought special renown to this globe maker, for
he it was who proposed to his colleagues of the Council that Martin Behaim
should be requested to undertake the construction of a globe on which the
recent Portuguese and other discoveries should be represented. From a record
on the globe itself, placed within the Antarctic circle, we learn that the
work was undertaken on the authority of three distinguished citizens, Gabriel
Nutzel, Paul Volckamer, and Nikolaus Groland. It is an interesting fact
that we are able to follow in detail the construction of the globe through
its several stages, as the accounts of George Holzschuher, to whom was entrusted
the general supervision of the work, have been preserved. From his report,
presented at the conclusion of the undertaking, we learn the names of those
who participated in the production of the globe; we learn the amount received
by each for his labors, and that the total cost to the city for the completed
product was something less than seventy-five dollars. Information is given
therein as to the division of the work; how the spherical shell was prepared;
how the vellum covering was fitted to the sphere; how the rings and the
globe supports were supplied; finally, how the artist, Glockenthon, transferred
the map to the prepared surface of the ball and added to the same the several
miniatures, illustrating in rich color a variety of subjects.
Construction. The production of the globe involved first the compilation
of a map of the world as a guide for the artist employed in painting the
globe; secondly, the manufacture of the globe, together with its accessories;
thirdly, the transfer of the map to the globe.
The compilation of a " printed mappa mundi, which was used for
the globe," naturally fell to the share of Behaim himself. This map
was subsequently mounted upon two panels, framed and varnished and hung
up in the clerk's office of the town hall. Johann Schöner, in 1532,
was paid £5 for "renovating" this map and for compiling
a new one, recording the discoveries which had been made since the days
of Behaim.
The manufacture of a hollow globe or sphere can hardly have presented any
difficulty at Nuremberg, where the traditions of the workshop of Johann
Müller (Regiomontanus), who turned out celestial spheres, were
still alive.
The mould or matrix of loam was prepared by a craftsman bearing the curious
name of Glockengiesser, bell-founder. The spherical shell was the work of
Kalperger. Having covered the mould with successive layers of paper, pasted
together so as to form pasteboard, he cut the shell into two hemispheres
along the line of the intended Equator. The hemispheres were then taken
off the mould, and the interior having been given stability by a skeleton
of wooden hoops, they were again glued together so as to revolve on an iron
axis, the ends of which passed through the two poles. The sphere was then
coated with whiting, upon which was laid the vellum which was to bear the
design. The vellum was cut into segments resembling the gores of a modern
globe, and fitted the sphere most admirably. A smith supplied two iron rings
to serve as meridian and horizon, a joiner a stand, and there was provided
a lined cover as a protection against dust. In 1510 the iron meridian was
displaced by one of brass, the work of Johann Verner, the astronomer. The
wooden stand was superseded about the same time by an elegant tripod of
iron.
The important duty of transferring the map to the surface of the globe and
illuminating it was entrusted to Glockenthon (and possibly Erhard Etzlaub).
This artist spent fifteen weeks over this work. All in all this fine work
of art cost the city no more than £13 17s.
For over a hundred years the globe stood in one of the upper reception rooms
of the town hall, but in the beginning of the 16th century it was claimed
by and surrendered to Baron Behaim. This was fortunate, for had it remained,
uncared for, in the town hall it might have shared the fate of so many other
" monuments" of geographical interest, the loss of which the living
generation has been fated to deplore. In November 1907 the globe was removed
from Baron Behaim's family mansion in the Egydienplatz to the Germanic Museum.
The globe, in its pristine condition, with its bright colors and numerous
miniatures, must have delighted the eyes of a beholder. In the course of
time, however, the once brilliant colors darkened or faded, parts of the
surface were rubbed off; many of the names became illegible or disappeared
altogether. The mechanician Karl Bauer, who, aided by his son Johann Bernhard,
repaired the globe in 1823, declared to Ghillany, that it had become very
friable (mürbe), and that he found it difficult to keep it from
falling into pieces. In his opinion it could not last much longer. Yet the
globe has survived, and its condition seems in no manner worse than it was
when it was under treatment by the Bauers. Indeed, on examining the globe,
a beholder may feel surprise at the brightness of much of the lettering.
This, however, is due to the action of the " renovators," who
were let loose upon the globe in 1823, and again in 1847; who were permitted
to work their will without the guidance of a competent geographer, and,
as is the custom of the tribe, have done irreparable mischief. As a result
numerous place-names have been corrupted past recognition, and if one desires
to recover the original nomenclature of the globe we must deal with it as
a palimpsest. Such a process, however, might lead to the destruction of
the globe, whilst the result possibly to be achieved would hardly justify
running such a risk.
The globe, which still belongs to the Behaim family, was removed in the
year 1907, by Baron W. Behaim, from his residence in Egedienplatz, Nuremberg,
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 brass
horizon circle probably dates from the year 1510.
Description. In his scholarly work Ravenstein describes this remarkable
cartographic monument of a period which represented the beginning of a rapid
expansion of geographical knowledge (in summary): Martin Behaim's map of
the world was drawn on parchment which had been pasted over a large sphere.
The globe itself has a circumference of 1,595 mm, consequently a diameter
of 507 mm or 20 inches, resulting in a scale of 1:25,138,000. Only two great
circles are laid down upon it, the equator, divided into 360 degrees (unnumbered),
and the ecliptic studded with the signs of the zodiac. The Tropics, the
Arctic and the Antarctic circles are likewise shown and in the high latitudes
the lengths of the longest days are given. The only meridian which is drawn
from pole-to-pole 80 degrees to the west of Lisbon is graduated for degrees,
but also unnumbered. 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 space within the Antarctic circle
is occupied by a fine design of the Nuremberg eagle with the virgin's head,
associated with which are the arms of the three chief captains by whose
authority the globe was made, namely, Paul Volckamer, Gariel Nützel
and Nikolaus Groland, Behaim and Holzschuher. There are, in addition, 48
flags (including ten of Portugal) and five 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. There is a curiously faulty representation
of the Portuguese arms, especially for someone like Behaim who had lived
in and sailed for that country for many years.
The globe is crowded with over 1,100 place-names and numerous legends in
black, red, gold, or silver. The legends, in the south German dialect of
the period, are very numerous, and are of great interest to students of
history and of historical geography. However, due to the vagrities of time,
many legends and place-names are illegible. In his book on the life and
work of Behaim, Ravenstein provides a complete listing of all decipherable
place-names and legends, along with a translation and discussion where his
interpretation differs from previous scholars. The following legend, which
lies to the southeast of the Azores Islands, indicates the character of
Behaim's numerous legends, in translation it reads :
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 ships 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 ships with various
tame animals and put some of these on each island there to multiply.
The following legend (in translation) relates to the mythical islands of
Antilia.
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 ship, together with their cattle, belongings and goods. 1414
a ship from Spain got nighest it without being endangered.
Through the inspiration of Behaim the construction of globes in the city
of Nuremberg 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.
The main features of interest in the Behaim globe are first the fact that
it is a globe and that the maker was therefore obliged to consider directly
the width of the ocean between Europe and Asia; second, the strong probability
that the outlines adopted on the globe, with the exception of the African
coast, were taken from a printed map already fairly widely circulated; third,
the persistency with which these outlines were adhered to by later cartographers
and their determined efforts to force the new discoveries into this framework.
The globe has also great importance in the perennial controversy over the
initiation of Columbus' great design and the subsequent evolution of his
ideas on the nature of his discoveries.
The former fame of Martin Behaim as a skilled cosmographer has now faded.
Ravenstein has shown that Behaim possibly made a voyage to Guinea in 1484-5,
but that he was certainly not an explorer of the southern seas and a possible
rival of Columbus, and his cartographical attainments were distinctly limited.
All the available evidence tends to show that he was a successful man of
business who made a certain position for himself in Portugal, and who, like
many others of his time, was keenly interested in the new discoveries.
The longitudinal extent of the old world accepted by Ptolemy was approximately
177 degrees to the eastern shore of the Magnus Sinus, plus an unspecified
number of degrees for the remaining extent of China. Behaim accepted more
or less Ptolemy's 177° and added 57° to embrace the eastern shores
of China. He thus arrived at a total of 234°, the correct figure being
131°. The effect of this was to reduce the distance from western Europe
westwards to the Asiatic shores to 126°, in place of the correct figure
of 229°. There is no indication on the globe of what Behaim considered
the length of a degree to be, but even if he did not go as far as Columbus
in adopting the figure of 562 miles for a degree, he presented a very misleading
impression of the distance to be covered in reaching the east from the west.
Since in addition, Cipangu [Japan], in accordance with Marco Polo's
report, is placed some 25° off the coast of China on the tropic of Cancer,
and the Cape Verde Islands are shown as extending to 30° west of the
Lisbon meridian, the distance between them remaining to be navigated is
virtually annihilated.
The general outline is not unlike that of the Genoese map of 1457
(Slide #248); it is also evident that later cartographers,
e.g., Contarini (Slide #308) and Waldseemüller (Slide
#312) drew on a source common to Behaim for the features of the
Indian Ocean and eastern Asia. We are justified in assuming on these and
other grounds that Behaim had not gone directly to the authorities he quotes,
but had merely amended an existing world map. No special knowledge of Conti's
narrative is shown, but a certain Bartolomeo Fiorentino, not otherwise known,
is quoted on the spice trade routes to Europe. Southeast Asia is represented
as a long peninsula extending southwards and somewhat westwards beyond the
Tropic of Capricorn. This feature is a remnant of Ptolemy's Geography,
evolved when the Indian Sea was opened to the surrounding ocean. The placing
of Madagascar and Zanzibar approximately midway between this peninsula and
the Cape must be another feature of some antiquity. The Fra Mauro map
of 1459 displays far more up-to-date knowledge of this area (Slide
#249).
The new knowledge displayed is confined to Africa, or rather to the western
coast for the names on the east coast, save for those taken from Ptolemy,
are fanciful. The main features of the west coast are more or less recognizable,
though Cape Verde is greatly over-emphasized. To Cape Formoso, on the Guinea
coast the nomenclature differs little from contemporary usage. Beyond it,
though a good deal can be paralleled in the two other contemporary sources,
Soligo and Martellus, there are elements peculiar to Behaim, e.g. the Rio
de Behemo, near Cape Formoso, and the Insule Martini, identified
by Ravenstein with Anobom, with others of a less personal character. The
coast swings abruptly to the east at Monte Negro, placed by Behaim
in 38° south latitude. This is the point reached by Cão in 1483,
and its true position is 15° 40' south; a Portuguese standard marks
the spot. On the eastward trending coast, there are names which seem to
be related to those bestowed by Diaz, and the sea is named oceanus maris
asperi meridionalis, a phrase which doubtless refers to the storms encountered
by him. Owing to the exaggeration of the latitudes, Monte Negro falls
fairly near the position which the Cape of Good Hope should occupy. It is
noticeable that the Soligo chart ends in 14° south, which is near the
limit of Behaim's detailed knowledge. We might conclude, therefore, that
Behaim's contribution was to reproduce this coast from a similar chart,
and to add some gleanings from the Diaz voyage round the Cape. The two personal
names are not to be found on any other map: in conjunction with the attempt
made to associate Behaim's own voyage with the discovery of the Cape, we
are justified in assuming that this portion of the globe at least was designed
in a spirit of self-glorification. It seems doubtful if Behaim had sailed
much further than the Guinea Coast.
Sources: Behaim informs us in one of the legends of his globe that
his work is based upon Ptolemy's Cosmography, for the one part, and
upon the travels of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville, and the explorations
carried on by the order of King John of Portugal, for the remainder. Other
sources were, however, drawn upon by the compiler, and several of these
are incidentally referred to by him or easily discoverable, but as to a
considerable part of his design scholars have been unable to trace the authorities
consulted by him.
Ptolemy: Behaim has been guided by the opinion of the " orthodox
" geographers of his time and has consequently copied the greater part
of the outline of the map of the world designed by the great Alexandrian.
He has, however, rejected the theory of the Indian Ocean being a mare
clausum [closed sea] and although he accepted Ptolemy's outline for
the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Caspian, he substituted modern
place names for most of those given by ancient geographers. The edition
of Ptolemy of which he availed himself was that published at Ulm in 1482,
and reprinted in 1486, with the maps of Dominus Nicolaus Germanus.
Isidore of Seville: or one of his numerous copyists, is the authority
for placing the islands of Argyra, Chryse and Tylos far to
the east, to the south of Zipangu [Japan]. Isidore is also used as
a reference to syrens and other monsters of the eastern ocean. Behaim, in
a legend refers for further information on this subject to Pliny, Aristotle,
Strabo and the Specula of Vincent of Beauvais. The last, however,
merely copied Isidore, whilst the others named did not believe in these
monstrosities.
Marco Polo: One cannot fail to be struck by the extent to which the
author of the globe is indebted to the greatest among medieval travellers.
Accounts, in manuscript, of Polo's travels in Latin, French, Italian and
German, were available at the time the globe was being made at Nuremberg,
as well as three printed editions. The earliest of these, in German, had
appeared in 1477 at Nuremberg; a Latin version, from a translation made
by Friar Francisco Pipino of Bologna in 1320, had been published at Antwerp
in 1485 ; and an Italian version printed at Venice by Z. Bapt. da Sessa
in 1486. Neither the German nor the Italian version is divided into books
and chapters. Pipino's Latin version, on the other hand, is divided in this
manner, and Behaim in seven of his legends quotes these divisions correctly.
We should naturally conclude from this that this was the version consulted
if on other occasions he had not quoted the chapters as given in the version
which was first printed in Ramusio's Navigationi e viaggi in 1559.
If we add that many proper names are spelled sometimes according to Pipino's
version and at others according to that of Ramusio, and that in several
instances names are inserted twice upon the globe and separated by hundreds
of miles, we may fairly conclude that we have not before us an original
compilation, but an uncritical combination of two separate maps designed
to illustrate Marco Polo's travels, whose authors, not being skilled cartographers,
differed widely as to the localization of the places visited or described
by the Venetian traveller. Two instances of this duplication of place-names
may be referred to Bangala, the well-known province at the mouth
of the Ganges, is placed once in the very center of Cathay and a
second time to the east of the Indus, both positions being absolutely erroneous.
Vocan (Wakhan) likewise appears twice, once in Bactriana (which is fairly
correct), and a second time to the east of the Ganges. Instances of such
duplication might be multiplied.
A comparison of this sketch with Behaim's globe, or indeed with other maps
of the period, even including Schöner's globe of 1520, shows clearly
that a much nearer approach to a correct representation to the actual countries
of Eastern Asia could have been secured had these early cartographers taken
the trouble to consult the account which Marco Polo gave of his travels.
India would have stood out distinctly as a large peninsula. Ceylon though
unduly magnified would have occupied its correct position, and the huge
peninsula beyond Ptolemy's " Furthest," a duplicated or bogus
India, would have disappeared, and place names in that peninsula, and even
beyond it, such as Murfuli, Maabar, Lac or Lar, Cael, Var, Coulam,
Cumari, Dely, Cambaia, Servenath, Chesmakoran and Bangala would
have occupied approximately correct sites in Polo's India maior.
The only contemporary map upon which the delineation of Eastern Asia including
the place names is almost identical with that given on Behaim's globe is
by Martin Waldseemüller (Slide #312), and was
published in 1507 . We may conclude from this that both Behaim and Waldseemüller
derived their information from the same source, unless, indeed, we are to
suppose that the Lotharingian cartographer had procured a copy of the globe
which he embodied in his own design. A comparison of the two shows, however,
that such cannot have been the case, for there are many names upon the map
which are not to be found on the globe. The source or sources of this delineation
of Eastern Asia have not yet been discovered, but if we bear in mind that
the outline of the Portuguese chart of 1502 published by Hamy agrees with
that of the globe, although its nomenclature is very poor; that on the Laon
Globe (Slide #259) the islands extending from
Madagascar to Candyn and the duplicated India are identical with
these features as shown on Behaim's globe, and that the map of Henricus
Martellus (Slide #256) strikingly resembles the
globe in the shape given to the duplicated India, we may fairly conclude
that the sources drawn upon by Behaim were equally available to his predecessors
not only, but also to the author of the Portuguese chart of 1502 and to
Waldseemüller. In short, neither Behaim nor any of his contemporaries
took the trouble to lay down Marco Polo's routes as described by himself,
which would have resulted in a map very much like that compiled by myself,
but were content to accept or combine the erroneous designs of incompetent
older authorities.
According to Marco Polo's records, the longitudinal extent of the Old World,
from Lisbon to the east coast of China, is approximately 142°. According
to the Catalan Atlas of 1375 (Slide #235)
this extent amounts to 116°, according to the Fra Mauro map of
1457-59 (Slide #249) to 125, according to the
Genoese map of the same date (Slide #248)
to 136°, the actual extent according to modern maps being 131°.
Tosconelli in 1474 (Slide #252), on the other hand, gives the old
world a longitudinal extension of 230° thus narrowing the width of the
Atlantic to 130°. This encouraged Columbus to sail to the west in the
confident hope of being able to reach the wealthy cities of Cipangu
and Cathay. The author of the Laon globe went even further, for he
reduced the width of the Atlantic to 110°. An intermediate position
between these extremes is occupied by Henricus Martellus, 1489 (Slide #256) , who gives the Old World a longitudinal extent
of 196°.
Toscanelli may be deserving of credit, for having been the first to draw
a graduated map of the great Western Ocean, but when we find that he rejected
Ptolemy's critique of the exaggerated extent given by Marinus of Tyre to
the route followed by the caravans in their visits to Sera, and failed to
identify Ptolemy's Serica with the Cathaia of Marco Polo,
as had been done before him by Fra Mauro, we are not able to rank him as
high as a critical cartographer as he undoubtedly ranks as an astronomer.
He may have been the " initiator" of the voyage which resulted
in the discovery of America, but cannot be credited with being the "hypothetical"
discoverer of this new world. That honor, if honor it be, in the absence
of scientific arguments is due to Crates of Mallos (Slide
#113), who died 145 years before Christ, whose Perioeci and
Antipodes are assigned vast continents in the Western Hemisphere, or
to Strabo (66 B.C. - 24 A.D. , Slide
#115 ), whose "other habitable world " occupies the site of
our North America.
Sir John Mandeville: Jean de Bourgogne, a learned physician of Liege,
declared on his death-bed (in 1475) that his real name was Jean de Mandeville,
but that having killed a nobleman he had been obliged to flee England, his
native country, and live in concealment. This pretended Englishman is the
author of a book of travels which W. D. Cooley describes as " the most
unblushing volume of lies that was ever offered to the world," but
which, perhaps on that very ground, became one of the most popular books
of the age, for as many as sixteen editions of it, in French, German, Italian
and Latin, were printed between 1480 and 1492. In the original French the
author is called Mandeville, in German translations Johannes
or Hans von Montevilla, in the Latin and Italian Mandavilla.
Behaim calls him Johann de Mandavilla, as in Italian, although six
editions of his work printed in German, at Strassburg and Augsburg, were
at his command. One could conclude from this that he is indebted to an Italian
map and not to a perusal of his Travels for the two references on
the globe. The first of these (near Candyn) refers to the invisibility
of the Lodestar in the Southern Hemisphere and the Antipodes, and
is one of the four original statements of the learned doctor, and the second
describes the dog-headed people of Nekuran,which he has borrowed
from Odoric of Portenone and enlarged upon.
Portolano Charts: These nautical [sailing direction] charts were
widely distributed in Behaim's time, and the fact that the Baltic Sea (Ptolemy's
Mare Germanicum) appears on the globe as Das mer von alemagna,
instead of Das teutsche Mer, is proof conclusive that one of these
popular charts was consulted when designing the globe or preparing the map
which served for its prototype. Further evidence of such use is afforded
by the outline given to the British Isles, and possibly also by a few place
names in western Africa, which are Italian rather than German or Portuguese.
But while improving Ptolemy's northern Europe with the aid of a portolano
chart, he blindly followed the Greek cartographer in his delineation of
the contours of the Mediterranean, and this notwithstanding the fact that
the superiority of these portolano charts had not only long since
been recognized by all seamen who had them in daily use, but also by the
compilers of a number of famous maps of the world, including the Catalan
Atlas of 1375 (Slide #235), which the King of
Aragon presented to Charles V. of France, and whose author may have been
Abraham [Hasdai] Cresques, a Jew of Barcelona; a map of 1457, for which
we are indebted to the learned Camadulite Fra Mauro (Slide
#249), and another of the same date, elliptical in shape, whose unknown
author, a Genoese, endeavoured to reconcile the, conflicting views of orthodox
"cosmographers" and, mariners of experience (Slide #248).
Behaim, however, erred in good company, and for years after the completion
of his globe the mistaken views of Ptolemy respecting the longitudinal extent
of the Mediterranean were upheld by men of such authority as Waldseemüller
(1507), Schöner (1520), Gerhard Mercator (1538), and Jacobus Gastaldo
(1548). It is curious that not one of these learned "cosmographers"
should have undertaken to produce a revised version of Ptolemy's map by
retaining the latitudes (several of which were known to have been from actual
observation), while rejecting his erroneous estimate of 500 stadia
to a degree in favor of the 700 stadia resulting from the measurement
of Eratosthenes (Slide #112 ).
Toscanelli: The chart which the learned Paolo Toscanelli sent, in
1474, to his friend Fernão Martins has been lost, while the only
information to be found in the letter which would enable us to reconstruct
it are the statements that on sailing due west from Lisbon, Quinsay
in Mangi [China] would be reached after sailing across 26 "spaces"
(of the projection) or 130° of longitude, and that the distance between
Antilia and Zipangu [Japan] amounted to 50° (Slide #252). The distances on Behaim's globe are approximately
the same. Some scholars have concluded that Behaim may have copied Toscanelli's
chart. This is quite possible, for copies of both the chart and the letter
may have been forwarded by Toscanelli to his friend Regiomonhaus at Nuremberg,
who had dedicated to him, in 1463, his treatise De quadratura circuli.
Portuguese Sources: When Behaim, in the spring of 1490, left Lisbon
for his native Nuremberg, Bartolomeu Diaz had been back from his famous
voyage round the Cape for over twelve months, numerous commercial and scientific
expeditions had improved the rough surveys made by the first explorers along
the Guinea coast, factories had been established at Arguim, S. Jorge
da Mina, Benin and, far within the Sahara, at Wadan, trading expeditions
had gone up the Senegal and Gambia, and relations established with Timbuktu,
Melli and other states in the interior. In addition to all this, ever since
the days of Prince Henry and the capture of Ceuta, in 1417, information
on the interior had been collected on the spot or from natives who were
brought to Lisbon to be converted to the Christian faith.
There is no doubt that the early Portuguese navigators brought home excellent
charts of their voyages. Columbus, who saw the charts prepared by Bartolomeu
Diaz, speaks of them as "depicting and describing from league to league
the track followed" by the explorer. But not one of these original
charts has survived, and had it not been for copies made of them by Italians
and others, our knowledge of these early explorations would have been even
less perfect than it actually is. These copies were made use of in the production
of charts on a small scale, the place names upon which, owing either to
the carelessness of the draughtsmen or their ignorance of Portuguese, are
frequently mutilated to an extent rendering them quite unrecognizable. But
even of maps of this imperfect kind illustrating the time of Behaim and
of a date anterior to his globe, only two have reached us, namely theGinea
Portugalexe ascribed to Cristofero Soligo, and a map of the world by
Henricus Martellus Germanus (Slide #256).
Behaim, of course, enjoyed many opportunities for examining the charts brought
home by seamen not only, but also other curious maps, whose existence has
been recorded although the maps themselves have long since disappeared.
Among maps of this kind was one in the possession of D. Fernando, the son
of King Manuel, in 1528, and which had been brought to the famous monastery
of Alcoba, ca. 120 years before, i.e., in 1408; another, which D. Pedro,
the brother of Prince Henry, had brought from Venice in 1428, and, according
to Galviio, upon which was shown the Fronteira de Africa and also
a Cola do dragon [dragon's tail], which has been absurdly identified
with the strait discovered by Magellan; the copy of Fra Mauro's famous map,
for which King Affonso, in 1459, had paid 62 ducats; the map which had been
prepared under the eyes of the learned Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas of Calzadinha
for the guidance of Pero de Covilha in the east; the map of the world, fourteen
palmas or about 10 feet in diameter, which H. Müntzer, in 1495, saw
hanging on a wall of the royal mansion in which he resided as the guest
of Joz d'Utra; and lastly, the map which Toscanelli is believed to have
forwarded to King Affonso in 1474 in illustration of his plan of reaching
Cathay and Cipangu by sailing across the Western Ocean.
In addition to maps and charts a person of Behaim's social position and
connections might readily have had access to the reports of contemporary
explorers. He might have learned much from personal intercourse with seamen
and merchants who had recently visited the newly discovered regions or were
interested in them. His contemporary, the printer, Valentin Ferdinand, was
thus enabled not only to consult the manuscript Chronicle of Azurara,
and the records of Cadamosto (credited with the discovery of the Azores)
and Pedro de Cintra (his account of a voyage to Guinea), but also to gather
much valuable information from Portuguese travellers who had visited Guinea.
Foremost among these was João Rodriguez, who resided at Arguim from
1493-5, and there collected information on the Western Sahara. To Ferdinand
we owe, moreover, the preservation of the account which Diogo Gomez gave
to Martin Behaim of his voyages to Guinea.
Miscellaneous Sources: Foremost amongst these rank the maps in the
Ulm edition of Ptolemy (1482), of which Domunus Nicolaus, a German residing
in Italy, was the author. Of these maps, that of Scandinavia is a curtailed
version of one drawn in 1423 by Claudius Clavus Swartho (Niger), a Dane
who lived at Rome. His map shows the actual Greenland as extending from
Europe to beyond Iceland. On the map of Nicolaus published in 1482, though
not in an earlier edition, Greenland is omitted.
Bartolomeo of Florence, who is said to have travelled for 24 years in the
East (1401-1424), but whose name and reputation are other vise unknown,
is quoted at length on the spice trade.
Behaim's laudable reticence as to mirabilia mundi has been referred
to already, but he does not disdain to introduce long accounts concerning
the "romance" of Alexander the Great, the myth of the "Three
Wise Men" or kings, the legends connected with Christian Saints, such
as St. Thomas, St. Matthew, St. Apollonius, and St. Brandan or St. Patrick,
or the story of Prester John, all of which were popular during the Middle
Ages. He quotes Genesis (instead of Kings ii. 13) in connection with Ophir,
and refers to St. Jerome's introduction to the Bible.
Behaim had access, likewise, to valuable collections of books and maps,
most important among which was the library of the famous Johann Müller
of Königsberg (Monteregio), who at the time of his death was engaged
upon a revised edition of Ptolemy, which he intended to illustrate with
modern maps, including one of the entire world. The library had been purchased
in 1476 by his friend and pupil, Bernhard Walther. There are three sections
of the globe, upon the origins of which much light might be thrown by the
discovery of ancient maps formerly in the possession of John Müller.
These are first the region between the Euphrates and Ganges; secondly
southeastern Asia with its many islands; thirdly the greater
portion of inner Africa. As to the first it is remarkable that although
Ptolemy's outlines of lakes and rivers have been retained, his place names
have for the most part been rejected and others substituted. Eastern Asia,
with its islands, and Africa have, however, been copied from a map or maps
which were also at the command of Waldseemüller (Slide
#312). A comparison of that cartographer's map with Behaim's globe leaves
no doubt as to this, unless we are prepared to assume that Waldseemüller
took his information from the globe, which Ravenstein concludes to be quite
inadmissible. It was on the same map that Ritter von Harff, who returned
to Germany in 1499 after a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, performed his fictitious
journey from the east coast of Africa, across the Mountains of the Moon
and down the Nile to Egypt. On Behaim's globe may be traced twenty-one names,
out of about forty to be found on Waldseemüller's map of 1507, and
four of them mark stages of the worthy knight's journey.
But long before Waldseemüller and Behaim, the same old map must have
been accessible to Dom. Nicolaus Germanus, for in the map of the world in
the edition of Ptolemy published in 1482 he introduces a third head stream
of the Nile, which is evidently derived from it.
Conclusion: Behaim is no doubt indebted to his globe, and to the
survival of that globe, for the great reputation which he enjoys among posterity.
But while the undoubted beauties of that globe are due to the miniature
painter Glockenthon, according to Ravenstein the purely geographical features
do not exhibit Behaim as an expert cartographer, if judged by modern standards.
He was not a careful compiler, who first of all plotted the routes of the
travellers to whose accounts he had access, and then combined the results
with judgment. Had he done this, the fact of India being a peninsula could
not have escaped him; the west coast of Africa would have appeared more
accurate. His delineation is rather "hotch-potch" made up without
discrimination from maps which happened to fall in his hands. In this respect,
however, he is not worse than are other cartographers of his period: Fra
Mauro and Waldseemüller, Schöner and Gastaldo, and even the famous
Mercator, if the latter be judged by his delineation of Eastern Asia.
But we may well ask whether greatness was not in a large measure thrust
upon Behaim by injudicious panegyrists; and if, on a closer examination
of his work, he does not quite come up to our expectations, they, at all
events, must bear the greater part of the blame. The globe by Behaim was
designed to demonstrate the ease with which one could sail westward to Japan
and China, to the Cipangu and Cathay of Marco Polo. It showed
Cipangu as only 80 degrees to the west of the Canaries and Cathay
some 35 degrees more. Behaim had hopes of leading a voyage westward to Asia
and sought the backing of the Emperor Maximilian. The Emperor shrugged it
off by passing it on to King John of Portugal in a letter written by Dr.
Monetarius, dated 24 July 1493:
Maximilian, invincible King of the Romans, who, through his mother, is himself
a Portuguese, intended to invite Your Majesty through my simple letter to
search for the eastern coast of the very rich Cathay . . . At your pleasure
you can secure for this voyage a companion sent by our King Maximilian,
namely Don Martin Behaim, and many other expert mariners, who would start
from the Azores islands and boldly cross the sea.'
This was virtually identical with the proposals of Columbus to Portugal
in 1485. Unknown to Behaim, Columbus had discovered the Bahamas and the
Antilles and had returned to Spain by March 1493. It sets a problem: two
men with identical plans to reach Asia, at the same time in history and
with similar cosmographical concepts. Columbus, in the copy of the Toscanelli
letter (made on the flyleaf of the Historia Rerum of Pope Pius II)
gave Cathay as 130° west of Lisbon and Cipangu as ten
spaces, or 50°, west of the legendary island of Antillia. On
15th century maps, Antillia was placed at 30° to 35° west
of Lisbon so that Columbus made Cipangu extend from 80° to 85°
west of Lisbon. As previously mentioned, Behaim went to Lisbon in 1484,
and soon was in high favor with King John who placed him on his mathematical
junta and knighted him in February, 1485. It was this junta which
reported on the proposals of Columbus to sail west to Cipangu and
Cathay and rejected them during that summer. Behaim had ample opportunity
to study the proposals of Columbus and the map(s) which accompanied them.
This was the origin of Behaim's later plan to sail to Asia and the source
of his concepts of the distances involved. Both were carbon copies of the
ideas and map of Columbus. No criticism of Behaim is implied. As far as
he knew in 1492, Columbus had not gained support for his enterprise in Portugal
or Spain and there was no logical or moral reason why he should not seek
German support.
The following are some examples of the numerous legends to be found on Behaim's
globe.
Be it known that on this Apple (Globe) here present is laid out the
whole world according to its length and breadth in accordance with the art
geometry, namely, the one part as described by Ptolemy in his book called
Cosmographia Ptolemaei and the remainder from what the Knight Marco
Polo of Venice caused to be written down in 1250. The worthy Doctor and
Knight Johann de Mandavilla likewise left a book in 1322 which brought to
the light of day the countries of the East, unknown to Ptolemy, whence we
receive spices, pearls and precious stones, and the Serene King John of
Portugal has caused to be visited in his vessels that part to the south
not yet known to Ptolemy in the year 1485, whereby I, according to whose
indications this Apple has been made, was present. Towards the west the
Sea Ocean has likewise been navigated further than what is described by
Ptolemy and beyond the columns of Hercules as far as the islands Faial and
Pico of the Azoreas occupied by the noble and valiant Knight Jobst de Hürter
of Moerkerken, and the people of Flanders whom he conducted thither. These
islands are occupied by my dear father-in-law, who owns and governs it.
The far-off places towards midnight or Tramontana, beyond Ptolemy's description,
such as Iceland, Norway and Russia, are likewise now known to us, and are
visited annually by ships, wherefore let none doubt the simple arrangement
of the world, and that every part may be reached in ships, as is here to
be seen.
The ocean on Behaim's globe surrounds the continental mass of land, though
covered around the North Pole with many large islands, so that in order
to proceed from Iceland direct to the north coast of Asia it is necessary
to pass through a narrow strait. The arctic ocean, called das gesrore
mer septentrionel [the frozen sea of the North] is surrounded on all
sides by land. It is the Mare concretum of Pierre d'Ailly's Imago
mundi, and of the Ulm edition of Ptolemy printed in 1482.
The North Sea, the Oceanus Germanicus of Ptolemy, is described as
das engelis mere the "English Sea," for by that name it was
known to the sailors of Scandinavia and of northern Germany. The Baltic,
the Mare Germanicum of the learned, is called das mer von alemagna
, the " German Sea," which proves conclusively, according to Ravenstein,
that Behaim in delineating that part of the world was guided by an Italian
or Catalan portolano chart.
The Southern Atlantic is called oceanus meridionalis . On the voyage
thither, to the south of Cape Verde and the Cape Verde Islands, we meet
with the following legend:
Be it known that the sea called Ocean, between the Cape Verde Islands and
the mainland, runs swiftly to the south; when Hercules had got here with
his ships and saw the declivity (current) of the sea he turned back, and
set up a column, the inscription upon which proves that Hercules got no
further. Afterwards the writer of this was sent further by the king of Portugal,
in the year 1485.
The Pillars of Hercules originally stood on the island of Gades
[Cadiz], outside the Straits of Gibraltar, but in proportion as geographical
knowledge extended so were these columns pushed ahead.
On a Catalan-Estense map of 1450 (Slide
#246), there are two small islands off Cape Verde described as Illa
de cades: asi posa ercules does colones [Cades Island where Hercules
set up two columns], and on Fra Mauro's famous map of 1459 a legend to the
south of Cabo rosso tells us that he had heard from many that a column
stood there with an inscription stating that it was impossible to navigate
beyond.
Diogo Gomez, an old mariner, well known to Behaim, to whom he presented
his account De prima inventione Guineae, tells us that João
de Castro, on his homeward voyage in 1415, had to struggle against the current
which swept round Cabo de Non, upon which Hercules had set up a column with
the well-known legend, quis navigat ultra caput de Non revertetur aut
non. Gregory of Nyssa (died 395) already knew of the existence of this
current, which he ascribed to the excessive evaporation caused by the great
heat of the southern sun and the absence of evaporation in the cool north.
Albertus Magnus (died 1280) in his Meteorologia ascribed the current
to the same cause, namely, a difference in the level of the ocean due to
differences of evaporation, but believed the current thus produced to be
steady and almost imperceptible. The actual velocity of the current to the
south of Cape Non varies from .5 to 1.25 knots an hour.
Off the southern extremity of Africa, below a huge fish, is written oceanus
maris asperi meridionalis , perhaps with reference to the experience
of Bartholomeu Diaz when within the influence of the " brave forties."
The Indian Ocean (Mare Jndicum, and oceanus Jndicus of Ptolemy),
is divided into a Western Indian Ocean, oceanus Jndicus occidentalis
, an Ocean of Upper India: oceanus Jndie fuperioris off Mangi;
and an Eastern Indian Ocean, oceanus orientalis and oceanus orientis
Jndies, or orientalis Indiae, to the east of the meridian of
Cipangu.
Behaim's Sinus arabicus corresponds to our Gulf of Aden, and this
gulf as well as the das rod mer [the Red Sea], is, of course, colored
red. Ptolemy's Sinus Persicus is called Dafz meer Persa and
his Hyrcanum mare is called das hyrkanifche mer.
The Islands of the Atlantic.
Iceland: The story of the Icelanders selling their dogs and giving
away their children is a fable invented by English and Hanseatic pirates
and merchants, who kidnapped children, and even adults, and sold them into
slavery. As an instance may be mentioned the misdeeds of William Byggeman,
the captain of the 'Trinity,' who was prosecuted in England in 1445, for
having committed this offense.
In Iceland are handsome white people, and they are Christians. It is the
custom there to sell dogs at a high price, but to give away the children
to (foreign) merchants, for the sake of God, so that those remaining may
have bread.
Item, in Iceland are to be found men eighty years of age who have never
eaten bread,for corn does not. grow there, and instead of bread they eat
dried fish.
In the island of Iceland they catch the cod which is brought into our country.
Insula de Brazil: The imaginary Jnfula de prazil , to the
west of Ireland, appears for the first time on Dulcert's chart (1339). Subsequently,
in the Medicean Portolano Chart of 1351 (Slide #233), it figures
as one of the Azores, usually identified with Terceira, a cape of which
still bears the name of Morro do Brazil. Later charts, like that
of Pizzigani ( 1367), contained three islands of the name, the one furthest
north Iying to the west of Ireland. It is this northern island which retained
its place on the maps until late in the 16th century, and, together with
the islands of St. Brandan and of the Septe citez [the Seven
Cities] it still appears on Mercator's chart of the world in 1587. It is
this northern island which was searched for in vain between 1480 and 1499,
and figures on Behaim's globe.
The Azores: Jnfula delanz michel [Ilha de S. Miguel], shown
with the Portuguese flag. We are told nothing about the " burning mountain
" and the great earthquake which happened in 1444.
neu flandern, oder Infula de faial [New Flanders or Ilha do Fayal].
Two flags fly above these islands from the same flagstaff, the upper one
with the arms of Nermberg, the lower with those of Behaim. Two more flags
are merely shown in outline and may have been intended for the arms of Portugal
and Hurter. These skeleton flags are omitted on the Paris (Jomard) facsimile.
Jnfule de flores, ilha das Flores. A sea-horse and four vessels sailing
to the west are shown to the south of Flores. The following legend to the
northeast of the Azores has been added after Behaim's death: Martin Behaim
died at Lisbon in the year of the Lord 1506 on the 29th July.
Antilia: An imaginary island of Antilia (also spelled, Antillia
)has found a place upon the charts since the 14th century and was at
an early date identified by the Portuguese with the equally imaginary Ilha
de sete cidades [the island of the seven cities] where the Archbishop
of Oporto with his six bishops is imagined to have fled after the final
defeat of King Roderick of the Visigoths on the Guadalete (711) and the
capture of Merida (712) by the Arabs.
The historian Galvao (1862) reports that in 1447 a Portuguese vessel, driven
westward by a storm, actually arrived at the island, the inhabitants of
which still spoke the Portuguese tongue; other voyages to this island in
the time of Prince Henry are referred to in the Historie of Fernand
Colombo. These voyages, however, are purely imaginary, or, at all events,
led to no actual discoveries. It is certain, however, that Fernão
Telles, in 1475, and Fernão Dulmo, in 1486, were authorized to sail
in search of this imaginary island.
Antilia on the ancient maps is a huge island, quadrangular in shape,
resembling in all respects the Cipangu of Behaim's globe. The Antilia
of the globe, on the other hand, includes two islands, which seem to represent
the ciertas islas depicted on Columbus's chart.
In the year 734 of Christ, when the whole of Spain had been won by the heathen
[Moors] of Africa, the above island Antilia, called Septe 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
fromSpain, by ship, together with their cattle, belongings and goods. 1414
a ship from Spain got nighest it without being endangered.
St. Brandan' Island: The legend of the Irish abbot St. Brandan, who,
after a seven years' peregrination over a sea of darkness, penetrated to
an Island of Saints, a terra repromissionis sanctorum, was very popular
during the Middle Ages. A German version of the legend, Sant Brandon's
buch , was printed by A. Sorg at Augsburg in 1476, and St. Brandon's
Island retained a place upon the maps, notwithstanding Vincent of Beauais'
disbelief in the legend, until the days of Ortelius (1570) and Mercator;
and as late as 1721 the Governor of the Canaries sent out a vessel to search
for this imaginary island. St. Brandan's Island is generally associated
with the Canaries, as on the Hereford map of 1280 (Slide
#226), but Dulcert's Insulla Scti Brandani sive puellarum (1339)
lies further north, while Pizzigani's San Brandany y ysole Pouzele lie far
to the west (1367).
Jnfula de fant brandan [St. Brandan's Island].
In the year 565 after Christ, St. Brandon in his ship came to this island
where he witnessed many marvels,and seven years afterwards he returned to
his country.
Scandinavia: This area is almost wholly copied from a map in the
Ulm edition of Ptolemy published in 1482. The author of the globe was well
aware that the three northern kingdoms, since the Union of Calmar (1397),
were ruled by the King of Denmark, for the standard of that kingdom flies
at the mouth of the Elbe, at the westernmost point of Norway and on Iceland.
tennzark , Denmark and coppenhagen, with a miniature of the
king.
nord.wege , Norway.
bergn , Bergen, the well-known trading town.
thyle , an island on the coast of Norway (Telemarken) is undoubtedly
meant to represent the
Thule of Pytheas of Massilia, although that island is more correctly
identified with Shetland, known to sailors.
The Indian Ocean and its islands:
Marco Polo in the 38th chapter of the 3rd book states that the mariners
had verily found in this Indian Ocean more than 12,700 inhabited islands,
many of which yield precious stones, pearls and mountains of gold, whilst
others abound in twelve kinds of spices and curious peoples, concerning
whom much might be written.
Here are found sea-monsters, such as Sirens and other fish. And if anyone
desires to know more of these curious people, and peculiar fish in the sea
or animals upon the land, let him read the books of Pliny, Isidore (of Seville),
Aristotle, Strabo, the Specula of Vincent (of Beauvais) and many
others.
There he shall find accounts of the curious inhabitants, of the islands,
the monsters of the ocean, the peculiar animals on the land and of the islands
yielding spices and precious stones.
Taprobana: with a royal tent.
Many noble things are said about this island in ancient histories, how they
(the inhabitants) helped Alexander the Great and went with the Romans to
Rome in the company of the Emperor Pompey. This island has a circuit of
4,000 miles, and is divided into four kingdoms, in which is found much gold
and also pepper, camphor, aloe wood and also gold sand. The people worship
false gods: they are tall, stout men, and good astronomers.
Ceylon:
The island Seilan, one of the best islands in the world, but it has lost
in extent to the seas.
In this island Seilan are found many precious stones and oriental pearls.
The King of this island possesses the largest and finest ruby ever seen
in the world. The people, men and women, go naked. No corn grows there,
only rice.
Its king is subject to no one, and they pray to false gods. The island Seilan
has a circuit of 2,400 miles as is written by Marco Polo in the 19th chapter
of the third book.
Item, in past times the great Emperor of Cathay sent an ambassador to this
King of Seilan, asking for this ruby and offering to give much treasure
for it. But the King replied that this stone had for a long time belonged
to his ancestors, and it would ill become him to send this stone out of
the country. The ruby is said to be a foot and a half in length and a span
broad, and without any blemish.
The Three Holy Kings and Prester John: The three "holy kings
" whose bones are exhibited to credulous visitors at Cologne Cathedral
and whose memory is revived annually on Twelfth Day, were undoubtedly the
King of Tarshish and the Isles, and the Kings of Sheba and Saba,
of Psalm Ixxii. It was not doubted that these " kings" were descended
from the three wise men from the East, who, according to Matthew ii. 1-10,
were guided by a star to Bethlehem, and there worshipped the newborn "
King of the Jews." The Venerable Bede (died 735) already knew that
the names of these " kings " were Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
John of Hildesheim (died 1375) wrote a popular account of their story, which
was first printed in German in 1480.
Closely connected with the legend of the Three Kings is the reported
existence of a powerful Christian Prince, Presbyter or Prester
John, in the center of Asia. This rumor first reached Europe through
the Bishop of Gabala in 1145, and it was supposed that this Royal Priest
was a direct successor or descendant of the Three Kings. Dr. Oppert has
satisfactorily shown that this mysterious personage was Yeliutashe of the
Liao dynasty, which ruled in Northern China from 906 to 1125. Having been
expelled by the Koreans, Yeliutashe went forth with part of his horde,
and founded the Empire of the Kara Khitai, which at one time extended from
the Altai to Lake Aral, and assumed the title of Korkhan. The King George
in Tenduk, whom Marco Polo describes as a successor of Presbyter
John, was actually a relative of this Yeliutashe who had remained
in the original seats of the tribe not far from the Hwang-ho, and of Kuku-kotan,
where the Kutakhtu Lama of the Mongols resided when Gerbillon visited the
place in 1688. It was this King George whom Friar John of Montecorvino claims
to have converted in 1292.
The Tarshish of the Psalmist must be sought in the East, in maritime India,
and not at Tartessus in the West; Sheba was in Southern Arabia, and Saba
on the authority of Marco Polo probably in Persia. Saba Ethiopie,
however, in course of time, was transferred to Abyssinia, and its Christian
ruler was accepted as the veritable and most popular Prester John.
Friar John of Marignola (1338-53) is the firstraveller who mentions an "
African archpriest," and on a map of the world which Cardinal Guillaume
Filastre presented in 1417 to the library of Reims we read Ynde Pbr Jo
at the easternmost cape of Africa.
On Behaim's globe the Three Kings are localized in Inner Asia, on
the Indian Ocean and in East Africa (Saba). Tarsis, with a picture
of a town, "One of the Three Holy Kings of Tarsis, called . . ."
with a royal tent surmounted by a flag exhibiting three Negro heads. Far
to the north are the Three Kings conversing with a traveller.Tarsis (Tarssia)
is shown on many medieval maps in a similar position, for instance, on the
Catalan Atlas of 1375, where the three kings are shown on horseback
about to start for Bethlehem. Haiton is the authority for placing Tarsis
in this position.
The following legends refer to one of the kings reigning on the Indian ocean.
Opposite the island of Taprobana we read: One of the Three Holy Kings
of India.
Beyond the Sinus magnus of Ptolemy is the following legend:
Here in these mountains called Vaus, upon which ....
On this mountain, the Mons victorialis (called Mount Gybeit
by John of Marignola) the Three Kings watched for the appearance
of the star which, according to Balaam's prophecy (Numbers xxiv. 17), "should
come out of Jacob," and which guided them to Bethlehem.
The third of the Holy Kings is located in East Africa, near the mouth of
the Red Sea. Here is a royal tent with the following legend: The kingdom
of one of the Three Holy Kings, him of Saba.
Below this we read Saba , which clearly stands for Shoa
or Shewa, and to the west is a picture of this Prester John of
Abassia with a kneeling figure in front of him. The following legends
refer to Presbyter John. Marco Polo is the authority for the first
of these legends, which locates the Presbyter in Tenduk , at Thian-te-kiang
on the Hwang-ho, to the southwest of Kuku-hotan.
In this country resides the mighty Emperor known as Master John, who is
appointed governor of the three holy kings Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior
in the land of the Moors. And his descendants are good Christians, as are
also many kings who are under them.
Og to the west and Magog to the south of Tenduk are
described by Marco Polo as being subject to the Prester. These are
the tribes of the Apocalypse (xx. 8), but Polo says that they are
known to the natives as Ung and Mongul, that is, the Un-gut, a Turkish
tribe, and the Mongols. To the east of Tenduk we read:
The country towards midnight is ruled by the Emperor Mangu, khan of Tartary,
who is a wealthy man of the great Emperor, the Master John of India, the
wife of the great King is likewise a Christian.
Mangu-khan ruled 1251-59. He was a grandson of Chinghiz-khan and Kublai's
elder brother. The above information as well as that given in the remaining
legends may have been taken from Mandeville, who himself is indebted to
Haiton, Friar Odorico and others. In the Sinus magnus of Ptolemy
we also read: This sea, land and towns all belong to the great Emperor
Prester John of India.
In the southern hemisphere embedded in other legends is the following:
All this land, sea and islands, countries and kings were given by the Three
Holy Kings to the Emperor Presbyter John, and formerly they were all Christians,
but at present not even 72 Christians are known to be among them.
Mandeville, says that 72 provinces and kings were tributaries of Prester
John, on the authority of an apocryphal letter supposed to have been sent
to Manuel Commenus (1143-80), the Pope and others.
Cipangu insula: Japan. There is a royal tent. At its southern extremity
are shown a moscat nuswalt [nutmeg forest] and a pfeffer walt
[pepper forest]. The following legends are on the island itself:
The island Cipangu has a King and language of its own; the inhabitants worship
idols. Cipangu where grows much gold.
Cipangu is the most noble and richest island in the east, full of spices
and precious stones. Its compass is 1,200 miles (off the southern extremity).
In this island are found gold and shrubs yielding spices (off the east coast).
This island Zipangu lies in the west of the world. The inhabitants worship
idols. The King is subject to no one. In the island is found exceeding much
gold and likewise precious stones and pearls. This is stated by Marco Polo
of Venice in his 3rd Book.
Many facsimiles have been attempted of the "Behaim Map" and the
globe itself, i.e., J.G. Dopplemayer (1770), F.W. Ghillany (1853), J. Lelewel
(1850 and 1857), E.F. Jomard /M. d'Avezac (1854), E.G. Ravenstein (1908),
and most recently by Greaves & Thomas (of Surrey) in 1993.
LOCATION: Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
REFERENCES:
*Bagrow, L., History of Cartography, pp. 106-107, plate LV.
*Bricker, C., Landmarks of Mapmaking, pp. 28, 61, 77, 115, 152, 192, (color).
Brown, L., The Story of Maps, pp. 98, 155, 183, 200.
Crone, G.R., Maps and their Makers, pp. 61-63, 76.
George, W., Animals and Maps, pp. 46-48, 109
Harley, J.B, The History of Cartography, Volume I, pp. 8, 316, 413, 414.
Harvey, P.D.A., Medieval Maps, p. 69.
*Nebenzahl, K., Atlas of Columbus, pp. 15-17, plates 5a/5b (color).
*Nordenskiöld, A.E., Facsimile Atlas, pp. 21, 64-65, 72, 73, 100-101.
*Ravenstein, E. G., Martin Behaim his life and his globe, (color).
Skelton, R.A., The Vinland Map and the Tartar Relation, p. 155, 175, 179,
234.
*Stevenson, E.L., Terrestrial and Celestrial Globes, pp. 42-57, Fig. 23.
Winsor, J., Narrative and Critical History of America, p. 104
Tooley, R., Maps and Mapmakers, pp. 24-25, 96.
* illustrated