Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Volume I Part 17

[300] Cardella. Memorie storiche del Cardinali della Santa Romana Chiesa. Roma, 1792. Tom. IV, p. 233.

[301] Cardella, op. cit., Tom. IV, p. 173.

[302] Cardella, op. cit., Tom. IV, p. 287.

[303] Ruscelli, op. cit. See that section appearing as a second part or appendix to this work t.i.tled "Espositioni et introductioni." Chap. ii.

[304] Sanuto. Geografia di Livio Sanuto distinta in XII libri. Vinezia, 1588.

[305] Ruscelli. Espositioni. Chap. iii.

[306] Ruscelli. Geografia. pp. 58, 59.

[307] Vasari, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 65.

[308] Fiorini. Sfere terrestri e celesti. p. 218.

[309] Inventario del Reale Gabinetto redatto nel 1776, Vol.

II, n. 175.

[310] Doppelmayr, op. cit., p. 75; Gerland, E. Beitrage zur Geschichte der Physik. (In: Leopoldina, Heft 18, p. 69.); Weidler, J. F. Historia astronomiae. Vitembergae, 1741. p.

390; Drechsler, A. Katalog der Sammlung des Konigl.-Mathematisch-Physikalischen Salon zu Dresden.

Dresden, 1874. p. 53.

[311] Doppelmayr, op. cit., pp. 83-90.

[312] Drechsler, op. cit., pp. 53, 54; Gerland, op. cit., p.

68.

[313] Del Badia, J. Egn.a.z.io Danti cosmografo e matematico.

Firenze, 1882; Marchese, R. Memorie dei piu ill.u.s.tri pittori, scultori ed architetti Dominicani. Bologna, 1879.

Vol. II, p. 357; Porena, F. La Geografia in Roma e il mappamondo Vaticano. (In: Boll. della Societa Geografica Italiana. Roma, 1888. pp. 221 ff.)

[314] Uzielli, G. L'epistolario Colombo-Toscanelliano e di Danti. (In: Boll. della Societa Geografica Italiana. Roma, 1889. p. 836.) In this the author refers to the numerous editions of Sacrobosco translated by Rinaldi.

[315] Vasari, op. cit., Vol. V, pp. 493-496.

[316] Del Badia, op. cit., p. 30.

[317] Del Badia, op. cit., p. 28.

[318] Del Badia, op. cit., p. 31.

[319] Fiorini. Sfere terrestri e celesti. p. 179.

[320] Tiraboschi, G. Storia della litteratura italiana.

Roma, 1873. Tom. VII, pt. I, lib. ii, p. 439.

[321] Hues, R. Tractatus de globis coelesti et terrestri eorumque usu. Amstelodame, 1617. Ed. by Joannis Isaci Ponta.n.u.s. See the Preface.

[322] Moriggia, R. P. F. La n.o.bilita di Milano. Milano, 1595. Lib. V, cap. xvii.

[323] Fiorini. Sfere terrestri e celesti. p. 184; Kretschmer, K. Die Entdeckung Amerikas in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Geschichte des Weltbildes. Berlin, 1892. p. 436, and Tav. xxix.

[324] Nordenskiold. Facsimile Atlas, plate XLI.

[325] Fiorini. Sfere terrestri e celesti. p. 220.

[326] Fiorini. Sfere terrestri e celesti. p. 284.

[327] The word "Jobel" is thought to mean jubilee.

[328] Fiorini. Sfere terrestri e celesti. pp. 497-500.

[329] See above, n. 294, 303.

[330] His work bears the t.i.tle D. Francisci Maurolyci Abbatis Messanensis Opuscula mathematica nunc primum in lucem edita. Venetiis, 1575.

[331] Gori-Gandellini, G. Notizie storiche degli intagliatori. Siena, 1771. Tom. I, p. 25.

[332] Archivo Storico della Provincie Napoletane. Anno primo Napoli. 1876. p. 405.

[333] Fiorini. Sfere terrestri e celesti. p. 191. See for catalogue reference Sala dei MSS. Scaffale XII, palchetto D, n. 100.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Compa.s.s Rose. _From Martines Atlas, 1582_]

Chapter IX

Globes and Globe Makers of the Last Quarter of the Sixteenth Century

Brief summary of sixteenth-century globe making.-The close of the century introducing us to the great Dutch globe makers.-The clock maker Dasypodius.-Peter and Philip Apia.n.u.s.-The armillary sphere of Carlus Platus.-Roll and Reinhold.-Tycho Brahe and his influence.-t.i.ton du Tillet.-The terrestrial globe of Rouen.-Globes of Emery Molyneux.-Globes of Burgi.-Zurich globe.-Beaker globes.-Ivory globe of Antonio Spano.-The Van Langren globes.-Santucci.-B. F.

globe of Dresden.

In the last three chapters attention has been called to the globes and globe makers of the earlier years of the sixteenth century, special mention having been made in Chapters VI and VII of the notions entertained concerning the geography of the New World as exhibited in the terrestrial globe maps. In the first quarter of the century, as was stated, the newly discovered lands were represented as having no geographical connection with the Old World, and with few exceptions the two continents of the western hemisphere were separated from each other either by a strait or by a wide expanse of ocean. In the second quarter of the century the belief seemed to have found very general acceptance that the New World was but a prolongation or eastward extension of the Asiatic continent, a belief which found expression in the plane as well as in the globe maps. Exceptions to such belief were likewise noted, as was also the inclination manifesting itself in this second quarter to return to the earlier notions, that a great body of water separated Asia from the northern continent, in the spread of which notion Mercator seems to have exerted a dominating influence. In the third quarter of the century the globe maps indicate that a belief in the independent position of the New World had again found very general acceptance, although there appeared now and then an expression in the maps that the theory of an Asiatic connection still lingered. In this third quarter it was the Italian globe makers who were the most active, yet it must be admitted that the majority of the globes produced in these years in the peninsula were not of striking importance. In the literature of the period, references to globes which were constructed, and which appear to have been well known, are not infrequent, but one is inclined to a belief, based upon these references, and upon those globes which are extant, that time has destroyed the best of them.

The records of the last quarter of the century, of which we come now to speak in this chapter, seem to show a decline of interest in globe making among the Italians, the examples of their work left to us being exceedingly few. We note a rising interest and activity in globe making in the North in this period, which reaches a climax during the early years of the seventeenth century in the splendid work given out by the great masters of the Netherlands. A well-merited fame especially crowns the labors of members of the Van Langren, the Blaeu, and the Hondius families.[334]

Although remembered chiefly for his part in the construction of the famous Stra.s.sburg cathedral clock, Conrad Dasypodius (1530-1600) can also claim a place among the globe makers of his day, that is, of the period we now have under consideration.[335] He was the son of Petrus Dasypodius, a native of Frauenfeld in Switzerland, whose name originally was Rauhfuss or Hasenfuss, and who for some years held a position as professor of the Greek language in Zurich. In the year 1530 he removed to Stra.s.sburg to accept a similar position in the Stra.s.sburg Academy, where he died in the year 1559. Young Conrad, after an a.s.sociation for a period with the then famous Stra.s.sburg mathematician, Christian Herlin,[336] as his favorite pupil, traveled extensively, going to Paris and later to Lyons, where he continued his mathematical studies. In October, 1562, he became the successor of Herlin, and in the year 1563 canon of St. Thomas. To the impulse which he contributed to mathematical studies is due the high place held for a considerable period by the Stra.s.sburg Academy.[337] It is a part of his great service that he not only encouraged the study of the Greek mathematicians, but he also was especially interested in having their works brought to the attention of the public through their reissue, especially the works of Euclid. The list of Dasypodius' publications[338] is a long one and is such as to place him among the foremost scholars of his day, but it was, however, his astronomical clock, noted above, which brought him special renown in the larger circles. It was near the middle of the fourteenth century that the first clock, which was of wood, was constructed for the cathedral, but time had wrought its destructive work, and as early as 1547 a commission was appointed to consider the question of its restoration, and of this commission Christian Herlin was a prominent member. His death in the year 1562 left the plan incomplete, and eight years pa.s.sed before his pupil, Dasypodius, was successful in urging the magistrates of the city to take up the work anew. In the year 1570, through his advice, two young globe makers of Schaffhausen, Isaac and Josias Habrecht,[339] who had given aid to their father in the construction of the "Frohnwaagthurm Uhr" of the last-named city, together with the Schaffhausen artists, Tobias and Josias Stimmer,[340]

were invited to take up the work under his supervision. At the end of three years the clock was completed and soon came to be referred to as one of the seven wonders of Germany. "Truly a masterpiece," said Montucla, "and the first of its kind in all Europe by reason of the numerous movements which it executes."[341] In the year 1580 a description of the same was prepared and published by Dasypodius himself.[342] Although calling for frequent repairs the clock continued running until the year 1789, when it ceased, and after fifty years had pa.s.sed the old mechanism was replaced by new, the work of Schwilgue.[343] Remarkable as is the entire masterpiece, it is the globes with which Dasypodius furnished it that especially interest us here. At the base of the clock is placed a celestial sphere (Fig. 70) three feet in diameter, supported by four columns of wood richly carved.

On the surface appear the forty-eight Ptolemaic constellations, each constellation having its appropriate figure, and the 1022 stars which had been located in Ptolemy's day. The globe is so connected with the machinery, by which the various parts of the clock are made to perform their functions, that it makes one revolution on its axis every twenty-four hours, thus representing the rising and the setting of the several celestial bodies. Two circles were added, one carrying the sun and the other the moon, adjusted so as to turn about the globe, the first in twenty-four hours, and the second in about twenty-five. The arrangement of the movements, it appears, was not greatly altered in the reconstruction of 1838-1842, and the clock, as it now stands, is thus described by Britten: "On the floor level is a celestial globe indicating siderial time. In its motion round its axis the globe carries with it the circles that surround it-namely, the equator, the ecliptic, the solst.i.tial and equinoctial colures, while the meridian and horizon circles remain motionless, so that there are shown the rising and the setting, as well as the pa.s.sage over the meridian of Stra.s.sburg, of all stars that are visible to the naked eye, and which appear above the horizon. Behind the celestial globe is the calendar; on a metallic band, nine inches wide and thirty feet in circ.u.mference, are the months and the days of the months, Dominical letters, fixed and movable feast days.

The band is s.h.i.+fted at midnight, and a statue of Apollo points out the day of the month and the name of the saint corresponding to that day.

The internal part of the annular band indicates true solar time, the rising and the setting of the sun, the diurnal motion of the moon around the earth, and its pa.s.sage over the meridian, the phases of the moon and the eclipses of the sun and moon. Adjacent compartments are devoted to a perpetual calendar, solar and lunar cycles and other periodic occurrences, solar and lunar equations, etc. Above the calendar appear allegorical figures, seated in chariots, and representing the days of the week. These chariots, drawn by such animals as are a.s.signed as attributes of the divinities, run on a circular railway and appear each in order. In the story above the globe is a planetarium in which the revolutions of the planets are represented upon a large dial plate, and above the planetarium, and upon a star-decked sky, is a globe devoted to showing the phases of the moon. In the second story of the clock has been placed a terrestrial globe, which likewise is adjusted to revolve in representation of the revolution of the earth."[344]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 70. Stra.s.sburg Clock and Globe of Conrad Dasypodius, 1574.]