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Issue 12 I 2012 MUSEUM of the BROADSHEET communicates the work of the HISTORY Museum of the History of , Oxford. of Available at www.mhs.ox.ac.uk, sold in the SCIENCE museum shop, and distributed to members Books, Globes and Instruments in the Exhibition of the Museum. 1. Claudius Ptolemy, Almagest (Venice, 1515) 2. Johann Stöffler, Elucidatio fabricae ususque astrolabii (Oppenheim, 1513) Broad Sheet is produced by the Museum of the History of Science, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3AZ 3. Paper by Peter Jordan, Mainz, 1535, included in his edition of Stöffler’s Elucidatio Tel +44(0)1865 277280 Fax +44(0)1865 277288 Web: www.mhs.ox.ac.uk Email: [email protected] 4. by Carlo Plato, 1588, Rome, MHS inventory no. 45453 5. by Johann Schöner, c.1534 6. Johann Schöner, Globi stelliferi, sive sphaerae stellarum fixarum usus et explicationes (, 1533) 7. Johann Schöner, Tabulae astronomicae (Nuremberg, 1536) 8. Johann Schöner, Opera mathematica (Nuremberg, 1561) The 9. Astrolabe by Georg Hartmann, Nuremberg, 1527, MHS inventory no. 38642 10. Astrolabe by Johann Wagner, Nuremberg, 1538, MHS inventory no. 40443 11. Astrolabe by Georg Hartmann (wood and paper), Nuremberg, 1542, MHS inventory no. 49296 12. Diptych dial by Georg Hartmann, Nuremberg, 1562, MHS inventory no. 81528 enaissance 13. Lower leaf of a diptych dial with city view of Nuremberg, by Johann Gebhart, Nuremberg, c.1550, MHS inventory no. 58226 14. Peter Apian, Astronomicum Caesareum (Ingolstadt, 1540) R 15. , De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium (Nuremberg, 1543) 16. , Narratio prima (Basel, 1566), printed with the second edition of Copernicus, De revolutionibus inAstronomy 17. Terrestrial and celestial globes by Gerard Mercator, 1541, 1551 18. Gerard Mercator’s copy of Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium (Nuremberg, 1543) 19. Peter Apian and Gemma Frisius, Cosmographia (Antwerp, 1584) books, globes and instruments of the 16th century 20. Astrolabe (cosmographical mirror) and universal altitude sundial by Gillis Coignet, Antwerp, 1560, MHS inventory no. 53211 21. Altitude sundial and horary quadrant by Miniato Pitti, Florence, 1558, MHS inventory no. 44865 22. Astronomer’s rings by Gualterus Arsenius, Louvain, 1567, MHS inventory no. 48126 23. Astrolabe by Regnerus Arsenius, Louvain, 1565, MHS inventory no. 53558 An exhibition by the Royal he anniversary of We can view Mercator’s career 24. Erasmus Reinhold, Prutenicæ tabulæ coelestium motuum (Tübingen, 1551) Astronomical Society and Mercator’s birth is an as an integration of learning 25. Horary quadrant and altitude sundial by Christian Heiden, German, 1553, MHS inventory no. 38947 Tinvitation to take an and skill. He was a cartographer, the Museum of the History alternative look at 16th-century cosmographer, astronomer, 26. Diptych dial by Christian Heiden, Nuremberg, 1569, MHS inventory no. 80277 of Science to mark the 500th . Historians of science engraver, printer and instrument- 27. Polyhedral dial by Nicolaus Kratzer, London, c.1525, MHS inventory no. 54054 have generally made astronomical maker. If we no longer focus on 28. Robert Recorde, The Castle of Knowledge (London, 1556) anniversary of the birth of theory, and in this period planetary theory, we can see all 29. Astrolabe by Thomas Gemini, London, 1559, MHS inventory no. 42223 Gerard Mercator planetary theory in particular, the these disciplines within a more 30. Tycho Brahe, Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (Nuremberg, 1602) focus of their attention: this was inclusive account of 16th-century the century in which Copernicus astronomy, one more in keeping published his account of the with the working lives of the Further information on all these objects may be found on the Museum’s website, where there is an on-line version of heavens, where the moved practitioners themselves. the exhibition with all the individual labels (www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/exhibits/the-renaissance-in-astronomy). The Museum’s as a planet in the solar system. objects also appear in a searchable database of the collection (www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/collections/search). The titles of seminal works tell Thought and theory are integral their own story, from J.L.E. to astronomy, of course, and Dreyer’s History of the Planetary have to be part of the story told Systems from Thales to Kepler here. Copernicus must still have Loans at the beginning of the 20th a central role. But presenting We are grateful to the following institutions for loans to the exhibition: century, to the work of that most theory in an exhibition, however Royal Astronomical Society, London: item numbers 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 24, 28 and 30 influential thinker about science necessary to make sense of Royal Museums Greenwich: item number 17: GLB0096 (http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/19783.html) in the late century, Thomas the narrative, is not to use the and GLB0097 (http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/19784.html) Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution: medium most effectively and Special Collections Department, University of Glasgow Library: item number 18: Sp Coll Hunterian Cz.1.13 Planetary Astronomy in the emotively. Exhibitions are best (http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/apr2008.html) Development of Western Thought. at presenting objects, and craft When Englishmen were given a is evident at every turn in the part in the story, it was through material record of Renaissance the contribution of Francis R. astronomy. Its objects – books, Thanks Johnson, Astronomical Thought in globes and instruments – were We are grateful to the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust and to Trevor Philip & Sons Ltd, London, Renaissance England. Thinking and made by craftsmen in workshops for generous contributions towards the costs of loans to the exhibition. theorising were the essence of and print-shops that were valued astronomical work. as sites of astronomical practice.

Claudius Ptolemy: Johann Stöffler and the Astrolabe Astronomy and Cosmography he exhibition contains with an ‘equatorium’ (an instrument even, in the case of a 16th-century t is appropriate to the exhibition, with lovely, coloured paper astrolabe. No doubt an example of the first for calculating planetary positions) project for part of the Palazzo its emphasis on craft, that the first book it was meant to be cut out and assembled. Tprinted edition of Ptolemy’s for each of the planets. Vecchio in Florence, a whole room Iof original astronomy published in the A printed paper astrolabe in the exhibition Almagest (Venice, 1515) [1], the Almagest was far from being with covering the walls and 16th century dealt with an instrument, [11], which has been cut out and mounted most sophisticated and influential Ptolemy’s most published work the of the heavens the astrolabe, approached as something to on a wooden base, takes us to a city with a astronomical treatise to survive in the period: by the time it on the ceiling. The maker of an be made and used [2]. This was Elucidatio more sustained contribution to the story from antiquity. It was produced appeared in print, there were instrument in the exhibition [21], fabricae ususque astrolabii, by Johann Stöffler, of astronomical craft, Nuremberg. Here the by Peter Liechtenstein, a German already a number of editions of the cosmographer Miniato Pitti, professor of mathematics at the University workshop and print-shop of Georg Hartmann printer who established a press in his Geographia. The common title played an important part in the of Tübingen. It was published in Oppenheim had a large output and a widespread Venice towards the end of the 15th for Ptolemy’s ‘’ in the design of this room. in 1513 – earlier than any printed edition influence, not least because his printed century. He was from Cologne, an 16th century was Cosmographia, of the Almagest – and the printer was the instruments could be produced in numbers early centre for printing (where and it is sometimes said that it Cosmography had an astronomical mathematician Jakob Köbel. Stöffler was a and distributed cheaply. Hartmann was England’s first printer, William was a ‘mistake’ that this title was component, dealing with the globe- and instrument-maker who published another mathematical writer who was a Caxton, had learnt the trade) so frequently used. An incorrect stars, the and their motions. on cosmography and wrote a commentary on printer and a globe- and instrument-maker. and had printed other works of translation it may have been, Cosmographical astronomy taught Ptolemy’s Geography. He deals in turn with astronomy and astrology. This Latin but the publishers and printers that the imaginary circles used the construction and use of the astrolabe, The exhibition also has a brass astrolabe by translation of Almagest had been of the many editions knew what to manage the geography of our and this set a pattern, already used in Hartmann [9], made in Nuremberg in 1527, made from Arabic by Gerard of they meant by the discipline of stationary earth – equator, tropics, medieval treatises, for many printed accounts and from the same city an astrolabe by Cremona in the 12th century. ‘cosmography’ and Ptolemy’s work lines of latitude and longitude – of instruments that appeared in the 16th Johann Wagner [10] and portable sundials fitted this very well. It dealt with correspond to and are derived from century. by Hartmann [12], Johann Gebhart [13] and Also on display [14] is one of the the coordinate grid for location on equivalent circles in the movement Christian Heiden [26]. It is not surprising that most remarkable embodiments of earth (latitude and longitude) and of the heavens (the celestial There were also many editions of Stöffler’s it would fall to a printer of Nuremberg to the Ptolemaic planetary system, the relationships between time and equator, the tropics of Cancer and Elucidatio and one on display [3], printed in produce the De revolutionibus of Copernicus. with its combinations of circles place, while linking these variables Capricorn, and the astronomical co- Mainz in 1535 by Peter Jordan, includes a for calculating the positions of the with what was observed in the ordinates of declination and right planets in their wandering paths heavens. ascension). Cosmographers were around the stationary earth. This familiar with the starry heavens and is the Astronomicum Caesareum Cosmography dealt with the how their appearance varied with of Peter Apian, mathematician presentation of the entire : the observer’s location on earth; and cosmographer of Ingolstadt, the heavens and the earth together only the specialist mathematical who, like a number of the principal and the spatial relationship astronomers had to tangle with the characters in this story, ran a between them. Its products – the more challenging motions of the printing press. This work was ‘presentations’ – took a range planets other than the sun and to as much a constructed paper of forms: maps, globes, spheres, read Almagest. instrument as it was a printed book, sundials, textual descriptions and

From the title-page of Claudius Ptolemy, Almagest (Venice,1515) Paper astrolabe by Peter Jordan,1535, in a copy of his edition of Stöffler’s Elucidatio Johann Schöner in Nuremberg Rheticus, Copernicus and Reinhold

ohann Schöner was a mathematician, of 1536 [7] illustrates the connections of 16th- astronomer, cosmographer, printer and century astronomy and its important position Jglobe-maker of great esteem and influence in Reformation Germany. To his tables Schöner in the early 16th century. Born in Karlstadt near adds a tract by Regiomontanus. A commendatory Würzburg, he was a priest in Bamberg, where preface addressed to Schöner is a contribution he had a printing press and produced maps and by the leading Lutheran theologian and scholar globes, and from 1526 he taught mathematics in Philipp Melanchthon. The book was published in Nuremberg, where he became a Protestant. Nuremberg by the celebrated printer Johannes Petreius, who had collaborated with Schöner as It was in Nuremberg that Schöner befriended, his editor on a number of mathematical works, as a guest in his home, a young mathematics including other tracts by Regiomontanus. professor from the Lutheran stronghold of Wittenberg, Georg Joachim Rheticus. When Melanchthon had been a student of Johann Rheticus made his famous journey north to Stöffler and contributed a poem to the Elucidatio, Frauenberg, where Nicolaus Copernicus was a his master’s book on the astrolabe. He had canon of the cathedral and was known to have instruments by Hartmann. Christian Heiden had a novel astronomical theory, he was persuaded been a pupil of Melanchthon in Wittenberg and to do so by Schöner and encouraged by Georg presented him with a sundial in 1553, the year he Hartmann. He brought a letter of introduction made the quadrant on display [25]. Melanchthon from Schöner and among the books he took as taught and encouraged Rheticus, appointing presents were Ptolemy’s Almagest and Schöner’s him to his chair in Wittenberg. He composed the edition of Regiomontanus’s tract De triangulis. inscription for Schöner’s tomb in Nuremberg, when he died in 1547. One of the outstanding objects in the exhibition is the celestial globe made by Schöner in c.1534 [5]. It is one of only two examples of the earliest extant printed celestial globe, this one being Lower leaf of a diptych dial with a representation of Nuremberg, by Johann Gebhart, c.1550 mounted in a stand dated 1535; the woodcuts from which they were printed had been completed by 1533. Like many of the books on opernicus permitted Rheticus to visited Schöner and Hartmann and entrusted display, it is on loan from the Royal Astronomical publish a first account, the Narratio Copernicus’s work to the print-shop of Society, but unlike the books, the globe is not Cprima, of his theory that the earth Petreius, who completed its publication the scheduled to return at the end of the exhibition was a planet moving annually around a following year. but will remain on display in Oxford. It is not central sun and rotating daily as it moved. Schöner’s first printed globe: he made smaller The tract was addressed to Schöner, whose There are two copies of the first edition of celestial and terrestrial globes in 1515 as a name appears with that of Copernicus De revolutionibus in the exhibition, one [15] pair, indeed the first pair of globes ever on the title-page of 1540. On display in opened at the woodcut print of what would produced. Pairing a celestial and a terrestrial the exhibition [16] is the version that become perhaps the most famous diagram in this way created a new invention in accompanied the second edition of De in the history of astronomy, with the sun, cosmography, in its attempt to deal with the revolutionibus, published in Basel in 1566: ‘Sol’, boldly placed at the centre of the relationship between the heavens and the earth. De libris revolutionum Nicolai Copernici cosmos. No example of the 1515 celestial globe survives. narratio prima, per M. Georgium Ioachimum Rheticum ad D. Ioan. Schoenerum ... scripta. The astronomers who come later in the The celestial globe of c.1534 also had a exhibition display a range of responses terrestrial companion and Schöner published Rheticus returned to Wittenberg in 1541, to the Copernican hypothesis but, as it short tracts describing them in 1533. A rare carrying the precious manuscript Copernicus happens, although there were a very few example of the tract on the celestial globe [6], had entrusted to his care, with the wholehearted affirmations of the Copernican Globi stelliferi, sive sphaerae stellarum fixarum understanding that it would be published. ‘’ (i.e. as a physical truth and usus et explicationes, shows the woodcut Rheticus had new responsibilities as dean not just a mathematical hypothesis), no illustration of the stand, which coincides closely of the faculty of arts but he found time such author is represented here. Erasmus with the globe on display. A later edition, to publish the trigonometric part of the Reinhold, for example, who had been included in Schöner’s Opera mathematica of manuscript, in a book on triangles dedicated appointed by Melanchthon to the astronomy 1561, adds the constellations to the surface [8]. to Hartmann. He addressed the instrument- chair in Wittenberg, published up-to-date maker and printer: ‘Such a learned man astronomical tables, his Prutenicæ tabulæ The copy of Schöner’s Tabulae astronomicae as you will love this author equally for his coelestium motuum in 1551 [24], having Celestial globe by Johann Schöner, c.1534 brilliance and his learning.’ Rheticus managed used Copernicus’s theory for his calculations to travel to Nuremberg in 1542, where he but without accepting its physical truth.

Gemma Frisius in Louvain Gerard Mercator and his Influence

he mathematician, of his own making. Astronomy is Schöner for many of the features emma Frisius had a much more cosmographer, and practiced through craft as well as he adopted – not least the famous graduate from his workshop Tglobe- and instrument- calculation. cosmographical device of pairing a Gthan his young nephew, for he taught, maker Gemma Frisius, of the celestial globe with a terrestrial of employed and collaborated with Gerard medical faculty of the University In a succession of editions the same size. Mercator, who was to become the greatest of Louvain, read of Copernicus’s from 1529, Gemma had edited cosmographer of the 16th century. It was theory in the Narratio prima of and expanded the popular Gemma’s workshop in Louvain appropriate for someone with a background Rheticus. Like Reinhold, he saw Cosmographia of Peter Apian also produced brass astronomical in the Louvain tradition that Mercator made the potential for a more exact [19], which contained several instruments and two are maps, terrestrial and celestial globes, and mathematical astronomy, whether paper instruments with moving included in the exhibition, by astronomical instruments such as , or not the central hypothesis parts – much simpler than Apian’s a pupil who signed himself as thus encompassing a wide range of the craft was taken to be true: ‘Nor does Astronomicum Caesareum and Gemma’s nephew (‘nepos’), not of cosmographical astronomy. He also took it concern me whether the earth much more widely distributed. always adding his own name as the cosmographical book further than his is said to revolve, or whether it So he was already concerned ‘Arsenius’. The astrolabe [23] is predecessors, introducing the name ‘atlas’ for stands still.’ with cosmographical instruments engraved ‘Regnerus Arsenius the result. when the distant influence of Nepos Gemmæ Frisij fecit Louanij A well-known engraved portrait Schöner drew him into globe- anno 1565’ and the astronomer’s Mercator is represented in the gallery by two of Gemma shows him seated making. Gemma’s Antwerp rings [22] simply ‘Nepos Gemmæ outstanding objects, both generously lent for at a table strewn with drawing publisher, Roeland Bollaert, had Frisij Louanij fecit 1567’. Both the exhibition. One, from the Royal Museums instruments and tools. Behind a good trade in selling globes by designs derive from Gemma’s Greenwich, is a pair of globes [17] made by him are shelves filled with books, Schöner, but demand outstripped astronomical work and both were Mercator in Louvain, the terrestrial in 1541 as well as an armillary sphere, a supply and he persuaded Gemma clearly made in his own workshop. and the celestial a decade later. They are quadrant and an astrolabe. Both to move into globe production. described by the leading globe historian Elly Astrolabe by Thomas Gemini, London 1559, with the plates removed to reveal a ‘nautical quadrant’, typical of Flemish his hands are on a celestial globe Gemma acknowledged his debt to Dekker as ‘the most important pair of globes astrolabes and employing the form of Italic script developed as an made in the sixteenth century.’ Following the engraving style by Mercator example of Gemma, Mercator’s terrestrial globe also has astronomical features – the establishment of astronomical craft in England. circle of the and a number of stars It is appropriate that the example of an ‘English’ – giving it a dual function and making it polyhedral sundial on display [27] from early in more properly speaking a ‘cosmographical’ the century is by an astronomer from southern globe. Original with Mercator, however, are Germany, Nicolaus Kratzer, while the astrolabe ‘loxodromes’ or ‘rhumb lines’, representing the from the mid-century [29] is by a native of the paths traced by following a constant compass Low Countries, Thomas Gemini, who was probably bearing and therefore relevant to navigation. trained in Louvain.

The second object can be said to be key to the Tycho Brahe is the exhibition’s final example of an entire exhibition: Mercator’s own copy of the astronomical craftsman. His planetary system is first edition of Copernicus’s De revolutionibus represented in Mercator’s posthumously-published [18]. It is on loan from the University of Atlas, but Tycho gave his opinion in 1600 that Glasgow Library and contains annotations Mercator’s globes had been displaced by those by Mercator, who was the first owner. It of van Langren and Blaeu. Tycho kept abreast of shows that Mercator, a cosmographer such things. He was an instrument-maker himself, and instrument-maker, saw his astronomy though not for trade, and maintained a workshop. extending to engage with the most innovative He had a large celestial globe for recording the and challenging work of his time. progress of his observations. The first edition (1598) of his Astronomiae instauratae mechanica Among the contents of the exhibition’s final [30 is the Nuremberg edition of 1602], where showcases is evidence of the development – he described his instruments, was produced by relatively slow – of a serious English concern his own printing press. In the book he discusses with astronomy in the 16th century. Gemma Gemma’s astronomer’s rings and the astrolabe. It and Mercator played a part through John is fitting, in the context of this exhibition, that he Dee, who spend time with them in Louvain purchased brass plates he planned to use for his around 1547, returning to England with two own design of astrolabe on a visit to Nuremberg. Mercator globes and Gemma’s astronomer’s Astronomer’s rings designed rings. Skilled immigrants were vital to the by Gemma Frisius and made by Gualterus Arsenius, Louvain, 1567