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Fry.Glasses-Madeto Mug by Lucy Gordan Fry.glasses-Madeto Mug"ifyGod'sWord The Catholtc Church played a key role in the early production of eye$asses and tn their use tlrroughout the rvorld. Had it not beenfor missionaries, madkind mig[t havewaited centuries for this marvelousinvention yeglassesare a perfect topic for "Of gins of eyeglasses,though still somewhatshroud- Books,Art, and People."Millions of peo- ed in mystery,certainly depend on the ingenuity ple dependon themto read,not to mention and industriousnessof medievalChurchmen. that today,often designedby fashionbig- The first Churchmanto exalt the magnifying wigs like Armani, Gucci, andYves SanLaurent, function of lenseswas the English philosopher just to name a few, they are "works of art" in andscientist Roger Bacon (ca.l2l4?-L294). One themselvesas well as figuring in worksby other of the mostinfluential teachers of the 13thcentu- artists. ry he had been greatly influencedby Alhazen A year before Life magazinedeclared Guten- (965-1038),the Egyptianphysicist who men- berg "Man of the Millennium," a feature article tionedreading stones (our magnifyingglasses) in called '"The Power of Big ldeas" in Newsweek, his treatiseon optics,written around1000 AD. datedJanuary 11, 1999,reported that the atomic Born in llchester,Somersetshire, Bacon had bomb, Gutenberg'sprinting press, and reading beeneducated at the Universitiesof Oxford and g/asseshad changedthe courseof history more Paris.Soon after his returnto England,probably than all other inventionsduring the last 2,000 in around | 25l, he enteredthe religiousorder of years.Although lensesand their enlargingprop- thc Franciscansand settledin Oxford, wherehe ertieshad beenknown in ancienttimes, the ori- did researchin alchemy,optics and astronomy. Bacon was critical of the methodsof learningof back to Veniceby Marco Polo. his time, and, at the requestof Pope Clement IV he Although we'll neverknow for certainbecause he wrote his Opus Majus (1266).It was an encyclope- neglectedto identify himsell another monk from dia of all the sciences,embracing grammar and Pisa named Giordano. who coined the word logic, mathematics,physics, and "occliali" for eyeglassesin ltalian, philosophy. mayhave been referring to da Spina, Concerningoptics, Bacon assert- whenhe declared in a sermonhe gave ed that segmentsof glasscan en- in 1306at theChurch of SantaMaria largethe charactersof writing,ren- Novellain Florence:"It is not yet20 deringthem legible even for people, yearssince the art of makingspecta- especiallythe aged, with weak cles, one of the most useful arts on sight. earth,was discovered. I, myself,have To test his theory, he sent seenand conversed with theman who French-bornClement IV, Popefrom madethem first." 1265 to 1268,some magnifying The earliestsurviving documents lensesfor reading. about making eyeglasslenses date Wedon't knowwhether Clement evenearlier than Giordano'sremark, foundthem useful because he died but confirm his chronology.They almostimmediately. werewritten in Venice(already fam- A decadelater, Bacon's revolu- ous for blowingglass, especially on tionaryideas caused him to be con- theisland of Murano)in 1284.These demnedas a heretic.In 1278,the In1 352 Thomas of Modena,a regulationsfor the crystal workers generalof his very own Franciscan followerof Giotto,painted the f irst guild state that lapides ad legendum Order,Girolamo Masci, later Pope bespectacledportralt: a frescoof ("stonesfor the purposeof reading") NicholasIV forbadethe readingof CardinalHugh of Provencein the or magnifyingglasses, must be made Bacon'sbooks and had him arrest- Churchof St.Nicholas in Treviso, a of rockcrystal, not inexpensiveglass. ed.After l0 yearsin prison,Bacon city30 miles north of Venice. AnotherVenetian document, dated returnedto Oxford. Here he wrote Below,Ghirlandaio's painting of June 15, 1301,mentions vitreos ab CompendiumStudii Theolo- St.Jerome oculis ad legendum,or read- giae (1292)two yearsbefore ing glasses,for thefirst time. his death. Evenif theirearliest docu- Perhapsbecause of his ments are Venetian,Florence earliergift to PopeClement was definitely the first city to IV Bacon is often consid- mass-produce eyeglasses. ered to be the inventor of Documentsreveal that be- eyeglasslenses. His writings tween 1413 and 1562 there in OpusMajus hadcertainly were 52 spectaclemakers set forth new and ingenious thereand give the locationsof viewson optics,particularly their shops.Moreover, specta- on refraction;on the appar- cles were both cheap and ent magnitudeof objects; plentiful. According to the andon theapparent increase website www.antiquespecta- in the sizeof the sunand the cles.com,"ordinary'run-of- moonon thehorizon. the-mill' spectaclescost the However, another con- buyerjust 2 or 3 soldi.Middle tenderis theFlorentine natu- priced oneswere sellingfor 6 ralistand physicistSalvino to 8 soldi."Thus, even if we d'Armati whose tombstone can't put a faceon theinventor reads:"Here lies Salvino d'Armati of Florence. of eyeglasses,their first Europeancraftsmen lived in inventor of spectacles.May God pardon his sins. Tuscanyand Venice and, at least in Europe,they A.D. 1317." werefust usedin Italy. D'Armati had impaired his vision performing Like many medievalinventions. eyeglasses were light-refractionexperiments and soughta personal greetedwith suspicionat first; in somequaxters eye- remedy.In 1280,he and Alessandroda Spina,a glasseswere evenconsidered improper attempts to Dominicanmonk at the Conventof St. Catherinein improveon the handiworkof theAlmighty. Pisa,found a way to enlargeobjects by usingtwo Dominicanfriars played a decisiverole in the dis- piecesofglass having a specificthickness and curve. seminationof eyeglasses,so vital to theirdaily work A few yearslater, da Spinais said to haveinvented as scribes.The FranciscanOrder, already wide- eyeglassframes, though many scholarsinsist that spreadthroughout Europe, also made spectacles and eyeglassesoriginated in China and were brought disseminatedthe art outsideltaly. The earliestrecord APRTL 2(,(,6 INSIDE THE VATICAN 49 of spectacle-ntakingoutsidc' Italy is a Nurctuber{: nrairtreacling roonr. Scvcral cye miracles- restor- torvncouncil decree passed in l-178. ins sisht - are attributed to St. Joseph Cala- Naturtlly.thanks to Gutcnbcrgrnd his invention sanctius(l-5-57-l(r-lu) ancl his spcctaclcsare on clis- of the printin-sprcss. the translationand thc circula- play in thc "Rc'lic Roorls" of San Pantale-o.Pitrt.tlt tion of thc'Biblc andof works hy ancie'ntGrc'ck ancl cle' MassinriJ. Romc. while thoseol St. Crispin Rornan writcrs. and the tilunclationof nurncrous ( I668-1750) can ['rcsc'cn at theCapuchin Church on universitics.literacy rates rose steadilythrou-ehout Rorne'sVia Vcncto. Europeand stinrulatedthe dernand fbr spec- Althoughthe saints'eyc-:Ilasscs arc certainlyold, -treatly tacles.Spectacle peddlers becanre a conrrn<lnsight the earliestknorvn (c. | 320) glasscsdiscoverecl so on the streetsof Europc, cspeciallyin Gernrany. fhr havebeen an incomplotepair of rivet spectacles. Herc the spectacleindustry was fbrmulateclin 153-5 They uere tbundnnder the floorboardsof thc nuns' with the issuanceof regulationsof the Nurember-r choir-stallscluring renolations in 1953 to Klostcr spectaclernakers' guild. Wienhausennear Celle in northcrnGerrnanv. Others HaltVay throu-shthe 1400s. datin-ct<l the l5th centLrryhave the eyeglassesmost commonly becnliruncl in Freibur_u,Cermany, fbund had bi-convex lensesuse- the Netherlands,and London. ful tbr presbyopia lfirrsightecl- Toclaythcrc are lltan) l'ltusc- ncss).Lenses corrL'cting nryopia unrswhich clocunrcntthe history (nearsi-uhte'clncss)cartrc alon-e a of eyeglasses.Thc' most exten- f'ew decades later. In 1508 siveones. w'ith over 2.000itc-nts Leonardo da Vinci described each. are thc Carl Zeiss muse- lenseswhich coulclfloat on the turrrsin Gcrnrany.one in Jena eyc - il prccursorof contact and one in ObcrkochL'n;the lensc's! Wellconte'Historical Mcclical As till c-ycglassu'sirr art. in Museunr in London's Science 1352Thomas of Vlodcna.a tbl- Vluseunr:Pierre Mlrly's collec- lower of Giottcl.hacl painted the tion in Paris.with the above- tirst bespectacledportrait. a fies- rnentioncdoldcst knorvn pair of co of CarclinalHu-ch of Provence rncdievalcorrective lenses: the (1200-63)in the Church of St. Musc-icle'll'Occhialc in Pievedi Nicholas in Treviso. a city 30 Cadorewith its votivc otfelings nrilcs north of Venicc'.It shows to St. Lucy.the protectorof eye- o.qliurii or two mounted lenses si_sht.and in Agordo. Italy: and with theirhandles riveted togeth- the AmcricanAcadenry oi Oph- c'r.frxed ti-uhtly on the briclgeof A paintingot tax collectors wearing rivet thalrrroklgyin SanFrancisco. thecleric's nose. A curiosity:the spectaclesby Marinus van Roymerswaele Our ne'wGerman readers will carclinalhad died befbre (c.1 550) flnd it intercstingto know that -ulasses were inventecl.but awareol' his besidesZeiss thclc trc several subject'slearnedness. the painteraddcd thern to his other eyeglass collections. ulthough snraller. portrait. throughoutCc'rnrany: Brillcnsn.ruseurn. Brillcnhaus No onc clsepainted eye-ulasses trlr altnostanoth- Wilkc. Hambr.rrg:Dcutsches Hygiene Mttscurrt. er'130 years. Domenico Ghirlandaio's ticsco ( l-ltlO) Drcsdcn:Dcutschcs Nlcdizin HistorishesNluscunt. tbr the Ognissantiin Florenceshows St. Jerclmc(c. Ingolstadt:Dcutschcs Muscurn. lVlunich; Gel'tnan 317-420')A.D.) in his study.His glassesare dan- National iVluscunr. Nurentbor-s: Iitstitut fur ofi the side of his clesk.As a reslrltof this Gescltichtecler Medizin und Pharnrazie,University'
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