Freiburger historische Bestände - digital

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XI. BEHAIM AND THE DISCOVERY OF
AMERICA.

Having thus dealt at some length with the relations
which are supposed to have existed between Behaim,
Columbus and Magellan, we might proceed to other
matters had not a learned professor of the University of
Altdorf, near Nuremberg, put forward claims on behalf of
his countryman which cannot be passed over in silence,
as they have not lacked supporters even down to the
present century. In a fulsome eulogy delivered in 1682
in memory of George Frederick Behaim of Schwarzbach,1
a senator of Nuremberg and benefactor of the University,
Prof. J. C. Wagenseil speaks of our Martin as "the
prodigy and glory of his age, an incomparable and divine
hero, whose achievements, though hitherto ignored,
redounded to the credit not only of the city which had
given him birth, but of the whole of Germany."2 This
unprincipled historian ventured to tell his ignorant
listeners that their fellow-townsman, having obtained a
vessel from Isabella, the daughter of John I. of Portugal,
and widow of Philip the Good (1467), discovered the
Azores, and planted a Flemish colony upon Fayal, on
which ground these islands became known as the
" Flemish Islands";3 that subsequently, roving the
Atlantic, he examined (pervestigavit) the islands of
America and the strait now called after Magellan, of
which explorations he made a map which he presented
to the King of Portugal, and that he did all this before
Columbus and Magellan, whose fame was proclaimed by
every mouth, whilst Martin Behaim, the real discoverer,
was ignored. In support of these astounding "revelations
" Wagenseil refers to authorities which on closer
examination do not in the least justify his assertions.
The account of Behaim's voyage along the West Coast
of Africa in Schedel's ' Liber Chronicorum '4 is quoted by
him as if it formed an integral part of the ' Historia de
Europa sub Frederico III.' of Aeneas Sylvio, better
known as Pope Pius II.,5 and not as an interpolation
by a later editor of that work. In the ' Liber Chronicorum
' it is stated that after Cao and Behaim had crossed
the Equator they found themselves in another world—
alterum or alium orbem—hitherto not known to us.
Wagenseil rashly jumped to the conclusion that this

1 For his biography, see F. C. Hagen, ' Memoriae Philosophorum,'
etc., Bairuth, 1710, pp. 209-261.

2 1 Sacra parentalia D. Georgii Fredericii Behaimi de Schwarzbach,'
Altdorf, 1682, p. 16. The substance is repeated in a popular ' Pera
Librorum Juvenilium: Synopsis Historiae Universalis,' P. III., p. 527,
Norimb., 1695. Those passages of the 'Parentalia' which refer to
Martin Behaim are reproduced by Ghillany, p. 43, whilst Murr, p. 74,
reprints the corresponding passages from the ' Pera.'

3 The notes accompanying Ludovicus Teisera's Map of the Azores in
the 'Theatrum orbis' of Ortelius, 1584, informs the reader that these
islands were discovered by merchants of Bruges.

* For full translation of this passage see p. 25.
6 Sec p. 33.

" alter orbis " could be no other than the " mundus novus,"
or America, the existence of which was absolutely unknown
to the editor of the i Chronicle,' who obviously refers to
a hypothetical fourth part of the world, the " alter orbis "
of Pomponius Mela,6 inaccessible to us owing to the heat,
and supposed to be the home of fabled Autochthones.

Wagenseil next refers to Riccioli's7 ' Geographia et
Hydrographia reformata,' lib. III., c. 22, where it is merely
stated that Columbus was indebted for his great discovery
" either to his own genius, as he was a man learned in
astronomy, cosmography and physics, or to information
(indicia) given by Martin Boheme, or, as is said by the
Spaniards, by Alphonso Sanchez of Huelva."8 He also
quotes Joannes Matalius9 as an authority, but that learned
Frenchman, in the notes accompanying his American
collection of maps,1" merely refers to Behaim's chart
supposed to have been seen by Magellan in the King's
treasury. Wagenseil further hints at verbal statements
alleged to have been made by Behaim's son when he
visited his relatives at Nuremberg, and refers to the family
archives, where he saw a portrait and the famous globe,
which he assures his readers has delineated upon it many
nameless islands " scattered over the broad waters of the
ocean," and belonging to America. Apparently, as trumps,
he points to two MS. volumes in the Town Library as
confirming his assertions. These codices have been carefully
examined by Ghillany, p. 50, and also by myself,
and their worthlessness as documentary evidence is
obvious at the first glance. The first of these MSS.,
entitled ' Patricii reipublicae Norimbergis,' is a compilation
of no authority, evidently got up for the glorification of
eighty-three patrician families who ruled the imperial city.
All it says about Martin Behaim is that " he was a famous
knight, who navigated in India, and discovered new
islands." The second MS. is described as ' Annales
Norimbergensium.' It is a compilation made by order of
the Senate by Johann Miillner, town clerk from 1602 to
his death in 1634, and contains a history of the town up
to the year 1620. It says,11 " In the time of the Emperor
Charles V. (sic!) there lived Martin Behaim, the son of
Martin Behaim and of Agnes, the daughter of Wilhelm
Schopper. He was a famous and experienced Mathematician
and Astronomer, and with the aid of such art,

6 Pomponius Mela, a native of Spain, wrote his compendium treatise
on Geography, ' De Situ Orbis,' a.d. 43.

' Joh. Baptist Biccioli, S.J., was born at Ferrara in 1598 and died in
1671. His ' Geographia ' was published at Bologna, 1661.

8 A good summary of the story of this pilot, first referred to by Las
Casas, who heard it in Espanola (Cuba) in 1502, and whose name is first
mentioned by Garcilasso de la Vega, who says he had the story from his
father, is to be found in J. B. Thatcher's ' Christopher Columbus,' I., pp.
305-347 (New York, 1903).

9 Jean Matal (J. Matalius Metellus Sequanus, i.e., the Burgundian)
was born at Poligni in the Franche-Comte in 1520, and died at Augsburg
(where he had been living since 1555) in 1597.

10 ' America s. novusorbis tabulis aeneis secondum rationes geographic&s
delineatus,' Bas., 1555, ed. sec. Colon. Agrip., 1600.

11 T. L, fol. 485 of the MS., which T consulted in the Town Library
Wagenseil quotes t. L, fol. 885 or 285 ; Ghillany, p. 632.