Freiburger historische Bestände - digital

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George Holzschuher's Suggestion.

We are indebted to the public spirit and the interest
taken in geographical discoveries by the chief magistrates
of Nuremberg for the production of the globe now under
review. The idea of executing such a work was proposed
to Martin Behaim by the three " chief captains" or
" triumviri " of the Imperial city. They appear to have
done so at the suggestion of George Holzschuher, a
member of the City Council, who had visited Egypt and
the Holy Land in 1470. As a far-travelled man he may
thus be supposed to have taken an interest in geographical
matters, an interest enhanced by the discoveries reported
to have been made by the Portuguese, and their commercial
advantages, of which members of his family at a
later period fully availed themselves. At all events,
George Holzschuher1 was entrusted by the City Council
with the supervision of the work, and in the legend
surrounding the city arms, his " help and advice" in
producing the globe are acknowledged.

BehainCs Qualification.

With regard to Behaim's qualification for the task
committed to him, I shall have much to say in a future
chapter. I may, however, state at once that I agree
with Oscar Peschel,2 who calls him a " cosmographical
dilettante." It is quite possible, nay, probable, that
Behaim took some interest in geographical subjects, that
he may even have drawn maps, but we know nothing
concerning him which would entitle us to describe him as
a " great cosmographer" or an innovator in applied
astronomy. His utter failure to portray the results of
contemporary Portuguese discoveries upon his globe
seems to me to be conclusive in that respect. I would
rather class him with a man like Richard Thorne, an
English merchant residing at Seville, who in 1527 sent a
map illustrating the progress of Portuguese and Spanish
discoveries to Dr. Edward Leigh, the ambassador of
Henry VIII., for the " rudeness" of which Hakluyt
apologises on the ground that " the knowledge of cosmography
among our merchants not having been as great
then as it now is."8

The Manufacture of the Globe.

We are happily in a position to follow the mechanical
production of the globe through all its stages, for the
accounts rendered by George Holzschuher to the town
council have been preserved and have been published by
Dr. J. Petz, the secretary of the Nuremberg city archives.4

1 George Holzschuher was a member of the City Council from 1484
to 1514. He died in 1526.

1 'Zeitalter der Entdeckungen,' 1877, p. 486.

3 R. Hakluyt, 'Divers Voyages,' 1582, republished by the Hakluyt
Society in 1850.

4 • Mittheilungen d. Ver. f. d. Gesch. d. Stadt Nurnberg,' Heft VI.,
1886, pp. 168, 170, 172, reprinted with a translation in Appendix VII.

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. It cost the town council only £l 3s. 7d.,B
out of which 13s. 7d. was paid to Behaim himself
(probably for expenses out of pocket) and 10s. to a limner.
This map was subsequently mounted upon two panels,
framed and varnished, at an additional expense of
£l Is. 4>d. and hung up in the clerk's office (Kanzlei) of
the town hall. Johann Schoner, 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 Miiller (Regio-
montanus),6 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 Kal-
perger. Having covered the mould with successive
layers of paper, pasted together so as to form paste-board,
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,7 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 fined cover as a
protection against dust. All this only cost £3 7s. 7d., of
which £l was paid for the mould, £l 10s. Od. to Kalperger,
3s. 2d. for vellum; 5s. for the iron rings; a like sum for
the stand, and 4s. 5d. for the cover. Kalperger, however,
was not paid the 3 gulden which he claimed for making
the shell; for he had been given the linen of a tent which
had sheltered the " beautiful fountain " (during repairs);
he had moreover broken the first mould which Glockengiesser
had made, and lastly he had promised to forgo his
claim if Behaim would teach him " cosmography and the
laying out (austeilen) of the sphere."8

8 The gulden Rhenish contained 8 lb. 12 heller, and was worth about 10*.

6 Regiomontanus, ' Epytoma in almagestum ptholemaei' (Venice, 1496),
describes the manner of making these globes.

7 Ghillany, p. 73, mentioned these hoops. He depended for this information
upon Karl Bauer.

8 Dr. Giinther (' Erd- und Himmelsgloben von M. Fiorini bearb. von
S. Giinther,' p. 27) would have us look upon this Kalperger as the
" Forefather of the guild of German globe-makers," but surely that honour,
as far as Nuremberg is concerned, is due rather to Johann Miiller.