The Cosmographia of Sebastian Munster (St Andrews Studies in Reformation History)

393 Pages·2007·5.26 MB·English

by  Matthew McLean

The Cosmographia of Sebastian Münster
Title page to the 1550 edition of the Cosmographia.
The Cosmographia of
Sebastian Münster
Describing the World in the Reformation
MATTHEW MCLEAN
© Matthew McLean 2007
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
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mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission
of the publisher.
Matthew McLean has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
McLean, Matthew
The Cosmographia of Sebastian Münster : describing the world in the
Reformation. – (St Andrews studies in Reformation history)
1. Münster, Sebastian, 1489–1552. Cosmographia
2. Cartography – Germany – History – 16th century
3. Geography – Study and teaching – Germany – History – 16th century
4. Germany – Historical geography
I. Title
526’.092

ISBN 978–0–7546–5843–6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McLean, Matthew (Matthew Adam), 1975–
The Cosmographia of Sebastian Münster : describing the world in the
Reformation / Matthew McLean.
p. cm. – (St. Andrews studies in Reformation history)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978–0–7546–5843–6 (alk. paper)
1. Münster, Sebastian, 1489–1552. Cosmographia. 2. Geography – Early
works to 1800. 3. Cosmography – Early works to 1800. 4. Intellectual life
– 16th century. 5. Reformation. I. Title.
G116.M39 2007
940.2’32072–dc22 2006032293
This book is printed on acid free paper
Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books, Bodmin, Cornwall
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Introduction 1
1 Sebastian Münster: A Brief Biography 5
2 Sixteenth-century Cosmography: Its Sources,
Development and the Extent of its Ambitions 45
3 The Cosmographia: Genesis of an Idea, Methods of
Realisation, Versions of the Text 143
4 From Centre to Periphery: The Organisation, Topics
and Content of the Cosmographiae Universalis 189
5 Understanding the World of Münster’s Cosmographia:
Evaluating Man, Celebrating his Works and
Interpreting the Book of the World 281
Conclusion 341
Bibliography 343
Index 373
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List of Illustrations
Frontispiece: Title page to the 1550 edition of the Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library.
1.1 Portrait of Sebastian Münster by Christoph Amberger.
Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz. 7
1.2 Portrait of Sebastian Münster by unknown artist.
St Andrews University Library. 8
2.1 The Hereford mappa mundi. The Mappa Mundi Trust,
Hereford Cathedral. 77
2.2 Isidorean rotae. British Library 1022251.221 &
1022251.211. 81
2.3 Illustration of cosmography from Apian’s Cosmographicus
Liber. St Andrews University Library. 97
3.1 Detail of 1532 world map from the Novus Orbis.
St Andrews University Library. 164
3.2 Münster’s 1525 Landtafel Teütscher nation. Öffentliche
Bibliothek der Universität Basel. 166
3.3 Cityscape of Amsterdam, from the Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library. 172
3.4 Cityscape of Amsterdam, from the Civitates Orbis
Terrarum. St Andrews University Library 185
4.1 Cityscape of Rufach, from the Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 201
4.2 Münster’s 1540 world map, first used in his Geographia.
St Andrews University Library. 204
4.3 Münster’s map of Bohemia, Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 207
4.4 Münster’s map of the Black Forest, Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library. 211
4.5 Cosmos illustration, from the Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 213
4.6 Cityscape of Trier, Cosmographia. St Andrews University
Library. 225
viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
4.7 Cityscape of Basel, Cosmographia. St Andrews University
Library. 228
4.8 Cityscape of Würzburg, Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 232
4.9 Illustration of sea creatures, from the Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library. 266
4.10 A rhinoceros, from the Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 268
4.11 A leopard, from the Cosmographia. St Andrews University
Library. 268
4.12 A crocodile, from the Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 269
4.13 Monstrous races of men, from the Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library. 271
4.14a A volcano, from the Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 274
4.14b An earthquake, from the Cosmographia. St Andrews
University Library. 275
5.1 Cityscape of Jerusalem, from the Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library. 320
5.2 Illustration of Janus-Noah, from the Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library. 327
5.3 Snakes and scorpions, from the Cosmographia.
St Andrews University Library. 328
Introduction
In a period in which enthusiasm for the ‘new’ geography was feverish and
the patria illustrata movement at its zenith, Sebastian Münster, trained as
a geographer in the mathematical sense but with broad-ranging linguistic
and historical interests, conceived of a project to remap Germany. This
plan involved personal investigation of his immediate area, and the co-
ordination of the similar efforts of other scholars throughout Germany.
In its first intent, Münster’s project was the correction of erroneous
cartographical data through uniformly conducted empirical research. Yet,
as he travelled, measuring and mapping over the years, the idea evolved.
Münster’s knowledge increased, he amassed ever-more and more varied
information, and his understanding of the value of geography to man
deepened. The cartographical fruits of his work became increasingly
conjoined with the history of the places shown, and those places and their
histories were increasingly shown in relation to the whole: the geographical
and historical ‘big picture’. His work was gravitationally attracted to the
idea of a cosmography, and through two decades of personal research,
regional collaborations and editions of the classical authorities and
travellers’ accounts, he arrived in 1544 at his own Cosmographia. This
work was the cause of his celebrity outside the enclave of the scholars of
the Sacred Languages, and it attracted a fresh wave of contributions from
Germany and beyond. Such was the work’s popularity that it ultimately
went through 35 editions in five languages, spread over 84 years.
Of these, the 1550 edition was the most extensive and refined to be
completed under Münster’s own supervision, and it is the Latin-language
version of the 1550 Cosmographia which is the subject of this book.
That edition is the source most extensively used for the following text:
overwhelmingly so for the analysis of the contents of the Cosmographia
which forms the latter part of this book, but also for the preceding chapters
which concern themselves with the life and academic accomplishments of
Münster, and with the process by which the Cosmographia was created.
However, Münster’s great book cannot be fully appreciated without a brief
acquaintance with the comparable works of the age, those upon which
Münster drew and those which drew upon him, and with those seminal
works which had shaped the genre from antiquity to the sixteenth century.
A selection of these texts have also been consulted and will be discussed in
the course of this book.