Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/593

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WALDSEElVntLLER


531


WALENBURCH


Waldseemiiller (Grseeized Ilacomilus), Martin, learned Humanist and celebrated cartographer, b. at Wolfenweiler near Fribfjurg, or in Fribourg itself, about 1475; d. as a canon of St-Die in Lorraine, prob- ably at the beginning of 1522. The first authentic information concerning Waldseemuller is to be found in the matriculation register of the University of Fri- bourg, where his name is entered on 7 December, 1490, as "Martinus WalzenmuUer de Friburgo Constan- tiensis Diocesis". His father moved about 1475 from Wolfenweiler to Fribourg; his mother seems to have been a native of Radolfzell on Lake Constance. There is no documentary evidence as to Martin's course of study at the university; it is plain, however, that he studied theology, for in 1514 he applied as a cleric of the Diocese of Constance for a canonry at St- Di6, and obtained it. That he began early to devote himself to geographical and chartographical studies is also clear from his great masterpieces of geographical map-making which estabhshed his fame as early as 1507: the great map of the world and wall-map con- taining the name America; the small globe that also gives the name America, and the text to accompan3' the map and the globe, the much prized "Cosmo- gi-aphia; introductio ", which among other things gives the reason for the use of the name America on the map and globe, and contains, as an appendix, a Latin translation of the four journeys of Amerigo Vespucci. The title of this remarkable work, one of so much importance especially for America, is: "Cosmo- graphia; introductio cum quibusdam geometrise ac astronomia> principiis ad earn rem necessariis. In- super quatuor Anierici Vespucii navigationes. Uni- versalis Cosmographias descriptio tam in sohdo quam piano, eis etiam insert is, qus Ptholomaeo ignota a nuperis reperta sunt". The map of the world of 1.507, entitled "Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholoma>i traditionem et Americi Vespucii alio- rumquo lustrationes", attracted the same attention upon its rediscovery by the writer of the present article as it did when first pubUshed. As \\'aldsee- mliller himself states, a thousand copies of the map were issued. Of these only a single copy seems to have been preser\-ed, and this was found in the library of Prince von A\'aldburg-Wolfegg-\\'aldsee in the Castle of Wolfegg in Wiirtemberg. The map consists of twelve sections engraved on wood, and is arranged in three zones, each of which contains four sections; each section measuring to its edge 18x24J/^ inches. The map, thus covering a space of about 36 square feet, represents the earth's form in a modified Ptole- maic coniform projection with curved meridians. It produced a profound and lasting impression on chart- ography, being of a wholly new type and representing the earth with a grandeur never before attempted. The preservation of the single copy of the map is due to the fact that the noted chartographer, Johannes Schoner, bound the different sheets together in a cover.

.\fter completing the great pubhcation of 1.507, Waldseemuller and his friend Matthias Ringmann (Philesius) devoted themselves to completing the new Latin edition of the geography of Ptolemy. While Ringmann corrected the texts of the editions of Ptolemy i-ssued at Rome and Ulm by means mainly of a manuscript Greek text borrowed from Italy that is now known as the "Cod. Vatic. Grsec. 191", Wald- seemtiller went over the accompanying maps and sup- plemented them by the addition of twenty modern ones, "which may be regarded as the first modern atlas of the world" (Xordcnskiold, "Facsimile- Atlas"). In these chartographical labours Waldsee- miiller was aided by the secretary of Duke Ren6 of Lorraine, Canon Gaulthier Lud, who provided the necessary materials for the maps and the expenses of the printing. Waldseemuller sought in 1511 to inter- est Rent's son and successor, Duke Antoine, in his


chartographical labours by dedicating to him the first printed wall map of Central Europe, the "Carta itineraria Europae", which has also been preserved in one copy found by Professor Dr. von Wicser. It does not appear, however, that Waldseemiiller succeeded in this effort, for the publication of the edition of Ptolemy was not, as intended, at the expense of Lud and with the aid of the duke, but at the ex-pense of Oessler and Uebehn, citizens of Strasburg. Waldsee- miiller's name is not mentioned in this celebrated edi- tion of Ptolemy of 1513, although he seems to have taken part in the production of the work as printer; he calls himself exphcitly in a letter written at this date in Strasburg: "clerc du diocese de Constance, iinprimeur, demeurant a Strassburg" (cleric of the Diocese of Constance, printer, living at Strasburg).

After the completion of the Strasburg edition of Ptolemy and after he had obtained the canonry at St-Die, to which Duke Antoine had the right of presentation, Waldseemiiller zealously continued his chartographical labours in the httle city of the Vosges Mountains. In addition to the map of the world in the " Margarita Philosophica nova" (Strasburg, 1515), issued by Gregorius Reisch, another result of his ex- haustive research is the "Carta marina navigatoria" of 1516, which fairly competes in size and value with the great map of the world of 1507. It is markedly superior to the map of 1507 in its artistic ornamenta- tion, and there are many important changes from the former map. It was so favourably received that the celebrated printer of Strasburg, J. Grieninger, appUed to Waldseemiiller to prepare German inscriptions for the map and to supply it with a fully illustrated Ger- man text so as to make it accessible to a greater num- ber of persons. Waldseemiiller began at once to make the prchminary preparations for this task, but death prevented him from completing it, as it also prevented his finishing a new edition of Ptolemy which was to be of a more convenient size and was to have an ex- planatory text and a large number of illustrations. Both these undertakings were completed by the physician Laurentius Fries; unfortunately, what he produced did not equal the work of his predecessor. Much credit, however, is due the modesty with which Fries, in the Strasburg edition of Ptolemy of 1525, deprecates being praised for simply having reduced in form the work of another to whom the praise is due. Waldseemiiller's maps and exi)lanations are retained almost without change in the editions of Ptolemy of the years 1525, 1.535, and 1.541, while important emen- dations were made in the text of Ptolemy. Waldsee- miiller imdoubtedly was one of the most distinguished chartographers of his time, and his work made a marked impression upon the development of chart- ography.

D'AvE8AC, Martin Hylacomylus WaltzemUUer, ses ourrages et ses collahorateuTS (Paris. 1867): Gallois, Les geographes aUemands de la Renaisnance (Paris, 1890): Idem. Am^ic Vespuce et hs giog- raphes de Saini-Dii in BuUeiin de la soci^ti de giographie de I'Eat (Nancy, 1900): Fischer and von Wieser. Die alteate Kane mil dem Namen Amerika aus dem Jahre 1607 u. die Carta Marina aus dem Jahre 1616 des M. Waldseemuller illacomihts) (Innsbruck, 1903); Idem in the introduction of The Cosmographia Introductio of Martin Waldseemiiller in Facsimile, ed. Herbermann (New York, 1907); Flamm, Die Herkunft des Cosmographen M. Wald- seemuller {WaUenmUUer) in Zeitschrift /fir die Gesch. des Ober- rheins (Heidelberg, 1912), 42 sq.

Jos. Fischer.

Walenburch, Adrian and Peter von, auxiliary bishops of Cologne and celebrated controversial theologians, b. at Rotterdam at the beginning of the seventeenth century, exact dates of birth unknown; Adrian d. at Mainz, or Wiesbaden, 11 or 14 Septem- ber, 1669; Peter d. at Cologne, 21 Dec, 1675. The early accounts of the brothers do not agree as to whether they were Protestants or Cathohcs in their youth. The brothers studied law in France and received the doctorate in civil and canon law. After returning to Rotterdam they studied Catholic theol-