COS MAS
405
COSMOaONY
ic geography. Four oi her writings of Cosinas are
)rtunately lost: a cosiiiograpliy, an astronomical
tise, and commentaries on the Canticles and the
,ms.
IRINELU, La gcografia e i padri delta chicsa (Rome, 18S3);
- er, Kosman der Indienfahrtr in Jahrbuch fiir protestan-
! Tlutologie (Leipzig, 1883), IX, 10.'>-141; Kretschmbh. Die ische Erdkunde. im christlichen Milhlalter (Vienna, 1889); LLEY, The Dawn of Modern Geography (London, 1897); MBACHEH. Oe-tch. der byzanlinischen Lilt, (2nd ed., Munich, ), 412-14; Strzygowski, Der liilderkreis des grifch. Phy- gxts, des Kosmas Irulicopteustcs, etc., in Byzantuiisches iv (Leipzig, 1S99).
Otto Hartig.
osmas of Prague, Bohemian historian, b. about 5, at Prague, Bohemia; d. there, 21 October, 1125.
lieiunged to a knightly family, received his , instruction in the schools of Prague, and lied grammar and dialectics at Liege under the ction of a renowned master named Franco. At le he acquired good literary taste and that ac- intance with the classics which is evident through-
his work. While still young he entered ec- iastical life at Prague, but was not ordained St until 11 June, 1099, at Gran, Hungary. In
time he became a member of the cathedral pter of St. Vitus in Prague, and ultimately its n. According to a general custom of the age, le still a minor cleric, he was married to one etecha, by whom he had a son named Henrj' or 3, afterwards Bishop of Olmutz. With the lops of Prague, Gebhard, Cosmas, and Hermann, was on terms of great intimac.y, and often ac- ipanied them on their travels; he likewise en- ?d the esteem and the confidence of the rulers of lemia. Cosmas wrote in Latin a "Chronica Bo- lorum", or hi.story of Bohemia from the earliest es to 112.5. The work consists of three books; first brings the narrative to 1038, the second to 2, the third to 1125. For the early part he relied ost exclusively on popular tradition, since there
no previous work on the subject. For the
- r parts he drew from the testimony of cyewit-
ies, from his own experience, or from monuments
written documents. As an historian, Cosmas is srally truthful and conscientious; he distin- ihes between what is certain and what is based r on rumours or tradition, and often indicates his rces of information. The style is pleasing, and
character-sketches are vivid. Owing to these lities, and also to the fact that he was the first
- er of Bohemian history, he is called the Herod-
j of Bohemia. The work was edited repeatedly: tier, "Scriptores rerum bohemicarum" (Hanover, 2, 1(507, 1(320); Mencke, "Scriptores rerum Germ.: on." (Leipzig, 1728), I; Pelzl and Dobrowsky; riptores rerum bohemicarum" (Prague, 1783); !pke, "Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script." (Hanover, 1), IX; also in Migne, P. L., CLXVI; Emler and lek, "Pontes rerum bohemicarum" (Prague, 4), II.
OEPKE, Proteffomena to his edition of Coitmas in Mon. ». Hill., and Miqne, P. L.; Bordwy in Kirchenler. (Frei-
- im Br., 1884), 111; Potthast, Bibliolheca medii oevi (Ber-
1896), I; Chevalier, Bio-bM. (Paris, 190.i), I.
Francis J. Schaefer.
losmati Mosaic (Gr. xiff^s), a peculiar style of in- . ornamental mosaic introdiiced into the decorative of Europe during the twelfth century, by a marble- •ker nanieii Laurentius, a native of Anagni, a small -town thirty-seven miles east-south-east of Rome, irentius acquired his craft from Greek masters and a time followed t heir met hod of work, but early jnliis ?er, freeing himself from Bvzantine traditions and uences, he worked along original lines and evolved ew style of decorative mosaic, vigorous in colour I design, which he invariably employed in conjunc- l with plain or sculptured marble surf.aees, making
it a decorative accessary to some architectural feature.
As a rule he used white or light-coloured marbles for
his backgrounds; these he iiilaid with squares, paral-
lelograms, and circles of darker marble, porphyry,
or serpentine, surrounding them with ribbons of
mosaic composed of coloured and gold-glass tesserae.
These harlequinads he separated one from another
with marble mouldings, carvings, and flat bands, and
further enriched them with mosaic. His earliest recorded work was executed for a church at Fabieri in
1190, and the earliest existing example is to be seen in
the church of Ara Cceli at Rome. It consists of an
epistle and gospel ambo, a chair, screen, and pave-
ment. In much of his work he was assisted by his
son, Jacobus, who was not only a sculptor and mosaic-
worker, but also an architect of ability, as witness the
architectural alterations carried out by him in the
cathctlral of Civit^ Castellana, a foreshadowing of
the Renaissance. This was a work in which other
members of his family took part, and they were all
followers of the craft for four generations. Those at-
taining eminence in their art are named in the following genealogical epitome: Laurentius (1140-1210);
Jacobus (1 165-1234); Luca (1221-1240); Jacobus
(1213-1293); Deodatus (1225-1294); Johannes (1231-
1303). Their noted Cosmatesque mosaics are to
be seen in the Roman churches of SS, Alessio e
Bonifacio, S. Sabba, S. Ceeareo, S. Giovanni a Porta
Latina, S. Maria in Cosmedin, S. Balbina, S. Maria
sopra Minerva, S. Maria Maggiore, and in the cloister
of S. Scholastica at Subiaco, the basilica of St. Magus
at Anagni, the duomo of CivitA Castellana, and the
ruined shrine of St. Edward the Confessor in West-
minster Abbey.
De Montault, Grnealogie d^artisles italiens; Coleman, Coamati Mosaic in The Architeclurat Record (New Yorlc, June, 1902). XII; Parker, The Archaeology of Rome (.Oidord, 1876). Pt. XI; De Rossi, DcUe attre famiglie di marmorarii romani (Rome, 1870).
Caryl Coleman.
Cosmogony. — By this term is understood an ac- count of how the universe (cosmos) came into being (gnnia — 7^7o>'a = I have become). It differs fromcos- rnology, or the science of the universe, in this: that the latter aims at understanding the actual com- position and governing laws of the universe as it now exists; while the former answers the question as to how it first came to be. The Christian Faith ac- counts for the origin of the univer.'e by creation ex nihilo of the matter out of which the universe arose, and the preservntio, or maintenance, of Providence ac- cording to which it developeti into what it now is. Modern science has propounded many theories as to how the primeval gaseous substance evolved into the present harmony of the universe. These theories may be called scienli/lc cosmogonies; and the account of the origin of the world given in Genesis, i and ii, is styled Mosaic cosmogony. The word cosmognny is, however, usually applied to mythical accounts of the world's origin current amongst the peoples of an- tiquity and the more modern races which have not been touched by recent scientific methods. In this article the word is understood only in this latter sense. In treating of the strange admixture of pseudo-scien- tific speculations and religious ideas which the human mind, unassisted by revelation, elaborated to account for the existence and harmony of the universe, we are forced at first to follow only the chronological order. The dilTerent accounts given of the origin of the heavens and the earth are at first sight so irreconcil- able, .so fanciful, that no other order of treatment seems po.ssible; but an attempt will be made in the conclusion to sum up and systematize the various ideas enumerated, to trace the various lines along which past thought and fancy developed to some great central principles, and thus to show the unity which underlies even this confusing diversity. As modern
