Fig. 53. Terrestrial Globe of Robertas de Bailly, 1530.
While the first of these globes is unmounted, Scheipp’s globe is furnished with gilded meridian and horizon circle, the whole being supported by a dolphin on a plinth of ebony.
In the year 1533 Johann Schöner issued a small tract bearing the title ‘Joannis Schoneri Carolostadii Opusculum Geographicum ex diversorum libris ac cartis summa cura & diligentia collectum, accomodatum ad recenter elaboratum ab eodem globum descriptiones terrenae.’ ‘A geographical tract of John Schöner of Carlstadt, extracted from various books and maps with much care and diligence and arranged for a recently elaborated globe, being a description of the earth.’[228] This little book was dedicated to John Frederick of Saxony “Ex urbe Norica Id. Novembris Anno MDXXXIII.” To it more than usual interest attaches. As the title states, it was issued as an explanatory text for a new globe,[229] while in referring to the geography of the New World it clearly sets forth a reason for the changed notion concerning that geography, to which allusion has already been made,[230] a change from a belief in the independent position of the new lands to a belief that these lands were but a part of the continent of Asia. With reference to this point Schöner says, “Unde longissimo tractu occidentem versus ab Hispani terra est, quae Mexico et Temistitan vocatur superiori India, quam priores vocavere Quinsay id est civitatem coeli eorum lingui.” “By a very long circuit westward, starting from Spain, there is a land called Mexico and Temistitan in Upper India, which in former times was called Quinsay, that is the city of Heaven, in the language of the country.” He adds the statement, “Americus tamen Vesputius maritima loca Indiae superioris ex Hispaniis navigio ad occidentem palustrans, eam partem que superiore Indiae est, credidit esse insulam, quam a suo nomine vocari institituit. Alii vero nunc recentiores Hydrographi eam terram ulterius ex alia parte invenerunt esse continentem Asiae nam sic etiam ad Moluccas insulas superioris Indiae pervenerunt.” “Americus Vespuccius, sailing along the coasts of Upper India, from Spain to the west, thought that the said part which is connected with Upper India, was an island which he had caused to be called after his own name. But now other hydrographers of more recent date have found that that land (South America) and others beyond constitute a continent, which is Asia, and so they reached as far as the Molucca Islands in Upper India.” A later passage in this tract is likewise interesting in this connection. After noting that America had been called the fourth part of the world he adds, “Modo vero per novissimas navigationes, factas anno post Christum 1519 per Magellanum ducem navium invictissimi Caesaris divi Caroli etc. versus Moluccas insulas, quas alii Moluquas vocant, in supremo oriente positas, eam terram invenerunt esse continentem superioris Indiae, quae pars est Asiae.” “But very lately, thanks to the very recent navigations accomplished in the year 1519 A. C. by Magellan, the commander of the expedition of the invincible, the divine Charles etc. towards the Molucca Islands, which some call Maluquas which are situated in the extreme east, it has been ascertained that the said country (America) was the continent of Upper India, which is a part of Asia.”
It seems very probable that the globe referred to in this tract is one of those (Figs. 54, 54a), bearing neither date nor name of maker, to be found in the Grand Ducal Library of Weimar.[231] This conclusion, it may be stated, is based upon the fact of a striking agreement between the configurations on the globe and the descriptions to be found in Schöner’s tract. The date 1534, which appears on the support, is doubtless of later origin than the globe itself, just as the date 1510 inscribed on the horizon circle of the Behaim globe is known not to indicate the year in which that work was completed. Wieser expresses the conviction that this globe is an improved reproduction of the one constructed in the year 1523, and he notes the interesting fact of its configurations resembling closely those of the Orontius Finaeus map of 1531, believing that it was the latter, however, who was the borrower.
Fig. 54. Schöner’s Terrestrial Globe, 1533 (Probable).