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Home > Catholic Encyclopedia > B > Martin Behaim


MARTIN BEHAIM

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(Martinus de Bohemia)

A German cartographer and navigator, b. at Nuremberg in 1459; d. at the German
hospice of St. Bartholomew in Lisbon, Portugal, 29 July, 1507. Behaim came from
a wealthy merchant family which settled in Nuremberg about 1300 and which is
still in existence. He received the usual education but, according to his own
statement, had among his teachers the celebrated mathematician and astronomer
Regiomontanus. Behaim entered business life at an early age and became an agent
at Antwerp. In 1481 or 1482 he went to Lisbon on business. Here his reputation
as a pupil of Regiomontanus led to his appointment by King John (João) II as a
member of a commission, the "junta dos mathematicos", which was to find some
improved method for determining latitude. Behaim furnished them with the
so-called Jacob's-staff, or cross-staff, and the astronomical tables necessary
for ascertaining the declination of the sun. Having in this way become
favourably known, Behaim was offered the opportunity of accompanying Diego Cam
(Cão) on a voyage of discovery along the west coast of Africa. In the course of
his explorations Cam discovered the mouth of the Congo and went as far as
Walfisch Bay. After his return Behaim was made a Knight of the Portuguese Order
of Christ in 1486, and married a daughter of Jobst von Hurter, hereditary
governor of the islands of Fayal and Pico of the Azores group. In 1492, while he
was a Nuremberg, Behaim made the well-known globe, probably with the scientific
help of Hartmann Schedel, the Nuremberg humanist.



His influence on the great discoverers of his time was formerly much
overestimated; at present it is questioned whether he had any such influence at
all. It cannot be proved either that Columbus was stimulated by him or that
Magellan (Magalhaes) in his search for a southern passage made use of a chart of
the world drawn by Behaim, as was once believed. It has even been questioned of
late years whether Behaim had any right to call himself a pupil of Regiomontanus
or whether he had taken part in the discoveries of Cam. Nevertheless his
"apple", the oldest of all existing globes, ensures his lasting fame. The globe
is about twenty-one inches in diameter and has no network to mark longitudes and
latitudes. It is provided merely with the equator, one meridian, the tropics and
the constellations of the zodiac, and is a unique example of miniature painting.
There is an unmistakable connection between Behaim's manner of representing the
world and the geographical views of Toscanelli whose chart is usually
reconstructed with the aid of Behaim's globe. Unfortunately the reproductions of
Behaim's globe, so far made, are not satisfactory. The first copy was published
by Doppelmayr in his "Historie von den Nurnberger Mathematicis" (1730) and was
reproduced by Nordenskjöld in his "Facsimile Atlas to the Early History of
Cartography" (1889). Another was drawn in 1847 for Jomard by Jean Muller who
gave Dr. Ghillany a copy which the latter used in his biography of Behaim. This
drawing is also to be found in Ruge, "Geschichte des Zeitalters der
Entdeckungen" (1881), in Gunther's biography of Behaim, and in Kretschmer, "Die
Entdeckung Amerikas" (1892).




SOURCES

Von Murr, Diplomatische Geschichte des portugiesischen beruhmten Ritters Martin
Behaim (Nuremberg, 1778; Ghillany, Der Erdglobus des Martin Behaim vom Jahre
1492 und der des Johann Schoner vom Jahre 1520 (Nuremberg, 1842); Idem,
Geschichte des Seefahrers Ritter Martin Behaim (Nuremberg, 1853); Reichenbach,
Martin Behaim, ein deutscher Seefahrer aus dem XV. Jahrhundert (Wurzen-Leipzig,
1889); Guntherh, Martin Behaim, vol. XIII of the Bayerische Bibliothek (Bamberg,
1890); Wagner, Die Rekonstruktion der Toscanelli-Karte vom J. 1474 und die
Pseudo-Facsimilie des Behaim-Globus vom J. 1492, in the Nachrichten von der k.
Gesellsch. der Wissensch. zu Gottingen, philol.-histor. Division, 1894
(Gottingen, 1895), 208 sqq.; Ravenstein, Martin de Bohemia in Bibiotheca da
Ravista Portugueza colonial e maritima (Lisbon, 1900); Stauber, Die Schedelsche
Bibliothek in Stud. u. Darstell. aus dem Gebiete der Gesch. (Freiburg im Br.,
1907), VI.


ABOUT THIS PAGE

APA citation. Hartig, O. (1907). Martin Behaim. In The Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02391b.htm

MLA citation. Hartig, Otto. "Martin Behaim." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02391b.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Susan Birkenseer.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.
Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

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