The Medieval Texts of the 1486 Ptolemy Edition by Johann Reger of Ulm

Author(s): Margriet Hoogvliet and Johann Reger of Ulm

Source: Imago Mundi, Vol. 54 (2002), pp. 7-18
Published by: Imago Mundi, Ltd.
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 The Medieval Texts of the 1486 Ptolemy Edition by
Johann Reger of Ulm

MARGRIET HOOGVLIET

ABSTRACT:In Johann Reger's 1486 edition, Ptolemy's Geographiais preceded by a Registrumalphabeticumand

followed by the treatise De locis ac mirabilibusmundi. The additional texts are based on medieval examples: a
Latin translation of Jean Germain's La mappemondespirituelle(c.1450), Vincent of Beauvais's Speculumnaturale
(13th century), and Isidore of Seville's Etymologiaeand De natura rerum (6th-7th century). The combination of
medieval knowledge with the highlight of classical geographical science indicates that in the fifteenth century
Ptolemy's mathematical cartography did not replace medieval descriptive geography, but rather that his work
was interpreted within the framework of traditional knowledge.

KEYWORDS: Ptolemy, Geographia (Cosmographia),fifteenth century, medieval texts, mappa mundi, Jean
Germain, Johann Reger, Vincent de Beauvais, Isidore of Seville, Ulm.

In the early years of the fifteenth century the
Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras brought to
Florence a copy of the Geographiaby Ptolemy, the
famous geographer who had lived and worked in
Alexandria from AD 87 to 150, possibly together
with maps. In the Latin West, this Greek treatise
had remained largely unknown during the Middle
Ages,' although from the twelfth century onwards
Latin translations of another work by Ptolemy, the
Almagest, were available.2 Briefly put, the Geogra-
phia, or as it is sometimes called, the Cosmographia,
is a treatise explaining different mathematical
projection systems for maps based on a grid of
meridians and parallels. It also contains lists of co-
ordinates (in astronomical degrees), which permit
the correct plotting of geographical locations on a
map.
In the course of the fifteenth century, an
enormous number of copies of the Geographia
were produced in the West, both in Greek and in
Latin, initially in manuscript, later in printed
editions as well. The maps of the first printed
editions were an impressive technical achievement,
and it is not surprising that most histories of
cartography tend to be preoccupied with the maps
in the first printed editions. In focusing on the
maps, however, the context in which Ptolemy's
Geographiawas presented to the fifteenth-century
public is often ignored by modern historians.
Most ignored of all, perhaps, has been the 1486
printed Ptolemy edition by Johann Reger of Ulm,
which contains not only the text and maps of the
Geographia but also two other texts, namely an
alphabetical register (Registrumalphabeticum)and an
anonymous treatise on the places and marvels of
the world (De locis ac mirabilibus mundi). Hitherto,
only the maps in Reger's edition have been
examined and little attention has been paid to the
texts, let alone to their unknown sources. In order
to demonstrate the importance of the two texts in
Reger's edition, I shall discuss first the reception of
Ptolemy's Geographiaduring the fifteenth century-

Dr Margriet Hoogvliet, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Arts Faculty/RTC, P.O. Box 716, NL-9700 AS
Groningen, The Netherlands. Tel: (31) (0)50 363 7260. Fax. (31) (0)50 363 7263. E-mail: <M.Hoogvliet@
let.rug.nl>. ? Imago Mundi. Vol. 54, 2002, 7-18. 7

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 no longer seen as the revolutionary event it was
long thought to be-and then describe the 1486
Ptolemy edition and its contents. It will then
become clear that the two accompanying texts are
based on medieval sources. The close association of
these products of the medieval religious and
legendary world view with Ptolemy's mathematical
cartography constitutes an important indicator of
the reception of Ptolemy's Geographiain the West in
the fifteenth century.
The Ptolemaic Revolution Reconsidered
Traditionally, the recovery of the Geographiain the
fifteenth century is perceived as the event marking
the beginning of a so-called 'Ptolemaic Revolution',
with the implication that the 'uncritical' and
religiously inspired cartography of the Middle
Ages was replaced by the scientific cartography of
the Renaissance. Recent scholarship has refined this
over-simplified representation of the impact of the
Geographia and has shown that the reception of
Ptolemy's work was a much more complex process
than the traditional literature allows for. Instead, it
is now suggested that different modes of reception
should be distinguished.3
As is well known, the humanists were the first to
be interested in the Geographia. The Florentine
librarian Palla Strozzi acquired another manuscript
of the Greek Geographia, and in 1409 Jacobus
Angeli (Iacopo di Angelo da Scarperia), one of
Chrysoloras's pupils, dedicated his Latin translation
of the text to Pope Alexander V, still without maps.
The first modern adaptation of Ptolemy's work was
made in France by Cardinal Fillastre (d.1428), who
included a commentary and maps of contemporary
northern Europe.4 Other humanist authors incor-
porated parts of the Geographiainto their own texts,
as did, for example, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini
(Pope Pius II, 1405-1464) in his cosmographical
treatise, Historiarerumubiquegestarum.The human-
ists were interested in Ptolemy's geographical work
primarily because it was a hitherto unknown
classical text. They apparently did not prefer
Ptolemy to their other heroes of classical geogra-
phy, such as Pliny the Elder, Strabo and Pomponius
Mela, all of whose geographical works are of a
descriptive rather than a mathematical character.
A second realm of the Geographia'sreception to
consider is that of map-making.5 Inspired by the
maps in Ptolemy's geographical work and by the
mathematical projection systems described therein,
8 fifteenth-century cartographers and mathemati-
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cians started to enlarge the Geographiawith modem
maps or tabulae modernae.An early example is the
map of northern Europe (1427) by Claudius Clavus
which was added to Cardinal Fillastre's manuscript
copy of the Geographia.Other examples of tabulae
modernae include the three recensions of the
Geographia by Nicolaus Germanus (from 1460
onwards), for which he created no fewer than
five tabulae novellae as well as a new map of the
world.6 Later in the fifteenth century, other tabulae
modernae were made by Pietro de Massaio (1469,
1472, undated), Francesco Berlinghieri (c.1480),
and Henricus Martellus Germanus (late 15th
century).
Ptolemy's cartography was not, however, the
complete novelty in the Latin West as the older
scholarly literature suggests. Some medieval grid-
based maps survive, although it is true that the
function of the grid differs fundamentally from
Ptolemy's latitude and longitude.7 In the thirteenth
century, Roger Bacon had already described a
mathematical projection system for a world map.8
And a number of tables were in wide circulation
from the twelfth century onwards, giving the
degrees of latitude, and often longitude, for
important western European places.9 The recovery
of Ptolemy's cartography in the Latin West at the
start of the fifteenth century, at best, should be seen
as a new stimulus to existing knowledge, not a
revolutionary factor.'?
A third aspect of Ptolemy's reception in the
fifteenth century to consider is the way the
Geographiawas understood within the framework
of traditional geographical knowledge as defined,
for example, by medieval mappae mundi and
descriptive geographical texts. Pierre d'Ailly in his
Imago mundi, written some time between 1380 and
1420, discusses both the descriptive geography of
the medieval cosmographi and the mathematical
geography of the astrologers (among which he
places Ptolemy's Geographia):'Vcusque de diuisione
terre secundum astrologos dictus est qui per
diuisionem climatum procedunt Nunc aliam diui-
sionem quam ponunt Cosmographi posequamur'. 1
What is striking is that d'Ailly does not prefer the
mathematical geography of Ptolemy to the tradi-
tional medieval geography; to him, both are equally
important. Another example of the way Ptolemy's
Geographiawas received by geographers is provided
by the treatise, Luculentissimaquaedam terrae totius
descriptio, published in 1515 by the German
Johannes Schoner to accompany his globe.'2 The
first part of Schoner's work, the tractatusprimus, is
an expose of mathematical geography based on
astronomical data. It is followed by a tractatus
secundus, containing a description of the habitable
world in which considerable attention is paid to
medieval legends that evoke the marvels of the
East. A similar attitude towards Ptolemaic mathe-
matical cartography, on the one hand, and tradi-
tional knowledge, on the other, characterized
Johann Reger's edition of the Geographia(1486).13
The 1486 Edition by Johann Reger
Johann Reger (1454-?) was a printer who worked
in Ulm, in southern Germany. He undertook to
print Ptolemy's Cosmographia,as it was then called,
at the request and expense of Justus de Albano of
Venice. When the printer Lienhart Holl was
declared bankrupt in 1484, Justus had purchased
the font and the wood blocks that Holl had used for
his great 'Ulm edition' of 1482.14 Holl's exemplar
for text and maps was Nicolaus Germanus's third
recension of the Geography in a manuscript dating
from about 1468, now in the collection of Schlol
Wolfegg in Wurtemberg.'5 Justus passed the font
and wood blocks to Reger who used them for his
edition of 1486. Reger reprinted the 1482 edition
and added the elaborate Registrum alphabeticum
before the Geography and its maps, and the
treatise De locis ac mirabilibus mundi immediately
after. The quire numbering indicates that the three
works were printed separately: the Registrumhas
quire marks in capital letters, Ptolemy's Geographia
has them in lower case letters, and then the
beginning of the De locis starts anew with a lower
case 'a'.16
Nothing indicates how many copies were
printed, but Johann Reger's edition must have
had considerable success. We know that Justus de
Albano sold a large number of copies in Italy. Many
who had already purchased the 1482 edition added
the Registrum and the text of De locis to their
copies.17 Likewise, the Registrumand De locis were
copied into the Wolfegg manuscript of Nicolaus
Germanus's recension of the Geography.18 The
success of the 1486 edition induced some printers
to publish pirated editions. The Nuremberg printer
Anton Koberger reprinted illegally the Registrum
and De locis in order to update his, or another
bookseller's, stocks of Holl's 1482 edition. In 1490
in Rome, Petrus de Turre also added a virtually
word-for-word copy of the two texts when he
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reprinted the 1478 Rome edition of the Geog-
raphy.19
De locis ac mirabilibus mundi
The treatise De locis ac mirabilibusmundi at the end
of Johann Reger's Ptolemy edition describes the
marvels of the world, as announced by the title. It
opens with a description of the world structured
according to the three continents of the habitable
world-Asia, Europe, Africa-and the islands in the
outer ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (Fig. 1).
The author not only lists the names of towns, rivers,
mountains and seas, but he also gives much
attention to the marvels of the East, such as exotic
animals and deformed human races, in the stan-
dard manner of medieval descriptionesorbis. These
descriptions can be traced back as far as Isidore of
Seville's Etymologiae(Book 14), which in turn was
based on classical and late-classical sources.20
During the Middle Ages, written geographical
descriptions of the world could be referred to as
mappa mundi, the same terminology used for actual
maps.21 Certain rhetorical particularities suggest
that the descriptionesorbis should be read as textual
maps closely related to circular mappae mundi
similar to the thirteenth-century Hereford and
Ebstorf maps.22 It is significant that Johann Reger
considered it necessary to complete the maps of
Ptolemy's Geographiawith this product of medieval
cartography. It indicates to us that, in the fifteenth
century, medieval mappae mundi and the informa-
tion they contained were considered as valid as
mathematical cartography.
After this textual mappa mundi, the text of De locis
continues with descriptions of mountains, towns,
winds and water; a lengthy part is devoted to
monstrous human races. Then follow the earth and
the heavens, winds for the second time (but now
from a different source), and the text ends with
Mount Etna in Sicily. The content of De locis thus
exceeds the narrowly geographical and is, in fact, a
small encyclopaedia dealing with the whole cos-
mos, from the earth and its inhabitants to the
heavens. The basic principle is that of the encyclo-
paedias of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
which were ordered according to the four elements
of the cosmos: earth, water, air and fire.23 The wish
to include the four elements might be an explana-
tion for the rather peculiar insertion of Mount Etna
(fire) at the end of the text.
The De locis treatise is anonymous. For many
years, Nicolaus Germanus was thought to have 9
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been its author, but recent research has shown that
the treatise was only added to Nicolaus's manu-
script of the Geography after Reger had produced
his printed edition in 1486.24 It is difficult to suggest
a source; for the treatise is a compilation from a
number of works used in the Middle Ages. It
contains not only numerous references to Isidore of
Seville but also cites the late-classical Roman
geographer Solinus. The Registrumat the beginning
of the 1486 edition attributes the De locis treatise in
turn to Solinus, Isidore and De naturis rerum.25The
last reference is of no assistance to us, since
countless medieval encyclopaedias have that title
and a still greater number deal with the same
subject-the features (res) of the natural world. The
geographical chapters and the chapters on the
monstrous races in the De locis treatise match most
closely what is found in the Speculumnaturale, an
encyclopaedia describing the natural world com-
piled and written during the first half of the
thirteenth century by Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264).
It is of course difficult to demonstrate that the
Speculumnaturale is indeed the source from which
the relevant parts of the De locis were taken,
because Vincent of Beauvais himself acknowledges
in the general introduction to his encyclopaedia
that he had copied from other sources.26 Conse-
quently, we are not surprised to find that the first
chapters of Vincent's geographical description
reproduce almost verbatim parts of Book 14 of
Isidore's Etymologiae.Other parts come from Soli-
nus's Collectanearerum memorabilium(3rd century).
Further problems are created by the fact that
Vincent's Speculum circulated in a number of
different versions, and the only available modern
printed version is a facsimile of the Douai edition of
1624.27
While parts of the De locis treatise follow
Vincent's Speculum naturale closely, elsewhere the
author of De locishas departed from the Speculumby
introducing fragments from other texts (Appen-
dix I). Chapters 1 to 22 of De locis have the same
chapter headings as chapters 1 through 21 of the
32nd Book of the Speculumnaturale. Book 32 is a
geographical description of the world, closely
related to the previously mentioned medieval
descriptiones orbis. De locis continues with two
chapters on mountains and towns from Isidore of
Seville's Etymologiae. These might already have
been present in the version of the Speculumnaturale
from which the author worked, because it con-
tinues the sequence of chapters of Book 14 of the
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Etymologiae.For chapters 25 to 34, in which the
element water is discussed, the author of De locis
returned to the Etymologiae,copying Book 12 before
going back to the Speculumnaturale for his chapters
35 to 48 (on the monstrous races), the headings of
which are identical to those of chapters 118 to 132
in the Speculum's Book 31. Two chapters on the
different languages in the world follow, both taken
from the Etymologiae.The final chapters have much
in common with Isidore's Liberde natura rerum, an
earlier encyclopaedic text dating from between 612
and 615.28
A close textual examination of the first four
chapters of the geographical section reveals that the
author was not a blind copier of his source texts. He
chose what was relevant to his purpose, and he left
out some parts of his example, in this case the
Speculum naturale (see Appendix I). The first
chapter of De locis copies the first and final
paragraphs of Chapter 1 of Book 32 of the Speculum
naturale, leaving out the paragraphs on the creation
and the flood. Chapter 2 is identical to the text of
the Speculum naturale. Chapter 3 also follows the
text of the Speculum naturale closely, with the
exception of a small paragraph on Parthia, not in
the Douai edition but present in the original text of
Isidore. Chapter 4 of De locis only reproduces
excerpts of the Speculum naturale, but the source
text is still recognizable.
De locisis the work of an author who copied parts
from medieval encyclopaedias, making alterations
to his source texts and rearranging them into a new
encyclopaedic text. It is not impossible that the
author of De locis may have been Johann Reger
himself. As the printer of the 1486 edition of
Ptolemy's Geography, Reger had evidently decided
it was necessary to supplement the mathematical
geography of Ptolemy with a geographical-ency-
clopaedic treatise based on medieval sources. These
two works are not simply printed together, they
were intended to complete one another, as indi-
cated by the presence of the Registrumalphabeticum
at the beginning of Reger's edition, which refers the
reader to both the Geographiaand the De locis.
The Registrum alphabeticum
Unlike De locis, the Registrumalphabeticum(Fig. 2),
which forms the first part of the 1486 printed
edition, is acknowledged by Reger as his own work
in the lemma of his place of birth, Chemnat
(modern Kemnath in Bavaria): Chemnatsive chetaori
. . Hic lohannes Regerduxit origine(m).Et a(n)no etatis 11
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sue 32 composuithoc registru(m)in Vlma anno domini
1486.29
The Registrum consists of a list of places and
people arranged in the contemporary style of
alphabetical order-that is, according to only the
first letter of the name-together with the location
of each name in the texts and on the maps.30 Thus
England (Anglia) can be found as Albion in the
third chapter of the second book of the Geographia.
Moreover, it can be looked up in the first map of
Europe: 'Albion insula: nunc vero Anglia dicitur.
Libro secu(n)do, capitulo tertio, tabula prima
Europe'. Most often, the references are abbreviated:
Antioch (found in the fifteenth chapter of Book 2
and on the fourth map of Asia), is given as
'Anthiochia, li. 2, ca. 15, ta. 4 Asie . . .31
The Registrum,however, is more than a simple
list of places in Ptolemy's work: it gives substantial
additional information. The first ten to fifteen items
listed under each letter of the alphabet are
accompanied by texts describing them from the
perspective of ecclesiastical history. These descrip-
tions remind the reader of the great deeds of the
apostles, saints and martyrs. Reger's source for this
information has been identified by the French
philologist B. de Gaiffier as a Latin translation of a
fifteenth-century French text by a bishop named
Jean Germain and entitled La mappemonde spir-
ituelle.32There is no modern edition of the French
text. Its dedication tells us that the work was
offered in 1449 by Jean Germain, bishop of
Chalons-sur-Sa6ne and chancellor of the order of
the Golden Fleece, to Philip II, duke of Burgundy.
Reger refers to Germain's text under the heading
relating to the town of Chalons-sur-Saone: Cabu-
lium ... Hic dominus Primus [=Iohannes] Germanus
episcop(us)sacrae theologieprofessor,qui anno domini
1450 hos sanctos composuitin sua mappa mundi que
sp[irit]ualisdicitur.33
Germain's text is basically a geographical
account of the three continents. In this respect, it
differs little from traditional medieval descriptions.
In addition, though, as Jean Germain explains in
the introductory paragraphs, his mappemondemay
be called spirituellebecause he has added a history
of the deeds of Christ, the Apostles, saints and
martyrs to the geographical framework.
According to de Gaiffier, it was Johann Reger
who translated Jean Germain's Mappemondespir-
ituelle into Latin, and who transformed its geogra-
phical structure into the alphabetical listing of the
Registrum.34De Gaiffier also stated that the transla-
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tion is entirely faithful to the original, without
either additions or omissions. A randomly chosen
comparison of the French original with the Latin
translation suggests that de Gaiffier's claim is
probably overstated. In the French original, for
example, Germain relates that at the time of the
Roman emperor Alexander, the saints Hippolytus
(d. 235/236) and Beryllus (3rd century) were
bishops of the town of Arabibotrence (possibly
Bostra in Arabia), that Saint Hippolytus was a great
writer of religious texts at the time of Origen, and
that both saints died as glorious confessors:
C. Arabibotrence.Cy furent au temps de Alexandre
empereurde Rome renommezeuesques sains Ypolite
et Berilleet fut ledit Ypolitemerueilleuxen escriptures
au tems de Origene et morurent glorieux confes-
seurs.35
The same elements are present in the Latin
version-the mention of the bishops Hippolytus
and Beryllus, and of Hippolytus as a writer in
Origen's day-but Reger has added a reference to St
Jerome (c.350-420) and his book De viris illustribus:
Aradriphali. 6 ca. 2 ta. 5 Asie. Hic t(em)p(or)e
Alexandriimp(er)atorisYpolituset Berillusep(iscop)i
clarebantur:Ypolitusvero multa scripsitconte(m)por-
aneus Origeniet Berillushic ep(iscop)us ab Origene
corrigiturvt dicit Ieronim(us) in libro virorum illu-
strium.36
This example reveals that Reger did not simply
translate the Mappemondespirituelle into Latin; he
was a critical reader of Germain's work, making
corrections to the original text and giving additional
information.
The Registrumis not only a translation and a re-
ordering of the Mappemonde spirituelle but also
contains elements from other texts. The ten to
twenty place-names immediately following the
material taken from Germain are accompanied by
texts describing the marvels of the East. For
instance, for the entry 'Arabia felix', the geogra-
phical details are taken from the Greek geographer
Strabo (fl. 30 BC-AD 10). It mentions that in this
part of the world the phoenix is found as well as
camels, and that there are also wonderful spices
such as myrrh and cinnamon:
Arabiafelix li. 6 ca. 8 ta. 6 Asie. Hic auis fenix habitat.
Hic cameloru(m)nutrito(n):hos licet et alie regiones
mitta(n)t: sed Arabia plurimos. Hic aloa atq(ue) in
india gignitur.Hic mirraarboraltitudinisq(uin)q(ue)
cubitoru(m) similis spine. Hic thus nascitur arbor
imme(n)sa atq(ue) ramosa leuissimi corticis. Hic
cinamomu(m)et i(n) Ethiopianasciturhec Strabo.38
Other items in the Registrum concerning the
marvels of the world refer the reader not only to 13
 the texts and maps of the Geographiabut also to the
treatise De locis ac mirabilibus mundi, found at the
end of Reger's edition of Ptolemy. For example, the
'Arimaspi gens' can be found in Ptolemy's Geogra-
phia, Book 9, Chapter 9, and on the second map of
Asia. Moreover, the 'Arimaspi gens' can be looked
up in the treatise at the end of the book: Et in
tractatuin fine. Capitulumquadragesimumquartum de
ciclopibus Solinus.39 For several other items, the
Registrum only refers to the chapter number of the
De locis,without further mention of the treatise. An
example is the entry 'Blemys', where the reader is
referred to Et ca. 44 de ciclopib(us).40
The last items listed under each letter of the
alphabet describe the Belgian, German and Frank-
ish tribes. According to the Registrumitself, these
texts are based on Julius Caesar's (100-44 BC) De
bello Gallicoand on Tacitus's Germania(AD 98). The
Registrum ends with some paragraphs giving the
classical names for modern places.4'
The contents of Johann Reger's Registrumshows
that it is a complicated piece of work compiled by a
scholar with a good knowledge of a variety of
geographical sources, both classical and medieval.
We have seen, too, how Reger was not content
simply to translate the Mappemondespirituelle into
Latin, but had read it critically, corrected the
original and included new information. The Regis-
trum is a highly effective organizing tool, which
permits the reader to navigate easily through
Ptolemy's Geography and the treatise De locis
which follows it. Moreover, it allows the reader to
plot on to the Ptolemaic maps places associated
with the major events of the Christian faith as well
as the marvels of the world. In this respect, it serves
ingeniously as a bridge between classical thought,
as expressed in Ptolemy, and medieval thought, as
expressed in the De locisac mirabilibusmundi and the
Mappemondespirituelle. Of particular significance is
the fact that the author of the Registrumexpressed
no preference for the technically sophisticated work
of Ptolemy over age-old legends about the marvels
of the world.
In his 1486 edition, Johann Reger did not
present Ptolemy's Geography as a new scientific
development, outdating the results of earlier
geography and cartography. Quite the contrary:
he complemented his edition of the mathematical
cartography of Ptolemy by adding the encyclopae-
dic treatise De locis ac mirabilibus mundi with its
14 written map of the world inherited from medieval
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times. He also added a Registrum alphabeticum,
which refers the reader to both the texts and
maps of the Geographia,as well as the marvels of the
East as described in the De locis. It can be concluded
that it is not entirely correct to refer to Reger's
publication as an edition of Ptolemy, given that the
printed book consists of two works of equal
importance, linked by the Registrumalphabeticum.
In short, Johann Reger's printed edition of
Ptolemy's Geography, with its two accompanying
medieval texts, was a successful integration of
traditional medieval knowledge and mathematical
and cartographical techniques. Its favourable con-
temporary reception demonstrates that the fif-
teenth-century public perceived almost no
opposition between Ptolemaic science and what
we would call 'medieval lore' and cautions against
the notion of a 'Ptolemaic Revolution'. The modern
idea of scientific revolution and of paradigm shifts
hardly applies to the cartography of the Renais-
sance.42 Early Renaissance scholars were not
seeking to declare inherited knowledge as useless
but were trying to integrate the new with the old.
The long-forgotten texts in Johann Reger's 1486
edition of Ptolemy's Geography are an important
testimony of such an attitude.
Acknowledgements:This article is a reworking of a paper
read at the 4th International Congress, 'The 15th Century/
Le quinziime siecle/Das fiinfzehnte Jahrhundert',
Antwerp, 2-7 July, 2000. I would like to thank Professor
Dr Ingrid Baumgartner for her kind invitation. I am also
greatly indebted to Professor Dr Volker Honemann for
granting me research facilities at the Institut fiir Deutsche
Philologie I, Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat, Miinster,
Germany. Bea Biokuis and Jan Van Ginkel kindly helped
with the Latin translations.
Manuscript submitted June 2001. Revised text received
2001.
September
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. Patrick Gautier Dalche, 'Le souvenir de la Geographie
de Ptolemee dans le monde latin medieval (VIe-XIVe
siecles)', Euphrosyne. Revista de filologia classica, n.s. 27
(1999): 79-106, has argued that during the Middle Ages
the Geographia was not entirely forgotten in the Latin
West.
2. For the Latin translations of the Almagest,see Edward
Grant, The Foundationsof ModernSciencein the MiddleAges.
Their Religious,Institutional,and IntellectualContexts(Cam-
bridge, Cambridge University Press, 1996), 24-25.
3. Patrick Gautier Dalche has published critical studies
on 15th-century cartography and the reception of
Ptolemaic geography. See especially his 'L'ouvre geogra-
phique du cardinal Fillastre (d.1428). Representation du
monde et perception de la carte a l'aube des decouvertes',
Archives d'histoire doctrinale et litte'rairedu Moyen Age 59
(1992): 319-83; and his 'Pour une histoire du regard
geographique. Conception et usage de la carte au XVe
siecle', in II teatro della natura / The Theatre of Nature
(Micrologus IV) (Turnhout, Brepols, 1996), 77-103.
4. See Gautier Dalche, 'L'oeuvre geographique du
cardinal Fillastre' (note 3).
5. Although the Geographiacontains precise directions
for drawing a map, it is not at all certain if the maps
(which decorate only some of the Byzantine manuscripts),
reflect original maps made by Ptolemy. Kai Brodersen has
argued that the surviving Greek manuscript maps were
drawn in Byzantium (Terra cognita. Studien zur rimischen
Raumerfassung(Hildesheim, Zurich and New York, Georg
Olms, 1995), 13, n.l).
6. For the three recensions of Ptolemy's Geographiaby
Nicolaus Germanus, see Raleigh A. Skelton's introduction
to the facsimile of the 1482 printed edition from Ulm:
ClaudiusPtolemaeus:Cosmographia(Amsterdam, Theatrum
Orbis Terrarum, 1963), v-xi.
7. These are the grid maps of Palestine by Pietro
Vesconte and his workshop, added to the manuscripts in
Marino Sanudo's Liber secretorumfidelium crucis (c.1321)
and to Paolino Veneto's historiographical works (entitled
Satyrica historia and Chronologiamagna, c.1320). For the
maps by Pietro Vesconte, see Bernhard Degenhart and
Annegrit Schmitt, 'Marino Sanudo und Paolino Veneto.
Zwei Literaten des 14. Jahrhunderts in ihrer Wirkung auf
Buchillustrierung und Kartographie in Venedig, Avignon
und Neapel', Rimisches Jahrbuch fir Kunstgeschichte14
(1973): 1-37, 128-30, esp. 64, 76-78, 105, pl. 152 and
153.
8. Alistair C. Crombie and John North, 'Roger Bacon
(c.1219-1292)', in Science,Art and Nature in Medieval and
Moder Thought, ed. Alistair C. Crombie (London, Ham-
bledon, 1996), 51-65, esp. 60; David Woodward and
H. M. Howe, 'Roger Bacon on geography and cartog-
raphy', in Roger Bacon and the Sciences. Commemorative
Essays, ed. J. Hackett (Leiden, New York and Cologne,
Brill, 1997), 199-222. The claims of Dana Benett Durand
concerning the existence of early 15th century projection
systems, independent of Ptolemaic cartography, are based
on his interpretations of the Vienna-Klosterneuburg map
corpus (The Vienna-KlosterneuburgMap Corpus of the
FifteenthCentury.A Study in the Transitionfrom Medieval to
Modern Science (Leiden, Brill, 1952)). They have been
criticized by Gautier Dalche as being based almost
exclusively on 'des reconstitutions, des conjectures sou-
vent gratuites, et des attributions rarement prouvees'
('Pour une histoire du regard geographique' (see note 3),
85).
9. For these astronomical tables and their importance for
Western geography and astronomy, see David Lindberg,
The Beginnings of Western Science. The European Scientific
Traditionin Philosophical,Religious,and InstitutionalContext
(Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 1992),
267-73; John North, The Fontana Historyof Astronomyand
Astrology(London, Fontana, 1994), 203-23.
10. See also Gautier Dalche, 'Pour une histoire du regard
geographique' (note 3), 84-86.
11. 'Until here we have discussed the distribution of the
earth according to the astrologers who work according to
the division in climate zones. Let us now proceed with
another division, namely the one used by the cosmogra-
phers'. See E. Buron, ed., Ymagomundi de Pierre d'Ailly.
Textelatin et traductionfrancaise des quatre traites cosmogra-
phiques de d'Ailly et des notesmarginalesde ChristopheColomb
(Paris, Maisonneuve Freres, 1930), 252. For other
examples, see Gautier Dalche, 'Pour une histoire du
regard geographique' (note 3), 86-87.
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12. I have consulted the Nuremberg edition of Johannes
Stuchs, 1515, preserved in Munich, Bayerische Staatsbi-
bliothek, 4? rar 1474. For Schoner (and other early
modern cartographers), cartography is directly linked to
religious exegesis; see Margriet Hoogvliet, 'Mappae mundi
and medieval hermeneutics of cartographical space', in
Regions and Landscapes. Reality and Imagination in Late
Medievaland Early ModernEurope, ed. Peter F. Ainsworth
and Tom Scott (Oxford, Bern, and elsewhere, Peter Lang,
2000), 25-46.
13. The best and most recent studies of the Ulm editions
of 1482 and 1486 can be found in Skelton, Claudius
Ptolemeus (see note 6), v-xi; and Peter Amelung, Der
Friihdruck im deutschen Siidwesten 1473-1500 (Stuttgart,
Metzler, 1979), 261-362, Cat. Nos. 138, 145. See also Uta
Lindgren, 'Die Geographie des Claudius Ptolemaeus in
Miinchen. Beschreibung der gedruckten Exemplare in der
Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek', Archivesinternationalesd'his-
toire des sciences35 (1985): 148-239; Tony Campbell, The
Earliest Printed Maps, 1472-1500 (London, The British
Library, 1987), 135-38. I have consulted the printed
copies preserved in the Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam
(A-m-3) and in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
(inc. CA 1817). For other copies and their locations, see
the CD-Rom Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC).
14. ImpressvmVlme opera et expensis Iusti de Albano de
Venetiisper provisoremswm lohannem Reger. Anno Domini
MCCCCLXXXVI, XII kalendas Avgvsti (= 21 July 1486) (sig.
[c8r]). For the pagination of this early printed book, see
note 16.
15. Both the manuscript in Wolfegg and the printed
editions of 1482 and 1486 have Donnus [= Dominus]
Nicolaus Germanus's dedication to Pope Paul II. The third
recension has 5 tabulaenovellae(France, Spain, 'Nordland',
Italy and Palestine), added by Nicolaus Germanus to the
original maps. Most regional maps are on a trapezoid
projection. The world map in both the manuscript and the
printed editions from Ulm is in the second or homeotheric
projection with curved meridians and parallels as
described by Ptolemy. See Skelton, Claudius Ptolemeus
(note 6), v-xi; Amelung, Der Friihdruck im deutschen
Siidwesten1473-1500 (note 13), 282-83.
16. Sig. A2r-[E8v]: Registrumalphabeticumsuper octolibros
Ptolomei;sig. alr-[i8v]: Ptolemaeus, Cosmographia(Latin
translation by Jacobus Angeli), with Nicolaus Germanus's
dedication to Pope Paul II, followed by maps (32 folded
sheets, not gathered in quires and without signatures); sig.
alv-[c8r]: De locisac mirabilibusmundi. In incunabula, the
quire marks serve as pagination. These are noted as sig.
Air, sig. Alv, sig. A2r, etc.; pages without quire marks are
noted between square brackets.
17. For the reception of Johann Reger's edition, see
Amelung, Der Friihdruckim deutschenSiidwesten1473-1500
(note 13), 329-32.
18. Skelton, ClaudiusPtolemeus(see note 6), x-xi.
19. For the illegal reprints of Reger's work, see Amelung,
Der Friihdruckim deutschenSiidwesten1473-1500 (note 13),
274-77, 331.
20. Isidore compiled the Etymologiaebetween 622 and
633. For an overview of medieval descriptionesorbis, see
Rudolf Simek, Altnordische Kosmographie. Studien und
Quellen zu Weltbildund Weltbeschreibungin Norwegen und
Island vom 12. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert (Berlin and New
York, De Gruyter, 1990), 151-54; and chapter 3 of my
dissertation, Mappae mundi: pictura et scriptura. Textes,
images et hermeneutique des mappemondesdu Moyen Age
(XIIIe-XVIe siecles), Medieval to Early Modern Culture/
Kultureller Wandel vom Mittelalter zur Fruhen Neuzeit, 15
 ed. Martin Gosman and Volker Honemann (Frankfurt am
Main, Peter Lang, forthcoming).
21. Richard Uhden ('Gervasius von Tilbury und die
Ebstorfer Weltkarte', in Jahrbuch der Geographischen
Gesellschaftzu Hannover (1925): 185-200, esp. 199, n.73),
seems to have been the first to make this point. For a
better and more recent analysis, see Patrick Gautier
Dalche, ed., La 'Descriptiomappe mundi' de Hugues de
Saint-Victor. Texte inedit avec introduction et commentaire
(Paris, Etudes Augustiniennes, 1988), 87-88.
22. See Gautier Dalche, La 'Descriptiomappe mundi' de
Hugues de Saint-Victor(note 21), 87.
23. For the principles on which the medieval encyclo-
paedias were structured, see Christel Meier-Staubach,
'Grundzuge der mittelalterlichen Enzyklopadistik. Zu
Inhalten, Formen und Funktionen einer problematischen
Gattung', in Literatur und Laienbildung im Spdtmittelalter
und in der Reformationszeit: SymposionWolfenbiittel1981, ed.
L. Grenzmann et al. (Stuttgart, Metzler, 1984), 467-500;
Christel Meier-Staubach, 'Organisation of Knowledge and
Encyclopaedic ordo: Functions and Purposes of a Uni-
versal Literary Genre', in Pre-ModernEncyclopaedicTexts.
Proceedingsof the Second COMERSCongress,Groningen, 1-4
July 1996, ed. Peter Binkley (Leiden, Brill, 1997), 103-26;
Heinz Meyer, 'Zum Verhaltnis von Enzyklopadik und
Allegorese im Mittelalter', FriihmittelalterlichenStudien 24
(1990): 290-313.
24. Skelton, Claudius Ptolemeus (see note 6), x-xi;
Amelung, Der Friihdruckim deutschenSidwesten 1473-1500
(see note 13), 282, 362.
25. Arimaspigens ... li. 5 ca. 9 ta. 2 Asie. Et in tractatuin
fine Capitulumquadragesimumquartum de ciclopibusSolinus
(The Arimaspi people ... Bk. 5; Ch. 9; 2nd map of Asia.
And in the treatise at the end, chapter 44 on Cyclops, from
Solinus) (sig. A4r). Cinocephali. . li. 7 ca. 1 ta. 10 Asie. Et ca.
43 De gentibus mo(n)struosiset cinocephalis.Isidorus (Cinoce-
phali (dog-heads) ... Bk. 7; Ch. 1; 10th map of Asia. And
in chapter 43 on monstrous people and people with dog's
heads, from Isidorus) (sig. [B5v]). Bragmanni li. 7 ca. 1 ta.
10 Asie. Et alibi in tractatuca. 48 De barbarismoribusindorum.
Ex libros de naturis rerum (Bragmans, Bk. 7; Ch. 1, 10th
map of Asia. And the same in the treatise, chapter 48 on
the barbarious customs of the Indians, from the book on
the things of nature) (sig. Blr).
26. (.. .) nam ex meo pauca uel quasi nulla; ipsorumigitur
est auctoritate,nostrumautem sola partium ordinatione[.
therefore, in so far as authority [auctoritas]is concerned,
there is little or, as it were, nothing from myself, but our
only part is in ordering] (Serge Lusignan, ed., Vincentde
Beauvais, Libellus totius operis apologeticus(Montreal, Bel-
larmin, 1979), 118-19).
27. Vincent of Beauvais, SpeculumMaior (Douai, 1624), 4
vols. (Graz, Academische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt,
1964-1965). See Monique Paulmier-Foucard, 'Ordre
encyclopedique et organisation de la matiere dans le
Speculum maius de Vincent de Beauvais', in L'encyclope-
disme: Actes du Colloque de Caen 12-16 janvier 1987, ed.
Annie Beck (Paris, Klincksieck, 1991), 201-26.
28. The use of a third source text might be an
explanation for the peculiar phenomenon that De locis
has two chapters on the winds.
29. Sig. B5v: 'Chemnat or Chetaori... This was the place
of origin of Johann Reger. And at the age of 32 years he
16
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composed this register in Ulm, in the year of our lord
1486'.
30. The practice of organizing knowledge by listing
names or headings in alphabetical order appeared in the
West from the 13th century onwards. For several
centuries it did not proceed beyond the first one or two
letters. For the first appearances and development of
alphabetical order, see Richard H. Rouse, 'La diffusion en
occident aux XIIIe siecle des outils de travail facilitant
l'acces aux textes autoritatifs', Revuedes etudesislamiques44
(1976): 115-47; Olga Weyers, Dictionnaireset repertoiresau
moyenage: une etudedu vocabulaire(New York and London,
Garland, 1991).
31. Both references are on sig. A2r.
32. B. de Gaiffier, 'Les sources de la "Topographia
sanctorum" publiee par Maurolycus', AnalectaBollandiana
LII (1934): 57-63. According to de Gaiffier, Reger's Latin
translation was later used by Francois Maurolycus for his
Topographiasanctorum(1568).
33. Sig. B4r-v: 'Chalons-sur-Sa6ne. Here (lived?) Dom.
Jean Germain, bishop and professor of theology, who in
the year of our Lord 1450 composed this work on saints in
his mappa mundi known as 'spiritualis'.
34. Gaiffier, 'Les sources de la "Topographia sanctorum'"
(see note 32), 60.
35. 'The town of Arabibotrence. In the time of the
Roman Emperor Alexander, the saints Hippolytus and
Beryllus were bishop here. And the said Hippolite was an
extraordinary writer in the time of Origen, and they died
as glorious confessors' (Jean Germain, Mappemonde
spirituelle, cited from Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/
Bibliotheque royale, MS 11038, f. 2v).
36. Sig. A2r: 'Aradripha, Bk. 6; Ch. 2; 5th map of Asia. In
the time of Emperor Alexander, the bishops Hippolytus
and Beryllus were famous here. Hippolite lived in the time
of Origen and has indeed written a lot. Bishop Berillus was
corrected here by Origen, as St Jerome writes in his book
on famous men'.
37. See also the short introduction on sig. Alv, which
explains how to use the maps. It is not a summary of Jean
Germain's introduction to the Mappemondespirituelle, as
claimed by De Gaiffier ('Les sources de la "Topographia
sanctorum'" (see note 32), 60). Indeed, it has little in
common with the French text.
38. Sig. A2r: 'Arabia felix, Bk. 6; Ch. 8; 6th map of Asia.
Here lives the bird phoenix. Here camels are bred(?):
Arabia exports most of them, even if other regions do the
same. Aloe is produced here, as in India. Here (is found)
the mirrh tree of five cubits height, similar to the pine tree.
Here grows the immense frankincense tree, abounding in
branches with smooth bark. Here and in Ethiopia grows
cinnamon. This information is found in Strabo'.
39. See note 25. 'And in the treatise at the end.
Chapter 44 on Cyclops, from Solinus'.
40. Sig. Blr: 'Blemmys li. 4 ca. 8 ta. 4 Affrice.... Et ca.
44 de ciclopibus' [and (in) Chapter 44 on Cyclops].
41. On sig. [E7r]-[E8v].
42. As formulated by Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structureof
ScientificRevolution(Chicago, University of Chicago Press,
1962), These ideas about scientific revolutions and
paradigm shifts are anachronistic when applied to
Renaissance cartography.
Appendix 1. Chapter headings in the text of the treatise De locis ac mirabilibvs mvndi etprimo de tribvs orbis
partibvs (with source text indicated within brackets)

I ( Quoniam ut ait Augustinus ...)

II De asia et eius capite, q(uo)d estparadisus
m De india et eius mirabilib(us)
IV De ceteris asie regionibus
V Iterum de eodem
VI Ad huc de eodem
VII Iterum de eodem
vm De asia minore et eius provinciis
IX De europa et eius regionibus
X De grecia et eius provinciis
XI Iterum de eodem
XII De ceteris europe prouinciis
XI Ad huc de eodem
XIV De affrica et regionibus illius
XV Iterum de eodem
XVI De insulis occeani quo cingitur orbis
XVII Iterum de eodem
XVII De insulis maris magni scilicet mediterranei
XIX De cycladibus
XX De ceteris insulis magni maris
XXI Adhuc de eodem
XXII De p(ro)mu(n)ctorii velp(ro)mo(n)toriis (= Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum naturale, L. 32, c. I-XXI)
[Although this is not a chapter in the Speculumnaturale, the text is identical to the last part of c.XXI.]
XXmI De montibus
XXmI De ciuitatibus (= Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, XIV, viii, XV, i)
XXV De ventis
XXVI De diuersitate aq(ua)rum
XXVII De occeano
XXVm De mediterraneo mari
XXIX De sinibus maris
XXX De estibus et fretis
XXXI De lacis et stagnis
XXXII De abisso
XXXIm De fluminibus
XXXII De diluuiis (= Isid., Etym., XIII, xi, xiii, xv-xxii)
XXXV De partibus geminis et monstruosis
XXXVI De portentis
XXXVII De variis portentaru(m) modis
XXXVII De portentis vel monstris fabulosis
XXXIX De transformatis
XL De quorunda(m) viroru(m) miris ac singularib(us) naturis
XLI De quibusdam mulierib(us) barbaris et mo(n)struosis. Ex libro de natura rerum
XLII De quorundam utriusq(ue) sexus corporibus immensis
XLm De ge(n)tibus mo(n)struosis et p(ri)mo de gigantibus et cinocephalis
XLII De ciclopibus ac ceteris
XLV Ad huc de eodem
XLVI De quaru(n)dam gentium moribus extraneis
XLVII Ad huc de eodem
XLVII De barbaris moribus indorum
XLVIII De moribus singularis ceteraru(m) regionum (= VofB, Spec. nat. L. 31, c. CVI-CXXXII)
L De linguis gentium
LI De gentium vocabulis (= Isid., Etym., IX, i-ii)
LII De mundo et eius no(m)i(n)e
Lm De q(uin)q(ue) circulis mundi
LIII De partibus terre
LV De q(ua)tuorpartib(us) celi (= Isid., De natura rerum, IX, X, XLVI, XI)
LVI De circulis cell (= Isid., Etym., XII, vi)
LVII De me(n)suris agroru(m)
LVIII De itineribus (= Isid., Etym., XV, xv, xvi)
LVIIII De ventis
LX De signus te(m)pestatis et serenitatis
LXI De monte ethna (= Isid., De natura rerum, XXXVII,XXXVIII,XLVII)

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 Appendix 2. Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum naturale, liber 32: De locis ac temporibus, etprimo de tribus orbis
partibus (ed. Douai 1624), compared with De locis ac mirabilibus mundi

(Partsin bold charactersare identicalin both texts;lines between squarebracketsdo not occur in De locis.)
C. I Quoniam ut ait Augustinus Deus immutabili... motibus voluerentur saecula. [Huius operis naturalis, ... varietates
disseminati sunt.] (Spec. nat. continues here, text not in De locs.) Filj Sem obtiuisse ferunturAsiam ... quod eas
intersecat.
C. II De Asia et eius capite quod est Paradisus Asia ex nomine cuiusdam mulieris ... vel spiritui transgressionis aditus
pateat. (Both texts are identical.)
C. III De Indiaet eius mirabilibusIndiaab Indofluminedictaest ... immensorumhominummostraimpossibileest. (Both
texts are identical.)
Interpolation De locis- Parthia ab Indie finibus usque ad Mespotamiam ... nomina a propriis autoribus ita trahentes
Arachosia ab oppido suo nuncupata (= Isidore, Etym. XIV, iii, 8-9). Solinus. Tradunturin India fuisse ... etaliaplura
mirabilia. (Both texts are identical; De locis reads Porsia gens instead of Prasia gens.)
C. IV De caeteris Asiae regionibus [Isid. ubi supra.] Parthiam Parthi a Scytbia venientes, eamque ex suo nomine
vocaverunt. [Huic a meridie rubrum mare est, a septentrione Hircanum solum. Ab occidua solisplaga Media.] Regna
in ea 18. sunt porrecta a Caspio littore ad terram Scytharum. Assyia vocata est ab Assur filio Sem, qui eam post
diluvium regionem primus incoluit. [Haec ab ortu Indiam, a meridie Mediam tangit, ab occiduo Tygrim, a
Septentrione montem caucasum, ubi portae Caspia sunt.] n hacregioneprimum usus inventus estpurpurae. Inde
primum cinium, et corporum unguenta venerunt, et odores quibusRomanorum, atque Graecorum effluxituxunra.
Media et Persia a Regibus Medo, et Perso cognominatae sunt qui eas Prouindas debellando agressi sunt, [quibus
Media ab occasu transversa Parthia regna amplectitur. A Septentrione Armenia circundatur. Ab ortu mari Caspio
diuiditur, a Meridie Persida.] Huius terra Medicam arborem gignit, quam alia regio minime parturit. [Sunt autem
Mediae duae ... Susa oppidum nobilissimum.] In persida primum orta est ars magica, ... occasum sinus Arabicus.

Les textes medievaux de la Geographie de Ptolemereeditee a Ulm en 1486 par Johann Reger
La Geographiede Ptolemee 6ditee par Johann Reger en 1486 est precedee d'un Registrumalphabeticumet suivie
d'un traite intitule De locisac mirabilibusmundi. Ces textes additionnels sont bases sur des modeles medievaux:
une traduction latine de La mappemondespirituelle de Jean Germain (vers 1450), le Speculum naturale de
Vincent de Beauvais (XIIIe siecle) ainsi que les Etymologiaeet le De natura rerumd'Isidore de Seville (VIe-VIe
siecle). La combinaison des connaissances medievales et de la fine fleur de la science geographique antique
nous indique qu'au XVe siecle la cartographie mathematique de Ptolemee n'a pas remplace la geographie
descriptive medievale, mais plut6t que son travail a ete interprete dans le cadre des connaissances
traditionnelles.

Die mittelalterlichen Texte der Ulmer Ptolemiius-Ausgabe von Johann Reger, 1486
Johann Regers Ausgabe von Ptolemaus 'Geographia', 1486, ist ein 'Registrum alphabeticum' vorangestellt
und die Abhandlung 'De locis ac mirabilibus mundi' angefiigt. Diese zusatzlichen Texte basieren auf
mittelalterlichen Vorbildern: auf einer lateinischen Ubersetzung von Jean Germains 'La mappemonde
spirituelle' (ca.1450), auf Vinzenz von Beauvais 'Speculum naturale' (13. Jahrhundert) sowie auf Isidor von
Sevillas 'Etymologiae' und 'De natura rerum' (6.-7. Jahrhundert). Die Kombination mittelalterlichen Wissens
mit dem H6hepunkt der antiken Geographie deutet darauf hin, dass die mathematische Kartographie des
Ptolemaus im 15. Jahrhundert nicht einfach die mittelalterliche, beschreibende Geographie ersetzte, sondern
dass Ptolemaus in einem traditionellen Kontext interpretiert wurde.

Los textos medievales de la Geografia de Ptolomeo, publicados en Ulm en 1486 por Johann Reger
La Geografiade Ptolomeo publicada por Johann Reger en 1486 esta precedida de un Registrumalphabeticumy
seguida de un tratado titulado De locis ac mirabilibus mundi. Estos textos estan basados en los siguientes
modelos medievales: una traduccion latina de La mappemondespirituellede Jean Germain (hacia 1450), el
Speculumnaturale de Vincent de Beauvais (siglo XIII), asi como en las Etymologiaey De natura rerumde Isidoro
de Sevilla (siglo VI-VII). La combinaci6n de los conocimientos medievales y de la ciencia geografica antigua
nos indica que en el siglo XV la cartografia matematica de Ptolomeo no reemplazo a la geografia descriptiva
medieval, sino que su obra fue interpretada en el marco de los conocimientos tradicionales.

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