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diff --git a/78333-0.txt b/78333-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f368771 --- /dev/null +++ b/78333-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,31225 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78333 *** + + + + + GEOGRAPHICAL LORE OF THE + TIME OF THE CRUSADES + + + + + AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY + + RESEARCH SERIES NO. 15 + + W. L. G. JOERG, _Editor_ + + + + + THE GEOGRAPHICAL LORE OF THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES + A Study in the History of Medieval Science and Tradition in Western + Europe + + + BY + + JOHN KIRTLAND WRIGHT, Ph.D. + Librarian, American Geographical Society + +[Illustration: AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK · 1854 ·] + + AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY + BROADWAY AT 156TH STREET + NEW YORK + + 1925 + + + COPYRIGHT, 1925 + BY + THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY + OF NEW YORK + + + RUMFORD PRESS + CONCORD, N. H. + + + TO + K. M. W. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + PREFACE xix + INTRODUCTION 1 + The Time of the Crusades 1 + Scope of the Term “Geographical Lore” 1 + Origins of the Geographical Lore of the Time of the + Crusades 3 + Organization of the Present Work 4 + + PART I + _Origins, Sources, and Place in the Classification of + Knowledge of the Geographical Lore of the Time of the + Crusades_ + I THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 9 + Sources 9 + The Pythagoreans, Plato, and Aristotle 9 + Roman Influence on Geography 10 + Ptolemy 10 + Latin Writers: Pliny, Solinus, Capella, Macrobius 11 + The History of the Universe 12 + Ancient Cosmogony 12 + Celestial Influences 12 + Cosmic Cycles: The Great Years 13 + Geographic Application of the Theory of the Great Years 14 + Duration of the Great Years 14 + Shape, Movements, and Size of the Earth 15 + Sphericity of the Earth 15 + Immobility of the Earth 15 + Circumference of the Earth 16 + The Distribution of Habitable Regions; Zones; the + Distribution of Land and Water 17 + Zones 17 + Crates’ Theory of Four Land Masses 18 + Extent of the “Oikoumene” 19 + Physical Geography 19 + Aristotle, Seneca, and Pliny 19 + The Four Elements 20 + Meteorology 21 + Winds 22 + Climatology 23 + The Water Element 24 + The Sea: Its Salinity, Depth, Currents, and Tides 25 + Subterranean Channels 27 + Rivers of the Underworld 28 + Origin of Rivers 29 + The Nile Flood 30 + The Lands 31 + Earthquakes and Volcanoes 31 + Height of Mountains 32 + Mathematical Geography and Cartography 33 + Mathematical Geography Largely Based on Itineraries 33 + Astronomical Determination of Latitude 34 + Astronomical Determination of Longitude 34 + Cartography 35 + The Expansion of Regional Knowledge 36 + Expansion of Greek Regional Knowledge 37 + Geography at Alexandria 38 + Hellenistic Regional Knowledge 39 + Regional Knowledge of Mela and Pliny 40 + The “Periplus of the Erythraean Sea” 40 + Limits of Ancient Regional Knowledge on the South and + East 41 + II THE CONTRIBUTION OF WESTERN CHRISTENDOM BEFORE 1100 A. D. 43 + Introduction 43 + Scriptural Influence on Early Medieval Geography 43 + Ignorance of the Best Work of Antiquity 43 + Scientific Stagnation During the Early Middle Ages 44 + Sources 45 + The Bible 45 + Writings of the Church Fathers 46 + Interpretation of the Bible 46 + Classical Influences 47 + Encyclopedic Compilations 47 + Miscellaneous Geographical Writings 48 + Legends 49 + Books of Travel and Description 50 + The History of the Universe 51 + Christianity Opposed to Belief in an Eternal Universe 51 + The Creation 52 + Shape and Size of the Earth 53 + Early Christian Belief in a Flat Earth 53 + Early Christian Belief in a Spherical Earth 54 + Size of the Earth 54 + Zones and the Antipodes 55 + Zones 55 + The Antipodes 55 + Physical Geography 57 + Meteorology 57 + The Waters Above the Firmament 58 + The Congregation of the Waters 59 + The Nile Flood 60 + The Earth Upon the Waters 61 + The Sea 61 + The Lands 62 + The Medieval Attitude Towards Landscape and Scenery Before + 1100 A. D. 63 + Esthetic Appreciation of Nature in Antiquity 63 + Early Christian Attitude Towards Nature 64 + Revival of Esthetic Feeling in the Middle Ages 64 + Mathematical Geography and Cartography 65 + Mathematical Geography 65 + Maps 65 + Macrobian Maps 66 + T-O Maps 66 + Sallust Maps 68 + Beatus Maps 68 + Regional Geography 70 + Limited Geographical Horizon in the Early Middle Ages 70 + Medieval Conception of the Known World 71 + Paradise 71 + Rivers of Paradise 72 + Asia 72 + Gog and Magog 72 + Romance of Alexander the Great 73 + St. Thomas in India 74 + Africa 74 + Europe 74 + Explorations to the North 75 + The Atlantic 75 + America Reached by the Norsemen 76 + III THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE MOSLEMS 77 + Sources 77 + Influence of Aristotle 77 + Influence of Ptolemy’s “Almagest” 78 + Influence of Ptolemy’s “Geography” 78 + Az-Zarqalī and the “Toledo Tables” 79 + Geography in Sicily 79 + Edrisi 80 + Influence of Sicilo-Moslem Geography 81 + Oriental Ideas Transmitted to the West 82 + Astronomical Geography; Theories of the Tides 82 + The Great Years 82 + Cosmic Cycles and Geographical Changes 83 + Theories of the Tides 84 + Measurement of a Terrestrial Degree 85 + Geographical Positions 85 + Arin 86 + Arabic Exploration and Travel 87 + IV THE SOURCES FOR THE PERIOD 1100–1250 A. D. 88 + Introduction 88 + Theological and Philosophical Works 89 + Theological Works 89 + Peter Abelard 89 + Hugh of St. Victor 90 + Hildegard of Bingen 90 + Peter Lombard and Peter Comestor 91 + The School of Chartres: Its Intellectual Independence 91 + Bernard and Theodoric of Chartres 91 + Adelard of Bath; Hermann the Dalmatian; Robert of + Retines 92 + Bernard Sylvester 93 + William of Conches 93 + Alexander Neckam 93 + Translations from the Arabic; Works Written under Arabic + Influence; Aristotelianism and Its Opponents 95 + Adelard of Bath; Peter Alphonsi 95 + John of Seville; Plato of Tivoli 96 + “Marseilles Tables” and “Toledo Tables” 96 + Robert of Retines; Hermann the Dalmatian; Daniel of + Morley 97 + Gerard of Cremona; John of Holywood (Sacrobosco) 97 + Aristotelianism Introduced Through Arabic Works 98 + Gerard of Cremona 99 + Michael Scot 99 + Aristotelianism in the Thirteenth Century 100 + Opponents of Aristotelianism 101 + William of Auvergne 101 + Robert Grosseteste 101 + Encyclopedic Works 102 + “De Imagine Mundi” 103 + Lambert’s “Liber Floridus”; Guido’s Encyclopedia 103 + “Lucidarius” 104 + Gervase of Tilbury 104 + Jacques de Vitry 105 + “L’Image du Monde” 105 + “Konungs-Skuggsjá” 105 + Great Encyclopedias of the Thirteenth Century 106 + Dante 106 + Histories, Chronicles, Sagas, Epic Poems 107 + Otto of Freising 107 + Gunther of Pairis 108 + Walter of Châtillon; William the Breton 108 + Historians and Histories of the Crusades 109 + Scandinavian Historical Works 110 + Latin Histories of the North 111 + Legends 113 + Romance of Alexander 113 + Prester John 114 + St. Brandan 115 + Pilgrim Narratives; Miscellaneous Records of Travel 115 + Christian Pilgrim Narratives 115 + Letters of Travel 116 + Jewish Travelers 117 + Benjamin of Tudela 117 + Petachia of Ratisbon 118 + Topographical Works 118 + Godfrey of Viterbo 119 + Gervase of Canterbury 119 + Giraldus Cambrensis 119 + Maps 121 + Zone Maps 121 + T-O and Sallust Maps 121 + Beatus Maps 122 + Maps of Lambert, Guido, Henry of Mayence, and Others 124 + Regional Maps 125 + Matthew Paris’ Maps of Britain 126 + V THE PLACE OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE MEDIEVAL CLASSIFICATION OF + KNOWLEDGE 127 + Geography Included Under Geometry 127 + Geography Included Under Astrology 128 + Geography and the Aristotelian Division of Learning 129 + + PART II + _The Substance and Character of the Geographical Lore of the + Time of the Crusades_ + VI COSMOGONY, COSMOLOGY, AND COSMOGRAPHY 133 + General Character of the Cosmology and Natural Science of + the Period 134 + The Chartres Group: Bernard Sylvester and Theodoric 134 + Adelard of Bath and William of Conches 135 + Concept of Natural Laws 136 + The Orthodox Tendency 137 + Effects of Influx of Arabic Science 138 + The Creation 138 + Problems 139 + The Preëxistence of Matter 139 + The Orthodox View 139 + A Rational View 141 + Processes of the Creation 141 + Theodoric of Chartres’ Theory 141 + William of Conches’ Theory 142 + Function of Light in the Creation 143 + The Nature of the Six Days 144 + Eternity of the Universe 145 + Bernard Sylvester’s Account of the Creation 145 + The Icelandic Account 146 + Macrocosm and Microcosm 147 + Shape, Movements, and Size of the Earth 150 + Sphericity of the Universe 150 + Shape of the Earth 152 + Immobility of the Earth 153 + Size of the Earth 155 + Zones, the Antipodes, and “Climata” 156 + Zones 156 + Uninhabitability of Polar Caps and Equatorial Zone 157 + Austral Continent and Antipodal Regions 157 + The Cratesian Theory 158 + Persistence of Belief That Antipodal Regions Were + Inhabited 159 + Manegold’s Arguments Against This Doctrine 161 + Habitability of the Equatorial Region 162 + Grosseteste on the Habitable Parts of the Earth 163 + The Equatorial Zone 163 + The Southern Hemisphere 164 + The Polar Regions 165 + VII THE ATMOSPHERE 166 + Meteorology 166 + Composition of the Atmosphere 166 + Temperature 167 + Upper Levels of the Atmosphere 167 + Clouds 168 + Precipitation 169 + Floods; The Deluge 170 + Winds 171 + Atmospheric Circulation 172 + Names of the Winds 173 + Qualities of the Winds 174 + Local Winds 175 + Climatology 175 + Hot and Cold Climates 176 + Distribution of Climates 177 + Climatic Differences Between East and West 177 + Topographic Influences Upon Climate 177 + The Sea 177 + Mountains 178 + Influence of Climate on Man 180 + Climate of Rome 180 + VIII THE WATERS 182 + The Waters Above the Firmament 182 + Rationalistic Beliefs 182 + Literal Beliefs 183 + Purpose of the Waters 184 + The Congregation of Waters 184 + Connection Between Seas and Rivers 185 + The Earth Established on the Waters 186 + The Oceans and Seas 187 + Relative Areas of Land and Sea 187 + Explanation of Uniform Level of Sea Surface 188 + Salinity of the Sea 189 + Tides 190 + Lunar Causation 190 + Terrestrial Causation 192 + Giraldus Cambrensis’ Tidal Studies 194 + Other Marine Phenomena Noted by Giraldus 196 + St. Brandan and the Spirit of the Sea 197 + Bottom of the Sea 198 + The Waters of the Lands 199 + Ground Water 199 + The Sea As the Source of the Waters of the Land 200 + Effect of Land on Waters Which Spring From It 202 + Miraculous Wells and Springs; Geysers 203 + The Fountain of Youth 204 + Rivers 205 + The Nile Flood 206 + Lakes 207 + IX THE LANDS 210 + Classification of Land Areas 210 + Quantitative and Qualitative Subdivisions 210 + Giraldus Cambrensis’ Comparison of East and West 211 + Mountains 212 + Origin of Mountains 213 + Their Size and Height 214 + Miraculous Mountains 214 + Accurate Observation of Orographic Phenomena 215 + Appreciation of the Beauty of Mountains 215 + Religious Attitude Towards Mountains 216 + Normal Medieval Feeling About Mountains 217 + Glaciers 219 + Volcanoes and Earthquakes 220 + Visits to Volcanoes 220 + Volcanic Region of Southern Italy and Sicily 220 + Michael Scot on the Eolian Isles and Etna 222 + Volcanoes of Iceland 222 + St. Brandan’s Visits to Volcanic Isles 224 + Volcanoes As Gates of Hell 225 + Causes of Vulcanism 225 + Earthquakes 227 + Deserts 228 + Islands 229 + Origins 229 + Miraculous Islands 229 + Islands of St. Brandan 230 + Influences of Geographical Environment 231 + On Plant and Animal Life 231 + On Man 232 + Topography As a Natural Defense 233 + Theory of the Westward Flow of Civilization 233 + Feeling for Landscape and Scenery 235 + Spiritual Feeling for Nature 235 + Esthetic Love of Nature 237 + Practical Interest in Countrysides 238 + Giraldus Cambrensis’ Eye for Local Topography 240 + X THE ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE KNOWN WORLD 241 + Phenomena Resulting From Differences in Latitude 241 + “Climata” 242 + Geographical Coördinates 243 + Methods of Finding Latitude and Longitude 244 + XI CARTOGRAPHY 247 + Inaccuracy 247 + Accuracy Not Deemed Necessary 248 + Exaggeration 249 + Distortion 249 + Technique 250 + Conventions 251 + Symbols and Legends 252 + Summary 254 + XII REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY 255 + General Character of Regional Knowledge of the Period 255 + Geography of Tradition and Geography of Observation 255 + Gradations of Accuracy of Knowledge 256 + The “Oikoumene” As a Whole 257 + The “Oikoumene” Divided into Three Parts 258 + The Center of the “Oikoumene” 259 + Jerusalem As the Center 259 + The Exact Position of the Earth’s Center 260 + The Terrestrial Paradise 261 + Paradise in the East 261 + Journeys to Paradise 263 + The Rivers of Paradise 264 + Asia 265 + The Opening of Asia in the Thirteenth Century 266 + The Mongol Conquests 266 + Thirteenth-Century Journeys 269 + The Great Mountain System of Asia 270 + The Land of the “Seres” 271 + China 271 + India 272 + Subdivisions 272 + Facts Known About India 273 + Marvels of India 274 + Legend of St. Thomas in India 275 + Visit of Patriarch John of India to Rome 278 + Indian Ocean 279 + Islands of the Indian Ocean 280 + Al-Battānī on the Indian Ocean 280 + Scythia and Central Asia 281 + Benjamin of Tudela on Central Asia 282 + Prester John 283 + Origins of the Legend 283 + Prester John’s Kingdom As Described in His “Letter” 285 + Alliance With Prester John Desired 286 + Gog and Magog 287 + Western Asia 288 + Mesopotamia 289 + Benjamin of Tudela on Baghdad 289 + Benjamin of Tudela on Arabia 291 + Syria and Palestine 292 + Geographical Knowledge Enlarged by the Crusades 292 + Occidental Population of the Levant 294 + European Occupation of Syria 294 + Asia Minor 295 + Western Asia As Described by the Crusaders 296 + Africa 298 + Egypt As Part of Asia 298 + Descriptions of Egypt 299 + Africa West of Egypt 300 + Ethiopia 302 + Sources of the Nile 304 + Traditional View of Central Africa 306 + The Mediterranean Sea 307 + The Name “Mediterranean” 307 + The Mediterranean During the Crusades 307 + Instructions for Navigation in the Mediterranean 308 + Islands of the Mediterranean 309 + Sicily 311 + Europe 312 + Northeastern Europe 312 + Russia 312 + Poland 313 + Slavic Europe As Described by Benjamin of Tudela and + Petachia of Ratisbon 314 + Hungary 314 + Balkan Peninsula 316 + Constantinople 318 + Italy 319 + Rome 321 + Antiquities 321 + Spain 322 + The Alps 323 + Use of Terms “Transalpine” and “Cisalpine” 324 + “Alemannia” 325 + Germany 325 + Baltic Regions 327 + Scandinavia 329 + France 331 + Paris 331 + Alsace 332 + Southern France 333 + Islands of the Atlantic Ocean 334 + British Isles 335 + Cities of Britain 336 + Giraldus Cambrensis on Ireland and Wales 337 + Ireland 337 + Wales 340 + William Fitzstephen on London 341 + Matthew Paris’ Maps of Britain 342 + Orkneys and Shetlands 345 + Iceland and Thule 345 + Iceland in Icelandic Literature 346 + Greenland 347 + Polar Seas 348 + Wineland the Good 349 + Fabulous Isles 350 + St. Brandan’s Isles 351 + XIII CONCLUSION 353 + The Outstanding Elements of the Geographical Lore of the + Time of the Crusades 353 + Character of the Geographical Lore of the Time of the + Crusades 358 + ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── + NOTES TO CHAPTER I 365 + NOTES TO CHAPTER II 378 + NOTES TO CHAPTER III 392 + NOTES TO CHAPTER IV 396 + NOTES TO CHAPTER V 416 + NOTES TO CHAPTER VI 417 + NOTES TO CHAPTER VII 430 + NOTES TO CHAPTER VIII 435 + NOTES TO CHAPTER IX 445 + NOTES TO CHAPTER X 453 + NOTES TO CHAPTER XI 458 + NOTES TO CHAPTER XII 459 + + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 491 + BIBLIOGRAPHY 503 + + INDEX 547 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FIG. PAGE + 1 Types of T-O and Sallust maps 67 + 2 St. Sever Beatus map 69 + 3 Zone map in Lambert of St. Omer’s _Liber floridus_ 122 + 4 Osma Beatus map 123 + 5 The macrocosm, the microcosm, and the winds from Hildegard + of Bingen’s _Liber divinorum operum_ 148 + 6 Sketch map of the Mediterranean region and the Near East + plotted from the geographical positions in the + _Marseilles Tables_, with inset of Henry of Mayence’s + map 245 + 7 Plan of Jerusalem from the anonymous _Gesta Francorum + Ierusalem expugnantium_ 250 + 8 Two sections from the Hereford map to illustrate the + marvels of India 276–277 + 9 Matthew Paris’ map of Britain 343 + 10 Diagram to illustrate John of Holywood’s reasoning that + the earth is in the center of the universe 422 + 11 Comparative diagram of certain parallels of latitude and + of the _climata_ according to various ancient and + medieval geographers 454–455 + 12 Map showing the relative positions of certain points in + Europe as indicated in astronomical tables of the + twelfth and early thirteenth centuries 457 + + + + + PREFACE + + +When viewed historically, geographical concepts are seen to have come +from an immense variety of sources. They have sprung partly from +activities that cause men to travel over the surface of the earth: war, +commerce, pilgrimage, diplomacy, pleasure. They have also sprung from +the accumulated learning and lore of preceding ages and to no small +extent from unfettered flights of the imagination. The history of +geography, therefore, leads its students into many fields, affording +them a key by means of which they may gain a sounder understanding of +the extensive ranges of human activity and of the evolution of important +phases of intellectual life. + +This book is an attempt to illustrate and trace the origins of the most +characteristic geographical ideas current in Western Europe at the +height of the Middle Ages. Historians of geography have tended to +neglect this period partly because of the dramatic appeal of the great +Age of Discovery which was immediately to follow. It should be +remembered, however, that, small as the known world was during the +Middle Ages and naïve as may have been men’s conceptions of it, medieval +learning was none the less the central element in the scholarly +background of the Age of Discovery. The Renaissance brought no sudden +and complete emancipation from old modes of thought. While medieval +science persisted and some of its errors may have restricted subsequent +progress, on the whole the positive achievements of the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries would have been impossible had it not been for the +enlightenment transferred from the centuries that went before. + +C. R. Beazley in the second volume of his great work, _The Dawn of +Modern Geography_ (1901), adequately treats of the travels and +explorations of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, but to the +more theoretical aspects of geographical knowledge in this age he gives +but meager space. Karl Kretschmer in a monograph, _Die physische +Erdkunde im christlichen Mittelalter_ (1889), deals systematically with +the physical geography of the entire Middle Ages but necessarily slights +or wholly neglects many of the more interesting writings of the century +and a half to which the present book is devoted. Other, lesser studies +of the geographical conceptions of this period have to do exclusively +with points of detail. The present writer ventures to hope, therefore, +that there is place for a book in which the geographical lore of the +time of the Crusades is discussed with greater fullness and at the same +time with an orientation differing in many particulars from that of any +work hitherto devoted to the subject. + +Except as regards a few minor points (especially in Chapter X) he makes +no claim to having based his work upon hitherto unpublished manuscript +sources. The main part of the study, however (that dealing with the time +of the Crusades, Chapters IV-XIII), is founded essentially upon printed +editions of the primary sources for the history of civilization in the +period. The first three chapters, on the other hand, relating as they do +to the background of medieval geography and covering an enormous field, +of necessity have to a large degree been written with the aid of the +secondary works of modern scholars. + +The volume is an enlargement of a thesis submitted in 1922 in partial +fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy +in history at Harvard University. Some of the research was pursued in +Europe in 1919–1920, during which academic year the writer held the +Woodbury Lowery Fellowship from Harvard. Subsequently the American +Geographical Society has generously permitted him, while acting as +Librarian of the Society, to devote much time to the revision of the +manuscript. + +The writer owes a special debt of gratitude to Professor C. H. Haskins, +largely as a result of whose advice the particular period dealt with was +selected. Helpful suggestions and the occasional receipt from Professor +Haskins of a photograph or transcript of a manuscript bearing upon an +apposite topic have been a constant stimulus. Useful suggestions have +also been made by Professor R. P. Blake of Harvard and by Monsieur +Charles de La Roncière of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Dr. +Charles Singer of the University of London courteously permitted the use +of Plate VIII from his _Scientific Views and Visions of St. Hildegard_ +(1917) as a basis for Figure 5 of the present volume. The writer is +indebted to Mr. W. L. G. Joerg, the editor, from whose editorial skill, +experience, and tireless care the book has greatly profited. He also +wishes to thank Mr. George W. Robinson, Secretary of the Harvard +Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Miss Genevieve R. Fallon, formerly +of Radcliffe College, and Mr. Arthur A. Brooks and members of the +library staff of the American Geographical Society for their painstaking +aid with manuscript and proof. + +_New York, October 7, 1924._ + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + + THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES + +The time of the Crusades, like all great constructive epochs in the +history of civilization, was an age of contrasts. A succession of crises +marked the progress of conflict between the ideals of Papacy and of +Empire. The feudalism of an earlier day was giving place in Western +Europe to centralized monarchy, in Italy to the growth of city states. +Though faith swayed the masses of men to the undertaking of immense +coöperative enterprises—cathedral building and crusades—the time, none +the less, was one of questioning and doubt: faith sometimes gave place +to heresy hunting. Keener intellects were not afraid to probe deep at +the very foundations of established theological doctrine. A profound and +widespread enthusiasm for scholarship expressed itself in many forms. +The writings of older authorities were ransacked for the wisdom which +they contained, and from them erudite and forbidding tomes were +compiled. But wandering students and poets were abroad who hated the +musty learning of the monastic cell and frankly rejoiced in the beauty +of the world around them. For some time historians have been in the +habit of speaking of a “twelfth-century renaissance.” This expression is +not wholly apt if used in a narrow sense to imply merely a rebirth of +interest in the Greek and Latin classics. If taken to mean a re-stirring +of the vital forces of civilization, the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries were an age of renaissance indeed. + +The purpose of this book is to illustrate a limited aspect of the +intellectual activity of the time of the Crusades, but an aspect that is +sufficiently broad to reveal to us something of the contrasting forces +of this age. + + + SCOPE OF THE TERM “GEOGRAPHICAL LORE” + +By “geographical lore” we mean what was known, believed, and felt about +the origins, present condition, and distribution of the geographical +elements of the earth. This covers a wider field than most definitions +of geography. It comprises theories of the creation of the earth, of its +size, shape, and movements, and of its relations to the heavenly bodies; +of the zones of its atmosphere and the varied physiographic features of +air, water, and land; finally, it comprises theories of the regions of +the earth’s surface. Because many of these theories were false they are +no less deserving of attention. The errors of an age are as +characteristic as the accurate knowledge which it possesses—and often +more so. Moreover, in addition to formulated beliefs, whether true or +false, our definition of geographical lore covers man’s spiritual and +esthetic attitude toward the various geographical facts, as +revealed—often unconsciously—in descriptions of regions or of +landscapes. + +The historian of geology or the theologian may complain that we trespass +on their domains in discussing theories of the Creation in a book +devoted to the history of geography. Yet this is justifiable if we hold +with most modern geographers that some explanation of the immediate +causes of existing terrestrial conditions is an essential part of +geography. These causes, it was the opinion of medieval thinkers, were +to be sought for in the processes of the Creation. No man had the +vaguest conception of the countless eons that have elapsed during which +air, sea, and land have been in evolution. The good Christian thought +that the world was made by God in the course of the six days of Genesis +and that it then assumed practically the identical geographical +appearance it has preserved ever since. In the Middle Ages geology, +geography, and theology were inextricably interwoven. + +Then again, the geographical lore of the Middle Ages involves a wider +range of subjects in space, as well as in time, than is now included in +geography. If medieval man had no knowledge of the age of the earth, he +also had but the feeblest understanding of the immensity of the +universe. To him, earth, stellar bodies, and celestial spheres were all +part of a unified system of which the earth formed the core and most +important member. Cosmology, astronomy, astrology, theology all dealt +with this unified, geocentric, cosmic system; the interrelations between +them were immediate and intimate. We cannot avoid some discussion of the +matters in which these allied sciences bore directly on geography. + + + ORIGINS OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL LORE OF THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES + +Whence came the geographical lore of the time of the Crusades? + +Some of it came from books of earlier ages, some of it from contemporary +observation. A sharp distinction may be made between the geography of +the scholar and churchman, drawn largely from antiquity, and the +geography of the merchant, soldier, and pilgrim, who learned of the +world by travel and exploration. It was exceptional when the philosopher +or theologian incorporated in his book the reports of recent travels. +Indeed, we are almost startled to come across a bit of “up-to-date” +geography in the philosophical or theological treatises. Even the +histories and chronicles of contemporary events, though perforce +containing more new geography than works of deeper learning, tended to +appeal to ancient authorities in explaining the course of rivers or the +relation of provinces or mountain chains to each other. + +Any consideration of the state of medieval geography inevitably +presupposes some acquaintance with the earlier accumulation of +geographical lore from which it borrowed. + +This was derived for the most part from two fountainheads of original +observation and thought: (1) the writings of Greek historians and +philosophers and (2) the Bible. Greek geography was the main source +whence Latin writers of the Roman Empire and Moslems of the eighth, +ninth, and tenth centuries of our era found their inspiration and facts. +The Bible, as interpreted in the exegetical works of the Church Fathers, +stimulated thought on geographical problems. The scholar of our period +had at his disposal many Latin writings, both classical and patristic, +and a somewhat more limited number of Arabic books and translations from +the Arabic. + + + ORGANIZATION OF THE PRESENT WORK + +The aim of the first three chapters of our study is to give an estimate +in broad outline of the contributions of classical, patristic, and +Oriental geography to the medieval West. The purpose is to show the kind +of geographical ideas which a reader of the twelfth or thirteenth +century might have gathered from older works in the libraries and to +reveal something of the evolution of these ideas. No attempt is made to +discuss works not well known in the Occident. The writings of famous +Greek geographers like Herodotus, Pausanias, Strabo, Eratosthenes, +Hipparchus, and Ptolemy receive only scant attention, and their contents +are noted only in so far as they became familiar to Western Christendom +through Latin media. Similarly the Greek Fathers of the Church and most +of the more important Moslem geographers are overlooked because they +exerted almost no influence on Western thought. Nor within the period +itself that forms the subject of our investigation is much space given +to writers like the Moslem Edrisi or the Greek Michael Psellos, whose +researches did not contribute materially to the formation of Western +science. + +After a fourth chapter, on the literary and cartographic sources which +date from the time of the Crusades and upon which our estimate of the +geographical lore of this age is based, and a fifth, on the place of +geography in the medieval scheme of learning, there follows the main +part of this book. The attempt is here made to illustrate from +representative sources geographical lore of all kinds, whether original +or borrowed, to emphasize evidences of originality where they are +apparent, and to trace a few significant borrowed theories to their +origins. Though the period under consideration lasted a century and a +half, there was not much change during this time in the quantity of +geographical information available or in the quality of geographical +thinking. Hence it will be more convenient and enlightening to adopt a +topical and regional arrangement for the main portion of our treatment +than to try to arrange the material chronologically. + +By no means all the geographical knowledge and thought of the Crusading +age could be stated and discussed in a volume of even many times the +size of this. It is the writer’s hope that the materials selected are +sufficiently diverse to give a rounded and just, though it be +necessarily far from complete, understanding of the geographical lore of +a significant period in the history of science and of civilization. + + + + + PART I + ORIGINS, SOURCES, AND PLACE IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE + GEOGRAPHICAL LORE OF THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES + + + + + CHAPTER I + THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ANCIENT WORLD + + + _SOURCES_ + + + THE PYTHAGOREANS, PLATO, AND ARISTOTLE + +The earliest writers who dealt with geographical matters in a more or +less scientific spirit were the Greeks of Ionia and the Pythagorean +philosophers of Magna Graecia. Though their theories exerted no direct +influence on the formation of medieval geography, they should not be +entirely overlooked. Ionic geography gave many ideas to the later +Greeks; Pythagorean thought brought to bear a strong influence on the +Platonic cosmology, which reached the Middle Ages through the Latin +translation of Plato’s _Timaeus_ made by Chalcidius early in the fifth +century after Christ, and through the Platonists Martianus Capella and +Macrobius. Until the middle of the twelfth century Plato, of all +philosophers, held the strongest grip on medieval thought; after that +time the influence of Aristotle became more potent in the framing of the +scholastic conception of the universe. We must regard Plato and, even +more, Aristotle as the indirect sources of most of the cosmological, +physiographic, and meteorological knowledge which, elaborated by later +writers of antiquity and by the Moslems, reached the Middle Ages at +second hand. Among the many writings of Aristotle those which contain +the most material of interest to the geographer are the _De caelo_ (Περὶ +οὐρανοῦ) and the _Meteorology_. The former, in four books, treats of the +properties of the heavenly bodies, of the elements, and of the earth. +Translations of the _De caelo_ in the Middle Ages often went under the +title _De caelo et mundo_.[1][2] The _Meteorology_, besides a detailed +discussion of the phenomena of the atmosphere, includes many +speculations on physical geography. Theories of cosmology also found +expression in the _Physics_ and _De generatione et corruptione_. + +Footnote 1: + + The notes will be found at the back of the book grouped by chapters + and consecutively numbered within each chapter. + +The scientific genius of the Alexandrian Greeks of the Hellenistic +period showed itself in the work of men like Eratosthenes and +Hipparchus. By them the mathematical and astronomical aspects of +geography were developed with accuracy; but unfortunately, owing to the +almost universal ignorance of Greek in the West, the products of their +genius had little part in the molding of medieval theories. + + + ROMAN INFLUENCE ON GEOGRAPHY + +The Roman conquests tended to discredit scientific investigations and to +bring into favor works of a descriptive nature which would appeal to the +military chief, the provincial governor, or man of the world—to the +practical rather than speculative type of mind. Polybius regarded +geography as an important auxiliary science to politics and history. The +geographical portions of his history treat of the countries of the known +world, their peoples and customs; he is not concerned with the size and +shape of the earth nor with the determination of latitudes and +longitudes. Strabo, writing at the time of Augustus, represents the +culmination of the Polybian method; but his great and comprehensive +work, though of first importance in the history of ancient geography, +was not read at the time of the Crusades. + + + PTOLEMY + +The Greek, or more purely scientific, attitude, however, did not +completely succumb. Posidonius[3] in the first century before Christ +reverted to the method of Eratosthenes; and with Marinus of Tyre and +Claudius Ptolemy, in the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian, there came a +revival of mathematical geography which almost, if not quite, equaled +the high level reached by the Alexandrians[4]. Ptolemy was the author of +two works, both of which were destined profoundly to modify the +development of science in later ages. These were the _Mathematical +Composition_ (or _Almagest_, as the Arabs called it), a treatise on +astronomy, knowledge of which reached the medieval West through Moslem +channels; and the _Geography_, a work which remained virtually unknown +in Europe until the fifteenth century. + + + LATIN WRITERS: PLINY, SOLINUS, CAPELLA, MACROBIUS + +Though the most fertile investigations were made by Greeks, Latin +writers naturally influenced more directly medieval thought in the West. +Of those who dealt with geographic matters in the strictly classical +period Pliny the Elder (23–79 A. D.) and Seneca (3 B. C.-65 A. D.) were +the most influential. The _Historia naturalis_ of Pliny, an ill-digested +compilation of information of all sorts, contained books on geography +that were destined to furnish the larger part of the lettered man’s +geographical ideas during many centuries.[5] Pliny’s work was not merely +extensively read but was used and plagiarized by other writers of +possibly greater popularity. The most significant of these was +Solinus,[6] a compiler of fables in the third century after Christ, +whose _Collectanea rerum memorabilium_ consists almost entirely of +borrowings from Pliny or from a book from which Pliny drew.[7] The +geographical information in Isidore’s _Etymologiae_ is largely made up +of quotations and paraphrases from Solinus. Seneca’s _Quaestiones +naturales_[8] was also widely read and formed the source of the bulk of +the meteorological lore of the Middle Ages. + +Two Latin writers of the late Empire also contributed materially to the +evolution of geographical knowledge, Martianus Capella (fourth or fifth +century) and Macrobius (fifth century). Capella’s encyclopedic _De +nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_ is an elaborate commentary on and +exposition of the seven arts; the book dealing with geometry gives the +author an opportunity of presenting a résumé of geography, more +particularly in its mathematical aspects.[9] That Martianus Capella’s +treatise enjoyed an immense popularity in the medieval period is +indicated by the quantity of manuscripts extant and by the frequency +with which we find it listed in the medieval library catalogues[10] that +have been preserved. The general sketch of the distribution of land and +water on the surface of the globe contained in Macrobius’ commentary on +the _Somnium Scipionis_[11] of Cicero was often quoted at later periods +and formed the basis for some of the extremely crude maps of the world +used in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. + +In the remainder of the present chapter a very general review will be +given of the more important geographic ideas borrowed by the Western +world in these centuries from Aristotle, Pliny, Solinus, Seneca, +Martianus Capella, Macrobius, and some others, and an attempt will be +made to indicate the relationship between the growth of these ideas and +the broader evolution of ancient geography as a whole. + + + _THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE_ + + + ANCIENT COSMOGONY + +Though it is not now regarded as lying strictly within the field of +geography, the history of the evolution of theories about the origin of +the earth is so closely allied to the history of geography that the two +cannot well be dissociated. A marked antagonism inevitably arose between +the usual Greek view, which regarded matter as eternal, and the +Christian view, which was based on the first chapter of Genesis and +conceived of the universe as created at a definite point in time or +concurrently with time. The men of the Middle Ages tended to adhere +strictly to the Christian opinion, for to have done otherwise would have +been heretical. Nevertheless, the ancient theory was well known to +Christians and exerted in its various forms no small influence on the +development of certain phases of Christian thought. + + + CELESTIAL INFLUENCES + +It was a deeply rooted belief of many classical thinkers that the events +and conditions on this world and on all the regions below the sphere of +the moon’s orbit are regulated by the heavenly bodies. Aristotle and his +followers taught that the heavenly bodies themselves are made of an +imperishable and incorruptible, almost divine, fifth element, ether, +which distinguishes them from the four corruptible elements (fire, air, +water, and earth) that constitute the immediate world of our senses.[12] +By virtue of this semi-divine quality, it was argued, the sun, planets, +and stars exert an all-powerful control over the earth around which they +revolve—an absolutely determining control over all events both great and +small.[13] From this fatalistic belief sprang the science of astrology, +a science which throughout antiquity was held in equal esteem with +astronomy. + +The study of the movements of the celestial bodies revealed the fact +that at some time in the distant future, sun, planets, and stars will +bear exactly the same relative position one to another that they do at +the present moment. Consequently, it was inferred that the influence +exerted by them on the sublunar regions will at that time be exactly the +same as it now is, and all the phenomena now apparent on the earth’s +surface will be exactly repeated. They will be repeated not only once +but an infinite number of times at periodic intervals in the future; +similarly they have been repeated throughout infinite cycles in the +past.[14] + + + COSMIC CYCLES: THE GREAT YEARS + +This idea of cosmic cycles, or Great Years, appears to have originated +in the Orient, possibly with the Chaldeans.[15] It was firmly +established among the Ionian Greeks[16] and Pythagoreans,[17] from whom +Plato adopted it. Many and various opinions prevailed about the violence +and character of the changes produced by the celestial cycles. The +Chaldeans had thought that whenever all the planets come into +conjunction on one straight line in the sign of the zodiac Cancer, the +entire universe is destroyed by fire but destroyed only to be born +again; similarly the world is destroyed by water when the same +phenomenon occurs in Capricorn.[18] The theory of a complete and +universal birth and rebirth (_palingenesis_) was held by some of the +Greek philosophers.[19] Plato and Aristotle, however, seem to have +restricted the destructive effects of the celestial influence to the +sublunar sphere and maintained that the realms above the moon were +eternal.[20] On the whole, belief in periodically recurrent destructions +of the earth by water was more widespread and was given greater +definition than belief in corresponding destructions by fire.[21] The +main reason for this is probably to be looked for in the dissemination +among nearly all peoples of legends of a great flood, but it also in no +small measure may be attributed to rudimentary geological observations +(notably of the presence of shells on high ground) which showed that +portions of the earth’s surface had at one time lain beneath the +waters.[22] + + + GEOGRAPHIC APPLICATION OF THE THEORY OF THE GREAT YEARS + +The theory of the Great Years was invoked to explain changes in +geographic and climatic conditions on the earth’s surface.[23] When the +various planets and stars bear a certain relation to one another, a +period of dryness and heat, or a Great Summer, is experienced; +conversely, when other stellar relationships prevail, there is a period +of cold and wetness, or a Great Winter. Even land and sea gradually +change places under stellar control. Certain parts of the land, +Aristotle observed, had once been covered by the sea, and what is now +sea had once been land: like plants and animals, land and sea grow to +maturity and old age. If the causes adduced for these changes were not +so utterly different from those that are now accepted, we might almost +be tempted to think that Aristotle had some conception of climatic +cycles and cycles of erosion. + +After Plato and Aristotle, as before them, the doctrine of the Great +Years, though by no means universal, was very popular in antiquity.[24] +The Stoics adopted it in its more extreme form involving successive +burnings and liquefactions of the universe.[25] It entered into +Neoplatonism and was ultimately taken over by the Jews. It seems to have +penetrated to India, where the Greek elaboration of the theory gave +precision to ideas that were probably already in existence there. The +Indian belief in the recurrent reincarnations of Brahma was brought into +connection with Hellenic calculations of the duration of the Great +Years.[26] From the Hindus and from the Greeks the conception was +transferred to the Arabs and by them to the knowledge of the Latin West. + + + DURATION OF THE GREAT YEARS + +Numerous endeavors were made in antiquity to calculate the length of a +Great Year.[27] The figure that was adopted by the Arabs and passed on +to the Christian world originated in Hipparchus’ discovery of the +precession of the equinoxes, or apparent gradual revolution of the fixed +stars around the pole of the ecliptic.[28] Ptolemy calculated that the +period of this revolution was 36,000 years,[29] a figure which became +known to the Hindus and Arabs and ultimately to medieval +Christendom.[30] The actual figure is approximately 25,800 years. + + + _SHAPE, MOVEMENTS, AND SIZE OF THE EARTH_ + + + SPHERICITY OF THE EARTH + +Nearly all scholars of antiquity after the fifth century before Christ +thought that the earth was a globe.[31] The earlier opinion of a +disk-shaped earth resting upon the waters, which appears to have been +held by Anaximander (although some students have thought that he, too, +believed in a spherical earth [32]), was discarded by the Pythagoreans +and Plato, and after their time no serious thinkers questioned the +theory of sphericity. The Pythagoreans based their opinion on +speculative and philosophical grounds rather than on physical and +experimental proofs; they thought that since the sphere is the most +perfect mathematical form, the earth must therefore be a sphere. The +whole tendency of Aristotle’s thought, less speculative and less +hypothetical than Plato’s,[33] led him to look for proofs of +sphericity,[34] and these he enunciated with great emphasis. +Cleomedes,[35] Pliny,[36] Ptolemy,[37] Martianus Capella,[38] and other +ancient writers likewise adduced more or less convincing proofs, which +were well known and often cited in the medieval period. + + + IMMOBILITY OF THE EARTH + +Though the learned men of the ancient world were almost universally +agreed that the earth is a globe, they were not unanimous in the belief +that it stands immovable in the center of the universe; yet the various +theories which diverged from this orthodox view had no place in the +development of medieval cosmology until long after our period.[39] +Certain among the Pythagoreans maintained that there is a fire in the +heart of the earth.[40] Plato said that the center of the earth, which +stands immobile[41] in the center of the universe, is the seat, not of a +fire, but of the World Soul.[42] Through its own internal movement the +World Soul causes the movement of the universe as a whole. Belief in the +World Soul of Plato was extraordinarily tenacious, and it emerges in the +writings of more than one Neoplatonist of the Middle Ages. Aristotle, +however, though he likewise held fast to the doctrine of the immobility +of the earth in the center of the universe, differed both from the +Pythagoreans and from Plato in refusing to believe that the center of +the universe could be the seat of an incorruptible being of the same +substance as the celestial bodies, be it fire or World Soul. +Aristotle,[43] Pliny,[44] and Ptolemy[45] also brought forward proofs of +varying validity in favor of the immobility of the earth. + + + CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE EARTH + +Several figures were given by ancient authors for the circumference of +the earth. Aristotle stated it to be 400,000 stades;[46] Eratosthenes +determined it to be 252,000 stades according to the testimony of many +writers, including Pliny,[47] Vitruvius,[48] Martianus Capella,[49] and +Macrobius,[50] although Cleomedes, who gives the most circumstantial +account of Eratosthenes’ measurement, had said that the latter’s figure +was 250,000.[51] It is probable that Eratosthenes himself arbitrarily +added 2000 stades to his result in order to obtain a figure more easily +divisible.[52] Cleomedes quotes Posidonius as giving 240,000 stades,[53] +and Strabo says that the latter gave 180,000 stades.[54] The last number +was that adopted by Marinus of Tyre and by Ptolemy. + +Though we have several distinct figures cited by ancient writers, these +assuredly do not indicate that as many distinct processes of measurement +were carried out. The circumference given by Aristotle was a mere +estimate; Eratosthenes’ result was the only one based on accurate +measurements and calculations;[55] the two figures given by Posidonius +may well have been derived from Eratosthenes, the larger arising from a +mistaken interpretation or intentional alteration of the latter’s +figure, and the smaller from the use of a longer stade.[56] + +At all events, so far as we know, only one method was employed by the +Greeks for determining the size of the earth. This consisted of finding +on the same day of the year the meridian altitudes of the sun at two +places supposed to be on the same meridian of longitude, the distance +between which was known through itineraries. The angle between the two +meridian altitudes was then assumed to bear the same relation to the +circumference of the heavens as the distance between the two points of +observation bore to the circumference of the earth. Cleomedes[57] and +Martianus Capella[58] described how Eratosthenes carried out such +observations in Egypt. + +The figure determined by Eratosthenes is surprisingly accurate. Whether +the stade used by him was 157.50[59] or 168[60] meters, as different +modern scholars contend, the circumference according to his estimate +would be 39,375 or 42,336 kilometers. In either case the error is seen +to be very slight, the true circumference of the earth being about +40,000 kilometers. + + +_THE DISTRIBUTION OF HABITABLE REGIONS; ZONES; THE DISTRIBUTION OF LAND + AND WATER_ + +We see, then, that the writers of antiquity whose opinions were destined +to mold the thought of the medieval period believed that the earth is a +sphere, immovably fixed in the center of the universe. We must now +examine their theories regarding the distribution of phenomena on the +surface of the globe and the interaction of these phenomena. Of prime +importance were their views concerning the distribution of habitable +areas of land, but these were so closely bound up with the theory of +climatic zones that it is absolutely necessary to understand what this +theory was before going further, even though the subject of zones might +more properly be included in the study of the atmosphere. + + + ZONES + +Parmenides may have been the first to conceive of zones upon the earth’s +surface corresponding to the zones into which the astronomers had +divided the heavens. Eratosthenes is said to have been the first to +place the theory of terrestrial zones upon a firmly scientific footing, +“by determining exactly upon the sphere the position of the fixed +circles which mark the limits of each zone” (Thalamas).[61] Ancient +geographers set the number of terrestrial zones at five, though they +differed as to the character of the climates within them. The general +opinion—one which was shared by Aristotle—was that the polar caps and +the equatorial regions were incapable of sustaining life, the first on +account of cold, the second on account of heat. Despite the fact that +the notion of the existence of a fiery belt between the tropics was +challenged by Polybius and Posidonius, who had heard reports from +expeditions in these regions, this notion persisted in the writings of +Martianus Capella, Macrobius, and many others and exerted an extremely +restrictive effect on the subsequent development of geographical +knowledge and enterprise. + +The majority of the ancient writers whose works were read in Christendom +before 1300 also thought that the _oikoumene_, or portion of the earth +inhabited by men of our kind, is completely surrounded by an ocean. This +is a belief common to many early peoples.[62] In the Greek world we can +trace it back to the Homeric and Hesiodic Ocean Stream and to the +conceptions of early Ionian philosophers, who had gone so far as to +maintain that the earth had been created out of water,[63] or at least +that it was originally submerged beneath the ocean and had been brought +forth through the evaporation of the water by sun and stars.[64] The +theory of an encircling ocean was certainly held by Aristotle, +Pliny,[65] Seneca, Macrobius, and Martianus Capella. + + + CRATES’ THEORY OF FOUR LAND MASSES + +The two last-named writers set forth an elaboration of an opinion first +held by the Pythagoreans and worked out in detail by Crates of Mallos in +the second century before Christ, which gained great ascendancy over the +minds of map makers and writers of the Middle Ages. They explained that +the _oikoumene_ is one of four similar inhabited bodies of land on the +surface of the globe. These bodies of land are separated from one +another by two oceans which encircle the earth, one running east and +west in the fiery equatorial regions, and one running north and south at +right angles to the equatorial ocean. This idea, which we shall call the +“Cratesian” theory after its foremost expositor, did not pass +unchallenged either in antiquity or in the Christian period. Involving +as it did the doctrine of the antipodes—people dwelling in quarters +absolutely inaccessible to men of our race, eternally cut off from our +_oikoumene_ by the fires of the equator and the terrors of the +meridional ocean—the Cratesian theory provoked the indignation of the +Fathers of the Church as containing the seeds of heresy.[66] + + + EXTENT OF THE “OIKOUMENE” + +Aristotle, although he had derived from the Pythagoreans the theory of +an uninhabitable torrid belt,[67] believed in a greater southward +extension of our _oikoumene_ than would be possible in accordance with +the Cratesian theory. He harbored no idea of the existence of another +_oikoumene_ in the same latitude as ours. He says very clearly in the +_De caelo_[68] that there is no great distance between India and Spain +and hinted at the same opinion in the _Meteorology_.[69] Seneca[70] held +similar views. + +The opposite theory—which has been called the continental as opposed to +the oceanic hypothesis[71]—that Africa and Asia extended unknown +distances south and east and that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, like +the Caspian Sea, were enclosed basins—also had its adherents, among them +Herodotus, Hipparchus, and, most significant of all, Ptolemy. But +Ptolemy’s _Geography_, though its content was reflected in Arabic +notions of the earth’s surface, had almost no readers in the Christian +West until the fifteenth century, and the works of Herodotus and +Hipparchus were unknown. + + + _PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY_ + + + ARISTOTLE, SENECA, AND PLINY + +Among the writers of antiquity who dealt with physical geography only +three can be said to have influenced twelfth- and early +thirteenth-century thought to any marked degree. These were, first and +foremost, Aristotle, the substance of whose _De caelo_ and _Meteorology_ +had reached the West before the year 1187 through the borrowings and +plagiarisms of later scholars and after that time could be read in +translations from the Greek and Arabic. In the second place, Seneca’s +_Quaestiones naturales_ was popular before the direct influence of the +_De caelo_ and _Meteorology_ began to be felt. In the third place, as we +have seen, the Elder Pliny’s _Historia naturalis_ was not only widely +read in the original, but also much that it contained was familiar +through the intermediary channels of Solinus, Isidore, Martianus +Capella, and others. Aristotle, however, was the fundamental authority, +for a large portion of the material in the books of the two Latin +authors came from his treatises. + + + THE FOUR ELEMENTS + +Most ancient authorities believed that the universe is composed of four +elements, fire, air, water, and earth, arranged in concentric spheres. +Theoretically, according to this view, the sphere of water should +entirely enclose the earth. Practical observation shows that it covers +the lower levels of the earth’s surface only. How to reconcile the +theoretical conception with observed facts was a problem which, as we +shall see, greatly puzzled geographers and physicists during the later +Middle Ages.[72] + +According to Aristotle the four elements, under the control of the +heavenly bodies and through their interaction upon each other, produce +all the physical phenomena of the atmosphere, sea, and earth.[73] +Working from this axiom, he, and all the ancient writers who dealt with +the subject, attempted to explain winds, tides, earthquakes, and other +occurrences of nature; but there was little agreement among them as to +the manner in which these interactions were manifested. Though there +were many theories, the actual matters under discussion were not very +numerous. Only the most striking and unusual happenings—such as tides, +earthquakes, and floods—attracted attention, and we find almost no trace +of a minute and careful observation or even of a superficial +understanding of those imperceptibly slow natural forces which modern +geology recognizes as having fashioned mountains, rivers, and seas. + +A logical division of the subject matter of physical geography is into +three studies: that of the atmosphere, that of the waters, and that of +the earth. In each of these there is room for a great deal of +hairsplitting about what belongs to geography and what to geology, +geophysics, or meteorology. Physical geography merges into the other +natural sciences as human geography merges into history, politics, +economics, or ethnology. Even at the present day, when the often futile +attempt is being made to delimit the domains of the various sciences +ever more definitely, it is impossible to distinguish where one begins +and another ends, and it would be foolish to set up hard and fast +definitions in dealing with the lore of the ancient and medieval worlds, +when natural science was as yet inchoate. + + + METEOROLOGY + +The ancients were more interested in meteorology[74] than they were in +oceanography and physiography (if such terms can be used for their naïve +attempts at explaining the features of ocean and land), perhaps because +the phenomena of the air make a deeper impression on men than the +phenomena of the sea and earth—tides, earthquakes, and volcanoes +excepted. Thunder and lightning, comets, rainbows, balls of fire were +looked upon as portents, and complex theories were created to explain +them and what they were supposed to foretell. But all this type of +meteorological lore, however interesting in itself, is, strictly +speaking, not geography. On the other hand, there are certain distinctly +geographical aspects of the study of the atmosphere as pursued by the +Greeks and Romans that deserve our attention. + +The men of antiquity conceived of the interaction of atmosphere and +earth in two ways: effects produced by the land upon the atmosphere, and +effects produced by the winds upon the land. In connection with the +first, Seneca makes a remark which, when taken from its context, would +not be out of place in a modern manual of meteorology. He conceived the +lower portion of the atmosphere to be extremely variable and inconstant +as a result of the proximity of the earth. “The earth is a more +important cause than all others ... for the air’s changefulness and +inconstancy. The varying positions of the land, facing here this way and +there another way, are of great moment in determining the temperature of +the air.”[75] Nothing is truer than this, but the reasons that Seneca +gives for the influence of the atmosphere upon the land are not +satisfactory, being based to a large extent on the supposition that +winds are produced by vapors. Indeed, by the theory of vapors and +exhalations many ancient and medieval thinkers attempted to explain +nearly all the phenomena of the atmosphere and heavens as well. +Aristotle had pointed out that a dry and smokelike exhalation is caused +by the sun to rise from the earth’s surface through the air and even to +penetrate the zone of fire.[76] While near the earth this exhalation +takes the form of wind; when ignited at higher levels it becomes comets +and shooting stars. Besides this, Aristotle maintained that a damp and +watery vapor is also drawn into the atmosphere by the sun’s heat and +when cooled turns into cloud or falls in the form of rain and snow.[77] +These ideas of Aristotle became known to the Western world of the Middle +Ages with translations of the _De caelo_ and _Meteorology_ and found +their expression in the thirteenth-century writings of Albertus +Magnus.[78] Seneca, on the other hand, explained that the winds were air +in motion and that they might be produced by many and various +causes.[79] + + + WINDS + +All three of the writers whom we are specially considering,[80] +Aristotle, Seneca, and Pliny, had observed that there is a variety of +local winds—valley, river, sea, and marsh breezes—taking their origin +from the exhalations and vapors arising from these natural features. But +even though their explanations of the causes for these winds are now +regarded as archaic, the observations they made of their occurrence were +not inaccurate. + +As to the effects of the winds on the earth, we encounter a theory that +sounds most extraordinary in the light of modern science but which +corresponds logically to the Aristotelian hypothesis of the elements and +to the general ideas current in classical times regarding the structure +of the earth. This theory, that the winds are the cause of earthquakes, +can better be understood after we have examined the ancient opinions +about the physical geography of the water and of the earth. + +Another persistent belief, held alike by poets, physicists, and +geographers, originated in the Homeric mythology of the calm heights of +Olympus, dwelling place of the gods. This was to the effect that the +winds are limited to the lower part of the atmosphere,[81] a zone some +ten or fifteen stades in thickness.[82] The highest mountains were +thought to reach above into a realm of perpetual tranquillity where +clouds and dew and frost were unknown and where the ashes of sacrifice +would remain undisturbed for a year’s time.[83] This idea was +transferred to the Middle Ages through the writings of Pomponius Mela, +Solinus, and others. + + + CLIMATOLOGY + +As to the climates, it has already been shown that many writers of +antiquity divided the earth’s surface into zones: fiery, temperate, and +frozen. Aristotle, Seneca, and Pliny do not seem to have had that more +exact understanding of the distribution of climates which recognizes +that two countries in the same latitude may, nevertheless, have +different climatic conditions and products.[84] To them, all places on +the same parallel were virtually the same from the climatic point of +view. In this connection it must be pointed out that the parallel +strips, or _climata_, into which Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Ptolemy, +Pliny, and Martianus Capella divided the _oikoumene_ were not climatic +divisions in our modern sense—implying the prevalence of well-defined +conditions of temperature and weather—but, rather, artificial +astronomical divisions the boundaries of which were determined by +arbitrary means.[85] Nevertheless, true climatic differences were well +understood; Seneca describes vividly in more than one place in the +_Quaestiones naturales_ the intense heat and dryness of southern +regions[86] and the cold of the far North; Seneca and Pliny had acquired +more detailed knowledge than Aristotle of the northern ice and +snows.[87] Pliny made some interesting, if unsound, observations +connecting the dark complexions of the Ethiopians with the scorching +effects of the sun and foreshadowed a modern theory by asserting that +the inhabitants of northern Europe are blonde (and savage) because of +the coldness and inclemency of the climate in which they dwell.[88] A +brief but striking passage from the _Octavius_ of Marcus Minutius Felix +explains as follows the warming effect of the western ocean upon the +climate of Britain: “God is mindful of our welfare not only universally +but locally. Britain is deficient in sunshine, but this deficiency is +made good by the warmth of the sea that flows around it.”[89] + +The Greeks and Romans certainly had no satisfactory understanding of the +general circulation of the atmosphere. Only with the maritime voyages +since the fifteenth century have we come to know the distribution of +belts of prevailing winds and calms. Aristotle said that the etesian, or +north, winds blow from the cold countries full of water and snow under +the Great Bear; and that the south wind originates at, but not south of, +the Tropic of Cancer;[90] this is the nearest he came to giving a theory +of atmospheric circulation. Megasthenes had heard of the monsoons of the +Indian Ocean; Pliny described the use made of them by sailors in going +out to India,[91] but he made no attempt to explain the general areas of +westerlies or trades. On the other hand, Aristotle,[92] Seneca,[93] and +Pliny[94] all recognized and discussed at considerable length the +influences of wind on weather; for example, the fact that the etesians, +though they bring clear skies to Italy, deluge Ethiopia and India with +rain—a conception which contains a shadow of truth.[95] Auster, the +south wind, was supposed to bring rain to Italy. + + + THE WATER ELEMENT + +Since water was one of the four—or, according to Aristotle, +five—elements that were supposed to make up the universe, the ancient +authorities looked upon the ocean as necessarily as old as the earth +itself. Seneca thought that the Nile and the Ister (Danube) are of equal +age with the primordial ocean, because of remarkable characteristics +which differentiate them from all other streams.[96] + + + THE SEA: ITS SALINITY, DEPTH, CURRENTS, AND TIDES + +We must note what features of the sea interested the Greeks and Romans. +These were primarily its saltness, its depth, its currents, and its +tides. + +The problem of why the sea is salt gave rise to a good deal of +theorizing. That the evaporation of the lighter fresh water leaves +behind the heavy salt water was well understood, but in the further +solution of the problem opinions diverged widely. Aristotle thought that +the salt was the result of combustion;[97] that it was an ashlike +substance first carried into the air by the exhalations from the earth +and then deposited in the sea by rainfall—particularly by the autumn +rains that accompany the south winds blowing from hot, dry districts +where the process of combustion is most active. Pliny believed that the +salt came partly from dry vapors intermingled with the sea waters and +partly from the nature of the earth, which tends to impregnate the sea +with salt.[98] + +Aristotle said[99] that the Pontus (Black Sea) was deeper than the +Maeotis (Sea of Azov), the Aegean deeper than the Pontus—except in one +place—the Sicilian Sea deeper than the Aegean, and the Sardinian and +Tyrrhenian the deepest of all seas. Pliny quotes[100] a certain Fabianus +to the effect that the greatest known depth of the sea is fifteen +stades, or about 1200 fathoms—not an excessive figure, for parts of the +Mediterranean are in fact even deeper. Pliny,[101] following +Aristotle,[102] believed that the “Deeps of the Euxine,” opposite the +shores of the people of the Coraxi, were unfathomable.[103] Aristotle +had a very false idea that the Atlantic is made up of shallows and mud +banks and that it is calm, an idea shared by the Mohammedans and one +that may have contributed to the horror of the Western Ocean which +lingered in the minds of Mediterranean peoples throughout antiquity and +until the close of the Middle Ages.[104] + +The ancient geographers certainly had no clearer understanding of the +general circulation of the ocean than of the atmosphere, and for the +very same reason: they had not traveled sufficiently. Aristotle thought +that there is a flow of water southward from the higher northern part of +the earth,[105] and Macrobius explained a series of currents in the +oceanic belts which he imagined surrounded the earth.[106] Certain +currents of the Mediterranean attracted attention: the constant flow +from the Euxine into the Aegean and the fluctuating currents of the +Strait of Messina and the Euripus (between Euboea and the mainland). A +tradition arose at later times that the death of Aristotle was caused by +his disgust at being unable to explain to his satisfaction the currents +of the Euripus.[107] + +Only with the travels of Pytheas of Marseilles along the North Atlantic +coasts, the expedition of Alexander, and Nearchus’ voyage and +exploration of the mouths of the Indus and coasts of Beluchistan and +Mekran did the Greeks gain any adequate knowledge of tidal phenomena; +for the tides of the Mediterranean, except in a few places, are so low +as to be almost negligible.[108] Eratosthenes thought that the currents +through narrows in the Mediterranean are caused by variations in the +relative levels of the sea at either end of the channels and that these +variations are a response of the sea to fluctuations of the tides in the +ocean beyond the Pillars of Hercules.[109] As early as the third century +before the Christian era the Greeks had understood the relation of the +moon’s phases to the ebb and flood, but certainly not much earlier, for +Aristotle appears to have been ignorant of it.[110] Posidonius was the +first to give a full account of the manner in which the moon and sun +regulate the tides.[111] He had accurate knowledge of the diurnal, the +monthly, and perhaps the annual tidal periods,[112] a knowledge which +formed a bulwark of the structure of his astrology. Pliny also believed +that the tides were caused by lunar influence and described the three +periods with even greater accuracy than Posidonius.[113] He recognized +that the tides must correspond to a lunisolar cycle of one hundred +lunations, or eight years, an astronomical cycle that had long been +familiar to the Greeks.[114] He included in his account an astute +observation that the tides, like everything else on the earth’s surface +depending on celestial controls, tend to drag behind the time when these +controls are exerted.[115] Seneca does not try to explain the tides; he +mentions them only incidentally in connection with a graphic description +of the terrible deluge that will overwhelm the earth at the end of the +Great Winter. Though in some respects like the spring tides at the +equinoxes, when the sun and moon are in conjunction, this flood will be +bound by no law of nature and will have no curb to its fury.[116] +Macrobius’ explanation of the tides,[117] which was copied by many later +writers, though ingenious, was not founded on actual knowledge or +observation. He said that the ebb and flood are caused by the impact of +the opposing currents of the two ocean belts which encircle the earth, +and, with Eratosthenes, he thought that the tide of the Mediterranean is +a repercussion of the ocean tides. Indeed, after the time of Pliny there +was no addition to the scientific understanding of tidal phenomena until +the eighth century. + + + SUBTERRANEAN CHANNELS + +Evaporation was given by Aristotle as a reason why the sea does not +overflow its bed on account of the constant inflow from the rivers.[118] +Another explanation of this puzzling circumstance was found by +Pliny[119] in a curious theory that prevailed throughout antiquity and +the Middle Ages to the effect that the land is seamed with veins, +cavities, and tunnels.[120] Into some of these the air enters; others +are the passages for rivers which sink into the ground; through still +others the water of the sea finds its way to wells, springs, and +fountains, where, made fresh by its passage through the earth, it bursts +forth to form rivers which return it to the sea. A continuous +circulation of the waters of the earth is thus maintained through +passages corresponding to the veins, arteries, and canals of the human +body.[121] + +The origin of the latter theory is undoubtedly to be sought for partly +in the nature of the ground in Greece and the Aegean region and partly +in the age-old belief that the interior of the earth is the abode of the +dead. + +The soluble character of the limestone rocks throughout parts of the +Balkan Peninsula has led to the production of what is now known as +_karst_ topography, so called from the Karst, a plateau between Trieste +and Fiume, where it has attained its most typical development. In such +regions many streams disappear into hollows of the ground; caverns and +underground galleries are extremely common; and the traveler +occasionally comes across a full-grown river bursting out of the depths +of the earth. The old and persistent story that the river Alpheus of the +Peloponnesus passes beneath the Ionian Sea only to gush forth in the +well of Arethusa in Syracuse was destined to have a medieval counterpart +in the explanation of the subterranean courses of the rivers of +Paradise. + + + RIVERS OF THE UNDERWORLD + +Among the most famous and sinister of the subterranean streams of +antiquity were the dark waters of Cocytus, Acheron, Pyriphlegethon, and +Styx.[122] These were the streams of the nether world, the world of the +dead. Belief in the subterranean position of the after-world, the Hades +of the Greeks, the Inferi of the Italian folk, was widespread and +lasting among early Mediterranean peoples. Hellenic mythology placed not +only Tartarus, the abyss of torment, but also the Elysian Fields in the +depths. Plato taught that within the bowels of the earth are immense +caverns, some filled with fire, some with water, others the abode of the +shades. To be sure, rationalistic arguments against such doctrines were +raised by the incredulous. Aristotle had believed that of all four +elements the earth is the most dense and solid and that its position is +at the center of the universe. Although the earth might be seamed with +small water channels, it would be a reversal of the physical laws of the +universe to suppose that within it there could exist caverns large +enough to “hold Tartarus, the Elysian Fields, and the infinite multitude +of the dead” (Cumont).[123] Hence some would identify the Elysian Fields +with the Islands of the Blessed, placing them in the antipodes, and +would relegate Tartarus to the lowest hollow of the celestial +sphere.[124] But even this explanation could not be reconciled with the +more mature cosmography of the Alexandrian age. The Epicureans resorted +to out-and-out disbelief in a future life and future dwelling place of +the spirit.[125] Others looked for the shades in the atmosphere below +the moon’s orbit or else treated the whole problem in a lofty vein of +allegory. Rationalistic questioning of the subterranean position of the +next world, however, did not shake faith in this doctrine as it +persisted among the ignorant, and the doctrine was given new life, if in +somewhat different forms, by the Neoplatonic movement and the influx of +Oriental cults during the waning years of the Western Empire.[126] The +Neoplatonists reverted to Plato’s theory that the interior of the earth +may well include hollows large enough to contain the future abode of +men’s souls. The religion of Mithras tended to spread throughout the +Occident the dualistic cosmology of an eternal conflict between the +powers of light and goodness on high and the powers of darkness and evil +below. In the words of Franz Cumont, whose truly fascinating study of +this subject we are here following: Oriental dualism cut “the abode of +the souls into two halves, of which it placed one in the luminous sky +and the other in subterranean darkness. This was also the conception +which, after some hesitation, became generally accepted by the Church +and which for long centuries was to remain the common faith of +Christendom.”[127] In the period with which it is our special problem to +deal, then, we shall find that Hell is almost invariably placed in the +heart of the earth.[128] + + + ORIGIN OF RIVERS + +To return from this digression to the vexed question of the origin of +super-terrestrial rivers, we find that the circulation of water from the +sea either by underground passages or by rain was not regarded by the +majority of ancient thinkers as sufficient to account for the huge +volumes of water that rivers constantly pour into the sea. Plato had +thought that there were enormous reservoirs in the interior of the earth +which served to keep the rivers supplied,[129] but Aristotle rejected +this hypothesis.[130] A reservoir as large as the entire earth, he said, +would be necessary for the purpose. His explanation was worked out of +the theory that one element actually may be transformed into another. In +a relatively unscientific age what is more natural than to believe, when +one sees soluble substances passing into solution in water, that they +actually become water? Or when one sees the condensation of invisible +vapor into clouds and of clouds into rain, that the air is actually +turning to water? Aristotle, followed by Seneca,[131] argued that the +air which penetrates into the internal cavities and recesses of the +earth is chilled and liquefied by the cold encountered there, just as +air seems to be condensed by cold in the outer atmosphere. Aristotle +cited as a proof of this the supposed fact that most great rivers have +their sources in mountains.[132] Mountains were to be looked upon as +enormous elevated sponges exuding water on all sides. Aristotle +concluded likewise that the northern part of the earth must be high and +mountainous,[133] because many great rivers originate there. But, if the +air is transmutable into water, why, then, was it not perfectly logical +to suppose that the earth could also undergo a similar change? This as a +theory to explain the origin of some of the water of rivers was clearly +expressed by Seneca and, among the early Church Fathers, by Gregory of +Nyssa.[134] The faulty character of Seneca’s scientific thought is seen +in his failure to account satisfactorily for the logical demands of his +theory, i. e. for the replacement of the land lost by its liquefaction. + + + THE NILE FLOOD + +One of the natural phenomena most puzzling to the Greeks and Romans was +the inundation of the Nile.[135] Herodotus in his famous book on Egypt +had given a lengthy account of the Nile and what it meant to Egypt. He +had called Egypt the “gift of the Nile,” for he understood the alluvial +character of the country. His theory as to the cause of the flood—he +held that the normal height of the river was its flood height but that +the etesian winds, by driving the sun southward out of its course in +winter, caused the sun to dry up the headwaters of the stream—was less +successful than his description of the features of the flood itself. +Seneca also gives a long and extremely picturesque description of the +inundation[136] and sets forth various older explanations of its origin, +all of which he tries to refute without presenting an opinion of his +own. He tells how, starting in the upper reaches of the river, the flood +travels downstream and arrives in Egypt about midsummer; how it adds to +the fertility of the country by its deposits of silt; and how—here +Seneca repeats the crisp phrase of Herodotus—Egypt is the creation of +its stream. Among the various theories which he comments upon and +refutes it is rather significant to find one which had been propounded +by Anaxagoras and which is now recognized, in part at least, as the +right explanation: that the high water is caused by the melting of the +snows on the Ethiopian mountains. Seneca said that there were twenty +proofs available to refute this hypothesis.[137] Another view which +Seneca rejected was that the flood was caused by the etesian winds +backing up the water, a theory fated to reappear in many medieval books, +among them the _Expositio in hexaemeron_ of Peter Abelard.[138] Pliny +discussed the Nile and its peculiarities.[139] Like Herodotus, he +believed that it rises in the western part of Africa and reaches the +Sudan and Upper Egypt only after a series of long subterranean journeys. +He described the flood, giving statistics of the various heights of the +water on the nilometer and explaining which heights meant plenty and +which meant famine. He shows a lack of critical sense in his remarks on +the causes of the high water; for he held that two theories are equally +worthy of credence, the theory of the etesian wind, which we have just +examined, and the true explanation that the floods are due to summer +rains in Ethiopia. + + + THE LANDS + +To turn now from water to land. We have already discussed Aristotle’s +idea of the gradual transposition of continents and oceans under the +control of the celestial bodies. Pliny describes a large number of local +changes of land and sea:[140] the building of new land by alluvial +deposits, the sudden appearance of land and islands out of the depths of +the waters, the separation of islands from the mainland, the tying of +islands to the shore, the total disappearance of entire countries +beneath the sea—Plato’s Atlantis is given as an example[141]—the +collapse of mountains; but in all this, though he tells where such +prodigies took place, he rarely tries to explain how and why they +happened. + + + EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES + +The explanation of the causes of earthquakes and volcanoes, however, was +attempted by Plato, Aristotle, Pliny, Seneca, and many other writers of +antiquity with no small measure of ingenuity. We have seen that ancient +philosophers almost universally were of the opinion that the earth is +honeycombed with cavities and subterranean passages. Plato said that +some of these cavities were filled with water and air but that others +contained mighty swamps and streams of fire, including the immense fiery +river Pyriphlegethon. The volcanoes of the earth’s surface were +outpourings from these internal streams, and their minglings with the +atmosphere and strivings to burst forth were the cause of +earthquakes.[142] Aristotle, on the other hand, denied the possibility +of subterranean fires. According to his scheme of physics the place for +fire in the universe was above the sphere of air. He maintained that the +dry and smokelike exhalation which causes the winds of the atmosphere +not only penetrates into the cavities of the earth from the outside but +is generated within the earth’s interior[143] and that when this +exhalation tries to escape and is opposed by any obstacle—for example, +by the sea—there is a tremendous upheaval and the land is shaken. +Seneca[144] and Pliny[145] ascribed the cause of earthquakes to the +winds. Pliny believed that after a great storm, in which wind is driven +down and compressed in the interior of the earth, it frequently strives +to come forth and in so doing shakes the earth’s surface far and wide. +Occasionally, if the pressure is too tremendous to be withstood by the +crust of the earth, the winds burst through, accompanied by a violent +tempest and a rain of sparks and cinders. Aristotle describes such a +volcanic eruption in the Eolian (Lipari) Isles.[146] While this was the +explanation of violent eruptions, the quiescent volcanic activity of +mountains like Etna was usually attributed to a different cause. +Pliny[147] speaks of Etna, Chimaera in Lycia, and various other +volcanoes as burning, and it would seem that he connected them with such +phenomena as burning naphtha wells and pits of bitumen and sulphur. + + + HEIGHT OF MOUNTAINS + +A word must be said about classical estimates of the height of +mountains.[148] Aristotle suggested that these altitudes might be +determined by observing the duration of sunlight on the peaks. He would +have us believe that the Caucasus range is illumined by the sun for a +third of the night after sunset and for a corresponding time before +sunrise. If this were true, these mountains would be from 60 to 180 +miles high![149] Less fantastic were the estimates of Dicaearchus and +Eratosthenes. The former, Pliny tells us, measured Pelion and found it +to be 1250 paces (10 stades) in height.[150] If we are right in our +understanding of the length of the pace here employed, this represents +5167 feet[151]—certainly not far short of the actual altitude (5308 +feet). We do not know the method used by Dicaearchus in this survey, but +his calculation was probably determined from simple triangulation with +the aid of a diopter, an instrument for measuring angles.[152] +Triangulation as a means of finding the height of trees and buildings +was well understood. Eratosthenes probably did not carry out a +triangulation of his own but adopted the results obtained by +Dicaearchus, asserting that the highest mountains in the world do not +exceed 10 stades in elevation. He demonstrated by an ingenious and +graphic mathematical proof that the volume of mountains is so utterly +insignificant in comparison with the volume of the earth as a whole that +the earth can be regarded as essentially a sphere,[153] a conception +which became well established in the astronomical thought of antiquity +and one which reappeared in the Middle Ages.[154] When the Greeks +learned something of the Alps, they were able to correct Eratosthenes’ +underestimate of the maximum height of mountains. Posidonius argued that +15 instead of 10 stades should be taken as the correct figure and that +the maximum depth of the sea was no greater than 15 stades.[155] + + + _MATHEMATICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CARTOGRAPHY_ + +Mathematical geography deals in part with the accurate determination of +the location of places and with the accurate representation of the +earth’s surface on maps. + + + MATHEMATICAL GEOGRAPHY LARGELY BASED ON ITINERARIES + +The method almost universally employed by ancient geographers for +determining locations was the compilation of itineraries; the position +of a place was found, not by accurate surveys, but by reference to other +places at so many stades or so many days’ journey in such and such a +direction. Whatever maps the Romans may have had (for example the great +representation of the Empire set up by Agrippa in the Porticus Octaviae +in Rome) were probably compiled entirely from route traverses. The +greater part of the information which even the most accurate and +scientific of the Greek geographers, Eratosthenes, Marinus of Tyre, and +Ptolemy, possessed, was drawn from such itineraries and from estimates +of sea voyages. The figures for the latitude and the longitude of the +large number of places given in Ptolemy’s _Geography_ are for the most +part not the result of astronomical observations, and the tables cannot +be regarded as analogous to modern tables of latitudes and longitudes +but must be considered rather as guides for the construction of +maps.[156] + +Other methods besides these simple reckonings of locations were well +known, none the less. + + + ASTRONOMICAL DETERMINATION OF LATITUDE + +The determination of latitude has always been a comparatively easy +astronomical problem. No complicated instruments are needed to measure +either the vertical elevation of the sun on the meridian or of the north +celestial pole, and from both of these the latitude of the observer can +be calculated with extreme accuracy. The instrument commonly used by the +Greeks for measuring the angle of the sun[157] consisted of an +hemispherical bowl (_scaphe_) with a vertical rod (_gnomon_) for a +radius. The shadow of the rod on the concave interior of the bowl gives +the elevation of the sun (with an error of 16′[158]) and thereby the +latitude. Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy were all familiar with +the latitudes of several places that had thus been determined. + + + ASTRONOMICAL DETERMINATION OF LONGITUDE + +To find longitude by astronomical means is a more difficult matter for +people who have neither chronometers nor telegraphs. Eratosthenes, +Hipparchus, Pliny, and Ptolemy all understood that it may be found by +observing the time of eclipses in different localities.[159] Hipparchus +believed that an extensive series of observations should be carried out +in order to ascertain, by mathematical and astronomical means alone, +latitudes and longitudes of a large number of places.[160] To facilitate +such a survey he prepared tables of lunar eclipses and tables to aid in +the determination of latitudes, but the practical difficulties of the +undertaking were too great and the work was never completed. In fact, +throughout antiquity the total number of places whose position had thus +been accurately determined probably does not exceed half a dozen, if it +is as many. + +Pliny gives[161] an account of two different occasions when observations +were made of the same eclipse at two different places. He says that at +the time of the battle of Arbela the moon was eclipsed at the second +hour of the night, when at the same hour it was rising in Sicily. He +also speaks of an eclipse of the sun that was seen in Campania between +the seventh and eighth hours and in Armenia between the eleventh and +twelfth, indicating a difference in longitude of four hours, or 60°. The +actual distance is no more than half of this. Ptolemy also cites[162] +the eclipse of 331 B. C. as giving the distance between Carthage and +Arbela. We shall see later that much greater accuracy was attained by +the Arabs in their calculations of longitude and that some of their +figures were passed on to the Western world in astronomical tables +during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. + + + CARTOGRAPHY + +Little need be said of the cartography of antiquity,[163] for although +medieval maps undoubtedly owe much to classical predecessors, none of +the classical maps which were destined directly to influence the +cartography of the Middle Ages have come down to us. Indeed we have good +copies of only two. These are the maps of Ptolemy and the so-called +Tabula Peutingeriana,[164] or Peutinger Table. Ptolemy’s maps exerted no +influence whatever on the cartography of the age of the Crusades.[165] + +The Tabula Peutingeriana is preserved in a manuscript of the twelfth +century or earlier and probably was originally copied from a large chart +showing the main routes and provinces of the Roman Empire. It is an +extremely long and narrow affair in which the geography is woefully +distorted. Though in itself hardly representative of the best in the +Roman cartographer’s art, the original may have been compiled from a +contemporary Roman map of the world and adapted through its long and +narrow form to the especial purpose of illustrating itineraries. We know +that maps of the world were officially drawn in imperial Rome and posted +up for the benefit of the public: the one constructed by the order of +Agrippa and Augustus in the Porticus Octaviae was the most famous;[166] +and others are mentioned in literary sources.[167] Certain medieval maps +of the world are possibly related to some of these Roman charts,[168] +but unfortunately in the absence of the Roman maps themselves the exact +relationships cannot satisfactorily be worked out. + +Although the ancient astronomers knew a variety of projections for +representing the heavens—stereographic, orthographic, and +others[169]—these were not applied to maps of the earth until long after +our period. Ptolemy describes several projections, among them the conic, +which he may have used; but there is no question of any mathematical +projections in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and none of the +cartographers of that period took account of the fact that they were +endeavoring to show a globe on a flat surface. + + + _THE EXPANSION OF REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE_ + +We have seen what the geographers of antiquity thought about the general +distribution of land and water and about the physical processes of the +earth’s surface. We now must study a subject which is less concerned +with what they thought than with what they actually knew—however vague +and inexact this knowledge was. Though the heritage of knowledge which +antiquity left to the Middle Ages of the countries and regions of the +_oikoumene_ was vast, much had been lost and much garbled in the process +of transmission. Hence it would be beside the point to discuss the +details of topographic information contained in the works of Strabo, +Pliny, and Ptolemy; our aim is merely to indicate in a broad way the +limits of the regional knowledge of the ancient world. This can best be +done by sketching the various stages in which the horizon of geography +was expanded until it reached the Shetlands and Scandinavia in the +north, China in the east, and, perhaps, the Central African mountains in +the south. + + + EXPANSION OF GREEK REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE + +Homer’s geographical horizon was limited by the Mediterranean—one might +almost say Aegean—shores; Italy, Sicily, and everything to the west was +a realm of fable, and his acquaintance with the Black Sea coasts was +little better. The colonizing movement of the eighth to the sixth +centuries before Christ brought Greek settlers to these coasts; and +through them there was gained some acquaintance with the country behind +them, which found expression in the writings of Hecataeus at the close +of the sixth century. With this writer ancient geography begins to +assume its familiar classical form. He shows some slight knowledge of +Central Asia beyond the Caspian Sea and is even aware of the existence +of India—or at least of the northwestern portions of that peninsula. The +great struggle with Persia brought the Greeks into much closer relations +with Asia, and a corresponding increase in geographical knowledge +ensued. This was summed up by Herodotus. Much of his geography is +fabulous and legendary, but much of it is of surprising detail and +accuracy. The voyage of Scylax of Caryanda from the Indus to the Persian +Gulf had brought the Indian Ocean within Greek ken. Herodotus also +describes the rivers of Scythia and of Central Asia and displays +detailed familiarity with Egypt and northeastern Africa; he knew less of +the West, although at about this same time the voyages of the +Carthaginian Hanno in the Atlantic Ocean extended the horizon at least +as far as the Canaries, which were destined to remain on the limits of +the known world in that direction for many centuries to come. Shortly +after Herodotus, Ctesias, who had lived seventeen years at the Persian +court, wrote his _Persica_ and _Indica_, in which we find collected +together many of the fabulous and marvelous tales of Oriental animals +and monsters which were later to figure so strikingly in the _Historia +naturalis_ of Pliny, in the medieval encyclopedias, and in the +_Physiologus_, a collection of animal lore widely read in the Middle +Ages. Further detail regarding the local features of Mesopotamia and +Armenia was learned from the expedition of Cyrus and preserved for the +future in Xenophon’s _Anabasis_. But the events which did most to expand +the regional knowledge of the ancients were those connected with +Alexander’s conquests and with the reigns of his successors. Alexander’s +march in itself opened to Greek eyes wide territories that had been +unknown before; it brought Greek armies and, after them, Greek merchants +into the innermost heart of Asia; it established direct connections with +India; rumors reached the companions of Alexander of an enormous island +of Taprobane in the Southern Ocean, an island which we now recognize to +be Ceylon. With the voyage of Nearchus came a better understanding of +the Indian seas; and subsequently under Seleucus I (Nicator), +Megasthenes, who was sent as ambassador to the court of an Indian +potentate on the Ganges, gave a detailed description of the tribes and +products of Hindustan, more extensive notes on Taprobane, +and—unfortunately—a repetition of the fabulous legends of Ctesias. +Patroclus, in command of the easternmost provinces of the kingdom of +Antiochus I, provided some valuable statistical and geographical facts +about the peoples of the Caspian region, although he was quoted as an +authority for the belief that the Caspian communicates with the outer +ocean and that it is an easy matter to sail thence to India. + + + GEOGRAPHY AT ALEXANDRIA + +In addition to the reports of travelers and eyewitnesses, the +establishment of Greek control over Egypt and the greater part of +southwestern Asia led to a scientific awakening that centered in +Alexandria. One of the greatest triumphs of Hellenistic science was the +geographical and astronomical school that flourished at Alexandria under +the Ptolemies. Eratosthenes and Hipparchus were undoubtedly the most +famous representatives of this school, and in them we see the +culmination of Greek scientific geography; for their work, all things +considered, surpassed that of Claudius Ptolemy, and the work of no other +man approached it. Though Eratosthenes’ researches were significant +mainly in the field of mathematical geography, he made use of much of +the regional knowledge which was available in the library at Alexandria +and which he could gain from enterprising Greek traders, administrators, +and soldiers who had actually visited the countries with which he deals +in his treatises. + +One striking result of this broadening of regional knowledge was the +lesson it taught in regard to the countries south of the Tropic of +Cancer. The progress of exploration in Upper Egypt and in India showed +that these countries were not only habitable but thickly settled. +Adherents of what we have called the Cratesian theory were obliged to +acknowledge that the tropic could not be taken as the beginning of the +burning zone. Eratosthenes pushed the limit of the _oikoumene_ as far +south as latitude 11½° N.[170] + + + HELLENISTIC REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE + +While Greek military enterprise had been opening up the Orient and +exploratory enterprise penetrating the tropics, an important advance was +made in the direction of the northwestern seas and the British Isles. +The voyage of Pytheas of Marseilles, about 330 B. C., had brought within +the scope of ancient knowledge Britain, Scandinavia, Thule, and the +frozen ocean beyond. Thus, in the Hellenistic period the frontiers of +knowledge included the Orkneys, Shetlands, Faroes—or whatever of the +northern isles was meant by Thule—the Canaries, tropical Africa, and +Ceylon. No further notable extension of these borders seems to have been +made until the first century after Christ, except that vague rumors of a +people called “Seres” and of the use of silk had crept into the Roman +world in Virgil’s time. This may have indicated acquaintance with China, +although Horace took the Seres to be a tribe of Central Asia.[171] The +Scythian invasions which overwhelmed the Greek kingdom of Bactria and +the conquest by the newly risen power of Parthia of the provinces of the +Seleucids east of the Euphrates tended to cut all communication with the +interior and farther parts of the Asiatic continent; but the Mithridatic +wars, as described by Theophanes, familiarized the public with the local +geography of Armenia, Pontus, and the Caucasus. Similarly Caesar’s +campaigns in Gaul, Germany, and Britain opened Western Europe to the +Roman world. + + + REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF MELA AND PLINY + +The most complete and accurate summing up of the regional geography of +the ancients was the _Geography_ of Strabo, written in Greek probably +shortly before 17 A. D. But, as we have seen, this work was unknown to +our period of the Middle Ages, when men had to rely on Latin writers +like Pomponius Mela and Pliny, whose writings were of distinctly +inferior quality and included a great deal of fabulous and worthless +material. Devoid of that critical judgment which characterized +Eratosthenes and Strabo, Mela and Pliny were content to bring together +huge quantities of miscellaneous information, much of which was derived +from antiquated Greek sources. Mela, for example, closely follows +Herodotus’ description of the marvels of Asia, and Pliny retails many of +the fanciful legends of Ctesias and Megasthenes. Pliny’s contributions +to geography were somewhat more satisfactory than those of Mela; for he +added some details about Asia that had not been mentioned before, +especially in his description of Serica and of India and in his account +of the monsoons. On the other hand Mela was the first writer to mention +the Baltic Sea, or “Sinus Codanus,” which he described as a great gulf +full of islands. + + + THE “PERIPLUS OF THE ERYTHRAEAN SEA” + +Nearly contemporaneously with Pliny there came an advance in the +knowledge of the Indian Ocean in the anonymous Greek _Periplus of the +Erythraean Sea_, a manual for sailors and merchants. This is of interest +because it gave indications of the existence of coasts and islands +beyond India, the islands of Chryse, the land of the Seres, and, at the +end of the earth to the east, a region of “Thin”—the first mention of +the word “China” in the West unless we take into account the “Sinim” of +Isaiah xlix, 12, which may or may not have referred to the great nation +of the Far East. + +At about the same time, as we have already seen, the upper reaches of +the Nile, possibly as far as the great marshes of the White Nile in +about latitude 9° N., were explored by the expedition described by +Seneca and Pliny which Nero sent out to solve the age-long mystery’ of +the sources of the river of Egypt.[172] Pliny accordingly placed the +southern border of the _oikoumene_ some 7½° south of the position to +which Eratosthenes had assigned it, or at about latitude 4° N.[173] + + + LIMITS OF ANCIENT REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE ON THE SOUTH AND EAST + +Before the days of Marinus of Tyre and Ptolemy the limits of +geographical knowledge were again much extended both southward and +eastward. The Ptolemaic map depicts a wealth of detail in the interior +of Africa, although we are unable to say with assurance what most of +this detail represents in reality.[174] Ptolemy certainly had some +knowledge of the great lakes and mountains of east-central Africa. The +snow-covered mountains which he placed at the sources of the Nile may be +associated with reports derived from the east coast of Africa, of Kenya, +Kilimanjaro, or possibly the Ruwenzori range.[175] Farther to the west +he describes a river, the Nigir, flowing from a region south of the +country of the Garamantes (probably modern Fezzan) to the westward into +a lake near the Atlantic. It seems altogether likely that by this river +he meant the Niger. Ptolemy mentions two expeditions that had been made +at an unknown period to the south from the land of the Garamantes, one +under Septimius Flaccus, who arrived at the country of the Ethiopians +after three months’ journey, and the other under Julius Maternus and the +king of the Garamantes, a four months’ journey to a country called +Agisymba, abounding in rhinoceroses. Ptolemy’s regional knowledge +certainly extended as far south as the equator, and he was well aware of +the fact that the equatorial zone is inhabited. + +In the east, also, the Ptolemaic map reveals an advance in knowledge +over its predecessors. Chryse appears as a peninsula, and other islands +and coasts are shown that certainly indicate familiarity with the Malay +Peninsula and China, possibly also with Borneo and Java. We shall find, +however, that these valuable extensions of knowledge eastward and +southward were universally lost sight of in the West in the Middle Ages +and that cosmographers were united in placing India or Paradise as the +farthest end of the world in the one direction and either the shores of +the Ethiopian Ocean immediately beyond the Garamantes or the edge of the +uninhabitable zone at the tropic or not far beyond it, as the extreme +limit in the other.[176] + + + + + CHAPTER II + THE CONTRIBUTION OF WESTERN CHRISTENDOM BEFORE 1100 A. D. + + + _INTRODUCTION_ + +The geographical lore of antiquity was carried over to the Western +Europe of the Crusading age by the Christians of the first eleven +centuries of our era and by the Moslems. In this chapter we shall study +the manner in which it was transmitted, transformed, and augmented by +Christian agencies. + + + SCRIPTURAL INFLUENCE ON EARLY MEDIEVAL GEOGRAPHY + +Our primary problem is to examine the effects of Christianity on +geographical knowledge and belief, effects which sprang in large measure +from men’s varying attitudes toward the Bible. Some believed that +Scripture contains the absolute and only truth, but others were willing +to grant a partial authority to pagan teachings. The evolution of +science was profoundly modified by the conflicts between these divergent +tendencies of thought and by the efforts made to reconcile one with the +other. The general result spelled disaster to clear thinking in +geography. Moreover, many of the facts which the scholars of antiquity +had gathered together were wholly lost sight of in the confusion that +accompanied the disintegration of Roman civilization. The horizon of the +known world was narrowed from the wide bounds it had reached in the time +of Ptolemy.[177] New information acquired by exploration and travel was +ignored; and a host of legends, fancies, and false theories took the +place of the reasonably accurate body of information which the Greeks +and Romans had possessed. + + + IGNORANCE OF THE BEST WORK OF ANTIQUITY + +During these long years Constantinople was the only great metropolis of +Christendom, the only center where the arts and sciences of civilization +were cultivated without interruption. We might expect, therefore, that +the Byzantine influence upon Western geography would be as marked as it +was upon Western art and architecture. But this was not the case. +However much the scholars of Constantinople may have been interested in +the historians of antiquity, they neglected the geographers; and the +scientific geography of the Greek Empire was at best a work of lifeless +compilation and commentary. Furthermore, knowledge of Greek was at no +time widespread in the West until the Renaissance, and the great +majority of Western scholars were profoundly ignorant of Byzantine +literature.[178] For their geography the men of the Occident turned +rather to the Bible and to the mediocre and worse than mediocre works of +an age of intellectual degeneracy. Solinus, Martianus Capella, +Macrobius, Aethicus of Istria, and Orosius became authorities from which +later writers derived their facts. + + + SCIENTIFIC STAGNATION DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES + +The earlier Fathers of the Church, whatever may have been their merits +as theologians and dialecticians, were not distinguished by an ability +to understand the truths of natural science or to combat error in that +field. With the establishment of the barbarian kingdoms between the +sixth and eighth centuries came an epoch of mental stagnation in nearly +all realms of science and scholarship. Learning in general and geography +in particular suffered almost universal eclipse. Yet dark and ignorant +as the times may have been, the torch of civilization was kept burning, +if feebly, by a few Irish and English monks[179] and by contacts with +the Levant that were maintained through Greek, Asiatic, and Egyptian +traders in the principal cities of Europe.[180] If not much authentic +geographical information was contributed to Western society by these +agents of enlightenment, they served to disseminate certain geographical +legends and traditions destined to seize a strong hold on the Western +imagination. + +In the days of Charlemagne came the new awakening sometimes known as the +“Carolingian Renaissance;” and, although tenth-century Europe relapsed +temporarily into a torpor, a current of theological interest and, with +it, interest in the natural sciences had by then once more set in—a +current which was to reach full flood at the time of the Crusades. + + + _SOURCES_ + +What works widely read during these centuries served as sources of +geographical information for the scholar of the era of the Crusades? + + + THE BIBLE + +First and foremost we must place the Bible. Certainly in the pagan world +no one book had ever held the paramount position in the minds of +thoughtful men that Scripture held during the Middle Ages. As we saw in +the Introduction, the two great fountainheads of medieval geography were +the works of Greek philosophers and historians and the Bible. The +geographic material in Scripture is neither very extensive nor very +explicit in comparison with the contributions of such writers as Strabo +and Ptolemy to the geographic education of mankind, and yet so +tremendous was its authority that it tended at one time completely to +supersede classical teachings. Slight and confusing as may have been its +geographical references, the man of the Middle Ages attached to all of +them paramount importance. Simply compare a map of the world +reconstructed from Ptolemy’s data[181] with one of the crude Beatus +sketches reflecting Biblical beliefs,[182] and some of the changes which +the reading of Scripture had wrought become strikingly apparent. + +Genesis was the most important book of the Bible from the geographical +point of view. Here we find, in the history of the Creation, texts which +were the starting point of many speculations about the origin of the +world and the elucidation of which was attempted in many a long +commentary on the Works of the Six Days.[183] Furthermore, in Genesis we +find the description of Paradise and its four rivers, which figured +largely on most medieval maps, and the account of the division of the +earth among the descendants of Noah, which lay at the bottom of the +crude ethnography of the Middle Ages. By some writers the description of +the tabernacle of the Lord and its furnishings[184] was regarded as an +allegorical account of the heavens and earth. Gog and Magog, described +in Genesis, Ezekiel, and Revelation, were prominent among the supposed +medieval tribes of Asia.[185] And in the apocryphal Acts of the +Apostles, which, though technically not a part of Scripture, were often +given the authority of Scriptural truth, we find accounts of the +preaching of the Gospel in far lands, India, Ethiopia, Babylonia.[186] + + + WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS + +These and many other incidental references gave rise to those relatively +restricted portions of the vast mass of patristic literature which deal +with geography, but which nevertheless inevitably marked out the +channels that certain elements of geographic thought and tradition were +destined to follow until the beginnings of the Renaissance. How these +passages were interpreted was, then, of great importance.[187] + + + INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE + +According to the Church Fathers there were four methods of +interpretation; but for our purposes we need consider only two of these, +the literal and the allegorical.[188] Both led to pitfalls: the literal +interpretation tended to narrow the thought and make it correspond to +the exact words of a text; the allegorical, unjustifiably to expand the +meaning of simple statements.[189] To these dangers were added the +difficulties and contradictions due to the manifold authorship of +Scripture and to the misunderstanding of passages woefully faulty from +the textual point of view. + +Yet the writers of the early Christian age were in most cases unaware of +these pitfalls and did not even know when they had fallen into them. +Faith in the truth of the Holy Word was usually sufficient to render men +supremely oblivious to conflicting and inconsistent assertions that +would otherwise have been revolting to reason. Tertullian said: “When we +believe, we desire nothing besides belief. For we believe this in the +beginning: that there is nought which we need to believe beyond +it.”[190] + + + CLASSICAL INFLUENCES + +This faith in the truth of the written Word persisted throughout the +Middle Ages and down to our own day. During the earliest Christian +centuries the Bible was sometimes regarded as the only source of truth, +and the teachings of pagan writers were often looked upon with +abhorrence. Lactantius Firmianus (early fourth century), with an +inconsistency characteristic of many of the Church Fathers, made use in +his _Institutiones divinae_ of the classical authors themselves to prove +the supposed fallacies and evils of pagan science.[191] About the fourth +century men began to try to amplify and expound the fundamental Biblical +truths by appeal to the legacy of classical learning. To effect a +reconciliation and combination of Christian teachings with the +classics—especially the works of Plato and his followers—became one of +the main preoccupations of theologians. Platonic and Neoplatonic +influences made themselves felt in the thought of churchmen and +scholars, and among the most popular works of the entire period was +Chalcidius’ translation of the _Timaeus_ of Plato. Neoplatonism was +interwoven into the theological system of Augustine.[192] In the ninth +century it appears in the writings of the great Irish scholar, John Scot +Erigena.[193] In the tenth and eleventh centuries the Platonic +commentary by Macrobius on Cicero’s _Somnium Scipionis_ enjoyed an +immense vogue;[194] it was read by the mathematician and astronomer Pope +Sylvester II (Gerbert) at the end of the tenth century and on the +threshold of our period aroused the protests of the more old-fashioned +churchmen like Manegold, who objected to the seeds of heresy which it +contained.[195] + + + ENCYCLOPEDIC COMPILATIONS + +For more strictly geographical, rather than “cosmogonic” or cosmological +material, we must turn to the encyclopedias rather than to the +thoughtful and speculative theological books of such men as Augustine. +Like the mighty volumes of Aristotle or the _Natural History_ of Pliny +these encyclopedias were attempts to encompass and to put in convenient +form the entire range of human knowledge. The most significant was the +_Etymologiae sive originum libri XX_ of Isidore of Seville (died 636 +A. D.). This large compilation of miscellaneous information served as a +model of style and composition as well as a mine out of which later +writers dug their “facts.” For the geographical portions of the +_Etymologiae_, Isidore used the Bible and classical authorities alike; +he derived much from Orosius and Solinus; and, though it is doubtful +whether he was acquainted with Pliny at first hand,[196] he incorporated +in his book not a little Plinian material taken from Solinus. Isidore’s +method was followed, and much of his work copied, by the Irish and +English monastic encyclopedists of the eighth and ninth centuries. We +find a great deal from Isidore in the Venerable Bede’s (died 735 A. D.) +_De natura rerum_, in Raban Maur’s (776–856 A. D.) _De universo_, in +Dicuil’s _De mensura orbis terrae_ (825 A. D.),as well as in the _De +imagine mundi_ of our period. John Scot Erigena, the great Platonist of +the eighth century, stands out among his contemporaries as one of the +most original and critical scholars of the Middle Ages. The range of his +interests was very broad, and it seems probable that he understood +Greek. In his _De divisione naturae_, beside the Latin sources which +Isidore, Bede, and other encyclopedists had copied, he made use of the +_De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_ of Martianus Capella and also of +various Greek works, including the _Geography_ of Ptolemy.[197] +Martianus Capella was held in high favor during this epoch, and his +works were commented upon by such men as Remy (Remigius) of Auxerre, the +master of Gerbert, and by Adam of Bremen.[198] + + + MISCELLANEOUS GEOGRAPHICAL WRITINGS + +Closely akin to the geography of the encyclopedias, and not infrequently +borrowed from by the encyclopedists, are a number of miscellaneous +writings, which, though intrinsically of slight value, nevertheless +profoundly affected the development of geographical ideas. The most +important of these was the brief description of the countries of the +world forming the second chapter of the first book of Orosius’ +_Historiae adversus paganos_ (fifth century). Enjoying great popularity, +as is testified by the existence of over two hundred manuscripts, this +was much plagiarized by later scholars: parts of it became incorporated +into Isidore’s _Etymologiae_; it was translated into Anglo-Saxon by King +Alfred the Great;[199] and during our period it was extensively quoted +and copied by nearly all who attempted to write on geographical +subjects. Another of this miscellaneous group is a seventh-century +cosmography in barbarous Latin, a pretended translation of a fictitious +work originally written in Greek by Aethicus of Istria.[200] We find set +forth here for the first time many of those marvels of Scythia and the +northern regions employed by later writers to add interest to their +pages. Priscian’s sixth-century translation of the geographical +poem[201] of Dionysius Periegetes was also extensively quoted. In the +middle of the seventh century an anonymous cleric of Ravenna wrote a +description of the world in five books. Though entirely the result of +compilation, this cosmography is in many respects the most elaborate and +interesting geographical book dating from the early medieval West. The +sources quoted and utilized are extremely varied, including the Bible, +“Jordanis” (Jornandes), Ptolemy, Orosius, Isidore, and possibly the +Tabula Peutingeriana, in addition to a number of Greek, Roman, and +Gothic writings otherwise unknown.[202] The main importance of the work +of the Ravenna geographer in relation to the geography of the Crusading +age lies in the fact that a large portion of it was included in a +compilation made by a certain Guido in 1119.[203] + + + LEGENDS + +During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries many legends were current in +the West, some of which contained geographical elements. Though we shall +have occasion to discuss this subject in greater detail later on, the +fact should be brought out here that the origin of most of these legends +may be traced far back into the centuries before the beginning of the +Crusading age. + +Perhaps the most significant was the cycle of stories of the exploits +and adventures of Alexander the Great which originated in a Greek +history purporting to be the work of Callisthenes, a companion of the +Macedonian conqueror, and is hence known as the _Pseudo-Callisthenes_. +Written in Alexandria about the beginning of the third century after +Christ, this work subsequently became widely dispersed through the East, +where translations were made into Syriac, Arabic, Ethiopic, and other +Oriental tongues. Put into Latin by Julius Valerius about the middle of +the fourth century, again translated in the tenth century,[204] given +further Latin vernacular renderings with many additions at later dates, +the Romance of Alexander had come, by the time of the Crusades, to form +the nucleus of a mass of stories and fables whose scenes were laid in +distant Asiatic countries. With it had been associated those mysterious +tales and prophecies of Gog and Magog whose origins were ultimately +connected with the Biblical revelations of the end of the world.[205] +Alexander the Great and Gog and Magog appear in the _Pseudo-Methodius_, +a book of prophecy which foretold the dread events of the Last Day. +Rendered into Latin at an early period from a Greco-Syrian original, the +_Pseudo-Methodius_ made a deep impression on the medieval mind, +especially at the time of the Mongol invasions in the early thirteenth +century. + +Writers of our period like Gervase of Tilbury and Giraldus Cambrensis +also drew on the legends found in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s mythological +history of Britain, many of which had entered into the composition of +the Romance of King Arthur. Some of the latter were of slight +geographical interest. + +Finally, the mythology and folklore of Ireland, with infusions from +classical and even Arabic literature, gave rise to the story of the +wanderings of St. Brandan[206] among mysterious islands in the Western +Ocean, an account of which we have in a manuscript dating back perhaps +to as early a period as the ninth century.[207] + + + BOOKS OF TRAVEL AND DESCRIPTION + +The most important books describing actual travels and explorations +written between the conversion of Constantine and the Crusades were for +the most part in languages unknown to the men of the West—Greek and +Arabic. Zemarchus’ account of the tribes and trade of Central Asia[208] +and the _Meadows of Gold_ of Al-Masʿūdī, wherein were described things +personally seen by the travelers between Spain and Burma and south as +far as Madagascar, were treasures of geographical lore unknown to +Occidental readers of this age. + +In Adam of Bremen’s _Gesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiae pontificum_, +written in the latter half of the eleventh century, we find a +description of the countries of the North. This was based on knowledge +acquired from the voyagings of the Northmen between the eighth and +eleventh centuries and, together with the Sagas, will be discussed in a +later chapter. + +From the varied narratives of Christian pilgrims the Western student +might have gleaned some arid details about routes eastward and about the +topography of the Holy Land. + + + _THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE_ + +We saw in the first chapter that Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, and most of +the other Greek philosophers had believed that the universe is eternal, +though subject to ever-recurring destructions by fire or water, followed +by “rebirths” (_palingeneses_).[209] Aristotle had attributed to the +stars control over all occurrences in the sphere below the moon; not +only over physical and material happenings, but over the mind and will. +He had believed that this was by virtue of the fact that the celestial +bodies are formed of a divine substance different from the four +corruptible elements which constitute the sublunar world. On this theory +of the stars had been built the “science” of astrology. + + + CHRISTIANITY OPPOSED TO BELIEF IN AN ETERNAL UNIVERSE + +What could be more antagonistic to such ideas than the teachings of the +Bible? The antagonism, however, was not felt by all the Fathers of the +Church. The fascination of Platonism led many to seek for analogies +between Greek and Biblical cosmology. Clement of Alexandria, for +instance, thought that the destruction of the world by fire prophesied +in Deuteronomy (xxxii, 22) was one of those general burnings which would +occur when the stars find themselves in conjunction in Cancer.[210] +Indeed, it was a common belief, and one shared by Augustine, that the +Greeks themselves had actually derived the best of their theological +concepts from the Bible.[211] But the glaring contradictions between +Scriptural and classical cosmology could not be overlooked even by the +Augustinians, and classical theories of the periodicity of the universe +in general were vigorously combated. Christian monotheism could never be +reconciled with a fatalistic doctrine that attributed to the stars in +their control over the destinies of the world a quality that approached +the divine; and through Christian teachings the astrology built on this +doctrine was discredited and the stars stripped of their divinity.[212] +This alone was enough to strike a deathblow at the idea of the unvarying +periodicity of the universe under celestial controls; but other +arguments equally potent were leveled against it. Augustine refused to +believe that Christ had been incarnated an infinite number of times in +the past or was destined to suffer the Passion an infinite number of +times in the future.[213] Origen declared that another Adam, another +Moses, another Judas were unthinkable and asked how the belief in the +stellar control of man’s actions and volition could be reconciled with +the Christian doctrine of the freedom of the will.[214] + +Perhaps the most fatal argument lay in the express contradiction, by the +Old Testament account of the Creation, of the Hellenic idea of an +eternally recurrent universe.[215] Neoplatonist and Peripatetic alike +had denied that there ever had been a first day or a first Great +Year.[216] Yet the words of Scripture are very definite and very +explicit: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” Neither +Christian nor Jew could question the meaning of these words nor think +otherwise than that all things were created at a certain fixed and +calculable point in time or else, following Augustine, that the universe +and time were created simultaneously. + +In spite of these fatal objections, neither the Great Year theory nor +astrology perished completely in the Middle Ages. Lingering on +underground, they gave an heretical and pagan tinge to the thought of +many a philosopher and theologian during our twelfth and thirteenth +centuries and thereafter.[217] + + + THE CREATION + +Even the Scriptural history of the Creation did not wholly satisfy the +inquiring curiosity of theologians or philosophers. One of the primary +problems dealt with by scholars was the problem of the first chapters of +Genesis. This inquiry led into the domain of metaphysics and theology: +through it men hoped to arrive at an understanding of the nature of God +and of his relation to the universe, to time, and to man. It also led to +innumerable speculations about the actual manner in which the will of +God operated in fashioning the world and to discussions of this question +from very diverse points of view—literal, allegorical, transcendental. +Indeed, there were even a few writers, notably the Venerable Bede, who +went so far as to try to reconcile a physical conception of the +processes of creation with the account given in the Bible[218] and who +thus prepared the way for more rationalistic studies of the Works of the +Six Days in the centuries which were to follow. + + + _SHAPE AND SIZE OF THE EARTH_ + + + EARLY CHRISTIAN BELIEF IN A FLAT EARTH + +Prevalent among most peoples in an early stage of their intellectual +development is the natural and obvious theory that the earth is a flat +disk covered by a dome-shaped heaven. This view was held by the +Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians,[219] and, as we saw in the first +chapter, by the early Greeks; it was long believed by the Jews[220] and +is found in the Koran;[221] it was undoubtedly reflected in the words of +Scripture, although what is said there on the subject is by no means +definite and occurs in connections wholly incidental to other subjects. +We read in Isaiah (xl, 22):[222] “It is he that sitteth upon the circle +of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that +stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent +to dwell in.” + +This can hardly be called an exhaustive dissertation on the shape of the +universe, yet on it and on other scraps even less detailed were erected +the medieval arguments in favor of the flatness of the earth, a firm +belief in which was probably held by the majority of the earlier Church +Fathers, especially those of the East.[223] Not only were the ancient +proofs of sphericity overlooked; but such ideas were regarded as +heretical, and elaborate new systems were raised on the weak foundations +of littleunderstood Scriptural texts. The most remarkable theories of +the universe, however, were devised by the Greek fathers Patricius, +Cosmas Indicopleustes, and Severian of Gabala.[224] They remained +unknown to the men of the Western world and consequently do not concern +us. The Latin father Lactantius contented himself with endeavoring to +prove by pseudo-scientific means that the earth is not a sphere; a +spherical heaven, he argued, does not necessitate a spherical earth; and +the idea of the possibility of antipodes was to him thoroughly +absurd.[225] + + + EARLY CHRISTIAN BELIEF IN A SPHERICAL EARTH + +On the other hand, the theory that the earth is a globe never, perhaps, +suffered complete eclipse.[226] Augustine was non-committal in this +regard, evidently troubled and puzzled by contradictory statements in +the Bible and in the writings of classical astronomers.[227] Isidore +quotes writers of antiquity who favored a spherical earth, though if we +interpret correctly texts in the _De natura rerum_[228] and +_Etymologiae_[229] we are impelled to think that he himself conceived of +a flat earth surrounded by a spherical heaven. The Venerable Bede, on +the contrary, did not mince matters; he stoutly maintained that the +earth is a sphere and cited as proof the fact that stars visible in one +latitude are invisible in another.[230] After the so-called Carolingian +Renaissance the world of thinkers seems gradually to have outgrown the +primitive notion of a flat earth. To the _De nuptiis Philologiae et +Mercurii_ of the Neoplatonist Martianus Capella may be ascribed much of +the credit for keeping alive the doctrine of sphericity during these +centuries. This immensely popular work, with its condensed argument in +favor of a globe-shaped earth, doubtless contributed to the formation of +the opinions of men like John Scot Erigena, Gerbert, Hermann of +Reichenau, and Adam of Bremen, adherents to the only theory compatible +with any observation better than the most superficial and any reasoning +better than the most trivial.[231] + + + SIZE OF THE EARTH + +With the reëstablishment of the belief in a spherical earth we find men +again making conjectures about its size, though there is no evidence +that attempts were made in Christendom (as in the Moslem world) actually +to measure the circumference. In the ninth century John Scot Erigena +gave, from Martianus Capella, a full explanation of the famous +Eratosthenic measurements.[232] An unknown author of the ninth or tenth +century of a work on geometry often attributed to Gerbert also +explained, from Capella, Eratosthenes’ method of measuring a +degree;[233] and the eleventh-century mathematician Hermann of +Reichenau[234] had learned (possibly from Macrobius) how the length of a +degree could be ascertained from observations of the pole star. His +result, 700 stades, was the same as that of Eratosthenes, a fact which +alone indicates that he did not himself undertake any measurement. Thus +we see that as a result of the Platonic movement between the ninth and +eleventh centuries knowledge of one of the most magnificent achievements +of classical geographical investigation had been revived. + + + _ZONES AND THE ANTIPODES_ + + + ZONES + +Most Greek thinkers had agreed in dividing the earth’s surface into five +zones, though they differed as to whether or not the equatorial zone was +habitable. By Ptolemy’s time the discovery of countries in the heart of +the tropical regions and possibly beyond had exploded the old idea of an +equatorial ocean and fiery belt around the middle of the globe. +Unfortunately the broader regional knowledge which had been at Ptolemy’s +disposal was lost in the Middle Ages, and older views reappeared. The +maps of the period show us the encircling ocean in which Homer had +believed, and nearly all writers of the patristic age thought that +Africa has a very limited extension toward the south.[235] Beyond +Africa, they said, lies an equatorial ocean and an equatorial zone +uninhabitable on account of heat. + + + THE ANTIPODES + +Whether or not there were other regions of the world on the other side +of this equatorial zone or beyond the waters of the western ocean, and +whether or not such regions were inhabited, were questions which piqued +the curiosity of the Church Fathers. The possibility of antipodal +regions—perhaps continents—must, in the logic of things, have been +admitted by those who were ready to believe that the earth is a sphere; +and even those who were not believers in the sphericity of the earth +were prone to discuss the possibility of a fourth, or austral, +continent, usually called by analogy the region of the antipodes, lying +immediately south of the equatorial zone.[236] Bede adopted Crates’ +theory of two oceans encircling the earth, east and west, and north and +south, dividing its surface into four temperate habitable areas; and +after the interest in Macrobius had become widespread in the ninth +century this theory undoubtedly must have been generally familiar if not +generally accepted. + +Whether or not the antipodes were actually inhabited was another matter. +Lactantius, who thought that the world is flat, was a determined +opponent of the possibility of inhabited antipodes for physical reasons. +His arguments were obvious but seem puerile to us: “Is there any one so +stupid,” he asked, “as to believe that there are men whose feet are +higher than their heads?”[237] It puzzled him to explain how trees could +grow upside down or rain fall upward. More serious were the religious +objections to the possibility of inhabited regions in other parts of the +earth, for this was as antagonistic to the words of the Bible as the +Great Year theory and antagonistic in much the same way. The theory of +the antipodes, as generally presented in association with the theory of +a fiery equatorial zone, presupposed the existence of other races of men +absolutely cut off from our race. How, then, inquired Augustine,[238] +could such races be descended from Adam, who, the Bible tells us, was +the forefather of all men? How could Christ have died for antipodeans? +How could the Gospel have been preached in “the four corners of the +earth” if half the earth is cut off from our quarter by tropical fires? +How could the text of Romans x, 18, be true which says: “Yes, verily, +their sound went forth over all the earth, and their words unto the ends +of the whole world”? Isidore[239] and Bede[240] categorically denied the +possibility of inhabitants of antipodal regions. Their authority, +together with the strength of their arguments and the arguments of +Augustine, were sufficient to arouse suspicions of the man who ventured +to believe in this doctrine. Such a man must certainly be a heretic. A +tenth-century interpreter of Boëthius wrote: “God forbid that anybody +think we accept the stories of antipodes, which are in every way +contradictory to Christian faith.”[241] In the middle of the eighth +century the question reached a head in a controversy between St. +Boniface and a certain Virgil, bishop of Salzburg.[242] The latter, who +doubtless thought that there were antipodal regions if not antipodeans, +was accused by Pope Zachary, to whom St. Boniface had complained, of +holding “perverse and iniquitous doctrines regarding another world.” +Unfortunately we do not possess Virgil’s own account of the incident and +are unable to tell exactly what these doctrines were.[243] At all +events, belief in antipodes contained the seeds of bitter religious +quarrels and was one of the charges brought against Cecco d’Ascoli, who, +after our period, was burnt to death for holding this and other damning +convictions.[244] + + + _PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY_ + +In the field of physical geography slight was the contribution of the +early medieval writers. + + + METEOROLOGY + +Classical ideas about the atmosphere were repeated and garbled,[245] +little progress was made in the development of earlier theories, and +little new was added but superstition. Isidore, followed closely by Bede +and Raban Maur, was the primary authority in matters of +meteorology.[246] The ancient view persisted, that the polar regions +were uninhabitable on account of cold and the equatorial zone on account +of heat. The sort of popular meteorology that prevailed is illustrated +in an early ninth-century treatise written by Agobard, archbishop of +Lyons, and entitled _Against the Absurd Opinion of the Vulgar Touching +Hail and Thunder_.[247] This was an attack on charlatans who claimed +that they could control the weather, produce storms and hail at will, +and who asserted that there is a region, called Magonia, “whence ships +come in the clouds” (Poole’s translation).[248] Natural enough as it is +for the uneducated in any age to believe such things,[249] the +significant fact here is that Agobard did not attempt to invoke +scientific arguments to confute the claims of the impostors. Poole says: +“He disdained to allege scientific reasons to overthrow what was in its +nature unreasonable. He could only fall back on ... broad religious +principles. He argued that God’s relation to nature is immediate and +least of all conditioned by the artifices of men.”[250] + + + THE WATERS ABOVE THE FIRMAMENT + +One distinctly new idea, however, was introduced by the Bible into the +circle of what we may, with a slight stretch of the imagination, +consider the medieval physical geography of the water element. This new +conception tended to revolutionize theories based on classical physics +and to cause much confusion and doubt in the minds of the Fathers of the +Church. The orthodox classical physicists had held that the elements +normally form four concentric spheres surrounding the center of the +universe, in order, from the heaviest to the lightest, earth, water, +air, fire. Genesis (i, 6–7) states that “God said: Let there be a +firmament made amidst the waters; and let it divide the waters from the +waters. And God made a firmament, and divided the waters that were under +the firmament from those that were above the firmament.” Though belief +in waters above the firmament is found in the cosmologies of the ancient +Egyptians and Persians and is there closely associated with belief in a +disk-shaped earth covered by a dome-shaped heaven, water in such a +position was very far removed from its proper place in the scheme of +nature of Aristotle and his followers. The Church Fathers, nevertheless, +were unwilling to doubt the actual existence of these waters, and in +general they accepted the text literally.[251] Gregory of Nyssa even +went to the extent of imagining mountains on the back side of the +firmament and that the waters were contained in the hollows and valleys +between them.[252] Others thought the waters were in the form of clouds +or fine drops. Jerome, Josephus, Ambrose, and Bede all held that the +waters were crystal.[253] Augustine was non-committal, though he +gathered together the statements of many who had expressed concrete +views on the subject.[254] Ambrose argued from analogy that if the earth +can hang in the center of the universe without support so also can the +waters hang unsupported above the firmament.[255] + +The purpose which the waters were to serve was also a thorny problem. +Ambrose said they were intended to cool the axis of the universe, +overheated by its perpetual rotation;[256] others thought that they were +meant to screen the earth from the fiery heat generated by stars and +sun;[257] others that they were stored up as a reservoir to supply +hydraulic resources at the time of the Great Flood.[258] + + + THE CONGREGATION OF THE WATERS + +According to the description of the Creation in the book of Genesis “God +also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven be gathered together +into one place; and let the dry land appear. And it was so done.” The +difficulty in explaining this text was to account for what became of +these waters. Great as are the seas, they were not considered large +enough to absorb all the primordial waters, and consequently arguments +were elaborated in favor of the existence of vast reservoirs within the +earth. Bede, for example, was of the opinion that the waters under the +firmament at first took the form of clouds and that when they became +condensed and fell as rain the water was sequestered in caverns of the +earth’s interior.[259] + +Of even greater significance was the assertion that God had gathered the +waters below the firmament into “one” place. This could mean nothing +else than that all the waters of the earth, whether in subterranean +reservoirs, oceans, lakes, rivers, or in the atmosphere, must be +connected and must constitute a unit. Probably with this idea in mind +Isidore wrote: “The abyss is the deep water which cannot be penetrated, +whether caverns of unknown waters from which springs and rivers flow, or +the waters which pass secretly beneath, whence it is called abyss. _For +all waters or torrents return by secret channels to the abyss which is +their source_” (Brehaut’s translation).[260] Certainly most medieval +theorizing about the origin of springs and rivers[261] was dependent on +the doctrine of a “congregation of waters.” In further elaboration of +this doctrine it was often said that the water of the sea found its way +by underground channels to the Garden of Eden and returned again to the +sea, flowing first through a subterranean passage and thence through the +four rivers of Paradise. Augustine maintained that the words of Genesis +(ii, 6), “But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the surface +of the earth,” mean that all the waters of the earth come from a single +source.[262] Rainfall as a source of springs and well water, however, +was also recognized,[263] and Gregory of Nyssa accepted and elaborated +the classical theory of the transmutation of earth into water.[264] + + + THE NILE FLOOD + +The strange phenomenon of the flood of the Nile brought forth no new +theories during the Middle Ages, and Isidore, whose words were most +often copied, reverted to the explanation of Thales that the flood was +caused by the building of sand bars at the mouth of the river during the +summer when the etesian winds blow.[265] + + + THE EARTH UPON THE WATERS + +Another Biblical phrase that provoked discussion of the problems of +hydrography was in the one hundred and thirty-fifth Psalm (Vulgate): +“Praise ye the Lord of lords, ... Who established the earth above the +waters” (_qui firmavit terram super aquas_). Many writers took this +literally and thought of the earth as actually floating upon water, held +up by the arbitrary force of God’s will. A few, despite the explicit +words of Scripture, were inclined to doubt; they either explained the +phrase by urging that the word “above” (_super_) should be taken to mean +“beside” or argued that all that was meant here was that the land rises +to a higher level than the sea.[266] The difficulty was also avoided, as +was frequently the case with puzzling Scriptural passages, by saying +that the passage was allegorical and should not be taken literally. + + + THE SEA + +There is not much to record about the development of knowledge or theory +concerning the physical geography of the sea. The ancients themselves +had known little enough about the sea to pass on to an age when maritime +ventures were almost unknown—to learned men at least—and certainly we +cannot find a great deal of marine lore in the Bible. Occasional +glimmerings of intelligence, however, break the darkness of the times in +this respect. Dicuil, for instance, in his _De mensura orbis terrae_, +questions Fabianus’ statement that the sea is at most fifteen stades +deep. “Has Fabianus measured its depth?” he asks; “if not, how can we +believe what he says?”[267] Bede understood the difference in density +between fresh and salt water; and in accord with Isidore and others he +explained why the seas do not overflow their banks by pointing out that +water is constantly being removed into the air and into the land.[268] + +Though the Church Fathers stood out valiantly against those teachings of +astrology which tended to exaggerate the powers of the heavenly bodies, +they were none the less ready to admit that the moon may exert a +physical attraction on the ocean and in that way may produce the tides. +Basil even explained that there is a corresponding lunar control over +the atmosphere.[269] Augustine and Ambrose believed that the moon causes +tides;[270] and a certain Augustine, writing in the seventh century, +described the spring and neap tides and tried to show how they follow +not only the moon’s phases but also the equinoxes and solstices. He made +a serious mistake by placing spring tides at the time of the +solstices.[271] Bede corrected this in his _De natura rerum_, apparently +from personal observation—a rare thing at this time—and noted a number +of tidal peculiarities which had not been commented on before.[272] + +Not all writers attributed the action of the tides to the moon. Most +significant among the opponents of the lunar theory was Paul the Deacon +(720–780 A. D.). In his _Historia gentis Langobardorum_ he +described[273] the maelstrom on the coast of Norway. He asserted that +this gigantic whirlpool and another one, which he placed off the coast +of Ireland, made the tides by sucking in and spewing out vast quantities +of water twice a day. With the fashion of reading Macrobius a theory +became popular that the flood and ebb result from the impact of opposing +ocean currents; and in the twelfth century, as we shall see later,[274] +William of Conches and Giraldus Cambrensis made curious combinations of +the theories of Paul the Deacon with those of Macrobius. + + + THE LANDS + +There was no science of geomorphology in the Middle Ages. The medieval +mind interested itself for the most part only in those natural phenomena +that force themselves upon the attention or seem out of the ordinary. +Commonplace and static elements of the earth’s surface such as hills, +valleys, and plains were taken more or less for granted by those who +sought to explain the secrets of Nature. In the geographical writings of +the period, on the other hand, not a little space was devoted to +volcanoes and earthquakes. Their violent and spectacular qualities have +made these the object of interest throughout all time. And yet in the +early Middle Ages there seems to have been no originality in observing +them or in speculating about their causes. Men were content uncritically +to accept what classical writers had said.[275] Isidore, for example, +following Aristotle and Pliny, wrote that volcanoes were burning +mountains rather than vents for deep-seated terrestrial fires and that +the whole of Sicily was filled with seams of sulphur and bitumen, +readily kindled by the winds into flame. The eruption of Etna, more +especially, was caused by winds driven down into the interior of the +earth by the waves of the Strait of Messina.[276] This theory of +vulcanism was reiterated by Bede, Dicuil, and the multitude who copied +from Isidore’s work. Other writers explained volcanoes as the outlets of +profound subterranean fires,[277] a view fostered by Plato and one that +gained authority in the minds of many of the Church Fathers as well as +of laymen through the widespread belief, derived from classical +mythology[278] as well as from the Bible, that the heart of the earth is +the seat of Hell.[279] + + +_THE MEDIEVAL ATTITUDE TOWARDS LANDSCAPE AND SCENERY BEFORE 1100 A. D._ + +Man has been accustomed to look upon the geographical elements of the +earth’s surface from widely different points of view. So far we have +been concerned with the record of his scientific or pseudo-scientific +investigations of these elements. Let us now turn for a moment to his +emotional attitude toward them. The impression made upon the heart and +imagination by the aspects of countryside, mountain, and sea has +constantly changed with changing religious and philosophical beliefs and +with shifting social régimes. We may estimate the character of these +changes in a multitude of descriptions of landscape and scenery +scattered throughout the whole realm of literature. + + + ESTHETIC APPRECIATION OF NATURE IN ANTIQUITY + +It is probably safe to assert that there prevailed in antiquity a +genuinely esthetic appreciation of nature. If the Greeks seldom made +conscious efforts to paint word pictures of the form and colors of their +land, their poetry and drama none the less show in many a turn of phrase +that they were alive to its beauty. The Romans rejoiced in the tranquil +serenity of mild and cultivated landscapes as an escape from the welter +of city life.[280] Perhaps the Roman attitude toward nature was tinged +with pessimism, with regret that beauty is transient, that man’s span of +life is short, and that all too soon we must cease to find solace in the +loveliness of the world.[281] With the crystallization of Latin literary +forms there appeared a stereotyped conception of the ideal landscape in +which the essential elements were always the same: a rich meadow shaded +by laurels, myrtles, and elms and watered by a murmuring stream, clear +and cool; a placid spot where eternal spring prevails and where rain and +storm, frost and heat are alike unknown.[282] This formula was used by +the Latin poets in describing the blessed Isles of the Hesperides and +the Elysian Fields; ultimately it was employed by the Christians in +picturing the terrestrial Paradise.[283] + + + EARLY CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARDS NATURE + +A new and different spirit pervaded the early Christian’s attitude +towards nature. His thoughts were turned to the world to come and to the +glory of the Kingdom of God. + +The more austere and ascetic of the Church Fathers believed that, as it +is sinful to take pleasure in things of this world, so also sin must +lurk in the breast of him who derives personal and esthetic satisfaction +from scenes of natural beauty. This is one of the reasons why hermits +retired to deserts and rugged mountains, where they might no longer be +tempted either by things of the flesh or by the charm of green and level +meadows or of rolling, cultivated hillsides. Among some of the hermits +there arose an actual love for the grandeur of the very wildernesses to +which they betook themselves. Jerome regarded the desert as a place of +beauty: in deep valleys, rough mountains, and steep rocks he saw not +only negative excellence, in so far as these were free from the +pollutions of “civilization,” but also a congenial background for his +work and thought.[284] The eremitic movement was primarily +characteristic of the Eastern branch of Christendom, but it extended to +the West, where its influence was powerful during the early centuries of +our era.[285] Nevertheless an ascetic disdain for the haunts of man and +glorification of the wilderness was, at best, alien to Western modes of +thought. The normal habit of the Occidental Christian was, rather, to +take joy in the immensity of earth and heaven and in the marvelous +detail of the created world because these stand as manifestations of the +unity and glory of the Deity, symbols of the omnipotence of God. + + + REVIVAL OF ESTHETIC FEELING IN THE MIDDLE AGES + +On the other hand, pleasure in a landscape by reason of the merely +personal satisfaction it affords the beholder was exceptional before the +time of the Renaissance. But, though exceptional, an esthetic as +distinguished from a religious or transcendental love of nature was by +no means wholly lacking. Certainly from the eleventh century onward we +find many poems and letters that testify to the existence of a truly +pagan enjoyment of scenery. Whether this can be said of the earlier +periods is more doubtful. Ganzenmüller, whose important study of the +feeling for nature in the Middle Ages we are following in this +connection, maintains that the term “Carolingian Renaissance” is more or +less of a misnomer because under Charlemagne the classical spirit was +lacking, even though classical forms of expression were revived; that +the classical influence on descriptions of landscape was but rarely +felt; and that we find at that time nothing of the subjective and +pessimistic attitude of the Roman poets. In short Ganzenmüller concludes +that the feeling for nature was altogether Christian.[286] + +However this may be, there is no question that throughout a century or +more before the age of the Crusades individuals not only among the laity +but even in the monasteries were openly writing poems of earthly love +and openly lauding the beauty of natural scenery in more or less the +vein of the Romans.[287] This was but one aspect of the worldly tendency +in Church and society which brought about the Cluniac and later +movements of reform. + + + _MATHEMATICAL GEOGRAPHY AND CARTOGRAPHY_ + + + MATHEMATICAL GEOGRAPHY + +We may pass over the mathematical geography of the Christian period +before 1100; no discoveries were made, nor were there any attempts to +apply the results of older discoveries. Gerbert, indeed, in his _Liber +de astrolabio_, gives a few details of the division of the earth’s +surface into seven climates, details which he had probably derived +entirely from Latin authors like Pliny and Martianus Capella.[288] +Though Gerbert owed much to Arabic writers, he did not draw from them +the semi-geographical portions of his writings. Certainly in the strict +application of mathematical geography to the determination of +positions—latitudes and longitudes—nothing was done in the West. Ptolemy +was forgotten, and the labors of the Arabs in this field were as yet +unknown. + + + MAPS + +Though very few maps dating from these centuries are actually in +existence, maps were then made in no inconsiderable numbers.[289] Three +circumstances convince us of the truth of this statement. In the first +place, we find frequent references to lost maps in contemporary +literature. Then again, many of the cosmographies and encyclopedic +works, such as those of Orosius, Isidore, and the Ravenna geographer, +show undeniable indications that they were either compiled from maps or +else were accompanied by maps as illustrations. And, finally, most of +the examples of twelfth- and early thirteenth-century cartography can +only have been derived from older models, some of which in the final +analysis may well have been inspired by the cartography of the period of +the Roman Empire.[290] + +With a few exceptions[291] the existing specimens of the cartography of +Western Europe dating from before 1100 may be classified as regards form +in four more or less well-defined groups, representatives of each of +which are also found from the Crusading age and even later. The +character of the maps was largely determined by the purposes intended to +be served.[292] + + + _Macrobian Maps_ + +The first group consists of outline diagrams illustrating Macrobius’ +division of the earth’s surface into zones and is to be found in +manuscripts from as early as the ninth century. This group cannot +properly be said to include true maps.[293] + + + _T-O Maps_ + +The second group is made up of simple representations of the three +continents, often called T-O maps (Figs. 1a-1b). On these the known +world is shown as a circle within which a T is drawn dividing it into +three parts. East is at the top. The upper compartment, that above the +crossbar of the T, represents Asia; the two lower compartments, Europe +and Africa. The surface is usually unadorned with vignettes or +conventional symbols of any sort, and the legends are reduced to a +minimum. It seems likely that Augustine had before him such a diagram +when he wrote a passage in _De civitate dei_ which describes to +perfection the division of the known world as the T-O maps show it, and +it may well be that the map which Orosius must have used when he wrote +the geographical chapter of his history was a modified example of the +same type. An extremely large number of T-O maps are to be found in +codices dating from the eighth century onward, illustrating the writings +of Isidore, Bede, Raban Maur, and others.[294] + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 1—Types of T-O and Sallust maps. (Figs. 1a and 1b from Santarem, + _Essai_, 1849–1852, atlas, vol. i, pl. 5, figs. 5 and 1; Fig. 1c + from Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, fig. 43.) +] + + + _Sallust Maps_ + +Closely akin to the T-O maps, but somewhat more elaborate, are the +sketches of the third group (Fig. 1c). These accompany manuscripts of +Sallust’s works and may have been drawn to illustrate a passage in +Sallust’s _De bello Jugurthino_ describing briefly the countries of the +known world. The T-O form is carefully followed, but legends and +pictures add a touch of life. The oldest example (tenth century) is +strictly classical and fails to show Jerusalem, a stock feature in most +medieval maps. Later specimens reveal the influence of the Christian +tradition, and upon them Jerusalem figures as an immense church or +castle.[295] + + + _Beatus Maps_ + +The fourth group is by far the most interesting. In the latter part of +the eighth century a priest, Beatus, of the Benedictine abbey of +Valcavado in northern Spain wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse, +destined to become very popular in later times. To demonstrate +graphically the division of the world among the twelve apostles, which +is spoken of in a passage included in this commentary, either Beatus or +one of his contemporaries drew a map. Though the original of this is not +now extant, no less than ten subsequent maps for which it served as a +model are preserved in manuscripts of the tenth century and later. The +researches of Miller[296] have shown that three of these ten were +probably derived from a fairly full and faithful copy of the original, +but that the others represent merely a generalized outline. The best +example, the so-called St. Sever map, dating from about 1050 and now in +the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, displays an immense wealth of +detail, legends, vignettes, and pictures of all sorts (Fig. 2). + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 2—St. Sever Beatus map. In the original, east is, as here, at the + top. The geographical features (e. g. the Mediterranean, the Nile + and its delta) may be recognized more readily, however, by viewing + the map with north at the top. (From Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, + 1895, colored reproduction in pocket.) +] + + + _REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY_ + + + LIMITED GEOGRAPHICAL HORIZON IN THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES + +In the first chapter, under the heading “The Expansion of Regional +Knowledge,” was discussed the expansion of actual knowledge of the +earth’s surface, and a careful distinction was made between that section +dealing with actual knowledge and the preceding sections of the chapter +which had been concerned with theories. We cannot make this distinction +in speaking of the regional geographical ideas of the early Christian +centuries, for fact and fancy were irrevocably blended. In the Greek and +Roman age knowledge of the earth’s surface was widened by exploration, +trade, wars, and conquests; but in the early Middle Ages the limits of +the accurately known world contracted, and the ocean, Asia, Africa, even +Western Europe itself, became domains of legend and fable. + +This does not mean that exploration, trade, and conquest did not +progress. Commerce in silk flourished in the sixth century between +Byzantium and the nations of Central Asia, and much knowledge of those +distant countries was thereby acquired in the Greek world.[297] Between +the eighth and the beginning of the twelfth centuries the Northmen had +penetrated in their open ships to the innermost recesses of the White +Sea[298] and westward as far as Iceland, Greenland, and the shores of +America. Throughout the Middle Ages there was an intermittent flow of +pilgrims to and from the Holy Land. At a very early date the Italian +cities began to lay the foundations of their great Levantine trade. Why, +then, was geographic knowledge not enriched by all this activity? There +were many reasons. The spirit of the age turned the scholar’s mind +almost exclusively to religious and theological matters. He felt no +particular interest in voyages unless they had some religious +significance. He cared nothing about the exploits of piratical Norse +rovers in subarctic seas or about things that Byzantine traders and +diplomats might have seen in the heart of Asia. Even if he could have +read the languages in which the stories of these discoveries were +written, he probably would not have troubled to investigate them. The +pilgrim, forcing his way through hardships and privations to the Holy +Land, was certainly stirred by no interest in the geography of the lands +and seas through which he passed beyond that of finding the best and +quickest practicable route. Once arrived in Palestine, he may have felt +some slight enthusiasm about studying out the topography of the sacred +places. On the whole, however, pilgrim narratives added as little to +Western geographical knowledge of the East as American soldiers’ letters +during the World War added to our geographical knowledge of France. + + + MEDIEVAL CONCEPTION OF THE KNOWN WORLD + +The usual medieval conception of the known world was of a circular or +oval area, divided into three continents. Asia occupied the eastern +portion and was cut off from Europe by the Tanaïs (Don) and from Africa +by the Nile. The Mediterranean, piercing the center of the western +section, separated Europe from Africa. The relative size of the +continents was variously represented; Asia was usually thought to be +much larger than either Europe or Africa. The two latter were believed +to be of about the same size. + + + PARADISE + +One of the principal Biblical contributions to medieval geography was +Paradise with its four rivers.[299] In the maps of the period, the +garden is drawn at the easternmost limits of the world in accordance +with the words of Genesis (ii, 8), “And the Lord God planted a garden +eastward in Eden.”[300] Martianus Capella, however, by following a Greek +tradition which placed the Hyperboreans in a favored and delightful +country of the far north, caused certain of the Church Fathers to look +northward for Paradise.[301] Modeling their account of Paradise on the +Biblical description and on the ideal landscape of the Roman poets,[302] +the men of the Middle Ages conceived of the garden as a deliciously cool +and shady meadow, made beautiful with flowers of many sorts, watered by +murmuring streams, and redolent with sweet odors.[303] Many theories +were elaborated concerning the surroundings of the forbidden +garden.[304] In order that men be kept out, an impassable barrier must +have encircled it. Some believed that this was an immense wall; others, +a ring of flames; others, mountains and deserts. Some placed Paradise on +an island in the ocean; Cosmas removed it beyond the ocean to the shores +of unknown lands in the east; Augustine, Origen, and Philo regarded it +as allegorical and not real at all. + + + RIVERS OF PARADISE + +“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it +was parted, and became into four heads” (Gen. ii, 10).[305] These four +heads were the sources of the four rivers of Paradise: the Pison, later +thought to be either the Indus, the Ganges,[306] or, sometimes, the +Danube; the Gihon, or Nile; the Hiddekel, or Tigris; and, finally, the +Euphrates. It was a little difficult for some persons at first sight to +understand how all these rivers, whose upper reaches were known in +reality to be very far apart, could actually spring from one +source.[307] Many cosmographers were even tempted to place Paradise in +Armenia, near the known sources of the Euphrates and Tigris. In general +an appeal to the simple theory of the existence of subterranean +watercourses sufficed to solve the problem and to explain the otherwise +absurd belief that the Nile had its headwaters in the far east beyond +the Red Sea. + + + ASIA + + + _Gog and Magog_ + +Asia was frequently made the scene of Paradise and of the creation of +man. Here, too, medieval tradition placed Gog and Magog,[308] whose +advent at the Last Day should bring destruction to the world. There are +three different Biblical accounts of Gog and Magog. On the basis of +Genesis (x, 2), which makes Magog a son of Japhet, a Jewish tradition +conceived of this shadowy and fearful personage as the progenitor of the +Scythian tribes. In the book of Ezekiel (xxxviii, xxxix) we read the +prophecy of the ravages and destructions of “Gog, the land of Magog, the +chief prince of Meshech and Tubal,” who should issue with his terrible +hordes from the north and bring death and devastation to the lands of +Israel. Finally, in Revelation (xx, 7) we are warned that “when the +thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his +prison, and shall go forth and seduce the nations which are over the +four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and shall gather them +together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.” Here “Gog +and Magog” are not the names either of men or of a country, but rather +of savage tribes. Most medieval writers, following the Jewish tradition, +thought of these tribes as Scythian barbarians of the north—so Josephus, +Jerome, and Isidore, though Eusebius believed that they were Kelts, and +Jerome referred to a certain history which identified them with the +Goths; one chronicle even made the Aquitanians their descendants.[309] + +The apocalyptic story of Gog and Magog spread widely in the Orient as +well as through the Christian world. In the East, curiously enough, it +was made a part of the Romance of Alexander. We read in the Koran[310] +that the “two-horned Alexander” built a great wall of bronze and pitch +and brimstone, behind which he enclosed the wild peoples of Yajūj and +Mājūj (Gog and Magog) until they should break forth on the day of the +Last Judgment. This story was probably told for the first time in +connection with Alexander the Great by Procopius in his _De bello +Persico_.[311] It formed one of the most important parts of the +immensely popular work, the _Pseudo-Methodius_, which foretold with +considerable detail the events of the Last Day.[312] It entered into +later versions of the Romance of Alexander itself, although it formed no +part of the versions of the _Pseudo-Callisthenes_ or of the translation +of Julius Valerius.[313] + + + _Romance of Alexander the Great_ + +The Romance of Alexander, one of the most widely known of the various +cycles of medieval legend, deserves some comment here because the scene +of most of Alexander’s exploits was laid in Asia. The Romance contains +some fantastic geographical details concerning the East in general and +India in particular. The classical stories of the monsters and marvels +of these mysterious lands are here preserved in attractive form. We meet +with Amazons and mermaids, griffons, and men who live on the smell of +spices. We have a text of correspondence between Alexander and the +Brahmin king, Dindimus, in which the latter explains to the Macedonian +conqueror his religion and the simple habits of the Brahmins.[314] + + + _St. Thomas in India_ + +India was also supposed in the Middle Ages to have been visited by St. +Thomas, the Apostle,[315] who was said to have built therein a great +castle for King Gundophorus. Though little geography is to be gleaned +from the apocryphal legends of St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew in India +and of St. Matthew in Ethiopia, they served to carry the reader’s mind +to distant corners of the earth and are of passing interest to us +because certain elements of the story of St. Thomas became part of the +fabric of the great twelfth-century legend of Prester John. If we are to +believe the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_,[316] an Englishman visited India in +the ninth century, for we are told that King Alfred sent a certain +Sighelm to the shrines of Saints Thomas and Bartholomew in A. D. 883. + + + AFRICA + +Africa was utterly neglected. Unlike Asia, it did not become the habitat +of legend and fable. Supposedly of small extent and made up mostly of +desert, it failed to arouse much interest until long after our period. +The universal testimony of cosmographer and cartographer during the +entire age under consideration was to the effect that the African +continent stops well to the north of the equator at the borders of the +sea. + + + EUROPE + +Europe was of course less a land of romance than Asia, but geographical +ideas concerning it were crude enough, as a glance at any contemporary +map or at the brief and dry catalogue of facts given in the encyclopedic +works will show. Isidore, Orosius, and Bede added little to what +classical writers had already said. Local mythology tended to creep into +the geographical conceptions of the best-known countries and to blur +what had been in classical times fairly distinct and clean-cut +conceptions. + + + EXPLORATIONS TO THE NORTH + +In one quarter, however, to the north, the horizon of geographical +knowledge was immensely widened. The inner shores of the Baltic, of +which the Romans and early Christians had known next to nothing, became +from the eighth century familiar ground to the Northmen. Furthermore, +the widespread rovings of these adventurous seamen carried them not only +westward and southward to harry Britain, France, and Spain and to +penetrate into the Mediterranean but also northward along the long +stretch of Norwegian coast. Alfred the Great appended to his translation +of Orosius an account of the journey in 890 of Othere of Halogaland +around the North Cape and into the White Sea even as far as the shores +of Biarma Land (near modern Archangel; the word “Biarma” is said to be +related to the Russian “Perm”). In later years Norse expeditions visited +the remote coasts of Finnmark and Biarma, seeking trade and carrying war +and destruction.[317] + + + THE ATLANTIC + +The maritime wanderings of the early Irish and their successors, the +Northmen, gave rise to a circle of legends regarding fabulous islands in +the Atlantic and fabulous voyages among them. The poetic imagination of +both Kelt and Viking contributed marvelously to the growth of these +tales. Great and often misguided ingenuity has been shown in modern +times in attempts to find the seeds of truth from which these stories +may or may not have sprung.[318] The most famous legend and the one +destined to exert the strongest influence on the imagination of the +future told of St. Brandan’s journeyings among enchanted isles and +fantastic seas to the west and northwest of Ireland. Actual discovery in +these quarters is recorded in the pages of the ninth-century Dicuil, who +narrates the finding of Thule by Irish priests some thirty years before +his time (825 A. D.) and describes the cold of those regions and the +long twilights at the time of the summer solstice, when one day merges +into the next.[319] The Northmen reached Iceland in 860 and settled +there a few years later; Greenland was discovered by them in 877, though +it was not colonized until the close of the following century. + + + AMERICA REACHED BY THE NORSEMEN + +Icelandic rovers also reached America in the latter years of the +tenth century.[320] The _Landnámabók_, compiled from an original +version written about 1200, tells how, about the year 983, Ari +Marsson “was driven out of his course at sea to White-men’s-land +(_Hvitramanna-land_), which is called by some persons Ireland the +Great (_Irland-it-mikla_); it lies westward in the sea near Wineland +the Good; it is said to be a sail of six _doegr_ west of Ireland” +(Reeves’s translation).[321] Though we may not be certain whether +this brief passage is rightly to be interpreted as referring to +America, it is undeniable that soon after Ari Marsson’s discovery +the northeastern shores of our continent were visited by Biarni, the +son of Heriulf, and by Leif, the son of Eric the Red, and that the +latter were followed by Thorfinn Karlsefni and others.[322] Sailing +southwestward, these adventurers came to the shores of a barren +country of flat stones which they called Helluland; thence they +coasted southward past the forested Markland and past long beaches +and sand reefs, until they reached Wineland, with grapevines, a mild +climate, and savage inhabitants (or Skraellings). From some of the +latter, captured by Karlsefni in Markland, the Icelanders learned +that “kings governed the Skraellings” and that “there was a land on +the other side over against their country which was inhabited by +people who wore white garments and yelled loudly and carried poles +before them to which rags were attached” (Reeves’s translation). +This land they identified with White-men’s-land, or Ireland the +Great. + + + + + CHAPTER III + THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE MOSLEMS + + +There is no necessity here of giving a general review of the very broad +field of Arabic geography. The works of the foremost Mohammedan +geographers, Al-Masʿūdī, Ibn Ḥauqal, Al-Iṣṭakhrī, were unknown in Europe +during the Middle Ages, and formal Arabic geography certainly +contributed next to nothing to the knowledge of the earth possessed by +the Occidentals of the Crusading age. + + + _SOURCES_ + +Other branches of Arabic science, however, profoundly influenced the +development of European thought at this time. As transmitters of +classical learning to the West, the Saracens reintroduced fragments of +the geographical lore of the Greeks. The two classical authors in whom +they had taken the deepest interest were Aristotle and Ptolemy. Their +most important contribution to Western geographical knowledge was to +make known to the West geographical speculations in the works of these +men and in the various treatises which the Moslem writers themselves had +composed under Peripatetic and Ptolemaic influences. + + + INFLUENCE OF ARISTOTLE + +Aristotle held a position of preëminent authority among the Moslems in +all matters scientific. Arabic scholars had received his writings both +through Syriac translations and direct from Greek texts. Vast +commentaries on his works were made by Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, 980–1037 +A. D.) in the Eastern Caliphate and by Averroës (Ibn Rushd, 1126–1198 +A. D.) in Spain. Aristotelian astronomy, as distinguished from +Ptolemaic, was reproduced with modifications in the work _On the Sphere_ +of Al-Biṭrūjī of Cordova, known to the Christians as Alpetragius.[323] +By the end of the twelfth century, owing to the rising interest in +Aristotelianism in Europe (the “flood of Aristotelianism,” as Duhem +calls it), translations had been done from the Arabic into Latin of a +large number of Aristotelian works on astronomy, physics, meteorology, +and many other subjects.[324] It was in these works that most of +Aristotle’s thought and observation in geography had found expression. +Aristotelian physical geography, transmitted through these channels, was +destined to dominate the geographical speculations of many Christian +writers of the thirteenth century. + + + INFLUENCE OF PTOLEMY’S “ALMAGEST” + +The Moslems of the Eastern Caliphate also had become familiar with +Ptolemy’s _Almagest_ and _Geography_ through Syriac translations and +through versions of the original Greek text.[325] A manuscript of the +_Kitāb al-Majisṭī_, or _Almagest_, was translated into Arabic in the +days of Hārūn ar-Rashīd by that caliph’s vizier, Yaḥyā, and other +translations appeared during the middle part of the ninth century. Study +of the _Almagest_ stimulated Arabic scholars and incited them to write +such original treatises of their own as Al-Farghānī’s (Alfraganus’) On +the _Elements of Astronomy_, Al-Battānī’s _On the Movements of the +Stars_, or _Astronomy_,[326] and Ibn Yūnūs’ _Ḥakīmī Tables_. + + + INFLUENCE OF PTOLEMY’S “GEOGRAPHY” + +Furthermore, Ptolemy’s _Geography_ was certainly known to the Moslems in +Syriac translations and probably also in copies of the original Greek +text.[327] With the _Geography_ as a model a number of Arabic treatises, +usually entitled _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_, or _Book of the Description of +the Earth_, were composed at an early period of Islam and served as +bases on which later geographical writers built more complex systems. +One of the most significant was the _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_ of +Al-Khwārizmī, composed about the time of Al-Maʾmūn (813–833 A. D.), the +full text of which was discovered forty-four years ago by Spitta.[328] +From another book of the same sort and title Al-Battānī derived the +geographical details included in his _Astronomy_.[329] The latter was +translated into Latin during the twelfth century; and Al-Khwārizmī’s +work was known in Europe at second hand.[330] + + + AZ-ZARQALĪ AND THE “TOLEDO TABLES” + +Ptolemy was studied in the western as well as in the eastern centers of +Islam. Toledo, notwithstanding its conquest by the kings of Castile in +1085, long remained a scientific center, where the Arabic spirit of +investigation lingered on among Jew, Christian, and Moor. It was largely +through Spanish channels that the Latin West found its Oriental +inspiration in astronomy and astrology.[331] About 1080 Az-Zarqalī, of +Toledo,[332] who had devised a new type of astrolabe, wrote various +works on astronomical subjects, including a commentary on a series of +astronomical tables that had been constructed by a group of Jewish and +Moslem scholars before his time.[333] These so-called _Toledo Tables_, +with Az-Zarqalī’s _Canons_ explaining them, contained some incidental +geographical information derived in part from Ptolemy’s _Geography_ and +from Al-Khwārizmī.[334] They were rendered into Latin in the twelfth +century by the famous Gerard of Cremona, who probably found in Spain +most of the manuscripts from which he made his many Latin +translations.[335] + + + GEOGRAPHY IN SICILY + +Ptolemy’s _Geography_ was also studied in Sicily under the Moslem emirs +and their successors, the Norman kings. From the eleventh century date +several Arabic descriptions of Sicily now known only in fragments but +bearing eloquent witness to a true enthusiasm for geography prevalent +among the Moslem aristocracy of the island.[336] The Normans, who became +masters of Sicily between 1060 and 1071, preserved much that was best of +Arabic traditions and culture, and Moslem scholars played a brilliant +part in the intellectual life of the court. Roger II himself was a +devotee of geography, occupying much of his spare time in collecting +Arabic geographical treatises and in questioning travelers about distant +parts of the earth. “He gave himself up to this work tirelessly for +fifteen years, never ceasing to examine personally into all geographical +questions, to search for their solution and to verify facts, in order +that he might obtain in complete form all the information that he +desired” (from Jaubert’s translation of Edrisi).[337] + + + EDRISI + +At Roger’s instigation and with his aid Al-Idrīsī, or Edrisi (as the +name is more usually written), who had come to the Sicilian court from +Spain, undertook a great series of geographical labors. Little is known +of the life of Edrisi besides a few details to be gleaned from later +biographers[338] and what he himself tells us in the preface to his +_Geography_, as it is usually known, or, to cite its Arabic title, _The +Recreation for Him Who Wishes to Travel Through the Countries_, which +was completed in 1154 or later.[339] We know that he constructed for +Roger a celestial sphere and a disk-shaped map of the world, both of +silver. Furthermore, we are told that Roger provided him with special +facilities for the construction of maps and for the compilation of his +great treatise. It appears that the king and Edrisi together selected +“certain intelligent men, who were despatched on travels and were +accompanied by draftsmen. Just as soon as these men returned Edrisi +inserted in his treatise the information which was thus communicated to +him.” On the basis of observations made in the field, data derived from +Ptolemy and earlier Arabic geographers were correlated and brought up to +date. The book and the maps which were drawn to elucidate the book are +for this reason unquestionably among the most interesting monuments of +Arabic geography; furthermore, the book is the most voluminous and +detailed geographical work written in twelfth-century Europe. After a +very brief description of the earth as a globe, the hemispheres, +climates, seas, and gulfs, Edrisi launches into a long and minute +account of the regions of the earth’s surface. He takes up the seven +climates in order, dividing each climate into ten sections, an +arrangement that is artificial to excess. None the less, Edrisi’s works +are of exceptional quality when considered in comparison with other +geographical writings of their period, partly by reason of their +richness of detail but mainly because of the scientific method used, the +coöperative employment of many observers, and the critical correlation +of their observations—a procedure which was indeed unlike that adopted +by Latin scholars of the time. + + + INFLUENCE OF SICILO-MOSLEM GEOGRAPHY + +The question of the full extent to which the fruits of this Sicilian +geographical school became known in the Latin Europe of the late twelfth +and early thirteenth centuries is a matter that awaits further +investigation. + +Certainly the influence of Edrisi’s _Geography_ could not have been +great in the world of letters or else traces of it would more easily be +detected in Western literature. Unlike a multitude of Arabic writings of +far less intrinsic value, the _Rogerian Description_ (as the _Geography_ +of Edrisi is often called) found no Gerard of Cremona to put it into +Latin, and the authoritative geographical knowledge of the Western world +was destined to develop unenriched by the treasures which Roger and +Edrisi together had amassed. + +On the other hand, there is no question but that the Sicilo-Norman +enthusiasm for geography exerted an indirect influence on the evolution +of geographical knowledge, an influence that was to make itself felt +more especially after the close of our period. This enthusiasm for +geography was the product of a mingling of Arabic scientific and +scholarly traditions with Norman maritime enterprise in an island which +occupied a central position in relation to the world of its day. It was +an enthusiasm that arose partly from pure love of knowledge but also in +very large degree from the practical necessities of a sea-faring people, +and it was early applied to the solution of the problems of navigation. +In the words of De La Roncière, “The use of coast charts was destined to +become general in Sicily; a rational method of navigation to be +substituted for the routine of pilotage, and thus the way was prepared +for the progressive conquest of the world.”[340] As De La Roncière goes +on to point out, the Genoese learned the arts of navigation from the +Sicilians in the early thirteenth century and transmitted them +subsequently to the Spaniards, Portuguese, French, and English; and a +new science of the sea was developed upon the foundations originally +laid by Sicilian Moslems and Normans.[341] + + + ORIENTAL IDEAS TRANSMITTED TO THE WEST + +Besides the classical heritage, the Moslems also transmitted some +peculiarly Oriental ideas to the West. Al-Khwārizmī was the author of a +treatise with astronomical tables, the translation of which by Adelard +of Bath usually goes under the name of _Khorazmian Tables_.[342] The +original work was a redaction of a book drawn ultimately from Hindu +sources and known as the _Little Sindhind_.[343] Thus it was from Hindu +sources, as is shown by this work, that the Mohammedans got their idea +of the world center of Arin. Hindu religion, furthermore, contributed +something toward the molding of Greek and Moslem doctrines of the +periodicity of the universe and of the Great Year—doctrines which became +widely known in the West through Hermann the Dalmatian’s Latin +translation of the Persian Abū Maʿshar’s book, _The Great Book of the +Introduction_, entitled in the Latin, _Liber introductorius in +astrologiam_.[344] Hindu influences were also felt in an anonymous but +widely read Arabic treatise falsely attributed to Aristotle in the +Middle Ages and called _Liber de proprietatibus elementorum_.[345] + + + _ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY; THEORIES OF THE TIDES_ + +Turning now from the sources to the material substance of the +contribution of the Moslems, we find that, except in so far as it +brought a knowledge of Aristotle to Europe, it added little to Western +notions either of physical or of regional geography. Though the Moslems +entirely failed to share with the Western World their wide practical +acquaintance with lands and seas, the Arabic writers did nevertheless +introduce some new ideas in the fields of astronomical—or, better, +astrological—geography and in the closely allied study of tidal +phenomena. + + + THE GREAT YEARS + +The theory of the Great Years was very popular among the Orientals, +possibly because it appealed to their fatalistic spirit. Arabic +astronomers adopted Ptolemy’s calculation of the length of the Great +Year at 36,000 terrestrial years[346] and seem to have believed that +after every complete revolution of the sphere of the fixed stars, the +planets, as well as the fixed stars, will find themselves in the same +relative positions that they held at the beginning of the +revolution.[347] The Arabic work on this subject most read in the Latin +West was Hermann the Dalmatian’s translation of Abū Maʿshar’s book, in +which it was explained that astral influences—especially the perpetual +circulation of the fixed stars—are the cause of everything which is born +and dies and of everything which occurs between birth and death on this +earth. + + + COSMIC CYCLES AND GEOGRAPHICAL CHANGES + +In much the same way that the Chaldeans, Hindus, and Greeks had done, +the Moslems worked out a theory of the supposed influence of these +cosmic cycles on geography.[348] The most striking elaboration of the +theory was made by the “Brothers of Piety and Sincerity,” who formed a +philosophical school in the tenth century after Christ. In the great +encyclopedic work[349] produced by this school (which, incidentally, +contains many other interesting speculations on the subject of physical +geography) gradual alterations in the relative position of land and sea +are ascribed to almost imperceptible changes in the longitude of the +fixed stars resulting from the precession of the equinoxes. Not only do +lands and seas change places, but various types of terrain; in the +course of time “cultivated land becomes desert, desert becomes +cultivated land, steppes become seas, and seas become steppes or +mountains.”[350] + +Whereas this curious theory was accepted by the Aristotelian Al-Biṭrūjī, +the author of the pseudo-Aristotelian _Liber de proprietatibus +elementorum_ vigorously opposed to it the following argument.[351] If +the fixed stars revolve around the earth in 36,000 years, the land ought +to revolve around the 34,000 miles which he believed make the +circumference of the earth in the same time, or, as we may infer, at a +rate of slightly less than a mile per year. We should therefore expect +to find certain cities much nearer the coast and other cities farther +from the coast than they used to be. The anonymous author says that if +the theory were valid one ought to be able to observe great changes in +the position of such places as Arin, Ceylon, Byzantium, and Rome in +relation to the sea. But since, as a matter of fact, no such changes are +apparent, the whole theory of the transposition of land and sea falls to +the ground. + +Obvious as it may seem to us, this reasoning is remarkable at a time +when actual observation as a foundation for, or check on, theorizing was +rare indeed; and hence it is gratifying to note that the _Liber de +proprietatibus elementorum_ with its argument against the Great Year, +rather than the encyclopedia of the “Brothers of Piety and Sincerity” +with its argument for it, was the work on this subject that was read by +Occidental scholars. + + + THEORIES OF THE TIDES + +The Moslems did not add much to the classical theories of the tides +which they transmitted to Christendom. Their fundamental work concerning +tides was that treatise of Abū Maʿshar which we have already mentioned, +a work from which, as Duhem says, all the Middle Ages learned the laws +of the ebb and flood.[352] Here, in the chapters on the moon,[353] a +full description is given of the various characteristics of the tides +together with copious speculations regarding their causes. The actual +observations of fact were exact and careful. Abū Maʿshar explains with +not a little accuracy the relation of the tides to the moon’s rising and +setting, to her phases, and to the position of the sun; he understood +that winds might cause exceptionally high water; he recognized the +influences of local topographic features, that some seas display +different tidal phenomena from others and that the flood waters may be +retained by reefs, or valleys, or deep bays. On the other hand, Abū +Maʿshar’s treatment of the causes of the tides was less successful. +Though he believed firmly that the moon produces the ebb and flood, he +failed to account for the presence of the high tide at the time of the +moon’s opposition. His explanation of the moon’s attraction of the +waters was in keeping with astrological methods of reasoning. Our +satellite was supposed by astrologers to be of peculiarly aqueous nature +and for that reason exceptionally capable of governing the movements of +the liquid element of the earth. + +Other theories of the tides entered the West from Arabic sources. +Al-Biṭrūjī’s _On the Sphere_ ascribed their origin not to the moon but +to the general circulation of the heavens.[354] Averroës, in a +commentary on the _Meteorology_ of Aristotle, devoted a confused +chapter[355] to an attempt at showing that ebb and flood are the results +partly of currents produced by differences in level between the ocean +and certain seas and partly of the moon’s attraction of the waters. The +possibility of differences in level between seas and ocean had probably +become known to the Spanish scholar through some garbled rendering of +Eratosthenes’ observations on the currents and levels of the +Mediterranean.[356] + + + MEASUREMENT OF A TERRESTRIAL DEGREE + +That the Saracens also were interested in the more strictly mathematical +aspects of astronomical geography is emphatically proved by the fact +that they undertook actually to measure the length of a terrestrial +degree[357] and thereby to determine the circumference of the earth. +Some knowledge of this great work came to the Western world in our +period through translations of the _Astronomy_ of Al-Farghānī.[358] + + + GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONS + +The Arabic investigations, however, which most profoundly interested the +men of the West were those concerned with the determination of the +location of places on the earth’s surface rather than those whose aim +was to find the size of the globe. Stimulated by their interest in +Ptolemy, the Moslems felt a special need for the accurate knowledge of +positions, for upon such knowledge depended the construction of mosques, +which, according to religious law, must face in the direction of Mecca. +Astrology also necessitated this type of investigation. In order to cast +a horoscope one must know what stars are overhead at a particular +moment; and, to ascertain this, one must know latitude and longitude. In +the Arabic astronomic works there occur rules for determining positions +and tables of the latitudes and longitudes of places throughout the +world.[359] + +One of the most practical results of Arabic investigations in this field +was a reduction of Ptolemy’s exaggerated estimate of the length of the +Mediterranean Sea. The Greek geographer gave the length as 62° or about +half again too long. Al-Khwārizmī cut this figure down to about 52°, +and, if we are right in our interpretation of the available data, +Az-Zarqalī still further reduced it to approximately the correct figure, +42°. As we shall see in a later chapter, the results of these +corrections became known in the medieval West.[360] + +The Moslems, as a general rule, measured longitudes from the prime +meridian which Ptolemy had used, that of the Fortunate Islands (now the +Canaries), situated in the Western Ocean at the westernmost limit of the +habitable earth; but individual writers came to make use of another +meridian farther west, a meridian destined to become known to the +Christian world as that of the True West as distinguished from the +supposed border of the habitable West.[361] Abū Maʿshar, on the other +hand, referred his prime meridian to a fabulous castle of Kang-Diz, far +to the east in the China Sea.[362] + + + ARIN + +The western prime meridian was commonly supposed to be 90° from a +mythical city called Arin (or Arim) situated on the equator, halfway +between the farthest east and the farthest west. This city was said to +have neither latitude nor longitude, and its meridian came arbitrarily +to be placed at 10° east of that of Baghdad. The idea of Arin probably +originated among the Hindus,[363] who believed that the city of Langka +in Ceylon (or perhaps Sumatra)—the abode of devils—lies on the equator. +They traced their prime meridian from Langka through Odjein, a place in +India, to Mount Meru at the north pole—the abode of angels. Odjein was +transliterated into Arabic as “Arin” or “Arim” and was shifted by the +Moslems to the equator. It was made known to the Christian world through +such works as Adelard of Bath’s translation of the _Khorazmian Tables_ +(which, as we have already seen, was an Arabic redaction of a Hindu +work) and Plato of Tivoli’s translation of Al-Battānī’s _Astronomy_. In +the latter, Arin was represented as a cupola or tower; and on Christian +maps and diagrams of the Middle Ages it was not infrequently so +depicted. + + + _ARABIC EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL_ + +This sums up briefly a few of the more significant original ideas that +the Moslems added to twelfth-century geographical knowledge in the +West. By way of contrast, it is not out of place briefly to recall +what they had actually accomplished in the field of geographical +investigation.[364] Moslem trade between the seventh and ninth +centuries reached China by sea and by land; southward it tapped the +more distant coasts of Africa, including Zanzibar; northward it +penetrated Russia;[365] westward Mohammedan navigators saw the unknown +and dreaded waters of the Atlantic. Al-Masʿūdī speaks of the presence +of Moslem traders in the heart of Europe, in a country to which he +gave the name Ad-Dir (probably Bohemia).[366] Arabic literature +abounds with descriptions of the lands within these wide borders; of +their products and kingdoms and marvels, true and fanciful. But all +this was destined to remain a sealed book to the man of the Latin +Occident,[367] who as a rule felt little genuine interest in the world +beyond his immediate ken. He looked to Arabic books for practical aid +in making calendars and star tables and horoscopes; he looked to +Arabic translations and commentaries on Aristotle for help toward a +better understanding of the dark and hidden meaning in the words of +Scripture. The geographical knowledge which he acquired from the +Moslems during our period was merely incidental to other interests, a +sort of flotsam borne in on the great wave of astrologic and +Aristotelian lore sweeping into Europe at this time. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + THE SOURCES FOR THE PERIOD 1100–1250 A. D. + + + _INTRODUCTION_ + +To gain anything approaching complete understanding of the status of the +geographical lore in Western Europe during the Crusading period, one +would be obliged to undertake the colossal task of ransacking +practically all the available literature of this age. From an +examination of selected specimens of various types of document, however, +we may arrive at a fairly correct conception of the kind of geographical +thought and information that was current. Certainly our view of the +subject would not be materially modified by the further accumulation of +illustrative examples. We must, none the less, look to a large variety +of sources: to the writings of theologians, philosophers, historians, +chroniclers, and topographers; to maps, poetry, romances, and even to +works of art. These show us what the sedentary man of the Middle Ages +could learn of geography through reading and study. Pilgrim narratives, +letters, commercial and diplomatic treaties, and many other +miscellaneous documents throw light upon the actual extent of travel +during this century and a half. + +Writers of the Middle Ages did not specialize as we do at the present +day. They treated subjects of the most diverse nature within the pages +of the same book. We shall group their productions into a few broad +categories: philosophical and theological writings that were read for +the most part by the scholar and churchman; translations from Arabic +scientific treatises and other works written under Arabic influence; +encyclopedic compilations or attempts to encompass the whole range of +human learning, also for the scholar, and popularizations of these in +prose and verse for the intelligent layman; histories and chronicles; +pilgrim narratives and other records of travel; topographical works; +and, finally, maps. + +Other more instructive classifications might well be made. One in which +the works were grouped according to the type of thought of which each is +the expression might bring out the conflicting intellectual +crosscurrents of the age. In such a classification the great +differentiation could be emphasized between writers bound by respect for +authority and writers of originality and independence; between those who +interpreted the words of Scripture literally, those who interpreted them +allegorically, and those who went so far as to neglect or to doubt them. +The classification which follows, based upon the purposes which the +various groups of writings were intended to serve, is merely one of +convenience. + + + _THEOLOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS_ + +The distinction between theology, philosophy, and the physical and +natural sciences was not sharply drawn during the earlier Middle Ages. +Only after the ninth century did the tendency to mark off theology and +philosophy as separate spheres of thought become gradually evident,[368] +and it remained for a much later age to set off the physical and natural +sciences from philosophy. + + + THEOLOGICAL WORKS + +Though not much geography is found in the strictly theological writings +of our period, those portions of them which deal with the Creation +embody cosmogonic and cosmographic speculations which have a geographic +character for reasons that have already been explained.[369] Many of the +philosophical writings, on the other hand, are rich in passages of +geographical interest; for the physical geography, like the natural +history, of the Middle Ages was the province of the philosopher. + + + _Peter Abelard_ + +Among the outstanding theologians of the twelfth century was Peter +Abelard (1079–1142), whose tragic history is well remembered. In his +_Expositio in hexaemeron_, _Sermones_, and more famous _Sic et non_ we +find a few scattered observations of a geographical character. Though +Abelard’s fame rests upon the keenness of his reasoning and the +destructive brilliance of his dialectic, his position when dealing with +the Works of the Six Days was that of mystic.[370] We shall have +occasion to see how the geographical passages from his works reveal a +love of elaborate allegory. + + + _Hugh of St. Victor_ + +The monastic school of St. Victor in Paris was preëminently a center of +twelfth-century mysticism.[371] A leading figure here was Hugh of St. +Victor, who held the direction of studies after about the year 1125 and +who enjoyed during his lifetime (he died in 1141) a great reputation for +learning in things divine.[372] Among Hugh’s writings we find +_Adnotationes elucidatoriae in Pentateuchon_, containing speculations on +the Creation, and the curious treatises _De arca Noë mystica_, _De arca +Noë morali_, and _De vanitate mundi_,[373] which display a love of +symbolism and include the exposition of a strange theory of the westward +course of the tide of civilization.[374] + + + _Hildegard of Bingen_ + +Hildegard (1098–1179 or 1180), abbess of a Benedictine convent near +Bingen on the Rhine, was another lover of the symbolic. Her mystic +exaltation took the form of visions in which were revealed to her the +secrets of the universe. With the knowledge thereby attained she served +her fellow man as a prophetess and healer of disease. Besides a series +of letters, she wrote three works recording her visions: _Scivias sive +visionum ac revelationum libri tres_ (1141–1150), _Liber vitae +meritorum_ (1158–1162), and _Liber divinorum operum simplicis hominis_ +(1163–1170). She was also probably the author of two treatises, +_Subtilitates diversarum naturarum creaturarum_ and _Causae et curae_, +which, though not avowedly the record of visions, could hardly have been +written except as the result of some form of religious experience.[375] +Her “cosmology and physiology,” as Thorndike points out, were none the +less in essential conformity with “the then prevalent theories of +natural science” although she “displays no little originality in giving +a new turn to the familiar concepts.” She does not, however, “evolve any +really new principles of nature.”[376] + + + _Peter Lombard and Peter Comestor_ + +To turn from the imaginative and visionary writings of Hugh and +Hildegard to the more coldly intellectual theology and philosophy of the +age, we find in the _Sic et non_ of Abelard the first example of a new +method of handling philosophical and theological questions. This +so-called didactic method was destined to find its culminating +expression in the mighty volumes of Thomas Aquinas. Its essence was to +incite discussion by placing in juxtaposition divergent and +contradictory Scriptural and patristic texts on the same subject. +Abelard did this in the _Sic et non_ without giving interpretations of +his own. Peter Lombard (died 1164), who in his _Sententiae_ followed +Abelard’s method, usually gave in addition his own views on a subject, +though not infrequently the reader was left faced by two or more +conflicting theories. It might almost be said that the _Sententiae_ +served to standardize the orthodox doctrine of the age. Shortly after +Peter Lombard’s death Peter Comestor (the “eater”), at one time dean of +the cathedral church in Troyes and lecturer in Paris, produced an +extensive treatise entitled _Historia scholastica_. This compilation of +commentaries on Scripture enjoyed an immense popularity at a later +period, especially towards the close of the thirteenth century.[377] +Comestor, like Peter Lombard, represented the more orthodox point of +view. + + + THE SCHOOL OF CHARTRES: ITS INTELLECTUAL INDEPENDENCE + +Unusual intellectual independence was displayed during the twelfth +century by the philosophical writers of the school of Chartres[378] and +by those who came under their influence. Well known early in the +eleventh century, this cathedral school had acquired, in the first half +of the twelfth, a European reputation, founded on the boldness and +originality of its masters and on the widespread influence which they +exerted through their pupils and associates. + + + _Bernard and Theodoric of Chartres_ + +Two brothers stand out preëminently among them, Bernard and Theodoric +(or Thierry). Very little in detail is known about the life of either. +Bernard was probably born late in the eleventh century and was +chancellor between 1124 and 1126.[379] He enjoyed an immense reputation +and was called by John of Salisbury the most perfect Platonist of his +century.[380] It seems likely that he died before 1130 and was not the +same man as Bernard Sylvester of Tours, with whom he has often been +confused.[381] + +We know even less of Theodoric, who enjoyed a contemporary fame as great +as, if not even greater than, that of his brother. Theodoric was +mentioned by a disciple as the foremost philosopher of the whole of +Europe.[382] Master of the school (_magister scholae_) in Chartres in +1121, the successor to Gilbert de la Porrée as chancellor in 1141, he +produced a large work on the seven liberal arts (the _Heptateuchon_) and +a treatise describing the Creation.[383] The latter, entitled _De sex +dierum operibus_, was in many respects unique, representing a remarkably +rationalistic discussion of a subject in the treatment of which any +display of reason or independence almost inevitably was deemed +heresy.[384] + + + _Adelard of Bath; Hermann the Dalmatian; Robert of Retines_ + +Bernard and Theodoric maintained scholarly connections throughout +Western Europe and counted many famous men among their disciples. The +Englishman Adelard of Bath[385] belongs to their broader circle, for it +is likely that he was acquainted with the Chartres scholars, at least by +reputation, and his important work, _Quaestiones naturales_[386] (dating +from between 1107 and 1142), shows that he held many ideas in common +with the most famous of Bernard’s pupils, William of Conches. In his +wide travels[387] and in his translations from the Arabic[388] Adelard +exemplifies another phase of the awakening intellectual life of the age, +a turning to Moslem literature for new sources of information and +inspiration beyond the standard and easily available collections of +classical, Scriptural, and patristic authorities. + +Among the disciples of Theodoric may also be counted the travelers and +translators from the Arabic, Hermann the Dalmatian (or Hermann the +Carinthian) and Robert of Retines, to whose translations we shall later +have occasion to refer.[389] + + + _Bernard Sylvester_ + +Very closely akin in spirit with the scholars of Chartres was Bernard +Sylvester, who taught at Tours in the fifth decade of the twelfth +century.[390] It has long been a moot point whether or not Bernard +Sylvester was the same as Bernard of Chartres. There are very potent +arguments in favor of identifying them, among the most convincing being +the remarkable manner in which the philosophy of the _De mundi +universitate_ (or _Cosmographia turonense_),[391] written by Bernard +Sylvester between 1145 and 1148, gives expression to theories which John +of Salisbury ascribes to Bernard of Chartres. Yet, despite these +extraordinary similarities, the weight of evidence seems opposed to the +theory that the two names refer to the same man.[392] In any case, if +Bernard Sylvester was not the brother of Theodoric of Chartres, he was +acquainted with Theodoric and with the latter’s work, for it was to +Theodoric that he dedicated the _De mundi universitate_. + + + _William of Conches_ + +Another member of the Chartres group, William of Conches, was a disciple +of Bernard of Chartres in his youth. He taught at Chartres probably as +early as 1126. Between 1140 and 1150 he acted as tutor to the young +Henry and Geoffrey Plantagenet.[393] Hauréau says that William believed +that “la philosophie tient subordonnées à ses principes généraux, comme +deux sciences subalternes, la théologie et la physique.”[394] His most +significant book, the _De philosophia mundi_,[395] throughout +exemplifies this attitude and reveals to us a mind deeply interested in +physics and natural science for their own sakes and a desire to explain +the phenomena of the universe according to natural and observable laws. +The rationalism of his philosophy brought him into conflict with the +ecclesiastical authorities and necessitated his retracting various +opinions late in life.[396] He died either in 1150 or 1154. + + + ALEXANDER NECKAM + +The scholars of the Chartres group formed the intellectual élite of +their age. More in keeping with the normal habit of the period than +their mode of thought was the manner in which the Englishman Alexander +Neckam dealt with matters of natural science. Born in 1157, Neckam had +become a professor at the University of Paris by 1180; later in life he +returned to England, became abbot of Cirencester in 1213, and died in +1217.[397] His principal works were _De naturis rerum_, in prose, and a +verse paraphrase and enlargement of it entitled _Laus sapiencie divine_, +or _De laudibus divinae sapientiae_.[398] In these works we see that +Neckam, though inspired by a lively curiosity and even by some degree of +understanding of experimental and observational science, was on the +whole less original and less courageous intellectually than either +Theodoric of Chartres or William of Conches. Instead of trying to +explain rationally the phenomena of nature as these earlier writers had +done, he was nearly always content merely to describe these phenomena as +facts and to draw lengthy moral lessons from them. + + * * * * * + +These are merely a few characteristic representatives of the host of +theologians and philosophers of the twelfth and early thirteenth +centuries. Their works serve to illustrate widely diverse tendencies of +thought: the heretical independence of the scholars of Chartres as +contrasted with the mysticism of Hugh of St. Victor, the orthodoxy of +Peter Lombard and Peter Comestor, and the cautious inquisitiveness of +Alexander Neckam. Though these men differed in mental caliber, their +learning was based almost exclusively on the Latin writings of classical +and earlier Christian authors, and most of their geographical knowledge +was borrowed from the sources we have discussed in Chapters I and II. +But our period was also memorable by reason of the influx of a new body +of learning destined to bring about profound modifications in the +methods of European scholarship and to add materially to the sum total +of European knowledge. This new body of learning was made available +through translations from the Arabic. + + + _TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ARABIC; WORKS WRITTEN UNDER ARABIC INFLUENCE; + ARISTOTELIANISM AND ITS OPPONENTS_ + +The enthusiasm for the work of translation which prevailed during our +period foreshadowed a far broader enthusiasm of the same sort that +marked the great age of the Renaissance. Only a relatively few scholars, +however, were familiar with Greek; and the number of direct translations +from the Greek was limited.[399] The men of the Crusading age received +the results of Greek scientific investigation primarily through the +medium of the Moslems. + +We saw in Chapter III how the Moslems had translated certain works of +Aristotle, of Ptolemy, and of the Hindus and had themselves composed +sundry treatises under Peripatetic, Ptolemaic, and Hindu influences. +Many of these Arabic translations, in turn, were converted into Latin by +Occidental scholars of our period.[400] + +Western interest in Moslem science centered at first on the translation +of astronomical and mathematical treatises and somewhat later on Arabic +versions of Aristotle. Indirectly through both of these channels +important geographical conceptions gained currency in Europe. + + + ADELARD OF BATH; PETER ALPHONSI + +Among the early translators of astronomical and mathematical treatises +was Adelard of Bath, whose connections with the school of Chartres we +have already mentioned. Through Adelard’s Latin version of the so-called +_Khorazmian Tables_[401] of Al-Khwārizmī, made in the year 1126,[402] +knowledge of the Hindu conception of a world center, Arin, was +introduced into Europe. The _Khorazmian Tables_ had found their way to +Spain by the beginning of the eleventh century and were there adapted +from the era of Yezdegerd to that of the Hejira by a certain Maslama +al-Majrīṭi of Madrid.[403] In addition to Adelard’s version of Maslama’s +work, there is reason to believe that the _Khorazmian Tables_ were also +put into Latin by Hermann the Dalmatian.[404] + +A contemporary of Adelard of Bath was the Jew, Peter Alphonsi[405] (or +Petrus Anfusi), who was baptized in 1106 at the age of forty-five and +subsequently became an ardent devotee of Christianity. His _Dialogus cum +Judeo_ contains references to Arin and a few significant observations on +astronomical geography. + + + JOHN OF SEVILLE; PLATO OF TIVOLI + +In 1135 John of Seville (also known as Johannes Hispanensis, or John of +Luna) translated Al-Farghānī’s _On the Elements of Astronomy_,[406] a +work from which John of Holywood borrowed much of the materials that he +incorporated into his _De sphaera_ and which thereby was fated to +produce a profound effect on the future development of astronomical +geography during the later Middle Ages. Gerard of Cremona also +translated the same work.[407] + +From about 1140 dates Plato of Tivoli’s version of the _Astronomy_ of +Al-Battānī,[408] a close rendering into Latin of Al-Battānī’s chapters +on the theory of astronomy but not of the astronomical and geographical +tables that followed in the original Arabic. Our interest in the +chapters lies in the fact that they contain (Chapter 6) a brief general +description of the inhabited earth widely differing from those found in +contemporary Latin geographical works. + + + “MARSEILLES TABLES” AND “TOLEDO TABLES” + +Preserved in a twelfth-century manuscript of the Bibliothèque Nationale +is a set of astronomical tables for Marseilles dating from 1140, the +work of a certain Raymond of Marseilles.[409] The _Canons_, or +introductory explanation, of these tables are drawn largely from the +astronomical _Canons_ of Az-Zarqalī;[410] the tables are an adaptation +for the meridian of Marseilles of the _Toledo Tables_. Both Az-Zarqalī’s +_Canons_ and the _Toledo Tables_, with their modifications like the +Marseilles set, contained not a little incidental material of importance +from the point of view of astronomical geography, including a list of +cities with their latitudes and longitudes derived ultimately from +Al-Khwārizmī.[411] That this material enjoyed wide popularity during our +period and later is proved by the existence of a large number of +manuscripts.[412] One of the translations of Az-Zarqualī’s _Canons_ was +done by the hand of the famous Gerard of Cremona, as we have already +seen in Chapter III.[413] + + + ROBERT OF RETINES; HERMANN THE DALMATIAN; DANIEL OF MORLEY + +It is almost certain that before 1143 the _Astronomy_ of Al-Battānī was +again put into Latin, this time by Robert of Retines[414] (or Robert of +Chester). We do not, as in the case of Plato of Tivoli’s version, +possess the text of this translation, though we have what was probably +Robert’s adaptation to the meridian of London of Al-Battānī’s and +Az-Zarqalī’s astronomical tables. This adaptation, for 1149–1150, forms +a continuation of tables for the meridian of Toledo in 1149.[415] +Furthermore, Al-Battānī is cited, and some of the geographical ideas +expressed in his _Astronomy_ are reflected, in the as yet unpublished +_Liber de essentiis_ of Hermann the Dalmatian, who was a close associate +of Robert and a student of Theodoric of Chartres. The _Liber de +essentiis_ was written at Béziers in 1143.[416] Robert also adapted +Adelard’s _Khorazmian Tables_ to the meridian of London.[417] Another +Englishman, Roger of Hereford, was probably the maker of tables for the +meridian of Toledo and certainly of a series for Hereford dating from +1178, based on tables for Toledo and Marseilles.[418] Towards the end of +the century, still another Englishman, Daniel of Morley, journeyed to +Spain in search of Arabic astronomical lore. Here, at Toledo, he came in +contact with Gerard of Cremona. On his return to England he took with +him “a precious multitude of books” and, “to explain the teaching of +Toledo to Bishop John of Norwich” (1175–1200),[419] wrote a work called +_De philosophia_, or _Liber de naturis inferiorum et superiorum_, the +astronomy of which, as in the case of John of Holywood’s _De sphaera_, +was mainly based on the writings of Al-Farghānī. + + + GERARD OF CREMONA; JOHN OF HOLYWOOD (SACROBOSCO) + +At about the same time, Gerard of Cremona produced a short independent +treatise, the _Theorica planetarum_,[420] which became a stock text from +which later writers borrowed extensively. This is merely a summary of +the _Almagest_, produced apparently before Gerard made his famous +translation of that great work in 1175,[421] and is of interest to us +because it contains an account of methods of transposing astronomical +tables to different longitudes. It had certainly been read by the author +of the London tables of 1232,[422] a set which, in addition to being of +astronomical value, contains a few incidental notes of geographic +importance. + +The _De sphaera_[423] of John of Holywood (also known as John of +Halifax, or John Sacrobosco), dating from the very end of our period, +includes citations from Al-Farghānī’s _Astronomy_ as well as from +classical authors and was the most influential work in the field of +astronomical geography of its century, though the intrinsic value of its +contents was not great. + + + ARISTOTELIANISM INTRODUCED THROUGH ARABIC WORKS + +The translators of Arabic mathematical and astronomical works during the +twelfth century prepared the way for an event of the first magnitude in +the intellectual history of the Middle Ages—the reintroduction of +Aristotelian learning into the West.[424] It would lead us far beyond +the bounds of this study to try to discuss the immense influence of +Aristotelianism on the development of European philosophy and theology +in and after the thirteenth century. Something of the geographical +content of Aristotle’s writings on physics and natural science, however, +was indicated in Chapter I, and it was during the closing years of the +twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries that these works +began to gain a hold on European thought. Their influence at this time +was for the most part exerted through roundabout channels: probably in +some cases through Latin translations of Arabic translations from the +original Greek; unquestionably in others through Latin translations of +Arabic translations of Syriac translations from the original Greek; and +in still others through Latin translations of Arabic commentaries on +Aristotle or of works inspired by his writings. The desire or ability to +tap the sources of Aristotelian lore by direct recourse to Greek texts +themselves was exceptional before the middle of the thirteenth century. + +The precise date when the Occident became acquainted with the _Physics_ +and _De caelo_ is a matter of some doubt. It is likely that Avicenna’s +version of these two books had been converted into Latin at Toledo +before the middle of the twelfth century by Dominicus Gondisalvi,[425] +who worked there under the patronage of Archbishop Raymond, but the +extent to which these early translations influenced European science is +a subject of controversy. It has been suggested by Duhem that Latin +translations of Aristotle were known to the scholars of the Chartres +school, Theodoric, Gilbert de la Porrée, and William of Conches, +passages in whose works certainly reveal some familiarity with +Peripatetic theories.[426] On the other hand, there are no actual +citations of Aristotle which would enable us to prove that the passages +in question show first-hand knowledge of the books of the +Stagirite.[427] The fact that much Peripatetic thought had been brought +to the West through the writers of the late Roman and earlier Christian +periods often makes it difficult, in the absence of actual citations, to +distinguish between what had been learned from these earlier sources and +what was contemporaneously derived from the Moslems. + + + _Gerard of Cremona_ + +We are on much firmer ground when we turn to the work of Gerard of +Cremona,[428] for we know as a fact that before his death in 1187 +this indefatigable translator had put into Latin, of the works of +Aristotle of geographical interest, the first three books of the +_Meteorology_,[429] the _Physics_, the _De caelo et mundo_,[430] and +the _De generatione et corruptione_.[431] + + + _Michael Scot_ + +Michael Scot, who died in 1236[432] and was remembered by later ages as +a great magician, was another student of Aristotelian science. After +studying in Spain this Scotsman became court astrologer of the Emperor +Frederick II in Sicily. He learned Arabic and composed treatises on +astronomy, astrology (_Liber introductorius_ and _Liber particularis_) +and physiognomy under the influence of Moslem learning. He also +undertook the translation of sundry works on alchemy and astronomy, +among them the treatise of Al-Biṭrūjī, based on Aristotelian astronomy, +and Aristotle’s _De caelo_ with Averroës’ commentary. Associated with +the _Liber particularis_ we have the text of a questionnaire[433] which +Frederick II presented to Michael and which reveals something of that +versatile Emperor’s burning interest in cosmology and physical +geography. The philosopher’s “brief statements” in reply “concerning +hell, purgatory, heaven, and the terrestrial paradise are followed by an +account of the marvels of nature—strange lakes and rivers of the East, +wondrous metals, stones, plants, drugs, and animals, with their +respective virtues” (Haskins).[434] Michael in this connection also +gives expression to familiar, traditional opinions on the earth as a +sphere, though he includes some original observations on volcanoes and +hot springs.[435] + + + _Aristotelianism in the Thirteenth Century_ + +By the time of Michael Scot Aristotelian theories of physics and of +physical geography as introduced through Moslem channels were finding +fairly general currency in the West. Arnold the Saxon, for instance, in +his encyclopedic treatise written perhaps about 1225, gave citations +from the _De caelo et mundo_, the _Meteorology_, and the _Physics_, as +well as from Averroës and other Arabic admirers of Aristotle.[436] +Aristotelian cosmology, astronomy, and metaphysics, however, were not +accepted by Western scholars until after a strenuous intellectual battle +had been waged over them. Serious efforts were made to place these +teachings forever under the ban of the church. In 1210 and 1215 strict +prohibitions against the study of the Averroïstic versions of the +_Physics_ and _Metaphysics_ were issued by the authorities of the +University of Paris.[437] This shows that by that time not only had the +commentaries of Averroës been translated but that they must have become +popular.[438] Indeed, the popularity of Aristotle and Averroës was +destined to increase despite all prohibitions, and after their works, by +the middle of the thirteenth century, had been purged of objectionable +matter by the ecclesiastical authorities, they became prescribed studies +in the curriculum of the University of Paris. Aristotelianism dominated +the scientific thought of the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; +and the physical geography of the great encyclopedist, Albertus Magnus, +was largely based upon it. Albert, indeed, was sometimes unjustly called +Aristotle’s ape. + + + OPPONENTS OF ARISTOTELIANISM + +On the other hand, there were many individuals who, though accepting the +teachings of Aristotle and his Arabic commentators in regard to specific +facts and theories, were none the less sternly opposed to blind and +uncritical adoption of them. + + + _William of Auvergne_ + +William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris from 1228 to his death in 1249, was +leader of the ecclesiastical party that stood out against the study of +Aristotelian philosophy and theology in that city. It was nevertheless +true, as Duhem tells us, that William’s erudition “had received in +abundance additions from sources which had not enriched the erudition of +earlier centuries: that is from the works of Aristotle and Arabic +authors.”[439] The _De universo_ of William contains much material on +cosmology and natural history. + + + _Robert Grosseteste_ + +The great English churchman, Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln from +1235 until his death in 1253, presents an even more striking example of +the scholar, well read in Aristotelian and Arabic learning, who was +prone to question many of the Peripatetic doctrines. Grosseteste +deserves a high place in the history of medieval science by reason of +the depth of his scholarship and the originality of his ideas. His +style, however, is often difficult and obscure. From the geographical +point of view several of his treatises are of unusual interest. The _De +sphaera_ is devoted to problems of astronomical geography. In the _De +impressionibus aëris seu de prognosticatione_ rules are laid down for +the preparation of weather forecasts based upon astrological +considerations. The _De luce seu de inchoatione formarum_ explains +Robert’s theory of the Creation. The _De natura locorum_, in which the +influences of celestial rays upon the earth’s surface are discussed, +gives expression to many views that were elaborated in fuller detail by +Robert’s more famous pupil and intellectual successor, Roger Bacon.[440] + + + _ENCYCLOPEDIC WORKS_ + +Our period was marked by the production of encyclopedic works the object +of which was to bring together as much human knowledge as possible in +convenient, readable, and, frequently, in popular form. These +encyclopedias carried on the traditions of Pliny, Solinus, Isidore, +Bede, and other earlier writers and for the most part were lacking in +originality. Made up of paraphrases and word-for-word excerpts from +older books, they exemplify better than any other type of literary +production the respect which the man of the Middle Ages felt towards the +authority of the written word and his lack of critical acumen. Their +immense popularity shows that they satisfied a distinct want: the lore +contained in them, however worthless and puerile it often may seem to +us, formed an important part of the intellectual cargo of the medieval +mind. It is imperative, therefore, that representatives of this type of +work should be consulted by anyone who wishes to arrive at a just +estimate of the status of medieval knowledge.[441] + +Most of the geography of the encyclopedias was a geography handed down +from classical times, a geography but distantly related to contemporary +facts and one in which fabulous elements tended to persist and multiply +at the expense of sound and accurate information. Yet it was the +geography of the majority of the lettered men, and the man who did not +himself actually travel found here practically the only convenient means +of learning about the countries of the world. He might pick up +occasional details of routes to Rome and Palestine from pilgrims, +traders, or soldiers; but only in the pages of the encyclopedias could +he find anything approaching a systematic treatment of the earth and its +various parts. + + + “DE IMAGINE MUNDI” + +The most widely read book of this nature was the _De imagine mundi_, +which dates from about 1100. Though this has often been attributed in +recent years to Honorius of Autun (it has also been ascribed to St. +Anselm and with far greater probability to an unknown Honorius +Inclusus), the evidence at hand is insufficient to warrant us in coming +to any definite conclusions on the vexed question of its +authorship.[442] The general character of the compilation is illustrated +by a remark at the close of the dedicatory letter: “I place nothing in +this work except that which is approved by the best authorities.”[443] +The main source of the geographical chapters was the _Etymologiae_ of +Isidore, though the author also drew directly from Orosius.[444] It +seems likely, indeed, that the geographical chapter of Orosius served as +a basis for the entire compilation and provided an outline which was +embellished by copious excerpts of detail from the more elaborate +writings of Isidore, Augustine, and Bede. Furthermore, it is even +probable that the unknown author had a map before him.[445] He appears +to have borrowed directly from the _Collectanea rerum memorabilium_ of +Solinus his account of the marvels of India, though elsewhere he taps +Solinus at second hand through the medium of Isidore.[446] + + + LAMBERT’S “LIBER FLORIDUS;” GUIDO’S ENCYCLOPEDIA + +Dating from approximately the same period is a similar work, the _Liber +floridus_ of Lambert. Practically all we know of the author is that he +was a canon of St. Omer early in the twelfth century.[447] His book, a +hodgepodge of notices, geographical and otherwise, from Isidore, Bede, +Martianus Capella, Raban Maur, and others, though it did not enjoy +popularity comparable to that of the _De imagine mundi_, nevertheless by +no means lapsed into obscurity during the centuries that followed. There +are at least eight manuscripts of it preserved in the libraries of +Europe, and it was referred to with high praise by writers of the +thirteenth century.[448] The manuscripts are illustrated by crude maps, +among the few remaining relics of twelfth-century cartography. + +Of much the same nature is an encyclopedic compilation made by a certain +Guido, probably an Italian, in 1119.[449] It contains excerpts from a +variety of sources, including Isidore, the Romance of Alexander, Paul +the Deacon, and, more especially, the anonymous Ravenna geographer. + + + “LUCIDARIUS” + +The _De imagine mundi_ became an important source for later writings. It +was a standard authority during the closing years of the Middle Ages for +those who deliberately undertook to give a geographical description of +the earth. The _Lucidarius_ (or _Aurea gemma_) was a popular +encyclopedia written in German towards the end of the twelfth century at +the order of Henry the Lion. Though embodying the peculiar and fabulous +features of the _De imagine mundi_, it omitted the drier but more +correct geographical and topographical details.[450] The principal +source of much of the natural science in the _Lucidarius_ was William of +Conches’ _De philosophia mundi_. The _Lucidarius_ was translated at a +later date into Danish, Dutch, and Bohemian,[451] and from it were +derived the geographical portions of the famous _Hortus deliciarum_ of +the abbess Herrad of Landsperg.[452] + + + GERVASE OF TILBURY + +Another widely read book that came under the influence of the _De +imagine mundi_ was the _Otia imperialia_ of Gervase of Tilbury,[453] a +protégé of Otto IV and by him appointed marshal of the kingdom of Arles. +The _Otia_, composed to entertain the emperor during the leisure moments +of his struggle with Frederick II, is in large measure a compilation of +facts, fables, and theories borrowed from earlier works. The +cosmological chapters are drawn from Peter Comestor’s _Historia +scholastica_, the geographical ones from Orosius, Isidore, and, more +particularly, the _De imagine mundi_, which furnished a framework into +which the statements of the other writers were made to fit.[454] The +large number of manuscripts of the _Otia_ bears witness to its great +popularity. + + + JACQUES DE VITRY + +Jacques de Vitry, bishop of St. John of Acre until 1220, in his +_Historia hierosolymitana_[455] also borrowed from the _De imagine +mundi_, especially in describing Palestine and Asia. His interest in the +remarkable caused him to include, as had been done by the authors of the +German _Lucidarius_, most of the fabulous elements of the earlier book +as well as to add fabulous stories from other sources. It was these +stories, derived in part from the _Historia hierosolymitana_ and in part +directly from the _De imagine mundi_, that accounted for the great +popularity of a poem to which we must now turn. + + + “L’IMAGE DU MONDE” + +This poem, the _Image du Monde_,[456] destined to be read for over three +centuries, was decidedly the most important of the many works that felt +the influence of the _De imagine mundi_. Like its Latin predecessor, it +is an attempt at the popularization of universal knowledge. The work of +popularization, however, was here carried to the stage of translation +into a popular tongue, which rendered the book available to a much +broader circle of readers. The style was vivid and not lacking in +originality, and the subject matter contained sufficient of the +grotesque and unexpected to assure the poem a long-lived success. Though +the question of authorship and exact date is a somewhat perplexing one, +it seems likely that the _Image du Monde_ was partially composed in Metz +in 1245 or 1247 by a certain Gossouin and within the following two or +three years was added to either by Gossouin himself or by a certain +Walter of Metz, to whom the entire work has occasionally been +attributed.[457] Prior, however, to the composition of the second verse +redaction by Gossouin or Walter, the poem had been put into a prose +form,[458] from which translations were subsequently made into Hebrew, +Judeo-German, and English (the last by Caxton in 1480). + + + “KONUNGS-SKUGGSJÁ” + +From the very end of our period there dates an Icelandic dialogue of +more or less encyclopedic scope, a work which might well be called a +northern counterpart of the _De imagine mundi_. This _Konungs-Skuggsjá_, +or _King’s Mirror_,[459] written about the year 1250 or perhaps as late +as 1260, contains chapters that reveal to us something of the status of +Scandinavian knowledge of the geography and natural phenomena of +Iceland, Greenland, and the Arctic seas. But, like the Sagas, so far as +we know, it was not translated into Latin or into the vernacular +tongues, and the type of knowledge contained in it remained until the +great age of discovery virtually the exclusive property of the peoples +of Iceland and of the far north of Europe.[460] + + + GREAT ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY + +We cannot well leave the subject of encyclopedic compilations without +mentioning such gigantic thirteenth-century productions as the _Specula_ +of Vincent of Beauvais,[461] the various writings of Albertus +Magnus,[462] and the relatively less ambitious popularizations of +Bartholomew Anglicus,[463] Brunetto Latino,[464] and others.[465] The +_Opus majus_ of Roger Bacon is also encyclopedic in scope. These great +works contain a wealth of reference the systematic study of which would +unquestionably shed much additional light on the substance of medieval +geographical knowledge. The innumerable pages of Albertus Magnus, +indeed, show not a little originality; and Roger Bacon stands somewhat +apart from his contemporaries as a fearless exponent of scientific +method.[466] On the whole, however, there is no very essential +difference between the geography of these men and that of their less +well-informed and perhaps less diligent predecessors. This is one reason +why we have felt justified in failing to treat them in detail. Another +reason is that adequate treatment of the geography of the +thirteenth-century encyclopedists would fill another volume at least the +size of the present one. + + + DANTE + +A figure, however, whom we cannot refrain from mentioning in this +connection, though he lived after 1250 and though his genius far +transcended that of any encyclopedist of any age, is Dante. Much of the +information amassed by the laborious compilers of encyclopedic works +(especially Brunetto Latino) was fused by the poet into the _Divine +Comedy_ and molded into his various prose writings. The universality of +Dante’s knowledge embraced the geography and cosmography of his age. +Though we shall not attempt to deal with Dante’s geographical lore[467] +in the pages which follow, it would be a serious mistake to omit all +reference to one who flourished so soon after the end of our period and +who, besides being a poet of all time, was an outstanding figure in +medieval scholarship and, incidentally, in the history of medieval +geography. + +The reader who wishes to investigate the geography of Dante and of the +encyclopedists of the thirteenth century will find brief summaries and +references in Notes 92–98 to the present chapter. + + + _HISTORIES, CHRONICLES, SAGAS, EPIC POEMS_ + +The writings of the historians and chroniclers of the Middle Ages, +though they do not as a rule include systematic expositions of +geography, nevertheless often contain incidental geographical matter of +no slight interest. The present section is devoted to a very few +selected specimens of historical narrative of the Crusading age, whether +prose or verse, that are of particular significance from the +geographical point of view. + + + OTTO OF FREISING + +Among the outstanding medieval historians was Otto of Freising.[468] A +man of intelligence and breadth, steeped in the academic literature of +his age, Otto, though never going out of his way to write of +geographical subjects, always maintained an attitude of open and +receptive interest toward all branches of science. The range of his +literary and scholarly learning is a key to the intellectual attainments +of the average man of the world of his period. Born about 1114 or 1115 +of a noble or even royal family—his maternal grandfather was the Emperor +Henry IV—Otto studied in Paris probably early in the second quarter of +the century. After his return to Germany in 1132 or 1133, he became a +Cistercian and was subsequently made bishop of Freising. His principal +works were a _Chronicon_, running from the beginning of the world to the +year 1146, and the _Gesta Friderici_, recording the deeds of Frederick +Barbarossa down to the year 1156 and continued after that date by +Ragewin (or Rahewin).[469] Among other classical authorities Otto may +have used Seneca’s _Quaestiones naturales_: most of his geographical +ideas, however, were derived from Isidore and Orosius and from certain +unknown “topographers” whom he cites as giving details on the rivers of +Europe.[470] + + + GUNTHER OF PAIRIS + +On the _Gesta Friderici_ was based an historical poem composed about +1186 by Gunther of Pairis (in Alsace), of whom we know next to +nothing.[471] This work, the _Ligurinus_, adds little of material nature +to the sources from which it was taken, although the poet converts the +simple, straightforward narrative of Otto and Ragewin into a poem +vividly expressed. It has been shown that the _Ligurinus_, even though +the work of a German author, is a typical product of the poetical school +of France of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.[472] Where +the writer expands and converts into verse Otto’s and Ragewin’s words +describing natural features of the earth’s surface and geographical +regions, he displays a sense of color and a feeling for nature that are +striking,[473] even though the actual epithets employed are hackneyed +and drawn from well-known classical models. Furthermore, in the +description of Germany he departs so widely from his literary sources +that it seems more than likely that he actually based his lines on +personal acquaintance with the country.[474] + + + WALTER OF CHÂTILLON; WILLIAM THE BRETON + +Two other historical poems of the same school and of analogous character +to the _Ligurinus_ are the _Alexandreis_[475] of Walter of Châtillon +(also known as Walter of Lille), written about 1180, and the _Philippis_ +of William the Breton, published about 1225.[476] These are Latin +hexameter epics modeled on Virgil and Lucan; full of allusions to Latin +literature and mythology, they also show originality and a power of +accurate description of scenes and country.[477] The _Alexandreis_ sings +the deeds of Alexander the Great; the _Philippis_ the exploits of Philip +Augustus of France. + + + HISTORIANS AND HISTORIES OF THE CRUSADES + +Our period was the age of the reopening of the Levant and the regions of +the Black Sea to Western knowledge through the Crusades and through the +expansion of commerce that came in their train. The historians of the +Crusades, consequently, furnish us with geographical notices of a kind +differing from the stereotyped and secondhand geography of the +encyclopedias. The items in the Crusaders’ records are often the results +of actual experience. They give us an impression of freshness lacking in +the pages of dry compilations like the _De imagine mundi_. But the +Crusaders were not geographers and were without any true geographical +instinct. They rarely felt an interest in anything besides the immediate +events they were undertaking to describe or in matters not purely +practical or utilitarian.[478] + +The most important work, from this point of view, is the _Historia rerum +in partibus transmarinis gestarum_ of William of Tyre (born 1130).[479] +This covers events in Palestine and in the Crusaders’ states during the +years between 1095 and 1185 and abounds in observations on the products +and appearance of the country, on the habits of the Arabs—whose language +William had probably learned[480]—and on other peoples of the East. + +The _Gesta regis Ricardi_, which has sometimes been erroneously ascribed +to Benedict of Peterborough,[481] records the voyage of Richard +Coeur-de-Lion to the Holy Land in 1190. In the description of the routes +to and from Palestine[482] we find a wealth of detail about the +countries, isles, and seas traversed. The distinctly nautical style and +content in places make it seem not at all improbable that a part of the +book at least was derived from some sailing manual. Roger of Hoveden in +his _Chronica_[483] (to the year 1201) made use of the same sources as +those on which the author of the _Gesta regis Ricardi_ drew, though +Roger’s account is fuller and more detailed, especially regarding Spain. +Another source for the Crusade of Richard Coeur-de-Lion is the _Estoire +de la guerre sainte_ by Ambroise,[484] a professional writer, who took +part on the expedition and who described the Holy Land with less +understanding than William of Tyre almost exclusively from the point of +view of the sufferings and hardships experienced by the Crusaders. + +The _Prise de Constantinople_[485] of Robert de Clari, a history of the +Fourth Crusade by a participant, is the work of a man of relatively +humble estate but of a man who felt more or less genuine interest in +strange peoples and their customs. This interest is manifested +particularly by the data that he gives on the Komans of the Russian +plains, some of whom he undoubtedly had seen on the streets of +Constantinople. + +A letter from the patriarch of Jerusalem to Innocent III, entitled _La +devision de la terre de oultremer et des choses qui i sont_,[486] was +composed about 1200 in reply to a request from the Pope for information +concerning the Saracen countries. In this anonymous work a geographical +sketch of Egypt and Palestine shows that its author had no limited +acquaintance with the Moslem faith and the Mohammedan peoples. + + + SCANDINAVIAN HISTORICAL WORKS + +The geographical knowledge acquired by the Crusaders became the common +property of all Western Europe. That which was acquired by the Vikings, +on the other hand, was disseminated practically not at all among the +peoples of the Latin West. Brief mention, therefore, must suffice for +the Scandinavian sources, even though of all European folk the Vikings +were the most adventurous voyagers and their geographical horizon the +widest. + +The introduction of Christianity marked the end of the heroic age of +Norwegian and Icelandic history. It also ushered in an extraordinary +period of literary productivity, the age of the Sagas[487] and +Eddas.[488] The composition of the Sagas began in the twelfth and lasted +on into the fourteenth century, but the events which they relate +occurred far back in pagan days. For the most part bald but telling +narratives of adventure, war, and litigation, they devote little space +to comment or description; and the numerous place names mentioned are +referred to as if the reader were already familiar with them. + +The records of the farthest voyages of the Vikings to the shores of +Wineland the Good were not given the final written form in which we now +know them until after the close of the thirteenth century.[489] On the +other hand, the history of Iceland was told by Ari Frodhi (1067–1148) in +his _Íslendingabók_;[490] and the chronicles of the settlement of the +coasts of this isle and of the discovery of Greenland are recorded in +the _Landnámabók_,[491] or _Book of Settlements_, the original of which +probably dates from the twelfth century. The famous _Heimskringla_ of +Snorri Sturluson, the greatest of early Scandinavian historians, records +the history of the kings of Norway. Its title means “the Round World,” +and the prelude consists of a brief geographical description of the +principal countries of the world. The text includes no less than sixteen +Sagas, among them that of Sigurd the Crusader chronicling an adventurous +voyage (1109) of a king of southern Norway to the Holy Land by way of +the Strait of Gibraltar and homeward overland. Scattered geographical +references are found in other Sagas and in the _Icelandic_[492] and +_Greenland Annals_[493] which, though written after our period, throw +light on events that took place before the mid-thirteenth century. + + + LATIN HISTORIES OF THE NORTH + +Besides the Sagas, three historical works written in Latin by Northern +writers of our age deserve particular mention inasmuch as they all +contain geographical descriptions of the Scandinavian world. The first +of these is the history of Adam of Bremen. On strictly chronological +grounds Adam, who died about 1076, belongs before the opening of the +Crusading age. We shall discuss him, however, among the historians of +the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, to whose works his writings +are more akin in spirit than to those of the earlier Middle Ages. Adam +was canon of Bremen and master of the cathedral school of that city in +the time of the great Archbishop Adalbert, who had “made Bremen an +Arctic Rome and his court the greatest center of Northern learning” +(Beazley).[494] The archiepiscopal province of Bremen was the largest in +the entire medieval church, including all of Scandinavia, Iceland, +Greenland, the Orkneys, the Faroes, and the Hebrides. Adam was thus +placed in a most favorable position to gather together materials on the +geography and history of these northern lands. His great work (called +sometimes _Gesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiae pontificum_, sometimes +_Historia ecclesiastica_, and sometimes _Bremensium praesulum historia_) +is in four books, the last of which deals with the geography of the +North. Much of this was based on information derived from +contemporaries; but Adam was also well read in Latin literature and +often quotes and copies from the works of Macrobius, Martianus Capella, +Solinus, and Orosius. + +From somewhat more than a century later we have another Latin history of +the Scandinavian North—if Saxo Grammaticus’ curiously heterogeneous +combination of mythology, folklore, poetry, and accurate observation +deserves the name of history. The first book of this work, known as the +_Gesta Danorum_, contains a formal geographical sketch of Denmark, the +Baltic, the Scandinavian Peninsula, and remoter countries and isles +beyond the Atlantic, wherein fact is blended with romance. There are +also occasional observations of geographical interest scattered through +the later books. + +Finally, in an anonymous _Historia Norwegiae_ dating from the early +thirteenth century we find an introductory passage on the geography of +the regions with which this history deals: a concise description of +Norway is followed by briefer comments on the tributary islands, +Iceland, Greenland, the Orkneys, and the Faroes. Especially interesting +are the author’s observations upon the volcanoes of Iceland. The +contents show that, like Adam of Bremen and Saxo Grammaticus, the writer +must have been familiar with the standard geographical books of the +Middle Ages, with Bede and Solinus, and perhaps with Isidore and Pliny. +The _Historia Norwegiae_, however, can never have enjoyed great +popularity, or else more than one manuscript would be known at the +present day.[495] + + + _LEGENDS_ + +Many of the legends of our period contain material of geographical +significance, and a few of these may claim our particular attention. + + + ROMANCE OF ALEXANDER + +The stories of Alexander the Great served to direct men’s attention +eastward, for, besides narrating the adventures of the Macedonian +conqueror, they gave, as we have already seen,[496] details of a sort +about the geography of Asia, particularly of India.[497] Not only were +the earlier Latin versions derived from the _Pseudo-Callisthenes_ +paraphrased and copied by historians,[498] but new elements were added +to the cycle—notably the _Iter ad Paradisum_,[499] an account of +Alexander’s journey to Paradise. Walter of Châtillon (or of Lille), +about 1180, composed in the style of Lucan a great Latin hexameter poem +entitled _Alexandreis_, based in part on the legendary stories of the +Macedonian and in part on the more authentic histories of Justin and +Quintus Curtius.[500] The widest currency, however, was given to the +Romance through its translation into the vernacular tongues. The oldest +French version, which covers the earlier portion of the Romance only, +was written by Alberic of Besançon (early twelfth century?) in +octosyllabic verse of the dialect of the Dauphiny.[501] This was +translated into German by one Lamprecht and was rendered into the +_langue d’oïl_ in decasyllabic form.[502] The Romance reached its +highest vernacular development in a version in alexandrines,[503] the +joint composition of Lambert li Tors of Châteaudun, Alexander of Bernai +(or of Paris), and Peter of St. Cloud. The existence of more than twenty +manuscripts testifies to the popularity of this great poem, which is a +sort of mosaic from various sources.[504] Much of it came from the +_Pseudo-Callisthenes_ through the medium of Valerius, the _Epitoma_ of +Valerius, Alberic of Besançon, and the decasyllabic poem; but some +elements can be traced back to Orosius, Justin, Quintus Curtius, +Eustatius, and Josephus, and the texts show many later interpolations of +unknown origin. The Romance in alexandrines was drawn upon in its turn +by later compilers. From the mid-thirteenth century there dates a poem, +probably by one Eustace of Kent, which incorporates much material from +this and other sources.[505] It includes miscellaneous geographical +elements; and certain of the manuscripts are adorned with a wealth of +magnificent miniatures, representing, among other things, the marvels of +India and all the fantastic creatures encountered by Alexander +throughout the East. + + + PRESTER JOHN + +During our period the belief was spread abroad in the existence of a +numerous Christian population in Asia. We find an account of Christians +in India in an anonymous report of the visit of a certain Patriarch John +of India to Rome in 1122, the authenticity of which is apparently +confirmed in a letter of Odo, abbot of St. Remi in Rheims, to a certain +Count Thomas.[506] Of far greater importance was the fabulous story of +Prester John. Belief in this mighty Christian potentate and his immense +kingdom may be traced in large measure to the widely read _Letter of +Prester John_, dating in its earliest form from before 1177,[507] +addressed in some manuscripts to the Byzantine Emperor[508] and +elsewhere to other Western monarchs. The popularity of this is attested +by the fact that Zarncke, its editor, knew of no less than eighty +manuscripts. The question of the sources of the _Letter_ in its original +form is obscure, though the origins of the numerous interpolations can +nearly all be explained. Much, certainly, was borrowed from the +Alexander stories, and much from the legend of St. Thomas in India; +other parts are indubitably connected with the great Oriental reservoir +of fabulous and miraculous lore. The account of the visit of Patriarch +John to Rome and the _Letter of Prester John_ constituted the principal +sources of an anonymous and highly fanciful description of India and of +Prester John’s country found in a twelfth-century manuscript in the +Heiligenkreutzerstift, near Vienna, and commonly called the _Elysaeus_ +account.[509] The _Letter of Prester John_ was not only extensively read +in its various Latin versions but was translated into French, Italian, +German, and English.[510] + + + ST. BRANDAN + +Another legend which enjoyed perhaps an even greater popularity was that +dealing with the wanderings of St. Brandan (or Brendan) in the Western +Ocean. The story occurs in several distinct forms.[511] The Latin +version had already taken shape before our period opened and perhaps +dates back to the ninth century or earlier. From it was derived in part +an Anglo-Norman version composed in 1121, which ultimately found its way +into the _Image du monde_. The legend furthermore gained currency among +the Teutonic peoples in a somewhat different version developed probably +from a twelfth-century French original. + + + _PILGRIM NARRATIVES; MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS OF TRAVEL_ + +The travels of pilgrims and traders during the Middle Ages have been the +subject of more careful research in recent years than many other aspects +of our study.[512] Consequently, it will suffice merely to give a very +brief statement of the more significant pilgrim records dating from the +Crusading age. + + + CHRISTIAN PILGRIM NARRATIVES + +The first pilgrim after the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 who has left a +fairly complete account of the Holy Land was the Anglo-Saxon, +Saewulf,[513] a traveler who visited Palestine in 1102 and 1103, +combining trading enterprise with religious zeal. From the middle of the +century the journeys of John of Würzburg,[514] of his follower +Theoderic,[515] as well as of the Icelandic abbot, Nikulás Bergsson[516] +of Thverá, deserve mention because in these records we find a personal +touch that distinguishes them from the majority of similar narratives. +The latter as a rule show that the pilgrims, like the medieval men of +learning, suffered from that tendency, so characteristic of their age, +to copy slavishly what others had said rather than to rely on their own +powers of observation. This is particularly well illustrated by the +majority of pilgrim records dating from after the early years of the +twelfth century, when, as Beazley puts it, a decline had set in, +“hastened by the compilation of standard guidebooks, which may be +faintly described as legendary and inaccurate, and from which the later +pilgrim narratives blindly copy, to the ever growing exclusion of +anything independent or scholarly. Two of these handbooks, known as the +_Old_ and the _New Compendium_, are the source of most of the tracts on +the Holy Road which have been left us, under various names, from the +time of the Second Crusade to the close of the Middle Ages.”[517] To +this dry, guidebook type belong the narrative ascribed to Fetellus, +archdeacon of Antioch,[518] and a series of anonymous accounts of +pilgrimages dating from the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. +Though several of these contain more or less original matter, the +desiccating influence of the _Old Compendium_ is nearly everywhere +apparent.[519] + +Besides the pilgrims other travelers were on the road, and the records +of their travels have in some cases come down to us. The journeys of +Giraldus Cambrensis through Wales and Ireland will be discussed in the +next section, on topographical works. Narratives of travel are also +occasionally to be found in historical works and chronicles, poems, and +letters. + + + LETTERS OF TRAVEL + +The letter was an honored form of literary expression throughout +antiquity and the Middle Ages. Carefully composed epistles of the +ecclesiastic and educated man of the world were looked upon as more than +mere media for the conveying of information. Not infrequently they were +highly polished specimens of stylistic art, worthy of finding a +permanent place in literature. From our point of view, they are of +interest for the personal accounts of journeys which they sometimes +contain.[520] Guy of Bazoches, for instance, who was precentor of the +church of St. Stephen at Châlons, gave a brilliant description of his +experiences and of what he saw on the Crusade of 1190 in a series of +letters to his nephew and to others.[521] Conrad of Querfurt, bishop of +more than one see in Germany during the last years of the twelfth +century, wrote enthusiastically of his wanderings through Italy in a +letter preserved for us in Arnold of Lübeck’s _Chronica Slavorum_.[522] +A thorough study of the epistolography of the Crusading age would surely +reveal a wealth of geographical lore. + + + JEWISH TRAVELERS + +The Jews of the Middle Ages often journeyed farther afield than their +Christian contemporaries. Their travels, for the most part in the +interests of commerce, though in some instances in the nature of +pilgrimages to Jerusalem, a city holy to Jew and Christian alike,[523] +were facilitated by the presence of Hebrew communities in nearly all the +cities of Europe and Western Asia. Strongly imbued with the racial +consciousness of a vigorous and often oppressed people, the members of +these communities did all in their power to receive the travelers and +speed them on their way. The books composed by such Jewish wanderers as +Benjamin of Tudela and Petachia of Ratisbon have been preserved and are +invaluable as geographical records. It should be remembered, however, +that they were written by men of a despised race and in a tongue unknown +to the Christians of the West and that the geographical lore which may +have been widespread among the more intelligent Hebrews never became an +integral part of the geographical knowledge of Christendom. Hence in the +pages which follow and which deal primarily with the geographical +knowledge of Western Christendom but relatively little space can be +devoted to Jewish geography. + +A few words, nevertheless, must be said of Benjamin and of Petachia. + + + _Benjamin of Tudela_ + +Rabbi Benjamin came from the small Spanish city of Tudela on the Ebro. +It was probably about the year 1159 that this observant wanderer +journeyed eastward from his native town, moving leisurely through +southern France, Italy, Greece, Constantinople, and thence by sea to +Syria. After a thorough examination of the cities of Syria and Palestine +he made his way overland to Baghdad. It is unlikely that he penetrated +beyond Mesopotamia, though on his homeward journey he visited Egypt +sometime before 1171 and returned to his home in Castile in 1173. He +appears to have kept a record as he went along, and from a critical +examination of his book it is possible in a general way to reconstruct +his route. He describes in detail the cities he passed through and the +distances in days’ journeys, though not the directions, from one to +another. He notes particularly the names of the leading Jews of each +place and gives estimates of the numbers of the Jewish population. +Indeed, probably one of his main purposes was to get in touch with Jews +of as many countries as possible in order to determine where they were +treated well. One result of the Crusades was an outburst of persecution +of Hebrews throughout Christendom, and Benjamin, besides traveling for +the sake of trade, was undoubtedly seeking for places “where his +expatriated brethren might find an asylum” (Adler).[524] But, as well as +revealing an interest in the Jewish inhabitants of the regions he +traversed, his book gives us many significant data in regard to commerce +and politics, monuments and natural features. For the regions actually +visited by Benjamin this information is accurate and precise, but for +the farther parts of Asia it becomes confused and often legendary.[525] + + + _Petachia of Ratisbon_ + +The second of the great Hebrew travelers of the twelfth century was +Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon in Bavaria. In the ninth decade of the +century Petachia traveled eastward from Prague through Poland, Russia, +Transcaucasia, and Kurdestan to Baghdad, whence he returned homeward by +way of Palestine. The outward journey was a most unusual exploit for +this time, traversing the steppes of Russia then infested with wild +Tatar tribes. Unfortunately, much that was most important and +significant in Petachia’s book appears to have been removed by Rabbi +Yahudi the Pious, “who acted as Petachia’s literary mouthpiece” +(Beazley).[526] + + + _TOPOGRAPHICAL WORKS_ + +We must now examine a few works on the geography and topography of local +regions. + + + GODFREY OF VITERBO + +In a manuscript of the mid-twelfth-century writings of Godfrey of +Viterbo, and in all probability to be ascribed to Godfrey, there is a +poem entitled _Denumeratio regnorum imperio subjectorum_.[527] The +writer explains his purpose in the following terms: “Not the wars of +kingdoms are here set forth, but their fortune (pride?), their rivers, +the extent and kind of regions which constitute them, the types of +customs, the manner of harvesting and of trade.”[528] In the course of +the poem he treats of Rome, of Apulia and other Italian districts +subject to Rome, of the kingdom of the Lombards, of Venetia, of “true +France”—by which he means the lands of the Franks along the lower +Rhine—of Basel, of Alsace, of Strasburg, of Worms; but, though much of +the detail constitutes a poetic geography of peoples and cities, little +attention is paid to physical features. + + + GERVASE OF CANTERBURY + +Among the lesser writings of the English chronicler, Gervase of +Canterbury, we find a _mappamundi_ dating from about the year 1200.[529] +This is a brief account of England, its dimensions[530] and languages, +followed by a table in three columns showing, for each county. (1) the +most important ecclesiastical officers, archbishops, bishops, abbots, +and priors; (2) the names of the churches; and (3) the religious orders +and mother churches to which the various ecclesiastics appertained. +After this there follows a list of hospitals, castles, islands, fresh- +and salt-water springs, and other curiosities. + + + GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS + +By all means the most important topographical works of our period, +however, came from the pen of Giraldus Cambrensis, or Gerald of Barry +(_c._ 1146-_c._ 1222).[531] This active and intelligent Norman-Welsh +ecclesiastic, who at the time had already made one visit to Ireland, was +appointed chaplain to Henry II in 1184 and in the following year was +sent as counselor to the young Prince John on the latter’s expedition to +Ireland. During the expedition he collected materials for two treatises, +the first of which, the _Topographia Hiberniae_, was completed in 1188. +Though Giraldus’ knowledge of Ireland in reality was limited, barely +extending beyond the areas occupied by the English, though his +impression of the Irish people was prejudiced and hostile, and though he +overburdens us with the recitation of marvels, his books show, none the +less, that their author possessed a keen interest in natural history and +geography and that his powers of observation were far from mediocre. The +second treatise, the _Expugnatio Hiberniae_, or history of the English +conquest of the island, contains much less geographical material than +the _Topographia_. + +In 1188, when Henry II was about to start out on the Crusade, he sent +Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury into Wales to preach there and urge the +people to take the cross. Giraldus accompanied the archbishop on this +tour and subsequently wrote an account of it in his _Itinerarium +Kambriae_. Together with the _Descriptio Kambriae_ that followed a few +years later, this contains many accurate and important remarks and notes +on the physical and human geography of Giraldus’ native land. + +These treatises on Ireland and Wales hold a unique position in the +literature not only of our period but of the entire Middle Ages. Brewer, +in his introduction to the collected works of Giraldus, says that the +_Topographia Hiberniae_ is a “monument of a bold and original genius” +and that Giraldus “must take rank with the first who descried the value +and, in some respects, the proper limits of descriptive geography.”[532] +Though this may be a little too strong, we readily agree with Dimock’s +estimate of the treatises on Wales: “His account of the land and the +people of Wales will bear very honourable comparison with any +topographical attempt that had appeared up to his time and with any that +appeared for many ages afterwards.”[533] Giraldus was in a very real +sense the forerunner of the modern writer of the better sort of book of +travel. His works reveal to us a mind keenly interested in the results +of its own observation and not merely in collecting what others had +said. Giraldus was certainly enthusiastic, and we are almost tempted to +say that he was endowed with an “outdoor” and even “Rooseveltian” +interest in the world about him. + +Before leaving the topographical works, mention should be made of a +little anonymous guide to the monuments and antiquities of Rome, the +_Mirabilia urbis Romae_,[534] dating from the late twelfth century and +widely read during the years that followed. + + + _MAPS_ + +From the age of the Crusades date several of the most characteristic +medieval maps. These highly important sources, which serve so admirably +to illustrate the geographical conceptions of the time, have been made +the object of such thorough and careful research by Konrad Miller,[535] +the results of whose investigations are well summarized in Beazley’s +_Dawn of Modern Geography_,[536] that it hardly seems necessary here to +devote a great deal of space to them. Let us merely indicate what the +more important maps were, and show in a general way their relation to +the literature of the age, leaving for Chapter XI a brief discussion of +them as typifying medieval geographical thought. + +We saw in Chapter II that the maps of the world drawn before 1100 and +now extant could nearly all be classified in four groups. + + + ZONE MAPS + +1. Of the first, zone maps, or diagrams illustrating the division of the +earth’s surface into zones, examples occur in twelfth- and +thirteenth-century manuscripts of Macrobius, of the _De imagine mundi_, +of Lambert’s _Liber floridus_ (Fig. 3), of William of Conches’ _De +philosophia mundi_, of Herrad of Landsperg’s _Hortus deliciarum_, and of +John of Holywood’s _De sphaera_.[537] The Paris manuscript of Peter +Alphonsi’s _Dialogus_ also contains two related diagrams, one showing +the eccentricity of the sun’s orbit and the other the division of the +northern hemisphere into climates. Arabic influence upon Peter Alphonsi +is revealed by the fact that south is at the top of his diagrams, +instead of east, according to the almost universal custom of medieval +Christian cartography.[538] + + + T-O MAPS AND SALLUST MAPS + +2. The diagrammatic T-O group are also represented. By all means the +most interesting of these is a map preserved in a manuscript in St. +John’s College, Oxford, and dating from 1110. Somewhat more elaborate +than others of the same type, this one assigns Greek names to the +cardinal points of the compass, a circumstance which has given rise to a +plausible conjecture that it may have been a copy of an original found +in the Levant at the time of the First Crusade.[539] + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 3—Zone map in an early twelfth-century manuscript of Lambert of + St. Omer’s _Liber floridus_, viz. Ghent Codex 2, fol. 24 vo. East is + at the top. (From Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, fig. 59.) +] + +3. There also date from our period several examples of the ornamented +T-O maps drawn to illustrate Sallust’s works.[540] + + + BEATUS MAPS + +4. We saw that the existing specimens of that series of maps of the +world drawn to elucidate a passage in Beatus’ commentary on the +Apocalypse appear to have come from two sources: (_a_) maps which were +modeled closely on the original map of Beatus or a contemporary copy and +(_b_) those which were merely generalized outlines of it.[541] + +_a._ A map dating from 1203 and preserved at Osma in Old Castile comes +nearest to the original in design and form, if not in the richness of +detail (Fig. 4). Alone of all the Beatus type this shows the heads of +the twelve apostles scattered over the earth’s surface. Another map, +probably derived from the same source, is to be found in the +Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris; though it is rich in detail, little +attempt was made to show localities in their proper relative positions, +and consequently the geography represented is chaotic to an extreme. + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 4—Osma Beatus map dating from 1203 showing the division of the + world among the twelve apostles. East is at the top. (From Miller, + _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, p. 35.) +] + +_b._ There are also three or four maps dating from our period from the +second source. Their main interest lies in the remarkable naïveté of +workmanship. + + + MAPS OF LAMBERT, GUIDO, HENRY OF MAYENCE, AND OTHERS + +In addition to the above, for which we have prototypes from the period +before 1100, there are a number of maps of the world of the twelfth and +early thirteenth centuries, the prototypes of which either have been +lost or never existed. Among the most notable of these is one found in +certain manuscripts of Lambert’s _Liber floridus_.[542] It was compiled +from the usual medieval authorities, Isidore, Orosius, Julius Honorius, +Martianus Capella, Pomponius Mela, Solinus, the _Pseudo-Callisthenes_, +and the Bible, though there also appear upon it a few names that could +have been taken only from contemporary sources. The influence of +Macrobius is most strikingly revealed, for, unlike most other medieval +maps which indicate the known world (Asia, Europe, and Africa) as +occupying the entire area or by far the greater part of the world disk +(as in the Beatus group), Lambert’s map divides the disk along its +diameter by a zone representing the course of the sun and places in the +southern hemisphere an austral continent of magnitude equal to that of +the _oikoumene_.[543] + +Guido’s compilation of geographical works, made in 1119, contains in two +manuscripts not only a T-O map but also a map of the world accompanying +a selection from the book of the anonymous Ravenna geographer and a +detailed map of Italy and the surrounding lands. The map of the world is +peculiar because of the enormous area which the Mediterranean occupies. +Miller believes it to be a reduced sketch of a large map of the world +and holds that the detailed map of Italy is a copy of a small portion of +this same original.[544] + +A compilation of the _De imagine mundi_, put together by one Henry, +canon of the Church of St. Mary in Mayence, in 1100 and preserved in a +late twelfth-century copy in Cambridge, England, contains a world map +(see below, p. 245, Fig. 6, inset). Though indirectly made from the +sources that the writers of the _De imagine mundi_ and other medieval +cosmographies utilized, it was probably not compiled directly from the +_De imagine mundi_ but rather from a large wall map. Its affinities to +the immense late thirteenth-century world disk in Hereford Cathedral +make it seem possible that both had a common source. In addition to the +older nomenclature, about a dozen more modern place names are to be +found upon it.[545] + +A map of the world which somewhat resembles that of Henry of Mayence is +also to be found in two manuscripts of the _Chronica maiora_ (or +_Historia maiora_) of Matthew Paris. Though there are many names that +have come down to modern times, the geography is meager and poor, in +striking contrast to the detail of Matthew’s map of Britain,[546] to +which reference is made below. + +To complete the discussion of _mappaemundi_, mention must be made of a +very small but very neat little map in a late thirteenth-century Psalter +in the British Museum. If this was not actually drawn during our period, +it undoubtedly had predecessors much like it, and it shows marked +resemblances to the map of Henry of Mayence as well as to the Hereford +and Ebstorf maps.[547] + + + REGIONAL MAPS + +Several of the regional maps, or maps of limited areas, dating from our +period may be merely fragments or copies of small portions of maps of +the world. This is certainly true of the map of Europe in the Ghent +manuscript of Lambert’s _Liber floridus_, which depicts that continent +crammed into slightly more than a quarter of a circle with no attempt to +show the articulations of the coast. The Guido map of Italy, as we have +already seen, probably represents a portion of a larger map, and the +same can possibly be said of the maps of the East and of Palestine which +follow a treatise by Jerome, entitled _De situ et nominibus locorum +Hebraicorum_, or _De Palestinae locis_, in a manuscript now in the +British Museum. Though these two maps were actually drawn in the twelfth +century, they represent the cartography of a very much earlier age and +perhaps may be attributed to Jerome himself.[548] They were drawn to +illustrate the Biblical geography of Palestine and the Orient, and they +show a great wealth of Scriptural legends. Other legends were taken from +profane sources, such as the writings of Isidore, Orosius, Julius +Honorius, Dionysius, and the Romance of Alexander; and affinities to the +Peutinger Table show that the draftsman was under the influence of the +cartography of the Roman imperial epoch. + +Among the regional maps that had no connection with _mappaemundi_ are +plans of Jerusalem (“Situs Ierusalem”) accompanying twelfth- and +thirteenth-century manuscripts of an anonymous work written about 1109 +and entitled _Gesta Francorum Ierusalem expugnantium_ (Fig. 7, p. 250, +below). Though these plans reveal many names from the early Crusading +age, their outlines as a whole—the fact, for instance, that Jerusalem is +shown to be circular instead of rectangular—make it seem probable that +they represent a schematic diagram of the Holy City going back to as +early as the sixth century and brought up to date by the anonymous +compiler of the Crusading epoch.[549] + + + _Matthew Paris’ Maps of Britain_ + +In addition to the map of the world of which we have spoken already, the +works of Matthew Paris contain no less than five regional maps.[550] Two +of these, the “Situs Britanniae” and the “Schema Britanniae,” are simple +diagrams of Britain and are of no particular importance. The other three +are far more significant. The first, a pictorial itinerary of the route +from London to southern Italy, with legends in Old French and Latin, +delineates vividly towns and principal topographic features. The second +is a map of Palestine which superficially resembles that of Jerome; the +names, however, are in French, and the legends refer to places familiar +to the contemporary pilgrim and Crusader. Finally come the three +manuscript variants of Matthew’s map of Britain, which, as Beazley +observes, “among all designs of purely medieval origin ... show the best +evidence of critical study, the most systematic attempt at the exact +delineation of a particular country”[551] (for one variant, see below, +p. 343, Fig. 9). There is a profusion of detail and accuracy in the +representation of the relative position of places refreshing when we +contemplate the confusion and credulity manifested in the earlier works. +This map is also the first example of late medieval cartography in which +north instead of east is shown at the top of the sheet. + + + + + CHAPTER V + THE PLACE OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE MEDIEVAL CLASSIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE + + +Geography in the Middle Ages did not form a distinct and separate +science. The student who learned anything of geography learned it +incidentally to the study of other subjects and never thought of it as +sufficiently dignified to enjoy a place by itself in the scholastic +curriculum. Even the word “geography” was scarcely ever used.[552] The +term _cosmographia_, sometimes employed to distinguish certain aspects +of our subject from geometry, included practically all branches of +natural history, the sciences of animals, rocks, monstrosities, and +meteorological phenomena. On the other hand, cosmography did not +comprise many of the topics with which we are concerned, particularly +those lying on the border line between geography, astronomy, and +geology. The question of the origin of the earth was in the province of +the theologian of the Middle Ages. + + + GEOGRAPHY INCLUDED UNDER GEOMETRY + +The well-known seven liberal arts formed the foundation of the work in +the medieval schools. From them the student might advance to higher +researches in philosophy and theology, but the seven arts were the base +of all learning.[553] Martianus Capella’s _De nuptiis Philologiae et +Mercurii_ was an attractive and somewhat imaginative exposition of the +arts and had become one of the most popular of medieval textbooks long +before the twelfth century.[554] Here each art is personified as a +gorgeously clad woman, and the seven together compose the escort of +“Philosophy.” + +In practical teaching, the arts were divided into two groups: the +trivium, comprising grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic (or logic); and the +quadrivium, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy (astrology), and music. +Geoffrey of St. Victor, in his _Fons philosophiae_, gives[555] an +allegorical description of the arts as a spring which divides into two +main streams, the trivium and quadrivium, that in turn separate into +three and four lesser streams respectively. The teaching of practically +all the natural science of the Middle Ages was included in the +quadrivium. Geometry was generally expanded to include geography and +quite naturally so in view of prevalent opinions regarding its origin. +Adelard of Bath, in his _De eodem et diverso_, repeats an old story to +the effect that in the early days men began to set up stones as +boundaries.[556] Disputes about claims inevitably arose, in Libya +because of sand, and in Egypt because the Nile often obliterated or +destroyed the stones. This necessitated the invention of the science of +geometry, or surveying, by the application of which the bounds might be +replaced so that it would be “possible for all the centuries to have an +everlasting rule for the measurement of land.”[557] Out of the invention +of geometry, Adelard adds, arose subsequently the custom of subdividing +territory into areas of various sizes.[558] Thus it happened that +geometry had become closely allied in the classical and medieval mind +with matters of geographical or topographical interest. Capella includes +his long geographical discourse among chapters devoted to geometry and +makes his symbolical figure of the latter science carry in one hand a +compass and in the other a sphere to represent the terrestrial +globe.[559] Alan of Lille, in the _Anticlaudianus_, describes Geometry +as carrying a scale with which she measured the earth: “The maid carries +a rod by which she encircles the entire earth.”[560] In the sculptured +figures of the cathedrals Geometry is often depicted compass in +hand.[561] + + + GEOGRAPHY INCLUDED UNDER ASTROLOGY + +Geography was not always placed in a subordinate position to geometry in +the quadrivium. In the _De divisione philosophiae_ of Dominicus +Gondisalvi, which follows the Aristotelian rather than the Platonic +division of knowledge, we find our science grouped under astrology. Of +the latter art, Dominicus says,[562] there are three parts: the first is +concerned with the number and shape of the heavenly bodies; the second +with their movements; and the third with the earth, those regions that +are inhabited and those that are not, the climates, and the varying +influences exerted by the location of places and the revolutions of the +universe over happenings on the earth’s surface.[563] + + + GEOGRAPHY AND THE ARISTOTELIAN DIVISION OF LEARNING + +Both geometry and astrology belonged in the quadrivium. Where did the +higher study of the arts of the quadrivium fall in the general +classification of knowledge? + +The medieval mind tended to seek for a logical and symmetrical +subdivision of the sum of all knowledge. The desire for systematization +found its supreme expression in the great philosophic structures of the +thirteenth century, the systems founded on Aristotle and devised by such +men as Albertus Magnus. Prior to the thirteenth century confusion had +reigned. According to the Platonists, who divided philosophy into logic, +ethics, and physics, the study of the mathematical and natural +sciences—and, therefore, of geography—fell under the heading of physics. +Aristotle, more logically perhaps, had divided the subject matter of all +human learning into two great categories, theoretical knowledge and +practical knowledge. Theoretical knowledge included physics, +mathematics, and metaphysics (or theology). The studies of the +quadrivium were thrown by the Aristotelians under the heading of +mathematics: geography, then, became to those who followed the +Aristotelian classification—Gondisalvi, Hugh of St. Victor,[564] Roger +Bacon—a sub-department of mathematics. + +But on the whole we need not linger over this topic, because the +question of exactly where geography belonged in the artificial systems +devised by the medieval mind was largely a matter of academic interest +even in the Middle Ages and was without influence on the actual +condition of the geographical lore of that time. + + + + + PART II +THE SUBSTANCE AND CHARACTER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL LORE OF THE TIME OF THE + CRUSADES + + + + + CHAPTER VI + COSMOGONY, COSMOLOGY, AND COSMOGRAPHY + + +In the preceding chapters the attempt has been made to show the origins +of a large part of the geographical lore of the Crusading epoch, the +sources from which we may learn about it, and where it stood in the +classification of learning. Now we may turn to our central theme: an +estimate of its actual substance and character. + +This geographical lore was in no sense a unified body of knowledge and +belief. It was no more a unit than the religious thought of the age, or +the philosophy, astronomy, or morals. No one in the Middle Ages was +acquainted with all the facts and theories with which we shall have to +deal. Mental caliber, credulity, critical spirit, curiosity, +opportunities for research and for travel—these all varied widely with +the individual and determined his geographical concepts. Nevertheless, +though there was no unity of knowledge or belief in regard to specific +facts and no unity of point of view, the reader will not fail to +perceive, in the multitude of illustrative details which are presented, +that certain habits of thought and modes of expression were typical of +the epoch as a whole. + +We must first discuss what was known and believed about the earth in its +larger relations, both in time and space, to the remainder of the +universe: opinions about the Creation, about the size and shape of our +terrestrial globe, about the influences exerted by the heavenly bodies +in determining or affecting geographical conditions upon its surface. + +In the Introduction we explained why it is justifiable when dealing with +ancient and medieval geography to wander into the fields of cosmogony +and cosmography far beyond what are now regarded as the rightful limits +of geography. The present chapter, it is hoped, will make clear how +closely medieval conceptions of the present condition of the earth may +be connected with the medieval idea of the origins and nature of the +universe. + + + _GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE COSMOLOGY AND NATURAL SCIENCE OF THE PERIOD_ + +These difficult questions of cosmogony, cosmology, and cosmography +excited keen and vivid thinking because they lie on the border between +philosophy and theology. Men were more interested in attempting to solve +the insoluble mysteries of God and the universe than they were in the +world of nature immediately surrounding them. Immense and weighty +volumes were written in commentary on the Works of the Six Days, wherein +complicated arguments were elaborated with the finesse of scholastic +logic. In an age of faith, the religious enthusiasm of the architect and +artisan was transmuted into lofty cathedrals; that of the theologian +turned to the elucidation of the words of Scripture. To analyze these +words, to comment upon their minutest detail, to reveal the meaning that +presumably lay behind them was not only a work of piety and devotion but +an absorbing intellectual pastime for keen-witted thinkers. In more +concrete realms of natural science, the epoch was characterized by +little enough observation and creative thought. The teachings of Plato, +of Aristotle, and of the other available classical, Arabic, and early +Christian authorities were accepted and adopted uncritically. Very +different was the case with matters of cosmogony and cosmography. Here +was highly controversial ground where classical opinions were either +enthusiastically defended as casting light on Scripture or else bitterly +attacked as subversive of all truth. + + + THE CHARTRES GROUP: BERNARD SYLVESTER AND THEODORIC + +We have seen in Chapter IV that the scholars of the Chartres group and +their pupils during the early twelfth century were endowed with peculiar +freedom of thought.[565] We note in the works of Bernard, Theodoric, +Adelard of Bath, William of Conches, and Bernard Sylvester a wide +departure from authoritative, orthodox theology. Theodoric, William, and +the two Bernards were readers of Chalcidius’ translation of the +_Timaeus_, of Macrobius, and perhaps of the writings of the great +ninth-century Platonist, John Scot Erigena, and all four felt the +powerful and seductive attraction of Platonism. Bernard Sylvester was +almost an out-and-out pagan, so much so, indeed, that his writings can +hardly be considered to lie within the pale of Christian theology.[566] +Theodoric and William tried harder to reconcile Platonism with the +teachings of the church, yet they did so in a rationalistic spirit +almost as abhorrent to strict orthodoxy as the paganism of Bernard +Sylvester. Theodoric expressly stated in his _De sex dierum operibus_ +that he was going to explain the different Works of the Six Days +“according to physical principles,” and, following the letter of the +text,[567] he proposed to avoid all allegorical and moral +interpretations of Scripture. He believed that the best way to attain a +genuine knowledge of God was through an accurate understanding of what +God had created; and his explanation of the Creation, as we shall soon +see, was independent to a degree that amazes us in a writer of his time. +The following phrase is particularly significant where Theodoric extols +Moses’ treatment of the Creation in Genesis, saying: “He shows in a +rational manner the causes out of which this world has come into +existence and the order of time in which this same world was founded and +adorned.”[568] Hauréau writes of the first book of Theodoric’s +commentary: “Quant au premier livre, essai d’accord entre la Genèse et +le _Timée_, où l’on voit la religion et la philosophie conspirant à +résoudre le plus grave et le plus obscur des problèmes, le problème de +l’être, et se déclarant satisfaites de l’avoir résolu, ce premier livre +est ... de plus grand intéret.”[569] + + + ADELARD OF BATH AND WILLIAM OF CONCHES + +In the _Quaestiones naturales_ Adelard of Bath gives vent to his scorn +for the mentality that blindly accepts beliefs merely because they have +the weight of authority behind them. In an extraordinary passage he +expresses these ideas thus (as translated and paraphrased by Professor +Haskins[570]): “‘It is hard to discuss with you,’ Adelard tells his +nephew [in the dialogue form of the _Quaestiones naturales_], ‘for I +have learned one thing from the Arabs under the guidance of reason; you +follow another halter, caught by the appearance of authority, for what +is authority but a halter?’... ‘If reason is not to be the universal +judge, it is given to each to no purpose.’[571]... While plants spring +from the earth by God’s will, this does not act without a reason.[572] +Human science must first be listened to ... and ‘only when it fails +utterly should there be recourse to God’ as an explanation.”[573] + +William of Conches shows the same spirit where he insists that God acts +reasonably and not capriciously. He writes: “I am aware that some people +assert, ‘Though we do not know how this happens to be so, we know that +God can make it so.’ Wretched ones! What is more craven than to talk in +that way! Because God can do something is no sign that he actually does +it, nor any reason why he should do it, nor any reason why it is useful +that it should be done. For God does not do whatever he can do. To +employ a rustic expression: ‘God can make a calf out of a tree trunk,’ +but does he ever do so?”[574] William apparently, unlike Theodoric, +thought that we are justified in avoiding irrational deductions from +Scripture by an appeal either to an allegorical interpretation or—what +is even more surprising at a time when the word of authority was usually +regarded as all-sufficient—to one’s own intellect: “We may begin our +reasoning from the authority of a master, but it should be perfected by +our own intellect.”[575] + + + CONCEPT OF NATURAL LAWS + +Thus we see in the writings of Adelard, Theodoric, and William that the +approach was tentatively made toward the acceptance of the doctrine that +the universe is governed by natural laws. This doctrine, upon which the +edifice of modern science has been built, was also given partial +expression by other thinkers of the twelfth century. John of Salisbury +stated in effect that a sequence of causes gives rise to all things that +we may perceive with our senses, that we call these causes nature, that +nothing happens that is not the result of natural causation even though +the operation of this causation may be concealed from us; finally, that +the first cause of all is the will of God.[576] Alan of Lille clothed a +similar theory in allegory by personifying Nature in poetic form as the +representative of God and making her say: “Hear how in this universe, as +in a great city, order is established by the control of a majestic +government” (Moffat’s translation).[577] Much the same opinion was +expressed by an anonymous Scandinavian historian of the early thirteenth +century in his Latin _Historia Norwegiae_. After describing a terrible +volcanic upheaval from the bottom of the sea,[578] this writer adds that +many people regard such occurrences as prodigies, believing that the +world itself thereby gives warning of its own destruction.[579] Citing +Solinus, he goes on to set forth a purely physical explanation of +earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and adds that, though it may not be +possible to attain to clearsighted understanding of these phenomena and +of the major marvels of the world, they should not be looked upon as +prodigies nor considered as portents of universal cataclysm. On the +contrary they are, as it were, the servants of the all-knowing and +immutable founder of the universe to whose nature through some marvelous +process they have been placed in bondage.[580] + + + THE ORTHODOX TENDENCY + +This sort of reasoning, however, was exceptional. In the mid-twelfth +century the appearance of Peter Lombard’s _Sententiae_ tended to divert +the theologian’s mind from Platonic and rationalistic studies and to +restore Church Fathers and Scripture to paramount authority.[581] We +look in vain for traces of the liberal attitude of the Chartres scholars +in the orthodox works of such prolific writers but perhaps less clear +thinkers as Peter Comestor, Giraldus Cambrensis, Gervase of Tilbury or +even Alexander Neckam. Giraldus’ _Symbolum electorum_[582] contains a +cosmography in verse which explains the Scriptural view of the Works of +the Six Days, and though we feel in this poem the influence of the +Peripatetic physics—which by this time were becoming universally +known—no attempt was made to expound the work of the Creation according +to physical laws. In the _Topographia Hiberniae_[583] Giraldus +illustrates his own attitude and the dominant attitude of his age by the +moral he draws from the story of eagles which occasionally fly so high +that they scorch their wings in the sun. This he compared to the +hopeless vanity of the man who tries to solve by reason or by knowledge +God’s riddles of the Creation and of the universe. Neckam also despairs +of explaining the mysteries of nature and asks, “Who may comprehend the +causes of things?” He describes thunder and lightning briefly but adds, +“The herald of the thunder fills the mind with terror and shows how +great is the creator thereof.”[584] Even Michael Scot, who enjoyed the +patronage of the enlightened, scientifically minded Emperor Frederick +II, attributed the fact that the waters of the spherical earth are held +in place to “a secret virtue ... beyond human ken and merit” +(Haskins).[585] Gervase of Tilbury reproduces uncritically in his _Otia +imperialia_[586] the ideas compiled by Peter Comestor regarding the +Creation. These were strictly correct opinions on which no suspicion of +heterodoxy could be thrown. Comestor went out of his way to express +opposition and antagonism to Platonic teachings. + + + EFFECTS OF INFLUX OF ARABIC SCIENCE + +The conventional orthodox position, however, did not remain +unchallenged. The influx of Moslem Aristotelian lore at the end of the +twelfth century was held to be as menacing to the integrity of the +ecclesiastical tradition as any of the Platonic doctrines. But, though +stern prohibitions were leveled against the study of Aristotle and his +Arabic interpreters, the seductions of Aristotelianism could not be +resisted, and those elements of Peripatetic science which did not seem +utterly outrageous to Christian theology became the accepted and +authoritative science of the West in the mid-thirteenth century. William +of Auvergne, bishop of Paris, stood out valiantly against what he +regarded as teachings subversive of Christianity and of morals and in +his vigorous opposition to Aristotelianism even went so far as to adopt +many of the Platonic doctrines that had been popular among the scholars +of Chartres during the preceding century.[587] But translators like +Gerard of Cremona had done their work too well, and the enormous tomes +of Albertus Magnus were based to a large extent on the learning of the +Stagirite. + + + _THE CREATION_ + +The usual medieval treatise on the Works of the Six Days as described in +the Book of Genesis deals with many problems. Some of these are abstruse +and metaphysical: questions of the nature of God and the nature of time +and space. With these we are not concerned. Others are more concrete: +questions of the materials out of which God made the universe and of the +actual manner in which he worked. + + + PROBLEMS + +For the sake of clearness let us state some of these questions as +follows, (1) The question of whether matter existed prior to God’s +creation of the world. That is to say, Did God fashion the universe out +of a pre-existing substance or did he make it out of nothing? (2) The +question of the manner in which the universe was fashioned after it was +once “created.” (3) The question of what furnished the light during the +first three days before the creation of the sun. (4) The problem of +whether the Six Days were actual divisions of time or merely +hypothetical divisions of the process of creation. (5) The question of +the nature of the waters above the firmament. (6) Various problems +arising in regard to the nature and location of Paradise and of the four +rivers flowing from Paradise. The first four problems are discussed +briefly in the present chapter. That of the waters above the firmament +is left for Chapter VIII (on waters), and that of Paradise for Chapter +XII (on regional geography). + + + THE PREËXISTENCE OF MATTER + +(1) Did matter exist prior to God’s creation of the universe as we now +know it? + +Consistently with his Platonism, Bernard Sylvester thought that God +formed the universe out of what he termed _materia primordialis_—a +chaotic mingling of the elements that had coexisted with God before he +converted the universe into its present shape.[588] + + + _The Orthodox View_ + +Theodoric of Chartres, on the other hand, explicitly denied the +coëxistence of the _materia primordialis_ with God before the Creation. +In this respect he showed himself far less divergent than Bernard from +the Christian point of view. The work of the first day, he said, was the +creation from nothing of the _materia_ of the universe, out of which +earth and heaven, fire and water and life were to be evolved.[589] This +_materia_ was the _hyle_, or chaos, of the ancient philosophers, he +explained, and was designated by Moses in the book of Genesis under +various names.[590] For example, when Moses wrote, “In the beginning God +created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. i, 1) the words “heaven” and +“earth” referred to chaos; when Moses wrote, “And the earth was without +form and void” (Gen. i, 2) the word “earth” referred to the primordial +mixture of land and water, a mingling of land that was not solid and of +water that was not liquid. Air and fire at that time were of about the +density of water. + +Theodoric’s interpretation of the initial process of the Creation was +entirely in keeping with the views of more orthodox writers. Peter +Lombard, for instance, wrote as follows: “In the beginning God created +the ‘heaven,’ that is to say the angels, and the ‘earth,’ by which is +meant the material which composed the four elements. The latter were as +yet in the confused and formless condition to which the Greeks gave the +name of chaos, and this was before any day.”[591] + +Peter Comestor also set forth an orthodox view of the Creation. In his +commentary on Genesis he revealed a love of the number three and +classified every thing possible into groups of three.[592] He pointed +out how Moses had avoided three errors. “First, that of Plato, who had +conceived of three coëxistent things, God, _ile_ (_hyle_, or chaos), and +time, and that the world was made out of _ile_; second, that of +Aristotle, who had conceived of two coëxistent things, the world and the +fashioner thereof (_mundus et opifex_); and third, that of Epicurus, who +had also conceived of two, space (_inane_) and matter in the form of +atoms, and that in the beginning natural processes had brought together +certain atoms to form water, others to form earth, and others to form +fire. Moses, however, had said that God alone was eternal and that the +world was created out of nothing, for there was no matter in existence +prior to the ‘Creation.’”[593] “In the beginning” meant in the beginning +of time as well as of matter, for time and matter were coëternal.[594] + + + _A Rational View_ + +William of Conches refused, on rational, physical grounds, to believe in +the possibility of a chaos preëxisting the Creation.[595] Having +accepted the classical doctrine whereby the four elements were arranged +in concentric spheres in order from heaviest to lightest,[596] he was +unable to conceive of a time when they could have been so intermingled +that they contradicted this law, though there may have been a time, he +conceded, when the earth was completely enveloped in a thick mantle of +water reaching very high and when air and fire themselves were denser +than they now are. Such a condition, William thought, was that described +in Genesis i, 2.[597] + + + PROCESSES OF THE CREATION + + + _Theodoric of Chartres’ Theory_ + +(2) How was the universe converted into its present form after God had +once created it? + +Most commentators answered this either by saying or tacitly implying +that it was through the immediate operation of God’s will alone. +Theodoric of Chartres’ theory, therefore, is peculiarly interesting, +because Theodoric maintained that the formation of the universe resulted +from what we should now style a series of purely mechanical and chemical +reactions which began, once the composition of the _materia_ was +completed, on the first day. For its time this was an extremely +hazardous view, akin in some respects to the modern belief in the +sufficiency of physical and chemical action to produce practically all +observable phenomena. + +Let us examine Theodoric’s theory in a little greater detail. In Genesis +i, 2, we read the words, “And the spirit of God moved upon the face of +the waters.” Theodoric explained that by the “waters” was meant the +whole of matter:[598] the “spirit of God” was that which was destined to +give order and form to the chaos, that is to say the “force which +fashioned” or “operated” (_virtus artifex_ or _virtus operatrix_). Plato +had called this force the World Soul, the Christians called it the Holy +Ghost,[599] and through its agency the evolution of the universe out of +chaos by physical processes was rendered possible. + +Coincidently with the creation of the original _materia_ the universe +had assumed a rotary motion,[600] each complete rotation marking a day. +In the further unrolling of the universe, fire was the active element +(_artifex et efficiens causa_), earth the passive element, and air and +water stood as intermediaries between fire and earth. During the first +rotation, or first day, the fire heated and illumined the inferior +elements in such a manner as to cause the air to be released from them +(_aer ex inferioribus elementis spissatus_), and thus the atmosphere +came into existence.[601] On the second day the fire, by illuminating +the air, transmitted heat to the third element, water, which rose in the +form of clouds. Some of this vaporized water ascended so high that it +passed into the second heavenly sphere, where it became the “waters +above the firmament,” the firmament itself, according to Theodoric, +being the atmosphere.[602] So much water in this manner was absorbed out +of the original _materia_ that inevitably on the third day the earth +appeared like islands in the midst of the waters remaining behind. +Theodoric compared these to islands that are formed when water dries +after it has been spilled upon a table. Immediately the heat of the +atmosphere was mingled with the humors of the earth, and the latter +thereby received the power of producing vegetable life, herbs and trees. +On the fourth day the stars were formed out of the waters which had been +drawn above the firmament. On the fifth day the heat of the universe +brooded over (_incubuit_) the waters of the earth’s surface and gave +birth to fish and birds. Finally, on the sixth day, the life-giving heat +reached the earth; and from it the animals were created, including, of +course, man.[603] + + + _William of Conches’ Theory_ + +William of Conches’ theory of the Creation did not differ a great deal +from that of Theodoric, except that the _materia primordialis_ was not, +in his opinion, a chaotic mingling of the elements; for within it, he +thought, as we have already seen,[604] that the elements were arranged +in their proper order according to accepted classical laws of physics. +The lands were uncovered by the removal of the waters, though this took +place later in the process according to William than it did according to +Theodoric. William attributed the drying off of the waters partly to the +warmth of the stars (which were not formed until the fourth day) and +partly to the creation of the water and land animals on the fifth and +sixth days respectively.[605] In different portions of this primordial +land, when it was just in the act of emerging from the waters, fiery, +watery, earthy elements were present in varying quantities. This +condition gave birth to divers varieties of animals. Where the fiery +element was in excess, choleric animals, like the lion, came into being; +where the water element prevailed, phlegmatic animals, like the pig; and +the earthy element produced melancholic creatures like the ass and cow. +At the one and only place where the combination was absolutely equal, +man appeared. Woman, on the other hand, was made from a combination +almost like that of man but one in which the colder elements were very +slightly in excess, because the warmest of women by nature is colder +than the coldest of men! This last, an extremely free and heretical and +from our point of view unchivalrous theory, William retracted in his old +age.[606] + + + FUNCTION OF LIGHT IN THE CREATION + +(3) What was the nature of the light which God made when he said, “Let +there be light”? Although Augustine had interpreted this passage +allegorically or mystically as referring to the creation of the world of +the angels,[607] he had also suggested that God might have created an +actual body of light corresponding to the sun. Bede[608] developed the +latter suggestion and maintained that there must have been a luminary +revolving around the earth as does the sun. In the twelfth century Hugh +of St. Victor and Peter Comestor, both of whom interpreted Scripture +more or less literally in this respect, followed Bede. Hugh maintained +that this original light was like a luminous cloud which rose in the +east and set in the west,[609] and Comestor spoke of it in much the same +terms.[610] Other theologians, however, refused to believe that such a +light could have actually existed and reverted to Augustine’s first +explanation that by the light was meant the world of angels as distinct +from the world of evil spirits below.[611] Peter Lombard referred to +both interpretations, though he appears to have been inclined to favor +the more literal and materialistic theory of Bede.[612] + +With Robert Grosseteste light is made to play the leading part in the +entire process. In his unpublished _Hexaemeron_[613] and in the _De +luce_[614] he sets forth a theory of cosmogony which was derived in part +from the Moslems but in essentials was original.[615] We trust that the +following brief statement of the theory does not do violence to the +thought of Grosseteste as expressed in the _De luce_. He conceived of +light as the first corporeal form and also as giving form to the +_materia prima_ of the universe. By radiating through the unformed +_materia prima_ the light converted it into a sphere. Thereupon the +light made its way from the outer edge of the sphere towards the center. +As it passed through the various realms of the universe it diffused, +rarified, and purified the _materia_ of each, but with each stage of its +advance its powers were diminished and correspondingly the potentiality +of each successive realm of being purified was diminished. Thus thirteen +concentric spheres were produced, nine celestial spheres and four +spheres of the elements, and each of these was more complex, dense, and +impure than its neighbor above. + + + THE NATURE OF THE SIX DAYS + +(4) Were the Six Days described in the book of Genesis actual divisions +of time? The words of the Bible seemed to be contradictory on this +point. From the words of Genesis alone one would gather that the +completion of the universe was accomplished in six days. On the other +hand, we read in Ecclesiasticus (xviii, 1), “He that liveth forever +created all things together” (Qui vivit in aeternum, creavit omnia +simul). According to Theodoric of Chartres[616] these two statements +referred to different events. The passage in Ecclesiasticus applied only +to the creation of the _materia primordialis_ on the first day. The +works of the succeeding days were the result of the automatic +development of natural processes by which the universe became as we now +know it. Belief in the reality of the duration of the Six Days was +shared with Theodoric by most commentators, such as William of Conches, +Hugh of St. Victor,[617] Peter Lombard, and Peter Comestor. Augustine, +however, had argued in a more abstruse vein that the “days” were not +actual units of time but that they represented merely so many distinct +operations in the work of creation.[618] And in our period Arnold of +Chartres urged that the Creation was carried out in one day and all at +once (_uno die et semel_).[619] + + + ETERNITY OF THE UNIVERSE + +Though they differed in the details of interpretation, these theories +were all based on the fundamental acceptance of the axiom, deduced from +Scripture, that God created the universe out of nothing. In Chapter II +was explained the antagonism between this view and the Aristotelian +doctrine of an eternal, periodically re-formed universe. Certainly, +among Christians of our period, no one believed either in the eternity +or in the periodicity of the universe, although the existence and nature +of these concepts were well known. Both theories were set forth in +Seneca’s _Quaestiones naturales_,[620] in translations of Plato’s +_Timaeus_[621] and of Aristotle’s _Meteorology_[622] and _De generatione +et corruptione_,[623] and in translations from the Arabic such as the +_Liber introductorius in astrologiam_ of Abū Maʿshar[624] and the +pseudo-Aristotelian _Liber de proprietatibus elementorum_.[625] When +William of Conches specifically denied the possibility of more than one +deluge he may have had in mind the pagan association of Noah’s flood +with the Great Winter.[626] Certainly one of the primary objections of +the orthodox Christians to the acceptance of Aristotelian science during +the early years of the thirteenth century lay in the fact that Averroës, +the great interpreter of Aristotle, was firmly convinced that the +universe is eternal.[627] William of Auvergne also vigorously attacked +the Aristotelian theory as it found expression in Avicenna’s commentary +on the _Metaphysics_[628] and Robert Grosseteste leveled destructive +criticism against it in his _Summa super libros octo Physicorum_, a +commentary on the _Physics_ of Aristotle, and in other works.[629] + + + BERNARD SYLVESTER’S ACCOUNT OF THE CREATION + +Before leaving this aspect of the subject, a few words should be said +about two other accounts of the Creation that found literary expression +in Western Europe during our period. Very dissimilar, these two accounts +are akin only in the circumstance that they were both based upon the +mythology of an older age and that, though written by Christians, +neither referred in any way to the Scriptural story. One was the +remarkable allegory in Bernard Sylvester’s _De mundi universitate_, the +other the Icelandic myth of the Creation as recorded in the _Edda_ of +Snorri Sturluson. + +In the _Megacosmus_, or first part of the _De mundi universitate_, +Bernard tells us of the confusion of matter in the eternal ages that +preceded the “Creation.”[630] Nature, personified, laments to “Nous,” or +Providence, about this confusion and demands that the universe be put +into an orderly condition: “Nous,” moved by the appeal, carries out the +task, separating the elements, arranging the nine hierarchies of angels, +placing the stars in the firmament and regulating their orbits, ordering +the four winds, and, finally, fashioning the earth in the midst of the +universe. The last process gave Bernard occasion to digress and to tell +of the riches and beauties of this earth. + +The _Microcosmus_, or second part of the book, goes on to relate the +story of the creation of man. “Nous” sees the barren desolation of an +inanimate world and orders Nature to undertake the work of peopling it. +With the aid of Urania, goddess of the stars, Nature seeks for Physis, +goddess of life, whom she finds in the terrestrial paradise after Urania +has conducted her on a long journey through the heavenly spheres. Here +she tells Physis her mission; and Physis carries out the fashioning of a +human body, in which the soul is then established. Thus was man created. + +No comment is needed to bring out the pagan character of this account, +wherein the Six Days are not even mentioned! It would probably be wrong, +however, to assume that this work of literary imagination, any more than +Snorri’s graphic record of the beliefs of his forefathers, represents a +formulated and accepted doctrine of its author. + + + THE ICELANDIC ACCOUNT + +The Icelanders were converted to Christianity in the mid-eleventh +century, and the mythology of their pagan days still remained fresh in +their minds and hearts during the period we are studying. The old gods +were looked upon with affection, and the old story of the Creation was +remembered with sympathetic understanding. The Icelandic myth of the +Creation is one of great beauty and vigor. In it is revealed the +impression made upon the minds of a northern people by struggles against +the cold and stormy darkness of the subarctic winter. The outline of the +story, which is worked out in much detail in the _Eddas_, is about as +follows.[631] + +In the beginning a great abyss lay between the icy rivers and the +drizzling rains and blasts of wind of the north and the blazing heat of +the south. This was before heaven and earth and sea were made. “And +Fimbultyr said: Let the melted drops of vapor quicken into life, and the +giant Ymer was born in the midst of Ginungagap[632] [the abyss]. He was +not a god but the father of all the race of evil giants. This was Chaos. + +“And Fimbultyr said: Let Ymer be slain and let order be established. And +straightway Odin and his brothers ... gave Ymer a mortal wound, and from +his body they made the universe; from his flesh, the earth; from his +blood, the sea; from his bones, the rocks; from his hair, the trees; +from his skull, the vaulted heavens; from his eyebrows, the bulwark +called Midgard. And the gods formed man and woman in their own image of +two trees, and breathed into them the breath of life. Ask and Embla +became living souls, and they received a garden in Midgard as a dwelling +place for themselves and their children until the end of time. This was +Cosmos” (Anderson).[633] + + + _MACROCOSM AND MICROCOSM_ + +All medieval accounts of the Creation culminate in the creation of man, +as modern outlines of evolution conclude with man’s evolution from lower +forms of life. Christian theology taught that the universe itself was +made for man, a view that persists even to this day. Grosseteste +asserted that when man “no longer requires the processes of generation +and corruption which the movements of the heavens cause, the heaven +itself will cease to move and time will be no longer.”[634] Rupert of +Deutz explained that mountains were placed upon the earth to protect +human beings against the winds.[635] But if the universe and all its +parts were made for man, medieval thinkers held, with the Stoics of +antiquity,[636] that man himself was a lesser universe (_minor mundus_), +or microcosm, comprising all the elements both physical and spiritual +which constitute the greater universe, or macrocosm. + +[Illustration: + + EXPLANATION OF FIG. 5—The human figure here represents the microcosm + in the midst of the universe. The heads of the animals give rise to + the winds, which Hildegard believed controlled the movements of the + celestial bodies (see p. 171). The blast originating in the human + head at the right and moving in a counter-clockwise direction runs + opposite to the movement of the firmament. “This blast did not give + forth his breath earthward as did the other winds, but instead + thereof it governed the course of the planets” (_Liber div. op._, + in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii, col. 791, as cited by Singer, + _op. cit._ p. 28). + + In another miniature from the same manuscript (fol. 9 ro) shown in + Singer, _op. cit._, pl. VII, the universe is revealed in much the + same manner with the human figure as the microcosm. There is also + represented the macrocosm, as a larger figure standing behind and + holding the sphere of the cosmos; only its head, feet, and hands + appear. + + + FIG. 5—The macrocosm, the microcosm, and the winds, from a miniature + in an illustrated codex of Hildegard of Bingen’s _Liber divinorum + operum_ in the Municipal Library at Lucca, fol. 27 vo. (Redrawn, by + permission, from Singer, _Scientific Views and Visions of Saint + Hildegard_, 1917, pl. VIII.) For explanation, see bottom of opposite + page. +] + +The doctrine of man as the microcosm had its roots far back in +antiquity. Medieval writers from the time of Isidore elaborated upon it +with detail and ingenuity. In the literature of our period it occurs in +many a passing comparison of the phenomena of nature with the human +body, such as that of the _De imagine mundi_ where rivers are compared +with blood vessels.[637] It forms an important element in the cosmology +of Bernard Sylvester’s _De mundi universitate_[638] and of Herrad of +Landsperg’s _Hortus deliciarum_.[639] Hildegard of Bingen’s writings are +full of similes and medical recommendations based upon it (Fig. 5).[640] +In her _Subtilitates_ the abbess says: “In the creation of man from the +earth other earth was taken, and all the elements served man because +they perceived that he lived; both the elements and man worked together +to each others’ advantage in all relationships.”[641] The thought is +expressed more clearly in the _Causae et curae_: “Oh, man! Look at man, +for man has in himself heaven and earth and all other things that are +created, and his form is one and in him all things lie hidden.”[642] To +illustrate the detail in which Hildegard worked out this theory we may +do no better than to quote from Thorndike’s summary. “She compares the +firmament to man’s head, sun, moon, and stars to the eyes, air to +hearing, the winds to smelling, dew to taste, and ‘the sides of the +world’ to the arms and sense of touch. The earth is like the heart, and +other creatures in the world are like the belly. In the _Liber divinorum +operum_ she goes into further detail.... From the top of the cerebral +cavity to the ‘last extremity of the forehead’ there are seven distinct +and equal spaces, by which are signified the seven planets which are +equidistant from one another in the firmament. An even more surprising +assumption as to astronomical distances is involved in the comparison +that as the three intervals between the top of the human head and the +end of the throat and the navel and the groin are all equal, so are the +spaces intervening between the highest firmament and lowest clouds and +the earth’s surface and center.... As the heart is stirred by emotion, +whether of joy or of sorrow, humors are excited in the lungs and breast +which rise to the brain and are emitted through the eyes in the form of +tears. And in like manner, when the moon begins to wax or wane, the +firmament is disturbed by winds which raise fogs from the sea and other +waters.”[643] The preface to the _Subtilitates_ contains another +discussion of the microcosm in the course of which the stones of the +earth are likened to bones and it is pointed out that the earth has +sweat, humors, and other by-products of the body.[644] Much of the +argument of the _Causae et curae_ is based upon the assumption that the +very diseases of man have their counterparts in the facts of the +macrocosm. + + + _SHAPE, MOVEMENTS, AND SIZE OF THE EARTH_ + +When once created, what form did this universe take, and the earth +within it? + + + SPHERICITY OF THE UNIVERSE + +Nearly all the authors of our period appear to have shared in the belief +that the universe is a sphere and that the earth is situated in its +center. Lambert of St. Omer says in his _Liber floridus_: “We say the +earth is the center, that is, the point in the middle of the sphere.” +“For the earth is located as a central point in the midst of the +celestial circle through which the sun passes.”[645] Robert Grosseteste +stated that the sphericity of the universe was necessitated by the +nature of the substances composing the heavenly bodies and that it could +be proved by simple astronomical observations.[646] There is, perhaps, +an echo of Pythagorean mathematical doctrines in the exposition which we +find in the _Image du monde_, that the world is round since God desired +it to be so, because roundness is the most perfect of all forms.[647] +Al-Farghānī, whose work was translated more than once during our period +and formed the basis of much that is found in John of Holywood’s _De +sphaera_,[648] had said that there was no difference of opinion among +learned men that the universe was a sphere. That the earth is in the +center of the heaven, he asserted, was shown by the fact that half the +heaven is always visible from all parts of its surface.[649] The author +of the _De imagine mundi_ had also thought the same way:[650] he +compared the universe to a ball, or to an egg of which the shell +corresponds to the upper heavens, the white, to the upper air, the yolk, +to the lower air, and the _pinguedinis gutta_, or drop of grease in the +center, to the earth.[651] Gervase of Tilbury,[652] who borrowed the +idea from Comestor,[653] and the author of the _Image du monde_[654] +make similar comparisons, although Peter Abelard,[655] William of +Conches,[656] and Daniel of Morley conceived of the four parts of the +egg as corresponding exactly to the four elements.[657] Michael Scot +compared the earth, surrounded by water, to the yolk of an egg and the +spheres of the universe to the layers of an onion.[658] + +In her _Causae et curae_, on the one hand, and in her _Scivias_ and +_Liber divinorum operum_, on the other, Hildegard of Bingen makes +contradictory statements in regard to the position of the earth in +relation to the heavenly spheres. Scientific consistency was not, +perhaps, the ascetic abbess’s strongest quality, and too much emphasis +should not be laid upon contradictions found in the writings of one who +believed herself to be favored by special divine revelations. The +passage in the _Causae et curae_, however, diverges so widely from +current medieval opinion that it is worth translating. “The earth,” +writes Hildegard, “is of moderate size and is near the base of the +firmament, because if it were in the center of the firmament, then it +would have to be larger; and even so it would easily fall and be +shattered to pieces, had it the same expanse of air beneath that there +is above.”[659] On the contrary, in her _Liber divinorum operum_ she +tells how she saw in a vision the universe as a wheel[660] and that “in +the midst of the air the earth was placed in such a way that the air +measured an equal distance above the earth, below the earth, and on +either side of the earth.”[661] + + + SHAPE OF THE EARTH + +Most writers of the Crusading age thought the earth also was a sphere, +though there was less unanimity in this belief. The _De imagine mundi_ +calls it a sphere, whence comes the term _orbis_.[662] William of +Conches[663] furnishes us with the Aristotelian proofs of sphericity. If +the earth is flat, he says, it would be day at the same time in the +farthest east as in the farthest west. Certain stars are visible in one +latitude that cannot be seen in another, and this would not be the case +if there were no curvature from north to south.[664] John of Holywood, +following Al-Farghānī, gave two proofs that the earth is round and two +that the water is round.[665] That there exists a swelling or curvature +of the earth (_tumor terrae_), he says, is shown by the difference in +the time of eclipses between places in the east and west as well as by +differences in the visibility of stars.[666] The curvature of water +surfaces is demonstrated by the fact that a person standing at the foot +of a mast is frequently unable to see objects visible to somebody at the +masthead. Furthermore, since water is a homogeneous body, all parts of +it must partake of the nature of the whole. Therefore it follows that +because a drop is round, the mass of the waters of the earth must also +be spherical.[667] + +Gervase of Tilbury has been accused of believing that the earth is +square, though the evidence in the text of the _Otia imperialia_ on +which this accusation is based is very slender; and other texts would +seem to support the opposite contention, that he accepted the theory of +sphericity.[668] + +Two passages in the _Causae et curae_ of Hildegard can apparently be +explained only on the supposition of a flat earth.[669] Hildegard seems +also to have been haunted by the old belief that bulked so large in the +imagination of Cosmas Indicopleustes,[670] the belief that the earth +rises into an immense mountain in the north.[671] She asserted that this +mountain prevented the light of the east from penetrating the darkness +of the north and the darkness of the north from obscuring the light of +the east. On the other hand, in her visions the abbess more than once +saw the earth as a globe.[672] + +In the writings of the mystic Hugh of St. Victor we have a typical +medieval allegorical interpretation of the words of Scripture regarding +the earth’s form, with instructions as to how a map of the world ought +to be made.[673] Hugh compares the _orbis terrae_ to an “oblong circle,” +or oval, drawn around the ark, touching each corner. An oval shape was +necessitated by the rectangular ground plan of the ark. Within this oval +the _mappa mundi_, or map of the world, is to be drawn, with the front +of the ark facing the east, and its rear, the west. In the segment +formed to the east, between the ark and the circle, is Paradise; in that +to the west the resurrection will take place; the chosen will go to the +right, and the damned to the left into Hell, which forms the segment +toward the north. Beyond this “oblong circle” another circle is to be +drawn to show the zones, and the space between the two is the +atmosphere. + +One hesitates to draw conclusions from this as to what shape Hugh +imagined the earth to be; probably he himself had no very definite +theory. The picture which his description seems to invoke in our minds +is that of a flat oval earth covered by an ovoid heaven, and certainly +it is in every respect inconsistent with belief in a spherical earth. + + + IMMOBILITY OF THE EARTH + +However men may have thought about the shape of the earth, there was no +questioning the fact that it stands immobile and firm. Doctrines like +that of the Pythagorean Philolaus had no place in medieval thought.[674] +The ignorant, nevertheless, were often puzzled by the problem of what +supports the earth. The author of the _De imagine mundi_ was content +uncritically to explain that no fulcrum or support is necessary for this +purpose but that the “divine power” is all-sufficient.[675] He quoted +the one hundred and third Psalm: “Who hast founded the earth upon its +own bases: it shall not be moved for ever and ever.” + +Theodoric of Chartres, Adelard of Bath, and John of Holywood, on the +other hand, adduced proofs of the immobility of the earth which had been +derived indirectly from Aristotle. Theodoric asserted[676] that the +earth does not gain its compactness either from its inherent nature, +because earth is actually observed on occasions to become mingled with +air; or from the weight of the overlying atmosphere and sphere of fire, +because these have no weight. What, then, keeps it from flying to +pieces? Here Theodoric appealed to the Peripatetic reasoning that the +circular motion of the heavens necessitates the existence of a solid and +immovable body in the center.[677] All heavy bodies acquire their +_substantia_, or solidity, from the motion of light bodies; and +conversely light bodies derive their motion from heavy bodies. + +The _Quaestiones naturales_ of Adelard of Bath is in the form of a +dialogue between Adelard and a nephew who asks questions. The nephew was +much puzzled by the fact that, whereas heavy objects like rocks need a +piece of wood or other support to hold them up in the air, the earth as +a whole, much the heaviest of all, requires no such support.[678] +Adelard replies first that the earth does not fall because there would +be no utility in its doing so; then he proceeds to show by a rational +argument (_rationabiliter_) why the earth does not need a support. The +principal quality of earth he says, is heaviness; heavy bodies naturally +seek the lowest position (_infimum_); the lowest position of a spherical +body like the universe is its center—though why this latter proposition +is so, Adelard fails to make clear. At all events, the earth tends to +seek the center of the universe, just as a stone thrown into an +imaginary hole piercing the center of the earth would come to a halt +there.[679] Since the center of the universe is one point, not several, +the earth forms a single unit, not several; and for these reasons, +moreover, the earth is stable and immobile. + +John of Holywood explained[680] the same thing more briefly than Adelard +by simply stating that the immobility of the earth is due to its weight, +since it is the nature of all heavy things to seek the center of the +universe and since the earth is the heaviest of all elements. Both +Adelard’s and John of Holywood’s arguments suggest the Aristotelian +doctrine of an equilibrium of forces around the center of the globe, +though this doctrine is not cited in so many words. Like most medieval +writers, Adelard and John seem only partially to have understood the +obscure texts from which they derived their proofs and to have left out +many links in their chains of reasoning. + + + SIZE OF THE EARTH + +Though the geocentric hypothesis prevailed in the Middle Ages, there is +plenty of evidence to show that the smallness of the earth in relation +to the heavenly bodies was understood.[681] William of Conches had +thought that the sun was eight times as big as the earth.[682] In the +_Image du monde_ this theme is elaborated:[683] we are told that it +would take more than a hundred years for a rock to fall from the +heavens; that the earth is like a tiny star in comparison with the +immensity of the cosmos and is one hundred and sixty-six and +three-twentieths times smaller than the sun.[684] John of Holywood +quoted Alfraganus (Al-Farghānī) to the effect that the smallest fixed +star is larger than the earth[685] but that the dimensions of such a +star are as but a point in the firmament. He argued that the extreme +smallness of the earth is proved by the fact that it is possible to see +the middle of the firmament (_medietas firmamenti_) not only from the +center of the earth but also from the earth’s surface.[686] His +argument, which certainly proves nothing as it stands, is evidently a +confused reflection of Ptolemy’s reasoning in the _Almagest_.[687] + +As to the actual size of our planet various figures were occasionally +quoted. The _De imagine mundi_[688] gives Posidonius’ estimate of the +circumference as 180,000 stades, or 12,052 miles (_duodecies mille +millaria et quinquaginta duo_). The _Image du monde_,[689] however, +gives 20,428 miles. Eratosthenes’ 252,000 stades appears in Lambert of +St. Omer’s _Liber floridus_[690] and John of Holywood’s _De +sphaera_.[691] In the latter work it is cited on the authority of +Ambrose, Macrobius, “et Eristenis philosophorum,” along with a brief +account of the great Alexandrian geographer’s method of measurement. + + + _ZONES, THE ANTIPODES, AND “CLIMATA”_ + +The surface of the terrestrial sphere, surrounded as it is by the +heavens, is naturally subjected directly to the influence of the +heavenly bodies. We must now examine those general phenomena of the +globe as a whole which were conceived to be consequences of the earth’s +shape and position in relation to the remainder of the universe, +postponing for a later chapter the study of the more local features of +the _oikoumene_ (or habited quarter), which also result from the same +circumstances. + + + ZONES + +The most primitive observation reveals the fact that the heavenly bodies +in their course through the sky revolve around two points and mark out +certain circles. Very elaborate and often admirable discussions of the +celestial poles, Arctic and Antarctic circles, equator, tropics, and +ecliptic, are to be found in the numerous astrological and astronomical +works of our period.[692] The study of these matters was already a +highly developed science, but except in its geographical bearing it does +not fall within our province. + +We saw in Chapter I that ancient astronomers had drawn imaginary circles +around the terrestrial sphere corresponding to the circles of the +heavens and had designated these lines as the boundaries of zones on the +earth’s surface.[693] The classical theory of five zones, divided from +each other by parallels of latitude, was accepted by the geographical +writers of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, although, as in +classical times, opinions diverged widely regarding the characteristics +of each zone. All, however, believed that the two polar caps were cold +and that the equatorial regions were hot. For example Bernard Sylvester +says in his _De mundi universitate_:[694] Nous, or Providence, +“encompassed the earth with five parallels; on the one hand the extremes +are frozen, on the other the central portions are hot. Also she made +temperate two zones by placing on both sides of them the coldness of the +extremities and the course of the sun over the midst of the earth.” + + + UNINHABITABILITY OF POLAR CAPS AND EQUATORIAL ZONE + +Furthermore, a widely prevalent but not universal theory made the polar +caps and equatorial zones not only cold and hot but also uninhabitable. +The author of the _De imagine mundi_[695] and Gervase of Tilbury[696] +plagiarized what Isidore had written on this subject.[697] They called +the five circles separating the zones and the zones themselves from +north to south, respectively, _septentrionalis_ (our Arctic Circle and +North Polar zone), _solstitialis_ (our Tropic of Cancer and North +Temperate zone), _equinoctialis_ (our Equator and Torrid zone), +_brumalis_—or _hyemalis_ according to Gervase—(our Tropic of Capricorn +and South Temperate zone), and finally _australis_ (our Antarctic Circle +and South Polar zone). Of these they thought that only _solstitialis_ +was habitable. William of Conches likewise believed[698] in +uninhabitable torrid and frigid zones, though he rejected the theory +that in the heavens above the sphere of the moon there are qualities of +heat and cold corresponding to those of the terrestrial zones. + + + AUSTRAL CONTINENT AND ANTIPODAL REGIONS + +Speculation was rife as to what lay beyond the equatorial zone and in +those mysterious parts of the earth of which man had no knowledge. +Rumors and conjectures of an austral continent and of antipodal regions +figure widely in the geographical literature of the age. A fourth +continent beyond the equatorial ocean (or Mare Rubrum) is shown on all +the Beatus maps. It is represented as a strip of land along the +southernmost edge of the earth (see Figs. 2 and 4, pp. 69 and 123, +above). A legend, taken from Isidore, informs us on the St. Sever map +that “In addition to the three parts of the world, there is a fourth +part beyond the ocean in the midst of the south and unknown to us on +account of the heat of the sun. Within its confines the antipodeans are +fabulously said to dwell.”[699] The Osma Beatus map locates the +_skiapodes_, or sun-shade-footed men, here (see Fig. 4). Confusion +between true antipodal regions on the opposite side of the world and an +austral continent lying south of the equator was not uncommon in +antiquity and during the Middle Ages.[700] Belief in the latter did not +necessarily involve belief in a spherical earth, and it has been argued +that the Roman cartographers (whose maps may have inspired Beatus) +showed such a fourth continent south of the equator, even though they +did not deem the question of the sphericity of the world worthy of +serious consideration. The Beatus maps themselves may easily be +reconciled with an implicit belief in a flat world disk. + +While this may be true of the Beatus maps, it cannot be said of the +_mappamundi_ of Lambert of St. Omer or of references to the antipodes +elsewhere in the literature of our period where it is impossible to +question the conviction in the cartographers’ or writers’ minds that the +earth is a sphere. + +On Lambert’s map the austral continent occupies half of the circle of +the earth. A long legend explains,[701] in terms similar to those of the +St. Sever Beatus map, that this region is unknown to mankind because of +the sun’s heat; that philosophers say the antipodeans dwell here; and +that winter prevails during our summer. In addition to the austral +continent, Lambert indicates without a shadow of doubt his faith in the +existence of other antipodal regions. A large island on the western +margin of his map is labeled, “Here dwell the antipodeans, but they have +a different night and opposite days.”[702] We know from other parts of +the _Liber floridus_ that Lambert was strongly influenced by Macrobius. +A Macrobian sketch of a spherical world showing the five zones is +inserted in the Ghent and other manuscripts. This reference to the +antipodes can only apply to the unknown regions on the opposite side of +the globe, beyond the meridional ocean which, as we have seen in Chapter +I, had been described by Crates of Mallos and popularized in Macrobius’ +_In somnium Scipionis commentarius_ and in Martianus Capella’s _De +nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_. Belief in a spherical world is +essential to belief in these theories. + + + THE CRATESIAN THEORY + +Crates of Mallos’ conception of the arrangement of the world, introduced +to Western knowledge through the works of Macrobius and Capella, was +well known in our period. William of Conches, Adelard of Bath, and +Bernard Sylvester all show the influence of the Crates-Macrobian system +in their belief in a great equatorial ocean.[703] Giraldus Cambrensis +and the author of the _De imagine mundi_, by their explanation of the +causes of the tides, make it plain that they accepted the same opinion. +Geoffrey of St. Victor gives a clear exposition of it in his +_Microcosmus_.[704] Robert Grosseteste adopts it in his _De sphaera_, +explaining carefully the two seas that encircle the earth and calling +the equatorial sea “Occeanus” and that which includes the poles +“Amphitrites.” He believed that only one of the areas of land separated +by these seas is inhabited.[705] The same idea is reflected in words of +the _Image du monde_[706] to the effect that only a quarter of the +earth’s surface is inhabited and in the recommendation to the reader in +his imagination to cut the globe into four quarters like an apple and to +think of the habitable part as occupying the surface of one of the +quarters. Godfrey of Viterbo points out the significance of the golden +ball of empire which formed part of the regal insignia of the Holy Roman +Emperors upon which, he said, the fourfold division of the lands of the +earth’s surface was shown.[707] Among the imperial treasures +(_Reichskleinodien_) in Vienna the golden apple dating from the twelfth +century is of this form. Two bands encircling the regal ball at right +angles represent the Cratesian idea of oceans girdling the earth.[708] + +In one version of the legend of St. Brandan there is a curious passage +where not only the possibility of antipodal regions is indicated but the +pious necessity of belief in such regions.[709] St. Brandan is here +reported to have read in an old book that beneath this earth there is +another world, where day prevails when it is night with us. Unable to +accept such a story, Brandan burned the book in a fit of exasperation; +and as a punishment for his incredulity God made him voyage nine years +upon the seas. What the book was we are not informed, but perhaps we do +not err in assuming that the poet had in mind a copy of the _In somnium +Scipionis commentarius_ or possibly the _De nuptiis Philologiae et +Mercurii_. + + + PERSISTENCE OF BELIEF THAT ANTIPODAL REGIONS WERE INHABITED + +An essential feature of the theory as it had been expounded by Macrobius +and Capella, however, was the insistence that the other three temperate +areas are inhabited by races of men like our own. As belief in the +existence of inhabitants in the antipodal regions rested in our period +on the authority of Capella and Macrobius and was subjected to lively +discussion and controversy, it is not out of place for us to observe +what these two writers had actually said. + +Capella, after briefly stating that three out of the five zones are +uninhabitable on account of cold and heat, declared that the other two +are tempered by a wind which encourages life.[710] The inhabitants of +the quarter south of us, beyond the equator, he called _antoikoi_; those +of the quarter also in the southern hemisphere but beyond the +north-south ocean, who have winter when we have summer, _antichthones_. +Those in our own temperate zone beyond the ocean, who have the same +summer and winter as ours but who have night when we have day, he called +_antipodes_.[711] No commerce or communication is possible between us +and these other groups of human beings, nor between one group and any of +the others. Macrobius set forth this theory in similar terms,[712] +expressly emphasizing the point that reason teaches us that the southern +zone must be inhabited because its climate is temperate like ours. +However, he added, it is not peopled by men like ourselves—Greeks, +Romans, barbarians—nor shall we ever be able to learn what sort of men +the inhabitants actually are. + +Though, as we have seen, out-and-out belief in antipodeans was heretical +during the epoch we are studying, there is plenty of evidence to show +that the possibility of such a thing was an attractive subject of +speculation. The legends on the Lambert maps to which reference has been +made above would alone be sufficient to convince us of this. William of +Conches spoke very guardedly on the matter;[713] his avowed theory was +that the other temperate regions were habitable but not actually +inhabited. But are we not justified in thinking that in denying the +existence of antipodeans he was merely making a verbal concession to +theological prejudice, especially when he went on to explain that, if +there were people dwelling in other quarters, they would be called +_antoikoi_, _antipodes_, and _antichthones_, and that some would have +summer when we have winter, others night when we have day? + +Gervase of Tilbury relates a fanciful story which might be interpreted +to show that he too liked to dally with the pleasing fancy that there +may be antipodeans, even though elsewhere he rejects such a possibility. +He tells of a cave in a mountain belonging to the domain of the castle +of Bech in Great Britain.[714] From this there nearly always blew a +violent wind; but once, when the wind did not happen to be blowing, a +swineherd entered the cave to look for a breeding sow which had wandered +in. Here he found an open plain with cultivated lands and harvesters +bringing in their crops, and from the harvesters he recovered his sow. +To this Gervase adds, “It was an extraordinary circumstance that wintry +coldness coming from these subterranean harvest fields seemed to +penetrate into our hemisphere, which phenomenon I think ought to be +attributed to the sun’s absence and presence elsewhere.”[715] + + + MANEGOLD’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST THIS DOCTRINE + +The most convincing proof of the persistence in the early twelfth +century of a tendency to believe in antipodeans is furnished by the fact +that Manegold in Alsace,[716] sometime after 1103, saw fit to write a +vigorous pamphlet attacking a certain Wolfelm of Cologne, whom he +accused of harboring an heretical opinion. Manegold’s _Contra Wolfelmum +opusculum_ illustrates admirably the orthodox, or even obscurantist, +point of view. He accused Wolfelm of adhering to Macrobius’ teachings +about the four inhabited quarters of the earth. Granting that there are +four such quarters, he demanded, how can the teachings of the Holy and +Apostolic Church, buttressed by all the authority of the Fathers, the +patriarchs, and the prophets from the earliest times, be true? And how +can we believe the prophecies that the Savior will come to bring +salvation to the entire human race, if these branches of the human race +are cut off from the rest, as Macrobius would have it, by the zones and +temperatures of the earth’s surface? How could the prophecy have been +true, “All the ends of the earth will bow down before our God (_salutare +Dei nostri_), if certain ends of the earth are inhabited by men to whom +the voice of the prophets and the apostles could not reach through +impassable tracts of water, of cold, and of heat?”[717] + + + HABITABILITY OF THE EQUATORIAL REGION + +Macrobius’ theory was also contradicted from a position opposite to that +of the orthodox churchmen. The study of Moslem astronomy brought to +Europe the opinion that the equatorial zone itself was not only +habitable but actually inhabited. In the preamble to the _Marseilles +Tables_[718] of Raymond of Marseilles, which reproduces ideas expressed +by the Spanish-Moslem astronomer Az-Zarqalī, we have an explanation of +the current theory among “philosophers” of the uninhabitability of the +polar and equatorial regions. The latter the author of the treatise +refuses to believe because the city of Arin and the temple of “Jupiter +Arenosus” are both known to lie within the equatorial zone. He proceeds +then to explain why it is physically possible for the regions beyond the +equator to be inhabited. + +Peter Alphonsi,[719] also influenced by Arabic reasoning, argued that +the existence of Arin on the equator was sufficient evidence of the +habitability of the equatorial regions and gave a glowing account of the +temperate climate and attractions of those parts of the world. Man can +live throughout the entire area covered by the seven climates, he +maintained, and, as his interpretation of ancient authorities led him to +suppose that the first climate began at the equator, he was convinced +that the equator also would support human life. On the other hand, he +did not agree with the preamble to the _Marseilles Tables_, for he +maintained that the parts of the earth in the southern hemisphere beyond +Arin were not habitable. This was because the sun, on account of the +eccentricity of its orbit, approaches much nearer the earth in those +climes than it does in more northern latitudes. In this way he accounted +for the excessive cold of the Arctic and polar regions and a (supposed) +excessive heat of the trans-equatorial zones. + +Plato of Tivoli’s translation of Al-Battānī’s work brought to Western +knowledge another Arabic discussion of the probable characteristics of +the areas of the earth’s surface unknown to man.[720] As to the equator, +Al-Battānī said, it was uncertain whether men had actually been there or +not. The climate, however, could not be excessively hot, because the sun +in crossing the zenith, as it does twice a year between the tropics, +does not remain directly overhead very long. Al-Battānī saw no reason +why winters and summers should not be temperate in countries along the +equator and believed that these latitudes must have, in fact, a climate +not greatly unlike that of Aden and Yemen, which, however hot it may +seem to the European, apparently did not impress the Arabs by its +torridity. The unknown districts of the world, Al-Battānī went on to +explain, comprise eleven-twelfths of the whole. Though no man had ever +reached them, he thought it not irrational to suppose that they were +like the known parts, for the sun and stars must pass across them and +produce in the same way winter and summer, the tides of the sea, and +animal and vegetable life. + + + GROSSETESTE ON THE HABITABLE PARTS OF THE EARTH + +When we come to the close of our period, we find that Robert +Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, and after him his more famous pupil +Roger Bacon, like Peter Alphonsi, took over from the Moslems much +geographical and astronomical lore which they interpreted and freely +criticized. + +In a book entitled _De lineis angulis et figuris_ Grosseteste elaborated +some general principles relating to the incidence and reflection of rays +from celestial bodies. The _De natura locorum_ is an attempt to show how +far these principles may be used to account for various phenomena of the +earth’s surface. Grosseteste conceived of celestial rays and influences +as emanating in an infinite number of cones, or “pyramids,” as he called +them, the apexes of which were the celestial bodies; the longer and more +oblique these pyramids, the weaker the effect of the rays upon the +earth’s surface and vice versa.[721] + +Let us see how Robert applied the principle of the pyramids to explain +conditions in the equatorial zone, in the southern hemisphere, and in +the polar regions. + + + _The Equatorial Zone_ + +Logically the equatorial zone should be scorched and burnt by the sun +because the pyramids are there the shortest and the angles at which the +rays reach the earth approach nearest to a right angle. As a matter of +fact, Robert had it on the authority of Ptolemy and Avicenna that, +whereas the subtropical regions are intensely hot, the subequatorial +zone is not only temperate but extremely temperate (_temperatissimus_); +indeed, he said, theologians place Paradise under the equator in the +Orient. A modification of the principle of the pyramids was therefore +necessary. In his readiness to admit such modifications of rules that he +had laid down, Robert showed an open-minded and a scientific spirit. In +order to allow for the circumstance of a supposedly temperate equatorial +region, he stated that the heat received during the daytime must be +neutralized by the coolness of the nights, since day and night between +the tropics are always approximately the same length, as they are in the +latitudes of Europe during spring and autumn only.[722] + + + _The Southern Hemisphere_ + +The southern hemisphere, on the other hand, Robert thought to be +uninhabitable on account of the intense heat of summer and bitter cold +of winter. The excessive heat he ascribed to the fact that the +eccentricity of the solar orbit around the earth brings the sun no less +than five degrees nearer the earth during the southern summer than it +approaches during the northern summer.[723] The pyramids, or lines of +heat radiation, are therefore shorter and the heat is more intense.[724] +Conversely the southern winter must be colder than that of the north +because the sun at that season is farthest from the earth. + +Granting a geocentric universe, this reasoning was sound though its +consequences were exaggerated. It is quite true that the earth is nearer +the sun in the summer of the southern than in the summer of the northern +hemisphere, yet no extreme results flow from this circumstance, and +there is no great difference in the amount of heat received by each +hemisphere.[725] + +An exaggerated idea of the differences in temperatures north and south +of the equator led Robert,[726] and after him Roger Bacon,[727] to doubt +the validity of the theory of the precession of the equinoxes. This +phenomenon would inevitably produce a gradual shifting of the climatic +conditions of the southern hemisphere to the northern, and, as a result, +the latter would presumably in the course of time become uninhabitable. +Since this seemed incredible to Grosseteste and Bacon, they were +impelled to deny the possibility of its cause. + + + _The Polar Regions_ + +In discussing the climate and habitability of the polar regions,[728] +Robert cites a work, _De vegetabilibus_ (erroneously ascribed to +Aristotle in the Middle Ages) and a commentary upon it. Here the +extraordinary view was expressed that no plants or animals could survive +in the polar zone because the heat of the sun would burn them up! This +view originated in the known fact that the sun shines continuously for +half the year at the pole and at no time sinks very far below the +horizon. The commentator pointed out that the sun never retires more +than 23° out of sight and that it is capable of illuminating and heating +the atmosphere at 18° below the horizon. The theory, however, failed to +take into account the very important fact that the sun’s rays reach the +polar regions at a sharply oblique angle and that consequently their +powers of generating heat are limited. This circumstance together with +the “observations and reasoning of Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other +authorities” led the Bishop of Lincoln conclusively to reject the +singular theory of the _De vegetabilibus_ and to attribute to the polar +zones a climate that, in so far as it was dependent upon the disposition +of the heavens, rendered these regions uninhabitable on account of the +cold. Nevertheless, he recognized that there might be accidental local +conditions, such as the presence of mountains of peculiar shape, capable +in the polar regions of producing areas of intense heat or of +delightfully temperate climate. But to this subject we shall revert in a +later section devoted to the influence of mountains on climate.[729] + + + + + CHAPTER VII + THE ATMOSPHERE + + +At the present time we divide the study of the atmosphere into the +sciences of meteorology, devoted to the investigation of individual and +local atmospheric phenomena, and climatology, devoted to the +investigation of the geographical distribution of weather conditions +throughout the world as observed during long periods of time. We may +make the same arbitrary division in dealing with the theories current in +the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Meteorology and climatology, +however, merge into each other. Some understanding of one is absolutely +essential to an understanding of the other, and hence we must take +certain meteorological theories into consideration before attempting to +deal with the more truly geographic subject of climatology. + + + _METEOROLOGY_ + +Probably the most complete and satisfactory extant treatment of +meteorology from our period is to be found in the writings of William of +Conches, whose interest in physics and in the natural sciences led him +to study carefully the views of Seneca and also to express at great +length opinions of his own about the atmosphere.[730] + + + COMPOSITION OF THE ATMOSPHERE + +In the first place, William had very definite ideas concerning the +composition of the air. The aerial and aqueous spheres, he said, act as +intermediaries between the spheres of fire and earth.[731] The qualities +of the two latter are opposite; but the atmosphere partakes more or less +of the qualities of each, for neither sphere is made up exclusively of +one element. William was an atomist: he thought that matter is composed +of minute atoms and that each atom is the smallest conceivable particle +of one of the four elements.[732] He explained that the atmosphere, +which extends up as far as the moon’s orbit, contains in addition to the +aerial atoms a certain number of aqueous particles in its lower levels +and of fiery atoms higher up. Hence its density and humidity decrease +progressively from the earth’s surface upward; the higher air is clear +and lucid, the abode of good demons or angels, messengers of God to man, +whereas the lower air is full of clouds and constitutes the abode of +evil spirits.[733] + +These parts of the atmosphere formed two out of five concentric regions +into which William divided the entire universe.[734] + + + TEMPERATURE + +With much acuteness of observation, William recognized the fact that the +sun’s influence on the denser air of low altitudes is far more potent +than it is on the rarer strata above.[735] Though heat comes from the +sun, he said, it is not apparent until it becomes mingled with humidity. +In valleys the air, lying stagnant and damp, is easily heated, whereas +the dry upper levels remain cold even though the sun’s warmth passes +through them. The presence of this coldness explains why snow is found +on the summits of the highest mountains, for the belief that mountain +snow is due to cold north winds William branded as false, observing that +snow often occurs on the south as well as on the north sides of the +peaks. Robert Grosseteste also held that the air at high altitudes is +much colder than it is near the surface.[736] This, he said, was because +the heating effect of the sun’s rays is inoperative on account of the +transparency of the medium. At the surface heating takes place as a +result of reflection and condensation of the solar rays.[737] The cold +air at high levels explains the origin of perpetual snow on mountain +tops. Hail is generated in these strata, rain at lower levels. Robert +cited as proof of this the fact that birds of prey fly high in summer to +cool off and that cranes and many other birds descend into the valleys +to escape the icy chill but fly up the mountain sides to avoid the +heat.[738] + + + UPPER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE + +In contrast with these opinions of William of Conches and Robert +Grosseteste, which were based apparently on more or less direct +observation, we find echoes in our period of a doctrine that had its +roots in classical mythology—the doctrine that above a certain height on +mountain peaks the air is undisturbed by wind and unsullied by +clouds.[739] Hermann the Dalmatian hints at this in his _Liber de +essentiis_. In the course of a discussion of the dimensions of the +habitable area of the earth’s surface that had probably been suggested +by the reading of Arabic works he explains that the living offspring of +the earth require for the maintenance of life a certain heavy, “greasy” +terrestrial vapor which, “as Aristotle determined from the height of +Olympus, does not rise more than sixteen stades above the earth’s +surface. Here consequently would seem to be the upper limit of our +habitable zone. Possibly this might be measured by means of the rainbow, +which, according to the description of Hipparchus, reaches from the +clouds themselves down to the surface of the earth. But since +Hipparchus’ description is not accurate nor is the figure of the rainbow +a semicircle, we leave the matter for whosoever may wish to prove +it.”[740] Peter Alphonsi, who was also influenced by Moslem thought, +placed the upper limit of the clouds at sixteen miles,[741] a figure +which may have been derived from the same origin as Hermann’s sixteen +stades. Peter Comestor inserted in his _Historia scholastica_ some +observations in regard to the tranquillity of the summit of Mount +Olympus and the physiological effects of the rarity of the +atmosphere.[742] So quiet and untroubled by winds is this peak that +letters written there in the dust remain legible for a year. The air is +too thin even to support the life of birds, and several philosophers who +climbed the mountain would have been unable to remain on top if they had +not held to their faces sponges soaked with water and in this way made +it possible to breathe by attracting denser air to their nostrils.[743] + + + CLOUDS + +In this connection a puzzling question seems to have occurred to William +of Conches. If the general rule holds that the atmosphere is rarer +higher up than on the earth’s surface, how then does it happen that the +upper air so often becomes dense in the form of clouds? To this William +gave the correct answer,[744] that clouds are not composed of air of +greater density than the surrounding parts of the atmosphere, but that +water vapor arising from below is turned into clouds by the cold. True +as it may be, this idea does not fit in very well with William’s theory +of the coldness of the higher altitudes. First he maintains that one of +the main reasons why the upper air is cold is because it lacks dampness; +then he goes on to explain that dampness rising to a great elevation is +converted by the cold into clouds. Though there is no direct +contradiction of two statements here, one cannot but sense inconsistency +and looseness of thought of a sort that pervades all medieval natural +science, though William of Conches on the whole was rather less +illogical and less inconsistent than most of his contemporaries. + +Much the same explanation of the effects of cold on the condensation of +water vapor is found in the _Dialogus_ of Peter Alphonsi,[745] where it +is shown that the sun draws a damp vapor from the sea and a dry humor +from the land. Out of a combination of these, clouds are formed which +rise until they reach a height of about sixteen miles. Here, coming in +contact with strata of cold air, they are prevented from ascending any +higher, and the damp vapor may be precipitated in the form of rain. + + + PRECIPITATION + +William of Conches also endeavored to explain rainfall.[746] This +phenomenon may result, he said, from various causes: either from the +conversion into drops of water of dense vapors arising from the earth, +from the actual transformation of air into water through the influence +of cold, from the tumbling back to earth of some of the water which the +sun raises to itself for its own nourishment,[747] or, finally, from +water swept up by the winds off the surface of streams, lakes, and +swamps. That the last was possible he believed to be demonstrated by the +fact that frogs sometimes fall with raindrops![748] + +Theodoric of Chartres gives a clear statement[749] of the theory of +evaporation, condensation, and precipitation in terms that sound almost +modern. Heat, he says, causes water to ascend into the atmosphere in +minute drops which form clouds. If the heat increases, these droplets +turn to pure air; if it diminishes, they coalesce into rain. The most +minute drops are constricted by a cold wind into snow; when the drops +are large they are converted into hail by the same agency.[750] + +Topographic influences on precipitation were partially understood by +Giraldus Cambrensis, who believed that the influence of +land—particularly hilly land—frequently tends to change the vapors of +the air into mists and clouds, or rain and snow.[751] In the seas off +Ireland, for instance, water is attracted into the atmosphere in immense +quantities; the temperature being equable, the water is neither consumed +by an excess of heat nor turned to snow by an excess of cold but is +altered into rain, a process greatly facilitated by the presence of many +mountains in Ireland. + + + FLOODS; THE DELUGE + +An excess of rainfall results in floods. William of Conches believed +that under normal conditions the warmth of summer counteracts the +excessive dampness of winter but that a long series of cool, damp +summers will end in floods and, conversely, a series of hot, dry summers +will end in droughts. But, however many local floods there may be, only +one _diluvium_, or deluge, is possible.[752] + +Whence came the waters of the Deluge? This was a question which puzzled +some of the commentators on Scripture during the Middle Ages. Adelard, +though he did not believe it himself, cited a theory that the purpose of +the waters above the firmament was to furnish these waters.[753] Peter +Comestor,[754] followed by Gervase of Tilbury,[755] said that they came +partly from the bowels of the earth and partly from the air above and +that they rose higher than the tops of the mountains of today,[756] to +the level to which the vapors of burnt offerings ascend. Gervase also +spoke of a curious theory that there may have been no rain in Paradise +nor anywhere on the earth until the time of the Deluge.[757] The +vegetation in the Garden was watered in these early days by the heavenly +dew. The argument that no rain fell until the Deluge was based, he said, +on the words of God to Noah: “I will no more curse the earth for the +sake of men; ... seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, +night and day shall not cease” (Gen. viii, 21–22). Gervase adds: +“Perhaps the four seasons were not yet fully distinguished one from the +other, since not until the time of the Deluge were the waters gathered +into clouds.”[758] According to the _Liber divinorum operum_ of +Hildegard the temperature was far hotter before the Deluge than it has +been since, and “the men of that time possessed great bodily strength in +order that they might endure this heat. The Deluge reduced the +temperature, and men since have been weaker” (Thorndike).[759] + + + WINDS + +The winds interested the men of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries +even more than rainfall. Popular notions of winds, rain, and storms as +manifestations of magical powers or evil spirits,[760] though +universally believed among the unlearned, were not given serious +consideration by the majority of scholars. Isidore, Bede, Raban Maur, +and those who copied from them during our period—the author of the _De +imagine mundi_[761] and Gervase of Tilbury in his _Otia +imperialia_—defined wind as air in a disturbed and agitated +condition,[762] Adelard of Bath said it was dense air moving in a +particular direction,[763] and William of Conches used Seneca’s +definition, “Wind is air flowing one way.”[764] + +Hildegard of Bingen made the winds play a supremely important part in +the dynamics and physics of the universe. To the winds she ascribed the +movement of the firmament from east to west and of the planets from west +to east.[765] Were it not for the winds, she said, the fires of the +south, the waters of the west, the shadows of the north would burst +forth over the earth. The four winds are the wings of God’s power; were +they to move forward at once all the elements would be confounded and +split asunder, and they would shake the sea and dry up its waters.[766] +As the body of man is held together by the soul, so the whole firmament +is kept intact by the winds lest it be corrupted; and the winds are +invisible like the soul, which comes from the mystery of God[767] (see +Fig. 5, p. 149). + +What causes the wind? William of Conches made one of the most elaborate +attempts in many centuries to answer this,[768] for, though borrowing +largely from Seneca, he added some significant observations of his own. +In the first place he argued that local winds are produced by various +local causes, as, for instance, when air enters a cavern, on account of +its _labilitas_, or fluidity, it tends to force out the air already +there and thus to make a commotion which generates wind. We may be +allowed to suppose here that William has in mind a cavern with two +entrances, for it is difficult to understand how such an effect could be +produced in a cavern with only one. Similarly, William thought that +waters entering the hollows of the earth tend to force out the vapors +therein contained and thus to produce blasts and even earthquakes. A +damp vapor in rising might cause a wind to blow on account of the +removal of its weight (_ex ponderatione sua_). William borrowed the idea +that winds may result from the destruction and flattening out of clouds +directly from the ἐκνέφτα, or “cloud breezes,” of Aristotle and Seneca. +Adelard of Bath also attributed the origin of certain winds to local +exhalations of vapors off the surface of land and water. “Marshes and +valleys give up a great deal of dense air, which in the natural course +of things rises upward; further, when they are loosened, they give back +to its natural position much moisture of water which they had previously +held imprisoned; add to this that I do not exclude from my statement the +actual air which is the content of earth” (Gollancz’s translation).[769] + + + _Atmospheric Circulation_ + +The most original theory of the winds was not any of those which +attempted to account for purely local breezes but an explanation +propounded by William of Conches of the circulation of the atmosphere as +a whole. Unlike our modern conceptions of atmospheric circulation based +on the observation of facts, William’s ingenious theory seems to have +been the product of his own vivid imagination. It was founded on a +persistent idea, dating back to classical times, that disturbances in +the water can produce currents of air. Gervase of Tilbury, for example, +states in so many words that “mountains and water cause winds” and that +the swift-flowing Rhone makes the _mistral_ that blows over Provence and +Dauphiny.[770] William of Conches[771] believed that there are two ocean +currents trending east and west out of the equatorial ocean. Each of +these was supposed to divide in two at the extremities of our +_oikoumene_, making four currents which collide at the North and South +Poles in the ocean perpendicular to the equatorial ring (Amphitrites). +The cardinal winds are generated at four points, at the two junctions of +the oceans where the currents divide and at the poles where they +collide. The western division gives rise to Zephyr, the eastern to +Eurus, the collision at the North Pole to Boreas, and the one at the +South Pole to Auster. It may happen, however, that one of the currents +will on occasion flow more strongly than its opponent and will push the +point of collision beyond the pole. This displacement of the point of +collision explains the blowing of the collateral winds. Absurd as it may +be in itself, this theory is of interest to us mainly because it shows +that William understood that a broad system of atmospheric circulation +is possible and assigned to it, as well as to local breezes, a purely +physical cause. Curiously enough, it is the exact reverse of our modern +conception of the usual relation existing between atmospheric and ocean +currents, for now we understand that the winds are more effective as the +cause of the ocean currents than vice versa. + +William also maintained, as we shall see later,[772] that the tides are +produced by the impact of ocean currents. Why then, it was asked, if the +tides are of daily, periodic occurrence, do not the winds, which he +tells us result from the same cause, show a similar periodicity? To this +William replied[773] that the winds in fact do show such regularity but +that it is not apparent to us for two reasons: in the first place, wind +produced by these causes does not always reach the part of the earth +where we happen to be; and, secondly, the resulting wind may blow at +such a high altitude as not to be noticed by men on the ground—an +observation now well known to be true. + + + _Names of the Winds_ + +Classical names for the winds were almost universally employed. The +distinction between cardinal and collateral which was made by William of +Conches goes back to the Greeks,[774] who had conceived of four cardinal +and four, six, seven, or eight collateral winds. Seneca’s[775] rose of +twelve winds, the idea of which in its essentials had been derived from +Posidonius, Timosthenes, and, ultimately, from Aristotle, was adopted by +Isidore, who passed it on to the Middle Ages, though terrible confusion +(which, happily, it is not necessary for us to unravel) reigned at all +times regarding the names employed to designate its elements.[776] In +addition to the classical terms, our modern names were already familiar. +In the Ghent manuscript of Lambert of St. Omer’s _Liber floridus_[777] +there is a diagram in which the winds are called “ost-ost,” “sud-ost,” +“sud-sud,” “sud-west,” “west-west,” “nord-west,” “nord-nord,” and +“nord-ost.” This terminology was used in the time of Charlemagne[778] +and is probably of Anglo-Saxon origin,[779] although it has been +suggested that the terms are corruptions of Latin words—“ost” from +“Augustus;” “ovest,” or “west,” from “ob est;” “nord” from “novus +arctus,” etc.[780] + + + _Qualities of the Winds_ + +To the various winds classical and medieval writers liked to attribute +qualities—or, at any rate, descriptive adjectives, “cold” or “hot,” +“dry” or “damp,” “stormy” or “calm,” and the like—but there was little +enough uniformity in making these distinctions. Some writers of our +period seem to have been content merely to repeat what had been said in +classical times; others, like William of Conches or Giraldus Cambrensis, +showed more independence. Boreas was probably universally regarded as +cold and Auster as hot, but beyond this we cannot generalize.[781] +William of Conches[782] conceived of the winds as partaking of the +qualities of the regions over which they blow: Auster, coming from the +South Pole and hence originally frigid like Boreas, in its passage +across the torrid, equatorial zone becomes hot and dry—an observation +which may perhaps be founded on some knowledge of the _sirocco_ of the +Mediterranean. On the other hand, Giraldus Cambrensis, undoubtedly from +personal acquaintance with the water-laden south and southwest gales of +the British Isles, calls Auster damp and rainy in winter. Similarly +Giraldus breaks with classical tradition when he speaks of the east +wind, or Eurus, as pure and clear, a bringer of fair summer weather, +strikingly different from Zephyr, wet and cloudy from the sea.[783] + + + _Local Winds_ + +We find occasional descriptions—some of them from personal observation, +no doubt—of winds peculiar to particular parts of the world. Gervase of +Tilbury, as we have seen, tells of very violent blasts in the Rhone +valley,[784] supposedly generated by the current of the river in a +region now famed for the furious _mistral_ that sweeps across Dauphiny +and Provence from the north. In another connection[785] he tells of a +valley in the Kingdom of Arles, once so shut in by precipitous mountains +that no winds at all entered it and that it consequently was sterile and +useless. In the time of Charlemagne, however, Caesarius, the archbishop +of Arles, filled his glove with sea breezes and let them forth in the +valley; thus originated a wind known as _pontianum_, which wrought an +immediate change in the character of the place and caused it henceforth +to become fertile and healthy. This wind was doubtless the breeze now +called _pontias_ that blows at Nyons in the Department of the Drôme; but +as to its miraculous origin Gervase is merely repeating one of many +popular medieval stories.[786] + +William of Tyre[787] describes in vivid terms the _simoom_ of the +Arabian desert and how men have to lie flat on the ground at the time of +its passing: equal to a storm at sea, it sweeps down upon the traveler +waves of sand as huge as those of the sea and causes grave danger to +persons who would cross the desert. + + + _CLIMATOLOGY_ + +The most important factor in determining the atmospheric climate of any +given region is the amount of sunlight and heat received. This, in turn, +depends largely on geographical latitude. As we have already discussed +the broad climatic divisions of the earth’s surface in zones, it remains +here for us to deal merely with what was known of climatic conditions +within the _oikoumene_. + + + HOT AND COLD CLIMATES + +Climatic differences between northerly and southerly latitudes were well +understood. Classical writers had told of the coldness of the regions +beyond Thule, and in the _De imagine mundi_[788] we read that in those +parts the sea is frozen and perpetual cold prevails. An interpolation +into Solinus’ _Collectanea rerum memorabilium_ dating perhaps from our +period contains a vivid and possibly exaggerated description of the cold +of Iceland: “These people also are good Christians, but in winter they +dare not leave their underground holes on account of the terrible cold. +For if they go out they are smitten by such terrible cold that they lose +their color like lepers and swell up. If by chance they blow their nose, +it comes off and they throw it away” (Nansen’s translation).[789] +Giraldus Cambrensis praises the temperate climate of Ireland, placed +between the torrid warmth of Spain and the rigors of Iceland;[790] and +the chroniclers and historians of the Crusades give evidence of +first-hand knowledge of the terrific summer heats in the Holy Land.[791] +Ambroise says, for example: + + “Ca c’est entur la seint Johan + Que la chalur tote rien seche + En la terre, tele est sa teche.”[792] + +Benjamin of Tudela’s extensive travels made him familiar with countries +of widely different climate. The peculiarities of some of these he notes +briefly. Writing of Russia, for example, he remarks that “no one issues +forth from his house in winter time on account of the cold. People are +to be found there who have lost the tips of their noses by reason of the +frost” (Adler’s translation).[793] Similarly it was his belief that in +Khulam (or Quilon) in southern India no one left his home all through +the summer on account of the sun.[794] A hint of the intensity of the +Mesopotamian summer is given in a description of a hospital in Baghdad, +which Benjamin had perhaps seen, “where they keep charge of the demented +persons who have become insane through the great heat ... and they chain +each of them with iron chains until their reason becomes restored to +them in the winter time” (Adler’s translation).[795] + + + DISTRIBUTION OF CLIMATES + +William of Conches, in his usual manner, tried to generalize on +climates. He said that our habitable portion of the earth’s surface is +not of an even temperature throughout. The parts nearest the torrid +zone, Ethiopia and Libya, are hot and dry; the northern parts near the +frigid zone are cold and damp. Furthermore, though for us it is less +easy to see exactly why, the West is cold and dry, and the East warm and +damp. The symmetry of the system is perfect: climates vary in a direct +ratio with distance, or, as William puts it, “Aequaliter vero distans, +aequaliter est temperata.”[796] + + + CLIMATIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EAST AND WEST + +Men were not so well agreed in the Middle Ages regarding differences of +climate between East and West as regarding those between North and +South. Bartholomew Anglicus[797] believed the West to be cold and damp +and the East hot and dry, an opinion unlike that of William of Conches +in that it may well have been based on actual observation rather than on +theory. Giraldus Cambrensis in the _Topographia Hiberniae_ gives a long +discourse[798] on climatic and other differences between the Orient and +Occident, in which his main contention is that, though the air is +clearer, finer, and more “subtle” in the East, the stormy and damp +climates of the West are better for the health. The true climate of the +Orient—that is of the Levant—had been made known to the Occidental world +through the Crusaders, who often dwelt with insistence on its +disagreeable and injurious qualities, especially the heat, dust, and +thirst of the Syrian summer, which dried cisterns and carried disease +and death in its train. In the East, Giraldus says, everything threatens +the traveler, and he writes a word of warning against doing many of +those very things which the modern wanderer in the Levant knows to be +imprudent: such as going uncovered, sitting on rocks, or +overeating.[799] + + + TOPOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES UPON CLIMATE + + + _The Sea_ + +During our period we find several descriptions of local climatic +conditions and of variations due to topographic features like sea and +mountains. A vivid impression of the wild marine weather of the North +Atlantic off the coast of Ireland is given us in the narrative of St. +Brandan’s wanderings. The saint and his companions were forced to remain +three months on an island because of storms with furious gales, rain, +and hail.[800] Giraldus Cambrensis[801] pictures the turbulent climate +of Ireland, an isle surrounded by vast seas, unprotected and exposed to +all the blasts. He was especially struck by the thick and rainy westerly +gales, Zephyr and Corus, which bend over the trees in the seaward parts +of the island. However violent the winds, Giraldus maintained that +Ireland is the most temperate of all lands:[802] snow there is +infrequent and when it comes lasts but a short while. Though cold +weather accompanies all the winds, it never becomes too cold, and green +grass grows in the pastures at all times of year. Yet so constant is the +dampness, so prevalent the rain and clouds, that a clear day is rare +indeed. + + + _Mountains_ + +William of Conches speaks in general terms of the influence of mountains +on climate. We have seen how he recognized the fact that the tops of +mountains are colder than the valleys below.[803] In another +connection[804] he explained that places cut off from the north winds by +mountains have dry, warm conditions and are good for winter residence, +though less desirable in summer. The opposite is true of places on the +north sides. Similarly, places exposed to the east are warm and damp +with a pleasant autumn but bad spring weather, and the converse is true +of places with a western exposure. This systematic arrangement is +deduced from William’s fundamental and oversymmetrical conception of the +various climatic characteristics of the cardinal points of the compass. + +Gunther of Pairis, in his _Ligurinus_,[805] embellishes a description of +the mountain ranges of Italy with an imaginative discourse on how they +influence the climate: the Apennines temper the moist, summer heat of +the south wind, and the crags of the Alps cut off the cold northerly +gales of Boreas and Arctos. Giraldus Cambrensis says[806] that Ireland, +like all other mountainous districts, produces an abundance of rain. In +the _Itinerarium Kambriae_[807] he explains that the lake of Brecknock +(Llangorse) in Wales is encircled north, west, and south by high +mountains. The great range of Cader Arthur to the south, by cutting off +the rays of the sun, renders the climate in the vicinity of the lake +both pleasant and healthy. The valley of Ewyas, completely surrounded by +mountains (now the Black Mountains), is constantly the resting place of +clouds, strong gales, and rain, which make it, in Giraldus’ opinion, an +extremely healthful locality.[808] + +We cannot leave this subject without alluding again to the theoretical +discussion of the influence of mountains on the climate of the polar +regions that is found in that most interesting treatise of Robert +Grosseteste, the _De natura locorum_. The bishop of Lincoln recognized +the fact that insolation is greatly reduced in high latitudes owing to +the obliquity of the sun’s rays and that the climate normally should be +too cold to sustain life. He believed, however, that the presence of +very high mountains, Rhipaean, Hyperborean, and others to which the +authorities referred, might totally neutralize the effects of position +in relation to the sun’s rays. “Some of these mountains,” he wrote,[809] +“are smooth of surface, like the salt or rock hills that are found in +many places, and others are in the nature of crystal, as divers authors +and explorers testify, so that the reflection from them is good. As a +result of this they are able to cause the rays all to converge and to +produce a powerful effect. From these two accidental causes, that is +from the smoothness of the mountains and from their concave shape, there +is an intense heating of the air in certain regions around the pole. The +great height of some of these mountains also cuts off the cold of the +north, and thus certain localities may well be intensely hot.” On the +other hand, Grosseteste had learned from Capella, Pliny, Solinus, and +“many others who describe the regions of the world that in the +Hyperborean Mountains next to the pole there are men who are called +Hyperboreans from these mountains. And they enjoy the most temperate and +healthy of climates and as a result live to such an age that they grow +tired of life and without other cause throw themselves off of high rocks +into the sea and die. The cause of this may be assigned to the form of +the mountains beneath which they dwell, inasmuch as these mountains are +smooth and of even surface, nor are they concave but are elongated +(_oblongam_) and convex or of some other shape which does not +concentrate the heat in those regions but on the contrary renders the +climate temperate.”[810] + + + INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON MAN + +In the literature of our period we find several observations about the +influence of climate on man. Gervase of Tilbury[811] maintained that the +character of the different European peoples varies with varying climatic +conditions. “According to the diversities of the air the Romans are +grave, the Greeks fickle and unreliable, the Africans sly and crafty, +the Gauls fierce, and the English and Teutons powerful and robust.” + +In another connection[812] he explains that the violent _mistral_ of the +Rhone valley generates in this region men who are windy, empty-headed, +inconsistent, and most unreliable in their promises. The supposedly +mollifying influence of a warmer climate on the Lombards is hinted at by +Otto of Freising.[813] Otto believed that these tribes gave up their +ferocity on settling in Italy, where they adopted Italian customs, +partly because they married Italian women but partly also because of the +nature of the country and climate (_ex terris aerisve_). We have already +seen how Giraldus Cambrensis stressed the healthy qualities of damp and +humid Ireland in contrast with the disease-breeding Orient. Even the +most delicate persons thrive in Ireland, he said, and though the Eastern +air may endow men with keener wits and intelligence, the West gives them +stronger bodies and a more martial spirit.[814] + + + CLIMATE OF ROME + +If we may believe Otto of Freising[815] and Gunther of Pairis,[816] the +climate of Rome was even more noxious and dangerous in the twelfth than +in the nineteenth century. Otto tells us that Frederick Barbarossa’s +army arrived in Rome in midsummer when the Dog Star was on high. It was +a time when the ponds, caverns, and ruinous places around the city were +exhaling poisonous vapors, and the air in the entire vicinity had become +densely laden with pestilence and death. Gunther enlarges on this, +giving a circumstantial, though probably fanciful, account of the +effects of the terrible Roman summer on the German army, especially of +the disease and malaria engendered by the climate and foul condition of +the city.[817] + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + THE WATERS + + + _THE WATERS ABOVE THE FIRMAMENT_ + + + RATIONALISTIC BELIEFS + +“And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the +firmament from the waters which were above the firmament” (Gen. i, 7). + +We saw in Chapter II that this text had induced many of the earlier +Church Fathers to devise strange theories about the waters above the +firmament. The idea of Jerome, Josephus, Ambrose, Isidore, and Bede that +these waters were in crystalline, or frozen, form met with opposition +from those who were influenced by classical science and especially by +the writings of Aristotle. Abelard in his _Expositio in hexaemeron_[818] +discussed in considerable detail various opinions about the existence of +solidified water above the firmament, though personally he was inclined +to think that the air sustains the water in the form of very fine drops. +That much heavier objects may sometimes be supported by air or water he +proved by citing examples of cases where this is actually known to +happen, as where a needle may be made to float on water. Theodoric of +Chartres and William of Conches approached the problem from an even more +rationalistic standpoint. Theodoric[819] held that water, when subjected +to sufficient heat, turns into “pure air.” On the second day of the +Creation the fire element heated the water element in such a way that +large portions of the latter rose as high as the moon and were there +suspended in vaporous form “above the top of the sky” (_super summam +coeli_). As a result the atmosphere became intercalated between the +liquid water of the earth’s surface and this water vapor above the +firmament. The firmament itself, Theodoric contended, was merely the air +and was so called either because it “firmly” supported that which was +above it and enclosed that which was below it or else because it +“firmly” gripped the earth on all sides. William of Conches also argued +against the possibility of frozen water above the firmament.[820] This, +he declared, is quite contrary to reason: frozen water is solid and +heavy, and the place for solid and heavy substances in the constitution +of the universe is either on or beneath the earth’s surface. Then again, +water in or near the celestial sphere—which is the abode of fire—would +either extinguish the fire or else itself be consumed. William objected +to juggling with the Aristotelian laws of physics. He explained the +Biblical text by asserting that the firmament is the atmosphere and that +the waters “above” it are in reality nothing more than the clouds within +it.[821] On the whole, he concluded that the text should be interpreted +allegorically rather than literally. + + + LITERAL BELIEFS + +In decided contrast with these more or less rationalistic theories was +Michael Scot’s bold assertion that beyond the realm of fire and above +the eighth heavenly sphere comes a “multitude of waters,”[822] or +Gervase of Tilbury’s extraordinary account of a sea either in or above +the atmosphere. To prove the existence of such a sea Gervase told[823] +how “in his time some people coming out of a church in England found an +anchor let down by a rope out of the heavens, how there came voices from +sailors above trying to loose the anchor, and, finally, how a sailor +came down the rope, who, on reaching the earth, died as if drowned in +water” (White).[824] William of Auvergne, Platonist of the early +thirteenth century and staunch opponent of Aristotelianism, also found +no difficulties in the way of literal belief in the waters above the +firmament. Ignoring the arguments of Peripatetic physics, he wrote:[825] +“Nobody in the world is either amazed or horrified at the presence of +fire beneath the waters and more especially beneath the earth. This is +proved to the eye by the fiery outbreaks from three mountains (that is +Vulcano, Etna, and Chimaera). Why then should one wonder so much that +water is found above the heavens?” + +Hildegard of Bingen gave expression to some views, probably original +with her, regarding the waters above the firmament. In the _Causae et +curae_ she speaks of “the waters of the great sea which surrounds the +world and forms as it were a flank to those waters which are above the +firmament, because the height (_summitas_) of those which are above and +the extreme edge (_extremitas_) of those which are below the firmament +are mutually joined together.”[826] In the _Solutiones_ she +characterized the celestial waters, asserting that they neither increase +nor decrease (implying perhaps that they are disturbed by no tides) but +that they have remained just as they are now since God created them. +They are unlike the waters of the earth inasmuch as they are far more +fine in texture and entirely invisible to human eyes.[827] + + + PURPOSE OF THE WATERS + +What purpose is served by the waters above the firmament? Gervase of +Tilbury declared that they supply the earth with dew.[828] Abelard said +that there were two opinions on this subject.[829] The first was that +the waters were originally placed in the heavens in order to be used in +the Deluge. To this he was opposed, because the Psalms show that the +waters were still in existence in David’s time, long after the Flood. If +there had not been waters above the firmament in David’s time, how could +the latter have sung: “Praise ye the Lord ... ye heavens of heavens and +let all the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the +Lord”?[830] Abelard was more inclined to favor the second theory, that +the waters were intended to temper the heat of the upper celestial +fires. He felt, however, with more or less reason, that this entire +problem presents great, if not insoluble, difficulties. + + + _THE CONGREGATION OF WATERS_ + +There is an abundance of evidence that the authority of the Bible was +invoked to support a theory that the waters beneath the firmament must +constitute one unit, or “congregation of waters.” This view, as we saw +in Chapter II, was based on the assertion in Genesis that God “gathered +together the waters in one place.” Peter Abelard,[831] Peter +Comestor,[832] and Hugh of St. Victor[833] all maintained that there are +great subterranean reservoirs connected with the seas and rivers of the +surface in such a way that the whole hydrographic system of the earth +forms a single unit. Prior to the action of God in gathering them +together these waters in the primordial chaos were supposed to have been +disseminated in the form of vapor, which took up vastly more room than +the liquid into which God’s power later concentrated them. + + + CONNECTION BETWEEN SEAS AND RIVERS + +That many writers believed in the connection between the seas and the +rivers and in the consequent unity of the waters is shown by numerous +passages. Medieval thinkers, as we have seen, were constantly +preoccupied by the doctrine of the microcosm, the theory that the human +body includes all the elements which constitute the universe and is +indeed in itself a miniature replica of the universe. This appears in a +statement in the _De imagine mundi_ that the whole interior of the earth +is filled with channels like the blood vessels that permeate the +body.[834] Whenever and wherever a man digs into the ground he is sure +to find water. A constant circulation is maintained between the ocean +and the waters of the surface of the land through these passages and +through the air.[835] + +William of Conches held that the great ocean in the equatorial zone is +the source of all dampness in the earth (_fons humoris_) and that the +land is seamed with canals full of water derived from that source.[836] +Peter Alphonsi describes the circulation of the waters from the sea into +the atmosphere by evaporation, thence in the form of rain to the rivers, +and so back to the sea.[837] Peter Comestor, however, held that the +river which springs from Paradise and divides in four is the source of +all the water of the earth;[838] and Gervase of Tilbury, who follows +Comestor in this respect, mentions in another connection that springs +have their sources in the sea.[839] Perhaps if he had analyzed the +question he would have said that the waters of the sea must find their +way at some time through the rivers of Paradise and thence to the +springs. + + + THE EARTH ESTABLISHED ON THE WATERS + +The phrase in the Psalms, that God established the earth above or on +(_super_) the waters,[840] also proved puzzling to the thinkers of our +period. The easy explanation that such a phenomenon might be due to the +arbitrary working of God’s will was not always readily accepted. Some +commentators on the Psalms observed dubiously that it surpassed their +understanding.[841] Alexander Neckam stated that it might possibly refer +to waters beneath the earth, since “Alfraganus [Al-Farghānī] says that +the sphere of the waters and of the earth are one.” Saints who had +expounded the phrase, he added, tried to explain away the difficulty by +referring to the colloquial manner of saying that Paris is founded “on +the Seine.” “The truth of the matter, however, is that the terrestrial +paradise is above the waters, since it is above the sphere of the +moon.”[842] An allegorical interpretation was also resorted to, and the +reader was told to conceive of “earth” as being the Church and “the +waters” as the many peoples upon which the Church is founded. + +Peter Abelard, in an interesting passage in the _Expositio in +hexaemeron_,[843] gave an interpretation of this phrase as well as of +the text about the “congregation of the waters” which seems to +foreshadow a theory later to be elaborated by Brunetto Latino and +destined to gain a firm grip on the hydrographical conceptions of many +individuals until as late as the eighteenth century. Abelard wrote: +“When the waters receded into one part of the earth, the other parts +were uncovered, as was written: ‘God, who established the earth on the +waters.’ As any globe may be immersed in water in such a way that one +part of it rises above the water, even so the globe of the earth rests +in the waters so that one side of it is contiguous with the sea and +causes the sea to permeate through its veins, whence springs and rivers +take their rise. The waters of this sea, in truth, are congregated into +one place and are consequently deeper than if they were diffused, +unless, perchance, the fact that they may be drawn off through the veins +of the earth makes them less deep.” We have seen that Abelard and +William of Conches compared the universe to an egg in which the four +parts correspond to the four elements, fire, air, water, and earth.[844] +This was the theoretical arrangement of the elements according to the +logical application of Aristotle’s physical laws. As a matter of fact, +the aqueous sphere does not completely envelop the earth, as it should +if this theoretical arrangement were carried out in nature. How, then, +could it be explained that a portion of the earth’s surface is not +covered by water? Robert Grosseteste, without attempting a physical +explanation, answered this question from the teleological point of view, +echoing the words of Genesis. “Truly it is a fact,” he wrote, “that, in +order that the animals of this earth might have a habitation and refuge, +the water receded into the concave parts of the earth and the surface of +the land appeared dry and distinct. And so the land with the waters +contained upon it is like a sphere of earth.”[845] Later writers were +not willing to accept such a simple declaration and looked for physical +and mechanical explanations. For instance, Brunetto Latino assigned to +the spheres of earth and of water each a different center, placed in +such positions in relation to one another that the aqueous sphere covers +the sphere of earth to a great depth on one side (the southern +hemisphere) but on the opposite side leaves dry the portion inhabited by +man.[846] Certainly the passage we have quoted above shows that Abelard +may well have had something of this sort in mind. + + + _THE OCEANS AND SEAS_ + + + RELATIVE AREAS OF LAND AND SEA + +We saw in Chapter I that two theories prevailed in ancient times as to +the distribution of land and water: the oceanic theory, that the +_oikoumene_ is surrounded by water; and the continental theory, that the +oceans of the earth occupy relatively small and enclosed basins. Though +the writers of our period held to the oceanic hypothesis, they had +various and conflicting notions in regard to the size of the ocean or +oceans which surround the known world. The great popularity of Martianus +Capella and Macrobius, who both held the doctrine that there are three +areas of land corresponding to our _oikoumene_ in the three quarters of +the earth’s surface, must have rendered impossible any widespread +acceptance of a theory like the one hinted at by Abelard, that all of +the earth’s surface except the _oikoumene_ is covered by water; and the +definition of the ocean as a zone or hem surrounding the inhabited +world, not infrequently given in our period, certainly does not imply +the existence of water areas of immense size in comparison with the land +areas.[847] Furthermore, the Second Book of Esdras, which, though +apocryphal, enjoyed high authority in the Middle Ages,[848] gave the +reader an opposite impression. Here it was stated: “Upon the third day +thou didst command that the waters should be gathered in the seventh +part of the earth: six parts hast thou dried up, and kept them, to the +intent that of these some being planted of God and tilled might serve +thee.” “Upon the fifth day thou saidst unto the seventh part, where the +waters gathered, that it should bring forth living creatures, fowls and +fishes: and so it came to pass.” Roger Bacon uses this text from Esdras +to reinforce his argument that, relatively speaking, the water surface +of the world is very restricted in comparison with the land +surface.[849] + + + EXPLANATION OF UNIFORM LEVEL OF SEA SURFACE + +Into the sea there pours at all times a vast volume of water from the +rivers. Neckam moralized mournfully on this[850] and compared the flow +of fresh water into the salt depths with the way in which greater powers +absorb lesser and the way in which the voluptuousness of this world—a +sham sweetness—is turned to bitterness and salt; but he did not attempt +to explain the puzzling physical problem of why the surface of the sea +fails to rise and overflow the lands.[851] Most writers who dealt with +the latter problem appealed to the theory of the _congregatio aquae_: +since all the waters of the earth form one unit, they must inevitably +make their way back from the sea through various routes to the sources +of streams.[852] Other explanations, however, were sometimes brought +forward. Adelard of Bath believed that the stars and sun absorb a +certain amount of water.[853] The author of the _De imagine mundi_ was +convinced that the fresh water entering the sea is partially consumed by +the salt of the deeps and partially evaporated by the winds and taken up +into the sun.[854] + + + SALINITY OF THE SEA + +The two characteristics of the oceans that distinguish them from bodies +of fresh water and have always aroused men’s curiosity are their +saltness and their tides. The _De imagine mundi_ gives a popular +etymology of the word _mare_ from _amarum_, meaning bitter or +salty.[855] Though there is no attempt in this book to show reasons for +the salinity of the sea, the author followed Isidore and Bede in the +opinion that the water at great depths is more bitter and salt than near +the surface and that evaporation draws off the fresh water only and +leaves the bitter and dense elements behind; similarly, that part of the +sea water makes its way back to the sources of the springs, deposits its +salt in the land, and bursts forth fresh and purified from its passage +through the earth. In the _Image du monde_, on the other hand, there is +a naïve explanation of why the sea is salt.[856] Great saline mountains +in the deeps are said to be constantly dissolving away and thereby +imparting a peculiar character to the water. Adelard of Bath, Gervase of +Tilbury, and William of Conches treated the subject a shade more +rationally, perhaps, in attributing the saltness to the influence of +heat. Adelard says,[857] “I consider the cause of the saltness of the +sea to be the heat of the sun and planets. For, since the true ocean +passes through the heart of the torrid zone and since the course of the +planets runs through the same zone, though obliquely, the ocean must of +necessity be heated by such a great heat of the heavenly bodies that it +is thereby rendered salt.” This explanation, he adds, is even subject to +proof: for along coasts nearest the ocean, sea water “when dried in the +sun on the rocks” may readily be converted into salt without any +artificial aid; in more distant seas the water must be boiled and +reboiled before this effect is produced. Furthermore, in summer all sea +water is salter than in winter. + +William of Conches[858] and Alexander Neckam[859] also followed +Aristotle in believing that water in its purest form has an insipid +taste but that it is thickened and rendered salt by the sun’s heat in +the torrid ocean, whence it is distributed to the other seas by +currents. Gervase of Tilbury tends to exaggerate this theory: we read in +the _Otia imperialia_[860] of a lake in the County of Aix, near Arles, +the waters of which are congealed into ice by the cold of winter and +into salt by the heat of August. This led Gervase to conclude that it +would be impossible to sail around the earth, because the all-encircling +ocean would be frozen stiff in the north and thickened into solid salt +in the south. + + + TIDES + +If we discard fanciful ideas like that of Richard, prior of St. Victor +in Paris (died 1173), to the effect that the tides are produced by the +breathing of some great submarine monster or spirit,[861] we find two +distinct groups of tidal theories prevalent in the twelfth century: as +Duhem defines them, the physical and the astrological. The astrological +theories, which explained the tides by the influence of the moon, had +been expounded before the period we are studying by Posidonius, Pliny, +Bede, and the Moslem Abū Maʿshar. The physical theories had been set +forth by Macrobius, who had believed that the tides were due to the +impact of ocean currents, and Paul the Deacon, who had attributed them +to the action of great whirlpools. Although twelfth-century students +added little to these earlier opinions, they made some remarkable +combinations of them, and their observations were distinguished by a few +close records of actual tidal phenomena.[862] + + + _Lunar Causation_ + +Bernard Sylvester explained the tides by lunar causation alone[863] and +attributed to the moon the power of attracting and repelling not only +the waters but also terrestrial substances,[864] inasmuch as the moon is +the nearest planet to the earth, the largest, and consequently the most +powerful.[865] + +In the following century we find that Robert Grosseteste saw in the +effects of lunar rays upon the bottom of the sea sufficient cause for +the ebb and flood. If in their broad outlines the ideas of the bishop of +Lincoln are plain enough, the individual steps of his argument are +neither clear nor coherent. They are of sufficient interest, +nevertheless, to justify an attempt at interpreting them.[866] We have +already alluded to Robert’s theory of rays emanating from the celestial +bodies in the shape of cones or “pyramids” and to his principle that the +power of these rays is inverse to the obliquity of the angle at which +they meet the earth’s surface and to the length of the pyramids.[867] +When the moon is rising, Grosseteste explains in the _De natura +locorum_,[868] the rays are very oblique and the pyramids long: hence +the power of the rays is much too weak to disperse vapors that have +accumulated on the sea floor or to draw these vapors up into the air. +The result is that the vapors tend to displace the waters in the depths, +to rise in bubbles to the surface, and thus to produce flood tides. As +the moon approaches the meridian the rays become less oblique, the +pyramids shorter, and the lunar power consequently greater. The moon now +disperses and consumes the vapors and draws them up into the air from +the depths of the sea. By the time our satellite reaches the meridian, +the vapors are entirely consumed, “and, since the cause ceases, the +effect also ceases; and the waters of the sea naturally flow back into +their proper place in order not to create a vacuum.” Hence the ebb +begins. + +Grosseteste does not make clear what generates the vapors, though he +probably meant us to assume that they were produced by the heat due to +the reflection of the moon’s rays upon the sea floor. In another +treatise, the _De impressionibus elementorum_,[869] he explains how +reflected rays, though not necessarily the rays of the moon, in passing +through a transparent body of water may create heat at the bottom. + +The problem of the flood tide when the moon is in the opposite +hemisphere of the heavens still remained. Grosseteste’s obscure +explanation of this runs about as follows: “Many try to give a reason +for this difficult circumstance on the grounds that opposite quarters of +the universe are of the same composition (_commixtionis_) and +consequently produce the same effects. But this explanation falls short, +since it is false to assert that there are any actual replicas of the +stars of one quarter of the heavens in another quarter, inasmuch as the +earth interposes its bulk between a planet in one quarter and the +quarter opposite. Moreover, even were this explanation true, an +explanation of the original cause would be required. That is to say, it +would be necessary to ask why the opposite quarters are of the same +composition and consequently exert the same effect. The fact is that the +reflection of rays solves this problem, since the rays of the moon are +multiplied on the stellar heaven. Because the stellar heaven is an +opaque body, we are consequently not able to see it, though it +nevertheless is very luminous according to Alpetragius and +Messalahe [_sic_]. Other reflected rays fall on the opposite quarter at +right angles.”[870] + + + _Terrestrial Causation_ + +Most writers found that the astrological, or lunar, theory alone was +insufficient to explain all the peculiarities of the tides and made +appeal, as well, to physical theories—in particular to that of +Macrobius. This is given in varying terms by Adelard of Bath, Lambert of +St. Omer, William of Conches, and Giraldus Cambrensis. Macrobius, as we +have already observed, had conceived of four ocean currents issuing out +of the great equatorial ocean and flowing north and south in the +girdling ocean which includes the poles.[871] These currents run +together somewhere in the polar regions; the waters rebound on +themselves (_ex repercussione ingurgitur retro mare_) and in this way +cause the ebb and flow. Lambert of St. Omer in his _Liber floridus_ +seems to have accepted the Macrobian theory much as it stands,[872] but +Adelard harbored doubts as to the sufficiency of the impact of the +waters against each other to produce a tidal rebound and thought that +some mountain or other mass of land must interpose to produce such an +effect.[873] + +William of Conches cites two theories of tidal controls:[874] the first +is that of Macrobius; the second, confusingly stated, suggests Adelard’s +hypothesis of an interposing mass of land. William says, in effect, that +the tides are due in part to the existence of mountains submerged +beneath the sea, against which the waters are attracted forward and then +repelled, producing an oscillating motion. As to this, we may well be +led to inquire how Macrobius, Adelard, and William explained this +oscillating motion, for certainly two steadily flowing currents meeting +each other or running against submerged reefs would not create any such +motion. Unfortunately in this we are left unsatisfied by our medieval +writers, who characteristically here, as often elsewhere, were content, +when stating that one phenomenon causes another, to leave entirely to +the imagination the explanation of the manner in which such causation is +actually effected. + +William did not rule out all lunar control over the ebb and flood but +explained the spring and neap tides by variations in the moon’s power of +heating and drying the atmosphere. This power, he thought, is at a +minimum both when the moon is full and when it is new. Consequently we +have high spring tides at these times, and vice versa. William’s theory +is the reverse of Abū Maʿshar’s:[875] that the tides are caused by the +active attraction by the moon of the humid elements on the earth’s +surface. William fails to show us why the tides should be in flood when +the moon is rising toward the meridian and why spring tides should occur +when there is a full moon. Abū Maʿshar, on the other hand, fails to +explain why there is a flood tide when the moon is on the other side of +the earth, in the opposite celestial hemisphere. + +Alexander Neckam gives what is, to say the least, an unsatisfactory +treatment of the tides.[876] After quoting the scientific opinions of +others, he remarks that to explain the ebb and flow of the waters is a +problem that cannot be solved. Then, in his customary vein, he adds the +moral observation that the tides are like the persecutions of the +Christians and that they should not fill one with too much despair, for +after they have risen they always subside again in the due course of +time.[877] + +William the Breton wondered at the tides but, like Neckam, refrained +from trying to explain their cause and said that God alone understands +this and no man can comprehend it either now or ever.[878] He was amazed +that such a wide, deep, and powerful stream as the Seine at Rouen could +be forced back upon itself by the waters of the sea and made to flow in +the opposite direction through a space of land across which its normal +current could scarcely pass in three days. Was this due to the fact that +fresh water is less powerful than salt? Or does the fresh water find the +salt water odious and recoil before it? Or does the stream do reverence, +as it were, to its mother, the sea, falling back before her and then +when the tide turns following behind her respectfully? None of these +explanations was William ready to accept as true. “For us who live our +human lot here below, it is sufficient to know the fact; it is not +allowed to us to know the cause.”[879] + + + _Giraldus Cambrensis’ Tidal Studies_ + +The most elaborate tidal studies of our period are in the pages of +Giraldus Cambrensis’ _Topographia Hiberniae_, where we find a +combination of the astrological theory of Abū Maʿshar, the whirlpool +theory of Paul the Deacon, and the ocean-current theory of Macrobius. +Giraldus said that when the moon passes the meridian the waters begin to +recede from the coasts of Britain and to retire into hidden submarine +reservoirs.[880] The moon, being the heavenly body that controls all +things humid on the earth, when full causes the tides to rise to unusual +heights. A little further on in his discussion, Giraldus explains that +at the four opposite parts of the ocean there is a force that violently +attracts the sea water, producing a sort of periodic swelling and +sinking; this is connected in some manner with a belief in Giraldus’ +mind that greater quantities of fresh water enter the sea at the +extremities of the earth and in the vicinity of the poles than +elsewhere, though on what he based this supposition and how it produced +the results which he ascribes to it, he does not explain. Giraldus’ +theory also owes much to Macrobius’ hypothesis of the effects of the +collision of ocean currents on the tides, as well as to Paul the +Deacon’s whirlpool theory, for he explains elsewhere[881] that +philosophers mention the existence of four whirlpools at the opposite +ends of the earth and that some people attribute to these the causation +of tides and storms of wind. Each of the whirlpools resembles a great +vortex in the northern seas towards which the waters of the sea rush +together, to be absorbed in secret caverns as if in an abyss; ships +approaching too near are sucked in and destroyed. + +The most interesting feature of Giraldus’ tidal studies, however, are +not these general speculations regarding causes but some very neat +observations made on the British and Irish coasts. In the first place, +he remarks on the choppy water of the Irish Sea, which presumably he +connects with tide rips.[882] He then goes on to discuss the difference +in the hour of high water at various Irish ports, at Milford Haven in +Wales, and at Bristol in England. When the tide is at the half-ebb in +Dublin, at Milford Haven it is at the half-flood, and near Bristol just +beginning the rise. Let us see what the facts of the case are at the +present day.[883] On February 1, 1919, half-ebb occurred at Dublin at +about 2:30 P. M., half-flood at Milford Haven only about an hour and a +half later, and low water had occurred at Bristol half an hour earlier. +In other words Giraldus’ observations on the relative times of the tides +at these three points were unusually accurate. Furthermore, he explains +that at Wicklow, on the Irish coast opposite Wales, the water falls at +the same time that it rises throughout the sea in general. When Giraldus +here speaks of the “sea in general” he perhaps had in mind tidal +observations made at other points on the coast not far to the south. +Modern tide tables show that near Arklow, only about fourteen miles +away, it is low water some two hours and a half earlier than at Wicklow. +The water, consequently, is rising at Arklow for two hours and a half +while it is still falling at Wicklow. That Giraldus was familiar with +Arklow is shown by the fact that he mentions a river entering the sea +there and describes a curious rock in the harbor.[884] + +Finally, Giraldus states[885] that when the moon has passed the meridian +the waters first recede from the coasts of Britain but that on the Irish +coasts in the vicinity of Dublin full flood corresponds to this +recession of the waters. In the vicinity of Wexford, however, flood +waters do not correspond with the flood at Dublin but rather with the +flood waters on the British coast at Milford Haven. Giraldus was +mistaken, if we are right in interpreting his words to mean that he +thought that the tidal undulation which produces high water at Dublin is +a different wave from that of Wexford or Milford Haven. No tidal +undulation enters the Irish Sea from the north, and consequently the ebb +and flood at all of these places is caused by the same wave. On the +other hand, this wave reaches Dublin nearly five hours later than it +reaches Wexford and Milford on the opposite shore, and the accuracy of +Giraldus’ data on the time of these tides is further confirmed by modern +tide tables, which show that flood water at the Welsh port may occur +only twenty-four minutes earlier than at Rosslare Point, the entrance to +Wexford Harbor. + +It would be interesting if we could know how Giraldus gathered these +data. Probably they were pieced together from incidental observations of +sailors or fishermen, for certainly no systematic investigation of tidal +phenomena could well have been undertaken at Giraldus’ time.[886] It is +typical of an immense amount of close and accurate knowledge that has +always existed along with ignorance and superstition among the more +humble workers of this world, knowledge that until recent years has but +rarely found literary expression. + + + OTHER MARINE PHENOMENA NOTED BY GIRALDUS + +Giraldus certainly was not always so fortunate in his discussion of +marine phenomena. He taxes our credulity a little when he tells of a +rock in Arklow harbor on one side of which the water rises while it is +falling on the other,[887] though this may perhaps have resulted from +some local play of currents and eddies. It is less easy to find an +explanation of a story which he relates of a recession of the sea at +“Crebonensus” (Proconnesus?) near Constantinople.[888] Here, during +eight days at the time of the festival of St. Clement, the waters fell +back in order to allow pilgrims to go to the saint’s shrine. This kind +of miracle, to be sure, had the support of Biblical authority in the +story of the parting of the waters of the Red Sea to permit the passing +of the children of Israel; and we find a similar tale in the _Otia +imperialia_,[889] where Gervase asserts that the Sea of Pamphylia was +divided for Alexander the Great, because God wished to destroy the +Persian kingdom by means of the Macedonian. The lake (or river) which in +the legend surrounded the church of St. Thomas in India was also said to +go dry at regular intervals to permit pilgrims to approach.[890] + +In his description of South Wales, Giraldus Cambrensis gives an account +of marine encroachments on the land and perhaps of coastal subsidence. A +great storm on this sandy coast laid bare a forest hitherto covered by +the waters. Trunks of trees appeared with marks of the ax upon them, +fresh as if cut only the day before. Giraldus was convinced that the +marks dated from inconceivable antiquity, perhaps even from the time of +the Flood.[891] The wood was overwhelmed, he said, by the constant and +ever increasingly violent advance of the sea; and certainly it is well +known in modern days that the waves long have been eating into the coast +of Pembrokeshire and that the uncovering by storms of buried forests and +stumps is a commonplace occurrence there. Perhaps we are justified in +interpreting Giraldus’ remarks by assuming that the forest had not, as +he states, previously been covered by water but more probably by marine +sands or muds, which subsequently were removed from the stumps by storm +waves. + + + ST. BRANDAN AND THE SPIRIT OF THE SEA + +Less scientific—or perhaps we had better say less prosaic—than the +writings we have just been discussing but fully as replete with +understanding of the ocean and its various moods, is the legend of the +wanderings of St. Brandan. The style and spirit of this entire story +shows that it must have been composed by men filled with a sense of the +immensity and mystery of the Atlantic.[892] Probably the tale had its +roots in the reports of actual voyagings of Irishmen blown far out to +sea. Although there is much of the marvelous and supernatural borrowed +from older tradition, the tone of the legend as a whole rings true to +nature. Certainly it was not written by a landsman. At one time St. +Brandan and his companions sailed north for three days, and the sea +became “as it were coagulated through an excess of calmness.”[893] It +has been suggested that this refers to the semi-solid “Liver Sea” of +Germanic legend, itself perhaps an echo of the reports of Pytheas and +other classical writers about clotted sea waters north of Thule and in +the Western Ocean.[894] On another occasion the travelers came in sight +of a high column of clearest crystal apparently not far away, though it +took three days to reach it.[895] So great was its height that they +could scarce discern the summit, and as they drew near they saw that it +was covered by a silvery canopy of marvelously fine texture. They passed +through a hole in the canopy and entered a sea whose waters were so +clear that the base of the column could be seen resting on the earth at +the bottom of the sea. For an entire day they sailed along one side of +the column. If we discard from all this what is obviously fabulous or +borrowed from the vision of Ezekiel[896] or from the description of the +New Jerusalem in Revelation,[897] may we not be justified in supposing +that the sight of a great iceberg flashing in the sun gave rise to the +story of the crystalline column and that the canopy represented curtains +of fog hanging about its flanks? + +St. Brandan and his crew also had other glimpses of the bottom of the +sea[898] through waters of such remarkable transparency that they +thought they could almost touch the beasts of various kinds lying there. +When mass was said on board, these beasts rose and circled about the +ship but did not molest the saint and his party. After seven days’ +voyage with sails set they had scarcely crossed this stretch of +translucent water. + + + BOTTOM OF THE SEA + +We find other accounts of the bottom of the sea and even of visits made +to it, in the legendary writings of our period. Gervase of Tilbury[899] +tells of an individual named Nicholas Pappas, a dweller on the shores of +the Strait of Messina, who was forced by King Roger II of Sicily to dive +into the waters. Being well known to the submarine monsters, he escaped +all danger from molestation by them and afterwards used to tell about a +grove beneath the “Strait of Pharo,” how the tides wash first one way +and then the other through the branches of the trees, and how he had +seen submarine mountains, valleys, fields and woods, and trees with +acorns on them. Gervase adds that our faith in the truth of this story +may be increased by noting the fact that acorns are often washed ashore +along the neighboring coasts. Nicholas also used to occupy himself by +warning ships of the approach of storms and showing sailors how to calm +the waters with oil. At a later period the legend became current[900] of +a man named “Piscis” or “The Fish” (possibly this should be substituted +for the “Pappas” of Gervase) who was accustomed to swim under the Strait +of Messina, having been sent there in the first place to rescue a +chalice cast into the sea by King Roger. + +Alexander the Great, according to one version of the Romance of his +adventures, also made a visit to the sea floor.[901] After he had +crossed a desert infested with ferocious beasts, he called his +companions together and complained that, in view of the fact that he had +conquered the greater part of the world, he knew enough about the +inhabitants of the land and now wanted to learn something of the +inhabitants of the sea. He then proceeded to descend in a glass cask to +the bottom of the deeps; there, among other things, he noted that the +large fish eat the small ones, an observation whose novelty hardly seems +to have justified the effort expended to make it. + + + _THE WATERS OF THE LANDS_ + +Let us turn now to the waters of the lands—ground water, sources (wells, +springs, fountains), rivers, and finally lakes. + + + GROUND WATER + +In our period the existence of water in various forms underneath the +surface of the land was well understood. Bernard Sylvester says:[902] “A +watery humor is diffused all through the lap of the land and makes +streams and rivers, swamps and lakes.” William of Conches +attributed[903] the origin of the water in springs and wells to (1) +underground streams, or, as he called them, “cataracts,” which pass +through wells en route from one part of the earth to another, and (2) +the sweat of the earth (_sudor terrae_), or minute particles of water +percolating through small holes in the earth much as human sweat +percolates through the pores of the body. William maintained that the +existence of underground watercourses as a source of well water was +proved by the fact that wells near rivers are constantly full and that +whatever happens to the water of a well in a given district is likely to +happen to the water of all the other wells in the vicinity, showing that +there must be some intercommunication between them. That springs and +wells were constantly replenished in dry times was proof to William—as +to modern geographers—of the existence of the sweat of the earth, or +what we now call “ground water,” which permeates the interstices in +rocks, gravel, and sand alike. It is possible, however, that William +believed that the _sudor terrae_ was actually generated by the earth. +This was undoubtedly the opinion of Adelard of Bath, who discusses the +subject in terms very similar to those of William.[904] + + + THE SEA AS THE SOURCE OF THE WATERS OF THE LAND + +Most of this subterranean water, as we have already seen, was supposed +during the Middle Ages to come from the sea, whence it made its way +inland either through the atmosphere in the form of rain or directly +through the land. We need cite but two texts to show how firmly this +idea was rooted in the medieval mind. One is from a sermon of Bernard of +Clairvaux, the other from a questionnaire prepared by the Emperor +Frederick II. It would perhaps be hard to find two men who stood at more +diametrically opposite intellectual poles, and yet both, in this case, +shared the same conviction. + +Bernard, characteristically, treated the matter symbolically. “The sea,” +he said, “is the source of fountains and rivers; the Lord Jesus Christ +is the source of every kind of virtue and knowledge.... What? Are not +pure purposes, just judgments, holy aspirations, one and all streams +from that same source? If all waters seek incessantly to return to the +sea, making their way thither sometimes by hidden and subterranean +channels, so that they may go forth from it again in continual and +untiring circuit, becoming visible once more to man and available for +his service, why are not those spiritual streams rendered back +constantly and without reserve to their legitimate source, that they may +not cease to water the fields of our hearts? Let the rivers of divers +graces return from whence they came, that they may flow forth anew. Let +the heavenly shower rise again to its heavenly source that it may be +poured anew and still more plentifully upon the earth” (Eales’s +translation).[905] + +Frederick II propounded to Michael Scot a list of questions on matters +of cosmology and physical geography. Regarding most of these matters the +Emperor was in doubt and perplexity, but concerning the waters of land +and sea he was sure. “For we greatly wonder at these things,” he said, +“knowing already that all waters come from the sea and passing through +divers lands and cavities return to the sea, which is the bed and +receptacle of all running waters” (Haskins’ translation).[906] + +A most elaborate discussion of the qualities of the waters of the lands +is found in the _Causae et curae_ of Hildegard of Bingen.[907] Hildegard +likewise assumed that the water of wells, springs, and rivers is derived +from the ocean which surrounds the earth.[908] She also believed that +the nature of the water varies widely in different parts of the ocean +and consequently that the quality of the water of the land depends on +the part of the ocean from which it comes. Furthermore, she maintained +that some of the waters of the sea do not lose their salinity in passing +through the land but that other waters are rendered fresh before they +appear upon the earth’s surface. Upon the basis of these assumptions +Hildegard proceeded to analyze the qualities, sanitary, medicinal, and +gastronomic, of waters both fresh and salt according to their derivation +from the four cardinal points and from the northeast and northwest. Her +analysis was meant as a practical guide for those who wished to use +water for drinking and bathing with a minimum risk of disease, though +she fails to explain how one is to determine the ultimate source of a +specific spring, well, or river. Without undertaking a detailed +examination of Hildegard’s argument, we may note that, unlike Giraldus +Cambrensis, who regarded the East as the fountain of poisons, she +believed that the waters of the Orient were the purest and most +healthful of all. On the other hand, she held that the putrid and +corrupt elements of the earth were concentrated in the Western Sea and +that waters coming from that quarter were very dangerous unless +boiled.[909] The Southern Sea harbored an immense quantity of venomous +worms and small animals, and consequently waters from it were not good +for cooking or drinking. As we shall see in the next chapter,[910] +Giraldus Cambrensis’ discussion of the different qualities of the East +and West was probably based in some measure on observation. The same can +hardly be said of Hildegard’s theories. We cannot but feel that they +were the offspring of an unusually ingenious imagination, though the +prophetic abbess undoubtedly attributed them to divine inspiration. + +Hildegard went on to assert that swamp waters are dangerous from +whatever part of the earth they come, since they contain vile and +noxious damp elements of the ground and the poisonous spume of worms. +Such waters should not be used unboiled except for washing. Well and +spring waters which flow from swamps are equally bad, though as a +general rule all waters arising from an unsanitary source become purer +the farther they flow. Water from deep wells is usually better and +smoother (_suavior_) for cooking, drinking, and other uses of man than +the water of flowing springs; the latter, in turn, is better than river +water, which should be avoided because of the impurities it receives +from the air. The water of small, clear, pure rills is excellent for +both men and cattle. + + + EFFECT OF LAND ON WATERS WHICH SPRING FROM IT + +The land itself might produce varying effects on the water within it, +and thus on the wells and fountains which spring from it. In summer, +William of Conches tells us,[911] the pores of the earth are open, and +the warm vapor (_fumus_) contained therein can escape. Consequently the +heat of the earth is loosed, and the springs and wells are cooler than +in winter, when the cold constricts the earth’s pores and keeps the heat +in. It is very easy to understand what gave rise to such a theory when +we consider the fact that water always preserves a more uniform +temperature than the surrounding air. Hot and putrid springs, the _De +imagine mundi_ tells us,[912] are caused by the ground water coming into +contact with subterranean caves full of sulphur that is sometimes +ignited by the winds. In some places serpents, by poisoning the earth +and the ground water which passes through it, indirectly cause the water +sources of a region to become noxious.[913] Michael Scot, in a somewhat +repetitious and not wholly clear passage, explained in effect that the +hot and boiling springs of Italy and Sicily are produced by waters +arising out of subterranean cavities where the native heat of the +interior of the earth in combination with the winds produces a violent +combustion of sulphur and “white-hot rocks” (_petre calidissime_).[914] + + + MIRACULOUS WELLS AND SPRINGS; GEYSERS + +Wells and springs, like lakes, seem to have appealed to the imagination +of men at all times, and the description of their peculiarities occupied +disproportionate space in medieval books of marvels. Giraldus Cambrensis +mentions wells with petrifying properties in Ulster, Norway, Britain, +and Cappadocia;[915] and Saxo Grammaticus expresses great wonder at a +spring in Iceland the exhalation or foam of which is capable of turning +the softest substances almost instantaneously into the hardest +stone.[916] Gervase of Tilbury describes a salt well in the diocese of +Worcester.[917] Though these are reasonable enough, it is a little more +difficult to explain Giraldus’ belief in wells which ebb and flow like +the tides,[918] especially when he insists that some of them are +situated far from the sea. + +Giraldus describes an absolutely miraculous spring in the province of +Munster in Ireland.[919] When touched or even looked at by a man, this +spring will proceed to inundate the entire province with rain. The rain +does not stop until a priest, virgin from birth and especially deputed +for the purpose, celebrates mass in a chapel not far away and, having +blessed the waters, conciliates the spring by sprinkling into it the +milk of a one-colored cow. Giraldus remarked parenthetically that this +was a barbaric ceremony and quite lacking in reason. Gervase of Tilbury +tells of a lake in Great Britain which would produce a storm when +certain words were chanted over it and of a fountain in the Kingdom of +Arles which would cause rain if a stick or stone were thrown into +it.[920] These tales, indeed, are but examples of a widespread belief +among primitive and ignorant folk that man can attain the secret of the +magical control of the elements. Sir James G. Frazer cites them with +similar examples from other peoples and ages as illustrations of the +doctrine that a “way of constraining the rain-god is to disturb him in +his haunts. This seems to be the reason why rain is supposed to follow +the troubling of a sacred spring.”[921] + +In treating the water element in his _De naturis rerum_, Alexander +Neckam rushes over the problems of the four rivers of Paradise and of +why the sea is salt to come to a discussion of springs,[922] about which +he relates many marvels, appending to each a little moral lesson. For +example, he tells of two founts in Italy, one of which turns the +feathers of white birds black, and the other the feathers of black birds +white. He suggests the analogy of the former to contemporary worldly +knowledge that darkens minds glowing in the brightness of innocence; and +of the latter to true wisdom that renders serene minds obscured by the +shades of vice.[923] Then he goes on to discourse about springs that +rise when some one throws a red cloth into them; a spring that boils up +with much noise, as if in annoyance, when men talk near it; a spring +that gives flame to an unburnt torch and puts out a lighted one; and a +spring whose water, when thrown upon a certain rock in its neighborhood, +causes a storm of wind, rain, and hail to arise. These are but a few of +many remarkable sources that Neckam describes and places in various +parts of the world, drawing on Solinus, Isidore, and the mass of +medieval pseudo-science that flourished in all countries. + +More convincing is Saxo Grammaticus’ circumstantial account of certain +water holes in Iceland. In these the water sometimes wells up in +abundance and is thrown high into the air in a shower of drops. At other +times the flow is quiescent, and the water seems to be sucked into the +holes deep in the earth where it scarce may be seen. This description is +obviously based on reports Saxo had received from eyewitnesses of the +geysers of Iceland.[924] + + + THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH + +The most remarkable and most sought-for of sources has always been the +Fountain of Youth. In the first letter of Prester John we find the +description[925] of a grove at the foot of Mount Olympus, not far from +Paradise, in Central Asia. In this grove there is a spring that wafts +forth odors of all kinds, varying from hour to hour, by day and by +night. Its waters give eternal youth to any one who bathes therein, +restoring him to the bodily strength and vigor that he possessed at the +age of thirty-two. Closely parallel to this account, though probably not +derived from it, is a description in the Romance of Alexander[926] of a +fountain that receives its waters from the Euphrates, one of the four +rivers of Paradise, and which four times daily has the power of +rejuvenation. Two old men who jumped in emerged looking exactly as if +they were thirty years old. Akin to the Fountain of Youth, but less +powerful in its action, is a spring described by Gervase[927] in +Staffordshire, England, to which he attributed the ability of restoring +energy to men when weary. But this is true of any fresh mountain pool. + + + RIVERS + +As to the source of rivers, we need add nothing to what has already been +said about the “congregation of waters” (_congregatio aquae_) and about +springs and fountains. It was commonly thought in medieval and classical +times that two or more rivers may rise from one source and flow off in +diverse directions. The most striking example of this was furnished by +the Scriptural four rivers of Paradise, which, though rising from one +stream, were believed to find their way to at least three different +seas. In commenting on the rivers of Paradise, Gervase of Tilbury +expressly asserts[928] that not only is it possible for more than one +stream to rise from the same headwaters but that the same rivers may +again mingle and again separate their waters. Giraldus Cambrensis +describes[929] how the Shannon of Ireland rises in a lake between +Connaught and Munster and thence divides into two branches flowing in +opposite ways, one southward to the “Sea of Brandan,” the other +northward into the Northern Ocean. It is true that in regions of +imperfect drainage development, like Ireland, northern North America, +and parts of the Amazon Valley, two small streams occasionally do spring +from a single source. On the other hand, it is entirely contrary to the +laws of hydrography that two or more full-grown rivers should either +leave a lake and depart across country in different directions or, +except in the case of deltas, owe their origin to the separation of the +waters of a single large stream. Classical and medieval geographers, +however, were not acquainted with this law, and the words of the Bible +justified the writers of geographical books, even down to as late a date +as the eighteenth century, in making broad rivers divide into separate +branches and wander at random over the country. + +Giraldus Cambrensis noted several other peculiarities of rivers.[930] +For example, he remarked that the stream at Wicklow which flows across +the harbor (we may presume in a channel through mud flats) is brackish +at ebb tide; a similar river at Arklow is fresh.[931] Tide water, he +said, does not mingle with the River Conway in North Wales.[932] +Elsewhere he observed that the term _aber_ in Welsh is applied to all +those places where one stream flows into another.[933] The River Dee is +not affected by rains, but the winds make it rise.[934] It changes its +bed every year, and, as its course forms the boundary between England +and Wales, these changes are interpreted as omens foretelling whether +the English or the Welsh are going to be the more successful in their +combats with each other during the succeeding year.[935] + + + THE NILE FLOOD + +In his consideration of the problem of the flood of the Nile, Abelard +gives a curious example of the symbolic interpretation of scriptural and +geographic matters which was also characteristic of the writings of +Bernard of Clairvaux.[936] Isidore had followed earlier classical +authorities in describing the flood as due to the building up, by the +etesian winds, of sand bars at the mouth of the river during the +winter.[937] Abelard, from Bede’s rendering of Isidore’s text,[938] +adopted the same theory in his discussion of the Nile in the _Expositio +in hexaemeron_.[939] He also discussed the Nile flood in a sermon on the +text, “And the Lord, the God of hosts, is He who toucheth the earth, and +it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise +up as a river and shall run down as the river of Egypt” (Amos ix, 5). In +the sermon[940] he compared the rising of the Lord at the resurrection +to the Nile: as the river fructifies the land, so the Lord strengthened +the despairing hearts of his disciples. Abelard then quoted the passage +from Bede just mentioned, and proceeded to interpret it as follows: The +Nile coming down from Paradise is like unto the wisdom of God descending +from above to give us to drink as from a fountain. Egypt is like unto +the carnal darkness of this world. Its river enters the sea through +seven mouths, which are obstructed when the wind blows and causes the +backing up of the waters that can find no outlet. Thus, after the +resurrection of the Lord but before the sevenfold grace of his spirit +could find its way out into the broad sea of the nations, it was impeded +as were the waters of the Nile. In other words, the apostles, through +fear of the Jews, were held in Judea blinded, as it were, and for some +time were not permitted to go forth as if from Egypt and through their +preaching to bring about a rebirth of mankind. What does the wind +represent, Abelard asks, if not the temptation of the devil? And what +the sand, if not those men who at the turning of the ages wavered this +way and that, held fast by earthly desires and temptations? [941] + +It is hardly necessary to point out the contrast between this sort of +geographical speculation and that of William of Conches. Better perhaps +than any other text with which the writer is familiar, these ideas of +Abelard illustrate that absorption, so often characteristic of medieval +thought, of scientific and geographical interests into those of +theology. + + + LAKES + +Abundance of lakes is characteristic of glaciated countries like New +England, Switzerland, Scotland, Sweden, Wales, and Ireland. Giraldus +Cambrensis was impressed by the number of lakes in Ireland, where, he +says,[942] they are more numerous than in any other part of the world. +Giraldus and Gervase of Tilbury describe many lacustrine marvels. + +In tracing the history of Ireland, Giraldus says [943] that about three +hundred years after the Deluge four ponds suddenly broke forth from the +bowels of the earth and that this was repeated at the time of the third +colonization of Ireland under Neimhith.[944] Two ponds in Wales [945] +were said to have burst their bounds and overflowed the neighborhood on +the night of the death of Henry I. Before a great war, during which a +province of central Wales was ravaged, a certain lake turned green, and +old men described a similar portent just before the devastation of Wales +by “Hoel, son of Moreduc” (Howel, son of Meredith).[946] The Lake of +Brecknock in Wales appears sometimes a greenish color and sometimes +ruddy as if penetrated by veins of blood.[947] Perhaps Giraldus was +reminded of this by the mud-streaked appearance of mountain tarns after +a rain, but it is less easy to explain the buildings, pastures, gardens, +and orchards which he declares were occasionally visible beneath the +surface. On the other hand, all who are familiar with inland waters in +cold latitudes know the booming sounds they emit when frozen, which +Giraldus compares to the moaning of a large herd of animals. These +noises, he said, were caused by the sudden outrush of air imprisoned +beneath the ice. At the top of Mount Snowdon, according to Giraldus, +there are two lakes, one containing a floating island blown by the +winds.[948] The most interesting lake with which Giraldus deals, +however, is Lough Neagh in Ireland. This, he said,[949] lies in Ulster +and is of remarkable size, thirty miles by fifteen. Though the relative +proportions are right, the actual size is exaggerated, the dimensions +being fifteen English miles long by from five to eight broad. The origin +of the lake he attributed to an inundation that came as a punishment for +the unnatural crimes of the natives of the region. This led him to a +comparison of the story of Lough Neagh with the Biblical history of the +destruction of the Pentapolis and the origins of the Dead Sea. + +The Dead Sea has always exerted a potent fascination over the minds of +men. The uncanny natural features of its basin, and the terrible story +associated with them, have been objects of curiosity from the very +earliest times. Gervase of Tilbury goes into some detail on the +subject.[950] The five cities, he says, were submerged, on account of +the sins of their inhabitants, in a salt and sterile lake called the +Dead Sea, where neither bird nor fish can live. The sea is open to no +ship; nay, it even rises over everything not impregnated with bitumen, +probably because of the living men within it. If any one by any means +immerses a living creature in it, the living being immediately leaps +out.[951] A burning torch will float on the lake, an extinct one will +sink. There was certainly an infernal quality about the Dead Sea, and it +was even supposed that beneath its waters there was an entrance into +Hell. + +Gervase tells of the discovery of another mouth of Hell near Pozzuoli in +southern Italy.[952] A bishop John of Pozzuoli was said to have +discovered a pond whose waters were opaque but would become clear and +translucent when oil was thrown upon them. Exploring about its shores +one day, the bishop heard the sounds of lamentation coming from beneath +the waters and, casting oil upon them, was horrified to behold, far down +in the depths, the gateway to the infernal regions! Elsewhere[953] +Gervase tells of a lake on the summit of Mount Cavagum (Canigou) in +Catalonia, inhabited by devils, who raise a storm when stones are thrown +in to disturb them. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + THE LANDS + + +The inquiring curiosity of men as well as of children is not first +stimulated by those things which seem most usual and commonplace. The +latter are taken for granted. Science originates rather in the wonder +aroused by the extraordinary or by the impressive. Only after a long +process of development does it turn to the study of the homely and the +obvious. + +The truth of this is illustrated in the medieval geography of the lands. +Geomorphology, or the science of land forms, was very much in its +infancy during our period and for many centuries thereafter. Only rarely +did the man of the Middle Ages seek for an explanation of the origin of +the familiar features of the earth’s surface which he saw around him day +by day. If he described a landscape in terms that often reveal love of +its beauty or, at least, appreciation of its productive capacity, he was +almost totally blind to the possibilities of profounder analysis of its +nature. A plain was a plain, a valley a valley because God had made it +so. + +The present chapter will deal mainly with the character of these +external, unscientific descriptions of land forms. The attempt will be +made, however, to point out a few notable exceptions to the general +rule, a few cases where men sought for a deeper meaning in the aspects +of nature than the meaning written upon the surface. + + + _CLASSIFICATION OF LAND AREAS_ + + + QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE SUBDIVISIONS + +There are two ways of subdividing and classifying areas of land, the +quantitative and the qualitative. + +Adelard of Bath gives us an example of a quantitative subdivision where +he tells in his _De eodem et diverso_[954] that the inventor of geometry +split the known world into parts (or, perhaps, continents), the parts +into provinces, the provinces into regions, the regions into localities, +the localities into territories, the territories into fields, the fields +into centuries, and the centuries into _jugera_ (acres). + +The author of the _De imagine mundi_, borrowing from Isidore,[955] makes +a qualitative subdivision.[956] Land, he says, may be grouped under six +different heads, _terra_ being the name applied to the entire element of +earth. The six kinds of _terra_ are: (1) _tellus_, fertile; (2) _humus_, +infertile, because of an excess of moisture; (3) _arida_, waterless, +like Libya, dried up by the sun; (4) _sicca_, rather less dry than +_arida_, but where, nevertheless, all precipitation quickly disappears, +as in Judea; (5) _solum_, so called from its solidity, as mountainous +land (_a soliditate ut sunt montana_); and, finally (6) _ops_, or +wealthy land, like that of India, where gold and gems abound.[957] + +In addition to such variations in the character of the lands, it was a +common view that certain localities are by nature either peculiarly +noxious or else peculiarly free from poisons. Gervase of Tilbury +notes[958] an area near Pozzuoli which resembled a dried-up swamp but +proved fatal to all animals venturing upon it. Elsewhere[959] he +repeats, in connection with the tree of life spoken of by Alexander in +his supposed letter to Aristotle, a widespread tradition of a land where +no man could die even though he were decrepit with old age and might +wish for relief from the cares of this world.[960] The _Image du +monde_[961] attributes a similar quality to an island in the northern +seas. When the inhabitants wished to die they had themselves taken to +Tylle (Thule), where they might expire in peace. Giraldus Cambrensis +describes[962] such an island in a lake in Ireland, as well as an island +where no females could live. + + + GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS’ COMPARISON OF EAST AND WEST + +Probably, however, the most striking study of the varying qualities of +different regions is Giraldus Cambrensis’ elaborate comparison of Orient +and Occident.[963] In Chapter VII we discussed this writer’s belief that +the atmosphere of the West is far healthier than that of the East. But +not only is the air better, he asserted, but also the land itself, and +of all the lands Ireland is the most healthy. No venomous reptiles can +exist in the Emerald Isle. Giraldus attributed this phenomenon not to +the beneficent work of St. Patrick in driving out the snakes[964] (this +story, he said, was merely a pleasant fiction) but rather to some +natural deficiency in Irish soil that had existed long before St. +Patrick’s time. He explained further that no poisonous reptiles could +survive in Ireland even when they were brought there;[965] toads, when +carried over on ships, burst open as soon as they are thrown ashore; and +the dust of Ireland, when sprinkled on poisonous creatures of any sort, +kills them instantly.[966] The East, on the other hand, Giraldus +called[967] a fountain of poisons (_fons venenorum_), and he waxed most +eloquent on its terrors:[968] poisonous animals abound, the waters are +always polluted, and death lurks on every hand; but the farther away +from this Oriental source of poison one travels, the less its effect, +until in the extreme West it exerts no influence at all, just as the +sun’s rays are weaker the farther one goes from beneath the zodiac. + +This distinction between Eastern and Western climate and conditions of +terrain may to a limited extent have been based on actual observation. +Undoubtedly the pilgrim and Crusader suffered more from disease and +hardship when traveling in the Orient than they did at home, because +they were not acclimatized to Levantine conditions of life and did not +understand what was necessary for the preservation of health; and this +may well have produced the unfavorable impression of the East which +found its way in exaggerated form into the pages of the _Topographia +Hiberniae_. + + + _MOUNTAINS_ + +Mountains are the most imposing natural features of the lands.[969] +Though there did not exist in the Middle Ages anything comparable to +that love of mountains for their own sake which developed later and of +which we see an early manifestation in the ascent of Mont Ventoux by +Petrarch in April, 1336, the very bulk of the hills, nevertheless, +impressed men’s imaginations, and medieval literature is full of notices +concerning mountains. + + + ORIGIN OF MOUNTAINS + +In regard to their origin, Peter Comestor asserts that the mountains may +not have been as high at the time of the Flood as they now are,[970] and +Gervase of Tilbury cites the opinion of some that there were no +mountains at all on the face of the earth before the Deluge.[971] +Bartholomew Anglicus[972] conjectured that in the very beginning the +earth was a plain covered with waters, the movements of which produced +the valleys, while the heights were the ridges that remained separating +the valleys; many mountains also were the result of great telluric +convulsions and were full of caverns that give forth immense volumes of +water and form the sources of rivers. + +In a translation by Alfred of Sareshel of an Arabic work,[973] perhaps +that of Avicenna, we have a strikingly modern description of the +geological processes resulting in the production of mountains by the +forces of erosion and by the accumulation of soil and earth. “Mountains +may arise from two causes, either from uplifting of the ground, such as +takes place in earthquakes or from the effects of running water and wind +in hollowing out valleys in soft rocks and leaving the hard rocks +prominent, which has been the effective process in the case of most +hills. Such changes must have taken long periods of time, and possibly +the mountains are now diminishing in size. What proves that water has +been the main agent in bringing about these transformations of the +surface is the occurrence in many rocks of the impressions of aquatic +and other animals. The yellow earth that clothes the surface of the +mountains is not of the same origin as the framework of the ground +underneath it but arises from the decay of organic remains, mingled with +earthy materials transported by the water. Perhaps these materials were +originally in the sea which once overspread all the land” (Geikie’s +translation).[974] + +If, in reading the above passage, we feel that we are dealing with ideas +that could well stand in the light of modern science and that in this +passage at least geomorphology has emerged from its infancy, we are +brought back to the Middle Ages when we turn to Rupert of Deutz’s +teleological explanation of the reasons why God created deep valleys and +high mountains on the land. According to this mystic, these features +were made to serve as a protection to the human wanderer upon the +surface of the earth from the violence of the winds which would +otherwise have unlimited power over all things, as they do on the Libyan +desert or on the ocean.[975] + + + THEIR SIZE AND HEIGHT + +The fact that, great as mountains may appear to men, they are in reality +but insignificant in comparison with the size of the entire earth, was +partially appreciated by the author of the _De imagine mundi_, when he +remarked[976] that, if we could look down on the earth from the air +above, the entire height of the mountains and depth of the valleys would +seem less than the width of the fingers of one who holds a very large +ball in his hand. + +We find occasional speculations regarding altitudes. Peter Comestor, +followed by Gervase of Tilbury, asserted[977] that Olympus reaches up +into a region of calm, windless air; and William of Conches held[978] +that the presence of snow on mountains is due to the rarity of the air +at high altitudes. Gervase stated,[979] on the authority of Posthumianus +in the _Dialogue_ of Sulpicius Severus[980] (a historian of the fourth +century of our era), that Sinai is so lofty that its peak is very near +the heavens and that consequently it is impossible to go there.[981] + + + _Miraculous Mountains_ + +Mountains and hills might have miraculous qualities. Giraldus Cambrensis +told[982] of heights in Mona and in the northern part of Britain, beyond +the Humber, over the crests of which no shouts could be heard; and +Gervase of Tilbury described[983] Mount Cavagum (Canigou) in Catalonia, +with a miraculous lake, the dwelling place of devils, on its summit; on +one peak there lies perpetual snow and ice in a spot where the sun never +shines, and a river of golden sand flows from its base. In the Romance +of Alexander, the conqueror was said to have passed near a mountain +which made brave men cowards and cowards brave.[984] On another +occasion,[985] Alexander and his army became lost in a perilous valley +among wild peaks; they could not find their way out unless one man +sacrificed himself for the others by remaining in the valley. Alexander +himself volunteered to remain, and the army escaped in the midst of +fearful tempests; but subsequently Alexander was conducted out by a +devil whom he found in the place and to whom he did a good turn. + + + ACCURATE OBSERVATION OF OROGRAPHIC PHENOMENA + +On the other hand, during our period there was not a little reasonably +accurate observation of the phenomena of mountains. Bernard Sylvester, +for example, pointed out that mountains are bad plowland largely because +of the thinness of the soil on their steep slopes.[986] Gervase of +Tilbury noted that many of the high hills of Wales, though they might +have firm and rocky bases, were characterized by watery and boggy +summits.[987] Giraldus Cambrensis pictures the characteristics of the +Welsh hills and brings out their combination of crag and pasture land. +In one passage he tells of Mount Ereri—called by the English “Snowdon,” +or mount of snows—which has such an extent of pasture lands upon it that +it could supply the flocks of the whole of Wales.[988] The land of +Meiryonidd (Merioneth) he spoke of as a wild, rough region, with +mountains so broken and irregular that it frequently took all day for +the shepherds to gather together in one spot,[989] even though they +might have been within earshot of one another in the morning. + + + APPRECIATION OF THE BEAUTY OF MOUNTAINS + +It is not hard to believe that during our period some men had the +beginnings of a genuinely esthetic appreciation of the beauty of +mountains. Bernard Sylvester tells of the orographic systems of the +world in terms not lacking in color and poetic appreciation.[990] He +writes that the world is strung with mountains like nerves in a body and +goes on to enumerate and describe them: “Clear Olympus, which looks down +on the clouds; Parnassus, with double yoke; Lebanon, in its woods;” +Sinai, Athos, Eryx, Pindus, Othrys, Pelion, Caucasus. Though he merely +repeats classical names and classical designations, the whole long +passage could hardly have been written by a man wholly blind to the +grandeur of his subject. Giraldus Cambrensis tells about the Church of +St. David, now known as Llanthoni Abbey, in the midst of the hills of +southern Wales. “Here the monks, when they sit down in their cloister to +rest and take the air, see in all directions over the high gables of +their roofs the peaks of the mountains bounding their horizon and, as it +were, touching the sky. They see the wild deer pasturing on their +summits, and at about the hour of the prime or shortly before in clear +weather they see the sun appearing over the mountain crests.”[991] This +certainly shows that the writer found delight in the restful qualities +of a highland landscape. + +If Walter of Châtillon had not at some time in his life felt the elation +of a view at dawn from a mountain summit, he could hardly have written +the brilliant description in the _Alexandreis_ where he tells how +Alexander, at the moment when the sun began to gleam upon the surface of +the sea, rushed forth from his camp and climbed upon a steep peak whence +his vision embraced the bounds of Asia. Looking out over fields green +with crops, over many a forested mountain and meadow lavish in its rank +grass, over many a city with its encircling walls and many a vineyard +and elm tree entwined with vines, the conqueror exclaimed: “Enough! my +friends: this land alone satisfies me. To you I leave Europe and your +native country.”[992] + + + RELIGIOUS ATTITUDE TOWARDS MOUNTAINS + +Ganzenmüller in his book on the feeling for nature in the Middle Ages +cites several important texts which illustrate the religious attitudes +towards mountains that must have prevailed throughout our period. We +shall see a little later that Bernard of Clairvaux in one of his letters +spoke of mountains as symbolizing the aspirations of the haughty and +worldly.[993] But others believed that there is a godly quality about +the heights. The biographer of bishop Altmann of Passau, writing in the +twelfth century, tells us that one day the bishop, accompanied by an +immense crowd of people, climbed a mountain near Mautern in Lower +Austria firmly believing that those who serve God here below will climb +to the corners and bounds of heaven.[994] Eadmer records of Anselm of +Canterbury that on one occasion, when the latter happened to find +himself on a high summit, he was so refreshed by the clear air and +solitude that he remarked: “Here is my resting place: here will I +dwell.”[995] St. Francis of Assisi must have felt the same mystic love +of mountains that he felt for birds and animals and that he expressed so +beautifully in his hymn to Brother Sun, for did he not in 1224 go into +retreat at La Verna, a remote, forest-covered peak in the +Casentino,[996] and did he not, as he left, turn back and bless the +mountain as he had blessed the birds? At the present time the lower +slopes of La Verna are bare and sun-baked. The summit, buttressed by +massive ledges, is covered with a beautiful wood, and from it the eye +wanders over Tuscany, across the ranges of the Apennines, and to the +eastward catches a glimpse of the Adriatic. That St. Francis should +deliberately have chosen this place of exceptional charm for a retreat; +that he should have made a long, hard journey to reach it; and, above +all, that here he received the supreme glory of his life reveal to us +something far deeper than mere esthetic satisfaction in the beauty of +nature. To St. Francis the quiet summit of the mountain was a symbol of +the peace and tranquillity of heaven and of eternity. + + + NORMAL MEDIEVAL FEELING ABOUT MOUNTAINS + +But for the most part mountainous regions were regarded as places of +grimness and horror. The many journeys over the Alps made in the Middle +Ages by pilgrim, soldier, and trader brought forth few comments on aught +else than the hardships of the way. Otto of Freising tells[997] how in +September, 1155, Frederick Barbarossa’s army passed through a narrow +gorge in the Alps above Verona where robbers impeded its passage. Otto’s +description is very brief and simple; the road, he says, runs between +high cliffs on one side and the unfordable river on the other. Gunther +in the _Ligurinus_[998] elaborates on this by the copious addition of +words emphasizing the terrors of the route: the narrow track wide enough +for only one person at a time to proceed; on one side the “cloud-swept +crags of the jagged Alps,” on the other a chaotic, whirling stream; +these combined to fill the passer-by with fear. + +Perhaps the most striking narrative of a mountain passage dating from +our period tells of the crossing of the Great St. Bernard Pass by the +abbot of St. Trond and the archdeacon of Liége in 1128.[999] Having +celebrated Christmas at Piacenza, the travelers arrived at the beginning +of winter in the village of Restopolis (Étrouble) in the valley leading +to the pass, Mons Jovis; here they were snowbound until after New Year’s +Day. Finally the native guides were able to conduct them on to St. Rhémy +farther up the valley close to the final ascent. “Frozen as it were in +the jaws of death” they remained here a day and a night, constantly +menaced by the gravest danger. The small village was full of travelers, +many of whom had been overwhelmed by the avalanches which kept falling +from the high cliffs on either side. Some of these unfortunates had been +suffocated, and others so badly hurt that they were disabled.[1000] The +ecclesiastics were obliged to spend several miserable days in this +“accursed spot,” but at last they were able to prevail on their guides +to lead them onward. A procession was organized, the guides in the lead, +clad in thick felt hats, gloves, and with spikes in their boots to +enable them to cross the ice; then came other storm-bound travelers; the +horses and the clergy, who were physically the weakest, brought up the +rear. Just before leaving, the party stopped for mass in a chapel. While +the service was going on, ten of the guides who had gone ahead were +engulfed by an avalanche and killed. This so alarmed the prelates that +they retreated to Restopolis; but at last good weather came, and on +January 6 they managed to get across the pass with no great difficulty. + +In 1188 John of Bremble, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, visited +the Great St. Bernard Pass. He wrote about it as follows to his +sub-prior, Geoffrey, and gave expression to what Gribble correctly calls +the “normal medieval view of mountains:”[1001] “I have been on the Mount +of Jove; on the one hand looking up to the heaven of mountains, on the +other shuddering at the hell of the valleys, feeling myself so much +nearer heaven that I was sure that my prayer would be heard. ‘Lord,’ I +said, ‘restore me to my brethren, that I may tell them that they come +not to this place of torment.’ Place of torment, indeed, where the +marble pavement of the stony ground is ice alone, and you cannot set +your foot safely; where, strange to say, although it is so slippery that +you cannot stand, the death into which there is every facility for a +fall is certain death” (Gribble’s translation). + + + GLACIERS + +As a general rule the medieval traveler took no interest in glaciers. +Journeys across the Alps were such hazardous undertakings that even the +traveler of scientific tastes could have had little opportunity or +inclination to investigate the phenomena of the ice. A passage in the +_Gesta Danorum_ of Saxo Grammaticus, therefore, is doubly remarkable +because it gives us some specific details regarding the glaciers of +Iceland. After speaking of the ice floes breaking on the shore, Saxo +writes: “There is also there another type of ice which runs between the +rocks and passes of the mountains. This undergoes certain changes: it is +subject to a process of transposition in which the upper parts sink down +to the bottom and the lower parts arise to the surface. It is reliably +asserted that persons who happened to be passing over the flat surface +of the ice have fallen into crevasses and gaping fissures and that, soon +after, their dead bodies have been recovered without a trace of ice +above them. This circumstance has led many people to believe that +whomsoever the icy caldron takes into its lowest depths, it will deliver +again shortly after upside down.”[1002] Though this passage shows that +Saxo did not have a clear conception of what he was trying to describe, +it was certainly based upon some knowledge, though slight, of glacial +phenomena. It is a well-known fact that on its arrival at the lower +portion of a glacier, ice that at higher elevations was at the bottom +often comes to the surface and brings with it materials scraped from the +glacial bed or objects that may have fallen into the crevasses. This +passage of Saxo has been cited as the earliest occasion in literature in +which the motion of glacial ice was recognized.[1003] + + + _VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES_ + + + VISITS TO VOLCANOES + +Volcanoes are a type of mountain that attracted particular attention, +and, though the men of medieval and ancient times were certainly not +mountain climbers,[1004] there are a few records of their having +deliberately visited volcanoes out of curiosity or scientific interest. +It is well known that Pliny the Elder perished in an attempt to +investigate the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D., and during the twelfth +century the Sicilian scholar and administrator, Henricus Aristippus, is +said to have made a careful study of the volcanic phenomena of Etna, not +without danger.[1005] In the legend of St. Brandan’s voyage we find an +account of the manner in which a companion of the saint lost his life in +an attempt to scale a fiery peak on an island in the northern +seas.[1006] + +The writer of the second verse redaction of the _Image du monde_ also +tells us that he himself had made the ascent of Mongibel (Etna), and his +observations are so detailed and realistic that we cannot but believe +that he is telling the truth.[1007] His object was to see what comes out +of the smoking mouth of the mountain. He noticed that the fire which +issues forth soon turns to vapor and smoke; that the rocks of the +mountain resemble “foam of iron” (_escume de fer_—pumice or some other +volcanic ejecta); that the land about the mountain is broken (_esparse_) +and appears to be blasted and burned (_bruslée et arse_). The volcanic +heat touched (_ting_) his bare hand, and a gentle sweat broke out over +his body; but near the summit he was able to slake his thirst from +frozen snow. On the way down he had the curious experience of hearing +thunder in the clouds below him. When he finally got back to the city, +the people thought he was a fool (_musard_) for venturing into a place +with such a bad reputation. He adds that some people say that Mongibel +is the highest mountain in the world. That it is much higher than +appears from below, he himself had demonstrated. It can be seen from no +less than two hundred leagues away at sea. + + + VOLCANIC REGION OF SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY + +The two volcanic regions known to the medieval world were Southern Italy +and Sicily on the one hand and Iceland on the other. Gervase of Tilbury +describes Vesuvius and the volcanic features about Naples;[1008] he says +that in the vicinity of Pozzuoli there are hills with sands near the +summit so hot that they hinder persons from ascending across them. On +the very outskirts of Naples he speaks of a high mountain, called Mons +Virginum, overlooking the sea and the surrounding country. In the month +of May it belches forth a terrifying smoke with firebrands that turn to +the color of carbon when burnt out. This would seem to indicate the +presence of a vent connecting the mountain with the infernal regions. +(“Unde illic quoddam inferni terreni spiraculum asserunt ebullire.”) The +south wind blows a hot dust from the volcano which ruins the crops and +fruits of the neighborhood and tends to render the land barren and +sterile. To this fairly clear description of a volcano Gervase adds a +fantastic tale about the preventive measures which Virgil[1009] took to +avert the disaster caused by the hot winds; the poet erected a statue +holding a horn which automatically tooted whenever the south wind began +to blow, and for some reason repulsed the blast.[1010] Recently, +however, the statue had either gone to pieces with age or else had been +destroyed by malice, for the damage done by the volcanic blasts was once +more repeated as in bygone days. + +The traveler Conrad of Querfurt looked with interest upon the volcanic +features of the Phlegraean Fields to the northwest of Naples and drew +attention to the confused labyrinth of passages in the interior of Monte +Barbaro and to the hot springs, subterranean channels of boiling water, +and other wonders of the region.[1011] + +Guy of Bazoches, who passed through Sicily on the way to the Holy Land, +included in a letter to his nephews a striking word picture of Etna. +“Sicily,” he wrote, “fears not to pierce the clouds with its immense +mountain summits. Etna towers above all of these with its flaming crests +upon which the opposing elements strive with each other tirelessly and +indomitably in an immense conflict. For though Etna incessantly sends +forth scorching heat, its summit, none the less, is white with snow, and +with a wintry garment it covers its burning shoulders.”[1012] Guy +mentioned also the “Isles of Vulcan” in the Sicilian Sea, “the interior +of which were said to glow with eternal fires. Eolus once dwelt in these +isles and was in the habit of dispensing their smokes, which were +stirred up by the winds, and hence he came to be called the king of the +winds.”[1013] The _Image du monde_ refers to a volcano two leagues +distant at sea from Sicily; this may have been Vulcano or possibly +Stromboli, though in any case the distance was underestimated.[1014] + + + _Michael Scot on the Eolian Isles and Etna_ + +Michael Scot brought together information about the volcanoes of the +Eolian (Lipari) Islands and of Sicily which he included in a discourse +on natural phenomena that he prepared for his patron Frederick II.[1015] +He speaks of “Strongulus” (Stromboli), “a mountain which is in the midst +of the sea,” of “Strongulinus” (Strombolicchio), “Vulcanus” (Vulcano), +“Vulcaninus” (Vulcanello?), “Moncibellus” (Etna), and the isle of +Lipari, “on which there are all manner of fine trees and grains.” From +the summit of Stromboli and “Strongulinus,” a lesser mountain than +Stromboli, great fiery flames are continuously emitted. The other four, +he declares, emit flames only when the south wind (_Auster_) blows; and, +when the flames cease, a mighty smoke issues from them. The eruptions +are often accompanied by showers of scorched rock and sometimes with +roots of trees (? _sticiones lignorum_) and cinders; the ground is +covered and the air obscured as stream waters are clouded with sand. +Glowing bombs are hurled aloft like sparks from a furnace; when these +fall to the ground they burst into fragments, great and small, and in +these fragments is found the pumice which writers use. This pumice +floats on the sea and is carried ashore, where the people collect it for +building walls and for uses similar to those to which we put bricks. +Liquid sulphur is also gathered by sailors from the surface of the sea +thereabouts in baskets and bowls. The nearer this may be obtained to the +mountains whence it boils forth, the better its quality. + + + VOLCANOES OF ICELAND + +In the _Topographia Hiberniae_ of Giraldus Cambrensis we find a +description of the volcanic eruptions of Iceland.[1016] After remarking +that thunder and lightning are rare in the northern isle, he goes on to +explain that there is another and even worse affliction than these; +every year or two fire bursts out of a certain part of the island like a +whirlwind with a violent gale and melts everything in its path; he adds +that the cause of this phenomenon and whether it originated above or +below ground are unknown. Into two manuscripts of Solinus, the oldest of +which dates from the twelfth century, there was inserted some additional +information about the northern isles. We are told that the marine ice on +the coasts of Iceland “ignites itself on collision, and when it is +ignited it burns like wood” (Nansen’s translation).[1017] Adam of Bremen +had also spoken of ice that appeared to be black and dry on account of +its age and burned when kindled.[1018] Though it has been suggested that +this impression may have been derived from mists arising from the ice, +the story was perhaps, as Nansen observes, “due to statements about +volcanoes and boiling springs which have been confused with it. The +black color and dryness of the ice may have been due to confusion with +lava or with floating pumice stone in the sea.”[1019] + +More definite information concerning the volcanic activity of Iceland +reached Saxo Grammaticus about a century after the time of Adam of +Bremen. Saxo refers to a mountain there which perpetually glows like a +star with its burning flame, and it seemed to him no less marvelous that +the eruption could occur in a region of such extreme cold.[1020] In the +_Historia Norwegiae_ the fiery outbreaks of Mons Casule (Hekla) are +likened to those of Etna, and an immense submarine eruption is +described; over a space three miles wide the sea had boiled and bubbled +as in a caldron; the earth was upheaved and out of the submarine depths +there arose fiery fumes, and a mighty mountain sprang from the +sea.[1021] This perhaps refers to a submarine eruption that took place +off Cape Reykyanes in 1211.[1022] + +In the _King’s Mirror_ the volcanic activity of Iceland is compared with +that of Sicily, and the curious statement is made that, unlike the +subterranean fires of the Mediterranean isle, those of Iceland will burn +neither wood nor earth. On the other hand, they will burn the hardest +stones and pieces of rock just as easily as oil.[1023] + + + ST. BRANDAN’S VISITS TO VOLCANIC ISLES + +St. Brandan in the course of his wanderings came across two fiery +islands.[1024] The first was eight days’ sail to the north of the +mysterious crystal column we have already mentioned. It was a rough, +treeless, and rocky isle covered with the forges of smiths. Though the +saint wished to keep clear of this dangerous spot, a wind sprang up +which drove his vessel towards it. One of the smiths threw a gigantic +mass of molten slag at the voyagers; but luckily he missed the ship, and +the slag fell into the sea, sending up huge clouds of steam. This was a +signal for all the smiths to start heaving lumps of molten ore at the +vessel, running back and forth from their forges to heat them. Soon the +entire island was burning and blazing like a furnace, and the sea around +boiling like a kettle. The saint and his party miraculously escaped from +this peril, but throughout the entire day they could hear an immense din +and shouting from the isle; and even when they had drifted out of sight +the tumult came to their ears, and their nostrils were afflicted by a +terrible stench. Soon the wanderers approached the second fiery isle; +their first sight of it revealed a mighty mountain on the northern +horizon, with its peak enveloped in what appeared to be a thin cloud but +in reality was smoke. They landed on the shores of the island, and one +of Brandan’s companions who endeavored to climb the steep, high crags +and investigate the summit was burned to death by the fires. Happily for +the others, a wind arose which drove the ship southward, whence they saw +the island now clear of smoke and spouting flames into the air, so that +the whole mountain appeared to be aglow. + +It has been suggested that these stories were derived from classical and +Celtic mythology. The first island brings to mind pagan tales mingled +with Christian traditions of devils and the infernal regions; perhaps it +owes something to the Homeric account of the isle of the Cyclops. But +why, we may ask, did Irish writers place such fiery phenomena in the +cold and rainy seas surrounding their home? Is it not possible that +early Irish poets had heard vaguely of the volcanoes of Iceland and that +nebulous reports of them, modified by the influence of classical and +Christian traditions, took the form which we find in the legend of St. +Brandan’s voyagings? May it not be significant that the fiery islands of +St. Brandan were reached only after northerly wanderings? + + + VOLCANOES AS GATES OF HELL + +Volcanoes were often popularly supposed to be the entrances into Hell or +else little independent scenes of punishment and dwelling places of +devils. Michael Scot would not decide “whether the gate to the lower +regions is” in the volcanoes of the Lipari Islands and Sicily “or in the +northern isle seen by St. Brandan....” But, he said, “whatever the way +in, Hell is in the bowels of the earth, and there is no way out” +(Haskins).[1025] St. Brandan, seven days’ journey to the south of the +second island just described, found Judas sitting alone on a rock in the +midst of the sea.[1026] In the course of their conversation, Judas +explained that he was imprisoned every day excepting Sundays and +Christmas in the mountain which they had seen erupting. On these days, +through the infinite mercy of Jesus Christ, he was permitted to come out +and cool off. The bishop of Pozzuoli, Gervase of Tilbury tells us,[1027] +on several occasions heard the wailings and lamentations of the damned +during his walks in the volcanic country near his city and had actually +seen the gates of Hell in a lake near by. Icelandic mythology conceived +of a gigantic hell under and inside of Mount Hekla.[1028] The _King’s +Mirror_ placed in the volcanic fires of Iceland a scene of punishment +for souls.[1029] In addition it speaks of a cold hell, belief in which +seems natural to Northern peoples and is also expressed in Saxo +Grammaticus’ description of the moanings and wailings to be heard in the +clashing of ice floes on the cliffs and crags of the Icelandic +coast.[1030] + + + CAUSES OF VULCANISM + +Medieval writers did not add much to what the Greeks and Romans had said +in regard to the causes of vulcanism. In general they accepted the +theories of Isidore and Pliny. Sicily, a typical volcanic region, was +supposed to be cavernous and full of sulphur and bitumen strata which, +when ignited and kept burning by the air, throw off smoke, vapor, and +flames and, when a strong wind blows upon them, vomit forth masses of +sand and rocks.[1031] Gervase of Tilbury elaborates confusedly on this +theme,[1032] saying that there are many fires and earthquakes in Sicily +because beneath that land there is a mighty abyss, the bottom of which +is unknown to man. Near at hand are immense caverns and broad caves, +wherein winds are conceived from the whirling of the waters, for +mountains and waters create winds—mountains by offering an obstacle to +the air. Though he does not say so specifically, we may conclude that +Gervase believed that earthquakes and other volcanic phenomena were +caused by these winds trying to escape from the interior of the earth. +This was certainly the opinion of Michael Scot, who pointed out that +masses of sulphur and other white-hot rocks (_petre calidissime_) are +made to burn by the native heat of the earth’s interior and by the winds +which enter the earth’s crust in remote regions (_in extremis partibus_) +and force their way downward through passages, tubes, and caverns. These +winds are volatilized and given explosive force by contact with the +sulphur and hot rocks. When they burst forth again into the atmosphere +they have all the attributes of fire and flame—sparks, ashes, +cinders—and are supposed by many people to be genuine fire, though as a +matter of fact they are by nature quite different because the waters +ever present in the subterranean cavities fail to extinguish them. So +intense is the heat produced by the sulphur and other combustible +materials that the world would be entirely consumed by the winds that +would blow over them if they were on the earth’s surface. Hence it is a +great mercy of God that he has hidden them away in the depths of the +ground and has thus made impossible the destruction of the world by this +cause and that he has permitted men to dwell and cultivate their fields +on the mountains beneath which such evil forces are buried.[1033] + +Alexander Neckam defined a volcano as a subterranean fire which, though +bound to the earth with one foot, seeks to spring aloft with the other. +He believed that volcanic rocks contain gases within them which when +kindled produce eruptions.[1034] + +Though these passages reveal to us belief during the Crusading age in +the presence of heat and fire in the inside of the earth, the teachings +of Plato and many of the Church Fathers that the sources of volcanic +fires spring from immense subterranean reservoirs of fire do not appear +to have been given much credence. Though the earth’s crust and even its +innermost heart might be interpenetrated with cavities into which air, +water, and fire enter, confidence in the essential solidity and +massiveness of the earth prevailed, and theories which would admit of +the presence of bodies of water or of fire of any great extent within +the heaviest and most solid of the elements were not regarded as worthy +of serious consideration. Hell, however, was almost universally placed +at the very center of the earth by medieval theologians and geographers +alike.[1035] + + + EARTHQUAKES + +The majority of medieval writers believed that earthquakes are caused by +the same physical forces as those which produce volcanic eruptions, the +violent stirring of winds,[1036] vapors, or exhalations within the +earth’s crust.[1037] In the _Quaestiones naturales_ of Adelard of Bath, +which takes the form of a dialogue between uncle and nephew, the nephew +finds it difficult to reconcile the stability and immobility of the +earth, which his uncle had just demonstrated, with the well-known fact +that the earth sometimes quakes and trembles. To this Adelard replies +that, while it is true that the earth may occasionally move in +particular localities, it does not move as a whole[1038] and that +earthquakes are caused by the air contained within the earth and have +nothing whatever to do with the intrinsically stable qualities of the +earth as a globe. He then proceeds to give the Aristotelian explanation +of the causes of earthquakes.[1039] The _De imagine mundi_, followed by +the _Image du monde_ and by Bartholomew Anglicus,[1040] also assigns the +same causes; and William of Conches explains[1041] that earthquakes are +the result of waters descending into underground hollows where they +encounter vapors, condensed into cloudlike form by the coldness of the +earth’s interior; these vapors, in turn, produce telluric movements by +forcing their way to the surface. Neckam repeats much the same +explanation but adds the usual allegorical lesson:[1042] the land +symbolizes the Church, which, although on the whole serene and firm, may +well be shaken now and then by purely local troubles and disturbances. + +The medieval chronicler took delight in mentioning prodigies of nature +that came to his attention, and of these prodigies earthquakes were +among the most striking. The _Gesta regis Henrici Secundi_, under the +year 1178, records a terrific earthquake at Oxenhale in England:[1043] +some land owned by Hugh, bishop of Durham, rose up like a tower, so that +its highest point was on a level with the summits of the hills and +higher than the highest pinnacle of the churches (_templorum_); after +remaining like this from nine o’clock until nightfall, it collapsed at +sunset with a terrific noise that frightened all the onlookers. The +earth then absorbed the tower of land and in its place there remained +until the time of writing a well of immense depth as a perpetual +testimony to the occurrence of this phenomenon. In the same chronicle, +under the date of April 15, 1185,[1044] we find a more typical and less +fantastic description of an earthquake felt throughout almost the entire +length of England; rocks were shattered, stone houses fell in ruins, and +the metropolitan church of Lincoln was broken asunder from top to +bottom. + + + _DESERTS_ + +The deserts of the Orient impressed the medieval writer in much the same +way as mountains, by the obstacles and difficulties which they presented +to the traveler. William of Tyre dilates[1045] on the terrors of drought +in the desert and explains how the Saracens carry in great sacks on +camels water sufficient to serve man and beast for many days at a time; +he pictures impressively the horrors of the sand storms that may spring +up at any time. In the Egyptian desert, he says, the land is so dry and +barren that no manner of tree can grow there. The features of the desert +are also described in the _Letter of Prester John_.[1046] This fabulous +Christian potentate of the East tells us that in the great Sandy Sea +which lies in his country the sands are disturbed by the wind and form +endlessly moving waves like the waves of the real sea. But the analogy +with the sea is carried a trifle too far when he goes on to assert that +fish are found in the Sandy Sea. He adds that from certain mountains, +three days’ journey away, a river of stones flows down and, running +three days a week, sweeps both rocks and logs into the Sandy Sea, but +they disappear in the sands and are never seen again. If we remove the +halo of fable surrounding all this, we discern here an account of a +desert of dunes, with dry watercourses entering it, a feature common +enough in southwestern Asia and northern Africa. On the whole, however, +little was known of deserts in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, and, +though the waste places of Asia and India are constantly mentioned in +the Romance of Alexander, the descriptions of them are wholly fanciful. + + + _ISLANDS_ + + + ORIGINS + +The men of the West at this time were familiar with many islands. +Giraldus Cambrensis takes up the problem of the origin of the islands of +the earth and in particular the question of whether they were formed at +the time of the Deluge or long before or long after.[1047] His opinion +seems to have been that some time after the Flood the lands became +replete with animal life and that it was then that the islands came into +existence, not violently and suddenly but little by little out of +alluvial deposits.[1048] In his emphasis on the gradual and +non-catastrophic manner of their formation, Giraldus by hazard +enunciates a sound geological doctrine which contrasts favorably with +the theories he elsewhere expresses about the violent and sudden +appearance of lakes. + + + MIRACULOUS ISLANDS + +Like mountains and lakes, islands were convenient topographic units to +which the medieval mind was wont to attribute fabulous and supernatural +qualities. Gervase of Tilbury, for example, describes a certain isle in +the sea off the coast of the Kingdom of Arles—Lirniensis, perhaps the +Isle de Lérins—where no worms ever are found.[1049] He was unable to +decide whether this was due to the extreme holiness of a colony of monks +which once dwelt on the island or to some natural peculiarity of the +soil. At all events, this reminds us of the tradition about the +inability of poisonous reptiles or noxious animals of any kind to exist +in Ireland. + +Giraldus Cambrensis speaks of a floating island in a lake on the summit +of Mount Snowdon.[1050] This was said to be blown about by the winds, +and shepherds were much startled now and then to see their cattle +transported on it from one side of the lake to the other. Giraldus +explains this reasonably enough as follows: a portion of the shore had +become bound together and made firm and solid as if by ropes formed from +the roots of the willow and other plants. After being gradually +increased in size by the addition of alluvium it finally broke off. The +violent winds prevalent in the vicinity then drove it back and forth +over the surface of the lake. This story undoubtedly had a basis of +truth, for it is well known that sod floats about on the surface of one +of the lakes near Snowdon, but that it could carry cattle upon it is a +decided exaggeration. + + + ISLANDS OF ST. BRANDAN + +The most marvelous of the islands mentioned in medieval legend were +those which St. Brandan visited.[1051] The first one he came to, a high +and rocky crag rising abruptly out of the sea, was doubtless suggested +to the mind of the poet by one of the forbidding islets in the seas off +the western coast of Ireland. Thence the saint and his crew voyaged in +turn to an island entirely covered with sheep, to one that proved to be +the back of a gigantic fish called Jasconius, to one full of miraculous +birds that could speak, to one that put them in mind of Paradise, to a +rocky isle full of forges and smiths, to an isle where there dwelt a +certain hermit, Paul, who had lived there forty years without food but +for thirty years had been fed by a certain beast;[1052] and finally the +saint himself attained the island which was the goal of all his +wanderings, the Saints’ Land of Promise (Terra repromissionis +sanctorum), or Paradise—a reminiscence perhaps of the Hesperides, or +Happy Islands, of Greek mythology. + +Giraldus describes an isle off the Irish coast which would seem to be +akin to Brandan’s Jasconius.[1053] Doubts were raised as to whether this +peculiar island was a whale or some other monster or whether it was +really land; for some youths had tried to disembark upon it, but, just +as they were about to set foot ashore, it disappeared beneath the waves. +The next day it reappeared and the same thing was repeated. Finally, on +the third day, one of the young men shot a red-hot arrow into it; this +seems to have stabilized it, for the island did not disappear again and +ultimately proved to be habitable. From this Giraldus argued that as +fire is the most noble of the elements no phantasm can withstand its +power. + + + _INFLUENCES OF GEOGRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENT_ + + + ON PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE + +In the writings of the Crusading age we find a few scattered remarks on +the relationship between geographical features and environment and the +life of man and animals, or on those branches of our science now called +biogeography and anthropogeography. The writings of Bernard Sylvester +furnish us with some striking examples. The Platonic and realist +conception of the unity of all matter, which was exemplified in the +theory of a World Soul and expounded in vivid terms by Theodoric of +Chartres, led Bernard in his _De mundi universitate_ to emphasize the +close interrelations of all natural phenomena and the influences of the +various elements and parts of the universe upon each other. He stressed, +for example, the importance of astrological influences, by attributing +to the moon control over the tides and other terrestrial +phenomena.[1054] In geography he emphasized the influences of terrain on +plant and animal life. Thus he says “fruitful land gives birth to +wolves, desert to lions, arid land to serpents, woods to bees.”[1055] +Elsewhere he explains how the plane tree grows in flat country, the +alder in valleys, the box among rocks, the willow on the banks of +streams, the fragrant cypress in the mountains, the sacred vine on the +slopes, and the olive in well-worked loam.[1056] Neckam also recognized +that the growth of plants was governed by the qualities of the +earth.[1057] Only about the center of the globe is there really true +earth; the surface which we cultivate is not true earth because it is +intermingled with particles of air, fire, and other substances. +Consequently it follows that in the same territory there may grow herbs +by nature both warm and cold and that in certain places oats thrive well +and in others barley. + +There is a very striking passage in Hildegard’s _Subtilitates_ +explaining in much detail the influence of various kinds of soil upon +agriculture.[1058] Hildegard asserts that there are divers types of soil +(_terra_)—black, white, and red. White soil is pallid and sandy and +contains much humidity in the form of large raindrops: because of this +quality white soil produces great vines and apple orchards but is rather +less well adapted for the raising of grains. The latter may better be +cultivated upon soil characterized by humidity of finer texture and +minuter drops. Black soil contains too much cold and dampness to produce +more than a moderate yield; red soil, on the other hand, has the right +balance of dampness and dryness and hence produces a quantity of fruits, +which, however, through their very abundance fail to attain perfection. +And so Hildegard proceeds with a discussion that would have been of a +highly utilitarian character, had it only been based more directly upon +the observation of the facts of nature. + + + ON MAN + +The influence of geographical environment on man is also noted by some +of the writers of our period. Otto of Freising explains[1059] that the +Lombards on entering Italy gave up their wild customs and adopted +Italian ways, partly because they married native women but partly as a +result of the nature of country and climate. Giraldus tells how the +plains of southern Wales are far more pleasant to live in than those of +the north.[1060] The latter region, on the other hand, has not only +better natural defenses but a richer soil and is more fertile in +producing men of strength and power. Gunther in the _Ligurinus_[1061] +enlarged on Ragewin’s simple description (in his continuation of Otto of +Freising’s _Gesta Friderici_) of the wild ferocity of the natives of +Poland by saying that their fierceness and savagery is due partly to the +nature of the soil and partly to the influence of their neighbors. + + + _Topography As a Natural Defense_ + +In the same connection these authors try to show that topography may +often serve as a natural defense against hostile invaders. Giraldus +speaks of Wales[1062] as a country easily defensible because of the +depth of its valleys and the immensity of its woods, waters, and swamps. +The remnants of the ancient Britons who were driven here were able to +hold out and preserve their independence against both Angles and +Normans. On the other hand, those who were driven into the southern +promontory (Cornwall), where the land was not by nature so easy to +defend, yielded to the conqueror. In another connection[1063] Giraldus +speaks of the difficulties any one would encounter in trying to conquer +such a rough country as Wales and one so well fortified by nature. +Gervase of Tilbury also testifies to the strong natural defenses of +Wales,[1064] specifying how the Welsh, when enemies appear, take to the +bog lands on the mountains, which they can easily cross through an +agility resulting from long familiarity. Here they either escape from +their enemies or lie in wait to inflict grave harm on them. +Giraldus[1065] tells that the islands in the lakes of Ireland were used +for refuges as well as for dwelling places by the lords of the +surrounding districts; and Ragewin[1066] speaks of the natural defenses +of Genoa, hemmed in on one side by mountains and on the other by the +sea. + + + _Theory of the Westward Flow of Civilization_ + +We may close this account of the relations of man with his geographical +environment with a few words about a strangely fatalistic theory which +prevailed among certain thinkers and in particular among the mystics. It +was a theory that civilization flows from the East to the West and that +when it reaches the uttermost limits of the West the human race will +meet its doom and extinction. Severian of Gabala had said in the fourth +century:[1067] “God looked into the future and set the first man in that +place [Paradise, in the East] in order to cause him to understand that, +just as the light of heaven moves toward the west, so the human race +hastens towards death; but that it is just as reasonable to expect a +future resurrection from death as it is to expect that the stars will +again rise in the east.” This idea appears in the writings of Hugh of +St. Victor, who states in the _De arca Noë morali_[1068] that the order +of places and the order of time run in series; that whatever happened in +the beginning of time happened in the Orient and that henceforth the +course of events has gradually been moving westward, until now it has +reached the end of the earth and we must face the fact that we are +approaching the end of the ages (_saeculi_). Shortly after the Deluge +the most important kingdoms and the capitol of the world were in the +East, in the lands of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Medes; then the +supreme power passed to the Greeks; and finally, towards the end of the +ages, to the Romans who dwell on the confines of the world. In the _De +arca Noë mystica_ the front of the ark is said to face the east and the +rear the west “in order that the position of places shall correspond +with the order of time and the end of the world shall be at the end of +the centuries.”[1069] The ark is here supposed to represent a map of the +world, and the segment of the circle of the _orbis terrarum_ cut by the +ark and facing the east is the location of Paradise; the segment facing +the west will be the place of universal resurrection. Ideas very similar +to this are also found in the _De vanitate mundi_ of Hugh of St. +Victor.[1070] + +Though it cannot be proved that Otto of Freising made use of these +works, nevertheless his philosophy of history is to a large extent based +on the theory of the westward flow of civilization.[1071] In the +prologue to his _Chronicon_ he queries, “Who can wonder that human power +is changeable, when mortal wisdom also is unstable (_labilis_)? What +great learning there was in Egypt and among the Chaldeans, from whom +Abraham derived his knowledge! But what now is Babylon, once famous for +its science and its power? A shrine of sirens, a home of lizards and +ostriches, a den of serpents! And Egypt is now in large part a trackless +and uninhabitable waste, whence science was transferred to the Greeks, +then to the Romans, and finally to the Gauls and Spaniards. And,” he +concludes, “let it be observed that because all human power or wisdom +began in the Orient and will end in the Occident, the mutability and +disappearance of all things is demonstrated. This I propose, with God’s +aid, to make clear in the work which follows.” Otto again hammers on +this theme in the prologue of his fifth book[1072] and finally, near the +close of the same book,[1073] remarks, “For behold, as I have explained +above, just as the heavens turn from east to west, so we behold worldly +affairs and powers revolving.” If human power is so changeable, he asks, +who can expect that the Kingdom of the Franks will last very long? + +The idea that “westward the course of empire takes its way” was thus +raised in the Middle Ages to a position of theological doctrine and +philosophical principle. + + + _FEELING FOR LANDSCAPE AND SCENERY_ + +The pagan, or classical, attitude toward nature was characterized by a +subjective and esthetic enjoyment of beautiful scenery; the Christian +saw in nature the symbol and manifestation of the divinity.[1074] Both +points of view were represented in the literature of our age. + + + SPIRITUAL FEELING FOR NATURE + +The more spiritual feeling found its expression in the writings of men +like Bernard of Clairvaux, Hugh of St. Victor, Francis of Assisi, +Alexander Neckam, and many others.[1075] Bernard of Clairvaux believed +that a man could learn more of the eternal verities through a reverent +contemplation of nature than through the study of books. He wrote to +Master Henry Murdach, an Englishman who afterwards became a monk of +Clairvaux: “Believe one who has tried: you shall find a fuller +satisfaction in the woods than in books. The trees and the rocks will +teach you that which you cannot hear from the masters. Do you think that +you cannot draw honey from the rock and oil from the hardest flint? Do +not our mountains drop sweetness? the hills flow with milk and honey? +and the valleys stand thick with corn?” (Eales’s translation).[1076] +Bernard was fond of complex and detailed allegorical comparisons of the +aspects of nature with the theological or spiritual concepts which he +believed they symbolize. In a sermon on Benedict he said: “St. Benedict +was a mighty fruit tree, like a tree planted by a watercourse. Where are +the watercourses? Truly they are in the valleys, because midway between +the mountains the water flows down. Who may not perceive that the +streams retreat from the steep slopes of the mountains and make their +way straight to the lowly midst of the valleys? Thus does God repulse +the haughty and give grace to the humble. Here you may set foot in +safety. Whoever of you are of the flock of Christ, place your trust in +his staff and follow the footpath in the valley. On the hillsides that +ancient serpent has ever chosen his abode which bites the horse’s hoof +and makes the rider fall back. Select rather the valley for your +wanderings and plantings. Do not seek the dry and rocky mountain side to +set out trees. In the valleys is abundance. There plants thrive, the +grass is lush, fruits grow, and, according to the words of Scripture, +‘the vales shall abound with corn.’”[1077] + +It was in much the same vein that Bernard spoke of the sea as the origin +of all springs and rivers and compared it with Christ, the fount of all +virtue and wisdom.[1078] It was a wish to find an allegorical meaning in +the phenomena of nature that induced Abelard to compare the flood of the +Nile with the spread of Christian grace throughout the world.[1079] +These and the many other similar allegorical comparisons that are so +frequent in the literature of our period are not mere juxtapositions of +things that were seen to be alike. Bernard did more than liken the +valley to the humble of spirit. He implied that the valley itself +partook of the quality of humility and was thereby in some way more +divine than the mountain. But, if Bernard believed that mountains were +symbolical of pride and arrogance, others, like Altmann of Passau, +Anselm of Canterbury, and Francis of Assisi, were lovers of mountains in +a truly spiritual sense. To the twelfth-century mystic the beauty of +nature was more than a symbol of the divinity: it drew its very essence +from God. The love that St. Francis bore towards birds and animals, +mountains and fellow man was a love that arose out of his regarding all +of these as creatures of God impregnated with something of the divine. + + + ESTHETIC LOVE OF NATURE + +The esthetic love of nature that existed during our period was very +different. It had its roots in a movement of protest and rebellion +against the austerity of the Christian life and ideals. Men wished to +enjoy the things of this world without thought of the next. What is +more, they sometimes actually dared to write about their pleasures. +These early stirrings of the humanistic spirit, the spirit of the Great +Renaissance, brought forth troubled protests and angry remonstrances +from men like Bernard and other reformers; but none the less love poems +were often composed in the monasteries, and vagrant poets wandered over +Europe singing the praises of earthly love, rejoicing in the springtime, +with little heed for aught but the beauty of the world. Popular wherever +they went, these wanderers exerted a great influence, and something of +their joyous, pagan spirit crept into more serious writings of the age. + +It would be possible to quote at some length texts testifying to the +presence of an esthetic feeling for nature in the twelfth and early +thirteenth centuries.[1080] Two or three examples must here suffice. + +One of the most enthusiastic observers of natural scenery was Guy of +Bazoches. He describes the environs of the castle of St. Gilles in +southern France about as follows:[1081] “Here smile cultivated and +fertile fields, and here the sides of the hills are adorned with +vineyards. The pleasing aspect of the shrubbery and the beauty of +gardens meets the eye, and oh! how the sweet smell of the grass fills +the air! Fruit trees groan under their load and lament their fertility, +and the warbling birds in the branches send forth rich harmonies. If we +look in a different direction we see the plain stretching out its level +lap covered with green meadows and alluring us with its beauty. The +Rhone, disdainfully cutting through the midst of the fields, rolls down +proud waters and, reaching its place of birth, flows forth into the +neighboring sea.” + +Even more striking is a passage from a poem that has been ascribed to +Marbod of Rennes. “My uncle owns an estate in the forest where I am in +the habit of going to leave care behind and all that may trouble one. +The green grass, the silent woods, the soft and festive breezes, and a +lively spring in the meadow revive my tired spirit: they give me back to +myself and enable me to regain my poise (me mihi reddunt et faciunt in +me consistere). For who is not robbed of himself in the restless city, +roaring with a multitude of noises?”[1082] The writer goes on to +meditate in truly Roman fashion on the transitory character of all +things of this earth. Ganzenmüller comments on the subjective character +of these sentiments: “What a distance separates this from the attitude +towards nature of a Bernard of Clairvaux! Bernard ascribes loneliness to +God, our poet to himself. No longer did one seek in nature for God but +for one’s own self.”[1083] + + + PRACTICAL INTEREST IN COUNTRYSIDES + +On the whole, however, the passages just quoted are more or less +exceptional. The majority of descriptions of countrysides that date from +our period reveal neither highly developed esthetic feeling nor +transcendental emotion. What they do reveal is the prevalence of keen +intellectual interest in detail. If a region was in any way unusual +either by reason of the richness of its produce or the marvelous tales +that were in circulation about it, that region was held to be worthy of +comment. + +Dreesbach has clearly pointed out[1084] that the passages from the +French literature of the Crusading period which describe the Orient show +that the things which impressed themselves on the minds of historian and +chronicler and poet were the richness of gardens and orchards and the +fertility of the fields. Her fecundity, not her romantic or esthetic +qualities, made the average man of the Middle Ages love nature; and a +country not rich and prosperous hardly deserved any particular notice, +in his way of thinking. The descriptions of Syria in William of Tyre’s +history reveal a great number of observations like the following: “The +plain of Antioch, full of many rich fields for the raising of wheat and +abounding in springs and rivulets,”[1085] or the neighborhood of +Damascus, “where there are a great number of trees bearing fruits of all +kinds and growing up to the very walls of the city and where everybody +has a garden of his own.”[1086] Elsewhere William of Tyre emphasizes the +contrast between the sterility of the desert and the marvelous fertility +of Egypt, with its abundance of wheat.[1087] The same interest in the +economic qualities of the land appears in the few local descriptions +that we find in the writings of Otto of Freising. Otto speaks[1088] of +the forested region about the Rhine, near Worms, as being “rich in +produce and wine, abundant in hunting and fishing,” and for this reason, +he adds, the region was pleasing to the princes who came from across the +Alps to take part in the Diet at Worms. In detailing the life of +Corbianus, founder of the church at Freising, he gives us a +topographical account of the vicinity of this city.[1089] A hill, he +says, situated in a most beautiful and delicious spot, overlooks like a +watchtower the whole region, through which can be seen the swift stream +of the Isar. In the days of Corbianus (about 745 A. D.) this territory +was said to have been covered with woods and was a haunt of game; traces +of these woods were still to be found in the ancient tree trunks among +the thickets of the plains, and to Otto’s own day immense quantities of +deer and goats ran wild there. In the northern part of the district by +no means inconsiderable tracts of woodland, commonly called “the +forest,” were still in existence, and from them much useful building +material and fuel could be procured. The land contiguous to the hill was +inclosed by the rivers Isar on the south and Amper on the north, and +between the two streams it extended four German miles in the form of a +very fertile peninsula. At the end of this, where the two rivers come +together, was a place called Moosburg, beautiful and delightful, the +site of a congregation of clergy connected with the church of the +blessed Castulus. + + + GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS’ EYE FOR LOCAL TOPOGRAPHY + +Giraldus Cambrensis, more than his contemporaries, had an eye for local +topography. In spite of his taste for the marvelous, this impelled him +now and then to paint a fairly clear word picture of the appearance of +the countryside. He notes many things of a sort that do not usually +occur in other medieval works; for instance, the fact that in fair +weather it is possible to see the hills of Ireland from St. David’s Head +in Wales;[1090] that the fertility of the Irish soil lies in its +grassland rather than in its grain;[1091] that Ireland is rugged and +hilly, very damp and watery, full of woods, swamps, and trackless +wastes, with lakes at the foot of the hills and pools and bogs even on +the highest summits; that here and there one sees beautiful plains, but +in general open surfaces are of limited extent in comparison to +woodland; that the seacoasts are low, that hills and mountains are +restricted to the interior, and that both inland and along the shores +there is more sandy than rocky country.[1092] He was also impressed by +the barren and desolate character of many parts of Wales;[1093] the +“angle” of the land near St. David’s, he says, has a rocky, sterile +soil, with neither woods, nor rivers, nor orchards, but is open and +exposed to winds and storms. Mona also is arid and rocky, deformed in +appearance, and generally unpromising, though as a matter of fact vastly +more fertile and opulent than the adjacent portion of the Welsh +mainland.[1094] + + + + + CHAPTER X + THE ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE KNOWN WORLD + + +We have already examined the broader theories of astronomical geography +whereby the relation of the globe to the remainder of the universe was +explained. In this chapter we shall speak only of those aspects of +astronomical geography which were intimately connected with man’s +knowledge of the various parts of the known world, or _oikoumene_, as +distinguished from the sphere as a whole. + + + PHENOMENA RESULTING FROM DIFFERENCES IN LATITUDE + +Within the _oikoumene_ the phenomena resulting from varying elevations +of the ecliptic in different latitudes were fairly well understood. The +facts that there are two summers between the tropics (particularly in +India) and that the sun there passes vertically overhead twice a year +had been commented on by Pliny and Solinus, whose observations in this +connection found their way into Isidore’s _Etymologiae_[1095] and thus +to the works of the plagiarists of Isidore in our period. The _De +imagine mundi_,[1096] the _Image du monde_,[1097] Gervase of +Tilbury,[1098] and John of Holywood[1099] all tell us that the same +phenomenon was said to occur in Arabia which lies between the tropics. +Similarly the long days and nights of far northern latitudes were +described on the authority of Solinus and Isidore. In the _De imagine +mundi_,[1100] from which Gervase copies, it is said that in the island +of “Chili” (Thule) there are six months of daylight and summer and six +of night and winter. Giraldus Cambrensis also quotes Solinus[1101] and +Isidore[1102] to the same effect and adds a brief description of how the +sun continuously circles around the horizon during the long Arctic day +and how its light disappears completely when the luminary departs +southward towards the Tropic of Capricorn.[1103] + + + “CLIMATA” + +The ancient geographers had divided the earth’s surface into _climata_, +or climates, which, as we have already seen,[1104] were not atmospheric +regions but mathematical strips running east and west and bounded by +parallels of latitude. Pliny,[1105] for instance, had conceived of seven +climates, the first in the latitude of India, where the length of the +longest day is fourteen hours, and the seventh in that of the +Borysthenes (Dnieper) and of Venetia, Umbria, Milan, and Aquitania, +where the longest day is fifteen and three-quarters hours. Martianus +Capella[1106] added an eighth climate in the north between the parallel +of the Borysthenes and that of the Rhipaean Mountains. Furthermore, he +applied names to the strips. It must be added, however, that neither +Pliny nor Capella were precise in the data they gave, and neither +indicated in degrees the latitude of the parallels which bound their +climates. + +More definite is the information we find in the two works of Ptolemy. +The _Almagest_[1107] and _Geography_[1108] give accounts of the +characteristic astronomical phenomena that occur along a series of +parallels, thirty-eight in number according to the former, twenty-one +according to the latter.[1109] The positions of these were determined by +the length of the longest day at each one. Though there is no explicit +mention of the older division by climates in the text of either of +Ptolemy’s books, such a division not only appears upon the map of the +world made by Agathodaemon on the basis of material supplied by Ptolemy +but also upon certain of the special regional maps which were probably +the work of Ptolemy himself.[1110] + +At all events, the conception of the seven or eight climates did not +disappear but at a very early period, whether by Ptolemy or not, was +correlated with the Ptolemaic parallels.[1111] That is to say, certain +of Ptolemy’s parallels were used to designate the imaginary lines +marking the centers and bounds of the climates. This practice was +adopted by the Arabs and from them transferred to the knowledge of the +Christian West in various astronomical treatises. Among the Latin +manuscripts of the _Toledo Tables_,[1112] for instance, there are series +of astronomical tables for each of the seven climates, according to +which the climates occupy the space between latitude 16° N., with a +longest day of thirteen hours, and 48° N., with a longest day of sixteen +hours. The length of the longest day and the latitude are given for each +parallel that bounds the climates. Except that Ptolemy notes minutes as +well as degrees and in the _Toledo Tables_ the minutes have in most +cases been omitted, the figures correspond essentially with those of the +_Almagest_ and _Geography_. Thus: Ptolemy’s eleventh parallel according +to the _Almagest_ (or tenth according to the _Geography_) has a longest +day of fourteen and a half hours and is at latitude 36°. In the _Tables_ +the southern edge of the fourth climate likewise has a longest day of +fourteen and a half hours and is at latitude 36°. + +Again, in John of Seville’s translation of Al-Farghānī’s +_Astronomy_[1113] and in the _De sphaera_[1114] of John of Holywood, who +had borrowed from Al-Farghānī in this matter, we find a similar +correlation. In both cases the figures of latitude correspond +essentially, though with slight divergences in detail, to those of +Ptolemy. The boundaries of each climate, however, have here been +displaced by one parallel to the south of the parallels used in the +_Toledo Tables_ and those which we may presume were the Ptolemaic +boundaries of the climates.[1115] + +The table, Figure 11 (in the Notes to Ch. X), gives some idea of the +relative degree of accuracy of these figures as they were employed in +the West during the Middle Ages. But just as in the case of other +figures for latitude and longitude, as we shall shortly have occasion to +see, this material was not utilized for geographical purposes during our +age. + + + GEOGRAPHICAL COÖRDINATES + +At the present time the study of regional geography is largely dependent +on a precise knowledge of the geographical coördinates of places. The +foremost duty of the explorer is to know where he is from day to day and +to find this out by astronomical means, if possible. In classical times +and among the Moslems the importance of such observations was not only +well understood, but several methods of carrying them through were +described by astronomers and geographers, and the latitudes of a great +many stations had been determined astronomically. Longitude, on the +other hand, long remained a stumbling block, and before the twelfth +century, certainly, no systematic attempts to ascertain the longitudes +of any large number of places had ever met with success. + +A few relics of classical and Moslem study in this field became familiar +in the West as a result of the intense interest in Arabic astronomy +prevailing in Europe between the tenth and thirteenth centuries.[1116] + +Various figures representing the results of Arabic corrections of and +additions to the data given in Ptolemy’s _Geography_ found their way +into Western astrological tables. The most interesting of these occur in +a list of the latitudes and longitudes of some sixty odd cities appended +to the Paris manuscript of the _Marseilles Tables_ of Raymond of +Marseilles[1117] and also to most of the Latin versions of the _Toledo +Tables_.[1118] This list and certain figures scattered through the +astrological tables and canons[1119] reveal the results of the +reductions made by Al-Khwārizmī and by Az-Zarqalī of Ptolemy’s gross +overestimate of the length of the Mediterranean, to which we have +referred in a preceding chapter.[1120] The European student of these +astrological works might have drawn a by no means contemptible map from +the figures to be found in them had he been interested in what these +figures could teach him of geography. Figure 6 is a map compiled from +the coöordinates given in the Paris manuscript of the _Marseilles +Tables_. + +At the end of this list of geographical coördinates in many manuscripts +additional figures not derived from Moslem sources are given. These show +the positions of such points in Europe as London, Hereford, Paris, +Toulouse, Barcelona, Marseilles, Novara, Cremona, Florence, and +Naples[1121] (see Fig. 12, in Notes to Ch. X). They were undoubtedly +determined by observations made during our period or shortly after. + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 6—Sketch map constructed from the list of geographical positions + appended to the Paris manuscript of Raymond of Marseilles’ + _Marseilles Tables_. The outline of the coast, arbitrarily indicated + by a shaded band, is shown merely to give some idea of the type of + map that might have been constructed from the data given in the + tables. This may be compared with the Henry of Mayence map (see + above, p. 124) shown in outline in the inset. The original Henry of + Mayence map reveals far greater detail and upon it east (not north, + as in this figure) is at the top. + + This list is based on the observations of the eleventh-century Arabic + astronomers Al-Khwārizmī and Az-Zarqalī. Cities and other points + have been plotted according to the coördinates of this list. The + resulting map of the Mediterranean region and the Near East is + remarkable for its comparative accuracy. For a key to the names + represented by the numbers on the diagram and for the figures for + the latitudes and longitudes, see J. K. Wright, _Knowledge of + Latitudes and Longitudes_, 1923, pp. 87–88. +] + + + METHODS OF FINDING LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE + +That such observations were carried out is entirely possible, for there +is absolutely no doubt that methods of finding latitudes and longitudes +were well understood in theory and were sometimes put to practical use. +Rules are given for finding latitude in Az-Zarqalī’s _Canons_, in Plato +of Tivoli’s translation of the _Astronomy_ of Al-Battānī, and in many +other astronomical and astrological treatises.[1122] Two principal +methods were recommended. You may either measure with the astrolabe the +altitude of the sun above the horizon at noon at the spring or autumn +equinox and find the latitude by subtracting this angle from 90° or you +may measure the altitude of the celestial pole above the horizon, which +is the same as the latitude. As to longitude, the fact that there are +differences in local time between points east and west of each other was +recognized and clearly explained by several writers of our age.[1123] +The _Marseilles Tables_ give a rule for finding longitude by the +observation of eclipses. Roger of Hereford indicates that he himself, by +observing an eclipse in 1178, ascertained the positions of Hereford, +Marseilles, and Toledo in relation to Arin, the world center of the +Moslems.[1124] Gerard of Cremona describes a method of finding longitude +by noting the distance of the moon from a given point in the heavens and +thereby dispensing with eclipses,[1125] though it is doubtful whether +this method was used until the sixteenth century. The lack of accurate +instruments for ascertaining time must have rendered it extremely +difficult to calculate longitude under any circumstances. Making +allowances for this, it is surprising to find how accurate the few +coöordinates that have come down to us seem to be, if our interpretation +of them is correct.[1126] + +The geographical interest of these figures and of investigations of this +sort was not appreciated by the majority of the men of our age. The +application of astronomical considerations to the problems of navigation +was still in its infancy. The purpose of the investigator of the twelfth +and early thirteenth century in finding geographical coöordinates was +astrological. He wished to make use of them to transpose tables made +originally for the meridian and parallel of one station to the meridian +and parallel of another. Their influence on the cartography of the age +was absolutely _nil_. It is probably safe to make the categorical +statement that the maps and geographical treatises of the century and a +half preceding the year 1250 were drawn and written with almost complete +disregard of any astronomical considerations whatsoever. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + CARTOGRAPHY + + +The maps of our period give us the most convincing possible +illustrations of the geographical ideas that were current.[1127] Their +bright colors, naïve legends, childlike but often skillfully drawn +vignettes, and preposterous inaccuracy take us back into the atmosphere +of a credulous and uncritical age. We can catch much more of the flavor +of the popular geography of the Middle Ages by a hasty glance at one of +the crude Beatus representations of the world than by plowing through +many of the dry pages of compilations like the _De imagine mundi_. + +In this chapter there will be given a brief analysis of these maps as +specimens of the cartographer’s art and an explanation of certain points +which all, or most, of them have in common. + + + _INACCURACY_ + +What strikes us first is their extraordinary inaccuracy. It is easy to +laugh at this because subconsciously but inevitably we compare the +outlines of seas, continents, and regions as represented in these maps +with the outlines with which we have become familiar in modern atlases. +We tend to forget that the contours of Europe, Asia, and Africa as we +now know them are not images that have been stamped upon the minds of +men at all times, that their accurate representation is the result of a +series of long and laborious observations completed only at a relatively +recent date. Hence it is somewhat unjust to reproach the medieval +cartographer with his inaccuracy, for the reason that accuracy in the +present-day sense was something impossible for him to achieve. The +Greeks and Moslems, to be sure, had made far better maps than did the +men of the Middle Ages; but, unfortunately, Greek maps had perished, few +Arabic maps came through to the West, and the prevalent ignorance of +Greek made it impossible for the Occidental scholar to gain inspiration +from treatises on cartography written in that tongue. + + + ACCURACY NOT DEEMED NECESSARY + +Furthermore, it is a mistake to regard accuracy as the goal and ideal of +the medieval map maker. To gain a sympathetic understanding of his work +we must see what purposes he intended it to fulfill. He drew maps to +accompany and clarify the written texts to which they were usually +subsidiary. The maps were more or less in the nature of diagrammatic +sketches on which the features of the earth’s surface were shown in a +general way, and the draftsman understood perfectly well that all he +could hope to give was a rough approximation to relative positions. The +medieval scribe and map maker was an artist who took pride in the beauty +of his work. The same motives which impelled him to enliven his +manuscript with a multitude of miniatures led him to relieve the coldly +geometrical outlines of his map by lines and colors pleasing to the eye, +by entertaining sketches and readable legends. He was creating something +very different from the modern cartographic or topographic sheet that +stands on its own merits as an independently useful, scientific document +and from which we can get precise information about distances, heights, +positions, and terrain. He would have branded any man a fool who thought +that one could hope to determine from his map the distance from +Jerusalem to England or from the mouth of the Ganges to the mouth of the +Nile. In other words, most medieval maps—including wall maps—were +nothing more than rough diagrams converted into works of art. + +When, during the latter years of the thirteenth century, the sailors of +the Mediterranean, driven by the necessity of securing reliable aids to +navigation, began piece by piece to construct marine charts upon which +the contours of the coasts were shown with an approach to modern +correctness, we have indeed a revolution in cartographic art and +geographical science. + +Bearing in mind these considerations, we see that the major inaccuracies +of medieval maps are (1) exaggeration in the scale of particular regions +at the expense of others and (2) distortion, often amounting to a +complete failure to show places in their proper relative positions. The +first of these inaccuracies was usually deliberate, the second more or +less unavoidable. Both are well-known characteristics of our modern +American railway folder maps. + + + EXAGGERATION + +The purpose of exaggeration was, of course, to emphasize the most +interesting and significant localities. For example, on many maps of the +world, Palestine—about which a good deal was known and in which interest +naturally was centered—is shown to be almost as large as all the rest of +Asia put together. The Jerome map of the East[1128] exaggerates Asia +Minor to an enormous size, making it a greater distance from +Constantinople to Mount Ararat than from Armenia to Taprobane (Ceylon). +On the other hand, the Jerome map of Palestine itself[1129] would lead +us to believe that the district lying between the Lebanon, the Jordan, +and the sea is at least three times as large as the Anatolian peninsula. +Certainly nobody ever thought that such proportions actually obtain in +nature. Similarly, the plans of cities that are not infrequently +included in maps are often immensely enlarged in relation to the +surrounding country, as, for example, in the case of London, Rome, Acre, +and Jerusalem on Matthew Paris’ pictorial itinerary[1130] and map of +Palestine,[1131] and Jerusalem on the “Situs Ierusalem”[1132] (see Fig. +7). + + + DISTORTION + +Errors arising from distortion were due partly to ignorance and partly +to the necessity of making the map fit either the page upon which it was +drawn or else a preconceived idea of an oval, or circular world. The +“Cotton,” or “Anglo-Saxon,” map[1133] several of the Beatus +series,[1134] and even Matthew Paris’ maps of Britain[1135] (the best of +the whole period; see Fig. 9, p. 343, below) show a semi-rectangular +land mass corresponding to the pages of the codices. On the latter a +legend frankly admits that, if only the size of the page permitted, the +island would be shown longer than it is (“Si pagine pateretur, haec +totalis insula longior esse deberet”).[1136] The manner in which +geography was forced to conform to a circular or oval world is admirably +illustrated in the treatment of the islands of the ocean. On the Beatus +series[1137] and on Lambert’s _mappaemundi_,[1138] Britain and the other +islands appear as small, round, oval, or rectangular blocks more or less +regularly spaced in the circumambient ocean. Other maps, like that of +Henry of Mayence[1139] (see inset of Fig. 6, p. 245, above), fit the +islands into recesses in the oceanic shores of the continental areas so +that the smooth outlines of the whole land mass are preserved. + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 7—The _Situs Ierusalem_, or plan of Jerusalem, illustrating the + anonymous _Gesta Francorum Ierusalem expugnantium_ as reproduced by + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, fig. 14, from map in Codex of + St. Omer. +] + +An extreme of confusion and disregard for reality is found in one of the +Beatus group[1140] preserved in Paris. Here it is difficult to make out +which continent is which. India, for instance, lies just across the Red +Sea from Spain (it is doubtful in what direction); Arabia would seem to +be in the farthest Orient, adjoined by Greece on one side and Thrace on +the other. Such absurdities are unusual, but even the best maps of the +period show serious errors when measured by modern standards. The +“Cotton,”[1141] for instance, in such a well-known part of the world as +Italy, locates Ravenna on the Mediterranean shore southeast of Rome and +shows an amazing eastward displacement of Arabia and the Red Sea, though +in many other respects its geography, relatively speaking, is very good. + + + _TECHNIQUE_ + +The diagrammatic character of these maps is evident in the technique of +their workmanship. They all show a tendency toward geometrical lines, +curves, and symmetry. This is carried further on some than on others +(as, for example, in the cruder specimens of the Beatus group[1142]); +but, in nearly all, the ocean is represented as a smooth circular band +of even width; and, in many, rivers and mountains follow direct lines or +regular curves. It is obvious that the ruler and compass were not +neglected. + + + CONVENTIONS + +Moreover, certain cartographic conventions were followed. In the great +majority of cases east was placed at the top, and some authorities have +endeavored to trace this convention back to the maps of the +Romans.[1143] While this explanation of its origin may be true, the +traditions of the Church, which placed in the Orient the Garden of Eden +together with the fountain of the waters of the world and of human life, +must have had much to do toward perpetuating it. Conventions of a sort +were also observed in the use of colors on colored maps: seas and rivers +were nearly always blue or green, except for the Red Sea, which was +invariably red. Less uniform was the color used for mountains: on the +map of the world of Henry of Mayence[1144] and on one of Lambert’s +_mappaemundi_[1145] they are red; the “Cotton”[1146] shows them a +brilliant green; and one of the maps of Matthew Paris,[1147] a yellow. + + + SYMBOLS AND LEGENDS + +Symbols representing the various features of the earth’s surface were +more or less conventionalized, though we can hardly say that any +definitely developed “conventional signs” were in use. It is the usual +intention of symbols as employed on modern maps to reproduce the +appearance of the various features more or less as they look when viewed +from above. This is relatively recent development; on medieval maps such +elements as mountains, forests, and cities were shown as they appear +from the side. In addition to symbols, legends were extensively employed +to explain details of the map’s surface, and sometimes these were +expanded to considerable length to include historical data and other +points of interest. A large variety of subjects were represented on +these maps by symbols, vignettes, and legends. + +The atmosphere figures in the Turin Beatus[1148] in pictures at the four +corners of wind blowers seated astride of wind bags. On the Jerome map +of the East[1149] the names of certain of the winds are written along +the eastern border, and wind blowers were familiar figures in the +cartography of a later period than ours. + +The ocean and inland seas, usually tinted green or blue, are generally +without symbols to emphasize their watery nature, except perhaps for +pictures of fish. On two of the Beatus series,[1150] however, lines are +drawn running parallel to the coasts, showing that the medieval +draftsman had hit upon and crudely executed a modern scheme of +representing water. The Guido map of Italy[1151] represents the sea by +scalloped lines. On the Guido map of the world[1152] the size of the +Mediterranean and its branches is enormously enlarged;[1153] whereas the +worst examples of the Beatus group[1154] show the inland seas as narrow +channels bounded by straight shores. + +The width of rivers is nearly always immensely exaggerated; on some maps +rivers appear to be as wide as the seas themselves. Only the +“Cotton”[1155] forms an exception in representing them (except for the +Nile) as single lines. On the whole, hydrography is drawn arbitrarily. +Streams cross each other, separate, and connect one sea with another; +though the Jerome maps,[1156] certain of the Beatus series,[1157] and +the “Cotton”[1158] place the headwaters of many of the rivers of Asia +and Europe in mountain ranges. + +Lakes are generally represented as bulb-shaped bodies from which rivers +rise or into which they expand. + +No attempt was made to show by symbols different kinds of land surface, +except perhaps by Matthew Paris in one of his maps of Britain,[1159] +which differentiates the marshy country of the eastern shires from the +rest of the island. On certain members of the Beatus group[1160] we read +legends in Africa and Asia calling the country “deserta et arenosa;” and +legends appearing on Matthew Paris’ maps[1161] describe the boggy, wild, +and mountainous country of northern Scotland and Wales. The Paris Beatus +No. II[1162] has a legend in a remote part of Asia indicating “land +uninhabitable on account of the abundance of water.” + +Mountain ranges were generally represented by jagged, saw-tooth lines +running parallel to straight lines;[1163] particularly high or famous +peaks, by a single great pyramid. Such pyramids are prominent features +in the Beatus series,[1164] where woods are often shown growing upon +them. The Hyrcanian Forest is depicted and labeled on the Jerome map of +Palestine,[1165] and the pepper forests of India are indicated on the +Jerome map of the East.[1166] + +Among the works of man cities and buildings take a foremost place, +represented by vignettes of castles, towers, and churches. On several +maps[1167] especially notable works are depicted, as the lighthouse of +Alexandria, the tower of Babel, the columns of Alexander and Hercules; +and the seas are sometimes filled with ships. As to men themselves, the +legends give the names of cities, provinces, and countries. The Jerome +maps[1168] give a series of tribal names in Scythia. Adam and Eve with +the serpent were stereotyped features enlivening the East on many but by +no means all the maps of our age; and on the Osma Beatus[1169] we see +the uniformly gloomy features of the twelve apostles distributed over +the earth’s surface (see Fig. 4, p. 123, above). + +The monsters of India were also represented by vignettes of a _skiapod_, +or shadowfoot, on two of the Beatus group,[1170] where this +uncomfortable creature is shown as the most prominent inhabitant of the +austral continent (see Fig. 4) and the existence of other monsters is +hinted at by legends referring to griffons, cynocephali, and the like. + + + _SUMMARY_ + +In surveying the extant maps of our period as a whole, and in comparing +them with one another, it is impossible to detect any appreciable +development from worse cartography to better. To be sure, Matthew Paris’ +three maps of Britain[1171] (Fig. 9, p. 343, below), made at the very +end of our century and a half, are probably also the best. But they +represent a limited area; and among the maps of the world the “Cotton,” +or Anglo-Saxon,[1172] which possibly dates from the twelfth century but +may be very much older, holds by all odds the highest rank so far as +cartographic excellence goes. The complex and elaborate wall map of the +late thirteenth century in Hereford Cathedral[1173] and the immense +Ebstorf map at Hanover (dated 1284)[1174] represent the culmination of a +process in the direction of increasing elaboration that had been in +progress throughout the age. They do not indicate any improvement in +cartographic standards but rather, as was the case with some of the +great works of compilation of the time, a multiplication of fabulous and +incongruous detail. Beazley dismisses them rather summarily as +monstrosities. They are the cartographic counterparts of the _Image du +monde_ and the _Livre du trésor_ of Brunetto Latino. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY + + +We shall not attempt the thankless and impossible task of giving a +complete conspectus of Western regional lore in the twelfth and early +thirteenth centuries. This chapter, like its predecessors, consists +largely of illustrative examples. + + + _GENERAL CHARACTER OF REGIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE PERIOD_ + + + GEOGRAPHY OF TRADITION AND GEOGRAPHY OF OBSERVATION + +We explained in the Introduction that there were two kinds of +geographical information available in the Middle Ages—information +derived from earlier literature and information derived from +contemporary tradition and observation. In the period we are studying, +these were found among men of very different interests and activities, +and hence they usually failed to blend. It is true that now and then in +a work of erudition of the time we come across a report of some original +observation made by the writer himself or learned by him from a +contemporary; but these data were seldom really assimilated into the +body of the text, seldom used as a check on the assertions of older +authorities. They seem to float like drops of oil on the deep, or +shallow, waters of authoritative learning. Conversely, in works +recording contemporary events—histories, chronicles, letters—we often +come across facts and theories that were taken from older books; but +these were infrequently subjected to critical examination in the light +of contemporary knowledge. On the contrary, they were usually treated +with indulgence or respect merely because they were old, even when +observed phenomena seemed to prove them false. + +In the present as in the foregoing parts of this book the attempt is +made to distinguish between these two distinct types of geographical +lore. For many regions the geographical ideas are indicated that were +derived from Pliny, Solinus, Isidore, Bede, and other encyclopedists and +that found expression in treatises like the _De imagine mundi_, the +_Otia imperialia_, and the _Image du monde_. In contrast to these there +is set forth the kind of information that was being gathered by +contemporary eyewitnesses. + + + GRADATIONS OF ACCURACY OF KNOWLEDGE + +Maps are sometimes drawn at the present day to show the state of +progress of geographical knowledge. Upon these by various tints or +shadings are indicated tracts that are accurately surveyed, partially +surveyed, known only through route traverses, known only through reports +from natives, or totally unknown. No such map could be constructed to +show the character of regional knowledge in the Middle Ages, because our +sources of information are not sufficiently complete and because the +knowledge both actually and potentially available varied from country to +country, from community to community, even from individual to +individual. The printing press and facility of communication between the +peoples of the world has rendered scientific knowledge or, at any rate, +the possibility of obtaining scientific knowledge the common property of +all modern civilizations. An Australian student, for instance, if he is +willing to take the time and trouble, can learn through research +virtually all that is known to Danish or Icelandic scholars about the +geography of Greenland. In the Middle Ages, on the contrary, we may feel +certain that the Danes and Norwegians had at hand much detailed +information on Greenland and the Arctic shores of Europe that the +Italian had no means whatever of obtaining. Correspondingly, the Italian +trader of Genoa or Venice unquestionably knew a great deal about remote +parts of Asia and North Africa that could never reach the ears of an +author of a _De imagine mundi_ or of a Lambert of St. Omer, writing in +quiet cloisters of France or Belgium. + +Yet if, for these reasons, we cannot show on a map the gradations in the +character and accuracy of Western geographical knowledge in the age of +the Crusades, such gradations nevertheless existed. From the point of +view of Western Europe as a whole they might be grouped in a broad way +as follows. First there were the well-known regions about which +knowledge was derived and kept fresh through active commercial, +diplomatic, ecclesiastical, military, and scholarly enterprise. These +regions may be said to have included most of Europe west of the Elbe and +Hungary. They also included the overland routes to Constantinople, the +shores of the Mediterranean, and the Holy Land. From the point of view +of the Scandinavian peoples, who were great travelers, they took in not +only the foregoing regions but also the Baltic coasts, southern Norway +and Sweden, and Iceland. Beyond the bounds of the well-known areas lay a +second group of areas about which a fair amount of reasonably +trustworthy information was at hand, derived from one of three sources: +(1) reports of occasional travelers; (2) more or less reliable hearsay; +(3) classical descriptions drawn from literary sources. Much of Western +Asia and North Africa fell within this category and, for the +Scandinavians, Greenland. Beyond lay the third group of regions known +only through the vaguest of rumors—the domains of fabulous monsters and +legendary men. To some writers India was such a land, to others Russia +and northern Scandinavia, to still others the legendary isles that lay +concealed in the Western Ocean. Finally, beyond them came those regions +lying without the known world, about which the men of the Middle Ages +themselves would have acknowledged that they knew nothing: the austral +continent, the countries of the antipodeans, _antoikoi_, _antichthones_, +which have been discussed in an earlier chapter. No boundaries could be +drawn setting off these various tracts from one another; the well-known +shaded off imperceptibly into the less well-known, and the vaguely known +merged into fairyland; within each well-known tract were islands of +doubt and mystery, and fabulous stories were told of even the most +commonplace features of the landscape. + + + _THE “OIKOUMENE” AS A WHOLE_ + +Before turning to the various regions of the known world—the +_oikoumene_, as the Greeks called it; the _orbis terrarum_ or +_habitatio_ of the Romans—something must be said concerning theories +about the _oikoumene_ as a whole, about its center, and about Paradise +and the four rivers of Paradise. It was usually supposed that the +_oikoumene_ itself occupies a relatively restricted part of the surface +of the globe. The words of Seneca to the effect that there is only a +short distance from Spain to India imply that the known world must +stretch out over much more than a half of the circumference of the +sphere.[1175] Though these words were often read in our period, scant +attention was paid either to them or to the Arabic interpretation of +Aristotle’s similar theory until a later date. Roger Bacon’s specific +explanation that the _habitatio_ extends around much more than half the +earth’s circumference represents an opinion that was exceptional.[1176] +The majority of the thinkers of the twelfth and early thirteenth +centuries who speculated on the subject at all were probably under the +spell of the theory fostered by Macrobius, which made our habitable +portion of the earth one of four similar regions separated from each +other by two oceans.[1177] This undoubtedly was the view most widely +accepted, but in addition the idea was perhaps already being propounded +early in the twelfth century that the lands of the known world form +merely a small portion of the surface of the terrestrial sphere emerging +above the surface of a larger, enveloping sphere of water.[1178] + + + THE “OIKOUMENE” DIVIDED INTO THREE PARTS + +The writers of the Crusading age were unanimous in dividing the +_oikoumene_ itself into three parts, Asia, Libya (or Africa), and +Europe. Bernard Sylvester said: “In two parts the ether, and likewise in +two parts the air, but in three parts you are to understand that the +land is divided,”[1179] almost as if a tripartite division of the lands +were in accord with a law of nature. This division was inevitable in +view of what was known of the arrangement of lands and seas. +Orosius,[1180] however, had spoken of certain writers who would split +the known world in two, making Africa a part of Europe “because of its +small size” and making Asia as large as Africa and Europe together. +Those who had preferred to conceive of Africa as a separate continent, +he had said, did so not on account of its size but because it is cut off +from Europe by an arm of the sea. These words of Orosius were quoted by +Otto of Freising[1181] and by Gervase of Tilbury.[1182] The theory that +Asia is equal in size to Europe and Africa put together is reproduced by +the author of the _De situ terrarum_,[1183] and upon it was based that +symmetrical division of the world’s surface which we find depicted on +the so-called T-O maps of the early Middle Ages.[1184] + +Isidore of Seville drew largely from Orosius in writing his chapters on +geography. Theoretically he accepted the tripartite division,[1185] but +in his actual treatment of the countries of the world he appended a +discussion of islands to his discussion of the continents. In this he +was followed by the author of the _De imagine mundi_ and by many other +writers of the time,[1186] all of whom declared that the earth’s surface +is divided in three, but added chapters on the islands after their +descriptions of Asia, Africa, and Europe. + + + _THE CENTER OF THE “OIKOUMENE”_ + + + JERUSALEM AS THE CENTER + +During the Middle Ages the idea that Jerusalem is at the center of the +_oikoumene_ seems gradually to have gained ground. Arculf, a bishop of +an unknown see in Gaul and pilgrim to the Holy Land, so described it as +early as the close of the seventh century;[1187] but the tradition does +not appear to have become established in the cartography of the West +until the twelfth or even the thirteenth century.[1188] To place +Jerusalem at the center was to recognize the preëminence given that city +in Scripture, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament.[1189] +It is natural for primitive peoples to think that the most holy of all +places occupies a central position:[1190] the Greeks believed that +either Delphi or Olympus was the navel of the earth;[1191] the +Scandinavians thought the same was true of Asgard; the Hindus, of Mount +Meru; the Babylonians, of Nippur.[1192] Gervase of Tilbury argues in a +confused, semi-theological manner on the position of Jerusalem:[1193] +Augustus, he believed, had thought that Judea was the heart of the earth +because that Emperor had begun a survey of the provinces of the empire +there; in addition, from texts of the Bible Gervase attempted to +demonstrate that Jerusalem is halfway between the North and the South, +that by “antithesis” it must be halfway between the East and the West, +and consequently must be at the center of the known world. + + + THE EXACT POSITION OF THE EARTH’S CENTER + +There seems to have existed in the minds of writers some confusion as to +the exact spot that marks the navel of the earth. A map of the year 1110 +identifies it with Mount Zion.[1194] The pilgrim Saewulf, who was in the +Holy Land in 1102 and 1103, says:[1195] “At the head of the Church of +the Holy Sepulchre, in the wall outside, not far from the place called +Calvary, is the place called Compas, which our Lord Jesus Christ himself +signified and measured with his own hand as the middle of the world, +according to the words of the Psalmist, ‘For God is my king of old, +working salvation in the midst of the earth.’ But some say that this is +the place where our Lord Jesus Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene, +while she sought him weeping and thought he had been a gardener, as is +related in the Gospels” (Thomas Wright’s translation).[1196] + +In certain astronomical notes of the early twelfth century an anonymous +writer (possibly Adelard of Bath) asserts that Mount “Amor reorum” is +the center of the earth and that he proved this to be the case by +experiment.[1197] It would seem that upon this mountain (possibly Mount +Moriah) he hung a log, twelve cubits long by three in diameter, +suspending it vertically in the air by means of a rope, and that at the +time of the summer solstice he observed that the shadow of the log was +directly beneath and circular in shape. This, he asserted, showed that +Mount “Amor reorum” was the center of the earth. To clinch the veracity +of his observation, he added that he had not been drinking wine and that +his eyes were not satiated with sleep. Although the sun is not directly +overhead at the summer solstice in Palestine, the same idea reappears in +the _Otia imperialia_ of Gervase of Tilbury.[1198] Gervase seems to +favor, as the center of the earth, the well where Christ spoke to the +Samaritan woman.[1199] He adds that this well has the characteristic +that philosophers attribute to wells on the Tropic of Cancer at Syene in +Africa, that is to say, that the sun shines directly into it at the +summer solstice every year. + + + _THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE_ + + + PARADISE IN THE EAST + +Most medieval maps include in the eastern part of the world a picture of +the Terrestrial Paradise,[1200] surrounded by a high wall or mountain +range and containing within it figures of Adam and Eve and the +serpent[1201] (see above, Fig. 2, p. 69). “The first place in the East +is Paradise, a garden famous for its delights, where man can never go, +for a fiery wall surrounds it and reaches to the sky. Here is the tree +of life which gives immortality, here the fountain which divides into +four streams that go forth and water the world.”[1202] “Around Paradise +extends a savage, trackless waste, infested with wild beasts and +serpents.”[1203] + +This was the orthodox medieval view, to be found in Peter Abelard’s +commentary on the Works of the Six Days,[1204] in the _De situ +terrarum_,[1205] and in the _Image du monde_.[1206] Gervase of Tilbury +copies it word for word from the _De imagine mundi_[1207] but gives +additional details in another connection,[1208]where he tells us that +Paradise was the seat of the first of the four universal monarchies, +that of Adam; that it was so called because of its delights, for +“delight” is the meaning of the word “Eden,” and that the Garden makes a +spot of marvelous deliciousness, separated from our inhabited earth by a +long tract of land and sea and elevated so high that it reaches the +sphere of the moon, so high that the waters of the Deluge failed to +disturb it.[1209] Peter Lombard explained why it is thought that +Paradise is in the East:[1210] Scripture, he said, teaches us that God +made man outside of Paradise and placed him ready-fashioned in the +Garden of Delights which had been planted by the divine power at the +beginning of time (_a principio_). In an old translation, Peter +explained, instead of this phrase, _a principio_, the words _ad +Orientem_ were given, and consequently the earlier translator would have +had us believe that Paradise was to be found in the eastern parts of the +earth. Peter added that a long stretch of land and sea cut Paradise off +from the regions inhabited by men and that it was situated on a height +touching the circle of the moon’s orbit, whence it came about that the +waters of the Deluge could not penetrate thither. + +It was generally agreed that Paradise is in Asia,[1211] although this +was not a universal belief. Hermann the Dalmatian in 1143 asserted that +there was “no mean opinion” that Paradise lies beyond “Amphitrites,” the +ocean which encircles the earth from north to south, and that +indications of its presence had been found both to eastward and to +westward.[1212] Gervase said that it could be forcibly argued that the +Garden lies beyond the Torrid Zone and is inaccessible to man, though he +did not commit himself either for or against this theory.[1213] Robert +Grosseteste speaks of theologians who would place Paradise under the +equator.[1214] Otto of Freising’s words[1215] also seem to imply +indirectly that the Garden is not in Asia, for Otto tells us that +Alexander the Great conquered the entire Orient from Scythia to the ends +of the earth. The same idea may be gathered from the _De situ +terrarum_,[1216] which places the Seres and not Paradise in the farthest +East, and also from the cycle of romances of Alexander, which relate how +the Macedonian hero conquered all those Oriental regions where Paradise +was usually supposed to be. The _mappaemundi_ of Henry of Mayence[1217] +and of Lambert of St. Omer[1218] place Paradise on an island beyond the +easternmost limits of the habitable world; but St. Brandan found the +Saint’s Land of Promise (probably no other than Paradise) far out in the +Western Ocean.[1219] As a matter of fact there was no uniformity of +opinion regarding the geographical position of the Happy Land: St. +Augustine, whose works were read during our period, had even gone so far +as to state that Paradise had no real existence at all but was merely an +allegorical conception.[1220] A child is not worried about the latitude +and longitude of fairyland, and the average man of the Middle Ages was +just as little worried about the exact whereabouts of the Garden of +Eden. + +Nevertheless, in one version of the Romance of Alexander a logical +outcome of the conqueror’s travels in the Far East was recognized. In +the _Iter ad Paradisum_[1221] Alexander is actually brought to the gates +of Paradise. When he had subjugated India he came to a broad river which +he understood to be the Ganges; embarking with five hundred men on a +ship that happened to be at hand, he arrived at the end of a month +before an immense city surrounded by a wall on all sides. Here, after +various adventures, he learned from a Jew that this city was the place +where the souls of the just were sojourning until the Last Judgment or, +in other words, that it was the Terrestrial Paradise. + + + JOURNEYS TO PARADISE + +The _Iter ad Paradisum_ and the various versions of the legend of St. +Brandan’s voyage are examples of a type of story very common in the +Middle Ages, the story of actual journeys to Paradise by mortal +men.[1222] Among these we should include the account of the visit there +of Adam’s son, Seth, who brought back seeds from the tree of knowledge +which were planted in Adam’s mouth after the latter’s death; the seeds +ultimately sprouted into a great tree, the wood of which was used to +make Christ’s cross.[1223] Tales were told of the sojourns of pious +monks in Paradise and of how on their return to the homes of men they +found that what had seemed only three days in the Garden of Delights was +in reality a period of three hundred years. Godfrey of Viterbo in his +_Pantheon_[1224] relates a tale of a hundred brothers who, like St. +Brandan, made widespread explorations in the ocean before coming to +Paradise, a golden mountain redolent with wonderful odors and adorned +with an image of the Virgin and Child. Another story, dating from an +earlier time but undoubtedly well known during our period, was that of +the fabulous St. Macarius.[1225] Three brothers from a convent between +the Tigris and Euphrates set out to find the place where “the earth +joins the sky.” After crossing Persia they entered India—a land of +wonders, of cynocephali and of pygmies, of serpents and of darkness. +Here they came upon the altars set up by Alexander the Great to mark the +limits of his wanderings,[1226] and beyond them reached miraculous +countries filled with giants and birds that talked. At last, about +twenty miles from the Terrestrial Paradise, they found Macarius, a man +of hoary age, dwelling in a cave on friendly terms with two lions. +Macarius told them a romantic story, in the course of which he described +the wonders of Paradise but, alas, emphasized the fact that this +long-sought-for garden was absolutely inaccessible to human beings. + + + THE RIVERS OF PARADISE + +The account of the four rivers of Paradise, like other passages in +Scripture, was interpreted both allegorically and literally. In the +religious art of our period these streams were often depicted in stone, +glass, or miniature as symbolizing the four evangelists spreading the +gospel throughout the world.[1227] Neckam, after mentioning Paradise and +the rivers, goes on to explain that, just as the world is watered by the +four streams, so “by the gift of the Holy Ghost the garden of the Holy +Church is irrigated by the four virtues, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude, +and Prudence.”[1228] Literal interpretation of the passage, on the other +hand, would present difficulties to the modern hydrographer, but these +difficulties were easily overcome in the Middle Ages by appeal to the +familiar theory of subterranean watercourses.[1229] + +The author of the _De imagine mundi_,[1230] copying from Isidore,[1231] +makes the four rivers disappear into the ground, whence they spring +forth in lands far distant; and some of the maps of our period represent +all four rivers as rising from a central source within the Garden and +vanishing into the earth at its walls or not far beyond. The Psalter +map,[1232] on the other hand, shows no less than five rivers issuing +from an aperture leading out of Paradise and spreading out like a fan +over the interior of Asia. Abelard[1233] explains carefully that if we +interpret the Bible correctly there can be but one river within +Paradise, that this divides into four outside of the Garden, and that +the names given to each of the four are applied to those parts only +“which flow from their sources to the sea.” We may assume that he refers +here to the portions of the rivers between points where they issue from +their subterranean passages and their mouths. Some writers would seem to +imply, Abelard continues, that we cannot take literally the words of the +Bible because the sources of some of the four streams are known and +those of others are not. But, he asks, may not those streams, whose +sources are supposedly known, in reality arise elsewhere far away and +pass through numerous countries before issuing forth to the knowledge of +mankind? There is no question but that this is the case with many +streams, as is shown, he adds, by the statement in Boethius’ _De +consolatione philosophiae_ (a famous work of the sixth century much read +throughout the Middle Ages) that “the Tigris and the Euphrates spring +from one source.” + +One version of the legend of Prester John informs us that the four +rivers of Paradise all arise in a spring in the mountains of India and +water the two Indias.[1234] Like most rivers of Prester John’s realm, +they give forth quantities of gold and precious stones at regular +intervals three times a year. + +Discussion of the individual characteristics of each of the four rivers +falls more logically with the treatment of the ideas concerning the +countries through which they flow and will be reserved until later. In +most of the geographical works of our period, however, the rivers +receive special consideration immediately after the remarks on Paradise +and before the description of the regions of Asia. Their unusual origin +and character, as described in Scripture, entitled them to particular +distinction: they were holy streams to Jew and Christian alike. It is, +then, a peculiarly eloquent commentary on the paganism of Bernard +Sylvester to find that he mentions and describes the Euphrates, Tigris, +and Nile in his _De mundi universitate_[1235] without referring to +Paradise in connection with any of these three streams. To his thinking +they would seem to have occupied no higher or holier place among streams +than Tiber, Rhone, or Seine. + + + _ASIA_ + +There are no more absorbing chapters in the history of geography than +those connected with the growth of European knowledge of Asia in +antiquity and during the Middle Ages [1236] and with its converse, the +growth of Oriental knowledge of the Occident.[1237] Of late years the +historical and archeological investigations of Albert von Le Coq, Sir +Aurel Stein, Edouard Chavannes, Paul Pelliot, and Albert Herrmann have +thrown a flood of light on the connections that existed in the earlier +medieval period between eastern and western Asia. While these early +connections may have brought some vague information regarding the Far +East to the Byzantine world, they probably exerted almost no influence +upon the conceptions of Asia prevalent in Western Europe before the +middle of the thirteenth century. + + + THE OPENING OF ASIA IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY + +Relations between the Far East and Far West, however, were profoundly +modified by certain events that took place during the first half of the +thirteenth century. As a result of these events, Farther Asia for the +first time in history was opened to Occidental travelers. Beginning with +the year 1245 no inconsiderable number of European missionaries and +traders made their way overland through the hitherto unknown heart of +the continent and penetrated to the mysterious region of Cathay (China) +at the ultimate point of the world. For somewhat more than a century the +veil of the Extreme Orient was drawn aside, but drawn aside only again +to be closed when the disruption of the Mongol empires and the rise of +the Ottoman Turks barred the overland routes. It remained for Portuguese +and Spanish seafarers of the great age of maritime exploration to +rediscover the Far East. The history of the earlier relations of eastern +and western Asia and of the opening of that continent in the thirteenth +and fourteenth centuries, however, falls outside our province and cannot +be discussed in detail in the present volume. A few words, nevertheless, +must be said on this subject in order that the traditional geographical +lore of Asia in our period may be seen in its proper perspective. + + + THE MONGOL CONQUESTS + +The events that led to the overland journeys sprang from the +establishment of what was probably the most extensive military empire +the world has ever known.[1238] Toward the end of the twelfth century, +Temujin, chief of a small tribe dwelling near the headwaters of the +Amur, consolidated his dominion over the neighboring Mongol peoples of +the steppes north and northwest of China. Proclaimed “Chinkkis Khan” +(Jenghiz Khan), or “Inflexible Emperor,” in 1206, he soon conquered +northern China and turned his hordes to the west; Turkestan was +subjugated, Persia was invaded, and in 1222–1224 a detachment overran +southern Russia in the course of a great whirlwind raid that completely +encircled the Caspian Sea. Jenghiz Khan died in 1227, but under his +successors the wave of conquest swept still farther westward. Toward the +close of the thirties the steppes of Russia were again overwhelmed, in +1240 Poland was devastated, and the Christian army of Henry of Silesia +was defeated in 1241 at Liegnitz, near Breslau. Meanwhile another Mongol +army was ravaging Hungary and had even driven the king of that country +to seek refuge in an island off the Dalmatian coast. Relief to the +stricken people of Central Europe came, however, in 1243 when news of +the death of the Great Khan caused the invaders to withdraw to the +plains of Russia, there to maintain their hold for many centuries to +come. + +These visitations of the Tatars, as the Mongols were called, took Europe +unaware. “Barely a rumour” of the invasion of Russia in 1222 had +“reached western Europe,” writes Rockhill,[1239] “and contemporary +writers have left us but few brief references to it.” The first full +description of the Tatars is given in Matthew Paris’ _Chronica +maiora_[1240] for the date 1240, the following extracts of which, as +translated by Rockhill, are worth quoting: “That the joys of mortal men +be not enduring, nor worldly happiness long lasting without +lamentations, in this same year (i.e. 1240) a detestable nation of +Satan, to wit, the countless army of the Tartars, broke loose from its +mountain-environed home, and piercing the solid rocks (of the Caucasus), +poured forth like devils from the Tartarus, so that they are rightly +called Tartari or Tartarians. Swarming like locusts over the face of the +earth, they have brought terrible devastation to the eastern parts (of +Europe), laying it waste with fire and carnage.... They are inhuman and +beastly, rather monsters than men, thirsting for and drinking blood, +tearing and devouring the flesh of dogs and men, dressed in ox-hides, +armed with plates of iron, short and stout, thickset, strong, +invincible, indefatigable, their backs unprotected, their breasts +covered with armour.... They are without human laws, know no comforts, +are more ferocious than lions or bears, have boats made of ox-hides, +which ten or twelve of them own in common: they are able to swim or to +manage a boat, so that they can cross the largest and swiftest rivers +without let or hindrance, drinking turbid or muddy water when blood +fails them (as beverage).... They know no other language than their own, +which no one else knows; for until now there has been no access to them, +nor did they go forth (from their own country); ... They wander about +with their flocks and their wives, who are taught to fight like men.... +It is believed that these Tartars, of cursed memory, are of the ten +tribes who, having forsaken the Mosaic law, followed after the golden +calves, and whom Alexander the Macedonian endeavoured at first to shut +up in the rugged mountains of the Caspians with bitumen-covered +rocks.[1241] When he saw that the undertaking exceeded the power of man, +he invoked the might of the God of Israel, and the tops of the mountains +came together, and an inaccessible and impassable place was made.... It +is written in sacred history that they shall come out toward the end of +the world, and shall make a great slaughter of men. There arises, +however, a doubt whether the Tartars now coming from there be really +they, for they do not use the Hebrew tongue, neither do they know the +laws of Moses, nor have they laws, nor are they governed by them....” + +Despite the impression of extreme ferocity reflected in this passage, +after the warlike ardor of conquest had somewhat subsided, the Mongols +showed themselves not intolerant in their attitude toward strangers and +not unreceptive of foreign influence. The immediate result of their +withdrawal from Hungary to Russia and the consequent removal of the +direct menace to Central Europe was the dispatch of Christian +ecclesiastics as ambassadors to the Mongol lords. Rumors had come to +Europe that these nomads from the Far East were monotheists, and hope +sprang up that they might be converted to Roman Catholic Christianity +and used to offset the reviving Moslem power menacing the Christian +states of the Holy Land.[1242] The origin of the rumors which gave rise +to this elusive hope is to be sought in the fact that the Nestorian form +of Christianity had been firmly established among some of the Mongol +tribes north of the Great Wall of China and was represented even in +their ruling dynasty. Furthermore, these rumors seemed to confirm and be +confirmed by the reports that had been in circulation since the twelfth +century of the existence of a great Christian kingdom of Prester John in +the remote interior of Asia.[1243] + + + THIRTEENTH-CENTURY JOURNEYS + +The journeys of the diplomatic missions sent out by Pope Innocent IV and +by Louis IX, King of France, in 1245 and the years immediately following +have often been described.[1244] The Pope’s envoy, John of Pian de +Carpine,[1245] and Louis’ representative, William of Rubruck,[1246] +reached the Mongol capital at Karakorum, near Lake Baikal, and on their +return wrote graphic narratives of their journeys, which have been +preserved and which give full account of the Tatars and their customs. +Many of the observations made by John of Pian de Carpine and by Simon of +St. Quentin (who took part in an expedition under Friar Ascelin, or +Anselm, sent by the Pope to a Mongol ruler in Persia in 1247) are +included in the _Speculum historiale_ of Vincent of Beauvais.[1247] The +geographical information acquired by Rubruck, although it was ignored by +other writers of the period, found its way to Roger Bacon, who +incorporated much of it in the _Opus majus_.[1248] + +The way shown by Pian de Carpine and Rubruck was soon followed by Nicolo +and Maffeo Polo, whose incentive was commercial, and by their far more +famous son and nephew, Marco.[1249] Marco Polo’s amazing wanderings were +succeeded by the journeys of others, among them the wonderful missionary +enterprises of John of Monte Corvino, Riccold of Monte Croce, and +Orderic of Pordenone. The story of these and other travels of the +period,[1250] fascinatingly told in the third volume of Beazley’s _Dawn +of Modern Geography_, falls far beyond the limits of our subject. +Suffice it to remark, however, that the wanderings of the adventurous +traders and friars were generally forgotten in the West during the +centuries that followed and were largely ignored, even in the literature +of the time itself. Marco Polo was branded as an impostor, and the +traditional lore of eastern Asia that had come down from the days of the +Roman Empire, together with its accretions of legend and romance, was +held to be more worthy of credence than the observations of +eyewitnesses. We must now turn to this traditional lore as expressed in +the writings of the time of the Crusades. + + + THE GREAT MOUNTAIN SYSTEM OF ASIA + +Asia, the author of the _De imagine mundi_[1251] tells us, quoting from +Isidore,[1252] derived its name from a queen of that name. + +The great system of mountains which runs eastward through the heart of +the continent—the Caucasus, the ranges of northern Persia, the Hindu +Kush, the Himalayas—was well known to the Greek geographers, and the men +of our time had acquired some hazy notions about it through reading +Orosius and Isidore.[1253] Gervase of Tilbury,[1254] copying +Orosius,[1255] tells how the Caucasus, joined by the “Imabus” (Imaus), +divides India from Scythia and extends the entire length of Asia as far +east as the Seric Ocean, though bearing different names in its eastern +parts. Several of the maps show a straight range of mountains running +east and west across the continent and labeled with various names +(Taurus, Caucasus, Ceraunius, Paropamisus).[1256] The Jerome map[1257] +reveals, on the other hand, many mountains in Asia but does not make +them continuous. + +According to the _De imagine mundi_, the Caucasus divides the countries +of southern from those of northern Asia. Among the former were India, +Parthia, Mesopotamia, and Palestine, reaching in a straight line from +the Far East to the Mediterranean.[1258] Egypt, which was regarded as +belonging to Asia by the Greek geographers and by Isidore, was held to +adjoin Palestine on the west, and to be part of this southern tier of +countries. North of the Caucasus were the lands of the Seres, Bactria, +Hyrcania, and Scythia, in the east, and in western Asia, Armenia, the +country of Mount Ararat, Cappadocia (“where mares conceive through the +wind alone and give birth to foals that live only three years”), and +finally Asia Minor, almost completely surrounded by the sea.[1259] + + + THE LAND OF THE “SERES” + +At the eastern end of Asia, Gervase, following the Roman geographers, +had placed the Seres on the shores of an ocean named after them.[1260] +“Seres” was a classical designation of the people of China in so far as +that country was the terminus of the overland route toward the Far East +described by Pliny and Ptolemy. Beyond vast solitudes, the former had +said,[1261] you come to this remote land, where the people comb silk +from the trees; though they carry on an extensive trade in this +commodity, they avoid all personal dealings with strangers (whose +commercial morality must have been high) by leaving the silk on the +banks of streams to be picked up by those who wish to procure it. +Solinus [1262] copied Pliny’s account, but Isidore,[1263] followed by +the author of the _De imagine mundi_,[1264] gives us less detail, merely +stating that Seres is a city of the East, from which were named the +Seric region, the people, and a kind of cloth. Pausanias first among +classical writers had understood that silk comes from a worm. The silk +manufacture was introduced into the Byzantine Empire in 552 A. D., and +it may well be from Byzantine sources that there originated the more or +less correct understanding of its production revealed in the _Letter of +Prester John_,[1265] where we are informed that the salamander is a worm +which makes a sort of capsule (_pellicula_) around him, “as do the other +worms that make silk.” + + + CHINA + +If the land of the Seres lay at the end of the overland route eastward, +the sea route ended, according to the _Periplus of the Erythraean Sea_, +at the land of “Thin” (China), and according to Ptolemy’s _Geography_ at +the country of the “Sinae.”[1266] Here we have the first use in the West +of the word “China,” knowledge of which had probably reached the +Occident through Arabic channels, though not until the sixteenth century +was it recognized that the land of the “Seres” (Cathay) and “China” were +the same.[1267] An indication of the Ptolemaic “Sinae” is found in Plato +of Tivoli’s translation of Al-Battānī’s _Astronomy_:[1268] here a branch +of the Indian Ocean is described as reaching to the furthest point of +India where lies “Thiema” (China). + +Benjamin of Tudela also speaks of the country of “Zin,” or China, in the +uttermost East near the reputed Sea of Nikpa, where violent and stormy +winds blow—possibly the typhoons of Far Eastern waters. Ships carried +into this sea by the winds stick fast there; their supplies of food give +out, and the crews often die of starvation. In order to avoid this fate, +some of the men, armed with knives, throw themselves into the sea and +are carried to shore in the talons of an enormous bird, the griffon. By +slaying the griffon with their knives they are able to escape.[1269] +This story reminds us, on the one hand, of Western reports of the +congealed sea[1270] and, on the other, of Arabic tales of the Rukh, +which reappear in Marco Polo’s travels.[1271] + + + INDIA + + + _Subdivisions_ + +More abundant and somewhat more accurate information was to be had +regarding India. This name was applied loosely to cover all of Farther +Asia: the anonymous report of the visit of the Patriarch John of India +to Rome in 1122 calls India the ultimate border of the world. The +Pseudo-Abdias[1272] had quoted “certain historiographers” as asserting +that there are three Indias, the first facing Ethiopia, the second +facing the country of the Medes, and the third occupying the end of the +earth, with the realm of darkness on one side and the ocean on the +other. The threefold division of India was found on many of the +maps.[1273] It was adopted by Ordericus Vitalis in his _Historia +ecclesiastica_.[1274] It undoubtedly inspired the declaration in the +_Letter of Prester John_[1275] that that potentate rules over the “three +Indias,” and probably with it in mind Gervase of Tilbury[1276] spoke of +“India superior,” where St. Bartholomew, “India inferior,” where St. +Thomas, and “India meridiana,” where St. Matthew preached. On the other +hand, there is evidence of a twofold division of India in the +_Elysaeus_[1277] account of Prester John’s kingdom. The broad and loose +medieval usage of the term “India” is especially well shown in the +_Image du monde_, where it comprises not only what we now know as +Hindustan but also Persia.[1278] + +Limiting ourselves to the narrower definition of India, the tract +between the Himalayas and the ocean, let us see what was believed to +exist there. + + + _Facts Known About India_ + +A few facts were known, many half-facts, and a great many more fables. +This knowledge and misinformation was based to a very large extent on +classical authority, for little new had been learned about these parts +of the world since the days of Pliny. First let us examine the facts and +half-facts.[1279] It was known that much of India lies beyond the tropic +so that the shadows fall south in summer and north in winter. It was +known that a giant range of mountains encloses India on the north, and +perhaps there was a hint of familiarity with the Himalayan forests in +the old story of trees so lofty that they touch the skies. It was +likewise known that the Ganges takes its rise in the mountains to the +north and is joined by many streams. According to Isidore, who was +followed by the _De imagine mundi_, Peter Abelard, Gervase of Tilbury, +Peter Comestor, and a host of other plagiarizers,[1280] the Ganges is no +other than the Pison, one of the rivers of Paradise, which springs from +Mount Orcobares and flows eastward to the ocean. Peter Comestor +explains[1281] that “Phison” may mean “flock,” because ten rivers join +to make this stream,[1282] an interpretation in which we see perhaps a +reflection of the true characteristics of the great stream of India, so +strikingly different from the other three “rivers of Paradise” by reason +of its multitude of tributaries. The same idea, or possibly even a +suggestion of the Ganges delta with its many outlets, is found in the +_Letter of Prester John_[1283] where the river Ydonus is mentioned as +one of the streams of Paradise, flowing across a pagan province of the +realm of the great Christian potentate and spreading its branches +throughout the entire area. The “Ydonus” doubtless means the Pison, or +Ganges. It was also known in the time we are studying that there are +other mighty rivers of India, among them the Indus, sweeping into the +ocean.[1284] Likewise it was appreciated that India supports an immense +population and enormous riches; that many of the people are +Brahmins—though little enough was understood about their religion; and +that some of them practiced the custom of suttee, which prescribed that +wives burn themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. + +Benjamin of Tudela acquired (probably in Mesopotamia) some information +about Khulam, or Quilon, a great medieval seaport on the Malabar coast. +He comments briefly on the honesty and dark complexions of the natives, +the intense heat of the summer, the practices connected with the +cultivation of pepper, the customs of embalming the dead, and the +superstitions of sun worship.[1285] + + + _Marvels of India_ + +But India was above all else a land of marvels (Fig. 8). Here were +pygmies who fight with storks and giants who combat with griffons; here +were “gymnosophists” who contemplate the sun all day, standing in the +hot rays first on one leg and then on the other; here were men with feet +turned backward and eight toes on each foot; _cynocephali_, or men with +dogs’ heads and claws, who bark and snarl; people whose women give birth +to but one child and that one with white hair; races whose hair is white +in youth but turns dark with age; one-eyed men; people who shade +themselves from the sun by lying on their backs and holding up a single +huge foot (_skiapodes_); persons who live on the smell of food alone; +headless men with eyes in their stomachs; forest peoples with hairy +bodies, dogs’ teeth, and terrific voices; and a variety of horrible +non-human monsters combining the parts of several animals.[1286] + +These marvels and more still are related by nearly all the Western +writers of our period who concern themselves with India and the Orient. +They originated, as we have seen, early in classical times. Collected by +Ctesias,[1287] Pliny, Solinus and others, they were passed on to our +age, when we find them faithfully retold by the author of the _De +imagine mundi_, by Gervase of Tilbury, by Rudolf of Hohen-Ems,[1288] and +in the _Image du monde_. They made their way into the Romance of +Alexander as exemplified by the _Pseudo-Callisthenes_ and the _Letter +from Alexander to Aristotle_. In short, the “marvels of India” were a +stock feature of medieval geography.[1289] They figure on maps and in +miniatures and even in architectural sculpture—a _skiapod_ helps adorn +the façade of Sens cathedral. + +Two mythological personages and one historical character, the story of +whose exploits became mythological in the Middle Ages, were supposed to +have visited India. These were Bacchus (Liber Pater), Hercules, and +Alexander the Great. The Altar of Liber and the Column of Hercules are +shown on the Psalter map in the region between the Red Sea and +Paradise.[1290] On the Jerome map of Palestine two columns mark the +ultimate limits of the journeys of Alexander and of Hercules.[1291] _The +Letter of Alexander to Aristotle_ mentions the miraculous trees of the +sun and moon, which spoke oracular words to the Macedonian conqueror and +figured widely in the medieval geography of the Far East, appearing +prominently on many of the maps.[1292] + + + _Legend of St. Thomas in India_ + +Though classical antiquity was the main source of medieval knowledge and +fancy concerning India, it was not the only source. The mysterious +Ophir, whence came the gold and jewels of Solomon, was placed in India +on the Lambert map [1293] and on the Jerome map of the world.[1294] +There also early came into existence a well-rooted idea that this +country was the home of a large and flourishing Christian colony. The +origins of the latter belief are to be found in reports which had +filtered through to Europe at an early date of St. Thomas the Apostle’s +preaching of the gospel in India and of the existence of Nestorian +Christianity in southern Hindustan.[1295] The story of St. Thomas +contains some elements of geographical interest.[1296] Christ was said +to have sold Thomas to the merchant Habban in order that he might be +taken to India to convert the people. Once arrived there by ship, having +landed at a port of Sandaruk, or Andrapolis, he succeeded in gaining for +the Christian religion the king, Gundophorus, and his brothers. The +saint built for the king a palace in heaven. According to the original +story, this palace was not a real structure but merely the symbol of a +heavenly habitation for the monarch. As the legend was subsequently +developed, St. Thomas was represented as an architect whom Gundophorus +summoned to his court to build an actual dwelling, and one of the +miracles by which the saint succeeded in converting the Indian potentate +to Christianity was his almost instantaneous construction of the palace. +The legend then proceeds to relate how St. Thomas was conducted by one +Siphorius to the kingdom of a certain Mazdeus, of his martyrdom at the +hands of the latter, and of the subsequent removal of his body to Edessa +in Syria. + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 8—Two sections from the Hereford map to illustrate the marvels of + India. (From the reproduction accompanying Miller, _Mappaemundi_, + vol. iv, 1896.) + + In this first section are shown, among others, a _skiapod_, or + sunshade-footed man (to the left), and _cynocephali_, or men with + dogs’ heads. +] + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 8 (second section)—In this section is shown a _mantichora_, or + beast with a man’s head and a lion’s body. +] + +The stories of St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew were often retold during +our period, notably, for instance, in the _Historia ecclesiastica_ of +Ordericus Vitalis.[1297] The Osma Beatus map[1298] shows heads +representing the twelve apostles in the various countries of the world; +that of St. Thomas is placed in India (see Fig. 4, p. 123, above). The +unknown writer of the _Letter of Prester John_ was undoubtedly familiar +with the legend of St. Thomas, because he makes Prester John’s palace +correspond exactly to the palace built by the saint.[1299] This legend +was a favorite subject for representation in the sculptures of +cathedrals and stained glass windows of the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries.[1300] + + + _Visit of Patriarch John of India to Rome_ + +Belief in the existence of a large Christian population in Asia was +reënforced by an obscure event that took place in Rome in 1122. We have +an anonymous account[1301] of the visit of a certain Patriarch John of +India in that year and of the stupendous sensation which it created in +the Roman curia and throughout the whole of Italy. The narrator informs +us that in the course of countless ages no native was ever known to have +come from those distant and barbaric Oriental regions, nor had any one +ever before been seen in Italy who had actually been there.[1302] The +purpose of the patriarch’s visit to the West originally was to procure +at Byzantium the pallium and the confirmation of his office, which he +had recently assumed on the death of his predecessor. At Byzantium, +however, being told that Rome was in reality the capital of the +world,[1303] he proceeded thither along with some homeward-bound Roman +ambassadors and while in Rome gave a lecture about his native country +before the papal curia. The principal city, he said, was Hulna, on the +river Pison, one of the four rivers of Paradise; the city was of huge +size, surrounded by gigantic walls and inhabited by faithful Christians. +Outside the walls there was a mountain encircled by a very deep lake and +on the top of the mountain was situated the Church of St. Thomas. +Surrounding the lake were twelve monasteries erected in honor of the +twelve apostles. The Church of St. Thomas was inaccessible except once a +year, when the waters of the lake disappeared, allowing pilgrims to +approach. The Patriarch John then went on to explain in considerable +detail the marvels and miracles connected with the church. + +We should be inclined—and justifiably—to reject the story of Patriarch +John’s visit as wholly fanciful, did it not seem to be confirmed by a +letter[1304] to a certain Count Thomas written by Odo, abbot of St. Remi +in Rheims (1118–1151), who happened to be in Rome at the time John was +there. The report of Odo about this event was probably not derived from +the anonymous account, from which it differs in several minor details. +Among other matters, according to Odo, John speaks of a river, not a +lake, surrounding the shrine of St. Thomas and of how its waters +diminished as a result of drought and became passable to a boy of seven +years during eight days before and eight days after the festival of the +apostle. The whole clergy and (Christian) people of India were said to +gather here on this occasion. + +We shall see shortly that these stories contributed to the formation of +the curious medieval belief in the existence of a great Christian +kingdom in the heart of Asia. First, however, we must consider what +notions were current regarding the seas and islands to the south of +India and the vast tracts to the northward beyond the Himalayan barrier. + + + INDIAN OCEAN + +A very brilliant feature on the maps of our period is the Red Sea, +almost invariably colored red. This name was given to the entire Indian +Ocean, and the red color was applied to the Persian Gulf as well as to +the “Arabian Gulf,” or Red Sea proper. The name “Indian Ocean” was also +occasionally used, as, for example, on the Jerome map of the East.[1305] + +The Greeks had acquired some fairly correct information about the +northwestern shores of the Indian Ocean and had heard vague rumors of +the great peninsula and islands east and south of India: Malaya, Ceylon, +Sumatra. Confused reports of the geography of Taprobane, or Ceylon, are +found in classical works as far back as the time of the expedition of +Alexander. Pliny, Solinus, Ptolemy, and others described Taprobane in +some detail but exaggerated its dimensions to enormous proportions. +Pomponius Mela had spoken of the islands of Chryse, lying off the +eastern promontory of Asia, and Argyre, off the mouth of the Ganges. +Perhaps these represented some vague knowledge of the Andamans or +Nicobars or the Malay Peninsula; and certainly we recognize the +last-named in the Aurea Chersonesus of Ptolemy. + + + _Islands of the Indian Ocean_ + +Some relics of this classical knowledge of Indian seas and isles was +retained in the Middle Ages. Isidore[1306] had spoken of “Chrisa” and +“Argare” as full of gold and silver and perpetually blooming flowers, +with mountains of gold guarded by dragons and griffons. This account +found its way into the _De imagine mundi_[1307] and was copied by +Gervase of Tilbury;[1308] the islands themselves, together with the +“Island of the Sun” of Pliny, Mela, Solinus, and others, figured on many +contemporary maps.[1309] Orosius had said that in Taprobane there were +ten cities.[1310] Isidore, whom Gervase of Tilbury copied, added that +the dimensions of the island were 875 by 625 miles, that it has two +summers and two winters each year, and that the vegetation always +remains green.[1311] Solinus had described[1312] Taprobane as being +divided in two by a river; one half, he said, was full of wild beasts, +but the other was inhabited by men. This division of the island is +perpetuated on the Henry of Mayence,[1313] Jerome,[1314] Hereford,[1315] +and Ebstorf maps.[1316] + + + _Al-Battānī on the Indian Ocean_ + +The geographical chapter in Al-Battānī’s _Astronomy_, probably compiled +from a redaction of Ptolemy’s _Geography_ and translated by Plato of +Tivoli in our period, gave a description of the seas of the world.[1317] +The Indian Ocean, Al-Battānī said, extends from the land of the negroes +to the extreme limits of India, a distance of 8000 miles. Its width was +2200 miles, of which 1900 (Plato of Tivoli mistakenly translated this +3900) reach south of the equator. What lands lay beyond are not +specified. From this sea four gulfs run into the land: first the +Barbaric Sea, which extends into the “land of the negroes,” or Ethiopia, +and may be the Gulf of Aden or possibly even Mozambique Channel; second, +the Green Sea (Mare Viride), or our Red Sea, which reaches towards Hyla +(Ailah?); third, the Persian Gulf (Mare Persicum); and, fourth, a second +Green Sea, running out to the east towards China (“Thinae”) and +representing the Bay of Bengal or possibly the China Sea. In the Indian +Ocean there are some 1370 islands, among them a very large one called +“Tibiariae” (Taprobane), or Sarandib (Ceylon), opposite the eastern +coast of India, 3000 miles in circumference, full of great mountains and +rivers, quantities of rubies and hyacinths, and surrounded by fifty-nine +lesser isles. The traditional account of the many isles of the Indian +seas so persistent in Arabic literature arose unquestionably from +familiarity with the vast Malay Archipelago or at least with its western +portion. On the other hand, whether we may assume, as some have done, +that the exaggerated classical and Arabic estimates of the size of +Ceylon had their origin in rumors of the existence of Australia[1318] is +an obscure problem which we cannot attempt here to solve. + + + SCYTHIA AND CENTRAL ASIA + +North of the mountain barrier enclosing India lay lands about which +Western medieval knowledge was equally vague. “Upper Scythia, stretching +from the Caspian Sea to the Seric Ocean and southward to the Caucasus, +includes much habitable land but also much that is sterile: gold and +gems abound there, but men avoid them on account of the griffons. Lower +Scythia adjoins Hyrcania, so called from the Hyrcanian Forest, where a +marvelous bird is found whose plumage glows in the dark. Iranea, or +Iran, is next to Scythia on the west: a region of nomads who wander +widely because of the sterility of the soil and who are horrible and +ferocious (_portentuosi ac truces_), eaters of human flesh and drinkers +of human blood.” In about these terms the author of the _De imagine +mundi_ and Gervase of Tilbury, borrowing from Isidore,[1319] summed up +very nearly all that was known of Central Asia before the great overland +journeys of the thirteenth century to which brief reference has already +been made.[1320] Several of the maps show large rivers—Araxes, Oxus, +Oscorus, and even Acheron, the stream of Tartarus—rising in the Caucasus +and flowing northward into the Caspian.[1321] The latter, in accordance +with the usual classical tradition, is represented as a gulf of the +encircling Ocean Stream. + + + BENJAMIN OF TUDELA ON CENTRAL ASIA + +Benjamin of Tudela, who himself journeyed at least as far east as +Baghdad, had opportunities for gaining information about Central and +Northern Asia more favorable than those of his less traveled +contemporaries. Samarkand he mentions briefly as a “great city on the +confines of Persia” inhabited by 50,000 Jews. “Thence,” he adds, “it is +four days’ journey to Tibet, the country in whose forests the musk is +found” (Adler’s translation).[1322] He quotes the reports of Persian +Jews that four of the lost ten tribes of Israel dwell in the mountains +of Naisabur (in eastern Persia). These people were said to be +independent and to dwell in a broad tract of land twenty days’ journey +in extent, with cities and large villages among the mountains.[1323] +Others associated the lost tribes with the abhorrent hordes of Gog and +Magog.[1324] Benjamin goes on to tell us that these Jews were in league +with the “Kufar-al-Turak, who worship the wind and live in the +wilderness and who do not eat bread nor drink wine but live on raw, +uncooked meat. They have no noses, and in lieu thereof they have two +small holes through which they breathe” (Adler’s translation).[1325] He +relates the confused story of wars between these undeniably Turanian +tribes of the steppes of Turkestan and the “King of Persia” (the Seljuk +Sultan, Sanjar), events which perhaps gave rise to a legend that became +widespread in twelfth-century Europe and to which we must now turn. + + + PRESTER JOHN + +The legend was the romantic story that in these far regions there lay a +vast and powerful Christian kingdom ruled by a mighty potentate, Prester +John. This tradition was the most important contribution of our period +to regional geography, for, false as it was, it long persisted, became +an integral part of late medieval geographical theory, and exerted in +subsequent centuries a powerful influence on the course of exploration. +The thirteenth-century Oriental travelers were constantly on the lookout +for Prester John’s kingdom and, when it finally became obvious that +there was no such kingdom in Asia, Prester John was transferred to +Africa, where he was sought for by the Portuguese navigators of the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. How did this strange legend come +into existence, and what did it contribute to Western notions of Asia? + + + _Origins of the Legend_ + +Various elements seem to have given rise to it. Perhaps rumors of the +existence of a Christian nation in Abyssinia may at a very early period +have fostered belief in the existence of a great Christian potentate in +Asia. India in Asia and Ethiopia in Africa were often confused both in +antiquity and during the Middle Ages. Furthermore, the story of the +visit of the Indian archbishop or patriarch, already referred to, +encouraged belief in a numerous Asiatic Christian population. Some of +the elements of the patriarch’s report became an integral part of one of +the twelfth-century versions of the story of Prester John. + +Then again, we have echoes of actual events in the East in Benjamin of +Tudela’s _Itinerary_, as we have just seen, and in Otto of Freising’s +_Chronicon_. Otto relates[1326] that in 1145 the bishop of Gabala in +Syria had come to Viterbo to report to Pope Eugenius III, among other +things, the fall of Edessa. Here Otto met the bishop, and what he +learned is recorded in the _Chronicon_. This was to the effect that, not +very long before, a certain John, king and priest, who dwelt in the Far +East beyond Persia and Armenia and who, together with his tribe +(_gens_), was a Christian, waged war with the Samiards (Saniards), two +brothers who were kings of the Medes and Persians. John captured +Ecbatana, the capital of the Samiards’ realm, defeated the brothers in +battle, and put them to flight. He then proceeded to advance to the aid +of the church at Jerusalem but was hindered from going very far by the +river Tigris. Turning northwards in hope that the river would freeze +over and thereby enable him to cross, he was finally constrained, after +several years had elapsed, to give up the enterprise because continued +warm weather prevented ice from forming. This John, Otto added, was said +to have come of very ancient lineage, in fact, to have been one of the +progeny of the Magi. The tribes under his command were perhaps the same +as the “Kufar-al-Turak” of Benjamin of Tudela.[1327] + +Though the attempt has been made to identify the Christian potentate of +the legend with a chieftain of the Caucasus,[1328] the weight of +evidence would seem to favor belief that the story in its more specific +thirteenth-century form grew out of rumors of some Christian Mongol lord +of Central Asia.[1329] It is certain that the Nestorian form of +Christianity was strongly represented in Central Asia during this period +and that two powerful tribes of these distant regions, the Keraïts and +the Onguts, formed outposts of this faith. But, as Pelliot writes, +“whatever may have been the origin of the famous legend of Prester +John, ... it was to a prince of the Keraïts that the tradition was +applied during the first half of the thirteenth century. All the Keraïts +spoken of in the history of the Mongol dynasty seem to have been +Christians; in any case this is true of the majority of them. In fact it +was through marriage with Keraït princesses that Christianity penetrated +even into the family of Jenghiz Khan.”[1330] Many of these Asiatic +Christians bore Christian names preserved in Chinese forms, such as +Yao-su-mu for Joseph or K’wo-li-ki-ssö for George.[1331] We learn from +Marco Polo and other thirteenth-century travelers that Mongol princes +often submitted to baptism, though this was probably done out of +indifference to religion rather than as the expression of any +deep-seated convictions. + +On such slender foundations as the report in Otto’s _Chronicon_ or the +anonymous account of the visit of the Patriarch John to Rome or on other +rumors of events in the heart of Asia of which no record has been +preserved, there was erected an elaborate, detailed, and wholly fanciful +series of descriptions of Prester John and his realm, embellished by +borrowings from the Romance of Alexander, from the legend of St. Thomas, +and from that world of fable which constituted the medieval European +conception of the Orient. + + + _Prester John’s Kingdom As Described in His “Letter”_ + +The most important description of Prester John’s kingdom is contained in +the famous _Letter_, addressed in some manuscripts to Manuel, the +Byzantine Emperor, in others to Frederick, the Roman Emperor; in still +others, to the Pope. In this letter,[1332] the earliest version of which +dates from before 1177, John tells that he is superior in wealth and +power to all the kings of the world. His realm includes the three Indias +and St. Thomas’ shrine. It extends across the desert of Babylon to the +tower of Babel and contains seventy-two provinces, each ruled over by a +king. Prester John is lord of the Amazons and Brahmins. In one direction +his territory reaches out four months’ journey. In the other, no one can +tell how far. “Only if you could count the stars of the heaven and the +sands of the sea would you be able to form an estimate of our dominion +and our power.” Many are the extraordinary features of this realm which +abounds in milk and honey: here is one of the rivers of Paradise; here +are streams that give forth gold and jewels; here pepper is gathered; +here is the fountain of youth; and here a mysterious sea of sand fed by +a river of rocks, beyond which dwell the ten tribes of the Jews, who, +although they have their own kings, are nevertheless subject to the +mighty Christian ruler. In one of the provinces near the torrid zone the +salamander thrives, a “worm” which cannot live without fire and which +makes a chrysalis about himself as do the silkworms (an interesting and +unexpected bit of natural history embedded in the midst of fable). +Prester John takes particular delight in expatiating on the enormous +wealth of his country, on the virtues of its inhabitants—for among them +there are neither liars nor adulterers nor indeed vice or crime of any +description—and on their clemency and Christian piety. Every year the +king makes a pilgrimage with his army across the serpent-infested +Babylonian desert to the shrine of the prophet Daniel. A large part of +the _Letter_ is taken up with a minute description of the royal +palace—exactly like that which St. Thomas built for the King +Gundophorus, of the king’s household, the grandees who wait upon him, +the officials of the kingdom, etc., etc. In an early Latin version of +the _Letter_, written probably in England, we are informed that there +are people from all countries of the world at Prester John’s +court;[1333] among the personal servants of the king there are +Englishmen who wait upon him at table. No less than eleven thousand +Englishmen are in his bodyguard, and every Englishman who comes to the +court, whether clerk or knight, is invested with the order of +knighthood. The French and Italian versions of the _Letter_, which were +probably translated from this Latin text, substitute “François” and +“Franceschi” for “Anglici.” + + + _Alliance With Prester John Desired_ + +During the thirteenth century it was the vain hope of the Popes and of +the Christian kings of Europe to gain the alliance of some great power +in the East—either the Mongols or Prester John—as an offset to Turkish +encroachments on the Crusaders’ frontiers.[1334] Perhaps we may detect +the beginnings of this policy in a letter of Pope Alexander III (1177) +to John, “Magnificus rex Indorum sacerdotum sanctissimus.”[1335] The +Pope informs the great king that he has heard of his piety through a +certain Master Philip, papal physician, who had held conversation with +distinguished and honorable persons of his realm. Consequently Alexander +was sending this Philip to expound to him the tenets of Western +Christianity and to convert him to the true Catholic faith. It seems +probable that Alexander was acquainted with the supposed letter of +Prester John to the Byzantine Emperor, though there is also strong +probability that he had confused the stories of the Asiatic Prester John +with reports regarding the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia—a source of +much confusion at a later period than ours. + + + GOG AND MAGOG + +The northern part of Asia was the reputed seat of the terrible tribes of +Gog and Magog, whose eruption at the Last Day was destined to bring +about the destruction of the human race. We have seen that Biblical +prophecies were combined with the story of Alexander the Great’s +enclosing of these tribes behind great walls. The legend appears in our +period under various forms. Most of the maps show Gog and Magog, usually +surrounded by a wall; some add disparaging epithets, such as “gens +immunda.” Matthew Paris on his map of Palestine indicates in the north +the walls whereby King Alexander the Great shut in Gog and Magog and +states in the explanatory legend that from this same direction came the +Tatars.[1336] In the _De imagine mundi_[1337] we find a simple statement +that between the Caspian Mountains and the sea of that name dwelt those +tribes who had been walled in by Alexander the Great, Gog and Magog, the +fiercest of all peoples, eaters of the raw flesh of wild beasts and of +human beings. The Moslems had placed Gog and Magog in the farthest +corner of northeastern Asia: and in John of Seville’s translation of +Al-Farghānī’s _Astronomy_ we find the land of Gog at the easternmost +extremity of the sixth and seventh “climates” (those farthest +north).[1338] Lambert li Tors speaks in the Romance of Alexander of “Gos +et Magos” among the vassals of Porus: though they came forth with four +hundred thousand men, Alexander, after he had defeated Porus, chased +them back into the defiles of the mountains, where he shut them in with +a great wall.[1339] In a later part of the Romance, the subdivision of +Alexander’s kingdom at his death is explained: to Antigonus was given +Syria and Persia as far as Mount Tus, together with the duty of standing +guard over Gog and Magog.[1340] Otto of Freising also mentions these +tribes.[1341] He derived his information from Frutolf’s +_Chronica_,[1342] whence, in turn, it had come from the version of the +Romance of Alexander known as the _Historia de praeliis_. In the days of +Heraclius, Otto says, the “Agareni” (Saracens) devastated the lands of +the empire and destroyed part of the army of Heraclius. In revenge the +latter opened the Caspian Gates and let out those most savage tribes, +which Alexander the Great had enclosed along the Caspian Sea on account +of their heinousness, and inaugurated a war against the Saracens. By +night, as a punishment sent by the Deity for this sacrilegious act, +fifty-two thousand of Heraclius’ army were struck down by lightning, +and, as a result of this terrible visitation, Heraclius himself died in +the twenty-seventh year of his reign. + +There were many variations of the legend of Gog and Magog. Elsewhere in +Otto of Freising’s _Chronicon_[1343] we find an account, taken from +Orosius, of the way in which Artaxerxes forced many of the Jews to dwell +in Hyrcania near the Caspian Sea. It was believed that these people had +multiplied greatly,[1344] and they were expected to burst forth on the +world in the days of Antichrist. Though not here expressly called Gog +and Magog, the connection is plain; and Godfrey of Viterbo relates how +Alexander enclosed Gog and Magog, the “eleven [_sic_] tribes of the +Jews.”[1345] We have already quoted[1346] Matthew Paris’ description of +the Tatars who, he said, might be the same as the tribes whom Alexander +enclosed—the ten tribes of Israel. + + + WESTERN ASIA + +When we turn from the remote parts of the Orient to Western Asia we find +ourselves in regions much better known to the Western world, though the +traditional geography of these regions, founded on classical and +Biblical authority, persisted in encyclopedic writings hardly influenced +at all by the contacts that in reality had been established. The _De +imagine mundi_, Gervase of Tilbury’s _Otia imperialia_, and other +similar works add little to what Isidore and Orosius had written. +Between the Indus and Tigris lie many countries, Arachosia, Parthia, +Assyria, Persia, Media, all forming a harsh and mountainous tract called +in Scripture “India” but more generally known as Parthia. Fire had been +discovered in Persia.[1347] The Tigris, so called because it is as swift +as a tiger, rises from a common source with the Euphrates in the +mountains of Armenia.[1348] Thence the two rivers separate, leaving a +long space between them known as Mesopotamia; the Tigris encircles +Assyria and empties into the Dead Sea! Peter Comestor and the author of +the _De imagine mundi_ accepted the views of Isidore regarding the +source of the Tigris in the highlands of Armenia,[1349] but the latter +adds to the already prevailing confusion by stating that both rivers of +Mesopotamia debouch into the Mediterranean Sea. Gervase, on the other +hand, corrects the error of the author of the _De imagine mundi_ by +making them flow into the Red Sea (or Indian Ocean),[1350] as was +depicted on most maps. + + + _Mesopotamia_ + +Mesopotamia was said to be famous as the site of Nineveh and of Chaldea, +where astronomy was discovered;[1351] and Gervase of Tilbury dilates on +the immense size of the walls of Babylon.[1352] Regarding Babylon, it is +refreshing to find in Otto of Freising’s _Chronicon_ some really +up-to-date information which he had derived from Frutolf.[1353] In the +first place, he makes a careful distinction between Babylon and Cairo, +to which the name of Babylon was commonly given. “Old Babylon,” he +added, “as we learn from reliable men from across the seas, is partly +inhabited at the present day and now called Baldach [Baghdad]. Part, +however, as you would expect from the words of prophecy, is a desert +waste extending for ten miles as far as the tower of Babel. The part +which is inhabited and called Baldach is very large and populous.” He +explains that here is the seat of the greatest priest of the Persians, +whom they call “Caliph,” and who holds in some respects a position among +these pagans parallel to that which the Pope at Rome holds among +Christians. + +With Baghdad we have at last come to a city that was actually visited +and described during our period by Western Europeans whose descriptions +have come down to us. The Jewish travelers, Benjamin of Tudela and +Petachia of Ratisbon, appear to have sojourned in the Mesopotamian city +in the seventh and ninth decades of the twelfth century respectively. + + + _Benjamin of Tudela on Baghdad_ + +Benjamin’s personal familiarity with Baghdad saved him from making +Frutolf’s and Otto’s mistake of confusing the Abbasid capital with old +Babylon. We gather from Benjamin’s _Itinerary_ that the latter is three +days’ journey distant and that “the ruins of the palace of +Nebuchadnezzar are still to be seen there, but people are afraid to +enter them on account of serpents and scorpions” (Adler’s +translation).[1354] + +Baghdad, Benjamin writes (our quotations are from Adler’s translation), +“is on the River Tigris,” which “divides the metropolis in two parts.” +The city “is twenty miles in circumference, situated in a land of palms, +gardens, and plantations, the like of which is not to be found in the +whole land of Shinar. People come thither with merchandise from all +lands. Wise men live there, philosophers who know all manner of wisdom, +and magicians expert in all manner of witchcraft.”[1355] Benjamin was +particularly interested in the Caliph, of whose palace, park, family, +and widespread authority he writes in no little detail and in highly +commendatory terms,[1356] for it seems that the Caliphs were more +tolerant toward the Jews than were most Christian monarchs of the age. +Besides treating of the Caliph, Benjamin tells about the “Head of the +Captivity,” another powerful ruler whose headquarters were Baghdad and +in whom the Caliph had vested authority over all the Jewish communities +throughout the eastern Moslem world. A descendant of David, King of +Israel, he was a man of great dignity and rank, held high in the esteem +of the Mohammedans. His power extended “over all the communities of +Shinar, Persia, Khurasan, and Sheba, which is El-Yemen, and Diyar Kalach +(Bekr) and the land of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia) and over the dwellers +in the mountains of Ararat and the land of the Alans, which is a land +surrounded by mountains and has no outlet except by the iron gates which +Alexander made but which were afterwards broken. Here are the people +called Alani. His authority extends also over the land of Siberia +[Sikbia?] and the communities in the land of Togarmim[1357] unto the +mountains of Asveh and the land of Gurgan, the inhabitants of which are +called Gurganim who dwell by the river Gihon (Oxus?); and these are the +Girgashites who follow the Christian religion. Further it extends to the +gates of Samarkand, the land of Tibet, and the land of India. In respect +of all these countries the Head of the Captivity gives the communities +power to appoint Rabbis and Ministers who come unto him to be +consecrated and to receive his authority. They bring him offerings and +gifts from the ends of the earth.”[1358] + +Whether or not Benjamin was personally presented to the Head of the +Captivity we are not informed. In any case he undoubtedly came into +contact at Baghdad with Jews from all over Central and Western Asia and +from them was able to gather those details regarding the Jewish +communities which form such an important and interesting part of his +_Itinerary_. Most striking in this connection are the data which he +furnishes us about the Jews of Arabia. + + + _Benjamin of Tudela on Arabia_ + +The interior of that great peninsula until recently has remained very +vaguely known to Western Christians, and in the Middle Ages there +reigned almost complete ignorance regarding it. Gervase of Tilbury tells +us (from Orosius) that Arabia lies between two seas and is the country +of Mount Sinai, of the Queen of Sheba, and of frankincense.[1359] Beyond +this and a few details about the Bedouins picked up by the Crusaders, +nothing was known. Hence the information which Benjamin gives on the +Jewish communities is of exceptional importance. If we may trust his +figures, it would seem that there was at this time a large Jewish +population both in Yemen and farther north. Benjamin’s conception of the +geography of the peninsula, however, is remarkably confused. He tells us +that at a distance of twenty-one days’ journey through the deserts from +Hillah in Mesopotamia one comes to the land of Saba, or El-Yemen. Here +he places the great Jewish cities of Tanai, Tilmas, Teima, and Kheibar. +Neither Tilmas nor Tanai have been definitely identified. To the former +Benjamin assigned a population of 100,000 Jews; to the latter, with the +district surrounding, a population of no less than 300,000 Jews. They +may represent Jewish settlements in Yemen, though Benjamin’s statement +that Tilmas is only three days from Kheibar would seem to preclude this +possibility. Tanai, on the other hand, has been thought to be Sanaa. +Kheibar (to which Benjamin assigns 50,000 Jews) and Teima have long been +well-known towns of northern Arabia not far from Medina. Now inhabited +by half-breed negroes, these places were the centers of a Jewish +population from before the times of Mohammed until as late as the +sixteenth century.[1360] + +Ina totally different connection Benjamin refers to Jews of the “land of +Aden,” which he believed to be part of India, taking India to include +southern Arabia and Ethiopia. Their country he describes as mountainous. +The Jewish element in the population, he adds, “are not under the yoke +of the Gentiles but possess castles on the summits of the mountains from +which they make descents into the plain country called Libya, which is a +Christian empire” (Adler’s translation).[1361] This is indeed confusing. +If by Libya Abyssinia is meant—which is likely, for Abyssinia was a +Christian kingdom from very early times—it seems peculiar that Benjamin +makes no mention of the Red Sea intervening between the land of Aden in +Arabia Felix and the African coasts which would have to be crossed by +Jews of the Aden highlands in making war on the Abyssinians. Possibly +Benjamin, like Marco Polo a century later, conceived of Aden as lying in +Africa.[1362] + + + _Syria and Palestine_ + +Unlike all the rest of Asia, Syria and Palestine were well known at +first hand to many European Christians. Yet, in writing about them, the +makers of compilations like the _De imagine mundi_ and the _Otia +imperialia_ were content to do little more than copy Isidore’s dry +catalogue of the names of places rendered famous through Scriptural +associations.[1363] The Dead Sea with its sinister neighborhood was the +only natural feature of this part of the world which seems to have made +a strong enough appeal to the imagination of these writers to impel them +to add anything to what Isidore had said long before.[1364] + + + _Geographical Knowledge Enlarged by the Crusades_ + +On the other hand, the Levantine countries were familiar through the +journeys of Western travelers, though their observations were not +incorporated into the works of the scholarly compilers. Many were the +motives that induced men of the West to visit the Nearer East. Religious +enthusiasm and the desire for commercial gain, however, were paramount. +The Crusades contributed more than any great series of events between +the time of Claudius Ptolemy and the middle of the thirteenth century to +the broadening of man’s geographical horizon, and, with it, the +broadening of the whole range of human activity. We cannot attempt to +discuss these wider aspects of the Crusading movement in any detail, but +a few words must be said about the dissemination of regional knowledge +that resulted from it. Feudal nobility, soldiers, pilgrims, and +adventurers of all sorts and from all parts of the West were joined by +Italian merchants in the great enterprise, the object of which was not +only to redeem the holy places from the infidel but also to profit from +the Levantine trade. Men of all ranks and callings, coming from every +part of Christendom, made their way by land and sea to the Holy Land. +Peasant, serf, and petty townsman, as well as powerful noble and church +dignitary, were torn from old and familiar environments to wander +through countries about which they had hitherto known next to nothing. +In some cases the stories of their travels and adventures were preserved +in chronicles and poems, but in most no permanent record was left. +Nevertheless, the geographical knowledge of the average man was widened +to an extent which we can scarcely appreciate at the present day. Before +the Crusades communities throughout the greater part of Europe had lived +very much to themselves, in limited contact with the outside world; but +by the year 1200 it is safe to infer that practically every town and +village of France, England, Germany, and Italy held someone who had +visited the East and was not unready to tell about what he had seen +there and on his way out and back. Just as the War of 1914–1918 has +taught the world much European geography, so the Crusades taught all +classes of Europe about the Holy Land and the routes thither. But the +Crusades did more than give the people a wider knowledge of places: they +brought them into contact with new customs, new religions, new ideals +and modes of life, as well as with new types of landscape and terrain. +All this tended to displace men from habitual and local modes of +thought; Europe became more cosmopolitan, and the way was prepared for +that profound change in man’s entire attitude towards life which we now +call the Renaissance. + + + _Occidental Population of the Levant_ + +We can merely hint at these general results of the extension of +geographical contact with the Levantine world and turn to the more +specific problem of the limits to which Western penetration was actually +pushed. The Occidental population of the states established after the +First Crusade along the eastern border of the Mediterranean was composed +primarily of the Frankish nobility and soldiery and of Italian +traders.[1365] The former had established themselves in castles and +garrisons, from which they ruled over widespread manorial estates tilled +by native Syrians. The traders occupied large foreign quarters in such +commercial centers as Acre, Jaffa, Ascalon, Tyre, and Tripoli on the +coasts, and in the interior at Jerusalem. Trading privileges and the +right to build up commercial colonies in the towns were granted to +Genoese, Pisans, Venetians, and others in return for services rendered +the Crusading armies by the Italian navies in the conquest of the coast +towns and in the transportation of military forces. Through the reports +brought back to Europe by returning soldiers, adventurers, and +merchants, Syria and Palestine became more widely and accurately known +in the West than most parts of Europe itself. + + + _European Occupation of Syria_ + +First-hand acquaintance with the Levant, however, did not, either in the +twelfth or in the thirteenth century, necessarily lead to first-hand +acquaintance with the neighboring countries that still lay under the +domination of the Turk. At the time of its greatest extent the Kingdom +of Jerusalem reached eastward to the edge of the desert plateau beyond +the Jordan and Dead Sea and southward to Ailah on the Gulf of Akaba. +Northeastward the upper Tigris marked the frontier of the County of +Edessa. Beyond these restricted borders lay Saracen territory into which +traders from the West did not dare to venture. Southern Mesopotamia was +virtually _terra incognita_; and the men who held the small garrison +posts along the eastern border of the states of the Crusaders were not +prone to undertake rash enterprises in the enemy’s country. + +The danger of such enterprises is illustrated by the fate of a Christian +naval expedition sent down the Red Sea from Akaba in 1182–1183.[1366] A +small fleet, fitted out by Reynauld of Châtillon, lord of the castle of +Kerak beyond the Jordan, succeeded in getting almost as far as Yembo, +the port of Medina. We are not told of its true purpose by the Arabic +historians, who alone seem to have recorded this adventure, though the +Arabs certainly believed that the Crusaders were bent upon plundering +the tomb of the prophet at Medina. Perhaps its leaders harbored a +fanatic hope of attacking the holy cities of Islam. At all events, the +navy of Saladin, hastily summoned from Egypt, soon overtook and defeated +the little squadron at Haura, and those of the Crusaders who escaped +ashore were either killed by the Bedouins or sold into slavery. + +But though, with a few exceptions, Europeans themselves did not go +beyond these bounds of the Crusaders’ states, commercial relations were +established with the more eastern regions.[1367] Antioch and Laodicea +were the termini of two trade routes from Aleppo, whence came merchants +from Rakka on the Euphrates and ultimately from Mesopotamia, Persia, and +Central Asia. Asiatic goods were also sold at a great open fair in the +Hauran country, at one time in the territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem +and undoubtedly frequented by Westerners. And the harbors of the kingdom +were the _entrepôts_ of an extensive traffic from Arabia Felix and India +by the Red Sea and across the Isthmus of Suez. At all of these points +the Italians established connections with the Oriental merchants and +learned from them much about Oriental lands and their products. + + + _Asia Minor_ + +During the early thirteenth century Asia Minor also became familiar +ground to the men of the West.[1368] The establishment of the Latin +Empire at Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade was mainly +responsible for this; but even before the close of the twelfth century +the Venetians had become preponderant from a commercial point of view in +the districts that had hitherto formed parts of the Byzantine Empire, +and after 1204 they were in a position to conclude advantageous treaties +with their Anatolian neighbors, Greek, Seljuk, and Armenian. Venetian +merchants were to be seen in the important towns and along the highways +of the peninsula. Italians, with Provençaux in their train, exploited +the trade of the small Christian kingdom of Little Armenia (the ancient +Cilicia) and penetrated from the Mediterranean into and across the +Seljuk sultanate of Iconium, whose rulers were disposed to look with +fairly friendly eyes on the Frankish trader. Even the Empire of Nicaea, +a small remnant of the Greek dominions which had managed to preserve its +independence after the Fourth Crusade, was constrained in 1219 to grant +extensive trading privileges to the Venetians. + + + _Western Asia As Described by the Crusaders_ + +The knowledge of Western Asia acquired in these various ways was +naturally enough reflected in the works of the historians, chroniclers, +and poets of the Crusades, many of whom had themselves visited the +places they describe. Their fresh and realistic accounts contrast +strikingly with the sort of geographical writings we have so far been +discussing in this chapter. From Dreesbach’s study of the Orient as +described in the early French Crusading literature we may gain a concise +idea of the sort of thing that impressed itself on the mind of the +Occidental.[1369] His impressions of climate and landscape need not +detain us here, as they have already been explained in early +chapters.[1370] Of the natural resources, the wealth of the fruits of +Syria, grapes, figs, pomegranates, almonds, olives, and locusts, were +often the subject of wonder and admiration, and William of Tyre speaks +enthusiastically of the great sugar plantations at Sur.[1371] Of the +animals,[1372] the Arab horse and the camel attracted most attention; +and the usefulness of the latter was known both as a beast of burden and +as a swift traveler through the desert. A lively sketch of a man leading +a camel laden with a large cask figures prominently on one variant of +the Matthew Paris map of Palestine, and a legend reads: “Here abound +camels, buffaloes (_bubali_), mules, and asses, which are used by the +merchants trading between the peoples of the Orient and of the +Occident.”[1373] Bears and lions, serpents and tarantulas, and carrier +pigeons also invited notice; and the mosquito is mentioned by Ambroise, +who says that though very small it has a terribly poisonous bite, bad +enough to make every one, old and young alike, appear to be leprous: + + “Que chescons, vielz ou damoisels, + Sembloit a estre tut mesels.”[1374] + +Concerning the people[1375] of the Levant we find that the distinction +between the nomadic desert-dwelling Bedouins and the bearded +turban-wearing Saracens (townsfolk) was well understood. The +Bedouins—contrary to their present reputation—were looked down upon as +cowards in battle, and William of Tyre relates with some disgust that it +was their custom to hang about on the outskirts of a fight until they +saw which side was going to win and then to join the victors.[1376] + +In commenting on the religion[1377] of the Saracens the medieval +Christians made the fundamental error of supposing that Islam is an +idolatrous cult and that Mohammed was worshipped as a god. Nevertheless +they were far from inaccurate in their remarks on the various customs, +habits, and minor beliefs of the Moslems, on such matters, for example, +as the pilgrimage to Mecca, the prohibited eating of pork and drinking +of wine, the importance of ablutions, polygamy, and the customs of +divorce. William of Tyre describes[1378] the division of the Mohammedans +into two great groups, Shiah and Sunni, and explains how the former held +that Ali (“Haly”) was the only true prophet and the latter that Mohammed +was the one messenger of God. Baghdad was referred to as the seat of the +great “apostle” of the Saracens, or caliph, whom William of Tyre spoke +of as a sovereign prince and chieftain whom all must obey; Cairo in +Egypt was recognized as the capital of the caliphs of the rival Shiah +persuasion. + +Benjamin of Tudela also acquired some fairly clear ideas of Islam during +his visits to Baghdad and to Egypt. He states that the Abbasid Caliph at +Baghdad “is head of the Mohammedan religion, and all the kings of Islam +obey him” and likens his position to that of the Christian Pope.[1379] +In writing about Cairo he tells us that the subjects of the Emir were +followers of Ali (hence Shiites), that they rose against the Abbasid +Caliph of Baghdad, and that a lasting feud was kept up between the two +factions.[1380] + +Particular terror was inspired in the hearts of the Crusaders by that +strange sect of Assassins,[1381] whose principal seat was at Alamut in +Persia, the stronghold of the notorious Old Man of the Mountain, though +most of the Crusaders mistakenly thought that the outlying fortress of +Massiat in Syria was the abode of the Old Man. William of Tyre +dilates[1382] on the treachery and murderous nature of this people; and +in Ambroise’s _Estoire_ we find[1383] a vivid account of how the +children of the Assassins were brought up to do the bidding of the Old +Man in every detail and in particular to bring about the murder of his +enemies.[1384] + + + _AFRICA_ + + + EGYPT AS PART OF ASIA + +Both the author of the _De imagine mundi_ and Gervase of Tilbury include +an account of Egypt with their descriptions of the countries of Asia. +They then take up the remainder of Asia and Europe before finally +returning to Africa toward the close of the geographical parts of their +books. This order of treatment, which accorded with classical +traditions, usually included Egypt with Asia or at least, as in the _De +imagine mundi_, made the Nile rather than the Red Sea the boundary +between Asia and Africa.[1385] Certainly from an historical and cultural +point of view Egypt has been more closely related to the Asiatic than to +the African continent, even though geographically it forms a portion of +the latter.[1386] + +The description of Egypt in the _Otia imperialia_[1387] was copied in +large part from the _De imagine mundi_,[1388] and this in turn had +closely followed the words of Isidore.[1389] It ran somewhat as follows. +Surrounded by the course of the Nile, which forms a letter +_delta_,[1390] Lower Egypt comprises five thousand country estates; +these are not watered by rainfall but by the floods of the river alone, +for the skies of Egypt are never obscured by clouds. The capital of +Egypt is Babylon (Cairo), built by Cambyses. Close to Thebes—a city +founded by Cadmus, Agenor’s son and founder of Boeotian Thebes as +well—are vast solitudes where there used to dwell a great company of +hermits. The _De imagine mundi_ speaks of the island of Meroë and of +Syene on the tropic in Upper Egypt, the latter famous for the well built +there by the philosophers, into which the sun shines directly in the +month of June.[1391] The Jerome map of Palestine also shows Egypt in +considerable detail, one of the most important features being the +lighthouse at Alexandria.[1392] + + + DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT + +Egypt, like the Holy Land, was frequently visited by Western merchants +throughout our entire period. Benjamin of Tudela testifies to the +enormous trade carried on there with the West. Alexandria was the +principal port whence the spices and luxuries of the Far East were +transshipped to Europe. Benjamin spoke with high appreciation of the +wide straight streets of the city and of the architectural beauty of its +buildings. He was much impressed by the swarm of merchants from all over +the world who congregated in its streets and markets.[1393] William of +Tyre enlarged on the commercial importance of the great port and +explained that the peppers, spices, ointments, drugs, lectuaries, +precious stones, and silks of the Orient were brought first to Aden on +the Red Sea and thence transported direct to Alexandria. He pointed out +that Alexandria was also important as the meeting place of the river and +maritime trades, and he gave a description of the local topography of +the city.[1394] Merchants from various Occidental nations and city +states of Italy had _fondachi_, or trading stations, in this +cosmopolitan metropolis, which was, as Schaube says, more subjected to +European influences than any other city of Islam.[1395] The Church +endeavored to place severe restrictions on commerce with the infidel, in +particular by the prohibition of the importation into Egypt of wood and +iron, two materials of vital importance to the Saracens and much in +demand. The restrictions, however, were disregarded, and trade +flourished between Southern Europe and Egypt throughout nearly the +entire twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, except for a short +interruption at the time of the Third Crusade. In 1215–1216 there were +said to be no fewer than three thousand Frankish merchants in +Alexandria.[1396] Egypt was the objective of the Crusaders of the Fifth +Crusade, who seized and held the city of Damietta from 1219 to 1221, and +again under Louis IX of France, who held it from 1248 to 1249; but in +the interval between these two Crusades the Emperor Frederick II was on +friendly and even intimate terms with the sultans.[1397] + +William of Tyre, who knew Egypt at first hand, gives a vivid picture of +the fertile strip of country, hemmed in on either side by two deserts +“in which the land is so burned and sterile that it supports no herb and +no manner of tree, except where the river Nile waters the ground when it +is in flood; in these parts alone a great abundance of wheat can +grow.”[1398] He speaks of the flood of the Nile, between the months of +June and September, and how it leaves a rich deposit of silt; of the +palm gardens like a forest along the banks of the stream; and of the +extensive orchards of fruit trees in the neighborhood of +Alexandria.[1399] He also fully describes the caliph’s palace at Cairo +and the Mamelukes, or sultan’s bodyguard, recruited from the children of +captured enemies.[1400] + +Benjamin of Tudela also marveled at the agricultural wealth of the flood +plain of the Nile. The river alone, he said, irrigates and fertilizes +the land, for “no rain falls, neither is ice or snow ever seen” (Adler’s +translation). Among other curiosities he described the Nilometer, which +measured the height of the flood waters, and he gave details regarding +the agricultural crops and fruits. Benjamin quoted the correct +explanation of the flood: “The Egyptians say that up the river, in the +land of Al-Habash (Abyssinia), which is the land of Havilah, much rain +descends at the time of the rising of the river, and this abundance of +rain causes the river to rise and to cover the surface of the land” +(Adler’s translation).[1401] + + + AFRICA WEST OF EGYPT + +To the west of Egypt, according to the _De imagine mundi_, lies Africa, +stretching from the Nile to the ocean. Here in order are the provinces +of Libya, named from a queen of that name; Cyrenaica, called from the +city of Cyrene; Pentapolis, from the five cities of Berenice, Arsinoë, +Ptolemaïs, Apollonia, and Cyrene; Tripolis, from the three cities of +Occasa, Berete, and Leptis Magna; Heusis, containing the site of +Carthage; Getulia; Numidia, with Hippo, the home of St. Augustine; and +Mauretania.[1402] The two Syrtes (Major and Minor), or shallow bays of +the north coast of Africa, are shown on the Henry of Mayence map +immediately to the west of Egypt.[1403] In the extreme west of Africa +the _De imagine mundi_, with characteristic confusion, places Gades +(Cadiz), from which the adjacent sea is called the Sea of Gades; and, on +the borders of the ocean, Mount Atlas, a mountain of immense height, +named after Atlas, once a king of Africa.[1404] These mountains also +appear prominently on the St. Sever Beatus map as a long range running +parallel to the Atlantic[1405] (see Fig. 2, p. 69, above). Other maps of +the same group[1406] show two great peaks on the western coast of +Africa, which seem to represent a confusion of the Atlas Mountains with +the famous Pillars of Hercules. A legend on the St. Sever Beatus map in +the neighborhood of Tangier (Tingi) draws attention to the fact that +“this region produces monkeys and ostriches,”[1407] true certainly at +the present day in regard to the former. + +In the fourth and fifth decades of the twelfth century the Norman king +of Sicily, Roger II, the patron of Edrisi, conquered many of the seaport +towns along what is now the coast of Tunis; and, though the Latins were +expelled from this region by the powerful Moroccan dynasty of the +Almohads,[1408] who during the following decade came to supersede the +Almoravids in the domination over North Africa and Spain, close +commercial relations were maintained between the northern and southern +coasts of the Mediterranean Sea throughout the century and a half with +which we are concerned.[1409] The Genoese held the foremost place in the +North African trade; but Pisan, Venetian, Massiliot, and Catalan +merchants also frequented the markets of the seaboard towns. Under the +Almohads, Ceuta and Bugia were important _entrepôts_ of Genoese trade; +and when the Almohad dominions split up in the early years of the +thirteenth century (1212–1238), these two towns fell into the hands of +Genoa.[1410] Genoese fleets also ventured through the Strait of +Gibraltar and not only tapped the commerce of the western coasts of the +Iberian Peninsula but penetrated as far as Saleh on the Moroccan shore. +Christians also found their way in various capacities into the interior +of Maghreb, as the Moslems termed these western territories of Islam. +During the Crusading epoch many Christians were taken captive in the +wars in Spain and by pirates on the high seas; most of these were sold +into slavery in the markets of the sea ports of Morocco, Algeria, and +Tunis and sent to drag out lives of suffering in the towns of the +interior. Towards the close of the twelfth century a Christian religious +order was formed for the purpose of ameliorating the sufferings of the +captives and of bringing about their redemption by exchange with Moslem +captives held in Christendom.[1411] We have evidence that these +“Redemptorists,” and the Franciscan and Dominican friars who were soon +to follow them in the same work and who also served as ministers of the +Christian religion to the European merchants engaged in business in +Moslem countries, were not at all inhospitably received.[1412] Their +work was facilitated by almost uniformly friendly relations between the +papacy and the rulers of Morocco, and the number of Christians in this +part of the world became so great by the fourth decade of the thirteenth +century that an episcopal see was established in Fez (1233), +subsequently to be removed to Morocco City.[1413] Another tie between +Morocco and the Latin West was created by the maintenance at the court +of the Almohads and their successors of a mercenary force composed for +the most part of Spanish Christians from Catalonia and Aragon.[1414] + +On certain of the Beatus maps a “sandy desert” is shown between Egypt, +western Africa, and Ethiopia;[1415] and on the Psalter map it appears as +a well-defined strip of territory labeled “sandy and sterile +land.”[1416] This of course is no other than the Sahara,[1417] of which +little or nothing was known, except that the Henry of Mayence map +shows,[1418] far back in the desert, the Temple of Jupiter (Ammon), in +the oasis of that name, known since antiquity, and the St. Sever Beatus +map represents certain immense _salinae_, or salt pits (the two squares +west of the Nile on Fig. 2, p. 69, above), said to wax and wane with the +moon.[1419] + + + ETHIOPIA + +South of Egypt and the Sahara lies Ethiopia. In the minds of medieval +writers this name was not restricted to the region beyond Upper Egypt +but was applied to the entire southern part of the known world, just as +“India” sometimes was applied to the entire Far East. Indeed, from early +classical times Ethiopia had itself been confused with India, and some +of the writers whose works we are studying believed that the two regions +were coterminous. + +Nearly all the maps of the period carried the extremities of Ethiopia +far to the east and minimized the size of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean +in such a way as to bring Central Africa within no great distance of +India. On the Jerome map of Palestine two tracts called “India Egyptii” +and “India Ethiopie” were placed along the shores of the Red Sea +opposite the mouths of the Indus.[1420] Gervase of Tilbury speaks of +three peoples inhabiting Ethiopia: the Hesperi in the west, the +Garamantes in the center, and the “Indians” in the east,[1421] and adds +that there are one hundred and twenty provinces “from India into +Ethiopia.”[1422] The _De imagine mundi_ places Saba, the city of the +Queen of Sheba, in the easterly part of Ethiopia.[1423] It was conceded +that Ethiopia is terribly hot on account of the proximity of the sun and +that the soil there for the most part is dry and desert. Gervase speaks +of the mighty Mount Climax of Ptolemy, Orosius, and other ancient +writers in the midst of Ethiopia, a home of bearded women and similar +marvels. + +Some of the Beatus maps designate Ethiopia as a country “where there are +races horrible on account of their strange faces and monstrous +appearance. It extends as far as the borders of Egypt. It also abounds +in wild beasts and serpents; and precious stones, cinnamon, and balsam +are found there.”[1424] In fact, all remote parts of the world were made +the habitats of marvels in the Middle Ages, and few parts of the known +world were more remote than Ethiopia. In addition, the intimate +connection between India and Ethiopia, which had persisted in the minds +of men throughout so many ages, seems to have brought about a +transference thither of many of those marvels and monsters that +originally had been placed in the Far East. A most entertaining example +of the peopling of Ethiopia by monstrous creatures is provided by the +Psalter map and by the Ebstorf map of a period later than ours.[1425] On +these the entire shore of the equatorial ocean along the southern border +of the known world is lined with men that are tongueless, earless, +noseless, or men that have four eyes or mouths and eyes on their +breasts, and with cannibals, _cynocephali_, snake-eating troglodytes, +and the like. + + + SOURCES OF THE NILE + +The main interest in Ethiopia, however, lay in the fact that from this +country comes that great river the problem of whose sources has puzzled +mankind from the earliest ages down nearly to our own day. In classical +times three theories had prevailed concerning the headwaters of the +Nile.[1426] The correct theory, that of Eratosthenes and of Ptolemy, +that the river rises in Ethiopia itself but far to the south, met with +no recognition in our period. The second theory placed the sources in +India and was closely allied with the very old belief that tended to +confuse Ethiopia itself with India and can be traced back to Homeric or +even pre-Homeric times.[1427] The third theory, which probably +originated in vague rumors that reached the Carthaginians and later the +Romans and still later the Moslems, of the eastward-flowing course of a +great river south of the Sahara (a river which we now know to be the +Niger), placed the headwaters of the Nile either in a great lake or else +in the Atlas Mountains in western Africa close to the ocean. + +Traces of each of the last two theories are to be found in the writings +of our period. According to the accepted interpretation of Scripture, +the Nile was the same as the Gihon, one of the four rivers of Paradise, +and its ultimate source must therefore have been in the east, where +Paradise was nearly always thought to be. It is also possible that early +Christian monks in Abyssinia may have learned of the course of certain +of the eastern tributaries of the Atbara which rise close to the Red +Sea, and this information, in the devious course of its transmission to +Western Europe, may have been confused in such a way as to foster belief +that one of these minor streams was the headwaters of the main river +itself.[1428] In any case, Orosius,[1429] whose words were copied by +Gervase of Tilbury,[1430] made the Nile spring from the ground near +Mossylon Emporium on the shores of the Red Sea and, after flowing +westward for some distance, turn north to enter Egypt. But he also said +that other authorities state that the river rises far in the west and +that, after an underground course through the sands and thence through a +great lake, it runs eastward across the Ethiopian desert even as far as +the ocean and then turns to the left into Egypt. In any case, he adds, +it is true that there is a large river which has exactly such a source +and produces all the monsters that the Nile does. The barbarians who +dwell near its source call this latter river the Dara, but other natives +name it the Nuchul. The Dara is mentioned by Pliny and the Nuchul by +Mela; perhaps they represent a reminiscence of the generally +eastward-flowing Niger. Orosius suggested that this river, coming from +the west, may well contribute by an underground channel to the +westward-flowing stream that springs from the earth near the Red Sea. +Isidore seems to have derived from Orosius the idea of a West African +origin of the Nile, its disappearance under ground, and subsequent +emergence on the shores of the Red Sea and thence of its encircling of +Ethiopia before flowing down into Egypt,[1431] and in this idea he was +followed by the author of the _De imagine mundi_.[1432] + +Orosius’ and Isidore’s theories are graphically represented on the maps. +Several of the Beatus maps simply show the river springing from +mountains in the western part of the continent and swinging east and +north into the Mediterranean.[1433] The symbols and legends on the St. +Sever Beatus[1434] indicate (see Fig. 2, p. 69, above) that the river +originates in the neighborhood of the Atlas Mountains; thence, passing +beneath the sands, it expands into a vast lake, whence it flows toward +the east through an immense swamp, like the Maeotic Swamp, but +surrounded by mountains. After this it turns to the left, envelops the +Isle of Meroë, and flows down into Egypt. Other maps, like the Cotton, +Henry of Mayence (inset on Fig. 6, p. 245, above), and Jerome map of +Palestine are even more faithful to the Orosian description. The sources +of the Nile proper are shown near the Red Sea in the eastern part of +Ethiopia, but another large river is also depicted, coming from the far +west near the Atlas range and emptying into a large lake not far from +the sources of the Nile, with which the lake may communicate. The Cotton +map[1435] splits this river into two sections and calls the upper +section “Dara” and the lower “Fluvius Nilus.” On the Jerome map of +Palestine[1436] it is called “Nuchul” and made to flow into a lake of +the same name. Henry of Mayence[1437] names it “fl. Gion.” + + + TRADITIONAL VIEW OF CENTRAL AFRICA + +As a matter of fact, no new information about Central Africa was brought +to light during our entire period or had been during many centuries +before, and no new theories were propounded. Old and hackneyed notions +were handed down from one writer to another. Simar, in a recent +admirable study of the geographical ideas regarding Central Africa in +antiquity and in the Middle Ages, trenchantly sums up the whole matter +with the following words, which might equally well be applied to ideas +regarding many other parts of the world: “These meager notions soon +became stereotyped and were repeated by the scholars of the Middle Ages, +who vied with each other in their unalterable ardor. From Martianus +Capella in the fourth century to Honorius of Autun [here the author of +the _De imagine mundi_ is meant] in the twelfth, passing by Macrobius, +Priscian, Saint Avitus, Gregory of Tours, Jornandes, the Venerable Bede, +Raban Maur, Dicuil, Alfred the Great, Alfric, Adelbold, Richer, Asaph, +Hermann Contractus, Robert of St. Martin of Auxerre, Otto of Freising, +Hugh of St. Victor, and even, later, the historian Joinville, men copied +Solinus, Orosius, and Isidore and adopted like them a round _oikoumene_ +separated from the _terra incognita_ by an impassable equatorial ocean, +the uninhabitability of the torrid zone, the limit of Africa this side +of the equator, the sources of the Nile in Mauretania, its course +through Ethiopia from west to east, its ultimate origin in the +Terrestrial Paradise situated to the east of India, and its submarine +course as far as its emergence in the western part of Libya.”[1438] + + + _THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA_ + + + THE NAME “MEDITERRANEAN” + +To the great chain of inland seas that lies between Africa, Asia, and +Europe the Romans had applied the name of _mare internum_ or _mare +nostrum_. Solinus was probably the first to describe these as +mediterranean seas, and Isidore the first to convert the term +“mediterranean” into a proper name.[1439] The authority of Isidore was +sufficient to make this designation familiar to future ages; and it was +used by the author of the _De imagine mundi_ and by Gervase of Tilbury +with the same connotation that it enjoys at the present day.[1440] The +term, however, was not firmly established in popular use in our period +and is conspicuously absent from most of the maps, which as a rule +either give no name at all for the sea as a whole or else employ some +vague designation like _mare nostrum_ or _mare magnum_.[1441] + +Gervase of Tilbury says[1442] that the Mediterranean is shaped like a +letter Y with two branches, a longer one extending from the entrance +(Strait of Gibraltar) to the Hellespont, and a shorter one forming the +Sea of Alexandria or of Syria. This comparison suggests that Gervase +must have had before him a typical medieval map of the world with east +at the top. More detailed is the account of the Mediterranean in Plato +of Tivoli’s translation of Al-Battānī’s _Astronomy_.[1443] Here the +“Roman Sea” is described as extending a distance of 5000 miles [!] from +the Isle of Gadir (Cadiz) to Tyre and Sidon; it has various branches, +one running off towards the Narbonnese, one called Adriatic, another +called Pontus; and it contains a total of one hundred and sixty-two +inhabited islands, of which five are especially noteworthy on account of +their size. + + + THE MEDITERRANEAN DURING THE CRUSADES + +During the Crusades the Mediterranean served as one of the main highways +from the West to the Holy Land, and hence the men of Europe were enabled +to learn much of its waters and coasts. Though the principal armies of +the First Crusade had proceeded overland, in the years that followed the +establishment of the states of the Crusaders there was constant coming +and going by sea between the Levant and the ports of Italy, France, and +England. The sea route was the way taken by the armies of Philip +Augustus and Richard Coeur-de-Lion in 1190; by the cosmopolitan army +that captured Constantinople in 1204; by Frederick II and the +ill-starred expedition of St. Louis to Egypt; as well as by innumerable +pilgrims, soldiers, merchants, and other individuals unconnected with +any definite Crusading enterprise. + + + INSTRUCTIONS FOR NAVIGATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN + +Perhaps the most attractive account of the Mediterranean derived from +the literature of the Crusaders is to be found in the chronicles and +histories recording the expedition of Richard Coeur-de-Lion. The _Gesta +regis Ricardi_, mistakenly attributed to Benedict of Peterborough, and +the _Chronica_ of Roger of Hoveden contain descriptions of routes and +coasts, parts of which were undoubtedly drawn from manuals of +navigation. Here we find much the same sort of data that at the present +time is incorporated in our Coast Pilot books, a combination of +practical advice to sailors with useful and interesting information +about the waters, islands, and shores. Great care is taken to inform the +navigator of the best and most practicable routes for him to follow. For +example, two ways are mentioned of going from Marseilles to Acre, one +through the open sea and the other near the coast.[1444] If the wind is +favorable you can proceed by the first, leaving Sardinia and Sicily out +of sight to the left, though you must constantly be on your guard +against running too far to the right and falling afoul of the barbarian +shores.[1445] With a good breeze this journey can be made in fifteen +days,[1446] and vessels are safer on it from the menace of pirates than +when they follow the coastwise route. On the other hand, the navigation +is more difficult, and under no circumstances should this route be +attempted by galleys, which might easily be sunk if a storm should come +up. In the account of the coastwise route various menaces and dangers to +ships are carefully pointed out. For instance, off the coast of Greece, +about twenty miles from land and fifty from Modon, there is a low round +rock called Triffar; and in order to avoid it ships are warned not to +stand too far out to sea. West-bound vessels, however, are advised, +instead of passing through the channels between “Chefeline” +(Cephalonia), “Fale de Campar” (Ithaca), and the neighboring islands to +keep out to sea, placing these islands on the right. Navigators are +cautioned to beware of a sand bar in Corfu harbor with only four and a +half _ulnae_ of water upon it. The dangers of the narrow and crooked +channel between Corfu and the mainland make it advisable for vessels en +route to Italy to avoid taking this passage and, by steering out to sea, +to leave Corfu on the right. The harbor of Karentet (Santa Quaranta) is +said to be a fine one, except for submerged reefs at the entrance and +extending under about half of its area; the best approach for ships is +not far from the Corfu side. + +We find also many full and practical details regarding the distances +between various points along the coasts, the width of straits, the +length of islands; the names of seaport towns and now and then their +products and other distinguishing features are mentioned, for example, +the fact that Marseilles has an excellent harbor surrounded on all sides +by hills, or that Almeria in Spain is far-famed for its manufacture of +silk. Prominent landmarks are carefully pointed out: great mountains +making promontories on the coast of Spain, sand banks, the mouths of +rivers (like the Ebro, or the Salef in Asia Minor, “in which Frederick +Barbarossa was drowned and from the neighborhood of the sources of which +the three wise men were said to have come”), the high peaks in the +interior of Crete, or the volcanoes of Sicily and the Lipari Isles. +Marine life, such as the flying fish of the waters near Corsica and +Sardinia as well as less credible monstrosities of the Gulf of Satalia +on the southern coast of Asia Minor, also seems to have aroused the +curiosity of the navigator and chronicler.[1447] + + + ISLANDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN + +Most medieval maps show the islands of the Mediterranean scattered about +with scant respect for their actual locations and relative sizes. The +Guido map of the world, for instance, indicates but one island by name +in the entire Mediterranean, and that is “Baleares.”[1448] The most +important islands are fairly well represented on the St. Sever +Beatus[1449] (Fig. 2, p. 69, above), but the draftsman of the Osma +Beatus did not have room enough for Tenedos and Rhodes in the +Mediterranean (Fig. 4, p. 123, above), and hence placed then in the +circumambient ocean to the east of Taprobane![1450] In the _De imagine +mundi_ and in the _Otia imperialia_ the islands are described in a dull +and catalogue-like manner from the data given by Orosius and other +classical authorities.[1451] The accounts of the Mediterranean in the +chronicles which we have just been discussing also add little beside +scattering details on Corfu and Cyprus and a significant observation +that, owing to the danger from pirates, a large number of the islands of +the Greek archipelago had been deserted by their inhabitants.[1452] + +Guy of Bazoches, who journeyed overseas with the Crusaders to Syria in +1190, told in a letter to his nephews[1453] that on the third morning +out from Marseilles they were in sight of Corsica and the many and +varied inlets and promontories of its broken coast. The following day +Sardinia was visible, likewise on the left. Sardinia, Guy wrote, might +almost have been called free from poisonous serpents, were it not for +one variety, the _solifuga_, which took the place of all the others, +since the poisonous virulence of all serpents was concentrated in this +one. Besides this there was a violently poisonous plant in Sardinia. On +the other hand, these pests were compensated for by the presence of hot +springs in several parts of the island which prevailed against the +_solifuga_ and were good for broken bones and for the eyes. We have +already spoken[1454] of Guy’s description of Sicily, which was reached +soon after Sardinia was left behind. From Sicily Guy came to Crete, “a +famous island and once powerful with a hundred cities.” Crete was +blessed with an absence of all kinds of serpents, though the place of +serpents was taken by a small animal called a _spalangius_, the bite of +which was deadly. In the sea where Crete lay were the Cyclades, forming +a circle around Delos, and Cyprus, more pleasing to the eye because of +the richness of its fields, the delights of its vineyards, and its +far-famed fertility. + + + _Sicily_ + +The critical position of Sicily on the routes between East and West and +North and South, its peculiar volcanic phenomena, as well as the +establishment of a Norman kingdom there, brought that island to the +attention of the outside world.[1455] Sicily came inevitably to figure +in the poetry and legend of the period both in France and in the isle +itself. The song of Roland and the Breton cycle of legends of King +Arthur were sung and related on Sicilian soil, and echoes of these +popular romances found their way into the Latin literature of our age. +One story had it that the peers of Charlemagne had passed through Sicily +on their return from Jerusalem and had named mountains after Roland and +Oliver. Godfrey of Viterbo wrote: “There stands a great mountain which +was called Roland and another similarly called Oliver, and these names +were applied by the bold dukes as memorials.”[1456] Gervase of Tilbury +was inclined to treat skeptically the report of how, in his own day, +King Arthur, said to have been enclosed within Mongibel (Etna), had +appeared miraculously on the outside of the mountain.[1457] King Arthur +also was associated in a French poem, _Florian et Florete_, with a +distinctively Sicilian fairy, Morgain—who gave her name to the _fata +morgana_, or mirage, over the Strait of Messina, and with Mongibel, an +abode of supernatural beings. French poets writing of Sicily from far +away often revealed an amazing ignorance of the geography of the isle, +as is well shown by the _Dolopathos_ of Jean of Haute Seille, in which +not only is the city of Mantua placed in Sicily but the insular +character of the latter is entirely overlooked.[1458] + +The travelers Conrad of Querfurt and Guy of Bazoches both discuss the +phenomena of Etna[1459] and Scylla and Charybdis and refer to the +stories of Arethusa and of the rape of Proserpina.[1460] Conrad +identifies Taormina with the home of the minotaur.[1461] These +twelfth-century travelers were well read in the classical mythology of +the places they chose to visit. + +With this mythical lore of the Mediterranean island should be contrasted +a few excellent and graphic accounts given by eyewitnesses. The +troubadour Ambroise, who sings of the expedition of Richard +Coeur-de-Lion, tells us something of the contemporary population of +Messina, consisting of Lombards, “Griffons” (or Greeks), and “persons of +Saracen extraction.”[1462] The latter, he complained, treated the French +pilgrims abominably, insulting them with evil gestures, calling them +dogs, and acting in an especially objectionable manner when the +Frenchmen tried to take liberties with the Saracens’ wives, a naïve +admission not to the credit of the Frenchmen. We have already alluded to +the graphic descriptions of Etna in the letters of Guy of Bazoches and +in the second redaction of the _Image du monde_.[1463] + + + _EUROPE_ + + + NORTHEASTERN EUROPE + +Eastern and northeastern Europe were quite as shadowy and unfamiliar to +the men of the West during our period as Central Asia or the heart of +Africa. Classical tradition had placed in the northern part of Europe a +range of mountains not far from the Ocean Stream, the Rhipaeans—perhaps +an echo of some very early acquaintance with the Urals.[1464] Between +these and the Ocean, so Gervase of Tilbury[1465] affirmed, there was a +land in the vicinity of the “septentrional” circle (called thus from the +“seven stars” and known to the Greeks as the “Arctic circle”) so cold as +to be constantly frozen and uninhabitable. Another tradition dating back +to remote antiquity placed the Hyperboreans far north in a region of +temperate climate. Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon tried to prove +that such a climate might be produced by the character of the mountains +at very high latitudes.[1466] The rivers of Scythia, among them the +Lentulus and the Tanaïs (Don), were said to have their sources in the +Rhipaean Mountains, and of these the Tanaïs, which was the largest, +after flowing past the altar of Augustus, constantly poured an immense +volume of water into the Euxine (Black Sea) near Theodosia.[1467] + + + RUSSIA + +More recent information about Russia had been acquired by men of the +West, though it had not been widely disseminated. In regard to northern +Russia the Northmen were in possession of much valuable knowledge. We +have already mentioned their adventurous voyagings in the Baltic and +around the North Cape into the White Sea to a region which they had +called Biarma.[1468] There is evidence that their trade with Biarmaland +was maintained throughout our period, although only three actual voyages +after the tenth century are recorded: one in 1090, one in 1217, and one +in 1222.[1469] A member of the expedition of 1217, however, crossed +Russia to the Black Sea and penetrated ultimately to the Holy Land +before returning to Norway. + +Of southern Russia and the northern coasts of the Black Sea some slight +knowledge had undoubtedly filtered into the West through the medium of +the Italian merchants. Though Genoese, Pisans, and Venetians penetrated +these regions in the twelfth century,[1470] the great expansion of +Occidental commerce into the steppes and thence into the heart of Asia +came only after the establishment of the Latin Empire in Constantinople +in 1204 and after the conquest of the Ukraine and Crimea by the Mongols, +whose relatively tolerant rule was favorable to the presence of European +colonies and mercantile enterprise. Otto of Freising mentions the tribes +dwelling to the north and east of Hungary on the plains of Russia, +Petchenegs and Komans, devourers of raw and foul meats, such as those of +horses and cats—tribes who inhabited a land which, though rich in game, +had never felt the plow or rake.[1471] The Komans were also spoken of by +Robert de Clari (died 1216) in his _Prise de Constantinople_ as a +tent-dwelling folk, living on cattle, cheese, and milk and possessed of +large herds of horses.[1472] We have already quoted from Matthew Paris’ +graphic description of the Mongols,[1473] who swept into Russia in +1222–1224 and later, in 1240–1243, menaced Central Europe itself. + + + POLAND + +Northwest of these tribes lay Poland, of which Ragewin gave a brief +description in his continuation of Otto’s _Gesta Friderici_.[1474] +Dwelling in a country bounded by the Oder on the west, the Vistula on +the east, the Ruthenians and the Scythian Ocean on the north, and the +Bohemian Forest on the south, the Poles, he tells us, are well protected +by the character of the land on which they live. They are almost a +barbaric people and are very quick to fight, partly because of their own +inherent ferocity but partly too because of contact with more ferocious +neighbors on the shores of the sea that washes their coasts.[1475] + + + SLAVIC EUROPE AS DESCRIBED BY BENJAMIN OF TUDELA AND PETACHIA OF + RATISBON + +The Hebrew travelers Benjamin of Tudela and Petachia of Ratisbon also +wrote of Slavic Europe, the former from hearsay, the latter from +personal observation. Benjamin stated that Russia was “a great empire +stretching from the gate of Prague to the gates of Kieff, the large city +which is at the extremity of that Empire. It is a land of mountains and +forests, where there are to be found animals called _vair_ [a species of +marten], ermine, and sable”[1476] (Adler’s translation). It seems that +Benjamin would include in Russia much of Bohemia, Galicia, and Poland, +together with the Carpathian Mountains. Petachia, who traversed Russia, +Caucasia, and Armenia on his way from Prague to Baghdad, was one of the +few Occidental travelers of the Middle Ages who ventured into the land +of the steppes before the overland journeys of John of Pian de Carpine, +William of Rubruck,[1477] and others to the Mongol court during the +middle and closing years of the thirteenth century. Petachia commented +on the absence of mountains in Russia. He described accurately the +tent-dwellers of Kedar, or the Ukraine (Petchenegs and Komans), noting +especially the horsehide rafts on which they cross the great rivers; +their diet of rice and millet boiled in milk and of raw flesh which they +warm under the saddles of their horses; their custom of drinking from +vessels of copper cast in the shape of a human face; their government in +the hands of princes and nobles rather than of kings. He gave some +details about that portion of the Sea of Azov now known as the Putrid +Sea, telling us that when the wind blows from its foul surface in the +direction of the Black Sea it causes the death of many people![1478] + + + HUNGARY + +With Pannonia, or Hungary, Western Europe was in much more intimate +contact than with Russia and Poland. Gervase of Tilbury, to be sure, +adds little to what Orosius had told about this country,[1479] but in +Otto of Freising’s _Gesta Friderici_ there is a description of both land +and people.[1480] Otto writes that Pannonia is enclosed by woods and +mountains, particularly by the range of the Apennines (_sic_); it forms +a wide and well-watered plain, fed by springs and rivers; there are a +great many woods stocked with game of every variety, and the land +abounds in fields so rich and fertile that they can be likened either to +the Paradise of God or else to Egypt. The aspect of the country is +beautiful but rendered so rather by nature itself than by the work of +man, for, owing to the barbaric state of civilization in which the +people remain, walls and buildings are very rare. Boundaries are marked +by the courses of great rivers and not by woods and hills. The names +which Otto assigns to the borders of Pannonia have a distinctly modern +sound, contrasting with the classical geographic nomenclature used by +Gervase for all this part of the world. “Eastward, where the famous +river Sawa (Save) is received by the Danube, Pannonia borders on +Bulgaria; westward on Moravia and the eastern marches of the Teutons; +southward on Croatia, Dalmatia, Hystria (Istria), or Carinthia; and +northward on Boemia (Bohemia), Polimia (Poland), Ruthenia, etc.; to the +northeast are the Pecenati (Petchenegs) and Falones (Komans), and to the +southeast is Rama.” Otto also describes rather fully the tent-dwellers +of the Hungarian plain. The country, he says, has suffered much through +the invasions of barbarians, and hence no wonder it remains a land where +the people are of rough speech and little culture. First the Huns +overran this region, then the Avars, eaters of raw and unclean meat, and +finally the Hungarians from Scythia. The latter have deep-set eyes, are +ugly and small, wild and barbaric in speech and customs; and one is +constrained to wonder at the injustice of fate, or, even more, at the +patience of God, for giving such a beautiful country to such a monstrous +folk. Otto then adds further details about the customs of the people: +their deliberation in council, their unlimited obedience to the +tyrannical and arbitrary authority of their kings, the rigid +requirements of their military system. Their dwellings in the villages +and towns are primitive to an extreme, the houses nearly always built of +reeds, rarely of wood, and almost never of stone. As a matter of fact, +the majority of the people lived both winter and summer in tents. + +Relations between France and Hungary were fairly close in the twelfth +century.[1481] Intermarriages between members of the reigning houses had +induced many of the Hungarian nobles to imitate French manners and +customs. French teaching monks and military orders (Templars and +Hospitalers) had established themselves in the Danubian plain before the +close of the century, and during the Crusades many Frenchmen found +occasion to visit the eastern kingdom in one capacity or another.[1482] +In the thirteenth century the Gallic colonies in Hungary became even +more numerous than previously, and French merchants and architects were +well known among the Magyars.[1483] Conversely, this French infiltration +led to the dissemination of some knowledge of Hungary in France and to +frequent mention of that country in the _chansons de geste_, though the +phrase “to go to Hungary” was held to be synonymous with visiting any +extremely distant and unknown region.[1484] It was not in the nature of +the _chansons de geste_ to supply detailed geographical information, +least of all about a remote country; and consequently the presence of +any testimony at all of a geographical nature in them justifies our +belief that the troubadours knew more of Hungary than their songs at +first glance would seem to indicate. We are told that among the products +of the Magyar kingdom were horses, mules, and donkeys, which were +exported to France; that the gold of Hungary was well known in the West; +and that there were many cities in this realm, though only one of these, +Striguus, is mentioned by name. + + + BALKAN PENINSULA + +Quite characteristically, in dealing with Hungary and the Balkan +Peninsula, such writers as the author of the _De imagine mundi_[1485] +and Gervase of Tilbury [1486] merely copied from Isidore and Orosius, +who in turn had derived their knowledge from much earlier sources. The +accounts of this part of Europe in these standard authorities of our +period, though fairly full, were nearly a thousand years out of date. +Even so, it comes as something of a shock to find that on the Jerome map +of the East, drawn as late as 1150, a legend near the Ister (Danube) +informs us that in this locality “the pygmies fight with the +cranes.”[1487] + +More recent information seems to have been gathered by Arnold of Lübeck. +In the _Chronica Slavorum_[1488] he speaks of a city of Ravenelle,[1489] +where the river Ravana flows into the Morava. This city, he says, lies +in the midst of a wood, and its inhabitants are called Servi. They are +sons of the devil, heathens, ravenous for meat, and worthy of their +name, for they are the slaves of all low and foul passions and live like +beasts but are even wilder than beasts. In such uncomplimentary terms +Arnold describes the ancestors of the modern Serbians and adds that they +were subjects of the kings of the Greeks, i. e. the Byzantine emperors. + +In regard to the Balkan Peninsula as well as to Hungary, however, much +knowledge had undoubtedly been gained through the Crusaders. The main +route from the West to Constantinople by way of the Morava and Maritsa +valleys was taken in the First Crusade by Godfrey of Bouillon; in the +Second by Louis VII and Conrad III (1147); and, in the Third, Frederick +Barbarossa followed it as far as Adrianople, whence he made his way into +Asia Minor through Gallipoli and across the Dardanelles. Other leaders +of the First Crusade had traveled overland from the Adriatic at Durazzo +and Avlona to Thessalonica and thence eastward along the shore to the +Bosporus. During the Fourth Crusade the Latin fleet coasted Dalmatia, +Greece, and the Archipelago; and the founding of the Latin Empire, with +its petty Frankish principalities in Greece and among the isles, +inevitably established a connection between those parts of the world and +Europe beyond the Alps. + +Knowledge of Balkan countries was also derived from trade as well as +from the enterprise of the Crusaders. In the twelfth century, Occidental +colonies were to be found in practically all the important cities of the +Byzantine Empire. Heyd in his _Histoire du commerce du Levant_[1490] +gives a summary of the evidence on this subject, which shows that before +the Fourth Crusade (1203–1204) there were in existence colonies, mostly +of Italians from Genoa, Venice, and Pisa. Thessalonica harbored in its +foreign quarter not only Italians, but Spaniards, Portuguese, and +French. As commerce went mainly by sea, an important traffic had sprung +up among the islands of the Archipelago and especially between Euboea, +Crete, Rhodes, Lemnos, and the West, though prior to the Fourth Crusade +Western merchants avoided penetrating the interior of Greece. + + + _Constantinople_ + +Constantinople was a great meeting place of merchants from all quarters +of the known world and consequently a very important center for the +dispersal of geographical knowledge. During the twelfth century Pisan, +Venetian, and Genoese colonies flourished together there unharmoniously +and vied with each other for trade privileges, but after 1204 the +Venetians had matters very much in their own hands. Eustathius, +archbishop of Thessalonica, says[1491] that in 1180 there were no fewer +than 60,000 Latins in Constantinople and that the majority of these were +Italians. Benjamin of Tudela[1492] and other writers also tell of +merchants here from Babylon, Mesopotamia, Media, Persia, Armenia, Iberia +(in the Caucasus), Egypt, Palestine, Russia, Hungary, the country of the +Petchenegs, Bulgaria, Spain, France, and Germany, though the Latins were +by all odds the most numerous among this multitude. After the +establishment of the Latin Empire in 1204 we hear of the presence of +Provençaux, Spaniards, citizens of Ancona, and even Danes and +English,[1493] though the latter were probably mercenaries rather than +traders. With this motley population Constantinople was preëminently the +great cosmopolitan city of the world and as such served as a vast +clearing house for geographical information brought thither from all +four corners of the earth. + +Benjamin of Tudela described the Constantinople of his day in graphic +terms,[1494] alluding especially to the busy activity of its merchants, +the costly magnificence of its buildings (notably the Church of Santa +Sophia and the Palace of Blachernae), as well as to the wealth of its +Greek inhabitants, who “go clothed in garments of silk with gold +embroidery and ride horses and look like princes” (Adler’s translation). +He was impressed by the great shows given annually on Christmas Day at +the Hippodrome, the like of which were to be seen in no other land; +here, in accord with the old Roman custom, lions, leopards, bears, and +wild asses were made to engage in combat. The Jews of Constantinople +were segregated in the quarter of Pera, where their condition was very +miserable, and they were subjected to many indignities. “Yet,” Benjamin +adds, “the Jews are rich and good, kindly and charitable, and bear their +lot with cheerfulness.” + + + ITALY + +Otto of Freising’s _Gesta Friderici_[1495] probably contains one of the +best general descriptions of Italy dating from the time of the +Crusades.[1496] Otto says that the Italian peninsula as a whole is +divided into three parts. The districts that once constituted the Roman +_colonia_ form _ulterior Italia_, which consists of Venetia, Emilia, and +Liguria, with Aquileia, Ravenna, and Milan respectively as capitals. The +part “within” the Apennines, where Rome and Tuscany are situated, is +known as _interior Italia_. Beyond these mountains (to the south) are +the fields from which Campania derives its name. This part of the +peninsula extends as far as the Faro, or strait cutting off Sicily from +the mainland—Sicily itself being counted with Sardinia and other +neighboring isles as a part of Italy—and is known as _citerior Italia_, +or Magna Graecia. In Otto’s day this third portion was more commonly +called Apulia or Calabria. In conclusion Otto adds that some authorities +preferred to divide Italy into two parts only, _ulterior_ and +_citerior_, the latter consisting of the above-mentioned middle and +southern districts together.[1497] + +Otto waxes particularly enthusiastic about Northern Italy, a region +which he conceived of as bordered or hedged in by the high and craggy +ranges of the Apennines and “Pyrenean” (_sic_) Alps, stretching out in +either direction, enclosing the region in their midst. Like a “garden of +delights” (the term frequently used to describe Paradise), this district +is bounded by the Pyrenean Alps on the north, the Apennines (vulgarly +called Mount Bardo) on the south, the Tyrrhenian Sea on the west, and +the Adriatic on the east. Watered by the course of the great river Po, +or Eridanus (which topographers considered one of the three most famous +streams of Europe, says Otto), and by other rivers, blessed with a rich +soil and a temperate climate, this land is most fertile in grain, in the +vine and olive, and produces such a variety of fruit trees—especially +chestnuts, figs, and olives—that it resembles an immense grove.[1498] + +To the world beyond the Alps, Lombardy was the best-known part of Italy. +Godfrey of Viterbo[1499] dilates on its immense potential strength, with +thirty cities, the equal of any one of which could scarcely be found +elsewhere in the world. The population of Lombardy is thicker than the +hair on a woman’s head, and rare are the times when a ship cannot be +seen on the Po. Otto of Freising[1500] gives an account of the Lombard +invasion of Northern Italy, of the founding of Milan and its neighboring +cities, and of the free government and liberal democratic institutions +of the Italian city states. + +Gunther of Pairis amplified and made more picturesque Otto of Freising’s +description of Italy, but it is doubtful whether he added any +observations resulting from first-hand acquaintance with the peninsula. +Whatever the sources from which he derived his descriptions of Lombardy +and Apulia—his own imagination, personal experience, the inspiration of +classical poetry, or the _Gesta Friderici_—if we compare them, we find +that the differences between the inhabitants of the northern and +southern parts of the peninsula were fully appreciated in the twelfth +century. The Lombards, Gunther says,[1501] are a keen, skillful, and +active people, foresighted in counsel, expert in justice, strong in body +and spirit, full of life and handsome to look upon, with light, supple +bodies that give them great powers of endurance, economical and always +moderate in eating and drinking, masters of their hands and mouths, +honorable in every business transaction, mighty in the arts and always +eagerly striving for the new. Lovers of freedom and ready to face death +for freedom’s sake, these people have never been willing to submit to +kings. + +Apulia in the south, Gunther goes on to say, is also a fair country, +rich in all the blessings of this earth:[1502] fruit trees, vineyards, +pasture lands, towns and cities, all of which make a gloriously +beautiful prospect. But what a contrast its people present to the +Lombards, dirty, lazy, weak, good-for-nothing idlers that they are! + + + _Rome_ + +Rome must have been in a sad state of decay and dilapidation, if we can +place any trust in the picturesque accounts of the city given by Otto +and Gunther.[1503] From our period there also dates a little booklet on +the topography and monuments of Rome, which exerted wide influence and +enjoyed great popularity during the thirteenth and later centuries. This +work, the _Mirabilia urbis Romae_, contains a discourse on the +antiquities and architecture of the Eternal City. It is in three parts. +Part One treats of “the foundation of Rome and of her chief monuments, +with chapters on the town walls, gates, arches, hills, baths, palaces, +theaters, bridges, cemeteries, places where the saints suffered +martyrdom,” and so on; Part Two contains “divers histories touching +certain famous places and images in Rome,” that is legends of both +classical and Christian origin; and Part Three is a “perambulation of +the city,” like Baedeker in its fullness of topographical and +architectural detail. Though this book is a dry catalogue, its very +existence and popularity are significant of the fact that antiquities +aroused interest in the twelfth century and that the archeological +tourist was not altogether a product of the days of the Renaissance. +Gregorovius, the historian of medieval Rome, says of the _Mirabilia_: +“In this curious composition ... Roman archeology, which has now +attained such appalling proportions, puts forth its earliest shoots in a +naïve and barbarous form and in a Latin as ruinous as its +subject.”[1504] + +Another contemporary writer on Roman monuments, an unknown Master +Gregory, includes a description of six out of the seven wonders of the +world in his short tract on the marvels of the Eternal City![1505] + + + _Antiquities_ + +In a letter of the traveler Conrad of Querfurt describing a journey +through Italy[1506] we also find a strongly antiquarian interest in +evidence. Conrad’s primary concern was for the mythological and +historical associations of the places he visited, and he took a genuine +tourist’s pride in being able to say that he had seen with his own eyes +spots made famous by the poets. His route carried him over the Alps to +Mantua, thence down the length of the peninsula to the Strait of Messina +and into Sicily. He tells us that he would have been amazed at the +smallness of the famous Rubicon and that such a paltry stream could have +presented any kind of obstacle to Caesar, had not a native informed him +that in rainy weather the river was much wider. In the vicinity of +Naples he noted, besides the baths of Virgil at Baiae, certain natural +features: Mount “Veseus” (Vesuvius), which every ten years sends out +flames and stinking ashes, and the subterranean passages under Monte +Barbaro. Calabria, he says, is a rough and trackless country through +which it is necessary to pass in order to reach Sicily. + + + SPAIN + +Gervase of Tilbury[1507] adds little besides a list of the +archiepiscopal sees and their suffragans to the dry details which +Orosius[1508] and the _De imagine mundi_[1509] had furnished concerning +Spain. In the _Chronica_[1510] of Roger of Hoveden the story of the +passage of Richard Coeur-de-Lion’s fleet around the coasts of the +Iberian Peninsula was the occasion for a discussion of the geography of +that part of the world, together with a list of the towns of the coast. +Roger[1511] enumerates the bishoprics of Spain and, in his description +of Castile, mentions Toledo as the seat of the primate, under whom there +were twenty-one bishops. He says that there were two hundred castles in +Castile and, furthermore, that Castile contained a mountain from which +were taken daily many thousand camel-loads of earth. No matter how big +an excavation was made, if rain fell it was always filled up again on +the following day. This earth was sold in the surrounding countries for +washing the heads and garments of Christians and pagans alike. Roger +also is careful to bring out the distinction between Christian Spain, +consisting of Navarre, Castile, Portugal, Aragon, and the “lands of the +kings of St. James” (Leon), on the one hand, and Saracenic Spain, +comprising the kingdoms of Cordova, “Gahang” (Jaén), Murcia, and +Valencia, on the other. + + + THE ALPS + +Otto of Freising asserted that the Alps and Apennines join near +Tortona,[1512] though he was not inclined to dispute a prevalent belief +that these two mountain systems form in effect one continuous +range.[1513] In order to demonstrate this, he says people assert that, +as viewed from the deck of a vessel lying off Genoa, the two systems +appear to be continuous and to constitute the same mountain range and +that, according to Isidore, Pannonia was enclosed by the Apennines, from +which it took its name. He argues that the portion of the Apennines +which encloses Pannonia certainly cannot be the same as that part which +is to be found in peninsular Italy and is there called Mount Bardo, but +must be a continuation of the “Pyrenean Alps.” + +The Alps themselves not only are a great, wall-like barrier—broken, to +be sure, by relatively low breaches—between Italy and the North, but +themselves constitute a broad band of territory which until +comparatively recent times has been difficult of access and during the +Middle Ages was for the most part virtually _terra incognita_ to the +outside world. The existence of thickly populated centers of civilized +life on either side had, however, long before our age led to +familiarity with the main routes through the mountains. There were +four or five motives which induced men to cross the Alps in the Middle +Ages. Ecclesiastics traversed them when bound to and from Rome on +official missions. German emperors en route to Italy to be crowned and +to attempt to regulate Italian affairs led their armies over their +defiles. Pilgrims and Crusaders toiled painfully through their passes +towards Rome and the East; and merchants brought their wares across +the snows back and forth from the busy cities of Northern Italy. +Taking it all in all, there must have been a large number of men +scattered throughout Germany, France, England, and the Scandinavian +countries who were acquainted with the appearance of Alpine scenery +and the difficulties of Alpine travel. Between 1100 and 1250 seven +emperors made no less than thirty-nine journeys over Alpine +passes.[1514] The size of their armies varied greatly. The numbers +given for the immense concourse (30,000) which Henry V is said to have +mustered in 1110 at Roncaglia after conducting them through the +mountains were undoubtedly exaggerated.[1515] At all events, the army +was so great that Henry had to divide it and send part over the +Brenner Pass and part over the Great St. Bernard. The numbers of +Frederick Barbarossa’s armies probably ranged from 10,000 to 15,000. +The time of year chosen for undertaking the journey by those among the +medieval travelers who were free to make their own plans—notably the +pilgrims—was usually the month of August. Albert of Stade near +Hamburg, writing in his chronicle early in the thirteenth century, +says that the journey should be undertaken “about the middle of +August, since the air is then temperate, the roads dry, there is no +excess of water, the days are sufficiently long for traveling and the +nights for rest, and you will find at this time the storehouses full +of fresh fruits.”[1516] Political exigencies, however, forced the +emperors to conduct their hosts across at all seasons and under all +conditions of weather.[1517] + +Of the many Transalpine routes, the Mont Cenis, Great St. Bernard, +Septimer, and Brenner were the most frequented during our period. These +were the passes over which trade flowed back and forth between Italy and +the North.[1518] English and North German pilgrims made frequent use of +the Mont Cenis route because it offered an easy way, a long and simple +ascent to and descent from the crest of the ridge, and no subsidiary +passes to surmount.[1519] Pilgrims from Iceland, though they also used +the Mont Cenis, seem to have preferred the Great St. Bernard;[1520] but +when bound for the Holy Land they would sometimes traverse the Carnic +Alps and embark from Venice.[1521] The Brenner Pass was, of course, most +used by the Germans and formed the grand highway of the imperial +expeditions. Out of the thirty-nine imperial crossings between 1100 and +1250 nearly half were made by the Brenner, four by the Great St. +Bernard, six by the Septimer, three by the Mont Cenis, two by the +Lukmanier, and six by other passes.[1522] + + + USE OF TERMS “TRANSALPINE” AND “CISALPINE” + +In classical times the terms _trans Alpes_ and _transalpinus_ always +referred to Gaul, Germany, and regions north of the mountains, for these +countries were beyond the Alps as viewed from Italy. This usage was +continued in the Middle Ages by writers who themselves dwelt north of +the Alps, and we find in our period that Otto of Freising speaks of +Germany as _trans Alpes_ and of Italy as _cis Alpes_.[1523] Ragewin, +Otto’s continuator, wrote more avowedly from the Germanic point of view +and on several occasions refers to Italy as _trans Alpes_.[1524] + + + “ALEMANNIA” + +The name “Alemannia” as applied to the whole of Germany was also in use +in our period, although in the opinion of Otto it ought not to have been +so used. Otto says that the city of Turegum (Zurich) is situated on a +lake from which the river Lemannus flows and that from this river the +province of Swabia is sometimes called Alemannia. “From this +circumstance, some have come to think that the whole Teutonic land is +called ‘Alemannia,’ whereas this province only [i.e. Swabia] should be +called Alemannia, and its inhabitants only should be spoken of as +‘Alemanni.’”[1525] The question of the true etymology of the word +Alemanni is one that lies beyond our field. + + + GERMANY + +Though the author of the _De imagine mundi_[1526] follows Isidore and +classical tradition in dividing Germany into two parts, “Germania +superior” and “Germania inferior,” in the description of this part of +the world he departs from his usual slavish habit of copying the words +of Isidore and actually gives us a little information derived from a +later source or, perhaps, even representing the result of personal and +original observation. “Germania superior,” he says, extends between the +Danube and the Alps and westward to the Rhine. Called also Rhaetia, it +is the land in which the Danube takes its rise (a river which, enlarged +by the junction of sixty great streams, discharges its waters into the +Pontic Sea through seven mouths, as does the Nile). Suevia (Swabia), +Alemannia (so called from Lake Leman), and Noricum (or Bavaria), in +which is the city of Ratisbon, are all parts of “Germania superior.” It +would almost seem as if the author of the _De imagine mundi_ goes out of +his way to mention Ratisbon, a fact that has been cited[1527] as +evidence (very slender evidence, it is true) that he may have been a +native of this city or was at least personally acquainted with Germany. +He carefully refrained from placing Isidore’s marvelous bird with +luminous plumage in the Hercynian Forest, but removed it to Hyrcania in +Central Asia, which seems to show that he was skeptical about the +possibility of such a bird being found in Germany.[1528] Yet, though +less lacking in originality than other parts of the work, the chapters +on Germany in the _De imagine mundi_ can hardly stand comparison with +the information to be found in Otto of Freising’s _Gesta Friderici_ and +in Gunther of Pairis’ _Ligurinus_, both of which bespeak undeniable +personal familiarity with the country. We have already noticed Otto’s +description of the local topography in the vicinity of Freising.[1529] +Elsewhere he mentions such matters as the good hunting and fishing in +the neighborhood of Worms, enjoyed by the Italian princes who came over +the Alps to take part in a diet held there.[1530] This territory, he +said, was divided by the Rhine, with Gaul on one bank and the confines +of Germany on the other. On the Gallic side stood the Vosges and +Ardennes; on the German, forests of considerable extent, which to Otto’s +day retained their barbaric place names (“barbara adhuc nomina +retinentes”). Godfrey of Viterbo[1531] also enlarges on the beauties of +the region about Worms, the wealth and numbers of its population, the +fields and the fish-filled streams which water them, flowing down from +wooded places. + +Gunther’s description of the Main, Rhine, and Moselle country show that +he probably was better acquainted with this district than with any of +the other territories described in his poem.[1532] He cites, among +specific details concerning Mayence, the fact that the city is situated +on the Rhine a few leagues below the junction of the Main with that +stream and not at the junction, as had usually been stated +previously.[1533] + +Hildegard of Bingen includes in her _Subtilitates_[1534] remarks about +the rivers of her native country, with cautions regarding their use. Her +introductory statement in this connection, that the sea sends forth +rivers by which the land is irrigated as is the human body by the blood +in the veins, should be interpreted in the sense we have already +explained in Chapter VIII.[1535] She writes of the Seh (possibly the +Selz, a stream that flows into the Rhine near Bingen), Rhine, Main, +Danube, Moselle, Glan, Nahe, and other rivers, repeating in each case +the assertion that the river arises from the sea. The bed of the Seh and +its sands, she says, are polluted like a swamp because the stream rises +and falls with the storms. Its waters should not be taken raw, nor even +cooked in food, for, since they come from the foam of the sea, they are +bad for the digestion and generally unsanitary. The Rhine is clear and +flows through sandy country; but its water, when drunk unboiled, causes +noxious blue fluids in the body. The sands of the Danube are clean and +beautiful, its waters clear and harsh but not very good for drinking; +the waters of the Main are insipid (_pinguis_); those of the Moselle +light and transparent; and so on. + +We find in the German chronicles of the time of the Crusades and of the +century immediately preceding, some detailed notices about the northern +parts of Germany and the shores of the Baltic not to be found in earlier +works. In the middle of the eleventh century Adam of Bremen had +described Saxony as a generally flat, low region of roughly triangular +shape, lying between the lower Elbe and Rhine.[1536] The rivers Elbe and +Oder, he said, rise near each other in the forested mountains of Moravia +but flow off in opposite directions, the former to the northern sea, the +latter to the Scythian swamp, or Baltic.[1537] Saxo Grammaticus in the +geographical introduction to his _Gesta Danorum_ gives some fairly full +remarks on the configuration of the German Baltic coast and on the +peninsulas and islands of Denmark. The latter country, he says, is so +intersected and broken by arms and channels of the sea that it contains +few continuous tracts of land of any great size.[1538] Frisia Minor, +adjacent to Denmark, is so low that it is often swept by violent storms +and inundations which ruin the fields and destroy the houses.[1539] + + + BALTIC REGIONS + +Adam of Bremen’s foremost interest was not Germany, however, but the +Scandinavian North and the wilder and little-known lands beyond the +Elbe, into which the frontier of Teutonic civilization was at this time +gradually being pushed eastward. Adam mentions Jumna,[1540] at the mouth +of the Oder, a great commercial city and gathering place of heathens and +Greeks, and adds that according to some authorities Jumna was the +largest city in Europe.[1541] Farther east lay various nations of +Slavonia—Pomeranians and Prussians—and beyond them other “islands,” +Samland, Kurland, and “Ehstland” (Esthonia), peopled by heathens. +Traveling still more remotely in this direction one came to Russia and +the fabulous regions of the North. Adam speaks well of the +Prussians,[1542] for though heathen, he said, they were good men, ready +to come to the aid of ships beset by pirates or in danger from the sea. +Blue-eyed, with red skins and thick hair, eaters of horseflesh and +drinkers of mare’s blood, they dwell in the midst of almost impenetrable +swamps. Helmold, a chronicler of the twelfth century, copies extensively +from Adam but adds many details regarding the religion and customs of +the Slavs and, in particular, describes their worship of a great idol of +the God Svantevith.[1543] + +Saxo Grammaticus was better informed than Adam on the countries +bordering upon the southern and southeastern coasts of the Baltic, and +about them he supplies more or less extensive details.[1544] Though the +Greeks and Romans alike had believed that on the north of Germany lies +the ocean, in the midst of which are various islands—including Scandia +and Scandinavia, about which little was known—they certainly had no +adequate conception of the peninsular nature of Norway and Sweden. In +the ninth century Einhard had described the Baltic as a bay, and Adam of +Bremen quoted Einhard to this effect[1545] and it is also possible that +Adam may have learned something of the Gulf of Bothnia.[1546] Adam, +however, had no clear knowledge of the geography of this part of the +world for “he speaks of the countries of the North as islands, and he +seems to draw no sharp distinction between island and peninsula.”[1547] +Saxo, on the other hand, writing over a century later, harbored no +doubts whatever of the peninsular character of Scandinavia. He +maintained that the sea swings around the north side of Norway and with +constantly increasing breadth ends finally in a curved shore. This sea +was here called by the ancients Gandvic (the White Sea). A narrow +isthmus separates Gandvic from the sea to the south (the Baltic), and if +the isthmus did not exist, Saxo said, Norway and Sweden would be an +island.[1548] + + + SCANDINAVIA + +Adam of Bremen enjoyed peculiar opportunities for gathering information +about the lands immediately to the north of Denmark through his +association with archbishop Adalbert of Bremen.[1549] Beyond Denmark, he +wrote, a new world was opened up. Norway, he believed, extended +northward to the limits of the known world, to the Rhipaean +Mountains.[1550] Through a second of his patrons, King Svend Estridsson +of Denmark, who had spent no less than twelve years in these parts, Adam +was enabled to learn something of the remote land of Sweden: a rich +country, the principal towns of which were Birka and Upsala, the latter +possessing a heathen temple, the scene of human sacrifices. Northward of +Sweden were regions inhabited by tribes of Finns of marvelous swiftness +of foot. These so-called “Finns”—probably in reality Lapps—are +frequently mentioned in medieval literature on Scandinavia and the +North.[1551] They are sometimes called “Scritefinns,” “Skritofinns,” or +“Skridfinns.” Saxo Grammaticus spoke of them as great hunters who can +climb over the rocky crags of the mountains to the very summits.[1552] +In the _Historia Norwegiae_ we are told that they “fasten smoothed +pieces of wood [literally, balks, stakes] under their feet, which +appliances they call ‘ondrer,’ and, while the deer [i.e. reindeer] +gallop along carrying their wives and children over the deep snow and +precipitous mountains, they dash on more swiftly than the birds” +(Nansen’s translation).[1553] Here we have one of the earliest accounts +of the use of skis. + +Beyond the Finns Adam of Bremen placed the realm of fable that encircled +the medieval world,[1554] where were to be found a race of dwarfs and +bearded women inhabiting the Rhipaean Mountains; where were also +Amazons, Cyclopes, and monsters like those which other writers of our +age placed in the heart of Asia or of Africa. + +Adam of Bremen, Saxo Grammaticus, and the author of the _Historia +Norwegiae_, though they included much that is fanciful in their +geographical chapters, also provided reliable data regarding the peoples +of the North. Ragewin, on the other hand, in the continuation of the +_Gesta Friderici_, and Gunther of Pairis give an account which +undoubtedly represented a more usual idea of these people in the minds +of Western Europeans. These northern folk aroused Ragewin’s disgust, +for, he said, they devour each other in time of famine. Owing to +perpetual frosts, agriculture is impossible in their country, and their +lives consequently are given over to hunting and killing. Well versed in +the arts of piracy, these treacherous tribes infest the shores and isles +of the ocean, Hibernia, Britain, Denmark, and other coasts.[1555] +Gunther in the _Ligurinus_[1556] enlarges and amplifies this +uncomplimentary description by drawing on his own imagination. He says +that the inhabitants of the isles of the “Scythian Sea” are strong in +the arm but weak in the head. They neither plow a soil made sterile by +the perpetual cold nor harrow their uncultivated fields. Neither do they +couple the vine to the elm, nor gather in the fruits of the trees, +autumn’s gifts, but seek their food by the chase and by frequent forays +and grow old in piracy on the tireless waves of the sea. And when long +privation aggravates a famine—horrible to relate and scarce to be +believed, though report would have it so!—these miserable creatures bite +and lacerate their own limbs. Father does not know enough to spare his +son, nor brother his brother, and the daughter finds refreshment by +devouring the boiled body of her mother! + +We certainly must not take this effusion as a literally exact account of +the customs of the Scandinavians at a time when they were far from being +sunk in the abject state of savagery which Gunther pictures; but it +shows the terror which the Vikings had instilled into the consciousness +of Europe and also the very vague and hazy kind of reports which an +intelligent German of the twelfth century received in regard to regions +not very distant from his home. Furthermore, it is not at all improbable +that the story of cannibalism among these people may have arisen from an +actually existing practice of human sacrifice coupled with cannibalistic +rites at an earlier date.[1557] + + + FRANCE + +Otto of Freising regarded the Rhine as the boundary between Germany and +Gaul. Though he had studied at Paris, he used Orosius as the main source +for the description of Gaul in his _Chronicon_[1558] and discussed the +various parts of this country and the proper manner in which it ought to +be subdivided in a way that reminds us of Caesar. Authorities, he said, +declare that there are two main subdivisions; Gallia Cisalpina and +Gallia Transalpina. The former lies in Italy between the Po and the +Alps; the latter—our France—in turn may be divided into three parts (the +three parts made famous by Caesar), Belgian, Lugdunensian, and +Aquitanian. Otto then proceeds to a dry and technical discussion of how +these parts should be properly grouped in relation to an ill-defined +Celtic Gaul. + + + _Paris_ + +More full of color than the pedantic discussion of Otto is a picturesque +description of the Paris of the last half of the twelfth century in one +of the letters of Guy of Bazoches.[1559] “The city,” Guy writes, “lies +in the lap of a delightful valley crowned on both sides by hills which +Ceres and Bacchus make beautiful, striving with one another in their +eagerness. The Seine, by no means a humble stream among a host of +rivers, takes its rise in the east and in mid-course divides its proud +current into two branches, thus making an island out of the center of +the city. Two suburbs stretch forth on either side, and even the lesser +of these arouses the envy of many an envious town which it surpasses. +Connecting each suburb with the island is a bridge of stone, the name of +which is derived from the amount of traffic that falls to its lot. The +bridge facing the north, the sea, and England is styled the ‘great +bridge’ and the one which faces the Loire on the opposite side is called +the ‘little bridge.’” The so-called great bridge— + + “Densely crowded with a wealthy, bargaining throng, + + · · · · · + + Swarms with boats, groans under riches, overflows + With merchandise: for lo! there is nowhere its equal!” + +The little bridge, on the other hand, is given over to walkers, +strollers, and disputers of logic. On the narrow strip of land that +forms the island the royal palace towers up to lofty heights and +audaciously overlooks with its shoulders the roofs of the whole city. +Reverence for it is commanded not so much by the marvelous structure of +the building as by the noble authority of its rule. + + “This is that house, the glory of the Franks, whose + Praises the eternal centuries will sing. + This is that house which holds in its power + Gaul mighty in war, Flanders magnificent in wealth. + This is that house whose scepter the Burgundian, + Whose mandate the Norman, and whose arms the Briton fears.” + +The description of Paris closes with a tribute to the island, from +ancient times the home of philosophy and of the seven sisters—the +liberal arts. + + + _Alsace_ + +Godfrey of Viterbo seems to have known something of Alsace, whose +attractions and beauties he highly praised.[1560] The Rhine, he said, is +enlivened with shipping. Flowing into Alsace from Basel it laves with +its waters wide fields through varied stretches of landscape and +traverses a rich countryside. To cross this region takes a traveler +three beautiful days’ journey, and such vineyards as flourish there the +poet sees nowhere else in the world, and the grainfields are marvelous +in their fertility. It is a land that can be aptly compared with +“Liguria” (Lombardy), for in like manner it is naturally defended by +rivers and mountains. The Lord, in his special love for Alsace, had made +its plain stand preëminent in beauty among the plains of the world. The +population is extremely numerous, and so great are the riches of the +people that England and Denmark look thither for markets. Dominating the +whole country is the city of Argentina (Strasburg), through which flows +the river Ill, rushing to pour forth its water into the Rhine. + + + _Southern France_ + +We find various passages in the _Otia imperialia_ of Gervase of Tilbury +revealing his familiarity with the south of France. On two different +occasions Gervase speaks of the three mouths of the Rhone, which enclose +the Sucades (or Sicades) Islands, “commonly called the Camargae.”[1561] +The earth here is rich in salt of a high quality, and the region as a +whole is incomparable for its sea and pond fishing, for the hunting of +game and birds, and for its pastures.[1562] Orosius[1563] and +Isidore[1564] had mentioned the Sicades, undoubtedly having in mind the +Stoechades of the ancient geographers, or what are now either the Iles +d’Hyères or else, possibly, the small islets just outside the harbor of +Marseilles. Gervase, on the other hand, identifies them undeniably with +the flat alluvial islands of the Rhone delta, the largest of which is +now called Camargue, as in Gervase’s day. He also mentions the famous +church of Saints Martha and Mary Magdalene on this isle, then, as at +present, a much frequented shrine of pilgrimage.[1565] + +Gervase knew something of the Narbonnese.[1566] On the authority of the +_De imagine mundi_[1567] he states that this province was called +_togata_ because of the length of the togas worn there, but adds that +the description was no longer apt, because in his time the natives wore +shorter garments. + +Concerning Provence, Gervase made observations intended to impress on +the Emperor Otto some idea of the strategic importance of this territory +to his empire.[1568] We have here an example of medieval political and +strategic geography, based in this case not on classical authority but +on what the writer actually had observed and thought. The argument, +curiously enough, arose out of the discussion we have already +mentioned[1569] of the effects of the _mistral_ on the character of the +people of the lower Rhone valley. Gervase concluded that not only does +the atmosphere exert an influence on everything upon which it bears down +but also that every weight, whether material or spiritual, affects in +some manner the objects upon which it rests. This led him to warn Otto +that it would be advisable to moderate his _imperium_ over Provence in +order to propitiate the people. This should be done because the +strategic position of that country—the old Kingdom of Arles—is of such +nature that it might prove either a great menace or else a great benefit +to the unity of the empire. Though admirably situated to threaten +France, Gervase explained that Provence is subject to easy invasion by +land from Spain, by sea from Africa, or across the Alpine passes from +Italy. The character of the people, furthermore, makes it particularly +important that they should be handled with circumspection. The +Provençaux are shrewd in council and effective in whatever enterprise +they undertake but false to their promises and without military +strength; owing to their poverty largely dependent on charity (_pro sua +paupertate in cibando larga_); insidious in crime (_nocenda_); but calm +in the face of trouble. If they have a stable ruler whom they honor, no +race is more quickly turned by good impulses, but no other race is more +prone to evil when not blessed by such a ruler. In addition, their land +is worth holding for its own sake, fruitful as it is above all countries +in its seas, fish, meats, and all kinds of hunting, precious stones, +swamps, lakes, mountains, rivers, springs and groves, and delicious in +its woods and pastures.[1570] + + + _ISLANDS OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN_ + +The Romans had discovered the Canary and Madeira groups and, owing to +the mild climate and favorable conditions, had associated them with the +“Islands of the Blest” of Greek mythology and hence had come to call +them the “Fortunate Isles.” In the Middle Ages these isles passed again +into the realm of the unknown, though their memory lingered on to adorn +the Western Ocean on the Beatus maps, together with more fabulous isles +and to serve as the datum point for the western prime meridian. The Cape +Verde group and the Azores were utterly unknown. + +On most of the maps of the world of our period the islands are +arbitrarily squeezed within narrow confines of the encircling ocean, and +no attempt is made to represent them in their relative positions or to +indicate their distinctive shapes. On the St. Sever Beatus map[1571] all +islands are shaped like sausages (see Fig. 2, p. 69, above), whether in +the Mediterranean or in the ocean. Ireland lies off the coast of Spain +and is designated as “Insula Hibernia ab Scotorum gentibus colitur;” +Britain, separated from the coasts of Frisia, Gaul, Aquitania, and +Gascony by an “Oceanus Britannicus,” is said to be 800 miles long by 200 +broad—figures taken from Orosius,[1572] who got them from Pliny.[1573] +Five cities are equally spaced from north to south, London, Lincoln, +Wroxeter, Seaton, and “Condeaco” (?). Indeed, among the maps of the +world the only one which represents the British Isles in recognizable +outline is the Cotton,[1574] and this probably dates from long before +our period. Here we may note, in pleasing contrast to the absurdities we +find elsewhere, such features as the westward extension of Cornwall and +Devon and of Scotland; Ireland in its correct position and approximately +its correct size; the Orkneys to the north of Scotland, and even Man and +the Scilly Isles. + + + BRITISH ISLES + +The medieval reader of the _De imagine mundi_ could certainly have +gained no very accurate impression from the chapter devoted to the +British Isles. This is worth translation in order to demonstrate the +utter futility and antiquated character of this much-quoted and at one +time, perhaps, unduly popular work:[1575] + +“Over against Spain toward the setting sun are the following islands in +the ocean: Britain, England, Hibernia, Thanet—the earth of which, +wherever it may be carried, will destroy serpents—the thirty-three +Orkneys on the Arctic Circle where the solstice occurs, Scotia and Chile +(Thule)....” This is all the _De imagine mundi_ tells us of the British +Isles! + +For more ample data we must look to such native authorities as Giraldus +Cambrensis, Alexander Neckam, Gervase of Tilbury, Matthew Paris, and the +various British historians and chroniclers. + +Gervase of Tilbury adds some details from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the +brief notices which he took from Orosius on the dimensions of Britannia +Major.[1576] His account, though not thoroughly up-to-date in any sense +of the term, is fuller and less misleading than that of the _De imagine +mundi_; and we certainly do not gain from it any impression like the one +we derive from the latter work, that Britain, England, and Scotland are +three distinct islands. Geoffrey of Monmouth had told how Great +Britain—as distinguished from Britannia Minor, or Armorica (Brittany) on +the Gallic side of the Britannic sea—was divided in ancient times into +four parts: Cornwall (Cornubia) to the west; Cambria, called vulgarly +Wallia, to the north of this; Albania, called also Scotia, in the far +north; and Loegria, or Loegrino, called also Anglia, in the middle and +south; and that the rivers dividing these provinces were the Waja (Wye), +Sabrinus (Severn), Boecura (?), and Deia (Dee). + + + _Cities of Britain_ + +Alexander Neckam, in the _De laudibus divinae sapientiae_, also regales +us with a rambling poetical description of the marvels of Britain and of +its principal cities.[1577] Fame, he says, rejoices in placing Exeter +before all other cities: but as for himself he would give New Troy +(London) the first place, on account of its glory, wealth, customs, +charm, and situation. The walls of London, he adds, would be worthy to +hold a Helen. Among other famous cities he mentions Winchester, known in +early times for its wealth, and also Canterbury, York, Lincoln, Durham +(famous for its associations with the Venerable Bede), Gloucester, +Verolamia (St. Albans), where took place the martyrdom of St. Alban, and +Colchester. In the same poem Neckam discourses on the streams of England +and Ireland when discussing the principal rivers of the world.[1578] In +connection with the Thames, he retells the mythological story of the +founding of London. The Severn, he says, delights in the cities of +Worcester and Gloucester on its banks, and its waters are augmented by +those of the Usk. He points out that Britain contains several streams +named Avon besides the one upon which Bath stands; that the Trent sends +its fish to London; and that the Humber, unsafe for shipping on account +of its tides, disdains to see a city but flows through the open fields. + + + _Giraldus Cambrensis on Ireland and Wales_ + +Gervase of Tilbury and Alexander Neckam give us more or less hackneyed +and stereotyped descriptions of the British Isles. Far greater +originality is revealed in the works of Giraldus Cambrensis. In many +other connections we have spoken of the _Topographia Hiberniae_ and +_Descriptio Kambriae_, which are the most complete and satisfactory +geographical descriptions of limited regions dating from our period. The +introduction of a long series of fables into the treatise on Ireland +tends to blind us to the merits of those parts of the work that have +real scientific or historical value. In the beginning of the second +“Distinctio” of the _Topographia Hiberniae_, Giraldus says that, as the +prodigies of the East have long since been made familiar by the writings +of diligent authors, he proposes to throw some light on the prodigies of +the West. This he proceeds to do in a highly competent manner, wholly in +keeping with the style of Solinus, that master among the “diligent +authors” to whom he refers. The Englishman of the time who sat down with +Giraldus’ work on Ireland before him gathered from it quite as much +fabulous and fantastic lore as he could have gathered from the pages of +Solinus, but in this case it was lore of countries near at hand. It +would almost seem that Giraldus, like a novelist, deliberately set out +to throw a glamour of romance over familiar scenes and places. But, +however this may be, Giraldus, unlike his model, Solinus, was more than +a mere spinner of yarns. His works show that in many respects he was a +close and accurate, if not always critical, observer; and certainly he +had a vivid and lively interest in nature and mankind. + + + _Ireland_ + +Ireland, he writes, after Britain is the largest of islands. It lies one +rather short day’s journey to the west of Wales. Between Ulster and +Galloway in Scotland the intervening arm of the sea narrows to about +half its average width, and the promontories on either side can be seen +across the straits in clear weather. South of Ireland, at three days’ +sailing, is Spain; and northward at an equal distance, Iceland, the +greatest of the northern isles.[1579] Cut off by the sea, Ireland is +almost like another world and contains many phenomena not found +elsewhere.[1580] + +After discussing in detail various earlier theories about the dimensions +of Ireland—what Solinus, Orosius, Isidore, and Bede had +said[1581]—Giraldus proceeds to give some observations of his own on the +healthful qualities of the climate, the character of the terrain,[1582] +and the fertility[1583] and products of the soil. Ireland is a land full +of pastures and of rich meadows flowing with milk and honey; wine is +drunk there, but, as there are no vineyards, it has to be imported from +Poitou in exchange for ox-hides and the skins of other cattle and of +wild beasts. Owing to the presence of a certain poisonous wild yew tree +and also to the violence of the rainy winds, not nearly so many bees are +kept in Ireland as one would expect.[1584] Giraldus also remarks that +there are more lakes in Ireland than in any other country,[1585] a +statement which, though perhaps not true literally, shows that he was +aware of one of the differences, if not of the reasons for the +difference, between glaciated and nonglaciated countries. These lakes +and the rivers abound in fish, many of which are peculiar to the +island.[1586] + +Giraldus gives a legendary account of the clearing of the Irish forests +in the days of Partholan,[1587] who was supposed to have come there only +three hundred years after the Deluge. At that time the whole +landscape—with the exception of a few mountains—was covered by an +immense forest; and even in his own time, Giraldus adds, the area under +cultivation was very restricted in comparison with the woodlands. + +His attitude toward the Irish people is neither sympathetic nor +complimentary.[1588] A rude and inhospitable race, he says, they live +like beasts and have scarcely advanced beyond a primitive pastoral stage +of civilization. Their fields are used only to a limited extent for +pastures, even less for raising of flowers, and less still for the +sowing and cultivation of crops. What cultivated fields there are, are +very poor; but this condition is the fault of the farmers rather than +the result of defects in the soil, which is extremely fertile. There are +few fruit trees, the metallic veins of the country are not worked, and +there are neither manufacturing, trade, nor mechanical arts. But the +people are great musicians![1589] + +We ought not to place too much faith in the accuracy of this account of +the Irish people. As Dimock points out in his introduction to the “Rolls +Series” edition of the _Topographia_, Giraldus’ acquaintance with them +was in all probability limited to a few clergy and to those elements of +the population who could still submit “to exist in degradation under the +grinding rule of the English invaders.”[1590] Giraldus was also +prejudiced by the feeling of contempt for a supposedly “inferior race” +which nearly always results from the conquest of one people by another. + +Though his travels in Ireland were not extensive, the Welshman had +acquired a superficial and inexact acquaintance with the topographical +features of the island and, in particular, with its river systems.[1591] +The existence of nine principal rivers, he says, dates back to the +earliest times, although more recently other streams of no less size had +sprung into being. The Shannon is by far the most important. Rising in a +large and beautiful lake which divides Munster from Connaught, it +separates into two branches that run off in opposite directions. One +turns south and, forming the border between the two parts of Munster, +flows into “St. Brandan’s Sea.” The other divides Meath and Connaught +from Ulster and after a winding course debouches into the Northern +Ocean. The western quarter of the island is thus separated from the +other parts by this “mediterranean river” (_mediterraneum flumen_) from +sea to sea. Giraldus was accused in the seventeenth century by a violent +Irishman[1592] of either “raving or dreaming” when he made the Shannon +divide Ulster from Connaught. It has nevertheless been shown that, +though the Welshman’s hydrographic theories were false, there was some +justification for his mistaken statements. Certainly, from very near the +headwaters of the Shannon other rivers flow away to the north, and a +hasty observer might easily have believed them to arise from the same +source.[1593] + + + _Wales_ + +Giraldus was far better acquainted with his native country, Wales, about +which his two treatises give us much accurate information regarding the +mountain ranges and river systems, the types of terrain, and the +character and customs of the people. He brings out the contrast between +North and South Wales.[1594] South Wales, he says, is pleasanter by +reason of its flat plains, but North Wales is stronger in its defenses, +more productive of powerful men, and also more fertile. Merioneth, +however, and the land of Canani are the roughest and most inaccessible +of all parts of Wales.[1595] The Welsh people dwell for the most part in +sequestered isolation and not in cities, villages, or castles.[1596] +Their houses are of the simplest construction. They possess neither +gardens nor orchards, and the land is little used for aught else than +pasturage. The inequalities and natural defensive strength of the ground +make Wales a very difficult region to conquer. + +The character of the topographic detail which Giraldus gives reveals his +extensive personal acquaintance with the country. We have already had +occasion to mention[1597] his graphic description of the mountains +around the Lake of Brecknock, of the valley of Ewyas, of the quicksands +and submerged forests along the southern coast, and of the pasturage on +Snowdon. His knowledge of the Welsh rivers (Severn, Wye, Usk, Dee), the +mountains in which they take their source, and their courses seaward was +far more accurate than his knowledge of the streams of Ireland. +Certainly among the works of our period there is none that vies with the +_Descriptio Kambriae_ either in richness and correctness of detail or in +vividness of presentation. + +We must say a few words about a chapter which Giraldus introduces on the +dialects spoken in Wales,[1598] the only discussion of linguistic +geography that the writer has found in the literature of the time.[1599] +The Welshman points out that the British tongue spoken in North Wales is +more delicate, beautiful, and generally more praiseworthy than that +spoken elsewhere, because this region had been subjected to the +intermixture of foreign peoples. The speech of Cardiganshire, however, +though this province lies in the heart of South Wales, was also said to +be very distinguished and praiseworthy. The natives of Cornwall and +Brittany made use of tongues much alike and nearly always comprehensible +to the Welsh, because originally the language of all these people was +the same. Cornish and Breton, however, in so far as they were more +lacking in delicacy and form than Welsh, approached more closely to the +ancient British idiom. Similarly the English spoken in southern England, +and especially in Devonshire, seemed to Giraldus to be far less correct +and more archaic than the tongue of the northern parts of the island, +which had been modified by the incursions of the Danes and Northmen. We +thus see that Giraldus was broad-minded enough to grant that a language +could be materially enriched by contact with alien speech and by the +infusion of foreign expressions. + + + _William Fitzstephen on London_ + +Any discussion of the medieval geographical lore of the British Isles +would be inadequate without some mention of a famous account of London +that forms part of the preface of William Fitzstephen’s life of Thomas à +Becket.[1600] The highly colored picture that William draws surpasses in +superlatives Guy of Bazoches’ contemporary description of Paris.[1601] +Even in the twelfth century local pride might lead to the innocent +exaggeration of merit. William tells us that “among the noble cities of +the world celebrated by Fame, the city of London in the kingdom of the +English is the one seat that pours out its fame more widely, sends to +farther lands its wealth and trade, lifts its head higher than the +rest.” He goes on to specify how fortunate is London in its mild +climate, piety, fortifications, site, manners and customs, and the +character of its citizens. London’s piety is shown by the presence not +only of an episcopal church but of no less than thirteen “larger +conventual churches besides one hundred and twenty-six lesser parish +churches.” “Above all other citizens,” he says, “the citizens of London +are regarded as conspicuous and noteworthy for handsomeness of manners +and of dress, at table and in the way of speaking. The city matrons are +true Sabine women.” The city is very well organized so that the +different businesses are distributed in different quarters. In the +suburbs are “spacious and beautiful gardens” “planted with trees.” To +the north lie pastures and meadowland with streams flowing through them, +“where the turning wheels of mills are put in motion with a cheerful +sound.” “The tilled lands of the city are not barren gravel but fat +plains of Asia that make crops luxuriant and fill their tillers’ barns +with Ceres’ sheaves.” Nevertheless “very near lies a great forest with +woodland pasture, coverts of wild animals, stags, fallow deer, boars, +and wild bulls” (Morley’s translation).[1602] In the long account of the +sports of the London youth with which William Fitzstephen closes we see +that even at this early period the English were devoted to outdoor +athletics and games. Besides shows and cockfights we are told in detail +of ball games, gymnastics, wrestling, dancing, and more strenuous +horseback exercises, sham battles, tourneys, and combats in the water +with lances. In winter, when the “great fen or moor which waters the +walls of the city on the north side” was frozen, boys and girls engaged +in sports upon the ice. Nor were young people alone interested in +athletics, for in the twelfth, as in the twentieth century, “the ancient +and wealthy men of the town came forth to see the sport of the young men +and to take part of the pleasure in beholding their agility” (Stow’s +translation).[1603] + + + _Matthew Paris’ Maps of Britain_ + +If Giraldus Cambrensis’ treatises are the best descriptions of regional +geography in the literature of our period, the best regional maps were +also the work of a native of the British Isles. In their relative +accuracy and fullness of detail, as well as in their freedom from +servile dependence on acknowledged authorities, Matthew Paris’ three +maps of Britain occupy a place by themselves in medieval cartography. By +far the best way to gain an idea of what they are like is to examine +them in reproduction[1604] (one herewith in Fig. 9). It will not be +amiss, however, to point out a few significant details. + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 9—One of the three maps of Britain by Matthew Paris, that on + London Codex Claud. D VI, folio 8 vo. (From Miller, _Mappaemundi_, + vol. iii, 1895, fig. 23). +] + +On one map a legend in the middle informs us that “Britain, which +includes Scotia, Galloway, and Wales, is now called England.”[1605] +Another legend on a different map gives the dimensions (800 miles in +length from St. Michael in Cornwall to Caithness, and 300 miles from St. +David’s to Dover)[1606] and says that there are two archiepiscopal and +thirty-two episcopal sees. The outlines of the coasts are in general +admirably shown, especially the west coast, with the westward-reaching +promontories of Galloway, Wales, and Cornwall. The east coast is less +satisfactory, for neither the indentation of the Wash nor the broad +eastward projection of Norfolk appear, and by some confusion a point on +the coast of Suffolk is taken as the southeastern corner of Britain, +with the result that the Thames is shown as debouching into the English +Channel. In the far north, the sketchy outlines of Scotland show that +relatively little was known of this remote part of the island. Indeed, +on two of the maps the Firths of Clyde and Forth join in such a way as +to cut off “Scocia Ultramarina” from the remainder of Britain, with +which it is connected by a bridge (see Fig. 9). The courses of the main +rivers, Severn, Humber, Avon, Thames, on the whole are well delineated. +A large tract in the east is labeled _mariscus_ to designate the Fen +country, and the mountains Snowdon, Plynlimon, and Cheviot appear in +their correct positions.[1607] The northern Scottish Highlands are +described by long legends as mountainous and woody regions which +generate an uncultivated and pastoral people, inasmuch as a great part +of this area is boggy and full of reeds.[1608] Argyll is a “trackless +and watery district well adapted to cattle and pasturage,”[1609] and +South Wales is spoken of in much the same terms.[1610] Among the islands +off the coast we notice Sheppey, Thanet, Wight, possibly some of the +Channel Islands, Portland Head, Scilly, Lundy, Anglesey, Man, Tiree, +Iona, and, to the east of Scotland, the Orkneys.[1611] The Hebrides are +conspicuously absent, and in their place a legend reads “immense and +trackless sea.” A large number of cities are placed more or less in +their proper positions, together with the names of counties and other +territorial divisions; and finally the Roman walls from Forth to Clyde +and from Carlisle to Newcastle make the most prominent feature among the +works of man. + + + _Orkneys and Shetlands_ + +Returning to Giraldus, we find that among the islands in the +neighborhood of Britain he mentions Man, Mona (or Anglesey), the +Orkneys, and the Shetlands. Man, he remarks, should be considered as +belonging to Britain and not to Ireland. His criterion for so assigning +it was the fact that its earth does not resemble the earth of Ireland in +the property of killing venomous reptiles.[1612] The Orkneys and +Shetlands,[1613] in the northern ocean beyond Ulster and Galloway, were +subject to the Norwegian king, through whose piracy and prowess at sea +they were held in submission even though geographically they lay nearer +the coasts of other countries. Giraldus quotes Orosius and Isidore to +the effect that, of the thirty-three Orkneys, thirteen were inhabited +and twenty deserted, and he added that in his day, also, the greater +part of these isles were uninhabited. + + + ICELAND AND THULE + +Giraldus writes of Iceland, three days’ sail to the north of Ireland, +and gives a few details regarding its people.[1614] The speech of the +Icelanders was brief and truthful and they rarely made oath; their king +was the equivalent of a priest; and government was in the hands of a +bishop. Though thunder and lightning were rare in this distant isle, +there was another curse far more terrible: volcanic eruptions and lava +flows. + +Apparently Giraldus did not associate Iceland with the Thule of the +ancients, an isle which he was at a loss to identify.[1615] In regard to +the latter, he remarked that it was strange that this island, the nature +of which was so well known to the Orientals, should remain unknown to +the people of the West. After quoting what Solinus and Isidore had +written about it, he added that no island familiar to the men of the +Occident partook of the qualities which these writers attributed to +Thule and that consequently it must either be fabulous—as well as +famous, he naively remarks—or else hidden away in the far corners of the +Boreal Ocean under the Arctic Pole. + +The Emperor Frederick II in his treatise on falconry says that the +gerfalcons come from a certain island between Norway and Gallandia +(Greenland) called in Teutonic “Islandia,” which may be translated as +“frozen” or “region of ice.”[1616] + + + _Iceland in Icelandic Literature_ + +Long prior to the beginning of our period Iceland had become the home of +an enterprising and cultivated Scandinavian people. From its shores +pilgrims found their way to Italy and the Holy Land, and navigators +sailed westward into the more mysterious recesses of the ocean. The +Sagas give us data regarding these voyages and incidentally throw light +on the geographical concepts in the minds of the Northern peoples +concerning the seas and islands of the North. The _Ílendingabók_ of Ari +Frodhi, dating from shortly after 1134, tells of the first Norse visit +to Iceland in 870 by Ingolf. Ari mentions it as significant that “at +that time Iceland was clothed with forest from the mountains to the +strand,” and that “there were Christian men here, whom the Norsemen +called Papar” (Nansen’s translation).[1617] It was supposed that these +men came from the British Isles because here were found Irish books, +bells, and crooks. In the _Historia de antiquitate regum Norwagiensium_ +of the monk Theodricus we are told that certain merchants in the time of +Harold Fairhair had sailed to the Faroes but were driven out to sea by +storms and came “to a far distant land, which some think to have been +the island of Thule; but I cannot either confirm or deny this, as I do +not know the true state of the matter. They landed and wandered far and +wide; but although they climbed mountains, they nowhere found trace of +human habitation” (Nansen’s translation).[1618] In the _Historia +Norwegiae_, dating probably from the thirteenth century, we are told +that “next, to the west, comes the great island which by the Italians is +called Ultima Tile; but now it is inhabited by a considerable multitude, +while formerly it was waste land, and unknown to men, until the time of +Harold Fairhair” (Nansen’s translation).[1619] In the _Landnámabók_, of +about 1200, we have a vivid account of the first Norwegian discoverers’ +ascent of a high mountain in this remote land. They “looked around them, +whether they could see smoke or any sign that the land was inhabited, +and they saw nothing.... As they sailed from the land much snow fell +upon the mountains, and therefore they called the land Snowland” +(Nansen’s translation).[1620] + + + GREENLAND + +Greenland had been discovered about the year 900. In our period the +southwestern coast had become the seat of two small settlements, the +ruins of which may be seen at the present time.[1621] The population was +not great (less than two thousand), and yet this far outpost of European +civilization was large enough to be constituted an independent bishopric +about the year 1110. From its settlements, certainly during and after +the thirteenth century and probably in the course of our period as well, +regular summer seal-hunting expeditions were made to the north along the +coast, perhaps as far as Baffin’s Bay. The icebound east coast of +Greenland, on the other hand, was avoided by the Scandinavian seafarers, +although we read of frequent shipwrecks there. There is also a report of +a seal-hunting trip to this coast made in 1129. From the mid-thirteenth +century dates the work called the _King’s Mirror_, which gives us a +vivid account of the ice floes and icebergs that beset the inhospitable +eastern shore. + +“Now in that same sea [i.e. the Greenland Sea] there are yet many more +marvels, even though they cannot be accounted for by witchcraft +[skrimslum]. So soon as the greater part of the sea has been traversed, +there is found such a mass of ice as I know not the like of anywhere +else in the world. This ice [i.e. the ice-floes] is some of it as flat +as if it had frozen on the sea itself, four or five cubits thick, and +lies so far from land [i.e. from the east coast of Greenland] that men +may have four or five days’ journey across the ice [to land]. But this +ice lies off the land rather to the northeast (landnorr) or north than +to the south, southwest, or west; and therefore anyone wishing to make +the land should sail round it [i.e. round Cape Farewell] in a +southwesterly and westerly direction, until he is past the danger of +[encountering] all this ice, and then sail thence to land. But it has +constantly happened that men have tried to make the land too soon, and +so have been involved in these ice-floes; and some have perished in +them; but others again have got out, and we have seen some of these and +heard their tales and reports.... These ice-floes are strange in their +nature; sometimes they lie as still as might be expected, separated by +creeks or large fjords; but sometimes they move with as great rapidity +as a ship with a fair wind, and when once they are under way they travel +against the wind as often as with it. There are, indeed, some masses of +ice in that sea of another shape, which the Greenlanders call +‘fall-jökla.’ Their appearance is that of a high mountain rising out of +the sea, and they do not unite themselves to other masses of ice, but +keep apart” (Nansen’s translation).[1622] + + + POLAR SEAS + +In the boreal parts of the Atlantic the Northern writers of our period +placed great whirlpools and fabulous countries peopled by monsters. Adam +of Bremen tells of the explorations of certain noblemen of Friesland +during the time of the predecessor of archbishop Adalbert of Bremen. +Sailing beyond Iceland “towards the extreme axis of the north ... they +suddenly glided into the misty darkness of the stiffened ocean, which +can scarcely be penetrated by the eye” (Nansen’s translation).[1623] +Here they were caught by a terrible current and were almost sucked into +the vortex of the deep, only to be thrown forth away from danger by a +reverse tidal current. Thence they came to an island, fortified like a +town, where they found a race of giants whom they called Cyclopes and +from whom they barely were able to make their escape. Saxo Grammaticus, +writing about 1200, tells of the voyage of a legendary King Gorm of +Denmark and an Icelander Thorkill to an even more mysterious region +called “Farther Biarmaland,” north of Norway.[1624] Here too were +loathsome monsters, a river dividing the land of men from the land of +spirits, and many other wonders. In the _Historia Norwegiae_ we are also +told of a fabulous coast in the North Atlantic upon which sailors had +landed when on the way from Iceland to Norway. This country lay “between +the Greenlanders and the Bjarmas,” and the sailors “asserted that they +had found people of extraordinary size and the land of virgins +[‘virginum terram’] who are said to conceive when they taste water. But +Greenland is separated from these by ice-clad skerries [‘scopulis’]” +(Nansen’s translation).[1625] Yet more full of color is another +description in the same work. Beyond Norway “there is the very deep and +northerly gulf which has in it Charybdis, Scylla, and unavoidable +whirlpools; there are also ice-covered promontories which plunge into +the sea immense masses of ice that have been increased by heaving floods +and are frozen together by the winter cold; with these traders often +collide against their will, when making for Greenland, and thus they +suffer shipwreck and run into danger” (Nansen’s translation).[1626] + +Possibly these accounts in the _Historia Norwegiae_ refer to Svalbard, +“the country of the cold coasts,” mentioned in the _Landnámabók_.[1627] +The discovery of Svalbard was placed by the _Icelandic Annals_ in +1194,[1628] and it may well be that sailors in that year were driven out +of their course and landed on the inhospitable shores of +Spitsbergen.[1629] + + + WINELAND THE GOOD + +The voyages of Leif Ericsson and others to the coasts of America, +though they had taken place over a century earlier, were doubtless +remembered by the Icelanders of the period we are studying. Ari Frodhi +in the _Íslendingabók_, written about 1134, refers to Wineland and to +the Skraelings as if they were entirely familiar to his +contemporaries.[1630] There is also a record in the _Icelandic +Annals_, under the date 1121, that the Bishop Eric of Greenland +actually sought Wineland, though we are not told whether his search +was successful or whether he made any important discoveries in +prosecuting it.[1631] The detailed stories of the Wineland voyages +which were current in oral tradition during the eleventh century were +undeniably put into written form long before 1250, although the +versions in which we now have them, the _Saga of Eric the Red_ and the +_Flatey Book_, are of later date.[1632] + +The true position of Wineland has for many years been a matter of +acrimonious dispute among historians and geographers, but it is beyond +our province to enter upon this controversy. On the other hand, it is of +interest to point out that the Icelanders themselves or some of them, at +least, must have believed that Wineland lay in relatively southern +latitudes, for an Icelandic geographical description of the world,[1633] +dating perhaps from our period, contains the following remark: Not far +from Markland is “Wineland the Good, which some affirm extends from +Africa; and, if this is so, an arm of the sea separates Wineland and +Markland.”[1634] In Europe outside of the Scandinavian countries +practically nothing was known of Wineland. The earliest mention of it is +in the pages of Adam of Bremen’s description of the North, where we read +the following brief passages: “Moreover he [King Svend Estridsson] spoke +of an island in that ocean discovered by many, which is called Wineland, +for the reason that vines grow wild there, which yield the best of wine. +Moreover, that grain unsown grows there abundantly is not a fabulous +fancy, but from the accounts of the Danes we know to be a fact” +(Reeves’s translation).[1635] Ordericus Vitalis in his _Historia +ecclesiastica_ includes Wineland in a list of countries made subject to +the king of the Norsemen but gives no details.[1636] + +Adam of Bremen or a later interpolator[1637] adds to the passage just +quoted a description of the Northern Ocean, which he erroneously places +beyond Wineland. He says: “Beyond this island, it is said that there is +no habitable land in that ocean, but all those regions which are beyond +are filled with unsupportable ice and boundless gloom, to which Marcian +thus refers: ‘One day’s sail beyond Thile the sea is frozen.’ This was +essayed not long since by that very enterprising Northmen’s prince, +Harold, who explored the extent of the Northern Ocean with his ship but +was scarcely able by retreating to escape in safety from the gulf’s +enormous abyss, where before his eyes the vanishing bounds of earth were +hidden in gloom” (Reeves’s translation).[1638] + + + FABULOUS ISLES + +Until modern times the Atlantic has been an ocean filled by the +imaginations of the coast-dwelling peoples of the Old World with +fabulous and fantastic isles. In the _De imagine mundi_ we read of the +Isle of the Gorgons and of the Hesperides,[1639] “among which was that +great land described by Plato as having been submerged beneath that part +of the sea now coagulated—an isle greater in extent even than Africa and +Europe.” In this story we recognize the old legend of Atlantis which had +been the subject of speculation and discussion ever since the time of +Plato. The _De imagine mundi_ then goes on to speak of “Perdita,” or the +Lost Island, which far exceeded all the surrounding countries in the +delightfulness and fertility of all things to be found therein. Though +as a general rule unknown to man, this isle was sometimes to be found by +hazard, though never found when looked for. Hence it was called +“Perdita,” or “Lost.” To it St. Brandan was said to have gone in the +course of his wanderings. + + + _St. Brandan’s Isles_ + +For a full account of the islands visited by St. Brandan we must look to +the famous narration of his voyages. Ernest Renan poetically +characterizes this legend as follows: “In the midst of these dreams +there appears with surprising truth a feeling for the picturesque in +polar navigations: the transparence of the sea, the aspects of the ice +floes and icebergs melting in the sun, the volcanic phenomena of +Iceland, the playing of the cetaceans, the characteristic appearance of +the fiords of Norway, the sudden fogs, the milklike sea, green islands +covered with grass which overhangs into the waves....”[1640] In the most +widely known Latin version, which was translated into English and French +during our period,[1641] we are told[1642] that Brandan, the abbot of a +large monastery in Munster, received information from a certain +Barinthus of marvelous isles that the latter had visited in the western +seas and in particular of the “Terra repromissionis sanctorum,” or +Saints’ Land of Promise. Taking seven companions, the saint set out in a +ship built especially for the voyage and wandered for seven years from +one marvelous isle to another. After forty days’ sailing in a northerly +direction they came to an islet, where they entered into a narrow harbor +between high and precipitous rocks. This harbor mouth, just wide enough +to admit a ship, was typical of the ragged western coasts of Ireland and +Scotland and was doubtless suggested to the poet by some bleak cove +among the rocks of St. Kilda or the Outer Hebrides. After leaving the +islet the wanderers reached an isle covered with sheep—perhaps a +reminiscence of the Faroes, the sheep of which had long before been +described by Dicuil.[1643] Beyond this they came to a smooth islet +lacking verdure and with no sand upon it; this turned out to be a sea +monster, which dived beneath the waves when the saint and his companions +tried to light a fire upon its back. Their fortunate escape from the +monster was followed by wanderings that brought them to an isle full of +birds in such numbers and of such brilliant plumage that the voyagers +could scarce see the branches of the trees. Some of the birds could +talk; and one spoke words of prophecy foretelling the future course of +Brandan’s journeys. Thence they came to yet another isle, where they +entered a port with a narrow entrance and found a monastery; then to an +isle with a fresh-water spring which put each brother to sleep for a +period corresponding to the number of cups he drank. After that they +made their way still farther north, where the sea was coagulated, and +then returned to many of the isles already visited in the course of +their earlier sailings and also to fresh marvels—seas of miraculous +clearness, terrible volcanoes, Judas’s rock, the islet of Paul the +hermit.[1644] Finally, after seven whole years, they attained a broad +and spacious country full of trees bearing apples as if it were the +autumn of the year, a land where no night was ever known. Here a youth +greeted Brandan and said that this was the country for which he had been +seeking. Then Brandan sailed back to Ireland, where he lived out the +remainder of his earthly life, and, after his death, returned forthwith +to this “land of promise of the saints,” or Paradise, which for so long +had been his goal. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + CONCLUSION + + +It now remains for us to give a brief résumé of the outstanding elements +which constituted the geographical lore of the time of the Crusades and +to draw a few generalizations from the mass of details that have been +set forth in the foregoing pages. + + + THE OUTSTANDING ELEMENTS OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL LORE OF THE TIME OF THE + CRUSADES + +The dangers of attempting to condense the geographical thought of a +century and a half into the compass of a few pages are manifest, and yet +some of the more significant ideas may perhaps be presented without +running an undue risk of over-simplification. + +According to the orthodox view of the ecclesiastics, the world was +created by an arbitrary act of God at a certain definite point of time. +Under the influence of classical thought, writers of the Chartres group +of the early twelfth century worked out theories of the Creation +according to which, though the initiative was attributed to God’s act, +the actual Works of the Six Days were ascribed to the unfolding of +physical processes governed by the laws of nature. Such theories did not +meet with general acceptance, though they were never wholly lost sight +of. The ancient belief in an eternally existent, periodically re-formed +universe was not given credence, though it was well known to the readers +of the period with which we are concerned through classical works in +their libraries and through translations from the Arabic. + +It was probably the opinion of most scholars that the universe is a +sphere in which the four elements are arranged concentrically. +Furthermore, nearly all scholars argued that the earth likewise is a +sphere and that they were acquainted with convincing proofs of this. +Standing immobile in the center of the universe, the earth was usually +supposed to be a small body in proportion to the entire cosmos. The +surface of our globe was divided into five zones, two temperate, two +polar—uninhabitable on account of the intense cold—and an equatorial +zone, uninhabitable by reason of heat. The habitability of the +equatorial zone, however, was affirmed by a few writers conversant with +Arabic literature. + +There was a great deal of speculation regarding the characteristics of +those parts of the world which lay beyond the _oikoumene_, or quarter of +the globe known to Europeans. The theories of Macrobius and of Martianus +Capella, who had divided the earth’s surface into four equal parts by +two encircling bands of ocean, strongly influenced the thought of many. +Macrobius and Martianus Capella had also believed that all of these +quarters of the earth were inhabited but that three of them were unknown +to members of our human race, who could not visit them owing to the heat +of the equatorial zone and the terrors of the ocean. Though this theory +could not be reconciled with Christian teachings and was strongly +controverted, it nevertheless persisted, and many of the writers of the +Crusading age undoubtedly shared it. + +Something was known of the atmosphere. William of Conches wrote of its +decreased density and temperature with increased altitude. Rainfall was +explained as the result of many causes, among them evaporation of sea +water and condensation of water vapor in the air, and topographic +influences on rainfall were recognized by Giraldus Cambrensis. The +winds, defined as air in motion, were also occasionally ascribed to the +influence of topography. William of Conches worked out an elaborate +theory of a general circulation of the atmosphere produced by the +circulation of ocean currents. The impressions made upon men by the +climatic conditions of various parts of the earth found expression in +many passages. The cold of the North was contrasted with the heat of the +South, and Giraldus Cambrensis gives a colorful comparison of the damp +climate of Ireland with the noxious dryness of the East. + +The aqueous element was supposed to be divided into two parts, the +waters above and the waters below the firmament. Theodoric of Chartres +and William of Conches tried to explain the waters above the firmament +on rational grounds; others were inclined to take the Biblical +assertions absolutely literally. The waters below the firmament were +believed to form one unit or congregation of waters, and an unceasing +circulation was thought to be maintained from the seas and oceans +through subterranean channels and cavities of the earth to the sources +of streams. As to the seas themselves, many ingenious explanations were +brought forward to account for their salinity. It was understood that +the tides are caused by the moon, though subsidiary causes, such as +whirlpools and ocean currents, were also adduced to explain them. The +most interesting tidal studies of the period, made by Giraldus +Cambrensis on the shores of the Irish Sea and Bristol Channel, were +undoubtedly the results of careful synchronous observations of the times +of high and low water in different localities. Something of the spirit +of the North Atlantic is conveyed through the pages of the legend of St. +Brandan. Of the waters of the lands, rainfall was not usually thought +sufficient to account for the flow of rivers, which were supposed to be +fed by underground channels from the seas. Springs, wells, and fountains +attracted much attention, and many are the marvels related about them in +the literature of the age. Giraldus Cambrensis describes marvelous lakes +in Ireland, and strange tales were told of lakes of Italy, Spain, and +elsewhere, which, together with the Dead Sea and volcanic craters, were +objects of fear, because some men believed them to be ways of ingress to +the infernal regions. + +The lands of the earth’s surface were classified in various manners. The +author of the _De imagine mundi_ mentions no less than six types of land +surface. Different regions were supposed to have different effects on +life: Ireland was thought to be remarkably healthful, and its earth to +have the property of destroying venomous reptiles; the East, Giraldus +Cambrensis would have us believe, is a fountain of poisons. Many +medieval writers had an eye for the spiritual and esthetic beauties of +landscape, and picturesque descriptions of rich cultivated scenes are +not rare. It is doubtful, however, to what extent the grandeur of wild +nature and of mountains was appreciated. The great majority of men +certainly regarded mountains as grim and horrible. Mountain climbing was +not indulged in for pleasure, though we have an account of an ascent of +Etna in the _Image du monde_. On the other hand, there date from this +age several extremely vivid descriptions of the hardships encountered +during journeys over the Alps, one of which was made in midwinter. +Alfred of Sareshel gives in a translation from the Arabic a clear +account of geologic processes by which mountains were formed. Volcanoes +impressed the men of the Middle Ages. The volcanic regions of southern +Italy and Sicily and of Iceland are frequently described, and St. +Brandan’s legend contains what can be nothing else than an account of a +volcanic isle. Fiery mountains were associated in the popular mind with +entrances to Hell. Scientific investigators usually attributed their +fires to burning beds of sulphur and bitumen within the mountains or +else to the outbursting of imprisoned winds. To the action of winds in +subterranean caverns classical authorities had ascribed the cause of +earthquakes, and this view was accepted throughout the Middle Ages. +Other features of the land that attracted attention were the deserts of +the East, vividly described by the historians of the Crusades and in the +_Letter of Prester John_, and the fabulous islands of the sea, +especially of the unknown Atlantic. Some peculiarities of the movement +of ice in glaciers were noted by Saxo Grammaticus. + +The influence of geographical environment on animals and on man was +sometimes commented upon. Bernard Sylvester emphasizes the control of +terrain over plant and animal life. Giraldus Cambrensis attributes the +independence and audacity of the Welsh to the rugged character of their +country. A fatalistic idea is expressed in the writings of Hugh of St. +Victor and of Otto of Freising, to the effect that the course of +science, empire, and civilization proceeds with the heavenly bodies +across the surface of the earth from east to west and that, as it has +reached the uttermost confines of the West, the power of the kingdom of +the Franks is soon destined to disappear. + +Within the field of astronomical geography several methods were known +whereby latitudes may be determined, and also the use of observations of +eclipses for ascertaining longitude was understood. Figures indicating +the positions of points in many parts of the known world had been +introduced to Western knowledge through the Moslems. It seems likely, +furthermore, that not only were the Arabic figures borrowed by the +astrological writers of our age but also that a new series of +observations was made by which the latitudes as well as the longitudes +of several stations in Western Europe were found with no small degree of +accuracy. These figures, however, were intended to serve as aids for +astrologers and astronomers in making their calculations, and we have no +evidence that they were put to geographical use. + +The cartography shows little originality. It was in no way corrected or +checked up with reference to astronomical observations. Most of the maps +were based on earlier models, and it is perhaps possible to trace their +origins back to maps of the Roman Empire. Cartographic accuracy was not +the aim of the map maker of the time, and we are not justified in +criticizing his maps in the light of modern standards. They should be +regarded rather as diagrammatic approximations. A number of conventions +were followed, the most important of which was the representation of the +east at the top. The maps were vividly colored; and mountains, rivers, +and the works of man were shown by pictorial symbols. + +We may conceive of the regional geographic knowledge of the age as +comprised within two concentric circles: a very broad outer circle, +which includes all those lands of which knowledge had been derived at +second hand through literary sources; and a smaller inner circle +including those lands which were known at first hand through actual +travel. + +The outer circle took in to the east the land of the Seres, or China, +and the lost Atlantis to the west; to the north the regions of the +Hyperboreans and the semi-mythical Rhipaean Mountains; and to the south +the Mons Climax of Ptolemy and the mysterious upper reaches of the Nile. +Nearly all that lies between the two circles was a vague region of fancy +and fable, though ideas that were more or less correct prevailed about +some parts of Western Asia, familiar ground to the men of ancient Greece +and Rome. + +The inner circle included on the east the shores of the Black Sea and +the Holy Land; on the south, the Mediterranean fringe of Africa; +westward it was bounded by the Atlantic coast; north-westward, warped +somewhat out of shape, it enclosed Iceland and even the icy coasts of +Greenland. To the north, it ran through Scandinavia and the Baltic. +Within these bounds there were many gaps that were still utterly +unknown; but, in general, politics, pilgrimage, war, and commerce had +familiarized the men of the West with most parts of this tract. It seems +a small area indeed compared with what is now known of the world’s +surface and small even compared with what Ptolemy and earlier Greeks had +known. Only in the age that immediately follows ours was the circle +enlarged, at first to the eastward by the great overland journeys of +Marco Polo and the other Asiatic travelers of the late thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries and then westward, southward, and northward during +the Age of Discovery. Not until our own day has it at last come to +comprise the entire earth. + + + CHARACTER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL LORE OF THE TIME OF THE CRUSADES + +Men have always respected tradition and learning inherited from former +ages, but in some periods dependence on earlier authority has been more +unquestioning than in others. In the Middle Ages, especially, an immense +mass of knowledge and belief was handed down from generation to +generation. + +A portion of this inherited mass of knowledge and belief constituted the +recognized and orthodox geographical lore of the Crusading age. This +body of teachings—to be sure, not altogether uniform or consistent—had +been built largely on a foundation of Biblical and classical doctrine. +The early Church Fathers, taking the Bible as their authority, had +leveled destructive criticism against those ideas of the Greeks and +Romans which appeared to go counter to Scriptural texts, but in the +course of time reconciliation of ancient science with Christianity was +partly achieved and, as a consequence, the accepted scientific lore of +the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries was only to a limited extent +drawn from a literal interpretation of the Bible. Nevertheless, those +theories of antiquity that were too diametrically hostile to the words +of Scripture still remained tabooed, and, when Manegold, Peter Lombard, +or Peter Comestor inveighed against belief in _hyle_, the Great Year, or +the antipodes, they were merely echoing the arguments of their early +Christian predecessors. Classical learning and Christian doctrine were +sufficiently at one by the opening of the twelfth century to make it no +longer heretical to believe in the sphericity of the earth, in the +existence of antipodal regions (if not inhabitants), and in a physical +explanation of many geographical processes that an earlier age might +have ascribed to the direct intervention of the divine will. + +The works of our period show all too plainly that they were written in a +credulous age, for credulity is an inevitable concomitant of the undue +respect for authority. Credulity and love of the marvelous—which is much +the same thing—are in many ways the most characteristic and entertaining +qualities of the geographical writers of the Middle Ages. Marvels of all +kinds, located in all countries, are solemnly described as if they were +truth. India, especially, was the scene of fabulous monsters and +prodigies; but no country, no matter how well known, was wholly without +them. Even the most serious writers mention them, and they enliven all +the maps. + +In contrast with this geography based on authority and tradition stood +another great body of geographical lore derived not from books or +tradition but from observation by eyewitnesses of the countries of the +earth and the physical features of its surface. We may style this second +body of geographical lore the “geography of observation.” It is +represented almost universally in the literature of the period, for no +writer was so completely immersed in the learning of the past that he +failed altogether to respond to the world of his day. Even in the most +learned works there are occasional passages drawn from contemporary +observation; but it is especially in histories, chronicles, letters, and +other less formal writings that the “geography of observation” finds +unhampered expression. The latter are among the most illuminating +documents of the age, for they reveal to us those things which above all +interested the average man in the material world around him. + +Measured by modern standards, this “geography of observation” is the +only kind of geography that rests on a sound and scientific footing. +Modern science rejects theories, however old and hallowed they may be, +which cannot stand the test of an appeal to Nature herself. Precisely +the opposite seems to have been the normal intellectual habit of the +Middle Ages, when the prevailing tendency was if anything to put aside +the evidence of Nature when contradicted by the classics, by the Church +Fathers, or especially by the Bible. Logical impossibility or rational +improbability did not usually bear much weight against a belief that had +been approved by time. + +And yet there were in the age of the Crusades numerous exceptions to +this general rule. Never has there been a time when a few fore-reaching +and individualistic spirits have not tried to search and see and think +for themselves, to confront older teachings with new, to criticize +established beliefs in the light of observed facts and reason. In the +ardent, enthusiastic society of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries +there was no lack of such spirits. Among the writers on geographical +subjects we need but recall the names of the scholars of Chartres: +Theodoric, who undertook to explain the Creation according to physical +principles and specifically excluded from his discussion all moral and +allegorical interpretations of the text of Genesis; or William of +Conches, who argued that we may avoid irrational deductions from +Scripture by an appeal to our own reason and who maintained that the +animals of the earth and also Adam and Eve were produced through the +interaction of the elements of fire, earth, air, and water. And this +critical, inventive attitude reappears in the thirteenth century in the +work of such men as Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, and even Albertus +Magnus. + +We gain a deeper and more sympathetic understanding of the devious +workings of the human mind when we trace in the geographical lore of the +Middle Ages the persistence of old ideas and the transfer of prejudices +and beliefs from age to age; but at best this is a disheartening study. +On the other hand, there is always fascination in coming across oases of +fresh observation and clear reason in the midst of the arid deserts of +plagiarism that constitute so much of medieval literature. These oases +mark the pathway of the history of science. + + + + + NOTES + + + NOTES + +The numbers at the top of the inner margin of each page indicate on +which pages of the text (pp. 1–361) the passages occur to which the +notes on a given page refer. + +For the works here cited in abbreviated form refer to the Bibliography. +Works not listed in the Bibliography (these are relatively few) are here +given with their full titles. + +As a rule a work will be found in the Bibliography under its own author +or, if anonymous, its own title. If not, the entry under which it will +be found is generally here indicated. In the few cases where it is not +the work should be looked for under the ancient or medieval author or +title to which the work sought for relates. + +Bible references and quotations throughout the present work, except +where otherwise indicated, are based on the Douay and Rheims translation +of the Vulgate. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER I + THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE ANCIENT WORLD + +Footnote 2: + + The _De caelo et mundo_ should not be confused with the _De mundo_ + (Περὶ κόσμου), a spurious work ascribed to Aristotle and dating from + about 100 B. C. See preface to E. S. Forster’s translation of the _De + mundo_ in the Oxford translation of the works of Aristotle, vol. iii, + 1914. + +Footnote 3: + + On the geography of Posidonius see below, p. 371, note 55, and also + the two important recent studies: Wilhelm Capelle, _Die griechische + Erdkunde und Posidonius_, in: Neue Jahrbücher für das klassische + Altertum, Jahrgang 23, vol. liv, Leipzig, 1920, pp. 305–323, and Karl + Reinhardt, _Poseidonios_, Munich, 1921, especially pp. 59–135 for the + geography and pp. 135–176 for the meteorology. + +Footnote 4: + + For a brief general outline of the main trend of Greek geography see + Berger, _Geschichte_, 1903, Überblick, pp. 1–24. See also Bunbury, + _Ancient Geogr._, 1879; Tozer, _Ancient Geogr._, 1897; Tillinghast, + _Geogr. Knowl._, 1889. An extensive recent treatment of ancient + geography has come to the attention of the writer as this book is + going to press: Gisinger’s article “Geographie” in _Paulys + Real-Encyclopädie_, 1924. This contains many references to secondary + works; it is particularly valuable as a synthesis of recent German + research in the field. + +Footnote 5: + + That Pliny’s _Natural History_ was extensively read in the Middle Ages + is proved by the large number of times its title appears in medieval + library catalogues. For example, in twelfth-century French catalogues + alone it occurs in no less than six different places; in German + catalogues in five different places before the twelfth century. Though + at first glance these figures do not appear large, when compared with + similar figures for the works of other writers they show that, + relatively speaking, Pliny was very popular. We are also confirmed in + this opinion by the frequency of citations of Pliny (M. Manitius, + _Philologisches_, 1892, pp. 59–60; idem, _Römische Prosaiker_, 1890, + pp. 380–384). Furthermore, we have in manuscripts dating from the + eighth century and onward a series of excerpts from Books II, III, IV, + VI, and XVIII of the _Natural History_. These contain the outstanding + geographical elements of Pliny’s work and attest to its great + popularity (see Rück, _Auszüge_, 1888; idem, _Exzerpt_, 1902; idem, + _Naturalis Historia_, 1898, pp. 203–318). On p. 287 of the _Exzerpt_ + Rück writes that the existence of these excerpts forms “a weighty + literary-historical proof of the continued life of Pliny in later + centuries.” + +Footnote 6: + + The _Collectanea_ is mentioned in France in one catalogue from before + the twelfth century, in five from the twelfth, and in four from the + thirteenth. In Germany it is mentioned in six catalogues from before + the twelfth century, in four from the twelfth, and in two from the + thirteenth. It is also mentioned in catalogues of British and Italian + libraries. Its popularity was equal to that of Pliny and was perhaps + even greater (see M. Manitius, _Philologisches_, pp. 78–79). + +Footnote 7: + + Columba (_Questione soliniana_, 1920) holds that the materials in + Solinus’ _Collectanea_ came in large part from a common source of + Pliny’s _Natural History_ and Pomponius Mela’s _Corographia_. This was + a lost work which Columba styles _Corographia Varro-Sallustiana_. It + was worked over (according to his theory) by an unknown compiler and + reduced by Solinus into the form of a compendium, with borrowings here + and there direct from Pliny. See note on Columba’s monograph in + Bollettino della Reale Società Geografica Italiana, vol. lviii, Rome, + 1921, p. 44. + +Footnote 8: + + Seneca’s popularity as shown by the library catalogues was less than + that of Pliny, though the _Quaestiones naturales_ were read rather + extensively in France in the twelfth century (M. Manitius, + _Philologisches_, p. 42; idem, _Geschichte_, 1911, vol. i, p. 38). + +Footnote 9: + + Capella merely followed the Latin tradition, which tended to restrict + the field of geography and at the same time to limit the science of + geometry to the art of measurements. The _De nuptiis Philologiae et + Mercurii_ served to pass on to the Middle Ages this attitude in regard + to geography and geometry (Mori, _Misuraz. eratos._, 1911, pp. + 186–187; see also Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, p. 89). + +Footnote 10: + + M. Manitius, _Philologisches_, p. 112, informs us that, next to Virgil + and the Vulgate, the _De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_ was the most + popular book of the Middle Ages. References to copies of it are found + in nearly all medieval library catalogues. See also Mori, _Misuraz. + eratos._, pp. 388–391. + +Footnote 11: + + Macrobius seems to have come next to Martianus Capella in popularity, + particularly in the twelfth century, when his book finds mention more + than a dozen times in the catalogues of both French and German + libraries of the period. It was also read in Italy, Spain, and Great + Britain. In the latter country there are five entries from the early + thirteenth century (M. Manitius, _Philologisches_, p. 106). + +Footnote 12: + + Aristotle, _De caelo_, I, 3; Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, 1913, p. 173. + +Footnote 13: + + Aristotle, _Meteor._, I, 2; Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 164. + +Footnote 14: + + These ideas are developed in Plato’s _Timaeus_ and in Aristotle’s _De + generatione et corruptione_, II, 11. See Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, + pp. 164–169. + +Footnote 15: + + Berosus in the third century before Christ described Chaldean theories + regarding the Great Year (Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 69). + +Footnote 16: + + _ibid._, vol. i, pp. 70–71. + +Footnote 17: + + Notably Philolaus (_ibid._, vol. i, p. 77). + +Footnote 18: + + Seneca, _Quaest. nat._, III, 28–29; Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 70. + +Footnote 19: + + For example, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Empedocles (Duhem, + _op. cit._, vol. i, pp. 70–71, 167). + +Footnote 20: + + Aristotle, _De caelo_, I, 10; _Meteor._, I, 14, as interpreted by + Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, pp. 167–168. + +Footnote 21: + + Günther, _Apokatastasis_, 1916, p. 85. + +Footnote 22: + + See E. S. McCartney, _Fossil Lore in Greek and Latin Literature_, in: + Proceedings of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters, + vol. iii, New York, 1924, pp. 23–38, especially pp. 37–38. + +Footnote 23: + + Aristotle, _Meteor._, I, 14; Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 167. In the + important paper cited in note 20 above, Günther traces the development + in antiquity and during the Middle Ages of (1) theories of + astronomical periods and (2) theories of the _apokatastasis_, or + restoration of the earth to its previous condition after destruction + by fire or by water. He shows that the ancient and medieval + philosophers conceived of a complete parallelism between these two + sets of phenomena. It is, however, difficult to follow his argument + that they failed to recognize any causal relation whatsoever between + the astronomical periods and the _apokatastasis_, although it is + doubtless true that no attempt was made to explain in detail the + manner in which celestial circumstances operated to produce effects + upon the earth. + +Footnote 24: + + See Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, pp. 65–85, 275–297. + +Footnote 25: + + Cumont, _After Life_, 1922, pp. 12–13. + +Footnote 26: + + Al-Masʿūdī and Al-Bīrūnī describe the theory as it prevailed in India + (Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, pp. 67–69; vol. ii, pp. 213–220). + +Footnote 27: + + Plato gives a formula from which it has been deduced that he believed + the duration of the Great Year to be 760,000 terrestrial years. + Aristotle explained that the figure could be found by determining the + least common multiple of the periods of revolution of the various + celestial bodies. Cicero calculated it at 12,954, and Macrobius at + 15,000 years. See Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, pp. 84, 165, 283, 288. + +Footnote 28: + + Ptolemy describes Hipparchus’ discovery of the precession of the + equinoxes in the _Almagest_, VII, 2–3 (as cited by Duhem, _op. cit._, + vol. ii, pp. 180–185). + +Footnote 29: + + _Almagest_, VII, 2 (Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 185). + +Footnote 30: + + Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 212–223. + +Footnote 31: + + “... l’évolution de la science hellène révèle non pas l’existence de + luttes perpétuelles pour ou contre la sphéricité mais au contraire un + accord, en somme assez rapide, établi avant la fin du v^e siècle entre + les penseurs de toutes écoles” (Thalamas, _Géogr. d’Ératosthène_, + 1921, p. 103; see also the same, p. 99, note 3). + +Footnote 32: + + Berger thinks that Anaximander may well have believed in a spherical + earth (_Geschichte_, 1903, p. 32, note 2, and p. 34); this opinion has + not been accepted by recent students, who ascribe to Anaximander + participation in the older doctrine of a disk-shaped earth (Stegmann, + _Anschauungen_, 1913, pp. 14–15; Heidel, _Anaximander_, 1921, p. 246; + Gisinger, “Geographie” in: _Paulys Real-Encyclopädie_, 1924, p. 543). + See also below, p. 372, note 61. + +Footnote 33: + + _Phaedo_, 109. Plato thought that the universe, as well as the earth, + is a sphere because the sphere is the most perfect of forms + (_Timaeus_, 33). An obscure mathematical passage, _Timaeus_, 55, seems + to liken the universe to a dodecahedron. See the _Dialogues_, Jowett’s + transl., 1892, vol. iii, p. 363, and Boffito, _Leggenda_, 1903, p. + 584. + +Footnote 34: + + These proofs were worked out by Aristotle in two ways (_De caelo_, II, + 14). First he explained that physical laws require that the earth must + be spherical; then he demonstrated that observation shows that it + actually is a globe. Aristotle’s physics were built upon a theory that + superficially has been compared with the Newtonian theory of + gravitation, although fundamentally it is entirely different. A + principal law of Aristotelian physics is that all heavy bodies seek + the center of the universe, whereas Newton’s law is that all bodies, + whether heavy or light, attract each other (see Duhem, _Système_, vol. + i, p. 210). Aristotle (_De caelo_, II, 4) showed by mathematical + argument that water, in obedience to his physical law, will, if + unhindered, become a perfect sphere, with the center of the universe + as its center, and that land, though it cannot become a perfect sphere + owing to its rigidity, will tend to assume such a form. + + That the earth actually is a globe, the Stagirite maintained, is + revealed by the circular shadow it casts upon the moon in an eclipse. + Furthermore, a traveler journeying from north to south sees new + constellations appear above the southern horizon and vice versa, + constellations that could only be hidden from him at his starting + point by the curvature of a spherical earth (Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, + pp. 211–215). + + Adrastias of Aphrodisias, one of the Peripatetic school, adduced + proofs similar to those of Aristotle (Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. i, pp. + 473–474), although he presented them with greater clarity. He showed + by the argument of the appearance of new constellations to a traveler + journeying north or south that the earth is convex from north to + south. That it is also convex from east to west he proved from the + observation that the same celestial body rises sooner in the eastern + parts of the habitable world than it does in the western. This could + be demonstrated by any eclipse of the moon: the eclipse appears at a + later hour of the night and higher in the heavens to an observer in + the east than it does to one in the west. As both observers see the + same eclipse, it follows that the moon must in reality rise in the + east before it rises farther west. If the earth were flat both + observers would necessarily see the eclipse at the same hour of local + time. + +Footnote 35: + + _De motu corp. cael._, I, 8 (as cited by Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, p. + 471). + +Footnote 36: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 64. Both Cleomedes and Pliny demonstrated the + sphericity of the sea by noting that mountains may be seen when the + lower parts of the land are invisible and that shores become visible + from the masthead of a ship before persons on deck can see them. Pliny + (_op. cit._, II, 65) had a theory to explain the sphericity of the sea + that differed widely from that of Aristotle. The gist of this was that + it is in the inherent nature of water to assume a spherical form. + Traces of this view are to be found in the writings of Alexander + Neckam in the thirteenth century. See below, p. 438, note 34. + +Footnote 37: + + Ptolemy, _Almagest_, I, 4. Ptolemy’s proofs were similar to those of + Aristotle and Adrastias (see above, note 33). He neglected arguments + of the physical necessity of a globular earth (Duhem, _Système_, vol. + i, p. 480). + +Footnote 38: + + _De nupt. Phil. et Merc._, VI, 590–598. Martianus Capella brought + together and vigorously presented many of the arguments of his + predecessors: that of Aristotle that the shadow of the earth on the + moon is curved, the argument of the different appearance of the + heavens in different latitudes, and the argument from the eclipses + (see above, note 33). + +Footnote 39: + + On the heliocentric theory in antiquity see Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, + pp. 399–426, and Heath, _Aristarchus_, 1913. + +Footnote 40: + + Philolaus worked out an elaborate hypothesis which placed an immobile + fire, the Hearth of the Universe, the seat of divinity, in the center + of the cosmic system. Around this fire revolves our earth; an + anti-earth counterbalances our earth on the opposite side of the fire, + but man can never see either the Hearth or the anti-earth because he + dwells on the side of our earth that is always turned outward from the + center. See Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, pp. 11–21. Hicetas and Ecphantus + modified the system of Philolaus by doing away with the anti-earth and + placing our earth in the middle of the universe, enclosing the central + fire within it. They accounted for day and night by a diurnal rotation + of the earth around its axis (_ibid._, vol. i, pp. 21–27). + +Footnote 41: + + Some thought in antiquity that a passage in the _Timaeus_, 40, shows + that Plato believed that the earth rotates on its axis; but this + interpretation of the passage was disputed even in classical times, + and other passages in Plato’s works seem to confirm us in holding that + he thought that the earth stands immobile (Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, + p. 86). It should be noted that though Plato placed the World Soul in + the center of the earth and of the universe, he was also convinced + that great fires exist in the earth’s interior. See above, p. 32. + +Footnote 42: + + _Timaeus_, 34. See also Lutz, _Geographical Studies_, 1924, pp. + 166–167. + +Footnote 43: + + Aristotle’s abstruse reasoning about the immobility of the earth is + interpreted by Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, pp. 219–230. Duhem clarifies + the arguments of the Stagirite by resolving them into four main + propositions: + + (1) “The movement of the heavens requires the existence of an + immovable body distinct from the heavens at the center of the + universe” (Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, p. 220). Why such an immovable + body is necessary is explained in _De caelo_, I, 8, and in _Physics_, + IV, 4 (cited by Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, pp. 198–210, 221). Later + writers and commentators confused Aristotle’s views here set forth + with a theory which the philosopher—if he wrote it—presents in the _De + motu animalium_ and which is, in brief, as follows. “For every animal + that moves there must be without it something immovable, but + supporting itself upon which that which is moved moves. For were that + something always to give way (as it does for mice walking in grain, or + persons walking in sand) advance would be impossible, and neither + would there be any walking unless the ground were to remain still” + (_De motu anim._, 2; translated by A. S. L. Farquharson in the _Works + of Aristotle_, 1913, p. 698b). Although the writer of this passage + expressly states that he does not intend this simple theory to be + applied to the movements of the heaven in relation to the earth, it + was, none the less, passed on by way of the Moslems to the West as an + argument in favor of the immobility of the earth. + + (2) “Physical reasons prove that it is not possible for the earth to + move” with a circular motion. The normal motion of the particles which + compose the earth is in a straight line toward the earth’s center. + Correspondingly “the movement which is natural to each part must also + be natural to the whole, in such a way that the earth taken as a whole + certainly has for its natural motion that movement in a straight line + and directed toward the center which characterizes heavy bodies” + (Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, p. 226). Any other movement, such as a + movement of rotation, “being, then, constrained and unnatural ... + could not be eternal. But the order of the universe is eternal” (_De + caelo_, II, 14; translated by J. L. Stocks in the _Works of + Aristotle_, 1922, p. 296a). + + (3) “Experiments show that as a matter of fact the earth does not move + at all.” If the earth moved “there would have to be passings and + turnings of the fixed stars. Yet no such thing is observed” (_De + caelo_, II, 14; Stocks’s translation, p. 296b). In other words, if the + earth moved one would expect to observe parallaxes of the fixed stars + (Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, p. 227). “It is clear, then, that the earth + must be at the center and immovable, not only for the reasons already + given, but also because heavy bodies thrown quite straight upward + return to the point from which they started, even if they are thrown + to an infinite distance” (_De caelo_, II, 14; Stocks’s translation, p. + 296b). + + (4) “Physics teaches us the cause of the immobility of the earth.” As + all heavy bodies tend to seek the center of the universe, the various + parts of the earth have arranged themselves around the center in such + a manner that an equilibrium is established, and this equilibrium + produces immobility (_De caelo_, II, 14, Stocks’s translation, p. + 297a; Duhem, _Système_, vol. i, pp. 216, 228–229). + +Footnote 44: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 5. + +Footnote 45: + + Ptolemy (_Almagest_, I, 7) discussed the immobility of the earth in + much the same manner as Plato and Aristotle. From Aristotle he derived + the argument of the heavy body thrown into the air. See above, note + 42, paragraph (3) and Duhem _op. cit._, vol. i, pp. 480–484. + +Footnote 46: + + _De caelo_, II, 14. + +Footnote 47: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 108. + +Footnote 48: + + _De architectura_, I, 6 (edited by F. Krohn, Leipzig (Teubner), 1912; + English translation by M. H. Morgan, Cambridge, Mass., 1914). + +Footnote 49: + + _De nupt. Phil. et Merc._, VI, 596. + +Footnote 50: + + _In som. Scip. comm._, I, 20, 20. + +Footnote 51: + + _De motu corp. cael._, I, 10. + +Footnote 52: + + See Thalamas, _Géogr. d’Ératosthène_, 1921, pp. 162–163. Konrad + Miller, _Erdmessung_, 1919, pp. 5–6, argued that Eratosthenes + calculated the circumference at 252,000 stades, not 250,000. Even if, + as Cleomedes tells us, he calculated it at 250,000 stades, it seems + probable that it was Eratosthenes himself and not some later scientist + who arbitrarily raised it to 252,000 in order to obtain a figure + divisible by 60 or perhaps by 360. + +Footnote 53: + + _De motu corp. cael._, I, 10. + +Footnote 54: + + Strabo, _Geogr._, II, 2 (edited by A. Meineke, 3 vols., Leipzig + (Teubner), 1904–1909; English translation by H. L. Jones, 2 vols., + London, 1917–1923); Berger, _Geschichte_, 1903, pp. 579–582. + +Footnote 55: + + Thalamas, _op. cit._, p. 151. + +Footnote 56: + + Miller, _Erdmessung_, pp. 12–14. For other possible explanations of + Posidonius’ figures, see Berger, _op. cit._, pp. 579–582, and Oscar + Viedebantt, _Eratosthenes, Hipparchos, Poseidonios: Ein Beitrag zur + Geschichte des Erdmessungsproblems im Altertum_, in: Klio: Beiträge + zur alten Geschichte, vol. xiv, Leipzig, 1914, pp. 208–256; idem, + _Poseidonios, Marinos, Ptolemaios: Ein weiterer Beitrag zur Geschichte + des Erdmessungsproblems im Altertum_, in: _ibid._, vol. xvi, 1920, pp. + 94–108. + +Footnote 57: + + _De motu corp. cael._, I, 10. See Thalamas’ clear and reasonable + discussion of Eratosthenes’ measurement, _op. cit._, pp. 128–164. + +Footnote 58: + + _De nupt. Phil. et Merc._, VI, 596. Capella’s account of Eratosthenes’ + measurement differs slightly from that of Cleomedes (Mori, _Misuraz. + eratos._, 1911, p. 584; Thalamas, _op. cit._, pp. 140–141). + +Footnote 59: + + Miller, _op. cit._, p. 7. + +Footnote 60: + + Thalamas, _op. cit._, pp. 158–159. + +Footnote 61: + + _ibid._, p. 170. + +Footnote 62: + + See White, _Warfare_, 1920, vol. i, pp. 89–90. Lutz, _Geographical + Studies_, 1924, p. 168, holds that “the fundamental notions of the + Homeric poems, of Hesiod and Aeschylus regarding the earth [a disk + surrounded by an ocean stream] are Babylonian in origin.” + +Footnote 63: + + Thales thought that the earth was created out of water (Norlind, + _Problem_, 1918, p. 8). + +Footnote 64: + + Berger, _Geschichte_, 1903, p. 285. + +Footnote 65: + + Pliny gives details of explorations which he believed had proved the + existence of connections between the Caspian Sea, the Atlantic, and + the Indian Ocean (_Hist. nat._, II, 167). + +Footnote 66: + + Probably the best treatment of the history of theories of the + antipodes is to be found in Rainaud, _Le continent austral_, 1893. + +Footnote 67: + + _Meteor._, II, 5. Pliny also thought that the polar and equatorial + regions are uninhabitable, although he was aware of the fact that the + northern boundary of the uninhabitable part of the equatorial regions + must be well south of the Tropic of Cancer (_Hist. nat._, II, 68, 74, + 76, 108). See also below, p. 377, note 172. + +Footnote 68: + + _De caelo_, II, 14. + +Footnote 69: + + _Meteor._, II, 5. + +Footnote 70: + + “Quantum est enim, quod ab ultimis litoribus Hispaniae usque ad Indos + iacet? Paucissimorum dierum spatium, si navem suus ferat ventus + implebit” (_Quaest. nat._, I, praef., 13). Doubt has been expressed by + critics as to whether or not Seneca had in mind a passage westward + across the Atlantic. See Edward Channing, _A History of the United + States_, vol. i, New York, 1905, p. 31. Strabo discussed Eratosthenes’ + views on the possibility of sailing from Spain to India in his + _Geography_, I, 64, 65. See Channing, _op. cit._, p. 30. + +Footnote 71: + + See Tillinghast, _Geogr. Knowl._, 1889, pp. 6–12; Berger, + _Geschichte_, 1903, p. 625; Norlind, _Problem_, 1918, _passim_, for + discussions of the continental and oceanic theories in antiquity and + in the Middle Ages. Roger Bacon (_Opus majus_, Bridges’ edit., vol. i, + 1897, p. 290) states that “Ptolemaeus vero in libro de dispositione + sphaerae vult quod fere sexta pars terrae est habitabilis propter + aquam, et totum residuum est coopertum aqua.” That this should have + been the opinion of Ptolemy is difficult to reconcile with his + advocacy of unknown lands beyond the _oikoumene_ enclosing the Indian + and Atlantic Oceans (_Geogr._, I, 17, 6; VII, 3, 6; VII, 5, 2; see + Berger, _Geschichte_, pp. 625, 627, 629). + +Footnote 72: + + See above, p. 187. + +Footnote 73: + + For a summary of Aristotle’s theories in regard to the elements, see + Lippmann, _Chemisches_, 1910. + +Footnote 74: + + Gilbert, _Meteorol. Theorien_, 1907. + +Footnote 75: + + “Causas autem illi mutationis et inconstantiae alias terra praebet, + cuius positiones, hoc et illo versae, magna ad aeris temperiem momenta + sunt....” (_Quaest. nat._, II, 11). Possibly “temperiem” should be + translated “quality” rather than “temperature.” + +Footnote 76: + + _Meteor._, I, 4; I, 7; II, 4. See Lones, _Arist. Researches_, 1912, + pp. 30–33. + +Footnote 77: + + _Meteor._, I, 9–12. See also Lones, _op. cit._, pp. 32–33, 42–45. + +Footnote 78: + + See above, pp. 99–101, and below, p. 406, note 93. + +Footnote 79: + + _Quaest. nat._, V. See Gilbert, _Meteorol. Theorien_, 1907, pp. + 537–539. + +Footnote 80: + + Aristotle, _Meteor._, II, 4–5; Seneca, _Quaest. nat._, V, 7–14; Pliny, + _Hist. nat._, II, 44. + +Footnote 81: + + Capelle, _Berges- und Wolkenhöhen_, 1916, pp. 1–2. + +Footnote 82: + + _ibid._, pp. 16–17, 28. + +Footnote 83: + + _ibid._, pp. 26–27. + +Footnote 84: + + Posidonius understood, from observation of differences between the + Indians and Ethiopians dwelling in the same latitude, that latitude + was not the only determining element in the distribution of natural + products and races of man but that other factors should also be given + consideration (Berger, _Geschichte_, 1903, p. 557). Peschel, + _Geschichte_, 1877, p. 226, wrote that in the Middle Ages Jordanus of + Severac was the only man to recognize the fact that a meridian may + mark the boundary between dissimilar areas of plant or of animal life. + See, however, Giraldus Cambrensis’ observations on this matter (see + above, p. 177). + +Footnote 85: + + For further discussion of ancient _climata_, see above, pp. 242–243. + +Footnote 86: + + _Quaest. nat._, III, 6; IVa, 2. + +Footnote 87: + + The voyage of Pytheas of Marseilles was the source of the greater part + of ancient beliefs in regard to high northern latitudes. + +Footnote 88: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 78. + +Footnote 89: + + _Octavius_, 18. Minutius Felix was a Roman advocate, probably a + contemporary of Marcus Aurelius. His dialogue _Octavius_ (edited by C. + Halm in: _Corpus script. eccles. lat._, vol. ii; also in: Migne, _Pat. + lat._, vol. iii, cols. 231–360) is a defense of Christianity. + +Footnote 90: + + _Meteor._, II, 5. + +Footnote 91: + + _Hist. nat._, VI, 23. + +Footnote 92: + + _Meteor._, II, 4–5. + +Footnote 93: + + _Quaest. nat._, V, 18. + +Footnote 94: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 43–47. + +Footnote 95: + + Modern meteorological studies would seem to show that the ancients + were not far astray in associating the etesians of Greece with the + monsoons of the Indian Ocean: “the etesiens [_sic_] are not local + winds, due to limited and local causes; they belong to the great + system of the proasiatic low pressure and are connected with the + Indian monsoons” (J. S. Paraskévopoulos, _The Etesiens_, in: Monthly + Weather Review, vol. 50, Washington, D. C., 1922, p. 420). + +Footnote 96: + + _Quaest. nat._, III, 22. + +Footnote 97: + + _Meteor._, II, 3. + +Footnote 98: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 100. + +Footnote 99: + + _Meteor._, II, 1. + +Footnote 100: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 102. + +Footnote 101: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 102: + + _Meteor._, I, 13. + +Footnote 103: + + The Coraxi inhabited the rugged coast where the Caucasus Mountains run + parallel to the Euxine north of Colchis. Modern soundings show that + the sea attains an average depth of 3000 feet within a dozen miles of + the shore. + +Footnote 104: + + Tillinghast, _Geogr. Knowl._, 1889, p. 28. + +Footnote 105: + + _Meteor._, II, 1. + +Footnote 106: + + _In som. Scip. comm._, II, 9. + +Footnote 107: + + Tozer, _Anc. Geogr._, 1897, p. 185. + +Footnote 108: + + Probably the best work on ancient and medieval tide theories is + Almagià, _Dottrina_, 1905. See also Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, 1914, + pp. 267–390. On the earliest Greek observations of the tides in the + Mediterranean see Giorgio Pasquali, _Ἄμπωτις und die ältesten + Beobachtungen der Gezeiten im Mittelmeer_, in: _Festschrift für + Wackernagel_, Göttingen, 1924, pp. 326–332 (not seen, title from + review in: Rivista geografica italiana, voi. xxxi, Florence, 1924, pp. + 86–88). + +Footnote 109: + + Strabo, _Geogr._, I, 3. + +Footnote 110: + + Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 269–271. + +Footnote 111: + + Our knowledge of Posidonius’ theory of the tides, which was explained + in a treatise on the ocean, is derived from extracts from this + treatise given in Strabo, _Geogr._, III, 5, and from a Latin + translation of Priscian of Lydia’s _Solutiones_ (citations from Duhem, + _Système_, vol. ii, p. 280). + +Footnote 112: + + Strabo, _loc. cit._, quotes Posidonius as stating that the ebb and + flood are greatly increased at the time of the summer solstice, which, + of course, is not so. Priscian, _op. cit._, quaest. vi, gives a truer + statement, that the greatest tides are those at the equinoxes + (citations from Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, p. 282). + +Footnote 113: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 97. + +Footnote 114: + + Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, p. 286. + +Footnote 115: + + Pliny, _loc. cit._, also notes that there may be local differences in + the period of the tides in different estuaries, although he explains + this by differences in the times of the rising of the stars rather + than as resulting from the influence of the configuration of the + coast. + +Footnote 116: + + _Quaest. nat._, III, 28. + +Footnote 117: + + _In som. Scip. comm._, II, 9. + +Footnote 118: + + _Meteor._, II, 2. + +Footnote 119: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 65. + +Footnote 120: + + _Meteor._, I, 13; II, 8; Seneca, _Quaest. nat._, III, 15; III, 26; VI, + _passim_. See Gilbert, _Meteorol. Theorien_, 1907, pp. 399–402. + +Footnote 121: + + Seneca, _Quaest. nat._, III, 15. On the springs and fountains of the + ancient world, many of which were believed to be the outlets of + subterranean water courses, see J. R. Smith, _Springs and Wells in + Greek and Roman Literature: Their Legends and Locations_, New York and + London, 1922 (on the Arethusa and Alpheus myth see pp. 669–672). + +Footnote 122: + + Cumont, _After Life_, 1922, p. 78. + +Footnote 123: + + _ibid._, p. 79. + +Footnote 124: + + _ibid._, pp. 80–81. + +Footnote 125: + + _ibid._, pp. 7–12. + +Footnote 126: + + _ibid._, pp. 87–89. + +Footnote 127: + + _ibid._, p. 90. + +Footnote 128: + + See above, p. 227, and below, p. 450, note 80. + +Footnote 129: + + _Phaedo_, 112. + +Footnote 130: + + _Meteor._, I, 13. + +Footnote 131: + + _Quaest. nat._, III, 9–10. + +Footnote 132: + + _Meteor._, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 133: + + See Capelle, _Berges- und Wolkenhöhen_, 1916, pp. 2–12, for a full + discussion of the sources of Aristotle’s statements regarding the + connection between mountains and the sources of rivers. + +Footnote 134: + + Seneca, _Quaest. nat._, III, 10. On Gregory’s theory see Kretschmer, + _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, p. 93. + +Footnote 135: + + See Khvostov, _Istoriya_, 1907, pp. 53–56; Langenmaier, _Alte + Kenntnis_, 1916, _passim._ + +Footnote 136: + + _Quaest. nat._, IV, _passim_. + +Footnote 137: + + These proofs were of two sorts: first, those which were intended to + demonstrate the physical impossibility of there being any snow in + Ethiopia; and, secondly, those which were intended to show that river + floods actually known to be caused by melting snow do not come in + midsummer but earlier in the year. + +Footnote 138: + + See above, pp. 206–207. + +Footnote 139: + + _Hist. nat._, V, 9. + +Footnote 140: + + _ibid._, II, 86–92. + +Footnote 141: + + _ibid._, II, 90. Plato describes the disappearance of Atlantis in the + _Timaeus_ and in the _Critias_; he states that the story came from an + Egyptian priest at Sais (_Dialogues_, Jowett’s transl., 1892, vol. + iii, pp. 429–433). + +Footnote 142: + + _Phaedo_, III. On ancient and medieval theories regarding the interior + of the earth, see Stegmann, _Anschauungen_, 1913, _passim_. + +Footnote 143: + + _Meteor._, II, 7–8. “Aristotle sums up his views of the causes of + winds, earthquakes, lightning, and thunder towards the end of + _Meteor._, II, 9, where he says that they all are essentially the + same, viz. a dry exhalation which produces earthquakes when operating + within the earth, winds when operating about the surface of the earth, + and lightning and thunder when operating among the clouds” (Lones, + _Arist. Researches_, 1912, p. 45). + +Footnote 144: + + _Quaest. nat._, VI, is devoted almost entirely to earthquakes. + +Footnote 145: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 79–80. + +Footnote 146: + + _Meteor._, II, 8. + +Footnote 147: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 106. + +Footnote 148: + + See especially Capelle, _Berges- und Wolkenhöhen_, 1916. See also + below, p. 447, note 27a. + +Footnote 149: + + _Meteor._, I, 13; Capelle, _op. cit._, p. 3. See also Günther, + _Optische Beweisung_, 1920, p. 374, note. + +Footnote 150: + + “Dicaearchus, vir in primis eruditus, regum cura permensus montes, ex + quibus altissimum prodidit Pelium MCCL passuum ratione perpendiculari” + (_Hist. nat._, II, 65). Dicaearchus also wrote a treatise on the + mountains of the Peloponnesus and of other parts of Greece. See + Günther, _Bergbesteigungen_, 1896. + +Footnote 151: + + Capelle, _op. cit._, p. 16. + +Footnote 152: + + _ibid._, p. 17. + +Footnote 153: + + _ibid._, pp. 19–20. See also Thalamas, _Géogr. d’Ératosthène_, 1921, + pp. 104–110. + +Footnote 154: + + See above, p. 214. + +Footnote 155: + + Capelle, _op. cit._, p. 24. For discussion of other figures regarding + the heights of mountains as they were estimated in antiquity, see the + same, pp. 30–31. + +Footnote 156: + + Berger, _Geschichte_, 1903, p. 640. + +Footnote 157: + + _ibid._, p. 407. + +Footnote 158: + + Peschel, _Geschichte_, 1877, pp. 43–44. + +Footnote 159: + + The sun and the moon appear to revolve around the earth every + twenty-four hours more or less. If the same eclipse of the moon is + seen at A (to the west of B) one hour earlier than at B, obviously the + difference in longitude between A and B will be 1/24 of the + circumference of the earth, or 15°. + +Footnote 160: + + Berger, _op. cit._, pp. 18, 468–476. + +Footnote 161: + + _Hist. nat._, II, 70. + +Footnote 162: + + _Geogr._, I, 4. + +Footnote 163: + + A useful general history of ancient cartography (i. e. of the + Egyptians, Hebrews, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Greeks), though + sometimes misleading in details, is Cebrian, _Geschichte der + Kartographie_, 1923. This includes an appendix by Joseph Fischer, + _Ptolemaios als Kartograph_, pp. 113–129. See also Kubitschek’s + important article “Karten” in _Paulys Real-Encyclopädie_, 1919. + +Footnote 164: + + So called because it was discovered by Conrad Peutinger in 1507. + Reproduced on two-thirds the scale of the original in colors by Konrad + Miller in _Weltkarte des Castorius_, 1888; also a photographic + reproduction by the Imperial Library, Vienna, 1888. See also more + especially Miller, _Itin. rom._, 1916. Miller (_Itin. rom._, pp. + xxvi-xxxvi) ascribes its composition to a certain Castorius of the + fourth century of our era. + +Footnote 165: + + The questions of whether or not Ptolemy drew maps to accompany the + text of his _Geography_, whether or not the existing maps in Greek + manuscripts and in printed fifteenth-century texts of Ptolemy’s + _Geography_ can really be ascribed to Ptolemy, and whether they are + more, or less, authentic than the texts of the _Geography_ are the + subject of bitter controversies in the history of geography. For + further discussion of this matter and for references to the literature + dealing with it, see the works of Dinse, Schütte, Tudeer, and Fischer, + cited in the Bibliography. + +Footnote 166: + + See Detlefsen, _Ursprung_, 1906; Lessert, _L’oeuvre géogr._, 1909. + +Footnote 167: + + See Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. i, 1897, p. 379, note 2. + +Footnote 168: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, pp. 66–70, and vol. ii, 1895, + _passim_; Beazley, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 378. The Roman maps would + seem to be in turn related to Greek maps of the Eratosthenic school in + general form and extent. Some of them showed, doubtless, in addition + to the _orbis terrarum_, an austral continent beyond the equator (see + below, p. 385, note 58). While in a broad way we may accept Miller’s + main conclusions that the cartography of imperial Rome exerted some + influence over medieval cartography, it is not impossible that Miller + is occasionally over-ingenious in his attempt to demonstrate specific + relationships. See below, p. 458, note 17. + +Footnote 169: + + These were the invention of Hipparchus (Avezac, _Projection_, 1863, + pp. 16–20). The stereographic projection, called planisphere, was + described by Ptolemy in a treatise entitled _Planisphere_ which was + translated into Latin from the Arabic during the time of the Crusades. + See below, p. 398, note 36. + +Footnote 170: + + Eratosthenes placed Meroë at 10,000 stades south of Alexandria and the + limit of the _oikoumene_ at 3400 stades south of Meroë (Strabo, + _Geogr._, I, 4, 2). He placed the tropic at Syene 5000 stades south of + Alexandria (Cleomedes, _De motu corp. cael._, I, 10). Therefore the + limit of the _oikoumene_ according to Eratosthenes must have been + 10,000 + 3400 − 5000 = 8400 stades south of the tropic. As + Eratosthenes reckoned the circumference of the earth at 252,000 stades + (see above, p. 371, note 51), 1° must have contained 700 stades, and + the limit of the _oikoumene_ must have fallen in his opinion 8400 ÷ + 700 = 12° south of the tropic, or at approximately latitude 11° 30′ N. + +Footnote 171: + + See Barthold, _Erforschung des Orients_, 1913, p. 10. + +Footnote 172: + + On ancient theories regarding the sources of the Nile see Khvostov, + _Istoriya_, 1907, pp. 53–68, and Langenmaier, _Alte Kenntnis_, 1916, + pp. 1–144. + +Footnote 173: + + Pliny says (_Hist. nat._, II, 108) that the distance from the + southernmost limits of the habitable world to Meroë in Ethiopia is + 1000 Roman miles and that the distance by river from Syene, on the + tropic, to Meroë was found by an expedition sent out by Nero to be 871 + miles. If we make this arbitrarily 700 miles in order to take into + account the windings of the river, we get a total of 1700 miles. In + the same passage Pliny states that Eratosthenes found the + circumference of the earth to be 252,000 stades, or 31,500 Roman + miles. The 1700 miles which represent the distance south of the tropic + at which Pliny places the Ethiopian Ocean are therefore equivalent to + 13,600 stades, and these, in turn, to 19³⁄₇° (see above, note 169, for + method of calculating this figure). The southern limit of the + _oikoumene_ thus falls at about latitude 4° N. (23½°–19³⁄₇°). + +Footnote 174: + + See Langenmaier, _op. cit._, pp. 6–37, for the most recent and + thorough attempt at an interpretation of the Ptolemaic geography of + these parts of Africa. + +Footnote 175: + + That Ptolemy’s knowledge of the Central African lake region was + derived from the east coast of Africa rather than from the upper Nile + valley is shown by Langenmaier, _op. cit._, and by Khvostov, + _Istoriya_, 1907. pp. 65–66. + +Footnote 176: + + “Nam Syene sub ipso tropico est, Meroe autem tribus milibus + octingentis stadiis in perustam a Syene introrsum recedit, et ab illa + usque ad terram cinnamoni feracem sunt stadia octingenta, et per haec + omnia spatia perustae licet rari tamen vita fruuntur habitantes. Ultra + vero jam inaccessum est propter nimium solis ardorem” (Macrobius, _In + som. Scip. comm._, II, 8, 3). In other words, the border of the + habitable part of the world was placed by Macrobius 3800 + 800 = 4600 + stades, or about 6½°, south of the tropic, that is to say at about + latitude 17° N. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER II + THE CONTRIBUTION OF WESTERN CHRISTENDOM BEFORE 1100 A. D. + +Footnote 177: + + See above, pp. 41–42. + +Footnote 178: + + On the geographical work of Byzantine writers, see Krumbacher, + _Geschichte_, 1897, pp. 409–427. Krumbacher distinguishes between two + types of Byzantine geographical treatise: (1) scientific or + theoretical, and (2) practical. The first consists almost exclusively + of commentaries on, redactions of, or compilations of excerpts from + earlier Byzantine works. The second type includes lists of + ecclesiastical sees or provinces, statistical lists for the use of + government officials, itineraries, sailors’ manuals, pilgrims’ + handbooks, and the like. The _Christian Topography_ of Cosmas + Indicopleustes, with its fantastic description of the world, is of the + first type. It was held in high favor and became a principal source of + geographical “knowledge” among the Slavic people of the early Middle + Ages (_ibid._, p. 35). + + With the eleventh and twelfth centuries came a great literary revival + at Constantinople. Michael Psellos (born 1018) besides being a poet + was a prolific writer on philosophy, philology, history, law, and + natural science. Among his works on the last-named subject were a + series of essays on meteorology (_ibid._, pp. 433–444, esp. + bibliography, p. 442). Nikephoras Blemmydes (thirteenth century) also + wrote on matters of geographical interest (_ibid._, p. 448). + +Footnote 179: + + See above, pp. 48 and 75. + +Footnote 180: + + Levantine traders were present in no inconsiderable numbers along the + main avenues of commerce and in the larger towns of Italy, France, and + England. The introduction of monachism into the West may be in part + attributed to contacts with the Orient maintained in the early Middle + Ages. Among the marvelous legends transmitted from the Levant to the + Occident were the stories of St. Thomas’ voyage to India and the + Romance of Alexander (see above, pp. 49, 50, 73, 74, and also below, + note 8; see also Bréhier, _Les colonies_, 1903). On diplomatic and + political relations between Constantinople and the West during the + early Middle Ages, see A. Gasquet, _L’Empire byzantin et la monarchie + franque_, Paris, 1888. On Greek settlements in Magna Graecia and their + influence upon Occidental culture, see Pierre Batiffol, _L’Abbaye de + Rossano_, Paris, 1891, Introduction. + +Footnote 181: + + e. g. in: Müller(us), _Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia_ (under “Ptolemy” + in the Bibliography), atlas, 1901. + +Footnote 182: + + e. g. St. Sever Beatus map, reproduction accompanying Miller, + _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895 (our Fig. 2, p. 69, above). + +Footnote 183: + + For example, those of Origen (second century) in the Eastern Church + and of Ambrose (340–397) in the Western. On the hexaemeral exegesis + see Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877; Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, + 1914, pp. 393–501; Robbins, _Hexaemeral Lit._, 1912. + +Footnote 184: + + Exodus, xxvi. + +Footnote 185: + + See above, pp. 72–73, 287–288. + +Footnote 186: + + The Apocryphal Acts arose out of attempts of early heretical sects to + provide apostolic authority for their beliefs. Ecclesiastical + authorities complained most bitterly of a certain Manichaean, Lucius + (or Leucius) Charinus, as the author of these documents. We do not + possess any of Charinus’ writings in the original. The most important + collection of Apocryphal Acts was probably made in the seventh century + and was commonly, though mistakenly, ascribed to Abdias, said to have + been one of the Apostles who established himself as the first bishop + of Babylon. Pseudo-Abdias drew from Charinus for the Acts of Andrew + and Matthew. See Rudolf Hoffman’s article on the New Testament + Apocrypha in _Realenzyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und + Kirche_, begründet von S. S. Herzog, 3rd edit., by Albert Hauck, vol. + i, Leipzig, 1896, pp. 664–668. + + The account of the Acts of St. Thomas in the Pseudo-Abdias version was + probably originally composed in Syriac, translated later into Greek, + and from Greek into Latin. From an analysis of the details of the + story (particularly the plants and animals mentioned in it) Philipps + concludes that the legend originated in the Euphrates valley and that + St. Thomas was apostle of the Parthian empire and of India in the + limited sense of that part of India which includes the Indus valley + only (Philipps, _St. Thomas_, 1903). These conclusions are in the main + borne out by Dahlmann in the latest and most satisfactory examination + of the legend of St. Thomas. Dahlmann believes that within the story, + to which many legendary elements became attached, may be found a + kernel of fact. He maintains that connections by sea were in existence + in the first century after Christ between the Roman province of Syria + and northern India and that by this route St. Thomas reached the court + of Gundophorus, a Parthian king of the Kabul valley and of Peshawar. + The second part of the story relates the martyrdom of Thomas at the + court of a King Mazdai, or Mazdeus. Some have thought that the kingdom + of Mazdeus may have been situated in southern India, where + subsequently there grew up a large colony of Nestorian Christians who + claimed that their church was founded by St. Thomas himself. What + little evidence there is, Dahlmann believes, is against this + identification. He holds that the death of Thomas occurred in + northwestern India (Dahlmann, _Thomas-Legende_, 1912, _passim_). + +Footnote 187: + + On the influence of the Bible in molding geographical theory and on + the matter of interpretation, see Kretschmer, _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, + Einleitung, pp. 5–9. + +Footnote 188: + + The great exponents of the allegorical and mystical method of exegesis + during the early centuries of our era were the scholars of Alexandria; + the literal method was primarily that of the Antiochians and Syrians + (_ibid._, pp. 17–20). + +Footnote 189: + + Literal interpretation led men like Lactantius to the belief that the + earth is flat. The pilgrim Theodosius, about 530 A. D., described the + hills near the River Jordan which skipped like lambs when Christ came + down to be baptized and added that when he was there the hills still + appeared to be jumping (Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. i, 1897, p. 102). Peter + Alphonsi in the twelfth century accused earlier Jewish doctors of + going to extremes in their literal interpretation of Scripture, even + to the extent of taking literally the words of the Psalm: “Flumina + plaudent manibus, montes exsultabunt” (Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clvii, + col. 553). + + Cosmas Indicopleustes’ fantastic system of the world, based on the + account of the Tabernacle of the Lord, is a famous and striking + example of literal interpretation carried to an extreme. Cosmas was + led by the Biblical text (and by his own imagination) to maintain + aggressively that the universe is shaped like a strong-box with a + semi-cylindrical cover. + +Footnote 190: + + “Cum credimus, nihil desideramus ultra credere. Hoc enim prius + credimus, non esse quod ultra credere debeamus.” Quoted by Kretschmer, + _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, p. 2. + +Footnote 191: + + _ibid._, p. 22. + +Footnote 192: + + On Platonism among the Church Fathers, see Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, + 1914, pp. 408–417. The combination of Neoplatonism with Christianity + has been called Augustinianism (_ibid._, vol. ii, p. 417). + +Footnote 193: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 44–47. + +Footnote 194: + + _ibid._, pp. 62–64. + +Footnote 195: + + _ibid._, pp. 64–67. + +Footnote 196: + + _ibid._, p. 9. + +Footnote 197: + + _ibid._, pp. 44–47. See _De div. nat._, III, 33 (Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. cxxii, col. 719). Stegmann, _Anschauungen_, 1913, p. 60, + contrasts the speculative and critical mind of John Scot with the + credulous spirit of Raban Maur, his contemporary. + +Footnote 198: + + Mori, _Misuraz. eratos._, 1911, p. 391. + +Footnote 199: + + See Geidel, _Alfred der Grosse_, 1904. + +Footnote 200: + + Aethicus of Istria was often confused in the Middle Ages with a + so-called Julius Aethicus, who may have written a _Cosmographia_ which + probably dates from the sixth century and was edited in Riese, _Geogr. + lat. min._, 1878, pp. 71–103. See Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. i, 1897, pp. + 355–362. + +Footnote 201: + + The _Orbis descriptio_ of Dionysius and Priscian’s Latin version of it + were edited by Müller in _Geogr. graeci min._, vol. ii, 1882, pp. + 103–176, 190–199. + +Footnote 202: + + The unknown author most frequently cited is a Roman cosmographer of + the name of Castorius. The citations, names, and extracts from + Castorius correspond very closely to the legends on the Peutinger + Table and have led Miller to the conclusion that the latter represents + the work of Castorius. See Miller, _Weltkarte des Castorius_, 1888, + pp. 36–47; the same, _Mappaemundi_, vol. vi, 1898, pp. 36–37; the + same, _Itin. rom._, 1916, pp. xxvi-xxxvi. + +Footnote 203: + + See above, p. 104. + +Footnote 204: + + The various Latin versions of the Romance of Alexander were destined + to exert much influence on the form which the legend was to assume in + the twelfth century and later. The earliest version of the Latin + _Pseudo-Callisthenes_ was made in the fourth century of our era by + Julius Valerius; but this was little read in later centuries, and only + three manuscripts of it are now extant. The work upon which most of + the medieval versions of the Romance were based was an _Epitoma_, or + abridgment, of Julius Valerius’ translation, made perhaps in the ninth + century. In addition to Valerius’ version and the _Epitoma_, we have a + _Letter from Alexander to Aristotle_ describing the marvels of India. + Longer, though corresponding essentially to chapter 17 of the third + book of Valerius, it did not form part of the _Epitoma_, but was + widely circulated as an independent booklet. A correspondence between + Alexander and Dindimus concerning the Brahmins is also found in a + ninth-century Latin form, perhaps translated by Alcuin from a Greek + original. See Meyer, _Alexandre le grand_, 1886, vol. ii, _passim_; + Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. i, pp. 551–557. + + In the tenth century a wholly new version of the legend, also derived + from the _Pseudo-Callisthenes_, appeared in the West. This was the + _Historia de praeliis_, the Greek original of which was said to have + been brought from Constantinople by a certain “Leo Archipresbyter” and + translated by him into Latin. See Landgraf, _Die Vita Alexandri_, + 1885, and Krumbacher, _Geschichte_, 1897, pp. 849–852. + +Footnote 205: + + See below, p. 391, note 130. + +Footnote 206: + + Much has been written on St. Brandan and his wanderings. The + _Peregrinatio Sancti Brandani abbatis_, or Latin version of the legend + (also known as _Navigatio_ or _Narratio_), the date of which is + uncertain, was published by Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871. See also + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. i, 1897, pp. 230–240. More recent notable works + dealing with Brandan’s voyages and with other fabulous tales of the + Atlantic are Westropp, _Brasil_, 1912; Babcock, _St. Brendan’s + Islands_, 1919; idem, _Legendary Islands_, 1922, pp. 34–49. That some + of the stories of the St. Brandan legend were derived from Oriental + sources (and not vice versa, as Schröder, _op. cit._, pp. xii-xiii, + attempted to show) was demonstrated by De Goeje, _St. Brandan_, 1890. + +Footnote 207: + + T. D. Hardy, _Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the Early + History of Great Britain_, London, 1862, vol. i, p. 159, cites a + ninth-century manuscript in the Vatican (Regin. Christinae, 217). + Hardy mentions five twelfth-century and ten thirteenth-century + manuscripts of the _Vita S. Brendani_. This life of St. Brandan was + printed by Jubinal, _Saint Brendaines_, 1836. + +Footnote 208: + + Beazley, _op. cit._, vol. i, 1897, pp. 186–188. + +Footnote 209: + + See above, pp. 13–14. + +Footnote 210: + + See above, p. 13, and Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, 1914, pp. 447–449. + Bible references and quotations throughout the present work, except + where otherwise indicated, are based on the Douay and Rheims + translation of the Vulgate. + +Footnote 211: + + _ibid._, p. 414. The similarities between the accounts of the Creation + in the _Timaeus_ and in Genesis were explained by ascribing to Plato + knowledge of the Bible. Augustine was particularly struck by the + resemblance of the Platonic and Scriptural doctrines. Peter Comestor + in our period actually believed “that Plato read the Mosaic books in + Egypt and confounded the spirit of God (Gen. i, 2) with the World + Soul” (Robbins, _Hexaemeral Lit._, 1912, pp. 12–13). + +Footnote 212: + + Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 408, 454–460, 478–487. + +Footnote 213: + + Augustine, _De civ. Dei_, XII, 13 (as cited by Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. + ii, pp. 452–453). + +Footnote 214: + + Περὶ ἀρχῶν, II, 3, 4–5 (as cited by Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. + 449). + +Footnote 215: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pp. 462–471. + +Footnote 216: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, p. 464. It must be pointed out, however, that the + Neoplatonic, as distinguished from the Peripatetic philosophers, + believed in a creation (see above, note 33), even though they denied + that there was a commencement of the world! A discussion of the highly + abstract classical and medieval theories of time and space would lead + us too far astray from the field of geography. Suffice it to remark + that subsequent medieval commentators on the hexaemeron in general + followed Augustine, who adopted the Platonic doctrine that God created + the universe and time simultaneously. Augustine said: “Procul dubio, + non est mundus factus in tempore, sed cum tempore” (_De civ. Dei_, XI, + 6, as cited by Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 467; Robbins, _op. + cit._, pp. 7, 65–66, 82–83). See below, p. 418, note 26. + +Footnote 217: + + See above, p. 145. + +Footnote 218: + + Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877, is devoted in the main to this + subject. On Bede, see the same, pp. 246–252. See also Robbins, _op. + cit._, _passim_. For a discussion of theological, as distinguished + from physical, concepts of the Creation among the early Christians, + see A. C. McGiffert, _The God of the Early Christians_, New York, + 1924, pp. 146–176. + +Footnote 219: + + White, _Warfare_, 1920, vol. i, pp. 89–90. + +Footnote 220: + + Günther, _Kosmogr. Ansch._, 1882, discusses the influence of Jewish + gnosticism and Aristotelianism on scholastic geography. Most of the + early Jews conceived of a flat earth covered by a concave heaven + through a window in which the sun and moon pass out in the west, + whence they return to the east around the outside of the firmament. + +Footnote 221: + + Sura, ii, 20; clxxi, 18; clxxviii, 6. + +Footnote 222: + + From the King James version. One form of the Vulgate reads: “Qui sedet + super gyrum terrae, et habitatores eius sunt quasi locustae: qui + extendit velut nihilum caelos, et expandit eos sicut tabernaculum ad + inhabitandum.” The last phrase reads in another form used by the + Church Fathers: “qui statuit velut fornicem coelum, et extendit velut + tentorium” (Marinelli, _Scritti minori_, vol. i, [1908?], p. 326, note + 2). The King James version renders the spirit of the Latin more + accurately than the Douay and Rheims version, in which the word + _gyrum_ is translated “globe.” + +Footnote 223: + + Marinelli, _La geogr._, 1882, p. 534 (also in _Scritti minori_, vol. + i, [1908?], pp. 325–326, where there is an important footnote by Carlo + Errera). See also Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. i, p. 275, note 1, and pp. + 328–332. + +Footnote 224: + + Marinelli, _op. cit._, pp. 538–546 (also in _Scritti minori_, vol. i, + [1908?], pp. 332–343); Beazley, _op. cit._, pp. 273–303. + +Footnote 225: + + _Div. institut._, III, 24 (as cited by Kretschmer, _Phys. Erdk._, + 1889, pp. 37f.). Thorndike, however, believes that the “opposition of + early Christian thought to natural science has been rather unduly + exaggerated” and that Lactantius “should hardly be cited as typical of + early Christian attitude in such matters” (_Magic_, 1923, vol. i, p. + 480). + +Footnote 226: + + The question of exactly what the early medieval thinkers in the West + thought on this subject has been acrimoniously discussed from opposite + points of view by Catholic and Protestant scholars. In the seventies + of the last century Schneid (_Erdrundung_, 1877) defended the science + of the Middle Ages against the attacks of Protestants like Whewell, + Draper, and Günther, who accused the early ecclesiastical writers of + servile dependence upon the letter of Scripture. Schneid’s article is + more particularly an indictment of another article of the same title + by Siegmund Günther in: _Studien_, 1877–1879. Schneid believed that + Günther, through insufficient acquaintance with the literature of the + period, had been led to minimize the achievements and worth of + patristic science. Augustine, declared Schneid, nowhere denied the + sphericity of the earth, and his mention of the antipodes shows that + he was well acquainted with the theory. Isidore, Bede, Raban Maur, and + Adam of Bremen, he maintained, were all firmly convinced that the + earth is a sphere. While we may concede that Schneid was right in the + case of Bede and Adam, that Isidore and Raban Maur held to the + doctrine of a spherical earth is perhaps more doubtful. See below, + note 51, and p. 385, note 53. Furthermore, it is a little difficult to + understand Schneid’s contention (p. 436) that Cosmas did not deny the + sphericity of the earth through religious obscurantism but rather on + the grounds of practical experience. See also below, p. 386, note 64, + and p. 424, note 100. + + More recently the Jesuit father, Reverend F. S. Betten, has + contributed an article entitled _Knowledge of the Sphericity of the + Earth During the Earlier Middle Ages_ to the Catholic Historical + Review, vol. iii (N. S.), Washington, D. C., 1923, pp. 74–90. In this + he argues that “we have ... at least one witness in every century to + the tradition of the sphericity of the earth” (p. 86), and he cites as + these witnesses Hilary of Poitiers (died 366), Ambrose of Milan (died + 397), Augustine (died 430), Cassiodorus (died 575), and Isidore of + Seville (died 636). Echoes of the Ptolemaic astronomy, to be sure, may + be detected in the writings of these men. On the other hand, no one of + them makes a clean-cut avowal of belief that the earth is a globe, and + the passages quoted by Father Betten are not wholly irreconcilable + with the doctrine of a flat earth. It is not enough, in dealing with + the cosmographical opinions of the Church Fathers, to cite isolated + remnants of classical science scattered through their works. Without + taking into consideration all of a writer’s assertions regarding a + specific topic one can hardly arrive at safe conclusions regarding his + opinions on that topic. Father Betten puts much stock in Isidore’s + supposed “faithful representation of the main tenets of Ptolemy’s + theory” (_ibid._, p. 84). On the other hand he makes no mention of + passages in Isidore which may be reconciled only with belief in a flat + earth (see below, notes 50, and 51). We venture to hold that we are + not as yet in a position to make any definite pronouncements upon the + cosmographical opinions of the other writers cited by Father Betten. + Such pronouncements should be made only after thorough investigation + of _all_ that these writers stated bearing directly or indirectly on + matters of cosmography. Such an investigation has not been made as + yet. Is it not, however, probable that the theories of a flat earth + elaborated by the Eastern Fathers (see above, p. 383, note 45), + theories built upon the interpretation of Scripture, were at least as + influential in molding the early medieval cosmology of the Occident as + the then often discredited relics of Greek science? + +Footnote 227: + + Kretschmer, _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, p. 50. See also the preceding note. + +Footnote 228: + + _De nat. rer._, 10. Why this passage should be interpreted to indicate + belief in a flat earth is explained by Brehaut, _Isidore_, 1912, pp. + 50–54. + +Footnote 229: + + “The size of the sun is greater than that of the earth and so from the + moment when it rises it appears equally to east and west at the same + time” (_Etym._, III, 47; translated by Brehaut, _op. cit._, p. 147). + Gribaudi (_Isidoro_, 1905, p. 22) argued that Isidore of Seville held + to the theory of sphericity. + +Footnote 230: + + Bede, _De nat. rer._, 46. Bede’s proof was derived from Pliny, _Hist. + nat._, II, 64. + +Footnote 231: + + See Mori, _Misuraz. eratos._, 1911, pp. 390–391. C. B. Jourdain + (_Infl. Arist._, 1861, pp. 6–7) maintained that Raban Maur (_De + universo_, XII, 2) inscribed the circumference of the terrestrial + globe in an ideal cube, the angles of which correspond to the four + cardinal points. Nothing in the text, however, would justify our + supposing that Raban Maur had in mind either a globe or a cube. On the + contrary he was doubtless thinking of the _orbis terrarum_ in the + Roman sense (see below, note 58), that is to say, of the circle of the + known lands. Peschel (_Geschichte_, 1877, p. 100, note 3) and + Marinelli (_La geogr._, 1882, p. 552, note 5; _Scritti minori_, vol. + i, [1908?], p. 352, note 1) tried to interpret the passage to mean + that Raban Maur held that the _orbis terrarum_ was square. Bertolini + (_I quattro angoli_, 1910, pp. 1439–1441), however, has demonstrated + conclusively that the text in question indicates that he thought it + was a circle. + +Footnote 232: + + _De div. nat._, III, 33, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxxii, cols. + 716–718. + +Footnote 233: + + _Gerberti opera_, Bubnov’s edit., 1899, p. 362. See the same, pp. + 310–313, note 1, for discussion of the reasons why it is not the work + of Gerbert. + +Footnote 234: + + Kretschmer, _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, p. 61. + +Footnote 235: + + Santarem, _Essai_, vol. i, 1849, Introduction, pp. 1–56; Simar, + _Afrique centrale_, 1912, _passim_. + +Footnote 236: + + The idea of antipodes in our modern sense of the term, as referring to + regions on the opposite side of a spherical earth, came from the + Greeks. Notably the doctrine of Crates of Mallos, it was adopted by + Martianus Capella and Macrobius, who passed it on to the medieval West + (see above, p. 18). Lactantius and Augustine argued against the + possibility of such antipodes. The practical spirit of the Romans had + not been interested in theoretical regions on the other side of the + earth (see above, p. 10). Roman maps, we may infer, were usually + circular and showed an ocean stream running around the _orbis + terrarum_, or three known continents (Asia, Europe, Africa). Sometimes + an unknown fourth continent beyond the impassable equatorial ocean was + depicted (see Simar, _op. cit._, p. 150). These Roman maps probably + formed the basis of many maps of the early Middle Ages. But during the + Middle Ages, as has been the case with modern attempts to interpret + these theories, true antipodes became confused with the fourth, or + austral, continent, belief in which did not necessitate belief in a + spherical world. Isidore was probably referring merely to the austral + continent when he wrote: “Extra tres partes orbis, quarta pars trans + Oceanum interior est in meridie quae solis ardore nobis incognita est, + in cujus finibus antipodas fabulose inhabitare produntur” (_Etym._, + XIV, 5). + + Arguing thus, Simar contends, in his brilliant study of Central + African geography in antiquity and the Middle Ages, that medieval + discussions of the antipodes referred to the austral continent and did + not necessarily have anything to do with the question of belief in the + sphericity of the earth. While this may be true, he gives, in the + opinion of the writer, a misleading impression that the doctrine of a + spherical earth met with scant favor in the West until as late as the + twelfth century (Simar, _op. cit._, pp. 157–158). He tends to ignore + the important influence of Macrobius and of Martianus Capella in + keeping alive from the time of the Carolingian Renaissance onward the + doctrine that the earth is a globe. On the influence of Macrobius, see + Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 62–71; and on Martianus Capella, + see especially Mori, _Misuraz. eratos._, 1911, pp. 390–391. + +Footnote 237: + + _Div. instit._, III, 24. + +Footnote 238: + + _De civ. Dei_, XVI, 9. It should also be pointed out that Augustine + (_loc. cit._), in addition, objects to the possibility of there being + inhabited antipodes on the purely rational grounds that it would be + impossible for men to have reached such distant continents across the + ocean. The Catholic father, P. Mandonnet (_Les idées cosmogr._, 1893, + p. 55), asserted that it was rather on the strength of physical + argument than on that of Scriptural exegesis that Augustine based his + opposition to antipodeans. At all events, Mandonnet admits that it was + largely through Augustine’s immense prestige that the theory of the + possibility of inhabited antipodes was excluded from general + acceptance throughout the Middle Ages (_ibid._, p. 56). + +Footnote 239: + + _Etym._, IX, 2. See Boffito, _Leggenda_, 1903, p. 592, note 4. + +Footnote 240: + + _De temporum ratione_, 34. + +Footnote 241: + + “Absit ut nos quisquam vel hoc contentisse abstruere, vel antipodarum + fabulas recipere arbitretur, quae sunt fidei Christianae omnino + contraria [_sic_]” (_Classicorum auctorum e vaticanis codicibus + editorum series_, vol. iii, edited by A. Mai, Rome, 1831, p. 337). For + John Scot Erigena on the antipodes and for other texts dealing with + the subject see Rand, _Johannes Scottus_, 1906, pp. 20–23. + +Footnote 242: + + Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. vi, col. 426; vol. xli, col. 487; _Mon. Germ. + hist._, _Script. rerum merovingicarum_, vol. vi, 1913, pp. 517–520. + Much has been written on Virgil of Salzburg and his relations to the + ecclesiastical authorities of his time. Protestants like Draper, + Whewell, White, and Siegmund Günther have looked upon Virgil as more + or less a martyr to the cause of freedom of thought. Catholics, on the + other hand, have tried to demonstrate that Virgil cleared himself of + the charge of heresy and that as a bishop he was able to carry on + valuable work for the church. See Krabbo, _Bischof Virgil_, 1903, and + Van der Linden, _Virgile de Salzbourg_, 1914. The latter maintains + that “contrairement à l’opinion reçue, Virgile de Salzbourg a été très + probablement un simple commentateur et non un novateur.... Sa théorie, + au lieu de marquer le début d’une ère de progrès dans les études + cosmographiques, constitue l’un des derniers reflets de la culture + classique avant la nuit du X^e siècle” (critique of Van der Linden, + _op. cit._, in Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of + Science and Civilization, vol. ii, Brussels, Sept. 1919, pp. 437–438). + +Footnote 243: + + See Marinelli, _Scritti minori_, vol. i, [1908?], pp. 331–332, note 4. + +Footnote 244: + + Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877, p. 340. See also White, + _Warfare_, 1920, vol. i, pp. 106–107. + +Footnote 245: + + “The influence of the Bible on the meteorological theories of the + Church Fathers was very limited. Even when the attempt was made to + hide the pagan influence in a Biblical shell, a close study reveals to + us a truly pagan philosophical core” (Hoffmann, _Anschauungen_, 1907, + p. 93). + +Footnote 246: + + For texts of those parts of Isidore’s _De natura rerum_ (chs. 32–41), + Bede’s _De natura rerum_ (chs. 25–36), and Raban Maur’s _De universo_ + (IX, 17–20, 25–28) which deal with meteorology, see Hellmann, + _Denkmäler_, 1904, pp. 1–19. + +Footnote 247: + + _Liber contra insulsam vulgi opinionem de grandine et tonitruis_ + (Poole, _Illustrations_, 1920, p. 36). + +Footnote 248: + + Poole, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 249: + + See J. C. Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, Part I, _The Magic Art and the + Evolution of Kings_, London, 1911, vol. i, pp. 244–331. + +Footnote 250: + + Poole, _op. cit._, p. 37. + +Footnote 251: + + For a discussion of various theories of the Church Fathers regarding + the waters above the firmament, with references to the sources, see + especially Hoffmann, _Anschauungen_, 1907, pp. 5–13. + +Footnote 252: + + Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, 1914, p. 489. + +Footnote 253: + + Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877, pp. 63, 226; Werner, _Kosm. + Wilhelm von Conches_, 1873, p. 322. + +Footnote 254: + + On the subject of the waters, Augustine made a statement which + typifies the medieval attitude towards the authority of Scripture: + “Proinde cum de isto fonte quaerimus quomodo id quod dictum est, + _ascendebat de terra, et irrigabat omnem faciem terrae_, non + impossibile videatur; si ea quae diximus impossibilia cuiquam + videatur, quaerat ipse aliud, quo tamen verax ista Scriptura + monstretur, quae procul dubio verax est, etiamsi non monstretur” (_De + Genesi ad litteram_, V, 9, in: _Corpus script. eccles. lat._, vol. + xxviii, sect. 3, pt. 1, p. 152). See also Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, + pp. 491–494. + +Footnote 255: + + _Hexaemeron_, II, 3, 9–11, in: _Corpus script. eccles. lat._, vol. + xxxii, sect. 1, pt. 1, pp. 47–50. + +Footnote 256: + + Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 489. + +Footnote 257: + + This idea was expressed by Basil, Augustine, and by the author of the + _De ordine creatorum liber_, a work sometimes attributed to Isidore + (Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. lxxxiii, cols. 920–921; Robbins, _Hexaemeral + Lit._, 1912, p. 69; Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 1915, p. 15). + +Footnote 258: + + This theory “avait été longuement exposée et discutée par Augustin + l’Hibernais” (Duhem, _loc. cit._). See also Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. + iii, 1915, pp. 12–13, and below, p. 432, note 27. + +Footnote 259: + + _Hexaemeron_, I, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xci, col. 20. + +Footnote 260: + + “Abyssus profunditas aquarum, impenetrabilis, sive speluncae aquarum + latentium, e quibus fontes et flumina procedunt; vel quae occulte + subtereunt, unde et Abyssus dictus. Nam omnes aquae, sive torrentes + per occultas venas ad matricem abyssum revertuntur” (_Etym._, XIII, + 20). In the text is given the translation of Brehaut, _Isidore_, 1912, + p. 241. + +Footnote 261: + + Kretschmer, _op. cit._, pp. 91–105. + +Footnote 262: + + _De Genesi ad litteram_, V, 9–10, in: _Corpus script. eccles. lat._, + vol. xxviii, sect. 3, pt. 1, pp. 152–154. + +Footnote 263: + + Kretschmer, _op. cit._, p. 95. + +Footnote 264: + + _ibid._, pp. 93–94. + +Footnote 265: + + Isidore, _De nat. rer._, 43. + +Footnote 266: + + Norlind, _Problem_, 1918, pp. 24–25. + +Footnote 267: + + _De mens. orb. terr._, Parthey’s edit., p. 76 (as cited by Kretschmer, + _op. cit._, p. 106). + +Footnote 268: + + _De nat. rer._, 40. + +Footnote 269: + + Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 1914, p. 461. + +Footnote 270: + + Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, V, 6, in: _Corpus script. eccles. lat._, + vol. xl, pt. 1, p. 218; Ambrose, _Hexaemeron_, IV, 7, 29–30, _ibid._, + vol. xxxii, sect. 1, pt. 1, pp. 134–136. + +Footnote 271: + + Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 13–14. See Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. xxxv, col. 2159. + +Footnote 272: + + Bede, _De nat. rer._, 39; _De temporum ratione_, 28–29. + +Footnote 273: + + _Hist. gentis Langobard._, I, 6; (Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. iii, pp. + 113–115). It has been thought that Paul the Deacon’s theory of the + whirlpools was derived from Norse traditions, but Nansen suggests that + it is just as probable that in this case “southern, originally + classical ideas ... have been localized in the Norse legends.” Virgil + mentions a gulf of the sea “which sucks the water into itself and + sends it up again.” Paul the Deacon speaks of whirlpools “not only in + the north, and off the Hebrides, but also between Britain and Spain, + and in the Strait of Messina.” With Adam of Bremen the whirlpool + becomes “exclusively northern, and later still we shall get it even at + the North Pole itself” (Nansen, _Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. i, p. + 159). + +Footnote 274: + + See above, pp. 192 and 194. + +Footnote 275: + + Kretschmer, _op. cit._, pp. 133–135. + +Footnote 276: + + Isidore, _Etym._, XIX, 6; _De nat. rer._, 47 (as cited by Stegmann, + _Anschauungen_, 1913, p. 29). + +Footnote 277: + + Stegmann, _op. cit._, pp. 15–20. + +Footnote 278: + + See above, pp. 28 and 29. + +Footnote 279: + + For data on the Biblical origins of ideas of Hell, for early medieval + conceptions of Hell, and for references on these subjects, see + Stegmann, _op. cit._, pp. 20–27. + +Footnote 280: + + See Geikie, _Love of Nature Among the Romans_, 1912. + +Footnote 281: + + Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 9–10. + +Footnote 282: + + From Claudian’s _Epithalamium_, verses 1 ff., and _De nuptiis Honorii + Augusti_, verse 49 (as cited by Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, p. 10). + +Footnote 283: + + Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, p. 10. + +Footnote 284: + + _ibid._, pp. 17–19. + +Footnote 285: + + Dr. R. P. Blake of Harvard, specialist in Russian and Caucasian + history, has been kind enough to furnish the writer with the following + references on the love of nature in the medieval Orient: Krachkovskii, + _The Divan of Abu’l-Wāwā, a Hamdanid Poet of the Eleventh Century_, + text, translation, introduction, and commentary, Academy of Sciences, + Petrograd, 1916 (in Russian); N. I. Marr, _Georgii Merchul, Zhitie sv. + Grigorii Khandzt‘iiskago_ (_George Merchul, Life of St. Gregory of + Khandzt‘a_), text, translation, and introduction, with a diary of a + journey to Klarjet’ia and Shavshet’ia, Teksti i Raziskaniya po + Armyano-Gruzinskoi filologii (Texts and Studies in Armenian and + Georgian Philology), vol. vii, Petrograd, 1911; _Life of St. + Serapion_, published by M. Janashvili K’artuli Mcerloba, in vol. ii of + his _Georgian Literature_, Tiflis, 1909 (in Georgian). Latin + translations of the two latter texts, which testify to the love of + wild nature, have been published by the Bollandist, Paul Peeters, in: + Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxvi-xxxvii, for 1917–1919, Brussels and + Paris, 1922, pp. 159–309. + +Footnote 286: + + Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, pp. 116–118. + +Footnote 287: + + _ibid._, pp. 161–162. + +Footnote 288: + + _Liber de astrolabio_, 19, in: _Gerberti opera_, Bubnov’s edit., 1899, + p. 142. + +Footnote 289: + + See especially Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. vi, 1898; Beazley, _Dawn_, + vol. i, 1897, pp. 387–391; Vidier, _Mappemonde de Théodulfe_, 1911, + pp. 289–292. + +Footnote 290: + + See above, pp. 35–36. + +Footnote 291: + + Among these are notably the crude Albi map dating from the eighth + century (Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 57–59), the + relatively accurate “Anglo-Saxon,” or “Cotton,” map dating probably + from the mid-tenth but perhaps from as late as the twelfth century + (Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, p. 31; Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, + p. 560), and a map drawn at Ripoll in Catalonia during the eleventh + century (Vidier, _op. cit._, pp. 293–305). + +Footnote 292: + + Simar, _Afrique centrale_, 1912, pp. 159–169, classifies these early + maps as follows: + + A. Maps derived from Roman representations of the _orbis terrarum_, or + circle of known lands, and adapted to serve the immediate purpose of + the cosmographer or historian whose works they were drawn to + illustrate. To this group belong the Sallust maps, the T-O maps, and + many maps in which the influence of Orosius appears to be predominant. + Simar believes that he can detect evidences of Byzantine influence + upon the latter, among which he includes the Albi and Cotton maps (see + the preceding note), and, from the time of the Crusades, the maps of + Guido (see above, p. 124), Henry of Mayence (see above, p. 124), and + the “Jerome” maps (see above, pp. 125–126). To this group also belong + the Psalter map, the Hereford and Ebstorf wall charts, and the maps in + the Chronicle of Ralph Hygden (see above, p. 125)—all dating from the + late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. + + B. Maps which aim to show the earth in its cosmographical relations, + “the lamentable débris of Greek cosmography.” To this group belong the + Macrobian maps of the zones. + + AB. Maps in which the purpose is a combination of the two elements + shown in the maps of classes A and B above. These show the _orbis + terrarum_ but add a fourth, uninhabitable part of the world beyond the + equator. To this class belong the Beatus maps (see above, pp. + 122–124), the _mappaemundi_ in Lambert’s _Liber floridus_ (see above, + p. 124), (and, we may add, the Ripoll map described by Vidier, _op. + cit._). + +Footnote 293: + + Beazley, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 1901, p. 625; Miller, _op. cit._, vol. + iii, 1895, pp. 122–126. + +Footnote 294: + + Beazley, _ibid._, pp. 627–631; Miller, _ibid._, pp. 116–122. T-O maps + and maps of similar simple diagrammatic character accompany + manuscripts of Isidore’s _Etymologiae_ and show the division of the + countries of the earth among the children of Noah. + +Footnote 295: + + Beazley, _ibid._, pp. 631–632; Miller, _ibid._, pp. 110–115. + +Footnote 296: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. i, 1895. + +Footnote 297: + + See Yule, _Cathay_, vol. i, 1915, preliminary essay; Beazley, _op. + cit._, vol. i, 1897, pp. 176–194. + +Footnote 298: + + See Tiander, _Poyezdki_, 1906. + +Footnote 299: + + See Coli, _Il paradiso terrestre dantesco_, 1897. + +Footnote 300: + + This is taken from the King James version, which here follows the + version of the Septuagint. Jerome translated the Hebrew as follows: + “And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the + beginning.” Raban Maur pointed out the divergence between these two + translations; likewise Peter Lombard in the twelfth century. See Coli, + _op. cit._, p. 68, and also below, p. 462, note 35. + +Footnote 301: + + “Post eosdem montes [i. e. Rhipaean Mountains] trans aquilonem + Hyperborei, apud quos mundi axis continua motione torquetur, gens + moribus prolixitate vitae, deorum cultu, aeris clementia, semenstri + die, fine etiam habitationis humanae praedicanda” (_De nupt. Phil. et + Merc._, VI, 664). “... hinc Attagenus sinus Hyperboreis beatitate + consimilis, quo incolae gratulantur qui circumactu vallium auras + nesciunt pestilentes” (_ibid._, VI, 693). + +Footnote 302: + + See above, p. 63. + +Footnote 303: + + Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 9–10, 87–88. + +Footnote 304: + + Kretschmer, _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, pp. 78–79. + +Footnote 305: + + From the King James version (see above, note 122). + +Footnote 306: + + On the river Pison see the description in Epiphanius, _Liber de XII + gemmis rationalis summi sacerdotis Hebraeorum_, in: _Corpus script. + eccles. lat._, vol. xxxv, pt. 2, pp. 747–748. + + As this book is in press there has come to the writer’s attention + Lutz’s interesting article, _Geographical Studies Among Babylonians + and Egyptians_, 1924, which shows that some of the cosmographical + ideas prevalent in the Christian Middle Ages may be traced back to + Babylonian origins. The origins of the belief in the four rivers of + Paradise, for instance, is unquestionably to be sought for in + Babylonian astrology and geography, two sciences closely allied. One + group among the Babylonians held that the earth’s surface forms a + quadrilateral, itself an exact counterpart of a portion of the + firmament, Pegasus α-δ. “Andromeda ... was identified with the + Euphrates which flow’s south, while the Tigris was considered to flow + parallel to the line between Pegasus α and δ. Two additional + watercourses, which later tradition designated as Pison and Gihon, + completed the watercourses around the trapezium. This view, however, + must have gone back to a time when conditions as they existed in + Babylonia were, _mutatis mutandis_, transferred to the sky; namely, it + was ultimately based on the cultivated field surrounded by irrigation + ditches” (_ibid._, pp. 168–169). + +Footnote 307: + + Kretschmer, _op. cit._, pp. 80–91. + +Footnote 308: + + On the legend of Gog and Magog see: Peschel, _Abhandlungen_, vol. i, + 1877, pp. 28–35; Lenormant, _Magog_, 1882; Marinelli, _Gog e Magog_, + 1882–1883 (also in _Scritti minori_, vol. i, [1908?], pp. 385–438); + and Graf, _Roma_, vol. ii, 1883, Appendix, pp. 507–563. + +Footnote 309: + + Lenormant, _Magog_, 1882, p. 10, note 2. + +Footnote 310: + + Sura xxi, 95, 96; sura xviii. The latter sura describes the deeds of + Alexander Dulkarnein, the two-horned—not Alexander the Great of + Macedon but, according to Arabic tradition, an older Yemenic conqueror + of the world (Peschel, _Abhandlungen_, vol. i, 1877, p. 30). + +Footnote 311: + + Procopius, _De bello Persico_, I, 10 (complete works of Procopius + edited by J. Haury, Leipzig, 1905). + +Footnote 312: + + Sackur, _Sibyll. Texte_, 1898, p. 72. + +Footnote 313: + + See above, p. 381, note 26. The connection of Alexander with Gog and + Magog is found in the _Historia de praeliis_. + +Footnote 314: + + See above, p. 381, note 26. + +Footnote 315: + + See above, p. 379, note 8. + +Footnote 316: + + _Anglo-Saxon Chron._, sub anno 883, in: “Rolls series” edit., no. 23, + edited by Benjamin Thorpe, London, 1861, vol. i, pp. 150–153. + +Footnote 317: + + Tiander, _Poyezdki_, 1906. + +Footnote 318: + + See especially the works of E. Bauvois, F. Michel, P. Gaffarel, and T. + Stephens, to which references are given in: Geographisches Jahrbuch, + vol. xviii, Gotha, 1895, pp. 5–10. For a critical study, see Zimmer, + _Früheste Berührungen_, 1891. + +Footnote 319: + + _De mens. orb. terr._, VII, 2, 6. + +Footnote 320: + + As is well known, the Icelandic discovery of America has been a + subject of constant discussion throughout the last century. + Innumerable and often incredible theories have been propounded in an + attempt to identify the places mentioned in the Sagas, and a large + library of books, articles, and pamphlets has come into being relating + to this subject. The sole aim in the present work is to give as brief + as possible a statement of what countries the Icelanders of the + twelfth and early thirteenth centuries believed to lie to the + southwest of Greenland. + + The sources for the Icelandic discovery of America are collected in: + Rafn, _Antiq. americanae_, 1837, and Supplement, 1841. Icelandic texts + are there given with Danish and Latin translations. For English + translations of the Wineland Voyages, see Reeves, _Wineland_, 1890. + The best bibliography is Hermannsson, _Northmen_, 1909. For references + to recent studies on the subject see Geographisches Jahrbuch, vol. + xxxix (1919–1923), Gotha, 1924, p. 277. + +Footnote 321: + + Reeves, _op. cit._, p. 11. In some Icelandic texts, _doegr_ indicates + twelve hours’ sailing, though it probably did not always have this + meaning. See _ibid._, pp. 173–174. + +Footnote 322: + + The Wineland voyages are described in detail in the _Saga of Eric the + Red_ and in the _Flateyjarbók_, dating from the end of the thirteenth + and early fourteenth centuries (Reeves, _op. cit._, _passim_). + + + NOTES + CHAPTER III + THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE MOSLEMS + +Footnote 323: + + Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, 1914, pp. 146–157. + +Footnote 324: + + See above, pp. 98–102. + +Footnote 325: + + On what follows concerning Moslem knowledge of Ptolemy’s _Almagest_ + see the introduction to Karl Manitius’ German translation of the + _Almagest_, 1912. See also Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 103–104. + +Footnote 326: + + See above, p. 96. + +Footnote 327: + + Al-Battānī’s _Astronomy_, Nallino’s edit., pt. i, 1903, pp. 166–167; + pt. ii, 1907, pp. 210–211; Al-Khwārizmī’s _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_, + Nallino’s edit., 1894, p. 6. Ptolemy’s _Geography_ was translated into + Arabic at least three times: (1) by Ibn Khurdādhbeh not earlier than + about 846–847 A. D., but for private use alone; (2) by Yaʿqūb ibn + Isḥāq al-Kindī, before 874 A. D.; and (3) by Thābit ibn Qurra (826–901 + A. D.). + +Footnote 328: + + Al-Khwārizmī’s _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_ and its origins are of interest to + us in view of the fact that certain of the figures there given for + latitude and longitude found their way into the _Toledo Tables_, which + were translated into Latin and enjoyed wide use in the West during the + twelfth century and later (see above, pp. 243–244). Various figures + given in the _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_ were quoted by later Mohammedan + writers, among them the fourteenth-century geographer Abū-l-Fidā. + These formed the basis of the discussion of Al-Khwārizmī’s work in + Lelewel’s _Géographie du moyen âge_, vol. i, 1852, pp. 21–29; + epilogue, 1857, pp. 47–60. A manuscript of the _Ṣūrat al-arḍ_, the + only one in existence, was discovered by Wilhelm Spitta in Cairo in + 1878 and described by him in an article entitled _Die Geographie des + Ptolemäus bei den Arabern_, 1882. Spitta’s article was completely + superseded by Nallino’s more critical study (_Al-Ḫuwârizmî e il suo + rifacimento_, 1894). Nallino shows that Lelewel’s theory, that the + _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_ is a translation of a work called _Oresmos_ by a + seventh-century Greek geographer, will not hold water. He suggested + that the work was not a direct translation from Ptolemy but was + composed to elucidate and explain a map which itself was compiled + directly from a Greek, not Greco-Syrian, version of the _Geography_. + The fact that Al-Khwārizmī’s figures in many cases diverge slightly + from those of Ptolemy may be explained by the supposition that they + were reconstructed from data given on a map, rather than copied from + the text of Ptolemy’s _Geography_. Later and more thorough + investigations into the _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_ by Hans von Mžik confirm + Nallino’s opinion that the treatise was based upon a map but show that + the map itself must have been compiled from a Syrian text. + Al-Khwārizmī’s work embodies the results of Moslem geographical + calculations which had tended to correct Ptolemy’s overestimate of the + length of the Mediterranean Sea (von Mzik, _Ptolemaeus_, 1915, pp. + 152–176; idem, _Afrika_, 1916). + +Footnote 329: + + The _Astronomy_ contains: (1) in the preamble, a chapter describing + the world, first the earth as a whole and then the various seas; (2) + among the astronomical tables, a table of the latitudes and longitudes + of places in the _oikoumene_. The geographical chapter was edited and + translated into French by Reinaud in the introduction to his _Géogr. + d’Aboulféda_, vol. i, 1848 (pp. cclxxxiii-ccxc), and more recently + into Latin by Nallino in his great edition of Al-Battānī’s + _Astronomy_. Nallino contends that it was drawn from a much altered + version of a Greco-Syrian Ptolemy and that Lelewel and Reinaud were + mistaken in thinking that its origin was non-Ptolemaic. + + Al-Battānī says that he drew on a certain _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_ for his + astronomical tables. This was not the work of the same title by + Al-Khwārizmī (see the preceding note), though its author undoubtedly + derived some of his data from Al-Khwārizmī’s _Kitāb_ as well as from + the Greco-Syrian version of Ptolemy (Al-Battānī’s _Astronomy_, + Nallino’s edit., pt. ii, 1907, pp. 209–211). + +Footnote 330: + + See above, pp. 97 and 244, and below, note 11. + +Footnote 331: + + See Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 3–19. + +Footnote 332: + + The standard work on Az-Zarqalī is Steinschneider, _Études sur + Zarkali_, 1881–1887, which deals almost exclusively with manuscripts, + texts, and translations. + +Footnote 333: + + Steinschneider, _op. cit._, in: Bollettino, vol. xx, 1887, p. 1. + +Footnote 334: + + The writer has been unable to find that any detailed study has been + made of the sources of the _Toledo Tables_ and of the _Canons_ of + Az-Zarqalī. Though these Spanish works in their geographical aspects + undoubtedly owe much to Al-Khwārizmī, the exact relationship between + them is an unsolved problem. As is explained in Chapter X, p. 244, + above, most of the Latin translations of the _Toledo Tables_ dating + from the twelfth century and later are accompanied by a list of + geographical coördinates obviously copied from a similar list in the + original Arabic and Hebrew texts of the _Tables_. So far as the writer + is aware no manuscripts of the original Arabic list are known. + Consequently, if this is true, we can obtain no precise information + regarding the connection between the earlier Arabic figures and those + known in the West in our period. A superficial comparison, however, of + the Latin list with the figures in Al-Khwārizmī’s _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_ + suffices to show that there are many figures common to each and to + establish the general thesis that the figures of the _Toledo Tables_ + are based on earlier Moslem figures, especially those of Al-Khwārizmī, + which, in turn, were derived ultimately, though with many alterations, + from Ptolemy’s _Geography_. + +Footnote 335: + + See above, pp. 97–98, and below, p. 400, note 45. + +Footnote 336: + + Amari, _Musulmani di Sicilia_, vol. ii, 1858, ch. 13. + +Footnote 337: + + This quotation is from the preface of Edrisi’s _Geography_, Jaubert’s + translation (under Idrīsī in the Bibliography), p. xx. + +Footnote 338: + + Dozy and De Goeje, _Description_, 1866 (under Idrīsī in the + Bibliography), pp. ii, iv. + +Footnote 339: + + 1154 is the date given in Edrisi’s preface. See, however, note by G. + Pardi in: Rivista geografica italiana, vol. xxiv, Florence, 1917, pp. + 380–382. + +Footnote 340: + + De La Roncière, _Marine française_, vol. i, 1909, p. 136. + +Footnote 341: + + _ibid._, pp. 136–137. + +Footnote 342: + + See above, p. 95. + +Footnote 343: + + It is uncertain whether the original tables of Al-Khwārizmī were known + as the _Little Sindhind_ or whether this title was given to another + related work by the same author. See Suter, _Astron. Tafeln_, 1914, p. + viii (under Khwārizmī, Al-, in the Bibliography), and also Nallino, + _Al-Ḫuwârizmî e il suo rifacimento_, 1894, p. 10. + +Footnote 344: + + Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, p. 45. This was published under the title + _Introductorium in astronomiam_ in Venice in 1506. See Duhem, + _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 174, note 6. This work was also + translated by John of Seville (Haskins, _loc. cit._). + +Footnote 345: + + Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 1914, p. 226. + +Footnote 346: + + See above, pp. 14–15. + +Footnote 347: + + Duhem, _ibid._, p. 216. + +Footnote 348: + + _ibid._, pp. 218–220. + +Footnote 349: + + See the German translation in Friedrich Dieterici’s _Die Philosophie + der Araber im ix. und x. Jahrhundert n. Chr._, vol. v, Leipzig, 1876. + The “Brothers of Piety and Sincerity” made some noteworthy + contributions to the science of geographical meteorology, but these + were not passed on to the Western world. They understood, among other + phenomena, the warming of the atmosphere by radiation from the earth’s + surface and its connection with the angle of incidence of the sun’s + rays; the influence of mountains upon precipitation; and the origin of + springs and rivers (Hellmann, _Denkmäler_, 1904, pp. (18), 23–41). + +Footnote 350: + + Dieterici, _op. cit._, p. 100. + +Footnote 351: + + Gregorius’ edit., fol. 467 (367) (cited by Duhem, _ibid._, p. 227). + +Footnote 352: + + _ibid._, p. 369. + +Footnote 353: + + _Introductorium_, III, 4–9 (cited by Duhem, _ibid._, pp. 377–386). + +Footnote 354: + + Calonymos’ edit. fol. 5 (cited by Duhem, _ibid._, p. 154). + +Footnote 355: + + Duhem, _ibid._, p. 388, cites this chapter as: Averroes Cordubensis, + _In Aristotelis Meteora expositio media_, II, 1. This work was + published in Venice in 1488. + +Footnote 356: + + Moses Maimonides, the great Jewish astrologer of the twelfth century, + on the other hand, ascribed the causes of the tides wholly to the moon + (Duhem, _ibid._, p. 388). + +Footnote 357: + + Ibn Yūnūs, Abū-l-Fidā, and other Moslem geographers tell how, in the + time of the Caliph Al-Maʾmūn, geographers were instructed to carry out + this measurement on the plain of Sinjār, north of the Euphrates, and + also in Syria near Tadmor (Palmyra) and that their results gave 57, + 56¼, 56⅔, etc., Arabic miles for a degree. For translation of text of + Ibn Yūnūs see _Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibl. Natle._, + vol. vii, Paris, An XII [1803–1804], pp. 94, 96 footnote (2); for + Abū-l-Fidā see Reinaud, _Géogr. d’Aboulféda_, vol. ii, pt. i, 1848, p. + 17. See also Miller, _Erdmessung_, 1919, pp. 30–36, and Schoy, + _Erdmessungen_, 1917, for other figures given by the Moslems and for a + recent critical discussion of their measurement. Al-Bīrūnī describes a + method of determining an arc of meridian by measuring the curvature of + the earth from a mountain of known height. See Schoy, _Originalstudien + aus “Al-Qânûn al-Masʿûdî,”_ 1923, pp. 69–74. See also Carra de Vaux, + _Penseurs de l’Islam_, vol ii, 1921, p. 30. + +Footnote 358: + + Miller, Erdmessung, 1919, p. 33. + +Footnote 359: + + See above, pp. 243–246. On Moslem methods of determining latitude see + Schoy, _Polhöhenbestimmung_, 1911; the same, _Über eine arabische + Methode, die geographische Breite aus der Höhe der Sonne im I. + Vertikal (“Höhe ohne Azimut”) zu bestimmen_, in: Annalen der + Hydrographie und maritimen Meteorologie, vol. xlix, Hamburg, 1921, pp. + 124–133; on longitudes, see the same, _Längenbestimmung_, 1915; + _Originalstudien aus “Al-Qânûn al-Masʿûdî,”_ 1923; _Geography of the + Moslems_, 1924, pp. 265–267. + +Footnote 360: + + See above, p. 244. + +Footnote 361: + + See J. K. Wright, _Knowledge of Latitudes and Longitudes_, 1923, pp. + 89–91, and especially note (1) on p. 91. + +Footnote 362: + + On Kang-Diz see Schoy, _Längenbestimmung_, 1915, pp. 47–48. + +Footnote 363: + + Reinaud, _Géogr. d’Aboulféda_, vol. i, 1848, pp. ccxxxiii-ccxlvi. + Schoy, _Längenbestimmung_, 1915, pp. 45–57, discusses the question of + the origins of the use of a central meridian for the measurement of + longitude. + +Footnote 364: + + See Schoy, _Geography of the Moslems_, 1924, for a general review of + Arabic geography in the Middle Ages. + +Footnote 365: + + Josef Marquart, _Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge_, + Leipzig, 1903, gives much important material, with excerpts from texts + and translations, regarding Moslem descriptions of Slavic, Magyar, and + Russian peoples in the ninth and tenth centuries of our era. There is + included (_ibid._, pp. 206–270) an Arabic description of + Constantinople, of the road thence to Rome, and of Rome itself. + +Footnote 366: + + Marquart, _op. cit._, pp. 102, 145. + +Footnote 367: + + Though the great, formal Arabic geographical works were not known in + the West in the Middle Ages, legendary lore of the Moslems influenced + European legends. The story of St. Brandan, for instance, undeniably + owes much to Moslem romance. See De Goeje, _St. Brandan_, 1890. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER IV + THE SOURCES FOR THE PERIOD 1100–1250 A. D. + +_Note: See the Bibliography for references to editions of the original +sources mentioned in the text of this chapter._ + +Footnote 368: + + De Wulf, _Medieval Philosophy_, 1909, p. 126. + +Footnote 369: + + See above, pp. 2 and 52–53. + +Footnote 370: + + Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877, pp. 407–408. + +Footnote 371: + + De Wulf, _op. cit._, pp. 216–218. + +Footnote 372: + + Hauréau, _Hugues de Saint-Victor_, 1886, p. vi. + +Footnote 373: + + Hauréau (_op. cit._, pp. 78–93) believed that these were all the work + of Hugh. + +Footnote 374: + + Another mystic of the early twelfth century was Rupert of Deutz, whose + _De sancta trinitate et operibus eius_ was written, according to + Zöckler (_op. cit._, vol. i, p. 393), about 1117. + +Footnote 375: + + Some scholars, notably Singer, _Visions of Hildegard_, 1917, pp. + 12–15, have cast doubt upon the genuineness of the _Subtilitates_ and + _Causae et curae_. See, however, Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, + pp. 128–129. See also below, pp. 423–424, notes 91–93. + + The _Causae et curae_ is the only one of the works which cannot be + dated with considerable accuracy (see Thorndike, _op. cit._, p. 127). + The present writer, who has not studied the writings of Hildegard in + any detail, hazards the following suggestion for what it is worth. Two + passages in the _Causae et curae_ can only be explained on the + supposition that its author believed in a flat earth (see below, p. + 425, note 101). Passages in the _Scivias_ (written between 1141 and + 1150) and in the _Liber divinorum operum_ (written after 1163) speak + explicitly of the earth as a globe (see below, p. 423, note 92). May + it not be possible that the _Causae et curae_ is an early work and + that in the course of her subsequent life Hildegard gained a wider + knowledge of current views of cosmology, which found their expression + in the records of her visions? + +Footnote 376: + + Thorndike, _op. cit._, p. 131. + +Footnote 377: + + See Masson, _Biblical Literature_, 1865. + +Footnote 378: + + Clerval, _Écoles de Chartres_, 1895. + +Footnote 379: + + The archives at Chartres show that a certain Bernard was _magister + scholae_ in 1119 and that a Bernard, chancellor in 1124, had been + replaced by Gilbert de la Porrée in 1126 (C. V. Langlois, _Maître + Bernard_, 1893, p. 242). + +Footnote 380: + + “Perfectissimus inter Platonicos seculi nostri” (John of Salisbury, + _Metalogicus_, iv, 35, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcix, col. 938). + See also _Metalogicus_, I, 24, in: Migne, _op. cit._, cols. 853–856. + +Footnote 381: + + See above, p. 93. + +Footnote 382: + + Hauréau, _Thierry de Chartres_, 1890, p. 50. + +Footnote 383: + + Clerval, _Écoles de Chartres_, 1895, p. 172. + +Footnote 384: + + Hauréau, _op. cit._, pp. 52–70. + +Footnote 385: + + Haskins, _Adelard_, 1911, pp. 491–498; _Studies_, 1924, pp. 20–42. + +Footnote 386: + + Duhem at the time of the publication of vol. iii of _Le système du + monde_, 1915, knew the text of the _Quaestiones naturales_ only at + second hand. (On the uncertainty of the date of the _Quaestiones + naturales_ see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 26–27.) Adelard was also + the author of _De eodem et diverso_, written probably in his youth + (before 1109). + +Footnote 387: + + The _De eodem et diverso_ indicates that Adelard had already visited + Salerno and Sicily at the time that it was written. In the + _Quaestiones naturales_ he mentions Tarsus and Antioch as places where + he had been (Haskins, _Adelard_, 1911, pp. 492–493; _Studies_, 1924, + p. 26). + +Footnote 388: + + See above, pp. 95–96. + +Footnote 389: + + See above, p. 97. + +Footnote 390: + + Poole, _The Masters_, 1920, p. 330. + +Footnote 391: + + This work consists of two parts, _Megacosmus_ and _Microcosmus_. For + an analysis of it see _Histoire littéraire de la France_, vol. xii, + Paris, 1763, pp. 261–273, especially p. 267. + +Footnote 392: + + The principal arguments against the identification of the two Bernards + have been set forth by Hauréau (_Mémoire_, 1883, pp. 99–104), Clerval + (_Écoles de Chartres_, 1895, pp. 158–163), and Sandys (_Hist. of + Class. Schol._, vol. i, 1921, p. 534, note 2). Hauréau and Clerval + were followed by De Wulf, Duhem, and others. C. V. Langlois (_Maître + Bernard_, 1893) championed the identification of the two. The most + recent discussion of the problem, by R. L. Poole (_The Masters_, + 1920), is convincing in so far as it demonstrates that the evidence + now available tends to show that the two Bernards were not the same. + +Footnote 393: + + Poole, _op. cit._, pp. 333–335; Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. + 92. + +Footnote 394: + + Hauréau, _Singularités_, 1861, p. 249. + +Footnote 395: + + This work, written some time before 1145—for at about this date + William, in a treatise called _Dragmaticon philosophiae_, retracted + certain heretical doctrines which he had expressed in it—has been + falsely attributed to Bede, to William of Hirschau, and to Honorius of + Autun (see Poole, _Illustrations_, 1920, pp. 338–352, and Duhem, + _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 90–93) and printed among the works of + each of these. The text attributed to William of Hirschau was printed + by Henricus Petrus at Basel in 1531 under the title _Philosophicarum + et astronomicarum institutionum libri tres_; that attributed to Bede, + under the title Περὶ διδαξέων _sive elementorum philosophiae libri + IV_, in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xc, cols. 1127–1182; and that + attributed to Honorius, under the title _De philosophia mundi_, in + Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxxii, cols. 39–102. + + On William of Conches as a scientist see especially Werner, _Kosm. + Wilhelm von Conches_, 1873. + +Footnote 396: + + See above, p. 143, and below, p. 419, note 38. + +Footnote 397: + + See the preface to Thomas Wright’s edition of the works of Neckam, + 1863, pp. ix-xii, for a brief life of Alexander Neckam. + +Footnote 398: + + On these and other works of Neckam, see Esposito, _Unpublished Poems_, + 1915, pp. 460–471. + +Footnote 399: + + On translators from the Greek, see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. + 141–241. Shortly after the middle of the twelfth century a certain + Sicilian, Henricus Aristippus, brought from Constantinople a copy of a + Greek text of Ptolemy’s _Almagest_ as a present from the Byzantine + Emperor for the Norman king, William I. Subsequently an anonymous + medical student of Salerno made a Latin version of this work. + Aristippus also distinguished himself at about the same time by + turning into Latin from the Greek the fourth book of Aristotle’s + _Meteorology_ (Haskins and Lockwood, _Sicilian Translators_, 1910, pp. + 75–102; Haskins, _Further Notes_, 1912—under Haskins and Lockwood in + the Bibliography—pp. 155–166; Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 155–168; + on Aristippus’ translation of the fourth book of the _Meteorology_, + see also below, p. 401, note 60). A second translation of the + _Meteorology_ was made from Greek into Latin before 1260 (see + Grabmann, _Forschungen_, 1916, p. 182; Fobes, _Mediaeval Versions_, + 1915, p. 297). Translations from the Greek of the _Physics_, _De + caelo_, and _De generatione et corruptione_ were also known by the + early thirteenth century (Grabmann, _op. cit._, p. 178; Haskins, + _Studies_, 1924, pp. 149, 224, and 225, note 8). + +Footnote 400: + + On translators from the Arabic, see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. + 3–140. + +Footnote 401: + + See above, p. 82. + +Footnote 402: + + Haskins, _Adelard_, 1911, pp. 493–494; idem, _Studies_, 1924, pp. + 22–23. There are at least five manuscripts of Adelard’s translation. + +Footnote 403: + + See Suter, _Astron. Tafeln_, 1914 (under Khwārizmī, Al-, in the + Bibliography). + +Footnote 404: + + This is indicated in the following note appended to a Latin + translation of Ptolemy’s _Planisphere_ made by Hermann the Dalmatian + in 1143: “Quem locum a Ptolomeo minus diligenter perspectum cum + Albateni miratur et Alchoarismus, quorum hunc quidem ope nostra Latium + habet, illius vero comodissima translatione Roberti mei industria + Latine orationis thesaurum accumulat nos discutiendi veri in libro + nostro de circulis rationem damus” (_Ptolemaei opera omnia_, Heiberg’s + edit., vol. ii: _Opera astronomica minora_, 1907, p. clxxxvii). Some + have sought to ascribe this Latin translation of the _Planisphere_ to + Rudolph of Bruges, a disciple of Hermann. Reasons why it cannot be the + work of Rudolph are given by A. A. Björnbo in: Bibliotheca + mathematica, 3rd series, vol. iv, Stockholm, 1903, pp. 130–133. See + also Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 173. The note quoted above + shows that a certain Robert (undoubtedly Robert of Chester—or, of + Retines—whom we know to have been an associate of Hermann) had + translated Al-Battānī’s _Astronomy_. See also Suter, _Astron. Tafeln_, + 1914 (under Khwārizmī, Al-, in the Bibliography), p. xiii. + +Footnote 405: + + It is probable that the author of the _Dialogus_ was also the writer + of certain astronomical works from about the same period. On Peter + Alphonsi see Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, pp. 60–61; the same, + _Studies_, 1924, pp. 111–119. + +Footnote 406: + + See above, p. 78. On the name “Johannes Hispanensis” see Duhem, + _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 177–179. Duhem gives the date of the + translation as 1134. He was apparently unfamiliar with Bibliothèque + Nationale MSS., fonds St. Victor, no. 848, which establishes the date + as March 11, 1135, and with an article on the subject by Woepcke: + _Notice_, 1862, pp. 116–117. John of Seville’s translation is found in + many manuscripts and was printed at Nuremberg in 1537. John of Seville + also translated Abū Maʿshar’s _The Great Book of the Introduction_ + (see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, p. 45). + +Footnote 407: + + Gerard’s translation was entitled _Liber de aggregationibus scientiae + stellarum_ (Boncompagni, _Della vita_, 1851, fol. 442 (separate, pp. + 58–59); Woepcke, _op. cit._, p. 118). + +Footnote 408: + + On the date of Plato of Tivoli, see C. H. Haskins, _The Translations + of Hugo Sanctelliensis_, in: Romanic Review, vol. ii, New York, 1911, + p. 2, note 5. On Al-Battānī, see above, p. 78. + +Footnote 409: + + Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 14704, fol. 110, col. a, + to fol. 135vo. For the establishment of the date of these tables see + Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 203–204, and Haskins, _Studies_, + 1924, pp. 96–98. The latter supplies the author’s name from a + fifteenth-century manuscript in Oxford of which Duhem was ignorant. + +Footnote 410: + + See above, p. 79. + +Footnote 411: + + See above, p. 244. + +Footnote 412: + + Steinschneider, _Études sur Zarkali_, 1881–1887, discusses the various + versions of Az-Zarqalī’s _Canons_ and of the _Toledo Tables_. The + former were put into Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, and Latin; of the Latin + versions, the manuscripts are more numerous in England than elsewhere, + but there are no fewer than nine in the Bibliothèque Nationale in + Paris. The _Toledo Tables_ probably did not become well known in the + Latin West until the first half of the thirteenth century (see Duhem, + _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 287–290), although they were probably + known to Roger of Hereford (see Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, p. 66; the + same, _Studies_, 1924, p. 95; and Duhem, _op. cit._, pp. 520–521). + +Footnote 413: + + Steinschneider (_op. cit._, in: Bollettino, vol. xx, 1887, pp. 3–6) + believed that there were two translations of the work of Az-Zarqalī + because the manuscripts fall into two groups that differ markedly from + each other. The manuscripts of one of these groups bear the name of + Gerard of Cremona. Unfortunately, we lack confirmation of the + attribution of this translation to Gerard in the list of seventy-four + works of the great Cremonese discovered by Boncompagni in the Vatican + (see Boncompagni, _Della vita_, 1851). Nevertheless it is highly + probable that this list is incomplete, and there is no really good + reason for supposing that Gerard was not the translator of the version + in question. + +Footnote 414: + + See above, p. 398, note 36. + +Footnote 415: + + Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, p. 64; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. 122. + +Footnote 416: + + On the _De essentiis_ see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 48–49, 56–66. + On pages 62–65 Haskins publishes for the first time the texts of two + interesting geographical passages. + +Footnote 417: + + Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, pp. 64–65; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. 123. + +Footnote 418: + + Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, p. 66; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. 125; + British Museum MSS., Arundel, no. 377. + +Footnote 419: + + Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, pp. 67–68; idem, _Studies_, 1924, pp. + 126–127. On Daniel of Morley, see also Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. + ii, pp. 171–181. + +Footnote 420: + + Duhem (_Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 219–223) shows, conclusively the + writer believes, both from external and internal evidence, that this + work was by the twelfth-century Gerard of Cremona and not by the + thirteenth-century Gerard of Sabbionetta, with whom the former was + often confused. Boncompagni in his important work on Gerard (cited + above, p. 399, note 39) made the mistake of attributing the _Theorica + planetarum_ to Gerard of Sabbionetta, in which error he was followed + by the writer of the article on Gerard of Cremona in the + _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 11th edit. + +Footnote 421: + + See Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 104–110. + +Footnote 422: + + Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 7272, fol. 60, col. a to + fol. 67, col. d; Duhem, _op. cit._, p. 234. + +Footnote 423: + + There is no modern critical edition of the _De sphaera_. Duhem (_op. + cit._, p. 239, note 4) cites seventeenth-century editions. The title + of the fifteenth-century edition which has been used by the writer is + given in the Bibliography. + +Footnote 424: + + On the introduction of the writings of Aristotle to Western knowledge + during the Middle Ages, see the modern works to which cross-references + are given in the Bibliography under Aristotle. In the present work the + attempt is merely made to indicate the dates at which those writings + of Aristotle which contained materials of geographic importance became + known in Western Europe. + +Footnote 425: + + Steinschneider, _Europ. Übersetz._, in: Sitzungsber., vol. cxlix, + 1905, pp. 32, 42, 43. See also below, p. 402, note 61. + +Footnote 426: + + Duhem, _Du temps_, 1909, pp. 163–178; idem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, + pp. 181–193. + +Footnote 427: + + Grabmann (_Forschungen_, 1916, pp. 16–17) argues that “this ‘reflet de + la _Physique_ d’Aristote’ which Duhem sees is in no way demonstrated + by actual citations of Aristotle” but that it results from a general + similarity of thought and ideas only. Grabmann believes that Alan of + Lille, who appears to have known Aristotle’s books on logic only, + could not possibly have been ignorant of the _Physics_ and _De caelo_ + if these two works had been known in the West before his time. While + we may agree with Grabmann that it cannot be proved definitely that + the Chartres scholars made direct use of Aristotle’s _Physics_, his + arguments should not be interpreted to mean that the scholars of the + Chartres school were altogether uninfluenced by Peripatetic physical + doctrines. Schneider (_Abendländische Spekulation_, 1915), though he + holds that Duhem was mistaken in his interpretation of William of + Conches’ views regarding the Peripatetic physics (see below, p. 418, + note 28), supports the French savant in maintaining that there was in + existence “a specific Aristotelian trend in astronomic and cosmologic + thought” at this period and that Theodoric and Gilbert may not have + been uninfluenced by it. He maintains that the latter may well have + been familiar with Aristotelian theories introduced through new + Oriental sources and suggests as evidence of the probability of this + the connections established by Hermann the Dalmatian and Rudolph of + Bruges between the Chartres scholars and the group of translators at + Toledo. He even goes so far as to add (p. 40): “Nicht ausgeschlossen + ist, dass ihnen [Theodoric and Gilbert] als solche indirekte Quellen + für die Kenntnis der aristotelischen Naturphilosophie die kurz + gefassten und verhältnissmässig leicht verständlichen Paraphrasen + Avicennas zur _Physik_ und zur _De caelo et mundo_ des Aristoteles + gedient haben.” See below, p. 419, note 32. + + Aristotelian influence seems also to have been apparent in the + _Quaestiones naturales_ of Adelard of Bath (see above, p. 154–155, and + below, p. 426, notes 110, 111). Adelard even cites “Aristoteles in + phisicis et alii in tractatibus suis,” though Grabmann and Haskins + claim that this reference is too indefinite to be used to identify any + particular works of the Stagirite or to indicate first-hand + acquaintance with them (Grabmann, _op. cit._, p. 16; Haskins, + _Studies_, 1924, pp. 38–39). + +Footnote 428: + + See Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, p. 87, for references on + Gerard. + +Footnote 429: + + A marginal note in a Nuremberg manuscript of the _Meteorology_ + indicates that the first three books were translated by Gerard of + Cremona from the Arabic, the fourth by Henricus Aristippus (see above, + p. 398, note 32) from the Greek, and the last three chapters by Alfred + the Englishman (Alfred of Sareshel) from the Latin. See V. Rose, in: + Hermes: Zeitschrift für classische Philologie, vol. i, Berlin, 1866, + p. 385. + + Another translation of the _Meteorology_ was done entirely from the + Greek and is dated 1260. See Fobes, _Mediaeval Versions_, 1915, pp. + 297–314. + + It is very doubtful whether the fourth book is really the work of the + Stagirite. Hammer-Jensen (_Das sogenannte IV. Buch_, 1915) attributes + it to Strato, a Greek Peripatetic philosopher of the third century + before Christ. The last three chapters (those translated from the + Arabic by Alfred of Sareshel) were referred to as _Liber de + congelatis_ by their translator and in printed editions (see + Bibliography under Alfred of Sareshel, II, below) were ascribed either + to Avicenna or to Geber (see Baeumker, _Alfred von Sareshel_, 1913, p. + 26, note 2, and Hammer-Jensen, _op. cit._, p. 131). These three + chapters deal with: (1) the origins of stones, (2) the growth of + mountains through earthquakes and through the influence of water and + winds (see above, pp. 213–214), and (3) minerals. + + Alfred of Sareshel was one of the most enthusiastic Aristotelians of + the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. His _De motu cordis_ + “shows a wealth of Aristotelian citation such as we cannot find in any + other Latin author of its time.” Alfred was active in introducing a + knowledge of Aristotle’s natural science and metaphysics into England. + See Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, pp. 68–69; the same, _Studies_, 1924, + p. 129. + +Footnote 430: + + _De caelo et mundo_ was the title usually applied in the Middle Ages + to the treatise in four books known in the Greek as Περὶ οὐρανοῦ (_De + caelo_). It does not include the _De mundo_ referred to above, p. 365, + note 1. In the earlier part of the twelfth century Avicenna’s version + of the _De caelo et mundo_ was translated into Latin by Dominicus + Gondisalvi (Mandonnet, _Siger de Brabant_, vol. i, 1911, p. 15, note + 1). The fifth book had been translated by Gerard of Cremona. On the + work of Dominicus Gondisalvi and John of Seville (Johannes + Hispanensis), see Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 177–183; + Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, pp. 73–82. Versions of the _De + caelo_ from the Greek were also in existence before 1200 (Haskins, + _Studies_, 1924, p. 149). + +Footnote 431: + + On the manuscript list of the translations of Gerard of Cremona, see + above, p. 400, note 45. + +Footnote 432: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 250–275; idem, _Science_, + 1922, pp. 672, 684–686; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. 276. + +Footnote 433: + + See Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 268–270, and the same, + _Studies_, 1924, pp. 292–294, for the Latin text of the questionnaire; + the same, _Science_, 1922, pp. 689–691, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 266–267, + for translation. + +Footnote 434: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 270; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. + 294. + +Footnote 435: + + In the same, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 272–275, and _Studies_, + 1924, pp. 296–297, will be found the Latin text of the part dealing + with hot springs and volcanoes. + +Footnote 436: + + Stange, _Arnoldus Saxo_, 1885, pp. 26–31. + +Footnote 437: + + Mandonnet, _Siger de Brabant_, vol. i, 1911, p. 17, note 1; Grabmann, + _Forschungen_, 1916, p. 18. + +Footnote 438: + + On Averroës, on his influence upon European thought, and on his + various medieval adherents and opponents, see Renan, _Averroès_, 1866. + As a general rule the great Dominican scholars of the thirteenth + century (as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas) were determined + opponents of the Averroïstic theology and philosophy. The Franciscans, + on the other hand, were more ready to adopt these heretical teachings. + +Footnote 439: + + Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 251. + +Footnote 440: + + See below, p. 408, note 97. + +Footnote 441: + + See especially C. V. Langlois, _La connaissance_, 1911, introduction. + +Footnote 442: + + In the earliest printed editions the _De imagine mundi_ is attributed + to “Honorius Inclusus.” In an edition of 1497 we are told that the + work is sometimes ascribed to St. Anselm and sometimes to Honorius + Inclusus. For the first time in 1544 it was attributed to the + well-known Honorius of Autun and included among his works. This was + also done subsequently in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxii, cols. + 115–188. The attribution to Honorius of Autun was based on a note in + the last chapter of that author’s _De luminaribus ecclesiae_ which + gives a list of his writings: among them _Imago mundi de dispositione + mundi_. It can be shown, however, that this chapter was added to the + _De luminaribus ecclesiae_ by a later compiler, who may well have + confused Honorius of Autun with Honorius Inclusus. On an extremely + shaky foundation the German scholar, J. A. Endres, in his _Honorius + Augustodunensis: Beitrag zur Geschichte des geistigen Lebens im 12. + Jahrhundert_, Kempten and Munich, 1906, has erected a theory that the + author was a German, who lived at Ratisbon. For the whole question, + see the clear and just discussion by Duhem (_Système_, vol. iii, 1915, + pp. 24–31), who tends to favor the attribution of the work to the + virtually unknown Honorius Inclusus and who says of the elaborate + German argument: “Un loyal et modeste aveu d’ignorance ne vaudrait-il + pas mieux que de tels raisonnements?” (_ibid._, p. 31). + +Footnote 443: + + “Hic nihil autem in eo pono, nisi majorum commendat traditio” (Migne, + _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxii, cols. 119–120). + +Footnote 444: + + For a full discussion of the _De imagine mundi_, its sources, and its + influence upon future literature, see Doberentz, _Erd- und + Völkerkunde_, 1881–1882. + +Footnote 445: + + _ibid._, in: Zeitschrift, vol. xiii, 1881, p. 54. + +Footnote 446: + + _ibid._, p. 41. + +Footnote 447: + + In the prologue of the _Liber floridus_ the author refers to himself + as “Lambert, son of Onulph, canon of St. Omer.” See Migne, _Pat. + lat._, vol. clxiii, col. 1003. + +Footnote 448: + + See Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 43–53. + +Footnote 449: + + Six manuscripts of Guido’s work are known (Miller, _ibid._, p. 54). + +Footnote 450: + + Doberentz, _op. cit._, in: Zeitschrift, vol. xii, 1880, pp. 392–393. + +Footnote 451: + + Hellmann, _Denkmäler_, 1904, p. (23). Hellmann warns against confusion + of the German _Lucidarius_ and its translations, on the one hand, with + the French popular encyclopedia _Lucidaire_ and the English + _Lucydary_, on the other. The two latter are not translations from the + German but are independent works. + +Footnote 452: + + Le Noble, _Notice_, 1839, p. 243. The only known manuscript of the + _Hortus deliciarum_, which contained a large number of magnificent + miniatures, was destroyed during the bombardment of Strasburg in 1870. + See, however, the edition of Straub and Keller, 1879–1899. + +Footnote 453: + + The _Otia imperialia_ is divided into three parts, or “decisiones.” + The first deals with theological and cosmological questions and is in + the main derived from Peter Comestor. The second treats of geography, + and the third of “mirabilia uniuscuiusque provinciae, non omnia, sed + ex omnibus aliqua.” + +Footnote 454: + + See Doberentz, _ibid._, vol. xii, pp. 412–419. Miller implies that the + general description of the geography of the world which Gervase of + Tilbury gives at the beginning of Decis. II was taken from a map drawn + by Gervase himself (_Itin. rom._, 1916, p. xxxvii). + +Footnote 455: + + Doberentz, _ibid._, vol. xii, pp. 426–428. + +Footnote 456: + + C. V. Langlois, _La connaissance_, 1911, pp. 49–113. On the sources of + the _Image du monde_, see the works of Fant, Fritsche, and Le Clerc, + referred to in the Bibliography under these names. The poem in the + first redaction was divided into three main parts: first, the part + dealing with cosmogony, in fourteen chapters; second, that dealing + with geography, in eighteen chapters; third, that dealing with + astronomy, in twenty-two chapters. The second part, on geography, + follows the _De imagine mundi_ very closely, with additions from + Jacques de Vitry. Fritsche, _Untersuchung_, 1880, gives an analysis of + the work chapter by chapter. The “mediocrity” of Fritsche’s book, + which Langlois asserts, is illustrated by its author’s inability to + identify the city of “Aaron”—obviously the world center, Arin + (Fritsche, _op. cit._, p. 23). + +Footnote 457: + + According to Prior (_L’Image du monde_, 1913) the first verse + redaction dates from 1246. To this 4000 verses were later added, + including a life of St. Brandan, an account of Seth’s visit to + Paradise, and details of the author’s journey to Sicily and Syria and + of his ascent of Mount Etna. The original poem with these additional + parts constituted the second redaction, dating from 1248. A prose + redaction was apparently composed on the basis of the first verse + redaction but before the second verse redaction was made. See the + discussion of the problem of dates by Prior, _op. cit._ (under “Image + du Monde” in the Bibliography), pp. 7–9. + +Footnote 458: + + Three manuscripts of the poem contain the assertion that its author + was one Gossouin of Metz; only one manuscript of the poem complete + with all the additions, alterations, etc., of the second verse + redaction mentions Walter of Metz as the author. C. V. Langlois (_op. + cit._, pp. 63–65) believed that both verse redactions must have been + the work of Gossouin; Prior (_op. cit._, pp. 12–15) that the first + verse redaction and the prose form were the work of Gossouin and that + the second verse redaction may well have been the work of Walter. + Uncertainty still prevails regarding the whole matter. + +Footnote 459: + + The _King’s Mirror_ treats, among many other subjects, of the + following matters of geographical interest: the moon, the ebb and + flood, streams, climates, differences in the length of days and of + summer and winter in northern Norway, marvels of India, marvels of + Norway, snowshoes, Iceland, Greenland, whales, earthquakes and ice + fields in Iceland, flora and fauna of Greenland, volcanic phenomena in + Iceland and Sicily, subterranean fire in Iceland, the small extent of + habitable land in Greenland, climatic phenomena, the northern lights + and noises accompanying them, a cooler zone to the south of the hot + equatorial zone where it is summer during our winter. This synopsis is + based on portions of the _King’s Mirror_ as given in translation in + Nansen’s _In Northern Mists_, 1911. + + Another Icelandic geographical description of the world, which + probably dates from our period, besides drawing on well-known earlier + authorities, also gives some idea of the Icelandic conception of + geography and furnishes details of the itinerary of a certain Abbot + Nicholas to Rome and the Holy Land. See above, p. 115, and also, + Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 237 and reference in note 1 regarding + the identity of the author of this work, probably Abbot Nikulás + Bergsson of Thverá (died 1159), though believed by Storm to be an + Abbot Nikulás of Thingeyre. See also K. Kålund, _En islandsk vejviser + for pilgrimme fra 12. århundrede_, in: Aarböger for Nordisk + Oldkyndighed og Historie, series 3, vol. iii, Copenhagen, 1913, pp. + 51–105. + +Footnote 460: + + In addition to the general works discussed above, mention must be made + of a geographical treatise of minor importance dating from our period. + Book III of the _Tractatus excerptionum_, printed among the works of + Hugh of St. Victor in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxvii, cols. 209–216, + is entitled _De situ terrarum_. This contains chapters on the three + parts of the earth, on Asia, Africa, and Europe, on mountains, rivers, + islands, and cities. Its attribution to Hugh of St. Victor is + extremely doubtful. See Santarem, _Essai_, vol. i, 1849, p. 66, note + 2. + +Footnote 461: + + The monumental _Speculum mundi_ of the Dominican, Vincent of Beauvais, + which probably cannot have been written much before 1250, is divided + into three parts: _Speculum naturale_, _Speculum doctrinale_, and + _Speculum historiale_. There is no complete modern edition. Copies of + incunabula and of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century editions are not + rare. The work is a gigantic compilation drawn from a great multitude + of sources, all of which were carefully indicated by the diligent + compiler, together with additions by the compiler himself. Most novel + from the geographical point of view are the data on Asia taken from + Simon of St. Quentin and from John of Pian de Carpine, which are to be + found in _Speculum historiale_ (see above, pp. 269–270). _Speculum + naturale_ discusses the various features of the world in the order of + their creation. It is in the nature of a vast commentary on the first + chapter of Genesis. The following books are of especial geographical + significance: II, consisting of metaphysical and theological material + on the Creation; IV, dealing with the firmament, and the heavens; V, + with meteorology; VI, with the waters; VII, with the lands; XXXIII, + with regions habitable by man. The last is a typical cosmography, made + up largely of fragments from Isidore, in which chapters are devoted to + a discussion of the tripartite division of the earth, Asia and + Paradise, India and its marvels, Asia Minor, Europe, Greece, other + parts of Europe, Africa, the islands of the ocean which encircles the + earth, the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, the Cyclades, etc. + +Footnote 462: + + Most of Albertus Magnus’ (1193–1280) many and voluminous works, the + greatest repertory of Aristotelian science of the Christian Middle + Ages, constitute an immense paraphrase of and commentary on all the + writings of Aristotle that were available in the mid-thirteenth + century. Albert used many of the titles that were applied in the + period to Aristotle’s works and the customary division into books and + chapters. Of particular interest from the geographical point of view + are: _De caelo et mundo_ (Jammy edit., 1651, vol. ii); _Libri + meteorum_ (_ibid._, vol. ii); _De natura locorum_ (_ibid._, vol. v), + and _De proprietatibus elementorum_ (_ibid._, vol. v). Kretschmer, + _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, _passim_, and Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von + Conches_, 1873, _passim_, give a fairly satisfactory general idea of + the more important contributions of Albert to cosmology and physical + geography. + + In the second book of the _De caelo et mundo_ Albert declares that the + earth is spherical because the particles which compose it are drawn + toward the center of the universe and, in striving to attain that + point, arrange themselves symmetrically in the form of a sphere. He + gives as proofs of the sphericity of the earth arguments that were + familiar to writers of antiquity (see above, p. 368, note 33). + + In the _Libri meteorum_ (_Meteorology_) much material will be found on + the atmosphere, on the waters, and on earthquakes. Albert thought that + the winds are caused by an earthy humor raised by the sun (Werner, + _op. cit._, pp. 351–352; compare this theory with the theory of Seneca + and of William of Conches, pp. 171–172, above). He thought that the + areas of the earth’s surface covered by water are much more extensive + than those represented by land and that large rivers spring from great + cavities in the interior of the earth. These cavities, he maintained, + usually correspond in position to the major mountain ranges. + + Points of physical geography are also treated at some length in the + _De proprietatibus elementorum_ (based upon the pseudo-Aristotelian + work of the same title): hot springs, volcanoes, tides, the Deluge, + the origin of mountains by earthquakes and by erosion. Albert + expresses vigorous opposition to the theory of the periodic rotation + of land and sea around the earth’s surface under astrological + influences (see above, pp. 14 and 83), but he believed, none the less, + that the heavenly bodies through their varying motions and + conjunctions may bring to bear powerful local changes in conditions of + dampness and dryness which in turn may even produce interchanges of + areas of land and sea. He refers to the discovery of the rudder of a + great ship when a certain well was dug in muddy ground as evidence of + gradual alterations in the relative level of land and sea (Kretschmer, + _op. cit._, p. 125). + + In a great many respects the _De natura locorum_ is the most valuable + of Albert’s books from the geographical point of view. Kretschmer goes + so far as to declare that this work reveals to us in Albert the first + great geographer since antiquity (_ibid._, p. 139). Tractatus I + treats, among other matters, of latitudes and longitudes, of the + habitable and uninhabitable parts of the earth’s surface, and of + climates. Albert denies the older view that the equatorial regions are + totally uninhabitable on the ground that people were actually known to + dwell therein. Moreover, he was inclined to the belief that the + countries near the equator are more temperate and pleasant than those + nearer the tropics (see above, p. 164). Albert’s “climatic + observations in the _Liber de natura locorum_ have at all times + aroused undivided admiration, and we find in them the first attempt at + a comparative geography” (Kretschmer, _op. cit._, p. 139). This + applies more especially to his observations regarding the influences + of mountains, seas, woods, and other topographic features upon + climate. These would well repay careful comparison with the views of + William of Conches upon the same topics (see above, p. 178). Tractatus + III of the _De natura locorum_ is a “cosmographia,” or description of + the regions of the world, following the usual medieval scheme. + +Footnote 463: + + Bartholomew Anglicus, author of the _De proprietatibus rerum_, + “belonged probably to the circle of insular [British] clerics who were + ardently interested in experimental researches and in natural history; + of whom the encyclopedist Alexander Neckam was in a measure the + precursor, and of whom the Franciscan Roger Bacon was the most + illustrious representative” (C. V. Langlois, _La connaissance_, 1911, + p. 117). It has so far been impossible accurately to determine the + date of the _De proprietatibus rerum_, though it falls probably before + the middle of the thirteenth century (_ibid._, p. 118, note 2). This + work was a compilation from many different sources and was intended + for less educated readers. Book XI is devoted to the phenomena of the + air, XIII to the waters, XIV to the earth, and XV to a _mappamundi_, + or description of the various “provinces” of the earth in alphabetical + order. There is no modern edition. A summary of the contents will be + found in C. V. Langlois, _op. cit._, pp. 128–179, and a discussion of + Bartholomew’s geography is given by Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, + p. 424–429. Extracts from an English translation of Berthelet, 1535, + are given in Steele, _Mediaeval Lore_, 1907 (under Bartholomew + Anglicus in the Bibliography). The future influence of the work was + very far-reaching, especially upon English literature of the + Elizabethan period (see Steele, _op. cit._, pp. 2–4; C. V. Langlois, + _op. cit._, pp. 126–127). + +Footnote 464: + + The Florentine Brunetto Latino died in 1295. He composed his great + _Livre du trésor_ in French during a period of exile in France between + 1260 and 1266 (C. V. Langlois, _op. cit._, p. 328). This work met with + a wide success. It is divided into three parts, the first of which is + devoted to geography and cosmography. Much of the material here was + derived ultimately from Solinus. The _Trésor_ was edited by P. + Chabaille in 1863, but a definitive critical edition has not yet + appeared. For a criticism of Chabaille’s edition and for a summary of + the contents of the first part, see C. V. Langlois, _op. cit._, pp. + 333–391. + +Footnote 465: + + Among these must be mentioned the following: + + 1. An unpublished encyclopedia by an otherwise unknown Arnold the + Saxon. This dates from between 1210 and 1250 and is preserved in a + manuscript in Erfurt. Rose’s edition, 1875, pp. 447–454, gives a + summary of the titles of chapters and prints the prologues of each + book. Some idea of the character of the work may be gained from + Stange’s dissertation and article, both listed in the Bibliography. + The first book, entitled _De caelo et mundo_, and the fourth, _De + virtute universali_, include data on physical geography, meteorology, + earthquakes, the sea, rivers, hot springs, and mineralogy (Stange, + _Arnoldus Saxo_, 1885, p. 18) derived in part from Aristotle’s + _Meteorology_ (_ibid._ and Rose, _op. cit._, p. 450). It has been + claimed that Arnold the Saxon’s encyclopedia was used by Vincent of + Beauvais, Albertus Magnus, and Bartholomew Anglicus, but this is + probably erroneous (see Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, p. 430). + + 2. The _De natura rerum_ of Thomas of Cantimpré, in twenty books, + written between 1228 and 1244 and as yet unedited in a modern edition. + Thomas’ work was especially popular in Germany (see C. V. Langlois, + _op. cit._, p. 118, note 2; also Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, + pp. 372–398). + + 3. A work of encyclopedic scope entitled _Summa philosophiae_, which + has erroneously been attributed to Robert Grosseteste but which cannot + possibly date from before 1250 and may be as late as 1270. It contains + chapters on meteorology, tides, and minerals. The full text is given + in Baur, _Philos. Werke Grossetestes_, 1912, pp. 275–643, with a + critical discussion of its authorship, pp. 126*-141*. + +Footnote 466: + + Roger Bacon, one of the most original thinkers of the entire medieval + period in matters of natural science, was the last of a series of + Englishmen who devoted themselves to these interests. In this group + may be counted Adelard of Bath and, at a much later date, Alexander + Neckam, Alfred of Sareshel, Daniel of Morley, and Robert Grosseteste + (see above, p. 407, note 94). For the last-named, whose teachings in + many particulars he adopted and elaborated upon, Bacon had the highest + admiration. + + Born about 1210–1215, Roger Bacon became a Franciscan between 1245 and + 1250. His more important works were completed before 1266 and were + condemned as heretical in 1278. He died in the last decade of the + century. See Bridges, _Life of Bacon_, 1914, and Thorndike, _Magic_, + 1923, vol. ii, pp. 616–691. + + From the geographical point of view beyond all question the most + important of Bacon’s writings was the _Opus majus_, which sets forth + his fundamental ideas in the realms of natural and physical science. + Bridges’ edition of this contains a full introduction and a detailed + analysis of the text, chapter by chapter. The geographical material + will be found in Part IV, on mathematical science. Distinctio ii of + Part IV (Bridges’ edit., vol. i, 1897, pp. 109–119) is devoted to the + subject of rays of light and emanations from the heavenly bodies and + to the problem of the sphericity of the universe. Elsewhere in Part IV + the influences of the heavenly rays upon the earth, especially in + respect to zones, tides, and the healthfulness of situations, are + brought out. Bacon here is largely indebted to Robert Grosseteste (see + above, pp. 163–165). These theories are also worked out in some detail + in the chapters of Part V (on optics) devoted to the multiplication of + species (Bridges’ edit., vol. ii, 1897, pp. 539–543; Werner, _Kosm. + Roger Baco_, 1879, pp. 597–599). + + The last portion of Part IV (Bridges’ edit., vol. i, 1897, pp. + 175–404), not divided into chapters, is a treatment of two broad + subjects: + + 1. The importance of mathematics in relation to theology. Under this + heading, among other points, there is given an explanation of how + mathematics aids us in acquiring knowledge of the heavens, of the + location of Paradise and of Hell, of sacred geography (that is of the + positions and physical conditions of places spoken of in Scripture), + of geometry (here the influence of mountains in reflecting the sun’s + rays is elucidated; see above, pp. 179–180; Werner, _op. cit._, p. + 599; Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 418), and of numbers (here + are explained the size, distance, and relative magnitude of the + heavenly bodies in relation to the earth and to the heavenly spheres). + + 2. The influence of the heavens on things terrestrial (Bridges’ edit., + vol. i, 1897, pp. 286–403). According to Bacon geographic conditions + are governed by astronomical and astrological forces. This part of the + _Opus majus_ shows first how the latter are effective in determining + the conditions of habitability on the earth’s surface; it closes with + a general description of the habitable earth (see especially Werner, + _op. cit._, p. 545, note 4, and pp. 546–550, on Bacon’s astrological + geography, and pp. 600–606, on Bacon’s regional geography). _Climata_ + and the practical utility of knowledge of geography and of climates to + the missionary are discussed. The description of the habitable earth + is particularly full for Egypt, the Holy Land, India, Eastern Europe, + Central Asia, and Cathay. Much fresh material regarding the Mongols + and the Far East was derived from Bacon’s contemporaries, the + Franciscan travelers John of Pian de Carpine and William Rubruck (see + above, pp. 269–270). Bacon dismisses the geography of Western Europe + as too familiar to require special treatment. + + Besides the _Opus majus_, Bacon’s _Communia naturalium_ and commentary + on the _Secretum secretorum_ include a few passages of interest to us. + In the former the finite character of the universe is explained + (Oxford edit., fasc., iv, pp. 369–373; see also, _Opus tertium_, + Brewer’s edit., pp. 140–141), together with some consideration of the + dimensions of heaven and of earth (Oxford edit., fasc. iv, pp. + 414–418). In the latter (a book of miscellaneous precepts for the + guidance of human affairs, which was many times translated from the + Arabic during the Middle Ages and which was altered, augmented, and + edited by Bacon) there is material on astronomy, on the size and + sphericity of the earth, and on the relative extent of land and sea + (Oxford edit., fasc. v). + +Footnote 467: + + Dante treats incidentally of the traditional geography and astronomy + of his period in the _Convito_ and in numerous references in the + _Divine Comedy_. His sources were mainly Orosius, Isidore, Albertus + Magnus, and Brunetto Latino (see Moore, _Studies in Dante: Third + Series_, 1903, pp. 110–111). A most interesting and original + discussion of linguistic geography will be found in the _De vulgari + eloquentia_ (see Mori, _La geogr._, 1922, pp. 289–292; Andriani, _La + carta dialettologica_, 1923, pp. 255–263). The _Quaestio de aqua et + terra_, frequently ascribed to Dante, is of doubtful authenticity. + Moore, _Studies in Dante: Second Series_, 1899, pp. 303–374, Shadwell + in his edition of the _Quaestio de aqua et terra_, 1909, and Mori, + _op. cit._, p. 285, hold it to be a genuine work of the poet; Boffito, + _Intorno alla “Quaestio de aqua et terra,”_ Memoria I, 1902, believed + it to be spurious; serious objections to Boffito’s arguments, however, + were raised by V. Biagi in a review of the former’s work (Bollettino + della Società Dantesca, vol. x, Florence, 1903) with the “result that + Boffito himself appears to be less resolved to maintain his thesis in + his latest publication, _La “Quaestio de aqua et terra” di D. A., ed. + principe del 1508 riprod. in facsimile, etc._, Florence, 1905” + (Marinelli, _Scritti minori_, vol. i, [1908?], p. 196, note 3, p. 219, + note 1). See also Arnold Norlind: _Dante som geograf och medeltidens + behandling av frågan on vatten och land_, in: Ymer: Tidskrift utgiven + av Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi, vol. xliv, + Stockholm, 1924, pp. 260–278. + + For references to an edition of the text of Dante and to English + translations of his various works see the Bibliography under Dante. + +Footnote 468: + + For the latest and most authoritative study of Otto, his works and his + place among the literary men of the period, see Hofmeister, _Otto von + Freisingen_, 1911–1912. + +Footnote 469: + + The continuation to 1160 is surely, and that from 1160 to 1170 + possibly, the work of Ragewin, Otto’s pupil and notary (Potthast, + _Wegweiser_, vol. ii, 1896, p. 886). + +Footnote 470: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 13, 43. See Hofmeister, _op. cit._, p. 734. + +Footnote 471: + + The genuineness of the _Ligurinus_, which had long been suspected of + being an imposture, was established after 1870 by two scholars working + simultaneously and independently, Pannenborg and Gaston Paris. + Pannenborg, who at first thought that the author of this poem was an + Italian, was subsequently converted to the opinion that he was a + German by the arguments of Paris. In 1883 Pannenborg definitely + established the thesis that the _Ligurinus_ was the work of Gunther of + Pairis. See Pannenborg, _Über den Ligurinus_, 1871; the same, + _Magister Guntherus_, 1873; the same, _Der Verfasser_, 1884; Gaston + Paris, _Dissertation critique_, 1872; Vulpinus, _Der Ligurinus_, 1889 + (under Gunther of Pairis in the Bibliography), introduction. + +Footnote 472: + + Pannenborg, _Über den Ligurinus_, 1871, p. 254. + +Footnote 473: + + See, for example, the description of the spring, Bk. VI, lines + 481–485. + +Footnote 474: + + Gaston Paris, _op. cit._, pp. 85–86. + +Footnote 475: + + See below, p. 412, note 13. + +Footnote 476: + + See Delaborde’s introduction to the _Philippis_ in: _Oeuvres de + Rigord_, vol. i, 1882, pp. lxxii-lxxiii (under William the Breton in + the Bibliography). + +Footnote 477: + + A thorough study of the geographical ideas expressed in the historical + epics of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries would undoubtedly + yield fruitful results. + +Footnote 478: + + The Nearer East as pictured in the old French Crusading literature is + discussed by Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, 1901. + +Footnote 479: + + _ibid._, pp. 69–73. + +Footnote 480: + + _ibid._, p. 70. + +Footnote 481: + + See preface to Stubbs’s edition of the works of Benedict of + Peterborough, vol. i, 1867, pp. ix-lxvii. + +Footnote 482: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, p. 122. + +Footnote 483: + + _Chronica_, Stubbs’s edit., vol. iii, 1870, pp. 47–55. + +Footnote 484: + + Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, 1901, pp. 73–75. + +Footnote 485: + + _ibid._, pp. 79–83. + +Footnote 486: + + _ibid._, pp. 88–89. + +Footnote 487: + + See Hermannsson, _Bibl. Icelandic Sagas_, 1908; the same, _Northmen_, + 1909; the same, _Bibl. Sagas Kings_, 1910. + +Footnote 488: + + See the same, _Bibl. Eddas_, 1920. + +Footnote 489: + + On the _Saga of Eric the Red_ and on the _Flateyjarbók_, see Reeves, + _Wineland_, 1890, _passim_. + +Footnote 490: + + Virtually nothing is known of Ari Frodhi. The _Íslendingabók_ was + “written probably shortly after 1134” (Hermannsson, _Bibl. Icelandic + Sagas_, 1908, p. 56). + +Footnote 491: + + The discovery of Iceland is also described in a Latin work written by + “Theodricus monachus,” probably toward the close of the twelfth + century and bearing the title _Historia de antiquitate regum + norwagiensium_. Nansen dates this work about 1180 (_Northern Mists_, + 1911, vol. i, p. 254). See Hermannsson, _Bibl. Sagas Kings_, 1910, p. + 67. + +Footnote 492: + + Hermannsson, _Northmen_, 1909, pp. 5–6; Reeves, _op. cit._, pp. 79–83. + +Footnote 493: + + Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 263. The _Greenland Annals_ were + compiled by Björn Jonsson (1574–1656). + +Footnote 494: + + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, p. 517. + +Footnote 495: + + This manuscript was discovered in Scotland in 1849. See Hermannsson, + _Bibl. Sagas Kings_, 1910, p. 31. + +Footnote 496: + + See above, pp. 49–50 and 73–74. + +Footnote 497: + + The fundamental work on the Romance of Alexander during our period is + Meyer, _Alexandre le Grand_, 1886. + +Footnote 498: + + The _Historia de praeliis_, for instance, the tenth-century work of + Leo Archipresbyter (see above, p. 381, note 26), was the text from + which Frutolf of Michaelsberg derived the version of the Romance of + Alexander which he inserted in his chronicle and which thus found its + way to the chronicle of Otto of Freising (Meyer, _op. cit._, vol. ii, + p. 39). That the chronicle from which Otto drew was by Frutolf and not + by Ekkehard of Aura was shown by Bresslau, _Die Chroniken_, 1895. + +Footnote 499: + + This probably dates from the beginning of the twelfth century (Meyer, + _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 49). + +Footnote 500: + + On the sources of the _Alexandreis_, see Francke, _Geschichte_, 1879, + pp. 89–107, and Giordano, _Alexandreis_, 1917, _passim_. + +Footnote 501: + + Meyer, _op. cit._, pp. 69–101. + +Footnote 502: + + _ibid._, pp. 102–132. + +Footnote 503: + + _ibid._, pp. 133–253. + +Footnote 504: + + Meyer, _loc. cit._, has worked out the probable authorship and + derivation of the various parts of the poem. He divides the work as a + whole into four consecutive sections or “branches.” Of these the + oldest is the third in order and is by Lambert li Tors; this branch + contains those parts of the Romance which are concerned with + Alexander’s adventures in the heart of Asia and in India; in fact + those parts of the work which contain the majority of the elements of + geographic interest. To this third branch, the first, second, and + fourth were added at a later date. These were the work of Alexandre de + Bernai and Pierre de St. Cloud. There are also a number of + interpolations into the body of the poem which may not be attributed + to any of the three writers named. + +Footnote 505: + + This poem was entitled _Le Roman de toute chevalerie_. Meyer (_op. + cit._, vol. ii, p. 275) knew of four manuscripts. In one of these, in + Paris, the _Roman_ is ascribed to Thomas of Kent, and in a manuscript + in Cambridge it is attributed to Eustace of Kent—Meyer holding that + the latter is correct. There is much of geographical interest in the + poem. The following are some of the chapter headings of parts dealing + with material of geographic significance (from a manuscript in Durham, + Library of the Chapter of Durham, C. iv, 27b, as cited by Meyer, _op. + cit._, vol. i, pp. 177–190). + + “.i. Le proloug + + \.ij. La descripcion del mond....” + + “.lxxxiiij. De genz de grant age en Inde. + + \.lxxxv. De Gangarides l’idle e de son poeple. + + \.lxxxvj. De Polibatre e de son poeple. + + \.lxxxvii. Del mont Malens le plus haut del mond. + + \.lxxxviij. De genz qe vivent de veneison et de pesson....” + + [Further details of races and marvels of India follow.] + + “.cxlviij. De Gog et Magog qui mangerent la gent....” + + “.ccxxxij. Del pople qu’est apellés Serres et de lur dreiture.” + +Footnote 506: + + Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_ (under Prester John in the Bibliography), + in: Abhandl., vol. vii, 1879, pp. 832–846. + +Footnote 507: + + Zarncke, _op. cit._, p. 878. In some manuscripts this _Letter_ is said + to be a Latin translation by Archbishop Christian of Mainz; Thorndike, + however, observes that it seems “even in its earliest and briefest + form without doubt a Western forgery and bears the marks of its Latin + origin” (Thorndike, _Magic_, vol. ii, 1923, p. 240). + +Footnote 508: + + Edited by Zarncke, _op. cit._, pp. 872–934. + +Footnote 509: + + Zarncke, _op. cit._, in: Abhandl., vol. viii, 1876, pp. 120–127. + +Footnote 510: + + See Zarncke’s observations regarding the French text (Berichte, vol. + xxix, 1877, p. 135) and his edition of the English text (Berichte, + vol. xxx, 1878, pp. 41–46). French, English, and Italian texts are + addressed to the Emperor Frederick and not to Manuel. + +Footnote 511: + + See above, p. 50; also pp. 381–382, notes 28, 29. + +Footnote 512: + + Beazley (_Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 112–217) gives an excellent + summary of the history of pilgrim travel throughout the Middle Ages, + with a résumé of the most important sources. For the bibliography of + this subject see especially Röhricht, _Bibliotheca_, 1890. For English + translations of the pilgrims’ accounts of the Holy Land see the + publications constituting _The Library of the Palestine Pilgrims’ Text + Society_, 1897 (see the Bibliography under Palestine Pilgrims’ Text + Society). + +Footnote 513: + + Beazley, _op. cit._, pp. 139–155. See also Bibliography under Saewulf. + +Footnote 514: + + _ibid._, pp. 190–195. See also Bibliography under John of Würzburg. + +Footnote 515: + + _ibid._, pp. 195–199. See also Bibliography under Theoderic (Pilgrim). + +Footnote 516: + + From internal evidence the itinerary of Abbot Nikulás can be shown to + date from the twelfth century. See above, p. 405, note 90. + +Footnote 517: + + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, p. 184. + +Footnote 518: + + _ibid._, pp. 186–189. See also Bibliography under Fetellus. + +Footnote 519: + + _ibid._, pp. 203–207. + +Footnote 520: + + See especially Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 202–216, for + citations and translations (into German) of portions of letters which + throw light on the medieval feeling for nature. + +Footnote 521: + + Wattenbach, _Guido von Bazoches_, 1891 (under Guy of Bazoches in the + Bibliography). Wattenbach (_op. cit._, p. 71) refers to a _Libellus de + regionibus mundi_ by Guy of Bazoches now in Paris, Bibliothèque + Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 4998. + +Footnote 522: + + _Chronica Slavorum_, V, 19, in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. + xxi, pp. 192–196. + +Footnote 523: + + See Carmoly, _Itinéraires_, 1847, pp. 115–168, for text and commentary + on the itinerary of Samuel bar Simson, 1211, and pp. 171–216, for + Jacob of Paris’ description of the holy tombs, 1258. The other + itineraries in Carmoly’s volume fall in a period later than that + covered by the present study. + +Footnote 524: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., 1907, p. xiii. + +Footnote 525: + + On Benjamin of Tudela, see Adler’s edition of the _Itinerary_ and + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 224–264. For a useful general + introduction to the geographical literature of the Jews, see Zunz, + _Essay_, 1841. + + As the manuscript of this book is about to go to press there has come + to the writer’s attention the brief note by Paul Borchardt, + _L’itinéraire de Rabbi Benjamin de Tudèle_, 1924. Borchardt writes (p. + 31): “En différents travaux j’ai prouvé que le célèbre Rabbi Benjamin + ne mérite pas le reproche d’inexactitude, même en ce qui concerne la + route de Chine.... J’espère prouver par ce qui suit que R. Benjamin + mérite comme Marco Polo le nom d’un homme digne de foi.” References + are given in footnote 1, p. 31, of Borchardt’s note to other studies + by Borchardt relating to Benjamin. Unfortunately the present writer + has been unable to consult these. The references follow as given by + Borchardt: “Conférence de la Soc. d’Anthrop. de Munich: _Reiseweg des + R. Benjamin von Tudela und des R. Petachia von Regensburg in + Mesopotamien_, 3, III. 22., _Karawanenstrassen in Arabien nach R. + Benjamin von Tudela_, Anthropos Wien 1922/23 (4–6), p. 1066 ss., + 1923/24 (1–3) et _Zur Frage der Falaschajuden in Abessinien_, + Anthropos, Wien 1923/24 (1–3), carte.” See also below, p. 474, note + 237a. + +Footnote 526: + + Petachia of Ratisbon, _Travels_, Benisch and Ainsworth’s transl., + 1856; Beazley, _op. cit._, pp. 264–274. + +Footnote 527: + + This poem is inserted at fol. 13 of Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds + latin, nouvelles acquisitions, no. 299, in the midst of the _Speculum + regum_ of Godfrey of Viterbo. Delisle, its editor, explains why it + should be attributed to Godfrey (_Littérature latine_, 1890, p. 41; + listed under Godfrey of Viterbo in the Bibliography). + +Footnote 528: + + “Praelia regnorum non hic, set fastus eorum + Scribitur, aut fluvius, orbes speciesque locorum + Aut series morum, norma colenda, forum.” + —_Denumeratio_, Delisle’s edit., p. 44. + +Footnote 529: + + Stubbs’s edition of the works of Gervase of Canterbury, vol. i, 1879, + p. xxi. + +Footnote 530: + + On the dimensions of Britain he quotes from Henry of Huntingdon, + _Historia Anglorum_, I. + +Footnote 531: + + On the work of Giraldus as a whole see preface to vol. i (pp. i-xcv) + of the Rolls Series edition (no. 21), London, 1861, and Lloyd, + _History of Wales_, 1911, vol. i, pp. 554–564. + +Footnote 532: + + _Giraldi Cambrensis opera_ (Rolls Series No. 21), vol. i, edited by J. + S. Brewer, London, 1861, Introduction, p. xl. + +Footnote 533: + + _ibid._, vol. vi, edited by J. F. Dimock, London, 1867, pp. + xlvi-xlvii. + +Footnote 534: + + In addition to the _Mirabilia_, there was written, probably in the + twelfth century, a short tract by one Master Gregory, on the marvels + of Rome, much of which was copied by Ranulph Higden in his + _Polychronicon_. This appears to have been composed independently of + the _Mirabilia_, although it deals with the same subject. The author + may have been an Englishman. See James, _Magister Gregorius_, 1917 + (under Gregory, Master, in the Bibliography), pp. 531–554. + +Footnote 535: + + Miller’s _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, deals with the Beatus maps and + is accompanied by a colored reproduction of the St. Sever Beatus map + (our Fig. 2, p. 69). Vol. ii, 1895, is an atlas of photographic + reproductions of the Beatus and other maps of the world of the period. + Vol. iii, 1895, contains explanatory text on the more important + earlier maps, together with photographs and cuts. Vol. iv, 1896, and + vol. v, 1896, are devoted to the Hereford and Ebstorf maps of the + world from after our period, and vol. vi, 1898, to attempts at the + reconstruction of lost _mappaemundi_. A word of caution is perhaps + necessary against too ready acceptance of all of Miller’s theories + regarding the connections between maps and the influence of one type + upon others. See above, p. 377, note 167, and below, p. 458, note 17. + +Footnote 536: + + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 549–642. + +Footnote 537: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, pp. 123–126. On p. 124 Miller states + that “in the manuscript of the _Magna de naturis philosophia_ of + William of Conches ... in the Stuttgart Library, three maps are + included, described by Santarem.” See Santarem, _Essai_, vol. iii, + 1852, pp. 499–505. Beazley (_Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, p. 626), following + Miller, also ascribes these maps to a manuscript of the _Magna de + naturis philosophia_. The manuscript in question, however, is of no + other work than William of Conches’ _De philosophia mundi_, which + Santarem (_op. cit._, pp. 499–500) ascribed wrongly to William of + Hirschau (see above, p. 398, note 28). No manuscripts or copies of the + _Magna de naturis philosophia_ are extant, and Poole believes that if + such a work ever existed it has been wrongly attributed to William of + Conches (Poole, _Illustrations_, 1920, pp. 306–310). + +Footnote 538: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 126–128. + +Footnote 539: + + _ibid._, pp. 118–120. + +Footnote 540: + + _ibid._, pp. 110–115. + +Footnote 541: + + See above, p. 68. See also Miller, _op. cit._, vol. i, 1895, _passim_. + +Footnote 542: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 43–53 and pl. 4. + +Footnote 543: + + In this respect Lambert’s map resembles a _mappamundi_ made in the + eleventh century at Ripoll in Catalonia. On this interesting map see + Vidier, _Mappemonde de Théodulfe_, 1911, pp. 285–315. + +Footnote 544: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, pp. 54–57. + +Footnote 545: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 21–29 and pl. 2; vol. ii, pl. 13. + +Footnote 546: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 71–73. + +Footnote 547: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 37–43 and pl. 3; vol. ii, pl. 1. + +Footnote 548: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 1–21 and pl. 1; vol. ii, pls. 11 and 12. + +Footnote 549: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 61–68. + +Footnote 550: + + _ibid._, pp. 68–94. + +Footnote 551: + + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, p. 585. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER V + THE PLACE OF GEOGRAPHY IN THE MEDIEVAL CLASSIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE + +Footnote 552: + + Adam of Bremen, however, used the term “geography,” applying it to the + fourth section of his _Gesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiae pontificum_. + +Footnote 553: + + Parker, _Seven Lib. Arts_, 1890, pp. 417–461. + +Footnote 554: + + See above, p. 366, note 9. + +Footnote 555: + + _Fons philosophiae_, Charma’s edit., 1868, Introduction, p. 11. + +Footnote 556: + + _De eodem et diverso_, p. 28. + +Footnote 557: + + “... qua ratione regulam omnibus saeculis perennam de terrae mensura + habere posset” (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 558: + + “Subsequenter ergo orbem in partes, partes in provincias, provincias + in regiones, regiones in loca, loca in territoria, territoria in + agros, agros in centurias, centurias in iugera divisit” (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 559: + + _De nupt. Phil. et Merc._, VI, 580, 587. See Mâle, _Religious Art_, + 1913, p. 78. + +Footnote 560: + + _Anticlaudianus_, III, 6. + +Footnote 561: + + Mâle, _op. cit._, p. 114. + +Footnote 562: + + _De div. phil._, pp. 115–116. + +Footnote 563: + + “Tercia vero inquirit de terra, de eo quod ipsa inhabitatur et quod + non habitatur; et ostenditur quantum est illud, quod inhabitatur et + quot sunt partes eius magne, que sunt climata; et comprehendit + habitaciones, quas contingit esse in unaquaque illarum in illa hora, + et ubi sit locus cuiusque habitacionis, et ordinem eorum ex mundo; + inquirit de eo, quod sequitur necessario ut accidat unicuique climatum + habitacionum de revolucione mundi continenti totio et est revolucio + diei et noctis propter situm terre in loco, in quo sunt sicut ortus et + occasus et longitudo diei et noctis et brevitas et alia hiis similia” + (_ibid._). This passage, together with the greater part of the _De + divisione philosophiae_, is drawn from Al-Fārābī’s book _On the + Enumeration of the Sciences_. Al-Fārābī was a Moslem philosopher and + Aristotelian of the tenth century. See Baur’s edition of the _De div. + phil._, 1903, pp. 160, 314. + +Footnote 564: + + See H. O. Taylor, _The Mediaeval Mind: A History of the Development of + Thought and Emotion in the Middle Ages_, 2 vols., New York, 1914, vol. + ii, pp. 312–313. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER VI + COSMOGONY, COSMOLOGY, AND COSMOGRAPHY + +Footnote 565: + + On this rational spirit, see C. B. Jourdain, _Dissertation_, 1838, pp. + 20ff. + +Footnote 566: + + Poole, _Illustrations_, 1920, p. 148. + +Footnote 567: + + “... secundum physicam et ad litteram” (_De sex d. op._, p. 52). + +Footnote 568: + + “Causas ex quibus habeat mundus existere et temporum ordinem in quibus + idem mundus conditus et ornatus est rationabiliter ostendit” + (_ibid._). See C. B. Jourdain, _loc. cit._ On Adelard’s rationalism, + see the same, pp. 1O4ff. + +Footnote 569: + + Hauréau, _Thierry de Chartres_, 1890, p. 51. + +Footnote 570: + + Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 40–41. + +Footnote 571: + + _Quaest. nat._, ch. 6 in printed edit.; fol. 25v. in Bibliothèque + Nationale MSS., fonds lat., no. 6415 (as cited by Haskins, _loc. + cit._). + +Footnote 572: + + _ibid._, ch. 1 in printed edit.; fol. 24 in MS. + +Footnote 573: + + _ibid._, ch. 4 in printed edit.; fol. 25 in MS. + +Footnote 574: + + _De phil. mundi_, II, 3. + +Footnote 575: + + “... principium a magistro, sed perfectio debet esse ab ingenio” + (_ibid._, I, 21; quoted by Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 99). + +Footnote 576: + + _Entheticus_, 601–624, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcix, col. 978. + See Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, p. 227. + +Footnote 577: + + Translation from Moffat, _Complaint of Nature_, 1908 (in the + Bibliography under Alan of Lille), p. 27. See also Ganzenmüller, _loc. + cit._ + +Footnote 578: + + See above, p. 223. + +Footnote 579: + + _Historia Norwegiae_, Storm’s edit., p. 95. + +Footnote 580: + + _ibid._, p. 96. + +Footnote 581: + + Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 69. + +Footnote 582: + + _Symb. elect._, II, 1. + +Footnote 583: + + _Topog. Hiber._, I, 13. + +Footnote 584: + + _De laud. div. sap._, III, 97–98, 123–124. This point of view was also + that of William the Breton, who, in more than one place in his + _Philippis_, writes that it is enough for us to know the facts of such + natural phenomena as tides, miraculous springs, and the like, but that + the causes of them will forever remain hidden from men (_Philippis_, + VI, 550–551; VIII, 82–90; see above, pp. 193–194). + +Footnote 585: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 271–272; idem, _Studies_, + 1924, p. 295. + +Footnote 586: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 885–890. + +Footnote 587: + + See K. Werner, _Wilhelms von Auvergne Verhältniss zu den Platonikern + des XII. Jahrhunderts_, in: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in + Wien, Sitzungsberichte, Philosophisch-historische Classe, vol. lxxiv, + Vienna, 1873, pp. 119–172. + +Footnote 588: + + _De mundi univ._, I, _passim_. + +Footnote 589: + + _De sex d. op._, pp. 52–54. + +Footnote 590: + + _ibid._, p. 60. + +Footnote 591: + + _Sententiae_, II, 12, 1. + +Footnote 592: + + Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877, pp. 415–421. + +Footnote 593: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 1. + +Footnote 594: + + Though Comestor here denies the teachings of Plato in regard to the + existence of matter prior to the “Creation,” he adopted a traditional + medieval view based on the _Timaeus_ of Plato and given expression by + Augustine: that God created time and the universe simultaneously (see + above, p. 52). How these two conceptions were reconciled is shown by + Daniel of Morley where he writes: “Primus mundus est in eternitate + figuratus, secundus cum tempore creatus, tercius in tempore formatus” + (_De philosophia_, Sudhoff’s edit., p. 8). (For Daniel of Morley’s + views on hyle see Singer, _Daniel of Morley_, 1920, p. 267.) + Essentially the same Platonic doctrine was shared by Hugh of Amiens, + archbishop of Rouen, who wrote in his _Tractatio in hexaemeron_ that + God precedes the world by eternity, not by time (Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. cxcii, col. 1249). The _De imagine mundi_ (II, 1) applied the + term _aevum_ to God alone; _tempora aeterna_, beginning before the + world and continuing with and after it, to the _architypus mundus_ and + to the angels; and _tempus_ to the world (Robbins, _Hexaemeral Lit._, + 1912, p. 7, note 1). + +Footnote 595: + + _De phil. mundi_, I, 21. + +Footnote 596: + + Bede and Hugh of St. Victor also held that the elements were thus + segregated at the moment they were called into existence by God + (Zöckler, _op. cit._, vol. i, 1877, pp. 248, 401). + + William of Conches argues specifically against the Aristotelian + doctrine of a fifth element of which the heavenly bodies are composed + (_Dragmaticon philosophiae_, III, 80–83, cited by Schneider, + _Abendländische Spekulation_, 1915, p. 40, note 1). Duhem (_Système_, + vol. iii, 1915, pp. 105, 194) saw in William’s _De philosophia mundi_ + what seemed to be a remarkable analogy between the ideas there + expressed and those expressed by Aristotle in the fourth book of his + _Physics_. Schneider (_op. cit._, pp. 40–42) points out that Duhem, + through failure to take into account the passage in the _Dragmaticon_ + to which we have just referred, was led to think that William was + actually a believer in the main theories set forth in the _Physics_. + On the contrary, in referring to the elements in the _Dragmaticon_ + William merely adopted the traditional Platonic doctrine, and he went + on to explain Aristotle’s theory of the fifth element and vigorously + to denounce it. Though this shows that William may not have agreed + with Aristotle in essentials, it would seem to be, nevertheless, an + argument in favor of the existence of an Aristotelian trend of thought + in William’s time. See above, p. 401, note 58. + +Footnote 597: + + Though William denied the possibility of chaos preëxisting the + “Creation,” he was none the less accused of heresy by Walter, prior of + St. Victor in Paris during the last part of twelfth century, because + of his failure to make it clear that God created everything out of + nothing. William’s atomic theories suggest the possibility of belief + in his mind that matter in the form of atoms had coexisted with God + and that at the so-called “Creation” God had merely organized and + arranged these atoms. See Hauréau, _Singularités_, 1861, p. 258; + Poole, _Illustrations_, 1920, pp. 300–301. + +Footnote 598: + + _De sex d. op._, p. 62. + +Footnote 599: + + See above, pp. 15–16. Belief in the World Soul (_anima mundi_) was a + doctrine of Platonism. Theodoric of Chartres (_De sex d. op._, pp. + 60–62), Bernard Sylvester (_De mundi univ._, _passim_), and William of + Conches (see Poole, _op. cit._, p. 151) shared it with Peter Abelard + (Hauréau, _op. cit._, p. 253). The two latter, like Theodoric, + identified this mysterious unifying conscious spirit of all things + with the Holy Ghost and maintained that belief in the World Soul was + not inconsistent with the Christian teaching that each individual has + a personal soul of his own. The personal soul in some way was thought + to be merged with and to form a portion of the World Soul. The theory + of the World Soul, however, could not be purged of an heretical taint. + At the very beginning of our period Manegold argued as vigorously + against it (_Contra Wolfelmum Coloniensem opusculum_, 1–3) as he + argued against the possibility of antipodeans (see above, p. 161). It + was also severely condemned by other defenders of more old-fashioned + and orthodox beliefs. Peter Comestor says, for example: “Hunc locum + male intellexit Plato, dictum hoc putans de anima mundi” (_Hist. + schol._, Gen. 1, 2), and Peter Lombard’s whole treatment of the + question of the Trinity in the _Sententiae_ (II, 17) precludes the + possibility of a World Soul. Peter Lombard specifically states that + the soul of man is not of the same substance as the soul of God. + +Footnote 600: + + Theodoric adduced various reasons for the rotary motion of the heavens + and gave explanations of this phenomenon which so closely resembled + the arguments given by Aristotle in his _De caelo_ (I, 8; II, 3), + _Physics_ (IV, 4), and _De motu animalium_ (II, 698b) (see above, p. + 370, note 42) that Duhem was led by them to the opinion that the + Chartres scholar must have had direct access to Arabic translations of + versions of Aristotle. See above, p. 154, and p. 401, notes 57, 58. + +Footnote 601: + + _De sex d. op._, p. 54. + +Footnote 602: + + _ibid._, p. 55. + +Footnote 603: + + _ibid._, p. 57. + +Footnote 604: + + See above, p. 141. + +Footnote 605: + + _De phil. mundi_, I, 23; Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von Conches_, 1873, p. + 320. + +Footnote 606: + + This curious opinion is expressed in _De phil. mundi_, I, 23. William + retracted it in the preface to the sixth book of his _Dragmaticon + philosophiae_ on the ground that it contradicts the Scriptural account + according to which Eve was made from Adam’s rib. See above, p. 398, + note 28. + +Footnote 607: + + _De civitate Dei_, XI, 33, in: _Corpus script. eccl. lat._, vol. xl, + pt. 1, pp. 562–564. See also Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877, p. + 238. + +Footnote 608: + + _Hexaemeron_, I, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xci, cols. 17–18. See + also Zöckler, _op. cit._, pp. 247–248. + +Footnote 609: + + _De sacramentis_, bk. I, pt. 1, ch. 11, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + clxxvi, col. 195. See also Zöckler, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 401. + +Footnote 610: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 1, 3. See also Zöckler, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. + 417. + +Footnote 611: + + So Rupert of Deutz, Arnold of Chartres, Hugh of Rouen (_ibid._, pp. + 395, 405, 406). + +Footnote 612: + + _Sententiae_, II, 13, 2–6. See also Zöckler, _op. cit._, pp. 413–414. + +Footnote 613: + + See Bauer, _Philos. Werke des Grosseteste_, 1912 (under Grosseteste in + the Bibliography), p. 76*. + +Footnote 614: + + _De luce seu de inchoatione formarum_, Baur’s edit., pp. 51–59. + +Footnote 615: + + See Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 284–287, and vol. v, 1917, + pp. 356–358. + +Footnote 616: + + _De sex d. op._, pp. 53–54. + +Footnote 617: + + _Adnotat. elucidat. in Pentateuchon_, Gen. 6, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. clxxv, cols. 34–37; _De sacramentis_, I, pt. 1, 1–16, in: Migne, + _op. cit._, vol. clxxvi, cols. 187–199. See also Zöckler, _op. cit._, + vol. i, p. 401. + +Footnote 618: + + _De Genesi ad litteram_, V, 5, in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xxxiv, + cols. 325–327. See also other passages in Augustine’s works cited in + Zöckler, _op. cit._, pp. 236–237. + +Footnote 619: + + Zöckler, _op. cit._, p. 406. + +Footnote 620: + + See above, p. 366, note 7. + +Footnote 621: + + See above, p. 9. + +Footnote 622: + + See above, p. 401, note 60. + +Footnote 623: + + See above, p. 99. + +Footnote 624: + + See above, p. 82. + +Footnote 625: + + See above, p. 82. + +Footnote 626: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 19. + +Footnote 627: + + Zöckler, _Geschichte_, vol. i, 1877, pp. 429–430. Averroës discussed + the origin of matter in his commentary on Aristotle’s _Metaphysics_, + XII (Renan, _Averroès_, 1866, pp. 108–115). On medieval opposition to + the Averroïstic doctrine of the eternity of the world, see the same, + pp. 258, 274. On Michael Scot’s denial of this doctrine see Haskins, + _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 260–261; the same, _Studies_, 1924, p. + 285. + +Footnote 628: + + Duhem, _Système_, vol. v, 1917, p. 277. + +Footnote 629: + + Notably in the _De finitate motus et temporis_ and in the unpublished + _Hexaemeron_; see Baur, _Philos. Werke des Grosseteste_, 1912 (under + Grosseteste (under Grosseteste in the Bibliography), pp. + 19*-24*—especially p. 23*—93*-95*, 101–106). Robert Grosseteste’s + pupil, Roger Bacon, “believed that he was in a position to demonstrate + by philosophical proofs that the world had a beginning; and besides he + maintained that Aristotle never maintained a contrary doctrine” + (Duhem, _op. cit._, vol. v, p. 402). Albertus Magnus, on the other + hand, did not categorically deny the truth of the Aristotelian + teaching, “but rather treated it as a theory that must be accepted + from the philosophical point of view but rejected from the + theological” (Zöckler, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 439). Bacon discussed + this matter in an unpublished work now preserved in the Bibliothèque + Municipale at Amiens, MS. no. 406, fol. 69, col. a; see Duhem, _op. + cit._, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 260–277. Albertus Magnus discussed the same + subject in _Summa theologiae_, pt. II, tract. 11, and in _De quattuor + coaevis_, both cited by Zöckler, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 436. + +Footnote 630: + + See the summary of the _De mundi univ._ in: _Histoire littéraire de la + France_, vol. xii, Paris, 1763, pp. 267–269. + +Footnote 631: + + See Anderson, _Younger Edda_, 1880 (under Snorri Sturluson, II, in the + Bibliography). + +Footnote 632: + + Ginungagap may be related to the great “northerly gulf” referred to + above, p. 349. + +Footnote 633: + + Quotation is here from Anderson’s paraphrase of the leading ideas of + the _Edda_ of Snorri Sturluson (Anderson, _op. cit._, Preface, p. 5). + +Footnote 634: + + _Quod homo sit minor mundus_, Baur’s edit., p. 59. See also Thorndike, + _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, p. 446. + +Footnote 635: + + See above, pp. 213–214. + +Footnote 636: + + Cumont, _After Life_, 1922, p. 12. + +Footnote 637: + + See above, p. 185, and also below, p. 436, note 17. + +Footnote 638: + + It is to be recalled that the _De mundi universitate_ is divided into + two books, _Megacosmus_ and _Microcosmus_. See above, p. 146. + +Footnote 639: + + There are marked analogies between the theory of the microcosm as + expounded by Herrad and by Hildegard of Bingen. Singer believes that + “the theory, in the form in which these writers present it, reached + the upper Rhineland somewhere about the middle or latter half of the + twelfth century” (Singer, _Visions of Saint Hildegard_, 1917, p. 20). + +Footnote 640: + + See Singer, _op. cit._, pp. 30–43, for a discussion of the theory of + the macrocosm and microcosm according to Hildegard and for highly + interesting reproductions of miniatures illustrating this theory. + Singer, believing that the _Causae et curae_ and _Subtilitates_ are + spurious (see above, p. 396, note 8), omits consideration of these + works in this connection. + +Footnote 641: + + “In creatione hominis de terra alia terra sumpta est, quae homo est, + et omnia elementa ei serviebant, quia eum vivere sentiebant, et obviam + omnibus conversationibus ejus cum illo operabantur et ipse cum illis” + (_Subtilitates_, I, praefatio, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii, + col. 1125). + +Footnote 642: + + _Causae et curae_, I (Kaiser’s edit., p. 2). + +Footnote 643: + + Thorndike, _Magic_, vol. ii, 1923, pp. 153–154. + +Footnote 644: + + _Subtilitates_, praef., in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. cxcvii, cols. + 1125–1128. + +Footnote 645: + + “Terram centrum idest punctum vocamus eo quod sit media in spera.” + “Terra autem in medio celestris circuli per quem sol currit ut centro + locata est” (Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 8865, fol. + 55vo). + +Footnote 646: + + Grosseteste, _De sphaera_, Baur’s edit., pp. 12–13. + +Footnote 647: + + _Im. du monde_, I, 13. See above, p. 15. + +Footnote 648: + + John of Holywood, _De sphaera_, 1. + +Footnote 649: + + Translation of Al-Farghānī’s _Astronomy_ by John of Seville (or + Johannes Hispanensis, or John of Luna), Nuremberg edit., diff. iv, + fol. 4ro. In the _De sphaera_, _loc. cit._, John of Holywood stated + that Ptolemy and all philosophers had declared that six signs and the + middle of the heaven (_medietas caeli_)—by which he probably meant the + celestial equator—were visible from any place whatsoever to which a + man might go on the surface of the earth. If the earth were not at the + center of the universe it would be impossible, he argued, to see the + _medietas caeli_ from those parts of the earth nearest the firmament: + “aliquis existens in illa parte superficiei terrae quae magis + accederet ad firmamentum non videret caeli medietatem.” + +[Illustration: + + Fig. 10—Diagram to illustrate John of Holywood’s reasoning that the + earth is in the center of the universe. +] + + Figure 10 illustrates what appears to have been John’s line of + reasoning as well as the flaws in it. With the earth in position I, + not in the center of the universe, the celestial equator (_E-E′_) is + invisible from all points between _x_ and _y_ through _N_ (the north + pole), _x_ and _y_ being points at which tangents _E-x_ and _E′-y_ + touch the earth’s surface. If the earth is in the center of the + universe and the sphere of the universe is incomparably great in + relation to the size of the earth—something which John believed to be + true (see above, p. 155)—the area between _x′_ and _y′_ will be + reduced to a very small area around _N′_. John seems to have assumed + that the universe is large enough to make this area negligible. Such + an area must exist, nevertheless, with all but an infinitely great + celestial sphere. But if the universe were of infinite dimensions, + John’s entire argument based on the invisibility of _E-E′_ from an + earth not in the center would fall to the ground, for all points may + be deemed the center of an infinite universe. See also below, p. 426, + note 118. + + Ptolemy’s _Almagest_, I, 4, contains an argument aimed to demonstrate + why the earth must be at the center of the universe. John of + Holywood’s reasoning is a confused attempt to condense the argument of + Ptolemy into a short space. + +Footnote 650: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 5. + +Footnote 651: + + _ibid._, I, 1. + +Footnote 652: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 885. + +Footnote 653: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 1, 4. + +Footnote 654: + + _Im. du monde_, I, 10. + +Footnote 655: + + _Expos. in hex._, cols. 735–736. + +Footnote 656: + + _De phil. mundi_, IV, 1. + +Footnote 657: + + Abelard (_loc. cit._) and William of Conches (_loc. cit._) compare the + shell of the egg to the fire, the skin to the air, the white to the + water, and the yolk to the earth. Daniel of Morley makes the same + comparison, as follows: “Mundus vero ad similitudinem ovi factus est + vel dispositus. Terra est in medio ut vitellum in ovo; circa hanc est + aqua ut circa vitellum album; circa aquam aer ut panniculus continens + album. Extra vero cetera concludens est ignis ad modum teste ovi” (_De + philosophia_, Sudhoff’s edit., p. 20). + +Footnote 658: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 271–272; idem, _Studies_, + 1924, pp. 295–296. + +Footnote 659: + + “Et terra modica est et prope fundum firmamenti est, quod si in medio + firmamenti esset, tunc eam oporteret maiorem esse et tunc etiam facile + caderet et dirumperetur, si tantam amplitudinem aeris sub se haberet, + quantam super se habet. Sed et ipsa ad meridiem quasi descensus montis + est, unde etiam ibi maiorem calorem de sole habet, quia sol et + firmamentum ipsi viciniora ibi sunt. Ad aquilonem vero alta est + adversum poenas, et etiam ibi maius frigus est, quia nec firmamentum + nec sol ibi prope terram sunt, sed quaedam maior amplitudo firmamenti” + (_Causae et curae_, II, Kaiser’s edit., p. 49). + +Footnote 660: + + _Liber div. op._, pars I, visio II, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + cxcvii, cols. 751–755, 759–760. In a previous vision referred to in + the passage just cited and described in _Scivias_, I, visio III + (Migne, _op. cit._, col. 405), Hildegard saw the universe as an egg, + in which the earth appeared as follows: “Et in medio istorum + elementorum quidam arenosus globus plurimae magnitudinis erat; quem + eadem elementa ita circumdederant, quod nec hac nec illac dilabi + poterat. Sed dum interdum eadem elementa cum praedictis flatibus se + invicem concuterent, eumdem globum sua fortitudine aliquantulum + moveri. Et vidi inter aquilonem et orientem velut maximum montem, qui + versus aquilonem multas tenebras et versus orientem multam lucem + continebat; ita tamen quod nec lux illa ad tenebras, nec tenebrae ad + lucem pertingere poterant.” + + Singer in his _Visions of Saint Hildegard_, 1917, pp. 22–30, discusses + Hildegard’s theories of the structure of the material universe as + revealed in the records of her visions. Particularly striking are the + colored illustrations taken from miniatures in manuscripts of her + works. Singer asserts (p. 22) that “the concentric structure of the + universe is a commonplace of mediaeval science, and is encountered, + for instance, in the works of Bede, Isidore, Alexander of Neckam, + Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, and Dante. To all these writers, + however, the universe is spherical. The egg-shape is peculiar to + Hildegard. Many of the _Mappaemundi_ of the Beatus and other types + exhibit the _surface_ of the habitable earth itself as oval, and it + was from such charts that Hildegard probably gained her conception of + an oval universe. In her method of orientation also she follows these + maps, placing east at the top of the page where we are accustomed to + place the north.” This statement would seem to be misleading if it + means that the comparison of the universe with an egg is peculiar to + Hildegard. As is shown by the texts cited above, p. 151, and below, + note 100, _ad fin._, this comparison was a frequent one throughout our + period. It does not, however, necessarily imply belief that the + universe is shaped like an egg, but merely that its concentric + structure corresponds with that of the egg. Furthermore, in the + opinion of the present writer, the fact that the Beatus and other maps + of the period show the surface of the habitable earth as an oval or + rectangle should not necessarily be taken as meaning that the + draftsmen of the maps believed that the earth was oval or rectangular. + The maps were highly conventionalized, and their shape was often + determined by the shape of the page upon which they were drawn. On the + other hand, Hildegard in her Scivias unquestionably meant to describe + an egg-shaped universe. Otherwise she would not have been so careful + to point out at the opening of the _Liber divinorum operum_ that in + the earlier vision described in _Scivias_ the universe had appeared as + an egg whereas in the vision she was about to describe it appeared as + a wheel. + +Footnote 661: + + “In medio quoque aeris terra posita est, ita scilicet ut aer aequali + mensura super terram, ac sub terra, et in utraque partes terrae sit” + (_Liber div. op._, pars I, visio IV, cap. 63). + + Doubts have been thrown on the authenticity of the _Causae et curae_ + as a work of Hildegard (see above, p. 396, note 8). The three passages + quoted in this and the two preceding notes show that in both phrasing + and substance the passage from the _Causae et curae_ bears marked + resemblances to the passages from the two other known works of + Hildegard, even though there is inconsistency in regard to the central + issue relating to the position of the earth. If the _Causae et curae_ + were not written by Hildegard, it was assuredly the work of someone + thoroughly familiar with her writings. + +Footnote 662: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 5. + +Footnote 663: + + _De phil. mundi_, IV, 2–3. + +Footnote 664: + + See above, p. 368, note 33. + +Footnote 665: + + John of Holywood, _De sphaera_, 1. + +Footnote 666: + + Similar arguments are set forth in Robert Grosseteste’s _De sphaera_, + Baur’s edit., p. 13. + +Footnote 667: + + See Alexander Neckam, _De nat. rer._, II, 14, where much the same + argument is given. Neckam adds that the roundness of drops of dew is + proof of the inherent tendency of water to assume a spherical shape. + +Footnote 668: + + The text upon which this accusation is based is from _Otia imper._, + II, 2, where Gervase says: “Nos tamen assignantes orbis divisionem + distributioni filiorum Noë, a quibus summa totius orbis coepit + partitio, orbem totius terrae Oceani limbo circumseptum et quadratura + statuimus secundum Pauli Orosii sententiam, eiusque tres partes Asiam, + Europam et Africam nominamus.” This was interpreted by Daunou + (_Discours_, 1824, p. 120)—who was followed by Santarem (_Essai_, vol. + i, 1848, p. 107), C. B. Jourdain (_Infl. d’ Arist._, 1861, pp. 19–20), + and others—as implying that Gervase believed the earth to be square. + On the other hand, Lecoy de La Marche rallied to the defense of + Gervase (_Connaiss. géogr._, 1884, p. 208). He argued that the passage + should be rendered thus: “Nous calculons, nous pensons, que le monde + terrestre est entouré et encadré (_quadratum_) par une ceinture de + mers” and that elsewhere Gervase asserts definitely that the earth is + a sphere: “Forma eius (terrae) rotunda est ad modum pilae” (_Otia + imper._, vol. i, p. 885). As a matter of fact Gervase was speaking of + the universe and not of the earth when he made this comparison with a + ball, and Lecoy de La Marche would have been more correct if he had + inserted _mundi_ after _eius_ instead of _terrae_. It seems, + nevertheless, that we are justified in rejecting the text first quoted + as furnishing any sure evidence that Gervase believed the earth to be + square, especially since he also adopted the old comparison of the + universe to an egg (_Otia imper._, _loc. cit._) with which it would + have been difficult, though not impossible, to reconcile a theory of a + square earth. Gervase, however, had an uncritical mind. His work was + in large measure one of compilation from the writings of others, and + it would not be surprising to find contradictory statements in it. + Quite as contradictory passages on the same subject occur in Isidore + and in most medieval writings of a similar encyclopedic character. See + above, p. 54. Lecoy de La Marche, it would seem, tried to do the + impossible when he attempted to show that Gervase had clear and + consistent ideas of a scientific nature. + + There is no question, however, but that belief in the sphericity of + the earth was well grounded in the consciousness of many Western + Europeans of the late twelfth century. Other evidence of this beside + that already cited is furnished by the fact that in an ecstasy Alpis + (or Alpäis) of Cudot, of the diocese of Sens, was said to have seen + the entire world in the form of a globe, compact and united. The sun + was larger than the earth; and the latter was suspended in the midst + of the air like an egg surrounded by water on all sides (_Histoire + littéraire de la France_, vol. ix, 1750, p. 155). This vision was much + like those of Hildegard of Bingen; see above, p, 423, note 92. + +Footnote 669: + + _Causae et curae_, II; Kaiser’s edit., p. 49, quoted above, p. 423, + note 91. The fact that Hildegard here states that if the earth were in + the middle of the firmament it would have to be larger or else it + would fall, would seem to necessitate belief in a flat earth + contiguous with the firmament. The passage from _Causae et curae_, I, + Kaiser’s edit., p. 23, translated above, pp. 183–184, would also seem + to require the same belief. + +Footnote 670: + + See above, p. 54. + +Footnote 671: + + See passages quoted above, p. 423, notes 91 and 92. + +Footnote 672: + + _Scivias_, I, visio III, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii, col. + 405; _Liber div. op._, pars I, visio II, in: Migne, _op. cit._, cols. + 751–755, 759–760; pars I, visio IV, in: Migne, _op. cit._, col. 869. + +Footnote 673: + + _De arca Noë myst._, 14. For a similar text see Daniel of Morley’s _De + philosophia_, Sudhoff’s edit., pp. 9–10. + +Footnote 674: + + See above, p. 369, notes 39 and 40. + +Footnote 675: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 5. + +Footnote 676: + + _De sex d. op._, p. 58. + +Footnote 677: + + See above, p. 370, note 42; p. 401, note 58; p. 419, note 32. + +Footnote 678: + + _Quaest. nat._, 48 (49). Adelard’s arguments resemble those of + Aristotle in the _De caelo_. See above, p. 370, note 42; p. 401, note + 58. + +Footnote 679: + + Similar Aristotelian arguments are to be found in Alexander Neckam’s + _De nat. rer._, I, 16. Neckam cites Aristotle as his authority. + +Footnote 680: + + _De sphaera_, 1. + +Footnote 681: + + “Haec [i. e. terrae] centrum in medio mundi ut punctus in medio + circuli aequaliter collocatur ...” etc. (_De imag. mundi_, I, 5). + “Tanta est firmamenti quantitas ut ipsi totalis terra collata quasi + punctum esse videatur” (Alexander Neckam, _De nat. rer._, I, 5). + Michael Scot, however, believed that “the distance to the extreme of + the waters beneath the earth equals the distance to the moon” + (Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 272; idem, _Studies_, 1924, + pp. 295–296). + +Footnote 682: + + “Cum ergo corpus solis et terrae aequalia non sunt, quippe cum sit sol + octies major quam terra, umbram terrae κυλίνδρος esse non potest” (_De + phil. mundi_, II, 32). + +Footnote 683: + + _Im. du monde_, I, 14. This is based on Neckam, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 684: + + _Im. du monde_, III, 16. Neckam (_De nat. rer._, I, 8), with whose + text the _Image du monde_ here corresponds, borrowed from Ptolemy + certain details in regard to the relative sizes of sun, earth, + planets, and stars. The sun is by far the largest body in the + universe, 166 and a fraction times larger than the earth. Next after + the sun rank fifteen of the largest fixed stars; Jupiter ranks in the + third place, Saturn in the fourth, the remainder of the fixed stars in + the fifth, Mars in the sixth, the earth in the seventh, Venus in the + eighth, the moon in the ninth, and Mercury in the tenth. See Ptolemy, + _Almagest_, V, 16. + +Footnote 685: + + _De sphaera_, 1. + +Footnote 686: + + “Item si intelligatur superficies plana super centrum terrae dividens + eam in duo aequalia, et per consequens ipsum firmamentum, oculus + igitur existens in centro terrae videret medietatem firmamenti; + idemque existens in superficie terrae videret eandem medietatem. Ex + his colligitur quod insensibilis est quantitas terrae quae est a + superficie ad centrum et per consequens quantitas totius terrae + insensibilis est respectu firmamenti” (_loc. cit._). + + John of Holywood’s argument is here closely related to that employed + by him to prove that the earth must be in the center of the universe + as set forth above, p. 422, note 81. It would seem probable that by + “an eye stationed in the center of the earth” he means an eye on a + line between the center of the earth and the _medietas firmamenti_, + and by “the same (eye) stationed on the surface of the earth” he means + on the surface at a point where a line at right angles to the line + from the center of the earth to the _medietas firmamenti_ cuts the + surface of the earth. Referring, then, to Figure 10, p. 422, above, + let us assume that line _E-E′_ represents the plane through the + _medietas firmamenti_ and the center of the earth (_C_). When the + earth is at the center of the universe line _C-N′_ will represent the + line drawn at right angles to this plane. With a universe of infinite + dimensions obviously _N′-E_ and _N′-E′_ would be parallel to _E-E′_, + and the _medietas firmamenti_ would be visible from _N′_. John assumes + that the universe is so large in relation to the earth that the area + around _N′_ whence _E-E′_ would be invisible is negligible. + +Footnote 687: + + _Almagest_, I, 5. + +Footnote 688: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 5. + +Footnote 689: + + _Im. du monde_, III, 15. + +Footnote 690: + + _Liber floridus_, Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 8865, + fol. 55vo. A note illustrating a diagram on the same page of the same + manuscript gives 240,000 stades for the circumference, one of the two + figures of Posidonius. See above, p. 16. + +Footnote 691: + + _De sphaera_, 1. + +Footnote 692: + + See the various works referred to on pp. 95–98, above. Robert + Grosseteste’s _De sphaera_ includes a very clear discussion of the + main elements of geocentric astronomy as taught in the early + thirteenth century. + +Footnote 693: + + See above, pp. 17–18. + +Footnote 694: + + _De mundi univ._, p. 17. + +Footnote 695: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 6. + +Footnote 696: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 892. + +Footnote 697: + + _Etym._, XIII, 6. + +Footnote 698: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 2–3. + +Footnote 699: + + “Extra tres autem partes orbis, quarta pars trans oceanum interior est + in meridie, quae solis ardore incognita nobis est. In cuius finibus + antipodas fabulosae inhabitare produntur.” Text (not legible on our + Fig. 2, p. 69) from Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, p. 58. See + Isidore, _Etym._, XIV, 5, 17. Gervase of Tilbury describes the austral + continent in similar terms: “Porro inter mare rubrum et Oceanum plaga + torrida est, propter calorem nobis incognita, in cuius finibus + antipodes esse dicuntur” (_Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 760). + +Footnote 700: + + See above, p. 385, note 58. + +Footnote 701: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 1895, p. 50. + +Footnote 702: + + “Hic antipodes nostri habitant, sed noctem diversam diesque contrarios + perferunt ...” (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 703: + + See above, p. 185. + +Footnote 704: + + _Microcosmus_, Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds St. Victor, no. 738, + fol. 18vo. + +Footnote 705: + + _De sphaera_, Baur’s edit., pp. 24–25. Amphitrite is also discussed in + the _Liber de essentiis_ of Hermann the Dalmatian, dating from 1143, + in a geographical passage published recently by Haskins (_Studies_, + 1924, pp. 62–64): “Hinc vero per Amphitritis sinus ab Athlante Libico + Strixisque inflexu per littora Gaditana per confinia Thiles proprie + Temiscirios campos e vicino portibus Caspiis usque ad Caucason et + Ethiopici Gangis effluxus.” In another passage of the same work quoted + by Haskins (_op. cit._, p. 64) Hermann indicates that in the latitude + of Lisbon and Toledo eight equal land stages are the equivalent of 4° + of longitude, that the width of Amphitrite is 44°, or the equivalent + of eighty-eight equal land stages, and that there is an opinion that + paradise lies beyond this ocean. “... spatium ... dierum 44 que + secundum quod ratio tribuit est dimidia latitudo Amphitritis, tota + (totam) videlicet itineris terrestris equabilis dierum fere 88. Tantum + ergo spatii vel etiam aliquanto plus que ratio hucusque transnatari + prohibuit nondum audivimus nisi forte illa quam (que) exposuimus. In + ea tamen parte non modica est opinio eam esse regionem quam paradisum + vocant, cuius indicio sunt signa tam ab oriente quam ab occidente.” In + this same passage Hermann states that Toledo is 62° west of Arin (see + above, p. 86). One would therefore expect the width of Amphitrite to + be 44° in order to bring to 90° the total distance from Arin to the + prime meridian in the midst of Amphitrite (Haskins, _op. cit._, p. 64, + note 202). + +Footnote 706: + + _Im. du monde_, II, 1. + +Footnote 707: + + “Quid significat globus aureus, qui regum manibus gestatur? + Aureus ille globus pomum vel palla vocatur, + Unde figuratum mundum gestare putatur, + Quando coronatur, palla ferenda datur. + Significat mundum forma peribente rotundum, + Intus habet plenum terrestri pondere fundum, + Quem tenet archanum palla ferenda manu. + Hec fuit ex terris mundi collecta quaternis; + Ut foret imperii manibus gestenda supernis. + Hac tulit imperium Iulius arte suum. + Taliter hunc mundum gestat manus una rotundum, + Regius includit sic omnia climata pugnus, + Taliter omne quod est regia pompa tenet.” + —_Pantheon_, particula xxvi, 4; in: _Mon. Germ. + hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxii, pp. 274–275; pars + 19 in Herold’s edit., 1559, col. 620. + +Footnote 708: + + Eugen Oberhummer, _Das britische Weltreich und die imperialistischen + Staatenbildung früherer Zeit_, in: Mitteilungen der Geographischen + Gesellschaft in Wien, vol. lxiii, 1920, pp. 108–109. See also Miller, + _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 129–131. + +Footnote 709: + + “In den bûchen vant er ouch dô, + daz eine werlt wêre sô + gelegen under dirre erde: + swen ez hie naht werde, + daz ez danne dort tac sî.” + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871, p. 51. + +Footnote 710: + + _De nupt. Phil. et Merc._, VI, 602–608. + +Footnote 711: + + The word _antipodes_ as we employ it at the present time refers rather + to the _antichthones_ of Capella. These terms, however, were not used + with consistency by classical and medieval writers. + +Footnote 712: + + _In som. Scip. com._, II, 5. + +Footnote 713: + + _De phil. mundi_, IV, 3. Alexander Neckam also did not deny the + abstract possibility of the existence of antipodeans: “Nonne enim et + antipodes sub pedibus nostris esse dicuntur. Si tamen philosophice + loqui volueris, non magis sunt sub pedibus nostris quam nos sub + pedibus eorum. Sed numquid de primis parentibus descenderunt + antipodes? Secundum Augustinum non sunt antipodes, sed doctrinae causa + aut figmenti ita dici solet” (_De nat. rer._, pp. 159–160). + +Footnote 714: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 975. + +Footnote 715: + + “Mira res a messibus subterraneis veniens hyemalia frigora videt in + nostro haemispherio perseverare, quod utique solis absentiae ac + vicariae praesentiae merito adscribendum duxi” (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 716: + + Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 64–65. For data relating to + another attack on Macrobius’ cosmography preserved in a + twelfth-century manuscript in Cambrai see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, + pp. 98–103. + +Footnote 717: + + The Latin text of the passage of which this is a free paraphrase, runs + as follows: “Suscepto enim semel, quatuor habitationes hominum esse, + quorum ad se invicem nulla penitus possit esse per naturam commeandi + licentia, dic age, quomodo verum erit, quod Sancta, & Apostolica + rationalibiliter confitetur Ecclesia, Salvatorem videlicet, per primos + Patres ab ipsis, ut ita dicam, huius Mundi cunabulis praesignatum, & a + Patriarchis, & Prophetis consequenter multifarie, & multis evidentibus + modis praefiguratum, tandem in plenitudine temporis, ineffabilibus + humilitatis, & caritatis suae operibus cognitum, ac clarificatum, in + salutem totius humani generis advenisse, si tria hominum genera + excepta sunt, quae praedictus Macrobius praeter hanc habitabilem, quam + incolumus, secundum zonarum Coeli, & terrae temperiem, posse esse + persuadet, ad quae tantae salubritatis notitia pervenire non potuit? + Ubi est, quod ille fidelis, quem invenit Dominus virum secundum cor + suum, in spiritu veritatis clamat: ‘Ante conspectum gentium revelavit + justitiam suam Deus.’ Et ibidem: ‘Videbunt omnes fines terrae salutare + Dei nostri,’ si aliqui fines terrae sunt ab hominibus inhabitati, ad + quos sonus Prophetarum, & Apostolorum nostrorum prohibente natura per + inaccessibiles aquarum, frigorum, calorumve distantias transire + nequivit?” (Manegold, _Opusculum_, Muratori’s edit., 1713, pp. + 175–176.) + +Footnote 718: + + Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 14704, fol. 114vo. See + also above, p. 96. + +Footnote 719: + + _Dialogus_, I, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clvii, col. 547. + Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 10722, fol. 77ro, gives + a diagram illustrating the eccentricity of the sun’s orbit. In accord + with the Moslem cartographic tradition, south is at the top. + +Footnote 720: + + Plato of Tivoli’s translation of Al-Bāttanī’s _Astronomy_, Bologna + edit., 1645, p. 26 (from _Opus astron._, 6, Nallino’s edit., pt. i, + 1903, p. 14). Essentially the same ideas, though expressed in somewhat + different terms, are to be found in the _Liber de essentiis_ of + Hermann the Dalmatian. See above, p. 400, note 48. + +Footnote 721: + + _De lineis angulis_, etc., Baur’s edit., p. 64. Roger Bacon’s views on + the influence of pyramidal rays as set forth in _Opus majus_ (Bridges’ + edit., vol. i, 1897, pp. 117–143) are discussed in Werner, _Kosm. + Roger Baco_, 1879, pp. 597–600. Bacon’s indebtedness to Grosseteste, + however, does not seem to be sufficiently emphasized by Werner. See + above, pp. 179–180 and p. 408, note 97. + +Footnote 722: + + _De natura locorum_, Baur’s edit., pp. 66–67. + +Footnote 723: + + _De sphaera_, Baur’s edit., pp. 20–24. + +Footnote 724: + + _De natura locorum_, Baur’s edit., p. 69. + +Footnote 725: + + Emmanuel de Martonne, _Traité de géographie physique_, 3rd edit., + Paris, 1920, p. 40. + +Footnote 726: + + _De sphaera_, Baur’s edit., p. 25. + +Footnote 727: + + _Opus majus_, Bridges’ edit., vol. i, 1897, p. 192. See Duhem, + _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, pp. 416–419. + +Footnote 728: + + _De natura locorum_, Baur’s edit., pp. 68–69. + +Footnote 729: + + See above, pp. 179–180, and below, p. 431, note 7. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER VII + THE ATMOSPHERE + +Footnote 730: + + Those parts of the _Dragmaticon philosophiae_ and of the _De + philosophia mundi_ which deal with meteorology are conveniently + available in Hellmann, _Denkmäler_, 1904, pp. 42–54, 69–75. See also + the extensive discussion in Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von Conches_, 1873. + +Footnote 731: + + _De phil. mundi_, I, 21; III, 1; III, 14. See also Werner, _op. cit._, + p. 318. + +Footnote 732: + + _De phil. mundi_, I, 21. See also Werner, _op. cit._, pp. 316–317. + +Footnote 733: + + _De phil. mundi_, I, 17–21. See also Werner, _op. cit._, pp. 313–315. + +Footnote 734: + + These five regions were: (1) the celestial region, or sphere of the + fixed stars; (2) the region of ether, which reaches from the sphere of + the fixed stars down to that of the moon; (3) the upper air, clear and + lucid; (4) the lower air, turbid and cloudy; and (5) the earth. (_De + phil. mundi_, I, 16–21). See Werner, _loc. cit._, for discussion of + these ideas, of their derivation from Plato’s _Timaeus_ and from later + Platonists, and of the “demons” associated with each of the five + regions. + +Footnote 735: + + _De phil. mundi_, IV, 5: III, 5, 6. + +Footnote 736: + + Robert Grosseteste believed that if you take into account the + theoretical principles of the “pyramids” of rays alone (see above, pp. + 163–164), mountain heights should be hotter than valleys because the + pyramids striking the crests of mountains are shorter than those + striking the floors of valleys (_De natura locorum_, Baur’s edit., p. + 66). In other words, mountain summits theoretically ought to be warmer + because they are nearer the sun. In the _De natura locorum_ Robert + explains that accidental circumstances frequently cause a reversal of + these conditions in such a way that the heights may be dominated by + cold. Among these accidental circumstances are the winds and also the + fact that peaks rise to the “middle space of the air or of the sphere + where there is the greatest cold (medium interstitium aeris vel + sphaerae, ubi est maxima frigiditas).” + +Footnote 737: + + “... calor non provenit ex corpore solari, sed ex reflexione et + condensatione radiorum” (_De impressionibus elementorum_, Baur’s + edit., p. 88). + +Footnote 738: + + _ibid._, pp. 87–88. + +Footnote 739: + + See above, p. 23. + +Footnote 740: + + “Triplex est universa dimensio, in longum, latum, et altum. Quoniam + igitur omnis corporis sedes in fundamento suo terra vero tocius mundi + fundamentum, multo pocius mundane prolis ex substantia collecte sedem + terram esse necesse est. Eius pars quedam a terra in altum crescit, + alia vero super terram in altum elevatur tocius fomentum hic spiritus + terreni vapores pinguedine crassus, sine quo nulla huius geniture vita + per aliquot horarum spacia possibilis. Hic autem vapor, ut per + altitudinem Olimpi concipit Aristotiles, a terre superficie non plus + quam .xvi. stadiis exaltatur. Hic ergo terminus videtur in altum omnis + nostre habitabilis. Videtur fortasse huius altitudinis mensura sumi + posse vel per arcum yris que secundum Ipparci descriptionem ab ipsis + nubibus usque in superficiem terre perveniat. Sed quoniam nec ipsa + descriptio constans nec ipsius arcus ad semicirculum habitudo, + propterea nos id cuilibet probandum relinquimus” (_Liber de + essentiis_, text from Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, p. 62, where variant + readings from different manuscripts are given). Haskins points out + that Aristotle (_Meteor._, I, 13) omits Olympus from his list of the + highest mountains. + +Footnote 741: + + See above, p. 169, and below, p. 432, note 16. + +Footnote 742: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 34; copied in Gervase of Tilbury, _Otia imper._, + vol. i, p. 893. + +Footnote 743: + + The origin of this story has not been traced by the present writer. It + would certainly seem to be based on some actual knowledge of the + physiological effects of lower air pressure at great heights. + + According to Benini (_Origine del Monte del Purgatorio_, 1917, p. + 1085) Dante (_Purgatorio_, XXVIII, 103–112; see also _Inferno_, IV, + 26–28, 149–150) held that the Mount of Purgatory reaches above the + lower levels of the atmosphere, which are corrupted by the earth and + where winds, clouds, rain, hail, and rainbows are to be found, into a + realm of motionless air. The very summit of the mountain where the + Terrestrial Paradise is situated is in a belt of air which moves from + east to west with the motion of the ninth sphere. + +Footnote 744: + + “Nos vero dicimus quod ille aer non spissatur, sed fumus humidus qui + ex convallibus ascendit, ex frigiditate superiorum in nubes et nives + constringitur” (_De phil. mundi_, IV, 5). + +Footnote 745: + + _Dialogus_, IX, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clvii, col. 631. + +Footnote 746: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 4–8. + +Footnote 747: + + Of the water drawn up by the sun, the lighter or “more liquid” + (liquidius) portions were supposed actually to have been turned into + fire and in this way to have served as a replenishment for the solar + fires. The coarser portions fell back to the earth. A blood rain was + caused by great heat. + +Footnote 748: + + See E. W. Gudger, _Rains of Fishes_, in: Natural History: The Journal + of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. xxi, 1921, New York, + pp. 607–619. + +Footnote 749: + + _De sex d. op._, p. 54. + +Footnote 750: + + William of Conches follows Theodoric in this explanation of snow and + hail (_De phil. mundi_, III, 4, 8, 9). In the epic poem, _Philippis_ + (IX, 672–682), of William the Breton there is a remarkable description + of a nocturnal fog lying over the humid and fertile ground near Lille, + so thick that a rider could scarcely discern the ears of his horse in + front of him. William attributed the fog to damp vapors rising from + beneath the muddy surface of the plain rather than to a more probable + cause: the cooling and condensation of water vapor in the lower strata + of the atmosphere as a result of active radiation from the earth’s + surface. + +Footnote 751: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 6. On the miraculous production of rain, see above, + pp. 203–204, and below, p. 433, note 31. + +Footnote 752: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 7 (cited by Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von + Conches_, 1873, p. 375). William discusses opposing views as to the + end of the world, whether it will come by flood or by fire (see above, + pp. 13–14). William himself was inclined to believe that it would be + by fire. + +Footnote 753: + + See above, p. 184. + +Footnote 754: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 34. + +Footnote 755: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 907. See below, p. 446, note 18. + +Footnote 756: + + The presence of fossils on mountains was cited by early Christian + writers as proof that the Deluge rose higher than the highest + mountains. See references in E. S. McCartney, _Fossil Lore in Greek + and Roman Literature_, in: Proceedings of the Michigan Academy of + Science, Arts, and Letters, vol. iii, New York, 1924, pp. 23–38, + references on p. 35. + +Footnote 757: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 893–894. + +Footnote 758: + + “‘Non maledicam ultra terram, propter homines. Tempus sementis et + messis, frigus et aestas, nox et dies requiescent.’ Forte nondum ita + plene distincta erant tempora quatuor, quia nec usque ad diluvium + aquae collectae fuerant in nubes” (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 759: + + _Liber div. op._, pars III, visio VII, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + cxcvii, col. 966. Quotation from Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, p. + 136. + +Footnote 760: + + On the supernatural production of storms and wind, and on the belief + that they are caused by magic and by evil spirits in the air, see + White, _Warfare_, 1920, vol. i, pp. 336–350; Hoffmann, _Anschauungen_, + 1907, PP· 85–91; and, especially, J. G. Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, + Part I, _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, London, 1911, vol. + i, pp. 244–331. See also above, pp. 203–204 and 209. + + A characteristic story of this sort is related in the _Gesta regis + Ricardi_, falsely ascribed to Benedict of Peterborough. Here we are + told that a huge black dragon raises waterspouts in the Gulf of + Satalia on the south coast of Asia Minor. The author adds, however: + “Quidem autem dicunt quod hoc non est draco sed sol qui attrahit aquas + maris ad se, quod plus verum videtur” (_Gesta regis Ricardi_, vol. ii, + p. 197). The author is also skeptical towards a fantastic story of how + storms are produced in the same gulf by the rising to the surface of + the head of an abortive child that had been thrown into its waters + (_ibid._, p. 196). + +Footnote 761: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 54. + +Footnote 762: + + “Ventus ... est ... aer commotus et agitatus” (_Otia imper._, vol. i, + p. 889). + +Footnote 763: + + “Est igitur ventus aer densus usque ad offensionem (quidem) motus. + Esse enim venti genus aerem estimo” (_Quaest. nat._, 59 (60)). On + references to the _Quaestiones naturales_, see the Bibliography under + Adelard of Bath. + +Footnote 764: + + “Ventus igitur est aer in unam partem flans” (_Dragmaticon + philosophiae_, in: Hellmann, _Denkmäler_, 1904, p. 42). + +Footnote 765: + + _Liber div. op._, pars I, visio II, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + cxcvii, col. 762; Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, p. 132. + +Footnote 766: + + _Causae et curae_, I, Kaiser’s edit., p. 4. + +Footnote 767: + + _ibid._, p. 5. + +Footnote 768: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 15. + +Footnote 769: + + _Quaest. nat._, 59 (60); quotation is from Gollancz’s translation, p. + 145. + +Footnote 770: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 922. + +Footnote 771: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 15. + +Footnote 772: + + See above, pp. 192–193. + +Footnote 773: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 15. + +Footnote 774: + + Gilbert, _Meteorol. Theorien_, 1907, pp. 539–557. + +Footnote 775: + + _Quaest. nat._, V, 17. + +Footnote 776: + + On the names of the winds in medieval French literature, see Frahm, + _Das Meer_, 1914, pp. 78–82. + +Footnote 777: + + _Liber floridus_, Ghent MS., fol. 24, as cited in Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. clxiii, col. 1009. + +Footnote 778: + + Einhard, the Frankish scholar, contemporary and biographer of + Charlemagne, in his _Vita Caroli magni_ so designates the winds (_Mon. + Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. ii, p. 459). + +Footnote 779: + + Bertolini, _L’orologio_, 1916, p. 977. + +Footnote 780: + + Cusa, _Denom. dei venti_, 1884, pp. 375–415. + +Footnote 781: + + Alexander Neckam makes Boreas a bringer of hail and Auster a rainy + wind (_De laud. div. sap._, II, 85–92). + + Bernard Sylvester writes: + + “Obriguit Boreas, maduit Notus, Auster et Eurus: + Hic tempestates, ille serena facit.” + —_De mundi univ._, p. 19. + + Classical tradition, however, was apparently uniform in conceiving of + Notus and Auster as the same. See table in Gilbert, _op. cit._, pp. + 550–551. William of Conches describes Boreas as a dry, as well as + cold, wind “because it drives the clouds before it toward the mid + region of the earth.” But also, because of the very fact that it does + so drive the clouds before it, it is a producer of rain along the + borders of the torrid zone. “Siccus vero, quia nubes de hoc angulo + terrae ad medium fugat, estque pluviosus juxta fines torridae zonae” + (_De phil. mundi_, III, 15). + +Footnote 782: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 783: + + “Arthous, Boreas, Boreae contrarius Auster, + Sol oriens Eurum, vespera dat Zephyrum. + Constringit Boreas, pluvius fert humidus Auster, + Clara dies Euro, flos alitur Zephyro. + Auctumno Boreas, aestati convenit Eurus; + Auster hyemsque madent; ver Zephyrusque tepent.” + —_Symbolum electorum_, II, 1. + + See also Giraldus Cambrensis, _Top. Hiber._, I, 3, on Zephyr and + Eurus, and I, 6, on Corus, the violent northwester which uproots or + bends over trees in the west of Ireland. Corus was the favoring wind + for voyagers from England to France, according to Willibald, an eighth + century ecclesiastic, associate of Boniface, in his _Vita Bonifatii_, + 5 (Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. lxxxix, col. 613). Alexander Neckam (_loc. + cit._) and Bernard Sylvester (_loc. cit._) make Eurus a stormy wind. + Neckam says that it disturbs the waters and is unwelcome to travelers; + Zephyr, on the other hand, spreads the fields with flowers. + +Footnote 784: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 922. + +Footnote 785: + + _ibid._, p. 972. + +Footnote 786: + + Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, 1856, p. 112. + +Footnote 787: + + _Historia_, XIX, 16 (in medieval French transl., edited by Paulin + Paris, vol. ii, 1880, p. 275; see also Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, 1901, + p. 29). Walter of Châtillon describes vividly the drought, whirlwinds, + and sand storms of the Libyan desert (_Alexandreis_, III, 374). See + Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, p. 201. + +Footnote 788: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 31. + +Footnote 789: + + _Collectanea_, Mommsen’s edit., p. 236, translated in: Nansen, + _Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. i, p. 193. + +Footnote 790: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 3. + +Footnote 791: + + Dreesbach, _op. cit._, pp. 19–24. + +Footnote 792: + + Ambroise, _Estoire de la guerre sainte_, verses 10610–10612, in: + Gaston Paris’ edit., col. 284; see also the same, verses 6303–6306 + (Paris’ edit., col. 168), and Dreesbach, _op. cit._, p. 20. The last + four words may be translated by “as is its wont.” + +Footnote 793: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s transl., p. 81. + +Footnote 794: + + _ibid._, p. 64. + +Footnote 795: + + _ibid._, p. 38. + +Footnote 796: + + _De phil. mundi_, IV, 3. + +Footnote 797: + + _De prop. rerum_, XI, 3. + +Footnote 798: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 33–40. + +Footnote 799: + + _ibid._, I, 35. + +Footnote 800: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + p. 22. + +Footnote 801: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 3, 6, etc. + +Footnote 802: + + _ibid._, I, 33. + +Footnote 803: + + See above, p. 167. + +Footnote 804: + + _De phil. mundi_, IV, 6. + +Footnote 805: + + _Ligurinus_, II, 61–66, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. ccxii, cols. + 350–351. + +Footnote 806: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 4. + +Footnote 807: + + _Itin. Kamb._, I, 2. + +Footnote 808: + + _ibid._, I, 3. + +Footnote 809: + + _De natura locorum_, Baur’s edit., pp. 68–69. See above, p. 165. + +Footnote 810: + + _De natura locorum_, Baur’s edit., pp. 68–69. + +Footnote 811: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 912. + +Footnote 812: + + _ibid._, p. 922. + +Footnote 813: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 13. + +Footnote 814: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 35–37. + +Footnote 815: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 34. + +Footnote 816: + + _Ligurinus_, IV, 179–220, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. ccxii, cols. + 381–382. + +Footnote 817: + + Referring to Capua, Benjamin of Tudela wrote: “It is a fine city, but + its water is bad and the country is fever-stricken” (Benjamin of + Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s transl., p. 7). + + + NOTES + CHAPTER VIII + THE WATERS + +Footnote 818: + + _Expos. in hex._, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxviii, cols. + 741–747. + +Footnote 819: + + _De sex d. op._, pp. 54–55. + +Footnote 820: + + _De phil. mundi_, II, 2. + +Footnote 821: + + William of Conches went on to explain in this connection (_De phil. + mundi_, II, 4) why the heavens are blue, a phenomenon which some + observers had attributed to the presence of waters. “What do we see up + there, dense and the color of water? It is not fire, for if the air is + invisible because of its great rarity (_subtilitas_), so also must + fire be invisible, fire which is so much more rare than air. + Furthermore, it is not the color of fire.” William asserted that you + see nothing at all and that the impression of seeing water is an + optical illusion. Unless some other color interposes, a ray of light + on entering the eye takes the color of water from the aqueous humor + contained in the eye. + +Footnote 822: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 272; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. + 296. + +Footnote 823: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 894. + +Footnote 824: + + Paraphrase by White, _Warfare_, 1920, vol. i, p. 95, note. + +Footnote 825: + + _De universo_, I, 38 (Orléans edit., 1674, p. 598, col. 2G, as cited + and translated by Stegmann, _Anschauungen_, 1913, p. 19, note 3). + +Footnote 826: + + _Causae et curae_, I (Kaiser’s edit., p. 23). See above, p. 425, note + 101. + +Footnote 827: + + _Solutiones_, quaest. 2, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii, cols. + 1040–1041. + +Footnote 828: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 893. + +Footnote 829: + + _Expos. in hex._, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxviii, cols. + 743–744. + +Footnote 830: + + Psalm cxlviii, 4–5. + +Footnote 831: + + See above, pp. 186–187. + +Footnote 832: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 5. See Norlind, _Problem_, 1918, p. 39. + +Footnote 833: + + _De sacramentis_, bk. I, pt. I, ch. 22. See Norlind, _op. cit._, p. + 44. + +Footnote 834: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 5. See also _Im. du monde_, II, 9; Bartholomew + Anglicus, _De prop. rerum_, VIII, 3. The symbolism of the microcosm is + in one instance curiously inverted in the _Causae et curae_, I + (Kaiser’s edit., p. 23) of Hildegard of Bingen, who compares the water + with the body and the earth with the heart of man. On the other hand, + in _Subtilitates_, II, 3 (in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii, col. + 1212) she asserts that “rivers are sent forth from the sea like the + blood in the veins of the human body” (Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. + ii, p. 132). See also above, pp. 147–150. + +Footnote 835: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 45. + +Footnote 836: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 14. See also Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von + Conches_, 1873, p. 374. + +Footnote 837: + + _Dialogus_, IX, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clvii, col. 631. + +Footnote 838: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 14. + +Footnote 839: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 892. + +Footnote 840: + + See above, p. 60, and Norlind, _Problem_, 1918, pp. 38–40. + +Footnote 841: + + Norlind, _op. cit._, p. 38, notes, gives the following interesting + quotations: “Quae videlicet aquae circumfusae globo terrae ipsum + quodammodo sustentant, quod est mirabile in oculis nostris” (Gerhohus, + _Expos. in psalmos_, ad Ps. cxxxv, 6, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. + cxciv, col. 901). “Quod autem terra super aquas fundata esse dicitur, + nostram scientiam excedit. Mihi autem non videtur mirabilius, terram + super aquas esse fundatam, quam aquas, quae eiusdem ponderis sunt, + super terras in aere volare” (Bruno Astensis, _Expos. in psalmos_, + cxxxv, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxiv, col. 1194). Bruno adds an + allegorical explanation (_loc. cit._): “Possumus autem per terram + Ecclesiam intelligere quae super multos populos fundata est, qui per + aquas significantur, etc.” + +Footnote 842: + + “Movebitur aliquis super hoc quod dicit propheta ‘Dominum firmasse + terram super aquas.’ Ex hoc enim videbitur haberi posse aquas esse + inferiores terra, cum tamen Alfraganus dicat, unam esse sphaeram + aquarum et terrae. Sancti igitur expositores referunt illud prophetae + ad cotidianum usum loquendi quo dici solet Parisius fundatam esse + super Secanam. Rei tamen veritas est, quod paradisus terrestris + superior est aquis, cum etiam lunari globo superior sit” (_De nat. + rer._, II, 49). See also below, p. 462, note 34. + +Footnote 843: + + _Expos. in hex._, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxviii, col. 748. + +Footnote 844: + + See above, p. 151. + +Footnote 845: + + “Verumtamen ut animalia terrena habitaculum et receptaculum haberent, + aqua in concavitates terrae recessit et apparuit superficies terrae + arida et separata. Estque terra cum aquis in se contentis sicut + sphaera terrae solum” (_De sphaera_, Baur’s edit., p. 12). Günther, + _Studien_, vol. iii (?), 1879, p. 160, interpreted the last sentence + to indicate that Robert believed that waters were contained in the + interior of the earth and that it was to these waters that he here + refers. Though this is possible, it is more likely from the context + that the words “aquis in se contentis” are a reference to the seas + (Stegmann, _Anschauungen_, 1913, p. 15). + +Footnote 846: + + _Livre du trésor_, I, 35, 36, 39, as cited by Boffito, _Intorno alla + “Quaestio de aqua et terra,”_ Memoria I, _La controversia_, 1902, pp. + 113–114. + + The fact that the waters do not completely cover the lands also had + puzzled the Moslems, who anticipated Robert Grosseteste in ascribing + this apparent reversal of the normal operation of the laws of nature + to God’s wish to preserve a dry area whereon man and animals might + thrive. Averroës had given a more proximate cause, maintaining that + the stars are more numerous in the northern hemisphere than in the + southern and that through their attraction of the land, as well as + through the evaporative power of their heat and of that of the sun, + the lands were uncovered. On the theory of eccentric spheres of earth + and water see Kretschmer, _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, pp. 67–74; Norlind, + _Problem_, 1918, pp. 48–54; and more especially Boffito’s elaborate + discussion of the history of this theory and of ancient, Arabic, and + Christian doctrines of the relations of land and water in general + (Boffito, _op. cit._). For the theory as developed in the sixteenth, + seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries see Wisotzki, _Zeitströmungen_, + 1897, pp. 39–57. The matter was discussed in a small treatise, + _Quaestio de aqua et terra_, which has been attributed to Dante but is + of doubtful authenticity (see above, p. 410, note 98). This is an + argument against the possibility of eccentric spheres; the “emergent + land” of the northern hemisphere is ascribed to the attractive force + of the stars of that hemisphere. + +Footnote 847: + + In _De imag. mundi_, I, 39, we find a definition of the word ocean: + “Oceanus dicitur, quasi ocior annis, vel quasi zonarum limbus.” + +Footnote 848: + + II Esdras, vi, 42, 47, 50, 52. + +Footnote 849: + + Roger Bacon, _Opus majus_, Bridges’ edit., pt. iv, vol. 1, 1897, p. + 291. See Kretschmer, _Phys. Erdk._, 1889, pp. 141–142, for an + explanation of Bacon’s theory of the distribution of land and water. + +Footnote 850: + + _De nat. rer._, II, 16. + +Footnote 851: + + Neckam believed that the level of the sea is higher than that of the + lands, upon which the waters are prevented from encroaching only by + the divine power. “Mare vero superius est litoribus, ut visus docet. + Unde divinae jussioni attribuendum est, quod metas positas a Domino + non transgreditur mare” (_De nat. rer._, II, 49; _De laud. div. sap._, + III, 127–142). This curious doctrine persisted until the eighteenth + century; see Wisotzki, _op. cit._, pp. 39–57. “Mare etiam e litoribus + ascendere videtur, secundum judicium visus. Fidem etiam facit + proposito, videlicet quod aqua in sphericam formam tendat, guttae + pluvialis concavatio in petra. Nisi enim rotunda esset gutta, non + esset concavatio rotunda. Ros enim matutinus, qui rotundus est, verum + esse docet quod diximus. Per rotunditatem autem perfectio + intelligitur. Unde mens humana, per aquam designata, tendere habet ad + perfectionem” (_De nat. rer._, II, 14). See above, p. 369, note 35. + +Footnote 852: + + Adelard of Bath, _Quaest. nat._, 53 (54); _De imag. mundi_, I, 45, 47; + Peter Alphonsi, _Dialogus_, IX, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clvii, + col. 631. + +Footnote 853: + + _Quaest. nat._, 53 (54). + +Footnote 854: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 45. + +Footnote 855: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 856: + + _Im. du monde_, II, 13. + +Footnote 857: + + “Salsuginis causam in calore solis planetarumque pono. Cum enim per + torridam mediamque zonam verus feratur occeanus perque eandem licet + indirectus versetur cursus planetarum a tanto stellarum calore ipsum + mare calefieri necesse est, ex quo et eiusdem caloris effectivam + salsuginem accipere consequens est. Quod autem hec ita se habeant + illud asserit quod in maritimis illis quae illi occeano propinquiora + sunt, sine omni artificio aqua marina ad solem super rupes siccata in + sal convertitur. In longinquioribus vero maribus ut sal habeas ipsam + aquam marinam utpote iam a vi caloris remotam; ideoque minus coctam + [_decoctam_ in MS] igni adhibere et recoquere necesse est. Sed et + dulces quasdam aquas in sal verti caloris artificiosa decoctione sepe + visum est. Huc etiam [_Hinc et_ in MS] illud accedit quod estate + quidem omnis aqua [_aqua_ omitted in MS] marina salsior est quam hyeme + quod si quis operam dederit re ipsa experiri potit” (_Quaest. nat._, + 51 (52)).] + +Footnote 858: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 16. + +Footnote 859: + + _De nat. rer._, II, 1; _De laud. div. sap._, III, 75–80. + +Footnote 860: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 974. + +Footnote 861: + + C. B. Jourdain, _Dissertation_, 1838, p. 75. Hildegard of Bingen + speaks of the tides thus: “Et quoniam in oriente magna profunditas + arenae et litoris est, idcirco mare superhabundando et se dilatando + ibi non effluit; in occidente autem et in austro ac in aquilone tanta + profunditas arenarum et litoris non est. Ideo ibi multotiens effluit + magnas et latas effusiones ibi faciens, cum ab igne procellarum in + insaniam commovetur, ut praedictum est. Unde ibi multa inutilia et + sordida in se colligit atque putredines hominum, pecorum, avium et + vermium sibi attrahit. Et idcirco fontes et flumina, quae de partibus + istis de mari effluunt, tam sana et tam bona non sunt sicut illa, quae + de orientali mari effluunt” (_Causae et curae_, I, Kaiser’s edit., p. + 24). + +Footnote 862: + + In this connection it is interesting to note that the Chinese in + antiquity and during the Middle Ages had developed an understanding of + the tides “in advance of anything that seems to have been known at + that time in Europe” (A. C. Moule, _The Bore on the Ch’ien-T’ang River + in China_, in: T’oung Pao, ou archives concernant l’histoire, les + langues, la géographie, et l’ethnographie de l’Asie orientale, vol. + xxii, Leiden, 1923, pp. 135–188, reference on p. 173). + +Footnote 863: + + _De mundi univ._, p. 19. + +Footnote 864: + + _ibid._, p. 46. + +Footnote 865: + + _ibid._, p. 47. + +Footnote 866: + + Robert’s theories of the tides are interpreted by Almagià, _Dottrina_, + 1905, pp. 456–457. Almagià’s exposition, though probably essentially + correct, seems more clean-cut than the original upon which it is + based. + +Footnote 867: + + See above, p. 163. + +Footnote 868: + + _De nat. locorum_, Baur’s edit., pp. 69–70. + +Footnote 869: + + _De impress. element._, Baur’s edit., p. 88. + +Footnote 870: + + “Cuius summae difficultatis rationem multi astruere conantur per hoc, + quod quartae mundi oppositae sunt eiusdem commixtionis, et ideo + faciunt eosdem effectus. Sed ista ratio deficit tamen, quia falsa est, + eo quod aliquae sunt imagines stellarum in una quarta et in alia, + quoniam, quando planeta est super unam quartam mundi, tunc terra + interponitur inter corpus eius et aliam quartam. Propterea, si hoc + esset verum, peteretur principium. Quaeritur enim causa, quare sunt + oppositae quartae eiusdem commixtionis et per consequens eiusdem + effectus. Et ideo reflexio radiorum solvit istud, quoniam radii + lunares multiplicantur ad caelum stellarum, quod est corpus densum. + Ideoque per medium eius non possumus videre caelum, quod est valde + luminosum, sicut dicit Alpetragius et Messalahe. Et alii radii reflexi + cadunt in quartam oppositam ad angulos aequales” (_De nat. locorum_, + Baur’s edit., p. 70). + +Footnote 871: + + See above, pp. 18–19 and, on William of Conches’ related views, p. + 173. + +Footnote 872: + + Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 8865, fol. 55vo. + +Footnote 873: + + In the dialogue constituting the _Quaestiones naturales_ Adelard’s + nephew asks if the following theory is true: “Aiunt enim verum + occeanum per torridam fluentem brachia immense quantitatis fluentia ab + orientali et occidentali plaga in articam et in antarticam refundere + regionem. Illis igitur vi magna confluentibus redundationem hanc fieri + dicunt ut ictus nobis accessum pariat, cessio vero recessum.” To this + Adelard replies: “Philosophorum dictis invidere non ausim; illud tamen + audacter affirmem: si ita ut aiunt maxima conveniunt brachia, semel + comixtis undis secundo ictum non fieri neque enim convenit iterum eas + separari; vel certe si iterum collidantur minor erit secundus ictus + quam primus et tertius quam secundus itaque et quandoque minimus, + deinde nullus. Videant igitur illi quid dixerint; ego pro me breviter + respondebo. Recursus itaque brachiorum colligo; eorundem etiam + obviationibus non contradico; non tamen ea conflui vel collidi + concedo. Impotentie autem huius causam in ipsius terre situ facio. Cum + enim ipsa brachia sibi obviare atque confluere impetuose festinent, + fit tandem cum montium interpositione tum ipsius terre situ quodam + elatiore ut ab eodem cursu dum deficiunt referantur. Itaque fit ut quo + ea paternus motus ac naturalis impellit, ab eodem loci ipsius reducat + situs. Licet non ignorem quosdam esse qui hunc motum nili mari idest + caribdi dicant estuare. Quod si verum esset in maribus illis que + torride zone viciniora sunt vis talis nec minus valeret; nunc vero + illa omni fere tali carent agitatione; eo videlicet quod ab illa causa + quam supra scripsimus procul remota sunt” (_Quaest. nat._, 52 (53)). + + It is not altogether clear as to what is meant by the last two + sentences of this quotation, which is here given as in the printed + text (see the Bibliography under Adelard, II) without collation from + the manuscripts (see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, p. 26). If the word + _nili_ is a corruption of _lunae_, they may possibly be interpreted as + a denial of the lunar control theory of the tides. A passage from the + _Disputationes adversus astrologos_ of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola + according to Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 116, cites a certain + “Adelandus” as giving expression to views closely allied to those + expressed in the preceding quotation. If Adelard is meant by + “Adelandus,” as Duhem assumes (_ibid._, pp. 116–117), Pico’s citation + may well refer to this chapter of the _Quaestiones naturales_. + Adelandus, in any case, is made categorically to deny the possibility + of lunar control over the tides. Incidentally, it may be added that + Duhem was unfamiliar with the text of the _Quaestiones naturales_ at + the time that he wrote the third volume of his _Système du monde_ and + that Almagià’s otherwise exhaustive monograph on the history of + theories of the tides gives us nothing on Adelard. Examination of the + manuscripts (Haskins, _loc. cit._) might throw light on the problem. + The phrase “mari idest caribdi,” in the next-to-the-last sentence of + the quotation above, is not found in the manuscript copy of the + _Quaestiones naturales_ referred to in the Bibliography under Adelard, + II. Gollancz’s translation of this phrase, “one sea, the Caribbean” is + an obvious absurdity (Gollancz, _Dodi ve-Nechdi_, 1920, p. 141). + +Footnote 874: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 14. + +Footnote 875: + + See above, pp. 84–85. + +Footnote 876: + + _De nat. rer._, II, 17. + +Footnote 877: + + In the _De imagine mundi_, I, 40, there is extraordinary confusion + regarding the entire subject of the tides. There are said to be two + tides daily, corresponding to the rising and setting of the moon. When + the moon waxes, the height of the tides becomes greater; when it + wanes, the height diminishes. When the moon at the time of the + equinoxes is nearest to the earth, the floods rise to their highest; + at the time of the solstices they rise less high on account of the + distance of the moon. There is also said to be a tidal cycle of + nineteen years. So far, these ideas were drawn from Bede; but in the + succeeding chapter (41) there comes an echo of Paul the Deacon’s + description (_Hist. gentis Langobard._, I, 6, as cited by Almagià, _La + dottrina_, 1905, p. 51) of the great whirlpool, which “in exortu lunae + majori aestu fluctus involvit et revomit.” + +Footnote 878: + + _Philippis_, VI, 500–551. See above, pp. 137–138. + +Footnote 879: + + “Nobis humanam qui sortem vivimus infra, + Rem satis est sciri, nesciri causa sinatur.” + —_Philippis_, VI, 550–551. + + William the Breton in another connection (_Philippis_, VIII, 43–99) + discusses the tides near Mont St. Michel in Brittany. His information + appears to have been fairly correct, and he notes among other details + that there is exceptionally high water at the times of the vernal and + autumnal equinoxes. He makes no attempt to explain the cause of the + ebb and flood, asserting that this transcends the knowledge of man. He + puts forth, however, the singular suggestion that it is just as likely + that the tides may cause the motion of the moon as vice versa, because + the sea was created before the moon: + + “Rursus an a luna maris hec inflatio fiat, + An magis a pelago fluat hec variatio lune, + Cum pelagus luna constet prius esse creatum, + Posteriusque sui nunquam sit causa prioris, + Nullaque res habitum trahat a non ente vel actum.” + —_Philippis_, VIII, 73–77. + +Footnote 880: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 3. + +Footnote 881: + + _ibid._, II, 14. + +Footnote 882: + + _ibid._, II, 1–2. + +Footnote 883: + + See _United States Tide Tables_ for 1919, also _British Islands + Pilot_, U. S. Hydrographic Office [Publications] nos. 145, 146, + Washington, D. C., 1917. See also: A. Defant, _Die Gezeiten und + Gezeitenströmungen im Irischen Kanal_, Akademie der Wissenschaften in + Wien, Sitzungsberichte, mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, + Abteilung IIa, vol. cxxix, 1920, pp. 253–308. + +Footnote 884: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 2. + +Footnote 885: + + _ibid._, II, 3. + +Footnote 886: + + “In the British Museum (Cotton MS. Julius D. 7, fol. 45vo) there is a + tide table of the thirteenth century giving the time of ‘fflod at + london brigge’ for each day of the lunar month, and the hours of + moonlight (quantum luna lucet in nocte)” (A. C. Moule, _The Bore on + the Ch’ien-T’ang River in China_, in: T’oung Pao, ou archives + concernant l’histoire, les langues, la géographie, et l’ethnographie + de l’Asie orientale, vol. xxii, Leiden, 1923, pp. 135–188, reference + on p. 155). + +Footnote 887: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 3. + +Footnote 888: + + _ibid._, II, 28. + +Footnote 889: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 1003. + +Footnote 890: + + See above, p. 279. + +Footnote 891: + + _Expug. Hiber._, I, 36. + +Footnote 892: + + See above, p. 351. + +Footnote 893: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + p. 19. + +Footnote 894: + + For references to the Liver Sea and to classical allusions to a + clotted sea, see Moritz, _Geogr. Kenntnis_, 1904, p. 24, note 2; + Konrad Kretschmer, _Die Entdeckung Amerika’s in ihrer Bedeutung für + die Geschichte des Weltbildes_, Berlin, 1892, p. 85, note 1; and more + especially the full data in Graf, _Miti, leggende_, vol. i, 1892, p. + 106 and notes on pp. 186–187, and in Nansen, _Northern Mists_, 1911, + vol. i, pp. 181–182 and p. 182, note 1. Benjamin of Tudela places the + clotted sea in the Far East (_Itinerary_, Adler’s transl., 1907, p. + 66, and above p. 272). In early French literature the sea is often + referred to as _la mer betée_ (see Frahm, _Das Meer_, 1914, pp. + 76–77). + + Many theories have been adduced to explain the origins of this + persistent rumor of a clotted sea. It may have arisen through + distorted reports of floating masses of seaweed or of the Sargasso + Sea. It has also been suggested that experiences in dead water such as + that described by Fridtjof Nansen (_Farthest North_, New York, 1897, + vol. i, p. 196) may have contributed to the formation of the legend. + Such dead water, Nansen explains, is caused by the presence of a layer + of fresh water from melted ice over the surface of the sea water. See + Frahm, _loc. cit._; Koch, _Das Meer_, 1910, pp. 21–22. For another + explanation see Paul Masson, _Pythéas et le poumon marin_, in: + Bulletin de la Section de Géographie, vol. xxxvii, Paris, 1923, pp. + 55–66. + +Footnote 895: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + p. 27. + +Footnote 896: + + Ezekiel, xl, xli. + +Footnote 897: + + Revelation, xxi, 11. + +Footnote 898: + + Schröder, _op. cit._, p. 26. + +Footnote 899: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 921. + +Footnote 900: + + Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, 1856, p. 94, note 24. Later + tradition sometimes had it that the Emperor Frederick II was the king + who sent Nicholas the Fish to explore these waters. See Haskins, + _Science_, 1922, p. 686; the same, _Studies_, 1924, p. 262; and + Liebrecht, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 901: + + _Romans d’Alix._, Michelant’s edit., 1846, pp. 259–260. This is an + interpolation into the part of the poem called by Meyer the “third + branch.” It is not by Lambert li Tors, author of the “third branch,” + but was derived from the _Historia de praeliis_ (Meyer, _Alexandre le + Grand_, 1886, vol. ii, p. 216). See above, p. 381, note 26. Alexander + Neckam (_De nat. rer._, II, 21) and Roger Bacon also refer to + Alexander’s visit to the sea floor. See Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. + ii, pp. 263–264, 654–655. + +Footnote 902: + + _De mundi univ._, p. 22. + +Footnote 903: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 17–18. + +Footnote 904: + + _Quaest. nat._, 56 (57), 57 (58). + +Footnote 905: + + _Sermones in cantica_, xiii; translation from Eales, _Life and Works + of St. Bernard_, vol. iv, 1896, p. 67. + +Footnote 906: + + Haskins, _Science_, 1922, p. 690; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. 267. See + above, p. 100 and p. 402, note 64. + +Footnote 907: + + _Causae et curae_, I (Kaiser’s edit., pp. 24–30). + +Footnote 908: + + See above, pp. 185 and 326–327, p. 436, note 17, p. 439, note 44; also + Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, pp. 132–133. + +Footnote 909: + + See above, p. 439, note 44. + +Footnote 910: + + See above, pp. 211–212. + +Footnote 911: + + _De phil. mundi_, III, 19. See also _De imag. mundi_, I, 47. Hildegard + of Bingen also believed that the interior of the earth is warmer in + winter than in summer. She attributed this circumstance, however, to + the fact that “in hieme sol supra terram sterilis est et sub terram + calorem suum figit, quatinus terra diversa germina servare possit” + (_Causae et curae_, I, Kaiser’s edit., p. 30). See also + _Subtilitates_, II, 9, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii, col. 1213. + +Footnote 912: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 48. + +Footnote 913: + + _ibid._, I, 49. + +Footnote 914: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 272–273; idem, _Studies_, + 1924, pp. 296–297. + +Footnote 915: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 7. + +Footnote 916: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 6. + +Footnote 917: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 961. + +Footnote 918: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 7. + +Footnote 919: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 920: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 987, 990. + +Footnote 921: + + J. G. Frazer, _The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion_, Part + I, _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, London, 1911, vol. i, + p. 301. + +Footnote 922: + + _De nat. rer._, II, 3–7; see also _De laud. div. sap._, III, 171–328. + +Footnote 923: + + “Sic et sapientia hujus saeculi mentes candore innocentiae fulgentes + nonnunquam in pejus commutat, sapientia autem vera mentes tenebris + vitiorum involutas reddit serenas” (_De nat. rer._, II, 3). + +Footnote 924: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 6. + +Footnote 925: + + _Letter of Prester John_, 27–30, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, pp. 912–913. + +Footnote 926: + + _Romans d’Alix._, Michelant’s edit., 1846, p. 350. + +Footnote 927: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 974. + +Footnote 928: + + _ibid._, p. 892. + +Footnote 929: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 7. See above, p. 339. + +Footnote 930: + + On another unusual type of river, the gold-bearing stream, as + understood in the Middle Ages (but not discussed by Giraldus + Cambrensis), see below, p. 479, note 318. + +Footnote 931: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 2. + +Footnote 932: + + _Itin. Kamb._, I, 8. + +Footnote 933: + + _ibid._, I, 2. + +Footnote 934: + + _ibid._, II, 11. + +Footnote 935: + + _The British Islands Pilot_, United States Hydrographic Office + [Publication] no. 145, Washington, D. C., 1917, p. 375, testifies to + the changeable character of the sands and channels of the Dee estuary. + +Footnote 936: + + See above, pp. 235–237. + +Footnote 937: + + Isidore, _De nat. rer._, 43, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. lxxxiii, + col. 1013. + +Footnote 938: + + Bede, _De nat. rer._, 43 (Giles’s edit., p. 117). + +Footnote 939: + + _Expos. in hex._, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxviii, cols. + 779–780. + +Footnote 940: + + _Sermo XXI in Feria quarta Pentecostes_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + clxxviii, cols. 518–521. + +Footnote 941: + + On the flood of the Nile see also above, p. 300. + +Footnote 942: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 8. + +Footnote 943: + + _ibid._, III, 2. + +Footnote 944: + + _ibid._, III, 3. + +Footnote 945: + + _Itin. Kamb._, I, 1. + +Footnote 946: + + _ibid._, I, 2. + +Footnote 947: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 948: + + _ibid._, II, 9. + +Footnote 949: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 9. + +Footnote 950: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 1001. + +Footnote 951: + + “Navim non patitur, quinimo tota supereminet nisi sit bituminata, et + hoc forte propter homines intus viventes. Siquis vivum aliqua arte + immiserit statim super exilit” (_loc. cit._). Gervase seems here to + have derived from Bede (_De locis sanctis_, 12, in Tobler, _Itinera_, + vol. i, 1877, pp. 227–228) a hazy conception of the actual properties + of the waters of the Dead Sea. The opposite theory, however, had been + expressed by Antonius Martyr two centuries earlier than Bede: “Nor do + sticks float, nor can a man swim, but whatever is cast into it sinks + to the bottom” (White, _Warfare_, 1920, vol. ii, p. 228). + +Footnote 952: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 966. + +Footnote 953: + + _ibid._, p. 982. See below, p. 449, note 49. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER IX + THE LANDS + +Footnote 954: + + _De eodem et diverso_, p. 28. + +Footnote 955: + + _Etym._, XIV, 1. + +Footnote 956: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 4. + +Footnote 957: + + Peter Comestor stated that on the third day of the Creation the earth + appeared and that it bears five names, the derivation of which he + explained as follows: (1) _arida_, because the earth appeared (_quia + apparuit_); (2) _humus_, because it was still humid; (3) _terra_, + because it was trodden upon (_quia teritur_) by the feet of animals; + (4) _solum_, because, of the four elements, it forms the one that is + solid; and, finally, (5) _tellus_, because it endures (_quia tolerat_) + the labors of man (_Hist. schol._, Gen. 5). See Zöckler, _Geschichte_, + vol. i, 1877, p. 418. These are typical examples of free etymology. + For Hildegard of Bingen on qualities of different kinds of earth or + soil, see above, p. 232. + +Footnote 958: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 966. + +Footnote 959: + + _ibid._, p. 895. + +Footnote 960: + + Peter Comestor speaks of islands with the same characteristics: “Cum + adhuc sint quedam insule viventium, in quibus nullus moretur” (_Hist. + schol._, Gen. 3, cited by Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, 1856, p. + 62, note 6**). + +Footnote 961: + + _Im. du monde_, I, 6. + +Footnote 962: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 4. + +Footnote 963: + + See above, p. 177; for Hildegard’s corresponding views see above, p. + 201. + +Footnote 964: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 28. + +Footnote 965: + + _ibid._, I, 29. + +Footnote 966: + + _ibid._, I, 30. This legend regarding the properties of the earth of + Ireland was very widespread in the Middle Ages. It is found in Bede’s + _Historia ecclesiastica_, I, 1 (Giles’s edit., vol. ii, p. 34), which + Giraldus goes on to quote at length on the subject (_Top. Hiber._, I, + 31). It also appears in Gervase of Tilbury’s _Otia imperialia_, vol. + i, p. 917 (see Liebrecht, _op. cit._, p. 88, note 21). Solinus, + _Collectanea_, 22 (Mommsen’s edit., p. 101), and Isidore, _Etym._, + XIV, 6, ascribe similar properties to the earth of the Isle of Thanet. + In his _Letter_, Prester John boasts that some of his territories are + proof against poisonous snakes and animals. See _Letter of Prester + John_, 21, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: Abhandlungen, vol. + vii, 1879, p. 912. + +Footnote 967: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 39. + +Footnote 968: + + _ibid._, I, 34–40. + +Footnote 969: + + Benl, _Frühere und spätere Hypothesen_, 1905, pp. 1–14, discusses the + origin and development in antiquity and the Middle Ages of theories + regarding the distribution of the principal mountain systems of the + known world, the Taurus-Caucasus-Imaus range of Asia, the Rhipaean + Mountains of the far north, and the Mountains of the Moon of Africa. + The subsequent elaboration of these theories between the sixteenth and + nineteenth centuries, when the conception was developed by some + geographers of a symmetrical, rectilinear arrangement of the mountain + ranges of the entire globe is treated by Wisotzki, _Zeitströmungen_, + 1897, pp. 131–192, and by Benl, _op. cit._, pp. 15–50. + +Footnote 970: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 34. + +Footnote 971: + + Gervase said that the waters for the Flood came from the bowels of the + earth and from the air above. They rose to a level of fifteen cubits + above the summits of the mountains which are now in existence, “quia + tunc terram dicunt in planitie factam” (_Otia imper._, vol. i, p. + 907). See above, pp. 170–171. + +Footnote 972: + + _De prop. rerum_, XIV, 1. + +Footnote 973: + + _Liber de congelatis_, 2. For the Latin text of this passage see + Hammer-Jensen, _Sogen. IV. Buch_, 1915, pp. 132–133. See the next note + and also above, p. 401, note 60. + +Footnote 974: + + This translation is from Geikie, _Founders of Geology_, 1905, p. 43. + The processes of erosion by winds and water as a cause for the + inequalities of the earth’s surface are much more in evidence in arid + regions than in regions of dense vegetation. It is therefore not + surprising that these processes were recognized by Moslems like + Avicenna (if it be he from whom Alfred of Sareshel translated the + above quotation) and Ḥamd-Allāh Mustaufī, a Persian writer of the + early fourteenth century, who dwelt in the arid countries of the East. + The latter writes: “... the sun’s heat ... beginning to act on the + stone, this loses its hardness and is broken up; which process + continually accelerated by the succession of many nights and days, + cracks appear, splitting the rocks, which same are thus again turned + to earth. Then by the action of earthquakes mountain peaks are + demolished, while by the blowing of the winds and the running waters + the soft earth is carried from one place to another, yet all that is + rock and hard soil will remain fixed, whereby heights and hollows are + formed, and it is these heights that are mountain ranges” (Guy Le + Strange, transl., _The Geographical Part of the Nuzhat-al-Qulūb + Composed by Ḥamd-Allāh Mustawfī of Qazwīn in 740 (1340)_, London and + Leiden, 1919, p. 180). + +Footnote 975: + + _De sancta trinitate_, Gen. I, 34; see also Zöckler, _Geschichte_, + vol. i, 1877, p. 396. That teleological reasoning of this sort was not + confined to the medieval period may be seen from the following + paragraph from R. J. Sullivan, _A View of Nature in Letters to a + Traveller Among the Alps_, London, 1794, vol. I, p. 105: “On a cursory + view it must be acknowledged, the surface of our earth exhibits no + great regularity or order. In its outward appearance it strikes us + with heighths, depths, plains, seas, marshes, rivers, caverns, gulfs, + volcanoes, and a vast variety of other discordant objects;... Yet all + these apparent deformities are absolutely necessary to vegetation and + animal existence. Were the earth’s surface smooth and regular, we + should not have those beautiful hills which furnish water. A dreary + ocean would cover the globe, which would in such case be suited only + for the habitation of fishes. As it is, the motions of the sea and the + currents of the air are regulated by fixed laws. The returns of the + seasons are uniform, and the rigour of Winter invariably gives place + to the verdure of Spring. Men, animals, and plants consequently + succeed one another, and flourish in their destined soils.” + +Footnote 976: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 5. + +Footnote 977: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 34 (Gervase in: _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 893, + 972). + +Footnote 978: + + _De phil. mundi_, IV, 5. + +Footnote 979: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 972. Gervase also said that Mount Atlas was + so high that it was inaccessible (_ibid._, p. 986). + +Footnote 980: + + _Dialogus_, I, 17, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xx, col. 194. + +Footnote 981: + + Roger Bacon (_Opus majus_, part iv, Bridges’ edit., vol. i, pp. + 229–230) discusses classical and Arabic estimates of the heights of + mountains. His own opinion was that the maximum height is eight miles. + See the discussion of this topic included in Benini’s interesting + treatment of the altitude of Dante’s Mount of Purgatory (_Origine del + Monte del Purgatorio_, 1917, pp. 1056–1072, especially pp. 1057–1058). + +Footnote 982: + + _Itin. Kamb._, II, 7. + +Footnote 983: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 982. See Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, + 1856, p. 139. + +Footnote 984: + + _Romans d’Alix._, Michelant’s edit., pp. 70–71. This story is found in + the “first branch” of the Romance. See above, p. 412, note 135. Meyer, + _Alexandre le Grand_, 1886, vol. i, p. 151, did not know the origin of + it. + +Footnote 985: + + _Romans d’Alix._, Michelant’s edit., pp. 320–330. This story is an + interpolation into the “third branch” (Meyer, _op. cit._, pp. + 172–174). + +Footnote 986: + + _De mundi univ._, p. 20. + +Footnote 987: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 986. + +Footnote 988: + + _Descr. Kamb._, I, 5. + +Footnote 989: + + _Itin. Kamb._, II, 5. + +Footnote 990: + + _De mundi univ._, p. 20. + +Footnote 991: + + “Hic claustrales, in claustro sedentes, cum respirandi gratia forte + suspiciunt, ad quascunque partes trans alta tectorum culmina, montium + vertices quasi coelum tangentes, et ipsas plerumque feras, quarum hic + copia, in summo pascentes, tamquam in ultimo visus horizonte + prospiciunt. Hora vero diei quasi circa primam, vel parum ante, super + montium cacumina vix emergens, etiam sereno tempore, corpus hic solare + primo conspicitur” (_Itin. Kamb._, I, 3). + +Footnote 992: + + _Alexandreis_, I, 427–441. See Giordano, _Alexandreis_, 1917, pp. + 40–41; Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 199–200. + +Footnote 993: + + See above, p. 236. + +Footnote 994: + + _Vita Altmanni_, 39, in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xii, p. + 238. See also _Vita Altmanni_, 26–29, for a vivid description of a + mountain. See Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, p. 143. + +Footnote 995: + + Eadmer, _Vita Sancti Anselmi_, II, 4, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + clviii, col. 100. See Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, p. 173. Eadmer + (1060–1124) was bishop of St. Andrew’s in Scotland early in the + twelfth century. + +Footnote 996: + + For an article on the Casentino, with photographs of La Verna, see + Fulberto Vivaldi, _Casentino ignorato_, in: Le vie d’Italia: Rivista + mensile del Touring Club Italiano, vol. xxx, Rome, 1924, pp. + 1073–1082. + +Footnote 997: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 40. + +Footnote 998: + + _Ligurinus_, IV, 432–447. + +Footnote 999: + + _Gesta abbatum trudonensium_, xii, 6, in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, + Scriptores, vol. x, p. 307. + +Footnote 1000: + + “In quo loco tamquam in mortis faucibus coagulati, manebant nocte et + die sub pericula mortis. Angustia villulae tota completa erat + peregrinorum multitudine. Ex altissimis et scopulosis rupibus ruebant + frequenter intolerabiles omni opposito nivium aggeres, ita ut aliis + iam collocatis, aliis adhuc supersedentibus mensis domos iuxta, eos + prorsus obruerent, et inventos in eis quosdam suffocarent, quosdam + contritos inutiles redderent” (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 1001: + + Gribble, _Early Mountaineers_, 1899, p. 4. Quotation from John of + Bremble’s letter as translated by Gribble, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1002: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 7. + +Footnote 1003: + + See Thoroddsen, _Gesch. isländ. Geogr._, vol. i, 1897, p. 63. + +Footnote 1004: + + Peter Comestor speaks of certain philosophers who made the ascent of + Mount Olympus (see above, p. 168). We have already mentioned St. + Francis’ visit to the mountain of La Verna (see above, p. 217). + + Though not falling strictly within our period, several other medieval + mountaineering exploits deserve notice. The anonymous _Chronicon + novaliciense_, 5, written in the eleventh century, describes + unsuccessful attempts at the ascent of the Rochemelon, near Susa in + the Dora Riparia valley, in search of the treasure of a mythical King + Romulus (from whom the mountain takes its name) supposed to be hidden + there. In the fourteenth century the Rochemelon (11,605 feet high) was + a place of pilgrimage (Gribble, _op. cit._, pp. 5–13). + + The _Heimskringla_ (under Snorri Sturluson in the Bibliography) + describes King Olaf Trygvasson’s ascent of the Smalserhorn, now + probably the Hornelen, in the year 1000. The feat was accomplished in + a sporting, athletic spirit, and Olaf is said to have left his shield + at the summit (H. Raeburn, _Mountaineering Art_, London, 1920, p. 6). + Of this mountain, which overlooks the Fröj Fiord, Karl Baedeker’s + _Norway and Sweden_, Leipzig, 1909, p. 160, says: “Soon ... to the + left is seen the huge Hornelen (3002 feet) towering almost sheer, + ascended on the E. side by K. Bing in 1897.” + + The _Chronicle_ of Fra Salimbene of Parma (_Salimbene parmensis + chronica_, Parma, 1857, p. 354, cited in: Geographisches Jahrbuch, + vol. xviii, Gotha, 1895, p. 12) describes the ascent of Mount Canigou + (9135 feet) in the latter half of the thirteenth century by Peter III + of Aragon. This mountain lies “on the borders of the province of + Spain,” and the king found upon the summit a lake into which he threw + a stone, whereupon “a horrible dragon of enormous size came out of it, + and began to fly about in the air, and to darken the air with its + breath” (Gribble, _op. cit._, pp. 14–17, 262–263). Canigou is probably + the Mount “Cavagum” described by Gervase of Tilbury as an abode of + devils (see above, pp. 209 and 214). Curiosity as to what was on the + top seems to have impelled Peter to make the climb. + + S. Günther, in writing of scientific mountaineering before 1600 + (_Wiss. Bergbesteigungen_, 1896), gives no details on mountaineering + in the period between the ascent by Philip III of Macedon (181 B. C.) + of a peak in the Rhodope Range and Petrarch’s famous ascent of Mont + Ventoux in 1336. + +Footnote 1005: + + Haskins and Lockwood, _Sicilian Trans._, 1910, pp. 80, 89; Haskins, + _Studies_, 1924, pp. 159, 191. + +Footnote 1006: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + p. 29. + +Footnote 1007: + + The passage describing the ascent of Etna is given in full by C. V. + Langlois, _La connaissance_, 1911, pp. 57–58. We heartily agree with + Langlois’ view that this passage could only have been written by one + who had personally visited the Sicilian volcano: “Aucun doute ne peut + subsister sur ce point après avoir lu sa description, certainement + directe et d’après nature.” On the other hand, Fant, _L’image du + monde_, 1886, p. 33, calls the assertions in the narrative + “tout-à-fait fantastiques.” See note in Langlois, _op. cit._, p. 58. + +Footnote 1008: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 964–965. + +Footnote 1009: + + Virgil, about whom a cycle of legends grew up in the Middle Ages, was + regarded as a prophet. Gervase of Tilbury tells of many marvels + performed by him (Gregorovius, _City of Rome_, vol. iv, 1896, pp. + 670–677). + +Footnote 1010: + + Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, 1856, p. 107, note, shows that + this story and others like it were common in the Middle Ages. He cites + an analogous South Russian legend of twelve miraculous wind-blown + horns which keep Gog and Magog at bay and will continue to do so until + the horns shall have been silenced either by birds building nests in + them or else by falling to the ground. When this occurs the hordes of + Gog and Magog will come forth and destroy the world. + +Footnote 1011: + + Conrad of Querfurt, _Letter_, in: Arnold of Lübeck, _Chron. Slavorum_, + V, 19. + +Footnote 1012: + + Wattenbach, _Guido von Bazoches_, 1891 (under Guy of Bazoches in the + Bibliography), p. 106. + +Footnote 1013: + + _ibid._, p. 108. + +Footnote 1014: + + Second verse redaction of _Im. du monde_, in: C. V. Langlois, _La + connaissance_ 1911, p. 57. + +Footnote 1015: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 273; idem, _Studies_, 1924, pp. + 296–297. + +Footnote 1016: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 13. + +Footnote 1017: + + _Collectanea_, Mommsen’s edit., p. 236. Translated in: Nansen, + _Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. i, p. 193, note 1. + +Footnote 1018: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccles. pont._, IV, 35. + +Footnote 1019: + + Nansen, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1020: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 6. + +Footnote 1021: + + _Hist. Norweg._, Storm’s edit., pp. 93–95. + +Footnote 1022: + + Thoroddsen, _Gesch. isländ. Geogr._, vol. i, 1897, p. 65. + +Footnote 1023: + + _Konungs-Skuggsjá_, 8 (Brenner’s edit., pp. 30–31). See also + Thoroddsen, _op. cit._, p. 66. + +Footnote 1024: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + pp. 28–29. + +Footnote 1025: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 274; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. + 298. See below, note 80. + +Footnote 1026: + + Schröder, _op. cit._, p. 30. This incident is the subject of Matthew + Arnold’s poem of St. Brandan. + +Footnote 1027: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 965–966. + +Footnote 1028: + + Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, 1856, pp. 108–109. + +Footnote 1029: + + _Konungs-Skuggsjá_, 9 (Brenner’s edit., pp. 32–34). See also + Thoroddsen, _op. cit._, p. 66; Stegmann, _Anschauungen_, 1913, p. 38. + +Footnote 1030: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 7. + +Footnote 1031: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 35. + +Footnote 1032: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 922. + +Footnote 1033: + + Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, pp. 272–274; idem, _Studies_, + 1924, pp. 296–297. See also Geographical Review, vol. xiii, New York, + 1923, pp. 141–142. + +Footnote 1034: + + “Vulcanus est iste ignis inferior, qui ideo dicitur claudus, quia + quasi uno pede materiae adhaeret, altero quasi in altum prout flammae + natura desiderat nititur” (_De nat. rer._, I, 17; Stegmann, _op. + cit._, p. 39). + +Footnote 1035: + + See Stegmann, _op. cit._, p. 22, note 5, for references to texts + demonstrating the widespread belief in the Middle Ages that Hell is at + the center of the earth. On the topography of Dante’s Inferno, see + Benini, _Origine del Monte del Purgatorio_, 1917, pp. 1080–1129. + +Footnote 1036: + + Hildegard of Bingen in the passage quoted above, p. 423, note 92, + would seem to refer to blasts of wind as a cause of earthquakes. + +Footnote 1037: + + Other explanations of earthquakes were sometimes given. It was + occasionally argued that seismic disturbances are not the result of + purely physical causes but are punishments sent by God. It was also + held by some that they are due to movements in the mass of waters + which was thought to permeate the earth, or else to the collapse of + subterranean cavities as a result of the erosion caused by these + waters. See Stegmann’s elaborate discussion of this matter and his + many references, _op. cit._, pp. 44–73. + +Footnote 1038: + + In the _De philosophia_, p. 21, Daniel of Morley expresses the same + idea, that in earthquakes the earth moves _particulariter_, not + _universaliter_. + +Footnote 1039: + + _Quaest. nat._, 50 (51). See above, pp. 31–32. + +Footnote 1040: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 42; _Im. du monde_, II, 12; _De prop. rerum_, + XIV, 1. + +Footnote 1041: + + _Dragmaticon philosophiae_, Hellmann’s edit., p. 43; _De phil. mundi_, + III, 15. See also Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von Conches_, 1873, p. 35. + +Footnote 1042: + + _De nat. rer._, II, 48. + +Footnote 1043: + + _Gesta regis Henrici Secundi_, Stubbs’s edit., vol. i, p. 220 (in the + Rolls Series, no. 49, 1867). + +Footnote 1044: + + _ibid._, p. 337. + +Footnote 1045: + + See passages cited by Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, 1901, pp. 28–29. + +Footnote 1046: + + _Letter of Prester John_, 31–41, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, pp. 914–915. + +Footnote 1047: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 16. + +Footnote 1048: + + “... longe post diluvium, terra multiplicatis jam animantibus ubique + repleta, non violenter et subito, sed paulatim et tamquam per + eluvionem insulas natas fuisse” (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 1049: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 983. + +Footnote 1050: + + _Itin. Kamb._, II, 9. + +Footnote 1051: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + pp. 3–36. + +Footnote 1052: + + See below, p. 487, note 463. + +Footnote 1053: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 12. + +Footnote 1054: + + _De mundi univ._, pp. 46–47. + +Footnote 1055: + + “Cepit enim fructosa lupos, deserta leones, + Arida serpentes, pars nemoralis apros.” + —_ibid._, p. 21. + +Footnote 1056: + + “Fronduit in plano platanus, convallibus alnus, + Rupe rigens buxus, littore lenta salix, + Monte cupressus olens, sacra vitis colle supino + Inque laborata Palladis arbor humo.” + —_ibid._, p. 23. + +Footnote 1057: + + _De nat. rer._, II, 57. + +Footnote 1058: + + _Subtilitates_, I, 9; in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii, col. 1214. + See also above, p. 211. + +Footnote 1059: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 13. + +Footnote 1060: + + _Descr. Kamb._, I, 6. + +Footnote 1061: + + _Ligurinus_, VI, 24–34, based on Ragewin’s continuation of Otto of + Freising, _Gesta Frid._, III, 1. + +Footnote 1062: + + _Descr. Kamb._, I, 1. + +Footnote 1063: + + _ibid._, II, 8. + +Footnote 1064: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 986. + +Footnote 1065: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 8. + +Footnote 1066: + + Ragewin’s continuation of Otto of Freising, _Gesta Frid._, IV, 12. + +Footnote 1067: + + _De mundi creatione_, 5, in: _Maxima bibliotheca veterum patrum_, vol. + xxvii, Lyons, 1577, p. 118. + +Footnote 1068: + + _De arca Noë morali_, IV, 9. + +Footnote 1069: + + “In hoc spatio mappa-mundi dipingitur ita ut caput arcae ad orientem + convertitur, et finis ejus occidentem contingat, ut mirabile + dispositione ab eodem principe decurrat situs locorum cum ordine + temporum, et idem sit finis mundi, qui est finis saeculi” (_De arca + Noë mystica_, 14). + +Footnote 1070: + + _De vanitate mundi_, II. + +Footnote 1071: + + On the relations of this theory to Otto’s philosophy of history, on + its origins, and on the bibliography of the subject, see I. Schmidlin, + _Die geschichtsphilosophische und kirchenpolitische Weltanschauungen + Ottos von Freisingen_, in: Studien und Darstellungen auf dem Gebiete + der Geschichte, vol. iv, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1906, pts. 2 and 3; see + especially pp. 20, 35ff. + +Footnote 1072: + + Here he explains that science, invented in the East among the + Babylonians, passed first to the Egyptians, thence to the Greeks, and + thence to the Romans, notably Scipio, Cato, and Tully. Finally it was + brought to the West, that is to Gaul and Spain, by Berengar, Manegold, + and Anselm (of Canterbury). + + Neckam (_De nat. rer._, II, 174) traces the course of learning—i. e. + the study of the liberal arts—among the Egyptians and Greeks and, in + later days, in Italy and Spain, but he draws no moral from it as did + Hugh of St. Victor and Otto of Freising. + +Footnote 1073: + + _Chron._, V, 36. + +Footnote 1074: + + See above, p. 64. On this subject see Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, + 1914, _passim_. Many of the references in this section are derived + from Ganzenmüller’s book. + +Footnote 1075: + + _ibid._, pp. 163–182. + +Footnote 1076: + + _Epistola CVI ad Magistrum Henricum Murdach_, in Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. clxxxii, col. 242. Translation from Eales, _Life and Works_, vol. + i, 1889, p. 353. + +Footnote 1077: + + _Sermo in natali sancti Benedicti abbatis_, in Migne, _op. cit._, vol. + clxxxiii, col. 377. + +Footnote 1078: + + _Sermo XIII in Cantica_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxxxiii, cols. + 833–834; Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, pp. 170–171. See also above, p. + 200. + +Footnote 1079: + + See above, pp. 206–207. + +Footnote 1080: + + See especially Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, pp. 182–241. + +Footnote 1081: + + From a letter of Guy of Bazoches to his uncle, in: Wattenbach, _Guido + von Bazoches_, 1891 (under Guy of Bazoches in the Bibliography), p. + 78. + +Footnote 1082: + + _Carmina varia_, xxviii, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxxi, cols. + 1665–1666; Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, pp. 224–225. + +Footnote 1083: + + Ganzenmüller, _op. cit._, p. 225. + +Footnote 1084: + + Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, 1901, pp. 24–36. + +Footnote 1085: + + _Historia_, IV, 10; Paulin Paris’ edit., vol. i, pp. 134–135. + +Footnote 1086: + + _ibid._, XVII, 3; Paulin Paris’ edit., vol. ii, p. 141. + +Footnote 1087: + + _ibid._, XIX, 15–16, 24; XIX, 14–15, 23, in: Paulin Paris’ edit., vol + ii, pp. 273–275, 288–289. + +Footnote 1088: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 46. + +Footnote 1089: + + _Chron._, V, 24. + +Footnote 1090: + + _Itin. Kamb._, II, 1. + +Footnote 1091: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 5. + +Footnote 1092: + + _ibid._, I, 4. + +Footnote 1093: + + _Itin. Kamb._, II, 1. + +Footnote 1094: + + _ibid._, II, 7. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER X + THE ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE KNOWN WORLD + +Footnote 1095: + + _Etym._, XIV, 6. + +Footnote 1096: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 11. + +Footnote 1097: + + _Im. du monde_, II, 2. + +Footnote 1098: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 911. + +Footnote 1099: + + _De sphaera_, 3. + +Footnote 1100: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 31. + +Footnote 1101: + + _Collectanea_, 22. + +Footnote 1102: + + _Etym._, XIV, 6. + +Footnote 1103: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 17. + +Footnote 1104: + + See above, p. 23. + +Footnote 1105: + + _Hist. nat._, VI, 33–34. + +Footnote 1106: + + _De nupt. Phil. et Merc._, VIII, 876. + +Footnote 1107: + + _Almagest_, II, 6. + +Footnote 1108: + + _Geogr._, I, 23. + +Footnote 1109: + + The relation between the parallels as given in the _Almagest_, _loc. + cit._ and in the _Geography_, _loc. cit._, are shown graphically in + the adjoining table (Fig. 11, cols. I and II). In the text of the + _Almagest_ the parallels are not specifically named beyond the + twenty-sixth. Each paragraph, however, is numbered to correspond to + the parallel which it describes through the thirty-eighth. The + thirty-ninth paragraph describes conditions at the pole. + +Footnote 1110: + + See Fischer, _Ptolemäus und Agathodämon_, 1916, pp. 89–93. + +Footnote 1111: + + On the famous Vatopedi manuscript map of the world ascribed to + Agathodaemon by Fischer but, as Fischer claims, directly based upon + material furnished by Ptolemy, the boundaries of the climates are + expressly defined in relation to Ptolemy’s parallels, as set forth in + the _Geography_. The first climate begins with the parallel of Meroë, + latitude 16°25′N., and extends to that of Syene, 23°50′N., there being + a difference of half an hour between the length of the longest day at + its northern and at its southern edge. The other six climates follow + as shown on Figure 11, col. III. The same correlation is made in the + anonymous Greek treatise Διάγνωσις ἐν ἐπιτομῇ τῆς ἐν τῇ σφαίρᾳ + γεωγραφίας in: Müller, _Geogr. graeci min._, 1882, vol. ii, pp. + 491–493. See Fischer, _op. cit._, pp. 90–91. See Figure 11, cols. III + and IV. + + It may be added that in a work entitled _Preceptum canonis Ptolemei_, + preserved in Chartres, Bibliothèque Publique, MS. No. 214, fol. 1ro., + and dating perhaps from the sixth century, the writer found a + description of the division of the world in seven climates. No mention + is made of the parallels by number, but the boundaries of the + climates, as there defined and as is shown on Figure 11, col. V, + correspond to the figures for latitude assigned to the fifth, seventh, + ninth, eleventh, thirteenth, fifteenth, and seventeenth parallels of + Ptolemy’s _Almagest_. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 11 (in two sections)—Comparative diagram of certain parallels of + latitude and of the _climata_ according to various ancient and + medieval geographers. For explanation see the text, pp. 242–243, and + notes 15, 17, 18, and 21 of this chapter. +] + +Footnote 1112: + + The figures as given in Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. + 16658, fol. 50ff., are shown in Figure 11, col. VI. + +Footnote 1113: + + _Rudimenta astronomica_, Nuremberg edit., 1537, fol. 8vo. + +Footnote 1114: + + _De sphaera_, 3. After giving a brief definition of the climates, John + says: “Dicitur autem clima tantum spacium per quantum sensibiliter + variatur horologium.” In practice, this was always taken to be a + difference of a half hour up to and including the sixth climate. + +Footnote 1115: + + The boundaries of Al-Farghānī’s and John of Holywood’s climates are + one parallel south of those indicated in the various works referred to + in note 17, p. 453, above, and those of the _Toledo Tables_; that is + to say, the centers of the former are at the parallels of the northern + borders of the latter (see Fig. 11, col. VII). According to + Al-Khwārizmī, the figures for the parallels bounding the climates + appear to have been derived from the _Almagest_; Al-Khwārizmī’s second + climate, however, corresponds to the first climate of Agathodaemon’s + map and of the other works derived from Ptolemy (see above, p. 453, + note 17, and Fig. 11, cols. III-VI). The third climate of Al-Khwārizmī + corresponds to the second climate in the works derived from Ptolemy, + and so on. See Fischer, _op. cit._, p. 92, and footnotes 1 and 2. See + Figure 11, col. VIII. + +Footnote 1116: + + This subject has been discussed by me in greater detail in: J. K. + Wright, _Knowledge of Latitudes and Longitudes_, 1923. + +Footnote 1117: + + Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 14704, fol. 119vo. At + the time of the publication of the article referred to in the + preceding note, the writer was not aware of Professor Haskins’ + discovery of the name of the author of the _Marseilles Tables_ (see + Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 96–97). + +Footnote 1118: + + See, for example, Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, nos. 7198, + fol. 90ro., 7406, fol. 58vo., 7421, fol. 203vo., 16211, fol. 93vo., + 16658, fol. 113ro. + +Footnote 1119: + + J. K. Wright, _op. cit._, pp. 84–85. + +Footnote 1120: + + See above, p. 86. + +Footnote 1121: + + J. K. Wright, _op. cit._, pp. 91–96. + +Footnote 1122: + + _ibid._, pp. 77–84. + +Footnote 1123: + + For texts illustrating this see Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, p. 57; the + same, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 114–115. See also Peter Alphonsi, + _Dialogus_, I, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clvii, cols. 543–547. + +Footnote 1124: + + See J. K. Wright, _op. cit._, p. 85. + +Footnote 1125: + + _Theorica planetarum_, Renner’s edit., fourth page before _explicit_. + See also Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 7421, fol. 133. + +Footnote 1126: + + See J. K. Wright, _op. cit._, pp. 91–96, for discussion of the + interpretation of these figures. In Figure 12 the circles show the + relative positions of certain points in Europe as they actually are; + the stars show them as given in the tables and referred to the + meridian of Marseilles. It will readily be seen that the relative + longitudes of all the points except London and Toledo are remarkably + accurate when we consider the rough means of calculation at the + disposal of twelfth- and thirteenth-century observers. London and + Toledo are placed accurately in relation to each other though far + astray in relation to Marseilles, probably as a result of a single + initial error in the estimation of the number of degrees between the + meridian of Toledo and that of some intermediate station (perhaps + Marseilles) from which the positions of the remaining stations were + calculated. The highly erroneous latitudes of Toulouse, Florence, and + Naples are probably attributable to clerical errors. For a fuller + discussion of this map see work cited, p. 95. + +[Illustration: + + FIG. 12—Map showing the relative positions of certain points in Europe + as indicated in astronomical tables of the twelfth and early + thirteenth centuries. In the original tables a consistent error + appears in the longitudes of all the cities in Italy. This has been + corrected as discussed in the work cited in note 32 above. +] + + + NOTES + CHAPTER XI + CARTOGRAPHY + +Footnote 1127: + + For facsimiles and texts of legends of the maps referred to in this + chapter, see Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vols, i and ii, 1895, for the + Beatus group, and vols. ii and iii, 1895, for other small maps of the + world. Specific references are given in the notes that follow. + +Footnote 1128: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 11; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 1. + +Footnote 1129: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 12; vol. iii, p. 14. + +Footnote 1130: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 85–89. + +Footnote 1131: + + _ibid._, pp. 91–92. + +Footnote 1132: + + _ibid._, pp. 62–65. + +Footnote 1133: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, p. 10; vol. iii, p. 33. + +Footnote 1134: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pls. 3a, 4, 5, 6, 7. + +Footnote 1135: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 74, 76, 77. + +Footnote 1136: + + _ibid._, p. 78. + +Footnote 1137: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pls. 3b (our Fig. 4, p. 123, above), 8, 9. See also + Figure 2, p. 69, above. + +Footnote 1138: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, p. 46 and pl. 4. + +Footnote 1139: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 13; vol. iii, pl. 2. + +Footnote 1140: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 2; vol. i, p. 31. + +Footnote 1141: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 10; vol. iii, p. 33. + +Footnote 1142: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pls. 3–9. + +Footnote 1143: + + Notably Miller, _op. cit._, vol. vi, 1898, pp. 143–145. Detlefsen, + _Ursprung_, 1906, pp. 106–107, argues against this theory of Miller. + See above, p. 377, note 167, p. 415, note 166. + +Footnote 1144: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, p. 23. + +Footnote 1145: + + On the Paris map (_ibid._, p. 45). The St. Sever Beatus map shows some + mountains in green and others in a dark tint, in both cases outlined + with red (see reproduction, _ibid._, vol. i, reduced in our Fig. 2, p. + 69, above, where of course the difference in color cannot be + distinguished). + +Footnote 1146: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, p. 31. + +Footnote 1147: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, p. 74. + +Footnote 1148: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 8. + +Footnote 1149: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 11; vol. iii, pl. 1. + +Footnote 1150: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pls. 2, 3b; vol. i, pp. 31, 35. + +Footnote 1151: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, p. 56. + +Footnote 1152: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1153: + + The immense size of rivers and seas was characteristic of Moslem + cartography. Pullé, _La cartog. antica_, pt. 2, 1905, pp. 21–22, + points out the striking resemblances in this respect of the Guido map + to contemporary specimens of Moslem cartography. + +Footnote 1154: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pls. 3a, 4–9. + +Footnote 1155: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 10; vol. iii, p. 33. + +Footnote 1156: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pls. 11, 12; vol. iii, pl. 1 and p. 14. + +Footnote 1157: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pls. 3–9. See also Figure 2, p. 69, above. + +Footnote 1158: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 10; vol. iii, p. 33. + +Footnote 1159: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, p. 76. + +Footnote 1160: + + _ibid._, vol. i, pp. 53, 56, 58. + +Footnote 1161: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 78–79. + +Footnote 1162: + + _ibid._, vol. i, p. 32; see also reproductions, vol. i, p. 31, vol. + ii, pl. 2. + +Footnote 1163: + + On the general arrangement of the mountains of the known world as + shown on medieval maps see Benl, _Frühere und spätere Hypothesen_, + 1905, pp. 8–14. See also above, p. 445, note 16. + +Footnote 1164: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pls. 3–9. See also Figure 2, p. 69, + above, where Mount Sinai (the black pinnacle in the southern part of + the map) and Mount Olympus (the wooded pyramid in the northeastern + part) are so represented. + +Footnote 1165: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 12; vol. iii, pp. 13, 14. + +Footnote 1166: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 11; vol. iii, p. 8 and pl. 1. + +Footnote 1167: + + The lighthouse of Alexandria is shown on the Jerome map of Palestine + (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 12; vol. iii, pl. 1), the columns of Alexander + and Hercules on the same map and on the Henry of Mayence map (_ibid._, + vol. ii, pl. 13; vol. iii, pl. 2), the tower of Babel on the Psalter + map (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 1; vol. iii, pl. 3) and the Ebstorf and + Hereford maps (reproductions accompanying _ibid._, vols. v and iv + respectively). + +Footnote 1168: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 5, 13. + +Footnote 1169: + + _ibid._, vol. i, p. 35; vol. ii, pl. 3b. + +Footnote 1170: + + On Paris No. II (Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pl. 2; vol. i, p. 31), + and on Osma (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 3b; vol. i, p. 35). + +Footnote 1171: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 74, 76, 77. + +Footnote 1172: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 10; vol. iii, pp. 29–37. + +Footnote 1173: + + _ibid._, vol. iv, 1896, with reproduction in colors accompanying the + volume. Two sections are reproduced in Figure 8, pp. 276–277, above. + +Footnote 1174: + + _ibid._, vol. v, 1896, with facsimile in colors accompanying the + volume. + + + NOTES + CHAPTER XII + REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY + +Footnote 1175: + + See above, p. 19 and p. 372, note 69. + +Footnote 1176: + + _Opus majus_, Bridges’ edit., vol. i, 1897, p. 292. Pierre d’Ailly + (1350–1420), the famous French theologian, in his _Imago mundi_, an + encyclopedic compilation of the same sort as the _De imagine mundi_ of + our period, plagiarized the work of Roger Bacon in this connection. + The _Imago mundi_ was read and annotated by Columbus, and in this way + the idea that the eastern shores of Asia lie not far to the west of + Spain was brought to the attention of the discoverer of America. See + Henry Vignaud, _Histoire critique de la grande enterprise de + Christophe Colomb_, 2 vols., reference in vol. i, Paris, 1911, pp. + 315–316; Edward Channing, _A History of the United States_, vol. i, + New York, 1905, p. 15. + +Footnote 1177: + + The Cratesian or Macrobian theory (see above, p. 18) would seem to + have been accepted by William of Conches (_De phil. mundi_, IV, 3) and + by Giraldus Cambrensis (_Top. Hiber._, II, 3) as the basis of their + explanation of the tides. See also _Im. du monde_, II, 1. The theory + was set forth by Macrobius and by Martianus Capella and, as a result + of the great popularity of both of these writers throughout the Middle + Ages, was undoubtedly entirely familiar to scholars. + +Footnote 1178: + + See above, pp. 186–187. + +Footnote 1179: + + _De mundi univ._, p. 48. + +Footnote 1180: + + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2, 1. + +Footnote 1181: + + _Chron._, I, 1. + +Footnote 1182: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 910. + +Footnote 1183: + + _Tractatus excerptionum_ (under Hugh of St. Victor in the + Bibliography), III, 1, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxvii, col. 209. + +Footnote 1184: + + See above, pp. 66, 121–122, and Fig. 1 on p. 67. + +Footnote 1185: + + _Etym._, XIV, 2. + +Footnote 1186: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 7, I, 34; Gervase of Tilbury, _Otia imper._, vol. + i, p. 908; Rudolf of Hohen-Ems, _Weltchronik_, cited by Doberentz, + _Erd- und Völkerkunde_, in Zeitschr., vol. xiii, 1881, p. 171; _Im. du + monde_, II, 5. + +Footnote 1187: + + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. i, 1897, pp. 133, 338–339. + +Footnote 1188: + + Jerusalem is not at the center in the Beatus maps. Probably the + earliest map now known which so places it is the T-O map of 1110 at + Oxford, upon which a cross on “Mons Syon” marks the exact spot + (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, p. 119). Jerusalem is at the + center of the _oikoumene_ on the Psalter (_ibid._, vol. ii, 1895, pl. + 1; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 3), Hereford, and Ebstorf maps (_ibid._, + accompanying vols. iv, 1896, and v, 1896, respectively) of the late + thirteenth century. See below, p. 463, note 38. + +Footnote 1189: + + “Ista est Hierusalem, in medio gentium posui eam et in circuitu ejus + terrae” (Ezekiel, v. 5). See also Ezekiel, xxxviii, 12. Jerome, + _Commentarius in Ezechielem_, II (Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xxv, col. + 54), gives proofs that Jerusalem is the center of the earth. The Jews + also identified Bethel and Mount Moriah, and the Samaritans Mount + Gerizim with the center (Roscher, _Omphalos_, 1913, p. 27). + +Footnote 1190: + + On ancient and Scriptural theories concerning the center of the earth, + see Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, 1856, p. 54, note 3a; Roscher, + _Omphalos_, 1913, pp. 20–36; the same, _Neue Omphalosstudien_, 1915, + pp. 12–28, 73–75; and A. I. Wensinck, _The Ideas of the Western + Semites Concerning the Navel of the Earth_, in Verhandelingen der + Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Afdeeling + Letterkunde, N. S., vol. xvii, No. 1, 1916. + +Footnote 1191: + + White, _Warfare_, 1920, vol. i, p. 98. + +Footnote 1192: + + Liebrecht, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1193: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 892. Gervase, _loc. cit._, gives the + following proof that there is as much land to the east as there is to + the west of Jerusalem: “Unde tradunt, tantam terram a Jerusalem + protendi ad Orientem, quantam ad Occidentem, quod probant ex eo, quod + legitur: ‘Deus ab austro veniet et sanctus de monte Pharaan’ + [Habakkuk, iii, 3]. Auster enim et Aquilo, qui pro Borea scribitur, ut + ibi: ‘ab Aquilone pandetur omne malum.’ Et alibi: ‘Ponam sedem meam ab + aquilone, & ero similis altissimo.’ Per contrapositionem oppositi per + effectum, & locorum distantiam objecti, aequaliter distant a centro, + quod est inter Orientem et Occidentem.” See below, p. 463, note 38. + +Footnote 1194: + + See above, p. 460, note 14. + +Footnote 1195: + + _De situ Hierusalem_, d’Avezac’s edit., 1839, pp. 841–842; Wright’s + translation, 1848, p. 38. + +Footnote 1196: + + The cross of Calvary was usually supposed to mark the navel of the + earth (White, _Warfare_, 1920, vol. i, p. 100). + +Footnote 1197: + + The manuscript in which the passage telling of this experiment is + found is described in Sir G. F. Warner and J. P. Gilson’s _Catalogue + of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections_ + [British Museum], vol. i, London, 1921, p. 193, under MS 7 D xxv + (saec. xii). It is there suggested that the author may have been + Adelard of Bath; Professor Haskins (_Studies_, 1924, p. 31) states + that the manuscript “clearly represents Adelard’s generation and + circle of interests” and gives (_ibid._, pp. 31–32) the following + transcription of the text of the passage (from folio 66): “Mons Amor + reorum est locus medius mundi, ubi apposui mensuras et probavi per + multa loca et posui lignum rea [_sic_] rotundum habens. xii. cubitos + longitudinis et grossitudo illi cubitus unus et suspendi illum per + funem et tantum commutavi eum de loco in locum in medio eius. vii. + kal. Iulii donec suspendi illud in loco medii diei et residit suum cum + splendor solis ex omnibus partibus et facta est umbra ipsius subtus + cum rotunda sicut rotunditas ipsius ligni quod suspenderam; et de ipsa + mensura cognovi quod medius mundus est in Monte Amor reorum. Et + tempore quo mensuravi hoc est annus .xxxviiii. et vinum non bibi, + oculi mei somno satiati non fuerunt, ne exuperaveram in eo quod + inquirebam.” Haskins (_loc. cit._) suggests that “.vii.” should read + “.xi.” and “exuperaveram” should read “exuperarer.” + +Footnote 1198: + + “Hoc autem circumferentiae centrum arbitrantur quidam in illo loco + esse, ubi Dominus locutus est ad Samaritanam ad puteum, illic enim in + solstitio aestivo monstrans, meridiana hora sol recto transite + descendit in aquam putei umbram nullam aliqua parte monstrans, quod + apud Syenem fieri tradunt philosophi....” (_Otia imper._, vol. i, p. + 892; Liebrecht, _Gervasius von Tilbury_, 1856, p. 1). + +Footnote 1199: + + This would seem to place the center of the earth, not at Jerusalem, + but at Jacob’s well on Mount Gerizim in Samaria. See John, iv, 6, 20, + and above, p. 460, note 15. + +Footnote 1200: + + The most elaborate and scholarly monograph on the Terrestrial Paradise + as it was conceived in the Middle Ages is Coli, _Il paradiso terrestre + dantesco_, 1897. This treats in great detail the history of the + legends of Paradise and the development of theories concerning the + nature and location of the Garden of Delights. Special attention is + given to the Terrestrial Paradise of Dante. + +Footnote 1201: + + On the St. Sever Beatus map, Paradise is enclosed by mountains, its + northern border by the Montes Ceraunes, a continuation of the Taurus + (see Fig. 2, p. 69, above). On the Beatus maps Paradise is rectangular + (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pls. 2–9); on the Psalter + (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 1; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 3) and Lambert + _mappaemundi_ (_ibid._, vol. iii, p. 46 and pl. 4) it is circular; and + on the Henry of Mayence map (_ibid._, vol. iii, pl. 2) it is more or + less circular and is placed on an island in the Eastern Sea. A few + maps do not show it at all; as the Cotton, Jerome, Guido, some of the + Sallust maps, and the Matthew Paris map of the world (_ibid._, vol. + ii, pls. 10, 11, 12; vol. iii, pp. 56, 70–71, 110–113). + +Footnote 1202: + + Paraphrased from _De imag. mundi_, I, 8, from Isidore, _Etym._, XIV, + 3. + +Footnote 1203: + + Paraphrased from _De imag. mundi_, I, 10; _Im. du monde_, II, 2. + +Footnote 1204: + + _Expos. in hex._, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxviii, cols. + 775–776. + +Footnote 1205: + + _Tractatus excerptionum_ (under Hugh of St. Victor in the + Bibliography), III, 2, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxxvii, cols. + 209–210. + +Footnote 1206: + + _Im. du monde_, II, 2. + +Footnote 1207: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 911. + +Footnote 1208: + + _ibid._, p. 892. + +Footnote 1209: + + See also Alexander Neckam, _De nat. rer._, II, 49: “Rei tamen veritas + est, quod paradisus terrestris superior est aquis, cum etiam lunari + globo superior sit. Unde et aquae cataclysmi paradiso nullam intulere + molestiam. Enoc, qui in paradiso jam tunc erat collocatus, aquarum non + sensit diluvii incrementa.” See above, p. 437, note 25. + +Footnote 1210: + + _Sententiae_, II, 17, 5. Peter Lombard maintains that there were three + _sententiae_ concerning Paradise: (1) that of those who conceived of + it in a spiritual sense, (2) that of those who conceived of it in a + corporeal sense, and (3) that of those who conceived of it in both + senses. The third method was the most pleasing to Peter, who says: “ut + homo in corporali paradiso sit positus, qui ab illo principio + plantatus accipi potest, quo terram omnem remotis aquis herbas et + ligna producere jussit. Qui etsi praesentis Ecclesiae vel futurae + typum tenet, ad litteram tamen intellegendum est esse locum + amoenissimum fructuosis arboribus, magnum et magno fonte foecundum. + Quod dicimus ‘a principio,’ antiqua translatio dicit ‘ad Orientem.’ + Unde volunt in orientali parte esse paradisum, longo interjacente + spatio vel maris vel terrae a regionibus quas incolunt homines, + secretum, et in alto situm, usque ad lunarem circulem pertingentem, + unde nec aquae diluvii illuc pervenerunt.” The older translation + referred to may have been the “Old Latin” translation of the + Septuagint. See above, p. 390, note 122. + +Footnote 1211: + + The Beatus (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pls. 3a, 3b—our Fig. + 4 on p. 123, above—4–9; vol. i, 1895, pp. 35, 39, and accompanying + reproduction—our Fig. 2 on p. 69 above) and Psalter (_ibid._, vol. ii, + pl. 1; vol. iii, pl. 3) maps show Paradise in Asia; those of Henry of + Mayence (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 13; vol. iii, pl. 2) and of Lambert + (_ibid._, vol. iii, pl. 4) place it on an island. On Paradise as + represented on these and other medieval maps, see Coli, _Il paradiso + terrestre_, 1897, pp. 100–122. + +Footnote 1212: + + See above, p. 428, note 136. + +Footnote 1213: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 892. Dante also placed the Terrestrial + Paradise in the southern hemisphere, at the summit of the Mount of + Purgatory, which was the antipodes of “Mount Zion.” This has usually + been interpreted to mean the Mount Zion near Jerusalum. See Coli, _op. + cit._, pp. 185–207; Moore, _Studies in Dante, Third Series_, 1903, pp. + 134–139; Mori, _La geogr._, 1922, pp. 287–289. Benini (_Origine del + Monte del Purgatorio_, 1917, pp. 1037–1055), however, maintains that + the mountain to which Dante refers was to be associated with Sinai or + with the Mount Pharaan of Habakkuk, iii, 3 (see above, p. 461, note + 19; see also R. Benini, _Il grande Sion, il Sinai e il piccolo Sion + (dove ha posto Dante l’entrata dell’ inferno)_, in: Rendiconti della + Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Classe di scienze morali, storiche e + filologiche, series 5, vol. xxiii, Rome, 1915, pp. 293–315). He argues + that Dante believed this mountain to be on the Tropic of Cancer and + that the Mount of Purgatory, its antipodes, was consequently on the + Tropic of Capricorn. + +Footnote 1214: + + See above, p. 164. + +Footnote 1215: + + _Chron._, II, 25. + +Footnote 1216: + + _Tractatus excerptionum_ (under Hugh of St. Victor in the + Bibliography), III, 2, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxvii, col. 211. + +Footnote 1217: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 13; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 2. + +Footnote 1218: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, p. 46 and pl. 4. + +Footnote 1219: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + p. 36. + +Footnote 1220: + + Augustine, _De Genesi ad litteram_, VIII, 1, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. xxxiv, cols. 371–373. On other medieval ideas concerning the + location of Paradise, see Graf, _Miti, leggende_, vol. i, 1892, pp. + 1–15. + +Footnote 1221: + + _Iter ad Paradisum_, edit. by J. Zacher, 1859 (under “Alexander the + Great, Romance of, VI” in the Bibliography). See Meyer, _Alexandre le + Grand_, vol. i, 1886, pp. 47–51. + +Footnote 1222: + + Graf, _op. cit._, pp. 73–126, discusses these stories in detail. In + his _La leggenda_, 1878, pp. 22–44, he shows that there were four + types of Paradise legend in the Middle Ages: (1) legends which grew + out of pre-existing legendary themes, as, for example, the story of + Seth’s visit to Paradise; (2) those which developed out of a spirit of + pure devotion and asceticism, such as certain of the stories of the + visits of pious monks; (3) those which arose out of a spirit of + exploration and adventure, as the story of St. Brandan’s voyages or + that given in the _Pantheon_ of Godfrey of Viterbo; and, finally, (4) + those which arose from a chivalric love of adventure and conquest, as + the _Iter ad Paradisum_, connected with the Romance of the conquests + of Alexander the Great. + +Footnote 1223: + + On the story of Seth’s visit to Paradise, see Graf, _Miti, leggende_, + vol. i, 1892, pp. 76–84. This story was included in the second verse + redaction of the _Image du monde_. See above, p. 404, note 88. + +Footnote 1224: + + _Pantheon_, pars 2, in: Pistorius’ edit., 1726, pp. 58–60; see also + Graf, _Miti, leggende_, vol. i, 1892, pp. 112–113. + +Footnote 1225: + + _Acta Sanctorum quotquot tota orbe coluntur.... Editio novissima_, + Octobris vol. x, Paris and Rome, 1869, pp. 566–574 (see Potthast, + _Wegweiser_, vol. i, 1896, p. xxxii-xxxiii). + +Footnote 1226: + + Hercules’ and Alexander’s columns are shown on the Jerome map of + Palestine (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 13; vol. iii, + 1895, pp. 13–14). + +Footnote 1227: + + Mâle, _L’art religieux_, 1898, p. 19. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage in + the third century, had suggested this allegorical interpretation, and + it was passed on to the Western world by Isidore. See Rahn, + _Glasgemälde_, 1879, p. 42 (14). + +Footnote 1228: + + _De nat. rer._, II, 2. + +Footnote 1229: + + See above, pp. 29–30, 59–60, 184–185, and 199–203. + +Footnote 1230: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 10. + +Footnote 1231: + + _Etym._, XIV, 3. + +Footnote 1232: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 1; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 3. + +Footnote 1233: + + _Expos. in hex._, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxviii, col. 778. + +Footnote 1234: + + _Elysaeus_, 14, 26, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. viii, 1876, pp. 123–124. + +Footnote 1235: + + _De mundi univ._, p. 22. + +Footnote 1236: + + See the introduction to Yule, _Cathay and the Way Thither_, 2nd edit., + vol. i, 1915. + +Footnote 1237: + + See Friedrich Hirth, _China and the Roman Orient_, Leipzig, 1885; an + especially full study is Albert Herrmann, _Die Westländer in der + chinesischen Kartographie_, forming vol. viii, pt. 2, of Sven Hedin, + _Southern Tibet_, Stockholm, 1922. See also Albert Herrmann, _Die + ältesten chinesischen Karten von Zentral- und Westasien_, in: + Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, vol. viii, Berlin, 1919–1920, pp. 185–198, + and note upon this monograph in: Geographical Review, vol. xiii, New + York, 1923, pp. 311–313. + +Footnote 1238: + + See E. Bretschneider, _Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic + Sources: Fragments Towards the Knowledge of the Geography and History + of Central and Western Asia from the Thirteenth to the Seventeenth + Century_, London, 1888, vol. i, pp. 275–344; Leon Cahun, _Introduction + à l’histoire de l’Asie: Turcs et Mongols des origines à 1405_, Paris, + 1896; René Grousset, _Histoire de l’Asie_, in 3 vols., Paris, 1922, + vol. ii, pp. 12–160. + +Footnote 1239: + + W. W. Rockhill, translator and editor, _The Journey of William of + Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World, 1253–55, As Narrated by + Himself, With Two Accounts of the Earlier Journey of John of Pian de + Carpine_, Hakluyt Society Publications, series 2, vol. iv, London, + 1900, p. xiii. + +Footnote 1240: + + _Chron. maiora_, Rolls series edit., vol. iv, pp. 76–78; translated by + Rockhill, _op. cit._, pp. xiv-xvii. + +Footnote 1241: + + See above, pp. 287–288. + +Footnote 1242: + + See Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 275–391; Bréhier, _L’Église et + l’Orient_, 1911, pp. 219–221, 228–233. See also above, p. 286. + +Footnote 1243: + + See above, pp. 283–286. + +Footnote 1244: + + See especially Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 275–391, vol. iii, + 1906, pp. 15–381. + +Footnote 1245: + + For the Latin text of John of Pian de Carpine’s travels edited by + d’Avezac with extensive commentary see: Recueil de voyages et de + mémoires publié par la Société de Géographie, vol. iv, Paris, 1839, + pp. 397–779. English translation of a part of this in Rockhill, _op. + cit._, pp. 1–32. Professor Paul Pelliot of the Collège de France in a + lecture delivered at Columbia University in 1923 announced that the + original letter sent by Carpine from the Khan at Karakorum to the Pope + had recently been discovered in the Vatican archives. + +Footnote 1246: + + For the Latin text of Rubruck’s travels edited by d’Avezac see: + Recueil de voyages et de mémoires publié par la Société de Géographie, + vol. iv, Paris, 1839, pp. 213–396. English translation and commentary + in Rockhill, _op. cit._ + +Footnote 1247: + + See above, p. 405, note 92. + +Footnote 1248: + + See above, p. 408, note 97. + +Footnote 1249: + + See Yule, _Marco Polo_, 3rd edit., 1903, with Cordier’s supplement, + _Ser Marco Polo_, 1920 (both under Polo, Marco, in the Bibliography). + +Footnote 1250: + + See especially vols. ii and iii of Yule’s _Cathay_, 2nd edit. by + Cordier, 1913–1914. + +Footnote 1251: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 8. + +Footnote 1252: + + _Etym._, XIV, 3. + +Footnote 1253: + + For a brief statement in regard to the origins of the conception of a + great mountain range running east and west across Asia see Benl, + _Frühere und spätere Hypothesen_, 1905, pp. 1–7. + +Footnote 1254: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 761. + +Footnote 1255: + + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1256: + + St. Sever Beatus (see Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, p. 50, also + reproduction accompanying volume—reduced in our Fig. 2, page 69, + above), Osma Beatus (_ibid._, vol. i, p. 35—our Fig. 4, p. 123, + above—; vol. ii, 1895, pl. 3), Henry of Mayence (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. + 13; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 2), Psalter (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. i, vol. + iii, pl. 3). For “Paropanissade montes,” see Jerome map of the East + (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 11; vol. iii, p. 8 and pl. 1). + +Footnote 1257: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pls. 11 and 12; vol. iii, pl. 1. + +Footnote 1258: + + “Hae superius dictae regiones, ab oriente incipientes, recta linea ad + Mediterraneum mare extenditur” (_De imag. mundi_, I, 18). See Isidore, + _Etym._, XIV, 3; Gervase of Tilbury, _Otia imper._, vol. ii, pp. + 758–760. + +Footnote 1259: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 19; Isidore, _loc. cit._; Gervase of Tilbury, + _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 762. + +Footnote 1260: + + Gervase, _loc. cit._, says that all he remembers having read about the + Seres are certain verses of Sidonius, which he quotes as follows: + + “‘Ergo ubi se mediam solio dedit (sc. Roma), advolat omnis + Terra simul, fert quaeque suos provincia fructus.’ + Et post pauca: + ‘Ser vellera, thura Sabeus.’” + +Footnote 1261: + + _Hist. nat._, VI, 17, sect. 54. + +Footnote 1262: + + _Collectanea_, 50. + +Footnote 1263: + + _Etym._, XIV, 3, 29. + +Footnote 1264: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 19. + +Footnote 1265: + + _Letter of Prester John_, 42, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, p. 915. + +Footnote 1266: + + Yule, _Cathay_, vol. i, 1915, pp. 11–13, 183–185, 187–196, especially + p. 195. On the _Periplus_ see above, p. 40. + +Footnote 1267: + + See Yule, _op. cit._, pp. 181–182. + +Footnote 1268: + + _De scientia stellarum_, Bologna edit., 1645, p. 24. + +Footnote 1269: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 66–67. See above, + p. 414, note 156. + +Footnote 1270: + + See above, p. 197, and p. 442, note 75; and Borchardt, _Itinéraire_, + 1924, p. 33. + +Footnote 1271: + + Marco Polo placed the griffon, or Rukh, in Madagascar and asserted + that it could carry elephants in its talons (Yule, _Marco Polo_, 3rd + edit., 1903 (under Polo, Marco, in the Bibliography), pp. 412, 415). + +Footnote 1272: + + Pseudo-Abdias, _De historia certaminis apostolici_, VIII; edition of + 1560, fol. 96a. + +Footnote 1273: + + Guido’s _mappamundi_ of 1119 indicates “insunt tres Indiae” (Miller, + _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, p. 54). Lambert’s map designates the + three divisions as “India prima, hic pigmei et fauni et reges + gentium,” “India secunda,” and “India ultima, hic arbores solis et + lunae” (_ibid._, p. 49). The Jerome map of the East represents “India + ultima” as extending from the Indus to the “Hipanis,” bordering on + Persia and Carmania, and including the city of Ophir. “India inferior” + lies between the “Hipanis” and the Ganges, and “India superior” to the + northeast, between the Ganges and the Octorogorra, a river rising in + the Caucasus (_ibid._, pl. 1). Pullé, _La cartog. antica_, pt. 2, + 1905, p. 31, conjectures plausibly that these three divisions may + represent in order, Punjabic India, peninsular India, and Gangetic + India. + +Footnote 1274: + + _Hist. eccles._, pt. I, bk. II, 15. + +Footnote 1275: + + _Letter of Prester John_, 12, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, p. 910. + +Footnote 1276: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 911. + +Footnote 1277: + + “Isti 4 rivuli fundunt his duabus Indiis....” _Elysaeus_, 14, in: + Zarncke, _op. cit._, vol. viii, 1876, p. 123. + +Footnote 1278: + + “En Ynde a maintes granz contrées qui sont pueploiées de genz et de + grant plente de bestes. Une en y a que l’en apele Perse ...” etc. + (_Im. du monde_, II, 2). This shows that the writer considered Persia + a part of India. A rubric in the manuscript of the _Image du monde_ of + the Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds français, no. 574, reads “Des + contrées d’Ynde,” and includes under it Babylonia, Chaldaea, Arabia, + Phoenicia, Assyria, Palestine, and Armenia, showing that the scribe at + least, if not the poet, believed that India comprises the greater part + of Asia. + +Footnote 1279: + + See, on India, Isidore, _Etym._, XIV, _passim_; _De imag. mundi_, I, + 11, 12, 13; Gervase of Tilbury, _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 911; vol. + ii, pp. 755, 756; _Im. du monde_, II, 2. Also see, for a study of + India as delineated on medieval maps, Pullé, _La cartog. antica_, pt. + 2, 1905. + +Footnote 1280: + + _Etym._, XIII, 21; _De imag. mundi_, I, 10; Peter Abelard, _Expos. in + hex._, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxviii, col. 779; Peter + Comestor, _Hist. schol._, Gen. xiv; Gervase of Tilbury, _Otia imper._, + vol. i, p. 892. + +Footnote 1281: + + _Hist. schol._, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1282: + + Peter Comestor gives an alternative suggestion that the word “Phison” + may refer to the changeable appearance of the river. + +Footnote 1283: + + _Letter of Prester John_, 22, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, p. 912. + +Footnote 1284: + + The Jerome map of the East (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, pl. + 1) and the Henry of Mayence map of the world (_ibid._, pl. 2) show + these rivers and give their Greek names, Hydaspes, Indus, and Hipanis. + Pullé, _op. cit._, pt. 2, pp. 28, 31, believes that the shape of the + coast line, the Greek names of the rivers, the position of Taprobane, + and other details on these maps strongly suggest the Ptolemaic + representation of the East. The resemblances in form to the Ptolemaic + map, however, are too doubtful to warrant us in assuming any direct + Ptolemaic influence. + +Footnote 1285: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 63–65. + +Footnote 1286: + + These marvels were almost never arbitrary inventions. They can usually + be traced back to a remote source which was itself an exaggeration or + distortion of a true story. See Peschel, _Abhandlungen_, vol. i, 1877, + pp. 9–19. Most of the marvels of India as set forth by Ctesias had + their counterparts in Persian and Indian mythology and probably + “originated in obscure and disfigured accounts of nature and man in + the mountain chains between the upper Indus and the Ganges and on the + high plateaus as far as the Tarim Basin” (Doberentz, _Erd- und + Völkerkunde_, in: Zeitschr., vol. xiii, 1881, pp. 41–57). + +Footnote 1287: + + Many of the stories go back to Greek writers earlier even than + Ctesias. The pygmies who fight with storks are found in Homer, the + half-dog-half-men in Hesiod, the umbrella-footed men in Alcman, the + gold-guarding griffons and the one-eyed Arimaspians in the writings of + Aristeas of Proconnesus. Hecataeus, Scylax, Aeschylus, and, above all, + Herodotus, repeat many of these yarns. Ctesias of Cnidus gathered + together most of the earlier tales and added to them stories that he + himself had heard in the Persian realm, or, perhaps, he wrote down + descriptions of monsters that he had seen depicted or sculptured on + the walls of the great palaces at Persepolis. Ctesias’ book became the + great reservoir to which later writers looked for their marvels. See + Doberentz, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1288: + + The mantichora (see Fig. 8, p. 277 above) was a beast described by + Pliny, _Hist. nat._, VIII, 21, as follows (transl. in Bohn’s edit., + vol. ii, p. 280): “It has a triple row of teeth which fit into each + other like those of a comb, the face and ears of a man, and azure + eyes, is of the color of blood, has the body of a lion, and a tail + ending in a sting, like that of a scorpion. Its voice resembles the + union of the sound of the flute and the trumpet; it is of excessive + swiftness, and is particularly fond of human flesh.” Doberentz shows + the route by which the story of this extraordinary combination found + its way from its Oriental place of origin to the _Weltchronik_ of + Rudolf of Hohen-Ems. + + This route was the same as that taken by most of the other marvels + which came to this chronicle. The beast appears illustrated on the + monuments of Persepolis; possibly it was thought to be the king of the + evil beasts of Ahriman, the Zoroastrian god of darkness. Ctesias + describes it in his _Indica_; thence it probably made its way to the + _Historia animalium_ of Aristotle, thence to the _Chorographia + Pliniana_, thence to Solinus, thence to the _De imagine mundi_, and + thence to Rudolf’s chronicle (Doberentz, _op. cit._, pp. 175–180). + +Footnote 1289: + + Peschel in his _Abhandlungen_, vol. i, 1877, p. 10, pointed out that + some medieval commentators on the subject were disinclined to believe + in the existence of these creatures because they were not included in + Noah’s ark. St. Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, XVI, 8, had said: + “Either such monsters do not exist at all, or else they are in no wise + men, for in the latter case they would be sprung from Adam.” In the + ninth century there was discussion as to whether or not the + _cynocephali_ in the north were descended from Adam. During our period + no text that has been found by the writer questions their existence. + +Footnote 1290: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, p. 41 and pl. 3; vol. ii, 1895, + pl. 1. + +Footnote 1291: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 13 and 14; vol. ii, 1895, pl. 12. + +Footnote 1292: + + Lambert (_ibid._, vol. iii, 1895, p. 49), Jerome (Palestine) (_ibid._, + p. 13), Psalter (_ibid._, p. 38). On the Hereford map the legend + reads: “Arbor balsami id est sicca” (_ibid._, vol. iv, 1896, p. 8); on + the Ebstorf map, “Oraculum solis et lune” (_ibid._, vol. v, 1896, p. + 48). See Yule, _Marco Polo_, 3rd edit., 1903, vol. i, pp. 128–138; + Cordier, _Ser Marco Polo_, 1920, pp. 31–32 (both under Polo, Marco, in + the Bibliography). + +Footnote 1293: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, p. 48 and pl. 4. + +Footnote 1294: + + _ibid._, p. 8 and pl. 1. + +Footnote 1295: + + See above, p. 74. + +Footnote 1296: + + Philipps, _St. Thomas_, 1903, pp. 1–8. + +Footnote 1297: + + _Hist. eccles._, pt. I, bk. II, 14. Ordericus drew from Pseudo-Abdias. + See above, p. 379, note 8. + +Footnote 1298: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. i, 1895, p. 35; vol. ii, 1895, pl. 3 (our + Fig. 4 on p. 123 above). + +Footnote 1299: + + _Letter of Prester John_, 56–72, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, pp. 916–920. + +Footnote 1300: + + Mâle, _L’art religieux_, 1898, pp. 378–388. + +Footnote 1301: + + Zarncke, _op. cit._, pp. 832–843. + +Footnote 1302: + + In writing of the journey of Sighelm, who was sent by King Alfred to + the shrines of Saints Thomas and Bartholomew in India (see above, p. + 74), William of Malmsbury remarks that the journey was made with great + success, “at which everybody in this age wonders” (_Gesta regum + Anglorum_, II, 122, edited by William Stubbs (Rolls Series, no. 90), 2 + vols., London, 1887). + +Footnote 1303: + + _De adventu patriarchae Indorum ad urbem sub Callisto papa II_, 12, + in: Zarncke, _op. cit._, p. 838. + +Footnote 1304: + + See Zarncke, _op. cit._, pp. 843–846. + +Footnote 1305: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, p. 12 and pl. 1; vol. ii, 1895, + pl. 11. + +Footnote 1306: + + _Etym._, XIV, 6. + +Footnote 1307: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 11. + +Footnote 1308: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 911. + +Footnote 1309: + + Jerome map of the East (Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, p. 12 and pl. 1; + vol. ii, pl. 11); Lambert map of the world (_ibid._, p. 50 and pl. 4). + +Footnote 1310: + + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. This passage was copied in: _De imag. mundi_, + I, 11. + +Footnote 1311: + + _Etym._ XIV, 6; _Otia imper._, _loc. cit._ Copied from Orosius in: _De + imag. mundi_, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1312: + + _Collectanea_, 53, 2–3. + +Footnote 1313: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 13; vol. iii, pl. 2. + +Footnote 1314: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pls. ii and 12; vol. iii, pl. 1. + +Footnote 1315: + + _ibid._, reproduction accompanying vol. iv, 1896. + +Footnote 1316: + + _ibid._, reproduction accompanying vol. v, 1896. + +Footnote 1317: + + _De scientia stellarum_, Bologna edit., 1645, pp. 24ff. + +Footnote 1318: + + G. A. Wood in his _Discovery of Australia_, London, 1921, p. 28, + writes that though the Arabs “knew Sumatra, and Java, and perhaps + Timor, and though they must have shared whatever knowledge may have + been possessed by the Malays or Hindus, there seems no evidence that + they had heard of Australia.” + +Footnote 1319: + + _Etym._, XIV, 3, sects. 31–32; _De imag. mundi_, I, 19; _Otia imper._, + vol. ii, p. 756. A long legend on the St. Sever Beatus map describes + “Scythia maior” in similar terms (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, + p. 49). + +Footnote 1320: + + See above, pp. 269–270. + +Footnote 1321: + + Notably on the Jerome map of the East (Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, + pl. 1), the St. Sever Beatus (_ibid._, reproduction accompanying vol. + i, 1895; see Fig. 2, p. 69, above), the Osma Beatus (_ibid._, + reproduction in vol. ii, 1895, pl. 3; see also vol. i, p. 35, and Fig. + 4, p. 123, above), and Henry of Mayence map (_ibid._, vol. ii, 1895, + pl. 13; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 2). Other significant features shown on + contemporary maps in northern and central Asia are the Amazons, the + Anthropophagi, the Caspian Gates, the Armenian Pillars, and the + Hyperboreans. Beatus Paris No. II (_ibid._, vol. i, pp. 31–32) shows a + region in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea labeled “terra inhabitabilis + propter habundanti[am] aqu[ae],” which does not appear on other maps. + +Footnote 1322: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., p. 59. + +Footnote 1323: + + _loc. cit._ See Neubauer, _Ten Tribes_, 1888–1889. Neubauer’s article + traces the history of speculations regarding the lost ten tribes from + the earliest times and contains incidentally much important + geographical lore. + +Footnote 1324: + + See above, pp. 287–288. + +Footnote 1325: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., p. 60. + +Footnote 1326: + + _Chron._, VII, 33. + +Footnote 1327: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 60–61. + +Footnote 1328: + + See Yule, _Marco Polo_, 3rd edit., 1903 (under Polo, Marco, in the + Bibliography), vol. i, pp. 234–235. + +Footnote 1329: + + Oppert, _Presbyter Johannes_, 1870, _passim_; Zarncke, _Priester + Johannes_ (under Prester John in the Bibliography), in: Abhandl., vol. + vii, 1879, pp. 847–871. + +Footnote 1330: + + Pelliot, _Chrétiens_, 1914, p. 627. + +Footnote 1331: + + _ibid._, p. 629. + +Footnote 1332: + + Zarncke gives a critical Latin text of the _Letter_ in _Priester + Johannes_, in: Abhandl., vol. vii, 1879, pp. 909–924. + +Footnote 1333: + + Zarncke in: Berichte, vol. xxix, 1877, p. 151 and note 9. + +Footnote 1334: + + See above, pp. 268–269 and p. 465, note 67. + +Footnote 1335: + + The name “Prester John” was not used in early manuscripts of the + _Letter of Prester John_. The letter of Pope Alexander III was + discussed and edited critically by Zarncke in his _Priester Johannes_, + in: Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, pp. 935–946. See Yule, _Marco Polo_, + 3rd edit., 1903 (under Polo, Marco, in the Bibliography), vol. i, p. + 231. + +Footnote 1336: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, p. 93. + +Footnote 1337: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 11. + +Footnote 1338: + + _Rudimenta astronomica_, Nuremberg edit., 1537, dif. ix, fol. 9ro. + +Footnote 1339: + + From Meyer’s “third branch.” See above, p. 412, note 135, and Meyer, + _Alexandre le grand_, 1886, vol. ii, pp. 170, 217, 386–389. + +Footnote 1340: + + From Meyer’s “fourth branch,” by Alexandre de Bernay (de Paris). + Meyer, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 207. + +Footnote 1341: + + _Chron._, V, 9. Godfrey of Viterbo incorporated this passage in his + _Pantheon_, pars 16 (in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcviii, col. 913; + also in _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxii, p. 196). + +Footnote 1342: + + _Chronicon Wirziburgense_, in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. + vi, p. 25. See above, p. 412, note 129. + +Footnote 1343: + + _Chron._, II, 23, from Orosius, _Hist. adv. pag._, III, 7. + +Footnote 1344: + + This belief in the increase of Jewish population in these regions may + possibly have been connected in some way with knowledge of the + conversion of the Khazars to Judaism in the eighth century. See + Carmoly, _Itinéraires_, 1847, pp. 3–112, and S. Schechter, _An Unknown + Khazar Document_, in: Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. iii (N. S.), + London, 1912, pp. 181–219. + +Footnote 1345: + + “Goth & Magoth, aeternaliter conclusit. Vndecim trib. Hebraeorum, + montib. aeternaliter circumcinxit, de quibus omnibus in versibus + plenius dicemus atque iocundius” (_Pantheon_, pars 11, Herold’s edit., + 1559, col. 262; for the poetic elaboration mentioned, see cols. + 266–267; both of these passages of the _Pantheon_ are omitted in the + editions of Migne and of the _Mon. Germ. hist._). Marinelli (_La + geogr._, 1882, p. 493; _Scritti minori_, vol. i, [1908?], p. 316, note + 2, p. 415, note 2) knew of the passage in the _Pantheon_ just quoted + at second hand through a paraphrase in Giusto Grion, _I nobili fatti + di Alessandro Magno: Romanzo storico tradotto dal francese nel buon + secolo_ ..., Rome, 1872, p. cxxxii; not having the original text of + the _Pantheon_ at hand, Marinelli was in doubt as to whether the error + in the statement that there were _eleven_ tribes was to be imputed to + Grion or to Godfrey. Marinelli cites this passage together with a + passage from Albertus Magnus’ _Compendium theologicae veritatis_, VII, + 10, as evidence of the fact that the ten tribes of the Jews were + associated with Gog and Magog as early as the twelfth and thirteenth + centuries. See also the prophecy in the _Pantheon_ within a longer + prophecy of the Sibyl: “Et exurgent ab Aquilonae spurcissimae gentes, + quas Alexander rex inclusit, Goth videlicet & Magoth. Haec duodecim + [_sic_] regna, quorum numerus est sicut arena maris” (pars 10, + Herold’s edit., col. 257; _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxii, + p. 147). See also above, p. 391, note 130, p. 470, note 147. + +Footnote 1346: + + See above, pp. 267–268. + +Footnote 1347: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 14; _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 756, from Orosius, + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1348: + + _De imag. mundi_ and _Otia imper._, _loc. cit._, from Isidore, + _Etym._, XIV, 3, sect. 13. + +Footnote 1349: + + _Hist. schol._, Gen. 14; _De imag. mundi_, I, 10. + +Footnote 1350: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 911. Most of the maps of the period + correctly represent the Tigris as flowing into the Persian Gulf; the + Jerome maps even show a common outlet for the two rivers (Miller, + _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 11; vol. iii, 1895, p. 14 and pl. + 1). The Jerome map of the Orient, however, makes the Hydaspes a branch + of the Tigris (_ibid._, vol. iii, p. 14). + +Footnote 1351: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, pp. 756–757; _De imag. mundi_, I, 15, from + Isidore, _Etym._, XIV, 3. + +Footnote 1352: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 757, from Orosius, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1353: + + Otto of Freising, _Chron._, VII, 3. + +Footnote 1354: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., p. 42. See also above, + p. 414, note 156. + +Footnote 1355: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1356: + + _ibid._, pp. 35–38. + +Footnote 1357: + + Some manuscripts give “Sikbia” rather than “Siberia.” The “land of + Togarmim” was Turkestan. + +Footnote 1358: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 40–41. + +Footnote 1359: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 757, from Orosius, _op. cit._, I, 2. See + also _De imag. mundi_, I, 16, from Isidore, _Etym._, XIV, 3. + +Footnote 1360: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 47–51. See + especially pp. 48–50, note 2. See also above, p. 414, note 156. + +Footnote 1361: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _op. cit._, p. 67. + +Footnote 1362: + + Yule, _Marco Polo_, 3rd edit., 1903 (under Polo, Marco, in the + Bibliography), vol. ii, p. 431. + +Footnote 1363: + + _Etym._, xiv, 3; _De imag. mundi_, I, 16–17; _Otia imper._, vol. ii, + pp. 757–758. + +Footnote 1364: + + On the growth of the legends of the Dead Sea before and after our + period and particularly on the supposed persistence of the pillar of + salt into which Lot’s wife was turned, see White, _Warfare_, 1920, + vol. ii, pp. 221–235. See also above, pp. 208–209. + +Footnote 1365: + + See Rey, _Colonies franques_, 1883; Bréhier, _L’Église et l’Orient_, + 1911, pp. 88–100; Heyd, _Commerce du Levant_, vol. i, 1885, pp. + 129–190; Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 396–464. + +Footnote 1366: + + A brief account of this expedition with references to the Arabic + sources will be found in Bernhard Moritz, _Arabien: Studien zur + physikalischen und historischen Geographie des Landes_, Hanover, 1923, + pp. 119–120. + +Footnote 1367: + + Heyd, _op. cit._, pp. 163–176. + +Footnote 1368: + + _ibid._, pp. 301–310. It is unnecessary to enter upon a detailed + discussion of the geography of Asia Minor as given in the _De imagine + mundi_, I, 19–20, and _Otia imperialia_, vol. ii, p. 762. This is no + more than the dry repetition of information drawn from classical + sources. The Jerome map of the Orient shows the classical divisions of + Asia Minor with a good deal of detail; the river systems are also + represented, but very poorly (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, + pl. 11; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 1). Troy appears on the Psalter, Lambert, + and Guido maps (_ibid._, vol. iii, p. 56, and pls. 3 and 4). On the + last-named it is the only detail in Asia Minor. + +Footnote 1369: + + Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, 1901. + +Footnote 1370: + + See above, pp. 176, 212, 238–239. + +Footnote 1371: + + _Historia_, XIII, 3; in medieval French translation in Paulin Paris’ + edit., vol. i, p. 480. The “Sur” of William of Tyre is Tyre. See also + Dreesbach, _op. cit._, pp. 24–28. + +Footnote 1372: + + _ibid._, pp. 53–61. + +Footnote 1373: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 1895, p. 93. + +Footnote 1374: + + Ambroise, _Estoire de la guerre sainte_, verses 9541–9542, in Gaston + Paris’ edit., col. 255. See also Dreesbach, _op. cit._, p. 60. + +Footnote 1375: + + Dreesbach, _op. cit._, pp. 36–49. + +Footnote 1376: + + _Historia_, XXI, 24; in medieval French translation, XXI, 22 (Paulin + Paris’ edit., vol. ii, pp. 397–398). See also Dreesbach, _op. cit._, + p. 41. + +Footnote 1377: + + Dreesbach, _op. cit._, pp. 4–19. + +Footnote 1378: + + _Historia_, XVII, 10, XIX, 13, 15, 21; in medieval French translation, + XVII, 10, XIX, 12, 14, 20 (Paulin Paris’ edit., vol. ii, pp. 153, 270, + 272–274, 282–283); see also Dreesbach, _op. cit._, pp. 10–11. + +Footnote 1379: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., p. 35. + +Footnote 1380: + + _ibid._, p. 71. + +Footnote 1381: + + Dreesbach, _op. cit._, pp. 13–19. + +Footnote 1382: + + _Historia_, XIV, 19, XX, 29; in medieval French translation, XIV, 16, + XX, 28 (Paulin Paris’ edit., vol. ii, pp. 25 and 357–358). + +Footnote 1383: + + _Estoire de la guerre sainte_, verses 8819–8846; in Gaston Paris’ + edit., cols. 236–237. Also quoted in Dreesbach, _op. cit._, p. 17. + +Footnote 1384: + + See also Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 53–54. + +Footnote 1385: + + “Hac in oriente Indii fluminis surgit, et per meridiem vergens in + occidentem tendit” (_De imag. mundi_, I, 32). “Indii fluminis” as it + occurs in the chapter on Africa, here, obviously refers to the Nile. + See above, p. 304. + +Footnote 1386: + + _The Image du monde_, II, 4, on the other hand, confusedly includes + Syria and Palestine in Africa. + +Footnote 1387: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 759. + +Footnote 1388: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 18. + +Footnote 1389: + + _Etym._, XIV, 3. + +Footnote 1390: + + The delta figures on many maps: Jerome map of Palestine (Miller, + _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1896, p. 14), St. Sever Beatus (_ibid._, + reproduction accompanying vol. i, 1895; Fig. 2, p. 69, above), Turin + Beatus (_ibid._, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 8), Cotton (_ibid._, pl. 10), + Henry of Mayence (_ibid._, pl. 13; vol. iii, pl. 2), Psalter (_ibid._, + vol. iii, pls. 1 and 3). + +Footnote 1391: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 36. See also Gervase of Tilbury, _Otia imper._, + vol. ii, p. 759. See above, pp. 260–261. + +Footnote 1392: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, p. 14. Also shown on the Osma Beatus map + (_ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 3; vol. iii, p. 35; Fig. 4, p. 123, above). + +Footnote 1393: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 75–77. + +Footnote 1394: + + _Historia_, XIX, 27; in medieval French translation, XIX, 28 (Paulin + Paris’ edit., vol. ii, pp. 298–299). See also Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, + 1901, p. 32. + +Footnote 1395: + + Schaube, _Handelsgeschichte_, 1906, p. 146. + +Footnote 1396: + + _ibid._, p. 181. + +Footnote 1397: + + Matthew Paris, _Chron. maiora_, Rolls Series edit., vol. v, p. 217, + tells how “the indifferentist, Frederic II, nominal leader of a + Crusade, maintains so close a friendship with the Sultan of Egypt that + German merchants (it is said) were able to travel in the company of + Egyptians to the Indies” (Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, p. 461). + Heyd, _Commerce du Levant_, vol. ii, 1886, pp. 153–156, refers to a + Pisan claim to an expedition to India in 1175. This is very doubtful. + +Footnote 1398: + + _Historia_, XIX, 24, 27; in medieval French translation, XIX, 23, XIX, + 28 (Paulin Paris’ edit., vol. ii, pp. 288–289 and 298–299). See also + Dreesbach, _op. cit._, p. 29. + +Footnote 1399: + + _Historia_, XIX, 27; in medieval French translation, XIX, 28 (Paulin + Paris’ edit., vol. ii, 298–299). See also Dreesbach, _op. cit._, p. + 30. + +Footnote 1400: + + _Historia_, XIX, 28, XXI, 23; in medieval French translation, XIX, 29, + XXI, 21 (Paulin Paris’ edit., vol. ii, pp. 300 and 395). See also + Dreesbach, _op. cit._, p. 34. + +Footnote 1401: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 71–73. On the + flood of the Nile, see also above, pp. 206–207. + +Footnote 1402: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 32. + +Footnote 1403: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 13; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 2. + +Footnote 1404: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 33. + +Footnote 1405: + + Miller, _op. cit._, reproduction accompanying vol. i, 1895 (reduced in + Fig. 2, p. 69, above). + +Footnote 1406: + + _ibid._, vol. i, _passim_; vol. ii, pls. 2–9. + +Footnote 1407: + + _ibid._, vol. i, p. 56. + +Footnote 1408: + + Schaube, _Handelsgeschichte_, 1906, pp. 276–277. + +Footnote 1409: + + _ibid._, pp. 275–316. + +Footnote 1410: + + _ibid._, pp. 289–290. + +Footnote 1411: + + Mas-Latrie, _Traités de paix_, 1866, p. 70. + +Footnote 1412: + + _ibid._, pp. 71–72. + +Footnote 1413: + + _ibid._, pp. 10, 124–125; Léon Godard, _Les évêques de Maroc_, in: + Revue africaine, vol. ii, Algiers, 1857, pp. 124–130, 242–249, + 433–440; vol. iii, 1858, pp. 1–8; vol. iv, 1859, pp. 259–273, 332–346. + +Footnote 1414: + + R. B. Merriman, _The Rise of the Spanish Empire_, 2 vols., New York, + 1918, vol. i, pp. 303–304. + +Footnote 1415: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, p. 56. + +Footnote 1416: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, 1895, p. 42. + +Footnote 1417: + + For a discussion of trade routes westward from Egypt and Nubia across + the Sahara according to Benjamin of Tudela and Edrisi, see Paul + Borchardt, _Die grossen Ost-West Karawanenstrassen durch die Libysche + Wüste_, in Petermanns Mitteilungen, vol. lxx, Gotha, 1924, pp. + 219–223. + +Footnote 1418: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 13; vol. iii, 1895, pl. 2 and + p. 27. + +Footnote 1419: + + _ibid._, vol. i, 1895, p. 56. + +Footnote 1420: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, 1895, p. 14. + +Footnote 1421: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 759. + +Footnote 1422: + + _ibid._, p. 760. + +Footnote 1423: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 33. + +Footnote 1424: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. i, 1895, p. 56. + +Footnote 1425: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 1, vol. iii, 1895, pl. 3 + (Psalter); reproduction accompanying vol. v, 1896 (Ebstorf). + +Footnote 1426: + + Simar, _Afrique centrale_, 1912, pp. 15–23. + +Footnote 1427: + + _ibid._, p. 10. + +Footnote 1428: + + Langenmaier, _Alte Kenntnis_, 1916, p. 47. + +Footnote 1429: + + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1430: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 759. + +Footnote 1431: + + _Etym._, XIII, 21, 7. + +Footnote 1432: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 10. + +Footnote 1433: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, _passim_; vol. ii, 1895, pls. + 2–9. + +Footnote 1434: + + _ibid._, vol. i, reproduction accompanying the volume, and also p. 57. + +Footnote 1435: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 10; vol. iii, 1895, p. 34. + +Footnote 1436: + + _ibid._, vol. iii, pp. 14, 18. + +Footnote 1437: + + _ibid._, vol. ii, pl. 13; vol. iii, p. 27 and pl. 2. + +Footnote 1438: + + Simar, _op. cit._, pp. 157–158. + +Footnote 1439: + + Solinus, _Collectanea_, 18, 1; 23, 13; Isidore, _Etym._, XIII, 16, + (cited by Bunbury, _Ancient Geogr._, 1879, vol. ii, pp. 678–679). + +Footnote 1440: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 10, from Isidore, _Etym._, XIV, 4; _Otia imper._, + vol. i, p. 920. On the other hand, during our period the term “mare + mediterraneum” was not invariably applied to the sea between Africa + and Europe. Bernard Sylvester says (_De mundi univ._, pp. 34–35): + “Neve rerum tranquillitas violentis passionibus temptaretur, contra + fontem caloris solem quem linea medialis exportat, fontem humoris + mediterraneum mare medio telluris infudi.” “Nous,” or the + personification of Providence, is here speaking of the equatorial + ocean girdling the earth. The same expression, _mare mediterraneum_, + referring to the equatorial sea is used on the _mappaemundi_ + accompanying manuscripts of the _Liber floridus_ of Lambert of St. + Omer (Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iii, 1895, p. 50; see also Rainaud, + _Continent austral_, 1893, p. 162 and note 3). + +Footnote 1441: + + The term “Mediterranean Sea” in its present-day application is used on + the Hereford map (see Miller, _op. cit._, vol. iv, 1896, p. 23, and + reproduction accompanying vol. iv). The St. Sever Beatus map + represents the various parts of the sea by the following names: + “Tirrenum Mare,” “Mare Ligusticum,” “Mare Balearicum,” “Mare Libicum,” + “Mare Siculum,” “Mare Creticum,” “Mare Egeum,” “Sinus Adriaticus,” + “Sinum Noricum,” “Ellespontum,” “Eusinus Pontus” (_ibid._, vol. i, + 1895, pp. 60–61 and reproduction accompanying vol. i; names barely + legible on our Fig. 2, p. 69, above). The Jerome map of the East also + designates portions of the Mediterranean as “Issicum,” “Pamphilicum,” + “Ionicum” (_ibid._, vol. iii, 1895, p. 12 and pl. 1). See also the + discussion of the nomenclature of the Mediterranean and of the ocean + in Frahm, _Das Meer_, 1914, pp. 73–77. + +Footnote 1442: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 920. + +Footnote 1443: + + _De scientia stellarum_, Bologna edit., 1645, p. 25. + +Footnote 1444: + + [Benedict of Peterborough,] _Gesta regis Ricardi_, Rolls Series edit., + vol. ii, pp. 198–199; Roger of Hoveden, _Chron._, Rolls Series edit., + vol. iii, p. 51. + +Footnote 1445: + + The usual route from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the east, however, was + through the Strait of Messina. Burkhard, an official of Frederick + Barbarossa, tells us that during the war of 1162–1179 between the + Sicilians and Genoa, Genoese ships used to make their way to Egypt as + follows: through the strait between Corsica and Sardinia, thence past + the west coast of Sicily, Pantellaria, and Malta to the north coast of + Africa, “until they came in sight of the great stone lighthouse of + Alexandria by day or of its light by night” (Burkhard, in: _Mon. Germ. + hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxi, p. 236, cited by Schaube, + _Handelsgeschichte_, 1906, p. 153). + +Footnote 1446: + + This would represent rapid, though probably not excessively rapid, + sailing for the Middle Ages. The data which have come down to us on + the speed of medieval sea journeys are so varied that it is impossible + to determine a fair average. On the whole it is probable that better + time was made by the Scandinavian seafarers than by those of the + Mediterranean. A rate of fifty miles (English statute) a day was + perhaps about all that could have been expected in the Mediterranean + under ordinary circumstances, though on occasions one hundred to one + hundred and fifty miles or even more may have been accomplished. The + Icelanders, on the other hand, may well have covered as much as one + hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours. See below, p. 486, note + 440, and Ludwig, _Untersuchungen_, 1897, _passim_, especially pp. + 131–132, 185–186. + + To make the journey from Marseilles to Acre in fifteen days a rate of + rather more than one hundred and twenty miles a day would have to be + maintained throughout the entire passage. Schaube (_op. cit._, pp. + 153–154) brings together some interesting material on the speed of + journeys in the Mediterranean. “The duration of the voyages naturally + varied very much; we hear that it was reckoned from Messina or one of + the Apulian harbors an average of forty days to Accon (Acre); + obviously this would refer to a voyage in no way influenced by adverse + circumstances. For galleys a somewhat longer time was necessary. The + forty galleys of the Emperor Frederick II took in midsummer of 1228 + twenty-four days for the journey from Brindisi to Limassol in Cyprus + in the best of weather. Benjamin of Tudela assumed that the passage + from Messina to Egypt took twenty days. At a somewhat later date Peter + of Albeney went from Marseilles to Damietta in twenty-two days, though + the ambassador of Barbarossa, Burkhard, who left Genoa on the 6th of + September and followed the route by way of Pantellaria and Malta, took + more than twice this long, or forty-seven days to reach Alexandria.” + +Footnote 1447: + + [Benedict of Peterborough,] _Gesta regis Ricardi_, Rolls Series edit., + vol. ii, pp. 192–199; Roger of Hoveden, _Chron._, Rolls Series edit., + vol. iii, pp. 47–53. + +Footnote 1448: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, p. 56. + +Footnote 1449: + + _ibid._, reproduction accompanying vol. i, 1895 (our Fig. 2, p. 69, + above). + +Footnote 1450: + + _ibid._, vol. i, p. 35; vol. ii, 1895, pl. 3b (our Fig. 4, p. 123, + above). + +Footnote 1451: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 34–36; _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 920–923. + +Footnote 1452: + + [Benedict of Peterborough,] _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 198. + +Footnote 1453: + + Wattenbach, _Guido von Bazoches_, 1891 (under Guy of Bazoches in the + Bibliography), pp. 104–112. + +Footnote 1454: + + See above, pp. 221–222. + +Footnote 1455: + + Gaston Paris, _La Sicile_, 1876, pp. 108–113. + +Footnote 1456: + + “Mons ibi stat magnus qui dicitur esse Rolandus + Alter Oliverus simili ratione vocatus: + Haec monumenta truces consistere duces.” + —_Pantheon_, pars. 17, in Pistorius’ edit., 1726, p. 314. + + Gaston Paris argues (_op. cit._, p. 110) that place names of this + origin are still to be found in Sicily. + +Footnote 1457: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 921. On this legend see Graf, _Miti, + leggende_, vol. ii, 1893, pp. 303–325. + +Footnote 1458: + + Gaston Paris, _op. cit._, p. 112. + +Footnote 1459: + + See above, p. 221–222. + +Footnote 1460: + + Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 202, 207, 210–212. + +Footnote 1461: + + Conrad of Querfurt’s letter, in: Arnold of Lübeck, _Chron. Slavorum_, + V, 19. + +Footnote 1462: + + _Estoire de la guerre sainte_, verses 510–558, in: Gaston Paris’ + edit., cols. 14–16. See Gaston Paris, _La Sicile_, 1876, p. 111. + +Footnote 1463: + + See above, pp. 220–222 and p. 449, note 52. + +Footnote 1464: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 22 (from Isidore, _Etym._, XIV, 8) mentions the + Rhipaean range. See Benl, _Frühere und spätere Hypothesen_, 1905, pp. + 10–12. This doctrine may perhaps be traced back to Babylonian + geography, according to which the high mountains at the headwaters of + the Tigris and Euphrates were thought to bound the earth on the north. + See Lutz, _Geographical Studies_, 1924, pp. 167–168. + +Footnote 1465: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 763. + +Footnote 1466: + + See, on Grosseteste, above, pp. 179–180. Roger Bacon’s argument occurs + in his _Opus majus_, Bridges’ edit., vol. i, 1897, p. 359. + +Footnote 1467: + + Theodosia was on the coast of the Crimea, not far from the Strait of + Azov (the Cimmerian Bosporus), which might well have been spoken of as + the mouth of the Tanaïs, or Don. + +Footnote 1468: + + See above, p. 75. + +Footnote 1469: + + Nansen, _Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. ii, pp. 139–140. Adam of Bremen + in the eleventh century wrote (_Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 13) + of Russia as the last and largest province of the Wends, whose + territory bounded the Baltic Sea on the east. He mentioned Ostrogard + as an important Russian trading city in his time, situated on the + Baltic (_ibid._, II, 19; IV, 11); Chive, or Kiev, as the principal + city of Russia (_ibid._, II, 19), a rival to Constantinople and an + honor to “Graecia”—the lands of the Greek church (Dietrich, _Geogr. + Anschauungen_, 1885, p. 103). See Tiander, _Poyezdki_, 1906, pp. + 47–48. + +Footnote 1470: + + Schaube, _Handelsgeschichte_, 1906, pp. 238–239. + +Footnote 1471: + + “... inter aquilonem et item orientem Pecenatorum et Falonum, maximam + venationum copiam habente, sed vomere ac rastro pene experte campania” + (_Gesta Frid._, I, 31). In _Chron._, VI, 10, Otto states that + “Pecenati et hii qui Falones dicuntur, crudis et immundis carnibus, + utpote equinis catinis, usque hodie vescuntur.” “Falones” was the + medieval German name for the Komans (see Hofmeister’s edition of the + _Chronicon_, p. 271, note 6). The eleventh-century chronicle of Nestor + of Kiev speaks of the Komans as eaters of raw flesh (Zeuss, _Die + Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme_, 1837, p. 744). On the Komans, + Petchenegs, and other tribes of the Russian plains in the Middle Ages, + see the exhaustive treatise of J. Marquart, _Über das Volkstum der + Komanen_, forming chapter 2 of W. Bang and J. Marquart, _Osttürkische + Dialektstudien_, in: Abhandlungen der königlichen Gesellschaft der + Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, vol. + xiii (N. S.), 1912–1914, pp. 25–238. + +Footnote 1472: + + Hoff’s edit., p. 52 (as cited by Dreesbach, _Der Orient_, 1901, pp. + 82–83). + +Footnote 1473: + + See above, pp. 267–268. + +Footnote 1474: + + _Gesta Frid._, III, 1. + +Footnote 1475: + + See above, pp. 330–331. + +Footnote 1476: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., p. 81. + +Footnote 1477: + + See above, p. 269. + +Footnote 1478: + + Petachia of Ratisbon, _Travels_, Benisch and Ainsworth’s transl., + 1856, pp. 3–5; Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 266–268. + +Footnote 1479: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, p. 764, from Orosius, _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1480: + + _Gesta Frid._, I, 32. + +Footnote 1481: + + Karl, _La Hongrie dans les chansons de geste_, 1908. + +Footnote 1482: + + _ibid._, pp. 20–21. + +Footnote 1483: + + _ibid._, p. 29. + +Footnote 1484: + + _ibid._, p. 36. + +Footnote 1485: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 25–27. + +Footnote 1486: + + _Otia imper._, vol. ii, pp. 764–766. + +Footnote 1487: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, p. 11 and pl. 1, vol. ii, 1895, + pl. 11. + +Footnote 1488: + + _Chron. Slav._, I, 3; IV, 9. + +Footnote 1489: + + Dietrich, _Geogr. Anschauungen_, 1885, p. 102, identifies this with + the modern Cuprija (Tsupriya). + +Footnote 1490: + + Heyd, _Commerce du Levant_, vol. i, 1885, pp. 243–244. + +Footnote 1491: + + _ibid._, p. 221. + +Footnote 1492: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., p. 12. + +Footnote 1493: + + Heyd, _op. cit._, vol. i, 1885, p. 295. A brief of Innocent III of + 1208 mentions the presence of Lombards, Danes, and English. + +Footnote 1494: + + Benjamin of Tudela, _Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 12–14. + +Footnote 1495: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 13. + +Footnote 1496: + + Benjamin of Tudela traversed the length of Italy on his way to the + Orient. He gives in his _Itinerary_ (Adler’s edit., pp. 5–10) some + details regarding the cities which he passed through. Genoa and Pisa, + he said were governed “neither by king nor prince but only by the + judges appointed by the citizens.” Each was noted for its “turreted + houses for battle in time of strife.” Rome was “the head of the + kingdoms of Christendom,” but Benjamin dismissed with brief phrase her + claims to glory as the seat of the Papacy. On the other hand, he wrote + in some detail of the Jewish inhabitants of Rome and more especially + of the ruins, among them “eighty palaces belonging to eighty kings who + lived there, each called Imperator, commencing with King + Tarquinius ... and ... ending with Pepin, who freed the land of + Sepharad [Spain] from Islam, and was father of Charlemagne.” The + Colosseum, the Catacombs, statues of Samson and of Constantine the + Great, and “many other edifices” and “remarkable sights beyond + enumeration” aroused the admiration of the Hebrew traveler. Farther + south he spoke of the great school of medicine at Salerno; of Amalfi, + “the inhabitants of which are merchants engaged in trade, who do not + sow or reap, because they dwell upon high hills and lofty crags, but + buy everything for money;” of Benevento; of Trani, with a convenient + port where pilgrims gather to take ship to Jerusalem; of Brindisi; + and, finally, of Otranto, whence one crosses to Corfu. + + Interesting details of a journey through Italy in the twelfth century + are also supplied in Abbot Nikulás’ _Itinerary_ (Werlauff, _Symbolae_, + 1821, pp. 29–35). + +Footnote 1497: + + For a brief discussion of various regional divisions of Italy + suggested by writers from the time of Augustus to that of Dante and of + Flavio Biondo (fifteenth century) see Andriani, _La carta + dialettologica_, 1923, and below, p. 484, note 418. + +Footnote 1498: + + On another source of wealth of Northern Italy, its auriferous rivers, + as listed in the _Honorantie civitatis papie_, a document of the + second half of the ninth century, see F. Landogna, _Su alcuni fiumi + auriferi nell’ alto medio evo_, in: Rivista geografica italiana, vol. + xxxi, Florence, 1924, pp. 77–86. + +Footnote 1499: + + _Denumeratio_, p. 45. + +Footnote 1500: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 13. + +Footnote 1501: + + _Ligurinus_, II, 131–143. + +Footnote 1502: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1503: + + See above, pp. 180–181. + +Footnote 1504: + + Gregorovius, _City of Rome_ (Hamilton’s translation), vol. iv, pt. II, + 1896, p. 655. Gregorovius comments on the decided preference given in + this book to the pagan as distinguished from the ecclesiastical city. + He also commends the work as being fairly accurate in its details. On + the interest in ruins that prevailed in our period, see Ganzenmüller, + _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 213–215. + +Footnote 1505: + + One of the sources which Master Gregory used was a booklet entitled + _De septem miraculis mundi_. The wonders as given in this booklet + were: (1) the Capitol at Rome; (2) the lighthouse at Alexandria; (3) + the Colossus of Rhodes; (4) the statue of Bellerophon at Smyrna; (5) + the theater at Heraclea; (6) the baths of Apollonius of Tyana; and (7) + the temple of Diana at Ephesus. All of these, except the last, were + included by Gregory in his account of Rome, though he did not believe + that all were actually situated in Rome (James, _Magister Gregorius_, + 1917, pp. 537–539). + +Footnote 1506: + + Conrad of Querfurt’s letter, in: Arnold of Lübeck, _Chron. Slav._, V, + 19. See also Ganzenmüller, _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 205–208. + +Footnote 1507: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 916. + +Footnote 1508: + + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1509: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 30. + +Footnote 1510: + + _Chron._, Rolls Series edit., vol. iii, p. 48. + +Footnote 1511: + + _ibid._, p. 176. + +Footnote 1512: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 13. + +Footnote 1513: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1514: + + Oehlmann, _Alpenpässe_, in: Jahrbuch, vol. iv, 1879, p. 304. + +Footnote 1515: + + _ibid._, in: Jahrbuch, vol. iii, 1878, p. 181. + +Footnote 1516: + + _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xvi, p. 340. + +Footnote 1517: + + Oehlmann, _op. cit._, in: Jahrbuch, vol. iii, 1878, p. 180. + +Footnote 1518: + + Schaube, _Handelsgeschichte_, 1906, pp. 334–338. The Great St. Bernard + Pass was the principal artery of trade between Northern Italy and the + fairs of Champagne. The Septimer Pass, now little used, was much + traveled in the Middle Ages and was a principal trade route between + Lombardy and southern and western Germany (Schaube, _op. cit._, p. + 450; Oehlmann, _op. cit._, in: Jahrbuch, vol. iv, 1879, pp. 305–323). + +Footnote 1519: + + Oehlmann, _op. cit._, in: Jahrbuch, vol. iii, 1878, pp. 226–227. + +Footnote 1520: + + See especially Abbot Nikulás’ description of the route over the Great + St. Bernard Pass (Werlauff, _Symbolae_, 1821, pp. 18–19). + +Footnote 1521: + + Oehlmann, _op. cit._, in: Jahrbuch, vol. iii, 1878, pp. 257–267. + +Footnote 1522: + + _ibid._, vol. iv, 1879, pp. 304–323. The medieval history of the + Alpine passes is discussed in detail by Oehlmann, _op. cit._; see + also, Reinhard, _Pässe und Strassen_, 1903; Schulte, _Geschichte_, + 1900; Scheffel, _Verkehrsgeschichte_, vol. ii, 1914, pp. 167–286. For + a more compact account of the Alpine passes in the Middle Ages and in + later times, see Coolidge, _The Alps_, 1908, pp. 150–198. + + It would seem that the passes of the Central Alps were relatively + little known in our period in comparison with those farther east and + west. The Simplon and St. Gotthard, now so important, were only just + beginning to be frequented. Other routes across the main ranges of the + Alps made use of in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries were + the Mont Genèvre and Little St. Bernard, leading from Italy into + France and French-speaking Switzerland; the Grimsel and possibly the + San Bernardino in the Central Alps; and farther east the + Reschen-Scheideck and the Pontebba. Shortly before the opening of our + period and during it many hospices were built to provide travelers + with shelter and hospitality on the passes and along the routes + leading to them. + +Footnote 1523: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 1, 24, 28. See also Dietrich, _Geogr. + Anschauungen_, 1885, p. 99; Marinelli, _Scritti minori_, vol. i, + [1908?], pp. 600–601. + +Footnote 1524: + + _Gesta Frid._, III, 15a; IV, 3. + +Footnote 1525: + + _ibid._, I, 8 (discussed in: Dietrich, _op. cit._, p. 99). Ragewin + used the term “Alemanni” to designate Germans in distinction from + “Italici” (_Gesta Frid._, III, 38). + +Footnote 1526: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 24, 25. + +Footnote 1527: + + Notably by J. A. Endres, _Honorius Augustodunensis: Beitrag zur + Geschichte des geistigen Lebens im 12. Jahrhundert_, Kempten and + Munich, 1906, sect. 12. See Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 30. + +Footnote 1528: + + See above, p. 281. + +Footnote 1529: + + See above, p. 239. + +Footnote 1530: + + _Gesta Frid._, II, 46. + +Footnote 1531: + + _Denumeratio_, pp. 49–50. For descriptive passages in Godfrey’s + _Pantheon_ on various parts of Germany and Holland, especially on the + regions of Nimwegen, Bamberg, and Würzburg, see _Mon. Germ. hist._, + Scriptores, vol. xxii, pp. 159–161, 240 (cited by Ganzenmüller, + _Naturgefühl_, 1914, p. 194). + +Footnote 1532: + + _Ligurinus_, I, 377. See also Gaston Paris, _Dissertation critique_, + 1872, pp. 85–86. + +Footnote 1533: + + Gunther (_Ligurinus_, _loc. cit._) also describes in detail the + frontier between the territory of Cologne and that of Mayence and + mentions other local details of this region. + +Footnote 1534: + + _Subtilitates_, II, 3–10. + +Footnote 1535: + + See above, pp. 185 and 201–202. + +Footnote 1536: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, I, 1–5. This is taken from Einhard’s + _Vita Caroli magni_ (Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, p. 533). Beazley, + _op. cit._, pp. 514–548, gives an excellent résumé of the geography of + Adam of Bremen. He asserts that Adam “possessed the geographical + instinct; almost every mention he makes of persons, places, or nations + is accompanied by some definition of their habitat or position” + (_ibid._, p. 516). + +Footnote 1537: + + Dietrich, _Geogr. Anschauungen_, 1885, p. 189. Adam gives, of course, + much fuller detail regarding this and other regions; we have merely + tried to bring out a few of his more important geographical ideas. + +Footnote 1538: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 4. + +Footnote 1539: + + _ibid._, pp. 4–5. + +Footnote 1540: + + “Iulinum, Iumne, Iomsburg, 935/60–1043 a fort of the Jom Vikings” + (Spruner-Menke, _Hand-Atlas für die Geschichte des Mittelalters und + der neueren Zeit_, 3rd edit., Gotha, 1880, pl. 37)—the site of the + present-day town of Wollin, according to some (Karl Baedeker, _Die + deutsche Ostseeküste: Handbuch für Reisende_, Leipzig, 1922, p. 122) + or of Swinemünde according to Dietrich, _op. cit._, p. 189, note 8. + +Footnote 1541: + + Dietrich, _loc. cit._ Helmold (_Chron. Slav._, I, 2) describes this + city, but by his time it had been destroyed by a Danish king. + +Footnote 1542: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 18; Helmold, _Chron. Slav._ I, 1. + See Dietrich, _op. cit._, p. 192. + +Footnote 1543: + + _Chron. Slav._, II, 216. + +Footnote 1544: + + Moritz, _Geogr. Kenntnis_, 1904, p. 26. + +Footnote 1545: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 10; IV, 15. In Adam of Bremen’s work + the designation “Baltic” probably appears for the first time. Adam + says it was so called “because it extends in the form of a belt + (baltei)” (Nansen, _Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. i, p. 185). + +Footnote 1546: + + Adam speaks of a bay trending northward at Birka (_Gesta Hammenb. + eccl. pont._, I, 62). See also Moritz, _op. cit._, p. 21. + +Footnote 1547: + + Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 186. See also Marinelli, _Scritti + minori_, vol. i, [1908?], pp. 301–302, esp. footnote 1 on p. 302. + +Footnote 1548: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 8. + +Footnote 1549: + + Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 516–520. For Adam of Bremen’s + conception of the geography of the North see the full treatment by + Björnbo, _Adam af Bremen_, 1909. Björnbo’s map showing his theory of + Adam’s geography is reproduced in Nansen, _Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. + i, p. 186. See also Tiander, _Poyezdki_, 1906, pp. 46–51, for a + Russian scholar’s identification of places mentioned by Adam. + +Footnote 1550: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 30. + +Footnote 1551: + + Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. i, pp. 203–232. + +Footnote 1552: + + _Gesta Danorum_, Praefacio, Holder’s edit., p. 8. + +Footnote 1553: + + _Historia Norweg._, I, Storm’s edit., p. 83. See also Nansen, _op. + cit._, p. 204. A ski-runner is represented on the Hereford map of the + thirteenth century (Miller, _Mappaemundi_, reproduction accompanying + vol. iv, 1896; see also Nansen, _ibid._, p. 157). + +Footnote 1554: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 31. + +Footnote 1555: + + Ragewin’s continuation of Otto of Freising, _Gesta Frid._, III, 1. + +Footnote 1556: + + _Ligurinus_, VI, 13–49. + +Footnote 1557: + + Traditions of cannibalism among the northern tribes of Europe and + Scythia were widespread in the ancient world and date back at least to + the time of Herodotus. Human sacrifice and cannibalism were + undoubtedly practiced by the early Scandinavians (Nansen, _Northern + Mists_, 1911, vol. 1, pp. 81, 148–149). + +Footnote 1558: + + _Chron._, VI, 30. + +Footnote 1559: + + Wattenbach, _Guido von Bazoches_, 1891 (under Guy of Bazoches in the + Bibliography), pp. 72–73. + +Footnote 1560: + + _Denumeratio_, pp. 47–48. + +Footnote 1561: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 914, 923. + +Footnote 1562: + + _ibid._, p. 914. + +Footnote 1563: + + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1564: + + _Etym._, XIV, 6, 38. + +Footnote 1565: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 914. + +Footnote 1566: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1567: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 29. + +Footnote 1568: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 922. + +Footnote 1569: + + See above, pp. 72–173 and 175. + +Footnote 1570: + + Benjamin of Tudela passed through the south of France. He gives a few + details (for the most part concerning the Jewish population) about + Narbonne, Béziers, Montpellier, Lunel, Posquières, Arles, and + Marseilles. Apparently he went by sea from Marseilles to Genoa + (_Itinerary_, Adler’s edit., pp. 2–5). + + William the Breton gives several striking descriptions of landscapes + in France in his _Philippis_. His descriptions of Château Gaillard, of + the vicinity of Tours, of Flanders, and of the region about Pontarlier + are cited and in part translated into German by Ganzenmüller, + _Naturgefühl_, 1914, pp. 196–197. + +Footnote 1571: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. i, 1895, p. 50 and reproduction + accompanying the volume (reduced in Fig. 2, p. 69, above). + +Footnote 1572: + + _Hist. adv. pag._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1573: + + _Hist. nat._, IV, 16. Pliny gives Agrippa as authority for these + figures. He states that the width of Britain is 300 miles, not 200 as + according to Orosius (_loc. cit._). + +Footnote 1574: + + Miller, _op. cit._, vol. ii, 1895, pl. 10; vol. iii, 1895, p. 33. + +Footnote 1575: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 31. + +Footnote 1576: + + _Otia imper._, vol. i, p. 916. Gervase quotes Orosius, _Hist. adv. + pag._, I, 2, 37, to the effect that Britain is 800 miles long by 200 + broad, but adds that “more recent authorities” give its length as + twenty days’ journeys and its breadth as ten days’ journeys. Elsewhere + (_Otia imper._, vol. i, pp. 936–938) Gervase copies extensively from + Geoffrey of Monmouth’s _Historia Britonum_, which contains a long + account of various supernatural marvels of Britain. + +Footnote 1577: + + _De laud. div. sap._, V, 789–880. + +Footnote 1578: + + _ibid._, III, 825–938. + +Footnote 1579: + + Giraldus Cambrensis, _Top. Hiber._, I, 1. + +Footnote 1580: + + _ibid._, I, 2. + +Footnote 1581: + + _ibid._, I, 3. + +Footnote 1582: + + See above, pp. 211–212. + +Footnote 1583: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 5. + +Footnote 1584: + + _ibid._, I, 6. + +Footnote 1585: + + _ibid._, I, 8. + +Footnote 1586: + + _ibid._, I, 9. + +Footnote 1587: + + _ibid._, III, 2. + +Footnote 1588: + + _ibid._, III, 10. + +Footnote 1589: + + _ibid._, III, 11–15. + +Footnote 1590: + + Giraldus Cambrensis, _Opera_, Rolls Series edit., vol. v, p. lxiii. + +Footnote 1591: + + _Top. Hiber._, I, 7. + +Footnote 1592: + + “Gratianus Lucius” (Dr. John Lynch), _Cambrensis eversus_, edited by + Matthew Kelly, 3 vols., Dublin, 1848–1851. This work, a violent attack + on Giraldus, was first published in 1662. Dr. Lynch believed that the + Welsh traveler had uttered a terrible calumny against the good name of + the Irish people and undertook to demolish practically everything he + had said. + +Footnote 1593: + + Kelly in his notes to the _Cambrensis eversus_, vol. i, 1848, pp. + 117–119, shows how it would have been possible for Giraldus to have + made this mistake. From near the Shannon Pot, or source of the River + Shannon, other streams flow northward toward Ballyshannon; from Lough + Clean (Allen), also very near the Shannon Pot, it is only four miles + to the headwaters of the River Bennet, which flows westward into Sligo + Bay. These facts might easily give an impression that the Shannon + itself branches at its source in two directions, one branch running + down towards Ballyshannon or the Bennet, and the other flowing to the + southwest. The imperfect drainage development of Ireland would make + such an impression seem natural. Lough Hoyle, for instance, is + actually drained by two outlets at opposite ends of the lake. + +Footnote 1594: + + _Desc. Kamb._, 6. + +Footnote 1595: + + _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1596: + + _ibid._, 17. + +Footnote 1597: + + See above, pp. 178–179, 197, 215, and 216. + +Footnote 1598: + + _Desc. Kamb._, 6. + +Footnote 1599: + + An unusual treatment of linguistic geography is found, subsequent to + our period, in the _De vulgari eloquentia_ of Dante. Whereas Isidore + of Seville on Biblical authority had divided the languages of the + world into three main groups, the Japhetic, Hamitic, and Semitic, + Dante recognized the fact that these groups are further divisible into + secondary groups each consisting of several kindred languages. He + believed that there were three original European tongues: Greek, + spoken in the southeast and in Asia Minor; a language spoken in the + southwest; and one spoken in the north and east. “Man being a most + unstable and variable animal,” these three original tongues became + altered “according to the distances in place and time” with the result + that certain “vulgar tongues” were formed. These tongues in turn + underwent variations in different localities; the resultant forms were + still further subdivided, until by Dante’s time there were in + existence in Italy alone more than a thousand local dialectic + peculiarities. See Mori, _La geogr._, 1922, pp. 289–292. + + Andriani, _La carta dialettologica_, 1923, discusses Dante’s study of + the local dialects of Italy as elaborated in the _De vulgari + eloquentia_. The poet divided the peninsula and Sardinia into fourteen + major dialectic regions. These correspond essentially with the + geographical regions established by Flavio Biondo in his _Italia + illustrata_ (fifteenth century). With the aid of the latter work + Andriani constructs a tentative dialectic map of Italy as Dante + probably would have conceived it. Modern research in the linguistic + geography of that country has served in general to confirm Dante’s + assertions on the subject. + +Footnote 1600: + + See Bibliography under William Fitzstephen. + +Footnote 1601: + + See above, p. 331–332. + +Footnote 1602: + + The preceding quotations from William Fitzstephen are taken from + Morley’s translation on pp. 22–26 of his edition of Stow’s _A Survay + of London ... 1598_, 1908. + +Footnote 1603: + + The quotations on the sports of the Londoners are from Stow’s + sixteenth-century translation in Morley’s edition of Stow, _op. cit._, + pp. 117–125. + +Footnote 1604: + + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 74–77. + +Footnote 1605: + + _ibid._, p. 75. + +Footnote 1606: + + See above, p. 335 and p. 483, notes 392 and 395. For these and other + legends quoted below, see Miller, _ibid._, pp. 75–82. + +Footnote 1607: + + “Pinlimon,” “Montes Chivieti,” “Mons Snaudun” (_ibid._, pp. 78, 79). + +Footnote 1608: + + “Regio montuosa et nemorosa, gentem incultam generans et pastoralem, + quia pars eius mariscus est et harundinetum” (_ibid._, p. 78). + +Footnote 1609: + + “Regia invia et aquosa.” “Patria palustris et invia, pecudibus et + pastoribus apta” (_ibid._). + +Footnote 1610: + + “Regio palustris, montuosa, nemorosa, invia, pastoribus accomoda, + incolas habet agiles, incultos et bellicosos” (_ibid._, p. 79). See + above, p. 233. + +Footnote 1611: + + “Sephe,” “Thanet,” “Vecta,” “V̄en̄.” (Alderney?), “Grenese” + (Guernsey), “Purland,” “Sulli,” “Lundeth,” “Engleseia insula,” “Man,” + “Tyren insula” (this may be either Tiree or the peninsula of Kintyre, + Miller, _ibid._, p. 75), “insula Columkilli” (Icolmkill, or Iona), + “Orkades Insule” (_ibid._, p. 75). + +Footnote 1612: + + _Top. Hiber._, II, 15. + +Footnote 1613: + + _ibid._, II, 11. + +Footnote 1614: + + _ibid._, II, 13. + +Footnote 1615: + + _ibid._, II, 17. + +Footnote 1616: + + C. H. Haskins, _The De Arte Venandi cum Avibus of the Emperor + Frederick II_, in: English Historical Review, vol. xxxvi, London, + 1921, p. 346, note 8; idem, _Studies_, 1924, p. 316, note 104. + “Gallandia” here may mean Greenland, although in Ordericus Vitalis + (_Hist. eccles._, II, 5) “Gollanda” is probably Gotland (see below, p. + 487, note 455). Abu-l-Ḥasan, a Moslem geographer of the thirteenth + century, places the island of the white falcons to the west of + Denmark. “Its length from west to east is about seven days and its + breadth about four days.” He reports that white falcons are brought + from here for the Sultan of Egypt. He also speaks of a white bear in + these regions, which goes out into the sea and swims and catches fish + (Nansen, _Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. ii, pp. 208–209). + +Footnote 1617: + + _Íslendingabók_, 1, 2–3; translation from Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. i, + p. 254. The pre-Norse Christians in Iceland were Irish hermits, whose + visits to Thule or Iceland are described by Dicuil, _De mens. orb. + ter._, 7 (Letronne’s edit., p. 38). See also (_ibid._, pp. 165–166). + +Footnote 1618: + + _Hist. de antiq. reg. norwag._, 3, Storm’s edit., p. 8; translation + from Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 254. See above, p. 412, note 122. + +Footnote 1619: + + _Hist. Norweg._, I, Storm’s edit., p. 92; translation from Nansen, + _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 255. + +Footnote 1620: + + Translation from Nansen, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1621: + + On Norse settlements and voyages on the coasts of Greenland, see + Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. i, pp. 258–311. The _Landnámabók_, I (transl. + in Vigfusson and York Powell, _Orig. Island._, vol. i, 1905, pp. + 14–15) gives the distances in days’ sailing from points on the coast + of Iceland to points on the coasts of Norway, Greenland, Ireland, and + to “Svalbard” (possibly Spitsbergen; see above, p. 349). It was said + to have been a journey of seven _doegr_ from Cape Stat in Norway to + Cape Horn on the east coast of Iceland, of three (according to one + version of the _Landnámabók_) or of five (according to another + version) from Reykyanes to the Mare’s Leap in Ireland, of four _doegr_ + from the northeasternmost cape of Iceland to Svalbard, and of one + across to Greenland at what was probably the narrowest passage. These + figures are difficult to interpret. The relative times given in no way + correspond to the actual relative distances, and we are not absolutely + certain what is meant by _doegr_. In fact Nansen writes that it is + hopeless to look for any system in these data (_op. cit._, vol. ii, p. + 170). If we take _doegr_ to be a journey of twelve hours (as would + seem to be indicated by the _Heimskringla_, Morris and Magnússon’s + transl., vol. ii, p. 242; interpreted by Nansen, _op. cit._, pp. 170, + 171, and note) the passage from Norway to Iceland would require + sailing at a rate of 155 sea miles in twenty-four hours, not + altogether excessive under favorable conditions. On the other hand, + the passage from Iceland to Ireland and to Greenland would necessitate + a speed of either 475 or 385 sea miles in twenty-four hours + respectively, which would be excellent speed for a modern liner. See + Nansen, _loc. cit._, and E. Magnússon’s note on the sailing directions + of the _Landnámabók_ in: Transactions of the Cambridge Philological + Society, vol. i, for 1872–1880, London, 1881, pp. 316–318. + +Footnote 1622: + + _Konungs-Skuggsjá_, 16 (Brenner’s edit.), pp. 47–48; translation from + Nansen, _Northern Mists._, 1911, vol. i, pp. 279–280. + +Footnote 1623: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 39; translation from Nansen, _op. + cit._, vol. i, p. 195. + +Footnote 1624: + + _Gesta Danorum_, VIII, Holder’s edit., pp. 287–292. + +Footnote 1625: + + _Hist. Norweg._, I, Storm’s edit., pp. 75–76; translation from Nansen, + _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 167. + +Footnote 1626: + + _Hist. Norweg._, I, Storm’s edit., pp. 78–79; translation from Nansen, + _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 168. On the relation of this gulf with the + mythical Ginungagap (see above, p. 147) see Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. + ii, p. 239–240. + +Footnote 1627: + + _Landnámabók_, I, 1 (transl. in Vigfusson and York Powell, _Orig. + Island._, vol. i, 1905, p. 15.) See Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. + 166. + +Footnote 1628: + + Nansen, _loc. cit._ + +Footnote 1629: + + It is of course not certain that Spitsbergen is meant by the + “Svalbard” of the _Icelandic Annals_. See the discussion in Nansen, + _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 166–171. + +Footnote 1630: + + Reeves, _Wineland_, 1890, p. 10. + +Footnote 1631: + + _ibid._, p. 81. + +Footnote 1632: + + English translation of these in Reeves, _op. cit._, pp. 28–52, 64–78. + +Footnote 1633: + + See above, p. 405, note 90. This part of the geographical description + is probably not the work of Abbot Nikulás Bergsson. See Nansen, _In + Northern Mists_, 1911, vol. i, p. 313. + +Footnote 1634: + + Nikulás Bergsson’s geographical description of the world, in: + Werlauff, _Symbolae_, 1821, p. 14. + +Footnote 1635: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 38; translation from Reeves, _op. + cit._, p. 92. + +Footnote 1636: + + “Orcades insulae et Finlanda. Islanda quoque et Grenlanda, ultra quam + ad Septentrionem terra non reperitur, aliaeque plures usque in + Gollandam regi Noricorum subjiciuntur, et de toto orbe divitiae + navigio illuc advehuntur” (_Hist. eccles._, pt. III, bk. X, 5, in: + Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxxviii, col. 727). “Finlanda” here refers + to Wineland (Rafn, _Antiq. americanae_, 1837, p. 337). + +Footnote 1637: + + See Rafn, _op. cit._, p. 338, note g; Lappenberg, in his edition of + Adam of Bremen in _Scriptores rerum germ._, Hanover, 1876, p. xvii, + maintained that this was a later interpolation made by Adam himself. + See Nansen, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 195; vol. ii, pp. 147–155. + +Footnote 1638: + + _Gesta Hammenb. eccl. pont._, IV, 38; translation from Reeves, _op. + cit._ pp. 92–93. + +Footnote 1639: + + _De imag. mundi_, I, 36. + +Footnote 1640: + + E. Renan, _Essais de morale et de critique_, 3rd edit., Paris, 1868, + p. 445, quoted by F. Michel, _Les voyages merveilleux de St. Brandan_, + Paris, 1878, p. vii. + +Footnote 1641: + + Schröder, _Sanct Brandan_, 1871 (under Brandan in the Bibliography), + p. vi. + +Footnote 1642: + + This résumé of the voyages of St. Brandan in the present text was made + from the Latin text of the _Peregrinatio_ given by Schröder, _op. + cit._, pp. 3–36. Reference has already been made to various aspects of + the voyages; see above, pp. 197–198, 224–225, 230–231. + +Footnote 1643: + + _De mensura orbis terrae_, 7 (Letronne’s edit., p. 40). + +Footnote 1644: + + The _Peregrinatio_ (Schröder, _op. cit._, p. 32) describes Paul’s + islet as being as long as it was broad and of equal height. This + suggests the lonely Rockall, some 280 miles west of the Outer + Hebrides. See J. B. Charcot, _Les croisières du “Pourquoi pas?” en + 1921_, in: La Géographie, vol. xxxvi, Paris, 1922, pp. 475–476. + + + + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + + + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Those who wish to carry out detailed investigations of the various +topics discussed in the present volume will find in the Notes and +Bibliography references to the original sources and to secondary works. +Owing, however, to the scattered nature of the references in the Notes +and to the alphabetical arrangement of the Bibliography it is impossible +from them alone to gain a rapid introduction to the outstanding +publications on the subject. To supply such an introduction is the +purpose of the following note. + +Titles are not as a rule here cited in full, and the reader should +therefore turn to the Bibliography for the full titles, for indications +of the place and manner of publication, and for other bibliographical +details. The relatively few titles of publications mentioned here only +are given in full and are followed by the words “(not in Bibliography).” + + + BIBLIOGRAPHIES + +The study of the geographical lore of the Middle Ages has been +approached by scholars from many different points of view. This is +reflected in the character of the bibliographies dealing specifically or +incidentally with this field. We may group these bibliographies +arbitrarily into three classes: (a) historical bibliographies; (b) +geographical bibliographies; (c) bibliographies devoted to the history +of science. + + + Historical Bibliographies + +Among the historical bibliographies mention should first be made of +Chevalier’s _Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen +âge_, 1894–1907. Two volumes of this work, with the subtitle +_Bio-bibliographie_, list alphabetically a large number of personages of +importance in the Middle Ages. Brief biographical notes are given, +followed by extensive lists of references to publications by or in any +way relating to these personages. A great difficulty in using the +_Bio-bibliographie_ lies in the fact that no clues are given regarding +the type of publications to which reference is made. We are not told +whether these publications are printed texts of medieval works, +scholarly treatises, or merely passing and relatively unimportant +allusions. In a third volume of Chevalier’s _Répertoire_ (with the +subtitle _Topo-bibliographie_) the effort is made to list alphabetically +a multitude of topics relating to medieval history and life and, as in +the _Bio-bibliographie_, to give references to publications upon these +topics. Here again, owing to the lack of critical evaluation of the +references as well as to the somewhat arbitrary selection of the topical +headings, the work is of very uneven utility. + +Whereas Chevalier attempts to cover the entire range of medieval +civilization, the writings of the historians and chroniclers of the age +are dealt with in Potthast’s indispensable _Bibliotheca historica medii +aevi_, 1896. The main part of these volumes consists of an alphabetical +repertory of names and titles with references to manuscripts, editions, +translations, and secondary works explanatory of the sources. There are +also included highly useful synopses of the contents of the great +collections of medieval sources (see below, pp. 493–495) and an appendix +in which the titles of the original sources are given chronologically +within regional divisions. + +For a general guide to many of the more important books and articles on +medieval history, L. J. Paetow’s _Guide to the Study of Medieval History +for Students, Teachers, and Librarians_ (University of California +Syllabus Series, no. 90), Berkeley, Cal., 1917 (not in Bibliography), is +valuable. A large part of Paetow’s book is devoted to medieval culture. +Though by no means exhaustive, the _Guide_ is excellent for orienting +the student in an unfamiliar field. + +We refrain from mentioning other historical bibliographies of regions +and topics relating to the Middle Ages. References to many of these may +readily be found in the first chapter of Paetow’s _Guide_ and in the +various paragraphs entitled “Bibliographies” appended to the topical +sections of that publication. + + + Geographical Bibliographies + +The bibliography of ancient and medieval geography has been dealt with +at some length in the summaries of the progress of geographical research +that have appeared from time to time in the _Geographisches Jahrbuch_ +published by Justus Perthes, Gotha (not in Bibliography), which since +1880 has been edited by Professor Hermann Wagner of Göttingen. The +ancient period has been covered by Professor Eugen Oberhummer in vols. +xix (1896), xxii (1899), xxviii (1905), and xxxiv (1911); the medieval +by Professors Sophus Ruge and Walther Ruge in vols. xviii (1895), xx +(1897), xxiii (1900), xxvi (1903), and xxx (1907). These reports are +running commentaries on the progress of current investigation, with +references to the literature in the footnotes. + +A section on the history of geography, with occasional references to +publications in the medieval field, has appeared regularly in the +_Bibliographie géographique annuelle_ (not in Bibliography) of the +periodical Annales de Géographie, published by Armand Colin, Paris, +1893–1914, and in its continuation, _Bibliographie géographique +1915–1919, 1920–1921, 1922_ (not in Bibliography), published under the +auspices of the Association de Géographes Français. References to +secondary works in medieval geography are also given in the annual +volumes of _Bibliotheca Geographica_ (not in Bibliography), published by +the Gesellschaft für Erdkunde Berlin, and covering 1891 to 1912. + + + Bibliographies of the History of Science + +References to publications on medieval geography as a part of the +history of science may be found in the critical bibliographies that have +been included since its inception in 1913 in each number of the +periodical Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science +and Civilization, Brussels. + + + DICTIONARIES + +Research in the field covered by the present volume requires a working +knowledge of medieval Latin, the language in which most of the original +sources were written. Medieval Latin is not difficult—except in +occasional passages—for one who has some knowledge of classical Latin. +The great dictionary of C. D. Du Cange, _Glossarium ad scriptores mediae +et infimae latinitatis_ (not in Bibliography), first published at Paris +in 1678 and subsequently in other editions (the latest at Niort, +1883–1887), is indispensable. For medieval French, consult F. E. +Godefroy, _Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française_, 10 vols., +Paris, 1881–1902 (not in Bibliography). + + + MANUSCRIPTS + +Many of the works of medieval authors have never been printed. They can +be consulted only in the collections of manuscripts of the libraries of +Europe and, to a limited extent, of America. While research in +manuscripts is not absolutely essential for a general study like the +present, no detailed research can very well be conducted without direct +recourse to unprinted documents. + +The use of medieval manuscripts is an art in itself, requiring some +familiarity with paleography. The handwritings of the twelfth and +thirteenth centuries, however, are frequently not difficult to decipher. +On this subject consult: E. M. Thompson, _An Introduction to Greek and +Latin Palaeography_, Oxford, 1912 (not in Bibliography), and, for +abbreviations commonly used in manuscripts, A. Cappelli, _Lexicon +abbreviaturarum ...: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane ..._, +Milan, 1899, 2nd edit., Milan, 1912 (not in Bibliography). + +A list of catalogues of collections of manuscripts will be found in a +publication of the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris: _Collection +alphabétique des livres imprimés mis à la disposition des lecteurs dans +la salle de travail, suivi de la liste des catalogues usuels du +département des manuscrits_, Paris, 1910 (not in Bibliography). Useful +references to manuscripts of some of the writings on geography and +natural science of the Middle Ages are included in Beazley, _Dawn of +Modern Geography_, 1897–1906, in Thorndike, _History of Magic and +Experimental Science_, 1923, and in Haskins, _Studies in the History of +Mediaeval Science_, 1924. References to manuscript maps will be found in +Miller, _Mappaemundi_, 1895–1898. + + + COLLECTIONS OF ORIGINAL SOURCES + +The great printed collections of historical sources dealing with the +Middle Ages are discussed in Paetow’s _Guide_ (see above, p. 492) and +analyzed in Potthast’s _Bibliotheca_ (see above, p. 491). In the +Bibliography of the present volume reference is made to printed texts of +individual works. It will therefore not be necessary here to do more +than indicate the titles of a few of the collections most important from +the point of view of medieval geography. + +The _Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum_, 1866 ff., is a +collection of critically edited texts of the writings of the Latin +Church Fathers. Migne, _Patrologiae cursus completus ... series latina_ +(referred to in the Notes as _Pat. lat._), 1844–1864, contains texts, +for the most part uncritical, not only of the writings of the Church +Fathers but also of a vast assemblage of works bearing directly or +indirectly on the medieval Church. + +In nearly all the nations of Europe the publication has been carried +through or is in progress of great collections of sources dealing with +the national history during the Middle Ages. To mention briefly a few of +these, we may refer first to the _Rerum britannicarum medii aevi +scriptores_, 1858–1891, usually known as the “Rolls Series.” This series +includes not only the works of the historians and chroniclers of Britain +of the Middle Ages but also those of many British writers on matters of +geography and natural science. The _Monumenta Germaniae historica_, +1826–1874 and 1876 ff., contains in its magnificent volumes documents +relating to all aspects of the history and life of the medieval Germans +and incidentally of Europe as a whole. Many of the texts of the +_Monumenta_ have been more critically edited in the _Scriptores rerum +germanicarum in usum scholarum ex Monumentis Germaniae historicis +recusi_, 1840 ff. For France there are the _Rerum gallicarum et +francicarum scriptores_, or _Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la +France_, Paris, 1738–1904 (not in Bibliography), and the publications of +the Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1835 ff. (not in +Bibliography); for the Crusades the most important collection is the +_Recueil des historiens des croisades_, 14 vols., Paris, 1841–1898 (not +in Bibliography). + +Collections dealing more especially with texts of geographical +importance are, for ancient geography, Müller’s _Geographi graeci +minores_, 1882, and Riese’s _Geographi latini minores_, 1878. +Itineraries to and descriptions of the Holy Land will be found in +Tobler, _Descriptiones terrae sanctae_, 1874, Tobler, _Itinera ... saec. +iv-xi_, 1877, Michelant and Reynaud, _Itinéraires à Jerusalem_, 1882, +and Tobler, Molinier, and Kohler, _Itinera ... bellis sacris anteriora_, +1880–1885. English translations of certain medieval travels in Palestine +will be found in Thomas Wright, _Early Travels in Palestine_, 1848, and +in the _Library_ of the Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, 1885–1897. +Texts and English translations for the early exploration of Iceland will +be found in Vigfusson and Yorke Powell, _Origines islandicae_, 1905. +Documents relating to the Norse discovery of America are included in +Rafn, _Antiquitates americanae_, 1837–1841; and Reeves, _The Finding of +Wineland the Good_, 1890, gives English translations of the Vineland +voyages. On the texts of the great Asiatic voyages of the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries, which do not fall within the scope of the present +volume, see above, pp. 269–270, and p. 465, notes 70, 71, 74, 75. + +The primary collection of facsimiles of medieval maps prior to the +appearance of the portolan charts is Miller, _Mappaemundi_, 1895–1898; +critical texts with references to manuscripts and discussions are here +given. Reproductions of early medieval maps are also given in the +atlases to Santarem, _Essai sur l’histoire de la cosmographie et de la +cartographie_, 1849–1852, and to Lelewel, _Géographie du moyen âge_, +1852–1857. + +A selection of medieval texts dealing with meteorology will be found in +Hellmann, _Denkmäler mittelalterlicher Meteorologie_, 1904. + + + SECONDARY WORKS + +We may divide our treatment of secondary works into two parts: first, a +discussion of publications dealing with the broader background of +medieval life and thus, incidentally, with the geographical lore of the +period; second, a discussion of publications dealing directly with the +geographical and related lore of antiquity and the Middle Ages or with +the enlargement of geographical knowledge. The titles of secondary works +relating to the specific writings or authors referred to in the present +volume may readily be found by using the cross-references in the +Bibliography. + + + Background of Medieval Intellectual Life + +In order not to expand our discussion beyond due measure, we shall +restrict ourselves in this section to mentioning a very few publications +the majority of which have been of direct service in the preparation of +the present volume. + +For a broad and brilliantly written treatment of medieval intellectual +activity in its many phases, we may refer to H. O. Taylor, _The +Mediaeval Mind: A History of the Development of Thought and Emotion in +the Middle Ages_, 2 vols., New York, 1911, revised edit., 1914 (not in +Bibliography). Haskins’ _Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science_, +1924, which appeared while the present volume was in press, is +fundamental for the history of science in Western Europe in the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries. Several of its chapters are revisions of +articles which had previously appeared, but other parts of the work are +entirely new contributions. The volume is based to a very large extent +upon hitherto unpublished sources; many critical and interesting +passages of Latin texts are published in it for the first time. Poole’s +_Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought and Learning_, 1920, +is a discussion of the work of a few selected exponents of typical modes +of medieval thought. The original work of the scholars of Chartres in +the Middle Ages is the subject of Clerval’s _Écoles de Chartres_, 1895. + +The Latin literature of the period as a whole is dealt with in Gröber, +_Übersicht über die lateinische Literatur von der Mitte des 6. +Jahrhunderts bis 1350_, 1888–1902, and medieval Latin literature prior +to the middle of the eleventh century is treated in greater detail in M. +Manitius, _Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters_, vol. +1, 1911. On the Latin poetry of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries +consult Francke, _Geschichte der lateinischen Schulpoesie_, 1879. For +the French literature of the age there is the important volume of Gaston +Paris, _La littérature française au moyen âge_, 1914, or the English +translation. + +Medieval philosophy is outlined in De Wulf, _Histoire de la philosophie +médiévale_, 1900, or the English translation. + +On the art of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as expressing the +thought of the time the student should read Mâle’s two volumes, _L’art +religieux du xii^e siècle_, 1922, and _L’art religieux du xiii^e +siècle_, 1910, or the English translation of the volume dealing with the +thirteenth century. + +An old but highly suggestive treatise on the natural science of the +early twelfth century is that of C. B. Jourdain, _Dissertation sur +l’état de la philosophie naturelle_, 1838. Natural science, magic, and +legendary lore of the first thirteen centuries of the Christian era form +the topics of Thorndike’s learned _History of Magic and Experimental +Science_, 1923. Some of these subjects as they were embodied in medieval +French encyclopedias compiled for the use of the layman are illustrated +in C. V. Langlois, _La connaissance de la nature_, 1911. Legendary lore +more especially is the theme of Denis’ little _Monde enchanté_, 1843, of +Berger de Xivrey’s _Traditions tératologiques_, 1836, and, more +recently, of Graf’s _Miti, leggende e superstizioni_, 1892–1893. + +The relation between theology and natural science in the Middle Ages has +been a matter of controversy. From a point of view relatively favorable +to medieval science the subject was discussed by Zöckler, _Geschichte +der Beziehungen zwischen Theologie und Naturwissenschaft_, vol. i, 1877; +from a more critical point of view, by Draper, _Conflict Between +Religion and Science_, 1875, and in White’s scholarly _Warfare of +Science with Theology_, 1895. + +The influence of classical scholarship upon medieval thought was potent. +This topic as a whole is dealt with in much detail in Sandys’ monumental +_History of Classical Scholarship_, 3rd edit., vol. i, 1921. On the use +of classical works in the Middle Ages see also the two monographs of M. +Manitius, _Beiträge zur Geschichte der römischen Prosaiker_, 1890, and +_Philologisches aus alten Bibliothekskatalogen_, 1892. In regard to +medieval Latin translations from the Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew, the +formerly authoritative treatises of Amable Jourdain, _Recherches +critiques_, 1843, and Wüstenfeld, _Übersetzungen arabischer Werke_, +1877, have to a large extent been superseded by the researches of +Steinschneider (_Hebräische Übersetzungen_, 1893; _Europäische +Übersetzungen_, 1905–1906), Mandonnet (_Siger de Brabant_, 1908, 1911), +Grabmann (_Forschungen über die lateinischen Aristotelesübersetzungen_, +1916), Haskins (_Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science_, 1924), +and others (see above, pp. 95–102, and notes 32–70 on pp. 398–403). + + + The Geographical Lore of Antiquity and of the Middle Ages + +The publications dealing with ancient and medieval geographical lore may +be divided into three groups: those devoted to (a) the history of +geography as a whole; (b) the history of geography in particular +periods; (c) the history of particular aspects of geography. + + + _The History of Geography as a Whole_ + +With the exception of a few brief popular works, the writer knows of +only three general histories of geography in which the attempt is made +to cover the entire field. These are Louis Vivien de St. Martin, +_Histoire de la géographie et des découvertes géographiques depuis les +temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours_, with atlas, Paris, 1873 (not +in Bibliography); Peschel, _Geschichte der Erdkunde_, 1877; and Günther, +_Geschichte der Erdkunde_, 1904. The first is concerned primarily with +explorations and the expansion of regional knowledge; in its pages the +medieval period receives but scant attention. Peschel aimed to cover +both exploration and scientific geography, and his work, though old, is +of great value: scholarly, well balanced, and clearly written. Whereas +Peschel stopped with the early nineteenth century, Günther carries the +record through that century; his book contains a wealth of detail and of +useful bibliographical notes. + + + _The History of Geography in Particular Periods_ + +1. _Ancient Geography._ Bunbury’s _History of Ancient Geography_, 1879, +remains to the present day the only work of large scope on Greek and +Latin geography as a whole. Tozer’s delightful _History of Ancient +Geography_, 1897, is a good introduction to the subject but is +inadequate for detailed research. A scholarly treatment of the +scientific geography of the Greeks is Berger’s _Geschichte der +wissenschaftlichen Erdkunde der Griechen_, 1903. The most extensive +recent treatment of classical geography as a whole, with numerous +references, is Gisinger’s article “Geographie” in _Paulys +Real-Encyclopädie_, 1924. The evolution of those theories of ancient +geography which prepared the way toward the discovery of America is +admirably outlined in the now somewhat out of date but nevertheless +useful and stimulating chapter by Tillinghast, _Geographical Knowledge +of the Ancients in Relation to the Discovery of America_, in the first +volume of Winsor’s _Narrative and Critical History_, 1889. Alexander von +Humboldt in the first part of the _Examen critique de l’histoire de la +géographie du nouveau continent et des progrès de l’astronomie nautique +aux quinzième et seizième siècles_, Paris, 1st edit., 1814–1834 (not in +Bibliography), probed deeply into the history of ancient geography. See +also C. B. Jourdain, _De l’influence d’Aristote ... sur la découverte du +Nouveau-Monde_, 1861. + +2. _Medieval Geography._ Santarem’s _Essai sur l’histoire de la +cosmographie et de la cartographie_, 1849–1852, marks one of the +earliest attempts in modern times to open up the subject of medieval +geography. It consists of a mass of detailed notes on the regional +geographical theories of the cosmographers of the Middle Ages. Lelewel’s +_Géographie du moyen âge_, 1852–1857, is a work of erudition +exasperating in the confusion of its arrangement, the difficulty of its +style, and the untenability of many of its theories. Lelewel, however, +went beyond Santarem in his endeavor to take into consideration the work +of Arabic as well as of Occidental geographical authors. + +The most recent broad history of medieval geography is Beazley’s +important _Dawn of Modern Geography_, 1897–1906. These three volumes are +the result of long and arduous research and will probably remain for +many years to come on the whole the most satisfactory general treatment +of the subject. They cover the period from 300 to 1420 A. D. Attention +is given to the explorations and geographical science not only of the +Christians but also of the Arabs and Chinese (the two latter subjects, +however, having been studied through translations and secondary works +only). Throughout, especial stress is laid upon the record of travel and +exploration and upon the historical events that led to the acquisition +of geographical information by travel and exploration. In the first two +volumes, on the period until 1260, extensive chapters are devoted to +“Geographical Theory,” but in the third, covering 1260 to 1420, only 29 +out of a total of 541 pages are given to geographical theory, and the +chapter on geographical theory of the period from 900 to 1260 in the +second volume barely touches upon the various topics discussed in +Chapters V to X of the present book. To illustrate the theoretical +“earth-knowledge” of the “Central Middle Age period” Beazley discusses +three examples only, the work of Constantine Porphyrogenetos, that of +Adam of Bremen, and the chief maps of the age. There is either the +briefest passing mention or else no reference whatever to the writings +of the highly characteristic authors the study of whose geographical +opinions is the main purpose of the present volume—such writers as Peter +Abelard, Peter Comestor, Hildegard of Bingen, Bernard and Theodoric of +Chartres, Adelard of Bath, William of Conches, Gerard of Cremona, +Michael Scot, Robert Grosseteste, Gervase of Tilbury, Otto of Freising, +Gunther of Pairis, Giraldus Cambrensis, Saxo Grammaticus, Guy of +Bazoches, and the various translators from the Arabic. Furthermore, +Beazley makes no attempt to give a systematic analysis of the various +elements that constituted the geographical lore of the scholar or +educated reader of Western Europe in the age of the Crusades. + +A scholarly account of the geography of the Church Fathers is Marinelli, +_La geografia e i padri della chiesa_, 1882 (also translated into +German). Very full references are here given in footnotes. + +On the geography of the Moslems of the Middle Ages the first volume of +Reinaud’s _Géographie d’Aboulféda_, 1848, though now more than seventy +years old, is still, to our knowledge, the only thoroughly scholarly +work covering the whole field in detail. More recent, but much briefer +treatments are those of Baron Carra de Vaux in the second volume of his +_Penseurs de l’Islam_, 1921, and of Carl Schoy in various articles +(cited in the Bibliography under his name), especially the article in +the Geographical Review, 1924. + + + _The History of Particular Aspects of Geography_ + +1. _Cosmogony and Cosmology._ Duhem’s great _Système du monde_, +1913–1917, is now the fundamental history of the evolution of +cosmological doctrines from the time of Plato to the fourteenth century. +To it the writer owes, to a large extent, his guidance to the original +sources as well as much of the material which he has necessarily +accepted at second hand in those parts of the present book which deal +with the origins and the larger relations of the earth to the remainder +of the universe. For the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Werner’s two +monographs, _Die Kosmologie ... Wilhelm von Conches_, 1873, and _Die +Kosmologie ... des Roger Baco_, 1879, are important. On the development +of Christian theories of the Creation one should also consult Zöckler, +_Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen Theologie und Naturwissenschaft_, +1877–1879, and Robbins, _Hexaemeral Literature_, 1912. See also A. C. +McGiffert, _The God of the Early Christians_, New York, 1924 (not in +Bibliography), for the theologians’ view of the Creation in the early +centuries of our era. An interesting monograph on the ancient theory of +the periodic destruction and rebirth of the universe is that of Günther, +_Die antike Apokatastasis_, 1916. + +2. _Larger problems of terrestrial geography._ These problems are dealt +with by Kretschmer in the monograph discussed in the following +subsection (3). + +Several important studies have been written on the medieval beliefs +regarding the shape of the earth. Günther, in his _Studien zur +Geschichte der mathematischen und physikalischen Geographie_, 1877–1879, +treated the subject from the point of view shared by many Protestants; +Schneid, _Die Lehre von der Erdrundung_, 1877, replied to Günther from +the Catholic point of view. More recently the matter has been discussed +by Betten (see above, p. 384, note 48). Proofs of the curvature of the +earth adduced in antiquity and during the Middle Ages are the topic of a +monograph by Günther, _Optische Beweisung für die Erdkrümmung_, 1920. + +On the Eratosthenic measurement of the size of the earth and its +subsequent influence the fundamental work is now the two volumes of +Thalamas, _Étude bibliographique de la géographie d’Ératosthène_, 1921, +and _La géographie d’Ératosthène_, 1921. Other interesting studies in +this field are those of Mori, _La misurazione eratostenica_, 1911, +Decourdemanche, _Note sur l’estimation de la longeur du degré +terrestre_, 1913, and Miller, _Die Erdmessung im Alterthum_, 1919. + +The problems of the antipodes and the austral continent are sketched +historically by Rainaud, _Le continent austral_, 1893; the antipodes +more particularly by Boffito, _La leggenda degli antipodi_, 1903. + +Three important discussions of the evolution of ancient and medieval +theories regarding the relative positions and extent of areas of land +and water on the earth’s surface and of the relations which obtain +between the spheres of land and of water are Günther, _Ältere und neuere +Hypothesen_ ..., forming part iii of his _Studien zur Geschichte der +mathematischen und physikalischen Geographie_, 1879; Boffito, _La +controversia dell’acqua e della terra prima e dopo di Dante_, forming +Memoria I of his _Intorno alla “Quaestio de aqua et terra,”_ 1902; and +Norlind, _Das Problem des gegenseitigen Verhältnisses von Land und +Wasser_, 1918. + +3. _Physical Geography._ An important monograph on the physical +geography of the Christian Middle Ages is Kretschmer, _Die physische +Erdkunde im christlichen Mittelalter_, 1889. After a discussion of the +sources—both Greek and Latin—Kretschmer takes up systematically the +problems of the size and shape of the earth, the question of the +antipodes, medieval theories of the divergent centers of the spheres of +earth and water, the compass, and the physical geography of the waters, +the atmosphere, and the lands. The topics dealt with are similar to +those treated in parts of Chapter VI and in Chapters VII, VIII, and IX +of the present volume. On the other hand, Kretschmer neglects the +interesting question of theories of the origin of the earth. In dealing +with physical geography he gives little attention to the writers of the +age of the Crusades. With the exception of William of Conches, he +neglects the same authors of that age whom Beazley neglects (see above, +p. 498). + +Several works on particular phases of ancient and medieval physical +geography deserve special mention. An elaborate study of the +meteorological lore of the Greeks is that of Gilbert, _Die +meteorologischen Theorien des griechischen Altertums_, 1907. A German +doctoral dissertation is devoted to the theories of the Church Fathers +in regard to meteorology: Hoffmann, _Die Anschauungen der Kirchenväter +über Meteorologie_, 1907 (see also Günther, _Notiz zur Geschichte der +Klimatologie_, 1887). Medieval wind-roses are discussed in Cusa, _Sulla +denominazione dei venti_, 1884; Revelli, _Una “rosa dei venti,”_ 1910; +and Bertolini, _L’orologio solare di Aquileia e la sistemazione della +rosa dei venti_, 1916. Dissertations by Frahm (_Das Meer und die +Seefahrt in der altfranzösischen Literatur_, 1914) and Koch (_Das Meer +in der mittelhochdeutschen Epik_, 1910) deal respectively with the sea +as depicted in old French literature and in the Middle High German epic. +The basic study of the history of theories of the tides in antiquity and +during the Middle Ages is Almagià, _La dottrina della marea_, 1905. +Material, pleasingly presented, on the history of geology, with, +incidentally, some interesting observations on medieval physical +geography, will be found in Geikie, _Founders of Geology_, 1905. +Medieval beliefs regarding the interior of the earth, volcanoes, and +earthquakes are outlined by Stegmann in a dissertation, _Die +Anschauungen ... über die endogenen Erscheinungen der Erde_, 1913. +Classical and medieval ideas of the arrangement of the mountains of the +earth’s surface form the subject of Benl’s dissertation, _Hypothesen +über die regelmässige Anordnung der Erdgebirge_, 1905. + +4. _Feeling for Nature._ The feeling for nature as expressed in the +Latin literature of antiquity is the topic of a delightful book by +Geikie, _The Love of Nature Among the Romans_, 1912. On the feeling for +nature in the medieval period we may refer to the works of Biese, _Die +Entwicklung des Naturgefühls_, 1892 (or the English translation), and of +Ganzenmüller, _Das Naturgefühl_, 1914. To the latter the writer is +especially indebted for numerous references to source material that +might otherwise have been overlooked. Interesting studies of early +mountain climbing are those of Gribble, _The Early Mountaineers_, 1899; +Günther, _Wissenschaftliche Bergbesteigungen_, 1896; and W. W. Hyde, +_The Development of the Appreciation of Mountain Scenery in Modern +Times_, in: Geographical Review, vol. iii, 1917, pp. 107–118 (not in +Bibliography), though none of these devotes a great deal of attention to +the period of the Crusades. + +5. _Astronomical Geography._ On the history of the invention and use of +methods of determining latitude, see Schoy, _Die geschichtliche +Entwicklung der Polhöhenbestimmung_, 1911; on longitudes, Schoy’s +_Längenbestimmung und Zentralmeridian_, 1915. See also the various +articles and monographs on Ptolemy cited in the cross-references under +Ptolemy in the Bibliography. Knowledge of latitudes and longitudes in +the Christian West in the Middle Ages is discussed by J. K. Wright, +_Notes on the Knowledge of Latitudes and Longitudes_, 1923. + +6. _Cartography._ The history of cartography is discussed in the works +mentioned in the sections on the history of geography as a whole and in +particular periods, pp. 497–498 above. To the cartography of the ancient +period as a whole are devoted two important recent publications: +Kubitschek’s article “Karten” in _Paulys Real-Encyclopädie_, 1919, and +Cebrian, _Geschichte der Kartographie_, 1923. The most complete single +study of the medieval cartography of the period with which we have to +deal is Miller, _Mappaemundi_, 1895–1898. Other publications which deal +incidentally but significantly with the cartography of the pre-portolan +period are the works of Pullé, Simar, and Langenmaier referred to in +subsection 7, immediately below. + +7. _Regional Geography._ The fundamental study of belief in the +Terrestrial Paradise is that of Coli, _Il paradiso terrestre_, 1897, +although the matter has also been discussed by Graf in his _La leggenda +del paradiso terrestre_, 1878, and in his _Miti, leggende e +superstizioni_, 1892–1893. + +The growth of medieval knowledge of Asia is traced in the introduction +to Yule, _Cathay and the Way Thither_, 1913–1916, and much important +material on this topic may be gleaned from the notes in the third +edition of Yule’s _Marco Polo_, 1903, and from Cordier’s _Ser Marco +Polo_, 1920. India as depicted on medieval maps is the subject of an +interesting treatise by Pullé, _La cartografia antica dell’India_, +1901–1905. Lowes, in _The Dry Sea_, 1905, deals with interesting +problems in the geography of Central Asia in the Middle Ages (see also +Pelliot, _Chrétiens d’Asie centrale et d’Extrême-Orient_, 1914). On the +history of commercial connections between the Near East and Europe +during our period, two highly important books are Heyd, _Commerce du +Levant_, 1885–1886 (reprinted 1923), and Schaube, _Handelsgeschichte der +romanischen Völker des Mittelmeergebiets_, 1906. Dreesbach, _Der Orient +in der altfranzösischen Kreuzzugsliteratur_, 1901, is a résumé of +notices relating to the Near East as they appear in French literature of +the Crusades. + +Two scholarly works deal with the widening of Western knowledge of +Central Africa in antiquity and during the Middle Ages. These are Simar, +_La géographie de l’Afrique centrale_, 1912, and Langenmaier, _Alte +Kenntnis ... der Zentralafrikanischen Seenregion_, 1916. Schaube’s +_Handelsgeschichte_ and Mas-Latrie, _Traités de paix et de commerce ..., +concernant les relations des Chrétiens avec les Arabes de l’Afrique +septentrionale_, 1866, are also important for the relations between +Europe and North Africa. + +Not much has been written in modern times upon the geography of Europe +as it was conceived in the period covered by the present book. Hungary +as it figures in the _chansons de geste_ is the subject of an article by +Karl, _La Hongrie ... dans les chansons de geste_, 1908, and there are +other monographs of limited scope, but no general discussion. The +progress of geographical knowledge of the North is outlined by Moritz, +_Die geographische Kenntnis von den Nord- und Ostseeküsten_, 1904; +Weinhold, _Die Polargegenden Europas_, 1871; and especially by Nansen, +_In Northern Mists_, 1911. The history of Icelandic geography (both of +historical geography and of geographical studies in Iceland) is treated +by Thoroddsen, _Geschichte der isländischen Geographie_, 1897. European +wanderings in the Atlantic and legends of fabulous islands in that ocean +have been made the subject of a large library of books and monographs. +We may mention here Westropp, _Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the +Atlantic_, 1912, and the recent volume of Babcock, _Legendary Islands of +the Atlantic_, 1922. + + + + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +This bibliography is intended merely as an aid to those who wish to +carry on further studies of the topics covered by this book. It is in no +sense complete. The publications listed are for the most part only those +to which reference is made in the Notes. Enough, but only enough, +additional information is given about each entry to enable the reader to +identify it. In the case of original sources the attempt has been made +to refer to modern critical editions, and only to manuscripts or early +printed editions where modern critical editions are lacking. More +complete bibliographical information may be obtained from the +publications discussed on pp. 491–493 above. + +The arrangement is alphabetical by authors and, in the case of anonymous +works, by the first important word in the titles. (Collections of +sources are in general placed under the editor’s name.) The names of +authors of original sources, or the titles in the case of anonymous +original sources or collections of sources, are given in capital +letters, the former in Roman, the latter in italic type. The names of +authors of modern, secondary studies are set in small letters in Roman +type. Different works by the same ancient, Arabic, or medieval author +are listed together in the same entry and are indicated by Roman +numerals. Different works by the same modern author are listed +separately and are arranged chronologically. + +Cross-references within the Bibliography are, as in the Notes, given in +abbreviated form. The full titles of the works referred to will be found +in the Bibliography in their proper places. + +For a topical discussion of the bibliography of ancient and medieval +geography, see the Bibliographical Note above. + + ABDIAS, PSEUDO-. _Abdiae, Babyloniae primi episcopi, ab apostolis + constituti, De historia certaminis apostolici libri X, Julio + Africano interprete._ Paris, 1551, 1560, 1566, etc. + + ABELARD, PETER. I. _Expositio in hexaemeron_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. clxxviii, cols. 731–784. II. _Sermones_, in: Migne, _op. + cit._, cols. 379–610. III. _Sic et non_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, + cols. 1329–1610. + + ABŪ-L-FIDĀ. _Géographie d’Aboulféda, traduite de l’arabe en français._ + Vol. i (Paris, 1848) of this work, by J. T. Reinaud, is a general + introduction to Moslem geography. Vol. ii, pt. 1 (Paris, 1848), + forms the first part of the French translation and is also by J. + T. Reinaud. Vol. ii, pt. 2 (Paris, 1883), contains the second part + of the translation and is by Stanislas Guyard. + + ABŪ MAʿSHAR (ALBUMASAR). _The Great Book of the Introduction._ This + was translated into Latin by Hermann the Dalmatian and by John of + Seville. The title of Hermann’s translation reads in the + manuscript _Liber introductorius in astrologiam_ (see Haskins, + _Studies_, 1924, p. 45); editions printed in Venice, 1489, 1495, + 1506, bear the title _Introductorium in astronomiam_ (see Duhem, + _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 174, note 6, and Haskins, _loc. + cit._) + + ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, APOCRYPHAL. _Acta apostolorum apocrypha_ ... + etc., edited by L. F. C. von Tischendorf, Leipzig, 1851. _Acta + apostolorum apocrypha post Constantinum Tischendorf denuo + ediderunt R. A. Lipsius et [A.] M. Bonnet_, Leipzig, 1891–1903. + Acts of Thomas in vol. ii, pt. 2, of this edition. English + translation by M. R. James, _The Apocryphal New Testament_, Oxford + University Press, 1924. + + ADAM OF BREMEN. _Gesta Hammenburgensis_ (or _Hammaburgensis_) + _ecclesiae pontificum_ (also called _Historia ecclesiastica_, or + _Bremensium praesulum historia_), edited by J. M. Lappenberg, in: + _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. vii, 1846, pp. 280–389, and + in: _Scriptores rerum germ. in usum scholarum_, Hanover, 1876. + + See Björnbo, A. A.; Kohlmann, P. W.; Krabbo, _Nordeuropa_, 1909. + + ADELARD OF BATH. I. _De eodem et diverso_, edited by Hans Willner, in: + Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters, vol. iv, + pt. I, Münster, 1903. II. _Quaestiones naturales._ There is no + modern edition of the text of this work. An English translation is + found in Gollancz, _Dodi ve-Nechdi_, 1920, pp. 87–161. The + references in the present work are to the chapters as numbered in + the Louvain incunabulum, ap. 1484, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris + (shelf-mark “Rés. R. 900”). In parentheses are given references to + the chapters as numbered in the twelfth-century manuscript, + Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds latin, no. 6415. For further + bibliographical references, see Haskins, _Adelard_, 1911, p. 493; + the same, _Studies_, 1924, p. 26. III. Translation of _Khorazmian + Tables_. In MSS. only. See Haskins, _loc. cit._; KHWĀRIZMĪ, Al-, + II. + + Adler, M. N. See BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. + + _ADVENTU, DE, PATRIARCHAE INDORUM AD URBEM SUB CALISTO PAPA II._ In: + Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, Erste Abhandlung, in: Abhandlungen, + vol. vii, 1879, pp. 837–843 (also numbered 11–17). + + AETHICUS OF ISTRIA. _Cosmographia Aethici Istrici_, edited by H. + Wuttke, Leipzig, 1854. + + AGRIPPA. Map of the world. See Detlefsen, D.; Lessert, C. P. de. + + Ainsworth, W. F. See PETACHIA OF RATISBON. + + ALAN OF LILLE. I. _De planctu naturae_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + ccx, cols. 430–482. English translation by D. M. Moffat, _The + Complaint of Nature by Alain of Lille_, New York, 1908. II. + _Anticlaudianus_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, cols. 482–576. + + Al-BATTĀNĪ, Al-FARGHĀNĪ, and other Arabic names beginning with the + article Al. See under first letter of main part of name. + + ALBERTUS MAGNUS (OF BOLLSTADT). _Opera omnia_, edited by Petrus Jammy, + 21 vols., Lyons, 1651. Also an edition by Augustus Borgnet, 38 + vols., Paris, 1890–1899 (not seen). + + For brief discussion of the geographical works, see above p. 406, + note 93. + + ALBUMASAR. See ABŪ MAʿSHAR. + + _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF._ I. _Pseudo-Callisthenes_, edited by + C. Müller and included in a volume with F. Dübner’s edition of + Arrian’s _Anabasis_ and _Indica_, Paris, 1846 (also 1877). II. + Julius Valerius, _Res gesta Alexandri Macedoniae II_, edited by B. + Kübler, Leipzig, 1888. III. _Epitoma Julii Valerii_, edited by J. + Zacher in his _Pseudo-Callisthenes: Forschungen zur Kritik und + Geschichte der ältesten Aufzeichnung der Alexandersage_, Halle, + 1867. See _De Julii Valerii epitoma oxoniense_, by G. G. Cillie + (Dissertation, University of Strasburg, 1905). IV. _Epistola ad + Aristotelem de mirabilibus Indiae_, edited by F. Pfister in his: + _Kleine Texte zum Alexanderroman_, Heidelberg, 1910. See also + Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. i, pp. 555–556, footnote 2. V. + _Historia de praeliis_ of Leo Archipresbyter. See Landgraf, G. VI. + _Iter ad Paradisum_, edited by J. Zacher, Regimonti (Königsberg), + 1859 (not seen). VII. The Romance in alexandrines: _Li romans + d’Alixandre par Lambert li Tors et Alexandre de Bernay_, edited by + Heinrich Michelant, in: Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins in + Stuttgart, vol. xiii, 1846; F. le Court de la Villethassetz and E. + Talbot, _Alexandriade ou chanson de geste d’Alexandre le Grand, de + Lambert le Court et Alexandre de Bernay_, Dinan, Huart, and Paris, + 1861. + + See Meyer, P. For further references to texts and secondary works + on Oriental versions see Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. i, pp. + 551–552. + + ALEXANDER NECKAM. See NECKAM, ALEXANDER. + + ALEXANDER III (Pope). See PRESTER JOHN, III. + + ALEXANDRE DE BERNAI. See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, VII. + + _ALEXANDRIADE._ See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, VII. + + ALFRAGANUS. See FARGHĀNĪ, Al-. + + ALFRED THE GREAT. See Geidel, H. + + ALFRED OF SARESHEL. I. _De motu cordis._ Extracts were published by C. + S. Barach in: Bibliotheca philosophorum mediae aetatis, vol. ii, + Innsbruck, 1878. II. _Liber de congelatis._ Baeumker, _Alfred von + Sareshel_, 1913, p. 27, note, states that this work was printed + under the title _Avicennae de congelatione et conglutinatione + lapidum_, in: _Theatrum chemicum, praecipuos selectorum auctorum + tractatus de chemiae et lapidis philosophici_ ... etc., vol. iv, + Argentorati (Strasburg), 1659, pp. 883–887 (not seen), and that it + was also printed in: _Gebri, régis Arabum ... summa perfectionis + Magisterii, in sua natura ... denique libri Investigationis + Magisterii et Testamenti eiusdem Gebri ac aurei Trium Verborum + libelli et Avicennae ... mineralium additione castigatissimi_, + “Gedani” (Danzig), 1682, pp. 245–253 (not seen). + + See Baeumker, C. + + Almagià, Roberto. _La dottrina della marea nell’antichità classica e + nel medio evo_, in: Memorie della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, + Classe di scienze fisiche, matematiche, e naturali, series 5, vol. + v, Rome, 1905, pp. 375–514. (Also printed separately.) + + The most authoritative study of the history of theories of the + tides in ancient and medieval times. + + ALPETRAGIUS. See BITRŪJĪ, Al-. + + ALPHONSI, PETER (PETRUS ANFUSI). _Dialogus cum Judeo._ Bibliothèque + Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 10722, fols. 3ff.; also in: + Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clvii, cols. 527–706. + + Amari, M. _Storia dei Musulmani di Sicilia_, 3 vols., Florence, + 1854–1872. + + Contains material on Edrisi and earlier Moslem geographers of + Sicily. + + AMBROISE. _L’Estoire de la guerre sainte: Histoire en vers de la + troisième croisade_, edited by Gaston Paris, Paris, 1897. + + ANAXIMANDER. See Heidel, W. A. + + Anderson, R. B. See SNORRI STURLUSON, II. + + Andriani, Giuseppe. _La carta dialettologica d’Italia secondo Dante_ + in: Atti dell’ VIII Congresso Geografico Italiano, vol. ii, + Florence, 1923, pp. 255–263. + + ANFUSI, PETRUS. See ALPHONSI, PETER. + + ANONYMOUS. See under initial letter of first important word of title. + + _ANTIQUITATES AMERICANAE._ See Rafn, C. C. + + ARI FRODHI. _Íslendingabók._ For editions see Hermannsson, _Bibl. + Icelandic Sagas_, 1908, pp. 56–59. English translation in: + Vigfusson and York Powell, _Origines Islandicae_, vol. i, 1905, + pp. 279–306. + + ARISTARCHUS OF SAMOS. See Heath, T. + + ARISTOTLE. _Aristoteles, graece (et latine, interpretibus variis), ex + recensione Imm. Bekkeri, edidit Academia Regia Borussica_, 5 + vols., Berlin, 1830–1870. This is the best general edition of the + Greek text of the works of Aristotle and is known as the Berlin + edition. It was reprinted with the title _Aristotelis opera, + graece, ex recensione Imm. Bekkeri, accedunt indices sylburgiani_, + 11 vols., Oxford, 1837. There is also the following useful edition + with Latin translations: _Aristotelis opera omnia, graece et + latine, cum indice nominum et rerum absolutissimo_, 5 vols., Paris + (Firmin-Didot), 1848–1886. An English translation is appearing + entitled: _The Works of Aristotle, Translated into English_, + Oxford (Clarendon Press), 1908ff.; in this the _De caelo_ + (translated by J. L. Stocks), 1922, _De generatione et + corruptione_ (translated by H. H. Joachim), 1922, the spurious _De + mundo_ (translated by E. S. Forster), 1914, and the + _Meteorologica_ (translated by E. W. Webster), 1923, have + appeared, together with other works of lesser geographical + interest. The best Greek text of the _Meteorology_ is that of F. + H. Fobes, _Aristotelis meteorologicorum libri quattuor_, + Cambridge, Mass., 1919. + + See also Duhem, _Du temps_, 1909; Endrös, A.; Fobes, F. H.; + Grabmann, M.; Hammer-Jensen, I.; Jourdain, A.; Jourdain, C. B., + _Infl. d’Aristote_, 1861; von Lippmann, E. O.; Lones, T. E.; + Mandonnet, P. + + ARNOLD OF CHARTRES. _De sex dierum operibus_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. clxxxix, cols. 1513–1570. + + ARNOLD OF LÜBECK. _Chronica Slavorum_, edited by J. M. Lappenberg, in: + _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxi, pp. 115–250, and in: + _Scriptores rerum germ. in usum scholarum_, Hanover, 1868. + + ARNOLD THE SAXON. Encyclopedic work published in part by Valentin + Rose, _Aristoteles de lapidibus und Arnoldus Saxo_, in: + Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum, vol. xviii (new series, vol. + vi), Berlin 1875, pp. 424–454. + + See Stange, E. + + Asher, A. See BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. + + ATHELHARD. See ADELARD OF BATH; KHWĀRIZMĪ, Al-, II. + + AUGUSTINE, Saint. Works in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vols. xxxii-xlvii. Also + in part in _Corpus script. eccl. lat._ + + AVERROËS. See IBN RUSHD. + + Avezac, [Armand] d’. _Coup d’oeuil historique sur la projection des + cartes de géographie_, in: Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de + Paris, series 5, vol. v, 1863, pp. 257–361, 438–485. (Also printed + separately, Paris, 1863.) + + Still the classical and probably the most satisfactory treatment + of the subject. + + AVICENNA (IBN SINĀ). See ALFRED OF SARESHEL, II; IBN SINĀ; and above, + p. 401, note 60. + + Babcock, W. H. _Saint Brendan’s Explorations and Islands_, in: + Geographical Review, vol. viii, New York, 1919, pp. 37–46. + + Babcock, W. H. _Legendary Islands of the Atlantic_ (American + Geographical Society Research Series, no. 8), New York, 1922. + + BACON, ROGER. I. _The Opus majus of Roger Bacon_, edited by J. H. + Bridges, 3 vols., Oxford, 1897–1900. II. _Opus minus_, _Opus + tertium_, _Compendium philosophiae_, edited by J. S. Brewer, in: + _Fr. Rogeri Bacon opera quaedam hactenus inedita_ (Rolls Series, + no. 15), London, 1859. III. _Communia naturalium_, edited by + Robert Steele, in: _Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconi_, fascs. + ii, iii, iv, Oxford, 1905, 1911, 1913. IV. _Secretum secretorum_, + edited by Robert Steele, _op. cit._, fasc. v, Oxford, 1920. + + See Bridges, J. H.; Little, A. G.; Steele, R.; Werner, _Kosm. + Roger Baco_, 1879. + + Baeumker, Clemens. _Die Stellung des Alfred von Sareshel (Alfredus + Anglicus) und seiner Schrift De motu cordis in der + Wissenschaft des beginnenden XIII. Jahrhunderts_, in: + Koeniglich-bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, + Sitzungsberichte, Philosophisch-philologische und historische + Klasse, Munich, 1913, Abhandlung 9. (Also published + separately, Munich, 1913.) + + Barthold, W. _Die geographische und historische Erforschung des + Orients mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der russischen Arbeiten_ + (Quellen und Forschungen zur Erd- und Kulturkunde herausgegeben + von R. Strube, vol. viii), Leipzig, 1913. + + Summary of the history of relations between Orient and Occident to + the nineteenth century. Extensive bibliographies. + + BARTHOLOMEW ANGLICUS. _De proprietatibus rerum._ There is no modern + edition. Translations of extracts will be found in: Robert Steele, + _Mediaeval Lore_, London, 1907. + + BATTĀNĪ, Al-. _Astronomy._ Arabic text with Latin translation and + commentary in C. A. Nallino, _Al-Battānī sive Albatenii opus + astronomicum_, in: Pubblicazioni del Reale Osservatorio di Brera + in Milano, no. xl, pts. 1–3, Milan, 1899–1907. + + See PLATO OF TIVOLI. + + Baur, L. _Der Einfluss des Robert Grosseteste auf die + wissenschaftliche Richtung des Roger Bacon_, in: Little, _Roger + Bacon Essays_, 1914, pp. 33–54. + + Beazley, C. R. _The Dawn of Modern Geography_, 3 vols., London, + 1897–1906. + + This, the most extensive and satisfactory work on medieval + geography as a whole, covers the period from 300 to 1420 A. D. The + main emphasis is laid upon the history of discovery and + exploration. The study of the geographical science of the latter + part of the Middle Ages is relatively brief (see above, p. 498). + + BEDE, The Venerable. I. _De natura rerum_, edited by J. A. Giles, _The + Complete Works of the Venerable Bede (Bedae opera quae supersunt + omnia)_, vol. vi, London, 1843, pp. 99–138. Also in Migne, _Pat. + lat._, vol. xc, cols. 187–278. II. _De temporum ratione_, edited + by Giles, _op. cit._, pp. 139–342. Also in Migne, _op. cit._, vol. + xc, cols. 293–578. III. _Hexaemeron, sive libri quatuor in + principium Genesis_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. xci, cols. 9–190. + + See above, p. 387, note 68. + + [BENEDICT OF PETERBOROUGH.] I. _Gesta regis Henrici II_; II. _Gesta + regis Ricardi_; both in: _The Chronicle of the Reigns of Henry II + and Richard I, A. D. 1169–1192_, edited by William Stubbs (Rolls + Series, no. 49), 2 vols., London, 1867. + + These two works have been erroneously ascribed to Benedict of + Peterborough. + + Benini, R. _Origine, sito, forma e dimensioni del Monte del Purgatorio + e dell’Inferno dantesco_, in: Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei + Lincei, Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, series + 5, vol. xxv, Rome, 1917, pp. 1015–1129. + + This important study of the cosmography of Dante came to the + present writer’s attention when this book was in press. + + Benisch, A. See PETACHIA OF RATISBON. + + BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. _The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela_, text + and English translation by A. Asher, 2 vols., London and Berlin, + 1840–1841; _The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela_, critical text, + English translation, and commentary, edited by M. N. Adler, + London, 1907. + + See Borchardt, P.; Zunz, —. + + Benl, Oskar. _Frühere und spätere Hypothesen über die regelmässige + Anordnung der Erdgebirge nach bestimmten Himmelsrichtungen_ + (Dissertation, University of Munich, 1905). + + Berger, Hugo. _Geschichte der wissenschaftlichen Erdkunde der + Griechen_, 2nd edit., Leipzig, 1903. + + The fundamental work on the geographical science of antiquity. + + Berger, Hugo. _Die Lehre von der Kugelgestalt der Erde im Altertum_, + in: Geographische Zeitschrift., vol. xii, Leipzig, 1906, pp. + 20–37. + + Berger de Xivrey, [J.]. _Traditions tératologiques, ou récits de + l’antiquité et du moyen-âge en Occident sur quelques points de la + fable, du merveilleux et de l’histoire naturelle_, Paris, 1836. + + Throws light on the marvels of India. + + BERGSSON, NIKULÁS. See NIKULÁS BERGSSON. + + BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, Saint. Works will be found in: Migne, _Pat. + lat._, vols. clxxxii-clxxxv. There are numerous other editions. + See also: _The Life and Works of St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, + Edited by Dom John Mabillon, Translated and Edited with Additional + Notes_ by Samuel J. Eales, 4 vols., London, vols. i and ii, 1889, + vols. iii and iv, 1896. This translation is from the fourth + edition of Mabillon, Paris, 1839. + + BERNARD SYLVESTER. _De mundi universitate_, edited by C. S. Barach and + J. Wrobel, in: Bibliotheca philosophorum mediae aetatis, vol. i, + Innsbruck, 1876. + + See Hauréau, _Mémoire_, 1883; Langlois, C. V., _Maître Bernard_, + 1893; Poole, R. L., _Masters_, 1920. + + Bertolini, G. L. _I quattro angoli del mondo e la forma della terra + nel passo di Rabano Mauro_, in: Bollettino della Società + Geografica Italiana, vol. xlvii, Rome, 1910, pp. 1433–1441. + + Bertolini, G. L. _L’orologio solare di Aquileia e la sistemazione + della rosa dei venti nel medio evo_, in: Bollettino della Reale + Società Geografica Italiana, vol. liii, Rome, 1916, pp. 969–985. + + _BIBLE, THE._ Citations are to the Vulgate; translations, except where + otherwise stated, from the Douai and Rheims version. + + Biese, A. _Die Entwicklung des Naturgefühls im Mittelalter und + Neuzeit_, Leipzig, 1892. English translation with title _The + Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and + Modern Times_, London, 1905 (not seen). + + Birkenmajer, Alexander. _Eine neue Handschrift des “Liber de naturis + inferiorum et superiorum” des Daniel von Merlai_, in: Archiv für + die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und Technik, vol. ix, + Leipzig, 1920, pp. 45–51 (not seen). + + BITRŪJĪ, Al- (ALPETRAGIUS). _On the Sphere._ This work was translated + into Latin by Michael Scot in 1217 (on manuscripts see Haskins, + _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 251, note 3; the same, _Studies_, + 1924, p. 273, note 9). It was also translated into Latin from the + Hebrew version of Moses ben Samuel ben Tibbon (1259) by the + Neapolitan Jew Calo Calonymos ben David under the title + _Alpetragii Arabi planetarum theorica_ ... etc., Venice, 1528 (not + seen; cited by Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, 1914, p. 146). + + Björnbo, A. A. _Adam af Bremens Nordensopfattelse_, in: Aarböger for + nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, Copenhagen, 1909 (not seen). + + Blázquez y Delgado Aguilera, Antonio. _San Isidoro de Sevilla: Mapa + mundi_, in: Boletín de la Real Sociedad Geográfica, vol. 50, + Madrid, 1908, pp. 207–272, 306–358. + + Boffito, Giuseppe. _Intorno alla “Quaestio de aqua et terra” + attribuita a Dante_: Memoria I, _La controversia dell’acqua e + della terra prima e dopo di Dante_, in: Memorie della Reale + Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, series 2, vol. li, Appr. + nell’adunanza del 23 giugno 1901, Turin, 1902, pp. 73–159; Memoria + II, _Il trattato dantesco_, in: _op. cit._, series 2, vol. lii, + Appr. nell’adunanza del giugno 1902, Turin, 1903, pp. 257–342. See + also above, p. 410, note 98. + + Boffito, Giuseppe. _La leggenda degli antipodi_, in: _Miscellanea di + studi critici ed. in onore di Arturo Graf_, Bergamo, 1903, pp. + 583–601. + + Boncompagni, Baldassare. _Delle versione fatte da Platone Tiburtino, + traduttore de secolo duodecimo: Notizie_, Rome, 1851. + + Boncompagni, Baldassare. _Della vita e delle opere di Gherardo + Cremonese, traduttore del secolo duodecimo, e di Gherardo da + Sabbionetta, astronomo del secolo decimoterzo: Notizie raccolte + da —_, in: Atti dell’Accademia Pontifica dei Nuovi Lincei, anno + IV, sesione VII del 27 giugno, 1851, Rome, 1851. (Also published + separately.) + + Borchardt, Paul. _L’itinéraire de Rabbi Benjamin de Tudèle en Chine_, + in: T’oung Pao, ou archives concernant l’histoire, les langues, la + géographie et l’ethnographie de l’Asie orientale, vol. xxiii, + Leiden, 1924, pp. 31–35. + + See above, p. 414, note 156. + + BRANDAN (BRENDAN), Saint. _Peregrinatio sancti Brandani abbatis._ + Latin text and early German versions edited by Carl Schröder, + _Sanct Brandan: Ein lateinischer und drei deutsche Texte_, + Erlangen, 1871. Latin, Flemish, and French texts in: A. Jubinal, + _La légende latine de Saint Brendaines_, Paris, 1836. Anglo-Norman + text in: H. Suchier, _Brandans Seefahrt (anglonormannischer Text + der Handschrift Cotton, Vesp. B. X._), in: Romanische Studien + herausgegeben von E. Böhmer, vol. i, pt. 5, Strasburg, 1875, pp. + 553–588. + + See Babcock, W. H.; Goeje, M. J. de. + + Brehaut, Ernest. _An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages: Isidore of + Seville_ (Columbia University Studies in History, Economics, and + Public Law, vol. xlviii, no. 1), New York, 1912. + + Part I deals with Isidore’s life, writings, relation to previous + culture, his general view of the universe, and his attitude toward + education. Part II consists of commentary and translation of + selected passages from the _Etymologiae_, including extracts from + Book XIV, “On the Earth and Its Parts.” + + Bréhier, Louis. _Les colonies d’orientaux en Occident au commencement + du moyen-âge, v^e-viii^e siècle_, in: Byzantinische Zeitschrift, + vol. xii, no. i, Munich, 1903, pp. 1–39. + + Bréhier, Louis. _L’Église et l’Orient au moyen âge: Les croisades_, + Paris, 1911. + + BRENDAN, Saint. See BRANDAN, Saint. + + Bresslau, H. _Die Chroniken des Frutolf von Bamberg und des Ekkehard + von Aura_, in: Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche + Geschichtskunde, vol. xxi, Hanover, 1895, pp. 197–234. + + Bridges, J. H. _The Life and Work of Roger Bacon: An Introduction to + the Opus Majus_, edited by H. G. James, London, 1914. + + Brown, J. Wood. _An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scot_, + Edinburgh, 1897. + + Unreliable. See Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 250; the + same, _Studies_, 1924, p. 272. + + BRUNETTO LATINO (or LATINI). See LATINO, BRUNETTO. + + Bruun, P. _Die Verwandlungen des Presbiters Johannes_, in: Zeitschrift + der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, vol. xi, 1876, pp. + 279–314. + + Bubnov, Nicholaus. See GERBERT (SYLVESTER II). + + Bunbury, E. H. _A History of Ancient Geography_, 2 vols., London, + 1879. + + Scholarly and accurate. Though old, the best work on the subject + in English. + + CALLISTHENES, PSEUDO-. See ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF, I. + + CAMBRENSIS, GIRALDUS. See GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. + + CAPELLA, MARTIANUS. _De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii_, edited by F. + Eyssenhardt, Leipzig (Teubner), 1866. + + See Mori, _Misuraz. eratos._, 1911. + + Capelle, Wilhelm. _Berges- und Wolkenhöhen bei griechischen Physikern_ + (Στοιχεῖα: Studien zur Geschichte des antiken Weltbildes und der + griechischen Wissenschaft herausgegeben von Franz Boll, vol. v), + Leipzig and Berlin, 1916. + + Carmoly, E., transl. and edit. _ITINÉRAIRES DE LA TERRE SAINTE + DES XIII^e, XIV^e, XV^e, XVI^e, ET XVII^e SIÈCLES traduits + de l’hébreu, et accompagnés de tables, de cartes et + d’éclaircissements_, Brussels, 1847. + + Carra de Vaux, [Bernard.] _Les penseurs de l’Islam_, vols. i and ii, + Paris, 1921; vol. iii, 1923 (to be complete in 5 vols.). + + The first three chapters of vol. ii give an admirable popular + account of the geographers of Islam and their work. + + Cebrian, Konstantin. _Geschichte der Kartographie: Ein Beitrag zur + Entwicklung des Kartenbildes und Kartenwesens. I. Altertum. 1. Von + den ersten Versuchen der Länderabbildung bis auf Marinos und + Ptolemaios (Zur Alexandrinischen Schule)_, (Geographische + Bausteine, edited by Hermann Haack, vol. x), Gotha, 1923. + + Useful general history, sometimes misleading in details. The + author was killed in the World War, and hence the present part + represents the only part published. Contains an appendix by Joseph + Fischer, _Ptolemaios als Kartograph_, pp. 113–129, in which the + endeavor is made to correct Cebrian’s misapprehensions regarding + Ptolemy. + + Chevalier, Ulysse. _Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen âge_: + (1) _Bio-bibliographie_, 2 vols., Paris, 1905–1907; (2) + _Topo-bibliographie_, Montbéliard, 1894–1899, 1903. + + See above, p. 491. + + _CHRONICLES AND MEMORIALS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND._ See “_ROLLS + SERIES_.” + + Clarke, John. See SENECA. + + CLEOMEDES. _De motu circulari corporum caelestium libri duo_, edited + by Hermann Ziegler, Leipzig (Teubner), 1891. + + Clerval, A. _Les écoles de Chartres au moyen âge du v^e au xvi^e + siècle._ (Mémoires de la Société Archéologique d’Eure-et-Loir, no. + 11), Paris, 1895. + + Important study of the scholars of the leading intellectual center + of France in the early twelfth century. + + Coli, Edoardo. _Il paradiso terrestre dantesco_ (Pubblicazioni del R. + Istituto di Studi Superiori Pratici e di Perfezionamento in + Firenze, Sezione di filosofia e lettere, vol. ii, no. 28), + Florence, 1897. + + Columba, G. M. _La questione soliniana e la letteratura geografica dei + Romani_, in: Atti della Reale Accademia di Scienze, vol. xi, + Palermo, 1920 (not seen). + + COMESTOR, PETER. _Historia scholastica_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. + cxcviii, cols. 1045–1722. + + See Masson, G. + + CONRAD OF QUERFURT. Letter describing journey through Italy, in: + Arnold of Lübeck, _Chronica Slavorum_, v, 19, in: _Mon. Germ. + hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxi, pp. 192–196. + + Coolidge, W. A. B. _The Alps in Nature and History_, New York, 1908. + + Contains compact, scholarly discussions of Alpine history and of + the great passes. + + Cordier, Henri. _Documents historiques et géographiques relatifs à + l’Indochine_, 4 vols., Paris, 1910–1914. + + Includes texts of Greek and Latin authors relating to the Far East + from the fourth century before Christ to the fourteenth of our + era. Also Oriental geographical texts. + + Cordier, Henri, on Marco Polo. See POLO, MARCO. + + _CORPUS SCRIPTORUM ECCLESIASTICORUM LATINORUM_, Vienna, 1866ff. 65 + vols. have appeared (1924). + + Great collection of critical texts of the Church Fathers until the + seventh century. + + Cousin, G. _Etudes de géographie ancienne_, Paris and Nancy, 1906. + + Chapter 38 is on the geography of the East in the writings of + Henri de Valenciennes and Villehardouin. + + Cumont, Franz. _After Life in Roman Paganism_, New Haven, 1922. + + Cusa, Salvatore. _Sulla denominazione dei venti e dei punti cardinali, + e specialmente de Nord, Est, Sud, Ouest_, in: Terzo Congresso + Geografico Internazionale tenuto a Venezia dal 15 al 22 settembre + 1881, vol. ii, Rome, 1884, pp. 375–415. + + Dahlmann, Joseph. _Die Thomas-Legende und die ältesten historischen + Beziehungen des Christentums zum fernen Osten im Lichte der + indischen Altertumskunde_, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, 1912. + + DANIEL OF MORLEY. _De philosophia_, or _Liber de naturis inferiorum et + superiorum_, edited by K. Sudhoff in: Archiv für die Geschichte + der Naturwissenschaften und Technik, vol. viii, pts. 1–3, Leipzig, + June, 1917, pp. 1–40. + + See Birkenmajer, A.; Singer, _Daniel of Morley_, 1920. + + DANTE. I. _Tutte le opere_, edited by Edward Moore, Oxford, 1894. A + convenient edition of all the works. II. _The Convivio [Convito] + of Dante Alighieri_, translated by P. H. Wicksteed, London, 1903. + III. _Dante, De vulgari eloquentia_, translated by A. G. F. + Howell, London, 1890. IV. _The Divine Comedy._ Among the numerous + English translations note especially that of C. E. Norton, 3 + vols., Boston, 1891–1892. V. _Quaestio de aqua et terra_ [not + certainly the work of Dante], edited by C. L. Shadwell, Oxford, + 1909, with English translation. German translation by Josef + Krejcik, _Dantes Quaestio de aqua et terra_, in: Kartographische + und Schulgeographische Zeitschrift, vol. ix, Vienna, 1921, pp. + 107–110, 136–140. + + For further material on Dante’s cosmology and geography see + Andriani, G.; Benini, R.; Boffito, _Intorno alla “Quaestio de aqua + et terra_,” 1902–1903; Coli, E.; Moore, E.; Mori, _La geogr._, + 1922; Schmidt, W.; and references in Krejcik, _op. cit._ + + Daunou, P. C. F. _Discours sur l’état des lettres au xiii^e siècle_, + Paris, 1860. Also in: _Histoire littéraire de la France_, vol. + xvi, Paris, 1824, pp. 1–254. + + Chapter 17 is on geography and voyages. + + _DE_, etc. For anonymous works title of which begins with _DE_ see + under initial letter of principal word of title. + + Decourdemanche, J. A. _Note sur l’estimation de la longeur du degré + terrestre chez les Grecs, les Arabes, et dans l’Inde_, in: Journal + asiatique, series 11, vol. 1, Paris, 1913, pp. 427–444. + + Presents a hazardous theory. + + De Goeje, M. J. See Goeje, M. J. de. + + Delaborde, H. F. See WILLIAM THE BRETON. + + Delambre, J. B. J. _Histoire de l’astronomie du moyen âge_, Paris, + 1819. + + Old but still a standard work on medieval astronomy. + + De La Roncière, Charles. See La Roncière, Charles de. + + Delisle, Léopold. See GODFREY OF VITERBO. + + Denis, Ferdinand. _Le monde enchanté: Cosmographie et histoire + naturelle fantastiques du moyen âge_, Paris, 1843. + + Popular, though scholarly, work on medieval marvels. + + _DESCRIPTIONES TERRAE SANCTAE._ See Tobler, Titus. + + Detlefsen, D. _Ursprung, Einrichtung und Bedeutung der Erdkarte + Agrippas_ (Quellen und Forschungen zur alten Geschichte und + Geographie herausgegeben von W. Sieglin, no. 13), Berlin, 1906. + + Detlefsen, D. _Die Geographie Afrikas bei Plinius und Mela und ihre + Quellen_ (Quellen und Forschungen zur alten Geschichte und + Geographie herausgegeben von W. Sieglin, no. 14), Berlin, 1909. + + See also PLINY. + + _DEVISION, LA, DE LA TERRE DE OULTREMER ET DES CHOSES QUI I SONT_, + edited by C. Hopf in: Chroniques gréco-romanes, Berlin, 1873, pp. + 30–34. + + De Wulf, Maurice. See Wulf, Maurice de. + + DICUIL. _De mensura orbis terrae_, edited by A. Letronne, in his + _Recherches_, 1814. Also by Gustav Parthey, Berlin, 1870. + + Dietrich, ——. _Die geographischen Anschauungen einiger Chronisten des + XI. und XII. Jahrhunderts_, in: Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche + Geographie, vol. v, Vienna, 1885, pp. 95–103, 187–207. + + Dinse, Paul. _Die handschriftlichen Ptolemäus-Karten und die + Agathodämonfrage_, in: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde + zu Berlin, 1913, pp. 745–770. + + DIONYSIUS PERIGETES. _Orbis descriptio_, in: C. Müller, _Geographi + graeci minores_, 1882, vol. ii, pp. 103–176. + + Doberentz, Otto. _Die Erd- und Völkerkunde in der Weltchronik des + Rudolf von Hohen-Ems_, in: Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie, + vols. xii, Halle, 1880, pp. 257–301, 387–454, xiii, 1881, pp. + 29–57, 165–223. + + Important material in this monograph on the sources of the _De + imagine mundi_. + + DOMINICUS GONDISALVI (GUNDISSALINUS). I. _De divisione philosophiae_, + edited by L. Baur, in: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des + Mittelalters herausgegeben von C. Baeumker, vol. iv, pts. 2–3, + Münster, 1903. II. Translations of the _Physics_ and _De caelo_ of + Aristotle. Unpublished. See Steinschneider, _Europäische + Übersetzungen_, in: Sitzungsberichte, vol. cxlix, 1905, pp. 32, + 42, 43. + + Dozy, R. See IDRĪSĪ, Al-. + + Draper, J. W. _History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science_, + New York, 1875. (Also other editions.) + + Endeavors to show the baneful influence of organized religion upon + the development of science. + + Dreesbach, Emil. _Der Orient in der altfranzösischen + Kreuzzugsliteratur_ (Dissertation, University of Breslau, 1901). + + A compilation of references to the Near East in the French + literature of the Crusades, with explanatory comment. + + Duhem, Pierre. _Du temps où la scholastique latine a connu la physique + d’Aristote_, in: Revue de philosophie, vol. xv, Paris, 1909, pp. + 163–178. + + Duhem, Pierre. _Le système du monde: Histoire des doctrines + cosmologiques de Platon à Copernic_, 5 vols., Paris, 1913–1917. + + A work of fundamental importance. From the geographical point of + view significant for the data it contains on the history of + cosmography, of astronomical geography, and of theories of the + tides. Contains valuable bibliographical references, though not + always complete (see criticism in Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. + 82–83). + + Eales, S. J. See BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX. + + _EDDAS, THE._ I. _SAEMUNDAR EDDA_, or _POETIC EDDA_. Text in: R. C. + Boer, edit., _Die Edda, mit historisch-kritischem Commentar_, + Haarlem, 1922; Eduard Sievers, edit., _Die Eddalieder_ + (Abhandlungen der sächischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, + Philologisch, historische Klasse, vol. xxxvii, no. 3), Leipzig, + 1923. English translation: H. A. Bellows, _The Poetic Edda, + Translated from the Icelandic, With an Introduction and Notes_, 2 + vols., New York, 1923. II. _SNORRIS EDDA_, or _PROSE EDDA_. See + SNORRI STURLUSON, II. + + See also Hermannsson, _Bibl. Eddas_, 1920. + + EDRISI. See IDRĪSĪ, Al-. + + EKKEHARD OF AURA. See FRUTOLF OF MICHAELSBERG. + + _ELYSAEUS ACCOUNT._ See PRESTER JOHN, II. + + Endrös, A. _Die Gezeiten, Seiches und Strömungen des Meeres bei + Aristoteles_, in: Bayerische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, + Sitzungsberichte, Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, Munich, 1915, + pp. 355–385. + + ERATOSTHENES. _Die geographischen Fragmente des Eratosthenes_, edited + with commentary by Hugo Berger, Leipzig (Teubner), 1880. + + See Mori, _Misuraz. eratos._, 1911; Scala, R. von; Thalamas, A. + + ERIGENA (or ERIUGENA), JOHN SCOT. See JOHN SCOT ERIGENA. + + Esposito, M. _On Some Unpublished Poems Attributed to Alexander + Neckam_, in: English Historical Review, vol. xxx, London, 1915, + pp. 450–471. + + Fant, C. _L’Image du monde, poème inédit du milieu du xiii^e siècle, + étudié dans ses diverses rédactions françaises d’après les + manuscrits des bibliothèques de Paris et de Stockholm_ + (Dissertation, University of Upsala, 1886.) + + Gives a summary of the contents of the poem. + + FARGHĀNĪ, Al- (ALFRAGANUS). _On the Elements of Astronomy._ See GERARD + OF CREMONA, I; JOHN OF SEVILLE, I. + + FETELLUS (FRETELLUS). _Tractatus de distantiis locorum Terrae + Sanctae._ Text in: Comte Melchior de Vogue, _Les églises de la + Terre Sainte_, Paris, 1860, pp. 412–433; also in: Migne, _Pat. + lat._, vol. clv, cols. 1037–1054. English translation by J. R. + Macpherson, _Fetellus (circa 1130 A. D.)_, London, 1892 (in: + Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, _Library_, 1897, vol. v). + + Fischer, Joseph. _Ptolemäus und Agathodämon_, forming supplement (on + pp. 71–93) to von Mžik, _Afrika_. + + Fischer, Joseph. _Pappus und die Ptolemäuskarten_, in: Zeitschrift der + Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1919, pp. 336–358. + + Fischer, Joseph. _Ptolemaios als Kartograph_, forming supplement (on + pp. 113–129) to Cebrian, _Geschichte der Kartographie_, 1923. + + FITZSTEPHEN, WILLIAM. Description of London in Latin forming the + preface to his Latin life of Thomas à Becket, in: J. C. Robertson, + _Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of + Canterbury_ (Rolls Series, no. 67), vol. iii, London, 1877. Also + in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxc, cols., 103–110; _A Survey of + London by John Stow_, edited by C. T. Kingsford (2 vols., Oxford, + 1908), vol. ii, pp. 219–223. English translation in: _John Stow, A + Survay of London ... 1598_, edited by Henry Morley, London, 1908, + pp. 22–29, 117–119. + + Fobes, F. H. _Mediaeval Versions of Aristotle’s Meteorology_, in: + Classical Philology, vol. x, Chicago, 1915, pp. 297–314. + + Frahm, Wilhelm. _Das Meer und die Seefahrt in der altfranzösischen + Literatur_ (Dissertation, University of Göttingen, 1914). + + Francke, Kuno. _Zur Geschichte der lateinischen Schulpoesie des XII. + und XIII. Jahrhunderts_, Munich, 1879. + + FRETELLUS. See FETELLUS. + + Fritsche, Franz. _Untersuchung über die Quellen der Image du monde des + Walther von Metz_, Halle, 1880. + + FRODHI, ARI. See ARI FRODHI. + + FRUTOLF OF MICHAELSBERG (or of BAMBERG). _Chronica._ Edited as if the + work of Ekkehard of Aura, in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. + vi, 1844, pp. 33–231. See Bresslau, H. + + Ganzenmüller, Wilhelm. _Das Naturgefühl im Mittelalter_ (Beiträge zur + Kulturgeschichte des Mittelalters und der Renaissance + herausgegeben von Walter Götz, vol. xviii), Leipzig and Berlin, + 1914. + + An attempt to interpret the medieval attitude toward nature “von + innen heraus, aus der geistigen Eigenart des Mittelalters....” (p. + 4). German translations of many descriptions of landscape and + scenery are included. + + Ganzenmüller, Wilhelm. _Die empfindsame Naturbetrachtung im + Mittelalter_, in: Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, vol. xii, Berlin, + 1916, pp. 195–228. + + GAUTIER DE CHÂTILLON (or DE LILLE). See WALTER OF CHÂTILLON. + + Geidel, Heinrich. _Alfred der Grosse als Geograph_ (Münchener + geographische Studien herausgegeben von Siegmund Günther, no. 15), + Munich, 1904. + + Geikie, Sir Archibald. _The Founders of Geology_, London, 1905. + + Geikie, Sir Archibald. _The Love of Nature Among the Romans During the + Later Decades of the Republic and the First Century of the + Empire_, London, 1912. + + GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. _Historia Britonum_, edited by J. A. Giles, + Caxton Society, London, 1844. An English translation entitled + _Geoffrey of Monmouth’s British History_ by J. A. Giles, in: + _Monkish Historians of Great Britain_, vol. iv, London, 1844 (also + in Bohn’s Antiquarian Library, London, 1848). + + GEOFFREY OF ST. VICTOR (GODEFROI DE BRETEUIL). I. _Fons philosophiae_, + edited by M. A. Charma in his _Fons philosophiae: Poème inédit du + xii^e siècle, publié et annoté par —_, Caen, 1868. II. + _Microcosmus._ Unpublished. See above, p. 428, note 135. + + _GEOGRAPHI GRAECI MINORES._ See Müller, C. + + _GEOGRAPHI LATINI MINORES._ See Riese, A. + + GERALD OF BARRY. See GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS. + + GERARD OF CREMONA. I. _Liber de aggregationibus scientiae stellarum et + principiis coelestium motum_, a translation of Al-Farghānī’s _On + the Elements of Astronomy_. See Woepcke, _Notice_, 1862, pp. + 117–120. II. Translation of Az-Zarqalī’s _Canons_ on the _Toledo + Tables_. See above, pp. 399–400, notes 44–45. III. Translations of + Aristotle’s _Meteorology_ (first three books), _Physics_, _De + caelo et mundo_, and _De generatione et corruptione_. Unpublished. + On manuscripts see Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, p. 87; see + also above, pp. 401–402, notes 59, 60, 61, 62. IV. _Theorica + planetarum._ MS. in Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. + 7421. This work was also printed in the fifteenth and sixteenth + centuries. The edition referred to in the Notes of the present + work as the “Renner edition” was printed in Venice “per Franciscū + Renner de Hailbrun, MCCCCLXXVIII.” In the same volume is to be + found the _De sphaera_ of John of Holywood, q. v. For references + to other editions see Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 219, + note 3. + + See Boncompagni, _Della vita_, 1851. + + GERBERT (SYLVESTER II). _Gerberti postea Silvestri II papae opera + mathematica_, edited by Nicholaus Bubnov, Berlin, 1899. + + GERVASE OF CANTERBURY. I. _Chronica de tempore regum Angliae Stephani, + Henrici II et Ricardi I_, edited by William Stubbs, in: _The + Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury_ (Rolls Series, no. 71), + vol. i, London, 1879. II. _Mappamundi_, edited by Stubbs, _op. + cit._, vol. ii, London, 1880, pp. 414–444. + + GERVASE OF TILBURY. _Otia imperialia_, edited by G. G. Leibnitz, in: + _Scriptores rerum brunsvicensium_ (3 vols., Hanover, 1707–1711), + vol. i, pp. 881–1004, vol. ii, pp. 754–784. + + See Liebrecht, F. + + Gilbert, Otto. _Die meteorologischen Theorien des griechischen + Altertums_, Leipzig, 1907. + + Fundamental study of ancient meteorology. + + Giordano Carlo. _Alexandreis, poema di Gautier da Châtillon_, Naples, + 1917. + + GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (GERALD OF BARRY). I. _Topographia Hiberniae et_ + (II) _Expugnatio Hiberniae_, edited by J. F. Dimock, in: _Giraldi + Cambrensis opera_ (Rolls Series, no. 21), vol. v, London, 1867. + English translation by Thomas Foster, _The Historical Works of + Giraldus Cambrensis Containing the Topography of Ireland and the + History of the Conquest of Ireland_, revised by Thomas Wright, in + Bohn’s Antiquarian Library, London, 1863. III. _Itinerarium + Kambriae et_ (IV) _Descriptio Kambriae_, edited by J. F. Dimock, + _op. cit._, vol. vi, London, 1868. Sir R. C. Hoare’s English + translation of 1806 appeared under the title _The Itinerary + Through Wales and the Description of Wales by Giraldus Cambrensis_ + in Everyman’s Library, London and New York, 1908. V. _Symbolum + electorum_, edited by J. S. Brewer, in: _Giraldi Cambrensis opera_ + (Rolls Series, no. 21), vol. i, London, 1861, pp. 199–395. + + See Lynch, J. + + Gisinger, F. “Geographie,” article in: _Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der + classischen Altertumswissenschaft: Neue Bearbeitung, begonnen von + Georg Wissowa_, edited by Wilhelm Kroll, supplementary vol. iv, + Stuttgart, 1924, cols. 521–685. + + GODFREY OF VITERBO. I. _Pantheon seu universitate libri, qui chronici + appellantur, XX, ... ab O. C.-1186._ Edited by B. J. Herold, + Basel, 1559, and by J. Pistorius (3rd edition, edited by B. G. + Struve, vol. ii, Ratisbon, 1726, pp. 2–392); also edited (in part + only) in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcviii, cols. 875–1044, and + in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxii, 1872, pp. 107–307. + II. _Denumeratio regnorum imperio subjectorum_, edited by Léopold + Delisle in his _Littérature latine et histoire du moyen âge_, + Paris, 1890, pp. 41–50. + + Goeje, M. J. de. _La légende de St. Brandan_, in: Actes du Huitième + Congrès Internationale des Orientalistes, 1889, Leiden, 1891, pp. + 43–76. (Also printed separately, Leiden, 1890.) + + Goeje, M. J. de, on Edrisi. See IDRĪSĪ, Al-. + + Gollancz, Hermann. _Dodi ve-Nechdi (Uncle and Nephew), the Work of + Berachya Hanakdan_, Oxford, etc., 1920. Pp. 87–161 consist of a + translation of the _Quaestiones naturales_ of Adelard of Bath, q. + v. + + GONDISALVI, DOMINICUS. See DOMINICUS GONDISALVI. + + GOSSOUIN OF METZ. Possibly author or co-author of the _Image du + monde_. See above, p. 105 and p. 405, note 89. + + Grabmann, Martin. _Forschungen über die lateinischen + Aristotelesübersetzungen des XIII. Jahrhunderts_, in: Beiträge zur + Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters herausgegeben von C. + Baeumker, vol. xvii, pts. 5–6, Münster, 1916. + + Graf, Arturo. _La leggenda del paradiso terrestre_, Turin, 1878. + + Graf, Arturo. _Roma nella memoria e nelle immaginazioni del medio + evo_, 2 vols., Turin, 1882–1883. + + Graf, Arturo. _Miti, leggende e superstizioni del medio evo_, 2 vols., + Turin, 1892–1893. + + Much material and a wealth of references on legendary geography. + Vol. i, pp. 1–193, deals with the legend of the terrestrial + paradise. + + GREGORIUS, MAGISTER. See GREGORY, MASTER. + + Gregorovius, Ferdinand. _Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter_, 8 + vols., 1st edit., Stuttgart, 1859–1872. Translation from fourth + German edition by Annie Hamilton, _History of the City of Rome in + the Middle Ages_, 8 vols. in 13, London, 1894–1912. + + GREGORY, MASTER. _Magister Gregorius de mirabilibus urbis Romae_, + edited with introduction by M. R. James in his _Magister + Gregorius_, in: English Historical Review, vol. xxxii, London, + 1917, pp. 531–554. + + Gribaudi, Pietro. _La geografia di S. Isidoro di Siviglia_ (Memorie + della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, series 2, vol. lv), + Turin, 1905. + + Gribaudi, Pietro. _Per la storia della geografia, specialmente nel + medio evo_, Turin, 1906. Fasc. I of this contains: _L’autorità de + S. Isidoro de Siviglia, come geografo, nel medio evo_. + + Gribble, Francis. _The Early Mountaineers_, London, 1899. + + Gröber, G. _Übersicht über die lateinische Literatur von der Mitte des + 6. Jahrhunderts bis 1350_, in his _Grundriss der romanischen + Philologie_ (2 vols., Strasburg, 1888–1902), vol. ii, pt. i, pp. + 97–432. + + GROSSETESTE, ROBERT (ROBERT OF LINCOLN). (I) _De sphaera_, (II) _De + impressionibus aëris seu de prognosticatione_, (III) _De luce seu + de inchoatione formarum_, (IV) _Quod homo sit minor mundus_, (V) + _De lineis angulis et figuris seu de fractionibus et reflexionibus + radiorum_, (VI) _De natura locorum_, (VII) _De impressionibus + elementorum_, (VIII) _De finitate motus et temporis_, all edited + by Ludwig Baur in his _Die philosophischen Werke des Robert + Grosseteste, Bischofs von Lincoln_ (Beiträge zur Geschichte der + Philosophie des Mittelalters herausgegeben von C. Baeumker, vol. + ix), Münster, 1912. (IX) _Summa super libros octo Physicorum_ + (commentary on the _Physics_ of Aristotle), first printed in + Venice in 1498, and subsequently frequently printed in the + sixteenth century; no modern critical edition. On early editions + and manuscripts see Baur, _op. cit._, pp. 19*-20*. (X) + _Hexaemeron._ Unpublished. Baur, _op. cit._, p. 24*, note 1, cites + MS. Brit. Mus. Bibl. reg. 6 E. V. (XI) _Summa philosophiae._ + Ascribed probably erroneously to Grosseteste. Edited by Baur, _op. + cit._, pp. 275–643. + + See also Baur, L.; Little, A. G. + + GUI DE BAZOCHES. See GUY OF BAZOCHES. + + GUIDO. Encyclopedic compilation in six books containing geographical + passages which in part are edited by M. Pinder and G. Parthey, + _Ravennatis anonymi Cosmographia et Guidonis Geographica_, Berlin, + 1860, pp. 449–556. + + GUILELMUS, GUILLAUME, etc. See WILLIAM. + + GUNDISSALINUS, DOMINICUS. See DOMINICUS GONDISALVI. + + Günther, Siegmund. _Studien zur Geschichte der mathematischen und + physikalischen Geographie_, 3 vols., Halle, 1877–1879. Parts i and + ii consist of _Die Lehre von der Erdrundung und Erdbewegung im + Mittelalter_; part iii, of _Ältere und neuere Hypothesen über die + chronische Versetzung des Erdschwerpunktes durch Wassermassen_. + + See Marinelli, _Scritti minori_, vol. i, [1908?]. + + Günther, Siegmund. _Die kosmographischen Anschauungen des + Mittelalters_, in: Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und + Statistik, vol. iv, Vienna, 1882, pp. 249–254, 313–317, 345–352. + + Günther, Siegmund. _Notiz zur Geschichte der Klimatologie_, in: + Bibliotheca mathematica, no. 3, Stockholm, 1887. + + Günther, Siegmund. _Wissenschaftliche Bergbesteigungen in älterer + Zeit_, in: Jahresberichte der Geographischen Gesellschaft in + München für 1894 und 1895, Munich, 1896, pp. 51–67. + + Günther, Siegmund. _Geschichte der Erdkunde_, Leipzig and Vienna, + 1904. + + A dry and compact summary of the history of geographical science + and exploration from antiquity to modern times. Contains many + valuable references. + + Günther, Siegmund. _Die antike Apokatastasis auf ihre astronomischen + und geophysischen Grundlagen geprüft_, in: Bayerische Akademie der + Wissenschaften, Sitzungsberichte, Mathematisch-physikalische + Klasse, Munich, 1916, pp. 83–112. + + Günther, Siegmund. _Optische Beweisung für die Erdkrümmung sonst und + jetzt_, in: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, + Sitzungsberichte, Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, Munich, 1920, + pt. 2, pp. 371–385. + + GUNTHER OF PAIRIS. _Ligurinus_, edited by C. G. Dümge, Heidelberg, + 1812; also in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. ccxii, cols. 327–476. + German translation by T. Vulpinus, _Der Ligurinus Gunthers von + Pairis im Elsass ... etc._, Strasburg, 1889. + + See Pannenborg, A.; Paris, G., _Dissertation critique_, 1872. + + GUY OF BAZOCHES. Selections from the letters in: W. Wattenbach, _Aus + den Briefen des Guido von Bazoches_, in: Neues Archiv der + Gesellschaft für Ältere Deutsche Geschichtskunde, vol. xvi, + Hanover, 1891, pp. 69–113. + + See above, p. 414, note 152. + + Haag, Heinrich. _Die Geschichte des Nullmeridians_ (Dissertation, + University of Giessen, 1913). + + The discussion of the prime meridians used in the Middle Ages + appears to be based mainly on the now antiquated work of Lelewel. + + See Schoy, _Längenbestimmung_, 1915. + + Hammer-Jensen, Ingeborg. _Das sogennante IV. Buch der Meteorologie des + Aristoteles_, in: Hermes: Zeitschrift für classische Philologie, + vol. 50, Berlin, 1915, pp. 113–136. + + Haskins, C. H. _Adelard of Bath_, in: English Historical Review, vol. + xxvi, London, 1911, pp. 491–498. + + See Below, Haskins, _Studies_, 1924. + + Haskins, C. H. _The Reception of Arabic Science in England_, in: + English Historical Review, vol. xxx, London, 1915, pp. 56–69. + + See below, Haskins, _Studies_, 1924. + + Haskins, C. H. _Michael Scot and Frederick II_, in: Isis: + International Review Devoted to the History of Science and + Civilization, vol. iv, Brussels, 1921–1922, pp. 250–275. + + See below, Haskins, _Studies_, 1924. + + Haskins, C. H. _Science at the Court of the Emperor Frederick II_, in: + American Historical Review, vol. xxvii, New York, 1922, pp. + 669–694. + + See below, Haskins, _Studies_, 1924. + + Haskins, C. H. _Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science_, + Cambridge, Mass., 1924. + + A profound contribution, based largely on research in manuscript + sources, to the history of science in the twelfth and thirteenth + centuries. Traces the work of translators from the Arabic and + Greek and deals with science at the court of the Emperor Frederick + II. All the studies by Haskins referred to above appear in this + volume in revised form. + + Haskins, C. H., and D. P. Lockwood. _The Sicilian Translators of the + Twelfth Century and the First Latin Version of Ptolemy’s + Almagest_, in: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. xxi, + Cambridge, Mass., 1910, pp. 75–102. See also: Haskins, C. H., + _Further Notes on the Sicilian Translators of the Twelfth + Century_, in _ibid._, vol. xxiii, 1912, pp. 155–166. + + Important for material on early translations of the _Almagest_. + + See above, Haskins, _Studies_, 1924. + + Hauptmann, E. _Die Erdvermessung der Römer [im] Raum des heutigen + Kriegsschauplatzes bis zur Rheingrenze ..., Zugleich Lehrbuch der + antiken Erdmesskunst_, Bonn, 1915. + + Hauréau, B. _Singularités historiques et littéraires_, Paris, 1861. + + Hauréau, B. _Mémoire sur quelques chanceliers de l’église de + Chartres_, Paris, 1883. Also in: Mémoires de l’institut Nationale + de France, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, vol. xxxi, + pt. 2, Paris, 1884, pp. 63–122. + + Hauréau, B. _Les oeuvres de Hugues de Saint-Victor: Essai critique_, + new edit., Paris, 1886. + + Hauréau, B. _Thierry de Chartres, De sex dierum operibus_, in his + _Notices et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins de la + Bibliothèque Nationale_, Paris, vol. i, 1890, pp. 48–68 + (commentary, pp. 48–51; text, pp. 52–68). + + Heath, Sir Thomas. _Aristarchus of Samos_, Oxford, 1913. + + Heidel, W. A. _Anaximander’s Book, the Earliest Known Geographical + Treatise_, in: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and + Sciences, vol. lvi, Boston, 1921, pp. 239–288. + + _HEIMSKRINGLA._ See SNORRI STURLUSON, I. + + Hellmann, G., edit., _DENKMÄLER MITTELALTERLICHER METEOROLOGIE_ + (Neudrucke von Schriften und Karten über Meteorologie und + Erdmagnetismus herausgegeben von G. Hellmann, no. 15), Berlin, + 1904. + + Collection of texts dealing with meteorology from medieval + authors. + + HELMOLD. _Chronica Slavorum_, edited by J. M. Lappenberg, in: _Mon. + Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxi, 1869, pp. 11–99. Also in: + _Script. rer. germ. in usum scholarum_, Hanover, 1868. German + translation by J. C. M. Laurent, Berlin, 1852; 2nd edit., Leipzig, + 1888 (not seen). + + HENRY OF HUNTINGDON. _Historiae Anglorum libri VIII_, edited by Thomas + Arnold (Rolls Series, no. 72), London, 1879. + + HERMANN THE DALMATIAN (HERMANN THE CARINTHIAN, HERMANN THE SLAV, + HERMANNUS SECUNDUS). I. _Liber de essentiis._ Unpublished. See + Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 48–49, 56–66. On pp. 62–65 Haskins + publishes for the first time the text of two interesting + geographical passages. II. Translation of _The Great Book of the + Introduction_ of Abū Maʿshar under the title _Liber introductorius + in astrologiam_. See ABŪ MAʿSHAR. III. Translation of the + _Khorazmian Tables_ of Al-Khwārizmī. No text of this is known. See + above p. 95. + + Hermannsson, Halldór. _Bibliography of the Icelandic Sagas and Minor + Tales_, in: Islandica, vol. i, Ithaca, N. Y., 1908. + + Hermannsson, Halldór. _The Northmen in America (982-c. 1500): A + Contribution to the Bibliography of the Subject_, in: Islandica, + vol. ii, Ithaca, N. Y., 1909. + + Hermannsson, Halldór. _Bibliography of the Sagas of the Kings of + Norway and Related Sagas and Tales_, in: Islandica, vol. iii, + Ithaca, N. Y., 1910. + + Hermannson, Halldór. _Bibliography of the Eddas_, in: Islandica, vol. + xiii, Ithaca, N. Y., 1920. + + HERRAD OF LANDSPERG. _Hortus deliciarum_, edited by A. Straub and G. + Keller, Strasburg, 1879–1899. + + See Le Noble, A. + + Heyd, W. _Histoire du commerce du Levant au moyen âge_, translated + from the German into French by F. Raynaud, 2 vols., Leipzig, + 1885–1886. French translation reprinted, Leipzig, 1923. + + The French translation contains material not to be found in the + German original. Still a fundamentally important work on medieval + trade with the East. + + HILDEGARD OF BINGEN. (I) _Scivias sive visionum ac revelationum libri + tres_, (II) _Liber divinorum operum simplicis hominis_, (III) + _Liber vitae meritorum_, (IV) _Subtilitates diversarum naturarum + creaturarum_, and (V) _Solutiones quaestionum XXXVIII_, all in: + Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcvii. (VI) _Causae et curae_, edited by + Paul Kaiser, Leipzig (Teubner), 1903. + + For references to other editions, manuscripts, and secondary + works, see Thorndike, _Magic_, 1923, vol. ii, pp. 125–126. See + also Singer, _Visions of Saint Hildegard_, 1917. + + _Histoire littéraire de la France_, 35 vols., Paris, 1733ff. 35 vols. + had appeared by 1921. + + A great collection of bio-bibliographical notices, printed texts, + and critical discussions of the literature of Gaul and France. + Publication was begun by the Benedictines of the Congregation of + St. Maur in the eighteenth century and continued by the Académie + des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres early in the nineteenth. + + _HISTORIA DE PRAELIIS._ See Landgraf, G. + + _HISTORIA NORWEGIAE_, edited by P. A. Munch, in: _Symbolae ad + historiam antiquiorem rerum Norvegicarum_, Christiania, 1850. A + more critical edition in: Storm, _Mon. hist. Norveg._, 1880, pp. + 69–124. + + Hoffmann, Immanuel. _Die Anschauungen der Kirchenväter über + Meteorologie_ (Dissertation, University of Munich, 1907). (Also + as: Münchener geographische Studien herausgegeben von Siegmund + Günther, no. 22.) + + Hofmeister, Adolf. _Studien über Otto von Freisingen_, in: Neues + Archiv der Gesellschaft für Ältere Deutsche Geschichtskunde, vol. + xxxvii, Hanover, 1911–1912, pp. 99–161, 663–768. + + HONORIUS AUGUSTODUNENSIS, HONORIUS INCLUSUS, HONORIUS OF AUTUN. See + _IMAGINE MUNDI, DE_. + + HUGH OF ST. VICTOR. I. _Adnotationes elucidatoriae in Pentateuchon_, + in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxv, cols. 29–114. II. _De arca Noë + morali_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxxvi, cols. 617–680. III. + _De arca Noë mystica_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxxvi, cols. + 681–704. IV. _De vanitate mundi_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. + clxxvi, cols. 703–740; also edited by Karl Müller, _Hugo von St. + Victor soliloquium De arrha animae und De vanitate mundi_ (Kleine + Texte für Vorlesung und Übungen, no. 123), Bonn, 1913. V. _De + sacramentis_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. clxxvi, cols. 173–618. + VI. _De situ terrarum_ (not certainly the work of Hugh of St. + Victor), forming bk. III of _Tractatus excerptionum_, in: Migne, + _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxvii, cols. 209–216. + + See Hauréau, _Oeuvres_, 1886. + + IBN RUSHD (AVERROËS). Commentaries on the works of Aristotle. See + [Bernard] Carra de Vaux, article “Ibn Rushd,” in: _The + Encyclopaedia of Islam_, vol. ii, Leiden and London, 1918, pp. + 410–413. + + See also Renan, E. + + IBN SINĀ (AVICENNA). Commentaries on the works of Aristotle. See + ALFRED OF SARESHEL, II; T. J. de Boer, article “Ibn Sina,” in: + _The Encyclopaedia of Islam_, vol. ii, Leiden and London, 1918, + pp. 419–420; and above, p. 401, note 60. + + IBN YŪNŪS. _Hākimī Tables._ Portions of these tables and the + commentaries which accompanied them were published and translated + by J. J. A. Caussin de Perceval in: _Notices et extraits des + manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale_, vol. vii, Paris, An XII + [1803–1804], pp. 16–240; for the description of the measurement of + the circumference of the earth, see especially pp. 94, 96, + footnote (2). + + IDRĪSĪ, Al- (EDRISI). _Geography_ (or _Roger Book_, or _Rogerian + Description_), in: _Géographie d’Édrisi, traduite de l’Arabe en + français_, by P. A. Jaubert (Recueil de voyages et de mémoires + publié par la Société de Géographie, vols. v and vi), 2 vols., + Paris, 1836–1840. This is the only translation of the whole of + Edrisi’s _Geography_. More recent and more critical translations + of parts are (1) _Description de l’Afrique et de l’Espagne par + Edrîsî_, Arabic text with French translation and notes by R. Dozy + and M. J. de Goeje, Leiden, 1866; (2) _L’Italia descritta nel + “Libro del Re Ruggero” compilato da Edrisi_, Arabic text with + Italian translation and notes by M. Amari and C. Schiaparelli, + Rome, 1883 (not seen). + + See also Pardi, G. + + _IMAGE DU MONDE, L’._ Metrical versions unedited. For text of prose + version, see O. H. Prior, _L’Image du monde de Maître Gossouin_, + Lausanne, 1913. For Caxton’s English translation of 1485, see the + same, _Caxton’s Mirrour of the World_, London, 1913. On sources + see Fant, C.; Fritsche, F.; Le Clerc, V. + + See also Langlois, C. V., _Connaissance_, 1911, ch. 5. + + _IMAGINE MUNDI, DE._ In: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxii, cols. + 115–188, where it is attributed to Honorius of Autun. See above, + p. 403, note 73; pp. 325–326, and p. 481, note 347. + + See Doberentz, O. + + ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. I. _Etymologiae sive originum libri XX_, edited by + W. M. Lindsay, 2 vols., Oxford, 1911. Also in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. lxxxii, cols. 73–728. See Brehaut, E.; Philipp, H. II. _De + natura rerum_, in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. lxxxiii, cols. + 963–1018. See also above, p. 387, note 79. + + See Blázquez y Delgado Aguilera, A.; Brehaut, E.; Gribaudi, P. + + _ITER AD PARADISUM._ See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, VI. + + _ITINERA ET DESCRIPTIONES TERRAE SANCTAE._ See Tobler, Titus. + + _ITINERA HIEROSOLYMITANA._ See Tobler, T., and A. Molinier. + + _ITINÉRAIRES À JERUSALEM._ See Michelant, H., and G. Reynaud. + + _ITINÉRAIRES DE LA TERRE SAINTE ... traduits de l’hébreu._ + + See Carmoly, E. + + JACQUES DE VITRY. _Historia hierosolymitana_, in: J. Bongars, _Gesta + Dei per Francos_, vol. i, Hanover, 1611, pp. 1047–1125. English + translation by Aubrey Stewart, _The History of Jerusalem, A. D. + 1180, by Jacques de Vitry_, London, 1896 (in: Palestine Pilgrims’ + Text Society, _Library_, 1897, vol. xi). + + James, M. R. See GREGORY, MASTER. + + JEROME. _De situ et nominibus locorum Hebraicorum_ (or _De Palestinae + locis_), in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xxiii, cols. 859–928. + + _JERUSALEM ITINERARIES._ See Carmoly, E.; Michelant, H., and G. + Reynaud; Tobler, T.; Tobler, T., and A. Molinier. + + JOHANNES. See JOHN. + + JOHANNES, PRESBYTER. See PRESTER JOHN. + + JOHANNES HISPANENSIS. See JOHN OF SEVILLE. + + JOHN, PRESTER. See PRESTER JOHN. + + JOHN OF HOLYWOOD (SACROBOSCO). _De sphaera_, or _Sphaera mundi_, in: + _Johannes de Sacrobusto anglici viri clarissimi Spera mundi, + impressa Venetiis per Franciscū Renner de Hailbrun, MCCCCLXXVIII_. + This text of the _De sphaera_ was printed in the same volume with + the _Theorica planetarum_ of Gerard of Cremona, q. v. See also + Duhem, _Système_, vol. iii, 1915, p. 239, note 4, and p. 240, note + 1. + + JOHN OF LUNA. See JOHN OF SEVILLE. + + JOHN OF SALISBURY. _Opera omnia_, edited by J. A. Giles, Oxford, 1848, + and reprinted in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxcix, cols. 1–1039. The + _Policraticus, sive de nugis curialium et vestigiis + philosophorum_, was edited by C. C. J. Webb, 2 vols., Oxford, + 1909. + + JOHN SCOT ERIGENA. _De divisione naturae_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. cxxii, cols. 439–1022. + + See Rand, E. K. + + JOHN OF SEVILLE (JOHANNES HISPANENSIS, JOHN OF LUNA). I. Translation + of the _On the Elements of Astronomy_ of Al-Farghānī was published + by Johannes Petreius in Nuremberg, 1537, under the title _Brevis + ac perutilis compilatio Alfragani, quod ad rudimenta astronomica + est opportunum_. For references to manuscripts, see Woepcke, + _Notice_, 1862, pp. 115–117. II. Translation of Abū Maʿshar’s _The + Great Book of the Introduction_. See Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, p. + 45. + + JOHN OF WÜRZBURG. _Descriptio terrae sanctae_, in: Tobler, + _Descriptiones terrae sanctae_, 1874, pp. 108–192, 415–448. Also + in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clv, cols. 1054–1090. English + translation by Aubrey Stewart, _Description of the Holy Land by + John of Würzburg (A. D. 1160–1170)_, London, 1890 (in Palestine + Pilgrims’ Text Society, _Library_, 1897, vol. v). + + Jourdain, Amable. _Recherches critiques sur l’âge et l’origine des + traductions latines d’Aristote et sur des commentaires grecs ou + arabes employés par les docteurs scholastiques_, 2nd edit., Paris, + 1843. + + Jourdain, C. B. _Dissertation sur l’état de la philosophie naturelle + en Occident et principalement en France pendant la première moitié + du XII^e siècle_, Paris, 1838. + + Jourdain, C. B. _De l’influence d’Aristote et de ses interprètes sur + la découverte du Nouveau-Monde_, Paris, 1861. + + Jowett, Benjamin. See PLATO. + + Jubinal, A. See BRANDAN, Saint. + + JULIUS VALERIUS. See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, II, III. + + Karl, L. _La Hongrie et les Hongrois dans les chansons de geste_, in: + Revue des langues romanes, vol. li, Montpellier, 1908, pp. 5–38. + + Khvostov, M. _Istoriya vostochnoi torgovli Greko-Rimskago Egipta + (History of the Eastern Trade of Greco-Roman Egypt)_, Kazan, 1907. + + KHWĀRIZMĪ, Al-. I. _Kitāb ṣūrat al-arḍ_, edited by C. A. Nallino, with + commentary, under title _Al-Ḫuwârizmî e il suo rifacimento della + Geografia di Tolomeo_, in: Memorie della Reale Accademia dei + Lincei, series 5, Classe di scienze morali, storiche, e + filologiche, vol. ii, pt. 1, Rome, 1894 (published 1896). See also + von Mžik, _Ptolemaeus_, 1915; the same, _Afrika_, 1916; Nallino, + _Al-Khuwarizmi_, 1896; Spitta, W. II. Astronomical tables known as + _Khorazmian Tables_, in: H. Suter, _Die astronomischen Tafeln des + Muḥammed ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in der Bearbeitung des Maslama ibn + Aḥmed al-Madjrīṭī und der latein. Übersetzung des Athelhard von + Bath_, etc. (Mémoires de l’Académie Royale des Sciences et des + Lettres de Danemark, series 7, Section des lettres, vol. iii, no. + 1), Copenhagen, 1914. As to the _Little Sindhind_ of Al-Khwārizmī, + to which these tables were related, see above, p. 394, note 20. + + _KING’S MIRROR._ See _KONUNGS-SKUGGSJÁ_. + + Klotz, Alfred. _Quaestiones Plinianae geographicae_ (Quellen und + Forschungen zur alten Geschichte und Geographie herausgegeben von + W. Sieglin, no. 11), Berlin, 1906. + + Koch, Joseph. _Das Meer in der mittelhochdeutschen Epik_ + (Dissertation, University of Münster, 1910). + + Kohlmann, P. W. _Adam von Bremen: Ein Beitrag zur mittelalterlichen + Textkritik und Kosmographie_ (Leipziger historische Abhandlungen, + vol. x), Leipzig, 1908. + + _KONUNGS-SKUGGSJÁ._ _Speculum regale, ein altnorwegischer Dialog_, + edited by Oscar Brenner, Munich, 1881. English translation by L. + M. Larson, American Scandinavian Foundation, New York, 1917. + + Krabbo, Hermann. _Bischof Virgil von Salzburg und seine kosmologischen + Ideen_, in: Mitteilungen des Institut für Österreichische + Geschichtsforschungen, vol. xxiv, Vienna, 1903, pp. 1–28. + + Krabbo, Hermann. _Nordeuropa in der Vorstellung Adams von Bremen_, in: + Hansische Geschichtsblätter, vol. xv, Leipzig, 1909, pp. 37–51. + + Krejcik, J. See DANTE, V. + + Kretschmer, Konrad. _Die physische Erdkunde im christlichen + Mittelalter_, in: Geographische Abhandlungen herausgegeben von + Albrecht Penck, vol. iv, pt. 1, Vienna and Olmütz, 1889. + + The best general summary of medieval theories of physical + geography. See the critical review in Marinelli, _Scritti minori_, + vol. i, [1908?], pp. 439–448. + + Krumbacher, K. _Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur von Justinian + bis zum Ende des Oströmischen Reiches (527–1453)_, Munich, 1890, + 2nd edit. 1897 (forming vol. ix, pt. 1 of Iwan von Müller, + _Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_). + + Kubitschek, Wilhelm. “Karten,” article in: _Paulys Real-Encyclopädie + der classischen Altertumswissenschaft: Neue Bearbeitung, begonnen + von Georg Wissowa_, edited by Wilhelm Kroll, vol. x, pt. 2 (20th + half vol.), Stuttgart, 1919, cols. 2022–2149. + + LACTANTIUS. _Divinae institutiones_, edited by Samuel Brandt, in: + _Corpus script. eccl. lat._, vol. xix, pt. 1, 1890. + + La Marche, R. A. Lecoy de. See Lecoy de La Marche, R. A. + + LAMBERT LI TORS. See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, VII. + + LAMBERT OF ST. OMER. _Liber floridus._ There is no modern edition. For + a synopsis, see Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxiii, cols. 1003ff. For + references to manuscripts see Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, + 1895, pp. 43–46, and Beazley, _Dawn_, vol. ii, 1901, pp. 621–624. + + Landgraf, Gustav. _Die Vita Alexandri Magni des Archipresbyters Leo + (Historia de preliis)_, Schweinfurt, 1885 (not seen). + + _LANDNÁMABÓK._ For editions see Hermannsson, _Bibl. Icelandic Sagas_, + 1908, pp. 70–72. English translations by T. Ellwood, _The Book of + the Settlement of Iceland_, Kendal, 1898, and by Vigfusson and + York Powell, _Origines Islandicae_, vol. i, 1905, pp. 2–236, + 266–274. For corrections of renderings given in the latter, see + review by E. Magnússon, in: Saga Book of the Viking Club, vol. iv, + pt. 2, London, 1905–1906, pp. 415–467. + + Langenmaier, Theodor. _Alte Kenntnis und Kartographie der + zentralafrikanischen Seenregion_, in: Mitteilungen der + Geographischen Gesellschaft in München, vol. xi, Munich, 1916, pt. + 1, pp. 1–144. Also published separately as a dissertation, + University of Erlangen, 1916. + + An elaborate and detailed study covering the period from Ptolemy + to the beginning of the eighteenth century. Extensive bibliography + and lists of maps. + + Langlois, C. V. _Maître Bernard_, in: Bibliothèque de l’École des + Chartes, vol. liv, Paris, 1893, pp. 225–250. + + Langlois, C. V. _La connaissance de la nature et du monde au moyen âge + d’après quelques écrits français à l’usage des laïcs_, Paris, + 1911. + + Chapters on popular medieval encyclopedias in French. Throws light + on medieval geographic ideas as expressed in these works. A useful + bibliography is given (pp. 394–400) of eighty-eight titles of + secondary works on references to natural phenomena in the Middle + Ages. + + Langlois, E. _Tables des noms propres de toute nature compris dans les + chansons de geste imprimées_, Paris, 1904. + + Includes geographic names. + + La Roncière, Charles de. _Histoire de la marine française_, 5 vols., + Paris, 1899–1920. Vol. i, 2nd edit., 1909. + + LATINO, BRUNETTO. _Le livre du trésor._ Edited by P. Chabaille, _Li + livres dou trésor, publié pour la première fois_, Paris, 1863. See + the references in C. V. Langlois, _Connaissance_, 1911, pp. + 328–337. + + Le C[lerc], V[ictor]. _L’Image du monde et autres enseignements_, in: + _Histoire littéraire de la France_, vol. xxiii, 1856, pp. 294–335, + 836–837. + + Lecoy de La Marche, R. A. _Les connaissances géographiques au moyen + âge_, in: Revue du monde catholique, vol. lxxix, July-Sept., 1884. + + Lelewel, Joachim. _Géographie du moyen âge_, 5 vols. and atlas, + Brussels, 1852–1857. + + Poorly arranged and written in often incomprehensible French (the + author was a Pole). A work of great erudition marred by the + hazardous character of the theories put forth. For the most part + on Moslem geography. + + Le Noble, Alexandre. _Notice sur le Hortus deliciarum, encyclopédie + manuscrite composée au douzième siècle par Herrade de Landsberg, + abbesse du monastère de Hohenbourg (Sainte Odile) en Alsace, et + conservée à la Bibliothèque de Strasbourg_, in: Bibliothèque de + l’École des Chartes, vol. i, Paris, 1839, pp. 239–261. + + Lenormant, François. _Magog: Fragments d’une étude sur l’ethnographie + du chapitre X de la Genèse_, in: Le Muséon: Revue des sciences et + des lettres, publiée par la Société Internationale des Lettres et + des Sciences, vol. i, Louvain, 1882, pp. 9–48. + + LEO ARCHIPRESBYTER. See Landgraf, G. + + Lessert, C. Pallu de. _L’oeuvre géographique d’Agrippa et d’Auguste_, + in: Mémoires de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France, + vol. lxviii, pp. 215–298, Paris, 1909. (Also published + separately.) + + Letronne, A. _Recherches géographiques et critiques sur le livre De + mensura orbis terrae, composé en Irlande au commencement du + neuvième siècle par Dicuil, suivi du texte restitué_, Paris, 1814. + + Letronne, [A.] _Des opinions cosmographiques des pères de l’église, + rapprochées des doctrines philosophiques de la Grèce_, in: Revue + des deux mondes, series 3, vol. i, Paris, 1834, pp. 601–633. + + _LIBER DE PROPRIETATIBUS ELEMENTORUM_ (or _LIBER DE ELEMENTIS_). Latin + translation of an Arabic work falsely attributed to Aristotle in + the Middle Ages. Duhem, _Système_, vol. ii, 1914, p. 226, note 3, + refers to a text to be found on fols. 464 vo-469 vo in an edition + of the works of Aristotle published in Venice, 1496, “per + Gregorium de Gregoriis expensis Benedicti Fontanae.” On + manuscripts, see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, p. 24. + + Liebrecht, Felix. _Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia imperialia_, + Hanover, 1856. + + Selections from the _Otia imperialia_ with commentary to + illustrate the development of Germanic mythology. + + Lippmann, E. O. von. _Chemisches und Alchemisches aus Aristoteles_, + in: Archiv für die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der + Technik, vol. ii, Leipzig, 1910, pp. 233–300. + + Little, A. G., edit. _Roger Bacon Essays, Contributed by Various + Writers on the Commemoration of the Seventh Centenary of His + Birth_, Oxford, 1914. + + Lloyd, J. E. _A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the + Edwardian Conquest_, 2 vols., London, 1911. + + LOMBARD, PETER. _Libri quattuor sententiarum_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, + vol. cxcii, cols. 519–962. Critical text in the edition of the + _Opera_ of Saint Bonaventura, Quaracci, 1882–1889, vols. i-iv. + + Lones, T. E. _Aristotle’s Researches in Natural Science_, London, + 1912. A useful introduction. + + Lowes, J. L. _The Dry Sea and the Carrenare_, in: Modern Philology, + vol. iii, Chicago, 1905, pp. 1–46. + + On the origins of Chaucer’s “Dry Sea” in the history of Prester + John and elsewhere. + + _LUCIDARIUS_, edited from the Berlin manuscript by Felix Heidlauf, in: + Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters herausgegeben von der Königlich + Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, vol. xxviii, Berlin, + 1915. + + See also above, p. 404, note 82. + + Ludwig, Friedrich. _Untersuchungen über die Reise- und + Marschgeschwindigkeit im XII. und XIII. Jahrhundert_, Berlin, + 1897. + + Important investigation of an interesting phase of medieval + travel. + + Lutz, H. F. _Geographical Studies Among Babylonians and Egyptians_, + in: American Anthropologist, vol. xxvi, N. S., Menasha, Wis., + 1924, pp. 160–174. + + Lynch, Dr. John (“Gratianus Lucius”). _Cambrensis eversus, seu potius + historica fides in rebus hibernicis Giraldo Cambrensi abrogata, + 1662_, edited and translated by Matthew Kelly for the Irish Celtic + Society, 3 vols., Dublin, 1848–1851. + + MACROBIUS. _In somnium Scipionis commentarius_, edited by [J. M. N. + D.] Nisard in _Macrobe (Oeuvres complètes), Varron (De la langue + latine), Pomponius Mela (Oeuvres complètes), avec la traduction en + français_ (Collection des auteurs latins, avec la traduction en + français, publiée sous la direction de M. Nisard), Paris, 1883, + pp. 9–116. Also edited by F. Eyssenhardt, Leipzig, 1893. + + MAGISTER GREGORIUS. See GREGORY, MASTER. + + Magnússon, E. See _LANDNÁMABÓK_. + + Mâle, Émile. _L’art religieux du xiii^e siècle en France: Étude sur + l’iconographie du moyen âge et sur ses sources d’inspiration_, + Paris, 1898, 3rd edit., 1910. English translation by Dora Nussey, + _Religious Art in France_, London, 1913. + + Explains, among other matters, the representation of geographic + and cosmographic ideas in medieval sculpture, architecture, + stained glass, and other forms of artistic expression. + + Mâle, Émile. _L’art religieux du xii^e siècle en France: Étude sur les + origines de l’iconographie du moyen âge_, Paris, 1922 (not seen). + + Mandonnet, Pierre. _Les idées cosmographiques d’Albert le Grand et de + St. Thomas d’Aquin et la découverte de l’Amérique_, in: Revue + thomiste, vol. i, St. Maximin, 1893. + + Mandonnet, Pierre. _Siger de Brabant et l’Averroïsme latin au xiii^e + siècle_, Fribourg, 1899; 2nd edit.: vol. i, constituting: Les + philosophes belges: Textes et études, vol. vi, Louvain, 1911; vol. + ii, pt. 1, chs. 1–2, constituting _op. cit._, vol. vii, Louvain, + 1908 (_sic_). + + MANEGOLD. _Magistri Manegaldi contra Wolfelmum Coloniensem opusculum_, + in: L. Muratori, _Anecdota quae ex Ambrosianae Bibliothecae + codicibus nunc primum eruit —_, vol. iv, Padua, 1713, pp. 163–208. + + Manitius, Karl. See PTOLEMY, CLAUDIUS, I. + + Manitius, M. _Beiträge zur Geschichte der römischen Prosaiker im + Mittelalter_, in: Philologus: Zeitschrift für das classische + Alterthum, vol. xlix, Göttingen, 1890, pp. 380–384. + + Manitius, M. _Philologisches aus alten Bibliothekskatalogen (bis + 1300)_, in: Rheinisches Museum, Ergänzungs-Heft, Frankfurt-a-M., + 1892. + + Manitius, M. _Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters_, + vol. i, Munich, 1911 (forming vol. ix, pt. 2, section 1, of Iwan + von Müller, _Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_). + + MARCO POLO. See POLO, MARCO. + + Marinelli, Giovanni. _La geografia e i padri della chiesa_, in: + Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, vol. xix, Rome, + 1882, pp. 472–498, 532–573. (Also printed separately, Rome, 1882.) + Reprinted with additional footnotes by Carlo Errera in _Scritti + minori di Giovanni Marinelli_, vol. i, [1908?], pp. 281–383 (see + next title). German translation, with an introduction by Siegmund + Günther, by Ludwig Neumann entitled _Die Erdkunde bei den + Kirchenväter_, Leipzig, 1884. + + Marinelli, Giovanni. _Scritti minori di Giovanni Marinelli_: vol. i, + _Metodo e storia della geografia_, Florence, [1908?]; vol. ii, + _Corografia italiana e questioni didattiche_, Florence, [1920?]. + + Collection of reprints of important monographs, all of which had + appeared previously. Additional editorial notes and + bibliographical references are given by the editors in the + footnotes. The following are the titles of the most interesting + monographs from the point of view of medieval geography, with + references to the publications in which they were first published: + (vol. i, pp. 63–98) _Note straboniane_, in: Cosmos di Guido Cora, + vol. vi, Turin, 1880, pp. 161–180 (also printed separately); (vol. + i, pp. 181–279) _Intorno agli studi del Dott. Günther sulla storia + della geografia matematica e fisica_, in: Bollettino della Società + Geografica Italiana, vol. xvii, Rome, 1880, pp. 309–332, 469–487, + 534–543, 585–596 (also printed separately; forms an extensive + review and analysis of Günther, _Studien_, 1877–1879); (vol. i, + pp. 281–383) _La geografia e i padri della chiesa_ (see preceding + entry); (vol. i, pp. 385–438) _Gog e Magog: Leggenda geografica_, + in: Cosmos di Guido Cora, vol. vii, Turin, 1882–1883, pp. 155–180, + 199–207; (vol. i, pp. 439–448) _Un nuovo lavoro sulla storia della + geografia medioevale_, in: Bollettino della Società Geografica + Italiana, vol. xxvii, Rome, 1890, pp. 232–238 (also printed + separately; a review of Kretschmer, _Die physische Erdkunde_, + 1889). + + Marquart, Josef. _Über das Volkstum der Komanen_, in: Koenigliche + Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Abhandlungen, + Philologisch-historische Klasse, vol. xiii (N. S.), 1912–1914, pp. + 25–238. + + MARTIANUS CAPELLA. See CAPELLA, MARTIANUS. + + Mas-Latrie, L. de. _Traités de paix et de commerce et documents divers + concernant les relations des Chrétiens avec les Arabes de + l’Afrique septentrionale au moyen âge_, Paris, 1866. + + The introduction deals with the relations between Europe and North + Africa in the Middle Ages and incidentally with the extent of + European knowledge of North African geography. + + Masson, Gustave. _Biblical Literature in France During the Middle + Ages: Peter Comestor and Guiart Desmoulins_, in: Journal of Sacred + Literature, vol. viii (N. S.), London, 1865, pp. 81–106. + + MASTER GREGORY. See GREGORY, MASTER. + + MATTHEW PARIS. I. _Chronica maiora_, edited by H. R. Luard (Rolls + Series, no. 57), 7 vols., London, 1872–1883. II. On maps see + Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iii, 1895, pp. 68–94. + + MAUR, RABAN. See RABAN MAUR. + + MELA, POMPONIUS. See POMPONIUS MELA. + + _METHODIUS, PSEUDO-._ See Sackur, E. + + Meyer, Paul. _Alexandre le Grand dans la littérature française du + moyen âge_, 2 vols., Paris, 1886. + + Thorough study of the Romance in French literature. Also, in vol. + ii, a general treatment of the Latin versions. + + MICHAEL PSELLOS. See Zervos, C. + + MICHAEL SCOT. I. _Liber introductorius._ Unpublished. On manuscripts + see Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 262, note 6; the same, + _Studies_, 1924, p. 287, note 95. II. _Liber particularis._ + Unpublished. On manuscripts see Haskins, _Michael Scot_, + 1921–1922, p. 266, note 7; the same, _Studies_, 1924, p. 290, note + 117. III. Translation of Al-Bitrūjī’s _On the Sphere_, + unpublished. On manuscripts see Haskins, _Michael Scot_, + 1921–1922, p. 251, note 3; the same, _Studies_, 1924, p. 273, note + 9. IV. Translation of Aristotle’s _De caelo_. Unpublished. On + manuscripts see Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922, p. 256; the + same, _Studies_, 1924, p. 278, note 39. + + See Brown, J. W.; Haskins, _Michael Scot_, 1921–1922; the same, + _Studies_, 1924, pp. 272–298. + + Michelant, H. See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, VII. + + Michelant, H., and Gaston Reynaud, edits. _ITINÉRAIRES À JERUSALEM ET + LA DESCRIPTION DE LA TERRE SAINTE REDIGÉS EN FRANÇAIS AUX XI^e, + XII^e, ET XIII^e SIÈCLES_, Geneva, 1882. + + Migne, J. P., edit. _PATROLOGIAE CURSUS COMPLETUS, SIVE + BIBLIOTHECA.... OMNIUM SS. PATRUM, DOCTORUM SCRIPTORUMQUE + ECCLESIASTICORUM, QUI AB AEVO APOSTOLICO AD USQUE INNOCENTII III + TEMPORA FLORUERUNT...: SERIES LATINA_, 221 vols., Paris, + 1844–1864. (Referred to in the present work as Migne, _Pat. lat._) + + Great collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other + medieval authors. The texts in many cases are not critical. + + Miller, Konrad. _Die Weltkarte des Castorius, genannt die + Peutinger’sche Tafel_, Ravensburg, 1888. Colored facsimile and + explanatory text. + + More complete commentary in the same author’s _Itin. Romana_, + 1916. + + Miller, Konrad. _Mappaemundi, die ältesten Weltkarten_, 6 vols., + Stuttgart, 1895–1898. + + A series of critical discussions of medieval maps of the world + with transliterations of the texts. Profusely illustrated with + facsimiles. + + Miller, Konrad. _Itineraria Romana: Römische Reisewege an der Hand der + Tabula Peutingeriana_, Stuttgart, 1916. + + An elaborate commentary on the Peutinger Table, its sources and + influence. + + Miller, Konrad. _Die Erdmessung im Alterthum und ihr Schicksal_, + Stuttgart, 1919. + + Summary and synthesis of recent investigations regarding ancient + and Moslem estimates of the circumference of the earth. See, + however, critical review in Petermanns Mitteilungen, vol. lxviii, + Gotha, 1922, p. 27. + + _MIRABILIA URBIS ROMAE_, edited by G. Parthey, Berlin, 1869; also + edited by H. Jordan in his: _Topographie der Stadt Rom im + Altertum_, vol. ii, Berlin, 1871. English translation by F. M. + Nichols, _Mirabilia Urbis Romae: The Marvels of Rome, or a Picture + of the Golden City, an English Version of the Mediaeval + Guidebook_, London, 1889. + + Molinier, A. See Tobler, T., and A. Molinier. + + Mommsen, Theodor. See SOLINUS. + + _MONUMENTA GERMANIAE HISTORICA_, folio series, Hanover, later Berlin, + 1826–1874; quarto series, Hanover, later Berlin, 1876ff. + + Great collection of historical sources in many volumes relating to + the history of Germany and incidentally of Europe as a whole. + Divided into five sections: (1) Scriptores; (2) Leges; (3) + Diplomata; (4) Epistolae; (5) Antiquitates. + + Certain texts published in the _Monumenta_ are also edited in + _Scriptores rerum germ. in usum scholarum_. + + _MONUMENTA HISTORICA NORVEGIAE._ See Storm, G. + + Moore, Edward. _Studies in Dante: Second Series_, Oxford, 1899. + Contains _The Genuineness of the Quaestio de aqua et terra_, pp. + 303–374. + + Moore, Edward. _Studies in Dante: Third Series_, Oxford, 1903. + Contains _The Astronomy of Dante_, pp. 1–108; _The Geography of + Dante_, pp. 109–143. The last-named is translated into Italian and + reviewed at length by G. Boffito and E. Sanesi, _La geografia di + Dante secondo Edoardo Moore_, in: Rivista geografica italiana, + vol. xii, Florence, 1905, pp. 92–101, 204–215. + + Mori, Assunto. _La misurazione eratostenica del grado ed altre notizie + geografiche della “Geometria” di Marciano Capella_, in: Rivista + geografica italiana, vol. xvii, Florence, 1911, pp. 177–191, + 382–391, 584–603. + + Mori, Assunto. _La geografia nell’opera di Dante_, in: Atti dell’ VIII + Congresso Geografico Italiano, vol. i, Florence, 1922, pp. + 271–299. + + Deals with the traditional geography of Dante’s period and with + the poet’s original contributions in the field of geography. + + Moritz, Eduard. _Die geographische Kenntnis von den Nord- und + Ostseeküsten bis zum Ende des Mittelalters_, pt. 1, in: + Wissenschaftliche Beilage zum Jahresbericht der Sophienschule zu + Berlin, Berlin, 1904. + + Müller, Carl (Carolus Müllerus), edit. _GEOGRAPHI GRAECI MINORES_, 2 + vols., Paris, 1882. + + Important collection of the texts of the lesser Greek geographers, + with Latin translations. + + Mžik, Hans von. _Ptolemaeus und die Karten der arabischen Geographen_, + in: Mitteilungen der Kaiserlich-koeniglichen Geographischen + Gesellschaft in Wien, vol. lviii, Vienna, 1915, p. 152–176. + + Mžik, Hans von. _Afrika nach der arabischen Bearbeitung der Γεωγραφικὴ + ὑφήγησις des Claudius Ptolemaeus von Muhammad ibn Mūsā + al-Ḫwārizmī_, edited and translated with commentary by —— + (Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Denkschriften, + Philosophisch-historische Klasse, vol. lix, Abhandlung 4) Vienna, + 1916. + + Nallino, C. A. _Al-Khuwarizmi et son remaniement de la Géographie de + Ptolémée_, in: Bulletin de la Société Khédiviale de Géographie, + series 4, no. 8, Cairo, Feb. 1896, pp. 525–543. + + See BATTĀNĪ, Al-; KHWĀRIZMĪ, Al-, I. + + Nansen, Fridtjof. _In Northern Mists: Arctic Exploration in Early + Times_, 2 vols., New York, 1911. + + Elaborate history of theories and explorations. References to the + sources and many translations. + + NECKAM, ALEXANDER. I. _De naturis rerum libri duo_, edited by Thomas + Wright (Rolls Series, no. 34), London, 1863, pp. 1–354. II. _De + laudibus divinae sapientiae_, edited by Thomas Wright (Rolls + Series, no. 34), London, 1863, pp. 356–503. + + See Esposito, M. + + Neubauer, A. _Where Are the Ten Tribes?_ in: Jewish Quarterly Review, + vol. i, London, 1888–1889, pp. 14–28, 95–114, 185–201, 408–423. + + Nichols, F. M. See _MIRABILIA URBIS ROMAE_. + + NIKULÁS BERGSSON OF THVERÁ, Abbot. Geographical description of the + world and itinerary to Rome and the Holy Land (probably in part + only the work of Abbot Nikulás). Icelandic text with Latin + translation from MS. no. 194 in the Arne Magnússon collection at + Copenhagen, in: Werlauff, _Symbolae_, 1821, pp. 9–34. Also in: C. + C. Rafn and others, edits., _Antiquités russes d’après les + monuments historiques des Islandais et des anciens Scandinaves_, + published by the Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord, 2 vols., + Copenhagen, 1850–1852, vol. ii, pp. 394–415. + + See above, p. 405, note 90. + + Norlind, Arnold. _Das Problem des gegenseitigen Verhältnisses von Land + und Wasser und seine Behandlung im Mittelalter_ (Lunds + Universitets Årsskrift, N. S., pt. 1, vol. xiv, no. 12), Lund and + Leipzig, 1918. + + On the evolution of ancient and medieval theories regarding the + relative positions of earth and water and the interpenetration of + the land by channels of water. + + Oberhummer, Eugen. _Bericht über Lander- und Völkerkunde der antiken + Welt_, in: Geographisches Jahrbuch, Gotha, vols. xix, 1896, xxii, + 1899, xxviii, 1905. (See also vol. xxxiv, 1911.) + + See above, p. 492. + + ODO OF RHEIMS. _Epistola ad Thomam comitem de quodam miraculo S. + Thomae Apostoli_, in: Zarncke, _Priester Johannes_, Erste + Abhandlung, in: Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, pp. 845–846 (also + numbered 19–20). + + Oehlmann, E. _Die Alpenpässe im Mittelalter_, in: Jahrbuch für + schweizerische Geschichte, Zurich, vol. iii, 1878, pp. 165–289, + vol. iv, 1879, pp. 163–324. + + Oppert, Gustav. _Der Presbyter Johannes in Sage und Geschichte_, 2nd + edit., Berlin, 1870. + + ORDERICUS VITALIS. _Historia ecclesiastica_, edited by Auguste le + Prévost and Léopold Delisle (Société de l’Histoire de France, + [publ.] no. 6), 5 vols., Paris, 1838–1855. Also in Migne, _Pat. + lat._, vol. clxxxviii, cols. 47–984. + + _ORIGINES ISLANDICAE._ See Vigfusson, G., and F. York Powell. + + OROSIUS. _Historiarum adversus paganos libri VII_, edited by C. + Zangemeister, Leipzig (Teubner), 1889. Also in: _Corpus script. + eccles. lat._, vol. v, 1882. The geographical chapter alone in: + Riese, _Geogr. lat. min._, 1878, pp. 56–70. + + OTTO OF FREISING. I. _Chronicon_, edited by Adolf Hofmeister, in: + _Scriptores rerum germ. in usum scholarum_, Hanover and Leipzig, + 1912. This edition supersedes that in: Mon. Germ. hist., + Scriptores, vol. xx, pp. 116–301. II. _Gesta Friderici I + imperatoris cum continuatione Rahewini_, edited by G. Waitz, in: + _Scriptores rerum germ. in usum scholarum_, Hanover, 1884. This + edition supersedes that in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. + xx, pp. 347–491. + + See Hofmeister, A. + + Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society. _THE LIBRARY OF THE PALESTINE + PILGRIMS’ TEXT SOCIETY_, 13 vols, and index vol., London, 1897. + The individual texts, which were combined under this title, had + been issued separately between 1885 and 1897. + + English translations of medieval pilgrims’ descriptions of the + Holy Land. + + Pannenborg, A. _Über den Ligurinus_, in: Forschungen zur deutschen + Geschichte, vol. xi, Munich, 1871, pp. 163–300. + + Pannenborg, A. _Magister Guntherus und seine Schriften_, in: + Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. xiii, Munich, 1873, pp. + 227–331. + + Pannenborg, A. _Der Verfasser des Ligurinus: Studien zu den Schriften + des Magister Gunther_, Göttingen, 1884. + + Paraskévopoulos, J. S. _The Etesiens_, in: Monthly Weather Review, + vol. 50, Washington, 1922, pp. 417–422. + + Pardi, G. _L’Italia nel XII secolo descritta da un geografo arabo_ + (Memorie geografiche di Giotto Dainelli pubblicate come + supplemento alla “Rivista geografica italiana,” no. 38), Florence, + 1919. + + A discussion of Edrisi’s geography of Italy. + + Paris, Gaston. _Dissertation critique sur le poème latin du Ligurinus + attribué à Gunther_, Paris, 1872. + + Paris, Gaston. _La Sicile dans la littérature française du moyen âge_, + in: Romania, vol. v, Paris, 1876, pp. 108–113. + + Aims to suggest possibilities of research rather than to stand as + a finished study. + + Paris, Gaston. _La littérature française au moyen âge_, 3rd edit., + Paris, 1905; 5th edit., 1914. English translation by H. Lynch + entitled _Medieval French Literature_ in Temple Primer Series, + London, 1902. + + Covers the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries. A useful summary + and interpretation by a foremost authority. + + PARIS, MATTHEW. See MATTHEW PARIS. + + Parker, H. _The Seven Liberal Arts_, in: English Historical Review, + vol. v, London, 1890, pp. 417–461. + + PAUL THE DEACON. _Historia gentis Langobardorum_, in: _Mon. Germ. + hist., Scriptores rerum langobardicarum_, Hanover, 1878. Also in: + _Scriptores rerum germ. in usum scholarum_, Hanover, 1878. + + Pelliot, Paul. _Chrétiens d’Asie centrale et d’Extrême-Orient_, in: + T’oung Pao, ou archives concernant l’histoire, les langues, la + géographie et l’ethnographie de l’Asie orientale, vol. xv, Leiden, + 1914, pp. 623–644. + + Summary of recent researches. Includes data on the origins of the + legend of Prester John. + + Peschel, Oscar. _Geschichte der Erdkunde bis auf Alexander von + Humboldt und Karl Ritter_, 2nd edit., edited by Sophus Ruge, + Munich, 1877. + + Peschel, Oscar. _Abhandlungen zur Erd- und Völkerkunde_, 3 vols., + Leipzig, 1877–1879. + + PETACHIA OF RATISBON. _The Travels of Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon._ + English translation by A. Benisch and W. F. Ainsworth, London, + 1856. + + PETER ABELARD. See ABELARD, PETER. + + PETER ALPHONSI. See ALPHONSI, PETER. + + PETER COMESTOR. See COMESTOR, PETER. + + PETER LOMBARD. See LOMBARD, PETER. + + _PEUTINGER TABLE._ See Miller, _Weltkarte des Castorius_, 1888; the + same, _Itin. Romana_, 1916. + + Philipp, Hans. _Die historisch-geographischen Quellen in den + Etymologiae des Isidorus von Sivillia_ (Quellen und Forschungen + zur alten Geschichte und Geographie herausgegeben von W. Sieglin, + nos. 25–26), 2 pts., Berlin, 1912–1913. + + Philipps, W. R. _The Connection of St. Thomas the Apostle with India_, + in: The Indian Antiquary, vol. xxxii, Bombay, 1903, pp. 1–15, + 145–160. + + PLATO. _Dialogues_, English translation by Benjamin Jowett, _The + Dialogues of Plato_, 5 vols., London, 1892. + + PLATO OF TIVOLI. Translation of the _Astronomy_ of Al-Battānī. + Manuscript in: Bibliothèque Nationale MSS., fonds latin, no. 7266, + fols. 47–112vo. Also published under the title _Mahometis + Albatenii de scientia stellarum liber, cum aliquot additionibus + Joannis Regiomontani, ex Bibliotheca Vaticana transcriptus_, + Bologna, 1645. + + See BATTĀNĪ, Al-; Boncompagni, _Delle versione_, 1851. + + PLINY. _Historia naturalis._ Edited by C. Mayhoff, _C. Plinii Secundi + Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII_, 6 vols., Leipzig, 1892–1909. + The references in the present work are to chapters of this + edition. English translation by John Bostock and H. T. Riley, 6 + vols. (Bohn’s Classical Library), London, 1855–1857. For the + geographical books see D. Detlefsen, _Die geographischen Bücher + (II, 242-VI Schluss) der Naturalis Historia des C. Plinius + Secundus, mit vollständigem kritischen Apparat_ (Quellen und + Forschungen zur alten Geschichte und Geographie herausgegeben von + W. Sieglin, no. 9), Berlin, 1904. + + See Detlefsen, _Geographie Afrikas_, 1909; Klotz, A.; Rück, K. + + POLO, MARCO. _The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian Concerning the + Kingdoms and Marvels of the East_, translated and edited with + notes by Sir Henry Yule, 3rd edit. revised by Henri Cordier, 2 + vols., London, 1903. Supplemented by: Henri Cordier, _Ser Marco + Polo: Notes and Addenda to Sir Henry Yule’s Edition, Containing + the Results of Recent Research and Discovery_, London and New + York, 1920. + + POMPONIUS MELA. _De situ orbis_, edited by [J. M. N. D.] Nisard, in: + _Macrobe (Oeuvres complètes), Varron (De la langue latine), + Pomponius Mela (Oeuvres complètes), avec la traduction en + français_ (Collection des auteurs latins avec la traduction en + français, publiée sous la direction de M. Nisard), Paris, 1883. + Also edited by G. Parthey, Berlin, 1867. + + Poole, R. L. _Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought and + Learning_, 2nd edit., revised, London, 1920. + + Poole, R. L. _The Masters of the Schools at Paris and Chartres in John + of Salisbury’s Time_, in: English Historical Review, vol. xxxv, + London, 1920, pp. 321–342. + + Potthast, August. _Bibliotheca historica medii aevi: Wegweiser durch + die Geschichtswerke des europäischen Mittelalters bis 1500_, 2nd + edit., 2 vols., Berlin, 1896. + + See above, pp. 491–492. + + Powell, F. York. See SAXO GRAMMATICUS; Vigfusson, G., and F. York + Powell. + + _PRECEPTUM CANONIS PTOLEMEI._ Manuscript in Chartres, Bibliothèque + Publique, MS. no. 214. + + PRESBYTER JOHANNES. See PRESTER JOHN. + + PRESTER JOHN. Letters and documents relating to Prester John or + supposedly written by him: I. _Letter of Prester John_, in: + Friedrich Zarncke, _Der Priester Johannes_, Erste Abhandlung, in: + Koeniglich-saechsische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, + Abhandlungen, Philologisch-historische Classe, vol. vii, Leipzig, + 1879, pp. 909–924 (also numbered 83–98). For medieval German + translations, see Zarncke, _ibid._, pp. 947–1028 (also numbered + 121–202); for other medieval Latin and English versions, see + Zarncke, in: Koeniglich-saechisische Gesellschaft der + Wissenschaften, Berichte, vol. xxix, Leipzig, 1877, pp. 111–156; + vol. XXX, pt. I, 1878, pp. 41–46. II. _Elysaeus Account_, in: + Zarncke, _Der Priester Johannes_, Zweite Abhandlung, in: + Königlich-sächische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Abhandlungen, + Philologisch-historische Classe, vol. viii, Leipzig, 1876 (_sic_), + pp. 122–128. III. _Letter from Pope Alexander III to Prester + John_, in: Zarncke. _op. cit._, Erste Abhandlung, in: + Abhandlungen, vol. vii, 1879, pp. 941–944 (also numbered 115–118). + + See Bruun, P.; Oppert, G. + + Prior, O. H. See _IMAGE DU MONDE, L’_. + + PRISCIAN. _Periegesis_, edited by C. Müller, _Geogr. graeci min._, + vol. ii, Paris, 1882, pp. 190–199. + + PSELLOS, MICHAEL. See Zervos, C. + + PSEUDO-ABDIAS. See ABDIAS, PSEUDO-. + + _PSEUDO-CALLISTHENES._ See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, I. + + _PSEUDO-METHODIUS._ See Sackur, E. + + PTOLEMY, CLAUDIUS. I. Μαθεματικῆς συντάξεως βιβλία ̅ι̅γ (_Mathematical + Composition_ or _Almagest_), edited by J. L. Heiberg, _Claudii + Ptolemaei opera quae exstant omnia_, vol. i, pts. 1 and 2, + _Syntaxis mathematica_, Leipzig (Teubner), 1898–1903. French + translation: _Composition mathématique de Claude Ptolemée traduite + pour la première fois du grec en français sur les manuscrits + originaux de la Bibliothèque imperiale par M. Halma (avec le texte + grec) et suivie des notes de M. Delambre_, 2 vols., Paris, + 1813–1816. German translation: Karl Manitius, _Des Claudius + Ptolemäus Handbuch der Astronomie_, Leipzig (Teubner), 1912. The + introduction of the last named gives a brief account of the + influence of the _Almagest_ in later times. See also above, p. + 398, note 32. II. Γεωγραφικὴ ὑφήγησις (_Geography_). Books i-v + edited, with Latin translation, by Carolus Müllerus, _Claudii + Ptolemaei Geographia_, vol. i, pts. 1 and 2, and atlas, Paris, + 1883–1901. Complete Greek text edited by C. F. A. Nobbe, _Cl. + Ptolemaei Geographia_, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1888–1913. Also numerous + fifteenth- and sixteenth-century editions. + + See Dinse, _Ptolemäus-Karten_, 1913; Fischer, J.; Haskins, C. H., + and D. P. Lockwood; Rose, V.; Schütte, G.; Tudeer, L. O. T. + + Pullé, F. L. _La cartografia antica dell’ India_, pt. 2: _Il medio-evo + europeo e il primo rinascimento_, in: Studi italiani di filologia + indo-iranica, vol. v, Florence and Pisa, 1905. (Pt. 1, in vol. iv + of the Studi italiani, etc., is entitled _Disegno della + cartografia antica dell’ India_, Florence, 1901, and deals with + the period “dai principi fino ai Bizantini e agli Arabi”). + + RABAN MAUR. _De universo_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cxi, cols. + 9–614. See Bertolini, _I quattro angoli_, 1910. + + Rafn, C. C., edit. _ANTIQUITATES AMERICANAE, SIVE SCRIPTORES + SEPTENTRIONALES RERUM ANTE-COLUMBIANARUM IN AMERICA_, Societas + Regia Antiquariorum Septentrionalium, Copenhagen, 1837; + Supplement, 1841. + + Collection of sources of Norse voyages to America with commentary. + + RAGEWIN. See OTTO OF FREISING, II. + + Rahn, J. R. _Die Glasgemälde in der Rosette der Kathedrale von + Lausanne: Ein Bild der Welt aus dem XIII. Jahrhundert_, in: + Mittheilungen der Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Zürich, vol. xx, + 1878–1879, pp. 31(3)-58(30). + + Deals with medieval geography as displayed on a stained glass + window. A facsimile of the window is given. + + Rainaud, Armand. _Le continent austral: Hypothèses et découvertes_, + Paris, 1893. + + History of the evolution of theories regarding the antipodes and + austral continent and of explorations to the south from early + times to the voyages of Cook. + + Rand, E. K. _Johannes Scottus_ (Quellen und Forschungen zur + lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters herausgegeben von Ludwig + Traube, vol. i, pt. 2), Munich, 1906. + + RAVENNA GEOGRAPHER, Anonymous. _Cosmographia_, edited by M. Pinder and + G. Parthey, _Ravennatis anonymi Cosmographia et Guidonis + Geographica_, Berlin, 1860, pp. 1–445. + + RAYMOND OF MARSEILLES. _Marseilles Tables._ Unpublished. On + manuscripts see Haskins, _Studies_, 1924, pp. 96–98, and also + above, p. 399, note 41. On a geographical table accompanying the + Paris manuscript see J. K. Wright, _Knowledge of Latitudes and + Longitudes_, 1923, pp. 87–88. + + Reeves, A. M. _THE FINDING OF WINELAND THE GOOD: THE HISTORY OF THE + ICELANDIC DISCOVERY OF AMERICA_, London, 1890. + + Translations of the sources with critical commentary. + + Reinhard, R. _Pässe und Strassen in den schweizer Alpen: + Topographisch-historische Studien_, Lucerne, 1903. + + Reinaud, J. T. _Mémoire géographique, historique, et scientifique sur + l’Inde antérieurement au milieu du xi^e siècle_, etc., Paris, + 1849. + + Reinaud, J. T., on Moslem geography. See ABŪ-L-FIDĀ. + + Renan, Ernest. _Averroès et l’Averroïsme_, 1st edit., Paris, 1852; 3rd + edit., Paris, 1866; 4th edit., Paris, 1882. + + _RERUM BRITANNICARUM MEDII AEVI SCRIPTORES._ See “_ROLLS SERIES_.” + + Revelli, P. _Una “rosa dei venti” del secolo ix_, in: Bollettino della + Società Geografica Italiana, vol. xlvii, Rome, 1910, pp. 269–279. + + Rey, E. _Les colonies franques de Syrie aux xii^e et xiii^e siècles_, + Paris, 1883. + + On society, economic conditions, and life. + + Rey, E. _Géographie historique de la Syrie au temps des croisades: + Formation des noms de lieux avec index des localités occupées en + Syrie par les Francs au xii^e et xiii^e siècles_, Geneva, n. d. + + Reynaud, G. See Michelant, H., and G. Reynaud. + + Riese, Alexander, edit. _GEOGRAPHI LATINI MINORES_, Heilbronn, 1878. + + Important collection of texts of the writings of the lesser Latin + geographers. + + Robbins, F. E. _The Hexaemeral Literature: A Study of the Greek and + Latin Commentaries on Genesis_ (Doctoral Dissertation, University + of Chicago, 1912). + + Includes useful material on classical and medieval theories of + cosmogony. + + ROBERT DE CLARI. _La prise de Constantinople_, edited by Charles Hopf, + in his _Chroniques gréco-romanes inédites ou peu connues_, Berlin, + 1873, pp. 1–85. + + ROBERT GROSSETESTE. See GROSSETESTE, ROBERT. + + ROBERT OF RETINES (ROBERT OF KETENE, ROBERT OF CHESTER). I. + Translation of the _Astronomy_ of Al-Battānī. No text of this is + known. See above p. 398, note 36. II. Adaptation to the meridian + of London of tables of Az-Zarqalī and Al-Battānī. Unpublished. See + Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, p. 64; the same, _Studies_, 1924, p. + 122. III. Adaptation of Adelard of Bath’s translation of the + _Khorazmian Tables_ to the meridian of London. Unpublished. See + Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, pp. 64–65; the same, _Studies_, 1924, + p. 123. + + ROGER OF HEREFORD. I. _Theorica planetarum._ Unpublished. II. Tables + for the meridian of Hereford based on tables for Toledo and + Marseilles. Unpublished. + + On manuscripts see Haskins, _Reception_, 1915, p. 66; the same, + Studies, 1924, p. 125. + + ROGER OF HOVEDEN (HOWDEN). _Chronica_, edited by William Stubbs (Rolls + Series, no. 51), 4 vols., London, 1868–1871. + + Röhricht, Reinhold. _Bibliotheca geographica Palaestinae_, Berlin, + 1890. + + “_ROLLS SERIES._” Customary designation of _RERUM BRITANNICARUM MEDII + AEVI SCRIPTORES, OR CHRONICLES AND MEMORIALS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND + IRELAND DURING THE MIDDLE AGES_, published by authority of Her + Majesty’s Treasury, under direction of the Master of the Rolls, + London, 1858–1891. + + Roscher, W. H. _Omphalos_, in: Koeniglich-saechsische Gesellschaft der + Wissenschaften, Abhandlungen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, + vol. xxix, Leipzig, 1913, pp. 1–140. + + Roscher, W. H. _Neue Omphalosstudien_, in: Koeniglich-saechsische + Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Abhandlungen, + Philologisch-historische Klasse, vol. xxi, Leipzig, 1915, pp. + 1–90. + + Rose, Valentin. _Ptolemäus und die Schule von Toledo_, in: Hermes: + Zeitschrift für classische Philologie, vol. viii, Berlin, 1874, + pp. 327–349. + + Rose, Valentin, on Arnold the Saxon. See ARNOLD THE SAXON. + + Rück, Karl. _Auszüge aus der Naturgeschichte des C. Plinius Secundus + in einem astronomisch-komputistischen Sammelwerke des achten + Jahrhunderts_, Programm des Ludwigsgymnasiums in München, Munich, + 1888. + + Rück, Karl. _Die Naturalis Historia des Plinius im Mittelalter: + Exzerpte aus der Naturalis Historia auf den Bibliotheken zu + Lucca, Paris und Leiden_, in: Koeniglich-bayerische + Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München, Sitzungsberichte, + Philosophisch-philologische und historische Classe, vol. ii, + Munich, 1898, pp. 203–318. + + Rück, Karl. _Das Exzerpt der Naturalis Historia des Plinius + von Robert von Cricklade_, in: Koeniglich-bayerische + Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München, Sitzungsberichte, + Philosophisch-philologische und historische Classe, Munich, 1902, + pp. 195–285. + + RUDOLF OF HOHEN-EMS. See Doberentz, O. + + Ruge, Sophus, and Walther Ruge. _Die Litteratur zur Geschichte der + Erdkunde vom Mittelalter an_, in: Geographisches Jahrbuch, Gotha, + vols. xviii, 1895, pp. 1–60; xx, 1897, pp. 217–248; xxiii, 1900, + pp. 173–212; xxvi, 1903, pp. 175–218; xxx, 1907, pp. 329–380. + + See above, p. 492. + + RUPERT OF DEUTZ. _De sancta trinitate et operibus eius_, in: Migne, + _Pat. lat._, vol. clxvii, cols. 199–1828. + + Sackur, Ernst. _Sibyllinische Texte und Forschungen_, Halle, 1898. + + Data on early medieval prophecies of the end of the world, + including the _Pseudo-Methodius_. + + SACROBOSCO. See JOHN OF HOLYWOOD. + + SAEWULF. _De situ Hierusalem_, edited by A. d’Avezac (Recueil de + voyages et de mémoires publiées par la Société de Géographie, vol. + iv, pp. 817–854), Paris, 1839. English translation in Thomas + Wright, _Early Travels_, 1848, pp. 31–50. Also translation by + Canon Brownlow in Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, _Library_, + vol. iv, London, 1897. + + _SAGAS, THE._ For editions, see Hermannsson, _Bibl. Icelandic Sagas_, + 1908; the same, _Bibl. Sagas Kings_, 1910. + + Sandys, Sir J. E. _A History of Classical Scholarship_, 3rd edit., + vol. i, _From the Sixth Century B. C. to the End of the Middle + Ages_, Cambridge, 1921. + + Santarem, [M. F.] Le Vicomte de. _Essai sur l’histoire de la + cosmographie et de la cartographie pendant le moyen âge_, etc., 3 + vols. and atlas, Paris, 1849–1852. + + An elaborate study. Vol. i contains a general summary of the + development of cartography and geographic theories during the + early Middle Ages. Though largely out of date in details, this + great work is still one of the primary approaches to medieval + geography. + + SAXO GRAMMATICUS. _Gesta Danorum_, edited by Alfred Holder, Strasburg, + 1886. English translation: _The First Nine Books of the Danish + History of Saxo Grammaticus_, translated by Oliver Elton, with + some considerations on Saxo’s sources, historical methods, and + folk lore, by Frederick York Powell, London, 1894. + + Scala, R. von. _Das Fortleben der eratosthenischen Masse_, in: + Verhandlungen des achtzehnten deutschen Geographentages zu + Innsbruck, Berlin, 1912, pp. 206–217. + + Schaube, Adolf. _Handelsgeschichte der romanischen Völker des + Mittelmeergebiets bis zum Ende der Kreuzzüge_, Munich and Berlin, + 1906. + + Valuable from the geographic point of view for the light it throws + on the extent of travel of Mediterranean peoples during the Middle + Ages. + + Scheffel, P. H. _Verkehrsgeschichte der Alpen_: vol. i, _Bis zum Ende + des Ostgotenreiches Theodorichs des Grossen_; vol. ii, _Das + Mittelalter_; Berlin, 1908, 1914. + + Schmidt, W. _Über Dante’s Stellung in der Geschichte der + Kosmographie_, Graz, 1876 (not seen). + + Schneid, M. _Die Lehre von der Erdrundung und Erdbewegung im + Mittelalter_, in: Historisch-politische Blätter für das + katholische Deutschland, vol. lxxx, no. 6, Munich, 1877, pp. + 433–451. + + Reply from Catholic point of view to a paper of same title in S. + Günther’s _Studien_, 1877–1879. + + Schneider, Artur. _Die abendländische Spekulation des zwölften + Jahrhunderts in ihrem Verhältnis zur aristotelischen und + jüdisch-arabischen Philosophie_, in: Beiträge zur Geschichte der + Philosophie des Mittelalters herausgegeben von C. Baeumker, vol. + xvii, pt. 4, Münster, 1915. + + Schoy, Carl. _Die geschichtliche Entwicklung der Polhöhenbestimmung + bei den älteren Völkern_ (Dissertation, University of Munich, + 1911). + + Schoy, Carl. _Längenbestimmung und Zentralmeridian bei den älteren + Völkern_, Mitteilungen der Kaiserlich-koeniglichen Geographischen + Gesellschaft in Wien, vol. lviii, Vienna, 1915, pp. 27–62. + + Schoy, Carl. _Erdmessungen bei den Arabern_, in: Zeitschrift der + Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1917, pp. 431–445. + + Schoy, Carl. _Aus der astronomischen Geographie der Araber: + Originalstudien aus “Al-Qânûn al-Masʿûdî” des arabischen + Astronomen Muḥ. b. Ahmed Abû’l-Rîḥân al-Bîrûnî (973–1048)_, in: + Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and + Civilization, vol. v, pt. 1, Brussels, 1923, pp. 51–74. + + Schoy, Carl. _The Geography of the Moslems of the Middle Ages_, in: + Geographical Review, vol. xiv, New York, 1924, pp. 257–269. + + Schröder, Carl. See BRANDAN, Saint. + + Schulte, A. _Geschichte des mittelalterlichen Handels und Verkehrs + zwischen Westdeutschland und Italien mit Ausschluss von Venedig_, + 2 vols., Leipzig, 1900. + + Includes data on the Alpine passes in the Middle Ages. + + Schütte, Gudmund. _Ptolemy’s Maps of Northern Europe_, Copenhagen, + 1917. + + SCOT, MICHAEL. See MICHAEL SCOT. + + SCOTUS ERIGENA. See JOHN SCOT ERIGENA. + + _SCRIPTORES RERUM GERMANICARUM IN USUM SCHOLARUM EX MONUMENTIS + GERMANIAE HISTORICIS RECUSI_, Hanover, 1840 ff. The volumes of + this series are not numbered, only dated. + + Important collection of sources based on _Mon. Germ. hist._ In + some cases the texts are revisions and improvements over those of + the _Monumenta_. + + _SCRIPTURE._ See _BIBLE_. + + SENECA. _Quaestiones naturales_, edited by Alfred Gercke, _Naturalium + quaestionum libri VIII_, Leipzig (Teubner), 1907. English + translation: John Clarke, _Physical Science in the Time of Nero, + Being a Translation of the Quaestiones Naturales of Seneca_, with + notes by Sir Archibald Geikie, London, 1910. + + Shadwell, C. L. See DANTE, V. + + SIGURD THE CRUSADER. _The Saga of Sigurd the Crusader_, in Snorri + Sturluson’s _Heimskringla_. See Hermannsson, _Bibl. Sagas Kings_, + 1910, pp. 19–30. English translation in Thomas Wright, _Early + Travels_, 1848, pp. 50–62. + + Simar, T. _La géographie de l’Afrique centrale dans l’antiquité et au + moyen âge_, Brussels, 1912. Also published in: Revue Congolaise, + vol. iii, Brussels, 1912, pp. 1–23, 81–102, 145–169, 225–252, + 289–310, 440–441. + + A thorough and well-documented study of the evolution of ancient + and medieval knowledge of Central Africa. + + Singer, Charles. _The Scientific Views and Visions of Saint + Hildegard_, in: Charles Singer, edit., _Studies in the History and + Method of Science_, vol. i, Oxford, 1917, pp. 1–55. + + Singer, Charles. _Daniel of Morley, An English Philosopher of the + XIIth Century_, in: Isis: International Review Devoted to the + History of Science and Civilization, vol. iii, Brussels, 1920, pp. + 263–269. + + _SITU ORBIS, DE._ M. Manitius, edit., _Anonymi de situ orbis_, + Stuttgart, 1884. + + A compilation dating from the end of the ninth century. + + _SITU TERRARUM, DE._ See HUGH OF ST. VICTOR, VI. + + SNORRI STURLUSON. I. _Heimskringla._ On editions see Hermannsson, + _Bibl. Sagas Kings_, 1910, pp. 19–30. English translation by + William Morris and Eirikr Magnûsson in: _The Saga Library_, vols. + iii-vi, London, 1893–1905. II. _Snorra Edda (Snorri’s Edda)._ On + editions see Hermannsson, _Bibl. Eddas_, 1920, pp. 74–79. English + translations: R. B. Anderson, _The Younger Edda, Also Called + Snorre’s Edda, or the Prose Edda: An English Version of the + Foreword; the Fooling of Gylfe; the Afterword; Brage’s Talk; the + Afterword to Brage’s Talk; and Important Passages of the Poetical + Diction (Skaldskaparmal)_, Chicago, 1880; A. G. Brodeur, _The + Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson_, New York, 1916 (not seen). + + SOLINUS. _C. Iulii Solini collectanea rerum memorabilium_, edited by + Theodor Mommsen, Berlin, 1895. + + See Columba, G. M. + + _SPECULUM REGALE._ See _KONUNGS-SKUGGSJÁ_. + + Spitta, Wilhelm. _Die Geographie des Ptolemaeus bei den + Arabern_, in: Verhandlungen des fünften internationalen + Orientalisten-Congresses, pt. 2, Abhandlungen und Vorträge, + vol. i, Berlin, 1882, pp. 19–28. + + Stange, Emil. _Arnoldus Saxo, der älteste Enzyklopädist des XIII. + Jahrhunderts_ (Dissertation, University of Halle, 1885). + + Stange, Emil. On _Arnold the Saxon_, in: Programm des königlichen + Gymnasiums zu Erfurt, 1905–1907 (not seen). + + Steele, Robert. _Roger Bacon and the State of Science in the + Thirteenth Century_, in: Charles Singer, edit., _Studies in the + History and Method of Science_, vol. ii, Oxford, 1921, pp. + 121–150. + + Steele, Robert. See BARTHOLOMEW ANGLICUS. + + Stegmann, Otto. _Die Anschauungen des Mittelalters über die endogenen + Erscheinungen der Erde_ (Dissertation, University of Tübingen, + 1913). Also in: Archiv für die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften + und der Technik, vol. iv, Leipzig, 1913, pp. 243–269. + + Steinschneider, Moritz. _Études sur Zarkali, astronome arabe du xi^e + siècle, et ses ouvrages_, in: Bollettino di bibliografia e di + storia della scienze matematiche e fisiche pubblicato da B. + Boncompagni, Rome, vols. xiv, 1881, pp. 171–182; xvi, 1883, pp. + 493–527; xvii, 1884, pp. 765–794; xviii, 1885, pp. 343–360; xx, + 1887, pp. 1–36, 575–604. + + Steinschneider, Moritz. _Die hebräischen Übersetzungen des + Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher: Ein Beitrag zur + Literaturgeschichte des Mittelalters_, 2 vols., Berlin, 1893. + + Steinschneider, Moritz. _Die europäischen Übersetzungen aus + dem Arabischen bis Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts_, in: + Kaiserlich-koenigliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, + Sitzungsberichte, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Vienna, vol. + cxlix, 1905, pp. 1–84; vol. cli, 1906, pp. 1–108. + + This and the preceding are arranged alphabetically by authors’ or + translators’ names and by titles. + + Storm, Gustav, edit. _MONUMENTA HISTORICA NORVEGIAE: LATINSKE + KILDESKRIFTER TIL NORGES HISTORIE I MIDDELALDEREN_, Christiania, + 1880. + + Collection of texts of several medieval histories of Norway, + including _Historia Norwegiae_ and Theodricus Monachus, _Historia + de antiquitate regum norwagensium_. + + Stubbs, William. See BENEDICT OF PETERBOROUGH; GERVASE OF CANTERBURY; + ROGER OF HOVEDEN. + + STURLUSON, SNORRI. See SNORRI STURLUSON. + + Suchier, H. See BRANDAN, Saint. + + SULPICIUS SEVERUS. _Dialogus_, in: Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. xx, cols. + 183–222. + + Suter, Heinrich. _Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre + Werke_, in: Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematischen + Wissenschaften, etc., vol. x and vol. xiv, pp. 155–185, Leipzig, + 1900, 1902. + + Suter, Heinrich, on the Kharazmian Tables. See KHWĀRIZMĪ, Al-, II. + + SYLVESTER, BERNARD. See BERNARD SYLVESTER. + + SYLVESTER II (Pope). See GERBERT. + + _TABULA PEUTINGERIANA._ See Miller, _Weltkarte des Castorius_, 1888; + the same, _Itin. Romana_, 1916. + + Thalamas, A. _Étude bibliographique de la géographie d’Ératosthène_, + Versailles, 1921. + + Thalamas, A. _La géographie d’Ératosthène_, Versailles, 1921. + + THEODERIC (Pilgrim). _Libellus de locis sanctis_, edited by T. Tobler, + St. Gall and Paris, 1865. English translation by Aubrey Stewart, + _Theoderich’s Description of the Holy Places (circa 1172 A. D.)_, + London, 1891 (in: Palestine Pilgrims’ Text Society, _Library_, + vol. v, London, 1897). + + THEODORIC OF CHARTRES. _De sex dierum operibus_, edited by B. Hauréau, + in his _Notices et extraits de quelques manuscrits latins de la + Bibliothèque Nationale_, vol. i, Paris, 1890, pp. 52–68. + + THEODRICUS MONACHUS. _Historia de antiquitate regum norwagiensium_, + edited by G. Storm, in his _Mon. hist. Norveg._, 1880, pp. 1–68. + + THIERRY DE CHARTRES. See THEODORIC OF CHARTRES. + + THOMAS, Saint (The Apostle). See ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, APOCRYPHAL; + Dahlmann, J.; Philipps, W. R. + + Thorndike, Lynn. _A History of Magic and Experimental Science During + the First Thirteen Centuries of Our Era_, 2 vols., New York, 1923. + + Fundamental work on the subject. Contains many valuable + bibliographical indications. The researches whose results are + embodied in these volumes were largely made in manuscript sources. + + Thoroddsen, Thorvaldur. _Geschichte der isländischen Geographie._ + Translated into German by A. Gebhart. Vol. i, _Die isländische + Geographie bis zum Schlusse des 16. Jahrhunderts_, Leipzig, 1897. + + The outstanding work on the historical geography of Iceland. + Contains section (pp. 53–92) on the oldest descriptions of Iceland + and on Iceland on medieval maps. + + Tiander, K. _Poyezdki Skandinavov v Byeloe More (The Voyages + of the Scandinavians to the White Sea)_, in: Zapiski + Istoriko-Filologicheskago Fakulteta Imperatorskago + S. Peterburgskago Universiteta (Journal of the + Historical-Philological Faculty of the Imperial University of St. + Petersburg), vol. lxxix, 1906. + + Tillinghast, W. H. _The Geographical Knowledge of the Ancients + Considered in Relation to the Discovery of America_, in: Justin + Winsor, edit., _Narrative and Critical History of America_, vol. + i, Boston and New York, 1889, ch. i. + + Particularly valuable for its bibliographical references. + + Tobler, Titus, edit. _DESCRIPTIONES TERRAE SANCTAE EX SAECULO VIII, + IX, XII, ET XV_, Leipzig, 1874. + + See also THEODERIC (Pilgrim). + + Tobler, Titus, edit. _ITINERA ET DESCRIPTIONES TERRAE SANCTAE, LINGUA + LATINA SAEC. IV-XI EXARATA_, vol. i (constituting Publications de + la Société de l’Orient Latin: Série géographique, no. 1), Geneva, + 1877. + + Tobler, Titus, and A. Molinier, edits. _ITINERA HIEROSOLYMITANA ET + DESCRIPTIONES TERRAE SANCTAE BELLIS SACRIS ANTERIORA ET LATINA + LINGUA EXARATA_, vol. i, pt. 2 (constituting Publications de la + Société de l’Orient latin: Série géographique, no. 2) Geneva, + 1880; vol. ii, edited by A. Molinier and C. Kohler, (constituting + _op. cit._, no. 4), Geneva, 1885. + + _TOLEDO TABLES._ Unpublished. On manuscripts of Latin translations, + see Steinschneider, _Études sur Zarkali_, in: Bollettino, vol. xx, + 1887, pp. 1–36, 575–604. + + Tozer, H. F. _A History of Ancient Geography_, Cambridge, 1897. + + Brief, attractively written introduction. + + Tudeer, L. O. T. _On the Origin of the Maps Attached to Ptolemy’s + Geography_, in: Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. xxxvii, pt. 1, + London, 1917, pp. 62–76. + + VALERIUS, JULIUS. See _ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ROMANCE OF_, II, III. + + Van der Linden, Herman. _Virgile de Salzbourg et les théories + cosmographiques au VIII^e siècle_, in: Académie royale de + Belgique, Bulletin de la Classe des lettres, Brussels, 1914, pp. + 163–187. + + Vaux, Carra de. See Carra de Vaux, B. + + Vidier, A. _La mappemonde de Théodulfe et la mappemonde de Ripoll + (ix^e-xi^e siècle)_, in: Bulletin de géographie historique et + descriptive, Paris, 1911, pp. 285–313. + + Vigfusson, Gudbrand, and F. York Powell, edits, and transls. _ORIGINES + ISLANDICAE: A COLLECTION OF THE MORE IMPORTANT SAGAS AND OTHER + NATIVE WRITINGS RELATING TO THE SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY OF + ICELAND_, 2 vols., Oxford, 1905. + + VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS. I. _Speculum naturale_ and (II) _Speculum + historiale_, in: _Bibliotheca mundi Vincentii Burgundii ... + episcopi Bellovacensis speculum quadruplex, opere et studio + theologorum Benedictinorum collegii Vedastini_, 4 vols., Douai, + 1624. This is the latest complete edition. For bibliographical + notes, see J. C. Brunet, _Manuel du libraire_, vol. v, Paris, + 1864, cols. 1253–1257. On _Speculum historiale_, see Potthast, + _Bibliotheca_, vol. ii, 1896, p. 1095. + + VITALIS, ORDERICUS. See ORDERICUS VITALIS. + + von Mžik; von Scala; etc. See Mžik, von; Scala, von; etc. + + Vulpinus, T. See GUNTHER OF PAIRIS. + + WALTER OF CHÂTILLON (WALTER OF LILLE). _Alexandreis_, edited by F. A. + W. Müldener, Leipzig (Teubner), 1863. For commentary and + bibliography, see Giordano, _Alexandreis_, 1917. + + Wattenbach, W. See GUY OF BAZOCHES. + + Weinhold, Karl. _Die Polargegenden Europas nach den + Vorstellungen des deutschen Mittelalters_, in: Kaiserliche + Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Sitzungsberichte, + Philosophisch-historische Klasse, vol. lxviii, Vienna, 1871, + pp. 783–808. + + Data on the voyages northward described by Adam of Bremen, Saxo + Grammaticus, and other Germanic writers. + + Werlauff, E. C. _Symbolae ad geographiam medii aevi ex monumentis + islandicis_, Copenhagen, 1821. + + A brief summary of the status of Icelandic geographical knowledge + in the Middle Ages together with texts dating from the twelfth + century and later. + + Werner, Karl. _Die Kosmologie und Naturlehre des scholastischen + Mittelalters mit specieller Beziehung auf Wilhelm von Conches_, + in: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, + Sitzungsberichte, Philosophisch-historische Classe, vol. lxxv, + Vienna, 1873, pp. 309–403. + + Werner, Karl. _Die Kosmologie und allgemeine Naturlehre des Roger + Baco_, in: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, + Sitzungsberichte, Philosophisch-historische Classe, vol. xciv, + Vienna, 1879, pp. 489–612. + + Westropp, T. J. _Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the Atlantic_, + in: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, sect. C, no. + 8, Dublin, 1912, pp. 223–260. + + White, A. D. _A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in + Christendom_, 2 vols., New York, 1895 (reprinted 1920). + + A wealth of material is here brought together in an attempt to + demonstrate the almost universally adverse influence that theology + (as distinguished from religion) has exerted on the development of + scientific thought. + + WILLIAM OF AUVERGNE. _De universo_, in: _Guillelmi Alverni, episcopi + parisiensis, opera_, etc. ... _curante Blasio Ferronio_, 2 vols., + Orléans, 1674 (not seen). + + WILLIAM THE BRETON. _Philippidos libri XII_, or _Gesta Philippi regis + Franciae_, edited by H. F. Delaborde, in: _Oeuvres de Rigord et de + Guillaume le Breton_, vol. ii, Paris, 1885, pp. 1–385. Also in + part in: _Mon. Germ. hist._, Scriptores, vol. xxvi, pp. 319–389. + + WILLIAM OF CONCHES. I. _De philosophia mundi_ (or _Philosophicarum et + astronomicarum institutionum libri, tres_ or Περὶ διδαξέων _sive + elementorum philosophiae libri quattuor_), edited in: Migne, _Pat. + lat._, vol. clxxii, cols. 39–102, among the works of Honorius of + Autun (the references in the present work are to books and + chapters of this edition); also in: Migne, _op. cit._, vol. xc, + cols. 1127–1182, among the works of Bede. See above, p. 398, note + 28. Book III, chs. 1–11 and 15, dealing with meteorology, are + printed in Hellmann, _Denkmäler_ 1904, pp. 62–74. II. _Dragmaticon + philosophiae._ This is the title given in the manuscripts. This + work, which corresponds closely in content to the _De philosophia + mundi_, was published at Strasburg, 1567, under the title + _Dialogus de substantis physicis, ante annos ducentos confectus a + Vuilhelmo Aneponymo philosopho. Item libri tres incerti authoris + eiusdem aetatis. I. De calore vitalis. II. De mari aquis. III. De + fluminum origine. Industria Guilelmi Grataroli medici_ ... etc. + The portion of _Dragmaticon philosophiae_ dealing with meteorology + is published in Hellmann, _Denkmäler_, 1904, pp. 42–45. + + See Werner, _Kosm. Wilhelm von Conches_, 1873. + + WILLIAM FITZSTEPHEN. See FITZSTEPHEN, WILLIAM. + + WILLIAM OF TYRE. _Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum_, + or _Belli sacri historia_, in: _Recueil des historiens des + croisades_, Historiens Occidentaux, vol. i, Paris, 1844. Also in: + Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. cci, cols. 209–892. Medieval French + translation edited by Paulin Paris, _Guillaume de Tyr et ses + continuateurs_, 2 vols., Paris, 1879–1880. + + Wisotzki, Emil. _Zeitströmungen in der Geographie_, Leipzig, 1897. + + Important study of tendencies of geographical thought in the + sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, with occasional references to + the earlier periods. + + Woepcke, Franz. _Notice sur quelques manuscrits arabes ... relatifs + aux mathématiques et récemment acquis par la Bibliothèque + Impériale_, in: Journal asiatique, series 5, vol. xix, Paris, + 1862, pp. 101–127. + + Wolkenhauer, W. _Aus der Geschichte der Kartographie_, in: Deutsche + geographische Blätter, vol. xxxiv, Bremen, 1911, pp. 120–129 (on + the cartography of the Greeks and Romans), vol. xxxv, 1912, pp. + 29–47 (on medieval and Moslem cartography). + + A useful summary. Maps are listed and bibliographical data + appended. + + Wright, J. K. _Notes on the Knowledge of Latitudes and Longitudes in + the Middle Ages_, in: Isis: International Review Devoted to the + History of Science and Civilization, vol. v, pt. 1, Brussels, + 1923, pp. 75–98. + + Wright, Thomas, edit. _Popular Treatises on Science Written During the + Middle Ages in Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and English_, London, + 1841. + + Wright, Thomas. _EARLY TRAVELS IN PALESTINE_ (Bohn’s Antiquarian + Library), London, 1848. + + Translations of medieval books of travel. + + Wulf, Maurice de. _Histoire de la philosophie médiévale, précédée d’un + aperçu sur la philosophie ancienne_, Louvain, 1900 (4th edit., + Louvain, 1912). English translation by P. Coffey entitled _History + of Medieval Philosophy_, London and New York, 1909. + + Wüstenfeld, F. _Die Übersetzungen arabischer Werke in das + Lateinische seit dem XI. Jahrhundert_, in: Abhandlungen der + königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, + Philologisch-historische Klasse, vol. xxii, no. 2, 1877. + + Now superseded by Steinschneider, _Europ. Übersetz._, 1905–1906. + + Xivrey, Berger de. See Berger de Xivrey, J. + + York Powell, F. See SAXO GRAMMATICUS; Vigfusson, G., and F. York + Powell. + + Yule, Sir Henry. _Cathay and the Way Thither_, 2nd edit., edited by + Henri Cordier, 4 vols., Hakluyt Society [publs.], series 2, vols. + xxxiii, xxxvii, xxxviii, xli, London, 1913–1916. + + The best general account of the development of Western knowledge + of the Far East in ancient and medieval times. Translations of the + sources are given with commentaries. The introduction is an + excellent outline of the entire subject. + + See also POLO, MARCO. + + Zarncke, Friedrich. See PRESTER JOHN. + + ZARQALĪ, Az-. _Canons on the Toledo Tables._ Unpublished. On + manuscripts, see Steinschneider, _Études sur Zarkali_, in: + Bollettino, vol. xx, 1887, pp. 1–36, 575–604. + + See GERARD OF CREMONA, II. + + Zervos, Charles. _Un philosophe néoplatonicien du XI^e siècle, Michel + Psellos: Sa vie, son oeuvre, ses luttes philosophiques, son + influence_, Paris, 1919. + + Zeuss, Kaspar. _Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstämme_, Munich, 1837. + Many quotations from chronicles and medieval historians. Useful in + determining changes in the names of tribes. + + Zimmer, Heinrich. _Über die frühesten Berührungen der Iren mit den + Nordgermanen_, in: Koeniglich Preussiche Akademie der + Wissenschaften, Sitzungsberichte, Berlin, 1891, pp. 279–317. + + Zöckler, _O. Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen Theologie + und Naturwissenschaft mit besondrer Rücksicht auf + Schöpfungsgeschichte_, 2 vols., Gütersloh, 1877–1879: vol. i, _Von + den Anfängen der christlichen Kirche bis auf Newton und Leibniz_; + vol. ii, _Von Newton und Leibniz bis zur Gegenwart_. + + A thorough study of the development of natural science in its + relation to theology. The author attempts to show that medieval + theology was not adverse to the growth of natural science. + Analyses given of theories of the Creation. + + Zunz, ——. _Essay on the Geographical Literature of the Jews from the + Remotest Times to the Year 1841_, in: _The Itinerary of Rabbi + Benjamin of Tudela_, edited by A. Asher, vol. ii, London and + Berlin, 1841, pp. 230–317. + + + + + INDEX + + _Matter in the Notes (pp. 365–487) that can readily be found from + references in the text is omitted in the index._ + + _Titles in the Bibliography (pp. 503–543), as such, are also omitted + in the index._ + + + Abbreviations, medieval, 493 + + Abelard, Peter, 31, 89, 151; + on the congregation of the waters, 184, 186; + on Nile flood, 206; + on the rivers of Paradise, 264; + on the water above the firmament, 182, 184 + + Abu-l-Ḥasan, 485 + + Abū Maʿshar, 82, 83, 86, 193; + on the tides, 84 + + Abyss, 59 + + Abyssinia, 283, 286, 292 + + Accuracy, gradations of, in knowledge, 256; + in relation to medieval maps, 247, 248 + + Acheron, 282 + + Acre, 294, 308 + + Adam and Eve, 254, 261 + + Adam of Bremen, 48, 51, 111, 223; + geography, 481; + on northern Europe, 327, 329; + on northern ocean, 348, 350 + + Ad-Dir, 87 + + Adelard of Bath, 92, 135, 158, 170, 171, 188, 189, 200, 260; + Aristotelian influence upon, 401; + on authority, 135; + on boundaries, 128; + on earthquakes, 227; + on the saltness of the sea, 189; + on subdivision of land areas, 210; + on the support of the earth, 154; + on the tides, 192, 439–440; + translations, 95; + on winds, 172. + _See also_ Khorazmian Tables + + Aden, 292, 299 + + Aden, Gulf of, 281 + + Adrastias, 368 + + Aegean Sea, 25, 26, 37 + + Aethicus of Istria, 44, 49 + + Africa, 19, 39, 41, 55, 71, 258, 298; + limits, 74; + west of Egypt, 300 + + Africa, Central, traditional view, 306 + + Africa, North, 257 + + Agareni, 287 + + Agathodaemon’s map, 242, 453, 456 + + Agisymba, 41 + + Agobard, 57 + + Agriculture and soils, 232 + + Agrippa, 36 + + Akaba, 294, 295 + + Alan of Lille, 128, 136 + + Alani, 290 + + Albania (Scotia), 336 + + Alberic of Besançon, 113 + + Albertus Magnus, 22, 101, 106; + writings, 406 + + Alemannia, name, 325 + + Alexander Neckam. _See_ Neckam, Alexander + + Alexander of Bernai, 113 + + Alexander the Great, 26, 38; + Gog and Magog and, 287; + Paradise and, 262; + Romance of, 49, 50, 73, 113, 205, 214, 275; + his view from a mountain summit, 216; + visit to India, 275; + visit to the sea floor, 199 + + Alexander III, Pope, 286 + + Alexandreis, 113 + + Alexandria, 38, 299 + + Alfraganus. _See_ Farghānī, Al- + + Alfred of Sareshel, 402; + on origin of mountains, 213 + + Alfred the Great, 49, 75 + + Algeria, 302 + + Allegory, 89, 90, 135, 136, 153, 236 + + Almagest, 78, 98 + + Almohads, 301, 302 + + Alpetragius, 77. + _See also_ Biṭrūjī, Al- + + Alphonsi, Peter (Petrus Anfusi), 95, 96, 121, 162, 168, 169, 185, 380 + + Alps, 217, 219; + knowledge of, 323; + “Pyrenean,” 319, 323; + routes across, 324 + + Alsace, 332 + + Altitudes, 32, 214 + + Altmann of Passau, 216 + + Amazons, 285, 329 + + Ambroise, 296; + on the Assassins, 298; + on Sicily, 311; + on summer heat of Palestine, 176 + + Ambrose, 59, 61 + + America, Icelandic discovery, 391; + Norsemen in, 76 + + Amor reorum, Mount, 260 + + Amphitrite, 159, 428 + + Anaxagoras, 31 + + Ancient geography, 9–42; + works on, 497 + + Andamans, 280 + + Anglesey, 344, 345 + + Anglia, 336 + + Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 74 + + Animals, 143 + + Anselm of Canterbury, 217 + + Antichthones, 160 + + Antioch, 239, 295 + + Antipodal regions, 157; + belief that they were inhabited, 159 + + Antipodeans, 158, 257 + + Antipodes, 19, 28, 55, 160, 385, 386, 429 + + Antiquarian interests, 321 + + Antiquity, geographical lore of, 9–42; + works on, 496 + + Antoikoi, 160 + + Apennines, 315, 319, 323 + + Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, 379 + + Apokatastasis, 367 + + Apostles, Apocryphal Acts of, 379; + the twelve, 123 (ill.), 278 + + Apulia, 319, 320 + + Aquinas, Thomas, 91 + + Arabia, Benjamin of Tudela on, 291 + + Arabic, translations from, 95 + + Arabic geography, 77–87 + + Arabic literature, 87 + + Arabs, 109 + + Arachosia, 288 + + Ararat, Mount, 270 + + Araxes, 282 + + Arbela, battle of, 35 + + Archeology, 321 + + Arculf, 259 + + Arethusa, 311 + + Argare, 280 + + Argentina (Strasburg), 333 + + Argyre, 280 + + Ari Frodhi, 111, 346, 349 + + Arin (Arim), 82, 86, 95, 96, 162 + + Aristippus, Henricus, 398, 402 + + Aristotelianism, 100; + effects, 138; + introduced through Arabic works, 98; + opponents, 101 + + Aristotle, 9, 24, 30; + on circumference of the earth, 16; + on cosmic cycles, 13; + on depth of the seas, 25; + on earthquakes and volcanoes, 32; + on the elements, 12, 20; + on exhalations and vapors, 22; + on extent of the oikoumene, 19; + on height of mountains, 32; + on immobility of the earth, 370; + influence, 98; + influence among the Moslems, 77; + on interior of the earth, 29; + on shape of the earth, 368; + Western knowledge of, 99, 400, 401 + + Ark, 234 + + Arklow, 195, 196, 206 + + Arles, 334 + + Armenia, 270, 288, 289 + + Armenia, Little, 296 + + Armorica, 336 + + Arnold of Chartres, 145 + + Arnold of Lübeck, 117, 317 + + Arnold the Saxon, 100, 408 + + Arthur, King, 311 + + Arts, medieval, 127 + + Asceticism, 64 + + Asia, 19, 39, 70, 71, 258; + early relations of eastern and western, 266; + European knowledge of, 265; + great mountain system, 270; + opening of, in the thirteenth century, 266 + + Asia, Central, 282 + + Asia, Western, 257, 288; + as described by the Crusaders, 296 + + Asia Minor, 270, 295 + + Assassins, 298 + + Assyria, 288 + + Astrology, 13, 51, 52, 85, 244, 246; + geography and, 128 + + Astronomical geography, of the known world, 241–246; + Moslem contribution, 82; + works on, 501 + + Astronomical observations, 243 + + Astronomy, in map making, 242, 244, 246, 457 (with map) + + Atlantic Ocean, 19, 25; + fabulous islands, 350; + legends of islands, 75. + _See also_ Western Ocean + + Atlantis, 351 + + Atlas, Mount, 301; + Nile and, 304, 305 + + Atmosphere, 21, 166; + circulation, 24, 172; + composition, 166; + upper levels, 167 + + Augustine (Saint), 47, 52, 54, 56, 59, 60, 61, 66, 144–145; + on Paradise, 262 + + Augustine (seventh century), 61 + + Aurea Chersonesus, 280 + + Aurea gemma, 104 + + Auster, 173, 174 + + Austral continent, 157, 257 + + Australia, 281 + + Authority, 135, 358 + + Avalanches, 218 + + Avars, 315 + + Averroës (Ibn Rushd), 77, 85, 100, 420, 437 + + Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), 77, 213, 446 + + Azores, 334 + + Azov, Sea of, 314 + + + Babylon, 289, 298 + + Babylonian astrology and geography, 391 + + Bacchus, 275 + + Bacon, Roger, 102, 106, 163, 164, 188, 258, 372, 420; + on the height of mountains, 447; + Opus majus, 269, 409; + works, 408 + + Bactria, 270 + + Baghdad, 86, 117, 118, 176, 282, 297; + Benjamin of Tudela on, 289 + + Baldach, 289 + + Baleares, 310 + + Balkan Peninsula, 316 + + Baltic, term, 482 + + Baltic Sea, 40, 75, 112, 327; + regions, 327 + + Bang, W., 478 + + Barbaric Sea, 281 + + Barbaro, Monte, 221 + + Bardo, Mount, 319, 323 + + Bartholomew Anglicus, 106, 177, 227; + on origin of mountains, 213 + + Basil, 61 + + Batiffol, Pierre, 379 + + Battānī, Al-, 78, 87, 96, 97, 162, 245; + on the Indian Ocean, 280; + on the Mediterranean, 307 + + Bavaria, 325 + + Beatus maps, 68, 69 (ill.), 122, 123 (ill.), 157, 249, 251, 252 + + Beauty, 63, 64; + of mountains, 215 + + Beazley, C. R., xix, 269, 498 + + Bede, the Venerable, 48, 53, 54, 56, 59, 61, 62, 143; + on Nile flood, 206 + + Bedouins, 297 + + Beginning of the world, 140 + + Benedict, Saint, 236 + + Benedict of Peterborough, 109, 308, 433 + + Bengal, Bay of, 281 + + Benjamin of Tudela, 117; + on Alexandria, 299; + on Arabia, 291; + on Baghdad, 289; + on Central Asia, 282; + on China, 272; + on climates, 176; + on Constantinople, 318; + on India, 274; + on Islam, 297; + on Italy, 478; + on the Nile flood, 300; + on the Sahara, 474; + on Slavic Europe, 314 + + Bergsson, Nikulás. _See_ Nikulás Bergsson + + Bernard of Chartres, 91, 93 + + Bernard of Clairvaux, on nature, 235, 238; + on the sea as the source of waters, 200 + + Bernard Sylvester of Tours, 92, 93, 134, 135, 148, 158, 199, 265; + on tripartite division of the oikoumene, 258; + on interrelations of the parts of the universe, 231; + on orographic systems, 215; + theory of Creation, 139, 145; + on the tides, 190; + on zones, 156 + + Betten, F. S., 384 + + Biarma, 75, 313, 348 + + Bible, 3, 43, 134; + interpretation, 46, 380; + position, 45 + + Bibliographical Note, 491 + + Bibliographie géographique, 492 + + Bibliographies, description, 491 + + Bibliography, 503 + + Bibliotheca Geographica, 492 + + Bingen, 327 + + Birds, 204, 217, 230, 281, 326 + + Birka, 329 + + Biṭrūjī, Al-, 77, 83, 85 + + Black Sea, 312, 313. + _See also_ Euxine + + Blake, R. P., xx, 389 + + Blood vessels, 148, 185 + + Blue sky, 436 + + Boëthius, 57 + + Bohemia, 87 + + Boniface, Saint, 57 + + Borchardt, Paul, 414, 474 + + Boreas, 173, 174 + + Borneo, 42 + + Borysthenes, 242 + + Bothnia, Gulf of, 328 + + Boundaries, 128 + + Brahmins, 74, 273, 285 + + Brandan, Saint, 50, 75, 178, 220, 263; + on antipodes, 159; + islands of, 230, 351; + legend, 115; + visits to volcanic isles, 224, 225; + wanderings, 197 + + Brecknock, Lake, 208, 340 + + Bremen, 111, 112 + + Brenner Pass, 324 + + Bretschneider, E., 464 + + Bristol, 195 + + Britain, 24, 39; + dimensions, 336; + maps, 126; + maps of Matthew Paris, 342, 343 (ill.) + + Britannic Sea, 335, 336 + + British Isles, 335, 337; + cities, 335, 336; + coast tides, 194; + rivers, 336, 344 + + Brittany, 336, 341 + + Brooks, A. A., xxi + + Brothers of Piety and Sincerity, 83, 394 + + Brunetto Latino. _See_ Latino, Brunetto + + Burkhard, 476 + + Byzantine literature, 44, 378 + + Byzantium, 278 + + + Cadiz, 301 + + Cahun, Léon, 464 + + Cairo, 289, 297, 298, 300 + + Calabria, 319, 322 + + Caliphs, 289, 290, 297 + + Callisthenes, 49 + + Camargue, 333 + + Cambria, 336 + + Camels, 296 + + Canary Islands, 37, 39, 86, 334 + + Canigou, Mount, 209, 214, 449 + + Cannibalism, 330 + + Cape Verde Islands, 334 + + Capella, Martianus, 9, 11, 16, 18, 44, 48, 71; + on antipodeans, 160; + De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, 54, 127, 366; + on sphericity of the earth, 15, 54 + + Capelle, Wilhelm, 365 + + Cappadocia, 270 + + Cappelli, A., 493 + + Captivity, Head of the, 290, 291 + + Carolingian Renaissance, 44, 54, 65 + + Carthage, 300 + + Cartography, 35, 247; + ancient, 376, 377; + development, 254; + works on, 501. + _See also_ Maps + + Casentino, 217 + + Caspian Sea, 37, 38, 282, 288 + + Castile, 322 + + Castorius, 381 + + Casule, Mons (Hekla), 223 + + Cathay, 266, 271 + + Caucasus Mountains, 270, 281, 282 + + Cavagum (Canigou), Mount, 209, 214, 449 + + Caverns, 27, 28, 59, 172 + + Cecco d’ Ascoli, 57 + + Celestial influences, 12, 51 + + Cenis, Mont, 324 + + Center of the world, 259; + position, 260. + _See also_ Arin + + Cephalonia, 309 + + Ceraunes, Montes, 462 + + Ceylon, 38, 39, 280, 281 + + Chalcidius, 9, 47 + + Chaldea, 289 + + Changes, geographical, 83 + + Channing, Edward, 372, 460 + + Chaos, 140, 141, 147 + + Charcot, J. B., 487 + + Charinus, Lucius, 379 + + Charlemagne, 44, 65 + + Chartres, school of, 91, 94, 134 + + Chevalier, Ulysse, 491 + + China, 39, 40, 41, 87, 266; + word first used, 271 + + China Sea, 281 + + Chrisa, 280 + + Christian kingdom in Asia, 269, 275, 278, 283 + + Christian names in Asia, 284 + + Christianity, 43 + + Chronicon novaliciense, 448 + + Chryse, 40, 41, 280 + + Church Fathers, 44, 46; + interpretation of the Bible, 46 + + Circumference of the earth, 16 + + Cisalpine, term, 324 + + Cities, descriptions of, 289, 299, 318, 321, 331, 341; + exaggeration of plans on maps, 249 + + Civilization, westward flow, 233, 235 + + Classical influences, 47 + + Clement of Alexandria, 51 + + Cleomedes, 15, 16 + + Climata, 242; + parallels of latitude and (with diagr.), 453–456 + + Climates, 23; + distribution, 177; + divisions of the ancient geographers, 242; + East and West, differences, 177; + hot and cold, 176; + influence on man, 180; + topographic influences on, 177 + + Climatology, 23, 166, 175 + + Climax, Mount, 303 + + Clotted sea, 442 + + Cloud breezes, 172 + + Clouds, 168 + + Cold, 23, 57, 176 + + Comestor, Peter, 91, 138, 151, 170, 184, 185, 213, 214; + on the atmosphere, 168; + on the Creation, 140, 143, 144; + on river Pison, 273 + + Cones of celestial light, 163, 191 + + Congregation of the waters, 184, 188 + + Conrad of Querfurt, 116, 221, 311, 321 + + Constantinople, 43, 110, 295, 317; + city and people, 318; + Italian colonies in, 318 + + Continental hypothesis, 19 + + Continents, 71; + fourth continent, 157 + + Conway, River, 206 + + Coördinates, geographical, 243; + map constructed from points of Paris MS. of Marseilles Tables, 245 + + Corbianus, 239 + + Corfu, 309, 310 + + Cornwall, 335, 336, 341, 344 + + Corsica, 310 + + Corus, 434 + + Cosmas Indicopleustes, 152, 378, 380 + + Cosmic cycles, 13, 83 + + Cosmogony, 12, 133; + works on, 499 + + Cosmography, 127, 133 + + Cosmology, 51, 133; + character, 134; + works on, 499 + + Countrysides, 235, 237; + practical interest in, 238 + + Crates of Mallos, 18; + theory of the arrangement of the world, 158 + + Cratesian theory, 19, 158 + + Creation, 2, 45, 52, 133, 135; + Bernard Sylvester’s account, 145; + commencement versus, 382; + function of light, 143; + Icelandic account, 146; + problems, 139; + processes, 141; + Theodoric of Chartres’ theory, 141; + Theodoric’s work on, 92; + William of Conches’ theory, 142. + _See also_ Works of the Six Days + + Crebonensus, 196 + + Crete, 310 + + Crimea, 313 + + Crusaders’ routes, 307, 317 + + Crusades, historians and histories, 109; + geographical knowledge enlarged by, 292; + regional knowledge and, 293; + time of, 1 + + Ctesias, 37, 467 + + Cumont, Franz, 29 + + Cyclades, 310 + + Cycles, cosmic, 13, 83 + + Cyclopes, 224, 329, 348 + + Cynocephali, 274, 276 (ill.), 304, 468 + + Cyprus, 310 + + Cyrenaica, 300 + + Cyrus, 38 + + + Damascus, 239 + + Damietta, 299 + + Daniel of Morley, 97, 151, 418 + + Dante, 106; + on excentric spheres of land and water, 437; + linguistic geography in, 484 + + Danube, 24, 325, 327 + + Dara, 305, 306 + + Dead, world of the, 27, 28 + + Dead Sea, 208, 288, 292; + legends, 472 + + Dee, 206, 336, 346 + + Degree, measurement, 55, 85 + + Deluge, 170, 184, 261 + + Denmark, 112, 327, 329 + + Deserts, 228 + + Devils, 224 + + Devision, La, de la terre de oultremer et des choses qui i sont, 110 + + Dew, 184 + + Dicaearchus, 33 + + Dictionaries, 493 + + Dicuil, 48, 61, 62, 75 + + Dieterici, Friedrich, 394 + + Dionysius Periegetes, 49 + + Dir, Ad-, 87 + + Doegr, 486 + + Dominicus Gondisalvi (Gondissalinus), 99, 128 + + Dreesbach, E., 296 + + Dublin, 195 + + Du Cange, C. D., 493 + + Duhem, Pierre, 99, 401, 418, 499 + + Dwarfs, 329 + + + Eadmer, 448 + + Earth, 2, 21; + center, 16; + as center of the universe (with diagr.), 422, 426; + circumference, 16; + established above the waters, 186; + flatness, 53; + immobility, 15, 153, 370; + interior, 27, 28, 29, 443; + mountain in the north, 152; + navel, 260, 461; + oval shape, 153; + shape, 152, 368; + shape and size, 53; + shape, movements, and size, 150; + situation, 150; + size, 54, 155; + sphericity, 15, 54, 383, 384, 425; + upon the waters, 60 + + Earthquakes, 21, 23, 137, 227; + causes, 31 + + East, place on maps, 251. + _See also_ Orient + + Ecbatana, 284 + + Eclipses, 34, 246 + + Eddas, 110; + account of Creation, 146 + + Eden, Garden of, 71, 170, 251; + Augustine on its location, 262; + meaning, 261 + + Edessa, 278, 283, 294 + + Edrisi, 80 + + Egypt, 30, 206, 239, 270; + as part of Asia, 298; + descriptions, 298, 299 + + Ehstland, 328 + + Einhard, 328 + + Elbe, 327 + + Elements, the four, 20, 28, 29; + magical control, 203; + transformation, 29 + + Elysian Fields, 28 + + Encyclopedias, 47, 102; + thirteenth-century productions, 106, 408 + + End of the ages, 234 + + Endres, J. A., 403, 481 + + England, 119, 336, 344; + earthquakes, 228 + + Englishmen at Prester John’s court, 286 + + Environment, influences on man, 232; + influences on plant and animal life, 231 + + Eolian (Lipari) Islands, 32, 222 + + Eolus, 221 + + Equatorial region, Grosseteste on, 163; + habitability, 162 + + Equatorial zone, 157 + + Equilibrium of forces, 155 + + Eratosthenes, 10, 38, 155; + on the circumference of the earth, 16, 17; + on currents, 26; + on extent of the oikoumene, 39, 377; + measurements of the earth, 55; + on mountain heights, 33; + on zones, 18 + + Eric the Red, 349 + + Eridanus, 319 + + Erigena. _See_ John Scot Erigena + + Erosion, 446 + + Esdras, Second Book of, 188 + + Esthetic feeling for nature, 237 + + Esthonia, 328 + + Eternity of the universe, 145 + + Etesian winds, 24, 30, 31, 373 + + Ethiopia, 24, 31, 283; + application of the name, 303; + India and, 303 + + Ethiopians, 24, 41 + + Etna, Mount, 32, 220, 221, 311; + Michael Scot on, 222 + + Etymology, example of free, 445 + + Euphrates, 72, 265, 288 + + Euripus, 26 + + Europe, 71, 74, 258; + northeastern regions, 312; + regional knowledge of, 257; + relative position of certain points as shown in medieval + astronomical tables, 457 (with map); + Slavic, 314 + + Eurus, 173, 174 + + Eustace of Kent, 114 + + Euxine, 25, 26, 37, 312 + + Evaporation, 27 + + Ewyas, valley of, 340 + + Exeter, 336 + + Exploration, Moslem, 87; + northern Europe, 75 + + + Fabianus, 25 + + Fabulous tales, 37, 38 + + Fallon, G. R., xxi + + Falones, 315 + + Fārābī, Al-, 416 + + Farghānī, Al-, 78, 85, 151, 152, 243, 287 + + Faroe Islands, 346, 352 + + Felix, Marcus Minutius, 24 + + Fetellus (Fretellus), 116 + + Fimbultyr, 147 + + Finns, 329 + + Fires, 32; + at the center of the universe, 369 + + Firmament, 58; + waters above and below, 58, 182 + + Fitzstephen, William, on London, 341 + + Flatey Book, 349 + + Flatness of the earth, 53, 152 + + Flood, Great, 59. + _See also_ Deluge + + Floods, 170 + + Fog, 432 + + Fons humoris, 185 + + Forests, Ireland, 338; + representation on maps, 253 + + Fortunate Islands, 86 + + Fossils on mountains, 432 + + Fountain of Youth, 204, 285 + + Four elements, 20, 28, 29. + _See also_ Elements + + Four land masses, 18 + + France, 331; + Hungary and, 316; + southern, 333 + + Francis, Saint, of Assisi, 217 + + Frazer, J. G., 203, 387 + + Frederick II, Emperor, 99, 100, 138, 200, 222, 345 + + Frisia Minor, 327 + + Frodhi, Ari. _See_ Ari Frodhi + + + Gades (Cadiz), 301 + + Gallandia, 346 + + Ganges, 273, 280 + + Ganzenmüller, W., 65 + + Garamantes, 41, 42 + + Garden. _See_ Eden + + Gasquet, A., 379 + + Gaul, 331 + + Genesis, Book of, 45, 53 + + Genoa, 479; + trade with Africa, 301 + + Geoffrey of Monmouth, 50 + + Geoffrey of St. Victor, 127, 159 + + Geographical bibliographies, 492 + + Geographical changes, 83 + + Geographical lore, character of, summary, 358–361; + origins, 3; + outstanding elements of, summary, 353–358; + works on, 496 + + Geographical lore of the time of the Crusades, term, 1 + + Geographisches Jahrbuch, 492 + + Geography, 127; + astrology and, 128; + history of, works on, 497; + history of, in particular periods, works on, 497; + history of particular aspects, works on, 499; + place in medieval knowledge, 127. + _See also_ Ancient Geography; Astronomical geography; Babylonian + astrology and geography; Mathematical geography; Medieval + geography; Physical geography; Regional geography + + Geometry, 127 + + Geomorphology, 62, 210, 213 + + Gerald of Barry. _See_ Giraldus Cambrensis + + Gerard of Cremona, 79, 96, 97, 99, 246 + + Gerard of Sabbionetta, 400 + + Gerbert, 47, 48, 55, 65 + + Gerizim, Mount, 460, 461 + + Germany, description, 325 + + Gervase of Canterbury, 119 + + Gervase of Tilbury, 50, 104, 138, 151, 157, 170, 176, 189, 196, 213, + 214, 215, 241, 270, 280, 298, 322; + on bottom of the sea, 198; + on Britain, 336; + on center of the earth, 259, 260; + on climatic influence on man, 180; + on the Dead Sea, 208; + on Ethiopia, 303; + on Etna, 311; + on France (southern), 333; + on India, 272; + on the Mediterranean, 307; + on mouths of Hell, 209, 225; + on mysterious cave, 161; + on the Nile, 305; + his Otia imperialia on regional geography, 256; + on qualities of land areas, 211, 230; + on rivers of Paradise, 211; + on sea above the atmosphere, 183; + on the Seres, 271; + on shape of the earth, 152; + on Sinai, 214; + on springs and wells, 185, 203; + on the terrestrial Paradise, 261, 262; + on volcanic features of Naples, 221; + on volcanoes, 226; + on winds, 171, 172, 175 + + Gesta Hammenburgensis, 112 + + Gesta regis Henrici Secundi, 228 + + Gesta regis Ricardi, 109, 433; + instructions for navigation in Mediterranean 308. + _See also_ Benedict of Peterborough + + Geysers, 203, 204 + + Gihon, 72, 290, 304 + + Gilson, J. P., 461 + + Ginungagap, 147, 486 + + Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Barry), 50, 119, 137, 159, 214, 241; + on climate of Ireland, 178, 180; + comparison of East and West, 174, 177, 211; + on course of rivers, 205, 206; + eye for local topography, 240; + on Iceland, Thule, Orkneys, Shetlands, 345; + on Ireland and Wales, 215, 216, 232, 233, 337; + on islands, 211, 229, 230; + on lakes, 207; + on marine phenomena, 196; + on precipitation, 170; + tidal studies, 194; + on volcanoes of Iceland, 222; + on wells and springs, 203 + + Glaciers, 219 + + Globe, 15 + + God, 53, 134, 135, 136 + + Godard, Léon, 474 + + Godefroy, F. E., 493 + + Godfrey of Viterbo, 119; + on Alsace, 332; + on Gog and Magog, 288, 471; + on the golden ball of empire, 159; + on Lombardy, 320; + on Paradise, 263; + on Sicily, 311. + + Gog and Magog, 46, 50, 282; + Bible accounts, 72; + stories about, 287 + + Gold, 265, 275, 280, 281, 285, 316 + + Golden ball of empire, 159 + + Gollanda, 485, 487 + + Gondisalvi, Dominicus. _See_ Dominicus Gondisalvi + + Gossouin of Metz, 105, 405 + + Grabmann, M., 401 + + Great Summer, 14 + + Great Winter, 14, 27 + + Great Years, 13, 52, 82; + duration, 14, 367; + theory, 14 + + Greece, 317, 318 + + Greek Fathers, 54 + + Greek geographers, 3, 4 + + Greek language, 44, 95; + translations from, 95, 398 + + Greek regional knowledge, 37 + + Green Sea, 281 + + Greenland, 76, 111, 257; + description, 347; + Norse settlements and voyages on the coast of, 486 + + Greenland Annals, 111 + + Gregory, Master, 321 + + Gregory of Nyssa, 30, 58, 60 + + Griffons, 272, 274, 280, 281 + + Grosseteste, Robert, 101, 147, 159, 262; + on the congregation of the waters, 187; + on the habitable parts of the earth, 163–165; + on mountains in polar regions, 179; + on oceans, 159; + on temperature of the air, 167; + theory of Creation, 144; + on the tides, 190 + + Ground water, 199 + + Grousset, René, 464 + + Guido’s encyclopedia, 49, 103, 104, 124, 125 + + Gundophorus, 275, 278, 286 + + Günther, Siegmund, 497 + + Gunther of Pairis, 108, 233; + on climatic influence of mountains, 178; + on Germany, 326; + on Italy, 180, 320; + on mountains, 217; + on northern Europe, 330 + + Gurganim, 290 + + Guy of Bazoches, 116, 311; + on Etna, 221; + on the Mediterranean, 310; + on nature, 237; + on Paris, 331 + + Gymnosophists, 274 + + + Habitable regions, 17 + + Hades, 28 + + Ḥamd-Allāh Mustaufī, 446 + + Hardy, T. D., 382 + + Haskins, C. H., xx, 495 + + Hearth of the universe, 369 + + Heat, 23, 57 + + Heavens, blueness, 436 + + Hebrides, 344, 351 + + Hecataeus, 37 + + Hedin, Sven, 464 + + Heimskringla, 111, 448, 486 + + Hekla, 223, 225 + + Hell, 29, 62, 153, 209, 227; + cold hell, 225; + volcanoes as gates of, 225 + + Helluland, 76 + + Helmold, 328 + + Henry of Mayence, 124; + outline map, 245 (ill.), 251, 252 + + Heraclius, 287 + + Hercules, 275 + + Hercules, Pillars of, 26, 301 + + Hercynian Forest, 326 + + Hereford map, sections showing marvels of India, 276 (ill.), 277 + (ill.) + + Hermann of Reichenau, 55 + + Hermann the Dalmatian, 82, 83, 92, 95, 97, 168, 262 + + Hermits, 64 + + Herodotus, 30, 37 + + Herrad of Landsperg, 104 + + Herrmann, Albert, 464 + + Hesiod, 18 + + Hesperides, 350 + + Hibernia, 335 + + Hildegard of Bingen, 90, 148, 171, 396; + macrocosm, microcosm, and winds, 148, 149 (ill.); + microcosm, 436; + position of the earth, 151; + on the rivers of her country, 326; + on the shape of the earth, 152; + on soil and agriculture, 232; + theories on the structure of the earth, 423; + on the tides, 439; + on the waters above the firmament, 183; + on the waters of the lands, 201, 202; + on winds, 171 + + Himalayas, 273 + + Hindu religion, 82 + + Hindustan, 272 + + Hipparchus, 10, 15, 35, 38 + + Hippo, 300 + + Hirth, Friedrich, 464 + + Historia Norwegiae, 112, 223; + on Iceland, 346; + on polar seas, 348; + on use of skis, 329; + on volcanic upheaval off Iceland, 137 + + Historians of the Crusades, 109 + + Historical bibliographies, 491 + + Historical narratives, 107 + + History of geography, xix; + works on, 497 + + Hoffman, Rudolf, 379 + + Holy Ghost, 141 + + Holy Land, 51, 70, 176, 257; + guidebooks, 115; + histories, 109; + travel to, 293, 294 + + Homer, 18, 37 + + Honorius Inclusus, 103, 403 + + Honorius of Autun, 103, 403 + + Hornelen, 448 + + Horses, Arabian, 296 + + Hospitallers, 316 + + Hugh of Amiens, 418 + + Hugh of St. Victor, 90, 143, 144, 153, 184, 234 + + Hulna, 279 + + Human sacrifice, 329, 482 + + Humboldt, Alexander von, 497 + + Hungarians, 315 + + Hungary, 267, 268, 313; + description, 314; + France and, 316 + + Huns, 315 + + Hyde, W. W., 501 + + Hydrography on maps, 253 + + Hyères, Îles de, 333 + + Hyle, 140 + + Hyperboreans, 71, 179, 312 + + Hyrcania, 270, 281, 188 + + + Ibn Ḥauqal, 77 + + Ibn Rushd (Averroës), 77, 85, 100, 420, 437 + + Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), 77, 213, 446 + + Ibn Yūnūs, 395 + + Icebergs, 198 + + Iceland, 76, 111, 176, 345; + glaciers, 219; + in Icelandic literature, 346; + springs and wells, 203, 204; + volcanoes, 222 + + Icelandic Annals, 111, 349 + + Icelandic discovery of America, 391 + + Iconium, 296 + + Idrīsī, Al-. _See_ Edrisi + + Image du monde, L’, 105, 151, 159, 189, 227, 241, 256; + on Mongibel, 220 + + Imagine mundi, De, 103, 151, 155, 157, 159, 171, 185, 188, 189, 227, + 241, 307; + on Africa, 300; + on Asiatic mountains, 270; + on British Isles, 325; + on division of the earth, 259; + on Egypt, 298; + on fabulous isles of the Atlantic, 350; + on Germany, 325; + on Gog and Magog, 287; + on regional geography, 256; + on rivers of Paradise, 264; + on Saba in Ethiopia, 303; + on size of the earth, 155; + on size of mountains, 214; + on springs, 202; + on subdivisions of land areas, 211; + on tides, 441 + + Immobility of the earth, 15, 153 + + India, 24, 37, 42, 176, 263, 270; + broad meaning, 272; + Christians in, 114; + facts known about, 273; + legends of saints in, 74; + marvels, 274, 276 (ill.), 277 (ill.); + subdivisions, 272 + + Indian Ocean, 19, 37, 40, 279; + Al-Battānī on, 280; + islands, 280 + + Intellectual life, medieval, works on, 495 + + Interpretation of the Bible, 46; + symbolic, 206 + + Iran, 281 + + Ireland, 50, 119, 176, 178, 180, 335; + coast tides, 194; + Giraldus Cambrensis on, 337; + healthfulness, 212; + lakes, 207, 208; + properties of the soil, 212, 445; + rivers, 205, 336, 339; + topography, 240 + + Ireland the Great, 76 + + Irish, 338, 339 + + Isidore of Seville, 11, 48, 54, 56, 59, 60, 62, 241, 259, 305 + + Islandia, 346 + + Islands, fabulous, 350; + Indian Ocean, 280; + Mediterranean, 309; + miraculous, 230, 231; + origins, 229; + representation on maps, 335; + St. Brandan’s visits to, 230; + volcanic, 224; + of Western Ocean, 334 + + Islands of the Blessed, 28 + + Íslendingabók, 111, 346 + + Istakhrī, Al-, 77 + + Ister, 24 + + Italian traders, 293, 294, 295, 296, 299 + + Italians in Constantinople, 318 + + Italy, 180; + city states, 320; + description, 319, 478; + dialectic regions, 484; + northern, 319; + regional divisions, 479 + + Iter ad Paradisum, 113, 262 + + Ithaca, 309 + + Itineraries, 33 + + + Jacques de Vitry, 105 + + Java, 42 + + Jenghiz Khan, 266, 284 + + Jerome, 58, 64, 73, 125 + + Jerusalem, 68, 110, 249; + as center of the oikoumene, 259; + Kingdom of, 294; + pilgrimages to, 117; + plans, 126, 250 (ill.) + + Jews, 282; + in Arabia, 291; + in Baghdad, 290; + in Constantinople, 319; + travelers, 117 + + Joerg, W. L. G., xvi + + John of Bremble, on mountains, 218 + + John of Holywood (Sacrobosco), 96, 97, 98, 241; + on the earth as the center of the universe, 151, 422 (diagr.); + on immobility of the earth, 154; + on shape of the earth, 152; + on size of the earth, 155, 426 + + John of India, Patriarch, 114, 272, 278 + + John of Pian de Carpine, 269 + + John of Salisbury, 136 + + John of Seville (Johannes Hispanensis, John of Luna), 96; + on climates, 243 + + John of Würzburg, 115 + + John Scot Erigena, 47, 48, 55 + + Jordanus of Severac, 373 + + Jornandes, 49 + + Josephus, 58 + + Jourdain, C. B., 496, 497 + + Judas, 225 + + Julius Valerius, 50 + + Jumna, 328 + + Jupiter Ammon, Temple of, 302 + + + Kålund, K., 405 + + Karentet, 309 + + Karst, 27 + + Kelly, Matthew, 484 + + Keraits, 284 + + Kheibar, 291 + + Khorazmian Tables, 82, 95. + _See also_ Adelard of Bath + + Khulam, 274 + + Khwārizmī, Al-, 78, 82, 86, 96, 244, 392, 394, 456 + + Kiev, 314, 477 + + King’s Mirror, 105, 347; + on volcanoes in Iceland, 223, 225 + + Kitāb ṣūrat-al-arḍ, 78 + + Knowledge, classification, 127, 129; + modern compared with medieval, 256 + + Known world. _See_ Oikoumene + + Komans, 313, 314, 315 + + Konungs-Skuggsjá. _See_ King’s Mirror + + Koran, 53, 73 + + Krachkovskii, ——, 389 + + Kretschmer, Konrad, xix, 500 + + Kufar-al-Turak, 282, 284 + + Kurland, 328 + + + Lactantius Firmianus, 47, 54, 56 + + Lakes, 207; + in Ireland, 338 + + Lambert li Tors, 113 + + Lambert of St. Omer, 103, 155; + map, 124, 125, 158; + on sphericity of universe, 150; + on winds, 174; + on tides, 192 + + Lamprecht, 113 + + Land surface, representation on maps, 253 + + Landnámabók, 76, 111, 346, 486 + + Landogna, F., 479 + + Lands, 31, 62, 210; + classification of areas, 210; + deathless, 211; + distribution of waters and, 187; + effect on waters which spring from the land, 202; + qualitative and quantitative subdivisions, 210, 211; + theory of four masses, 18; + veins, cavities, and tunnels in, 27 + + Landscape, 63, 210 + + Langka, 86 + + Languages, 348; + kinship, 484 + + Laodicea, 295 + + Lapps, 329 + + La Roncière, C., xx, 81 + + Latin, medieval, 493 + + Latin writers, 11 + + Latino, Brunetto, 106, 186, 187 + + Latitude, 34, 85, 242, 244; + methods of finding, 244; + parallels of latitude and climata (with diagr.), 453–456; + phenomena resulting from differences in, 241 + + La Verna, 217 + + Legends, 49, 113 + + Leif Ericsson, 349 + + Lemannus, 325 + + Lentulus, 312 + + Leo Archipresbyter, 381, 412 + + Le Strange, Guy, 446 + + Letters of travel, 116 + + Levant, 177; + Occidental population in, 294; + trade, 293; + traders, 378 + + Level of the sea, 188 + + Liber de proprietatibus elementorum, 82, 83 + + Liber floridus, 103 + + Libya, 258, 292, 300 + + Light, function in the Creation, 143 + + Ligurinus, 108 + + Linguistic geography, 340, 484 + + Lipari Islands. _See_ Eolian Islands + + Literal interpretation of the Bible, 46, 380 + + Liver Sea, 442 + + Llanthoni Abbey, 216 + + Location, 34, 85 + + Loegria, 336 + + Lombard, Peter, 91, 137, 140, 142, 143; + on Paradise, 261, 462 + + Lombards, 180, 232, 312, 320 + + Lombardy, 320, 332 + + London, 335, 336; + Fitzstephen’s account, 341 + + Longitude, 34, 85, 244; + methods of finding, 246; + prime meridian, 86 + + Lost Island, 351 + + Lost tribes, 282, 285, 288 + + Lot’s wife, 472 + + Lucidaire, 404 + + Lucidarius, 104 + + Lucius, Gratianus, 483 + + Lucydary, 404 + + Lynch, John, 483 + + + Macarius, Saint, 263 + + McCartney, E. S., 367, 432 + + McGiffert, A. C., 383, 499 + + Macrobius, 9, 11, 16, 18, 44, 47, 66, 258; + on antipodeans, 160; + popularity, 366; + on southern limit of the oikoumene, 378; + on tides, 27 + + Macrocosm, 147; + microcosm and, 148, 149 (ill.) + _See also_ Microcosm + + Madeira, 334 + + Maelstrom, 61 + + Maghreb, 301 + + Magi, 284 + + Magna Graecia, 319 + + Magonia, 58 + + Magyars, 316 + + Main (river), 326, 327 + + Malay Peninsula, 41, 280 + + Malaya, 280, 281 + + Man, Isle of, 335, 345 + + Manegold, 47 + + Manegold’s Contra Wolfelmum opusculum, 161 + + Mantichora, 277 (ill.), 468 + + Mantua, 311 + + Manuscripts, 493 + + Maps, 121; + Beatus, 68, 69 (ill.), 122, 123 (ill.); + character and value, 247; + conventions, 251; + details, 247–254; + distortion, 249; + early, 65; + early, classification, 389; + European points in medieval astronomical tables as compared with + actual position, 457 (with map); + exaggeration, 249; + inaccuracy, 247; + of Lambert, Guido, Henry of Mayence, etc., 124; + Macrobian, 66; + regional, 125; + Roman, 34, 36; + Sallust, 67 (ill.), 68, 121; + Scriptural effect on, 45; + symbols and legends, 252; + T-O maps, 66, 121; + technique, 251; + zone maps, 121, 122 (ill.). + _See also_ Cartography + + Marbod of Rennes, on love of nature, 238 + + Marco Polo. _See_ Polo, Marco + + Marine life, 309 + + Marinelli, G., 471 + + Marinus of Tyre, 10 + + Markland, 76, 350 + + Marquart, J., 478 + + Marr, N. I., 389 + + Marseilles, 308, 309, 333 + + Marseilles Tables, 96, 162, 244; + authorship, 456; + on determination of longitude, 246; + on habitability of equatorial region, 162; + map constructed from positions given in Paris MS. of, 245 + + Marvels, of Ethiopia, 303; + of India, 274, 276 (ill.), 277 (ill.) + + Maslama-al-Majrīṭi, 95 + + Masson, Paul, 442 + + Masʿūdī, Al-, 50, 77 + + Materia, 141, 142, 144 + + Mathematical geography, 33, 65 + + Matter, preëxistence, 139; + orthodox view, 139; + rational view, 141 + + Matthew, Saint, 272 + + Matthew Paris, 125; + maps of Britain, 126, 342, 343 (ill.); + on the Tatars, 267 + + Maur, Raban, 48, 385 + + Mauretania, 300, 306 + + Mayence, 326 + + Mazdeus, 278 + + Mcerloba, M. J. K., 389 + + Mecca, 85, 297 + + Media, 288 + + Medieval geography, works on, 497 + + Medieval intellectual life, works on, 495 + + Medina, 295 + + Mediterranean Sea, 25, 37, 257; + commerce between northern and southern shores, 301; + during the Crusades, 307; + islands, 309; + length, 86, 307; + map of region constructed from position given in Paris MS. of + Marseilles Tables, also outline map of Henry of Mayence, 245; + name, 307; + names of parts, 475; + navigation, instructions, 308; + speed of journeys in, 476 + + Megasthenes, 24, 38 + + Meiryonidd (Merioneth), 215 + + Mela, Pomponius, 40 + + Meridian, prime, 86 + + Merioneth, 340 + + Meroë, 298, 305, 377 + + Merriman, R. B., 474 + + Meru, Mount, 86 + + Mesopotamia, 270, 288, 289, 294 + + Messina, 312 + + Meteorology, 21, 57, 166 + + Michael Scot, 99, 100, 138, 151, 183, 225; + on the Eolian Isles and Etna, 222; + on hot springs, 202 + + Michel, F., 487 + + Microcosm, 147, 148, 185; + macrocosm and, 148, 149 (ill.) + + Middle Ages, 2; + geographical lore, works on, 496; + science, 43, 44; + writings, 88 + + Midgard, 147 + + Migne, J. P., 494 + + Milan, 320 + + Milford Haven, 195 + + Miller, Konrad, 121 + + Minutius Felix, Marcus, 24 + + Mirabilia urbis Romae, 321 + + Mirage, 311 + + Missions to the Mongols, 268, 269 + + Mistral, 173, 175, 180, 333 + + Mohammedans, 297 + + Mona, 214 + + Mongibel (Etna), 220, 311 + + Mongol conquests, 266 + + Mongol princes, 284 + + Mongols in Russia, 313 + + Monsoons, 24, 40 + + Monsters, 263, 274, 276 (ill.), 277 (ill.), 309, 329, 348; + in Ethiopia, 303; + lands of, 257 + + Mont St. Michel, 441 + + Moon and tides, 61, 84, 190 + + Morava-Maritsa valley, 317 + + Morgain, 311 + + Moritz, Bernhard, 472 + + Morocco, 302 + + Moselle, 326, 327 + + Moslems, 43; + contribution of, 77; + exploration and travel, 87 + + Mosquitoes, 296 + + Moule, A. C., 439, 442 + + Mountaineering, 220, 448, 501 + + Mountains, 30, 212; + Asia, great system, 270; + atmosphere of, 168, 178; + beauty, appreciation of, 215; + height, 32, 447; + influence on climate, 178; + medieval feeling about, 217; + miraculous qualities, 214; + mountain in the north of the earth, 152; + observation of phenomena, 215; + origin, 213; + in polar regions, 179; + religious attitude toward, 216; + representation on maps, 253; + saline, in the sea, 189; + size and height, 214 + + Mozambique Channel, 281 + + Munster, Ireland, miraculous spring, 203 + + Mysticism, 90, 237 + + + Naples, 221, 322 + + Narbonnese, 333 + + Natural defenses, 233 + + Natural laws, 136 + + Nature, early Christian attitude toward, 64; + esthetic appreciation of, 63, 237; + feeling for, works on, 500; + medieval attitude toward, 64, 389; + practical interest in, 238; + spiritual feeling for, 235 + + Naval expedition in the Red Sea in twelfth century, 295 + + Navel of the earth, 260, 461 + + Navigation, 81, 246, 248; + speed of travel, 308, 476 + + Neagh, Lough, 208 + + Nearchus, 26, 38 + + Neckam, Alexander, 93, 138, 228, 232, 264; + on Britain, 336; + on springs, 204; + on the tides, 193; + on volcanoes, 226; + on the waters, 186, 188, 189 + + Neoplatonism, 47 + + Nestorian Christianity in Asia, 269, 275, 284 + + New Compendium, 116 + + Nicaea, 296 + + Nicholas, Abbot, 405 + + Niger, 41, 304, 305 + + Nikulás Bergsson of Thverá, 115, 405 + + Nile, 24, 41, 71, 298, 300; + flood, 30, 60, 206, 300; + sources, 304 + + Nilometer, 300 + + Nineveh, 289 + + Noah, 170 + + Normans in Sicily, 79, 81 + + Norsemen and America, 76 + + Northmen, 51, 70, 75 + + Norway, 112, 328, 329 + + Notes, 365 + + Nous, 146, 156 + + Nuchul, 305, 306 + + + Oblong circle, 153 + + Observation, 84; + geography of, 255; + of mountains, 215 + + Occident, climate, 177; + Orient compared with, by Giraldus Cambrensis, 211 + + Ocean, 24; + bottom, 198; + circulation, 25; + encircling the earth, 18; + relative areas of land and sea, 187; + saltness, 189; + as source of the waters of the land, 200; + uniform level, explanation, 188. + _See also_ Sea + + Ocean currents, 173, 192 + + Oceanus Britannicus, 335 + + Oder, 327 + + Odin, 147 + + Odjein, 86 + + Odo, 279 + + Oikoumene, 18, 187; + astronomical geography of, 241; + center, 259; + extent, 19; + limit, 39, 41, 377; + three parts—Asia, Libya, and Europe, 258; + as a whole, 257 + + Old Compendium, 116 + + Old Man of the Mountain, 298 + + Olympus, Mount, 168, 204, 214 + + Ophir, 275 + + Ordericus Vitalis, 272, 278, 350 + + Orient, 238; + climate, 177; + ideas transmitted to the West, 82; + Occident compared with, by Giraldus Cambrensis, 211 + + Origen, 52 + + Original sources, collections, 493 + + Orkneys, 335, 344, 345 + + Orosius, 44, 48, 66, 103, 258, 259, 483; + on the Nile, 304, 305 + + Orthodox works, 137 + + Oscorus, 282 + + Osma Beatus map, 123 (with ill.) + + Ostrogard, 477 + + Otia imperialia, 104, 256 + + Otto of Freising, 107, 262, 325; + on the Alps and Apennines, 323; + on Babylon and Cairo, 289; + on France, 331; + on Germany, 326; + on Gog and Magog, 287–288; + on Hungary, 315; + on the influence of climate on man, 180; + on the influence of environment on man, 232; + on Italy, 180, 319; + on a certain John of the Far East, 283; + on mountains, 217; + on the mutability of things, 234; + practical interest in nature, 239 + + Oxus, 282, 290 + + + Paetow, L. J., 492 + + Paleography, 493 + + Palestine, 270; + exaggeration on maps, 249. + _See also_ Holy Land + + Palingenesis, 13, 51 + + Pannonia, 314, 323 + + Pappas, Nicholas, 198 + + Paradise, 42, 45, 63, 71, 261, 352; + journeys to, 263; + location, 261; + rivers of, 28, 72, 185, 205, 264; + types of legends of, 463 + + Paraskévopoulos, J. S., 373 + + Paris, description, 331 + + Paris, Matthew. _See_ Matthew Paris + + Parmenides, 17 + + Parthia, 270, 288 + + Partholan, 338 + + Pasquali, Giorgio, 374 + + Patrick, Saint, 212 + + Patristic literature, 44, 46. + _See also_ Church Fathers + + Patroclus, 38 + + Paul the Deacon, 61 + + Pausanius, 271 + + Peeters, Paul, 389 + + Pelion, 33 + + Pelliot, Paul, 465 + + Pentapolis, 300 + + Perdita, 351 + + Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, 40, 271 + + Persia, 37, 267, 272, 288 + + Persian Gulf, 279, 281 + + Peschel, Oscar, 497 + + Petachia of Ratisbon, 117, 118, 289; + on Slavic Europe, 314 + + Petchenegs, 313, 314, 315 + + Peter Abelard. _See_ Abelard, Peter + + Peter Alphonsi. _See_ Alphonsi, Peter + + Peter Comestor. _See_ Comestor, Peter + + Peter Lombard. _See_ Lombard, Peter + + Peter of St. Cloud, 113 + + Petrarch’s ascent of Mont Ventoux, 212 + + Peutinger Table, 35 + + Philip, Master, 286 + + Phillips, W. R., 379 + + Philolaus, 369 + + Philosophy, 89, 91, 127 + + Physical geography, 19, 57, 89; + works on, 500 + + Pian de Carpine. _See_ John of Pian de Carpine + + Pilgrim narratives, 71, 115 + + Pilgrims, 51, 212 + + Pillar of salt, 472 + + Pillars of Hercules, 26, 301 + + Piracy, 310, 330 + + Pisa, 479 + + Pison, 72, 273, 279 + + Planisphere, 377 + + Plano Carpini. _See_ John of Pian de Carpine + + Plato, 9; + on cosmic cycles, 13; + on earthquakes and volcanoes, 32; + on interior of the earth, 29, 32; + on sphericity of the earth, 15 + + Plato of Tivoli, 96, 162. + _See also_ Battānī, Al- + + Platonism, 51, 135 + + Pliny the Elder, 11, 15, 16, 20, 23, 24, 25–27, 31, 35, 40, 41, 220, + 377; + popularity, 365 + + Po, 319 + + Poisons, 212, 310, 338 + + Poland, 233, 267, 313, 314, 315 + + Polar caps, 156, 157 + + Polar regions, Grosseteste on, 165; + influence of mountains on climate, 179 + + Polar seas, 348 + + Polo, Marco, 269, 270, 272, 284 + + Polo, Nicolo and Maffeo, 269 + + Polybius, 10 + + Pomeranians, 328 + + Pontianum (pontias), 175 + + Popularization of knowledge, 105 + + Porus, 287 + + Posidonius, 10, 16, 26, 33, 373 + + Pozzuoli, 209, 211, 221, 225 + + Precession of the equinoxes, 83, 164 + + Precipitation, 169 + + Prester John, 74, 265, 269; + alliance desired by Western powers, 286; + court, 286; + on the desert, 229; + on the Fountain of Youth, 204; + kingdom, 283; + kingdom as described in his Letter, 285; + legend, origins, 283; + Letter, 114, 271, 272; + palace, 278, 286 + + Priscian, 49 + + Procopius, 73 + + Prodigies, 228 + + Proprietatibus elementorum, Liber de, 83 + + Proserpina, 311 + + Provençaux, 334 + + Provence, 333 + + Prussians, 328 + + Psellos, Michael, 378 + + Pseudo-Abdias, 379 + + Pseudo-Callisthenes, 49, 73, 113 + + Pseudo-Methodius, 50, 73 + + Ptolemy, Claudius, 10, 15, 16, 35, 36, 77; + Africa on his map, 41; + “Almagest,” influence of, 78; + “Geography,” 10, 19, 34; + “Geography,” influence of, 48, 78; + parallels and climates, 242, 453–456 (with diagr.) + + Pumice, 222 + + Purgatory, Mount of, 463 + + Putrid Sea, 314 + + Pygmies, 274, 317 + + Pyramids of light rays, 163, 164, 191 + + Pyrenean Alps, 319, 323 + + Pythagoreans, 9, 15 + + Pytheas of Marseilles, 26, 39 + + + Quadrivium, 127 + + Quilon, 274 + + + Raban Maur, 48, 385 + + Raeburn, H., 448 + + Ragewin (Rahewin), 108, 233, 325; + on northern Europe, 330; + on Poland, 313 + + Rainfall, 169 + + Rainmaking, 203 + + Ratisbon, 325 + + Ravenelle, 317 + + Ravenna, 251 + + Ravenna geographer, 49, 124 + + Raymond of Marseilles. _See_ Marseilles Tables + + Rays of light, 163, 164, 191 + + Red Sea, 279, 281, 289; + naval expedition in twelfth century, 295 + + Redemptorists, 302 + + Regional geography, 36, 255; + ancient limits on the south and east, 41; + expansion of Greek, 37; + Hellenistic, 39; + medieval, 70, 255–352; + regions grouped as known, little-known, or unknown, 257; + works on, 501 + + Regional maps, 125 + + Reinhardt, Karl, 365 + + Remy of Auxerre, 48 + + Renaissance, 293 + + Renan, E., 487 + + Reykyanes, Cape, 223 + + Rhaetia, 325 + + Rhine, 326, 327, 331, 332 + + Rhipaean Mountains, 242, 312, 329 + + Rhodes, 310 + + Rhone, 333 + + Richard Coeur-de-Lion, 109, 110, 308, 322 + + Richard of St. Victor, 190 + + Rivers, 27; + connection between seas and, 185; + Hildegard on, 326; + origin, 29; + peculiarities, 206; + representation on maps, 253; + source, 205; + underworld, 28 + + Rivers of Paradise, 28, 72, 185, 205, 264 + + Robert de Clari, 110, 313 + + Robert Grosseteste. _See_ Grosseteste, Robert + + Robert of Retines, 92, 97 + + Robinson, G. W., xxi + + Rochemelon, 448 + + Rockall, 487 + + Rockhill, W. W., 464 + + Roger of Hereford, 97 + + Roger of Hoveden, 109; + on coasts of Iberian Peninsula, 322; + on the Mediterranean, 308 + + Roger II, 79, 80, 198 + + Roland and Oliver, 311 + + Rolls Series, 494 + + Roman de toute chevalerie, 412 + + Romance of Alexander. _See_ Alexander the Great + + Rome, 479; + anonymous guide, 121; + climate, 180; + decay, 321; + Mirabilia urbis Romae, 321; + wonders in, 321 + + Roncaglia, 324 + + Rubruck. _See_ William of Rubruck + + Rudolf of Hohen-Ems, 274 + + Rupert of Deutz, on origin of mountains, 213 + + Russia, 87, 118, 176, 257, 267; + northern, 312; + southern, 313 + + + Saba, 291, 303 + + Sacrobosco. _See_ John of Holywood + + Saewulf, 115, 260 + + Sagas, 51, 110, 346 + + St. Bernard Pass, 218, 324 + + St. Rhémy, 218 + + St. Sever Beatus map, 68, 69 (ill.) + + Saints’ Land of Promise, 231, 262, 351, 352 + + Salamander, 285 + + Salimbene, Fra, 448 + + Saline mountains in the sea, 25, 189 + + Sallust maps, 67 (ill.), 68, 121 + + Salt, 25; + African, 302 + + Saltness of the ocean, 189 + + Samarkand, 282, 290 + + Samland, 328 + + Sanaa, 291 + + Sandaruk, 275 + + Sandy Sea, 229, 285 + + Sanjar, 282 + + Santa Quaranta, 309 + + Saracens, 287, 294, 297, 312 + + Sarandib, 281 + + Sardinia, 308, 310, 319 + + Sargasso Sea, 442 + + Saxo Grammaticus, 112, 203; + on farther Biarmaland, 348; + on northern Europe, 327, 328, 329; + on the geysers of Iceland, 204; + on the glaciers of Iceland, 219; + on the volcanoes of Iceland, 223 + + Saxony, 327 + + Scandia, 328 + + Scandinavia, 39, 106, 257, 327, 328; + historical works, 110; + Latin histories, 111 + + Scenery, 63; + appreciation, 215, 235; + Guy of Bazoches and, 237 + + Schechter, S., 471 + + Schmidlin, I., 452 + + Schneid, M., 383 + + Schneider, A., 401, 418 + + Science, 43; + bibliographies of the history of, 492; + character, 134; + medieval, 128; + stagnation in early Middle Ages, 44 + + Scilly Isles, 335 + + Scot. _See_ John Scot Erigena + + Scot, Michael. _See_ Michael Scot + + Scotia, 335, 336 + + Scotland, 335, 336, 344 + + Scriptures, 43. + _See also_ Bible + + Scylla and Charybdis, 311 + + Scythia, 37, 49, 270, 281 + + Scythian Sea, 330 + + Sea, 25; + above the atmosphere, 183; + connection between seas and rivers, 185; + depth, 25; + influence on climate, 178; + physical geography of, 61; + recessions, 196; + saltness, 25; + speed of medieval travel by sea, 308, 476; + sphericity, 369. + _See also_ Ocean + + Secondary works, 495 + + Seh, 327 + + Seine, 186, 193, 331 + + Seneca, 11, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 30, 174; + popularity, 366 + + Sententiae of Peter Lombard, 91 + + Septimer Pass, 324 + + Seres, 39; + land of the, 270, 271 + + Serica, 40 + + Serpents, 310, 335, 345 + + Servi, 317 + + Seth, son of Adam, 263 + + Seven liberal arts, 127 + + Seven wonders of the world, 321 + + Severian of Gabala, 54, 234 + + Shannon, 205, 339 + + Sheba, 290, 291 + + Sheba, Queen of, 291, 303 + + Shetlands, 345 + + Siberia, 290 + + Sic et non, 91 + + Sicades, 333 + + Sicilo-Moslem geography, 81 + + Sicily, 226, 303, 310, 319, 322; + description, 311; + geography in, 79; + volcanic regions, 221 + + Sigurd the Crusader, 111 + + Silk, 271 + + Silkworms, 271, 285 + + Simar, T., 306 + + Simoom, 175 + + Sinae, 271 + + Sinai, Mount, 214, 291 + + Singer, Charles, xxi, 423 + + Sinus Codanus, 40 + + Situ terrarum, De, 259, 262, 405 + + Six Days, nature of, 144. + _See also_ Works of the Six Days + + Ski-runner, 482 + + Skiapodes, 157, 254, 274, 275, 276 (ill.) + + Skis, 329, 482 + + Skraelings, 349 + + Skridfinns, 329 + + Sky, blueness, 436 + + Slavonia, 328 + + Smalserhorn, 448 + + Smith, J. R., 375 + + Snorri Sturluson, 111, 448. + _See also_ Heimskringla + + Snow, 167, 214 + + Snowdon, Mount, 208, 215, 340, 344; + floating island in a lake on, 230 + + Soil and agriculture, 232 + + Solinus, 11, 44, 241, 337; + interpolation in, 176 + + Sources, collections of original, 493; + secondary, 495 + + Southern hemisphere, 164 + + Spain, 322; + Christian and Saracenic, 322 + + Speculum mundi, 405 + + Sphericity of the earth, 15, 54, 152, 158, 383, 384, 425 + + Sphericity of the universe, 150 + + Spirit of God, 141 + + Spitsbergen, 349 + + Springs, 199, 374–375; + hot, 202, 221; + miraculous, 203; + in Munster, Ireland, 203 + + Stade, 16, 33 + + Staffordshire, 205 + + Stagnation, scientific, 44 + + Stars, 51, 52 + + Stoechades, 333 + + Storms. _See_ Winds + + Strabo, 10, 40 + + Strasburg, 333 + + Striguus, 316 + + Stromboli, 222 + + Stubbs, William, 469 + + Sturluson, Snorri. _See_ Snorri Sturluson + + Submarine eruption, 223 + + Subterranean channels, 27, 264 + + Sucades, 333 + + Sugar, 296 + + Sullivan, R. J., 446 + + Sulphur, 202, 222, 226 + + Sulpicius Severus, 214 + + Sumatra, 280 + + Summa philosophiae, 408 + + Sur (Tyre), 296 + + Svalbard, 349, 486 + + Svantevith, 328 + + Swabia, 325 + + Sweat of the earth, 199 + + Sweden, 328, 329 + + Syene, 298 + + Sylvester, Bernard. _See_ Bernard Sylvester + + Sylvester II, 47 + + Symbolic interpretation, 206 + + Symbols on maps, 252 + + Syria, 292, 294, 296; + European occupation, 294 + + Syrtes, 301 + + Systems, 129 + + + Tabula Peutingeriana, 35 + + Tanai, 291 + + Tanaïs (Don), 71, 312 + + Tangier (Tingi), 301 + + Taormina, 311 + + Taprobane, 38, 280, 310 + + Tartarus, 28 + + Tatars, 267 + + Taylor, H. O., 416, 495 + + Teima, 291 + + Temperature, 23, 57 + + Templars, 316 + + Temujin, 266 + + Tenedos, 310 + + Terrestrial degree, measurement, 85 + + Terrestrial geography, works on, 499 + + Terrestrial Paradise, 63, 261. + _See also_ Eden; Paradise + + Tertullian, 46 + + Thames, 344 + + Thanet, 335, 342 + + Thebes, Egypt, 298 + + Theoderic (pilgrim), 115 + + Theodoric (Thierry) of Chartres, 91, 92, 93, 134, 135, 182; + on immobility of the earth, 154; + on precipitation, 169; + theory of Creation, 139, 141, 144 + + Theodosia, 312 + + Theodricus monachus, 346, 412 + + Theology, 89 + + Thessalonica, 317 + + Thina, 40 + + Thinae, 271 + + Thomas, Saint, 272; + Church of, in India, 279; + in India, 74; + preaching in India, 275 + + Thomas Aquinas, 91 + + Thomas of Cantimpré, 408 + + Thompson, E. M., 493 + + Thule, 39, 75, 176, 211, 241, 335, 345 + + Tibet, 282, 290 + + Tibiariae, 281 + + Tides, 21, 25, 26, 61, 173; + Adelard of Bath on, 192, 439–440; + astrological and physical theories, 190; + British and Irish coasts, 194; + Chinese knowledge, 439; + Giraldus Cambrensis’ studies, 194; + moon and, 190; + Moslem theories, 84; + terrestrial causation, 192 + + Tigris, 72, 265, 284, 288, 289, 290, 294 + + Tilmas, 291 + + T-O maps, 66, 121, 259; + types, 67 (ills.) + + Togarmim, 290 + + Toledo, 322 + + Toledo Tables, 79, 96, 242, 244, 392, 394, 400 + + Topography, influence on climate, 177; + local, 240; + as a natural defense, 233; + works on, 118 + + Tortona, 323 + + Tractatus excerptionum, 405. + _See also_ Situ terrarum, De + + Tradition, 270; + geography of, 255 + + Transalpine, term, 324 + + Translations from the Arabic, 95 + + Translations from the Greek, 95, 398 + + Transmutation, 29, 30, 60 + + Transposition of land and sea, 83 + + Travelers, 116, 292; + Jewish, 117, 289 + + Travels, 269; + books of, 50; + letters of, 116 + + Trees of the sun and moon, 275 + + Triangulation, 33 + + Triffar, 309 + + Tripartite division, 258 + + Tripolis, 300 + + Trivium, 127 + + Troglodytes, 304 + + Tudela, 117 + + Tunis, 301, 302 + + Turegum (Zurich), 325 + + Turkestan, 267, 282 + + Twelfth-century renaissance, 1 + + Typhoons, 272 + + + Ukraine, 313, 314 + + Ultima Tile, 346 + + Underground waters, 27, 28 + + Underworld rivers, 28 + + Universe, 12; + Bible opposed to theory of an eternal, 51; + eternity, 145; + history, 51; + sphericity, 150 + + Upsala, 329 + + Urals, 312 + + + Vapor, 166, 168, 169, 172, 185, 191, 202 + + Venetian traders, 295 + + Ventoux, Mont, 212 + + Vesuvius, Mount, 220, 221, 322 + + Viedebantt, Oscar, 371 + + Vignaud, Henry, 459 + + Vikings, 110 + + Vincent of Beauvais, 106, 405–406 + + Virgil, 221 + + Virgil, bishop of Salzburg, 57, 386 + + Virginum, Mons, 221 + + Vitruvius, 16 + + Vivaldi, Fulberto, 448 + + Vivien de St. Martin, Louis, 497 + + Volcanic islands, 224 + + Volcanoes, 21, 62, 137; + causes, 31; + as gates of Hell, 225; + Iceland, 222; + regions of, in Italy and Sicily, 220; + visits to, 220 + + Voyages, 70 + + Vulcanism, causes, 225 + + Vulcano, 222 + + + Wales, 120, 179, 195, 344; + description, 340; + Giraldus Cambrensis on, 337, 340; + lakes, 207; + landscape, 216; + local topography, 240; + marine encroachments, 196–197; + mountains, 215; + natural defensibility, 233; + rivers, 206, 340 + + Walter of Châtillon (of Lille), 108, 113; + on a mountain view, 216 + + Walter of Metz, 105, 405 + + Warner, G. F., 461 + + Waters, 20, 21, 24; + above the firmament, 58, 182; + congregation of, 59, 184, 188; + distribution of land and, 187; + distribution on the earth, 437; + earth upon the waters, 60, 186; + effect of land on waters which spring from it, 202; + of the lands, 199; + purpose of waters above the firmament, 184; + qualities of waters of the lands, 201, 202 + + Wells, 199; + miraculous, 203 + + Welsh, 340 + + Welsh language, 340 + + Wensinck, A. I., 460 + + Werner, Karl, 499 + + West. _See_ Occident + + Western Ocean, 25, 257; + islands, 334. + _See also_ Atlantic Ocean + + Westward flow of civilization, 233, 235 + + Whirlpools, 194, 348, 349, 388 + + White-men’s-land, 76 + + Wicklow, 195, 206 + + William of Auvergne, 101, 138, 145, 183 + + William of Conches, 93, 135, 136, 151, 157, 158, 160, 185, 189, 214, + 227; + on the atmosphere, 166; + on atmospheric circulation, 172; + on climates, 177; + on climatic influence of mountains, 178; + on clouds, 168; + on elements, 418; + on eternity of universe, 145; + on floods, 170; + on ground water, 199; + on precipitation, 169; + rationalism, 136; + on shape of the earth, 152; + on springs and wells, 202; + theory of Creation, 141, 142; + on tides, 192; + on the waters, 182; + on winds, 171, 172, 173, 174 + + William of Malmsbury, 469 + + William of Rubruck, 269 + + William of Tyre, 109; + on Alexandria, 299; + on the Assassins, 298; + on the desert, 228; + on Egypt, 299, 300; + on the simoom, 175; + on Western Asia, 296, 297 + + William the Breton, 108, 417; + on French landscapes, 483; + on the tides, 193, 441 + + Winchester, 336 + + Wind blowers, 252 + + Wind-blown horns, 221 + + Winds, 22, 32, 171; + cause, 172; + local, 175; + names, 173; + qualities, 174; + supernatural production, 171, 433 + + Wineland, 76; + position, 349 + + Wolfelm of Cologne, 161 + + Woman, 143 + + Wonders of the world, 321 + + Wood, G. A., 469 + + Works of the Six Days, 53, 134, 135, 137; + medieval discussions of, 138 + + World, medieval conception, 71 + + World center, 259. + _See also_ Arin; Jerusalem + + World Soul, 16, 141, 231, 419 + + Worms region, 326 + + Writings, Middle Age, 88 + + + Xenophon, 38 + + + Ydonus, 273 + + Yemen, 290, 291 + + Ymer, 147 + + Youth, Fountain of, 204, 285 + + + Zachary, Pope, 57 + + Zanzibar, 87 + + Zarqalī, Az-, 79, 86, 96, 245 + + Zemarchus, 50 + + Zephyr, 173, 174 + + Zin, 272 + + Zion, Mount, 260, 463 + + Zone maps, 121, 122 (ill.) + + Zones, 17, 23, 55, 156, 157 + + Zurich, 325 + + + + + ERRATA + + + p. 71, line 13: _for_ Tanais _read_ Tanaïs. + + p. 112, line 8: for _Hamm-burgensis_ read _Hammenburgensis_. + + p. 242, line 7: _for_ Borysthenes Dnieper _read_ Borysthenes + (Dnieper). + + p. 273, line 16 from bottom: _for_ “Pison” _read_ “Phison.” + + p. 509, line 16: for _Michael Scot, 1921–1922_, read _Michael Scot_, + 1921–1922. + + p. 516, line 21: _for_ Giordano _read_ Giordano Carlo. + + The titles of Hugh of St. Victor’s _De arca Noë mystica_ and _De arca + Noe morali_ are thus spelled in Migne, _Pat. lat._, vol. clxxvi (not + _De archa_, etc., as throughout the present volume). + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Fixed typos; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Corrected Errata. + ● Renumbered footnotes. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78333 *** |