Emery Molyneux
Encyclopedia
Emery Molyneux was an English Elizabethan
maker of globe
s, mathematical instruments and ordnance
. His terrestrial and celestial globes, first published in 1592, were the first to be made in England and the first to be made by an Englishman.
Molyneux was known as a mathematician
and maker of mathematical instruments such as compass
es and hourglass
es. He became acquainted with many prominent men of the day, including the writer Richard Hakluyt
and the mathematicians Robert Hues
and Edward Wright
. He also knew the explorers Thomas Cavendish
, Francis Drake
, Walter Raleigh
and John Davis
. Davis probably introduced Molyneux to his own patron, the London merchant William Sanderson, who largely financed the construction of the globes. When completed, the globes were presented to Elizabeth I
. Larger globes were acquired by royalty, noblemen and academic institutions, while smaller ones were purchased as practical navigation aids for sailors and students. The globes were the first to be made in such a way that they were unaffected by the humidity at sea, and they came into general use on ships.
Molyneux emigrated to Amsterdam
with his wife in 1596 or 1597. He succeeded in interesting the States-General
, the parliament of the United Provinces
, in a cannon he had invented, but he died suddenly in June 1598, apparently in poverty. The globe-making industry in England died with him.
Only six of his globes are believed still to be in existence. Three are in England, of which one pair consisting of a terrestrial and a celestial globe is owned by Middle Temple
and displayed in its library, while a terrestrial globe is at Petworth House
in Petworth
, West Sussex
.
, an Italian calligraphist
, illuminator
and ambassador
who was acquainted with him, said he was "of obscure and humble family background". It seems likely that he was the "Emery Molynox" who was presented to the Worshipful Company of Stationers
as the apprentice of one William Cooke in October 1557. By the 1580s he had a workshop in Lambeth
, on the south bank of the Thames, and enjoyed a reputation as a mathematician
and maker of mathematical instruments. Richard Polter, in his book The Pathway to Perfect Sayling (1605), mentioned that Molyneux had been a skilful maker of compass
es and hourglass
es.
Through his trade, Molyneux was known to the explorers Thomas Cavendish
, John Davis
, Francis Drake
and Walter Raleigh
, the writer Richard Hakluyt
, and the mathematicians Robert Hues
and Edward Wright
. The construction of globes by Molyneux appears to have been suggested by Davis to his patron
William Sanderson, a London merchant who has been described as "one of the most munificent and patriotic of merchant-princes of London in the days of Elizabeth I". Sanderson readily agreed to bear the manufacturing costs, and financed initial production of the globes with a capital investment of £
1,000 (almost £160,000 as of 2007).
in 1590. He also received advice and assistance from navigators and mathematicians. It is likely, for instance, that Sir Walter Raleigh advised him on a legend in Spanish about the Solomon Islands
that appeared on the terrestrial globe. Raleigh came by the information from Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa
, a Galician explorer sent by King Philip II of Spain
to fortify the Strait of Magellan
after Francis Drake had passed through it. In 1584, the Spaniard was Raleigh's guest in London for a few weeks, after being captured by Raleigh on a journey to Europe.
Molyneux accompanied Francis Drake
on his 1577–1580 circumnavigation
of the world; as Ubaldini reported, "[h]e himself has been in those seas and on those coasts in the service of the same Drake". A legend in Latin
on the terrestrial globe, explaining why Molyneux had left out the polar lands
and corrected the distance across the Atlantic Ocean between The Lizard
and Cape Race
in Newfoundland, concluded:
On the terrestrial globe, tracks of the voyages of Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish around the world are marked by red and blue lines respectively. These lines were applied when the globe was first made. They are mentioned in a description of Molyneux's globes in Blundeville His Exercises (1594) by Thomas Blundeville
, a country gentleman who was an enthusiastic student of astronomy and navigation. Thomas Cavendish appears to have helped Molyneux with his globes, and it is possible that Molyneux accompanied him on his 1587 voyage around the world, which returned to England on 9 September 1588. In 1889, Sir Clements Markham
, an English explorer, author and geographer, pointed out that a Latin
legend on the terrestrial globe, placed off the Patagonia
n coast, states: "Thomas Caundish 18 Dec. 1587 hæc terra sub nostris oculis primum obtulit sub latitud 47 cujus seu admodum salubris Incolæ maturi ex parte proceri sunt gigantes et vasti magnitudinis". However, Helen Wallis
, former Map Curator of the British Library
, observed in 1951 that this was unlikely, because Molyneux incorrectly plotted Cavendish's course in the East Indian Archipelago
. She suggested, however, that another legend on the globe may indicate that he sailed on at least one if not all of John Davis's voyages.
The mathematician and cartographer
Edward Wright assisted Molyneux in plotting coastlines on the terrestrial globe and translated some of the legends into Latin. On 10 April 1591, the astrologer
and physician Simon Forman
visited Molyneux's workshop and taught him how to find longitude
. It appears that after Molyneux had prepared the manuscript gores
(the flat map segments attached to the globes), he had them printed by the celebrated Flemish
engraver and cartographer Jodocus Hondius
, who lived in London between 1584 and 1593 to escape religious difficulties in Flanders. This can be deduced from the phrase "Iodocus Hon: / dius Flan. sc. / 1592" that appears on the celestial globe along with Sanderson's coat of arms
and a dedication to the Queen dated 1592. Molyneux's own name is recorded on the Middle Temple terrestrial globe in the phrase "Emerius Mulleneux Angl.' / sumptibus Gulielmi— / Sandersoni Londinē: / sis descripsit" ("Emery Molyneux of England, at the expense of William Sanderson of London, described this").
's globe of 1551, which itself was based on a globe of 1537 by Gemma Frisius
that Mercator had helped to construct. To the constellation
s featured on Mercator's globe, Molyneux added the Southern Cross
and Southern Triangle
, though somewhat to the west of their true positions. His source appears to have been Andrea Corsali
's diagram of the Antarctic sky published in 1550.
Molyneux's globes were the first to be constructed in such a way that they were unaffected by humidity at sea. They were made of flour-paste, an unusual material for the time. Simon Forman remarked that Molyneux's moulding
or casting
process was "the only way to caste [anything] whatsoever in perfecte forme ... and yt is the perfectest and trewest waie of all wayes ... and this was the wai that Mullenax did use to cast flowere [flour] in the verie forme".
' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
(1570)—he wrote:
Ubaldini reported Molyneux's progress in manufacturing the globes to the Duke of Milan. He was in attendance when Molyneux presented a pair of manuscript
globes to Elizabeth I at Greenwich
in July 1591. Ubaldini noted that "he gave her the globe to let her see at a glance how much of the world she could control by means of her naval forces". According to Wallis, the printed globes, which at 2 in 1 in (0.635 m) in diameter were then the largest ever made, were published after some delay in late 1592 or early 1593. Sanderson arranged entertainments at his home in Newington Butts
to mark the presentation of these globes to the Queen. His son William later reported the Queen's words on accepting the terrestrial globe: "The whole earth, a present for a Prince ..."; and on accepting the celestial globe, she said: "Thou hast presented me with the Heavens also: God guide me, to Govern my part of the one, that I may enjoy but a mansion place in this other." Elizabeth I saw globes and armillary sphere
s as symbols of her empire and spiritual mission on earth. The royal coat of arms was emblazoned across North America on the terrestrial globe.
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Several treatises were published to describe the Molyneux globes and provide guides on their use. Molyneux himself wrote a treatise, now lost, entitled The Globes Celestial and Terrestrial Set Forth in Plano, which Sanderson published in 1592. In the same year, Thomas Hood
, a London-based mathematics lecturer who had written a 1590 work on the use of celestial globes, published The Vse of Both the Globes, Celestiall and Terrestriall. This was followed in 1594 by two works, one of which was Blundeville's book. The other, Tractatus de Globis et Eorum Usu (Treatise on Globes and their Use), was published by the mathematician Robert Hues. This work went into at least 13 printings and was translated from Latin into Dutch, English and French. In 1599, Edward Wright published Certaine Errors in Navigation, which included commentary on the use of the terrestrial and celestial globes developed by Molyneux.
According to Markham, "the appearance of the globes naturally created a great sensation, and much interest was taken in appliances which were equally useful to the student and to the practical navigator." The largest and most prestigious globes were priced at up to £20 each: these were purchased by royalty, noblemen and academic institutions. Among the purchasers were Thomas Bodley
and the Warden of All Souls College
, for their libraries in Oxford
. William Sanderson presented the Universities of Oxford
and Cambridge
with a pair each. The public preacher Thomas Laughton made an inaugural gift of a Molyneux globe to the Shrewsbury School
library. Smaller globes were also made, though no examples have survived. Sanderson is known to have presented one of these to Robert Cecil
in 1595, together with Hues' "Latin booke that teacheth the use of my great globes". Intended as practical navigation aids, they cost as little as £2.
The globes provided navigators and students with methods for finding the place of the sun, latitude
, course, distance, amplitudes, azimuths, time and declination
. They proved such a boon to navigation that they came into widespread use on ships. In the dedication of his 1595 book The Seamans Secrets to the Lord High Admiral
, Charles Howard, the 1st Earl of Nottingham
, navigator John Davis spoke of "the mechanical practices drawn from the Arts of Mathematick, [in which] our Country doth yield men of principal excellency", and he noted "Mr Emery Mullenenx for the exquisite making of Globes bodies".
, which he described as his "new invention, of shot
and artillery
, to be used principally in naval warfare
: protection of ports and harbours, a new shot to discharge a thousand musket
shot; with wildfire not to be quenched". In March 1593, Molyneux was issued with a royal warrant
. Two years later, the merchant Robert Parkes purchased coal, saltpetre
, pitch
, oils and waxes for him, possibly for the cannon. On 4 November 1596 the Privy Council urged the Lord Admiral
"to speak to Molyneux, Bussy and the two Engelberts about their offensive engines" as part of measures to defend England's south coast. It appears the request was ignored. On 27 September 1594, the Queen granted Molyneux a gift of £200 and an annuity of £50. He chose to surrender the latter when, some time between March or April 1596 and 4 June 1597, he and his wife Anne emigrated to Amsterdam
, Holland. Wallis has conjectured that he took with him the printing plates for the globes and sold them to Hondius, who had returned to Amsterdam in 1593.
Why Molyneux left England for Holland is unclear. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
suggests it was to be able to personally distribute his globes to European princes, since Amsterdam was then quickly establishing itself as the centre of globe- and map-making. However, this could not have been his intention if he had sold the globes' plates to Hondius. It is possible that he had decided to concentrate on manufacturing ordnance. On 26 January 1598, the States-General
, the parliament of the United Provinces
, showed interest in Molyneux's cannon and granted him a 12-year privilege on an invention. On 6 June he lodged a second application, but he died in Amsterdam almost immediately afterwards. His wife was granted administration
of his estate
in England later that month. It seems that Molyneux died in poverty, because Anne was granted a Dutch compassionate pension
of 50 florins on 9 April 1599. Molyneux apparently had no surviving family, and the English globe-making industry died with him. No other globes appear to have been manufactured in England until the appearance in the 1670s of globes by Robert Morden
and William Berry, and by Joseph Moxon
. However, over 40 years after Molyneux's death, William Sanderson the younger wrote that his globes were "yet in being, great and small ones, Celestiall and Terrestriall, in both our Universities and severall Libraries (here, and beyond Seas)".
.
Having, it is believed, purchased the plates of Molyneux's globes, Jodocus Hondius was granted a ten-year privilege on 1 April 1597 to make and publish a terrestrial globe. In that year, he produced in Amsterdam a Dutch translation of Hues' Tractatus de Globis. On 31 October 1598, despite a legal challenge by rival globe-maker Jacob van Langeren, Hondius obtained another privilege for ten years. He duly published globes in 1600 and 1601, and his sons Henricus and Jodocus published a pair in 1613. Hondius also published a world map in 1608 on the Mercator projection. Its reliance on the Molyneux globe is shown by a number of legends, names and outlines which must have been copied directly from it.
In his globes of 1612, van Langeren incorporated the improvements made by Hondius the Elder to Molyneux's globe. It is believed that the Hondius globes also spurred Willem Blaeu
to start constructing his large globes in 1616, which were published in 1622. Molyneux's globes therefore may have indirectly influenced the evolution of Dutch globe-making.
's The Comedy of Errors
, written between 1592 and 1594, one of the protagonist
s, Dromio of Syracuse, compares a kitchen maid to a terrestrial globe: "No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip: she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her." The jest gained its point from the publication of the globes; Shakespeare may even have seen them himself. Elizabethan
dramatist Thomas Dekker wrote in one of his plays published in The Gull's Horn-book (1609):
It has been suggested that the Lord Chamberlain's Men
, the playing company
that Shakespeare worked for as an actor and playwright for most of his career, named their playing space the Globe Theatre
, built in 1599, as a response to the growing enthusiasm for terrestrial and celestial globes stimulated by those of Molyneux.
In Twelfth Night (1600–1601), Shakespeare alluded to the Wright–Molyneux Map when Maria says of Malvolio
: "He does smile his face into more lynes, than is in the new Mappe, with the augmentation of the Indies."
, Nuremberg
(at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
(German National Museum)) and Kassel
(Hessisches Landesmuseum (Hesse
Museum), Kassel). The Hessisches Landesmuseum once had a 1592 terrestrial globe, but it is believed to have been destroyed during World War II
. Three globes remain in England: one pair, consisting of a terrestrial and a celestial globe, is owned by Middle Temple
in London and displayed in its library, while a terrestrial globe is at Petworth House
in Petworth
, West Sussex
.
A terrestrial globe was discovered in Lord Leconfield
's library at Petworth House
in Petworth
, West Sussex
, in July 1949. According to the tradition of the Wyndham family, who are descended from Henry Percy, the 9th Earl of Northumberland
, the globe belonged to Sir Walter Raleigh, who gave it to Northumberland when they were imprisoned together in the Tower of London
. Northumberland, known as the "Wizard Earl" for his interest in scientific and alchemical
experiments and his library, was suspected of being involved in the Gunpowder Plot
of 1605 because his relative Thomas Percy
was among the conspirators. James I
imprisoned Raleigh in the Tower for his supposed involvement in the Main Plot
. Although the theory is supported by circumstantial evidence
, a number of entries in Northumberland's accounts relating to the mending of globes, one dating back to 1596, suggest that the Molyneux globe may have belonged to him from the beginning and was not Raleigh's. The globe, however, almost certainly spent many years in the Tower before its transfer to Petworth House, where Northumberland was confined upon his release in 1621.
The Petworth House globe, now in the North Gallery, is the only Molyneux terrestrial globe preserved in its original 1592 state. One of Molyneux's "great globes", measuring 2 in 1 in (0.635 m) in diameter, it was reported in 1952 to be in poor condition despite restoration by the British Museum
the previous year. The northern hemisphere
was darkened by dirt and badly rubbed in places, to the extent that it was hard to read. Parts of it, and large sections of the southern hemisphere
, are missing altogether. The restoration work revealed that the globe is weighted with sand and made from layers of small pieces of paper overlaid with a coat of plaster
about 1⁄8 inch (3 mm) thick. On top of this is another layer of paper over which the gores are pasted. The globe retains its wooden horizon circle and brass meridian
ring, but its hour circle and index are missing. Further restoration took place between 1995 and 1997. The globe was exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society
in 1951 and 1952.
's ownership of the Molyneux terrestrial and celestial globes. Markham's view was that Robert Ashley (1565–1641), a barrister
of the Middle Temple who was also an ardent geographer
, was likely to have left the globes to the Inn
in his will, together with his books. Ashley's books formed the nucleus of the Inn's original library and included copies of the second edition of Hues' Tractatus de Globis and other works on cosmography
. On the other hand, Wallis has said that Markham's view is not supported by any available evidence and the globes are not mentioned in the will. She believes that they were probably acquired by Middle Temple on their publication in 1603.
The celestial globe is dated 1592, but the terrestrial globe bears the year 1603 and is the only example of its kind. Wallis has surmised that the globes were made by Hondius in Amsterdam in 1603 for a purchaser in England, perhaps the Middle Temple itself. The celestial globe was made from the original 1592 printing plates, while the terrestrial globe was produced using revised plates redated to 1603. The Middle Temple terrestrial globe differs from the Petworth House globe of 1592 by incorporating Raleigh's discoveries in Guiana
and adding new place-names in Brazil
, Peru
and Africa, as well as an island marked "Corea
" off the coast of China. The most extensive revision altered the Northeast Passage to take account of discoveries made on Willem Barentsz's third voyage to Novaya Zemlya
in 1596. It appears that the revisions to the original plates of Molyneux's globe were completed by 1597, because no discoveries after that year are included. It is possible that Molyneux helped Hondius to update the plates in 1596 or 1597. For instance, if Hondius had obtained a copy of Raleigh's map of Guiana, Molyneux was the most likely source. Unlike the Petworth House globe, the Middle Temple globes are heavily varnish
ed. The varnish could have been first applied as early as 1818 when the globes were repaired by J. and W. Newton; they were certainly varnished by Messrs. Holland Hannen & Cubitts, Ltd. during maintenance work in 1930.
At the start of World War II, the globes were sent to Beaconsfield
and stored with part of the Wallace Collection
at Hall Barn in the care of Lady Burnham
. They were brought back to London in 1945 and were at one stage kept in the King's Library
on loan to the British Museum. The globes were installed in their present position in the Middle Temple Library when the current library building opened in 1958. In 2003, they were loaned to the National Maritime Museum
for an exhibition commemorating the life of Elizabeth I.
In 2004, Middle Temple proposed selling the Molyneux globes, valued at over £1 million, to create a scholarship fund for the education and training of needy would-be barristers. Its members eventually decided by a large majority against such a move. There was also a general feeling that the globes should be made more accessible to those wishing to see them.
The Middle Temple's Molyneux globes are the subject of a book-length project, The Molyneux Globes: Mathematical Practice and Theory, by Dr. Lesley B. Cormack, Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Classics of the Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta
. The project examines the community of mathematicians, natural philosophers
, instrument-makers, and gentlemen-virtuosi that developed around the creation of the Molyneux globes, particularly the histories of four men who wrote treatises about the globes and the larger mathematical community.
(William the Wise), the Landgrave
of Hesse-Kassel
(or Hesse-Cassel), a pioneer of astronomical
research. William himself died in 1592, so it has been surmised that his son and successor, Maurice
, purchased the globes for the collection. They were first mentioned in 1765 in the index of the Mathematische Kammer (Mathematics Chamber) of the Fürstliches Kunsthaus (Princely Art Gallery) in Kassel, during the reign of Landgrave Frederick III. Only a celestial globe survives today; it is believed that the terrestrial globe was destroyed during World War II.
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
maker of globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
s, mathematical instruments and ordnance
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
. His terrestrial and celestial globes, first published in 1592, were the first to be made in England and the first to be made by an Englishman.
Molyneux was known as a mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and maker of mathematical instruments such as compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
es and hourglass
Hourglass
An hourglass measures the passage of a few minutes or an hour of time. It has two connected vertical glass bulbs allowing a regulated trickle of material from the top to the bottom. Once the top bulb is empty, it can be inverted to begin timing again. The name hourglass comes from historically...
es. He became acquainted with many prominent men of the day, including the writer Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
and the mathematicians Robert Hues
Robert Hues
Robert Hues was an English mathematician and geographer. He attended St. Mary Hall at Oxford, and graduated in 1578. Hues became interested in geography and mathematics, and studied navigation at a school set up by Walter Raleigh. During a trip to Newfoundland, he made observations which caused...
and Edward Wright
Edward Wright (mathematician)
Edward Wright was an English mathematician and cartographer noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation , which for the first time explained the mathematical basis of the Mercator projection, and set out a reference table giving the linear scale multiplication factor as a function of...
. He also knew the explorers Thomas Cavendish
Thomas Cavendish
Sir Thomas Cavendish was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and return by circumnavigating the globe...
, Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
, Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
and John Davis
John Davis (English explorer)
John Davis , was one of the chief English navigators and explorers under Elizabeth I, especially in Polar regions and in the Far East.-Early life:...
. Davis probably introduced Molyneux to his own patron, the London merchant William Sanderson, who largely financed the construction of the globes. When completed, the globes were presented to Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
. Larger globes were acquired by royalty, noblemen and academic institutions, while smaller ones were purchased as practical navigation aids for sailors and students. The globes were the first to be made in such a way that they were unaffected by the humidity at sea, and they came into general use on ships.
Molyneux emigrated to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
with his wife in 1596 or 1597. He succeeded in interesting the States-General
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
, the parliament of the United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, in a cannon he had invented, but he died suddenly in June 1598, apparently in poverty. The globe-making industry in England died with him.
Only six of his globes are believed still to be in existence. Three are in England, of which one pair consisting of a terrestrial and a celestial globe is owned by Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
and displayed in its library, while a terrestrial globe is at Petworth House
Petworth House
Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century mansion, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s by Anthony Salvin...
in Petworth
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
.
Construction
Emery Molyneux is regarded as the maker of the first terrestrial and celestial globes in England and as the first English globe-maker. Little is known about the man himself. Petruccio UbaldiniPetruccio Ubaldini
Petruccio Ubaldini was an Italian calligraphist and illuminator on vellum, who was working in England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and seems to have enjoyed the favor of the Court...
, an Italian calligraphist
Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...
, illuminator
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
and ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
who was acquainted with him, said he was "of obscure and humble family background". It seems likely that he was the "Emery Molynox" who was presented to the Worshipful Company of Stationers
Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was founded in 1403; it received a Royal Charter in 1557...
as the apprentice of one William Cooke in October 1557. By the 1580s he had a workshop in Lambeth
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
, on the south bank of the Thames, and enjoyed a reputation as a mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and maker of mathematical instruments. Richard Polter, in his book The Pathway to Perfect Sayling (1605), mentioned that Molyneux had been a skilful maker of compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
es and hourglass
Hourglass
An hourglass measures the passage of a few minutes or an hour of time. It has two connected vertical glass bulbs allowing a regulated trickle of material from the top to the bottom. Once the top bulb is empty, it can be inverted to begin timing again. The name hourglass comes from historically...
es.
Thomas Cavendish
Sir Thomas Cavendish was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and return by circumnavigating the globe...
, John Davis
John Davis (English explorer)
John Davis , was one of the chief English navigators and explorers under Elizabeth I, especially in Polar regions and in the Far East.-Early life:...
, Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
and Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
, the writer Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
, and the mathematicians Robert Hues
Robert Hues
Robert Hues was an English mathematician and geographer. He attended St. Mary Hall at Oxford, and graduated in 1578. Hues became interested in geography and mathematics, and studied navigation at a school set up by Walter Raleigh. During a trip to Newfoundland, he made observations which caused...
and Edward Wright
Edward Wright (mathematician)
Edward Wright was an English mathematician and cartographer noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation , which for the first time explained the mathematical basis of the Mercator projection, and set out a reference table giving the linear scale multiplication factor as a function of...
. The construction of globes by Molyneux appears to have been suggested by Davis to his patron
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
William Sanderson, a London merchant who has been described as "one of the most munificent and patriotic of merchant-princes of London in the days of Elizabeth I". Sanderson readily agreed to bear the manufacturing costs, and financed initial production of the globes with a capital investment of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
1,000 (almost £160,000 as of 2007).
Terrestrial globes
In making his terrestrial globes, Molyneux examined ruttiers (instructions for directions at sea) and pilots (navigational handbooks). He is known to have given a ruttier for Brazil and the West Indies to Thomas HarriotThomas Harriot
Thomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland...
in 1590. He also received advice and assistance from navigators and mathematicians. It is likely, for instance, that Sir Walter Raleigh advised him on a legend in Spanish about the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
that appeared on the terrestrial globe. Raleigh came by the information from Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa was a Spanish explorer, author, historian, astronomer, and scientist. His birthplace is not certain and may have been Pontevedra, in Galicia, where his paternal family originated or Alcalá de Henares in Castile, where he later is known to have studied...
, a Galician explorer sent by King Philip II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
to fortify the Strait of Magellan
Strait of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...
after Francis Drake had passed through it. In 1584, the Spaniard was Raleigh's guest in London for a few weeks, after being captured by Raleigh on a journey to Europe.
Molyneux accompanied Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
on his 1577–1580 circumnavigation
Circumnavigation
Circumnavigation – literally, "navigation of a circumference" – refers to travelling all the way around an island, a continent, or the entire planet Earth.- Global circumnavigation :...
of the world; as Ubaldini reported, "[h]e himself has been in those seas and on those coasts in the service of the same Drake". A legend in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
on the terrestrial globe, explaining why Molyneux had left out the polar lands
Polar region
Earth's polar regions are the areas of the globe surrounding the poles also known as frigid zones. The North Pole and South Pole being the centers, these regions are dominated by the polar ice caps, resting respectively on the Arctic Ocean and the continent of Antarctica...
and corrected the distance across the Atlantic Ocean between The Lizard
The Lizard
The Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....
and Cape Race
Cape Race
Cape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", or "bare"...
in Newfoundland, concluded:
Thomas Blundeville
Thomas Blundeville was an English humanist writer and mathematician. He is known for work on logic, astronomy, education and horsemanship, as well as for translations from the Italian. His interests were both wide-ranging and directed towards practical ends, and he adapted freely a number of the...
, a country gentleman who was an enthusiastic student of astronomy and navigation. Thomas Cavendish appears to have helped Molyneux with his globes, and it is possible that Molyneux accompanied him on his 1587 voyage around the world, which returned to England on 9 September 1588. In 1889, Sir Clements Markham
Clements Markham
Sir Clements Robert Markham KCB FRS was an English geographer, explorer, and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for a further 12 years...
, an English explorer, author and geographer, pointed out that a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
legend on the terrestrial globe, placed off the Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
n coast, states: "Thomas Caundish 18 Dec. 1587 hæc terra sub nostris oculis primum obtulit sub latitud 47 cujus seu admodum salubris Incolæ maturi ex parte proceri sunt gigantes et vasti magnitudinis". However, Helen Wallis
Helen Wallis
Helen Margaret Wallis was the Map Curator of the British Library from 1967 to 1987.-Biography:Born in Barnet, Wallis attended St Paul's School for Girls and studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she completed her D.Phil degree in 1954.In 1951, she was appointed assistant to R.A...
, former Map Curator of the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
, observed in 1951 that this was unlikely, because Molyneux incorrectly plotted Cavendish's course in the East Indian Archipelago
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
. She suggested, however, that another legend on the globe may indicate that he sailed on at least one if not all of John Davis's voyages.
The mathematician and cartographer
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
Edward Wright assisted Molyneux in plotting coastlines on the terrestrial globe and translated some of the legends into Latin. On 10 April 1591, the astrologer
Astrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
and physician Simon Forman
Simon Forman
Simon Forman was arguably the most popular Elizabethan astrologer, occultist and herbalist active in London during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I of England. His reputation, however, was severely tarnished after his death when he was implicated in the plot to kill Sir Thomas Overbury...
visited Molyneux's workshop and taught him how to find longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....
. It appears that after Molyneux had prepared the manuscript gores
Gore (segment)
A gore is a segment of a three-dimensional shape fabricated from a two-dimensional material. The term was originally used to describe triangular shapes, but is now extended to any shape that can be used to create the third dimension.-Examples:...
(the flat map segments attached to the globes), he had them printed by the celebrated Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
engraver and cartographer Jodocus Hondius
Jodocus Hondius
Jodocus Hondius , sometimes called Jodocus Hondius the Elder to distinguish him from his son Henricus Hondius II, was a Flemish artist, engraver, and cartographer...
, who lived in London between 1584 and 1593 to escape religious difficulties in Flanders. This can be deduced from the phrase "Iodocus Hon: / dius Flan. sc. / 1592" that appears on the celestial globe along with Sanderson's coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
and a dedication to the Queen dated 1592. Molyneux's own name is recorded on the Middle Temple terrestrial globe in the phrase "Emerius Mulleneux Angl.' / sumptibus Gulielmi— / Sandersoni Londinē: / sis descripsit" ("Emery Molyneux of England, at the expense of William Sanderson of London, described this").
Celestial globes
Molyneux's celestial globe was virtually a copy of Gerardus MercatorGerardus Mercator
thumb|right|200px|Gerardus MercatorGerardus Mercator was a cartographer, born in Rupelmonde in the Hapsburg County of Flanders, part of the Holy Roman Empire. He is remembered for the Mercator projection world map, which is named after him...
's globe of 1551, which itself was based on a globe of 1537 by Gemma Frisius
Gemma Frisius
Gemma Frisius , was a physician, mathematician, cartographer, philosopher, and instrument maker...
that Mercator had helped to construct. To the constellation
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
s featured on Mercator's globe, Molyneux added the Southern Cross
Crux
Crux is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations, but is one of the most distinctive. Its name is Latin for cross, and it is dominated by a cross-shaped asterism that is commonly known as the Southern Cross.-Visibility:...
and Southern Triangle
Triangulum Australe
Triangulum Australe is a small constellation in the southern sky, created in the sixteenth century. Its name is Latin for 'the southern triangle', which distinguishes it from Triangulum in the northern sky...
, though somewhat to the west of their true positions. His source appears to have been Andrea Corsali
Andrea Corsali
Andrea Corsali was an Italian explorer who worked in the service of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici of Florence and Lorenzo II de' Medici, duke of Urbino. Corsali traveled to Asia and the south seas aboard a Portuguese merchant vessel, writing home with accounts of the lands and peoples he...
's diagram of the Antarctic sky published in 1550.
Molyneux's globes were the first to be constructed in such a way that they were unaffected by humidity at sea. They were made of flour-paste, an unusual material for the time. Simon Forman remarked that Molyneux's moulding
Molding (process)
Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern....
or casting
Casting
In metalworking, casting involves pouring liquid metal into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowing it to cool and solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or broken out of the mold to complete the process...
process was "the only way to caste [anything] whatsoever in perfecte forme ... and yt is the perfectest and trewest waie of all wayes ... and this was the wai that Mullenax did use to cast flowere [flour] in the verie forme".
Publication
In 1589, Richard Hakluyt announced the forthcoming publication of Molyneux's terrestrial globe at the end of the preface to The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation. Referring to the map that was inserted into the volume—a reproduction of the "Typus Orbis Terrarum" engraved by Franciscus Hogenberg for Abraham OrteliusAbraham Ortelius
thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) thumb|250px|Abraham Ortelius by [[Peter Paul Rubens]]Abraham Ortelius (Abraham Ortels) (April 14, 1527 – June 28,exile in England to take...
' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Abraham Ortelius and originally printed on May 20, 1570, in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and sustaining text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically...
(1570)—he wrote:
Ubaldini reported Molyneux's progress in manufacturing the globes to the Duke of Milan. He was in attendance when Molyneux presented a pair of manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
globes to Elizabeth I at Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
in July 1591. Ubaldini noted that "he gave her the globe to let her see at a glance how much of the world she could control by means of her naval forces". According to Wallis, the printed globes, which at 2 in 1 in (0.635 m) in diameter were then the largest ever made, were published after some delay in late 1592 or early 1593. Sanderson arranged entertainments at his home in Newington Butts
Newington Butts
Newington Butts is a former village, now an area of the London Borough of Southwark, that gives its name to a segment of the A3 road running south-west from the Elephant and Castle junction...
to mark the presentation of these globes to the Queen. His son William later reported the Queen's words on accepting the terrestrial globe: "The whole earth, a present for a Prince ..."; and on accepting the celestial globe, she said: "Thou hast presented me with the Heavens also: God guide me, to Govern my part of the one, that I may enjoy but a mansion place in this other." Elizabeth I saw globes and armillary sphere
Armillary sphere
An armillary sphere is a model of objects in the sky , consisting of a spherical framework of rings, centred on Earth, that represent lines of celestial longitude and latitude and other astronomically important features such as the ecliptic...
s as symbols of her empire and spiritual mission on earth. The royal coat of arms was emblazoned across North America on the terrestrial globe.
Thomas Hood (mathematician)
Thomas Hood was an English mathematician and physician, the first lecturer in mathematics appointed in England, a few years before the founding of Gresham College. He publicized the Copernican theory, and discussed the nova SN 1572....
, a London-based mathematics lecturer who had written a 1590 work on the use of celestial globes, published The Vse of Both the Globes, Celestiall and Terrestriall. This was followed in 1594 by two works, one of which was Blundeville's book. The other, Tractatus de Globis et Eorum Usu (Treatise on Globes and their Use), was published by the mathematician Robert Hues. This work went into at least 13 printings and was translated from Latin into Dutch, English and French. In 1599, Edward Wright published Certaine Errors in Navigation, which included commentary on the use of the terrestrial and celestial globes developed by Molyneux.
According to Markham, "the appearance of the globes naturally created a great sensation, and much interest was taken in appliances which were equally useful to the student and to the practical navigator." The largest and most prestigious globes were priced at up to £20 each: these were purchased by royalty, noblemen and academic institutions. Among the purchasers were Thomas Bodley
Thomas Bodley
Sir Thomas Bodley was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.-Biography:...
and the Warden of All Souls College
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....
, for their libraries in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. William Sanderson presented the Universities of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
with a pair each. The public preacher Thomas Laughton made an inaugural gift of a Molyneux globe to the Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...
library. Smaller globes were also made, though no examples have survived. Sanderson is known to have presented one of these to Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
in 1595, together with Hues' "Latin booke that teacheth the use of my great globes". Intended as practical navigation aids, they cost as little as £2.
The globes provided navigators and students with methods for finding the place of the sun, latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
, course, distance, amplitudes, azimuths, time and declination
Declination
In astronomy, declination is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle. Declination in astronomy is comparable to geographic latitude, but projected onto the celestial sphere. Declination is measured in degrees north and...
. They proved such a boon to navigation that they came into widespread use on ships. In the dedication of his 1595 book The Seamans Secrets to the Lord High Admiral
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
, Charles Howard, the 1st Earl of Nottingham
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham , known as Howard of Effingham, was an English statesman and Lord High Admiral under Elizabeth I and James I...
, navigator John Davis spoke of "the mechanical practices drawn from the Arts of Mathematick, [in which] our Country doth yield men of principal excellency", and he noted "Mr Emery Mullenenx for the exquisite making of Globes bodies".
Later life
In the 1590s, Molyneux sought Elizabeth I's patronage for the production of a cannonCannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, which he described as his "new invention, of shot
Lead shot
Lead shot is a collective term for small balls of lead. These were the original projectiles for muskets and early rifles, but today lead shot is fired primarily from shotguns. It is also used for a variety of other purposes...
and artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
, to be used principally in naval warfare
Naval warfare
Naval warfare is combat in and on seas, oceans, or any other major bodies of water such as large lakes and wide rivers.-History:Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Land warfare would seem, initially, to be irrelevant and entirely removed from warfare on the open ocean,...
: protection of ports and harbours, a new shot to discharge a thousand musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
shot; with wildfire not to be quenched". In March 1593, Molyneux was issued with a royal warrant
Royal Warrant
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...
. Two years later, the merchant Robert Parkes purchased coal, saltpetre
Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
, pitch
Pitch (resin)
Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...
, oils and waxes for him, possibly for the cannon. On 4 November 1596 the Privy Council urged the Lord Admiral
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
"to speak to Molyneux, Bussy and the two Engelberts about their offensive engines" as part of measures to defend England's south coast. It appears the request was ignored. On 27 September 1594, the Queen granted Molyneux a gift of £200 and an annuity of £50. He chose to surrender the latter when, some time between March or April 1596 and 4 June 1597, he and his wife Anne emigrated to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Holland. Wallis has conjectured that he took with him the printing plates for the globes and sold them to Hondius, who had returned to Amsterdam in 1593.
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
suggests it was to be able to personally distribute his globes to European princes, since Amsterdam was then quickly establishing itself as the centre of globe- and map-making. However, this could not have been his intention if he had sold the globes' plates to Hondius. It is possible that he had decided to concentrate on manufacturing ordnance. On 26 January 1598, the States-General
States-General of the Netherlands
The States-General of the Netherlands is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets in at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The archaic Dutch word "staten" originally related to the feudal classes in which medieval...
, the parliament of the United Provinces
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, showed interest in Molyneux's cannon and granted him a 12-year privilege on an invention. On 6 June he lodged a second application, but he died in Amsterdam almost immediately afterwards. His wife was granted administration
Administrator of an estate
The Administrator of an estate is a legal term referring to a person appointed by a court to administer the estate of a deceased person who left no will. Where a person dies intestate, i.e., without a will, the court may appoint a person to settle their debts, pay any necessary taxes and funeral...
of his estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
in England later that month. It seems that Molyneux died in poverty, because Anne was granted a Dutch compassionate pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
of 50 florins on 9 April 1599. Molyneux apparently had no surviving family, and the English globe-making industry died with him. No other globes appear to have been manufactured in England until the appearance in the 1670s of globes by Robert Morden
Robert Morden
Robert Morden was a British bookseller, publisher, and maker of maps and globes.He was among the first successful commercial map makers....
and William Berry, and by Joseph Moxon
Joseph Moxon
Joseph Moxon , hydrographer to Charles II, was an English printer of mathematical books and maps, a maker of globes and mathematical instruments, and mathematical lexicographer. He produced the first English language dictionary devoted to mathematics...
. However, over 40 years after Molyneux's death, William Sanderson the younger wrote that his globes were "yet in being, great and small ones, Celestiall and Terrestriall, in both our Universities and severall Libraries (here, and beyond Seas)".
Influence
Cartography
In the second volume of the greatly expanded version of his book The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (1599), Hakluyt published what is known today as the Wright–Molyneux Map. Created by Edward Wright and based on Molyneux's terrestrial globe, it was the first map to use Wright's improvements on Mercator's projectionMercator projection
The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Belgian geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in 1569. It became the standard map projection for nautical purposes because of its ability to represent lines of constant course, known as rhumb lines or loxodromes, as...
.
Having, it is believed, purchased the plates of Molyneux's globes, Jodocus Hondius was granted a ten-year privilege on 1 April 1597 to make and publish a terrestrial globe. In that year, he produced in Amsterdam a Dutch translation of Hues' Tractatus de Globis. On 31 October 1598, despite a legal challenge by rival globe-maker Jacob van Langeren, Hondius obtained another privilege for ten years. He duly published globes in 1600 and 1601, and his sons Henricus and Jodocus published a pair in 1613. Hondius also published a world map in 1608 on the Mercator projection. Its reliance on the Molyneux globe is shown by a number of legends, names and outlines which must have been copied directly from it.
In his globes of 1612, van Langeren incorporated the improvements made by Hondius the Elder to Molyneux's globe. It is believed that the Hondius globes also spurred Willem Blaeu
Willem Blaeu
Willem Janszoon Blaeu , also abbreviated to Willem Jansz. Blaeu, was a Dutch cartographer, atlas maker and publisher....
to start constructing his large globes in 1616, which were published in 1622. Molyneux's globes therefore may have indirectly influenced the evolution of Dutch globe-making.
Culture
The appearance of Molyneux's globes had a significant influence on the culture of his time. In ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
, written between 1592 and 1594, one of the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
s, Dromio of Syracuse, compares a kitchen maid to a terrestrial globe: "No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip: she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her." The jest gained its point from the publication of the globes; Shakespeare may even have seen them himself. Elizabethan
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
dramatist Thomas Dekker wrote in one of his plays published in The Gull's Horn-book (1609):
It has been suggested that the Lord Chamberlain's Men
Lord Chamberlain's Men
The Lord Chamberlain's Men was a playing company for whom Shakespeare worked for most of his career. Formed at the end of a period of flux in the theatrical world of London, it had become, by 1603, one of the two leading companies of the city and was subsequently patronised by James I.It was...
, the playing company
Playing company
In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. These companies were organized around a group of ten or so shareholders , who performed in the plays but were also responsible for management. The sharers employed "hired men" — that is, the minor actors and...
that Shakespeare worked for as an actor and playwright for most of his career, named their playing space the Globe Theatre
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
, built in 1599, as a response to the growing enthusiasm for terrestrial and celestial globes stimulated by those of Molyneux.
In Twelfth Night (1600–1601), Shakespeare alluded to the Wright–Molyneux Map when Maria says of Malvolio
Malvolio
Malvolio is the steward of Olivia's household in William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, or What You Will.-Style:Malvolio's ethical values are commonly used to define his appearance.In the play, Malvolio is defined as a "kind of" Puritan...
: "He does smile his face into more lynes, than is in the new Mappe, with the augmentation of the Indies."
Globes today
Only six Molyneux globes are known to exist today, two terrestrial globes and four celestial globes. Three celestial globes are in Germany, one each in ZerbstZerbst
Zerbst is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until the administrative reform of 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the Anhalt-Zerbst district. Since the 1 January 2010 local government reform, Zerbst has about 24,000 inhabitants.It is not clear when was it founded;...
, Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
(at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum
Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The Germanisches Nationalmuseum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day...
(German National Museum)) and Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
(Hessisches Landesmuseum (Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
Museum), Kassel). The Hessisches Landesmuseum once had a 1592 terrestrial globe, but it is believed to have been destroyed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Three globes remain in England: one pair, consisting of a terrestrial and a celestial globe, is owned by Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in London and displayed in its library, while a terrestrial globe is at Petworth House
Petworth House
Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century mansion, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s by Anthony Salvin...
in Petworth
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
.
Petworth House globe
Baron Leconfield
Baron Leconfield, of Leconfield in the East Riding of the County of York, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1859 for George Wyndham. He was the eldest natural son and adopted heir of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont...
's library at Petworth House
Petworth House
Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century mansion, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s by Anthony Salvin...
in Petworth
Petworth
Petworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, in July 1949. According to the tradition of the Wyndham family, who are descended from Henry Percy, the 9th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland
Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland KG was an English aristocrat. He was a grandee and one of the wealthiest peers of the court of Elizabeth I. Under James I, Henry was a long-term prisoner in the Tower of London. He is known for the circles he moved in as well as for his own achievements...
, the globe belonged to Sir Walter Raleigh, who gave it to Northumberland when they were imprisoned together in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
. Northumberland, known as the "Wizard Earl" for his interest in scientific and alchemical
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
experiments and his library, was suspected of being involved in the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby.The plan was to blow up the House of...
of 1605 because his relative Thomas Percy
Thomas Percy (plotter)
Thomas Percy was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. A tall, physically impressive man, little is known of his early life beyond his matriculation in 1579 to Peterhouse College in Cambridge, and his marriage in 1591 to Martha Wright...
was among the conspirators. James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
imprisoned Raleigh in the Tower for his supposed involvement in the Main Plot
Main Plot
The Main Plot was an alleged conspiracy of July 1603 by English courtiers, to remove King James I from the English throne, replacing him with his cousin Arabella Stuart. The plot was supposedly led by Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham, and funded by Spain...
. Although the theory is supported by circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
, a number of entries in Northumberland's accounts relating to the mending of globes, one dating back to 1596, suggest that the Molyneux globe may have belonged to him from the beginning and was not Raleigh's. The globe, however, almost certainly spent many years in the Tower before its transfer to Petworth House, where Northumberland was confined upon his release in 1621.
The Petworth House globe, now in the North Gallery, is the only Molyneux terrestrial globe preserved in its original 1592 state. One of Molyneux's "great globes", measuring 2 in 1 in (0.635 m) in diameter, it was reported in 1952 to be in poor condition despite restoration by the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
the previous year. The northern hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
was darkened by dirt and badly rubbed in places, to the extent that it was hard to read. Parts of it, and large sections of the southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
, are missing altogether. The restoration work revealed that the globe is weighted with sand and made from layers of small pieces of paper overlaid with a coat of plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
about 1⁄8 inch (3 mm) thick. On top of this is another layer of paper over which the gores are pasted. The globe retains its wooden horizon circle and brass meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
ring, but its hour circle and index are missing. Further restoration took place between 1995 and 1997. The globe was exhibited at the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
in 1951 and 1952.
Middle Temple globes
A bill in the accounts of 11 April 1717 for "repairing the globes in the library" is the earliest reference to the Middle TempleMiddle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
's ownership of the Molyneux terrestrial and celestial globes. Markham's view was that Robert Ashley (1565–1641), a barrister
Barristers in England and Wales
Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. -Origin of the profession:The work of senior legal professionals in England and Wales...
of the Middle Temple who was also an ardent geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
, was likely to have left the globes to the Inn
Inns of Court
The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. All such barristers must belong to one such association. They have supervisory and disciplinary functions over their members. The Inns also provide libraries, dining facilities and professional...
in his will, together with his books. Ashley's books formed the nucleus of the Inn's original library and included copies of the second edition of Hues' Tractatus de Globis and other works on cosmography
Cosmography
Cosmography is the science that maps the general features of the universe, describing both heaven and Earth...
. On the other hand, Wallis has said that Markham's view is not supported by any available evidence and the globes are not mentioned in the will. She believes that they were probably acquired by Middle Temple on their publication in 1603.
The celestial globe is dated 1592, but the terrestrial globe bears the year 1603 and is the only example of its kind. Wallis has surmised that the globes were made by Hondius in Amsterdam in 1603 for a purchaser in England, perhaps the Middle Temple itself. The celestial globe was made from the original 1592 printing plates, while the terrestrial globe was produced using revised plates redated to 1603. The Middle Temple terrestrial globe differs from the Petworth House globe of 1592 by incorporating Raleigh's discoveries in Guiana
Guyanas
Guyana is a country in South America.Guyana, Guayana, or Guiana may also refer to:*Guayana Esequiba, the territory of Guyana claimed by Venezuela*Guayana Region, an administrative region of Venezuela...
and adding new place-names in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Africa, as well as an island marked "Corea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
" off the coast of China. The most extensive revision altered the Northeast Passage to take account of discoveries made on Willem Barentsz's third voyage to Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya , also known in Dutch as Nova Zembla and in Norwegian as , is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia and the extreme northeast of Europe, the easternmost point of Europe lying at Cape Flissingsky on the northern island...
in 1596. It appears that the revisions to the original plates of Molyneux's globe were completed by 1597, because no discoveries after that year are included. It is possible that Molyneux helped Hondius to update the plates in 1596 or 1597. For instance, if Hondius had obtained a copy of Raleigh's map of Guiana, Molyneux was the most likely source. Unlike the Petworth House globe, the Middle Temple globes are heavily varnish
Varnish
Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be designed to produce satin or semi-gloss...
ed. The varnish could have been first applied as early as 1818 when the globes were repaired by J. and W. Newton; they were certainly varnished by Messrs. Holland Hannen & Cubitts, Ltd. during maintenance work in 1930.
At the start of World War II, the globes were sent to Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish operating as a town council within the South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. It lies northwest of Charing Cross in Central London, and south-east of the county town of Aylesbury...
and stored with part of the Wallace Collection
Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is a museum in London, with a world-famous range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with large holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries.It was established in...
at Hall Barn in the care of Lady Burnham
Baron Burnham
Baron Burnham, of Hall Barn in the Parish of Beaconsfield in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1903 for the influential newspaper magnate Sir Edward Levy-Lawson, 1st Baronet, owner of the Daily Telegraph...
. They were brought back to London in 1945 and were at one stage kept in the King's Library
King's Library
The King's Library was one of the most important collections of books and pamphlets of the Age of Enlightenment. Assembled by George III, this scholarly library of over 65,000 volumes was subsequently given to the British nation by George IV. It was housed in a specially built gallery in the...
on loan to the British Museum. The globes were installed in their present position in the Middle Temple Library when the current library building opened in 1958. In 2003, they were loaned to the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...
for an exhibition commemorating the life of Elizabeth I.
In 2004, Middle Temple proposed selling the Molyneux globes, valued at over £1 million, to create a scholarship fund for the education and training of needy would-be barristers. Its members eventually decided by a large majority against such a move. There was also a general feeling that the globes should be made more accessible to those wishing to see them.
The Middle Temple's Molyneux globes are the subject of a book-length project, The Molyneux Globes: Mathematical Practice and Theory, by Dr. Lesley B. Cormack, Professor and Chair of the Department of History and Classics of the Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
. The project examines the community of mathematicians, natural philosophers
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
, instrument-makers, and gentlemen-virtuosi that developed around the creation of the Molyneux globes, particularly the histories of four men who wrote treatises about the globes and the larger mathematical community.
Hessisches Landesmuseum globe
The Molyneux globes at the Hessisches Landesmuseum, Kassel, were inherited from the collection of William IVWilliam IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
William IV of Hesse-Kassel , also called William the Wise, was the first Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel . He was the founder of the oldest line, which survives to this day.-Life:...
(William the Wise), the Landgrave
Landgrave
Landgrave was a title used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor...
of Hesse-Kassel
Hesse-Kassel
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel was a state in the Holy Roman Empire under Imperial immediacy that came into existence when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided in 1567 upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half and the...
(or Hesse-Cassel), a pioneer of astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
research. William himself died in 1592, so it has been surmised that his son and successor, Maurice
Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
-External links:...
, purchased the globes for the collection. They were first mentioned in 1765 in the index of the Mathematische Kammer (Mathematics Chamber) of the Fürstliches Kunsthaus (Princely Art Gallery) in Kassel, during the reign of Landgrave Frederick III. Only a celestial globe survives today; it is believed that the terrestrial globe was destroyed during World War II.
Early books about Molyneux's globes
. A modern reprint was published as:-
- . (in LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
). OctavoOctavo (book)Octavo is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multiple pages of text were printed to form the individual sections of a book...
. The work went into 12 other printings in Dutch (1597, 1613 and 1622), English (1638 and 1659), French (1618) and Latin (1611, 1613, 1617, 1627, 1659 and 1663), and a modern reprint of the English version was published as: - .. Further editions were published, including those in 1606 (3rd), 1613 (4th), 1636 (7th) and 1638 (7th, "corrected and somewhat enlarged"). The work includes (at pp. 515–519 of the 7th ed.), a description of Molyneux's globes and an account of Sir Francis DrakeFrancis DrakeSir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
's voyage around the world.. Another version of the work published in the same year was entitled . Mentions the use of Molyneux's terrestrial and celestial globes. Two further editions were published in 1610 and 1657, and the work was reprinted as: - .
- . (in Latin