Engaging the New World: German Understandings of the New Continent
There were no New World German colonies in the way there were Spanish, Portuguese, British, and French colonies. The evolving nation-states founded their own colonies and trading factories based on their own particular legal and practical justifications. Indeed, the competing claims of Spain and Portugal were adjudicated by the Pope himself. In the first century of European exploration and conquest, however, many Germans were directly involved. For dynastic reasons, united Spain’s first King, Charles, also became Charles V (Karl V), emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation,” a loose confederation of duchies, principalities, counties, and free imperial city-states. However intractable an entity this empire may have been, it formed a vibrant information network, marshalling the services of mapmakers, geographers, natural philosophers, and narrative writers. The system also generated rich informational resources, distributed with the aid of the printing press, which other writers could harvest for their own purposes. The unified rule of one man over Spain’s territories and the German lands continued to Charles’s abdication in 1556, when they were again divided between his brother and his son. Voltaire would comment in 1756 that “This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.”
Christopher Columbus, De insulis inuentis : Epistola Cristoferi Colom: … de insulis in mari Indico nup[er] inue[n]tis. [Basel J. Wolff, 1493].
Columbus drafted this report on his travels before reaching the mainland of Spain. The report was soon leaked and printed in Rome and Paris. It was translated from the Spanish original, printed in Barcelona. This, the finest of the Columbus letters, was printed in Switzerland, probably by Jakob Wolff from Pforzheim, although it has also been assigned to Michael Furter and to Johann Bergann. Wolff had 50 books to his credit, including many liturgical materials. The naïve illustrations are meant to depict scenes from the letter, but were performed without a good sense of the configuration of the islands or the architecture that might have been found there.
Christopher Columbus, Eyn schön hübsch Lesen von etlichen Insslen die so in kurtzen Zyten funden synd durch de[n] Künig von Hispania.:vnd sagt vo[n] grossen wunderlichen Dingen die in de[n]selbe[n] Insslen synd. Strassburg : Bartolomaeus Küstler,[1497].
Within a few years, the Columbus letter was published in German in Strassburg in Lorraine / Lothringen, where Gutenberg had completed his invention of printing from movable type. This was one of 27 imprints traced to Küstler. The illustration on the title page and again on the last leaf is of Jesus in the Holy Land, borrowed from another publication. While seemingly unrelated, it is in some way very much on topic, since Columbus considered the spread of Christianity to be a key aim of his voyage, and he hoped to see profits from the expedition plowed back into the goal of securing the Holy Land for Christians.
Martin Waldseemüller, 1470-1521? "Orbis Typus Vniversalis Iuxta Hydrographorum Traditionem." [Nuremberg? ca. 1507?-1513?].
This unique woodcut map, bearing the word “America” as the new continent’s name, has long been called the Stevens-Brown map. A much larger version of the map, also labeled “America” and long thought to be lost, was discovered a century ago in Wolfegg Castle, in Upper Swabia (Baden-Württemberg). It now resides in the Library of Congress. The Stevens-Brown map was recently borrowed for a special exhibition there and will be absent from the Library until July.
A similar map was taken up in Waldseemüller & Ringmann’s Ptolemy of 1513. By that year, Waldseemüller’s knowledge of Encounter history had improved, and he no longer placed “America” on his maps, in deference to Columbus’s prior claim. However, this was too late, and the name “America” had taken hold to the degree that it could no longer be effaced.
Martin Waldseemüller, 1470-1521? Cosmographiae introductio, cum quibusdam geometriae ac astronomiae principiis ad eam rem necessariis. Insuper Quattuor Americi Vespucij nauigationes. : Vniuersalis cosmographiæ descriptio tam in solido [quam] plano, eis etiam insertis quæ Ptholom[a]eo ignota a nuperis reperta sunt. [St. Dié ]: [Walter & Nikolaus Lud], 1507.
This text was designed to accompany a globe and map of the world, the New World being designated “America.” Vautrin Lud, Canon of Saint-Dié was the chaplain and secretary of René II, Duke of Lorraine. He established a press at Saint-Dié and set about plans for a center of study as to how the earth should be represented on paper. His project team included the German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, and the Alsatian professor, Matthias Ringmann. The team set about to publish a Latin edition of Ptolemy’s Geography. When the Duke received an abridged version of Vespucci’s four voyages in 1507, he had it translated into Latin and published as part of this Introduction to Cosmography written by Waldseemüller. The translation was dedicated to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. Impressed by Amerigo Vespucci’s seafaring accomplishments, Waldseemüller recorded in this work his view that “I do not see any reason not to call this latest discovery Amerige or America, according to the sagacious man who discovered it,” noting his belief that the other continents had been named for women. Shown here is the chart accompanying Waldseemüller’s chapter on parallels spanning the globe between the North and South Pole.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Erzelung der Künigreych in Hispanien auch der selben järlich nutzung vnd einkommens mit sampt der herschafften dem selben Künigreych zugehörig. Mer ein alte Prophecey Kay. Carl betreffend. [Augsburg: Heinrich Steiner], 1532.
This is the very rare and detailed printed tax inventory statement of Charles V (1500-1558), including the entire dominion of the united Spanish kingdoms as well as the various lands from which tribute was to be paid annually. It includes “the islands from which the gold originates” – that is the still “new” American lands--from which Charles expected 140,000 ducats, to be delivered annually to his treasury: "Die Inseln von denen das gold kumpt für den fünften pfenning, so man dem Künig järlichs inn sein kamer bringt, ein hundert tausent, vierzig tausent ducaten." On the last two pages appears an account that allegedly was discovered in old book found in the Italian city of Verona which prophesies that Charles will be liberator of the Holy Land and the first crowned emperor there after Friedrich III.
Charles’ very life represented the consolidation of territory and power through the strands of his inheritance. As the grandson of Queen Isabella, he became King Charles I in 1516, the first king of Spain, as the simultaneous ruler of Castile, León and Aragon. In 1519 he became Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria. As Kaiser Karl V, he ruled an empire spanning nearly four million square kilometers and encompassing vast territories in central, western and southern Europe, and the Spanish colonies in America and the East Indies. So it was that the titular ruler of the German states should also be the lord of Spanish expansion in the Americas. Charles conquered Mexico and Peru, sent armies into other parts of South and Central America, and provided Magellan with five ships for his circumnavigation, leading to Spain’s Pacific conquests.
The large, elaborate title woodcut consists three shields surmounted by crowns; the two lower shields are multipart including the various kingdoms and lands with the emperor's shield and symbol above; hanging from them is the golden fleece.
Newe Zeittung. Von dem Lande. Das die Sponier funden haben ym 1521. [Augsburg? 1522?].
This remarkable newsbook relates information not directly related to any Spanish narrative of the same time. It reports on news from a ship recently arrived from Cuba, and the news is similar to one of the letters of Peter Martyr, who also wrote of a ship from Cuba. The report may have been transmitted by an agent of the Fugger banking interests, who had extensive connections and were based in Augsburg. The letter reports on procedures in a temple on an island in the Coatzacoalcos River, and also reports on early discussions between the Spaniards and Montezuma. The image shown is the earliest European attempt to represent the pre-Columbian city of Tenochtitlan, its canals likened to Venice, but the German artist has also given it the familiar appearance of a medieval European town. Further articles in the volume relate news from elsewhere in Europe.
Philipp von Hutten, 1511-1546. Ain andere Histori, in Hernán Cortés (1485-1547), Von dem Newen Hispanien. Augspurg: Philipp Ulhart, 1550.
Published in this edition of the well-known second letter of the explorer Hernán Cortés are several letters from Philipp von Hutten, none of which appeared in the Spanish or Latin editions.. In the letter on display, Hutten reports on an expedition in the interior of Venezuela in the summer of 1537. Hutten’s band had grown dangerously low on provisions and had to seek them far from their intended path. At length they made peace with the Indians, who brought them gifts of maize and fish.
Hutten was one of the leaders of the Welser banking family’s early colonizing projects. This was the first edition of his colonial writings, which were then forgotten until the late eighteenth century. They were published in more limited form in 1785-86 from a partly damaged manuscript held by the von Gemmingen family. Hutten became Captain-General in Venezuela in 1541, but was assassinated after five years in office.
Hans Staden, ca. 1525-ca. 1576. Warhaftige Historia vnd Beschreibung eyner Landtschafft der wilden, nacketen, grimmigen Menschfresser Leuthen, in der Newenwelt America gelegen. Marburg: Andreas Kolbe, 1557.
Hans Staden’s account of his nine-month captivity by Tupinamba in Brazil led to three more editions the same year and many more in the following years. The naïve illustrations of this first edition had much to do with the fascination that enveloped the book. In this scene, women are preparing food and heating water. Staden, a native of Homburg in Hesse, was frequently told of their plans to eventually cook and devour him. He learned much of their way of life during his time in the village and provides a great deal of valuable ethnographic detail. John Carter Brown bought this copy before 1865, in his first two decades of focused collecting.
Ulrich Schmidel, 1510?-1579? Neue Welt: das ist, warhafftige Beschreibunge aller schönen Historien von Erfindung viler vnbekanten Königreichen, Landschafften, Insulen vnnd Stedten. Nuremberg: [Levinus Hulsius], 1599.
Soon after Theodor de Bry launched his sumptuous folio series of foreign travel accounts, Levinus Hulsius undertook a more economical quarto series that could be purchased by a larger public of more modest means. The fourth volume was this 1599 German edition of Ulrich Schmidel, reprinting his Warhafftige und liebliche Beschreibung of 1567.
Schmidel, from Straubingen near Regensburg, set out with 80 other Germans on the expedition of Pedro de Mendoza to Rio de la Plata in 1535. He spent 18 years on Spanish explorations of what is now Argentina and Paraguay, and his account, first published in Frankfurt in 1567, is one of the few records of early exploration in Paraguay. During his career in Spanish service, he traveled with expeditions of Juan de Ayolas, Gonzalo de Mendoza, Cabeza de Vaca, and Martinez de Irala. Here the explorer is portrayed, across from an image of new world creatures. His narrative of the Surukusis seems to be the only record of that lost people of South America.
Mathias Quad, 1557-1613. Die Jahr Blum: welch da begreifft v[n]d in sich helt fast alle Iahren dieser Welt. Strassburg: Anthoni Bertram, for Johan Bussemecher [at Cologne], [1595].
Amid the author’s poetry, he includes his own engraved map, which depicts the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa and, most notably, the New World as the northernmost continent , partly situated above the island of Greenland. Matthias Quad was an eminent German geographer, cartographer, engraver and humanist. He was an important figure in Cologne, where his cartographical publications established the city's reputation as the center for German map production in the late 16th century. The poem consists of a geographical chronicle of western history up to the year of the work's printing. Of particular interest are the texts for the years 1497: “Amerigo Vespucci sailed out with several ships, discovering a new land, ‘America’ as it is called, after him: so large that it is held to be the fourth part of the entire world.” At 1577 Quad notes also Sir Francis Drakes voyages in the New World. The last six pages contain "Eteosticha" (Latin chronograms) on the years of deaths of a remarkable selection of humanists, reformers and scientists, including Copernicus under 1543.
Bartolomé de las Casas, 1484-1566. Newe Welt: Warhafftige Anzeigung der Hispanier grewlichen, abschewlichen vnd vnmenschlichen Tyranney, von jhnen in den indianischen Ländern, so gegen Nidergang der Sonnen gelegen, vnd die Newe Welt genennet wird, begangen. [Frankfurt a.M.:] 1599.
The Las Casas narrative, published in 1552 in Seville, contained deeply disturbing case histories of Spanish maladministration and cruelty in their colonies. It was intended to spark a revolution in ethical behavior toward indigenous people, with a view to their more successful Christianization and incorporation as respected denizens of the Spanish empire. Across Protestant Europe, especially the Netherlands and German states, when coupled with vivid illustrations, it became further evidence of the Spanish and Catholic absolutist culpability in bad government and even genocide. The talented engraver Theodor de Bry and his sons sold these potent texts to merchants visiting Frankfurt and affected public opinion over a broad territory. The 1598 edition in Latin bore the de Bry imprint, but it was suppressed in this German edition. Earlier editions had appeared in French and Dutch, sometimes twinned with a narrative on Spanish misdeeds in the Low Countries. Shown here is an Indian queen who was hanged in Hispaniola, while dwellings were burned and villagers hunted down or burned alive. The book is cited in its title here as a “Warning and Example.”
Theodor de Bry. Dritte Buch Americae. Darinn Brasilia durch Johann Staden von Homberg auss Hessen auss eigener Erfahrung in Teutsch beschrieben. Frankfurt am Main: Theodor de Bry, 1593.
The depictions of Staden were raised to a new artistic level when they were added to the sumptuous de Bry series of thirteen volumes on the Americas, in both German and Latin. Shown here in the fourteenth chapter is a rendition of Staden’s description of beverage making and ritual consumption among the Tupinamba. Women chew roots, creating a potion that is then boiled. The finished drink is poured into bowls for consumption.
Neu-polirter Estats-Spiegel,in welchem klar- und eigendlich zu ersehen allerley scheinbahre Behelffe und listige Griffe der regiersichtigen Begierde, derer dieselbige sich gebrauchet frembde Herrschafften und Länder, wider göttliche natürliche und weltliche Rechte zu unterdrucken und an sich zu bringen. Auss vielen alten und neuen hocherfahrnen Politicis und Geschichtschreibern vorgestellet, und der curieusen Welt zu Gefallen an den Tag gegeben. [Germany: 1670].
This is perhaps one of the most unusual German books of the 17th century, inasmuch as it is a broadside against autocracy, arbitrary rule, imperialism, and the defiance of natural law and human rights. Advanced research on this volume reveals it to be an anonymous version of the academic thesis of a degree candidate at the old University of Helmstedt. He explores a long list of sources in history and jurisprudence and judges the Holy Roman Empire, based in Austria, as the same aggressive foe that has laid waste both to Protestant German lands in the Thirty Years War and to the sovereign peoples of the Americas. Issues of the right of conquest and the treatment of aggression in international law are given serious attention. The young writer, steeped in the lore of Las Casas, Benzoni, and Vitoria, hoped for a career in politics and diplomacy.
Exhibition prepared by dennis landis.
on view in the reading room from may to September 15, 2013.
Images: Das Kleine Davidische Psalterspiel der Kinder Zions, Ephrata, 1795 & Hernán Cortés, Ferdinandi Cortesii. Von dem Newen Hispanien, Augsburg, 1550