page_title: Gerardus Mercator
section_title: Leuven 1534–1543
hierarchical_section_title: Gerardus Mercator / Mercator's life / Leuven 1534–1543
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the terrestrial globe of Gemma Frisius
context_page_description: Gerardus Mercator was a 16th-century geographer, cosmographer and cartographer from the County of Flanders. He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical charts.
  Mercator was one of the pioneers of cartography and is widely considered the most notable figure of Netherlandish school of cartography in its golden age. In his own day, he was a notable as maker of globes and scientific instruments. In addition, he had interests in theology, philosophy, history, mathematics and geomagnetism. He was also an accomplished engraver and calligrapher.
  Unlike other great scholars of the age he travelled little and his knowledge of geography came from his library of over one thousand books and maps, from his visitors and from his vast correspondence with other scholars, statesmen, travellers, merchants and seamen. Mercator's early maps were in large formats suitable for wall mounting but in the second half of his life, he produced over 100 new regional maps in a smaller format suitable for binding into his Atlas of 1595.
context_section_description: Towards the end of 1534, the twenty-two-year-old Mercator arrived back in Leuven and threw himself into the study of geography, mathematics and astronomy under the guidance of Gemma Frisius. Mercator was completely out of his depth but, with the help and friendship of Gemma, who was only four years older, he succeeded in mastering the elements of mathematics within two years and the university granted him permission to tutor private students. Gemma had designed some of the mathematical instruments used in these studies and Mercator soon become adept in the skills of their manufacture: practical skills of working in brass, mathematical skills for calculation of scales and engraving skills to produce the finished work.
  Gemma and Gaspar Van der Heyden had completed a terrestrial globe in 1529 but by 1535 they were planning a new globe embodying the latest geographical discoveries. The gores were to be engraved on copper, instead of wood, and the text was to be in an elegant italic script instead of the heavy Roman lettering of the early globes. The globe was a combined effort: Gemma researched the content, Van der Heyden engraved the geography and Mercator engraved the text, including the cartouche which exhibited his own name in public for the first time. The globe was finished in 1536 and its celestial counterpart appeared one year later. These widely admired globes were costly and their wide sales provided Mercator an income which, together with that from mathematical instruments and from teaching, allowed him to marry and establish a home. His marriage to Barbara Schellekens was in September 1536 and Arnold, the first of their six children, was born a year later.
  The arrival of Mercator on the cartographic scene would have been noted by the cognoscenti who purchased Gemma's globe—the professors, rich merchants, prelates, aristocrats and courtiers of the emperor Charles V at nearby Brussels. The commissions and patronage of such wealthy individuals would provide an important source of income throughout his life. His connection with this world of privilege was facilitated by his fellow student Antoine Perrenot, soon to be appointed Bishop of Arras, and Antoine's father, Nicholas Perrenot, the Chancellor of Charles V.
  Working alongside Gemma whilst they were producing the globes, Mercator would have witnessed the process of progressing geography: obtaining previous maps, comparing and collating their content, studying geographical texts and seeking new information from correspondents, merchants, pilgrims, travellers and seamen. He put his newly learned talents to work in a burst of productivity. In 1537, aged only 25, he established his reputation with a map of the Holy Land which was researched, engraved, printed and partly published by himself.
  A year later, in 1538, he produced his first map of the world, usually referred to as Orbis Imago. In 1539/40 he made a map of Flanders and in 1541 a terrestrial globe. All four works were received with acclaim and they sold in large numbers. The dedications of three of these works witness Mercator's access to influential patrons: the Holy Land was dedicated to Franciscus van Cranevelt who sat on the Great Council of Mechelen, the map of Flanders was dedicated to the Emperor himself and the globe was dedicated to Nicholas Perrenot, the emperor's chief advisor. The dedicatee of the world map was more surprising: Johannes Drosius, a fellow student who, as an unorthodox priest, may well have been suspected of Lutheran heresy. Given that the symbolism of the Orbis Imago map also reflected a Lutheran view point, Mercator was exposing himself to criticism by the hardline theologians of Leuven .
  In between these works he found time to write Literarum latinarum, a small instruction manual on the italic script. The italic script (or chancery cursive) reached the Low Countries from Italy at the beginning of the sixteenth century and it is recorded as a form of typescript in Leuven in 1522. It was much favoured by humanist scholars who enjoyed its elegance and clarity as well as the rapid fl
caption: The terrestrial globe of Gemma Frisius[28]
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