Cosmography

TO THE MOST REVEREND LORD AND ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE, LORD MATTHEW, by Divine mercy Cardinal Priest of the Most Holy Roman Church of the Title of St. Angelo, Archbishop of Salzburg, Legate of the Apostolic See, etc.

Decorative woodcut initial letter 'P' depicting a bearded man (likely a scholar or astronomer) seated at a desk with a celestial globe and a book.

Previously, most holy Prelate and most Illustrious Prince, when in the previous year I met your Highness in the city of Regensburg with a small gift of paper (truly I could bring nothing more precious at that time), it was no difficult conjecture for me that you possessed a preeminent knowledge of the mathematical discipline; and I recognized you as a most brilliant light of letters, a Maecenas and a Sanctuary, and likewise noted your zeal for learning. This was evidenced by the fact that with a remarkably open and serene brow, and with "open hands" (as they say), you received that parchment which I offered—as much out of kindness and love for the study of the geographical discipline as for the integrity of your life. Or rather (to omit the rest), because for a long time now Master Johannes Aventinus, ever my dearest friend and easily the prince of both orators and poets—whose praise I cannot here pass over in silence—and the Venerable Master Johannes Landsperger (in whose mouth your name always dwells), Parish Priest of Landshut and Chaplain to the Illustrious Ludwig, Duke of both Bavarias, Count Palatine of the Rhine, etc., a man most excellent by the virtue of his own genius, to whom I can neither give nor return worthy thanks, have very often extolled to me your liberality toward the learned, your kindness toward all who strive for some excellence, and especially your readiness toward those who seem to savor of the knowledge of the mathematical discipline. I could not, therefore, fail to dedicate this, whatever labor it may be, to you as to a tutelary God, and I determined to publish it under your name, so that under your auspices it might go forth into public more safely and swiftly for the common benefit of students. We have written this little work, however it may be composed, chiefly so that the first elements might be made better known to young novices eager for Geography. This was done, indeed, not without praise for Ptolemy, who is easily held the prince of all mathematicians. For we have followed all the most learned men of this study. Furthermore, the profession of Geography is of the greatest use in reading the authors, for a knowledge of it leads to an understanding not only of the poets and historians, but even of the sacred scriptures. Just as that most learned Ptolemy, the monarch of all mathematicians, Pomponius Mela, Dionysius, Solinus, that most truthful Strabo, Aeneas Silvius, Volaterranus, Orosius, and the rest of the Geogra-