It is estimated that the exemplar in the Biblioteca Colombina includes 898 annotations by Columbus, which indicates that he studied Ailly’s work thoroughly. It comprises eighteen chapters, of which the first thirteen were written by Ailly and the last five by his disciple Jean Gerson (1363-1429), philosopher and chancellor of the University of Paris. The Imago Mundi is not the work of Ailly alone. Columbus's book concludes with a series of eight full-page circular diagrams of celestial and terrestrial content hand-painted to enhance both their attractiveness and their messages about the make-up of the world. In the manuscript and print tradition, it was illustrated with diagrams highlighting points made in the text. The Imago mundi describes the structure of the heavens and the earth and discusses climatic zones, islands, rivers, and seas. It helped Christopher Columbus develop his ideas about the viability of navigating the Atlantic to reach the Indies. The Imago Mundi (Image of the World), originally written in 1410 by the French bishop and scholar Pierre d'Ailly (1350-1420), focuses on geography and cosmography. The Most Important Book in Columbus's Library The book was very important in the preparation of the voyages that resulted in the exploration of the Americas by Europeans. It is one of the most important geographical works of the late Middle Ages annotated by someone keenly interested in its claim that Asia could be reached by sailing west.Īilly's theories about the cosmos were based on ancient authors, such as Aristotle, Ptolemy, and Pliny the Elder, as well as the Church Fathers and Arab writers, Averroes among them. This copy of Pierre d’Ailly’s Imago Mundi, abundantly annotated by Christopher Columbus, was printed in Louvain by Johannes of Westfalia between 14.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |