Religion and Science
During the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, mapmakers were interested in depicting not only the terrestrial Earth, but also the starry universe.
For medieval Christians, studying the universe was a way to understand God. If the world was intentionally and artfully made by the creator, seeking to understand it was an act of religious devotion. However, bridging together science and religion presented a few obstacles.
Early maps from the Middle Ages charted biblical places, like the Garden of Eden, on parts of the globe unreachable by humans. With increasing experience of foreign land masses, these mythological places eventually dissappeared, and were replaced by observable locations. Mapmakers also emphasized actual geographical locations relevant to Christianity, such as placing the Middle East at the center of a map page. They found concrete ways to acknowledge the Bible story without mythologizing locations.
Moreover, the study of astrology saw two approaches to the discipline: an observational kind of scientific measurement, and the far more interpretive task of divination. Predicting the future from the stars could present a problem for Christians, since it challenged the central idea of free will. So, mapmakers like Johann Schöner (1477-1547) wrote at length about how astrology and Christianity could work hand-in-hand.
Other Protestant writers believed that the astronomy and mathematics could serve in "praise of Christ and the Creator" (Hessler, 138). The following maps present this merging of Christianity and the world above the sky.
This astrological chart illustrates the scientific turn to understanding the stars. It is possible to chart celestial movements and determine the location of celestial bodies on a certain day, and thus, make predictions about the character and fate of a person born on that day. Using Christ as a specimen for astrological observation sends a particular message about believing in both atrology and Christianity simultaneously. Thus, a certain harmony is achieved among the planets on the day of Jesus' birth on Earth.
In comparison to the horoscoope of Jesus, the illustration is a more artistic and abstract representation of the sky. Rather than a calculation the location of stars and planets, the illustration is meant to project a general mysticism of what God's creations look like to Him, rather than the perspective of human beings on Earth.
The universe is centered around Jesus and his angels, with the concentric circles of the stars and the planets radiating out from him. Most cosmographical diagrams were Earth centered, but for Dante's journey away from Earth, this orientation made more sense. Still paying attention to the scientific turn of astrology, notice the silver planet is the moon, with the other six classical planets also in orbit.
Mapmakers made room for a new conception of their world with the developement of more precise tools for astological measurement and circulating knowledge about the world beyond Europe. Many of the astrological charts produced in the Reinnassance assumed a certain degree of familiarity with astrology already, such as in the Horoscope of Jesus. Map makers in the period were artists, scientists, and faithful producers. (Bella Crum '25)
Sources and Further Reading
Hessler, John W. A Renaissance Globemaker’s Toolbox : Johannes Schöner and the Revolution of Modern Science, 1475-1550. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2013.