By Michael
Servetus, 1535, excerpt from Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae
enarrationis libri octo.
Context
At a time of growing interest in empiricism, Ptolemy's popularity
was increasing, and the Trechsel asked Servetus to create a
better Ptolemy. This meant that Servetus (writing as Michael
Villanovanus) was responsible not only for translating and correcting
the text but also for composing entirely new sections to update
the work.
Servetus
chose to use the Pirkheimer edition as his base but compared
it to the oldest Latin and Creek editions he could find in order
create a more authentic book. He entitled his edition The Eight
Books of the Account of Geography by Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria,
now for the first time edited according to the translation of
Bilabald Pirkhheimer, but compared to the Greek and early editions
by Michael Villanoanus: This version was so extensive, so much
of an improvement on what had gone before, that there are some
who have claimed that Servetus was the father of comparative
geography. Ahhough this is probably an overstatement, the 1.536
edition was both the most careful rendition available of Ptolemy's
original conception and as exhaustive an ethnological treatise
as had been done anywhere.
It was
an enormous job, taking over two years. The book included fifty
maps, all of which were accompanied by a statistical abstract
and a commentary on the populace, climate, and industry of the
area. Servetus carried over Pirkheimer's notations if he felt
they were appropriate, but overwhelmingly the notes that made
up the commentaries were his.
Spain
is surpassed by France in abundance of wine, grain and meats but
surpasses in the goodness and flavor of them. France is fruitful
by reason of the amount of her rains; the Spanish employ much
irrigation, conducting trenches or streams of water long distances
from the great rivers. Unlike the French, the Spanish are not
bothered by the cold, northern winds wherefore they produce more
abundantly oil, honey, saffron, rice, madder, miniurn, cochineal,
sugar, Spanish broom, rosemary, lavender, lemons, capers, dates,
limes, apples and pomegranates as well as other aromatic fruits.
The temperament of the Spaniards is hotter and dryer and their
color dark; of the French, more cold and moist, the flesh softer
and the color lighter. French women bear more children than the
Spanish. The French are endowed with larger limbs, the Spanish
are tougher and have a closely knit body. The French fight with
more ferocity than skill and they wage war with more force than
plan. The Spanish are the opposite.
Spain has always been esteemed for the fleetness of its horses
which are readily guided merely by pressure of the thigh by the
light-armed horsemen who exercise with the lance and in all other
military actions more frequently than the French; although the
heavy-armed cavalry of the French is not to be scorned.
The French are more talkative, the Spanish more taci-turn and
accomplished in dissimulation. The French are vivacious, animated
and prone to conviviality and shun completely hypocrisy and gravity
which the dissembling Spaniards maintain. For the Spaniards in
banquets are less sociable, more ceremonious, affecting a kind
of serious-ness which the French do not possess.
The French drink wine but the Spaniards, wine diluted with much
water. Among the French foreigners are re-ceived in their hospices
with the greatest kindness; and no service being denied them,
they are offered whatever food is available. Among the Spanish
they are received harshly and without civility, so that wearied
by the journey they are compelled to seek food for themselves
from place to place. This occurs because the Spanish are not such
fre-quent voyagers and are unwilling to spend so much money on
the table; nor are they so ready to give service, so that a peasant,
if he is disinclined, will not deign to give his service to a
prince.
Spanish is a graver speech, French more suave. Among the Spanish
the widespread Castillian people employ the most elegant speech;
in France you will hardly distinguish what city speaks the true
French since that is the speech of the nobility and the court
more than it is peculiar to any particular place. Spanish is closer
to Latin.
The
soil of Spain is more extensive but not so populous; it is richer
in gold and silver but not from the commerce of merchants, nor
is so much income collected for the king in the former as in the
latter. Almost no part of the soil of France is idle but of Spain
there is much unculti-vated and empty land. There is more fowling
and hunt-ing in France and many eat fowl even though it be very
expensive.
From Spain into France the merchants carry cereals and silks of
all kinds, woolens, saffron, sugar, rice, oil, alum, scarlet dye,
gems and aromatic substances received from the Indies. From France
into Spain, grain, linen cloth, thread, wood, which they call
pastel, books and much other lesser merchandise such as swords,
mirrors, needles, etc.
In Spain there is a huge number of princes, dukes, mar-quises,
counts and barons. In France there are numerous nobles but fewer
princes of great dignity, which increases the wealth of the king
who alone possesses all things. In Spain there are 20 dukes, the
annual income of each of whom is from 50,000 to 60,00o ducats,
20 marquises re-ceiving about the same, 60 counts whose annual
income is from z o,ooo to 20,000 ducats and some who have more
than 50,0o0. The number of viscounts, barons, prefects of provinces
and those who are called provincial governors, viceroys, governors,
marshals, mayors, all princes, is un-known to me.
There are the Grand Masters of the knightly orders such as that
of Santiago, Aldmtara, Calatrava, Rhodes, San Juan, Montesa, knights
so-called of Christ, and others with the name Davis. Of each of
these the income is from 500 to 17000 ducats or more.
As regards ecclesiastical dignitaries there are more in France,
for it has 12 archbishops and 96 bishops; Spain, 9 archbishops
and 46 bishops. The number of cardinals is the same in each country,
usually eight. The number of archbishops is constant at 9. Their
income is very great in Spain and that one of Toledo receives
annually 2o0,000 ducats and a single archbishop, 80,000. I would
mention the names and incomes of all the rest except that I might
perhaps bore the reader.
Instead of the parlements of France, in Spain there are juridical
conventions in Castille, Granada, Galicia and Navarre. The number
of those skilled in law and court procedure is much greater in
France. In Spain great authority is held by those called inquisitors
of the faith, who have acted with great severity against the marranos,
heretics and saracens. There is another remarkable institu-tion
of justice called the Hermandad. It is a sworn fratern-ity of
citizens and at the sound of a bell from individual cities many
thousands of men come forth to pursue any malefactor through the
whole province, and when mes-sengers have been sent ahead to the
other cities it is almost impossible to escape. He who is apprehended
is tied alive to a stake and shot with arrows.
In the time of the Moors there were many kingdoms in Spain; recently
there were five kingdoms in all, Castille, Aragon, Portugal, Granada
and Navarre. Today one em-peror, Charles, controls all with the
exception of Portugal which has its own king.
The minds of the Spaniards are restless, constantly plan-ning
great designs; they are of happy wit but imperfect learning so
that you will find a learned Spaniard anywhere rather than in
Spain itself. They believe themselves learned when they are half-taught,
and by pretence and a kind of verbosity they display a greater
knowledge than they actually possess. They delight in sophistry
and rejoice to speak better Spanish than Latin in their schools,
although they have taken over many words from the Moors and have
cultivated many of their barbarous customs and usages. Because
of the defect of the language they rarely produce monuments of
their ability and they always seek their books elsewhere.
The French would consider barbarous that custom of the Spanish
women by which they pierce the lower por-tion of their ears with
a gold or silver rod oil which they frequently hang gems. They
place about their waist a wooden girdle or some kind of instrument
of torture so that with a broader appearance they may seem more
dignified, nor do they leave their homes except with an accompanying
troop of servants preceding and following them; but the French
women [live] simply, so that scarcely a single attendant accompanies
them on foot. Also the Spanish women wear shoes, sometimes a foot,
sometimes a foot and a half high, so that they appear to move
about almost on towers. As in the case of the ancient Roman women,
so the Spanish women are to be praised for their abstinence from
wine but they are to be criticized because they make their faces
hideous with eye-paste, minium and ceruse because their natural
coloring is less than that of the French.
The Spanish are considered the most observant of all mortals in
their religious rites, but they swear according to pagan custom
by the throne of their king and his life, and they kiss hands
in greeting.
For some years the Spanish have acquired a name from their bravery
in war and their many victories gained over the enemy, as those
who are able to endure much effort, thirst and hunger in battle,
and very astute in stratagems; of slight body they easily flee
and pursue the enemy. Of frugal life, like the Italians, they
do not take so much food and drink as the French and Germans,
unless they are in-vited; but then they fill themselves to the
utmost with edibles because feasts are rare for them and they
accept them with the greatest avidity.
They are famous for their navigations of the ocean to unknown
regions throughout the whole world. To the south they first sailed
around the end of Africa to Calicut and other eastern islands;
this route is that of the Lusitanians or Portuguese. The Castillians
proceeded west-ward to a multitude of islands rich in gold which
they discovered and subjected to their rule, reaching also to
the continent of the east Indies where they remain, daily ex-tending
civilization. Recently they gained some knowledge also of the
regions which lie under the south pole.
