(Latin was the language of Europe’s educated elite, and young scholars routinely latinized their names.) Although Gerhard Cremer and Gerardus (or Gerhardus) Mercator might be more historically correct, American and British cartographic historians prefer the partly anglicized Gerard Mercator. Krämer (the modern spelling) is the German word for merchant or shopkeeper, Cremer is its Dutch equivalent, and Mercator is the Latin version, which the future mapmaker adopted at ’s-Hertogenbosch. Although his German father apparently went by Hubert Cremer, vernacular versions of the family name include de Cremer, Kramer, and Kremer. Various renderings of Mercator’s name invite confusion. He considered italic lettering more appropriate for scholarly writing than Gothic and other less formal (and often less legible) styles of handwriting, and in 1540 he published Literarum latinarum, quas Italicas cursoriasque vocant, scribendarum ratio ( How to Write the Latin Letters Which They Call Italic or Cursive), a short manual that was influential in the adoption of italic lettering in cartography. In addition to learning Christian theology and Latin, Mercator developed a practical and lasting interest in the elegant italic script in which he engraved place names and interpretative text for his maps. The brothers specialized in copying sacred texts, and their school excelled at teaching penmanship. Through his uncle’s influence, Gerard was enrolled at age fifteen in the distinguished monastic school at ’s-Hertogenbosch run by the Brethren of the Common Life, who accepted poor but bright boys willing to train for the priesthood. Although Mercator’s parents had little money-his father was a shoemaker and small farmer-Gisbert was at least better connected. Scholarly interpretations of sixteenth-century Flanders helped historian of calligraphy Arthur Osley paint a richer picture. Places Mercator lived or visited (larger lettering), with present-day international boundaries and additional cities (smaller labels) as a frame of reference. Ghim offers a detailed description of Mercator’s failing health and last rites but says little about the mapmaker’s early life. on March 5, 1512, in Rupelmonde, Flanders, where his parents Hubert and Emerentiana were visiting Hubert’s brother, Gisbert Mercator, “the energetic priest of that city.” (Flanders is roughly coincident with the northern part of present-day Belgium, and as figure 3.1 shows, the village of Rupelmonde is about ten miles southwest of Antwerp.) He died “82 years, 37 weeks, and 6 hours” later-a remarkably long life for the sixteenth century-after coping in his final years with partial paralysis and a cerebral hemorrhage. Thus we learn that Gerard Mercator was born at approximately 6 a.m. The mayor praises Mercator as a “remarkable and distinguished man,” notes his “mild character and honest way of life,” and provides dates and other details for key events in the cartographer’s career. Ghim’s essay is more a long obituary than a critical biography. A twelve-term mayor of the town, Ghim contributed a short biography to the 1595 edition of Mercator’s Atlas, published posthumously by his youngest son, Rumold. Mercator’s first biographer was Walter Ghim, his neighbor in Duisburg, the small German city where he lived from 1552 until his death in 1594. Although biographers lament the lack of diaries, account books, and carefully archived personal correspondence, the historical record reveals Mercator as an introspective and energetic chap who was competent in science, honest and well liked, technically savvy and clever with his hands, curious about the world around him, successful as an entrepreneur, and well positioned to make a pair of substantial contributions to mapmaking. No less impressive are his deep interests in mathematics, astronomy, cosmography, terrestrial magnetism, history, philosophy, and theology. Although biographical dictionaries accustomed to single occupations typically treat him as merely a cartographer or a geographer, Mercator distinguished himself at various times as a calligrapher, an engraver, a maker of scientific instruments, and a publisher. Gerard Mercator was more than just a mapmaker.
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