Matthias Ringmann (1482–1511), also known asPhilesius Vogesigena, was anAlsatian Germanhumanist scholar andcosmographer. Along with cartographerMartin Waldseemüller, he is credited with the first documented usage of the wordAmerica, on the 1507 mapUniversalis Cosmographia in honour of the Italian explorerAmerigo Vespucci, coming from the Old High German nameEmmerich.
Ringmann was born in 1482 in the small farming village ofEichhoffen, Alsace. In 1498 he enrolled at theUniversity of Heidelberg and then went on to study at theUniversity of Paris. He pursued a course of studies typical for a humanist of the day, including Greek, Latin, classical literature, history, mathematics and cosmography. In 1505 he settled inStrassburg, worked at a printing press, and began to studyPtolemy'sGeography.[1]
Mundus Novus, a book attributed toAmerigo Vespucci, was widely published throughout Europe after 1504.[2] An edition was published in Rome in 1504 by Eucharius Silber and a copy of this was brought to Strassburg by Johannes Michaelis, a Swedish apostolic notary from Vyborg in Karelia, who had been present at a papal consistory in Rome held to receive the Portuguese ambassador, when the voyages of Vespucci and other recent Portuguese voyages and discoveries were discussed.[3] Ringmann was familiar with the speculation of classical authors that a giant, unknown continent lay on the other side of the world and he became convinced that this is what Vespucci had encountered. Ringmann reprintedMundus Novus in August 1505 inDe Ora antarctica per regem Portugallie pridem inventa (The antarctic country discovered some time since by the King of Portugal).[4] He appended to it a declaration by Michaelis that he was present at the consistory in Rome, which vouched for its veracity.[5] In July 1507, Ringmann wrote to a friend calling Vespucci "a great man of brave courage" and included this letter in the introduction to his reprint.[6] Later that same year, he traveled to Italy where he likely searched for more information about Vespucci and the lands that he had explored.
In 1506, he began another project, the first German translation of Julius Caesar'sCommentaries on the Gallic War. He used Ptolemy'sGeography to identify the historic Roman place-names and associate them to their corresponding contemporary locations. His translation was published in 1507.[7]
Meanwhile, an association of humanist scholars was forming inSaint-Dié under the patronage ofRené II, Duke of Lorraine. They called themselves theGymnasium Vosagense and their leader was Walter Lud. Their intention was to publish a new edition of Ptolemy'sGeography. Ringmann was brought into the group because of his previous work with theGeography and his knowledge of Greek and Latin.Martin Waldseemüller, a cartographer, was also hired to draw and illustrate the maps for the new publication.[8]
In 1506, theGymnasium obtained a French translation of the Soderini Letter as well as a Portuguese maritime map that detailed the coast of lands recently discovered in the western Atlantic. Ringmann again surmised that this was the "new world" or the "antipodes" hypothesized by classical writers. The Soderini Letter gave Vespucci credit for discovery of this new continent and implied that the Portuguese map was based on his explorations. They decided to put aside theGeography for the moment and publish a briefIntroduction to Cosmography with an accompanying world map. TheIntroduction was written by Ringmann and included a Latin translation of theSoderini Letter. In a preface to theLetter, Ringmann wrote
I see no reason why anyone could properly disapprove of a name derived from that of Amerigo, the discoverer, a man of sagacious genius. A suitable form would be Amerige, meaning Land of Amerigo, or America, since Europe and Asia have received women's names.[9]
A thousand copies of theIntroduction and the accompanying world map were printed on April 25, 1507. It was the first time that the wordAmerica had appeared in print. In a later edition after Ringmann's death, Waldseemüller dropped the term America and named South America "Terra Nova", but the name America was already established.[10]
After 1507, Ringmann and Waldseemüller continued working together on creating new edition of Ptolemy'sGeography. In 1508 Ringmann returned to Italy and obtained a Greek Ptolemy manuscript (Codex Vaticanum Graecorum 191.). With this important reference they were apparently able to complete their project but the new Ptolemy was not published until after Ringmann's death. By 1509, Ringmann was seriously ill with tuberculosis but continued working.[11]
In 1509, he published a card game,Grammatica Figurata, to make the grammatical rules of Donatus'Ars Minor, more appealing to children. He died in 1511 inSélestat.
TheGrammatica Figurata was first published by Mathias Ringmann in 1509. This work was an attempt to enliven Donatus' Ars Minor by printing up illustrated card sets for each grammatical rule. Apparently the children would have a card set. The rules are not explained at length, but a few hints are scattered here and there in the work. The final section on "Exclamations" has a sentence on how to figure out which student has won. Each card represented a part of speech, a gender, a case, or a tense, etc. Depending upon the teacher's questions a student would play the appropriate card or cards. Long believed to be lost, one copy ofGrammatica figurata was found and reprinted in 1905.[12][13]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Martin Waldseemüller".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.