Pedro de Medina (1493 –

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, 1567) was a Spanish

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

and author of navigational texts. His well-known ''Arte de navegar'' ("The Art of Navigation", 1545) was the first work published in Spain dealing exclusively with

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation ...

al techniques ( Martín Fernández de Enciso's ''Suma de Geographia'', 1519, which gave ample geographical information already contained solar declination tables with explanations and the corrections for finding the latitude by measuring the height of Polaris).

Early life

Medina is believed to have been born in

, although based on his name and the protection afforded to him by the

Dukes of Medina Sidonia Duke of Medina Sidonia ( es, Duque de Medina Sidonia) is a peerage grandee title of Spain in Medina-Sidonia, holding the oldest extant dukedom in the kingdom, first awarded by King John II of Castile in 1380.Medina-Sidonia Medina Sidonia is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, southern Spain. Considered by some to be the oldest city in Europe, it is used as a military defence location because of its elevation. ...

. In 1520 he became tutor to Juan Claros Pérez de Guzmán y Aragón, the

Count of Niebla Duke of Medina Sidonia ( es, Duque de Medina Sidonia) is a peerage grandee title of Spain in Medina-Sidonia, holding the oldest extant dukedom in the kingdom, first awarded by King John II of Castile in 1380.Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 6th Duke of Medina Sidonia.

Navigational science and cosmography

Earlier career

After having amicably parted from the House of Medina Sidonia, he sought recognition as a

cosmographer The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-scal ...

and brought out a text titled ''Libro de Cosmografía'' ("Book of Cosmography", 1538). He received official permission to compile navigation maps, to write books about

pilotage Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or ai ...

, and to manufacture navigational devices necessary for voyages to the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

. In February 1539, he was appointed in Seville as examiner of the navigators and ship's captains who would take part in the conquest of the Indies. His work was closely associated with the "House of Trade" (''Casa de Contratación''), the Spanish government agency overseeing the exploration and colonization of the New World, although he never succeeded in gaining employment in that agency. He soon became aware of defects in the training of navigators and in the instruments, books and maps they relied upon, and wrote a " Representation" to King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

on the subject. This was the culmination of his rivalry with the cartographer Diego Gutiérrez and his family, who had the support of

John Cabot John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal Nor ...

. Medina's letter quickly led to a royal command of 22 February 1545, banning Gutiérrez from continuing to issue maps and instruments that Medina had described as very harmful to the students.

''Arte de navegar''

In 1545 Medina published his most important work, ''Arte de navegar'' ("The Art of Navigation") in eight volumes. It was dedicated to the future Philip II, in support of his quest to be appointed royal cosmographer. This work was an overview of existing knowledge on this subject, and was probably a revision and expansion of his "Book of Cosmography", which had already been examined by the

Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...

. ''Arte'' was the first treatise on navigation to be published in Spain (although a book by

Martín Cortés de Albacar Martín Cortés de Albacar (1510–1582) was a Spanish cosmographer.p131 Antonio Barrera-Osorio ''Experiencing nature: the Spanish American empire and the early scientific revolution;'' University of Texas Press, 2006 In 1551 he published the st ...

, published in Cádiz in 1551, was also important). The senior cosmographer Alonso de Chaves demonstrated that Medina's ''Arte'' was a compilation, made with the assistance of other writers. Diego Gutiérrez and other authors claimed that they had helped with parts of the book, and Medina himself acknowledged the assistance of Francisco Faleiro and Alonso de Santa Cruz on other occasions, but not with the writing of ''Arte''. The book was internationally disseminated and quickly translated into several European languages: it was translated into French fifteen times between 1554 and 1663, five times into Dutch (1580-1598), three times into Italian (1554-1609) and twice into English. This work contributed considerably to the development of navigation on the high seas.

Later career

In 1549 Medina achieved appointment as honorary royal cosmographer. An abridged edition of ''Arte'' in Spanish was published in 1552 under the title ''Regimiento de navegación'' ("The control of navigation"), omitting most of the theory of spherical geometry and including only what was essential for navigators. A later edition of ''Regimiento'' (1563) updated this popular handbook and added twenty "warnings" for the practical navigator. His unpublished ''Suma de Cosmographia'' ("Compendium of cosmography") of 1561 is an abridged version of ''Arte de navegar'', containing information on astrology and navigation and written for a nonspecialist audience. Medina's work adhered to the cosmological system of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

rather than that of

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulat ...

. Despite his knowledge and achievements Medina continued to deny the phenomenon of

magnetic declination Magnetic declination, or magnetic variation, is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a magnetized compass needle points, corresponding to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines) an ...

, of which he lacked personal experience, in opposition to the opinion of most other cosmographers of the time. Medina acted as royal adviser during the two assemblies convened by the

in 1554 and 1556 to determine the precise position of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...

, and to define the demarcation between Spanish and Portuguese control in that part of the world. Mount Medina in Antarctica is named in his honour.

Other works

Medina also wrote historical and philosophical books. In 1548 he published a work titled ''Libro de las grandezas y cosas memorables de España'' ("Book of the great deeds and memorable things of Spain"). This dealt with historical acts and important towns in Spain, with engravings and transcriptions of key documents. It was later (1595) revised and expanded by

Diego Pérez de Mesa Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. Et ...

, professor of mathematics at the

University of Alcalá The University of Alcalá ( es, Universidad de Alcalá) is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km (22 miles) northeast of Madrid in Spain and also the third-largest city of the region. It was founded in 1293 as a ...

. Other works included ''Libro de la verdad'' ("Book of truth", 1555), written in furtherance of disputes with the ''Casa de Contratación'', and his last work, (''Crónica de los excelentes señores duques Medina Sidonia'' ("Chronicle of the excellent ducal lords of Medina Sidonia", 1561).

List of works

Medina, Pedro de – Arte de navegar, 1554 – BEIC 11403250

*''Obras. Libro de las grandezas y cosas memorables de España. Libro de la verdad'', published by Ángel González Palencia, Madrid: CSIC, 1944. *''Libro de Cosmografía'' (1538). *. First published Valladolid, Francisco Fernández de Córdoba, 1545, many times reprinted and translated. Facsimile copy in Madrid: Patronato del Inst. Nacional del Libro Español, 1945, and an electronic version in ''Obras clásicas de Náutica y Navegación'', Madrid, Fundación Histórica Tavera, 1998, CD-Rom. *. First published Seville, Dominico de Robertis, 1548. Facsimile copies: Instituto de España y Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid 1994, with an introduction by Pilar Cuesta Domingo; Maxtor, 1666 edition by Pedro de Robles and Juan de Villanueva. Expanded and republished in 1595 by Diego Pérez de Mesa
''Primera y segunda parte de las Grandezas y cosas notables de España''
Juan Gracián, 1595. *''Crónica de España'' (Sevilla, 1548) *. First published Seville, 1549. Included in the ''Obras'' edition of 1944. *''Regimiento de navegación, en que se contienen las reglas, declaraciones y avisos del libro dArte de navegar'', Sevilla: Juan Canella, 1 December 1552. *''Suma de Cosmographia'', unpublished manuscript, 1561. Modern editions: facsimile, Seville, Excma Diputación Provincial Patronato de Cultura, 1947; Valencia: Albatros, 1980, in the care of J. Fernández Jiménez; de-luxe edition on two volumes, Madrid: Grial, 1999 with an introduction by Ana García Herráez. *''Hispaniae Tabula Geographica'' (Sevilla, 1560).
''Crónica de los excelentes señores duques Medina Sidonia''
(1561). *''Regimiento de navegación compuesto por el maestro Pedro de Medina. Contiene las cosas que los pilotos han de saber para bien navegar: y los remedios y avisos que han de tener para los peligros que navegando les pueden suceder'', Sevilla: Simón Carpintero, 1563. Modern edition: ''Regimiento de navegación. Compuesto por el Maestro Pedro de Medina (1563)''. Republished by ''Instituto de España'' as a facsimile edition. 2 volumes: Original and Transcription. Madrid, Instituto de España, 1964.

References

Sources

* *Ursula Lamb (Ed.), ''A Navigator's Universe: The Libro de Cosmografia of Medina'' (Chicago, 1972). *José María López Piñero, et al., ''Diccionario histórico de la Ciencia Moderna en España'', Barcelona: Ediciones Península, 1983, 2 vols. *José María López Piñero, ''Ciencia y Técnica en la Sociedad Española de los Siglos XVI y XVII'', Barcelona: Labor, 1979. *Manuel Fernández de Navarrete, ''Disertación Sobre La Historia de la Nautica y de las mathematicas'', Madrid, 1846. *Ángel González Palencia, ''La Primera Guía de la España imperial'', in ''Obras'' by Pedro de Medina, (Madrid, 1944). *Juan Fernández Jiménez, Introduction to the ''Suma de la Cosmographia'' by Pedro de Medina, (Valencia, 1980). *Mariano Cuesta Domingo, ''La obra cosmográfica y náutica de Pedro de Medina'', Madrid 1998.

External links

Books by Pedro de Medina
Open Library
Pedro de Medina
in ''Biblioteca Virtual Ignacio Larramendi de Polígrafos''. Fundación Ignacio Larramendi.
A section devoted to the ''Arte de navegar''
in the Online repository ''A Sea of Books'', with access to various editions. {{DEFAULTSORT:Medina, Pedro de 16th-century Spanish astronomers 16th-century cartographers 16th-century Spanish mathematicians Spanish geographers 16th-century Spanish historians 16th-century male writers History of navigation