philosophy, astrology, and mathematics.
He became a lecturer in rhetoric and po-
etry. He became a professor of Greek at
the University of Wittenberg, where he in-
spired a large following and won the
friendship of Martin Luther. He defended
Luther’s challenge to the Catholic hierar-
chy, at the risk of his own life, and helped
to write the Augsburg Confession, which
Luther presented at the Diet of Augsburg
in 1530.
Memling, Hans ...............................
(1430–1494)
Flemish painter whose works continued
the richly colored and precisely drawn style
of Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Wey-
den. Memling was born in the town of Se-
ligenstadt, near Frankfurt, Germany, and
as a young man moved to the city of Brus-
sels, in Burgundy. He may have worked as
an apprentice with van der Weyden, whose
work had a strong influence. In 1466 he
moved to the city of Bruges, a Flemish
town that had grown wealthy from the
wool trade and that offered many oppor-
tunities for a skilled painter to find pa-
trons and commissions. Memling pros-
pered by painting for churches, guilds,
civic organizations, and private citizens,
who commissioned the portraits that have
become Memling’s best-known works in
modern times. His major works include
an altarpiece known as theSevenGriefsof
Mary, painted for the guild of booksellers
of Bruges, andThe Last Judgment,awork
that Memling painted for a Bruges mer-
chant that was stolen at sea by a pirate
and brought to the cathedral of Gdansk,
Poland. Memling’s renown spread to Italy,
where his works were in demand from
wealthy collectors such as the Sforza rulers
of Milan and the Medici of Florence. He
painted aVirgin and Childfor the English
poet John Donne, for whom Memling also
did a portrait with the poet’s wife and chil-
dren. Memling is also known for series pic-
tures, including theSevenGriefsofMary
and theSeven Joys of Mary. His last great
work was a series of six paintings done for
a small shrine of Saint Ursula, commis-
sioned by two nuns for the Hospital of
Saint John in Bruges. He died a wealthy
man and was regarded by many as one of
the best painters in Europe.SEEALSO: van der Weyden, Rogier; van
Eyck, JanMercator, Gerardus ..........................
(1512–1594)
A Flemish cartographer who invented a
system of setting lines of latitude and lon-
gitude on charts of the spherical earth, the
“Mercator projection,” which has become
a standard for maps into modern times.
Born in Rupelmonde, a small town in
Flanders, he studied at the University of
Louvain, where he achieved a master’s de-
gree in 1532. Troubled by the conflict of
ancient Greek philosophy with Christian
doctrine, Mercator studied mathematics,
philosophy, geography and astronomy in
order to reach some conclusions about the
origins and true nature of the world. He
was above all fascinated by the developing
art of mapmaking, which in his day ben-
efited from the discoveries of explorers and
traveling merchants. He became a skilled
maker of globes and instruments; under
the training of Gemma Frisius and Gaspar
Myrica, two men expert in the craft, he
also mastered the difficult art of engrav-
ing. A workshop set up by the three men
turned Louvain into an important center
of globe making, cartography, and the pro-
duction of sextants, telescopes, and other
scientific instruments. His far-ranging ex-
ploration and questioning of accepted
Christian doctrines, however, landed himMercator, Gerardus