the civil authorities for a public execution.
A mass execution of this sort, known as
an auto-da-fé, or “act of faith,” might have
a dozen or more victims tied to stakes and
burned to death.
SEEALSO: Ferdinand II of Aragon; Inquisi-
tion; Isabella of Castile; Jews
Toscanelli, Paolo ..............................
(1397–1482)
An Italian physician, astronomer, map-
maker, and mathematician who is best
known for creating a map of the world
that may have been used by Christopher
Columbus in planning his voyage to the
East Indies. Born in Florence, he was the
son of a doctor, Dominic Toscanelli. He
studied mathematics with Giovanni
dell’Abacco in Florence and attended the
University of Padua, earning the title of
doctor of medicine in 1424. He returned
to Florence and earned a reputation as a
leading mathematician and astronomer,
considered by many people to be the most
brilliant scientist of his day.
A skilled astronomical observer,
Toscanelli observed and measured the or-
bits of comets, including the occurrence of
Halley’s Comet in 1456. In the cathedral
of Florence he designed a gnomon, a slab
of marble placed high in the left transept
of the church that cast a shadow of the
sun, allowing an observer to determine
noon and measure the occurrence of the
winter and summer solstices. From his
studies of ancient writers, including
Ptolemy, and his conversations with travel-
ers and explorers, Toscanelli created a map
of the world that was sent to the king of
Portugal in 1474, and explained the possi-
bility of sailing west, rather than around
Africa and through the Indian Ocean, to
reach the East Indies. The scheme became
known to Christopher Columbus, who
corresponded with Toscanelli and who car-
ried a copy of Toscanelli’s map and letter
with him on his first voyage. Toscanelli
miscalculated the size of the globe, how-
ever, believing Europe and Asia to cover
much more of the earth’s surface than they
actually do. This misconception convinced
Columbus that he had actually reached
Asia in 1492, whereas his fleet had in fact
only sailed as far as the eastern islands of
the Caribbean Sea.SEEALSO: Columbus, Christopher; explora-
tiontrade................................................
In the Middle Ages, long-distance trade
was rare. Travel was dangerous, and most
people lived a subsistent existence on rural
estates, where they grew just enough to
support their families and pay a landlord
for the use of the land. Rare and valuable
goods were imported from the Middle East
and, in later centuries, via the Silk Road
that linked eastern Europe with central
Asia. As money was in short supply, most
of this trade was carried out by the barter
system, in which goods were exchanged
for other goods.
The expansion of the banking system,
the improvement of roads, and the growth
of manufacturing industries and a middle
class all contributed to a rise in interna-
tional trade during the Renaissance. Cities
of the Low Countries and northern Italy
became the wealthiest in Europe. These re-
gions specialized in the making of cloth,
silk, woven tapestries, armor, and other
goods in demand throughout Europe. Ger-
man cities prospered from a trade in sil-
ver, England sold its wool and herring,
and the Scandinavian countries exported
fur and timber. From port cities such as
Amsterdam, Genoa, Lisbon, and Venice,
merchants and navigators sailed to distanttrade