Emery Molyneux ( ; died June 1598) was an English Elizabethan maker of globes, mathematical instruments and ordnance. His terrestrial and celestial globes, first published in 1592, were the first to be made in England and the first to be made by an Englishman.
Molyneux was known as a mathematician and maker of mathematical instruments such as compasses and hourglasses. He became acquainted with many prominent men of the day, including the writer Richard Hakluyt and the mathematicians Robert Hues and Edward Wright. He also knew the explorers Thomas Cavendish, Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh and John Davis. Davis probably introduced Molyneux to his own patron, the London merchant William Sanderson, who largely financed the construction of the globes. When completed, the globes were presented to Elizabeth I. Larger globes were acquired by royalty, noblemen and academic institutions, while smaller ones were purchased as practical navigation aids for sailors and students. The globes were the first to be made in such a way that they were unaffected by the humidity at sea, and they came into general use on ships.
Molyneux emigrated to Amsterdam with his wife in 1596 or 1597. He succeeded in interesting the States-General, the parliament of the United Provinces, in a cannon he had invented, but he died suddenly in June 1598, apparently in poverty. The globe-making industry in England died with him.
Only six of his globes are believed still to be in existence. Three are in England, of which one pair consisting of a terrestrial and a celestial globe is owned by Middle Temple and displayed in its library, while a terrestrial globe is at Petworth House in Petworth, West Sussex.
Globe-maker Construction Emery Molyneux is regarded as the maker of the first terrestrial and celestial globes in England and as the first English globe-maker.A manuscript, MS Harl. 5208, at pp. 50–51, which is an account "by a Freind" of William Sanderson's achievements, describes the globes as "the first soe published in Christendome, for the honor of his countrey, and good of the Schollers, Gentrye and Marriners of the same." No earlier English-made globes are known: Little is known about the man himself. Petruccio Ubaldini, an Italian calligraphist, illuminator and ambassador who was acquainted with him, said he was "of obscure and humble family background". It seems likely that he was the "Emery Molynox" who was presented to the Worshipful Company of Stationers as the apprentice of one William Cooke in October 1557., 5 vols. By the 1580s he had a workshop in Lambeth, on the south bank of the Thames, and enjoyed a reputation as a mathematician and maker of mathematical instruments.Clements R. Markham, "Introduction", in Richard Polter, in his book The Pathway to Perfect Sayling (1605), mentioned that Molyneux had been a skilful maker of compasses and hourglasses.
Through his trade, Molyneux was known to the explorers Thomas Cavendish, John Davis, Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, the writer Richard Hakluyt, and the mathematicians Robert Hues and Edward Wright. The construction of globes by Molyneux appears to have been suggested by Davis to his patron William Sanderson, a London merchant who has been described as "one of the most munificent and patriotic of merchant-princes of London in the days of Elizabeth I". Sanderson readily agreed to bear the manufacturing costs, and financed initial production of the globes with a capital investment of £1,000 (almost £160,000 as of 2007).This sum was calculated using the website MeasuringWorth.com based on the retail price index, using a date of 1590:
Terrestrial globes In making his terrestrial globes, Molyneux examined ruttiers (instructions for directions at sea)According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a ruttier is "[a] set of instructions for finding one's course at sea; a marine guide to the routes, tides, etc.": and pilots (navigational handbooks). He is known to have given a ruttier for Brazil and the West Indies to Thomas Harriot in 1590.Wallis, "The first English globe", pp. 277–278. He also received advice and assistance from navigators and mathematicians."Introduction", Tractatus de Globis, p. xii. It is likely, for instance, that Sir Walter Raleigh advised him on a legend in Spanish about the Solomon Islands that appeared on the terrestrial globe.The legend, which appears in the Pacific Ocean, states: "Islas estas descubrio Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa por la corona de Castilla y Leon desde el año 1568 llamolas Islas de Jesus aunque vulgarmente las llaman Islas de Salomon" ("Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa discovered these islands and claimed them for the crown of Castile and León. From 1568 onwards, the islands were named the Jesus Islands, though they are more commonly known as the Solomon Islands"): "Introduction", Tractatus de Globis, p. xxx. Raleigh came by the information from Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, a Galician explorer sent by King Philip II of Spain to fortify the Strait of Magellan after Francis Drake had passed through it. In 1584, the Spaniard was Raleigh's guest in London for a few weeks, after being captured by Raleigh on a journey to Europe."Introduction", Tractatus de Globis, p. xxx.
Molyneux accompanied Francis Drake on his 1577–1580 circumnavigation of the world; as Ubaldini reported, "[h]e himself has been in those seas and on those coasts in the service of the same Drake". A legend in Latin on the terrestrial globe, explaining why Molyneux had left out the polar lands and corrected the distance across the Atlantic Ocean between The Lizard and Cape Race in Newfoundland, concluded:
On the terrestrial globe, tracks of the voyages of Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish around the world are marked by red and blue lines respectively. These lines were applied when the globe was first made. They are mentioned in a description of Molyneux's globes in Blundeville His Exercises (1594)"Introduction", Tractatus de Globis, p. xxxi. by Thomas Blundeville, a country gentleman who was an enthusiastic student of astronomy and navigation."Introduction", Tractatus de Globis, p. xix, n. 1. See Thomas Cavendish appears to have helped Molyneux with his globes, and it is possible that Molyneux accompanied him on his 1587 voyage around the world, which returned to England on 9 September 1588. In 1889, Sir Clements Markham, an English explorer, author and geographer, pointed out that a Latin legend on the terrestrial globe, placed off the Patagonian coast, states: "Thomas Caundish 18 Dec. 1587 hæc terra sub nostris oculis primum obtulit sub latitud 47 cujus seu admodum salubris Incolæ maturi ex parte proceri sunt gigantes et vasti magnitudinis"."Introduction", Tractatus de Globis, pp. xxx. However, Helen Wallis, former Map Curator of the British Library, observed in 1951 that this was unlikely, because Molyneux incorrectly plotted Cavendish's course in Maritime Southeast Asia.Wallis, "The first English globe", p. 283. She suggested, however, that another legend on the globe may indicate that he sailed on at least one if not all of John Davis's voyages.
The mathematician and cartographer Edward Wright assisted Molyneux in plotting coastlines on the terrestrial globe and translated some of the legends into Latin. On 10 April 1591, the astrologer and physician Simon Forman visited Molyneux's workshop and taught him how to find longitude. It appears that after Molyneux had prepared the manuscript gores (the flat map segments attached to the globes), he had them printed by the celebrated Flemish engraver and cartographer Jodocus Hondius, who lived in London between 1584 and 1593 to escape religious difficulties in Flanders. This can be deduced from the phrase "Iodocus Hon: / dius Flan. sc. / 1592" that appears on the celestial globe along with Sanderson's coat of arms and a dedication to the Queen dated 1592. Molyneux's own name is recorded on the Middle Temple terrestrial globe in the phrase "Emerius Mulleneux Angl.' / sumptibus Gulielmi— / Sandersoni Londinē: / sis descripsit" ("Emery Molyneux of England, at the expense of William Sanderson of London, described this")."Introduction", Tractatus de Globis, p. xxxi. The texts of the inscriptions are from Wallis, "The first English globe", p. 280.
Celestial globes Molyneux's celestial globe was virtually a copy of Gerardus Mercator's globe of 1551, which itself was based on a globe of 1537 by Gemma Frisius that Mercator had helped to construct.It has also been stated that Molyneux's celestial globe was based largely on the celestial globe made by Dutch globe-maker Jacob van Langren, and that it shows the canonical 48 Ptolemaic constellations of the Southern Hemisphere created by the Dutch cartographer Petrus Plancius: To the constellations featured on Mercator's globe, Molyneux added the Southern Cross and Southern Triangle, though somewhat to the west of their true positions. His source appears to have been Andrea Corsali's diagram of the Antarctic sky publishedIn (Italian). in 1550.Wallis, "The first English globe", pp. 283–284.
Molyneux's globes were the first to be constructed in such a way that they were unaffected by humidity at sea. They were made of flour-paste, an unusual material for the time. Simon Forman remarked that Molyneux's moulding or casting process was "the only way to caste [anything] whatsoever in perfecte forme ... and yt is the perfectest and trewest waie of all wayes ... and this was the wai that Mullenax did use to cast flowere [flour] in the verie forme".Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Ashmole 1494, folio 1491.
Publication In 1589, Richard Hakluyt announced the forthcoming publication of Molyneux's terrestrial globe at the end of the preface to The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation. Referring to the map that was inserted into the volume—a reproduction of the "Typus Orbis Terrarum" engraved by Franciscus Hogenberg for Abraham Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570)—he wrote:
Ubaldini reported Molyneux's progress in manufacturing the globes to the governor of Milan. He was in attendance when Molyneux presented a pair of manuscript globes to Elizabeth I at Greenwich in July 1591.. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on the other hand, states that the first pair of Molyneux's globes was presented to Elizabeth I in Greenwich in July 1592. Ubaldini noted that "he gave her the globe to let her see at a glance how much of the world she could control by means of her naval forces". According to Wallis, the printed globes, which at in diameter were then the largest ever made,Wallis, "Globes in England up to 1660", p. 275. were published after some delay in late 1592 or early 1593.Wallis, "The first English globe", p. 280. Sanderson arranged entertainments at his home in Newington Butts to mark the presentation of these globes to the Queen. His son William later reported the Queen's words on accepting the terrestrial globe: "The whole earth, a present for a Prince ..."; and on accepting the celestial globe, she said: "Thou hast presented me with the Heavens also: God guide me, to Govern my part of the one, that I may enjoy but a mansion place in this other.", signature A3v, cited in Wallis, "Globes in England up to 1660", p. 275. Elizabeth I saw globes and armillary spheres as symbols of her empire and spiritual mission on earth.Wallis, "Globes in England up to 1660", p. 276. The royal coat of arms contained in Elizabeth I Privy Seal was emblazoned across North America on the terrestrial globe.; a full-page illustration of the royal arms on the globe appears at p. 135.