4. Behaim's monument at Nuremberg. From a photograph by F. Schmidt.
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WOLF BEHAIM, the youngest brother of Martin, appears to have come to Lisbon towards the close of 1506 as the representative of the Hirschvogels of Nuremberg, and among the "novelties" introduced by him into the great mart of Western Europe were pocket watches which struck the hours, or "Nuremberg eggs," then recently invented. He evidently met there with his brother in distressed circumstances and living away from his wife, for in reply to a letter which he addressed to his brother Michael at Nuremberg, the latter replied on January 30, 1507, as follows:
"I, for my part, cannot mend Martin Behaim's affairs; this and other things we shall have to leave to God. I should like to know how his wife (weib, wife, not widow!), his son and their friends are, also who they are and where."(1)
Wolf, unfortunately, died on March 20, 1507, a bachelor. He either made no testamentary dispositions at all or appointed his three brothers and his sister Ursula joint heirs in stirpe.(2) His place of burial is not known with certainty. J. Pock, in a letter to Michael Behaim, dated Lisbon, March 25-30, 1519,(3) says that "he was buried in the church of S. Maria da Conceição, a sumptuously decorated edifice much frequented, especially by Germans." He adds that his grave is in the middle of the church, by the side of that of Paulus Imhof, and that an ornamental tombstone would cost from 7½ to 20 cruçados, and that if it were to be kept for all time one mark silver (about 2 guineas) would have to be paid to the church. Martin Behaim, he states, was buried in the church of S. Domingos.(4)
The church of N. D. da Conceiçao, now known as "Conceição velho," was originally a synagogue which D. Manuel in 1500 gave to the Order of Christ in exchange for the old chapel of Our Lady of Restello, upon the site of which rose the magnificent monastery of Belem. It was not, however, at any time a church frequented by Germans, who worshipped at S. Julião and at S. Domingos, where chapels were set aside for their brotherhoods. J. Pock, who wrote many years after the event, was no doubt mistaken. A MS. Genealogy of the Nürnberg Patricians (Schwarz, Compl., No. 99) now in the town library, quoted by Ghillany, p. 19, but of little authority, tells us that Wolf, an astrologer, died at Lisbon, a bachelor, in 1509 (sic) and was buried in the Church of the Predicant Friars there, by the side of Ulrich Imhof. I gather from these conflicting statements that Wolf Behaim and Ulrich or Paulus were laid at rest, side by side, in the same church; and as we know that Martin Behaim was buried in the church of the Dominicans or Predicant Friars, this church, most probably, was that of S. Julião.(5)
Martin Behaim did not long survive his younger brother, for he died on July 29, 1507,(6) very poor and in a hospital, as J. Pock was told by one of the executors of Arnold (Reynold) Nies, to whom Martin at the time of his death owed 15 cruzados, and who was therefore likely to be well informed on the matter.(7) Of the causes of his poverty we know nothing definite. Dr. Günther (Note 139) suggests that after the death of King John, in 1495, he lost the favour of King Manuel because he had taken a prominent share in transactions which would have cost Manuel his crown, as reported by Peter Martyr. But this industrious letter-writer, although he refers in his `Opus epistolarum' to the disputes between King and Queen concerning D. Jorge, does not once mention the name of Behaim in connection with this question or in any other instance. It is far more reasonable to suppose that the large fortune which he had derived from Nuremberg had been dissipated by him in idle speculations, and that after the death of his father-in-law, in 1495, his family left him to his own resources.
I believe that he died in the Hospital de todos os Santos, of which the foundations had been laid by King John in 1492 in the Garden of the Monastery of the Dominicans, and close to their church in which he was buried. A chapel within that church had been granted in 1422 to the German and Flemish brotherhood of the Holy Cross and St. Andrew, a brotherhood which looked after its members in sickness, and saw to their decent burial.
But whilst Martin Behaim's grave at Lisbon was soon forgotten, and can no longer be traced, his son in 1519, whilst at Nuremberg, placed a more permanent memorial in the church of St. Catherine. A trefoil hatchment (Scutum trifolium) in the quire, to the right of the altar, exhibited in the centre the coat of arms of the Behaims, and on the left what Murr took for the coat of arms of the Macedos, but which was really that of the Hurters.(8) The inscription was as follows:
1507, Pfintztag . nach Jacoby 29, Juli . Starb . der . gestreng . vnd . vest . her . Martin Beheim . Ritter . im . Kynckreich . zw . Portugal . dem . gott . Gnedig . sey.
1507, on Thursday after Jacobi July 29th(9) there died the worshipful and valiant Herr Martin Beheim, knight in the kingdom of Portugal. May God have mercy upon him.
A sexagonal iron chandelier, suspended in the very centre of the quire, above the tomb of Konrad of Neumarkt, served as a further memorial. It is in two shelves. Upon the lower shelf are several groups of rocks, upon one of which was placed a recumbent figure of St. Catherine, whilst chaplets occupied the spaces between the others. Below were two shields; the one containing the arms of Martin Behaim together with those of his parents and grandparents, represented by the families of Schopper, Hirschvogel and Muffel; the other, those of his wife Johanna de Macedo, with the words, "Desiderans desideraui ore" (grieving I desired to pray). The hoop or ring bore this inscription :"Serenissimi Portugalie Regis, Martinus Beheimus, miles auratus, Affricanos Mauros fortiter debellauit, et ultra finem Orbis terre uxorauit" (Martin Behaim, knight of the most serene King of Portugal, stoutly fought the African Moors, and married beyond the ends of this earth).(10)
Similar coats of arms were placed beneath the upper shelf, and at their sides were statuettes of Martin Behaim and his wife, and the inscription: "In memoria eius." Along the upper hoop we read, "Joanna Capitanei Portugaliae Regni filia, insularum Azorum Catheridum, domini Flandrie nouae. Uxor Domini Martini Bohemi Militis Foelix memoria," i.e., Johanna, daughter of a Captain of the Kingdom of Portugal, the lord of New Flanders of the islands of the Azores or Catherides,(11) wife of the lord Martin Behaim, knight, of happy memory.
Hatchment and chandelier were removed from the church at the beginning of last century. It has been stated that they had been removed to the Germanic Museum, but I failed to discover them there.
A more permanent and public memorial in honour of Martin Behaim was unveiled at Nuremberg on September 17, 1890. It consists of a bronze statue modelled by Professor Rössner. The "Navigator" is represented clad in armour, with a globe by his side and allegorical figures of Science and Commerce sitting at his feet. On the day mentioned a procession, more germanico, proceeded from the town-hall to Behaim's house of birth, where the choral societies sang a cantata written by Hans Barth and composed by the gifted Franz Lachner,(12) after which it moved to the Egydienberg, where Dr Günther, standing at the foot of the monument, delivered the "Festrede."
There exists also a medal struck on the occasion of the celebration of the tercentenary of Albert Dürer's death in 1828. It was engraved by Anton Paul Dallinger (b. 1772). On its obverse it has portrait busts of Dürer and Behaim, and the words "His gaudet nobis alumnis."
The reverse shows a seated figure of Norunbergia, with emblems of arts, science and industry, and the words "Hae tibi erunt artes."
Of Martin Behaim it certainly cannot be said what has been said of certain prophets, that he had no honour in his own country.
And more recently still, during the meeting of
a Geographical Congress at Nuremberg, a little "Festspiel,"
"Im Hause Martin Behaim's," written by Frau Helene von
Forster, was performed on May 21, 1907. This Festspiel, however, not
any more than Schiller's classical dramas, can be accepted as
representing historical truth.
4. Behaim's monument at Nuremberg.
From a photograph by F. Schmidt.
(1) Ghillany,
Doc. XII., p. 107. back
(2) Michael Behaim on Nov. 12, 1518, wrote to Jorg
Pock that Clas Humbrecht of Antwerp had informed him that Wolf Behaim
had left behind him clothes, striking watches (Schlagurlein) and
other things, which were to have been sold by Sebald Kneusel, but
that up to then no money had been received on that account (Ghillany,
Doc. XVI., p. 112). back
(3) Ghillany, Doc. XVIII., p. 104.
back
(4) J. Pock to Michael Behaim, March 25-30, 1519
(Ghillany, Doc. XVIII., p. 114-115). Biedermann,
`Geschlechtsregister,' Tafel, 221, says, "Paulus Imhof spent many
years in Portugal, stood high in the favour of the King, and died
there in 1507, and is buried in the church of St. John, where he has
a considerable monument." back
(5) See p. 11 for an account of these churches. back
(6) Murr, Ghillany and even Günther state that
Behaim died in 1506, but there can be no doubt that he died in
1507. The inscription upon the hatchment in the Church of
St. Catherine proves this, and also an inscription upon his portrait,
where Murr read "1506," but which a trustworthy person in the
service of the family assured Humboldt (`Kritische Untersuchungen,'
I., 230) reads "Obiit a MDVII. Lisabonae."
back
(7) This creditor Nies is repeatedly referred to in
the correspondence between J. Pock and Michael Behaim. See Ghillany,
documents No. XVI., XVII. and XVIII., pp. 112, 113 and 114. back
(8) Murr (p. 122) describes it thus: Field argent
charged with three pellets (roundels) sable, charged with stars
or. See pp. 48, 49. back
(9) Thursday after Jacobi, 1506, corresponds to July
30! back
(10) Add: "as known to Ptolemy !" back
(11) Catherides is a corruption of Cassiterides,
the tin islands at one time identified with the Azores. back
(12) He was born at Rain in 1804, and died on
January 20, 1890. back
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