Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/94

 NICOLAUS

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NICOLE

Christ, ddmonst ration nou velle " ( 1 864) ; " J&us Chriat introduction i I'Evangilc 6tudi6 et mdditd k I'usage dcs temps nouveaux" (Paris, 1875). As semi-reli- gious and semi-political may be mentioned: "La Monarchic et la question du drapeau" (Paris, 1873); "La Revolution et I'orde chr^tien" (Paris, 1874); "L'Etat contre Dicu" (Paris, 1879); "Rome et la Papaut6" (Paris, 1883); and finally the works in his- torico-philosophic vein: "Etude sur Maine de Biran" (Paris, 1858); "Etude sur Eugdnie de Gu(rin" (Paris, 1863); "M6raoires d'un pdre sur la vie et la mort de son fils" (Paris, 1860); "Etude historique et critique sur le Pere Lacordaire" (Toulouse, 1886).

LAPETRk:, Auffiiste Nicolas, sa vie ct ses (euvres d'aprts ses AU' moires inidiU, ses papiers et sa correspondance (Paris, 1892).

Antoine Degert.

Nicolaus Gennanus (often called "Donis" from a misappr(>hensi(inof thetitle"Donnus"or "Donus"an abbreviated form of "Dominus"), a fifteenth-century cartographer, place of birth, and date of birth and death unknown. The first allusion to him of authentic date is an injunction of Duke Borso d'Este (15 March, 1466) to his referendary and privy counsellor, Ludo- vico Casella, at Ferrara, to have the "Cosmographia of Don Nicolo " thoroughly examined and then to de- termine a recompense for it. The duke, on the thir- tieth of the same month, called upon his treasurers for 100 florins in gold "to remit as a mark of his apprecia- tion to Donnus Nicolaus Germanus for his excellent book entitled 'Cosmographia' ". On 8 April, 1466, the duke again drew thirty golden florins to present to the Rev. Nicolaus, who "in addition to that excellent Cosmography" (ultra illud excellens Cosmographie opus) had dedicated to the duke a calendar made to cover many years to come (" librum tacuini multorum annorum"). The "Co.smographia" as preserved in the Bibliotheca Estensis at ^Iodena comprises a Latin translation of the Geography of Ptolemy with maps. The version of the geographical text is substantially the same as that dedicated in 1410 to Pope Alexander V by Jacopo Angelo, a P'lorentine. In the execution of the maps, however, Nicolaus, instead of adhering to the flat projection of Ptolemy, chose what is known as the "Donis-projection", because first worked out by him, in which the parallels of latitude are equi- distant, but the meridians are made to converge to- wards the pole. He likewise introduced new modes in delineating the outlines of countries and oceans, mountains and lakes, as well as in the choice of carto- graphic proportions. He reduced the awkward size to one which was convenient for use; the obscure and often unattractive mode of presentation he replaced by one both tasteful and easily intelligible; he en- deavoured to revise obsolete maps in accordance with later information and to supplement them with new maps. While his first recension embraced only the twenty-seven maps of Ptolemy (one map of the world, ten special maps of Europe, four of Africa, twelve of Asia), the second comprised thirty (including in ad- dition modern maps of .Spain, Italy, and the Northern countries: Sweden, Norway, and Greenland). The last-named enlarged recension he dedicated as priest to Pope Paul II (1464-71). He dedicated to the same pontiff' his third recension, containing thirty- two maps, adding modern maps of France and the Holy Land. The works of the German cartographer were of great value in diffusing the knowledges of Ptolemy's Geography. The fir.st recension, probably the very copy in the Lenox Library (Now York), is the basis of the Roman editions of Ptolemy bearing the dates 1478, 1400, and 1.507; on the third, certainly the copy preserved in Wolfegg Castle, are based the Ulm editions of 14.82 and 1486. By combining the Roman and Flm editions Wald.seemiiller produced the maps of Ptolemy in the Stra.sburg edition of 1513, which wasfrequently copied. The modern mapof the

Northern countries, made by Claudius Clavus, which Nicolaus embodied in his .second recension of Ptolemy, was pcrliaps the source of I lie Zeiii map which had such far-reaching influence, and likewise of the maritime charts of the Canerio and Cantino type. The revised map of the Northern countries in the third recension of Nicolaus, which placed Greenland north of the Scan- dinavian Peninsula, was a powerful factor in c'lrtog- raphy for a century, especially as Waldscciniiller gave the preference to this representation in his world and wall map of 1507, "the baptismal certificate of Amer- ica". Because of these and other services to geog- raphy and cartography, as for example, by the re- vision of Buondclmonte's "Insularium", it would be desirable to have it established whether Nicolaus was really, as I conjecture, a Benedictine father of the Badia at Florence.

Fischer, Nicolaus Germanus in Entdeckungen der Normannen in Amerika (Freiburg, 1902), 75-90, 113 sqq. (Eng. tr., London, 1903), 72-86, 108 sqq.

Joseph Fischer.

Nicole, Pierre, theologian and controversialist, b. 19 October, 1625, at Chartres; d. 16 November, 1695, at Paris. He studied at Paris, became Master of Arts, 1644, and followed courses in theology, 1645- 46. Under Sainte-Beuve's direction he applied him- self earnestly to the study of St. Augustine and St. Thomas, devoting part of his time to teaching in the schools of Port-Royal. In 1649 he received the de- gree of Bachelor of Theology, and then withdrew to Port-Royal dcs Champs, where he fell in with the Jan- senistic leaders, especially Antoine Arnauld, who found in him a willing ally. He returned to Paris in 1654 under the assumed name of M. de Rosny. Four years later, during a tour in Germany, he translated Pascal's "Provinciales" into classic Latin, adding notes of his own and publishing the whole as the work of William Wendrock. In 1676 he sought ad- mission to Holy orders, but was refused by the BLshop of Chartres and never got beyond tonsure. A letter, which he wrote (1677) to Innocent XI in favour of the Bishops of Saint-Pons and Arras, involved him in dif- ficulties that obliged him to quit the capital. In 1679 he went to Belgium and lived for a time with Arnauld in Brussels, Liege, and other cities. About 1683 de Harlay, Archbishop of Paris, to whom he had sent a sort of retractation, authorized Nicole to return to Chartres, then to Paris. Here he took part in two cele- brated controversies, the one involving Quietism in which he upheld Bossuet's views, the other relating to monastic studies in which he sided with Mabillon against the Abbe de Rancey. His last years were sad- dened by painful infirmities and his death came after a series of apoplectic attacks.

Pierre Nicole was a distinguished writer and a vig- orous controversialist and, together with Pascal, con- tributed much to the formation of French prose. As a controversialist, he too frequently placed his talent at the service of a sect ; however, many are of the opin- ion that he did not wholly share the errors of the ma- jority of the Jansenists. At any rate, we generally find in him only a mitigated expression of these errors clothed in great reserve. On the other hand, hcstarted the resistance fund known as "la bolte k Perrette". (See Jansenius.) Niceron (Mcmoires, XXIX, Paris, 1783) enumerates no less than eighty-eight of his works, several of which were, however, very short. The principal works of Nicole relating either to Prot- estantism or Jan.senism are: "Les imaginaires et les visionnaires" or "Lettres sur I'h^r^^-sie imaginaire", namely, that of the Jansenists (Lifge, 1667) ; "La per- pf^'tuite de la foi catholique touchant rEucharistie", published under Arnauld's name, but the first three volumes of which (Paris, 1669-76) are by Nicole, the fourth and fifth (Paris, 1711-13) by the Abb^ Renaudot ; " Pr^juges legitimes contre les Calvinistes " (Paris, 1671); "X-a defense de I'Eglise" (Cologne,