ABSTRACT
The architecture of its title page is so designed as to represent the contents of the Cosmographia; it also intimates the essence of the assumed hierarchy governing the many matters described within. 1 In the upper panel, in an ornate two-tiered hemisphere, the chief potentates of Christendom are arrayed, each in distinctive garb and accompanied by their heraldic shield. The Holy Roman Emperor occupies the place of highest honour, the polar position in the centre of the upper tier, with the King of the Romans on his left and the ruler of Spain to his right. The remaining monarchs of the Christian lands descend to the left and the right; all have shields, but only the Emperor wields a sword. In the next tier, equal in size though subordinate in position, are the secular princes of the Empire, left, and spiritual princes, right. Their relationship with the Emperor is reinforced by another sword, point-down, between the Emperor and the centre of the lower tier. Ordered, majestic and harmonious, it recalls an ornate mappa mundi, or a rota diagram depicting the proper order of Christendom.
