Editing Gerardus Mercator (section)

===Early years===
[[File:Dorpsgezicht Rupelmonde.jpg|thumb|upright=1.50|[[Rupelmonde]] from ''[[Flandria illustrata]]'', 1641]]
Gerardus Mercator was born Geert or Gerard (De) Kremer (or Cremer) in [[Rupelmonde]], Flanders, a small village to the southwest of [[Antwerp]], which was in the fiefdom of [[Habsburg Netherlands]]. The seventh child of Hubert (De) Kremer and his wife Emerance, his parents came from [[Gangelt]] in the [[Duchy of Jülich]] (present-day Germany). At the time of the birth they were visiting Hubert's brother (or uncle{{efn|There is some doubt about the relationship of Hubert and Gisbert. Gisbert was either the brother or uncle of Hubert.}}) Gisbert De Kremer.{{efn|People in both locations at the time spoke an [[Modern Dutch|Early Modern Dutch dialects]] and there probably was close to no language barrier.}} Hubert was a poor artisan, a shoemaker by trade, but Gisbert, a priest, was a man of some importance in the community. Their stay in Rupelmonde was brief and within six months they returned to Gangelt, and there Mercator spent his earliest childhood until the age of six.{{efn|The evidence for Mercator's place of birth is in his letter to Wollfgang Haller ({{harvtxt|Averdunk|Müller-Reinhard|1914|loc= Letter 26}}, and {{harvtxt|Van Durme|1959|loc= Letter 152}}) and in the biography by his personal friend {{harvtxt|Ghim|1595}}.}} In 1518, the Kremer family moved back to Rupelmonde,{{efn|From 1518 the Kremers are mentioned in the archived records of Rupelmonde.}} possibly motivated by the deteriorating conditions in Gangelt—famine, plague and lawlessness.{{sfn|Crane|2003|loc= Chapter 1|pp=10–13}} Mercator would have attended the local school in Rupelmonde from the age of seven, when he arrived from Gangelt, and there he would have been taught the basics of reading, writing, arithmetic and Latin.{{sfn|Crane|2003|loc=Chapter 2|pp=14}}