II. THE VERRAZANO MAP. IT IS NOT AN AUTHORITATIVE EXPOSITION OF THE
VERRAZZANO DISCOVERY. ITS ORIGIN AND DATE IN ITS PRESENT FORM. THE
LETTER OF ANNIBAL CARO. THE MAP PRESENTED TO HENRY VIII. VOYAGES OF
VERRAZZANO. THE GLOBE OF EUPHROSYNUS ULPIUS.
The map of Hieronimo de Verrazano, recently brought to particular
notice, [Footnote: Journal of the American Geographical Society of
New York. 1873 Vol. IV. Notes on the Verrazano map. By James Carson
Brevoort.] is a planisphere on a roll of parchment eight feet and a
half long and of corresponding width, formerly belonging to Cardinal
Stefano Borgia, in whose museum, in the college of the Propaganda in
the Vatican, it is now preserved. It has no date, though, from a
legend upon it referring to the Verrazzano discovery, it may be
inferred that the year 1529 is intended to be understood as the time
when it was constructed. No paleographical description of it,
however, has yet been published, from which the period of its
construction might be determined, or the congruity of its parts
verified. It may, however, in order to disencumber the question, be
admitted to be the map mentioned by Annibal Caro in 1537, in a
letter to which occasion will hereafter be had to refer, and that
its author was the brother of the navigator, though of both these
facts satisfactory proof is wanting. [Footnote: This map was either
unknown to Ramusio and Gastaldi or discredited by them. Ramusio in
his preface, after mentioning to Fracastor that he placed the
relation of Verrazzano and Jacques Cartier in that volume, adds,
that inasmuch as Fracastor has exhorted him to make, in imitation of
Ptolemy, four or five maps of as much as was known up to that time
of the part of the world recently discovered, he could not disobey
his commands, and had therefore arranged to have them made by the
Piedmontese cosmographer Giacomo de Gastaldi. They are accordingly
to be found in the same volume with the letter of Verrazzano. One of
them is a map of New France extending somewhat south of Norumbega,
but no features of the Verrazzano map are to be traced upon it: and
no other map of the country is given. Fol. 424-5.]
No entirely legible copy of this map has yet been made public. Two
photographs, both much reduced from the original, have been made for
the American Geographical Society, from the larger of which, so much
as relates to the present purpose, has been carefully reproduced
here on the same scale. It is to be regretted that the names along
the coast, and the legends relating to the Verrazzano exploration,
are not photographed distinctly, though the legends and a few names
have been supplied by means of a pen. But although a knowledge of
all the names is necessary for a thorough understanding of this map,
these photographs, nevertheless, affording a true transcript of it
in other respects, enable us to determine that it is of no authority
as to the alleged discovery itself. [Footnote: This map was first
brought to public notice by M. Thomassey, in a memoir entitled, Les
Papes Geographes et la Cosmographie du Vatican, which was published
in the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Nouvelle serie, tome XXXV.
Annee 1853. Tome Troisieme. Paris. We are indebted to this memoir
for the explanation of our copy of the map of the scale of
distances, which is illegible on the photographs. According to this
explanation there should be nine points in the narrower, and
nineteen in the wider spaces. These being two and half leagues
apart, give twenty-five leagues for the smaller and fifty leagues
for the larger spaces, making three hundred and fifty leagues for
the whole scale.]
It will be found, in the first place, to contravene the Verrazzano
letter as to the limits of the discovery, both north and south, and
to indicate merely an attempt to reconcile that discovery generally
with the discoveries of the Spaniards, Bretons and Portuguese, as
shown on the maps of the period to which it relates. The coast of
North America is laid down continuously from the gulf of Mexico to
Davis straits, in latitude 60 Degrees N. Beginning at the point of
Florida, which is placed IN LATITUDE 33 1/2 Degrees N., more than
eight degrees north of its true position, it runs northerly along
the Atlantic, trending slightly to the west, to a bay or river, in
latitude 38 Degrees N. On this part of the country, called Terra
Florida, the arms of Spain are represented, denoting its discovery
by the Spaniards: and the whole of its coast for a distance of
eighty or ninety leagues, is entirely devoid of names.
From 38 Degrees N. that is, from the land of Florida as here shown,
the coast continues in a northerly direction thirty or forty leagues
farther, to a point between 40 Degrees and 41 Degrees N. when,
turning northeasterly, it runs with slight variations, on a general
course of east north east, for six hundred and fifty leagues to Cape
Breton placed in latitude 51 1/2 S., five and a half degrees north
of it true position. Along this part of the coast more than sixty
names of places occur at intervals sufficiently regular to denote
one continuous exploration. They are for the most part
undistinguishable on the photographs, but nine of them, at the
beginning, are made legible by hand, the first two of which
commencing AT LATITUDE 38 Degrees, are Dieppa and Livorno. The
others, proceeding north, are Punta de Calami, Palamsina, Polara
flor, Comana, Santiago, C. d' Olimpe, and Olimpe, indicating a
nomenclature different from that used on any other known map of this
region. At a distance of three hundred leagues from Dieppa, and IN
LATITUDE 46 Degrees N., is a large triangular island, designated by
the name of Luisia. Hence to Cape Breton the names are illegibly
photographed. Along this coast, at three points, namely, in latitude
42 Degrees; opposite the island of Luisia, in latitude 46; and in
latitude 50 Degrees, standards are displayed, the nationality of
which cannot be distinguished, but which no doubt were intended for
those of France, inasmuch as over them occurs the name of Nova
Gallia sive Iucatanet in large, commanding letters, with the
Verrazzano legend, before referred to underneath it, in these words:
'Verrazana seu Gallia nova quale discopri 5 anni fa Giovanni di
Verrazano fiorentino per ordine et comandamete del Chrystianissimo
Re di Francia; that is, Verrazzana or New Gaul which Giovanni di
Verrazzano, a Florentine, discovered five years ago by order and
command of the most Christian king of France. [Footnote: The names
Verrazzana and Verrazzano in this legend are WRITTEN on the
photograph by hand, with a double z, though M. Thomassey uses only
the single z, which is adopted on our copy. It would be a singular
circumstance, leading to some speculation, if they should really be
spelt with the two z's on the original. Hieronimo, if he were the
brother of Giovanni, would hardly have written his own name, as it
is inscribed on the map, with one z, and that of his brother with
two, in the same document.]
Over Cape Breton is a representation of the shield of Brittany,
denoted by its ermines, in token of the discovery of that country by
the Bretons, which is separated by a bay or gulf from Terra Nova
sive Le Molue, the latter term being evidently intended for Bacalao
(codfish, Fr. morue), the received name of Newfoundland. The
southerly coast of Terra Nova for an hundred leagues, and its
easterly coast running to the north, are delineated, with the
Portuguese name of C. Raso and the island of Baccalaos barely
legible. The coast runs north from C. Raso to C. Formoso in latitude
60 Degrees where it meets the straits which separate it from Terra
Laboratoris, the country discovered by Gaspar Cortereal on his first
voyage, but here attributed to the English, and being in fact
Greenland. [Footnote: Mr. Brevoort gives other names as legible on
the easterly coast of Terra Nova, which we have not been able to
distinguish, namely: c. de spera, illa de san luis, monte de trigo,
and illa dos avos. Mr. B. reads IUCATANET, and M. Margry YUCATANET,
where our engraver has IUCATANIA, for the general name of the
country. The word in either form is apochryphal, as Yucatan is
designated in its proper place, though as an island; but which form
is correct cannot be determined from the photograph.]
It is obvious that the discoveries of Verrazzano are thus intended
to embrace the coast from latitude 38 Degrees N. to Cape Breton,
that is, between the points designated by the armorial designations
of Spain and Brittany, and not beyond either, as that would make the
map contradict itself. That they begin at the parallel 38 is shown
by the names of Dieppa and Livorno, (Leghorn), which commemorate the
port to which the expedition of Verrazzano belonged, and the country
in which he himself was born. These names cannot be associated with
any other alleged expedition. They are given on the map which
contains the legend declaring the country generally to have been
discovered by him; and are not found on any other. There can be no
doubt, therefore, that they are meant to indicate the beginning of
his exploration in the south.
That his discoveries are represented as extending in the north to
Cape Breton is proven by the continuation of the names to that
point, showing an exploration by some voyager along that entire
coast, and by the absence of any designation of its discovery by any
other nation than the French; while the distance from Dieppa to Cape
Breton is laid down as seven hundred leagues, the same as claimed
for this exploration.
But in restricting his discoveries to latitude 38 Degrees N. on the
south, this map essentially departs from the claim set up in the
letter ascribed to Verrazzano which carries them to fifty leagues
south of 34 Degrees; and on the other hand, in limiting them, in the
north, to the land discovered by the Bretons, it conforms to its
Portuguese authorities, upon which, as will be seen, it was founded,
but, in so doing, contradicts the letter which extends them to the
point where the Portuguese commenced their explorations to the
Arctic circle, which this map itself shows were on the east side of
Terra Nova. Verrazzano the navigator, therefore, could not have been
the author of the letter and also the authority for the map.
That this map did not proceed from him is also proven by the
representation upon it of a great ocean, called Mare Occidentale,
which is laid down between the parallels within which these
discoveries are confined. It lies on the west side of the continent
but approaches so near the Atlantic, in latitude 41 Degrees N., that
is, in the vicinity of New York, that according to a legend
describing it, the two oceans are there only six miles apart, and
can be seen from each other. This isthmus occurs several hundred
miles north of Dieppa, and therefore at a point absolutely fixed
within the limits of the Verrazzano discoveries, and where the
navigator must have sailed, according to both the letter and the
map, whether the latitudes on the map be correctly described or not.
This western sea is thus made by its position a part of the
discoveries of Verrazzano, and is declared by the legend to have
been actually seen; and as he was the discoverer, it must be
intended to have been seen by him. As, however, there is no such sea
in reality, Verrazzano could never have seen it; and therefore, he
could not have so represented; or if he did, then the whole story
must for that reason alone be discredited. There is no escape from
this dilemma. Verrazzano could not have been deceived and have
mistaken some other sheet of water for this great sea, and so
represented it on any chart, or communicated it in any other way to
the maker of this map; for he makes no mention of the circumstance
in his letter to the king to whom he would have been prompt to
report so important a fact; as it would have proved the
accomplishment of the object of his voyage,--the discovery of a
passage through this region to Cathay, or if not a passage, at least
a way, which could have been made available for reaching the land of
spices and aromatics, by reason of its low grade, evident by one sea
being seen from the other, and its short distance.
The unauthentic character of this map, and the manner in which its
representation of the Verrazzano discoveries was produced,
distinctly appear in its method of construction. Cape Breton and
Terra Nova are represented as they are laid down on the charts of
Pedro Reinel and the anonymous cartographer,--reproduced on the
first and fourth sheets of the Munich atlas and unquestionably
belonging to the period anterior to the discovery of the continuity
of the land from Florida to Cape Breton. They bear the names which
are found on those maps, importing their discovery thus early by the
Bretons and Portuguese. In the south, the designation of Florida as
a Spanish discovery, with its southerly coast running along the
parallel of thirty-three and a half of north latitude, eight degrees
north of its actual position, is precisely the same it as it is
shown on the anonymous Portuguese chart just mentioned. These
representations of the country, in the north and the south, were
thus adopted as the basis of this map. But as there were not seven
hundred leagues of coast between latitude 38 Degrees and Cape
Breton, which is the distance it indicates as having been explored
by Verrazzano, that extent could be obtained only, either by
changing the latitude of Florida or Cape Breton, or prolonging the
coast longitudinally, or both. The latitude of the northerly limit
of Florida having been preserved for the commencement of the
discoveries, Cape Breton had therefore to be changed and was
accordingly carried five degrees and a half further north and placed
in latitude 51-1/2 instead of 46, and by consequence the whole line
of coast was thrown several degrees in that direction, as is proven
by the position of the island of Louise, which thus falls in 46
Degrees N. instead of 41 Degrees, the latitude assigned to it in the
letter. Nothing could more conclusively show the factitious origin
of this delineation and its worthlessness as an exposition of the
Verrazzano discovery.
Some importance, however, attaches to this map in its assisting us
to fix approximately the time of the fabrication of the Verrazzano
letter. If it were constructed in 1529, as some would infer, with
the portions relating to the discovery upon it, then it is the
earliest recognition of the CLAIM to this discovery yet produced,
irrespective of the letter. But it is by no means certain that it
was originally made in that year. Nothing appears on the map itself
giving that date in terms; but it is left to be inferred exclusively
from the language of the legend, which states that the discovery was
made FIVE YEARS AGO, without any indication, either in the legend
itself or elsewhere on the map, to what time that period relates;
and leaving the discovery, therefore, to be ascertained from
extraneous sources. If the discovery be assumed to have been made in
1524, then indeed the map, according to the legend, would have been
constructed in 1529. But no person, unacquainted with the letter,
can determine from this inscription, or any other part of the map,
the date either of the discovery or map; and this precise difficulty
Euphrosynus Ulpius apparently encountered in attempting to fix the
time of the discovery for his globe, as will hereafter be seen. Why
the time of the discovery should have been left in such an ambiguous
state, compatibly with fair intentions, it is difficult to
understand. The year itself could and should, in the absence of any
date on the map, have been stated directly in the legend, without
compelling a resort to other authorities. It is not unusual, it is
true, for valuable maps and charts of this period to be left without
the dates of their construction upon them; but when, as in this
case, a date is called for, there seems to be no reason why it
should not have been given. This circumstance creates the suspicion
that the legend did not belong to the map originally, but was added
afterwards, as it now appears on the copy in the Vatican; or if it
were upon it then, that it was intended to mislead and conceal the
true date of the map. But whatever may be the secret of its origin,
this legend furnishes no positive evidence as to the time when the
map was made, or pretended to have been made; and we are left to
find its date, if possible, by other means.
A fact which indicates that this map could not have existed as late
as 1536, in the form in which it is now presented, if it existed
then at all, is that the western sea is delineated upon a map of the
world, made in that year, by Baptista Agnese, an Italian
cosmographer, without any reference to the Verrazzano discoveries,
under circumstances which would have led him to have recognized them
if he knew of them, and which would have required him to have done
so if this map were his authority. This sea is laid down by Agnese
in the same manner as it is shown on the Verrazzano map, approaching
the Atlantic, from the north, along a narrow isthmus terminating at
latitude 40 Degrees, with the coast turning abruptly to the west;
the ocean being thus represented open thence from the isthmus to
Cathay. A track of French navigation, not a single voyage, expressed
by the words: el viages de France, is designated upon it, leading
from the north of France to this isthmus, referring obviously to the
voyages of the fishermen of Brittany and Normandy, to the coasts of
Nova Scotia and New England. No allusion is made to the voyage of
Verrazzano, or to the discoveries attributed to him by the Verrazano
map. The Atlantic coast on the contrary, is plainly delineated after
the Spanish map of Ribero, as is shown by the form, peculiar to that
map, of the coast, at latitude 40 Degrees, returning to the west. It
is apparent, therefore, that the two maps of Agnese and Verrazano,
both representing the western sea in the same form, must have been
derived from a common source, or else one was taken from the other;
and that the map of Agnese could not, in either case, have been
derived from a map showing the Verrazzano discovery, and must
consequently have been anterior to the Verrazano map in its present
form.
It militates against the authenticity of the Verrazano map and the
early date which it would have inferred for itself, that there is
not a single known map or chart, either published or unpublished,
before the great map of Mercator in 1569, that refers to the
Verrazzano discoveries, or recognizes this map in any respect before
that of Michael Lok, published by Hakluyt, in 1582; or any before
Lok, that applies the name of the sea of Verrazano to the western
sea. The unauthenticated and until recently unnoticed globe of
Euphrosynus Ulpius, purporting to have been constructed in 1542, of
which we will speak presently, is the only evidence yet presented of
the existence of the Verrazano map, as it now appears, beyond the
map itself. The whole theory of the early influence of the
Verrazzano discovery, or of the Verrazano map, upon the cartography
of the period to which they relate, and its consequently proving
their authenticity, as advanced by some learned writers, is
therefore incorrect and is founded in a misconception of fact.
This mistake relates to a map which is found in several editions of
the geography of Ptolemy printed at Basle, supposed to represent the
western sea shortly after the Verrazzano discovery, and consequently
as derived from that source. Mr. Kohl, [Footnote: We are indebted
entirely to Mr. Kohl for our knowledge of the map of Agnese, which
he produces, on a reduced scale, in the Discovery of Maine, (chart
XIV), with an account of the map and its author (p. 292).] in a
chapter specially devoted to the consideration of charts from
Verrazzano, reproduces one (No. XV, a) which he describes as a
sketch of North America, from a map of the new world, in an edition
of Ptolemy printed in Basle, 1530. And he adds: "the map was drawn
and engraved A FEW YEARS AFTER VERRAZANO'S EXPEDITION. The plate
upon which it was engraved, must have been in use for a long time;
for the same map appears both, in EARLIER and much later editions of
Ptolemy. The same also reappears in the cosmography of Sebastian
Munster, published in Basle." Mr. K. finally observes in regard to
it: "this map has this particular interest for us, that it is
probably the first on which the sea of Verrazano was depicted in the
form given to it by Lok, in 1582. I have found no map PRIOR to 1530,
on which this delineation appears." [Footnote: Discovery of Maine,
pp. 296-7.] There is a little confusion of dates in this statement.
Mr. K. states, however, that he had not seen the map of Hieronimo de
Verrazano, and evidently derives his information, in regard to the
sea of Verrazano, from the map of Lok, who alone gives the western
sea the name of Mare de Verrazana, no doubt because he found the sea
laid down on the map presented by Verrazzano to Henry VIII, to which
reference will presently be made. Had Mr. K. seen the Verrazano map
with the absurd legend upon it, in effect declaring the western sea
to have been observed by Verrazzano, he must have arrived at
different conclusions, notwithstanding the map in Ptolemy of the
supposed early date. Mr. Brevoort, in his notes on the Verrazano
map, probably relying on the authority of Mr. Kohl, says, "that the
first published map containing traces of Verrazano's explorations,
is in the Ptolemy of Basle, 1530, which appeared FOUR YEARS BEFORE
THE FRENCH RENEWED THEIR ATTEMPTS AT AMERICAN EXPLORATION. It shows
the western sea without a name, and the land north of it is called
Francisca." [Footnote: Journal of Am. Geog. Soc. of New York, vol.
IV, p. 279.] The inference left to be drawn is that, the presence of
the French in this region, as denoted by the name, Francisca, four
years before the discoveries in that quarter, by Jacques Cartier,
and by the delineation of the western sea upon the Verrazano map,
establish the authenticity both of the voyage of Verrazzano and the
map.
All this is erroneous. There was no edition of Ptolemy published in
1530 at Basle, or elsewhere, known to bibliographers. The map to
which reference is made, and which is reproduced by Mr. Kohl, was
first printed in 1540 at Basle, in an edition of Ptolemy with new
maps, both of the new and old world, and with new descriptions of
the countries embraced in them, printed on the back of each,
accompanied by a geographical description of the modern state of the
countries of the old world by Sebastian Munster. [Footnote:
Geographia Universalis, vetus et nova, complectens Claudii Ptolemai
Alexandrini enarrationis libros VIII. * * * Succedunt tabulos
Ptolemaice, opera Sebastiani Munsteri nto paratos. His adjectos sunt
plurime novae tabulae, moderna orbis faciem literis & pictura
explicantes, inter quas quaedam antehac Ptolemao non fuerunt
additae. Sm. fol. Basiteae apud Henricum Petrum Meuse Martio Anno
MDXI.] In all the editions of Ptolemy, containing maps of the new
world, before the year 1540, North America was represented according
to the mistaken ideas of Waltzemuller on that subject in 1513, and
without regard to the discoveries which took place after his
edition. The maps of Munster constituted a new departure of the
Ptolemies in this respect, and were intended to represent the later
discoveries in the new world. They were reprinted several times at
Basle by the same printer, Henri Pierre (Lelewell II. 176, 208). In
the first edition, which is now lying before us, the map in
question, number 45, bears the title of Novae Insalae XVII. Nova
Tabula. It is an enlarged representation of the portion relating to
the new world of another map, No. 1, in the same volume, called
Typas Universalis, a map of the whole world, which appears here also
as a new map, and represents, for the first time in the Ptolemaic
series, the straits of Magellan in the south, New France in the
north, and the coast running continuously, north and NORTHEAST, from
Florida to Newfoundland.
Upon this map a deep gulf is shown, indenting America from a strait
in the north, which leads from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in the
region of Hudson's straits, in latitude 60 Degrees N. This gulf runs
southerly into the continent as far as latitude 40 Degrees N.,
approaching the Atlantic coast, and in that respect, alone, conforms
to the representation of the western sea on the maps of Verrazano
and Lok. It differs materially, however, from that sea, and
indicates an entirely different meaning and origin. It is simply a
gulf, or deep bay, like Hudson's bay, but reaching further south,
being land-locked on all sides, except the north, as high as
latitude 60 Degrees N.; whereas the western sea, on the other maps,
is, as already observed, an open sea, extending westerly from the
isthmus in latitude 40 Degrees, without intervening land,
uninterruptedly to India. The intention of the delineation of this
portion of the map, is not equivocal. For the first time, on any
map, there is found upon it the name of Francisca, which is placed
above the parallel of 50 Degrees N. latitude and above that of C.
Britonum, designated thus by name, in the proper position of Cape
Breton. It is placed between the river St. Lawrence, which also is
represented but not named, and the gulf before mentioned. This name,
Francisca, [Footnote: Called Francese in the discourse of the French
captain of Dieppe.] or the FRENCH LAND, and the position, indicate
the then recent discoveries in that region, which were due to the
French under Jacques Cartier, and which could properly belong to no
other exploration of the French. The gulf, no doubt, relates to the
great lakes or fresh water sea of which Cartier had heard from the
natives, as he himself mentions. (Hakluyt, III. 225.)
With the correction, therefore, of the date of the Munster map, the
argument in favor of the authenticity either of the Verrazzano
discovery or of the Verrazano map, based upon the recognition by the
Munster map, of that discovery immediately after it is alleged to
have taken place, or after the alleged construction of the Verrazano
map, in 1529, and before any other voyages were made by the French
to that region, falls entirely to the ground. And with the actual
representation upon it of the discoveries of Cartier, without any
allusion to the alleged discoveries of Verrazzano or the pretensions
of the Verrazano map, while giving the latest discoveries in
America, it is fairly to be concluded that both were unheard of, or
utterly discredited by the author of the Munster map.
The map of Agnese stands, therefore, as the earliest chart of an
acknowledged date showing the western sea, and that is independently
of the Verrazzano discovery, or the Verrazano map. The hitherto
unpublished maps produced by Mr. Kohl, also for the purpose of
proving the influence of the Verrazzano discovery, fail entirely of
that object. The first of them, in point of date, the sketch (No.
XV. c) from the portolano of 1536, preserved in the Bodleian library
at Oxford, shows a track of navigation from the north of France,
across the Atlantic, RUNNING BETWEEN THE BACALAOS AND THE LAND OF
THE BRETONS, THROUGH THE GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE, TO THE PACIFIC, AND
THENCE TO CATHAY. There is no representation of the western sea, as
shown on the Verrazano map, but on the contrary, the whole of the
western coast of North America is shown conjecturally in a different
form, by dotted lines. So far as this map affords any indication on
the subject, it refers to the route of Cartier, and delineates the
Atlantic coast according to the Spanish map of Ribero, that is, with
a trending of the coast in a more northerly direction than the
Verrazano map, and with the peculiar return of that coast westerly,
in latitude 40 Degrees N., given on that map. The next chart (No.
XV. d) from a map made by Diego Homem in 1540, shows the western sea
nearly the same as on the map of Agnese, but conjecturally only;
while the representation of the Atlantic coast has the same
characteristics as the Bodleian and Agnese maps, showing its
derivation from Ribero and not the Verrazano map. The remaining
sketch given by Mr. Kohl (No. XV. b) from a map made by G. Ruscelli
in 1544, presenting the same features, as do the two others, in
regard to the Atlantic coast, puts beyond all question that the map
of Ribero is its authority, by adopting from it the name of Montagne
Verde which is applied by Ribero to the hills at the mouth of the
river San Antonio, in latitude 41 Degrees N., thereby certainly
excluding any recognition of the Verrazzano discovery or the
Verrazano map.
The first published map which refers to the Verrazzano discoveries,
that of Mercator in 1569, makes no reference to the Verrazano map,
and does not recognize it in any manner. Mercator was the first to
give the name of Claudia to the island of Louise, evidently
mistaking the name of the wife of Francis for that of his mother,
after whom the island was called, according to the letter, without
stating her name. Mercator gives a legend in which he mentions that
Verrazzano arrived on the coast on the 17th of March 1524, which is
the day according to the version of Ramusio, following our mode of
computation, as before explained. It is evident, therefore, that
Mercator had the Ramusio version before him, and not the Verrazano
map, as his authority on the subject. His delineation of the
Atlantic coast, moreover, is according to the plan of Ribero, and he
gives no indication of the western sea of the Verrazano map, but
mentions in a legend the fresh water inland sea spoken of by
Cartier, of the extent of which the Indians were ignorant.
The existence of the Verrazano map, much less its date, is obviously
not proven by any of the maps or charts to which reference has here
been made, and which are supposed to reflect some of its features,
or indicate the verity of the Verrazzano discovery. There is,
however, some evidence of a positive character, both historical and
cartographical, which points to the existence of this map in two
different forms, one originally not representing the Verrazzano
discovery, and the other subsequently, as now presented.
The existence of a Verrazano map in some form or other, as early as
1537, seems to be established by a letter of the commendatory,
Annibal Caro, written in that year. Caro, who became distinguished
among his countrymen for his polite learning, was, in early life,
secretary to the cardinal, M. de Gaddi, a Florentine, residing in
Rome. While thus engaged, he accompanied his patron on a journey to
the mines of Sicily, and there, from Castro, addressed a playful
letter to the members generally of the cardinal's household,
remaining at Rome. In this letter, which is dated the 13th of
October in that year, he writes to them: "I will address sometimes
one and sometimes another of you, as matters come into my mind. To
you, Verrazzano, a seeker of NEW WORLDS and their marvels, I cannot
yet say anything worthy of YOUR MAP, because we have not passed
through any country which has not been discovered by you or your
brother." [Footnote: "De le lettre familiari des commendatore
Annibal Caro," vol. 1. P. 6-7. Venetia, 1581.] This passage was
supposed by Tiraboschi to have been addressed to the navigator, and
as proving that he was alive at the time the letter was written. But
we now know that Verrazzano had then been dead ten years; besides,
it is not probable, inasmuch as the person addressed was one of the
servants of the prelate, that the navigator would have occupied that
position. M. Arcangeli suggests that the name is used by Caro merely
as a nom de guerre; [Footnote: "Discorso sopra Giovanni da
Verrazzano," p. 27, in "Archivio Storico Italiano," Appendice vol.
IX.] but in either case, whether borrowed or not, the remark plainly
enough refers to a Verrazzano map, which may POSSIBLY have been the
map of Hieronimo.
Hakluyt furnishes testimony which, if correct, shows the probable
existence of this map before 1529, BUT NOT IN ITS PRESENT FORM. In
the dedication to Phillip Sydney of his "Divers voyages touching the
discoveries of America, &c.," printed in 1582, he refers to the
probabilities of the existence of a northwest passage, and remarks
that, "Master John Verarzanus which had been THRISE ON THAT COAST in
an olde excellent mappe, which HE GAVE to King Henry the eight, and
is yet in custodie of Master Locke, doth so lay it out as is to bee
seene in the mappe annexed to the end of this boke, being made
according to Verarzanus plat." Hakluyt thus positively affirms that
the old map to which he refers was given by Verrazzano himself to
the king. What evidence he had of that fact he does not mention, but
he speaks of the map as if it had been seen by him, and probably
that was his authority. The map he declares of his own knowledge was
transferred, so far as regards the western strait, to the map of
Lok, which he himself publishes. Lok's map represents the northwest
passage as attempted by Frobisher in his several voyages, and as
continued from the termination of the English exploration, to a
western sea, a portion of which lying between the parallels of 40
Degrees N. and 50 Degrees N. latitude is laid down the same as it
appears on the Verrazano map, and bears the inscription of Mare de
Verrazana, 1524. The map of Lok is the first one upon which the
western sea is so called. The designation was undoubtedly the work
of Lok himself, as it is in conformity with his practice in other
parts of the map, where he denotes the discoveries of others in the
same way, that is, by their names with the dates of their voyages
annexed. He no doubt applied the name of Verrazzano to this ocean
from finding it represented on the old map given by Verrazzano to
the king, and obtained the date from the letter, of which Hakluyt
printed in the same volume a translation from the version in
Ramusio. It is certain that Verrazzano could not have been accessory
to declaring it a DISCOVERY by himself for the reason already
mentioned that no such sea, as there laid down, existed to have been
discovered.
Lok's map represents on the Atlantic coast, in latitude 41 Degrees
N., the island alleged in the Verrazzano letter to have been named
after the king's mother, and gives it the name of Claudia. That it
is the same island is proven by note to the translation of the
letter given in the volume in which this map is found. Hakluyt puts
in the margin, opposite the passage where mention of the island
occurs in the letter, the words "Claudia Ilande." From whatever
source this name was derived by them, whether from Mercator or by
their own mistake, both Lok and Hakluyt here indirectly bear their
testimony to the fact, that the name of Luisia was not upon the old
map given to Henry VIII, which Lok consulted, and Hakluyt described.
It is thus to be concluded that the map delivered to the king showed
the western sea, but not any discoveries of Verrazzano on the
Atlantic coast.
In another work, as yet unpublished, Hakluyt affords some additional
information in regard to the old map, which though brief, is quite
significant. He remarks that it is "a mightie large olde mappe in
parchment, made AS IT WOULD SEEM by Verrazanus, now in the custodie
of Mr. Michael Locke;" and he speaks also of an "olde excellent
GLOBE in the Queen's privie gallery, at Westm'r, w'h ALSO SEEMETH
to be of Verrazanus making." [Footnote: MS. in possession of the
Maine Historical Society, cited in Mr. Kohl's Discovery of Maine, p.
291, note.] Both the map and the globe are thus mentioned as the
PROBABLE workmanship of Verrazzano, from which it is probable that
there was no name upon them to determine that question positively.
The great size of the chart, the material upon which it was made,
and the authorship of the map and globe by the same person, are
circumstances which go to prove that they were both the work of a
professed cosmographer, and embraced the whole world; and
consequently that the map was not a chart made by the navigator,
showing his discoveries, but possibly the map of Hieronimo in its
original form. The construction of this old map, whoever was the
author, is fixed certainly BEFORE 1529, by the statement of Hakluyt,
that it was presented to Henry VIII by Verrazzano, the navigator,
inasmuch as Verrazzano came to his death in 1527. The Verrazzano
map, in its present phase, not claiming to have been made before the
year 1529, could not, therefore, have furnished the original
representation of the western sea, or have been the one used by Lok.
Hakluyt adds to his statement that Verrazzano had been three times
on the coast of America, which, if true, would disprove the
discovery set up in the letter. That document alleges that the coast
explored by him was entirely unknown and HAD NEVER BEFORE BEEN SEEN
BY ANY ONE before that voyage, and consequently not by him; and
that, as regards the residue of the coast north of 50 Degrees N.,
the Portuguese had sailed along it as far as the Arctic circle,
without finding any termination to the land, thus giving the
Portuguese as his authority for the continuity of the northern part
of the coast, and excluding himself from it. It is thus clearly
stated in the letter, that he had not been there before. It was
impossible that he could have, consummated two voyages to America,
and another to England, and made his court to the king, after 1524,
and before his last and fatal cruize along the coast of Spain, as
would have been necessary to have been done. In asserting that
Verrazzano made other voyages to America, Hakluyt is corroborated by
the ancient manuscripts, to which the author of the memoirs of
Dieppe refers, as mentioning that one Jean Verassen commanded a ship
which accompanied that of Aubert to Newfoundland in 1508. [Footnote:
Desmarquets. "Memoires chronologiques pour servir a l'histoire de
Dieppe," I. 100. (2 Vols. Paris, 1785.) It is worthy of remark that
this annalist seems to regard Verasseu and Verrazzano as different
persons, which proves, at least, that his authority was independent
of any matter connected with the Verrazzano claim. That these names
really relate, however, to the same individual, appears from the
agreement with Chabot] It is possible, therefore, that Verrazzano
made three voyages to Newfoundland, and was well acquainted with
that portion of the coast, before hostilities broke out between
Francis I. and the emperor, in 1522; at which time, as will be seen,
he entered upon his course of privateering; and that during the time
Francis was a prisoner at Madrid, in 1525-6, and the state of war
accordingly suspended, and Verrazzano thrown out of employment, he
visited England, and laid before the king a scheme of searching for
the northwest passage; a project which Henry had been long
meditating, as may be gathered from the proposition of Wolsey to
Sebastian Cabot in 1519, and the expedition actually sent out for
that purpose by that monarch under John Rut, in 1527. [Footnote:
Letter of Contarini, the Venetian ambassador in Spain, to the
Council of Ten. See "Calendar of State Papers &c. in Venice," 1520-
6. Edited by Rawdon Brown. No. 697, London, 1869. Purchas, III. p.
809.] It is evident that the representation of the western sea, upon
the map given to the king, was merely conjectural of its existence
in connection with the supposed strait, laid down upon the map,
according to Hakluyt. This explanation will serve also to account
most readily for the partial knowledge which the letter exhibits, in
regard to the customs and characteristics of the Indians of Cape
Breton, which might have been collected by the writer, from the
journals of those early voyages or other notes of Verrazzano in
relation to them; although the same information was obtainable from
others who had made similar voyages to that region, from Normandy
and Brittany.
It is thus established by the same testimony which furnishes the map
of Lok, taken in conjunction with its own teachings, that it was not
derived from the Verrazano map in its present shape, and does not
represent the Verrazzano discovery.
The only evidence of the existence of the Verrazano map in any
cosmographical production whatever, book, chart or globe, so far as
known, independently of its history in the Borgian collection, is a
copper globe, found by the late Buckingham Smith in Spain, a few
years ago, and now in the possession of the New York Historical
Society. This globe purports to have been constructed by Euphrosynus
Ulpios in 1542. Inscribed upon it, in a separate scroll, is a
dedication, in these words; "Marcello Cervino S. R. E. Presbitero
Cardinali D.D. Rome." Cervinus had been archbishop of Florence and
was afterwards raised from the cardinalate to the pontificate under
the title of Marcellus II. This globe represents the western sea in
the same form as it is on the Verrazano map, and contains a legend
on the country lying between the isthmus and Cape Breton, in these
words: "Verrazana sive Nova Gallia a Verrazano Florentino Comperta
anno sal. M.D." In all other respects it differs essentially from
the map in its description of the coast. Florida and Cape Breton are
laid down in their true positions, and the isthmus occurs at the
parallel of 33 degrees N. latitude, instead of 41 degrees. The
direction of the coast, between the two points just mentioned, is
more northerly, and the length of it consequently much reduced. The
names along the coast, so far as the photograph of the map furnishes
the means of comparison, are entirely different, except that Piaggia
de Calami appears north of the isthmus. Dieppa and Livorno are not
found upon it. But the legend affords indubitable evidence that the
Maker had consulted the map. The name of Verrazana applied to the
land is found no where else no applied, except on the map. But the
incompleteness in which the date of the discovery is left, us if
written 15--, proves that the maker was unable to ascertain it fully
from his authority; the map, therefore, must have been his sole
authority.
As to the authenticity of this globe there is no other evidence than
that it has the appearance of an old instrument, and its
representations generally correspond with the state of geographical
knowledge of the period of its date. [Footnote: It measures forty-
two inches in circumference. Hist. Mag. (New York) 1862, p. 202. A
map showing so much of it as relates to North America, was
lithographed for the dissertation of Mr. Smith, and is here
reproduced.] Adopting its own story of its construction, it proves
the existence of the Verrazano map, with the Verrazzano discoveries
upon it, and consequently the existence of the claim as early as the
year 1542.
The other references to a Verrazzano map, prove nothing on the
subject of the discoveries, unless the letter of Annibal Caro, which
alludes to discoveries by the brothers Verrazzani, in connection
with a map, he deemed as referring to them. In that case, 1537 would
be the earliest mention of them, in any known publication. Lok and
Hakluyt, as has been already seen, clearly do not refer to any map
showing the Verrazzano discoveries. The period of the fabrication of
the letter may therefore, possibly, be fixed between 1536 and 1542.
But whether this period be properly deduced or not, is immaterial;
since in no event can an earlier date than 1529 be assigned by any
evidence outside of the letter, for the existence of the Verrazzano
claim; which year, as is now to be shown, was long after the coast
had been discovered and made known to the world by another.