The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 Part 39

The people of Bristol have, for the last seven years, sent out every year two, three, or four light s.h.i.+ps (_caravelas_), in search of the island of Brazil and the seven cities,[430-3] according to the fancy of this Genoese. The King determined to send out [s.h.i.+ps], because, the year before, they brought certain news that they had found land. The fleet consisted of five vessels, which carried provisions for one year. It is said that one of them, in which another Fai [Friar?] Buil[430-4] went, has returned to Ireland in great distress, the s.h.i.+p being much damaged.

The Genoese continued his voyage. I, having seen the route which they took, and the distance they sailed, find that what they have found, or what they are in search of, is what your Highnesses already possess since it is, in fine, what fell to your Highnesses by the treaty with Portugal.[430-5] It is expected that they will be back in the month of September. I inform your Highnesses in regard to it. The king of England has often spoken to me on this subject. He hoped to derive great advantage from it. I think it is not further distant than four hundred leagues. I told him that, in my opinion, the land was already in the possession of your Majesties; but, though I gave him my reasons, he did not like it. Because I believe that your Highnesses will presently receive information in regard to all this matter, and the chart or map which this man has made, I do not now send it; it is here and it, according to my opinion, is false, in order to make it appear that they are not the said islands.

FOOTNOTES:

[423-1] This letter was received in Venice on September 23, 1497, and a copy of it was incorporated by Marino Sanuto in his diary. It was first brought to light by Rawdon Brown in his _Ragguagli sulla Vita e sulle Opere di Marin Sanuto_, etc. (Venezia, 1837). It was published in English in a generally accessible form in 1864 in the _Calendar of State Papers_, _Venetian Series_, I. 262, edited by Rawdon Brown. The translation here given is a revision of Brown's version. Another translation is printed in Markham, _The Journal of Columbus_ (London, 1893).

[423-2] This reference to the Grand Cham probably indicates familiarity with Columbus's views of what he had discovered as expressed in his letters to Santangel and to Sanchez; see above, p. 268.

The landfall of John Cabot has been the subject of prolonged discussion.

Labrador, Newfoundland, and Cape Breton are the princ.i.p.al places advocated. Of late years, owing to the vigorous and learned arguments of Dr. S.E. Dawson there has been an increasing disposition to accept Cape Breton on Cape Breton Island as the most probable location. See Wins.h.i.+p, _Cabot Bibliography_, for the literature.

[423-3] The words "to starboard" have been inserted at this point in all English translations. Biggar has pointed out that the words _al dreto_ so translated are Venetian dialect for _addietro_, which is an alternate form for the more common _indietro_, back. The earlier translators thought _al dreto_ equivalent to _al dritto_, on the right. _Al tornar al dreto_ means simply "in going back."

[424-1] "August 10, 1497: To hym that founde the New Isle, 10." British Museum, Add. MSS. No. 7099, 12 Henry VII., fol. 41. From Weare, _Cabot's Discovery of North America_, 124.

[424-2] So in Sanuto's text. This form indicates perhaps that Pasqualigo had only heard the name and not seen it written.

[424-3] This letter was found in the archives of the Sforza family in Milan. The ma.n.u.script is apparently no longer extant. There are two somewhat divergent texts. The one translated here is the one sent by Rawdon Brown to the Public Record Office in London. Both are printed in Weare, _Cabot's Discovery_, pp. 142-143. The translation given here is by Rawdon Brown as printed in the _Calendar of State Papers, Venetian Series_, I. 259-260.

[425-1] The Seven Cities was a legendary island in the Atlantic. They are all placed and named on the legendary island of Antilia on the map of Grazioso Benincasa in 1482. See E.G. Bourne, _Spain in America_, pp. 6 and 7, and Kretschmer, _Die Entdeckung Amerikas_, Atlas, plate 4.

Columbus reported in Portugal that he had discovered Antilia (see p. 225, note 1); hence the deduction either of John Cabot or of Raimondo that the region explored by Cabot, being far to the west in the ocean, was the same as that visited by Columbus. _Cf._ also art. "Brazil, Island of,"

_Encyclopaedia Britannica_.

[425-2] This letter is preserved in the Archivio di Stato in Milan. It was first published in the _Annuario Scientifico del 1865_ (Milan, 1866).

It was first printed in English in Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History of America_, III. 54-55 (Boston, 1884), in the chapter by Charles Deane, ent.i.tled "The Voyages of the Cabots." This translation was revised by Professor B.H. Nash of Harvard University and is given here with only one or two slight changes.

[425-3] In this pa.s.sage Cabot's immediate impulse is attributed to the voyages of Columbus and their results.

[426-1] No satisfactory explanation of this can be given. Bellemo, in the _Raccolta Colombiana_, pt. III., vol. I., p. 197, interprets this sentence to mean that Cabot showed on the globe the place he had reached on the voyage and then to that statement the remark is added, referring to earlier journeys, "and going toward the east he has pa.s.sed considerably beyond the land of the Tanais." Tanais is the Latin name for the Don, and at the mouth of the Don was the important Venetian trading station of La Tana. _Cf._ Biggar, _Voyages of the Cabots and Corte-Reals_, pp. 33-34, note. Biggar dissents from this interpretation.

I would offer the conjecture that "the land of the Tanais" stands for the land of Tana. In Marco Polo the kingdom of Tana, on the western side of India, is described as powerful and having an extensive commerce. See Marco Polo, pt. III., ch. x.x.x. Raimondo, if unfamiliar with Marco Polo, would understand La Tana by Tana and then naturally a.s.sume that "the country of Tana" was a slip for "country of the Tanais." Cabot on the other hand might have heard of Tana when in Mecca without getting any very definite idea of its location except that it was far to the East in India. The phrase "toward the East," like the one earlier in the letter "toward the Oriental regions," is used of the ultimate destination, not the direction, and of the destination as a known spot always thought of in Europe as "the East."

[426-2] _El brasilio_ for _el legno brasilio_. Brazil wood was an East Indian red wood imported into Europe. It is the _Caesalpina sappan_. Its bright color led to its being compared to glowing coals, _brazia_, _brascia_, etc., Eng. brazier, and then to its being called, as it were, "glowing coals wood," _lignum brasile_, _lignum brasilium_, etc., and in Italian most commonly _brasile_ and _verzino_, a popular corruption.

Heyd, _Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age_, II. 587. On the transference of the name of this wood to a mythical island in the Atlantic and then, after the discoveries, to the present country of Brazil which produced dye-woods similar to _Brasilio_, see Yule's art.

"Brazil, Island of," _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, and Winsor, _Narrative and Critical History_, I. 49-51.

[427-1] _Stochfissi._ The English word "stockfish" Italianized. Of the English fish trade with Iceland, Biggar gives a full account, _Voyages of the Cabots_, pp. 53-62, making frequent citations from G.W. Dasent, _Icelandic Annals_, IV. 427-437. He quotes also a pa.s.sage from the _Libell of English Policy_, 1436, beginning:

"Of Yseland to wryte is lytille nede Save of stokfische;" etc.

[427-2] _El Levante_, here again as a known place, oriented from Europe.

His destination, not the direction of his route.

[427-3] In Cabot's mind the c.i.p.ango of Marco Polo is confused with the Spice Islands. Marco Polo says nothing of the production of spices in his account of c.i.p.ango. The confusion is probably to be traced to Columbus's reports that he had discovered c.i.p.ango and that the islands he had discovered produced spices.

[427-4] From 1425 Jiddah on the east sh.o.r.e of the Red Sea rapidly displaced Aden as an emporium of the spice trade where the cargoes were transs.h.i.+pped from Indian to Egyptian vessels. Jiddah is the port of entry for Mecca, distant about forty-five miles, and Mecca became a great spice market. See Heyd, _Histoire du Commerce du Levant au Moyen-Age_, II. 445 _et seqq._, and Biggar, _Voyages of the Cabots and Corte-Reals_, pp.

31-36. Biggar quotes interesting pa.s.sages on the Mecca trade from _The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema_, Hakluyt Society (London, 1863).

[428-1] _I.e._, a place far enough east from Arabia to be thought of as west from Europe. After making all due allowances one may be excused for feeling some misgiving whether John Cabot actually ever was in Mecca.

While some of the spices and eastern commodities were brought overland by caravan from Ormuz or Ba.s.sora, the greater part came by water to Jiddah.

At Jiddah he could hardly have failed to get fairly accurate information as to where the spices came from. That one who had seen that great commerce should have remained so much in the dark as to conclude that spices came from northeastern Asia is strange enough.

[428-2] In imitation of Columbus.

[429-1] English social joys in the fifteenth century did not appeal to the more refined Italians. An interesting parallel to this comment of Raimondo de Soncino is to be found in Vespasiano's life of Poggio. "Pope Martin sent him with letters to England. He strongly condemned their life, consuming the time in eating and drinking. He was used to say in pleasantry that oftentimes being invited by those prelates or English gentlemen to dinner or to supper and staying four hours at the table he must needs rise from the table many times to wash his eyes with cold water so as not to fall asleep." Vespasiano da Bisticci, _Vite di Uomini Ill.u.s.tri del Secolo XV._ (Florence, 1859), p. 420.

[429-2] The original is in the archives at Simancas partly in cipher. It was discovered and deciphered by Bergenroth and published in the _Calendar of State Papers, Spanish Series_, I., pp. 176-177. The Spanish text was published by Harrisse, _Jean et Sebastien Cabot_, pp. 329-330, and in Weare, _Cabot's Discovery_, pp. 160-161. Bergenroth's translation is given here, carefully revised. The contents of this letter were briefly summarized in a despatch to the Catholic sovereigns by Dr.

Puebla, their senior amba.s.sador, which was transmitted at or about the same time with that of Ayala. The Puebla despatch, which contains nothing not in the Ayala despatch, can be seen in Weare, p. 159.

[430-1] In this Ayala would seem to have been misinformed. _Cf._ pp. 423, 425.

[430-2] The "and" is not in the original, but is supplied by all the editors. It is not absolutely certain that it belongs there. If it does, the pa.s.sage implies that Cabot had recently been in Seville and Lisbon to enlist interest in his second voyage.

[430-3] This information is not elsewhere confirmed. On Brazil and the Seven Cities, see p. 426, note 2, and p. 425, note 1.

[430-4] One Friar Buil went with Columbus on his second voyage.

[430-5] The treaty of Tordesillas, June 7, 1494; see p. 323, note 3.