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[Solomon]

The Naming of America

Richard Amerik was a Welshman (Ap Meric) who became harbourmaster for the English port of Bristol. He financed the 1497 voyage of John Cabot, commonly credited as the first early modern European to discover the North American mainland. Amerik's name may well have been given to that continent.

John Cabot

Giovanni Caboto (c. 1450 ? c.1499), known in English as John Cabot, was an Italian navigator and explorer.

Almost nothing is known about Cabot's early years. He was born around 1450, more probably in Genoa[2][1]. When he was 11 he moved to Venice and became a Venetian citizen. He married with Mattea, who gave him three sons, who followed him in his entrerprises.



Like other Italian explorers of the era, such as Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo), Cabot made another country his base of operations. He moved first to Spain, where he collaborated to the works of the new port of Valencia.

It was probably on hearing of Columbus's discovery of 'the Indies' that he decided to find a route to the west for himself. He incorrectly thought spices were coming from northern Asia; and a degree of longitude is shorter the further one is from the equator, so the voyage from western Europe to eastern Asia would be shorter at higher latitudes. He proposed his plans first to Ferdinand II of Aragon, but wen the Spanish court refused to support his voyage, Cabot moved to England.

King Henry VII of England gave him a grant to go on "full and free authoritie, leave, and power, to sayle to all partes, countreys, a see as, of the East, of the West, and of the North, under our banners and ensignes, with five ships ... and as many mariners or men as they will have in saide ships, upon their own proper costes and charges, to seeke out, discover, and finde, whatsoever iles, countreyes, regions or provinces of the heathen and infidelles, whatsoever they bee, and in what part of the world soever they be, whiche before this time have beene unknowen to all Christians."

Cabot went to Bristol to make the preparations for his voyage. Bristol was the second-largest seaport in England, and during the years from 1480 onwards several expeditions had been sent out to look for Hy-Brazil, an island said to lie somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean according to Celtic legends. Some people even think Newfoundland may have been found on one of these voyages.


A replica of the Matthew in Floating Harbour, Bristol

In 1496 Cabot set out from Bristol with one ship. But he got no further than Iceland and was forced to return because of disputes with the crew. On a second voyage Cabot again used only one ship with 18 crew, the Matthew, a small ship (50 tons), but fast and able. He departed on either May 2 or May 20, 1497 and sailed to Dursey Head, Ireland. He landed on the coast of Newfoundland on 24 June, 1497. His precise landing-place is a matter of controversy, either Bonavista or St. John's. He went ashore to take possession of the land, and explored the coast for some time, and probably departed on July 20. On the homeward voyage his sailors thought they were going too far north, so Cabot sailed a more southerly course, reaching Brittany instead of England, and on August 6 arrived back in Bristol.

The location of Cabot's first landfall is not definitely known, due of lack of surviving evidence. Many experts think it was on Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland, but others look for it in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Labrador, or Maine. Cape Bonavista, however, is the location recognised by the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom as being Cabot's official landing. His men may have been the first Europeans to set foot on the American mainland since the Vikings. Christopher Columbus did not find the mainland until his third voyage, in 1498, and letters referring to a voyage by Amerigo Vespucci in 1497 are generally believed to have been forgeries or fabrications.

1497 Voyage
What route did Cabot take?

Our evidence for his journey comes from three historical sources:

La Cosa's map
It suggests Cabot landed further south on the North American mainland than is generally accepted.

John Day's Letter
A letter written by a mysterious man known as John Day who seems to have been a double-agent. Day wrote a letter to Christopher Columbus. This letter suggests that Cabot went ashore on the Canadian mainland and then sailed in a north-easterly direction up the coastline before sailing past Newfoundland on the way home.

Soncino's Letter
A letter written by Raimondo Soncino to the Duke of Milan in Italy. This letter states that Cabot sailed passed Ireland, turned north, and, after a few days, headed west.

Whilst cruising off the Newfoundland shore, Cabot and his crew saw tall pine trees good enough to be used for ships' masts. They did not meet any people on the mainland, but they did find evidence where a fire had been made there.

Cabot's return journey took only 15 days before land was sighted at Brittany in France.

Back in England, Cabot was made an admiral, rewarded with ?10 and a patent was written for a new voyage. Later, a pension of ?20 a year was granted to him. The next year, 1498, he departed again, with 5 ships this time. The expedition made for an Irish port, because of distress. Except for one ship, Cabot and his expedition were never heard from again and are presumed to have been lost at sea.

John's son, Sebastian Cabot, later made a voyage to North America, looking for the hoped for Northwest Passage (1508), and another to repeat Magellan's voyage around the world, but which instead ended up looking for silver along the R?o de la Plata (1525-28).

In 1498-1500 a few Portuguese travelers, Miguel and Gaspar Corte-Real being the most famous participants, visited Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland. In 1501-1505 an English syndicate, consisting of 3 Azoreans and 2 English traders, made voyages to Newfoundland. From 1504, if not before, Breton, Basque, Portuguese and English fishermen crossed the ocean to catch fish on the Newfoundland banks.

[Diving Doc]

Cabot's voyages are noted by the positions of British flags on the Juan de la Cosa Chart of 1502 in the Museo Naval, Madrid.
Doc

[Administration]

The following three documents contain all the evidence from contemporary witnesses whose information may have come from John Cabot himself. The text is from the Hakluyt Society's edition of Columbus' Journal.

Letter from Lorenzo Pasqualigo to His Brothers Alvise and Francesco.

    [Calendar of State Papers (Venice), i. p. 262, No. 752.]

London, 23rd August, 1497.

Our Venetian, who went with a small ship from Bristol to find new islands, has come back, and says he has discovered, 700 leagues off, the mainland of the country of the Gran Cam, and that he coasted along it for 300 leagues, and landed, but did not see any person. But he has brought here to the king certain snares spread to take game, and a needle for making nets, and he found some notched trees, from which he judged that there were inhabitants. Being in doubt, he came back to the ship. He has been away three months on the voyage, which is certain, and, in returning, he saw two islands to the right, but he did not wish to land, lest he should lose time for he was in want of provisions. This king has been much pleased. He says that the tides are slack, and do not make currents as they do here. The king has promised for another time, ten armed ships as he desires, and has given him all the prisoners, except such as are confined for high treason, to go with him, as he has requested; and has granted him money to amuse himself till then. Meanwhile, he is with his Venetian wife and his sons at Bristol. His name is Zuam Talbot, [note: A misprint: "T" for "C."] and he is called the Great Admiral, great honour being paid to him, and he goes dressed in silk. The English are ready to go with him, and so are many of our rascals. The discoverer of these things has planted a large cross in the ground with a banner of England, and one of St. Mark, as he is a Venetian; so that our flag has been hoisted very far away.


First Despatch of Raimondo di Soncino to the Duke of Milan. (Extract.)

    [Calendar of State Papers (Venice), iii. p. 260, No. 750.]

24th August, 1497.

Some month afterwards His Majesty sent a Venetian, who is a distinguished sailor, and who was much skilled in the discovery of new islands, and he has returned safe, and has discovered two very large and fertile islands, having, it would seem, discovered the seven cities 400 leagues from England to the westward. These successes led His Majesty at once to entertain the intention of sending him with fifteen or twenty vessels.


Second Despatch of Raimondo di Soncino to the Duke of Milan.

[note: Annuario Scientifico, Milan, 1866, p. 700; Archiv d'Etat Milan, reprinted by Harrisse in his John Cabot, p. 324, from the Intorno of Desimoni, and translated from his text for the Hakluyt Society, with his permission.]

18th December, 1497.

My most illustrious and most excellent Lord,

Perhaps amidst so many occupations of your Excellency it will not be unwelcome to learn how this Majesty has acquired a part of Asia without drawing his sword. In this kingdom there is a certain Venetian named Zoanne Caboto, of gentle disposition, very expert in navigation, who, seeing that the most serene Kings of Portugal and Spain had occupied unknown islands, meditated the achievement of a similar acquisition for the said Majesty. Having obtained royal privileges securing to himself the use of the dominions he might discover, the sovereignty being reserved to the Crown, he entrusted his fortune to a small vessel with a crew of 18 persons, and set out from Bristo, a port in the western part of this kingdom. Having passed Ibernia, which is still further to the west, and then shaped a northerly course, he began to navigate to the eastern part, leaving (during several days) the North Star on the right hand; and having wandered thus for a long time, at length he hit upon land, where he hoisted the royal standard, and took possession for his Highness, and, having obtained various proofs of his discovery, he returned. The said Messer Zoanne, being a foreigner and poor, would not have been believed if the crew, who are nearly all English, and belonging to Bristo, had not testified that what he said was the truth. This Messer Zoanne has the description of the world on a chart, and also on a solid sphere which he has constructed, and on which he shows where he has been; and, proceeding towards the east, he has passed as far as the country of the Tanais. And they say that there the land is excellent and (the climate?) temperate, suggesting that brasil and silk grow there. They affirm that the sea is full of fish, which are not only taken with a net, but also with a basket, a stone being fastened to it in order to keep it in the water; and this I have heard stated by the said Messer Zoanne.

The said Englishmen, his companions, say that they took so many fish that this kingdom will no longer have need of Iceland, from which country there is an immense trade in the fish they call stock-fish. But Messer Zoanne has set his mind on higher things, for he thinks that, when that place has been occupied, he will keep on still further towards the east, where he will be opposite to an island called Cipango, situated in the equinoctial region, where he believes that all the spices of the world, as well as the jewels, are found. He further says that he was once at Mecca, whither the spices are brought by caravans from distant countries; and having inquired from whence they were brought and where they grow, they answered that they did not know, but that such merchandize was brought from distant countries by other caravans to their home; and they further say that they are also conveyed from other remote regions. And he adduced this argument, that if the eastern people tell those in the south that these things come from a far distance from them, presupposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the last turn would be by the north towards the west; and it is said that in this way the route would not cost more than it costs now, and I also believe it. And what is more, this Majesty, who is wise and not prodigal, reposes such trust in him because of what he has already achieved, that he gives him a good maintenance, as Messer Zoanne has himself told me. And it is said that before long his Majesty will arm some ships for him, and will give him all the malefactors to go to that country and form a colony, so that they hope to establish a greater depot of spices in London than there is in Alexandria. The principal people in the enterprise belong to Bristo. They are great seamen, and, now that they know where to go, they say that the voyage thither will not occupy more than 15 days after leaving Ibernia. I have also spoken with a Burgundian, who was a companion of Messer Zoanne, who affirms all this, and who wishes to return because the Admiral (for so Messer Zoanne is entitled) has given him an island, and has given another to his barber of Castione, [Footnote 5: Perhaps Castiglione, near Chiavari.]  who is a Genoese, and both look upon themselves as Counts; nor do they look upon my Lord the Admiral as less than a Prince. I also believe that some poor Italian friars are going on this voyage, who have all had bishopricks promised to them. And if I had made friends with the Admiral when he was about to sail, I should have got an archbishoprick at least; but I have thought that the benefits reserved for me by your Excellency will be more secure. I would venture to pray that, in the event of a vacancy taking place in my absence, I may be put in possession, and that I may not be superseded by those who, being present, can be more diligent than I, who am reduced in this country to eating at each meal ten or twelve kinds of victuals, and to being three hours at table every day, two for love of your Excellency, to whom I humbly recommend myself. London, 18 Dec. 1497, your Excellency's most humble servant, Raimundus.

[Sovereign]

Map by Juan de la Cosa from the year 1500. It shows the flags of Castile and Leon in the vicinity of Cuba and the English flags covering all of North America from Florida to Canada.

It is certain that John Cabot wrote the name of his paymaster (Amerike) on one of the islands or perhaps on the mainland:

"...but with the help of the enclosed copy you (Columbus) will be able to ascertain what you wish to know, since the capes of tierra firma and the islands are therein named and you will also see there where the first landfall [primera vista] took place, because it was on the return [course] that was found the major part of the land."
- (John Day's letter to Columbus).

John Day was Bristol merchant and spy for the Spanish Inquisition. He sent detailed descriptions of John Cabot's voyages to help him (Columbus) find the New World.!!

This letter was discovered in the Spanish National Archives in Simancas in 1955 by Dr. Hayward Keniston of the University of Michigan and Dr. Louis Andr? Vignaras. It was from a certain John Day (a spy for the Spanish Inquisition) to Christopher Columbus and was sent in 1497.

John Day to the Very Magnificent and Honorable Lord, the Lord Great Admiral

With your most revered Excellency's servant, and considering what you instructed me therein, which I would wish to do in accordance with my desire and duty, I do not find the book Invincio Fortunati; I thought I had brought it with my effects, and am greatly annoyed that I can not find it, because I sought very much to serve you. The other [book] by Marco Polo, and the copy of the tierra [globe or world map] which has been found I send you, and if I did not send you the chart, it is because, with my heavy schedule [occupaciones] it is not as I would like it to be, since I made it in a hurry at the time of my departure [from England], but with the help of the enclosed copy you will be able to ascertain what you wish to know, since the capes of tierra firma and the islands are therein named and you will also see there where the first landfall [primera vista] took place, because it was on the return [course] that was found the major part of the land

Thus also your Lordship will see that the cape closest to Ireland is 1800 millas west of Cabo Dursal, which is in Ireland, and the lowest part of the Isle of the Seven Cities is west of the Rio de Burdeos, and you will note that he did not go ashore save at one place of tierra firma, which is close to where they made the first landfall, in which place they went ashore with a crucifix and raised banners bearing the arms of the Holy Father and the arms of the King of England my lord, and they found big trees from which masts of ships are made, and other trees underneath them, and the land was very rich in pasturage; in which place (as I have already told your Lordship) they found a very narrow way leading into the land, and saw a spot where someone had made a fire, and found dung of animals which they judge to be tame, and they found a stick of elbow length perforated at both ends and painted with brasil and from these signs the land is judged to be inhabited; and as he found himself to be with few men he dared not enter the land beyond a cross-bow shot, and he took on fresh water and returned to his ship and along the coast they found many fish of the kind that in Iceland are cured in the air and sell in England and other countries and which in England are called estoqfis; and also when coasting they saw running ashore two bultos [big objects], one chasing the other, but were unable to tell whether they were men or beasts; and it seemed to them that there were cultivated lands where they thought there might be villages, and they saw vegetation whose leaves appeared fair to them, and the time that he departed from England was in the end of May and he was en route 35 days before he found land, and the winds were east and northeast and the seas were smooth on the outward as on the homeward passage, save one day when there blew up a gale, and that was two or three days before he found land; and being so far out, the north-seeking needle failed him and varied two points down, and he went exploring the coast one month more or less and the above said cape of tierra firma which is closest to Ireland being [passed] on the return, they arrived off the coast of Europe in 15 days. Carrying a stern wind, he arrived in Brittany because the mariners confused him, saying that he was steering too far north; and from thence [Brittany] he came to Bristol and went to the king to tell him all the above said, and the king gave him a grace of 20 pounds sterling per annum that he might recuperate during the time when more becomes known of this business, since it is hoped to launch an expedition of 10 or 12 ships to discover the said land more completely the coming year, God willing, because on this said voyage he had but one ship of 50 toneles with 20 persons and victuals for 7 or 8 months, and because he wished to get this [expedition] under way.

It is considered certain that this same point of land at another time was found and discovered by those of Bristol who found el Brasil as you are already aware, which is called Ysla de Brasil, and is presumed and believed to be the tierra firma which those of Bristol discovered.

As regards the first voyage which Your Lordship wished to know about, the fact is that he [Cabot] went in one ship and the people whom he engaged disconcerted him and he went ill provisioned and encountered contrary winds and decided to return.

Magnificent Lord, upon completion of other matters pertaining to the case, I would like to serve Your Lordship provided I am not impeded from so doing because of business obligations of great importance and by the proper preparation of documents and cargoes for shipment to England which I must expedite. Which matters greatly interfere with my serving of Your Lordship; but accept from me, Your Lordship, as a Magnificent Lord, the wish of my true intention, which is to be of service to you, and when I find myself in a position [so to do], when comparatively unencumbered by business, I will take up work which shall have for its purpose to be of service to you, and when I shall have had news from England touching on the above (and I know that everything [English] comes to my attention), I shall make known to Your Lordship everything that may not be prejudicial to the King [of England] my Lord.

In return for any services which I hope to perform on your behalf, I pray that your Lordship will be pleased to write to me a few words touching on those matters, since the kindness which in this matter you will be doing me will open many hints wherewith to serve you with all the things of which you are aware. May Our Lord cause your Lordship's high estate to prosper in conformity with your merits. When your Lordship is through with it, please deliver the book or command that it be given to Mycer Jorge.

I kiss your Lordship?s hands.

Johan Day.

[Solomon]

The name of Richard Ameryk on the Bristol customs roll in Westminster Abbey.

From the Public Record Office, Warrants for Issue, 13 Hen. VII, E. 404, Bundle 82.

Henry by the grace of God King of England and of ffraunce and lord of lrland To the Tresourer and Chambrelains of oure Eschequier greting:

Where as We by oure warrant under oure signet for certain consideracions have yeven and graunted unto John Caboote xx Ii. [?20] yerely during oure pleasur to be had and perceyved by the handes of oure Custumers in oure poorte of Bristowe, and as we be enfourmed the said John Caboote is dilaied of his payement bicause the said Custumers have no sufficient matier of discharge for their indempnitie to be yolden at their accomptes before the Barons of oure Eschequier; Wherfore we wol and charge you that ye oure said Treasourer and Chambrelains that now be and hereafter shallbe, that ye, unto suche tyme as ye shall have from us otherwise in commaundement, do to be levied in due fourme ij severall tailles, every of theim con teignying x Ii. upon the Customers of the revenues in our said poort of Bristowe at two usuell termes of the yere, whereof oon taill to be levied at this tyme conteignying x Ii. of the Revenues of oure said poort upon Richard Meryk and Arthure Kemys, late Custumers of the same, And the same taill or tailles in due and sufficient fourme levied ye delyver unto the said John Caboote to be had of oure gift by way of rewarde without prest or eny other charge to be sette upon hym or any of theim for the same. And thies our letters shalbe youre sufficient warrant in that behalf Yeven undre oure prive seal at oure manour of Chene the xxiith day of ffebruary The xiiith yere of oure Reigne.

Printed in The Precursors of Jacques Cartier, by H. P. Biggar, pp. 24-5. First printed in 1896.

References
Biggar, H. P., The Precursors of Jacques Cartier, 1497-1534, Ottawa, Canada, 1911.
Broome, Rodney, The True Story of How America Got Its Name, MJF Books, New York, 2001.

[Solomon]

Richard Amerike

Richard Amerike (Ameryk or ap Meryk) (c. 1445-1503) was a wealthy English merchant of Welsh descent who funded John Cabot's voyage of discovery to North America in 1497. He is chiefly remembered because of the theory, not widely held, that America is named after his surname.

Biography
Richard ap Meryk (in Welsh, Richard, son of Meryk (originally Meurig, equivalent to Maurice in English)) was born in Weston-under-Penyard, near Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire in England, and was descended from the family of the Earl of Gwent. The name was anglicised to become Amerike.

He married a Lucy Wells and lived at West Camel, near Ilchester, Somerset until he decided to move his family to Bristol. Bristol, at this time, was growing in importance as a port, second only to London, and was attracting merchants and adventurers from all over the country. In Bristol, Richard Amerike became a wealthy and important merchant and dignitary, holding the post of King's Customs Officer three times and becoming the Sheriff of Bristol in 1497.

Theory of the naming of America
Richard Amerike's connection with the Americas' name surfaced in the 1890s, when the 1497 and 1498 customs rolls, archived in Westminster Abbey, were found to contain his name in connection with the payment of John Cabot's pension.

In 1908 local Bristol antiquarian and butterfly collector Alfred Hudd first proposed the theory that the word America had evolved from Amerike or ap Meryk. Alfred Hudd was a gentleman of some leisure, known as an antiquary who was a member of the Clifton Antiquarian Club of Bristol, founded in 1884 to arrange meetings and excursions for the study of objects of archaeological interest in the west of England and south Wales, and a butterfly-collector and local naturalist and member of the Bristol Naturalists' Society around Bristol.

Hudd proposed that the word "America" was originally applied to a destination across the western ocean, possibly an island or a fishing station in Newfoundland. This would have been before the existence of a continent on the other side of the Atlantic was known. However, no maps bearing this name or documents indicating a location of this supposed village are known.

According to Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage,[1] "While it has been difficult to pinpoint the exact time frame of these North Atlantic probes, evidence that they were indeed occurring by the 1490's is found in a report sent by Pedro de Ayala, a Spanish envoy located in London. The year after Cabot's successful transatlantic voyage he wrote Ferdinand and Isabella stating that for the previous seven years the Bristolians had been equipping caravels to look for the islands of Brasile and the Seven Cities. While it is not possible to ascertain whether or not these were large scale ventures and precisely what their motives might have been, Ayala's words seem to supply some proof of westward bound voyages."

There had long been a suspicion that fishing ships in search of cod were regularly crossing the Atlantic from Bristol to Newfoundland before Columbus' first voyage. Bristol merchants bought salt cod from Iceland until 1475, when the King of Denmark stopped the trade. In 1479 four Bristol merchants received a royal charter to find another source of fish. Records discovered in 1955 suggest that from 1480, twelve years before Columbus, English fishermen may have established a facility for processing fish on the Newfoundland coast. In 1960 trading records were discovered that indicated that Richard Amerike was involved in this business. A letter from around 1481 suggests that Amerike shipped salt (for salting fish) to these men at a place they had named Brassyle. The letter also states that they had many names for headlands and harbours. Rodney Broome and others suggest that one of these names may have been "America".

John Cabot (originally Giovanni Caboto, a Venetian seaman) had become a well known mariner in England, and he came to Bristol in 1495 looking for investment in a new project. On 5 March 1496, Cabot received a letter of authority from King Henry VII to make a voyage of discovery and claim lands on behalf of the monarch. It is believed that Amerike may have been one of the principal investors in the building of Cabot's ship, the Matthew.

Cabot is known to have produced maps of the coast from Maine to Newfoundland, though none have survived. He named an island off Newfoundland St. John's. Copies of these maps were sent to Spain by John Day, where Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci would have seen them. The theory suggests that Cabot may have written the name America (or similar) on his maps, but no extant maps are available to prove this assertion.

Vespucci sailed to South America and the Caribbean with Alonso de Ojeda (Hojeda) in 1499 and Gon?alo Coelho in 1501 and became convinced that these were new lands, not Asia as Columbus believed. Martin Waldseem?ller, a German map-maker, published a world map in 1507 using Vespucci's previously published letters. The theory suggests that Waldseem?ller assumed that the "America" that Vespucci used was derived from his first name. Waldseem?ller provided an explanation of this assumption as an attachment to the map. Vespucci himself never stated that this was the case. There were immediate protests from Columbus' supporters to get the continent renamed for Columbus, but attempts were unsuccessful, since 1,000 copies of the map were already in circulation. On later editions of the map he substituted the words "Terra Incognita," but it was too late; the name America was now firmly associated with the entire northern and southern continent across the Atlantic from Europe.

Coat of arms

There is a further speculative theory, tending to be found only in support of the above theory concerning the naming of America, that the flag of the United States of America is influenced in part by the design of Amerike's coat of arms. This appears to be entirely based upon a perceived similarity in design. It may be inferred therefore that it is intended simply to add symbolic weight to the preceding theory. According to the American Flag Research Centre in Massachusetts, the heraldic origin of the American flag is not positively known. The popular belief however is that it derives in part from the coat of arms of George Washington, whose family bore arms of the Stars and Stripes.



Amerike's coat of arms, which also feature a stars and stripes design (albeit rather dissimilar to the Washington family design), can be seen in the Lord Mayor's Chapel on College Green in Bristol, England.


Johanna Ameryk's tomb in St Mary Redcliffe church

Bibliography
    * The Columbus Myth: Did men of Bristol reach America before Columbus? Ian Wilson (1991: ISBN 0-671-71167-9)
    * Cabot and naming of America, Peter Macdonald (1997: ISBN 0-9527009-2-1)
    * Terra Incognita: The True Story of How America Got Its Name, by Rodney Broome (US 2001: ISBN 0-944638-22-8)
    * Amerike: The Briton America is named after, by Rodney Broome (UK 2002: ISBN 0-7509-2909-X)

[Diving Doc]

Solomon,
This is totally awesome.
Here for years I have been repeating what I learned from the Jesuits in High School about Amerigo Vespucci.
This is off topic but did you know that La Cosa put his face on his chart. That's the story until I find my reference anyway. The heads blowing and showing wind direction, pretty cool. Hunh?
Cheers,
Doc

[Solomon]

Yes, Doc, I agree that this is totally awesome. It is yet another example of how people commonly just repeat what they think they know, generation after generation, without checking and without - frankly - thinking about what they're saying. It also demonstrates how even the Jesuits teach myth as history, as if one didn't know that already.

Actually, the truth of this is probably far more surprising and interesting. There is reason to believe that the merchants of Bristol were financing voyages of exploration to North America before that of Cabot.

We know how charts were strategic weapons in that period and therefore were regarded as state secrets. It was the same in England. The difference was, the English tend to keep their secrets somewhat better and as a result we may never have definitive proof or detail of early English voyages to North America.

With that limitation, I cannot state this as a fact, but I feel reasonably confident that English ships sighted and sailed off the American continent quite a few years before Cabot and later Spanish and Portuguese, and that we know about Cabot only because he was Italian and unreliable, security-wise. Columbus and company may have got the glory, but England went on to create British North America and we know now which had the greatest military and economic significance and which went on to project power most effectively.

In my view, European foundations in the Americas were first built in Bristol, largely in secret.

Solomon

[Diving Doc]

Solomon,
From the La Cosa chart it would appear that he definitely had knowledge of the Cabot voyages so there must have been some leak regarding the secrecy of his charted information. La Cosa's chart doesn't represent rumors, only facts.
Cheers,
Doc

[Solomon]

We have a good piece on John Cabot here:
The Cabot Dilemma: John Cabot's 1497 Voyage & the Limits of Historiography

[Sovereign]

England in the Age of Discovery:
Erica Seitz

 It is now neccessary to look at a seaport on the southwestern coast of England which was very important to England in the Age of Discovery. This seaport was Bristol. Why though, was Bristol so important? The major reason Bristol was so important was because of its trading affiliations with other nations. Kenneth Andrews stated that " it is not surprising therefore to find that Bristol, having strong links with Lisbon and Seville as well as with the Madeiras, Ireland and Iceland, was an active base of North Atlantic exploration at this time, and it is reasonable to assume, though we have no evidence until the mid nineties, some interchange of ideas between Iberia and Bristolian explorers form about 1480." (Andrews,43) Bristol had begun trading with Iceland, Portugal, Maderia, and the Azores early in the fifteenth century and it already had established trade with Ireland.(Sauer,11) This connection with major trading cities would be an important factor in Bristol's initiatives taken in exploration in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.

 The initiatives taken by Bristolians in exploration during this time consisted of fishermen sailing out in search of new waters in which to fish. It is in this exploration to find new fishing grounds and new markets that sometimes unknown land would be stumbled upon. One reason Bristol men went out in search of new fishing grounds was because problems arose in the Icelandic trade in which England participated . (Quinn, 49) Relations between England and Iceland were sometimes tense and hostile, because England was in competition with Denmark and Iceland permitted Denmark to enter the Icelandic trade. (Quinn, 49) It has been suggested by some historians that these Bristol fishermen, who were looking for better fishing grounds and new markets to trade in, may have actually discovered the coasts of North America years before Columbus ever set his eyes on the coast of America. This is a theory which has been presented by David Beers Quinn in his book The Discovery of America 1481-1620. Quinn backs up his argument by using a set of letters which were only recently retrieved from an archives in 1956. These letters collectively are known as the John Day letter.

 The John Day letter has become a very important argument for early English exploration and the discovery of land which may well have been the coasts of America. The letter not only states that Bristolian fishermen found land in "other times" which was referred to as the Isle of Brazil, but the letter also states that the land John Cabot discovered in 1497 was the same land which Bristolian fishermen had found in "other times". (Quinn, 6) Needless to say, Bristol was a very important seaport for exploration. Whether it was the Bristolian fishermen or the other man from Genoa, John Cabot, the discoveries are important in looking at the role of England in the Age of Discovery.

 Now I would like to turn to John Cabot, the man who could have possibly put England in the forefront of exploration in the fifteenth century. There is not much known about John Cabot, the person or the explorer. He was most likely born in Genoa, but Carl Sauer points out that Cabot recieved his Venetian citizenship somewhere around 1472. (Sauer, 37) In his later years, Cabot went to England to try to find support for his ideas of a western route to the Indies. Why would Cabot go to England to look for support?

 Cabot went to England to look for support only after he tried to get support from Lisbon and Seville. Since Cabot failed to find support in Spain or Portugal, he moved to England where he would establish himself a name in Bristol.
 
Cabot thought England would be a good place to try to get support for his voyage since England had to pay some of the highest prices for spices since she was at the end of the Indies trade route. (Morison, 159) Another possible reason for Cabot turning to England was because the King, Henry VII, had already turned down the opportunity to support Christopher Columbus, and Cabot thought the King would now want to support a western trade route to the Indies. (Morison, 159) Cabot not only wanted to find this new western trade route to the East but he also wanted to find land in the western ocean, which had been rumoured to exist by the Bristolian fishermen. ( Andrews, 50)

 On March 5, 1496 Cabot received what he had been waiting for: support and permission from the King of England to sail to lands in the North, East, and the West. " Since the discovery of the John Day letter it is known that Cabot made a first unsuccessful attempt out of Bristol in 1496." (Sauer, 39) Cabot made another attempt to sail from Bristol in May 1497 with one ship called the Mathew. This time the adventure was a lot more successful than the first venture.

 The exact routes and discoveries of John Cabot are not known. Unlike Columbus, Cabot did not keep a diary of his travels. The John Day letter has proved to be very helpful to historians in explaining the course which John Cabot took in 1497. It is known that " Cabot tried sailing west on a high short latitude, hoping to reach 'Cathay', northern China. " (Morison,170)

However, the latitude which was given in the Day Letter says that it would "have been from Cape Breton Island to northern Newfoundland", but the description of the floral life and the land forms does not compare to the vegetation which would have been prevalent in Newfoundland during July.

(Sauer, 41) The conjecture which many historians have made is that is that the land that Cabot landed at, was more apt to be the New England coast or the coast of Nova Scotia. Although Cabot did not bring back treasures of gold and spices to the King, he did " prove the existence of a great country beyond the Ocean to the West of Ireland, which country he himself assumed to belong to China", and besides this " he discovered great quantities of fish off the newly discovered coast.' (Nansen, 323)

 In 1498 Cabot would again set sail to sea for another voyage to Asia where it was hoped that he would bring back wealth to the King of England. This voyage would only bring about a miserable failure. Cabot's ships were caught in a storm, one ship was forced into a port in Ireland, did not return and nothing was ever heard of them again. It is assumed that Cabot died at sea along with all his dreams of finding wealth in the Indies.

 With Cabot's failure of returning with spices and gold, England's attempt at finding a Western trade route to the Indies would come to a virtual hault for almost a century, except for a few relevant voyages by John Cabot's son, Sebastian, and a few others. One historian summed up the effect of Cabot by saying, "what followed was an anti-climax." (Andrews, 47)


The John Day Letter

    Reproduced from James A Williamson The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery Under Henry VII. (Cambridge University Press) 1962, 212-214.

Your Lordship's servant brought me your letter. I have seen its contents and I would be most desirous and most happy to serve you. I do not find the book Inventio Fortunata, and I thought that I (or he) was bringing it with my things, and I am very sorry not [to] find it because I wanted very much to serve you. I am sending the other book of Marco Polo and a copy of the land which has been found [by John Cabot]. I do not send the map because I am not satisfied with it, for my many occupations forced me to make it in a hurry at the time of my departure; but from the said copy your Lordship will learn what you wish to know, for in it are named the capes of the mainland and the islands, and thus you will see where land was first sighted, since most of the land was discovered after turning back. Thus your Lordship will know that the cape nearest to Ireland is 1800 miles west of Dursey Head which is in Ireland, and the southernmost part of the Island of the Seven Cities is west of Bordeaux River, and your Lordship will know that he landed at only one spot of the mainland, near the place where land was first sighted, and they disembarked there with a crucifix and raised banners with the arms of the Holy Father and those of the King of England, my master; and they found tall trees of the kind masts are made, and other smaller trees, and the country is very rich in grass. In that particular spot, as I told your Lordship, they found a trail that went inland, they saw a site where a fire had been made, they saw manure of animals which they thought to be farm animals, and they saw a stick half a yard long pierced at both ends, carved and painted with brazil, and by such signs they believe the land to be inhabited.

Since he was with just a few people, he did not dare advance inland beyond the shooting distance of a crossbow, and after taking in fresh water he returned to his ship. All along the coast they found many fish like those which in Iceland are dried in the open and sold in England and other countries, and these fish are called in English 'stockfish'; and thus following the shore they saw two forms running on land one after the other, but they could not tell if they were human beings or animals; and it seemed to them that there were fields where they thought might also be villages, and they saw a forest whose foliage looked beautiful.

They left England toward the end of May, and must have been on the way 35 days before sighting land; the wind was east-north-east and the sea calm going and coming back, except for one day when he ran into a storm two or three days before finding land; and going so far out, his compass needle failed to point north and marked two rhumbs below.

They spent about one month discovering the coast and from the above mentioned cape of the mainland which is nearest to Ireland, they returned to the coast of Europe in fifteen days. They had the wind behind them, and he reached Brittany because the sailors confused him, saying that he was heading too far north. From there he came to Bristol, and he went to see the King to report to him all the above mentioned; and the King granted him an annual pension of twenty pounds sterling to sustain himself until the time comes when more will be known of this business, since with God's help it is hoped to push through plans for exploring the said land more thoroughly next year with ten or twelve vessels-because in his voyage he had only one ship of fifty toneles and twenty men and food for seven or eight months-and they want to carry out this new project.

It is considered certain that the cape of the said land was found and discovered in the past by the men from Bristol who found 'Brasil' as your Lordship well knows. It was called the Island of Brasil, and it is assumed and believed to be the mainland that the men from Bristol found.

Since your Lordship wants information relating to the first voyage, here is what happened: he went with one ship, his crew confused him, he was short of supplies and ran into bad weather, and he decided to turn back.

Magnificent Lord, as to other things pertaining to the case, I would like to serve your Lordship if I were not prevented in doing so by occupations of great importance relating to shipments and deeds for England which must be attended to at once and which keep me from serving you: but rest assured, Magnificent Lord, of my desire and natural intention to serve you, and when I find myself in other circumstances and more at leisure, I will take pains to do so; and when I get news from England about the matters referred to above-for I am sure that everything has to come to my knowledge-I will inform your Lordship of all that would not be prejudicial to the King my master. In payment for some services which I hope to render you, I beg your Lordship to kindly write me about such matters, because the favour you will thus do me will greatly stimulate my memory to serve you in all the things that may come to my knowledge. May God keep prospering your Lordship's magnificent state according to your merits. Whenever your Lordship should find it convenient, please remit the book or order it to be given to Master George.

I kiss your Lordship's hands,

Johan Day

[Solomon]

The Dawn of Canadian History: A Chronicle of Aboriginal Canada
by Stephen Leacock

Extracts:

1. Christopher Columbus himself is said to have made a voyage for the Bristol merchants to Iceland in 1477. There is even a tale that, before Columbus was known to fame, an expedition was equipped there in 1480 to seek the 'fabulous islands' of the Western Sea. Certain it is that the Spanish ambassador in England, whose business it was to keep his royal master informed of all that was being done by his rivals, wrote home in 1498: 'It is seven years since those of Bristol used to send out, every year, a fleet of two, three, or four caravels to go and search for the Isle of Brazil and the Seven Cities, according to the fancy of the Genoese.'

2. The voyages of the Bristol traders and the enterprise of England by no means ended with the exploits of the Cabots. Though our ordinary history books tell us nothing more of English voyages until we come to the days of the great Elizabethan navigators, Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins, and to the planting of Virginia, as a matter of fact many voyages were made under Henry VII and Henry VIII.

3. The merchants of Bristol do not seem to have been disappointed with the result of the Cabot enterprises, for as early as in 1501 they sent out a new expedition across the Atlantic. The sanction of the king was again invoked, and Henry VII granted letters patent to three men of Bristol--Richard Warde, Thomas Ashehurst, and John Thomas--to explore the western seas.

4. ...in the summer of 1502, they were sent out on another voyage from Bristol. In September they brought their ships safely back, and, in proof of the strangeness of the new lands they carried home 'three men brought out of an Iland forre beyond Irelond, the which were clothed in Beestes Skynnes and ate raw fflesh and were rude in their demeanure as Beestes.'

5. There is evidence that a further expedition went out from Bristol in 1503, and still another in 1504.

6. By the time of Henry VIII, who began to reign in 1509, the annual fishing fleet of the English which sailed to the American coast had become important.

The Spanish therefore knew from the Genoese that expeditions from Bristol had been seeking the Isle of Brazil and the Seven Cities since at least 1491.

Solomon

[Solomon]

The Bristol Voyages
At the close of the fifteenth century the town of Bristol enjoyed a pre-eminence which it has since lost. It stood second only to London as a British port. A group of wealthy merchants carried on from Bristol a lively trade with Iceland and the northern ports of Europe. The town was the chief centre for an important trade in codfish. Days of fasting were generally observed at that time; on these the eating of meat was forbidden by the church, and fish was consequently in great demand. The merchants of Bristol were keen traders, and were always seeking the further extension of their trade. Christopher Columbus himself is said to have made a voyage for the Bristol merchants to Iceland in 1477. There is even a tale that, before Columbus was known to fame, an expedition was equipped there in 1480 to seek the 'fabulous islands' of the Western Sea. Certain it is that the Spanish ambassador in England, whose business it was to keep his royal master informed of all that was being done by his rivals, wrote home in 1498: 'It is seven years since those of Bristol used to send out, every year, a fleet of two, three, or four caravels to go and search for the Isle of Brazil and the Seven Cities, according to the fancy of the Genoese.'

We can therefore realize that when Master John Cabot came among the merchants of this busy town with his plans he found a ready hearing. Cabot was soon brought to the notice of his august majesty Henry VII of England. The king had been shortsighted enough to reject overtures made to him by Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher, and no doubt he regretted his mistake. Now he was eager enough to act as the patron of a new voyage. Accordingly, on March 5, 1496, he granted a royal license in the form of what was called Letters Patent, authorizing John Cabot and his sons Lewis, Sebastian and Sancius to make a voyage of discovery in the name of the king of England. The Cabots were to sail 'with five ships or vessels of whatever burden or quality soever they be, and with as many marines or men as they will have with them in the said ships upon their own proper costs and charges.' It will be seen that Henry VII, the most parsimonious of kings, had no mind to pay the expense of the voyage. The expedition was 'to seek out, discover and find whatsoever islands, countries, regions and provinces of the heathens or infidels, in whatever part of the world they be, which before this time have been unknown to all Christians.' It was to sail only 'to the seas of the east and west and north,' for the king did not wish to lay any claim to the lands discovered by the Spaniards and Portuguese. The discoverers, however, were to raise the English flag over any new lands that they found, to conquer and possess them, and to acquire 'for us dominion, title, and jurisdiction over those towns, castles, islands, and mainland's so discovered.' One-fifth of the profits from the anticipated voyages to the new land was to fall to the king, but the Cabots were to have a monopoly of trade, and Bristol was to enjoy the right of being the sole port of entry for the ships engaged in this trade.

[Solomon]

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND PORTUGAL
by Rebecca Catz

From London, he would have gone on to Bristol, an English seaport of great importance.  Their commercial interests would also have taken the Genoese ships to Galway, on the western coast of Ireland, and from there, further north to Iceland.

     Some historians doubt that Columbus ever went to Iceland and as a result, a small literature has grown up over the years on the subject of Columbus's Iceland voyage, and the issue is still not decided.  The little that we know about this voyage comes to us in part on the authority of his son Ferdinand, quoting from a now lost memorandum of his father, which he wrote to prove that the torrid and the Arctic zones were inhabitable.  "In the month of February 1477," he says,

"I sailed 100 leagues beyond the island of Tile whose southern part is in latitude 73x north . . .and at the time when I was there the sea was not frozen, but there were vast tides, so great that they rose and fell as much as 26 braccia (about 50 feet), twice a day . . ."

Tile is clearly Thule, or Ultima Thule, as Iceland was called.  There was a regular trade at that time between Lisbon, Bristol and Iceland, and the Bristol merchants were in constant relations with the Icelanders, exporting their manufactured goods largely in return for fish.  Confirmation of the fact that he did indeed go to Iceland is given by Columbus himself in a note in his own handwriting, inscribed in his copy of Pope Pius II's book--"History of Memorable Things that Happened in My Time"--written in Latin, and which translates as follows:

"Men have come hither from Cathay in the Orient.  Many remarkable things have we seen, particularly at Galway, in Ireland, a man and a woman of most unusual appearance adrift in two boats."

The identity of the bodies has been convincingly suggested by David Quinn as Inuit, an Eskimo people, who, with their Mongol-type features, probably resembled Orientals.  Columbus is indeed very likely to have visited Galway, if, as he says, he had been on a voyage to Iceland.  It is the natural intermediate port of call between Iceland and Bristol.

Solomon

[Bart]

The discovery of America: the revolutionary claims of a dead historian
4 April 2007
Dr Alwyn Ruddock, a former reader in history at the University of London, was the world expert on John Cabot's discovery voyages from Bristol to North America (1496-98). What she was said to have found out about these voyages looked set to re-write the history of the European discovery of America. Yet, when Dr Ruddock died in December 2005, having spent four decades researching this topic, she ordered the destruction of all her research.

   In an article published today in historical research, Alwyn Ruddock?s extraordinary claims are explored by Dr Evan Jones of the University of Bristol.

   In Spring 2006, all Dr Ruddock?s research material was destroyed, in line with the instructions in her will.  However, her correspondence with her intended publisher, the University of Exeter Press, survived.  Using this correspondence Dr Jones has investigated the research that Dr Ruddock had worked on, and kept secret, for so many years.

   "To describe Alwyn Ruddock?s claims as revolutionary," said Dr Jones, "is not an exaggeration." Her apparent findings include information about how John Cabot persuaded Henry VII to support his voyages and why the explorer was able to win the backing of an influential Italian cleric: Fr. Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis, an Augustinian friar who was also in charge of collecting the Pope?s taxes in England. 

   Dr Ruddock?s most exciting claims, however, involve John Cabot?s 1498 voyage to America . While the fate of this expedition has long been a mystery, Dr Ruddock appears to have found evidence of a long and complex exploration of the American coastline, which culminated in Cabot?s return to England in the spring of 1500, followed shortly by his death. During this voyage, Dr Ruddock suggests that Cabot explored a large section of the coastline of North America, claiming it for England in the process.

   Dr Ruddock intended to reveal that while Cabot was sailing south down the coast of America his chief supporter, Fra Giovanni, was establishing a religious colony in Newfoundland.  Having disembarked from his ship, the Dominus Nobiscum, Fra Giovanni apparently established a settlement and built a church. This church, the first to be built in North America, was named after the Augustinian church of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples.

    Dr Jones said: "Ruddock?s claims about the 1498 voyage are perhaps the most exciting of all. For while we have long known that Fra Giovanni accompanied the expedition, along with some other 'poor Italian friars', nothing has been known of what happened to their mission. If Ruddock is right, it means that the remains of the only medieval church in North America may still lie buried under the modern town of Carbonear."

   Dr Ruddock?s claims are clearly extraordinary but are they all correct? This is an issue that remains, in large part, to be resolved. In his article, Dr Jones shows that in many cases Alwyn Ruddock?s claims can be substantiated by reference to previously unknown material.  However, much remains to be done.

   Dr Jones continued: "In publishing this article now my intent was to put into the public domain what appear to be the last vestiges of Dr Ruddock?s research.  While her correspondence does not give all the answers, it does provide many clues that historians can use to investigate her claims. I also hope that the publication of this article might persuade people who possess knowledge of Dr Ruddock?s research to come forward.  For it is clear from her correspondence that many people must possess useful knowledge, ranging from her ex-students at the British Library to the 'old and historic families in Italy' who gave her access to their private archives."

   As to why Alwyn Ruddock should have chosen to have all her research destroyed on her death, Dr Jones confesses that he has no clear answers. In her obituary in the Guardian newspaper, it was suggested that she destroyed the first draft of her book "because it did not meet her exacting standards."  This does not explain, however, why she wanted everything destroyed ? including her microfilms, her photographs and the transcripts of the documents she used.

   "What is clear," said Dr Jones, "is that she had a great sense of possession for her work and she felt this gave her the moral right to take her secrets to the grave. But even if all the documents she claimed to have found do come to light eventually, the mystery of why she sought to suppress her own basic research may never be resolved."

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2007/5333.html

[Bart]

Heather Whipps
Special to LiveScience
LiveScience.com Mon Apr 16, 2007

   North America's oldest church may lie beneath a small town in Newfoundland, according to information cobbled together from the research of a historian who recently died before publishing her seminal work. 
   
   An Italian friar and sailing companion of explorer John Cabot erected the church during his second trip to the continent in 1498, according to the late Alwyn Ruddock, said Evan Jones, a University of Bristol researcher who investigated and pieced together Ruddock's notes.

   "To describe Alwyn Ruddock's claims as revolutionary would not be an exaggeration," Jones said. "If Ruddock is right, it means that the remains of the only medieval church in North America may still lie buried under the modern town of Carbonear."

   Ruddock, a historian with the University of London, was one of the world's foremost experts on Cabot's voyages until her death in late 2005. In keeping with her will, all of her research was destroyed when she passed away, including 40 years' worth of work for a book about the many mysteries surrounding Cabot's maligned 1498 expedition.

   However, a book proposal Ruddock gave to her publisher and some e-mail correspondences survived, allowing Jones to explore her theories in a recent article published in the journal Historical Research.

   Ruddock's most exciting claims concern an Italian friar named Fra Giovanni Antonio Carbonaro, who sailed aboard one of the five vessels that left with Cabot from Bristol, England, in 1498 and landed in Newfoundland.

"While we have long known that Fra Giovanni accompanied the expedition, along with some other 'poor Italian friars', nothing has been known of what happened to their mission," Jones said.

   Ruddock seemed to have found evidence that while Cabot sailed on down nearly the entire eastern shore of North America to the Caribbean?another new revelation?the friar and his brothers stayed on and established a religious colony in Newfoundland, at present-day Carbonear.

   "It appears that Ruddock believed the Newfoundland church was named after San Giovanni a Carbonara," Jones writes, "the locative element 'a Carbonara' presumably being carried across because it was key to the congregation's identity."

   The problem with Ruddock's notes is that they do not include actual documented evidence to substantiate her claims. "While her correspondence does not give all the answers, it does provide many clues that historians can use to investigate her claims," said Jones.

   Neither Jones nor any other historians involved in the literary reconstruction efforts understand why Ruddock chose to have her valuable work destroyed. "Even if all the documents she claimed to have found do come to light eventually, the mystery of why she sought to suppress her own basic research may never be resolved," Jones said.

[Diving Doc]

Bart,
what a great loss her research is. So little is known of Cabot but Juan de la Cosa
put flags on his 1502 chart that mark Cabot's discoveries in the New World.
This really a great tragedy.
I wonder if a non-intrusive search using GPR will be attempted.
If the archaeology was discovered it would be truly earthshaking.
Doc

[Solomon]

Well, we don't really know anything, other than the fact that we don't really know anything. So it's not possible to say if anything was lost, let alone what that may have been.

Personally, the story seems most unlikely. Why should a church have been built? And why is there no data? As you say, Doc, a geophysical survey should have been conducted - if anyone believed it worthwhile.

Solomon

[Bart]

Some seem to think there is something worth pursuing here.

- Bart

Historical Research
OnlineEarly Articles

To cite this article: Evan T. Jones
Alwyn Ruddock: ?John Cabot and the Discovery of America?*
Historical Research (OnlineEarly Articles).
doi:10.1111/j.1468-2281.2007.00422.x

Alwyn Ruddock: ?John Cabot and the Discovery of America?*
Evan T. Jones 1 1University of Bristol1University of Bristol

   Dr. Alwyn Ruddock was one of the best scholars to work on the North American discovery voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot (1496?1508). For thirty-five years scholars in this field awaited the groundbreaking volume Ruddock was said to be preparing on this subject. Yet, when Dr. Ruddock died in December 2005, aged eighty-nine, she ordered the destruction of all her research. This article examines the research claims she made in her 1992 book proposal to the University of Exeter Press and in her later correspondence with U.E.P. Her findings are so extraordinary that they will, if proved correct, transform our entire conception of the scale, nature and importance of John Cabot's achievements.

   Dr. Alwyn Ruddock (F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S.) was a reader in history at Birkbeck College, University of London (1952?76). A former student of Eileen Power, she was an economic historian of considerable talent, who is probably best known for her work on the Italian merchant community of late medieval England. 1 This interest led her to start investigating the Italian navigator John Cabot, and in her later years she concentrated on the Bristol discovery voyages of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Ruddock published four short but scholarly articles in this field, which demonstrated her ability to pursue convoluted chains of evidence through difficult sources. 2 In the third of these articles, she indicated that she would shortly be publishing a book on this topic, to be entitled: Columbus, Cabot and the English Discovery of America.

   After Ruddock retired in 1976, she moved with her husband to Midhurst in Sussex. When he died in 1981, she continued her research from there. In the autumn of 1992 she submitted a proposal to the University of Exeter Press (U.E.P.) to write a book about John Cabot. She noted that she had originally intended to produce a book covering the whole period of the Bristol discovery voyages, up to the year 1512. However, with the approach of the 500th anniversary of John Cabot's 1497 voyage to North America, she proposed to revise her plans. Her intent was to produce a shorter volume, which concentrated on Cabot's voyages up to 1500, and would be out in time for the celebrations of 1997. 3

   The University of Exeter press sought advice on the matter and received assurances from some eminent maritime historians that Ruddock's volume promised to be a highly significant work. Indeed, Professor David Beers Quinn, who was the leading discovery historian of his day, noted that the ?book she proposes is so revolutionary and so extensively based on new documents that it will change the whole course of the [C]abot celebrations? of 1997. 4 With such recommendations, U.E.P. did not hesitate to issue Ruddock with a book contract.

  What followed is a distressing tale of delay and failing health. Ruddock was seventy-six when she submitted her proposal and her health went into sharp decline shortly thereafter. Nevertheless, by October 1996 U.E.P. felt confident that they would soon have a manuscript on which they could work. They therefore issued a press release about her forthcoming book, to be entitled John Cabot and the Discovery of America: the Voyages of a Fifteenth-Century Italian Adventurer (I.S.B.N. 0 85989 433 9). The expected publication date was autumn 1997. It was not to be. The book was delayed, and although U.E.P. continued to try to persuade Ruddock to give them a manuscript, in however rough a form, she never complied. The last contact between Ruddock and U.E.P. occurred in 2002. This reveals that she was still hoping to publish a book, although it appears that by this time she was once more working on the bigger project, which encompassed the Bristol voyages of the early sixteenth century. 5

   Alwyn Ruddock died on 21 December 2005. Her obituary in The Guardian newspaper, by her friend and former colleague, Dr. Emma Mason, revealed that Ruddock had ?left strict orders that all research papers were to be destroyed at her death?. 6 This was later confirmed by Ruddock's will, which directed her trustees:

   "to burn shred or otherwise destroy all my letters and photographs both personal and professional microfilms unfinished writings and other research and notes in my possession at the time of my death if this has not already been done prior to my death." 7

   One of her trustees was, moreover, to be paid a substantial sum to ensure that the destruction of Ruddock's work was carried out ?as soon as possible? after her death.

   For those who had respected and admired Ruddock's work, the news that she had ordered the destruction of all her research was as shocking as it seemed incomprehensible. Over the years information had leaked out that Alwyn Ruddock had made some extraordinary findings in the field and it was still hoped that she would eventually publish. Failing that, there was always the chance that it might be possible to publish her work posthumously. With Dr. Mason's obituary, it seemed that decades of research, by a fine scholar, had been entirely lost.

   In the slim hope that something might be preserved of Alwyn Ruddock's work, I contacted the general editors of the Bristol Record Society in March 2006 and suggested that the Society approach Ruddock's heirs or executors, to see whether it might be possible to save any of her findings. To this end, Dr. Peter Fleming, one of the general editors of the Bristol Record Society, contacted Emma Mason. She informed him that ?all Dr. Ruddock's papers and her work in progress was destroyed at her death on Ruddock's orders?. 8 That this had occurred was later confirmed by the friend and trustee whom Ruddock had made responsible for the destruction. This trustee revealed that all the notes, letters, photographs and microfilms, amounting to seventy-eight bags of material, had been shredded and disposed of, in line with her legal obligations and in keeping with the promises she had made to Ruddock.

   At the same time that the Bristol Record Society was contacting Emma Mason, I emailed the University of Exeter Press to see if they had a copy of Alwyn Ruddock's draft manuscript. It seemed feasible that this would be the case, since Dr. Mason's obituary indicated that Ruddock had, at one stage, ?finished a draft of her book?. Moreover, since U.E.P. had issued a press release in 1996 about the forthcoming book, complete with I.S.B.N., it seemed reasonable to suppose that they would have seen the draft and might yet retain a copy of it. Given that Ruddock's will had not been made public at this stage, I still hoped that, if the original draft survived, it might be possible for U.E.P. to publish the book.

   In June 2006, the publisher at the University of Exeter Press, Simon Baker, felt able respond to this query. He revealed that Ruddock had never in fact submitted a manuscript to U.E.P., or even any draft chapters. He noted, however, that the Press did have a correspondence file for her. Given the importance of Ruddock's work, he was willing to allow me to come down and examine the file, in the hope that it might provide some insight into the nature of her findings. This seemed reasonable, given that Alwyn Ruddock had now died and it appeared that a book would not be forthcoming. Nevertheless, Mr. Baker noted that he would comb through the correspondence file to remove first any documents that were particularly sensitive. He also laid down certain conditions about what could be copied, while I undertook not to publish anything that was not relevant to Ruddock's research findings or the case she intended to make. Finally, it was agreed that, if I wrote an article based on the correspondence file, Mr. Baker would be given a chance to check it before its submission to a journal, so that he could ensure that none of the material U.E.P. had provided was used inappropriately. 9

   On examining the file, it quickly became apparent that by far the most useful and valuable document in it was Alwyn Ruddock's initial 1992 book proposal. This was a seven-page document which outlined the content of the book that she intended to publish. From the proposal it was clear that Ruddock's claims were, as Quinn said, ?revolutionary?. For many years it had been rumoured among discovery historians that Alwyn Ruddock had made some important document finds. Indeed, it had been said that her findings were the most important in this field since the discovery of the ?John Day letter?. This was a reference to a letter discovered in the Spanish archives during the nineteen-fifties by Louis-Andre Vigneras. 10 The letter was written in the winter of 1497/8 by John Day, a Bristol merchant, to the ?Grand Admiral? of Spain, Christopher Columbus. Since the letter describes the 1497 voyage in considerable detail, while also throwing light on an earlier voyage from Bristol, it is regarded as the most important document find in this field to take place in the twentieth century.

   Despite the manifest importance of the John Day letter, it was apparent on reading Alwyn Ruddock's book proposal that the advances she appeared to have made were in fact far more significant than those made by Vigneras. For while it can not be said that any one document was as important as the John Day letter, she had apparently found, and intended to publish in her appendix, transcripts and/or translations of twenty-one documents, or extracts of documents, previously unknown to scholars. To set this in context, it must be noted that almost everything that is currently known about John Cabot's discovery voyages comes from about twenty-five surviving documents, almost all of which are published in Williamson's standard work on the subject, The Cabot Voyages and Bristol Discovery Under Henry VII. 11 Moreover, many of the documents that Ruddock had found were clearly of immense historical value, including the first letter to report the return of the 1497 voyage. Other documents she mentions revealed what happened to the 1498 expedition, the fate of which has never been established. She also claimed to have discovered evidence of a religious mission to Newfoundland in 1498, which resulted in the construction of the first church in North America.

   Having realized the importance of the proposal, the issue remained as to what should be done with it. For me to try to use the proposal as a guide to my own research would have been underhand ? this was Ruddock's research and no one else should claim it for his or her own. Having said this, given the importance of her claims, it was clear that Ruddock's case needed to be made available to the wider world.

   There can be no doubt that Ruddock's proposal could be of immense value to discovery historians, for although it contains no formal references to where the documents can be found, it does provide a large number of leads and clues that scholars could use. To facilitate research in this field the aims of the following article will thus be to present Ruddock's proposal, to highlight what is original about her claims and to provide, where relevant, pointers to future research.

   In publishing this article, one important point needs to be made. What lies below are no more than a series of claims that could be used by researchers to assist further investigations. While Alwyn Ruddock was certainly an excellent scholar, it needs to be noted that, even if she had not exaggerated the strength of her position, it is likely that at least some of her suppositions will be proved incorrect. Moreover, the format of the proposal is such that it is not always possible to determine how much evidence she had to support particular arguments. In part this is because the proposal is simply a list of the points that she intended to cover, rather than a detailed summary of her argument. A subsidiary problem is that some parts of the proposal are written in a deliberately opaque manner. This was probably because Ruddock knew that U.E.P. would send the proposal out to experts in the field for refereeing and she wanted to protect her key sources from being exploited by others. The difficulty, for current purposes, is that these features of the proposal make it difficult to determine where well-supported arguments end and speculation begins. For this reason, if for no other, it would be imprudent to take any of Ruddock's uncorroborated statements at face value.

   The approach taken in this article will be to work through Alwyn Ruddock's proposal on a chapter-by-chapter basis. Each section will begin with her own statement of what she intended to cover in her book. 12 This will be followed by a review of what was original/important about the proposed chapter. Where evidence from other sources throws light on her case, it will be considered at this point. Such additional evidence includes comments found in other parts of the proposal, statements in the supplementary notes to her proposal and statements made in later letters. Lastly, where appropriate, the discussion of each chapter will include suggestions about the most obvious lines of enquiry for future researchers who wish to investigate Ruddock's case.

?John Cabot?: the working-title for Alwyn Ruddock's book proposal to the University of Exeter Press, 4 October 1992

Introduction

   August 10th 1497. King Henry VII rewards John Cabot for the discovery of North America with a tip of ?10 ?to hym that founde the new isle?. Why the absurd reward? Why ?the new isle?? The many other unanswered problems relating to the explorer and his voyages. The scanty state of present knowledge of his life, his voyages, his death and his achievements sailing under the English flag. New sources of information from English and Italian archives give a more detailed picture of the man and his supporters, both English and Italian, and his three voyages from Bristol. Acknowledgments and thanks etc.

   The function of this chapter was to set the scene and to highlight the poor state of current knowledge. While some might quibble about whether ten pounds, equivalent to two-years? wages for a common labourer, was such an ?absurd? initial reward, Ruddock's characterization of the subject is fair. 13

Chapter I John Cabot, Citizen of Venice

complete article available at link below

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Chapter I John Cabot, Citizen of Venice
Chapter II The Route to England
Chapter III The Search for Backers

Chapter IV The Friar from Milan

   Fra Giovanni Antonio Carbonaro of the order of the Hermit Friars of St. Augustine. His early life in Pavia and Milan. His arrival in England as diplomatic envoy from Lodovico il Moro to King Henry VII. Diplomatic exchanges between England and Milan. Fra Giovanni wins the approval of Henry VII and also Adriano Castelli, the Papal tax-collector in England. His diplomatic mission ended, Fra Giovanni stays in England. His work and his associates among the Italian colony in London. He is made deputy tax-collector when Castelli leaves for Rome. His knowledge of the missionaries who accompanied Columbus in 1493 inspires missionary zeal in Fra Giovanni and gives him an interest in Cabot's plan to sail westward like Columbus. John Cabot finds a patron with the entry into Court circles who could bring his project to the notice of the king.

   Almost nothing is known about what Cabot did when he first arrived in England or how he managed to persuade Henry VII to provide him with his charter. Most historians have assumed that Cabot went straight to Bristol and there persuaded the port's merchants to support his venture. 23 It seemed logical that this was the order of events, since Cabot's royal patent, when it was granted, stated that all future trade conducted under the terms of the charter would have to pass through Bristol. This seemed to imply that Bristol merchants were involved from the start. Ruddock, on the other hand, claims to have found evidence that turns this on its head. According to her, Cabot first went to London and was offered support from a well-connected Italian friar. Fra Giovanni's connections to the court gave Cabot access to the king, while his senior position within the Italian colony helped Cabot to obtain financial support in London. It was only later that Bristol became involved.

   That Fra Giovanni was connected to Cabot is not in doubt. A letter written to the duke of Milan on 20 June 1498 indicates that ?Messer Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis? had accompanied John Cabot's 1498 expedition. 24 Williamson, moreover, carried out a brief investigation of Fra Giovanni, noting that he was a well-connected cleric who served as an emissary between Henry VII and the duke of Milan. 25 No other historian, however, has sought to pursue the friar. Ruddock did and she believed that he was one of the main protagonists in Cabot's voyages ? helping to open both doors and purses for him. Moreover, some of Ruddock's most important claimed discoveries, as will be seen later, relate to the friar.

  An initial re-examination of Fra Giovanni has confirmed a number of Ruddock's claims in respect to him. He was certainly a member of the Hermit Friars of St. Augustine (that is, Augustinian Friars, O.E.S.A.), he spent part of his life in Pavia and he was, from at least 1494, a deputy to the papal collector in England, Antonio Castellesi. The first mention of the friar that has been found is an ?authorization? issued in 1474 by the prior general of the Augustinian Friars. The item comes under matters pertaining to the order's Lombardy Province, which was the congregation of ordinary observance. This authorization states:

   Romae, 22 martii 1474. Fecimus lectorem formandum in conventu et studio Papiensi Generalem fratrem Iohannem Antonium de Carbonariis cum gratiis consuetis si in examine suo fuerit receptus ydoneus et antequam acceptetur pro lectore volimus informari a sua sufficentia ab examinatoribus. 26

   The document grants permission for Fra Giovanni to proceed to his examination for lector at the order's general study house in Pavia, located at San Pietro in Ciel d?oro. Since a friar could not profess until he was fifteen, and nine or ten years of study were required before he could become a lector, Fra Giovanni must have been at least twenty-four by this time. 27

   It has not been possible to establish what Fra Giovanni was doing between 1474 and 1489/90, when he is known to have been serving as an emissary between Henry VII and the duke of Milan. 28 It seems likely, however, that after passing as lector he continued his studies, since, when Henry VII granted ?Anthony de Carbonariis? a benefice on 9 January 1496, he was described as a doctor of theology (?sancte pagine doctor?) of the Order of St. Augustine. 29 Fra Giovanni's academic credentials are also alluded to in a papal dispensation of 14 June 1494, which describes him as ?Johanni Antonio de Carbonariis?, professor O.E.S.A. 30 This dispensation granted the friar the right to hold offices normally reserved to secular clerics, and the same document reveals that Fra Giovanni was then serving as a deputy to the papal collector in England, Antonio Castellesi.

   Indeed, it is likely that the papal dispensation had been obtained by Castellesi since, in 1494, the papal collector had left England to become Henry VII's proctor in Rome and, slightly later, clerk of the papal treasury. 31 With Castellesi's departure to the Vatican, Fra Giovanni seems to have become his chief deputy in England. At any rate, this appears to be the implication of a chancery petition written some time after April 1496, which describes ?Antony Carbonarius? as ?generall proctour unto Adryan Castelleus Collectour generall of our moste holy fader the pope in Englond?. 32 The petition also reveals that Fra Giovanni had taken over the lease of Castellesi's London house following his principal's departure.

    For researchers who might want to go further, Ruddock provides a little extra help. Her supplementary notes indicate that she had used records in ?Rome and Lombardy? to reconstruct Fra Giovanni's early life in Italy and that these records help to ?explain why he was prepared to listen to Cabot's plans and give him support?. 33 This could relate to contact between Fra Giovanni and the followers of Francis of Paola (d. 1507), the founder of the Minim Friars. Such contact seems plausible given that at least one prominent Augustinian reformer in north-west Italy, John Baptist Poggi (d. 1497), was a friend of Francis of Paola and, indeed, founded a reformed Augustinian congregation in Liguria and Piedmont, which followed similar practices to the Minims. 34

   Such contact would be significant because it was the Minims, under Friar Bernard Buil, who undertook the papal-backed mission that accompanied Columbus's 1493 expedition. Ruddock may therefore have intended to argue that Fra Giovanni's knowledge of the Minims made him particularly interested in emulating their missionary endeavours. It can be noted, lastly, that Ruddock found Fra Giovanni to be ?very well documented?. 35 This has been borne out by initial investigations and should make the friar a fruitful topic for further study.

Chapter V The Charter for Exploration
Chapter VI The Search for Money
Chapter VII Bristol and Atlantic Exploration
Chapter VIII The Voyage of 1496
Chapter IX Contemporary Observers of the Voyage of 1497
Chapter X The Voyage of 1497
Chapter XI The Isle of Brasil or Cathay?
Chapter XII Preparations for the Voyage of 1498
Chapter XIII The Caribbean Voyage
Chapter XIV The Friars in Newfoundland
Chapter XV The Return to England
Chapter XVI The English Achievement
Footnotes/References

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Chapter XIV The Friars in Newfoundland

   Separated from the other ships, the friars? vessel arrives later off Newfoundland. The value and limitations of place-name study. Early maps of Newfoundland and the work of G. R. Prowse. The origin of the name Carbonear. The Neapolitan friar and the Reformed house of friars in the charcoal burners? clearing outside the walls of Naples. The naming of the Friars? church in Newfoundland. The failure of Cabot's ship to reappear before the onset of winter. The fishing vessels sail for home, leaving only the Dominus Nobiscum and the friars. The hardships of winter in Newfoundland.

   The evidence for a voyage northward from Carbonara by the Dominus Nobiscum. The earrings and the Venetian sword found by the first Portuguese explorers in Newfoundland, area evidence of Europeans exploring there before the Corte-Real vessels arrived. Hakluyt's confusion over the Dominus Nobiscum voyage. Other evidence of their route. The Isle of Frey Luis on early Portuguese charts. The idealized cult of the hermit life-style among the Reformed houses of Hermit Friars in Italy. Frey Luis and the remembrance of his Italian nationality in the traditions of this area in the seventeenth century. The continued attempt to supply a priest for the fishermen in Newfoundland in the reign of Henry VII.

   Of all the chapters in the book, it may well be this one that excites the most attention, since Ruddock claims to have found out a considerable amount about a previously unknown attempt to establish a religious colony in Newfoundland. If she were correct, this would be the first European Christian settlement in North America, with the church Ruddock mentions being the first built on the continent.

   That the friars had their own ship, or that it was called the Dominus Nobiscum (?The Lord be with us?), is unknown. Indeed, none of the known documents provides any hint that the friars had their own ship. 80 On the other hand, a letter of 25 July 1498 from Pedro de Ayala , the Spanish ambassador in London, does at least fit with Ruddock's account. This letter mentions that one of the five ships in the 1498 expedition had been badly damaged in a storm and was forced to land in Ireland, leaving Cabot to sail on. 81 The ambassador notes that on the damaged ship was ?another Friar Buil?. This was a reference to the missionary who accompanied Columbus's 1493 expedition with twelve of his brothers. The ?Friar Buil? to whom the ambassador refers is almost certainly Fra Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis. This document could thus be the source of Ruddock's claim that the friars? ship was separated from the others, causing them to arrive later in Newfoundland.

   The discussion of place-name evidence was presumably intended as a prelude to Ruddock's theories about Carbonear, the Isle of Frey Luis and, possibly, St. John's. Her mention of the work of G. R. Prowse implies that she intended to discuss his theory that the early Portuguese maps, produced from 1502, were based on knowledge derived from the English 1497 and 1498 expeditions. 82 Given that Ruddock was to bring up the ?origin of the name Carbonear? it seems likely she was to argue that this Newfoundland town was established by Fra Giovanni. This, however, is not an entirely original suggestion, a possible connection between Carbonariis and Carbonear having been noted previously. 83

   Ruddock was then to look into ?The Neapolitan friar and the Reformed house of friars in the charcoal burners? clearing outside the walls of Naples? and the naming of the church in Newfoundland. This appears to be a deliberately opaque reference to the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples. This church was established by the Augustinian Friars in the fourteenth century and became the centre for an influential Augustinian reform congregation, called the Carbonaria, in the fifteenth century. 84 It appears that Ruddock believed the Newfoundland church was named after San Giovanni a Carbonara, the locative element ?a Carbonara? presumably being carried across because it was key to the congregation's identity. The nature of the connection between Fra Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis and the congregation of San Giovanni a Carbonara is, unfortunately, unclear. Although ?de Carbonariis? could, in theory, indicate that the friar was a member of this congregation, the authorization granted to him in 1474, discussed under chapter IV, indicates that Fra Giovanni was neither a ?reformed? friar nor from southern Italy. His name, ?de Carbonariis?, is therefore almost certainly a family name.

   This appears to be confirmed by the fact that, during the fourteen-nineties, a man called Christopher de Carbonariis (alias Carbonaro, Carbonari) was also, like Fra Giovanni, in the service of the duke of Milan. 85 Since both Fra Giovanni and Christopher accompanied Francesco Pagano's diplomatic mission to London at the start of 1490, it seems almost certain that there was a connection between the two men. 86 This was most likely to be a family connection, rather than a mutual religious affiliation, given that none of the letters that mentions Christopher indicates that he was in holy orders.

   There is no known documentary evidence that suggests, or even implies, either that a Neapolitan friar accompanied the 1498 expedition or that the friars built a church in North America. It may seem that this section would therefore have had to be based on new document discoveries. It is possible, however, that there is less to Ruddock's case than meets the eye. In particular, her evidence for the building of the church named after San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples could rest solely on the ?survival? of place names in Newfoundland that could derive from such a construction. Apart from the ?survival? of Carbonara as Carbonear, she may have noted that the name ?St. John?, the English form of San Giovanni, dates back to the early sixteenth century. Indeed the use of this name continues to this day, most notably in the capital of the island, St. John's.

   Ruddock's note that Cabot's ship failed to reappear before winter and the ?fishing vessels? sailing for home is interesting. Since Ruddock implies that Cabot went south with just one ship and the friars had another, it would appear that she believed that the other three Bristol ships that are reported to have gone on the voyage were engaged in fishing. At first sight, this may appear to conflict with accounts of the 1498 voyage that state that the Bristol ships were ?fraught [that is, laden] with sleight and grosse merchandizes?. 87 On the other hand Ruddock had demonstrated previously that, in the later Bristol voyages from 1502 to 1504, there was an attempt to combine exploration, trade and fishing. 88

   It may therefore be that something similar was attempted in 1498. As for a putative voyage northward by the Dominus Nobiscum, which would presumably have taken place in 1499, it seems that this is fairly speculative. It is known that the Corte-Real expedition of 1501, which visited Labrador, claimed to have acquired from the natives with whom they came into contact a fragment of a broken Italian sword and two silver earrings of Venetian manufacture. It has, moreover, been suggested previously that these must have been relics of the 1498 expedition, since Cabot had no contact with Native Americans in 1497. 89

   Turning to ?Hakluyt's confusion over the Dominus Nobiscum voyage?, this must be a reference to Richard Hakluyt's assertion that one of the ships that took part in a 1527 voyage in search of the North-West Passage was called the Dominus Vobiscum (?The Lord be with you?). He also suggested that ?sayling very farre Northwestward, one of the ships was cast away as it entred into a dangerous gulph, about the great opening, betweene the North parts of Newfoundland, and the countrey lately called by her Majestie, Meta Incognita?. 90 Yet, as Williamson notes, Hakluyt was wrong about both the name of the ship and much of what else he says about the voyage. 91 In particular, contemporary sources indicate that the two ships were actually called the Mary of Gilford and the Sampson. There is also no evidence that either ship sailed as far north as Meta Incognita (Baffin Island).

   Ruddock clearly thought that Hakluyt had picked up some partial account of the 1498 voyage and believed that it related to the 1527 voyage. This is confirmed by a later letter, where she wrote that, when Hakluyt tried in the late sixteenth century to discover more about the early English voyages, ?It was not John Cabot but the Milanese friar, Fra Giovanni Antonio, who was still recalled vaguely in the seamen's traditions gleaned for him by Martin Frobisher and others?. 92 This must be a reference to Hakluyt's note that Martin Frobisher and Richard Allen had told him that ?a Canon of Saint Paul in London, which was a great Mathematician, and a man indued with wealth, did much advance the action, and went therein himselfe in person?. 93

   That Frobisher's account does relate to Fra Giovanni and the 1498 voyage is something for which there is some evidence. In particular, while Fra Giovanni was not a canon at St. Paul's, he was deputy to Adriano Castellesi, who had been a canon at St. Paul's since 1492. 94 As mentioned above, in 1494 Castellesi moved to Rome to become Henry VII's proctor. Fra Giovanni, in turn, became Castellesi's ?general proctor? in England, even taking over the tenancy of the house in the City that Castellesi had leased from the bishop of London. 95 It is thus not difficult to understand how later commentators might have thought that this wealthy, educated and exceedingly well-connected friar was himself a canon at St. Paul's, rather than just a deputy to one. Lastly, it should be noted that Ruddock believed that Frobisher had got the name of Fra Giovanni's ship wrong, believing it to be the Dominus Vobiscum, rather than the Dominus Nobiscum. This suggests that she had come across the ship in some other source.

   With regard to the discussion of the ?Isle of Frey Luis? it seems likely that Ruddock was to suggest that the Dominus Nobiscum sailed north and, en route, dropped off one of the friars, a Friar Luis, on the island referred to as the ?Ilha de Frey Luis? on the c.1503 Portuguese chart known as the Salvat de Pilestrina Map, or Kunstmann III. 96 Ruddock apparently intended to back up her suggestion by reference to folk traditions about the putative Frey Luis and his Italian nationality. The existence of such traditions has not been discussed by other discovery historians. Similarly, no known documents relate to the ?continued attempt to supply a priest for the fishermen in Newfoundland in the reign of Henry VII?.

   Nevertheless, it seems likely that the gist of Ruddock's argument was that Frey Luis continued to live on this island as a hermit for several years after 1498 and was known to the fishermen who began to visit Newfoundland during the first decade of the sixteenth century. Her argument was presumably that the friar provided for some of the fishermen's religious needs and that, after he had died or had left his island, there were efforts to have another priest appointed.

   As with the previous chapter outline, this one is very frustrating. While some of Ruddock's statements seem to imply the existence of hard documentary evidence, it is unclear how much of this there was, or where such evidence might be found. On the other hand, it seems possible that key elements of her argument were conjectural, being based on her analysis of maps and place-names. Such sources are notoriously open to interpretation.

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It is not clear exactly when Europeans began fishing the Grand Banks, but is recorded that the English and Basque were doing so probably before 1480 and certainly by that time.

Several navigators, including Basque fisherman are known to have fished these waters in the 15th century. In the 15th century some texts refer to a land called Bacalao, the land of the codfish, which is possibly Newfoundland. However, it was not until John Cabot reached the New World in 1497 that the existence of these fishing grounds became generally known in Europe. Ships from France, Spain, Portugal and England came to fish these waters.

Bacalao
Bacalao (also spelled Bacalhau, Bachalaos, Bacalhaos, Baccalieu, Baccalar) was a phantom island depicted on several early 16th century maps. It is presumed to refer to Newfoundland. The name first appears on a map in 1508, but there are earlier accounts of Bacalao. Off the north-east tip of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, however, there is in fact a Baccalao Island.

In 1472, the Portuguese navigator Jo?o Vaz Corte-Real was granted lands in the Azores by the king of Portugal, because of his discovery of the Terra do Bacalhau. Furthermore, Bartolom? de Las Casas wrote about Portuguese voyages of discovery to Tierra de los Bacallao. This has led some to believe that Corte-Real must have reached the Americas several decades before Columbus.

Bacalao literally means "dried codfish", also known as "stockfish". Basque fisherman fished for cod at the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the 15th century [1], so this is a possible origin of the name.

References
   1. ch 1. Mark Kurlansky (1997). Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World. New York: Walker. ISBN 0-8027-1326-2.

Newfoundland
Discovery, colonization, and settlement
The Portuguese also lay claim to discovering the New World in 1431 when Prince Henry the Navigator discovered the Azores and with the by virtue of the existence of the Paris Map c. 1490 which depicts a group of three islands southwest of Iceland at roughly the same latitude as Ireland, Newfoundland and possibly some other, nearby islands (such as Cape Breton). These three islands are known as 'Islands of the Seven Cities' and 'The Isle of Brasile' said to be discovered by seven bishops. Documents from the voyages made by Bristol merchants in 1480 speak of a trip in search of the Isle of Brasile, to no avail.

Antilla
Antillia (or Antilia) is a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean far to the west of Spain. This mythical island had several other names such as Isle of Seven Cities, Ilha das Sete Cidades (Portuguese), Septe Cidades, Sanbrandan (or St Brendan), etc. Antillia was also identified with islands including the Isles of the Blest and the Fortunate Islands.

The origin of the name is quite uncertain. The oldest suggested etymology (1455) fancifully connects it with the name of the Platonic Atlantis, while later writers have endeavoured to derive it from the Latin anterior (i.e. the island that is reached "before" Cipango), or from the Jezirat al Tennyn, "Dragon's Isle," of the Arabian geographers.

Medieval beliefs
A Portuguese legend tells how the island was settled by the Archbishop of Porto accompanied by six bishops and their parishioners in either 714 or 734 in the face of the Moorish conquest of Iberia. The archbishop and bishops each founded a city, known as Aira, Anhuib, Ansalli, Ansesseli, Ansodi, Ansolli and Con. A similar Spanish tradition claims that these bishops were all Spanish.

Antilia is first marked in an anonymous map which is dated 1424 and preserved in the grand-ducal library at Weimar. It reappears in the maps of the Genoese B. Beccario or Beccaria (1435), and of the Venetian Andrea Bianco (1436), and again in 1455 and 1476. In most of these it is accompanied by the smaller and equally legendary islands of Royllo, St Atanagio, and Tanmar, the whole group being classified as insulae de novo repertae, "newly discovered islands". The Florentine Paul Toscanelli, in his letters to Columbus and the Portuguese court (1474), takes Antilia as the principal landmark for measuring the distance between Lisbon and the island of Cipango or Zipangu (Japan).

One of the chief early descriptions of Antilia is that inscribed on the globe which the geographer Martin Behaim made at Nuremberg in 1492. Behaim relates that in 734--a date which is probably a misprint for 714--and after the Moors had conquered Spain and Portugal, the island of Antilia or "Septe Cidade" was colonized by Christian refugees under the archbishop of Oporto and six bishops. The inscription adds that a Spanish vessel sighted the island in 1414, while a Portuguese crew claimed to have landed on Antillia in the 1430s. According to an old Portuguese tradition each of the seven leaders founded and ruled a city, and the whole island became a Utopian commonwealth, free from the disorders of less favoured states. Later Portuguese tradition localized Antilia in the island of Sao Miguel, the largest of the Azores. It is impossible to estimate how far this legend commemorates some actual but imperfectly recorded discovery, and how far it is a reminiscence of the ancient idea of an elysium in the western seas which is embodied in the legends of the Isles of the Blest or Fortunate Islands.

Many expeditions were launched in an attempt to find the island, and in 1492 Christopher Columbus planned to stop there on his journey to Asia.

On maps, Antillia was typically shown as being almost the size of Portugal, lying around two hundred miles west of the Azores. It was an almost perfect rectangle, its long axis running north-south, but with seven or eight trefoil bays shared between the east and west coasts. This has made some scholars to identify the island as Puerto Rico. Each city lay on a bay. The similar island of Saluaga was shown north of Antillia, while Taumar and Ymana (or Roillo) lay nearby.

The work claimed by Dr. Alwyn Ruddock was based, she said, on archival research. If those documents existed, then they still exist and further, her access to them will have been recorded. Retracing her work is a simple detective matter.

Solomon