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Title: The Leardo Map of the World, 1452 or 1453 - In the Collections of the American Geographical Society
Author: Wright, John Kirtland
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Leardo Map of the World, 1452 or 1453 - In the Collections of the American Geographical Society" ***
[Illustration: Fig. 1—The Leardo Map of the World, 1452 or 1453.]
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
LIBRARY SERIES NO. 4
THE LEARDO MAP OF THE WORLD
1452 OR 1453
_In the Collections of the
American Geographical Society_
BY
JOHN KIRTLAND WRIGHT, Ph.D.
Librarian, American Geographical Society
WITH A NOTE ON THE REPRODUCTION OF THE MAP
BY
A. B. HOEN
[Illustration: AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK 1854]
AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
BROADWAY AT 156TH STREET
NEW YORK
1928
COPYRIGHT, 1928
BY
THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK
RUMFORD PRESS
CONCORD, N. H.
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Leardo Map of the World, 1452 or 1453 1
The Calendar and the Inscription Beneath It 2
The Map Disk 4
Sources of Leardo’s Geography 6
The Known World According to Leardo 10
Asia 10
Africa 15
The Mediterranean 16
Europe 17
Notes 21
Appendix: Detailed Comments on the Map 31
Explanation 31
I. Northern Asia 32
II. Far Eastern Asia 35
III. India 37
IV. Central Asia 40
V. Persia 41
VI. Mesopotamia and Syria 42
VII. Arabia 44
VIII. Asia Minor 45
IX. Armenia, Caucasia, and Southeastern Russia 46
X. Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea 47
XI. Southern Africa 47
XII. Middle and Lower Nile Region 49
XIII. Upper Nile Region and West Africa 50
XIV. North Africa 52
XV. Black and Mediterranean Seas 54
XVI. Southwestern Europe 55
XVII. Atlantic Ocean and Islands 56
XVIII. Central Europe 56
XIX. Italy 57
XX. Southeastern Europe 57
XXI. Baltic Sea 58
XXII. Scandinavia 58
XXIII. Eastern Europe 59
XXIV. Far North 60
List of References 63
The Reproduction of the Leardo Map, by A. B. Hoen 71
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. The Leardo map of the world, 1452 or 1453 _frontispiece_
2. Passage from mid-eighteenth century manuscript of the Doge
Marco Foscarini referring to Leardo map of 1447 23
3. Passage from mid-eighteenth century manuscript of Giovanni
Agostini referring to Leardo map of 1447 23
4. General key map _at end of book_
5. Detailed key map; northeastern section _at end of book_
6. Detailed key map; east-central section _at end of book_
7. Detailed key map; southeastern section _at end of book_
8. Detailed key map; northwestern section _at end of book_
9. Detailed key map; west-central section _at end of book_
10. Detailed key map; southwestern section _at end of book_
THE LEARDO MAP OF THE WORLD
1452 OR 1453
The notes will be found on pp. 21-28.
In 1906 Archer M. Huntington, Esq., presented to the American
Geographical Society one of three known maps of the world signed and
dated by the Venetian, Giovanni Leardo. Of these, the oldest, as well as
the crudest and simplest, is preserved in the Communal Library at Verona
and carries the date 1442.[1] The second (1448), somewhat more elaborate
in design, belongs to the Civic Museum at Vicenza.[2] The Society’s
map,[3] the largest of the three, bears the signature in the lower
right-hand corner: _Johanes Leardus de Venetteis me fezit abano domini
145_[?]. The last digit in this inscription is partly mutilated; the
date, however, is probably either 1452 or 1453.[4]
The Society’s map is of primary interest as revealing a conception of
the earth’s surface typical of the century preceding the discovery of
America. In its blending of colors and pleasing general composition it
forms a work of art of no slight decorative value. Furthermore, the
encircling calendar and many details on the map proper are distinctly
unusual.[5] The Society has therefore undertaken the publication of a
full-sized colored facsimile, in explanation of which the present book
was prepared. Drawn on a piece of parchment measuring 28½ by 23⅜ inches
(72.4 × 59.4 cm.), the original is in a fair state of preservation
except for two pieces torn from the left-hand side, for discolorations,
and for the fading of some of the inscriptions. Fortunately, no part of
the map itself has been seriously injured.
The Calendar and the Inscription Beneath It
The calendars encircling Leardo’s three maps constitute exceptional
additions. Of these calendars, the one on the Society’s map is the most
interesting. The inscription in the panel below the circles, in part an
explanation of the calendar, is somewhat awkwardly phrased in the
Venetian dialect of the fifteenth century, but, although it lacks the
beginning of each line, the meaning is fairly clear, especially when
certain of the missing lines are reconstructed from the corresponding
inscription on the map in Vicenza.[6]
In the first two lines the cartographer makes an excursion into the
realm of theology. According to Dr. Arthur C. McGiffert, to whom the
present writer submitted the passage, this part of the inscription is
“evidently not the work of a theologian, for it makes God the creator
‘of all things created and _un_created’ (the credal phrase is ‘things
visible and invisible’), and in the next clause runs the Trinity (‘three
persons and one common substance’) and the person of Christ together as
if they were the same thing. There are reminiscences of the Nicene
creed, but the whole is theologically a hodge-podge.”
This passage is followed by a statement that the map shows how the land
and islands stand in relation to the seas and how the many provinces and
mountains and principal rivers are distributed on the land. Then, on the
asserted authority of Macrobius, “a very excellent astrologer and
geometrician,” figures are given for the dimensions of the earth and of
various heavenly bodies. These are quite fanciful, bearing little
relation to the corresponding figures actually cited by Macrobius.[7]
The astronomical details are followed in the third paragraph by the
explanation of the calendar. The latter consists of eight concentric
circles, of which the innermost gives the dates of Easter for
ninety-five years, from April 1, 1453, to April 10, 1547; when Easter
falls in April, _A_ is written in the small compartment, when in March,
_M_; leap years are designated by _B_ (“bissextile years”).
The second circle shows the names of the months, beginning with March,
which was officially reckoned the first month of the year in the
Republic of Venice until as late as 1797[8]; it also tells the day,
hour, and minute when the sun enters each of the twelve signs of the
zodiac.
The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth circles enable one to calculate the
phases of the moon. In the third circle the first nineteen letters of
the alphabet represent in order the years of the Metonic lunisolar
cycle. These years were usually designated by the golden numbers, but
before the Gregorian reform letters were frequently employed in place of
the numbers. Leardo explains that _C_ stands for 1453, _D_ for 1454, and
so on until _T_ is reached, after which we begin over again at _A_.[9] A
letter is placed opposite the figures (in the fourth, fifth, and sixth
circles) showing respectively the day of the month, the hour of the day,
and the “point of the hour” at which the “conjunction of the moon” (i.
e. new moon) will take place in the years to which the letter refers.
For example, there will be a new moon on April 8, 1453, at 16 hours, 200
points.[10] Leardo adds that there are 1080 points in an hour.[11]
The seventh circle gives the dominical, or “Sunday,” letters; these are
indicated opposite the days of the month (fourth circle) on which Sunday
falls in the years designated by the seven first letters of the
alphabet. If we know the dominical letter for any particular year, we
may thus determine the days of the week.[12] Leardo, however, does not
specify the years to which the dominical letters in his calendar refer.
The eighth and ninth circles give the lengths of the days in hours and
minutes.[13] From this we see that the vernal equinox fell on March 11,
inasmuch as the calendar was constructed before the Gregorian reform.
Finally, in the tenth circle saints’ days and other religious festivals
are shown.[14]
The four figures in the spaces between the calendar and the outer edge
of the parchment represent the four evangelists: the lion for St. Mark,
the bull for St. Luke, the angel for St. Matthew, and the eagle (of
which only the head shows) for St. John.[15]
The Map Disk
It should be noted first that east is at the top of the map and
Jerusalem at the center; hence the long axis of the Mediterranean runs
vertically up the southern half of the disk.
With the exception of the Red Sea, appropriately colored, the seas are
uniformly blue. The lands are left the natural color of the bleached
parchment except for a fiery red region in the far south bearing the
legend: “Desert uninhabited because of heat,” and a dreary brown waste
in the far north marked: “Desert uninhabited because of cold.” Islands
are tinted either red or yellow, with green patches in the interior of
Great Britain and Ireland. The only other natural features depicted are
mountains, rivers, and lakes, although certain deserts are mentioned in
legends. Mountain ranges are represented by rows of mounds, alternately
red, green, and blue, and each rising symmetrically in two or three
steps. Rivers are blue and, as frequently on medieval maps, sometimes
connect one sea with another, or at least have common sources. A yellow
lake, labeled “Sandy Sea,” lies in the midst of the Sahara.
Vignettes of castles, walled towns, and churches stand for cities,
kingdoms, and regions. In most cases the names have been written upon
the vignettes themselves; since the latter are also colored pink or
green, the letters are frequently obscured and quite illegible. Many
towns and districts are shown by red dots beside which the names are
written in ink, once black but now faded with age. These names were
inserted after the vignettes were drawn, for in many instances they are
tilted or compressed to fit the available space. The draftsman did not
venture to write any name to the left of the dot to which it belongs; as
he could not write on the blue of the seas, he was obliged to invert the
map in the case of places on south-facing coasts. Names of islands and
seas, which had to be written on water surfaces, are inclosed in small
yellow panels. The names of the continents, the two inscriptions
relating to the polar and equatorial deserts, and the words “Terrestrial
Paradise” are in red capitals; but all other names are in minuscule,
usually without an initial capital. Besides place names there are a few
longer legends.
Winds blowing from the four cardinal and four intermediate points of the
compass are shown by eight faces around the edge of the disk. Those to
the north, northwest, and northeast are blue, suggesting cold blasts
from these quarters; the other faces are ruddy.
Although decorative, the Leardo map lacks many of the pictorial
elements—animals, birds, preposterous monsters—that enliven the blank
spaces on other medieval maps. With the exception of the eight wind
faces and the symbolic figures of the evangelists no living creatures,
whether animals or men, are graphically represented.
Sources of Leardo’s Geography
Briefly stated, the sources of Leardo’s geography are to be sought in
the information accumulated by the Greeks and Romans, as added to and
altered during the early Middle Ages by the Church Fathers on the basis
of the interpretation of the Bible and as later augmented by the work of
medieval travelers, merchants, and sailors.
At a very early period the Greeks developed the idea (borrowed, perhaps,
from the Babylonians[16]) that the earth is a flat disk surrounded by
the Ocean Stream. This conception seems to have given rise to a
cartographic tradition followed by certain ancient and medieval
map-makers who had long outgrown the belief that the earth is actually
flat. Thus Leardo draws a circular land mass, or _oikoumene_, surrounded
by a narrow hem of water. We cannot, however, question his belief in the
sphericity of the earth, for otherwise he could hardly have held the
views expressed in the panel below the calendar. Furthermore, his two
legends relating to the fiery and frozen deserts echo a theory that was
propounded in classical times and based on the hypothesis of a spherical
earth. This theory, worked out in detail by Crates of Mallos, is briefly
as follows.[17] Around the equatorial circumference of the globe is a
fiery zone so intensely hot that no man can cross it. This zone cuts off
all communication with the southern hemisphere. The north and south
polar caps are uninhabitable because of the cold. An ocean encircling
the globe from north to south intercepts communication with the half of
the northern hemisphere opposite the _oikoumene_. Many maps were made in
the Middle Ages to illustrate this conception. Leardo presumably had it
in mind and did not intend to represent either a flat disk or a complete
hemisphere but merely a circular portion of the earth’s surface lying
north of the equator.
In its orientation, with east and the Terrestrial Paradise at the top
and with Jerusalem at the center, the map follows the Christian
tradition of the earlier Middle Ages. Other features reflecting the
influence of the Scriptures are Noah’s Ark resting on top of Mt. Ararat,
Mt. Sinai, the exaggerated length of the River Jordan, and an
inscription in the far northeast referring to Gog and Magog.
Later medieval contacts between Europe and remote lands are revealed in
names derived from Marco Polo and possibly from other Western travelers
who had visited the Orient, as well as in the Arabic names in Asia and
Africa.
Medieval navigators’ charts also influenced Leardo. Towards the close of
the thirteenth century sailors in the Mediterranean—particularly
Italians and Catalans—began making marine maps (known as portolan
charts) that far surpassed all earlier maps in the accurate delineation
of coast lines. The majority of these show the Mediterranean and
Atlantic coasts of Europe and of north Africa but little of the interior
of the continents and nothing of the farther parts of Asia. Some,
however, were used as the basis for maps of the world. On the latter the
shore lines were derived from the navigators’ charts, and the remaining
regions were compiled from other sources. The Leardo map belongs in this
category.
Among the existing maps dating from the fourteenth and early fifteenth
centuries our Leardo map is very closely related to the group of maps
drawn by the famous Catalan cartographers of Majorca in the Balearic
Islands. In its general outlines it is so strikingly like a Catalan map
of about 1450 now preserved in the Este Library at Modena[18] that we
must assume a common cartographic ancestor at no great distance back.
There are, however, certain legends on the Este map that Leardo does not
give, particularly the long inscriptions and a multitude of place names
on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Leardo’s map, on the other
hand, has features not shown on the Este map. These are of two sorts:
(1) place names in Asia and Africa, the counterparts of which may be
found on other Catalan[19] and Italian[20] maps of the period; and (2)
river, mountain, and province names taken directly from Ptolemy. There
are also not a few names whose origins or counterparts on other maps I
have been unable to trace.
Ptolemy’s _Geography_ had been neglected during the earlier Middle Ages,
but the enthusiastic interest in Greek literature which characterized
the early Renaissance had led to its translation into Latin shortly
before Leardo’s time.[21] A strict interpretation of Ptolemy’s data
would have necessitated a complete redrafting of the outlines of the
continents, as was done on the Ptolemaic atlases of the mid- and late
fifteenth century. Leardo made no such attempt. The extent of his
concession to the Ptolemaic geography was to sprinkle a few of Ptolemy’s
names over a medieval base and to add the Rivers Indus and Oechardes in
eastern Asia.[22]
The Known World According to Leardo
The numbers in parentheses correspond to the reference numbers in the
Appendix (pp. 32-60) and on the key maps at the end of the book.
In the Appendix (pp. 31-67) I have tried to identify as many as possible
of the names and other features shown on the Leardo map with existing
places, or at least with corresponding features on other maps of the
period. Here I propose to conduct the reader on a rapid sight-seeing
tour around the map, pointing out some of the most interesting details
only.
Asia
In the extreme north (left-hand side) there is a large structure which
looks like an Italian church with its campanile (13). The legend
beneath, suggested ultimately by a passage from Marco Polo, runs about
thus: “[This is] the sepulcher of the [Grand Khan] and they do this when
he comes to be carried for interment: he comes accompanied by many armed
men who kill those whom they find on the roads, and they say that the
souls of these are blessed because they accompany the soul of the Grand
Khan to another life.” Marco Polo adds that at the time of the funeral
of Mangou Khan 20,000 persons were thus slain! The actual place of
burial of the Mongol Khans was in Cathay, far away from northern Russia
where Leardo, following the model of Catalan maps, draws it. European
cartographers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries seem to have
known and cared little about the relative positions of places in Asia;
as Italian merchants by this time had established contacts with the
Mongols in southern Russia, what was more natural than to place the
Mongol overlord’s tomb in the hinterland of the Black Sea? Here there
was more available space than in the Far East, and here on Leardo’s map
the Grand Khan’s tomb could be made symmetrically to balance Prester
John’s palace across the map in Africa (299).
South of the sepulcher we see the River Volga (6, 7) flowing into the
northwestern corner of the Caspian (250). A branch from the east (8),
perhaps the Kama, joins the Volga where the latter bends at a right
angle to the south. East of the lower Volga is a “desert of thirty days”
(10), Polo’s mysterious demon-haunted desert of Lop, where the traveler
hears ringing bells and other uncanny sounds (possibly “singing sands”).
Like the Grand Khan’s tomb, this desert is also wofully misplaced, since
the actual desert of Lop lies in eastern Chinese Turkestan. The
responsibility is not Leardo’s, however, for the Lop desert is in the
same place on the Catalan Atlas of 1375 and on the Este map.
Farther east, beyond a row of six castles representing towns on the
borderlands of China (35-40), we come to a gulf of the encircling ocean
and to a great system of mountains. The gulf (11), which contains three
islands, appears in almost the same position and form on the Este map,
where there is a legend explaining that on the islands griffons and
falcons are found and that the natives are not allowed to kill them
without the permission of the Grand Khan of the Tatars. This is also
from Marco Polo, who writes that the islands where the gerfalcons are
bred lie so far north that the North Star is left behind you in the
south! The mountains southeast of the gulf make an enclosure shaped
something like a θ (42-47). Inside the northern half of this θ a legend
tells us that “this is the province of Gog and Magog, where many tribes
of the Jews were shut in” (70), referring to the medieval tradition that
Alexander the Great enclosed Gog and Magog—the terrible hordes of
Antichrist—within the Caspian Mountains. On many maps the mountains of
Gog and Magog in the Far East are named thus. Leardo, however, places
“M^o Gaspio” (Caspiae Montes) (4) north of the Caspian Sea somewhat
nearer the position at which Ptolemy had placed them. To the mountains
of Gog and Magog he assigns names derived from Ptolemy’s northeastern
Asia. Running westward from the southern basin formed by these mountains
Leardo has added a river (49), the Oechardes of Ptolemy. Near the point
where this river emerges from the mountain rim we see a red spot labeled
“Iron gate” (72) and, immediately to the west, two short red marks,
“Statues of Alexander” (73). The iron gate was built by Alexander in the
wall enclosing Gog and Magog, and the statues represent trumpeters set
up by Alexander to keep guard over these unclean hordes. On the Catalan
maps the trumpeters themselves are shown with their trumpets.
Immediately west of the statues appears “Mount Tanacomedo” (48), an
amusing instance of Leardo’s carelessness; he has here evidently copied
“Montana Comedorum” from a Ptolemaic map, combining the last part of the
first word with the first part of the last! At the extreme eastern edge
of the world disk we see the Terrestrial Paradise (63) surrounded by an
enormous wall to keep out curious intruders. The River Indus flows
southwestward to a great delta near the entrance of the Persian Gulf
(84). Many of the place names in India correspond with those of the
Catalan maps and in turn were derived from Marco Polo. The scene of St.
Thomas’ mission and of the early introduction of Christianity into India
is indicated by the inscription: “Here preached St. Thomas” (113).
In central Asia, we note two rivers entering the eastern side of the
Caspian Sea, the Jaxartes (117) and Oxus (118). The Lake of Aral, in
which these great streams actually have their outlet, seems to have been
wholly unknown to the geographers both of antiquity and of medieval
Europe. Moslem scholars, however, were aware of its existence. Leardo’s
castles of Organa and of Organzia (Urganj) (120, 121) at the mouth of
the Jaxartes and his place name Orcania (132) on the Oxus recall Matthew
Arnold’s description of the Oxus at the close of _Sohrab and Rustum_:
But the majestic river floated on ...
Right for the polar star, past Orgunjè,
Brimming, and bright, and large.
The Tigris and Euphrates (165, 166) join, reaching the Persian Gulf
(267) as a single stream flowing between two large edifices that
represent Susiana (172) and Babylonia (173). To the east of the Tigris a
nameless river (139) having its headwaters in a large lake (138) also
enters the Persian Gulf. This same stream on the Catalan Atlas and on
the Este map rises in a double source, two bodies of water that have
been identified with Lakes Van and Urmia. Leardo connects the Euphrates
(166) with the Mediterranean through the Orontes (168) and with the Red
Sea (268) through the Jordan (167).
The most prominent feature in Arabia is Mecca (211), a large domed and
towered building in good Italian Renaissance style and presumably
representing a mosque. Several corrupted Turkish place names (227, 228,
229, 232) along with classical names (224, 231, 233-235) appear in Asia
Minor.
The Indian Ocean is filled with yellow and red islands. A legend
asserting that pepper and spice are found in these islands (275) comes
from Marco Polo’s description of the East Indian archipelago. The
largest of all the islands, lying off the coast of India, is marked
Taprobana (269) and probably represents Sumatra.
Africa
Leardo’s Africa, like that of the Este map, has a very unusual shape.
Two gulfs reach inland from the Indian Ocean and from the Atlantic,
partially cutting off the southern extremity of the continent. On the
Este map the eastern gulf is not as prominent as that of Leardo’s map,
but the western is even deeper. Kretschmer suggests that these features
have sprung from a combination of the ancient doctrine of a vast austral
continent with Ptolemy’s theory that the Indian Ocean is surrounded by
land.[23] Certain Arabic maps show an eastward projection of Africa like
those of the Este map and Leardo, although they do not indicate anything
corresponding to the western gulf.
Prester John’s castle (299) bulks large in the interior of Africa. In
the twelfth century, reports spread through Europe of the vast realm of
a fabulous Christian monarch in the heart of Asia. By the fourteenth
century, however, Prester John’s empire had been transferred to Africa,
where it became associated with the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. The
elaborate edifice with which Leardo represents Prester John’s empire may
be intended for the sumptuous palace described in the thirteenth-century
_Letter of Prester John_.
Like most medieval cartographers, Leardo makes the Nile (312) rise in
West Africa (338). In this he follows Herodotus, Pliny, Mela, and other
ancient authorities. Ptolemy, however, seems to have had a more correct
view, placing the sources of the river in the Mountains of the Moon in
eastern Africa. Nothing daunted, most of the fifteenth-century
cartographers who used the writings of Ptolemy boldly transferred the
Mountains of the Moon to West Africa to suit their theory of the river’s
course. Thus, on the Leardo map we see the Montes Lunae (334) on the
north coast of the West African gulf. Thence four streams flow north
into a lake, out of which the Nile makes its way eastward and another
stream flows westward into the Atlantic. The latter stream represents,
perhaps, a combination of Niger and Senegal, of which some faint
knowledge may have been gained through traders who had crossed the
Sahara. The lower Nile is joined by the River “Stapus” (313), doubtless
the Astapus of Ptolemy or the modern Blue Nile. On the Este map this
tributary rises in the Terrestrial Paradise, there placed in East
Africa.
To the mountain range of North Africa, the Carena of the Catalan maps,
Leardo has added Ptolemaic names (385-392).
The Mediterranean
The outlines of the Mediterranean (433) and Black Seas (431) are more
correct than any other features which Leardo draws. This, of course, is
due to the fact that they were derived ultimately from the portolan
charts. Leardo preserves the faulty orientation of the Mediterranean
characteristic of the latter. If we assume that the perpendicular line
extending from the wind-blower off the west coast of Spain through
Jerusalem to the wind-blower east of the Terrestrial Paradise is
intended to run due east and west, we see that the axis of the
Mediterranean with the adjoining shores has been turned
counter-clockwise some twelve degrees. This is probably because of
failure on the part of the makers of the original portolan charts to
take into consideration the declination of the compass.[24]
Leardo’s place names along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts are
all derived from the portolan charts, although Leardo wrote names only
where it was easy to do so without crowding. The least successful
portion of Leardo’s Mediterranean coast is that of Spain: the shore is
here unduly elongated as compared with that of the Este Catalan map,
Barcelona (475) and Ampurias (476) being placed too far northeast on
what ought to be the French shore line.
Europe
As on the Catalan maps, the geography of northwestern Europe is badly
distorted. The Seine (448), Rhine (487), and Elbe (488) all flow
parallel with one another but slightly to the south of west. The course
of the Danube (552) with its southern branches is more true to nature.
The Baltic Sea (577) and Scandinavia are drawn much as on the Este map.
NOTES
[1]Giuseppe Crivellari, _Alcuni cimeli della cartografia medievale
esistenti a Verona_, Florence, 1903, pp. 5-28.
[2]This map was discovered by Vincenzo Lazari in 1850. A detailed
description and interpretation of it will be found in Santarem, Vol.
3, pp. 398-442 [fuller bibliographical details regarding this and
other abbreviated references in these notes will be found on pp.
63-67]; black and white reproduction in Santarem’s _Atlas_, Part 3,
No. 49; also in A. E. Nordenskiöld, _Periplus_, p. 61.
[3]The map was discovered in 1879 by Major Friedrich von Pilat, Imperial
Counsellor of the Austro-Hungarian Legation and Consul-General of
Austria-Hungary in Venice. At the time it was presented to the
Society a brief anonymous description appeared in the _Bulletin of
the American Geographical Society_, Vol. 38, 1906, pp. 365-368. This
was based upon a sixteen-page pamphlet by Dr. Guglielmo Berchet, _Il
planisfero di Giovanni Leardo dell’ anno 1452_, Venice, 1880,
accompanying a photographic facsimile constituting No. XIV of the
series _Raccolta di mappamondi e carte nautiche del XIII al XVI
secolo_ published by Ferdinand Ongania, Venice. Dr. Berchet’s paper,
while useful to the present writer, has on the whole proved
disappointing because of its many inaccuracies in transcriptions and
also because almost no attempt was made to deal with the place
names, in many respects the most interesting features of all.
[4]As much of this digit as remains might be the upper part of either a
2, a 3, or a 7. Since the Easter calendar begins with 1453 the date
could hardly be earlier than Easter, 1452. For the same reason, it
is not likely to have been as late as 1457, the only possible date
after 1453. On the Vicenza Leardo map the Easter calendar begins
with the year in which the map is dated, 1448; on the Verona map of
1442 the calendar begins with the preceding year, 1441. A
discrepancy of four years between the beginning of the calendar and
the date of the map, however, is most improbable.
Santarem, Vol. 3, p. 399, and Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 6, cite two
mid-eighteenth century MSS in the Library of St. Mark’s, Venice,
which contain entries relating to a map by Giovanni Leardo dated
1447. One of these MS is that of the Doge Marco Foscarini (Codex
ital., XI, 123, p. 42), the other that of a contemporary scholar,
Giovanni degli Agostini (Codex ital., VII, 291, p. 542; this and the
preceding reference were furnished to the present writer by the
Chief Librarian of the Library of St. Mark’s; they do not agree
exactly with the references as given by Santarem and Berchet).
The passage from the Foscarini MS (Fig. 2) may be translated thus:
“Gio. Leardo, who flourished in 1440, made a planisphere on
parchment on which was written _Leardius de Venetiis me fecit anno
1447_. It was at the house of (_era presso_) Bernardo Trevisano.
Apostolo Zeno saw it many times and marveled at seeing the exactness
of the design.” The passage from the Agostini MS (Fig. 3) runs as
follows: “Giovanni Leardo: This (man) lived shortly before the
middle of the fifteenth century, and he delighted in geography and
spheres. In the Trevisan Library was preserved a planisphere by him
on parchment on which could be seen delineated the whole terraqueous
globe with all the signs and celestial constellations, beneath
which, according to his assertion, every part is placed. At the
bottom of this parchment these words may be read: _Joannes Leardius
de Venetiis me fecit ab anno 1447_. It is curious to see how in his
time, when not many discoveries had been made and navigation was so
little advanced, the positions of the provinces and of the seas were
conceived.”
Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 7, points out that the arms at the top of
the parchment of the Leardo map now belonging to the American
Geographical Society are those of the Trevisan house. He reads
incorrectly, however, the date given by Agostini as 1452, concluding
therefrom that the map mentioned by the latter was the same as the
Society’s map, the date of which he also reads as 1452. In view of
the actual difference in the dates, we may conclude that Leardo
constructed two maps for the Trevisan family, and that the one dated
1447 is yet to be rediscovered.
Figs. 2 and 3—Passages from mid-eighteenth century manuscripts in
the Library of St. Mark’s, Venice, in which reference is made to a
map by Giovanni Leardo, dated 1447. See note 4.
[Illustration: Fig. 2—from manuscript of the Doge Marco Foscarini.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3—from manuscript of Giovanni Agostini.]
[5]Although the Society’s map is not, perhaps, one of the great,
outstanding monuments of medieval cartography, the assertion of
Theobald Fischer (_Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten_,
Venice, 1886, p. 104) that the Leardo maps of 1448 and 1452 were
“von geringem Wert,” seems too harsh.
[6]There follows a transcription of this legend. Missing passages
supplied from the Vicenza map as transcribed on Santarem’s
reproduction are given in square brackets:
_... chreatore de Tute le Cose chreate et non chreato et E En 3
persone et una medexima sustanzia et uno Idio El quale En .i.inita
(divinita?) E Incomprensibelle aiomeni et aianzelli quanti uisono
dal zentro per sino Ala zirconferenzia En umanita ... | ... ene
Maria et farsi homo pasibelle et sostener morte per Redimer Lumana
zenerazione et resusito Il Terzo zorno et asexe ... (en?) ziello ala
destera del padre et al nouisimo di zudigera zusti et pechatori. Al
nome de quel dio che cosi veramente chre ... at_|
_... como La Tera et le Ixole stano nel mare et Molte prouinzie et
monti et fiumi prenzipalli sono nela Tera El diamitro dela Tera sie
meglia 6857 secondo Macobrio ezelentisimo Astrologo et geumetrico.
El diamitro de Laqua| [sie meia 14796. El diametro de laiere sie
m]eglia 31929¹/₇. E diamitro del fuoguo 68191²/₇. El diamitro de La
Luna sie meglia 147149. El diamitro de mercurio sie meia 20(?)7533.
El diamitro de venus sie meglia 692703. El diamitro del solle sie
meia 1494781. El diamitro de mar(te) |... eia 6532374¹/₇ (Jupiter).
El diamitro de saturno sie Meia 13997942⁴/₇. diamitrus horbis
signiorum sie meia 29995591. diamitrus horbis aplanes sie meia
64276266⁵/₇. diamitrus horbis christalini sie meia 137724(?)856.
pitagora dize che da La |...._
[El primo zircholo che zirconscrisse Il sopra schri]_to mapamondo
sie de la raxon de la pasqua de la Rexurezione per Ani 95. Comenza
nel 1453 adi primo aprille conpie nel 1547 adi 10 Aprille. quando si
Troua nele caxelle Letera M aueremo La pasqua de marzo, quando si
Trouera Letera A Aueremo| [quando la viene daprille. quando si troua
letera B que]lano aueremo Bixestro. El segondo zircolo sie de I12
mexi dellano et quando Il sole Entra En cadauno dei 12 segni
zelesti. El Terzo zircollo sie de 19 Letere de lalfabeto per Atrouar
la raxon de La Luna. El quarto zircollo sie dei numeri (?)| [di
zorni de mexi. El quinto sie de le ore.] El sesto zircollo sie
Iponti de le hore. El setimo zircollo sie Le Letere dominicale.
Lotauo zircollo sie Le ore de La grandeza del di En tututo (sic!) El
tenpo de lano (?). El nono zircolo sie dei menudi che auanza oltra
Le ore ne la grandeza del di. El dezim |... uoler sapere quando
rinoua La Luna de Zugnio del 1453. nel dito mileximo Abiamo per
letera concorente Letera C. Auoler atrouar La conioncion de la Luna
dobiamo Atrouar Letera C nel mexe de zugnio E alincotro se trouera
di.. |... (rin) ouera La Luna de cadauno mexe del dito mileximo. El
mileximo comenz(a) de Zenaro nel 1454 aueremo concorente Letera d
ecosi se schore ogniano 1 Letera de lalfabeto. Et quando sizunze
aletera T l’Altro ano drieto sitorna Aletera A. |... raxone comenza
Ala Leuar del solle e intendese atanti di et Atante hore et atanti
(?) ponti. ponti 1080 sintende 1 hora. Ale fiade En uno mexe si
troua 2 fiade una Letera en quel mexe La luna rinoua 2 fiade etc._
[7]By the “diameters” of the sun, moon, and planets Leardo obviously
means the diameters of the orbits. Macrobius, _Commentaria in
somnium Scipionis_, I, 20: 20, gives the diameter of the earth as
80,000 stades, which might, if converted into Arabic miles, be
approximately the 6857 miles of Leardo. According to Macrobius the
radius of the sun’s orbit is 4,800,000 stades (_ibid._, I, 20: 21);
the diameter of the sun’s orbit would therefore be 9,600,000 stades,
or 120 times that of the earth. The diameter of the sun’s orbit
according to Leardo is 218 times that of the earth. On the authority
of Porphyry, Macrobius (_ibid._, II, 3: 14) gives the relative
distances between the planets; but Leardo’s figures bear no relation
to these. I have not been able as yet to trace the origin of
Leardo’s figures.
[8]H. Grotefend, _Zeitrechnung des deutschen Mittelalters und der
Neuzeit_, Vol. 1, Hannover, 1891, p. 203 (reference kindly suggested
by Dom Hugh G. Bévenot of Weingarten Abbey, Württemberg, Germany).
[9]Grotefend, _op. cit._, p. 113, asserts that O was usually omitted to
avoid confusion with zero. Leardo, however, includes O. J and I are
counted as one letter. The golden number of 1453 is 10; Leardo’s A
corresponds with golden number 8.
[10]The following is a comparison of the times of the new moon on
certain dates as indicated by Leardo with the actual times as
determined for the meridian of Venice from Th. von Oppolzer, _Canon
der Finsternisse_ (constituting _Denkschr. Kaiserl. Akad. der Wiss.
in Wien, Math.-naturw. Classe_, Vol. 52, 1887).
Leardo’s Times Actual Times
1453 Dec. 1 ? hrs. 203? pts. Nov. 30 2.40 P. M.
1455 Apr. 16 21 hrs. ? Apr. 17 12.22 A. M.
1456 Apr. 6 7 hrs. 229 pts. Apr. 5 4.25 A. M.
1461 Jan. 11 21 hrs. ? Jan. 11 8.44 P. M.
1468 Feb. 23 14 hrs. 747 pts. Feb. 23 10.15 P. M.
The discrepancies are too great and too variable to enable us to
come to any very definite conclusions as to the place or manner of
origin of Leardo’s figures.
[11]The division of the hour into 1080 points (3×6×60, as Dom Bévenot
points out) is puzzling. More usually the hour was subdivided into
four points. See Grotefend, _op. cit._, p. 188.
[12]The dominical letter for 1453 was G.
[13]On the basis of certain of the figures given by Leardo for the
lengths of the days at about the times of the solstices, I have
estimated that this table was worked out for about lat. 42° 45′ N,
which is more nearly the latitude of Orvieto than that of Venice
(45° 30′). (This calculation was made with the _Smithsonian
Meteorological Tables_, 4th edit. (constituting _Smithsonian Misc.
Colls._, Vol. 69, No. 1), Washington, 1918: Table 87, “Duration of
Sunshine at Different Latitudes,” and Table 88, “Declination of the
Sun for the Year 1899.” The difference in the declination of the sun
for 1452 and 1899 is negligible.) Dom Bévenot writes: “I fancy day
lengths were reckoned roughly for degrees. Here in Weingarten about
1490 they used tables drawn up for lat. 45° N, though the place is
actually 47° 40′.”
[14]I am indebted to Dom Bévenot for the following comment:
“Concerning the calendar of saints I find the good Venetian has
inserted besides the usual feast of St. Mark, patron of Venice, on
April 25 two more: that of his apparition and the finding of his
relics on June 25 and a third feast on Jan. 31 (translation). The
last two were special for the diocese of Venice (Aquileia). The
calendar for Aquileia is given at the beginning of Grotefend, _op.
cit._, Vol. 1, but does not quite tally with Leardo’s list of
saints. Perhaps this is because Grotefend has modernized the
calendar. It may be that Leardo, living perhaps elsewhere than in
Venice or its diocese, put in feasts that were dear to him. Indeed,
in view of your findings for latitude from the length of the days
[see preceding note], Rome is the most likely place, perhaps, for
the Venetian embassy. It lies nearly in lat. 42° N; if we allow for
Leardo measuring the length of the days according to the apparent
sunset and sunrise, this may well explain a discrepancy of the
greater part of a degree.”
[15]Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 7.
[16]See H. F. Lutz, _Geographical Studies Among Babylonians and
Egyptians_, in _Amer. Anthropologist_, Vol. 26 (N.S.), 1924, pp.
160-174.
[17]See Appendix, Nos. 305, 619.
[18]Kretschmer, CE see p. 63.
[19]Particularly the famous Catalan Atlas of 1375 see p. 63.
[20]For the names of and for bibliographical references relating to some
of these maps see the list of references on pp. 63-67, _sub_ CD,
Mauro, Piz., Vat., Vilad.
[21]This Latin translation of Ptolemy’s _Geography_ was begun by the
Byzantine scholar Emmanuel Chrysoloras and completed by Jacopus
Angelus in 1410; manuscripts of this translation were accompanied by
maps, which, however, differ from the well-known maps in the
Ptolemaic atlases of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The
latter were the work of Dominus Nicolaus Germanus, known as Nicholas
Donis. See A. E. Nordenskiöld, _Facsimile Atlas to the Early History
of Cartography_, transl. by J. A. Ekelöf and Clements R. Markham,
Stockholm, 1889, pp. 9-10.
[22]Like the Leardo map of 1452, the map of Walsperger, 1448, reveals
Ptolemaic influence in some of its names although all the
topographical features are strictly medieval. The Genoese world map
of 1447 in its elliptical form is the result of a more serious
attempt to reconcile the Ptolemaic geography with the traditional
views. See Kretschmer, CE, pp. 76-77; on the Walsperger map,
Kretschmer, _Eine neue mittelalterliche Weltkarte der vatikanischen
Bibliothek_, in _Zeitschr. Gesell. für Erdkunde zu Berlin_, Vol. 26,
1891, pp. 371-406, reference on pp. 376-377. On the Genoese world
map see the extended commentary of Fischer, _op. cit._, pp. 155-206.
[23]Kret., CE pp. 82-83.
[24]See Kret., Port., pp. 81-93; see also E. L. Stevenson, _Portolan
Charts: Their Origin and Characteristics, with a Descriptive List of
those Belonging to the Hispanic Society of America_, New York, 1911,
p. 19, where it is suggested that the faulty orientation of the
Mediterranean may be in part connected with the persistence since
the time of Ptolemy of the practice of placing Constantinople on
maps “too far to the north by at least two degrees.”
APPENDIX
DETAILED COMMENTS ON THE MAP
Explanation
The following commentary is divided into sections numbered with Roman
numerals corresponding to the Roman numerals on the general key map
(Fig. 4, at end of book). Each item is given an Arabic numeral which
corresponds to the Arabic numerals on the detailed key maps (Figs. 5-10,
at end of book).
For each feature which bears a place name and for each longer legend on
the Leardo map the transcription is given below in italic. Many of these
transcriptions, particularly of names written on edifices (castles,
churches, etc.), are mere guesses, owing to the obscurity of the
original. Particular difficulty was encountered in distinguishing
between the letters _a_, _e_, _o_, _c_, and _t_, and between _s_ and
_f_. A clue to the reading of many names, however, was furnished by
other maps contemporary with or earlier than that of Leardo. Illegible
letters are indicated by dots; doubtful readings by (?); interpolated
letters are enclosed in square brackets. Illeg. means “wholly
illegible.”
No data beside the transcriptions are given for such names as _f.
tigris_, _corsicha_, _galizia_, etc., the meaning of which is obvious.
In the case of the less familiar names, the forms in which they appear
on certain other medieval maps are supplied. In general, if a name
occurs on the Catalan Atlas of 1375 (CA), on the Catalan map in the Este
Library at Modena (CE), or on the Ptolemaic maps (Ptol.), no attempt is
made to indicate its occurrence elsewhere.
Each doubtful identification with a medieval name is preceded by ?. For
names along the coast of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the
Atlantic, references are given to the pages in Kretschmer’s _Die
italienischen Portolane des Mittelalters_ (= Kret., Port.) where the
variant spellings of these names as they are found in the more important
portolans and portolan charts are listed and the places identified with
modern localities.
Identifications with modern localities are indicated by =, or =mod.;
with well-known ancient localities by =anct. Suggested but doubtful
identifications are preceded by =?, and names for which I have been
unable to find or to suggest any identification with a modern locality
are indicated by =? standing alone.
With the identification of Ptolemaic and medieval names in the Far East,
in Africa, and in Scandinavia, we enter upon a hazardous and
controversial field. While in many instances I have indicated
identifications that have been made by competent scholars, needless to
say, these should not be accepted as final. One cannot but feel that
where an identification is based upon mere similarity in sound it is
often a case of one man’s guess being as good as another’s. The scope
and purpose of the present study does not permit of an exhaustive
examination of these questions of detail.
For more complete bibliographical data relating to publications referred
to in abbreviated form in the key and for an explanation of the
abbreviations, see pp. 63-67. In bibliographical references volume
numbers are indicated in lower case Roman, book numbers in upper case
Roman, and chapter and page numbers in Arabic type.
On the key maps where there are long rows of place names the first and
last numbers only are indicated, with an arrow connecting them. This is
done to avoid overcrowding.
The Arabic numerals are in general placed in positions corresponding to
those of the legends on the original. This leads in some instances to
the separation of the numbers from the symbols to which they relate
(_e.g._, 73).
I. Northern Asia
Mountains
1 _M^o. alani_: Alani Montes in Scythia intra Imaum Montem, NE of
Caspian Sea, Ptol. (VI, 14: 3 (FA 22));=Mugodzhar hills in the Kirghiz
steppes, a southern continuation of the Ural Mountains (PW, i, 1281).
2 _M^o. ripei_: Rhipaei Montes, in which the Don rises, between Sea of
Azof and Baltic, Ptol. (III, 5:15 (FA 17)). See also 596 and PW, 2nd
ser., i, 902-904.
3 _M^o. norosus_: Norossus Mons, NE of Caspian Sea, Ptol. (VI, 14:5 (FA
22)).
4 _M^o. gaspio_: Caspii Montes, between Greater Armenia and Media, Ptol.
(V, 13:3 (FA20)); transferred to the far northeast as the haunt of Gog
and Magog on medieval maps, including CA and CE. See Kret., CE, 202-206.
Rivers
5 _f. Tanai_: Tanais Fluvius, Ptol. (V, 9:1, etc. (FA17));=Don.
6 _f. rumus_: ?Rhymmus Fluvius, which enters the Caspian E of the Rha
(Volga), Ptol. (VI, 14:2, 4 (FA22));=Volga.
7 _f. ras_: Rha Fluvius, Ptol. (V, 9:12, etc. (FA22)); see PW, 2nd ser.,
i, 1-8;=upper Volga.
8 Unnamed eastern tributary of the Ras;=Kama or Viatka.
Other Natural Features
9 _zizera_: Zizera, shown as an island on CD and CA;=the _jazira_ or
island of Peskov in the Volga near Tsaritsin (Yule, Cath., i, 308); Hamy
(395) suggests Sizran.
10 _dixerto de zornade_ | _trenta_ (desert of thirty days). Marco Polo’s
desert of Lop, said to take one month to cross (Polo, i, 196); a long
inscription on CA in the same locality describes this desert and the
devils’ voices heard in it. See 33.
11 On this gulf as it is shown on CE appears the legend: “On these
islands there are many beautiful griffons and falcons, and the
inhabitants of the islands do not venture to seize them without the
permission of the Grand Khan, lord of the Tatars” (Kret., CE, 208; from
Polo, i, 270).
Edifices
(A) North of the River Ras and its Eastern Tributary
12 _zimachi_|_a_(?): ?Sarmatia;=Russia. See also 600.
13 Tomb of the Grand Khan, beneath which an inscription reads thus: _q
... li sie El sepulchro del_ | [gran can] _et fano questa_ | ... _che
quando El uen_ | _portato a sepelir El uen acom|pagniato da_ _molti
homeni | armadi Iquali ozideno queli(?) | Itrouano su le strade et
| dicono che le anime de coloro sono Benede|te per che Le
aconpa|gniano Lanima del gran | can aunaltra uita_. Similar inscription
in corresponding position on CE (209-210) from Polo (i, 246, 250-251).
14 _R^o. de mas_ ... (?): ?Moscaor, CD;=Moscow (Hamy, 394).
15 _cast. | ra._(?): ?Castrama, CA; Castrema, CE;=Kostroma (Hamy, 395).
16 _ezina_(?): ?duplicate of 18.
17 _alla_ ... (?): ?Allania, N of Black Sea, CA;=country of the Alans
(Hallb., 13, 14). See also 604.
18 _etzi|na_: Polo (i, 223-225); Cordier (Ser M. P., 53-55) places
Polo’s Etzina in SW Mongolia, “on the river Hei-shui, called Etsina
[=Etsin Gol] by the Mongols.” See also 16.
(B) Between the Rivers Ras, Rumus, and Tanai
19 _trachia_: Torachi, CA;=Torjok (Hamy, 395).
20 _tufer_: Tifer, CA;=Tver, capital of an important Russian
principality and seat of a bishop in the Middle Ages.
21 _botnia_(?):=?Bothnia; ?duplicate of 608.
22 _zitere|ae_(?): ?[Ar]çetreca, Vat.;=Astrakhan (Pullé, Vat., 8).
23 _racoba_(?): =?
(C) South Side of East Branch of River Rumus
24 _borga_: Borgar, CA; Bolgara, Polo (i, 4, 6-8);=med. Bolghar, on the
Volga 90 m. below Kazan (Yule, Polo, i, 7).
25 _Iornâ_: Ioram, CA;=?Churmansk (Shurminsk) on the Viatka (Yule,
Cath., i, 307).
26 _paschati_(?): Pascherti, CA;=Bashkir. See Hallb., 69-70; Yule, Polo,
ii, 492.
27 _fasa_(?): Fachatim, CA; =?Viatka (Yule, Cath., i, 307).
28 _sebur_(?): Sebur, CA;=?Sibir, Siberia. See Hallb., 465-466; Yule,
Cath., i, 307.
(D) North and Northeast of Mt. Gaspio
29 _Marm|orea_: Marmorea, CA;=? See Yule, Cath., i, 308.
30 _la ... |te_(?):=?
31 _fugur_(?): Sugur, CA. See Hallb., 489;=?
32 _zin.. |lel_(?): Cigicalas, CA; ?Province of Chingintalas, Polo, (i,
212-213);=?region between Lake Baikal and Kamul (Yule, Polo, i, 214-215;
Cordier, Ser M. P., 51-52).
33 _Lop_: On CA Ciutat de Lop N of Lake Yssicol; also a long legend
(from Polo, i, 196-197) describing Lop as a city where travelers rest
themselves and their beasts and supply themselves with provisions before
crossing the desert. See Hallb., 316-318;=vicinity of Lob Nor between
Chinese Turkestan and the Gobi. See also 10.
34 _findaz|ion_: ?Sindachu, Polo (i, 285); Sinacius, CA;=modern
Hsüan-hua, not far from Kalgan on the Great Wall (Yule, Polo, i, 295).
(E) Row West and South of the Gulf of the Three Islands
35 _canp|iton_: Campicion, Polo (Pauthier’s edit., i, 165); Campichu,
Polo (Yule’s edit., i, 219); Campicion=Chancjo of CA (Cordier, CA,
35);=?Kan-chou in Kan-su (Yule, Polo, i, 220; Pauthier, l. c.; Cordier,
l. c.; see also Hallb., 107).
36 _sia ... r_(?):?Siacur, CA;=?
37 _tand|uc_: Tanduch, CA; Tanduc or Tenduc was the name of a plain, a
province, and a city belonging to Prester John; in the province was the
country of Gog and Magog (Polo, i, 240, 284);=? See Yule, Polo, i,
285-288; Paul Pelliot in Journ. Asiatique, May-June, 1922, pp. 595-596.
38 _suchc|hur_(?): ?Sukchur in Tangut, Polo (i, 217);=Su-chou in Kan-su
(Yule, Polo, i, 218).
39 _rabo|.ibi_(?):=?
40 _tign|infor_: ?Chingianfu, Polo (ii, 176-177);=Chinkiang-fu (Yule,
Polo, ii, 177-178).
Legend Between Rivers Ras and Tanai
41 _Idolatri_: On CE a legend applying to city of Castrema (see 15)
explains that idolaters there worship a metal idol without head or hands
(Kret., CE, 210).
II. Far Eastern Asia
The surface of the map northwest of the Terrestrial Paradise has been
rubbed in such a way that many of the names are illegible.
Mountains
The mountain system here corresponds essentially with that of CE;
Ptolemaic names have been given to mountains and rivers.
42 _sa ... s_(?):=?
43 _M^o. osmire_(?): Asmiraei Montes in Serica, Ptol. (VI, 16: 2
(FA23));=?eastern end of T‘ien Shan with the small low hill chains to
the south (PW, ii, 1702).
44 _M^o. Tagurus_: Tagurus Mons in Serica (Θάγουρον ὄρος), Ptol., l. c.
45 _M^o. otorocoras_: Ottorocoras Mons in Serica (ibid.).
46 _M^o. semantinus_: Semanthini Montes in India intra Gangem, Ptol.
(VII, 2:8 (FA26));=?coast range of Annam (PW, iv, 2050; see also Gerini,
376).
47 _M^o. anibi_: Annibi Montes, Ptol. (VI, 16:2 (FA23));=?eastern T‘ien
Shan above Qara Shar and Turfan (PW, i, 2258).
48 _M^o. Tanacomedo_: ?[Mon-]Tana Comedo [rum] (ἣ ὀρεινὴ Κωµηδών) in
Sogdiana, Ptol. (VI, 12: 3 (FA22)).
Rivers
No rivers are shown in this region on either CA or CE; Leardo was
evidently impelled to add them by the study of Ptolemy’s Geography.
49 _f. ocardis_: Oechardes Fl. of Serica, Ptol. (VI, 16: 3 (FA23)).
50 _f..._(?)=?
51 _f. danas_: Demus Fl. of Sogdiana, a branch of the Jaxartes (see
117), Ptol. (VI, 12: 3 (FA22)).
52 _f. bascatis_: Bascatis Fl. of Sogdiana, also a branch of the
Jaxartes (ibid.).
Lake
53 Illeg.: Lacus Issicol, Leardo, 1448; Yssicol, CA;=?either Lake
Balkash or Issiq Köl (Hallb., 563-564).
Edifices
(A) Northwest of the Terrestrial Paradise
54 _sachai_: ?Sacae, Ptol. (VI, 13 (FA22)).
55 _s ... de | iaca_(?): =?
56-62 All illeg.
63 _PARADIXO TERESTO_: The Terrestrial Paradise is placed in Africa on
the earlier Leardo maps as well as on CE. See Wright, Lore, 261-263.
(B) West of Terrestrial Paradise
64 _sina_: ?Sinae, Ptol. (VII, 3 (FA26));=China (see Wright, op. cit.,
271).
65 _R^o de ...|.ge_(?): =?
66 _Tango | ... ti_(?): ?Tangut, Polo (i, 203-205);=Kansu and southern
Mongolia (Hallb., 507-508).
67 _R^o Tarse_: CA and CE have legends to the effect that from Tarsia
came the three Magi (Kret., CE, 197-198; Hallb., 515-517,
267-268);=vicinity of the T‘ien Shan (Hallb., l.c.);=eastern Turkestan
(Kret., l.c.).
Place Names
68 _pinca_(?): ?Pinzu, Mauro (Zurla, 36; name omitted on Santarem’s copy
of Mauro map in his Atlas, 45); ?Piju, Polo (ii, 141; see Hallb.,
409);=P‘ei-chou (Yule, Polo, l.c.).
69 _ruoenci_(?):=?
Longer Inscriptions
70 _prouinzia de og magog doue | foron(?) serati molti Trib ... de
| Judei_ (province of Gog and Magog where many tribes of Jews were
enclosed): Related legends on CA (Buchon and Tastu, 145-146) and CE
(Kret., CE, 202-206); see Hallb., 260-265. On legend of Gog and Magog
see also Wright, Lore, 287-288.
71 _Idolatri_: A reflection of the idolaters of the Grand Khan’s domains
frequently mentioned by Marco Polo.
72 _porte de fero_: The iron gates erected by Alexander the Great to
enclose Gog and Magog, shown on CE; see 70.
73 _statoe de alesandr^o_: The statues of trumpeters set up by Alexander
to keep guard over Gog and Magog, shown on CA and CE; see 70.
74 _dixerto doue eno | molti grifoni_: Griffons were placed in Scythia
by many classical and medieval writers; see Hallb., 232-234.
75 _qu ... si manza | carne de omo_ (here they eat the flesh of man);
Cannibals were placed in these regions by many classical and medieval
writers; they were often associated with Gog and Magog; see Hallb.,
30-32.
III. India
Mountain
76 _M^o. meandrus_: Maeandrus Mons in Farther India, Ptol. (VII, 2:8
(FA26));=?Mahudaung mountains in Upper Burma (Gerini, 51, 832). No
corresponding mountain shown on either CA or CE.
Rivers
The river system is more elaborate than, although somewhat analogous in
its general pattern to, that of CA and CE. The Indus and its branches
seem to be lacking on the Catalan maps. I am unable to trace the origin
of several of the river names.
77 _f. priolada_:=?
78 _f. tindarus_:=?
79 _f. masa|rus_:=?
80 _f. sumas_:=?
81 _f. bindas_: Bindas Fl. of India intra Gangem Fluvium (Ptol., VII, 1,
6 (FA25)); possibly the name is related to that of Bhiwandi near
Bassein, N of Bombay (Tomaschek, in PW, iii, 268-269).
82 _f. madus_: Namadus Fl. of India intra Gangem Fluvium, Ptol. (VII,
1:5 (FA25)).
83 _f. amarus_: Amarus is given as another name for the Indus on Vat.
(Pullé, Vat., 16-17); no Amarus Fl. in Ptol.
84 _f. Indicus_: The course of the Indus as Leardo draws it is derived
from Ptol. (VII, 1:2 (FA25)).
Edifices
85 _predon | corcon_(?): =?
86 _terisin|ti_(?): =?
87 _zatin_(?): ?Zayton, CA; Zaytom, CE; Zayton, Polo (ii, 234-237), an
important medieval Chinese seaport;=? See Yule, Polo, ii, 237-242;
Cordier, CA, 48-49.
88 _cansai_(?): Ciutat de Cansay, CA; Kinsay, Polo (ii, 185-193,
200-208, 215-216);=Hangchow (Yule, Polo, ii, 193; Cordier, CA, 41-42).
89 _India._
90 _R^o de col|onbi_: Pruuinesa Columbo, CA; Coilum, Polo (ii, 375-376);
see Hallb., 153-156;=Quilon (Yule, Polo, ii, 377-380).
91 _balesan_: Balaxan (Polo, Ramusio’s edit., 1583, according to Hallb.,
62); Cjutat de Baldassia, CA; Baldacia, CE;=Badakshan (see Yule, Polo,
i, 157-163).
92 _taseta_: ?Rey del Tauris, CA; Rey Tauris, CE;=Tabriz (Hallb.,
518-522).
Place Names on Coast
93 _penta_: Penta, next place E of Bangala, CA; Pentam, an island, Polo
(ii, 280); see also Hallb., 411-413;=Bintan (Yule, Polo, ii, 280);=“the
Be-Tumah (Island) of the Arab Navigators, the Tamasak Island of the
Malays; and, in short, the Singapore Island of our day” (G. E. Gerini,
in Journ. Royal Asiatic Soc., July, 1905, p. 509; see also Cordier, Ser
M. P., 105); Gerini, 740, suggests that Penta of CA “might have been the
historical continuation of the Ptolemaic” Pentapolis (Ptol., VII, 2:2),
which he places near the mouth of the Chittagong, at the head of the Bay
of Bengal.
94 _taine_: ‘cjutat de cayna | acj finis catayo,’ CA; see Cordier, CA,
39.
95 _bangala_: Bangala, CA; Polo (ii, 98-99);=Bengal.
96 _ianpa_: Janpa, CA; Chamba, Polo (ii, 266-268); see Hallb.,
173-174;=Annamite coast (Cordier, in Yule, Polo, ii, 270);=C‘ha-ban, the
ancient Cham capital (Gerini, 240).
97 _ligo_: Lingo, CA; ?Locac, Polo (ii, 276) (this identification
suggested by Pullé, CE, 46);=?Siam, Borneo, or Malay Peninsula (see
Yule, Polo, ii, 277-280; Hallb., 486; Cordier, Ser M. P., 104-105).
98 _macabin_: ?Mahabar, Mauro; Maabar, Polo (ii. 331-332);=Coromandel
Coast (Hallb., 320-323).
99 _gr_ ... (?): =?
100 _darsi_: =?
101 _caruzia_: =?
102 _butifilli_: Butifilis, CA; Mutfili, Polo (ii, 362);=Motupalli
(Yule, Polo., ii, 362).
103 _caclur_(?): =?
104 _coluto_: =Quilon (see also 90).
105 _cormos_: ?Hormuz (see 158) misplaced: “The c is constantly
substituted for an aspirate by the Italian travellers (e.g. Polo’s
Cormos for Hormuz)” (Yule, Cath., ii, 242). See Hallb., 242-246;=Ormuz.
106 _elli_: Elly, CA; Ely, Polo (ii, 385-386);=Mt. D’Eli or Delly (Yule,
Cath., iv, 74-75).
107 _maganor_: Manganor, CA;=Mangalore (Yule, Cath. iv, 73).
108 _diegei_: Diogil in interior of India, CA;=Deogiri, med. name of
Daulatabad (see Yule, Cath. i, 310; iv, 21).
109 _cora_: ?Cory Promontorium, Ptol. (VII, 1:11(FA25));=Cape Calymere
(E. H. Bunbury, A History of Ancient Geography (2 vols., London, 1879),
ii, 474).
110 _pez.mor_(?): Pescamor, CA;=“perhaps Barçelor” (Yule, Cath., i, 309;
iv, 73).
111 _zitabor_: Chintabor, CA;=St. John’s Point (Yule, Cath., i, 309; iv,
64-65).
112 _parzinar_(?): Paychinor, CA;=Barkur (Yule, Cath., i. 309; iv, 73).
Longer Inscriptions
113 _qui predico | san Tom|axo_ (here preached St. Thomas): On the
traditions regarding St. Thomas in India see Yule, Polo, ii. 353-359;
Wright, Lore, 74, 272, 275, 279.
114 _qui nase|le noxe | dindia_ (here grow the nuts of India): In the
Ramusian version of Polo (ii, 354) occurs the following statement in
connection with the shrine of St. Thomas: “The Christians who have
charge of the church have a great number of Indian Nut trees, whereby
they get their living.”
115 _India dixer|ta._
IV. Central Asia
_Mountain_
116 _M^o. caropanus_: Paropanisus Mons, Ptol. (VI, 11:5, etc.
(FA25));=Hindu Kush (Hallb., 393). See also 123.
Rivers
117 _f. Ixartes_: Jaxartis Fl., Ptol. (VI, 12:1, etc. (FA22)); shown but
not named on CE; Flum d’Organçi, CA; see Hallb., 280-281. On ancient and
medieval knowledge of the Aral Sea, into which the Jaxartes flows, see
W. Barthold, Aral, in Encycl. of Islam, Vol. 1, Leiden and London, 1913,
pp. 419-420.
118 _f. Oxius_: Oxus Fl., Ptol. (VI, 9:1, etc. (FA22)); ?Flum Amo, CA;
not shown on CE; see Hallb., 24-26.
119 _f. rius_: Areios or Arius Fl., Ptol. (VI, 17:2 (FA24)); see Hallb.,
25, 47; PW, ii, 623;=?Hari Rud.
Edifices
120 _organa_: ?Dupl. of 121.
121 _organ|zia_: Flum d’Organçi, CA; see Hallb., 547-549; Yule, Cath.,
iii, 82;=Urganj, famous medieval city of Khorasmia on the lower Oxus.
122 _sagom|oa_(?):=?Samarkand (see Hallb., 445-448).
Place Names
123 _paraponixa_; Paropanisades, Ptol. (VI, 18, etc. (FA24));=northern
Afghanistan (Besnier, 573). See also 116.
124 _archuxia_: Arachosia, Ptol. (VI, 20, etc. (FA24));=Afghanistan
(Besnier, 69). See Hallb., 33-34.
125 _arzeglia_: =? See 129.
126 _dragiana_: Drangiana, Ptol. (VI, 19, etc. (FA24));=Seistan (Hallb.,
192).
127 _margana_: Margiana, Ptol. (VI, 10, etc. (FA22));=environs of modern
Merv (Besnier, 464).
128 _archuxia_: Dupl. of 124.
129 _arzegia_: Dupl. of 125.
130 _mesagit_: Massagitae, Ptol. (VI, 10:2 (FA22)); a people of Scythia
mentioned also by Pliny, Solinus, etc. (Hallb., 339-340).
131 _bocasan_: ?Bocar, CA;=Bukhara (Hallb., 79-80).
132 _orcania_: Probably a repetition of 120 and 121; might, however, be
Hyrcania, Ptol. (VI, 9 (FA22)); see Hallb., 253-254;=part of Mazanderan
(Besnier, 376).
133 _samaria_:=?Samarcand (see 122); Hallb., 448, suggests Samaria in
Palestine misplaced, but adds: “pourtant la chose n’est pas probable.”
134 _zagaspia_: Zaraspa, CA; Zariaspa or Zarispa in Bactriana, Ptol.
(VI, 11:7 (FA22));=Balkh (Besnier, 117). See also Kret., Walsp., 385.
135 _amol_: This name is applied to various towns and to a river in
central Asia on CA and Mauro. Perhaps it represents a confusion of the
name of the town of Amol in Mazanderan with that of the Amu Daria
(Oxus). See Hallb., 24-26.
136 _seno_: ?Sena or Sina in Margiana, Ptol. (VI, 10:3 (FA22)).
137 _lidazel_:=?
V. Persia
Lake and River
138, 139 Unnamed lake and river. On CA and CE the river rises in two
lakes, the eastern and western being named on CA Mar Dargis (=Lake Van)
and Mar de Marga (=Lake Urmia) respectively (Hallb., 43-44, 337-338). On
Piz. the river is Flum Chexi; if Chexi is Khuzistan (see 164) the river
possibly represents the Karun.
Desert
140 _Sarmania | dixerta_: Carmania Deserta, Ptol. (VI,
6(FA20));=interior of the modern Kerman. See also 153.
Edifices
(A) South Shore of Caspian Sea
141 _dise.n_(?): Deystam, CA;=?Dehistan, a district of Mazanderan
(Hallb., 188).
142 _mexa|ndra_: Masandra, CA;=Mazanderan.
143 _galen_: Cap de Cilan, Cillam, Gellam, CA;=Gilan (Hallb., 217-218).
144 _aspaur_(?): Achdio, CA; Asidio, CE;=?
145 _godasp|i_: Gudaspu, Con. (59); Codaspi, Piz.;=?
146 _Turis_: Rey del Tavris in central Persia, CA;=Tabriz (Hallb.,
518-522). See also 92.
(B) Interior
147 _trachse_: ?Dupl. of 67.
148 _zarma|tia_: ?Sarmatia, misplaced; see, however, 12, 600.
149 _siria_: Ciutat de Ssiras, CA; Siras, CE;=Shiraz (Hallb., 470-471).
150 _parthi|a_: Parthia, Ptol. (VI, 5 (FA20));=Khurasan (Hallb.,
394-395)
151 _R^o odmi|n_(?): =?
152 _R^o de persia_: Persis, Ptol. (VI, 4 (FA20));=Persia.
(C) Persian Gulf Coast
153 _Sarmania abitada_: Carmania, Ptol. (VI, 8 (FA20));=Kerman. See also
140.
Place Names, North Coast of Persian Gulf
154 _semenar_: Femenat, CA; Semenat, Polo (ii, 398-399);=Somnath (Yule,
Polo, ii, 400).
155 _demonela_: Damonela, CA;=Daibul (Yule, Cath., i, 309).
156 _chetimo_: Chetimo, CA;=Kij (ibid.).
157 _oncon_: Nocran, CA (omitted on Choix de doc. reproduction of
CA);=Makran (ibid.).
158 _ormixon_: Hormision, CA;=“Old Hormuz on the Continent” (ibid.). See
105.
159 _traman_: Creman, CA;=Kerman. See 153.
160 _usu_: Ussn, CA; “Husn Amarat? (see Edri., 1, 379 [this reference is
to P. A. Jaubert, Géographie d’Edrisi, traduite de l’arabe en français
(Recueil de voyages et de mémoires publié par la Société de Géographie,
Vols. 5 and 6, Paris, 1836-1840), i, 363, 390]) Any castle is Husn”
(ibid.);=Essina (Lelewel, ii, 55).
161 _cadome_(?): =?
162 _seros_: Serans, CA; Sustar, Piz.;=?Siraf (Yule, l.c.); Sustar,
Mediceo;=Shushtar (ibid.);=?“rivière Schirin” (Lelewel, l.c.).
163 ... _ch_ ... (?): =?
164 _chesi_: Chesi, CA;=Khuzistan (Yule, Cath., i, 308); shown as an
island on Piz.;=“Scheich”(?Sheikh Shu‘aib Island) (La R., i, 65).
VI. Mesopotamia and Syria
Rivers and Lakes
165-168 The river system is more accurately drawn than on CA and CE,
inasmuch as the Euphrates and Tigris join before reaching the Persian
Gulf. On CA they enter the Gulf separately; on CE the Euphrates swings
around into Egypt, entering the Nile just above Babilonia (Cairo). All
three maps show a connection between the Euphrates and Mediterranean
through the Orontes, but only Leardo makes the Jordan communicate with
the Euphrates. On CA and CD an island, Zizera (see also 9), on CD said
to be the site of Nineveh, is shown in the Euphrates, but on CE and
Leardo this has become a lake. On CA the three lakes along the Jordan
are labeled from N to S: Aquaron (=Lake Hule), Mar de Gallilea (=Sea of
Galilee), and Mar Gamora (sea of Gomorrah,=Dead Sea).
165 _f. tigris_.
166 _f. eufrates_.
167 _f. Jordano_.
168 _f ... soldi|no_: =Orontes (Kret., Port., 670).
Edifices
(A) Along the Tigris
169 _moxor_: Moror, CA; Moxor, Dalorto map (La R., i, 64);=Mosul
(ibid.).
170 _apfes_: Aipsa, Vat.; Suq al-Ahvaz of the Arabic itineraries (Pullé,
Vat., 13, 31, 34).
171 _Inporio | asiriorum_ (empire of the Assyrians); Assyria, Ptol. (VI,
1 (FA20)).
172 _seruxia|na_: Susiana, Ptol. (VI, 3 (FA20));=Khuzistan (Besnier,
726).
173 _babilo_ ...(?): Babylon or Babylonia. See also 323.
(B) In Syria
174 _ga_ ...| _a_(?).
175 _Jeruxalem_: On the placing of Jerusalem at the center of the
earth’s surface see Wright, Lore, 259-261.
176 _c ...r_(?): =?
Place Names
(A) In Mesopotamia
177 _baldac_: Ciutat de Baldach, CA;=Baghdad.
178 _mexapo_: =?Mesopo[tamia].
179 _birzi_: =?Birejik.
180 _megan_: ?Mogan, Jordanus of Sévérac (Jourdain Catalani de Sévérac,
Mirabilia descripta: Les merveilles de l’Asie, edit. by Henri Cordier,
Paris, 1925, 93-94; Hallb., 356-357);=plain of Mugan near junction of
Araxes and Kur.
181 _malaxim_: Malasia, CA:=Malatia.
(B) Interior of Syria
182 _alepo_: =Aleppo.
183 _antozia_(?): =?Antioch.
(C) Syrian Coast
184 _soldin_: =Suweidiyeh, near ancient Seleucia (Kret., Port., 670).
185 _laliza_: =Latakia (ibid.).
186 _tortoxa_: =Tartus (ibid.).
187 _tripoli_: =Tripoli (ibid., 671).
188 _zibele_: =Jebeleh (ibid.).
189 _baruto_: =Beirut (ibid.).
190 _achre_: =Acre (ibid., 672).
191 _gafo_: =Jaffa (ibid.).
192 _larixa_: =El-‘Arish (ibid., 673).
VII. Arabia
Mountains
193 _M^o. sinai_.
194 _M^o. felizis arabie_: Montana Arabiae Felicis, which, according to
Ptol. (V, 17: 3; V, 19: 1 (FA19)), divides Arabia Petraea and Arabia
Deserta on the north from Arabia Felix on the south;=Ash-Shera’
mountains (see Alois Musil, The Northern Heǧâz, New York, 1926, 255; the
same, Arabia Deserta, New York, 1927, 502-503).
195 _M^o. prionous_: Prionotus Mons on S coast of Arabia, Ptol. (VI,
7:10 (FA21));=?
Edifices
(A) On Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean
196 _bazar_: Bassara, CA;=Basra.
197 _golfta|ta_: Golfaca, CA; Golfathan, Con. (42);=? See Jiménez de la
Espada, 205.
198 _Ieita_ (?): Jepta, CA; Egepta, Con. (42);=?
199 _cabat_: Cabat, CA; Con. (42); ?Calatu, Polo (ii, 449-451);=Qalhat
in ‘Oman (Yule, Polo, ii, 451; Hallb., 97-98).
200 _letrob_(?): Ietrib, CA;=?Yathrib, the ancient name for Medina,
misplaced.
201 _arabia_.
(B) Red Sea Coast
202 _senea_: Seneha, CA;=San‘a (Hallb., 468-469).
203 _fidom|at_: Adromant, CA;=?Hadhramaut.
204 _amei_: Mey, CA; =?
205 _ald.|p_(?): Adep, Adem, CA;=Aden (Hallb., 8-10).
206 _eta_|...(?): =?
207 _gaida_(?): Guja, CA;=?Jidda.
208 _naba|tes_: =Nabataeans (Besnier, 509).
209 (?) Illeg.: =?
(C) Interior
210 _sabea_: Arabia Sebba, CA (which gives an illustration and legend
relating to the Queen of Sheba);=Saba or Sheba.
211 _La mecha_: Ciutat de Mecha, with legend, CA;=Mecca.
Regional Names
212 _Arabia | dixerta_: Arabia Deserta, Ptol. (V, 19 (FA19)).
213 _Arabia | petroxa_: Arabia Petraea, Ptol. (V, 17 (FA19)).
VIII. Asia Minor
River
214 _ff. rosso_: Odoric of Pordenone, Palatine version (Yule, Cath., ii,
102, n. 4); Pegalotti, 7 (ibid., iii, 164);=“the tributary of the
Araxes, the Kizil Chai which waters Khoi” (Cordier, in the same, iii,
164, n. 1).
Edifice
215 _Tr..._(?): Troia;=Troy.
Place Names
(A) Interior
216 _saustia_: Sauasto, CA;=anct. Sebastea, mod. Sivas.
217 _Tabaca|san_: =?
218 _suilia_ (?): =?
219 _sis_: Scisia, CA;=Sis.
220 _almesia_: =Amasia.
221 _laranda_: =anct. Laranda, mod. Karaman.
222 _anguri_(?): =Angora.
223 _aladachia_: =anct. Laodicea Combusta, mod. Ladik.
224 _filadelfi|a_: =anct. Philadelphia, mod. Ala Shehr.
225 _castamena_: =Kastamuni.
226 _congre_: =Changri.
227 _achrioteri_(?): =?Ak Shehr.
228 _Jachrie_(?): =?
229 _Janisari_: =Yeni Shehr.
230 _cariacasar_: =?Afiun Qarahisar.
231 _nicomidia_.
232 _bursa_: =Brusa.
233 _lizia_: =anct. Lycia.
234 _perga|mo_: =anct. Pergamum.
235 _licn|ia_(?): =?anct. Lycaonia, misplaced.
(B) Black Sea Coast
236 _Tripoli_: =Tireboli (Kret., Port., 648).
237 _cirisonda_: =Kiresün (ibid.).
238 _lauatiza_: Lauona, CA;=Vona Bay (ibid.).
239 _simiso_: =Samsun (ibid.).
240 _sinopi_: =anct. Sinope, mod. Sinob. (ibid.).
241 _do..s..l.._(?): Docastelli (ibid., 650);=Kidros (ibid.).
242 _borli_: =?Boli (which, however, is in the interior).
243 _samastro_: =Amasra (ibid.).
244 _chio_: Thio, CA;=anct. Thios Prom. (ibid.).
245 _punta rachia_: =anct. Heraclea Pontica, mod. Bender Ergli (ibid.).
246 _algiro_: =Anadoli Kawak (ibid.).
(C) Aegean coast
247 _lesm_|_ire_: =Smyrna (ibid., 653).
IX. Armenia, Caucasia, and Southeastern Russia
Mountain
248 Mt. Ararat is labeled _larche de noe_.
Rivers
249 A river connecting the Sea of Azof with the Caspian is shown on CA
and CE, but without the branches reaching the Black Sea; on Piz. this
river is named Flm’ Cicopo (the Cicopa of CA and other portolan maps
being a north branch of the Kuban delta; Kret., Port., 646);=Kuban River
(ibid.).
Caspian Sea
250 _Mare de Abachu_(?) (Sea of Baku): Mar de Sarra e de Bacu, CA; Mar
de Sala e de Bacu, CE.
Edifices
(A) West Coast of the Caspian Sea
251 Illeg.: =?
252 _famach_|_i_: Siamachi, Vat. (Pullé, 9);=?Shemakha (ibid., 8, n. 4).
253 _baram_|_achi_: Barmachu, CA;=?
254 _abachu_: Bacu, CA;=Baku.
(B) Between the Black and Caspian Seas
255 _porte_ | _deuee_(?): ?Porte de Fer (see 72 and Hallb., 414).
256 _armin_|_ia_.
257 _armin_|_ia_: Dupl. of 256.
(C) Coasts of Sea of Azof and Black Sea
258 _..na_(?): =?Tana, important medieval commercial city at mouth of
the Don;=mod. Azof (Kret., Port., 645; Hallb., 503-504).
259 _trab_|_exon_|_da_: =Trebizond (Kret., Port., 648).
Place Names in Southeastern Russia
260 _seuastopoli_: =anct. and med. Sebastopolis on coast of Abkhasia
(Kret., Port., 647).
261 _auogaxi_: =Abkhasia (ibid., 646).
262 _mengreli_: Mingrelians or Mingrelia (ibid., 647).
263 _zichia_: =“regional name of Circassia” (ibid., 646).
264 _copa_: =Copa (ibid.).
265 _matraca_: =Matrega, Genoese trading town on Taiman Peninsula
(ibid.).
X. Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea
266 _Ma....dicho_: Mare Indicho.
267 _Mare de persia._
268 _M......._: Mare rosso.
269 ... _Taprobana_: Trapobana, CA, CE; the Taprobane of the ancient
geographers was Ceylon; in the Middle Ages the name was probably applied
to Sumatra (Cordier, CA, 57-58; Kret., CE, 107; for suggested
identifications of places shown in Trapobana on CA see Gerini, 646-647).
270 _famda_|_bo_(?): ?Regio Femarum (for Feminarum) on island of Iana,
CA, which is perhaps a reflection of Polo’s story of the Male and Female
Islands (ii, 404-405); see also Gerini, 647, n. 2.
271 Illeg.: =?
272 _m..._(?): ?Malao, on both Trapobana and Iana, CA; Mallao, on Jaua,
CE:=?.
273 _leuia_: Leroa, on Trapobana, CA;=?
274 _y. caina_: Caynam, CA, CE;=?Andaman Islands (Buchon and Tastu, p.
137).
275 _ixole doue na_[se] _p_ | _et altre spe_[z] _ie_ (islands where
pepper and other spices are produced): Legend on CA runs: “In the sea of
the Indies are 7548 islands of which we cannot enumerate here the
marvelous riches, not only in gold and silver but also in spices and
precious stones”; from Polo (ii, 264), who also, like Leardo, mentions
pepper.
276 _y^a de ceridus_: Ceredim, CE; ?Serendib, Arabic name for Ceylon.
277 _y ..corto_(?): ?Setrocha, CE;=?Socotra.
278 Nameless island, corresponds in shape and position to the Iana of CA
and Jaua of CE;=Java (Cordier, CA, p. 61);=Sumatra (Gerini, p. 834).
279 Legends on this island illegible; it is, however, similar in shape
to Salam or Silan of CE;=?Ceylon.
280 Illeg.: =?
281 _y .. siliraoil_(?): =?
XI. Southern Africa
Mountains
282 _M^o elefans_: Elephas Mons on the east coast of Africa, Ptol. (IV,
7:10 (FA15));=Ras el-Fil (Vivien de St. Martin, 288).
283 _Monti doue se caua m ... ro_ [molto oro, Leardo, 1448] (mountain
where much gold is mined): Pliny (Nat. hist., VI, 189) mentions the
abundance of gold in Ethiopia between Napata and the Red Sea.
Edifices
(A) South Shore of the Red Sea
284 _gobari_: Zobar or Gobar, Leardo, 1448;=?Zanzibar (Santarem, iii,
437).
285 _uigie_: ?Vuigie, in interior of Prester John’s realm, Mauro;=?
286 _tobo_|_let_(?): =?
287 _scuendn_(?): Stuendi, Mauro;=?Suakin.
288 _traged_|_it_(?): Tragoditi, Mauro; Troglodytica Regio, in East
Africa, Ptol. (IV, 7: 27 (FA 15));=country along W coast of Red Sea
between Egypt and Abyssinia (Vivien de St. Martin, 471-474).
289 _satoris_(?): Catoris, Mauro;=?
290 _basag .._ |_r_(?): =?
(B) Eastern “Horn” of Africa
291 _acoan_: Aicoum de Afra, Leardo, 1448 (Santarem, iii, 437); Hascum,
Mauro;=?Axum in Abyssinia (La R., ii, 115).
292 _safola_: Sofrala, Mauro;=?Sofala.
293 _medi_|_fola_: =?—294 _prouinzie_ | _dofir_: P. Davaro,
Mauro;=?Dawaro in Abyssinia (La R., ii, 113, 132).
295 _gfen_|_uj_(?): =?
296 _flmodo_(?): =?
297 _dela .._ (?): =?
(C) Central Region
298 _milua_|_s_(?): =?
299 _Inperio del_ | _presto Jani_ (Empire of Prester John): Prester John
is shown in this part of Africa on CA and CE. On the origins of the
legend of Prester John and on the transference of the realm of this
mythical potentate from Asia to Africa in popular tradition see Kret.,
CE, 99-101; Wright, Lore, 283-286.
300 _ta . . ._ |_n_(?): =?
301 _grafai_: =?
302 _fe . . ._(?): =?
303 _mesa_: Con. (36) says that Prester John always resides at Malsa
(Jiménez de la Espada, 222; La R., i, 61).
304 _carap_(?): =?
Longer Legends
305 _DIXERTO DEXABITADO PER CALDO_ (desert uninhabited on account of
heat): Leardo, 1448, Walsperger, 1448, and Borgia, 1452, “all show a
similar torrid zone, though the theory was protested against by Fra
Mauro, Diogo Gomez, and doubtless by others” (A. Rainaud, Le continent
austral: hypothèses et découvertes, Paris, 1893, 199); on the
development and history of this theory see especially Rainaud, passim;
also Wright, Lore, 18, 157-161.
306 _dixerto_.
307 _qui nase homeni | che ano Il uolto | nel petto_ (here are born men
who have the face in the chest): Such monsters are described by Solinus,
31,5; Isidore, Etym., XI, 3, 17; and shown on the Hereford map (Miller,
Mappaemundi, iv, 45).
XII. Middle and Lower Nile Region
Mountains
308 _M^o. dimas_: Mons dimas, Mauro;=?
309 _M^o. libuzio_: Montes Libyci, Ptol. (IV, 5: 19 (FA14));=escarpment
overlooking Nile Valley on W (PW, xiii, 148).
310 _M^o. pilazi_: Mons Pollaza, Mauro; ?Pylaei Montes in Ethiopia,
Ptol. (IV, 7: 26 (FA15));=?
311 _M^o. arazas_: Arangas Mons, in Lybia Interior, Ptol. (IV, 6: 12
(FA15));=?
Rivers and Lakes
312 _f. nillo_: The course of the Nile and its tributaries corresponds
essentially with that of CE (Kret., CE, 89-91; see also 338).
313 _f. stapus_: Astapus Fl. in Ethiopia, Ptol. (IV, 7:24 (FA15));=Bahr
al-Azraq, or Blue Nile (PW, ii, 1775-1776; Besnier, 96).
Other Natural Features
314 _Etiopia dezito_: Ethiopian desert.
315 _Libia dixerta_; Deserta Libya, Ptol. (IV, 3:27 (FA13)).
316 _dixerta arenoxa | qui nase animali quat|rupedi che ano Il uolto
| domo_ (sandy desert where are born quadruped animals which have the
face of a man): Possibly refers to the mantichora of Pliny (Nat. hist.,
VIII, 21; see Wright, Lore, 468).
317 _y^a. meroe_: Island of Meroë, Ptol. (IV, 7 (FA15)).
Edifices
(A) West Coast of Red Sea
318 _filistina_: =Palestine.
319 _aid . p_(?): Aydip, CA;=Aidhab.
320 _cidor_(?): =?
321 _climas_: Climas, Mauro;=?
(B) On the Nile and Stapus
322 _alesan|dria_: Alexandria, CA.
323 _babilonia_: Babillonja, CA; Babilonia, CE;=the medieval name of Old
Cairo.
324 _sacon_: Sohan, CA; Soan, CE;=anct. Syene, mod. Aswan.
325 _bac ._(?): =?
326, 327, 328, 329 Illeg.
(C) On North Shore of West African Gulf
330, 331 Illeg.
Place Name, West Coast of Red Sea
332 _tes_ (or _tos_): ?Chos, CA; Con.;=?Qoseir
XIII. Upper Nile Region and West Africa
Mountains
333 _M^o. Bardtion_(?): Bardetus Mons in Ethiopia Interior, Ptol. (IV,
8: 6 (FA15)).
334 _M^o. Lune docho | nasitur nillo_ (Mountains of the Moon from which
the Nile rises): According to a long legend on CE these mountains are
called “Gibel Camar by the Saracens, which means Mountains of the Moon
in our tongue”; they are so high that although they lie on the equator
both poles may be seen from them. The famous Mountains of the Moon were
first mentioned by Ptolemy (IV, 8: 3); see also Kret., CE. 91-92.
335 _M^o. capis_: Caphas Mons in Libya Interior, Ptol. (IV, 6: 9
(FA15)); see PW, x, 1892.
336 _M^o. deo ue | chulum_(?): ?Deorum Currus Mons in Libya Interior,
Ptol. (IV, 6:9 (FA15)); farthest point south on W coast of Africa
reached by Hanno;=Mt. Sagres in Sierra Leone (Vivien de St. Martin,
394-396);=Cameroons Mountain (see articles by J. de Hart in Journ.
African Soc., xxv, 1926, 264-277 (noted in Geogr. Rev., xvi, 1926,
661-662), and by R. Hennig in Geogr. Zeitschr., xxxiii, 1927, 378-392).
Island
337 _y^a. de prenje_: ?Insula Palola, Carignano, Piz. (Fischer, 141);=?
Rivers, Lake, Seacoast
338 The upper course of the Nile with the great lake and its tributaries
rising in the Mountains of the Moon (334) corresponds essentially to CE
(Kret., CE, 89-91); CE, however, shows a subterranean passage of the
river W of Meroe. On ancient and medieval theories regarding the course
of the Nile, see Simar, passim; Langenmaier, 47-48; Wright, Lore,
304-306. See also 312, 334.
339 The bay with the red, cross-shaped island is represented on CE by an
island in the delta of the West-African river.
Desert
340 _mare | arenoxe_ (Sandy Sea): On CE there are two legends indicating
sandy areas in West Africa (Kret., CE, 96).
Edifices
(A) North of Nile-Senegal
341 _R^o doga|n ._(?): ?Organa, CA; Rey dOrgana, CE;=empire of Ghana or
Kanem (La R., i, 136).
342 _R^o....._(?): =?
343 _almesia_: Almesia, CA;=Mzab (La R., i, 136).
344 _ma .._ (?): =?
(B) South of Nile-Senegal
345-349 Illeg.
350 _R^o m...|nel_(?): =?.
351 Illeg.
Place Names
(A) Between Mt. Bardtion and the Mountains of the Moon
352 _elcor_(?): Probably an Arabic name with article, el;=?
353 _anesa_: =?
354 _elundia_: see 352;=?
355 _dendenie_: ?Dendi of Antony Malfant’s narrative of a voyage to Tuat
in 1447 (La R., i, 154).
356 _dris|na_: =?
357 _solla_: Soll, CE; ?Sala, Idrisi;=?Sele, S of Timbuktu (Miller,
Arab., 162).
358 _burga_: Burga, CE, a mountain in Gotonye, Con. (34);=?Burda,
“mountain region of the Sudan E of river Shari, which flows into Lake
Chad, and S of town of Kengas” (Jiménez de la Espada, 186).
359 _quilan_: Quilam, CE;=?
(B) North of Headwaters of the Nile
360 _ganugia_: ?Geugeu, CA;=Gâo (La R., i, 136).
361 _geuene_: Ginyia, CA; Guineua, CE;=Ghana (La R., i, 135; Kret., CE,
96-97).
362 _atelas_: =?
363 _ansica_: Anzicha, CA;=In Ziza (La R., i, 136, 138).
364 _tablet_: Tabelbelt, CA; Tibalbert, Con. (30);=Tabelbert (La R., i,
118).
365 _artixe_: =?
366 _tocor_: Tacort, CA;=Tuggurt (La R., i, 136). See also 368.
(C) Eastern Row of Names N of River Senegal
367 _tutega_: Tutega, Vilad.;=Tijikja (La R., i, 135).
368 _tocor_: Dupl. of 366.
369 _udam_: Sudan, CA;=Sudan (La R., i, 136).
370 _tusont_: =?
371 _tagaza_: Tagaza, CA;=Teghaza (La R., i, 136). See also 373.
372 _getulla_: Gaetulia, Ptol. (IV, 6: 15 (FA15));=desert region S of
Morocco.
373 _tagase_: Dupl. of 371.
374 _temenadis_: Temenasin, CA;=?Tlemsen.
375 _Regnio de belemon_: Rex Belmarin, Bianco; “dynasty of Beni Marin
which ruled in Fez in the thirteenth century and at Tremcen [Tlemsen]
until 1407” (Simar, 295, from Santarem, iii, 368).
(D) Western Row of Names N of River Senegal
376 _Fisengan_: Ihsengam, Vilad.; “name now used by the negroes to
designate the sandy regions on the west bank of the Senegal” (La R., i,
134).
377 _uilodesci_: This name is so much like that of the map-maker, Mecia
de Viladestes, that one is almost tempted to believe that his signature
has somehow found its way as a place name to Leardo’s map.
378 _tasu_: =?
379 _mascarota_: Mascarota, CA; Masquarota, CE;=Tamgrut (La R., i, 137).
380 _agof_: =?
381 _dunardin_: ?Tarudant, Idrisi (Miller, Arab., 177);=?Tarudant.
382 _ubêda_: Ubaâduch, CA;=?
383 _altamar_: Alamara, CA; Zichialhamara, Con. (29);=the Saghuiet
el-Hamra in northern Rio d’Oro (La R., i, 134).
384 _safinet_(?): =?
XIV. North Africa
Mountains
To the mountain range of North Africa, a stock feature on medieval maps,
Leardo adds at random garbled Ptolemaic names.
385 _M^o. Jouis_: Dios vel Jovis Mons in Province of Africa (Tunisia),
Ptol. (IV, 3: 18 (FA13)), badly out of place;=?Jebel Zaghwan, SW of
Tunis (Müller, i, 635).
386 _M^o. galcas_: Zalacus Mons in Mauretania Caesariensis (Algeria),
Ptol. (IV, 2, 14 (FA12));=a part of the Lesser Atlas SW of Algiers (see
Müller, i, 601).
387 _M^o. usalatu|s_: Usalaetus Mons in Province of Africa (Tunisia),
Ptol. (IV, 3:18 (FA13));=Jebel Usselet near site of Hadrumetum (Müller,
i, 635).
388 _M^o. masarus_: Mampsarus Mons in Province of Africa (Tunisia),
Ptol. (l. c.).
389 _Mons. bur.ea_(?): Buzara Mons where Mauretania Caesariensis, the
Province of Africa, and Libya Interior meet, Ptol. (IV, 2:16; IV, 3:16
(FA13));=?Jebel bu-Kahil, S of Bu-Saada, Algeria (PW, iii, 1094).
390 _M^o flruxu_(?): Phrouraesus Mons in Mauretania Caesariensis
(Algeria), Ptol. (IV, 2:16 (FA12));=?Jurjura, SE of Algiers (Müller, i,
602).
391 _M^o. garis_: Garas Mons in Mauretania Caesariensis, Ptol. (l. c.).
392 _Alta mons_: Atlas Mons Minor on Atlantic coast of Mauretania
Tingitana (Morocco), Ptol. (IV, 1:2 (FA12)); see PW, ii, 2119.—
River
393 A river rising SW of the Atlas Mountains and entering the western
Mediterranean is shown on many fourteenth and fifteenth century maps. On
CA, instead of rising in a lake with three tributaries, as Leardo
represents it, the river encircles the city of Sigilmessa (=Tissimi, in
oasis of Tafilet, Miller, Arab., 177), where it is entered by four
tributaries from the south; a branch is also shown entering the
Atlantic. On CE the river corresponds essentially to that of CA, except
that the branch to the Atlantic has been made the main stream and the
arm leading to the Mediterranean has been separated from that sea and
converted into a doubled-channeled tributary of the main stream.
Edifices
(A) On or Near the Mediterranean Coast
394, 395 Illeg.
396 _africa_(?): The Roman Province of Africa (Tunisia), Ptol. (IV, 3
(FA13)).
397 _tunixi_: =Tunis (Kret., Port., 679).
398 _bona_: =Bône (ibid., 680).
399 _se ..._(?): Septa of Portolan charts;=Ceuta (ibid., 683).
(B) Interior, Along Northern Base of Mountain Range
400 Illeg.
401 _bizesta_(?): ?Bichest, CA;=?Biskra.
402, 403 Illeg.
Place Names
(A) On Mediterranean Coast
404 _lucha_: =“A place near Cape Lukka” or Ras el-Melh (Kret., Port.,
675).
405 _c. bonand|rea_: Cape Bonandrea of Portolan charts;=Ras el-Hillil
(ibid.).
406 Illeg.
407 _bnicho_(?): Bernicho of Portolan charts;=anct. Berenice, mod.
Benghazi (ibid., 676).
408 Illeg.
409 _licodia_: =Ras el-Omja (ibid.).
410 _siden_: ?Sidra, CA;=island of Abu Sheifa (Bu Sceifa of Italian
maps) (ibid.).
411 _casero sensor_: =Sensur (ibid., 677).
412 _rasimabaxi_: =Ras el-Makhbez (ibid.).
413 _stora_: =Stora (ibid., 680).
414 _ancol_: =Collo (ibid.).
415 _zizeri_: =Jijeli (ibid.).
416 _buzia_: =Bougie (ibid., 681).
417 _titelis_: =Cape Tedless (ibid.).
418 _arzeia_: =Arzeu (ibid., 682).
419 _or.m_(?): =Oran (ibid.).
420 _serem_: =?River Senam (ibid.).
421 _om.e_(?): =Honain, Cape Noe (ibid.).
422 _milela_: =Mellila (ibid., 683).
423 _larandie_: Larcudia of the Portolan charts (ibid.);=?
424 _molc|mar_(?): Molcemar of Portolan charts;=Alhucemas Islands
(ibid.).
(B) Interior of Morocco
425 _manosa_: ?Manora of Portolan charts;=Mehedia (Kret., Port., 684).
426 _mosa_: ?Messa of Portolan charts;=?Massa (ibid., 685).
427 _maran_: =?
428 _zemar_: Zamor of Portolan charts;=Azammur (ibid., 684).
(C) Coast of Morocco
429 _ninfe_: Niffe of Portolan charts;=Casablanca (ibid.).
430 _sofin_: =Safi (ibid.).
XV. Black and Mediterranean Seas
Names of Seas
431 [Mare] _mauro_(?): Unnamed on CA and CE;=Black Sea.
432 [Mare] _de adriano_: =Adriatic Sea.
433 _Mare Me_[diterr]_ano_.
434 _Mare de Leone_: =Gulf of Lions.
Islands
435 _Cip_[ro]: =Cyprus.
436 _rodo_: =Rhodes.
437 _sio_: =Chios (Kret., Port., 660).
438 _arcipellago_.
439 _negropo_[nte]: =Euboea.
440 _y^a de chrete_ (?): =Crete.
441 _crsicha_.
442 _sardignia_.
443 _minoricha_: =Minorca.
444 _Maioricha_: =Majorca.
445 Illeg.
XVI. Southwestern Europe
Rivers
446 The Guadalquivir: similar course on CA and CE.
447 _f. lizer_: =Loire.
448 _f. stequana_: =Seine.
449 _f. rode|nus_: =Rhône.
Edifices
450 _gr ..._ (?): =Granada.
451 Illeg.
452 _span ..._ (?): =Spain.
453, 454 Illeg.
455 _bart.|nia_: =Brittany.
456 _fr ... |a_: =France.
457 Illeg.
458 _. ugn ..._(?): =?Avignon.
459 _proui|.._(?): =?Provence.
Place Names
(A) Atlantic Coast
460 _sibilia_(?): =Seville.
461 _lisbo|na_.
462 _galizia_.
463 _astora_: =Asturias.
464 _ganti|et_: =?
(B) Mediterranean Coast
465 _malica_: =Malaga.
466 _sarauignia_: =Salobrena (Kret., Port., 581).
467 _al_(?)_meria_.
467a _carta._(?)_enia_: =Cartagena.
468 _lacantera_:= Alicante (ibid., 584-585).
469 _denia_.
470 _toloxa_: =Tolosa.
471 _ualenza_: =Valencia.
472 _tortoxa_: =Tortosa.
473 _sale_: =Salou.
474 _taragona_.
475 _barzelona_.
476 _anpurie_: =Ampurias.
477 _coliuro_: =Collioure
478 _narbona_.
479 _monpolier_: =Montpelier.
480 _aquemorte_: =Aigues Mortes.
Regional Name
481 _guascognia_: =Gascony.
XVII. Atlantic Ocean and Islands
482 _Mare de spagnia._
483 Illeg.;=Canary Islands.
484 _Ingilterra._
485 _Schoz._(?): Scotia;=Scotland.
XVIII. Central Europe
Mountains
486 The Alps run due north from northern Italy.
Rivers and Lake
487 _f. renus_: =Rhine.
488 The Elbe, unnamed (see, however, 513); similar course on CE, CA,
Bianco, and other maps.
489 _f. prexant_: =?
490 _f. sudum^r_(?): Sudumera, CA;=river of Sandomir, or Vistula (Hamy,
402).
491 _lacus senire_(?): ?Lacus Alech, CD; Lacus Nerja, CA;=?Bay of Putzig
(Hamy, 400).
Edifices
492-497 All illeg.
498 _polana_: Polonia, CA;=Poland.
499 _panon|ia_: =?anct. Pannonia.
500 _carcou|ia_(?): Cracouja, CA;=Cracow.
501 _podol|.a_: =Podolia.
Place Names
(A) On the Rhine
502 _austrua_(?): =Austria.
503 _colognia_.
(B) Between Rhine and Elbe and on Elbe
504 _bemia_: =Bohemia.
505 _praga_: =Prague.
506 _drensna_: =Dresden.
507 _misen_: =Meissen.
508 _guse_: Guise, CA;=Würtzen (Hamy, 407).
509 _aquis_: =?
510 _mogropes_: Mangobror, CA;=?Magdeburg.
511 _argenimon_|_de_: Argent Munde, CA; Tangermünde (Buchon and Tastu,
49).
512 _stendar_: =Stendal.
513 _albia_: River name made into a place name;=Elbe.
(C) Between Elbe and Baltic
514 _gara gorda_(?): Garagona, CA;=Glogau (Hamy, 403).
515 _schlauonia_: =Sclavania, the name applied to the Slavic frontier
region of Germany in the Middle Ages (Spruner-Mencke, Histor. Atlas,
Mittelalter, No. 31).
516 _sasonia_: =Saxony.
517 _ludus|maior_: Ludis Magna, CA; Lundis Magna on Ptolemaic maps of
the type called Scandico-Byzantine by Nordenskiöld (Periplus, 88);
Bondismaguc, Con. (7; see Jiménez de la Espada 184-185);=?Lüdershagen,
near Stralsund (Lelewel, ii, 65; Hamy, 400).
518 _dazia_: =Denmark.
519 _prusia_: =Prussia; see 523.
520 _colbera_: =Kolberg.
521 _alec_: Alech, CA;=Hela (Lelewel, ii, 65).
522 _stetin_.
523 _pursia_: Dupl. of 519.
524 _godanse_: Godansse, CA;=Danzig.
525 _scheipe_(?): Scorpe, CA;=?Stolp (Hamy, 400).
526 _Sudana_: Sudona, CA;=Sandecz (ibid., 402).
527 _pante|nia_: Prutenja, CA;=Königsberg on the Pregel (ibid., 401).
528 _eue_(?): =?
529 _albig_: Albing, CA;=Elbing (ibid., 402).
XIX. Italy
River
530 _f. po_.
Edifices
531 Illeg.: =?Genoa.
532 Illeg.: =?Florence.
533 Illeg.: =?Rome.
534 Illeg.: =?Naples.
535 Illeg.: Vignette represents St. Mark’s and the Campanile;=Venice.
Place Names
536 _. . g . ._ (?): =?Reggio di Calabria.
537 _cotron_: =Cotrone (Kret., Port., 618).
538 _taranto_.
539 _o_[t]_ranto_.
540 _brandizo_: =Brindisi.
541 _manfredonia_.
542 _guasto_: =Vasto (ibid., 621).
543 _ortona_.
544 _ancona_.
545 _fano_.
546 _pexara_: =Pesaro.
547 _rimano_: =Rimini.
548 _zexen^o_: =Cesenatico (ibid., 623).
549 _rauena_: =Ravenna.
550 _ferara_.
551 _chioca_: =Chioggia (ibid.).
XX. Southeastern Europe
Rivers
The river system corresponds generally with that of CA and CE.
552 _f. donoia_: =Danube.
553 _f. morana_: =Morava.
554 _f. drina_: =Drin.
555 _f. moree_(?): =?Moldau.
556, 557, 558: Three unnamed islands in the Danube; on CA these are
named: Insula de Jaurim, Insula Buda, Insula de Sermona(?).
Edifices
559 _bu . . ._(?): =?Buda.
560 _m . . l . ._(?): =?
561 _ongar_|_ia_: =Hungary.
562 _serui_|_a_: =Serbia.
563 _bosn_|_a_(?): =Bosnia.
564 _ulachia_: =Wallachia.
565 _bulga_|_ria_.
Place Names
566 _dalmazi_.
567 _albania_.
568 _modon_: =Methone (Kret., Port., 635).
569 _coron_: =Corone (ibid.).
570 _salonichi_.
571 _filipopoli_.
572 _sofia_.
573 _andernopolli_: =Adrianople.
574 _garipolli_: =Gallipoli.
575 _pera_.
576 _costantinopoli_.
XXI. Baltic Sea
577 _Mar de alemani_: =Baltic Sea.
578 _y^a_(?) _gotlandia_: =Gottland.
579 Illeg.
XXII. Scandinavia
Mountains
580 The mountain system is a simplification of that shown on CE.
Rivers
581 _f. netur_: Flū Nectir, CE; Fl. Vectur, CD;=Motala, outlet of Lake
Vettern (Hamy, 387).
582 _f. turontes_: Turuntus Fl. in Sarmatia, Ptol. (III, 5:2
(FA9));=Dvina (Müller, i, 412).
Longer Legends
583 _in q_[uesta par] _te si caualca su zervi_ | _tori et montoni et su
queli fano le_ | _loro bataie_ (in this region they ride on deer, bulls,
and sheep, and on these they make their battles): Compare legend on CE
(Kret., CE, 214).
584 _In questa parte sta zente che non uide_ | _Il sole 4 mexe de lano_
(in this region there are people who do not see the sun for four months
of the year): Santarem (iii, 409, note 2) suggests a relation between
this and a passage in Jordanis, De rebus Geticis (Monumenta Germaniae
historica, Auctorum antiquissimorum, Vol. 5, Part 1, Berlin, 1882, p.
58) descriptive of the Adogitae of Scanzia, who enjoy uninterrupted
sunshine for forty days and darkness for an equal period each year (see
also Fridtjof Nansen, In Northern Mists, New York, 1911, i, 130-134).
Place Names
585 _nouega_: =Norway.
586 _sechamor_: Scamor, CD;=Skanör (Hamy, 426).
587 _scarsa_: Scarsa, CD:=Skaraborg (Hamy, 383).
588 _zedina_: ?Andine, CD, which is possibly “nundinae,” with reference
to the fairs of Skanör and Valsterbode (Hamy, 385).
589 _selandia_: =?Zealand, misplaced. See Nansen, Northern Mists, ii,
219.
590 _suzia_: Suecia, CD;=Sweden (Hamy, 383, 426).
591 _stochi_: Stocol, CD; Stocoll, CE;=Stockholm (Hamy, 386, 427).
592 _Erma_: ?Kalma, CD;=Kalmar (Hamy, 386, 427).
593 _sadezeflingt_(?): Suderpigel, CD; Sudechping, CE;=Söderköping
(Hamy, 387, 427).
594 _saglat_: Asillang, CE; Assingland on fourteenth century map in
Museo Borbonico, Naples (Hamy, 427);=?
595 _roder_|_in_: Roderin, CD; CE;=Roden, ancient name for the east
coast of Sweden;=Rosladen (Hamy, 387, 427).
XXIII. Eastern Europe
Mountains
596 _M^o. ripei_: Dupl. of 2.
Rivers
597 Leardo’s unnamed river entering E extremity of Baltic is called Flum
Nu on CD; Flum de Mi, CE;=Volkhof and Neva, confused (Hamy, 390).
598 _f. axiazes_: Axiaces Fl. of Sarmatia Europae, Ptol. (III, 5:18
(FA9)).
599 _f. turllo_: Kretschmer (Port., 642) records Flumen Turle only on an
anonymous fifteenth century map in the Museum für Meereskunde, Berlin
(ibid., pp. 133-135);=Dniester (ibid., 642).
Edifices
(A) North of Neva
600 _zimachia Inferior_: ?corruption of Sarmatia, Ptol. (passim (FA9)).
See also 12.
601 _rosia_: =Russia.
(B) Between Don, Neva, and Black Sea
602 _Lordo_, applying to a group of tents;=the Golden Horde of Tatars
(Hallb., 318-319).
603 _nogard_|_ia_: Nogorado, CD; Nogorodo, CE;=Novgorod (Hamy, 390).
604 _alana_: Allania, CA;=the Alans (Hallb., 13-14).
605 _albana_: Albania, NW of Caspian Sea, Ptol. (V, 12 (FA18)); see
Hallb., 14-15;=Shirvan and Daghestan (Besnier, 29).
606 _br . . ica_(?): Branchicha, CA; Brancica, Piz.;=Briansk (Hamy,
392).
607 _brachi_|_at_: ?Dupl. of 606.
608 _bthnia_: =?Bothnia.
609 _rossia_: Dupl. of 601.
610 _transil_|_uana_: =Transylvania, misplaced.
Place Names
(A) Crimean Peninsula
611 _gotia_: =“A small stretch of land between the Yaila Range and the
coast, in the hands of the Genoese after the fourteenth century” (Kret.,
Port., 643); see also Yule, Polo, ii, 492.
612 _soldaia_: =Sudak, important trading post in Genoese hands after
1365 (ibid., 644).
613 _gafa_: =Kafa, Feodosia (ibid.).
614 _soronti_(?): =?
615 _uospe_|_ro_: =Kerch (ibid.).
(B) At Eastern End of the Baltic.
616 _piaha_(?): =?Pinsk.
617 _letefa_|_n_ _paga_|_n_: Litefanie Pagans, CA;=Lithuania (Hamy,
398-399).
(C) On Lake at Headwaters of Neva, Don, and Volga
618 _perana_: Perum, CA; CE=Murom (Hamy, 394).
XXIV. Far North
619 _DIXERTO DEXABITADO PER FREDO_ (desert uninhabited because of cold):
See 305.
LIST OF REFERENCES
The publications listed here are those to which frequent reference only
is made in the Notes and Appendix. The abbreviations there employed
precede each reference.
Besnier: Maurice Besnier, _Lexique de géographie ancienne_, Paris, 1914.
Buchon and Tastu: J. A. C. Buchon and J. Tastu, _Notice d’un atlas en
langue catalane, manuscrit de l’an 1375, conservé parmi les manuscrits
de la Bibliothèque Royale sous le N^o 6816, fonds ancien, in-folio
maximo_, in _Notices et extraits de manuscrits de la Bibliothèque du Roi
et autres bibliothèques_, Vol. 14, Paris, 1841, pp. 1-152.
Only complete transcription and commentary on the Catalan Atlas. See
CA.
CA: Catalan Atlas (i. e. map divided into six parchment sheets) of 1375;
sometimes called Catalan Atlas of Charles V, to whose library it
belonged. Facsimile in: _Choix de documents géographiques conservés à la
Bibliothèque Nationale_, Paris, 1883.
See Kret., Port., pp. 123-124; Buchon and Tastu; Cordier, CA.
CD: Map of Angellino Dulcert, 1339. See E. T. Hamy, _La mappemonde
d’Angelino Dulcert, de Majorque_ (1339), 2nd edition, Paris, 1903 (with
photographic reproduction).
See Kret., Port., pp. 118-119.
CE: Catalan map of fifteenth century in Biblioteca Estense, Modena.
Colored reproduction accompanying Konrad Kretschmer, _Die Katalanische
Weltkarte der Biblioteca Estense zu Modena_, in _Zeitschr. Gesell. für
Erdkunde zu Berlin_, Vol. 32, 1897, pp. 65-111, 191-218 (=Kret., CE).
Photographic reproduction in F. L. Pullé, _Studi italiani di filologia
indo-iranica_, Vol. 5, Atlas, Florence, 1905.
Con.: _Libro del conosçimiento de todos los reynos y tierras ... escrito
por un franciscano español à mediados del siglo XIV._ Our references are
to the pages of Sir Clements Markham’s translation and edition (of
Jiménez de la Espada’s edition, q. v.) entitled _Book of the Knowledge
of all the Kingdoms...._, Hakluyt Society [Publs.], Ser. 2, Vol. 29,
London, 1912.
Cordier, CA: Henri Cordier, _L’Extrême-Orient dans l’atlas catalan de
Charles V, Roi de France_, in _Bulletin de géographie historique et
descriptive_, Vol. 10, 1895, pp. 19-64.
Cordier, Ser M. P.: Henri Cordier, _Ser Marco Polo: Notes and Addenda to
Sir Henry Yule’s Edition, Containing the Results of Recent Research and
Discovery_, London and New York, 1920.
FA: See Ptolemy.
Fischer: Theobold Fischer, _Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und
Seekarten italienischen Ursprungs und aus italienischen Bibliotheken und
Archiven herausgegeben und erläutert_, Venice, 1886.
Text accompanying Raccolta.
Gerini: G. E. Gerini, _Researches on Ptolemy’s Geography of Eastern
Asia_ (_Further India and Indo-Malay Archipelago_), constituting
_Asiatic Society Monographs No. 1_, London, 1909.
Hallb: Ivar Hallberg, _L’Extrême Orient dans la littérature et la
cartographie de l’Occident des XIII^e, XIV^e, et XV^e siècles: étude sur
l’histoire de la géographie_, Göteborg, 1906.
Alphabetical list of place names throughout Asia as a whole (not
merely the Far East) with variant forms, references to the sources,
and identifications.
Hamy: E. T. Hamy, _Les origines de la cartographie de l’Europe
septentrionale_, in _Bulletin de géographie historique et descriptive_,
Vol. 3, 1888, pp. 333-432.
Jiménez de la Espada: Márcos Jiménez de la Espada, editor, _Libro del
conosçimiento de todos los reynos y tierras ... escrito por un
franciscano español á mediados del siglo XIV_, Madrid, 1877.
See also Con.
Kret., CE: See CE.
Kret., Port.: Konrad Kretschmer, _Die italienischen Portolane des
Mittelalters, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kartographie und Nautik_,
constituting _Veröffentlichungen, Instit. für Meereskunde und
Geographisches Instit. an der Universität Berlin_, No. 13, Berlin, 1909.
This fundamental study includes a descriptive list of the principal
portolan charts and a list of the names shown on them along the coasts
of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, with identifications with modern
names.
La R.: Charles de La Roncière, _La découverte de l’Afrique au moyen âge,
cartographes et explorateurs_, Vols. 1 and 2, Cairo, 1925.
Lelewel: Joachim Lelewel, _Géographie du moyen age_, 5 vols. and atlas,
Brussels, 1852-1857.
Mauro: Fra Mauro’s map of the world, c. 1458, in Doge’s Palace, Venice.
Much reduced photographic reproduction in Raccolta, No. 15; copy in
Santarem, Atlas.
See Zurla; Kret., Port., p. 140.
Miller, Arab.: Konrad Miller, _Mappae arabicae: arabische Welt- und
Länderkarten des 9.-13. Jahrhunderts_, 6 vols. (of which Vols. 3, 4, and
5 have not yet appeared), Stuttgart, 1926-1927.
Miller, Mappaemundi: Konrad Miller, _Mappaemundi: die ältesten
Weltkarten_, 6 vols., Stuttgart, 1895-1898.
Müller: Carl Müller, editor, _Claudii Ptolemaei geographia_, Vol. 1,
Parts 1 and 2, and Atlas, Paris 1883, 1901. Covers Bks. I-V only. See
Ptol.
Nordenskiöld, Periplus: A. E. Nordenskiöld, _Periplus, an Essay on the
Early History of Charts and Sailing-Directions_, transl. by F. A.
Bather, Stockholm, 1897.
Piz.: Francesco Pizigano’s map, 1367, in National Library, Parma. Copy
in [E.-F.] Jomard, _Les monuments de la géographie, ou recueil
d’anciennes cartes...._ Paris, [1862].
See Kret., Port., pp. 121-122.
Polo: Marco Polo, _The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian Concerning
the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East_, translated and edited with notes
by Sir Henry Yule, 3rd edition revised by Henri Cordier, 2 vols.,
London, 1903.
Except where otherwise indicated all references are to volumes and
pages of this edition.
Ptol.: Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus), _Geographia_, edited by C. F. A.
Nobbe, 3 vols., Leipzig, Vol. 1, 1898; Vol. 2, 1913; Vol. 3, n. d.
References are to book, chapter, and section of this edition.
References indicated by FA are to the plates on which reproductions
from the Rome, 1490, edition are given in A. E. Nördenskiöld,
_Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography with
Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI
Centuries_, translated from the Swedish Original by J. A. Ekelöf and
C. R. Markham, Stockholm, 1889.
Pullé, Vat.: See Vat.
PW: _Paulys Real-encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft_,
new edition begun by Georg Wissowa. 15 vols, and 4 supplements have
appeared (1927), Stuttgart, 1894-.
Raccolta: _Raccolta di mappamondi e carte nautiche del XIII al XVI
secolo_, (H. F. and M. Münster, succeeded by) Ferd. Ongania, Venice,
(1869?), 1881. (Series of photographic facsimiles of 17 maps, also known
as Ongania Collection. See Fischer.)
Rainaud: Armand Rainaud, _Le continent austral: hypothèses et
découvertes_, Paris, 1893.
Santarem: Le Vicomte de Santarem, _Essai sur l’histoire de la
cosmographie et de la cartographie pendant le moyen-age...._, 3 vols.
and atlas, Paris, 1849-1852.
Spruner-Menke: K. von Spruner and Th. Menke, _Hand-atlas für die
Geschichte des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit_ (third edition of
Spruner’s atlas revised by Menke), Gotha, 1880.
Vat.: Map in Vatican Library, fondo Museo Borgiano, No. V. Photographic
reproduction with commentary in: F. L. Pullé, _Una carta itineraria del
secolo XV_ [_Vaticana Borgiana_], constituting _Studi italiani di
filologia indo-iranica_, Vol. 5, _La cartografia antica dell’ India_,
Part 2, Appendix 4, Florence, 1905 (=Pullé, Vat.).
Vilad.: Map of Mecia de Viladestes, 1413. Colored reproduction of
African portion as frontispiece of La R., Vol. 1.
See Kret., Port., p. 126.
Vivien de St. Martin: [Louis] Vivien de St. Martin, _Le nord de
l’Afrique dans l’antiquité grecque et romaine: étude historique et
géographique_, Paris, 1863.
Wright, Lore: J. K. Wright, _The Geographical Lore of the Time of the
Crusades: a Study in the History of Medieval Science and Tradition in
Western Europe_, constituting _American Geographical Society Research
Series No. 15_, New York, 1925.
Yule, Cath.: Sir Henry Yule, _Cathay and the Way Thither_, 2nd edit.,
edited by Henri Cordier, 4 vols., Hakluyt Society [Publs.], Ser. 2,
Vols. 33, 37, 38, 41, London, 1913-1916.
Yule, Polo: See Polo.
Zurla: Placido Zurla, _Il mappamondo di Fra Mauro Camaldolese_, Venice,
1806.
THE REPRODUCTION OF THE LEARDO MAP
By A. B. Hoen
A. Hoen & Company, Baltimore, Md.
[One of the first things usually asked in regard to the reproduction or
facsimile of an old map is: “How was it made?” To answer this question
and to give some idea of the difficult technical problems involved, Mr.
Hoen, under whose direction the Society’s reproduction of the Leardo Map
was made, has been kind enough to furnish the following note.—J. K. W.]
The Leardo Map is painted on parchment. Some of the colors have faded,
and others here and there have separated from the skin, leaving blanks
in the painting. The latter defects are especially noticeable in the
yellow zones encircling the map proper. To avoid the injection of the
personal element into the reproduction, no attempt was made to restore
the missing letters or symbols. It is further to be noted that in cases
of partial legibility the very palest parts of the faded manuscript may
have failed to register in the reproduction, although great care was
bestowed on this part of the work.
As a first step in the reproduction of the map, color separation
negatives were made on photographic plates sensitized for all the
colors. By interposing proper light filters and by making separate
exposures for each color, negatives giving red, yellow or green, and
blue or purple values were made, together with a fourth negative giving
neutral tones—black and grays.
As the last negative comprehends almost the entire base of the map,
special attention was devoted to its conversion into a printing plate.
The process employed is known in Germany as “Albertype” or “Lichtdruck,”
in England as “collotype,” and in America as “heliotype” or
“photogelatin.” Of these names, “collotype” seems to be the most
fitting. Briefly, this process consists of sensitizing a gelatin film
with a chromic salt and exposing it to light under a negative. In
proportion to the amount of light passing the negative there will be a
reaction in the chromated gelatin. In this reaction the gelatin loses
its power of absorbing water and takes on the opposite property of
holding “non-watery” substances, such as printing ink. The action of the
light is a graded one, varying from full effect under the clear parts of
the negative to nil under the very dense parts. A similar gradation in
ink-retaining powers is acquired by the exposed gelatin film. Thus,
where the light exerts full effect the gelatin will be completely
hardened and will hold the ink in its greatest intensity (solid); the
parts which receive less light or none at all will hold the ink in
attenuated quantity. The lights and shades of the monochrome picture are
thus reproduced.
In order that the film may exercise this selective power of taking on or
rejecting ink it is necessary that the unaltered parts be kept moist.
Therefore, after exposure under the negative, the film is washed to free
the gelatin of the unused chromates. While still moist it is rolled with
a roller carrying printing ink. This roller will discharge its ink on
the hardened parts of the film in proportion to the amount of light that
each part has received through the negative. If a sheet of paper is then
pressed on the inked film it will lift the ink and the resulting
impression will be of the same character as the base color of the Leardo
Map.
It is of interest to note that as the light-affected and hardened
surface of the film accommodates itself to the unaffected underlying
gelatin (as the latter swells in washing) it breaks up into a net of
lines. This reticulation is barely perceptible in the high lights of the
picture but gradually increases in strength until the mesh fuses into
the solid color of the deepest shades.
It will now be apparent that the feasibility of printing these colloid
plates hinges on the fact that the graded ink-attracting mesh is
separated by inversely graded ink-repelling, interstitial, unaltered,
and moist gelatin.
Its mesh not being apparent to the unaided eye, the collotype approaches
the fidelity of a true photograph in the rendering of details. For this
reason, the collotype process has been selected as best suited for the
reproduction of the Leardo base.
The coloring of the map was done by overprinting, in lithography, as
many colors as were deemed necessary to convey a fair idea of the
original. Lithographic plates were made from the color separation
negatives mentioned above. The principles underlying the lithographic
process are, broadly, similar to those described for gelatin printing,
the essential elements in the process being a water-absorbing ground
mass (limestone) in place of the gelatin and a water-repelling and
ink-attracting surface affection similar to that created by the action
of light on the chromated gelatin film.
Lithographic stone is an amorphous carbonate of lime of fine, close
texture. It has an affinity for water—that is, it is easily kept damp.
This affinity may be destroyed by changing the carbonate of lime to some
water-resisting salt, such as the oleate, or by adding to the surface of
the stone a film having the same power. Both of these methods were
utilized in making the color plates of the Leardo Map.
A number of lithographic stones were properly surfaced and this surface
covered with very thin, light-sensitive, colloid films. The color
separation negatives were exposed over these sensitive films and the
resulting photographs on stone gave the red, yellow, blue, and other
values of the original as they had been analyzed by the light filters.
No color separation process, however, can eliminate from the areal
coloring the black and grays of the base. Similarly, the colors
themselves absorb a certain amount of white light so that the effect of
the areal coloring is also felt in the monochrome reproduction of the
base map (e. g., gray lettering is lost in heavily colored areas). For
this reason, it is necessary to correct by hand the unnatural effect
produced by the overprinting of all the color plates in the darker
portions of the picture. Lithography is best suited for the control of
these difficulties, and for this reason the color plates were made on
stone.
The mechanical printing of the edition from gelatin or stone embraces
three essential operations: (1) moistening the plate by damping rollers;
(2) inking the plate by inking rollers; (3) pressing of suitable paper
on the inked plate. After the base is printed, the base plate is taken
from the press, another plate, carrying one of the map colors, is placed
in position, and the proper color put on the inking rollers. The
printing of the second color is then done as was that of the base.
Similar changes of the printing plates and colored inks follow in order
for each of the colors which make up the complete map.
Eight color printings in addition to the base color were found necessary
for the proper rendering of the Leardo painting. One of these, a light
gray-buff, covers the area of the parchment and serves to bring it out
from the white paper background.
In selecting a suitable paper for this reproduction, certain qualities
had to be considered. Among these were good printing surface,
durability, and as much strength as could be had along with the above
essentials. A chart plate paper of high rag content was made especially
for the work.
KEY MAPS
[Illustration: Fig. 4—General key map. The numbers correspond to
those of the main center heads in the commentary on pp. 32-60.]
[Illustration: Fig. 5—Detailed key map: northeastern section. The
numbers in this and in Figs. 6-9 correspond to the Arabic numbers on
pp. 32-60.]
[Illustration: Fig. 6—Detailed key map: east-central section.]
[Illustration: Fig. 7—Detailed key map: southeastern section.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8—Detailed key map: northwestern section.]
[Illustration: Fig. 9—Detailed key map: west-central section.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10—Detailed key map: southwestern section.]
Transcriber’s Notes
—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.
—Corrected a few palpable typographical errors.
—In the Detailed Contents, broke paragraphs up so that each number
(label) is on a separate line.
—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.
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