The
time will come
In
a number of years, when Oceanus
Will
unfasten the bounds, and a huge
Land
will stretch out, and Typhis the pilot
Will
discover new worlds, so
The
remotest land will no loner be Thule.
---
Seneca, Book 7, Tragedy of Medea
From
the chorus “audax nimium”
The passage above from Seneca’s Medea is the keystone of the Libro de las Profesias or Book of Prophecies by Christopher Columbus. Columbus believed he was specially chosen by God to discover the “Otra Mundi” the Other Land which was later known as the New World. In his Book of Prophecies be assembled a collection of Bible passages, commentary by Early Church Fathers, Medieval theologians, and secular philosophers which he believed predicted the discovery of the Americas.
Before we go further, let us establish a
point, what or where is Thule?
Thule, Tile, or Thyle was the farthest
north and west land known location to Ancient Greek and Roman Cartography. Speculation on the location of Thule ranges
from the Orkney or Shetland Islands north of Scotland, Saarema in Estonia, or
the Norwegian island of Smøla, though most historians recognize Thule as
Iceland. By the late Middle Ages, Thule
was usually identified as either Iceland or Greenland. Often in this era, Thule
was used to refer to Iceland while Greenland was known as Ultima Thule (Beyond
Thule).
The
first Europeans known to settle Iceland were Irish monks who occupied the
island sometime between the early 600s A.D. and when the Vikings arrived in 874
A.D. The Medieval Irish understood Iceland as Thule. Even today the Scottish
Gaelic word for Iceland is Innis Tile “Island of Thule”.
In the biography of his father, Ferdinand
Columbus quotes another statement from Christopher Columbus describing a voyage
he made to Ireland and Iceland in 1477 and 1478.
“In
1477, in the month of February, I sailed more than a hundred leagues beyond
Thule, the southern part of which is seventy-three degrees distance from the
Equator, and not sixty-three, as some pretend, neither is it situated within
the line which includes the west of Ptolemy, but is much more westerly. The English, principally those of Bristol, go
with their merchandise to this island, which is as large as England. When I was there, the sea was not frozen, and
the tide was so great as to rise and fall 26 braccias (cubits)” Christopher Columbus certainly believed Thule
referred to Iceland when he interpreted Seneca’s prophecy and referred to where
he visited “100 leagues beyond” as the real Thule, rather than Iceland being
Thule “as some pretend”.
Most
Columbus scholars regard this quote as a curiosity but not useful and pass over
it with little comment, or use it to illustrate how supposedly ignorant
Columbus was on the dimensions of the earth.
Samuel Eliot Morrison, by far the greatest Columbus scholar of the 20th
century, unfortunately did the same for this statement. He first tried to
correct the Admiral (2) by insisting he meant Iceland which is 63° N not 73° N.
After a few more halfhearted efforts to correct Columbus, Morrison gave up and stated,
“It would be time and effort wasted to find an explanation of this”. Regrettably, this is not the only instance
where Admiral Morrison dismisses out of hand statements by Columbus as either
mistakes or fantastical exaggerations.
It is indeed a shame that so great a Columbus scholar as Morrison did
not take his subject more seriously. Had he done so; he would have found some
extraordinary possibilities.
Those who empty their mind of preconceived
notions and do waste time and effort to allow the Admiral to speak for himself
have indeed found something surprising, even groundbreaking. Let us parse out this quote line by line:
“I
sailed in the year 1477, in the month of February, a hundred leagues beyond
Tile (Thule)….”
This could not be 100 leagues north of Iceland, no ship could sail that far
toward Greenland in February without encountering pack ice, the Ocean freezes
over about 150 miles north of Iceland. In normal years, sea ice normally
reaches from Greenland southeast for about 200 miles and extends north into the
Arctic.
“the
southern part of which is 73 degrees distance from the equator and not 63
degrees north as some pretend.” This eliminates Iceland, the southern
half of Greenland, the Bay of Fundy (the body of water east of Maine which
divides the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia), and Labrador.
What Columbus states here is that Iceland is not Thule, as most believe it
is. He claims he visited the “real”
Thule which is farther west and farther north than believed by contemporary
Europeans and ancient scholars.
“Neither is Thule situated within the line
which includes the west of Ptolemy, but is much more westerly.” This again
eliminates the possibility that Columbus is referring to Iceland, the Orkneys,
and Norway, which Europeans were already aware of at least since Roman times if
not before. He is again emphasizing that where he visited is a place not on
most maps in the 1470s-1490s.
“this island is as large as England”
Iceland and the Orkney Islands are too small to match this description,
Greenland is to big, and Norway is not an island.
“The English, principally those of Bristol
trade there”
Here we get nearer the truth. Columbus
tells us here that on the real Thule in 1477, Englishmen trade with native
inhabitants. Presumably, he witnessed
such a thing himself. It is known that
English sailors were visiting the Norse in Iceland and Greenland at least as far
back as the 1470s, if not before. There is
also evidence that Englishmen were fishing off the coast of Labrador at least since
the Portuguese arrived there in 1498. These Englishmen believed they were on
the edge of Asia.
“the tide was so great as to rise and fall
26 braccia”
First we should establish what Columbus means by braccia. A braccia is an old Italian unit of length,
principally used by sailors of the era, usually about 26 or 27 inches long, but
varying between 18 and 28 inches. Braccia is often translated as “cubit” an
ancient measurement of approximately 18 inches.
Washington Irving mistakenly translated braccia as braza
which is the Spanish word for fathom.
Twenty-six fathoms is 156 feet, and there is nowhere on Earth tides are
this height. However, if one braccia is
about 23 inches (the midway point between 18 and 28) and observed tides are 26
braccia, that gives a tide height of approximately 50 feet. (23 x 26 = 598 ÷ 12=
49.833). The highest tides in the world
are 70 feet, found in the Bay of Fundy, 50-foot tides in that part of the world
are realistic. So, an island 73° N where 50 ft tides are known. The east coast of Greenland does not have 50-foot
tides, so this place can only be west of Greenland, which puts Columbus
somewhere in the Canadian arctic!
“When I was there, the sea was not frozen” Columbus claims
he sailed to this place in February, and arctic sea ice normally reaches its
full extent in March, so he was present when the sea ice would be at nor near
its fullest extent. One of the only
places this far north that may be ice-free in February is Baffin Bay, the
expanse of ocean than lies between Greenland and Baffin island, the largest
island in the Canadian Artic Archipelago.
Baffin Bay does freeze over, but not every year. On average it freezes
over once every two or three years.
Columbus may have been fortunate enough to find Baffin Bay in an
ice-free year. Also, though the Little
Ice Age began about 150 years prior to the 1470s, it did not reach its fullest
extent until the late 1500s or early 1600s.
Therefore, parts of the North Atlantic likely were more accessible in
the late 1400s than they would be a century later. Gilbert S. Aleman, Master Mariner, claims in his book The Unknown Columbus that the place Columbus describes on this voyage is either Baffin Island or perhaps even Ellesmere Island. Both are on the eastern edge of the Canadian Archipelago.
If we let the Admiral speak for himself and
interpret what he said without trying to correct him or force his words to
describe places which they obviously do not, an extraordinary possibility
emerges. It is possible, probable even,
that Christopher Columbus discovered America fifteen years before his historic voyage
of 1492 and discovered it without realizing where he had been. Indeed, it appears that everyone who had
contact with North America prior to 1492, Vikings, Englishmen from Bristol, and
the odd Portuguese sailor who may have been blown off course, seemed to believe
it was either a further extension of Europe or the outer edge of Asia.
Thule and the Vinland Map.
 |
| The Vinland Map |
The
Vinland Map surfaced in the 1950s bound to the Tartar Relation, which is
a manuscript dating to circa 1440. When
discovered, the VM and TR (3) were purchased by Laurence C. Witten II along
with another bound manuscript, Speculum Historiale. Wormholes in the VM and TR did not line up,
indicating they were not originally bound together. However, on further
examination, the wormholes of VM and SH, did line up, while SH wormholes did
line up with TR, indicating the three manuscripts were originally bound
together, with VM first, SH second, and TR last. Wormhole patterns also indicated that when
the VM and TR were rebound together, the original cover was put on
backwards.
R. A. Skelton, Thomas E. Marston, and George
D. Painter, all experts in Medieval manuscripts at Yale University, examined
the map and concluded it was made circa 1440 in conjunction with the Council of
Basel. The Council of Basel, also known as the Council of Florence, was an
ecumenical council held between 1431 and 1449 to discuss various wars over
heresy occurring in the Holy Roman Empire, the rise of the Ottoman Empire, and
the principle of papal supremacy. Captions on the Vinland Map describe the
Carpini Mission which carried the Christian Faith to Tartary (i.e. the Mongol
Empire) in the Northeast, Bishop Eric Gnupsson (the first bishop of Greenland)
visiting Vinland to the Northwest, Prester John to the Southeast (a mythical
Medieval figure who was either supposed to be head of the Ethiopian Christians
or the Nestorian Christians in India, no one was quite sure), and Saint
Brendan’s 7th century voyage to the Antilles in the Southwest. Essentially, this map was meant to illustrate
the spread of Christianity to all corners of the World.
Radiocarbon age of the parchment determined
it was made about A.D. 1434 with a margin of 11 years. When the map was first examined by Medieval
manuscript experts in 1965, the consensus was the Map was a genuine article and
no forgery. However, once husband and
wife team Walter and Lucy McCrone tested the map in 1974 and found traces of
titanium dioxide (TiO2, also known as titanium white) they immediately declared
it a forgery since TiO2 was supposedly not discovered until the early
1900s. With this, all the scholars who
had declared the map real, and nearly everyone who studied it, reversed their
opinions to agree with the McCrones and declared the Map a clever forgery. However,
more recent study of the Map revealed the TiO2 only appears in trace amounts
and suggest that the substance could be naturally occurring. Titanium dioxide could be a result of the ink
manufacturing process as conducted in the 1440s, it could also have occurred if
the map was stored in a place which contained an amount of clay dust (such as
peeling paint or plaster walls), or it could be a result of an early 20th
century attempt to restore the manuscripts. Scholars of the Victorian Era and
early 20th Century had very misguided ideas on the restoration of
Medieval manuscripts, such as cleaning them with acid or bleach. This could
have damaged the ink and caused TiO2 to precipitate out of the pigment. One
study even found the pages had been covered at some point with an organic
modern varnish (post 1950) which presumably was placed on the map to preserve
it.
Linguistic study of the VM captions indicate
the inscriber was Italian. The Council of Basel attracted many scholars from
Italy and other parts of Europe. The VM,
if it indeed is authentic, could have been drawn as an aid to, or a result of
the Council, and as a guide to the other manuscripts which with it was bound
The Tartar Relation is Giovanni Caprini’s own account of his mission to
the Mongol Empire. Speculum Historiale was originally written in the
mid-1200s by Vincent of Beauvais, a Dominican friar in France, and was a
history of the World up to his time. One scholar who has studied the Vinland
Map, Thomas Goldstein, is even so bold to state the VM shares a connection with
the geographic ideas of Paolo Toscanelli.
If this is so, it gives the Vinland Map an indirect connection to
Christopher Columbus. Paolo Toscanelli
(1397-1482) was a Florentine mathematician and cosmographer, who had a wide-ranging
circle of associates throughout Europe, which consisted of architects,
philosophers, and mathematicians. One of his correspondents was Fernão Martins,
a priest of Lisbon Cathedral. Toscanelli
sent a letter to Martins along with a map that detailed directions for sailing
west to reach Asia. This letter is unfortunately lost, but a copy of the letter
and map was also sent by Toscanelli himself to Christopher Columbus, who also
lived in Portugal at the time. Columbus carried this letter and Toscanelli’s
map with him on his first voyage. Is it possible that Toscanelli has once seen
the Vinland map for himself? Or that the VM was one of several maps drawn of
the world, one of which Toscanelli used for his own map? The possibility is extraordinary.
Greenland
 |
| Crosier and Episcopal ring from Greenland |
 |
| Hvalsey Church in Greenland |
Regarding Greenland, it is a modern
misconception that sometime after the Norse discovered it, the island was
forgotten and then re-discovered by Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real in
1500. (Corte-Real mistook Greenland for Asia and never landed there.) Greenland was in fact so well-known in Europe
the Roman Catholic Church established an archdiocese in Greenland beginning in
1126 which was known as the Diocese of Gardar and had its own cathedral, the
Cathedral of St. Nicholas. Ten bishops
were appointed to Gardar between 1112 and 1377. Upon their death, many bishops
were interred in the cathedral itself. After 1377, worsening communications and
sailing conditions prevented appointed bishops from reaching Greenland and the
diocese was abandoned when ship departures from Norway ceased, mainly due to
the ravages of the Black Death. Despite
this, the Church continued to appoint bishops to Gardar until 1537. Between
1377 and 1537, thirteen bishops were appointed there, though none ever took
possession of it. By 1448 Pope Nicholas V noted that Greenland had been without
a bishop for about 30 years.
Greenland was settled by Europeans beginning
in 986 A.D. Settlers from Iceland and
Norway established three settlements on the southern and western edge of the
Island, known as the Eastern, Western, and Middle Settlements. Greenlanders submitted to Norwegian rule in
1261 and the colonies were brought under the Kingdom of Norway. Herjolfsnes, in the Eastern Settlement, was
the longest lasting settlement and endured for around 500 years, from the late
900s until the early 1400s.
Archaeological evidence located ruins of approximately 650 farms over
all three settlements, with a total population estimated between 2,000 and
10,000 people. The main export from Greenland was walrus ivory, but exports
also included rope, sheep, seals, wool, and cattle hides. The Greenland
settlements in turn were dependent on Iceland and Norway for iron tools, wood,
some foodstuffs as well as religious and social contact.
This was during the Medieval Warming Period
when the climate was as warm, if not warmer, than the present day. Despite the high latitude, Greenlanders were
able to farm and raise livestock easily.
Oats were grown in Norway as far north as the 65th Parallel,
and settlements in Greenland could grow barley as far north as the 70th
Parallel (this is same latitude as central Alaska, for reference). Norse Greenlanders
could also raise cattle for milk and meat, as well as cowhides. DNA analysis of Norse remains in Greenland
show the diet of early residents mainly contained pastoral food (i.e. grains
and cattle or sheep), but later residents’ diet shifted to marine-based protein
(seals and fish), indicating the weather was growing too cold and unpredictable
for crops and livestock. Documentary evidence
indicates people stopped traveling to Greenland because the seas were too
treacherous and stormy, a sign the weather had worsened.
Greenland was eventually abandoned for two
reasons. One reason was the weather. The Little Ice Age began around 1350 when
the climate began cooling, which made farming more difficult. This climate
shift also made storms more frequent and thus made sailing to Greenland
difficult. Climatological studies
indicate the coldest winter temperatures for the North Atlantic in the past
2,000 years occurred in the late 1300s and early 1400s, right when the
Greenland settlements were abandoned en masse. At the same time, the Black Death reached
Norway and Iceland, where it killed half the population of each. The Plague never reached Greenland, but ship
departures from Norway stopped, cutting off many supplies the Greenlanders
required. Norway, however, seemed
unaware that the colony ceased to exist.
Norwegian archbishop Erik Valkendorf planned an expedition to Greenland
in 1514 where he believed he would still find Norse inhabitants. The last
official record we have from Greenland is a wedding that took place at Hvalsey
church in September 1408. However, a
German ship blown off course in the 1540s reached Greenland where the crew
found the body of a man with European features, who had clothing and tools
which were a mixture of both European and Inuit cultures. This indicates that
perhaps not all the Norse left Greenland and a few colonists lived out their days there.
Both Iceland and Greenland were well known
to Medieval Europe, neither one was discovered by Vikings, forgotten, and then
re-discovered by Portuguese or Englishmen later. In fact, there is good indication that many
people in Medieval Europe, at least the highly educated and well-informed, were
not only familiar with Iceland and Greenland, but also knew of another place
further beyond Thule, an Ultima Thule known as “Vinland”.
Tangled
in the debate over the authenticity of the Vinland Map is exactly what part of
the North American coast is depicted there.
Most claim it to be the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador with the
indentations on the eastern side representing the Gulf of St Lawrence and Lake Melville. This is possible, but the shape of Vinland
does not seem to fit that coastline as well as it could. Also, Labrador and Newfoundland are rather
too far south from the latitude Vinland as shown on the map. The part of North America
that most resembles “Vinlanda Insula” is the southern half of Baffin Island. The
same place as Christopher Columbus’ Ultima Thule.
 |
| Baffin Island. Ultima Thule? |
 |
| Vinlanda Insula on the VM |
 |
| February 1477 |
1.
Jason
is the legendary Ancient Greek leader of the Argonauts in the quest for the Golden
Fleece.
2.
Ferdinand
Columbus in the biography of his father, constantly refers to Christoper Columbus
as “the Admiral”. Columbus enthusiasts have
picked up the same habit, so any references to the Admiral (definite article)
mean Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea/Admiral of the Indies.
3.
Abbreviations
in this section: VM= Vinland Map TR=
Tartar Relation SH= Speculum Historiale
4.
For
an excellent analysis of the debate over the Vinland Map, and an in-depth analysis
of the map itself see The Vinland Map- Some “Finer Points” of the Debate
by J. Huston McCulloch, published by The Ohio State University. The Vinland Map
No comments:
Post a Comment