[19] Dr. Geo. Miller names (“Hist. Phil. Ill.,” London, 1849, Vol. I. p. 180, note) Guyot de Provins, Jacques de Vitry and Brunetto Latini, as referring to the compass. He adds that the Chronicle of France intimates the use of this instrument under the name of marinette towards the time of the first of the voyages of the Crusaders undertaken by Louis IX, and that Hughes de Bercy, a contemporary of that prince, speaks of it as well known in that country. For these reasons, says he, “the credit of the invention must be denied to Flavio de Melfi, or Flavio Gioia, a Neapolitan, who is commonly said to have constructed the first compass about the year 1302, on account of which the province of Principato, in which he was born, bears one of these instruments for its arms.
[20] It is interesting to note that the “Confessio Amantis,” which went through as many as four editions before the year 1560, is a huge work of nearly thirty-five thousand lines which was written at the desire of King Richard II of England between the years 1377 and 1393.
[21] Les Roses des Vents n’apparaissent pas sur les cartes avant le xvie siècle (“Annales de Géographie,” VI. 1897, p. 14 de la Bibliographie). See A.D. 1436 entry.
[22] Incidentally, it may be mentioned that when the laws of Castile were collected in a Code, during the reign of Alfonso the tenth, surnamed El Sabio, the learned, the compilers divided the work into seven volumes or parts (siete partidas) in order that each volume or part might be dedicated to one of the seven letters constituting Alfonso’s name (“Dedication of Books,” New York, 1881, pp. 17–18).
[23] See “Geographical Journal,” Vol. V. March 1895, No. 3, “Pre-Columbian Discovery of America,” pp. 222, 224, 226, for sketches of Andrea Bianco’s Map of 1448.
[24] In Kohl’s collection of early maps already alluded to as given in “Harv. Univ. Bull.,” Vol. III, reference is made (p. 175) to the portolano—A.D. 1426—of a Venetian hydrographer, Giacomo Giraldi, which has been preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana and which was reproduced at Venice by Ongania in 1881, also (p. 303) to the Map of America published during 1570 by Abraham Oertel—Ortell—b. 1527, d. 1598, and at p. 365 to the Map of the World by Joannes Oliva, A.D. 1613, as well as to an Atlas by Salvatore Oliva, A.D. 1620, showing both the Americas. In an article headed “The first true Maps,” to be found in “Nature” of December 15, 1904, pp. 159–161, mention is made that the oldest dated portolan is the first of Pietro Vesconte—Visconti—executed in 1311.
[25] For Nautonniez, see Houzeau et Lancaster, “Bibl. Gén.,” Vol. I. part ii. p. 1193, also J-G. T. Græsse, “Trésor de Livres Rares,” Dresde, 1863, Vol. IV. p. 651, and Brunet, “Manuel,” p. 827, at which latter appears the statement of M. Frère to the effect that Guillaume de Nautonnier—Nautonniez—caused to be reprinted, under the above-named title of “Mécométrie de l’Eymant,” the “Dialogue de la Longitude” of Toussaincte de Bessard originally published at Rouen in 1574.
For the reported investigation of Pedro da Medina, who, Gilbert says, (“De Magnete,” Book IV. chap. viii.) does not accept variation and has with many errors disgraced the art of navigation, consult, preferably, the Venetia 1555 edition entitled “L’Arte del navegar,” Libro sesto, “Della Aguggia, over bossolo da navegar,” pp. cviii-cxvi. The leaf xxiii contains a Map of America. This last-named map of the Nuevo Mundo “may be taken to represent the results of Spanish discovery about 1540, Pedro da Medina having been the official examiner of pilots. It is interesting as showing the mouth of the Spirito Santo (the Mississippi) and the lands around the river and gulf of St. Lawrence. The Island of Cape Breton appears as part of Nova Scotia and of the mainland; but Newfoundland is represented as three islands, divided from Northern Canada by a much wider expanse of water than the actual Straits of Belle Isle. This is, however, a striking instance of the great extent of Medina’s geographical knowledge. The river Saguenay is shown at its entry into the St. Lawrence, which is also a remarkable feature in so early a map.”
[26] Behaim’s justly famous globe was made up from the authorities of Ptolemy, Pliny and Strabo, as well as from the reports of Marco Polo’s travels and the semi-fabulous travels of Sir John Mandeville (“English Cyclopædia,” Vol. I. p. 617).
[27] Aguilhas, in Portuguese, signifies needles: Walker, “Magnetism of Ships,” 1853, p. 2; Sir Thomas Browne, “Pseud. Epidem.,” Book II. p. 70.