Revisiting the “Admiral’s Map”

In the introduction to the appendix of modern maps by Martin Waldseemüller in the famous Strasbourg Ptolemy atlas of 1513 is a “puzzling sentence” that mentions a so-called “Admiral’s Map.” During the nineteenth century, historians struggled to understand what map was the Admiral’s, who the Admiral was, and how this Admiral’s Map related to the maps made by Waldseemüller. Since then, most who have looked at the question of the Admiral’s Map have merely repeated the tentative conclusions made in the nineteenth century. With the benefit of the recovery of important cartographic works since that time, we can now make a more definitive conclusion: the Admiral’s Map was the Caverio planisphere (c. 1506).Dans l’introduction à l’appendice des cartes modernes de Martin Waldseemüller dans le célèbre atlas Strasbourg Ptolemy de 1513 est une « phrase mystérieuse » qui mentionne une soi-disant « Carte de l’Amiral ». Pendant le dix-neuvième siècle les historiens ont essayé de comprendre quelle carte était celle de l’Amiral, qui était cet Amiral, et quel était le rapport entre cette carte de l’Amiral et les cartes de Waldseemüller. Depuis cette époque, la plupart de ceux qui ont réfléchi à la question de la Carte de l’Amiral ont simplement répété les conclusions provisoires du dix-neuvième siècle. Avec l’aide d’œuvres cartographiques importants retrouvés depuis cette époque, nous pouvons actuellement arriver à une conclusion plus définitive: la Carte de l’Amiral était le planisphère Caverio (circa 1506).En la introducción al apéndice de mapas modernos de Martin Waldseemüller en el famoso atlas de Ptolomeo impreso en Estrasburgo en 1513 hay una “frase desconcertante” que menciona un denominado “Mapa del Almirante.” Durante el siglo XIX, los historiadores se afanaron en entender qué mapa era el del Almirante, quién era el Almirante, y qué relación había entre este mapa del Almirante y los mapas hechos por Waldseemüller. Desde entonces, la mayoría de los que han examinado la cuestión del Mapa del Almirante se han limitado a repetir las conclusiones provisionales alcanzadas en el siglo XIX. Con el beneficio de la recuperación desde entonces de importantes obras cartográficas, ahora podemos llegar a una conclusión más definitiva: el Mapa del Almirante fue el planisferio de Caverio (c. 1506).KEYWORDS: Caverio planisphereMartin WaldseemüllerMatthias RingmannStrasbourg Ptolemy atlasAd LectoremPortuguese cartographyGymnasium VosagenseMOTS CLÉS: le planisphère CaverioMartin WaldseemüllerMatthias Ringmannl’atlas Strasbourg PtolemyAd Lectoremla cartographie portugaisele Gymnase VosagensePALABRAS CLAVE: Planisferio de CaverioMartin WaldseemüllerMatthias RingmannAtlas de Ptolomeo de EstrasburgoAd Lectoremcartografía portuguesaGymnasium Vosagense AcknowledgementsThe research leading to this paper has received support from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement 714033-MEDEA-CHART/ERC-2016-ST G). I wish to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their careful reading of the manuscript and their many insightful comments and suggestions.Disclosure StatementThe author reports there are no competing interests to declare.Notes1 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Cartes et plans, GE SH ARCH-1.2 Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, C.G.A.2.3 Gregory C. McIntosh, “The Caverio Planisphere (c. 1506) Was Not Copied from the Cantino Planisphere (1502),” Terrae Incognitae 54, no. 2 (August 2022), pp. 110–61. See this article for background on the Cantino and Caverio planispheres and the Padrão Real. On the Caverio planisphere, see also Edward L. Stevenson, Marine Chart of Nicolo de Canerio Januensis, 1502 (circa) (New York: American Geographical Society and Hispanic Society of America, 1908). The Caverio planisphere has also been known as Caneiro, Carnerio, and Cannerio.4 Carta padrão de el-Rei, instead of Padrão Real, is used by some historians in Portugal; see, for instance, Maria Fernanda Alegria, Suzanne Daveau, João Carlos Garcia, and Francesc Relaño, “Portuguese Cartography in the Renaissance,” in Cartography in the European Renaissance, ed. David Woodward, vol. 3, pt. 1, pp. 975–1068 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007), p. 1004. Also, Padrão del Rey is used in Joaquim Alves Gaspar and Sima Krtalic, A Cartografia de Magalhães/The Cartography of Magellan ([Lisbon]: Tradisom, 2023), pp. 99, 100. On the Armazém da Guiné e Índias, where nautical charts were kept, including the Padrão Real, see Armando Cortesão and Avelino Teixeira da Mota, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica, reprint of 1960, with additions, 6 vols. (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 1987), vol. 1, p. 9; Francisco Paulo Mendes da Luz, “Dois organismos da administração ultramarina no século XV: A Casa da Índia e os Armazéns da Guiné, Mina e Índias,” in A viagem de Fernão de Magalhães e a questão das Molucas, ed. A. Teixeira da Mota (Lisbon: Junta de Investigações Científicas do Ultramar, 1975), pp. 91–105; A. Teixeira da Mota, “Some Notes on the Organization of Hydrographical Services in Portugal Before the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century,” Imago Mundi 28 (1976), pp. 51–60; Antonio Sánchez, “Charts for an Empire: A Global Trading Zone in Early Modern Portuguese Nautical Cartography,” Centaurus 60.3 (2018), pp. 173–188.5 On the activities of Waldseemüller, Ringmann, and the Gymnasium Vosagense, see Marie Armand d’Avezac de Castera-Macaya, Martin Hylacomylus Waltzemüller, ses ouvrages et ses collaborateurs, ext. Annales des Voyages, vol. 4 (Paris: Challamel ainé, 1867); C. Schmidt, “Mathias Ringmann (Philésius), humaniste alsacien et lorrain,” Mémoires de la Société d’Archéologie Lorraine 25 (1875), pp. 165–233; Charles Schmidt, Histoire littéraire de l’Alsace à la fin du XVe et au commencement du XVIe siècle, 2 vols. (Paris: Sandoz et Fischbacher, 1879–80), vol. 2, pp. 87–132; L. Gallois, “Le Gymnase vosgien,” Bulletin de la Socété de géographie de l’Est 21.1 (1900), pp. 88–94; Albert Ronsin, “L’imprimerie humaniste de Saint-Dié au XVIème siècle,” in Refugium Animae Bibliotheca: Festschrift für Albert Kolb: Mélanges Offerts à Albert Kolb, ed. Emile van der Vekene (Wiesbaden: Pressler, 1969); Albert Ronsin, Découverte et baptême de l’Amérique, 2nd ed. (Jarville-La Malgrande: Éditions de l’Est, 1992); and Toby Lester, The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map that Gave America Its Name (New York: Free Press, 2009), pp. 327–345.6 On Lud and the Gymnasium Vosagenes, see Avezac, Martin Hylacomylus Waltzemüller, pp. 7–22; and Gaston Save, “Vautrin Lud et le Gymnase Vosgien,” Bulletin de la Société Philomatique Vosgienne 15 (1889–1890), pp. 253–98.7 Henry Harrisse, The Discovery of North America: A Critical Documentary and Historic Investigation, with an Essay on the Early Cartography of the New World (London: Henry Stevens and Son; Paris: H. Welter, 1892), p. 642.8 In addition to the Waldseemüller world map of 1507 and the Strasbourg Ptolemy atlas of 1513, some of the other publications include Gaultherũ Ludd [Vautrin Lud], Speculi orbis (Strasbourg: Joannis Grũnigeri [Johannes Grüninger], 1507); Martin Waldseemüller, Der Welt Kugel.... (Strasbourg: Johannes Grüniger, 1509); and Amerigo Vespucci, “Quatuor Americi Vesputii navigationes,” app. in Matthias Ringmann [Philesius], Cosmographiae Introductio.... (Saint-Dié: Vautrin and Nikolaus Lud, 1507).9 Chet Van Duzer, Martin Waldseemüller’s “Carta marina” of 1516: Study and Transcription of the Long Legends (Cham: SpringerOpen, 2020), pp. 3–6.10 The Soderini Letter is the second of the “public” letters of Vespucci and describes his four voyages in several extant and slightly differing manuscript and printed versions with differing titles. Vespucci himself refers to his completed manuscript as Quattro Giornate (Four Voyages). The first printed version was titled Lettera di Amerigo vespucci delle isole nuouamente trouate in quattro suoi viaggi (Letter from Amerigo Vespucci about the islands newly found in his four voyages) (Florence: Gian Stefano for Pietro Pacini; or Antonio Tubini and Andrea Ghirlandi, 1505). Important critical editions are: George Tyler Northup, Letter to Piero Soderini, gonfaloniere. The year of 1504 (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press; London: Humphrey Milford; Oxford: University Press, 1916); Giuseppe Sergio Martini, ed., Amerigo Vespucci, Lettera a Piero Soderini (Lisbona, sett. 1504): secondo il cod. II. IV. 509 della Bibl. Naz. di Firenze (Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1957); and Amerigo Vespucci, Lettere di viaggio, ed. Luciano Formisano (Milan: Mondadori, 1985). For discussion of the textual transmission of the Soderini Letter, see Gregory C. McIntosh, “Martin Waldseemüller, Amerigo Vespucci, and the So-Called ‘Error’ of the ‘Abbey of All Saints’,” Terrae Incognitae 43.2 (2011), pp. 134–59.11 The “first” voyage of Vespucci, as described in the Soderini Letter, almost certainly is fictitious. Or, perhaps, it would be more exact to describe it as an embellished literary narrative.12 Waldseemüller used Hylacomylus and Ilacomilus as noms de plume.13 Ringmann used Philesius Vogesigena as his nom de plume.14 Save, “Vautrin Lud,” p. 254.15 Claudius Ptolemaeus, Claudii Ptolemei viri Alexandrini Mathematicae disciplinae Philosophi doctissimi Geographiae opus nouissima traductione e Graecorum archetypis castigatissime pressum, caeteris ante lucubratorum multo praestantius, trans. Jacopo D’Angelo, ed. Matthias Ringmann, Johann Essler, and Georg übelin, cartography by Martin Waldseemüller (Strasbourg: Johannes Schott, 1513). In addition to the maps under discussion, the map of Lorraine, the last in the atlas, is notable because it is one of the earliest maps printed in two colors, preceded by the Etzlaub map of Europe of 1501 (“Das heilig Römisch reich mit allen landstrassen...,” printed in Nuremberg, now at Harvard University, Houghton Library) and the Sylvanus world map of 1511 (Venice: Jacobum Pentium de Leucho).16 Waldseemüller’s name appears nowhere in the Strasbourg Ptolemy atlas. Its eventual publication in 1513 was out of the hands of the by-then defunct Gymnasium Vosagense. Duke René, the patron of the Gymnasium Vosagense, had died in December 1508. Ringmann had died of tuberculosis in 1511, two years prior to the publication of the atlas, so presumably, the omission of all references to Waldseemüller and the Gymnasium Vosagense was made by the two editors, Jacobus Essler and Georg übelin.17 In 1507, another Greek manuscript text of Ptolemy’s Geographia was sought from Basel by Waldseemüller, where he had previously worked for the printer, Johann Amerbach; see Alfred Hartmann, ed., Die Briefe aus der Zeit Johann Amerbachs: 1481–1513, vol. 1 of Die Amerbachkorrespondenz (Basel: Verlag der Universitätsbibliothek, 1942), pp. 312–3.18 The entire Ad Lectorem on the reverse of the “Supplementum” title page is transcribed and translated into English in Henry N. Stevens, The First Delineation of the New World and the First Use of the Name America on a Printed Map (London: Henry Stevens, Son and Stiles, 1928), pp. 40–2; into a different English translation in John Boyd Thacher, The Continent of America: Its Discovery and Its Baptism (New York: William Evarts Benjamin, 1896), pp. 156–57; and is transcribed and translated into French in Avezac, Martin Hylacomylus Waltzemüller, pp. 151–3.19 Stevens, First Delineation, 47. Also, Iacobus Aeszler, Jacob Aeschler, George Uebelin, and Georg Übelin. Übelin also was the editor for the 1520 edition of the Ptolemy atlas, mainly a reprint of the 1513 edition, and likewise printed by Schott.20 Stevens, First Delineation, p. 44.21 Raidelius [George Martin Raidel], Commentatio critico-literaria de Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia, etc. (Nuremberg: Haeredum Felseckerianorum, 1737), p. 56, suggests “quondam” is a mistake (by the typesetter?) for “quendam.” Thus, rather than being a “former Admiral,” it is a “certain Admiral.” There is no indication for choosing one word over the other so it will be left unchanged as “quondam,” i.e. former. An assessment of typesetter errors in the atlas, such as a statistical analysis, may indicate an answer.22 See Stevens, First Delineation, pp. 30, 39–40, 43–4, for some discussion of the differing translations.23 Alexander von Humboldt, Examen critique de l’histoire de la géographie du nouveau continent et des progrès de l’astronomie nautique au quinzième et seizième siècles, vol. 4 (Paris: Librarie de Gide, 1836–1839), p. 109.24 For instance, Harrisse, Discovery of North America, pp. 274–280.25 Lucien Gallois, “Une nouvelle carte Marine du XVIe siécle. Le portulan de Nicolas de Canerio,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de Lyon 9.1 (January 1890), pp. 97–119 [NB: The correct citation to January, not July, amends my previous error in McIntosh, “The Caverio Planisphere (c. 1506) Was Not Copied,” p. 113 n. 5]. The Caverio planisphere was occasionally referenced earlier in the nineteenth century; see, for instance, Jean Nicolas Buache, “Considerations geographiques sur les iles Dina et Marseveen,” Mémoires de l’Académie des sciences morales et politiques de l’Institut de France 4 (1801), pp. 367–81; and Jules Codine, Mémoire géographique sur la mer des Indes (Paris: Challamel, 1868), p. 155.26 The printed woodcut wall map of Martin Waldseemüller of 1507 is famed for being the first map to name “America.” It is entitled “Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorū que lustrationes,” and was printed by Johannes Grüninger in Strasbourg in 1507. The title translates as “The universal cosmography following the system of Ptolemy and the improvements of Amerigo Vespucci and others.” The circumstances of the rediscovery of this map and the “Carta Marina” of 1516 were first announced in Franz von Wieser, “Die älteste Karte mit dem Namen ‘America’: a. d. J. 1507 und die Carta Marina a. d. J. 1516 des Martin Waldseemüller,” Dr. A. Petermann’s Mitteilungen aus Justus Perthes’ Geographischer Anstalt 47 (1901), pp. 271–5. See also Basil H. Soulsby, “The First Map Containing the Name America,” The Geographical Journal 19.2 (February 1902), pp. 201–09. The extant copy of the 1507 map today preserved in the Library of Congress (G3200 1507.W3) is a slightly revised second edition of c. 1515–16. On the revisions made for the second edition, see Elizabeth Harris, “The Waldseemüller World Map: A Typographic Appraisal,” Imago Mundi 37 (1985), pp. 30–53; and Gregory C. McIntosh, The Johannes Ruysch and Martin Waldseemüller World Maps: The Interplay and Merging of Early Sixteenth Century New World Cartographies, 2nd ed. (Long Beach, Calif.: Plus Ultra Publishing Co., 2015). For the appropriate attribution of the invention of the name America to the poet Matthias Ringmann (not Waldseemüller), see Franz Laubenberger, “Ringmann oder Waldseemüller? Eine kritische Untersuchung über den Urheber des Namens Amerika,” Erdkunde 13.3 (September 1959), pp. 163–179; and Franz Laubenberger and Steven Rowan, trans., “The Naming of America,” The Sixteenth Century Journal 13.4 (Winter 1982), pp. 91–113.27 The “Carta marina navigatoria portugallen navigationes atque totius cogniti orbis terre marisque,” [Strasbourg (?)], 1516, is also a printed woodcut wall map of the world by Waldseemüller. The only extant copy is in the Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library of Congress. The title translates as “A nautical chart that comprehensively shows the Portuguese voyages and the shape and nature of the whole known world;” see Van Duzer, Martin Waldseemüller’s “Carta marina”, p. 5.28 That the Caverio planisphere was an important source for both of Waldseemüller’s wall maps of 1507 and 1516 was first demonstrated in Josef Fischer and Franz von Wieser, Die älteste Karte mit dem Namen Amerika aus dem Jahre 1507 und die Carta Marina aus dem Jahre 1516 des M. Waldseemüller (Ilacomilus)/Oldest Map with the Name America of the Year 1507 and the Carta Marina of the Year 1516 by M. Waldseemüller (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner’schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1903), pp. “The Admiral’s Map: Was the in (February pp. The of North America: A of Printed p. no. Humboldt, Examen vol. p. Harrisse, Discovery of North America, p. no. to A and of pp. in Stevens, First Delineation, p. and to the of the marina with the as by a to the title page of the to the 1513 Ptolemy and the title of the map the of the the author not the and conclusions of See L. C. “The First Map with the Name America,” The Geographical pp. and a in Cartography,” The Geographical Journal pp. and M. “Die der Welt und das des Namens Amerika Mitteilungen pp. Stevens, First Delineation, pp. Stevens, First Delineation, p. the the by Stevens, are de Francisco de e des Notes a la de M. le de sur les voyages de 1501 à Bulletin de la Société de Géographie no. 2nd (September p. au de Bulletin de la Société de Géographie to pp. Jean George de et vols. in H. London: Paris: C. vol. p. Henry Harrisse, A of to America, and (New York: p. A of to the at the (London: and pp. no. Charles et des et des iles 1 and 2 (Paris: et pp. no. John The Discovery of America, With of America and the 2 vols. and New York: Houghton The Press, 1892), vol. 2, pp. no. Harrisse, Discovery of North America, p. no. A of Geographical in the Library of 4 vols. Library of vol. 1, p. Stevens, First Delineation, p. “The Admiral’s pp. to of pp. A. to Claudius 1513, of 1513 p. Van Duzer, Martin Waldseemüller’s “Carta marina”, p. du vol. 2, p. It is not the is to of Portugal from to over years see p. no. de Francisco de e des Notes a la de M. le de sur les voyages de 1501 à Bulletin de la Société de Géographie no. p. is another name that has been p. he also was made maps with the or Discovery include the printed world map Johannes Ruysch printed world map and the Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Cartes et plans, GE that the several by the has been and the that there were two known in the as and two known as has Armando Cortesão and Avelino Teixeira da Mota, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica, 6 with of (Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 1987), vol. 1, pp. On and his see McIntosh, “The Caverio Planisphere (c. 1506) Was Not Copied,” pp. and the references in pp. The of the World: Early Printed World 2nd ed. (London: Press, 1987), p. no. Biblioteca in Biblioteca John 2, and de la de vols. vol. pp. William H. of the of and the ed. John vols. J. vol. 1, pp. in the du de la Marine in by Lucien see Gallois, “Une nouvelle carte Marine du XVIe p. On the by Waldseemüller of the Ptolemy of see Van Duzer, Martin Waldseemüller’s “Carta marina”, p. On the map by used by Waldseemüller, see Chet Van Duzer, of a Map of the World (c. by Journal of and no. 2 pp. and Van Duzer, World Map at pp. entitled “Carta marina navigatoria atque cogniti orbis terre et et nautical chart that comprehensively shows the Portuguese voyages and the shape and nature of the whole known both and and as have been in and how from the of the and also not by the English translation from Van Duzer, Martin Waldseemüller’s “Carta marina”, p. of the Sixteenth Century and their Maps: of the of (Chicago: for The p. “The the Carta marina wall map of and the planisphere are so as to one to name that map one almost as Géographie du vols. in plus atlas J. reprint vol. 2, p. no. Fischer and von Die älteste pp. The of a on the Caverio planisphere into a on Waldseemüller’s “Carta Marina” map of 1516 by Fischer and von Wieser, pp. is of the of the the See also Van Duzer, Martin Waldseemüller’s “Carta marina”, p. The of and on the “Carta Marina” of 1516 were by Johannes the printed map for the of cartographic from the 1516 map to his 1520 see Van Duzer, Martin Waldseemüller’s “Carta marina”, p. The of the and are not in of the are on the at of the Sixteenth Century and their Maps: of the of (Chicago: for The pp. of the Sixteenth p. the the Caverio planisphere was c. the Portuguese were to of Chet Van Duzer, World Map at (c. (New York: Chet Van Duzer, for the Study of Historic Maps: The of World Map at Imago Mundi pp. Chet Van Duzer, on World Map at (c. and Early Cartography,” in the in at the for of with at George The and Magellan of American pp. and Geographical Journal p. William A. America on Imago Mundi pp. The World The of and The University Press, 2007), p. University, and On the Cantino planisphere, completed in an at refers to this voyage of Gaspar of not by by the of Pietro to the of in Henry The of A of to the Early of the of pp. no. “The of and the in Cartography to Imago Mundi pp. and Biblioteca the of the 1507 map is from the Caverio world from of in this shape is the as on the maps of printed c. and of the The of in the North on the “Carta Marina” of 1516 is notable because it from the and not from the of the On the see to for a of North America, University of Press, p. and “The and the Imago Mundi 2 p. On the see of and the (Chicago: pp. and C. The of da (New and London: University Press, pp. The is also known as the and the to On both see McIntosh, The Johannes Ruysch and Martin Waldseemüller World pp. On the see The pp. H. de and the Discovery of and The Publishing pp. and L. “The North America on the Waldseemüller World Map A of Its Discovery by Terrae Incognitae no. 2 pp. On the of the see on Ptolemy’s of and Society no. 1 (London: Society and Geographical pp. and The in the of the Before University of Press, In see also references earlier for the or It as the that is on both the map and the Caverio planisphere Waldseemüller with a of or the two cartographic

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