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 VESPUCCI

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VESPUCCI

to the modern one of head of the admiralty, and which was borne by Vespucci until his death.

Amerigo Vespucci married Maria Cerezo, apparently in 150.5. The only precise information concerning her is furnished by the royal decree of 28 March, 1512, according her a pension, on account of the satisfaction given by her husband as piloto mayor, which pension was confirmed by the decree of 16 November, 1523. On the other hand, a decree of 26 December, 1524, grants the remainder of her pension to her sister Catalina Cerezo; which proves that Maria died between the two latter dates, and that she left no children. With Amerigo Vespucci, however, was the son of his brother Antonio, Gio- vanni, who was born on 6 March, 1486, and who was named piloto mayor in 1512, upon the death of his predecessor and imcle, Amerigo. For information concerning him, see Harrisse, "The Discovery of North America" (1892), 744-5.

It is impossible to determine, here, the place of Amerigo Vespucci in the history of the discovery of the New World, in relation to those of Christopher Columbus, of Sebastian Cabot, and of the brothers Pinz6n. First it is necessary to distinguish between the geographical, and the social, discovery of America. The former is due to the Icelanders, who established, on the eastern coast of Greenland, a colony that was maintained from the tenth to the fifteenth century, of the history of which a very good compendium is given by Fischer in "The Discoveries of the Norse- men in America" (London, 1902); in connexion with this work there should be consulted the collection of documents concerning the relations of the Church of Rome with Greenland during those centuries, pub- lished by order of Leo XIII.

The discovery of America was due to the failure of the crusade against the Turks which was attempted by Pius II, and the success of which was frustrated by the rivalry and corruption of the states of Europe at that time. Europe then felt the necessity of going to the East by another way, of seeking the East by way of the West, a motto that became the flag of the navigators of that age. Paolo Toscanelli, whose sincerity of religious sentiment was not less than his great merit of scientific attainment (see the present writer's work on Toscanelli, I, 1894, in the "Raccolta Colombiana", part V), foresaw, before Portugal foresaw it, that the time had come for that count rj- to take the place of Italy as the intermediary of the commerce between Europe and Asia, and therefore, as the starting-point of navigators and adventurers, seduced by the desire of being the executors of the great emprise. Columbus was the first to reach land to the west — one of the islands of the Bahamas — on 12 October, 1492, convinced that he had reached one of the islands of eastern Asia. He was followed by Vespucci, Cabot, and many others, each proposing to himself to reach the land of spices, that is, India.

We may not, here, enter into the very intricate question of which, of the three navigators named, was the first to tread the mainland of the New World. For that, it would be necessary to have before us the correct texts of all the fundamental documents con- cerning those navigators. As regards Columbus, the "Raccolta Colombiana", published by the Italian Government on the occasion of the fourtli centenary of the discovery of America, is an exhaustive docu- ment. Very important, for all the histoi-y of the dis- covery of America, are the collection of Navarrete, the books and documents published by Harrisse, the Duchess of Alba, and many others. But as re- gards Vesi)ucci, there arc, at Florence, the apocry- phal sjTiciironous copies of all the accounts of his voyages, except the text that was used for the pub- lication of the "Mundus novus", of which accounts, as will be seen further on, a correct edition is lacking.

The first editions of the documents relating to the voyages of Vespucci may be classified as follows: —

A. Parisian text,. — A. "Mundus novus" (third voyage), 1st ed., 1503 or 1504. B. Florentine text.3. — Ba. Letter of the four voyages in the years 1497- 98, 1499-1500, 1501-2, 1503-4; 1st ed., 1.507; Bb. Letter published by Baldini in 1745, relating to the second voyage; Be. Letter published by Bartolozzi in 1789, relating to the third voyage; Bd. Letter published by Baldelh Boni in 1827, relating to the third voyage. C. Venetian texts. — Ca. Letter of Girolamo Vianello to the Signoria of Venice, dated 23 December, 1506, relating to a fifth voyage, published for the first time by Humboldt, in 1839. Cb. Letter of Francesco Corner to the Signoria of Venice, dated 19 June, 1508, relating to a sixth voyage, pubhshed for the first time by Harrisse, in 1892.

The principal question turns, at once, upon the authenticity of the voyage and upon that of the pub- Hcations A, Ba, Bb, Be, Bd, Ca, and Cb. In general, a very erroneous confusion is made between two points: nearly every one admits the authenticity of the publications A and Ba, but many reject the au- thenticity of the first voyage, made by Vespucci in the years 1497 and 1498, and described in the pub- lication Ba. Some, as Varuhagen and others, deny the authenticity of the texts Bb, Be, and Bd, while others hold the contrary opinion with regard to one or another, or to all three, of these texts. Nearly aU regard as inadmissible the fifth and the sixth voyages, narrated in the texts Ca and Cb.

For the various editions of the "Mundus no\'ns", the pubhcation of Sarnow and of Triibenbach is ex- haustive, but there is no critical edition of any of the other texts, which were printed with many errors; while, as has been said, the apocryphal, though con- temporary, texts of all of them are preserved at Florence. The present writer proposed the prepara- tion of a critical edition of this kind, and the proposi- tion was approved by three National Geographical Congresses of Italy, held at Florence (1S98), at Milan (1901), and at Naples (1904), respectively, and by the International Congress of Americanists, held at Stuttgart, in August, 1904. Recently, a commission has been created at Florence, for the execution of that purpose, under the presidency of the Marchese Filippo Corsini, president of the Society of Geographical and Colonial Study resident at Florence; of this com- mission. Professor Attilo Mori, of the Military Geo- graphical Institute, and the writer of this article are members. Until the publication in question appears, it will be useless to discuss the genuineness of the voyages of Vespucci, basing such discussion upon the incorrect texts that are now available — exception being made of the "Mundus no%-us", cited above. Those seeking further details in regard to these codices mav consult Harrisse, "Biblioteca americana vetus- tisslma" (1868), and "Additions" (1872). All the works of that author, whether bibliographical or historical, are the basis for any work on the discovery of America.

It is well known to-day that Vespucci was in no way responsible for the fact that his name, and not that of Columbus, was given to the New World, and there- fore, that he certainly does not deser\'e the charge of theft that has been made against him by many; among them, thefamous American publicist, Emerson, who was led into error by partisan wTiters. On the other hand, the affectionate correspondence between the two great navigators would sufhce to disprove all unworthy accusations. The charge received some support from the efforts of a considerable portion of the clergy, throughout the world, to obtain the canon- ization of Columbus, which, however, was unsuc- cessful, when the merits of the case were examined, by order of Leo XIII, on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America. At that time,