Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi
Encyclopedia
Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi
(sometimes Ugolino de Vivaldo) (fl.
1291) were two brothers and Genoese
explorers and merchants.
In the spring of 1291 they sailed from Genoa with the intention of reaching India
by sea in ten years. The expedition was financed by Teodisio Doria
and piloted by Majorcan sailors. In two galleys, they sailed along the coast of present-day Morocco
after passing through the Straits of Gibraltar. Their subsequent fate is unknown. They may have followed the African coast as far as Cape Non. Whether they attempted to sail west across the Atlantic or circumnavigate the Africa
n continent is also unknown.
The expedition of the Vivaldi brothers was one of the first recorded voyages that sailed out from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic since the fall of the Western Roman Empire
in the 5th century AD.
in 1294. Under the entry of the year 1291, Doria writes the following:
Additional documents identify the other brother as "Vadino", that Tedesio Doria (Jacopo's nephew) did not embark, that the supplies were for "ten years", that the names of the vessels were Sanctus Antonius and Alegranzia, and that the ship made a brief stop at Majorca before proceeding.
, in which Bacon suggested that the distance separating Spain
and India
was not great, a theory that was later repeated by Pierre d'Ailly
and tested by Christopher Columbus
.
It is uncertain how far the Vivaldi brothers reached. The Vivaldi brothers may have seen or landed on the Canary Islands
. "Gozora" is a name found in some Medieval charts for Cape Non, which lies before the Canary Islands (e.g. Caput Finis Gozole in the maps of Giovanni da Carignano
(early 1300s) and the Pizzigani brothers (1367)). The name of the ship Alegranzia may be the source for the Canary Island of Alegranza
, and has led to the supposition that the brothers landed there (or that at least one of the ships capsized there).
It is believed that when Lancelotto Malocello
set sail from Genoa
in 1312, he did so in order to search for Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi. Malocello ended up remaining on the island that is named for him, Lanzarote
, one of the Canary Islands, for more than two decades.
An allusion to the Vivaldi galleys is given in the Libro del Conoscimiento
, a semi-fantastical travelogue written by an anonymous Spanish friar in c.1350-1385. There are two passages relating to the Vivaldi brothers. In the first, our fabulous narrator, travelling in what seems like the Guinea
region (sub-Saharan Africa) reaches the city of Graçiona, capital of the black African empire of Abdeselib, which is allied to Prester John
. "They told me in this city of Graciona that the Genoese who escaped the galley that was wrecked at Amenuan were brought (betrayed?) here, but it was never known what became of the other galley which escaped.". When our travelling friar moves on to the neighboring city of Magdasor, he came across a Genoese man named Sor Leone who was in this city "searching for his father who had left in two galleys, as I have already explained, and they gave him every honor, but when this Sor Leone wanted to traverse to the empire of Graciona to search for his father, the emperor of Magdasor did not allow it, because way was doubtful and the path was dangerous" As it happens, Sorleone is the real name of Ugolino's actual son.
The location of these kingdoms have been much speculated. The references to Prester John and Magdasor (which sounds much like Mogadishu
in Somalia) has led assume that it says the other galley circumnavigated Africa but was intercepted around the Horn of Africa
. But the narrator's geographical references(e.g. to the Senegal
-Niger River
, the gold trade, the Mali Empire
, even the Gulf of Guinea
, doubtlessly drawn (if inchoatly) from Arab geographers), suggests Abdelsalib and Magdasor are in non-Muslim sub-Saharan west Africa
. The localization of "Amenuan", the place where the first galley capsized, is suggestive of Senegambia region. If there is a grain of truth in any of this, it would not stretch credulity to imagine that the Vivaldis got as far as Senegal, and that their adventures ended there.
A century later, in late 1455, Antoniotto Usodimare
, a Genoese navigator in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, claims rather improbably in a letter that while traveling up the Gambia River
in West Africa, he came across a man who spoke the Genoese dialect
and claimed to be the last descendant of the survivors of the Vivaldi expedition. (Usodimare's travelling companion, Alvise Cadamosto, mentions no such meeting in his memoirs). Usodimare gives more details of the Vivaldi expedition in another document in the Genoese archives:
Gion is the name of Biblical Gihon
river that stems from the Garden of Eden
and flows through Ethiopia
. In this instance, it may be a reference to the Senegal River
. Usodimare's narration seems to be a mere repetition of the tale told in the Libro del Conoscimiento.
The historian José de Viera y Clavijo
writes that Father Agustín Justiniani, in the Anales de Génova, includes the information that two Franciscans also joined the Vivaldi expedition. Viera y Clavijo also mentions the fact that Petrarch
states that it was a local tradition that the Vivaldis did indeed reach the Canary Islands. Neither Justiniani nor Petrarch knew of the expedition's fate. Papiro Masson in his Anales writes that the brothers were the first modern discoverers of the Canary Islands.
The Vivaldi brothers subsequently became the subjects of legends that featured them circumnavigating Africa before being captured by the mythical Christian king Prester John
. The Vivaldis’ voyage may have inspired Dante’s
Canto 26 of the Inferno
about Ulysses
’ last voyage, which ends in failure in the Southern Hemisphere
. According to Henry F. Cary, Ulysses' fate was inspired "...partly from the fate which there was reason to suppose had befallen some adventurous explorers of the Atlantic ocean."
Ugolino de Vivaldo
Vivalso, Ugolino and Sorleone de , Genoese explorers, connected with the first known expedition in search of an ocean way from Europe to India...
(sometimes Ugolino de Vivaldo) (fl.
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
1291) were two brothers and Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
explorers and merchants.
In the spring of 1291 they sailed from Genoa with the intention of reaching India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by sea in ten years. The expedition was financed by Teodisio Doria
Doria
Doria, originally de Auria , meaning "the sons of Auria", and then de Oria or d'Oria, is the name of an old and extremely wealthy Genoese family who played a major role in the history of the Republic of Genoa and in Italy, from the 12th century to the 16th century.-Origins:According to legend, a...
and piloted by Majorcan sailors. In two galleys, they sailed along the coast of present-day Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
after passing through the Straits of Gibraltar. Their subsequent fate is unknown. They may have followed the African coast as far as Cape Non. Whether they attempted to sail west across the Atlantic or circumnavigate the Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n continent is also unknown.
The expedition of the Vivaldi brothers was one of the first recorded voyages that sailed out from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic since the fall of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
in the 5th century AD.
Sources
The principal documentary source is the Genoese annals of Jacopo Doria, presented to the city of GenoaGenoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in 1294. Under the entry of the year 1291, Doria writes the following:
Additional documents identify the other brother as "Vadino", that Tedesio Doria (Jacopo's nephew) did not embark, that the supplies were for "ten years", that the names of the vessels were Sanctus Antonius and Alegranzia, and that the ship made a brief stop at Majorca before proceeding.
Geography
Jean Gimpel suggests that the two Franciscan monks who accompanied the Vivaldi Brothers may have read the Opus majus written by their fellow Franciscan, Roger BaconRoger Bacon
Roger Bacon, O.F.M. , also known as Doctor Mirabilis , was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods...
, in which Bacon suggested that the distance separating Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
was not great, a theory that was later repeated by Pierre d'Ailly
Pierre d'Ailly
Pierre d'Ailly was a French theologian, astrologer, and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church....
and tested by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
.
It is uncertain how far the Vivaldi brothers reached. The Vivaldi brothers may have seen or landed on the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
. "Gozora" is a name found in some Medieval charts for Cape Non, which lies before the Canary Islands (e.g. Caput Finis Gozole in the maps of Giovanni da Carignano
Giovanni da carignano
Giovanni da Carignano, or Johannes de Mauro de Carignano was an priest and a pioneering cartographer from Genoa....
(early 1300s) and the Pizzigani brothers (1367)). The name of the ship Alegranzia may be the source for the Canary Island of Alegranza
Alegranza
Alegranza is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, located off the coast of Africa and is in the province of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is the northernmost point in the Canary Islands .- Geographical overview :...
, and has led to the supposition that the brothers landed there (or that at least one of the ships capsized there).
It is believed that when Lancelotto Malocello
Lancelotto Malocello
Lancelotto Malocello was a Genoese navigator , who gave his name to the island of Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands....
set sail from Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in 1312, he did so in order to search for Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi. Malocello ended up remaining on the island that is named for him, Lanzarote
Lanzarote
Lanzarote , a Spanish island, is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 125 km off the coast of Africa and 1,000 km from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering 845.9 km2, it stands as the fourth largest of the islands...
, one of the Canary Islands, for more than two decades.
An allusion to the Vivaldi galleys is given in the Libro del Conoscimiento
Libro del Conoscimiento
The Libro del Conoscimiento is an anonymous 14th century Castilian geographical & armorial manual, written in the form of imaginary autobiographical travelogue of a Castilian mendicant friar, as he travels through the entire world, known and fanciful, from the westernmost Atlantic islands,...
, a semi-fantastical travelogue written by an anonymous Spanish friar in c.1350-1385. There are two passages relating to the Vivaldi brothers. In the first, our fabulous narrator, travelling in what seems like the Guinea
Guinea (region)
Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel.-History:...
region (sub-Saharan Africa) reaches the city of Graçiona, capital of the black African empire of Abdeselib, which is allied to Prester John
Prester John
The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval...
. "They told me in this city of Graciona that the Genoese who escaped the galley that was wrecked at Amenuan were brought (betrayed?) here, but it was never known what became of the other galley which escaped.". When our travelling friar moves on to the neighboring city of Magdasor, he came across a Genoese man named Sor Leone who was in this city "searching for his father who had left in two galleys, as I have already explained, and they gave him every honor, but when this Sor Leone wanted to traverse to the empire of Graciona to search for his father, the emperor of Magdasor did not allow it, because way was doubtful and the path was dangerous" As it happens, Sorleone is the real name of Ugolino's actual son.
The location of these kingdoms have been much speculated. The references to Prester John and Magdasor (which sounds much like Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
in Somalia) has led assume that it says the other galley circumnavigated Africa but was intercepted around the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
. But the narrator's geographical references(e.g. to the Senegal
Sénégal River
The Sénégal River is a long river in West Africa that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania.The Sénégal's headwaters are the Semefé and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea; they form a small part of the Guinean-Malian border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali...
-Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...
, the gold trade, the Mali Empire
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
, even the Gulf of Guinea
Gulf of Guinea
The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf....
, doubtlessly drawn (if inchoatly) from Arab geographers), suggests Abdelsalib and Magdasor are in non-Muslim sub-Saharan west Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
. The localization of "Amenuan", the place where the first galley capsized, is suggestive of Senegambia region. If there is a grain of truth in any of this, it would not stretch credulity to imagine that the Vivaldis got as far as Senegal, and that their adventures ended there.
A century later, in late 1455, Antoniotto Usodimare
Antoniotto Usodimare
Antoniotto Usodimare or Usus di Mare was a Genoese trader and explorer in the service of the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator. Jointly with Alvise Cadamosto, Usodimare discovered a great stretch of the West African coast in two known voyages in 1455 and 1456...
, a Genoese navigator in the service of Prince Henry the Navigator, claims rather improbably in a letter that while traveling up the Gambia River
Gambia River
The Gambia River is a major river in West Africa, running from the Fouta Djallon plateau in north Guinea westward through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean at the city of Banjul...
in West Africa, he came across a man who spoke the Genoese dialect
Genoese dialect
Genoese is a dialect of the Ligurian language, the one spoken in Genoa .Ligurian is listed by Ethnologue as a language in its own right, of the Romance branch, and not to be confused with the ancient Ligurian language...
and claimed to be the last descendant of the survivors of the Vivaldi expedition. (Usodimare's travelling companion, Alvise Cadamosto, mentions no such meeting in his memoirs). Usodimare gives more details of the Vivaldi expedition in another document in the Genoese archives:
Gion is the name of Biblical Gihon
Gihon
Gihon is the name of the second river mentioned in the second chapter of the biblical Book of Genesis. The Gihon is mentioned as one of four rivers issuing out of the Garden of Eden that branched from a single river within the garden. The name may be interpreted as "Bursting Forth, Gushing"...
river that stems from the Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
and flows through Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. In this instance, it may be a reference to the Senegal River
Sénégal River
The Sénégal River is a long river in West Africa that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania.The Sénégal's headwaters are the Semefé and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea; they form a small part of the Guinean-Malian border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali...
. Usodimare's narration seems to be a mere repetition of the tale told in the Libro del Conoscimiento.
The historian José de Viera y Clavijo
José de Viera y Clavijo
José de Viera y Clavijo , Spanish was an ecclesiastic, historian, botanist, ethnographer, and professor, best known for his exhaustive History of the Canary Islands . Born in Realejo de Arriba, on the island of Tenerife, he was the son of the town's mayor, Gabriel Viera del Álama...
writes that Father Agustín Justiniani, in the Anales de Génova, includes the information that two Franciscans also joined the Vivaldi expedition. Viera y Clavijo also mentions the fact that Petrarch
Petrarch
Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
states that it was a local tradition that the Vivaldis did indeed reach the Canary Islands. Neither Justiniani nor Petrarch knew of the expedition's fate. Papiro Masson in his Anales writes that the brothers were the first modern discoverers of the Canary Islands.
The Vivaldi brothers subsequently became the subjects of legends that featured them circumnavigating Africa before being captured by the mythical Christian king Prester John
Prester John
The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval...
. The Vivaldis’ voyage may have inspired Dante’s
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
Canto 26 of the Inferno
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature...
about Ulysses
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
’ last voyage, which ends in failure in the Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
. According to Henry F. Cary, Ulysses' fate was inspired "...partly from the fate which there was reason to suppose had befallen some adventurous explorers of the Atlantic ocean."