14th-century Italian-Majorcan cartographer
Angelino Dulcert
(
fl.
1339), probably the same person known as
Angelino de Dalorto
(
fl.
1320s),
[1]
and whose real name was probably
Angelino de Dulceto
or
Dulceti
[2]
or possibly
Angeli Dolcet
, was an
Italian
-
Majorcan
cartographer
.
He is responsible for two notable 14th-century
portolan charts
, the "Dalorto" chart of 1325 and the "Dulcert" chart of 1339. The latter is the first portolan known to have been produced in
Palma
, and considered the founding piece of the
Majorcan cartographic school
. He is also believed to be the author of a third undated and unsigned chart held in London.
[3]
Background
[
edit
]
Virtually nothing is known of Angelino Dulceti/Dolcet/Dalorto/Dulcert. A common assumption is that he was an Italian of
Liguria
, who trained in
Genoa
and subsequently emigrated to
Majorca
some time in the 1320s or 1330s.
[4]
Angelino 'Dalorto' was once thought connected to the notable
Genoese
"Dell'Orto" family. The latter were known to be active in the
Black Sea
and the
Asian trade
, e.g. in 1340,
Pope Benedict XII
speaks of receiving a Petraneus da Lorto, former Genoese governor of
Caffa
and emissary of
Uzbeg Khan
of the
Golden Horde
.
[5]
It was conjectured that Angelino Dalorto moved to
Majorca
, possibly as a commercial agent for his family's trading house, and took up the name 'Dulcert' as a more
Catalan
-sounding version of his surname.
[6]
However, more recent readings claim the signatures on the maps have been previously misread, that the 'Dalorto' in the 1325 chart should be read as "Dulceto" and the "Dulcert" in the 1339 chart is in fact "Dulceti".
[7]
This implies Angelino originates from Dulceto, or
Dulcedo
, a small Italian town in
Liguria
, a little down the coast from
Genoa
. This reinforces the common assumption that he was an Italian immigrant who settled in Majorca. However, others have noted the existence of the "Dolcet" surname in earlier Majorcan records.
[8]
The identity and nationality of Angelino Dulceti/Dolcet/Dalorto/Dulcert has been a longstanding item of contention between scholars, often attenuated by nationalist sentiments.
[9]
Scholars who seek to claim Dulcert to be wholly of
Catalan
nationality have tended to argue that Dalorto and Dulcert are two different men, that the Catalan Dulcert might simply have been "inspired" by the Genoese Dalorto. Pujades (2007), touching only briefly on the controversy, concludes
"It strikes me that our protagonist signed his name indiscriminately as Angellinus de Dulceto or Angellinus Dulceti on Latin legends. Whether this was a Latinisation of the Genoese toponym Dulcedo or that of the Catalan surname Dolcet, is a question I shall leave to those who pursue national glory. As far as cartography is concerned, it makes absolutely no difference where he was born. What interests us is where he trained as a cartographer and where he engaged in his professional career as such, and the toponymy of his charts leaves no room for doubt about the Genoese provenance of his cartographic-toponymic pattern.
[10]
Dalorto 1325 Map
[
edit
]
Angelino "Dalorto" is known for a
portolan
chart commonly dated 1325 (now revised to 1330), privately held by the Prince
Corsini
collection in
Florence
.
[11]
Its signature was traditionally read as "
Hoc opus fecit Angelinus de Dalorto ano dni MCCXXV de mense martii composuit hoc
" (and since re-read as "Angelinus de D
u
l
ce
to'" and "ano dni MCCXX
X
", thus the revision of the name to "Dulceto" and the year to 1330).
[12]
In many ways, the 1325 Dalorto portolan marks a transition point in European portolans, between the Genoese and Majorcan cartographic schools. For the most part, Dalorto follows the restrained coast-focused Italian style, exemplified by the early portolans of his Genoese predecessor
Pietro Vesconte
, but he also begins moving away from its sparseness by illustrating inland details, such as miniature cities, mountain ranges and rivers, a tendency will flourish in the later Majorcan school. Indeed, some of Dalorto's details here presage the standard Majorcan stylings (e.g.
Red Sea
colored red, the
Atlas Mountains
shaped like a palm tree, the chicken-foot
Alps
, the
Danube
's "hillocks").
Among its advances in geographic knowledge, the Dalorto map gives a better picture of northern Europe (particularly the
Baltic Sea
) than its predecessors.
[13]
The Dalorto chart is also the first to depict the legendary island of
Brasil
, as circular disk-shaped island southwest of
Ireland
. It is denoted by the caption "
Insula de montonis siue de brazile
" ("isle of sheep (?) or of brasil").
[14]
Dulcert 1339 Map
[
edit
]
Angelino "Dulcert" is known for a portolan chart dated 1339 and held by the
Bibliotheque Nationale de France
in
Paris
, France (B.696). Its signature reads: "
ano MCCCXXXVIIII mense Augusto Angelino Dulcert in civitate Maioricarum composuit
".
[15]
Unlike its predecessor, it is composed not on a single
vellum
, but on two
parchment
pages, joined together as a single map, measuring 75 × 102 cm.
Made in
Palma
, the Dulcert 1339 map is considered the founding piece of the
Majorcan cartographic school
. Although some of its features were already presaged in the Dalorto map, it goes further in the inland illustrations, in particular including miniature illustrations of people.
In many ways, the Dulcert 1339 map is very similar to the 1325 Dalorto map.
[16]
On the other hand, the portolan's keys and legends are written in
Latin
, and it contains features not usually found on
Genoese
or
Venetian
portolans.
[1]
[17]
The 1339 Dulcert map is notable for giving the first modern depiction of the island of
Lanzarote
, one of the
Canary Islands
, as
Insula de Lanzarotus Marocelus
, a reference to the Genoese navigator
Lancelotto Malocello
, and affixes a Genoese shield to mark the island (a custom which will be retained by future mapmakers).
Dulcert also introduces what seems like the
Madeira
islands, named here as
Capraria
and
Canaria
(legendary names for two of the
Fortunate Islands
of
classical antiquity
, as found in, e.g.
Ptolemy
).
[18]
The oldest heraldic representation connected with
Macedonia
surviving to the present time, or discovered so far, is the banner of
Skopje
, on the Dulcert 1339 Map, with blazon: Or, double-headed eagle Gules. Above the name of the city of "Scopi" is written "Servia" (
Serbia
).
London c. 1340 map
[
edit
]
In the 20th century, a third map has emerged, which is unsigned and which has become commonly attributed to Angelino Dulceti/Dolcet/Dalorto/Dulcert on account of its features. It is held by the
British Library
in London, UK (Add.MS.25691). It thought to have been composed sometime in the 1340s, although some scholars have suggested it may even precede the Dalorto 1325 map.
[19]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Oldham, R.D. (May 1925). "The Portolan Maps of the Rhone Delta: A Contribution to the History of the Sea Charts of the Middle Ages".
The Geographical Journal
.
65
(5). Blackwell Publishing: 403?424.
doi
:
10.2307/1782548
.
JSTOR
1782548
.
- ^
Pujades (2007: p.491); Campbell (1987).
- ^
Caraci (1959), Campbell (1987, 2011).
- ^
e.g. Crone (1962: p.114)
- ^
Beazley (1906:
p.249
)
- ^
Beazley (1906:
p.522
), Nansen (1911:
p.226
)
- ^
Pujades (2007: p.491). This in fact had been proposed over a century earlier by P. Amat di S.Filippo (1888: 272-73)
- ^
e.g. Duro (1892:
p.285
)
- ^
For a taste of the old controversy, see Gabriel Marcel (1887:
p.28-35
), P. Amat di S. Filippo (1888:
p.268
), Llabres (1890:
p.347
), Duro (1892,
p.283
, Blazquez (1906:
p.232
), A. Magnaghi(1909). For a modern reprise, see Winter (1958), Caraci (1959, 1960), Crone (1962).
- ^
Pujades (2007: p.491)
- ^
A copy of the "Dalorto 1325" map is reproduced in Hinks (1929) and can be found online at
Internet Culturale
Archived
2016-03-16 at the
Wayback Machine
. For a detailed description see Magnaghi (1899:
p.506ff
)
- ^
Pujades (2007), P. Amat di S.Filippo (1888:
p.273
)
- ^
Nansen,
p.227
)
- ^
Nansen (1906:
p.228
). Nansen (p.229n3) connects "montonis" to the French
mouton
(sheep), but considers alternative readings.
- ^
Beazley, 1906: p.522
- ^
Campbell (1987)
- ^
As noted above, however, Pujades (2007: 491) however, concludes that there is "no room for doubt about the Genoese provenance of his cartographic-toponymic pattern".
- ^
Beazley, p.522
- ^
Winter (1958) is among the few who consider the London chart the earliest of the Dulceti trio. This is disputed by Caraci (1959) and Crone (1962). Campbell (1987, 2011) and Pujades (2007) date it between 1339 and 1350, probably 1340.
External links
[
edit
]
- Online copy of
Dalorto 1325 chart
at Internet Culturale
- www.cresquesproject.net
?Translation in English of the works of Riera i Sans and Gabriel Llompart on the Jewish Majorcan Map-makers of the Late Middle Ages
Sources
[
edit
]
- Beazley, C.R. (1906)
The Dawn of Modern Geography
. London.
vol. 3
- Blazquez, Antonio (1906) "Estudio acerca de la cartografia espanola en la Edad Media, acompanado de varios mapas",
Boletin Real de la Sociedad Geografica
, vol. 48,
p.190-237
- Campbell, T. (1987) "Portolan Charts from the Late Thirteenth Century to 1500".
The History of Cartography
. Volume 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 371?463.
- Campbell, T. (2011) "Complete chronological listing of works assigned to the period pre-1501 (with a note of high quality reproductions and place-name lists)" [ online]
- Caraci, G. (1959)
Italiani e Catalani nella primitiva cartografia medievale
, Rome: Universita degli studi.
- Caraci, G (1960). "A Preliminary Reply to Herr Winter".
Imago Mundi
.
15
: 113?14.
doi
:
10.1080/03085696008592185
.
- Crone, Gerald Roe (1962). "Origin of Early Marine Charts".
The Geographical Journal
.
128
(1): 114.
- Fernandez Duro, Cesareo (1888) "Descubrimiento de una carta a marear espanola del ano 1339, su autor Angelino Dulceri o Dulcert",
Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia
, vol. 12 (4),
p.287-314
- Fernandez Duro, Cesareo (1892) "Los cartografos mallorquines: Angelino Dulceti, Jafuda Cresques",
Boletin de la Sociedad Geografica de Madrid
, Vol.31,
p.283-94
- Garcia Camarero, E. (1959) "La Escuela Cartografica de Mallorca", Revista General de Marina, vol. 157, p. 10-22
online
(PDF)
- Hinks. A.R. (1929)
The portolan chart of Angellino de Dalorto, MCCCXXV, in the collection of Prince Corsini at Florence
, London: Royal Geographical Society.
- Llabres, Gabriel (1890) "Cartografos Mallorquines: ¿Fue mallorquin Angelinus Dulceti?",
Boletin de la Sociedad Arqueologica Luliana,
, November,
p.347
- Magnaghi, A. (1899) "Il Mappamondo del Genovese Angellinus del Dalorto (1325): Contributo alla storia della cartografia mediovale",
Atti del terzo Congresso geografico italiano tenuto in Firenze dal 12 al 17 aprile 1898
, vol. 2, Florence: M. Ricci,
p.506-
- Magnaghi, A (1909). "Sulle origini del portolano normale nel Medio Evo e della Cartografia dell'Europa occidentale".
Memorie Geografiche
.
4
(8): 115?80.
- Marcel, Gabriel (1887) "Note sur une carte catalane de Dulceri datee de 1339",
Comptes rendus des seances de la Societe de Geographie
. (
p.28-35
) (Offprint published 1887, titled
Note sur une carte catalane de Dulceri anterieure a l'Atlas Catalan de 1375, lue a la Societe de Geographie de Paris dans la seance du 7 janvier 1887" Paris: Societe de geographie.
- Fridtjof Nansen
(1911)
In Northern Mists; Arctic exploration in early times
. New York: F.A. Stokes.
vol. 1
,
vol. 2
- Pujades i Bataller, Ramon J. (2007)
Les cartes portolanes: la representacio medieval d'una mar solcada
. Barcelona.
- Petrus Amat di S. Filippo (1888) "Recenti Ritrovimenti di Carte Nautiche in Parigi in Londra ed in Firenze",
Bollettino della Societa geografica italiana
, Vol. 25,
p.268-
- Winter, Heinrich (1958). "Catalan Portolan Maps and their place in the total view of cartographic development".
Imago Mundi
.
11
: 1?12.
doi
:
10.1080/03085695408592053
.