It was a time when fraudulent tales were in the air, synchronising closely with the date of the origin of the Madoc myth in England. There was, then, every inducement to foist upon the world a tale which would win glory for Venice and in particular for the family of the Zeni, who were amongst Venice's greatest men. It is, however, true that Nicolo Zeno, the compiler, bore a high character in Venice.[1] There may have been a voyage to Iceland, and even to Greenland, but it will be well to suspend our judgment till some trace of the original documents is discovered. The "Drogio" and "Estotiland" of the map give no ground for concluding that in 1390 or 1410 the Zeni knew of America, as these names may easily have been interpolated from the discoveries of Columbus and the Cabots to suit the story of the fisherman, which only reaches us, it is to be remembered, at third hand.[2]
- ↑ Major, 'Letters of Columbus,' xxiv. quotes Patrizio. Nicolo Zeno the younger was born in 1515. There is a trace of the story in 1536, as Marco Barbaro says of Antonio Zeno: "He wrote with his brother Nicolo the voyages of the islands under the Arctic pole and of those discoveries of 1390," and "by order of Zicno, King of Frisland, he went to the continent of Estotiland in North America." Vide Major, 'Zeni,' xlv. Zahrtmann holds that Nicolo the younger might have interpolated this statement,
- ↑ The unfavourable authorities are, amongst others: De Laet, 'Notae ad dissertationem … de origine gentium Americanarum' (Paris, 1643), 20–22; Daru, 'Histoire de Venise' (Paris, 1821), vi. 295–98; Irving, Washington, 'Voyages of Columbus' (London, 1828), iv. 217–24; Biddle, R., 'Cabot' (London, 1831), 328–32; Zahrtmann, Proc. Roy. Geogr. Society, v. 102; Bryant and Gay, 'Popular History of United States' (New York, 1876), i. 76–85; Irminger, Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. (London), xlix. 398, etc.; Steenstrup, 'Compte Rendu, Congrès des Américanistes' (1880), p. 180, etc.; Winsor, J., 'History of America,' i. 74 (somewhat doubtful). Many authorities accept a portion of the voyages as true. A fairly full bibliography will be found in Anderson, R. B., 'America not Discovered by Columbus' (Chicago, 1883).
