HOME (main menu)

TONY CAMPBELL articles

PORTOLAN CHARTS menu

INDEX

complete SITEMAP

What the site is ABOUT

WHAT'S NEW

A.  RED NAMES

A.1. Rare or Unique Red names
A.2. Unexpected Red name Exclusions
A.3. Red name 'Precursors': those that pre-empt later charts or, alternatively, are evidence of their own later date

B.  BLACK AND RED NAMES CONSIDERED TOGETHER

B.1. Should 'Precursor' names necessarily be treated as anachronisms?
•    'Precursor' names
•    The Riccardiana chart
B.2. Names on the two early portolani related to those on the four charts
B.3. What can be learnt from the 'antecedent' names included in the early portolani but not repeated on the four charts?

•    Crusader texts
B.4. How much of the supposedly 'innovative' toponymy on the Vesconte and Dulceti charts can already be seen in the earlier portolani?
B.5. Totals of Rare and Unique names on charts up to 1430


C.  THE CARTE PISANE COMPARED WITH THE DIFFERENT PERIODS TO WHICH IT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED

C.1. What was available in the 14th century for comparison?
C.2. The Carte Pisane compared to the Italian toponymy available in the 1430s
C.3. Toponymic time-lag (delay in the repetition of new toponyms)
C.4. What 15th-century model could there have been for the Carte Pisane?
C.5. Is the Carte Pisane a late copy?


D.  SPECIFIC NAMES ANALYSIS

D.1. Introductory remarks
D.2. Historical Time-lag (from physical creation to recognition by mariners)
D.3. Historical evidence

•    Livorno
•    Other supposed anachronisms
• Oriola
• Muggia
D.4. The Corbitis and Pinelli-Walckenaer atlases
D.5. Cesanis and the Luxoro Atlas
D.6. The toponymic contribution of the portolani
( See further on place-names in Toponymy II )

E.  HYDROGRAPHY

E.1. ATLANTIC COASTS
E.2. British Isles
E.3. North Sea coasts (Denmark to Dieppe)
E.4. Atlantic coast of France and Spain
E.5. MEDITERRANEAN
• 5a. Italy
• 5b. Peloponnese (Morea)
• 5c. Asia Minor (west and south coasts)
• 5d. Gulf of Sirte (Libya)
• 5e. Larger islands
• 5f. Small island shapes
E.6. BLACK SEA

• 6a. The Carte Pisane
• 6b. Crimea
• 6c. An intentionally truncated Black Sea?
• 6d. What can be recovered from the 1852 facsimile?
• 6e. Bosphorus
E.7. NAVIGATIONAL HAZARDS


F.  CONSTRUCTION AND DRAFTING

F.1. Palaeography and the dating of the Carte Pisane
F.2. Drafting conventions
• 2a. Compass network
• 2b. Borders
• 2c. Scales
• 2d. Colour
• 2e. Flags

Top of page

---

 

Part 2. The Carte Pisane's significance reassessed on the basis of a pre-1311 dating

 

Toponymy II

G.  TOPONYMY (NOW ASSUMING A VERY EARLY DATE FOR THE CARTE PISANE)

G.1. Names which confirm that the Carte Pisane, Cortona and Lucca charts form part of the portolan charts' formative period
G.2. Does the toponymy of the Carte Pisane, Cortona and Lucca charts indicate where they might have been made?
G.3. The mechanisms for the staged introduction and repetition of new names
G.4. Toponymic lineage in the early 14th century
G.5. What toponymic sources might have been used by the early chartmakers?

H.  THE WIDER IMPLICATIONS

H.1. The Carte Pisane and portolan chart origins
H.2. The Carte Pisane's antecedents
H.3. The early development of the portolan charts
H.4. The early 14th-century context
H.5. Methodology and assumptions

 

Concluding remarks

 

Some areas for possible future research into early portolan charts

General Issues
Specific Points

 

Top of page

---

 

Excel spreadsheet

Numbers preceding a place-name throughout the essay or in the tables refer to this comprehensive listing of nearly 3,000 toponyms between northern France and west Morocco
[NB. Regular, minor amendments are likely to be made to this listing]

The spreadsheet has about 65 columns. See the Explanatory Notes. These will particularly need to be consulted for the yellow-headed numbered, analytical columns to the right

 

Bibliographical references

Full details of the publications referred to in the essay will be found in the
"Bibliography comprising literature since 1986 (and missed earlier publications) as well as references for all the portolan chart webpages"
(click on the link above)

 

---

TABLES AND GRAPHS

---

The following are in Microsoft Office Word 3 format

TOPONYMY I (establishing the most appropriate date for the Carte Pisane)

Red Names

Tables
A. Listing of the 35 names found, in Red, only on one or more of the four supposedly 'early' anonymous charts

B. The 'Standard' Red names shown in black, or intentionally omitted, on at least one of the four supposedly early anonymous charts

---

    Graph
  (1). Comparing the treatment of the 92 'standard' Red names on the 'Precursor' charts and those from the remainder of the 14th century: whether shown in red, black or omitted

---

C. Listing of the 55 Red 'Precursor' names found on one or more of the four supposedly early anonymous charts, which otherwise appear first, in red, on works dated or dateable later than 1311/13

 

Black and red names considered together

(Comparison of the 'Precursor' and 'Antecedent' names on two 13th-century portolani and four supposedly very early anonymous charts)

A. Totals of the black and red names, first seen on dated works after 1313 but included on the four supposedly very early anonymous charts

B. Totals of the black and red names noted first (?) on the four supposedly very early anonymous charts (related to the Liber de existencia riveriarum and Lo compasso de navegare)

---

    Graph

   (2). Red and black names: comparisons between the two early portolani, the Carte Pisane, Cortona, Lucca and Riccardiana charts

---

C. 'Antecedent' names found in the Liber and/or Lo compasso and on charts dated from 1313 but not on the Carte Pisane, Cortona, Lucca or Riccardiana charts

D. Names, first dated via works by Vesconte and Dulceti, which are anticipated in the Liber and/or Lo compasso

E. Totals of Rare and Unique names on charts up to 1430

---

TOPONYMY II (on the basis of a very early date for the Carte Pisane)

---

F. The Carte Pisane compared to the Liber de existencia riveriarum and Lo compasso de navegare, and to the work of Vesconte and Dulceti

 

Carte Pisane Specific Names Tables

A. Toponymic and other evidence purporting to show that the Carte Pisane, Cortona and Lucca charts are post-Pizzigani, and probably
no earlier than the first part of the 15th century

B. Toponymic time-lag (from physical creation to recognition by mariners)

 

Carte Pisane Hydrography Tables

1. Development in the outline and toponymy of the British Isles

2. Early names along the South coast of England

3. Early North Sea names

4. Name totals between Bruges and Seville

5. Red names from Calais to Seville

6. Names on the Carte Pisane and Lucca chart apparently referring to the Bosphorus

7. Development of the signs for navigational dangers

 

Top of page

---

The Essay Text

---

Summary Conclusions

---

Some areas for possible Future Research into early portolan charts

---

Brief notes on the main documents discussed

---

For the help received with this essay please see the main Acknowledgements (at the foot of that page)

---

Portolan Charts Main Menu   |  Toponymy Menu

---

HOME (main menu)  |  Tony Campbell articles  |  Index   |   Sitemap   |   What this site is about   |   What's New

---