Fr. (Brother) Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis was an Augustinian Friar from Milan who served in London as envoy between the Duke of Milan and King Henry VII. He is known to have sailed with John Cabot (aka Giovanni Caboto) during his 1498 expedition to North America. He may have founded a mission settlement and North America's oldest church (since the Norse settlements in Greenland) at Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador.[1]
Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis accompanied Francesco Pagano's diplomatic mission to London at the start of 1490, as did Christopher Carbonariis, who appears to have some family connection. Jones says that "de Carbonariis" appears to be a family name. Giovanni Carbonariis' association to John Cabot has been known since the 19th century, based on his letter of 20 June 1498 to the Duke of Milan. He said that ‘Messer Giovanni Antonio de Carbonariis’ had accompanied Cabot's recently departed expedition. The Friar had left with five ships provided by King Henry VII of England.[2] The Spanish envoy in London, Pedro de Ayala, wrote to the Crown noting that one of the five ships in Cabot's expedition had been badly damaged in a storm and was forced to land in Ireland, leaving Cabot to sail on. The ambassador notes that on the damaged ship was ‘another Friar Buil.’ This was an allusion to Bernardo Buil, the Minim missionary who had accompanied Christopher Columbus's 1493 expedition.[3] Based on limited information, historians thought that Carbonariis was a minor player in the expeditions, and may not have sailed further than Ireland. Historian James Williamson had ascertained that Carbonariis was 'a man of some importance', having served as an envoy between the Duke of Milan and Henry VII,[4] but the friar had been overlooked by most historians since then interested in the English voyages of exploration from Bristol.
Augustinian
Alwyn Ruddock of the University of London was one of the world's foremost experts on John Cabot's expedition and suggested in correspondence that Carbonariis had a more important role, but due to ill health was unable to publish her findings. After her death in December 2005, all of her research notes and materials were destroyed, according to instructions in her will. Learning of her research, Dr Evan Jones of the University of Bristol has re-investigated her claims, finding new documents and verifying some of her positions. This includes that Carbonariis was an Augustinian friar who had been educated in Pavia. In the late 15th century, he was serving as the deputy papal tax collector in England. Since his principal, Adriano Castellesi, had been in Rome since 1494, Carbonariis was in effective control of one of the most lucrative clerical appointments in England. In this period, the Church still owned about one third of the land in England, and the Pope took ten per cent of the income generated from that property.[5] Based on his position, Carbonariis controlled institutional wealth and had access to King Henry.
Fr. Giovanni Antonio Carbonariis emerges as a key player in Ruddock's account of John Cabot's voyages. While she never published a full account, she claimed that he was the explorer's most important backer in England, having arranged for Cabot to get a loan from Italian bankers in London for an expedition after the Venetian arrived in London in 1495. Even more importantly, she suggests that it was Carbonariis who secured Cabot an audience with King Henry VII of England. In March 1496 Cabot and his three grown sons were granted royal Letters patent for westward exploration. Ruddock also claims that Carbonariis outfitted a ship, called the Dominus Nobiscum, which accompanied the 1498 expedition. The ship carried other Italian friars who, with Carbonariis, are believed to have established a church and religious community in Newfoundland.[6] In his account of this period, historian Richard Hakluyt had mistakenly associated the friars and ship by that name with a 1527 voyage by Cabot's son Sebastian Cabot; but, the latter's ships for that expedition were named Samson and Mary of Guildford.[7]
While the religious community in Newfoundland is thought to have lasted at most only a few years, it would have been significant as North America's first Christian settlement since the Norse settlements in Greenland. This church appears to have been named after the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples, which was the mother church of a group of reformed Augustinian Friars called the 'Carbonara'. Dr Ruddock suggested that the community was located at what is now Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador, the modern name being a relic survival of the 15th-century settlement. (Williamson had already noted a connection between the name of the papal deputy and Carbonear.)[4] From 2010 to 2014, archeological excavations were undertaken by Professor Peter Pope (d. 2017)[8] of Memorial University of Newfoundland in Carbonear to study its colonial history. Remains from the 17th into the 19th century were found.[9][10]
Ruddock's book proposal and surviving letters to colleagues do not indicate the sources on which she based her claims about the North American settlement, but she had written of discovering more than 20 documents related to Cabot's voyages. Historian Evan Jones has investigated some of her claims and confirmed evidence for a 1499 voyage undertaken by William Weston, a merchant of Bristol; he is now identified as the first Englishman to lead an expedition to North America.[11] Evan Jones and co-researchers, including Margaret Condon (University of Bristol) and Dr Francesco Guidi Bruscoli (University of Florence), are carrying out further investigations of Dr Ruddock's claims as part of The Cabot Project.
Year 1498 (MCDXCVIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1498th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 498th year of the 2nd millennium, the 98th year of the 15th century, and the 9th and pre-final year of the 1490s decade.
Portuguese colonization of the Americas constituted territories in the Americas belonging to the Kingdom of Portugal. Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided the Earth outside Europe into Castilian and Portuguese global territorial hemispheres for exclusive conquest and colonization. Portugal colonized parts of South America, but also made some unsuccessful attempts to colonize North America.
Richard ap Meryk, anglicised to Richard Amerike was a British merchant, royal customs officer and later, sheriff of Bristol. Several claims have been made for Amerike by popular writers of the late twentieth century. One was that he was the major funder of the voyage of exploration launched from Bristol by the Venetian John Cabot in 1497, and that Amerike was the owner of Cabot's ship, the Matthew. The other claim revived a theory first proposed in 1908 by a Bristolian scholar and amateur historian, Alfred Hudd. Hudd's theory, greatly elaborated by later writers, suggested that the continental name America was derived from Amerike's surname in gratitude for his sponsorship of Cabot's successful discovery expedition to 'the new World'. However, neither claim is backed up by hard evidence, and the consensus view is that America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer.
The naming of the Americas, or America, occurred shortly after Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492. It is generally accepted that the name derives from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian explorer, who explored the new continents in the following years on behalf of Spain and Portugal. However, some have suggested other explanations, including being named after the Amerrisque mountain range in Nicaragua, or after Richard Amerike, a merchant from Bristol, England.
Events from the 15th century in Canada.
The 16th century in Canada saw the first contacts, since the Norsemen 500 years earlier, between the indigenous peoples in Canada living near the Atlantic coast and European fishermen, whalers, traders, and explorers.
Bonavista is a town on the Bonavista Peninsula, Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Unlike many Newfoundland coastal settlements, Bonavista was built on an open plain, not in a steep cove, and thus had room to expand to its current area of 31.5 km2 (12.2 sq mi). Bonavista is located approximately 300 km by road from the provincial capital of St. John's.
Sebastian Cabot was a Venetian explorer, likely born in the Venetian Republic and a Venetian citizen. He was the son of Venetian explorer John Cabot and his Venetian wife Mattea.
The Cantino planisphere or Cantino world map is a manuscript Portuguese world map preserved at the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, Italy. It is named after Alberto Cantino, an agent for the Duke of Ferrara, who successfully smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502. It measures 220 x 105 cm.
João Fernandes Lavrador (1453–1501) was a Portuguese explorer of the late 15th century. He was one of the first modern explorers of the Northeast coasts of North America, including the large Labrador peninsula, which was named after him by European settlers in eastern Canada. The popular dog breed Labrador Retriever is named after the peninsula and thus by effect also bears his name.
Bristol is a city with a population of nearly half a million people in south west England, situated between Somerset and Gloucestershire on the tidal River Avon. It has been among the country's largest and most economically and culturally important cities for eight centuries. The Bristol area has been settled since the Stone Age and there is evidence of Roman occupation. A mint was established in the Saxon burgh of Brycgstow by the 10th century and the town rose to prominence in the Norman era, gaining a charter and county status in 1373. The change in the form of the name 'Bristol' is due to the local pronunciation of 'ow' as 'ol'.
Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to Newfoundland, North America. There are two modern replicas – one in Bristol, England and one in Bonavista, Newfoundland.
Carbonear is a town on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It overlooks the west side of Conception Bay and had a history long tied to fishing and shipbuilding. Since the late 20th century, its economy has changed to emphasize education, health care, retail, and industry. As of 2021, there were 4,696 people in the community.
Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as British Italians or colloquially Britalians, are citizens and / or residents of the United Kingdom who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to the United Kingdom during the Italian diaspora. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom of Italian descent, someone who has emigrated from Italy to the United Kingdom, or someone born elsewhere, who is of Italian descent and has migrated to the UK. More specific terms used to describe Italians in the United Kingdom include: Italian English, Italian Scots, and Italian Welsh.
Johannes Ruysch, a.k.a. Johann Ruijsch or Giovanni Ruisch was an explorer, cartographer, astronomer, manuscript illustrator and painter from the Low Countries who produced a famous map of the world: the second oldest known printed representation of the New World. This Ruysch map was published and widely distributed in 1507.
John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII, King of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments declared Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed.
Alwyn Ann Ruddock was a noted British historian of the Age of Discovery, best known for her research on the English voyages of the 15th-century explorer John Cabot. Cabot and other navigators of the time were trying to find lands to the West, such as the mythical "Isle of Brasil" or the North American lands reached by Icelanders in previous centuries.
William Weston, a 15th-century merchant from Bristol, was probably the first Englishman to lead an expedition to North America, the voyage taking place most likely in 1499 or 1500. Evidence of Weston's leadership has been discovered only in the early 21st century, and it changes interpretations of the discovery era.
Newfoundland is a large island situated off the eastern coast of the North American mainland and the western part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, referred to as Labrador.
The Newfoundland Expedition also known as Bernard Drake's Newfoundland Expedition was an English naval expedition that took place during the beginning of the declared Anglo-Spanish War in the North Atlantic during summer and autumn of 1585. The area of conflict was situated mainly in an area known as the Grand Banks off present day Newfoundland. The aim of the expedition was to capture the Spanish and Portuguese fishing fleets. The expedition was a huge military and financial success and virtually removed the Spanish and Portuguese from these waters. In addition the raid had large consequences in terms of English colonial expansion and settlement.
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