vol. 2, pt. 1, p. 340, says that the German translation of Megiserus was translated into Dutch, and printed at Utrecht in 1615 in 4°; and Ternaux Compans inserts in the "Bibliothèque" the title of another edition printed at Utrecht in 4° by W. Snellaert in 1655.
xvi PREFACE.
English.
In 1577 Richard Eden published, a collection of Voyages and travels in 4°, which he entitled "The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies," &c, in which he included the Itinerary of Varthema with the following title:—
"The navigation and vyages of Lewes Vertomannus, Gentleman, of the citie of Rome, to the regions of Arabia, Egypte, Persia, Syria, Ethiopia, and East India, both within and without the ryver of Ganges, etc. In the yeere of our Lorde 1503: conteynyng many notable and straunge thinges, both hystoricall and naturall. Translated out of Latine into Englyshe by Richarde Eden. In the yeare of our Lord 1576."
A short extract, greatly abridged, from Varthema's work, is also inserted in "Purchas his Pilgrimage." London, 1625-6. Fol.
J. WINTER JONES.
Dec. 10, 1863.
INTRODUCTION,
BY THE EDITOR.
WHO was Ludovico di Varthema? Unfortunately, scarcely any record of him is forthcoming except what he tells us himself. I have searched every available repository of such information, to learn something of his antecedents, and have searched in vain. Zedler finds no place for him in his Universal Lexicon; our own Biographical Collections pass him over; and all that the French have to say is this:— "Vartomanus, gentilhomme Bolonais, et patrice Ro- main, fut un voyageur célèbre clans le xvi e siècle. Il est presque inconnu dans le notre, parce que l'abbe Prévost, et ceux qui ont ecrit l'histoire des Voyages, ont négligé de parler du sien, quoiqu'il soit un des plus importants pour l'histoire de la géographie, et pour l'histoire en général."1 I had hoped to glean some stray notices of him in the writings of his own countrymen; but they are as barren of what we wish to know as the rest. Zurla2 does not even mention him in his Dissertation on the most illustrious Italian
1 Biographie Universelle, Ancienne et Moderne, Paris, 827.
2 Di Marco Polo e degli altri Viâggiatori piu illustri, Disser- tazione da P. AB. D. PLACIDO ZURLA, 2 vols. Venezia, 1818.
c
xviii INTRODUCTION.
travellers; and Fantuzzi, the only Italian historian who devotes more than a few lines to him, begins his article on "Lodovico Bartema" with an admission which I have been obliged to imitate, and ends it by erroneously stating that our author's Itinerary was first published at Venice, and by hazarding a doubt respecting his return to Italy,—a fact which is plainly stated at the conclusion of his narrative. Fantuzzi's notice is as follows:—"Of this person, we know nothing beyond what the Co. Valerio Zani has written in the Preface to the Genio Vagante, tom. i. p. 32, viz., that Lodovico Bartema, a Bolognese by birth, flourished in the sixteenth century,—that he left Bologna for Venice, from whence he crossed over into Asia, and arrived first at Alexandria," etc. "This is all we learn from the Co. Valerio Zani in the abovenamed Preface, subsequent to which we possess no information about Lodovico Bartema; hence, we do not know whether he returned to Italy, or where he died, except that, inasmuch as his Itine- rary was printed for the first time in Venice, we are led to believe" that he did return thither; for it is not easy to suppose that he sent his manuscripts from Portugal to be printed in Italy, which they appear to have been during his lifetime."1
1 The following is appended to the foregoing extract in a foot- note:—"This writer's name is spelt in different ways. In his Itinerary comprised in the edition of Ramusio, by Ferdinando Leopoldo del Migliore in the Firenze Illustrata, p. 310, and in P. D. Abondio Collina's Dissertation De acus naufica inventore, contained in the Commentarj dell' Accadem. dell' Instituto, tom. ii.
INTRODUCTION. xix
This is very unsatisfactory, and the deficiency is not supplied by any incidental allusions in the author's dedicatory epistle. Agnesina, the illustrious lady to whom he dedicates his Itinerary, was the fourth daughter of Federico di Montefeltro, Count and second Duke of Urbino, by his second wife Battista Sforza, and was married in 1474 to Fabrizio Colonna, Lord of Marino, Duke of Albi and Tagliacozza. Of the lady Agnesina, Dennistoun says: "She inherited the talents and literary tastes which had descended to her mother, and transmitted them to a still more gifted daughter, the illustrious Vittoria Colonna, Marchioness of Pescara."1 Her brother, whose
part iii. p. 382, he is called Lodovico Bartema; but in the title- page of the edition of the said Itinerary, from the edition of 1535, of Bumaldi, in the Biblioth. Bonon., p. 158, of Orlandi's Notizia degli Scritt. Bologn., he is styled Lodovico Vartema. This is noticed by the Co. Mazzuchelli; but it must be borne in mind, that the permutation of the letters B and V, in pronunciation, is very common with the Portuguese and Spaniards, as has been the case, moreover, among almost all nations in almost every age. So, like- wise, the ancient Florentines used to say Voce and Boce, Voto and Boto, and so forth. By Konig, in the Biblioth. Vetus et Nova, p. 831, he is called Lodovicus Vartomannus, alias Varthema. Doni, in his Libreria, p. 33, styles him merely Lodovico Bolognese; and Simlero, in his Epit. Biblioth. Gesneri, p. 121, has Lodovico da Bologna. Besides Mazzuchelli, who speaks of him in his Scrittori d' Italia, he is also mentioned by Sig. Ab. Tiraboschi, in his Storia della Letter, d' Italia, tom. vii. part i. p. 211." FANTUZZI'S Notizie degli Scrittori Bolognesi, Bologna, 1781.
1 Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino, vol i. p. 277. Writing of Battista, Agnesina's mother, the same author remarks:— "She was a remarkable instance of the transmission of talent by female descent. Her great grandmother, Battista di Montefeltro [daughter c 2
xx INTRODUCTION.
genius and acquirements are justly eulogized by Varthema, was Guidobaldo, who succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his father in 1482, and died on the 11th of April 1508. As he appears to have been living at the time the Dedication was written, it must have been prepared immediately after the author's return to Italy. 1
of Count Antonio di Montefeltro,] was conspicuous among the ladies of high birth, whose acquirements gave illustration to her age. By cotemporary authors, her talents and endowments are spoken of in most flattering terms, whilst her character is cele- brated for piety and justice, benignity and tranquillity. Though married to a man of miserable character, she had a daughter, Elisabetta Malatesta, who inherited her misfortunes as well as her genius. Elisabetta's daughter was Costanza Varana, the associate of scholars and philosophers, whose gifts she is said to have rivalled, notwithstanding an early death that deprived her infant Battista of a mother's care." The latter, the mother of Agnesina, displayed remarkable talents while yet a child, and subsequently made rapid acquisition of solid knowledge. She was married to Count Federigo, Duke of Urbino, in 1459. (See Id., pp. 206-7.) According to Litta, the lady Agnesina died in 1522, while return- ing from a visit to the Sanctuary at Loreto. Her brother Guildo- baldo having been deprived of the dukedom by Leo X., her son Ascanio Colonna, Duke of Palliano, was subsequently invested with that dignity by Clement VII. ; but the bull of the former pope not having been carried into effect, he never succeeded to Urbino. See Litta, Famiglie Celebri Italiani, torn. ii. tavola vii.
1 I am inclined to think, indeed, that the Dedication may have been intentionally
