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Cotton MS Tiberius D IX
- Record Id:
- 040-003797001
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001101582
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100118083801.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100165159707.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Cotton MS Tiberius D IX
- Title:
- João de Castro, Roteiro do Mar Roxo
- Scope & Content:
-
This manuscript is a 16th-century rutter or pilot-book known as the Roteiro do Mar Roxo (Rutter of the Red Sea). It was made by the Portuguese nobleman João de Castro (b. 1500, d. 1548) during his 1541 expedition to Suez under Estêvão da Gama (b. c. 1505, d. 1576), governor of Portuguese India. The work is an illustrated account of the voyage, which includes various pieces of nautical information, observations on the surrounding landscape, and detailed notes and descriptions of ports along the Sinai Peninsula. It begins with a dedication from de Castro to Infante Luís of Portugal (b. 1506, d. 1555), duke of Beja and younger brother of the Portuguese king João III (r. 1521-1557).
The manuscript was probably the presentation copy of the work given to Infante Luís. According to the colophon (f. 92r), it was written in 1543 by the scribe Gaspar Aloisius, an alias of Gaspar Luís Viegas, who worked as a cartographer and equerry to Cardinal-Infante Henrique (b. 1512, d. 1580), Luís' younger brother (on this identification, see Corteso, and Teixeira da Mota, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica (1960), I, pp. 139-41).
Contents:
f. 1r: an added inscription in Latin, 'Descriptiones diversorum littorum et portuum maris, figuris elegantissime illustrate per Joh[ann]em de Castro Lusitanum'.
ff. 2v-5r: João de Castro's dedication of the work to Don Luís of Portugal, Duke of Beja, beginning with the Latin phrase, 'Nemo propheta acceptus in patria sua' (No one is a prophet in his own land).
ff. 5v-92r: João de Castro, Roteiro do Mar Roxo.
Decoration:
15 tabuas, depicting views of certain coastlines, and plans of ports, bays, and straits around the Red Sea, some painted in watercolour (ff. 8v-9r, 11v-12v, 14v-15r, 21v-22r, 27v-28r, 36v-37r, 41v-42r, 45v-46r, 48v-49r, 52v-53r, 55v-56r, 58v-59r, 67v-68r, 75v-76r, 80v-81r). A decorated initial with flourishing in gold (f. 3r). A drawing of a scroll in pen and ink, enclosing the colophon (f. 92r). Large initials in red. Rubrics in red.
The subjects of the tabuas are as follows:
ff. 8v-9r: a view of the north coast of Socotra Island, entitled, 'Esta he ha amostra que faz [a costa] da ilha de caquotora que esta oposta a[o vento N]orte'.
ff. 11v-12v: a view of an unidentified coast of Socotra Island, entitled, 'Tavoa da Aguada...do Xeque' (partly effaced).
ff. 14v-15r: a view of the coast of Qalansiyah, Yemen, entitled, 'Tavoa do Porto de Calacea'.
ff. 21v-22r: a chart of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, entitled, 'Tavoa das portas do Estrito'.
ff. 27v-28r: a plan of the port of Masawa, Eritrea, entitled, 'Tavoa do porto de Macua'.
ff. 36v-37r: a chart of the port of Suakin, Sudan, entitled, 'Tavoa da cidade de Cuaquem'.
ff. 41v-42r: a plan of Port Sudan and the west coast of the Red Sea, entitled, 'Tavoa do [porto] de Dradate'.
ff. 45v-46r: a plan of the bay of Marsa Fijab, Sudan, entitled, 'Tavoa de Fuxa'.
ff. 48v-49r: a plan of the bay of Marsa Arakiya, Sudan, entitled, 'Tavoa de Areque[a...]vados'.
ff. 52v-53r: a plan of Marsa Abu Amara Farate, Sudan, entitled, 'Tavoa de Farate'.
ff. 55v-56r: a plan of the port of Delaweb, Sudan, entitled, 'Tavoa de Qu[ilfit]'.
ff. 58v-59r: a plan of a bay in the Marsa Bala region of Sudan, entitled, 'Tavoa de Gigidi[d]'.
ff. 67v-68r: a plan of the porto of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, entitled, 'Tavoa do [porte de] Xarmealcoemat'.
ff. 75v-76r: a view of part of the Strait of Suez, facing El Tor, Egypt, entitled, 'Tavoa do Toro'.
ff. 80v-81r: a plan of Suez, Egypt, entitled, 'Tavoa [do lugar de] Soez'.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Cotton Collection
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001101582
040-003797001 - Is part of:
- Cotton MS : Cotton Manuscripts
Cotton MS Tiberius D IX : João de Castro, Roteiro do Mar Roxo - Hierarchy:
- 032-001101582[1410]/040-003797001
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Cotton MS
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165159707.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
Portuguese - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1543
- End Date:
- 1543
- Date Range:
- 1543
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Paper.
Watermark: an orb enclosing the letters M and I, surmounted by a cross (the main text); a bunch of grapes with a visible stalk (the charts and illustrations), similar to Briquet Nos. 13065-13067 (C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes (1968), III, nos. 13065-13067).
Condition: Leaves damaged by fire in 1731.
Dimensions: 370 x 300 mm (written space: 305 x 200 mm).
Foliation: ff. 92 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 1 unfoliated paper leaf after f. 12 + 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the end).
Script: 16th-century italic, written by the scribe Gaspar Aloisius.
Binding: British Museum in-house. Rebound 25 January 1962.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
Portugal.
Provenance:
Gaspar Luis Viegas (fl mid-16th century), cartographer and notary; wrote the manuscript in 1543: inscribed, 'Gaspar Aloisius scribebat M. D. XLIII' (f. 92r).
Infante Luís of Portugal (b. 1506, d. 1555), duke of Beja and younger brother of João III (r. 1521-1557): probably the presentation copy of the work, dedicated to him by de Castro (ff. 2v-5r).
Henrique the Cardinal-King (r. 1578-1580), king of Portugal and younger brother of Infante Luís: owned the manuscript after his brother's death in 1555 (see Fontoura da Costa, Roteiros de D. Joao de Castro (1940), III, xiv-xvi; Corteso, and Teixeira da Mota, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica (1960), I, pp. 139-41).
The Jesuit Colégio do Espírito Santo, in Évora, Portugal: Henrique donated the manuscript to the college, where it remained until 1603 (see Fontoura da Costa, Roteiros de D. Joao de Castro (1940), III, xiv-xvi; Corteso, and Teixeira da Mota, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica (1960), I, pp. 139-41).
Sir Walter Raleigh (b. c. 1552, d. 1618), English statesman and navigator: apparently purchased by Raleigh for £60; part of his collection by 1614, where he refers in his Historie of the World to 'the report of Castro, a principall Commander under Gama (which Discourse I gave Mr. Richard Hacluit to publish)' (see Raleigh, Historie (1614), I, p. 219; Wormald & Wright, English Library (1958), p. 197).
Richard Hakluyt (b. 1553, d. 1616), writer, editor, and translator: given the manuscript 'to publish' by Sir Walter Raleigh' (see above); part of his collection by 1614, when Samuel Purchas referred to it in Purchas his Pilgrimage (see Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrimage (1614), p. 705).
Edmund Hakluyt (b. 1593), son of the former: persuaded by the antiquary William L'Isle (b. 1569, d. 1637) to present the manuscript to Sir Robert Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631) rather than Thomas Comber (b. 1575, d. 1653), master of Trinity College, Cambridge, in exchange for a manuscript of Robert Grosseteste; see L'Isle's letter to Cotton, dated 23 July 1622 (now Harley MS 7000, ff. 92r-93v) (Graham, 'L'Isle's letters to Cotton' (2002), pp. 367-68).
Samuel Purchas (b. c. 1577, d. 1626), cleric: published an abridged English translation of the manuscript in his Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes in 1625.
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (b. 1571, d. 1631), 1st baronet, antiquary and politician: in his catalogues (Add MS 36789, f. 146r; Add MS 36682). Cotton’s collection was augmented by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton (b. 1594, d. 1662), 2nd baronet, and his grandson, Sir John Cotton. Sir John Cotton (b. 1621, d. 1702), 3rd baronet: bequeathed the entire Cotton collection of books and manuscripts to trustees ‘for Publick Use and Advantage’, 12 and 13 William III, c. 7. Formed one of the foundation collections of the British Museum in 1753.
- Publications:
-
Barber, Peter, 'Mapmaking in England, ca. 1470-1650', in The History of Cartography, Volume 3: Cartography in the European Renaissance, ed. by David Woodward (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), pp. 1589-1669 (p. 1613 n. 183).
Cortesão, Armando and Avelino Texeira da Mota, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica, 5 vols (Lisbon: 1960-1962), I (1960), pp. 137-44.
da Costa, A. Fontoura, Roteiros de D. Joao de Castro, 5 (Lisbon: Agência Geral das Colónias, 1940), III, pp. xiv-xvi.
Graham, Timothy, 'William L'Isle's letters to Sir Robert Cotton', in Early Medieval English Texts and Interpretations: Studies Presented to Donald G. Scragg, ed. by Elaine Treharne and Susan Rosser (Tempe: Arizona Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2002), pp. 353-79 (pp. 367-68).
de Jesus, Roger Lee, 'As ‘Tábuas dos Roteiros da Índia’ de D. João de Castro da Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra: novos dados', Boletim da Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra, 51 (2021), 75-116 (pp. 81-84).
Purchas, Samuel, Purchas his Pilgrimage: or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in all Ages and Places Discovered, from the Creation unto this Present (London: Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, 1614), p. 705.
Shirley, Rodney, Maps in the atlases of the British Library: a descriptive catalogue c. AD 850-1800, 2 vols (London: British Library, 2004), II, p. 1793.
Skelton, R. A., 'Ralegh as a Geographer', The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 71 (1963), 131-149 (p. 148).
Tite, Colin G. C., The Early Records of Sir Robert Cotton's Library: Formation, Cataloguing, Use (London: The British Library, 2003), p. 111.
Wallis, Helen and Arthur Howard Robinson (eds.), Cartographical Innovation: An International Handbook of Mapping Terms to 1900 (Tring: Map Collector Publications 1982 Ltd in association with the International Cartographic Association, 1987), p. 4.
Wormald, Francis and C. J. Wright (eds.), The English Library before 1700 (London: University of London, Athlone Press, 1958), p. 197.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)