André d'Albaigne
Encyclopedia
Francisque and André d’Albaigne were 16th-century Italian merchants from the city of Lucca
. Their name was Dalbagnio, according to a notary
act of 1567 involving their brother Pellegrino (resident at La Rochelle
, France since his marriage to the daughter of Mayor Vincent Nicolas).
Bartholomeu Velho from the service of the Portuguese to “demonstrate” to King Charles IX
the location of this unknown country. However, Velho died at Nantes on 28 February 1568 and Francisque soon after.
, he promised the discovery of a new part of the world a seven-months' voyage away, with “realms abundant and rich in gold, silver, precious stones, drugs and spiceries”.
Although the geographical destination of this enterprise was not plainly stated anywhere in the correspondence a modern authority, E.-T. Hamy, has suggested that the real purpose (concealed in vague and cryptic language) was to explore and colonize the unknown continent of Terra Australis
. As Kenneth Andrews has commented, this thesis cannot be proved and has failed to convince some other authorities. It should be taken seriously, however, in light of references to Francisque’s project in the dispatches of French ambassador to London Michel de Castelnau
de la Mauvissière during the period 1577-1580 when he reported on the voyages of John Frobisher, Humphrey Gilbert
and Francis Drake
. Reporting upon the return of Drake in November 1580, the ambassador mentioned Francisque d’Albaigne in connection with Drake’s alleged sighting (after he passed the Cape of Good Hope
) of “une des terres australles et meridionalle qui ne sont descouvertes” (“one of the austral and southern lands which have not been discovered”), the same lands d’Albaigne had proposed for conquest.
It is impossible to determine the real objective of the d’Albaigne project. Velho’s 1561 chart of the New World is remarkable for its authoritative treatment of Brazil, La Plata, and Peru. It shows Potosí
in modern Bolivia
and “Valdepariso” (Valparaíso
in Chile
. South of the Strait of Magellan
, Tierra del Fuego
appears in conventional form as an ambiguous tip of a potential continental mass otherwise not delineated. Velho was evidently more interested in South America
than in Terra Australis, but such map evidence carries very little weight. The world map in the Cosmography compiled by Velho in 1568 for King Charles IX at the request of Francisque d’Albaigne is noteworthy for having no representation of Australia
, which would appear to confirm that he had no interest in Terra Australis.
André d’Albaigne had probably inherited from Velho some certainties regarding this hypothetical continent. Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière
(who was inspired by André d'Albaigne's memoir) specified in 1582 that he was concerned with “a land stretching from the South, or Midi, to thirty degrees from the Equator, of much greater extent than all of America, only discovered by Magellan when he passed through the strait between this Austral land and the southern quarter of America to go to the Moluccas”.
Michel de Castelnau
first mentions “d’Albaigne” in October 1577, when reporting Frobisher’s
alleged discovery of gold mines. He thought these vast gold-bearing lands “vers le Nort” (“toward the North”) must be those d’Albaigne had offered to acquire for King Charles years before. In July 1578 he reported that Humphrey Gilbert had the Queen’s permission to make an expedition “par la partie australe où il y a une infinité de terres inhabitées d’autres que de sauvaiges et qui sont en mesme paralelle et climat que la France et l’Angleterre et au plus loing de quarante cinq et cinquante degrez de l’equinoctial, tirant à l’autre Pole, où il y a à faire des Empires et des Monarchies les quelles choses Gilbert en a communicqué avec moy” (“through the southern part where there is an infinity of islands and lands uninhabited by any other than savages and which are in the same latitude and climate zone as France and England and further than forty-five and fifty degrees South of the Equator, where there are empires and kingdoms to be made, concerning which Gilbert had conversed with me”). Gilbert added that he thought the Marquis de la Roche (Troilus de La Roche de Mesgouez) had the same object in mind, but that the land in question was quite big enough for everyone; whoever arrived first should take the left-hand or right-hand course as he pleased, leaving the alternative to the other. Castelnau observed that this was Francisque d’Albaigne’s proposal, which the late Admiral Gaspard II de Coligny had often talked about to him (Castelnau) and that it would not involve touching Spanish or Portuguese possessions; their conquests would be left to the right and the left, following “la droicte ligne du Midy après avoir passé l’equinoxe” (“the direct course to the South after passing the Equator”). Furthermore, cosmographers and pilots who had explored the region said it was “le derriere de la terre ferme pour aller par tout le monde” (“the last contintental land to be reached in the world”). Having some knowledge of the matter from d’Albaigne himself and from other pilots (in addition to what he had learned in Portugal), Castelnau ended his report by offering to lead an expedition there in person.
. The d’Albaigne project was again advocated a decade later by Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière when he published his 1582 book Les Trois Mondes, but this met with no response in a France torn by the French Wars of Religion
. When French colonization efforts revived in the seventeenth century, they were directed to the exploitation of the fishery and fur resources of Canada (known as New France
).
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
. Their name was Dalbagnio, according to a notary
Civil law notary
Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of noncontentious private civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and give attendance in person, and are vested as public officers with the authentication power of the State...
act of 1567 involving their brother Pellegrino (resident at La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
, France since his marriage to the daughter of Mayor Vincent Nicolas).
d'Albaigne proposal to colonize Terra Australis
Francisque d’Albaigne
From Lisbon (where he was an agent of the Bonvisi merchant house), Francisque d’Albaigne went to Paris to propose the occupation of a “certain very rich new land of very great extent not yet discovered by the kings of Spain and Portugal”. He had lured cosmographerCosmography
Cosmography is the science that maps the general features of the universe, describing both heaven and Earth...
Bartholomeu Velho from the service of the Portuguese to “demonstrate” to King Charles IX
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
the location of this unknown country. However, Velho died at Nantes on 28 February 1568 and Francisque soon after.
André d'Albaigne's proposal in France
André d’Albaigne took up the proposal of his brother. He claimed to possess “the secrets, charts and necessary instruments for conquering and reducing to the obedience of His Majesty great extent of lands and realms abundant and rich in gold, silver, precious stones, drugs and spiceries”. Warmly remembering how France regretted dismissing Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, he promised the discovery of a new part of the world a seven-months' voyage away, with “realms abundant and rich in gold, silver, precious stones, drugs and spiceries”.
Although the geographical destination of this enterprise was not plainly stated anywhere in the correspondence a modern authority, E.-T. Hamy, has suggested that the real purpose (concealed in vague and cryptic language) was to explore and colonize the unknown continent of Terra Australis
Terra Australis
Terra Australis, Terra Australis Ignota or Terra Australis Incognita was a hypothesized continent appearing on European maps from the 15th to the 18th century...
. As Kenneth Andrews has commented, this thesis cannot be proved and has failed to convince some other authorities. It should be taken seriously, however, in light of references to Francisque’s project in the dispatches of French ambassador to London Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau, Sieur de la Mauvissière , French soldier and diplomat, ambassador to Queen Elizabeth, was born in Mauvissière, , Touraine about 1520...
de la Mauvissière during the period 1577-1580 when he reported on the voyages of John Frobisher, Humphrey Gilbert
Humphrey Gilbert
Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.-Early life:Gilbert...
and Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
. Reporting upon the return of Drake in November 1580, the ambassador mentioned Francisque d’Albaigne in connection with Drake’s alleged sighting (after he passed the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
) of “une des terres australles et meridionalle qui ne sont descouvertes” (“one of the austral and southern lands which have not been discovered”), the same lands d’Albaigne had proposed for conquest.
It is impossible to determine the real objective of the d’Albaigne project. Velho’s 1561 chart of the New World is remarkable for its authoritative treatment of Brazil, La Plata, and Peru. It shows Potosí
Potosí
Potosí is a city and the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world by elevation at a nominal . and it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint, now the National Mint of Bolivia...
in modern Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and “Valdepariso” (Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. South of the Strait of Magellan
Strait of Magellan
The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...
, Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...
appears in conventional form as an ambiguous tip of a potential continental mass otherwise not delineated. Velho was evidently more interested in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
than in Terra Australis, but such map evidence carries very little weight. The world map in the Cosmography compiled by Velho in 1568 for King Charles IX at the request of Francisque d’Albaigne is noteworthy for having no representation of Australia
Australia (continent)
Australia is the world's smallest continent, comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands including Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands...
, which would appear to confirm that he had no interest in Terra Australis.
André d’Albaigne had probably inherited from Velho some certainties regarding this hypothetical continent. Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière
Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière
Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière , was a Gascon writer and historian. He was a Protestant, and took part in the Wars of Religion on the Huguenot side...
(who was inspired by André d'Albaigne's memoir) specified in 1582 that he was concerned with “a land stretching from the South, or Midi, to thirty degrees from the Equator, of much greater extent than all of America, only discovered by Magellan when he passed through the strait between this Austral land and the southern quarter of America to go to the Moluccas”.
Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau
Michel de Castelnau, Sieur de la Mauvissière , French soldier and diplomat, ambassador to Queen Elizabeth, was born in Mauvissière, , Touraine about 1520...
first mentions “d’Albaigne” in October 1577, when reporting Frobisher’s
Martin Frobisher
Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman who made three voyages to the New World to look for the Northwest Passage...
alleged discovery of gold mines. He thought these vast gold-bearing lands “vers le Nort” (“toward the North”) must be those d’Albaigne had offered to acquire for King Charles years before. In July 1578 he reported that Humphrey Gilbert had the Queen’s permission to make an expedition “par la partie australe où il y a une infinité de terres inhabitées d’autres que de sauvaiges et qui sont en mesme paralelle et climat que la France et l’Angleterre et au plus loing de quarante cinq et cinquante degrez de l’equinoctial, tirant à l’autre Pole, où il y a à faire des Empires et des Monarchies les quelles choses Gilbert en a communicqué avec moy” (“through the southern part where there is an infinity of islands and lands uninhabited by any other than savages and which are in the same latitude and climate zone as France and England and further than forty-five and fifty degrees South of the Equator, where there are empires and kingdoms to be made, concerning which Gilbert had conversed with me”). Gilbert added that he thought the Marquis de la Roche (Troilus de La Roche de Mesgouez) had the same object in mind, but that the land in question was quite big enough for everyone; whoever arrived first should take the left-hand or right-hand course as he pleased, leaving the alternative to the other. Castelnau observed that this was Francisque d’Albaigne’s proposal, which the late Admiral Gaspard II de Coligny had often talked about to him (Castelnau) and that it would not involve touching Spanish or Portuguese possessions; their conquests would be left to the right and the left, following “la droicte ligne du Midy après avoir passé l’equinoxe” (“the direct course to the South after passing the Equator”). Furthermore, cosmographers and pilots who had explored the region said it was “le derriere de la terre ferme pour aller par tout le monde” (“the last contintental land to be reached in the world”). Having some knowledge of the matter from d’Albaigne himself and from other pilots (in addition to what he had learned in Portugal), Castelnau ended his report by offering to lead an expedition there in person.
Outcome
André d’Albaigne submitted his project to Admiral Coligny but, although the Admiral gave favourable consideration to it, all hopes for its implementation disappeared when Coligny was killed in 1572 during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacreSt. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
. The d’Albaigne project was again advocated a decade later by Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière when he published his 1582 book Les Trois Mondes, but this met with no response in a France torn by the French Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...
. When French colonization efforts revived in the seventeenth century, they were directed to the exploitation of the fishery and fur resources of Canada (known as New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
).