Gabriel de Vallseca, also referred to as Gabriel de Valseca and Gabriel de Valsequa (

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, before 1408 - Palma, after 1467) was a

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

of Jewish descent connected to the

Majorcan cartographic school Majorcan cartographic school is the term coined by historians to refer to the collection of predominantly Jewish cartographers, cosmographers and navigational instrument-makers and some Christian associates that flourished in Mallorca (Majorca) ...

. His most notable map is the portolan of 1439, containing the first depiction of the recently discovered

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

islands.

Life

Gabriel de Vallseca was born in

to a family of Jewish

converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert" (), was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of their descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian popula ...

s. He is sometimes said to be the son of Haym ibn Risch (of the Cresques family), who, upon conversion, took the name Juan de Vallsecha. Alternatively, he had

Majorcan Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balear ...

relatives through his mother or his wife. By 1433, Vallseca had left Barcelona and was living in

Palma, Majorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of M ...

, where he soon made a name for himself as a master cartographer, instrument-maker and merchant. He lived in the parish of Santa Creu, in the marine and commercial district of the city. He married Floreta Miró and had two sons, Francesc and Joan, both of whom later had run-ins with the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...

for "judaizing", which suggests their father Gabriel may also have been a

crypto-Jew Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Spani ...

. Vallseca wrote out his last will in the city of Majorca in 1467 and died shortly after.

Works

There are three existing

portolan chart Portolan charts are nautical charts, first made in the 13th century in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean basin and later expanded to include other regions. The word ''portolan'' comes from the Italian language, Italian ''portolano'', meaning " ...

s signed by Gabriel Vallseca * Map of 1439, at the

Museu Marítim de Barcelona The Maritime Museum of Barcelona (, MMB) is located in the building of ''Drassanes Reials de Barcelona'', the royal arsenal of Barcelona, dedicated to shipbuilding between the thirteenth century and eighteenth century. The first mention of these ...

(inv. 3236) - partial mappa mundi * Map of 1447, at the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

(Rés. Ge. C4607) - Mediterranean only * Map of 1449 at the

Archivio di Stato di Firenze The Archivio di Stato di Firenze, is the repository for the public records and archives of the Italian city of Florence. The archive holds over 600 fonds dating back to the 8th century which, laid out in a line, would stretch over 75 km (46 miles) ...

(CN 22) - Mediterranean only There are also two anonymous maps attributed to him: * Undated map (est.1440) at

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze The National Central Library of Florence (, BNCF) is a public national library in Florence, the largest in Italy and one of the most important in Europe. It is one of the two central libraries of Italy, along with the . History The library was f ...

(portolà 16) - partial mappa mundi * Undated map (est. 1447) at

(Rés. Ge. D 3005) - fragments of the eastern Mediterranean Although his style conforms to the traditional

, Vallseca incorporated some more contemporary innovations in cartography from Italy, Portugal and elsewhere, most notably from Francesco Beccario (e.g. the homogenization of the scale between the Mediterranean and Atlantic). Gabriel de Vallseca's charts retain some signature Majorcan decorative motifs, such as the wind rose, miniature humans, animals and plants, the

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

shaped as a

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

the Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

as a chicken's foot,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

as a horseshoe, the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

as a chain, the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

as a shepherd's crook, the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

colored red, and scattered notes and labels in the

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

1439 Map

Vallseca's most famous map is the portolan of 1439, particularly for incorporating the very recent discoveries of the captains of the Portuguese Prince

Henry the Navigator Princy Henry of Portugal, Duke of Viseu ( Portuguese: ''Infante Dom Henrique''; 4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (), was a Portuguese prince and a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese ...

. Its depiction of the Atlantic Ocean stretches from

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

down to the

Rio de Oro Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Flo ...

and including the Atlantic islands of the

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

and Canaries, as well as the imaginary islands of

Thule Thule ( ; also spelled as ''Thylē'') is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. First written of by the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, France) in about 320 BC, i ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and Mam. The most notable is the depiction of the islands of the Azores (officially discovered in 1431 by Henry's captain

Gonçalo Velho Cabral Gonçalo Velho Cabral ( 1400 – c. 1460) was a Portuguese monk and Commander in the Order of Christ, explorer (credited with the discovery of the Formigas, the re-discovery of the islands of Santa Maria and São Miguel in the Azores) and hered ...

), which although incorrectly spaced, are accurately depicted for the first time as strung out from southeast to northwest. The 1439 map is signed ''Gabriell de Valsequa la feta en Malorcha, any MCCC.XXX.VIIII''. According to a marginal note on the reverse side, this map was once owned by

Amerigo Vespucci Amerigo Vespucci ( , ; 9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence for whom "Naming of the Americas, America" is named. Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the A ...

, who paid 80 gold

ducat The ducat ( ) coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide inter ...

s for it. (''Questa ampia pella di geographia fue pagata da Amerigo Vespuci - LXXX ducati di oro di marco''). It is conjectured Vespucci probably acquired it in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

in the 1480s, and that he might have even have taken it on his 1497-1504 voyages to the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

. The 1439 Vallseca map was acquired in Florence by the Cardinal Antonio Despuig y Dameto sometime before 1785, and subsequently came into the possession of his heirs, the Majorcan Counts of Montenegro. The map suffered an accident in the winter of 1838/39, when the Count of Montenegro was in the process of showing it to his visitors,

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

and

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

. A carelessly-placed inkwell tipped onto the map, causing irreparable blots and marring the legibility of some of the labels on the western part of the map. Most notably, the inkwell accident damaged Vallseca's crucial note pertaining to the discovery of the

. The current note reads as follows: The surname and part of the date are smudged. The earliest reading we have of this portion of the map is by a Majorcan named Pasqual in 1789 who jotted the surname down as "Guullen". It has since been read as Diego de Senill ('the Old' - a hopeful reading in the direction of

Gonçalo Velho Gonçalo is a Portuguese masculine given name and family name, equivalent to the Spanish name Gonzalo. People with the name include: * Gonçalo Brandão, a Portuguese footballer * Gonçalo Coelho, a Portuguese explorer of the South Atlantic and ...

) and de Sevill or de Sunis, Survis, Sinus, Simis, Sines. The date has been alternatively interpreted MCCCCXXVII (1427) or MCCCCXXXII (1432) or MCCCCXXXVII (1437). In 1943, historian Damião Peres proposed

Diogo de Silves Diogo de Silves (fl. 15th century) is the presumed name of an obscure Portuguese explorer of the Atlantic who allegedly discovered the Azores islands in 1427. He is only known from a reference on a chart drawn by the Catalan cartographer, Gabri ...

and the date as 1427, which is now commonly cited in Portuguese sources. Vallseca names eight or nine islands of the Azores, which have been hard to read because of the ink accident. One 1841 reading (by the Visconde de Santarem) identifies the names of the eight islands as ''Ylla de Osels'' (Ucello, Santa Maria), ''Ylla de Frydols'' ( São Miguel), ''Ylla de l'Inferno'' (

Terceira Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, about a third of the way across the North Atlantic Ocean at a similar latitude to Portugal's capital Lisbon, with the island group forming an insular part of Portugal. It is one of the ...

), ''Guatrilla'' ( São Jorge), ''de Sperta'' (

Pico Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribe ...

), ''Ylla de ....?'' (erased, Faial?) and (although not yet officially discovered) the more westerly ''Ylla de Corp-Marinos'' ( Corvo) and ''Conigi'' (

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

) (these last two would only be officially discovered by

Diogo de Teive Diogo de Teive () was a maritime captain and squire to the House of Henry the Navigator , Infante D. Henrique (1394-1460) during the Portuguese discoveries , Portuguese period of discovery. Following his exploration into the western Atlantic in ...

in 1452; Vallseca apparently lifted these last two from the

Catalan Atlas The Catalan Atlas (, ) is a medieval world map, or mappa mundi, probably created in the late 1370s or the early 1380s (often conventionally dated 1375), that has been described as the most important map of the Middle Ages in the Catalan language, ...

of 1375). Other readings decipher "deserta" (rather than de Sperta), "jlla bela" (instead of Guatrilla), ''illa aucells'' or ''jlha aurolls'' (instead of Osels/Uccello), ''faucols'' (instead of Frydols) and ''raio marnos'' or ''vegis marins'' (instead of Corp-Marinos).A. Cortesão, 1954
p.157n
See also Jordão de Freitas (1937) In 1910, the Count of Montenegro put the 1439 map up for sale. It was bought by the Catalan Pere Bosc i Oliver, who proceeded to sell it to the

Institute of Catalan Studies The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ), also known by the acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. IEC The IEC is known ...

, which deposited it at the

National Library of Catalonia The Library of Catalonia (, ) is the Catalan national library, located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The primary mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalan bibliographic production and that related to the ...

in Barcelona in 1917. It was transferred in 1960 to the

, where it is currently on display. There is one reproduction of the map, made in 1892 for an exhibition on the 4th centenary of Columbus in Spain, that is currently in the possession of the

Naval Museum of Madrid The Naval Museum () is a maritime museum, naval museum in Madrid, Spain, devoted to the history of the Spanish Navy since the Catholic Monarchs, in the 15th century, up to the present. It is one of the National Museums of Spain and it is attached ...

. Image:Western European detail of anonymous portolan chart (attrib. Vallseca, c.1440).jpg, Western portion of anonymous Vallseca chart (c.1440) (Bib. Nat. Cen., Florence) Image:Fragment of anonymous chart (Vallseca, c.1447).jpg, Black Sea fragment of anonymous Vallseca chart, c.1447(BNF, Paris) Image:Map valseca1449.jpg, Western portion of 1449 Vallseca chart (Arch. Stat., Florence)

References

Sources

* C.R. Beazley and E. Prestage, editors (1896–99) ''The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea'', London: Hakluyt
v.1v.2
* Cortesão, Armando (1954) ''A Carta Nautica de 1424'', as reprinted in 1975, ''Esparsos'', Coimbra
vol. 3
* D'Avezac, M.A.P. Marquis (1845) ''Notice des découvertes faites au môyen-age dans l'Océan Atlantique, antérieurement aux grandes explorations portugaises du quinzième siècle'', Paris: Fain et Thuno
online
* Jordão de Freitas (1937) "As ilhas do arquipélago dos Açores na história da expansão portuguesa", in A. Baião, H. Cidade and M. Múrias, editors, ''História da Expansão Portuguesa no Mundo'', 3 vols.; Lisbon, 1937, vol. 1, pp. 291ff. * Ginard Bujosa, Antoni (2002) ''La cartografia mallorquina a Mallorca''. Barcelona: JJ. De Olañeta Editor. . * Mees, Jules (1901) ''Histoire de la découverte des îles Açores, et de l'origine de leur dénomination d'îles flamandes.'' Ghent: Vuylsteke
online
* Novinsky, A.W. (1990) "Papel dos Judeus nos Grandes Descobrimentos", in ''Revista Brasileira de História''. São Paulo, vol. 11 (21), Sep, pp. 65–76. * Visconde de Santarem (1841) ''Chronica do Descobrimento e Conquista da Guiné.... pelo Chronista Gomes Eannes de Azurara * "Vallseca, Gabriel de" in Miquel Dolç, editor, ''Gran Enciclopèdia de Mallorca'', vol. 18, Palma: Promomallorca. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel De Vallseca Majorcan cartographers Atlases History of the Balearic Islands Spanish Roman Catholics 15th-century Catalan people Medieval Spanish geographers