Two Cartographic Elements in Galvaneus Flamma’s Cronica Universalis

Abstract

In his Cronica universalis Galvaneus Flamma refers to two cartographic artifacts. The first is a diagram of the winds placed within a cosmological frame, which lists the names of the winds in accordance with both “scientific” tradition and seafaring experience; this diagram intertwines two sources of knowledge, as would be expected in a scholarly milieu receptive to the suggestion of geographical practice. The other is a mappa Ianuensis, i.e. a map drawn in Genoa or kept in Genoa at the time, which Galvaneus mentions three times in his work; according to Galvaneus’s mentions, this map depicted the entire globe, and was much more extensive than a portolan chart. Both elements bring new light about the author’s geographical interests and sources, and add some small tiles to the mosaic of fourteenth-century cartography.