Letter reveals previously unknown 1499 expedition to Canada
From The National Post (Canada):
British historians have unearthed a letter written 510 years ago by King Henry VII that sheds startling new light on Canadian history.
The letter reveals a previously unknown English expedition to this country in 1499 and may add the name of William Weston — an obscure shipping merchant from the west England port of Bristol — to the pantheon of early New World explorers.
The regal dispatch, believed to have been written the year after Anglo-Italian navigator John Cabot perished on his second voyage of discovery to Canada, indicates Weston was set to embark on his own transatlantic journey to “serche and fynde” the same distant territory.
Specifically, the king names Weston’s destination as “the new founde land” reached by Cabot in June 1497 — the first European landfall in North America since the age of the Vikings.
That makes Henry’s letter, believed to have been written on March 12, 1499, the earliest known use of the phrase that would eventually be used to designate Canada’s easternmost province.
Until now, the first mention of “new found land” in connection with Canada’s Atlantic shore was from a 1502 entry in Henry VII’s royal daybook.
And another article, with the same text but includes an image of the letter
Update: BBC History Magazine will have an article about this discovery in the September issue.
KB said,
August 27, 2009 @ 8:34 am
Oh so very cool! The article doesn’t say WHERE the letter was unearthed.
Nasim said,
August 27, 2009 @ 2:45 pm
The story sounds slightly familiar – was it discussed a few months back? I had heard before that Dr Alwyn Ruddock asked in her will for aspects of her research to be destroyed and the involvement of Dr Evan Jones in her project. I’m from just outside Bristol – the local new station is also my own – so perhaps I heard about it through the local paper/station.
Dr Evan Jones stated that the document was discovered around 30 years ago after it had been mis-catalogued in the National Archive. I can’t remember why Dr Ruddock requested the destruction of her research into the subject, so hopefully more light will shed on this.
More info can be found on the University of Bristol’s website:
http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2009/6515.html
KB said,
August 27, 2009 @ 8:39 pm
I remember reading a couple years ago, I guess in 2007, that she had requested that her research be destroyed and thinking how unusual that was – and frankly a bit shocking.
I keep wondering at how much is still mis-catalogued at the NA and the BL. I found a couple of things mis-identified at the BL but they did not care to correct them so – more treasures to be found by the industrious archive hunter.
Lara said,
August 30, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
I’ve got the PDF of the paper in “HIstorical Research” about this, so if anyone wants it please email me.
KB said,
August 30, 2009 @ 8:30 pm
thanks for sharing. I would love to read it.
– kb