Kitabı oku: «Notes and Queries, Number 04, November 24, 1849», sayfa 4
QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 2
MADOC THE SON OF OWEN GWYNED
The student who confines himself to a single question, may fairly expect a prompt and precise answer. To ask for general information on a particular subject, may be a less successful experiment. Who undertakes extensive research except for an especial purpose? Who can so far confide in his memory as to append his name to a list of authorities without seeming to prove his own superficiality? I throw out these ideas for consideration, just as they arise; but neither wish to repress the curiosity of querists, nor to prescribe bounds to the communicative disposition of respondents.
Did Madoc, son of Owen Gwynedd, prince of Wales, discover America? Stimulated by the importance of the question, and accustomed to admire the spirit of maritime enterprise, at whatever period it may have been called into action, I have sometimes reflected on this debatable point—but can neither affirm nor deny it.
I advise the student, as a preliminary step to the inquiry, to attempt a collection of all the accessible evidence, historical and ethnographic, and to place the materials which pertain to each class in the order of time. The historical evidence exists, I believe exclusively, in the works of the chroniclers and bards of Wales; and the ethnographic evidence in the narratives of travellers in America. The opinions of modern writers, the gifted author of Madoc not excepted, he is at liberty to consider as hors-d'oeuere—to be passed on, or tasted, à plaisir. As an exemplification of this plan, I submit some short extracts, with critical remarks:—
"Madoc another of Owen Gwyneth his sonnes left the land [North-Wales] in contention betwixt his brethren, and prepared certaine ships with men and munition, and sought adventures by seas, sailing west, and leaving the coast of Ireland so far north, that he came to a land unknowen, where he saw manie strange things."—CARADOC OF LLANCARVAN, continued—The historie of Cambria, 1584. 4º. p. 227.
[The history of Caradoc ends with A.D. 1156. The continuation, to the year 1270, is ascribed by Powel, the editor of the volume, to the monks of Conway and Stratflur.]
Carmina Meredith filii Rhesi [Meredydd ab Rhys] mentionem facientia de Madoco filio Oweni Gwynedd, et de suâ navigatione in terras incognitas. Vixit hic Meredith circiter annum Domini 1477.
Madoc wyf, mwyedic wedd,
Iawn genau, Owen Gwynedd;
Ni fynnum dir, fy enaid oedd,
Na da mawr, ond y moroedd.
The same in English.
Madoc I am the sonne of Owen Gwynedd
With stature large, and comely grace adorned;
No lands at home nor store of wealth me please,
My minde was whole to searche the ocean seas.
"These verses I received of my learned friend M. William Camden." Richard Hakluyt, 1589.
[The eulogy of Meredydd ab Rhys is very indefinite, but deserves notice on account of its early date. He "flourished," says W. Owen, "between A.D. 1430 and 1460."]
"This land must needs be some part of that countrie of which the Spaniardes affirme themselves to be the first finders sith Hannos time; … Whereupon it is manifest, that that countrie was long before by Brytaines discouered, afore either Columbus or Americus Vespatius lead anie Spaniardes thither. Of the viage and returne of this Madoc there be manie fables fained, as the common people doo use in distance of place and length of time rather to augment than to diminish: but sure it is, that there he was."—HUMFREY LHOYD, Additions to the Historie of Cambria, p. 228.
[Lhoyd, who translated the history of Caradoc, and made considerable additions to it, died in 1568. He mentions the second voyage of Madoc, but cites no authority.]
"This Madoc arriving in that westerne countrie, unto the which he came, in the year 1170, left most of his people there: and returning backe for more of his owne nation, acquaintance and freends, to inhabite that faire and large countrie: went thither againe with ten sailes, as I find noted by Gutyn Owen. I am of opinion that the land, wherevnto he came, was some part of Mexico:" etc.—David Powel, S.T.P., note in The historie of Cambria, 1584. 4°. p. 229.
[The learned Powel relies on the authority of the poet Gutyn Owen. "He wrote," says W. Owen, "between A.D. 1460 and 1490"—three centuries after the event in question!]
Ethnographic evidence.
"They came [anno 1536] to part of the West Indies about Cape Breton, shaping their course thence north-eastwards, vntill they camme to the Island of Penguin," etc.—The voyage of master Hore, in The principall navigations, etc. 1589. Fol.
[Antiquaries consider the mention of Cape Breton and Penguin Island as evidence. It cannot prove much, as the particulars were not committed to writing till about half-a-century after the voyage.]
"There is also another kinde of foule in that countrey [between the Gulf of Mexico and Cape Breton] … they have white heads, and therefore the country men call them penguins (which seemeth to be a Welsh nanme). And they have also in use divers other Welsh words, a matter worthy the noting."—The relation of David Ingram, 1568. in The principall navigations, etc. 1589. Fol.
[This narrative was compiled from answers to certain queries—perhaps twenty years after the events related.]
"Afterwards [anno 1669] they [The Doeg Indians] carried us to their town, and entertained us civilly for four months; and I did converse with them of many things in the British tongue, and did preach to them three times a week in the British tongue," etc. Rev. Morgan Jones, 1686.—British Remains, 1777. 8°.
[The editor omits to state how he procured the manuscript. The paper whence the above is extracted is either decisive of the question at issue, or a forgery.]
The student may infer, even from these imperfect hints, that I consider the subject which he proposes to himself as one which deserves a strict investigation—provided the collections hereafter described have ceased to be in existence.
"With respect to this extraordinary occurence in the history of Wales, I have collected a multitude of evidences, in conjunction with Edward Williams, the bard, to prove that Madog must have reached the American continent; for the descendants of him and his followers exist there as a nation to this day; and the present position of which is on the southern branches of the Missouri river, under the appellations of Padoucas, White Indians, Civilized Indians, and Welsh Indians."—William Owen, F.A.S. 1803.
The title prefixed to this paper would be a misnomer, if I did not add a list of books which it may be desirable to consult:—
On the Scandinavian discoveries.—Mémoires de la société royale des antiquaires du Nord. 1836-1839. Copenhague. 8°. p. 27.—Historia Vinlandiæ Antiquæ, seu partis Americæ septentrionalis—per Thormodum Terfæum. Haviniæ, 1705. 8°. 1715. 8°—Antiquitates Americanæ, sive scriptores septentrionales rerum Ante-Columbianarum in America. Hafniæ, 1837. 4°.
On the Welsh discoveries.—The historie of Cambria, now called Wales—continued by David Powel. London, 1584. 4°. The Myvyrian archaiology of Wales, London, 1801-7. 8°. 3 vol. British remains, by the Rev. N. Owen, A.M. London, 1777. 8°. The Cambrian biography, by William Owen, F.A.S. London, 1803. 8°. Biblithèque Américaine, par H. Ternaux. Paris, 1837. 8°. The principall navigations, voiages and discoveries of the English nation—by Richard Hakluyt, M.A. London, 1589. fol.
BOLTON CORNEY.
MADOC—HIS EXPEDITION TO AMERICA
Dr. Plott, in his account, and Lord Monboddo, Origin and Progress of Language, refer to the Travels of Herbert (17th century), lib. iii. cap. ult., for a full history of this supposed discovery. They derived it from Meredyth ap Rhys, Gatty Owen, and Cynfyn ap Gronow, A.D. 1478-80. See also Atheneaum, Aug. 19. 1848.—Professor Elton's address at the meeting of the British Association, on this and the earlier Icelandic discovery.
The belief in the story has been lately renewed. See Archæologia Cambrens, 4. 65., and L'Acadie, by Sir J.E. Alexander, 1849. I will only observe that in Dr. Plott's account, Madoc was directed by the best compass, and this in 1170! See M'Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce.
ANGLO-CAMBRIAN.
MADOC'S EXPEDITION
A traveller informs us that Baron A. von Humboldt urges further search after this expedition in the Welsh records. He thinks the passage is in the Examin Critique.
