André Thevet(/təˈveɪ/;French:[təvɛ];1516 – 23 November 1590) was a FrenchFranciscanpriest,explorer,cosmographerand writer who travelled to the Near East and to South America in the 16th century. His most significant book wasThe New Found World, or Antarctike,which compiled a number of different sources and his own experience into what purported to be a firsthand account of his experiences inFrance Antarctique,a French settlement near modernRio de Janeiro.
Life
edit
Thevet was born inAngoulêmein southwestern France. At ten years of age, he entered theconventof Franciscans of Angoulême. He visited Italy at the same time asGuillaume Rondelet.In 1549, thanks to the support ofJohn, Cardinal of Lorraine,he embarked on an extended exploration trip to Asia, Greece, Rhodes,[1]PalestineandEgypt.He accompanied the French ambassadorGabriel de LuetztoIstanbul.
Almost immediately after this expedition, he set sail again as thechaplainof the fleet ofNicolas Durand de Villegaignon,which intended to establish a French colony near what is nowRio de Janeiro, Brazil.[2]Thevet arrived there on 10 November 1555 but only stayed in the colony for about 10 weeks before returning to France.[2]He was made an almoner toCatherine de Médiciand later was employed by the king.[2]
Thevet claimed in hisHistoire de deux voyages,inaccurately, to have accompaniedGuillaume Le Testuto America in 1550.[2]
Thevet died in Paris on 23 November 1590.[2]
Written works
editSoon after Thevet's return to France from the near East in 1554, he published an account of his voyage under the titleCosmographie du Levant.
On his return from the Americas, Thevet published a book titledLes singularitez de la France Antarctiquein 1557.[3][4]Although purportedly based on his own firsthand experiences, Thevet also used previous published sources as well as verbal accounts from other explorers and sailors and from indigenous Canadians who had been brought back to France.[2]Thevet later settled a court case with another scholar who claimed to have been responsible for the actual writing.[3]An edition ofLes singularitez de la France Antarctiquewas printed in Antwerp byPlantinin 1558, and an English edition,The New Found World, or Antarctike,was printed in 1568.
Thevet's use of such a variety of sources not otherwise printed, despite the considerable errors and contradictions, means that his work remains valuable for the ethnography of both eastern Canada and Brazil.[2]Les singularitez de la France Antarctiquecontains the first descriptions in European texts of plants such as themanioc,pineapple,peanutandtobacco,as well as of the animalsmacaw,slothandtapir.[5]The text also includes an account ofcannibalismthat was one of the influences onMontaigne's essay on cannibalism.[3]
Once Thevet was established as cosmographer to the French court, he compiled hisCosmographie Universelle,intended to describe every part of the known world. A dispute arose with a collaborator, François de Belleforest, who left Thevet's employ to publish his ownCosmographiein 1572 before Thevet's work finally appeared in 1575.
In 1584, Thevet published a collection of biographies,Vrais pourtraits et vies des homes illustres,which was critical of Protestants. He left two unpublished manuscripts. One,Grand Insulaire,was an almanac of islands, and the other,Histoire de deux voyages,was an account of his travels.
Works
edit- 1554Cosmographie de Levant.Lyon: Ian de Tournes et Guil. Gazeau,
- 1557/8Les singularitez de la France Antarctique[6](in English in 1568 asThe New found vvorlde, or Antarctike)
- 1575La Cosmographie Universelle d'Andre Thevet Cosmographe dv Roy. Illvstree de diverses figvres des choses plvs remarqvables veves par l'auteur, & incogneues de noz anciens & modernes,Paris, Pierre l'Huilier. (Google Books:volume 1,volume 2)
- 1584Vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres
- MS:Grand Insulaire,
- MSHistoire de deux voyages
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Jean-Pierre Thiollet,Bodream ou rêve de Bodrum,Anagramme Editions, 2010, p. 94.ISBN978-2-35035-279-4
- ^abcdefgTrudel, Marcel (2019).Dictionary of Canadian Biography.University of Toronto.
- ^abcConrad, Elsa."André Thevet (1516?-1592)".University of Virginia Library.
- ^Thevet, André."Les singularitez de la France antarctique, autrement nommée Amerique: & de plusieurs terres & isles decouuertes de nostre temps".Library of Congress.
- ^Thevet, André; Hacket, Thomas (1568).The New found vvorlde, or Antarctike, wherein is contained wōderful and strange things, as well of humaine creatures, as beastes, fishes, foules, and serpents, trées, plants, mines of golde and siluer: garnished with many learned aucthorities.Imprinted at London; Imprinted at London, in Knight-rider strete, by Henry Bynneman, for Thomas Hacket: By Henrie Bynneman, for Thomas Hacket. And are to be sold at his shop in Poules church-yard, at the signe of the key.OCLC977063449.
- ^Thevet, André (1557).Singularities de la France Antarctique...
Sources
edit- Cantacuzene, J. M.Frère André Thevet (1516–1590).Miscellanea(PDF file).
Further reading
edit- Cardozo, Manoel Da Silveira (1944)."Some Remarks Concerning André Thevet".The Americas.1(1): 15–36.doi:10.2307/978333.ISSN0003-1615.JSTOR978333.S2CID147186168.
- Lestringant, Frank (2003).Sous la leçon des vents: le monde d'André Thevet, cosmographe de la Renaissance.Presses Paris Sorbonne.
- Schlesinger, Roger (1985)."André Thevet on the Amerindians of New France".Proceedings of the Meeting of the French Colonial Historical Society.10:1–21.ISSN0362-7055.JSTOR42952150.
- Schlesinger, Roger and Arthur P. Stabler.André Thevet's North America: A Sixteenth Century View.McGill University Press, 1986.
- Whatley, Janet (1986)."Savage Hierarchies: French Catholic Observers of the New World".Sixteenth Century Journal.17(3): 319–330.doi:10.2307/2540324.JSTOR2540324.
External links
edit- Les singularitez de la France Antarctique (Paris: 1558).Digitized by theJohn Carter Brown Libraryand available onInternet Archive
- The new found worlde, or Antarctike (London: 1568).Digitized and available onInternet Archive.
- Map of America inLa Cosmographie Universelle(Paris: 1575).Digitized by the National Library of Australia.