Conclusion

Conclusion
This article grew from the need to substantiate a few words, written in Latin, into Christ Church's Donors' Book, apparently in 1634, that the charts in the atlas were 'drawn in [his] hand and according to his own observations'. There was no reason to doubt the accuracy of that statement but the presence of plans of Hospital property betraying the same competent but idiosyncratic drafting style as the atlas, and the record of a payment to Llewellyn for drawing one of those plans, provide independent corroboration of the first part of that statement, relating to draftmanship. The second element, that the atlas embodied his own observations, i.e. that he had been to the East Indies himself and gathered cartographic information there, remains otherwise 'not proven'. But, while no precise model for his atlas's outlines or toponymy has been traced, all the available evidence points to those having derived from Houtman's voyage, the only one whose timing and itinerary could have fitted in with the known details of Llewellyn's well-documented career.

To date, the earliest known English sea charts of the East belong to a series by Gabriel Tatton, unearthed in the Admiralty Library {later Hydrographic Office, Taunton; now Portsmouth Naval Museum, Admiralty Library Manuscript, MSS 352} by Sarah.Tyacke. They have been dated to 1620-21 [see Tyacke, 2008]. Robert Dudley's Arcano del Mare of 1646 had previously been considered the earliest sea atlas by an Englishman. { Coincidentally, Dudley had been at Christ Church (from 1588)}. Even if Llewellyn had made his fair drawings in, say, 1615, this would not invalidate the claim that the charts belong, as far as their contents are concerned, to the previous century and are thus by a clear margin the earliest English ones of their kind.

A crucial diagnostic tool is described in the Analytical methods section. Having defined what was called the 'cartographic context' - part of but distinct from the historical context - this was applied to the toponymy of the north coast of Java. This established a close link with an unsuspected legacy of the first Dutch voyage to the East Indies, namely a sequence of new names. Later, the Dutch would transform the cartography of Indonesia but Houtman's contribution related more to place-names than to improved coastal outlines. It is evident that this information came from an independent Portuguese source. Pedro de Tayda was already known to history, though as little more than a name. Now for the first time the detail of his cartographic signature can be documented. Just as de Tayda seems not to have previously shared his much-admired knowledge with his Portuguese countrymen, so his murder [the first example of a cartographic killing?] removes the possibility that his information could have been brought back by a later voyage. No trace has been found in the Llewellyn atlas of any information dating from later than 1597 [though, of course, future research might contradict that]. The toponymic innovations of Blaeu and Gerritsz (1608 and 1628) are absent. Nor does New Guinea have any reference to the discoveries of Torres and Le Maire (1606 and 1616). Further anchoring the atlas to the beginning of its possible date-range is the fact that it includes names that were to disappear from the cartographic bloodstream shortly thereafter.

That I have risked offence by claiming a man with so Welsh a name for England is due to an absence, so far, of any evidence linking him directly with Wales. He lived the greater part of his life in London (as the longest-serving Steward in the history of St Bartholomew's Hospital), gave names to his children [Anne, Anthony, Gabriel, Henry, John, Martin (twice), Morris, Richard, Robert, Thomas, William] that show him to have been in practice, if not in origin, an Englishman, and was buried in St Bartholomew's the Less, London. The compromise term, British, is both cumbersome and inaccurate.

I wonder if Christ Church had any idea of the extraordinary coincidence involving two items they received, apparently in 1634. Alongside the classics and theology that fill most of the pages of their Donors' Book, they recorded two consecutive, but apparently unconnected, gifts of Llewellyn's atlas and "Wagenars Mirrour of Mariners", or, in other words, the English translation of Waghenaer's Spieghel der Zeevaerdt, which appeared in 1588 as the first sea atlas to be produced in England. A bumper cartographic year indeed for Christ Church. {For a note about the donor of the Waghenaer atlas, John Gofton, see under the Associates}.

Unlike Waghenaer, Llewellyn seems to have had no influence on the development of marine cartography, since his atlas clearly remained in his possession, and no other version is known. The possibility remains, though, that Llewellyn was involved in some way in the early days of the East India Company. He would presumably have had information of value to those planning a voyage to the East. Certainly his brother, a founding investor in the new company, and its first Governor, Sir Thomas Smythe, were among those to whom he owed money. But, in the absence of any surviving charts directly associated with the early years of the East India Company, Llewellyn's atlas provides a glimpse into the practical cartographic knowledge that could have been available to those Englishmen who first sailed to the East under the Company's aegis. In a wider sense, it must rank as the closest surviving manuscript to the all-important first voyage of the Dutch, an event that signalled the twilight of the Portuguese empire and the simultaneous births of the Dutch and English successors to it. The detail contained in his charts and the fact that Llewellyn evidently voyaged to the East himself combine to assure his atlas a prominent and authoritative place in any future cartographic studies of the East.


Possibilities for future research (with additions December 2008 & January 2009)

  • The atlas binding. {Was the atlas bound in London, before being taken to Christ Church, or afterwards, by the library? The evidence of its blind-stamped decoration might enable that to be answered. It seems unlikely that the impoverished Llewellyn, who never arranged to present the atlas in his life-time, and hence left part of the title-sheet blank, would have run to that expense. It might, though, have been paid for by Martin Jr's unknown patron.}
  • Christ Church, Oxford. Why did the atlas go to Christ Church rather than the Bodleian? Because Martin junior was up there at the time of his father's death, and the fact that, although Sir Thomas Bodley had been a close neighbour of his father from 1599/1600-1613, this would have had little meaning to one born in 1616? Might there be any significance in the fact that three of the others mentioned in this essay were connnected with the college: Robert Dudley and Richard Hakluyt as undergraduates (and, in the latter's case, as a Fellow), and Ralph Treswell as land surveyor of its estates?
  • Descendants. Martin, junior seems to have been specially favoured and, with his brother William (six years older) was the one who presented the atlas to Christ Church. Martin's son Richard in turn went to Westminster School. Conceivably that line of descent might have passed on documents relating to Llewellyn's pre-Hospital career.
  • Earlier English voyage to the East. {If Llewellyn sailed with de Houtman in 1595, it is reasonable to ask why he might have been selected. The English who accompanied the second Dutch voyage were pilots, but there is no evidence that that would have applied to Llewellyn. It is pure speculation but might he have been part of the voyage to the East under George Raymond and James Lancaster (1591-4)? Since this reached Sumatra, the experience could well have been useful to the Dutch.}
  • East India Company. For possible connections between Llewellyn and the young company, although no direct links have yet been found, see the next Associates section under: Lancaster, Llewellyn (Morris), Smythe and Woodall, and the update for Hakluyt.
  • Houtman's voyage. Can Martin Llewellyn be recognised, perhaps with a disguised name, among the list of the 89 who returned with Houtman in 1597 [if such a list exists]? Dr Kerling pointed out that 'Lodewisckz', author of the printed account of that voyage, and 'Llewellyn' both mean 'son of Louis' (in Dutch and Welsh respectively). This is presumably an intriguing coincidence.
  • Patronage. Did Llewellyn obtain the Steward's position via the advocacy of a patron, and, if so, who? Was the atlas intended for presentation and, if so, to whom? Why was his eighth son, Martin, apparently specially favoured, being the only one of the original eleven sons to go to Westminster School and Christ Church, and on to a prominent career? Who would have paid his fees?
  • Portuguese atlas. {Where did Llewellyn find the atlas that served as his model, with sufficient leisure to make the careful copies for his sixteen charts? And, if this work was done in London (which is surely more likely than in Java), might that atlas survive, even if not known to Portuguese scholars? The fact that Llewellyn's scale is far larger than that of any surviving Portuguese work does not necessarily mean that he did more than enlarge his model, without adding additional detail. However, that would have been more complicated than direct tracing and would demonstrate further skill on his part}
  • Salter'. In 1597, when he applied for the Steward's position, and on the 1603 and 1607 bonds to Sir Thomas Smith [Smythe], Llewellyn was described as 'Salter'. Elsewhere, e.g. in the christening records, he was termed 'Gent'. If he was a member of the Salters' Company why was that not habitually recognised? {In December 2008, Katie George, Salters' Company Archivist, kindly checked and found no reference to Llewellyn (although most of the records were destroyed in the Fire of 1666). There is no known connection between the Company and Elizabethan voyagers.}
  • Somerset origin? {Notes and Queries, series 3, volume 1 (Jan-June 1862) p.28 has notes by 'Ina.' about the 'Family of Llewellyn'. Starting with the Steward's son, it moves back to a family in Wells, Somerset in the second half of the 16th century, including Maurice (the city's MP) and Henry (who founded almshouses in his will; he died in 1614). The children of Thomas & Mary are described, including a Martin, but the absence of a named Maurice makes it unlikely that these are the Steward's parents. One reference might be relevant, though. "In 1632, a Bill in Chancery was filed by Maurice and Martin Llewellyn, against the Corporation of Wells, respecting the money left to the poor of Wells by Henry Llewellin, as before noticed [i.e. the almshouses]". The pairing of Maurice (probably the elder brother) and Martin (two years before each of them died) perhaps does indicate that our Martin was the product of Somerset gentry.} {December, 2008}
  • Welsh origin?. Clearly with the name Llewellyn there must have been a Welsh origin, even if a generation or more back. Of his children's names, only that of his second son, Morris/Maurice, is Welsh. Since that was the name of his wealthy brother, its use by Martin might have been to honour him, or a common forebear. The relevant organisation for researching a possible Welsh birthplace, the Honorable Society of Cymmrodorion, was not contacted.
  • Wife/wives. For his last three children's baptisms (1619, 1621, 1623) his wife was named as Sara. The record of earlier births (1606, 1607, 1609, 1610, 1611, 1613, 1614, 1615, 1616) do not name a wife. That, combined with the three-year gap between 1616 and 1619 suggest that a first wife had died, or is the strange 1613 reference to Elizabeth Launden and his children [see Finances] an indication of illegitimate offspring? No record of any marriage has been found.

People with whom Llewellyn was associated (definitely or possibly) [updated January 2009]

[Reference is made to the new Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [Oxford DNB], accessible free online for UK public library subscribers. See, where appropriate, His finances]
  •  Bartlett, Anthony [given in surety in the Elizabeth Launden dispute, 1613]
  •  Bodley, Sir Thomas (1545-1613) - his library at Oxford was being formed from 1598, opened in 1603, and was endowed in 1611; he lived next to the Hospital from 1599/1600 until his death; he had previously been Elizabeth's permanent resident in the United Provinces (1588-97) and served on the governing council, which would have given him many Dutch contacts [Oxford DNB]
  • C., John (?) - what appears to be a large C with John beneath can be seen on the reverse of the first chart in the atlas
  • Fisher, William - named in Llewellyn's Administration, May 1634
  • Gofton. The copy of Waghenaer's Mariners Mirrour, whose donation is recorded in the Donor's Book next to that of the Llewellyn atlas (and might possibly be connected), was given by John Gofton. He had matriculated, aged 16, in 1632. The gift was presumably from his father, Sir Francis Gofton, of Lambeth, London, who had been one of the commissioners to enquire into the Virginia Company in 1623.
  • Hackett, Alderman: see the note to Richard Hakluyt
  • Hakluyt, Richard (1552?-1616): see the separate update [Oxford DNB]
  • Harvey, John, a royal footman, brother of William, re 1609 debt
  • Harvey, William (1578-1657), brother of above, the hospital physician for 34 years from 1609, appointed Physician in Ordinary to James I (by 1618), discoverer of the circulation of blood, took over brother's debt [Oxford DNB]
  • Ingram, James, Warden of the Fleet, with Sir Paul Pindar urged a payment to Llewellyn's widow in 1634
  • Lancaster, James (1554/5-1618). {One of the commanders of the voyage in 1591-4 that reached Sumatra and the Strait of Malacca, he became a director of the East India Company in 1600 and led the first official English fleet to the East (1601-2). Might Llewellyn have sailed on that earlier voyage? Pure speculation, but, if so, it would have provided another strong link between the Steward and the EIC} [Oxford DNB]
  • Launden, Elizabeth, dispute with, 1613
  • Llewellyn. The following variant spellings of his name have been noted [doubtless, there are others]: Llewellen, Llewellin, Lewellin, Lewellen, Lewellyn, Lewelline, Luellen; in addition, his son Martin is listed by the Oxford DNB as 'Lluelyn'
  • Llewellyn, Howell (Hevellus) (d.1625), a Merchant Taylor living in Duke Lane, was also resident in the parish of St Bartholomew the Less; Elizabeth Llewellyn, his widow, died in 1633 - their connection with Martin, if any, is not known
  • Llewellyn, Martin, junior (1616-82), eighth of eleven sons (and one daughter) and the second of that name (the first Martin, born 1606, having evidently died), the only one recorded as going to Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1636 (having, with his [elder] brother William, presented the atlas to the college two years previously, when he was aged 17), became Physician to Charles II (1660) and Mayor of High Wycombe (1671). Notwithstanding his father's indebtedness to William Harvey, young Martin contributed a long prefatory poem to the English translation of Harvey's In exercitationes de generatione animalium (1651); he also features in Biographical Index of English Drama Before 1660. [Oxford DNB, as 'Lluelyn'].
  • Llewellyn, Martin, a keeper of the Wood Street Compter [or Counter, a debtors' prison]. A strange incident is described in Robert Tittler, Townspeople and Nation: English Urban Experiences 1540-1640 (Stanford University Press, 2001), pp.161-32 [available via Google Books], in which this presumed namesake, contemporary and near neighbour (less than five minutes walk to the east of the Hospital) was involved in a financial swindle in 1605, in which he helped a fellow conspirator escape. Given the Steward's perennial indebtedness, this coincidence has a splendid irony.
  • Llewellyn, Morris (Maurice), brother of Martin, one of the 215 who signed the charter incorporating the East India Company (31 December 1600), signed bills of adventure 1601, 1602 - State Papers; Stevens p.254; at his death (six months after Martin's) the terms of his will discharged a debt of £852 owing by Martin
  • Llewellyn, Sara[h], Martin's wife (and later widow), first mentioned in 1619, and cited as mother of his last three children
  • Lodewicksz, Willem [G.M.A.] (d. 1604). {A supercargo, or merchant, with the first Dutch fleet under de Houtman (1595-7), he signs the chart of the East Indies that illustrates his own published account of that voyage. Llewellyn's atlas has strong similarities with Lodewicksz's chart (though also significant differences). Had Llewellyn been on that voyage, he would certainly have known Lodewicskz and presumably shared cartographic sources with him. That is all speculation. For the available facts, see the biographical note by Vibeke Roeper and Diederick Wildeman in, Jennifer Speake (ed.) Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia, 3 vols (London Taylor & Francis, 2003) 2: 734-6}
  • Pindar, Sir Paul [Pinder] (1565/6-1650), with 'Mr Ingram' urged a payment to Llewellyn's widow in 1634; about 10 years earlier he had sold a large diamond to Charles I for £18,000, and five years later he was recorded as having made loans totalling £100,000 [Oxford DNB]
  • Smythe [Smith], Sir Thomas (1558?-1625): see the separate update [Oxford DNB]
  • Spencer, Sir John (d.1610), Lord Mayor of London, 1594/5, President of St Bartholomew's Hospital 1603-10, on 21 October 1609 sent a letter to the Hospital Governors about Llewellyn's debt of £52.10s to John Harvey [Moore 2:461 (note); Oxford DNB]
  • Treswell, Ralph (c.1540-1616/17), surveyor for St Bartholomew's Hospital (1584-95), one of whose plans is held by them (1586), later employed by Christ's Hospital (1597-1616). Presumably coincidentally, he also surveyed for Christ Church, Oxford. [Oxford DNB; Bendall 243]. {See Judith Etherton, 'New evidence - Ralph Treswell's association with St Bartholomew's Hospital', in: A.L. Saunders (ed.) London Topographical Record 27 (1995) pp.103-17 (Publication No. 149). Peter Barber makes the interesting suggestion that the Hospital's experience with Treswell may have led them to appoint Llewellyn because of his known cartographic skills.}
  • Woodall, John (1570-1643), Surgeon of St Bartholomew's (1616-43), appointed first Surgeon General of the East India Company (1613-42) 'probably recommended by Sir Thomas Smyth, its governor and his patron' [Oxford DNB] [Moore 2:618].

References
(a number published subsequently to 1975, when the original article was written; further updates December 2008)

  • Barber, Peter, 'Map-making in England, ca. 1470-1650', in: David Woodward (ed.) The History of Cartography, Volume 3, Book 2 (University of Chicago Press, 2007), p.1652, note 464.
  • Barker, G.F. Russell and Alan H. Stenning, The record of old Westminsters (London, 1928) 2:585 [on Martin Llewellyn junior].
  • Bendall, Sarah, Dictionary of land surveyors and local map-makers of Great Britain and Ireland 1530-1850, 2nd ed. 2 vols (British Library, 1997) [Llewellyn is not included].
  • Broek, Jan O.M., 'Place names in 16th and 17th century Borneo', Imago Mundi: the International Journal for the History of Cartography 16 (1962): 129-48.
  • Campbell, Tony, 'The Drapers' Company and its school of seventeenth century chart-makers', in: Helen Wallis & Sarah Tyacke (eds), My head is a map: essays & memoirs in honour of R.V. Tooley (London: Francis Edwards & Carta Press, 1973): 81-106.
  • Campbell, Tony, 'Martin Llewellyn's Atlas of the East (c. 1598)' [unpublished paper presented to the International Conference on the History of Cartography, Greenwich, 7-11 September 1975]
  • Campbell, Tony, 'Atlas Pioneer', Geographical Magazine 48:3 (December 1975) pp.162-7.
  • Campbell, Tony, 'Martin Llewellyn's Atlas of the East: a mystery partly unravelled', Christ Church Library Newsletter 5, 2 (Hilary 2009), pp.1, 7-10. [A summary of what is found on this webpage.]
  • Commelin, Isaak, A collection of voyages undertaken by the Dutch East-India Company (London, 1703) [translation of the 1646 Dutch text].
  • Lodewijcksz, G.M.A.L. Premier livre de l'histoire de la navigation aux Indes Orientales par les Hollandois (Amsterdam: Claesz., 1598).
  • Moore, Sir Norman, The history of St Bartholomew's Hospital, 2 vols (London, 1918).
  • Notes and Queries, series 3, volume 1 (Jan-June 1862) p.28. [About earlier Llewellyns]
  • Oxford Dictionary of National Biography [the revised and extended DNB is available online to subscribers, or free to users of the UK public library network].
  • PMC. Armando Cortesão & Avelino Teixeira da Mota, Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica, 6 vols (Lisbon, 1960). A second reduced edition ([Lisbon]: Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda, 1987) with corrective addenda by Alfredo Pinheiro Marques.
  • Richardson, William A.R., The Portuguese discovery of Australia: fact or fiction? (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1989) p.9.
  • Richardson, William A.R., 'The origin of place-names on maps', The Map Collector 55 (Summer 1991): 18-23, especially 20.
  • Richardson, William A.R., Was Australia charted before 1606: the Jave la Grande inscriptions (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2006), pp.70-1, fig. 26 (detail of Llewellyn's Java etc).
  • Schilder, Günter, Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica Vol. VII. Cornelis Claesz (c. 1551-1609): Stimulator and driving force of Dutch cartography (Alphen aan den Rijn: Canaletto/Repro-Holland, 2003). ISBN 90 6469 765 5 [and other volumes, e.g. Vol. IV for the 1608 Blaeu wall-map of Asia].
  • Shirley, R.W., The mapping of the world: early printed world maps 1472-1700 (London: Holland Press, 1983 [and later editions]).
  • Skelton, R.A., Explorers' maps: chapters in the cartographic record of geographical discovery (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1958).
  • Skelton, R.A.,'Looking at an early map', University of Kansas Publications, Library Series, 17 (Lawrence: University of Kansas Libraries, 1965).
  • Smith, Thomas R., 'Manuscript and printed sea charts in seventeenth-century London: the case of the Thames School', in: Norman J.W. Thrower (ed.) The compleat plattmaker: essays on chart, map, and globe making in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (University of California Press, 1978): 45-100.
  • State Papers - Colonial. East Indies, China and Japan [entries 281 and 288 re Morris Llewellyn and the East India Company, 1600 and 1602].
  • Stevens, Henry, Dawn of British trade to the East Indies as recorded in the Court Minutes of the East India Company 1599-1603 (London, 1886) [re Morris Llewellyn].
  • Tyacke, Sarah, 'Chartmaking in England and its Context, 1500-1660', in: David Woodward (ed.) The History of Cartography, Volume 3, Book 2 (University of Chicago Press, 2007), pp. 1722-80.
  • Tyacke, Sarah, 'Gabriel Tatton's maritime atlas of the East Indies, 1620-1621: Portsmouth Royal Naval Museum, Admiralty Library Manuscript, MSS 352', Imago Mundi: the International Journal for the History of Cartography 60:1 (2008) pp. 39-62.
  • Wieder, F.C. Monumenta Cartographica. 5 vols (The Hague, 1925-33).


COPYRIGHT 1975-2006 Tony Campbell, All rights reserved.
No portion of this article nor the accompanying illustrations can or may be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.





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