Michael of Rhodes: A Fifteenth-Century Mariner and His Book
By Pamela O. Long
Technology and Culture, Vol. 50 No. 1 (2009)
Introduction: The ship on the cover is a galley of the Flanders type used by Venetians during the first half of the fifteenth century for convoys to London and Flanders. It is an image (on fol. 145b) from an extraordinary manuscript—a book by a mariner who began his career as an oarsman on a Venetian galley in 1401. “Michalli da Ruodo,” anglicized as Michael of Rhodes, worked on more than forty voyages in Venetian convoys from 1401 until his death in 1445, advancing from an oarsman—a low-status position at the bottom of the ship’s hierarchy—to the highest position that a nonnoble individual could attain: armiraio. (The armiraio served as the captain and navigator of a convoy, usually made up of three or more ships.) Even more remarkable, Michael wrote a book. In fact, as we discovered, he wrote two books! The first, written mostly around 1435 and 1436, has only now become available for study and is the focus of this essay. The illustration of the Flanders galley is found in the section on shipbuilding within this book.
A three-volume facsimile edition of this manuscript will appear in 2009, published by MIT Press. The codex, which is more than 400 pages (or 200 folios) long, adds significantly to the small body of writings by nonelite persons from the early fifteenth century. It is of intense interest for other reasons as well. It contains an approximately 180-page (90-folio) treatise on commercial mathematics, and it adds significantly to the small number of medieval books on mathematics that have a Venetian provenance. It also contains the above-mentioned treatise on shipbuilding—the earliest extant treatise on the subject in the world. It contains a remarkable autobiographical service record in which Michael records each of his annual voyages. Further, it includes much calendrical and astrological material, charming illustrations of the signs of the zodiac, illustrations pertaining to shipbuilding (including the image of the fully rigged Flanders galley featured here), and other images, including Michael’s own coat-of-arms with an “M” emblazoned in the center. The colors of this coat-of-arms, gold and silver, also appear on the flag flying on the galley illustrated on the cover. Such a flag was permitted only to noble commanders, just as heraldic coats of-arms were considered the exclusive prerogative of the noble class. Michael’s transgressive individuality is much in evidence here.
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See more at our Feature Report on Michael of Rhodes
Related posts:
- The Book of Michael of Rhodes: A Fifteenth-Century Maritime Manuscript
- The journal of Roberto da Sanseverino (1417-1487) : a study on navigation and seafaring in the fifteenth century
- Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Mariners in the Port of Rhodes, 1453-1480
Tags: Italy, Maritime Studies
