Zichmni

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Zichmni is the name of an explorer-prince who appears in a 1558 book by Nicolò Zeno of Venice, allegedly based on letters and a map dating to the year 1400 by the author's ancestors, brothers Nicolò and Antonio Zeno.[1] Zichmni is described as a great lord of some islands off the southern coast of Frislanda, a possibly fictitious island claimed to be larger than Ireland and located south of Iceland.

According to the book, the letters provided a first-hand account of a voyage of exploration undertaken in 1398 by Prince Zichmni, accompanied by the Zeno brothers. The book claims that the voyagers crossed the North Atlantic to Greenland. A few recent authors speculate that they may have reached the coast of North America. There is disagreement among historians as to whether to accept the Zeno letters as valid; however, Barry Fell, in America B.C., states

A.D. 1396: Prince Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, leads the last Norse-Celtic Atlantic Expedition, landing in New England. Two years later, in 1398, a member of the expedition, John Gunn, dies at Westford, Massachusetts, where his rock-cut memorial and coat of arms may still be seen.[2]

Some proponents of the authenticity of the tale maintain that Zichmni was a Scottish nobleman named Henry Sinclair. However, other scholars have pointed to flaws in this identification and consider it extremely unlikely.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Cooper, Robert L. D. (Ed.) (2004). The Voyages of the Venetian Brothers Nicolo & Antonion Zeno to the Northern Seas in the XIVth Century. Masonic Publishing Co. ISBN 0-9544268-2-7. 
  2. ↑ Fell, Barry (1986). America B.C. Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0-671-67974-0. 
  3. ↑ "Earl Henry Sinclair's fictitious trip to America", by Brian Smith, originally published in New Orkney Antiquarian Journal, vol. 2, 2002
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