medmaps

ABSTRACT

In the Middle Ages, with the advent of the Inquisition, there was a need for subterfuge. Some elements were quietly incorporated into Greek and Latin texts, but there were some items that needed to be visible to the readers. The questions was: How does one put secret information in plain sight without giving that same information to the "enemy"?

Abraham Zacuto, the royal astronomer of Spain, used longitude and latitude tables for his message to the Mani in Greece. Ridicule was his vehicle. Cartographers had a more difficult problem. They needed to put accurate longitudes and latitudes, so that people who fled the Inquisiton would land safely. They could not afford to use Zacuto's methods.

They, instead, used the cordiform map projection, then carefully placed that projection on the opposite side of 0 degrees at precisely the correct latitude and longitude. In order to preserve the information, they used Claudius Ptolemy of 150 AD as their vehicle, precisely as we, today, use Webster's dictionary. By pre-dating the information, the censor would not question the information. They would instead ridicule the visible distortions as created by those "ignorant" cartographers. The 50 degrees difference extended China into the Pacific Ocean is still considered an grave error by C. Ptolemy. This paper will correct that error.

di Ricci map of 1460 AD 1460 Ptolemy Map
by Waldseemueller

Subterfuge during the Middle Ages took on many forms. The Waldseemueller map of Ptolemy, done in 1460 was just one form that was able to pass the censors of the Inquisition. I discovered this map towards the end of the 90's. A magnifying glass helped with other less prominent details. From there I searched out what little was known of its history.

This particular map was in the possession of a special family. Their surname was di Ricci and they lived in Florence, Italy. Their most famous relative was Saint Catherine di Ricci, also known as Alexandrina di Ricci. She became a nun and was 67 (or 68) when she died. She could have been a mother, a grandmother, or an elderly aunt in the di Ricci family. The two encyclopedias give conflicting information about her. The Italian version justifies it by replacing the letter "i" in "di" with the letter "e" making it "de".

The typical CatholicEncyclopedia version¹ of her life is a text geared for children, for the faithful or for new converts. It does not have much in the way of facts, but when one reads the version found in the more practical-minded Italian Encyclopedia,² one can understand why the Church was reluctant to publish that version of the saint. St. Catherine's family came from a long line of Ghibellinos, who favored the German Emperor's rule, instead of the mandates of the Italian Pope.³ This may be one small clue as to why the family might have been called in by the Inquisition. The Atlas that contained this map may have been another reason.

During the time of the Inquisition, as in any state of oppression, there was a need for subterfuge. There were number ciphers, symbols described, not as a written description, but in the translation of the word for the symbol. The cartographers had a more difficult time. They had to make an extremely accurate map, so that those fleeing could escape safely, but they could not give the same information to those persecuting them.

On this particular map of Claudius Ptolemy, the land called Arabia Felix was very visible with a small cordiform projection inserted near the Oman Peninsula. But as usual, the Red Sea area, so faithfully colored in so many earlier maps,⁴ (here in the area where the red and white islands are located) was now in a new location, south of the Arabian Sea or Sinus Arabicus.

There was no red color that accompanied the change-over, it is just a text written in the middle of the sea made darker by the addition of a violet/blue color that seems to have been added, and only seen when the colors were lightened with Photoshop. To those pouring over this map, it is not even noticeable. Even though I had discovered the 1460 map twenty years ago. I had never before now noticed these new words.

Lower Left Section of Ptolemy's Arabia Felix 1460
The Arabicus Sinus (upper left block)
The Red Sea or Mare Rubrum (lower middle block.)

Since the First Crusade, an effort had been made to find the (Center of Power) in the Middle East at Damietta, on the Nile River (Nile [The Blue] River). They did not find it on the First Crusade and did not try again until before the Eighth Crusade.⁵ Between the two crusades and afterwards, there were many people who were tortured for information about the Hidden World of Ptolemy, called Arabia Felix. At first the accused were called heretics, then later, some were said to have dealt in necromancy, (speaking with those who had died.)

It was in this era of oppression that the Ptolemy maps found in Europe were collected and revised by the King of Castile Alfonso X, El Sabio. As his workshops, he used the University of Toledo. Keller, Books of Wisdom of Astronomy were edited by Alfonso X, El Sabio, when he revised the Ptolemy astronomical system. Alfonso was never able to spend long periods of time in Toledo, but he must have often consulted his scholars and translators [there] when they were working on Libro del Saber de Astronomia.⁶ Alfonso " . . . caused diagrams and charts to be placed in some of his books and described in great detail how these were to appear as to form and color . . . the King's instructions were carried out to the letter.⁷ The university was later accused of teaching the (Black Arts) of necromancy and witchcraft.⁸ Probably those who fled by ship were able to triangulate their new location and send the coordinates to Alfonso for his work. Because they had already been certified by the Inquisition as "having died on a pilgrimage," when their correspondence was found in the universities with their names and dated AFTER their deaths, the schools got into very serious trouble, being accused of necromancy.

When the monastic prisons were filled to overflowing with heretics, they were renamed "witches," In this way, they were incarcerated (and interrogated) in the civil prisons instead of the over-stuffed monasteries. Apparently, St. Catherine di Ricci was caught up in the search for Arabia Felix, a place proven (through the Crusades) to be somewhere else.

However, the 1460 version of the Ptolemy Atlas was in her home, possibly as a relic of bygone days. She was said to be a seven year old child when, from October, 1529 to August, 1530, Florence was besieged by Imperial army under direction of the Pope⁹ Alexandrina appears to be the mother. It is said that the young daughter entered the convent in 1535 when St. Catherine was thirteen. Then, even though she was horribly burned according to one account, she died as an old lady in 1589 or 1590 when she was 67 or 68 years old.¹⁰

In the Middle Ages, when a blameless person died because of an Inquisition proceedings, the Church had to guard against any public outcry. They accomplished this by claiming that person was a saint. However, as a saint, she was also supposed to have had an incorruptible body. Yet, according to the records, this person was burned on a grid. The result was her burns were so severe that the fever they produced could be felt by anyone who passed by her cell.¹¹ It is unlikely that the person burned was the same as the saint with the incorruptible body.

An incorruptible body after death is usually attributed to a (foreign elixir of longevity,) a euphemism for the poison arsenic. Those who ingest arsenic in very small doses over a long period of time such a Napoleon,¹² Charlemagne ¹³ and the emperors of the T'ang dynasty.¹⁴ in China retained their youthful smooth skin and normal hair color for years longer than usual. Napoleon and the boy-emperors of China did not live very long because they, being young and impetuous, refused to do what the benefactors who brought them the [elixir] told them to do. Only Charlemagne listened to the advice of the travelers and lived to be an old man. The exhumed bodies remain intact, except for the soft tissue of the nose and they give off a sweet odor of almonds. In this manner, it proves to be is an excellent case for a miraculous event.

The information given between the two encyclopedias, actually infers that two different women were involved. The first, the mother, probably a postwar victim who was a foreigner and ingested arsenic as a beauty aid for many years. She would have later become the recluse in the Dominican convent, and the person who actually died of old age. The other, the young daughter, probably tortured according to the Inquisition procedures,¹⁵ in order to obtain information from her mother, the remaining parent.

At the moment, however, it is all supposition based on the fact that the 1460 map of Ptolemy was probably in the possession of the di Ricci family before the siege of Florence. The Pope probably attacked Florence looking for something that was known in the Florentine merchant communities. Since it was around 1530, and Columbus had already discovered the Americas without finding the fabled land of gold, the search by torture continued.

A cordiform projection
of the East Coast USA

. Let us suppose a bit longer. Anyone under torture could use the available maps (similar to the 1414 map or that of 1460) and point directly to the area in question the cordiform insertion (shown here) on the Arabian and Persian coastlines. If they had been asked about the Rivers of Cities of Gold they would not have lied. They died telling the truth as they knew it.

The di Ricci family may not have known about the secret configuration of the map. When asked about Arabia Felix, the family members (father, mother, or daughter) could only point to the location on the map. Possibly, the father and mother may have been questioned. But since they knew no more; torture of the child would have been the next step.¹⁶ Apparently, the daughter was burned over a grid. The father could have died either from his own tortures or from stress. That would have left the mother and daughter. The mother, being unable to say anything more about the map than was already known, was imprisoned in a convent with the burned child. It was probably hoped that the mother would break down under the stress of watching her child suffer from the burns.

The burns that festered, producing a burning fever that could be felt outside of the cell, had to be fatal, even though the child was strong and survived longer than was thought possible. After she died, the mother, in her sorrow, had little recourse except to spend the rest of her life in the convent. It is claimed by the Church version that St. Catherine received the stigmatathe wounds of Christ on her hands and her feet.¹⁷ Did she receive the stigmatathe same wounds that Christ suffered on the cross? Or were they created? Such visible signs are no longer easy to forge. The last known saint to have such attributes was Padre Pio in Italy,¹⁸ but they were discounted as blood from a chicken.¹⁹ But enough of suppositions.

The 1460 Ptolemy world map by Waldseemüller was a special map with extra information embedded in it. It has the same type information as the other Ptolemy maps-the cordiform projection of the east coast of North America, but it does not show the Red Sea in color as some of them do. One thing positive, is that anyone who had any kind of experience with the maps and manuscripts from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance Period, had to have strained their eyes to the extent that any reading of small letters would have been a problem.

The monks and prelates, who poured over the di Ricci manuscript, probably had such a problem since glasses were not readily available during those years. Nevertheless, there was nothing found, even with good eyesight. Eventually, it was collected for the archives of cartography and was called the Ptolemy Atlas of the World, one of many that were [incorrectly] drawn, according to those who probe into such details. The Atlas and all its enlarged sections gave no new information. Since the Inquisition was already in the New World, the monks would not have been overly enthusiastic about these maps of the Middle East. What they needed to know was the location of the seven cities of gold, or other fabulous places that by that time was known to be somewhere in the Americas.

The area around Arabia created an extra-long-extension of the country of China. Both were the two main problems noted by cartographic researchers. Ridiculed for its mistakes, the Atlas was kept as a complete set of exceptional map-making art when such skills were considered to be very crude and inaccurate.

The actual configuration of the Persian Gulf

Then, recently, an author who wrote about Africa included the 1460 map of the Arabia Felix peninsula from the Ptolemy Atlas in his own book.²⁰ It was to show the faults of ancient cartography and praise the imagination of those who drew them so badly. Years passed. Then, someone asked a question, "What did Columbus know about Ptolemy?" I did not know the answer.

I came across the book with its enlarged two-page spread of Ptolemy's Arabia Felix.²¹ Pretty dull stuff, and, having read the book, I knew it had no real information about Ptolemy himself. What was shocking to me, was that the eastern coast of North America was recognizable. But only because I had just visited my daughter in Maine that year. That was the first part of the map I had recognized.

I immediately sent off to the New York Library where the manuscript was stored and asked for a transparency of the Arabia Felix segment. I did not need the whole map of the world to know what I had found. Even so, the magnifying glass told me even more about the map. There are two words in black ink with a longer text painted in white or cream color on top of the very dark blue of the sea, at first glance, could have related to little waves in the sea. However, it was not to be. The magnifying glass told a very different story.

The map of Arabia Felix, at the beginning of this chapter, is supposed to be a map of the land west of India that is located west of the Pacific Ocean. The segment shown here contains a corner of the larger map with a four-line notation about the area near seven small islands, three of which are painted red. Her, it harks back to Zacuto's backward three in his inaccurate list of longitudes and latitudes

Sinus Rubrum
As stated above, the notation was written on a deep blue sea in a cream colored paint and contains two words written in black. Was it supposed to represent waves lapping at the shore? Unlikely. Yet why the difference in colored inks? The Sea here is called (Sinus Farhalites which apparently refers to the Persian (Far) (Phar) or (Glory)²²

The two words were a bit difficult to read because of the dark blue water. The censors were probably not looking for anything referring to Persia they already knew about that area so there was no reason to translate the rest of the text. Even if one does not know any other language than English the text is easy enough to translate assuming there are some misspellings there. The text reads:

Sinus Farhalites in quo Colymbusis primer super utribus navigatat.

Now, it is well known that Columbus never sailed to India. He never crossed the continent of North America into the Pacific Ocean. But here is a statement that tells anyone reading it, that Columbus made his first voyage into this area, near the Persian Sea where the Phar (Glory) fell near the Red Sea It appears to legitimatize the Persian coastline.

Sinus Farhalites	The Sea of Glory
(halites)	[salt ?]
in quo	in which
Colymbysis	Columbus
Primer	first
super utribus	upon which
navigatat	he sailed

Because Columbus was spelled differently, it could have been a reference to another person or place in Persia or Arabia, now unknown Yet, the configuration of that section of the Arabian peninsula of Oman and Persia was also in agreement with Martin Behaim's globe of 1492; a projection that apparently was known to Columbus before he sailed that year.

The map projection on Martin Behaim's globe can only be legitimate if the area in question is the Yucatan and Columbus had sailed into the Caribbean Sea on his first voyage. It is known that Portugal was to be offered the Indian Ocean trade after lengthy negotiations in 1494, before Columbus was reported to have set foot on the continent of the Americas.²³ The Red Sea or Mar Vermejo upon which Ulloa and Hernan de Cortés sailed in 1539²⁴ is just around the corner on the west coast of Mexico. This is all well and good. But it does not really tell us anything, except that Columbus made his very first voyage into the Caribbean, nowhere near Santo Domingo.

A section of Martin Behaim's Globe of 1492

A text that stated the Friars, in a different ship during that same voyage, made landfall first: (And because the caravel Pinta, was the best sailor and was gong ahead of the Admiral, land was discovered by her people and the signs which the Admiral had ordered were made.)²⁵ Nevertheless, if it was the Friars that made the first landfall, and since Columbus carried the Green Cross of the Inquisition on all his ships, the Church would have declared they were the very first to touch land, even though Columbus was allowed to have discovered it. Even so, the monks, were probably also sailor/prisoners of the Inquisition who volunteered to go on the other ships. Investigating the Catholic Encyclopedia again online, I read the story of Christopher Columbus. It said all the right things, except for one small detail: It is written:

"Hence the admiral brought the news of the existence of the American continent to Europe as early as 1493.²⁶

This may confirm the Pope knew that Church envoys, not Columbus first set foot in the Americas! What an interesting notion. It may be the reason that the Pirrus de Noha map of 1414 was also online from the Vatican Library.

Pirrus de Noha map of 1414

Yet, the Church seems to have even more information than that which I found in a 1515 French book called S'ensuyt le Nouveau Monde It is a book full of le dit's (translated (it was said) or (he said)). It contains all voyages from Vespucci and Cadamosto to Columbus and Prejoseph.²⁷ There are little tidbits of information in the text that could only have come from a joint effort, that all sailed together in this the first voyage to the Americas. More than one letter was written after the voyage to impress the King and Queen that they had indeed, gone straight to the strange land that was not to be spoken about nor identified.²⁸ The information found there are part of the New World findings and the myriad misconceptions of the known world .

First: it predisposes an obvious change in the calendar, especially since Vespucci returned home in 1455 and Columbus, in 1493. I did not have to look far for that confirmation. Both Richard Major in his book about Prince Henry the Navigator of Portuga²⁹ and John Esten Keller in his book, Alfonso X, El Sabo, both described the Spanish Era as 1314 which was according to the Christian computation, was the year 1276.³⁰ The year difference (38 years) added to 1455 equals 1493, the same year that Columbus's first voyage was thought to be ended.. So with that for a beginning. The next segment has other details from S'ensuyt.

Endnotes:

¹ (2005) Catholic Encyclopedia Online: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03444a.htm St. Catherine de la Ricci.
² (1930) Encyclopedia Italiana, Volume IX, p. 449: Catherine de Ricci, Dominican (nun (?) had Stigmata and an incorruptible body. She was born in Florence 25 April 1522. She died 2 February 1589, St. Catherine di Ricci died 67 years old. (See note 1: d. 1589- b. 1522 = 67) (She was grilled alive and survived a few hours or days? Heat in her cell was such that anyone coming near her cell could feel her fever)
The Dominican convents were in fact dungeons.
Plaidy, (Hibbert) (1967) The Spanish Inquisition: Its Rise, Growth and End. New York: The Citadel Press. Rise, p. 118: Inquisitors search for victims in Seville indefatigable.
Dungeons of convent (Dominican) were so full, prisoners then taken to Castle of Triana. There were 20,000 conversos because of this crack-down.
Oldenbourg (1962) Massacre at Montségur: A History of the Albigensian Crusade, New York: George Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Ltd./Pantheon Books, A Division of Random House, Inc. p. 380: Appendix D: Council of Narbonne - 1243: Prisons are to be erected for the housing of poor persons converted from heretical beliefs. Their upkeep is to be the concern of the Inquisitors to ensure that the Diocesan bishops are not excessively burdened with expenses.
Lea (1955) A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, New York: The Harbor Press Publishers. p. 334: In 1246, Inquisitors still expected Bishops to defray their expenses. To build prisons for confining converts.
³(1930) Encyclopedia Italiana, Seizone, Volume XXVIII, p. 243: Ricci, Gia signori di Canapia (XIV century) degli Albizzi. in 1362 Ricci was Guelfo Albizzi was Ghibellino
Biringuccio (1942) The Pirotechnia of Vannoccio:Biringuccio de la Pirotechnia, New York The American Institute of Mining and Metaollurical Engineers. Volume VI - 4, p. 233: Florence besieged from October, 1529 to August, 1530 by Imperial army under direction of Pope. Capitulation of Republic resulted in reestablishing the Medici rule.
p. 233: for siege of Florence in 1529 was made the breech of a double culverin [cannon] in which was a large head of an elephant.
⁴ Some Maps with the Red Sea colored red and the words Sinus Arabicus written there.
1414 by Pirrus Noha
1448 by Andreas Walsperger
1452- 1453 by Leardo Giovanni , called the Leardo Map
1457 - Genoese World map
1492 - Globe of Martin Behaim
1502 - Cantino has "Red Sea": painted RED
1527 (with Cardinal's hats and seal) Has Red Sea painted in RED
⁵ Mayer, Hans Eberhard (1972) The Crusades, New York: Oxford University Press.. p. 210: The Crusade Against Damietta of 1217-1221: A council of war revived the old plan of destroying Muslim center of power in Egypt as a prelude to the reconquest of Jeruslem.
⁶ Keller, John Esten (1967) Alfonso X, El Sabio New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. p. 139
⁷ Ibid., p. 140.
⁸ Summers, M. (1974) Witchcraft and Black Magic, New York: Causeway Books, p. 76: Schools of medicine and philosophy cloaking judicial astrology, divination by the stars and magic sciences at Saragossa and Toledo. Destroyed by Queen Isabella in 1451,
p. 41-42: Giles or Gil, a nobleman of Portugal, part of a secret society of Toledo, made a Pact with the Devil. Entered the monastery of the Dominicans at Palencia in North Spain and died in 1265
⁹ See Note 3.
¹⁰ See Note 1
¹¹ See Note 1
¹² Weider, B. and Hapgood, D. (1982) The Murder of Napoleon, London: Congdon & Lattes. After a year in the tomb, only Napoleon's nose had disintegrated.
¹³ Grant, A. J. (1905) Early Lives of Charlemagne by Eginhard, and the Monk of St. Gall, London: Alexander Moring Ltd./The de la More Press. p. 120: The monk of St. Gall wrote: Persian envoys brought Charlemagne an elephant, monkeys, balsam, nard, unguents of various kinds, spices, scents and many kinds of drugs in profusion
Davis, H. W. C. (1899) Charlemagne, Charles the Great: The Hero of Two Nations. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 309: Buried in Church of the Virgin. In 1000 AD Otto III found Charles (Charlemagne) in a sitting position. Nails had grown long enough to pierce his gauntlets. Only tip of nose had decayed. Nose replaced with gold.
¹⁴ Lishi Da GuanYuan, (1985) Beijing Review, Historical Grand View Garden, (34) August 26. p. 32: Most Emperors Died Young.: Princes married between 11 and 14, had dozens of concubines. First emperor of any dynasty lived longest while descendants life spans were shorter and shorter.
Medicine: Emperors took (elixir of life) a compound of mercury, zinc and arsenic. Six emperors during Tang Dynasty (618-907) died suddenly from it. Most Emperors Emperor Liu Bang and Cao Cao of Han Dynasty (207 B.C. - 220) could not be treated medically because of bad tempers. (34) August 26. p. 32.
¹⁵ Kunze (1987) Highroad to the Stake: A Tale of Witchcraft. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. p. 25: Inquisition / Witchcraft: Hänsel Pämb, 10/11 years old child first to be tortured, Legal scholars taught (the most feeble and timid in group of law breakers were to be questioned first.)
¹⁶ Murray, M. (1977) God of the Witches, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 54, Bodin (17) urged all judges to use this knowledge as a method of catching unsuspecting witches. He recommended that young girls should be seized and persuaded or frightened into compromising their relatives and friends.
Note 17: Bodin, J., Fléau des Demons et Sorcier, edition 1616, pp. 188-189.
¹⁷ See Note 1 and 2.
¹⁸ eb Posted: May 2, 1999 Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, Padre Pio had stigmata for 50 years, losing a cup of blood every time
¹⁹ (1999) Flashline: Pope Running "Saint Factory"? John Paul Beatifies Monk Accused of Mental Illness, Fraud, Philandering, . Web Posted May 2. Fraudulent saints: ". . . Padre Pio, who for fifty years reportedly exhibited a (stigmata,) wounds replicating the bleeding said to have been suffered on the cross by Jesus Christ. During his lifetime, Padre Pio was the subject of two official investigations conducted by the Vatican. There were claims that he liked the intimate company of young women who wore perfume, and had even inflicted such wounds on himself using acid." Another web site stated chicken blood was used.
²⁰ Ettinger, Nathalie, Huxley, Elspeth, and Hamilton, Paul, (1973) The Encyclopedia of Discovery and Exploration: Exploring Africa and Asia: The Heartland of Asia: part III: Seas of Sand. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc.
²¹ Ibid., pp. 328-329.
²² Coyajee (1939) Studies in Sháhnámah, Bombay: D. B. Taraporevala Sons and Company. p. 44, In Pesian lore, Grail is cup, lance, cure for all diseases. Glory is Hvarenó, (Khureh or Farr [Phar] or Glory) is food providing object also.
²³ Judd, G. P. (1966) A History of Civilization, New York: Macmillan Company. p. 312: In 1493, two months after Columbus returned to Europe, Pope Alexander VI gave to Spain all lands 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. The legality of the papal demarcation line may be and was disputed. But in this instance, Alexander VI was following a precedent of Pope Nicholas V who forty years before had given to Portugal the exclusive right to search for a sea route to India by way of Africa. In any case Portugal protested. By the treaty of Tordesillas (1494), Spain and Portugal agreed to extend the line 370 leagues (1110 miles) west of Cape Verde Islands.
²⁴ (1972) Enciclopedia de México, Volume I, Column 51: In 1539, Francisco Ulloa sailed from Alcapulco (with Cortés) up into the Mar Vermajo or the Red Sea, caused by the outflow of the Colorado River.
²⁵ Fuson, Robert (1987) The Log of Columbus: His Own Account of the Voyage that Changed the World, in the Acclaimed New Translation., p. 75. Two hours after midnight, the Pinta fired a cannon, my prearranged signal for the sighting of land. . . .when we caught up with the Pinta, which was always running ahead because she was a swift sailer, I learned that the first man to sight land was Rodrigo de Triana, a seaman from Lepe.
(Close examination of the text of the Log of Columbus shows that it may be a forgery based upon later successful voyages.)
²⁶Catholic Encyclopedia Online, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/140ahtm Columbus
²⁷de Rodeur, (Montabaddo) (1917) Sensuy't le Noveau Monde New York: Princeton University Press, (Facsimile of 1517 mss).
²⁸ de Rodeur, (Montabaddo) (1917) Cadamosto, Anthony, p. 57: Because we knew well that these islands in Spain there would be made no mention (of this adventure).
(1943) New Encyclopedia Britannica Volume XXII, p. 146: Portugal Inquisition mutilated all histories. All original scientific and philosophic work was banned. National character sank back into Middle Ages.
²⁹ Major, Richard (1967) The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal, Surnamed the Navigator, London: Frank Cass and Company, Ltd. p. 80: King Joao I, required that all public ordinance should be dated from the Christian era instead of from the era of Caesar, as had until that time been the practice. Alternation involved difference of 38 years. 1460 corresponding to 1422 AD. (difference is 38 years)
³⁰ Keller, John Esten (1967) p. 142: the year was 1314 but the Christian computation said that 1314 was 1276. [My Note: This may mean that Alfonso XI is an imaginary person to make up the difference in years.]