Dr. Evan Jones - The Nearly Lost Story of Fra Giovanni and
the Cabot's "new founde land"

Dr. Evan Jones is Senior Lecturer in Economic and Social History with the Department of Historical Studies of The University of Bristol.

Dr. Jones has done extensive research on Bristol's fifteenth-sixteenth century voyages of discovery. He has written four articles in this field and is now running a small research project, entitled The Cabot Project, to push forward the research. He is a specialist in late medieval -early modern maritime history, particularly in relation to Bristol.

For the Atlantic Conference, Dr. Jones will be discussing his work to recover and add to the work of Dr Alwyn Ruddock.  Dr. Ruddock was a former reader in history at the University of London, and the world expert on John Cabot’s discovery voyages from Bristol to North America (1496-98). What she was said to have found out about these voyages looked set to re-write the history of the European discovery of America. Ever the perfectionist,  when Ruddock passed away, her will stipulated that her research of four decades be destroyed.

"Dr Ruddock intended to reveal that while Cabot was sailing south down the coast of America his chief supporter, Fra Giovanni, was establishing a religious colony in Newfoundland. Having disembarked from his ship, the Dominus Nobiscum, Fra Giovanni apparently established a settlement and built a church. This church, the first to be built in North America, was named after the Augustinian church of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples." More Here >> 

Dr. Jones work in uncovering the heretofore unknown documents and telling the story to the world colors the story of the early discovery of North America in an entirely new light and, in my opinion, shows that there was knowledge of the "New Founde Lande" for many years.

Learn more on the work of Dr. Evan Jones. Click Here >>
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