Criticism of The Account
The account of the voyages given by the younger Nicolò continues to attract debate. Some of the islands they allegedly visited either conflate existing locations or do not exist at all. research has shown the Zeno brothers were occupied elsewhere when they supposedly were doing their exploring. Contemporary Venetian court documents place Nicolò as undergoing trial for embezzlement in 1394 for his actions as military governor of Modone and Corone in Greece from 1390–1392. He wrote his last will and testament in Venice in 1400, many years after his alleged death in Frislanda around 1394. There is disagreement about the brothers' whereabouts at the time of the supposed voyages, with some readings of archival records placing the brothers in Venice at that time. Andrea di Robilant suggests this interpretation is in error.
According to The Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, "the Zeno affair remains one of the most preposterous and at the same time one of the most successful fabrications in the history of exploration.". di Robilant disagrees, stating that the younger Nicolò was "a first-class muddler, not a fablemonger", whose inaccuracy was the result of second-hand retelling that still contains much of the truth of the his forebears voyages.
Read more about this topic: Zeno Brothers
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