IN THE MAKING OF EUROPE il DONALD F. LACH VOLUME 4 of Discovery BOOK ONE TI-IE UNIVERSITY 01: CHICAGO I'RES S CHICAGO AND LONDON L/' The Prirlted Word Circirlatiori O/the First Reports. 1500-1520 the latter half of the century, whcn the Frcnch (15~6),Dutch (1~63)~and lcttcrs to Rome informing the papacy of I'ortugal's progr~ss.~7Manuel's English (1577) versions made their appearance. speedy procla~~~ationof the captirrc of Mdacca had certain specific objcctives Like most of the other writers of this period, Varthema devotes more attc~l- apart from his understaildablc desire to let tllc world know of his distant tion to Calicut and the Malabar Coast than to any other part of the East. I-le ' conquests. Thc ql~cstionhad already been raiscd in Spain whether thc MOIUCCS calls the town "a poor sort of place" and was evidently unimpressed with its were not within the Spanish demarcation, and a project was being considered 11ouscs and buildings. The Zamorin of Calicut, he asserts IS ''a pagan and wor- in 1512 for advancing a dain~to and taking possession of the Spicc ships the devil." He gives a fairly dear outline of the caste system, matrililieal Evcr watchful as to the security of his demarcation claims, Manuel immediately succession, and polyandry. Like the writers of antiquity, hc was most favorably set to work to obtain papal support and recognition for Albuquerque's impressed by the administration ofjusticc. I-lc also comments at length on the advances into ~otr~hcasternAsia. And it was Ma~l~rcl'sgood fortur~cthat a building ofsllips at Calicut and obscrvcs that "thc I'agans do not navigate 111uch, pope had been clcctcd in M.irch, I 513, who W:IS likely to receive the news but it is the Moors who carry the mcrcharldizc." Of plants 2nd fruits he pro- cordial1y. vides detailed and accurate descriptions. And he notices that Pope Leo X (Giovanni dc' Medici) was the second son of Lorenzo the the men of Calicut, when thcy wish to sow rice,. .they plough the land with oxen S Magnificent and the real ruler of his family and the Republic of Florence. The WC do, and whcn thcy sow tlic rice in the ficld thcy have 111 the illstrurncnts of thc city traditional good relations bctwccn Portugal and the Florentine merchants and co~iti~ruall~sounditrg atid Innking rncrry.61 navigators certainly did no hart11 to Manuel's cause in the eyes of the itrbanc Mcdici popc. Moreover, a strong case coilld be m;rdc in ILomc for cor~firn~irlg I-Ic dcscribcs too tl~cctrstom of secretly making bargairls by touching ha~itls Ma~uel'sclaims inasmuch as thc Portuguese wcrc regularly dcrcating the and fingers under a cloth, a practice "which is current [today] among the Muslims and consta~tlycnhrging the field of possible Christian nlissioilary Eastern people fronl the Abyssinians to the natives of India and the Farther enterprise. 111 fact, public cclcbrations of thanksgiving were held in Rome East." 65 shortly after the news of Albuquerqtie's conqucst of Malacca arri~cd.~Q In the account of his disputed voyage east of Calicut, Varthema mcntions It was in such a favorablc atmosphere that Manuel dispatched another pearl-fishing on the Corommdel Coat, tl~cjcwrlb uf Crylull, and the custor~l embassy of obcdicnce to Rome in the spri~igoC I j I 4. Thc chief of this splcildid of writing on "paper like ours" in Tenasscrim. From his conlmcnts on religion delegation was TristZo da Cullha, who had been one of Portugd's most it appears that he knew nothing about Buddhism though he appears to think successful commanders in the East. He was accompanied by three of his sons that the religion of I'cgu (Burma) is peculiar. In commenting on Malacca hc and two cmincnt professors of law, Diogo Pacl~ccoand JoZo de Faria. On dcscribcs its location and government in gcncrally corrcct terms and notices March 20, 151~4,Pachcco dclivercd an oration in which he tendcrcd Manucl's the infertility of the surrounding coulltrysidc. He identities Sumatra with the obcdicncc to tllc Holy Father and itemized his great successes in the East. Taprobme of antiquity and makes most of his conlnlcnts on the island from Shortly thcrcaf'tcr the oration appeared in print.70 But the grcatcst sensation hearsay. At Banda 11c notices the nutmeg tree and. apparently from his experi- in Rome was caused by the valuable and curious presents which wcrc paraded cncc in the Moluccas. hc is able to give a description of tllc clove tree. He also . l bcforc the popc a~~dthe populace. Indian slaves. I'crsian horses, two leopards. relates what was told hirn by an Arab sailor about tllc Imds, climates, and a young panther, colorful parrots, and a trained clcphant were anlong the gifts peoples south of Ja~a.6~Thus. Varthema brought into European literature an brought from Asia. A rhinoceros intended as the highlight of this exotic parade appreciation of the nrca cast of India, whether he had acttlally travclccl there or pcrishcd c11 routc from Portugal to Ron1c.7~but tllc trained elepha~~tcauscd a IIO~,whicl~ it had previously not rcccivcd L'rom the sca-travclcrs and whicll co~~firn~cdby firsthat~d observations 111any of the statements made earlier by Mlrco 1'010 and thc writcrs of antiquity. 67 SaIvatorc dc Ci~~lius.Une n~~~b,lssadc],orllrgnisc d KOIIIColr XVlr siZcle (Naples, 1899), pp 4-8. prints thc text of Manocl's letter ofJune H. 1513.For the titles ortllcrc lcttcrs 2nd adapt~~ionsoftllcrll It was not until 15 I I, the year after tllc original publication of Vartlle~r~a's as thcy appcarc(I in chapbooks publisl~cddl~ring I 513-14, xc I\ogers, opt cil. (11. IS),p. 190. accotlnt of the East, that thPortuguese captured the great cntrcpot of Malacca "J. T. Medina, J~rai~Diaz de Solis (S.111riagodc Chilc, 1897)~Vol. I, chap. vi; Vol. 11, docs. 22, ' and began to penctratc fnrther eastward. News of Alb~~ucrque'svictory 30, 31. '9 W. ROSCOC,7'11~ L$ arrd Po~rr$c,rrr rdl,ro X (London, 1827), 11, 29~300.Also YE Masbnnnglazs. bccanlc known in Europe in the spring of 15 I 3. and Marltlcl quickly dispatched LPPorlrrgi~l cl !E Snit~l-Si?gc(Paris, 1898). 1, 21-29. Manuel's luttcr ofJune 8, 1513 (sec Koscou, op. ril. [I). 691. pp. 496-$00) was published ill short order at Rome, Vienna and Nuremberfi. 7O Entitled B~rn~r~telisLrrsirnlr: Algarbior: Afiicoe Aediiopi~rcAmbi~e Persine hrdi~re Reg. hreirris~. 64 Scc ibid., p. xviii. and I I. Cordicr. "DCUXvoyagers dans I'Extre~nc-Oricnt .. Essai biblio- . Obedicit~in. graphiquc. Nicolo Dc'Conti-Lodovico dc Varthc~na," 'I"ormns pno, X (1899). 390-404. 7' See tlic aniusing book of A. Fonroura da Costa. Lrs d4a111b1rhrrio1rsdrr IUtir~ocCrosdc A,lodofir, roi Conlrrle~~tof Sir Willianr Tcn~plcin Joncs and Tc~riplc,op. tir. (n. 61), p. Iviii. de Carrrboyc, dc Isrj 2 1516 (Lisbon, 1937). Also sce Lliir dc Mares, "Forrtla c natura c costumi del For further elucidation on this matter see ibid., p. Lxxvi. rinocerontc." Uulerinr inrm~aciotr~ifde bibliograja LIISO-Brasileirtr,I (rglo), 387-98. Circrrlc~tio~~oJthe First Reports, 1500-1520 scnsatio~las it bowed thrcc times bcforc tllc popc ar~tlsquirtctl water frorn its other lettcrs of thc timc thcy wcrc circulated ro pcoplc who, for one rcason or trunk over the adtlliring multitude. Evcn the pocts sang its praises.72 another, wcrc intcrestcd in thc opcning of the East.77 The same gcneralizatio~l The popular approval won by the embassy was but one aspect of its success. probably applies also to the lcttcr of Pictro Stroni. another Florenthe. who Its more concrctc achievcn~ents were the papal pronouncements made in wrote from Quilon in 15ro, and to a longer, anonymous letter from Lisbon, Portugal's favor after the departure of thc emissaries. 011June 7, 1514, a papal written in 1~13.7~Indccd, we know that the two long letters of Andrea Corsali, bull gave to Portugal "the patronage of ecclesiastical benefices in Africa and a Florentine writing from Goa in 15 16 and 1517, were circulated to memben of in all otherplaces beyond the Sen. acquired or to be acquired from the X~dels,and the Mcdici family.79 Likc some of the other lettcrs of the period. Stroni's subjected them to thc spiritual jurisdictior~of thc Order of Christ." 73 The bdl were published at the timc thcy were written. long before Ramusio brought Praecelsae devotioriis of Noverr~ber3, I S 14. confir~ncdand renewed the earlier them to morc general attc~ltion.~~ papal bulls of Nicholas V and Sixtus IV in Portugal's L~vorand "for grcat The best illustration that we havc of the inforlnal circulation ofsuch lcttcrs on sec~~rity"granted also India is the casc of Vale~lti~llFernandes' lctter written at Lisbon in May, 1515, All unfrequented [by Christians] places, recovered, discovered, found, md acquired From and sent to the nlerchants of Nuremberg. The original was rob ably in htin the aforesaid infidels, by the said King Emmanucl and his successors, both fro~nCapcs or German, but thc oldy copy extant is in Italian.81 In this epistle, which ws Bojador and Nao to the Indies, and in any place or region whatsoever, cvcn although probably rclqcd from Niirenlberg to Florence, he announced the arrival pcrd~anceui~known to us at present.