[Note: In the following notes, citations from Richard Eden are made
from Arber’s reprint The first three English books on America
(Birmingham, 1885), from the third book, entitled The decades of the
newe worlde, first printed in London in 1555; from Mosto, from Il primo
viaggio, intorno al globo di Antonio Pigafetta, by Andrea da Mosto
(Roma, 1894), which was published as a portion of part v of volume iii
of Raccolta di documenti e studi pubblicati dalla R. Commissione
Colombiana pel quarto centenario dalla scoperta dell’America,
appearing under the auspices of the Minister of Public Instruction; and
from Stanley, from his First voyage round the world, by Magellan
(Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1874), which was translated by
Lord Stanley in part from the longer French MS. in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris, and in part from the Amoretti publication (Milan,
1800) made from the Italian MS. in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana.]
[1] The greater part of the life of Antonio Pigafetta is shrouded in
darkness. The Pigafetta family, who resided at Venice, and was formerly
of Tuscan origin, dates back before him for several centuries. The
Pigafetta escutcheon was white above and black below with a white
transverse bar running from left to right. On the lower part were three
red roses, one of them on the bar. The old family house is still
standing and shows the motto Il nest rose sans espine, i.e., “No rose
without a thorn,” which was probably carved in 1481, when the house
was repaired, and not by Antonio Pigafetta after his return from his
voyage as some assert. Antonio Pigafetta was born toward the close of
the fifteenth century, but the date cannot be positively fixed, some
declaring it to be 1491; but Harrisse who follows Marzari, gives the
date as 1480. It is unknown who his parents were and some have asserted
that he was a natural child, although this is evidently unfounded, as
he was received into the military order of St. John. At an early age he
probably became familiar with the sea and developed his taste for
traveling. He went to Spain with the Roman ambassador Chieregato, in
1519, but in what capacity is unknown. Hearing details of
Magalhães’s intended voyage he contrived to accompany him. Navarrete
surmises that he is the Antonio Lombardo mentioned in the list of the
captain’s servants and volunteers who sailed on the expedition, so
called as his country was Lombardy. After the return of the
“Victoria,” he journeyed in Spain, Portugal, and France, and
returned to Italy probably in January, 1523. The relation presented by
him to Cárlos I was probably a draft of his notes taken daily
throughout the voyage. His Relation as we know it was undertaken at the
request of the marchioness of Mantova, but its composition was arrested
by an order from Clement VII to come to Rome, whither he went in
December, 1523, or January, 1524, meeting Villiers l’Isle-Adam on his
journey thither. He remained in the pope’s service but a short time,
for in April, 1524, he was back in Venice. That same year he was
granted a copyright on his Relation, which he intended to print, for
twenty years. Pozzo says that he was received into the Order of St.
John, October 3, 1524, but it was probably somewhat before that date.
Between the dates of August, 1524, and August, 1530, his work was
presented to Villiers l’Isle-Adam. Nothing further is known of him,
though some say that he fought against the Turks as late as 1536, while
others have placed his death in 1534 or 1535 and at Malta. In addition
to his Relation Pigafetta wrote a Treatise on the art of navigation,
which follows his Relation. This is not presented in the present
publication, notwithstanding its importance, as being outside of the
present scope. It is reproduced by Mosto. He has sometimes been
confused with Marcantonio Pigafetta (a Venetian gentleman), the author
of Itinerario da Vienna a Constantinopoli (London, 1585); and wrongly
called Vincenzo Antonio Pigafetta, the “Vincenzo” being an error
for “vicentino,” i.e., “Venetian.” See Mosto, Il primo viaggio
... di Antonio Pigafetta (Roma, 1894), pp. 13–30; Larousse’s
Dictionnaire; and La grande Encyclopédie (Paris).
[2] The Order of St. John of Jerusalem. See Vol. II, p. 26, note 2.
Throughout this Relation Pigafetta’s spelling of proper names is
retained.
[3] Philippe de Villiers l’Isle-Adam, the forty-third grand master of
the Order of the Knights of St. John (called Knights of Malta after
1530), was born of an old and distinguished family at Beauvais, in
1464, and died at Malta, August 21, 1534, at grief, some say, over the
dissensions in his order. He was elected grand master of his order in
1521 and in the following year occurred his heroic defense of Rhodes
with but four thousand five hundred soldiers against the huge fleet and
army of Soliman. After six months he was compelled to surrender his
stronghold in October, and refusing Soliman’s entreaties to remain
with him, went to Italy. In 1524 he was given the city of Viterbe by
Clement VII, where in June of 1527 he held a general chapter of his
order, at which it was decided to accept the island of Malta which had
been offered by Charles V. The gift was confirmed by the letters-patent
of Charles V in 1530, and Villiers l’Isle-Adam Adam went thither in
October of that year. He was always held in high esteem for his
bravery, prudence, and piety. See Moreri’s Dictionaire, and
Larousse’s Dictionnaire.
[4] The four MSS. of Pigafetta’s Relation are those known as the
Ambrosian or Italian, so called from its place of deposit, the
Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan; no. 5,650, conserved in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, in French; no. 24,224, in the same
library, also in French; and the Nancy MS. (also French) so called
because it was conserved in Nancy, France, now owned by the heirs of
Sir Thomas Phillips, Cheltenham, England. The MSS. of the Bibliothèque
Nationale are both shorter than the Italian MS. The Nancy MS. is said
to be the most complete of the French manuscripts. The best
bibliographical account of these four MSS. that has yet appeared is by
Mosto ut supra. A full bibliographical account of both the MSS. and
printed books will be given in the volume on bibliography in this
series.
There are a number of radical differences between the Paris MS. no.
5,650 (which will be hereafter referred to simply as MS. 5,650) and the
Italian MS., these differences including paragraph structure and the
division of MS. 5,650 into various chapters, although the sequence is
on the whole identical. The most radical of the differences will be
shown in these notes. MS. 5,650 contains the following title on the
page immediately preceding the beginning of the relation proper:
“Navigation and discovery of Upper Indie, written by me, Anthoyne
Pigaphete, a Venetian, and knight of Rhodes.”
[5] The emperor Charles V; but he was not elected to that dignity until
June, 1519. Pigafetta writing after that date is not explicit.
[6] Francesco Chiericati was born in Venice, in one of the most ancient
and famous families of that city, at the end of the fifteenth century.
He attained preëminence at Sienna in both civil and ecclesiastical
law. Aided by Cardinal Matteo Lang, bishop of Sion, he was received
among the prelates of the apostolic palace. Later he conducted several
diplomatic missions with great skill. He left Rome for Spain in
December, 1518, on a private mission for the pope, and especially to
effect a crusade against the Turks who were then invading Egypt and
threatening Christianity. His house at Barcelona became the
meeting-place of the savants of that day who discussed literature and
science. See Mosto, p. 19, note 3.
[7] MS. 5,650 adds: “scholars and men of understanding.”
[8] MS. 5,650 reads: “so that I might satisfy the wish of the said
gentlemen and also my own desire, so that it could be said that I had
made the said voyage and indeed been an eyewitness of the things
hereafter written.”
[9] See Vol. I, p. 250, note 192 for sketch of Magalhães. The only
adequate life of Magalhães in English is that of Guillemard.
[10] That is, the Order of Santiago. See Vol. I, p. 145, note 171.
Magalhães and Falero were decorated with the cross of comendador of
the order by Cárlos I in the presence of the royal Council in July,
1518. See Guillemard’s Ferdinand Magellan, p. 114.
[11] See Vol. I for various documents during the period of the
preparation of the fleet; also Guillemard’s Magellan, pp. 114–116
and 130–134; and Stanley’s First Voyage, pp. xxxiv–xlvi.
[12] Pope Clement VII, who assumed the papacy November 19, 1523.
Pigafetta was summoned to Rome very soon after Clement’s election,
for he was in Rome either in December, 1523, or January, 1524.
[13] The Amoretti edition (Milan, 1800; a wofully garbled adaptation of
the Italian MS.) wrongly ascribes this desire to Clement VII, instead
of Villiers L’Isle-Adam. See Stanley, p. 36, note 3.
[14] MS. 5,650 reads: “Finally, most illustrious Lordship, after all
provisions had been made and the ships were in readiness, the
captain-general, a wise and virtuous man, and one mindful of his honor,
would not commence his voyage without first making some good and
suitable rules, such as it is the approved custom to make for those who
go to sea, although he did not entirely declare the voyage that he was
about to make lest those men, through astonishment and fear, should
refuse to accompany him on the so long voyage that he had determined
upon. In consideration of the furious and violent storms that reign on
the Ocean Sea where he was about to sail, and in consideration of
another reason also, namely, that the masters and captains of the other
ships in his fleet had no liking for him (the reason for which I know
not, unless because he, the captain-general, was a Portuguese, and they
Spaniards or Castilians, who have for a long while been biased and
ill-disposed toward one another, but who, in spite of that, rendered
him obedience), he made his rules such as follow, so that his ships
might not go astray or become separated from one another during storms
at sea. He published those rules and gave them in writing to every
master in the ships and ordered them to be inviolably observed and
kept, unless for urgent and legitimate excuse, and the proof that any
other action was impossible.”
[15] A Spanish word, meaning “lantern.”
[16] Mosto wrongly derives strengue from the Spanish trenza “braid”
or “twist.” Instead it is the Spanish word estrenque, which denotes
a large rope made from Spanish grass hemp (stipa)—known to the
Spaniards as esparto. MS. 5,650 reads: “Sometimes he set out a
lantern; at other times a thick rush cord which was lighted and was
called ‘trenche’ [i.e., ‘estrenque,’ ‘rope of Spanish grass
hemp’].” Barcio (Diccionario general etimológico) says that the
origin of estrenque is unknown.
[17] MS. 5,650 reads: “If he wished the other ships to haul in a
bonnet-sail, which was a part of the sail attached to the mainsail, he
showed three lights. Also by three lights notwithstanding that the
weather might be favorable for making better time, it was understood
that the bonnet-sail was to be hauled in, so that the mainsail might be
sooner and easier struck and furled when bad weather came suddenly in
any squall or otherwise.”
[18] MS. 5,650 adds: “which he had extinguished immediately after;”
and continues: “then showing a single light as a sign that he
intended to stop there and wait until the other ships should do as
he.”
[19] MS. 5,650 adds: “that is to say, a rock in the sea.”
[20] Stanley translates the following passage wrongly. Rightly
translated, it is: “Also when he desired the bonnet-sail to be
reattached to the sail, he showed three fires.”
[21] This passage is omitted in MS. 5,650.
[22] Hora de la modorra is in Spanish that part of the night
immediately preceding the dawn. Mosto, p. 52, note 8.
[23] Contra maestro (boatswain) corresponding to the French
contremaître and the Spanish contramaestre, was formerly the third
officer of a ship’s crew. Nochiero (French nocher) was the officer
next to contramaestre, although the name, according to Littré was
applied to the master or seacaptain of certain small craft. The maestro
(French maître) was a sub-officer in charge of all the crew. The pilot
was next to the captain in importance. The translator or adapter who
made MS. 5,650 confuses the above officers (see following note).
[24] The instructions pertaining to the different watches are as
follows in MS. 5,650: “In addition to the said rules for carrying on
the art of navigation as is fitting, and in order to avoid the dangers
that may come upon those who do not have watches set, the said captain,
who was skilled in the things required and in navigation, ordered three
watches to be set. The first was at the beginning of the night; the
second at midnight; and the third toward daybreak, which is commonly
called the ‘diane’ [i.e., ‘morn’] or otherwise ‘the star of
dawn.’ The abovenamed watches were changed nightly: that is to say,
that he who had stood first watch stood second the day following, while
he who had stood second, stood third; and thus did they continue to
change nightly. The said captain ordered that his rules, both those of
signals and of watches, be thoroughly observed, so that their voyage
might be made with the greatest of safety. The men of the said fleet
were divided into three divisions: the first was that of the captain;
the second that of the pilot or boatswain’s mate; and the third that
of the master. The above rules having been instituted, the
captain-general determined to depart, as follows.”
[25] See Guillemard’s Magellan, pp. 329–336, and Navarrete, Col. de
viages, iv, pp. 3–11, 162–188, for the stores and equipments of the
fleet and their cost. The stores carried consisted of wine, olive oil,
vinegar, fish, pork, peas and beans, flour, garlic, cheese, honey,
almonds, anchovies, raisins, prunes, figs, sugar, quince preserves,
capers, mustard, beef, and rice. The apothecary supplies were carried
in the “Trinidad,” and the ecclesiastical ornaments in that ship
and the “San Antonio.”
[26] The exact number of men who accompanied Magalhães is a matter of
doubt. A royal decree, dated Barcelona, May 5, 1519, conserved in the
papers of the India House of Trade in Archivo general de Indias at
Sevilla, with pressmark est. 41, caj. 6, leg. 2–25, orders that only
two hundred and thirty-five persons sail in the fleet. The same
archives contain various registers of the fleet (sec Llorens
Ascensio’s Primera vuelta al mundo, Madrid, 1903), one of which is
published by Medina in his Colección (i, p. 113). Guillemard
(Magellan, p. 326) says that at least two hundred and sixty-eight men
went as is shown by the official lists and “the casual occurrence of
names in the numerous and lengthy autos fiscales connected with the
expedition.” Guillemard conjectures that the total number must have
been between two hundred and seventy and two hundred and eighty. Mosto
(p. 53, note 2) says: “Castanheda and Barros say that the crews
amounted to 250 men, while Herrera says 234. Navarrete’s lists show a
total of 265 men. At least 37 were Portuguese, and in addition to them
and the Spaniards, the crews contained Genoese and Italians (thirty or
more), French (nineteen), Flemings, Germans, Sicilians, English,
Corfiotes, Malays, Negroes, Moors, Madeirans, and natives of the Azores
and Canary Islands. But seventeen are recorded from Seville, while
there are many Biscayans. (See Guillemard, ut supra, pp. 326–329.)
The registers of men as given by Navarrete (Col. de viages, iv, pp.
12–26) are as follows.