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WORKS ISSUED BY
The Hakluyt Society.
THE CHRONICLE
OF
THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST
OF GUINEA.
VOL I.
No. XCV.
THE CHRONICLE
OF THE
DISCOVERY
AND
CONQUEST OF GUINEA.
WRITTEN BY
GOMES EANNES DE AZURARA;
NOW FIRST DONE INTO ENGLISH
BY
CHARLES RAYMOND BEAZLEY, M.A., F.R.G.S.,
LATE FELLOW OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD; CORRESPONDING MEMBER
OF THE LISBON GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY;
AND
EDGAR PRESTAGE, B.A.OXON.,
KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE PORTUGUESE ORDER OF S. THIAGO; CORRESPONDING
MEMBER OF THE LISBON ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES,
THE LISBON GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, ETC.
VOL. I
(CHAPTERS I-XL).
With an Introduction on the Life and Writings of the Chronicler.
BURT FRANKLIN, PUBLISHER
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Published by
BURT FRANKLIN
514 West 113th Street
New York 25, N. Y.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
TO
HIS MOST FAITHFUL MAJESTY
DOM CARLOS Io,
KING OF PORTUGAL AND THE ALGARVES,
THIS WORK IS BY PERMISSION
DEDICATED.
COUNCIL
OF
THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.
SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S., _Pres. R.G.S._, PRESIDENT.
THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY, VICE-PRESIDENT.
SIR A. WOLLASTON FRANKS, K.C.B., F.R.S., VICE-PRESIDENT.
C. RAYMOND BEAZLEY, ESQ., M.A.
MILLER CHRISTY, ESQ.
COLONEL G. EARL CHURCH.
THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE N. CURZON, M.P.
ALBERT GRAY, ESQ.
THE RIGHT HON. LORD HAWKESBURY.
EDWARD HEAWOOD, ESQ., M.A.
ADMIRAL SIR ANTHONY H. HOSKINS, K.C.B.
REAR-ADMIRAL ALBERT H. MARKHAM.
A. P. MAUDSLAY, ESQ.
E. DELMAR MORGAN, ESQ.
CAPTAIN NATHAN, R.E.
ADMIRAL SIR E. OMMANNEY, C.B., F.R.S.
CUTHBERT E. PEEK, ESQ.
E. G. RAVENSTEIN, ESQ.
COUTTS TROTTER, ESQ.
REAR-ADMIRAL W. J. L. WHARTON, C.B., R.N.
WILLIAM FOSTER, ESQ., _Honorary Secretary_.
[Illustration]
EDITORS' PREFACE.
The following translation of Azurara's _Chronicle of the Discovery and
Conquest of Guinea_ is the first complete English version that has
appeared of the chief contemporary authority for the life-work of Prince
Henry of Portugal, surnamed the Navigator; and we may remind members of
the Hakluyt Society, and other readers, that we have but lately passed
the fifth centenary of the Prince's birth (March 4th, 1394).
The first volume includes about half of the text, together with an
Introduction on the Life and Writings of Azurara, which it is hoped will
be found more exhaustive and accurate than any previous notice of the
historian.
In the second volume (which is due for the year 1897) will be given the
rest of the Chronicle, with an Introduction on the Geographical
Discoveries of the Portuguese, and Prince Henry's share in the same. It
will also contain notes for the explanation of historical and other
questions arising out of certain passages in the text of both volumes.
To illustrate the condition of geographical knowledge in the period
covered by the present instalment, we have included four reproductions
of contemporary (or almost contemporary) maps: (1) Africa, according to
the Laurentian Portolano of 1351 in the Medicean Library at Florence.
This is the most remarkable of all the Portolani of the fourteenth
century. Its outline of W. and S. Africa, and more particularly its
suggestion of the bend of the Guinea Coast, is surprisingly near the
truth, even as a guess, in a chart made one hundred and thirty-five
years before the Cape of Good Hope was first rounded. (2) N.-W. Africa,
the Canary Isles, etc., according to the design of the Venetian brethren
Pizzigani, in 1367. (3) The same according to the Catalan Map of 1375 in
the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. The interior of Africa is filled
with fantastic pictures of native tribes; the boatload of men off Cape
Bojador in the extreme S.-W. of the map probably represents the Catalan
explorers of the year 1346, whose voyage in search of the "River of
Gold" this map commemorates. (4) The same, with certain other parts of
the world, according to Andrea Bianco in 1436. In the succeeding volume,
we hope to offer some illustrations of the cartography of Prince Henry's
later years, as well as a likeness of the Prince himself, either from
the Paris portrait (MSS. Port. 41, fol. 5 _bis_) or from the statue at
Belem. We had expected to be able to furnish our readers with a copy of
the portrait of the Prince from the important oil-painting on board
preserved in a corridor of the extinct monastery adjoining the Church of
S. Vicente de Fóra in Lisbon, but the photograph, which was taken by
Senhor Camacho with the permission of His Eminence the Cardinal
Patriarch, proved unsatisfactory, owing to the position of the picture
and want of sufficient light.
We may add that a considerable part of the Paris manuscript of the
_Chronicle of Guinea_ has been collated for the present edition with the
printed text as published by Santarem, and the result proves the
accuracy of the latter.
We have to thank Senhor Jayme Batalha Reis, who has looked through the
present version as far as the end of vol. i, and has kindly offered many
suggestions. Among other Portuguese scholars who have been of service to
us, we would especially mention Dr. Xavier da Cunha, of the Bibliotheca
National, Lisbon; Senhor José Basto, of the Torre do Tombo, and
General Brito Rebello. In a lesser degree we owe our acknowledgments to
D. Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos and Dr. Theophilo Braga, the chief
authorities on all that pertains to Portuguese literature, as well as to
the late Conselheiro J. P. de Oliveira Martins, whose untimely death
robbed his country of her foremost man of letters.
C. R. B.
E. P.
_October, 1896._
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS
OF AZURARA.
LIFE.
"Lidar sem descanço parece ter sido o moto d'Azurara."
VIEIRA DE MEYRELLES.
The materials at hand for a study of the life and work of the second
great Portuguese Chronicler are, considering the age in which he lived
and the position he held, somewhat disappointing, and no one of his
countrymen has been at the pains to work them up satisfactorily. They
naturally fall into three divisions--his own writings, documents
directly relating to his life or merely signed by him in his official
capacity, and the witness of historians. There exists but one
contemporary description of Azurara, that by Mattheus de Pisano, author
of the Latin history of the Capture of Ceuta, though this is
supplemented by the contents of two letters addressed to the Chronicler
by Affonso V and the Constable D. Pedro respectively, as well as by what
can be gleaned from documentary sources and from Azurara himself. In the
next century--the 16th--some assistance may be derived from the
traditions preserved by Barros, the historian of the Indies, as also
from his critical judgments together with those of Damião de Goes, the
famous Humanist and friend of Erasmus. These are all in a sense primary
authorities, while the others who have discoursed of, or incidentally
mentioned him are but secondary, namely, Nicolau Antonio, Jorge Cardoso,
Barbosa Machado, João Pedro Ribeiro, the Viscount de Santarem, Alexandre
Herculano, Vieira de Meyrelles, Innocencio da Silva, Sotero dos Reis,
and Rodriguez d'Azevedo.
Gomes Eannes de Azurara, to give the modern spelling of his name, though
he always signed himself simply "Gomes Eanes" or "Gomes Annes",[1] was
the son of João Eannes de Azurara, a Canon of Evora and Coimbra; but,
beyond the fact of this paternity, we know nothing of his father, and
only by conjecture is it possible to arrive at the name of his mother,
as will hereafter appear. He is said to have come of a good family, on
the ground of his admission into the Order of Christ.
[Footnote 1: In the _Chronica de Guiné_, ch. 97, he calls himself
"Gomez Eanes de Zurara."]
As with several other Portuguese men of letters, the respective years of
Azurara's birth and death are unknown,[2] and two localities dispute the
honour of having given him to the world; but there seems little doubt
that this "bonus Grammaticus, nobilis Astrologus, et magnus
Historiographus," as his friend Pisano calls him,[3] was born in the
town of his name, in the Province of Minho, at the very commencement of
the 15th century. In proof of this it should be stated that Azurara
expressly declares in his _Chronica de Ceuta_, which was finished in
1450, that he had not passed "the three first ages of man" when he wrote
it.[4]
[Footnote 2: Barros, writing before 1552, says, "I know not how long
he lived."--_Asia_, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 2.]
[Footnote 3: "De Bello Septensi," p. 27 (in the _Ineditos de
Historia Portugueza_, vol. i, Lisbon, 1790).]
[Footnote 4: _Chronica de Ceuta_, ch. 23.]
The dispute as to his birthplace between the Azurara in Minho and the
Azurara in Beira[5] is not easy to settle, but tradition favours the
former, and until the end of the last century no writer had ventured to
doubt that the ancient town at the mouth of the River Ave, which
received its first charter, or "foral", from the Count D. Henrique in
1102 or 1107, was the early home of the Chronicler.[6] Such evidence as
exists in favour of the latter place is slight, consisting only of
inferences drawn from a document, dated August 23rd, 1454, in which
Affonso V grants certain privileges to two inhabitants of Castello
Branco, who were accustomed to collect the Chronicler's rents and bring
them to Lisbon. From this it has been argued by such able critics as
Vieira de Meyrelles and Rodriguez d'Azevedo that these rents must have
issued out of family property situate at the Azurara in Beira, which
happens to be in the district of Castello Branco, and hence that the
Chronicler was a native of Beira rather than of Minho.[7] The conclusion
seems far-fetched, to say the least, for it is just as likely that these
two men were agents for a benefice, or "commenda", at Alcains, in the
same district, which Azurara possessed at the time this grant was
made.[8]
[Footnote 5: This place is in Beira Alta, twelve kilometres east of
Vizeu, famous (_inter alia_) for the great picture of St. Peter as
Pope, lately reproduced by the Arundel Society.]
[Footnote 6: The first to mention Azurara's birthplace was Soares de
Brito (born 1611, died 1669), who, in his _Theatrum Lusitaniæ
Litterarium_, p. 547, says: "Gomes Anes de Azurara ex oppido, sicuti
fertur, cognomine in Diocesi Portucalensi," voicing the tradition of
his time (MS. U/4/22 of the Lisbon National Library, dated 1645).
The first who suggested Beira in place of Minho seems to have been
Corrêa da Serra, editor of the _Ineditos_, _ibid._, vol. ii, p.
209.]
[Footnote 7: _Vide_ the articles on Azurara in the _Instituto de
Coimbra_, vol. ix, p. 72, _et seq._, by Vieira de Meyrelles, and in
the _Diccionario Universal Portuguez_, vol. i, p. 2151, by R.
d'Azevedo.]
[Footnote 8: Azurara is named in this document "Commander of Alcains
and Granja de Ulmeiro".--_Chanc. de D. Affonso V_, liv. x, fol. 113,
Torre do Tombo.]
The early life of the Chronicler is almost a blank. Until the year 1450,
in which he wrote his first serious Chronicle, though not, perhaps, his
first book, we have little beyond the meagre information, supplied by
Mattheus de Pisano,[9] that he began to study late--"dum maturæ jam
ætatis esset"--and that he had passed his youth without acquiring the
rudiments of knowledge--"nullam litteram didicisset"[10]--to which some
later authorities have added--he spent his early years in the pursuit of
arms, a statement likely enough to be true. It seems probable that he
obtained a post in the Royal Library during the brief and luckless reign
of D. Duarte (1433-1438), or shortly afterwards, as assistant to the
Chronicler Fernão Lopes, whom he succeeded, for he was actually in
charge of it early in the reign of Affonso V, in 1452, and finished the
_Chronica de Guiné_ in that place in 1453.
[Footnote 9: According to Azurara, Pisano was tutor (_mestre_) to
Affonso V, and "a laurelled Bard, as well as one of the most
sufficient Philosophers and Orators of his time in
Christendom."--_Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_, ch. 1 (_Ineditos_,
vol. ii).]
[Footnote 10: _De Bello Septensi_, p. 27.]
Tradition has it that he entered the Order of Christ as a young man, for
he came to be Commander therein, a position only obtainable at that time
by regular service in the Order, and by seniority; but the nature of
these services, and the advancement which Azurara gained by them, cannot
precisely be determined, because the early private records of the Order,
together with the roll of its Knights, have been lost, those that exist
only reaching back to the commencement of the 16th century.[11] This
Order was founded by King Diniz in 1319, on the suppression of the
Templars, and it inherited most, if not all, their houses and goods
throughout Portugal. Its members were bound by the three monastic vows
of chastity, poverty, and obedience, which prevailed in Azurara's time,
although Commanders and Knights of the Order were at a later period
allowed to marry, by grant of Pope Alexander VI.[12] The Commanders were
bound to confess and communicate four times in the year, to recite daily
the Hours of Our Lady, to have four Masses said annually for deceased
members, and to fast on Fridays, as well as on the days ordained by the
Church. Membership of the Order was an honour reserved for Nobles,
Knights, and Squires, free from stain in their birth or other
impediment; while the Statutes directed a number of enquiries to be made
before a candidate was admitted, one being, was he born in lawful
wedlock?--a question our Chronicler could possibly not have answered in
the affirmative.[13] Besides this, aspirants were required to be
knighted before their admission, and then to profess. A gift of one or
more "Commendas", or benefices, followed in due course, but, to prevent
the abuse of pluralities which thus crept in, Pope Pius V afterwards
decreed that no Knight should hold more than one Commenda, and this he
was to visit at least once in every three years. The Knights possessed
many privileges, the most notable being that, in both civil and criminal
cases, they were exempt from the jurisdiction of the Royal Courts, and
subject only to those of their Order, which had all the old prerogatives
of those of the Temple and Calatrava, together with such as had been
granted it by name.[14]
[Footnote 11: So says Corrêa da Serra--_Ineditos_, vol. ii, p. 207.]
[Footnote 12: _Vide_ Ruy de Pina, _Chronica de D. Duarte_, ch. 8.]
[Footnote 13: Because Azurara is found to have been the son of a
Canon, it does not necessarily follow that he was illegitimate, and,
in fact, no letters of legitimation exist in respect of him.]
[Footnote 14: _Definiçoẽs e Estatutos dos Cavalleiros e Freires
da Ordem de N. S. Jesu Cristo com a historia da origem & principio
della._ Lisbon, 1628.]
According to one authority, Azurara began his career as author in the
reign of D. Duarte by compiling a detailed catalogue of the Miracles of
the Holy Constable, Nun' Alvares Pereira.[15] The MS., which is said to
have existed in the Carmo Convent in Lisbon as late as 1745, has
disappeared, but the substance of this curious work may still be read in
Santa Anna's _Chronica dos Carmaelitas_, together with a number of
contemporary popular songs about the Constable, extracted from MSS. left
by Azurara.[16]
[Footnote 15: D. Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos, however, is of
opinion that this, and the popular songs hereafter referred to, are
pious frauds, invented in the first half of the seventeenth century
to form materials for the canonisation of Nun' Alvares.]
[Footnote 16: _Chronica dos Carmaelitas_, vol. i, pp. 469, 486.
Lisbon, 1745.]
More than ten years now elapse without any mention of Azurara's name,
and we hear of him for the first time, definitely, in 1450. On March
25th of that year he finished at Silves, in the Algarve, his _Chronicle
of the Siege and Capture of Ceuta_, an event that took place in 1415,
and formed the first of a long line of Portuguese expeditions, and the
starting-point in their career of foreign conquest. Fernão Lopes, the
Froissart of his country, and the father of Portuguese history, was
still alive at the time Azurara wrote this work, but had become too old
and weak to carry on his history of the reign of João I, to which it is
a sequel. After paying a tribute to Lopes as a man of "rare knowledge
and great authority",[17] Azurara tells us that Affonso V ordered him to
continue the work, that the deeds of João I might not be forgotten; and
this he did, culling his information from eye-witnesses as well as from
documents, with that honesty and zeal which are his two most prominent
features as an historian.[18] He began the _Chronicle_--which was
printed once only, and that in the 17th century--thirty-four years after
the capture of Ceuta, _i.e._, in the autumn of 1449, and concluded it,
as the last chapter states, on March 25th, 1450. It was, therefore,
written in the short space of about seven months, which, says
Innocencio, seems well-nigh incredible, considering how deliberately and
circumspectly histories were compiled in those days.[19] The narrative
is, with a few exceptions, full and even minute.
[Footnote 17: _Chronica de Ceuta_, ch. 2.]
[Footnote 18: Azurara's chief informants were D. Pedro, Regent in
the minority of Affonso V, and D. Henrique, in whose house he stayed
some days for the purpose by the king's orders; "for he knew more
than anyone in Portugal about the matter" (_Chronica de Ceuta_, ch.
12). To this fact must be attributed the prominent place he gives D.
Henrique in his narrative. The same circumstance is noticeable in
the _Chronica de D. Duarte_, which was begun by Azurara and finished
by Ruy de Pina, of which hereafter.]
[Footnote 19: _Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez_, vol. iii, p.
147.]
We know not the precise date at which Azurara had begun to apply himself
to the study of letters, and he makes no allusion whatsoever, in his
writings, to his early life; but it is clear, from the _Chronica de
Ceuta_, that his self-training had been lengthy, and his range of study
wide.[20] In the Preface to this, his first literary essay still
existing, he quotes from many books of the Old and New Testament, as
well as from Aristotle, St. Gregory, St. Anselm, and Avicenna; while in
the body of the work he compares the siege of Ceuta to that of Troy,
talks of "Giovanni Boccaccio, a poet that was born at Florence",
mentions the _Conde Lucanor_, and wanders off into philosophical musings
that forcibly recall passages of the _Leal Conselheiro_ of D. Duarte,
and prove him to have been no tyro in the learning of the age. He was
equally well versed in astrology, in which he believed firmly, as in
history, and of the latter he says: "I that wrote this history have read
most of the Chronicles and historical works."[21] To understand how this
was possible, it must be remembered that the Portuguese Court, in the
first half of the 15th century, was an important literary centre, and
that João I and his sons, besides being themselves authors of books,
possessed libraries among the most complete in Europe.[22] The
atmosphere of learning that he breathed made Azurara what he was, and it
explains the ascendency he gained, as a pure man of letters, over the
mind of Affonso V.
[Footnote 20: Pisano testifies of Azurara, "scientiæ cupiditate
flagravit".--_De Bello Septensi_, p. 27.]
[Footnote 21: _Chronica de Ceuta_, ch. 38.]
[Footnote 22: _Vide_ Theophilo Braga, _Historia da Universidade de
Coimbra_, Lisbon, 1892, vol. i, ch. 4, for the catalogues of these
libraries and an account of the books they contained.]
Three years elapsed between the writing of his second and third books,
and there can be little doubt that Azurara spent this period partly in
the Royal Library and partly among the Archives, which were then housed
in the Castle of S. Jorge in Lisbon, continuing his study of the history
of his own and foreign countries in the chronicles and documents those
places contained.
Some time in the year 1452 the King, who was then in Lisbon, charged him
with the book which constitutes his chief title to fame, owing to the
importance of its subject, and the historical fidelity and literary
skill that distinguish its presentment, namely, the _Chronica de Guiné_,
or, as it might be called, the _Life and Work of Prince Henry the
Navigator_. From the subscript we find it was written in the Royal
Library, and finished there on February 18th, 1453. Azurara sent it to
the King, five days afterwards, with a letter which has fortunately been
preserved, since it shows how friendly and even familiar were the
relations subsisting between them, and how these were maintained by a
regular correspondence. It appears that Affonso had urged Azurara to
obtain all the information possible about the life and work of D.
Henrique, and, this done, to write as best he could, "alleging a dictum
of Tully, that it sufficeth not for a man to do a good thing but rather
to do it well". Then the letter proceeds, addressing the King: "For it
seemed to you that it would be wrong if some example of such a saintly
and virtuous life were not to remain, not only for the sake of the
Princes who after your time should possess these realms, but also for
all others of the world who might become acquainted with his history, by
reason of which his countrymen might have cause to know his sepulchre,
and perpetuate Divine Sacrifices for the increase of his glory, and
foreigners might keep his name before their eyes, to the great praise of
his memory."[23]
[Footnote 23: This letter defines the scope of the book, which was
not meant to be a general history of the Portuguese expeditions and
discoveries. It is printed in Santarem's edition of the _Chronica de
Guiné_, and precedes his Introduction.]
The following is a summary of the contents of the _Chronicle_:--
Azurara begins (Chapter I) by some reflections on well-doing and
gratitude, the conclusion to which he illustrates by quotations, and
then goes on to tell the origin of his work, which lay in the King's
desire that the great and very notable deeds of D. Henrique should be
remembered, and that there should be an authorised memorial of him, even
as there was in Spain of the Cid, and in Portugal itself of the Holy
Constable, Nun' Alvarez Pereira.[24] The Chronicler justifies his task
by summing up the profits that had accrued from the Prince's
efforts--firstly, the salvation of the souls of the captives taken by
the Portuguese in their expeditions; secondly, the benefit which their
services brought to their captors; and thirdly, the honour acquired by
the fatherland in the conquest of such distant territories and numerous
enemies.
[Footnote 24: This charming old chronicle of the life of the noblest
and most sympathetic figure in Portuguese annals was written
anonymously, and first printed in 1526.]
Chapter II consists of a long and most eloquent invocation to D.
Henrique, and a recital of his manifold good deeds to all sorts and
conditions of men and his mighty accomplishments. Azurara presents them
to us as in a panorama, and his simple, direct language reveals a true,
though unconscious, artist in words.
Chapter III deals with the ancestry of D. Henrique, and Chapter IV
describes the man himself, "constant in adversity and humble in
prosperity", his appearance, habits, and manner of life, all with much
force of diction.
In Chapter V we have an account of the early life of D. Henrique, of his
prowess at the capture of Ceuta, and during its siege by the Moors, with
his fruitless assault on Tangiers, which resulted in the captivity of
the Holy Infant. His peopling of Madeira and other islands in "the great
Ocean sea", and presence at the gathering that ended in the battle of
Alfarrobeira are referred to, as also his governorship of the Order of
Christ and the services he rendered to religion by the erection and
endowment of churches and professorial chairs. The chapter ends with a
description of the Town of the Infant at Cape St. Vincent, "there where
both the seas meet in combat, that is to say, the great Ocean sea with
the Mediterranean sea", a place designed by the Prince to be a great
mercantile centre, and a safe harbour for ships from East and West.
In Chapter VI, Azurara returns to his laudations of the Infant, whom he
apostrophises thus: "I know that the seas and lands are full of your
praises, for that you, by numberless voyages, have joined the East to
the West, in order that the peoples might learn to exchange their
riches"; and he winds up with some remarks on "distributive justice",
the non-exercise of which had been attributed to D. Henrique as a fault
by some of his contemporaries.
Chapter VII is occupied with a recital of the reasons that impelled the
Infant to send out his expeditions. They were shortly as follows. First
and foremost, pure zeal for knowledge; secondly, commercial
considerations; thirdly, his desire to ascertain the extent of the
Moorish power in Africa; fourthly, his wish to find some Christian King
in those parts who would assist in warring down the Moors; and last but
not least, his purpose to extend the Faith. To these reasons Azurara,
quite characteristically, adds a sixth, which he calls the root from
which they all proceeded--the influence of the heavenly bodies, and he
essays to prove it by the Prince's horoscope.
The narrative of the expeditions really begins in Chapter VIII, which
opens with an account of the reasons why no ship had hitherto dared to
pass Cape Bojador, some of them being at first sight as sensible as
others are absurd. The fears of the mariners prevented for twelve years
the realisation of their master's wish, and for so long the annual
voyages were never carried beyond the terrible cape.
Chapter IX relates how at length, in 1434, Cape Bojador was doubled by
Gil Eannes, a squire of D. Henrique, and how, on a second voyage with
one Affonso Gonçalvez Baldaya, Eannes reached the Angra dos Ruivos,
fifty leagues beyond it.
In the next Chapter (X) Baldaya passes one hundred and twenty leagues
beyond Cape Bojador to the Rio d'Ouro, and a short way beyond; but
failing to take any captives, as the Prince wished him to do, he loads
his ship with the skins of sea-calves and returns to Portugal in 1436.
Chapter XI is a short one, and merely tells that for three years,
_i.e._, from 1437 to 1440, the voyages were interrupted by the affairs
of the Kingdom, which required all the attention of D. Henrique. These
affairs were the death of D. Duarte, and the struggle that followed
between the Queen, supported by a small section of the nobles, and the
Infant D. Pedro, backed by Lisbon and the people as a whole, over the
question of the Regency and the education of the young King Affonso.
Chapters XII and XIII relate how Antam Gonçalvez took the first
captives, and how Nuno Tristam went to Cape Branco.
In Chapter XIV Azurara dwells on the delight D. Henrique must have felt
at the sight of the captives, though he opines that they themselves
received the greater benefit: "for, although their bodies might be in
some subjection, it were a small thing in comparison with their souls,
that would now possess true liberty for evermore."
Chapter XV contains an account of the embassy sent to the Holy Father by
D. Henrique to obtain "a share of the treasures of Holy Church for the
salvation of the souls of those who in the labours of this conquest
should meet their end." The Pope, Eugenius IV, granted a plenary
indulgence, on the usual conditions, to all who took part in the war
against the Moors under the banner of the Order of Christ; and D. Pedro,
the Regent, made D. Henrique a present of the King's fifth to defray the
heavy expenses he had incurred by the expeditions.
In Chapter XVI Antam Gonçalvez obtains the Infant's leave for another
voyage, and is charged to collect information about the Indies and the
land of Prester John. He receives ten negroes, in exchange for two Moors
whom he had previously taken, together with some gold dust, and then
returns home.
In Chapter XVII Nuno Tristam goes as far as Arguim Island and makes some
captures; this in the year 1443.
Chapter XVIII begins the relation of the first expedition on a large
scale, and the first that sprang from private enterprise--namely, that
of Lançarote and his six caravels from Lagos. Azurara takes the
opportunity to insert here a short but interesting sketch of the change
that had taken place in public opinion with reference to these voyages.
In the beginning, they were decried by the great not a whit less than by
the populace, but the assurance of commercial profit had now converted
the dispraisers, and the voyage of Lançarote gave a tangible proof of
it.
The next six Chapters (XIX to XXIV) relate the doings of this
expedition, which ended in the capture of two hundred and thirty-five
natives.
Chapter XXV, which treats of the division of the captives at Lagos, is
the most pathetic in the book, and one of the most powerful by virtue of
the simple realism of the narrative.
Chapter XXVI gives a lucid summary of the after-lives of the captives,
and their gradual but complete absorption into the mass of the people.
Chapter XXVII narrates the ill-fated expedition of Gonçalo de Cintra and
his death near the Rio d'Ouro; while, in the next, Azurara refers the
accident to the heavenly bodies, and draws a profitable lesson from it,
which he divides into seven heads, for the benefit of posterity.
Chapter XXIX contains a short notice of a voyage undertaken by Antam
Gonçalvez, Gomez Pirez, and Diego Affonso to the Rio d'Ouro, which had
no result.
Chapter XXX deals with the voyage of Nuno Tristam, who passed the
furthest point hitherto discovered, and reached a place he named Palmar.
Azurara confesses himself unable to give more details about this
expedition, "because Nuno Tristam was already dead at the time King
Affonso ordered this Chronicle to be written"--a statement which proves
that he did not rely only on documents for the facts he related, but was
careful to glean as much as possible from the actors therein.
Chapter XXXI tells how Dinis Dyaz sailed straight to Guinea without once
shortening sail, and how he was the first to penetrate so far, and take
captives in those parts. He pushed on to Cape Verde, and, though he
brought back but little spoil, he was well received by the Infant, who
preferred discoveries to mere commercial profits.
Chapters XXXII to XXXVI recite the expedition of Antam Gonçalvez, Garcia
Homem and Diego Affonso to Cape Branco, Arguim Island and Cape Resgate,
where, besides trafficking, they took on board a squire, Joham
Fernandez, who had stayed full seven months at the Rio d'Ouro, among the
natives, to acquire for the Infant a knowledge of the country and its
products.
Azurara refers in Chapter XXXII to Affonso Cerveira, whose history of
the Portuguese discoveries on the African coast, now lost, was used by
him in the compilation of this Chronicle; and in the next chapter he
employs one of those rhetorical periphrases of which his other works
afford many an example, though they are rather scarce in this his
masterpiece in point of style.
Chapters XXXVII to XLVIII relate the doings of the first expedition from
Lisbon, which was under the command of Gonçalo Pacheco, and penetrated
to Guinea, or the land of the Negroes, the result being a large number
of captives, seemingly the chief object it had in view.
Chapters XLIX to LXVII contain the acts of the great expedition of
fourteen sail which set out from Lagos in 1445, under the leadership of
Lançarote, for the purpose of punishing the Moors on the Island of Tider
and avenging Gonçalo de Cintra. In all twenty-six ships left Portugal
that year, being the largest number that had perhaps ever sailed down
the Western side of the Dark Continent at one time.
After accomplishing their object some returned home, but others, more
bold, determined to explore further South, if perchance they might find
the River of Nile and the Terrestrial Paradise. Arriving at the Senegal
they thought they had found the Nile of the Negroes, and went no
further. A curious description of the Nile, and its power according to
astronomers, forms the subject of Chapters LXI and LXII, where Azurara
has collected all the learning and speculation of the Ancients and
Mediævals on the question.
Chapters LXVIII to LXXV describe the doings of the remaining ships that
left Portugal in 1445, and relate descents on the Canaries and the
African coast, and the voyage of Zarco's caravel to Cape Mastos, the
furthest point yet reached.
Chapters LXXVI and LXXVII contain valuable notes on the life of the
peoples south of Cape Bojador, together with an account of the travels
of Joham Fernandez, the first European to penetrate far into the
interior of Africa.
In Chapter LXXVIII Azurara adds up the sum of the African voyages, and
finds that up to 1446 fifty-one caravels had sailed to those parts, one
of which had passed four hundred and fifty leagues beyond Cape Bojador.
Chapters LXXIX to LXXXII are taken up by a description of the Canary
Islands, while Chapter LXXXIII deals with the discovery and peopling of
the Madeiras and Azores.[25]
[Footnote 25: Azurara's laconism with reference to the history of
the discovery of the Madeiras and Azores is really regrettable. In
many respects his narrative needs to be supplemented from other
sources.]
Chapter LXXXIV tells how D. Henrique obtained from the Regent a charter,
similar to the one he had previously secured in the case of Guinea, to
the effect (_inter alia_) that no one was to go to the Canaries, either
for war or merchandise, without his leave; and the following chapter
(LXXXV) relates a descent on the Island of Palma.
In Chapter LXXXVI Azurara narrates in feeling terms the death of the
gallant Nuno Tristam in Guinea-land.
In Chapter LXXXVII we read how Alvaro Fernandez sailed down the African
coast past Sierra Leone, and more than one hundred and ten leagues
beyond Cape Verde.
Chapter LXXXVIII describes the voyage of another Lagos fleet of nine
caravels to the Rio Grande, while the next five chapters (LXXXIX-XCIII)
relate that of Gomez Pirez to the Rio d'Ouro in 1446.
Chapters XCIV and XCV are devoted to the trafficking venture of the year
1447, the unhappy fate of the Scandinavian Vallarte, and an expedition
to the fisheries off the Angra dos Ruyvos.
In Chapters XCVI and XCVII Azurara winds up his narrative, ending with
the year 1448. The captives brought to Portugal down to that date by the
various voyagers numbered, according to his estimate, 927, "the greater
part of whom were turned into the true path of salvation"; and this he
counts as the greatest of the Infant's glories, and the most valuable
fruit of his lifelong efforts. He then announces his intention to write
a second part of the Chronicle, dealing with the final portion of D.
Henrique's work--a purpose which to our manifest loss he never carried
out--and concludes by giving thanks to the Blessed Trinity on the
completion of his task.
The _Chronica de Guiné_ has many features in common with that of Ceuta,
but on the whole it reveals a decided advance in power. The style,
though at times rather rhetorical, is generally plain and facile, ever
and anon rising to a true eloquence. While the narrative portions are
vivid, picturesque, and often majestic in their very simplicity, other
chapters bristle with quotations, and show a more extensive range of
reading and a knowledge truly encyclopædic. All the philosophy, the
geography, the history, and even the astrology of the age is called into
requisition to support an argument or illustrate a point.
But to return to our subject--the Life of the Chronicler.
On June 6th, 1454, Azurara received the reward of his past services,
being appointed Keeper of the Royal Archives (Guarda Mór da Torre do
Tombo), at the instance of, and in succession to, Fernão Lopes. It is
probable that the office of Chief Chronicler (Chronista-Mór) was
conferred on him at the same time and implied in the grant, though it is
not verbally mentioned there, since in the document next referred to he
is actually named Chronicler.[26] The King, in his letter of
appointment, after reciting that Fernão Lopes is very old and weak, so
that he cannot well serve his office, says he confides in Gomez Eanes de
Zurara, Knight Commander of the Order of Christ, "by the long education
(_criaçom_) we have given him and the service we are receiving and
expect to receive at his hands", and therefore grants him the post to
hold in the same manner, and with the same rights and profits as were
enjoyed by his predecessor therein.[27]
[Footnote 26: The offices of Chief Chronicler, Keeper of the Royal
Archives and Royal Librarian were, as a rule, held by the same
individual and conferred at the same time, as in the case of Ruy de
Pina, but Azurara had the position of Royal Librarian for at least
two years before he obtained the others, namely from 1452, as
already mentioned (p. v).]
[Footnote 27: _Chanc. de D. Affonso V_, liv. X, fl. 30. Torre do
Tombo.]
It is noticeable that Azurara had already obtained a "Commenda"
belonging to the Order of Christ, and, although its name is not given
here, we know from another source it was that of Alcains, a place
situate in the Province of Beira (Baixa) and District of Castello
Branco, the value of which in 1628 amounted to one hundred and four
milreis.[28] The source referred to is a document, dated July 14th,
1452, which calls Azurara "Commander of Alcains" and "Author of the
notable deeds of our realm", and mentions that he had already at that
time charge of the Royal Library.[29] He appears to have exercised this
office with credit, though somewhat less strictly than would now be
considered necessary, for Pisano says of him in this connection:--"hic
bibliothecam Alfonsi quinti, cujus curam gessit, strenue disposuit atque
ornavit, omnesque scripturas Regni prius confusas mirum in modum
digessit, & ita digessit ut ea, quibus Regi & ceteris Regni proceribus
opus est, confestim discernantur; viros enim eruditos summe coluit,
atque nimio charitatis amore complexus est, quibus ut profecissent ex
Regia bibliotheca libros, si parebant, libenter commodavit".[30] But the
Chronicler received yet another advancement in the year 1454. From a
document bearing date the 4th August it appears that he was then living
in a house belonging to the King near the Palace in Lisbon which needed
some repairs. Affonso V therefore granted him leave to lay out ten
milreis upon it, and to make a cistern, with a proviso that he and his
heirs might continue to inhabit the house and use it as their own, until
the sum so expended should be repaid out of the Royal Treasury. In this
licence Azurara is dubbed "Commander of Pinheiro Grande and Granja
d'Ulmeiro, Our Chronicler, and Keeper of the Archives".[31] These two
Commendas belonged to the Order of Christ, and were probably conferred
upon him in this same year, though the deed of grant has not come down
to us.
[Footnote 28: _Definiçoẽs e Estatutos dos Cavalleiros e Freires da
Ordem de N. S. Jesu Christo_, etc., p. 242.]
[Footnote 29: Liv. XII _de D. Affonso V_, fl. 62. Torre do Tombo.]
[Footnote 30: _De Bello Septensi_, p. 26.]
[Footnote 31: _Estremadura_, liv. VII, fl. 255. Torre do Tombo.]
Pinheiro Grande is situate in the province of Estremadura and
Archbishopric of Lisbon, and its ancient Commenda belonged to the
Templars down to the year 1311, and from 1319 to the present century to
the Order of Christ. In the Statutes of the latter Order, published in
1628, it is stated to have been worth 550 milreis for many years--"ha
muitos annos".[32] Granja d'Ulmeiro is a small place in the Bishopric of
Coimbra, and the same Statutes give the value of its Commenda. called of
St. Gabriel. at 150 milreis, "in the year 1582".[33]
[Footnote 32: _Definiçoẽs e Estatutos_, etc., p. 236.]
[Footnote 33: _Ibid._, p. 263. The situations of these Commendas are
taken from _Portugal Antigo e Moderno_, Lisbon 1873, and following
years.]
Besides these two Commendas, Azurara still continued to hold that of
Alcains, as we learn from the document already referred to, granting
certain privileges to his agents in Castello Branco, and dated the 23rd
of the same month and year. The revenue of these three Commendas,
together with his official salary, must have sufficed to make of him a
wealthy man, for it should be remembered that the purchasing power of
the milreis was then nearly six times greater than at the present day.
He seems, however, to have relinquished the benefice of Alcains shortly
afterwards, for it does not appear again among his titles, and
henceforth he is only credited with the other two.
In the above-mentioned document of privilege of August 23rd, 1454, after
reciting the services rendered to Azurara by Guarcia Aires and Afomsso
Guarcia--to employ the antique spelling--muleteers of Castello Branco,
in collecting his rents and bringing them to Lisbon, the King grants
them immunity from being forced into the service of either himself, the
Infants, or the local authorities of the district in which they live.
Their houses, cellars, and stables are not to be taken from them to
lodge others against their will, and they are to enjoy this freedom as
long as they continue to be of use to the Chronicler.[34]
[Footnote 34: _Chanc. de D. Affonso V._ liv. X, fl. 113. Torre do
Tombo.]
When next we hear of Azurara he is acting in his official capacity as
Keeper of the Royal Archives. It seems that the people of Miranda had
lost the "foral" given them by King Diniz in 1324, and required a copy
of it, which Azurara made and handed to them on the 16th February
1456.[35] This is the first of a series of certificates (certidões)
signed by the Chronicler that has come down to us, and the issuing of
these and similar documents appears to have been one of his chief duties
as Royal Archivist.
[Footnote 35: Gav. 15, Maço 13, No. 21. Torre do Tombo. Azurara is
here described as "Commander of Pinheiro Grande and Granja
d'Ulmeiro, our Chronicler and Keeper" (of the Records).]
But Azurara was too valuable a man to be allowed to spend his whole time
and energy in the routine work of an office; and so we find that when
the King had reigned twenty years or more, which would be in or about
1458, he commissioned him to relate the history of Ceuta under the
Governorship of D. Pedro de Menezes, to whom the city had been entrusted
on its capture.[36] The story runs, that for some time João I was unable
to meet with anyone who would undertake the responsibility of guarding
the new conquest, and, word of this having been brought to D. Pedro
while he was playing at "Chóca", he at once hastened into the King's
presence, and said he would engage to hold the city against the whole
strength of Africa with the olive-wood crook he had just been
wielding.[37] Be this incident true or not, certain it is that D. Pedro
de Menezes succeeded in maintaining Ceuta, despite all the efforts of
the Moors to expel him; and his achievements, as chronicled by Azurara,
form by themselves sufficient ground for Affonso's commission. But
another reason, no doubt, influenced the King, and that was the supreme
importance attached to the possession of the old city. Its position as
the key of the Straits enabled the Portuguese to hinder the Moorish
corsairs from raiding the Algarve, and, at the same time, to help the
Christian cause by attacks on the last relic of Mohammedan power in the
Peninsula, the kingdom of Grenada. Added to this, its conquest was
hailed as the first step in the realisation of that cherished ideal, an
African Empire: for, besides being a great trading centre and the
sea-gate of Mauritania, it formed a wedge driven into the heart of the
Infidel, and a fitting crown to the struggle of seven centuries, which,
commencing on the morrow of the battle of the Guadalete, had ended by
the establishment of the Cross in the land of the Crescent. The tide had
turned at last and for ever, and the Gothic monarchy was avenged.
[Footnote 36: _Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes_, ch. 1.]
[Footnote 37: "Chóca" is an old-fashioned Portuguese game played
with a stout staff and ball. The incident is referred to by Camöens
in _Eclogue I_, in the lines beginning, "Emquanto do seguro
azambugeyro", etc.]
Azurara, who on previous occasions had proved himself a ready writer,
compiled the _Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes_ more slowly, owing
doubtless to the fact that his new official duties kept him from
devoting his whole time to the work, and the Chronicle was not finished
until 1463.
In this very year of 1458 occurred the first African Expedition of
Affonso V, with its result, the capture of Alcacer. This event was
probably the immediate cause of the writing of the Chronicle, because
the record of his reign shows how the King cared more for African
expansion than maritime expeditions, and how, like the old-time cavalier
that he was, he preferred a land-war with the Moors to the seemingly
theoretical, or at least distant, advantages to be gained by voyages of
discovery. In 1460 D. Henrique died, leaving the fruit of his ceaseless
endeavours to be plucked by other hands; since it was not until 1498,
when Vasco da Gama cast anchor off Calicut, that the Infant's
expeditions came to their legitimate conclusion, and a century of
efforts received their reward.
But if Azurara possessed many of the higher qualities of an historian,
he was by no means devoid of shortcomings; and two incidents, now to be
related, form serious blots on his character as a Chronicler and a man.
In 1459 the Cortes met in Lisbon, and the Deputies of the People
requested that a reform should be carried out in the Torre do Tombo, or
Archive Office. They complained that the mass of old Registers which it
was necessary to search in order to obtain copies of the documents
existing there, together with the profitless prolixity of many of them,
had long proved a source of great expense; and they therefore begged
that such as were deemed of importance might be transcribed and the rest
destroyed. This petition met with the King's approval, and Azurara
charged himself with its execution, a task which seemingly occupied the
remainder of his life.[38] He acted with a zeal worthy of barbarous
times, and the memory of the destruction to which he condemned documents
of the highest historical importance has been preserved by tradition,
and his proscription is still spoken of. He appears to have been
unconscious of the harm he did, for he prefaces each of the new
Registers compiled by him from the old with an account of his handiwork.
True it is that Barros praises Azurara for these Registers, but in
reality they are only "dry, imperfect abstracts", as one writer calls
them, for they throw little light on the periods to which they relate,
and were, besides, the cause of the loss of their originals.
Fortunately, however, some records escaped the general destruction, for
it happened that certain Municipalities had previously obtained
transcripts of the most precious, while others that existed in duplicate
in the Archives, unknown to anyone, came to light during the
administration of another Guarda-Mór.[39] The authorities of the City of
Oporto obtained leave from Affonso V, on the 23rd March 1447, to have
copies made of all the documents in the Torre do Tombo which related to
them in any way, and these were furnished on December 25th, 1453, when
Lopes was still Keeper of the Archives.
[Footnote 38: Particularly he "reformed" the Registers of the reigns
of Pedro I, D. Fernando, João I, and D. Duarte; and J. P. Ribeiro,
who gives a minute account of the state of these Registers and of
Azurara's compilation, winds up thus: "Such is the state of the
Chancellary books of the early reigns down to that of Affonso V;
some are still in their original condition, while others are
reformed or rather destroyed, by Gomez Eannes de Zurara."--_Memorias
Authenticas para a Historia do Real Archivo_, p. 171. Lisbon, 1819.]
[Footnote 39: _Annaes Maritimos e Coloniaes_, No. 1, Segunda serie,
p. 34; and J. P. Ribeiro, _Memorias Authenticas_, etc., p. 21.]
But Azurara was guilty of a yet graver delinquency than his destruction
of the old Registers, and a charge of forgery must be brought against
him. A detailed account of this affair may be read in the judgment of
the Casa de Supplicação, delivered on January 12th, 1479, from which it
appears that a dispute had arisen between the Order of Christ and some
inhabitants of Punhete over rights claimed by the former in the River
Zezere, a tributary of the Tagus. The Order based its claim on certain
documents, one being of the reign of D. Fernando, and said to have been
extracted from the Torre do Tombo, in which that monarch purported to
confer on the Order of Christ jurisdiction over the towns of Pombal,
Soure, Castello Branco and others, to the practical exclusion of his own
authority therein.[40] When a copy of this pretended grant was produced
in support of the contention, Azurara's successor in the Archives,
Affonso d'Obidos, received instructions to produce the Register of D.
Fernando for the purpose of comparison, and to bring the scribes engaged
in the Archive Office with him; whereupon the grant was found at the end
of the Register in a different writing from the rest of the book.
Neither d'Obidos, nor the scribe who had copied out the Register, could
say how it came there, or who had inserted it, and the latter declared
that no such grant existed in the old books from which he had
transcribed the present one. On further examination the pretended grant
proved to be in the handwriting of "Gomez Eannes, Cleric",[41] a servant
of Azurara, and it must have been fraudulently inserted in the Register
after the latter had been bound up. On the discovery of this act of
forgery, judgment was, of course, given against the Order, and it was
fortunate for our Chronicler that the offence he had committed in its
interests remained undiscovered until after his death.[42]
[Footnote 40: There is a reference to this claim of the Order in the
_Definiçoẽs e Estatutos_, etc., p. 201, and to its defeat.]
[Footnote 41: This must have been an adopted son of the Chronicler,
to whom he had lent his name.]
[Footnote 42: This forgery must be reckoned a very passable one,
although the handwritings are obviously not the same, and the
parchment differs in texture and colour from that of the rest of the
book. The judgment of the Casa de Supplicação is printed _in
extenso_ by J. P. Ribeiro from liv. 1, "dos Direitos Reaes," fol.
216, in the Torre do Tombo.]
Curiously enough, in the same year Azurara was rewarded by a pension.
The grant dated from Cintra, August 7th, 1459, runs as follows:--"Dom
Affonso, etc., to all to whom this letter of ours shall come we make
known that, considering the many services we have received and expect
hereafter to receive from Gomez Eanes de Zurara, Commander of the Order
of Christ, Our Chronicler and Keeper of our Archives, and wishing to do
him favour, we are pleased to give him a pension of twelve white milreis
from the 1st day of January next, which amount he has had of us up to
the present time."[43]
[Footnote 43: _Chanc. de D. Affonso V_, liv. xxxi, fl. 76vo. Torre
do Tombo. For the signification and value of these "white milreis",
see Damião de Goes, _Chronica de D. Manoel_, ch. 1.]
It would appear from the last line that this document is rather the
confirmation of an old grant than the gift of something new, but it has
been interpreted to mean that Azurara had been receiving the money from
the King's privy purse, and was henceforth to have it out of the public
treasury. There can be no dispute that the recipient merited the gift
for his past literary services, which were an earnest of the work he was
to accomplish in the future, and the value of the latter will presently
appear.
We possess the copy of one certificate issued by the Chronicler in the
following year, together with the record of another, their respective
dates being June 27th and October 22nd, 1460. The former, dated from
Lisbon, was granted in answer to the petition of the inhabitants of
Nogueira, who felt uncertain about the dues they were bound to pay the
Bishop of Coimbra;[44] the latter is mentioned by J. P. Ribeiro, but
seems to have disappeared from the Torre do Tombo.
[Footnote 44: _Estremadura_, liv. II, fl. 279. Torre do Tombo.]
In 1461 there occurred an event, simple enough on its face, but one
which Azurara's biographers have regarded as the mystery of his life, or
else employed as a weapon wherewith to smite their hero--his adoption by
Maria Eannes. In the king's confirmation of this, dated from Evora,
February 6th, 1461, we are told that "Maria Eannes, a Lisbon
tanner--considering the love and friendship that Johane añnes dazurara,
erstwhile Canon of Evora and Coimbra, had always shown to her mother,
Maria Vicente, as well as to herself and her husband, and the many good
deeds she herself had received at his hands, being his godchild and
friend, and considering that she had no children and was no longer of an
age to have any, and also the love and friendship she had felt for Gomez
Eannes dazurara, ever since his father's death, and the services he had
rendered her--thereby adopted him as her son and heir to succeed to her
real and personal property, including her country house at Valbom, in
the Ribatejo, and a house she possessed in the Parish of S. Julião in
Lisbon".[45] Such is the substance of this document, over the
explanation of which some controversy has taken place, because of the
social gulf that separated the parties to it. The true motive for the
adoption, as hints Senhor Rodriguez d'Azevedo, would seem to have been
the existence of some near relationship between Maria Eannes and the
Chronicler which it was not expedient to disclose; but whether this
opinion find acceptance or no, there is nothing to justify the old view
which regarded the grant as a proof of Azurara's avarice and
unscrupulousness: since, on the contrary, the preamble reveals a lively
sense of gratitude in the donor for real benefits conferred by the
donee. If, however, the above theory be worked out, the most plausible
conclusion to arrive at is, either that Maria Eannes and Gomes Eannes de
Azurara were brother and sister, both being children of the Canon and
Maria Vicente, or that the Chronicler was half-brother to Maria Eannes,
_i.e._, had the same father but not the same mother. It seems at least a
fair inference to draw from the wording that the Canon and Maria Vicente
were of a similar age, and the same may be said of the other pair,
because at this time the Chronicler would count nearly sixty years, and
his benefactress could not be much less, seeing that all possibility of
her bearing children had passed by. Either of these hypotheses would
account for the name Eannes being common to the lady and Azurara. The
Canon would then have left his property between his two children, and as
Maria Eannes was childless, it would be natural for her to bequeath her
share of her fathers property to her brother. But be this as it may, we
know from an independent source that Azurara had a sister, for she is
mentioned in the letter which Affonso V wrote him whilst he was living
in Africa and engaged on historical investigations. The fact, recorded
by Pisano, that the Chronicler began his studies relatively late in
life, unless it be ascribed to his adoption of a military career at
first, seems to show that he had passed his early years under a cloud,
and that his father, from one cause or another, lacked the power to
provide him with an education at the customary age. It is, however,
impossible to proceed beyond conjectures, and since the matter cannot
claim to be one of historical moment, we may leave it unsolved without
much regret.
[Footnote 45: _Terçeyro dodianna del Rey Dom Alfonso Quinto_, fol.
57. Torre do Tombo.]
On June 14th, 1463, Azurara issued a certificate of documents in the
Torre do Tombo relating to land of one D. Pedro de Castro,[46] while yet
another proof of the influence he possessed with his royal master is
afforded by two grants, dated respectively June 22nd and 23rd of the
same year. By the first of these the office of Judge of Excise in the
town of Almada was conferred on a certain Pero d'Almada, servant of
Gomes Eannes, and the grant is expressed to be made at the latter's
request. The second appoints the same individual Judge and Steward of
the gold-diggers at Adiça, near that town.[47]
[Footnote 46: The original of this certificate belongs to the famous
novelist, Senhor Eça de Queiroz, whose wife claims descent from this
de Castro. Doubtless others of the Chronicler's certificates, the
contents--or at least the dates--of which would fill up some of the
gaps in his biography, are in private hands, without any record of
their issue remaining, either in the Torre do Tombo or elsewhere, as
in the present case. Brandão mentions one such in his _Monarchia
Lusitana_, Quinta parte, p. 177. Lisbon, 1650.]
[Footnote 47: Liv. IX de _D. Affonso V_, fol. 94. Torre do Tombo.]
The _Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_, which had been commenced by
Azurara in or about the year 1458, was finished on St. John the
Baptist's Eve, June 23rd, 1463, at his Commenda of Pinheiro Grande. It
relates the history of Ceuta, from the capture of the city in 1415 until
the death of D. Pedro de Menezes, the first governor, in 1437, and gives
evidence of the author's progress in historical methods.[48] While it
contains less moralising and more matter than any of his previous works,
at the same time he appears surer of his own powers, and no longer feels
the same need of supporting every remark by a citation. Of course this
Chronicle has not as deep an interest for us as that of Guinea, but this
is due to the subject, not to any shortcomings in the narrator, whose
contemporaries were probably of a different opinion, for many of them
looked askance at the voyages of discovery, though there were few that
doubted the importance of the possession of Ceuta.
[Footnote 48: Affonso V ordered Pisano to write the _Chronicle_ in
Latin, as he had previously done with the Capture of
Ceuta.--_Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes_, ch. 1. The MS. is
now lost.]
Azurara confesses that he felt at first somewhat diffident of putting
pen to paper, so marvellous seemed the deeds he was called on to relate;
and he would never have persevered with his task had he learnt them on
hearsay evidence, or from the mouths of one or two witnesses; but he
found their truth confirmed on a perusal of the official reports sent to
the King from Ceuta, and this encouraged him to proceed. He appears to
have been assisted in his task by D. Pedro himself during his
lifetime,[49] and to have written out the book twice, while his
impartiality and the care he took to arrive at the truth are everywhere
visible.[50] Of course he cannot abstain altogether from citations, and
these have an interest as showing the measure of his literary knowledge:
witness his mention of Dante's _Divina Commedia_, Cinó da Pistoia and
_The Book of Amadis_, which he ascribes to "Vasco Lobeira, who lived in
the time of D. Fernando."[51]
[Footnote 49: _Ibid._, ch. 64.]
[Footnote 50: _Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes_, chs. 2 and 3.
The end of ch. 3 deserves perusal, for it shows how fully Azurara
realized the difficulties of an historian's task.]
[Footnote 51: _Ibid._, ch. 63. This is the first reference in all
literature to the authorship of the famous romance.]
For three years contemporary records are silent respecting the
Chronicler, and it is not until 1466 that he comes before us again. On
June 11th of that year, D. Pedro,[52] King of Aragon, son of him who was
Regent in the minority of Affonso V, and fell at Alfarrobeira, wrote
Azurara a short but familiar autograph letter, which affords another
proof of the intimate relations that existed between the Chronicler and
the great personages of the age. In this letter, which is in response to
one sent by Azurara, D. Pedro addresses him as "friend", refers to his
"old kindness and sweet nature", and goes on to accept his offer to keep
him informed of the progress of events in Portugal. He then takes the
Chronicler into his confidence, and complains of the difficulties of his
position as King of Aragon--difficulties which were aggravated by an
illness that ended in his death less than a month after he had penned
this epistle.[53]
[Footnote 52: D. Pedro, _fils_, was a distinguished poet, and to him
the Marquis of Santillana addressed that famous letter which may be
described as a history of poetry in the Peninsula. It is transcribed
_in extenso_ by Dr. Theophilo Braga, in his _Poetas Palacianos_, pp.
161-169. Porto, 1871.]
[Footnote 53: The letter was first published in the _Panorama_ for
1841, at p. 336. General Brito Rebello argues that the date 1406 is
impossible, and should read 1466, or possibly 1460. The former has
here been adopted. Other mistakes occur in the letter, as printed in
the _Panorama_, besides that of date. Some of its expressions are
ambiguous, and the subscript "From Aviz", an evident addition to the
original, may be put down to the copyist, who, knowing D. Pedro to
be Master of Aviz, concluded that the letter was written from there,
though the contents disprove it.]
On July 27th, 1467, in answer to a petition of the inhabitants, Azurara
issued a certificate[54] of the "foral" of Azere (Azár), _virtute
officii_, and on the very next day he met with another piece of good
fortune. From the deed of grant it appears that, some ninety years
previously, a certain Gonçalo Estevez of Cintra had died, after having
built a chapel in honour of St. Clare in the Church of St. Mary
Magdalen, in Lisbon, where he desired to be buried, and had left his
property with the condition annexed that masses should be regularly said
there. This condition, the document goes on to declare, had been broken
by his heirs for about seventy years, in spite of judgments obtained
against them, and many had died excommunicate because of their neglect
and disobedience. Finally, the goods had been declared forfeit to the
Crown, and they were now granted out to Azurara, on condition that he
should provide for the masses and generally carry out the instructions
contained in the will of the founder.[55] A gift of this nature was
considered an extraordinary grace in those days, and it affords clear
evidence that the Chronicler stood high in the royal regard.
[Footnote 54: Gav. 8, Maço 1, No. 17. Torre do Tombo.]
[Footnote 55: _Decimo de Estremadura_, fol. 270. Torre do Tombo.]
In August of this same year Azurara went to Africa, and, to explain the
journey, some introductory remarks are needed. On returning from the
fruitless African expedition of 1464, the King had written to him from
Aveiro, with instructions to leave all his other occupations--which the
Chronicler naïvely assures us were very important and profitable to his
countrymen--and forthwith to collect and put in writing the deeds of D.
Duarte de Menezes, late Captain of Alcacer.[56] This Duarte was the
natural son of D. Pedro, the hero of Azurara's last book; and he had
merited much from Affonso V for his long and faithful services at
Alcacer, ending with the sacrifice he had made of his own life to save
that of the King, during a reconnaissance against the Moors in the
last-named year.
[Footnote 56: _Chronica do Conde D. Duarte de Menezes_ (_Ineditos_,
vol. iii), ch. 1. It would almost seem as though Azurara accompanied
the King in his first expedition in 1458, when Alcacer was
taken.--_Ibid._, ch. 34.]
As before, Azurara hesitated to make a start on account of his
"untutored style and small knowledge", and through fear of hostile
criticism; indeed, under the latter head he says, with a touch of
bitterness, "there are so many watching me, that I have hardly put pen
in hand before they begin to damn my work."[57] But his obligations to,
and regard for, the King caused him to pluck up courage, and proceed
with a task which occupied some three or four years of his time. In
order to secure the best information possible, he considered that he
ought to visit Africa, because some of the dwellers in and about Alcacer
were the chief actors in the drama he was called upon to write, and
would be likely to have a clearer recollection of events than the
courtiers in Portugal; and also because he wished to view the district
which had been the scene of the struggle, and learn the disposition of
the land, the Moorish method of fighting, and the tactics employed
against them by the Portuguese. He confesses that he would have gone to
Ceuta before writing the _Chronica de D. Pedro_, but the King refused to
give permission, considering that his services were more needed inside
than outside the realm. Even after he had resolved on the present visit,
the King detained him a whole year, until fully convinced how necessary
it was, if his commands were to be satisfactorily carried out.[58]
Finally, in August 1467, Azurara crossed the Straits to Alcacer, where
he stayed for twelve months, occupied in studying the district and
taking part in the various excursions into Moorish territory that were
made by D. Henrique, son of D. Duarte de Menezes, who, to satisfy him
and aid his work, used even to change the plan of operations and go to
some spot the Chronicler desired to inspect.[59] With an impartiality
rare enough at that time, Azurara took care to obtain information from
the Moors themselves, both from such as visited Alcacer and from those
he met when accompanying D. Henrique to treat of matters with the
inhabitants of the neighbouring places.[60]
[Footnote 57: _Ibid._, ch. 1.]
[Footnote 58: _Ibid._, ch. 2.]
[Footnote 59: _Ibid._, ch, 2.]
[Footnote 60: _Ibid._, ch. 60.]
The Chronicle, which is at once a life of D. Duarte de Menezes and a
history of Alcacer, supplements that of his father D. Pedro de Menezes,
and carries the history of the Portuguese in North Africa down to 1464.
We have no record of when it was finished, but the year 1468 seems the
probable date. It is, if not the most important, yet the longest, as it
proved to be the last, of the Author's historical works, and cost him
more labour than any of its predecessors; but, through some mischance,
no complete MS. exists, all having many and great lacunæ, as will
hereafter appear. It presents the peculiarities common to all Azurara's
writings--the same fondness for quotations, and the same reliance on
astrology as explicative of character. Among the more interesting of the
former, besides those from the Classics and the Fathers, are his
references to Johão Flameno's gloss on Dante, Avicenna, Albertus Magnus,
and the Marquis of Santillana. Speaking of this Chronicle. Goes notes
and condemns the "superfluous abundance and wealth of poetical and
rhetorical words" that are employed here and elsewhere by its author.
During Azurara's stay at Alcacer the King addressed him an autograph
letter dated November 22nd, 1467 (?), which affords a striking proof of
Affonso's superior mind, as well as of the esteem in which he held men
of letters. He begins by saying that he has received the Chronicler's
letter,[61] and rejoices he is well, as he had feared the contrary,
owing to his long silence, and proceeds:--
"It is not without reason that men of your profession should
be prized and honoured; for, next after the Princes and
Captains who achieve deeds worth remembering, they that
record them, when those are dead, deserve much praise....
What would have become of the deeds of Rome if Livy had not
written them; what of Alexander's without a Quintus Curtius;
of those of Troy without a Homer; of Cæsar's without a
Lucan?... Many are they that devote themselves to the
exercise of arms, but few to the art of Oratory. Since,
then, you are well instructed in this art, and nature has
given you a large share of it, with much reason ought I and
the chiefs of my Realm and the Captains thereof to consider
any benefit bestowed on you as well employed."
[Footnote 61: Azurara seems to have corresponded frequently with
Affonso V; cf. _Chronica de Guiné_, ch. 7.]
Affonso then goes on to praise Azurara for having voluntarily exiled
himself in his service, and says he would not have him stay in Africa
any longer than he pleases, and winds up as follows:--
"I count it as a service that you wish for news of my
health, and, thanks be to God, I am well in body as in other
respects, though on the sea of this world one is constantly
buffeted by its waves, especially as we are all on that
plank since the first shipwreck, so that no one is safe
until he reaches the true haven that cannot be seen except
after this life, to which may it please God to conduct us
when He thinks it time, for He is sailor and pilot, and
without Him no man may enter there.... I have not a painting
of myself that I can send you now; but, please God, you will
see the original, some time, which will please you
more."[62]
[Footnote 62: The letter is printed in the _Ineditos_, vol. iii, p.
3. According to Meyrelles, there are two copies of it in MS. No. 495
of the Coimbra University Library.--Vide _Instituto_, vol. ix.]
Herculano truly says of this epistle: "Had it been from one brother to
another, the language could not well have been more affable and
affectionate";[63] but, more than this, it proves that Portugal was
ahead of most European nations of that age in possessing a King who
could value the pen as highly as the sword.
[Footnote 63: _Opusculos_, vol. v, p. 14. Lisbon, 1886.]
Henceforth little or nothing is known of the life of Azurara, except
from the certificates he issued in the course of his official duties.
On May 25th, 1468, one of these documents was issued from the Torre do
Tombo, and signed by a substitute, with the statement that the
Chronicler was living at Alcacer, on the service and by command of the
King. He probably returned to Lisbon to finish the _Chronica de D.
Duarte de Menezes_ in the autumn of this year.
On October 22nd, 1470, Azurara gave a certificate of the Charter of
Moreyra. In their petition for the same, the inhabitants allege that
their copy is so written, and in such Latin, that they cannot understand
it; and they further wish to know how much of the present money they
must pay for the three _mealhas_ mentioned in the original as payable
for the carriage of bread and wine--a question which Azurara seems to
have experienced some difficulty in answering.[64]
[Footnote 64: Maço 7 de Foraes Antigos, No. 3. Torre do Tombo.]
On April 20th, 1471, he issued a similar certificate to the dwellers in
S. João de Rey.[65] In this same year took place Affonso's third African
campaign, which resulted in the capture of Tangier, Arzila and Anafe.
[Footnote 65: Maço 3 de Foraes Antigos, No. 5. Torre do Tombo.]
On September 5th, 1472, in answer to a petition of the inhabitants of
Cascaes, the Chronicler handed them a copy of the Charter of Cintra, in
which district Cascaes is situate,[66] and on December 5th in the same
year he issued copies of documents affecting the liberties of the Order
of Christ and the _couto_, or "liberty", of Gordam.[67]
[Footnote 66: Maço 1 de Foraes Antigos, No. 11. Torre do Tombo.]
[Footnote 67: Armario 17, Maço 6, No. 5. Torre do Tombo. It is
worthy of note that the Eytor de Sousa, here referred to, is the
same person that appears in the judgment of the Casa de Supplicacão
of January 19th, 1479, as representing the Order of Christ.]
This latter is the last existing document signed by Azurara, though he
appears to have given another certificate on August 17th, 1473, nearly a
year after, relating to the forged grant of D. Fernando to the Order of
Christ, as mentioned by João Pedro Ribeiro.[68]
[Footnote 68: _Memorias Authenticas_, p. 21.]
There is no evidence to show when the Chronicler died, and tradition on
the point varies. The oldest authority who refers to it is Damião de
Goes, and, according to him, Azurara lived some years after 1472.[69] He
never married, and was succeeded in his post at the Torre do Tombo by
Affonso Annes d'Obidos; but the charter of this man's appointment has
been lost, and his first recorded certificate only bears date March
31st, 1475.[70]
[Footnote 69: _Chronica de D. Manoel_, quarta parte, ch. 38.]
[Footnote 70: _Memorias Authenticas_, p. 21.]
* * * * *
We have now followed the life of Azurara step by step, and seen him
honoured for his talents by his contemporaries, and rewarded for his
services to King and country by numerous benefactions.[71] We have also
seen him on intimate terms with the Royal Family, and corresponding
regularly with some of its members, as well as acquainted with the
leaders of the explorations and the learned men of the time, and must
conclude that this was chiefly due to his literary attainments and
genial character. It is therefore pleasant to be able to record that, in
our day, Portugal has marked her appreciation of him, as a man and a
writer, by a statue, whilst recognising that his works form his greatest
and most durable monument. In the Praça de Luiz de Camões in Lisbon
there rises a noble statue of the "Prince of Spanish Poets"[72],
surrounded by eight of the most distinguished men of letters and action
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, his predecessors and
contemporaries, and among them is a life-size figure of Gomez Eannes de
Azurara.[73]
[Footnote 71: Padre José Bayam, in p. 5 of his Prologue to the
_Chronica del Rey D. Pedro I_ of Fernão Lopes (Lisbon, 1761), states
that Azurara obtained the position of Disembargador da Casa do
Civel, or Judge of Appeal of the Civil Court, on the authority of
ch. 54 of Pina's _Chronica de D. Affonso V_, which mentions a
certain Gomez Eanes as holding the office in question and being sent
on an embassy to Africa; but João Pedro Ribeiro, in vol. iv, part 2,
of his _Dissertações Chronologicas e Criticas_, Dissertação XVI,
proves conclusively that Bayam is in error, and that the Judge had
no connection with his namesake the Chronicler.]
[Footnote 72: The word "Spanish" is here used, in its correct sense,
to include all the peoples of the Peninsula. So the Archbishop of
Braga bears the title "Primaz das Hespanhas", denoting his primacy
over both Spain and Portugal.]
[Footnote 73: No portrait of Azurara exists, and his signatures form
the only relic of him that we possess.]
CRITICAL REMARKS.
Azurara belongs to the line of Portuguese Chroniclers who rendered
illustrious the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a line that began
with Fernão Lopes and culminated in Damião de Goes and João de Barros,
both of whom were almost historians in the modern sense of the term, and
at the same time masters of prose style. He is indeed the connecting
link between the chronicler and the historian, between the Mediæval
writers and those of the Renaissance; for, while he possesses much of
the sympathetic ingenuousness of Lopes, yet he cannot resist displaying
his erudition and talents by quotations and philosophical reflections,
as quaint as they are often unnecessary, proving that he wrote under the
influence of that wave of foreign literature which had swept in with the
new monarchy.
Three literary tendencies may be said to have prevailed in Portugal
during the fifteenth century--firstly, a monomania for classical
learning; secondly, an increased taste for the mediæval Epics and prose
Romances, due to the English influence that had entered with Queen
Philippa, daughter of timeserving Lancaster, though it must be
remembered that _Amadis de Gaula_, the most famous romance of the Middle
Ages, was compiled in the preceding century and by a Portuguese hand;
and lastly, an admiration for Spanish poetry, which had made wonderful
strides since the great Italians, Dante and Petrarch, had become known
in the Peninsula. In philosophy, Aristotle, as expounded by Averroes,
was the chief authority--Azurara calls him "the Philosopher"--and
following him Egidius and Pedro Hispano, the Portuguese Pope and
scholar, enjoyed the widest influence. Platonic philosophy was
introduced at a much later period, chiefly through the medium of Italian
poetry, and it never took root.
To the reader of Azurara's writings, it often seems as though the author
were overburdened by his knowledge, which was in truth very extensive,
if at times somewhat superficial; and the Chronicles bear witness to the
fact that Portugal had not remained foreign to the literary impulse of
the Renaissance. Besides citations from many books of the Bible, the
following classical writers appear in his pages:--Herodotus, Homer,
Hesiod, Aristotle, Cæsar, Livy, Cicero, Sallust, Valerius Maximus,
Pliny, Lucan, the two Senecas, Vegetius, Ovid, Josephus and Ptolemy.
Among early Christian and mediæval authors he mentions Orosius, St.
Gregory, Isidore of Seville, Lucas of Tuy, the Arabic astronomer
Alfragan, Gualter, Marco Polo, Roderick of Toledo, Egidius, St. Jerome,
Albertus Magnus, St. Bernard, St. Chrysostom, St. Thomas Aquinas, St.
Augustine, and Peter Lombard; while he has heard the legend of the
voyages of St. Brandan and knows the author of the _Amadis de Gaula_. He
was acquainted with the Chronicles and Romances of the chief European
nations,[74] and had studied the best Italian and Spanish authors. Added
to this, he had mastered the geographical system of the Ancients,[75]
together with their astrology, and his knowledge of the latter probably
came from the famous _Opus Quadripartitum_ of Ptolemy. Although he
obtained his education in the time of D. Duarte, or early in the reign
of Affonso V, an age which had ceased to believe in sidereal influences,
as appears from the _Leal Conselheiro_, his writings show that he
possessed a fervent faith in astrology as explaining the character and
acts, as well as governing the destinies, of man.[76] Various opinions
have been emitted about his style; for, while such a good judge as Goes
condemns his "antiquated words and prolix reasoning, full of metaphors
or figures that are out of place in the historical style", Barros speaks
of his "clear style" that, together with his diligence, rendered him
worthy of the office he held.[77] But perhaps the most perspicuous
criticism thereon is that of Corrêa da Serra, who declares, with
reference to the opinions just cited:--"Both may well be right, for the
style of Gomes Eannes is not uniform, and seems the work of two
different men. As a rule his narrative is simple, full of sound sense,
and not without elegance; but, from time to time, he remembers the rude
rhetoric he had learnt so late in life, and writes (if I may say so) in
a falsetto style. The first was what nature had bestowed upon him, the
last came from his immature studies. But these very defects are of
interest now, for they give an idea of the learning and taste of that
age."[78] And, in spite of all his pedantry, Azurara rises at times to a
true eloquence, some of his pages being equal to the best in Portuguese
prose. The grandeur of chapter ii of the _Chronica de Guiné_, and the
heartfelt pity of Chapter XXV, which relates the division of the
captives, prove conclusively that he could accommodate the style to the
subject like all writers worthy of the name. Had he lived a century later,
he would have certainly been placed in the first rank of Portuguese
prosists; while, as it is, his antiquated and at times inflated language
has gone far to prevent him from being appreciated, or even read, by any
save the studious.[79]
[Footnote 74: _Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_, ch. 63, and
_Chronica de Ceuta_, ch. 38.]
[Footnote 75: _Chronica de Guiné_, chs. 61 and 62.]
[Footnote 76: _Chronica de Guiné_, chs. 7 and 28; _Chronica de
Ceuta_ chs. 34, 52, and 57; _Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes_, ch.
34.]
[Footnote 77: _Chronica do Principe D. João_, ch. 6, and _Asia_,
Dec. 1, liv. ch. 2.]
[Footnote 78: _Ineditos_, vol. ii, p. 210.]
[Footnote 79: Compare the remarks on Azurara's style by Sotero dos
Reis in his _Curso da litteratura Portugueza e Brazileira_.
Maranhão, 1866, vol. I, lição xiv.]
As an historian he had an unbounded respect for authority, on his own
confession, and the speeches he puts in the mouths of his heroes remind
the reader at times of Livy, and make it clear that he was writing under
the immediate influence of classical models.[80] The historical
importance of his Chronicles is of the first order. They are
contemporary with the events they relate, and contain the history of the
Portuguese expeditions to and rule in Mauritania from the reign of João
I down to that of Affonso V, and furnish a complete account of all the
voyages of discovery along the African Coast, due to the initiative of
D. Henrique, until 1448. True, the _Chronica de Guiné_ omits to mention
some other voyages that were the result of private enterprise, for
Azurara wrote it in the capacity of Chronicler to the King and as a
panegyric of the Prince, and never intended to relate discoveries
unconnected with his hero and with the land that gives his book its
title. The _Chronica de Guiné_ must, of course, always take rank as
Azurara's masterpiece. It was the first book written by a European on
the lands south of Cape Bojador, and it restores to us, in great part,
the lost work of Cerveira entitled a _History of the Portuguese
Conquests on the Coast of Africa_, on which it is founded, besides
making up for the regrettable disappearance of the naval archives of the
early period of modern discovery.
[Footnote 80: Cf. _Chronica de Ceuta_, ch. 1.]
Azurara's credibility as a narrator is both unquestioned and
unquestionable, for his position enabled him to get at the truth, and he
took pains to record nothing but the truth, thereby proving himself a
genuine disciple of his master, Fernão Lopes. He was moved, as a rule,
neither by human respect nor by petty jealousies, and accuracy seems
with him to have amounted to a passion.[81] So truthful was he that he
preferred to leave the relation of facts incomplete rather than tell of
them without having received exact information from eye-witnesses. He
was quite conscious of what he calls his "want of polish and small
knowledge", and his humility is shown by the declaration that he only
regarded the _Chronica de Guiné_ as material for some future historian
who would perpetuate the great deeds of D. Henrique in "a loftier and
clearer style".[82]
[Footnote 81: Many passages from his Chronicles might be cited to
prove this, but the following will suffice: _Chronica de Ceuta_,
chs. 1, 2, 12, 51, 83, 91, and 95; _Chronica de Guiné_, ch. 30;
_Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_, ch. 1, and Bk. II, ch. 18;
_Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes_, chs. 2 and 60.]
[Footnote 82: _Chronica de Guiné_, ch. 6.]
His attitude towards the Moors, those hereditary enemies of Portugal,
was only what we should expect, for, while he is strictly impartial in
distributing praise and blame to them equally with Christians, he leaves
us in no doubt on which side his sympathies lay. In the _Chronica de
Guiné_, for example, after descanting on the universal praise of the
Infant's life and work, he admits that a discordant note in the general
chorus was struck by the Moors whom the Prince had warred with and
slain, or, to quote his own words, "Some other voices, very contrary to
those I have until now described, sounded in my ears, for which I should
have felt a great pity, had I not seen them to come from men outside our
Law".[83]
[Footnote 83: _Ibid._, ch. 2.]
It has been already noted that Azurara, though he wrote under the very
shadow of the Palace, was anything but a flatterer of the great; indeed,
he has been accused by some of insisting too much on the defects in his
heroes.[84] On the other hand, it must be confessed that he shows a
marked partiality, if not a blind admiration, for D. Henrique in the
_Chronica de Ceuta_ as well as in the _Chronica de Guiné_. In the former
he attributes to the Prince the chief part in the capture of the city,
while in the latter he shows himself ever ready to defend him from his
dispraisers, and to convict of foolishness out of their own mouths the
opponents of the voyages of discovery. Nay, more, he even finds an
explanation for D. Henrique's neglect to defend his brother Pedro from
being done to death at Alfarrobeira, a neglect which is hard to explain
satisfactorily and must remain a blot on the Prince's fair fame. But
this bias may readily be accounted for by the fact that Azurara passed
much of his time in close intimacy with D. Henrique, and drew a great
part of the information for his Chronicles of Ceuta and Guinea from that
source, besides which he can hardly be blamed for the love he felt and
displayed for a great and good man, the initiator and hero of modern
discovery.
[Footnote 84: The Azorean scholar, Dr. J. T. Soares de Sousa, calls
Azurara "a clever courtier rather than a severe and impartial
historian" (quoted by Dr. Theophilo Braga, in his _Historia da
Universidade de Coimbra_, vol. i, p. 138); but this is certainly
unjust and even untrue. K. Manoel de Mello gives a fairer estimate
in the witty phrase, "Chronista antigo, tão candido de penna, como
de barba."--_Apologos Dialogaes_, p. 455, ed. Lisbon, 1721.]
Finally, while no serious critic would admit Azurara within the circle
of great historians, few would dispute his title to be named a great
Chronicler. That he was a laborious and truthful writer his pages make
clear; that he could tell a simple story vividly--nay, dramatically--and
that he had at times flashes of inspiration, the _Chronica de Guiné_
attests, though, even bearing this work in mind, it is easy to perceive
his inferiority in the matter of style to Fernào Lopes, a point
constantly insisted on by Portuguese critics. In a word, if, as Southey
said, Lopes is "beyond all comparison the best Chronicler of any age or
nation", it may well be that Azurara, "notwithstanding an occasional
display of pedantry, is equal in merit to any Chronicler, except his
unequalled predecessor".[85]
[Footnote 85: _Quarterly Review_, May 1809, p. 288.]
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
The following is a list of Azurara's works in the order in which they
were written:--
(_a_) "MILAGRES DO SANTO CONDESTABRE D. NUNO ALVRES PEREIRA."
This volume, of doubtful authenticity, which was never printed, has now
been lost. Senhor Oliveira Martins was unable to find a trace of it when
engaged on his recently-published life of the Holy Constable,[86] and
suggests that it may have perished, along with so many other literary
treasures, in 1755, during the Great Earthquake. Jorge Cardoso, in his
_Agiologico Lusitano_,[87] quotes a passage from Azurara's work, and
Santa Anna gives the substance of it in his _Chronica dos Carmaelitas_,
expressly declaring that he had seen the original MS., which was then
preserved among the Archives of the Carmo Convent.[88]
[Footnote 86: _A Vida de Nun' Alvares._ Lisbon, 1893.]
[Footnote 87: Tom. iii, p. 217, ed. Lisbon, 1666. Barbosa Machado
mentions the MS. on the authority of Cardoso.--Vide _Bibliotheca
Lusitana_, tom. ii, art. on Azurara.]
[Footnote 88: _Chronica dos Carmaelitas_, vol. i, pp. 469 and 486.
Lisbon, 1745.]
(_b_) "CHRONICA DEL REI D. JOAM I DE BOA MEMÓRIA E DOS REYS DE PORTUGAL
O DECIMO. Terceira parte em que se contém a tomada de Ceuta." Composta
por Gomez Eannes D'Azurara Chronista Mór destes Reynos & impressa na
linguagem antiga. Em Lisboa. Com todas as licenças necessarias. Á custa
de Antonio Alvarez, Impressor del-rei N.S. 1644, pp. X-283 fol. Such is
the full title of the _Chronica de Ceuta_ as given in the one and only
published edition.
Following the Chronicle come accounts of the death of King João and the
translation of his body to Batalha, extracted from the _Chronica de D.
Duarte_, as well as a copy, with translation, of the epitaph on his
tomb, and then his will and a general Index. MSS. of this Chronicle
exist in the Bibliotheca National in Lisbon, and in the Torre do Tombo.
The former place contains a defective one, dating from the middle of the
16th century, as well as one of the second part of the same period
apparently complete. The latter boasts a MS. (No. 366) of the 15th
century, in large folio, written on paper in red and black, which
derives importance from its early date, and exhibits a text practically
identical with that of the book described above; while of the others,
one may be attributed to the 16th century and two to the 17th. The
Oporto Municipal Library has an 18th-century MS. of this Chronicle.[89]
[Footnote 89: There doubtless exist many other MSS. of Azurara's
Chronicles, besides those mentioned in this notice, both in public
libraries and private collections. Most of those described here are
in Lisbon, and neither the Royal Library at the Ajuda nor the rich
collection at Evora appear to contain a single specimen. Gallardo
states that D. Pedro Portocarrero y Guzman, Patriarch of the Indies,
the catalogue of whose library was printed at Madrid in 1703,
possessed a signed MS. of the _Chronica de Ceuta_.]
(_c_) "CHRONICA DO DESCOBRIMENTO E CONQUISTA DE GUINÉ, escrita por
mandado de El-Rei D. Affonso V sob a direcção scientifica, e
segundo as instrucçoës do illustre Infante D. Henrique pelo
Chronista Gomez Eannes de Azurara; fielmente trasladada do
Manuscripto original contemporaneo, que se conserva na Bibliotheca
Real de Pariz, e dada pela primeira vez á luz per diligencia do
Visconde de Carreira, Enviado Extraordinario e Ministro
Plenipotentiario de S. Majestade Fidelíssima na corte da França;
precedida de uma Introducção e illustrada com algumas notas pelo
Visconde de Santarem ..... e seguida d'um Glossario das palavras e
phrases antiquadas e obsoletas." Paris, 1841. Fol. pp. XXV-474, with
frontispiece portrait of D. Henrique from this same MS.
The letter which Azurara addressed to King Affonso V, when he
forwarded the Chronicle, is printed in facsimile and precedes the
Introduction.
There are three separate impressions of this Chronicle--one on
parchment, of which the Bibliotheca National in Lisbon possesses a
copy, another on large paper, both of these being folio size, and a
third on small paper octavo size.
Two early MSS. of the Chronicle exist: one, very handsome and
perfect, in the Paris National Library, from which the printed
edition was made; and the other, bearing date 1506, in the Royal and
National Library at Munich. The latter belonged to Valentim
Fernandes, a German printer, established in Lisbon from the end of
the 15th century to past the middle of the 16th, who owned many MSS.
of great value, which have been studied by Schmeller in his _Ueber
Valentī Fernandez Alemā und seine Sammlung von Nachrichten über die
Entdeckungen und Besitzungen der Portugiesen in Afrika und Asien bis
zum Jahre 1508_. The imprint of this essay is 1845.
The Munich MS. is an abridgment; many of the rhetorical passages,
ch. i, and nearly the whole of chs. iii-vii, being omitted. Valentim
Fernandes, who transcribed, if he did not compile, this summary,
which he finished on November 14th, 1506, commences his chapters at
the eighth of the Paris MS., and reduces the original number of
chapters from ninety-seven to sixty-two.
The text of the Paris MS. seems to have been added to at some later
time, and, at any rate, is not in the state in which Azurara left it
in 1453, the year the Chronicle was finished, because certain
passages speak of D. Henrique as though already deceased, while he
only died in 1460.[90] Innocencio thinks Azurara emended his work
after the Prince's death, and inserted some reflections on his life
and moral qualities, without continuing the narrative, or passing
the limit he had at first marked out, namely 1448.
[Footnote 90: Cf. _Chronica de Guiné_, ch. 5.]
The history of the MS., and the discovery in 1837 by the Lusophile,
Ferdinand Denis, of the Paris copy, together with a description thereof,
is related by the Viscount de Santarem in his Introduction, and deserves
perusal.[91] Fragments of the Chronicle were known to Barros, who
incorporated them in his _Asia_, but Goes never saw it at all, and it
would seem to have disappeared from Portugal in the 16th century.[92]
Frei Luiz de Sousa, the great Dominican prose writer, met with a MS.
copy at Valencia, in the possession of the Duke of Calabria, one of
whose ancestors, a King of Naples, had received it, he was informed,
from D. Henrique himself.[93] We know from another source that this MS.
was still in Spain at the beginning of the last century, but how it
reached its present resting-place, the National Library in Paris,
remains a mystery.
[Footnote 91: _Chronica de Guiné_, p. xii, and compare the art. on
Azurara in the _Diccionario Universal Portuguez_, and Innocencio da
Silva, _Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez_, vol. ix, p. 245.]
[Footnote 92: Barros, _Asia_, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 1, and Goes,
_Chronica do Principe D. Joào_, ch. 6.]
[Footnote 93: _Historia de S. Domingos_, p. 1, liv. vi, ch. 15.
Santarem suggests that Affonso V sent it to his uncle, Affonso the
Magnificent of Naples, by his ambassador, Martin Mendes de Berredo,
between 1453 and 1457; but this cannot be reconciled with the fact
that certain passages in the Chronicle appear to have been written
after the death of D. Henrique.]
(_d_) "CHRONICA DO CONDE D. PEDRO (DE MENEZES) Continuada aa tomada de
Cepta, a qual mandou El-Rey D. Affonso V deste nome, e dos Reys de
Portugal XII, escrepver." Such is the title of this Chronicle, which was
published in Vol. II of the _Ineditos_, and runs from page 213 to the
end. It is there preceded by an Introduction of six pages, dealing with
the life and works of Azurara, from the pen of the erudite Abbade Corrêa
da Serra.
There exists a valueless MS. of this Chronicle in the Bibliotheca
National in Lisbon of the end of the 17th century, and another equally
devoid of interest in the Academia das Sciencias. Mr. Quaritch recently
offered one for sale,[94] which derives importance from having been
copied from another of early date, and was kind enough to send it for
our inspection. It is a small folio, beautifully written on paper,
containing 164 leaves with thirty-one lines to the page, and was
transcribed from a MS. on parchment of 233 folios in a single column,
which had been itself finished in Lisbon on July 24th, 1470, by João
Gonçalvez, the scribe who copied the Paris MS. of the _Chronica de
Guiné_. The copy belonging to Mr. Quaritch has some marginal notes
without value, and must, to judge from the writing, have been made in
Portugal at the very beginning of the 17th century, or, as he says,
about 1620. The text is the same as that printed in the _Ineditos_.
[Footnote 94: Catalogue No. 148, _Bibliotheca Hispana_, February 1895.]
(_e_) "CHRONICA DO CONDE D. DUARTE DE MENEZES."
This was published for the first time in Vol. III of the _Ineditos_, and
has there no separate title page, but the heading of the first chapter
reads as follows:--"Comecasse a Historia, que fala dos feitos que fez o
Illustre e muy nobre Cavaleiro Dom Duarte de Menezes, Conde que foi de
Viana, Alferes Del-Rey e Capitão por elle na Villa Dalcacer em Affrica.
A qual foi primeiramente ajuntada e escripta per Gomez Eanes de Zurara,
professo Cavalleiro, e Comendador na Ordem de Christus, Chronista do
mesmo Senhor Rey, e Guardador mór do Tombo de seus Regnos."
All the MSS. of this Chronicle are defective, and we know from the Royal
Censor that they were in the same state as early as the reign of Dom
Sebastião. In fact, more than a third of the work has disappeared, and
is represented by lacunæ. The Bibliotheca National in Lisbon has three,
the Torre do Tombo two, and the Bibliotheca da Academia Real das
Sciencias one MS. of this Chronicle; all show the same gaps. The only
MS. of value is one (No. 520) in the Torre do Tombo, dating from the end
of the 15th century, written on parchment, with the headings to the
Chapters in red and black, and an illuminated title-page. It must be
pronounced a fine specimen of caligraphy, and, though incomplete like
the rest, is otherwise in good condition.
* * * * *
The Writings attributed to Azurara consist of the following:--
(_f_) A CHRONICLE OF D. DUARTE.
There seems to be little doubt that Azurara wrote some sort of a
Chronicle of this King which has not been preserved. The Chronicle we
possess goes under the name of Ruy de Pina, but, according to Goes, it
was begun by Fernão Lopes, continued by Azurara, and only finished by
Pina.[95] Barros is more explicit, for he not only states that Azurara
compiled the Chronicle in question, but adds that it was appropriated by
Ruy de Pina, who succeeded him in the post of Chronista Mór.[96] Azurara
himself does not help us much to a solution of the problem. In the
_Chronica de Guiné_ he refers twice to it somewhat vaguely, but in
another place mentions it quite clearly as his own work, though in the
future tense.[97] Again, in the _Chronica de Ceuta_ there is a similar
reference to it, also in the future tense.[98] Unsatisfactory as this
is, we must perforce be content with it in default of any better
information. It seems most unlikely that Affonso V would have employed
the Chronicler on the lives of great nobles like Pedro and Duarte de
Menezes, who, after all, were but private persons, without providing, in
some way, for a history of his father to be written. All we can say is,
that Azurara probably collected the material and possibly made a first
draft--although it is noticeable that he nowhere speaks of the Chronicle
as finished, but always as something that is to be done--then came Ruy
de Pina and put it into shape, for the style is certainly his, and,
while more smooth, is far less characteristic than the quaint rhetorical
sentences of Azurara.
[Footnote 95: _Chronica de D. Manoel_, quarta parte, ch. 38.]
[Footnote 96: _Asia_, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 2.]
[Footnote 97: _Chronica de Guiné_, chs. 1, 5, and 68.]
[Footnote 98: _Chronica de Ceuta_, ch. 21, and cf. _Chronica de D.
Duarte de Menezes_, ch. 24.]
(_g_) A CHRONICLE OF KING AFFONSO V.
Both Barros and Goes agree that Azurara wrote a Chronicle of this
monarch, and carried it down to the death of D. Pedro in the year 1449,
and that it was finished by Ruy de Pina, under whose name it
appears.[99] More than this, Barbosa Machado actually cites it, as
though it existed in his day, thus--_Chronica del Rey D. Affonso V, até
a morte do Infante D. Pedro; fol. MS._[100] It is true that, in the
_Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_, Azurara declares that, in spite of
entreaties, the King would never allow him to write a history of his
reign; but this was in 1463, and Affonso may well have entrusted him
with the work in later years, and another passage of the same Chronicle
seems to imply it,[101] though Pina, while confessing that he was not
the first to receive a commission for the Chronicle of King Affonso,
declares that he found it uncommenced.[102] If we examine carefully the
first 124 Chapters of Pina's Chronicle, we shall at first sight conclude
the ideas to belong to Azurara and the phraseology to savour of Pina.
Such prominence is given to the acts and character of the Regent that
the work might well have borne his name, and he is treated with a
fervent veneration and a love which might naturally be expected from
Azurara, who must have known him intimately, as he certainly knew his
son, but which could hardly be looked for in a later writer. Again, D.
Henrique's neglect of his brother, a neglect which made Alfarrobeira
possible, is reprehended in terms that bring to mind the stern and
impartial Azurara rather than his more smooth-tongued successor, while,
curiously enough, the incident is not touched on in Chapter cxliv,
undoubtedly the work of Pina, where the character of the Prince is
summed up after his death and receives unmixed praise. On the other
hand, it must be remembered that D. Henrique's behaviour to his brother
Pedro at the last is referred to in the _Chronica de Guiné_ as a proof
of his loyalty under difficult circumstances, and this fact certainly
tells against Azurara's authorship of the Chronicle under consideration,
though hardly enough of itself to discredit the express statements of
Barros and Goes. To sum up. While it is certain that Azurara never wrote
a complete Chronicle of Affonso V, for the good reason that he
predeceased the King, it is impossible in the present state of our
knowledge to measure his share in the first part, with which alone he
has been credited, although one cannot help inclining to the opinion
that the Chronicle as it stands is substantially the work of Ruy de
Pina.
[Footnote 99: _Asia_, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 2, and _Chronica de D.
Manoel_, quarta parte, ch. 38. Goes says, too, that Azurara related
the taking of Arzilla, which happened in 1470.]
[Footnote 100: _Bibliotheca Lusitana_, vol. ii, art. on Azurara.]
[Footnote 101: _Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_, chs. 1, 2, and
parte II, ch. 26; and compare his references to the _Chronica Geral_
in the _Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes_, chs. 108, 111, 135, 142,
and 145, as well as in the _Chronica de Guiné_, ch. 5.]
[Footnote 102: Prologue to the _Chronica de D. Affonso V_
(_Ineditos_, vol. i, p. 202).]
(_h_) A ROMANCE OF CHIVALRY, in three MS. volumes, existing in the
Lisbon National Library.
The title of the First Volume runs:--"Chronica do Invicto D. Duardos de
Bertania, Princepe de Ingalaterra, filho de Palmeiry, e da Princeza
Polinarda, do qual se conta seus estremados feitos em armas, e
purissimos amores, com outros de outros cavalleiros que em seu tempo
concorrerão. Composta por Henrrique Frusto, Chronista ingres, e
tresladada em Portugues por Gomes Ennes de Zurara que fes a Chronica del
Rey Dom AFonço Henrriques de Portugal, achada de novo entre seus
papeis."
There are three MS. copies of this volume which differ somewhat _inter
se_, the earliest dating from the second half of the 17th century. Two
of these copies contain eighty chapters, the other but seventy-six. They
are marked respectively U/2/100 B/10/6 B/10/7 in the Lisbon National
Library.
The last, an 18th-century MS., though substantially the same work as the
two former ones, bears a different title: "Chronica de Primaleão,
Emperador de Grecia. Primeira Parte. Em que se conta das façanhas que
obrou o Princepe D. Duardos, e os mais Princepes que com elle se criarão
na Ilha Perigoza do Sabio Daliarte." Its composition is attributed to
"Guilherme Frusto, Autor Hybernio", and the name of Azurara does not
appear as translator, one "Simisberto Pachorro" being named as the
copyist.
The Second Volume bears the title:--"Segūda parte da cronica do
Princepe Dom Duardos. Composta por Henrique Frusto e tresladada por
Gomez Enes Dazurara, autores da primeira parte." It contains eighty-six
chapters and is marked U/2/101. Underneath the title is written in a
flowing hand--"Podesse encadernar esta segunda parte da Chronica do
Princepe Dom Duardos. Lxa em Mesa. 21 de Outubro de 659", and signed
with three names.
The Third Volume is headed:--"Terseira parte da Chronica do Princepe Dom
Duardos, composta por Henrrique Frusto e tresladada por Gomez Ennes
dazurara, Auctores da 1a, e 2a parte." It has thirty-five Chapters, and
ends abruptly. Its mark is U/2/102.
All the MSS. described above are of relatively recent date, written on
paper and of folio size.[103] A certain want of connection appears
between Parts I and II, but this is not so as regards Parts II and III.
A very unpoetical Sonnet closes Chapter XI. of the last Part, and, since
it is not referred to in the text and its language is modern, may
possibly have been interpolated. From the form it cannot be earlier than
1526 or 1530, while a competent judge holds it to have been probably
composed after 1550.
[Footnote 103: Dr. Theophilo Braga mentions another MS. of the whole
Chronicle, in a single volume of 644 folios, as being in private
hands. The name of the English (?) Chronicler is there spelt
"Henrique Fauste".--_Amadis de Gaula_, p. 196 _n._ Porto, 1873.]
From a cursory examination of the Chronicle under consideration, it
would seem to be neither (1) a translation from the English, nor yet (2)
by the hand of Azurara, as alleged, but an original composition by some
anonymous writer. The value of the first statement may be estimated by
remembering how Cervantes declared he had copied _D. Quixote_ from the
Cide Hamete Benengeli; and, again, how João de Barros introduced his
_Clarimundo_ as a version from the Hungarian; in any case, no such early
English or Irish Chronicler as Frusto or Frost (?) can be shown to have
existed. The Cycle of the Round Table, and other British Romances of
Chivalry, which were known in Portugal early in the 14th century, became
more popular after the marriage of D. João I with D. Philippa of
Lancaster, and this accounts for the ascription to an English origin;
while Azurara's knowledge of such books, as displayed in his various
Chronicles, explains how this story of a mythical D. Duarte came to be
fathered on him. The considerations that weigh most against Azurara's
authorship of the MS. are those of date and style. It has been already
proved that he died in or about the year 1473, so that, assuming the
work to be his, it must have been written at least before that date, or
even much earlier, say before 1454; since it cannot be presumed that he
would have time for such an essay after his appointment as Chief
Chronicler of Portugal and Royal Archivist. Perhaps he would have lacked
the inclination as well, at least judging from the disdainful tone of
his reference to the _Amadis de Gaula_ in the _Chronica de D. Pedro de
Menezes_. Now, the first of the Palmerin series--to which our MS.
certainly belongs--the _Palmerin de Oliva_, was only printed in 1511;
and though both it and its sequel, _Primaleon_, may have existed in MS.
in the 15th century, contemporary literature has no record of the fact
as in the case of _Amadis_, and there is nothing to favour the
supposition. But, apart from this, a perusal of the first few chapters
of Part I of the present MS., and especially the opening lines of
Chapter 1, will convince most readers, without further proof, that it is
nothing else than a continuation of the _Palmeirim de Inglaterra_ of
Francisco de Moraes,[104] for it not only takes up the story where
Moraes had left off, but expressly refers to the _Palmeirim_ on more
than one occasion.[105] Now, the book of Moraes was only written about
the year 1543, so that, as far as the dates go, they are enough of
themselves to decide the question of Azurara's authorship in the
negative. To come to the question of style--that of the MS. has nothing
to correspond with the rhetorical expressions and the quotations, and
none of the idioms, peculiar to Azurara; nor does it belong to the 15th
century, but rather to the middle or latter part of the 16th, despite
the slight archaic atmosphere, shown more especially in the orthography,
that hangs about Part I, and ever and anon calls to mind the _Saudades_
of Bernardim Ribeiro. The phrase "achada de novo entre seus papeis", on
the title-page of the Romance, evidences nothing, although it is
alleged, as already mentioned, that Azurara left MSS. behind him which
were explored in the last century by Padre José Pereira de Sant'
Anna.[106]
EDGAR PRESTAGE.
"CHILTERN", BOWDON,
_Day of Camöens' Death, 1895_.
[Footnote 104: But it is quite a distinct work from that of Diogo
Fernandes, though the same period seems to have given them birth.]
[Footnote 105: _Vide_ Part I, chs. 1, 4, 6, 17, and 37.]
[Footnote 106: Compare, on this question, the following
studies:--_Opusculo acerca do Palmeirim de Inglaterra e do seu
auctor_, by M. O. Mendes. Lisbon, 1860. _Discurso sobre el Palmeirim
de Inglaterra y su verdadero autor_, by N. D. de Benjumea. Lisbon,
1875. _Versuch über den Ritterroman Palmeirim de Inglaterra_, by D.
Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos. Halle, 1883.]
NOTE.--The elegant signature of Azurara, with its flourishes
and general ornateness, a woodcut of which appears below,
was copied by my friend the Viscount de Castilho, son of the
poet, from an original document in the Torre do Tombo. The
writing, it will be observed, is clear and firm, a
characteristic of all the Chronicler's signatures, which
exist to the number of some half-dozen in the Torre.--E. P.
[Illustration of signature]
[Illustration]
AZURARA'S CHRONICLE
OF THE
DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF
GUINEA.
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Here beginneth the Chronicle in which are set down all the notable deeds
that were achieved in the Conquest of Guinea, written by command of the
most high and revered Prince and most virtuous Lord the Infant Don
Henry, Duke of Viseu and Lord of Covilham, Ruler and Governor of the
Chivalry of the Order of Jesus Christ. The which Chronicle was collected
into this volume by command of the most high and excellent Prince, and
most powerful Lord the King Don Affonso the Fifth of Portugal.
CHAPTER I.
Which is the Prologue, wherein the Author sheweth what will be his
purpose in this Work.
We are commonly taught by experience, that all well-doing requireth
gratitude. And even though the benefactor doth not covet it for himself,
yet he should desire it, that the recipient may not suffer dishonour
where the giver hath acquired virtuous merit. And such a special
communion is there between these two acts, to wit, giving and thanking,
that the first requireth the second by way of obligation. And did not
the former[A] exist, it would not be possible for there to be gratitude
in the world. Wherefore, Saint Thomas,[B] who was the most clear
teacher[N1] among the Doctors of Theology, saith in the second book of
the second part of his work, in the 108th section, that every action
returneth by nature to the cause from which it first proceeded.
Therefore, since the giver is the chief cause of the benefit received by
the other, it is requisite, by the ordinance of Nature, that the good he
doth should come back to him in the shape of a fitting gratitude. And by
this return we are enabled to understand the natural likeness between
the works of Nature and those that give moral aid, for all things bring
about a proper return, starting from a commencement and progressing till
in the end they accomplish the recompence we speak of. And, in proof of
this, Solomon saith in the book of Ecclesiastes, that the sun riseth
over the earth, and, having encircled all things, returneth to where it
first appeared. The rivers also proceed from the sea, and ceasing not
their course, are continually returning to it. A like thing happeneth in
the moral order, for all good that cometh from a generous will, doth run
a straight course until it arrive at the fitting recipient, and then
afterwards it returneth naturally to the place where the generosity
allowed it to begin; and such a return bringeth about that sweet union
between those that do good and those that receive it, of which Tully
speaketh when he saith that no service is more necessary than gratitude,
in order that the good may return to him who gave it.
[Footnote A: _I.e._, conferring of favours.]
[Footnote B: _I.e._, Aquinas. See note 1, in vol. ii. Throughout the
present volume the numbers inserted in the text refer to historical
and other notes which will be appended to vol. ii.]
And in that the most high and excellent Prince and most mighty Lord, the
King Don Affonso the Vth (who at the time of the writing of this book
reigned in Portugal, by the grace of God, whose reign may God in his
mercy increase in length and in virtues), in that he, I say, saw and
knew the great and very notable deeds of the Lord Infant Don Henry, Duke
of Viseu and Lord of Covilham, who was his highly-valued and beloved
uncle, and in that the said deeds appeared to him so noteworthy among
the many actions of Christian princes in this world--it seemed to him a
wrong thing not to have some authentic memorial of the same before the
minds of men. And this most of all because of the great services which
the said Lord had ever rendered to past kings, and the great benefits
which by his efforts the Prince's countrymen had received.
For these reasons the King bade me engage in this work with all
diligence, for although great part of his other actions are scattered
through the Chronicles of the Kings of his day, as, for instance, what
he did when the King Don John, his father, went to take Ceuta,[N2] and
when on his own account he went with his brothers and many other great
lords to raise the siege of the aforesaid town, and afterwards when in
the reign and by the command of the King Don Edward of glorious memory,
he attacked Tangier, where were done many very notable deeds, which are
mentioned in his history, yet all that followeth was done by his
ordinance[C] and mandate, not without great expense and trouble, all
which is truly to be set down to his account. For though in all kingdoms
men compile general Chronicles of their Kings, they do not fail also to
write separately of the deeds of some of those Kings' vassals, wherever
the greatness of the same is notable enough to warrant such especial
mention--as was done in France in the case of Duke John, Lord of
Lançam,[N3] and in Castille in the matter of the deeds of the Cid Ruy
Diaz,[N4] and in our own kingdom in the story of the Count Nunalvarez
Pereira.[N5] And with this Royal Princes ought to be not a little
contented, for so much the more is their honour exalted as they have
seigniory over greater and more excellent persons; for no Prince can be
great, unless he rule over great men; nor rich, unless he rule over the
wealthy. For this cause said the virtuous Roman Fabricius, that he would
rather be lord over those who had gold, than have gold himself.
[Footnote C: _I.e._, all that follows in this book was done by
Henry's ordinance, etc.]
But because the said deeds were written by many and various persons, so
the record of them is variously written, in many parts. And our Lord the
King, considering that it was not convenient for the process of one only
Conquest[D] that it should be recounted in many ways, although they all
contribute to one result, ordered me to work at the writing and ordering
of the history in this volume so that those who read might have the more
perfect knowledge. And that we may return the benefit he conferred on us
by gratitude to him from whom we received it, as I began to set forth at
the commencement of this chapter, we will follow the example of that
holy Prophet Moses, who, desiring not to let the people of Israel forget
the good that God had shewn them, often commanded the receivers to write
them upon their hearts, as in a book that should display to those who
considered it what was written therein. Further, seeing that the
remembrance of injuries is tender, and that the good deed is soon
forgotten, those that came after[E] set up signs that should be lasting,
on which people might look and remember the benefits they had received
in time past. And so likewise it is written of Joshua, that God bade him
take twelve great stones from the midst of the river Jordan, and carry
them to where the camp was pitched, after all had crossed. For this was
done in order that they should be in remembrance of the wonderful
miracle which God had wrought in presence of the people, when he parted
the waters, so that those which came from above stood up in a heap and
did not flow out towards the sides, while those which were below flowed
on until the river was dry. But some, considering that even by such
signs it was not always perfectly well known what had been done (just as
we see that the Pillars of Hercules[N6] do not signify clearly to all
who see them that they were placed there as a memorial of his Conquest
of Spain), began the custom of writing what could not otherwise be long
remembered. And in proof of this it is related in the book of Queen
Esther, that King Ahasuerus kept a record of all the notable services
that had been rendered to him, and that at certain times he caused this
record to be read, that he might reward the authors of those services.
So, too, the King Don Ramiro, desiring that the men of Spain should not
allow themselves to forget the great aid that the blessed apostle Saint
James had given them, when he delivered them from the power of the
Moors, and promised to be our helper in all our battles with the
Infidel, caused to be written the story of that event in the privileges
that he granted the Church of Santiago,[N7] that is to say, in providing
for the entertainment of the poor,--privileges which that Church now
receives from every part of Spain where Christians then lived.
[Footnote D: Such as that of Guinea.]
[Footnote E: _I.e._, after Moses.]
Now this care that the ancients showed ought to be a custom of to-day,
and inasmuch as our memory is weaker than theirs was, and less mindful
of the good that it receiveth, so much the more careful should we be to
keep ever before us the benefits bestowed on us by others, since we
cannot afford to forget them without manifest injury to ourselves. And
because we received of God great benefit in the deeds hereinafter
recorded, in three ways--firstly, by the many souls that have been
already saved, and yet will be saved, of the lineage of our captives;
secondly, by the great benefits we all of us receive from the said
actions; thirdly, by the great honour that our realm is now gaining in
many parts by subjecting to itself so great a power of enemies, and so
far from our own land--for all these reasons we will put this history in
remembrance to the praise of God, and to the glorious memory of our
aforesaid Lord, and to the honour of many good servants of his, and
other worthy persons of our country who toiled manfully in the doing of
the aforesaid actions. Finally, because our said Chronicle is especially
dedicated to this Lord,[F] let us begin at once to speak of his habits
and of his virtues, and of his appearance also, in accordance with the
custom of various authors of credit whose chronicles we have seen.
[Footnote F: "This Lord," the "aforesaid Lord," and so on, is of
course Henry.]