In which five reasons appear why the Lord Infant was moved to command
the search for the lands of Guinea.
We imagine that we know a matter when we are acquainted with the doer of
it and the end for which he did it. And since in former chapters we have
set forth the Lord Infant as the chief actor in these things, giving as
clear an understanding of him as we could, it is meet that in this
present chapter we should know his purpose in doing them. And you should
note well that the noble spirit of this Prince, by a sort of natural
constraint, was ever urging him both to begin and to carry out very
great deeds. For which reason, after the taking of Ceuta he always kept
ships well armed against the Infidel, both for war, and because he had
also a wish to know the land that lay beyond the isles of Canary and
that Cape called Bojador, for that up to his time, neither by writings,
nor by the memory of man, was known with any certainty the nature of the
land beyond that Cape. Some said indeed that Saint Brandan had passed
that way; and there was another tale of two galleys rounding the Cape,
which never returned.[N46] But this doth not appear at all likely to be
true, for it is not to be presumed that if the said galleys went there,
some other ships would not have endeavoured to learn what voyage they
had made. And because the said Lord Infant wished to know the truth of
this,--since it seemed to him that if he or some other lord did not
endeavour to gain that knowledge, no mariners or merchants would ever
dare to attempt it--(for it is clear that none of them ever trouble
themselves to sail to a place where there is not a sure and certain hope
of profit)--and seeing also that no other prince took any pains in this
matter, he sent out his own ships against those parts, to have manifest
certainty of them all. And to this he was stirred up by his zeal for the
service of God and of the King Edward his Lord and brother, who then
reigned. And this was the first reason of his action.
The second reason was that if there chanced to be in those lands some
population of Christians, or some havens, into which it would be
possible to sail without peril, many kinds of merchandise might be
brought to this realm, which would find a ready market, and reasonably
so, because no other people of these parts traded with them, nor yet
people of any other that were known; and also the products of this realm
might be taken there, which traffic would bring great profit to our
countrymen.
The third reason was that, as it was said that the power of the Moors in
that land of Africa was very much greater than was commonly
supposed,[N47] and that there were no Christians among them, nor any
other race of men; and because every wise man is obliged by natural
prudence to wish for a knowledge of the power of his enemy; therefore
the said Lord Infant exerted himself to cause this to be fully
discovered, and to make it known determinately how far the power of
those infidels extended.
The fourth reason was because during the one and thirty years that he
had warred against the Moors, he had never found a Christian king, nor a
lord outside this land, who for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ would
aid him in the said war. Therefore he sought to know if there were in
those parts any Christian princes, in whom the charity and the love of
Christ was so ingrained that they would aid him against those enemies of
the faith.
The fifth reason was his great desire to make increase in the faith of
our Lord Jesus Christ and to bring to him all the souls that should be
saved,--understanding that all the mystery of the Incarnation, Death,
and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ was for this sole end--namely the
salvation of lost souls--whom the said Lord Infant by his travail and
spending would fain bring into the true path. For he perceived that no
better offering could be made unto the Lord than this; for if God
promised to return one hundred goods for one, we may justly believe that
for such great benefits, that is to say for so many souls as were saved
by the efforts of this Lord, he will have so many hundreds of guerdons
in the kingdom of God, by which his spirit may be glorified after this
life in the celestial realm. For I that wrote this history saw so many
men and women of those parts turned to the holy faith, that even if the
Infant had been a heathen, their prayers would have been enough to have
obtained his salvation. And not only did I see the first captives, but
their children and grandchildren as true Christians as if the Divine
grace breathed in them and imparted to them a clear knowledge of itself.
But over and above these five reasons I have a sixth that would seem to
be the root from which all the others proceeded: and this is the
inclination of the heavenly wheels. For, as I wrote not many days ago in
a letter I sent to the Lord King, that although it be written that the
wise man shall be Lord of the stars, and that the courses of the planets
(according to the true estimate of the holy doctors) cannot cause the
good man to stumble; yet it is manifest that they are bodies ordained in
the secret counsels of our Lord God and run by a fixed measure,
appointed to different ends, which are revealed to men by his grace,
through whose influence bodies of the lower order are inclined to
certain passions. And if it be a fact, speaking as a Catholic, that the
contrary predestinations of the wheels of heaven can be avoided by
natural judgment with the aid of a certain divine grace, much more does
it stand to reason that those who are predestined to good fortune, by
the help of this same grace, will not only follow their course but even
add a far greater increase to themselves. But here I wish to tell you
how by the constraint of the influence of nature this glorious Prince
was inclined to those actions of his. And that was because his ascendent
was Aries, which is the house of Mars and exaltation of the sun, and his
lord in the XIth house, in company of the sun. And because the said Mars
was in Aquarius, which is the house of Saturn, and in the mansion of
hope, it signified that this Lord should toil at high and mighty
conquests, especially in seeking out things that were hidden from other
men and secret, according to the nature of Saturn, in whose house he is.
And the fact of his being accompanied by the sun, as I said, and the sun
being in the house of Jupiter, signified that all his traffick and his
conquests would be loyally carried out, according to the good pleasure
of his king and lord.[N48]