The Majorcans as navigators
The intelligence and energy of the Catalans of Barcelona and Majorca,
combined with their industry and perseverance, raised the kingdom
of Aragon to a very important position as a maritime Power in the
Mediterranean. Long the rivals of the Genoese, the Catalans at one time
gained complete ascendency. Their fleets dominated the western half of
the great inland sea, with Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and the
Balearic Islands either under the sovereignty or in close alliance with
the Kings of Aragon. Their trading vessels frequented the Levant and
the Ægean Sea, and Catalan consulates and factories were established in
Macedonia, in Greece, and on the islands. Voyages were even undertaken
beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
The seamen of Majorca were as energetic and expert as those of the
mainland, and Palma had a great dockyard and arsenal where galleys of
thirty benches were built. But the success of the Catalans depended
more on their skill and superior knowledge of navigation than on the
size and number of their ships. In the middle of the fourteenth century
the marine service of Majorca consisted of 30,600 sailors, manning
460 vessels, of which twenty-four were of the largest size, and the
others were used for carrying merchandise.[19] Palma could fit out a
contingent of large ships as part of the armed fleet of Aragon, and the
safety of trade was provided for both by the Government and by private
enterprise. Salvador de Sureda was not the only Majorcan notable who
fitted out a ship at his own expense to resist the incursions of
Barbary pirates.
The natives of Majorca were for a long time the leading geographers,
inventors of instruments, and constructors of marine charts in Europe.
They used the magnetic needle long before its supposed discovery by
Gioia of Amalfi, and they could find the polar distance. The rudeness
of their instruments increases the merit of the results obtained with
them. Their _portolani_, or marine charts, were far more accurate
than any of the maps even of a later period. They were in constant use
before 1359, when every galley was ordered to carry two charts for
navigation.[20] Several Catalan _portolani_ have been preserved. The
most interesting, though not the oldest, is now in the possession of
the Count of Montenegro at Palma. It was drawn in 1439 by Gabriel de
Valseca, who in his own hand wrote the following inscription on it:
‘gabriell de ualsequa la feta en Malorcha an MCCCCXXXVIIII.’ It once
belonged to Amerigo Vespucci, as an inscription on the back testifies:
‘questa ampia pelle di geografia fue pagata de Amerigo Vespucio CXX
ducati di oro di marco.’ It was bought at Florence in the eighteenth
century by Cardinal Despuig, to form part of the library of his
nephew, the Count of Montenegro. A facsimile was made for the Spanish
Government at the time of the Columbus anniversary, and now hangs in
the museum of the Ministry of Marine at Madrid.
A curious accident happened to this priceless geographical document
in 1839. Georges Sand obtained leave to see it. Up to that time the
stiff parchment had been rolled up in a tin case. It was brought out
and spread on a table. The famous novelist, to keep it down, took up
an inkstand and placed it on the edge of the map. But the parchment,
which had been rolled up for centuries, was too strong. It flew back
and the ink was upset. Georges Sand, horrified at what she had done,
ran straight out of the house. Luckily the injury was not serious,
and is confined to the part outside the Mediterranean. The precious
map now has a room to itself in the Montenegro palace at Palma. It is
framed and glazed on both sides, and kept in a locked case covered with
crimson velvet.
The outline of the Mediterranean is almost exactly correct. The lines
of the Valseca _portolano_ placed over the coast-lines of a modern
chart correspond very nearly, especially the western part. Italy is
slightly out in longitude. The Valseca _portolano_ includes Great
Britain, Ireland, Jutland, the Euxine and Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea
painted bright red. The chart is covered with rhumb-lines. The Nile is
separated into two, one taken through Abyssinia and the other away to
the Niger region. There are kings on their thrones, and every country
has its arms painted on flags. The golden shield of Aragon, with its
four pales gules, flies over Aragon, Majorca, Sardinia, and Sicily. It
is interesting to see the south of Spain painted green, for the Moors
were still at Granada. There are several legends in minute handwriting
on the map. Majorca may well be proud of having in her island in this
priceless map the most valuable and interesting geographical document
of the fifteenth century. Next to it comes the _mapa mondi_ of Jayme
Cresques, also of Catalonian origin, and now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale of Paris.
The fame of the geographers of Majorca, for their profound knowledge
as navigators and skill as cartographers, spread over Europe. When
Prince Henry founded his celebrated school for pilots at Sagres,
as an essential part of his plans for the discovery of the African
coast, he found no one more competent to direct it than ‘Maestro
Jacome de Mallorca,’ a most able navigator and constructor of nautical
instruments. But the Majorcan sailors did not confine themselves to
these important studies, nor to cruises in the Mediterranean. They
undertook voyages beyond the Pillars of Hercules in very early times.
On August 10, 1346, Jayme Ferrar set sail from Palma, passed through
the Straits, and coasted along Africa as far as the mouth of the Rio
del Oro, five degrees south of that Cape Nun which the Portuguese did
not round until 1419.
The commercial prosperity of Majorca, derived from the enterprise of
her sailors, led to the building of the _Lonja_, or Exchange, which is
still one of the chief architectural ornaments of Palma. The architect
was Guillem Sagrera, who also built the Castel Nuovo at Naples for
Alfonso V.; and the work was undertaken by the principal merchants of
Palma. Finished in 1450, it consists of a lofty hall with a groined
roof supported by six tall slender pillars. The doorway is very richly
carved in the style of the north door of the cathedral, and at each
angle of the edifice there is a statue of a saint under a stone canopy:
San Nicolas in the angle facing Porto Pi, in the opposite niche San
Juan Bautista, in the angle looking towards the Ataranza (arsenal)
Santa Catalina, and Santa Clara looking towards the Almudaina.[21] Here
was the centre of commercial transactions during the Middle Ages, while
the wharves outside formed an active and busy scene, the ceaseless
ebb and flow of Mediterranean trade. The commercial ventures were not
without danger, the piratical States of Barbary continuing their raids
and depredations quite into modern times.
Barbarossa infested the seas and caused such havoc that the Emperor
Charles V. undertook punitive expeditions to Tunis in 1535 and to
Algiers in 1541. On the latter occasion he landed at Alcudia, and
proceeded thence to Palma on October 13. He was received with great
demonstrations of joy by all the chief people of the island, Nicolas
Cotoner and Pedro Juan de Santa Cilia, bearers of most ancient names,
walking by his horse to the cathedral, where Mass was said. The Emperor
was received in the Almudaina, and Leonardo Zaforteza superintended
the arrangements for lodging the other guests. Charles departed on
the 18th, taking with him a hundred Majorcan knights who joined his
expedition. But the elements were against them, and the invasion of
Algiers ended in failure.
The Moors were not slow to retaliate. Two years afterwards five hundred
of them landed at Pollenza, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Several
other descents were made on the island by Dragut and his subordinate
corsairs, and there was much hard fighting, with slaughter on both
sides, but serious loss of unfortunate people carried off into slavery.
It was in September 1552 that Valdemosa was attacked by the crews of
the Algerine galleots. About five hundred Moors landed in the night and
entered the town without opposition. Loading themselves with spoils and
taking four hundred captives with them, they began their retreat to the
ships. Raimondo Gual had command of only thirty-five men at Valdemosa.
Open resistance would have been futile; still, he watched his
opportunity. In a narrow pass, since called ‘Pàs dels Mòros,’ he made a
sudden attack on the retreating pirates, who were panic-stricken, and
very few escaped. No quarter was given to them. Their banner was hung
up in the parish church. Valdemosa was again unsuccessfully attacked by
the Moors in 1582.
Next it was the turn of the town of Andraix, at the south-west end of
the island, which was attacked by twenty-four piratical vessels in
1553. The inhabitants fled, some taking refuge in a small castle. Don
Jorge Fortuñy, a neighbouring proprietor, put himself at the head of a
small body of cavalry, and his name alone led the invaders to make a
hasty retreat to their ships. But Andraix was attacked and pillaged in
1555, and again in 1578.
In 1561 a piratical expedition was fitted out at Algiers, consisting
of twenty-two vessels, under the command of a renegade named Ochali,
to attack the town of Soller. Measures were taken for its defence, and
troops arrived under a commander named Miguel Angelats. Fearing the
fortress at the port of Soller, the pirates landed at a place called
‘Coll de la Illa’ 1,700 men in two divisions. One division marched
to the port, while the other advanced by the bridge of _Binibaci_
to attack the town. Angelats had left the town, leading his troops
to oppose the landing, but was too late. Thus the Moors entered and
pillaged Soller without opposition. But the Majorcans returned with all
speed and, in a desperate fight, completely routed the pirates, who
lost at least five hundred of their number. Don Guillem de Rocafull,
the Viceroy of Majorca, hurried across the island with succour, and
found that the victory was already won.
There were other piratical raids on the island, showing the great
need for vigilance and for a protecting fleet. But the maritime power
was not so strong or efficient in the sixteenth century as it had
been in the more flourishing times when the Aragonese kings reigned
and so successfully promoted the maritime eminence of their subjects.
Nevertheless, the sailors of Majorca continued to maintain the fair
fame of their ancestors, and have done so to the present day.