Royal Catholic Majesty:
I have informed your Majesty in other letters concerning the condition
of these your Filipinas islands, and refer you to what I have written
to your Majesty's Royal Council of the Indies, which letters have
probably arrived ere now. Likewise I have informed your Majesty how,
obeying your Majesty's orders, and those of the Royal Council of the
Indies, to obtain the friendship of the king of Borney and Vindanao,
and to render an account of what was done in this matter, I left this
city of Manila with the fleet of galleys and galliots. This I did for
your Majesty on the third day of March, and I proceeded to the island
of Borney with forty sail, counting ships of this country, and with
peaceful intentions, as my actions demonstrated. But the Moro king
of those districts, not wishing peace, came out with his fleet to
fight me on the sea, three or four leagues from the city. I sent him
a written message of peace; but he killed one of the ambassadors (who
were chiefs), and despoiled them of their possessions, as well as the
Moro rowers whom they took with them from this island of Luçon. But
although three of these have returned, the others have not. Finally
he opened hostilities, discharging his artillery. After we had fired
a number of volleys, it was God's pleasure that the Moros should be
conquered and take to flight. Thereupon I employed myself in collecting
the galleys and ships taken from them--in all twenty-seven. Likewise
I secured the artillery, dragging much of the same out of the water,
where they had thrown it--in all one hundred and seventy pieces,
both large and small. In my other letter, however, I did not inform
your Majesty exactly concerning this number, and stated that I had
remained in Borney to settle and populate it, as in fact I did.
After this, when I had subdued four or five thousand Moros who were
settled there--among them an uncle of the king, and a cousin who
served the latter there as captain-general in that war, the king of
Borney persisting in hiding in the mountains and swamps in which that
island abounds--and when I set about collecting and summoning the
people, it was God's will that all my soldiers should fall ill. It
became necessary for me to set sail in order to save my men, as
your Majesty will perceive by the relation which I am sending to the
Royal Council of the Indies. However, I first made an agreement with
those chiefs, who promised to give full obedience to your Majesty;
and that king assured me that he would receive Spaniards. Therefore,
at the first occasion the Spaniards will effect a settlement, a place
will be chosen for them, which is understood to be most healthful;
and your Majesty will be informed thereof.
From Borney I sent seven of the galleys captured there, with artillery,
and two others of your Majesty's ships, for the pacification of the
island of Vindanao. That fleet arrived there after a quiet voyage,
and I shall have news of it this coming September.
In Borney I obtained precise information concerning the entire
archipelago and the mainland, as I found there people from China,
Cauchi, [16] Camboja, Sian, Patane, Pahan, Jabas, Samatra, Achen,
Manancabo, Batachina, Maluco, Vindanao, Limboton, and other islands
thereabout. Concerning these I inform you only that as far as Sian
there dwell Moros; and thence toward the north are idolaters. Moreover,
they are within your Majesty's demarcation and are not included in
the compact [of Zaragoza]; and by employing the proper methods they
can be brought to the service of God and of your Majesty, without
violating the laws of God or nature, or the instructions which your
Majesty has most inviolably charged upon me.
With the artillery which I have taken and still hold, and the galleys
as well, the propagation of the faith and of your Majesty's service
can be carried forward. I take part in these expeditions necessarily,
because of the communications which it is necessary to make, and
to secure the observance of instructions and the obedience of the
soldiers. In this I continue to serve your Majesty with much joy,
and I see to it that all my men shall do the same.
On account of my small force (some of my men being also inexperienced
and ill-armed), and because of a lack of equipment, and my
determination to settle in this island, where there are gold-mines
in two localities, I do not inform your Majesty concerning what
expedition I shall make this coming year; since, whatever it may be,
it is necessary to commence it with the beginning of the year, and
cease before St. John's day. With the first reënforcements which
I received, up to the present time, I made this expedition; and I
found the second reënforcement in this city of Manila, with which I
shall do all things possible in the service of your Majesty and will
inform you thereof by the first vessel.
With this reënforcement I obtained letters and news concerning your
Majesty's health, and that of other royal personages. I derived
therefrom the greatest satisfaction, and I continually beseech our
Lord to grant you, and to preserve, health for many years, as your
Majesty's vassals and servants desire and need.
I am writing more at length to the royal Council, to which I am sending
a relation of what I request herein--which I hope your Majesty will
be pleased to examine, for it will be a great favor.
In other letters I have begged your Majesty to be pleased to grant me
a reward; and I referred the matter, in order that he might urge the
same, to a brother whom I had in España. God has taken this brother,
as well as my father also; another brother is serving your Majesty
in the Flemish war. For this reason, I believe, I have not received
it--whence I am in anxiety, since I know what your Majesty ordinarily
does for those who serve him. I entreat your Majesty to have the
goodness to favor me, and to console me in my losses of family,
since only God and your Majesty are left me in this life.
The favor which I beg your Majesty is that you bestow upon me the
robe, with a commandery, of one of the three orders. [17] I entreat
your Majesty to vouchsafe this in my behalf, for it is a thing that
your Majesty is accustomed to bestow upon any worthy soldier, even
when he has not an office like that in which I serve. Likewise I
entreat that Don Joan de Sande, my brother, who, as I have already
stated, has been serving your Majesty in Flanders twelve years,
be given the robe, if he be still alive; and if not, I entreat
the same for Don Bernardino de Sande, my brother, who has served
your Majesty in this country as a soldier, and is now serving you
as a captain of infantry. These brothers, as well as myself, will
serve you better according as we are more highly honored. It is of
great importance that your Majesty do not forget me, who am serving
you in this capacity of governer and captain-general. And also,
because I now have but little recompense, I beg your Majesty to have
the goodness to order it increased, and to allow me some gratuity:
for in the last expedition I spent three thousand ducats of my own,
and every day there arise similar necessities. And, regarding other
favors which I also entreat from the royal Council, may it please
your Majesty to examine the letters, graciously to take cognizance
of them, and to bestow upon me the reward due for the years that I
have spent in your Majesty's service, continuing the service, both in
peace and war, rendered to your Majesty by my ancestors and kinsmen
of a most ancient lineage. And, since God so ordains it, I am alone;
and now I entreat your Majesty to have the goodness to reply to me,
granting me the reward, which I am quite confident of receiving,
and by which I am comforted.
Since in the letter to the Council I am writing more at length, in
this present letter I do otherwise, because of the many and important
matters that take up the time of your Majesty's royal person.
The Portuguese have constructed six fortifications in Maluco, in each
of which they have mounted eight Lombardy guns. The real defense is
for your Majesty to order that no innovation be brought forward in what
pertains to the compact; for I see this with great pain and anxiety for
your royal crown. As for the rest, it would be quite an easy matter.
I brought from Borney twenty-seven ships, among them being twenty-one
galleys and galliots, together with a hundred and seventy pieces of
artillery, as above said, and other war material of which I am sending
an account to the royal Council. These supplies could not be furnished
to this country for a thousand ducats; and with them the condition
of these islands will be greatly improved. May it please our Lord
so to ordain that all men shall recognize your Majesty as their king
and sovereign, as you deserve. May our Lord guard the royal Catholic
person of your Majesty many long years, augmenting your dominion and
kingdoms, as we your vassals desire. At Manila, in the island of Luçon
in the Philipinas, July 29, 1578. Royal Catholic Majesty, I am your
Majesty's loyal vassal and servant; who kisses your royal hands,
_Doctor Francisco de Sande_
[_Endorsed_: "September 12, 1579. To the president of the Indias. Let
it be filed with the other letter, and put away."]
Grant of a Plenary Indulgence to All the Faithful Who Visit Churches
of the Friars Minors
To all the faithful of Christ who view these present letters, health
and apostolic blessing:
With solicitude, as is the duty of our pastoral office, for the
health of the Lord's flock entrusted by divine arrangement to our
unworthy care, we willingly invite the faithful of that flock, all
and singular, to visit churches and perform pious and meritorious
works, in order that with the aid of divine grace, through spiritual
largesses, indulgences (namely), and the pardoning of sins, they may
the more easily reach the joys of everlasting happiness. For in the
Indias, China, and the Philippine Islands, we desire that the churches
already founded, or to be founded within the next ten years, and each
one thereof belonging to the monasteries or houses of the discalced
brethren known as the Order of Minors of St. Francis [18] of Observance
be held in due veneration by the faithful of Christ themselves--that,
frequenting them with befitting reverence, and flocking thither
to those churches with greater readiness for the sake of devotion,
they thereby may find themselves more fruitfully refreshed through
the bestowal of heavenly grace. Therefore, relying on the mercy of
Almighty God and the authority of his blessed apostles Peter and Paul,
we mercifully in the Lord grant and bestow a plenary indulgence and
remission of all their sins, on all the faithful of Christ of either
sex, who, truly penitent and confessed each year, visit devoutly the
aforesaid churches, or any of them, on the first and second day of
the month of August, as well as the feasts of St. Francis, St. Anthony
of Padua, St. Clare, St. Louis, and St. Bernardine; and these during
their visit shall, from the first vespers to sunset of those days and
feasts, pour forth pious prayers to God for the exaltation of Holy
Mother Church, the uprooting of heresies, and the conversion of the
peoples of those regions to the Catholic faith. These presents are
to hold for all times. But, as it would be difficult to have these
present letters carried to all and singular the places where needed,
we desire, and by our apostolic authority decree, that to copies of
them bearing the seal of any person in ecclesiastical rank, the same
respect shall be paid as would be given to the originals themselves,
were they shown. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, under the seal of
the Fisherman, on the fifteenth day of November, one thousand five
hundred and seventy-eight, the seventh year of our pontificate.