THE CAREER OF VERRAZZANO. AN ADVENTUROUS LIFE AND AN IGNOMINIOUS
DEATH. CONCLUSION.
The true history of Verrazzano, so far as known, is now to be given,
in order to make a final disposition of this story. Nothing is
preserved in relation to his early life. Even the year of his birth
is matter of conjecture. He is called by Ramusio, Giovanni da
Verrazzano, Florentine; and according to Pelli, was born about the
year 1485, His father was Piero Andrea, son of Bernardo, the son of
Bernardo of Verrazzano, a little town situated in the Val di Greve,
near Florence,--the latter Bernardo having belonged to the
magistracy of the priors in 1406. All that his eulogist was enabled
to gather concerning him, beyond this brief genealogy, is taken from
the Verrazzano letter and the discourse of Ramusio, relating how he
was killed, roasted and devoured by the savages in a second voyage
to America; [Footnote: The account which Ramusio gives of
Verrazzano, and the manner of his death, occurs in his Discourse on
Labrador, the Baccalaos and New France (vol. III fol. 41), in which,
after reffering to the Cortereaes and Sebastian Cabot, he adds:
"There also sailed along the said land, in the year 1524, a great
captain of the most Christian king in France, called Giovanni da
Verrazzano, a Florentine; and he ran along all the coast, as far as
Florida, as will be particularly seen by a letter of his, written to
the said king, which alone we have been able to have, because the
others have got astray in the troubles of the unfortunate city of
Florence. And in the last voyage which he made, having wished to
descend on the land with some companions, they were all put to death
by those people, and in the presence of those who remained on board
of the ship, were roasted and devoured. Such a wretched end had this
valiant gentleman, who, had not this misfortune intervened, would,
by the great knowledge and intelligence which he had of maritime
affairs, and of navigation, accompanied and favoured by the immense
liberality of King Francis, have discovered and made known to the
world, all that part of the earth, up to the north pole, and would
not have been contented with the Coast merely, but would have sought
to penetrate far inland, and as far as he could go; and many, who
have known and conversed with him, have told me, that he declared it
was his intention to seek to persuade the most Christian King to
send from these parts, a good number of people to settle in some
places of said coast which are of temperate climate, and very
fertile soil, with very beautiful rivers and harbors capable of
holding any fleets. The settlers in these places would be the
occasion of producing many good results, and among others of
bringing those rude and ignorant tribes to divine worship, and to
our most holy faith, and to show them how to cultivate the land,
transporting some of the animals of our Europe to those vast plains;
and finally, in time, having discovered the inland parts, and seen
whether among the many islands existing there, any passage to the
south sea exists, or whether the main land of Florida or the West
Indies continues up to the pole. This and so much is what has been
related of this so brave a gentleman, of whose toil and sweat, in
order that his memory may not remain buried, and his name pass into
oblivion, we have desired to give to the light the little that has
come into our hands."
Ramusio here distinctly asserts that the only document in relation
to the voyage of Verrazzano which he had been able to procure, was
the letter which he published; but he informs his readers that he
had been told by certain persons who had known and conversed with
Verrazzano, that it was the intention of the navigator, as he
himself declared, to seek permission from Francis I, his adopted
sovereign, in whose service it is claimed he made the discovery, to
make another voyage to the new found land for the purposes of
colonization and further exploration; and he also states, upon the
same or other authority, that Verrazzano on another voyage was
killed and eaten, by the natives of the country. Consequently,
Verrazzano must have made a second voyage to America and obtained
such permission from the king. But there is not a particle of
evidence in existence, apart from the declarations of these persons
to Ramusio, that any such permission was ever given, or that a
second voyage took place. It proved the credulity of Ramusio that he
received these naked statements without any examination.] with the
suggestion of Coronelli, the Venetian geographer, that the place
where he thus met his death was at the entrance of the gulf of St.
Lawrence, The spurious letter of Carli adds that he had been in
Egypt, Syria and most other parts of the world. The ancient
manuscripts of Dieppe, as we have seen, [Footnote: Ante, p. 112,
note] speak of one of his name who accompanied Aubert, in his voyage
to Newfoundland, in 1508; and the statement of Hakluyt before
referred to, gives some ground to believe that he was employed in
early voyages to that region, before he engaged in his operations
against the commerce of Spain.
What is certainly known of him relates almost exclusively to his
career as a French corsair, during the few years which intervened
between the breaking out of hostilities between Francis I and
Charles V, and his death, in 1527. His cruises, though directed
principally against the Spaniards, were not tender of the interests
of Portugal; and it is accordingly from Spanish and Portuguese
writers and documents of the period, that the little information
that exists in relation to him, is derived. He is called by the
former, Juan Florin or Florentin, or simply, the Florentine,--the
French corsair. He is designated on an occasion to be noted, as Juan
Florin of Dieppe. [Footnote: On the capture of the treasure fleet.
See Appendix, iv.] They appear to have known him by no other name.
They never heard of him as a discoverer, real or pretended, of new
countries, until long afterwards. The Verrazzano letter had not been
published when Peter Martyr, Oviedo and Gomara wrote; and when
Martyr and Gomara make mention of him, they do so only by the title
by which he was designated by the Spanish sailors. There was,
therefore, no opportunity for his identification by them in the
double character of a great discoverer, and a corsair; and it was
not until many years after the publication of the Verrazzano letter
that this identification was first declared by Barcio [Footnote:
Ensayo Chronologico, sub anno, 1524.].
There is no room, however; to doubt its entire correctness. That the
occupation of Verrazzano was that of a cruizer on the seas, is not
only declared in the letter ascribed to him, [Footnote: Ramusio
gives Verrazzano this character more distinctly than it appears in
the original version. One of the first alterations of the text, is
of the passage previously referred to, relating to the cruise of the
Normandy and Dauphiny, after their repairs in Brittany. The Carli
version, reads, in connection with the two ships on that occasion:
date restaurati ara V. S. M. inteso il discorso facemo con quelle
armate in querra per li liti di Spagna, that is, "where being
repaired, your serene majesty will have understood we made the
cruize with THIS FLEET OF WAR along the coasts of Spain," from which
it is to be implied only, that the cruize was for the purpose of
depredating on Spanish commerce. But Ramusio, as became his
practice, with this document at least, altered this clause into doce
poi che furono secondo il bisogno raccociate So ben armeggiate, per
i liti di Spagna ce n'andammo in carso, il che V. M. haverd inteso
per il profitto che ne facemmo; which Hakluyt fairly renders:
"Where, after we had repaired them in all points as was needfull,
and armed them very well, we took our course along by the coast of
Spain, which your majesty shall understand, BY THE PROFIT WE
RECEIVED THEREBY." As this cruize according to the date of the
letter must have taken place in 1523, this language, which is
Ramusio's own, as to the profit, would seem to refer almost to the
capture by Verrazzano of the treasure sent by Cortes, to the emperor
which occurred in the summer of that year, as hereafter related: but
Verrazzano's fleet consisted of six instead of two ships on that
occasion. The words of Ramusio, show, however, that he knew
Verazzano was a rover, in search of booty on the seas or at least,
that he so regarded him.] but is clearly established by the
agreement made by him with Chabot. Besides, there is no other
Giovanni, a Florentine, known in the history of the time, sailing in
that capacity under the French flag and from the same port of
Dieppe; and the references must have therefore been to him alone.
The appellation of corsair, does not necessarily imply a pirate. It
was applicable to any one engaged in the capture of vessels on the
high seas, whether authorized to do so or not. The state of
hostilities between France and Spain, protected Verrazzano under the
rules of war, as a subject of Francis, in capturing Spanish vessels,
as long as it continued; and the anomalous condition of affairs
existing at that time, according to the Portuguese historian,
Andrade, of private war between the subjects of the kings of France
and Portugal, without any public war between the sovereigns, would
seem to have justified him in similar acts in regard to the commerce
of the Portuguese, as long as the practice was not forbidden by the
kings of the two countries.
The first adventure of the kind, in which we hear of Verrazzano, was
in 1521. At this time a valuable commerce had grown up between Spain
and her conquests in the West Indies, and large amounts in gold,
pearls, sugar, hides and other articles were sent home. A ship, on
her way from Hispaniola, was captured by him, in the year just
mentioned, having on board eighty thousand ducats in gold, six
hundred pounds weight--eight ounces to the pound, of pearls and two
thousand arrobas, of twenty-five pounds each, of sugar.
[Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. v. c. 8. Epistola 771 (ed. 1671). In
this letter which is dated at Valladolid 19th November 1522, Martyr
writes: "Anuo quippe superiore Florinus quidam Gallus pirata navim
unam ab Hispaniola venientem, auro ad sommam octoginta millium
dragmarum, unionum vero libris octuolibus sexcentis & ruborum
saecari duobus millibus rapuit."]
In the following year, he took possession of seven vessels bound
from Cadiz to the Canary islands, with emigrants, but being
overhauled off the point of Gando, by vessels sent in pursuit, was
compelled to relinquish his prizes. [Footnote: Don Bartholome Garcia
del Castillo in Noticias de la historia de las islas de Canaria, by
Don Joseph de Viera y Clavijo. (Madrid 1772-84).]
He is next found apparently meditating an expedition against the
Portuguese possessions in Brazil, upon the pretext of discovering
other countries in the east, which that nation had not found. The
mention of this project is positive, and becomes curious and
interesting in the history of his life, as it affords the only
authentic evidence extant of any suggestion of a voyage of
discovery, contemplated by him towards Cathay. The design, if really
entertained, appears, however, to have fallen through and to have
been abandoned; but it may, nevertheless, have been the foundation
of the story of the alleged voyage. It is related by Francisco
d'Andrade, in his Chronicle of John III, the then reigning king of
Portugal. After referring to the death of Magellan, as an event
which removed a cause of difference between the crowns of Portugal
and Castile, growing out of the famous expedition of that navigator,
Andrade thus speaks of the state of affairs between the crowns of
France and Portugal.
"At that time, the king was told by some Portuguese, doing business
in France, that one Joao Varezano, a Florentine, offered himself to
Francis, to discover other kingdoms in the East, which the
Portuguese had not found, and that in the ports of Normandy a fleet
was being made ready under the favor of the admirals of the coast,
and the dissimulation of Francis, to colonize the land of Santa
Cruz, called Brazil, discovered and laid down by the Portuguese in
the second voyage to India. This, and the complaints every where
made of the injuries inflicted by French corsairs, rendered the
early attention of the king necessary.
"Accordingly he sent to France an ambassador, Joao da Silveyra, son
of Fernao da Silveyra, who delayed his going no longer than was
necessary to get ready. The purpose of his mission was to ask
Francis, inasmuch as there never had been war between them, but
rather an ancient peace and friendship, that he would give orders
throughout his kingdom for the many robberies and injuries,
perpetrated at sea on each other by the Portuguese and French, to
cease, (which tacitly was a private and not an open war, as in
general they were friends); that whatever could be found in his
ports taken from the Portuguese, should be restored, as what might
be found in the harbors of Portugal, taken from the French, should
be forthwith given up, and that to all who should ask justice in
this particular it should he rendered immediately and fully. The
king then required Francis likewise, to prevent his vessels from
making outfits to go to parts of the Portuguese conquest, whither it
was not lawful for even Portuguese vessels to sail or the people to
traffic.
"Joao da Silveyra was well received at the court of France; but as
respects the specific matters of negotiation in his charge, he was
answered every way indefinitely, with reasons more specious than
sound which appeared to be given not so much to conclude the affaire
upon which he treated as to procrastinate and consume time.
* * * * * * *
"Joao da Silveyra continued to solicit with much urgency the matters
in his keeping at the court of France, and received answers
respecting them according as the matters which were proposed in
Portugal, [the marriage of Carlota, daughter of Francis, with the
prince Dam Joao], gave hopes of advancement. The king said through
one Luys Homem that he greatly desired the fostering and increase of
ancient friendship. Following upon that in a few days he ordered the
vessels in his ports preparing for India to be stopped, stating that
he would arrange this in such a way that the king should be
satisfied. Measures were adopted for the restoration of all property
that was known to have been taken from the king or his vessels, and
expectations were entertained of an order making such provision
throughout as should put a stop to all the robberies and the evils
arising from them. Since this had been the principal object for
which the embassador had been sent to France, it appeared to the
king of Portugal, that it would be for his service that he should
order the return of Joao da Silveyra, and that the licentiate Pedro
Gomez Feixeira with Master Diego de Gevoeya, (to whom he likewise
wrote of this matter) should demand justice respecting certain
matters of his property and assist such of his vessels as were
seeking it. But before the order for the return of Silveyra had left
this court, information was received by one Jacome Monteyro (who by
authority of the king of France sought the restitution of property)
that Francis had issued new orders, commanding the general
sequestration of all the property of the king of Portugal and of his
people, the embargo of all his vessels to be found in the ports of
France, without the declaration of any new cause, or the statement
of any reason for this order, the opposite of what had before been
promulgated. The king in consequence, directed Joao da Silveyra to
take truthful information of the particulars and the reasons for
this proceeding and commanded his presence before the council, to
make them known.
"Following this, hostilities having been declared between the
kingdoms and seignories of the emperor and the king of France, they
waging cruel strife by land and sea, the French with an armament
afloat took a Spanish ship with gold, belonging to the emperor,
within the limits of the Portuguese coast, besides much property of
individuals, regardless of where she had been found, so little
attentive were they in those times, to Portugal and Portuguese;
seized her by force as belonging to their enemies, and carried her
off, as good prize of war. Pedro Batelho was sailing the while,
giving protection to the coast of Portugal, by the royal order,
according to the ancient custom of this kingdom, held always to be
useful and necessary, the value of which became evident from what
occurred afterwards, when it fell into disuse.
"The captain coming out one morning with his fleet, near those who
were carrying of the Spanish ship, he obliged them by force to take
in sail, as they hesitated to obey for some time, until he informed
himself of what had passed. Discovering that there were some doubts
and that deliberation would be necessary to do justice, he brought
all before him to the port of Lisbon, where the prize was
sequestrated and they made prisoners, and the case, by order of the
king, was sent to the Casa da Supplicacam where sentence was
pronounced the following year. This news, which was directly known
in France, made great change in the order of affairs with Portugal,
and produced the state they were afterwards in, during the following
nine consecutive years that Joao da Silveyra was there, in which
time, he accomplished nothing he had in hand, except to EMBARGO THE
VOYAGE OF THE FLORENTINE, of which mention is made before, and of
some few vessels of corsairs which was but sheer justice to
us."[Footnote: Cronica de muyto alto, emuyto poderoso rey destes
reynos de Portugal Dom Joao o III deste nome. By Francisco
d'Andrade. Part I, c. 13 and 14. (Lisbon 1613.)]
The time when these preparations were being made by Verrazzano is
more definitely fixed by a despatch of Silveira to the king, from
Paris on the 25th of April 1523, in which he states that "Verazano"
had not yet left for Cathay that this whole story of an intended
voyage of discovery was proposed for the purpose of concealing the
real object of the preparations which were going on in Normandy, of
seizing the treasure which had been sent from Mexico, by Cortes to
the emperor, of the successful accomplishment of which we have
now to speak. [Footnote: Sautarem gives the date of this dispatch
as the 23d of April 1522, Quadro Elementar, tom III, sec. XVI, p. 165.
But the letter of Silveira will be found in full in the Appendix (III)
from the Portuguese archives. Santarem]. It is highly probable,
therefore, is evidently mistaken as to the year, inasmuch as the
news of Magellan's death, to which Andrade refers as a prior event,
did not reach Spain until September 1522 and Silveira's appointment
as embassador was after that news was received.]
In November, 1522, a vessel arrived in Spain which had been sent
from Mexico, by the conquistador with the emperor's share of the
tribute money collected in that country, in the special charge of
Alonzo Davila and Antonio Quinones, with other articles of value.
Fearing capture by the French corsairs, this vessel had sailed by
the way of the Azores, and leaving the treasure, with its
custodians, at the island of Santa Maria, proceeded on without it,
in order that a proper force might be sent to that island to bring
it safely to Spain. Joan Ribera, the secretary of Cortes, came in
the ship to Spain. These facts appear to have become notorious
immediately. Peter Martyr mentions them in his letter of the 17th of
November 1522, and in the fifth of his decades, written while the
treasure was still at Santa Maria, speaks of the French having
knowledge of its being left there. "I know not," he says, "in
reference to the ships sent there for it, what flying report there
is that the French pirates have understood of those ships, God grant
them good successe." [Footnote: Dec. v. c. 10. (Lok's trans.)] Three
caravels were despatched from Seville to Santa Maria, under the
command of Captain Domingo Alonzo, arriving there on the 15th of May
1523. Davila and Quinones immediately embarked in them, with the
treasure, sailing directly to Spain. Meanwhile, Verrazzano proceeded
with six vessels towards Cape St. Vincent, for the purpose of
intercepting them, which he succeeded in doing, within ten leagues
of that cape. After a sharp encounter, in which Quinones was killed,
he captured two of them, in one of which Davila was taken with the
gold, and the other most valuable articles. The third caravel
escaped, and arrived in Spain, with a tiger and various articles of
rich manufacture, which had belonged to Montezuma. Verrazzano took
his prizes into Rochelle. The value of the treasure and articles
taken was estimated at more than six hundred thousand ducats, or one
million and a half of dollars. [Footnote: Peter Martyr, Dec. v. c.
8. Epist. 771, Nov. 19, 1522, and 779, June 11, 1523 (ed. 1670).
Herrera, Dec. III. lib. IV. c. 20. Letter of Davila to the emperor
from Rochelle, June 17, 1523, in the archives at Seville, now first
published in the Appendix (IV). Martyr says there were two ships,
the larger of which only containing the treasure fell into the hands
of John Florin, the French pirate, and the others escaped; but
Davila must be right.]
These facts at least establish that Joao Verazano mentioned by the
Portuguse, Andrade and Silveira, was the same person who made the
capture of the treasure ships; for it is not to be supposed that two
different Florentines of the name of Giovanni, were in command of
French fleets, at the same time, belonging to the ports of Normandy
alone; and consequently that Verrazzano, our navigator, and Juan
Florin the corsair were one. But how far the seizure of the treasure
ships was, as before suggested, the original purpose of the fleet
can only be inferred from the circumstances, and is important only
in connection with the DESIGN of a voyage of discovery. Between the
time of the arrival of Ribera with the information that the treasure
had been left at the Azores, and the sending of the caravels to
bring it to Spain, nearly six months elapsed. Taking the dates,
which are established by the official documents now produced, of the
fitting out of the fleet in Normandy by Verrazzano and the actual
capture of the two caravels, it is easy to see that the real purpose
of those preparations from the first, might have been to effect the
capture of the treasure. The transmission of the news to Portugal of
an intended voyage to Brazil and the sending of instructions to the
embassador at [Footnote: According to the letter of Silveira, he was
at Polssy on Christmas, and Andrade was therefore, probably in error
in stating that he had his instructions in regard to Varezano before
he left Portugal.] the French court could all have taken place after
the detention of the treasure at Santa Maria became known in France
and the fitting out of the vessels for its capture had begun to be
made. It is stated by Andrade that it was at a port in Normandy
where the vessels were being made ready; and it is to be presumed,
from the connection of Verrazzano with Jean Ango, as shown
subsequently by the agreement with Chabot for a like purpose, that
it was from Dieppe, and probably a the expense of that rich
merchant, who we are told was enabled to entertain his sovereign
with princely magnificence and to embargo the port of Lisbon, with a
fleet of his own, [Footnote: Mem. Chron. de Dieppe. I. 106-111.]
that they sailed on this occasion.
Verrazzano is certainly found at Rochelle on the 16th of June, 1523,
two months after the despatch of Silveira was written, with his
prizes captured on a different expedition from that mentioned by the
ambassador. It is evident, therefore, that the project of a voyage
of discovery to Cathay, if ever seriously entertained, had at that
time been abandoned; as may also be inferred from the statement of
Andrade, that Silveira, in the nine years he was at the court of
France, succeeded only in embargoing the voyage of the Florentine,
and accomplishing some minor matters.[Footnote: The document
accompanying the letter of Davila in the archives, describes Juan
Florin as of Dieppe, and thus fixes the seat of his operations in
Normandy. See Appendix, (IV. 2.)]
But the question of any such voyage of discovery having been made at
the time claimed in the Verrazzano letter is effectually set at rest
by the fact that Verrazzano was then actually engaged in a
corsairial enterprise elsewhere. Peter Martyr, in an epistle written
on the 3d of August 1524, less than a month after the alleged return
of Verrazzano to Dieppe from his voyage of discovery, wrote from
Valladolid that "a courier of the king of Portugal had arrived (with
word) that Florin, the French pirate, had captured a ship of his
king on her way from the Indies, with a cargo valued at one hundred
and eighty thousand ducats." [Footnote: Epist. 800 (ed. 1670).] It
is impossible for Verrazzano to have been on the coast of North
America, or on his return from Newfoundland to France, and at the
same time to have taken a ship on her way from the Indies to
Portugal, coming as she must have done, by the Cape of Good Hope.
The defeat of Francis I at the battle of Pavia and his capture and
detention in Spain during the year 1525, seem to have suspended the
depredations upon the seas by the French, and nothing more occurs
relating to Verrazzano, until after the release of the king, in the
following year, and then in an adventure which seems to have cost
him his life, unless his probable appearance in England as mentioned
by Hakluyt, to which reference has already been made, be an
exception. Allusion has also been made several times to an agreement
between Chabot, admiral of France, and others, including Verrazzano,
which now assumes particular importance. It is the only document yet
produced in France, relating to him, and is of recent discovery.
[Footnote: Margry, Les Navigations Francaises, p.194 (Paris, 167.)
See Appendix (II)] By this agreement it was stipulated that Chabot,
as admiral of France, should furnish two galleons, Jean Ango one
ship, and Verrazzano two pilots besides himself, and that the three
persons here named should with Guillaume Preudhomme, general of
Normandy, Pierre Despinolles and Jacques Boursier, in different
specified amounts each, make up the sum of twenty thousand pounds in
Tours currency for the expenses, on joint account, of a voyage to
the Indies for spices,--the admiral and Ango, however, to have one-
fourth of all the merchandise returned, for the use of the vessels,
and Verrazzano to have one-sixth of the remaining three-fourths, for
his compensation and that of his two pilots. The contract contained
another provision, that if any booty should be taken on the sea from
the Moors, or other enemies of the faith and the king, the admiral
should first take a tenth of it and the remainder should be divided
as stipulated in regard to the merchandise, except such part as
should, upon advisement, be given to the crew. The admiral was to
have letters patent expedited from the king for permission to make
the voyage. This paper has no date, but as it was made by Chabot, in
his official capacity, as admiral of France, it could not have been
earlier than March 1526, when, as we have seen, he was so created.
It belongs, therefore, either to that or the following year, judging
from the fatal consequences which happened to Verrazzano in the
latter.
Although a voyage from France to the Indies for spices was not an
improbable venture at that time inasmuch as one was actually made
from Dieppe, two years afterwards, by Jean Parmentier in the service
of Ango, there is every reason to believe that such was not the real
object of the parties to this agreement. One of the stipulations
between them was for a division, of booty, showing an intention to
make captures on the sea. Who were the enemies of the king from whom
it was to be taken is not stated. By the treaty of Madrid, in
January 1526. peace existed between France and Spain, and any
expedition from one of them against the commerce of the other, was
clearly piratical. Neither did war exist at this time, between
France and Portugal. Yet it appears that both the Spaniards and the
Portuguese, were searching for Verrazzano at the time, when the
former succeeded in capturing him, in September or October 1527. He
had, therefore, not sailed to the Indies and must have made himself
obnoxious to those nations, by fresh depredations upon their
vessels. Bernal Diaz, who gives an account of his capture and
execution, states that he was actually so engaged. [Footnote:
Historia verdadera, fol 164.] It appears from the letters of the
judge who superintended his execution that he was then encountered
by six Biscayan galleons and ships, and after battle, captured and
taken by them to Cadiz, with his crew, consisting of one hundred and
twenty or thirty persons, besides several gentlemen adventurers,
Verrazzano offered his captors thirty thousand ducats to be
released, but in vain. He was sent under guard with the adventurers
to Madrid, but was overtaken on the way at Colmenar near Puerto del
Pico, villages between Salamanca and Toledo, [Footnote: Blaen,
Utriusque Castilia nova descripto. Martiniere, Dictionaire
Geographique, aub Colmenar et Pico.] by the judge of Cadiz with an
order made by the emperor at Lerma on the 13th of October 1527, by
virtue of which he was there put to death in November of that year.
Such was the termination of the career of this hold man, which was
long ago substantially told by Bernal Diaz and Barcia, but so
loosely in regard to dates, as to have created doubts as to their
correctness, but which is established by the documents existing in
the archives at Simancas, now brought to light. [Footnote: See the
letter of the judge of Cadiz, in the Appendix (V.L.) Barcia, in his
Chronological Essay, mentions the capture and execution of Juan the
Florentine as a pirate under the year 1524. He does not state that
they took place in that year, but refers to them in connection with
the discoveries alleged to have been made in that year by
Verrazzano, whom he identifies as the corsair. It has been supposed,
consequently, that he meant that year as the time of Verrazzano's
death; and hence, inasmuch as Verrazzano was known to have been
alive after that year, that the whole story was an error. The
letters of Juan de Giles, the resident judge of Cadiz, appended to
this memoir, enable us to fix the date of his execution, for
although not dated themselves, they contain a reference to the date
of the cedule, ordering the execution, by which it can be
determined. Giles mentions that this cedule was dated at Lerma, on
the 13th of last month, showing that it was made there on the 13th
of some month. According to the Itinerary of Charles V, kept by his
private secretary, Vandernesse, containing an account of the
emperor's journeys from the year 1519 to 1551, Charles went to
Lerma, a small town in Old Castile, for the first time on the 9th of
May, 1524 and returned thence to Burgos on the 12th of that month,
going to Lerma again on the 21st of July of that year and leaving it
on the 24th for Vallidesole. He was not there afterwards, until the
12th of October, 1527, where he remained until the 17th of that
month when he went to Burgos. He went to Lerma again on the 20th of
February 1528, and remained there for two days only. These are all
the occasions of his presence at Lerma during the whole period of
the Itinerary. These dates prove that the only possible occasion for
issuing the order of execution was the 13th of October 1527. The
prisoners left under guard, on the 15th of that month for Madrid,
and the letter apprising the emperor that the order had been
executed upon Verrazzano must have been written in November, the
month following.
The Itinerary will be found in the Correspondence of the Emperor
Charles V, by William Bradford, London, 1850.]
And thus finally the testimony, upon which the tale of discovery was
credited and proclaimed to the world, is contradicted and disproved.
The statement that Verrazzano and a member of his crew were killed
and then feasted upon by the inhabitants of the coast which he had
visited a second time, has no support or confirmation in the history
of that rude and uncivilized people; for, however savage and cruel
they were towards their enemies, or, under provocation, towards
strangers, no authenticated instance of their canibalism has ever
been produced; but on the contrary the testimony of the best
authorities, is that they were guiltless of any such horrid
practice. Yet that statement was a part of the information which
Ramusio received and communicated to his readers at the same time
with the Verrazzano letter; and constituted a part of the evidence
upon which he relied. How utterly false it was is shown by the
agreement with Chabot and the capture and execution of Verrazzano by
the Spaniards. It is now seen how the credulity of the historian was
imposed upon, and he was led by actual misrepresentations to adopt a
narrative which has no foundation in truth, and whose
inconsistencies and incongruities he vainly sought to reconcile, but
which, for three centuries, sanctioned by his authority alone, has
been received as authentic and true; until at length, by the
exposure of its original character, and the circumstances of its
publication by him, with the production of undoubted evidence from
the records of the time, it is proven to be a deliberate fraud.
This completes our purpose. The question, however, still presents
itself what was the motive for this gross deception? The answer is
suggested by the feet that all the evidence produced in favor of the
story is traceable to Florence, the birthplace of Verrazzano.
Ramusio obtained the Verazzano letter there,--the only one, he says,
not astray in consequence of its unfortunate troubles. The letter of
Carli, enclosing that of Verrazzano, is professedly written by a
Florentine to his father in that city. The map of Hieronimo de
Verrazano bears the impress of the family. The discourse of the
French captain of Dieppe appears to have been sent originally to
Florence, whence it was procured by Ramusio. Even the globe of
Euphrosynus Ulpius, a name otherwise unknown, is represented to have
been constructed for Marcellus, who had been archbishop of Florence.
They are all the testimony of Florence in her own behalf. The cities
of Italy which had grown in wealth and importance during the
fifteenth century, by means of enterprising and valuable commerce,
produced and nurtured a race of skillful seamen, among whom were the
most distinguished of the first discoverers of the new world, in the
persons of Columbus, Vespucci and the Cabots; but those cities
contributed nothing more to the discoveries which thus were
achieved, than to give these men birth and education. The glory of
promoting and successfully accomplishing those results belonged to
other nations, which had the wisdom and fortune to secure the
services of these navigators. The cities shone, however, with the
lustre reflected from having reared and instructed them to the work
they so wonderfully performed. Although enjoying a common
nationality, these municipales belonged to independent republics and
were in a measure rivals of each other. Florence emulated Genoa. She
truly boasted that Vespucci, born and raised on her soil, was the
first to reach the main land and thus to have his name applied for
the whole continent, "America quasi Americi terra;" while Genoa
justly claimed for her son, that the discovery of all America was to
be regarded as assured from the moment that Columbus landed on the
little sandy island of Guanahana, on the 12th of October 1492.
[Footnote: Humboldt, Examen Critique, IV, 37.] But Florence enjoys
in addition the unenviable distinction of having sought to advance
the pretensions of Vespucci by fictitious letters, purporting to be
signed with his name.[Footnote: Varnhagen, Amerigo Vespucci, son
caractere, ses scrits (meme les moins authentiques) &c., p. 67, et
seq. (Lima, 1865).] That this spirit of civic pride in that same
community may have actuated the fabrication of the Verrazzano letter
is not improbable; but in justice to the memory of Verrazzano it
must be added, there is no reason to believe that he was in any way
accessory to the imposture.