GOMES EANNES DE AZURARA;
NOW FIRST DONE INTO ENGLISH
BY
CHARLES RAYMOND BEAZLEY, M.A., F.R.G.S.,
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.
Vice-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.
EDITORS' PREFACE.
he 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.
THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF AZURARA.
Life.
"Lidar sem descanço parece ter sido o moto d'Azurara."
Vieira de Meyrelles.
he 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.
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]]
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]]
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.
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, does not necessarily follow that he was illegitimate, and, in fact, no letters of legitimation exist in respect of him.] which had all the old prerogatives of those of the Temple and Calatrava, together with such as had been granted it by name.[[14]]
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]]
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.
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.
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]]
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.
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]]
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 be 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]]
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.
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]]
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]]
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.
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.
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.
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]]
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]]
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.
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.
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]]
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.
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]]
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]]
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.
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.
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]]
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."
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]]
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.
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]]
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.
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]]
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]]
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]]
* * * * *
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]]
[1] In the Chronica de Guiné, ch. 97, he calls himself "Gomez Eanes de Zurara."
[2] Barros, writing before 1552, says, "I know not how long he lived."—Asia, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 2.
[3] "De Bello Septensi," p. 27 (in the Ineditos de Historia Portugueza, vol. i, Lisbon, 1790).
[4] Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 23.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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).
[10] De Bello Septensi, p. 27.
[11] So says Corrêa da Serra—Ineditos, vol. ii, p. 207.
[12] Vide Ruy de Pina, Chronica de D. Duarte, ch. 8.
[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.
[14] Definiçoẽs e Estatutos dos Cavalleiros e Freires da Ordem de N. S. Jesu Cristo com a historia da origem & principio della. Lisbon, 1628.
[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.
[16] Chronica dos Carmaelitas, vol. i, pp. 469, 486. Lisbon, 1745.
[17] Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 2.
[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.
[19] Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, vol. iii, p. 147.
[20] Pisano testifies of Azurara, "scientiæ cupiditate flagravit".—De Bello Septensi, p. 27.
[21] Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 38.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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.
[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).
[27] Chanc. de D. Affonso V, liv. X, fl. 30. Torre do Tombo.
[28] Definiçoẽs e Estatutos dos Cavalleiros e Freires da Ordem de N. S. Jesu Christo, etc., p. 242.
[29] Liv. XII de D. Affonso V, fl. 62. Torre do Tombo.
[30] De Bello Septensi, p. 26.
[31] Estremadura, liv. VII, fl. 255. Torre do Tombo.
[32] Definiçoẽs e Estatutos, etc., p. 236.
[33] Ibid., p. 263. The situations of these Commendas are taken from Portugal Antigo e Moderno, Lisbon 1873, and following years.
[34] Chanc. de D. Affonso V. liv. X, fl. 113. Torre do Tombo.
[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).
[36] Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 1.
[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.
[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.
[39] Annaes Maritimos e Coloniaes, No. 1, Segunda serie, p. 34; and J. P. Ribeiro, Memorias Authenticas, etc., p. 21.
[40] There is a reference to this claim of the Order in the Definiçoẽs e Estatutos, etc., p. 201, and to its defeat.
[41] This must have been an adopted son of the Chronicler, to whom he had lent his name.
[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.
[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.
[44] Estremadura, liv. II, fl. 279. Torre do Tombo.
[45] Terçeyro dodianna del Rey Dom Alfonso Quinto, fol. 57. Torre do Tombo.
[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.
[47] Liv. IX de D. Affonso V, fol. 94. Torre do Tombo.
[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.
[49] Ibid., ch. 64.
[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.
[51] Ibid., ch. 63. This is the first reference in all literature to the authorship of the famous romance.
[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.
[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.
[54] Gav. 8, Maço 1, No. 17. Torre do Tombo.
[55] Decimo de Estremadura, fol. 270. Torre do Tombo.
[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.
[57] Ibid., ch. 1.
[58] Ibid., ch. 2.
[59] Ibid., ch, 2.
[60] Ibid., ch. 60.
[61] Azurara seems to have corresponded frequently with Affonso V; cf. Chronica de Guiné, ch. 7.
[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.
[63] Opusculos, vol. v, p. 14. Lisbon, 1886.
[64] Maço 7 de Foraes Antigos, No. 3. Torre do Tombo.
[65] Maço 3 de Foraes Antigos, No. 5. Torre do Tombo.
[66] Maço 1 de Foraes Antigos, No. 11. Torre do Tombo.
[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.
[68] Memorias Authenticas, p. 21.
[69] Chronica de D. Manoel, quarta parte, ch. 38.
[70] Memorias Authenticas, p. 21.
[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.
[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.
[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 ofthe 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]]
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.
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]]
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]]
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.
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]]
[74] Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes, ch. 63, and Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 38.
[75] Chronica de Guiné, chs. 61 and 62.
[76] Chronica de Guiné, chs. 7 and 28; Chronica de Ceuta chs. 34, 52, and 57; Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes, ch. 34.
[77] Chronica do Principe D. João, ch. 6, and Asia, Dec. 1, liv. ch. 2.
[78] Ineditos, vol. ii, p. 210.
[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.
[80] Cf. Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 1.
[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.
[82] Chronica de Guiné, ch. 6.
[83] Ibid., ch. 2.
[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.
[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]]
(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]]
(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.
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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
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.
[86] A Vida de Nun' Alvares. Lisbon, 1893.
[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.
[88] Chronica dos Carmaelitas, vol. i, pp. 469 and 486. Lisbon, 1745.
[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.
[90] Cf. Chronica de Guiné, ch. 5.
[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.
[92] Barros, Asia, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 1, and Goes, Chronica do Principe D. Joào, ch. 6.
[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.
[94] Catalogue No. 148, Bibliotheca Hispana, February 1895.
[95] Chronica de D. Manoel, quarta parte, ch. 38.
[96] Asia, Dec. 1, liv. ii, ch. 2.
[97] Chronica de Guiné, chs. 1, 5, and 68.
[98] Chronica de Ceuta, ch. 21, and cf. Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes, ch. 24.
[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.
[100] Bibliotheca Lusitana, vol. ii, art. on Azurara.
[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.
[102] Prologue to the Chronica de D. Affonso V (Ineditos, vol. i, p. 202).
[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.
[104] But it is quite a distinct work from that of Diogo Fernandes, though the same period seems to have given them birth.
[105] Vide Part I, chs. 1, 4, 6, 17, and 37.
[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.
