[4] The four MSS. of Pigafetta’s Relation are those known as the Ambrosian or Italian, so called from its place of deposit, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan; no. 5,650, conserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, in French; no. 24,224, in the same library, also in French; and the Nancy MS. (also French) so called because it was conserved in Nancy, France, now owned by the heirs of Sir Thomas Phillips, Cheltenham, England. The MSS. of the Bibliothèque Nationale are both shorter than the Italian MS. The Nancy MS. is said to be the most complete of the French manuscripts. The best bibliographical account of these four MSS. that has yet appeared is by Mosto ut supra. A full bibliographical account of both the MSS. and printed books will be given in the volume on bibliography in this series.
There are a number of radical differences between the Paris MS. no. 5,650 (which will be hereafter referred to simply as MS. 5,650) and the Italian MS., these differences including paragraph structure and the division of MS. 5,650 into various chapters, although the sequence is on the whole identical. The most radical of the differences will be shown in these notes. MS. 5,650 contains the following title on the page immediately preceding the beginning of the relation proper: “Navigation and discovery of Upper Indie, written by me, Anthoyne Pigaphete, a Venetian, and knight of Rhodes.”
[5] The emperor Charles V; but he was not elected to that dignity until June, 1519. Pigafetta writing after that date is not explicit.
[6] Francesco Chiericati was born in Venice, in one of the most ancient and famous families of that city, at the end of the fifteenth century. He attained preëminence at Sienna in both civil and ecclesiastical law. Aided by Cardinal Matteo Lang, bishop of Sion, he was received among the prelates of the apostolic palace. Later he conducted several diplomatic missions with great skill. He left Rome for Spain in December, 1518, on a private mission for the pope, and especially to effect a crusade against the Turks who were then invading Egypt and threatening Christianity. His house at Barcelona became the meeting-place of the savants of that day who discussed literature and science. See Mosto, p. 19, note 3.
[7] MS. 5,650 adds: “scholars and men of understanding.”
[8] MS. 5,650 reads: “so that I might satisfy the wish of the said gentlemen and also my own desire, so that it could be said that I had made the said voyage and indeed been an eyewitness of the things hereafter written.”
[9] See Vol. I, p. 250, note 192 for sketch of Magalhães. The only adequate life of Magalhães in English is that of Guillemard.
[10] That is, the Order of Santiago. See Vol. I, p. 145, note 171. Magalhães and Falero were decorated with the cross of comendador of the order by Cárlos I in the presence of the royal Council in July, 1518. See Guillemard’s Ferdinand Magellan, p. 114.
[11] See Vol. I for various documents during the period of the preparation of the fleet; also Guillemard’s Magellan, pp. 114–116 and 130–134; and Stanley’s First Voyage, pp. xxxiv–xlvi.
[12] Pope Clement VII, who assumed the papacy November 19, 1523. Pigafetta was summoned to Rome very soon after Clement’s election, for he was in Rome either in December, 1523, or January, 1524.