“We make known to all who may see this letter that Miguell Cortereall, a nobleman of our household and our head doorkeeper [chamberlain ?], now tells us that, seeing how Gaspar Cortereall, his brother, long ago sailed from this city with three ships to discover new land, of which he had already found a part, and seeing that after a lapse of time two of the said ships returned to the said city [Lisbon], and five months have elapsed without his coming,[341] he wishes to go in search of him, and that he, the said miguell corte-reall, had many outlays and expenses of his own in the said voyage of discovery, as well as in the said ships, which his said brother fitted out the first time for that purpose [i.e., for the first voyage], when he found the said land, and likewise for the second [i.e., the second voyage], wherefore the said gaspar cortereall in consideration of this promised to share with him the said land which he thus discovered and ... which we had granted and given to him by our deed of gift, for which the said gaspar cortereall asked us before his departure, etc.” Therefore Miguel claimed his share of the lands discovered by his brother, which he obtained from the King by these letters patent, as well as the right to all new islands and lands he might discover that year (1502), besides that which his brother had found.[342]
Portuguese chart of about 1520
Two legends on the anonymous Portuguese chart of about 1520 are also of interest.[343] On the land “Do Lavrador” [i.e., Greenland] is written:
“This land the Portuguese saw, but did not enter.”
On Newfoundland, called “Bacalnaos,” is written:
“To this land came first Gaspar Corte Regalis, a Portuguese, and he carried away from thence wild men and white bears. There is great abundance of animals, birds, and fish. In the following year he suffered shipwreck there, and did not return, and his brother, Micaele, met with the same fate in the next year.”
Portion of an anonymous Portuguese chart of about 1520, preserved at Munich.
The network of compass-lines omitted
In addition to this may also be mentioned the various maps of Portuguese origin of 1502 or soon after, especially the Italian mappamundi, the so-called King map of about 1502 ([p. 373]), which must be a copy of a Portuguese map, where Newfoundland is called Terra Corte Real.
Later notices