[177] We learn about the voyage of Sevill from the Catalan Map of Gabriel Valsecca, executed between 1434 and 1439, which (1) gives a very fair representation of several of the Azores, under the names: Ylla de Oesels (St. Mary), Ylla de Fruydols (St. Michael), Ylla de Inferno (Terceira), Ylla de Guatrilla (St. George), Ylla de Sperto (Pico), and another of which the name has been effaced: (2) Bears the inscription: These islands were found by Diego de Sevill, pilot of the King of Portugal, in 1427. [Some have tried to read the MS. date as 1432 (xxxii for xxvii) but the text is against them]. In the Mediceum, or Laurentian Portolano, of 1351, St. Mary and St. Michael are laid down as Insule de Cabrera; St. George, Fayal, and Pico, as Insule de Ventura sive de Columbis; Terceira (?) as Insula de Brazi[l]. On the Catalan Map of 1375, we have San Zorzo (= St. George, "Jorge"); I. de la Ventura (= Fayal); Li Columbi (= Pico); I. di Corvi Marini (= Corvo); Li Conigi (= Flores). On the so-called Andrea Bianco of 1436 (probably a re-edition of a much earlier map), St. Michael appears as Cabrera. Corvo and Flores first appear on the Catalan Atlas of 1375, as far as present knowledge goes.
[178] Periplus, 116 A.
[179] It is probable that the "Gorgades" of the Greeks were derived from Phœnician accounts; but it is very doubtful whether these represent the Cape Verdes. Ptolemy, as we have seen, places the southern extremity of his Fortunate Isles much in the true position of Santiago, though extending them north through 5 degrees of latitude.
2.—THE ATLANTIC ISLANDS
in prince henry's lifetime.
Azurara also requires some words of supplement as to the progress of discovery and colonisation among the Atlantic Islands in Prince Henry's lifetime.[[180]] And, first, in the Azores. After the first voyages of Diego de Sevill and Gonçalo Cabral, the latter (according to Cordeiro) sought unsuccessfully for an island which had been sighted by a runaway slave from the highest mountain in St. Mary; at last, corrected by the Prince's map-studies, he found the object of his search on the 8th May, 1444, and named it St. Michael, being the festival of the Apparition of the Archangel.[[181]] The colonisation of this (even more than of other islands in the group) was impeded by earthquakes, but was nevertheless commenced on September 29, 1445. From the number of hawks or kites[[182]] found in St. Michael and St. Mary, the present name now began to supersede all others[[183]] for the Archipelago. The island now called Terceira,[[184]] but originally "The Isle of Jesus Christ," was apparently discovered before a.d. 1450, either by Prince Henry's sailors, or by an expedition of Flemish mariners or colonists under one Josua van der Berge, a citizen of Bruges, who claimed the exclusive, honour of this achievement under date of 1445. Hence, in some Netherland maps and atlases, of later date, the Azores are called The Flemish Islands.[[185]] On the other hand, Cordeiro has printed the Infant's charter of March 2, 1450, to Jacques de Bruges,[[186]] his servant, giving him the Captaincy of the Isle of Jesu Christ, because the said Jacques had asked permission of the Prince to colonise this uninhabited spot. Jacques de Bruges bore all the expenses of this colonisation, and may have been specially recommended to Henry by his sister, the Duchess of Burgundy. He had married into a noble Portuguese family, and had previously rendered some services to the Infant.
Graciosa was colonised by Vasco Gil Sodré, a Portuguese, who had been under Prince Henry's orders to Africa, and at first intended to join in the settlement of Terceira, but afterwards passed over to Graciosa. The captaincy of this island he divided for some time with his brother-in-law, Duarte Barreto.
San Jorge received its first inhabitants through a venture of Willem van der Haagen,[[187]] one of Jacques de Bruges' companions: Van der Haagen brought two shiploads of people and plant from Flanders, but afterwards abandoned the city he had founded there, and transferred himself to the more fertile island of Fayal. The last name brings us to one of the controversial points in the early history of the Azores.
According to the received account, Fayal was first settled by a Fleming noble, Jobst Van Heurter,[[188]] Lord of Moerkerke, father-in-law of Martin Behaim, who commemorated this event in a legend on his globe of 1492. The famous Nuremberger declares that the Azores were colonised in 1466, after they had been granted by the King of Portugal to his sister, Isabel, Duchess of Burgundy; that in 1490 Job de Huerter came out to settle with "some thousands of souls," the Duchess "having granted these islands to him and his descendants;" that in 1431, when Prince Pedro was Regent, Prince Henry sent out two vessels for two years' sail beyond Finisterre, and sailing west 500 leagues, they found these ten uninhabited islands; that they called them Azores from the tame birds they found there; and that the King began to settle the islands with "domestic animals" in 1432. This account is full of inaccuracies, and from the documents,[[189]] noticed by Father Cordeiro, by Barros, and by the Archivo dos Açores, it appears probable that the grant of Fayal to Jobst van Heurter as first Captain Donatory was made after Prince Henry's death, perhaps in 1466, by Henry's successor, D. Ferdinand, at the request of the Duchess of Burgundy, and that this grant was confirmed by the Crown of Portugal; which, however, retained its sovereign rights over all the Azores, and did not part with them to the Duchess or anyone else.
Jobst van Heurter, some time after he had obtained the grant or sub-lease of Fayal, appears also to have become Captain Donatory of Pico, with a commission to colonise this island.