[209] The late Count de Rilvas communicated this fact to Mr. R. H. Major.
[210] Documentos ... do Torre do Tombo, p. 2.
[211] See Gaspar Fructuoso, Saudades da terra, ed. Azevedo (1873), pp. 65, 113, 665; Martins, Os Filhos de D. João, pp. 80 and n. 1, 258 and n. 2.
[212] This was issued on September 18th, 1460, bestowing the ecclesiastical revenues of Porto Santo and Madeira on the Order of Christ, the temporalities on King Affonso V. and his successors. It must be taken in connection with the Charters of June 7th, 1454, December 28th, 1458, and September 15th, 1448, all relating to the trade of Guinea, and the first two conferring special privileges on the Order of Christ, or revising such privileges already granted; see the Collection of Pedro Alvarez, Part iii, fols. 17-18; Major, Prince Henry, 303.
[213] The inscription apparently runs "Isola Otinticha xe longa a ponente 1500 mia;" which has been translated—(1) "Genuine island distant 1,500 miles to the west." (2) "Genuine island, 1,500 miles long to the west." (3) "Genuine island extends 1,500 miles to the west." Also, reading ... a [= e] la sola otinticha. (4) "Is the only genuine ..." (The first line being altogether separate in sense from what follows—"xe longa," etc.) Once more, supplying "questa carta," (5) "This map is the only genuine one," leaving the second line unintelligible. (6) "Genuine island, stretching 1,500 miles westwards, ten miles broad." And lastly, reading Antillia for Otinticha, (7) "Island of Antillia," etc. (This would explain the difficulty of the Antillia Isle being otherwise absent from the 1448 Bianco.) See Desimoni, in Atti della Società ligure di Storia patria, 1864, vol. iii, p. cxiv; Canale, in Storia del Commercio degl'Italiani, 1866, p. 455; Fischer, Sammlung ... Welt- und See-Karten italienischen Ursprungs, Venice, 1886, p. 209; Proceedings R. G. S., London, March 1895, pp. 221-240. Whatever the explanation, it must be remembered that this Map and Inscription were never produced by Portugal as evidence of a Pre-Columbian discovery, either in 1492-3, or later, in formal negotiations with Spain—as at Badajoz in 1524. It is possible that the delineation and legend in question were added by a later hand; and it is probable that, if really inserted by Bianco himself, the reference is to one of the legendary Atlantic Islands under a new form. It cannot well be identified with that stated by Galvano to have been discovered about 1447, for the latter was reached by a course of 1,500 miles due west from the Straits of Gibraltar, which would bring us to the Azores. The coast line of the "Genuine Island" is, moreover, quite inconsistent with the north-east shore-land of South America.
[214] The most singular point in this controversy is that the pilots of Cabral's fleet professed to recognise the new land as the same they had seen marked on an old map existing in Portugal. This is stated by one John, "Bachelor in Arts and Medicine, and Physician and Cosmographer to King Emanuel." He accompanied the expedition of 1500, and declared that the country where Cabral landed was identical with a tract marked upon a Mappemonde belonging to Pero Vaz Bisagudo, a Portuguese.
[215] Columbus.
[216] In the Cape Verdes.
The "School of Sagres," etc.
Few things in connection with the life of Henry the Navigator are more interesting than the tradition of his educational and intellectual work, especially for the furtherance of geography, in the alleged School of Sagres and other supposed foundations or benefactions. Unfortunately, this tradition is not as clearly established as it might be, and it has been made more difficult by constant exaggeration. Not content with asserting that the Infant aimed at drawing the commerce of Cadiz and Ceuta—without reckoning other ports—to his town at Sagres, some have indulged in pictures of a geographical university established by the Prince upon this headland—pictures which are quite beyond any known means of verification. These flourishes, however, need not cause one to run into another extreme, and deny that Sagres became, during the latter part of Henry's life, especially from 1438 to his death, the centre of the exploring movement and the scientific study which the Infant inspired. At Sagres,[[217]] according to what may be called the older view—which, resting mainly upon Barros, is adopted by Major, de Veer, Wauwermans, and even Martins—Prince Henry usually resided, not merely during the last years of his life, or after his return from the Tangier expedition of 1437, but from the time of his reappearance in Portugal after the relief of Ceuta in 1418. At first, however (1418-1438) it was called Tercena[[218]] Nabal, or Naval Arsenal, after it emerged from the stage of a little harbour of refuge for passing ships; and only afterwards did it become (from 1438 onwards) the Villa do Iffante, "my town," from which some of Prince Henry's charters are dated. Shortly before the completion of Azurara's chronicle, according to this view, the town was fortified with strong walls and enlarged by the building of new houses.[[219]] In this settlement (within the narrow space of some 100 acres), there were said to have been, besides the Infant's own Court or palace, a church, a chapel,[[220]] a study, and an observatory (the earliest in Portugal), together with an arsenal, a dockyard, and a fort. Here cartography and astronomical geography were diligently studied, and practical mariners were equipped for their work.