CHAPTER XIV
The Majorcans as navigators
The intelligence and energy of the Catalans of Barcelona and Majorca, combined with their industry and perseverance, raised the kingdom of Aragon to a very important position as a maritime Power in the Mediterranean. Long the rivals of the Genoese, the Catalans at one time gained complete ascendency. Their fleets dominated the western half of the great inland sea, with Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and the Balearic Islands either under the sovereignty or in close alliance with the Kings of Aragon. Their trading vessels frequented the Levant and the Ægean Sea, and Catalan consulates and factories were established in Macedonia, in Greece, and on the islands. Voyages were even undertaken beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
The seamen of Majorca were as energetic and expert as those of the mainland, and Palma had a great dockyard and arsenal where galleys of thirty benches were built. But the success of the Catalans depended more on their skill and superior knowledge of navigation than on the size and number of their ships. In the middle of the fourteenth century the marine service of Majorca consisted of 30,600 sailors, manning 460 vessels, of which twenty-four were of the largest size, and the others were used for carrying merchandise.[19] Palma could fit out a contingent of large ships as part of the armed fleet of Aragon, and the safety of trade was provided for both by the Government and by private enterprise. Salvador de Sureda was not the only Majorcan notable who fitted out a ship at his own expense to resist the incursions of Barbary pirates.
The natives of Majorca were for a long time the leading geographers, inventors of instruments, and constructors of marine charts in Europe. They used the magnetic needle long before its supposed discovery by Gioia of Amalfi, and they could find the polar distance. The rudeness of their instruments increases the merit of the results obtained with them. Their portolani, or marine charts, were far more accurate than any of the maps even of a later period. They were in constant use before 1359, when every galley was ordered to carry two charts for navigation.[20] Several Catalan portolani have been preserved. The most interesting, though not the oldest, is now in the possession of the Count of Montenegro at Palma. It was drawn in 1439 by Gabriel de Valseca, who in his own hand wrote the following inscription on it: ‘gabriell de ualsequa la feta en Malorcha an MCCCCXXXVIIII.’ It once belonged to Amerigo Vespucci, as an inscription on the back testifies: ‘questa ampia pelle di geografia fue pagata de Amerigo Vespucio CXX ducati di oro di marco.’ It was bought at Florence in the eighteenth century by Cardinal Despuig, to form part of the library of his nephew, the Count of Montenegro. A facsimile was made for the Spanish Government at the time of the Columbus anniversary, and now hangs in the museum of the Ministry of Marine at Madrid.
A curious accident happened to this priceless geographical document in 1839. Georges Sand obtained leave to see it. Up to that time the stiff parchment had been rolled up in a tin case. It was brought out and spread on a table. The famous novelist, to keep it down, took up an inkstand and placed it on the edge of the map. But the parchment, which had been rolled up for centuries, was too strong. It flew back and the ink was upset. Georges Sand, horrified at what she had done, ran straight out of the house. Luckily the injury was not serious, and is confined to the part outside the Mediterranean. The precious map now has a room to itself in the Montenegro palace at Palma. It is framed and glazed on both sides, and kept in a locked case covered with crimson velvet.
The outline of the Mediterranean is almost exactly correct. The lines of the Valseca portolano placed over the coast-lines of a modern chart correspond very nearly, especially the western part. Italy is slightly out in longitude. The Valseca portolano includes Great Britain, Ireland, Jutland, the Euxine and Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea painted bright red. The chart is covered with rhumb-lines. The Nile is separated into two, one taken through Abyssinia and the other away to the Niger region. There are kings on their thrones, and every country has its arms painted on flags. The golden shield of Aragon, with its four pales gules, flies over Aragon, Majorca, Sardinia, and Sicily. It is interesting to see the south of Spain painted green, for the Moors were still at Granada. There are several legends in minute handwriting on the map. Majorca may well be proud of having in her island in this priceless map the most valuable and interesting geographical document of the fifteenth century. Next to it comes the mapa mondi of Jayme Cresques, also of Catalonian origin, and now in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris.
The fame of the geographers of Majorca, for their profound knowledge as navigators and skill as cartographers, spread over Europe. When Prince Henry founded his celebrated school for pilots at Sagres, as an essential part of his plans for the discovery of the African coast, he found no one more competent to direct it than ‘Maestro Jacome de Mallorca,’ a most able navigator and constructor of nautical instruments. But the Majorcan sailors did not confine themselves to these important studies, nor to cruises in the Mediterranean. They undertook voyages beyond the Pillars of Hercules in very early times. On August 10, 1346, Jayme Ferrar set sail from Palma, passed through the Straits, and coasted along Africa as far as the mouth of the Rio del Oro, five degrees south of that Cape Nun which the Portuguese did not round until 1419.
The commercial prosperity of Majorca, derived from the enterprise of her sailors, led to the building of the Lonja, or Exchange, which is still one of the chief architectural ornaments of Palma. The architect was Guillem Sagrera, who also built the Castel Nuovo at Naples for Alfonso V.; and the work was undertaken by the principal merchants of Palma. Finished in 1450, it consists of a lofty hall with a groined roof supported by six tall slender pillars. The doorway is very richly carved in the style of the north door of the cathedral, and at each angle of the edifice there is a statue of a saint under a stone canopy: San Nicolas in the angle facing Porto Pi, in the opposite niche San Juan Bautista, in the angle looking towards the Ataranza (arsenal) Santa Catalina, and Santa Clara looking towards the Almudaina.[21] Here was the centre of commercial transactions during the Middle Ages, while the wharves outside formed an active and busy scene, the ceaseless ebb and flow of Mediterranean trade. The commercial ventures were not without danger, the piratical States of Barbary continuing their raids and depredations quite into modern times.
Barbarossa infested the seas and caused such havoc that the Emperor Charles V. undertook punitive expeditions to Tunis in 1535 and to Algiers in 1541. On the latter occasion he landed at Alcudia, and proceeded thence to Palma on October 13. He was received with great demonstrations of joy by all the chief people of the island, Nicolas Cotoner and Pedro Juan de Santa Cilia, bearers of most ancient names, walking by his horse to the cathedral, where Mass was said. The Emperor was received in the Almudaina, and Leonardo Zaforteza superintended the arrangements for lodging the other guests. Charles departed on the 18th, taking with him a hundred Majorcan knights who joined his expedition. But the elements were against them, and the invasion of Algiers ended in failure.
The Moors were not slow to retaliate. Two years afterwards five hundred of them landed at Pollenza, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Several other descents were made on the island by Dragut and his subordinate corsairs, and there was much hard fighting, with slaughter on both sides, but serious loss of unfortunate people carried off into slavery. It was in September 1552 that Valdemosa was attacked by the crews of the Algerine galleots. About five hundred Moors landed in the night and entered the town without opposition. Loading themselves with spoils and taking four hundred captives with them, they began their retreat to the ships. Raimondo Gual had command of only thirty-five men at Valdemosa. Open resistance would have been futile; still, he watched his opportunity. In a narrow pass, since called ‘Pàs dels Mòros,’ he made a sudden attack on the retreating pirates, who were panic-stricken, and very few escaped. No quarter was given to them. Their banner was hung up in the parish church. Valdemosa was again unsuccessfully attacked by the Moors in 1582.