Direct Accounts and References From Period Documents
In his “Bibliographic Essay” at the end of his book "Barangay:Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society", William Henry Scott identifies the three accounts directly detailing the events of Lakandula’s lifetime:
- An account written by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi himself;
- An account by ‘royal notary Hernando Riquel’ who was part of Legazpi's expedition; and
- a third account which is anonymous, but which Scott suggests is ‘probably written by royal notary Hernando Riquel.’
Scott singles this third account out as particularly useful, because it ‘includes careful observations of the islands and people contacted’.
Scott also identifies other accounts that don’t directly refer to that occasion, but provide additional information about conditions at the time. These include two accounts of the Magellan voyage, reports from the attacks on Borneo in 1578-79, letters to the king from royal auditor Melchor de Avalos, Reports by later Governors General, passing details in sworn testimony about Augustinian activities (the latter two recorded in Blair and Robertson), Correspondence of Augustinian Fray Martin de Rada, the Relacion accounts of Miguel de Loarca and Juan de Plasencia, and the Boxer Codex, which “can be dated to 1590 on internal evidence.”
Read more about this topic: Lakandula, Documentary Sources
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