Secondary Sources
Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas wrote a faithful account of the Mazaua episode from papers of the chief pilot-astrologer of the Armada de Molucca, Andrés de San Martín. From 1521 until 1890, Herrera's work is the only one that has the correct name of the isle, Mazaua, although he spells it in the Hispanicized form, Mazagua, where gu has the value of w, a letter absent in the Spanish alphabet. This fact, his name, and the fact his narration is faithful to the true episode is central to resolving the question of the true identity of Mazaua.
Another secondhand account is the letter of Portuguese Antonio de Brito, governor of the Moluccas, based at Ternate. He had the seized papers of flagship Trinidad which was captured at Benaconora, believed to be today's modern town Djailolo.
De Brito reported to King John III of Portugal that Magellan's fleet had been to Mazaua (he spells it "Mazaba") located at 9° N which latitude is identical to that of The Genoese Pilot for which reason the information is ascribed to him. But this is not certain at all since de Brito does not attribute it to anyone. It could very well have come from papers of Andrés de San Martín some of which supposedly were seized from Trinidad. It could very well have been Magellan's own logbook, although this is mere speculation. But because some passages resemble those found in the logbook of The Genoese Pilot, the dominant view is this was de Brito's authority for his letter.
De Brito sent two copies of his letter to the King dated February 11, 1523. The first saw print in 1894 in Andrea de Mosto's Raccolta Colombiana, Part V, No. 2. The duplicate copy was published in Alguns documentos do Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (Lisbon: 1892), pp. 464–478.
Another secondary source is the letter of Maximilianus Transylvanus. Maximilianus, a protégé of the Spanish court historian, Peter Martyr, interviewed survivors of the voyage when they arrived at Valladolid where Charles V was holding court. From the interview he wrote a letter to Matthäus Lang, archbishop of Salzburg, reporting the information gathered from the interview. This letter, written in Latin, was dated January 1523 and is the first published report of the expedition. Here Maximilianus called the port of March–April 1521 "Messana" or "Massana," the two names that endured throughout the 16th century until 1894.
Read more about this topic: Mazaua
Famous quotes containing the words secondary and/or sources:
“Cloud-clown, blue painter, sun as horn,
Hill-scholar, man that never is,
The bad-bespoken lacker,
Ancestor of Narcissus, prince
Of the secondary men. There are no rocks
And stones, only this imager.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“The American grips himself, at the very sources of his consciousness, in a grip of care: and then, to so much of the rest of life, is indifferent. Whereas, the European hasn’t got so much care in him, so he cares much more for life and living.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)