A rare sixteenth century Portuguese imprint

WORKING PAPERS
3
portimão|outubro 2013
A rare sixteenth century
Portuguese imprint:
The Livro da origem dos Turcos
Rui Manuel
Loureiro
Ficha técnica
Autor: Rui Manuel Loureiro
Título: A rare sixteenth century imprint:
The Livro da origem dos Turcos by Fr. Diogo de Castilho (Leuven, 1538)
Edição: ISMAT – Instituto Superior Manuel Teixeira Gomes
Local:
Portimão
Data:
Outubro 2013
ISBN:
978-989-98768-1-1
0
A rare sixteenth century imprint:
The Livro da origem dos Turcos by Fr. Diogo de Castilho (Leuven, 1538)
RUI MANUEL LOUREIRO *
The starting point of this text, the one which triggered a new research project on Portuguese – Ottoman interactions in the sixteenth century, was a rather obscure and neglected
book, published in the Low Countries in the late 1530’s. I came upon a reference to this
rare book some five or six years ago, in a scholarly bibliographical essay dedicated to
Damião de Góis,1 a well-known figure, who was perhaps the foremost early modern Portuguese humanist scholar, and to whom I shall return later on. Here is the reference, such as
I found it: Livro da origem dos Tvrcos, he de seus Emperadores. / Collegido por ho Padre frei Diogo de
Castilho monge do Mosteiro Dalcobaça. / 1538, which translates as: Book on the origin of the Turks
and their Emperors / Compiled by Friar Diogo de Castilho, monk from the Monastery of Alcobaça. /
1538. Several aspects of Castilhos’s Livro da origem dos Turcos made this apparently neutral
reference appear extremely interesting (cf. plate 1).
The book was published in the city of Leuven, in the southern Low Countries, home to a
famous university attended by many Portuguese students and to extremely active printing
presses where Portuguese authors were frequently published. But the Livro da origem dos
Turcos was published not in Latin, as was common practice in those days, but rather in
Portuguese language, being, apparently, the only Portuguese language book published in
the Low Countries in the entire sixteenth century. The author, on the other hand, was an
unheard of monk from the renowned Cistercian monastery of Alcobaça, in central Portugal. Many of his brethren authored other works during the fifteenth and sixteenth centu-
* Instituto Superior Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portimão; Centro de História de Além-Mar, Lisboa. I would
like to express my gratitude to Vasco Resende, for providing essential bibliography.
1
Francisco Leite de Faria, Estudos bibliográficos sobre Damião de Góis e a sua Época (Lisbon: Secretaria de
Estado da Cultura, 1977), pp. 431-432: Diogo de Castilho, Livro da origem dos Tvrcos he de seus Emperadores
(Leuven: Rutgerus Rescius, 1538). On Rescius, who ran a famous printing press in Leuven, where he also
taught Greek at the Collegium Trilingue, see Peter G. Bietenholz & Thomas B. Deutscher (eds.), Contemporaries of Erasmus – A Biographical Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, 3 vols. (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 2003), vol. 3, pp. 142-144.
1
ries, usually on religious matters, but none dared to write about such an exotic subject. The
theme of the book was, likewise, unheard of in Portuguese contemporary literature, since
no other monograph on the origin of the Ottomans was ever written or published in Portuguese language or by a Portuguese early modern author. And yet, come to think of it, this
was a most relevant subject, in the context of European current political affairs. Furthermore, instead of being dedicated to some well-known public figure, such as a king, a
prince, a nobleman or a clergyman of high standing, the book was plainly dedicated to one
Manuel Cirne, a mere merchant, who was then in charge of the Portuguese factory in Antwerp. Lastly, only four copies of the book were reported as extant, turning it into one of
the rarest sixteenth century Portuguese printed works.
This set of characteristics certainly aroused my curiosity, and I immediately ordered a digital copy of the book from the library of the Universidade de Coimbra, the only Portuguese
public institution that owns a copy thereof. Of the other extant copies, one is kept in the
library of the Universidad de Salamanca, in Spain, another one in the Biblioteca Nacional in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and still another one in the Biblioteca Vaticana, in Italy.2 Meanwhile,
there are also references to another copy in a private collection in Portugal, which brings
the number of extant copies up to five.3 What I would like to propose, now, is to approach
some of the most relevant aspects of this bibliographical rarity, trying simultaneously to put
it in its proper and wider contexts, and namely in the framework of Portuguese – Ottoman
interactions. And to begin with, I also would like to express my puzzlement at the fact that,
until today, apart from some general allusions in standard bibliographical compendiums,4
practically no-one paid any real attention to this veritable bibliographical treasure, with the
sole exception of a Brazilian specialist in historical linguistics, who used Diogo de Castilho’s book to study the introduction of Slavic words into the Portuguese language. 5 Also,
it must be clearly stated that there is no trace whatsoever of any Spanish edition or transla-
2
3
4
5
For exact references, see Francisco Leite de Faria, Estudos bibliográficos sobre Damião de Góis, pp. 431-432
Luís de Matos, “Obras raras do século XVI”, Boletim Internacional de Bibliografia Luso-Brasileira (Lisbon), vol.
3, 1962, pp. 74-83 (cf. pp. 76-77); Luís de Matos, “Bibliofilia”, Boletim Internacional de Bibliografia Luso-Brasileira (Lisbon), vol. 3, 1962, p. 473.
See Inocêncio Francisco da Silva & others, Diccionario Bibliographico Portuguez, 23 vols. (Lisbon: Imprensa
Nacional, 1858-1958), vol. 2, pp. 151-152, which allegedly contains the first correct description of Castilho’s book.
See António Geraldo da Cunha, “Os eslavismos do ‘Liuro da origem dos Turcos’ (Estudo históricoetimológico)”, Revista de Portugal (Lisbon), vol. 22, 1957, pp. 277-283; and António Geraldo da Cunha,
“Alguns etnônimos eslávicos (Estudo histórico-etimológico)”, Filologia e Linguística Portuguesa (São Paulo),
n. 2, 1998, pp. 143-157.
2
tion of this book, although the title Epitome de los Turcos y sus imperadores was mentioned in
some older bibliographies.6
And, in the first place, who was Diogo de Castilho, and what was he doing in the Low
Countries? In the early sixteenth century, a famous pair of architects – João de Castilho and
Diogo de Castilho – was extremely active in Portugal.7 One of them, João de Castilho, even
worked in the Monastery of Alcobaça from 1519 on.8 Perhaps Friar Diogo was the son of
the architect João de Castilho, and also brother of António de Castilho, a Portuguese historian active in the middle decades of the sixteenth century.9 But no evidence to that effect
has been found. Otherwise, not much is known about Diogo de Castilho, except that he
lived a large part of his life outside Portugal, since in 1538, in the Book on the origin of the
Turks, he states modestly, but certainly with rhetorical purposes, that he was not too eloquent in the Portuguese language because he had “lived long years away from his homeland, continuously speaking several other languages”.10 One of these other languages might
have been Arabic, because in 1532 Diogo de Castilho was a clerk (or escrivão) at the Portuguese-held town of Ceuta, in northern Morocco.11 Six years later he was active in the Low
Countries, working also as a clerk at the Portuguese factory in Antwerp. The Book on the
origins of the Turks is dedicated to Manuel Cirne, who was factor of the same Portuguese
feitoria (or factory) between 1537 and 1540, 12 so it seems probable that they both came together from Portugal in 1537, since Castilho acknowledges being indebted to Cirne for
many favours.
Manuel Cirne was a merchant from the city of Porto, in northern Portugal, and before
coming to the Low Countries he had a long list of services to the Portuguese Crown,
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Diogo Barbosa Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana [1741-1759], 4 vols. (Coimbra: Atlântida Editora, 19651967), vol. 1, pp. 643-644.
See António Feliciano de Castilho, Camões: Estudo Histórico-Político, 3 vols. (Lisbon: Tipografia da Sociedade
Tipográfica Franco-Portuguesa, 1863), vol. 3, pp. 8-28; and F.M. de Sousa Viterbo, Dicionário Histórico e
Documental dos Arquitectos, Engenheiros e Construtores Portugueses, ed. Pedro Dias, 3 vols. (Lisbon: Imprensa
Nacional – Casa da Moeda, 1988), vol. 1, pp. 183-204; and vol. 3, pp. 263-270.
Saul A. Gomes, Documentos para a História de Santa Maria de Alcobaça nos Séculos XVI a XVIII (Lisbon:
Ministério da Cultura, 1994), p. 19.
According to Joaquim Veríssimo Serrão, Diogo de Castilho was still alive in 1561, when he received a
royal grant of nobility (Figuras e Caminhos do Renascimento em Portugal [Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional – Casa da
Moeda, 1994], pp. 173-174).
Diogo de Castilho, Livro da origem dos Turcos, [fl. 4v]: “auer muitos anos que estou fora de minha terra
exercitandome de contino em outra diversas linguoas”.
Pierre de Cenival & others (eds.), Les Sources Inédites pour l’Histoire du Maroc – Archives et Bibliothèques de Portugal, 5 vols. (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1934-1953), vol. 2, pt. 2, p. 577.
Anselmo Braamcamp Freire, “Maria Brandoa a do Crisfal”, Archivo Histórico Portuguez (Lisbon), vol. 6,
1908, pp. 293-442; vol. 7, 1909, pp. 53-79, 123-133 196-208 & 320-326; vol. 8, 1910, pp.21-33 (cf. vol. 6,
p. 406).
3
namely in Spain, where he was royal factor in Andalusia for many years.13 Portugal, since
the early years of the fifteenth century, had occupied several costal towns in Morocco,
where powerful fortresses were built, to be used as platforms for trade and plunder in the
Moroccan hinterland.14 At the same time, commercial delegations were established in
southern Spain, from where necessary supplies were sent to the Moroccan settlements. The
career of Manuel Cirne, by the way, is not very different from other Portuguese factors in
the Low Countries, such as Rui Fernandes de Almada, one of his well-known predecessors,
who served in the Maghreb (first in Oran and then in Safi) before settling in Antwerp in
the first decades of the sixteenth century.15 Manuel Cirne, however, was not an ordinary
merchant; on the contrary, he was an extremely wealthy man. A short while after arriving in
the Low Countries, he became sick with strong fevers, and when he was treated and cured
by Amato Lusitano, he paid the famous Portuguese physician the astounding sum of 300
gold ducats.16 Amato Lusitano, who was of Jewish origin, would later settle in Ottoman
controlled Salonica, under the sponsorship of the famous João Micas or Josef Nassi, whom
he met during their common residence in Antwerp.17 While living in the Low Countries, by
the way, he published the Index Dioscorides, the first one of his many works on medicine and
natural history.18
13
14
15
16
17
18
On Manuel Cirne’s career, see Maria Adelaide Pereira de Moraes, “Velhas Casas: X – Paço e Honra de
Gominhães”, Boletim de Trabalhos Históricos (Guimarães), vol. 39, 1988, pp. 255-336 (cf. pp. 287-296); and
Robert Ricard, Études sur l’histoire des portugais au Maroc (Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1955), pp.
183-184.
For a recent synthesis, see Vitorino Magalhães Godinho, A Expansão Quatrocentista Portuguesa (Lisbon:
Publicações Dom Quixote, 2007).
See Maria do Rosário de Sampaio Themudo Barata, Rui Fernandes de Almada, Diplomata Português do Século
XVI, 2 vols. (Lisbon: Instituto de Alta Cultura, 1971-1973), vol. 1, passim.
Amato Lusitano mentions “the noble and magnanimous business procurator in Antwerp of the king of
Portugal, D. João III” (João Rodrigues de Castelo Branco, Centúrias de Curas Medicinais, ed. Firmino
Crespo, 4 vols. [Lisbon: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1983], vol. 1, p. 63: “Manuel Cirne, nobre e magnânimo procurador de negócios do rei de Portugal, D. João III, em Antuérpia”). See Maximiano Lemos,
Amato Lusitano: A sua vida e a sua obra (Porto: Eduardo Tavares Martins, 1907), p. 70; Maximiano Lemos,
Amato Lusitano: Correcções e aditamentos (Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1922), passim; and also António Manuel Lopes de Andrade, “Ciência, Negócio e Religião: Amato Lusitano em Antuérpia”, in Inês de
Ornellas e Castro & Vanda Anastácio (eds.), Revisitar os Saberes; Referências Clássicas na Cultura Portuguesa da
Renascimento à Época Moderna (Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Clássicos, 2010), pp. 9-49.
About Josef Nassi, see the classic work by Cecil Roth, The Duke of Naxos of the House of Nasi (Philadelphia:
The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1948), passim; and also, among a large bibliography, the recent
articles by Herman Prins Salomon & Aron di Leone Leoni, “Mendes, Benveniste, de Luna, Micas, Nasci:
The State of the Art (1532-1558)”, The Jewish Quarterly Review (Philadelphia), vol. 88, 1998, pp. 135-211;
and by Nicole Abravanel, “João Micas, duc de Naxos”, in Alain Servantie & Rámon Puig de la Bellacasa
(eds.), L’Empire ottoman dans l’Europe de la Renaissance / El Imperio Otomano en la Europa renacentista (Leuven:
Leuven University Press, 2005), pp. 327-338.
See José Lopes Dias, Comentários aos «Index Dioscoridis» de Amato Lusitano (Castelo Branco: Gráfica de S.
José, 1968); and António Manuel Lopes de Andrade, “Ciência, Negócio e Religião”, pp. 9-49.
4
Back to Manuel Cirne, popular lore claimed that it was his fortune that earned him the special favours of the Portuguese Crown.19 Meanwhile, it is not impossible that Diogo de Castilho had met Manuel Cirne overseas, in one of his posts, and had previously collaborated
with him, either in Spain or in Morocco, before they were both stationed in Antwerp. The
long dedication that he includes in the Book on the origin of the Turks suggests that Manuel
Cirne was his sponsor long before 1538. Anyway, one and the other were familiar with
Mediterranean and Moroccan affairs, which might help to explain their shared interest on
the Turks, for why else would a Portuguese monk produce such a specialised text-book for
his merchant-patron? For someone living and working in the vicinity of the Straits of Gibraltar in the early 1530’s, Ottoman affairs were of paramount importance.20 Otherwise,
nothing else is known about Diogo de Castilho, except that he was educated at the Cistercian Monastery of Alcobaça, where he entered religious life. His cultural upbringing at one
of the most famous Portuguese monasteries, that possessed an extremely rich library and
where a strong tradition of historiography was then developing,21 will certainly help to explain not only Castilho’s solid erudition, as attested by the wide range of classical and modern sources used in the composition of his Book on the origin of the Turks, but also his elaborated style of composition.
Our man, then, was employed at the Portuguese factory of Antwerp; but, what was this
institution all about? Portugal had already maintained political and economic relations with
the Low Countries for a long time, when, in the early decades of the fifteenth century the
Portuguese Crown decided to establish a factory in Bruges. 22 This decision, of course, was
connected with the Portuguese voyages of discovery and exploration then being undertaken in the Atlantic and along the west coast of Africa. The establishment of a Portuguese
trading base in the Low Countries, where commodities imported from Madeira, the
Azores, Morocco, and the coast of Guinea could be sold by Portuguese middlemen, was a
sound economic decision that took into account the fact that large profits could be reaped
19
20
21
22
José Hermano Saraiva (ed.), Ditos Portugueses Dignos de Memória – História Íntima do Século XVI (Mem Martins: Publicações Europa-América, 1997), p. 462.
See several of the articles included in Alain Servantie & Rámon Puig de la Bellacasa (eds.), L’Empire ottoman dans l’Europe de la Renaissance, passim, where the relevant bibliographical references will be found.
About Alcobaça as an active cultural centre, see José Mattoso, “Alcobacense, Historiografia”, in Giulia
Lanciani & Giuseppe Tavani (eds.), Dicionário da Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa (Lisbon: Editorial
Caminho, 1993), pp. 35-36; and also Joaquim Veríssimo Serrão, Figuras e Caminhos do Renascimento, pp. 285299.
See the classic work by J.A. Goris, Études sur les Colonies Marchandes Méridionales à Anvers de 1488 à 1567:
Portugais, Espagnols, Italiens (Leuven: Librairie Universitaire, 1925), passim; and also Alberto Veiga Simões,
Estudos de História, ed. A.A. Marques de Almeida (Lisbon: Centro de História da Universidade de Lisboa,
2004), pp. 31-66; and A.H. de Oliveira Marques, Ensaios de História Medieval (Lisbon: Portugália Editora,
n.d.), pp. 217-267.
5
from the control of both ends of the Lisbon – Bruges route. The Portuguese factory, evidently, prospered throughout the fifteenth century, as the Portuguese Crown continued to
invest in its overseas enterprises, until eventually a direct maritime connection was established with the Indian Ocean. The return of Vasco da Gama from his voyage to India in
1499 coincided with the change of the Portuguese factory to Antwerp, for logistic reasons.
From then on, the Casa de Portugal (or Portugal’s House) became a busy and flourishing
entrepôt, where oriental spices and drugs, brought by Portuguese ships all the way from
Portuguese bases in the Indian Ocean, were sold to the European markets, generating huge
revenues.23 In fact, the feitoria (or factory) was a sort of informal Portuguese embassy in the
Low Countries, because, at the same time, the factory personnel accomplished other functions, such as the fulfilment of diplomatic obligations, the support to Portuguese nationals
abroad, the collection of intelligence about European current affairs, and the diffusion of
news about Portuguese overseas endeavours.
Around 1530, the reports of the Antwerp factors to the Portuguese King frequently included mentions about the Ottoman advances in the Balkans. Sultan Suleiman’s armies had
been at the gates of Vienna in the previous year, and there were rumours circulating about
a new military campaign being prepared in Constantinople.24 As it is well known, Emperor
Carlos V had by then assumed the role of Christian leader against the Ottoman expansion
towards Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, trying to assemble human, logistic and
financial support from other European rulers. 25 Portuguese agents in the Low Countries,
then, were busy collecting news not only about the Ottomans, but also about Habsburg
politics towards them. Portugal was supposed to be a close ally of the Spanish Emperor,
because his sister Catarina was married to the Portuguese King. Letters coming out of the
Portuguese court and addressed to Carlos V, signed by King João III and Queen Catarina,
and also by the Spanish ambassador in Portugal, then Lopo Hurtado de Mendoza, are filled
with references to such demands, and to Portuguese resistance to comply.26
23
24
25
26
See A.A. Marques de Almeida, Capitais e Capitalistas no Comércio da Especiaria: O Eixo Lisboa-Antuérpia (15011549) – Aproximação a um Estudo de Geofinança (Lisbon: Edições Cosmos, 1993), passim.
Cf. Anselmo Braamcamp Freire, “Maria Brandoa a do Crisfal”, vol. 8, pp. 22, 24, 27, 28, etc. On the
Ottoman interactions in Europe, see Dorothy M. Vaughan, Europe and the Turk: A Pattern of Alliances,
1350-1700 (Liverpool: University Press, 1954), passim.
About Carlos V’s wars in Austria and the Mediterranean, see James D. Tracy, Emperor Charles V, Impresario
of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2002), pp. 133-157.
Cf. Aude Viaud (ed.), Lettres des Souverains Portugais à Charles Quint et à l’Impératrice (Lisbon & Paris: Centre
Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian & Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses, 1994); and Aude Viaud (ed.), Correspondance d’un Ambassadeur Castillan au Portugal dans les années
6
The Portuguese, of course, had enough problems and expenses of their own, namely in the
Indian Ocean, where they were slowly building a network of fortresses and factories, commonly known as the Estado da Índia (or Portuguese State of India).27 Portuguese expansion
in Asia was motivated, among other lesser reasons, by the Portuguese Crown’s intention of
diverting to the Cape route a significant part of the trade in oriental commodities that traditionally passed through the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf on its way to the Mediterranean
and to Europe. As a result of such a policy, Portuguese ships, throughout the early decades
of the sixteenth century, kept a steady pressure on navigation sailing through the Gulf of
Cambay and the Arabian Sea, building fortresses at the islands of Hormuz and Socotra (this
one, alas, short-lived), and organizing occasional naval expeditions into the Persian Gulf
and the Red Sea areas. Eventually, on the western edge of their growing seaborne empire,
the Portuguese came into violent contact with the Ottomans, that, after their conquest of
Egypt and portions of Arabia in 1517, gained access to the Indian Ocean and became involved in Asian maritime affairs.28
Precisely around 1530, Portuguese ships in the Arabian Sea had scored some important
victories, capturing numerous merchant vessels, attacking the recently founded Ottoman
base in the island of Kamaran, well into the Red Sea, and establishing an alliance with the
emir of Aden, a most strategic port city.29 The moment was considered proper by André de
Resende, a Portuguese humanist then living in the Low Countries, to publish a report in
Latin about these Portuguese naval and military activities in the Indian Ocean. His Epitome
rerum gestarum in India anno MDXXX or Account of the actions practiced by the Portuguese in India
in 1530 (cf. plate 2), published in Louvain in 1531, was a translation of a report sent by
Nuno da Cunha, governor of the Portuguese Estado da Índia, to King João III, about that
series of successful naval and military actions in the Red Sea area.30 This booklet, of course,
27
28
29
30
1530: Lopo Hurtado de Mendoza (Lisbon & Paris: Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian & Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses, 2001).
On the construction of the Estado da Índia, during the first half of the sixteenth century, see Sanjay
Subrahmanyam, The Portuguese Empire in Asia 1500-1700: A Political and Economic History (London: Longman, 1993), pp. 55-79.
Ottoman interactions with the Indian Ocean, in the sixteenth century, have been recently studied by
Giancarlo L. Casale, The Ottoman Age of Exploration (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010) passim.
Cf. Diogo do Couto, Da Ásia – Décadas, ed. Nicolau Pagliarini, 15 vols. (Lisbon: Livraria San Carlos, 19731975), dec. 4, bk. 6, ch. 10. Also see R.B. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the South Arabian Coast: Hadrami Chronicles (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1974), p. 56; and Giancarlo L. Casale, The Ottoman Age of Exploration, passim.
The Latin text was published by Servatius Sassenus. For a modern edition of the Latin text, along with a
Portuguese translation, see the unpublished M.A, dissertation by António Jorge da Silva, Epitome rerum
gestarum in India anno MDXX: Uma intervenção na Europa (Coimbra: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de
7
can be seen as an action of conscious Portuguese propaganda, with two main objectives.
On the one hand, Resende was bringing to wider audiences news about Portuguese maritime expansion in Asia, supplying details about port cities, trade routes and rare commodities; on the other hand, he was also showing Europeans that, in its own way, and on the
distant Indian Ocean shores, Portugal was making costly investments on successful military
campaigns against the Ottomans. And so, the Portuguese had the most logical justification
to avoid making substantial contributions to the war budgets of Emperor Carlos V.
André de Resende, in the following year, together with Dom Pedro de Mascarenhas, the
Portuguese ambassador to the Spanish Emperor’s court, marched in the imperial entourage, to collaborate in the defence of Vienna against the Ottomans, a battle that never took
place.31 His humanist colleague Damião de Góis, who had worked at the Portuguese factory in the Low Countries for nearly a decade, now, stayed behind and wrote a Latin account about the contacts of the Portuguese with Ethiopia which had been developing for
several years. The Legatio Magni Indorum Imperatoris Presbyteri Ioannis (cf. plate 3), or the Embassy of the Great Emperor of the Indies Prester John, was published in Antwerp in 1532, bringing
to the attention of the European public one important aspect of Portuguese overseas activities on the fringes of the Ottoman Empire.32 From their newly acquired bases in the
Indian Ocean, Portuguese policy makers were trying to forge an alliance with the legendary
Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, which, as they thought, would be a helpful ally in their
efforts to control maritime trade in the Red Sea. Since the early 1520’s, ambassadors and
missions had been exchanged, between Ethiopia, Goa and Lisbon. Eventually, as it turned
out, in the periodic maritime clashes with the Ottomans, no help came from the Ethiopian
Negus to the Estado da Índia; on the contrary, the Portuguese were even asked to send
military forces to Ethiopia, where they got involved in civil confrontations. But the theme
of Prester John was widely used by Portuguese propagandists in the Low Countries, and
31
32
Coimbra, 1991). About Resende’s account, see also Luís de Matos, L’Expansion portugaise dans la Littérature
Latine de la Renaissance (Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1991), pp. 427-436.
On André de Resende’s later career, see Odette Sauvage, L’itinéraire érasmien d’André de Resende, 1500-1573
(Paris: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1971).
The Latin text was published by Cornelius Grapheus, on whom see Peter G. Bietenholz & Thomas B.
Deutscher (eds.), Contemporaries of Erasmus, vol. 2, p.123. For a modern edition, with Portuguese translation, see Manuel Cadafaz de Matos & Miguel Pinto de Meneses (eds.), Obras de Damião de Góis, 2 vols.
(Lisbon: Edições Távola Redonda, 2002-2006), vol. 1, passim. About Damião de Góis and his published
works, see Luís de Matos, L’Expansion Portugaise, pp. 446-457; and also Donald F. Lach, Asia in the Making
of Europe, 2 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965-1977), vol. 2, bk. 2, pp. 15-26; and the recent synthesis by Luís Filipe Barreto, Damião de Goes: Os Caminhos de um Humanista (Lisbon: CTT –
Correios, 2002), passim.
8
elsewhere in Europe, since it permitted to present Portuguese expansion in the Indian
Ocean as mainly motivated by religious reasons, and not only materialistic ones.33
And this was an important propaganda issue, because the Portuguese Crown, in certain
European circles, was then under attack, on account of the strict monopoly that it was enforcing on the spice trade via the Cape route. To quote just an example, the celebrated humanist Paolo Giovio, who worked as an historian for many years at the Pope’s court in
Rome, had published in this city, in 1525, a geographical description of Muscovy. In this
account, entitled Libellus de legatione Basilli magni Principis Moschouiae ad Clementem VII, Giovio
stressed that the Portuguese, with their powerful ships, were subduing most of India, in
order to control the trade in valuable merchandises that formerly found their way to the
Mediterranean through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. As a consequence of Portuguese
activities, according to Giovio, oriental products now were reaching Europe at much
higher prices and with lower quality, due to a longer sea voyage.34 A few years later,
Damião de Góis, who was back in the Low Countries after extensive travels throughout
Europe, published in Leuven a Latin refutation of Paolo Giovio’s ideas, stressing that the
profits of the spice trade were used by the Portuguese to maintain their ships and fortresses, to spread Christianity overseas and also to wage war on the Ottomans.35
Despite all their efforts to avoid involvement in Carlos V’s wars, the Portuguese would
soon take part in the Emperor’s expedition against Tunis. The western Mediterranean was
a sensitive area for the Portuguese, because of the important positions they held in Morocco, and so King João III had to lend support to his brother-in-law’s projected campaign
against Hayreddin Pasha, the famous Barbarossa, who maintained strong links with the
Ottomans and who was seen as a menace to the Portuguese controlled Moroccan out-
33
34
35
See António Alberto Banha de Andrade, Francisco Álvares e o êxito europeu da «Verdadeira Informação» sobre a
Etiópia (Lisbon: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1982), passim.
Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Navigazioni e viaggi, ed. Marica Milanesi, 6 vols. (Torino: Einaudi, 1978-1988),
vol. 3, pp. 673-674. On Giovio, see T.C. Price Zimmermann, Paolo Giovio: The Historian and the Crisis of
Sixteenth-Century Italy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1995). See also George B. Parks, “The
Contents and Sources of Ramusio’s Navigationi”, in Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Navigationi et Viaggi –
Venice 1563-1606, eds. R.A. Skelton & George B. Parks, 3 vols. (Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,
1967-1970), vol. 3, pp. 1-39 (cf. p. 22); Francisco Leite de Faria, Estudos bibliográficos sobre Damião de Góis,
pp. 233-234; Luciana Stegagno Picchio, “Portugal e os Portugueses no Livro das Navigationi de G.B.
Ramusio”, Revista da Universidade de Coimbra (Coimbra), vol. 32, 1985, pp. 9-25 (cf. p. 22).
For a modern Latin edition, and a Portuguese translation, of De rebus et Imperio Lusitanorum ad Paulum
Jovium disceptatiuncula (Leuven, 1539), cf. Manuel Cadafaz de Matos & Miguel Pinto de Meneses (eds.),
Obras de Damião de Góis, vol. 2, pp. 122-131.
9
posts.36 In the middle of 1535, then, a Portuguese armada under the command of António
de Saldanha, a veteran of the naval wars of the Indian Ocean, took an active part in the
conquest of La Goletta and Tunis, along with the powerful fleet assembled by the Spanish
Emperor.37 Prince Luís (or Infante Dom Luís), the brother of the Portuguese monarch, also
took part in the expedition, although without first obtaining formal consent from King
João III.38 Apparently, he was a strong supporter of the participation of Portugal in military
actions against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean area. Manuel Cirne and Diogo de Castilho, who soon would be posted to Antwerp, were living in southern Spain or northern
Morocco at the time of the conquest of Tunis. Consequently, both of them were able to
follow the campaign from privileged positions, which would certainly help to explain their
common curiosity about Ottoman affairs.
During the preparation of the expedition to Tunis, and also in its aftermath, a strong wave
of interest on the Ottomans spread throughout Europe. A large number of tracts, accounts
and reports dealing with the Ottoman world were published and circulated widely, most of
them in Latin language and addressed to the Spanish emperor.39 Paramount among all
these works, was the Commentario delle cose de’ Turchi, published by Paolo Giovio in Rome in
1531, containing a summary of the history of the Ottoman emperors, along with valuable
information on sundry topics of interest, namely military organization and warfare tactics.40
Giovio’s treatise became an instant classic, first, because it was written in Italian language,
thus being accessible to a wider audience, then, because of the variety and trustworthiness
of its sources, and also because it could be read as a manual on how to wage war against
the Ottomans. The author, living in Rome at the papal court, had direct access to a large
variety of materials and informants, and so was able to produce an extremely well informed
and updated synthesis on the Ottoman world, dedicated to Emperor Carlos V. Giovio’s
36
37
38
39
40
On Hayreddin, see Miguel Ángel de Bunes Ibarra, Los Barbarroja, Corsarios del Mediterráneo (Madrid: Alderabán, 2004).
For the conquest of Tunis, see Sylvie Deswarte-Rosa, “L’expédition de Tunis (1535): images, interprétations, répercussions culturelles”, in Bartolomé Benassar & Robert Sauzet (eds.), Chrétiens et musulmans à la
Renaissance (Paris: Honoré Champion, 1998), pp. 75-132, with relevant bibliographical references. For a
survey of Saldanha’s career, see Alexandre Lobato, António de Saldanha: his times and his achievements (Lisbon:
Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, 1962).
For a biography of Prince Luís, and his participation in the conquest of Tunis, see Sylvie Deswarte-Rosa,
“L’expédition de Tunis (1535)”, pp. 75-132; and Sylvie Deswarte-Rosa, “Espoirs et désespoir de l’Infant
Dom Luís”, Mare Liberum (Lisbon), n. 3, 1991, pp. 243-298.
See Alain Servantie, “L’information de Charles Quint”, in Alain Servantie & Rámon Puig de la Bellacasa
(eds.), L’Empire ottoman dans l’Europe de la Renaissance, pp. 249-295.
For a modern edition, see Paolo Giovio, Commentario de le cose de’ Turchi, ed. Lara Michelacci (Bologna:
CLUEB, 2005). Also see V.J. Parry, « Renaissance historical literature in relation to the Near and the Middle East (with special reference to Paolo Giovio)”, in Bernard Lewis & P.M. Holt (eds.), Historians of the
Middle East (London: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 277-289.
10
treatise was soon being circulated all over Europe, and a copy of the Rome edition found
its way into Diogo de Castilho’s library, even before he set foot in Antwerp. Since he seems
to have reached the Low Countries in the middle of 1537, and his own Livro da origem dos
Turcos was published the following year, he would hardly have had time to prepare such
consistent piece of literature, meaning that he must have being working on his book-project for several years.
The Book on the origin of the Turks certainly deserves a very close inspection, but only some
topics will be mentioned here. Castilhos’ work opens with a letter of dedication addressed
to Manuel Cirne, where the author acknowledges his indebtedness to Paolo Giovio, who
inspired him to write and publish a similar work, and to use the Portuguese language as a
means of wider diffusion. In such a way, he claims, his treatise could be understood by
Portuguese gente de guerra or men of arms. Castilho is careful to stress that, besides Giovio’s
Commentario, he also made use of a large variety of other sources, which he repeatedly identifies in the pages of his book. These included well-known classical and medieval authors,
such as Apollonius of Rhodes, Polybius, Varro Reatinus, Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Pliny
the Elder, Diodoros Siculus, Valerius Maximus and Ptolemy, and also more obscure authors, from an Iberian perspective, such as Theophylactus Simocatta, Johannes Skylitzes,
Eustathius of Thessalonica and Otto von Freising.41 Also, Castilho quotes passages from
numerous Renaissance authors, such as Andrea Dandolo, Jean Froissart, Francesco Filelfo,
Eneas Silvio Piccolomini, Caterino Zeno, Marcantonio Sabbelico, Nicolo Sagundino, Raffaele Maffei (also known as Volaterranus), Giambattista Egnazio, and Johann Carion,
among many others who had written works in some way dealing with the Turks.42
Although his personal library certainly did not include all of the authors he mentions, since
many quotes are obviously second-hand, extracted from Giovio’s Commentario namely,
Castilho’s list of references is quite impressive, confirming the idea that he had been
working on his project for several years, prior to coming to the Low Countries.
41
42
For recent surveys of Renaissance accounts of the Turks, see Nancy Bisaha, Creating East and West: Renaissance Humanists and the Ottoman Turks (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004); and Margaret
Meserve, Empires of Islam in Renaissance Thought (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
2008). Diogo de Castilho’s work passes unmentioned in these studies.
On these authors, see references in Peter G. Bietenholz & Thomas B. Deutscher (eds.), Contemporaries of
Erasmus, passim; Nancy Bisaha, Creating East and West, passim; and Margaret Meserve, Empires of Islam in
Renaissance Thought, passim.
11
The origin of the Turks, as it is well known, was a vexing problem for European humanists.43
Early modern European scholars, who had been discovering the cultural legacy of Greece
and Rome throughout the fifteenth century, and were now witnessing the Portuguese and
Spanish great maritime voyages, were constantly checking the information conveyed by
modern travellers with the registers of ancient authors.44 Any land or people newly contacted were supposed to match some ancient register. But the case of the Turks was special:
here was a powerful empire, rapidly growing at the eastern borders of Europe, about whom
nothing transpired in the most respected classical authorities. Hence the speculations of
many, and among them Castilho, that defended that the Ottomans had some connection
with the Scythians. Several accounts on the origin of the Turks, and most of them used and
quoted by Paolo Giovio, were written in the early decades of the sixteenth century, namely
by Theodore Spandounes, Giovanni Maria Angiolello, Donato da Lezze, Johannes Cuspinianus, or Andrea Cambini. But Diogo de Castilho was the first Portuguese author to
pursue such an intellectual quest. Thus, the enormous importance of the Livro da origem dos
turcos.
The work is divided in 11 chapters, each one being dedicated to the history of one emperor, starting with Osman and concluding with Suleiman I (cf. Appendix I). But the length
of the different chapters is uneven, and more than one third of the Livro da origem dos Turcos
(about 60 pages) is dedicated to the first three decades of the sixteenth century, certainly
the most relevant period for a contemporary reader who wanted to have a clear perception
of the recent evolution of the Ottoman empire. And so, chapter 10 (fls. 62-78v) deals with
the ruling period of Selim I, during which the Ottomans conquered Syria and Egypt, while
chapter 11 recounts how Suleiman I “went against Belgrade and took it, and then the island
of Rhodes, and of the battle he fought with king Louis of Hungary, and how he conquered
Buda, and of other events that occurred until the year of 1532”.45 Castilho’s work is not a
mere translation of Paolo Giovio’s Commentario, but includes a wealth of other materials,
compiled from sundry sources, which most of the time are duly identified. Sometimes, the
43
44
45
Besides the studies of Nancy Bisaha, Creating East and West, passim, and Margaret Meserve, Empires of Islam
in Renaissance Thought, passim, see Agostino Pertusi, “Premières etudes en Occident sur l’origine et la puissance des Turcs”, in Agostino Pertusi, Bisanzio e i Turchi nella cultura del Rinascimento e del Barroco, ed. Carlo
Maria Mazzucchi (Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 2004), pp.113-170; and also the classic by Robert Schwoebel,
The Shadow of the Crescent: The Renaissance Image of the Turk (1453-1517) (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1969).
For a stimulating approach to this subject, see Anthony Grafton, April Shelford & Nancy Siraisi, New
Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1995).
Diogo de Castilho, Livro da origem dos Turcos: “foi contra Belgrado he o tomou, he depois ha ilha de Rodes
he da batalha que ouue com el Rei Luis de Vngaria he de como tomou Buda, he do que maes se aconteceo hate ho ano de .1532.” (fl. 78v).
12
Portuguese friar compares several testimonies about the same issue, in order to draw his
own conclusion. And the Book on the origin of the Turks is not a mere listing of political
events, but presents a detailed account, with multiple case studies, of Ottoman warfare
methods, along with short descriptions of relevant aspects of Ottoman society. All-in-all,
Diogo de Castilho’s treatise is a rather interesting piece of Turcica, none the less because of
his rather impartial, and sometimes even appreciative, view of Ottomans military successes.
As to the timing of its publication, it appears in the context of the so-called Sacred League,
involving Venice, the Pope and Emperor Carlos V in an anti-Ottoman alliance.46
In the meantime, while the Book on the origin of the Turks was being published in Leuven,
with the intention of informing Portuguese readers about the political history and the military characteristics of the Turks, in faraway Asia a major confrontation involving Portuguese and Ottoman forces was taking place. In 1538, the fortress of Diu, held by the Portuguese since 1535, was under siege by the Gujeratis, who had the collaboration of an Ottoman expedition, sent all the way from Suez, and commanded by the well-known Hadim
Suleiman Pasha.47 The Portuguese eventually repelled their assailants, who had to retreat
with heavy casualties, and this military victory immediately was the subject of countless
reports that were dispatched to Lisbon. The speed of intercontinental communications can
be attested by the fact that in September 1539, again in Leuven, none other than Damião
de Góis published a Latin account about the siege of Diu, the Commentarii rerum gestarum in
India 1538 citra Gangem.48 Once again, a Portuguese author was quickly spreading information in the Low Countries about the military deeds accomplished by his compatriots in
Asia, against a coalition that included Ottoman forces. Portugal’s reputation, as the vanguard of Europe in the intercontinental contest with the Turk, was certainly reinforced by
the circulation of news about the Diu affair. And, at the same time, Portuguese control of
the Cape route and Portuguese monopoly of the spice trade were again legitimised.
46
47
48
See Kenneth M. Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204-1571), 4 vols. (Philadelphia: The American
Philosophical Society, 1976-1984), vol. 3, pp. 394-449; and Dorothy M. Vaughan, Europe and the Turk, passim.
For a recent examination of Suleiman Pasha’s expedition, see Dejanirah Couto, “No rasto de Hadim
Suleimão Pacha: alguns aspectos do comércio do Mar Vermelho nos anos de 1538-1540”, in Artur Teodoro de Matos & Luís Filipe F. Reis Thomaz (eds.), A Carreira da Índia e as Rotas dos Estreitos – Actas do
VIII Seminário Internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa (Angra do Heroísmo: Barbosa & Xavier, 1998), pp.
483-508.
The work was also published by Rutgerus Rescius. For a recent edition and Portuguese translation of
Góis’ account, see Manuel Cadafaz de Matos & Miguel Pinto de Meneses (eds.), Obras de Damião de Góis,
vol. 2, pp. 15-144.
13
*******
To conclude this brief survey, I would like to stress several points. In the Low Countries,
during the 1530’s, several Portuguese authors, usually acting as representatives of the Portuguese Crown, regularly produced and printed accounts regarding Portuguese activities
overseas, and notably in the regions bordering the western Indian Ocean, where there was
some sort of interaction with the Ottomans.49 Scholars such as André de Resende and
Damião de Góis were using the advanced printing services available in Antwerp and Leuven, certainly, but they were also acting as agents of Portuguese information and propaganda. The use of Latin in these published works indicates that these authors were trying to
reach a cultivated European audience, formed by humanist scholars, no doubt, but also by
civil servants connected with the main European political chancelleries and commercial
centres. In the words of a modern historian, they were the “heralds of empire”, trying to
convince their influential readers that the ambitious title of the Portuguese monarch – King
of Portugal and the Algarve, Lord of Guinea, and of the Conquest, Navigation and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India – had some truth to it, and was not mere propaganda.50 For the
Portuguese Crown, important issues were at stake in the 1530’s, such as the control of the
Cape route, the monopoly of the spice trade, the construction of the Estado da Índia, and
the imposition of maritime hegemony in the western Indian Ocean. It was important to be
able to defend Portuguese positions regarding these issues in the economic and financial
centre of Europe. Most of these issues had some sort of connection with the Ottomans;
but the Portuguese monarch was not too eager to create another front of combat, involving Portugal in Emperor Carlos V’s many wars, including the one he was planning against
the Ottomans on the Mediterranean theatre of operations.
The case of Diogo de Castilho’s work is rather different, as it appears to point in a completely different direction. The Book on the origin of the Turks was written in Portuguese language, because it was aiming at a Portuguese audience, the men of arms that were supposed to participate in the coming war against the Ottomans, on the Mediterranean front.
49
50
Cf. a list of titles published abroad by Portuguese authors, between 1500 and 1550, in Francisco Leite de
Faria, Estudos Bibliográficos sobre Damião de Góis, pp. 237-498.
Donald F. Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe, vol. 2, bk. 2, pp. 5-38. About the titles used by Portuguese
monarchs, see António Vasconcelos de Saldanha, “Conceitos de Espaço e Poder e seus reflexos na titulação régia portuguesa”, in Jean Aubin (ed.), La Découverte, le Portugal et l’Europe (Paris: Fondation Calouste
Gulbenkian, 1990), pp. 105-129.
14
Castilho, then, was inciting his compatriots to wage war on the Ottomans in a European
context. This seems to suggest that among the Portuguese policy makers not everybody
was of the same opinion regarding the Ottomans. And we have seen that within the Portuguese royal family, King João III’s own brother, Prince Luís, was all in favour of marching
against Constantinople. Perhaps Diogo de Castilho and also Manuel Cirne were in some
way connected with this Portuguese political faction.51
One last remark. In December 1540, Dom Estevão da Gama, then governor of the Estado
da Índia, organized a huge naval expedition, with more than 80 ships and several thousand
men, part of which sailed all the way to Suez, to try and strike a mighty blow against the
Ottomans in their own back yard. Weeks before the departure of the expedition from Goa,
Dom João de Castro, a distinguished veteran of the conquest of Tunis, wrote to his friend
Prince Luís: “The Governor is on its way to strike Suez and burn down the Turkish galleys
[…]. This expedition seems to me the most urgent task we have at hand, and I cannot
imagine how we could live in India with those galleys anchored off Suez”.52 The expedition
to the Red Sea was the closest the Estado da Índia would ever come to a full campaign
against Ottoman territories or interests, because besides sailing unharmed to Suez, the
Portuguese also landed in Massawa a force of 500 men that under the command of Dom
Cristóvão da Gama, brother of the commander-in-chief of the expedition, was meant,
among other purposes, to organize anti-Ottoman resistance in Ethiopia.53 Perhaps some of
the men that took part in the journey to the Red Sea had with them the Livro da origem dos
Turcos, to use as a manual of Ottoman warfare. Be that as it may, the expedition of Dom
Estevão da Gama, the son of Dom Vasco da Gama, was harshly criticized by many of the
Portuguese fidalgos in his entourage.54 And when he returned to Portugal, not long afterwards, he fell from grace with King João III, and went into exile in the domains of Emperor Carlos V, eventually ending up in the Low Countries, before returning to Portugal
51
52
53
54
On another context, specifically, the Portuguese Estado da Índia, see Luís Filipe Thomaz, “Factions, interests and messianism: The politics of Portuguese expansion in the east, 1520-1521”, The Indian Economic and
Social History Review (New Delhi), vol. 28, 1991, pp. 97-109.
Armando Cortesão & Luís de Albuquerque (eds.), Obras Completas de D. João de Catro, 4 vols. (Lisbon:
Academia Internacional de Cultural Portuguesa, 1968-1981), vol. 3, p. 30: “Ho gouernador esta de caminho pera dar em Xoes e quejmaras gales dos turcos […]. A jda me pareçe a mais obrigatorja que nenhuma
cousa outra, nem eu ho saberia emmaginar como çe pudeçe sostemtar esta terra estamdo estas gales em
Xoes”. However, Dom João de Castro would later change his opinion.
On this campaign, see Luís Costa e Sousa, Campanha da Etiópia 1541-1543: 400 Portugueses em socorro do
Preste João (Lisbon: Tribuna da História, 2009).
See Timothy J. Coates, “D. João de Castro’s 1541 Red Sea Voyage in the Greater Context of SixteenthCentury Portuguese-Ottoman Red Sea Rivalry”, in Caesar E. Farah (ed.), Decision Making and Change in the
Ottoman Empire (Kirksville, Missouri: The Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1993), pp. 263-285.
15
many years later.55 Precisely in 1540-1541, an envoy of the Portuguese Crown, the notorious Duarte Catanho, was in Constantinople negotiating peace and trade agreements with
the Sublime Porte.56 It seems obvious that at least two political factions existed within the
Portuguese governing elite, concerning the Ottomans. And it seems probable that the Livro
da origem dos Turcos, by Diogo de Castilho, stemmed from the radical one, which defended
the waging of open war against Ottoman territories, and which was headed by the Infante
Dom Luís. But the subject certainly needs further research.
55
56
On Dom Estevão’s career, see Diogo do Couto, Tratado dos feitos de Vasco da Gama e seus filhos na Índia, eds.
José Manuel Azevedo e Filho & João Marinho dos Santos (Lisbon: Edições Cosmos, 1998), pp. 107-176.
About the notorious Catanho, see Dejanirah Couto, “L’espionnage portugais dans l’empire ottoman au
XVIe siècle”, in Jean Aubin (ed.), La Découverte, le Portugal et l’Europe, pp. 243-267.
16
Appendix I
Book on the origin of the Turks and their Emperors,
compiled by the father friar Diogo de Castilho, monk of the Monastery of Alcobaça
Leuven: Rutgerus Rescius, 1538, 90 fls.
Letter of dedication (fls. 1-5v)
Chapter 1, of the origin of the Turks and their captains, until Otomano, their first king, and
of some events that occurred in this period, after their departure from Scythia (fls.
6-17).
Chapter 2, of Orcanes, second emperor of the Turks, and of the war he had with Migel Paleologo, emperor of Contantinople, and of his demise (fls. 17v-18).
Chapter 3, of how Amurathes, third emperor of the Turks, entered Europe, and of what he
did against the princes of Greece and against other peoples close to these (fls. 18v21).
Chapter 4, that recounts how Paiazetes, fourth emperor of the Turks, avenged the death of
his father, and laid siege to Constantinople, and of the battle he fought with the
Christians by the city of Nicopolis, and of his untimely death (fls. 21-25v).
Chapter 5, that recounts how Cyriscelebes, fifth emperor of the Turks, defeated Sigismund,
king of Hungary, and of his death (fls. 26-27).
Chapter 6, that recounts how Mahometes, sixth emperor of the Turks, killing his uncle, recovered all the lands that his grandfather had lost in Asia, destroying many princes
of the generation of the Turks, and of his death (fls. 27-27v).
Chapter 7, that recounts of Amurates, seventh emperor of the Turks, and of the several
wars he fought with the Christians and with people of his own nation, and of his
death (fls. 28-33v).
Chapter 8, that recounts how Mohometes, eight emperor of the Turks, took the empires of
Constantinople and Trapizonde, and many other Christian kingdoms and fiefs, and
of how he was defeated near Belgrade, and of his death (fls. 33v-48).
Chapter 9, how Baiazetes, 2nd of this name and ninth emperor of the Turks, destroyed his
brother Zizimo, and of the war he fought against the Sultan of Cairo, and againts
other mighty princes, Christian and Muslim, and of his death (fls. 48-62).
17
Chapter 10, that recounts how Selimo, tenth emperor of the Turks, destroyed Achomates, his
brother, and killed him along with the best part of his generation, and of the battle
he fought against the Sofy, and of the victory he gained against king Aladulo, and of
how he conquered all of Syria and Egipt, slaying the Sultan, and also of his death
(fls. 62-78v).
Chapter 11, that recounts how Solimano, eleventh emperor of the Turks, after having punished those that rebelled against him in the early years of his empire, went against
Belgrade and took it, and then the island of Rhodes, and of the battle he fought
with king Louis of Hungary, and how he conquered Buda, and of other events that
occurred until the year of 1532 (fls. 78v-90v).
18
Appendix II
Plate 1 – The front page of the Livro da origem dos Turcos (Leuven, 1538)
19
Plate 2 – The front page of the Epitome Rerum Gestarum (Leuven, 1531)
20
Plate 3 – The front page of the Legatio Magni Indorum Imperatoris Presbyteri Ioannis
21