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which sailed to the west, and not one of them met with
success. Fructuoso after this communicates three
prophecies of a more remarkable nature, all of which, he
maintains, turned out true. They are as follows :—

" In the first place he (Behaim) said that a time would
come when a man would be happy who had a good ship,
which would enable him to leave these islands. And this
was found to be true during the troubles and wars1 between
Philip of Spain and his cousin D. Antonio, in the time of
the conflagrations (volcanic eruptions), earthquakes, etc.

" In the second place, and before the discovery of the
Indies of Castile, he said that to the south-west of Fayal,
where he then was, he saw a planet dominating a province
the inhabitants of which used dishes of gold and silver,
cargoes of which would reach Fayal before long. And
within a few years vessels laden with gold, silver and
precious stones coming from Peru arrived at Fayal.2

" In the third place he said that to the south-west of
Fayal and Pico three islands remained to be discovered,
one of which was very large and properly called Madeira,
the other was smaller, and the third was the smallest." 3

Dr. Giinther (p. 70) suggests that Behaim's reputation
as a prophet may have been due to his predicting eclipses
of the sun or moon, which he might have done, without
consulting the stars, by consulting a book like the
' Calendarium ecclipsium p. a. 1483-1530,' in his days in
common use among seamen.

XV. THE DEATH OF BEHAIM, 1507.

Wolf Behaim's death at Lisbon.

Wolf Behaim, the youngest brother of Martin, appears to
have come to Lisbon towards the close of 1506 as the
representative of the Hirschvogels of Nuremberg, and
among the " novelties " introduced by him into the great
mart of Western Europe were pocket watches which
struck the hours, or " Nuremberg eggs," then recently
invented. He evidently met there with his brother in
distressed circumstances and living away from his wife,
for in reply to a letter which he addressed to his brother
Michael at Nuremberg, the latter replied on January 30,
1507, as follows :—

" I, for my part, cannot mend Martin Behaim's affairs ;
this and other things we shall have to leave to God. I
should like to know how his wife (weib, wife, not widow !),
his son and their friends are, also who they are and where."4

1 The war between Philip of Spain and D. Antonio, prior of Crato,
broke out in 1580. The Azores, having declared in favour of D. Antonio,
were invaded and conquered by the Spaniards in 1582-3 (Antonio de
Herrera, ' Cinco livros de la Historia de Portugal, y conquista de la islas
de los Acores,' Madrid, 1591). A fearful earthquake occurred in 1522,
and its ravages extended from the Azores to Morocco and Granada.

2 Peru was first heard of in 1524 !

3 This of course may refer to Madeira, Porto Santo and Bugio.

4 Ghillany, Doc. XII., p. 107.

Wolf, unfortunately, died on March 20, 1507, a
bachelor. He either made no testamentary dispositions
at all or appointed hi* three brothers and his sister Ursula
joint heirs in stirpe.5 His place of burial is not known
with certainty. J. Pock, in a letter to Michael Behaim,
dated Lisbon, March 25-30, 1519,6 says that "he was
buried in the church of S. Maria da Conceicao, a
sumptuously decorated edifice much frequented, especially
by Germans." He adds that his grave is in the middle of
the church, by the side of that of Paulus Imhof, and that
an ornamental tombstone would cost from *l\ to 20
crucados, and that if it were to be kept for all time one
mark silver (about 2 guineas) would have to be paid to
the church. Martin Behaim, he states, was buried in the
church of S. Domingos.7

The church of N. D. da Conceicao, now known as
" Conceicao velho," was originally a synagogue which D.
Manuel in 1500 gave to the Order of Christ in exchange
for the old chapel of Our Lady of Restello, upon the site
of which rose the magnificent monastery of Belem. It was
not, however, at any time a church frequented by
Germans, who worshipped at S. Juliao and at S. Domingos,
where chapels were set aside for their brotherhoods.
J. Pock, who wrote many years after the event, was no
doubt mistaken. A MS. Genealogy of the Niirnberg
Patricians (Schwarz, Compl., No. 99) now in the town
library, quoted by Ghillany, p. 19, but of little authority,
tells us that Wolf, an astrologer, died at Lisbon, a
bachelor, in 1509 (sic) and was buried in the Church of the
Predicant Friars there, by the side of Ulrich Imhof." I
gather from these conflicting statements that Wolf
Behaim and Ulrich or Paulus were laid at rest, side by
side, in the same church; and as we know that Martin
Behaim was buried in the church of the Dominicans or
Predicant Friars, this church, most probably, was that of
S. Juliao.8

The death of Martin Behaim.

Martin Behaim did not long survive his younger
brother, for he died on July 29, 1507,9 very poor and in a

6 Michael Behaim on Nov. 12, 1518, wrote to Jorg Pock that Olaa
Humbrecht of Antwerp had informed him that Wolf Behaim had left
behind him clothes, striking watches (Schlagurlein) and other things,
which were to have been sold by Sebald Kneusel, but that up to then no
money had been received on that account (Ghillany, Doc. XVI., p. 112).

6 Ghillany, Doc. XVIII., p. 104.

' J. Pock to Michael Behaim, March 25-30, 1519 (Ghillany, Doc.
XVIII., p. 114-115). Biedermann,' Geschlechtsregister,' Tafel, 221, says,
"Paulus Imhof spent many years in Portugal, stood high in the favour of
the King, and died there in 1507, and is buried in the church of St. John,
where he has a considerable monument."

8 See p. 11 for an ac< sunt of these churched.

9 Murr, Ghillany and even Giinther state that Behaim died in 1506,
but there can be no doubt that he died in 1507. The inscription upon
the hatchment in the Church of St. Catherine proves this, and also an
inscription upon his portrait, where Murr read " 1506," but which a trustworthy
person in the service of the family assured Humboldt (' Kritische
Untersuchungen,' L, 230) reads " Obiit a MDVII. Lisabonae."

H 2