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Macedo, a daughter of Joz d'Utra; his grandson called
himself Joz d'Utra da Silveira.1

The Hurters (Huertere) of Flanders.

Of far more interest is the history of Josse van Hurter,2
for it was a daughter of this Captain donatory of Fayal
whom Martin Behaim married about the year 1487.

The Hurters or Huertere were an old Flemish family,
and as far back as 1336 they are mentioned as magistrates
(e'chevins) of the liberty (Vrije) of Briigge. Their arms in
1354 3 were charged with three roundels, within each of
which was depicted a star of six rays. The Hurters of
Fayal, however, were not content with this simple coat of
arms, but devised one more elaborate, as follows :—

Shield, azul charged with three roundels or (i.e. bezants),
each roundel charged with a cat sable. Crest: a vulture
proper, armed or.*

Josse van Hurter, the first Captain donatory of Fayal
and Pico, was the youngest son of Leo de Hurter, bailiff
of Wynendaal and lord of Haegebrock, two dependencies
of the village of Hooghlede, three miles to the N. W. of
Roulers (Rousselaere) in Flanders. Behaim speaks of his
father-in-law as Lord of Moerkerke, but the town clerk of
that flourishing manufacturing town informs me that the
name of Hurter is absolutely unknown there, and that the
castle never belonged to a family of that name.5

After the death of Barthelemy, the eldest of the five
brothers, who died a bachelor, Haegebrock became the
property of his brother Baudouin or Baldwin, who seems
to have kept up some intercourse with his relations in
Fayal. There is still extant a letter which Diogo, a son
of this Baudouin, wrote to Joz d'Utra in 1527.6

Joz cT Utra (Josse van Hurter) as Capitao donatario.

The circumstances under which Joz d'Utra became
Captain donatory of Fayal7 and Pico, notwithstanding the

1 W. Guthrie (born 1708, died 1770), the reputed author of a' New
System of modern Geography' (London, 1774), is responsible for the
statement that the Azores were discovered by one Josuah van der
Berghe in the middle of the fifteenth century. Baudet (I. c. pp. 97-103)
fully discusses this question, and exposes the authors who spread the fable.

3 The Portuguese called him Joz d'Utra or de Hutra. Josse, Jobst,
Jost and Jodocus are synonymus.

3 «Registre de Franc,' 1354, No. 632, p. 92, kindly communicated to
me by Dr. Mees.

* I am indebted for this description to Senhor Gabriel Pereira. It is
possible that the " cats " may be meant for " gatas de algalia " or civet-cats,
and the vulture for a kite, this being the true representative bird of the
Azores.

6 Nor is it correct to say that the Hurters originally came from
Austria. There is a village Habrk in Bohemia, but Dr. Witting, the
secretary of the Imp. Society of Heraldry " Adler," informs me that no
Hurters are known in Austria.

• 1 Archivo dos Acores,' I., 162.

7 Faial means beech-wood, but the beeches after which the island is
named have turned out to be myrtles (Myrica Faya), just as the hawks
(acores) have turned out to be kites.

legends on Behaim's globe and the information furnished
by Valentin Ferdinand,8 are only imperfectly known.

We gather from these and a few other sources that
D. Beatriz, the consort of D. Fernando, who had been
granted the Azores after the death of Prince Henry the
Navigator in 1460, had a chaplain, a Fleming named
D. Pedro, whom she desired to reward for faithful service.
This chaplain, in 1465, came to Flanders on a mission to
D. Isabella, the consort of Philip the Good, Duke of
Burgundy. At the ducal court he became acquainted
with Josse van Hurter, an equerry of the Duchess. This
young nobleman had three wealthy brothers, but, having
been attached to the court, his own estate had much
suffered. When the friar spoke to him about the Azores,
and their supposed wealth in silver and tin, young Hurter
saw rising before him a vision of great wealth. When
the friar promised to use his influence, and to obtain for
him the captaincy of one of these islands, he eagerly
embraced the offer.

Having secured at Brugge the co-operation of fifteen
competent workmen (trabalhadores), whose fortunes he
promised to make, he went to Portugal. Thanks to the
recommendations of the chaplain, backed, as they probably
were, by the Duchess Isabella of Burgundy, he obtained
leave to people Fayal.9

He took his fifteen companions to that island, and no
doubt a number of other colonists, but the venture ended
in disappointment. Neither silver nor tin was found, and
when the colonists, after a year's search, had come to the
end of their resources they turned upon their leader, and
threatened him with death.10 Hurter escaped their violence
and returned to Portugal. D. Fernando and his consort
admired his spirit of enterprise. They not only promoted
his marriage with Brites (Beatriz) de Macedo, a beautiful
maid of honour in their household," but also furnished
him with ships and men, which enabled him to return to
Fayal. Having re-established his authority, the colonists
introduced by him set to work; they grubbed up the soil;
cattle were imported from the neighbouring islands, and
in the course of time Willem Bersmacher, a Fleming,
introduced the cultivation of woad, which proved profitable.
The island, however, does not appear to have proved a
source of wealth to its captain donatory. It yielded
orchilla, woad, wheat, oranges, and lemons and a little
wine, and afforded forage for cattle and pigs, but ready
money seems at all times to have been scarce. Brites de
Macedo, the wife of Joz d'Utra, in her will of 1527,12 refers
to a debt of thirty years' standing, whilst Dr. Monetarius,13

8 See in Appendix XI., p. 114.

9 According to Valentin Ferdinand this happened in 1469 ; according
to Behaim in 1466.

10 Cordeiro, ' Hist, insulana,' VIII., c. 2, speaks of.a revolt headed by
Arnequim, a Fleming, who defied the Royal corregedor (magistrate), and
threatened to shoot Hurter with his cross-bow.

11 Confirmed by Barros, ' Chronica do Imperader Clarimundo,'Lisbon,
1601, t. L, liv. III., c. 1.

13 ' Archivo dos Aoores,' I., 164, 170.

13 ' Abh. d. hist. CI. d. K. bayr. Ak. d. W.,' VII., 1854, p. 361.