Freiburger historische Bestände - digital

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writing in 1494, tells us " vectigalia apud ipsos sunt in
bono foro, sed divitiae argentae non magnae," which I take
to mean that though victuals were plentiful there was
always a lack of ready money.

i

The Privileges of a " Captain Donatory " or Governor.1

The captaes donatorios or hereditary governor of the
islands discovered by the Portuguese were appointed
either by the king himself or by the person to whom the
island had been granted. The dignity was hereditary,
as a rule, in the male line only. In the case of the death
of a grantee his lawful successor was bound (in conformity
with a law of 1434) to apply to the king for a confirmation
of the act by which his family originally benefited, and
this confirmation might be refused. Such application was
usual also on the accession of a sovereign.

The captain was entrusted with the exercise of criminal
and civil jurisdiction, subject to respecting Royal writs
and the decision of judges in circuit (correicaos), and to
the limitation that sentences, involving the loss of a limb
or death, had to be referred to the king for confirmation.
He enjoyed the monopoly in corn-mills, public baking
houses and the sale of salt, and was entitled to claim the
payment annually of one mark silver (or of two deals a
week) from the owner of a saw mill, and a tenth of the
profits of all metalliferous mines. The captain, moreover,
was authorized to grant land to colonists on payment of a
rent in money or in kind, and on condition that it was
brought under cultivation within five years. Land not
cultivated might be claimed by the king. Tenants, however
, were permitted to sell the tenant rights of the land
they had brought under cultivation, to kill wild beasts and
to pasture their tame cattle throughout the island. The
governor moreover enjoyed the tenth of the Royal revenues.
His privileges were consequently very considerable, and
abuses of the powers entrusted to him were by no means
rare.

The Peopling of Fayal.

Martin Behaim most certainly exaggerates when he
tells us that the Duchess of Burgundy sent 2,000 colonists
to the island, which increased so rapidly that in 1490 there
lived there many thousand Germans and Flemings; for
Monetarius, who was at Lisbon in 1494,2 was told by the
wife of Joz d'Utra that at that time, and including Pico,
there were only 1,500 inhabitants of both sexes, all of
them Flemings. But whatever the original number of
Flemish colonists, they quickly became merged with or
were superseded by the Portuguese. As early as 1507,
we are told by Valentin Ferdinand, the Flemish language
was nearly extinct, and when Jan Huyghen van Linschoten3

1 For conditions of a letters-patent (carta de merce) of this kind see
Mendo Trigoza, ' Mem. da litt. Portuguese,' VIII., p. 390.
a L. c, p. 361.

s ' Itinerarium ofte Schip-vaert n. e. Oost ofte Portugaels Indien,'
(Amsterdam, 1644), pp. 146-157.

resided in the Azores (1589-91) the Flemish language had
become extinct, although many of the inhabitants resembled
Netherlanders in physique, and thought kindly of their
forefathers.

It is owing to the early Flemish settlers that the
islands of Fayal and Pico became known as the " Flemish
islands." Abraham Ortelius, the eminent geographer
(born 1527 at Antwerp, died 1598), in the notes accompanying
Ludovicus Teisera's map of the " Acores Insulae,
1584," extends this appellation—Vlaemsche eylanden—to
the whole group, on the ground that merchants of Briigge
had been the first to discover them.

Joz d'Utra and his descendants.

Josse van Hurter, the first Captain donatory of Fayal,
as has been already stated, married D. Brites or Beatriz de
Macedo, a maid of honour in D. Fernando's household,
and a member of one of the most illustrious families of
Portugal. Her ancester, Martin Gonealves de Macedo,
had saved the life of King John I. at the battle of Alju-
barrota, 1385.4 Her family owned estates in Madeira, and
these yielded the sugar which her husband exported to
Flanders.

There were six children by this marriage. The eldest
son, named like his father, Joz d'Utra, married Isabel, the
daughter of Joao Vaz Cortereal; a daughter, Isabel,5
married Francisco da Silveira (v. d. Haghe); another
daughter, Joanna, married Martin Behaim.

The captain donatory and, at all events, his family
appear to have spent much of their time at Lisbon. It
was there that Dr. Monetarius, when he stayed in that
city from November 27 to December 2, 1494, was
hospitably entertained by the family of Joz d'Utra. They
occupied one of the King's houses in the Rocio, near the
church of S. Domingos. Dr. Monetarius6 describes the
lady of the house as being of " noble birth, intelligent and
of wide experience." She presented him with a sample of
musk obtained from S. Thome'. Dr. Monetarius makes
no reference whatever to his old friend Martin Behaim,
who was probably at Fayal, nor to Valentin Ferdinand,
who acted as his interpreter.

Joz d'Utra died in 1495,1 and was succeeded by his
eldest son, who bore the same name. An incident in the
life of this governor is of some interest to us, as an
official document connected with it refers to the wife of
one Martin Behaim.8

It appears that Joz d'Utra charged Fernao d'Evora,

4 Arms of the Macedos as described by A. Braancamp Freire, ' Livro
dos brasoes da sala de Cintra,' I., pp. 99, 113 : field azure charged with
five stars, or, in saltire.

* This is the thona Isabel of George Pock.

6 For the account of Monetarius see ' Abh. d. hist. Ch. d. K. bayr.
Ak. d. W.,' II., 1847 ; VII., 1855.

7 His wife survived until 1531. For her last will and testament
(1527) with a codicil (1531) see 'Arch, dos Acores,' I., 164.

• ' Arch, dos Acores,' IX., 1887, p. 194.