Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg i. Br., J 4554,d
Ravenstein, Ernst Georg
Martin Behaim: his life and his globe
London
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(PDF, 75 MB)
Bibliographische Information
Startseite des Bandes
Alte Drucke und Autorensammlungen

  (z. B.: IV, 145, xii)



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s.

— 50 —

who had been appointed in July, 1492, Mamposteiro mor
dos Captivos1 for the Azores, with having been found
with his sister Joanna, the wife of Martin Behaim. The
accused was put in chains and embarked for Lisbon, but
managed to escape. The King on November 16, 1501,
granted him a " carta de perdao " (pardon), but when he
returned to the Azores, he was once more cast into
prison. In the end his son succeeded in proving his
innocence of the adultery charged against him, and Joz
d'Utra was ordered to molest him no further.

Manuel d'Utra Cortereal, the son of Joz d'Utra II.
and his wife Izabel Cortereal, succeeded in 1549, but
being charged with bigamy he was removed from his high
position, and it was only after a protracted law-suit2 that
his son and heir, Jeronimo d'Utra Cortereal, was given
possession of his father's office. This happened in 1582.
Jeronimo departed this life in 1614, the last of his line,
his only son Luiz having died before him in India, in
1600. After his death the captaincy of Fayal and Pico
was granted to D. Manuel de Moura Cortereal, the first
conde de Lumiares.3

Martin Behaim in Fayal, and his family.

Of Martin Behaim's family life in Fayal we know
next to nothing. We are unacquainted even with the
circumstances which led to his marriage with Joanna de
Macedo, the daughter of Joz d'Utra. This marriage took
place at latest in the spring of 1488, for his son Martin
was born April 6, 1489.4 There were no other children.
Such at least is the result of careful inquiries made in
1518 by Jorg Pock by request of the family.5 E. do
Canto (' Arch, dos Acores,' VII., pp. 401-415) declares that
he had no further descendants in the male line.

After the death of her husband, in 1507, the widow,
" being at the time still young, and it being the custom
for young widows to marry again,"6 wedded D. Henrique
de Noronha of Madeira, and thenceforth resided in that
island.

A projected Voyage of Discovery, 1486.

VVe do not know how Behaim was occupied after his
return from his African voyage, during his residence at
Fayal or during occasional visits to Lisbon. It is to be

1 Collector-in-chief of the captives or slaves.

2 See Cordeiro, ' Hist. Insulana,' p. 458, for the history of the law-suit.

3 ' Arch, dos Acores,' IV., 229.

4 This date is given in a letter of Michael Behaim to Jorg Pock dated
December 16, 1518 (Ghillany, p. 43).

6 Ghillany, Urk. XVII. and XVIII. A. Cordeiro (' Hist, insulana,'
VIII., c. 4), on the other hand, asserts that there were two sons both
named Martin; that the father, after the death of the first-born, visited
Bohemia, his native country, whence he came back with great wealth, but
that after several years' residence he returned to Germany for good, and
that neither he nor his second son were again heard of !

8 So says her son Martin in a letter of August 13, 1518, to Michael
Behaim, his uncle (Ghillany, p. 108). The widow, in 1507, must have
been close upon forty years of age, but she owned estates in Madeira !

presumed that he assisted his father-in-law in the management
of his estate. He may even have dabbled in
astrology, and devoted some time to the study of
cosmography, but there is no evidence whatever that he
followed a maritime career. The only voyage of
discovery with which his name has been associated is a
joint expedition proposed by Fernao Dulmo (Ferd. van
Olm), one of the captains of Terceira and Joao Affonso
do Estreito of Madeira, which was authorised by King
John on July 24, 1486. Two caravels were to leave
Terceira in March 1487, in search of the mythical
" Ilhas das sete cidades," and of a " terra firme," and it was
agreed that the " German cavalier who desired to join this
enterprise should be permitted to embark in either of the
caravels." Ernesto do Canto suggests that this " German
cavalier" can have been no other than Martin Behaim.
But if this is the case, and if the expedition really started,
it is curious that no reference to it whatever should be
discoverable on Behaim's globe.7

Martin Behaim's Prophecies.

It might be supposed that valuable and trustworthy
information on Martin Behaim might be found in the
' Historia insulana das ilhas a Portugal sujeitas na Occano
occidentale,' compiled by Antonio Cordeira, and published
at Lisbon in 1717, for the author was able to avail himself
of a valuable MS., ' As saudades da terra,' compiled by
Dr. Gaspar Fructuoso.8 His work unfortunately
contains but little information. He tells us (IX., c. 3,
§41):—

** Martin de Bohemia was a great mathematician and
so distinguished an astrologer that the King, when he
came to the Court, esteemed him highly, not only on
account of his noble birth, but also on account of his
learning, and the knowledge which he owed to the
observation of the stars. This was so remarkable that the
King, trusting to this knowledge, despatched vessels for
the discovery of the Antilhas (West Indies), and Bohemia
foretold day and hour when these vessels would return,
and they did return without having discovered the
Antilhas. And he divined so many other things by
observing the stars, and these things turned out afterwards
to be true, that the ignorant people, instead of
looking upon this nobleman as an excellent astrologer,
took him to be a necromancer."

This prophecy may refer to any of the expeditions

7 Bernardino Jose de Senna Freitos, in his ' Memoria hist, sobre o
intentado descobrimento de uma supposta ilha ao norte de Terceira,'
(Lisbon, 1845), was the first to refer to this expedition. For the
Royal authority see ' Alguns documentos,' p. 58, and E. do Canto's ' Arch,
dos Acores,' IV., 441. Harrisse, ' The Discovery of America,' p. 655,
enumerates 13 expeditions which sailed between 1447 and 1493 in search
of western islands.

8 For biographical notice on G. Fructuoso and A. Cordeira, see p. 3.
Alvaro Rodriguez de Azevedo published an annotated edition of the
'Saudades ' as far as they refer to Madeira (Funchal, 1873). A work on
Fayal by A. Pedro de Azevedo, I have been unable to obtain.


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