USA > Maine > A history of the discovery of Maine > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
In the same year, the Spanish navigator, Hojeda, was instructed to follow the track of the English discoverers in the north; but whether he did this, or what were the results, we have no information.t
Joanna, of Castile, called the Insane, daughter of Ferdi- nand of Aragon, gave a commission and letters patent, in 1511, to Juan de Agramonte, for an exploring expedition to the north-west ; but whether it was undertaken and with what results, no memorials remain to show. The instructions given, and the preliminary proceedings are too interesting in this connection to be omitted. In these letters it is recited, that Agramonte had formerly made a proposition for a simi- lar enterprise to her father, King Ferdinand, and received from him a commission for a voyage of discovery. The in- teresting points of this commission are as follows :
Agramonte was to go out with two ships, "to discover a
* See Navarrete, Colleccion de los viages y descubrimientos, etc., tom. 3, pp. 41 and 77, Madrid, 1829; and Biddle, Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, p. 236. t See upon this, Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen, p. 316, note 2. Stuttgart, 1858.
13
1
194
SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND.
certain new land within the limits appertaining to the queen of Castile, and to know the secret of this country " (" a des- cobrir cierta tierra nueva en los limitos que a nos pertenecen, para ir a saber el secreto de la tierra nueva ").
He was to take on board his vessels only such mariners and seamen as were subjects of the queen, with the excep- tion of two pilots, whom he might take from the mariners of Brittany in France, or any other nation well acquainted in those parts.
He had liberty of going to Brittany to engage these pilots ; and might then bring from thence to Spain wine, meat, meal, and other provisions for his expedition, without paying any duty to the queen.
He was allowed to start for Newfoundland at any time convenient to himself, and might go to that part of it which pleased him best; but should take care not to invade any portion belonging to the king of Portugal, and should keep within the limits pointed out by the agreement between the kings of the two countries.
Agramonte was ordered to attempt a settlement (pobla- cion) in the new country in the name of the queen of Castile ; and if he succeeded, he should be made hereditary chief justice of the colony for himself and his heirs, and should designate all the other officers of the new country.
If he brought good tidings from the new country, and if he found there sigus of gold and other useful things, he should be declared a perpetual officer of the queen, and should have a good salary during his life. On his return to Spain, he was required to have all the gold and precious things which God's pleasure might allow him to bring from Newfoundland, accurately registered and numbered, and put on paper before a royal notary of the Spanish harbor in which he should happen to arrive .*
* See Navarrete, 1. c. p. 122 seq.
195
SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND.
We may add to these interesting details of the agreement between Agramonte and Ferdinand, confirmed by Queen Joanna in October, 1511, the following remarks :
We do not learn in what year Agramonte made his first proposition to Ferdinand, and obtained his first commission. It was probably some years before 1511 ; and this proves that Spain, after the time of Dornelos, had not lost sight of New- foundland.
It is apparent from the details in regard to offices and other subjects in the commission. that the principal object of the voyage was to make a Spanish settlement in Newfoundland. This royal Spanish commission to Agra- monte reminds us of another well known royal English commission, given at a later date, in 1583, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who was also sent out to make a plantation in New- foundland.
Newfoundland (la tierra nueva) was, at that time, under- stood in Spain to include not only the present island of New- foundland, but other countries which had been seen, or might still be found to the north, west, and south of it. The royal commission gave warning to Agramonte to avoid carefully those parts of which the king of Portugal had taken pos- session, and to go only to those sections of "Tierra nueva," which fell within the limits of Spain. The Cortereals, having discovered for the king of Portugal the east coast of Newfoundland and the northern regions, those sections of country, according to the Spanish charts made at the time, were considered as under the dominion of the king of Por- tugal. If Agramonte was not to touch those parts, his expedition must have been destined to some more southern and western section of "Tierra nueva," which might then be seen delineated on the charts of Cosa (1500) and Reinel (1510) ; and it is, therefore, not improbable, that the expedi-
196
SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND.
tion was really destined, either for the coasts of New England, or for some country nearer to them, than Newfoundland: for instance, to the "tierra de los Bretones" (the country of the Bretons). To this country, the pilots from Brittany, whom Agramonte was to take with him, probably would have conducted him first of all.
We may, therefore, with a certain degree of probability, regard this enterprise of Agramonte as an expedition destined to our regions, and an attempt to make a Spanish settlement somewhere along the coast of the Gulf of Maine, often included under the name of "tierra de los Bretones."
When I come to treat of the navigators of Brittany and Normandy, I will show that, in former times, they were in the habit of enlisting as pilots in Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to distant countries. It is curious to learn from our document, that, in 1511, they had become so expert in long voyages, at least in the direction of the north-east of North America, that the government of Spain deemed it best to recommend the employment of these pilots from Brittany. This circumstance proves, that as early as 1511, the Britons were best acquainted with the coasts comprised under the names of "Tierra nueva " and "Tierra de los Bretones."
From all these formal proceedings and preparations, it would be natural to conclude that Agramonte had really undertaken this grand voyage. " But unhappily," says Navarrete, "we are left uninformed respecting the results of this expedition. No Spanish historian speaks of them."* It may be, that, like so many other gallant adventurers . to the new world, he perished in his enterprise, and never returned to Spain.
* Navarrete, 1. c. p. 43.
197
SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND.
But notwithstanding these numerous failures, Spain did not relinquish the idea of northern exploration.
Sebastian Cabot had been in the service of Spain since 1512, and we may suppose that he would favor undertakings to explore still further the field of his first discovery. And we learn from the first chronicler of the Spanish discoveries, Peter Martyr, that in the years following Agramonte, Spain continued to direct her attention to the north-western regions. Peter Martyr says, in a letter written in 1515, "Cabot is daily expecting that ships will be furnished to him, with which he at last may discover that hidden secret of nature" (the existence of a north-west passage) ; and he adds, "I think that he will start for his exploration in the month of March of the next year, 1516."*
But Ferdinand, the great patron of discovery and of Cabot, died on the 23d of January, 1516. This event seems to have put an end to this contemplated expedition of Cabot.
That the Bretons and Normans, in their fishing expedi- tions, visited countries distant from their fishing-grounds, and made discoveries there, appears by what Herrera occasionally relates. This Spanish historian, in his Annals of the Spanish Navigations, under the date of 1526, makes the following remarks :
" Nicolaus Don, a native of Brittany, wrote this year to the emperor, that in going with thirty mariners to the fish- eries of Bacallaos he had met with stormy weather, and been driven to a country which belonged to the emperor's domin- ions; and that he had found the people of that country of good manners and fashion, and that they wore collars and other ornaments of gold." From this and other signs, which he had observed, he judged, that it was a rich country, and he proposed to the emperor to enter the Spanish service, and
* See the Latin extract of Peter Martyr, given in Biddle's Memoir, p. 101.
1
198
SPANISH VOYAGES TO NEWFOUNDLAND.
go to that country for traffic; giving to his majesty the fourth part of the profit of his first voyage, and then being allowed to trade there, as the emperor's vassal.
The emperor acknowledged the Frenchman's letter and thanked him for his good-will, " knowing very well, that if he should deny him the license, he, nevertheless, would make the trafficking voyage without license." He, therefore, an- swered said Don, that he approved his proposal ; that he might come with his companions ; and that he should have the despatches which he wished .*
The country to which Don was driven, and which he thought belonged to the king of Spain, could not have been on the coast of Newfoundland or north of it; because the Bretons must have known that these regions, since the time of the Cortereals, were considered as belonging to the domin- ions of Portugal. Neither could it have been directly west of Newfoundland, or around the Gulf of Canada, or in Nova Scotia (the so-called country of the Bretons) ; for here a Frenchman would have known himself to be in the domin- ions of his own country.
We should, therefore, look for this country somewhere south-west of Nova Scotia, toward Norumbega and Flor- ida, the latter of which was decidedly under the Spanish rule. As a vessel from the great banks would not, probably, be driven very far to the south-west, we may justly conclude that the country which Don had found, was the coast of Maine, or some part of New England; and that the golden ornaments of which he spoke, existed only in his imagina- tion.
At all events, this affair, incidentally mentioned by Her- rera, proves that the Bretons, and other fishermeu of the
* See Herrera, Historia General, etc., Dec. III, lib. 10, cap. 9. Madrid. 1601.
1
---
..
199
FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL.
banks, were sometimes driven to distant countries ; and that they trafficked with the aborigines. I say " sometimes," but we might say, " very often." For one such case, which came to the knowledge of Herrera, we may well suppose there were many which escaped the knowledge of himself and other historians.
4. FRENCH VOYAGES TO THE NORTH-EAST OF AMERICA, AFTER CABOT AND CORTEREAL.
Soon after the exploring expeditions of the Cabots and Cortereals, there appeared in our waters the ships and mari- ners of another nation, which, next to England, has been the most prominent actor in the discovery and colonization of the northern portion of America, and particularly of the State of Maine.
The inhabitants of the little harbors of Normandy and Brittany, the great peninsulas of France, stretching out, like Great Britain, toward the west, and washed by the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, have been fishermen and mariners from a remote time. The people of Brittany were a colony from Great Britain ; and the French Normans had in their veins the blood of the Scandinavian Northmen, whose heroic spirit and love of the sea they inherited. No wonder, then, that they should follow the footsteps of their forefathers to the north-cast of America. All that the French Normans ac- complished there may be considered, in a certain degree, as a continuation of the enterprises of the old Northmen in these regions. And, to a certain degree also, this general remark may be applied to all that was afterwards accomplished for the discovery and settlement of North America by the Eng- lish ; who were in part descendants of the old Northnien. The entire activity of the nations of Northern Europe from the old Northmen down to the present settlers of English
200
FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL.
blood in New England, is, in this respect, one and the same series of connected undertakings.
The names of the ports of Dieppe, Honfleur, St. Malo, Brest, La Rochelle, etc., were mentioned in the maritime history of France long before Columbus. From the very be- ginning of the modern age of discovery, many expeditions had been undertaken from several of these ports to the Canary Islands, and to southern points of Africa ; in which direction the French, under the command of their captains, Bethen- court of Rochelle, Cousin of Dieppe, and Gonneville of Hon- fleur, became the rivals, and in some cases the leaders of the Portuguese and Spaniards .*
These inhabitants of the western coast of France were also among the first who profited by the discoveries of the Cabots and Cortereals, and who followed in the wake of the Portu- guese fishermen toward the north-west cod-fish country.
The harbors of Brittany and Normandy were about mid- way between Bristol and Lisbon, and from both sides the news of the English and Portuguese expeditions, and the fame of "Bacallaos " and " Labrador," must soon have reached them. But they had no enterprising king at the head of their affairs, like Emanuel of Portugal, or even Henry VII, of England. Indeed, they had scarcely any king at all ; for the kings of the interior of France had only just then begun to extend their dominion toward the coasts of the At- lantic.
The fishermen and merchants of Brittany and Normandy were obliged, therefore, to act for themselves. Their ports were almost independent communities in which everything was left to private enterprise. Great official expeditions, favored by a powerful government and royal favor, became
* See the work, L. Estancelin, Recherches sur les voyages et découver- tes des navigateurs Normands, p. 160. Paris, 1832.
.
-
·
201
FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL.
possible in France only at a later date, when Francis I. had brought the whole kingdom under one government.
But instead of an enterprising king, those ports had their associations of fishermen and merchants, and other commercial institutions. In some of them, as in Dieppe in Normandy,. hydrography and cosmography had been cultivated at an early date .* Dieppe also possessed, in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, such intelligent and enterprising ship- owners and merchants as the celebrated Angos, father and son, who became widely known in the history of navigation and discovery. t
The first voyages of the Bretons of St. Malo, and the Nor- mans of Dieppe to Newfoundland, are said to have occur- red as early as 1504; only one year after the last Portu- guese searching expedition for the Cortereals. The first French fishing voyages were, without doubt, real exploring expeditions. And as everything was then new to them, it is much to be regretted that no reports of their discoveries have been preserved. They probably visited places of which the Portuguese had not taken possession ; and we therefore find them at the south of Newfoundland, and especially at the island of Cape Breton, to which they gave the name, still retained,-the oldest French name on the American north- east coast.
Two years later, in 1506, Jean Denys of Honfleur, a very expert and able navigator, is mentioned "in very good old memoirs,"-so they are called by Charlevoix, the historian of Canada, ¿- as having explored, in company with his pilot
* See M. L. Vitet, Histoire des anciennes villes de France, tom. 2, p. 51. Paris, 1833.
t [So powerful were these illustrious merchants, that when some of their ships were captured by the Portuguese, they, single handed, blockaded the mouth of the Tagus, made large reprisals, and compelled the king of Por- tugal to make reparation for their losses .- ED.]
# Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, vol. 1, p. 4. Paris, 1744.
1
202
FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL.
Camart, a native of Rouen, the "Golfo Quadrado" (Gulf of St. Lawrence ) .* He is also said to have made a chart of the gulf, and of the mouth of the great river of Canada. This is not altogether improbable ; for the mariners of Hon- fleur and Dieppe were early accustomed to make charts and maps. "The very oldest charts, preserved in the Depot de la Marine at Paris, were traced by them; "; though in this great mass of interesting documents and maps, the map of Jean Denys has not yet been discovered. On the charts of the first years of the sixteenth century we find no other trace of these French discoveries ; unless it may be that occasionally the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is laid down, and also, quite regularly, a fair representation of Cape Breton, which may be ascribed to the French.
A man with the Portuguese or Spanish name, " Velasco," is said by French authors to have made a voyage to the St. Lawrence with some Frenchmen, at the same time that Denys was in those regions.# This is not unlikely ; for the chronicles of the French seaports assert, that from time imme- morial, Spanish merchants were settled in these ports ; and that it was the custom of the adventurers of St. Malo and Dieppe, in long voyages, to have on board an expert Spanish or Portuguese pilot, or at least "factor" and "interpre- ter."§ Velasco might have been such a pilot in the service of a Frenchman. Besides, we should be inclined to believe in reports of early French voyages to the St. Lawrence, even if they were not strictly proved by official and authentic docu-
* The same French captain, Jean Denys, is also mentioned in the history of Brazil, as having made, in the year 1504, a voyage of discovery to that part of South America.
t See Vitet, Histoire de Dieppe, p. 51. Paris, 1853.
# Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, p. 4. Paris, 1744. § See Vitet, l. c. p. 63.
203
FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL.
ments ; because this basin must have attracted not only fish- ermen, but navigators, who were looking for a passage through to the Pacific Ocean. It would be inexplicable if this basin had really been as much neglected by the fishermen, as it appears to have been by the map-makers in nearly all the charts before Cartier, 1534. For this latter neglect we may, however, account by the loss of the original charts and au- thentic documents, which we have so much reason to lament.
The Italian historian, Ramusio, to whom we owe nearly all the few notices we have of the early undertakings of the Normans and Bretons, mentions still another navigator of Dieppe, whom he calls "Thomaso Aubert." According to him, this Aubert went out as commander of a ship, " La Pensée," belonging to Jean Ango, the merchant and ship- owner of Dieppe above-mentioned; who was the father of the still more famous Ango, Viscount of Dieppe.
What parts of the north-east Aubert visited and explored, Ramusio does not state. But his voyage was remarkable for bringing to France the first aborigines from the country after- wards called Canada .* Some of these Canadian Indians were portrayed in Dieppe, and appear amongst other figures, in an old piece of masonry or bas-relief, still preserved in the church of St. James in Dieppe.t
Ten years after Aubert, in 1518, or perhaps a few years later, a similar voyage to the same regions was undertaken by the "Sieur Baron de Lery," an enterprising man, " who had directed his mind and courage to high things," and who desired to establish a French settlement on the other side of the ocean. He embarked many men and cattle on board of one or two vessels, and commenced his voyage. But having
* See Ramusio, 1. c. tom. 3, fol. 423, F.
t See a description and copy of this bas-relief in Vitet, Histoire do Dieppe, p. 112 seq.
204
FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL.
encountered storms and unfavorable weather, he was diverted from his enterprise, and put into Sable Island, where he landed the cattle, and returned to France .*
We have no records by which to determine what names the French gave to the countries discovered or visited by them. That given by the patriotic Portuguese, "the country of Cortereal," would not be acceptable to them ; and it is prob- able, that they adopted the less exclusive English name, introduced by Cabot, " The new isle," or, " The new found land," which they translated " La terre neuve." Perhaps, also, the name, "Bacallaos," derived from the most impor- tant product of the region, came into use among them, and was translated by them, "La terre des molues;" and because the Bretons from Brittany were, at first, the most prominent in this branch of trade, and were the principal explorers and visitors of the southern section of Cortereal's country, the name, "Terre des Bretons" (the land of the Bretons) came into general use among the French, as well as among other nations. On maps of the early part of the sixteenth century, we see this name extended over a large tract of country, including Nova Scotia and a large portion of New England.
According to the great French captain whom Ramusio quotes, and who wrote his discourse on the early French navigators in 1537, it appears that at this time, of all these names, the most common among the French was "La Terre Neuve." He says, that " La Terre Neuve" extends north- ward to 60º N., and southward to 40º N .; and adds, that many also called it, and particularly the southern section dis- covered by Verrazano, " La Terre Francaise " (the French country). This latter may have been an official name, whilst " La Terre Neuve" was probably the popular name among the fishermen and in the sea-ports. This French
* See D'Avezac, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tom. 3, p. 83. 1864.
1
205
FRENCH VOYAGES AFTER CORTEREAL.
captain also mentions thus early the Indian name "No- rumbega ;" to which he gives about the same extent of country as to " La Terre Francaise," consequently including under this term the State of Maine."*
The enterprise of the fishermen and merchants of Dieppe, Honfleur, St. Malo, Nantes, La Rochelle, etc., commencing about 1504, was the introduction of a long series of undertak- ings of great political and social importance. The Bretons and Normans of France went over from the banks to the con- tinent, from fishing to planting. They carried the race, the language, the religion, the customs, and also the traditions and songs of Western France to North-eastern America, where, for a long time, they outstripped the English, the Portu- guese, and the Spaniards, and became for many years more influential than all their rivals.
As we shall show hereafter, they exerted a very important influence on the discovery and settlement of the State of Maine ; which, as adjoining to the French settlements, was for a long time the battle-ground for the conflicting claims of the English and French.
I may point again to the remarkable circumstance already alluded to, that the French Normans may be said to have followed on the same track, or oceanic high-road, on which their ancestors, the Scandinavian Northmen, had entered ; and that they advanced their settlements, like them, from Helluland in the north, along the coast of Markland, until they had reached Vinland.
* Ramusio, tom. 3, fol. 423. Compare, also, the translation of this dis- . course in Estancelin, Recherches des voyages des Normands, pp. 219, 223, 224. Paris, 1832.
206
ENGLISH VOYAGE OF 1517.'
5. AN ENGLISH VOYAGE TO THE NORTH-WEST, SAID TO HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN UNDER THE COMMAND OF SEBAS- TIAN CABOT AND SIR THOMAS PERT, IN 1517.
Richard Eden, the first English collector of travels and voyages, published in 1553 a translation of the " Universal Cosmographie," written in Latin by the German, Sebastian Munster.
In the dedication of this translation, addressed to the Duke of Northumberland, once Lord High Admiral under Henry VIII, Eden incidentally observes, that " King Henry VIII, in the eighth year of his reign, furnished and set forth certain shippes under the governaunce of Sebastian Cabot, and one Sir Thomas Pert; but that the faint hart of this latter mentioned person was the cause, that that voyage toke none effect."
This incidental remark of Eden is all the original evidence we have on this so-called expedition of Cabot in 1517, by which great discoveries are said to have been made under Henry VIII.
No original author of the time of Henry VIII. has alluded to this enterprise. Stow, in his Chronicle of England, though he mentions the first expedition of the Cabots in 1497, and other English maritime undertakings, has nothing about an enterprise in 1517. Neither does Lord Herbert, in his elaborate life and reign of Henry VIII, mention such an expedition. Nor does the well-informed Portuguese au- thor, Antonio Galvano, who wrote his history of the dis- coveries of the world in 1555, and who accurately enumerates all the Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French expedi- tions up to that year, make any mention whatever of a voyage of Cabot in 1517.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.