USA > Pennsylvania > The Fatherland: (1450-1700) : showing the part it bore in the discovery, exploration and development of the western continent with special reference to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; pt. I. of a narrative and critical history > Part 3
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37 Shortly after the formation of the Junto de Mathematicos, Martin Behaim was commissioned to return to his native city of Nürnberg, and have the necessary nautical instruments made, and to obtain a number of copies of Regiomontanus's new Ephemerides. Upon his return to Portugal he was sent with Cao as cosmographer, to submit the new in- struments to a practical test .- (Ruge, Hamburg, 1892.)
28
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
great an advantage over their rivals.38 Colum- bus, who was at that time a resident of Lisbon1,39 was well acquainted with the German Behaim and his mathematical research; and it is an un- questionable fact that the success of the Portuguese in discovering the Atlantic Islands, and of Behaim's voyage down the African coast,40 sustained Columbus
THE JACOBSTAFF.
in the hope of western discovery, if indeed it had not instigated him.41
Leaving out all claims that Martin Behaim had made any previous voyage to America,42 and confining
38 According to Humboldt (Examen Critique) the Astrolabe of Behaim was a simplification of or improvement of the meteoroscope of Regio- montanus.
39 According to Dr. Ruge, Columbus first proposed his voyage of western discovery to King John of Portugal, about the year 1483, when his proposition was laid before the Commission de Mathematicos who reported adversely. The king, however, notwithstanding their report, was inclined to enter into the scheme of Columbus, had not the extra- ordinary demands made by the latter in the event of success precluded him from entering into negotiations so exacting with one who was a poor and unknown foreigner. (Zeitalter der Endeckung, pp. 231-2 )
1º See Behaim's Entdeckungs-Reise an der Afrikanischen Küste mit Diogo Cao. (Ghillany, Geschichte, etc., pp. 41-51.)
41 See Winsor, vol. ii, p. 35 ; Humboldt, Cosmos, English translation, vol. ii. p. 662.
42 The claim of Martin Behaim rests upon a page in the Latin text of the Nürnberg Chronicle, which states that Cao and Behaim having
29
German Ingenuity.
To
Dufer
132
(7)
10.3 130
2º
0
.
PINMICVINA
ORIENS
110
ATIZILE
SPHAERA LVNÆ
E
OCCIDENS
C
METHOD FOR USING THE JACOBSTAFF.
(From Cosmographia Petri Apiani et Genomae Frisii. Antwp. 1584.)
myself to incontrovertible facts alone, it will be seen that when finally the dream of Columbus was real- ized, under the patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella, it was made possible only by the aid of three great
passed the Equator, turned west and (by implication) found land, and thus discovered America. This claim, in the light of modern investiga- tion, is not substantiated, as the passage referred to does not appear in the German edition of the same year ; and on reference to the manu- script of the book (still preserved in Nürnberg) the passage is found to be an interpolation written in a different hand. It seems likely to have been a perversion or misinterpretation of the voyage of Diego Cao down the African coast in 1489, wherein he was accompanied by Behaim. That Behaim himself did not put the claim forward, at least in 1492, seems to be clear from the globe, which he made in that year, and which shows no indication of such a voyage.
"a los Reyes Catolicos exponiedo algunas observaciones sobre el arte de naveger .? " AUTOGRAPH AND SIGNATURE OF COLUMBUS FROM A LETTER DATED GRANADA, FEBRUARY 1502
,
h. w x S. A .S. . FERENS./
dx
18
·5
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
30
3I
Sailing Craft of the Period.
factors, all of German origin :43 The astrolabe of Behaim, the mariner's compass from the old German town of Nürnberg, and the Ephemerides of Joseph Müller.
SEA-GOING VESSEL, AT CLOSE OF XV CENTURY.
It is not known to a certainty whether there were any German adventurers in the original Columbus
" As a matter of fact, all the great navigators, Columbus, Gama, Magalhaens, owe their success to the improved German instruments of navigation. (Ruge, Berlin, 1881, p. 106.)
32
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
expedition or not.44 Of the many private expeditions, however, which left Spain 45 and Portugal after the year 1495, the greater number were either projected or fitted out by the merchants of Germany or the Hanseatic League, and German adventurers bore no minor part.
It is a curious fact that both Columbus and Ves- pucci should die without knowing that they had dis- covered a new hemisphere ;- both lived and died in the firm belief that they had but found the extreme eastern point of Asia.
# See foot note No. 6 supra.
45 Winsor, vol. ii, p 132.
COMPASS "ROSE" ON DE LA COSA'S MAP, A. D. 1500.
1450-THE FATHERLAND-1700.
i suoi and intimid
ILDURANTL MAYOR Virreyy Governador su Descubridor
DET BLIR. OCCEANO, General de les Inde:s,
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
AFTER THE ORIGINAL PAINTING IN POSSESSION OF THE DUKE OF VERAGUAS
DAWN OF THE MODERN PERIOD.
HE earliest pub- lished account of Columbus's initial voy- age was a pamphlet containing the letter of Columbus sent, in March, 1493, to the royal treasurer, Raph- ael Sanchez.47 It was almost immediately translated from Span- ARMS OF COLUMBUS. ish into Latin by the learned Aliander de Cosco, and printed and circulated by the German printers, Frank Silber in Rome, and Ungut and Pohle, in Seville, 47a by express permission of Pope Alexander. Four years later it was trans- lated into German, and printed at Strasburg by Bartolemaus Küstler; the title and imprint are here reproduced in fac-simile. The curious woodcut upon the title shows the risen Christ appearing before the king of Spain and his suite. The Lord points to
34
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
Confison Bibfcf lefen von etließen inflen She Pp in Curry en arten funden fino durante fünig von Ripamis ono fast vo großen wun octließen Vingen Sie in De felbe inflen fyno.
Geticeffet vf 9ct fanilomififfen zungen ynors Dem latin su Zum. Uno ift costa marina feer Har tu geforget nach Ve vno Es "Prolomeus und Sie anderen meifter der afmographs letenient (conbens wan der es funden Bar Per jehuber es ce por Var yon gefchaben ift worden. vno Sem fung ouch Varyo gefest ift nosdan fe Sas er gefandrift worden Os så erfaren.
al CetrucEs st ffrafiburg off erunece võ meifter Bartlomes ftftler pintar, EB.CCCC.scon.vff fans Jeronimus tag.
REDUCED FAC-SIMILE OF TITLE PAGE AND COLOPHON
. Of the Earliest German Broadside Announcing the Discovery of America. Original in the Royal Library at Munich.
EEpistola Confiofor Colom : cuf gtas noftra multu debet: de Infute indig fopra Bangem nuper inuentis Bd quas perquis rendas octauo antes menie sufpicije a cre inuictiffimi Fernen di Difpanierum Regis miffus fueret:ad Dsgnificum dim Re pbaclem Sanris:ciufdem fereniffini Regis Xefaurariu miffas quamnobilis ac litteratus vir Bliander de Cofco ab Difpano idcomate in latinum convertit : tertio kal's Dei; . D.cccc. reifje Pontificarus Alexandri Serti Enno primo.
Uontani fufcepte prouinthe rem perfectam me cofecutum fuiffe gratum tibi fore frio: bas conflitui erarares que te miufculufegrei in boc noffro itinere gente inuentecg ad moncant: Tricefimorertio die pofte Badibus difceffi in mare Indice perueni:vbi plurimas infulas inninneris babiratas bor minibus repperi:quarum omnium pro foeliciffimo Regenoftro pięconío celebrato 7 rerillis ertenfis contradicente nemine pofi Teffionem accepi:p:impos caram diui Saluatorisnomen inipor fui:euius frerus maurilio tam ad banc:os ad certeras alias peruer nimus. Sam bo Indi Guanabanin rocant. Bliarum etis vnam quanes nouo nomine nuncupaui. Quippe alia infulam Sances Marię Conceptionis.aliam Fernandinam . eliam Dpfabellam aliam Jobanam. i fic de reliquis appellari fuffi. Qnamprimum In cam infulam quã dudum Johana vocari diri appulimus:în rra cius littus occidentem verfus aliqusntulum proceffi:tamos eam magna nullo reperto fine inueni:rt non infulam: fed cont[ nentem Chatai prouinciam effe crediderim:nullo th videns ope pida municipiaue in meritimis fita confinib? pieter eliquos vi cos z predia ruftica: cum quo; incolie loqui nequibam.quare fi mul ac nos videbant furripiebant fugam. progrediebar vltra: triffimang aliqua me rrbem villafue inventurum. Denic ridis q longe admodum progreffis nibil noui emergebat: 1 bmoi via nos ad Septentrionem deferebat:q ipfe fugere eroptaba:terris ctenim regnabat brume: ad Auftrimeg eratin voto côtendere:
The first printed account of the discovery of America. (Original Broadside in the British Museum.)
1667253
The Mundus Novus of Vespucci. 35
the wound in his hand ; the king also points towards it in a manner to show that he comprehends the allusion. The explanation of the picture is that the king, in his dealings with Columbus, was long a doubting Thomas but now was convinced of a glorious realization. This account designates the Islands as "Isles of India beyond the Ganges."
The first printed account of the discoveries (dated edition) in which it was proposed to designate the new regions as a "New World " appeared in Augs- burg in 1504,43 "Mundus Novus.49a " In the following year, 1505, a German edition was issued at Nürnberg, " Von der neu gefunde Region die wol ein welt genennt mag werden durch den christenlichen Kunig von Portugall wunderbarlich erfunden."
Thus far the new regions appear as "Terra Incog- nita," "Terra Nova," and later as "Terra Sanctae Crucis."
We now come to the naming of the western world -a question solved by Baron Alexander von Hum- boldt, while compiling his epoch-making work "Examen critique de l' Histoire de la Geographie du Noveau Continent aux 15me et 16me Siecles."
47 Reproduced in fac-simile.
4Ta Printing was introduced in 'Seville, Spain, in the year 1492, by two Germans Paul von Kölln, and Johann Pegnizer von Nürnberg. ( Von Murr Deutsche Erfündungen, p. 727. )
48 Augsburg, it will be remembered, was at that time an important centre of commercial activity, and its merchants were intimately engaged in the enterprises of both Spain and Portugal. Naturally the earliest and most authentic accounts would have reached that city.
#a Alberic Vespucci Laurenetio Petri Francisci de Medecis salutem plurima dicit "Mundus Novus."
36
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
(" Kritische Untersuchungen über die Historische Entwickelung der Geographischen Kenntnisse von der neuen Welt. Ideler, Berlin, 1852.)
It was the above mentioned " Memoir on the Dis- covery of America," by Doctor Otto, of Pennsylvania, which gave Humboldt the incentive for this work ;19 and, strange to relate, this important feature of nam- ing the New World is due to an obscure and unknown German geographer, Martin Waldseemüller,50 (Hyla- comus,) a young man from Freiburg in Breisgau,
49 See Ghillany, p. 49; also Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. i, p. 224. He there states that Dr. Otto appears to have been entirely unacquainted with the Geography of the fifteenth century. See also footnote 2, supra.
50 Martin Waltzeemüller (Waldseemüller) from Freiburg in Breisgau, was born about 1480-1481. He was a friend of the Alsatian Matthias Ringmann, a scholar of the celebrated philologus, Jacob Wimp- feling. In accord with the usage of the times, both men afterwards as- sumed Hellenized names: Waltzeemüller called himself Hylacomylus or Ilacomilus and Ringmann called himself Philesius, with the addition of Vogesigena, as his home was upon the Vosges. When, in the year 1507, a gymnasium and pres- were established at St. Die on the Meurthe, at the instance of the wealthy Canonicus Walther, und-r the patronage of the Duke Rene of Lorraine, both Ringmann and Waltzeemüller were called as tutors to the new College. Ringmann, while in Italy, became acquainted with the renowned mathematician and architect, Fra Giovanni del Giocondo, the friend of Vespucci, who translated the latter's letters into Latin, by which means the glorious results of the Florentine traveller became known to the two Germans, who also be- came admirers of Vespucci, and in 1507 had reprinted at Strasburg, Giocondo's Latin translation. When Waltzeemüller printed at St. Die his Cosmographiae Introductio, he incorporated the four letters of Vespucci. In connection with this work he conceived the plan of pub- lishing a new edition of Ptolemy, the expense of which was borne by Walther Lud. This celebrated book did not appear until two years after the death of Ringmann, and was mainly the work of Waltzeemü ler. It is in this edition that the celebrated map appears: Orbis typus univer- salis iuxta hydrographorum traditionem. This map was long supposed
Ben inflen Ses lands Bibie vff Dem fluß gangen ge lon von Bifpania fcfabt Sem finig von fifpanis vo Er Bouptman Der for ifung des mois Cliffsfetus cos
Want. der So fluffet am mitten Durch das lande invia in Bas indifer mar, Die ernelichen erfunden Bat. vn
Sie zu finden gefäßicet ift mit filff vii grofer feBiffung. Cino ouchetlich roffagung vo Den inflen. Des großmechrigiften fünigs Fernivo genant von Bifpanta =Nach Dem yund ich gefaren bin von Sem geplant Fee landovon Bifpania, Sas man Bennet Colunas Bercules, oder von end Ser melt.bin ich gefa! rent in Sy vnd Birfigtagen in Sas invifch moi. Ko Bab ich ges funben vil inflen mit onzalbet volets wofafftig. Die fab ich all ingenomen mit vff geworffnem baner enfers mechtigyten Einige. Chubnveman Bat fick gewivert noch Paraver geftelt in feinerler weg.[ Die erft Sie ich sefunde fab/ fabe ich gc/ Beffen Sur faluatous. Das ist su quetfcf oce gothchen betal ters vit felig machers,så einer geocefintf frnet wunderhefe; Boßen maichtat Sie mir Sar zu gefolffen Bar. vn Sie von Unola Beiffent fie gwanaBim +] Die ander Bab ich geReifen vus fro men enpfengmit Ein die Dit Bab ich geReifen fernandini nach Des funigs namen. Die vieroc fab ich gebeiffen Sie Bub fcBe infel. TI Die fiinffre isBanan vno Bab al fo einer peghef chyten namen gegeben, Cino als balo ich fam in Die ingel io" Bannam alfo genant So für ich an Dem geftave finuff gegen oc cident wert3/Sa fand ich Die infel lang vnno Eein ende Bar an. Das ich gedacht es wer ein gantz land. vn wer Sie prouint3 3u CatBei genant. Do fabrics ouch feine flett noch fehloffer am geftave Des miszes,on etliche buren bufferfürit onno geffedel vn's Fes felben glichen, Elio mit Den felbenruwonern moest
Fac-simile page of broadside, containing the earliest German account of Columbus' discovery. (Original in the Royal Library at Munich ).
Cosmographiae Introductio. 37
who was then a tutor of geography in a school at Saint Die (Diey) in Lorraine, an out-of-the-way nook
Preffit, & ipfa cade Chrifto monimeta fauête Tempore venturo cætera multa premet.
Finitū. vij. kl'. Maij Anno supra sesqui millesimum. vij.
Vrbs Deodate tuo clarefcens nomine præful Qua Vogefi montis funt iuga preffit opus
IMPRINT OF WALDSEEMULLER'S COSMOGRAPHIA INTRODUCTIO.
among the Vosges.51 Here Waldseemüller 52 prepared a little cosmographical treatise, which was printed upon the college press, during the year 1507.53
to have been drawn by Vespucci. For a reproduction of it see Ruge, Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p 36; also Kretschmer's Atlas.
51 Humboldt, Introduction to Ghillany, Geschichte des Martin Behaim, p. 11; Ruge Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, p. 338.
52 Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, (Berlin 1852,) vol. ii, pp. 362, et seq.
38
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
Winsor, in his Critical History of America, states : "It was in this precious little quarto of 1507, whose complicated issues we have endeavored to trace, that, in the introductory portion, Waldseemüller, anony- mously to the world, but doubtless with the privity
Nuc yo & hepartes funt latius luftrata/& alia quarta pars per Americữ Vefputiurve in fequente bus audietur )inuenta eft/qua non video cur quis iure veter ab Americo inventore fagacis ingeni vi Americ ro Amerigen quali Americi terra / fiue Americam ca dicenda:cu & Europa & Afia a mulieribus fua for tita fint nomina. Eius fitu & gentis mores ex bis bi nis Americi nauigationibus que fequunt liquide intelligi datur.
FAC-SIMILE OF PASSAGE, WHERE THE NAME OF "AMERICA " .
Is First Suggested, in the Cosmographiae Introductio of Hylacomylus of 1507.
of his fellow-collegians, proposed in two passages to stand sponsor for the new-named western world."
It is further an interesting fact that, in Spanish records, the official designation of the western hemi- sphere until the year 1550 was exclusively "Las Indies." 54 The name " America " does not appear to have been accepted by the Spanish authorities until
53 Cosmographiae Introductio | cum quibus-dam | Geometriae | ac | astrono | miae principiis | ad eam rem necessariis | Insuper quator Ameici Ve- | spucij navigationes. Vniversalis cdosmographic [sic] descripto | tam in solido quam plano, cis etiam | insertis qu@ Fthol- omaeo | ignota a nuperis | reperta \ sunt. etc.
54 Prof. Dr. Theodore Schott, Heft 308, Berlin, 1878, p. 28.
ORBIS T
DITIONEM
OCCIDENTALIS
Tudan
Targit
.Pum /Lathaya
Theland
Hangi bonne
OCEANVS.
Tropis Corner
1.7:
OKBIS TYPYS.
UNIVERSALIST RATA
HYDROGRAPHORVM
TRADITIONEM
1
ASIAX
OCEANVS
يص الجو
MARE
INDICUM
.
-
auchder bis Dosforman gone . Melaniaitalia . so Thermo-way
MAP OF THE WORLD, FROM THE STRASBURG EDITION OF PTOLEMY, A. D. 1513. (REDUCED FAC-SIMILE.1
39
The Name "America."
the year 1758, when it appeared upon the Lopez map.55
Thus was the new continent named. We now come to the derivation of the name " America "56 and we find that it is a strictly German one. Humboldt, an authority whom none will question, and who was further supported by the opinion of Professor Von der Hagen 57 of the University of Berlin, shows that the Italian name of Amerigo is derived from the German Amalrich or Amelrich, which under the various forms of Amalric, Amalrih, Amilrich, Amulrich, was spread through Europe by the Goths and other northern in- vaders.58
In glancing over the cartography of the western hemisphere, it is also found that the first engraved map showing any portion of the western continent, before the name America came into use, was a Ger- man map engraved by Johann Ruysch as a supple- ment to the Latin edition of Ptolemy, 1508. The same was the case with the earliest map and the earliest terrestrial globe upon which the name
55 It was not until the year 1600 that the two continents of the western hemisphere were officially designated as North and South America (America septentrionalis and A. meridionalis) by Jodocus Hondius. (Hamburger Festschrift ; Ruge, vol. i, p. 131.)
56 The curious claim lately put forth by Jules Marcou, that Vespucci acquired his name Amerigo from some place in the western world, has been fully refuted by Prof. Ruge in Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1889, p. 121.
57 America, ein ursprünglicher Deutscher Name .- Schreiben des Hrn von der Hagen. (Neuen Jahr-buch der Berliner Gesellschaft für Deutsche Sprache. Heft, i, pp. 13-17.)
13 Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen, vol. ii, p. 324.
40
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
America appeared. The former was the handiwork of another German, Peter Bienewitz, (Petrus Api- SRITIS AAF.PITMANVS anus,)a native of Saxony and one of the noted mathematicians of the day. In the same year, 1520, the German, Jo- hannes Schöner, who for more than twenty years exercised a domi- nating influence in the cartography of the new GLOBE OF PETER APIANUS. world, as he kept pace with the new discoveries and issued globes with an explanatory text, completed the celebrated terrestrial globe which is still preserved in Nürnberg, and is distinctively known by his name. It is upon this globe that the name " America " appears for the first tinie.59
It will thus be seen that the naming of the western continent, " America," was due entirely to the Ger- man geographers of the period, the example set by Waldseemüller, Apianus, and Schöner being event- ually followed by the geographers and map-makers of all nations, 59a
39 See Catalogue Carter Brown Library, vol. ii.
See Ku stman, Altesten Karten Amerika's, p. 142.
EFFECTS OF THE GREAT DISCOVERIES.
ITH the close of the medieval period, a series of factors incident to the great maritime discov- eries, appeared in rapid suc- cession upon the political, social and religious horizon of Europe.
At the beginning of the present era, the discoveries ROYAL ARMS OF SPAIN. made by Columbus brought little or no profit to Spain : as a matter of fact, none of the four voyages of Columbus even paid for the expense of fitting out.the expedition.60 The islands he had discovered proved to be in a primeval state, and required exploration, settlement and develop- ment. They were far different from what was ex- pected from glowing descriptions of Zimpango and other islands in the far east as recorded by Marco Polo. In the islands visited by Columbus there
42
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
were no signs of fabulous wealth, and but little or no gold,61 silver or precious stones. A similar condition existed in regard to spices, silks and other Oriental fab- rics. As a matter of history, in the earliest days of the modern period, Spain's western acquisitions were a greater source of expense to that kingdom than profit.
Far different, however, was the case with Portugal, then (1503) under the sway of an intelligent and liberal ruler, who welcomed and encouraged German learning and enter- prise, and offered every in- ducement for German settle- ment within his domain.62 Five years had hardly elapsed since Columbus returned from his first voyage, when Vasco da Gama, by the aid of Be- haim's charts and Hanseatic vessels, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, and thus found the long sought for way to India. This opened up at once a most lucrative commerce between Portugal
AUTOGRAPH OF VESPUCCI.
43
The Germans in Portugal.
and the East Indies, in which German merchants and the Hansa were the chief factors. Special ad- vantages were granted, every inducement was offered to these power- ful organizations to aid them in developing the newly found route.
An immediate re- sult of this condition was that while wealth and commerce rolled in upon Portugal and the German merchants, 63 Spain was virtually can dlacifa lafjo and prode de sina enero de 15,00. impoverishing itself in the attempt to colonize MINIATURE. (From Jean de la Cosa's Map of the Indies, A. D. 1500.) and develop the new islands in the west.64 The glory of Venice also departed with the loss of
60 Columbus und seine Weltanschauung, Berlin, 1878, p. 23.
61 Roderigo Bastidas of Seville, who visited the coast of South America from San Marta to the river of Darien in 1504, there found grains of gold in the sands This was the first time the metal had been sent in that state to Spain. (Bonnycastle, 161.)
62 The first special grants by Portugal to German merchants and the Hanseatic League appear to be the Privelegium issued by King Alfonso V, March 28, 1452 (Document in full in J. P. Cassel's Privilegien und Freiheiten, welche die Könige von Portugal ehe den Deutschen Kaufleu- ten zu Lissabon ertheilt haben. Bremen 1771, 4to.) These special grants and concessions were renewed at different times by the reigning sovereigns of Portugal. Noteworthy among them are the grants issued by King Emanuel, January 13, 1503, conferring additional privileges
44
The Fatherland 1450-1700.
her monopoly of the Indian trade, which had formed the chief source of her power and opulence.65 The great bulk of this trade was now di- verted from the taken around the Mediterranean and Cape of Good Hope.56 The German mer- chants were themselves to the Vo affairs. At the the decadence of tide of the East quick to adapt new condition of very first sign of Venice, when the India trade turned PRIVATE MARK. (HANDEL'S MARKE.) towards Lisbon, Seitz, an agent of Bartalomeaus Welser and Company tromi letter August ISth, A. D. 1526, to Hans we find Simon the Welsers of Augsburg, in- Ehinger, at Ulm. stalled in the capi- tal of Portugal, and afterwards succeeded by one Lukas Rem,67 who has left us a complete diary.
upon the various merchants of Augsburg and other parts of Germany, who had established themselves at Lisbon at his invitation, or were there represented by resident agents or factors. (Ibid, p. 5; also Sar- torius, Hanseatischen Bundes, Göttingen, 1808, p. 653.) The above was further extended under date of October 3, 1504. Upon March 16, 1508, King Emanuel confirmed two letters given to two German merchants releasing them from imprisonment unless condemned by a supreme judge. (Ibid, p. 10.) January 22, 1510, the right of citizenship was conferred upon all resident German merchants by King Emanuel. (Ibid. p. 15.) Numer- ous additional grants and privileges were issued and promulgated from 1511 to 1525 in favor of the German merchants and the Hanseatic League, such as releasing them from taxation, giving them the privilege of conducting transactions in excess of 10,000 ducats, etc. Perhaps the most curious concession granted the German merchants in Lisbon was the edict of December 23, 1524, which gave them the right to dress in their native costumes, and accorded permission for them to ride on horses or donkeys. (Cassel, Continuation, 1776, pp. 13-14; also Sar- torius, p. 659.)
D
VENETIAN GALLEY (1486). From Breydenbach's Travels.
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