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V. BEHAIM IN PORTUGAL.

IT was thus at the earliest in June, 1484, that Martin Behaim first came to Lisbon, for the suggestion that he paid a flying visit to that city in 1481 or 1482 is not supported by a scrap of evidence.

Nor do I think we do Behaim an injustice if we assume that the main, if not the sole, object of this journey was of a commercial nature.(1) Commercial relations between Portugal, on the one hand, and Flanders, the Hanse towns and several cities of Upper Germany, on the other, had long since been established. Portugal in exchange for wine, oils, honey, wax, leather and fruit received cloth, various manufactured goods and corn; the Portuguese had their national bursa at Brügge since 1373, and Royal " factors" or Consuls resided at that city and at Antwerp.(2)

Germans at Lisbon.

At Lisbon Behaim in the course of time was soon to meet many of his own countrymen and even townsmen, and these included not only merchants, but also printers and "bombardiers" in the Royal service.(3) It was, however, only until several years after Behaim's arrival in Portugal that the houses of Imhof or Incurio, Hirschvogel and Hochstetter of Nuremberg established agencies at Lisbon, and jointly with Fugger and Welser of Augsburg chartered three vessels which sailed on a voyage to India with Francisco de Almeida's fleet in 1505.(4) Accounts of this voyage were written by Balthasar Sprenger of Vils in the Tyrol,(5) and Hans Mayr, whose narrative is included among documents collected by Valentin Ferdinand the printer.(6) Members of the families of Imhof and Holzschuher appear to have resided at Lisbon at various times. A Paulus Imhof died there, after many years' residence, in 1507; a Wolfgang Holzschuher was knighted by King Manuel in 1503, for having valiantly fought against the Moors; a Jacob Holzschuher died at Lisbon in 1504; and a Peter Holzschuher died on a voyage to India in 1504. Wolf Behaim, the youngest brother of Martin, came to Lisbon as agent or partner of these Hirschvogels, his kinsmen, and died there on March 20, 1507, only four months before his brother. Another Nuremberger, Hans Stromer, who had accompanied the Markgraf Johann Albrecht of Brandenburg to the Holy Land, in 1435, died at Lisbon in 1490. Among other Germans who resided in Portugal, and who must have known Behaim personally or by reputation, were Lucas Rem and Simon Seitz, or Sayes, both of Augsburg. The former acted as representative of the Welsers in 1503, the latter came to Lisbon in 1503 and remained there until 1510, keeping all the while a diary,(7) in which Behaim is not once referred to. The printer, Valentin Ferdinand, has already been mentioned. He acted as interpreter to Dr. Monetarius of Nuremberg in 1494,(8) and there is no doubt whatever that he knew Behaim. Yet, in his accounts of Portuguese discoveries no hint is to be found that Behaim took the slightest share in them. The silence of his German contemporaries may partly be due to the fact that Behaim lived most of the time in Fayal, with his father-in-law. This, however, does not explain the silence of Valentin Ferdinand, nor of Lucas Rem, who was at Lisbon when his fellow-countryman died in hospital.

German Brotherhoods.

Not only were German residents numerous at Lisbon in Behaim's day, but there also existed two German Brotherhoods.(9) The more ancient of these was the "Irmandade" or "Confraria de S. Bartholomeu dos Allemãos em Lisbon." It originated towards the end of the thirteenth century when one Overstädt or Sobrevilla, a German merchant, built a chapel near the Tajo. King Diniz, finding its site suitable for a larger building, erected upon it the Church of St. Julião, which was completed in 1290, and a chapel within this church-the fourth on the south side-was allotted to the "Brotherhood." The church was ruined by the earthquake, and burnt down in 1816, but it was rebuilt after each disaster. The "Brotherhood" retains its chapel within it to the present time, and a mass is still said there on Sundays and holidays for the soul of its founder. The German bombardiers who served in the Royal Navy, and who were granted special privileges in 1489, belonged to this Brotherhood and were nursed in its hospital.(10)

The second Brotherhood originated in 1414 among Burgundians and Flemings who took part in the siege of Ceuta, and who are described, in 1482, when King John confirmed their ancient privileges, as the "Confrades alemães e flamengos da Confraria de Sta. Cruz e Sto. André.(11) They had their chapel in the ancient church of a Dominican monastery, founded in 1249, near the Rocio. This Brotherhood is credited with having looked carefully after brethren in distress and seen to their decent burial. The " Hospital de todos os Santos," founded by King John in 1492, stood in the garden of this monastery.(12) It was in this hospital that Behaim died.

Martin Behaim's Private Life

We know very little of the life led by Behaim at Lisbon. There is no doubt, however, that at an early period he made the acquaintance of Josse van Hurter, the Captain donatory of Fayal and Pico, whose daughter Joanna de Macedo became his wife.(13) This connection no doubt gained him admission to the Court and to Society, even though his personal claims as the eldest son of a German patrician might not have done so. Commercial pursuits, at that early period at all events, do not appear to have been a bar to such admission, whatever may have been the case subsequently, when Portugal had become debauched by an inflow of wealth from India, and the honest trader was looked down upon with contempt. (14) It is, however, possible that Behaim, on making this aristocratic connection, gave up commerce, took up his residence in Fayal, and assisted his father-in-law in the management of his estate.

But whatever his occupation, there were rumours set afloat that Behaim's conduct was not that of an honourable man. Thus, his brother Wolf, writing from Lyons to his cousin Michael, on November 27, 1491, says: "Here at Lyons they say things about Martin which make me ashamed of him, and I wish very much we were rid of him altogether."(15) There may have been a foundation for these rumours current among commercial men at Lyons. Martin may have been guilty of "irregularities" in matters of business, which in the eyes of business men are looked upon as heinous offences, although treated with some indulgence by men of the world. We can hardly believe his conduct to have been "dishonourable," or his father-in-law, only a few years afterwards, would not have intrusted him with the collection of money owing for sugar sold into Flanders.

Still, it is rather curious that Dr. Monetarius, who had evidently been on friendly terms with Behaim during the visit of the latter to Nuremberg in 1490-93 (for he gave him a letter in which he advised the King to employ him on a voyage of discovery), and who was the guest of Behaim's mother-in-law, when he visited Lisbon in 1494, should not have stated in the `Itinerarium' which he wrote of his travels that his young townsman was absent from Lisbon at the time of his visit, or referred to him in any other way whatsoever. Perhaps he thought "De amicis nil nisi bonum."

Footnotes

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