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To the most serene and invincible John, King of Portugal, the Algarves and maritime Mauritania, the first discoverer of the Fortunate Islands, the Canaries, of Madeira and of the Azores, Hieronymus Monetarius, a doctor of medicine in Germany, most humbly commends himself.
As you have laudably imitated the most serene Infant Dom Henry, your uncle, in sparing neither efforts nor expense to make known the circuit of the world, as you have made tributary the Sea of Ethiopia and Guinea and the coast-peoples as far as the tropic of Capricorn, with the commercial products thereof, such as gold, grains of paradise, pepper, slaves and other things, and as by these endeavours you have won not only praise, immortality and glory, together with great profits, it cannot be doubted that, within a short time, the Ethiopians, who resemble animals in the shape of men, and are strangers to divine worship, will, through your efforts, throw off their bestiality, and embrace the Catholic religion.
Maximilian, the invincible King of the Romans, who, through his mother, is himself a Portuguese, intended to invite Your Majesty through my simple letter to search for the eastern coast of the very rich Cathay.
As Aristotle admits at the end of Book II. De Coelo et Mundo, as do also Seneca, Book V. of Naturalium Questionum, and Pete de Alyaco, the most learned cardinal of his day, as also many other enlightened men, I maintain that the inhabitable East is very near the inhabitable West. This is proved by the numerous elephants found in both, and by the bamboo canes which are driven by storms from the eastern shores to the shores of the Azore Islands.
Numberless arguments demonstrate unquestionably that by sailing across this sea Eastern Cathay can be reached in a few days. No notice should be taken of Alfraganus or of other persons of no experience, who asserted that only one-fourth of the earth was above the sea and the other three-fourths were under the sea, for in matters referring to the habitable earth, we should believe experience and trustworthy accounts rather than fantastical opinions.(2)
You are aware, no doubt, that many astronomers of repute have denied that habitable land was to be found between the tropics, yet your own experience has shown that this was an erroneous and false assumption. It cannot be doubted that the earth (land) is not spread out below the water (sea), but that, on the contrary, the sea is immerged. Moreover, there is the sphericity of the earth.
You possess means and ample wealth; as also able mariners, eager to acquire immortality and fame. What would not be your glory if you succeeded in making known the habitable East to your West? And what profit would not be yielded by commerce, for you would make these eastern islands tributary, and how often would not amazed kings of these islands quietly submit to your dominion?
Already your praises as a great prince are sung by Germans, Italians, Ruthenians, Poles, Scythians and those who dwell under the dry star of the Arctic Pole, jointly with those of the Grand Duke of Muscovy, who a few years since found under that star the great island of Greenland, the coast of which extends for 300 leagues, and upon which there is a numerous colony of subjects of said Grand Duke.(3)
If you carry out this expedition you will be praised as a god or as another Hercules. At your pleasure you may secure for this voyage a companion sent by our King Maximilian, namely, D. Martin Behaim, and many other expert mariners, who would start from the Azore Islands, and boldly cross the sea, with their cylinder, the quadrant, astrolabe and other instruments. They would suffer neither from cold nor heat, for sailing to the eastern coast they would find the air temperate and the sea smooth.
Many are the grounds upon which Your Majesty is respected. Let the profit spur on him who runs. You, however, examine thoroughly everything to the uttermost, and therefore to write at length about them would hinder him who already runs from reaching the goal. May the Almighty keep you in this design, and when your knights have crossed the sea, may you be glorified with immortality.
Vale! From Nuremberga, a city of Upper Germany, July 14,
A.D. 1493.
(1) A translation of this letter into Portuguese by
Alvaro da Torre, the King's chaplain, was first printed as an
appendix to Sacrobosco's `Tractado da Spera do mundo,' Lisbon
(G. Galhard, n.d.) and reprinted in Ernesto do Canto's `Archiva dos
Açores,' pp. 444-7. H. Harrisse, `The Discovery of North America,'
1892, p. 395, gives an English translation. A copy of a portion of
the original Latin text, by H. Schedel, has recently been discovered
in Munich (see Dr. H. Grauert, `Hist. Jahrbuch der Görres Ges.,'
xxix. 1908, 315-19). back
(2) As a matter of fact 28 per cent. of the surface
of the globe is land, 72 per cent. water. back
(3) Iwan III., who died in 1505, made large
territorial conquests, but never approached Greenland. This may refer
to a voyage of Szkolny, of Kolno, who, in 1476, by order of Christian
II. of Denmark, is reported to have visited Greenland. (Gomara,
`Hist. de las Indias,' c. 37.) back
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