Henry the Black
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- This article discusses the slave and interpreter of Ferdinand Magellan. For Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria from 1120 to 1126, see Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria. Or for Henry the Black, Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 to 1056, see Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor.
Enrique of Malacca (Enrique in the Last Will and Testament of Ferdinand Magellan and in the muster roll; Henrich in all four extant manuscripts of Antonio Pigafetta, whose account of the circumnavigation is considered the most complete and comprehensive) may be historically significant as the first person to circumnavigate the world, a notion that stems from a complete misreading of Pigafetta and total disregard of all primary sources (Magellan's Last Will, eyewitness accounts of the circumnavigation by Pigafetta and Ginés de Mafra, and Maximilian Transylvanus' secondhand account that explicitly tell he is from a Malay-speaking place and that he did not speak Cebuano.
The dispute as to whether he is originally from Sumatra in Indonesia, Malacca in Malaysia or Cebu in the Philippines can easily be resolved by going to eyewitness accounts where his origin is precisely and explicitly stated. Magellan's Last Will and Testament refers to him as "Enrique, mulatto" native of Malacca. Pigafetta says he was from Zamatra, formerly called Traprobana, 16th century name for Sumatra. (Taprobana in Ptolemy's map is the name of present-day Ceylon.) These two by themselves completely belie the notion Enrique was from Cebu.
Magellan says in his Will that Enrique was more or less 26 years old at the time of the execution of the document, August 24, 1519. So when Magellan bought him in the slave market of Malacca sometime in 1511 he must have been around 18 years old. He must have had a good ear for languages as he learned Portuguese from Magellan; and perfect Spanish, according to Maximilian, and quite probably Italian.
He has been given the appellation of Panglima Awang in the novels of the Malaysian Harun Aminurashid. This is an invention which is the domain of fiction, not history.
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[edit] Approaching the Philippines
Magellan took Enrique with him when he set sail on the voyage that would bring his shipmates around the world. According to the chronicles of Pigafetta, when Magellan, Enrique and others were approaching Samar and Cebu, Enrique could not communicate with the local people. Then, as they approached a second island, Mazaua, which on best evidence is located at 9 degrees North, locating it in Mindanao, a small boat approached them. Discouraged by the language barrier that he had confronted at Homonhon, Enrique did not think they would understand him. To his surprise, his greeting in Malay language was understood by the king of the isle, Raia Siaiu, because, in the words of Pigafetta, "kings" in those places spoke many languages; and as explicitly stated by Ginés de Mafra, and validated by modern linguistics experts, Malay was the lingua franca in Southeast Asia. Reluctant to enter the strange vessel, the small boat stayed by the ship. In the port of Mazzaua, a word which means "light" and is found only in Butuanon and Tausog out of over 100 Philippine languages, there was instant communication with Raia Siaiu (king of the isle). Enrique, according to popular biographer Stefan Zweig writing without benefit of Ginés de Mafra's account, was amazed at the fact that he could communicate with the people as they surrounded him, chattering, because he didn't quite realize that he had made it all the way around the world, that is linguistically, but not geographically. Mazaua is some 4-6 degress West less than Malacca from whence he came. Other than Magellan himself, who had been in east Indian waters before, the Spanish members of Magellan's crew still had many thousands of miles in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic before they would have completed the last legs of their circumglobal navigation.
[edit] Was Enrique the First Circumnavigator?
Was Enrique the first to circumnavigate? Philippine historian Quirino who was the first to assert this, which is grievously false, premised his claim on his suspicion Enrique was from Cebu, in central Philippines. So when the fleet reached Cebu, Enrique therefore had rounded the world. Laurence Bergreen (Over the Edge of the World) adopted Quirino's notion, although he fails to credit Quirino and does not mention his name anywhere in his book. Quirino cites no source, no authority, beyond the argument that if one spoke Malay in the Philippines today no Filipino will understand the language. This is called the historian's fallacy of imposing the here and now as yesterday's reality. Quirino's linguistic dictum is contradicted by historical evidence and by every linguistics expert. Malay was spoken widely as the trade lingua franca in most part of today's Southeast Asia.
Malaysians of today also claim Enrique had circumnavigated the globe ahead of everyone. But this claim rests on two suppositions: 1) That Enrique left with the fleet in Cebu and when the Armada reached Malacca, he had circumnavigated the globe. (This has no basis in fact.) [citation needed] 2) That somehow he must got ridden a boat going to Malacca. (This is wishful thinking.) [citation needed] After the massacre in Cebu in which Enrique is accused of plotting together with Raia Humabon, king of Cebu, there is nothing more said of him by any of the eyewitnesses who wrote of the voyage--Pigafetta, de Mafra, Francisco Albo, the Genoese Pilot, Martinho de Ayamonte, Sebastian Elcano, Martin Mendez, an Anonymous Portuguese suspected to be Vasquito Gallego, and by another anonymous Portuguese. Sebastian de Puerta, a survivor of the Loaisa expedition,1519-1522, told his rescuers belonging to the Saavedra expedition, 1527-1529, that when as a slave he was brought by his master to Cebu, there was talk 8 of Magellan's men survived the massacre of May 1, 1521 and sold as slaves to Chinese merchants. It is quite possible Enrique was one of them, but that is idle supposition.
The Quirino notion has no basis in fact, is contradicted by linguistics experts, and is a gross misreading of Pigafetta, a cavalier disregard of what Magellan wrote in his Will, what Pigafetta stated in his account, and what Ginés de Mafra explicitly wrote that Enrique spoke Malay, and what Maximilian plainly states that Enrique did not speak Cebuano.
[edit] Was Magellan?
As for Magellan, himself, did he circumnavigate the globe? The notion rests on an unsupported assertion of Bartolome Juan de Leonardo y Argensola in 1609 that Magellan was captain of one of three ships of a reconnoitering trip to Banda and Ambon in 1511 under Captain Antonio d'Abreu. If Magellan did indeed join this expedition the argument of Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison should stand: "Thus his [Magellan's] furthest west in 1521 [i.e., Cebu at 124 degress E] overlapped his furthest east [Ambon on longitude 128 deg. E and Banda on longitude 130 deg. E of Greenwich] in 1511 by four to six degrees longitude." This trip is related in The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires, An Account of the East from the Red Sea to Japan in 1512-1515. There is no mention of Magellan being part of the squadron. In fact, two contemporary Portuguese historians, Damião de Góis and Gaspar Corrêa, state the third vessel was commanded by Simão Afonso Bisagudo (Chronica de D. Manoel, 3ra parte, cap. xxv. fol. 51).
[edit] Magellan's Death
Magellan died in the Battle of Mactan, in the Philippine Islands. Pigafetta writes that after Magellan's death, Enrique was legally free, but his manumission was opposed by the new commander, Duarte Barbosa. Enrique then plotted with Rajah Humabon the massacre of the Spanish contingent supposedly to avenge the Cebuano males' jealousy because their women were freely consorting with the Europeans, and with an eye towards seizure of the Spanish fleet.
After Magellan's death at Mactan, Duarte Barbosa treated Enrique harshly and then sent him on another mission to Humabon the chief or datu of Cebu. It was here that Enrique supposedly suggested to Humabon that they invite the Spanish to a feast and slaughter them there. This supposition is however placed in doubt by the eyewitness account of the Genoese Pilot who disputes what most in the fleet believed as fact. In any case, a banquet was had and many who attended were killed except Juan Serrano (who was left on the beach screaming not to be left behind) and some 7 others who were reported 6 years later to the 1528 Saavedra expedition to have been sold to Chinese merchants.
[edit] Points of dispute
[edit] Was Enrique is from Malaysia?
That Magellan bought Enrique in Malacca is not disputed. That he was a native of Malacca is plainly stated in Magellan's Will. That he spoke Malay is explicitly aid in de Mafra's account. That Enrique is from Sumatra is also explicitly written by Pigafetta. All three were companions of Enrique, and agree on one thing: Enrique spoke Malay. Even Maximilian Transylvanus, who was not an eyewitness but got his facts or information from the survivors of Magellan's expedition, indirectly said the slave spoke Malay because he states Enrique was from the Moluccas. Maximilian however was quite clear in saying Enrique did NOT speak Cebuano. Here is what Maximilian wrote (P. 200, in Lord Stanley of Alderley's book First Voyage Round the World, from the English translation by James Baynes): "Magellan had a slave, born in the Moluccas, whom he had bought in Malacca some time back; this man was a perfect master of the Spanish language, and, with the assistance of one of the islanders of Sugbu Cebu as interpreter who knew the language of the Moluccas [citation needed] our men managed all their communications."
[edit] Did Enrique spoke in Malay?
- That Enrique spoke in the Malayan, the lingua franca of the region or in ancient Cebuano or the language of Mazzao/ Masao. Direct testimony of Pigafetta and Gines de Mafra expressly state he spoke Malayan.
[edit] Was Enrique is from Indonesia?
- Based on the testimonies of Antonio Pigafetta and Ferdinand Magellan himself, the evidence is compelling that Enrique/Henrich is from a Malay-speaking place, either Malacca or Sumatra.
[edit] Was Enrique from Cebu?
(Let's go back to this persistent notion that is baseless.) [citation needed] The idea stems from a linguistic fallacy asserted by Philippine historian Carlos Quirino who said Malay was not spoken in the Southeast Asia region which is totally rejected by linguistic experts and invalidated by historical fact. (Quirino himself has no bona fides in linguistics). But more to the point, eyewitnesses state Enrique spoke Malay. This is explicitly stated by Gines de Mafra, the seaman in Magellan's fleet who's the only crewmember to return to the isle named Mazaua where Enrique was first understood by natives of the Philippines. "Magellan ordered a young man named Heredia, clerk, to go ashore," Ginés de Mafra states in his firsthand account,"with a slave whom they brought along who spoke the language because he knew Malay, the language commonly understood in these islands." That he spoke Malay, aside from direct testimony of Ginés and Pigafetta, may be deduced from the fact Pigafetta was able to produce a 450-word vocabulary of Malay words, a feat that has mystified linguistics students. According to Donald F. Lach Pigafetta's Malay vocabulary is "accurate and is one of the oldest extant (written) specimens of the Malay language, the earliest surviving Malay manuscripts being dated from around 1500 and 1550," and "the question as to how he was able to get this vocabulaty together during his short stay in the East Indies has perplexed many students." It may be deduced the vocabulary was a product of collaboration between Enrique and Pigafetta.
Quirino's notion Enrique was Cebuano was based on four factors: 1) he had not read the account of de Mafra; 2) he misread Pigafetta; 3) he ignored established facts of linguistics in the Southeast Asian region; 4) he completely ignored Maximilan who said implicitly Enrique spoke no Cebuano. Here is what Pigafetta wrote: "...The said slave spoke to the king (Raia Siaiu of Mazaua), who understood him well. For, in that country, the kings know more languages than the common people do." Even the natives of Mazaua understood Enrique. States Pigafetta: "A slave...who was a native of Zamatra...spoke to them. They [Mazauans] immediately understood him." It should be borne in mind Mazaua, the port of Magellan's fleet from March 28-April 4, 1521, is at 9 degrees North, in Mindanao, southern Philippines. The language there is not Cebuano but Butuanon.
[edit] Appeal for precision
Quirino's brainchild, his wayward notion has travelled far and wide, perhaps to all the corners of the world. It was given greater mileage by Laurence Bergreen in 2003, where alas! Quirino's paternity is ignored. The notion has no factual, historiographical, linguistic basis or support. It's time we end this voyage of a "ship of fools" and return to true history. Let us harken to the words of the Portuguese historian, Alfredo Pinheiro Marques, who said, "(But) history is not based on imagination. It is made with sources. History is based on evidence, not on opinions."
[edit] Bibliography
ALBO, Francisco. 1522a. Diario ó derrotero del viage de Magallanes desde el cabo de San Agustín en el Brasil, hasta el regreso a España de la nao Victoria. In: Colección de los viages y descubrimientos que hicieron por mar los Españoles des fines de siglo XV, t. IV. Martín Fernández de Navarette (ed.). 1837. Buenos Aires 1945-46. Pp. 209-47. Abbreviated CVD in citation. —1522b. Log-Book of Francisco Alvo or Alvaro. In: The First Voyage Round The World. Lord Stanley of Alderley (ed. and trans.). Ser. I, Vol. LII, London 1874. Pp. 211-236.
AYAMONTE, Martín Lopez de. 1523. A viagem de Fernão de Magalhães por uma Presencial. In: Arquivo Histórico de Portugal, vol. I, fasc. 5, 6. Lisbon.
BERGREEN, Laurence. 2003. Over The Edge of The World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe. New York.
BLAIR, Emma Helen and ROBERTSON, James Alexander. 1901-1907. The Philippine Islands 1493-1898, 55 vols. Cleveland. Abbreviated BR in citations.
BRAND, Donald D. 1967. “Geographical explorations by the Spaniards.” In: The Pacific Basin. A History of Its Geographical Explorations. Herman R. Friis (ed.). New York. Pp. 109-144.
BRITO, Antonio de. 1523. Carta escrita de S. João de Ternate, em 6 de Maio de 1523, a D. Manuel I. In: Alguns documentos do Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo. Lisbon 1892: Pp. 464-478. Also in CVD, Pp. 305-11.
COLECCIÓN de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones Españolas de ultramar. t. II. Madrid 1886. Abbreviated CDIU in citation.
GENOESE PILOT. 1519. Navegaçam e vyagem que fez Fernando de Magalhães de Seuilha pera Maluco no anno de 1519 annos. In: Collecção de noticias para a historia e geografia das nações ultramarinas, que vivem nos dominios Portuguezes, ou lhes sao visinhas. Lisboa 1826. Pp. 151-176.
GUILLEMARD, Francis Henry Hill. 1890. The Life of Ferdinand Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the Globe: 1480-1521. New York.
HERRERA, Antonio de. 1601. Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas y tierrafirme del mar oceano, t. VI. Angel Gonzalez Palencia (ed.). Madrid 1947.
JOYNER, Tim. 1992. Magellan. Camden, ME.
LACH, Donald F. 1965. Asia in the making of Europe. 3 vols. Chicago.
LAGÔA, Visconde de. 1938. Fernão de Magalhãis (A Sua Vida e a Sua Viagem). Lisboa.
MAFRA, Ginés de. 1543. Libro que trata del descubrimiento y principio del Estrecho que se llama de Magallanes. Antonio Blazquez y Delgado Aguilera (eds.) Madrid 1920. Pp. 179-212.
MAXIMILIAN Transylvanus. 1523. De Moluccis insulis. In: The First Voyage...Filipiniana Book Guild. Manila 1969: Pp. 103-130.
MEDINA, José Toribio. 1890. El descubrimiento de Océano Pacifico: Vasco Nuñez Balboa, Hernando de Magallanes y sus compañeros. Chile, 1920.
MORISON, Samuel Eliot. 1974. The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages. New York.
PARR, Charles McKew. 1953. So Noble a Captain: The Life and Times of Ferdinand Magellan. New York.
PIGAFETTA, Antonio. 1524. Various editions and translations: —1524a. Magellan’s Voyage, Vol. II. Facsimile edition of Nancy-Libri-Phillipps-Beinecke-Yale codex. New Haven 1969.
—1524b. Primo viaggio intorno al globo terracqueo, ossia ragguaglio della navigazione...fatta dal cavaliere Antonio Pigafetta...ora publicato per la prima volta, tratto da un codice MS. Della biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano e corredato di note da Carlo Amoretti. Milan 1800.
—1524c. Il primo viaggio intorno al globo di Antonio Pigafetta. In: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi Publicati dalla. Commissione Colombiana. Andrea da Mosto (ed. and tr.). Rome 1894.
—1524d. Le premier tour du monde de Magellan. Léonce Peillard (ed. and transcription of Ms. fr. 5650). France 1991.
—1524e. Magellan’s Voyage, 3 vols. James Alexander Robertson (ed. and tr. of Ambrosian). Cleveland 1906.
—1524f. Magellan’s Voyage: A Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation. R.A. Skelton (ed. and tr. of Yale ms.). New Haven 1969.
—1524g. The First Voyage Round the World by Magellan. Lord Stanley of Alderley (ed. & tr. of Ms. fr. 5650 and Ambrosian ms.). London 1874.
—1523h. The Voyage of Magellan: The Journal of Antonio Pigafetta. Paula Spurlin Paige (tr. of Colínes edition). New Jersey 1969.
—1524i. Il Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo Con Il Trattato della Sfera. Facsimile edition of Ambrosian ms. Vicenza 1994.
—1524j. The First Voyage Around the World (1519-1522). Theodore J. Cachey Jr. (ed. Based on Robertson’s tr.) New York 1995.
—1524k. Pigafetta: Relation du premier voyage autour du monde...Edition du texte fraçais d’après les manuscripts de Paris et de Cheltenhan. Jean Denucé (text transcribed from Ms. 5650, collating Mss. Ambrosiana, Nancy-Yale and 24224 in notes.) Anvers 1923.
RAMUSIO, Gian Battista. 1550. La Detta navigatione per messer Antonio Pigafetta Vicentino. In: Delle navigationi e viaggi…Venice: Pp. 380-98.
SCAMMEL, G.V. 1981. The World Encompassed. The first European maritime empires c. 800-1650. Los Angeles.
THOMAS, Hugh. 2004. Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan. New York.
TORODASH, Martin. 1971. “Magellan Historiography.” In: Hispanic American Historical Review, LI, Pp. 313-335.
ZWEIG, Stefan. 1938. Conqueror of the Seas: The Story of Magellan. New York.
[edit] Reference
Acknowledgements to Mr. Nestor Enriquez for information.
The above article is a rewrite from an e-mail account from Mr. Nestor Enriquez and based on Pigafetta's account.
Mr. Néstor Enríquez is a descendant of Henry the Black.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Yale notes on Pigaffetta
- Notes on Mazaua
- Notes on Pigafetta, Mazua, Ginés de Mafra another seaman of Magellan
- Enrique
- Translations of Pigafetta
- First circumnavigator
- Spanish PDV Enrique de Malacca
- Magellan may have known about the Philippines from a previous trip to the Moluccas
- †Cebuano words recorded by Antonio Pigafetta in 1521 with the help of Henry the Black
