[Illustration: DOM MANUEL THE FORTUNATE, KING OF PORTUGAL, 1495-1521. _From “Leitura nova” (1º de Alemdouro) in the Torre do Tombo._ The signature is that of the King:—“Rey.”] APPENDIX A. TWO LETTERS OF KING MANUEL, 1499. The first of these letters is addressed to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, of Castile, whose daughter, Doña Isabella, King Manuel had married in October 1497.[264] The letter is dated July 1499, and may have been written immediately after the arrival of Coelho’s vessel on July 10. The draught, or copy, of this letter in the Torre do Tombo[265] has been published by A. C. Texeira de Aragão in the _Boletim_ of the Lisbon Geographical Society, VI, 1886, p. 673. It was published a second time in _Alguns Documentos do Archivo National da Torre do Tombo_, Lisbon, 1892, p. 95. There are several omissions in the latter version, due probably to the illegibility of the manuscript. In our rendering of this valuable document, all passages omitted in _Alguns Documentos_ are printed in italics, while attention is directed to other differences by means of foot-notes. The draught of the letter addressed to the “Cardinal Protector” also exists in the Torre do Tombo,[266] but is evidently very illegible, for the text published by Texeira de Aragão is full of blanks. The original, as also the letter to Pope Alexander VI, to which reference is made, may possibly be discovered in Rome. The letter is dated August 28, 1499, that is, the day before Vasco da Gama’s supposed return to Lisbon. It was certainly written _after_ the arrival of the _S. Gabriel_, for it refers to the “Moor of Tunis” or Monçaide, to the “Jew”, who subsequently became known as Gaspar da Gama, and to the men carried off from Calecut, none of whom is likely to have been on board Coelho’s small vessel.[267] The “Cardinal Protector” can be identified with D. Jorge da Costa, a man of mean extraction, whom Doña Catharina, the virgin daughter of King Duarte, and sister of King Afonso IV, appointed her chaplain, and who subsequently rose to high dignities in the Church, until, finally, the Pope bestowed upon him a cardinal’s hat. King John took a dislike to the cardinal, who went to reside at Rome; but King Manuel had a high opinion of his wisdom, and soon after his accession, in 1495, he invited him, through Pedro Correa,[268] his special ambassador to the Court of Rome, to return to Lisbon. The cardinal declined this invitation, pleading his great age and infirmities as an excuse, but ever afterwards attended most faithfully to the King’s business with the Pope. I.—KING MANUEL’S LETTER TO THE KING AND QUEEN OF CASTILE, JULY 1499. Most high and excellent Prince and Princess, most potent Lord and Lady!