The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. IZurara, Gomes Eannes de
History
The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. I
Zurara, Gomes Eannes de
Guinea (Region) -- Discovery and exploration -- Early works to 1800
[Endnote 31: (p. 18). _The fear of his vessels kept in security ...
the merchants who traded between East and West._--This important detail
has not been noticed sufficiently in lives of D. Henry. If Azurara
really means that the Infant's fleet preserved the coasts of Spain from
all fear of the piracy which then, as later, endangered the commerce of
the Western Mediterranean, we can only regret that no further details
have come down to us about this point. For such a task the Prince must
have maintained a pretty large navy: though it is noticeable that piracy
seems to have been worse on the so-called Christian side in the mediæval
period; and not till after the fifteenth century, and the establishment
of Turkish suzerainty, was it as bad on the Moslem side (see Mas Latrie,
_Relations de l'Afrique Septentrionale avec les Chrétiens au Moyen Age_,
passim, and especially pp. 4, 5, 61-2, 117, 128-30, 161-208, 340-5, 453,
469, 534). The forbearance of the Barbary States with Christian
freebooting from the eleventh century to the sixteenth, their tolerance
of Christian colonies in their midst, and the special favours constantly
shown to individual Christians, would surprise those who think only of
Algerine, Tunisian, or Maroccan piracy and "Salee rovers." Roger II of
Sicily is a striking exception to this disgraceful rule. In the earlier
Middle Ages, some of the Christian Republics of Italy even joined
Moslems in slave-raiding upon other Christians (see _Dawn of Modern
Geography_, pp. 203-4).]
[Endnote 32: (p. 18). _Peopled five Islands ... especially Madeira_
(see Introduction to vol. ii, pp. xcviii-cii).]
[Endnote 33: (p. 19). _Alfarrobeira, where ... Don Pedro was ...
defeated._--D. Pedro, the eldest of the uncrowned sons of King John I,
was famous for his journeys in Europe, ending in 1428, when he returned
from Venice with many treasures, among others a MS. copy of Marco Polo,
and a map of the traveller's route (see Introduction to vol. ii, p.
liv). He was still more famous for his wise government of Portugal as
Regent for his young nephew, Affonso V, 1439-47. He took part in the
campaign of Ceuta, 1415; advised vainly against the Tangier campaign of
1437; married his daughter Isabel to the King in 1447 (May); was worried
into a semblance of rebellion, 1448-9, and was killed in a battle at the
rivulet of Alfarrobeira, between Aljubarrota and Lisbon, in May 1449.
On his companion, the Count of Avranches ("Dabranxes" in Azurara),
Santarem has a note remarking that he, D. Alvaro Vaz d'Almada, was [made
a Count (of Avranches) in Normandy, by gift of the King of England
(Henry V), after the battle of Azincourt, when he was also created a
knight of the Order of the Garter.]
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