It is possible that the Portuguese followed up Malocello's visit by voyages of their own (besides the well-known venture of 1341) before the year 1344,[157] when Don Luis of Spain obtained a grant of the Canaries from the Pope[158] at Avignon (November 15, 1344). This grant conferred on Luis de la Cerda, Count of Talmond, the title of Prince of Fortune, with the lordship of the Fortunate Islands, in fief to the Apostolic See, and under a tribute of 400 gold florins, to be paid yearly to the Chair of St. Peter. The Pontiff also wrote to various sovereigns, among others to the King of Portugal, Affonso IV, recommending the plans of Don Luis to their support. To this Affonso replied (February 12, 1345), reminding the Pope that he had already sent expeditions to the Canaries, and would even now be despatching a greater Armada if it were not for his wars with Castille and with the Saracens. [Footnote 157: Ships from Portugal (according to Sántarem, _Cosmographie_, i, 275, copied by Oliveira Martins, _Filhos de D. João_, i, 68), visited the Canaries under Affonso IV, between _1331_ and 1344. Perhaps this is only a loose reference to the expedition of 1341.] [Footnote 158: Clement VI. Major, _Prince Henry_, 140, and _Conquest of Canaries_ (Hakluyt Soc.), xi, has apparently confused matters, giving the date of 1334 (in the Pontificate of Benedict XII), and implying a grant by Clement VI.] As early as 1317, King Denis of Portugal secured the Genoese, Emmanuele Pezagno (Pessanha), as hereditary admiral of his fleet. Pezagno and his successors were to keep the Portuguese navy supplied with twenty Genoese captains experienced in navigation and the earliest Portuguese ventures were almost certainly connected with this arrangement.