Wednesday 20 July 2022

Surprises Awaiting the Visitors to Simancas Archive

Following our previous post “Father Fernão de Oliveira: a globalization agent of Iberian maritime knowledge”, we could not fail to report our recent excitement when finding sixteenth-century originals mentioning the famous Portuguese nautical expert. The Archivo General de Simancas (in Valladolid, Spain) is one of the main Spanish archives, filled with important documents (not just for Spanish history but for European and World History in general) that still need to be fully researched by scholars. When digging into Simancas’s several funds, you are up for unpredictable surprises.

One of the surprises I had when checking the collection Secretarias de Estado, Estado Portugal was a 1567 letter by D. Fernando Carrillo de Mendonza (the Spanish ambassador in Portugal between 1567 and 1569) to King Philip II (r. 1556-1598), mentioning his conversation with father Fernão de Oliveira. This conversation took place, as mentioned in the previous post, after a French attempt to hire and convince father Oliveira to come to France to serve the Valois in 1566. Carrillo stepped in to prevent Oliveira from departing Portugal to serve France, and instead, he tried to enlist Oliveira for Spanish service.

Carrillo valued so much Oliveira’s knowledge that upon previous order from Philip II, he had spoken directly with the highest Portuguese political authorities (at the time Cardinal Henry and Queen-mother Catherine of Austria) concerning Oliveira’s possible exit from Portugal. Although the Cardinal and the Queen declared that they had spoken with father Oliveira previously, they did not appreciate enough the value of his person, work, and knowledge. But Carrillo was writing to Philip II to inform him that after all that had passed, father Oliveira would not leave for Spain, although he had been to prepared to do so. The letter I found proves that Carrillo knew that his news would disappoint Philip II, as they did. The time for the author of the 1555 Arte da Guerra do Mar (The Art of Sea Warfare) had not yet come to serve in Spain.

This famous excerpt has already been published by scholars Léon Bourdon and Avelino Teixeira da Mota. Aside from the wonderful opportunity to work in an ancient castle and meeting incredible people to assist your research, you will get also a good memory for life. Like when you go hunting or to fish and you never know what you will get, this is what happens when you come to Simancas: at any corner, you might find yourself face to face with a documental surprise relevant to Iberian and European maritime and scientific history during the Renaissance. [Nuno Vila-Santa]

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