Martino de Judicibus
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- The text quoted here has been extracted from The Thousand Years of the de Judicibus Italian Lineage, historical anthology about familiar memories going from the origins till now, edited by Danilo de Judicibus, and translated to English by Dario de Judicibus.
Martino de Judicibus (Spanish: Martín de Judicibus) was a Genoese or Savonese[1] Chief Steward. He served with Ferdinand Magellan on his historical voyage to find a westward route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. His history is preserved in the nominative registers at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain. The family name is referred to with the exact Latin patronymic, "de Judicibus".
He was initially assigned to the caravel Concepción, one of five ships of the small Spanish fleet of Magellan. By the order of Charles V of Spain, the purpose of the fleet was to circumnavigate the Earth by discovering a southwest passage connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. Cartographers at the time believed the passage to be very probable from a geographic point of view, but nobody had trustworthy information about the supposed passage.
The real strategic purpose of the expedition was to look for a new maritime way to the Spice Islands of Indonesia, avoiding the route around Africa whose western and southern harbors were all in the hands of Portugal. Magellan was also tasked to prove that the Spice Islands were really west of the anti-meridian borderline of Portugal according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, therefore becoming property of Spain and not it's current owner, Portugal. Lastly, new territories discovered were to be annexed to the already immense Spanish Empire.
Martino de Judicibus embarked on the expedition with the rank of merino or Chief Steward. The expedition set sail on August 10, 1519 from St. Lucar, the harbor of Seville, for a voyage which ended 2 years, 11 months and 3 days later on September 6, 1522, when Victoria, the only surviving ship, returned to the harbor of departure after completing the first circumnavigation of the Earth. On board the small ship only 18 men out of the original 235 crew survived. Among the survivors there were only two Italians, Antonio Lombardo (Pigafetta) and Martino de Judicibus.
Contents |
[edit] The route of the voyage
- Departure from Seville on 10 August 1519
- Departure from St. Lucar on 20 September 1519
- Arrival at the Bay of Rio de Janeiro on 14 December 1519
- The Santiago wrecks
- Passing through the Strait of Magellan on 21 October 1520
- The San Antonio deserted and returned to Spain
- Entering the Pacific Ocean on 18 December 1520
- Arrival at Guam, in the Marianas, on 6 March 1521
- Magellan is killed on Mactan Island on 27 April 1521
- Juan Sebastian Elcano assumes command
- The Concepción is abandoned
- The Trinidad turns back to the Moluccas
- Arrival at St. Lucar on 6 September 1522
- Arrival at Seville on 8 September 1522
[edit] European survivors of the the expedition
| Name | Rating |
|---|---|
| Juan Sebastian Elcano, from Getaria | Master |
| Francisco Albo, from Axio | Pilot |
| Miguel de Rodas | Pilot |
| Juan de Acurio, from Bermeo | Pilot |
| Antonio Lombardo (Pigafetta), from Vicenza | Supernumerary |
| Martín de Judicibus, from Genoa | Chief Steward |
| Hernándo de Bustamante, from Alcántara | Mariner |
| Nicholas the Greek, from Naples | Mariner |
| Miguel Sánchez, from Rhodes | Mariner |
| Antonio Hernández Colmenero, from Huelva | Mariner |
| Francisco Rodrigues, Portuguese from Seville | Mariner |
| Juan Rodríguez, from Huelva | Mariner |
| Diego Carmena | Mariner |
| Hans of Aachen | Gunner |
| Juan de Arratia, from Bilbao | Able Seaman |
| Vasco Gomez Gallego, from Bayona | Able Seaman |
| Juan de Santandrés, from Cueto | Apprentice Seaman |
| Juan de Zubileta, from Barakaldo | Page |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Documents related to the questioning performed by the Spanish authorities after the 18 survivors of the voyage returned to Seville in 1522 report that de Judicibus was born in Savona, Italy.
