Peter Martyr d'Anghiera
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (
Life
Martyr was born on 2 February 1457 at
After 1492, Martyr's chief task was the education of young nobles at the Spanish court. In 1501 he was
In 1520 Martyr was given the post of chronicler (cronista) in the newly formed
He died in Granada in 1526.
Works
Peter Martyr was a prolific writer. He is estimated to have composed some eight hundred letters addressed to various illustrious persons relating events in Spain and the Spanish court, written in a journalistic style, often quite gossipy. Moving in court circles, Peter Martyr was personally acquainted with most of the leading figures of the day, and it is from his letters that historians have drawn much of the details about their physical appearance, personality, quirks and anecdotes.
It was as a chronicler that Martyr performed his most notable literary work. He collected documents and accounts from the discoverers as well as personally interviewing them. He learned from the letters of Christopher Columbus and made use of the reports of the Council of the Indies. He had a great grasp of geographical issues; he was the first European to realize the significance of the Gulf Stream.
In 1511, his publications included the first historical account of the Spanish discoveries: Opera, Legatio Babylonica, Oceanidecas, Paemata, Epigrammata (Seville, 1511). The Decas consisted of ten reports, two of which Martyr had previously sent as letters describing the voyages of Columbus, to Cardinal
Jointly with this Decade, he published a narrative of his experiences in Egypt with a description of the inhabitants, their country, and history. By 1516 he had finished two other Decades:
- The first was devoted to the exploits of Alonso de Ojeda, Diego de Nicuesa, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa
- The second gave an account of Pedrarias Dávila.
- Three appeared together at Alcalá de Henares in 1516 under the title: De orbe novo decades cum Legatione Babylonica.
- The Enchiridion de nuper sub D. Carolo repertis insulis (Basle, 1521) was printed as the fourth Decade, describing the voyages of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, Juan de Grijalva, and Hernán Cortés.
- The fifth Decade (1523) dealt with the conquest of Mexico and the circumnavigation of the world by Ferdinand Magellan.
- The sixth Decade (1524) gave an account of Dávila's discoveries on the west coast of America.
- The seventh Decade (1525) had collected descriptions of the customs of the natives in present-day Darién.
- The eighth Decade (1525) told the story of the march of Cortés against Cristobal de Olid, who attempted to set up an independent state in Honduras.
In 1530 the eight Decades were published together for the first time at Alcalá. Later editions of single or of all the Decades appeared at
Martyr also wrote the historical account, Opus epistolarum, although it was not edited or published until after his death. This collection consists of 812 letters to or from ecclesiastical dignitaries, generals, and statesmen of Spain and Italy, dealing with contemporary events, and especially with the history of Spain between 1487 and 1525. It was published first at Alcalá in 1530; a new edition was issued by the House of Elzevir at Amsterdam in 1670.
Editions
- Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, De orbe novo, translated from the Latin with notes and introduction by Francis Augustus MacNutt, New York: Putnam, 1912. 2 vols.
- Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, Decadas del nuevo mundo, 1944
- Petrus Martyr de Anghieria, Opera: Legatio Babylonica, De Orbe novo decades octo, Opus Epistolarum, Graz: Akademische Druck- U. Verlagsanstalt, 1966 ISBN 3-201-00250-X
References
- ^ D'Anghiera, Peter Martyr. De Orbo Novo (in Latin). Trans. Richard Eden as The decades of the newe worlde or west India conteynyng the nauigations and conquestes of the Spanyardes with the particular description of the moste ryche and large landes and Ilands lately founde in the west Ocean perteynyng to the inheritaunce of the kinges of Spayne, Book III, §3. William Powell (London), 1555.
Further reading
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Peter Martyr d'Anghiera". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Hartig, Otto (1910). "Peter Martyr d'Anghiera". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. IX (New Advent online reproduction ed.). New York: Robert Appleton and Company. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
- Maynard, Theodore (1931). "Peter Martyr D'Anghiera: Humanist and Historian". The Catholic Historical Review. 16 (4): 435–448. JSTOR 25012806.
- McNutt, Francis Augustus (1912). "Introduction". De orbe novo: The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr d'Anghera. Vol. I. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 1–48.
- Nugent, Elizabeth M. (1969) "Peter Martyr D’Anghiera." in The Thought & Culture of the English Renaissance. Springer, Netherlands. pp. 511–518.
- Wagner, Henry R. (1946). "Peter Martyr and his Works" (PDF). Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. 56 (2): 239–288.
- Wynter, Sylvia (1992). "Anghiera, Pietro Martire D'". In Bedini, Silvio A. (ed.). The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Simon and Schuster.
External links
- Works by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Peter Martyr d'Anghiera at Internet Archive