The Philippine Islands, 1493 to 1898 by Various

V >> Various >> The Philippine Islands, 1493 to 1898

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[22] Maurice of Nassau, born in 1567, succeeded his father as governor
of the United Provinces in 1584, and was for forty years the leader
of the Dutch cause; but he did not become Prince of Orange until the
death of his elder brother in 1618. Maurice died in 1625.

[23] This was Jacob Claasz; he was sentenced to be set ashore and
abandoned at the Strait of Magellan. A little bread and wine was given
him, and it was expected that "he would die of hunger in a few days,
or else be captured and eaten by the savages" (_Rec. des voiages_,
ii, p. 30). The same record says that Peter de Lint was promoted to
Claasz's post.

[24] This vessel was named "El buen Jesus."

[25] A corrupt phonetic rendering of the name of Sir Richard Hawkins,
son of the noted English freebooter Sir John Hawkins. The reference
in the text is to the fight between Richard Hawkins and the Spanish
admiral Beltran de Castro, off the coast of Peru, June 20-22, 1594;
after a long and desperate contest, the English were forced to
surrender. Hawkins was taken a prisoner to Spain, but afterward sent
back to England; he died soon after 1620. See his work, _Observations
... in his Voyage into the South Sea_ (London, 1622; reprinted by
Hakluyt Society, 1847, and again in 1877), 99. 182-225.

[26] As is shown by another document in the same legajo, this patache
was named "San Xacinto;" it came from Malaca some time before the
battle with the Dutch, and with news that they had been seen in those
waters; it was commanded by Estevan Rodriguez de Paez. An embargo was
laid upon this vessel, in order to secure it for use against the Dutch;
but this was removed on November 22, 1600. The decree releasing the
vessel was one of the documents used in a lawsuit brought by Paez
in regard to the freight charges for the merchandise carried by
the patache.

[27] Screens of canvas, spread along the sides of a vessel to prevent
an enemy from seeing what is done on the deck.

[28] Since the independence of the United Provinces was not recognized
by Spain until 1609, these Dutch prisoners might have been executed
as rebels against their former lord the king of Spain--an argument
doubtless emphasized by the tenor of De Lende's commission, which
follows this account of the battle.

[29] Spanish, _le mas perro_--literally, "the most of a dog."

[30] This descriptive paragraph is found in another copy of De
Lende's commission, preserved in the same legajo with the original
of the document just presented. We use this second copy, partly for
the sake of this description, partly because it is more exact in the
spelling of proper names. The estates belonging to the house of Orange
were Nassau, Catzenellenbogen, Vianden, Dietz, Veer, and Vlissingue
(anglicized to Flushing).

[31] Alluding to the Holy Roman Empire, which, founded by Charlemagne
in the year 800, was long the temporal arm of the ecclesiastical
power in Europe. Carlos I of Spain was its head, under the title of
Charles V, during his reign as king of Spain. The Holy Roman Empire
came to an end in August, 1806, with the resignation of its head,
Francis II of Austria.

[32] Francisco Vaez was born at Segovia in 1543, and received into
the Jesuit order in 1566. After his ordination he was sent to Mexico,
where he filled various responsible offices, among them that of
provincial. He died at Mexico, July 14, 1619. Sommervogel does not
mention his presence in the Philippine Islands. The letter by Vaez is
translated from the Latin version published by John Hay (1546-1607--a
Jesuit of Scotch birth, noted for his disputes with Protestants),
under the title _De rebus Iaponicis, Indicis_, etc., as seen in the
title-page herewith reproduced (Antverpiae, M. DC. v). But the letter
had already been printed, two years earlier, in the _Relatione breve_
of Diego de Torres, S.J. (Milano, MDCIII), the title-page of which
is also given here. Torres held various high official positions in
his order in Peru, Paraguay, and other South American countries;
and Sommervogel says (_Bibliotheque Comp. Jesus_, viii, col. 132):
"Father Torres, having been sent to Rome as procurator of his province,
profited by his sojourn in Rome to have his relation printed; it is
dated at Rome, February 25, 1603." It is not certain whether either
of these versions is the original production of Vaez; but as he
was a Spaniard, and writing to the general of his order, it seems
probable that he wrote in Latin, and that the Latin version which
we follow is Vaez's own composition, rather than the Italian--which
latter may have been Torres's translation from the Latin original,
to suit better his own account written in Italian.

The Latin title-page reads thus in English: "Recent letters on affairs
in Japan, India, and Peru; collected in one volume by John Hay, a Scot,
of Dalgatty, of the Society of Jesus. Antwerp; from the printing-house
of Martin Nutius, at the sign of the two storks; in the year 1605."

The Italian title-page is thus translated: "A brief relation by
Father Diego de Torres, of the Society of Jesus, procurator of the
province of Peru, regarding the fruit which is being gathered among
the Indians of that realm; for the consolation of the religious of
that Society in Europe. At the end is added the annual letter from
the Philippine Islands for 1600. At Milan; by the heirs of the late
Pacifico Pontio, and Giovanni Battista Piccaglia, partners; 1603. By
permission of the superiors."

[33] Pedro Lopez de la Parra was a native of Salamanca; entering
the Jesuit order, he completed his studies and was ordained at
Mexico--where for some years he was both an instructor and preacher,
being regarded as an unusually eloquent orator. Desiring to be a
missionary in the Philippines, he came to the islands, but found
that he could not master the language of the natives; discouraged
by this, and finding that no other employment was available, he
obtained permission from the visitor Garcia to return to Mexico; and
on the voyage perished by shipwreck, as here related. (La Concepcion,
_Hist. de Philipinas_, iii, pp. 391, 392.)

[34] The word _collegium_, as used here, means rather "residence" than
"college;" but we retain the latter rendering because the Jesuits were
then actually conducting an educational institution at Manila, in which
they gave instruction to the Spaniards and to some natives. This was
the college of San Jose, for which provision had been made as early
as 1585; but for various reasons it was not opened until 1600. Its
first rector was Pedro Chirino; among its first students (thirteen
in all) were Pedro Tello, a nephew of the governor, and Antonio de
Morga, a son of the auditor. See La Concepcion's detailed account,
in _Hist. de Philipinas_, iii, pp. 403-409.

[35] La Concepcion states (_Hist. de Philipinas_, iii, pp. 386-387)
that St. Polycarp was chosen by lot, in a solemn and public assembly
as the especial patron of the city of Manila, for its protection
against earthquakes, as Santa Potenciana was its patron in hurricanes
and tempests.

[36] Antipolo is a town lying about thirteen miles east of Manila,
near the northwest corner of Laguna de Bay.

[37] La Concepcion gives (_Hist. de Philipinas_, iii, pp. 409-412)
an interesting account of the labors of this bishop, Fray Pedro de
Agurto, during the year 1600. Assembling the clergy and friars of his
diocese, he proposed to them various measures, especially intended to
facilitate the instruction and conversion of the natives. The catechism
of the church had been already translated into the Visayan speech;
but this version was now entrusted to a committee of six (equally
divided between the Jesuits, Augustinians, and regular clergy)
for revision. This assembly resolved to attempt the suppression of
polygamy among the heathen Indians subject to the Spaniards, and
to check the easy divorces prevalent among them. Agurto undertook a
visitation in Leyte and Samar, but could not complete it on account
of those islands being invaded by pirates from Mindanao.

[38] Miguel Gomez entered the Jesuit order at Alcala in 1582; after
his ordination was sent to the Philippines; during his stay there
was for some time an instructor in the college at Manila; and died
there December 28, 1622.

[39] Ledesma was born in 1556, and became a novice in the Jesuit order
at the age of sixteen. In 1596 he came to the Philippines, where he
filled high positions in his order--rector at Zebu, rector at Manila,
and provincial of the islands. He died at Manila, May 15, 1639.

[40] Christoval Ximenes was born in 1573, and entered the Jesuit order
in 1588. Coming to the Philippines in 1596, he spent thirty-two years
in the Visayan missions; he died at Alangatang, in Leyte, December
3, 1628. He was noted as a linguist, and composed various works,
religious or poetical, in the Visayan tongue; one of these was a
translation of Bellarmino's _Doctrina Christiana_ (Manila, 1610).

Gabriel Sanchez is not mentioned by Sommervogel.

[41] See La Concepcion's account of the work of the Jesuits in Bohol
(_Hist. de Philipinas_, iii, pp. 356-362). Gabriel Sanchez and Juan
de Torres were the first of their missionaries there. The Boholans
did not, like the other natives of those islands, practice polygamy;
thus their conversion was greatly facilitated. The fathers gathered
many of the natives into a reduction; and they healed many sick
persons with holy water. Among their converts was Catunao, a chief
one hundred and twenty years old, who had guided Legazpi to Cebu.

[42] Apparently the same as the present Tubigon, a considerable town
on the western coast of Bohol.

[43] Dulag is a town on the eastern coast of Leyte; and Alangalang
(named in the last section of this letter) is in the northern part
of that island, some twenty miles up the Cabayong River.

[44] "Go ye, swift angels, to a people wrenched up and torn, a fearful
people, after whom is none other."

[45] In MS., _treze_ (thirteen)--apparently an error in transcription
(probably arising from almost illegible writing in the original),
since Vaez, in the document preceding this, makes the number of Jesuit
priests in the islands to be thirty (_treinta_).

[46] La Concepcion relates (_Hist. de Philipinas_, iii,
pp. 380-382) the labors accomplished in less than a year by Garcia
as visitor. Collecting over one thousand pesos of contributions,
he restored the Jesuit church at Manila, which had been ruined by
earthquakes; and appointed Pedro Chirino as rector of the college. He
reorganized the missions of the Society, and their administration, and
presented a more liberal interpretation of the rule and constitution
of the order. He visited the various missions; and the missionaries
who had been stationed in different villages were gathered by Garcia
into a few central residences, from which they made journeys to carry
on their labors. La Concepcion writes in a critical tone, regarding
Garcia as an innovator, and as doing more harm than good by some of
his too radical measures. Sommervogel does not mention Diego Garcia.

[47] For interesting accounts, descriptive and historical, of early
ships, see article by Admiral George H. Preble on "Ships of the
Sixteenth Century," and similar papers on those of the next three
centuries, in _The United Service_, November, 1883-June, 1884. See also
Edward Shippen's account of galleys and the life of the galley-slaves
("Galleys of the Sixteenth Century"), in the same periodical,
September, 1884. On galleons, cf. note in _The Spanish War_, 1585-87
(published by Navy Records Society; London, 1898), pp. 337-341.

[48] The document here referred to (dated January 15-June 12, 1601),
and another recording a similar investigation made by Morga (July 6-9,
1602), are in the Sevilla archives, bearing the same pressmark as
the fiscal's letter in our text. Both are too long and unimportant
to be here presented.

[49] On June 13, 1597, Felipe II issued a commission to Antonio de
Morga to investigate charges of peculation which had been made against
this man, as factor of the royal exchequer in the Philippines.

[50] See La Concepcion's account of the loss of this ship (_Hist. de
Philipinas_, iii, pp. 428-435).

[51] Spanish, _colegio_; see note 32, _ante_.

[52] A fund, the interest of which is required by the Spanish laws
for the support of an ecclesiastic.

[53] Mauban is a town and anchorage in the northeast corner of
Tayabas province, Luzon; it lies on the Pacific coast of the island,
and southeast from Manila.

[54] In a squadron, the galley next in rank to the flagship or
_capitana_.

[55] These names appear thus in the text; but they evidently refer
to the same persons who are previously mentioned as Liguana and Ssapay.

[56] Sangir (or Sanguir) is a small island midway between Mindanao
and Celebes; Tagolanda is another one, south of Sangir, about fifty
miles northeast of Celebes.

[57] At the beginning of this letter is a brief summary of its
contents.

[58] In 1601 the capital of Spain was removed from Madrid to
Valladolid; but this measure proved so disastrous that Felipe III
found it necessary to return to Madrid in 1606.

[59] Diego Cerrabe entered the Augustinian order at Burgos in 1584. He
came to the Philippines in 1595, and after various official services
there, and two years' ministry at Pasig, he went to Spain with
messages from his chapter at Manila; apparently he did not return to
the islands. (Perez's _Catalogo_, p. 47.)

[60] The MS. is worn or mutilated at the places marked by leaders;
the words in brackets are the translator's conjectural readings.

[61] See definition of fuerza in _Vol_. V, p. 292. The reference here
indicates that Tello or his friends, in order to oppose the fiscal's
proceedings, secured the interference of some ecclesiastical judge,
who thus committed fuerza.

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