“Trazydo per tam lomgos mares” – Brought from Such Far Away Seas
Paula Martins
PhD Candidate and Tutor of Modern History and History of Discoveries and Portuguese Expansion, Universidade Aberta
In March 1514 the embassy to the Pope Leo X, sent by
the Portuguese king D. Manuel I, arrives in Rome. It is not a common event: it
is a display of wealth and exotism in such a way that it became a landmark in
the afore mentioned king’s reign. One of its account is made by one of his
public servants back in India, Gaspar Correia, who records his reign in the annals: Crónicas de D. Manuel e de D. João III.
Our objective is to try to understand the meaning of the representation of
wealth and power of the episode depicted by Correia and its connection to the
riches (objects and animals) that have reached Portugal, all the way across the
Cabo Route, from India, enabling the Portuguese monarch to put on a prestigious
and powerful façade. This episode enables us to witness the circulation of
oriental precious objects and fauna across Europe, not only as a sign of
authority, but also as vivid spectacle of a certain image of otherness. The
scope of our study is based in the recent studies in Cultural History, in the analysis
of the written speech and narratives as embodiment of images and signs that
have built up an imagery and a memory. Through the writing of Correia, based
itself in other sources, we aim to find out how the spectacle of grandeur
displayed by the embassy was a part of the king’s agenda to assert his
reputation and influence in Europe, but has also created a long-lived imagery
of a new and different world and, in a wider term, of an era, through the
circulation of goods from India to Lisbon.