The Voyage of Verrazzano - Chapter X



CHAPTER X. 
THE CAREER OF VERRAZZANO. AN ADVENTUROUS LIFE AND AN IGNOMINIOUS DEATH. 
CONCLUSION. 

The true history of Verrazzano, so far as known, is now to be given, in 
order to make a final disposition of this story. Nothing is preserved in 
relation to his early life. Even the year of his birth is matter of 
conjecture. He is called by Ramusio, Giovanni da Verrazzano, Florentine; 
and according to Pelli, was born about the year 1485, His father was Piero 
Andrea, son of Bernardo, the son of Bernardo of Verrazzano, a little town 
situated in the Val di Greve, near Florence,--the latter Bernardo having 
belonged to the magistracy of the priors in 1406. All that his eulogist 
was enabled to gather concerning him, beyond this brief genealogy, is 
taken from the Verrazzano letter and the discourse of Ramusio, relating 
how he was killed, roasted and devoured by the savages in a second voyage 
to America;* with the suggestion of Coronelli, the Venetian geographer, 
that the place where he thus met his death was at the entrance of the gulf 
of St. Lawrence, The spurious letter of Carli adds that he had been in 
Egypt, Syria and most other parts of the world. The ancient manuscripts of 
Dieppe, as we have seen,** speak of one of his name who accompanied 
Aubert, in his voyage to Newfoundland, in 1508; and the statement of 
Hakluyt before referred to, gives some ground to believe that he was 
employed in early voyages to that region, before he engaged in his 
operations against the commerce of Spain. 

(* The account which Ramusio gives of Verrazzano, and the manner of his 
death, occurs in his Discourse on Labrador, the Baccalaos and New France 
(vol. III fol. 41), in which, after reffering to the Cortereaes and 
Sebastian Cabot, he adds: 
"There also sailed along the said land, in the year 1524, a great captain 
of the most Christian king in France, called Giovanni da Verrazzano, a 
Florentine; and he ran along all the coast, as far as Florida, as will be 
particularly seen by a letter of his, written to the said king, which 
alone we have been able to have, because the others have got astray in the 
troubles of the unfortunate city of Florence. And in the last voyage which 
he made, having wished to descend on the land with some companions, they 
were all put to death by those people, and in the presence of those who 
remained on board of the ship, were roasted and devoured. Such a wretched 
end had this valiant gentleman, who, had not this misfortune intervened, 
would, by the great knowledge and intelligence which he had of maritime 
affairs, and of navigation, accompanied and favoured by the immense 
liberality of King Francis, have discovered and made known to the world, 
all that part of the earth, up to the north pole, and would not have been 
contented with the Coast merely, but would have sought to penetrate far 
inland, and as far as he could go; and many, who have known and conversed 
with him, have told me, that he declared it was his intention to seek to 
persuade the most Christian King to send from these parts, a good number 
of people to settle in some places of said coast which are of temperate 
climate, and very fertile soil, with very beautiful rivers and harbors 
capable of holding any fleets. The settlers in these places would be the 
occasion of producing many good results, and among others of bringing 
those rude and ignorant tribes to divine worship, and to our most holy 
faith, and to show them how to cultivate the land, transporting some of 
the animals of our Europe to those vast plains; and finally, in time, 
having discovered the inland parts, and seen whether among the many 
islands existing there, any passage to the south sea exists, or whether 
the main land of Florida or the West Indies continues up to the pole. This 
and so much is what has been related of this so brave a gentleman, of 
whose toil and sweat, in order that his memory may not remain buried, and 
his name pass into oblivion, we have desired to give to the light the 
little that has come into our hands." 
Ramusio here distinctly asserts that the only document in relation to the 
voyage of Verrazzano which he had been able to procure, was the letter 
which he published; but he informs his readers that he had been told by 
certain persons who had known and conversed with Verrazzano, that it was 
the intention of the navigator, as he himself declared, to seek permission 
from Francis I, his adopted sovereign, in whose service it is claimed he 
made the discovery, to make another voyage to the new found land for the 
purposes of colonization and further exploration; and he also states, upon 
the same or other authority, that Verrazzano on another voyage was killed 
and eaten, by the natives of the country. Consequently, Verrazzano must 
have made a second voyage to America and obtained such permission from the 
king. But there is not a particle of evidence in existence, apart from the 
declarations of these persons to Ramusio, that any such permission was 
ever given, or that a second voyage took place. It proved the credulity of 
Ramusio that he received these naked statements without any examination.)

(** Ante, p. 112, note]

What is certainly known of him relates almost exclusively to his career as 
a French corsair, during the few years which intervened between the 
breaking out of hostilities between Francis I and Charles V, and his 
death, in 1527. His cruises, though directed principally against the 
Spaniards, were not tender of the interests of Portugal; and it is 
accordingly from Spanish and Portuguese writers and documents of the 
period, that the little information that exists in relation to him, is 
derived. He is called by the former, Juan Florin or Florentin, or simply, 
the Florentine,--the French corsair. He is designated on an occasion to be 
noted, as Juan Florin of Dieppe.* They appear to have known him by no 
other name. They never heard of him as a discoverer, real or pretended, of 
new countries, until long afterwards. The Verrazzano letter had not been 
published when Peter Martyr, Oviedo and Gomara wrote; and when Martyr and 
Gomara make mention of him, they do so only by the title by which he was 
designated by the Spanish sailors. There was, therefore, no opportunity 
for his identification by them in the double character of a great 
discoverer, and a corsair; and it was not until many years after the 
publication of the Verrazzano letter that this identification was first 
declared by Barcio.**

(* On the capture of the treasure fleet. See Appendix, iv.)

(** Ensayo Chronologico, sub anno, 1524.)

There is no room, however; to doubt its entire correctness. That the 
occupation of Verrazzano was that of a cruizer on ihe seas, is not only 
declared in the letter ascribed to him,* but is clearly established by the 
agreement made by him with Chabot. Besides, there is no other Giovanni, a 
Florentine, known in the history of the time, sailing in that capacity 
under the French flag and from the same port of Dieppe; and the references 
must have therefore been to him alone.

(* Ramusio gives Verrazzano this character more distinctly than it appears 
in the original version. One of the first alterations of the text, is of 
the passage previously referred to, relating to the cruise of the Normandy 
and Dauphiny, after their repairs in Brittany. The Carli version, reads, 
in connection with the two ships on that occasion: date restaurati ara V. 
S. M. inteso il discorso facemo con quelle armate in querra per li liti di 
Spagna, that is, "where being repaired, your serene majesty will have 
understood we made the cruize with this fleet of war along the coasts of 
Spain," from which it is to be implied only, that the cruize was for the 
purpose of depredating on Spanish commerce. But Ramusio, as became his 
practice, with this document at least, altered this clause into doce poi 
che furono secondo il bisogno raccociate So ben armeggiate, per i liti di 
Spagna ce n'andammo in carso, il che V. M. haverd inteso per il profitto 
che ne facemmo; which Hakluyt fairly renders: "Where, after we had 
repaired them in all points as was needfull, and armed them very well, we 
took our course along by the coast of Spain, which your majesty shall 
understand, by the profit we received thereby." As this cruize according 
to the date of the letter must have taken place in 1523, this language, 
which is Ramusio's own, as to the profit, would seem to refer almost to 
the capture by Verrazzano of the treasure sent by Cortes, to the emperor 
which occurred in the summer of that year, as hereafter related: but 
Verrazzano's fleet consisted of six instead of two ships on that occasion. 
The words of Ramusio, show, however, that he knew Verazzano was a rover, 
in search of booty on the seas or at least, that he so regarded him.)

The appellation of corsair, does not necessarily imply a pirate. It was 
applicable to any one engaged in the capture of vessels on the high seas, 
whether authorized to do so or not. The state of hostilities between 
France and Spain, protected Verrazzano under the rules of war, as a 
subject of Francis, in capturing Spanish vessels, as long as it continued; 
and the anomalous condition of affairs existing at that time, according to 
the Portuguese historian, Andrade, of private war between the subjects of 
the kings of France and Portugal, without any public war between the 
sovereigns, would seem to have justified him in similar acts in regard to 
the commerce of the Portuguese, as long as the practice was not forbidden 
by the kings of the two countries. 

The first adventure of the kind, in which we hear of Verrazzano, was in 
1521. At this time a valuable commerce had grown up between Spain and her 
conquests in the West Indies, and large amounts in gold, pearls, sugar, 
hides and other articles were sent home. A ship, on her way from 
Hispaniola, was captured by him, in the year just mentioned, having on 
board eighty thousand ducats in gold, six hundred pounds weight--eight 
ounces to the pound, of pearls and two thousand arrobas, of twenty-five 
pounds each, of sugar.*

(* Peter Martyr, Dec. v. c. 8. Epistola 771 (ed. 1671). In this letter 
which is dated at Valladolid 19th November 1522, Martyr writes: "Anuo 
quippe superiore Florinus quidam Gallus pirata navim unam ab Hispaniola 
venientem, auro ad sommam octoginta millium dragmarum, unionum vero libris 
octuolibus sexcentis & ruborum saecari duobus millibus rapuit.")

In the following year, he took possession of seven vessels bound from 
Cadiz to the Canary islands, with emigrants, but being overhauled off the 
point of Gando, by vessels sent in pursuit, was compelled to relinquish 
his prizes.*

(* Don Bartholome Garcia del Castillo in Noticias de la historia de las 
islas de Canaria, by Don Joseph de Viera y Clavijo. (Madrid 1772-84).)

He is next found apparently meditating an expedition against the 
Portuguese possessions in Brazil, upon the pretext of discovering other 
countries in the east, which that nation had not found. The mention of 
this project is positive, and becomes curious and interesting in the 
history of his life, as it affords the only authentic evidence extant of 
any suggestion of a voyage of discovery, contemplated by him towards 
Cathay. The design, if really entertained, appears, however, to have 
fallen through and to have been abandoned; but it may, nevertheless, have 
been the foundation of the story of the alleged voyage. It is related by 
Francisco d'Andrade, in his Chronicle of John III, the then reigning king 
of Portugal. After referring to the death of Magellan, as an event which 
removed a cause of difference between the crowns of Portugal and Castile, 
growing out of the famous expedition of that navigator, Andrade thus 
speaks of the state of affairs between the crowns of France and Portugal. 

"At that time, the king was told by some Portuguese, doing business in 
France, that one Joao Varezano, a Florentine, offered himself to Francis, 
to discover other kingdoms in the East, which the Portuguese had not 
found, and that in the ports of Normandy a fleet was being made ready 
under the favor of the admirals of the coast, and the dissimulation of 
Francis, to colonize the land of Santa Cruz, called Brazil, discovered and 
laid down by the Portuguese in the second voyage to India. This, and the 
complaints every where made of the injuries inflicted by French corsairs, 
rendered the early attention of the king necessary. 

"Accordingly he sent to France an ambassador, Joao da Silveyra, son of 
Fernao da Silveyra, who delayed his going no longer than was necessary to 
get ready. The purpose of his mission was to ask Francis, inasmuch as 
there never had been war between them, but rather an ancient peace and 
friendship, that he would give orders throughout his kingdom for the many 
robberies and injuries, perpetrated at sea on each other by the Portuguese 
and French, to cease, (which tacitly was a private and not an open war, as 
in general they were friends); that whatever could be found in his ports 
taken from the Portuguese, should be restored, as what might be found in 
the harbors of Portugal, taken from the French, should be forthwith given 
up, and that to all who should ask justice in this particular it should he 
rendered immediately and fully. The king then required Francis likewise, 
to prevent his vessels from making outfits to go to parts of the 
Portuguese conquest, whither it was not lawful for even Portuguese vessels 
to sail or the people to traffic. 

Joao da Silveyra was well received at the court of France; but as respects 
the specific matters of negotiation in his charge, he was answered every 
way indefinitely, with reasons more specious than sound which appeared to 
be given not so much to conclude the affaire upon which he treated as to 
procrastinate and consume time. 

* * * * * * * 

Joao da Silveyra continued to solicit with much urgency the matters in his 
keeping at the court of France, and received answers respecting them 
according as the matters which were proposed in Portugal, [the marriage of 
Carlota, daughter of Francis, with the prince Dam Joao], gave hopes of 
advancement. The king said through one Luys Homem that he greatly desired 
the fostering and increase of ancient friendship. Following upon that in a 
few days he ordered the vessels in his ports preparing for India to be 
stopped, stating that he would arrange this in such a way that the king 
should be satisfied. Measures were adopted for the restoration of all 
property that was known to have been taken from the king or his vessels, 
and expectations were entertained of an order making such provision 
throughout as should put a stop to all the robberies and the evils arising 
from them. Since this had been the principal object for which the 
embassador had been sent to France, it appeared to the king of Portugal, 
that it would be for his service that he should order the return of Joao 
da Silveyra, and that the licentiate Pedro Gomez Feixeira with Master 
Diego de Gevoeya, (to whom he likewise wrote of this matter) should demand 
justice respecting certain matters of his property and assist such of his 
vessels as were seeking it. But before the order for the return of 
Silveyra had left this court, information was received by one Jacome 
Monteyro (who by authority of the king of France sought the restitution of 
property) that Francis had issued new orders, commanding the general 
sequestration of all the property of the king of Portugal and of his 
people, the embargo of all his vessels to be found in the ports of France, 
without the declaration of any new cause, or the statement of any reason 
for this order, the opposite of what had before been promulgated. The king 
in consequence, directed Joao da Silveyra to take truthful information of 
the particulars and the reasons for this proceeding and commanded his 
presence before the council, to make them known. 

"Following this, hostilities having been declared between the kingdoms and 
seignories of the emperor and the king of France, they waging cruel strife 
by land and sea, the French with an armament afloat took a Spanish ship 
with gold, belonging to the emperor, within the limits of the Portuguese 
coast, besides much property of individuals, regardless of where she had 
been found, so little attentive were they in those times, to Portugal and 
Portuguese; seized her by force as belonging to their enemies, and carried 
her off, as good prize of war. Pedro Batelho was sailing the while, giving 
protection to the coast of Portugal, by the royal order, according to the 
ancient custom of this kingdom, held always to be useful and necessary, 
the value of which became evident from what occurred afterwards, when it 
fell into disuse. 

"The captain coming out one morning with his fleet, near those who were 
carrying of the Spanish ship, he obliged them by force to take in sail, as 
they hesitated to obey for some time, until he informed himself of what 
had passed. Discovering that there were some doubts and that deliberation 
would be necessary to do justice, he brought all before him to the port of 
Lisbon, where the prize was sequestrated and they made prisoners, and the 
case, by order of the king, was sent to the Casa da Supplicacam where 
sentence was pronounced the following year. This news, which was directly 
known in France, made great change in the order of affairs with Portugal, 
and produced the state they were afterwards in, during the following nine 
consecutive years that Joao da Silveyra was there, in which time, he 
accomplished nothing he had in hand, except to embargo the voyage of the 
Florentine, of which mention is made before, and of some few vessels of 
corsairs which was but sheer justice to us."*

(* Cronica de muyto alto, emuyto poderoso rey destes reynos de Portugal 
Dom Joao o III deste nome. By Francisco d'Andrade. Part I, c. 13 and 14. 
(Lisbon 1613.))

The time when these preparations were being made by Verrazzano is more 
definitely fixed by a despatch of Silveira to the king, from Paris on the 
25th of April 1523, in which he states that "Verazano" had not yet left 
for Cathay that this whole story of an intended voyage of discovery was 
proposed for the purpose of concealing the real object of the preparations 
which were going on in Normandy, of seizing the treasure which had been 
sent from Mexico, by Cortes to the emperor, of the successful 
accomplishment of which we have now to speak.*

(* Sautarem gives the date of this dispatch as the 23d of April 1522, 
Quadro Elementar, tom III, sec XVI, p. 165. But the letter of Silveira 
will be found in full in the Appendix (III) from the Portugese archives. 
Santarem. It is highly probable, therefore, is evidently mistaken as to 
the year, inasmuch as the news of Magellan's death, to which Andrade 
refers as a prior event, did not reach Spain until September 1522 and 
Silveira's appointment as embassador was after that news was received.) 

In November, 1522, a vessel arrived in Spain which had been sent from 
Mexico, by the conquistador with the emperor's share of the tribute money 
collected in that country, in the special charge of Alonzo Davila and 
Antonio Quinones, with other articles of value. Fearing capture by the 
French corsairs, this vessel had sailed by the way of the Azores, and 
leaving the treasure, with its custodians, at the island of Santa Maria, 
proceeded on without it, in order that a proper force might be sent to 
that island to bring it safely to Spain. Joan Ribera, the secretary of 
Cortes, came in the ship to Spain. These facts appear to have become 
notorious immediately. Peter Martyr mentions them in his letter of the 
17th of November 1522, and in the fifth of his decades, written while the 
treasure was still at Santa Maria, speaks of the French having knowledge 
of its being left there. "I know not," he says, "in reference to the ships 
sent there for it, what flying report there is that the French pirates 
have understood of those ships, God grant them good successe."* Three 
caravels were despatched from Seville to Santa Maria, under the command of 
Captain Domingo Alonzo, arriving there on the 15th of May 1523. Davila and 
Quinones immediately embarked in them, with the treasure, sailing directly 
to Spain. Meanwhile, Verrazzano proceeded with six vessels towards Cape 
St. Vincent, for the purpose of intercepting them, which he succeeded in 
doing, within ten leagues of that cape. After a sharp encounter, in which 
Quinones was killed, he captured two of them, in one of which Davila was 
taken with the gold, and the other most valuable articles. The third 
caravel escaped, and arrived in Spain, with a tiger and various articles 
of rich manufacture, which had belonged to Montezuma. Verrazzano took his 
prizes into Rochelle. The value of the treasure and articles taken was 
estimated at more than six hundred thousand ducats, or one million and a 
half of dollars.**

(* Dec. v. c. 10. (Lok's trans.))

(** Peter Martyr, Dec. v. c. 8. Epist. 771, Nov. 19, 1522, and 779, June 
11, 1523 (ed. 1670). Herrera, Dec. III. lib. IV. c. 20. Letter of Davila 
to the emperor from Rochelle, June 17, 1523, in the archives at Seville, 
now first published in the Appendix (IV). Martyr says there were two 
ships, the larger of which only containing the treasure fell into the 
hands of John Florin, the French pirate, and the others escaped; but 
Davila must be right.)

These facts at least establish that Joao Verazano mentioned by the 
Portuguse, Andrade and Silveira, was the same person who made the capture 
of the treasure ships; for it is not to be supposed that two different 
Florentines of the name of Giovanni, were in command of French fleets, at 
the same time, belonging to the ports of Normandy alone; and consequently 
that Verrazzano, our navigator, and Juan Florin the corsair were one. But 
how far the seizure of the treasure ships was, as before suggested, the 
original purpose of the fleet can only be inferred from the circumstances, 
and is important only in connection with the design of a voyage of 
discovery. Between the time of the arrival of Ribera with the information 
that the treasure had been left at the Azores, and the sending of the 
caravels to bring it to Spain, nearly six months elapsed. Taking the 
dates, which are established by the official documents now produced, of 
the fitting out of the fleet in Normandy by Verrazzano and the actual 
capture of the two caravels, it is easy to see that the real purpose of 
those preparations from the first, might have been to effect the capture 
of the treasure. The transmission of the news to Portugal of an intended 
voyage to Brazil and the sending of instructions to the embassador at* the 
French court could all have taken place after the detention of the 
treasure at Santa Maria became known in France and the fitting out of the 
vessels for its capture had begun to be made. It is stated by Audrade that 
it was at a port in Normandy where the vessels were being made ready; and 
it is to be presumed, from the connection of Verrazzano with Jean Ango, as 
shown subsequently by the agreement with Chabot for a like purpose, that 
it was from Dieppe, and probably a the expense of that rich merchant, who 
we are told was enabled to entertain his sovereign with princely 
magnificence and to embargo the port of Lisbon, with a fleet of his own,**
that they sailed on this occasion.

(* According to the letter of Silveira, he was at Polssy on Christmas, and 
Audrade was therefore, probably in error in stating that he had his 
instructions in regard to Varezano before he left Portugal.)

(** Mem. Chron. de Dieppe. I. 106-111.)

Verrazzano is certainly found at Rochelle on the 16th of June, 1523, two 
months after the despatch of Silveira was written, with his prizes 
captured on a different expedition from that mentioned by the ambassador. 
It is evident, therefore, that the project of a voyage of discovery to 
Cathay, if ever seriously entertained, had at that time been abandoned; as 
may also be inferred from the statement of Andrade, that Silveira, in the 
nine years he was at the court of France, succeeded only in embargoing the 
voyage of the Florentine, and accomplishing some minor matters.*

(* The document accompanying the letter of Davila in the archives, 
describes Juan Florin as of Dieppe, and thus fixes the seat of his 
operations in Normandy. See Appendix, (IV. 2.))

But the question of any such voyage of discovery having been made at the 
time claimed in the Verrazzano letter is effectually set at rest by the 
fact that Verrazzano was then actually engaged in a corsairial enterprise 
elsewhere. Peter Martyr, in an epistle written on the 3d of August 1524, 
less than a month after the alleged return of Verrazzano to Dieppe from 
his voyage of discovery, wrote from Valladolid that "a courier of the king 
of Portugal had arrived (with word) that Florin, the French pirate, had 
captured a ship of his king on her way from the Indies, with a cargo 
valued at one hundred and eighty thousand ducats."* It is impossible for 
Verrazzano to have been on the coast of North America, or on his return 
from Newfoundland to France, and at the same time to have taken a ship on 
her way from the Indies to Portugal, coming as she must have done, by the 
Cape of Good Hope. 

(* Epist. 800 (ed. 1670).)

The defeat of Francis I at the battle of Pavia and his capture and 
detention in Spain during the year 1525, seem to have suspended the 
depredations upon the seas by the French, and nothing more occurs relating 
to Verrazzano, until after the release of the king, in the following year, 
and then in an adventure which seems to have cost him his life, unless his 
probable appearance in England as mentioned by Hakluyt, to which reference 
has already been made, be an exception. Allusion has also been made 
several times to an agreement between Chabot, admiral of France, and 
others, including Verrazzano, which now assumes particular importance. It 
is the only document yet produced in France, relating to him, and is of 
recent discovery.* By this agreement it was stipulated that Chabot, as 
admiral of France, should furnish two galleons, Jean Ango one ship, and 
Verrazzano two pilots besides himself, and that the three persons here 
named should with Guillaume Preudhomme, general of Normandy, Pierre 
Despinolles and Jacques Boursier, in different specified amounts each, 
make up the sum of twenty thousand pounds in Tours currency for the 
expenses, on joint account, of a voyage to the Indies for spices,--the 
admiral and Ango, however, to have one-fourth of all the merchandise 
returned, for the use of the vessels, and Verrazzano to have one-sixth of 
the remaining three-fourths, for his compensation and that of his two 
pilots. The contract contained another provision, that if any booty should 
be taken on the sea from the Moors, or other enemies of the faith and the 
king, the admiral should first take a tenth of it and the remainder should 
be divided as stipulated in regard to the merchandise, except such part as 
should, upon advisement, be given to the crew. The admiral was to have 
letters patent expedited from the king for permission to make the voyage. 
This paper has no date, but as it was made by Chabot, in his official 
capacity, as admiral of France, it could not have been earlier than March 
1526, when, as we have seen, he was so created. It belongs, therefore, 
either to that or the following year, judging from the fatal consequences 
which happened to Verrazzano in the latter. 

(* Margry, Les Navigatione Francaises, p.194 (Paris, 167.) See Appendix 
(II).)

Although a voyage from France to the Indies for spices was not an 
improbable venture at that time inasmuch as one was actually made from 
Dieppe, two years afterwards, by Jean Parmentier in the service of Ango, 
there is every reason to believe that such was not the real object of the 
parties to this agreement. One of the stipulations between them was for a 
division, of booty, showing an intention to make captures on the sea. Who 
were the enemies of the king from whom it was to be taken is not stated. 
By the treaty of Madrid, in January 1526. peace existed between France and 
Spain, and any expedition from one of them against the commerce of the 
other, was clearly piratical. Neither did war exist at this time, between 
France and Portugal. Yet it appears that both the Spaniards and the 
Portuguese, were searching for Verrazzano at the time, when the former 
succeeded in capturing him, in September or October 1527. He had, 
therefore, not sailed to the Indies and must have made himself obnoxious 
to those nations, by fresh depredations upon their vessels. Bernal Diaz, 
who gives an account of his capture and execution, states that he was 
actually so engaged.* It appears from the letters of the judge who 
superintended his execution that he was then encountered by six Biscayan 
galleons and ships, and after battle, captured and taken by them to Cadiz, 
with his crew, consisting of one hundred and twenty or thirty persons, 
besides several gentlemen adventurers, Verrazzano offered his captors 
thirty thousand ducats to be released, but in vain. He was sent under 
guard with the adventurers to Madrid, but was overtaken on the way at 
Colmenar near Puerto del Pico, villages between Salamanca and Toledo,** by 
the judge of Cadiz with an order made by the emperor at Lerma on the 13th 
of October 1527, by virtue of which he was there put to death in November 
of that year. Such was the termination of the career of this hold man, 
which was long ago substantially told by Bernal Diaz and Barcia, but so 
loosely in regard to dates, as to have created doubts as to their 
correctness, but which is established by the documents existing in the 
archives at Simancas, now brought to light.***

(* Historia verdadera, fol 164.)

(** Blaen, Utriusque Castilia nova descripto. Martiniere, Dictionaire 
Geographique, aub Colmenar et Pico.)

(*** See the letter of the judge of Cadiz, in the Appendix (V.L.) Barcia, 
in his Chronological Essay, mentions the capture and execution of Juan the 
Florentine as a pirate under the year 1524. He does not state that they 
took place in that year, but refers to them in connection with the 
discoveries alleged to have been made in that year by Verrazzano, whom he 
identifies as the corsair. It has been supposed, consequently, that he 
meant that year as the time of Verrazzano's death; and hence, inasmuch as 
Verrazzano was known to have been alive after that year, that the whole 
story was an error. The letters of Juan de Giles, the resident judge of 
Cadiz, appended to this memoir, enable us to fix the date of his 
execution, for although not dated themselves, they contain a reference to 
the date of the cedule, ordering the execution, by which it can be 
determined. Giles mentions that this cedule was dated at Lerma, on the 
13th of last month, showing that it was made there on the 13th of some 
month. According to the Itinerary of Charles V, kept by his private 
secretary, Vandernesse, containing an account of the emperor's journeys 
from the year 1519 to 1551, Charles went to Lerma, a small town in Old 
Castile, for the first time on the 9th of May, 1524 and returned thence to 
Burgos on the 12th of that month, going to Lerma again on the 21st of July 
of that year and leaving it on the 24th for Vallidesole. He was not there 
afterwards, until the 12th of October, 1527, where he remained until the 
17th of that month when he went to Burgos. He went to Lerma again on the 
20th of February 1528, and remained there for two days only. These are all 
the occasions of his presence at Lerma during the whole period of the 
Itinerary. These dates prove that the only possible occasion for issuing 
the order of execution was the 13th of October 1527. The prisoners left 
under guard, on the 15th of that month for Madrid, and the letter 
apprising the emperor that the order had been executed upon Verrazzano 
must have been written in November, the month following. 
The Itinerary will be found in the Correspondence of the Emperor Charles 
V, by William Bradford, London, 1850.)

And thus finally the testimony, upon which the tale of discovery was 
credited and proclaimed to the world, is contradicted and disproved. The 
statement that Verrazzano and a member of his crew were killed and then 
feasted upon by the inhabitants of the coast which he had visited a second 
time, has no support or confirmation in the history of that rude and 
uncivilized people; for, however savage and cruel they were towards their 
enemies, or, under provocation, towards strangers, no authenticated 
instance of their canibalism has ever been produced; but on the contrary 
the testimony of the best authorities, is that they were guiltless of any 
such horrid practice. Yet that statement was a part of the information 
which Ramusio received and communicated to his readers at the same time 
with the Verrazzano letter; and constituted a part of the evidence upon 
which he relied. How utterly false it was is shown by the agreement with 
Chabot and the capture and execution of Verrazzano by the Spaniards. It is 
now seen how the credulity of the historian was imposed upon, and he was 
led by actual misrepresentations to adopt a narrative which has no 
foundation in truth, and whose inconsistencies and incongruities he vainly 
sought to reconcile, but which, for three centuries, sanctioned by his 
authority alone, has been received as authentic and true; until at length, 
by the exposure of its original character, and the circumstances of its 
publication by him, with the production of undoubted evidence from the 
records of the time, it is proven to be a deliberate fraud. 

This completes our purpose. The question, however, still presents itself 
what was the motive for this gross deception? The answer is suggested by 
the feet that all the evidence produced in favor of the story is traceable 
to Florence, the birthplace of Verrazzano. Ramusio obtained the Verazzano 
letter there,--the only one, he says, not astray in consequence of its 
unfortunate troubles. The letter of Carli, enclosing that of Verrazzano, 
is professedly written by a Florentine to his father in that city. The map 
of Hieronimo de Verrazano bears the impress of the family. The discourse 
of the French captain of Dieppe appears to have been sent originally to 
Florence, whence it was procured by Ramusio. Even the globe of Euphrosynus 
Ulpius, a name otherwise unknown, is represented to have been constructed 
for Marcellus, who had been archbishop of Florence. They are all the 
testimony of Florence in her own behalf. The cities of Italy which had 
grown in wealth and importance during the fifteenth century, by means of 
enterprising and valuable commerce, produced and nurtured a race of 
skillful seamen, among whom were the most distinguished of the first 
discoverers of the new world, in the persons of Columbus, Vespucci and the 
Cabots; but those cities contributed nothing more to the discoveries which 
thus were achieved, than to give these men birth and education. The glory 
of promoting and successfully accomplishing those results belonged to 
other nations, which had the wisdom and fortune to secure the services of 
these navigators. The cities shone, however, with the lustre reflected 
from having reared and instructed them to the work they so wonderfully 
performed. Although enjoying a common nationality, these municipales 
belonged to independent republics and were in a measure rivals of each 
other. Florence emulated Genoa. She truly boasted that Vespucci, born and 
raised on her soil, was the first to reach the main land and thus to have 
his name applied for the whole continent, "America quasi Americi terra;" 
while Genoa justly claimed for her son, that the discovery of all America 
was to be regarded as assured from the moment that Columbus landed on the 
little sandy island of Guanahana, on the 12th of October 1492.* But 
Florence enjoys in addition the unenviable distinction of having sought to 
advance the pretensions of Vespucci by fictitious letters, purporting to 
be signed with his name.** That this spirit of civic pride in that same 
community may have actuated the fabrication of the Verrazzano letter is 
not improbable; but in justice to the memory of Verrazzano it must be 
added, there is no reason to believe that he was in any way accessory to 
the imposture. 

(* Humboldt, Examen Critique, IV, 37.)

(** Varnhagen, Amerigo Vespucci, son caractere, ses scrits (meme les moins 
authentiques) &c., p. 67, et seq. (Lima, 1865).)