Over the Edge of the World: Magellen's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen

of orphans, and the cloak of sinners, where everything is a necessity and no one has it.” Only Seville was capable of providing Magellan with the technology, the labor, and the financial resources to travel halfway around the world in search of lands to claim and spices to bring back to Europe.
    It was also a city of faith, the home of the third largest church in the world, after Saint Peter’s in Rome and Saint Paul’s in London. Work on Seville’s cathedral continued for well over a hundred years, until 1519, the year Magellan set sail for the Spice Islands. With its bell tower, vaults, chambers, and fantastic amalgam of Gothic, Greco-Roman, and Arabic architecture, the cathedral became the expression of Seville’s striving, a world unto itself. The flame of the Catholic faith burned most brightly in Seville during Semana Santa, Holy Week, lasting from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, when solemn, almost frightening processions of religious penitents coursed through the city’s narrow, winding streets and capacious squares. The penitents walked barefoot over the sharp stones and splinters embedded in the streets, bearing a wooden cross, their feet bleeding, displaying their wounds in emulation of Jesus. This was an act of piety straight out of the Middle Ages, a demonstration of blind obedience to an omnipotent Lord, a recognition of and mastery over mortal suffering, and an acknowledgment of humankind’s sinful state. As such, it served as good practice for the rigors and pains of a voyage of discovery.
     
    A s Magellan and Faleiro arrived in Seville to commence preparations in earnest for the voyage, the ill will between Spain and Portugal led to rumors that the lives of the Portuguese co-commanders were in danger. It was said that Bishop Vasconcellos, a confidant of King Manuel, inspired an assassination attempt. Magellan was inclined to ignore the death threats, but King Charles took the intimidation so seriously that he provided bodyguards for Magellan and Faleiro, granted them another audience, proclaimed them Knights of the Order of Santiago, and reaffirmed the terms of their original commission. Having done all he could to demonstrate his support of the two Portuguese, King Charles urged them to begin their expedition as soon as possible. Time was short, and an empire was at stake.
     
    S omething has come up,” Magellan wrote to King Charles on Saturday, October 23, 1518, in the midst of outfitting the fleet for the voyage. Unlike many captains, Magellan involved himself in the day-to-day preparations, even loading goods onto the ships as if he were an ordinary seaman, not the Captain General, and that was how the trouble started. Despite his close interaction with the sailors and dockworkers, or perhaps because of it, Magellan believed he did not receive the cooperation and respect to which he was accustomed. In desperation, he appealed to the one individual who could restore order.
    It is possible that Magellan’s problems stemmed at least in part from his inadequate Spanish; time and again, he had to rely on translators, and his inability to communicate underscored his outsider status. Even now, writing to King Charles, he had to rely on a scribe, “because I still do not know how to write in Spanish as well I should.” He proceeded to explain the matter. “I had to haul one of the ships to shore because there was an ebb tide. I got up at three in the morning to make sure that the riggings were in place and when it was time to work I ordered the men to put up four flags with my coat of arms on the mast where those of the captain are customarily placed, while those of Your Majesty were to be placed on top of Trinidad, which is the name of the ship.” The unusual juxtaposition of signs, emphasizing that a Portuguese captain was sailing for Spain, attracted a large, gossipy crowd of onlookers. “Because in this world there is never any lack of envious people, they began to talk. They said I had done