Martins de Roriz
NAME: Martins de Roriz, Canon Fernao
ACHIEVEMENT(S): Canon of Lisbon (1460s) and friend of the cartographer and mathematician Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli.
NICKNAME/ALIAS: Canon Ferdam Martins
DATE/PLACE OF BIRTH: fl Lisbon, Portugal in mid-15th century
DATE/PLACE/AGE AT DEATH:
DISCIPLINE: Priest
FIELD: Religion
LANGUAGE: Portuguese and Latin
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MAJOR WORK: Heading the Portuguese Committee on Navigation and Exploration
LIFE AND TIMES: Fernao Martins de Roriz was, in the mid-15th century, a canon of the church in Lisbon, Portugal and head of the Portuguese Committee on Navigation and Exploration.
His presence is recorded at the archbishop's place in Todi, Umbria (in the Papal States, Italy) in 1464, when he and the Italian cartographer and mathematician <a pal of> Toscanelli* attended the deathbed of the German philosopher and mathematician <a pal of> Nicholas of Cusa*.
Together, Martins and Toscanelli defended Nicholas from attacks on his geometry by <opposed views of> Regiomontanus*, and signed Nicholas's testament before his death in August 1464.
During this period, Toscanelli and Martins formed a strong friendship, and they met together again at Rome before Martins returned to his canonry at Lisbon.
Toscanelli and Martins continued to correspond with each other during the 1460s, while the former was developing his ideas regarding the geography of the globe, and navigation routes to India and the Orient.
By this time, Toscanelli had become one of the foremost authorities on Ptolemaic cartography, had studied the travels of Marco Polo, and had gained personal information from merchants and seamen passing through Florence, in particular from the Italian traveller Niccolo de’ Conti.
These studies had convinced him of the possibility of sailing west as a means of reaching the Indies, and during the late 1460s he constructed a nautical map of the Atlantic Ocean, with the aim of demonstrating his belief that if one sailed west, one could reach India and the Orient by a shorter route, and thus circumnavigate the globe.
Around 1470, Toscanelli had informed Martins of his theory and the existence of his map, and Martins therefore informed his friend, King Afonso V of Portugal, because for a half century the Portuguese had been forced to sail to the East over the long and dangerous route around Africa.
At the king's request, Toscanelli then wrote the celebrated letter, dated 25 June 1474, addressed to "the Confessor Canon Fernao Martins of Lisbon", in which he outlined his belief that the ocean route across the Atlantic from Portugal to the Indies was much shorter than generally believed, enclosed his map, and advocated a westward route for future Portuguese explorers.
Although this letter had apparently no decisive effect upon the king, in all probability it influenced the Italian explorer <knew> Columbus*, who had been resident in Lisbon from 1476.
According to tradition, through the intervention of Lorenzo Giraldi, Columbus obtained from Toscanelli an explanation of his scheme of a voyage westwards, and in reply Toscanelli is said to have sent Columbus a copy of his letter and chart.
At the beginning and end of the letter Toscanelli added a few words addressed especially to Columbus. However, unfortunately Toscanelli's two letters no longer exist in an authentic form: both apparently have been greatly altered in the Italian translation of Fernando's "Historie", and in the Spanish biography by the Bishop Las Casas of Chiapaz. Nevertheless, by good fortune, the middle part of Toscanelli's first letter - i.e. a copy of the letter of 25 June 1474 - has been preserved in its original form.
Columbus is then believed to have taken a copy of Toscanelli's map on his first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492.
ASSESSMENT: He received an important letter from Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli detailing the advantages of attempting a westward passage to the Indies, which is believed to have influenced Christopher Columbus on his historic first voyage to the New World.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None.
ONELINER: Fernao Martins de Roriz, instrumental in triggering the voyage of Columbus
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
DSB
New Catholic Encyclopedia