Aviso de la Orden y Mareaje a la Armada del Emperador Nro Se or Debia Guardar al Tiempo que su Majestad Paso de Flandes en Espa a Habiendo Recibido la Primera Corona del Imperio Fecho 1522.

4to. 79 pp. Contemporary manuscript. Paper watermarked with hand and star motif (Briquet, Les Filigranes 10772) dating it to ca. 1507 and from Konstanz, to the southwest of Worms. Contemporary limp vellum with remains of ribbon ties; reddened edges. Stored in custom-made blue half morocco solander box with gilt spine. Exceptional manuscript by Hernando Col n (Fernando Columbus), one of the first people to travel to America as early as 1502, and son of the most famous explorer of all times. - The present "Aviso de la Orden y Mareaje" was composed by Hernan Col n (1488-1539), one of the first Europeans to travel and explore the coasts of America, a renowned bibliophile and the son of Christopher Columbus, to provide the recently crowned Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, with a set of guidelines for travelling by sea from Flanders to Spain in 1522. Hernando Col n formed part of Charles s retinue and accompanied him on this 1522 voyage. He based his advice on his own extensive knowledge of sea travel that dated from his sailing as a 13-year-old boy on Christopher Columbus's fourth and most dangerous voyage to the Americas (1502-04) when father and son, in the course of exploring the American mainland coast between Honduras and Panama, had been shipwrecked on Jamaica for almost a full year. - In this treatise, Hernando, who had been a member of the Spanish royal court from a young age, is surprisingly frank with Charles V about the practical measures he recommends for a safe journey. He notes that the dangers at sea "usually come from one of four reasons. The first is due to too much tempest. The second, lack of some necessary rigging [in this context, probably equipment]. The third, due to shoals, banks and reefs. The last, as a result of the opposition of enemies" ("suelen venir por una de quatro causas. La pr[i]mera por demasiada tormenta. La segu[n]da por falta de algun aparejo. La tercera por razon d[e] baxos y bancos y arracifes. La ultima por contrariedad d[e] enemigos", ff. 5v-6). Hernando then proceeds to explain the measures by which these dangers can best be offset, thereby discussing the numbers, types and sizes of ships which should compose the emperor's fleet; the manner in which each of these vessels is to be selected and inspected to ensure their seaworthiness; and the way in which each of these was to be fitted out, armed, manned and governed. - Hernando's advice is comprehensive when it comes to the organization of such a journey but even extends to the management of the emperor himself, including details of where on the "nao" Charles should have his quarters, his daily routine, the number of attendants he should have, and even on what he should eat. Here, Hernando notes that "it is also commonly held that anything sour, for being cold, is harmful, for which reason it is considered better to have meals such as stews, not phlegm-inducing foods, and warm preserves such as nutmegs and ginger, as well as good, sweet-smelling wines and those seasoned with spices such as hippocras or spiced white wine. Fruits, cheese and onions should be avoided. Above all, one should be well wrapped up, especially the stomach and the feet, and one should not occupy the mind with business or writing but only in leisure, going out to take fresh air regularly without looking too much at the sea. Some consider it very welcome to purge oneself lightly even before going on board and eating during the first days with some moderation" ("Tanbien [!] es comun opinion qu[e] toda cosa agria por ser fria es nociva por lo qual tienen por meior manjares exutos y asados y no flemosos y conservas calientes y oderiferas como nuezes moscadas y gengibre y buenos vinos odoriferos y algunos dellos adobados con especicas [!] como el hypocras, y la clarea, y dev se evitar las frutas, y el q[ue]so y las cebollas y sobre todo andar bien arropado especialmente el estomago y los pies y no ocupar el sentido mucho en negocios ni escrituras salvo en tomar plazer y salir do corte el ayre fresco sin mirar mucho la mar y aun algunos a[n]te del enbarcar [!] hallan muy saludable purgarse ligeramente comiendo los primeros dias con alguna regla", ff. 11v-12). - Despite its value for the history of travel and for an understanding of 16th century approaches to the transport by sea of high-status individuals such as Charles V, the "Aviso de la Orden y Mareaje" remains apparently unpublished and little known, most likely because it was written so relatively early in Hernando Columbus's career and due to the extreme rarity of surviving copies. Scholars have been aware of the Aviso s existence in part through a reference to it made by Columbus himself in 1524 in the "Declaracion del derecho que la Real corona de Castilla tiene ", where he noted that "I ventured to write to Your Majesty with that Treatise or order of navigation for the most high and happiest voyage of the Emperor, from Flanders to Spain" ("me atrev a escribir a V.M. con aquella Escritura o forma de navegaci n para el alto y felic simo Viaje del Emperador, desde Flandes en Espa a"; original version available online from the Real Biblioteca, II/652, and published in M. Salv & P. Sa nz de Baranda, Colecci n de Documentos In ditos para la Historia de Espa a, Madrid: La Viuda de Calero, 1850, XVI, document 3, pp. 382-420, at p. 383). - Juan Guill n Torralba has noted that "among the papers that Don Hernando kept until the end of his days and which were referred to by his executors, there appeared one that, almost certainly, is that of the voyage of Charles V, which has as a title: Aviso de la orden y mareaje del Emperador" ("Entre los papeles que conserv don Hernando hasta el final de susd as y de los que hicieron relaci n sus albaceas, apareci uno que, casi seguro , es este del viaje de Carlos V, que lleva como t tulo: Aviso de la orden y mareaje . del Emperador", Guill n Torralba, Hernando Col n: humanismo y bibliofilia, Seville: Fundaci n Jos Manuel Lara, 2004, p. 101). It was included, as Torralba suggests, in an inventory of Columbus's writings found in his possession at the time of his death in 1539 ("Inventario de Escrituras", Archivo Hist rico de Protocolos de Sevilla, Oficio V. Escribania de Pedro de Castellanos. Legajo 6. de 1539. Carpeta especial. Folio I, possibly printed in A. Muro Orej n and J. Hern ndez D az, El Testamento de Don Hernando Col n y Otros Documentos para su Biograf a, 1941), though there is now no record of it in what remains of Hernando s library, the Biblioteca Colombina in Seville. A further copy, described in 1593 as "Avisso de la orden que dev a guardar la armada del enperador, nuestro se or, al tiempo que su Magestad pass de Flandes en Spa a", was recorded in an "Ynbentario de la librer a del marqu s Don Alonso Ossorio" (see Pedro M. C tedra, Nobleza y Lectura en Tiempos de Felipe II: La biblioteca de Don Alonso Osorio Marqu s de Astorga, Madrid: Junta de Castilla y Le n, 2002, p. 503, no. B679). C tedra notes that the text of the manuscript in the Marqu s de Astorga s collection matched the copy of the "Aviso de la Orden y mareage que el Armada del Emperado debia guardar al tiempo que su majestad pas de Flandes en Espa a habiendo recibido la corona del Imperio. 1522" sold in the Cat logo de Gabriel S nchez, 31, which Mar n Martinez et al. (Cat logo concordado de la biblioteca de Hernando Col n, Madrid: Fundaci n Mapfre, 1993, I, 265f.) describe as lost. Whether this is the same copy as the present manuscript is uncertain, though no mention is made by C tedra of the manuscript having belonged to the Spanish statesman and bibliophile, Antonio C novas del Castillo, whose extensive library was dispersed in the years following his assassination in 1897. - Partially removed ex-libris of Antonio C novas del Castillo (1828-97). For the importance of C novas del Castillo as a book collector at the end of the 19th century see the article "C novas del Castillo juzgado por sus libros", Espa a Moderna, 1907, pp. 60-92, written by Benito P rez Gald s, the 19th century novelist and author. Stamped onto the remains of the bookplate is the bookstamp of the Madrid bookseller, Gabriel S nchez. US private collection. - A. Muro Orej n & J. Hern ndez D az, El testamento de don Hernando Col n y otros documentos para su biograf a, 1941. Guill n Torralba, Hernando Col n: humanismo y bibliofilia, Seville: Fundaci n Jos Manuel Lara, 2004, p. 101. Cat logo de Gabriel S nchez, 31. Mar n Martinez et al., Cat logo concordado de la biblioteca de Hernando Col n (Madrid: Fundaci n Mapfre, 1993), I, 265f. Cat logo de algunos libros curiosos que pertenecieron la biblioteca de C novas del Castillo y conserva uno de sus sobrinos (Madrid: Imprenta de Antonio G. Izquierdo, 1906), vol I.