Martino de Judicibus

Martino de Judicibus

The text quoted here has been extracted from The Thousand Years of the de Judicibus Italian Lineage, historical anthology about familiar memories going from the origins till now, edited by Danilo de Judicibus, and translated to English by Dario de Judicibus.

What we know about Martino

Martino de Judicibus is enrolled as Genoese in the nominative registers of the participants at the historical naval expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, that is, the Portuguese Fernao d Magalhaes. Those registers are preserved at the Archivo General de las Indias in Seville. The family name is referred with the exact Latin patronymic, that is, de Judicibus. Other documents, related to the questioning performed by the Spanish authorities after the return to Seville, report instead Martino as born in Savona.

He is initially assigned to the caravel "Conception", one of the five ships of the small Spanish fleet of Magellano that, to order of Charles V of Spain, has the official purpose of circumnavigate the Earth by discovering a South-West passage connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. About this passage, that was believed to be very probable from a geographic point of view, but of which nobody has trustworthy information, cartographers tell tales from time.

The real strategic purpose of the expedition is to look for a new maritime way to the Islands of the Spices, in the Indonesian archipelago of the Moluccas, avoiding to pass around the Africa, whose Western and Southern harbors are all into the hands of Portugal. If possible, he will have also to proof that the Moluccas are really to West of the antemeridian of the borderline that, according to the treatises, divides the zones of influence and colonial possession between Spaniards and Portugueses. Naturally, not less important, it will be any discovery of new territories to be annexed to the already immense empire of the King of Spain.

Martino de Judicibus is embarked with sobresalientes with the rank of merino, that is a subordinate of infantry. The expedition sails on August 10 1519 from St. Lucar, the harbor of Seville, for a voyage which ends on September 6 1522, when "Victoria", the only surviving ship, returns to the harbor of departure after completing the first circumnavigation of the globe in 2 years, 11 months and 3 days. On board of the small ship (85 tons), embarking water and with an emergency veiling, there are only 18 men out of the 235 who left, including sailors and soldiers. Among the survivors, there are only two Italians, Antonio Lombardo and just Martino de Judicibus. Antonio Lombardo is also known as Pigafetta, former secretary of Magellan, that is he who will write the history of the expedition.

The Route of Voyage

The route of «Victoria»

• Departure from Seville on 10 August 1519
• Departure from St. Lucar on 20 September 1519
• Arrival at the Bay of Rio de Janeiro on 14 December 1519
• The Santiago wrecks
• Passing through the Strait of Magellan on 21 October 1520
• The San Antonio deserted and returned to Spain
• Entering the Pacific Ocean on 18 December 1520
• Arrival at Guam, in the Marianas, on 6 March 1521
• Magellan is killed on Mactan Island on 27 April 1521
• Juan Sebastian del Cano assumes command
• The Concepcion is abandoned
• The Trinidad turns back to the Moluccas
• Arrival at St. Lucar on 6 September 1522
• Arrival at Seville on 8 September 1522

External links

I 1000 Anni delle famiglie «de Judicibus» e «Giliberti» (Italian language)