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Martino de Judicibus

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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.

Martino de Judicibus (Template:Lang-es) was a Genoese or Savonese[1] Chief Steward. He served with Ferdinand Magellan on his historical voyage to find a westward route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. His history is preserved in the nominative registers at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain. The family name is referred to with the exact Latin patronymic, "de Judicibus".

He was initially assigned to the caravel Concepción, one of five ships of the small Spanish fleet of Magellan. By the order of Charles V of Spain, the purpose of the fleet was to circumnavigate the Earth by discovering a southwest passage connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific. Cartographers at the time believed the passage to be very probable from a geographic point of view, but nobody had trustworthy information about the supposed passage.

The real strategic purpose of the expedition was to look for a new maritime way to the Spice Islands of Indonesia, avoiding the route around Africa whose western and southern harbors were all in the hands of Portugal. Magellan was also tasked to prove that the Spice Islands were really west of the anti-meridian borderline of Portugal according to the Treaty of Tordesillas, therefore becoming property of Spain and not it's current owner, Portugal. Lastly, new territories discovered were to be annexed to the already immense Spanish Empire.

Martino de Judicibus embarked on the expedition with the rank of merino or Chief Steward. The expedition set sail on August 10 1519 from St. Lucar, the harbor of Seville, for a voyage which ended 2 years, 11 months and 3 days later on September 6 1522, when Victoria, the only surviving ship, returned to the harbor of departure after completing the first circumnavigation of the Earth. On board the small ship only 18 men out of the original 235 crew survived. Among the survivors there were only two Italians, Antonio Lombardo (Pigafetta) and Martino de Judicibus.

The route of the voyage

The route of Victoria

European survivors of the expedition

18 Europeans returned to Seville with Victoria in 1522
Name Rating
Juan Sebastian Elcano, from Getaria Master
Francisco Albo, from Axio Pilot
Miguel de Rodas Pilot
Juan de Acurio, from Bermeo Pilot
Antonio Lombardo (Pigafetta), from Vicenza Supernumerary
Martín de Judicibus, from Genoa Chief Steward
Hernándo de Bustamante, from Alcántara Mariner
Nicholas the Greek, from Naples Mariner
Miguel Sánchez, from Rhodes Mariner
Antonio Hernández Colmenero, from Huelva Mariner
Francisco Rodrigues, Portuguese from Seville Mariner
Juan Rodríguez, from Huelva Mariner
Diego Carmena Mariner
Hans of Aachen Gunner
Juan de Arratia, from Bilbao Able Seaman
Vasco Gomez Gallego, from Bayona Able Seaman
Juan de Santandrés, from Cueto Apprentice Seaman
Juan de Zubileta, from Barakaldo Page

Footnotes

  1. ^ Documents related to the questioning performed by the Spanish authorities after the 18 survivors of the voyage returned to Seville in 1522 report that de Judicibus was born in Savona, Italy.