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 10th, 1519 from St. Lucar, the harbor of Seville, for a voyage which ends on September 6th, 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

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

External Links

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