Henry the Black

This article discusses the slave and interpreter of Ferdinand Magellan. For Henry the Black, duke of Bavaria from 1120 to 1126, see Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria. Or for Henry the Black, Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 to 1056, see Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor.

Enrique of Malacca (Enrique in the Last Will and Testament of Ferdinand Magellan and in the muster roll; Henry the Black, Enrique de Malaca, or Henrich in all four extant manuscripts of Antonio Pigafetta, whose account of the circumnavigation is considered the most complete and comprehensive) may be historically significant as the first person to circumnavigate the world. He was never to be honored for so doing. Henry was the slave and interpreter of Magellan to the natives in the Philippines.

The dispute as to whether he is originally from Sumatra in Indonesia, Malacca in Malaya or Cebu in the Philippines can easily be resolved by going to eyewitness accounts where his origin is quite precisely stated. Magellan's Last Will and Testament refers to him as "Enrique, mulatto" native of Taprobana, the 16th century name for Sumatra. (Taprobana in Ptolemy's map is the name of present-day Ceylon.) Pigafetta also says he is from that place but spells it Zamatra.

It is not certain how old he was when Magellan bought him in the slave market of Malacca. He must have been quite young, very likely a teenager. He must have had a good ear for languages as he learned Portuguese from Magellan; and probably Spanish and quite probably Italian.

He has been given the appellation of Panglima Awang in the novels of the Malaysian Harun Aminurashid.

Approaching the Philippines

Magellan took Enrique with him when he set sail on the voyage that would bring his shipmates around the world. According to the chronicles of Pigafetta, when Magellan, Enrique and others were approaching Samar and Cebu, Enrique could not communicate with the local people. Then, as they approached a second island, Mazaua, which on best evidence is located at 9 degrees North, locating it in Mindanao, a small boat approached them. Discouraged by the language barrier that he had confronted at Homonhon, Enrique did not think they would understand him. To his surprise, his greeting in Malay language was understood by the king of the isle, Raia Siaiu, because, in the words of Pigafetta, "kings" in those places spoke many languages; and as explicitly explained by Gines de Mafra, and validated by modern linguistics experts, Malay was the lingua franca in Southeast Asia. Reluctant to enter the strange vessel, the small boat stayed by the ship. On the second island, which was then called Mazzaua, a word which means "light" and is found only in one Philippine language, Butuanon, there was instant communication with Raia Siaiu. Enrique, according to popular biographer Stefan Zweig writing without benefit of Gines de Mafra's account, was amazed at the fact that he could communicate with the people as they surrounded him, chattering, because he didn't quite realize that he had made it all the way around the world, that is linguistically, but not geographically. Mazaua is some 4-6 degress E less than Malacca from whence he came. Other than Magellan himself, who had been in east Indian waters before, the Spanish members of Magellan's crew still had many thousands of miles in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic before they would have completed the last legs of their circumglobal navigation.

Was Enrique the First Circumnavigator?

Was Enrique the first to circumnavigate? This notion was first stated by Dr. Martin Torodash in his article, "Magellan Historiography," which appeared in the Hispanic American Historical Review LI (May, 1971) p. 322. "If scholars want to take credit from Magellan on a technicality, they should confer the honor of premier circumnavigator upon Henrique de Malaca, Magellan's slave, who certainly was the first man to take a 360 degree trip." Torodash offers neither proof nor argument. Quirino's assertion, which is grievously false, rests on his claim the slave came from Cebu, in central Philippines. So when the fleet reached Cebu, Enrique therefore had rounded the world. Laurence Bergreen (Over the Edge of the World) adopted Quirino's notion, although he fails to credit Quirino nor is that name found anywhere in his book.

Malaysians of today also claim Enrique had circumnavigated the globe ahead of everyone. But this claim rests on a supposition Enrique left with the fleet in Cebu and when the Armada reached Malacca, he had circumnavigated the globe. After the massacre in Cebu in which Enrique is accused of plotting together with Raia Humabon, king of Cebu, there is nothing more said of him by any of the eyewitnesses who wrote of the voyage--Pigafetta, de Mafra, Francisco Albo, the Genoese Pilot, Martinho de Ayamonte, Sebastian Elcano, Martin Mendez, an Anonymous Portuguese suspected to be Vasquito Gallego, and by another anonymous Portuguese.

Was Magellan?

As for Magellan, himself, did he circumnavigate the globe? The notion rests on an unsupported assertion of Bartolome Juan de Leonardo y Argensola in 1609 who said Magellan was captain of one of three ships of a reconnoitering trip to Banda and Ambon under Captain Antonio d'Abreu in 1511. If Magellan did indeed join this expedition the argument of Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison should stand: "Thus his furthest west in 1521 [i.e., Cebu at 124 degress E overlapped his furthest east on longitude 128 deg. E and Banda on longitude 130 deg. E of Greenwich in 1511 by four to six degrees longitude." This trip is related in The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires, An Account of the East from the Red Sea to Japan in 1512-1515. There is no mention of Magellan being part of the squadron. In fact, two contemporary historians, De Goes and Correa, state the third vessel was commanded by Simao Afonso Bisagudo (Chronica de D. Manoel, 3ra parte, cap. xxv. fol. 51).

Magellan's Death

Magellan died in the Battle of Mactan, in the Philippine Islands. Pigafetta writes that after Magellan's death, Enrique was legally free, but his manumission was opposed by the new commander, Duarte Barbosa. Enrique then plotted with Rajah Humabon and was able to escape.

After Magellan's death at Mactan, Duarte Barbosa treated Enrique harshly and then sent him on another mission to Humabon the chief or datu of Cebu. It was here that Enrique supposedly suggested to Humabon that they invite the Spanish to a feast and slaughter them there. This supposition is however placed in doubt by the eyewitness account of the Genoese Pilot who disputes what most in the fleet believed as fact. In any case, a banquet was had and many who attended were killed except Juan Serrano (who was left on the beach screaming not to be left behind) and some 7 others who were reported 6 years later to the 1527 Saavedra expedition to have been sold to Chinese merchants who presumably brought them to China.

Points of dispute

That Enrique is from Malaysia

He was found in Malacca.

That Enrique spoke in Malaysian

That Enrique spoke in the Malaysian, the lingua franca of the region or in ancient Cebuano or the language of Mazzao/ Masao. Direct testimony of Pigafetta and Gines de Mafra expressly state he spoke Malayan.

That Enrique is from Indonesia

Based on the testimonies of Antonio Pigafetta and Ferdinand Magellan himself, the evidence is compelling that Enrique/Henrich is from Sumatra.

That Enrique is from the Philippines

He could communicate with native Cebuanos.

The dictionary created by Pigafetta and Enrique contained not Malay words but Cebuano words.

It is possible that he was captured by Sumatran slavers from his home island.

= Was Enrique from Cebu?

The notion Enrique is from Cebu is based on a linguistic fallacy asserted by Philippine historian Carlos Quirino who said Malay was not spoken in the Southeast Asia region which is totally rejected by linguistic experts and invalidated by historical fact. (Quirino himself has no bona fides in linguistics). But more to the point, eyewitnesses state Enrique spoke Malayan. This is explicitly stated by Gines de Mafra, the seaman in Magellan's fleet who's the only crewmember to return to the isle named Mazaua where Enrique was first understood by natives of the Philippines. "Magellan ordered a young man named Heredia, clerk, to go ashore," Gines de Mafra states in his firsthand account,"with a slave whom they brought along who spoke the language because he knew Malay, the language commonly understood in these islands." That he spoke Malayan, aside from direct testimony of Gines de Mafra and Pigafetta, may be deduced from the fact Pigafetta was able to produce a 450-word vocabulary of Malayan words, a feat that has mystified linguistics students. According to Donald F. Lach Pigafetta's Malayan vocabulary is "accurate and is one of the oldest extant (written) specimens of the Malay language, the earliest surviving Malay manuscripts being dated from around 1500 and 1550," and "the question as to how he was able to get this vocabulaty together during his short stay in the East Indies has perplexed many students." It may be deduced the vocabulary was a product of collaboration between Enrique and Pigafetta.

Quirino's notion Enrique was Cebuano was based on three factors: 1) he had not read the account of Gines de Mafra; 2) he misread Pigafetta; 3) he ignored established facts of linguistics in the Southeast Asian region. Here is what Pigafetta wrote: "...The said slave spoke to the king (Raia Siaiu of Mazaua), who understood him well. For, in that country, the kings know more languages than the common people do." Even the natives of Mazaua understood Enrique. States Pigafetta: "A slave...who was a native of Zamatra...spoke to them. They ^* immediately understood him." It should be borne in mind Mazaua, the port of Magellan's fleet from March 28-April 4, 1521, is at 9 degrees North, in Mindanao, southern Philippines.

Bibliography

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—1524b. Primo viaggio intorno al globo terracqueo, ossia ragguaglio della navigazione...fatta dal cavaliere Antonio Pigafetta...ora publicato per la prima volta, tratto da un codice MS. Della biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano e corredato di note da Carlo Amoretti. Milan 1800.

—1524c. Il primo viaggio intorno al globo di Antonio Pigafetta. In: Raccolta di Documenti e Studi Publicati dalla. Commissione Colombiana. Andrea da Mosto (ed. and tr.). Rome 1894.

—1524d. Le premier tour du monde de Magellan. Léonce Peillard (ed. and transcription of Ms. fr. 5650). France 1991.

—1524e. Magellan’s Voyage, 3 vols. James Alexander Robertson (ed. and tr. of Ambrosian). Cleveland 1906.

—1524f. Magellan’s Voyage: A Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation. R.A. Skelton (ed. and tr. of Yale ms.). New Haven 1969.

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—1524k. Pigafetta: Relation du premier voyage autour du monde...Edition du texte fraçais d’après les manuscripts de Paris et de Cheltenhan. Jean Denucé (text transcribed from Ms. 5650, collating Mss. Ambrosiana, Nancy-Yale and 24224 in notes.) Anvers 1923.

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Reference

Acknowledgements to Mr. Nestor Enriquez for information.

The above article is a rewrite from an e-mail account from Mr. Nestor Enriquez and based on Pigafetta's account.

Mr. Néstor Enríquez is a descendant of Henry the Black.

External links

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