Maximilianus Transylvanus - De Moluccis Insulis

De Moluccis Insulis

Transylvanus had a lively interest in Magellan's expedition around the world. However, his information should not be entirely accepted at face value, as Transylvanus uncritically accepted the testimony he took down from the surviving crew members. He was also in a hurry to get his letter published.

The account written by Antonio Pigafetta, the expedition's official chronicler and one of the survivors of the voyage, did not appear until 1525, in Paris, and was not wholly published until the first year of the 19th century; this was the edition by Carlo Amoretti published in 1800. This edition is now famously called the Ambrosiana codex. It is through Transylvanus' account that Europe was informed of the first circumnavigation of the globe.

Transylvanus recorded gossip on board about the mutiny that occurred during Magellan's voyage, calling it a "shameful and foul conspiracy" among the Spanish officers and men. Pigafetta and Transylvanus differ on who was responsible for the massacre that occurred at Cebu in the Philippines. Transylvanus states that it was Juan Serrano who mistreated Enrique de Malacca, Magellan's former slave, thereby causing Enrique to plot the massacre; Pigafetta, who did not attend the banquet that served as the trap, blames Duarte Barbosa.

Transylvanus' text also includes a fairly accurate description of how spices were grown. "The natives share groves of this tree among themselves," he writes, “just as we do vineyards."

A surviving copy of the first edition of his work can be found in the Beinecke Library (Yale University). A second edition can be found at the Scheepvaart Museum (Amsterdam). Princeton University Library has copies of the Cologne and Rome printings.