Anghiera, Pietro Martire d' [Peter Martyr]:

$7,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

DE REBUS OCEANICIS ET NOVO ORBE, DECADES TRES, PETRI MARTYRIS AB ANGLERIA MEDIOLANENSIS. ITEM EIUSDEM, DE BABYLONICA LEGATIONE, LIBRI III. ET ITEM DE REBUS AETHIOPICIS, INDICÎS, LUSITANICIS & ... A later edition of Martyr, containing his first three Decades, originally published in 1516, together with three other important works: Martyr's accounts of the Cortés expedition in Mexico, his account of his own diplomatic mission to Egypt, and Damião de Góis' work on Ethiopia. Peter Martyr of Anghiera (c. 1457-1525), a native of Italy, served the Spanish court in numerous capacities: soldier, priest, courtier, chaplain, teacher, historian, and ambassador. "In 1520 he became secretary to the Council of the Indies and later was appointed by emperor Charles V as the first official chronicler of the Indies. Although Martyr never set foot in the New World, he used his privileged position as a courtier to gather a great wealth of information from documents and through personal interviews. Following the model of the Latin historian Titus Livius, the Decades are volumes written in Latin divided into ten books each. They cover all aspects of the New World - the geography, the natural world (he was the first to describe minerals, plants and animals in detail), the natives, and all major events after the discovery. Martyr was the first to establish a connection between the New World and Classical antiquity" - Delgado-Gomez. An intimate of Columbus and contemporary of Vasco da Gama, Cortés, Ma

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