Fernandes (Valentim)
Valentim Fernandes, a German printer and publisher settled in Lisbon in the late fifteenth century, compiled unpublished narratives of Portuguese maritime discoveries that bear on the history of the discovery of Madeira.
Valentim Fernandes, also known as Valentim Fernandes Alemão, was a German printer and publisher who settled in Lisbon towards the end of the 15th century. He earned a place in the history of our maritime discoveries by collecting a number of unpublished writings of interest to the history of those same discoveries. In 1845 Dr Johann Andreas Schmeller published a curious memoir on these unpublished texts, of which Richard Henry Major gives a detailed account in his work on Prince Henry the Navigator. These narratives of certain maritime discoveries made by the Portuguese in the 15th century bear on the history of the discovery of this archipelago, and for that reason Dr Rodrigues de Azevedo deals with them at length on pp. 366–372 and 905 of ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra). Part of these narratives, concerning the Azores, was published in volume 1 of the Archivo Açoreano. It seems to us that the remaining manuscripts of Valentim Fernandes’s collection are still unpublished.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 02
- Azores
Portugal. Part of the narratives concerning the Azores was published in the Archivo Açoreano.
The Azores, an Atlantic archipelago that shares plant species with Madeira. The Elucidário records settlement there by Madeiran families such as the Bettencourts, the 1801 ban on Azorean wines in Madeira, and imports of Azorean tobacco. It also notes that Azorean farmers were brought to Madeira to teach maize-growing methods.
- Lisbon
Portugal. City where Valentim Fernandes settled and worked as a printer.
The Portuguese capital, seat of the Relação court and of the Misericórdia whose privileges and statutes were extended to Funchal. Henrique Franco de Sousa studied at its Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and Luiz José Baiardo moved there in 1821.
People
People mentioned · 05-
German printer and publisher established in Lisbon at the end of the fifteenth century who collected unpublished accounts of Portuguese discoveries, including that of Madeira.
- Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo1825–1898
Annotator of the Saudades da Terra, who discussed the Valentim Fernandes narratives at length.
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Author of a work on Prince Henry the Navigator that gives a detailed account of Schmeller's memoir.
- Henry the Navigator1394–1460
Prince Henry the Navigator, subject of Henrique Major's book.
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Scholar who in 1845 published a memoir on the unpublished manuscripts collected by Valentim Fernandes.