Pavia (Father Teodoro)

In 1705 the book Il Primo Scuoprimento dell'isola di Madera fatto da Roberto Macico inglese... was published at Tortona, Italy, translated from the Portuguese and greatly expanded by Father Teodoro de Pavia. It is a volume of 190 pages, divided into two chapters. The first, which gave the book its title, is a literal translation of the celebrated third Epanafora of Dom Francisco Manuel de Melo, first published in 1660 and later reissued in other editions. As is well known, it was through this narrative by Dom Francisco de Melo that the legendary adventure of Robert Machin became widely known, and even came to acquire a certain standing as historical truth among some of the more credulous writers.

The second chapter of Father Pavia’s book is of greater interest to Madeirans, because of the information it gives us about the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the following century. The first, by contrast, is a version of a very well-known work that has been extensively discussed, especially in the learned annotations to ‘Longing for the Homeland’ (Saudades da Terra).