Publication Date
2009
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In the south-westernmost tip of Portugal, two promontories challenge the sea. On the corner, where the coast moves from the direction North-South to the direction West-East, is the Cape St. Vicent, which became famous because this martyr, worshiped mainly in Lisbon, was sepulchred there. To the west we can see another cape, next to the village of Sagres. It was nearby this cape that, from 1443 on, Dom Henrique built his village, where he died, on 13 November 1460.
The Portuguese chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara says the crews from the ships of the 1425 fleet, headed for Ceuta, saluted the Cape St. Vicent with reverence, which shows how important and how sacred this place was considered to be. The first explicit reference to the presence of Prince Dom Henrique in Sagres can be found on a letter which granted the captaincy of Porto Santo to Bartolomeu Perestrelo. This letter was signed on 1 November 1446, "em a minha vila" [in my village]. Only two documents are known to have been signed by Dom Henrique in Sagres not bearing the expression "em a minha vila". The first one is dated 20 February 1459 and signed "em a minha vila de Tercanaaval" [in my village of Tercanaaval] and the second one was signed on 2 September 1460 "em a minha vila, a vila do Infante" [in my village, the village of the prince]. This shows us that the prince never named his village Sagres. Besides, the word "vila" [village] meant almost certainly, in this case, a domestic space rather than an administrative area. It was on 16 June 1464 that king Afonso V first referred to this place as "a minha vila de Sagres" [my village of Sagres].
All this shows that the myth of the "school of Sagres" is completely unfounded. The thirteen long years of frustrated attempts which lead to Gil Eanes' pioneer journey, as well as the first ten years of exploration south of Bojador, all of this took place while Sagres was not yet populated. The real experimental centre for Dom Henrique's navigations was thus, beyond any doubt, the village of Lagos, probably with the help from men from the University of Lisbon, which Dom Henrique ruled.
The Sagres myth was created mostly because João de Barros sustained that Dom Henrique lived there while he was contemplating the plan to explore the seas south of Bojador. From this misleading information, the imagination of several authors constructed a myth which included a building where classes were taught.
However, the fact that Sagres cannot be associated with the genesis of the navigations does not diminish the important role it played in the History of Portugal and in the History of the Discoveries. This was the place Dom Henrique chose to gradually set himself apart from the world. It was on this inhospitable, windy land that the duke of Viseu, governor of the Order of Christ and Lord of the Beiras, decided to build his own domestic space. Because of this, Sagres entered the national imagination and is today thought of as the right place to evoke the Discoveries - not because it was there it all started, but because its inventor sheltered himself there.
Today Sagres is a famous place which attracts thousands of visitors, in search for the "school of Sagres" and for any trace of this tall, thin, taciturn man, wearing a moustache, a soutane, and his famous heat. Sagres should be a place where people talk about the man who brought this village into existence and about his achievements, which changed the world's history.
Translated by: Dominique Faria
The Portuguese chronicler Gomes Eanes de Zurara says the crews from the ships of the 1425 fleet, headed for Ceuta, saluted the Cape St. Vicent with reverence, which shows how important and how sacred this place was considered to be. The first explicit reference to the presence of Prince Dom Henrique in Sagres can be found on a letter which granted the captaincy of Porto Santo to Bartolomeu Perestrelo. This letter was signed on 1 November 1446, "em a minha vila" [in my village]. Only two documents are known to have been signed by Dom Henrique in Sagres not bearing the ex
All this shows that the myth of the "school of Sagres" is completely unfounded. The thirteen long years of frustrated attempts which lead to Gil Eanes' pioneer journey, as well as the first ten years of exploration south of Bojador, all of this took place while Sagres was not yet populated. The real experimental centre for Dom Henrique's navigations was thus, beyond any doubt, the village of Lagos, probably with the help from men from the University of Lisbon, which Dom Henrique ruled.
The Sagres myth was created mostly because João de Barros sustained that Dom Henrique lived there while he was contemplating the plan to explore the seas south of Bojador. From this misleading information, the imagination of several authors constructed a myth which included a building where classes were taught.
However, the fact that Sagres cannot be associated with the genesis of the navigations does not diminish the important role it played in the History of Portugal and in the History of the Discoveries. This was the place Dom Henrique chose to gradually set himself apart from the world. It was on this inhospitable, windy land that the duke of Viseu, governor of the Order of Christ and Lord of the Beiras, decided to build his own domestic space. Because of this, Sagres entered the national imagination and is today thought of as the right place to evoke the Discoveries - not because it was there it all started, but because its inventor sheltered himself there.
Today Sagres is a famous place which attracts thousands of visitors, in search for the "school of Sagres" and for any trace of this tall, thin, taciturn man, wearing a moustache, a soutane, and his famous heat. Sagres should be a place where people talk about the man who brought this village into existence and about his achievements, which changed the world's history.
Translated by: Dominique Faria