Rulers of India: Albuquerque Part 4

Duarte de Lemos told Albuquerque that his nephew, Dom Affonso de Noronha, had left Socotra in the previous April, and had never been heard of again, and the news of this loss increased his sorrow for the loss of his other nephew, Dom Antonio. Duarte de Lemos took advantage of his position as a Chief Captain to entreat Albuquerque to release the captains and other gentlemen whom he had imprisoned for insubordination in the harbour of Goa. Albuquerque accordingly released all except Jorge Fogaca, whom he regarded as the ringleader, and some of those to whom he showed clemency, notably the brothers Andrade, afterwards did him good service, and showed themselves worthy of his forgiveness.

While he was at Cannanore, Albuquerque received an amba.s.sador from Mahmud Shah Begara, the {84} Muhammadan King of Ahmadabad, informing him that Dom Affonso de Noronha's s.h.i.+p had been wrecked off the coast of Gujarat, and that, though Dom Affonso was drowned, most of his men were saved and were detained in custody. The mere fact that such an emba.s.sy was sent showed how far the fame of the great Portuguese captain had already extended.

During this period of waiting, two other squadrons joined Albuquerque under the command of Goncalo de Sequeira and Joo Serro, making the amount of reinforcements which had reached him during the year fourteen s.h.i.+ps and 1500 Portuguese warriors. But his difficulties were not yet over. Two of these squadrons, those of Diogo Mendes and Joo Serro, had been sent for the express purpose, the former of going to Malacca, the latter of exploring the Red Sea. These captains wished to depart at once on their several missions, and desired not to co-operate in a second attack on Goa. Goncalo de Sequeira, on his part, declared that his s.h.i.+ps were s.h.i.+ps of burden and that it was his duty to load them with cargo for Portugal.

Albuquerque knew how eagerly King Emmanuel expected his merchant-s.h.i.+ps, and, like Warren Hastings in later times, he was forced to subordinate his political aims to the commercial objects of his employer. He therefore sailed to Cochin, where he invested a new Raja in the place of his deceased uncle and got ready the cargo for Portugal. But, though he yielded to Sequeira's representations, he insisted upon being accompanied to Goa by the squadrons of {85} Diogo Mendes and Joo Serro. Duarte de Lemos was greatly disgusted with this decision, and demanded leave to return to Portugal instead of to his station at the mouth of the Red Sea. Albuquerque acceded to his request, and placed him in command of the squadron of cargo-s.h.i.+ps which was about to return to Portugal.

The combined Portuguese war-fleet then sailed to Honawar, where Albuquerque was present at the marriage of his ally Timoja to a daughter of the Raja of Gersoppa. Timoja pressed the Portuguese Governor to attack Goa as soon as possible. He informed him that Yusaf Adil Shah had now gone so far into the interior that he would be unable to relieve the city, and also that the garrison of Goa consisted not of more than 4000 Turks and Persians under the command of a general named Rasul Khan, whom the Portuguese called Rocalco.

Under these circ.u.mstances the Portuguese Governor resolved to attack, and in the beginning of November he sailed once more into the harbour of Goa with twenty-eight s.h.i.+ps carrying 1700 soldiers, accompanied by a large number of native troops belonging to Timoja and the Raja of Gersoppa.

On November 25, 1510, the Portuguese a.s.saulted the city of Goa in three columns. Each was entirely successful; the Turks fought desperately, and at least half of them, or 2000 men, were killed. The Portuguese lost forty killed and 150 wounded. Many feats of valour on the part of the Portuguese warriors are related by different chroniclers, two of which deserve {86} mention here, as they ill.u.s.trate the chivalrous conduct of the Portuguese in those days.

Perhaps the most striking is the story of Dom Jeronymo de Lima, a young n.o.bleman, who had accompanied Almeida to India, and remained to serve under Albuquerque. He was mortally wounded at the storming of the gate of the fortress.

'And while he lay on the ground so severely struck that he could not survive, his brother, Dom Joo de Lima, who was wheeling round with others, came upon him; and when he beheld him in such a condition, with his head leaning against the wall, he exclaimed, with many tears, "What is this, brother? How art thou?" Dom Jeronymo replied, "I am on the point of finis.h.i.+ng this journey, and I am glad, as it has pleased Our Lord to require this service of me, that it has been completed here in His service, and in that of the King of Portugal." Dom Joo de Lima desired to remain in company with him; but he said, "Brother, there is no time for you to remain with me; go and perform what is required of you. I will remain here and finish my days, for I have no longer any strength left." So Dom Joo de Lima left him and went on, following after the Moors; and when the fortress had been captured and the Moors driven out, he returned to seek after his brother, and found him already dead. I should be very glad to have been either one of the two brothers [the chronicler quaintly adds], but I know not how to decide which one of the two I most envy,--whether Dom Joo de Lima, because he went to fight where such another one as himself could be met with, or Dom Jeronymo de Lima, who did not desire to remedy his wounds, although they were mortal (it being a very natural thing for men to desire to live), but rather sought to advance his brother's honour, and would not consent to his remaining {87} behind with him at a time when the other fidalgos and cavaliers were carrying on the fight with the Turks within the fortress. The decision of this I leave to those who read the lessons of this history; let them judge which of these two brothers best performed his obligations.'[11]

[Footnote 11: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 13, 14.]

Another anecdote ill.u.s.trates Albuquerque's personal admiration of warlike prowess. Manoel de Lacerda was wounded in the face by an arrow; but nevertheless he killed a mounted Turk, seized his horse, and continued to fight with the broken arrow fixed in his face and his armour covered with blood. At this moment the Turks rallied and attacked Lacerda's force with 500 men. Albuquerque, on receiving information of this resistance, came up with his reserve to the point of danger.

'As soon as Manoel de Lacerda beheld Affonso de Albuquerque, he dismounted his charger and presented it to him. When Affonso de Albuquerque saw him with his armour all smirched with blood, he embraced him and said, "Sir Manoel de Lacerda, I declare to you that I am greatly envious of you, and so would Alexander the Great have been, had he been here, for you look more gallant for an evening's rendezvous than the Emperor Aurelian."'[12]

[Footnote 12: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. p. 12.]

The moment the victory was won, Affonso de Albuquerque gave thanks to G.o.d, and promised to erect a church in honour of St. Catherine, whose feast day is the 25th November, on the site of the gate which had been so hardly won. He also conferred the honour of {88} knighthood upon some of the most distinguished of the younger soldiers, among whom were Frederico Fernandes, who had been the first man to enter the city, and Manoel da Cunha, a younger son of his former commander, Tristo da Cunha.

As soon as the Portuguese were in entire possession of Goa, Albuquerque directed that the Muhammadan population, men, women and children, should be put to the sword. This cruel butchery is far more to Albuquerque's discredit than the hanging of Ruy Dias, for which the poet Camoens so strongly condemns him. It is only partially justified by Albuquerque's belief that the Muhammadans of Goa had behaved treacherously towards him in the spring and had admitted Yusaf Adil Shah into the island. It is more likely that it was mainly due to Albuquerque's crusading hatred against the religion of the Prophet. He also gave up the city to plunder, and for three days his soldiers were occupied in the work of sacking it. He then set to work to repair the walls and ramparts, and especially to rebuild the citadel. His loss of the place in the spring made him particularly anxious to complete this work, and to set an example he himself did not hesitate to set his hands to it. When the citadel was completed he ordered a stone to be set up containing the names of all the captains who had served at the a.s.sault. But there was so much dissension as to the order in which the names should be engraved, every one desiring to be first, that eventually he placed on it only these words {89} '_Lapidem quem reprobaverunt aedificantes_'--_the stone which the builders rejected_.[13]

[Footnote 13: According to Barros, Decade II, Book V, ch. 11, ed. of 1778, p. 558, and Correa, _Lendas da India_, vol. ii. p. 157; but in the _Commentaries_, vol. iii. p. 137, this anecdote is told of the building of the fortress at Malacca.]

It is curious to compare with the real history of Albuquerque's two occupations of Goa the account given by the Muhammadan historian in the _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, but it need hardly be said that the bribery to which he refers had no foundation in fact.

'Moreover,' writes the Sheikh Zin-ud-din, 'the Franks having commenced hostilities against the inhabitants of Goa and captured that place, proceeded to take possession of it. Now this port was one of those that belonged to Adil Shah (peace to his remains!); notwithstanding this, however, the Franks having seized upon it, made choice of it for their seat of government in India, proceeding to exercise rule over it. But Adil Shah attacking these intruders, repulsed them; he in turn making it a rallying-place for Islamism.

Subsequently the Franks (the curse of G.o.d rest on them!) made preparations for a second attack upon Goa, and proceeding against it with a vast armament and a.s.saulting it, they at last captured it. It is said, however, that they bribed over to their interests some of its princ.i.p.al inhabitants, in which case its capture was not a feat of much difficulty; and the Franks on thus re-obtaining possession of Goa, hastened to construct around it extensive fortifications of vast height. After their acquisition of this place, their power became greatly increased, every day bringing some accession to it: for the Lord as he wills, so indeed does he bring to pa.s.s.'[14]

[Footnote 14: _Tohfut-ul-mujahideen_, Rowlandson's translation, pp.

100-102.]

{90} Albuquerque took Goa for the second time at a most favourable moment, for Yusaf Adil Shah, his gallant enemy of the previous spring, died on December 5, 1510. His son, Ismail Adil Shah, who succeeded him, was a mere lad, and the governors of the different provinces of his kingdom soon began to show signs of rebellion. Under these circ.u.mstances Kamal Khan, the princ.i.p.al general and minister of the State of Bij.a.pur, made, according to the Muhammadan historian Ferishta, an arrangement with the Portuguese, and consented to their retaining possession of Goa, on condition that they would be satisfied with the island and would not molest the adjoining districts. Albuquerque's _Commentaries_ say nothing of this arrangement with Kamal Khan, but they contain a letter written by the Portuguese Governor to the youthful King of Bij.a.pur directly after the second capture of Goa. The letter is both curious and characteristic.

'You must well know,' he wrote, 'how the Sabaio, your father, used to take the s.h.i.+ps of Malabar out of the ports and harbours of the King, my Lord; wherefore it was that I was constrained to go against Goa, and take the city, and there it is that I am now occupied in building a very strong fortress. I wish most sincerely that your father had been living, that he might know me to be a man of my word: out of regard for him I shall be ever your friend, and I will a.s.sist you against the King of the Deccan and against your enemies; and I will cause all the horses that arrive here to be carried to your stations and your marts, in order that you may have possession of them. Fain would I that the merchants of your land would come with white stuffs and {91} all manner of merchandize to this port, and take to yours in exchange merchandize of the sea, and of the land, and horses, and I will give them a safe conduct.

If you wish for my friends.h.i.+p, let your messengers come to me with your communications, and I will send you others on my part, who shall convey to you my communications: if you will perform this which I write unto you, by my aid shall you be able to gain possession of much land, and become a great Lord among the Moors.

Be desirous of performing this, for thus it shall be well with you, and you shall have great power; and for all that the Sabaio, your father, be dead, I will be your father and bring you up like a son.'[15]

[Footnote 15: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 20, 21.]

The conquest of Goa had an immense effect upon all the sovereigns on the western side of India. Not only did the Muhammadan King of Ahmadabad send amba.s.sadors to Albuquerque asking to make an alliance with him, but the Hindu Zamorin of Calicut, hitherto the princ.i.p.al foe of the Portuguese, also sued for peace. Albuquerque took a high hand with the latter; too much Portuguese blood had been shed in Calicut for him to desire a treaty of alliance. The only terms he would accept were that he should have permission to build a fortress in the very heart of Calicut commanding the harbour. As the Zamorin would not accept these terms, which would leave his capital and his commerce at the mercy of the Portuguese, the negotiations were broken off. With Mahmud Shah Begara, King of Ahmadabad, communications were carried on in a more friendly tone. The King promised to release the men who had been {92} wrecked with Dom Affonso de Noronha, and ordered the Emir Husain to leave his dominions at once. He even offered the island of Diu as a site for a Portuguese fortress, but Albuquerque had not sufficient strength in India at that moment to accept the offer.

The conquest of Goa, both in its immediate and in its ultimate results, was one of the greatest achievements of Albuquerque's governors.h.i.+p. It gave the Portuguese a commercial and political capital; it showed the neighbouring rulers, both Hindu and Muhammadan, that the Portuguese intended to remain on the Malabar coast as a governing power, and not simply, like the Arab Moplas, as a commercial community; and the gallantry shown in the final a.s.sault, as well as during the sojourn of the fleet in the harbour of Goa, proved to the people of India that a new warrior race had come amongst them. Its ultimate results are quite as important. Goa, by the policy of the successors of Albuquerque, concentrated the whole trade of the Malabar coast. To increase the prosperity of Goa the earlier centres of trade, such as Calicut and Cochin and Quilon, were purposely deprived of their freedom to buy and sell; Goa became the seat of the Viceroys and Governors of Portuguese India; its wealth pa.s.sed into a proverb; and though the glory of Golden Goa lasted but a century,[16] it was during that century one of the most splendid cities on the face of the earth.

[Footnote 16: On the later history of Goa, see Hunter's _Imperial Gazetteer of India_, ed. 1885, vol. v. pp. 101-105.]

{93}

CHAPTER IV

THE RULE OF ALBUQUERQUE (_continued_)

_The Conquest of Malacca and Relief of Goa_

Albuquerque's first thought after the completion of the fortifications of Goa was to provide for its future government. He determined to leave the place with the bulk of his forces as soon as possible, for the sacked and partially burnt city was unable to supply sufficient provisions for all his men. He accordingly appointed Rodrigo Rebello to be Captain of the fortress of Goa, Francisco Pantoja to be Alcaide-Mor or Chief Constable, with the right of succeeding Rebello in case of accident, and Francisco Corvinel to be Factor. It was more difficult to find a governor for the island as distinguished from the city. This post he had conferred, after the first capture, on his ally Timoja, but he now selected a celebrated Hindu captain, who was much respected by the Hindu population, called by the Portuguese Merlo or Milrrho, probably versions of Malhar Rao. This man was the brother of the Raja of Honawar and had won distinction by defending Goa against the Muhammadans in former days. He agreed to pay a sum equivalent to about {94} 30,000 pounds a year for the privilege of governing the island of Goa. Under the command of Rodrigo Rebello, Albuquerque left 400 Portuguese soldiers, together with plenty of artillery and ammunition, for the defence of the fortress.

The Governor then resolved to set out at once for the Red Sea. King Emmanuel, whose main idea it was to close this route to commerce, had directed him to dismantle the fortress on the island of Socotra, owing to the difficulty of getting provisions, and to occupy Aden instead. When this decision became known, Diogo Mendes, who had been specially ordered to Malacca, murmured loudly, and declared his intention of leaving the Governor and at once departing with his squadron westwards. Albuquerque expostulated with him; he pointed out that four s.h.i.+ps could not conquer the Malays, and argued that their treatment of the first Portuguese squadron showed that they would not permit the Portuguese to open up trade without first being defeated.

He even showed Diogo Mendes a letter which had arrived from the Portuguese Factor left at Malacca, stating that he and his comrades were kept as prisoners. He promised that, as soon as the King's commands with regard to the Red Sea had been carried out, he would himself proceed with a powerful fleet to the Malay Peninsula, and firmly establish Portuguese influence in that quarter.

Diogo Mendes felt the force of these arguments, but the master of his flags.h.i.+p, Dinis Cerniche, would not {95} agree, and setting sail crossed the bar of Goa harbour on his way out. The Governor at once sent a s.h.i.+p, under Jayme Teixeira, with orders to make Mendes return by any means in his power. Since the master would not shorten sail, the s.h.i.+p was fired on and forced to return by the destruction of its main yard. Albuquerque forgave Mendes, but ordered Cerniche to be executed, which sentence was not carried out, but the master was instead sent back to Portugal in custody. Nevertheless the persistency of Mendes and his men seems to have greatly influenced Albuquerque, for finding in Feb. 1511, when he sailed out of Goa harbour, that it was impossible to sail westward owing to the monsoon, he resolved to make his way to Malacca. He first sailed to Cochin, where he appointed Manoel de Lacerda to be Captain of the Indian Sea with supreme authority, and he directed that Lacerda's orders should be obeyed as if they were his own.

Albuquerque's conquest of Malacca ranks second in importance among his great feats of arms to the capture of Goa. It gave the Portuguese the complete command of the spice trade, and eventually of the Chinese and j.a.panese trade. It struck the final blow at the Muhammadan commercial routes to Europe. Hitherto the Portuguese had only secured the monopoly of the Indian trade, and Muhammadan vessels, largely manned by Arabs, still collected the produce of Bengal and Burma, of Sumatra and the Spice Islands, of Siam and China, at the great commercial {96} port of the Malay Peninsula.

Albuquerque resolved to check this trade by holding the mouth of the Red Sea, but it seemed to him of even more efficacy to seize upon the headquarters of the trade itself.

The city of Malacca, with its splendid harbour, was the capital of a wealthy Muhammadan Sultan. This man's ancestors were said to have come from the neighbouring island of Java, and to have been converted to Islam some 200 years before. Constant war had been waged between the Kings of Siam, who formerly ruled the whole peninsula, and the Javanese immigrants; but the latter had held their own, and by a wise encouragement of commerce had become very wealthy and powerful. The trade of Malacca with India is said by the Portuguese chroniclers to have been largely in the hands of merchants from Gujarat, and when the Portuguese conquered the city it was inhabited by men of nearly every Eastern race, Hindus from both sides of India, Arabs, Chinese and Javanese. It is mentioned that on their arrival they found, among other officers, four men holding the t.i.tle of Xabandar (Shah-i-Bandar) or Captain of the Port. These four men are expressly stated to have been governors of different districts, and they are said to have belonged to four different nationalities and to rule over the Chinese, the Javanese, the Gujaratis and the Bengalis respectively. This division probably fairly indicates the chief nationalities of the merchants of Malacca.

Malacca was first visited by a European squadron {97} on September 11, 1509. Diogo Lopes de Sequeira had been despatched by King Emmanuel with instructions to explore the island of Madagascar, and afterwards to proceed to the Malay Peninsula, which was well known to the Portuguese king by its cla.s.sical name of the Golden Chersonese.

The arrival of Sequeira in India during the viceroyalty of Almeida has been already noticed, and mention has been made of the Viceroy's wish that he should take over the government in the place of Albuquerque. Sequeira declined this offer and sailed for the Malay Peninsula with his squadron of five s.h.i.+ps, but he so far complied with the Viceroy's wishes as to carry with him the chief friends of Albuquerque, and notably his most constant supporter, Ruy de Araujo.

Sequeira visited Sumatra, and safely reached Malacca. He was favourably received at first by the Sultan, and sent ash.o.r.e Ruy de Araujo to fill the perilous post of Factor. As a lucrative trade seemed likely to spring up, the Portuguese captain proceeded to land a large quant.i.ty of goods together with several Portuguese clerks.

But as usual the Muhammadan merchants soon showed their jealousy of the Portuguese, as they had always done on the Malabar coast. The Bendara, or native Prime Minister of Malacca, listened to the suggestions of the Moslem merchants, and formed a plan to destroy the whole Portuguese squadron. It was resolved to invite all the officers to a grand banquet at which they should be suddenly murdered, and in their absence it was believed {98} that the s.h.i.+ps might be easily taken. A Javanese woman, who had fallen in love with one of the Portuguese, swam out to their s.h.i.+ps and gave warning of the plot. The Portuguese officers in consequence declined to land, and as soon as their determination was made known, the Malays set upon the factory, and made Ruy de Araujo and about twenty men whom he had with him prisoners.

They defended themselves gallantly, but Sequeira made no effort to a.s.sist them, and sailed away out of the harbour. He was obliged before leaving the peninsula to burn two of his s.h.i.+ps for want of men to navigate them, and with the other three he made his way to India.

When he reached the Malabar coast and touched at Caecoulo (Kayenkolam), he heard that the Marshal had placed Albuquerque in power, and that Almeida had departed. Sequeira, fearing the vengeance of Albuquerque, at once set sail for Portugal, sending his other two vessels under the command of Nuno Vaz de Castello-Branco to join the Governor at Cochin. It was to wreak vengeance on the Sultan of Malacca and to open up trade there that the squadron of Diogo Mendes de Vasconcellos had been sent from Portugal in 1510; but, as has been related, in spite of the captain's wishes, he and his men had been detained by Albuquerque to take part in the second capture of Goa.

Ruy de Araujo wrote a pathetic letter to Albuquerque, describing the manner in which he and his companions were treated. He told his friend that {99} there were nineteen Portuguese alive at Malacca, who had been greatly tortured to make them turn Muhammadans. He also said that they had been very kindly treated by a Hindu merchant, named Ninachatu, who had secured the means for the despatch of the letter.

He begged Albuquerque, for the love of G.o.d, to keep them in remembrance, and rescue them out of their captivity; and he also requested that the kindness of the Hindu merchant should not be made known for fear that the Moslems of the Malabar coast should give information to their co-religionists at Malacca.

It may well be imagined that Albuquerque was not sorry to go to the rescue of the Portuguese prisoners. He would have postponed this duty in order to obey the king's express commands; but now that the winds forbade him to sail East, he determined to sail West. He started with eighteen s.h.i.+ps, carrying 1400 men; and though he lost one galley at sea, he arrived safely at the port of Pedir in the island of Sumatra in May 1511 with the rest of his fleet. At that place he found nine of the Portuguese prisoners, who had escaped from Malacca, and he then made his way slowly to the great city, which was said to contain a population of over 100,000 inhabitants.

For weeks negotiations went on with the Sultan of Malacca. The main point at issue was the surrender of Ruy de Araujo and his fellow-prisoners. Albuquerque declared he would make no treaty with the Sultan until the prisoners were delivered, and the {100} Sultan on his part was resolved not to give them up until a treaty of peace had been signed. Under these circ.u.mstances Albuquerque wrote to the Factor, telling him that he and his companions must bear their hards.h.i.+ps with patience. Ruy de Araujo replied in terms which show the gallant spirit of the Portuguese at that period.

'G.o.d grant,' he said, 'that neither the fleet of the King of Portugal, nor his Portuguese should receive any affront or discomfiture in order to make his life secure, for he was also on his part bound to die for the service of G.o.d and his King, and for the liberty of his countrymen, and he held it to be a good fortune for him that Our Lord had placed him in a state where he could die for his Holy Faith; and as for himself and his companions, he should not fail to do what was best for the service of the King of Portugal, for they were now quite resigned to anything that could happen to them; and he would have Affonso de Albuquerque to know that the King of Malacca was making ready as fast as was possible, and that it was the Gujaratis who were at work day and night upon the fortification of the stockades, for these were the princ.i.p.al people who could not bear that the Portuguese should get a footing in the land; and if the Portuguese attack upon the city should be decided upon, it ought to be put into execution as quickly as could be, without wasting any more time in discussing terms of agreement or making demands for the surrender of the Christians; for he must know for certain that the King would not restore them except under compulsion; and he was now become so puffed up with pride when he surveyed the great number of foreign soldiers that he had, that he thought of nothing less than actually capturing the Portuguese fleet.'[1]

[Footnote 1: Albuquerque's _Commentaries_, vol. iii. pp. 92, 93.]

{101} Acting on the unselfish advice given to him, Albuquerque sent some boats to set fire to the s.h.i.+ps in harbour and the water-side houses. The Sultan immediately gave in, and sent Ruy de Araujo and his companions safely on board the Portuguese fleet. Negotiations still continued, and Albuquerque became convinced at last that the Sultan was endeavouring to delay him until the change of the monsoon should make it impossible for him to return to India that season. He therefore resolved to attack Malacca at once. Ruy de Araujo informed him that the key of the city was a certain bridge which united its two portions. The Governor divided his forces into two battalions, which were to attack the bridge from either extremity; and he fixed the day of his patron Saint, St. James the Greater, July 25, for the a.s.sault.

One division was led by Dom Joo de Lima, Gaspar de Paiva, and Ferno Peres de Andrade; the other by Albuquerque himself and Duarte da Silva. Each did what was required, and the bridge was carried. The Governor then gave orders to build stockades on each side of the bridge, in order that they might spend the night there; but the men became wearied by the constant attacks made upon their position, and towards the evening the Portuguese set fire to the city and returned to their s.h.i.+ps. Special mention is made of the use of elephants during this action, but the animals were wounded and did more harm to the Malays than to the Portuguese.