A couple of news stories regarding an archaeological dig in northern Tennessee cropped up today. No De Soto artifacts have been found or are likely to for that matter, but it is an an area along Hudson's proposed route and its nice to see the conquistador mentioned.
Nolichucky Conquistadors
Johnson City Press
Conquistadors probably carried the Spanish flag through Northeast Tennessee 400 years ago...
Signs Of Explorer desoto Sought Along Nolichucky
Greeneville Sun
In the summer of 1540, a party of Spanish conquistadors led by Hernando de Soto was exploring what centuries later was to become the ...
In other more spectacular news a replica 17th C. Dutch Ship burned in the Netherlands.
Fire guts replica of 17th-century tall ship
The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM — Fire consumed a replica of the 17th-century flagship of the Dutch East India Company in the northern Netherlands on Thursday...
Check out the photos:
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00226/NETHERLANDS_SHIP_BU_226863c.jpg
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00226/NETHERLANDS_SHIP_BU_226862c.jpg
http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00226/NETHERLANDS_SHIP_BU_226899c.jpg
I suppose they would come in handy as reference material to anyone doing a Cortes ship burning or Drake's Fire Ships.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Didn't stay up for Appalachia
Didn't stay up for Appalachia last night. I'll catch it at some other point I'm sure In the news:
Statue of de Luna to be unveiled, dedicated in downtown Pensacola.
Statue of de Luna to be unveiled, dedicated in downtown Pensacola.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Appalachians
I noticed the PBS series The Appalachians a few months ago when "De Soto" and "Charles Hudson" popped up in a couple of news stories. It looks like the series has finally made it to southwest Florida. I'm not expecting much, I recall one review saying that the first episode ran like a filmed Earth Science textbook. Apparently shot on a very low budget, so likely stockfootage conquistadors at best, still I may try to stay up late and check it out.
The Appalachians (WUSF TV : 16.1)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 12:00 PM
A three-part history of the region begins with the 17th-century immigration of European explorers and traders; the American revolution; and religious revivals in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
One worrisome note, the original series is listed as four parts, and likely they dropped the first episode altogether or recut it without any conquistador stuff.
The Appalachians (WUSF TV : 16.1)
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 12:00 PM
A three-part history of the region begins with the 17th-century immigration of European explorers and traders; the American revolution; and religious revivals in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
One worrisome note, the original series is listed as four parts, and likely they dropped the first episode altogether or recut it without any conquistador stuff.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Luna Papers
After another frustrating research afternoon I bring to your attention Priestly's Luna Papers on Line. Unfortunately, its another PDF scan job, which is better than nothing, for a long out of print book; but oh to have an easy text search.
In any event:
Author: Priestley, Herbert Ingram, 1875-1944.
Author: Priestley, Herbert Ingram, 1875-1944.
In any event:
Author: Priestley, Herbert Ingram, 1875-1944.
Publication date: 1928 Collection: Florida Heritage Collection
Author: Priestley, Herbert Ingram, 1875-1944.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Ponce de Leon Clothing Part 2
Okay, so this "trousers" thing is bugging me. It is the 21st centurty, let's try Google Books! I find an online version, in Spanish, of Historia de las Indias By Bartolomé de las Casas c.1875. I try searching unique words and names near the passage in question,"naborías" and "Bobadilla" for example. I find some hits but nothing is matching, even with my limited Spanish skills, something is amiss. I know this section of the book is only a few pages past Book Two in the Collard translation (which is an admittedly abridged version of the original three volume work, but also, as near as I can tell the only published English translation at all!) so I check the table of contents and the mystery is solved, on page one - "Libro Tercio", it is the only the third volume. Further checking reveals that as of this date its also the only volume that Google has scanned and posted. Alas, I'll have to try for interlibrary loan.
Ponce de Leon Era Clothing
I'm currently rereading my copy of History of the Indies looking for items of PdL interest and came across this passage, both describing how a proper Castilian should be dressed and how, in fact they were, on Hispanola in the early 16th C.
“And it was a laughing matter to see the Spaniards’ presumption, vanity and air of authority when they had not even a linen shirt to their names, nor cape, coat or trousers but wore only cotton shirt over another shirt from Castile if they had it; it not, they wore their cotton shirt over bare legs and instead of boots they had sandals and leggings."
p.80 History of the Indies Bartolome de las Casas. Collard, Andrée M. trans. & ed. Harper Torch Books, New York, New York 1971
[trousers?I’d like to read this passage in the original Spanish …I’ve seen criticism of this translator, but it’s the only version I can find-I have a feeling that I may need to find a Spanish copy and try for a literal word for word translation]
“And it was a laughing matter to see the Spaniards’ presumption, vanity and air of authority when they had not even a linen shirt to their names, nor cape, coat or trousers but wore only cotton shirt over another shirt from Castile if they had it; it not, they wore their cotton shirt over bare legs and instead of boots they had sandals and leggings."
p.80 History of the Indies Bartolome de las Casas. Collard, Andrée M. trans. & ed. Harper Torch Books, New York, New York 1971
[trousers?I’d like to read this passage in the original Spanish …I’ve seen criticism of this translator, but it’s the only version I can find-I have a feeling that I may need to find a Spanish copy and try for a literal word for word translation]
Friday, July 24, 2009
De Soto Chronicles On-line
In time for the 450th anniversary of the De Soto expedition most of the known primary source material was translated into English and gathered together into the two volume work entitled The De Soto Chronicles. The National Park Service as an online PDF file available on line:
The De Soto Chronicles:The Expedition of Hernando De Soto to North America 1539-1543
Volume I
Volume II
Which is a wonderful resource excepting that the PDF file consists of scanned pages and is not a readily searchable database. I have though found on-line OCR scans of the major accounts, which will allow one to to find "crossbow" or "axe' for example, easily in the narrative text.
Luys Hernandez de Biedma was the "factor" or Royal official on the expedition. His is the shortest account and can be called the report of Soto's entrada. Here its presented in Spanish and English side by side.
RELACION DE LA ISLA DE LA FLORIDA /RELATION OF THE CONQUEST OF FLORIDA PRESENTED BY LUYS HERNANDEZ DE BIEDMA IN THE YEAR 1544 TO THE KING OF SPAIN IN COUNCIL
Rodrigo Ranjel was Hernando de Soto's secretary and seems to have kept a diary, though towards the end of the four year long march entries become sparse.
A NARRATIVE OF DE SOTO'S EXPEDITION BASED ON THE DIARY OF RODRIGO RANJEL
The Gentlemen of Elvas, as the unnamed Portuguese adventuer has become known, wrote an account of the expedition.
The above three accounts are the primary accounts that have survived the centuries. Garcilaso's Florida of the Inca is technically considered a secondary work as Garcilaso was not a member of the expedition and his narrative is based largely on the memories of an aging conquistador he knew in Peru. It is by far the largest (Its Vol. II of the Chronicles - Vol I, is Biedma, Ranjel,Elvas, and other material) and most readable of the relations, however its the most embelished in terms of numbers and least reliable in dates and place names.
Another resource I should mention is the work of Buckingham Smith, a nineteenth century translator who includes in an appendix some of the testimonies (usually as part of a request for a royal pension) of some of the ordinary participants on the expedition. No one seems to have gathered together and published this kind of information as the Flint's have done with the Coronado expedition. Among these testimonies is the only mention of Ana Mendez an eleven year old servant girl who accompanied the expedition,
Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida By Buckingham Smith
starting around page 289 on Google Books. Likewise you can also download a zip file of
Avellaneda's Los Sobrevivientes de la Florida: The Survivors of the De Soto Expedition
where in one finds that Soto's tent began to mildew and rot out within a month of landing in Florida. but it doesn't contain the information in a raw translated form.
The De Soto Chronicles:The Expedition of Hernando De Soto to North America 1539-1543
Volume I
Volume II
Which is a wonderful resource excepting that the PDF file consists of scanned pages and is not a readily searchable database. I have though found on-line OCR scans of the major accounts, which will allow one to to find "crossbow" or "axe' for example, easily in the narrative text.
Luys Hernandez de Biedma was the "factor" or Royal official on the expedition. His is the shortest account and can be called the report of Soto's entrada. Here its presented in Spanish and English side by side.
RELACION DE LA ISLA DE LA FLORIDA /RELATION OF THE CONQUEST OF FLORIDA PRESENTED BY LUYS HERNANDEZ DE BIEDMA IN THE YEAR 1544 TO THE KING OF SPAIN IN COUNCIL
Rodrigo Ranjel was Hernando de Soto's secretary and seems to have kept a diary, though towards the end of the four year long march entries become sparse.
A NARRATIVE OF DE SOTO'S EXPEDITION BASED ON THE DIARY OF RODRIGO RANJEL
The Gentlemen of Elvas, as the unnamed Portuguese adventuer has become known, wrote an account of the expedition.
The above three accounts are the primary accounts that have survived the centuries. Garcilaso's Florida of the Inca is technically considered a secondary work as Garcilaso was not a member of the expedition and his narrative is based largely on the memories of an aging conquistador he knew in Peru. It is by far the largest (Its Vol. II of the Chronicles - Vol I, is Biedma, Ranjel,Elvas, and other material) and most readable of the relations, however its the most embelished in terms of numbers and least reliable in dates and place names.
Florida of the Inca
Another resource I should mention is the work of Buckingham Smith, a nineteenth century translator who includes in an appendix some of the testimonies (usually as part of a request for a royal pension) of some of the ordinary participants on the expedition. No one seems to have gathered together and published this kind of information as the Flint's have done with the Coronado expedition. Among these testimonies is the only mention of Ana Mendez an eleven year old servant girl who accompanied the expedition,
Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Soto in the Conquest of Florida By Buckingham Smith
starting around page 289 on Google Books. Likewise you can also download a zip file of
Avellaneda's Los Sobrevivientes de la Florida: The Survivors of the De Soto Expedition
where in one finds that Soto's tent began to mildew and rot out within a month of landing in Florida. but it doesn't contain the information in a raw translated form.
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