Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (in
Italian,
Pietro Martire d'Anghiera; in
Spanish Pedro Mártir De Anghiera,
Latin,
Petrus Martyr Anglerius or
ab Angleria) (
February 2,
1457 – October
1526) was an
Italian-born
historian of
Spain and of the discoveries of her representatives during the
Age of Exploration. He wrote the first accounts of explorations in
Central and
South America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original
Latin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters called "decades." His
Decades are thus of great value in the history of geography and discovery. His
De Orbe Novo (published 1530; "On the New World") describes the first contacts of Europeans and
Native Americans and contains, for example, the first
European reference to
India rubber.
Born at Arona, Italy, near Anghiera (Angera, Roman Anglera), on Lake Maggiore, he went to Rome at the age of twenty, and there made the acquaintance of important figures of the Church. He became acquainted with the Spanish ambassador there, whom he accompanied to Zaragoza in August, 1487. Martyr soon became a notable figure among the humanists of Spain, and in 1488 gave lectures in Salamanca on the invitation of the university. The new learning was then under high patronage. Martyr would become chaplain to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella.
After 1492, Martyr's chief task was the education of young nobles at the Spanish court. In 1501 he was sent to Egypt on a diplomatic mission to dissuade the Sultan from taking vengeance on the Christians in Egypt and Palestine for the defeat of the Moors in Spain. The Reconquista had been completed in 1492. Following the success of this mission, he received the title of maestro de los caballeros ("master of knights").
In 1511 he was given the post of chronicler in the newly formed Council of the Indies, which was commissioned by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor to describe what was transpiring in the New World. Charles gave him in 1523 the title of Count Palatine, and in 1524 called him once more into the Council of the Indies. He was invested by Pope Clement VII, on the proposal of Charles V, with the dignity of Abbot of Jamaica. Martyr never visited the island, but as abbot he had built the first stone church.
