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=Majorcan influence

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{{Short description|Portuguese naval organization}}
[[File:Fortaleza de Sagres 2 - 11.04.2023.jpg|thumb | right | Aerial view of [[Sagres Point|Cape Sagres]] with the [[Fortress of Sagres]]]]

The ''' School of Sagres''' (''Escola de Sagres'' in Portuguese), also called '''Court of Sagres''' is supposed to have been a group of figures associated with fifteenth century Portuguese navigation, gathered by prince [[Prince Henry the Navigator|Henry of Portugal]] in [[Sagres Point|Sagres]] near [[Cape St. Vincent]], the southwestern end of the [[Iberian Peninsula]], in the [[Algarve]].

Since the nearby port of [[Lagos (Portugal)|Lagos]] was the actual point of departure for numerous expeditions of exploration and colonization along the African coast and Atlantic islands, the existence of a "school" at Sagres has been questioned by some historians.<ref name = "Randles">{{Cite book | author = Randles | title = The Alleged nautical school founded in the fifteenth century by Prince Henry at Sagres of Portugal, called the 'Navigator' | publisher = Imago Mundi | year = 1993 | volume = 45 | issue = 1 | pages = 20–28}}</ref><ref name = "Albuq">{{cite book|author=Luís de Albuquerque|title=Dúvidas e certezas na história dos descobrimentos portugueses|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9F4jAQAAIAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Vega|isbn=978-972-699-273-8}}</ref><ref name = "Ramos">{{Cite book | surname = Rocha| first = Daniel | title = Brazil: nega historian existência da Escola Sagres|url=http://www.publico.pt/cultura/noticia/brasil-historiador-nega-existencia-da-escola-de-sagres-1364441|publisher=Público|date=8 February 2009 | access-date = 16 October 2013}}</ref><ref name = "Marques160">{{cite book| publisher = University of Coimbra | last = Marques | first =Alfredo Pinheiro | title = Os Descobrimentos e o 'Miller Atlas' | date = 2005 | url = https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2xiUdRpMxk6YW5fMzNTTFlJYUE |language = pt|page=160}}</ref> After the death of Prince Henry (1460), the center of Portuguese discoveries center shifted to [[Lisbon]].

The first written mention of a "school" at Sagres in English dates from the seventeenth century by [[Samuel Purchas]], although [[Damião de Gois]] had already pointed to a similar idea in the sixteenth century. Portuguese and English historians settled on the term and it gained popularity.

== Scholarly debate ==
[[File:Sagres 3 Portugal 1991 (51869324757).jpg|thumb|right|The monumental [[compass rose]] at Sagres, discovered in the 17th century.]]
=== Romantic view ===
In 1894, C. R. Beazly published a biography of Prince Henry stating that he had installed his court in Sagres in 1418, shortly after the capture of [[Ceuta]] by the Portuguese. There he would have gathered the best of "science and navigation", built a [[shipyard]] and a palace with the first [[observatory]] in Portugal, even writing that Sagres represented the modern refounding of "the systematic study of applied science" in Christendom.<ref name = "Beazley">{{Cite book
| publisher = Putnam
| last = Beazley
| first = C. R.
| title = Prince Henry the Navigator: The Hero of Portugal and of Modern Discovery, 1394-1460 AD With an Account of Geographical Progress THROUGHOUT the Middle Ages as the Preparation for His Work
| date = 1894|pages=160–162
}}</ref> The diverse religious background of the members of the alleged "school" (Jews, Muslims, Christians), and even a remote connection to the [[Templar]]s, given the fact that Prince Henry was the commander of the [[Order of Christ (Portugal)|Order of Christ]], have served to reinforce a romantic view of the matter.


=== Critical view ===
[[File:Henry the Navigator1.jpg|thumb|left|[[Prince Henry the Navigator]]]]
Ever since then, others have nuanced that, rather than a nautical school in the modern sense of the word, Sagres was a meeting place for sailors and scientists to exchange information and techniques regarding maps, shipbuilding and organize expeditions. According to a more critical view, the Portuguese learned navigation in a practical way, on the decks of the ships, and lacking archaeological and documentary support for the supposed "school", consider it a myth of [[history of Portugal|Portuguese history]].<ref>{{cite book| publisher = University of Coimbra | last = Marques | first =Alfredo Pinheiro | title = Os Descobrimentos e o 'Miller Atlas' | date = 2005 | url = https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2xiUdRpMxk6YW5fMzNTTFlJYUE |language = pt|pages=52–53}}</ref><ref name = "Randles"/><ref name = "Albuq"/><ref name = "Ramos"/><ref name = "Marques160"/>


===Majorcan influence===

The [[Majorcan school]] of cartography is known to have influenced Portuguese know-how, since Prince Henry commissioned the Jewish Majorcan [[Jehuda Cresques]] to produce [[Portolan chart|portolans]] for him. According to the 16th century Portuguese navigator [[Duarte Pacheco Pereira|Pacheco Pereira]]:

{{Quote |''"Muitos beneficios tem feytos o virtuoso Infante Dom Anrique a estes Reynos de Portugal, por que descubrió a ilha da Madeyra no anno de nosso senhor de mil CCCCXX, e ha mandau pouoar e mandou a Cicilia pellas canas de açuquar, ...; isso mesmo mandou á ilha de Malhorca por um mestre Jacome, mestre de cartas de marear, na qual ilha primeiramente se fezeram as ditas cartas, e com muitas dadiuas e mercés ho ouue nestes Reynos, ho qual as ensinou a fazer áquelles de que os que em nosso tempo viuem, aprendéram..."''<ref>{{cite book|title=Estudos de História, Volume III|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dVc0MZsZj48C&dq=pacheco+pereira+mandou+%C3%A1+ilha+de+Malhorca+por+um+mestre+Jacome%2C+mestre+de+cartas+de+marear%2C&pg=PA10|publisher=UC Biblioteca Geral 1|pages=10–|id=GGKEY:7186FCQBHS5}}</ref>}}

The 16th century Portuguese chronicler [[João de Barros]] on his part states:

{{Quote |''"..mándou vir da ilha de Mallorca um mestre Jacome, homem mui douto na arte de navegar, que fasia e instrumentos náuticos e que Ihe custou muito pelo trazer a este reino para ensinar sua sciencia aos officiaes portuguezes d'aquella mester"''<ref>{{cite book|title=Bibliografia Henriquina, Vol. I|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeqIevJ5kxMC&dq=pacheco+pereira+mandou+%C3%A1+ilha+de+Malhorca+por+um+mestre+Jacome%2C+mestre+de+cartas+de+marear%2C&pg=RA2-PA159|publisher=UC Biblioteca Geral 1|pages=2–|id=GGKEY:PGJ4UJDUYAZ}}</ref>}}

Though some wonder if the ''mestre Jacome'' mentioned in Portuguese sources corresponded to the same ''mestre Jacome'' from Maiorca, no other person from that era is known to have bore the same name.

== First results==
[[João Gonçalves Zarco]] located [[Porto Santo]] in 1419 and [[Madeira]] in 1420, while [[Diogo de Silves]] found the island of [[Santa Maria Island|Santa Maria]] in 1427. In 1434 [[Gil Eanes]] rounded [[Cape Bojador]]. It had taken twelve years to sail beyond two hundred miles separating the [[Cape Não]] from [[Cape Bojador]]. Beyond that a point begun the "Dark Sea" feared by Arab geographers, due to the difficulty of sailing back north due to contrary winds. A solution to this problem was eventually achieved in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, by means of [[high sea sailing]], returning by a route far away from the coast, dubbed by the Portuguese as ''[[Volta do Mar]]''. This breakthrough was achieved through the use of a suitable vessel, the [[Caravel]], used for fishing and characterized for its robustness and shallowness, with a tonnage from 50 to 160 tonnes and 1 to 3 masts with triangular [[Latin sail]]s.

== See also==
{{Portal|Transport}}
* [[Angelino Dulcert]]
* [[Catalan chart]]
* [[Majorcan cartographic school]]
* [[Memorias históricas (Capmany)]]
* [[Història de la Marina Catalana]]
* [[Abraham Cresques]]
* [[Arte de navegar]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Portolan charts}}
* {{cite web | title=Brasil: historiador nega existência da Escola de Sagres | website=PÚBLICO | date=2009-02-08 | url=https://www.publico.pt/2009/02/08/culturaipsilon/noticia/brasil-historiador-nega-existencia-da-escola-de-sagres-1364441 | language=pt }}
* {{cite web | url = http://www.histo.cat/premsa/Portolan-charts-from-S.XIII-to-S.XVI | title = Portolan charts from S.XIII to S.XVI - Additions, Corrections, Updates}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Navigation]]
[[Category:Sailing]]

Sagres school - Revision history

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