Note 36 — Part II
Reading edition
In this series the only mention of German trade in the Orient has been contained in one or two slight allusions. The following note on this subject is kindly furnished us by Asa Currier Tilton, late of the historical department of the University of Wisconsin, and now one of the staff of the Wisconsin State Historical Library.
Germany and the search for the sea-route to India.—Germany was concerned in the explorations of the Portuguese and Spaniards because of her close commercial relations with those nations. The Fuggers, Welsers, and other great mercantile houses had important trade and financial relations with Spain and Portugal, and were thus able to secure the right to participate in the India trade. The first occasion when they took part in an expedition was in 1505–06, when Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy, was sent out. The following works furnish general information on this phase of the discoveries, and also contain bibliographical material which indicates the sources for more detailed information:
General works: Heyd, Geschichte des Levantehandels in Mittelalter (Stuttgart, 1879), 2 vols.; this has also been translated into French, Histoire du commerce du Levant au moyen-âge (Leipzig, 1885–86), 2 vols. Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen (Stuttgart and Augsburg, 1858). Sachse, Pennsylvania: the German influence in its settlement and development; part 1, “The Fatherland, 1450–1700”—published in Proceedings and Addresses of the Pennsylvania German Society, vol. viii (1897).
On the Fuggers and Welsers: Ehrenberg, Das Zeitalter der Fugger (Jena, 1896), 2 vols. Häbler, Die Geschichte der Fuggerschen Handlung in Spanien (Weimar, 1897); and Die überseeischen Unternehmungen der Welser und ihrer Gesellschafter (Leipzig, 1903). Hautzsch, Die überseeischen Unternehmungen der Augsburger Welser (Leipzig, 1895), a dissertation. Tagebuch des Lucas Rem aus den Jahren 1494–1541: Beitrag zur Handelsgeschichte der Stadt Augsburg; “mitgetheilt mit erläuternden Bemerkungen, und einem Anhange von noch ungedruckten Briefen und Berichten über die Entdeckungen des neuen Seewegs nach Amerika und Ostindien versehen, von B. Greiff”—published (Augsburg, 1861) in Jahresberichte 26 of the “Historische Kreisverein” in the jurisdiction of Schwaben and Neuburg; (the appendix contains documents from the collection of Dr. Conrad Peutinger); Rem was an agent of the Welsers, and represented them at Lisbon and in Spain.
On the expedition of Francisco d’Almeida: Kunstmann, Die Fahrt der ersten Deutschen nach dem Portugiesischen Indien (München, 1861). Balthasar Springers Indienfahrt, 1505–06, “wissenschaftliche Würdigung der Reiseberichte Springers zur Einführung in den Neudruck seiner Meerfahrt vom Jahre 1509, von Franz Schulze” (Strassburg, 1902); Springer went on the expedition as one of the agents of the German merchants. The Voyage from Lisbon to India, 1505–06, “being an account and journal by Albericus Vespuccius; translated from the contemporary Flemish, and edited” by C. H. Coote (London, 1894); this is shown by Harrisse to be nothing but a corrupt Flemish version of Springer’s account; and Vespuccius had nothing to do with this voyage. Harrisse, Americus Vespuccius (London, 1895); besides showing the true character of Coote’s book, this work contains valuable notes on the German connection with the discoveries. ↑