Over the Edge of the World: Magellen's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen Page B

untoward during the expedition, or exhibited disloyalty to King Charles, she would be the first person the king’s agents would seek out.
    Although it seemed Magellan had placed his pregnant wife and young child at risk in the hostile environment of Seville, he did take elaborate precautions to ensure their future—and his own posthumous glory—in his will, dated August 24, 1519. Magellan knew from experience the risks of embarking on his voyage of discovery. He knew that each day of the voyage he would be at the mercy of forces he could scarcely contemplate, forces that only his fervent belief in God and unswerving loyalty to King Charles would be able to help him surmount. Although he coveted the renown and rewards of a successful voyage, he realized he might die far from home, in a part of the world that was still a blank on European maps. This knowledge imparted to his will a special weight and urgency.
    In the will, Magellan left thousands of maravedís to various churches and religious orders, all of them in Seville, which he designated as his permanent home in this life and the next: “I desire that if I die in this city of Seville my body may be buried in the monastery of Santa María de la Victoria in Triana—ward and precinct of the city of Seville—in the grave set apart for me; and if I die on this said voyage, I desire that my body may be buried in a church dedicated to Our Lady, in the nearest spot at which death seize me and I die.” He proposed very specific and pious plans for his funeral rites: “And I desire that on the said day of my burial thirty masses may be said over my body—two cantadas and twentyeight rezadas, and that they shall offer for me the offering of the bread and wine and candles that my executors desire; And I desire that in the said monastery of Santa María de la Victoria a thirty-day mass may be said for my soul, and that the accustomed alms may be given therefor; and I desire that on the said day of my burial three poor men may be clothed—such as I have indicated to my executors—and that to each may be given a cloak of gray stuff, a shirt, and a pair of shoes, that they may pray to God for my soul; and I also desire that upon the said day of my burial food may be given to the said three paupers, and to twelve others, that they may pray for my soul.”
    Magellan made certain that all acknowledged family members and retainers would be well taken care of. He specified that Beatriz’s entire dowry of 600,000 maravedís be returned to her; that his illegitimate son, Cristóvão Rebêlo, whom he called “my page,” receive a legacy of 30,000 maravedís; and that his slave, Enrique, be freed. Since Enrique, like Cristóvão, would accompany Magellan on the voyage to the Spice Islands, the terms of his freedom were of particular interest: “I declare and ordain as free and quit of every obligation of captivity, subjection, and slavery, my captured slave Enrique, mulatto, native of the city of Malacca, of the age of twenty-six years more or less, that from the day of my death thenceforward forever the said Enrique may be free and manumitted, and quit, exempt, and relieved of every obligation of slavery and subjection, and that he may act as he desires and thinks fit.”
    All that, plus 10,000 maravedís.
    Magellan envisioned leaving behind a great empire. He left to Rodrigo, “my legitimate son,” along with any other legitimate male heirs that he might have with Beatriz Barbosa, all the rights and titles King Charles had granted to him for the voyage to the Spice Islands; in other words, these children might grow up to find themselves the rulers of distant lands, administered by Spain, and very wealthy rulers at that. All that Magellan asked was that they give a portion of their income to their mother, making her a wealthy widow. And even if she remarried after Magellan’s death, “I desire that there be given and paid to her the sum of two thousand Spanish