Emanuelis Lusitan:

Portugal in the Gulf

The very rare oration of obedience delivered by Pacheco, which secured Portugal the rights to control and develop all lands in the East, whether known or unknown, which would result in over 100 years of control over the Persian Gulf.

In 1498 Portugal and Spain had split the world in two with a line through the Atlantic. After the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511, King Manuel dispatched letters to Rome informing the Papacy of Portugal's progress, hoping to claim the rest of Asia for Portugal. He was helped largely by Pope Leo X, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, being the defacto head of the Medicis and largely pro-Portuguese.

In 1514 Manuel sent an Embassy of obedience to Rome led by Tristão da Cunha. Pacheco, a professor of law, was on this Embassy and delivered the oration of obedience on behalf of Manuel. The Embassy was a great popular success, featuring leopards, Persian horses, slaves from India, and above all a trained elephant which bowed three times before the Pope and squirted water over the population.

The papal bull granted by Leo X, Praecelsae Devotionis, reaffirmed Portugal's claims over Africa as well as "All unfrequented places recovered, discovered, found and acquired by Manuel and his successors" in the East, giving Portugal a trading and colonial monopoly in Asia and Arabia.

It was under these auspices that Afonso de Albuquerque had conquered the Kingdom of Hormuz, which stretched from Bandar Abbas and Hormuz Island down across the horn of the Gulf covering many tribes now in the UAE and east across almost the entire coast of Oman including Muscat. In 1521 Portugal would expand their control by defeating the Kingdom of Bahrain and its dependencies, which included most of the tribes across the rest of the Gulf coast including Qatar and Kuwait. They would remain the key power in the region until the rise of the Safavid Empire, which all but expelled the Portuguese presence by 1622, and their influence would finally cease following the Battle of Hormuz against the Dutch in 1625, which is still today considered the largest naval battle ever seen in the Gulf. Oman would continue to see Portuguese presence until 1650 when they were expelled from Muscat by the Imam.

First edition; small 4to (20.5 x 14 cm); 8 leaves, title within ornamental woodcut border and with arms of Portugal, bookplate to pastedown, foot of title remargined not affecting text, front free endpaper detached with old description to verso; full crushed red morocco, gilt armorial crest to boards, spine lettered in gilt in six gilt compartments, gilt-rolled turn-ins, all edges gilt, a very attractive copy.

Lach 1, 167. Not in Silva or Streit.