Christians at Mecca

We generally know where Pêro da Covilhã went, because he told Father Álvares in Abessinia where he had been. For his early life we have partial confirmation from the chronologies of King Dom Afonso V and King Dom João II. We can also piece his journey to Barbary together with some certainty. What we do not know is exactly when he reached what destination on his great voyage to the East.

  • In his monumental 1898 biography Viagens de Pedro da Covilhan, the Conde de Ficalho worked out an itinerary of this great voyage, recapitulated and listed in Luís Filipe Barreto’s 1988 Viagens de Bartolomeu Dias e Pero da Covilhã (pp. 13-14).
  • Please note: The detailed itinerary of my Covilhã’s Secret Journal is reflected in the titles and structure of the books in the series. I have generally followed Ficalho, but have made note here of discrepancies. The exact dates of my chapter titles lean on historical probability, but are strictly fictional, and don’t always reflect the date of arrival.

Iberia | Barbary | The West | The East | The Unknown

IBERIA

Pêro da Covilhã was born in Covilhã, Portugal, in 1460 (Ficalho: 1450).

  • In 1459/1460 (as a 9 or 10 year old) he was sent to Andalusia to serve as a groom and later as a page in the household of the “Duke of Seville” (the house of Medina Sidonia).
  • He was returned (as a 15 year old) to Portugal in 1475 where he served King Dom Afonso V as a as a royal groom and was soon promoted to squire with horse and lance in time to fight at the Battle of Toro the following year, 1476. He accompanied Dom Afonso to the court of the king of France.
  • When Dom Afonso died in 1481, his son King Dom João made Pêro a squire of the Royal Guard and dispatched him undercover into Castile to track exiled noble conspirators.

BARBARY

Pêro’s mission to Barbary, today’s Libia and Morocco, was a trial and preparation for the greater voyage to come. In Tlemcen he would purchase alambeis, the striped mantels to be traded for gold in Guinea, and secure a peace treaty with Abu Thabet. and in Fez he would spy on the sultan, buy Berber horses, and turn a port city into a Portuguese tributary.

Setúbal

Located on on the northern shore of the Sado River estuary, Setúbal is a historic coastal city renowned for its maritime heritage.

Setúbal, the 28th of August, 1484:
In the novel, Pêro does duty at the Court the night Dom Diogo, the King’s young cousin is executed.

Tlemcen

Pero visits the Sultanate of Tlemcen in what is today’s northern Algeria and western Tunisia.

Oran, the 9th of February, 1486:
Pêro purchases alambeis, the striped mantels to be traded for gold in Guinea.

Tlemcen, the 23rd of April, 1486:
Pêro concludes a peace treaty with Abū Thābet, the sultan of Tlemcen, in the capital of the same name.

Oran, the 20th of May, 1486 91:
Pêro returns from Tlemcen to take passage to the Portuguese port town of Tangier.