Fénix 10, 188-202

THE INFANTE DON PEDRO DE PORTUGAL PN LIMA 195 sempre se deverá entender em relacao ao mundo entao descoberto, e nao ao que nos fins do seu seculo e muito depois de sua morte se chegou a descobrir. 22. This statement reinforces the belief that the original version contained the number "seven". Much earlier Soares da Sylva had also been puzzled by the "quatro Par- tidas do Mundo", a phrase which Ied him to write: "o que se nao póde enten- der pelas quatro partes delle, porque ainda entao nao estava descuberta a America". 23. Another influence which might well 'nave operated to change the number from four to seven, or possibly from four back to seven, was the mystical sig- aificance attached to the number seven. Alfonso el Sabio in the prologue, already quoted above, of his Siete Partidas gives many examples of the use of this number. 24 The recentiy edited Setenario of Alfonso el Sabio has even more material on the number: Ley X I is entitled "Por quáles rrazones pusiemos nombre a este libro Ssetenario". 25. Whatever the precise reasons were for the changes in the title of the successive editions of Górnez de Santisteban's narrative, the copy in the Bi- blioteca Nacional del Perú ob~iouslyrepresents a transition. 26 I t is the only edition with which I am acquainted which contains both quatro partidas and siete partidas! 27. Harvard University 22 A. A. da Fonseca Pinto, "Urn inedito de frei Fortunato" (O Instituto, XXIV, 1877, 171-184), p. 176. Also published in Antonio de Portugal de Faria, Porfugal e Italia: Elenco de manuscriptos portuguezes.. . (Leorne, 1898), p. 36. 23 Joseph Soares da Sylva, rvlemorias para a historia de Portugal, que comprehendem o governo delrey D. Joao o I (4 vols., Lisbon, 1730-34), 1, 318. 24 Evelvn Proctor noted this on D. 53 of her studv Alfonso X of Castile. watron of lite- , . rafur; and learning (Oxford, i951). 25 Alfonso el Sabio. Setanario, ed. Kenneth H. Vanderford, Buenos Aires, 1945. Lev XI is on pp. 25-47. The examples of the use of seven are quite literally endless: 7 ciasses of creatures, 7 movemects of natural objects, 7 planets, 7 heavens, 7 days of the week, 7 days of creation (including the day of rest), 7 climates, 7 metals, 7 liberal arts, 7 ages of man, 7 years that Jacob served for Rachel (cf. Camoes' sonnet), 7 joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 7 sacraments, 7 last words of Christ. 7 years "toz pleins" that Charlemagne spent in Spain, 7 sages of Rome, 7 cities (the Portuguese Sete Cidades), Siete Infantes de Lara, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (and now Seven Fallen Pillars), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Septem Fratres (Ceuta), the 7 deadly sins, 7 martyrs of Morocco, 7 cardinal virtues, 7 seas, 7 wonders of the world, 7-league boots, etc., etc. For the seventh age, which began with King John 1 of Portugal (! ), see Fernao Lopes, Crónica de D. Joao I,,part 1, chap. clxiii. For the numbers "seven" and "four" see António José Saravia, Nistória da Cultura em Portugal, I (Lisbon, 19501, p. 238. 26 I t is also one of the last editions to have Dom. Pedro and his companions state: "Somos vassallos del rey Leon de España". Most later editions add a de between rey and Leon. 1 have discusced this question fully in a review, to be published in the Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, of Josephine Waters Bennett, The Rediscovery of Sir John Agandeville (New York, 1954). 27 1 should like to express my appreciation to Señor Alberto Tauro, Jefe del Departa- mento de Investigaciones Bibliográficas of the Biblioteca Nacional del PerC, and to Doña Graciela Sánchez Cerro, Jefe de la Sección de Manuscritos y Libros Raros of that department, for their friendly cooperation and many kindnesses. Fénix: Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú. N.10, 1954