The seizure of the Sta. Catarina revisited: The Portuguese empire in Asia, VOC politics and the origins of the Dutch-Johor alliance (1602 - C.1616)

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 31-62

  Borschberg, Peter ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COLONIALISM; DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS; INTERNATIONAL TRADE; POLITICAL HISTORY; TRADE POLICY;

ASIA; EURASIA; EUROPE; PORTUGAL; SINGAPORE [SOUTHEAST ASIA]; SOUTHEAST ASIA; SOUTHERN EUROPE;

EID: 30744462911     PISSN: 00224634     EISSN: 14740680     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022463402000024     Document Type: Review

References (330)

1. H. Grotius, De Jure Prœdœ Commentarius. Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty. A Translation of the Original Manuscript of 1604, trans. G.L Williams and W.H. Zeydel (New York: Oceana Publishing, 1964) (henceforth DJP), p. 342.
2. See Robert Fruin, 'Een onuitgegeven werk van Hugo de Groot', in Robert Fruin's Verspreide Geschriften, ed. P. J. Blok, P. L. Muller and S. Muller, Vol. 3 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1901), pp. 367-445.
3. See also T'ien-Tsê Chang, Sino-Portitgitese Trade from 1514 to 1644. A Synthesis of Portuguese and Chinese Sources (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1934), p. 112.
4. Recent contributions on the Portuguese side that have touched upon the Sta. Catarina incident include: Paulo Jorge de Sousa Pinto, Portugueses e Malaios. Malaca e os Sultanatos de Jolwr e Achém, 1575-1619 (Lisbon: Comissāo Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses, 1997) esp. pp. 47, 54, 94, 119-20, 151;
5. Victor Enthoven. 'Zeeland en de opkomst van de Republiek. Handel en strijd in the Scheldedelta, c. 1550-1621" (Proefschrift, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, 1996), pp. 207-9;
6. and Ernst van Veen, 'Decay or Defeat? An Enquiry into Portuguese Decline in Asia, 1580-1645' (Proefschrift, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden: School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies, 2000), pp. 155, 157, 190.
7. Charles Ralph Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, 1550-1770. Fact and Fancy in the History of Macao (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1948), p. 50;
8. A. Botelho e Sousa, Subsídies para a história militar-marítima da India (Lisbon: Imp. da Armada, 1930), Vol. I, p. 500, note 2.
9. Corte ende sekere Beschryvinghe vaut veroveren der rijcke ende ghewcldighe krake, comende uytet gheweste van China, door den Admirael Jacobus Heemskercke liggende met twee schepen voor de Straet of Fretwn de Malacca, vanden Coninc van lor ecu vyant der Portugesen opghehouden ende ghebeden sy gheweest, hy soude met zijn schepen op een rijke ende wel geladene Portugaloise krake die dry jaran tot Makauw en int gheweste van China om syne Waren inne te nemen gelegen hadde, wachten. (Ghedruckt na de copy van Middelborch by Richard Schilders, 1604). Copy consulted: University Library, Amsterdam. The title page of this pamphlet depicts the three ships of Heemskerk attacking the Sta. Catarina.
10. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', pp. 367-445;
11. reference is made here to Grotius' De Jure Prœdœ [Law of Prize and Booty].
12. Although never published in his lifetime, chapter 12 of his manuscript was slightly reworked and brought to print in 1609. Cf. Hugo Grotius, De Jure Prœdœ Commentarius, ed. H. G. Hamaker (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1868);
13. and Hugo Grotius, idem., Mare Liberum, sive de iure quod Batavis competit ad Indicana commercia dissertatio (Leiden: L. Elsevier, 1609)
14. and its translation into English, The Freedom of the Seas: or, The right which belongs to the Dutch to take part in the East Indian trade (New York: Oxford University Press, 1916).
15. Martina Julia van Ittersum, 'Hugo Grotius in Context: Van Heemskerck's Capture of the Santa Catarina and its Justification in De Jure Prœdœ(1604-1606)', paper presented at the Early Modern British and European History Workshop, Harvard University, 16 May 2000. I would like to thank Ms. van Ittersum for kindly forwarding me a copy of this informative paper.
16. Leonard Blussé, 'Brief Encounter at Macao', Modern Asian Studies, 22, 3 (1988): 663.
17. In the present article, Johor and its ruler are referred to as 'Kingdom' and 'King' respectively. This is in line with references to Johor in Dutch, German, Portuguese, and Spanish sources of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
18. Concerning the nature of this policy and its link to Grotius and the Anglo-Dutch maritime and colonial consequences of 1613 and 1615, see Peter Borschberg, 'Hugo Grotius, East India Trade and the King of Johor', Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 30, 2 (1999): 241-8.
19. Leonard Andaya, The Kingdom of Johor 1641-1728. Economic and Political Developments (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 25.
20. The Hague, Algeineen Rijksarchief (henceforth AR), 'Recueil concernant les voyages des Hollandais aux Indes Orientales, la Compagnie des Indies, etc. 1600-1616' (Personal and working papers on East India affairs deriving from the possession of Hugo Grotius) (henceforth EIP), 'Discours ende Advertentie', f. 458 recto;
21. Corte ende sekere Beschryvinghe, f. 1 verso;
22. Paul Anton Tiele, 'De Europeërs in den Maleischen Archipel. Zesde Gedeelte, 1598-1605', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië (henceforth BKI), 31 (1883): 196. The term soldados can be understood as 'men eligible to bear arms' (translated into German as wehrhafte Männer, Grotius, DJP, p. 377), 'soldiers' or just simply as 'unmarried men'. Married men were not liable for military service and were referred to as casados.
23. EIP, 'Discours ende Advertentie', f. 458 recto;
24. Corte ende sekere Beschryvinghe, f. 1 verso.
25. Heert Terpstra erroneously dates the seizure of the Sta. Catarina to 25 November 1603 in De factorij der Oostindische Compagnie te Patani, Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, 1 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1938), p. 12.
26. On the location of the attack, see W. P. Coolhaas, 'Een bron voor het historische gedeelte van Hugo de Groots De jure prædæ', Bijdragen en Mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, 79 (1965): 528;
27. Grotius incorrectly places the incident in the Straits of Malacca in his Annales et Historiœ de Rebus Belgicis (Amsterdam: Guilelmus Blaeu, 1658) (henceforth AHRB), p. 428.
28. Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', pp. 528-9;
29. Grotius, DJP, p. 386;
30. Botelho e Sousa, Subsidios, Vol. I, p. 501, note 2;
31. a similar scenario is described by Francesco Carletti, My Voyage Around the World, trans. Herbert Weinstock (New York: Pantheon Books, 1964), p. 186.
32. Grotius, DJP, p. 376.
33. Charles Ralph Boxer, Portuguese Merchants and Missionaries in Feudal Japan, 1543-1640 (London: Variorum Reprints, 1986), pp. 14-15.
34. AR, VOC 7343, dated 23 August 1604, f. 2 recto (under point 6).
35. Cf. also Emanuel van Meteren, Commtentariën ofte Memoriën van den Nederlantsen Staet, Handel, Oorloghen ende Gheschiedenissen van omen tyden, etc., Vol. II (Gedruckt op Schotlant buyten Danswijck by Hermes van Loven, no date), f. 122 verso;
36. Botelho e Sousa, Subsídios, Vol. I, p. 500. A weight of 700 last is equivalent to about 1,400 tonnes; one ship's last also measures a volume equivalent to 100.17 cubic feet; this would give the Sta. Catarina at 700 last a volume capacity of just under 2,000 cubic metres.
37. References to the vessel as a 'carrack' and as a galleon are in Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', pp. 527 and 535 respectively.
38. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 13;
39. Carla Phillips, 'The growth and composition of trade in the Iberian empires, 1450-1750', in Trade in the Pre-Modern Era, 1400-1700, ed. David A. Irwin, Vol. 1 (Cheltenham: E. Elgar, 1996), p. 315.
40. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 14.
41. Roderich Ptak, 'China and Portugal at Sea: the Early Ming Trading System and the"Estado da India" Compared', Revista de Cultura, 13-14 (1991): 30.
42. Jan Huig van Linschoten, Itinerario. Voyage often Schipvaert van Jan Huig van Linschoten near Oost ofte Portugals Indien, 1579-1592, ed. H. Kern (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1955), Vol. 1, p. 145.
43. Carletti, My Voyage, pp. 186-8;
44. Pierre-Yves Manguin, Les Portugais sur les côtes du Viét-Nam et du Campa. Étude sur les routes maritimes et les relations commerciales, d'après les sources portugaises, XVIe, XVIIe, XVIIIe siècles (Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1972), p. 65. There are a total of four islands that comprise the island group.
45. The route described here is very similar to the one plotted in chapter 22 of Linschoten, Itinerario. Voyage often Schipvaert, Vol. I, p. 90.
46. Cf. also V. Obdeijn, 'De oude zeehandelsweg door de Straat van Malaka in verband met de geomorfologie der Selat-Eilanden', Koninklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, 2de Serie, 59 (1942): 751.
47. A map of the route via Bintan is in Lin Woling, Longyamen xinkao/Long-ya-men Re-identified (Singapore: South Sea Society, 1999), pp. 86-7;
48. see also Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, 'Singapore: Note on the history of the Old Straits, 1580-1850', Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (henceforth JMBRAS), 27, 1 (1954): 163-214. Tioman is variously spelled in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources as 'Tiamão' or 'Tiamaon'.
49. Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (henceforth JMBRAS), Ibid., p. 165;
50. for the original accounts, see Jan Huig van Linschoten, Reys-gheschrift van de navigatiën der Portugaloysers in Orienten...van Portugael near Oost-Indiën...Malacca, China, Japan...Java ende Snnda... (Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1595);
51. and J. V. Mills, 'Eredia's Description of Malacca, Meridional India and Cathay. Translated from the Portuguese with Notes', JMBRAS, 8, 1 (1930): 1.
52. Documentaçāo Ultramarina Portuguesa (henceforth DUP), Vol. II (Lisbon: Centro de Estudos Históricos Ultramarinos, 1962), p. 255.
53. Gibson-Hill,'Singapore: Note on the history', pp. 172, 178;
54. Diogo de Couto, Da Ásia, Dos feitos que os Portuguezes fizeram no conquista, e descubrimnento das terras e mares do oriente (Lisbon: Na Regia officina typographica, 1778), Vol. 2, pp. 210-11.
55. Obdeijn, 'Oude zeehandelsweg', p. 745.
56. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 187.
57. Carletti's comments are identical to observations by Giovanni Botero in his Relatione Universale of 1595 as well as by the Portuguese historian Antonio Bocarro in his Década XIII da História da India (Obdeijn, 'Oude zeehandeslweg', p. 745).
58. Jacques de Contre, a native of Bruges who travelled for many years throughout Southeast Asia at the turn of the seventeenth century, explains that the islands between Karimon and around the Straits of Singapore were heavily populated with large, sprawling trees, and that ships passing through the Straits, especially the estreito vellio (estrecho viejo), had to be particularly careful; Jacques de Coutre, Andanzas asiáticas, ed. Eddy Stols, B. Teensma and J. Werbeckmoes (Madrid: História 16, 1991), p. 95.
59. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 187.
60. Gibson-Hill,'Singapore: Note on the history', pp. 175, 176 note 29.
61. Grotius, DJP, pp. 384, 314.
62. Levinus Hulsius, Achte Schiffart, oder Kurtze Beschreibung etlicher Reysen so die Holländer und Seeländer in die Ost-Indien von Anno 1599 bis Anno 1604 gethan... (Frankfurt/Main: Matthis Beckern, 1608); in Fruin/Onuitgegeven werk', p. 388 note 3.
63. A list of products purveyed by the Portuguese in China is in DUP, pp. 114-15.
64. Jan Karel Jakob de Jonge, Opkomst van het Nederlandsch gezag in Oost-Indië. Verzameling van omuitgegeven stukken nit het oud-coloniaal archief, eerste reeks (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1866-1888), Vol. II, p. 271;
65. Corte ende sekere Beschryvinghe, f. 1 verso.
66. S. D. Quiason, 'The Sampan Trade, 1570-1770', in The Chinese in the Philippines, ed. Alfonso Felix Jr., (Manila: Solidaridad, 1966), Vol. 1, p. 162.
67. The original list is in António de Morga, The Philippine Islands, Moluccas, Siam Cambodia, Japan and China at the Close of the Sixteenth Century, ed. L. V. de Torres and H. E. J. Stanley (London: Hakluyt Society, 1868), pp. 305-6.
68. The citation can also be found in William L. Schurz, The Manila Galleon (New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1959), p. 73,
69. and in Conrado Benitez, State of the Philippines in 1810 and Philippine Progress Prior to 1898 (Manila Publications of the Filipiniana Book Guild, 1969), Vol. 15, pp. 226-7 note 89.
70. Linschoten informs his readers that approximately twenty shiploads of goods arrived in Manila from China each year (Linschoten, Itinerario. Voyage often Schipvaert, Vol. I, p. 124).
71. Hulsius, Achte Schiffart,
72. cited in Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk", p. 388 note 3.
73. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 144;
74. Linschoten, Itinerario. Voyage often Schipvaert, Vol. I, p. 148.
75. One tael in Canton is equivalent to approximately 1.2 oz. troy or 37.8 grammes of silver. This converts into approximately 1.4 Spanish Pesos de a ocho (commonly known as Spanish Dollars,'Pieces of Eight' or 'Ryals of Eight'), 1.25 Portuguese Cruzados or 3.5 Guilders (or Florins). The Spanish Peso de a ocho is equivalent to approximately 0.9 Portuguese Cruzados or 2.5 Guilders; 1 Spanish Ducat is equivalent to 1.1 Cruzados, 1.2 Spanish Pesos de a ocho or about 3 Guilders. 1 Flemish Pound (Pond Vlaams) is equivalent to 6 Guilders, 2.4 Pesos de a ocho or 2.2 Cruzados. In Canton, one picul is subdivided into 100 catte (or katí) and weighs the equivalent of 1.2 Portuguese quintal, 133.33 Ibs. or approximately 60.46 kilogrammes.
76. James C. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580-1640 (Baltimore-London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), p. 47;
77. DUP, pp. 113-4.
78. The lower value of Chinese silk is denied by Glamann with reference to prices of silk in Amsterdam in 1624 (Kristof Glamann, Dutch-Asiatic Trade 1620-1740 [Copenhagen: Danish Science Press, 1958], p. 113).
79. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 398;
80. Glamann, Dutch-Asiatic Trade, p. 112.
81. On damaged goods, see Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 148 recto.
82. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia, p. 46.
83. DUP, p. 113;
84. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 16.
85. Carletti reports that in India he sold the silk he had originally purchased in China, reaping a seventy percent profit on the transaction (My Voyage, p. 202).
86. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 148.
87. The Portuguese carrack Santo António, seized in 1605 at Patani, carried a large quantity of sugar on board appraised at more than 2,000 picul. Cf. D. F. A. Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account of Malacca', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Straits Branch, 16, 1 (1885): 130.
88. Phillips, "Growth and composition', p. 315.
89. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 149.
90. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia, p. 49; a quintal was the equivalent of about 112 Ibs., or just over 50 kilogrammes.
91. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, pp. 16, 50-1;
92. Carletti reports that the Goanese ate their food out of Chinese porcelain (My Voyage, p. 207).
93. AR, VOC 7525, f. 92 verso.
94. Hulsius, Achte Schiffart,
95. cited in Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 388.
96. The cost of premium musk in Canton in the year 1599 is quoted by Carletti (My Voyage, pp. 145-6) as being 12 tael per catte (or katí, cf. note 35).
97. Linschoten (Itinemrio. Voyage often Schipvaert, Vol. I, p. 148) quotes a substantially lower price of 6 to 7 Pesos de a ocho or approximately 4 tael per catte, but this is probably the price for the debased musk mentioned by Carletti. For a general description of the Portuguese musk trade in this period,
98. see Roderich Ptak, 'Moschus, Calambac und Quecksilber im Handel zwischen Macau und Japan und im ostasiatischen Seehandel insgesamt (circa 1555-1640)', Portugal und Japan im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert: die Nanban-Kultur, ABP: Zeitschrift zur portugiesischsprachigen Welt, 1 (1998): 72-9.
99. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia, p. 49.
100. AR, VOC 7525, f. 92 verso; one ons was 1/16 of a pond, or approximately 30.88 grammes. The exact quality of the musk is not specified. The best quality musk fetched as much as 10 or 12 Guilders pers ons.
101. Carletti, My Voyage, pp. 145-6.
102. DUP, p. 115.
103. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia, p. 48.
104. Pieter van Dam, Beschryvinge van de Oostindisclie Compagnie, ed. F.W. Stapel, Vol. II.1, Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Grote Serie, Vol. 74 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931), p. 672. Derived from the Portuguese term tutanaga, this alloy of copper, zinc and nickel stems from China, principally Yunnan; the higher quality tintinago is said to contain arsenic.
105. Boyajian, Portuguese Trade in Asia, p. 68.
106. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 16.
107. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 139 ;
108. Linschoten, Itinemrio. Voyage often Schipvaert, Vol. I, p. 79 ;
109. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 49.
110. For example, Valentijn reports that when Matelieff de Jonghe landed on 18 May 1606 to begin the landassault on the Portuguese fortress in Melaka, the latter was being defended by some 400 Portuguese and African soldiers (Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account', p. 137).
111. See also The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, ed. Emma H. Blair and James A. Robertson (henceforth PI) (Cleveland: A. H. Clark Co., 1903-1909), Vol. XVII, p. 253, for another account of black soldiers being brought by the Portuguese to Melaka.
112. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 185;
113. Roderich Ptak, 'China and Portugal at Sea', p. 30.
114. Carletti himself joined a Melaka-bound vessel in 1599 with the goods he had purchased in Canton (My Voyage, p. 186).
115. Linschoten, Itinerario. Voyage often Schipvaert, Vol. I, pp. 146-7;
116. Paulo Jorge de Sousa Pinto: 'Melaka, Johor and Aceh. A Bird's Eye View over a Portuguese-Malay Triangular Balance', in Nouvelles orientations de la recherche sur l'histoire de l'Asie Portugaise, Actes du Colloque, Paris, 3-4 Juin 1994 (Paris: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 1997), p. 114.
117. Manuel Lobato, Política e comércio dos Portugueses na Insulíndia. Malaca e as Molucas de 1575 a 1605 (Macau: Institute Português do Oriente, 1999), pp. 169-70. Lobato estimates that depending on the cargo and destination of a particular vessel, about 35-50 per cent of maritime trade in island Southeast Asia, and about 80-90 per cent of vessels bound from subcontinental India operated on the commenda system. Voyages from China yielded a profit margin of around 200 per cent.
118. Grotius, DJP, p. 276;
119. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 382;
120. J. Villiers, 'Doing Business with the "Infidel": Merchants, Missionaries and Monarchs in Sixteenth Century Southeast Asia', in Maritime Asia. Profit Maximisation, Ethics and Trade Structure, c. 1300-1800, ed. Karl Anton Sprengard and Roderich Ptak (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 1994), pp. 156, 160, 163.
121. J. Pögl, 'Beispiele zu einer kritischen Dokumentation des Schiffverkehrs auf der Ostindienroute im portugiesischen Schrifttum des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts', in Portuguese Asia. Aspects in History and Economic History (Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries) ed. Roderich Ptak, Beiträge zur Südasienforschung, Südasien-Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Bd. 117 (Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag, 1987), p. 181.
122. The Portuguese experience might very well help explain the stringent rules passed by the Spanish crown affecting particularly the shipping between Manila and Acapulco (PI, Vol. XVII, Law X, p. 46, and Law XVIII, p. 48.
123. Carletti, My Voyage, pp. 186-7. It is evident from the account of Thomas Best that the English, too, had Asian sailors on board their vessel at the time. Some of them appear to have been hired, while others were 'slaves' purchased in Asia;
124. cf. The Voyage of Thomas Best to the East Indies, 1612-1614, ed. William Foster (London: Hakluyt Society, 1934), especially pp. 175, 182, 221, 278.
125. Leonard Blussé, Strange Company: Chinese Settlers, Mestizo Women and the Dutch in VOC Batavia (Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1986) pp. 109-10. This practice appears to have been relatively common at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The problem was sufficiently serious for the Spanish Crown to issue laws specifically prohibiting the transshipment of women slaves from Manila to the New World
126. (PI, Vol. XVII, Law LVI [dated 22 April 1608], p. 49).
127. K. C. Fok, 'The Macao Formula: A Study of Chinese Management of Westerners from the mid-Sixteenth Century to the Opium War Period' (Ph.D. diss., University of Hawai'i, 1978), p. 46;
128. K. C. Fok, idem., 'Early Ming Images of the Portuguese', in Historiography of Europeans in Africa and Asia, 1450-1800, ed. Anthony Disney, Vol. 4 (An Expanding World) (Brookfield, VT: Variorum, 1995), p. 114.
129. Fok, 'Early Ming Images', pp. 115-6, 118, 122, 124.
130. See also Paul Anton Tiele, 'Europëers in den Maleischen Archipel', p. 217;
131. and Marie A. P. Meiunk-Roelofsz, Asian Trade and European Influence in the Indonesian Archipelago between 1500 and about 1630 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1962) regarding Portuguese slavery and slave raiding in insular Southeast Asia (p. 151).
132. The price of purchasing a child from impoverished parents in China is quoted by Carletti as being 'two or three Ducats' in 1599 (My Voyage, p. 177).
133. Reproduced in Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', p. 516.
134. This account is based on ibid., p. 523; Blusse, 'Brief Encounter', pp. 655-7;
135. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 49;
136. and Grotius, DJP,p. 214. Grotius identifies 'Capado' as the chief magistrate of Canton (p. 199).
137. Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', pp. 458, 528;
138. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 49.
139. Grotius reports (DJP, p. 200) that the members drowned had their feet 'weighted with rocks' and were then 'rolled into the sea.'
140. Grotius mentions a number of other brushes with the Spanish off the coast of the Canary Islands and with the Portuguese in Bantam, Amboina, Ternate and elsewhere; see also the Sentence of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board, dated 9 September 1604, in DJP, p. 377.
141. Parallel accounts are in ibid., p. 213, and Coolhaas,'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', p. 528.
142. EIP, 'Discours ende Advertentie', f. 457 recto. Heemskerk had previously departed Patani on 16 November 1602, where he had witnessed Raja Bongsu's marriage to a Patani princess;
143. see also Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', p. 528;
144. Grotius, D/P, p. 214; Andaya, Kingdom of Johor, p. 26.
145. Grotius, DJP, p. 311; Blussé, 'Brief Encounter', p. 662.
146. EIP, 'Discours ende Advertentie', f. 457 verso;
147. Tiele, 'Europëers in den Maleischen Archipel', p. 196;
148. van Ittersum, 'Hugo Grotius in Context', pp. 25-6.
149. In Dutch source material, Batu Sawar is commonly referred to as 'the old city' (de Jonge, Opkomst van het Nederlandsch, Vol. I, p. 76), but in Portuguese and Spanish sources it is referred to as 'the new city' or'new Johor' (Jôr Novo);
150. see de Coutre, Andanzas asiáticas, pp. 105, 164-5;
151. and Lobato, Politica e comercio, p. 55.
152. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 382.
153. Van Ittersum.'Hugo Grotius in Context', pp. 25-6;
154. Tiele, 'Europeers in den Maleischen Archipel', p. 196.
155. Muller: 'The Malay Peninsula and Europe in the Past', Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 67 (1914): 58.
156. Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', p. 528-9;
157. this aspect is highlighted by Grotius in De Jure Prœdœ (1964 ed.), p. 316 as part of his defense of the Sta. Catarina's seizure.
158. EIP, 'Discours ende Advertentie', f. 458 recto.
159. Grotius, DJP, p. 385.
160. Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 148 recto;
161. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 382;
162. Botelho e Sousa, Subsídios, Vol. I, p. 501 note 1.
163. Carletti, My Voyage, p. 233;
164. Enthoven, 'Zeeland en de opkomst', p. 195.
165. Carletti's testimony does not square with the evidence of Grotius, who claims that the Portuguese had provoked the Zealanders (DJP, p. 215); Grotius gives the date of this incident as 16 March 1602.
166. DJP, Ibid., pp. 375-6, 386;
167. Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', pp. 528-9;
168. see also Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 50. Coolhaas refers to 'Caracquen van China', while Grotius mentions a 'Chinesische Iunco or 'Ioncke'.
169. Grotius, DJP, p. 203;
170. Johann Theodore and Johann Israel de Bry, Indiœ Orientalis Pars Octava (Latin text by M. Gothardus Artus) (1607), p. 86 ;
171. a partial English translation of Valentijn's work is in Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account'.
172. Grotius, DJP, pp. 297, 299;
173. van Ittersum, 'Hugo Grotius in Context', p. 38 note 97.
174. This account is pieced together from Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, ff. 122 verso and 148 recto;
175. Corte ende sekere Beschryvinghe, f. 1 verso;
176. Botelho e Sousa, Subsídies, Vol. I, p. 501 ;
177. Tiele, 'Europëers in den Maleischen Archipel', p. 196;
178. EIP, 'Discours ende Advertentie', f. 458 recto;
179. Grotius, DJP, p. 378;
180. and Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 382.
181. The replies of the Portuguese dignitaries can be found at the end of Grotius, DJP, and in Theodor and de Bry, Indiœ Orientalis, pp. 10-12.
182. Dutch-language copies are printed in Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', pp. 531-5.
183. Grotius, DJP, pp. 385, 277.
184. Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 148 recto; Grotius, DJP, p. 385.
185. Commentariën ofte Memoriën, Ibid., pp. 276, 378, 385-6. The contents of this letter contrast sharply with Grotius' claim that the Portuguese authorities customarily failed 'to take steps for the punishment of Portuguese individuals because of the crimes perpetrated by the latter against the Dutch' and that they 'protect[ed]... malefactors and impede[d] the infliction of punishment' (p. 273).
186. Commentariën ofte Memoriën, Ibid., p. 386;
187. Jacques de Coutre claims that there were about fifty Christian hostages in all (de Coutre, Andanzas asiáticas,p. 169).
188. Grotius, DJP, p. 387;
189. on Serrão, see de Coutre, Andanzas asiáticas, p. 169,
190. where the captain is named 'Baltazar Serán', and DUP, p. 255.
191. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 50;
192. de Coutre claims the value of the cargo amounted to 'two million de ouro' (de Coutre, Andanzas asiáticas, p. 169).
193. Roderich Ptak, 'An Outline of Macao's Economic Development, circa 1557-1640', in Collected Papers of the XXIXth Congress of Chinese Studies, ed. Tilemann Grimm, Peter M. Kuhfus and Gudrun Wacker (Tübingen: Attempto Verlag, 1988), pp. 171-2.
194. Grotius, DJP, p. 376.
195. Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', p. 424;
196. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 374.
197. Grotius, DJP, p. 272.
198. Concerning the life of the admiral, see Mário de Mendóça Frazão, André Furtado de Mendonça, o Grande Capitão (Lisbon: Serviçes Gráficos da Liga dos Combatentes, 1987);
199. Charles R. Boxer and Frazão de Vasconcelos, André Furtado de Mendonça, 1558-1610 (Macau: Fundaçāo Oriente and Centro de Estudios Marítimos de Macau, 1989), especially p. 38.
200. De Sousa Pinto, Portugueses e Malaios, p. 122.
201. DUP, p. 257;
202. de Sousa Pinto, Portugueses e Malaios, p. 118.
203. Grotius, DJP, pp. 207, 272, 376;
204. AHRB, p. 426;
205. Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 122 verso;
206. J. V. Mills, 'Two Dutch-Portuguese Sea-Fights', JMBRAS, 16, 1 (1938): 139;
207. B. H. M. Vlekke, The Story of the Dutch East Indies (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1946), p. 75.
208. DUP, p. 254.
209. th Centuries, ed. J. R. Bruin, F. S. Gaastra and I. Schöffer, RijksGeschiedkundige Publicatiën, Groote Serie, vols. 165 and 167 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979-1987), pp. 14-5.
210. Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account', p. 128.
211. Coolhaas.'Bron voor net historische gedeelte', p. 506;
212. Boxer and de Vasconcelos, André Furtado, p. 78b has a contemporary woodcut of the incident by de Bry; cf. also
213. E. Netscher, De Nederlanders in Djohor en Siak (Batavia: Bruining & Wijt, 1870), p. 8.
214. Grotius reports that the battle lasted for two days (DJP, p. 318).
215. Boxer and de Vasconcelos, André Furtado, p. 55. Fernão d'Albuquerque subsequently served as Viceroy of Portuguese India between 1619 and 1622.
216. Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account', p. 129;
217. cf. the letter of Admiral Paulus van Caerden to the Heeren XVII, dated 8 May 1608, printed as Bijlage 7 in De derde reis van de VOC naar Oost-Indië onder het beleid van Admiraal Paulus van Caerden uitgezeilt in 1606, ed. A. de Booy, Vol. 2 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1970), p. 142.
218. DUP, p. 254.
219. See also the letter of the Câmera de Macau to the King of Portugal, dated 3 December 1605, in Boxer and de Vasconcelos, André Furtado, p. 56.
220. On the seizure, see 'Historische Verhael Vande Reyse...van...Wybrandt van Waerwijk...', in Isaac Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie. Vervatende de voornaemste reysen..., Vol. II, (Amsterdam : voor Johannes Jansson, 1646), pp. 81-83;
221. Boxer, Fidalgos in the Far East, p. 51;
222. Tiele, 'Europëers in den Maleischen Archipel', p. 238;
223. Terpstra, Factorij der Oostindische Compagnie, p. 24.
224. DUP, p. 255;
225. 'Historische Verhael', pp. 82-3;
226. Hervey, 'Francois Valentyn's Account', p. 130;
227. Tiele, 'Europëers in den Maleischen Archipel', p. 238.
228. 'Historische Verhael', p. 83;
229. DUP, p. 255;
230. Boxer and de Vasconcelos, André Furtado, p. 55;
231. Manuel Teixeira, The Portuguese Missions in Malacca and Singapore, Vol. 1, Malacca (Lisbon: Agência Geral do Ultramar, 1961), p. 225;
232. Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account', pp. 130-1;
233. Terpstra, Factorij der Oostindische Compagnie, p. 26.
234. Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, p. 8;
235. Luís Coelho de Barbuda, Reyes de Portugal y Empresas Militares de Lusitanos, escriptas par Luys Coello de Barbuda criado de su Magestad, natural y vesino de la ciudad de Lisbon (Lisbon: Pedro Craesbeck, 1624), f. 321.
236. DUP, p. 259;
237. de Sousa Pinto, 'Melaka, Johor and Aceh', p. 122;
238. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Comércio e Conflito. A Presença Portuguesa no Golfo de Bengala, 1500-1700 (Lisbon: Edições 70, 1994), pp. 181-2.
239. Phillips, 'Growth and composition', p. 320.
240. Seraphim de Freitas, De Justo Imperio Lusitanorum Asiatico (Valladolid, 1625).
241. See also H. Grotius, 'Defense of Chapter V of the Mare Liberum, in Some Less Known Works of Hugo Grotius, ed. H. F. Wright, Bibliotheca Visseriana, 7 (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1928) p. 155:
242. 'I was expecting that some Spaniard would write a reply to my little book, a thing which I hear was done at Salamanca, but as yet I have not happened to see that book'; Letter to Willem de Groot, 1 April 1617, in Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius, 1597-1618, ed. P. C. Molhuysen, Rijks-Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Groote Serie, Vol. 64 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1928), letter no. 507, pp. 565-6:
243. 'There was someone who wrote against the Mare Liberum at Salamanca, but the book is being suppressed by the King of Spain.' On Mare Liberum, see also Borschberg, 'Hugo Grotius', p. 227.
244. Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 148 recto;
245. Tiele, 'Europëers in den Maleischen Archipel', p. 197;
246. Terpstra, Factorij der Oostindisclie Compagnie, p. 12;
247. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 384;
248. PI, XV, p. 309.
249. Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 148 recto/verso;
250. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', p. 386;
251. Bruin et al. ed., Dutch-Asiatic Shipping, p. 19. After the attack on the Sta. Catarina, this was the second time that the goods, especially the silk, became water damaged.
252. Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 148 recto;
253. Bruin et al ed., Dutch-Asiatic Shipping, p. 19;
254. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk", pp. 384-5.
255. An oral account and justification of the Sta. Catarina incident was given on 17 July 1604; see Resolution der Staten-Generaal van 1576 tot 1609, ed. H. H. P. Rijperman, Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Grote Serie, Vol. 101 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1957), p. 223.
256. On the ship's arrival, see the citation in Netscher, Nederlanders en Djohor, p. 8 note 2, where the caracque mentioned is no doubt the Sta. Catarina.
257. On pre-VOC policy, see the printed sentence of the Amsterdam Admiralty Board, Grotius, DJP, p. 376.
258. The subsequently tougher line on Portugal appears to have been known to other European powers, as suggested by the report of the English delegation to the Privy Council of 10 May 1613, reproduced in: G. N. Clark and \V. J. M. van Eysinga, The Colonial Conferences between England and the Netherlands in 1613 and 1615, Part I, Bibliotheca Visseriana, Vol. 15 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1940), p. 118: 'For prevention whereof the States, joining divers Companies into one, did in the year 1600 send such shipping into the Indies, as might openly with a compacted power make war against the Portugals.'
259. Rijperman ed., Resolutiën der Staten-Generaal, entry dated 31 March 1605, p. 423;
260. Pieter van Dam, Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie, ed. F.W. Stapel, Vol. 1.2, Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Grote Serie, Vol. 68 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1928), p. 499;
261. Enthoven, 'Zeeland en de opkomst', calculates the levy at 23 per cent (p. 208).
262. Grotius, DJP, p. 314;
263. F. de Vitoria, De Indis et De Iure Belli Relectionis, ed. Ernest Nys (Washington: Carnegie Institution, 1917), p. 257.
264. On the historic significance and reception of Vitoria's ius communicandi, see Borschberg, 'Hugo Grotius', p. 232 note 43,
265. and J. van der Kroef, 'Francisco de Vitoria and the Nature of Colonial Policy', Catholic Historical Review, 35 (1949-50): 153-4.
266. Grotius, DJP, p. 375;
267. Coolhaas, 'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', p. 424, reports how in Dutch circles high hopes prevailed that officials stationed in the East Indies might be supporters of Dom Antonio, contender for the Portuguese Crown. Stadholder Maurice of Orange was related to Dom Antonio's son Emanuel through marriage.
268. Grotius, DJP, p. 316. The landsadvocaat Jan van Oldenbarnevelt and Grotius are the chief proponents of the view that the State of Holland was the proper claimant;
269. see AHRB, p. 2;
270. Hugo Grotius, De Antiquitate Reipublicœ Batavicœ (Leiden: Ex Officina Plantiana Raphelengij, 1610), pp. 44-9;
271. idem., Verantwoordingh van de Wettelijcke Regieringh van Hollandt ende West-Vrieslandt, Midsgaders Eenigher nabuyrige Provinciën sulcks die was voor de veranderingh ghevallen in den Jare MDCXVIII (Paris: no publisher, 1622), chapter 12;
272. and especially Grotius' letter to Georg Michael Lingelsheim, Councillor of the Elector of the Palatinate, dated 3 September 1617, in Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius, p. 580;
273. Robert Fruin, Geschiedenis der Staatsinstellingen in Nederland tot den val der Republiek, ed. H. T. Colenbrander (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1980), pp. 217-8.
274. Grotius' discussion of the general principle of belligerents' rights to booty is in DJP, pp. 143-5, where he argues that the right to seize booty in a public war belongs to the sovereign on whose behalf the war is being waged, and not to the individual agents. Nevertheless they can be entitled, according to practice, to a portion of that booty as a result of redistribution authorized by the sovereign.
275. DJP, Ibid., pp. 137-8. According to Grotius, the right to seize booty in the event of a private war belongs to the party that initiated and undertook the war, and only to this principal author (p. 141). He concedes, however, that part of the booty was customarily redistributed to the agents of the seizure (p. 142).
276. Enthoven, 'Zeeland en de opkomst', pp. 208-9;
277. specific figures can be found in Resolutiën der StatenGeneraal, ed. Rijperman, pp. 503 and 807 note 4.
278. Grotius, DJP, pp. 216, 316. Such an agreement for the division of booty was struck between Cornelis Matelieff de Jonghe and King 'Ala'udin in May 1606 in their agreement for the conquest of Portuguese Melaka.
279. Van Dam, Beschryvinge, Vol. II. 1, p. 672.
280. These figures are drawn from various sources: Corte ende sekere Beschryvinglie, f. 1 verso (6 million Ducats converts to approximately 6.6 million Portuguese Cruzados, 7.2 million Spanish Pesos de a ocho or 18 million Dutch Guilders);
281. Fruin, 'Onuitgegeven werk', pp. 397-8 note 2;
282. Enthoven, 'Zeeland en de opkomst", pp. 207-8.
283. Enthoven, 'Zeeland en de opkomst", Ibid., p. 207.
284. Rijperman ed., Resolutiën der Staten-Generaal, p. 504;
285. van Veen, 'Decay or Defeat?', p. 155 note 46.
286. Netscher, Nederlanders en Djohor, p. 9.
287. Cf. the letter of the Archbishop of Goa to King Philip III/II, dated Goa, 6 April 1603, reproduced in de Sousa Pinto, Portugueses e Malaios, p. 286; also the letter of King Philip III/II to the Viceroy in Goa, Dom Alfonso de Castro, dated Valladolid, 5 March 1605 (p. 292).
288. The envoy's death is in AHRB, pp. 54, 427;
289. Meteren, Commentariën ofte Memoriën, f. 91 recto.
290. The commemorative plaque reads as follows: 'Hic situs est Abdul Zamat Princeps Legationis /a Rege Tabrobanœ sen Sumatrœ / Soltan Atciden Raietza, Lillo Lahe Felalam, / missœ /Ad Illustriss. Princip. Mauritium / cum duab. navib. Zeland. quae in dedit acceper. / Libur nicam Lusitanam / vixit an. Lxxi, obijt Anno MDCII / Magistri Socictatis Indicae. / H.M.P.C.' The original plaque is lost, and a new one featuring a Dutch translation of the text was created in 1978. This is displayed in the Abdij of Middelburg. Abdul Zamat is described as the most senior member of the embassy that also consisted of one Seri Mahomat and a nobleman by the name of Meras San. They were accompanied by five servants. Seri Mahomat received an audience with Prince Maurice (which Emmanuel van Meteren describes at some length, f. 91 recto and verso) and returned to Aceh with outbound vessels in 1604;
291. Pieter Johannes Veth, Atchin en sijne Betrekkingen tot Nederland: topographisch-historische beschrijving (Leiden: Gualth Kolff, 1873) pp. 71-2.
292. Concerning the cost of the Acehnese embassy to the Company, see AR, VOC 99, resolutions of 8 August 1602, pp. 35-36, and 14 August 1603, p. 103. The costs were basically justified by the VOC Directorate on the grounds of opening markets and commerce with Aceh.
293. London, India Office Records: E//3/1 no. 2: 'Thay [i.e. the Dutch on board the vessel Mauritius under the command of Matelieff de Jonghe] brought alonge with them 16 men of Siam, whereof 4 are prinsipall, which are sent by thear King to the King of Holland upon an embassage, carrying with them a present of rubies & other stones and to treat of friendship between the 2 Kings..." Concerning this diplomatic mission of the Siamese, see AR, VOC 100, p. 65, resolution of the Heeren XVII dated 5 September 1609, p. 65, where it is resolved to let the Siamese ambassadors return home in the hope that these initial contacts will help open and promote trade for the VOC with China. A list of presents for the King of Siam follows (p. 69).
294. See also Paul Pelliot, 'Les relations du Siam et de la Hollande en 1608', T'oung Pao, 32 (1936): 223-9;
295. J.J.L. Duyvendak, 'The First Siamese Embassy to Holland', T'oung Pao, 32 (1936): 285-92;
296. Han ten Brummelhuis: Merchant Courtier and Diplomat: A History of the Contacts between the Netherlands and Thailand (Lochem-Gent: Uitgeversmaatschappij de Tijdstroom, 1987), p. 10;
297. Florentino Rodao, Españoles en Siam (1540-1939). Una aportación al estndo de la presencia hispana en Asia (Madrid: Consejo Superior de las Investigaciones Científicas, 1997), p. 41.
298. Netscher, Nederlanders en Djohor, pp. 7-8;
299. Andaya, Kingdom of Johor, p. 35 note 44;
300. Sousa Pinto, Portugueses e Malaios, pp. 112, 119;
301. van Dam, Beschryvinge, Vol. 1.2, p. 309.
302. Netscher, Nederlanders en Djohor, p. 18;
303. on Encik Kamar, see Commelin, Begin ende Voortgang, p. 204;
304. G. P. Rouffaer,'Was Malaka Emporium vóór 1440?', BKI, 77 (1921): 451;
305. and R.O. Winstedt,'A History of Johore', JMBRAS, 10, 3 (1932): 30.
306. PI, XV, pp. 312-3; the cost of equipping this fleet is estimated at just under 2 million Livres. 136 Concerning their presence and activities in Johor,
307. see Hervey, 'Francois Valentyn's Account', p. 128.
308. Grotius, De Jure Prœdœ (1964ed.), pp. 212-3.
309. The Dutch text of this treaty is printed in the 'Corpus Diplomaticum Neerlando-Indicum', ed. J. E. Heeres, eerste deel ( 596-1650),
310. BKI, 57 (1907): 41-5.
311. An English version is in Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account', pp. 136-7, and Winstedt, pp. 31-3.
312. On developments prior to the treaty see van Dam, Beschryvinge, Vol. II.1, p. 328,
313. and Vlekke, Story of the Dutch East Indies, p. 78.
314. Valentijn reports that Matelieff de Jonghe received information on the state of Melaka's fortifications and state of military preparedness at a rendez-vous off the coast of Mauritius in November 1605. This information subsequently proved outdated and misleading as the Portuguese undertook great efforts in that eventful year to improve Melaka's military preparedness and fortifications. See Hervey, 'François Valentyn's Account', p. 132,
315. and J.V. Mills, 'Two Dutch-Portuguese Sea-Fights', p. 145.
316. The shortage of manpower in the Portuguese colonies of Asia, notably Macao and Melaka, appears to have been a chronic problem; see Charles Ralph Boxer, Four Centuries of Portuguese Expansion (Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1961), p. 18;
317. Ian A. MacGregor, 'The Portuguese in Malacca', JMBRAS, 28 (1955): 6.
318. Hervey, 'Francois Valentyn's Account", p. 135.
319. The September treaty is in Heeres, 'Corpus Diplomaticum', pp. 47-8.
320. De Jonghe's remarks are reprinted in PI, Vol. XV, pp. 314, 320-1.
321. Netscher, Nederlanders en Djohor, p. 29,
322. and Teixeira, Portuguese Missions, p. 242.
323. Antonio Bocarro, Década XIII da História da Índia, ed. Rodrigo José de Lima Feiner, Vol. II (Lisbon: Typographia da Academia Real das Sciencias, 1876) cap. xciv, p. 417;
324. Denys Lombard, Le Sultanat d'Atjéh au temps d'Iskandar Muda 1607-1636 (Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1967), p. 92;
325. Foster ed., Voyage of Thomas Best, pp. 58-9, 169-70;
326. Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, 'The alleged death of Sultan 'Ala'udin of Johor at Acheh in 1613', JMBRAS, 29 (1956): 125-45.
327. De Jonge, Opkoinst van liet Nederlandsch, Vol. I, p. 21;
328. see also the strategic plan and report of Governor-General Pieter Both, dated 14 November 1611, §24, reprinted in Netscher, Nederlanders en Djohor, p. 28.
329. Coolhaas.'Bron voor het historische gedeelte', p. 528;
330. Grotius, DJP, p. 213.