Three of Eredia’s illustrations
This short note by J.V. Mills (Malayan Civil Service) presents three illustrations from the 1613 manuscript Declaracam de Malaca e India Meridional com o Cathay by Emanuel Godinho de Eredia, born at Malacca in 1563.
Summary
The manuscript is held in the Bibliothèque Royale at Brussels (No. 7264). Mills reproduces three plates: a portrait of St. Francis Xavier (Folio 47 R, 1542 A.D.), a chorographic map of the fortress of Muar founded by Eredia’s father Manuel Godinho de Eredia in 1604 (Folio 61 V), and a portrait of Eredia himself (Folio 82 R). The reproductions are photographs supplied by the Conservator-in-Chief of the Bibliothèque Royale. A key to the Muar map identifies local features including Tanjong Gading, the Harbour Master’s Office, the Fortress of Muar, and the church of Our Lady of Hope (p. 15). Mills notes that the Francis Xavier portrait does not resemble those collected by the Bollandists for the Acta Sanctorum, and references Janssen’s 1882 publication and the English translation in JRASMB. Vol. VIII, Part I, 1930 (p. 14).