Hadiah Raja Portugal Kepada Pope Leo X

Pada tahun 1962, pekerja-pekerja penyelenggaraan menjumpai beberapa tulang besar yang mereka sangkakan tulang dinosaur semasa menggali kawasan lapang di Belvedere Courtyard, Vatican City (Gambar 1).

Gambar 1

Apabila dikaji oleh pihak berkuasa Vatican, didapati ianya adalah tulang-tulang gajah dan bukannya fosil dinosaur. Setelah membuat kajian lanjut, Silvio Bedin (1997) berjaya mengenalpasti asal usul gajah tersebut (buku beliau di Gambar 2). Ia dikatakan berasal dari India dan merupakan hadiah Raja Manuel I (1469-1521) kepada Pope Leo X (1475-1521).

Gambar 2

Gajah albino ini diberi nama Hanno dan berumur 4 tahun ketika tiba di Rome pada 1514. Ianya telah menjadi binatang kesayangan Pope Leo X dan menjadi inspirasi kepada lukisan, mural, ukiran dan sajak di Itali (Gambar 3-6).

Gambar 3

Gambar 4

Gambar 5

Gambar 6

Atas arahan Pope Leo X, Hanno menyertai perarakan dan sentiasa dibawa ke upacara-upacara penting. Ini telah mendatangkan kontroversi apabila Pope Leo X tersebut dikritik kerana terlalu mengagung-agungkan Hanno. Apabila Hanno mati pada tahun 1516, Pope Leo X yang berada disisinya mengarahkan supaya ia ditanam di laman Belvedere.

Ada pengkaji yang berpendapat bahawa kewujudan Hanno di Rome menjadi pemangkin kemarahan puak Protestan untuk mengusulkan reformasi dalam membantah perbuatan Pope Leo X dan juga gereja Katolik yang ketika itu dikatakan korup, mementingkan kebendaan, dan sifat berlebih-lebihan.

Sekiranya dirujuk silang dengan catatan-catatan Portugis semasa penjajahan Melaka, gajah putih ini sebenarnya berasal dari Siam dan bukannya India. Sejurus mengalahkan Melaka, Alfonso de Albuquerque telah menghantar Duarte Fernandes yang fasih berbahasa Melayu ke Ayutthaya pada Julai 1511 untuk menjalin hubungan diplomatik dan perdagangan. Kerajaan Ayutthaya yang bermusuh dengan Kesultanan Melaka bersetuju menjadi sekutu Portugis. Atas tanda persahabatan, Raja Ramathibodi II telah menghadiahkan cincin delima, pedang dan mahkota emas, dan juga seekor gajah putih kepada Raja Manuel I.

Saya percaya gajah putih bersama hadiah-hadiah dari Raja Ramathibodi II ini tiba di Melaka sekitar penghujung tahun 1511 dan kemudian dimuatkan ke dalam kapal-kapal konvoi Portugis untuk pulang ke India pada 20.1.1512. Semasa insiden ribut, kapal Flor de la Mar telah tersadai di "boixos de capacia" dan pecah dipukul ombak pada 26.1.1512. Cincin delima, pedang dan mahkota emas Raja Ayutthaya dapat diselamatkan dari Flor de la Mar. Manakala Hanno yang mungkin telah dimuatkan dalam kapal Trindade atau Enxobregas telah selamat sampai di Cochin, India, pada 28.2.1512. Hadiah-hadiah Raja Ayutthaya bersama harta-harta yang dijarah dari Melaka kemudian tiba di Portugal.  Raja Portugal iaitu Raja Manuel I kemudian menghantar Hanno bersama beberapa barangan lain dan sepucuk surat (Gambar 7) ke Rome pada tahun 1514. Perutusan tersebut adalah sebagai hadiah kepada Pope Leo X dan atas tanda terima kasih kepada gereja Katolik yang menyokong usaha Portugal dalam meluaskan jajahan dan penyebaran agama Kristian.

Gambar 7

Istilah atau perumpamaan Inggeris "White elephant" dan "White elephant gift" mungkin berasal dari gajah putih Ayutthaya ini dan khususnya Hanno. Gajah putih sukar dijumpai, dan amat mahal untuk dijaga kerana memerlukan perhatian dan makanan khas. Ianya juga mendatangkan masalah kepada penerimanya kerana tidak mendatangkan apa-apa hasil kerana tidak boleh membuat kerja-kerja berat. Terhadap Pope Leo X, ianya menjadi lambang berlebih-lebihan & korupsi gereja Katlolik, sumber kritikan umum, dan kemudian pemangkin reformasi dan pepecahan dalam agama Kristian.

Rujukan:

1. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/a-16th-century-pope-buried-his-pet-elephant-under-the-vatican

2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511)

3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanno_(elephant)

4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant

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Syair Melaka oleh Camões

Luís de Camões (1524-1580) (Gambar 1) adalah seorang penulis dan dianggap penyair terulung Portugis. Semasa kecil beliau pernah mengikut bapanya ke India dan kemudian menyertai tentera dan berkhidmat di jajahan Portugis dari Afrika hingga ke Macau.

Gambar 1

Dalam karyanya bertajuk 'Os Lusíadas' (The Lusiads), 1572 (Gambar 2) beliau menceritakan sebuah epik tentang dewa Tethys (mitologi Yunani) yang telah meramalkan perjalanan Vasco da Gama ke Melaka.

Gambar 2

Gambar 3

Karya agung Portugis ini yang juga dikenali sebagai 'The Discovery of India: An Epic Poem' dirujuk dalam buku 'Comentários de Afonso de Albuquerque' versi terjemahan Walter de Gray Birch (1875) (Gambar 3) di mana ramalan dewa Tethys tentang lokasi Melaka diterjemahkan ke dalam Bahasa Inggeris seperti berikut:-

"MALACCA, see before where ye shall pitch
Your great Emporium, and your Magazins :
The Rendezvouz of all that Ocean round
For Merchandizes rich that there abound.

"From this ('tis said) the Waves' impetuous course,
Breaking a passage through, from Main to Main,
SAMATRA's noble Isle of old did force,
Which then a Neck of Land therewith did chain :
That this was CHERSONESE till that divorce,
And from the wealthy mines, that there remain,
"But at that Point doth CINGAPUR appear :
Where the pincht Streight leaves Ships no room to play.
Heer the Coast, winding to the Northerne Beare,
Faces the fair Aurora all the way.
See PAN, PATANE (ancient Realms that were),
And long SYAN, which These, and more, obey!
The copious River of MENAM behold,
And the great Lake Chiamay from whence 'tis roll'd!"

Apa yang boleh dipelajari di sini ialah teks primer Portugis merujuk silang syair-syair, hikayat fantastik, mitos dan legenda yang ditokok tambah dalam menceritakan sejarah mereka. Jadi tidak salah sekiranya karya-karya seperti Sulalatus Salatin dan Hikayat Hang Tuah dirujuk silang dalam konteks dan cara yang sama bagi mengkaji sejarah Melayu.

Rujukan:

1. Comentários de Afonso de Albuquerque', Bras de Albuquerque (1557), Walter de Gray Birch (1875)

2. The Lusiad: Or, the Discovery of India: An Epic Poem: Luis de Camões (1572, 1778)

3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Cam%C3%B5es

4. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Os_Lus%C3%ADadas

Malacca's Missing Cannons

I visited Lisbon's Military Museum (Museu Militar de Lisboa) in May 2017 and found 2 cannons which were possibly confiscated by the Portugese upon the fall of Malacca in 1511. One is known as "Peça de Malaca" (Piece of Malacca).

Peça de Malaca (Piece of Malacca)

Peça de Malaca is a 38-pounder muzzleloading bombard built with wrought iron staves reinforced by thick iron rings cast. It has a calibre of 17.5 cm, is 336 cm long with a bore length of 308 cm, and throws a 17.5 kg (38 lb) stone or iron ball. The inscriptions on the oblong plate on top of the cannon have been erased. The merong / dragon head carved on the tip of the gun is an example of the talent of sculptors, who implemented delicate carvings on it. Medieval cannons of similar size and calibre have been recorded to have a firing range of between 650 m to 3,700 m, and require a crew of 14.

Conquista de Malaca (Conquest of Malacca), by Ernesto Ferreira Condeixa (1904), Military Museum, Lisbon.

According to CR Boxer (JAMBRAS Vol 38, No.2, 1965), when Alfonso de Albuquerque invaded Malacca, two to three thousand guns were allegedly found. They were reported to be mostly primitive bombards and hand-guns apart from one large cannon recently presented to the Sultan of Malacca by the Samuri (Zamorin) of Calicut. I believe that Peça de Malaca may well be this "large cannon" in question.

The Zamorin of Kozhikode (Calicut) (1495–1500) on his throne as painted by Veloso Salgado in 1898 (Source: Wikipedia)

Interestingly, cannons of similar design can be found in Vijayapur, India, and built around the 14th and 15th century.  This includes the Golgumbaz and Kalaburagi cannon.

Golgumbaz Cannon (Source: Wikipedia)

29 ft Kalaburagi Cannon (Source: Wikipedia)

The merong / dragon design on Peça de Malaca is similar to the one carved on a 1549 cannon named Malik-e-Maidan (Lord of the Battlefield). It is also located in Vijayapur.

Malik-e-Maidan (Lord of the Battlefield) (Source: Wikipedia)

Side view of Malik-e-Maidan (Source: Wikipedia)

Malik-e-Maidan's carving of an elephant in the mouth of the roaring dragon may have been connected with a local folklore of the defeat (subsequently suicide) of prince Veerabhadra of the Gajapati dynasty (Elephant Kingdom) in the hands of Laksamana Hang Tuah when both of them dueled upon the order of Vijayapur's Deva Raya II (1424-1446). Laksamana Hang Tuah was recorded to have served as Deva Raya II's military advisor.  It is to be pointed out that Vijayapur's cannons prior to 1450s does not have the dragon head carving.

Hang Tuah v Prince Veerabhadra

(Credit: https://youtu.be/-K5PSAdCMPg)

Exhibited next to Peça de Malaca, is another cannon which may have been used in Malacca. It is known as "Touro" (Bull), a 200-pounder muzzleloading wrought iron cannon.  This cannon has a 43 cm calibre, and is 304 cm long with a bore length of 277 cm and throws a 92 kg (200 lb) stone ball.

Exhibits at Museu Militar de Lisboa 

(Credit: youtube/For91days)

Touro (Bull)

Touro is built with iron staves reinforced with metal bands, similar to the Ottoman bombards of the 15th century. It may have been one of many bombards acquired by the Sultan of Malacca from the Ottomans.

Other exhibits in Vasco da Gama hall

Museu Militar de Lisboa

Lisbon's Military Museum recorded that both cannons were taken from their fort in Calicut and Diu respectively. Nevertheless, in 2008, the ISMAT University of Lisbon published an article on the Portugese Fortress of Malacca wherein Rui Manuel Loureiro wrote that Peça de Malaca was one of many Malay cannons that defended Malacca from Portugese attack.

It is on this basis and context that Malaysia should make an attempt to trace and recover these historical items. It is suggested that Malaysia's first move is to sign and be part of UNESCO's 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.  Although it covers post 1970 theft, there are cases wherein high contracting states are able to mediate and agree to repatriate heritage items stolen prior to the convention date.