DISCOVERY or AMERICA. 267 
The literary hiflory of Germany gives an account of 
a Martin Behem, Beheim, or Behin, who was born at Nur- 
enburgh, an imperial city of the circle of Franconia, of a 
noble family, fome branches of which are yet extant: 
He was much addidted to the ftudy of geography, aftro- 
nomy and navigation, from his infancy.. At amore ma- 
ture age he often thought on the poffibility of the exi- 
ftance of the Antipodes and of a weftern continent. Fil- 
led with this great idea, he paid a vifit in 1459 to Habella 
daughter of John the I. king of Portugal and regent of 
the duchy of Burgundy and Flanders. Having informed 
her of his defigns, he procured a veflel, in which he made 
the difcovery of the ifland of Fayal in 1460. He there 
eftablifhed a colony of Flemings, whofe defcendants yet 
exift in the Azores; which were, for fome time called the 
Flemifh iflands. This circumftance is proved, not only 
by the writings of cotemporary authors, but alfo by the 
manuf{cripts preferved in the records of Nurenburg, from 
which the following is copied.. ‘* Martin Behem tender- 
“ ed his fervices to the daughter of John king of Lufita-- 
“¢ nia, who reigned after the death of Philip of Burgun- 
*¢ dy firnamed the Good, and from her procured a fhip, 
“ by means of which, having failed beyond all the then 
«“ known limits of the weftern ocean, he was the firft who, 
“in the memory of man, difcovered the ifland of Fayal, 
* abound- - 
L’hiftoire litteraire del’ Allemagne nous apprend. que Martin Behem, Beheim ou Bebin ek né 
a Nurenberg, ville imperiale du cercle de Franconie, d’une famille noble dont quelques branches 
exiftent encore aujourdhui. Des fa plus tendre jeuneffe il fe livra a I’ctude de la geographic, 
de V’aftronomie et de la navigation, Parvenu a un age mur il reflechit beaucoup fur la pod- 
fibilité de l’exiftence des Antipodes et d’un continent occidental. Rempli de cette grande idée, 
71 fut trouver en 1459 Ifabelle fille de Jean I. rot de Portugal et regente du duché de Bour- 
gogneet de Flandre. Apres lui avoir fait part de fes projets, il en obtint un vaiffeau avec lequel 
il fit, en 1460, la decouverte de V’ifle de Fayal. Il y établit une colonie Flamande, dont les de- 
fcendans exiftent encore aujourchui aux Acores, qu'on a appellées pendant quelque tems les ifles 
Flamandes. _ Cette circonitance eft prouvée, non feulement par les auteurs contemporains, mais 
par des manufecrits confervés dans les archives de Nurenberg, dont voici la copie: ‘* Martinus 
** Behemus, Joannis Lufitaniz regis filiz, que poft obitum Philippi Burgundi cognomento 
boni, rerum dominabatur, operam fuam addixit, et ab ea navim impetravit, qua occidentalis 
oceani haétenus cognitos terminos et fines pretervectus primus poft hominum memoriam 
Fayaler: infulam, Fago arbore, quam Lyfitani Faye vocant, ac unde appellatio ci eft abun- 
“* dantem 
“ 
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