In the reign of King Manuel I (1495-1521), Portugal was a small but glorious reign, universally enshrined by Epic Expansion. Valorous navigators unveiled new worlds to the world and raised the monarch’s ambition to be recognized as the greatest king in Christendom. The fortunate situation earned him the nickname “The Venturous”.
The King Manuel I was a determined man and a devout Catholic who favoured the evangelization of the colonies and investment in churches and monasteries. To him we owe the building of the monumental Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon. During his rule, there was a succession of extraordinary feats, such as the voyage of Vasco da Gama to India in 1498, the discovery of Brazil by Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 and the territorial progression in Morocco. Malacca was conquered by Afonso de Albuquerque in 1509 and the following year, Goa was taken, becoming the capital of the Eastern Empire.
These routes translated into contact with different peoples in terms of skin colour, customs and cults. The Portuguese discoveries not only shaped maps and transformed global trade, as much as they gave rise to a new culture of humanistic dimension. It is in this climate of apogee that king Manuel decided to send to Rome a diplomatic mission of unrepeatable dimensions, stating Portugal as a kingdom superiorly elected to spread the Christian faith.
Its regal greatness was already admired by the royal houses of Europe, but there was the need for paying tribute to the newlyelected Pope, Leo X, unequivocally proving to him the obedience of the Lusitanian Crown. According to reports, that splendid entourage made an epic entry in Rome on March 12th, 1514, to the sound of trumpets and drums, impressing all men at the time, from the Pope to the anonymous crowd. Consisting of over a hundred people, sumptuously costumed, it was led by Tristan da Cunha, former governor of India, accompanied by Diogo Pacheco, João de Faria and the courtier-poet Garcia de Resende.
Magnificent gifts, illustrating the riches of the East, charmed Leo X. However, the main attraction of the procession lay in the presence of beautiful exotic animals, astoundingly rare in Western European tracks: a hunting ounce, a Persian horse from Hormuz and a white elephant from Malabar, named Hanno. The pachyderm carried a silver platform shaped like a castle, containing a vault with the royal offerings, which included gold coins and vestments embroidered with pearls and precious stones.
At the sight of the Pope, it is said to have knelt three times as a gesture of reverence. Then, at the Indian keeper’s signal, he plunged his trunk into a bowl of scented water and sprayed it over the Cardinals and the crowded people, amusing everyone. Hanno remained in Rome, where he became a sort of mascot of the Pope.
When he died, it was Leo X himself who wrote his epitaph. For its exuberance, this development remained in people’s memory for centuries. The embassy of king Manuel I to the Pope, profusely referenced in the arts and literature, was a skilful and successful operation of political marketing. It spread a strategic message – of the greatness of Portugal - and increased the decisive support of the Pope for most of the claims of the monar ch.
