Henry the Navigator Project

Research Library · Series

Henry the Navigator Project

An independent series that reads the original documents of Prince Henry the Navigator (Infante Dom Henrique, 1394–1460) in the Torre do Tombo, Lisbon, from the archive's digital images. We publish English translations, close looks at the parchments, and open data.

ArticlesDataWhat is verifiedComing nextHow to cite
Sixteen sign-manuals Y.d.a. of Prince Henry, 1427 to 1460
Henry's sign-manual Y·d·a· on sixteen documents, 1427–1460. ANTT, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Read this first. Our transcriptions and translations are made with AI assistance from screen images and checked by us, but not yet by a second palaeographer. Doubtful readings are marked [?]. The standard printed edition of Henry's documents is the Monumenta Henricina (15 vols., 1960–74), and Portuguese scholarship on him is large; we cite it where we know it. What we call new is new to our knowledge, and we say so each time. Corrections are welcome.

Articles

Read in order, or start with whichever interests you.

Published1 · Palaeography
Paid in Silver
Henry's last charters of September 1460: six documents, each corrected to say the silver must be paid “in silver”, and signed twice.
 Published2 · Royal registers
What Happened to Henry's Silver
How the sixteen marks owed to Batalha became 36,480 reais in 1499, and what Manuel I did at Tomar in 1507.
 Published3 · Autograph
Prince Henry in His Own Hand
His counsel to Afonso V, translated in full and redated, and one sign-manual traced across 33 years.
 Published4 · Data
Where Prince Henry's People Were
359 royal acts mapped: Lagos leads, Sagres appears once, as a town settled with pardoned convicts.
 Published5 · Debts
Prince Henry's Debts
His largest debt paid with a Guinea trade licence; three towns pledged for forty years; Masses for his soul from Sagres to Cape Verde.
Next
More of Henry's originals
His letters of 1427–1458 in the Torre do Tombo, with images and English text. In preparation.

Data

Dataset What it contains Version Download
Royal chancery acts naming Henry 359 rows from the Torre do Tombo catalogue, 1416–1504: date, reference, king, type of act, person, household term, office (PT/EN), place, coordinates, catalogue summary. 0.1, unverified CSV
Sign-manual corpus Sixteen marks Y·d·a· from nine originals, 1427–1460, compared with the autograph counsel. 1.0 In article 3
Translations English translations of the charters of September–October 1460, the counsel to Afonso V, and royal letters of 1462, 1499 and 1507. working texts In articles 1–3 and 5

Data are free to reuse with credit to the Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo and to AntiqueParchments.com. Images from the Torre do Tombo are CC BY-SA 4.0.

What is verified today

Claim Status How
The 1460 charters carry “em prata” corrections and second signatures Checked Read from the originals' images; compared with the 1461 notarial copy.
Manuel I valued Henry's silver at 2,280 reais the mark (1499) Checked Read from the register; sums agree with the catalogue.
Henry's debt of 444,000 reais to the Count of Viana was paid with a Guinea licence (1462) Checked Read from the register; also printed in Monumenta Henricina, vol. 14.
The counsel to Afonso V cannot date from 1446 Checked Afonso V was under the regency until 1448; the text addresses a ruling king.
The counsel is in Henry's own hand Probable Hand, corrections and sign-manual consistent; not confirmed against another accepted autograph.
All sixteen sign-manuals are by one hand Probable Five shared habits on screen images; originals not seen.
Chancery dataset fields Sample-checked AI extraction from catalogue summaries; random sample of 14 all correct.
Whether our other texts are already printed in Monumenta Henricina Not checked The volumes are searchable on HathiTrust but not open; we check single phrases where we can.

Coming next

In preparation
More originals, transcribed and translated
The remaining letters of Henry in the Torre do Tombo, 1427–1458, with images and English text.
Planned
Where was Henry?
The places and dates written at the end of his own letters, as far as open sources allow.

How to cite

AntiqueParchments.com Research Library, Henry the Navigator Project, https://www.antiqueparchments.com/pages/henry-the-navigator-project (accessed [date]). For a single article, cite its title and URL; for the dataset, add its version number.

Main sources

  • Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo, Lisbon: Colecção Especial cx. 72 mç. 8; Gavetas; Chancelarias of D. Duarte, D. Afonso V and D. Manuel I; Ordem de Cristo/Convento de Tomar. Images and catalogue on digitarq.
  • Monumenta Henricina, 15 vols. (Coimbra, 1960–74).
  • Peter Russell, Prince Henry ‘the Navigator’: A Life (New Haven, 2000).
  • João Silva de Sousa, A Casa Senhorial do Infante D. Henrique (Lisbon, 1991).

See also our other series, the Colón Project.