Guns in Paradise. German and Dutch Artillerymen in the Portuguese Empire (1415-1640)

Abstract

From the early beginnings of Portugal’s maritime expansion, the crown was in continual demand of professional crew members especially for overseas deployments. Among the foreign mercenaries serving on Portuguese ships and in fortresses in the 15th and 16th century was a remarkable part of German and Flemish gunners and cannoneers. In 1489, King João II founded a royal artillery corps, the so-called bombardeiros da nómina. This elite unit of Germans or Dutch received an above-average wage, and a number of privileges. Their number was so large that in the south Indian city of Cochin, the governor established a chapel in the church of St. Bartholomew for them. What is more, a small number of travel reports, written by these adventurers after their return from Brazil or India, survive. Many of their compatriots appear in the Portuguese sources of this time, for example the names of those who were tried on account of their protestant faith by the Inquisition. Jesuits report their arrests and the seizure of Lutheran writings, which, in fact, first circulated in America and India among these German mercenaries.