France in the discoveries in the new world, and the disposition and
efforts of the printers in the country at that time to supply the
people with information on the subject; and also, that the policy of
the crown allowed publicity to be given to its own maritime
enterprises. Of the enlightened interest on the part of the crown in
the new discoveries, a memorable instance is recorded, having a
direct and important bearing upon this question. A few months only
after the alleged return of Verrazzano, and at the darkest hour in
the reign of Francis, when he was a captive of the emperor in Spain,
Pigafetta, who had accompanied the expedition of Magellan and kept a
journal of the voyage, presented himself at the court of France.
Louise was then exercising the powers and prerogatives of her son,
and guarding his interests and honor with maternal zeal. Pigafetta
came to offer her a copy of the manuscript which he had prepared,
and which told of the discovery of the newly discovered route to the
Moluccas and Cathay. It was written in Italian; and the queen mother
caused it to be translated into French by Antoine Fabre, and printed
by Simon de Colines, the successor of Estienne. The book bears no
date, but bibliographers assign it that of 1525, the year of the
regency. Certain it is, it was printed in Paris during the life of
Francis, as Colines, whose imprint it bears, died before the king.
Thus by the instrumentality of the crown of France was the account
of the discovery of Magellan, written by one who belonged to the
expedition, first given to the world. It is not probable that the
queen mother, exercising the regal power immediately after the
alleged return of Verrazzano, would have left entirely unnoticed and
unpublished an account of his discovery, so interesting to the
subjects of the king and so glorious to France, and yet have caused
to be put forth within his realm in its stead, the history of a like
enterprise, redounding to the glory of the great rival and enemy of