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CANEVARI, Pietro / ALENI, Giulio / GOUVEA, Antonio de / Emperor Zhu Yujian. [Manila, nd but after 1647.]   

Folio [30 x 21 cm], (2) ff. MANUSCRIPT copy in two hands of four letters, 35 lines per page. Lightly soiled, small tears in gutter, fold lines visible on 2r. Generally excellent.

Manuscript of THREE EVIDENTLY UNPUBLISHED JESUIT LETTERS, written by members in Fujian province to the Provincial of the Province of the Philippines in the first half of the year 1647, firsthand reports from the volatile period of dynastic transition that saw the weakened Ming dynasty supplanted by invading Manchus. These letters appear to have been copied in Manila by the Spanish Jesuits sometime shortly after their receipt. According to historian Liam Brockey, “It is likely that the copies were made to send to Europe in order to communicate (as Aleni asks in the second letter) the status of the Vice-Province to the General in Rome)” (per litteras 19.1.03). Tangible evidence from the extensive global network of Jesuit correspondence, manuscripts or contemporary manuscript copies of 17th-century Jesuit letters have become scarce on the market; we recall none since the Robinson sale (1988). The four letters copied here—two of which appear in their entirety, the third in excerpts and the fourth in translation from a letter written by the final Ming emperor—communicate to the Jesuits in the Philippines that the Vice-Province of China still exists, fortunately not having been destroyed by the Manchus (or Tartars) during the invasions that established the Qing dynasty. As a result of the massive, catastrophic attacks, which began in the 1620s and did not conclude until the 1670s, communications were cut between the Jesuits in Ming areas and those in Manchu areas. These letters are composed after the Manchu, only the second minority to rule the whole of China, have conclusively conquered the greater part of the country and established the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history. The Philippine Jesuits learn that the mission has survived, and that it will be able to recuperate from any losses and continue to expand. The four items appearing in this manuscript are as follows: First, a letter from Pietro Canevari to Provincial Francisco de Roa from Quanzhou, written 4 April 1647, in which he complains about not having had any news from the Philippines, but says that his letter is going via a heathen (Chinese) merchant who is heading for Luzon. He sends a brief update on the state of the mission along with a set of Chinese books “to be translated into Spanish.” Second, a section from a letter by Vice-Provincial Giulio Aleni to the Philippine Provincial (presumably Francisco de Roa), written at Quanzhou on 1 April 1647 and received in Manila on 14 May of the same year. Third, a letter from Antonio de Gouvea to the same Provincial of the Philippines, written at Fuzhou on 17 February 1647, and received on 7 June of the same year in Manila. Gouvea expresses his amazement at the Manchu conquerors, saying that they claimed China using “only the bow and the sword,” without any artillery. He expresses relief that Fuzhou fell without a fight, citing the example of a town where 70,000 men, women, and children were slaughtered. Fourth, a copy (translated) of a letter written in the summer of 1645 to Francesco Sambiasi by the Prince of Tang, Zhu Yujian, the short-lived Longwu emperor. In typically florid Chinese style, the emperor tells of his undying friendship for the Jesuit, and appoints him mandarin ambassador. It is an interesting example of a personal letter from an emperor, speaking in the first person and telling of his emotions (cf. Pfister, p. 141). The four letters, all written in Castilian, are interesting from a linguistic standpoint; authored by two Italians, one Portuguese, and a Ming Emperor, they admittedly have a greater number of spelling irregularities, etc. than is usual for contemporary Spanish. Copies of these or additional letters on the same topic by these three authors may be held at the Jesuit archives in Rome or elsewhere; however, a search of standard bibliographies (De Backer/Somervogel, Streit) provides no evidence that these appeared in print. With thanks to Professor Liam Brockey of Princeton University for his extensive assistance.

* L. Brockey, The Harvest of the Vine: The Jesuit Missionary Enterprise in China, 1579-1710 (forthcoming); Pfister, Notices Biographiques... (1932).

$US26500

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