(Worth SGC) DOCUMENT 2: SELECTED PARAGRAPHS OF A FRANCISCAN BOOK INTRODUCTION The following paragraphs were transcribed from a manuscript book of unknown origin and date that was discovered in the Franciscan convent of St. Augustine by governmental notary Francisco de Castilla in June 1739. Based on the notations in the governor's cover letter and index, along with the introductory note below, it seems likely that this volume was a compiled narrative history of Spanish Florida, written sometime between 1586 and 1739 by an unknown author (probably a Franciscan friar). Inasmuch as the Franciscan convent burned to the ground in 1599 (Hoffman, 1991), and again in 1620 "without being able to save anything" (Pesquera et al., 1621), it seems likely that the book postdates 1620. This conclusion is supported by Castillo's failure to recover any pertinent original Franciscan records dating earlier than the deteriorated 1628 chapter list transcribed as Document 4 (see below). The book may be one written by Fray Pedro Munoz during the mid-17th century, detailing the history of the Franciscan missions in Spanish Florida prior to that time. The volume was still located in the Franciscan archive as late as 1722, when Fray Blas Pulido cited it as the source of his review of Franciscan activity in Florida: All this that we have referred to is only a sample and brief summary of what the Very Reverend Father Fray Pedro Munoz, who was provincial minister of this stated province, refers to so long and specifically in a chronicle that he wrote of all the events of this stated province. This manuscript is in this archive [of the Franciscan convent], and on account of our extreme poverty it has not been printed (Pulido, 1722). Although the specific events and passages transcribed by Castilla below only 17 years later were not cited in the 1722 summary, Fray Munoz's chronicle evidently began in the middle of the 16th century, making it entirely possible that Castilla's source was in fact the Munoz chronicle. Since Pedro Munoz arrived in Florida during the 1620s, and was stationed in both the Timucua and Apalachee provinces of Florida's interior, his description of the events of late 16th-century Florida must be considered a secondary source. Regardless of the identity of their author, the paragraphs below appear to represent part of an historical narrative detailing some of the events of late 16th-century Spanish Florida. Unfortunately, these selections are the only extant portion of this book currently recognized. If and when the contents of the original Franciscan archive of St. Augustine are discovered, the original manuscript may still be among them. [f.1] Don Francisco de Castilla, general notary public of government of this presidio of St. Augustine, Florida. I certify and attest(1) to the best of my ability and duty that in a manuscript book which is maintained in the archive of this convent of San Francisco of this province of Santa Elena(2) of Florida, on folios seventeen, eighteen, twenty, and twenty-one are found the paragraphs which to the letter are of the following tenor: NOTE 1. The phrase doy fee y verdadero testimonio was the standard oath given by notaries regarding the authenticity of their work, and will be translated for this volume as "I attest." NOTE 2. In 1612, Spanish Florida became the Franciscan province of Santa Elena, which also included Cuba. The adelantado placed all his diligence in the discovery of the land, whom the King called upon in order to entrust him with a powerful fleet which was prepared without knowing where it might go, and thus he left the man who was married to the elder of two daughters which he had in the presidio of [f. 1, vto.] Santa Elena [Hernando de Miranda], and the other in St. Augustine [Diego de Velasco].(3) NOTE 3. Hernando de Miranda married Dona Catalina Menendez de Aviles, the elder daughter of Pedro Menendez de Aviles, and Diego de Velasco married Dona Maria Menendez de Aviles, Pedro's younger daughter. As noted below, both Velasco and Miranda governed Santa Elena in succession, during which time Miranda deposed and imprisoned Velasco on assorted charges following the death of the adelantado in 1574. Miranda subsequently abandoned Santa Elena during the coastal Indian rebellion of 1576, and was himself arrested for desertion upon his return to Spain. After he departed for Spain, where he died arranging the affairs of the fleet, for which reason it fell apart, many displaying great sentiment. Seeming to them that it was in his dishonor to give up a fleet because of the death of one man, and when it became known by His Majesty, they say he responded "Give me another Pedro Menendez," so high was the esteem in which he was held, since in this absence the Indians of Santa Elena returned to their enmities, and persecuting the Castilians, they did not let them leave the fort, for which they suffered so much necessity and hunger that they abandoned the land [f.2] and joined with those in St. Augustine.(4) NOTE 4. The Indians surrounding Santa Elena (including Guale to the south) rose in rebellion during the summer of 1676, resulting in the deaths of a number of Spanish officials and soldiers, including the nephew of Pedro Menendez de Aviles. The fort was abandoned and destroyed, and its inhabitants withdrew temporarily to St. Augustine (Lyon, 1987). Both brothers-in-law being together in the presidio, he who retreated from Santa Elena [Miranda] attempted the government, seeming to him that it was owed him by being married to the elder daughter of the adelantado, but he who was married to the younger [Velasco] did not wish to quit, saying that that post had been entrusted to him, and for this reason he [Miranda] went away to Spain, where he was poorly received because he had abandoned [the presidio] of Santa Elena, an effect which has caused many to see what they attempted as fraudulent. After the son-in-law of the Adelantado Pedro Menendez de [f.2, vto.] Aviles who was married to his elder daughter [Miranda] died from the sorrow of seeing himself imprisoned for the retreat which he made from Santa Elena, leaving that presidio, although the other son-in-law who was married to the younger [Velasco] was in St. Augustine, without removing the government from the family of the adelantado, His Majesty sent Pedro Menendez Marquez as governor of Florida, and with the order that he should rebuild Santa Elena, as he did, all on behalf of His Majesty, for which some of the settlers settled down into positions, and others went away to other places. The year of fifteen eighty-six, Francisco [f.3] Draque scoured the coasts of the Indies with an English fleet, doing great damages in them, and arriving at St. Augustine, Florida, he seized the fort named San Juan, which was nearer to the Bar than that of today, and was not finished,(5) and burned the place and the Royal books, taking four [artillery] pieces and some money. NOTE 5. The fort burned by Francis Drake in June 1586 was the sixth wooden fort of St. Augustine, and had been begun earlier that same year (see Connor, 1926). This agrees with the inserted paragraphs, the originals of which remain in the said book and archive to which I refer, and by verbal order of the Senior Colonel Don Manuel de Montiano, governor and captain general of this said city of Florida and its provinces, I present the above in Florida on the thirtieth of June, seventeen thirty-nine. In true testimony, Francisco de Castilla Governmental Notary