The Lord of Matang
(By: Henry B. Dedicatoria)
Antonio Pigafetta is the only eyewitness, who wrote firsthand accounts of Magellan's voyage. He was the one gave the name of the Mactan’s chief, who is hailed today as a first Filipino hero. The spelling of his name, "Cilapu lapu," the ‘ci’ is consistent in all the four surviving codices of Pigafetta account of Magellan’s expedition.
*See actual Pigafetta text
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=philamer;cc=philamer;idno=afk2830.0001.033;q1=Siam;frm=frameset;view=image;seq=172;page=root;size=s
*See actual English translation
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=philamer&cc=philamer&idno=afk2830.0001.033&q1=Siam&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=173
The first transcription of Carlo Amoretti the “Pigafetta” did not deviate from the original text. Amoretti explained that the “Ci” in the name of the various chiefs mentioned in the original text were “horrific” or if a Si or Ci placed before a name of person’s name is a title of honour.
See link
http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=WxsnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA288&dq=Pigafetta%27s+Voyage+Round+the+World&lr=&ei=i-0xSYDtHpuKkAS526zADQ&hl=en#v=onepage&q=Pigafetta%27s%20Voyage%20Round%20the%20World&f=false
However, our very own Jose P. Rizal who was the first Filipino to have read the “Pigafetta” by Amoretti discarded the statement. The national hero diverges from the original orthographic tradition “Cilapu lapu”. Rizal rejected the Amoretti’s “honorific” statement and changes the “Ci” to “Si”. Rizal gives no explanation for his operation, nor explained any basis for it. His “Si Lapulapu” was first seen in an annotation of his 1890 edition of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las islas Filipinas por el doctor Antonio de Morga.
See link
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=philamer;cc=philamer;q1=Lapulapu;rgn=full%20text;idno=AHZ9387.0001.001;didno=AHZ9387.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000050)
Who really was the lord of Mactan?
CiLapu lapu or Sri Laphu is a son of Srivijayan Prince, Sri Maharaja Alib Subaraya, a Muslim prince who fled Palembang Sumatra, after the Majapahit conquered the kingdom. After the Portuguese attacked their settlement in Banka Island, Sri Subaraya summoned his only son to go to Zulu, a remote Srivijayan domain in the south and look for a childhood friend Sri Matang. In Zulu, Sri Laphu learned that Sri Matang established a principality in Zubu another remote domain of Sri Vijaya up North. In Zubu, Sri Laphu introduced himself as son of Sri Maharaja Alib Subaraya of Palembang, the newly crowned Zubuan king Sri Maharaja Humabon welcome him and his party, and invited him to a feast. In the feast, Laphu explained the purposed of his visit. He told the King about the fate of Palembang and how they escaped the city. The king have him brought to Olango an island just west of Zubu. In Olango he met the very old Sri Matang who couldn't stand up anymore by himself. He also met Zula, his son and his eldest, Haraya. Laphu fell in loved with Haraya and with the old Matang's blessing the two got married after 2 moons. In the wedding ceremony, the old Matang announced that he will divide Olango into two domains, the southern part of the island goes to his son Zula and the north will go to Laphu and Haraya. This made Zula very jealous of Laphu for his expecting that his father will give the whole island to him as his only Raja Muda. Sri Matang died after 6 moons. As time goes by, the island was referred to by Zubuanons as Kanmatang (which means "of Matang" or "island of Matang). Zula married one of the daughters of Raja Humabon and settled in the southern part of Matang just fronting Zubu. Zula never liked Laphu and the two never treated each other as brothers. Laphu as Moor (Muslim) have 3 more wives and declared himself as Datu of Matang.
He forged alliances with the different tribes in Bohol, Northern Zubu, and four other neighbouring islands of Zubu, and Maguindanao. Imitating the Thalassocracy of Sri Vijaya in Sumatra, the confederation of tribes, controlled the trading route from southern Luzung to Zubu and all the way down to Zulu, charging a toll to all trading ships. Thence displeased the King of Zubu and its council of chiefs, but they hesitated to challenge the lord of Matang. To cut the story short, Magellan came in to the scene and offered help to Humabon to destroy Laphu and Matang. And so the famous Battle of Mactan happened in April 27, 1521, as Pigafetta wrote:
“When morning came, forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through water for more than two cross-bow flights before we could reach the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When we reached land, [the natives] had formed in three divisions to the number of more than one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries... The musketeers and crossbow-men shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but useless”
Pigafetta said “more than one thousand five hundred warriors”, many sceptics said that by saying this, Pigafetta was just making an excuse to explain why the heavily armed Spaniard lost that particular battle and to save the reputation of his beloved Captain General. Some find this statement very impossible since there is no way a single tribe can have a thousand warriors. However, based on the story of the “Libreta”, the warriors that the Spaniards encountered in Matang were not only the warriors of Laphu, six hundred of those men came from Matang’s allies in the islands of Bohol and Northern Zubu, and that those warriors arrived in the island three days after the Spaniards burned a village in Matang. They were just waiting for the warriors sent the chief of the tribe (which the author will not name yet) in Panay and will be ready to attack Zubu as planned previously by Datu Laphu.
Pigafetta also failed to mention (if not intentionally) that at midnight of the same day one of their ship was burned down. Sri Bantug, the chief from Bohol led sixty men to attacked one of galleons which was less guarded and burned it. Instead Pigafetta wrote:
In the midst of that archipelago,77 at a distance of eighteen leguas from that island of Zzubu, at the head of the other island called Bohol, we burned the ship "Conceptione," for too few men of us were left [to work it]."
Simultaneously, Laphu with hundreds of warriors landed in shores in the north of Zubu, and with very less resistance captured the tribal house of Humabon. Humabon surrendered to Laphu, and promised to kill the remaining white men if he spares his life and Zubu.
See link
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=philamer&cc=philamer&idno=afk2830.0001.033&q1=Siam&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=205
Why did Pigafetta put "Ci" before his name?
As mentioned previously, Sri Laphu was a son of a Srivijayan prince, Sri Vijaya was Buddhist Empire before it was conquered by Singsahari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Vijaya). In Buddhism "Sri" is honorific. It is used as respectful affix to a celebrated or revered persons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri). Despite the religious conversion, the Srivijayan nobles, they retained this title and use it to address chiefs and nobles. On the other hand, Pigafetta, a European, hearing from Humabon and the other chiefs the word "Sri" before the name of the chiefs, uses it in his chronicles but spells it "Ci" instead of the correct "Sri". This is a common mistake made by Pigafetta and is very obvious especially if one examines the so called first ever "Cebuano Dictionary" he had written. Please refer to link below.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=philamer&cc=philamer&idno=afk2830.0001.033&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=203
Observe of the how Pigafetta spelled the following:
Pigafetta Spelling Acceptable Bisaya Spelling
Saghin Sanging
Baghin Baging
Pucat Pukot
Daghu Dagum
Bunthun Bituun
Sundan Sundang
Matan Matang
These are just the few examples of the words Pigafetta spelled as he heard it, words that we BISAYA knew for the fact how should be written. The many mysteries and misinterpretations of the Italian Chronicler's account of the great Magellan voyage is due to the fact that Pigafetta cannot inscribe accurately the words he hears.
Therefore, the codices of the Italian chronicler shouldn’t be use as direct evidence of historical claims, for they are very inaccurate. Thus, his records of the great Magellan expedition can only be considered as clues, and should be subject to scrutiny and investigation. Moreover, the author of this blog also urges the government particularly the National Historical Institute (NHI) to look into the local myths such as the "Aginid, Bayok sa atong Tawarik", and many other family stories, for just like the chronicles of Pigafetta these are also healthy clues about our forefathers, and the great Visayas.
The author’s next blog will discuss how Laphu declared himself as the Sultan of Vijaya and the fall of the Sultanate. It will also discuss the fate of Sultan Omar Bendahara, his successor. This is history untold, which the author always wonder why our great Filipino historians of today never asked questions about.
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This blog is based in the story of the “libreta” made by Utu Mamansha in the middle of the 1700’s, about how his great grandfather Sri Laphu who came from Sumatra and how he established the Sultanate of Vijaya. The “libreta” which made out of a goat skin, was last known held by Datu Mahmud Kiram of Zambales in the late 1900’s. Mahmud Kiram converted to Christianity and was baptized as Epifanio Dedicatoria. Ironically, the last name “Dedicatoria” was taken from the name of the Portuguese Sacristan that assisted in his baptism.
