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Mestre João Faras, better known simply as Mestre João ('Master John"), was an astrologer, astronomer, physician and surgeon of King Manuel I of Portugal who accompanied Pedro Álvares Cabral in the discovery of Brazil in 1500, and wrote a famous letter identifying the Southern Cross constellation. == Background == The celebrated 1500 letter of Mestre João Faras was discovered in the Portuguese royal archives by the historian Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen, and published for the first time in 1843.〔''Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro'', Rio de Janeiro, 1843, tomo V nº 19. (online )〕 Despite much search, the figure of Mestre João Faras remains elusive.〔Sousa Viterbo (1897), Valentim (2007)〕 In his 1500 letter, Mestre João identifies himself simply as a ''bacherel'' of arts and medicine ('bachelor' was a general term for someone with formal learning) and a personal physician and surgeon of the King Manuel I of Portugal. Besides the 1500 letter, the only other concrete clue we have of Mestre João's existence is an (unpublished) manuscript translation of Pomponius Mela's ''De Situ Orbis'' from Latin into imperfect Castilian. 〔Found in the Portuguese national archives by Sousa Viterbo in 1898. The frontispiece (reproduced p.673-74) is signed ''Maestre Joan Faras, bachiler em artes e medeçina, fisico sororgiano dell muy alto Rey de Purtugall Dom Manuell''. Its margins are littered with notes by the hand of Duarte Pacheco Pereira. See Valentim (2007)〕 He may also have gone by the name 'Johannes Emeneslau'.〔This has been conjectured on the basis of a document found in royal archives in which the name "Johannes Emeneslau' was erased and replaced by 'Johannes bachelor of arts and medicine', the same way Mestre João signed his letter.〕 On account of his poor command of Portuguese and penchant for Spanish, Mestre João Faras is generally believed to have been originally of Spanish nationality (whether Castilian, Galician or Aragonese has been alternatively proposed). He was almost certainly a Sephardi Jew. He probably fled Spain for Portugal after the 1492 Alhambra decrees, but ended up converting after 1496, to enter the service of King Manuel I of Portugal. Recent researches have traced at least two original Spanish Jews who plausibly fit his profile: one, a certain ''Juan Faraz'', a native of Seville,〔This is proposed by Juan Gil (2003); See also Valentim, 2007: p.22〕 another, a "Mestre Joam" (original surname and town not given), who settled in northern Portugal and took up the name João ''da Paz''.〔This is the interpretation preferred by Valentim, 2007: p.26〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「João Faras」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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