Travel to Spain and the Indies – Ulrico Schmidl. (2014-12-15) This is a small book by Editorial Longseller, 2007 edition.
To put it into context, with the discovery of America, many people from the Old World arrived in the New World. Later on, we will see the manner, the intentions, the violence, and everything else that revisionist critics (or not) have formulated. The truth is that if we go back to that past, many people arrived and found themselves face to face with the unknown.
One such case is that of Ulrico Schmidl of Straubing. The interesting thing is that this person left behind a written text. In other words, many arrived, but very few left anything written (whatever it might be) about what they encountered, what they lived through, or what they thought of it. In the sense of being a text written by one of the first arrivals, it is an interesting text because of the impressions he left.
The version I acquired is a complete version, with a Prologue by Marcos Mayer, Translation by Haydé N. Fryn, and Translation Supervision by Diana Blumenfeld.
The Prologue written by Marcos Mayer (journalist, professor, and writer) is very good; it spans several pages and provides a contextual overview to help understand the work.
In the Prologue, three detractors of the work are mentioned: Manuel Domínguez, Paul Groussac, and Ricardo Rojas, who basically "laugh at" or "criticize" the way he wrote. If that is a "criticism," well, that's up to the three of them, but they don't delve into anything else (at least not according to the prologue). It is also true that I haven't read the works of those three where they talk about Schmidl. However, the prologue also mentions Edmundo Wernicke, who, as the prologue writer says, “Wernicke finds excuses for his author's clumsy style: ‘We invite readers to place themselves in Schmidl's situation when he joined the expedition to the Río de la Plata in 1535. At that time, neither in Spain nor in Germany were there good grammars.’”
Totally agree—the most sensible and appropriate comment. What does it matter how he wrote? I can say, after having read the book, that it is perfectly understood, it can be read, and it is comprehensible.
The original work was printed with engravings on the conquest of the Río de la Plata made by Levinus Hulsius (1550-1606), who was an imperial notary, writer, bookseller-publisher, and instrument dealer. Those engravings are not found in the book I bought, but can be viewed here: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/viaje-al-rio-de-la-plata-1534-1554/html/ff3a9778-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_85.html
Unfortunately, the book I have does not contain maps, and the truth is they are very useful for visualizing his route.
The cover of the book features the figure of Ulrico with a spear, and at his feet is an animal: a jaguar (yaguareté). There is another engraving in which he is alone with the spear, and a third in which he is riding a llama. Those are the three existing portraits of him.
Schmidl was part of a group of mercenaries who arrived with Pedro de Mendoza's expedition to the Río de la Plata. He also participated in Ayolas' forces and later in Irala's. He spent 20 years here in America, and he went through it all: hunger, hardships, contact with the indigenous peoples (sometimes peaceful, sometimes in conflict), the death of his companions, an uprising, getting lost along the way, surviving a shipwreck, etc. And from everything he recounts, he was truly very fortunate. He clearly defended himself very well throughout his adventures, defending himself against everything—all the hardships and dangers, starting with the voyage. He began his journey in 1534 and, after 20 years, returned to Germany.
There, he remembers his entire journey and decides to turn it into a book. He relies on his memory. And while some might question his inventory-like style, it seems to me that it cannot be easy to remember "every single detail" after 20 years of a journey full of difficulties, and yet he did it, and it agrees with other sources. This person was not a scientist, not a writer; he was just a mercenary, and even so, he left us a text that I find extremely valuable today, 500 years later, to get a glimpse of those times.
He describes many situations plainly and straightforwardly, no matter how harsh they may be. His way of expressing himself is very particular; I liked it. It breaks away from formal writing, at least the kind we are accustomed to reading. For example: “When the said Querandíes do not want to die of thirst and find no water anywhere, they drink this blood. But if by chance anyone thinks they drink it daily, they do not do so, and I leave that clearly stated.” (pages 33/34)
At one point, he recounts an instance of famine and the cannibalism to which the survivors resorted. Regarding this, a web text titled Ulrico Schmidl: El afán de nombrar (Ulrico Schmidl: The Urge to Name), written by Loreley El Jaber (UBA/CONICET), says: “Hence Schmidl delights in the description of food as if savoring each one while writing them down. But hunger only seems to produce textual pleasure, since deprivation drives the Spaniards to a decadent assimilation: the Christian has become a cannibal.”
The truth is that the theme of hunger and food is very recurrent, and if I read other texts from later years, the topic of hunger and food is of great importance. Even today, hunger is a problem for a vast number of people. Writing what was quoted seems out of place; one would have to go through it, live it, to see if writing about lived situations is a "delight." It is easy to write 500 years later (and with a full belly) to judge how "hunger produced textual pleasure for him." It strikes me that hunger left deep scars on his person, but that is a task for psychologists and not for a commentary reader.
Another aspect is the incessant mention of God, either when someone dies or when mentioning a date. The Christian root is present and reflects part of his spirituality and beliefs, which I imagine extends to many of those who arrived.
In the text, I also found it interesting how he relates each "new" thing he discovers to what was already familiar to him in Germany: the boleadoras with plumb lines in Germany, the boats/canoes with German fishermen's small skiffs, the Chaná-Salvajes with highwaymen in Germany (page 56), and cotton blankets like dowries (arras) in Germany (page 108).
Often, as in other texts dealing with contact and the establishment of social relations with the indigenous peoples, the topic of "ransom" (rescate) is mentioned—the enumeration of the goods traded with the natives.
The issue of the numbers: are they real or not? The truth is I don't know. Surely historians will take on the task of cross-referencing whether or not they approach reality regarding the figures the author mentions. I found no information on the matter.
This author's work fell into almost complete oblivion, but in 1903 Bartolomé Mitre produced an edition for Argentina, which was translated by the Uruguayan ethnographer Samuel Lafone Quevedo under the title "Viaje al Río de la Plata. 1534-1554".
Whoever wants to delve deeper into this author's work can visit this link: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12586186423471506765435/index.htm
Highly recommended reading this chronicle.
