Batul of Mactan: When did it really happen?

Friday last week the City of Lapu-Lapu celebrated its annual "Batul sa Mactan" to commemorate that historic event on April 27, 1521, where explorer Ferdinand Magellan died in battle with the natives of Mactan led by its Chieftain Lapu-Lapu. This was one victory against a foreign invader that was considered a great victory for the people of Asia.

Last year, my best friend, Tony Rizarri from Houston, Texas gifted me with a great book entitled "Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe" written by Laurence Bergreen. It is the only autobiography of the Captain General Ferdinand Magellan, brilliantly researched from all the documents archived in Spain. Back then, the Spaniards had an obsession of keeping records for every transaction they made (they even had a record of Magellan’s last will and testament, duly signed by him) thus this book gave the author an idea of what kind of stuff Magellan brought in his ships during the voyage and what they brought back to Spain after three years of being away.

After I finished reading this book, there were many questions that I thought we ought to raise. The first one is very obvious. Did the famous Battle of Mactan where Magellan was killed really happened on April 27th as written by Pigafetta? The reason we ask is that, while Pigafetta and Francisco Albo, Magellan’s pilot kept a daily record of the events during the voyage; however, in those days, the known world was using the Julian calendar.

It was only in 1582 when most of Catholic Europe shifted to the Gregorian calendar as decreed by Pope Gregory XIII because this was a better system that corrected accumulated errors of ten days’ worth. All told, on Oct. 5, 1582 in the Julian calendar is now Oct.15, 1582 in the Gregorian calendar. So therefore, what should have been the exact date of the Battle of Mactan?

The other reason is that, the International Dateline then did not exist and it was only after the Armada de Molucca, the official name of the Magellan Voyage returned to San Lucar de Barrameda on Sept. 6, 1522 did Pigafetta realize that they were off in their daily recording, simply because it was the first time that they had crossed the International Dateline.

Arriving back in Spain, the once-proud Spanish Armada only had a crew of 18 men and three captives. Three years earlier, when Magellan left Spain, he had 260 sailors and a fleet of 5 ships. Only the Victoria returned to complete this voyage at the Age of Discovery. While Pigafetta was puzzled by the fact that while he kept a daily record, it no longer tallied when he got back to Spain, it was only then that they finally came to realize the full impact of their voyage - that indeed, the earth was round and they were the first humans on earth to ever circumnavigate the world.

The other question begging for an answer is whether it was really Chief Lapu-Lapu who killed Magellan. For that, we refer to what Pigafetta wrote in his diary. According to his estimates, there were around 1,500 Mactanese (this is how Pigafetta called the people of Mactan) armed with bows and arrows, bamboo spears, stones and large cutlasses while Magellan only had 49 men with lances, swords and crossbows. The Cebuans (as Pigafetta called us) led by Rajah Humabon were in their Balanghais to watch the fight. Magellan asked them not to come to his aid no matter what.

Magellan’s problem actually began when went to battle during a very low tide, thus he was so far away from the protection of his ship cannons, even the small portable cannons placed on his longboats. But Magellan was able to wade ashore and burned some fifty houses, which all the more incensed the followers of Lapulapu. The battle was quite a comedy of errors where spears or arrows were shot and those that didn’t find their mark floated back to the natives who picked them up four or six times and hurled it back to Magellan’s men. Lapu-Lapu’s strategy was very obvious as his men only fired below the waist, as they already knew it was difficult to penetrate the armor worn by the Spaniards. The weak spot was below the waist.

Magellan finally was hit on his right leg with a poisoned arrow, which slowed him down. Realizing that he was badly outnumbered, he ordered a slow retreat and one of Lapu-Lapu’s men hurled a spear into Magellan’s face then he fell face forward and more men pounced on the dying Captain General. All in all, eight Spaniards were killed including four Indians with him. While Pigafetta counted only 15 dead on Lapu-Lapu’s side. Lapu-Lapu refused to return the hacked body of Magellan despite all efforts.

Yesterday, May 1st was the famous massacre of Magellan’s men by Humabon, who realized that Magellan and his men were not after all that invincible. But that alone is another story. Supposedly all this happened 486 years ago. A tragic ending to Spain’s initial claim of Cebu and Mactan, which were actually two separate kingdoms with their own respective rulers.

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit’s columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com