Would the Real Duarte Barbosa Please Stand Up?

Was Magellan's Barbosa the Portuguese explorer who wrote Livre, whose sister he married, and who traveled with him? Does a skeptic asking a question they failed to research equate to a counter position?

This is a banner image created for this blog as most are generated. It is not a real photograph nor map, not a literal image of Barbosa, and the wood on the stage is not even real. If one does not explain such, a blogger will accuse of misleading. Yes, it is that pathetic now as that blogger is exposed as a criminal who admitted an intent to defame. He has been reported multiple times now.

🪶 THE SMOKING QUILL | June 16, 2025

The Three Barbosas Fallacy: When Modern Academia Forgets to Read

Why Duarte Barbosa, the Author of the Livro, Is the Same One Who Sailed with Magellan

📜 The False Narrative

Modern sources—like AI summaries and even some articles on Medium—have repeated an unsubstantiated claim it seems from Magellan author Tim Joyner: that Duarte Barbosa, the author of the Livro de Duarte Barbosa (Book of Duarte Barbosa), was not the same Barbosa who sailed with Magellan. As we even searched Google regarding this, Gemini's response was to repeat this claim instead of providing the actual historic record. 

The claim? That there were three Duarte Barbosas in India at the time, and that the writer of the Livro must have been someone else. We have seen this claim pop up often in Colonial biased writings that seem to wish to cast doubt on the account.

This is how Pharisees disconnect history in agitation creating confusion, not scholarship. Ask a question to cast doubt and no need to bother with the pesky details of recorded history. Why does academia not hold these to a higher standard? There is nothing wrong with asking a question, but it is irresponsible to leave it as a question when it is not valid.

This is a fiction. Here’s why.

🧭 The Historical Record Is Clear

🔹 In the Portuguese primary source, Livro de Duarte Barbosa: Relação da viagem e descrição das terras da Índia oriental (Academia Real das Ciências de Lisboa). p. XI, the translator states:

“He was the brother of Fernão de Magalhães’ wife, whom he accompanied on the voyage around the globe, embarking, as Captain, on the ship Vitória on August 10, 1519. Duarte Barbosa was killed by poison on Zebu Island, one of the Philippines, on May 1, 1521.”

🔹 Pigafetta, the most credible official chronicler of Magellan's voyage, states clearly:

“He was the brother of Fernão de Magalhães’s wife and embarked on the Vitória as captain. He died of poison on the island of Zebu on May 1, 1521.”

“...those who remained elected two commanders, namely Duarte Barbosa, the Captain-General’s brother-in-law, and João Serrão...”

That same Duarte Barbosa is known for writing the most comprehensive cultural and geographic work on India of his time—The Book of Duarte Barbosa.

🔹 Scholar Henry E. J. Stanley, who translated the Livro, and historian H.E. J. Dames both identify Duarte Barbosa the author as the same Barbosa, Magellan's brother-in-law who died in Cebu.

🔹 J.A. Robertson’s authoritative volume confirms this on p. 266:

“Duarte or Odoardo Barbosa, the son of Diogo Barbosa, who after serving in Portugal, became alcaide of the Sevilla arsenal, was born at Lisbon at the end of the fifteenth century. He spent the years 1501-1516 in the Orient, the result of that stay being his Livro emque da relaqdo do que viu e ouviu no Oriente, which was first published at Lisbon in 1813 in vol. vii of Collecgao de noticias para a historia et geographia das nagoes ultramarinas, and its translation by Stanley...”  

“While at Sevilla, Magalhaes lived in the household of Diogo Barbosa, where he married Duarte’s sister Beatriz. Duarte embarked on the “ Trinidad “ as a sobresaliente, and it was he who captured the “ Victoria “ from the mutineers at Port St. Julian, after which he became captain of that vessel.”

So why the confusion?

🚨 “Three Barbosas” – A Lazy Excuse

Some modern accounts claim that since records mention three men named Duarte Barbosa in India, we must therefore separate the author from the explorer. This is not only speculative—it’s deceptive.

What do they offer as proof? A “Medium article” with a vague assertion that “historians now think otherwise.” That’s not scholarship. That’s rumor, repackaged as revision. A thought posited with little support by an author. 

📌 What They Ignore: Behavioral Continuity

The Medium article itself unwittingly reveals the truth:

“The Barbosa who traveled with Magellan got into trouble for neglecting duties. Magellan punished him for abandoning post to see women. So did Albuquerque.”

Exactly. This is the same man described in early records as a court translator, errant, skilled with languages, well-traveled in India, and finally—killed in Cebu. The behavioral match seals the identity. Yet, this is actually one of the points made for different Barbosas. It is not a position, nor even accurately reflected. Don't be deceived.

This Barbosa knew the East. He had to be the one who wrote the ethnographic masterpiece.

🧠 What This Means

• The Livro de Duarte Barbosa is not just a record—it is a firsthand field journal by a man embedded in the politics and trade of Portuguese Asia. There is only 1 Barbosa who qualifies.

• The narrative of “multiple Barbosas” is academic laziness at best, and deliberate misdirection at worst.

• By splitting Barbosa into three men with no definitive evidence, modern revisionism discards hard textual and primary source proof. The obvious intent is profane Magellan's account seeding it with doubts never legitimate.

• We are seeing this onslaught in numerous area of the academic world especially regarding the Philippines. But why is academia not protecting it? Why are they not fighting for the truth? We will.

📜 THE SMOKING QUILL CONCLUDES:

Duarte Barbosa, the brother-in-law of Magellan, was:

• A Portuguese interpreter

• A global navigator

• A co-commander of Magellan’s fleet

• The author of the Livro de Duarte Barbosa

• Poisoned in Cebu, May 1, 1521 

• Contrary to other uneducated claims, Barbosa did not die with Magellan but became Captain General after his death replacing Magellan with another. His poisoning was a separate event with the King of Cebu, not with Lapu Lapu. 

There was only one Duarte Barbosa of that caliber. And his pen, like his sword, carved his legacy into world history.

Let the revisionists rewrite. We’ll read the record.

📌 #DuarteBarbosaWasOne #SmokingQuill #MagellanTruth #PigafettaProvesIt #BarbosaJournal #JesuitRevisionismFails #HistoryOfIndia #PhilippinesTruth