The stamp on this first day cover was issued on 3rd May 1982 as part of the EUROPA CEPT series of stamps. The theme for 1982 was "Historic Events".
The stamp on the cover depicts
a scene from the presentation of Manuel I (Portuguese king in that time) to the Pope in Rome,
in 1514. It was a very great ceremony, even an Indian elephant took part in
the ceremony.
Tristão da Cunha (c.
1460 – c. 1540) was a Portuguese explorer and naval commander. In 1514 he served as ambassador from king Manuel I of Portugal to Pope
Leo X leading a luxurious embassy presenting in Rome the new
conquests of Portugal. He later became a member of the Portuguese Privy Council.
Hanno (c.
1510 – 8 June 1516) was the pet white elephant given by King Manuel I of Portugal to Pope
Leo X (born Giovanni de' Medici) at his coronation. Hanno,
actually an Asian
elephant, came to Rome in 1514 with the Portuguese
ambassador Tristão
da Cunha and quickly became the Pope's favorite animal. Hanno died
two years later from complications of a treatment for constipation with gold-enriched laxative.
King Manuel had either
received him as a gift from the King of Cochin, or had asked Afonso de Albuquerque, his viceroy in India, to purchase him. Hanno was said to
be white in colour, and arrived by ship from Lisbon to Rome in 1514, aged about
four years, and was kept initially in an enclosure in the Belvedere courtyard, then moved to a specially constructed building between St. Peter's Basilica and the Apostolic Palace, near the Borgo Sant'Angelo (a
road in the rione of Borgo).
Thank you Maria for this lovely FDC.
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