16th Century English Social Naturalism: Virginia

Theodore De Bry’s America (1590) contains Le Moyne’s narrative of the Huguenot failed settlement of Florida, their massacre by the Spanish, and 42 plates of Timucuans of Florida; the other part of De Bry's work contains Thomas Harriot and John White’s (1590) Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. Harriot and White’s work is interesting, insofar as their work does not turn on the six terms of barbarism: 1) homosexuality, 2) cannibalism, 3) sorcery or witchcraft, 4) idolatry , 5) human sacrifice, 6) and the absence of pre modern natural God. Harriot’s narrative does evoke 4) idolatry and 3) sorcery, while White’s narrative has 4) idolatry, 3) sorcery, and may be 6) the absence of natural God. Human sacrifice (3), homosexuality(1), and cannibalism (3) are completely absent from this work. Interestingly, Harriot and White’s work is meant to encourage colonization of Virginia, but their work is not straight forward sales pitch, because they do not agree about the Virginians’ religion.

Harriot believes that Virginians have “some religion…which although it be far from the truth, yet being as it is, there is hope it may be easier and sooner reformed” (Harriot, 25). Virginians are polytheists, who call their gods Mantoac, but they believe in one higher God who is eternity. The higher God creates the sun and the moon, the lesser gods are created from water, and they create the diversity of visible and invisible things in the world. Harriot’s description is very distinct from Montaigne’s sixth term of the barbaric. Virginians believe in an Entity, Mantoac, beyond the sun and the moon, because He created those two celestial bodies and the lesser gods, who are responsible for generation and degeneration of living entities on earth. Harriot also notes that Virginians believe in corporeal and incorporeal entities, because “the gods were made all diversity of creatures that are visible and invisible” (Harriot, 25). On the other hand, Le Moyne and Laudonniere’s description of Timucuans’ religious beliefs are limited to sun and the moon, and they believe in nothing else, so they have no concept of God. 

While Virginians are free from sixth term, they succumb to idolatry (the fourth term), because “they think that all the gods are of human shape and therefore they represent them by images in the form of men, which they call Kewafowk” (Harriot, 26). Although they are idolaters, they do believe in the immortality of the soul and clearly have sense of incorporeal, because they believe depending upon your actions in this life that gods will take you to Heaven, which they call Popoguffo. Harriot’s description of Virginians’ religious beliefs is the most similar to European. In fact, Harriot’s Virginians resemble in their religious beliefs 15th century Florentine Neo-Platonists. 

Virginians also have priests who perform divination, which involves the fourth term. “Some would likewise seem to prophesize that were more of our generation yet to come, to kill them, and take their places, as some thought the purpose was by that which was already done” (Harriot, 29). Oddly, Virginian priests’ prophesy came true, because the English did come and slaughter the indigenous population in successive generations. If a prophesy comes true, is it sorcery, witchcraft, or true religion? Savonarola accurately predicts the French deluge over Italy, but he is burned at the stake.

White, on the other hand, believes that Virginians have no concept of God or the sixth term: “although they have no true knowledge of God, or his holy words, and are destitute of all learning, they surpass us in many things, as in sober seeing and dexterity of wit” (White, 41). White is maintaining Le Moyne and Laudonniere’s description of Timucuan Indians that Virginians religion does not surpass the worship of the sun and the moon. Plate XIII maintains White’s position of Virginians lack of God, because in describing their fishing and the abundance of fish, they do not pay any homage or respect to a Deity. Virginians are “content with their state, and living friendly together of those things which god of his bounty hath given unto them, yet without giving him any thanks…So Savage is this people, and deprived of the true knowledge of god. For they have none other then is mentioned before in his works” (White, 56).

White’s remarks about the Virginians’ lack of God are so ironic that Montaigne would be proud, because White makes it perfectly clear that his pictures have secret meanings. “For divers secret marks lie hidden in my pictures, which will breed confusion unless they be observed well” (White, 41). Montaigne describes the serenity of the souls of Timucuans and Araucanians, because they do not have a belief in a God. White speaks of Virginians surpassing Europeans in sober thought and dexterity of wit, but do not have a concept of God. Both are ironic: Montaigne’s serenity of the soul and lack of God and White’s superior sober thought/dexterity of wit and lack of knowledge of God.

Plate XIII is particularly ironic. Virginians get along with one another perfectly and enjoy the bounty of nature, never disputing over ownership of the bounty, but labor together in perfect harmony. Europeans, on the other hand, constantly fight over ownership of private property, and rarely work in perfect harmony. While these Virginians are not plagued with all the raillery and fighting over private property, they do not have a concept of God. To put it oppositely, Virginians can work in perfect harmony, get together well, and have not concept of private property, because they do not have a concept of God. Interpretation from opposition is appropriate in the interpretation of White’s pictures, because he explicitly states at the outset that they had hidden meanings.

White describes the priests in two of his pictures, Plate V and Plate XI, and he ties to the priests with birds in both pictures. The association of birds and the priests is not accidental, but deliberate. Virginian priests regard the birds as the means to communicate with the occult forces of nature. The bird is a creature of the air, which is not bound to the earth, so the imagery is pretty clear. Although the Virginians do not see beyond nature to the heavens, their religion is contained in nature, because of the association between priests and the birds, who can transcend the earth by flight.

Plate V describes the Priest as old in age, wears his hair in crest, like a Mohawk, and wears a fine cloak made of Rabbit fur. “Priests are notable encounters, and for their pleasure they frequent the rivers, to kill with their bows, and catch wild ducks, swans, and other fowl” (White, 48). Ducks are particularly important to Virginian Priests, because they represent the underworld and the upper ward (water and air). To Virginian priests the upper world or Harriot’s Popoguffo is the sky, and the birds live in the upper world, so they can communicate between the upper world and the earth.

The water, on the other hand, is the underworld. The Duck is central, because he can communicate with upper and the lower world. Plate XI confirms this interpretation of Plate V. White says that Virginian priests are very familiar with devils (third term): “For they be very familiar with devils, of whom they enquire what their enemies do, or other such things” (White, 54). Virginian priest use devils to provide with the ability to perform divination of future events. These devils come in the form of birds. They have “fasten a small black bird about their ears as a badge of their office” (White, 54). White draws this priest with a little black duck attached to his ear and in the background is a pond where other priests are hunting for water fowl. White is not referring to devils in the strict Christian sense, but rather as intermediaries between the upper and lower worlds, who provide the priests’ the ability to practice the art of divination. Virginians “give great credit unto their speech, which the often find to be true” (White, 54). Their priests’ prophesy about more English coming to their country in the future, and eliminating them turned out to be correct. Le Moyne also remarks that Timucuan sorcerers’ divination are usually correct and come to fruition.

 Plate XVIII is particularly complicated in its meaning. White entitles the Plate as “Their Dances which they use for higher feasts,” which involves a circle enclosed by seven posts that are carved with human faces. To the Premodern mind, an image of circle outline by seven carved anthropomorphic posts is striking, because it involves the geometrical form of a circle outline by seven points. In Plate XVIII, the resemblance between the circle and the number seven is not accidental: circle represents perfection and the infinite; and seven is the sacred number which correlates the days of creation, celestial spheres, metals, and days of the week in one unity. White is not ignorant of this resemblance and is deliberately drawn as such, because in the middle of the circle, three virgins are dancing.

Plate XVIII has a circle, seven idols, and three virgins inside the circle. The Premodern imagery is very obvious. White is arguing that Virginians, though not fully conscious, understand the nature and order of the cosmos without faith or reason. The three virgins in the center of the circle are the new world, because just as three virgins have not been corrupted, so the new world has not been corrupted by the customs of the Old world (Europe, Asia, and Africa). Above the New world are the seven celestial spheres, which are named after the gods, so the carved posts are effigies of those celestial gods. Circle represents infinity. The people dancing outside of seven celestial spheres represent the Zodiac and other fixed stars. This religious ritual is “done after the sun is set for avoiding the heat” (White, 64). This religious ritual is done at night as the stars light up the sky. White’s Premodern imagination is hard at work in the creation of Plate XVIII, because he wants to reveal the natural and savage understanding of the cosmos opposed to unnatural and civilized European understanding of the cosmos. 

Plate XXI and XXII describe their idol Kiwasa. White says that “these poor souls have none other knowledge of god although I think them very desirous to know the truth” (White, 71). Virginians’ religious understanding is limited to their idolatry (fourth term). Their idol does not even look like them, but “whose head is like the head of the people of Florida, the face is flesh color, the breast is white, the rest is all black, the thighs are spotted with white” (White, 71). Every time White uses the locution “these poor godless souls,” he always means the opposite.  The colors of the Idol are interesting: black and white versus flesh color and red. White is an artist, so he knows color, and likes to hide messages in his pictures, so black/white and flesh/red are two sequences of opposites. Flesh and red are opposites, because flesh is the body and red is blood (outside versus inside).

The idol Kiwasa is located in the temple of dead chiefs, so an idol painted with two sequences of opposites black/white and outside/inside is contained in a temple which also dual meaning life/death. Three sequences of opposites are contained in one place with the dead chiefs. White is suggesting that these Virginians already have a natural understanding of the Trinity without the benefit of divine revelation or reason due to nature; because he finishes his remark about these godless Indians with they are “desirous to know the truth.” Three sequences of opposites are contained in perfect unity with the idol in the temple. The Trinity is a threefold division in one unity, which each person in the Trinity is a unity of opposition. The second person (Christ) is god and man. The first person (the Father) is punisher and lawgiver. The third person (Holy Spirit) is beginning and ending. These three persons of God are reducible to one God (or ousia). White is very clever in showing the Virginians natural understanding of the Trinity is not based on faith or reason, but nature. Montaigne would be proud.    

Harriot and White have different views about the Virginians and their religion, but they do not differ so much. Harriot is more straightforward; while White is more ironic in presenting their religious views. Harriot is frankly more concerned about listing Virginia’s commodities than being clever. White is also far more familiar with Huguenots attempt to colonize Florida with Ft Carolina, because he specifically mentions their failed attempt in his narrative. “I have in hand the History of Florida which should be first set forth because it was discovered by the Frenchman long before the discovery of Virginia” (White, 41). White compares and contrasts the Floridians with the Virginians in his Plates. In Plate XIV, Virginians are smoking their fish on racks above the open fire, “not after the manner of the people of Florida” (White, 59). The towns of Virginians “are in like manner to unto those which are in Florida” (White, 66); while the nails of Virginian women “are not long, as the women of Florida” (White, 47). White also knows Le Moyne, who settles in England in 1580, for religious reasons. His style of painting the Virginians is very similar to Le Moyne’s paintings of Timucuans. 

Harriot and White regard America as Montaigne: a natural place not spoiled by the corruption of Europe. Harriot mentions how the water is drinkable in Virginia in contrast to England, and how an acre of Virginia is far more productive than acre in England in terms of generating bushels of grain. In Plate 16, White makes a remark, which sounds exactly like Montaigne in describing the eating customs of the Virginians: “They are very sober in their eating, and drinking, and consequently very long lived, because they do not oppress nature” (White, 61). White correlates custom with nature, whereby a custom can oppress nature or not. Europeans, on the other hand, in their eating and drinking customs oppress nature, because they eat and drink too much, so they acquire diseases, such as the gout. Like Montaigne, Harriot and White are far more positive about the Virginians than French Huguenots are about Timucuans or Araucanians. White believes that Virginians have a natural understanding of the Trinity and the cosmos without the benefit of faith, reason, or an explicit concept of God, but from Nature. Montaigne would have loved Whites’ Plates of noble Virginian savages. He would be keen on their hidden meanings and ironies. .