La Processione del Re di Cochin nelle Relationi Universali di Giovanni Botero con le incisioni di Hans Burgkmair (1618)

The curiosity, which was aroused by recent geographical discoveries and catechetical trips carried out by missionaries in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries, concerning the four continents that were known at the time and the people inhabiting them and their customs, inspired the Relationi Universali which was published in 1591 by the Piedmontese Jesuit Giovanni Botero (1544-1617). Originally conceived as a statistical examination of the spread of ecumenical Christianity, the work widened during the following five years to represent an organic repertoire of anthropogeography, with systematic information on physical configuration, size of population, economic resources, military power and political constitution of all states of the world.Due to its accuracy, the Relationi was a huge improvement compared to similar works of that time and for almost a century it was an informative text widely known and published in several editions. Among them, the posthumous one of 1618 and 1622-23, prepared by the Venetian Alessandro de Vecchi, which included engravings of Hans Burgkmeir depicting the natives of the Americas, East India and Arabia in their distinctive costumes, along with monstrous creatures that seem to come from medieval fantasy. This paper focuses on the musical scenes included in the section dedicated to the Procession of the King of Cochin, and their iconographic and textual sources.