ABSTRACT
When Armusia-a Portuguese venturer in John Fletcher’s The Island Princess (c. 1618-1621)—arrives on the island of Tidore, he marvels at its perfumed wind and rare spices (1.3.17-22).1 His attention to Tidore’s spices would have reminded early modern audiences that Tidore was one of the “Spice Islands,” an archipelago in North Maluku. At the time of the play’s first recorded performance-26 December 1621-the clove grew only in Maluku.2 Because the spice was prized for its ability to preserve and season meat as well as for its supposed aphrodisiacal and medicinal properties, Maluku became a destination for many merchants.3 With a bundle of cloves light enough to carry, a merchant could quickly make a considerable profit in European ports.4 Characterising the clove as a “Wonder of Nature” in Conquista de las Islas Molucas (1609)—one of Fletcher’s source texts-the Spanish priest and poet Bartholomew Leonardo de Argensola laments that “the precious Commodity, which gives Power and Wealth to those Kings […] causes their Wars.”5 Yet Armusia exhibits a relative lack of interest in trade. He appears only to have followed his desire to behold “new worlds” to the balmy isle of Tidore (1.3.6-14).
