ATTEMPTS TO SECURE ASSISTANCE.
An enterprise so vast and hazardous as that proposed by Columbus was
not likely to receive adequate assistance from any private benefactor.
Though the Portuguese had long been considered daring navigators, no
one of them had yet undertaken an expedition in any way comparable in
point of novelty and boldness with that now proposed. The explorers
of Prince Henry had skirted along the coasts of Africa, following out
lines of discovery that had already been somewhat plainly marked out.
But what Columbus now proposed was the bolder course of cutting loose
from old traditions and methods, and sailing directly west into an
unknown space. Capital was even more conservative and timid in the
fifteenth century than it is at the present time; and therefore great
expeditions were much more dependent upon governmental assistance. It
was not singular, therefore, that Columbus found himself obliged to
seek for governmental support and protection.
But in this, as in so many other details in the life of Columbus, it is
impossible at the present time to be confident that we have ascertained
the exact truth. Many of the early accounts are conflicting; and not a
few of the prevailing impressions are founded on evidence that will not
bear the test of critical examination. For example, nearly all of the
historians assert that Columbus made application for assistance to the
governments of Genoa and Venice.
The only authority for belief that the Admiral applied to Genoa is a
statement of Ramusio, who affirms that he received his information from
Peter Martyr. In the course of the narrative he says that when the
application was rejected, Columbus, at the age of forty, determined to
go to Portugal. Unfortunately, to our acceptance of this circumstantial
statement there are several very serious obstacles. In the first place,
no authority for such an assertion can be found in all the writings
of Peter Martyr. Again, the archives of Genoa have been thoroughly
explored in vain for any evidence of such an application. But most
important of all, the assertion, if true, would prove that Columbus was
born as early as 1430. We should also be obliged to infer that two of
his children by the same mother differed in age by at least thirty-six
years. The impression that Columbus made application for assistance to
Genoa may therefore safely be dismissed as apocryphal.
The evidence in regard to an application to Venice, though less
positive in its nature, is also inconclusive. The Venetian historian
Carlo Antonio Marin, whose history of Venetian commerce was not
published till the year 1800, was the first to give currency to the
story. His authority is this. He says that Francesco Pesaro said to
him some ten or twelve years before,--that is, about 1780,--that in
making some researches in the archives of the Council of Ten, he had
seen and read a letter of Columbus making application to the Venetian
Government for assistance. But although diligent search has since been
made at two different times throughout the archives for the years
between 1470 and 1492, no trace of such a letter has ever been found.
It is possible that this important document may have been destroyed
when, just before the preliminaries of Leoben, in May, 1797, a mob
invaded the hall of the Council of Ten and dispersed such of the papers
as could be found. But until some further evidence comes to light, it
must be considered doubtful whether application to Venice was ever made.
In regard to applications to Portugal, England, and France, the
evidence is less incomplete, though here, too, we meet with not a few
conflicting statements.
In one of his letters to the Spanish sovereigns Columbus says: “For
twenty-seven years I had been trying to get recognition, but at the
end of that period all my projects were turned to ridicule.... But
notwithstanding this fact,” he continues, “I pressed on with zeal, and
responded to France, Portugal, and England that I reserved for the
king and queen those countries and those domains.” Elsewhere he says:
“In order to serve your Highnesses, I listened to neither England
nor Portugal nor France, whose princes wrote me letters which your
Highnesses can see in the hands of Dr. Villalono.”
There is another bit of evidence on this subject that is not less
interesting. On the 19th of March, 1493, Duke of Medina Celi wrote to
Cardinal de Mendoza asking that he might be permitted to send vessels
every year to trade in America, and urging as a reason for this special
favor the fact that he had prevented Columbus from going to the service
of France and had held him to the service of Spain, at a time when he
had opportunities for going elsewhere.
But as if to prevent us from being too confident that we have arrived
at the exact truth, Columbus in another of his letters gives us a
statement which, if it stood alone, would seem to prove that John II.
not only made no offer, but stubbornly refused all assistance. He
says: “The king of Portugal refused with blindness to second me in my
projects of maritime discovery, for God closed his eyes, ears, and all
his senses, so that in fourteen years I was not able to make him listen
to what I advanced.”
From this it would seem to be certain that the offer of Portugal
alluded to in the letter above quoted was not made earlier than 1487,
fully two years after Columbus had arrived in Spain.
That Columbus’s application was made as early as 1474, the Toscanelli
correspondence is sufficient proof. But the moment was not auspicious.
John II., who was then reigning, appears to have had no aversion to
giving aid to such an enterprise; but he was involved in expensive
wars, and any additional drafts upon the treasury would have met with
exceptional difficulty.
But there was another reason that ought not to be overlooked. The
recent maritime history of Portugal had given the Government a very
natural feeling of self-reliance. The extraordinary efforts and
successes of Prince Henry had borne fruit. Portugal had not only
raised up a large number of skilful explorers, but had attracted to
Lisbon all the great navigators of the time. Diego Cam and Behaim
had gone beyond the Congo. Affonso de Aviero had visited the kingdom
of Benin, and Pedro de Covilham had advanced to Calicut by way of
the Red Sea. Affonso de Pavia had reached Abyssinia, and Bartholomew
Diaz was at the point of doubling the Cape of Good Hope. Thus a vast
number of expeditions had been sent out, not only to the coasts of
Africa, but also to the open sea. In 1513 De Mafra testified that
the king of Portugal had sent out two exploring expeditions that had
returned without results. In view of all these facts the refusal of the
Portuguese monarch might easily be explained on the ground of anterior
engagements to his own subjects.
But notwithstanding the assurances of Columbus himself, it is certain
that there was no absolute refusal. On the contrary, there is positive
proof that the king took the matter into most careful consideration.
He not only listened with attention to the scheme, but, if we may
believe the testimony of Fernando, gave a qualified promise of support.
Columbus accepted an invitation of the monarch to unfold his hypothesis
in reference to the extent of Asia, the splendors of the region
described by Marco Polo, the shortness of the distance across the
Atlantic, and the entire practicability of reaching the East Indies by
a directly westward course.
Of this interview we have two accounts, one written by the
Admiral’s son Fernando, and the other by De Barros, the Portuguese
historiographer. According to Fernando, his father supported the
prosecution of the plan by such excellent reasons that the king did
not hesitate to give his consent. But when Columbus, being a man of
lofty and noble ideals, demanded honorable titles and rewards, the
king found the matter quite beyond the means then at his disposal. De
Barros, on the other hand, assures us that the seeming acquiescence of
the king was simply his manner of answering what he regarded as the
unreasonable importunities of Columbus. He considered the navigator
as a vainglorious man, fond of displaying his abilities and given to
fantastic notions, such as those respecting the island of Cipango.
According to this same authority, it was but another way of getting rid
of Columbus that the king referred the whole subject to a committee of
the Council for Geographical Affairs.
It is said that councils of war never fight, and that advisory boards
regard the promoters of new schemes as their natural enemies. The
committee to whom the king referred the proposal of Columbus was made
up of two Jewish physicians and a bishop. Although the physicians,
Roderigo and Joseph, were reputed as the most able cosmographers of
the realm, they had not much hesitation in deciding that the project
was extravagant and visionary. With this judgment the ecclesiastical
member of the council seems to have agreed.
The king, however, as if unwilling to lose any valuable opportunity,
does not appear to have been satisfied with this answer. As the story
goes, he convoked his royal council, and asked their advice whether to
adopt this new route, or to pursue that which had already been opened.
Von Concelos, the historian of King John II., has given a graphic
account of the discussion held before this council. The Bishop of
Ceuta, the same important dignitary that had been a member of the
committee of three, opposed this scheme in a cool and deliberate
speech. The opposite side was presented by Dom Pedro de Meneses with so
much eloquence and power that the impression he made quite surpassed
that of the colder reasonings of the bishop. What followed was
apparently prompted by a consciousness that the advocates of the scheme
were likely to be successful. The bishop now proposed a very unworthy
scheme. He asked that Columbus might be kept in suspense while a vessel
should be secretly despatched by the king to discover whether there was
any foundation for his theory. The king appears not to have been above
the adoption of so base a proposition. Columbus was required to furnish
for the consideration of the council a plan of his proposed voyage,
together with the charts and maps with which he intended to guide his
course. A small vessel was despatched, ostensibly to the Cape de Verde
islands, but with private instructions to proceed on the route pointed
out by Columbus. The officer had no heart in the enterprise, and it was
a complete failure. Sailing westward for several days, they encountered
storms, and the sailors, losing their courage, returned to ridicule the
project as impossible.
When these facts came to be known, they produced a very natural
impression on the mind of Columbus. Disgusted with the treatment he had
received from the Portuguese, he quitted Lisbon for Spain at a date
which cannot be determined with precision, but probably in the latter
part of the year 1484 or in the early part of 1485. His departure
had to be secret, lest he should be detained either by the king or
his creditors. Color is given to the supposition that he was under
grave charges of some kind by the fact that King John, when, some
years later, inviting him to return to Portugal, deemed it necessary
to insure him “against arrest on account of any process, civil or
criminal, that might be pending against him.”
Now, in considering all these accounts, it is not difficult to imagine
that in his efforts to promote his great schemes, Columbus had been
kept in poverty. But the reasons for his leaving in secret, and even
his movements on leaving Portugal, are involved in uncertainty.
It has also very often been held by modern historians that Columbus,
immediately after entering Spain, found his way to the monastery of
La Rabida, near Palos. The authority for this belief, moreover, is
nothing less than a circumstantial account given by Fernando. But the
assertion has been proved to be incorrect. In the trial of 1513, in
which Diego Columbus attempted to establish certain claims against the
Government, two witnesses gave sworn testimony in regard to the meeting
at La Rabida. This testimony is still to be seen in the records of
the trial; and the details of the evidence make it almost absolutely
certain that the visit of Columbus to that famous monastery was not
when he first entered Spain in 1484 or 1485, but as late as September
or October of 1491.
Of another interesting effort, however, we have more positive
information. It was probably before leaving Portugal that he despatched
his brother Bartholomew to make application to the king of England.
But whatever the date of the application, it was not successful.
Whether the presentation of the case was made orally or in writing can
perhaps never be determined. It is known that he was in England for a
considerable period; but no trace of the application itself has ever
been found in the English authorities of the time. After remaining
in England probably until 1488, Bartholomew went to France, where he
remained until 1494. Though it seems probable that he received some
encouragement at the French court, even the probability rests upon no
documentary evidence except the assertion of Columbus, already quoted.
That hopes were held out, may perhaps be inferred from the fact that
when, almost at the last moment, Columbus turned his back upon the
Spanish court, he decided to go to France.
As to the course pursued by Columbus after he reached Spain, there
is also some uncertainty. This is owing to the impossibility of
reconciling some of the statements of Fernando with many of the other
statements found in the contemporaneous records. If the narrative of
the son in regard to the course of the father is followed, the student
will find himself in a labyrinth of difficulties. Fernando would have
us believe that immediately after entering Spain his father went to the
court of Medina Celi, and a little later had his famous experience at
the monastery of La Rabida. But it is impossible to reconcile such a
statement with the subsequent current of events. We know, as we shall
presently see, that Columbus was two years in the house of the Duke
of Medina Celi, and that at the end of that period he took a letter
of introduction and commendation to Cardinal Mendoza at the court of
Ferdinand and Isabella. We know also that the visit to La Rabida was
the cause of a letter being written which induced Columbus to take
that journey to the court, which resulted in the ultimate adoption
of his cause. The letter of Medina, moreover, assured the monarch
that Columbus was on the point of taking his enterprise to the court
of France. This assertion appears to be altogether incompatible with
the supposition that the abode of Columbus with Medina Celi was in
the early part of his residence in Spain. Not to present a tedious
array of irreconcilable details, it is perhaps enough to say that
if the statement of Fernando is once rejected, the way is, for the
most part, easy and clear. If we once adopt the supposition that the
abode with Medina Celi began in 1489, and that the visit to La Rabida
was in September or October of 1491, we shall rest on the authority
of Las Casas, and shall find that the difficulties in the way of
accounting for the movements of Columbus are chiefly removed. Against
this supposition, moreover, there is no evidence except the statement
of Fernando, published not less than eighty years after the events it
purports to describe.
With this explanation let us endeavour to point out the course of
Columbus in the light of the original evidence.
Before we can understand the course that was taken, we must glance at
the general condition of Spain.
The modern Inquisition was established in Castile by royal decree in
September of 1480. It proceeded with so much energy that in the course
of the following year, it is estimated that no less than two thousand
persons were burned at the stake. The queen appears to have had some
scruples in regard to this wholesale slaughter; but these were allayed
by Pope Sixtus the Fourth, who encouraged her by an audacious reference
to the example of Christ, who, he said, established his kingdom by the
destruction of idolatry. This teaching was effective. In the autumn
of 1483 the terrible Torquemada was appointed Inquisitor-General, and
clothed with full powers to reorganize the Holy Office and exterminate
heresy. From that time until the end of this inquisitor’s term of
office, according to the estimation of Llorente, the annual number
of persons condemned to torture was more than six thousand, and in
the course of the whole period more than ten thousand were burned
alive. The success of the Inquisition in Castile was so satisfactory
that Ferdinand resolved to introduce it into Aragon. Notwithstanding
a remonstrance of the Cortes, the _auto-da-fé_, with all its horrors,
was set up at Saragossa in the month of May, 1485. The Aragonese,
despairing of any other way of protecting themselves, resolved upon an
appalling act of violence. Arbues, the most odious of the inquisitors,
was attacked by a band of conspirators and assassinated on his knees
before the great altar of the cathedral, in a manner that reminds us
of the death of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. The whole kingdom was
consequently thrown into turmoil.
But there were other causes of anxiety. This very year the prevalence
of the plague added to the general solicitude. In some of the southern
districts of the kingdom the ravages of the pestilence showed not
only the appalling condition of the people, but also the necessity of
governmental assistance. In several of the cities as many as eight or
ten thousand of the inhabitants were swept away. In Seville alone the
number that perished this very year was no less than fifteen thousand.
Just at this juncture, moreover, the coin of the realm was adulterated,
and a fatal shock was given to commercial credit. The people very
generally refused to receive the debased money in payment of debts.
Prices of ordinary articles rose to such a height as to be above
the reach of the poorer classes of the community. Great destitution
prevailed, and the resources of the Government were put to the severest
strain. Even if there had been no other tax upon the treasures of
the king and queen, the time would not have been propitious for an
application like that of Columbus.
But there was another and a still more important reason. For more
than three years the terrible war against the Moors had been taxing
the resources of the united armies of Ferdinand and Isabella. When
the Genoese navigator entered Spain, the court was making active
preparations for a vigorous continuation of that titanic struggle. The
rival kings of Granada had formed a coalition that now called for the
most prompt and vigorous action. The headquarters of the king and queen
were established at Cordova, where the active operations in the field
could be most easily and successfully directed; and all the resources
of Castile and Aragon were called into requisition to meet these
emergencies in the famous contest of the Cross against the Crescent.
No one can fairly judge either of the generosity or of the justice
of the monarchs in dealing with Columbus, without taking into
consideration all these prior obligations. At the very moment when this
enterprising navigator applied for assistance, there must have arisen
to the minds of Ferdinand and Isabella a vivid consciousness of the
ominous ferment caused by the work of the Inquisition; of the suffering
occasioned by the plague; of the starvation that everywhere appealed
for help in consequence of the debasement of the currency and the rise
in prices; and, finally, of the all-absorbing necessity of bringing
every resource of the country to bear upon the ending of this terrible
war against Granada. Nor can it be forgotten that the war was still
to make its demands upon the country for six years. In view of all
the facts, it is difficult to imagine a concurrence of circumstances
more unfavorable to the application. The monarchs could not have been
justly blamed if they had summarily declared that a granting of the
application was impossible. And yet, that they were unwilling to reject
the application outright, the course of events abundantly shows.
Columbus, in a letter dated the 14th of January, 1493, says that seven
years the twentieth of that month had rolled away since he entered the
service of the Spanish monarchs. This exact statement, corroborated
in substance as it is by others, would seem to fix the date of his
entering the Spanish service as the 20th of January, 1486. What the
nature of this service was, cannot now be determined. Nor do we know
whether from this time he received pecuniary support. The first record
of such assistance, indeed the first authentic documentary evidence
of his being in Spain, occurs in an entry in the books of the royal
treasurer for the 5th of May, 1487. Under this date is found the
following entry: “To-day paid three thousand maravedis [about twenty
dollars] to Christopher Columbus, stranger, who is here employed in
certain things for their Highnesses, under the direction of Alphonso
de Quintanilla, by order of the bishop.” In one of his letters to
Ferdinand, Columbus says: “As soon as your Highness had knowledge of
my desire [to visit the Indies], you protected me and honored me with
favors.”
While there is nothing in these assertions to indicate the exact date
when Columbus began to receive pecuniary assistance, we are justified
in the inference that it was in January of 1486.
There is no evidence, however, that Columbus presented himself at the
Spanish capital before the following spring. Surely the times must have
seemed to him inauspicious. The monarchs had established themselves at
Cordova as the most convenient place for the headquarters of the army.
Early in the year, the king marched off to lay siege to the Moorish
city of Illora, while Isabella remained at Cordova to forward the
necessary troops and supplies. A little later we find both monarchs,
in person, carrying on the siege of Moclin. Scarcely had they returned
to Cordova, however, when they were obliged to set out for Galicia to
suppress the rebellion of the Count of Lemos.
During this summer of military turmoil, Columbus remained at Cordova
vainly waiting for an opportunity to present his cause. Fortunately
he was not without some encouragement; for he had gained the favor of
Alonzo de Quintanilla, whose guest he became, and through whom he made
the acquaintance of Geraldini, the preceptor of the younger children of
Ferdinand and Isabella.
When the monarchs repaired to the northern town of Salamanca for the
winter, Columbus also went thither with his friends Quintanilla and
Geraldini. Here it was that the cause of the explorer first had a
formal hearing.
At this audience it is not probable that Queen Isabella was present;
at least, the only part of the discussion taken by the monarchs seems
to have been that of the king. It is said that Columbus unfolded his
scheme with entire self-possession. He appears to have been neither
dazzled nor daunted; for in a letter to the sovereign, in 1501, he
declares that on this occasion “he felt himself kindled as with a fire
from on high, and considered himself as an agent chosen by Heaven to
accomplish a grand design.”
But so important a matter as that now urged upon the sovereigns was not
to be entered upon lightly or in haste. However willing the king may
have been to be the promoter of discoveries far more important than
those which had shed glory upon Portugal, he was too cool and shrewd
a man to decide a matter hastily which involved so many scientific
principles. Of the details of what followed we have no authentic
account. After more than a hundred years had passed away, and the glory
of the discovery had come in some measure to be appreciated, the claim
was set up that a congress or junta of learned men was called together,
and that the whole subject was submitted to their consideration. The
account, however, is accompanied with many suspicious circumstances.
The historian Remesal was a Dominican monk and a member of the
monastery of St. Stephen at Salamanca, where, it is said, the junta
was held. In his narrative he claims that the ecclesiastical members,
for the most part monks of St. Stephen, listened with approval to
the presentation of the case, while those who might be called the
scientific members strenuously opposed it. This statement, which is
the basis of Irving’s account, is not only inherently improbable, but
is supported by no contemporaneous evidence whatever. The absence of
such evidence, moreover, is enough to condemn the whole story. The
records of the monastery, which are supposed to be complete, contain
no reference to any such meeting. Las Casas, himself a Dominican,
would have been sure to introduce the account into his narrative if it
had rested upon any basis of fact. He makes no allusion to any such
meeting, and we are forced to conclude that the story was fabricated
for ecclesiastical purposes. But although no such formal meeting was
ever held, there is evidence that Ferdinand obtained, in an informal
way, the opinions of some of the most learned men of the time.
The city of Salamanca, where this order was issued, seemed in every way
favourable for such a hearing; for at this ancient capital was situated
one of the most renowned universities of Spain. It is difficult to
suppose that the professors of that venerable institution were not
familiar with the latest theories in regard to the sphericity of the
earth; but notwithstanding this fact, Columbus had to confront, not
only the prudent conservatism of learning, but also the obstinate
conservatism of the Church. The faculties were made up partly of
ecclesiastics, and partly of others who soon became fully imbued
with the ecclesiastical spirit. It was at a time when there was
no more thought of tolerating heresy than there was of tolerating
arson. The Inquisition, as we have just seen, had recently been
established. In both the king and the queen an ardent religious zeal
was united with great political and military skill, as well as great
personal popularity. Heresy was the most dangerous of crimes, and
the strictest adherence to traditional doctrines was encouraged by
all the considerations of loyalty, of interest, and of prudence. To
the dark colours in which heresy was painted by the Church in the
fifteenth century, a still deeper hue was now added by the horrors
of the Moorish wars. It is therefore easy to explain why the people
of Spain surpassed the people of other countries in the fervour of
religious intolerance. Columbus was obliged to plead the cause of his
departure from traditional methods in an atmosphere charged with all
these predispositions, prejudices, and motives. By the vulgar crowd the
navigator had persistently been scoffed at as a visionary; but with
something of the hopeful enthusiasm of an adventurer, he had steadily
maintained the belief that it was only necessary to meet a body of
enlightened men to insure their conversion to his cause.
But his hopefulness was destined to be disabused. We can well believe
that his project appeared in a somewhat unfavourable light before the
learned men of the day. To them he was simply an obscure navigator,
and a foreigner at that, depending upon nothing more than the force
of the reasons he might be able to present. Some of them, no doubt,
looked upon him simply as an adventurer, while others were disposed to
manifest their impatience at any doctrinal innovation. The predominance
of opinion seemed to intrench itself in the belief that after so many
cosmographers and navigators had been studying and exploring the globe
for centuries, it was simply an absurd presumption to suppose that any
new discoveries of importance were now to be made.
The discussion, almost at the very first, was taken out of the
domain of science. Instead of attempting to present astronomical and
geographical objections to the proposed voyage, the objectors assailed
the scheme with citations from the Bible and from the Fathers of the
Church. The book of Genesis, the Psalms of David, the Prophets, and
the Gospels were all put upon the witness-stand and made to testify
to the impossibility of success. Saint Chrysostom, Saint Augustine,
Lactantius, Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory, and a host of others, were
cited as confirmatory witnesses. Philosophical and mathematical
demonstrations received no consideration. The simple proposition of
Columbus that the earth was spherical was met with texts of Scripture
in a manner that was worthy of Father Jasper.
These various presentations, however, were by no means in vain;
for there was far from unanimity of opinion. There were a few who
admitted that Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Isadore might be right
in believing the earth to be globular in form; though even these were
inclined to deny that circumnavigation was possible. It is a pleasure
to note, however, that there was one conspicuous exception to the
general current of opposition and resistance. Whether dating from this
period we do not know, but it is certain that an early interest was
taken in the cause by Diego de Deza, a learned friar of the order of
St. Dominic, who afterward became archbishop of Seville, one of the
highest ecclesiastical dignitaries of the realm. Deza appears to have
risen quite above the limitations of mere ecclesiastical lore; for he
not only took a generous interest in the cause of the explorer, but he
seconded and encouraged his efforts with all the means at his command.
Perhaps it was by his efforts that so deep an impression was made on
the most learned men of the conference. However this may have been, the
ignorant and the prejudiced remained obstinate in their opposition, and
so the season at Salamanca passed away without bringing the monarchs to
any decision.
After the winter of 1486-87, there occurred a long and painful period
of delays. In the following spring the court departed from Salamanca
and went to Cordova to prepare for the memorable campaign against
Malaga. Columbus accompanied the expedition in the vain hope that there
would be an opportunity for a further hearing. At one time when the
Spanish armies were encamped on the hills and plains surrounding the
beleaguered city, Columbus was summoned to court; but amid the din
of a terrible contest there was no place for a calm consideration of
the great maritime project. The summer was full of incident and peril.
At one time the king was surprised and nearly cut off by the craft of
the old Moorish monarch; at another a Moorish fanatic attempted to
assassinate both king and queen, only to be cut to pieces after he had
wounded the prince of Portugal and the Marchioness de Moya, supposing
them to be Ferdinand and Isabella.
But it is easy to imagine that this seemingly untoward event
contributed to help on the cause of Columbus. The Marchioness de Moya
had warmly espoused his cause, and the attempt upon her life can hardly
have failed to appeal to the interest of Queen Isabella.
Malaga surrendered in August, and the king and queen almost immediately
returned to Cordova. The pestilence, however, very soon made that old
city an unsafe abode. For a while the court was in what might be called
the turmoil of migration. At one time it was in Valladolid, at another
in Saragossa, at another in Medina de Campo. But during all this period
its ardent business was the pressing forward of the Spanish armies into
the Moorish territories. As every reader of Irving knows, the ground
was stubbornly contested, inch by inch. Columbus remained for the most
part with the army; but he sought in vain for the quiet necessary for a
dispassionate hearing.
It could hardly have been otherwise. Ferdinand and Isabella have
often been reproached with needless delays in the matter of rendering
the required assistance; but such a reproach cannot be justified. The
custom of the time sanctioned, even if it did not require, that the
court should accompany the military camp. The Government was not only
at the head of the army, but it was actually and continuously in the
field. All other questions were absorbed by the military interests
of the moment; and it would have been singular indeed, if, in such
a situation, the resources of the treasury had been called upon to
subsidize an expedition that as yet had been unable to secure the
approval of the learned men who had been asked to consider its merits.
It would be difficult to show that the course taken by the monarchs
was not both wise and natural. The period of the war was a fit time in
which to ascertain the merits of the proposal; and if after the contest
should be brought to an end, the reports should be found favorable, the
expedition could be fitted out with such assistance as might comport
with the condition of the treasury and the necessities of the case.
But, on the other hand, it was not singular that Columbus was at this
time wearied and discouraged by the delays. The end of the war was
still involved in great uncertainty, and there was no assurance that
even at the return of peace his proposals would receive the royal
approval and support. It was not unnatural, then, that he began to
think of applying elsewhere for assistance. In the spring of 1488 he
wrote to the king of Portugal, asking permission to return to that
country. The reply, received on the 20th of March, not only extended
the desired invitation, but also gave him the significant assurance
of protection against any suits of a criminal or civil nature that
might be pending against him. About the same time he seems also to
have received a letter from Henry VII. of England, inviting him to
that country, and holding out certain vague promises of encouragement.
Though this letter was doubtless the fruit of the efforts made by his
brother Bartholomew, there is no evidence that Columbus ever thought
favourably of accepting the invitation. Why it was that he delayed
going to Portugal until late in the autumn cannot be determined with
certainty. It is, however, not difficult to conjecture. Harrisse has
found in the treasury-books memoranda of small amounts of money paid
to Columbus from time to time during his stay in the vicinity of the
Spanish court. Ferdinand and Isabella were sufficiently interested in
the project to be unwilling that he should carry his proposition to
another monarch. At least, they were anxious that he should not commit
himself elsewhere until they should have had opportunity to examine
into the project with care; and then, at the close of the war, if it
seemed best, they would give him the needed support. Accordingly,
elaborate preparations for a new hearing were at once made. No less
than three royal orders were issued,--one summoning Columbus to a
council of learned men at Seville; one directing the city authorities
to provide lodgings for the navigator, as for an officer of the
government; another commanding the magistrates of the cities along the
way to furnish accommodations for him and for his attendants.
These orders were all carried out; but the conference was postponed,
and finally interrupted by the opening of the campaign for the summer.
The annals of Seville contain a statement that in this campaign
Columbus was found fighting and “giving proofs of the distinguishing
valor which accompanied his wisdom and his lofty desires.” What we
positively know of the course of events may be summed up as follows.
On the 3d of July, 1487, he received the second stipend in money. At
the end of the following August we find him at the siege of Malaga.
In the winter of 1487-88 he was at Cordova, when his relations with
Beatriz Enriquez resulted in the birth of his son Fernando on the 15th
of August, 1488. On the 16th of June of this year Columbus received
the third allowance of money. Early in the spring he had asked for
permission to return to Portugal, and the letter granting his request
bears date of the 20th of March. The journey was not undertaken,
however, until after the birth of his son. When he went, and how long
he remained in Portugal, are uncertain; for the only positive proof
that he took the journey at all is a memorandum in his own handwriting,
dated at Lisbon in December of 1488. It is, however, interesting to
note that this memorandum, made in his copy of Cardinal d’Ailly’s
“Imago Mundi,” calls attention to the return of Diaz from his voyage to
the Cape of Good Hope. It is, however, definitely ascertained that he
returned in the spring of 1489; for on the 12th of May of that year an
order was issued to all the authorities of the cities through which he
passed, to furnish him all needed support and assistance at the royal
expense.
The fact that this is the last time that Columbus figures in the
order-books of the treasury has led Harrisse to infer that the
navigator saw no immediate chance of success, and so for a time
abstained from the further pressing of his suit.
We are thus brought to the autumn of 1489, when Columbus, seeing
little reason for hope, but still not so discouraged as to abandon
his cause, formed an acquaintance which proved to be of incalculable
value. How the acquaintance came about, we have no means of knowing.
The authorities are so at variance with one another on the subject
that there has been much difference of opinion as to the time when the
acquaintance was formed. Irving and the larger number of modern writers
have supposed that the events which resulted from this connection
occurred soon after Columbus entered Spain. Harrisse, however, has
pointed out with great acumen the difficulties in the way of accepting
this supposition, and has established at least an overwhelming
probability that the residence of the navigator with the Duke of Medina
Celi extended from the early months of 1490 to the end of 1491.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century Spain was still very largely
made up of principalities that were practically independent. Two of
these were possessed and governed by the Dukes of Medina Sidonia
and Medina Celi. In the wars against Naples, as well as in the long
struggle against the Moors, these noblemen fitted out expeditions
and conducted campaigns with something like regal independence and
magnitude. They lived in royal splendour, and dispensed a royal
hospitality. As their vast states lay along the sea-coast at the
southwest of Spain, where they had ships and ports, as well as hosts of
retainers, it is not singular that this enterprising refugee from the
Spanish camp found his way into their domains.
With Medina Sidonia, Columbus seems to have had no special success,
though the nobleman is reported to have given him many interviews. The
very splendour of the project may have thrown over it such a colouring
of improbability as to raise a feeling of distrust. To the hard-headed
old hero of so many campaigns, the proposal was simply the undertaking
of an Italian visionary.
But upon Medina Celi the navigator made a more favourable impression.
Unfortunately, we are dependent for information almost solely upon the
statements of the duke. But the narrative has the air of probability.
He says that he entertained Columbus for two years at his house. At one
time he had gone so far as to set apart and fit out several of his own
ships for the purposes of an expedition; but it suddenly occurred to
him that an enterprise of such magnitude and importance should go forth
under no less sanction than that of the sovereign power. Finding that
Columbus in his disappointment had decided to turn next to the king of
France, the duke determined to write to Queen Isabella and recommend
him strongly to her favourable consideration. Among other things, he
wrote that the glory of such an enterprise, if successful, should be
kept by the monarchs of Spain. Of the kind favour of the duke there can
be no question; for the letter of introduction carried by Columbus is
still preserved. This important document not only commends the bearer
to favourable consideration, but it also asks that in case the favour
should be granted, the duke himself might have the privilege of a share
in the enterprise, and that the expedition might be fitted out at his
own port of St. Marie, as a recompense for having waived his privilege
in favour of the grant.
During the next year and a half the prospect seemed in no way more
propitious. Columbus, even though he now had the support of Medina
Celi, must have been reduced to something like desperation. The court
was making preparations for a final campaign against Granada, with a
full determination never to raise the siege until the Spanish flag
should float above the last Moorish citadel. Columbus knew that when
once the campaign should be entered upon, it would be vain to expect
any attention to his cause. Accordingly, he pressed for an immediate
answer. The sovereigns called upon the queen’s confessor, Talavera, to
obtain the opinions of the scientific men and to report their decision.
This order was complied with; but after due consideration, a majority
decided that the proposed scheme was vain and impossible.
This answer would seem to have been, for the time at least, conclusive;
but the men consulted were by no means unanimous. On the contrary,
several of the learned members strenuously exerted themselves in favour
of the enterprise. Of these the most earnest and influential was the
friar Diego de Deza, who, owing to his influential position as tutor of
Prince John, had ready access to the royal ear. The matter, therefore,
was not peremptorily dismissed. The monarchs, instead of rejecting the
application outright, ordered Talavera to inform Columbus that the
expense of the war and the cares attending it made it impossible to
undertake any new enterprise; but that when peace should be assured,
the sovereigns would have leisure and inclination to reconsider the
whole question.
Disheartened and indignant at what he considered nothing more than a
courtly method of evading and dismissing his suit, Columbus resolved
immediately to turn his back upon the Spanish court. For six years
he had now pleaded his cause, apparently in vain. Hoping for nothing
further, he determined to seek the patronage of the king of France.
It is interesting to note that, taking his boy Diego with him, he
made his way to that very seaport town upon which a little later he
was to bestow an undying fame by embarking from it on his memorable
expedition. Notwithstanding the fact that Medina Celi had given him a
home, he must have been reduced to extreme poverty. He seems not only
to have travelled on foot, but also to have been under the necessity
of begging even for a crust of bread.
Just before he was to reach the port at Palos, Columbus stopped at the
gate of the convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida to ask for food and
water for himself and his little boy. It happened that the prior of
the convent was Juan Parez de Marchena, a friar who had once been the
confessor of Queen Isabella. He appears to have had some geographical
knowledge; for he at once interested himself in the conversation of
Columbus, and was greatly impressed with the grandeur of his views.
On hearing that the navigator was to abandon Spain and turn to the
court of France, his patriotism was aroused. He not only urged the
hospitality of the convent upon the traveller until further advice
could be taken, but within a few days he enlisted two or three persons
of influence for his cause. One of these was Garcia Fernandez, a
physician; another was Martin Alonzo Pinzon, an experienced navigator
of Palos. Pinzon, on hearing what was proposed, was so fully convinced
of the feasibility of the plan that he offered to bear the expense of
the new application, and, if successful, to assist the expedition with
his purse and his person.
But it was to the prior of the convent that Columbus was to be most
indebted. The result of their several interviews was the determination
that the queen’s old confessor should make one further appeal. With
this end in view, a courier was despatched with a letter. It was
successful. After a wearisome journey of fourteen days, the messenger
returned with a note summoning Perez to the royal court, then encamped
about Granada. At midnight of the same day the prior mounted his mule
and set out on his mission of persuasion.
On arriving at the camp, Perez was received with a welcome that gave
him great freedom. As the queen’s old confessor, he had immediate
access to the royal presence, and he pleaded the project of the
navigator with fervid enthusiasm. He defended the scientific principles
on which it was founded; he urged the unquestionable capacity of
Columbus to carry out the undertaking; he pictured not only the
advantages that must come from success, but also the glory that would
accrue to the Government under whose patronage success should be
achieved.
The queen listened with attention. It is interesting to note that
the cause was warmly seconded by the queen’s favourite, the same
Marchioness de Moya whose life had been imperilled by the dagger of the
Moorish fanatic. A decision was reached without much delay. The queen
not only requested that Columbus might be sent to her, but she gave the
messengers a purse to bear the necessary expenses, and to enable the
maritime suitor to travel and present himself with decency and comfort.
The successful friar at once returned to the convent, and reported the
result of his mission to his waiting friends. Without delay, Columbus
exchanged his garb for one suited to the atmosphere of the court, and
set out for the royal presence.
In his journal, as quoted by Las Casas, Columbus tells us that he
arrived at Granada in time to see the end of that memorable war. After
a struggle of nearly eight hundred years, the Crescent had at length
succumbed to the Cross, and the banners of Spain were planted on the
highest tower of the Alhambra. The jubilee that followed had all the
characteristics of Spanish magnificence. But in these festivities
Columbus probably took only the part of an observer. By one of the
Spanish historians he is represented as “melancholy and dejected in the
midst of general rejoicings.”
As soon as the festivities were over, his cause had a hearing. Fernando
de Talavera, now elevated to the archbishopric of Granada, was
appointed to carry on the negotiations. At the very outset, however,
difficulties arose that seemed to be insuperable. Columbus would listen
to none but princely conditions. He made the stupendous mistake of
demanding that he should be admiral and viceroy over all the countries
he might discover. As pecuniary compensation, he also asked for a tenth
of all gains either by trade or conquest.
It can hardly be considered singular that the courtiers were indignant
at what they regarded as his extravagant requirements. Though Columbus
had seen much and hard service at sea, his experience hitherto had
not been of a nature to reveal any extraordinary ability. For six
years he had been simply a wandering suppliant for royal favour.
What he now demanded was to be put into the very highest rank in the
realm. As admiral and viceroy he would stand next to the sovereigns
on land, as well as on sea. What he asked as compensation, though it
would stimulate every temptation to abuse, was not of so unreasonable
a nature. But to promote this obscure navigator, and a foreigner at
that, over all the veterans who had for perhaps half a century been
faithfully earning recognition, seemed very naturally to the archbishop
preposterous indeed. One of the courtiers observed with a sneer that
it was a shrewd arrangement that he proposed, whereby in any event
he would have the honor of the command and the rank, while he had
nothing whatever to lose in case of failure. Though Columbus, doubtless
remembering the offer of Pinzon, offered to furnish one eighth of the
cost, on condition of having one eighth of the profits, his terms were
pronounced inadmissible. The commission represented to the queen that,
even in case of success, the demands would be exorbitant, while in case
of failure, as evidence of extraordinary credulity, they would subject
the Crown to ridicule.
More than all this, the terms demanded were of such a nature as to stir
the jealousy and hostility of all the less fortunate naval commanders.
Columbus has been represented by Irving and many of the other
biographers as having shown in these demands a loftiness of spirit and
a firmness of purpose that are worthy of the highest commendation. But
when one looks at the far-reaching consequences of the terms insisted
upon, one can hardly fail to see in them the source of very much of the
unhappiness and opposition that followed him throughout his career.
The strenuousness of his terms, by throwing wide open the door to every
form of abuse, detracted from his happiness and diminished his claim to
greatness.
But Columbus would listen to nothing less than all these conditions.
More moderate terms were offered, and such as now seem in every way to
have been honourable and advantageous. But all was in vain. He would
not cede a single point in his demands. The negotiations accordingly
had to be broken off. He determined to abandon the court of Spain
forever rather than detract one iota from the dignity of the great
enterprise he had in view. We are told that, taking leave of his
friends, he mounted his mule and sallied forth from Santa Fé, intending
immediately to present his cause at the court of France.
But no sooner had he gone than the friends who had ardently supported
him were filled with something like consternation. They determined to
make one last appeal directly to the queen. The agents of this movement
were the royal treasurer, Luis de Santangel, and Alonzo de Quintanilla.
Santangel was the one who presented the cause. On two points he placed
special stress, and he urged them with great power and eloquence. The
first may be condensed into the phrase that while the loss would, in
any event, be but trifling, the gain, in case of success, would be
incalculable. In the second place he urged that if the enterprise were
not undertaken by Spain, it would doubtless be taken up by one of the
rival nations and carried to triumphant success. He then appealed
to what the queen was in the habit of doing for the glory of God,
the exaltation of the Church, and the extension of her own power and
dominion. Here, it was urged, was an opportunity to surpass them all.
He called attention to the offer of Columbus to bear an eighth of the
expense, and advised her that the requisites for the enterprise would
not exceed three thousand crowns. The Marchioness de Moya was present,
and added her eloquence to that of Santangel.
These representations had the desired effect, and the queen resolved
on the spot to undertake the enterprise. The story, so often repeated,
that the queen pledged her jewels for the necessary expense, rests
upon no contemporaneous evidence, and has recently been shown to be
extremely improbable. It was not necessary, for Santangel declared that
he was ready to supply the money out of the treasury of Aragon. The
adoption of the cause by the queen was complete and unconditional.
It was in the narrow pass at the foot of Mount Elvira, a few miles from
Granada, that the swift messenger of this good news overtook Columbus
on his dejected retreat. No very fertile fancy is required to imagine
with some confidence the emotions of the explorer as he listened to the
story of the queen’s new decision. Turning the rein, he hastened his
jaded mule with all possible speed to the royal court at Santa Fé.
For reasons which it is not easy to understand, there were still
considerable delays before the requisite papers received their final
signature. Whether there were disagreements still to be adjusted
cannot now be known. Columbus returned to the court early in February,
but it was not until the 17th of April that the stipulations had been
duly made out and signed.
In form the papers were the work of the royal secretary, but they
received the assent and signature of both monarchs. The principal
commission is of so much importance that it is here given in full:--
1. First, your Highnesses, in virtue of your dominion over
the said seas, shall constitute from this time forth the said
Don Christopher Columbus your admiral in all the islands and
territories which he may discover or acquire in the said seas,
this power to continue in him during his life, and at his death
to descend to his heirs and successors from one to another
perpetually, with all the dignities and prerogatives appertaining
to the said office, and according to the manner in which this
dignity has been held by Don Alonzo Henriquez, your High Admiral
of Castile, and by the other admirals in their several districts.
2. Furthermore, your Highnesses shall constitute the said Don
Christopher Columbus your viceroy and governor-general in all the
said islands and territories to be discovered in the said seas;
and for the government of each place three persons shall be named
by him, out of which number your Highnesses shall select one to
hold the office in question.
3. Furthermore, in the acquisition by trade, discovery, or any
other method, of all goods, merchandise, pearls, precious stones,
gold, silver, spices, and all other articles, within the limits
of the said admiralty, the tenth part of their value shall be the
property of the said Don Christopher Columbus, after deducting
the amount expended in obtaining them, and the other nine tenths
shall be the property of your Highnesses.
4. Furthermore, if any controversy or law-suit should arise in
these territories relating to the goods which he may obtain
there, or relating to any goods which others may obtain by trade
in the same places, the jurisdiction in the said cases shall,
by virtue of his office of admiral, pertain to him alone or
his deputy, provided the said prerogative belong to the office
of admiral, according as that dignity has been held by the
above-mentioned Admiral Don Alonzo Henriquez, and the others
of that rank in their several districts, and provided the said
regulation be just.
5. Furthermore, in the fitting out of any fleets for the purpose
of trade in the said territories, the said Don Christopher
Columbus shall on every such occasion be allowed the privilege
of furnishing one eighth of the expenses of the expedition, and
shall at such times receive an eighth part of the profits arising
therefrom.
In the formal commission we find these words:
“We therefore by this commission confer on you the office
of admiral, viceroy, and governor, to be held in hereditary
possession forever, with all the privileges and salaries
pertaining thereto.”
Surely these were extraordinary powers. From any unjust exercise of
supreme authority in the lands Columbus might discover, there was to be
no appeal. The authority was limited, moreover, by neither custom nor
method. In the matter of governorships he was to have the sole right
of nomination, and in all questions of dispute in regard to his own
interest in goods obtained either by himself or by anybody else, he or
his deputy was to have sole jurisdiction.
The temptation to exercise these powers for the oppression of
a barbarous people would seem, even under the most favourable
circumstances, to be quite as much as human nature could bear. But the
circumstances were not favourable. The danger was in the fact that a
high pecuniary premium was put upon the abuse of authority.
The promise of a tenth of all that the Admiral might acquire by
trade, discovery, “or any other method,” was a powerful stimulant
to cruelty and cupidity. Unfortunately, the age was one when every
people that did not avow Christianity was regarded as legitimate
spoil for the Christian invader. This fact took away the last feeble
guarantee of public opinion. In estimating the character of Columbus
we must remember that he was subjected to the temptations of unlimited
authority, of immeasurable opportunity, and of exemption from all
accountability, either to the Government or to public opinion. His
place in history must ultimately be determined by the manner in which
it shall be shown that he administered this trust.
The fact should not be overlooked that there was always a powerful
religious motive in all the plans of Columbus. One of his purposes
in seeking to reach eastern Asia by sailing westward was an opening
of the way for the conversion of the people to Christianity. His
writings abound in expressions of this desire. In all his plans for
his expedition he made prominent his wish to gain the means necessary
for the conquest of the Holy Land. In his nature and his faith there
was much of the religious zeal of the mediæval Crusader, united
with a tendency to indulge in the fervid religious rhetoric of the
seventeenth-century Puritan. Columbus hoped, by these explorations in
the west, to acquire the means of succeeding in that enterprise of
bringing Jerusalem back into the control of Christianity, which for
three centuries had baffled the efforts of all Christendom.
During the six long years of Columbus’s waiting in Spain, the relations
of Ferdinand and Isabella to the projects of Columbus were such as
to merit our high commendation. We have seen that immediately after
his cause was presented to the sovereigns for consideration, it was
referred to the most learned men in the vicinity of the court. It is
difficult to conjecture how any disposition of the question could,
at that time, have been more appropriate. Whenever the subject was
presented anew, a similar reference of the subject was made. From no
one of these references was there received a favourable report. But
when the war had been brought to a close, and when, in consequence,
there was opportunity for a personal examination of the matter, the
whole subject was taken into sympathetic consideration. The romantic
and religious elements of the project appealed strongly to Isabella.
Ferdinand acted with characteristic caution. The needed money appears
to have been taken from the chest of the king, but only on condition
that in due time it should be restored, if need be, from the chest of
the queen. Thus it may be said that the husband loaned the trifling
subsidy necessary for the enterprise, on the security of his wife.
This arrangement suited both monarchs, and therefore both signed the
commissions of the Admiral.
If we were asked for the names of those who rendered the highest
service to Columbus during this trying period, the answer would not be
easy. In the immediate vicinity of the court Alfonso de Quintanilla
was the first to espouse his cause with ardour, and he remained an
unswerving advocate. Among those to whom the cause was submitted for
advice, the ecclesiastic, Diego de Deza, is entitled to the credit of
having been the first and the most faithful of supporters. The Duke of
Medina Celi gave to the navigator the support which detained him at a
moment when he seemed to be on the point of abandoning Spain forever.
The friar of La Rabida, Juan Parez de Marchena, the old confessor of
the queen, made a successful effort to renew the suit after all hope
had been abandoned. And finally, when the demands of Columbus seemed
preposterous for their magnitude, the united efforts of Santangel, the
Marchioness de Moya, Quintanilla, and Talavera succeeded in bringing
the queen up to the point of a favourable decision. To all of these
advocates no small quota of the credit for success is due. But in
distributing this credit there must be no forgetting or obscuring
of the work of Columbus himself. We have seen that the advocacy of
the navigator was full of inconsistencies and extravagances. He was
a foreigner, and one that looked very much like an adventurer. The
time and the circumstances seemed the most inopportune. All these
facts argued strongly against his cause. But in spite of them all,
his knowledge, his courage, his faith, his tact, and his persistency
were enough to hold a band of powerful advocates firmly to his great
cause, and, in the end, bring it to success. Whatever abatements from
an unreasonable glorification of Columbus modern research may feel
compelled to make, these are great qualities, which the progress of
time can never efface or obscure.