ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF FERDINAND.--RETURN AND SECOND VOYAGE OF
COLUMBUS.
1492-1493.
Attempt on Ferdinand's Life.--Consternation and Loyalty of the People.--
Return of Columbus.--His Progress to Barcelona.--Interviews with the
Sovereigns.--Sensations caused by the Discovery.--Regulations of Trade.--
Conversion of the Natives.--Famous Bulls of Alexander VI.--Jealousy of
Portugal.--Second Voyage of Columbus.--Treaty of Tordesillas.
Towards the latter end of May, 1492, the Spanish sovereigns quitted
Granada, between which and Santa Fe they had divided their time since the
surrender of the Moorish metropolis. They were occupied during the two
following months with the affairs of Castile. In August they visited
Aragon, proposing to establish their winter residence there in order to
provide for its internal administration, and conclude the negotiations for
the final surrender of Roussillon and Cerdagne by France, to which these
provinces had been mortgaged by Ferdinand's father, John the Second;
proving ever since a fruitful source of diplomacy, which threatened more
than once to terminate in open rupture.
Ferdinand and Isabella arrived in Aragon on the 8th of August, accompanied
by Prince John and the infantas, and a brilliant train of Castilian
nobles. In their progress through the country they were everywhere
received with the most lively enthusiasm. The whole nation seemed to
abandon itself to jubilee, at the approach of its illustrious sovereigns,
whose heroic constancy had rescued Spain from the detested empire of the
Saracens. After devoting some months to the internal police of the
kingdom, the court transferred its residence to Catalonia, whose capital
it reached about the middle of October. During its detention in this
place, Ferdinand's career was wellnigh brought to an untimely close. [1]
It was a good old custom of Catalonia, long since fallen into desuetude,
for the monarch to preside in the tribunals of justice, at least once a
week, for the purpose of determining the suits of the poorer classes
especially, who could not afford the more expensive forms of litigation.
King Ferdinand, in conformity with this usage, held a court in the house
of deputation, on the 7th of December, being the vigil of the conception
of the Virgin. At noon, as he was preparing to quit the palace, after the
conclusion of business, he lingered in the rear of his retinue, conversing
with some of the officers of the court. As the party was issuing from a
little chapel contiguous to the royal saloon, and just as the king was
descending a flight of stairs, a ruffian darted from an obscure recess in
which he had concealed himself early in the morning, and aimed a blow with
a short sword, or knife, at the back of Ferdinand's neck. Fortunately the
edge of the weapon was turned by a gold chain or collar which he was in
the habit of wearing. It inflicted, however, a deep wound between the
shoulders. Ferdinand instantly cried out, "St. Mary preserve us! treason,
treason!" and his attendants, rushing on the assassin, stabbed him in
three places with their poniards, and would have despatched him on the
spot, had not the king, with his usual presence of mind, commanded them to
desist, and take the man alive, that they might ascertain the real authors
of the conspiracy. This was done accordingly, and Ferdinand, fainting with
loss of blood, was carefully removed to his apartments in the royal
palace. [2]
The report of the catastrophe spread like wildfire through the city. All
classes were thrown into consternation by so foul an act, which seemed to
cast a stain on the honor and good faith of the Catalans. Some suspected
it to be the work of a vindictive Moor, others of a disappointed courtier.
The queen, who had swooned on first receiving intelligence of the event,
suspected the ancient enmity of the Catalans, who had shown such
determined opposition to her husband in his early youth. She gave instant
orders to hold in readiness one of the galleys lying in the port, in order
to transport her children from the place, as she feared the conspiracy
might be designed to embrace other victims. [3]
The populace, in the mean while, assembled in great numbers round the
palace where the king lay. All feelings of hostility had long since given
way to devoted loyalty towards a government, which had uniformly respected
the liberties of its subjects, and whose paternal sway had secured similar
blessings to Barcelona with the rest of the empire. They thronged round
the building, crying out that the king was slain, and demanding that his
murderers should be delivered up to them. Ferdinand, exhausted as he was,
would have presented himself at the window of his apartment, but was
prevented from making the effort by his physicians. It was with great
difficulty that the people were at length satisfied that he was still
living, and that they finally consented to disperse, on the assurance,
that the assassin should be brought to condign punishment.
The king's wound, which did not appear dangerous at first, gradually
exhibited more alarming symptoms. One of the bones was found to be
fractured, and a part of it was removed by the surgeons. On the seventh
day his situation was considered extremely critical. During this time, the
queen was constantly by his side, watching with him day and night, and
administering all his medicines with her own hand. At length, the
unfavorable symptoms yielded; and his excellent constitution enabled him
so far to recover, that in less than three weeks he was able to show
himself to the eyes of his anxious subjects, who gave themselves up to a
delirium of joy, offering thanksgivings and grateful oblations in the
churches; while many a pilgrimage, which had been vowed for his
restoration to health, was performed by the good people of Barcelona, with
naked feet, and even on their knees, among the wild sierras that surround
the city.
The author of the crime proved to be a peasant, about sixty years of age,
of that humble class, _de remensa_, as it was termed, which Ferdinand
had been so instrumental some few years since in releasing from the baser
and more grinding pains of servitude. The man appeared to be insane;
alleging, in vindication of his conduct, that he was the rightful
proprietor of the crown, which he expected to obtain by Ferdinand's death.
He declared himself willing, however, to give up his pretensions, on
condition of being set at liberty. The king, convinced of his alienation
of mind, would have discharged him; but the Catalans, indignant at the
reproach which such a crime seemed to attach to their own honor, and
perhaps distrusting the plea of insanity, thought it necessary to expiate
it by the blood of the offender, and condemned the unhappy wretch to the
dreadful doom of a traitor; the preliminary barbarities of the sentence,
however, were remitted, at the intercession of the queen. [4]
In the spring of 1493, while the court was still at Barcelona, letters
were received from Christopher Columbus, announcing his return to Spain,
and the successful achievement of his great enterprise, by the discovery
of land beyond the western ocean. The delight and astonishment, raised by
this intelligence, were proportioned to the skepticism, with which his
project had been originally viewed. The sovereigns were now filled with a
natural impatience to ascertain the extent and other particulars of the
important discovery; and they transmitted instant instructions to the
admiral to repair to Barcelona, as soon as he should have made the
preliminary arrangements for the further prosecution of his enterprise.
[5]
The great navigator had succeeded, as is well known, after a voyage the
natural difficulties of which had been much augmented by the distrust and
mutinous spirit of his followers, in descrying land on Friday, the 12th of
October, 1492. After some months spent in exploring the delightful
regions, now for the first time thrown open to the eyes of a European, he
embarked in the month of January, 1493, for Spain. One of his vessels had
previously foundered, and another had deserted him; so that he was left
alone to retrace his course across the Atlantic. After a most tempestuous
voyage, he was compelled to take shelter in the Tagus, sorely against his
inclination. [6] He experienced, however, the most honorable reception
from the Portuguese monarch, John the Second, who did ample justice to the
great qualities of Columbus, although he had failed to profit by them. [7]
After a brief delay, the admiral resumed his voyage, and crossing the bar
of Saltes entered the harbor of Palos about noon, on the 15th of March,
1493, being exactly seven months and eleven days since his departure from
that port. [8]
Great was the agitation in the little community of Palos, as they beheld
the well-known vessel of the admiral re-entering their harbor. Their
desponding imaginations had long since consigned him to a watery grave;
for, in addition to the preternatural horrors which hung over the voyage,
they had experienced the most stormy and disastrous winter within the
recollection of the oldest mariners. [9] Most of them had relatives or
friends on board. They thronged immediately to the shore, to assure
themselves with their own eyes of the truth of their return. When they
beheld their faces once more, and saw them accompanied by the numerous
evidences which they brought back of the success of the expedition, they
burst forth in acclamations of joy and gratulation. They awaited the
landing of Columbus, when the whole population of the place accompanied
him and his crew to the principal church, where solemn thanksgivings were
offered up for their return; while every bell in the village sent forth a
joyous peal in honor of the glorious event. The admiral was too desirous
of presenting himself before the sovereigns, to protract his stay long at
Palos. He took with him on his journey specimens of the multifarious
products of the newly discovered regions. He was accompanied by several of
the native islanders, arrayed in their simple barbaric costume, and
decorated, as he passed through the principal cities, with collars,
bracelets, and other ornaments of gold, rudely fashioned; he exhibited
also considerable quantities of the same metal in dust, or in crude
masses, [10] numerous vegetable exotics, possessed of aromatic or
medicinal virtue, and several kinds of quadrupeds unknown in Europe, and
birds, whose varieties of gaudy plumage gave a brilliant effect to the
pageant. The admiral's progress through the country was everywhere impeded
by the multitudes thronging forth to gaze at the extraordinary spectacle,
and the more extraordinary man, who, in the emphatic language of that
time, which has now lost its force from its familiarity, first revealed
the existence of a "New World." As he passed through the busy, populous
city of Seville, every window, balcony, and housetop, which could afford a
glimpse of him, is described to have been crowded with spectators. It was
the middle of April before Columbus reached Barcelona. The nobility and
cavaliers in attendance on the court, together with the authorities of the
city, came to the gates to receive him, and escorted him to the royal
presence. Ferdinand and Isabella were seated, with their son, Prince John,
under a superb canopy of state, awaiting his arrival. On his approach,
they rose from their seats, and, extending their hands to him to salute,
caused him to be seated before them. These were unprecedented marks of
condescension to a person of Columbus's rank, in the haughty and
ceremonious court of Castile. It was, indeed, the proudest moment in the
life of Columbus. He had fully established the truth of his long-contested
theory, in the face of argument, sophistry, sneer, skepticism, and
contempt. He had achieved this, not by chance, but by calculation,
supported through the most adverse circumstances by consummate conduct.
The honors paid him, which had hitherto been reserved only for rank, or
fortune, or military success, purchased by the blood and tears of
thousands, were, in his case, a homage to intellectual power, successfully
exerted in behalf of the noblest interests of humanity. [11]
After a brief interval, the sovereigns requested from Columbus a recital
of his adventures. His manner was sedate and dignified, but warmed by the
glow of natural enthusiasm. He enumerated the several islands which he had
visited, expatiated on the temperate character of the climate, and the
capacity of the soil for every variety of agricultural production,
appealing to the samples imported by him, as evidence of their natural
fruitfulness. He dwelt more at large on the precious metals to be found in
these islands, which he inferred, less from the specimens actually
obtained, than from the uniform testimony of the natives to their
abundance in the unexplored regions of the interior. Lastly, he pointed
out the wide scope afforded to Christian zeal, in the illumination of a
race of men, whose minds, far from being wedded to any system of idolatry,
were prepared by their extreme simplicity for the reception of pure and
uncorrupted doctrine. The last consideration touched Isabella's heart most
sensibly; and the whole audience, kindled with various emotions by the
speaker's eloquence, filled up the perspective with the gorgeous coloring
of their own fancies, as ambition, or avarice, or devotional feeling
predominated in their bosoms. When Columbus ceased, the king and queen,
together with all present, prostrated themselves on their knees in
grateful thanksgivings, while the solemn strains of the Te Deum were
poured forth by the choir of the royal chapel, as in commemoration of some
glorious victory. [12]
The discoveries of Columbus excited a sensation, particularly among men of
science, in the most distant parts of Europe, strongly contrasting with
the apathy which had preceded them. They congratulated one another on
being reserved for an age which had witnessed the consummation of so grand
an event. The learned Martyr, who, in his multifarious correspondence, had
not even deigned to notice the preparations for the voyage of discovery,
now lavished the most unbounded panegyric on its results; which he
contemplated with the eye of a philosopher, having far less reference to
considerations of profit or policy, than to the prospect which they
unfolded of enlarging the boundaries of knowledge. [12]
Most of the scholars of the day, however, adopted the erroneous hypothesis
of Columbus, who considered the lands he had discovered, as bordering on
the eastern shores of Asia, and lying adjacent to the vast and opulent
regions depicted in such golden colors by Mandeville and the Poli. This
conjecture, which was conformable to the admiral's opinions before
undertaking the voyage, was corroborated by the apparent similarity
between various natural productions of these islands, and of the east.
From this misapprehension, the new dominions soon came to be distinguished
as the West Indies, an appellation by which they are still recognized in
the titles of the Spanish. crown. [13]
Columbus, during his residence at Barcelona, continued to receive from the
Spanish sovereigns the most honorable distinctions which royal bounty
could confer. When Ferdinand rode abroad, he was accompanied by the
admiral at his side. The courtiers, in emulation of their master, made
frequent entertainments, at which he was treated with the punctilious
deference paid to a noble of the highest class. [14] But the attentions
most grateful to his lofty spirit were the preparations of the Spanish
court for prosecuting his discoveries, on a scale commensurate with their
importance. A board was established for the direction of Indian affairs,
consisting of a superintendent and two subordinate functionaries. The
first of these officers was Juan de Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville, an
active, ambitious prelate, subsequently raised to high episcopal
preferment, whose shrewdness, and capacity for business, enabled him to
maintain the control of the Indian department during the whole of the
present reign. An office for the transaction of business was instituted at
Seville, and a custom-house placed under its direction at Cadiz. This was
the origin of the important establishment of the _Casa de la Contratacion
de las Indias_, or India House. [15]
The commercial regulations adopted exhibit a narrow policy in some of
their features, for which a justification may be found in the spirit of
the age, and in the practice of the Portuguese particularly, but which
entered still more largely into the colonial legislation of Spain under
later princes. The new territories, far from being permitted free
intercourse with foreign nations, were opened only under strict
limitations to Spanish subjects, and were reserved, as forming, in some
sort, part of the exclusive revenue of the crown. All persons of whatever
description were interdicted, under the severest penalties, from trading
with, or even visiting the Indies, without license from the constituted
authorities. It was impossible to evade this, as a minute specification of
the ships; cargoes, crews, with the property appertaining to each
individual, was required to be taken at the office in Cadiz, and a
corresponding registration in a similar office established at Hispaniola.
A more sagacious spirit was manifested in the ample provision made of
whatever could contribute to the support or permanent prosperity of the
infant colony. Grain, plants, the seeds of numerous vegetable products,
which in the genial climate of the Indies might be made valuable articles
for domestic consumption or export, were liberally furnished. Commodities
of every description for the supply of the fleet were exempted from duty.
The owners of all vessels throughout the ports of Andalusia were required,
by an ordinance somewhat arbitrary, to hold them in readiness for the
expedition. Still further authority was given to impress both officers and
men, if necessary, into the service. Artisans of every sort, provided with
the implements of their various crafts, including a great number of miners
for exploring the subterraneous treasures of the new regions, were
enrolled in the expedition; in order to defray the heavy charges of which,
the government, in addition to the regular resources, had recourse to a
loan, and to the sequestrated property of the exiled Jews. [16]
Amid their own temporal concerns, the Spanish sovereigns did not forget
the spiritual interests of their new subjects. The Indians, who
accompanied Columbus to Barcelona, had been all of them baptized, being
offered up, in the language of a Castilian writer, as the first-fruits of
the gentiles. King Ferdinand, and his son, Prince John, stood as sponsors
to two of them, who were permitted to take their names. One of the Indians
remained attached to the prince's establishment; the residue were sent to
Seville, whence, after suitable religious instruction, they were to be
returned as missionaries for the propagation of the faith among their own
countrymen. Twelve Spanish ecclesiastics were also destined to this
service; among whom was the celebrated Las Casas, so conspicuous
afterwards for his benevolent exertions in behalf of the unfortunate
natives. The most explicit directions were given to the admiral, to use
every effort for the illumination of the poor heathen, which was set forth
as the primary object of the expedition. He was particularly enjoined "to
abstain from all means of annoyance, and to treat them well and lovingly,
maintaining a familiar intercourse with them, rendering them all the kind
offices in his power, distributing presents of the merchandise and various
commodities, which their Highnesses had caused to be embarked on board the
fleet for that purpose; and finally, to chastise, in the most exemplary
manner, all who should offer the natives the slightest molestation." Such
were the instructions emphatically urged on Columbus for the regulation of
his intercourse with the savages; and their indulgent tenor sufficiently
attests the benevolent and rational views of Isabella, in religious
matters, when not warped by any foreign influence. [17]
Towards the last of May, Columbus quitted Barcelona for the purpose of
superintending and expediting the preparations for departure on his second
voyage. He was accompanied to the gates of the city by all the nobility
and cavaliers of the court. Orders were issued to the different towns to
provide him and his suite with lodgings free of expense. His former
commission was not only confirmed in its full extent, but considerably
enlarged. For the sake of despatch, he was authorized to nominate to all
offices, without application to government; and ordinances and letters
patent, bearing the royal seal, were to be issued by him, subscribed by
himself or his deputy. He was intrusted, in fine, with such unlimited
jurisdiction, as showed, that, however tardy the sovereigns may have been
in granting him their confidence, they were not disposed to stint the
measure of it, when his deserts were once established. [18]
Soon after Columbus's return to Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella applied to
the court of Rome, to confirm them in the possession of their recent
discoveries, and invest them with similar extent of jurisdiction with that
formerly conferred on the kings of Portugal. It was an opinion, as ancient
perhaps as the crusades, that the pope, as vicar of Christ, had competent
authority to dispose of all countries inhabited by heathen nations, in
favor of Christian potentates. Although Ferdinand and Isabella do not seem
to have been fully satisfied of this right, yet they were willing to
acquiesce in its assumption in the present instance, from the conviction
that the papal sanction would most effectually exclude the pretensions of
all others, and especially their Portuguese rivals. In their application
to the Holy See, they were careful to represent their own discoveries as
in no way interfering with the rights formerly conceded by it to their
neighbors. They enlarged on their services in the propagation of the
faith, which they affirmed to be a principal motive of their present
operations. They intimated, finally, that, although many competent persons
deemed their application to the court of Rome, for a title to territories
already in their possession, to be unnecessary, yet, as pious princes, and
dutiful children of the church, they were unwilling to proceed further
without the sanction of him, to whose keeping its highest interests were
intrusted. [19]
The pontifical throne was at that time filled by Alexander the Sixth; a
man who, although degraded by unrestrained indulgence of the most sordid
appetites, was endowed by nature with singular acuteness, as well as
energy of character. He lent a willing ear to the application of the
Spanish government, and made no hesitation in granting what cost him
nothing, while it recognized the assumption of powers, which had already
begun to totter in the opinion of mankind.
On the 3d of May, 1493, he published a bull, in which, taking into
consideration the eminent services of the Spanish monarchs in the cause of
the church, especially in the subversion of the Mahometan empire in Spain,
and willing to afford still wider scope for the prosecution of their pious
labors, he, "out of his pure liberality, infallible knowledge, and
plenitude of apostolic power," confirmed them in the possession of all
lands discovered or hereafter to be discovered by them in the western
ocean, comprehending the same extensive rights of jurisdiction with those
formerly conceded to the kings of Portugal.
This bull he supported by another, dated on the following day, in which
the pope, in order to obviate any misunderstanding with the Portuguese,
and acting no doubt on the suggestion of the Spanish sovereigns, defined
with greater precision the intention of his original grant to the latter,
by bestowing on them all such lands as they should discover to the west
and south of an imaginary line, to be drawn from pole to pole, at the
distance of one hundred leagues to the west of the Azores and Cape de Verd
Islands. [20] It seems to have escaped his Holiness, that the Spaniards,
by pursuing a western route, might in time reach the eastern limits of
countries previously granted to the Portuguese. At least this would appear
from the import of a third bull, issued September 25th of the same year,
which invested the sovereigns with plenary authority over all countries
discovered by them, whether in the east, or within the boundaries of
India, all previous concessions to the contrary notwithstanding. With the
title derived from actual possession, thus fortified by the highest
ecclesiastical sanction, the Spaniards might have promised themselves an
uninterrupted career of discovery, but for the jealousy of their rivals,
the Portuguese. [21]
The court of Lisbon viewed with secret disquietude the increasing maritime
enterprise of its neighbors. While the Portuguese were timidly creeping
along the barren shores of Africa, the Spaniards had boldly launched into
the deep, and rescued unknown realms from its embraces, which teemed in
their fancies with treasures of inestimable wealth. Their mortification
was greatly enhanced by the reflection, that all this might have been
achieved for themselves, had they but known how to profit by the proposals
of Columbus. [22] From the first moment in which the success of the
admiral's enterprise was established, John the Second, a politic and
ambitious prince, had sought some pretence to check the career of
discovery, or at least to share in the spoils of it. [23]
In his interview with Columbus, at Lisbon, he suggested, that the
discoveries of the Spaniards might interfere with the rights secured to
the Portuguese by repeated papal sanctions since the beginning of the
present century, and guaranteed by the treaty with Spain, in 1479.
Columbus, without entering into the discussion, contented himself with
declaring, that he had been instructed by his own government to steer
clear of all Portuguese settlements on the African coast, and that his
course indeed had led him in an entirely different direction. Although
John professed himself satisfied with the explanation, he soon after
despatched an ambassador to Barcelona, who, after dwelling on some
irrelevant topics, touched, as it were, incidentally on the real object of
his mission, the late voyage of discovery. He congratulated the Spanish
sovereigns on its success; expatiated on the civilities shown by the court
of Lisbon to Columbus, on his late arrival there; and acknowledged the
satisfaction felt by his master at the orders given to the admiral, to
hold a western course from the Canaries, expressing a hope that the same
course would be pursued in future, without interfering with the rights of
Portugal by deviation to the south. This was the first occasion, on which
the existence of such claims had been intimated by the Portuguese.
In the mean while, Ferdinand and Isabella received intelligence that King
John was equipping a considerable armament in order to anticipate or
defeat their discoveries in the west. They instantly sent one of their
household, Don Lope de Herrera, as ambassador to Lisbon, with instructions
to make their acknowledgments to the king for his hospitable reception of
Columbus, accompanied with a request that he would prohibit his subjects
from interference with the discoveries of the Spaniards in the west, in
the same manner as these latter had been excluded from the Portuguese
possessions in Africa. The ambassador was furnished with orders of a
different import, provided he should find the reports correct, respecting
the equipment and probable destination of a Portuguese armada. Instead of
a conciliatory deportment, he was, in that case, to assume a tone of
remonstrance, and to demand a full explanation from King John, of his
designs. The cautious prince, who had received, through his secret agents
in Castile, intelligence of these latter instructions, managed matters so
discreetly as to give no occasion for their exercise. He abandoned, or at
least postponed, his meditated expedition, in the hope of adjusting the
dispute by negotiation, in which he excelled. In order to quiet the
apprehensions of the Spanish court, he engaged to fit out no fleet from
his dominions within sixty days; at the same time he sent a fresh mission
to Barcelona, with directions to propose an amicable adjustment of the
conflicting claims of the two nations, by making the parallel of the
Canaries a line of partition between them; the right of discovery to the
north being reserved to the Spaniards, and that to the south to the
Portuguese. [24]
While this game of diplomacy was going on, the Castilian court availed
itself of the interval afforded by its rival, to expedite preparations for
the second voyage of discovery; which, through the personal activity of
the admiral, and the facilities everywhere afforded him, were fully
completed before the close of September. Instead of the reluctance, and
indeed avowed disgust, which had been manifested by all classes to his
former voyage, the only embarrassment now arose from the difficulty of
selection among the multitude of competitors, who pressed to be enrolled
in the present expedition. The reports and sanguine speculations of the
first adventurers had inflamed the cupidity of many, which was still
further heightened by the exhibition of the rich and curious products
which Columbus had brought back with him, and by the popular belief that
the new discoveries formed part of that gorgeous east,
"whose caverns teem
With diamond flaming, and with seeds of gold,"
and which tradition and romance had alike invested with the supernatural
splendors of enchantment. Many others were stimulated by the wild love of
adventure, kindled in the long Moorish war, but which, now excluded from
that career, sought other objects in the vast, untravelled regions of the
New World. The complement of the fleet was originally fixed at twelve
hundred souls, which, through importunity or various pretences of the
applicants, was eventually swelled to fifteen hundred. Among these were
many who enlisted without compensation, including several persons of rank,
hidalgos, and members of the royal household. The whole squadron amounted
to seventeen vessels, three of them of one hundred tons' burden each. With
this gallant navy, Columbus, dropping down the Guadalquivir, took his
departure from the bay of Cadiz, on the 25th of September, 1493;
presenting a striking contrast to the melancholy plight, in which, but the
year previous, he sallied forth like some forlorn knight-errant, on a
desperate and chimerical enterprise. [25]
No sooner had the fleet weighed anchor, than Ferdinand and Isabella
despatched an embassy in solemn state to advise the king of Portugal of
it. This embassy was composed of two persons of distinguished rank, Don
Pedro de Ayala, and Don Garci Lopez de Carbajal. Agreeably to their
instructions, they represented to the Portuguese monarch the
inadmissibility of his propositions respecting the boundary line of
navigation; they argued that the grants of the Holy See, and the treaty
with Spain in 1479, had reference merely to the actual possessions of
Portugal, and the right of discovery by an eastern route along the coasts
of Africa to the Indies; that these rights had been invariably respected
by Spain; that the late voyage of Columbus struck into a directly opposite
track; and that the several bulls of Pope Alexander the Sixth, prescribing
the line of partition, not from east to west, but from the north to the
south pole, were intended to secure to the Spaniards the exclusive right
of discovery in the western ocean. The ambassadors concluded with
offering, in the name of their sovereigns, to refer the whole matter in
dispute to the arbitration of the court of Rome, or of any common umpire.
King John was deeply chagrined at learning the departure of the Spanish
expedition. He saw that his rivals had been acting while he had been
amused with negotiation. He at first threw out hints of an immediate
rupture; and endeavored, it is said, to intimidate the Castilian
ambassadors, by bringing them accidentally, as it were, in presence of a
splendid array of cavalry, mounted and ready for immediate service. He
vented his spleen on the embassy, by declaring, that "it was a mere
abortion; having neither head nor feet;" alluding to the personal
infirmity of Ayala, who was lame, and to the light, frivolous character of
the other envoy. [26]
These symptoms of discontent were duly notified to the Spanish government;
who commanded the superintendent, Fonseca, to keep a vigilant eye on the
movements of the Portuguese, and, in case any hostile armament should quit
their ports, to be in readiness to act against it with one double its
force. King John, however, was too shrewd a prince to be drawn into so
impolitic a measure as war with a powerful adversary, quite as likely to
baffle him in the field, as in the council. Neither did he relish the
suggestion of deciding the dispute by arbitration; since he well knew,
that his claim rested on too unsound a basis, to authorize the expectation
of a favorable award from any impartial umpire. He had already failed in
an application for redress to the court of Rome, which answered him by
reference to its bulls, recently published. In this emergency, he came to
the resolution at last, which should have been first adopted, of deciding
the matter by a fair and open conference. It was not until the following
year, however, that his discontent so far subsided as to allow his
acquiescence in this measure.
At length, commissioners named by the two crowns convened at Tordesillas,
and on the 7th of June, 1494, subscribed articles of agreement, which were
ratified, in the course of the same year, by the respective powers. In
this treaty, the Spaniards were secured in the exclusive right of
navigation and discovery in the western ocean. At the urgent remonstrance
of the Portuguese, however, who complained that the papal line of
demarcation cooped up their enterprises within too narrow limits, they
consented, that instead of one hundred, it should be removed three hundred
and seventy leagues west of the Cape de Verd islands, beyond which all
discoveries should appertain to the Spanish nation. It was agreed that one
or two caravels should be provided by each nation, to meet at the Grand
Canary, and proceed due west, the appointed distance, with a number of
scientific men on board, for the purpose of accurately determining the
longitude; and if any lands should fall under the meridian, the direction
of the line should be ascertained by the erection of beacons at suitable
distances. The proposed meeting never took place. But the removal of the
partition line was followed by important consequences to the Portuguese,
who derived from it their pretensions to the noble empire of Brazil. [27]
Thus this singular misunderstanding, which menaced an open rupture at one
time, was happily adjusted. Fortunately, the accomplishment of the passage
round the Cape of Good Hope, which occurred soon afterwards, led the
Portuguese in an opposite direction to their Spanish rivals, their
Brazilian possessions having too little attractions, at first, to turn
them from the splendid path of discovery thrown open in the east. It was
not many years, however, before the two nations, by pursuing opposite
routes of circumnavigation, were brought into collision on the other side
of the globe; a circumstance never contemplated, apparently, by the treaty
of Tordesillas. Their mutual pretensions were founded, however, on the
provisions of that treaty, which, as the reader is aware, was itself only
supplementary to the original bull of demarcation of Alexander the Sixth.
[28]
Thus this bold stretch of papal authority, so often ridiculed as
chimerical and absurd, was in a measure justified by the event, since it
did, in fact, determine the principles on which the vast extent of
unappropriated empire in the eastern and western hemispheres was
ultimately divided between two petty states of Europe.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 13.--Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1,
quinc. 1, dial. 28.
[2] Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 15.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS.,
cap. 116.--Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. pp. 678, 679.--Abarca, Reyes de
Aragon, tom. ii. fol. 315.--Carbajal, Anales, MS., año 1492.--Oviedo,
Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 4, dial. 9.
[3] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 125.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos,
MS., cap. 116.--Abarca, Reyes de Aragon, ubi supra.
The great bell of Velilla, whose miraculous tolling always announced some
disaster to the monarchy, was heard to strike at the time of this assault
on Ferdinand, being the fifth time since the subversion of the kingdom by
the Moors. The fourth was on the assassination of the inquisitor Arbues.
All which is established by a score of good orthodox witnesses, as
reported by Dr. Diego Dormer, in his Discursos Varies, pp. 206, 207.
[4] L. Marineo, Cosas Memorables, fol. 136.--Peter Martyr, Opus Epist.,
epist. 125, 127, 131.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v. fol. 16.--Bernaldez, Reyes
Católicos, MS., loc. cit.--Garibay, after harrowing the reader's feelings
with half a column of inhuman cruelties inflicted on the miserable man,
concludes with the comfortable assurance, "Pero abogaronle primero por
clemencia y misericordia de la Reyna." (Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap.
1.)
A letter written by Isabella to her confessor, Fernando de Talavera,
during her husband's illness, shows the deep anxiety of her own mind, as
well as that of the citizens of Barcelona, at his critical situation,
furnishing abundant evidence, if it were needed, of her tenderness of
heart, and the warmth of her conjugal attachment. See Correspondencia
Epistolar, apud Mem. de la Acad. de Hist., tom. vi. Ilust. 13.
[5] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.--Muñoz, Hist.
del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sect. 13, 14.
Columbus concludes a letter addressed, on his arrival at Lisbon, to the
treasurer Sanchez, in the following glowing terms; "Let processions be
made, festivals held, temples be filled with branches and flowers, for
Christ rejoices on earth as in Heaven, seeing the future redemption of
souls. Let us rejoice, also, for the temporal benefit likely to result,
not merely to Spain, but to all Christendom." See Primer Viage de Colon,
apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.
[6] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, tom. i. dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 2.--Primer
Viage de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.--Fernando
Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 39.
The Portuguese historian, Faria y Sousa, appears to be nettled at the
prosperous issue of the voyage; for he testily remarks, that "the admiral
entered Lisbon with a vainglorious exultation, in order to make Portugal
feel, by displaying the tokens of his discovery, how much she had erred in
not acceding to his propositions." Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. pp. 462,
463.
[7] My learned friend, Mr. John Pickering, has pointed out to me a passage
in a Portuguese author, giving some particulars of Columbus's visit to
Portugal. The passage, which I have not seen noticed by any writer, is
extremely interesting, coming, as it does, from a person high in the royal
confidence, and an eye-witness of what he relates. "In the year 1493, on
the sixth day of March, arrived in Lisbon Christopher Columbus, an
Italian, who came from the discovery, made under the authority of the
sovereigns of Castile, of the islands of Cipango and Antilia; from which
countries he brought with him the first specimens of the people, as well
as of the gold and other things to be found there; and he was entitled
admiral of them. The king, being forthwith informed of this, commanded him
into his presence; and appeared to be annoyed and vexed, as well from the
belief that the said discovery was made within the seas and boundaries of
his seigniory of Guinea,--which might give rise to disputes,--as because
the said admiral, having become somewhat haughty by his situation, and in
the relation of his adventures always exceeding the bounds of truth, made
this affair, as to gold, silver, and riches, much greater than it was.
Especially did the king accuse himself of negligence, in having declined
this enterprise, when Columbus first came to ask his assistance, from want
of credit and confidence in it. And, notwithstanding the king was
importuned to kill kim on the spot; since with his death the prosecution
of the undertaking, so far as the sovereigns of Castile were concerned,
would cease, from want of a suitable person to take charge of it; and
notwithstanding this might be done without suspicion of the king's being
privy to it,--for inasmuch as the admiral was overbearing and puffed up by
his success, they could easily bring it about, that his own indiscretion
should appear the occasion of his death,--yet the king, as he was a prince
greatly fearing God, not only forbade this, but even showed the, admiral
honor and much favor, and therewith dismissed him." Ruy de Pina, Chronica
d'el Rei Dom Joaõ II., cap. 66, apud Collecçaõ de Livros Ineditos de
Historia Portugueza, (Lisboa, 1790-93,) tom. ii.
[8] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 40, 41.--Charlevoix,
Histoire de S. Domingue, (Paris, 1730,) tom. i. pp. 84-90.--Primer Viage
de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i.--La Clède, Hist. de
Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.
Columbus sailed from Spain on Friday, discovered land on Friday, and re-
entered the port of Palos on Friday. These curious coincidences should
have sufficed, one might think, to dispel, especially with American
mariners, the superstitions dread, still so prevalent, of commencing a
voyage on that ominous day.
[9] Primer Viage de Colon, Let 2.
[10] Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 14.--Fernando Colon, Hist.
del Almirante, cap. 41.
Among other specimens, was a lump of gold, of sufficient magnitude to be
fashioned into a vessel for containing the host; "thus," says Salazar de
Mendoza, "converting the first fruits of the new dominions to pious uses."
Monarquía, pp. 351, 352.
[11] Peter Martyr, Opus Epist., epist. 133, 134, 140.--Bernaldez, Reyes
Católicos, MS., cap. 118.--Ferreras, Hist. d'Espagne, tom. viii. pp. 141,
142.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, ubi supra.--Zuñiga, Annales de
Sevilla, p. 413.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 17.--Benzoni, Novi
Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 8, 9.--Gallo, apud Muratori, Rerum Ital.
Script., tom. xxiii. p. 203.
[12] Herrera, Indias Occidental., tom. i. dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.--Muñoz,
Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 15, 16, 17.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del
Almirante, ubi supra.
[12] In a letter, written soon after the admiral's return, Martyr
announces the discovery to his correspondent, Cardinal Sforza, in the
following manner. "Mira res ex eo terrarum orbe, quem sol horarum quatuor
et viginti spatio circuit, ad nostra usque tempora, quod minime te latet,
trita cognitaque dimidia taptum pars, ab Aurea utpote Chersoneso, ad Gades
nostras Hispanas, reliqua vero a cosmographis pro incognitâ relicta est.
Et si quae mentio facta, ea tenuis et incerta. Nunc autem, o beatum
facinus! meorum regum auspiciis, quod latuit hactenus a rerum primordio,
intelligi coeptum est." In a subsequent epistle to the learned Pomponio
Leto, he breaks out in a strain of warm and generous sentiment. "Prae
laetitia prosiliisse te, vixque a lachrymis prae gaudio temperasse, quando
literas adspexisti meas, quibus de Antipodum Orbe latenti hactenus, te
certiorem feci, mi suavissime Pomponi, insinuasti. Ex tuis ipse literis
colligo, quid senseris. Sensisti autem, tantique rem fecisti, quanti virum
summâ doctrinâ insignitum decuit. Quis namque cibus sublimibus praestari
potest ingeniis isto suavior? quod condimentum gravius? a me facio
conjecturam. Beari sentio spiritus meos, quando accitos alloquor prudentes
aliquos ex his qui ab eâ redeunt provinciâ. Implicent animos pecuniarum
cumulis augendis miseri avari, libidinibus obscoeni; noetras nos mentes,
postquam Deo pleni aliquandiu fuerimus, contemplando, hujuscemodi rerum
notitiâ demulceamus." Opus Epist., epist. 124, 152.
[13] Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 118.--Gallo, apud Muratori,
Rerum Ital. Script., tom. xxiii. p. 203.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias,
cap. 18.
Peter Martyr seems to have received the popular inference, respecting the
identity of the new discoveries with the East Indies, with some distrust.
"Insulas reperit plures; has esse, de quibus fit apud cosmographos mentio
extra Oceanum Orientalem, adjacentes Indiae arbitrantur. Nec inficior ego
penitus, quamvis sphaerae magnitudo aliter sentire videatur; neque enim
desunt qui parvo tractu a finibus Hispanis distare littus Indicum,
putent." Opus Epist., epist. 135.
[14] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 3.--Benzoni, Novi
Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 8.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 17.--
Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante,
ubi supra.
He was permitted to quarter the royal arms with his own, which consisted
of a group of golden islands amid azure billows. To these were afterwards
added five anchors, with the celebrated motto, well known as being carved
on his sepulchre. (See Part II. Chap. 18.) He received besides, soon after
his return, the substantial gratuity of a thousand doblas of gold, from
the royal treasury, and the premium of 10,000 maravedies, promised to the
person who first descried land. See Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col.
Diplom., nos. 20, 32, 38.
[15] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii. Col. Diplom., no. 45.--
Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 21.
[16] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Col. Diplom., nos. 33, 35, 45.--
Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4.--Muñoz, Hist. del
Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 21.
[17] See the original instructions, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages,
Col. Diplom., no. 45.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 22.--
Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.
L. Marineo eagerly claims the conversion of the natives, as the prime
object of the expedition with the sovereigns, far outweighing all temporal
considerations. The passage is worth quoting, if only to show what
egregious blunders a contemporary may make in the relation of events
passing, as it were, under his own eyes. "The Catholic sovereigns having
subjugated the Canaries, and established Christian worship there, sent
_Peter Colon_, with _thirty-five_ ships, called caravels, and _a great
number of men_ to other much larger islands abounding in mines of gold,
not so much, however, for the sake of the gold, as for the salvation of
the poor heathen natives." Cosas Memorables, fol. 161.
[18] See copies of the original documents, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de
Viages, tom. ii., Col. Diplom., nos. 39, 41, 42, 43.
[19] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 2, cap. 4.--Muñoz, Hist.
del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 18.
[20] A point south of the meridian is something new in geometry; yet so
says the bull of his Holiness. "Omnes insulas et terras firmas inventas et
inveniendas, detectas et detegendas, versus Occidentem et meridiem,
fabricando et constituendo unam lineam a Polo Arctico, scilicet
septentrione, ad Polum Antarcticum, scilicet meridiem."
[21] See the original papal grants, transcribed by Navarrete, Coleccion de
Viages, tom. ii., Col. Diplom., nos. 17, 18. Appendice al Col. Diplom.,
no. 11.
[22] Padre Abarca considers "that the discovery of a new world, first
offered to the kings of Portugal and England, was reserved by Heaven for
Spain, being forced, in a manner, on Ferdinand, in recompense for the
subjugation of the Moors, and the expulsion of the Jews!" Reyes de Aragon,
fol. 310, 311.
[23] La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.
[24] Faria y Sousa, Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 463.--Herrera, Indias
Occidentales, loc. cit.--Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 27,
28.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 606, 607.--La Clède, Hist. de
Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.
[25] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 413.--Fernando Colon, Hist. del
Almirante, cap. 44.--Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 118.--Peter
Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 1, lib. 1.--Benzoni, Novi Orbis Historia,
lib. 1, cap. 9.--Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, cap. 20.
[26] La Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 53-58.--Muñoz, Hist. del
Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 4, sec. 27, 28.
[27] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, Doc. Diplom., no. 75.--Faria y Sousa,
Europa Portuguesa, tom. ii. p. 463.--Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1,
lib. 2, cap. 8, 10.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 606, 607.--La
Clède, Hist. de Portugal, tom. iv. pp. 60-62.--Zurita, Anales, tom. v.
fol. 31.
[28] The contested territory was the Molucca Islands, which each party
claimed for itself, by virtue of the treaty of Tordesillas. After more
than one congress, in which all the cosmographical science of the day was
put in requisition, the affair was terminated _à l'amiable_ by the Spanish
government's relinquishing its pretensions, in consideration of 350,000
ducats, paid by the court of Lisbon. See La Clède, Hist. De Portugal, tom.
iv. pp. 309, 401, 402, 480.--Mariana, Hist. de España, tom. ii. pp. 607,
875.--Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquía, tom. ii. pp. 205, 206.