A SEASON OF WAITING
Columbus by this time was about thirty-five. His reddish-brown hair had
turned white. He had no money; on the contrary, he was in debt. His good
wife Felipa had died, and he had to find some place where he could leave
his little son Diego while he went to court to ask for ships. Felipa had
a sister married to a Spaniard and living in Huelva. With this lady
Columbus decided to leave the boy.
They left Lisbon by ship, it is supposed; but instead of taking a ship
bound direct for Huelva, Christopher picked out one bound for Palos, a
port not far from Huelva; moreover, on landing, instead of conducting
the child at once to his aunt, he trudged a few miles back of Palos with
him to a lonely old convent among the sand dunes, called La Rabida
(pronounced Ra'bida). About his haste to reach this spot Christopher had
not breathed a word in the town where he had just landed; in fact, he
always remained silent about it; but it appears that he went there to
question a Portuguese monk named Marchena whom he had known in Portugal.
This monk was an excellent cartographer, or map-maker, and Christopher
wished to talk with him about the western lands.
This good monk may have already heard in Portugal about the pilot. At
any rate he was much interested in his visitor, and ordered that the
monks should feed the hungry little Diego while he and Diego's father
held council in one of the cool little cells of the convent.
"Tarry with us a while, Senor," said the monk, "and I will send for the
learned Doctor Fernandez of Palos, who has read much science, and for
the brave Captain Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who has made many voyages. Let
us hear what they have to say about the possibility of finding this
island which you believe to lie off in the western sea."
So a messenger was sent back over the dusty road to Palos, and soon
Doctor Garcia Fernandez, mounted on his mule, appeared at the gate of La
Rabida. The monks showed him in and made him acquainted with their
visitor. The doctor was at once impressed and saw that this was no
ordinary traveler. White hair surmounting a highly intelligent face,
dreaming eyes, inspired voice--this combination did not come every day
to La Rabida. He knew that the foreigner would prove interesting and he
proceeded to explain that his friend Martin Alonzo Pinzon could not
come, as he was at that moment away on a voyage.
"But you must remain with us till he comes back," declared the monk
Marchena, "for no man in all Spain is more experienced in matters of
navigation. You must tell him about this island you propose to
discover." And Fernandez, when he heard Christopher's tale, said the
same thing. Thus it was that little Diego never got to his aunt in
Huelva; for by the time Martin Alonzo had returned, the monks had grown
so fond of the child, and were so impressed with the great future that
lay before his inspired father, that they offered to keep him and
educate him free of all expense. This offer Columbus was glad to accept.
The man whose return Columbus awaited in the hospitable monastery of La
Rabida belonged to the most influential family of Palos. For generations
the Pinzons had all been sailor-merchants and had amassed considerable
wealth. The head of the family still sailed the seas; and as, in Palos
and in near-by Huelva, many Portuguese lived who boasted about the
discoveries their country had made, his interest had been much piqued by
their talk. He was educated and open-minded. Moreover, he was considered
the best navigator of all who sailed from that important maritime region
of Huelva.
When Pinzon got back to Palos, he learned that the monks of La Rabida
had been eagerly awaiting him, in order that he might meet their
interesting visitor. Off he hastened; and from the moment he and
Columbus met, each recognized in the other a master spirit. Whether or
not Columbus and Marchena told Pinzon at that time the story of the
pilot is not known; but certainly he heard it later. We only know that
they talked of lands to be discovered in the west, and that Pinzon
offered to go on the expedition as captain in case Columbus should be
successful in getting permission and help from the Spanish sovereigns.
From La Rabida Columbus went to the large and important city of Sevilla,
carrying letters of introduction from the monk Marchena. In Sevilla he
had an interview with the powerful Duke of Medina Sidonia who was much
interested in his project at first, but soon gave it up. Next he met the
Duke of Medina Celi, who was even more powerful, and with whom Columbus
spent a year while waiting for a favorable opportunity to lay his plans
before the court. When the proper moment came, the duke acquainted the
queen with Columbus's matter, and she in answer invited the would-be
explorer to come to Cordova. This was in January, 1486.
It has often been stated that Columbus, while still in Lisbon, had
applied both to Genoa and to Venice for aid. This is no longer believed,
as no proofs can be found. There is, however, some reason for believing
that he sent his brother Bartholomew to England and France to urge the
matter. Columbus himself nowhere gives the details of these missions,
though he does say, in a letter to the Spanish monarchs, "In order to
serve your Highnesses, I listened neither to England nor France, whose
princes wrote me letters." Another bit of evidence regarding the French
appeal is a letter, written after the discovery, by the Duke of Medina
Celi to Cardinal Mendoza. Cardinal Mendoza was King Ferdinand's prime
minister, and the duke, having befriended Columbus soon after his
arrival from Portugal, and again some years afterward, asked a favor of
the cardinal, saying, "You must remember that I prevented Columbus from
going into the service of France and held him here in Spain."
Perhaps some scholar may some day unearth the correspondence between
Columbus and the French king; but at present we have only the hints
given above, along with the fact that Columbus, when finally dismissed
from Granada in 1492, started for France.
In describing Columbus's suit in Spain the names of great churchmen--
cardinals, bishops, priests, monks,--will frequently appear, and it will
be well to understand why his fate so often lay in their hands. During
the Dark Ages the only people who received any education were the
clergy. Their education gave them great power over the ignorant; and
even after the dawn of the Renaissance, when other classes began to
demand education, the clergy were still looked up to as possessing the
bulk of the world's wisdom.
Thus every king's counselors were mostly churchmen. If those
ecclesiastics had always tried to deserve their reputation for wisdom,
it might have been a good arrangement. Unfortunately, some were narrow-
minded and gave their king bad advice; happily, some were wise and good
as well as powerful, and a few of this sort in Spain helped Christopher
Columbus to make his dreams come true.
Many writers speak bitterly of the way in which King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella temporized with Columbus. It was hard, indeed, for a man
burning up with a great and glorious plan to be kept so long from
executing it; but a glance into Spanish affairs at the moment when the
man brought his idea into Spain will show that its rulers were not so
culpable after all. We have already seen how long and how vigorously the
sovereigns were pushing the Moorish war; but this was not their only
anxiety. Spain's finances, owing to the misrule of previous kings, were
in a very bad way. To get money, taxes were raised; and high taxes, as
we know, always cause dissatisfaction among the people. Then, too, a
death-dealing pestilence swept over the land and claimed thousands of
victims.
This is only a partial account of Spain's woes at the time when the man
with the idea arrived; but it shows clearly how the king and queen may
have been too busy and too worried to give much time or money to a
"dreaming foreigner." They gave him just enough of each to keep up his
hopes and prevent him from going elsewhere. Columbus himself must have
realized that he had not come at a fortunate time, and that there was
nothing to do but to wait patiently.
Spain in those days had no capital. Both Ferdinand and Isabella led the
army and established themselves in whatever city was most convenient for
their military operations. At the time they heard, through the Duke of
Medina Celi, of the Genoese navigator who had a great plan for discovery
to unfold to them, they were in the ancient city of Cordova; but, even
after requesting that Columbus be sent to Cordova, they could not give
much heed to him because they had to hasten to the Moorish frontier and
open their campaign against the kingdom of Granada. After a time they
returned to Cordova, but only to start immediately for the north, where
one of their nobles had raised a rebellion. During these months, all
that Columbus could do to further his cause was to make the acquaintance
of a favorite of the king named Alonzo de Quintanilla. This gentleman
proved friendly, and invited Columbus to accompany him to the city of
Salamanca. The court was to pass the winter there, and Quintanilla hoped
to secure an audience for his new friend.
He was successful. Columbus spoke to King Ferdinand, and spoke
eloquently. He himself has described his enthusiasm by saying he felt
"kindled with fire from on high." This fire, unfortunately, did not
spread to his listener. The man to whom Columbus spoke was not given to
warm impulses. On the contrary, he was cold and shrewd. He never decided
matters hastily; least of all a matter that involved expenses. We do not
know exactly what answer Ferdinand made to the impassioned pleader, but
we do know that he first sought the opinions of the learned men of
Salamanca.
Concerning these opinions there are contradictory reports, just as there
are about all of Columbus's actions in Spain. Some say that the
ecclesiastics (who were also professors at the renowned university in
Salamanca) and a few scientific men besides met in the Convent of San
Esteban (St. Stephen) to discuss Columbus's project. To-day the monks in
San Esteban show tourists the very room in which the meeting was held;
yet there is not an atom of real proof that any such meeting took place
there. We only know that an informal gathering was called, and that
whoever the professors and churchmen were who listened to Columbus's
story, they were mostly narrow-minded; they had no imagination. Instead
of trying to see the bigness and the wonder of his belief, they looked
at Columbus suspiciously and said that they could find no mention of a
_round_ world in the Bible, and it was heresy to believe anything
that could not be found in the Bible. Others, believing in the sphere,
still could not find in Christopher's reference to the rumors current in
Madeira sufficient reason for giving him ships to test the truth of
those rumors.
Certainly the majority looked upon him as either a heretic or a foolish
dreamer, or perhaps a bold adventurer trying to get money from their
king; but happily a few believed in him, argued on his side, and became
his steadfast friends. The most noted of these was the learned monk,
Diego de Deza. He was intelligent, broad-minded, and generous; and
though he was not able to prevail upon the other professors nor upon the
king, still it must have helped Columbus's cause to have such a
distinguished churchman for his friend.
In the spring of 1487 the monarchs left Salamanca without giving a
definite answer to the anxious man. They were about to begin a campaign
against the Moors in Malaga, down on the Mediterranean coast, and
thither Columbus followed them. Once, when there was a lull in the
siege, he was summoned to the royal tent. Again no definite answer was
given, but again he made a powerful friend. This time it was the
Marchioness of Moya, the queen's dearest companion; and when, soon
after, this lady was wounded by a Moorish assassin who mistook her for
the queen, we may be sure that Isabella's affection deepened; and that,
in gratitude, she listened readily when the kind-hearted marchioness
praised the Genoese navigator.
From the surrender of Malaga until that of Granada, the last Moorish
city, Ferdinand and Isabella were ever busy,--sometimes in the south
with their armies, sometimes attending to general government affairs in
various cities of the north. All this time they were having hard work to
raise war funds. It would not be strange, therefore, if they felt unable
to spend money on Columbus's doubtful scheme, or if they told him that
it would be impossible further to consider his project until the Moorish
war should terminate.