ISABELLA DECIDES
We have now come to that famous Granada interview described in the first
chapter,--a moment so important that Columbus, when he decided to keep a
journal, opened it with this paragraph:--
"In the present year, 1492, after Your Highnesses had concluded that
warfare in the great city of Granada where I saw the royal banners of
Your Highnesses placed by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra,
and where I beheld the Moorish King go forth from the gates of his
city...."
How Columbus arrived during the surrender we have already seen; how
everybody of importance at the Spanish court--priests, military leaders,
and government officials--gathered to hear him speak; and how, for the
first time, the majority of his listeners were won over to his unpopular
ideas. We know, too, how their admiration turned to distrust when he
demanded large rewards should his voyage of discovery be successful; and
we know how he was obstinate, and rode away, only to be overtaken by the
queen's messenger at Pinos bridge below the high Elvira Mountains and
brought back. And this is how Queen Isabella happened to recall him.
Those friends who had been encouraging him for the last few years were
deeply distressed over his departure and over the bad impression he had
left at court. They felt that their beloved country was losing a
wonderful opportunity of becoming the foremost power in Europe. England,
France, Italy, all were greater than Spain because they had been forging
ahead while Spain had been hampered by Moorish wars. Even Portugal,
Spain's very small neighbor, had forged ahead by reason of her unequaled
maritime enterprise. One of these countries was sure to grow even more
important through giving Columbus a few ships and a few titles. Said
this little group to each other, "No matter what the man's price, Spain
will have to pay it!"
Luis de Santangel, treasurer of King Ferdinand's realm of Aragon,
determined to go and talk it over with the queen who, apparently, had
not been present at the recent hearing of Columbus. To apply further to
Ferdinand would have been useless, for he had vowed he would have
nothing more to do with the matter. Isabella possessed more imagination
than her husband, and to this imagination Santangel thought he could
appeal.
First he pointed out that Columbus's very stubbornness about rewards
might be taken as proof that he was certain to find whatever he promised
to find; then he reminded her that the navigator was a very devout man,
and that in his enterprise there was a strong religious motive; should
he discover new lands, not only would their heathen population be
converted to Christianity, but their commerce would make Spain so
wealthy that she could undertake a new crusade and conquer the infidels
who held the Holy Sepulchre. This possibility impressed Isabella
profoundly, for she and her husband were the stanchest defenders of
Christianity in all Europe. Now that Santangel had roused her
imagination, he proceeded to make the whole matter clear by a practical
suggestion as to ways and means. He reminded his royal listener that
Columbus had offered to raise one eighth of the expense of the
expedition (Columbus having repeated the offer made at La Rabida by
Pinzon); and as for the remainder, he, Santangel, would be responsible
for it. Either he would lend it himself (he belonged to one of the rich
Jewish families that had become Christian) or he would induce King
Ferdinand to allow it to be taken from the Aragon treasury and repaid
later. (Ferdinand, apparently, was not such an unmanageable person,
after all.)
Right here is where the story of Isabella pledging her jewels would come
in if there were sufficient reasons for believing it, but there is
little proof of it; indeed, rather more against it. Not only did
Santangel show the queen how the money could be obtained otherwise, but,
as she had already pledged much of her jewelry in Valencia and Barcelona
in order to aid the Moorish war, her husband's treasurer would surely
have deterred her from parting with more. However, she was now so
enthusiastic over Columbus's affair that she undoubtedly would have made
some such offer had no other means of raising the money been found.
The queen knew that her husband disapproved of the would-be discoverer's
high terms; she knew that all the grandees of the kingdom disapproved;
she knew that the expedition might end in failure and bring down
ridicule on her head; and yet she rose and cried in ringing tones,
"Bring the man back! I will undertake this thing for my own crown of
Castile."
Isabella, we must remember, was queen of Castile and Leon, and Ferdinand
was king of Aragon, each still ruling his own portion, although their
marriage had united these portions into one kingdom. Hence, though
Ferdinand had lost interest in Columbus's affair, Isabella was quite
free to aid him. It was to commemorate her personal venture that later,
after they had allowed Columbus to adopt a coat of arms, some poet wrote
on its reverse side the famous couplet which excluded Aragon from a
share in the discovery:--
A Castilla y a Leon
Nuevo mundo dio Colon.
To Castile and to Leon
Columbus gave a new world.
The great moment having come when a Spanish sovereign cried out, "Bring
the man back! The thing shall be done!" it was done. Columbus, on
hearing these things from the messengers, turned his mule back to
Granada. The necessary papers were drawn up to provide ships and men;
also, an order creating Christopher Columbus, or Cristobal Colon as he
was called in Spain, Admiral and Viceroy, and granting all the other
demands he had made in the event of his voyage being successful. Even
the reluctant Ferdinand now fell in with his wife's schemes and signed
the order along with her.
The preparing of these papers took some time. Columbus had returned to
Granada in late December, 1491, and it was not until April 17 the
following year that "the greatest paper monarch ever put pen to" was
signed. The fact that it refers to discoveries _already made_ and
discoveries to be made in the Ocean Sea is our strongest reason for
believing that the pilot's story had been laid before the sovereigns.
Christopher's long years of uncertainty were ended; the man's great
perseverance had won out at last; and the weary petitioner who, some
months before, had ridden doubtingly forth from La Rabida now rode back,
bursting with joy, to fall on the good prior's neck and weep out his
gratitude.