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Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
Columbus. Others, perhaps, were as familiar with all the
geographical facts and theories with which he had so long been
storing his mind; others even saw as clearly the conclusions to which
these facts and theories so distinctly pointed: but he alone, of all the
men of his generation, was possessed with the lofty enthusiasm, the
ardent prescience, the unhasting and unresting courage, that were
the harbingers of glorious success.
 CHAPTER II.
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
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