FOOTNOTES:
[720] Barcelona, in 1068, led the way by the creation of an al-fondech (Latin, fundicus), or exchange (Capmany v. i. 26). This was greatly aided by the privileges given to it by James, king of Aragon, in 1265, by Pedro III. in 1283, by Peter IV. in 1343, and by many protections from English sovereigns, such as Edward III. in 1353 (Rymer, “Fœd.” V. v. p. 762).
[721] The original archives of Barcelona give many details of its large ships about the year 1331 (Capmany V. i. p. 46). In one instance, thirteen citizens built a “cog” of three decks, called the San Clemento, which captured several Genoese and Pisan vessels.
[722] See full details of these subjects very carefully worked out in an admirable “Life of Prince Henry the Navigator,” by R. H. Major, F.S.A., M.R.S.L., and Keeper of the Department of Maps, British Museum. Lond. 1868.
[723] Life of Prince Henry, p. 72.
[724] The famous motto of Prince Henry, which his life illustrated so fully, was “Talent de bien faire.” It is carved on his tomb at Batalha, of which Mr. Major gives a good engraving, p. 305.
[725] Major, pp. 322-391.
[726] Dias reached a river beyond Algoa Bay, now known as the great Fish River (Major, p. 345). He discovered the Cape on his return voyage.
[727] Condé, “Historia de la dominación de los Arabes en España, 8vo. Paris, 1840.”
[728] “Select Letters of Columbus,” edited, with a careful Introduction, by E. H. Major, Esq., F.S.A., for the Hakluyt Society, 2nd ed. 1870 and “Life of Columbus,” by Washington Irving. Lond. 12mo. 1830.
[729] Columbus also resided some time at Funchal in Madeira, where his house was still shown (in 1846).
[730] His correspondence with Toscanelli was in 1474 (Major, p. 350).
[731] Strabo, i. c. 3-5; ii. c. 5.
[732] The celebrated travels of Marco Polo have been recently edited by Colonel Yule, C.B., an accomplished Oriental scholar, who has shown much ability in arranging the mass of new material for their illustration which has been discovered during the fifty years since Marsden’s edition. Colonel Yule completely confirms the general truthfulness of Polo’s narrative, and shows that the occasional credulity of the traveller (like that of Herodotus) is mainly due to the period in which he journeyed. The date of Marco Polo’s absence from Venice is from 1271 to 1295 (Yule, Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, 2 vols. 8vo. 1871).
[733] It seems probable that Columbus was more influenced by what he heard from Toscanelli of the discoveries of Marco Polo than by anything else. Martin Behaim, in 1492, constructed a map in which Zipango (supposed to be Japan) is placed according to Polo’s description, and it is believed that Columbus had a similar map with him on his first voyage. A copy of this map, which was nearly, if not quite, the same as Toscanelli’s, is given in W. Irving, p. 16 (Murray).
[734] W. Irving, p. 60.
[735] This instrument was certainly used by Vasco de Gama in 1497 (Major, p. 393). It was invented by Behaim about the year 1480, with the aid of two physicians, Roderigo and Josef (Major, “Select Letters of Columbus,” Introd. p. lvi.).
[736] W. Irving, p. 24.
[737] W. Irving, vol. i. p. 125, where it appears that these learned men relied chiefly on the authority of the Fathers, Lactantius and St. Augustine, holding that the views of Columbus were in opposition to Holy Scripture.
[738] D. G. Spotomo, “Memoir of Columbus,” p. 243.
[739] Ibid. p. 44.
[740] Historia del Almirante, i. cap. 12. Washington Irving, vol. i. p. 137.
[741] Memoir of Columbus, p. 49. W. Irving, vol. i. p. 170.
[742] Capmany, vol. v. p. 58.
[743] It is now certain that Columbus heard in Iceland traditions of the voyages of Icelanders to “Vinland” (Virginia and Carolina) between the 10th and the 13th centuries.—Rafn. Antiq. American. Copenhagen, fol. 1837.
[744] Murray: London, 1830. See frontispiece.
[745] Mr. Major (“Select Letters of Columbus”) has mentioned all the known copies of this very rare tract.—Introd. p. cviii.
[746] W. Irving (Murray). Ibid. p. lxxxvii.
[747] Columbus calls his own ship the Christopher Nao; and M. Jal, who has at great length discussed the size of Columbus’s ships on his voyage, states that Nao was the usual title of an admiral’s vessel.—Arch. Nav. ii. p. 249.
[748] The letter is entitled “De Insulis inventis. Epistola Cristoferi Colom ... ad Magnificum dñm Raphaelem Sanxis ... 3 Kal. Maii, 1493,” (Grenville Collect. No. 6663).
[749] Irving, p. 60.
[750] Many of the documents published by Navarette, are preserved in the great collection at Simancas, from which Mr. Froude has drawn so large a portion of the documents for his history.—Journal of Columbus, Navarette Collection, book i. p. 19.
[751] Mr. Major, in an able article in the Journ. of the Roy. Geograph. Soc. for 1871, entitled “The Landfall of Columbus,” has examined the whole question as to the island on which he first landed on October 12, 1492, and has shown that Humboldt, Washington Irving, and himself (in his edition for the Hakluyt Society of the “Select Letters of Columbus”) have been in error, and that the island called by the Indians Guanahani is unquestionably that now called “Watling Island.”
[752] Journal of Columbus, Navarrete Coll.
[753] Major, “Select Letters of Columbus,” p. 7.