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.