FOOTNOTES
[1] Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, dec. 3, lib. 4.—Benzoni, Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 14.—Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 88- 108.—Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 5, cap. 2-12; lib. 6, cap. 1-13.—Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. pp. 282-325.
The best authorities for the fourth voyage are the relations of Mendez and Porras, both engaged in it; and above all the admiral's own letter to the sovereigns from Jamaica. They are all collected in the first volume of Navarrete. (Ubi supra.) Whatever cloud may be thrown over the early part of Columbus's career, there is abundant light on every step of his path after the commencement of his great enterprise.
[2] Hist. del Almirante, cap. 108.
[3] Cartas de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 341.
[4] See his interesting correspondence with his son Diego; now printed for the first time by Señor Navarrete from the original MSS. in the duke of Veragua's possession. Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 338 et seq.
[5] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 14.—Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 108.
For an account of this ordinance see Part II. Chapter 3, note 12, of this
History.
[6] Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 14.
[7] Ibid., dec. 1, lib. 5, cap. 12.
[8] Ibid., dec. 1, lib. 5, cap. 12; lib. 6, cap. 16-18.—Garibay, Compendio, tom. ii. lib. 19, cap. 14.
[9] This document exhibits a medley, in which sober narrative and sound reasoning are strangely blended with crazy dreams, doleful lamentation, and wild schemes for the recovery of Jerusalem, the conversion of the Grand Khan, etc. Vagaries like these, which come occasionally like clouds over his soul, to shut out the light of reason, cannot fail to fill the mind of the reader, as they doubtless did those of the sovereigns at the time, with mingled sentiments of wonder and compassion. See Cartas de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 296.
[10] Ibid., p. 338.
[11] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 108.—Herrera, Indias Occidentales, lib. 6, cap. 14.
[12] Navarrete has given the letter, Coleccion de Viages, tom. iii. p. 530.—Herrera, Indias Occidentales, ubi supra.
[13] Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, p. 429.—Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 108.—Bernaldez, Reyes Católicos, MS., cap. 131.— Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom, ii., Doc. Dipl., 158.
[14] Hist. del Almirante, ubi supra.
The following eulogium of Paolo Giovio is a pleasing tribute to the deserts of the great navigator, showing the high estimation in which he was held, abroad as well as at home, by the enlightened of his own day. "Incomparabilis Liguribus honos, eximium Italiae decus, et praefulgidum jubar seculo nostro nasceretur, quod priscorum heroum, Herculis, et Liberi patris famam obscuraret. Quorum memoriam grata olim mortalitas aeternis literarum monumentis coelo consecrarit." Elogia Virorum Illust., lib. 4, p. 123.
[15] Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., 177.
On the left of the grand altar of this stately edifice, is a bust of Columbus, placed in a niche in the wall, and near it a silver urn, containing all that now remains of the illustrious voyager. See Abbot's "Letters from Cuba," a work of much interest and information, with the requisite allowance for the inaccuracies of a posthumous publication.
[16] The various theories respecting the date of Columbus's birth cover a range of twenty years, from 1436 to 1456. There are sturdy objections to either of the hypotheses; and the historian will find it easier to cut the knot than to unravel it. Comp. Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. Intr., sec. 54.—Muñoz, Hist. del Nuevo-Mundo, lib. 2, sec. 12.—Spotorno, Memorials of Columbus, pp. 12, 25.—Irving, Life of Columbus, vol. iv. book 18, chap. 4.
[17] Fernando Colon, Hist. del Almirante, cap. 3.—Novi Orbis Hist., lib. 1, cap. 14.—Herrera, Indias Occidentales, dec. 1, lib. 6, cap. 15.
[18] See the extracts from Columbus's book of Prophecies, (apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom, ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 140,) as still existing in the Bibliotheca Colombina at Seville.
[19] See his epistle to the most selfish and sensual of the successors of St. Peter, in Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom, ii., Doc. Dipl., no. 145.
[20] "El oro, bien que segun informacion el sea mucho, no me paresció bien ni servicio de vuestras Altezas de se le tomar por via de robo. La buena orden evitará escándolo y mala fama," etc. Cartas de Colon, apud Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. i. p. 310.
[21] Columbus left two sons, Fernando and Diego. The former, illegitimate, inherited his father's genius, says a Castilian writer, and the latter, his honors and estates. (Zuñiga, Annales de Sevilla, año 1506.) Fernando, besides other works now lost, left a valuable memoir of his father, often cited in this history. He was a person of rather uncommon literary attainments, and amassed a library, in his extensive travels, of 20,000 volumes, perhaps the largest private collection in Europe at that day. (Ibid., año 1539.) Diego did not succeed to his father's dignities, till he had obtained a judgment in his favor against the crown from the Council of the Indies, an act highly honorable to that tribunal, and showing that the independence of the courts of justice, the greatest bulwark of civil liberty, was well maintained under King Ferdinand. (Navarrete, Coleccion de Viages, tom. ii., Doc. Dipl., nos. 163, 164; tom. iii., Supl. Col. Dipl., no. 69.) The young admiral subsequently married a lady of the great Toledo family, niece of the duke of Alva. (Oviedo, Quincuagenas, MS., bat. 1, quinc. 2, dial. 8.) This alliance with one of the most ancient branches of the haughty aristocracy of Castile, proves the extraordinary consideration, which Columbus must have attained during his own lifetime. A new opposition was made by Charles V. to the succession of Diego's son; and the latter, discouraged by the prospect of this interminable litigation with the crown, prudently consented to commute his claims, too vast and indefinite for any subject to enforce, for specific honors and revenues in Castile. The titles of Duke of Veragua and Marquis of Jamaica, derived from the places visited by the admiral in his last voyage, still distinguish the family, whose proudest title, above all that monarchs can confer, is, to have descended from Columbus. Spotorno, Memorials of Columbus, p. 123.