Domenico Colombo possessed yet another house, still standing, and situated close to the recently restored Gate of Sant Andrea, at the top of the long, steep street still called Portorio. In this venerable building Christopher Columbus was unquestionably born, in 1451.
Four years before the discovery of America by his illustrious son, Domenico Colombo, being in reduced circumstances, was obliged to transfer this house to his son-in-law Bavarello, the husband of his only daughter Bianchinetta. The papers relative to this proceeding are still in existence, and bear the date July 30, 1489. Domenico Colombo certainly lived here with his wife and family from 1435 to 1470, when they went to Savona. This is proved by the register of the monastery of San Stefano, in which they are regularly entered as paying a yearly ecclesiastical tax to the Prior during the whole of this period. They left Genoa in 1470, and resided at Savona until 1484. The Savonese archives, however, contain frequent mention of Domenico until 1494, when he again returned to Genoa, where, in all probability, he died, some years later. In the deed authorising the sale of the house in Porta Olivella, the witnesses are "Christopher Colombo and Giovanni Pellegrino, sons of Domenico and Susanna Colombo."
Washington Irving was unaware of the existence of this son Giovanni Pellegrino, for he states that "Christopher Columbus was the eldest of three brothers only—Bartholomew and Giacomo, or James (written Diego in Spanish)." Giovanni Pellegrino was the second brother, and died unmarried in 1489. We have more than this proof of his existence. In another document he is named together with his three brothers,—Christopher, Bartholomew, and Giacomo. In 1501, ten years after his death, and some time after that of his father, a man named Corasso Cuneo summoned the sons of Domenico Colombo before the tribunals of Savona for non-payment of the price due to him for lands purchased by their father Domenico many years before his decease. In this curious document we read the names of Christopher and James—"Christophorem et Jacobum, fratres de Columbi, filiis et heredes quondam Dominici eorum patris." In the next register concerning this affair, and dated the same month and year, Bartholomew is mentioned—"Cristoferi, Bartolomei et Jacobi de Columbis, quondam Domenici et ipsius heredem." There is no mention of Bianchinetta, the only sister of the illustrious navigator. She, being a married woman, was not, according to Genoese law, entitled to inherit from her father. Here, then, we have the most positive contemporary evidence that Domenico Colombo was the father of four sons, respectively named Christopher, Giovanni Pellegrino or Pilgrim (a name sometimes found in old English registers), Bartolomeo or Bartholomew, and Giacomo or Diego,—and, therefore, the father of Christopher Columbus, Discoverer of the New World, who, as everybody knows, had two brothers, companions in his travels, named Bartholomew and Giacomo (or Diego). We learn that, according to documents far too numerous to be quoted here, the said Domenico was a taxpaying resident in the Via di Sant Andrea, in the city of Genoa, between the years 1435 and 1470. Another and most important paper, recently discovered by the Marquis Staglieno in the Atti Notarilli of the city of Genoa, declares Christopher Columbus to be nineteen years old in 1470. He was born then, we may presume, in October 1451, during the time of his father's residence in the house now officially declared his birthplace, and situated hard by the noble old Gate of Sant Andrea.
It is a fortunate thing for Italian history that, in accordance with a very ancient custom, on the decease of a notary, his papers and registers are taken charge of by the State, and carefully preserved in an office specially set apart for the purpose. Although the enormous accumulation of papers thus preserved from century to century may, in many instances, be deemed of little importance, they have proved invaluable funds of information for the historian. It was among the papers of the notary Stella that Signor Bertolotti unearthed the particulars of the life and trial of Beatrice Cenci. It was among those of Pietro Belasio and Nicola Raggio that the Marquis Staglieno discovered the following curious facts concerning Columbus:—
"In 1470, on the thirtieth of October, Domenico Colombo and his son Christopher appeared before the above-named notaries of the city of Genoa, in order to confirm and conclude a contract in which the said Christopher Colombo declares himself, with his father's endorsement, debtor to the said Belasio to the amount of Genoese lire 48. 15. 6. (or about 300 francs) for wine procured by him on credit for the supply of his ship, now in the harbour of Genoa. Domenico, his father, holds himself security for his said son, who is nineteen years of age. Christofferus de Colombo filius Domenico Maior anni decemnovum."
And, according to Genoese law, of age.
Columbus tells us in his Autobiography that he went to sea when he was fourteen. Hence, in 1470, he had been five years a sailor, but he had not, as yet, wholly abandoned the paternal roof, to reside permanently in Portugal. He did not do so until six years later. Now, if he went to sea when he was fourteen, and was still at sea when he was nineteen, what time had he for studying at the University of Pavia, where, according to most historians, he acquired his proficiency in Latin, and in such sciences as were then taught? In my opinion, he never was near Pavia in his life. No document in Pavian archives proves that Columbus was a student at that renowned University. The statement rests only on a very slender local tradition, and on Las Casas' assertion that he "completed his studies in Pavia." Possibly this writer made a slip of the pen, and, meaning Patria, wrote Pavia—or did the printer's devil make the blunder? Certainly Columbus' family was not in a position to send him to a distant University, and, moreover, there was no necessity for their so doing, as Genoa possessed famous colleges and schools of her own.
At the bottom of the long, steep street Portorio, not very far from his father's house, was a school, directed by the Servite fathers, whose church, Santa Maria de' Servi, still exists. It strikes me as much more probable that the boy Columbus attended there, and that some learned monk taught him Latin, than that he should have been sent to Pavia, as great a distance from Genoa, in those days, as Paris is now. Moreover, the learned notary Andrea de Cario was a friend and neighbour of the family. This gentleman was well off, and, although married, usually wore an ecclesiastical habit, and acted as the archbishop's Chancellor for close on half a century. Among his papers and registers, still preserved, are several mentions of Domenico Colombo and his wife and her family, the Fontanarosse. Possibly this learned personage may have undertaken a part of the education of the precocious lad.
If further proof were required of the intimate connection which always existed between Domenico Colombo and his illustrious son Christopher, I need simply record the fact that, even when the Great Man was himself in dire distress, he remembered his aged father, and sent him money to relieve his pressing debts. The affection between the three brothers seems to have been extended to certain cousins, for we find, in a document dated 1476, that Giovanni, Matteo, and Amighetto Colombo, of Quinto, signed a deed whereby money was raised to enable the eldest, Giovanni, to go to Spain to serve under his cousin Christopher, who is described as an Admiral. These men were the sons of Antonio, a brother of Domenico.
Not one of the documents I have quoted is particularly interesting in itself. They are very commonplace, and yet how wonderfully they help us to reconstruct the past! A name here, an allusion there, an unpaid bill, a summons before the tribunals on a pressing demand for payment of rent, a receipt, a mere scrap of paper with a great name attached to it, opens out an entirely new field of research, and dispels mountains of controversy and theory. I felt myself in very intimate contact with Columbus when my eyes first rested on the quaint, old-world documents which he, and his father, and mother, and brothers, signed, four hundred years ago.