The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II)

W >> Washington Irving >> The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44

Not long after the departure of Don Diego from St. Domingo, his uncle, Don
Bartholomew, ended his active and laborious life. No particulars are given
of his death, nor is there mention made of his age, which must have been
advanced. King Ferdinand is said to have expressed great concern at the
event, for he had a high opinion of the character and talents of the
Adelantado: "a man," says Herrera, "of not less worth than his brother the
admiral, and who, if he had been employed, would have given great proofs
of it; for he was an excellent seaman, valiant and of great heart."
[252] Charlevoix attributes the inaction in which Don Bartholomew had been
suffered to remain for several years, to the jealousy and parsimony of the
king. He found the house already too powerful, and the Adelantado, had he
discovered Mexico, was a man to make as good conditions as had been made
by the admiral his brother. [253] It was said, observed Herrera, that the
king rather preferred to employ him in his European affairs, though it
could only have been to divert him from other objects. On his death the
king resumed to himself the island of Mona, which he had given to him for
life, and transferred his repartimiento of two hundred Indians to the
vice-queen Dona Maria.

While the admiral Don Diego was pressing for an audience in his
vindication at court, King Ferdinand died on the 23d January, 1516. His
grandson and successor, Prince Charles, afterwards the emperor Charles V.,
was in Flanders. The government rested for a time with Cardinal Ximenes,
who would not undertake to decide on the representations and claims of the
admiral. It was not until 1520 that he obtained from the emperor Charles
V. a recognition of his innocence of all the charges against him. The
emperor, finding that what Pasamonte and his party had written were
notorious calumnies, ordered Don Diego to resume his charge, although the
process with the fiscal was still pending, and that Pasamonte should be
written to, requesting him to forget all past passions and differences and
to enter into amicable relations with Don Diego. Among other acts of
indemnification he acknowledged his right to exercise his office of
viceroy and governor in the island of Hispaniola, and in all parts
discovered by his father. [254] His authority was, however, much
diminished by new regulations, and a supervisor appointed over him with
the right to give information to the council against him, but with no
other powers. Don Diego sailed in the beginning of September, 1520, and
on his arrival at St. Domingo, finding that several of the governors,
presuming on his long absence, had arrogated to themselves independence,
and had abused their powers, he immediately sent persons to supersede
them, and demanded an account of their administration. This made him a
host of active and powerful enemies both in the colonies and in Spain.

Considerable changes had taken place in the island of Hispaniola, during
the absence of the admiral. The mines had fallen into neglect, the
cultivation of the sugar-cane having been found a more certain source of
wealth. It became a by-word in Spain that the magnificent palaces erected
by Charles V. at Madrid and Toledo were built of the sugar of Hispaniola.
Slaves had been imported in great numbers from Africa, being found more
serviceable in the culture of the cane than the feeble Indians. The
treatment of the poor negroes was cruel in the extreme; and they seem to
have had no advocates even among the humane. The slavery of the Indians
had been founded on the right of the strong; but it was thought that the
negroes, from their color, were born to slavery; and that from being
bought and sold in their own country, it was their natural condition.
Though a patient and enduring race, the barbarities inflated on them at
length roused them to revenge, and on the 27th December, 1522, there was
the first African revolt in Hispaniola. It began in a sugar plantation of
the admiral Don Diego, where about twenty slaves, joined by an equal
number from a neighboring plantation, got possession of arms, rose on
their superintendents, massacred them, and sallied forth upon the country.
It was their intention to pillage certain plantations, to kill the whites,
reinforce themselves by freeing their countrymen, and either to possess
themselves of the town of Agua, or to escape to the mountains.

Don Diego set out from St. Domingo in search of the rebels, followed by
several of the principal inhabitants. On the second day he stopped on the
banks of the river Nizao to rest his party and suffer reinforcements to
overtake him. Here one Melchor de Castro, who accompanied the admiral,
learnt that the negroes had ravaged his plantation, sacked his house,
killed one of his men, and carried off his Indian slaves. Without asking
leave of the admiral, he departed in the night with two companions,
visited his plantation, found all in confusion, and, pursuing the negroes,
sent to the admiral for aid. Eight horsemen were hastily dispatched to his
assistance, armed with bucklers and lances, and having six of the infantry
mounted behind them. De Castro had three horsemen beside this
reinforcement, and at the head of this little band overtook the negroes at
break of day. The insurgents put themselves in battle array, armed with
stones and Indian spears, and uttering loud shouts and outcries. The
Spanish horsemen braced their bucklers, couched their lances, and charged
them at full speed. The negroes were soon routed, and fled to the rocks,
leaving six dead and several wounded. De Castro also was wounded in the
arm. The admiral coming up, assisted in the pursuit of the fugitives. As
fast as they were taken they were hanged on the nearest trees, and
remained suspended as spectacles of terror to their countrymen. This
prompt severity checked all further attempts at revolt among the African
slaves. [255]

In the meantime the various enemies whom Don Diego had created, both in
the colonies and in Spain, were actively and successfully employed. His
old antagonist, the treasurer Pasnmonte, had charged him with usurping
almost all the powers of the royal audience, and with having given to the
royal declaration, re-establishing him in his office of viceroy, an extent
never intended by the sovereign. These representations had weight at
court, and in 1523 Don Diego received a most severe letter from the
council of the Indies, charging him with the various abuses and excesses
alleged against him, and commanding him, on pain of forfeiting all his
privileges and titles, to revoke the innovations he had made, and restore
things to their former state. To prevent any plea of ignorance of this
mandate, the royal audience was enjoined to promulgate it and to call upon
all persons to conform to it, and to see that it was properly obeyed. The
admiral received also a letter from the council, informing him that Jus
presence was necessary in Spain, to give information of the foregoing
matters, and advice relative to the reformation of various abuses, and to
the treatment and preservation of the Indians; he was requested,
therefore, to repair to court without waiting for further orders.
[256]

Don Diego understood this to be a peremptory recall, and obeyed
accordingly. On his arrival in Spain, he immediately presented himself
before the court at Victoria, with the frank and fearless spirit of an
upright man, and pleaded his cause so well, that the sovereign and council
acknowledged his innocence on all the points of accusation. He convinced
them, moreover, of the exactitude with which he had discharged his duties;
of his zeal for the public good, and the glory of the crown; and that all
the representations against him rose from the jealousy and enmity of
Pasaraonte and other royal oflicers in the colonies, who were impatient of
any superior authority in the island to restrain them.

Having completely established his innocence, and exposed the calumnies of
his enemies, Don Diego trusted that he would soon obtain justice as to all
his claims. As these, however, involved a participation in the profits of
vast and richly productive provinces, he experienced the delays and
difficulties usual with such demands, for it is only when justice costs
nothing that it is readily rendered. His earnest solicitations at length
obtained an order from the emperor, that a commission should be formed,
composed of the grand chancellor, the friar Loyasa, confessor to the
emperor, and president of the royal council of the Indies, and a number of
other distinguished personages. They were to inquire into the various
points in dispute between the admiral and the fiscal, and into the
proceedings which had taken place in the council of the Indies, with the
power of determining what justice required in the case. The affair,
however, was protracted to such a length, and accompanied by so many
toils, vexations, and disappointments, that the unfortunate Diego, like
his father, died in the pursuit. For two years he had followed the court
from city to city, during its migrations from Victoria to Burgos,
Valladolid, Madrid, and Toledo. In the winter of 1525, the emperor set out
from Toledo for Seville. The admiral undertook to follow him, though his
constitution was broken by fatigue and vexation, and he was wasting under
the attack of a slow fever. Oviedo, the historian, saw him at Toledo two
days before his departure, and joined with his friends in endeavoring to
dissuade him from a journey in such a state of health, and at such a
season. Their persuasions were in vain. Don Diego was not aware of the
extent of his malady: he told them that he should repair to Seville by the
church of our Lady of Guadaloupe, to offer up his devotions at that
shrine; and he trusted, through the intercession of the mother of God,
soon to be restored to health. [257] He accordingly left Toledo in a
litter on the 21st of February, 1526, having previously confessed and
taken the communion, and arrived the same day at Montalvan, distant about
six leagues. There his illness increased to such a degree that he saw his
end approaching. He employed the following day in arranging the affairs
of his conscience, and expired on February 23d, being little more than
fifty years of age, his premature death having been hastened by the
griefs and troubles he had experienced. "He was worn out," says Herrera,
"by following up his claims, and defending himself from the calumnies of
his competitors, who, with many stratagems and devices, sought to obscure
the glory of the father and the virtue of the son." [258]

We have seen how the discovery of the New World rendered the residue of
the life of Columbus a tissue of wrongs, hardships, and afflictions, and
how the jealousy and enmity he had awakened were inherited by his son. It
remains to show briefly in what degree the anticipations of perpetuity,
wealth, and honor to his family were fulfilled.

When Don Diego Columbus died, his wife and family were at St. Domingo. He
left two sons, Luis and Christopher, and three daughters, Maria, who
afterwards married Don Sancho de Cardono; Juana, who married Don Luis de
Cneva; and Isabella, who married Don George of Portugal, count of Gelves.
He had also a natural son named Christopher. [259]

After the death of Don Diego, his noble-spirited vice queen, left with a
number of young children, endeavored to assert and maintain the rights of
the family. Understanding that, according to the privileges accorded to
Christopher Columbus, they had a just claim to the vice-royalty of the
province of Veragua, as having been discovered by him, she demanded a
license from the royal audience of Hispaniola, to recruit men and fit out
an armada to colonize that country. This the audience refused, and sent
information of the demand to the emperor. He replied, that the vice-queen
should be kept in suspense until the justice of her claim could be
ascertained; as, although he had at various times given commissions to
different persons to examine the doubts and objections which had been
opposed by the fiscal, no decision had ever been made.[260] The
enterprise thus contemplated by the vice-queen was never carried into
effect.

Shortly afterwards she sailed for Spain, to protect the claim of her
eldest son, Don Luis, then six years of age. Charles V. was absent, but
she was most graciously received by the empress. The title of admiral of
the Indies was immediately conferred on her son, Don Luis, and the emperor
augmented his revenues, and conferred other favors on the family. Charles
V., however, could never be prevailed on to give Don Luis the title of
viceroy, although that dignity had been decreed to his father, a few years
previous to his death, as an hereditary right.[261]

In 1538, the young admiral, Don Luis, then about eighteen years of age,
was at court, having instituted proceedings before the proper tribunals,
for the recovery of the viceroyalty. Two years afterwards the suit was
settled by arbitration, his uncle Don Fernando, and Cardinal Loyasa,
president of the council of the Indies, being umpires. By a compromise Don
Luis was declared captain-general of Hispaniola, but with such limitations
that it was little better than a bare title. Don Luis sailed for
Hispaniola, but did not remain there long. He found his dignities and
privileges mere sources of vexation, and finally entered into a
compromise, which relieved himself and gratified the emperor. He gave up
all pretensions to the viceroyalty of the New World, receiving in its
stead the titles of Duke of Veragua and Marquis of Jamaica. [262] He
commuted also the claim to the tenth of the produce of the Indies for a
pension of one thousand doubloons of gold.[263]

Don Luis did not long enjoy the substitution of a certain, though
moderate, revenue for a magnificent but unproductive claim. He died
shortly afterwards, leaving no other male issue than an illegitimate son,
named Christopher. He left two daughters by his wife, Dona Maria de
Mosquera, one named Phillippa, and the other Maria, which last became a
nun in the convent of St. Quirce, at Valladolid.

Don Luis, having no legitimate son, was succeeded by his nephew Diego, son
to his brother Christopher. A litigation took place between this young
heir and his cousin Phillippa, daughter of the late Don Luis. The convent
of St. Quirce also put in a claim, on behalf of its inmate, Dona Maria,
who had taken the veil. Christopher, natural son to Don Luis, likewise
became a prosecutor in the suit, but was set aside on account of his
illegitimacy. Don Diego and his cousin Phillippa soon thought it better to
join claims and persons in wedlock, than to pursue a tedious contest. They
were married, and their union was happy, though not fruitful. Diego died
without issue in 1578, and with him the legitimate male line of Columbus
became extinct.

One of the most important lawsuits that the world has ever witnessed now
arose for the estates and dignities descended from the great discoverer.
Don Diego had two sisters, Francisca and Maria, the former of whom, and
the children of the latter, advanced their several claims. To these
parties was added Bernard Colombo of Cogoleto, who claimed as lineal
descendant from Bartholomew Columbus, the Adelantado, brother to the
discoverer. He was, however, pronounced ineligible, as the Adelantado had
no acknowledged, and certainly no legitimate, offspring.

Baldassar, or Balthazar, Colombo, of the house of Cuccaro and Conzano, in
the dukedom of Montferrat, in Piedmont, was an active and persevering
claimant. He came from Italy into Spain, where he devoted himself for many
years to the prosecution of this suit. He produced a genealogical tree of
his family, in which was contained one Domenico Colombo, lord of Cuccaro,
whom he maintained to be the identical father of Christopher Columbus, the
admiral. He proved that this Domenico was living at the requisite era, and
produced many witnesses who had heard that the navigator was born in the
castle of Cuccaro; whence, it was added, he and his two brothers had
eloped at an early age, and had never returned. [264] A monk is also
mentioned among the witnesses, who made oath that Christopher and his
brothers were born in that castle of Cuccaro. This testimony was
afterwards withdrawn by the prosecutor; as it was found that the monk's
recollection must have extended back considerably upward of a century.
[265] The claim of Balthazar was negatived. His proofs that Christopher
Columbus was a native of Cuccaro were rejected, as only hearsay, or
traditionary evidence. His ancestor Domenico, it appeared from his own
showing, died in 1456; whereas it was established that Domenico, the
father of the admiral, was living upwards of thirty years after that
date.

The cause was finally decided by the council of the Indies, on the 2d
December, 1608. The male line was declared to be extinct. Don Nuno or
Nugno Gelves de Portugallo was put in possession, and became duke of
Veragua. He was grandson to Isabella, third daughter of Don Diego (son of
the discoverer) by his vice-queen, Dona Maria de Toledo. The descendants
of the two elder sisters of Isabella had a prior claim, but their lines
became extinct previous to this decision of the suit. The Isabella just
named had married Don George of Portugal, count of Gelves. "Thus," says
Charlevoix, "the dignities and wealth of Columbus passed into a branch of
the Portuguese house of Braganza, established in Spain, of which the heirs
are entitled _De Portugallo, Colon, Duke de Veragua, Marques de la
Jamaica, y Almirante de las Indias_." [Charlevoix, Hist. St. Doming.,
tom. i. lib. vi. p. 447.]

The suit of Balthazar Colombo of Cuccaro was rejected under three
different forms, by the council of the Indies; and his application for an
allowance of support, under the legacy of Columbus, in favor of poor
relations, was also refused; although the other parties had assented to
the demand. [266] He died in Spain, where he had resided many years in
prosecution of this suit. His son returned to Italy, persisting in the
validity of his claim: he said that it was in vain to seek justice in
Spain; they were too much interested to keep those dignities and estates
among themselves; but he gave out that he had received twelve thousand
doubloons of gold in compromise from the other parties. Spotorno, under
sanction of Ignazio de Giovanni, a learned canon, treats this assertion
as a bravado, to cover his defeat, being contradicted by his evident
poverty. [267] The family of Cuccaro, however, still maintain their
right, and express great veneration for the memory of their illustrious
ancestor, the admiral; and travelers occasionally visit their old castle
in Piedmont with great reverence, as the birthplace of the discoverer of
the New World.

No. III.

Fernando Columbus.

Fernando Columbus (or Colon, as he is called in Spain), the natural son
and historian of the admiral, was born in Cordova. There is an uncertainty
about the exact time of his birth. According to his epitaph, it must have
been on the 28th September, 1488; but according to his original papers
preserved in the library of the cathedral of Seville, and which were
examined by Don Diego Ortiz de Zuniga, historian of that city, it would
appear to have been on the 29th of August, 1487. His mother, Dona Beatrix
Enriquez, was of a respectable family, but was never married to the
admiral, as has been stated by some of his biographers.

Early in 1494, Fernando was carried to court, together with his elder
brother Diego, by his uncle Don Bartholomew, to enter the royal household
in quality of page to the prince Don Juan, son and heir to Ferdinand and
Isabella. He and his brother remained in this situation until the death of
the prince; when they were taken by Queen Isabella as pages into her own
service. Their education, of course, was well attended to, and Fernando in
after-life gave proofs of being a learned man.

In the year 1502, at the tender age of thirteen or fourteen years,
Fernando accompanied his father in his fourth voyage of discovery, and
encountered all its singular and varied hardships with a fortitude that is
mentioned with praise and admiration by the admiral.

After the death of his father, it would appear that Fernando made two
voyages to the New World. He accompanied the emperor Charles V. also, to
Italy, Flanders, and Germany; and according to Zuffiga (Anales de Seville
de 1539, No. 3), traveled over all Europe and a part of Africa and Asia.
Possessing talents, judgment, and industry, these opportunities were not
lost upon him, and he acquired much information in geography, navigation,
and natural history. Being of a studious habit, and fond of books, he
formed a select, yet copious, library, of more than twenty thousand
volumes, in print and in manuscript. With the sanction of the emperor
Charles V., he undertook to establish an academy and college of
mathematics at Seville; and for this purpose commenced the construction of
a sumptuous edifice, without the walls of the city, facing the
Guadalquiver, in the place where the monastery of San Laureano is now
situated. His constitution, however, had been broken by the sufferings he
had experienced in his travels and voyages, and a premature death
prevented the completion of his plan of the academy, and broke off other
useful labors. He died in Seville on the 12th of July, 1539, at the age,
according to his epitaph, of fifty years, nine months, and fourteen days.
He left no issue, and was never married. His body was interred, according
to his request, in the cathedral of Seville. He bequeathed his valuable
library to the same establishment.

Don Fernando devoted himself much to letters. According to the inscription
on his tomb, he composed a work in four books, or volumes, the title of
which is defaced on the monument, and the work itself is lost. This is
much to be regretted, as, according to Zuniga, the fragments of the
inscription specify it to have contained, among a variety of matter,
historical, moral, and geographical notices of the countries he had
visited, but especially of the New World, and of the voyages and
discoveries of his father.

His most important and permanent work, however, was a history of the
admiral, composed in Spanish. It was translated into Italian by Alonzo de
Ulloa, and from this Italian translation have proceeded the editions which
have since appeared in various languages. It is singular that the work
only exists in Spanish, in the form of a retranslation from that of Ulloa,
and full of errors in the orthography of proper names, and in dates and
distances.

Don Fernando was an eye-witness of some of the facts which he relates,
particularly of the fourth voyage, wherein he accompanied his father. He
had also the papers and charts of his father, and recent documents of all
kinds to extract from, as well as familiar acquaintance with the principal
personages who were concerned in the events which he records. He was a man
of probity and discernment, and writes more dispassionately than could be
expected, when treating of matters which affected the honor, the
interests, and happiness of his father. It is to be regretted, however,
that he should have suffered the whole of his father's life, previous to
his discoveries (a period of about fifty-six years), to remain in
obscurity. He appears to have wished to cast a cloud over it, and only to
have presented his father to the reader after he had rendered himself
illustrious by his actions, and his history had become in a manner
identified with the history of the world. His work, however, is an
invaluable document, entitled to great faith, and is the corner-stone of
the history of the American Continent.

[Illustration: Galley, from the tomb of Fernando Columbus, at Seville.]

No. IV.

Age of Columbus.

As the date I have assigned for the birth of Columbus makes him about ten
years older than he is generally represented, at the time of his
discoveries, it is proper to state precisely my authority. In the valuable
manuscript chronicle of the reign of the Catholic sovereigns, written by
Andres Bernaldes, the curate of Los Palacios, there is a long tract on the
subject of the discoveries of Columbus: it concludes with these words:
_Murio en Valladolid, el ano de 1506, en el mes de Mayo, in senectute
bona, de edad 70 anos, poco mas o menos_. (He died in Valladolid in the
year 1506, in the month of May, in a good old age, being seventy years
old, a little more or less.) The curate of Los Palacios was a
contemporary, and an intimate friend of Columbus, who was occasionally a
guest in his house; no one was more competent, therefore, to form a
correct idea of his age. It is singular, that, while the biographers of
Columbus have been seeking to establish the epoch of his birth by various
calculations and conjectures, this direct testimony of honest Andres
Bernaldes has entirely escaped their notice, though some of them had his
manuscript in their hands. It was first observed by my accurate friend Don
Antonio Uguina in the course of his exact investigations, and has been
pointed out and ably supported by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete, in
the introduction to his valuable collection of voyages.