Rivers of Gold

by Hugh Thomas

  39. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 343.

  40. When exactly Nebrija presented this book to the Queen seems unclear. It is said that it occurred when the court was at Salamanca, but the court was not in Salamanca in 1492, and would not go there again till 1497. It is also said that Talavera, when still Bishop of Ávila, introduced Nebrija to the Queen, though preoccupied by calming (allanar) matters to prepare for Columbus’s first voyage. But Talavera became Archbishop of Granada in 1491. Probably the presentation was in Valladolid in August 1492, the court being there for two months, not in Salamanca. This first grammar of a Romance language was written, according to Menéndez Pidal, “en esperanza cierta del Nuevo Mundo, aunque aún no se había navegado para descubrirlo.” Asked what the point of the book was, Nebrija replied: “Después que vuestra Alteza meta debajo de su yugo muchos pueblos bárbaros y naciones de peregrinas lenguas, y con el vencimiento aquellos tengan necesidad de recibir las leyes que el vencidor pone al vencido, y con ellas nuestra lengua, entonces por esta arte gramatical podrían venir en conocimiento de ella, como agora nosotros deprendemos el arte de la lengua latín para desprender el latin” (Ramón Menéndez Pidal, La Lengua de Cristóbal Colón; Madrid 1958, 49). See Félix González Olmedo, Nebrija, Debelador de la barbarie, Madrid 1942.

  41. Maurice Kriegel, “La prise d’une décision: l’expulsion des Juifs d’Espagne en 1492,” Revue Historique, 260, 1978. Kriegel stresses the complete surprise of the Spanish Jews in 1492. Had not Fernando, as late as Feb. 28, 1492, guaranteed the loans of the alhama in Saragossa?

  42. The monarchs wrote to many cities and noblemen with a copy of the decree, including to the Duke of Medinaceli (Bernáldez [3:2], 332–40). The edict is printed by Fidel Fita in Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia (hereafter BRAH), 11, 512–28.

  43. Martyr [1:2], 173. He considered the Jews a “bogus race” (raza falaz) (op. cit., 177).

  44. Luis Suárez Fernández, Documentos acerca de la expulsión de los judíos de España, Valladolid 1964, doc. 177. This was a letter directed to the see of Burgos.

  45. For a good summary, see Edwards [2:25], 226.

  46. As summarized in Suárez, Isabel I [1:20], 292.

  47. See F. Cantera, “Fernando del Pulgar y los conversos,” Sefarad, 4, 1944, 296–99.

  48. Martyr [1:2], 1, 101.

  49. Martyr [1:2], 1, 201.

  50. The thought is that of Suárez [1:20], 354.

  51. Martyr [1:2], 1, 201.

  52. Two recent Lives are Erika Rummel, Jiménez de Cisneros, Tempe 1999, and Juan J. García Oro, El cardenal Cisneros: vida y empresas, 2 vols., Madrid 1992–93, of which there is a shorter version, Barcelona 2002.

  53. Cortes de los Antiguos Reinos de León y Castilla, vol. 4: 1476-1537, Real Academia de la Historia (Madrid 1882), 149–51.

  54. Benzion Netanyahu, The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain, New York 1995, 842.

  55. Gil [3:37], 2, 12.

  56. “¿Creéis que esto proviene de mí? El Señor ha puesto este pensamiento en el corazón del rey.” Y luego prosiguió: “El corazón del rey está en las manos del Señor, como los ríos de agua. Él los dirige donde quiere” (Suárez [1:20]). See also B. Netanyahu, Isaac Abravanel, Philadelphia 1972, 55, and The Jewish Quarterly Review 20 (1908), 254. I am grateful to Professor Netanyahu for his help in this matter.

  57. Julio Caro Baroja, Los Judíos en la España Moderna, 3 vols., Madrid 1961, 1, 178; Spain and the Jews, Eli Kedourie (ed.), London 1992, 14. Kriegel [5:41] discusses the role of Señor before 1492, suggesting that his actions had lost him the support of the Jewish community as a whole.

  58. Kamen in Kedourie [5:57], 85. Ladero Quesada thought in terms of 95,000 Jews in Castile, perhaps 12,000 in Aragon. Suárez [1:20] suggested a total of 70,000–100,000. Azcona ([1:21], 446) accepted 200,000. Alvar Ezquerra suggested 200,000, with 100,000 converted ([3:43], 99). Netanyahu [5:56] thought that there were 600,000 Jews in 1391, 300,000 in 1490.

  59. Haim Bernart, also in Kedourie [5:57], 114. See Elliott [1:25], 98.

  60. See Pilar Alonso and Alberto Gil, La Memoria de las Aljamas, Madrid 1994, and above all Henri Méchoulan, Les Juifs d’Espagne, histoire d’une diaspora, 1492–1992, Paris 1992.

  Chapter 6

  1. For the population, see Miguel Angel Ladero Quesada, La Ciudad Medieval, Historia de Sevilla, Valladolid 1980, 73.

  2. Navarrete [4:38], 1, 309.

  3. Navarrete [4:38], 1, 307.

  4. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 176. For them, see Juan Manzano y Manzano, Los Pinzones y el descubrimiento de América, 3 vols., Madrid 1988.

  5. Celebrated now since it was the birthplace of Juan Ramón Jiménez, whose poems are today to be seen on all street corners. For the population, see Ladero Quesada [6:1], 73.

  6. Also known as La Gallega, having been built in Galicia.

  7. Isabel the Queen had substituted the alcaide, Juan de Cepeda, for Juan de Porres on the ground that, as Porres wrote to the Queen, “Ay dos o tres bocas de infierno donde se adora el diablo” (Azcona [1:21], 255).

  8. The suggestion that there were on board an Irishman, William Ines, and an Englishman, Talarte de Lajes, now seems, alas, to be a mistake. See Alice B. Gould, Nueva lista documentada de los tripulantes de Colón en 1493, Madrid 1984, 364.

  9. For an analysis of the crews, see ibid. Also, see Serrano y Sanz [5:15]; Navarrete [4:38], 1, 310.

  10. Navarrete [4:38], 2, 329. Umbría may have been a brother of the Gonzalo de Umbría who created difficulties on Cortés’s expedition in 1519 and had his heel cut in consequence.

  11. R. Ramírez de Arellano, “Datos nuevos referentes a Beatriz Enríquez de Arana y los Arana de Córdoba,” BRAH, 37 (1900), 461f.; and 40 (1902), 41–50.

  12. AGI, Contratación, cit. Hamilton [3:8], 45.

  13. The first brandies were devised in medieval Cataluña by Arnau de Vilanova. Searching as he was for the philosopher’s stone, he found something more important: he began to distill alcohol first for treatment of wounds, then, mixed with aromatic herbs, as a drink. The matter is discussed in J. Trueta, Cataluña (The Spirit of Catalonia), London 1946, 63. See E. Nicaise, La grande Chirurgie de Guy de Chauliac, Paris 1890, 45, which suggests that instead the Arab physician Rathes may (ironically, as a Muslim) have been decisive.

  14. Known in Spain as ampolletas or relojes de arena.

  15. Las Casas mentions the astrolabe [2:50], 1, 189, in respect of a planned mutiny: the crew thought that they might throw Colombus overboard and “publicar que había él caido, tomando el estrella con su cuadrante o astrolabio.” Behaim’s globe influenced a generation of mariners.

  16. Kirkpatrick Sale, The Conquest of Paradise, London 1991, 19. The diary that we possess is that which is printed by Las Casas in his chs. 35–77 ([2:50], 1, 179ff.). This is a summary with quotations, perhaps done in the 1540s, using a copy of Columbus’s original made by a scribe of whom nothing is known.

  17. Heers [4:8], 184.

  18. Beatriz was the daughter of Juan Fernández de Bobadilla, alcaide de los Alcázares de Madrid and corregidor of that city, by Leonor Ortiz. Juan Fernández was the first cousin of the Marquesa of Moya. See Antonio Rumeu de Armas, Cristóbal Colón y Doña Beatriz de Bobadilla, El Museo Canario, AEA, 28, 343–78.

  19. All that is known of the friendship with Columbus of “La Cazadora” is what was reported by Miguel Cuneo, who wrote, in a letter to Geronimo Annari, of “la señora del lugar de la cual nuestro almirante estuvo una vez prendado” (Primeras Cartas sobre America, Seville 1990, ed. Francisco Morales Padrón, 141).

  20. The word is that of John Elliott [1:25], 46.

  21. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 191; Harrisse [4:37], 401.

  22. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 189.

  23. “Así que muy necesario me fue la mar alta que no pareció salvo el tiempo de los judios cuando salieron de Egipto contra Mosen que las sacava del cautiverio.”

  24. Navarrete [4:38], 2, 333.

  25. Navarrete [4:38], 2, 334. The questionnaire in the proba
nza of 1513 says that Martín Alonso said: “Adelante, adelante, que esta es armada e embajada de tan altos principes como los Reyes nuestros señores de España, e fasta hoy nunca ha venido a menos, nunca plegue a Dios que por nosotros vengan estas a menos; que si vos, señor, quiseres tornaros, yo determino de andar fasta hallar la tierra o nunca volver a España; e que por su industria e parecer, pasaron adelante.…” Various sailors who heard this told the story to some witnesses such as Rodríguez de la Calva, Martín Núñez, and Juan de Ungría, etc., but none of them testified.

  26. Colón [4:16], 108.

  27. Manzano [4:43], 355ff.

  28. One or two examples can be seen in the Museo del Ejército, Madrid.

  29. Triana is said to have been distressed by the lack of attention paid to him and to have abandoned the Christian religion in a sulk and gone to live in Africa (Oviedo [2:43], 26). Triana and Rodríguez Bermejo are still sometimes supposed to be separate people, but Alice Gould seems to have settled the matter.

  30. For the identification of San Salvador with Watling Island, see Mauricio Obregón’s Colón en el Mar de los Caribes, Bogotá 1990, 87ff.

  31. For a study of the Tainos, see ch. 8. Others have suggested different islands: for example, Samaná Cay and even Egg Island, at the entrance to New Providence Channel.

  32. Francisco Morales Padrón, “Descubrimiento y toma de posesión,” in AEA, 12, 1955, 333. Morales Padrón points out that Columbus never claimed to “discover” a new world. The claim was only made in 1526 by Oviedo.

  33. “ligeramente se harían cristianos.”

  34. Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, tr. Francis MacNutt, New York 1912; see also Décadas del Nuevo Mundo, ed. Ramón Alba, Madrid 1989, 34, 37.

  35. Colón [4:16], 113.

  36. “buenos servidores” qu. Carlos Esteban Deive, La Española y la esclavitud del Indio, Santo Domingo 1995, 43. Las Casas ([2:50], 1, 208) wrote of this enslavement: “Yo no dudo que si el almirante creyera que había de suceder tan perniciosa jactura y supiera tanto de las conclusiones primeras y segundas del derecho natural y divino como supo de cosmografía y de otra doctrinas humanas, que nunca el osara introducir ni principiar cosa que había de acarrear tan calamitosos daños porque nadie podrá negar de ser hombre bueno y cristiano; pero los juicios de Dios son profundísimos y ninguno de los hombres los puede ni debe querer penetrar.”

  37. Colón [4:16], 114: “tomada de una, se puede decir de todas.”

  38. Colón [4:16], 121.

  39. Letter to Santangel, in Colón [4:16], 223.

  40. Colón [4:16], 124.

  41. Colón [4:16], 125–26.

  42. See Gil [3:37], 4, 273f., for the Jerez (Xerez) family.

  43. Fernando Colón [4:40], 119, and Colón [4:16], 132.

  44. Colón [4:16], 151.

  45. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 240.

  46. Fernando Colón [4:40], 125; Colón [4:16], 157.

  47. Colón [4:16], 163.

  48. “El Almirante … cree que esta gente de Caniba no ser otra cosa sino la gente del Gran Khan.…” Las Casas [2:50], 1, 257.

  49. Greenblatt [4:35], 63, argues that this was a “horrible misfortune” and without it “the destructive forces would have come more slowly and there might have been time for a defense.”

  50. Colón [4:16], 180–99: see list in Navarrete [4:38]. On this day, Columbus recorded that he had said to their altezas (Highnesses) that “toda la ganancia d’esta mi empresa se gastase en la conquista de Hierusalem.” “Vuestras altezas se rieron y dixieron que les plazía.…”

  51. Fernando Colón [4:40], 120.

  52. Ibid.

  53. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 288.

  54. Fernando Colón [4:40], 82; Peter Martyr and Andrés Bernáldez [3:2], 1, 367, say forty.

  55. But it is not obvious whether Columbus merely showed the cacique the coin or left it with him.

  Chapter 7

  1. Martín Núñez, Juan de Ungría, Pedro Ramírez, Juan Calvo, Hernando Esteban, García Hernández, Cristóbal García, Diego Fernández Colmenero, and Francisco García Vallejo, as well as Pinzón’s son Arias Pérez, of whom only García Vallejo had been on the voyage.

  2. Navarrete [4:38], 2, 338.

  3. Martyr [6:34], 14; Colón [4:16], 198ff.

  4. See commentary by Manzano [4:43], 427.

  5. Colón [4:16], 194–95.

  6. Martyr [6:34], 12.

  7. Serrano y Sanz [5:15], 146–48.

  8. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 313.

  9. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 316–18.

  10. Heers [4:8], 200, calculates thus.

  11. Fernando Colón [4:40], 226.

  12. The contents of the letter suggest that March 4 not 14 was the correct date. Surely otherwise Columbus would have told the King and Queen that he had seen their Portuguese cousins.

  13. Colón [4:16], 233: “suplico que en la carta que escriva d’esta victoria, que le demanden un cardenalato para mi hijo y que, puesto que no sean en hedad idónea, se le dé, que de poca diferencia ay en el tiempo d’él y del hijo del Oficio de Medizis de Florencia a quien se dió el capelo sin que aya servido ni tenga propósito de tanta honra de la cristianidad.”

  14. The addressee was of course the right person for Columbus to write to.

  15. Colón [4:16], 148; Las Casas [2:50], 1, 323ff.

  16. Agustín Remesal, 1494, La Raya de Tordesillas, Valladolid 1994, 85.

  17. Colón [4:40], 216fn, 172.

  18. Zennaro’s letter is in the Archivo di Stato in Modena. The version printed by Morales Padrón [6:19], 105–7, is in M. Vannini’s El mar de los descubridores, Caracas 1974. A copy was sent by Jacopo Trotti to Hercules I, Duke of Ferrara, ambassador of Ferrara. He had not only seen but heard discussion about the letter. The letter may be falsely dated.

  19. “porque siendo el mundo redondo devia forzosamente dar la vuelta y encontrar la parte oriental.”

  20. AGS, Estado, leg. 1–11, f342, published by Navarrete [4:38], 1, 310.

  21. Varela [4:14], 169.

  22. Rumeu [2:2], 200.

  23. Martyr to Tendilla and Talavera, Martyr [1:2], 226–27.

  24. On Dec. 12, on a high platform in Barcelona, the would-be assassin’s right hand, which had carried the dagger, was cut off, as were the feet that had carried him to the council chamber; the eyes that had guided him were cut out and then the heart that prompted him was extracted and burned. Pincers tore the flesh from his body, which then was turned over to the people to be stoned and burned. For Isabel’s ignorance, see Suárez [1:20], 123.

  25. “Pues vemos cómo los reyes pueden morir en cualquier desastre. Razón es aparejar a bien morir” (Suárez [1:20], 119).

  26. Lorenzo Galíndez de Carvajal spoke of Columbus in his Anales Breves de los Reyes Católicos [2:10], 277, but in respect of 1491.

  27. Guicciardini [3:6], 91. An account of the election of Alexander can be seen in a letter to Lope de Ocampo, published in Batllori [2:45], 251.

  28. Martyr [1:2], 1, 210.

  29. Martyr [1:2], 1, 218.

  30. See Batllori [2:45], 149ff.

  31. Guicciardini [3:6], 10; for a summary of his life, see Batllori [2:45, 91ff.]. I cannot resist recalling here the splendid life by that great survivor, and my friend in Rome of the 1960s, Orestes Ferrara, Il Papa Borgia, Milan 1953.

  32. Stephanus Infessura, Diario della città di Roma, ed. Oreste Tommasini, Rome 1890; Fonti per la storia d’Italia, 5, 288; qu. Pastor [1:7], 5, 389.

  33. Navarrete [4:38], 1, 311. The letter was of March 30, 1493.

  34. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 332.

  35. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 333. Antonio Rumeu de Armas “Colón en Barcelona,” AEA, 1, 1944, reminds us that Las Casas was not there, however. Those who were included the historian Fernández de Oviedo, probably Columbus’s son Fernando, and the King’s cousin, “the Infante Fortuna.”

  36. Martyr [6:34].

  37. Navarrete [4:38], 1, 316.

  38. Las Casas [2:50], 1, 334.

  39. Francisco López de Gómara, “
Hispania Vitrix, Historia General de las Indias,” in BAE, 22, Madrid 1852, 167.

  40. Rumeu [7:35], 43.

  41. Varela [4:14], 168; Heers [4:8], 202.

  42. The only copy of the letter printed in April 1493 is in the New York Public Library and was shown to me in 1995 by Paul Leclerc. La carta de Colón sobre el descubrimiento, ed. Demetrio Ramos, Granada 1983, discusses it. Was it perhaps a pious fraud by the Crown? See also Fernando Colón [4:40], 219fn, where no doubt is mentioned.

  43. Fernando Colón [4:40], 222–23.

  44. Fernando Colón [4:40], 224.

  45. Fernando Colón [4:40], 226.

  46. Qu. Felipe Fernández-Armesto [4:2], 97.

  47. Martyr [1:2], 1, 236–37. Letter of May 14, 1493, to Juan Borromeo.

  48. Martyr [1:2], 1, 242.

  49. Martyr to the Archbishop of Braga, Oct. 1, 1493, in Cartas Sobre el Nuevo Mundo, Madrid 1990.

  50. Martyr [7:49], 33–34.

  51. Letter to Santangel in Colón [4:16], 220: “Cómo en treinta y tres dias pasé a las Indias con la armada que los ilustrísimos Rey e Reina Nuestros Señores me dieron.…”

  52. Wilcomb Washburn, “The Meaning of Discovery in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,” American Historical Review (hereafter AHR), Oct. 1962.

  53. Fernando Colón [4:40], 63–65.

  Chapter 8

  1. A 13,000-year-old female skeleton was apparently found near Mexico City by Silvia González of Liverpool in 2002. There are some who believe that some human beings reached what are now the Americas about 40000 or 25000 B.C.

  2. Ricardo E. Alegría, “El uso de la terminologia etno-histórica para designar las culturas aborigenes de las Antillas,” Cuadernos Prehistóricos, Valladolid 1981.

  3. Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las posesiones españoles en América y Oceania, 42 vols., Madrid 1864–82 (hereafter CDI), 11, 413.

  4. She may have indicated in some way how the Spaniards were conducting themselves in the Caribbean.

  5. Carl Ortwin Sauer, The Early Spanish Main, Berkeley, CA, 1966, 24.