Encounters Unforeseen- 1492 Retold

by Andrew Rowen

  S: Azcona, Tarsicio de. Isabel La Católica Estudio crítico de su vida y su reinado. 3rd ed. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Christianos, 1993 (“Azcona Isabel”).

  S: Azcona, Tarsicio de. Juana de Castilla, Mal Llamada La Beltraneja: Vida de la hija de Enrique IV de Castilla y su exilio en Portugal (1462–1530). Madrid: La Esfera de los Libros, 2007 (“Azcona Juana”).

  S: Caceres, José Miguel Merino de. The Alcazar of Segovia. Spain: Edilesa, 2000.

  S: Edwards, John. Torquemada & The Inquisitors. Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus, 2005.

  S: Fernández-Armesto, Felipe. Ferdinand and Isabella. New York: Dorsett, 1975 (“Fernández-Armesto Ferdinand Isabella”).

  S: Hays, J. Daniel. From Every People and Nation a Biblical Theology of Race. Downers’ Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003.

  S: Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.

  S: Liss, Peggy K. Isabel the Queen: Life and Times. Rev. ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

  S: Martínez Medina, Francisco Javier, and Martín Biersack. Fray Hernando de Talavera, Primer Arzobispo de Grenada. Hombre de Iglesia, Estado y Letras. Granada: Biblioteca Teológica Granadina, 2011.

  S: Miller, Townsend. Henry IV of Castile, 1425–1474. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1972.

  S: Netanyahu, B. The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain. New York: Random House, 1995 (“Netanyahu Origins”).

  S: Pérez, Joseph. The Spanish Inquisition: A History. Translated by Janet Llyod. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004 (“Pérez Inquisition”).

  S: Pérez-Bustamante, Rogelio, and José Manuel Calderon Ortega. Enrique IV de Castilla, 1454–1474. Vol. 11, Corona de España. Burgos, Spain: Editorial la Olmeda, 1998.

  S: Prescott, William H. History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Vol. 1. New York: J. B. Millar, 1985.

  S: Rubin, Nancy. Isabella of Castile: The First Renaissance Queen. Lincoln, NE: ASJA Press, 2004.

  S: Vicens Vives, Jaime. Approaches to the History of Spain. Translated and edited by Joan Connelly Ullman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970 (“Vives Approaches”).

  S: Walsh, William Thomas. Isabella of Spain: The Last Crusader, 1451– 1504. 1930. Reprint, Rockford, IL: Tan Books and Publishers, 1987.

  Guarionex

  Hurricane, Magua, Haiti

  P, prev. cit.: Ferdinand Columbus, chap. 62, quoting his father as to cohaba ceremony and burial. Las Casas Apologetica, chap. 20. Martyr, decade 1, bks. 4, 9; decade 3, bk. 9. Oviedo Repertorium, sec. 3.18.8. Pané, chaps. 15, 16, 23.

  P: Las Casas, Bartolomé de. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Edited and translated by Nigel Griffin. London: Penguin, 1992 (“Las Casas Short Account”). Chap. “The Kingdoms of Hispaniola.”

  S, prev. cit.: Deagan; Oliver; Raccolta Letters Notes; Sauer; Stevens-Arroyo; Wilson.

  S: Vega, Bernardo. Los Cacicazgos de la Hispaniola. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Museo del Hombre Dominican, 1987 (“Vega Cacicazgos”).

  Baisi is a historic person given a fictitious name. Yomabo is fictitious.

  Isabel and Fernando

  Death and Marriage in Castile, 1468–1469

  P, prev. cit.: Bernáldez, chaps. 1, 7, 105, 108. Castillo, chaps. 114–117, 121–137. Enrique Colección Diplomatico, docs. 152 (1468), 160 (1469), 161 (1469), 163 (1469). Incompleta, titles 2, 3. Palencia Cronica, decade 1, bk. 6, chap. 3; bk. 10, chap. 10; decade 2, bk. 1, chaps. 1–5, 7–10; bk. 2, chaps. 1–5. Palencia Notes, Isabel’s, Queen Juana’s, and Fernando’s biographies. Pulgar, chaps. 1–9, 23, 24. Valera, chaps. 40-52. Zurita Anales, bk. 17, chaps. 3–9, 24–25, 36, 40–41; bk. 18, chaps. 9–11, 16–17, 19–26; bk. 20, chap. 23.

  S, prev. cit.: Azcona Isabel, including for the text of the Isabel, Ferdinand, Carillo understanding (p. 174); Fernández-Armesto Ferdinand Isabella; Liss; Miller; Prescott; Rubin.

  S: Clemencín, Diego. Elogio de la Reina Católica Doña Isabel. Granada: Universidad de Grenada y Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales, 2004.

  S: Delaney, Carol. Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem. New York: Free Press, 2011.

  S: Fernández-Armesto, Felipe. 1492: The Year the World Began. New York: HarperCollins, 2009 (“Fernández-Armesto 1492”).

  S: Nirenberg, David. Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.

  S: Ryder, Alan. The Wreck of Catalonia: Civil War in the Fifteenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  S: Vicens Vives, Jaime. Historia Critica de la Vida y Reinado de Fernando II de Aragón. Zarazoga: Institución “Fernando el Católico,” 2007 (“Vives Fernando”). Includes text of Isabel’s note, p. 247.

  CHAPTER III: 1470S, ASCENSION

  Cristoforo

  Scio (Chios, Greece), (1470–1474)

  P, prev. cit.: Dotson, docs. 47 (Domenico referred to as cheesemonger in addition to weaver), 50 (Domenico referred to as cheesemonger), 65 (Domenico referred to as inn keeper), 86 (Columbus referred to as “wool merchant”). Ferdinand Columbus, chaps. 2, 3, 4. Journal, 11/12/1492, 12/10/1492, as to mastic; 12/21/1492, as to years at sea. Kritovoulos, pt. 4, paras. 67–90. Las Casas Repertorium, sec. 1.2. Journal, Libro Copiador, letter 4 (February 26, 1495), as to years at sea. Mandeville, chap. 4. Oviedo Reportorium, sec. 3.3. Pleitos, doc. 1.12, testimony of Bartolomé Colón, as to his age. Raccolta Letters on Subsequent Voyages, Carta a Los Reyes (February 6, 1502), as to weather. Zurita Anales, bk. 18, chaps. 33, 34.

  P: Christopher Columbus’s Book of Prophecies: Reproduction of the Original Manuscript With English Translation. Kay Brigham, translator. Barcelona: Editorial CLIE, 1991 (“Prophecies”). Columbus’s letter to King and Queen, 1500–1502(?), as to years at sea.

  P: Moseley, C. W. R. D., trans. The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. London: Penguin, 2005 (“Mandeville”). Chaps. 18 (heat of Ethiopia), 21 (snake eaters and cannibals).

  S, prev. cit.: Babinger; Beazley; Dotson, Introduction; Epstein; Ferro; Jane, vol. 2, Introduction; Journal Raccolta Notes, note on mastic; Morison Admiral; Morison Southern; Phillips; Russell; Taviani Grand Design.

  S: Ballesteros Beretta, Antonio. Cristóbal Colón y el Descubrimiento de América. 1st ed. Vols. 4,5, Historia de América y de los Pueblos America-nos. Barcelona: Salvat Editores, 1945.

  S: Fernández-Armesto, Felipe. Columbus. London: Gerald Duckworth, 1996 (“Fernández-Armesto Columbus”).

  S: Harrison, Mark. Contagion: How Commerce Has Spread Disease. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.

  S: Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.

  S: Symcox, Geoffrey, and Blair Sullivan. Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

  Ferdinand Columbus and Las Casas report that Columbus sailed, inter alia, to Cape Carthage, Chios, Iceland, and Ghana prior to 1492. As to each voyage, historians disagree both if and when it actually occurred. Both Morison and Taviani believe the voyages to Cape Carthage and Chios did occur. I have followed Morison that Carthage occurred first and that Columbus probably was just a common seaman, focusing on what Columbus appreciated from the trick at Cape Carthage, not whether he instigated it (Taviani) or was duped (Morison).

  Isabel

  Disorder and Hatred in Castile, 1470–1474

  P, prev. cit.: Bernáldez, chap. 10. Castillo, chaps. 147, 160, 164. Enrique Colección Diplomatico, doc. 179 (1470). Palencia Cronica, decade 2, bk. 2, chap. 7; bk. 3, chaps. 3–6; bk. 7, chap. 9. Palencia Notes, Isabel’s, Mendoza’s, and Queen Juana’s biographies. Pulgar, chaps. 10, 15, 16. Valera, chaps. 58, 83. Zurita Anales, bk. 18, chaps. 62, 63.

  S, prev. cit.: Liss; Netanyahu Origins; Rubin, including as to Isabella’s veil.

  Guarionex

  Cacibaquel’s Cohaba Ceremony

  P, prev. cit.: Benzoni, bk. 1. Ferdinand Columbus, chap. 62. M
artyr, decade 1, bk. 9; decade 3, bk. 7. Pané, chaps. 19, 25 (the prophecy), and English translation of Las Casas Apologetica, chaps. 166, 167, in appendix C.

  S, prev. cit.: Oliver; Stevens-Arroyo.

  Columbus once wrote that the use of a blowpipe to provide Yúcahu a voice was not symbolic, but a trick to make it appear that the cemí was actually talking, and that, on one occasion, a cacique begged Europeans to not disclose the blowpipe’s usage to his subjects. I present such usage as accepted symbolism, like communion. See Oliver.

  Cohaba ceremonies were regularly and frequently performed in Taíno society with a multitude of learnings and predictions. It is the perspective of the conquerors that led this particular prediction to be recorded by them.

  It is unknown whether Cacibaquel was Guarionex’s father, uncle, or other relation, and I have relied on Pané in choosing father.

  King Afonso V and Prince João of Portugal

  Ptolemy, Toscanelli, and Marco Polo, 1474

  P, prev. cit.: Ptolemy, bk. 1, secs. 11, 12; bk. 7, sec. 5. Translations of Toscanelli letter to Canon Martins contained in Hakluyt Journal; Morison Documents; Ferdinand Columbus, chap. 8.

  P: Barros, João de. Da Asia. Lisbon: Na Regia Officina Typografica, 1778. Decade 1, bk. 2, chap. 2. English translation of this chapter in Cadamosto.

  P: Polo, Marco. The Travels of Marco Polo. Translated by W. Marsden, revised by T. Wright and Peter Harris. New York: Everyman’s Library, 2008. Bk. 1, chap. 1; bk. 2, chaps. 55, 68, 77; bk. 3, chaps. 2, 3.

  S, prev. cit.: Beazley; Berggren-Jones; Morison Admiral; Morison Northern; Taviani Grand Design.

  S: Ferro, Gaetano. The Genoese Cartographic Tradition and Christopher Columbus. Translated by Hann Heck and Luciano F. Farina. Vol. 12, Nuova Raccolta Colombiana. Rome: Instituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato, 1996 (“Ferro Cartographic”).

  S: Fonseca, Luís Adão da. D. João II. Lisbon: Círculo de Leitores e Centro de Estudios dos Poves e Culturas de Expressão Portuguesa, 2011.

  S: Fuson, Robert H. Legendary Islands of the Ocean Sea. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 1995 (“Fuson Islands”).

  S: García, José Manuel. D. João II vs. Colombo: Duas estratégias divergentes na busca das Índias. Aveleda, Portugal: Quidnovi, 2012.

  S: Nunn, George E. Geographical Conceptions of Columbus. New York: American Geographical Society, 1992.

  S: Vignaud, Henry. The Columbian Tradition on the Discovery of America and of the part played therein by the Astronomer Toscanelli. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1920.

  See Chap. IV, “Births of Diogo Colom and an Idea, Porto Santo, (1480– 81)” below for discussion of the Toscanelli correspondence.

  In his “Geography,” Ptolemy measured distance by “stade,” with one stade perhaps representing approximately 185 meters. One degree measured 500 stades, 62.5 Roman miles (8 stades per Roman mile) or 57.5 statutory miles, thereby resulting in an estimate of the equatorial circumference of the earth of 180,000 stades, 22,500 Roman miles, or approximately 20,700 statutory miles.

  Isabel and Fernando

  Succession in Castile, Segovia, 1474–1476

  P, prev. cit.: Bernáldez, chaps. 10, 15–19. Historia Jerónimo, pt. 3, bk. 2, chap. 31. Incompleta, titles 10–15. Palencia Cronica, decade 2, bk. 10, chaps. 9, 10; decade 3, bk. 1, chaps. 1–9; bk. 2, chap. 1, 4, 7; bk. 3, chap. 7. Palencia Notes, Carrillo’s, Fernando’s, Isabel’s, Queen Juana’s, and Mendoza’s biographies. Pulgar, chaps. 20–22, 26, 38. Valera, chap. 100. Zurita Anales, bk. 19, chaps. 13, 16, 18, 19, 23–27.

  S, prev. cit.: Azcona Isabel; Fernández-Armesto Ferdinand Isabella; Liss; Medina; Miller; Prescott; Rubin; Vives Fernando, including for terms of Fernando’s will, pp. 421–422.

  S: Downey, Kirstin. Isabella: The Warrior Queen. New York: Nan. A. Talese/ Doubleday, 2014.

  S: Harvey, L.P. Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

  S: Weissberger, Barbara F. Isabel Rules: Constructing Queenship, Wielding Power. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004.

  Cristoforo

  Lagos, Lisbon, London, Galway, Thule, and Vinland, (1476–1477)

  P, prev. cit.: Ferdinand Columbus, chaps. 4, 5. Journal, 12/21/1492 (reference to going on route to England). Las Casas Repertorium, secs. 1.2, 1.3. Palencia Cronica, decade 3, bk. 24, chap. 7; bk. 26, chap. 5. Zurita Anales, bk. 19, chaps. 50, 51; bk. 20, chap. 12.

  P: Kunz, Keneva, trans. The Vinland Sagas: The Icelandic Sagas about the First Documented Voyages across the North Atlantic; The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga. London: Penguin, 2008.

  P: O’Meara, John J., trans. The Voyage of Saint Brendan: “Journey to the Promised Land.” Buckinghamshire, UK: Colin Smythe, 1991. Chaps. 2–6.

  S, prev. cit.: Ballesteros; Boxer; Ferro Cartographic; Larner; Morison Admiral; Morison Northern; Morison Southern; Tavianni Grand Design.

  S: Ackroyd, Peter. Thames: The Biography. New York: Doubleday, 2007.

  S: Black, Jeremy. London: A History. Lancaster, UK: Carnegie, 2009.

  S: Enterline, James Robert. Erikson, Eskimos & Columbus: Medieval European Knowledge of America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

  S: Enterline, James Robert. Viking America: The Norse Crossings and Their Legacy. London: New English Library, 1972.

  S: Forbes, Jack D. The American Discovery of Europe. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007.

  S: Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.

  S: Karlsson, Gunnar. The History of Iceland. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000.

  S: Milne, Gustav. The Port of Medieval London. Gloucestershire, UK: Tempus, 2003.

  S: Sacks, David Harms. The Widening Gate: Bristol and the Atlantic Economy, 1450–1790. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.

  S: Ϸorsteinsson, Björn. Enskar heimildir um sögu Íslendinga á 15. og 16. öld. Reykjavik: Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 1969.

  Some historians do not believe that Columbus arrived in Portugal via the pirate attack or that the voyages to England, Ireland, or Iceland occurred. Morison and Taviani suspect each occurred, although Morison would limit England to Bristol. The voyage to Iceland relies on Ferdinand Columbus and then Las Casas, who both purportedly quote Columbus’s written notes. Many scholars believe errors in Ferdinand’s description of Iceland indicate Columbus traveled elsewhere; some believe Ferdinand and Las Casas invented the voyage to establish a pre-1492 mariner’s credential or a “scientific” basis for Columbus’s belief the first voyage would reach the Indies; and some believe it occurred and establishes that Columbus knew of Leif Erickson’s “discovery of America” (ignoring Native Americans) before Columbus sailed. I don’t see sufficient motive for the invention of a voyage to Iceland by Columbus or others, and there is ample evidence of contemporaneous shipping between Bristol and Iceland. I suspect the errors in description do not prove Columbus identified the destination itself incorrectly—Iceland was well known. I suspect that Columbus did not know about Vinland because he did not cite it as evidence to promote his voyage, which would have been in his substantial interest.

  Eratosthenes (276–194 BC) is generally credited as being the first to accurately estimate the earth’s equitorial circumference at about 25,000 miles. Modern science measures 24,902 miles. Ptolemy estimated the earth’s circumference at about 20,700 miles. His estimate that the known world (i.e., the Canary Islands east to the Indies) stretched 177 degrees implied a distance across the Ocean Sea (without intervening American continents) of at most 183 degrees; this also was too short, as there are 208 degrees west from Lisbon to the coast of Japan. Toscanelli’s analysis farther compounded Ptolemy’s underestimation.

  Scholars disagree whether the man and woman seen at Galway were European (e.g., Lapps or Finns) or Native Americans, such as Inuit from Greenland or from farther south.

  Isabel

  Guadalupe, Castile, 1477

  P, prev. cit.: Bernáld
ez, chaps. 23–26, 28. Incompleta, titles 27, 44, 51. Palencia Cronica, decade 3, bk. 3, chap. 7; bk. 24, chaps. 1, 3, 6–9; bk. 25, chaps. 4, 5, 7–9; bk. 26, chaps. 5, 6; bk. 27, chaps. 5, 7, 8; bk. 29, chaps. 1, 3. Pulgar, chaps. 46, 64, 70, 84–87. Zurita Anales, bk. 19, chaps. 30–31, 41–44, 57.

  P: Luis Suarez Fernández, ed. Documentos acerca de la Expulsion de Los Judios. Valladolid, Spain: Biblioteca Reyes Católicos, 1964 (“Documentos Expulsion”). Docs. 30 (August 30, 1478), 39 (December 24, 1479).

  S, prev. cit.: Azcona Isabel; Azcona Juana; Fernández-Armesto Ferdinand Isabella; Liss; Rubin; Vives Fernando.

  S: Álvarez Álvarez, Arturo. “Guadalupe, devoción predilecta de la Reina Católica.” Historia 27, no. 334 (February 2004).

  S: Beinart, Haim. The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Translated by Jeffrey M. Green. Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2002.

  S: García, Sebastián. Real Monasterio de Guadalupe. Guadalupe, Spain: Ediciones Guadalupe, 2007.

  S: Munoz Sanz, Agustin. Los Hospitales Docentes de Guadalupe. Guadalupe, Spain: Junta de Extremadura, 2007.

  Caonabó

  Succession in Maguana

  P, prev. cit.: Benzoni, bk. 1. Ferdinand Columbus, chap. 62. Las Casas Historia, bk. 1, chap. 102. Las Casas Apologetica, chap. 197. Las Casas Repertorium, sec. 5.4. Martyr, decade 3, bk. 9. Pané, chaps. 2–6.

  P: Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernández de. Historia General y Natural de Las Indias. Edition by Juan Pérez de Tudela Bueso. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles, 1959 (“Oviedo”). Bk. 3, chap. 4; bk. 6, chap. 2.

  P: Triolo, Gioacchino and Luciano F. Farina, trans. Christopher Columbus’s Discoveries in the Testimonials of Diego Alvarez Chanca and Andrés Bernáldez. Vol. 5, Nuova Raccolta Colombiana. Rome: Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato, 1992 (“Bernáldez Raccolta”). This contains an English translation of the Bernáldez chapters relating to Columbus. Chap. 131.

  S, prev. cit.: Alegría; Granberry Languages; Indigenous Peoples; Keegan Myth; Lovén; Oliver; Stevens-Arroyo.

  Anthropologists disagree whether Taínos produced and drank alcohol prior to the arrival of Europeans. I have assumed they did.