by David Boyle
40 This was a city so bound: It is hard to be absolutely definitive about the Cabot family home, but tradition points to one mansion on the corner of the via Garibaldi—though the via Garibaldi was then a canal.
40 He signed his name: See E. Giuffrida, in R. M. Zorzi, p. 61.
40 He must also have frequented: See P. F. Brown in H. A. Abrams, p. 136.
41 Not just any club either: See E. Giuffrida in R. M. Zorzi, p. 62. It can only be speculation as to what catapulted Cabot to membership of such a prestigious club. If he was older than twenty-one, he may, of course, have simply had his name down on the waiting list for years. But the circumstantial evidence not only indicates that he was relatively youthful but that he also paid less than the other members.
41 The great Venetian navigator: See Ibid., pp. 64–65.
42 Soon Christopher was carrying out: The evidence of Columbus’s piratical activities is set out at length in A. Ensenat de Villalonga. See also C. Varela, La Caida de Cristobal Colon, p. 238.
43 René was theoretically: It is usually believed that since Columbus was revealing this story in a letter to Queen Isabella of Castile—who was married to the Aragonese king he was supposed to have been fighting—that it was too uncomfortable a story to have been made up.
44 But Doge Mocenigo: See J. J. Norwich, p. 100.
45 Cabot was also putting: See E. Giuffrida in R. M. Zorzi, pp. 65–66.
45 Even the traditional sources of furs: See P. Spufford, pp. 334–38.
45 But so much more would: See J. A. Williamson, The Cabot Voyages, p. 190.
46 As they weighed anchor: There remains doubt about almost everything that Columbus did before 1492, and that includes his 1476 convoy departure and subsequent shipwreck. But the battle is well documented and there is no major reason to doubt his word that he was there.
47 Help was also on the way: See P. E. Taviani, pp. 59–62.
48 The relationship between Bristol and Iceland: D. Quinn, European Approaches to North America, pp. 20–21. In fact, Hull was the main English port trading with Iceland at this time and Bristol had been reducing its involvement with Iceland for two decades.
48 Southampton, on the other hand: See A. Temple Patterson.
48 Once in Bristol: See R. Broome, p. 18.
48 The voyage was a twenty-day: The description of Columbus’s circumnavigation is based on what history suggests he did, and on what was possible at the time. See D. Quinn, European Approaches to North America, pp. 20–21.
49 But in the heaving seas: There remains some controversy about whether Columbus actually went to Iceland, on the grounds that he claimed the fifty-foot tides were there and not in Bristol. But since he was writing many years later, this is definitely not conclusive. Many, but not all, English historians now believe that he made it up. See A. A. Ruddock, “Columbus and Iceland: New light on an old problem,” Geographical Journal, 1970, pp. 177–89. On the other hand, the facts are muddled and not completely outrageous, and this implies that Columbus was definitely in Bristol, so it is unreasonable to conclude, without specific evidence to the contrary, that his boasts to have visited Thule (Iceland) were no more than that.
49 The previous summer: See I. Wilson, p. 41. There is a series of denunciations of other pre-Columbian discoverers in S. Morison, The European Discovery of America:The Northern Voyages.
49 “Most unusual appearance”: These words are written in the margin in Columbus’s own copy of Historia Rerum.
51 It soon became clear: See A. V. G. Arciniegas, pp. 53–56.
52 To lead the Florentine delegation: See A. V. G. Arciniegas, pp. 58f.
53 As he glimpsed: See, for example, F. J. Pohl, p. 20.
53 He consigned all this to memory: G. R. Crone, p. 40.
55 He began the habit: Felipa’s family also were originally Italian immigrants, but the surname is intriguing and may have intrigued Columbus too. It means “by the stars,” or “navigators.”
56 “behaved honorably”: B. Keen, p. 39.
56 Columbus was a master: The idea that Columbus left so suddenly after his wedding to such a hopeless destination because he had been found out is my interpretation, but it does explain a peculiarity.
56 Nearby Madeira: I. Wilson, p. 60.
57 A one-eyed sailor told him: B. Keen, pp. 51–52.
60 Would it, by any chance: This letter has remained controversial ever since it was written. There was an attempt a century ago to argue that it was a forgery (see H. Vignaud). But it is now generally accepted that the letter was real.
60 In the meantime: See E. Giuffrida in R. M. Zorzi, p. 64.
62 The penalty for anyone: R. A. Skelton, p. 33.
62 Lorenzo Berardi had been: The earlier sources describe him as Lorenzo Giraldi and suggest that he was simply an intermediary, receiving a copy of the original letter for Columbus direct from Toscanelli. But I have followed Consuelo Varela’s suggestion that this was Berardi, and that it was also Berardi who showed the original letter to Columbus: (see C. Varela Colon y los Florentinos). That would explain why Columbus had to copy it down, and the fact that he did copy it down in his own handwriting is some evidence that the letter itself was not forged (see P. E. Taviani, p. 31n).
63 Toscanelli received the letter: For some time this letter was also believed to have been a forgery, until the French historian Henry Vignaud found that Columbus had inscribed it in his own handwriting inside one of his books. See H. Vignaud.
3: THE ENTERPRISE
64 “Between the edge of Spain”: Quoted in I. Wilson, p. 77.
64 In Bristol, in July 1480: T. F. Reddaway and A. A. Ruddock (eds.). “The accounts of John Balsall, purser of the Trinity of Bristol, 1480–81,” Camden Miscellany, Vol. XXIII, London, 1969. See the use made of this in I. Wilson, pp. 60–68, 89.
65 The charge was illegal trading: The documents from Croft’s trial only came to light as recently as 1935, and provided welcome evidence for historians of the period that the exploratory voyages from Bristol actually did take place. See J. A. Williamson, The Cabot Voyages, pp. 188–89.
66 But the evidence: For the circumstantial evidence that the 1481 expedition discovered something, which they subsequently lost again, see D. Quinn, European Approaches to North America, pp. 29–31.
67 His own tentative maps of the world: See Ibid., p. 30.
68 But what we know: See Ibid., pp. 32–33.
68 But in northern cities like Paris: There is a wonderful description of Paris at this time in L. Febvre, pp. 4–6.
69 “These things carved from marble”: See Ibid., p. 8.
70 Columbus was living: The evidence that Columbus had detailed knowledge of sailing in the English Channel is in A. Ensenat de Villalonga, pp. 429–30.
70 The new Portuguese king: See E. Sanceau.
71 Cabot was now: The assertion that Cabot was already fascinated by the idea of the Indies and finding it on the other side of the Atlantic is not absolutely certain. But a look through a list of his closest associates in Venice is considerable evidence that he was. See E. Giuffrida in R. M. Zorzi, p. 66.
72 “he gives the impression”: See F. Fernandez-Armesto, Columbus on Himself, p. 14.
73 “If you knew how universally hated”: See J. J. Norwich, p. 103.
76 One story says that when he arrived: See M. Kurlansky, p. 58–60.
77 There are records: See R. Gallo, “Intorno a Giovanni caboto,” Rendiconti dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, S VIII, Vol. 3, 1948: 220.
77 Fame was very nice: This plan is the heart of the story, and, of course, it no longer exists. But it is strongly implied by the circumstantial evidence of coincidental links between Cabot and Columbus, not least the fact that they both plunged almost simultaneously into ruinous debt. For academic discussion of the likelihood that Columbus and Cabot were partners at one point, see D. Quinn. European Approaches to North America, pp. 32–33.
79 Edward IV had begun: See C. L. Scofield, pp. 404–11 and E. Power, “The English wo
ol trade in the reign of Edward IV,” Cambridge Historical Journal, vol. 2, 1926: 21–22. One of the London merchants most involved in Edward’s business was Richard Whittington—not the original Dick Whittington, who died in 1422, but possibly a descendant. He was involved in one contract to import four lions from Africa into England for the king. The historian David Quinn suggests that this might have been how the legend of Dick Whittington came to be associated with cats: see, D. Quinn, “Edward IV and Exploration,” Mariner’s Mirror, July 1935: 278n.
80 Both the partners: Most of Columbus’s projects until 1483 seem to have been linked to the Centurione, di Negro, or Spinola families. I have used the Centurione family here because of the instruction in his will to repay money to them. It has always been assumed by historians that this relates to the incident of the sugar in Madeira in 1479, but it could also relate to the reason he was in debt. We know who Cabot’s creditors were because they were named on the letters sent to the cities where he was living after 1488. They all had strong commercial links with London, one of them buying woolen cloth and the other exporting wine from Crete to Sandwich in Kent. (See E. Giuffrida in R. M. Zorzi, p. 67.)
80 To make the situation doubly tragic: It is, once again, impossible to know exactly how or when Felipa died. There is particular ambiguity about when: Most sources suggest that she had died before Columbus approached the king of Portugal in 1484, but Columbus himself later wrote to Isabella of Castile claiming that he had abandoned his wife and family to enter her service, which would mean she may have died sometime later. But this was probably the hype of a desperate man. The argument that plague killed her, and maybe other children of hers, is in M. Barreto, pp. 489–90.
82 Reuchlin had been sent: See A. V. G. Arciniegas, pp. 83–85.
83 “Find out what he wants”: Quoted in F. Fernandez-Armesto, Amerigo, p. 37.
83 “My word is as good”: See A. V. G. Arciniegas, p. 91.
83 He was also responsible for: See F. J. Pohl, p. 29.
84 Under Vespucci’s discreet guidance: It has been suggested that Vespucci was acting as a pimp himself (see F. Fernandez-Armesto, Amerigo, pp. 38–39), and although this goes beyond the direct evidence, he was clearly a man who would fix things for those wealthier and more powerful than he.
85 “If someone were to bring together”: Quoted in L. Jardine, p. 365.
86 Poliziano, the poet and translator: See A. V. G. Arciniegas, pp. 121–22.
86 “In the end, I hold the things of heaven”: Quoted in F. Fernandez-Armesto, Amerigo, p. 24.
86 With reverence, they repeated: Plato’s dialogues Timaeus and Critias are the only known references to Atlantis.
87 He made sure he ate in public: See E. Sanceau, p. 281.
89 Armed with the sketchy maps: Admiral Morison describes Bartholomew with Columbus at the meeting. See S. E. Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, p. 69.
90 “get your head examined!”: See El Nuevo Mundo by Lope de Vega in Three Major Plays, ed. G. Edwards (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
91 “The king found this Columbus”: This is from Decades of Asia written on 1552 by João Barros in C. E. Nowell, “The Rejection of Christopher Columbus by John of Portugal,” University of Michigan Historical Essays, 1937: 25–44.
91 “vain, simply founded on imagination”: Quoted in S. E. Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea, p. 97.
92 The ghetto in Venice: See B. Ravid, “Curfew Time in the Ghetto of Venice” in E. Kittell and T. Madden, p. 237.
92 There were powerful laws: More about the Venetian dowry law can be found in E. Kittell and T. Madden, pp. 149f.
92 While it was being refitted: There is a great deal of confusion about when and where Sebastian was born, mainly because he told a number of conflicting stories, which are now considered wholly untrustworthy. Most of his statements on the subject claim that he was born in England, but also that he was a Venetian citizen. This appears to be contradictory—which has confirmed the view of most historians—but it may actually be true. “Sebastian Caboto, borne at Bristow, but a Genoway’s sonne,” according to Thomas Lanquet’s Epitome of Chronicles in 1559, quoted in C. R. Beazley, p. 38.
93 Columbus needed to leave Lisbon: There have been other reasons, including the possibility that Felipa’s family was connected in some way to the executed Duke of Braganza. See G. Granzotto, pp. 64–65.
4: IN DEBT
94 “It is difficult for us to realize”: C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image (London: Cambridge University Press, 1964).
94 It was about an adventurer: See S. Baring-Gould, p. 543. The legend of Fernando de Alma was also retold by Washington Irving in Chronicles of Wolfert’s Roost and Other Papers (Edinburgh: Constable, 1855).
96 Instead, once he had landed: Some biographers believe that, either then or later, Columbus took the vows of a tertiary Franciscan, the lay division of the order. He certainly shared the order’s spiritual conviction, but perhaps not the commitment to poverty.
96 There he knocked on the door: This famous scene remains controversial among historians, some of whom believe it actually happened on Columbus’s way through Palos in 1491. The introduction from Berardi is argued in C. Varela, Colon y los Florentinos, p. 47.
97 Having done that he boarded: My evidence for this is simply that it was the best way to slip unnoticed out of the country. He was in the habit of accompanying cargos from Lisbon and would not have attracted attention. See B. Keen, p. 60.
97 There are no details: Like Christopher’s journey to Spain, we have no information about how his brother made the journey to England, which was so rudely interrupted. Nor do we know when the pirates struck. I have used the coast of Gascony because it was the scene of ruinous long-running wars, and those mercenaries left behind in the fifteenth century often turned to activities like piracy. See Ibid.
99 They were on the front line: See H. Thomas, p. 41.
100 As the visit progressed: This is not proof, but it is evidence that Columbus did not ask the Portuguese for titles and honors, because he seems prepared at this stage to accept nothing more than investment and continuing rights.
100 We also know that he was searching: We know this because of the evidence of Cabot’s London friend Raimondo de Soncino, see J. A. Williamson, The Cabot Voyages, p. 210.
101 Like the European adventurers: For a description of other Europeans who made the same journey, see Z. Freeth and H. V. F. Winstone.
101 The first part of the journey: See R. Burton, A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to al-Madinah and Meccah (London: Bell, 1906), p. 31.
102 Mecca was a sweltering city: It is tempting to imagine that Cabot followed the rest of the caravan to drink the waters from the Zemzem well, said to have been revealed to Abraham’s wife, Hagar. If so, he might perhaps have agreed with a Victorian traveler who followed in his footsteps that it tasted like a “weak solution of Epsom salts.” See T. F. Keane.
104 “Then take a little Allom”: See www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes.
105 “Tell me how your daughter”: Quoted in F. J. Pohl, p. 30.
108 “My proposition was a thing of mockery”: There is some evidence, but slight, that Columbus also approached his own city of Genoa and asked for two ships at this time. They rejected the idea. See P. E. Taviani, pp. 491–92.
109 It may be that Columbus’s intensity: The description of Columbus is from B. Keen, p.34.
113 But the reason he went there: F. Fernandez-Armesto, Amerigo, pp. 48–50.
113 “Welcome and good luck!”: see E. N. Symons, p. 86.
115 In fact, there was a studious silence: See R. Broome, p. 65.
116 Columbus realized that this was: C. Varela, Colon y los Florentinos, pp. 37f.
116 He wrote to the Portuguese king: J. Martins da Silva Marques, Descobrimentos Portugueses, III, Lisbon, 1971: 341–2.
117 The Genoese colony on the Thames: The Spinola family may have been his brother’s creditors, and they did have an office in London at the time.
125 “Find out what sort of person he is”: Ibid., p. 98. The fact that Vespucci did not actually go is pointed out by C. Varela, Colon y los Florentinos, pp. 38f.
126 The definitive manual for bookkeeping: This was the period when Leonardo was perfecting his flying machine. He advised that it should be tested over a lake, and told pilots they should “carry a large bladder bound to you so that if you fall you will not be drowned.”
129 “You have come to tell me”: A. V. G. Arciniegas, p. 119n.
130 Anne of Beaujeu was twenty-eight: see P. Matarasso and M. de Lauwe.
131 “colossal errors”: G. Granzotto, p. 83.
5: TRIUMPH AND DISASTER
133 “This night of October 11–12”: S. E. Morison, p. 233.
134 “You do well to grieve”: A. V. G. Archiniegas, p. 129.
135 This time he presented the monarchs: This map came to light in Paris in 1924 and has been controversial ever since, but it includes notes from Imago Mundi, which are remarkably similar to the ones Columbus has underlined in his own copy. David Quinn believes that it is actually the map Bartholomew Columbus showed to the English; see D. Quinn, European Approaches to North America, pp. 29f.
137 Isabella protested: B. Keen, p. 65. It has also been suggested that this sudden change of heart came because a chart stolen from Lisbon revealed that there was indeed land on the other side of the Atlantic.
138 The cost of fitting out: the Castilian currency converted to pounds of gold at the rate of about 49,000 to the pound. See L. Vigneras, The Discovery of South America and the Andalusian Voyages, pp. 41–43.
140 Vespucci was being included: See T. Goldstein, “Geography in Fifteenth-Century Florence” in Merchants and Scholars: Essays in the History of Exploration and Trade. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1965), p. 30. For the argument that this was the moment that they met, see also C. Varela, Colon y los Florentinos, pp. 44f.