1492: An Ongoing Voyage
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CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS:
MAN AND MYTH
After five centuries, Columbus remains a mysterious
and controversial figure who has been variously described as one of
the greatest mariners in history, a visionary genius, a mystic, a national
hero, a failed administrator, a naive entrepreneur, and a ruthless and
greedy imperialist.
Columbus' enterprise to find a westward
route to Asia grew out of the practical experience of a long and varied
maritime career, as well as out of his considerable reading in geographical
and theological literature. He settled for a time in Portugal, where
he tried unsuccessfully to enlist support for his project, before moving
to Spain. After many difficulties, through a combination of good luck
and persuasiveness, he gained the support of the Catholic monarchs,
Isabel and Fernando.
The widely published report of his voyage
of 1492 made Columbus famous throughout Europe and secured for him the
title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea and further royal patronage. Columbus,
who never abandoned the belief that he had reached Asia, led three more
expeditions to the Caribbean. But intrigue and his own administrative
failings brought disappointment and political obscurity to his final
years.
In Search and Defense of Privileges
Queen Isabel and King Fernando had agreed
to Columbus' lavish demands if he succeeded on his first voyage: he
would be knighted, appointed Admiral of the Ocean Sea, made the viceroy
of any new lands, and awarded ten percent of any new wealth. By 1502,
however, Columbus had every reason to fear for the security of his position.
He had been charged with maladministration in the Indies.
The Library's vellum copy of the Book
of Privileges is one of four that Columbus commissioned in 1502
to record his agreements with the Spanish crown. It is unique in preserving
an unofficial transcription of a Papal Bull of September 26, 1493 in
which Pope Alexander VI extended Spain's rights to the New World.
Much concerned with social status, Columbus
was granted a coat of arms in 1493. By 1502, he had added several new
elements, such as an emerging continent next to islands and five golden
anchors to represent the office of the Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
Columbus' Coat of Arms
In Christopher Columbus, His Book of Privileges, 1502
Facsimile. London, 1893.
Harisse Collection,
Rare Book and Special Collections Division
As a reward for his successful voyage
of discovery, the Spanish sovereigns granted Columbus the right to a
coat of arms. According to the blazon specified in letters patent dated
May 20, 1493, Columbus was to bear in the first and the second quarters
the royal charges of Castile and Léon -- the castle and the lion
-- but with different tinctures or colors. In the third quarter would
be islands in a wavy sea, and in the fourth, the customary arms of his
family.
The earliest graphic representation
of Columbus' arms is found in his Book of Privileges and shows
the significant modifications Columbus ordered by his own authority.
In addition to the royal charges that were authorized in the top quarters,
Columbus adopted the royal colors as well, added a continent among the
islands in the third quarter, and for the fourth quarter borrowed five
anchors in fess from the blazon of the Admiral of Castille. Columbus'
bold usurpation of the royal arms, as well as his choice of additional
symbols, help to define his personality and his sense of the significance
of his service to the Spanish monarchs.
Book
of Privileges
In [Christopher Columbus]
[Códice Diplomatico Columbo-Americano]
Vellum. [Seville, ca. 1502].
Manuscript Division
The Book of Privileges is a
collection of agreements between Columbus and the crowns of Spain prepared
in Seville in 1502 before his 4th and final voyage to America. The compilation
of documents includes the 1497 confirmation of the rights to titles
and profits granted to the Admiral by the 1492 Contract of Santa Fé
and augmented in 1493 and 1494, as well as routine instructions and
authorizations related to his third voyage. We know that four copies
of his Book of Privileges existed in 1502, three written on
vellum and one on paper.
All three vellum copies have thirty-six
documents in common, including the Papal Bull Inter caetera
of May 4, 1493, defining the line of demarcation of future Spanish and
Portuguese explorations, and specifically acknowledging Columbus' contributions.
The bull is the first document on vellum in the Library's copy and the
thirty-sixth document in the Genoa and the Paris codices. The Library
copy does not have the elaborate rubricated title page, the vividly
colored Columbus coat of arms, or the authenticating notarial signatures
contained in the other copies. The Library's copy, however, does have
a unique transcription of the Papal Bull Dudum siquidem of
September 26, 1493, extending the Spanish donation. The bull is folded
and addressed to the Spanish sovereigns.
This intriguing Library copy is the
only major compilation of Columbus' privileges that has not received
modern documentary editing. Comprehensive textual analysis and careful
comparison with other known copies is essential to establishing its
definitive place in Columbus scholarship.
HOME - What
Came To Be Called "America" - Mediterranean World
- Christopher Columbus
Inventing America - Europe
Claims America - Epilogue
Exhibition Overview - Learn
More About It - Online
Exhibit Credits
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