Part 20 (1/2)
Don Luis did not long enjoy the substitution of a certain, though nificent but unproductive clai no other itihters 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 legitio, 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 illegitiht it better to join claims and persons in wedlock, than to pursue a tedious contest They were o died without issue in 1578, and with hiitimate 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 froo had two sisters, Francisca and Maria, the former of whom, and the children of the latter, advanced their several claioleto, 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 legiti
Baldassar, or Balthazar, Colombo, of the house of Cuccaro and Conzano, in the dukedo claimant He came from Italy into Spain, where he devoted himself for enealogical tree of his family, in which was contained one Domenico Colombo, lord of Cuccaro, whom he maintained to be the identical father of Christopher Colu at the requisite era, and produced ator 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] Athe 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who made oath that Christopher and his brothers were born in that castle of Cuccaro This testimony was afterwards withdrawn by the prosecutor; as it was found that the monk's recollection must have extended back considerably upward of a century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 claiatived His proofs that Christopher Columbus was a native of Cuccaro were rejected, as only hearsay, or traditionary evidence His ancestor Do, died in 1456; whereas it was established that Do upwards of thirty years after that date
The cause was finally decided by the council of the Indies, on the 2d December, 1608 The no Gelves de Portugallo was put in possession, and becahter 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 naal, count of Gelves ”Thus,” says Charlevoix, ”the dignities and wealth of Coluanza, established in Spain, of which the heirs are entitled _De Portugallo, Colon, Duke de Veragua, Marques de la Jamaica, y Al, 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 Coluh 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 tootheave out that he had received twelve thousand doubloons of gold in compronazio de Giovanni, a learned canon, treats this assertion as a bravado, to cover his defeat, being contradicted by his evident poverty [267] The faht, and express great veneration for the memory of their illustrious ancestor, the admiral; and travelers occasionally visit their old castle in Piedreat 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 ti to his epitaph, itto his original papers preserved in the library of the cathedral of Seville, and which were exaa, 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 raphers
Early in 1494, Fernando was carried to court, together with his elder brother Diego, by his uncle Don Bartholoe 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, ell attended to, and Fernando in after-life gave proofs of being a learned e of thirteen or fourteen years, Fernando accoe of discovery, and encountered all its singular and varied hardshi+ps with a fortitude that is mentioned with praise and admiration by the admiral
After the death of his father, it would appear that Fernando es to the New World He accompanied the emperor Charles V also, to Italy, Flanders, and Gera (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 hiation, 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 acadee of mathematics at Seville; and for this purpose commenced the construction of a su 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 neverto his request, in the cathedral of Seville He bequeathed his valuable library to the same establishment
Don Fernando devoted hi to the inscription on his tomb, he composed a work in four books, or volumes, the title of which is defaced on the retted, as, according to Zuniga, the frag a variety of raphical 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 froraphy 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 faes ere concerned in the events which he records He was a man of probity and discernment, and writesof 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 docureat faith, and is the corner-stone of the history of the American Continent
[Illustration: Galley, from the toe of Coluned for the birth of Coluenerally represented, at the time of his discoveries, it is proper to state precisely my authority In the valuable ns, 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 theseventy years old, a little more or less) The curate of Los Palacios was a contemporary, and an intiuest in his house; no one was e It is singular, that, while the biographers of Colu 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 uina 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