Part 21 (1/2)
The claim of Piedmont was maintained with more plausibility It was shown that a Domenico Colombo was lord of the castle of Cuccaro in Montferrat, at the time of the birth of Christopher Columbus, who, it was asserted, was his son, and born in his castle Balthazar Colombo, a descendant of this person, instituted a lawsuit before the council of the Indies for the inheritance of the admiral, when his ainst hi the illustrations of this history It was proved that Domenico Colombo, father of the admiral, was resident in Genoa both before and many years after the death of this lord of Cuccaro, who bore the same name
The three commissioners appointed by the Academy of Sciences and Letters of Genoa to exaent investigation, gave a voluminous and circuest of their inquest ner Bossi, who, in an able dissertation on the question, confirms their opinion It may be added, in farther corroboration, that Peter Martyr and Bartholomew Las Casas, ere contemporaries and acquaintances of Coluuese historian, all make Columbus a native of the Genoese territories
There has been a question fruitful of discussion a the Genoese themselves, whether Columbus was born in the city of Genoa, or in solia, and Savona, towns on the Ligurian coast to the west, Boggiasco, Cogoleto, and several other towns and villages, claim him as their own His fae or hamlet between Quinto and Nervi, called Terra Rossa; in Latin, Terra Kubra; which has induced son his birth to one of those places Bossi says that there is still a tower between Quinto and Nervi which bears the title of Torre dei Colombi
[271] Bartholomew Columbus, brother to the admiral, styled himself of Terra Rubra, in a Latin inscription on a land, and Fernando Columbus states, in his history of the admiral, that he was accustomed to subscribe hinities
Cogoleto at one time bore away the palm The families there claim the discoverer and preserve a portrait of him One or both of the two admirals named Colombo, hom he sailed, are stated to have come from that place, and to have been confounded with hiiven support to this idea [272]
Savona, a city in the Genoese territories, has claimed the saht forward Signer Giovanni Battista Belloro, an advocate of Savona, has strenuously enious disputation, dated May 12th, 1826, in form of a letter to the Baron du Zach, editor of a valuable astronoraphical journal, published nor Belloro claims it as an admitted fact, that Domenico Colombo was for many years a resident and citizen of Savona, in which place one Christopher Coluned a document in 1472
He states that a public square in that city bore the name of Platea Coluovernave the name of Jurisdizione di Colombi to that district of the republic, under the persuasion that the great navigator was a native of Savona; and that Coluave the na his earliest discoveries
He quotes many Savonese writers, principally poets, and various historians and poets of other countries, and thus establishes the point that Columbus was held to be a native of Savona by persons of respectable authority He lays particular stress on the testinifico Francisco Spinola, as related by the learned prelate Felippo Alberto Pollero, stating that he had seen the sepulchre of Christopher Columbus in the cathedral at Seville, and that the epitaph states him expressly to be a native of Savona: ”Hic jacet Christophorus Colunor Belloro show his zeal for the honor of his native city, but do not authenticate the fact he undertakes to establish
He shows clearly that many respectable writers believed Colureater number can be adduced, and many of them contemporary with the admiral, some of them his intimate friends, others his fellow-citizens, who state hi the Savonese writers, Giulio Salinorio, who investigated the subject, comes expressly to the same conclusion: ”_Geneva citta nobilissinor Belloro appears to be correct in stating that Domenico, the father of the admiral, was several years resident in Savona But it appears from his own dissertation, that the Christopher itnessed the testament in 1472, styled himself of Genoa: ”_Christophorus Columbus lancrius de Janua_” This incident is stated by other writers, who presuator on a visit to his father, in the interval of his early voyages In as far as the circumstance bears on the point, it supports the idea that he was born at Genoa
The epitaph on which Signor Belloro places his principal reliance, entirely fails Christopher Columbus was not interred in the cathedral of Seville, nor was any monument erected to him in that edifice The tomb to which the learned prelate Felippo Alberto Pollero alludes, may have been that of Fernando Columbus, son of the admiral, who, as has been already observed, was buried in the cathedral of Seville, to which he bequeathed his noble library The place of his sepulture is designated by a broad slab of white marble, inserted in the pavement, with an inscription, partly in Spanish, partly in Latin, recording the merits of Fernando, and the achieveraved an ancient Spanish Galley The inscription quoted by Signor Belloro nifico Francisco Spinola, under the reat discoverer As Fernando was born at Cordova, the ternifico; no such word is to be found in the inscription
This question of birthplace has also been investigated with considerable iven in favor of Genoa, by D Gio Battista Spotorno, of the royal university in that city, in his historical memoir of Colu been resident in Genoa By'an extract froister, it appeared that one Giacoate of St
Andria, in the year 1311 An agreement, also published by the academy of Genoa, proved, that in 1489, Doarden with a well, in the street of St Andrew's gate, anciently without the walls, presumed to have been the same residence with that of Giacomo Colombo He rented also another house fro from the street of St Andrew to the Strada Giulia [275]
Signor Bossi states, that documents lately found in the archives of the monastery of St Stephen, present the name of Donate him as son of Giovanni Colombo, husband of Susanna Fontanarossa, and father of Christopher, Bartholoo) He states also that the receipts of the canons show that the last pay in 1489 He surmises that the ad to those monks, in Via Mulcento, and that he was baptized in the church of St Stephen He adds that an ancient manuscript was submitted to the coin of which the notary had stated that the na been baptized in that church
[277]
Andres Bernaldez, the curate of los Palacios, as an intiostino Giustiniani, a contelot Psalter, published in Genoa, in 1516 Antonio de Herrera, an author of great accuracy, who, though not a contemporary, had access to the best documents, asserts decidedly that he was born in the city of Genoa
To these names may be added that of Alexander Geraldini, brother to the nuncio, and instructor to the children of Ferdinand and Isadella, a most intimate friend of Colua, [281] and Uberto Foglieta, [282] all conteether with an anonye of discovery at Venice in 1509 [283]
It is unnecessary toin the same fact, as they must have derived their information froard to the birthplace of Columbus has been treated thus minutely, because it has been, and still continues to be, a point of warm controversy It hest authority, the evidence of Columbus himself In a testament executed in 1498, which has been admitted in evidence before the Spanish tribunals in certain lawsuits a his descendants, he twice declares that he was a native of the city of Genoa: ”_Siendo yo nacido en Genova_” (”I being born in Genoa”) And again, he repeats the assertion, as a reason for enjoining certain conditions on his heirs, which manifest the interest he takes in his native place ”I coo, o (or entailed estate), that he e, who shall have a house and a wife there, and to furnish him with an income on which he can live decently, as a person connected with onr fa and root in that city as a native of it, so that he may have aid and favor in that city in case of need, _for from thence I came and there was born_” [284]
In another part of his testament he expresses himself with a filial fondness in respect to Genoa ”I coo, or whoever shall possess the said o, that he labor and strive always for the honor, and welfare, and increase of the city of Genoa, and e the welfare and honor of her republic, in all matters which are not contrary to the service of the church of God, and the state of the king and queen our sovereigns, and their successors”
An informal codicil, executed by Columbus at Valladolid, May 4th, 1506, sixteen days before his death, was discovered about 1785, in the Corsini library at Ro made in the manner which the civil law allows to the soldier who executes such an instrument on the eve of battle, or in expectation of death It ritten on the blank page of a little breviary presented to Columbus by Pope Alexander VII Columbus leaves the book ”to his beloved country, the Republic of Genoa”
He directs the erection of a hospital in that city for the poor, with provision for its support, and he declares that republic his successor in the ad extinct