コロンブス論 | It is a famous story that when Columbus said
"the earth was round", everybody
laughed. The well-known name of Columbia , such as Columbia University and the space shuttle "Columbia", are stemming from the name of the great discoverer "Columbus . One of the reasons that I ,a neurosurgeon and reseacher , began to have an interest in Columbus is the story that Columbus, apparently, felt his arthritis become more painful at the approaching of low atmospheric pressure or a storm. This illness practically allowed him to predict the weather and skillfully to escape from its dangers while at sea. The other interesting fact is that he had been diagnosed in the past of suffering from syphilis because of his arthritis,urethritis and uveitis. However, recently, to the relief of his descendants, it has been recognized in the medical world that Columbus was the victim of Reiter's syndrome, i.e. one of the collagen diseases. Moreover my interest in Columbus was also stimulated by the news (rumor) that one of his descendents has initiated a lawsuit claiming that (according to the agreements or capitulations stipulated in the 15th century between Columbus and the Spanish Sovereigns) North America (including Canada ?) belongs to him !!. Now, as a brief diversion, let me point out the fact that the life-span of human beings is almost irrelevant if we compare it to the history of the Earth ,even thus, sometimes , we reach what for us is the ripe age of 100 years or so . Therefore, considering this limitation , in an extravagant effort to double my own life , I explored my thoughts and decided to learn how Columbus, a famous foreign ancestor, was living in the 15th century . As the saying goes-------Living someone else life is like living two lives ! Lets consider the today's society versus the one of 500 years ago ! Today, for instance, looking at the outer-world, we are facing the challenges of space explorations actively undertaken by individual or group of nations. At the same time we explore the inner-world of the human being with studies in Gene-Therapy, Stem-Cell, Clone- Technology, etc.. And better yet, by virtue of the Internet our communication is made easer, nearer and more frequent than ever before in our known history. These immense progress is going to be of great benefit to the time-consuming efforts of Modern Science which explores in every direction. Instead , how was it 500 years ago ? It was an Era when there was no electricity, automobiles, or radar ect., but still rich of human dreams and of simple people some of which, however , were couragious and enterprising enough to want to navigate, discover and explore, challenging, in the process, the often perilous unknown. Taking all these facts into account to satisfy my curiosity and desire for learning, I imagined myself as living in Columbus's Era, to think his thoughts and to try to experience the life of this Great Discoverer. In the mist of all this great enterprise of mine, I must confess, I also posed for a moment of reflection: ---did this flight of imagination and fantastic transposition, so far back in time, make my Soul to be 500 years old ?? Following is my presentation of the Study on Columbus's Origin by Maurizio Tagliattini correlated to my Japanese translation which whoever can read English , may want to disregard. Michihiko Zenke 2-39 Horibata Uwajima Ehime Japan 7980050 ------------Written April 10, 2000. |
"Christopher Pellegrino or Christopher
Columbus:  A Critical Study on the Origin of Christopher Columbus" From THE DISCOVERY OF NORTH AMERICA （A Documented History) by Maurizio Tagliattini Translated by Michihiko Zenke The author of this treatise; Maurizio Tagliattini  A short time after accomplishing the task of writing The Discovery of North America, I decided to extend my investigation by adding a final chapter devoted to the controversial origin of the great discoverer, the enigmatic man from Genoa: Christopher Columbus. The purpose of this critical chapter is not only to dissect and analyze the already established findings on this subject, but also to illuminate as fully as possible the intricate historical processes which shaped both the content and form of these findings, a complicated task which, to my knowledge, has never been undertaken before. With this objective in mind, I will present findings chronologically, as they unfolded through the centuries in the writings of various historians and annalists, providing all of the critical documentation, and historical evidence upon which I have reached my conclusions. I have strived to present as clearly as possible to readers the paths of evidence, so that they may make their own assessments relatively independently of my own commentary and final conclusions.Let me add that while historians must inevitably interpret documents and historical evidence, I have conscientiously labored to be primarily informative, adhering as closely as possible to available historical documents and archival records. Some of our most prestigious contemporary historians, including S.E. Morison, argue that all major doubts have been resolved concerning the origin of Christopher Columbus and the genealogy of his family of the Colombos. They firmly assert that the great discoverer was born in Genoa (or nearby) just as he stated in a surviving copy of his testament or "mayorazgo" of February 22, 1498, recording that from that city he had left and there he was born "pues que della sali' y en ella naci'." Copious notarial deeds and papers were found at the archives in Genoa and its sister city Savona. These revealing deeds (most of which were discovered in the 19th century) pertaining to a Colombo family were selected among thousands of such documents and construed by scholars to constitute proof that Columbus was a Colombo born in Genoa or nearby between August 26 and October 30, 1451. Christpher Pellegrino or Christpher Columbus : クリストファー ペレグリノ 又はクリストファー コロンブス Christpher Columbusの出生に関する重要な研究 北アメリカの発見（史実）の中から 作：Maurizio Tagliattini 翻訳 ：善家 迪彦 北アメリカの発見と言う記を書いてすぐ、最後の章に、問題になっている偉大な発見者でGenoa生まれの男、Christpher Columbusの出生に関する一章を加えることにした。この重要な章の目的はこの問題に関してすでに確立された事を解剖分析するばかりでなく、これらの事実の内容とその形成に至った複雑な歴史的過程について、今までにないやりかたで、できるだけ明らかにしてゆきたい。これをふまえてすべての重要な証拠や私が結論に達した歴史的確証も持ち出して、何世紀もかかって歴史家や分析屋の書物で解き明かされた様に発見を年代順に提示して行きたい。 私は確証への道のりを読者にできるだけありのままに提示するよう努め、私のコメントや結論とは関係なく、読者が独立して自分なりの考えができるようにした。多くの歴史家は書類や史実を必然的に自分なりに解訳するが、私は利用できる歴史上の書類と記録にできるだけ接近し意識的に忠実に伝えるよう努力した。 S.E.Morisonを含む名誉ある当代の歴史家の何人かはChristpher Columbusの出生とColombos家の系図の多くの疑問は解決したと述べている。彼らは1498年2月22日付けのColumbus自身の遺言書の現存するコピーに、その町を去った故にそこで生まれたと述べられている事で、偉大な発見者はGenoa（又はその近郊）生まれと堅く確信している。沢山の証書や書類がGenoaや姉妹都市 Savonaの書庫より見つかった。コロンボ家に関するこれらの証書（それらの多くは19世紀に発見されたが）何千もの書類の中から選ばれ、 学者らによりColumbus はColomboで、1451年8月２６日 から10月３０日の間にGenoaまたはその近傍に生まれたと解訳されている。 On the strength of this legal documentation, the city of Genoa published in 1932 a large volume reproducing in facsimile selected documents, some of which had been already published dating back as far as 1602 when the Savonese juryconsult Giulio Salinerio presented the first findings on Columbus from the archival records of Savona. This 1932 volume titled Colombo was printed with the clear intent of supplementing the already available 15 large volumes published in 1892-96 by the Italian government (R. Commissione Colombiana) to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World. In three editions (Italian, English-German, and French-Spanish), the volume leaves little doubt that it was intended to convey to the whole reading world that, yes, Christopher Columbus was not only an Italian born in Genoa, but as a natural consequence, also a Christian of proven faith. The 1932 Colombo published by the city of Genoa (with the contribution of Giuseppe Pessagno and others) is the ultimate product of the "Scuola Genovese" whose scholars had been involved in Columbian Literature from the time of Gerolamo Bordoni in 1614 (as stated by Pessagno in his 1926 work) down to Ugo Assereto who, at the closing of the 19th century, had found the most assertive of all notarial deeds, thus crowning the already "synchronous documentation." In 1904, Assereto had finally published his newly found document under the revealing title of The date of birth of Colombo asserted by a new document. This precious "Assereto Document," once matched with the one previously found in 1887 by Marcello Staglieno, definitely established the birth of Columbus, as previously mentioned, between August 26 and October 30, 1451. In the preface to the multilingual Colombo, the mayor "Il Podesta'" of the city of Genoa thought to reassure his international readership of the primacy of Genoa on the longstanding issue of the origin of Columbus, categorically stating:To reject the documents here assembled in their authentic and legitimate form is to deny the light of the sun; their acceptance signifies the freeing of truth from the infinity of idle words that are increasing every day in vain attempts to find outside Genoa the origin of the discoverer of America. The Podesta' of Genoa Ing. Eugenio Broccardi この合法的な文書に威を強くしたGenoa市は、1932年に選別した大量の模写文書を発刊したが、そのうちのいくつかは遠く遡ること1602年に、当時のSavonaの陪審員Giulio SalinerioがSavoneの古記録庫からColumbusに関する最初の発見をすでに報告したものである。このColomboと銘打った1932年版は、 新世界発見400年祭記念にイタリア政府(R.Commissione Colombiana)が1892年から 1896年にかけてすでに刊行した分厚い15刊を補充するはっきりとした意図があった。イタリア語、英独語、仏西語版の３カ国語で刊行された書物はChristopher Columbusは疑いもなく、イタリアのジェノアで生まれたばかるか、必然的に信心深いキリスト教徒であった事を全世界にと伝えたい意図があった事は間違いなかった。Giuseppe Pessagnoらの貢献によりジェノア市で刊行されこの1932年版Colomboは、学者集団の最終産物であり、彼らは1614年のGerolamo Bordoniの時代（Pessagnoが１９２６年の彼の研究で述べている様に）から、19世紀の終わり頃に全ての公正証書から信憑性の高い物を発見したUgo Asseretoの時代までのColombus文献を網羅した物で、そのため何も進展していない同調証書と銘打たれている。1904 年にAsseretoは新たに見つけた証書から”新事実によるColombusの誕生日”と題する文書を出版している。この貴重なAssereto文書は、古い1887年の Marcello Staglieno の物と一致するが、前にも述べたように、はっきりとColombusの誕生日を1451年の８月２６日から１０月３０日の間と述べている。 いろいろな言語で書かれた1932年版Colomboの前書きのなかで、Genoaの市長 PodestaはColumbusの出生に関しては長年の課題をジャンルに分類して述べ、Genoaの国際社会における中心的リーダーシップを確保しようとした。そのなかで曰く、-----ここに集められた真正の正当な形の文書を否定することは、太陽の光を否定する事と同じだ。それを認めることは、日増しに増えつつあるアメリカの発見者の生まれをGenoa以外に探す無駄な多くのばかげた言葉から真実を抽出できると断言できる-------Podesta of Genoa。 In the all-inclusive commentary to the Colombo, one finds other statements which were in full agreement with the mayor and no less emphatic, including this direct warning to readers:In order to destroy this chain of evidence it is necessary to suppress legal deeds committed to history...whoever wishes to deny the discoverer's Genoese origin must face this documentation... I have faced head-on this fortress of documentation during the course of my years of research on the origin of Columbus, and must agree wholeheartedly that challenging these intimidating (but judicious) warnings places scholars in the plight of Don Quixote fighting the windmills. As far back as 1602, Salinerio in his Adnotationes...ad Cornelium Tacitum, after having in his possession only a few Savonese documents related to Columbus, had voiced the same discouraging conclusion:Christopher made such clear mention of his country, that it is most incredible that anyone today should doubt it or make research... Yet, let me add, that from Salinerio to our own days, regardless of such advice or warnings, from time to time inquiries about the true origin of the famous man (whatever their nationalistic, ethnic or religious motives) have continued to surface, like stubborn weeds which refuse to go away. Hope never completely seems to die out of finding new interpretations of what are still undeniably perplexing and inexorable issues surrounding the origins of the great discoverer. What fuels this hope, many researchers including myself could testify, is curiosity, stubbornness, and progressive involvement .Colomboに関するすべての記述のなかで、読者は市長が同意したがそんなに強調せず、読者への直接忠告を含んでいる他の言葉を発見する。----この一連の証拠を破壊する為には歴史に提出された合法的な証書を拒絶する必要がある。発見者のGenoa 出身を否定したい者は皆この証書に直面しなければならない。---- 私はコロンブスの生まれについて の長年の研究中に証書の砦に頭を突っ込みこのような脅迫的警告に逆らう学者は、ちょうど風車と戦うドンキホーテの苦境の中に置かれると心から思った。1602年にさかのぼると、SalinerioはAdnotationes---ad Cornelium Tacitumのなかで、コロンブスに関する2〜3個のSavonaの文書を手に入れた後、同じ落胆の結果を述べている----クリストファーは自分の国をはっきりと明記した。それにも関わらず疑って研究をするとは信じられない事だ。------しかし Salinerioから今日に至るまで,そのような忠告及び注意にもかかわらず、有名人の出生に関する質問は時々（それらは国家的、人種的、宗教的動機に関わらず）ちょうどしつこい雑草の如く、いつも顔を持ち上げてくるのである。偉大な発見者の出生に関する未だに否定できないややこしく聞き入れない問題に対し、新しい説明への希望は消えないのである。私を含む学者たちが言うであろうが、この希望の源のエネルギーは興味と執拗さと次第に深く関わる事による。 In 1864, for example, Henry Harrisse (1829-1910), still young and doubtless unaware of the numerous implications and complexities of the Columbian Literature, wrote an essay optimistically titled Columbus in a Nutshell. As it turned out, Harrisse eventually abandoned his promising legal career and devoted the rest of his life to unraveling the mysteries left behind for future scholars to solve by the enigmatic Christopher Columbus. Indeed, despite the copious documentation available today (and despite what many modern luminaries suggest) many aspects of Columbus's life are still stubbornly obscured by a thick veil of mystery which, quite justifiably, generate uncertainty and considerable suspicion. While some scholars, for whatever reasons, choose to ignore this historical veil, it forms an intriguing, irreducible arabesque which will not disappear even if one pretends it does not exist. Much of the continuing mystery enveloping the private life of the great discoverer was, as we shall see, created or devised by Columbus himself, almost as if he envisioned himself the victim of unspeakable facts which could only be mastered or supported through tactics of secrecy, evasiveness, innuendo, and doubletalk. Although this assessment is rather frankly psychological, I believe it is fully supported by a careful examination and evaluation of his actions as well as by an analysis of certain intangibles of his private life. These personal idiosyncracies surface in his surviving writings as well as in the descriptions and analyses of him reflected in the works of many people who knew him personally たとえば 1864年にHenry Harrisse(1829-1910)は、若くしてコロンブスの文献の多くの含蓄や複雑さに間違いなく気づかず、Nutshell(果実の殻)の中のコロンブスと題して楽観的にエッセイを書いている。あとで解ったことだが、その後Harrisseは約束された法律家としての出世の道を捨てて、謎深いChristopher Columbusにより、将来の学者による解明の為に残された神秘のヴェイルをはがす為に残りの人生を捧げている。本当に今日沢山の文書があるにもかかわらず、（また現代の多くの権威者が言っているにも関わらず）コロンブスの人生の多くの部分が、不確実性と疑いをもっともらしく産んでいるはっきりしない謎の厚いヴェイルにしつこく閉ざされている。理由はどうであれ何人かの学者はこの歴史上のヴェイルを無視しているが、それは存在しないと装っても消えない複雑な簡略化できないアラビア風の唐草模様の様な物である。結局ごらんの如く、偉大な発見者の私的な人生を隠し続ける多くの謎はコロンブス自身により作られ工夫され、ちょうど自分を話すことのできない事実をもつ犠牲者とし、その事実は秘密や言い逃れや風刺や二枚舌などの術でうまく立ち回っているのである。こう考えるのは明らかに少し病的かもしれないが、彼の行動の注意深い検証や評定や、触れてはならない彼の私生活の分析などで充分証明されていると思われる。このような彼の特異性は彼の残された書物や、彼を個人的に知る多くの人々の作品の中での彼に関する記述や分析に表れている。. One of the most celebrated detectives of the human mind, Cesare Lombroso, the 19th century criminologist, judged Columbus's penchant for secrecy so pronounced, in fact, that he labeled him decidedly paranoid. Consider, for example, the fact that after Columbus became famous, he eliminated altogether his family name from the signature in his letters. He substituted for the name a small pyramid of Roman letters spaced with strategically placed dots. For the past 500 years, this signature has represented a puzzle whose solution has remained as elusive as many other enigmas surrounding Columbus, all of which together give rise to the conviction that his motives were not mere eccentricity, but a concerted, deep-rooted desire to keep his true origin unknown.What happens, sooner than later, to scholars who get intellectually involved in the sum of Columbus's apparent oddities is that they find themselves caught in an inexorable spider's web. One of these scholars, Harrisse, made in 1888 the following revealing statement justifying his many years of dedication to the captivating but thankless task of wandering through the dense thickets and enigmas of the Columbian literature: The consolation that remains is that if a single copy survives, and the book has been honestly written, time may instill into its discarded pages new elements of life, and perhaps elicit from painstaking students of history a word or two of esteem and gratitude.Harrisse was only one of the many scholars who dedicated their lives to wandering through the magic tunnel of the Columbian Literature, but certainly he fully deserves the belated title of "Prince of the Americanists" attributed to him by Carlos Sanz in 1958. If Harrisse were still alive today, I would like to ask him one specific, very direct question: If it was known from the very beginning that Christopher was a Colombo born in Genoa, why did you neglect a promising legal career and spend the rest of your life trying to piece together the truth about his origins? Harrisse's hypothetical answer might be, "Why don't you read my books?" But his Columbus in a Nutshell does not confine the enigmas of Columbus to a nutshell unless it is a nutshell suspended in the center of an expanding web of contradictions and irreducible ambiguities. 十九世紀の犯罪学者で心理推察では有名な刑事のCesare Lombrosoはコロンブスの秘密へのこだわりはそうとうで、はっきりと変質的と決めつけている。たとえば次の事実を考えてみよう。コロンブスは有名になった後、自分の手紙の中のサインに自分の姓を全く書いていない。その代わりローマ字の小さいピラミッド（金字塔）とわざと加えた点で空間を開けている。過去５００年の間、このサインがコロンブスにまつわる他の多くの謎とともにはっきりしないものの代表である。これらすべてから解ることは、自分の出生を解らないようにするため、彼の動機は単に常軌を逸していたのではなく、周到に深く根ざした欲望があったのである。おそかれはやかれ、多くのコロンブスの奇妙さに知的に巻き込まれた学者たちは、どうにもならない蜘蛛の巣に捕まっている事に気がついてくる。その中の一人のHarrisseはコロンブス文献の謎とそのやぶの中をさまよう魅惑的で実りのない仕事に長年捧げて、１８８８年に次のように述べている ； 残された慰みはたった一つの模写が生存し又は本が正直に書かれていたら、時が捨てられたページに新しい息吹を吹き込み、おそらく苦労する歴史の学生から喜びと陶酔の言葉を発せさせたであろう。コロンブスの文献の謎のトンネルの中をさまよう事に生涯を捧げたのは多くの学者の中でHarrisseはただ一人であるが、１９５８年にCarlos Sanzが彼に与えられた”アメリカニストの貴公子”と言う称号は確かにそれに十分値する者であった。もしHarrisseが今日生きていたら、私は彼に特別で率直な質問をするつもりである。それは、もし最初からChristpherがGenoa生まれのColomboと解っていたら、あなたは自分の将来を投げ売り、彼の出生に関する資料をまとめる仕事に残りの人生を費やしたかどうか。Harrisseはおそらく私の本をなぜ読まないのかと答えるであろう。彼の”堅い殻の中にあるコロンブス”は、もし矛盾と帰することのできない曖昧さの拡大する蜘蛛の巣がその殻の中心になければ、そのなかにコロンブスの謎を閉じこめていない事になる。 My suspicion is that many writers on Columbian Literature enter the historical fray by wishfully thinking, like Harrisse, that they can write a book encompassing all of the complexities of the man in a few pages. Then after a while, without fully realizing it, they find themselves surrounded by enigmas on all sides; like Dante they find themself trapped in the middle of nowhere wandering on the verge of a Divine Comedy. On this light motif, let me recount the story of my own entrapment in the Columbian labyrinth. In retrospect, it may have begun the first time I went to Mexico, but I failed to identify the symptoms which were those of an uncomfortable illness that affected me almost like the experience of seasickness. I was told my symptoms were nothing to worry about, that I was probably just another victim of "Montezuma's revenge." But in 1983 I traveled to the Dominican Republic, and there on the beautiful island of Hispaniola, I experienced again these same 'new world' symptoms of a vague sickness. Eventually I recovered from this sense of physical discomfort and what I now know to be the first signs of my Columbian entrapment. And wandered into the hills with my backpack, very much aware this time of feeling like a reincarnated Christopher Columbus in search of the ghosts of his adventurous era. From up there, the night view of the island was captivating, compelling: I stood among palm trees, under the starry arch of a tropical sky, with the moon silvering the surface of the exotic sea crowned by a string of small bays and coves, stretching as far as my eyes could see. Feeling caught up in mysterious influences, I spent three nights on the hilltop living in a primitive hut, "bohio," that seemed to be a relic from the preColumbian times. This experience was so overwhelming, I wrote・Lights Across the Bay, a romantic short story of an imagined Columbus drawn mostly from school-day fantasy and reminiscences. In retrospect, I wish that my approach to Columbian Literature had remained similarly romanticized that way, but instead the Columbian web entrapped me and transformed me into a researcher, a historian compelled to write with the mind as well as the heart. Now after devoting so many years of almost compulsive investigation of the Columbian web, I hope that I can free myself by unraveling all that I have learned. コロンブスの文学に関係する多くの著者が、Harrisseが陥ったように、彼の複雑さの全てを2〜3ページにすることができると希望的観測で歴史的な騒動に入り込んでいるのでは私は疑う。しばらくして、はっきりしないままに全方位が謎に囲まれているのに気づいて来る。ちょうどダンテの様にみんな神曲でどこをさまよっているか解らなくなった自分に気づいている。このことに関して私もコロンビアン文学の迷路の罠にはまった物語をしましょう。振り返りますと、それは私が初めてメキシコへ行ったときから始まりました。しかしその時は船酔いのようないやな気分の症状に気がつきませんでした。私はその症状は心配ないと言われ、たぶんMontezumaの報復（メキシコ旅行者が罹る下痢）だろうと言われました。しかし1983年にドミニカ共和国の美しい島Hispaniolaを旅行したとき、また同じはっきりしない新世界病を経験したのです。結局私はこの体の不調と今は解ったがコロンブスの罠にはまった時の最初の症状から快復しました。そして背中に荷物を持ち避暑地に入り込み、大冒険時代の幽霊の調査中にChristopher Columbusの化身になったような気持ちになりました。上方からの島の夜景は魅惑的で強い興味をそそる物でありました。椰子の木陰に立って、星をちりばめた熱帯の空のもとで 月は頂上に湾や入り江の線がある異国の海面を銀色に照らし、私が見ることができる限りまで遠く延びていました。私は神秘的な気持ちで丘の上の、コロンブス以前の時代からの遺物の様な、原始的な小屋に ３夜宿泊しました。この体験は想像を絶する物であり、私は ”湾を越えてくる光”と題する物語を書きました。これは 学校時代の空想と追憶から出た物で、想像されるコロンブスのロマンチックな短編物語であります。思えばコロンブスの文献への私の取り組みが同じようにロマン的なままであってほしいと願いましたが、ロンブスの蜘蛛の巣網は私を虜にして研究者で、気も心も没頭して書く歴史家にに変えてしまいました。長年のほとんど強いられたようなコロンブスの網の研究の後、今や、私が学んだ全てを解明し自分を解放したいものです。 After this lengthy introduction to the dangers of Columbian Literature, let us focus in this chapter on the complex scholarship of Columbus' origins. We will conclude through a radical reinterpretation of a document known to Columbian scholars (but whose extraordinary significance has for various reasons been generally ignored), that Christopher was a child born out of wedlock and forsaken by a father who he probably never knew but who carried his family's name. It goes beyond the scope of this work to attempt a psychoanalytical understanding of why Christopher kept to himself the traumatic secret of his humble beginnings. But one must recognize that Columbus lived during a time when both honor and fortune were attached to a family's name. And one can speculate that the humiliating experience of being born out of wedlock (difficult perhaps for some moderns to appreciate) strengthened Christopher's later determination to prove to himself and to his fellow men; and that the discovery of a New World was born, in effect, of compulsive overachievement and great individual struggle for personal rehabilitation. For the reader to properly evaluate the conclusions I have reached on Christopher's modus vivendi and origin, he must now undertake to travel along a long tortuous road, composed of 15th century historical facts, of contemporary chroniclers and historians writing about Columbus, of a great body of circumstantial evidence and, of course, of the works of the First Admiral of the Ocean Sea himself. To reiterate, what we know today of Columbus' Genoese origin derives primarily from notarial deeds in the possession of the State archives of Genoa and Savona, most of which were not found until the 19th century. From these deeds, one can establish, with a reasonable degree of certainty, that a Christopher, son of a Domenico Colombo, was indeed born in Genoa or nearby in the year 1451 まかり間違いやすい危険に飛んだコロンブスの文献に対して長々と紹介した後で、この章ではコロンブスの出生に関する複雑な学問 に的を絞りましょう。 われわれはコロンブス研究者（しかし彼らの大変な重要性は色々な理由で一般に無視されているが）に知られている証書についてもう一度洗い直し 、Christopherは結婚生活者でない人から生まれ、彼はたぶん知らないが彼の家族姓をもつ父親に見捨てられた と結論します。なぜChristopherがお粗末な始まりを痛い秘密として隠すのか心理解剖分析する事はこの論文の範囲を超える事であります。しかし彼は名誉と富が家族名に帰属した時代に生きた人であることを認めなければなりません。そして人は次のように推測する。結婚生活外の人から生まれたという恥ずかしい経験（幾人かの現代の人々には受け入れがたい事だが）がChristopherをして自分と身内について調べる意を強くさせ、大きいことをしてと言う無理な過剰成就と、個人的な心のリハビリのもがきの結果が新世界発見につながったと。Christopherの生活様式や出生について私が到達した結論を適切に評価するには、読者は十五世紀の史実や、当代の記録編纂者や歴史家のコロンブスに関して書いた物や、多くの状況証拠や、もちろんであるが、大海原の最初の提督自身の仕事などをたどる長い曲がりくねった旅に出なければならないのです。繰り返しますが ChristopherがGenoaの生まれである事は主としてGenoa とSavonaの国庫にある,多くは19世紀まで見つけられなかった公正証書に基づく事である。これらの証拠から誰でもかなりな確実性を持ってDomenico Colomboの息子のChristopherが1451年にGenoaかその近郊で生まれたとかなりな確率で断定できる。. However, we must keep in mind that the search for the origin of the Discoverer did not begin in the 19th century. In the previous 300 years (particularly in the 16th century), considerable research work had already been undertaken in an effort to arrive at some vestige of truth about which family was in fact the real family of the famous discoverer. This search had not been simple or straightforward, but extremely controversial, producing in its wake an array of unreliable documentation. Complexity was inevitable from the outset for the simple reason that, apart from the sparse information about Christopher's family, his own birth or baptismal paper was never available. It was not until after the "Concilio di Trento" (1545-1563) that the Roman Church authorized the issuing of baptismal certificates. Most churches, however, probably kept a listing of the baptized, an assumption whose particular relevance in the case of Christopher we will discuss later. On the question of Columbus's age, however, statements (unfortunately confusing) were directly recorded not only by Columbus, but by his son Fernando, and the historian Bartolome' de Las Casas. The latter two historiographers were in possession of Columbus' writings; they were in close personal contact with him and members of his family. Nevertheless, even so, remarkably, they seem unable or else unwilling to reveal anything conclusively elucidating the matter of Columbus's exact age. Naturally, their failure has greatly added to the mystery surrounding the true Christopher. Columbus himself, in a letter addressed in 1501 to the Spanish Sovereigns, gave the following information: De muy pequena edad entre' an la mar navegando y lo he continuado hasta hoy; la misma arte inclina a quien la prosiguea desear saber los secretos deste mundo; ya pasan de quarenta anos que yo voy en este uso. By 1501, here Columbus writes, he had been navigating for forty years which, if factual, would indicate that he first went to sea in 1461. If by an early age, "de muy pequena edad," we intend the age of 14, then he could have been born in 1447. The statement by Columbus was reported by his son Fernando in Chapter IV of his Historie... and by Las Casas in his Historia de Las Indias, Libro I, cap. III. In the entry for Columbus's journal for December 21, 1492, we read this biographical information:Yo he andado veinte y tres anos en la mar, sin salir della tiempo que se haya de contar.. しかしながら、偉大な発見者の出生研究は十九世紀に始まった事ではないことをよく覚えていなければならない。それより300年も前から(特に１６世紀に）どの家族が有名な発見者の家族なのかと言う問題に対するわずかな真実に達するために、かなりな研究作業が成されている。この研究は簡単で直視的なものではなく、議論が分かれその航跡のなかには信用できない文献を多く作り出している。複雑さが最初から必然的なのは、まばらな,Christopherの家族に関する情報以外に彼自身の出生と洗礼の書面が無いためである。ローマ教会が洗礼証書を発行したのは"Concilio di Trento"(1545-1563)の後でありました。しかしながら、たいていの教会は、洗礼者のリストを保管していましたので、Christopherの場合はどこが関係してくるか、後に我々は論じることになる。 コロンブスの年齢に関しては、しかしながら混乱しているが、本人ばかりか彼の息子Fernandoや歴史学者のBartolome' de Las Casas らの自著での証書が残っている。後者の二人は歴史編集委員であり、コロンブスの書き物を所有している。彼らは彼と親交があり、また家族の一員でもある。にもかかわらず、驚くことに彼らはコロンブスの正確な年齢についてはっきり示そうとしないばかりか、いやそうにも見えるのである。必然的に彼らの不正確さが真のコロンブス像の周りの謎を大変増加させているのである。コロンブス自身の1501年にスペイン国王に書いた手紙を見ると次のような事が解る.-----De muy pequena edad entre' an la mar navegando y lo he continuado hasta hoy; la misma arte inclina a quien la prosiguea desear saber los secretos deste mundo; ya pasan de quarenta anos que yo voy en este uso.（大変早い時期に私は航海に出て今も続けている。航海術はそれを行う者に浸透する。世界の秘密を知りたい欲望も。航海を始めてから４０年になる。 ここでコロンブスは1501年まで40年間航海をしていると書いている。もし事実なら1461年に初めて船に乗り始めた事になる。もし早い時期に（”de muy pequena edad"）なら、その年は１４歳となり、彼は1447年に生まれたことになる。コロンブスの書簡は息子のFernandoの歴史書の第４章とLas CasasのHistoria de Las IndiaのLibro 1, cap 3の書物の中に報告されている。一方、1492年12月21日号のコロンブスの雑誌の巻頭文で我々は次のような伝記上の情報を読みとることができる。-----Yo he andado veinte y tres anos en la mar , sin salir della tiempo que se haya contar.....数えられる時においてはいつも離れず ２３年間海にいる----.と。 If we deduct 23 from 1492, we arrive at the year 1469, from which further deducting 14 years we are left with a birthdate of 1455! It is not surprising, then, judging only from these two conflicting statements, taken from others just as contradictory, that a great natal confusion has plagued Columbian scholars since the very beginning. To the information obtained from Columbus, Fernando, and Las Casas, we have to add similarly conflicting data obtained from his contemporary historians, namely Oviedo as well as Peter Martyr (Pietro Martire), a close friend of Columbus (and of his two children, namely, Diego and Fernando, who were pages at the Castillian court where Martyr was a teacher). We will also recall interesting observations on Columbus's origin made by prominent historians such as Harrisse, Vignaud, Peragallo, etcetera. In particular, Henry Vignaud, referring in his Critical Study of 1903 to the historiographers who related intimately to Columbus, did not hesitate to suggest a conspiracy of silence on their part, expressing his concern as follows: Columbus has never correctly reported his age...both his son and Las Casas, who have written his life in its fullest details, who knew him personally, who had been in the closest relation with all members of his family and who had had all his papers in their hands, maintain on this point a silence which is undoubtedly remarkable... when any special circumstances bring any individual prominently into light...the first questions asked about him bear upon his age and whence he comes... Vignaud supports his theory of a conspiracy of silence on the fact that the abovementioned Fernando and Las Casas "did not wish to convey to us what they knew..." Considering this last statement by Vignaud, one wonders whether it ever entered the historian's mind that Fernando and Las Casas themselves were, perhaps, kept totally in the dark about the origin of Columbus.After all, if, as I believe, Columbus had been born out of wedlock and then abandoned, obviously he would not wish to reveal more of himself than the world already knew, namely that he was born in Genoa and that from there he had left "de muy pequena edad." At this point, let us briefly summarize some basic historical information about the known life of the Discoverer which is imperative in comprehending notarial deeds and other evidence pertaining to his case. From the traditional historical information obtained from Fernando (the second son of the discoverer, whose last name was "Colon"), Las Casas, and Christopher himself, we have a future discoverer who leaves Genoa at an early age. Eventually, he becomes an expert seaman who will navigate as Admiral the most unknown and perilous waters of the world. However, if from the multitude of notarial deeds, we examine contracts and obligations of various kinds which have been laboriously assembled from the archives of Genoa and Savona at the time when the Colombo family of Christopher lived in those two cities, a very different portrayal emerges. For example, a notarial document drawn in Savona in 1472 indicates that at the age of 21 Christopher was still there working as a weaver; obviously he could not have started a meaningful sea life until at least 1473. We are presented then with two radically different stories. Now add to this difficulty the fact that no record exists indicating that Christopher, after he had left Genoa, ever called himself Colombo or Columbus. Throughout his known life, he used what amount to aliases; thus the whole matter of trying to identify the real Columbus becomes even more muddled. 我々は 1492年から23を引くと1469年になり、そこから更に14年を引き1455年が彼の誕生日と言う事になる。この二つの収まりのつかない証言から判断して、又矛盾する物として他の物から価値を減ずるが、大きな出生の混乱がコロンブス研究家たちを最初から悩ます事は驚くに値しないだろう。コロンブスとFernandoそしてLas Casasから得られた文献に、私たちは同様に困惑するデータを当代の歴史家のOviedo や Peter Martyr、さらにコロンブスの親しい友人（そしてCastilliaの宮廷の給仕をしていた二人の子供すなはちDiegoと Fernando。ちなみにMartyrはこの宮廷の教師であった）らから得ている。私たちは、また、有名な歴史家のHarrisse やVignaudや Peragallo 等々のコロンブスの出生に関する興味ある観察を思い出す。特にHenry Vignaudは、1903年の重要な研究論文の中でコロンブスと親しかった歴史編集者についての言及で、彼らの沈黙作戦を暴露して彼の関心を次のように表明している。コロンブスは彼の年齢を決して正確に報じなかった。彼の生涯を要細に書き、個人的に彼を知り、家族のメンバー全てと最も親密であり、彼の書類を所持している二人の息子とLas Casasがこの点では黙っていることは特筆すべきことである。特別な状況下に個人が晒される時、最初に彼に求められる質問は年齢と出生である。Vignaudは、以上述べたFernando と Las Casas等は彼らが知っていることを伝えたく無かったために沈黙作戦をとった彼の説に賛成である。Vignaudのこの最後の言葉を考慮すると、人々はFernandoとLas Casas自身がコロンブスの出生に関して闇の中に入り込んだ事を、たぶん歴史家も解っていないのではと疑うだろう。結局コロンブスは私の思うように結婚生活者外から生まれ見捨てられたとするなら、明らかに彼は世間に知れ渡った以上の身の上のことは開かしたくなく、Genoaに生まれ”de muy pequena edad"大変早い時期にそこを去ったのである。 ここで手短に発見者の知られた生涯の歴史上の情報をまとめてみます。これは彼についての証書や話を理解するうえで必須である。Fernando(発見者の次男、姓は"Colon")やLas CasasやChristopher自身 から得られる伝統的な歴史情報から 、我々は青少年期にGenoaを去った未来の発見者像を得ました。結果的に専門船乗りとなり提督として当時は知られていない危険な世界の海域を航海するようになる。しかし夥しい公正証書の中から、ChristopherのColombo一家が 住んでいたGenoaとSavonaの書庫から精力的に集められた様々な契約書や義務書を検証すると、大変違った人物像が浮かび上がってくる。たとえば、1472年のSavonaからの公正証書はChristopherは21才の時、毛織機工としてそこに居たとある。明らかに彼は1473年まで本当の海の生活に入っていない事になる。我々は又、ここに二つの根本的に異なった話を持ち出されたことになる。さらにこれに加うるに、Genoaを去った後ChristopherはColomboと名乗ったのか Columbusと名乗ったのか記録がない。彼は解っている生涯中、別名になる物を使用し、そのため本当のコロンブスを同定する試みの全部がまた、泥沼に入ってしまうのである。 This is not a fanciful assessment of the difficulty. Ever since Salinerio published in 1602 the first documentation from Savona, esteemed luminaries over the centuries have found themselves confronted with the perplexing task of matching the information obtained from notarial deeds with the accounts provided by Fernando, Las Casas, and Christopher. With the hope of creating some kind of order from chaos, some scholars chose to discredit the works and words of those witnesses who knew Columbus most intimately, namely Fernando, Las Casas, and Christopher himself. After all, they had all long died and could no longer defend themselves; on the contrary, those scholars were alive and present. Thus, Henry Vignaud (1830-1922), whose 365-page book of 1903 embraces some of Harrisse's perplexing finds and final assessment, practically accuses Columbus, Fernando, Las Casas, and even Bartolome' Colon, Columbus's brother, of fraud! However, Vignaud, becoming cautious at the end of his work and after having exhausted his theories, chose to reveal that he still maintained some reservations about the conclusions he had reached, stating: However logical and convincing they may be, they cannot have other than purely hypothetical character. Let us review the basic account of Christopher Columbus's whereabouts before he made his great and fateful crossing of the Ocean Sea, relying on traditional history, and my own assessment and interpretive commentary. First of all, I see no critical reason why we should not believe Columbus's famous words when he stated that he was born in Genoa and that from there he had left at a very early age. Taking into consideration some of the legal documents and contemporary Genoese chroniclers, we can surmise that Christopher, perhaps at the traditional age of 12, was employed as an apprentice woolcarder in the shop of a Domenico Colombo, a woolweaver by profession. We can also surmise that the young Christopher was not at all fascinated by the prospect of spending the rest of his life engaged in such tedious work and patiently awaited the nights to rest and dream of a better world. An entirely New World which, hopefully, someday, he would try to reach following the direction of the breeze that inflated the sails of the caravels that so often he had observed leaving the harbor of Genoa for mysterious voyages toward the horizon これは難しさの気まぐれな評価ではない。Salinerioが1602年にSavonaからの初めての証書を発行して以来尊重される有名な知識人たちが何世紀に渡り、公正証書から得られる情報とFernando,LasCasas,Christopher等から得られるものとの整合性を調べる悩ましき仕事に直面している。混沌のなかから少しでも秩序立てたい希望で、学者達の中にはFernandoやLas Casas,のようなコロンブスに親しい人々やコロンブス自身の仕事や証言を信用しない人も有りました。結局はこれらの重要人物はすでに死んでおり何も反論できないけれど、後の学者たちは生きて存在した。かくして、Henry Vignaud(1830-1922)は1903年発行の365ページの本の中で、Harrisseの悩んだ末の見解と最終結論を受け入れ、コロンブスやフェルナンドやラスカサス、更にはコロンブスの弟のBartolome Colonさえもペテン師と実際的に非難している。しかしVignaudは研究の終わりに慎重になり自分の理論に疲れ果てた後、て彼が到達した結論にはいくらか保留の部分があるとして次の如く述べている。しかしそれらは理論的ではっきりしている様に見えるかもしれないが、単に仮定のうえの物であると。さてでは、もっとChristopher Coloumbusが偉大で宿命的な大航海をする前にどこにいたのかなど基本的な事を、伝統的な歴史や私自身の評論や解説に頼りながら見てみましょう。まず最初に我々はコロンブス自身が自分はGenoaに生まれてそこを若い頃に去ったと言う有名な言葉を信じない重大な理由がないと思われる。法的証書や当代のGenoaの歴史記録を考慮してクリストファーはおそらく１２才の時に毛織物職工のDomenico Colomboの店で織物すき職人の丁稚になったと推測する。我々はまた若い頃のChristopherが残りの人生をこの飽き飽きする仕事に従事する気持ちは全くなく、休む夜をじっと待ちよりよい世界の夢を見ていたと推測する。いつかきっと全く新しい新世界に彼はどうしても軽快な帆船にそよ風膨らませて風の向くままに到達したかったのだ。水平線の彼方へ神秘的な航海に向かってGenoaの港を去っていく、その船を彼はしばしば見ていた If he followed Genoese tradition, then at 14, an age confirmed by Fernando, we can see him as a "mozo" or deck hand finally on his way to fulfill his ever present dream of escaping his life in Genoa, finding a new life in the sea, becoming an expert seaman and reaching his new world wherever it might be. Except for the notarial documentation, there are no historical records that he ever called himself "Cristoforo Colombo" or its Latin equivalent of Columbus; however, at the time of his first departure, it is hardly possible to think that he did not do so. Still, no document pertaining to the maritime history of Genoa of that time has ever come to light revealing any sailor of this name (Pessagno). After leaving Genoa for his first (and probably short) experience with the sea, Christopher navigated for many years over the Mediterranean Sea arriving as far as the Island of Chios and the African coast. During this time, again no historical records exist indicating that he ever called himself Colombo or any other family name. Not until he resided in Portugal was he known as "Colon." And Fernando Colon, the second son of the discoverer who was born in Spain, admitted in the famous biography that the origin of his father "was not without some mysteries." Concerning the arrival of Columbus in Portugal, we have information obtained from the notarial archives which contradicts Columbus's account as cited by Las Casas. In May of 1501, writes Las Casas, the Admiral (Columbus) was received by King Ferdinand in Segovia and, at that time, the discoverer, to make a point, stated that he had spent 14 years trying to convince in vain the Crown of Portugal to sponsor his great design. It is generally accepted that Columbus moved from Portugal to Spain at the end of 1484 or in the first half of 1485. If we accept Las Casas's reference, then we can deduce that Christopher first arrived in Portugal around 1470 with enough credentials as navigator to be able to submit, some time later, his plans and impress the Crown. On the other hand, according to the notarial deeds, Columbus did not put out to sea until 1473 and, as a businessman or trade representative, made it to Portugal only in 1476 (say some historians) by swimming to shore after surviving a sinking ship. もしGenoaの伝統に従えば、Fernandが言う１４才の時に、我々は彼がGenoaの生活から抜け出す夢を追って甲板員となり、海での新しい生活を見つけ、専門航海士になり、どこであろうと新しい世界に到達したかった事が解る。公正証書を除くと彼が自分自身をChristoforo Colombo,又はそのラテン名のColumbusと呼んだ記録はない.しかし最初の出航時に名無しであったとは思えない。未だに当時のGenoaの海事史に関する証書にこの名前の船乗りがいないのである。彼の最初のしかも短い海上経験のためにジェノアを去って後、クリストファーは何年間も地中海を航海しChios 島やアフリカ沿岸に到達している。この間彼が自分をColomboまたはどんな他の家族名を名乗ったと言う記録もない。ポルトガルに住むまでもColonと言う名前で知られていなかった。そしてスペインで生まれた彼の次男のFernando Colonは有名な彼の伝記に父の出生はいくつかの謎があったと認めている。コロンブスのポルトガル到着に関して我々はLas Casasの言う記述と公正証書とが食い違う事を知っている。1501年5月に、Las Casasによると、コロンブス提督は当時のセゴビア王Ferdinandに迎えられた、しかもその時、言い分を立証するため、それまで１４年間ポルトガル国王に自分の計画を認めさせようとしたが無駄であったと述べたと書いている。コロンブスがポルトガルからスペインへ移ったのは1484年の終わりか 1485年の前半である。もしLas Casaの言う事を信用すると、Christopherは後に彼の計画を提出する事が出来て国王を感銘させるにたる航海士として充分な信任状を持って1470年頃ポルトガルに最初に到着したと推論する。一方公正証書によるとコロンブスは1473年までは海には出ず、商売人又は貿易関係の代表で1476年に、難破船から生き延びて岸に泳いでポルトガルに渡ったとある。 These conflicting dates are so important that throughout most of the 19th century, the best that scholarship had to offer was dedicated to the pursuit of determining the right date of Columbus's arrival in Portugal, thus solving the dilemma.The credibility attached to other documents versus the credibility of the biographers underwent an arduous process of evaluation. And, as frequently happens, the documentation eventually won the day. The importance of finding the right date is self-evident because if one does not subscribe to the idea of a Columbus businessman who first arrives in Portugal in 1476 without having much prior experience as a navigator, but mostly experiences at sea as a passenger, not only is a particular document made questionable, but a whole series of supporting documents as well. These documents, as we will see later, constitute the pieces of a very carefully assembled mosaic of legal evidence on the life and actions of a Christopher and his Colombo family of Genoa and Savona. In addition, if it can be established that Columbus did not arrive in Portugal until 1476, this in effect means that the Discoverer was not there in 1474, where and when, according to both Fernando and Las Casas, Columbus received upon request the famous letter and nautical chart (showing the westward approach to Japan) from the Florentine astronomer and savant Paolo Dal Pozzo Toscanelli. By this date, Columbus had enough cosmographical knowledge to build a globe and send it to the famed Florentine for his opinion on the idea of reaching Asia by navigating the Ocean Sea westward. Toscanelli replied by sending his encouragement, good wishes, the chart, and a copy of a letter that he had previously sent to a Portuguese canon named Fernam Martins. A sketch of this much debated nautical chart that Las Casas stated that he himself had seen and that Columbus had carried with him during his first crossing of 1492 was eventually found in the 19th century in Florence annexed to a lecture by Toscanelli on the comet of 1456, and for this reason attributed to him. Now it belongs to the "Codici Magliabecchiani"of the "Biblioteca Centrale di Firenze" and the esteemed Florentine historian Gustavo Uzielli (1837-1911) refers to it in these words: "No doubt it was a similar sketch which Toscanelli employed to draw the map he sent to Martins." このように混乱した日付が余りにも重要であったので、ほとんど１９世紀を通して奨学金の最大限が、コロンブスのポルトガル到着の正しい日時を決め、板挟みを解決することに費やされた。他の証書に付された信憑性対伝記学者の信用性は評定するのに難儀であった。そしてしばしば証書が日時を変更させた。正しい日付を見いだすことの重要性は明らかで、なぜなら以前に多大な航海士としての経験がなく、大部分が単なる海の通行人だけの経験だけでコロンブス商人が1476年にポルトガルに初めて到着したと言う考えに賛成しないのなら、特別な証書もこれを支える全ての証書も疑わしい事になる。後に見つけたこれらの証書はChristopherとGenoaと SavonaのColombo一家の生活や行動に関して大変慎重に収集され、法的証明上の混乱の断片を構成することになる。更に１４７６年までにコロンブスはポルトガルに到達していなかったとするなら、偉大な発見者（コロンブス）は１４７４年にポルトガルには居なかったことになる。Fernando とLas Casaによると１４７４年に、コロンブスはフローレンスの天文学者で学者のPaolo Dal Pozzo Toscanelliから有名な手紙と日本への西回りでの行き方を記した海図を要請してもらっている。この日までにコロンブスは地球の構成など宇宙誌学的知識を充分有し大洋を西に航海してアジアに到達する考えを有名なフローレンス人に送っている。トスカネリは彼を激励し巧くいくことを願い海図と彼が以前にFernam Martinsと言うポルトガルの聖堂参事会員に送った手紙のコピーを送っている。論議の的となったこの海図の絵はLas Casaによると彼自身これを見、コロンブスが１４９２年の最初の航海の間中持っていたと言うもので、１９世紀になり１４５６年に行われた宇宙に関するトスカネリの講義に付随し、ついでにフローレンスで見つかっている。このため彼との関係が解ったのである。今それは"Codici Magliabecchiani"of the "Biblioteca Centrale di Firenze"にあり、尊大なフローレンスの歴史家のGustavo Uzielli(1837-1911)は次のように言っている。：疑いもなくそれはトスカネリイがMartinsに書いて送った物と似ていると。 In any event, whether Christopher reached Portugal in 1470 as an experienced sailor or in 1476 as a representative of a Genoese merchant house, he was to remain there until 1485. We will relate a few important events of his Portuguese life as "Cristovam Colon" or "Christovao Colom" as the Portuguese chronicler Joao de Barros (1496-1571) called him in his work. The ship that carried Christopher had sunk as a consequence of a fierce sea battle which took place some two miles off Portugal near Lagos and the future discoverer managed to survive by swimming to shore with the help of an oar that had floated free. Although injured, he recuperated with the assistance of helpful people and moved on to Lisbon which had at the time a considerable community of Genoese (Peragallo) Much has been written about the life of Columbus in Portugal, but even the best narratives by the most prestigious historians reveal very little for the simple reason that no reliable documentation has ever appeared to substantiate any of his activities. One of the narratives most intriguing for its implications, however, is one by Salvador de Madariaga (Madrid, 1984, 4th ed.) under the title Vida del muy magnifico senor Don Cristobal Colon. Madariaga, incidentally, has Christopher landing in Portugald exactly on August 13, 1476. And as a consequence of having survived a "trial by fire" (to use the historian's words), the future discoverer immediately, then and there, was born again, "Volvio'a nacer." With a marvelous narrative of 500 pages, rich in insights and careful evaluations, the author suggests on the basis of considerable circumstantial evidence that Columbus could have been the son of a Jewish family who had moved to Genoa to escape the Inquisition and/or to seek better opportunities. Without the help of precious documentation, Madariaga's case could, of course, never be substantiated and the author himself was the first to recognize this fact. To elaborate for the moment on the issue of a Jewish Colombo or Colom family in Italy, I consulted Dr. Raffaello Lattes of the Synagogue of Modena who mentioned to me that in the 19th century, there was in fact a rabbi in Leghorn named Colombo. He also showed me a booklet by Samuele Schaerf published in 5865-1925 and titled I cognomi degli ebrei d'Italia (The lastnames of Italian Jews) which listed a Colombo. Having no direct bearing on my present work, however, my inquiry ended there. とにかくChristopherが経験のある水夫として１４７０年にポルトガルについたか１４７６年にGenoaの商会の代表としてであったかにかかわらず、彼は１４８５年までポルトガルに留まった。我々はポルトガルの伝記学者Juao de Barrosの研究の中で彼の呼ぶChristovam ColonまたはChristovao Colomのポルトガルでの生活の２〜３の重要な出来事につき述べる。Christopherの乗っていた船はポルトガルのラゴス沖２マイルあたりでの激しい海戦で沈み、彼は浮かんでいたオールにつかまり岸まで泳いで生き延びた。怪我をしたけれど助けてくれた人のお陰で回復し当時Genoaの人が多く住んでいたリスボンに移住した。ポルトガルでのコロンブスの生活に関しては多くの事が書かれている。しかし世に聞こえた歴史家の最も良い話でも明らかな物は数少ないのは彼の活躍を物語る確かな証拠がない事の理由による。その含蓄において最も興味をそそる話にSalvador de Madariagaのthe title Vida del muy magnifico senor Don Cristobal Colon.と言うのがある。Madariagaは正確に１４７６年８月１３日にコロンブスはポルトガルに上陸したとしている。歴史家達の言う砲火の試練を生き延びた結果、未来の発見者は直ちに見事によみがえったと言っている。５００ページにも及ぶすばらしい話には洞察と注意深い論評にとむが、著者はかなりな状況証拠に基づきColumbusは異端者弾圧によりGenoaに移住し、よりよい機会を求めていたユダヤ人家族の息子であった可能性があると推測している。貴重な証書の裏付けがなく、Madariagaの報告はもちろん立証されなかったが著者の彼自身この事実を初めて認めたのである。ここでイタリアにおけるユダヤ系Colomboまたは Colom家族の事についてはっきりさせるため、私はSynagogue of ModenaのRaffaello Lattes先生に相談した。彼は１９世紀にColomboと言う名前のユダヤ教会の牧師がLeghornに事実居たと述べてくれた。また彼はSamuele Schaerfにより書かれた小さい本を見せてくれた。タイトルはイタリアに住むユダヤ人名でColomboもリストに入っていた。私の今の仕事には直接関係有りませんので私の調査はそこで終わった。 In Lisbon, Columbus met his younger brother Bartolome' Colon who, like Christopher, had a great inclination for cartography. As everyone seems to agree, it was the study of this art form that helped both brothers start their Portuguese life. Where they learned and how they practiced such a talent is still one of the many mysteries of Columbian Literature. Some scholars suggest that they had studied in Genoa where almost certainly there were nautical schools. Madariaga states that Christopher was a "Doctisimo cosmografo" and already possessed considerable experience on the sea. At the time of Columbus's arrival, the throne of Portugal was occupied by King Alfonso V. Even though his country was not yet seeking to change the shape of the world, in 1470 he had appointed his son (who in 1481 would become King Joao II) as chief of explorations and discoveries. Whether Christopher by 1476 had been a proven seaman or just an aspiring one, no one denies that he navigated in 1477 from Portugal to Iceland, making observations on sea tides that later in 1497, I may add, John Cabot also made, indicating that Columbus may have gone further northwest than many scholars are generally willing to accept. He also undertook several voyages to the western coast of Africa and the island of Puerto Santo. Without going into details, it was in either Puerto Santo or in Lisbon that he met his future wife, Dona Filipa de Perestrelo y Moniz, daughter of Bartholomeu Perestrello of Italian origin from Piacenza who had been the Captain or Governor of Puerto Santo. From this marriage in 1479 or 1480, Diego Colon was born, the future Second Admiral of the Ocean Sea. The ascent to the throne of Joao II in 1481 gave Columbus his last chance to gain a sponsorship from the new King for his grand design but, as we know, he failed. By the end of 1484, Columbus was a widower and with his child Diego, writes Fernando, secretly moved to Spain. Tradition has it that Christopher Colon arrived in Spain at Palos de La Frontera on board a ship with his son Diego, then about five years old. Almost destitute, he found assistance at the nearby Franciscan Monastery of Santa Maria de La Rabida where he met Friar Juan Perez (who was a confessor of Queen Isabel) and Friar Antonio de Marchena to whom he confided his fantastic designs and showed his charts. Both of them proved receptive to the future discoverer's presentation, and worked to arrange an audience for him with the Sovereigns of Spain. Friar Marchena (who S.E. Morison describes as a "a man of imagination and human sympathy") was already well connected with the Royal Court as a "buen astrologo." The first audience with Queen Isabella took place in May of 1486 at the Alcazar of the Royal city of Cordoba. Before leaving for the court, Columbus left Diego under the care of the friars. リスボンでコロンブスは弟のBartolome Colonに会いました。弟はクリストファーのように地図や海図に没頭しており、だれもが認めるようにこの図面の事が両兄弟をポルトガルに住まわせる元になっていた。どこで学んで如何にその才能を発揮したかは未だコロンブス文献の多くの謎の内のひとつです。何人かの学者は確かに航海学校があったGenoaで勉強したと推論している。Madariagaはクリストファーは大変専門的な宇宙誌学者であり、すでに海の経験はかなりなものであったと述べている。コロンブスがついた頃はポルトガル王はアルフォンソ５世で、彼は未だ世界の形態を変えようとは思っていなかったが、１４７０年に息子（１４８１年にJoao二世王になっている）を探検と発見部門の主任に任命している。１４７６年にクリストファーが名のしれた船乗りであったか単なる熱血漢であったか知らないが、彼が１４７７年にポルトガルからアイスランドに航海に出て潮の満ち引きの観察を行い１４９７年まで続けた事はだれも否定しない。John Cabotも成したが 多くの学者が考えているよりさらに北西に出かけた事を示すと付け加えても良い。彼は又、アフリカ西海岸やPuerto Santoにも何回か航海している。詳しくは述べないが、Puerto Santo かLisbonのどちらかで将来の妻のDona Filipa de Perestrelo y Moniz（イタリア系でPiacenza出の船長でありPuerto Santoの知事であったBartholomeu perestrelloの娘）とめぐり会っている。１４７９年か１４８０年の結婚で将来の大海の第二代提督となる息子のDiego Colonが生まれている。１４８１年Joao二世の即位はコロンブスにとって新国王が彼の壮大な計画のスポンサーになっていただく最後のチャンスであったが、皆ご存じのように彼はそれに失敗している。１４８４年の終わり頃コロンブスは男やもめとなりフェルナンドが書いている所によると、息子のディエゴと供に密かにスペインへ移住している。５才の息子ディエゴと船に乗りスペインのPalos de La Fronteraについたと言われている。貧困の中、近くのSanta Maria de La Rabidaのフランシスコ修道院に助けられ,そこで修道士のJuan Perez(彼はイザベル女王の懺悔聴聞者）とAntonio de Marchenaに会い夢のある計画を打ち明け海図を見せている。両者は未来の発見者の提示を受け入れ、スペインの王様に拝謁の便宜を図ってくれた。修道士のMarchenaは（S.E.Morisonに言わせると想像豊で温情のある人）buen astrogo（良い星占師）としてすでに宮廷によく出入りしていた。イザベラ女王との初めての拝謁は１４８６年の５月に王家の町コルドバのAlkazarで行われた。宮廷に出発する前にコロンブスはディエゴを修道士の世話に託した。 A point of minor controversy is exactly when Columbus left Diego with the friars of La Rabida, indicating just how seriously scholars have researched the life and actions of Columbus in Spain, particularly his first years. Both Harrisse and Navarrete have brought forward a court deposition of 1515 by a Garcia Hernandez, friend of friar Juan Perez, who testified that Diego was not left at La Rabida at the care of Franciscan friars until 1491! Christopher Colon, the widower, while in Cordoba met Beatriz Enriquez who became his mistress and in 1488 out of wedlock gave birth to his second son Fernando, already very familiar to us as the author of his father's biography, the famous Historie... Dated May 5, 1487, we possess (thanks to the Documentos Diplomaticos assembled by Don Martin Fernandez de Navarrete in book II of 1825) a first document certifying the presence in Spain of Columbus. He is identified simply as Cristobal Colomo "Extrangero." On this date, 3.000 maravedis（スペインの金貨） were paid to him by Alonso de Quintanilla on the order of the Bishop of Palencia for unspecified services rendered to their Highnesses of Spain. On March 20, 1488 Columbus received a letter from the Portuguese King Joao II addressed to Cristovam Colon, "our special friend in Seville." In summary, this brief letter informs Colon that the King is willing to re-examine his plans and that he can go back to Portugal without fear of being persecuted by the law. On May 12, 1489, an order was issued by the Spanish Sovereigns to officials, justices, et cetera, and all other subjects of Castille to facilitate and assist Cristobal Colomo in traveling to court and other places in their Kingdom. Let me comment that this order which was widely circulated undoubtedly provoked the envy of many officials who subsequently joined the growing list of his detractors. They must have asked themselves who this stranger was who deserved so much attention. We come to the most interesting of the Spanish documents, dated April 17, 1492, "Villa de Sancta Fe de La Vega de Granada." It contains the famous agreements, or "Capitolaciones," between the Sovereigns of Spain and a foreigner, exapprentice woolcarder from Genoa who is identified as "Don Cristobal Colon," their Admiral. 小さな論議の的はいつコロンブスはディエゴをLa Rabidaの修道士に預けたかと言うことで、如何に学者たちがスペインでの最初の年のコロンブスの生活と活動を念入りに調査しているかを物語っている。Harrisse とNavarreteは修道士Juan Perez の友人のGarcia Hernandezが、１４９１年まではディエゴはフランシスコ会の修道士の世話になるためLa Rabidaにあずけられていないと証言した宮廷宣誓書を持ち出している。コルドバに居る間に男やもめのChristopher Colonは内縁の妻となるBiatriz Enriquezに会っている。１４８８年に結婚生活外から次男のFernando（すでに我々には父の伝記を書いたことでお馴染みであるが）が生まれている。１４８７年５月５日付けでコロンブスがスペインに居たことを証明する最初の書類を手に入れている。これはひとえにDon Martin Fernandez de Navarreteにより集められた証書の本の1825年版のU冊目のお陰である。彼はChristobal Colomo Extrangeroと単に認識されている。この日に３０００スペイン金貨がPalencia司祭の命令でスペインの王家になされたはっきりしない仕事に対してAlonso de Quintanillaを通して彼に支払われている。１４８８年５月２０日コロンブスはSevilleの特別な友人扱いでCristovam Colon宛のポルトガル王Joao U世からの手紙をもらっている。要するにこの短い手紙はコロンブスに対し王は喜んで彼の計画を再考するし、法律で非難されることなくポルトガルに帰ってきても良いと言うことだった。１４８９年５月１２日に、Cristobal Colomoが領内の宮廷であろうとどこでも旅行の妨げにならぬよう又援助するようにとのスペイン王からの命令がCastilleの公務員、法務員、その他のもの全員に出ている。疑いもなく広く知れ渡ったこの命令は多くの役人の嫉妬を買い彼らはだんだん集まって誹謗するようになった。みんななぜこんな外国人がそんなに注目されるのか不満であった。我々は１４９２年４月１７日付けのスペインの証書"Villa de Sancta Fe de La Vega de Granada."に大変興味を持っている。それはスペイン王と"Don Cristobal Colon,"と称される提督になったGenoa出身の毛職工見習いであった外人との間に交わされた有名な約束である。 With the fall of Granada and the end of the war with the Moors, the Sovereigns of Spain finally consented and agreed to organize an expedition led by Columbus which would reach the Indies by going westward. According to these capitulations, Columbus would gain the titles of Admiral of the Ocean Sea, Viceroy and Governor General of all lands that he would discover, and take for himself to use as he wishes ten percent of whatever would be acquired overseas, whether pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices or any other merchandise. Further, the agreement specifies that if the said Don Cristobal Colon wished to contribute one eighth of the expenses required to equip future expeditions, he would be entitled to one eighth of their profits as well. And also that the rights to these entitlements, covered by hereditary laws, upon the death of Don Cristobal Colon would pass on to his successors in perpetuity. It is superfluous to comment here on the extravagance or quixotic aspects of these agreements dictated by a Columbus who appears extremely fearful of deceptions and frustrated by so many years of constant procrastination. As it turned out, Columbus had reason to be wary; all of these Royal Grants did not constitute, to paraphrase Madariaga, a juridical document but only the basic draft for one. In fact, when Columbus returned from his second voyage to the New World of 1493-1496 (see Chapter 9), some of these grants and privileges were abruptly withdrawn, and the discoverer found himself surrounded by detractors, growing hostilities and indifference, all of which would endure to his death. Surely his original fears and suspicions of being deceived were eminently justifiable.What is mindboggling about these capitulations is the thought of what ten percent of all the exports from the Americas would be worth today. Consider only, for example, the petrodollars earned from Mexico and Venezuela's oil sales abroad! From 1496, the financial position of Columbus, highly indebted already with what today we may call promissory notes, did not ameliorate; in fact, it grew progressively worse and the only income he could count on was the 10,000 maravedis life pension that the crown had granted to him in 1493 for having been the first to sight a flickering light in the New World. グラナダが陥落しムーア人との戦争が終わり、スペイン王はついにコロンブス率いる西回りのインド行きの探検を契約承認している。これらの協定条項によると、コロンブスは大海の提督の地位を得、彼が発見した全ての島の総督と総知事となり、海外で得られる物はなんでも 真珠、貴重な宝石類、金、銀、胡椒、その他の商品などの１０％まで自分の思い通りにとっても良いとしてある。更に協定はいわゆるDon Cristobal Colonが将来の探検に備えるために８分の一の経費を支払えば、それ（探検）から得た利益の８分の一を頂けるものであった。更にこれらの権利は相続法によりDon Cristobal Colonが亡くなれば彼の子孫に永遠に受け継がれるとするものであった。コロンブスによって述べられているこれらの途方もない非現実的な締結について私が述べることはここでは余計なことである。ただ当時彼は極度にだまされるのを恐れていたし、何年もぐずぐず引き延ばされていらいらしていた。後から解ったことだがコロンブスが用心深い訳があった。それはこれらの王室の認可はMadariagaに言わせると、法律上の正式な証書にはならず、単なる一般的な基礎になる案だけであったからである。実際コロンブスが１４９３年から１４９６年にかけての新世界への第二回目の航海から帰ったとき、これらの認可や特権は急に引っ込められ発見者は非難者たちに取り囲まれ、大きくなる敵対心と無視に殺されそうになって居る。まさしく彼が初めから欺かれたのではと言う恐れ疑いは明らかになっている。これらの協定で度肝を抜くような事は、アメリカ大陸からの輸出の１０％が今日の価値にするととひょうもない物になると言う事である。たとえばメキシコやベネズエラの石油の輸出で得る油の代金だけでも考えてみて下さい。１４９６年からコロンブスの経済状態は今日で言う約束手形で高額な借金をし、良くなりそうになかった。実際だんだん悪くなり考えられる収入はただ１００００金貨の年金で、これは王が１４９３年に新世界への手掛かりとなる光明を見いだしてくれた功績に対する物であった。 Columbus had renounced a noble title and large estate in exchange for his peaceful retirement from the political enterprise that the New World had become. He was still hopeful of setting out on a new voyage of exploration, and survived precariously for two years, having no visible possessions, and living on whatever he could carry on his horse, wandering, like Dante, from place-to-place as he had done before his great discovery. Being a man of Spartan customs and of an extraordinarily resourceful mind, the material pain was probably not as unbearable as feelings of ingratitude and obsolescence. For some time in 1497, Columbus was the guest of one of his few remaining friends, Andres Bernaldez, the curate of the Royal Palaces. Bernaldez seems to have been a graceful confident to whom Columbus revealed in detail some of the most interesting aspects of his actions in the New World. Bernaldez put this material to good use when he wrote his Historia de los Reyes Catolicos D. Fernando y Da. Isabel. One intriguing aspect of the curate's Historia is that he is the only contemporary historian who ever mentioned Columbus's age. He revealed that when the discoverer died, he was more or less 70 years old. This statement presumably remained hidden since his work would not be published in Granada until 1856 (see endnote 1). Since Columbus died in 1506, if the esteemed curate's estimate were accurate, he would have been born on or around 1436. When in 1887 a document was found (in the archive of Genoa by Marcello Staglieno) of a Christopher Columbus born between 1446 and 1451, the curate's assessment of the discoverer's age became the focus of a controversy among the most prominent historians. The dilemma was obvious: how could it be possible, on the one hand, to assume that the respected and reputable Bernaldez had been wrong when he had known Columbus so intimately? On the other hand, how can one doubt the content of a notarial document? Eventually, some scholars found a compromising solution that would spare Bernaldez's reputation by assuming that Columbus must have looked much older to him than his real age or that, as a consequence of clerical error, 70 had been written instead of 60. コロンブスは新世界が必然的にそうなっていった政治的野望から平和に引退するために高貴な称号や莫大な不動産を放棄した。彼はそれでも新探検に出かける希望を持っていた。そして２年間は所持物はなく、馬上の生活で、ダンテが大発見の前にしたようなあちこちさまよう不安な生活を送った。スパルタ魂と希なる機略に富んだ精神でもって、物に窮する事や忘恩ですてられかかっている気持ちは我慢できた。１４９７年のある時残り少ない友達の一人で宮廷の副牧師であったAndres Bernaldezから招待を受けた。Bernadezは新世界での出来事の興味ある部分を詳しく述べたコロンブスに品位ある信頼をしていた。彼はこの事を巧く利用してHistoria de los Reyes Catolicos D. Fernando y Da. Isabelを書いている。副牧師の歴史書の中で注意をそそる事は、彼がコロンブスの年齢に対して述べた当代ではただ一人の歴史家であったと言う事である。彼は発見者が亡くなったときは、おおよそ７０才と述べている。この証言は１８５６年までグラナダでは発表されなかったのでたぶん隠れたままであった。１５０６年にコロンブスが亡くなっているので、もしこの副牧師の言うことが正しいと、彼は１４３６年かそのあたりに生まれた事になる。１８８７年にMarcello StaglienoによりGenoaの書庫の中からChristopher Columbusは１４４６年から１４５１年の間に生まれたとする証書が発見された時、副牧師の発見者の年齢推測が最も有名な歴史家達の話題の焦点に成った。ジレンマは明白であった。しかしながらコロンブスと非常に親密であったあの尊敬すべきりっぱなBernaidezが間違っているなんて事があるのだろうか？結局、幾人かの学者はコロンブスは年の割には老けていたか、書記の記述間違いで６０の代わりに７０と書かれたのであろう事にして、Bernaldezの評価を損なわないような折衷案を見つけている。 One cannot help but wonder about this enigmatic Columbus. Why was he not more candid and forthcoming, and at least reveal his age for posterity knowing that he was a famous man? Why was he so mysterious about his beginnings that not even his son Fernando, or Las Casas, Martyr, or Oviedo could penetrate his secrets? But to add a comment to these hypothetical questions, Columbus was not merely a secretive man; he possessed, above all, the uncompromising virtues of a Biblical man who believed devoutly that his life had been designed for a particular mission. From his writings, we know he could not succumb to secular forces, to either defeat or compromise. After two years of practical confinement in Spain, which would have sufficed to demoralize anyone else, he finally sailed away on May 30, 1498, engaged in a new mission which on August 1 would result in the discovery of an entire new continent: South America. Before leaving on this voyage, Columbus was preoccupied with the future of his two children and the uncertainty related to his fragile capitulations with the Spanish sovereigns. He wrote the most revealing and, at the same time, most puzzling of his compositions: his first testament dated February 22, 1498, endorsed with the cryptic cabalistic signature which we have described earlier. This testament, or Mayorazgo, asserting the rights of his first son Don Diego Colon, was published in nine printed pages by Navarrete in 1825. His son Don Diego since May 8, 1492 had been the page of prince Don Juan at the court of Castille and was now joined on February 18, 1498 by his halfbrother Fernando as a page to the Queen. Leaving his two children temporarily behind in good hands and with a drawn testament, Columbus once more pursued his appointed destiny on the Ocean Sea. Even to attempt a summary of the content of this lengthy testament would be a hopeless task and I will mention only the most pertinent passages. Columbus reminds the Sovereigns of how much he has contributed to the treasury of Castille through his personal struggles and, with pleading words, wants reassurance that the crown of Spain will protect his rights which he here wills to his son Don Diego Colon who carries the legitimate name of his father and his ancestors which is the one of Colon, "Llamados de los de Colon." Should Diego die without male heirs, the rights should pass to his halfbrother Fernando and likewise if he should die without male heirs, the inheritance should pass onto his brothers Bartolomy and then James (Diego) in perpetuity. It is further specified that the rights must follow a male line and that under no circumstances should it switch to a female, unless a male can no longer be found as legitimate heir. 人々はこの謎多きコロンブスに迷わざるをえないのである。どうして彼はもっと正直で前向きでなかったのだろう。また有名人であった事を知る子孫にすくなくとも彼の年令を示すべきであったであろう。どうして彼は出生について息子のFernandoや Las Casas, Martyr, そして Oviedoらさえにも明かすことが出来なかった程謎深かったのであろうか。しかし、これらの憶測的質問に一言加えると、コロンブスは単にこそこそしていた人間ではなかった。彼はそれどころか自分の生涯は特別な使命のためにある聖書に出るような人物の持つ強硬な美徳を持っていた。彼の書物から我々は彼が挫けるか妥協でもって世俗の圧力に屈する様な人間でない事を知る。普通なら堕落してしまう２年間の無為な生活の後、１４９８年５月３０日、彼はついに新しい使命を持ち、また航海に出、８月１日に全く新しい大陸の南アメリカを発見している。この航海に出かける前、コロンブスは２人の子供達とスペイン国王のあやふやな協定の不安などで頭はいっぱいで有った。彼は最も意味深く解りにくい彼の性格を表わす物を書き残している。それは１４９８年２月２２日の彼の最初の遺言で、この論文の初めの頃に書いたが、神秘的で不可解な署名の裏書きをしている。長男Don Diego Colonの権利を主張するこの遺言は１８２５年にNavarreteにより９ページに渡る文書で出版されている。息子Don Diegoは１４９２年５月８日以来Castilleの宮廷でDon Juan皇太子の少年召使いとなり、１４９８年２月１８日からは腹違いの兄弟Fernandoが女王に使える召使いとなった。こうして２人の子供を良い所に預けて作成された遺言をもって、コロンブスはもう一度大海への使命の遂行に出かけた。この長い遺言の内容につき要約する事は大変な仕事であるが、私は最も関係のある部分のみ述べる。コロンブスは彼の個人的な苦労がCastilleの財政にどれだけ貢献したか王に気づかせている。そして嘆願的な言葉でスペイン王が父やその祖先からColon("Llamados de los de Colon)と言う法的な姓を受け継ぐ息子のDon Diego Colonに遺贈する彼の権利を遵守する事をはっきり確認したがっている。もしDiegoに男の子がなく死亡した場合は、その権利は腹違いの兄弟Fernandoに譲られ、同様に彼に男の子がないと相続はコロンブスの兄弟のBartolomyへ,さらに３男James(Diego)へと永遠に譲られると言うものである。更に次のようなことが特にきめられている。それは権利は男子の系列に順次送られ、男子がもはや法的相続人として居ないときに女子の系列に渡るとされている。 Here let me point out that this last-mentioned part of the Will is the key, as we will see later, that caused search from 1578 on in several Italian localities to produce a male Colombo eligible to inherit the rights in spite of the fact that the name mentioned in the Will is "Colon" and not Colombo. To the chagrin of many future historians, the discoverer fails to mention the name of his father and refers to his family predecessors as belonging to the Colons which he states to be his true lineage, "mi linage verdadero." The discoverer also reminds the Sovereigns that he came to serve them in Castille having been born in Genoa, "siendo yo nacido en Genova." He charges Diego, or whoever inherits his rights, to maintain and support in the city of Genoa someone of their "lineage" who will establish himself there as a citizen with a house and a wife because in that city he will be able to enjoy favors and "the things that he may need." He ends the paragraph with his most popular statement: "Since from there I left and there I was born." Further on, he returns to the subject of Genoa and again charges the inheritor "to always endeavour for the honor and welfare of the city of Genoa." It certainly seems clear from all of the above statements that Columbus intended to emphasize the fact he had been born in the city of Genoa and not in the Republic of Genoa or somewhere else. Why his son Fernando would at a later time visit several other places in Italy to locate his father's birthplace and relatives remains another unsolved mystery. In his testament, Columbus did not forget to protect his soul as well. He suggests to the inheritor that he invest the future income granted by the Sovereigns at the bank of Saint George in Genoa in secure instruments paying six percent, and that he utilizes some of this income to help King Ferdinand in case he launches a Holy mission to go forth and conquer Jerusalem. He also specifies that in a suitable location of his beloved island of Hispaniola, a church be built named "Santa Maria de la Concepcion" as well as a hospital with the most modern equipment, similar to those in Castille and Italy. ここで遺言の最後に述べた部分が、後に解りますが、カギとなる事を申し述べておく。それは遺言上の名前はColonであってColomboではない事実にもかかわらず、１５７８年から権利相続候補の男子のColomboさんをイタリア各地で探すことが始まったのである。多くの将来の歴史家達にとって残念な事に、発見者は父の名前を述べず彼が本当に繋がりがある（"mi linage verdadero."）と言うColon家に属する先祖の事も言っていない。発見者はGenoaに生まれたが（"siendo yo nacido en Genova."）Castilleの王家に使えるために来たと王家の方には示している。彼はDiego又は彼の権利を継承する者に、Genoaの町で彼らの系統の誰かが家と妻を持つ市民としての生活をする場合維持し支える事を委託している。なぜならその町でDiegoは恩恵を享受し必要な物を手に入れることが出来るからである。彼は文節の最後を有名な言葉"Since from there I left and there I was born."（そこから出発した故にそこで生まれた）で結んでいる。更にGenoaの事に言及し後継者にGenoa市の名誉と幸福について常に努力するよう委託している。上記の事からはっきりすることはコロンブスは彼がGenoa市に生まれGenoa共和国やその他ではない事を強調したがっている事である。どうして息子のFernandoが後に父の生誕地や親戚を捜していくつかの他のイタリアの地を訪れたのかは溶けない謎である。彼の遺言の中でコロンブスは彼の魂（核心）を守ることも忘れなかった。彼は後継者に王にいただく将来の収入はGenoaのSaint George銀行に６％の金利で安全な証券などで預けてFerdinand王が神聖な使命でエルサレムに進撃征服する時の軍資金に一部を充てる様にしている。又、愛するHiapaniola島の適当な所にCastilleやItalyと同様な Santa Maria de la Concepcionと言う名前の教会と最新設備の装備された病院を作るよう特に指示している。 Now we come to perhaps the most puzzling part of the Will in which Columbus instructs Diego (or whoever will be the recipient) how to sign or endorse their papers. They must sign it, as is his own practice, without any family name whatsoever; and regardless of how many titles they may acquire, they must identify themselves only with the title of Admiral. The signature is required to be exactly as he details it: .S. .S.A.S. X M Y El Almirante To reiterate what we have said before, Columbus never used a family name in any of his letters, substituting in most of them "Xpo FERENS" instead of "El Almirante" as shown below: .S. .S.A.S. X M Y : Xpo FERENS. In this puzzle, "Xpo FERENS" stands for a latinization of Christopher, the carrier of Christ, or symbolically his cross. Most scholars have attempted to solve the puzzle by attributing its significance simply to Columbus's religious fervor; but I perceive this cryptic signature as much more complex, as layered with levels of intrinsic meaning which we can only find by looking at it within the context of his very personal nature. I believe we can detect in this formulation the intimate trauma of a Christopher born out of wedlock and abandoned by his father, as I have premised earlier. The Christopher that shares with the Biblical Moses not only a Godly mission, but the childhood suffering and abandonment as well. A Christopher unsure of his origin, of his family name, who had arrived at the time in his life when he can be true to himself, finally, and shed all of his previous aliases of Colonus, Colon, Colom, or Colomo, just as he had earlier abandoned the appellation of Colombo which did not belong to him. 今我々は遺言書の最も不可解な部分に来ている。そのなかでコロンブスはDiego又は誰でも良い相続人に書類のサインや裏書きの仕方を指示している。どんな他人名もだめで、彼らが得ている多くの称号には無関係で、ただ提督の称号のみで彼らは自署しなければならないものであった。署名は彼が詳しく述べている通りにするよう要求されている。それは S. .S.A.S. X M Y El Almirante （注：このサインはピラミッド状に縦に積み重ねられて書かれている。） 我々が以前に言ったことを繰り返すと、コロンブスは手紙に姓を使用しなかった。その代わり"El AlmiranteではなくXpo FERENSを使って次のごとく署名している。S. .S.A.S. X M Y : Xpo FERENS と。このなぞの中でXpo FERENSとはChristopherのラテン形でキリストを運ぶ人の意であり、又そのシンボルのXでもある。多くの学者は謎をコロンブスの宗教に対する熱心さに依ると解釈している。しかし私はこの神秘的な署名はもっと複雑なことと思える。彼の性格内容の範囲内でそれを見て初めて解るもので、内部に幾重にも重なる色々な意味合いがあると思われる。以前に述べたように、この署名の仕方を見ると、結婚外の形で生まれて父に捨てられたChristopherの心の痛みを発見できるのである。Christopherは聖書のモーゼと同じく神の使徒として、又、小児期の苦しみと捨てられたことも相共通するのである。Christopherは自分の出所や姓を知らないし自分に正直である時期が来て、Colonus, Colon, Colom, or Colomo等の以前の通称も捨て、自分の物ではなかったColomboの名称も早くから捨てている。 A Christopher who chooses to manifest his resolve to purge himself of all that is not his, but in a manner which will not openly reveal his secret, which will not expose his already stained reputation to the added burden of being publicly known as a bastard. Later in this chapter, I will bring this matter into clearer perspective. For the time being, let me note only that since Columbus himself expressed the wish to be identified only as Christopher or "the Admiral," I see no good reason why I should not adhere to it and identify him more frequently in my own text in such a manner. As we know, the Admiral was brought back in chains from his third voyage, arriving at Cadiz on November 20 or 25, 1500. In addition to this great humiliation, he had lost all the privileges and "mercedes" granted to him from time to time to appease his fear and suspicion concerning the basic concessions formulated in the Capitulationsof 1492. That is almost impossible to fathom is how the Admiral, after having experienced all of these debilitating struggles, succeeded in rehabilitating his mind and body and successfully organized a fourth expedition to the New World. He left Cadiz with four small and wormeaten caravels on May 11, 1502. On this mission, he took with him his son Fernando, then only 14 years old. The unfailing determination of this man who never seemed to succumb to overwhelming odds is another of the mysteries surrounding his life. Christopherは彼に所属しない物は全て取り除く決心をし、彼の秘密は解らないようにし、つまりすでに汚れた評価の上に非嫡出子として公になる辛みをさらさない様にしている。私はこの章の後半ではこの事に関してもっとはっきりさせる。さしあたりコロンブス自身がただChristopher or "提督the Admiral,"とのみ称される事を望んだため、私はそうする以外になく、そんなやり方で私の本の中でも彼をそのようにしている。おわかりのごとく、提督は３回目の航海では鎖に繋がれ１５００年１１月２０日か２５日にCadizに到着している。この非常な屈辱に加えて、彼は１４９２年の協定条項にもられた基本的な許認可及び約束に関する不安と疑いを何度もなだめるために時々彼に授かったmercedesと全ての特権とを失っている。いかに提督がこのような衰弱させる苦悩を経験して後も心身共に回復して新世界へ第４の航海に出る取りまとめをしたのかは、ほとんど洞察する事が出来ない。１５０２年５月１１日彼は４艘の小さい虫くわれた軽快な帆船でCadizを出航している。この航海で彼はたった１４才の息子のFernandoを連れ出している。圧倒的なハンディにも屈しそうもないこの男のたゆまぬ航海の決行は彼の生涯のまた謎の一つである。 In the year or more that he spent in Spain before leaving for this fourth and last voyage, Christopher drew up a modified version of his testament of 1498. This new version of 1502 has never been found, but the Admiral himself mentions (in the last and final codicil to his testament of May 19, 1506) that he had indeed executed it and that before leaving, he had entrusted it for safekeeping with other of his papers to Friar D. Gaspar in the monastery of "Las Cuevas en Sevilla." This latest codicil of 1506 is of importance and we will return to it later. Waiting to embark on a voyage of exploration in which he would discover Central America and survive an incredible trial, the Admiral was in poor health, and naturally concerned this voyage could be his last one, at least on this earth. Apprehensive as ever that all of his Royal grants and privileges would eventually be proven unworthy of the paper they were written on, he collected and illustrated them in a book and sent a first copy for safekeeping to the prestigious bank of Saint George in Genoa. I have a facsimile of this precious book of privileges in my possession. Its dimensions are 11ｽ" x 8ｽ" x 3/4" and it is titled Cartas y Previlegs., Cedulas y otras Escrituras de Doxpoval Colon Almirante Mayor dl Mar Oceano, Visorey y Governador de las Islas y Tierra Firme. この４回目の最後の航海に出る前にスペインで過ごした年かその後にコロンブスは１４９８年の彼の遺言書の修正版を発行している。この１５０２年版は決して見つからず、提督自身も確かに作ったのだが出航前に彼のほかの証書類と共に安全に保管するために"Las Cuevas en Sevilla修道院の D. Gaspar修道士に託したと、１５０６年５月１９日の遺言書に対する最後の補足書の中で述べている。この最終の部分が重要であり、これについては後ほど言及する。彼はついに中央アメリカを発見して大変な目に遭う羽目になる出航を待っている間に体をこわして自然にこの航海が最後になり又死ぬかもしれないと思っていた。彼の王家からの許認可及び特権が全て無価値になりそうな心配を、彼は本にまとめ図示しGenoaの威厳あるSaint George銀行に保管のため最初のコピーを送っている。私はこの特権に関する貴重な本の写しを所持している。その大きさは１１インチ×８インチ×３／４インチでCartas y Previlegs., Cedulas y otras Escrituras de Doxpoval Colon Almirante Mayor dl Mar Oceano, Visorey y Governador de las Islas y Tierra Firme（大海の提督で新世界の島々や大陸の総督で総知事のクリストファーコロンブスの書類、特権、証書、や書物）と言う題になっている。 Several of the pages are decorated with charming flowery designs, and in the space of one entire page is depicted the Colon emblem or family heraldic crest granted to him by the Spanish sovereigns upon his triumphal return of 1493. It is divided into four parts with the first two sections on top showing, on the upper left, a golden castle against a red field, and on the upper right, a rampant lion featured with human expression in his eyes and endowed with a menacing protruding red tongue, and protruding red penis as well. The Lion is depicted in a silver field. Lion and Castle, of course, are the heraldic symbols of "Castile y Leon." The lower two parts of the page show, on the left, a silver ocean with innumerable golden islands and a golden continent; and on the right, a deep blue ocean interspersed with five large golden anchors. The entire emblem must have been designed by the discoverer himself and rich patterns of its intrinsic meaning can be genuinely appreciated. According to the words of the Admiral, the copy which he forwarded to the Bank of Saint George was of red Moroccan, and secured with a silver safety lock. The fact that the Admiral chose to deliver his most valued possession and manifested his intent to entrust his "potential" future income from the Indies to the Bank of Saint George, "Ufficio di San Giorgio in Genova," was a well calculated move as will be evident from the following documentation and commentary. The bank paid the high interest rate of six percent (a high rate for the 16th century? Columbus seems to imply that it was) and at this time, an investor could not find a more secure place in the world than in that bank. Richard Davey (who wrote a historical appraisal of that financial institution in the National Review of October 1892) summarizes the power of Saint George at this time: 数ページは魅惑的な花の装飾で飾られ、ある１ページ全体にスペイン国王より１４９３年の凱旋的帰還の際に彼に授けられたColon家の紋章又は家族の紋章冠が描かれている。この証書は４部から成り、最初の２部のトップには左上に赤地に金の城が又右上方には人間のような目をして威嚇的に飛び出た舌と飛び出したペニスの勇猛なライオンが描かれている。そのライオンは銀地のなかに描かれている。ライオンと城はもちろん"Castile y Leon."ライオン城の紋章学上のシンボルである。そのページの下部の２つの部分に左は銀の大洋とたくさんの金の島と大陸が描かれ、右は深く青い海に５個の大きな金の錨が描かれている。全体の紋章は発見者自身によりデザインされ含蓄のある絵はうまく作られている。提督の言によるとSaint George銀行に送ったコピーは赤のMorrocanモロッコ人による羊毛染色で銀の鍵で保護されていた。提督がかれの最も大事な所有物を配送する事にしてインド諸島からの可能性のある将来の収入をSaint George銀行"Ufficio di San Giorgio in Genova,"に委託する意を示した事は以下の証書や記述から明らかなようによく考慮された行動であった。銀行は６％（１６世紀には高かったかどうか？コロンブスはそんな物と思ったが）の高利を払った。そして投資者にとって銀行より安全な場所は当時は見あたらなかった。Richard Daveyは１８９２年１０月の国記の中でその金融機関を大変評価して当時の Saint George銀行の力を要約している。 The bank of Saint George, for seven hundred years, held an unrivalled position in the world, and combined the qualifications of the Bank of England with those of the East India Company. Davey further informs readers who may have an interest in history that: At the siege of Acre, Richard I, fighting side by side with the brave Genoese, placed England under the patronage of the Genoese Patron Saint, George of Cappadocia. He also took from the Genoese banner its Red Cross and placed it at the centre of the national flag of Old England. What may be pointed out as an "ironia del destino" is that Christopher, by discovering the New World, was the major cause that ruined Italian commerce with the Orient, which inevitably brought the Great Republic of Genoa to its doom. The discoverer undoubtedly had another important thing in mind when he tried to tie the financial future of his children with the Bank of Saint George. This clearly surfaces in an examination of the content of his correspondence with Saint George which had developed with the consignment to it of the book of privileges and other papers. The "Ufficio," besides being a commercial bank, was responsible also for tax collections and for all of the other financial transactions inherent in the administration of the Genoese Republic. ７百年もの間Saint George銀行は世界で一人勝ちの状態でイングランド銀行と東インド会社の権利を兼ね備えていた。歴史に興味を持つ読者にDaveyは次の様に言っている。Acreの包囲攻撃でRichard一世は勇敢なGenoa人と手を携えて戦い英国を George of Cappadociaと言うGenoaの保護聖人の保護下においた。彼は又Genoa軍旗から赤十字をとりあげ古い英国の国旗の中央に置いた。"ironia del destino"と指摘されるのはChristopherが新世界を発見した事によりイタリアと東洋との交易をだめにし結果的に Great Republic of Genoaを破滅に追い込んだ事による。発見者は子供たちの経済的行く末とSaint George.銀行とを結びつけようとした時、心でもう一つ重要なことを疑いもなく考えていた。これは特権とその他の書類の本からそれを委託するようになったSaint George.とのやりとりの内容の検証ではっきりしている。The "Ufficio,"は商業銀行としてばかりでなく、 Genoese Republic.の管理における税の徴収や金融の全てに責任を持つ立場にあった。 ＃＃＃The revealing correspondence mentioned above comprises five letters dated from March 21, 1502 to December 27, 1504. The most important feature of this correspondence is that neither Christopher nor his son Diego are ever identified with a last name, as if either they had none, or else an appropriate one for them could not be found! Not once are the names of Columbus, Colombo, Colon, et cetera mentioned, incredibly remarkable since the parties related at an ambassadorial level. This omission could be justified to some extent on the part of the Admiral; but for officials of the Bank of Saint George to follow through in this strange fashion, in those days of highly reverent diplomacy, is nothing short of amazing. The Admiral signed with his cryptic signature and the Bank addresses him as "Domino Christoforo," our beloved fellow citizen, "amatissime concivis." The first letter is dated in Seville, March 21, 1502, and accompanies the book of privileges that the Admiral forwards through the Genoese merchant in Seville, Francisco de Ribarol, to the Genoese Ambassador Nicolo' Oderico at the court of Spain to be shown to officials of the Bank of Saint George to appraise his financial resources. Christopher pleads with the Ambassador that since he is leaving for overseas, to notify as soon as possible by letter his son D. Diego as to where the book will be kept. The letter also reveals that the Admiral had obtained new royal "guarantees" and that the Sovereigns "promise" to give him all that is due to him and that they will protect the rights of Don Diego. The second letter is dated April 2, 1502, and is addressed to officials of the Bank to be delivered through the good services of the Genoese Ambassador. Like all the letters of the Admiral, it is written in Castillian and since quite brief, I will translate it in its entirety: 以上述べた交信禄は１５０２年３月２１日から１５０４年１２月２７日までの５つの手紙による。この内最も重要な事はChristopherも息子のDiegoも姓が同定できなく、両者ともそれがない如くで、他の適当な姓も見あたらなかった事である。Columbus, Colombo, Colonやその他の名前が一度も述べられず、大使級のレベルの交際にもかかわらず信じがたい事である。この省略はある程度提督側に理由があった。しかしSaint George銀行の者たちにとっても、大変恭しい外交のこの時代に、こんな奇妙なやり方は全く驚きであった。提督は彼の秘密のサインで署名し銀行は彼をDomino Christoforo、我々の親愛なる市民"amatissime concivis."と宛名書きした。最初の手紙は１５０２年３月２１日Sevilleにてで、特権についての本も伴っていた。その手紙と本を提督はSevilleに居たGenoaの商人Francisco de Ribarolを通じてGenoa大使のNicolo' Odericoにスペイン宮廷で渡し、彼の財産の評価のため Saint George銀行の人にも見せている。Christopherは大使に次のように嘆願している。彼は航海に出た後できるだけ早く息子の D. Diegoに手紙でその本がどこにしまわれているか知らせて欲しいと。その手紙は、又、提督が新しい王家のお墨付きをもらい、王家はコロンブスに帰する全ての物を彼に与え D. Diegoの権利も保護する事を表明している。２通目の手紙は１５０２年４月２日付けで銀行の方々へ宛てた物でGenoa大使の好意により届けられている。提督の全ての手紙と同様にCastilliaで書かれ、短いので私がその全部を翻訳する。 To the most noble gentlemen of the most magnificent office of St. George. Most noble gentlemen, Even thus my body is here, my heart is there at all times. Our Lord has bestowed upon me the greatest mercy that was ever given to any man except for David. The result of my labors already shine and they would produce a great light if the blanket of the government would not conceal it. I am returning to the Indies in the name of the Holy Trinity to come back promptly but since I am a mortal I leave with my son D. Diego the charge to deposit in your institution all the income that will be obtained from my rights. One tenth of which, every year forever, should pay for the taxes on wheat, wine and the victuals to the relief of the population of Genoa. If this tenth will amount to something accept it; if not, accept my good will. What I ask for is that this son of mine be well respected. Mr. Nicolo' Oderico knows more about my affairs than I do and to him I have consigned my privileges and other papers to keep in a well guarded place after you have examined them. The King and the Queen my Lords are pleased to honor me more than anyone else. May the Holy Trinity protect your noble persons and the increase of the magnificent office. St. Georgeのすばらしい銀行の最も高貴な紳士達へ。高貴な紳士の方々、私は未だここに存在しますが、私の心はいつもそちらに有ります。神はダビデ以外のだれにも与えたことが無かった最大の慈悲を私に与えてくれました。私の働きはすでに輝いており政府の覆いが無ければ偉大な光明を発しています。聖トリニティの名の下にインド諸島に戻りすぐ帰りますが私もいつかは死を免れませんので息子のD. Diegoに私の権利により得られる収入の全てをあなたの銀行に預けるよう発令しております。その内の十分の一は毎年永遠にGenoaの人々の救済のため小麦、ワイン、や食料の税金に当てられるべきであります。この十分の一がなにがしかになるなら受けて欲しく、ならないなら善意だけでも受けて下さい。私が求めているのは息子が尊敬される事であります。Nicolo' Odericos氏は私より私の事を知っています。そして私は彼に特権書と他の書類をあなた方が調べた後に安全な場所に保管するよう預けました。王と女王は他の誰よりも私を名誉に思い喜んでいる。聖トリニティが高貴なあなた方にお加護を与え、すばらしい銀行の事務所が増えますように。 The next two letters are both dated December 8, 1502. One is the reply to the Admiral who is addressed as "Domino Christoforo" and beloved fellow citizen; the other addressed to Don Diego to reassure him of Genoese hospitality and to remind him of the tax relief generously offered to the city by his father. Unfortunately, officials of the Bank delayed the reply to Don Diego for eight months instead of "as soon as possible" as the Admiral had requested. This delay apparently caused the discoverer upon his return to write to Oderico the last letter dated December 27, 1504, expressing his disappointment by reminding them of the saying "Who serves city hall does not serve at all." As it turned out, no document was ever found showing that the Bank had received any investment by the Admiral or his heirs. Both letters from the Bank were written in vulgar Italian still quite readable today and basically correct. I make this observation because misinformed writers have suggested that the Admiral did not write in Italian since Italian could not be understood on paper. In point of historical fact, there were and still are available more letters written in vulgar Italian or Genoese than one would wish to read. I suspect instead that if Christopher, who was certainly not an illiterate, did not write in Italian the reason was probably personal, another one of the mysterious reasons surrounding his secretive life. Concerning the bank's long delay in answering Don Diego, one may speculate that officials, having been well informed by Oderico of the shaky legal status of the Capitulaciones and of the discoverer's departure from Spain, did not attach much urgency to the matter of the Admiral's finances. I may add purely by way of historical footnote that this famous book of privileges is known to have remained, eventually, in the possession of Nicolo' Oderico who kept it in his house in Genoa; in 1670, one of his descendants donated it to the Republic of Genoa. In spite of his many detractors, the Admiral left for his fourth and last voyage in a fleet of four old and very badly equipped caravels destined never to make it back. That he himself survived to tell the story must have been seen by everyone, including his Sovereigns, as little short of a miracle. 次の二通は１５０２年１２月８日付けである。一つはDomino Christoforo名の親愛なる市民宛で提督への返事である。もう一つはDon Diego宛で彼にGenoaの好意を伝え父により市に申し出られた税免除を約束するものであった。不幸にも銀行筋は、提督のなるべく早くと言う要求にもかかわらず、Don Diegoへの返事を８ヶ月遅らせた。この遅れが明らかに、帰還した発見者をして１５０４年１２月２７日付けの最後の手紙をOdericoに書かせている。それは市役所の連中は何もしてくれないと失望している。 後で解ったことだが銀行が提督ないしはその子孫より預け入れを受けたお金は何も無かった。銀行からの二通の手紙は今日でも読める低俗なイタリア語で書かれ基本的に正確である。私は誤情報を得た書記が提督は紙に書かれたイタリア語を理解できずイタリア語を書かないと言ったためと考えている。史実からは低俗なイタリア語またはGenoa語で書かれた手紙は人が読みたい以上にたくさんあったし今も利用できる。もしchristopherが（かれは無学ではなかったが）イタリア語で書かかなかったら、それはたぶん個人的な理由で、またしても彼の秘密の生涯の謎の一つである。Don Diegoに対する銀行の長い遅延に関して、行員はOdericoから通報を受けてその協定が法的にあやふやな事と提督はスペインから出航したことを知っていたため、提督の財産に関する事を急がなかったのではと思われる。歴史上の足跡から正直に加えるとすると、この有名な特権書はNicolo' Odericoの所有物になり彼はそれをGenoaの家にしまっていた。これを１６７０年に彼の子孫がGenoa共和国に寄贈している。悪口三昧の中で提督は４回目で最後の航海に、帰って来れそうもない様なボロで粗末な装備の４艘の帆船の艦隊で出かけている。生きて帰って航海の物語を話す事は王家の人々を含むみんなにとって奇跡としか思えなかった。 Before concluding this dissertation（論文） on Christopher's epistolary relationship with the Bank of Saint George, let us cite revealing passages of the last letter of December 27, 1504 in which the Admiral, in fact, complains to the Genoese Ambassador Nicolo' Oderico at the Spanish court not for having received a delayed answer from the bank (as the Admiral emphasizes strongly) but for not having received an answer at all! One may ask, then, how could the Admiral complain of not having received a reply when the Bank in fact had written a reply which was eight months late? What happened to the two letters from the bank written to him and Don Diego? My attempt to find a plausible answer to these questions has revealed a twist in the whole affair which I will try to unravel with a closer evaluation of this letter of December 27, 1504, from a very concerned Admiral to the Genoese Ambassador in Spain, Nicolo' Oderico. My interpretation of the letter may reveal also the quincentennial question of whether when the great discoverer died on May 20, 1506, he was rich or poor. As will be apparent from the content of this letter, written seventeen months prior to his death, the Admiral not only seems to have died with no visible possessions (he did not own his own house, for example), but probably left this world with debts incurred by the phantom collateral of his Royal privileges and contested capitulations. The Admiral had miraculously returned home, so to speak, in 1504 after two years of explorations (see Chapter 9) and a shipwreck in Jamaica where he would be abandoned even after Governor Ovando of Hispaniola had known for months that he had survived there. He came home from this tragic last voyage with some gold that had belonged to him in Hispaniola. But one may assume that being old and sick from the gout, and God knows what else, and having no house of his own in Spain, as previously stated, he could only find refuge in a boardinghouse. ChristopherとSaint George銀行の手紙のやりとりに関する論文を終える前に１５０４年１２月２７日の最後の手紙の一節を取り上げてみよう。その中で事実提督はスペインの宮廷にいるGenoa大使のNicolo' Odericoに銀行からの返事が遅れている事ではなく（提督は強く強調しているが）全く返事が無い事に不平を言っている。それでは皆さんは８ヶ月も遅れて銀行が返事を書いた時返事がなかったことに対しどのような不平を言っただろうか質問されるかもしれない。彼とDon Diegoへ書かれた銀行からの二通の手紙に対してどんなことが起きたのだろうか？これらの質問に対する私のもっともらしい答えを見つけようとする試みは、大変気遣った提督からスペインのGenoa大使 Nicolo' Odericoへの１５０４年１２月２７日付けの手紙を詳しく吟味してはっきりさせようとする全ての事の中に意外な展開を発見する。私の手紙の解釈は偉大な発見者が１５０６年５月２０日に亡くなった時、金持ちか貧乏だったかの５百年続く問題をまたしめしている。この死ぬ１７ヶ月前の手紙の内容から明らかなように、提督は何にも目に見える所有物はないばかりか（たとえば彼は家を所有していなかった）、王に貰った特権と争った協定の目に見えない副産物により、たぶん負債を負って世を去ったのだ。２年間の航海とジャマイカでの難破（そこでHispaniolaの知事Ovandoは彼が生き延びた事を何ヶ月も知っていたが無視していた）の後、提督は奇跡的に１５０４年に帰還している。彼はHispaniolaで少しばかりの金を持って悲劇的な最後の航海から帰ってきた。しかし年を取り痛風に病みながら神にも見捨てられ、以前にも述べたようにスペインには家も持たず下宿屋に避難の状態であった。 The Admiral had landed in Spain on November 7, 1504, and at the time of his writing to Oderico on December 27, over fifty days had lapsed. Upon his return, he confided to the Ambassador that he had been very ill and unable to attend to his financial affairs. Then the Admiral complained that he had not received any reply at all to the two letters he had forwarded to Oderico along with his papers and book of privileges. At this point, we are left to speculate on the reasons for the Admiral's lack of up-to-date information on a matter obviously important to him. We can assume that during his two year absence, the letter addressed to him had simply got misplaced. But what about the letter sent to Don Diego? Christopher himself supplied the answer when he further informed Oderico that his son Don Diego had not yet been able to gain his rights as had been agreed by the Crown. Here then is evidence that the Admiral, before leaving for his mission, had stipulated an agreement with the Crown for Don Diego to administer his income during his long absence. This being the case, it becomes evident that, since Don Diego during the two year absence of his father had no income at his disposal from the Royal grants to invest or administer, he elected not to raise an unpleasant issue, simply keeping silence and thereby sparing his sick father additional sorrow. １５０４年１１月７日提督はスペインに帰還した。そして１２月２７日にOdericoに手紙を書いた時は５０日経過していた。帰還時に彼は大使に自分は大変な病で経済的な事にかまっていられないと内明けている。さらに提督はOdericoに書類と特権の本と供に託した２通の手紙に対して全く返事がない事を不満に訴えている。この時点で我々は提督が彼にとって明らかに重要な最新の情報に欠けていたことへの理由を考えさせられる。二年間の不在の間に彼宛の手紙が単にどこかに置き忘れられたのではと想像する事ができる。しかしDon Diegoへ送られた手紙はどうだろうか？。Christopher自身がさらにOdericoに、息子のDon Diegoは王と約束した様な権利を未だ獲得していない事を述べて答えている。さらに提督は使命の仕事に出かける前に彼の不在中の収入をDon Diegoが管理する事を王と協定した証拠もここにある。これらの事から次の事が明らかである。それはDon Diegoは父の２年間の不在の間に投資又は管理する王家からの授かり物の収入は全くなく、彼は嫌なことを荒立てずただ静かにし、病の父を更なる落胆から免れさせようとしている。 But could Oderico have played his hand in this as well? The Admiral, after all, had admitted in his letter of April 2, 1502, to the officials of the Bank of Saint George that "Oderico knows more about my affairs than I do." And what, we may speculate , did Oderico know? He knew two important facts: one, that numerous intrigues surrounded the discoverer in Spain; and two, that the Admiral had left on what must have seemed by many, or actually been hoped, a voyage of no return. From reading this letter to Oderico, it seems clear that Christopher, at least at this late date in his worldly affairs, would be concerned about the primogeniture rights of Don Diego to whom the future of Fernando as well as his other protegees was attached. Don Diego, still a page at court, was already 24 years old in 1504, and Don Fernando who had been at sea with him for two years (having left his position as a page of Queen Isabella), now at the age of 16, was "a second son" unemployed and in need of assistance. That the famous Christopher was beginning to sense his mortality is manifested in the final words of his letter to Oderico, which reflect concern not for himself but for his children. These words also suggest the not unusual predicament of a man who, after having masterminded a great design, ultimately discovers he has become its victim. Unless his last energies were employed in defending his rights, the future of his beloved children would be compromised. The recent death of the Queen put an additional burden on the Admiral's ability to further claim his rights. The Queen has died, he lamented to Oderico, and I was not present, adding: "God be with her." His beloved patroness Queen Isabel had expired in Medina del Campo on September 26,1504. As of now, the Admiral confided, he had not the slightest idea regarding the future of his affairs. I believe, he added wistfully, that Her Highness must have made provisions to cover them in her will, and that "the King, my Lord, is a sufficient guarantee." But King Ferdinand of Aragon was only titular King of Spain and, the whole matter of the Admiral's inheritance upon his death, as we shall see later, went before the court and Don Diego eventually lost his case. しかしOdericoはこの中で巧く立ち回ったのだろうか？提督は結局１５０２年４月２日のSaint George銀行の者への手紙にOdericoは自分よりも私の事をよく知っていると書いている。疑うのだがOdericoは実際何を知っていただろうか？彼は二つの重要な事を知っていた。一つはおびただしい陰謀がスペインでは発見者の周りに存在した事。二つ目は多くの人にそう思われ又期待されていた帰れそうにない航海に出た事。Odericoへの手紙を読むとChristopherは、すくなくとも世に知れ渡る出来事の中の最後の方で、Fernandoや彼の他の子孫の未来も関わるDon Diegoの長子相続権に関心を持っていた。Don Diegoは宮廷で騎士見習いであったが、１５０４年にはすでに２４才であった。彼と一緒に２年間航海に出たDon Fernandoは（イザベラ王女の騎士見習いをやめていたが）１６才になり次男で無職で養育の必要があった。有名なChristopherは死を予感し始めていたことはOdericoへの手紙の最後の言葉に表れていた。それは彼自身ではなく子供達のの事を思っている。これらの言葉は偉大な計画を首謀した後、最後に自分がその犠牲者と成った男の普通の苦境を示している。もし権利を守る為に彼の最後のエネルギーが使われなかったなら、愛する子供達の未来は危ういものだった。その上に間近な女王の死は彼の権利を主張する活力に更なる困難をもたらした。彼はOdericoに女王は死亡し自分は居なかったが神は彼女と一緒にありと付け加えて悔やみを述べいる。彼の親しかったパトロンのイザベラ女王は１５０４年９月２６日 Medina del Campoで亡くなっている。いまや提督は自分の将来について僅かな計画も無いと打ち明けている。女王は彼女の心中それら（権利の事）を準備していたに違いなく、国王は充分保証してくれていると彼は思いに沈んで付け加えたが、私もそう思う。しかいアラゴンのFerdinand王は有名無実のスペイン王で提督の死後の相続に関する全ての事が、後に解る事だが、宮廷には係らず、Don Diegoは結果的に敗退し特権を失っている。  With the Queen gone, half the team went with her and the old seaman was left alone to nurse his wounds and plan a fifth voyage in his dreams. Christopher, the First Admiral of the Ocean Sea, died in Valladolid, Spain, on May 20, 1506. According to tradition, his body was set to rest there in a Franciscan convent. In 1507 (according to the 1878 work by Harrisse), the remains were transferred to the Monastery of the "Cartuja de Las Cuevas" in Seville. This would be only the first of several other relocations. After June 2, 1537, but the year cannot be established with certainty (Harrisse), the discoverer's remains along with those of his son Don Diego, who had died in Puebla de Montalvan near Toledo on February 23,1526, were transported to the island of Hispaniola and interred in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo. In the same Cathedral would also be interred the remains of Christopher's grandson Don Lujs Colon, son of Don Diego,and probably the First Admiral's two brothers, namely Bartolome' and Diego Colon, plus Christopher II, the discoverer's "biznieto" or greatgrandson (Harrisse). When in 1795 (with the Treaty of Basel), the Spanish part of the island was surrendered to France of Napoleon, the remains of the First Admiral were pompously transferred to the Cathedral of Havana, Cuba. To be rigorous about a controversial matter, writes Harrisse, the remains transferred to Havana could have been those of the discoverer's son Don Diego. With the independence of Cuba in 1898, the presumed remains of the discoverer were transported to Spain where they were reinterred once more in the Monastery of the "Cartuja de La Cuevas" in Seville where they still rest today. 女王が去って後、チームの半分が彼女と一緒に去り、老いた船乗りは一人になり彼の傷を癒して、５回目の航海を計画していた。大海の提督Christopherは１５０６年５月２０日スペインのValladolidで亡くなった。慣習により彼の遺体はフランシスコ会の尼僧院に安置された。Harrisseの１８７８年の研究によると１５０７年に遺骨はSevilleのCartuja de Las Cuevas修道院へ転置されたという。ここはあちこち移動した内の最初の場所である。はっきりとした年は解らないが１５３７年６月２日より後に発見者の遺骨は息子のDon Diego（彼は１５２６年２月２３日にトレドの近くのPuebla de Montalvanで死亡している）と供にHispaniola島に移されサントドミンゴ教会に埋葬された。その教会にはChristopherの孫でDiegoの息子のDon Lujs Colonとたぶん初代提督の２人の兄弟の Bartolome' そして Diego Colonも、更にChristopherのbiznieto（曾孫）で曾孫のChristopher二世も埋葬されている。１７９５年になってバーゼル協定により島のスペインの部分がフランスのナポレオンに渡り初代提督の遺体は盛大にキューバのハバナの教会に移動している。議論の的になっているが厳密にはハバナに移されたのは発見者の息子のDon DiegoであったとHarrisseは書いている。１８９８年にキューバが独立し発見者と思われている遺骨はスペインに移されSevilleのthe;Cartuja de La Cuevas修道院へ再度安置され今日に至っている。 |
