Christopher Columbus (novel)
Christopher Columbus. The Don Quixote of the Ocean is a biography by Jakob Wassermann that appeared in 1929.
biography
The comparison of Columbus with Don Quixote is often attributed to the Spanish writer and diplomat Salvador de Madariaga . In 1940 Madariaga published his Vida del muy magnífico señor don Cristóbal Colón . The Columbus / Don Quixote comparison must therefore be older, since Wassermann's book was published in 1929, perhaps it was an original idea by Wassermann, whose biography of the Almirante would serve as the source for Madariaga's book.
A number in round brackets indicates the page in the source.
The plan
- The gold
The plan is: Columbus wants to reach "Qui (n) say" directly from Palos, a former, small Iberian Atlantic port, first to the Canary Islands and from there always sailing westwards, as stated in the log book of his 1st trip in Entry for October 21 can be read. "Quinsay" (spelling in Marco Polo : "Quin-sai") is today's large city Hangzhou, southwest of today's Shanghai in China.
On October 21st, Columbus believed he was south of Cipango = Japan (other spelling: Zipangu) and wrote: “However, I have decided to visit the mainland and the city of Qui (n) say. There I will hand your Majesty's letters to the great Khan, requesting an answer and returning with them. "
In the Middle Ages, European travelers to Asia - like Marco Polo - took the route eastwards across the Eurasian land mass. Columbus had a copy of Marco Polo's travelogue " Il Milione " with many of his own notes . The copy is now kept in a museum in Seville. Marco Polo writes: "There are enormous amounts of gold on the island of Zipangu ..." In order to finance the enormous travel costs, it was necessary that the goals sought were so interesting for the donors that there was also a material gain from the trade in spices and Precious metals was in prospect.
- The ball
Ptolemy (* 87; † 150) had already handed down the Greek view of the world to the Europeans in the Almagest on the threshold of late antiquity : the earth is spherical. Columbus claims that the earth is more like a pear - towards the stem - than a ball (143), but for his idea the pear or ball is the same thing: China and Zipangu must be accessible by western sea route. A port on the Portuguese coast would be a good starting point.
- The error
But where does Columbus get the courage to travel into the unknown? His compatriot and contemporary Toscanelli had "refined" Ptolemy 's theory of the spherical shape of the earth: The Eurasian land mass extends over 230 degrees of longitude (31). So, calculates Columbus, the direct western sea route only extends over 130 degrees of longitude. From this calculation and from the experience of his previous sea voyages Columbus takes his courage that with westerly winds the outward journey and with easterly winds on the latitude of the Azores a return voyage with the sailing ships of the time is possible.
But Toscanelli was wrong. A look at today's globe shows that the direct route from the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria: 16 ° W) to the west to Hangzhou (122 ° E = 238 ° W) is: 238 ° W -16 ° W = 222 ° west longitude (and not 130). But nobody knows that in the second half of the 15th century. As for the prevailing wind directions on the chosen travel routes, Columbus was not wrong! Even today, sailing ships start in the Canary Islands and sail with easterly winds to the west and with westerly winds over the Azores back again.
Portugal
Christopher Columbus was born after Jakob Wassermann between 1436 and 1446 in Genoa (19). According to Aquarius, Columbus came to Portugal in 1477 at the earliest (32), and a large part of the life of the Italian navigator before 1477 is legend. Columbus marries the noble Portuguese Donna Filippa Muniz di Perestrello. In marriage, Diego is born. It is likely that the Perestrello family gave Columbus access to the royal court. King Joan grants an audience with the Italian (35). Columbus presents his plans.
After a while, Columbus leaves the Portuguese court and flees to Spain . Probably a breach of King Joan's trust is the cause. Rumor has it that Joan secretly had a captain sail west with the plans of Columbus. Stormy seas blocked the way. The captain turned back without having achieved anything.
Spain
Columbus calls himself Cristóbal Colón in Spain and lives in the Franciscan monastery of La Rábida. The prior there Juan Perez, former confessor of the queen, encourages Columbus to try his luck with Isabella (36). Columbus first penetrates the Spanish government (37). The appoints as experts u. a. Alonso Pinzon . The experts consider the plan to be feasible and give Columbus a letter of recommendation to Hernando de Talavera , Queen Isabella's current confessor .
- Petitions and insane demands (40)
The Queen listens to Columbus and calls a junta . This met at the end of 1486. The church dignitaries in the junta are against Columbus. The Genoese stranger , cautious due to King Joan's deception, no longer reveals the cards in Spain. When, after the junta, another council meeting rejected Columbus' plan, Queen Isabella still believed in the supplicant. Isabella hopes Columbus will bring Indian gold. The Queen wants to use this to conquer the Holy Sepulcher (48).
Columbus falls in love with Doña Beatriz Henriquez. The illegitimate son Hernando Colón emerged from the love affair in 1488 .
An event in December 1491 comes to the aid of the petitioner. Spain is free from the Saracens . Because the Moorish King Mohamed Boabdil was starved to death in Granada . Hernando de Talavera becomes Archbishop of Granada and has to negotiate against Columbus on the orders of Isabella against his will. The exaggerated demands of Columbus sound ridiculous: he wants to become viceroy over all discovered areas and also admiral of the ocean . This Italian claims a tenth of the looted treasures and goods. At court the unheard of demands arouse angry astonishment and scorn. Nevertheless, Columbus still has as advocates the Archbishop of Toledo Alonzo de Quintanilla, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Santangel and the Marquise de Moya, a friend of Queen Isabella.
On April 17, 1492, Columbus received a contract from King Ferdinand II of Spain and Queen Isabella, in which all his conditions were accepted and he was allowed to use the title Don in advance .
The first ride
- Journey into the unknown
On the morning of August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail with his flotilla from the Andalusian port of Palos de la Frontera (58). 120 men are on board the three ships. The captain of the Caravelle Pinta is Alonso Pinzon. The second ship, the Niña , carries Alonso Pinzon's brother Vincente Yañez. The flagship , the Nao Santa Maria , is commanded by the Admiral of the Ocean himself. Juan de la Cosa , one of the owners of the Santa Maria, takes part in the voyage on his ship as mast master. Because most of the sailors have not hired for fear of the journey into the unknown, according to the royal order, the crew consists of convicts. In addition, the three ships are old and poorly equipped (64). When the Pinta's rudder breaks, the flotilla Lanzerot has to approach.
Jakob Wassermann cannot unequivocally reconstruct the subsequent trip into the unknown watery desert. On the one hand, Columbus, influenced by the superstitious occupation, is said to have become fickle and thought of repentance. On the other hand, the word repentance is said not to have existed for Columbus . Pack Generic crews want the Admiral the next night, when he returned, intoxicated by the stars , standing on the deck thrown into the sea , because the journey has no end and shrink inventories.
- The discovery
But on October 12, 1492, Columbus finally went ashore on the island of Guanahani , part of the Bahamas . The Bahamas are part of the West Indies in the Caribbean . Jakob Wassermann writes: Hardly any mortal has ever experienced a more lofty moment than Columbus (73). He draws his sword and unfolds the Castilian banner . As viceroy, the team must swear allegiance to him (74). Columbus calls the island San Salvador (the Redeemer, i.e. God) and the indigenous people Indios because he is convinced that he is in India . Since the new viceroy finds no mountains of gold on his island, he turns further and discovers an island that he calls Santa Maria de la Concepcion (the Mother of God). Columbus then names the next islands after his Majesties Fernandina and Isabella . The Indians see demigods in the Spaniards.
In Haiti , Columbus is given a hand-sized piece of gold by a cacique (80). From that point on, Columbus is looking for the gold mines (81). The great explorer calls Haiti Española - the Spanish (84), praises the paradise island and sails on to Baracoa in Cuba .
The admiral finally prepares for the journey home on the Niña. His flagship had run aground due to a carelessness of the crew. Columbus has to leave part of the crew behind on Española. The 38 colonists left behind are under the protection of the Kaziken Guacamari (88), a "friend" of Columbus, and will build the city of Navidad , the first European settlement in America (91).
On January 4, 1493, Columbus set sail eastward. Storm comes up while driving home. Columbus, faint-hearted, is said to have vowed to make a pilgrimage to Santa Maria de Guadalupe after a happy landing (91). In March 1493 Columbus entered the Portuguese port of Cascaes on the Tejo estuary with torn sails and perforated shrouds (92).
- Triumphant return
On March 15, 1493, Columbus lands on the Rio Tinto off Palos. The Spanish ruling couple is in Barcelona . Columbus' way there is a triumphal procession. Indios with headdresses made of bird feathers (94) accompany him. The royal couple welcomes Columbus as viceroy of the New World . The award freezes the discoverer with happiness (95). Columbus brings batatas , yams , pepper, yuka root , grain, beans, bananas, cotton, tobacco, mastic resin , coconut, pumpkin, palm oil and gold with him (96). The triumph calls for envious people.
Spain wants to get away from Pope Alexander VI. with the newly discovered lands and send the "Indian" gold to Rome. This is used to gild the cornices of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore . King Joan doesn't hold still. In the Treaty of Tordesillas , the Pope divides the world into a Spanish and a Portuguese sphere of influence.
The second trip
We need money for the next trip to the New World. The Spanish crown wants to force Indian affairs and takes a loan from the Duke of Medina-Sidonia . A squadron of seventeen vehicles, again poorly equipped, again with an undisciplined crew, set sail from Cadix on September 23, 1493 (104) . Nobles, including the young Alonso Ojeda , dare the adventure. Columbus arrives in La Navidad in mid-November. All 38 colonists have since been slain. The complicity of the Kaziken Guacamari in the murder is certain for Columbus.
You won't be squeamish when dealing with one another in the future either. Indian thieves cut off the Spaniards' noses and ears. For their part, the Indians convince themselves that the Spaniards are not gods after all. A Spaniard is immersed in the river until he stops moving (125). The Spaniards chase fleeing Indians with bloodhounds (127).
If even the King Ferdinand gold can not be supplied sufficiently to send the Atelandato Bartolomé , the energetic and politically gifted brother of Columbus (122), a boatload of Indian slave labor after another in the direction of Spain.
Gold has to be found. From Española in April 1494 Columbus went in search of the gold of the Indians and discovered Jamaica . Then he turns to Cuba . All 80 expedition participants have to swear in writing that they have reached Asia and not an island (133).
When Columbus returned to Spain, no more towels were waved . His sailors sneak through the streets of Seville as ragged beggars ... plagued by fever, they look like ghosts (135). The viceroy of the oceanic empire has nothing to offer but sad reports. Columbus is laughed at. In this situation he demands the right of the Spanish king that he alone may make discoveries in the Indian sea . King Ferdinand granted the privilege.
The third trip
On the third exit, too, the crew consisted of convicts, whose shackles are only removed on the high seas. In July 1498 Columbus set foot on the American continent for the first time on the Tierra di Gracia (142) and declared the country an island . At the Orinoco estuary, Columbus wants to explain why the river pushes its fresh water so far into the ocean: The Orinoco comes from paradise (143). Why was Columbus heading so far south? The answer is given by the humanist Petrus Martyr von Anghiera , contemporary of the Admiral: Gen Süd! Those who want to find riches must not go to the cold regions of the north (144).
When Columbus returned to his beloved island of Española at the end of August 1498, he had to fight back a Spanish conspiracy against the rule of the Colón brothers . Even after the conspiracy, the Spanish opponents of Columbus continued to gather material against the admiral. Ferdinand II finally sends Franzisco Bobadilla . The Commendator lands in San Domingo on August 29, 1500. The rule of Columbus is over. The new man presents a letter of credence from the king. Columbus is captured by Bobadilla's mercenaries and eventually brought to Spain in chains.
Queen Isabella stands up for Columbus. The king is surprised (164). Columbus is half-heartedly rehabilitated, but remains disempowered.
The fourth trip
Columbus is accompanied by his brother Bartolomé and his thirteen year old son Hernando . Hunger, epidemics, gruesome endless storms, excruciating heat, shipwrecks, disintegration of all discipline, betrayal from all sides and desperate hatred of all against all make the expedition a true journey into hell (173). Columbus is said to advance into Asia without dropping anchor on Española (174). He sails along the Central American mainland, passing Nicaragua and Costarica . Time and again, Indians are captured to use them as guides. In the vain search for the waterway to Asia, Columbus anchored at the beginning of January 1503 on the coast of Veragua on the Isthmus of Panama . The brother Bartolomé tries to persuade Columbus to give up the search for gold and instead use the abundant fertility of the land . The attempt at colonization fails because of the hostility of the indigenous people who live there, and the Spaniards initially let them go. Columbus manages to escape at the end of April 1503 and ends up in Jamaica. There he lies sick in the wreck of his ship. The Indians are reluctant to deliver supplies. The admiral uses his knowledge of a total lunar eclipse from the Regiomontan calendar , on February 29, 1504, at the right time, plays the horrified Indians into contact with his almighty God and makes them docile with this trick. Meanwhile, a member of the expedition reached Española on a boat and asked for help. On his beloved island Española, whose immense primeval forests and crystal air he admires one last time, Columbus is allowed to rest for three months with Bobadilla's toleration before he has to sail to Spain on the most defective ship that could be found (203 ).
visit
On February 5, 1505, Columbus was visited by Amerigo Vespucci . As early as 1500, Leonardo da Vinci had declared the Indian hypothesis to be false (212). It had been calculated that Asia was thousands of nautical miles further away on the western route than Columbus assumed. The visitor withholds these arguments. He is a man of the world, he knows what is proper, he bows before the fearless master of the ocean. Vespucci respects error, which has something great and harrowing about it.
Columbus dies on May 20, 1506, the day before Ascension Day. The great explorer is buried in Valladolid .
Dismantling
In the biography, a cult figure is dismantled. Jakob Wassermann hardly misses an opportunity to damage the flawless image of Columbus in the reader's mind. The author cites negative character traits and behaviors of the great seafarer.
- Little knowledge of human nature (86).
- Complete impotence while punishing desertion (87).
- It was an unforgivable stupidity (93) after the first trip to land in Portugal. Columbus insulted the Spaniards.
- Columbus was a fantastic fanatic and should be a master ... (129).
- Delusions of being chosen and of God's messenger (176).
- After his fourth voyage in Spain, Columbus speaks the language of a choleric, quarrelsome old man (206).
- Excessive expectations drive Columbus into drooling indignity (208).
Columbus - the anticipated Don Quixote
- From 1487 to 1492 Columbus asked the Spanish court to carry out his plan. A crowd of parasites cling to his heels and laughing at him behind his back. Undeterred, Columbus goes on his way with his head held high. What a goal! What a size! (53)
- Columbus is reported to have found buried gold mines on his island Española (134). The admiral goes to the site, ponders and explains that Española is the ophir of the ancients .
- After his third voyage, Columbus wrote his religious and mystical book of prophecies (168) in Seville in 1501 - poor, abandoned and without authority . He turns a blind eye to the fact that the Florentine Vespucci has in the meantime stumbled upon a vast continent which cannot possibly be Asia (170).
In spite of everything, Jakob Wassermann is an admirer of Columbus, if he assesses : the error was the witness (212).
Quotes
Jakob Wassermann quotes Columbus
- On dealing with the ship's people: I am not flattering of words, rather, I am considered rough (67).
- On the first encounter with the Indians: I recognized that they were people who would be converted to our holy faith through gentleness and conviction rather than violence, and so I gave some of them glass beads ... (75)
- After the first trip home: the storm we experienced was so violent that we thought we were lost (92).
- After Bobadilla, creature of the king , had Columbus put in chains: Where there is no love, everything ends (163).
Historian
Jakob Wassermann names authors who have written about Columbus' travels and the New World.
- Hernando Colón and Bishop Las Casas published Columbus' ship's diaries in 1536.
- Oviedo (70) put together uncertain facts without criticism.
- Cabeza de Vaca writes about the natives of what is now Florida and Texas (108).
Secondary literature
- Margarita Pazi in: Gunter E. Grimm , Frank Rainer Max (Hrsg.): German poets. Life and work of German-speaking authors . Volume 7: From the beginning to the middle of the 20th century . Pp. 40-46. Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-15-008617-5 .
- Rudolf Koester: Jakob Wassermann . Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-371-00384-1 .
- Gero von Wilpert: Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . P. 651. Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-83704-8 .
source
- Jakob Wassermann: Christoph Columbus. The Don Quixote of the Ocean. A biography. Munich 2006. 216 pages. ISBN 3-423-13451-8
supporting documents
- ↑ Robert H. Fuson (ed.): “The log book of Christopher Columbus. The authentic notes of the great discoverer. ”, Gustav Lübbe Verlag GmbH, Bergisch Gladbach 1989, ISBN 3-404-64089-6 , p. 156
- ↑ Heinrich Pleticha: “Christopher Columbus. The beginning of the modern age. ", Manfred Pawlak Verlag, Herrsching 1987, p. 14
- ↑ Diario de a bordo del primer viaje de Cristóbal Colón , Spanish , accessed October 25, 2012
- ↑ Pierre Marc, Stano Dusík: “Marco Polo's wonderful journeys.”, Bohem press, Zurich Kiel Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-85581-242-X , p. 97