Fernando Columbus

Hernando Colón

Fernando Columbus (born August 15, 1488 in Córdoba ; † July 12, 1539 in Seville ; also Ferdinand Columbus , Spanish Hernán Colón or Hernando Colón ) was the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus and Beatriz Enríquez de Arana . He was a navigator, humanist , cosmographer and founder of one of the most important libraries of his time. He also wrote a biography of his father, the Historia del Almirante .

Early years

Fernando Columbus was born in the city of Cordoba as the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus and Beatriz Enríquez de Arana. He first grew up in his mother's house and in the La Rábida monastery near Palos de la Frontera . After the triumphant return of Christopher Columbus from his first voyage, he and his older half-brother Diego were sent to the court of Queen Isabella I to serve as page for the Infante Juan . After his untimely death he became the page of the queen himself. At the court of the Catholic kings he enjoyed the same upbringing as the infante and was there early in contact with the most important scholars of his time, such as Pedro Martir de Angleria , who was there worked as a chaplain .

At the age of thirteen Fernando Columbus accompanied his father on his fourth trip to America, which was accompanied by many misfortunes. After his death in 1506, he traveled again to the New World to support his half-brother Diego, who had meanwhile been appointed Viceroy of Hispaniola. After only two months, however, Fernando returned to motherland Spain to defend the claims of the Columbus family against the Spanish crown in the so-called Pleitos Colombinos . Last but not least, these processes formed the basis for the many journeys that took him throughout Europe during his life.

The cosmographer

In 1517 Fernando started the Itinerario o Cosmografía de Espana . It was a work in which all places in Spain were to be recorded with their topographical and geographical data and sorted in alphabetical order. The work was never completed, however, as Charles I forbade a continuation of this work in 1523 for reasons not specified. Regardless of this, Fernando Columbus was considered one of the most respected Spanish cosmographers of his time: In 1524 he was sent to the Juntas de Badajoz-Elvas as an expert . This panel of experts dealt with the eastern extension of the Portuguese and Spanish spheres of influence defined in the Treaty of Tordesillas . Specifically, it was about the territorial claims on the Moluccas . Fernando Columbus turned out to be one of the most prominent advocates of Spanish interests, but Portugal won the legal battle. In 1526, Charles I commissioned Fernando Columbus with the task of creating a mappa mundi together with the most important seamen in Spain (the so-called Pilotos Mayores ) , which should serve as a navigation aid for the Casa de Contratación . However, this work was never completed either.

The Biblioteca Colombina

The most important achievement of Fernando Columbus, however, can be seen in the compilation of a comprehensive library, which at the time was praised as one of the most valuable collections in Spain. During the lifetime of Fernando Columbus, this collection is said to have comprised around 15,000 books that were brought together from the most important intellectual centers in Europe. Fernando Columbus received quite a few of these works as gifts from leading intellectual figures such as Erasmus of Rotterdam or Antonio de Nebrija . In addition, Fernando Columbus showed an early interest in acquiring incunabula and not, like many other book collectors of his time, in acquiring manuscripts .

The way in which Fernando Columbus managed this extensive collection is remarkable. He cataloged the works not only alphabetically, but also thematically. For unmistakable identification, he assigned them a unique number; the content of important works was excerpted. To maintain the inventory, he employed several librarians who lived on the property. Overall, the management of this collection shows features that are familiar from modern library and documentation systems.

Fernando Columbus decreed in his will that his books could not be sold and that the library should be enlarged. Nevertheless, there were later legal disputes in the course of which the collection shrank to around 7,000 volumes. The remainder was later Biblioteca Colombina renamed and became the property of the cathedral chapter of Seville Cathedral over. The collection can still be consulted today.

In 2019, a long-lost volume from the Libro de los Epítomes catalog was identified in the Arnamagna collection in Copenhagen . The manuscript, which is more than 2000 pages long, also contains contents of works lost today.

The relationship with the Columbus family

Fernando came from an illegitimate relationship. Although he was legitimized by the appointment to the court of Isabella I, the stain of his origin must have stuck to him: his half-brother Diego , second viceroy of New Spain, and his wife Maria of Toledo , forced him to renounce his inheritance . That Fernando Columbus himself may have suffered from his parentage can be deduced from the fact that almost nothing can be learned about his birth mother from his extensive records.

Fernando Columbus died on July 12, 1539 in Seville . He is buried in Seville Cathedral. In 2006, Spanish scientists carried out a DNA comparison with the remains from the sarcophagus and remains of Christopher Columbus 'brother and Fernando Columbus and confirmed Christopher Columbus' identity.

literature

• Edward Wilson-Lee: The catalog of shipwrecked books: young Columbus and the quest for a universal library . London: William Collins, 2018

Web links

• Institución Colombina website (Spanish)
• Entry on Hernando Colón at arteHistoria (Spanish)
• Entry on Hernando Colón in the Spanish edition of MSN Encarta (Spanish, archive link)
• Original text of the Historia del Almirante by Fernando Columbus at arteHistoria (Spanish, divided into individual chapters)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 'Extraordinary' 500-year-old library catalog reveals books lost to time , The Guardian of April 10, 2019, accessed on April 11, 2019. See also https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/book -lost-books-was-discovered-danish-archive-180971943 / .
2. ↑ Latinamerican Studies (Eng.)
3. ↑ Article in the mirror