Posted on 01/13/2007 7:39:25 PM PST by Coleus
A Watergate-style coverup surrounding Columbus' initial voyage.
FROM ANCIENT EGYPTIANS to extraterrestrials, popular literature has identified various personages with the discovery of the Americas. Absent from this familiar list was the pope. Italian journalist and author Ruggero Marino claims that Pope Innocent VIII sponsored Christopher Columbus' first voyage. And, in the fashion of the later-published "Da Vinci Code," he has written Cristoforo Colombo ed Il Papa Tradito (available only in Italian) stating his case.
Using a blend of conjectures, coincidences, curiosities and certainties, the author paints a picture of a Watergate-style coverup surrounding Columbus' initial voyage. The tale involves many great figures of the Renaissance. This coverup erased the role of Pope Innocent VIII in the discovery of the New World. As we approach our celebration of Columbus Day tomorrow, it is interesting to note this twist on the established story of America's discovery.
Evidence of a papal role
To be sure, there is independent evidence that credits the pope. For example, on his tomb there is an inscription that refers to his having a part in the discovery of the new lands. Furthermore, respected Scottish historian William Robertson, an 18th-century colleague of philosopher David Hume, notes the papal role in his rare book on the discovery of America. But just what was this papal role? According to Marino, the pope, not Queen Isabella -- nor her hocked jewels -- provided the funding for Columbus' expedition. In his long quest to obtain funding for his voyage of discovery, Columbus, a Genoese, would have appealed to the powerful banking establishment in the still-great Italian maritime power of Genoa.
But Marino alleges a more particular motive and connection: Columbus may have been the illegitimate son of Pope Innocent VIII, himself a familiar figure in Genoese life. This conclusion is based on the contents and tone of several of Columbus' letters. Moreover, the pope is related to the great Medici family, the first family of Florence and patron of artists, including Michelangelo. Between the Genoese and Florentine connections, the pope had ample ability to provide funding.
It is also noteworthy that Genoese bankers were very active at the court of Isabella. A member of the Geraldini house was the papal nuncio at the court. Another papal ally had control over the special collections of the Spanish faithful. But why would the pope direct funding to a speculative venture, even if his illegitimate son were its sponsor? The answer to this question is the crux of the matter, the pivot point on which the alleged coverup turns.
The Roman ideal
In 1492, the world was in the midst of a great geopolitical revolution that only hindsight could reveal with clarity. Barely 40 years before Columbus left Spain, the Eastern Roman Empire finally disappeared. The great Sultan Mehmet II had conquered Constantinople in 1453. Still, many in the West were not willing to let go of the Roman ideal, among them Pope Innocent VIII. It was the pope's hope to sponsor a grand crusade to defeat the Turks and capture Jerusalem. Again, according to Marino, the finances for such a huge adventure were to come from the discoveries of Columbus!
Seven days before Columbus set sail, Pope Innocent VIII died. Columbus set sail into a future that changed the world, but his world was also changing behind him. The new pope was Alexander VI Borgia, a Spaniard. Alexander's illegitimate son, Cesar Borgia, is "The Prince" on whom the Florentine Machiavelli models his famous work about politics. Cesar sought to expand lands in Italy. The world of Columbus became entirely dominated by Spanish interests. So much so that the Borgia pope decided to split the world between Spain and Portugal in his famous Bull, Inter Caetera, issued in 1493. Cristoforo Colombo was better off now as Cristóbal Colón.
What is the truth?
It is possible, as Marino suggests, that the Italianate Pope Innocent VIII's sponsorship of the expedition was covered up, banished to the secret archives in the Vatican, for the greater glory of Spain. So what is the truth? Apart from the difficulty of establishing historical claims, we are confronted with the dilemma and the difference between the methods of journalism and history. The two fields use different approaches to arrive at truth.
Like Einstein, journalists are prone to believe there are no coincidences. Historians take an intricate, complex path before attempting conclusions. Perhaps the final evidence awaits discovery in the secret archives of the Vatican. But perhaps not! Silvio Laccetti is professor of social sciences at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken. E-mail: slaccett@stevens.edu
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I think there were people here before the position of Pope existed.
Leif Erikson was the Pope?
If he wasn't on the boat, he didn't discover America.
It certainly is true that the Popes tried for many years to slow the advance of Sultan Mehmet II, the fall of Constantinople, and the advance of the Turks into Europe. They had a terrible time, because the French were too busy fighting against the Empire, the British against the Scots, and every little king and dukelet trying to fight against their neighbors. The Siege of Vienna was won by forces coming out of nowhere, while the Emperor was busy fending off a French invasion. The Battle of Lepanto was led by a Spanish bastard, Don John of Austria, because the kings were too busy to bother.
If the Pope financed Columbus, it would have been in hopes of getting around the Muslim blockade that had cut off commerce with India and China. Nobody knew that there as a new world full of gold and silver to discover.
Looking at some of the artifacts that have been discovered all over north and south America seems to indicate lots of visitors over the millenia.
The Mormons think Jesus was here before Leif Erikson!
Wasn't that part of why Columbus went on his voyage anyway? Bypassing the Islamic middlemen in the trade routes between Europe and Asia?
I didn't know that. Interesting.
Where's the tinfoil alert?
Not that I know of. :-)
Interesting
Here I had always thought some of my Indian ancestors discovered some of my Viking ancestors - and much later some of my English ancestors
This theory has been floating around historical circles for quite some time. There is not much to this theory , at all.
To begin with, the Catholic Church would not have helped Columbus if it could at all be avoided. The voyages of the Portugese under Henry the Navigator (for example) were, on a daily basis, undermining church authority on just about every subject (from the shape of the world, it's geography, it's geocentrism - Jerusalem as center of the universe) and much more. The accepted, sanctioned bedrock of church authorities on the physical world (Aristotle and Herodotus, for example) were being disproved all the time by daring mariners of the day, who dispelled superstitution with their practical experience and physical evidence. This was dangerous to the church's hold on the imagination, it's requirement to be seen as infallible, and to maintain orthodoxy of thought. A successful Columbus who proves the Church and it's precious authorities wrong threatens the Church.
Columbus, on his own, would have been able to fairly easily collect the data he needed to formlate his opinions (from the officially-sanctioned church sources, the practical reports and charts -- the Portolanos -- of master mariners from all over Europe, the Icelandic Sagas and traditions, Irish journals and lore, etc) about the size of the Earth and the possibilities of crossing the Atlantic, all on his own, and without Papal sanction, assistance or funding.
What neither Columbus nor the church reckoned on, however, was finding additional continents where the ancient authorities (and thus, the Church) said none were possible.
A little more every day!
There was a President of Ecuador recently named Rodrigo Borja, but I don't know if he was related to Pope Alexander VI. An earlier pope, Callixtus III (1455-1458) was also a Borja or Borgia.
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