Columbus and the Jews - Meyer Kayserling |
Expulsion of the Jews from Spain—Agreement of Santa Fe—Exodus of the Jews—Columbus's Preparations and Departure—Participation of the Jews in the Expedition—Guanahani—Luis de Torres—Indians and Israelites.
"After the Spanish monarchs had expelled all the Jews from all their kingdoms and lands in January, in that same month they commissioned me to undertake the voyage to India with a properly equipped fleet."
These are the words with which Columbus begins his journal. Without a word of disapprobation he thus mentions the tragic event which affected the welfare of hundreds of thousands, and which must have produced a profound impression upon the naturally vivacious explorer. His apathetic words are indicative of his fanaticism. This trait he did not, however, import from Italy, which at that time was a preeminently republican and commercial country. A very different spirit was displayed by his countryman Agostino Giustiniani, the learned Bishop of Nebbio, who speaks of the Jews expelled from Spain with heartfelt sympathy. He was the first to write a short biographical sketch of the explorer; this sketch, which lauds Columbus, is given incidentally in the bishop's polyglot psalter, in the commentaries on the nineteenth Psalm.
Columbus's religious enthusiasm soon degenerated into fanaticism in consequence of his contact with ecclesiastics—his truest and most useful friends—and in consequence of his intimate intercourse with men like the Bachelor Andres Bernaldez and Pedro Martyr d'Angleria, who boasts of the special friendship of Columbus. This fanaticism was also nourished by sordid avarice and the desire to promote his own material interests. In order to appear particularly pious, he even wore the dark-brown cowl of the Franciscans.
The expulsion of the Jews from Spain is closely connected with Columbus's expedition and with the discovery of America, not merely externally in point of time but also intrinsically. Not in January, as Columbus asserts in his journal, but on March 31, 1492, the Catholic monarchs sent forth from the palace of the Alhambra the edict that all Jews and Jewesses of every age should, on pain of death, leave all the kingdoms and lands of Spain within four months. The edict, which was signed by Ferdinand and Isabella, is of a wholly religious character, especially as regards the chief reason given for the act. The reason given is that, in spite of the incessant and most energetic efforts of the Inquisition, the Marranos were beguiled by those who adhered to Judaism to return to their old faith, and that this greatly imperilled the Catholic religion. The Jews were generously allowed to take their property with them "by land and water", excepting gold, silver, coined money, and merchandise subject to the laws prohibiting exportation; they could thus take with them only such articles as could be freely exported.
The king and queen acted in full accord, but Ferdinand played the chief role in the barbarous expulsion of the Jews. Hence the edict was not signed by the Castilian secretary of state, Caspar Gricio, but by the secretary of state of Aragon, Juan de Coloma, an old confidant of the king. Recent Spanish historians readily admit that Ferdinand was led to adopt this measure more by economic and political reasons, more by the desire to promote his own material interests, than by the religious zeal which actuated Isabella. The king needed plenty of money to carry out his plan of bringing new territory under his dominion. He took it from the Jews, who were wealthy, especially in Castile; some of them were worth as much as one or two million maravedis or more. The Inquisition, which he had called into existence, and the expulsion of the Jews, which he had decreed, had one and the same object: the former aimed to secure the property of the secret Jews for the state treasury, the latter, under the cloak of religion, aimed to confiscate the property of those who openly professed to be Jews.
The Jews knew the avaricious Ferdinand and his secret plans. As in the case of the Marranos when the Inquisition was introduced, so now those over whose heads the Damoclesian sword of expulsion was hanging, made an attempt to purchase the king's consent to the withdrawal of the edict. Don Isaac Abravanel—whose self-sacrificing services on behalf of the state were acknowledged and to whom the king and queen still owed a large sum of money, borrowed during the war with the Moors—offered Ferdinand 30,000 ducats if he would avert the evil that threatened the Jews. Whether Luis de Santangel—then in friendly intercourse with Abravanel—or Juan Cabrero, or other Marranos interceded with the king, is very doubtful. They were, on the one hand, more or less concerned in the matter, and feared to lose their lives if they interfered; on the other hand, they knew the king's obstinacy and avarice only too well. In fact, nothing could induce him to be merciful enough to recall the edict. On April 30, 1492, trumpets were sounded and the alcaldes publicly announced in Santa Fe and everywhere throughout the kingdom at one and the same time that by the end of July all Jews and Jewesses with their possessions should leave Spain, on pain of death and confiscation of their property by the state. After that date no Spaniard was to harbor a Jew in his house or render him any assistance.
On April 30th, the very day on which the expulsion of the Jews was everywhere publicly announced; Columbus was ordered to equip a fleet for his voyage to the Indies, and at the same time he received the contract which on April 17th had been arranged in Santa Fe between him and Juan de Coloma, the latter acting on behalf of the Spanish sovereigns. Ferdinand, who had long energetically opposed the expedition, was obliged to yield, thanks to Columbus's persistency, and was obliged to accept the explorer's excessive demands, which had twice caused the negotiations to be discontinued. He granted him the title of admiral, with all its privileges, and made him viceroy and governor-general of all lands which he might discover or acquire. Columbus was not content with dignities and honors for himself and his descendants. He desired also to derive considerable material profit from his voyages. The chief aim of his explorations was, in fact, to find gold, and in a letter to the queen he frankly declared that this gold might even be the means of purifying the souls of men and of securing their entrance into Paradise. Thus he stipulated that he was to have a tenth of all pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and other wares,—in short, a tenth of everything found, bought, bartered, or otherwise obtained in the newly discovered lands; he was also to have an additional eighth of the profits of the present enterprise and of all similar ventures undertaken in the future, provided he should contribute an eighth of the expense.
Columbus now made preparations for his voyage. He went from Granada directly to the little port of Palos, which for some delinquency had been ordered by Ferdinand and his consort to equip two caravels within ten days. There he soon enlisted in behalf of his enterprise the services of the rich brothers Pinzon, who enjoyed a very high reputation among navigators. In Palos he also secured his sailors and travelling companions.
The Jews, under the ban of expulsion, made preparations to leave the beautiful land which for centuries had been the cherished home of their ancestors, and to which they were passionately attached. They arranged their public and private affairs, tried to sell their real and personal property, and to secure the payment of their outstanding debts; but only in a very few cases did they succeed in disposing of their property or in obtaining money from their debtors. As the day of departure approached, their sorrows increased. They spent whole nights on the graves of their ancestors, and they were particularly anxious that the cemeteries, which held the dearest of all their abandoned possessions, should be protected from desecration.
On August 2, 1492, which fell on the day of mourning for the two-fold destruction of Jerusalem, 300,000 Jews (according to some writers the number was much larger) left Spain to settle in Africa, Turkey, Portugal, Italy, and France. On that ever memorable day they sailed from the harbors of Cartagena, Valencia, Cadiz, Laredo, Barcelona, and Tarragona.
On August 2d the Spanish Jews began their wanderings, and the next day, Friday, August 3d, Columbus with his fleet of three ships, the Santa Maria, Pinta, and Nina, sailed to seek an ocean route to India, and to discover a new world. He was accompanied on his first voyage by not more than one hundred and twenty men (according to some writers, by only ninety), almost all Castilians and Aragonese; many of them were from Palos, and some from Guadalajara, Avila, Segovia, Caceres, Castrojeriz, Ledesma, Villar, and Talavera—all cities in which before the expulsion large or small Jewish communities existed.
Were there any persons of Jewish extraction on the armada which under Columbus's guidance steered its course toward a new world? It was not easy for him to find men willing to accompany him on his adventurous voyage; even persons guilty of crime were released from prison on condition that they should enroll themselves among the recruits. What was to prevent Jews under the ban of expulsion, persecuted and homeless, from taking part in the voyage?
Among the explorer's companions whose names have come down to us—the complete list is lost—there were several men of Jewish stock; for example, Luis de Torres, a Jew who had occupied a position under the governor of Murcia and who was baptized shortly before Columbus sailed. As he understood Hebrew, Chaldee, and some Arabic, Columbus employed him as interpreter. Alonso de la Calle was also of Jewish lineage; his name was derived from the Jew's Lane, from which he came; he died in Espanola, May 23, 1503. Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia was a relative of the treasurer Gabriel Sanchez, and he took part in the first voyage at the particular request of Queen Isabella. The ship-physician Maestre Bernal and the surgeon (surjano) Marco were also of Jewish stock. Bernal had formerly lived in Tortosa, and as an adherent of Judaism, por la Ley de Moysen, had undergone public penance at Valencia in October, 1490, at the same time as Solomon Adret and his wife Isabel were burned.
When the fleet, whose crew was a very mixed body of men—Spaniards, Moors, and Jews, as well as an Irishman and a Genoese—had covered more than two thousand miles, the seamen began to murmur loudly at the intolerable length of the voyage. Columbus calmed them as well as he could. On October 11th after the customary evening hymn, he admonished his crew to keep a sharp look-out for land. In addition to the gratuity of ten thousand maravedis offered by the king, he promised a silk waistcoat to him who should first sight land. At last, early on Friday morning, October 12th—the day on which the Jews expelled from Spain and their co-religionists in every part of the world were singing their hosannas—the cry "Tierra, Tierra" ("Land, Land") arose from the Pinta.
In his journal Columbus confesses that land was first seen by one of his sailors; but the avaricious explorer could not withstand the temptation to claim the royal gratuity of ten thousand maravedis, and the poor sailor lost this as well as the promised waistcoat. Who was the fortunate mariner whose hopes were thus shattered? Gongalo Fernandez de Oviedo, who saw the Jews depart from Spain and heard their doleful lamentations, was informed (so he tells us) by Vicente Pinzon, the commander of the Nina, and by the seaman Hernan Perez Matheos, that it was a sailor from Lepe who first saw a distant light and cried "Land." According to Oviedo, when this man found that he had been defrauded of the gratuity, he obtained his discharge, went to Africa, and there discarded Christianity for his old faith. The chronicler does not inform us whether the old faith was Judaism." According to others, it was Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor of the Phita, who first cried "Land."
The land was Watling's Island or perhaps Acklin Island; the natives called it Guanahani. We are told that it was given this name by the Spanish Jews on board the Pinta, and Guanahani is even said to be formed from Hebrew words. A professor of the Oriental languages in Tacubaya, who comes from Mahon on the island of Minorca and who calls Isaac Abravanel his ancestor, claims to have been led to this etymological discovery by a Spanish ballad, which, he asserts, he received from Spanish Jews in Barbary. According to this ballad, in which there is a sprinkling of Hebrew and Arabic words, as soon as Rodrigo de Triana saw land he uttered the little Hebrew word "I, I" ("Island, Island"), to one of his Jewish comrades. The latter then asked in the same language "W'annah?" ("And where?"). Thereupon Triana responded "Hen-I" ("here is the island"). Thus originated the name "Uanaheni" or "Guanahani". This childish explanation of the word is not worthy of serious consideration. Rodrigo de Triana was not a Jew, nor did he speak Hebrew, and Guanahani is known to be a word of Indian origin.
Columbus took possession of this island for the ruler of Castile, and then, sailing southwest to Fernandina, discovered the island which he named Isabella in honor of the queen. Still searching for the island of Cipango with its fabulous wealth of gold and spices, he reached Cuba by the end of October. He believed that he was in the immediate neighborhood of the Great Khan's kingdom, and he determined to send envoys into the interior to ascertain, as he expressed it in a letter to Luis de Santangel, whether a king or great cities were there. This mission he entrusted to Luis de Torres, who was accompanied by Rodrigo de Jerez of Ayamonte. Columbus gave them specific instructions, ordered them to prepare the way for a treaty of peace between the ruler of the country and the Castilian crown, and gave them a letter and presents for the former. They also took with them samples of pepper and other spices, in order to show them to the natives and ascertain where such things grew.
On Friday, November 2d, Luis de Torres and his companion began their journey into the unknown land, and returned to Columbus on the sixth. They reported that, after travelling sixty miles, they came to a place with fifty huts and with a population of about one thousand persons; here they found men and women with fire in their hands, with which they lit one end of a small roll held in the mouth; it resembled dried leaves and was called tabaco; they inhaled the other end of the little roll, and blew forth great clouds of smoke through the mouth and nose. The two envoys received a very friendly welcome from the natives and their chief; the women kissed their hands and feet, and when they departed they were escorted by the ruler, his son, and more than five hundred persons.
Luis de Torres, the first European who discovered the use of tobacco, was also the first person of Jewish stock who settled in Cuba. He won the favor of the ruler, the cacique, and received from him as presents not merely lands but also slaves—five adults and a child. The king and queen of Spain granted him a yearly allowance of 8,645 maravedis, and he died in the newly discovered land.
In Cuba, Espanola, and the other islands which he discovered, Columbus found natives who had their caciques, and their own language and traditions. To what race did these aborigines of America belong? Several writers have asserted, and have displayed much learning in attempting to prove, that the aborigines were descendants of the Jews. This result was reached already in the sixteenth century by the Spanish clergyman Roldan; his arguments were derived from an unpublished manuscript which he discovered in the Library of S. Pablo in Seville. Montesinos, who possessed the manuscripts of Luis Lopez, the learned Bishop of Quito, was convinced that the Peruvians were of Jewish origin.
The view of Roldan and of Gregorio Garcia, that the aborigines of America were descendants of the Jews, was maintained with many arguments in one and the same year, 1650, independently by the Englishman Thorowgood and by the Portuguese Jew Manasseh ben Israel, a renowned rabbi of Amsterdam who induced Cromwell to allow the Jews to return to England. A Portuguese Marrano of Villaflor, who, strange to say, also called himself Montesinos and afterwards assumed the name Aaron Levi, informed Manasseh that he had mingled in South America with Jews of the Ten Tribes. Manasseh's book attracted much attention and was translated into Latin, Spanish, Dutch, English, Italian, and Hebrew. Nor has interest in it ceased even at the present day; this treatise "on the origin of the Americans" was reprinted twelve years ago by the Spaniard Santdgo Perez Junquera. The descent of the Americans is, in fact, a question which has often been discussed since the discovery of America down to the present day. Even in recent times the Englishman Lord Kingsborough devoted his time, his attainments, and the greater part of his large fortune to the publication of a collection of American documents, in order to prove the Jewish origin of the Americans.
It is not improbable that the Jews who were driven from Nineveh by Salmanassar wandered into uninhabited regions. According to Herrera, the Indians cherished the tradition that Yucatan had been settled by tribes from the Orient. Several writers give the exact route by which the Jews travelled until they settled in Cuba. Lord Kingsborough even asserts that they crossed Behring Straits, and then proceeded to Mexico and Peru.
Of more interest than the mode of migration is the question whether any analogies in language, in traditions, in religious conceptions, or in religious ceremonies justify the acceptance of this ethnological theory. Roldan*s chief argument in support of his view is the language of the Indians in Espanola, Cuba, Jamaica, and the adjoining islands. He contends that it has many resemblances to Hebrew; in fact, he even calls it corrupted Hebrew. He asserts that such names as Cuba and Hayti are Hebrew, and that they were first applied by the earliest caciques, the chiefs or leaders (Kasin), who discovered and peopled the islands. The names of rivers and of persons in use among the natives are derived from the Hebrew: for example, Haina from the Hebrew Ain, stream, Yones from Jona, Yaque from Jacob, Ures from Urias, Siabao from Siba, Maisi from Moysi. The names of their tools, of their little canoes or cansas, the name axi for pepper, the name of the store-house for maize, grain, and the like, all point to the Hebrew language.
Their rites and ceremonies, as well as their language, form one of the main arguments in favor of this theory of descent. Circumcision prevailed among the Indians; they often bathed in rivers and streams; they refrained from touching the dead and from tasting blood; they had definite fast-days; marriage with sisters-in-law was permitted if they were childless widows; wives were discarded for new helpmates. They also sacrificed first fruits on high mountains and under shady trees; they had temples and carried a holy ark before them in time of war; they were also, like the Ten Tribes, inclined to idol worship. All writers and travellers agree, moreover, that there were many Jewish types of face among the Indians, the aborigines of America.
The question whether the American Indians are descendants of the Jews, whether they are the offspring of the lost Ten Tribes, has often been answered in both the affirmative and the negative, but it has not yet been definitely settled.