CONGRESS Book. (5 ^Z. GDjpghtN" COFnaGHT DEPOSIT. SOUVENIR OF LA RABIDA WORLD'S Clu COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION t Tm Relics of Columbus AN ILLUSTRATBD DESCRIPTION OF THE HISTORICAL COLLECTION IN THE MONASTERY OF La Rabida BY WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS Direco. 0M,« B.ea„ or ,„e A.eH.„ ,ep.M.s a„, a„er „M„e L.,. American Bureauureau, WoriWorldres r i u- r^ Columbian Exposition. THE WILLIAM H. LOWDERMILK COMPANY. Publishers, WASHh\GTON, D. C. 1- I IZ ; Copyright by William E. Curtis, 1893. PUBLISH ONKEY COWPANY, PRINTEBS AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE RELICS OF COLUMBUS EXHIBITKD IN THE MONASTERY OF LA RABIDA. PART I. Page. Section A. Geographical Knowledge and the Science OF Navigation at the Time of Columbus. 7 Section B. The Court of Ferdinand and Isabella 17 Section C. The Birth and Early Life of Columbus 25 Section D. The Career of Columbus in Spain 33 Section E. Scenes Associated with the First Voyage 47 Section F. Scenes Associated with the Second Voyage O9 Section G. Scenes Associated with the Third Voyage 86 Section H. Scenes Associated with the Last Voyage 94 Section 1. The Last Days of Columbus. His Death and Burial 103 Section K. The Relics- of Columbus 127 Section L. The Publication of the Discovery ^37 Section M. The Christening of the Continent, etc 157 Section N. The Conquest of Mexico and Peru, and the Settlement of Other Portions of Amer- ica 172 Section O. Original Papers Relating to Columbus Loaned by the Duke of Veragua i86 Section P. Original Papers Relating to Columbus Loaned by the Duchess of Berwick and ^L^^^ 204 Section The Q. Vatican Exhibit 210 Section R. The John Boyd Thacher Collection of Valuable Works Relating to Columbus AND the Discovery 214 THE MONASTERY OF LA RABIDA. THE Monastery of La Rabida has been fitly termed "the cornerstone of American history," and is more closely associated with the career of Columbus than an\' other structure. Tt was therefore deemed appro[n-iate by the Board of Directors of the World's Columbian Exposition to repi'oduce that ancient and famous structure as a shelter for the relics of Columbus that have been secured for exhibition. The idea was suggested by William I-^leroy Curtis, Director of the Bureau of the American Republics at Washington, and chief of the Latin- American department of the Exposition. The plans were drawn from sketches and photographs secured by Mr. Curtis in Spain, by Mr. Henry D. Ives, who superintended the work of construc- tion. The building was erected at the expense of the World's Columbian Exposition, and the pictures and relics it contains were paid for from the allotment of the De[iartment of State of the appropriation made by Congress for the Goxernment j^oard of Management. The building is almost an exact fac-sinTile of the original mon- astery, which stands on the summit of a low headland between the Odiel and Tinto rivers, near the town of Palos, Spain, three miles from the Atlantic ocean and al)out half-way between the Strait of Gibraltar and the southern boundar\' of Portugal. Tradition sa}'s that the monastery was originally erected during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan, in the second century, and there are historical records to show that it was reconstructed in the elev- enth century by the Knights Templar, who occupied it man}- years. It was called La Rabida, which, according to the best authorities, signifies, in the Moorish language, an out-post on the frontier. When the Moors were driven from Andalusia, the building passed into the possession of the Eranciscan monks, who re-modeled it again and re-christened it "Santa Maria do La Rabida," or the Monastery of Saint Mary of the Erontier. After the time of Columbus it was considerably enlarged, but during the past two years the structure has been restored by the Spanish 6 INTRODUCTION. government to the condition in which it stood when he found an asylum there. The date of the first visit of Columbus to La Rabida is a matter of doubt and the subject of discussion; but recent re- searches seem to show that he appeared there shortly after he left Portugal in 1484 or 1485, when he was on his way to Moquer, a little village in the neighborhood, where he intended to leave his little son Diego, then nine years old, with his sister-in-law, a woman named Muliar, while he went to the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella at Cordova to ask their aid in discovering a western passage to the Indies. Weary, hungry and penniless, he 'ap- proached the monastery and asked food and drink for himself and child. The good monks invited him in, gave him refresh- ments, detained him for several months, and becoming interested in his plans gave him letters to influential persons at court. His next appearance there Vv^as several years later, when, dis- heartened by the indifference and procrastination of the sover- eigns, he was about to leave Spain to seek aid from the king of France or the Republics of Genoa or Venice. Again the monks detained him, and through their influence he was invited to re- turn to court for a further presentation of his plans. His third visit was in May^ 1494, when he came back bearing a contract with the sovereigns, a commission as Grand Admiral of the Ocean Seas, and a royal requisition upon the people of Palos to furnish him vessels and supplies for the voyage. He re- mained a guest at La Rabida while making his preparations for the memorable expedition, and on the morning of his departure attended mass in the chapel. His next visit was upon his return to Palos bearing the news and the trophies of his triumph, when the monks sang a Te Deum in the chapel with as much fervor as was ever felt in human worship. Again he remained a guest at La Rabida until summoned to court. The artistic arrangement of the pictures is the work of Mr. Henry Reinhardt, of the firm Rocbel & Reinhardt, Milwaukee. THE RELICS OF COLUMBUS. An Illustrated Description of the Historical Collection IN THE Monastery of Loa Rabida. SECTION A. GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE AND THE SCIENCE OF NAVIGATION AT THE TIME OF COLUMBUS. Picture of a Norse ship, such as Leif Erikson is supposed to have used in his voyage to America. It is not considered at all improbable that the Norseman cruised along the coast of North America centuries before Colum- bus was born, but their claim to the discovery of the continent rests entirely upon tradition, po- etic legends, and some slight cir- cumstanti:vl evidence. In 860 they discovered Iceland, and in 874 established there a republic, A Noi"so ship. which endured for four centuries. America discovered in the tenth century. By Chas. C. Rafn, secretary to the Royal Society of Northern Antiquari- ans of Copenhagen. Loaned by William E. Curtis. 7 8 THE RELICS OF COLUMBUS, 3. Chart showing the course followed by Leif Erikson in his voyage from Greenland to Vinland in the tenth century. Prepared under the direction of the late Prof. E. N, Horsford, Cambridge. Eric the Red, an outlaw, in 984 established a colony in Greenland. In 986 a viking named Bjarne, while seeking the Greenland colony, driven by jiortheasterly gales, is supposed to have sailed as far south as Nantucket, When Bjarne returned to Norway he sold his ship to Leif Erikson, son of Eric the Red, who set sail with a crew of thirty-five men and found the lands as Bjarne had described them. Leif called the country Vinland because he found wild grapes there, and spent the winter on the coast of Massachusetts. 4. Chart showing the landfall of Leif Erikson on the New England coast. Prepared by Professor Horsford. In the spring, when the winds were favorable, Leif Erikson returned to Greenland. His brother Thorwald took his ship and went to Vinland, remaining three years. The latter was killed by the savages and buried near Fall River, so the story goes, with crosses to mark his. grave, one at the head and one at his feet. 5. Discovery of America by the Norsemen, By Prof. Eben Norton Horsford. Loaned by William E. Curtis. Eben Norton Horsford was born at Moscow, New York, July 27, 1818, and died at Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 1, 1893. After leading a life of great activity and usefulness, serving as Rumfoid professor of applied sciences in Harvard University for sixteen years, and making many valuable discoveries in chemistry, he retired from active profes- sional duties and gave himself up to the study of the early history of America, particularly the voyages of the Norsemen. He erected a statue of Leif Erikson in Boston, and a stone tower on the bank of the Charles river, at the site of ancient Norumbega, His publications include many chemical works and several valuable contributions to the literature of the Norsemen and their voyages along the coast of America. Professor Horsford was a philanthropist as well as man of science, and many colleges and public institutions have been enriched by his bene- factions. 6. Chart showing the location of Leif Erikson' s houses near Boston. Prepared by Prof. E. N. Horsford. In 1836 there was exhumed near Fall River a skeleton clad in a broken • and corroded armor, which was made the subject of one of Longfellow's niost beautiful poems: "I Was a Viking Old." The remains were gen- erally accepted as those of an Indian until Professor Rafn, the distin- guished Scandinavian scholar, pronounced them those of a Norse chief, and insisted that the burial place of Thorwald Erikson had been discovered.