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The Portuguese Columbus: Secret Agent of King John II PDF

588 Pages·1992·62.16 MB·English
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THE PORTUGUESE COLUMBUS THE PORTUGUESE COLUMBUS Secret Agent of King John II Mascarenhas Barreto Translated by Reginald A Brown Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-21996-4 ISBN 978-1-349-21994-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-21994-0 English translation ©The Macmillan Press Ltd 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992 978-0-333-56315-1 All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, NewYork, N.Y.10010 First published in Portugal in Portuguese in a longer version by Edi~;oes Referenda, Lda 1988 as 0 Portugues CristOviio Columbo: Agente Secreto do Rei Dom Joiio IL Copyright© Augusto de Mascarenhas Barreto 1988 First published in the United States of America in 1992 ISBN 978-0-312-07948-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barreto, Mascarenhas. [Portugues Crist6va Columbo: agente secreta do Rei Domjoiio II. English] The Portuguese Columbus, secret agent of King john II I Mascarenhas Barreto ; translated by Reginald A. Brown. p. em. Translation of: 0 portugues Crist6vao Columbo, agente secreta do Rei Domjoiio II. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-07948-2 1. Columbus, Christopher-Family. 2. john II, King of Portugal, 1455-1495. 3. Portugal-History-John 11,1481-1495. 4. America -Discovery and exploration. I. Title. Ell2.B2713 1992 970.01 '5-dc20 91-44778 CIP To my master, the late Father Antonio da Silva Rego, and all the mariners of the Discoveries Contents List of Tables xiii List of Illustrations, Plates and Genealogical Trees xiv Preface xix Acknowledgements xxi Translator's Note xxii PART I INTRODUCTION 1 The Cathars 3 The Island of St Lawrence 4 The Persecution 6 The Portuguese Monarchs 8 2 The Inquisition 13 3 The Portuguese Jews 19 The Compulsory Conversions 28 The All Saints' Hospital 30 Political 'Estates' 31 4 The Peninsular Crusades and the Templars 34 Crusades against the Muslims 35 Crusades against the Saracens and the Turks 36 The Extinction of the Templar Order 38 The Order of Christ 42 5 The Discoveries before Columbus 46 The Canary Islands 48 The 'Sagres School' 51 vii viii CONTENTS The University of Lisbon 53 Madeira and the Azores 55 Sailing West - Brazil 57 Greenland and Newfoundland 62 6 The Diplomatic Treaties of King John II 66 PART IT THE HERMETICISM OF COLUMBUS 7 Documentation of Columbus's Origins 81 8 The Language of Columbus 86 9 The 'Foreign Columbuses' 97 The Supposed 'Shipwreck' 100 A Distorted Miracle 104 Catalan Navigation 107 The Island of Genoa 109 PART ill EMPIRICAL AND SCIENTIFIC NAVIGATION 10 Portuguese Nautical Cryptography 117 11 The Enigma of Columbus's Voyages 133 12 The Problem of the Legendary Thule 143 13 More Theses on the Discovery of America 149 14 The Mystery of the Seven Cities 162 The Conspiracy 164 Cypangu 167 Espionage 167 The Myth of St Brendan 168 PART IV BIOGRAPHICAL PROBLEMS 15 Enigmatic Lineage 179 Fornari's Work 183 The Capitulaciones Diploma 184 The Origins of Columbus 186 CONTENTS ix 16 The Descent of a Weaver 189 Notarial Documents of Genoa and Savonna 191 The Real Dates of Columbus's Birth and Arrival in Spain 195 Muratori's Document 197 Suspect Documents 198 The Missing Deed 'Mayoradgo' 199 The Fake Deed 'Mayorazgo' 200 The Royal Deed and the Memorial to Diogo 205 The Memorando of Debts 207 Conclusion 212 17 Strategems and Deceits 214 The Lawsuit Against the Crown 215 The Suspect Final Paragraph of Fernando's Will 218 The Lawsuit of Succession 219 The Military Codicil' 221 I The Letters of Columbus 223 The Handwritten Note in the Imago Mundi 227 The King's Letter 228 Conclusion 230 PART V COLUMBUS REVEALED 18 Dispersing the Mist 235 The Origins of Col6n-Zarco's Name 237 Previous Interpretations of Columbus's Siglum 241 Two Seventeenth-century Messages 244 19 The Prophecy of the Sibyl 246 Valentim Fernandes 246 The Meaning of the Prophecy 248 20 Astrology and Alchemy 253 The Origins of the Perestrelo Family 255 The Alchemists 257 Palaeo-Christian and Alchemical Symbols 257 21 The Labyrinth of the Cabala 262 The Western Cabala and its Symbology 263 The Rite of Mithra 271 The Temurah Method and the Names of 'Babel' and 'Tomar' 273 x CONTENTS The Gematric Method 273 The Excellence of the Ternary 274 The Hexagon and the Dextratio Processes 275 The Mirror Process 278 The Notariqon Method and a Hebraic Temuric Example 279 22 The Other Side of the Mirror 283 The Meaning of the '5' 285 The Umbilical Centre and the Triangles 286 Irrelevant Messages 298 23 From Light to Darkness 301 'Ferens' and Frustrating Messages 307 The Sibyl's Advice 312 'Cantara' 314 The Final Solution 316 The Mysterious Monogram 319 The Discoverer Prince 320 PART VI CHECK AND MATE 24 After the Heat of the Battle 325 'Terra Rubra' 325 The Fulling and Weaving Industry of Beja 327 Bartolomeu Col6n at the English and French Courts 328 A Coinddenc,e of Toponymy 330 Zarco in Madeira 338 25 A House on Madeira and a Convent in Lisbon 342 'Esmeraldo' 342 The Convent of Santos (Saints) 343 Was Filipa Promised in Marriage to CoI6n-Zarco? 346 26 The Genealogical Web 349 The Obscurity of New Christian Surnames and the Inquisition 352 The Tombs of Isabel and Filipa Moniz 354 The Navigators Converge on Beja 356 Juvenile Marriages 357 27 'Terra Rubra' and La RAbida 360 Vila Ruiva 361 Alvito 363 CONTENTS xi The Friars Marchena 364 The Coutinhos 370 The Order of St James and the Convent of Santos 371 28 Huntsmen and Admirals 373 The Aguiars 375 The Eliminated Brothers 378 Bartolomeu and Diogo Colom 382 Admiral Kinsmen of Col6n-Zarco 384 29 Stopovers at the Azores, Portugal and Arzila 388 The 'Nina' at Santa Maria 390 Albergaria, Castanheira and Rui da Camara 392 Columbus Visits his Family 393 The Letter to Santangel 397 The Siege of Arzila 399 PART VII ON THE TRAIL OF THE LAST INCOGNITOS 30 The Protectors of Columbus 407 Genealogical Relationships 407 All Columbus's Protectors Were his Relatives 413 31 Adulterers and Adulterators 418 Queen Juana of Castile and her Daughter 'the Beltraneja' 419 Beatriz Henriques and Nuno Pereira of Serpa 421 Intentional Omissions 421 The Expedition to Tangier 423 Governors of Fronteira 423 Nuno Pereira de la Cerda and his Two Marriages 425 32 The Damsel of C6rdoba 427 The Notarial Documents 430 Cousins and Lovers 436 33 Distortions Corrected 439 The Name of Don Fernando's Grandfather 439 The Two Portuguese Grandmothers of Don Fernando 440 Moliarte, CoI6n-Zarco's Brother-in-Law 448 34 The Heraldic Secret 456 Heraldic Symbology 457 CoI6n-Zarco's Coat-of-Arms 465

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