COLUMBUS WAS A SEPHARDIC JEW.

 

 

Author: FRANCESC ALBARDANER

 

Written in July / August 2022; in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Catalonia).

To be published in: ARMORIA; Butlletí de la Institució Catalana de Genealogia i Heràldica, N.12; October 2022. (Draft 1)

 

 

 

                  

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a masterpiece of the Catalan Sephardic art (Barcelona, circa 1350).

 

 

ABSTRACT

Since 2003, the University of Granada, with the collaboration of several international universities, has been trying to find the ADN of Christopher Columbus from the samples taken from the bones of Columbus resting in his monument of the Cathedral of Sevilla. It is now probable that, in the near future, we will know the final results of such genetical analysis, that we expect to read in a scientific article to be published in some important scientific bulletin.

 

In this article the author analyses the possibility that the analytical results may assert that the Mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA) of Cristopher Columbus belongs to a typical MtDNA of Sephardic Jewish women and  how would this fact alter the accepted biography of Columbus with a Genovese origin.

 

As such result may force to alter the “national” origin of Columbus, as well as his religious beliefs, the author considers necessary to explain with full detail the political situation of the Iberian peninsula during Columbus’s life, the concept of Sepharad as well as the situation of the jewish and converted  communities after the creation of the new Castilian Inquisition imposed by Isabella and Ferdinand in the territories under their rule.

 

RIASSUNTO

 

Dal 2003 l’Università di Granada, in collaborazione con diversi atenei internazionali, sta cercando di scoprire l’ADN di Cristforo Colombo servendosi di alcuni campioni estratti dai resti conservati nell’urna del suo monumento nella Cattedrale di Siviglia. Si pensa che in un prossimo futuro potremo conoscere finalmente i risultati di queste ricerche genetiche che verranno pubblicate in un articolo scientifico su una importante rivista scientifica internazionale.

 

In questo articolo l’autore analizza la possibilità che i risultati delle analisi arrivino alla conclusione che l’ADN mitocondriale di Cristoforo Colombo appartenga ad un tipico ADN mitocondriale di un gruppo di donne ebree sefardite, e inoltre come tale risultato potrebbe influire nella universalmente accettata biografia del Cristoforo Colombo di origine genovese.

 

Dato che un risultato di tal fatta potrebbe obbligare ad alterare l’origine “nazionale” di Colombo, come pure le sue credenze religiose, l’autore considera imprescindibile spiegare dettagliatamente la situazione politica degli stati della penisola iberica durante la vita di Cristoforo Colombo, il concetto ed il significato del termine “Sepharad”, come pure la situazione delle comunità ebree e converse dopo la creazione della nuova Inquisizione Castigliana imposta dai Re Cattolici nei territori sotto il loro dominio.

 

 

 

RESUM

 

Des de l’any 2003, la Universitat de Granada, amb la col·laboració de diverses universitats internacionals, ha estat intentant descobrir l’ADN de Cristòfor Colom a partir d’unes mostres tretes dels ossos preservats en la urna del seu monument de la Catedral de Sevilla. Comença a ser probable que, en un futur proper, poguem conèixer finalment els resultats d’aquestes recerques genètiques, que seran publicades en un article científic d’un important butlletí científic internacional.

 

En aquest article l’autor analitza la possibilitat de que els resultats d’aquestes anàlisis defineixin que el ADN mitocondrial de Cristòfor Colom pertanyi a un típic ADN mitocondrial d’un grup de dones jueves sefardites, així com podria afectar un tal resultat en la universalment acceptada biografia del Cristoforo Colombo, genovès d’origen.

 

Com que un resultat d’aquesta mena podria forçar a alterar l’origen “nacional” de Colom, així com també les seves creençes religioses, l’autor considera imprescindible d’explicar amb tot detall la situació política dels estats en la península ibérica durant la vida de Cristòfor Colom, el concepte i significat del mot “Sepharad”, així com la situació de les comunitats jueves i converses després de la creació de la nova Inquisició Castellana imposada pels Reis Catòlics en els territoris sota el seu domini.

 

 

 

 

THE SUPPOSED ENIGMA OF COLUMBUS’S ORIGINS.

 

For the enormous majority of scholars of all the world there is no “enigma” about the origin of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the New World in 1492. Specially for the Italian scholars, the origin of Columbus is completely clear and documented: Columbus was born in Genova in the year 1451, beeing the son of Domenico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa. He had three brothers and one sister. If the orthodox theory about Columbus is correct, why are there appearing continuously heterodox theories asserting extravagant origins of the discoverer?

 

Even if we may accept the Genovese origin of Columbus, as his son Fernando Colón expresses in his last will, there are many aspectes of the life of Columbus that don’t seem to fit with the Cristoforo Colombo  identified by Agostino Giustiniani, Antonio Gallo and other several Genovese historians at the beguinning of the XVIth century. When a scientific theory presents too many anomalies, it may be wise to look for another theory that may fulfill better the life and facts of Columbus, than the old orthodox theory. The existence of so many anomalies in the orthodox theory is the reason that promotes the search for a new theory, for a new historical personage, that may fit better with the real Christopher Columbus.

 

 

WAS CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS A JEW?

 

There is a long tradition in considering Columbus a jew, a converted jew or a crypto-jew, beguinning this tradition during the life of Columbus himself and lasting until this XXIrst century. Historically, Columbus is considered to be a perfect member and follower of the Roman Catholic Church, son of Roman Catholic parents, married with a noble Roman Catholic Portuguese wife, and even belonguing to the Third Order of Saint Francesco d’Assisi. As the discovery and conquest of America provoked the expansion of the Catholic Faith in so many countries and cultures, Columbus has been even proposed to become a saint of the Holly Roman Catholic Church in the second half of the XIXth century by the popes Pius IX (Nonus) and Leo XIII (Tercius Decimus). However, so many historians have smelled the scent of jewishness in the facts and writings of Columbus and his brothers, that we consider that it is worth to give a consideration to their arguments.

 

Early Contemporaneus Proofs.

 

In October 12th (sic!) of the year of the Lord of 1500, friar Juan de Trassierra, franciscan friar, wrote a letter to Cardinal Cisneros against the government of Columbus in Santo Domingo, that beguins with this text:

 

“Por amor de Dios que vuestra reverencia ha sido ocasión que tanto bien se començase en que saliese esta tierra de poderyo del rey faraón, que faga que el ni ninguno de su nación venga en estas islas, etc.”

 

The meaning of this text is that friar Trassierra is asking Cardinal Cisneros to  proceed to the expulsion of Columbus of the American Isles and to deny any possibility to the jews, or converted jews, to travel to the New World. Such interpretation may be true if we accept that the words “King Pharaoh” refer to Columbus and that he is considered a jew, as were the jews named in the slang of the franciscan friars.  And also very important is the concept “ninguno de su nación”, meaning “nobody of his nation”. Of which nation is friar Juan de Trassierra talking about? Is he talking about the Genovese? Or perhaps is he talking about the Portuguese, the Catalans, the Aragonese, etc.? No, not at all! He is talking about the concept “jewish nation”, as were considered all the jews  to belong to.

These concept of “jewish nation” brought also to Salvador de Madariaga to consider Columbus as a descendent of Catalan jews.

 

We may find astonishing,  that the son of Columbus himself, Hernando Colón, asserts that the predecessors of his father were from “the royal blood of Jerusalem” in his biography of his father. Is he telling us, with no veils, that his family was of jewish origin?

Or even a better example of the possible jewish descent of Colombus was expressed by Columbus himself in the followiing letter sent to Diego de Deza:

 

Pònganme el nombre que quisieren, que al fin David, rey muy sabio, guardó ovejas y después fué hecho rey de Jerusalén; yo soy siervo de aquel mismo Señor que puso a David en este estado”.

(“Let them give me the name they will, for, after all, David, a very wise king, kept ewes and later was made a king of Jerusalem, and I am the servant of the same Lord who raised David to that state.”)

In this text, Columbus declares openly that he considers himself to be a servant of the same God, the jewish God, that placed David as king of Jerusalem.

 

One of the most famous books proposing a jewish origin of Christopher Columbus is due to Sarah Leibovici intitled “Christophe Colomb Juif” (1986). In her book Leibovici, among very important reasons exposed by her in favour of a jewish origin of Columbus, talks about a supposed letter of friar Hernando de Talavera sent to queen Isabella. The author affirms that this letter was exhibited in Madrid in 1969 in a public exhibition and the content of it was published in an article of the israeli newspaper Ha’Aretz. The supposed letter would have been written in June 1492. In it, friar Hernando de Talavera tries to convince queen Isabella not to send Columbus in his first voyage of discovery and asks her to put Columbus in the hands of the Inquisition, and so, Columbus will end his life on a wooden plank, that will not be precisely the plank of a ship, meaning that Columbus will be condemned by the Inquisition to be  burnt alife in an “auto de fe” due to his heressy and jewish origin. If this document exists, it would be one of the most old documents were Columbus is accused of beeing a false christian and a crypto-jew. But, allthough I have tried to find such document i have not been able to determine where it may be preserved and therefore I consider that this argument of Leibovici has to be considered as a fake new.

 

 

Selection of the main points proposed by different scholars who defend a jewish origin of Christopher Columbus.

 

The figure of Columbus was not very well studied by historians during three hundred years after his death. It was at the beguinning of the XIXth century that several historians took interest in studying the figure of Columbus, not only Italian scholars, but also Spanish  academics. We have to give great importance to the work of the Spanish historian Juan Bautista Muñoz (1745-1799), who, in the second half of the XVIIIth century, by royal order, was incharged of bringing to light all the possible old documents about the discovery and colonization of America. Thanks to his work many true and unknown manuscripts of Columbus gave new light to this historical figure. Martin Fernández de Navarrete (1765-1844) continued his task and the flourishment of so many documents was known by international scholars as Washington Irving (1783-1828), who, after the publication of his book intitled “A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus” (1828), based on Muñoz and Navarrete’s research, spread the interest of the study of Columbus history into the anglo-american world.

 

Already in the XIXth century, we find scholars, like the German Mayer Kayserling, who begun considering possible a jewish origin of Columbus. We have to point out, that Kayserling was a jewish rabbi, and  many of the promoters of the jewish origin of Columbus are members of the jewish international comunity. At the end of this article we give a small and selected bibliography of all the books and articles that consider possible a jewish origin of Columbus. We cannot repeat completely all the allegations presented in such a big collection of works, but we give a short list of the most decisive of them:

 

The use of the term “Casa Santa” in designing the holly temple of Jerusalem:

Many times in his manuscripts, and also in his apostilles, Columbus uses the form of “Casa Santa” (the holly house) that corresponds perfectly to the jewish term “Beit Eloka”, that no christian writer would use, to design the Temple of Jerusalem. In a very long apostille in the book of Enneas Silvio Piccolomini, when talking about the age of the earth Columbus writes: “.. since they escaped from Egypt 400 years, and between their escape from Egypt and until the construction of the First House 480 years. And from the construcción of the First House until his destruction 410 years. And from the destruction of the First House until the exit from Babylon 70 years, and then the Second House begun to be built. And the Second House lasted 400 years. And from the birth of Abraham until the destruction of the Second House 1088 years....etc.”

 

Columbus computes the age of the world according to the Jewish Calendar:

In an apostille written in 1481 by Columbus, he affirms that the age of the world is  5.241 years, corresponding to the age of the earth given in the Jewish Bible.

 

“Beth” and “Hai” monograms at top of the letters written to his elder son, Diego:

Many scholars have noted a strange monogram at the top left of many letters written by Columbus to his elder son Diego Colón. This sign is interpreted as hebrew cursive writing of the letters “beth” and “hai”, with the meaning of “Be ezrat ha Chem” (with the help of the Name) or “Barouch ha Chem” (be blessed the Name of the Lord). Nito Verdera asked the services of Criminology of the Spanish Police to determine if this monogram had been written from right to left or instead from left to right. The resultal of that analysis was that they had been written from right to left, in the jewish form of writing. Onofre Vaquer Bennassar considers that this monogram appears also in three letters written to the Catholic Kings, fact that, if true, would invalidate the meaning of a secret familiar mark of identification.

 

The delay in one day of the departure of the ships for the discovery of America from the port of Palos de la Frontera.

 

There was a phantastic coincidence of the last day allowed to the jews to leave the territories of Castile and the Crown of Catalonia-Aragon, in August 2nd, with the departure of Columbus to his first voyage of discovery. But the admiral decided to delay the departure of the ships for the sunrise of the next day, August 3rd, and ordered to all the members of the crew to be compulsory on bord of the ships before midnight of August 2nd.

 

August 2nd was the anniversary of the destruction of the first and second temples of Jerusalem, because it corresponds with the 9th day of the jewish month of Av. Due to this fact, if Columbus was a jew, he would never beguin such important voyage in such a bad day of bad omen. Many scholars admit that the delay was due to this reason and that it demonstrates that Columbus was a jew.

 

But there was also another important reason to order to everybody of his crew to stay on bord before the end of August 2nd, and it was to avoid any interference of the members of the holly inquisition, because they could arrest any person considered a jew from midnight of August 2nd onwards, for not having respected the expulsion order of the kings. And several members of the crew could be jews and that could effect even Columbus himself.

 

 

Letter of Columbus to the Catholic Kings dated July 7th, 1503 from Jamaica.

 

Salvador de Madariaga, when analysing the letter  sent by Columbus to the Catholic Kings from the island of Jamaica on July 7h 1503, points out a small fragment saying:

“.. y de los cristianos cobraste tan honrada fama”, meaning “..and from the Christians you got such an honored fame”. This sentence, referred to Columbus and having been writen by Columbus himself is considered by Madariaga as a declaration of Columbus of not beeing a Christian.

 

 

“A silver coin should be given to a jew living in the jewish district of Lisbon.”

The above mentioned sentence is included in the last will of Columbus, dated May 19th, 1506, and many scholars consider that Columbus is following a typical jewish tradition  of the jewish testaments.

 

 

 

“Lapsus calami” of Colombus about the month of Nissan.

In a letter written by Columbus to the Catholic Kings writes:

“Así que, después de haver echado fuera todos los judíos de todos vuestros reinos y señoríos, en el mismo mes de Enero mandaron vuestras Altezas a mí, que con armada suficiente me fuese a las dichas partidas de la India.”

(“So, after having expulsed all the jews from your several kingdoms, in the same month of January, your Hignesses sent me to the parts of India, with the necessary armada...”).

 

The contract between Columbus and the Catholic Kings for the discovery of the New world was signed in the month of April 1492. The decree of expulsion of the jews from their realms was signed and made public in the same month of April 1492. Columbus has written such an error because in this year 1492, the month of April coincided with the first month of the jewish calendar, called the month of Nissan. Renato Llanas de Niubó considers that this “lapsus calami” was due to the jewish culture in which Columbus had been educated .

 

The obsession of Columbus in the recovery and liberation of the Temple of Jerusalem.

In his writings Columbus expresses many times, insistently, his wish that the Temple of Jerusalem should be reconstructed. He even proposes to the Catholic Kings, that all the gold exported from the American Colonies should be used to create an army and navy for a future war of reconquest of Jerusalem, so that the Temple could be restored to its former glory. Many authors consider also this obsession of Columbus as a clear sign that he belonged to a jewish family, as, for instance, Onofre Vaquer.

 

Secret encripted letter of Columbus to his brother Bartolomew in Hispaniola.

Christopher Columbus, when he saw the arrival of Francisco de Bobadilla with several letters  of attorney of the Catholic Kings, that could bring him to be imprisoned in 1500, he wrote a letter to his brother Bartholomew, that was in a discovery campaign, to return as quickly as possible with him to avoid the possible danger. Several chroniclers have said, that this letter was written in an unknown alphabet and consider seriously that it was written with the jewish cursive alphabet, fact that would demonstrate that Columbus received a jewish education in his youth.

 

Synchretic vision of the three religions of the Book.

In a letter to the Kings of 1501 Columbus expresses a very interesting thought:

Digo que el Espíritu Santo obra en cristianos, judíos, moros y en todos de otra secta, y no solamente en los sabios, mas en los ignorantes”.

( “I say, that the Holly Spirit influences christians, jews and muslims and any member of any other sect, and not only  wise men, but also ignorants”).

The Holly Inquisition, rampant in this date, could have accused of heressy Columbus after reading this text and, if not protectet by the Kings, the destiny of Columbus could have been very easily the gallows (“auto de fe”). This text of Columbus may reflect that from very young age he was teached to play a double identity: Roman Catholic in public and Jewish inside the familiar house. It reflects also that he had a good personal knowledge of the habits of jews and muslims, fact that could have not happened among the society of Genova.

The veto of the Catholic Church to let Diego Colón become bishop of Santo Domingo:

In the year 1504, Diego Colón, the younger brother of Columbus, asked to be nationalized as Castilian in the kingdom of Castile and Leon, because he was a foreigner to that kingdom and foreigners could not achieve any  ecclesiatical dignity, as he desired. The Catholic Kings gave him the demanded Castilian nationality to Diego Colón in order that: “para que podais haber e hayais cualesquiera dignidades e beneficios eclesiásticos que vos fueran dados” (“you may achive and have any ecclesiastical dignities and economic benefices that could be offered to you”). But, allthough Diego became officially a Castilian, he never received any ecclesistical dignity and the reason for this denial is considered by several authors that it was due to his jewish ancestry.

 

Many references of the Old Testament, but none to the New Testament:

In the writings of Columbus there are constantly references to the Old Testament and among his preferred prophets Isaiah, Ezequiel and even Esdras! Elias Barrocas admits that the knowledge of the Old Testament by Columbus demonstrates a very serious study of the Bible. But the problem raises when trying to know which Bible read Columbus: the Catholic Vulgata or the Jewish Bible. The latest studies point out that it is almost certain that the Bible that Columbus read in his youth was the Jewish Bible, as we may see afterwards. If we accept this point of view, there is no doubt that Columbus was not only a jew educated in the jewish religion, but that he was a crypto-jew.

 

Friends and protectors of Christopher Columbus:

After seven years of asking the Catholic Kings for a small armada for the discovery of the New World and after two denials of the monarchs, following the cryteria of their advisers, it was due to the influence of a converted jew, Lluís de Santàngel, that Columbus could achieve his goal. Lluís de Santàngel belonged to a very rich family of merchants established in the city of Valencia, that were accostumed to bussiness decisions, even if they may be risky. Almost every year a big galeass, the Santàngel galeass, departed the port of Valencia in a risky voyage to the harbour of Alexandria, together with many other vessels that sailed for the Santàngel family up to Galway in Ireland and other northern atlantic harbours. Therefore, with such an experience, Lluís de Santàngel considered that it was worth to invest in the proposal of Columbus, because in case of success, the benefice would be enormous, compared to the, for him, small investement needed.

 

But Columbus was in relationship at the royal court with many jews and converted jews as:  Gabriel Sánchez, Alfonso de la Caballeria, Andrés Cabrera, marquis of Moya, and his wife Beatriz Fernández de Bobadilla, Juan Cabrero, Lluis de Torres and his sister Juana de la Torre, Isaac Abravanel, Abraham Zacuto, Fray Diego de Deza, Alonso de Quintanilla, Joan de Coloma, etc. This fact is also considered by many scholars, that Columbus could have such close friendship with all this personages due to his jewish origin. We want to point out, that the bussines bases of the Sánchez and Santàngel families were based in the city of Valencia.

 

 

 

 

The paralyzation and blockade of the beatification of Columbus in the Vatican:

In the second half of the XIXth century the Vatican iniciated a beatification/canonization process in order to consider Columbus as a saint of the Holly Roman Church. This process suffered a total blockade after several tries, with no clear explanation of such a radical end. Simon Wiesenthal, together with other specialists, considers that the main reason for this paralyzation was the jewish ascendancy of Columbus and also his heretical behaviour considering that he was officially a Roman Catholic believer.

 

The cryptogram of his Signature:

If Columbus would have signed as everybody else, writing his Christian Name followed by his family surname, there would have never appeared any doubt about his true name and origin. But he did not and he invented a strange triangular cryptogram undersigned by “el Almirante” (“the admiral”) or “el Virrey” (“the Viceroy”). This enigma has been studied by many, many scholars and their interpretations cover a wide range of fantastic answers.

My choice is the following proposal: Cristóbal Colom, almirante del Mar y de las Indias, (“Christopher Columbus, admiral of the Sea and of the Indies”), but recently, a very new and intelligent interpretation has been done by Estelle Irizarry, that considers such a signature a declaration of a jewish origin of Columbus, that we will see later.

 

 

RECENT BOOKS AND ARTICLES OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORIANS THAT REAFFIRM THAT COLUMBUS WAS  A JEW.

 

For the fifth anniversary of the discovery of America there has been a huge abundance of editions of new works of many historians about Christopher Columbus, his life and his facts. Many of this books and articles have been written in Spanish and, unfortunately, almost none of them have been translated neither to English nor to Italian languages. Several of these works have a big interest in relationship with the jewish ascent of Columbus. I have selected several of these texts, because I consider that its importance for our goal is very high.

 

 

Juan Fernández Valverde (Priego de Córdoba, 1952):

 

Professor Juan Fernández Valverde has been professor of Latin Philology at the University Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla. He wrote the introduction to the book “Cristóbal Colón, Libro de las Profecías”, a very special manuscript written by Columbus himself with the aid of the Cartusian friar Gaspar de Gorricio. In this book Columbus pays very big attention to the text of Isaiah that says:

“And I saw a new sky and a new earth. Since the first sky and the first earth have disappeared and the sea is no more here.”  

And Juan Fernández Valverde comments:

“The reference to the text of Isaiah refers to the immense happiness that is created by the arrival of the messianic era, the earthly joy and bucolic peace that will arise in such moment, but all these considerations are based in a jewish point of view, because such interpretation, the jewish one, literal of the Scriptures, because, if not, how may be infer that the messianic era is still to come, if for the christians this era has allready arrived?”

 

About the obsession of Columbus in the reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem professor Juan Ferández Valverde says:

“The reconquest of Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the Temple ( that Columbus refers to it in the hebrew form of “house”) are not christian objectives, but jewish ones, because the Jews, and not the Christians, are who are still waiting the arrival of the Messiah, that will provoke this facts.”

 

About the references of the Bible done by Columbus, as the jewish and latin versions of the Bible are quite different sometimes, professor Juan Fernández Valverde expresses his doubts about which version of the Bible did Columbus read in fact, with the following colloquial expression:

“We have tu suppose that Columbus used a latin version of the Bible, and not a hebrew version, because if he was reading a hebrew version, let’s stop, “turn the light off” and let’s forget about everything”.

The meaning of this thought, written at the end of the introduction to the “Book of Profecies” by professor Juan Fernández Valverde, is that he believes that the Bible that Columbus read was the jewish version, but if we have to assume this fact, it would mean such an important and revolutionary fact, that all about Columbus should be revised!

 

 

Juan Gil Fernández (Madrid, 1939):

Professor Juan Gil Fernández has been professor of Latin Philology of the University of Sevilla (1971-2006) and currently is member of the Spanish Royal Academy (2011). He is one of the most recognised humanists and he has done many collaborations with Doctor Consuelo Varela in the field of  the history of Columbus and the discovery of America.

Professor Juan Gil has written, in my opinion, one of the best recent books about Columbus and the discovery of America intitled: “Myths and utopies of the Discovery”, printed by Alianza Universidad  in his collection for the 5th centennial. As far as I know, this book has not been translated into English language and it is not well know by anglo-american scholars. In the seventh chapter of this book intitled “The religiosity of Cristóbal Colón”, Juan Gil makes a very serious and deep study about the religious believings of Columbus, from which we are going to highlight the following ones.

 

About the wish of Columbus to reconstruct the Temple of Jerusalem Juan Gil says:

“The reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem is contrary to all the old traditions of the christians; because the Temple had been destroyed as a punishment of God for the treachery of the Jews, who have denied to recognise the true Messiah. And so, the consequence, the desolation of this Sanctuary, has to remain until the end of the time”.

 

“The reconstruction of the Temple, so longed for by Columbus is, in consequence, a belief that doesn’t adjust to the christian orthodoxy, because the reconstructor of the Temple has to be the Anticrist, the Jewish Messiah. The reconstruction of the Temple was in fact the thought that has given consolation to the pain and anguish of the Jews during the very long centuries of diaspora.”

 

In this two sentences, professor Juan Gil, without saying explicitly that he is convinced that Columbus was a jew, he proofs that the mentality of Columbus was jewish oriented, fact that signifies a jewish education in jewish religion and costums.

 

About the eschatological beliefs of Christopher Columbus professor Juan Gil writes a definitely clear paragraph about the jewish origins of Columbus:

“The always cautious Columbus, the man that achieves to keep his life in the most complete mystery, commits a temerarious indiscretion. Because it happens that the eschathology, that reflects the most intimate feelings of a community, is the most dificult fact to be assimilated by a religion, with more or less ease the basic concepts may be understood or imitate the external habits, but to throw overboard all what has been learned in the childhood, cut to the chase with all the centuries old traditions is allmost impossible, especially in a question where the christian and  jewish eschatologies converged, even if their viewpoints could be irreducible.”

 

“Atavistic beliefs make Columbus wish that the Temple should be reconstructed: the call of the subconscious is too strong so that the Admiral could overcome it. In this context the sickly mania of Colombus for Jerusalem is completely comprehensible.”

“Because Columbus, at the light of these writings, was educated in the jewish religion in his childhood.”

 

Professor Juan Gil finds another proof of his jewish origins in writing:

“When malevolent people spreaded rumors allusive to the jewish ascent of Columbus, from 1498 onwards the Admiral beguins to use in his manuscripts the expression “in the name of the Holly Trinity”, an obsessive reference, triying to drive away the defametion of his ennemies, fact that becomes a perfect touchstone in order to reveal his condition of “converso”, as it happens in many cases.”

 

And finnally about the definitive support of Lluís de Santàngel, a converted jew, to the first discovery voyage of Columbus, explains:

“It was not a random fact that, when all the negotiations between the Admiral and the Catholic Kings seem to be failed and broken, preciselly a converted jew, Lluís de Santàngel, becomes the very person to use his influence by the kings to save this enterprise. We may suspect, that Santàngel would not have risked so much in a navigation, that many considered a suicide, if he did not had also a religious faith in its final succes. In consequence, we may understand the precise situation: a small group of crypto-jews know that an enlighted person by God is decided to undertake a voyage, never seen before, thanks to which the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament will be achieved. They are who will propagate the rumor that the redemption will come from the Ocean: and so it is hoped that the coming of the Messiah will be in Lisbon, when Columbus is trying to pact with the king of Portugal John II, or in Sevile or Palos, when Columbus is in negotiations with the Catholic Kings”.

 

 

 

Estelle Yrizarri (née Estelle Diane Roses, New Jersey 1937 – 2017):

Estelle Yrizarri was professor of Hispanic Literature in Georgtown University in Washington. In the year 2009, she published the book “El ADN de los escritos de Cristóbal Colón” (The DNA of the writings of Christopher Columbus). After doing a deep linguistical, punctuation and calligraphical study of the writings of Columbus, she asserted that Columbus was not the son of  a Genovese craftsman, but a natural subject of the Crown of Aragon and that his mother tongue was the Catalan language. She also said that Columbus had hidden his origins, because he was forced to hide his true origins because he was a jew or a “converso”.

 

She analyzed the punctuation of Columbus’s manuscripts and detected several particularities that were only used, at that time, in the Catalan speaking territories of the Catalan empire: principality of Catalonia, kingdom of Valencia and the old kingdom of Majorques. She gave special importance in the use of the “virgule” (solidarius), that it was unique in this area. Columbus’s writings were so perfectly written, that she thinks that in his youth he could have assisted to a jewish “masorete” school. Estelle Yrizarri declares: “The hypothesis that Columbus was a “converso” jew, implies that Columbus should have learned and copied the jewish sacred texts in his childhood” and “With high probability, Columbus, converted jew, had instilled in him the obsession of punctuation promoted by his first  masters of his childhood, that were probably masoretes, that lived in the area of the Crown of Aragon that correspond nowadays to Catalonia or in territories of Catalan influence.”

 

Yrizarri analyzed also the writings of Columbus with the help of new computer analytical  programs, that detect the persistence of the phonic memory in the writings of a person whose texts are not written in his mother tongue but in a second language (N-graphic). The probability that the Catalan language was his mother tongue got a value of 0,355675, followed by Galician (0,180575) and French (0,149766).

 

 

We want to point out, with a very special interest, the interpretation that Dr. Estelle Yrizarri has done in this book of the criptogram that Columbus used as his signature:

“A good christian would never use an autograph in order to announce his faith. But a crypto-jew would do it  in order to hide his faith, as Columbus did, with the use of the texts of the prophetes, as a screen of his aparent christianism. The letters of his cryptogram constitute the most sacred, old and repeated prayer of Jewish religion: “Sh´ma Yisroel” (“listen Israel”) written in a perfect triad. The “X” was pronounced “sh”, and reading the next letter to the right we find an “M” with and “A” on top of it ( that becomes a subvertion in the correct order of sanctify, that should be A-M-X-Y). The subvertions resides not only in this fact, because the believer who knows the prayer knows that  it s followed by: “ The Lord is Our God and the Lord is One”, and, as a consequence, the triangle of the “Sh’ma” is the introduction for the negation of the Holly Trinity”.

 

First provisional conclusions:

After considering the above mentioned opinions and texts, we think that the probabilities of Columbus beeing of Jewish ascent seem undoubted, and this familiar condition, his belonguing to a Jewish family, could be the reason for hiding his true identity.

 

 

COLUMBUS WAS A SEPHARDIC JEW.

 

All the scholars that believe and defend the Jewish ascent of Columbus are always focusing the Iberian peninsula as the origin of his family: Portuguese, Castilian, Catalan, Valencian, Majorcan, etc. Some authors, as Salvador de Madariaga or Celso García de la Riega, try to combine a sephardic origin with a Genovese origin, proposing a temporary migration of his family to or from Genova. It seems very difficult to try to square the circle giving to Columbus a double identity: Sephardic and Genovese at the same time.  But before going on in the proposal of a Sephardic Jewish origin of Colombus, we have to clarify and correct several important concepts about the political situation of the Iberian pensinsula in the XVth and XVIth century.

 

The Kingdom of Spain did not exist during Columbus’s life!

 

Please, forget about using the terms “Kingdom of Spain”, “Spaniard”, “Spanish Conquistadors” or “Spanish Empire” during the time of Columbus’s life (and until the beguinning of the XVIIIth century)! The reason of that suggestion is that it is proven that the wedding of Ferdinand of Aragón with Isabella of Castille did not create a new unitarian kingdom of Spain. It was a personal or dynastical union, that nowadays is considered that it was the beguinning of an hispanic monarchy, but not of a new unitarian Kingdom of Spain. University scholars use now the term “composite monarchy” in order to design better the political situation of a group of different territories under the rule of the same king, without signifying the unity of such territories. In the specific case of the Catholic Kings, they had the following nobility titles, where there is no mention of beeing “Kings of Spain”:

 

“Don Fernando e Doña Isabel, por la gracia de Dios Rey e Reyna de Castilla, de León, de Aragón, de Seçilia, de Granada, de Toledo, de Valencia, de Galizia, de Mallorcas, de Sevilla, de Çerdeña, de Cordova, de Corcega, de Murcia, de Jaen, de los Algarbes, de Algesira, de Gibraltar e de las Yslas de Canaria, condes de Barcelona, señores de Vizacaya e de Molina, duques de Atenas e de Neopatria, condes del Rosellón e de Çerdania, marqueses de Oristan e de Goçiano.”

(Letter of the Catholic Kings to the authorities of the coastal towns of their kingdoms forcing them to give all the necessary help in organising the first expedition  of Columbus to the New World; Granada, April 30th, 1492).

 

As a result of this non unitarian set of territories and the non existence of a kingdom of Spain, the Pope Alexander VI, when granting the property of the New World to a European kingdom, which kingdom did he choosed? The incorrect answer to this question is the Kingdom of Spain, because it was inexistent at that time, the correct answer is  to the Catholic Kings and to their successors in the kingdom of Castile and Leon! So, from that point onwards, the so called Spanish Empire should be known as Castilian Empire correctly.

 

 

The big mistake of Geoffrey Barraclough!

 

The Spanish State has insisted in proclaiming the “sacred unity of Spain” in school texts during several past centuries, specially during General Franco’s regime. The official version of the hispanic history has tried permanently to erase the former existence of several independent nations, that in the end were united, after the war of succession (1716), in a single and unitarian nation nowadays known as Spanish Kingdom. The obsession of the Spanish Unity has brought all the successive spanish governments to commit a constant cultural genocide against the several hispanic nations of non Castilian origin as the Basque, Catalan, Valencian, Majorcan, Galician nations in order to achieve the goal to impose a unique and single language in all modern Spain: the Castillian language, known now as Spanish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The propaganda of the Spanish Academy spreading the concept that from the Catholic Kings onwards the Kingdom of Spain became a unitarian and permanent kingdom cheated almost every foreign historian. This fake history can be perfectly detected in one of the most important of all the printed historical atlasses of the world: “The Times Atlas of World History” (1978). In the southern tip of Europe and around the year 1500, the forementioned atlas paints all the Iberian peninsula with only two different coulours, corresponding to the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain (sic)! Mr. Geoffrey Barraclough bite the hook of the Spanish propaganda! First of all he commits the error of designing the former idependent kingdoms, before the supposed union, as Kingdom of Castile and Kingdom of Aragon. The error is that the correct name for the second kingdom should be “The Crown of Aragón”, that was also a composite kingdom of several independent nations. In fact it would have been clearer to name all this territories as the Catalan Mediterranean Empire as it included kingdoms as Sicily, Sardinia or Naples and its capital was the city of Barcelona. Mr. Barraclough prints in this map “united 1479”, fact that is an absolute fallacy, because  he printed also very close to the date of “united 1479”:

to Habsburgs 1504” (Castile) and “to Habsburgs 1516” (Aragon). And we may ask Mr. Barraclough: How is it possible that a unified kingdom in the year 1479, as you said, was handed over to the House of Habsburg in two different periods and shreded in two different territories in 1504 and in 1516, respectively? Who were the “Kings of Spain” the day Columbus died (May 20th, 1506)? The correct answer is NOBODY! because it did not existed such kingdom of Spain! The correct answer is: queen Joanna I, married with Philip of Habsburg were the kings of Castile, and the king Ferdinand, married with his new wife Germaine de Foix, were the kings of the Crown of Aragon. This fact, demonstrates perfectly the correct state of political bussiness in the Iberian peninsula. And all this historical clarification that I have just done is due to the goal that the reader may understand correctly the meaning of the word “sephardic” or “sephardite” and to which kingdom or nation could Columbus have been born in the Iberian peninsula.

 

The correct version of the historical atlas for the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic is the following image:

 


In brown color are represented the domains of the kingdom of Castile and in green color are painted all the territories under the domain of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown (or Catalan Mediterranean Empire, as I suggest).

  

 

 

The New Castilian Inquisition: absolute terror!

 

A very important aspect that shows the absolute independence of the Kingdom of Castile from the Catalan-Aragonese Crown was that, while in Catalonia existed the Holly Inquisition since 1184, due to the cathar heresy, in Castile there was none. Therefore, the Catholic Kings, in order to control the converted jews population of Castile decided to ask the Pope to be allowed to create a New Inquisition there. In Catalonia and the rest of the Crown of Aragon continued the old inquisition that, in the XVth century, was almost inactive. The new Castilian Inquisition begun his activities from the year 1478 onwards.

 

We have to point out that the functioning of the two inquisitions, the old and the new, was absolutely different. While the old medieval Catalan inquisition depended entirely from the Catholic Church and the inquisitors were nominated by the Pope or the local bishops, in the new Castilian inquisition the inquisitors were nominated by the Catholic Kings and all that institution was controlled by them, allthough it was supposed a superior control of the Pope on their decisions.

 

And another absolute difference among the new and the old inquisitions was the fact that, in the case that a judged jewish converted person was condemned and his goods, money and houses would be confiscated from him, before burning him alive, the beneficiary of all this economic welth had been the Catholic Church in the old inquisition (the bishoprics), but in the case of the New Castilian Inquisition this welth would fill the royal arks of the Catholics Kings in Valladolid, the functional capital of the kingdom of Castile!

 

When the firsts persecutions done by the new Castilian inquisition took place in Seville or Cordoba and the first condemned persones were burnt alive in public shows (“autos de fe”), many jewish converted families of Castile decided to escape to the Catalan-Aragonese territories were the old inquisition was almost inactive. Unfortunately, very quickly, the Catholic Kings imposed the new criminal Castilian inquisition in the Kingdoms of Aragón, Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia, with the help and connivence of  Pope Pius VI. Allthough the official goal of the Castilian Inquisition was to exterminate the converted jews heresies, in fact, it was a form for the Catholic Kings to steal, to commit pillage of the fortunes of the most wealthy converted jews in all their estates. The result of the introduction by force of the Castilian inquisition in the Crown of Aragón forced all the wealthy jewish converted families to run away to foreign countries. This first jewish exodus produced a huge economic  damage in the Catalan economy as, for instance, the bankrupcy of the municipal bank of Barcelona.

 

 

In this image of the coat of arms of the new Castilian Inquisition you may observe that, in order to express, that it was dependant from the hispanic monarchy, there has been added a huge royal crown on top of it.

 

But this new Castilian Inquisition has been used also by the kings as an effective politically repressive system, because the functioning of the inquisition was completely separated from the normal justice system

 hiand had his own prisons. As a contemporary Catalan historian said, Miquel Coll i Alentorn, the Castilian inquisition was very similar to the German GESTAPO of Hitler’s time. Once you very arrested, you had no chance of having a legal defense. You were submitted to a mock trial, where the members of the court asked you which heressy  had you commited (sic) and you could not know who was the person that had betrayed you. The accused persons were tortured and the final result was fatal if there wasn’t a huge payement of money. Imagine Columbus returning to the kingdom of Castile in such circumstances, It is absolutely logical that he hide any relationship or ancestry with the jewish world.

 

Sepharad and the Sephardic Jews.

 

The emigrated jews of Jerusalem that fled after the destruction of the second Temple settled in the Iberian peninsula and had a constant permanence there until the expulsion of the Catholic Kings in 1492, that was followed by the expulsion of all the Jews from the kingdom of Portugal in 1496. All this expulsed jews received the name of sephardic or sefardite due to the fact that, in jewish culture, all the old Roman Hispania, equal to all the Iberic peninsula, was called as Sepharad by the Jews. Therefore, Sepharad is a geografical name for all the Iberian peninsula that includes the modern states of Portugal and Spain.

 

Instead uf using the expression of Spanish Jews as an equivalent of Sephardic Jews, it is advisable to use the form of Hispanic Jews, because in this term are included also the Portuguese Jews. We recommend the use of the specific form for the jews of any nation that existed at that time, for instance: Castilian Jews, Catalan Jews, Valencian Jews, Basque Jews, Majorcan Jews, etc, instead of the generallistic and inapropiate term of “Spanish” Jews.

 

 

 

If Columbus was a sephardic jew, to which  territory of the hispanic monarchy did he belonged?

 

Diego Colón, the brother of Christopher Columbus, asked to be nationalized as a Castilian subject in the year 1504 and his proposal was accepted by the Catholic Kings. This fact means that the Columbus’s brothers were not born in the kingdom of Castile and Leon, and therefore they were considered as foreigners to that kingdom. As a consequence Columbus could not have been a Galician, Castilian, Andalusian,etc. sephardic jew.

 

The foreign subjects of all foreign countries could not get any public office as civil servants in the kingdom of Castile if previously they would not be  nationalized as “natural” subjects of Castile. Columbus, allthough he achieved the highest official offices of the kingdom of Castile as Viceroy, General Governor and Admiral of the Ocen Sea, he was never nationalized in the kingdom of Castile. The same reasonment is valid for his brother Bartolomew, that got the office of “Adelantado de Indias” in America. Both, they were foreigners in Castile and, if they could get such important ranks, was due to the following reason: queen Isabella, after becoming queen of Castile, ordered that all the natural subjects of his father in law, king John II of the Crown of Aragon (father of future king Ferdinand), should be treated and considered as natural subjects of his kindom of Castile. Therefore the two brothers, Christopher and Bartholomew Columbus, were in fact natural subjects of the Catalan Mediterranean Empire, without excluding the possibility that they were Sicilians, Sardinians or Napolitans. If Diego Colón, the small brother, should ask to be nationalized, was because he wanted to get an ecclesiatical office and benefice, perhaps bishop of Santo Domingo, and the canonic law was different from the civil law and, therefore, the queen Isabella decree did not affect the religious domain.

 

 

The mother tongue of Columbus as key to determine his craddle.

 

Linguistics is a very old science, that has suffered recently a huge flourishment due to the application of computer aided programs to the study of modern and old texts. Forensic linguistics are so accurate nowadays, that their analysis are accepted as proof in the criminal courts. Recently, several university scholars have analysed the extant handwritten documents of Christopher Columbus, all them written in Castilian language, in order to determine the original mother tongue of Columbus, that is underlying in the Castilian texts. Dr. Lluís de Yzaguirre i Maura, as well as Dr. Estelle Yzaguirre, arrived to the conclusion that the most possible mother tongue of Columbus is the Catalan language. If we accept this conclusion, that means that Columbus was born in a Catalan speaking territory of the Crown of Catalonia-Aragon, the chances of localising his craddle become limited to the Principality of Catalonia, the kingdom of Valencia and the old kingdom of Majorques. As jews lived preferably in the big cities, Columbus could be of Perpignan, Girona, Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, Valencia or the city of Mallorca, among other possibilities.

 

 

Valencia, craddle of Christopher Columbus?

 

In my opinion the best suited city of all the Catalan speaking territories to be the craddle of Columbus is the city of Valencia, capital city of the independent kingdom of Valencia in Columbus’s time. The reasons are several, that I have exposed in several articles related to this subject. In my opinion, Lluís de Santàngel, knew Columbus during his youth in the city of Valencia, because they were of the same secret jewish community of conversos of that city. Also, Columbus when comparing the natural beauty of the luxuriant rain forests of the Antilles, he always compares this landscapes with the famous vegetable gardens of Valencia (“horta de València”). The orthodox theory of Columbus, beeing born in Genova, ignores completely any relationship of Columbus with the city of Valencia. Also, Valencia became the most important city of the Catalan Mediterranean Empire and the gate in introducing the Rennaissance in this western side of the Mediterranean, due to the intense relationship with Naples, as well as for the ascenscion to the throne of the Vatican of two Valencian Popes: Calixtus III and Alexander VI in Columbus’s time.

 

Finally, in Valencia happened an extraordinary phenomenon in this time, as it was the emigration to this city of more than 500 silk weaving masters from the Ligurian region to Valencia. This massive emigration of silk weaving masters, together with their new technology of weaving velvet clothes, converted  Valencia in a great silk textiles production center during three centuries. A social consequence of such intense emigration were the weddings of Genovese young man with Valentian young women, christian or converted jewish women. In my opinion, one of such mixt couples were the parents of the Columbus’s brothers. And there was the possibility that the bride could belong to an old jewish converted family of silk weavers. As a consequence of such genetical mixture, Columbus could receive a MtDNA from his jewish mother and become therefore a man with jewish ascent.

 

 

IF THE  MtDNA OF COLUMBUS CORRESPONDS TO A SEPHARDIC JEWISH WOMAN, CAN HE BE OF GENOVESE ORIGIN?

 

Let’s imagine that the analytical results of the analysis of Columbus’s MtDNA may give the result that it corresponds to a cluster of Jewish Sephardic women. Will this result affect the orthodox version of the Genovese  origin of Columbus? Many Italian scholars, as the very respectet Paolo Emilio Taviani, have insisted, that if it happened, that Columbus was a jew, he could not be an Italian or Genovese. The reasonement of Taviani is based in the fact that in Italy in the XVth century Jews were not allowed to live in the countryside and were forced to live in cities, so, as the grand-grandfather of the Genovese Christoforo Colombo lived in a small rural village known as Moconesi, there is no doubt that the Genovese Cristoforo Colombo could not be of jewish ascent.

 

Another famous Italian scholar and specialist in Columbus, professor Ernesto Lunardi, considers that the Colombo family of Genova had no relationship with the jewish world, because  Domenico Colombo, supposed father of Columbus, worked as a guardian of one of the gates of the city of Genova and this office was reserved uniquely to christians. Another Italian specialist in Columbus, Gianni Granzotto is of the same opinion. There is a total incomptability  of the Genovese Cristoforo Colombo with the personal condition of beeing a Jew, nor to say a Sephardic Jew. On the other hand, in Genova there was not a jewish community in the XVth century, nor to say, sinagogue, and the jews could stay only three days in the city for bussiness. Genova has not been a friendly city for the jews for a long time during the High Middle Ages!

 

If the analytical results of the MtDNA of Christopher Columbus, as well as of his younger brother Diego,  demonstrate that the mother of both brothers was a Sephardic Jewish woman, the Genovese origin of Columbus will fall in crisis and the possibility that some territory of the Iberian peninsula has been the craddle of the discoverer of the New World may become much more probable.

 

 

 

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

 

The scientific historical research not only may be based in written or printed documents and pictures, but also in auxiliar sciences as paleography, linguistics, chemical analysis, genetical analysis, etc.. The most famous book about the mother tongue of Columbus has been “La lengua de Cristóbal Colón” (the mother tongue of Columbus) written by the Spanish scholar Ramon Menéndez Pidal in 1942. But after the appearance of the new computer aided linguistical methods, the research and book of Mr. Menéndez have become totally obsolete. This progression of the auxiliar sciences, together with the changes in the scale of moral values of our society, may altere the historiography of many historical facts. We are living, in the last thirty years, the fall of the fame of Columbus from the consideration of beeing an important universal hero to become the promoter of the greatest genocide. History may change drastically!

 

Thanks to the latest studies in the field of paleography, Columbus writings correspond to the Gothic Catalan Cursive. In the field of linguistics, the latest computed aided analysis reflect that the most probable mother tongue of Columbus was Catalan. The analysis of the administrative proceeding of naturalization, or not, of the Columbus’s brothers, implies that they were natural subjects of king Ferdinand. The study of the most mystical writings of Columbus may bring us to the consideration that Columbus belongs to the Jewish world and culture. We have to be prepared to modifiy our concept about who was Columbus, when the final result of the genetical analysis will be finally known. This genetical result may affirm that Columbus was of Sephardic ascent. In this case the orthodox Genovese theory will need to be reviewed. But, if the genetical analysis results in the negation of any relationship of Columbus with the jewish world, all what I have written in this short essay will be false and I will ask for your mercy and stop researching the life and facts of Columbus. Columbus lived in a very difficult time, when he should play a double identity: christian in public and jew in the privacy of his family. Beeing the son of a Genovese man and a jewish valencian women, having such a double identity, he choosed the Genovese alternative, in order to escape the prosecution of the holly Castillian Inquisition.

 

For me, in my soul, I am convinced that Columbus was a true Sephardic Jew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 

ABRAHAM, HAIM: “Uno de los grandes secretos de Cristóbal Colón era su origen judío·; Universia.es; 22 Noviembre 2006.

 

ALBARDANER, FRANCESC: (https://francescalbardaner.jimdofree.com)

“Christopher Columbus, a dual identity: Sephardic jew of Valencia and “Genovese of nation” (Academia.edu: video and text / ResearchGate)

“Una identitat Dual: ciutadà de València i “Genovès de nació”. (Academia.edu /ResearchGate))

“A silk trail to Columbus”. (Academia.edu /ResearchGate).

“ Valencia, craddle of the discovery of America”; https://francescalbardaner.jimdofree.com

 

AMLER, JANE FRANCES: “Christopher Columbus’s Jewish Roots”; Jason Aronson Inc., London 1991.

 

AMZALAK, MOISES BENSABAT: “Uma interpretaçao da Assinatura de Cristovao Colombo”; Lisboa; 1927.

 

BARNETT, R.D.: “The Sephardi Heritage: essays on the History and cultural contribution of the Jews of Spain and Portugal”; Vol 1: “The Jews in Spain and Portugal before and after the Expulsion of 1492”; New York, 1971.

 

BARROCAS LEVY, ELÍAS: “¿Era Cristóbal Colón judío?”; https://esefarad.com.

 

DAVID, MAURICE: “Who was Columbus? His Real Name and Real Fatherland” New York: The Research Publishing Co., 1933.

 

DEPETRE, JOSÉ LION: Era judío Cristóbal Colón?”

 

ERUGO, JOSÉ + DÍAZ PEREZ, NICOLÁS: “Cristóbal Colón, el judío Sefaradí que descubrió América”.// e. Sefarad. com; June 2016.

 

EVANS, MIKE: “Christopher Columbus Secret Jew”; Timeworthy Books, 2014.

 

FERNANDEZ VALVERDE, JUAN:  Introducción y preparación de “Cristóbal Colón, Libro de las Profecías”; Alianza Editorial / Universidad de Sevilla. Quinto Centenario; Madrid 1992.

 

FEUERSTEIN, EMIL: “Columbus the Jew”. (New Evidence: Columbus was of Marrano Stock/Dr. Rivka Shpak Lissak).

 

FROHLICH, NEWTON: “1492: A Novel of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish Inquisition, and a World at the turning point”. Blue Bird Press, new revised edition (2016)

 

GARCÍA DE LA RIEGA,  CELSO: “Colón, español; su origen y patria”; Sucesores de Rivadeneyra; Madrid 1914.

 

GIUNCIUGLIO, VITTORIO: “Un Ebreo chiamato Cristoforo Colombo”, autoedition; Gloriosa Stamperia Casamara di Genova (1493/94).

 

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Cristóbal Colón y el Descubrimiento de América”. Centro Difusor del Libro.

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KAYSERLING, MEYER: “Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portugese Discoveries, translated from the author’s manuscript by Charles Gross”; New York, 1894; Berlin 1894.

 

LEIBOVICI, SARAH: “Christophe Colomb, Juif (Défense et illustrations)”; Postface de Shmuel Trigano; Editions Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris 1986.

 

LIAMGOT, ALBERTO: “Marginalidad y Judaísmo en Cristóbal Colón”; Congreso Judío Latinoamericano, 1976.

 

LLANAS DE NIUBÓ, RENATO: “El enigma de Colón”, Marte Ediciones, Barcelona 1964.

 

MADARIAGA, SALVADOR DE: “Vida del muy magnífico señor don Cristóbal Colón”; 3ª impresión. Buenos Aires; Editorial Sudamericana, 1944.

 

McENTIRE, WALTER F.: “Was Columbus a Jew?”, Boston, MA: Stratford, 1925.

 

MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT:  “El Almirante de la Mar Oceano: Vida de Cristóbal Colón”; Libreria Hachette; Buenos Aires, 1945.

 

PINEDA YAÑEZ, RAFAEL: “Como disimularon al judío los primeros Cronistas de Indias”; revista  Comentario N. 58; Buenos Aires (1968).

 

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REXACH CAMPS, SERGI: “Judaisme, conversos i Inquisició en època d’Isabel I”.

(Academia.edu ; 18 pgs.)

 

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SARNA, JONATHAN D. : “The Mythical Jewish Columbus and the History of America’s Jews”, in Bryan F. Le Beau and Menahem Mor, eds., “Religion in the Age of Exploration”, Omaha: Creighton University Press. 1966.

 

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Editorial NA, Madrid 2005.

 

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WIESENTHAL, SIMON: “Operación Nuevo Mundo: La misión secreta de Cristóbal Colón”; Editorial Diana, 1992; México. (English title: “Sails of Hope: The Secret Mission of Columbus”).

 

YRIZARRY, ESTELLE: “El ADN de los escritos de Cristóbal Colón”; Ediciones Puerto, San Juan de Puerto Rico (2009).

 

YZAGUIRRE I MAURA, LLUÍS, (Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona):

“Aproximació lexicomètrica a les interferències de base fonològica en els escrits autógrafs de Cristòfor Colom” dins de  les actes del simposi internacional Eivissa 2006. Pg. 97 a 122.

 

 

 

 

LE ANALISI DEI DNA DI CRISTOFORO COLOMBO, DEL FRATELLO DIEGO E DEL FIGLIO HERNANDO, REALIZZATE DALL’ UNIVERSITÀ  DI GRANADA DAL 2002  FINO AD OGGI (2021).

 

 Autore: Francesc Albardaner i Llorens (Settembre del 2021)

 

Lezione letta il venerdi, 10 Dicembre 2021, nella Università La Sapienza di Roma

(Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia).

 

ABSTRACT

 

Twenty years ago, the University of Granada tried to find the DNA of Christopher Columbus, his brother Diego and his son Hernando Colón in order to determine if the bones kept at the Columbus’s mausoleum of the cathedral of Sevile were the true bones of Columbus or not. These analysis were expected to be easy and that the analytical process would take few time. But unfortunately the scarcity of Columbus’s bones, that were in a very bad state of preservation and highly contaminated, presented too many difficulties. Therefore the analysis were left in a stand by from 2007 onwards in the hope that new and better analytical methods would be devoleped in the future.

 

In a press conference, that took place at the University of Granada in May 19th, 2021, it was publicly annouced that the search of the DNA of the three members of the Columbus family would be continued and checked by five international laboratories. In this article the author explains all the different steps that took place during all this long process (2002-2021), as well as the 8 heterodox theories about the national origin of Columbus that will be checked and discarded as false in the case that the analysed samples do not have any genetical coincidence with Columbus’s DNA.

 

 

PREMESSA: LE TOMBE DEI TRE MEMBRI DELLA FAMIGLIA COLÓN.

 

Cristoforo Colombo

Cristoforo Colombo morì a Valladolid il venti maggio 1506 e le sue spoglie furono inumate nel convento di San Francesco di questa città. Successivamente (1509) furono trasferite nella cappella di Santa Ana de la Certosa “de las Cuevas” di Sivigli (a, cappella dove furono sepolti anche il fratello Diego (1515) ed il figlio Diego (1526). Nel 1540 o forse 1544 le spoglie di Cristoforo Colombo e del figlio Diego furono trasferite dalla nuora del navigatore a Santo Domingo e quivi seppellite nel presbiterio della cattedrale. Nel 1795, a causa del passaggio di Santo Domingo alla Francia, imposto dal Trattato di Basilea, i resti di Colombo furono trasportati a Cuba ed inumati nella cattedrale dell’Avana. Alla fine, dopo la perdita di Cuba, nel 1898, i resti furono trasferiti a Siviglia (1899) e deposti in un mausoleo della cattedrale. L’apertura della tomba per iniziare il procedimento delle analisi dei DNA (diennea) avvenne il due giugno del 2003 (duemilatre).

 

A causa dei quattro trasferimenti delle spoglie di Cristoforo Colombo a località assai distanti una dall’altra ed ai possibili errori di identificazione delle stesse, sia a Siviglia che a Santo Domingo, sono sorte diverse ipotesi che mettono in dubbio la  loro autenticità (1). Al fine di dimostrare scientificamente che gli scarsi resti conservati a Siviglia appartengono realmente a Cristoforo Colombo si decise di eseguire l’analisi del suo DNA e confrontarlo con quelli del fratello Diego e del figlio Hernando.

 

Tomba di Cristoforo Colombo a Santo Domingo

 

Nel 1877, mentre si realizzavano dei lavori nel presbiterio della cattedrale di Santo Domingo, apparve una cassa che conteneva diverse ossa umane con una iscrizione che affermava che appartenevano all’ammiraglio. Il che provocò una disputa interminabile su quali fossero gli autentici resti di Colombo. Attualmente le ossa in questione sono conservate nel “Faro di Colón”, un mausoleo monumentale eretto nella Repubblica Dominicana ed inaugurato nel 1992. Le autorità della Repubblica non consentono che siano analizzate geneticamente, nonostante le ripetute richieste fatte dall’Università di Granada a partire del 2003.  

 

 

Diego, fratello di Cristoforo Colombo

 

Il fratello minore di Cristoforo, Diego Colón, deceduto nel 1515, fu inumato proprio nella cappella di Santa Ana de la Cartuja de las Cuevas di Siviglia. Le spoglie vi rimasero fino al 1950, quando furono riesumate ed inviate a Madrid per l’analisi antropologica e forense. Nel trasferimento andò perduto il cranio e la mandibola. Le parti restanti furono restituite alla ditta che ne era proprietaria, La Cartuja Pickman di Siviglia, dove vennero custodite. Nel 1992, al trasferirsi tale ditta nel nuovo edificio di Saleras, fuori dal recinto della Cartuja de las Cuevas di Siviglia,  i resti di Diego furono sepolti, chiusi in una cassa metallica, nei giardini della ditta, finché nel 2002 vennero disotterrati e consegnati all’Università di Granada per lo studio antropologico e l’analisi del DNA.

 

 

Hernando, figlio di Cristoforo Colombo.

 

I suoi resti furono conservati sin dalla morte avvenuta nel 1539 nella cattedrale di Siviglia, in una tomba di sua proprietà, per la qual cosa sono gli unici ad essere considerati unanimemente come autentici e come attendibile riferimento. Inoltre il loro stato di conservazione è abbastanza buono, soprattutto il cranio e la mandibola fornita di abbondante dentatura, il che faciliterà l’analisi genetica.

 

 

 

PRIMO TENTATIVO DI TROVARE IL DNA DI CRISTOFORO COLOMBO REALIZZATO DAL LABORATORIO DI IDENTIFICAZIONE GENETICA, E STUDI FATTI DAL LABORATORIO DI ANTROPOLOGIA FISICA DELL’UNIVERSITÀ DI GRANADA  (2003-2007).

 

Una volta effettuate le esumazioni, i resti di Fernando (nel 2002), del fratello Diego (nello stesso anno) e di Cristoforo Colombo (in quello successivo), furono consegnati all’Università di Granada per essere sottoposti all’analisi dei DNA da parte del laboratorio di identificazione genetica del Dottor José Antonio Lorente Acosta e del laboratorio di antropologia fisica del Dottor Miguel Botella López.

 

Gli studi genetici, nonostante le grandi difficoltà che presentavano, furono in grado di determinare l’autenticità dei resti di Colombo conservati nella cattedrale di Siviglia, dato che si poté dimostrare l’identità del suo DNA mitocondriale con quello del fratello Diego. Fu pure possibile confermare attraverso i risultati parziali delle analisi del cromosoma Y, una relazione paterno-filiale tra Colombo ed il figlio Hernando.

 

Per quanto riguarda gli esami di antropologia fisica i risultati furono quelli sperati, giacché confermarono le malattie da cui furono afflitti sia Colom che il fratello Diego, (3) benché l’età in cui morì Diego sembrasse non coincidere con quella attribuita al Giacomo Colombo genovese. Il fatto che sia Hernando che lo zio Diego presentassero entrambi la patologia della spina dorsale bifida, contribuí a consolidare l’ipotesi di una componente genetica familiare. Furono eseguiti anche studi edafologici delle terre e delle polveri contenute nell’urna di Colombo (per la Facoltà di Farmacia della Università di Granada) che corroborarono l’autenticità delle spoglie. Con la conseguenza di mettere il punto finale ai dubbi riguardanti la possibilità che i resti del mausoleo della cattedrale di Siviglia non fossero di Cristoforo Colombo.  A questo punto si sarebbe potuto proseguire la ricerca per ottenere integralmente il suo DNA.

 

Ma l’équipe dell’Università di Granada decise di interrompere temporaneamente la ricerca giacché le tecniche analitiche dei DNA di quell’epoca (2007) e le cattive condizioni dei resti di Colombo, avrebbero provocato il rapido deterioraramento di molte ossa in cambio degli scarsi risultati che si sarebbero ottenuti. Si aggiornò, quindi, la ricerca in attesa che nuovi metodi di analisi assai più elaborati potessero essere applicati ai pochi resti di Colombo con la garanzia totale di riuscita.

 

 

IL DOCUMENTARIO “COLUMBUS, SECRETS FROM THE GRAVE” DI DISCOVERY CHANNEL (2003 – 2004).

 

Dopo aver ottenuto i permessi necessari per l’esumazione delle tombe di Cristoforo Colombo, Diego Colón ed Hernando Colón, l’Università di Granada, confidando di ottenere con relativa facilità il DNA di questi personaggi, programmò la realizzazione di un documentario che illustrasse l’intero processo dall’inizio.  Lo si incaricò a Discovery Channel e la produzione alla compagnia Atlantic Productions di Londra con la collaborazione di Malvarrosa Media di Valencia.

 

Man mano che si procedeva a girare il documentario, ci si accorse subito che non vi era nessuna possibilità di ottenere novità spettacolari sulla vita e le origini di Cristoforo Colombo, dato che mancava il risultato finale delle analisi del suo DNA. Per questa ragione la sceneggiatura  cominciò a orientarsi sulla presentazione delle anomalie  presenti nella storiografia genovese ortodossa riguardanti momenti noti della sua vita e la conseguente ipotesi di una possibile origine catalana del personaggio.

 

 

ANALISI DEI DNA DI CONTEMPORANEI CON I COGNOMI COLOM E COLOMBO (2005 - 2006).

 

Prima che le analisi dei DNA dei tre membri della famiglia Colom fossero aggiornate a data indefinita (2007), l’Università di Granada insieme a quella di Tor Vergata di Roma, iniziarono parallelamente la ricerca di DNA di contemporanei che  avessero il cognome “Colom” nel contesto geografico dei Paesi Catalani e quello di “Colombo” nel Nord Italia. L’obbiettivo era unicamente quello di poter disporre di un banco di dati di DNA che, nel momento in cui si sarebbe ottenuto quello del navigatore,  potesse essere confrontato con i DNA di queste persone e che nel caso che si verificasse qualche coincidenza consentisse di definire le origini geografiche della famiglia di Cristoforo Colombo.

 

Il Dottor José Antonio Lorente, nell’estate del 2005, si mise in contatto con il Centre d’Estudis Colombins di Barcellona per richiederne la collaborazione ai fini di  ottenere i necessari campioni di saliva di trecento uomini. Il requisito per realizzare il progetto era che i campioni fossero consegnati prima della fine di gennaio del 2006, in modo che i laboratori di Granada e di Roma avessero il tempo necessario per ottenere i risultati e per poter pubblicare le conclusioni della ricerca intorno al 20 maggio 2006, quinto centenario della morte di Cristoforo Colombo.

 

I campioni dei Paesi Catalani si presero da maschi dal cognome Colom residenti nel Rossiglione, Catalogna, Valencia e Baleari e, in via eccezionale, nella Guascogna (Bordeaux). A Bordeaux i campioni si presero da due fratelli che affermavano di essere discendenti da Bertolomeo Colombo, fratello dell’ammiraglio, che generò un loro antenato durante il soggiorno a Parigi alla corte di Madame de Beaujeu, sorella del re di Francia.

 

Dei trecento campioni richiesti, duecentoquaranta dovevavano appartenere a maschi viventi dal cognome Colom e sessanta ad un gruppo di riferimento di catalani ciascuno dei quali avesse otto antenati catalani. Durante tre mesi nell’autunno e inverno del 2005-2006 si presero i campioni di saliva che furono poi spediti all’Università di Granada in provette ciascuna con una identificazione numerica. Il sottoscritto possede una lista dei nominativi corrispondenti ai diversi campioni. In totale erano duecentotrentotto.

 

Sul versante italiano se ne raccolsero soltanto centoquattordici da maschi “Colombo” nelle regioni della Liguria, Piemonte e Lombardia. I campioni non furono consegnati all’università fino al giugno del 2006, il che naturalmente rese impossibile l’impegno preso di rendere pubblici i risultati intorno al venti maggio di quell’anno. In ogni modo, anche se si fosse riusciti a rispettare la scadenza, non si sarebbe potuto ricavare nessun profitto giacché non vi sarebbe stato nessun termine di paragone genetico a cui fare riferimento. I campioni e le analisi dei DNA furono depositati e non si dette alcuna informazione pubblica da parte delle università implicate. Il silenzio informativo fu assai contestato dagli studiosi colombiani stranieri, soprattutto dai nordamericani.

 

 

IL DOTTOR FRANCESC CALAFELL E L’INTERPRETAZIONE DEI DNA DI MASCHI VIVENTI COLOM/COLOMBO (2009 – 2011).

 

Il dottor Francesc Calafell i Majó è membro dell’Istituto di Biologia Evolutiva  del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas dell’Università Pompeu Fabra di Barcellona. Nel venire a sapere che nell’Università di Granada vi era un banco dati di DNA di titolari dei cognomi Colom/Colombo, non ancora ben studiati, sollecitò alle due università in questione il permesso per studiare i campioni e trarne le opportune conclusioni. Lo studio finale fu pubblicato sull’European Journal of Human Genetics (17 Agosto 2011) e risultò assai interessante per le sorprendenti conclusioni a cui era arrivato lo studioso (2).

 

Quanto agli uomini “Colom” dei Paesi Catalani, il Dottor Calafell riuscì a raggrupparli per aplotipi, stabilendo così che la loro origine era polifiletica. Non tutti i maschi che hanno il cognome catalano “Colom” sono discendenti da un solo uomo, per quanto lontano egli sia, ma hanno origini genetiche e geografiche diverse e formano dei “clusters”. Ne deriva che, nel caso in cui il DNA del cromosoma Y di Cristoforo Colombo fosse identico a quello di uno di questi gruppi, si sarebbe potuto individuare con molta probabilità la sua origine geografica.

 

Nel caso del gruppo con il patronimico “Colombo” si dava un caso sorprendente, che il dottor Calafell non si sarebbe mai aspettato. Il fatto è che la distribuzione degli aplotipi era praticamente uguale al numero di persone esaminate e del tutto simile alla distribuzione degli aplotipi della popolazione generale italiana. Non si riscontrava nessuna formazione di alcun gruppo o “cluster” nei “Colombo” italiani. Ciò si deve al fatto che negli orfanatrofi del norditalia, durante tre secoli, si dava il cognome “Colombo” ai piccoli che venivano accolti e quindi riflettevano la distribuzione genetica della popolazione dei loro genitori. Per cui, nel caso che il DNA di Cristoforo Colombo fosse identico a quello di qualcuno dei maschi italiani presi in esame, occorrerebbe studiare il suo albero genealogico per stabilire la localizzazione della sua famiglia nel quindicesimo secolo al fine di determinare le origini di Cristoforo Colombo.

 

 

 

LA RIPRESA DELLE ANALISI DEI DNA DEI TRE MEMBRI DELLA FAMIGLIA DELL’AMMIRAGLIO (2021).

 

Dopo quindici anni di silenzio ufficiale, sia da parte dell’Università di Granada che da quella di Tor Vergata, il 19 maggio 2021, si svolse nel rettorato dell’università di Granada una conferenza stampa in cui si annunciò la ripresa delle analisi dei resti dei tre membri della famiglia Colombo/Colón/Colom. Nell’operazione erano coinvolti cinque diversi istituti internazionali, che indichiamo di seguito:

 

1-      Dipartimento di Biologia e Antropologia dell’Università di Firenze: dottor Davide Caramelli.

2-      Center for Human Identifications; North Texas University in Fort Worth:

Dr. Bruce Budowle.

3-      Dipartimento di Biologia/ Laboratorio d’Antropologia dell’Università di Tor Vergata: dottoressa Olga Rickards.

4-      Laboratorio de Distribuidora Comercial Zogbi di Città del Messico: ingegnere Jorge Antonio Zogbi.

5-      Centro Pfizer/Genyo; Università di Granada; Dr. José Antonio Lorente Acosta.

 

 Nella conferenza stampa si annunciò la possibilità di disporre dei risultati intorno al 12 ottobre 2021, il che non è stato possibile per varie difficoltà. Si prevede che si possano ottenere prima della fine della primavera del 2022.

 

Anche questa volta fu assunta una casa di produzione di documentari (Story Producciones) per girare un reportage sull’evoluzione graduale delle  diverse analisi nei diversi laboratori internazionali con il fine di realizzare una miniserie di tre capitoli per TVE   (televisione spagnola), che si sarebbe fatta carico di tutte le spese.

 

 

L’INTERPRETAZIONE DEI RISULTATI ANALITICI DEL DNA DI COLOM SULLA BASE DELLE OTTO TEORIE ETERODOSSE CIRCA LE SUE ORIGINI.

 

Sebbene lo scopo originario delle analisi del DNA di Colom fosse semplicemente di dimostrare che i resti conservati nella cattedrale di Siviglia erano autenticamente quelli del navigatore, si vollero subito legare le indagini al tentativo di scoprirne anche le autentiche origini “nazionali” o geografiche grazie alla scienza genetica. A tal fine si programmò, in un primo momento, la raccolta di campioni di maschi Colom / Colombo, di cui si è già parlato poc’anzi, con la convinzione che si potesse differenziarne le origini “catalane” da quelle “italiane”. Però nel riprendere di nuovo le ricerche, l’équipe degli investigatori dell’Università di Granada ha scelto otto diverse teorie eterodosse al fine di scartarle o di confermarle, dopo aver ottenuto il risultato finale del DNA di Colombo, una volta messo a confronto con il DNA di diversi personaggi storici, ipoteticamente parenti stretti di Colom in base alle citate teorie. Ciò ha reso necessaria la riesumazione e la raccolta di mostre organiche di tutti i soggetti coinvolti, cosa sempre difficile e complicata da un punto di vista amministrativo. Anche questa è stata una delle cause del ritardo della pubblicazione dei risultati finali.

 

Le teorie da discutere sono le seguenti:

 

1 – Teoria maiorchina: Colom, nato nel 1460, è figlio naturale di Carlos, principe di Viana. Teoria originale di Joan Cerdà (4) e attualmente sostenuta da Gabriel Verd Martorell.

 

2 – Teoria valenciana: Colom ha una identità duale: “genovese” come nazionalità, essendo figlio di un padre ligure, setaiolo immigrato a Valencia ed ebreo sefardita convertito, in quanto figlio di una donna ebrea valenciana. Teoria sostenuta da Francesc Albardaner (5).

 

3 – Teoria gagliega classica: Colombo originario di Pontevedra. Teoria di Celso García de la Riega e sostenuta attualmente da Eduardo Estéban Meruéndano, presidente della “Associación Cristóbal Colón Galego, Celso García de la Riega” (6).

 

4 – Teoria castigliana: Colombo originario di Guadalajara, nato a Espinosa de Henares. Difesa nell’attualità da Alfonso C. Sanz Núñez (7).

 

5 – Teoria navarrese: Colombo è un “agote”, cioè originario della valle di Baztàn nella Bassa Navarra e portatore dell’antigene HLA- B27, che predispone alla sindrome di Reiter. Teoria sostenuta da José Mari Ercilla (8).

 

6 – Teoria portoghese (I) : Identífica Cristoforo Colombo con Pedro de Ataíde, corsaro portoghese. Sostenuta da  Fernando Branco (9).

 

7 – Teoria portoghese (II): Colombo sarebbe figlio illegittimo di Leonor d’Aviz e di Dom Joao Menezes da Silva,  sostenuta dai fratelli  José e Antonio Mattos da Silva (10).

 

8 – Teoria portoghese (III): Colombo sarebbe figlio bastardo di  Don Fernando, duca di Beja e Viseu e di Isabel Gonçalvez Zarco.   Teoria di Augusto Mascarenhas Barreto e sostenuta da Carlos Evaristo (11).

 

La scienza genetica avrà l’ultima parola sull’accettazione o sull’esclusione delle diverse teorie che  mettono in relazione Colom con personaggi storici da cui si è potuto ricavare il DNA. Però nei casi più incompleti le risposte non potranno essere così contundenti e daranno origine a nuove interpretazioni, come nel caso in cui risultasse che il DNA mitocondriale di Colom appartenesse a un cluster di donne ebree sefardite.  Cosa succederebbe alla teoria “genovese”  nel caso in cui risultasse che Colom è un ebreo sefardita, visto che agli ebrei era stato interdetto di abitare a Genova molti anni prima della sua nascita, limitando il loro soggiorno nella città per non più di tre giorni per ragioni commerciali? Tutto fa pensare che un risultato del genere  metterebbe in crisi la teoria ortodossa delle origini genovesi.

 

D’altronde, supponendo che il DNA del cromosoma Y di Colom fosse quello proprio delle popolazioni della regione della guascogna e dei paesi baschi e che avesse l’antigene HLA-B27 (3) che favorisce nel portatore l’apparizione di artriti reattive, come quelle di cui soffrirono sia Cristoforo Colombo che il fratello Diego, dovremmo per questo escludere la discendenza genovese di Colom? Non necessariamente, giacché, anche se le origini familiari di Colombo potessero ubicarsi molti secoli prima nella Guascogna o nei Paesi Baschi, questa famiglia avrebbe potuto emigrare, a causa di guerre o di altre calamità, nella Liguria e stabilirsi a Genova poche generazioni precedenti la nascita del nostro navigatore.

 

 

 

CONCLUSIONI

 

Le analisi dei DNA umani possono contribuire ad individuare la parentela inequivocabile fra persone. Lo studio genetico riflette l’evoluzione dell’intero lignaggio del soggetto studiato e può rivelare le origini lontane del gruppo famigliare e molte fasi verificatesi nel corso di molte generazioni.  È pure certo che, una volta conosciute le caratteristiche genetiche di una persona, queste si possono mettere in relazione con i milioni di risultati che si conservano nei banchi dati del mondo intero e, quindi, ottenere un orientamento statistico sulle possibili origini territoriali del soggetto.

 

A seconda dei risultati finali delle analisi dei DNA dei tre membri della famiglia Colón / Colom / Colombo, vi saranno molte ipotesi eterodosse, per non dire quasi tutte, che verranno scartate non presentando coincidenze con i DNA dei campioni con i quali sono state messe in relazione. Comunque è impossibile assicurare al cento per cento che tali risultati possano determinare il luogo di nascita di Colombo e dei suoi fratelli, se non nel caso di  assoluta coincidenza con l’aplotipo di qualche cluster di soggetti già identificati con origini geografiche conosciute.

 

NOTES AND BILIOGRAPHY

 

(1)–Carlos Serra Pickman: “Cristóbal Colón: sus estancias y enterramiento en la Cartuja de Sevilla”; Editorial Herederos de Carlos Serra; Sevilla 1992.

 

(2) – “Surname and Y chromosome in Southern Europe: a case study with Colom/Colombo”; European Journal of Human Genetics, N.20, p. 211-216; 2011. Authors: Luis Javier Martínez-González, Esther Martín-Espín, Juan Carlos Álvarez, Francesc Albardaner, Olga Rickards, Cristina Martínez-Labarga, José Antonio Lorente and Francesc Calafell.

 

(3) – “A mariner with crippling arthtritis and bleeding eyes”; Frank C. Arnett, Charles Merrill, Francesc Albardaner, Philip A Mackowiack. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences; Vol. 332, Isuue 3; p. 123-130; September 2006.

 

(4) – Joan Cerdà: “Mallorca ¿Cuna de Colom?”; Impremta Hispana , Felanitx, Enero 1968.

 

(5) – Francesc Albardaner i Llorens: Conferenza dal 22 di Giugno 2021 nell Centro Pfizer/Genyo della Università di Granada: https://francescalbardaner.jimdofree.com.

 

(6) – Celso García de la Riega: “Colón, español. Su origen y patria”; Madrid, Sucesores de Rivadeneira, 1914.

 

(7) – Alfonso Carlos Sanz Núñez: “Don Cristóbal Colón, Almirante de Castilla”, Entrelíneas Editores (October 2015).

 

(8) – José Mari Ercilla: Euskal Irrati Telebista; https://www.eitb.eus (May 2021)

 

(9) – Fernando Branco: “Cristovao Colon, Nobre Portugues”; Chiado Books, 2012.

 

(10) – José e António Mattos e Silva: “Cristovao Colon: Descoberta a sua identidade?”; Casos da Història – Vol. II (2021).

 

 

(11) – Augusto Mascarenhas Barreto: “O Portugues Cristovao Colombo, agente secreto do Rei Dom Joao II”; Editorial Refrendo; Lisboa 1988.

COLUMBUS WAS A SEPHARDIC JEW.

 

 

Author: FRANCESC ALBARDANER

 

Written in July / August 2022; in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Catalonia).

To be published in: ARMORIA; Butlletí de la Institució Catalana de Genealogia i Heràldica, N.12; October 2022. (Draft 1)

 

 

 

                  

The Sarajevo Haggadah is a masterpiece of the Catalan Sephardic art (Barcelona, circa 1350).

 

 

ABSTRACT

Since 2003, the University of Granada, with the collaboration of several international universities, has been trying to find the ADN of Christopher Columbus from the samples taken from the bones of Columbus resting in his monument of the Cathedral of Sevilla. It is now probable that, in the near future, we will know the final results of such genetical analysis, that we expect to read in a scientific article to be published in some important scientific bulletin.

 

In this article the author analyses the possibility that the analytical results may assert that the Mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA) of Cristopher Columbus belongs to a typical MtDNA of Sephardic Jewish women and  how would this fact alter the accepted biography of Columbus with a Genovese origin.

 

As such result may force to alter the “national” origin of Columbus, as well as his religious beliefs, the author considers necessary to explain with full detail the political situation of the Iberian peninsula during Columbus’s life, the concept of Sepharad as well as the situation of the jewish and converted  communities after the creation of the new Castilian Inquisition imposed by Isabella and Ferdinand in the territories under their rule.

 

RIASSUNTO

 

Dal 2003 l’Università di Granada, in collaborazione con diversi atenei internazionali, sta cercando di scoprire l’ADN di Cristforo Colombo servendosi di alcuni campioni estratti dai resti conservati nell’urna del suo monumento nella Cattedrale di Siviglia. Si pensa che in un prossimo futuro potremo conoscere finalmente i risultati di queste ricerche genetiche che verranno pubblicate in un articolo scientifico su una importante rivista scientifica internazionale.

 

In questo articolo l’autore analizza la possibilità che i risultati delle analisi arrivino alla conclusione che l’ADN mitocondriale di Cristoforo Colombo appartenga ad un tipico ADN mitocondriale di un gruppo di donne ebree sefardite, e inoltre come tale risultato potrebbe influire nella universalmente accettata biografia del Cristoforo Colombo di origine genovese.

 

Dato che un risultato di tal fatta potrebbe obbligare ad alterare l’origine “nazionale” di Colombo, come pure le sue credenze religiose, l’autore considera imprescindibile spiegare dettagliatamente la situazione politica degli stati della penisola iberica durante la vita di Cristoforo Colombo, il concetto ed il significato del termine “Sepharad”, come pure la situazione delle comunità ebree e converse dopo la creazione della nuova Inquisizione Castigliana imposta dai Re Cattolici nei territori sotto il loro dominio.

 

 

 

RESUM

 

Des de l’any 2003, la Universitat de Granada, amb la col·laboració de diverses universitats internacionals, ha estat intentant descobrir l’ADN de Cristòfor Colom a partir d’unes mostres tretes dels ossos preservats en la urna del seu monument de la Catedral de Sevilla. Comença a ser probable que, en un futur proper, poguem conèixer finalment els resultats d’aquestes recerques genètiques, que seran publicades en un article científic d’un important butlletí científic internacional.

 

En aquest article l’autor analitza la possibilitat de que els resultats d’aquestes anàlisis defineixin que el ADN mitocondrial de Cristòfor Colom pertanyi a un típic ADN mitocondrial d’un grup de dones jueves sefardites, així com podria afectar un tal resultat en la universalment acceptada biografia del Cristoforo Colombo, genovès d’origen.

 

Com que un resultat d’aquesta mena podria forçar a alterar l’origen “nacional” de Colom, així com també les seves creençes religioses, l’autor considera imprescindible d’explicar amb tot detall la situació política dels estats en la península ibérica durant la vida de Cristòfor Colom, el concepte i significat del mot “Sepharad”, així com la situació de les comunitats jueves i converses després de la creació de la nova Inquisició Castellana imposada pels Reis Catòlics en els territoris sota el seu domini.

 

 

 

 

THE SUPPOSED ENIGMA OF COLUMBUS’S ORIGINS.

 

For the enormous majority of scholars of all the world there is no “enigma” about the origin of Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the New World in 1492. Specially for the Italian scholars, the origin of Columbus is completely clear and documented: Columbus was born in Genova in the year 1451, beeing the son of Domenico Colombo and Susanna Fontanarossa. He had three brothers and one sister. If the orthodox theory about Columbus is correct, why are there appearing continuously heterodox theories asserting extravagant origins of the discoverer?

 

Even if we may accept the Genovese origin of Columbus, as his son Fernando Colón expresses in his last will, there are many aspectes of the life of Columbus that don’t seem to fit with the Cristoforo Colombo  identified by Agostino Giustiniani, Antonio Gallo and other several Genovese historians at the beguinning of the XVIth century. When a scientific theory presents too many anomalies, it may be wise to look for another theory that may fulfill better the life and facts of Columbus, than the old orthodox theory. The existence of so many anomalies in the orthodox theory is the reason that promotes the search for a new theory, for a new historical personage, that may fit better with the real Christopher Columbus.

 

 

WAS CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS A JEW?

 

There is a long tradition in considering Columbus a jew, a converted jew or a crypto-jew, beguinning this tradition during the life of Columbus himself and lasting until this XXIrst century. Historically, Columbus is considered to be a perfect member and follower of the Roman Catholic Church, son of Roman Catholic parents, married with a noble Roman Catholic Portuguese wife, and even belonguing to the Third Order of Saint Francesco d’Assisi. As the discovery and conquest of America provoked the expansion of the Catholic Faith in so many countries and cultures, Columbus has been even proposed to become a saint of the Holly Roman Catholic Church in the second half of the XIXth century by the popes Pius IX (Nonus) and Leo XIII (Tercius Decimus). However, so many historians have smelled the scent of jewishness in the facts and writings of Columbus and his brothers, that we consider that it is worth to give a consideration to their arguments.

 

Early Contemporaneus Proofs.

 

In October 12th (sic!) of the year of the Lord of 1500, friar Juan de Trassierra, franciscan friar, wrote a letter to Cardinal Cisneros against the government of Columbus in Santo Domingo, that beguins with this text:

 

“Por amor de Dios que vuestra reverencia ha sido ocasión que tanto bien se començase en que saliese esta tierra de poderyo del rey faraón, que faga que el ni ninguno de su nación venga en estas islas, etc.”

 

The meaning of this text is that friar Trassierra is asking Cardinal Cisneros to  proceed to the expulsion of Columbus of the American Isles and to deny any possibility to the jews, or converted jews, to travel to the New World. Such interpretation may be true if we accept that the words “King Pharaoh” refer to Columbus and that he is considered a jew, as were the jews named in the slang of the franciscan friars.  And also very important is the concept “ninguno de su nación”, meaning “nobody of his nation”. Of which nation is friar Juan de Trassierra talking about? Is he talking about the Genovese? Or perhaps is he talking about the Portuguese, the Catalans, the Aragonese, etc.? No, not at all! He is talking about the concept “jewish nation”, as were considered all the jews  to belong to.

These concept of “jewish nation” brought also to Salvador de Madariaga to consider Columbus as a descendent of Catalan jews.

 

We may find astonishing,  that the son of Columbus himself, Hernando Colón, asserts that the predecessors of his father were from “the royal blood of Jerusalem” in his biography of his father. Is he telling us, with no veils, that his family was of jewish origin?

Or even a better example of the possible jewish descent of Colombus was expressed by Columbus himself in the followiing letter sent to Diego de Deza:

 

Pònganme el nombre que quisieren, que al fin David, rey muy sabio, guardó ovejas y después fué hecho rey de Jerusalén; yo soy siervo de aquel mismo Señor que puso a David en este estado”.

(“Let them give me the name they will, for, after all, David, a very wise king, kept ewes and later was made a king of Jerusalem, and I am the servant of the same Lord who raised David to that state.”)

In this text, Columbus declares openly that he considers himself to be a servant of the same God, the jewish God, that placed David as king of Jerusalem.

 

One of the most famous books proposing a jewish origin of Christopher Columbus is due to Sarah Leibovici intitled “Christophe Colomb Juif” (1986). In her book Leibovici, among very important reasons exposed by her in favour of a jewish origin of Columbus, talks about a supposed letter of friar Hernando de Talavera sent to queen Isabella. The author affirms that this letter was exhibited in Madrid in 1969 in a public exhibition and the content of it was published in an article of the israeli newspaper Ha’Aretz. The supposed letter would have been written in June 1492. In it, friar Hernando de Talavera tries to convince queen Isabella not to send Columbus in his first voyage of discovery and asks her to put Columbus in the hands of the Inquisition, and so, Columbus will end his life on a wooden plank, that will not be precisely the plank of a ship, meaning that Columbus will be condemned by the Inquisition to be  burnt alife in an “auto de fe” due to his heressy and jewish origin. If this document exists, it would be one of the most old documents were Columbus is accused of beeing a false christian and a crypto-jew. But, allthough I have tried to find such document i have not been able to determine where it may be preserved and therefore I consider that this argument of Leibovici has to be considered as a fake new.

 

 

Selection of the main points proposed by different scholars who defend a jewish origin of Christopher Columbus.

 

The figure of Columbus was not very well studied by historians during three hundred years after his death. It was at the beguinning of the XIXth century that several historians took interest in studying the figure of Columbus, not only Italian scholars, but also Spanish  academics. We have to give great importance to the work of the Spanish historian Juan Bautista Muñoz (1745-1799), who, in the second half of the XVIIIth century, by royal order, was incharged of bringing to light all the possible old documents about the discovery and colonization of America. Thanks to his work many true and unknown manuscripts of Columbus gave new light to this historical figure. Martin Fernández de Navarrete (1765-1844) continued his task and the flourishment of so many documents was known by international scholars as Washington Irving (1783-1828), who, after the publication of his book intitled “A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus” (1828), based on Muñoz and Navarrete’s research, spread the interest of the study of Columbus history into the anglo-american world.

 

Already in the XIXth century, we find scholars, like the German Mayer Kayserling, who begun considering possible a jewish origin of Columbus. We have to point out, that Kayserling was a jewish rabbi, and  many of the promoters of the jewish origin of Columbus are members of the jewish international comunity. At the end of this article we give a small and selected bibliography of all the books and articles that consider possible a jewish origin of Columbus. We cannot repeat completely all the allegations presented in such a big collection of works, but we give a short list of the most decisive of them:

 

The use of the term “Casa Santa” in designing the holly temple of Jerusalem:

Many times in his manuscripts, and also in his apostilles, Columbus uses the form of “Casa Santa” (the holly house) that corresponds perfectly to the jewish term “Beit Eloka”, that no christian writer would use, to design the Temple of Jerusalem. In a very long apostille in the book of Enneas Silvio Piccolomini, when talking about the age of the earth Columbus writes: “.. since they escaped from Egypt 400 years, and between their escape from Egypt and until the construction of the First House 480 years. And from the construcción of the First House until his destruction 410 years. And from the destruction of the First House until the exit from Babylon 70 years, and then the Second House begun to be built. And the Second House lasted 400 years. And from the birth of Abraham until the destruction of the Second House 1088 years....etc.”

 

Columbus computes the age of the world according to the Jewish Calendar:

In an apostille written in 1481 by Columbus, he affirms that the age of the world is  5.241 years, corresponding to the age of the earth given in the Jewish Bible.

 

“Beth” and “Hai” monograms at top of the letters written to his elder son, Diego:

Many scholars have noted a strange monogram at the top left of many letters written by Columbus to his elder son Diego Colón. This sign is interpreted as hebrew cursive writing of the letters “beth” and “hai”, with the meaning of “Be ezrat ha Chem” (with the help of the Name) or “Barouch ha Chem” (be blessed the Name of the Lord). Nito Verdera asked the services of Criminology of the Spanish Police to determine if this monogram had been written from right to left or instead from left to right. The resultal of that analysis was that they had been written from right to left, in the jewish form of writing. Onofre Vaquer Bennassar considers that this monogram appears also in three letters written to the Catholic Kings, fact that, if true, would invalidate the meaning of a secret familiar mark of identification.

 

The delay in one day of the departure of the ships for the discovery of America from the port of Palos de la Frontera.

 

There was a phantastic coincidence of the last day allowed to the jews to leave the territories of Castile and the Crown of Catalonia-Aragon, in August 2nd, with the departure of Columbus to his first voyage of discovery. But the admiral decided to delay the departure of the ships for the sunrise of the next day, August 3rd, and ordered to all the members of the crew to be compulsory on bord of the ships before midnight of August 2nd.

 

August 2nd was the anniversary of the destruction of the first and second temples of Jerusalem, because it corresponds with the 9th day of the jewish month of Av. Due to this fact, if Columbus was a jew, he would never beguin such important voyage in such a bad day of bad omen. Many scholars admit that the delay was due to this reason and that it demonstrates that Columbus was a jew.

 

But there was also another important reason to order to everybody of his crew to stay on bord before the end of August 2nd, and it was to avoid any interference of the members of the holly inquisition, because they could arrest any person considered a jew from midnight of August 2nd onwards, for not having respected the expulsion order of the kings. And several members of the crew could be jews and that could effect even Columbus himself.

 

 

Letter of Columbus to the Catholic Kings dated July 7th, 1503 from Jamaica.

 

Salvador de Madariaga, when analysing the letter  sent by Columbus to the Catholic Kings from the island of Jamaica on July 7h 1503, points out a small fragment saying:

“.. y de los cristianos cobraste tan honrada fama”, meaning “..and from the Christians you got such an honored fame”. This sentence, referred to Columbus and having been writen by Columbus himself is considered by Madariaga as a declaration of Columbus of not beeing a Christian.

 

 

“A silver coin should be given to a jew living in the jewish district of Lisbon.”

The above mentioned sentence is included in the last will of Columbus, dated May 19th, 1506, and many scholars consider that Columbus is following a typical jewish tradition  of the jewish testaments.

 

 

 

“Lapsus calami” of Colombus about the month of Nissan.

In a letter written by Columbus to the Catholic Kings writes:

“Así que, después de haver echado fuera todos los judíos de todos vuestros reinos y señoríos, en el mismo mes de Enero mandaron vuestras Altezas a mí, que con armada suficiente me fuese a las dichas partidas de la India.”

(“So, after having expulsed all the jews from your several kingdoms, in the same month of January, your Hignesses sent me to the parts of India, with the necessary armada...”).

 

The contract between Columbus and the Catholic Kings for the discovery of the New world was signed in the month of April 1492. The decree of expulsion of the jews from their realms was signed and made public in the same month of April 1492. Columbus has written such an error because in this year 1492, the month of April coincided with the first month of the jewish calendar, called the month of Nissan. Renato Llanas de Niubó considers that this “lapsus calami” was due to the jewish culture in which Columbus had been educated .

 

The obsession of Columbus in the recovery and liberation of the Temple of Jerusalem.

In his writings Columbus expresses many times, insistently, his wish that the Temple of Jerusalem should be reconstructed. He even proposes to the Catholic Kings, that all the gold exported from the American Colonies should be used to create an army and navy for a future war of reconquest of Jerusalem, so that the Temple could be restored to its former glory. Many authors consider also this obsession of Columbus as a clear sign that he belonged to a jewish family, as, for instance, Onofre Vaquer.

 

Secret encripted letter of Columbus to his brother Bartolomew in Hispaniola.

Christopher Columbus, when he saw the arrival of Francisco de Bobadilla with several letters  of attorney of the Catholic Kings, that could bring him to be imprisoned in 1500, he wrote a letter to his brother Bartholomew, that was in a discovery campaign, to return as quickly as possible with him to avoid the possible danger. Several chroniclers have said, that this letter was written in an unknown alphabet and consider seriously that it was written with the jewish cursive alphabet, fact that would demonstrate that Columbus received a jewish education in his youth.

 

Synchretic vision of the three religions of the Book.

In a letter to the Kings of 1501 Columbus expresses a very interesting thought:

Digo que el Espíritu Santo obra en cristianos, judíos, moros y en todos de otra secta, y no solamente en los sabios, mas en los ignorantes”.

( “I say, that the Holly Spirit influences christians, jews and muslims and any member of any other sect, and not only  wise men, but also ignorants”).

The Holly Inquisition, rampant in this date, could have accused of heressy Columbus after reading this text and, if not protectet by the Kings, the destiny of Columbus could have been very easily the gallows (“auto de fe”). This text of Columbus may reflect that from very young age he was teached to play a double identity: Roman Catholic in public and Jewish inside the familiar house. It reflects also that he had a good personal knowledge of the habits of jews and muslims, fact that could have not happened among the society of Genova.

The veto of the Catholic Church to let Diego Colón become bishop of Santo Domingo:

In the year 1504, Diego Colón, the younger brother of Columbus, asked to be nationalized as Castilian in the kingdom of Castile and Leon, because he was a foreigner to that kingdom and foreigners could not achieve any  ecclesiatical dignity, as he desired. The Catholic Kings gave him the demanded Castilian nationality to Diego Colón in order that: “para que podais haber e hayais cualesquiera dignidades e beneficios eclesiásticos que vos fueran dados” (“you may achive and have any ecclesiastical dignities and economic benefices that could be offered to you”). But, allthough Diego became officially a Castilian, he never received any ecclesistical dignity and the reason for this denial is considered by several authors that it was due to his jewish ancestry.

 

Many references of the Old Testament, but none to the New Testament:

In the writings of Columbus there are constantly references to the Old Testament and among his preferred prophets Isaiah, Ezequiel and even Esdras! Elias Barrocas admits that the knowledge of the Old Testament by Columbus demonstrates a very serious study of the Bible. But the problem raises when trying to know which Bible read Columbus: the Catholic Vulgata or the Jewish Bible. The latest studies point out that it is almost certain that the Bible that Columbus read in his youth was the Jewish Bible, as we may see afterwards. If we accept this point of view, there is no doubt that Columbus was not only a jew educated in the jewish religion, but that he was a crypto-jew.

 

Friends and protectors of Christopher Columbus:

After seven years of asking the Catholic Kings for a small armada for the discovery of the New World and after two denials of the monarchs, following the cryteria of their advisers, it was due to the influence of a converted jew, Lluís de Santàngel, that Columbus could achieve his goal. Lluís de Santàngel belonged to a very rich family of merchants established in the city of Valencia, that were accostumed to bussiness decisions, even if they may be risky. Almost every year a big galeass, the Santàngel galeass, departed the port of Valencia in a risky voyage to the harbour of Alexandria, together with many other vessels that sailed for the Santàngel family up to Galway in Ireland and other northern atlantic harbours. Therefore, with such an experience, Lluís de Santàngel considered that it was worth to invest in the proposal of Columbus, because in case of success, the benefice would be enormous, compared to the, for him, small investement needed.

 

But Columbus was in relationship at the royal court with many jews and converted jews as:  Gabriel Sánchez, Alfonso de la Caballeria, Andrés Cabrera, marquis of Moya, and his wife Beatriz Fernández de Bobadilla, Juan Cabrero, Lluis de Torres and his sister Juana de la Torre, Isaac Abravanel, Abraham Zacuto, Fray Diego de Deza, Alonso de Quintanilla, Joan de Coloma, etc. This fact is also considered by many scholars, that Columbus could have such close friendship with all this personages due to his jewish origin. We want to point out, that the bussines bases of the Sánchez and Santàngel families were based in the city of Valencia.

 

 

 

 

The paralyzation and blockade of the beatification of Columbus in the Vatican:

In the second half of the XIXth century the Vatican iniciated a beatification/canonization process in order to consider Columbus as a saint of the Holly Roman Church. This process suffered a total blockade after several tries, with no clear explanation of such a radical end. Simon Wiesenthal, together with other specialists, considers that the main reason for this paralyzation was the jewish ascendancy of Columbus and also his heretical behaviour considering that he was officially a Roman Catholic believer.

 

The cryptogram of his Signature:

If Columbus would have signed as everybody else, writing his Christian Name followed by his family surname, there would have never appeared any doubt about his true name and origin. But he did not and he invented a strange triangular cryptogram undersigned by “el Almirante” (“the admiral”) or “el Virrey” (“the Viceroy”). This enigma has been studied by many, many scholars and their interpretations cover a wide range of fantastic answers.

My choice is the following proposal: Cristóbal Colom, almirante del Mar y de las Indias, (“Christopher Columbus, admiral of the Sea and of the Indies”), but recently, a very new and intelligent interpretation has been done by Estelle Irizarry, that considers such a signature a declaration of a jewish origin of Columbus, that we will see later.

 

 

RECENT BOOKS AND ARTICLES OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORIANS THAT REAFFIRM THAT COLUMBUS WAS  A JEW.

 

For the fifth anniversary of the discovery of America there has been a huge abundance of editions of new works of many historians about Christopher Columbus, his life and his facts. Many of this books and articles have been written in Spanish and, unfortunately, almost none of them have been translated neither to English nor to Italian languages. Several of these works have a big interest in relationship with the jewish ascent of Columbus. I have selected several of these texts, because I consider that its importance for our goal is very high.

 

 

Juan Fernández Valverde (Priego de Córdoba, 1952):

 

Professor Juan Fernández Valverde has been professor of Latin Philology at the University Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla. He wrote the introduction to the book “Cristóbal Colón, Libro de las Profecías”, a very special manuscript written by Columbus himself with the aid of the Cartusian friar Gaspar de Gorricio. In this book Columbus pays very big attention to the text of Isaiah that says:

“And I saw a new sky and a new earth. Since the first sky and the first earth have disappeared and the sea is no more here.”  

And Juan Fernández Valverde comments:

“The reference to the text of Isaiah refers to the immense happiness that is created by the arrival of the messianic era, the earthly joy and bucolic peace that will arise in such moment, but all these considerations are based in a jewish point of view, because such interpretation, the jewish one, literal of the Scriptures, because, if not, how may be infer that the messianic era is still to come, if for the christians this era has allready arrived?”

 

About the obsession of Columbus in the reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem professor Juan Ferández Valverde says:

“The reconquest of Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the Temple ( that Columbus refers to it in the hebrew form of “house”) are not christian objectives, but jewish ones, because the Jews, and not the Christians, are who are still waiting the arrival of the Messiah, that will provoke this facts.”

 

About the references of the Bible done by Columbus, as the jewish and latin versions of the Bible are quite different sometimes, professor Juan Fernández Valverde expresses his doubts about which version of the Bible did Columbus read in fact, with the following colloquial expression:

“We have tu suppose that Columbus used a latin version of the Bible, and not a hebrew version, because if he was reading a hebrew version, let’s stop, “turn the light off” and let’s forget about everything”.

The meaning of this thought, written at the end of the introduction to the “Book of Profecies” by professor Juan Fernández Valverde, is that he believes that the Bible that Columbus read was the jewish version, but if we have to assume this fact, it would mean such an important and revolutionary fact, that all about Columbus should be revised!

 

 

Juan Gil Fernández (Madrid, 1939):

Professor Juan Gil Fernández has been professor of Latin Philology of the University of Sevilla (1971-2006) and currently is member of the Spanish Royal Academy (2011). He is one of the most recognised humanists and he has done many collaborations with Doctor Consuelo Varela in the field of  the history of Columbus and the discovery of America.

Professor Juan Gil has written, in my opinion, one of the best recent books about Columbus and the discovery of America intitled: “Myths and utopies of the Discovery”, printed by Alianza Universidad  in his collection for the 5th centennial. As far as I know, this book has not been translated into English language and it is not well know by anglo-american scholars. In the seventh chapter of this book intitled “The religiosity of Cristóbal Colón”, Juan Gil makes a very serious and deep study about the religious believings of Columbus, from which we are going to highlight the following ones.

 

About the wish of Columbus to reconstruct the Temple of Jerusalem Juan Gil says:

“The reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem is contrary to all the old traditions of the christians; because the Temple had been destroyed as a punishment of God for the treachery of the Jews, who have denied to recognise the true Messiah. And so, the consequence, the desolation of this Sanctuary, has to remain until the end of the time”.

 

“The reconstruction of the Temple, so longed for by Columbus is, in consequence, a belief that doesn’t adjust to the christian orthodoxy, because the reconstructor of the Temple has to be the Anticrist, the Jewish Messiah. The reconstruction of the Temple was in fact the thought that has given consolation to the pain and anguish of the Jews during the very long centuries of diaspora.”

 

In this two sentences, professor Juan Gil, without saying explicitly that he is convinced that Columbus was a jew, he proofs that the mentality of Columbus was jewish oriented, fact that signifies a jewish education in jewish religion and costums.

 

About the eschatological beliefs of Christopher Columbus professor Juan Gil writes a definitely clear paragraph about the jewish origins of Columbus:

“The always cautious Columbus, the man that achieves to keep his life in the most complete mystery, commits a temerarious indiscretion. Because it happens that the eschathology, that reflects the most intimate feelings of a community, is the most dificult fact to be assimilated by a religion, with more or less ease the basic concepts may be understood or imitate the external habits, but to throw overboard all what has been learned in the childhood, cut to the chase with all the centuries old traditions is allmost impossible, especially in a question where the christian and  jewish eschatologies converged, even if their viewpoints could be irreducible.”

 

“Atavistic beliefs make Columbus wish that the Temple should be reconstructed: the call of the subconscious is too strong so that the Admiral could overcome it. In this context the sickly mania of Colombus for Jerusalem is completely comprehensible.”

“Because Columbus, at the light of these writings, was educated in the jewish religion in his childhood.”

 

Professor Juan Gil finds another proof of his jewish origins in writing:

“When malevolent people spreaded rumors allusive to the jewish ascent of Columbus, from 1498 onwards the Admiral beguins to use in his manuscripts the expression “in the name of the Holly Trinity”, an obsessive reference, triying to drive away the defametion of his ennemies, fact that becomes a perfect touchstone in order to reveal his condition of “converso”, as it happens in many cases.”

 

And finnally about the definitive support of Lluís de Santàngel, a converted jew, to the first discovery voyage of Columbus, explains:

“It was not a random fact that, when all the negotiations between the Admiral and the Catholic Kings seem to be failed and broken, preciselly a converted jew, Lluís de Santàngel, becomes the very person to use his influence by the kings to save this enterprise. We may suspect, that Santàngel would not have risked so much in a navigation, that many considered a suicide, if he did not had also a religious faith in its final succes. In consequence, we may understand the precise situation: a small group of crypto-jews know that an enlighted person by God is decided to undertake a voyage, never seen before, thanks to which the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament will be achieved. They are who will propagate the rumor that the redemption will come from the Ocean: and so it is hoped that the coming of the Messiah will be in Lisbon, when Columbus is trying to pact with the king of Portugal John II, or in Sevile or Palos, when Columbus is in negotiations with the Catholic Kings”.

 

 

 

Estelle Yrizarri (née Estelle Diane Roses, New Jersey 1937 – 2017):

Estelle Yrizarri was professor of Hispanic Literature in Georgtown University in Washington. In the year 2009, she published the book “El ADN de los escritos de Cristóbal Colón” (The DNA of the writings of Christopher Columbus). After doing a deep linguistical, punctuation and calligraphical study of the writings of Columbus, she asserted that Columbus was not the son of  a Genovese craftsman, but a natural subject of the Crown of Aragon and that his mother tongue was the Catalan language. She also said that Columbus had hidden his origins, because he was forced to hide his true origins because he was a jew or a “converso”.

 

She analyzed the punctuation of Columbus’s manuscripts and detected several particularities that were only used, at that time, in the Catalan speaking territories of the Catalan empire: principality of Catalonia, kingdom of Valencia and the old kingdom of Majorques. She gave special importance in the use of the “virgule” (solidarius), that it was unique in this area. Columbus’s writings were so perfectly written, that she thinks that in his youth he could have assisted to a jewish “masorete” school. Estelle Yrizarri declares: “The hypothesis that Columbus was a “converso” jew, implies that Columbus should have learned and copied the jewish sacred texts in his childhood” and “With high probability, Columbus, converted jew, had instilled in him the obsession of punctuation promoted by his first  masters of his childhood, that were probably masoretes, that lived in the area of the Crown of Aragon that correspond nowadays to Catalonia or in territories of Catalan influence.”

 

Yrizarri analyzed also the writings of Columbus with the help of new computer analytical  programs, that detect the persistence of the phonic memory in the writings of a person whose texts are not written in his mother tongue but in a second language (N-graphic). The probability that the Catalan language was his mother tongue got a value of 0,355675, followed by Galician (0,180575) and French (0,149766).

 

 

We want to point out, with a very special interest, the interpretation that Dr. Estelle Yrizarri has done in this book of the criptogram that Columbus used as his signature:

“A good christian would never use an autograph in order to announce his faith. But a crypto-jew would do it  in order to hide his faith, as Columbus did, with the use of the texts of the prophetes, as a screen of his aparent christianism. The letters of his cryptogram constitute the most sacred, old and repeated prayer of Jewish religion: “Sh´ma Yisroel” (“listen Israel”) written in a perfect triad. The “X” was pronounced “sh”, and reading the next letter to the right we find an “M” with and “A” on top of it ( that becomes a subvertion in the correct order of sanctify, that should be A-M-X-Y). The subvertions resides not only in this fact, because the believer who knows the prayer knows that  it s followed by: “ The Lord is Our God and the Lord is One”, and, as a consequence, the triangle of the “Sh’ma” is the introduction for the negation of the Holly Trinity”.

 

First provisional conclusions:

After considering the above mentioned opinions and texts, we think that the probabilities of Columbus beeing of Jewish ascent seem undoubted, and this familiar condition, his belonguing to a Jewish family, could be the reason for hiding his true identity.

 

 

COLUMBUS WAS A SEPHARDIC JEW.

 

All the scholars that believe and defend the Jewish ascent of Columbus are always focusing the Iberian peninsula as the origin of his family: Portuguese, Castilian, Catalan, Valencian, Majorcan, etc. Some authors, as Salvador de Madariaga or Celso García de la Riega, try to combine a sephardic origin with a Genovese origin, proposing a temporary migration of his family to or from Genova. It seems very difficult to try to square the circle giving to Columbus a double identity: Sephardic and Genovese at the same time.  But before going on in the proposal of a Sephardic Jewish origin of Colombus, we have to clarify and correct several important concepts about the political situation of the Iberian pensinsula in the XVth and XVIth century.

 

The Kingdom of Spain did not exist during Columbus’s life!

 

Please, forget about using the terms “Kingdom of Spain”, “Spaniard”, “Spanish Conquistadors” or “Spanish Empire” during the time of Columbus’s life (and until the beguinning of the XVIIIth century)! The reason of that suggestion is that it is proven that the wedding of Ferdinand of Aragón with Isabella of Castille did not create a new unitarian kingdom of Spain. It was a personal or dynastical union, that nowadays is considered that it was the beguinning of an hispanic monarchy, but not of a new unitarian Kingdom of Spain. University scholars use now the term “composite monarchy” in order to design better the political situation of a group of different territories under the rule of the same king, without signifying the unity of such territories. In the specific case of the Catholic Kings, they had the following nobility titles, where there is no mention of beeing “Kings of Spain”:

 

“Don Fernando e Doña Isabel, por la gracia de Dios Rey e Reyna de Castilla, de León, de Aragón, de Seçilia, de Granada, de Toledo, de Valencia, de Galizia, de Mallorcas, de Sevilla, de Çerdeña, de Cordova, de Corcega, de Murcia, de Jaen, de los Algarbes, de Algesira, de Gibraltar e de las Yslas de Canaria, condes de Barcelona, señores de Vizacaya e de Molina, duques de Atenas e de Neopatria, condes del Rosellón e de Çerdania, marqueses de Oristan e de Goçiano.”

(Letter of the Catholic Kings to the authorities of the coastal towns of their kingdoms forcing them to give all the necessary help in organising the first expedition  of Columbus to the New World; Granada, April 30th, 1492).

 

As a result of this non unitarian set of territories and the non existence of a kingdom of Spain, the Pope Alexander VI, when granting the property of the New World to a European kingdom, which kingdom did he choosed? The incorrect answer to this question is the Kingdom of Spain, because it was inexistent at that time, the correct answer is  to the Catholic Kings and to their successors in the kingdom of Castile and Leon! So, from that point onwards, the so called Spanish Empire should be known as Castilian Empire correctly.

 

 

The big mistake of Geoffrey Barraclough!

 

The Spanish State has insisted in proclaiming the “sacred unity of Spain” in school texts during several past centuries, specially during General Franco’s regime. The official version of the hispanic history has tried permanently to erase the former existence of several independent nations, that in the end were united, after the war of succession (1716), in a single and unitarian nation nowadays known as Spanish Kingdom. The obsession of the Spanish Unity has brought all the successive spanish governments to commit a constant cultural genocide against the several hispanic nations of non Castilian origin as the Basque, Catalan, Valencian, Majorcan, Galician nations in order to achieve the goal to impose a unique and single language in all modern Spain: the Castillian language, known now as Spanish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The propaganda of the Spanish Academy spreading the concept that from the Catholic Kings onwards the Kingdom of Spain became a unitarian and permanent kingdom cheated almost every foreign historian. This fake history can be perfectly detected in one of the most important of all the printed historical atlasses of the world: “The Times Atlas of World History” (1978). In the southern tip of Europe and around the year 1500, the forementioned atlas paints all the Iberian peninsula with only two different coulours, corresponding to the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain (sic)! Mr. Geoffrey Barraclough bite the hook of the Spanish propaganda! First of all he commits the error of designing the former idependent kingdoms, before the supposed union, as Kingdom of Castile and Kingdom of Aragon. The error is that the correct name for the second kingdom should be “The Crown of Aragón”, that was also a composite kingdom of several independent nations. In fact it would have been clearer to name all this territories as the Catalan Mediterranean Empire as it included kingdoms as Sicily, Sardinia or Naples and its capital was the city of Barcelona. Mr. Barraclough prints in this map “united 1479”, fact that is an absolute fallacy, because  he printed also very close to the date of “united 1479”:

to Habsburgs 1504” (Castile) and “to Habsburgs 1516” (Aragon). And we may ask Mr. Barraclough: How is it possible that a unified kingdom in the year 1479, as you said, was handed over to the House of Habsburg in two different periods and shreded in two different territories in 1504 and in 1516, respectively? Who were the “Kings of Spain” the day Columbus died (May 20th, 1506)? The correct answer is NOBODY! because it did not existed such kingdom of Spain! The correct answer is: queen Joanna I, married with Philip of Habsburg were the kings of Castile, and the king Ferdinand, married with his new wife Germaine de Foix, were the kings of the Crown of Aragon. This fact, demonstrates perfectly the correct state of political bussiness in the Iberian peninsula. And all this historical clarification that I have just done is due to the goal that the reader may understand correctly the meaning of the word “sephardic” or “sephardite” and to which kingdom or nation could Columbus have been born in the Iberian peninsula.

 

The correct version of the historical atlas for the reign of Ferdinand the Catholic is the following image:

 


In brown color are represented the domains of the kingdom of Castile and in green color are painted all the territories under the domain of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown (or Catalan Mediterranean Empire, as I suggest).

  

 

 

The New Castilian Inquisition: absolute terror!

 

A very important aspect that shows the absolute independence of the Kingdom of Castile from the Catalan-Aragonese Crown was that, while in Catalonia existed the Holly Inquisition since 1184, due to the cathar heresy, in Castile there was none. Therefore, the Catholic Kings, in order to control the converted jews population of Castile decided to ask the Pope to be allowed to create a New Inquisition there. In Catalonia and the rest of the Crown of Aragon continued the old inquisition that, in the XVth century, was almost inactive. The new Castilian Inquisition begun his activities from the year 1478 onwards.

 

We have to point out that the functioning of the two inquisitions, the old and the new, was absolutely different. While the old medieval Catalan inquisition depended entirely from the Catholic Church and the inquisitors were nominated by the Pope or the local bishops, in the new Castilian inquisition the inquisitors were nominated by the Catholic Kings and all that institution was controlled by them, allthough it was supposed a superior control of the Pope on their decisions.

 

And another absolute difference among the new and the old inquisitions was the fact that, in the case that a judged jewish converted person was condemned and his goods, money and houses would be confiscated from him, before burning him alive, the beneficiary of all this economic welth had been the Catholic Church in the old inquisition (the bishoprics), but in the case of the New Castilian Inquisition this welth would fill the royal arks of the Catholics Kings in Valladolid, the functional capital of the kingdom of Castile!

 

When the firsts persecutions done by the new Castilian inquisition took place in Seville or Cordoba and the first condemned persones were burnt alive in public shows (“autos de fe”), many jewish converted families of Castile decided to escape to the Catalan-Aragonese territories were the old inquisition was almost inactive. Unfortunately, very quickly, the Catholic Kings imposed the new criminal Castilian inquisition in the Kingdoms of Aragón, Valencia and the Principality of Catalonia, with the help and connivence of  Pope Pius VI. Allthough the official goal of the Castilian Inquisition was to exterminate the converted jews heresies, in fact, it was a form for the Catholic Kings to steal, to commit pillage of the fortunes of the most wealthy converted jews in all their estates. The result of the introduction by force of the Castilian inquisition in the Crown of Aragón forced all the wealthy jewish converted families to run away to foreign countries. This first jewish exodus produced a huge economic  damage in the Catalan economy as, for instance, the bankrupcy of the municipal bank of Barcelona.

 

 

In this image of the coat of arms of the new Castilian Inquisition you may observe that, in order to express, that it was dependant from the hispanic monarchy, there has been added a huge royal crown on top of it.

 

But this new Castilian Inquisition has been used also by the kings as an effective politically repressive system, because the functioning of the inquisition was completely separated from the normal justice system

 hiand had his own prisons. As a contemporary Catalan historian said, Miquel Coll i Alentorn, the Castilian inquisition was very similar to the German GESTAPO of Hitler’s time. Once you very arrested, you had no chance of having a legal defense. You were submitted to a mock trial, where the members of the court asked you which heressy  had you commited (sic) and you could not know who was the person that had betrayed you. The accused persons were tortured and the final result was fatal if there wasn’t a huge payement of money. Imagine Columbus returning to the kingdom of Castile in such circumstances, It is absolutely logical that he hide any relationship or ancestry with the jewish world.

 

Sepharad and the Sephardic Jews.

 

The emigrated jews of Jerusalem that fled after the destruction of the second Temple settled in the Iberian peninsula and had a constant permanence there until the expulsion of the Catholic Kings in 1492, that was followed by the expulsion of all the Jews from the kingdom of Portugal in 1496. All this expulsed jews received the name of sephardic or sefardite due to the fact that, in jewish culture, all the old Roman Hispania, equal to all the Iberic peninsula, was called as Sepharad by the Jews. Therefore, Sepharad is a geografical name for all the Iberian peninsula that includes the modern states of Portugal and Spain.

 

Instead uf using the expression of Spanish Jews as an equivalent of Sephardic Jews, it is advisable to use the form of Hispanic Jews, because in this term are included also the Portuguese Jews. We recommend the use of the specific form for the jews of any nation that existed at that time, for instance: Castilian Jews, Catalan Jews, Valencian Jews, Basque Jews, Majorcan Jews, etc, instead of the generallistic and inapropiate term of “Spanish” Jews.

 

 

 

If Columbus was a sephardic jew, to which  territory of the hispanic monarchy did he belonged?

 

Diego Colón, the brother of Christopher Columbus, asked to be nationalized as a Castilian subject in the year 1504 and his proposal was accepted by the Catholic Kings. This fact means that the Columbus’s brothers were not born in the kingdom of Castile and Leon, and therefore they were considered as foreigners to that kingdom. As a consequence Columbus could not have been a Galician, Castilian, Andalusian,etc. sephardic jew.

 

The foreign subjects of all foreign countries could not get any public office as civil servants in the kingdom of Castile if previously they would not be  nationalized as “natural” subjects of Castile. Columbus, allthough he achieved the highest official offices of the kingdom of Castile as Viceroy, General Governor and Admiral of the Ocen Sea, he was never nationalized in the kingdom of Castile. The same reasonment is valid for his brother Bartolomew, that got the office of “Adelantado de Indias” in America. Both, they were foreigners in Castile and, if they could get such important ranks, was due to the following reason: queen Isabella, after becoming queen of Castile, ordered that all the natural subjects of his father in law, king John II of the Crown of Aragon (father of future king Ferdinand), should be treated and considered as natural subjects of his kindom of Castile. Therefore the two brothers, Christopher and Bartholomew Columbus, were in fact natural subjects of the Catalan Mediterranean Empire, without excluding the possibility that they were Sicilians, Sardinians or Napolitans. If Diego Colón, the small brother, should ask to be nationalized, was because he wanted to get an ecclesiatical office and benefice, perhaps bishop of Santo Domingo, and the canonic law was different from the civil law and, therefore, the queen Isabella decree did not affect the religious domain.

 

 

The mother tongue of Columbus as key to determine his craddle.

 

Linguistics is a very old science, that has suffered recently a huge flourishment due to the application of computer aided programs to the study of modern and old texts. Forensic linguistics are so accurate nowadays, that their analysis are accepted as proof in the criminal courts. Recently, several university scholars have analysed the extant handwritten documents of Christopher Columbus, all them written in Castilian language, in order to determine the original mother tongue of Columbus, that is underlying in the Castilian texts. Dr. Lluís de Yzaguirre i Maura, as well as Dr. Estelle Yzaguirre, arrived to the conclusion that the most possible mother tongue of Columbus is the Catalan language. If we accept this conclusion, that means that Columbus was born in a Catalan speaking territory of the Crown of Catalonia-Aragon, the chances of localising his craddle become limited to the Principality of Catalonia, the kingdom of Valencia and the old kingdom of Majorques. As jews lived preferably in the big cities, Columbus could be of Perpignan, Girona, Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, Valencia or the city of Mallorca, among other possibilities.

 

 

Valencia, craddle of Christopher Columbus?

 

In my opinion the best suited city of all the Catalan speaking territories to be the craddle of Columbus is the city of Valencia, capital city of the independent kingdom of Valencia in Columbus’s time. The reasons are several, that I have exposed in several articles related to this subject. In my opinion, Lluís de Santàngel, knew Columbus during his youth in the city of Valencia, because they were of the same secret jewish community of conversos of that city. Also, Columbus when comparing the natural beauty of the luxuriant rain forests of the Antilles, he always compares this landscapes with the famous vegetable gardens of Valencia (“horta de València”). The orthodox theory of Columbus, beeing born in Genova, ignores completely any relationship of Columbus with the city of Valencia. Also, Valencia became the most important city of the Catalan Mediterranean Empire and the gate in introducing the Rennaissance in this western side of the Mediterranean, due to the intense relationship with Naples, as well as for the ascenscion to the throne of the Vatican of two Valencian Popes: Calixtus III and Alexander VI in Columbus’s time.

 

Finally, in Valencia happened an extraordinary phenomenon in this time, as it was the emigration to this city of more than 500 silk weaving masters from the Ligurian region to Valencia. This massive emigration of silk weaving masters, together with their new technology of weaving velvet clothes, converted  Valencia in a great silk textiles production center during three centuries. A social consequence of such intense emigration were the weddings of Genovese young man with Valentian young women, christian or converted jewish women. In my opinion, one of such mixt couples were the parents of the Columbus’s brothers. And there was the possibility that the bride could belong to an old jewish converted family of silk weavers. As a consequence of such genetical mixture, Columbus could receive a MtDNA from his jewish mother and become therefore a man with jewish ascent.

 

 

IF THE  MtDNA OF COLUMBUS CORRESPONDS TO A SEPHARDIC JEWISH WOMAN, CAN HE BE OF GENOVESE ORIGIN?

 

Let’s imagine that the analytical results of the analysis of Columbus’s MtDNA may give the result that it corresponds to a cluster of Jewish Sephardic women. Will this result affect the orthodox version of the Genovese  origin of Columbus? Many Italian scholars, as the very respectet Paolo Emilio Taviani, have insisted, that if it happened, that Columbus was a jew, he could not be an Italian or Genovese. The reasonement of Taviani is based in the fact that in Italy in the XVth century Jews were not allowed to live in the countryside and were forced to live in cities, so, as the grand-grandfather of the Genovese Christoforo Colombo lived in a small rural village known as Moconesi, there is no doubt that the Genovese Cristoforo Colombo could not be of jewish ascent.

 

Another famous Italian scholar and specialist in Columbus, professor Ernesto Lunardi, considers that the Colombo family of Genova had no relationship with the jewish world, because  Domenico Colombo, supposed father of Columbus, worked as a guardian of one of the gates of the city of Genova and this office was reserved uniquely to christians. Another Italian specialist in Columbus, Gianni Granzotto is of the same opinion. There is a total incomptability  of the Genovese Cristoforo Colombo with the personal condition of beeing a Jew, nor to say a Sephardic Jew. On the other hand, in Genova there was not a jewish community in the XVth century, nor to say, sinagogue, and the jews could stay only three days in the city for bussiness. Genova has not been a friendly city for the jews for a long time during the High Middle Ages!

 

If the analytical results of the MtDNA of Christopher Columbus, as well as of his younger brother Diego,  demonstrate that the mother of both brothers was a Sephardic Jewish woman, the Genovese origin of Columbus will fall in crisis and the possibility that some territory of the Iberian peninsula has been the craddle of the discoverer of the New World may become much more probable.

 

 

 

FINAL CONCLUSIONS

 

The scientific historical research not only may be based in written or printed documents and pictures, but also in auxiliar sciences as paleography, linguistics, chemical analysis, genetical analysis, etc.. The most famous book about the mother tongue of Columbus has been “La lengua de Cristóbal Colón” (the mother tongue of Columbus) written by the Spanish scholar Ramon Menéndez Pidal in 1942. But after the appearance of the new computer aided linguistical methods, the research and book of Mr. Menéndez have become totally obsolete. This progression of the auxiliar sciences, together with the changes in the scale of moral values of our society, may altere the historiography of many historical facts. We are living, in the last thirty years, the fall of the fame of Columbus from the consideration of beeing an important universal hero to become the promoter of the greatest genocide. History may change drastically!

 

Thanks to the latest studies in the field of paleography, Columbus writings correspond to the Gothic Catalan Cursive. In the field of linguistics, the latest computed aided analysis reflect that the most probable mother tongue of Columbus was Catalan. The analysis of the administrative proceeding of naturalization, or not, of the Columbus’s brothers, implies that they were natural subjects of king Ferdinand. The study of the most mystical writings of Columbus may bring us to the consideration that Columbus belongs to the Jewish world and culture. We have to be prepared to modifiy our concept about who was Columbus, when the final result of the genetical analysis will be finally known. This genetical result may affirm that Columbus was of Sephardic ascent. In this case the orthodox Genovese theory will need to be reviewed. But, if the genetical analysis results in the negation of any relationship of Columbus with the jewish world, all what I have written in this short essay will be false and I will ask for your mercy and stop researching the life and facts of Columbus. Columbus lived in a very difficult time, when he should play a double identity: christian in public and jew in the privacy of his family. Beeing the son of a Genovese man and a jewish valencian women, having such a double identity, he choosed the Genovese alternative, in order to escape the prosecution of the holly Castillian Inquisition.

 

For me, in my soul, I am convinced that Columbus was a true Sephardic Jew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 

ABRAHAM, HAIM: “Uno de los grandes secretos de Cristóbal Colón era su origen judío·; Universia.es; 22 Noviembre 2006.

 

ALBARDANER, FRANCESC: (https://francescalbardaner.jimdofree.com)

“Christopher Columbus, a dual identity: Sephardic jew of Valencia and “Genovese of nation” (Academia.edu: video and text / ResearchGate)

“Una identitat Dual: ciutadà de València i “Genovès de nació”. (Academia.edu /ResearchGate))

“A silk trail to Columbus”. (Academia.edu /ResearchGate).

“ Valencia, craddle of the discovery of America”; https://francescalbardaner.jimdofree.com

 

AMLER, JANE FRANCES: “Christopher Columbus’s Jewish Roots”; Jason Aronson Inc., London 1991.

 

AMZALAK, MOISES BENSABAT: “Uma interpretaçao da Assinatura de Cristovao Colombo”; Lisboa; 1927.

 

BARNETT, R.D.: “The Sephardi Heritage: essays on the History and cultural contribution of the Jews of Spain and Portugal”; Vol 1: “The Jews in Spain and Portugal before and after the Expulsion of 1492”; New York, 1971.

 

BARROCAS LEVY, ELÍAS: “¿Era Cristóbal Colón judío?”; https://esefarad.com.

 

DAVID, MAURICE: “Who was Columbus? His Real Name and Real Fatherland” New York: The Research Publishing Co., 1933.

 

DEPETRE, JOSÉ LION: Era judío Cristóbal Colón?”

 

ERUGO, JOSÉ + DÍAZ PEREZ, NICOLÁS: “Cristóbal Colón, el judío Sefaradí que descubrió América”.// e. Sefarad. com; June 2016.

 

EVANS, MIKE: “Christopher Columbus Secret Jew”; Timeworthy Books, 2014.

 

FERNANDEZ VALVERDE, JUAN:  Introducción y preparación de “Cristóbal Colón, Libro de las Profecías”; Alianza Editorial / Universidad de Sevilla. Quinto Centenario; Madrid 1992.

 

FEUERSTEIN, EMIL: “Columbus the Jew”. (New Evidence: Columbus was of Marrano Stock/Dr. Rivka Shpak Lissak).

 

FROHLICH, NEWTON: “1492: A Novel of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish Inquisition, and a World at the turning point”. Blue Bird Press, new revised edition (2016)

 

GARCÍA DE LA RIEGA,  CELSO: “Colón, español; su origen y patria”; Sucesores de Rivadeneyra; Madrid 1914.

 

GIUNCIUGLIO, VITTORIO: “Un Ebreo chiamato Cristoforo Colombo”, autoedition; Gloriosa Stamperia Casamara di Genova (1493/94).

 

HUMBOLDT, ALEJANDRO DE:

Cristóbal Colón y el Descubrimiento de América”. Centro Difusor del Libro.

Buenos Aires 1946.

 

KAYSERLING, MEYER: “Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portugese Discoveries, translated from the author’s manuscript by Charles Gross”; New York, 1894; Berlin 1894.

 

LEIBOVICI, SARAH: “Christophe Colomb, Juif (Défense et illustrations)”; Postface de Shmuel Trigano; Editions Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris 1986.

 

LIAMGOT, ALBERTO: “Marginalidad y Judaísmo en Cristóbal Colón”; Congreso Judío Latinoamericano, 1976.

 

LLANAS DE NIUBÓ, RENATO: “El enigma de Colón”, Marte Ediciones, Barcelona 1964.

 

MADARIAGA, SALVADOR DE: “Vida del muy magnífico señor don Cristóbal Colón”; 3ª impresión. Buenos Aires; Editorial Sudamericana, 1944.

 

McENTIRE, WALTER F.: “Was Columbus a Jew?”, Boston, MA: Stratford, 1925.

 

MORISON, SAMUEL ELIOT:  “El Almirante de la Mar Oceano: Vida de Cristóbal Colón”; Libreria Hachette; Buenos Aires, 1945.

 

PINEDA YAÑEZ, RAFAEL: “Como disimularon al judío los primeros Cronistas de Indias”; revista  Comentario N. 58; Buenos Aires (1968).

 

“Judíos y genoveses en la España medieval”;

 

REXACH CAMPS, SERGI: “Judaisme, conversos i Inquisició en època d’Isabel I”.

(Academia.edu ; 18 pgs.)

 

ROTH, CECIL: “A History of the Marranos”; Harpertorch Books, New York 1966.

 “Who was Columbus?” in “Personalities and Events in Jewish History”, (Philadelphia, 1953).

 

SARNA, JONATHAN D. : “The Mythical Jewish Columbus and the History of America’s Jews”, in Bryan F. Le Beau and Menahem Mor, eds., “Religion in the Age of Exploration”, Omaha: Creighton University Press. 1966.

 

“Columbus and the Jews”; Commentary Magazine, Vol. 94, N.5 (November 1992; p. 38-41)

 

SERRANO Y SANZ, MANUEL:

“Los amigos y protectores aragoneses de Cristóbal Colón”. Ediciones Riopiedras, Barcelona 1991.

 

SERRANO VILLAR, OSCAR:  “Cristóbal Colón: el secreto mejor guardado”;

Editorial NA, Madrid 2005.

 

VERDERA, NITO: “Cristóbal Colón, originario de Ibiza y criptojudío”; Consell Insular, Eivissa, 1999.

 

WIESENTHAL, SIMON: “Operación Nuevo Mundo: La misión secreta de Cristóbal Colón”; Editorial Diana, 1992; México. (English title: “Sails of Hope: The Secret Mission of Columbus”).

 

YRIZARRY, ESTELLE: “El ADN de los escritos de Cristóbal Colón”; Ediciones Puerto, San Juan de Puerto Rico (2009).

 

YZAGUIRRE I MAURA, LLUÍS, (Universitat Pompeu Fabra de Barcelona):

“Aproximació lexicomètrica a les interferències de base fonològica en els escrits autógrafs de Cristòfor Colom” dins de  les actes del simposi internacional Eivissa 2006. Pg. 97 a 122.

 

 

 

 

Cristòfor Colom fou un jueu sefardita

CRISTÒFOR COLOM FOU UN JUEU SEFARDITA

Francesc Albardaner i Llorens 

Juliol/agost 2022 (Sant Feliu de Guíxols)

 

 

ABSTRACT

Since 2003, the University of Granada, with the collaboration of several international universities, has been trying to find the ADN of Christopher Columbus from the samples taken from the bones of Columbus resting in his monument of the Cathedral of Sevilla. It is now probable that, in the near future, we will know the final results of such genetical analysis, that we expect to read in a scientific article to be published in some important scientific bulletin.

In this article the author analyzes the possibility that the analytical results may assert that the Mitochondrial DNA (MtDNA) of Cristopher Columbus belongs to a typical MtDNA of Sephardic Jewish women and how this fact would alter the accepted biography of Columbus with a Genovese origin.

As such result may force to alter the “national” origin of Columbus, as well as his religious beliefs, the author considers necessary to explain with full detail the political situation of the Iberian Peninsula during Columbus’s life, the concept of Sepharad, as well as the situation of the Jewish and converted communities after the creation of the new Castilian Inquisition imposed by Isabella and Ferdinand in the territories under their rule.

Keywords: Columbus’s origin, Sepharad, Sephardic Jews, New Castilian Inquisition, DNA Analysis, composite kingdoms.

 

RIASSUNTO

Dal 2003 l’Università di Granada, in collaborazione con diversi atenei internazionali, sta cercando di scoprire l’ADN di Cristoforo Colombo servendosi di alcuni campioni estratti dai resti conservati nell’urna del suo monumento nella Cattedrale di Siviglia. Si pensa che in un prossimo futuro potremo conoscere finalmente i risultati di queste ricerche genetiche che verranno pubblicate in un articolo scientifico su un’importante rivista scientifica internazionale.

In questo articolo l’autore analizza la possibilità che i risultati delle analisi arrivino alla conclusione che l’ADN mitocondriale di Cristoforo Colombo appartenga ad un tipico ADN mitocondriale di un gruppo di donne ebree sefardite, e inoltre come tale risultato potrebbe influire nella universalmente accettata biografia del Cristoforo Colombo di origine genovese.

Dato che un risultato di tal fatta potrebbe obbligare ad alterare l’origine “nazionale” di Colombo, come pure le sue credenze religiose, l’autore considera imprescindibile spiegare dettagliatamente la situazione politica degli stati della penisola iberica durante la vita di Cristoforo Colombo, il concetto ed il significato del termine “Sepharad”, come pure la situazione delle comunità ebree e converse dopo la creazione della nuova Inquisizione Castigliana imposta dai Re Cattolici nei territori sotto il loro dominio.

Parole chiavi: Origine di Colombo, Sepharad, Ebrei Sefardite, nuova inquisitione castigliana, analitiche dei ADN, regni composti.

 

RESUM

Des de l’any 2003, la Universitat de Granada, amb la col·laboració de diverses universitats internacionals, ha estat intentant descobrir l’ADN de Cristòfor Colom a partir d’unes mostres tretes dels ossos preservats a l’urna del seu monument de la Catedral de Sevilla. Comença a ser probable que, en un futur proper, puguem conèixer finalment els resultats d’aquestes recerques genètiques, que seran publicades en un article científic d’un important butlletí científic internacional.

En aquest article l’autor analitza la possibilitat que els resultats d’aquestes anàlisis defineixin que l’ADN mitocondrial de Cristòfor Colom pertanyi a un típic ADN mitocondrial d’un grup de dones jueves sefardites, i com podria afectar el resultat en la universalment acceptada biografia del Cristoforo Colombo, genovès d’origen.

Com que un resultat d’aquesta mena podria forçar a alterar l’origen nacional de Colom, així com també les seves creences religioses, l’autor considera imprescindible explicar amb tot detall la situació política dels estats a la península Ibèrica durant la vida de Cristòfor Colom, el concepte i significat del mot Sepharad, així com la situació de les comunitats jueves i converses després de la creació de la nova Inquisició castellana imposada pels Reis Catòlics als territoris sota el seu domini.

Paraules clau: origen de Cristòfor Colom, Sepharad, jueus sefardites, nova inquisició castellana, anàlisi ADN de Colom, regnes compostos.

 

EL SUPOSAT ENIGMA DELS ORÍGENS DE COLOM

 

Per a l’enorme majoria d’estudiosos de tot el món no hi ha cap enigma sobre l’origen de Cristòfor Colom, el descobridor del Nou Món el 1492. Especialment per als estudiosos italians, l’origen de Colom és completament clar i documentat: Colom va néixer a Gènova l’any 1451, fill de Domenico Colombo i Susanna Fontanarossa. Tenia tres germans i una germana. Si la teoria ortodoxa sobre Colom és correcta, per què apareixen contínuament teories heterodoxes que afirmen orígens extravagants del descobridor?

Fins i tot, tot acceptant en principi un origen genovès de Colom, com expressa el seu fill Fernando Colón en el seu últim testament, hi ha molts aspectes de la vida de Colom que no semblen encaixar amb el Cristoforo Colombo identificat per Agostino Giustiniani, Antonio Gallo i altres historiadors genovesos a començaments del segle XVI. Quan una teoria científica presenta massa anomalies, pot ser més prudent buscar una altra teoria que pugui explicar millor la vida i els fets de Colom que no pas continuar mantenint com a vàlida l’antiga teoria ortodoxa. L’existència de tantes anomalies en la teoria ortodoxa és la raó que promou la recerca d’una nova teoria, d’un nou personatge històric, que pugui encaixar millor amb el veritable Cristòfor Colom.

 

CRISTÒFOR COLOM ERA JUEU?

 

Hi ha una llarga tradició de considerar Colom un jueu, un jueu convers o un criptojueu que ja va començar durant la vida del mateix Colom i que dura fins a l’actualitat. Històricament, per la teoria ortodoxa genovista, Colom és considerat un creient i seguidor de l’Església Catòlica Romana, fill de pares catòlics romans, casat amb una noble esposa catòlica portuguesa, i fins i tot pertanyent al Tercer Orde de Sant Francesc d’Assís. A mesura que el descobriment i la conquesta d’Amèrica va provocar l’expansió de la fe catòlica en tants països i cultures, Colom fins i tot va ser proposat pels papes Pius IX i Lleó XIII per convertir-lo en sant de l’Església Catòlica en la segona meitat del segle XIX. No obstant això, molts historiadors han intuït i deduït la naturalesa jueva de Cristòfor Colom en els seus fets i en els seus escrits, i també en els dels seus germans, i considerem que val la pena tenir en compte els seus arguments.


Les primeres proves dels cronistes contemporanis

El 12 d’octubre (sic!) de l’any del Senyor de 1500, el frare Juan de Trassierra, frare franciscà, va escriure una carta al cardenal Cisneros contra el govern de Colom a Santo Domingo, que comença amb aquest text: “Por amor de Dios que vuestra reverencia ha sido ocasión que tanto bien se començase en que saliese esta tierra de poderyo del rey faraón, que faga que él ni ninguno de su nación venga en estas islas, etc.

 

El significat d’aquest text és que el frare Trassierra demana al cardenal Cisneros que procedeixi a l’expulsió de Colom de les illes americanes i que negui qualsevol possibilitat als jueus, o jueus conversos, de viatjar al Nou Món. Aquesta interpretació pot ser certa si acceptem que les paraules “rey faraón” es refereixen a Colom i que amb aquesta expressió és considerat un jueu, com eren anomenats els jueus en l’argot dels frares franciscans. I també és molt important el concepte “ninguno de su nación”. De quina nació parla el frare Juan de Trassierra? Parla dels genovesos? O potser està parlant dels portuguesos, els catalans, els aragonesos, etc.? No, en absolut! Parla del concepte “nació jueva”, a la qual es considerava que pertanyien tots els jueus, i que també va portar Salvador de Madariaga a considerar Colom com un descendent de jueus catalans.

És sorprenent que el fill del mateix Colom, Hernando Colón, afirmi en la seva biografia del seu pare que els predecessors del descobridor eren de “la sang reial de Jerusalem”. Hernando ens diu, sense cap prudència, que la seva família era d’origen jueu? Potser, fins i tot, un millor exemple de la possible naturalesa jueva de Colom va ser expressat pel mateix Colom en la següent carta enviada a Diego de Deza: “Pónganme el nombre que quisieren, que al fin David, rey muy sabio, guardó ovejas y después fue hecho rey de Jerusalén; y yo soy siervo de aquel mismo Señor, que puso a David en este estado. En aquest text, Colom declara obertament que es considera un servent del mateix Déu de David, el Déu jueu, que va col·locar David com a rei de Jerusalem.

 

Un dels llibres més famosos que proposa un origen jueu de Cristòfor Colom es deu a Sarah Leibovici: Christophe Colomb juif (1986). En el seu llibre Leibovici, entre raons molt importants exposades per ella a favor d’un origen jueu de Colom, parla d’una suposada carta del frare Hernando de Talavera enviada a la reina Isabel. L’autora afirma que aquesta carta va ser exposada públicament a Madrid el 1969 i que el contingut es va publicar en un article del diari israelià Ha’Aretz. En la missiva, que hauria estat escrita el juny de 1492, el frare Hernando de Talavera intenta convèncer la reina Isabel de no enviar Colom al seu primer viatge de descobriment i li demana que el posi en mans de la Inquisició. Per tant, Colom acabarà la seva vida en una post de fusta, que no serà precisament la d’un vaixell, fet que significa que Colom serà condemnat per la Inquisició a ser cremat viu en una foguera d’un acte de fe a causa de la seva heretgia i el seu origen jueu. Si aquest document existís, seria un dels documents més antics en què s’acusa Colom de ser un fals cristià i un criptojueu. No obstant això, malgrat que he intentat trobar aquest document, no he pogut determinar on es pot conservar i, per tant, considero que aquest argument de Leibovici ha de considerar-se una fal·làcia.

 

Selecció dels punts principals proposats per diferents estudiosos que defensen un origen jueu de Cristòfor Colom

La figura de Colom no va ser gaire ben estudiada pels historiadors durant tres-cents anys després de la seva mort. Va ser al segle XIX quan diversos historiadors es van interessar per estudiar la figura de Colom; no només els estudiosos italians, sinó també els acadèmics espanyols. Hem de donar gran importància a l’obra de l’historiador espanyol Juan Bautista Muñoz (1745-1799), qui en la segona meitat del segle XVIII, per ordre reial, va ser encarregat de treure a la llum tots els possibles documents antics sobre el descobriment i la colonització d’Amèrica. Gràcies al seu treball molts manuscrits veritables i desconeguts de Colom van aportar nova llum a aquesta figura històrica. Martín Fernández de Navarrete (1765-1844) va continuar la seva tasca i l’aparició de tants documents va ser coneguda gràcies a les publicacions de Fernández de Navarrete, pels estudiosos internacionals com Washington Irving (1783-1828), qui, després de la publicació del seu llibre titulat Una història de la vida i els viatges de Cristòfor Colom (1828), basat en les investigacions de Muñoz i Navarrete, va estendre l’interès de l’estudi de la història de Colom al món angloamericà.

 

Ja al segle XIX trobem estudiosos, com l’alemany Mayer Kayserling, que va començar a considerar possible un origen jueu de Colom. Hem d’assenyalar que Kayserling era un rabí jueu, i molts dels promotors posteriors de l’origen jueu de Colom són membres de la comunitat internacional jueva. Al final d’aquest article donem una curta i seleccionada bibliografia d’aquells llibres i articles que consideren possible un origen jueu de Colom. No podem exposar completament tots els arguments presentats en una col·lecció tan gran d’obres, però els donem una breu llista de les més decisives.

 

L’ús del terme "Casa Santa" per anomenar el sagrat temple de Jerusalem

En els seus manuscrits, i també en les seves postil·les, Colom fa servir la forma "Casa Santa", que correspon perfectament al terme jueu "Beit Eloka", per designar el temple de Jerusalem, forma de designar-lo que cap escriptor cristià utilitzaria. En una postil·la molt llarga del llibre d’Enneas Silvio Piccolomini, quan parla de l’edat de la terra, Colom escriu: “Des que van escapar d’Egipte 400 anys, i entre la seva fugida d’Egipte i fins a la construcció de la Primera Casa 480 anys. I des de la construcció de la Primera Casa fins a la seva destrucció 410 anys. I des de la destrucció de la Primera Casa fins a la sortida de Babilònia 70 anys, i després la Segona Casa va començar a ser construïda. I la Segona Casa va durar 400 anys. I des del naixement d’Abraham fins a la destrucció de la Segona Casa 1.088 anys [...]”.


Colom calcula l’edat del món segons el calendari jueu

En una postil·la escrita el 1481 per Colom, afirma que l’edat del món és de 5.241 anys, corresponent a l’edat de la terra donada a la Bíblia jueva.‘Beth’ i ’Hai’, monogrames a la part superior de les cartes escrites al seu fill gran, Diego

Molts estudiosos han observat un estrany monograma a la part superior esquerra de moltes cartes escrites per Colom al seu fill gran Diego Colón. Aquest signe s’interpreta com a escriptura cursiva hebrea de les lletres beth i hai, amb el significat de “Be ezrat ha Chem”, ‘amb l’ajuda del Nom’, o “Barouch ha Chem”, ‘sigui beneït el Nom del Senyor’. El recercador colombí Nito Verdera va demanar als serveis de criminologia de la policia espanyola que determinessin si aquest monograma havia estat escrit de dreta a esquerra o d’esquerra a dreta. El resultat d’aquesta anàlisi va ser que havien estat escrits de dreta a esquerra, en la forma jueva d’escriptura. Un altre gran investigador colombí, Onofre Vaquer Bennassar, considera que aquest monograma també apareix en tres cartes escrites als Reis Catòlics, fet que, si és cert, invalidaria el significat d’un signe d’identificació secret familiar d’aquest monograma misteriós.

 

El retard d’un dia en la sortida dels vaixells per al descobriment d’Amèrica des del port de Palos de la Frontera

Hi va haver una coincidència fantàstica entre l’últim dia que els jueus van poder abandonar els territoris de Castella i la Corona de Catalunya-Aragó, el 2 d’agost de l’any 1492, i la sortida de Colom al seu primer viatge de descobriment. Però l’almirall va decidir retardar la sortida dels vaixells per a l’alba de l’endemà, 3 d’agost, i va ordenar a tots els membres de la tripulació que obligatòriament fossin a bord dels tres vaixells abans de la mitjanit del 2 d’agost.

El 2 d’agost va ser l’aniversari de les destruccions del primer i segon temple de Jerusalem, perquè correspon al novè dia del mes jueu d’Av. A causa d’aquest fet, si Colom era un jueu, mai no iniciaria un viatge tan important en un dia tan dolent i de mal auguri. Molts estudiosos admeten que el retard es va deure a aquesta raó i que demostra que Colom era un jueu.

Però també hi havia una altra raó important per ordenar a tothom de la seva tripulació que es quedés a bord abans de la mitjanit del dia 2 d’agost, i era per evitar qualsevol interferència dels membres de la nova inquisició castellana, perquè podien arrestar qualsevol persona considerada jueva a partir de la mitjanit del 2 d’agost, per no haver respectat l’ordre d’expulsió dels reis. I diversos membres de les tripulacions de Colom podrien ser jueus i això podria afectar, fins i tot, el mateix Colom.


Carta de Colom als Reis Catòlics datada el 7 de juliol de 1503 des de Jamaica

Salvador de Madariaga, en analitzar la carta enviada per Colom als Reis Catòlics des de l’illa de Jamaica el 7 de juliol de l’any 1503, destaca un petit fragment quan una pietosa veu li diu: “y de los cristianos cobraste tan honrada fama”. Aquesta frase, referida a Colom i havent estat escrita pel mateix Colom, és considerada per Madariaga com una declaració de Colom de no considerar-se com un cristià.


“Cal donar una moneda de plata a un jueu que viu al call jueu de Lisboa”

Aquesta frase esmentada s’inclou en les darreres voluntats de Colom, datades el 19 de maig de 1506, i molts estudiosos consideren que Colom segueix una tradició jueva típica dels testaments jueus.

‘Lapsus calami’ de Colom en referència al mes jueu de Nissan

En una carta escrita per Colom als Reis Catòlics, l’almirall diu: “Así que, después de haver echado fuera todos los judíos de todos vuestros reinos y señoríos, en el mismo mes de Enero, mandaron vuestras Altezas a mí, que con armada suficiente me fuese a las dichas partidas de la India”. El contracte entre Colom i els Reis Catòlics per al descobriment del Nou Món es va signar el mes d’abril del 1492. El decret d’expulsió dels jueus dels seus regnes va ser signat i fet públic el mateix mes d’abril del 1492. Colom comet un error (lapsus calami) al citar el mes de gener, perquè en aquest any 1492 el mes d’abril va coincidir amb el primer mes del calendari jueu, anomenat el mes de Nissan. Renato Llanas de Niubó considera que aquest lapsus calami es va deure a la cultura jueva en la qual Colom havia estat educat.


L’obsessió de Colom per la recuperació, reconstrucció i l’alliberament del temple de Jerusalem

En els seus escrits, Colom expressa moltes vegades, insistentment, el desig que el temple de Jerusalem sigui reconquerit i reconstruït. Fins i tot proposa als Reis Catòlics que tot l’or exportat de les colònies americanes s’utilitzi per crear un exèrcit i una armada per a una futura guerra de reconquesta de Jerusalem, de manera que el temple pugui ser restaurat a la seva antiga glòria. Molts autors, com, per exemple, Onofre Vaquer, consideren també aquesta obsessió de Colom com un signe clar que pertanyia a una família jueva.


La carta secreta que Colom va escriure al seu germà Bartomeu a l’illa d’Hispaniola

Cristòfor Colom, quan va veure l’arribada de Francisco de Bobadilla amb diversos documents de poders dels Reis Catòlics, que el podrien portar a ser empresonat el 1500, va escriure una carta al seu germà Bartomeu, que estava en una campanya de descobriment, perquè tornés amb ell al més ràpid possible per evitar el possible perill. Diversos cronistes han dit que aquesta carta va ser escrita en un alfabet desconegut i consideren seriosament que va ser escrita amb l’alfabet cursiu jueu, fet que demostraria que Colom va rebre una educació jueva en la seva joventut.

 

La visió sincrètica de les tres religions del Llibre

En una carta als reis de 1501 Colom expressa un pensament molt interessant: “Digo que el Espíritu Santo obra en cristianos, judíos, moros y en todos de otra secta, y no solo en los sabios, mas en los ignorantes”. La inquisició castellana, amb gran activitat persecutòria i repressiva en aquesta data, el podria haver acusat d’heretgia després de llegir aquest text i, si no hagués estat protegit pels Reis, el destí de Colom podria haver estat molt fàcilment la foguera d’un acte de fe. Aquest text de Colom pot reflectir que, des de ben jove, se li va ensenyar a jugar amb una doble identitat: catòlica romana en públic i jueva dins de l’àmbit familiar. Aquesta idea reflecteix també que tenia un bon coneixement personal dels hàbits dels jueus i els musulmans, fet que no podria haver passat entre la societat de Gènova.


El vet de l’Església Catòlica a deixar que Diego Colón es converteixi en bisbe de Santo Domingo

L’any 1504, Diego Colón, el germà menor de Colom, va demanar ser nacionalitzat com a castellà al regne de Castella i Lleó, perquè era un estranger en aquest regne i els estrangers no podien aconseguir cap dignitat eclesiàstica, com desitjava. Els Reis Catòlics van donar l’exigida nacionalitat castellana a Diego Colón “para que podais haber e hayais cualesquiera dignidades e beneficios eclesiásticos que vos fueran dados”. Però, tot i que Diego es va convertir oficialment en castellà, mai va rebre cap dignitat eclesiàstica i la raó d’aquesta negació és considerada per diversos autors que es devia a la seva ascendència jueva.


Moltes referències de l’Antic Testament, però cap del Nou Testament

En els escrits de Colom hi ha constantment referències a l’Antic Testament i als seus profetes preferits Isaïes, Ezequiel i fins i tot Esdres! Elías Barrocas admet que el coneixement de l’Antic Testament de Colom demostra un estudi molt seriós de la Bíblia. Però el problema sorgeix quan es tracta de saber quina Bíblia llegia Colom: la Vulgata catòlica o la Bíblia jueva? Els últims estudis sobre aquest tema assenyalen que és gairebé segur que la Bíblia que Colom va llegir en la seva joventut era la Bíblia jueva, com podrem veure després. Si acceptem aquest punt de vista, no hi ha dubte que Colom no era només un jueu educat en la religió jueva, sinó que era un criptojueu.

Amics i protectors de Cristòfor Colom

Després de set anys demanant als Reis Catòlics una petita flota per al descobriment del Nou Món i després de dues negatives dels monarques, basades en els criteris dels seus consellers, es deu a la influència d’un jueu convertit, Lluís de Santàngel, que Colom aconseguís el seu objectiu. Lluís de Santàngel pertanyia a una família molt rica de comerciants establerts a la ciutat de València, que estava acostumat a prendre decisions ràpides en el món comercial, encara que poguessin ser arriscades. Gairebé cada any, una gran galera, la galera dels Santàngel, sortia del port de València en un arriscat viatge cap al port d’Alexandria, així com molts altres vaixells seus que navegaven per la família Santàngel fins a Galway, a Irlanda, i altres ports atlàntics del nord europeu. Per tant, amb aquesta experiència, Lluís de Santàngel va considerar que valia la pena invertir en la proposta de Colom, perquè en cas d’èxit, el benefici seria enorme, en comparació amb la, per a ell petita, inversió inicial necessària.

Però Colom estava en relació a la cort reial amb molts jueus i jueus conversos com Gabriel Sánchez, Alfonso de la Caballería, Andrés Cabrera, marquès de Moya, i la seva esposa Beatriz Fernández de Bobadilla, Juan Cabrero, Lluís de Torres i la seva germana Juana de la Torre, Isaac Abravanel, Abraham Zacuto, Fray Diego de Deza, Alonso de Quintanilla, Joan de Coloma, etc. És considerat per molts estudiosos que, si Colom podia tenir una amistat tan propera amb tots aquests personatges, era a causa del seu origen jueu. Volem assenyalar que les bases mercantils i econòmiques de les famílies Sánchez i Santàngel tenien la seu a la ciutat de València.

 

La paralització i el bloqueig de la beatificació de Colom al Vaticà

La segona meitat del segle XIX el Vaticà va iniciar un procés de beatificació/canonització per proposar Colom com a sant de l’Església Catòlica i Romana. Aquest procés va ser objecte d’un bloqueig total després de diversos intents, sense una explicació clara d’un final tan radical. Simon Wiesenthal, juntament amb altres especialistes, consideren que la principal raó d’aquesta paralització va ser l’ascendència jueva de Colom i també el seu comportament suposadament herètic, considerant que era oficialment un creient catòlic.


El criptograma de la seva signatura

Si Colom hagués signat com tothom, escrivint el seu nom cristià seguit del cognom de la seva família, mai hauria aparegut cap dubte sobre el seu veritable nom i origen. Però no ho va fer i va inventar un estrany criptograma triangular sotasignat per "el Almirante" o "el Virrey". Aquest enigma ha estat estudiat per molts, molts estudiosos i les seves interpretacions cobreixen una àmplia gamma de respostes fantàstiques.

La meva elecció és la següent proposta: Cristòfor Colom, Almirall del Mar i de les Índies. Però recentment, Estelle Irizarry ha fet una interpretació molt nova i intel·ligent, que considera aquesta signatura com una declaració de l’origen jueu de Colom, que veurem més endavant.

 



Una Bíblia catalana a la Biblioteca Colombina de Sevilla

Als claustres de la catedral de Sevilla hi ha una biblioteca que conserva les restes de la biblioteca d’Hernando Colón, el segon fill de Cristòfor Colom. Molts d’aquests llibres havien estat comprats pel mateix Hernando, però hi ha una petita col·lecció de llibres i documents que presumiblement eren propietat del mateix Colom. Un d’aquests valuosos llibres és la versió catalana de la Bíblia traduïda pel sacerdot valencià Bonifaci Ferrer l’any 1408 i impresa a València el 1478. Aquesta versió de la Bíblia va ser prohibida per la nova inquisició castellana a finals d’aquest segle, durant la vida de Colom. La raó de la destrucció d’aquesta versió catalana de la Bíblia va ser que es basava en textos jueus (la versió jueva de la Bíblia?). Si Colom era el propietari d’aquest llibre i no havia complert l’ordre de la inquisició castellana de lliurar-lo per tal de ser destruït, podem inferir que la Bíblia que va llegir Colom era en català, perquè la seva llengua materna era el català? O va preferir Colom aquesta versió catalana de la Bíblia precisament perquè estava més a prop de la Bíblia jueva, perquè era d’ascendència jueva? Aquesta història de la Bíblia catalana impresa en català a València ens fa pensar a trobar alguna possible relació entre Colom i la ciutat de València.


LLIBRES RECENTS I ARTICLES D’HISTORIADORS CONTEMPORANIS QUE REAFIRMEN QUE COLOM ERA JUEU

Amb motiu del cinquè aniversari del descobriment d’Amèrica hi va haver una gran quantitat d’edicions de noves obres de molts historiadors sobre Cristòfor Colom, la seva vida i els seus fets. Molts d’aquests llibres i articles han estat escrits en castellà i, per desgràcia, gairebé cap no ha estat traduït ni a l’anglès ni a l’italià. Diverses d’aquestes obres tenen un gran interès en relació amb l’ascendència jueva de Colom. He seleccionat diversos d’aquests textos, perquè considero que la seva importància per al nostre objectiu és molt alta.


Juan Fernández Valverde (Priego de Córdoba, 1952)

El professor Juan Fernández Valverde ha estat professor de filologia llatina a la Universitat Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla. Va escriure la introducció al llibre Cristóbal Colón, Libro de las Profecías, un manuscrit molt especial escrit pel mateix Colom amb l’ajuda del frare cartoixà Gaspar de Gorricio. En aquest llibre Colom presta molta atenció al text d’Isaïes que diu: “I vaig veure un nou cel i una nova terra. Ja que el primer cel i la primera terra han desaparegut i el mar ja no és aquí.” I Fernández Valverde comenta: “La referència al text d’Isaïes es refereix a la immensa felicitat creada per l’arribada de l’era messiànica, l’alegria terrenal i la pau bucòlica que sorgirà en aquest moment, però totes aquestes consideracions es basen en un punt de vista jueu, perquè aquesta interpretació és la jueva, literal de les Escriptures, perquè, en cas contrari, com es pot deduir que l’era messiànica encara està per venir, si per als cristians aquesta era ha arribat?”
Sobre l’obsessió de Colom per la reconstrucció del temple de Jerusalem, el professor diu: “La reconquesta de Jerusalem i la reconstrucció del Temple (al qual Colom es refereix en la forma hebrea de casa) no són objectius cristians, sinó jueus, perquè els jueus, i no els cristians, encara esperen l’arribada del Messies, que provocarà aquests fets.”

Sobre les referències de la Bíblia fetes per Colom, ja que les versions jueva i llatina de la Bíblia són molt diferents a vegades, el professor Fernández Valverde expressa els seus dubtes sobre quina versió de la Bíblia va llegir Colom de fet, amb la següent expressió col·loquial: “Suposem que Colom va utilitzar una versió llatina de la Bíblia, i no una versió hebrea, perquè si estava llegint una versió hebrea, apaga y vámonos”!

El significat d’aquest pensament, escrit al final de la introducció al Llibre de les Profecies pel professor Fernández Valverde, és que creu que la Bíblia que Colom va llegir era en la versió jueva, però si hem d’assumir aquest fet, significaria un fet tan important i revolucionari que tot sobre Colom hauria de ser revisat.


Juan Gil Fernández (Madrid, 1939)

El professor Juan Gil Fernández ha estat professor de filologia llatina de la Universitat de Sevilla (1971-2006) i actualment és membre de la Reial Acadèmia Espanyola (2011). És un dels humanistes més reconeguts i ha fet moltes col·laboracions amb la doctora Consuelo Varela en el camp de la història de Colom i el descobriment d’Amèrica.

El professor Juan Gil ha escrit, al meu entendre, un dels millors llibres recents sobre Colom i el descobriment d’Amèrica, Mitos y utopías del Descubrimiento, publicat per Alianza Universidad en la seva col·lecció per al cinquè centenari. Pel que sé, aquest llibre no ha estat traduït a l’anglès i no és gaire conegut pels estudiosos angloamericans. En el setè capítol, “La religiosidad de Cristóbal Colón”, Juan Gil fa un estudi molt seriós i profund sobre les creences religioses de Colom, de què destacarem les següents.

Sobre el desig de Colom de reconstruir el temple de Jerusalem, Gil diu: “La reconstrucció del Temple de Jerusalem és contrària a totes les antigues tradicions dels cristians; perquè el Temple havia estat destruït com un càstig de Déu per la traïció dels jueus, que han negat reconèixer el veritable Messies. Per tant, la conseqüència, la desolació d’aquest santuari, ha de romandre fins al final del temps”.

“La reconstrucció del Temple, tan anhelada per Colom és, en conseqüència, una creença que no s’ajusta a l’ortodòxia cristiana, perquè el reconstructor del Temple ha de ser l’Anticrist, el Messies jueu. La reconstrucció del Temple va ser, de fet, el pensament que ha donat consol al dolor i l’angoixa dels jueus durant els segles de la diàspora”.

En aquests dos passatges, el professor Gil, sense dir explícitament que està convençut que Colom era jueu, demostra que la mentalitat de Colom estava orientada a la religió i la cultura jueves, fet que significa que va rebre una educació jueva en la seva infància i joventut, tant religiosa com en els costums de la societat jueva.

Sobre les creences escatològiques de Cristòfor Colom, Gil escriu un paràgraf clar sobre els orígens jueus de Colom: “El Colom sempre prudent, l’home que aconsegueix mantenir la seva vida en el misteri més complet, comet una temerària indiscreció. Perquè succeeix que l’escatologia, que reflecteix els sentiments més íntims d’una comunitat, és el fet més difícil de ser assimilat d’una religió. En canvi, amb més o menys facilitats, els conceptes bàsics es poden entendre o imitar els hàbits externs, però per tirar per la borda tot el que s’ha après a la infància, tirar per la borda totes les tradicions antigues de segles és gairebé impossible, especialment en una qüestió on les escatologies cristiana i jueva convergien, fins i tot si els seus punts de vista podrien ser irreductibles.”

“Les creences atàviques fan que Colom desitgi que el Temple sigui reconstruït: la crida del subconscient és massa forta perquè l’Almirall pugui superar-lo. En aquest context, la mania malaltissa de Colom per Jerusalem és completament comprensible.” “Perquè Colom, a la llum d’aquests escrits, va ser educat en la religió jueva en la seva infància.

El professor Juan Gil troba una altra prova dels seus orígens jueus per escriure: “Quan gent malèvola va difondre rumors al·lusius a l’ascendència jueva de Colom, a partir de 1498, l’Almirall va començar a utilitzar en els seus manuscrits l’expressió en el nom de la Santa Trinitat, una referència obsessiva, que es converteix en una pedra de toc perfecta per revelar la seva condició de convers, com passa en molts casos.”

I sobre el fet que Lluís de Santàngel, un jueu convers, donés suport definitiu al primer viatge de descobriment de Colom, Juan Gil exposa: “No va ser un fet aleatori que, quan totes les negociacions entre l’Almirall i els Reis Catòlics semblaven fallar i trencar-se, precisament un jueu convers, Lluís de Santàngel, es convertís en la persona que utilitza la seva influència sobre els reis per salvar aquesta empresa. Podem sospitar que Santàngel no s’hauria arriscat tant en una navegació, que molts consideraven un suïcidi, si no hagués tingut també una fe religiosa en el seu èxit final. En conseqüència, podem entendre la situació exacta: un petit grup de criptojueus saben que una persona escollida per Déu està decidida a emprendre un viatge mai vist abans, gràcies al qual s’aconseguiran les profecies messiàniques de l’Antic Testament. Són els que propaguen el rumor que la redempció vindrà de l’oceà: i per això s’espera que l’arribada del Messies sigui a Lisboa, quan Colom està intentant pactar amb el rei de Portugal Joan II, o a Sevilla o Palos, quan Colom està en negociacions amb els Reis Catòlics.”

 

Estelle Irizarry (nascuda Estelle Diane Roses, Nova Jersey 1937-2017)

Estelle Irizarry va ser professora de literatura hispànica a la Universitat de Georgetown a Washington. L’any 2009 va publicar el llibre El ADN de los escritos de Cristóbal Colón. Després de fer un profund estudi lingüístic, de puntuació i cal·ligràfic dels escrits de Colom, va afirmar que Colom no era el fill d’un artesà genovès, sinó un súbdit natural de la Corona d’Aragó i que la seva llengua materna era la catalana. També va dir que Colom havia amagat els seus orígens, perquè es va veure obligat a amagar els seus veritables orígens perquè era un jueu o un convers.

Va analitzar la puntuació dels manuscrits de Colom i hi va detectar diverses particularitats que només s’utilitzaven, en aquell moment, als territoris de parla catalana de la Corona d’Aragó: Principat de Catalunya, Regne de València i l’antic Regne de Mallorques. Va donar especial importància a l’ús de la vírgula (solidarius), que era únic en aquesta àrea. Els escrits de Colom van ser tan perfectament escrits que creu que, en la seva joventut, podria haver assistit a una escola jueva de masoretes. Estelle Irizarry declara: “La hipòtesi que Colom era un jueu convers implica que Colom hauria d’haver après i copiat els textos sagrats jueus en la seva infantesa”. “Amb alta probabilitat, a Colom, jueu convers, li havien inculcat l’obsessió per la puntuació promoguda pels seus primers mestres de la seva infància, que eren probablement masoretes que vivien en l’àrea de la Corona d’Aragó, que correspon avui dia a Catalunya o en territoris d’influència catalana.”
Irizarry també va analitzar els escrits de Colom amb l’ajuda de nous programes analítics informàtics, que detecten la persistència de la memòria fònica en els escrits d’una persona els textos de la qual no estan escrits en la seva llengua materna, sinó en una segona llengua. La probabilitat que el català fos la seva llengua materna va obtenir un valor de 0,355675, seguit del gallec (0,180575) i el francès (0,149766).

Volem assenyalar, amb un interès molt especial, la interpretació que Irizarry ha fet en aquest llibre de l’ideograma que Colom va utilitzar com a signatura: “Un bon cristià mai utilitzaria un autògraf per anunciar la seva fe. Però un criptojueu ho faria per amagar la seva fe, com va fer Colom, amb l’ús dels textos dels profetes, com una pantalla del seu aparent cristianisme. Les lletres que conformen el seu criptograma constitueixen la pregària més sagrada, antiga i repetida de la religió jueva: “Sh’ma Yisroel”, ‘escolta, Israel’, escrita en una tríada perfecta. La X es pronuncia sh, i en llegir la següent lletra a la dreta trobem una M amb una A al damunt (que es converteix en una subversió en l’ordre correcte de senyar-se, que hauria de ser en l’ordre A-M-X-Y). Les subversions no només resideixen en aquest fet, perquè el creient que coneix l’oració sap que va seguida de «El Senyor és el nostre Déu i el Senyor és un» i, com a conseqüència, el triangle del Sh’ma és la introducció per a la negació de la Santíssima Trinitat”.


Primera conclusió provisional

Després de considerar les opinions i els textos esmentats anteriorment, creiem que les probabilitats que Colom tingués una ascendència jueva semblen indubtables, i aquesta condició familiar, la seva pertinença a una família jueva, podria ser la raó per amagar la seva veritable identitat.

COLOM ERA UN JUEU SEFARDITA

Tots els estudiosos que creuen i defensen l’ascendència jueva de Colom sempre l’estan centrant en la península Ibèrica com l’origen de la seva família: portuguès, castellà, català, valencià, mallorquí, etc. Alguns autors, com Salvador de Madariaga o Celso García de la Riega, intenten combinar un origen sefardita amb un origen genovès, proposant una migració temporal de la seva família cap o des de Gènova. Sembla molt difícil intentar la quadratura del cercle donant a Colom una doble identitat: sefardita i genovesa al mateix temps. Però abans de continuar amb la proposta d’un origen jueu sefardita de Colom, hem d’aclarir i corregir diversos conceptes importants sobre la situació política de la península Ibèrica als segles XV i XVI.


El Regne d’Espanya no va existir durant la vida de Colom!

Si us plau, oblidin-se d’utilitzar els termes Regne d’Espanya, espanyol, conquistadors espanyols o imperi espanyol durant l’època de la vida de Colom (i fins al final del segle XVII)! La raó d’aquest suggeriment és que està demostrat que el casament de Ferran d’Aragó amb Isabel de Castella no va crear cap nou regne unitari d’Espanya. Fou una unió personal o dinàstica, que avui es considera que va resultar en una monarquia hispànica, però no en la creació d’un nou Regne Unit d’Espanya. Els professors universitaris utilitzen ara el terme monarquia composta per  designar millor la situació política d’un grup de diferents territoris sota el govern del mateix rei, sense significar la unitat d’aquests territoris. En el cas específic dels Reis Catòlics, ells tenien els següents títols de noblesa, en què no hi ha cap menció a Espanya o reis d’Espanya: “Don Fernando e Doña Isabel, por la gracia de Dios Rey e Reyna de Castilla, de León, de Seçilia, de Granada, de Toledo, de Galizia, de Mallorcas, de Sevilla, de Çerdeña, de Corcega, de Murcia, de Jaen, de los Algarbes, de Algesira, de Gibraltar e de las Yslas de Canaria, condes de Barcelona, duques de Atenas e de Çerdania, marqueses de Oristan e de Goçiano” (Carta dels Reis Catòlics a les autoritats de les ciutats costaneres dels seus regnes en què se’ls obliga a donar tota l’ajuda necessària per organitzar la primera expedició de Colom al Nou Món; Granada, 30 d’abril de 1492).

Com a conseqüència d’aquest conjunt no unitari de territoris i de la no existència d’un regne unificat d’Espanya, el papa Alexandre VI, en concedir la propietat del Nou Món a un regne europeu, quin regne va triar? La resposta incorrecta a aquesta pregunta és “al Regne d’Espanya”, perquè era inexistent en aquell moment, la resposta correcta és als Reis Catòlics i als seus successors al regne de Castella i Lleó! Per tant, a partir d’aquest moment, l’anomenat imperi espanyol hauria de ser conegut correctament com a imperi castellà.

 

El gran error de Geoffrey Barraclough!

L’Estat espanyol ha insistit en la proclamació de la “unitat sagrada d’Espanya” en els textos escolars durant diversos segles passats, especialment durant el règim del general Franco. La versió oficial de la història hispànica ha intentat eliminar permanentment l’antiga existència de diverses nacions independents, que al final van estar unides, després de la guerra de Successió (1716), en una sola nació unitària coneguda actualment com a Regne d’Espanya. L’obsessió de la unitat espanyola ha portat tots els successius governs espanyols a cometre un genocidi cultural constant contra les diverses nacions hispàniques d’origen no castellà: País Basc, Catalunya, València, Illes Balears o Galícia, per tal d’aconseguir l’objectiu d’imposar una llengua única en tota l’Espanya moderna: la llengua castellana, coneguda ara com a espanyola.

 

 

La propaganda espanyola va difondre el concepte que, dels Reis Catòlics endavant, el Regne d’Espanya es va convertir en un regne unit i permanent, que va enganyar gairebé tots els historiadors estrangers. Aquesta història falsa es pot detectar reflectida perfectament en un dels atles històrics més importants i difosos del món: The Times Atlas of World History (1978). A l’extrem sud d’Europa i al voltant de l’any 1500, l’atles pinta tota la península Ibèrica amb només dos colors diferents, corresponents als regnes de Portugal i Espanya (sic)! Geoffrey Barraclough va mossegar l’ham de la propaganda espanyola! En primer lloc, comet l’error de denominar els antics regnes independents, abans de la suposada unió, com a Regne de Castella i Regne d’Aragó. L’error és que el nom correcte per al segon regne hauria de ser Corona d’Aragó, que també era un regne compost de diverses nacions independents. De fet, hauria estat més clar anomenar tots aquests territoris com l’Imperi Mediterrani Català, ja que incloïa regnes com Sicília, Sardenya o Nàpols i la seva capital era la ciutat de Barcelona. Barraclough indica en aquest mapa "united 1479", fet que és una fal·làcia absoluta, i una contradicció amb allò que també indica molt a prop de la data "united 1479": “a Habsburgs 1504” (Castile) i “a Habsburgs 1516” (Aragó). I podem preguntar al Sr. Barraclough: com és possible que un regne unificat l’any 1479, com va dir vostè, fos lliurat a la Casa dels Habsburg en dos períodes diferents i en dos territoris diferents el 1504 i el 1516, respectivament?

Qui eren els reis d’Espanya el dia que Colom va morir el 20 de maig de 1506? La resposta correcta és ningú, perquè no existia aquest regne d’Espanya! La resposta correcta és: la reina Joana I, casada amb Felip d’Habsburg, eren els reis de Castella, i el rei Ferran, casat amb la seva nova esposa Germana de Foix, eren els reis de la Corona d’Aragó. Aquest fet demostra perfectament l’estat correcte de la situació política a la península Ibèrica. I tot aquest aclariment històric que acabo de fer es deu a l’objectiu que el lector pugui entendre correctament el significat de la paraula sefardita i en quin regne o nació podria haver nascut Colom a la península Ibèrica. La versió correcta de l’atles històric per al regnat de Ferran el Catòlic és la següent imatge:

 

 

Peu fotografia: En color marró es representen els dominis del regne de Castella i en color verd es pinten tots els territoris sota el domini de la Corona Catalanoaragonesa (o Imperi Mediterrani Català, com suggereixo).

 

 

La nova inquisició castellana: terror absolut!

Un aspecte molt important que mostra la independència absoluta del Regne de Castella respecte a la Corona Catalanoaragonesa va ser que, mentre que a Catalunya existia la Santa Inquisició contra l’Herètica Pravetat des del 1184, a causa de l’heretgia càtara, a Castella no n’hi havia cap. Per tant, els Reis Catòlics, per tal de controlar la població jueva conversa de Castella, van decidir demanar al papa que se’ls permetés crear una nova Inquisició allà. A Catalunya i la resta de la Corona d’Aragó van continuar la vella inquisició que, al segle XV, estava gairebé inactiva. La nova Inquisició castellana va començar les seves activitats a partir de l’any 1478.

Hem d’assenyalar que el funcionament de les dues inquisicions, la vella i la nova, era totalment diferent. Mentre que l’antiga inquisició catalana medieval depenia totalment de l’Església Catòlica i els inquisidors eren nomenats pel papa o pels bisbes locals, en la nova inquisició castellana els inquisidors eren nomenats pels Reis Catòlics i tota aquesta institució era controlada per ells, tot i que se suposava que el papa tenia un control superior sobre les seves decisions.

I una altra diferència absoluta entre la nova i l’antiga inquisició era el fet que, en el cas que un jueu convers jutjat fos condemnat i els seus béns, diners i cases li fossin confiscats, abans de cremar-lo viu, el beneficiari de tota aquesta riquesa econòmica havia estat l’Església Catòlica en l’antiga inquisició (els bisbats), però en el cas de la nova Inquisició Castellana aquesta riquesa ompliria les arques reials dels Reis Catòlics a Valladolid, la capital funcional del regne de Castella.
Quan les primeres persecucions dutes a terme per la nova inquisició castellana van tenir lloc a Sevilla o Còrdova, i les primeres víctimes van ser cremades vives en espectacles públics (actes de fe), moltes famílies jueves converses de Castella van decidir escapar als territoris catalanoaragonesos, ja que la vella inquisició estava gairebé inactiva. Per desgràcia, molt ràpidament, els Reis Catòlics van imposar la nova inquisició castellana als regnes d’Aragó, València i el Principat de Catalunya, amb l’ajuda i la connivència del papa Pius VI. Tot i que l’objectiu oficial de la Inquisició castellana era exterminar les heretgies dels jueus convertits, de fet, era una manera que els Reis Catòlics poguessin expoliar, poguessin cometre la confiscació dels béns i fortunes dels jueus conversos més rics en tots els seus reialmes. El resultat de la introducció per la força de la inquisició castellana a la Corona d’Aragó va obligar totes les famílies riques de jueus conversos a fugir a països estrangers. Aquest primer èxode jueu va produir un enorme perjudici econòmic a l’economia catalana, com, per exemple, va provocar la fallida de la banca municipal de Barcelona.

 

 

Peu fotografia: En aquesta imatge de l’escut d’armes de la nova inquisició castellana es pot observar que, per expressar que depenia de la monarquia hispànica, s’hi ha afegit una enorme corona reial.

 

Però aquesta nova inquisició castellana també va ser utilitzada pels reis com una maquinària políticament repressiva eficaç, perquè el funcionament de la inquisició estava completament separat del sistema judicial normal i tenia les seves pròpies presons. Com va dir un historiador català contemporani, Miquel Coll i Alentorn, la inquisició castellana era molt similar a la Gestapo alemanya de l’època de Hitler. Quan una persona era arrestada, no tenia cap oportunitat de tenir una defensa legal. Era sotmesa a un judici viciat d’entrada, on els membres del tribunal li preguntaven quina heretgia havia comès i no podia saber qui era la persona que l’havia denunciat. Els acusats eren torturats i el resultat final solia ser fatal, si no hi havia un enorme pagament de diners en descàrrec. Aquesta implantació de la nova inquisició castellana a tota la monarquia hispànica devia impressionar molt Cristòfor Colom a l’entrar des de Portugal al regne de Castella i va decidir amagar el seu origen jueu.

 

Sepharad i els jueus sefardites

Uns quants dels jueus emigrats de Jerusalem, que van fugir després de la destrucció del segon temple, es van establir a la península Ibèrica i van tenir-hi una permanència constant fins a l’expulsió dels Reis Catòlics el 1492, que va ser seguida per l’expulsió de tots els jueus del regne de Portugal el 1496. Tots aquests jueus van rebre el nom de sefardites pel fet que, en la cultura jueva, tota l’antiga Hispània romana, igual que tota la península Ibèrica, va ser anomenada Sepharad pels jueus. Per tant, Sepharad és un nom geogràfic per a tota la península Ibèrica que inclou els estats moderns de Portugal i Espanya.

En comptes d’utilitzar el terme jueus espanyols com a equivalent de jueus sefardites, és aconsellable utilitzar la forma més correcta jueus hispànics, perquè en aquest terme també s’inclouen els jueus portuguesos. Recomanem l’ús de la forma específica per als jueus de qualsevol nació que existís en aquell moment, per exemple jueus castellans, jueus catalans, jueus valencians, jueus bascos, jueus mallorquins, etc., en lloc del terme generalista i inapropiat jueus espanyols.


Si Colom era un jueu sefardita, a quin territori de la monarquia hispànica pertanyia?

Diego Colón, germà de Cristòfor Colom, va demanar ser nacionalitzat com a súbdit castellà l’any 1504 i la seva proposta va ser acceptada pels Reis Catòlics. Aquest fet significa que els tres germans Colom no van néixer al regne de Castella i Lleó, i per tant, van ser considerats estrangers en aquest regne. Com a conseqüència, Colom no podria haver estat ni un jueu gallec, ni castellà, ni andalús, etc.

Els súbdits de països estrangers no podien obtenir cap càrrec públic com a funcionaris del regne de Castella, si prèviament no es nacionalitzaven com a súbdits naturals de Castella. Colom, tot i que va aconseguir els càrrecs oficials més alts del Regne de Castella com a virrei, governador general i almirall del mar Oceà, sorprenentment, per ser-ne estranger, mai va ser nacionalitzat al Regne de Castella. El mateix raonament és vàlid per al seu germà Bartomeu, que va obtenir el títol de "adelantado de Indias" a Amèrica. Tots dos eren estrangers a Castella i, si podien obtenir rangs tan importants, es devia a la següent raó: la reina Isabel, després d’esdevenir reina de Castella, va ordenar que tots els súbdits naturals del seu sogre, el rei Joan II de la Corona d’Aragó (pare del futur rei Ferran), fossin tractats i considerats com a súbdits naturals de Castella. Per tant, els dos germans, Cristòfor i Bartomeu Colom, eren de fet subjectes naturals de la Corona d’Aragó, sense excloure la possibilitat que fossin sicilians, sards o napolitans. Si Diego Colón, el germà petit, va haver de demanar ser nacionalitzat castellà, va ser perquè volia obtenir un càrrec eclesiàstic i un benefici, potser bisbe de Santo Domingo, i la llei canònica era diferent de la llei civil i, per tant, el decret de la reina Isabel no va afectar el domini religiós.


La llengua materna de Colom com a clau per determinar la seva nacionalitat

La lingüística és una ciència molt antiga que ha experimentat recentment una enorme expansió i millora a causa de l’aplicació de programes informàtics per a l’estudi de textos moderns i antics. La lingüística forense és tan precisa avui en dia que la seva anàlisi s’accepta com a prova als tribunals penals. Recentment, diversos professors universitaris han analitzat els documents manuscrits existents de Cristòfor Colom, tots en castellà, per determinar la llengua materna original de Colom, que està subjacent en els textos castellans. Lluís de Yzaguirre i Maura, així com Estelle Irizarry, van arribar a la conclusió que la llengua materna més probable de Colom és la llengua catalana. Si acceptem aquesta conclusió, això significa que Colom va néixer i créixer en un territori de parla catalana de la Corona de Catalunya-Aragó. Les possibilitats de localitzar el seu origen es limiten al Principat de Catalunya, al Regne de València i a l’antic Regne de Mallorques. Com que els jueus vivien preferentment a les grans ciutats, Colom podia ser de Perpinyà, Girona, Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona, Tortosa, València o Mallorca, entre altres possibilitats.

València, bressol de Cristòfor Colom?

Al meu entendre, la ciutat més adequada de tots els territoris catalans per ser el bressol de Colom és la ciutat de València, capital del regne independent de València en temps de Colom. Les raons són diverses, i les he exposat en diversos articles relacionats amb aquest tema. Al meu entendre, Lluís de Santàngel coneixia Colom des de la seva joventut a la ciutat de València, perquè eren de la mateixa comunitat jueva secreta de conversos d’aquesta ciutat. A més, Colom, comparant la bellesa natural dels paisatges ubèrrims de les Antilles, sempre compara aquests paisatges amb la famosa horta de València. La teoria ortodoxa de Colom, que el fa nascut a Gènova, ignora completament qualsevol relació de Colom amb la ciutat de València. A més, València es va convertir en la ciutat més important de l’Imperi Mediterrani Català i la porta d’entrada del Renaixement en aquest costat occidental de la Mediterrània, a causa de la intensa relació de València amb Nàpols, així com per l’ascensió al tron del Vaticà de dos papes valencians, Calixt III i Alexandre VI, en temps de Colom.

Finalment, a València va tenir lloc un fenomen extraordinari en aquest moment, com va ser l’emigració a aquesta ciutat de més de 500 mestres seders de la regió de Ligúria a València. Aquesta emigració massiva de mestres de teixir seda, juntament amb la seva nova tecnologia de teixir vellut, va convertir València en un gran centre de producció de tèxtils de seda durant tres segles. Una conseqüència social d’aquesta intensa emigració van ser les noces de joves genovesos amb joves valencianes, cristianes o jueves converses. Al meu entendre, una d’aquestes parelles mixtes podrien ser els pares dels germans Colom. I hi havia la possibilitat que la núvia pogués pertànyer a una antiga família jueva de teixidors de seda. Com a conseqüència d’aquesta barreja genètica, Colom podria rebre un ADN mitocondrial de la seva mare jueva i convertir-se en un home amb ascendència jueva, i per tant, també jueu ell mateix.

 

 

SI L’ADN MITOCONDRIAL DE COLOM CORRESPONGUÉS AL D’UNA DONA JUEVA SEFARDITA, PODRIA SER D’ORIGEN GENOVÈS?

Imaginem que els resultats analítics de l’anàlisi de l’ADN mitocondrial de Colom donés el resultat que correspon a un grup de dones sefardites jueves. Afectarà aquest resultat la versió ortodoxa de l’origen genovès de Colom? Molts erudits italians, com el molt respectat Paolo Emilio Taviani, han insistit, que si passava, que Colom fos un jueu, no podia ser italià o genovès. El raonament de Taviani es basa en el fet que a Itàlia, al segle XV, els jueus no podien viure al camp i es van veure obligats a viure a les ciutats, així que, com que el besavi del genovès Cristoforo Colombo vivia en un petit poble rural conegut com a Moconesi, no hi ha dubte que el genovès Cristoforo Colombo no podia ser d’ascendència jueva.

Un altre famós erudit i especialista italià de Colom, el professor Ernesto Lunardi, considera que la família Colombo de Gènova no tenia cap relació amb el món jueu, perquè Domenico Colombo, suposat pare de Colom, va treballar com a guardià d’una de les portes de la ciutat de Gènova i aquest càrrec estava reservat únicament als cristians. Un altre especialista italià de Colom, Gianni Granzotto, té la mateixa opinió. Hi ha una incompatibilitat total del genovès Cristoforo Colombo amb la condició personal de ser jueu ni tampoc un jueu sefardita. D’altra banda, a Gènova no hi havia una comunitat jueva al segle XV, ni sinagoga, i els jueus només podien romandre tres dies a la ciutat per fer negocis. Gènova no ha estat una ciutat amiga dels jueus durant molt de temps de la baixa edat mitjana!

Si els resultats analítics de l’ADN mitocondrial de Cristòfor Colom, així com del seu germà menor Diego, demostren que la mare d’ambdós germans era una dona jueva sefardita, l’origen genovès de Colom caurà en crisi i la possibilitat que algun territori de la península Ibèrica hagi estat el bressol del descobridor del Nou Món pot ser molt més probable.


CONCLUSIONS FINALS

La investigació científica històrica no només pot basar-se en documents i imatges escrites o impreses, sinó també en ciències auxiliars com la paleografia, la lingüística, l’anàlisi química, l’anàlisi genètica, etc. El llibre més famós sobre la llengua materna de Colom ha estat La lengua de Cristóbal Colón, escrit per l’erudit espanyol Ramon Menéndez Pidal el 1942. Però després de l’aparició dels nous mètodes lingüístics, la investigació i el llibre del Sr. Menéndez han quedat totalment obsolets. Aquesta progressió de les ciències auxiliars, juntament amb els canvis en l’escala dels valors morals de la nostra societat, pot alterar la historiografia de molts fets històrics. Hem viscut, els últims trenta anys, la caiguda de la fama de Colom des de la consideració de ser un heroi universal important fins a convertir-se en el promotor del major genocidi de la història humana. La història pot canviar dràsticament!

Gràcies als últims estudis en el camp de la paleografia, els escrits de Colom corresponen a la lletra gòtica cursiva catalana. En el camp de la lingüística, les darreres anàlisis tractades amb programes informàtics reflecteixen que la llengua materna més probable de Colom era la catalana. L’anàlisi dels procediments administratius de naturalització, o no, dels germans Colom, implica que eren subjectes naturals del rei Ferran. L’estudi dels escrits místics de Colom ens pot portar a la consideració que Colom pertany al món i la cultura jueus. Hem d’estar preparats per modificar el nostre concepte sobre qui era Colom, quan finalment es conegui el resultat final de l’anàlisi genètica. Aquest resultat genètic pot afirmar que Colom era d’ascendència sefardita. En aquest cas caldrà revisar la teoria ortodoxa genovesa. Però si l’anàlisi genètica resulta en la negació de qualsevol relació de Colom amb el món jueu, tot el que he escrit en aquest curt assaig serà fals i demanaré la vostra misericòrdia i deixaré d’investigar la vida i els fets de Colom. Colom va viure en un moment molt difícil, quan havia de jugar una doble identitat: cristià en públic i jueu en la privacitat de la seva família. Sent fill d’un home genovès i d’una dona valenciana jueva, tenint una doble identitat, va triar l’alternativa genovesa, per escapar de la persecució de la nova inquisició castellana.

 


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