King Ferdinand V of Spain

While Columbus was seeking another audience with the King, Ferdinand wrote this letter from Granada during his successful siege of the Muslim city, the month he stopped the Inquisition’s proceedings against his Treasurer, Luis de Santangel, accused of being a Jew. It was Santangel who, five months later, convinced the King to reverse his decision and finance Columbus.

      Manuscript Letter Signed “Yo el Rey” (“I the King”), one page, 11” x 7.5”. Granada, July 30, 1491. In Latin, not translated. To Ludovico Sforza. Tipped to sheet of same size. Partial elaborate embossed seal affixed with red wax on verso, light show-through of wax at left. Light folds. Docket in unknown hands at top (“1491 - 30 Luglio...”) and at the right (“...Napoli”) in Italian. King Ferdinand II acknowledges receipt of a letter from Sforza which contained “perspicacious” observations relating to “our holdings” in Italy and his “valuable” comments on the Marquis of Palavicino. The King of Spain had long desired to acquire territory in Italy and eventually, in 1504, conquered Naples. Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508), patron of Leonardo da Vinci, had deprived his seven-year-old nephew of the regency of Milan in 1480, but was not formerly invested as Duke of Milan by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I until his nephew’s death in 1494. In 1499, French King Louis XII, who had a hereditary claim to the duchy of Milan, invaded Italy and expelled Sforza. In July 1491, King Ferdinand’s treasurer, Luis de Santangel, was accused of being a Marrano, a Sephardic Jew who was forced to adopt Christianity under threat of expulsion but who continued to practice Judaism secretly. The King intervened on his behalf and managed to stop the Inquisition’s proceedings. On July 17, 1491, just 13 days before Ferdinand signed this letter, Santangel was penanced. In December, it was Santangel who made it possible for Christopher Columbus to gain another hearing before Ferdinand and Isabella after they had turned him down at least twice in the previous five years. In Santa Fe, outside the besieged Granada, they considered his project once more, and once more it was rejected. Columbus returned to the convent at La Rábida, near Huelva, where he had stayed with Franciscan friar Juan Perez in the summer of 1491. He planned to travel north to make an appeal to the King of France. Father Perez, former confessor to Isabella, wrote the Queen to reconsider. Royal Treasurer Luis de Santangel also interceded on Columbus’s behalf. Arguing that the investment was small considering the potential reward, Santangel convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to reverse their decision. They sent a messenger to La Rábida who brought Columbus back to Granada. The siege of Granada had begun in the spring of 1491. The surrender of Granada was signed in November 1491 and Ferdinand and Isabella entered the capital in a procession on January 2, 1492; Columbus was in the procession. The Columbus Doors stand imposingly at the main entrance to the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, District of Columbia. Depicted on one of the nine panels is Columbus on a mule, preparing to depart La Rábida.