BYU Studies Quarterly BYU Studies Quarterly

Volume 32 Issue 4 Article 16

10-1-1992

The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America,

1492-1493 Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr., trans.; Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr., trans.; The Libro Libro

de las profecías de las profecías of Christopher Columbus Delno C. West and Delno C. West and

August Kling August Kling

DeLamar Jensen

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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Jensen, DeLamar (1992) "The Diario of Christopher Columbus's First Voyage to America, 1492-1493 Oliver Dunn and James E. Kelley, Jr., trans.; The Libro de las profecías of Christopher Columbus Delno C. West and August Kling," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 32 : Iss. 4 , Article 16. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol32/iss4/16

This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu, ellen_amatangelo@byu.edu.

thediariothe diario of christopher columbussColumcolumbussfirstbussduss first voyage to americaamelica1492 1493 abstracted by fray bartolomeBartolom6 de las casas tran-scribed and translated into english with notes and a concordanceof the spanish by oliver dunn and james E kelley jr normanuniversity of oklahoma press 1989 xiv 491 ppap bibliographyconcordance index 595059.505950 paperback 249524.952495

the libro de las profeciasprofecias of ofcbristopberchristopher columbus an enenfacefaceedition translation and commentary by demodelnodeino C west andaugust kling gainesville university of florida press 1991 x274274ppappp bibliography index 499549.954995

reviewed bydelamarjensen professor emeritus ofhistory brighamyoungBrighabrigham youngmYoung

university and chairman of the BYU columbus quincentennial committee

much has been written about columbus during thisquincentennial year perhaps too much nevertheless manyquestions about the man and his impact on world historyremain unanswered indeed some of them still remain unaskedA good deal of the writing has been polemical at best and at worstoutright nonsensical just as happened one hundred years agoduring the quadricentennial many people took advantage ofcolumbussColumbuss name and notoriety to get into print knowing thatno matter what they wrote on the subject whether it had anyscholarly merit or not or did or did not adhere to the facts itwould likely be published some of the columbian literature of1992 carries the additional burden of being motivated bypolitical agendas of various kinds

nevertheless the five hundredth anniversary has alsostimulated a number of commendable projects which just ashappened in 1892 have produced some valuable works bothdocumentary and interpretative two of the more significantpublications of a century ago were the fourteen volume collec-tion of columbian writings and related documents known asthe raccoltaraccostaRaccolta I1 and the other was a remarkably perceptive andbalanced interpretative history byjustinby justin winsor 21 comparableto these monumental works are the current publications inprogress called the luovanuova raccoltaraccostaRaccolta Colombiana31 and therepertorium columbianumColumbianum 1

less ambitious yet perhaps having a much wider impact arenew editions in english of two of columbussColumbuss most important

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writings his shipborddianoshipboarddiarioshipboardDiario orjournalorjournal as it is frequently calledof the first voyage to america and his lesser known but equallysignificant book of prophecies composed in 1501 1502

the dunn and kelley edition of the diario is the mostcomplete transcription and accurate scholarly edition of the lascasas manuscript version of columbussColumbuss diary our principalsource of information about that unique voyage of discoverycolumbus kept a daily jjournalournalburnal ofhis first voyage whichwas notjust a position log with navigational data and related informationbut was also an account ofwhat he found after he reached landand ofmany ofhis personal opinions and feelings upon returningto spain he presented the diary to the monarchs theyhad a copyof the original made for columbus and gave it to him prior to hisdeparture on the second voyage unfortunately both the originaland the copy eventually disappeared not unusual for documentswritten five hundred years ago but before they did fatherbartolomebartolom6Bartolombartoloma6 de las casas the colonist turned historian and widelyknown defender ofthe indians made an abstract ofcolumbussColumbusscopy in the 1550s1530s this abstract is partly a summary of whatcolumbus wrote and partly direct quotations from the admiralhimself theibe las casas manuscript a document ofseventyofseventy six largefolios all handwrittenhand written by las casas also disappeared for over 250years but was found again in the 1790sby1790s by martin Femandez denavarrete the spanish naval officer and historian it is nowpreserved in the bibliotecabibliotheca nacional in madrid

the present transcription by oliver dunn professoremeritus atpurdue university andjamesandjames E kelleykelleyjrkeiley jr a computerand management consultant and longtimelong time student of medievalcartography and navigation painstakingly follows the basicstructure of the las casas original for those interested in theexact words of the spanish manuscript including crossed outwords corrections abbreviations and marginal notations thisedition is a treasure folio numbers of the original manuscripthave been retained in the transcription with recto and versodesignations added for clarity in addition each line has beenassigned a number corresponding to its position in the manu-script so it can be easily identified dunn and kelley havemeticulously adhered to the form and spelling of the originalwhile at the same time clarifying las casass handwritingcapitalization and punctuation for example the ambiguousinterchange of the letters ij andyandt in both lower and uppercase

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is clarified according to modernmodem usage almarantealmjrante or almyrante forvorforinstanceinstance is transcribed almirante admiral audioiudio asaudiojudio jew and mui as muy very

likewise dunn and kelley have rendered the text lessambiguous by separating or combining according to normalspanish usage words that las casas compressed or discon-nected line 16 of manuscript folio 51r31r for example waswritten de to dalatormetadalatormita dl ardomudomrdo which is almost illegibleuntil it is regrouped to give the clearer de toda la tormetatormitanormita dlmso of all the storms in the world the reader soonrecognizes also that las casas placed bars or tildes over vowelspreceding an omitted n and compressed short single words byomitting intermediate vowels altogether thus the completerendering of the above phrase in modern spanish is de toda latormenta del mundo

las casas frequently inserted text between the lines or inthe case ofmore lengthy insertions in the margin of the manu-script the transcribers have followed the original as closely aspossible by printing interlinear text exactly where las casaswrote it and marginal insertions opposite the line of text towhich they apply even blank spaces in the manuscript arereproduced in the transcription with the length of the blankindicating the extent of the omissions cross outs misspellingsand factual errors in the manuscript are allowed to stand exceptfor significant errors which are cited in the footnotes thesealso contain explanations and clarifications of the text otherfeatures that make this book so useful are a carefully selectedbibliography a seventy three page concordance ofwordsofwords appear-ing in the document as well as a clear and comprehensive index

in summary this is the most successful attempt to providean accurate and readable transcription of the original las casasmanuscript it is much more reliable and useful than the previ-ous transcriptions of femandezfemdndezmandezferandezFe de navarrete 18255 theraccostaraccoltaRaccolta 1892 guillen tato 19436 carlos sanz 1962 7

which includes a manuscript facsimile joaquin arce and gilesteve 1971971811 manuelmanuelalvarsalvarsaivars two volume edition of 19769 andthe recent text of consuelo varela prepared in 1982 for thequincentennial and reissued in 1989 1011

yet dunn and kelley do not stop here for the benefit ofenglish readers they have provided an up to date literal yetsmooth flowing translation into modem english the grammatical

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structure of the translation parallels that of the spanish tran-scription capitalization and punctuation follow modern prac-tice making the text easy to read and understand in most waysit is superior to the earlier translations of samuel kettell 1827 11

sir clements markham 1893 1211 and cecil jane 1930 13 thelatter based on thejraccoltathe raccostaraccoltaRaccolta transcription was revised in 1960by L A vigneras 1411 samuel eliot morisonsMorisons translation is lucidand colloquial as is his writing but it lacks the scholarly appa-ratus of the present volume and has no spanish transcription 15

two more recent translations one by robert H fuson and theother by john cummins 16 attempt to make the jjournalournalburnal morespontaneous by putting it entirely into first person as though itwere columbussColumbuss original this gives the text readability andinterest but at the expense ofauthenticity by all odds the dunnand kelley transcriptiontranslationtranscription translation is the most accurate edi-tion of las casass manuscript and probably the closest thingwe will ever get to a definitive text

how accurate is the las casas transcript as a source docu-ment that is hard to say unless the columbus original shouldsomehow turn up not impossible but highly unlikely we havenothing better we do not know how faithfully las casas ad-hered to columbussColumbuss words and meaning the admiral hadbeen dead for over twentyfivetwenty five years when las casas took upthe project although they had known each other las casashad access to many of columbussColumbuss papers made available bythe lattersbatterslatters son fernando and had no apparent reason to falsifythe record knowingly las casas had close friendly relationswith the columbus family his father and three uncles accom-panied the admiral on his second voyage and in 1506 las casaswent to rome with columbussColumbuss brother bartolomeBartolom6 to remindthe pope of the opportunities afforded by columbussColumbuss discov-eries to spread the christian faith A year later he accompaniedcolumbussColumbuss son diego to hispaniolaspaniolaHi where he was awarded atract of land he most likely copied the admirals words fromthe diary as accurately as he could and believed he was makinga correct summary of those parts he abstracted

however las casas was not a seaman and was not ac-quaintedquainted with the language and lore ofthe sea clearly he did notfully understand everything he wrote it is obvious from the manywords deleted changed inserted and altered that he madeerrors he seems to have had particular trouble with leguasaleguas and

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millas leagues and miles whether these were jumbled in theoriginal document or confused by las casas we have no way ofknowing there are many passages in the account that are opento question or at least to variant interpretations the polemicshave sometimes become heated as the diario has becomeinvested with all the emotions and passions that columbus andhis discoveries have evoked notes one recent critic 17 yetthere is insufficient evidence to argue that what las casa wrotewas not essentially though perhaps somewhat shortened whatcolumbus himself recorded in his shipboard diary

columbussColumbuss libro de lasprofeciaslas profecialecias is an entirely differentkind ofdocument composedincomposedCompo sedinin 1501 and 1502 in seville duringthe interim between his third and fourth voyages it is theadmirals religious testament written for the king and queenand intended to convince them ofthe importance ofhis voyagesin the fulfillment ofbiblical prophecy and to motivate them todo more in promoting and expanding the christian faith in asense the document is a sermon writes delno west in hisexcellent introduction and its author is the preacher andmessenger of great events for the worldtoworld to be accomplished bythose who have so much faith as a grain of mustard seed andwho may like columbus himself be certain that there will besuccess because god makes himself responsible for thefulfillment of the prophecies he has disclosed in the bible 18

after 490 years the west and kling edition is the firstenglish translation of this important work the libro has beenknown all of that time but rarely mentioned except in derisionand never read nor analyzed as a document revealing thereligious and spiritual sophistication of its author columbusbegan the compilation of the book of prophecies which heintended to use later to compose a long apocalyptic poem atthe monastery of las cuevas in seville his stated purpose wasto remind ferdinand and isabel of the fulfillment of biblicalprophecies concerning the great events of the world pastpresent and future it was also to reveal his own role as christbearer the missionary discoverer divinely called to announcea new era of enlargement and renewal for christendom 19

he compiled the work with the help of his friend fathergaspar gorrichogorricioGorricio although three or fourhands are recognizablein the manuscript which has led some to dispute the booksauthorship there can be little doubt that the entire project was

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conceived and carried out by columbus himself and that itreflects his views dating back at least to 1481 furthermorefather gorriciogorrichoGorricio testified that the compilation was primarilycolumbussColumbuss work in september 1501 the admiral sent themanuscript to the carthusian monk asking him to read it andmake any additions or corrections he thought necessary onmarch 232315022515021502 father gorrichogorricioGorricio replied to columbus as follows

my most noble and distinguished lord in my other letterI1 reported to your lordship I1 having received your letter andbook of prophecies and opinions and authorities relating to thematterofmtmatterofmt zion andandjerusalemjerusalem and the peoples ofthe islands andall nations As I1 am abableabielewithwithmy inadequatemyinadequate intelligence sinceyousincesinc youeyou

command I1 have worked at it as best I1 was able I1 haveinterposed and added a fewremaining items as one who reachesfor the leftovers on the branches of the olives thus withyour original material as well as the crumbs I1 am very contentand in this way I1 have been introduced to a subject very remotefrom my own studies my lord the little that I1 have added andintermixed your lordship will find in my handwriting I1 send thewhole work back again for correction byyourbyyourebyyour spirit and prudentillegible I1 have not attempted to reorganize the opinions or

the subjects far less the illegible historical material but I1 haveinserted some rules and opinions of the doctors on the subject 20

the libro de las profeciaslasprofeciasproreprofecias begins with an introductionexplaining the fourfold scholastic method of interpreting holyscripture the literal teaching tells facts the allegory tells whatyou should believe the moral interpretation tells how you shouldact the analogy tells where you are going I121I1 the application ofthis method by several authorities is given followed by an impor-tant prefatory letter from columbus to the king and queenstating his proposal for the restoration of the house of god tothe holy church militant and urging the monarchs to recog-nize and fulfill their destined role in the unfolding ofgods plan

the letter contains clear illustrations of columbussColumbuss spiri-tual dimension not the ranting of a demented mind as somewould have us believe with a hand that could be felt hewrote the lord opened my mind to the fact that it would bepossible to sail from here to the indies and he opened my willto desire to accomplish the project this was the fire thatburned within me when I1 came to visit your highnesseswho can doubt that this firewayfirewasfirewas not merely mine but also ofthe holy spirit who encouraged me with a radiance ofmarvelousillumination from his sacred holy scriptures urging me to

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press forwardforward2221211222 further on he declared 1 I believe that theholy spirit works among christians jews and moslems andamong all men ofevery faith not merely among the learned butalso among the uneducated the working out of all thingsis left to the freedom of each individual by the lord eventhough he gives directions to many 3123112323 he concludes his letterwith these apocalyptic words 1 I said above that much of theprophecies remained to be fulfilled and I1 believe that these aregreat events for the world I1 believe that there is evidence that ourlord is hastening these things this evidence is the fact that thegospel must now be proclaimed to so many lands in such ashort time 112424

the firstpart ofthe work introduces the themes he wishesto treat salvation oftheworld and the rebuilding ofofzionzion andsummarizes sixty five psalms that deal with these themes hecites gods promises to the gentiles by quoting extensivelyfrom isaiah jeremiah and zechariah and also from st isidore ofseville rabbi samuel offez st augustine and nicholas oflyraafter quoting matthew 2414 and this gospel of the kingdomshall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nationsand then shall the end come columbus comments that thegospel has been preached to three parts of the earth and mustnow be preached to the fourth 2521

in part 2 columbus is concerned with prophecies that havealready taken place there he emphasizes the ancient greatnessand fall ofjerusalemofjerusalem and the scriptures prophesying its restorationand the rebuilding of the temple the third part deals withprophecies of the present and near future namely the conversionof all the nations here he records the prophecy from senecassenecalSenecasmedea which the admiral takes to refer to his discoveries

the time will comein a number of years when oceanuswill enfasten the bounds and a hugeland will stretch out and typhiscyphis the pilotwill discover new worlds sothe remotest land will no longer be thule 2616

columbussColumbuss translation of these verses into spanish give themsharper focus and meaning in relation to his recent voyagesaugust klings english version maintains this clarity in the latteryears of the world will come certain times in which the ocean seawill relax the bonds of things and a great landwill open up and

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a new mariner like the one who was the guide ofjasonofjason whosename was typhiscyphis will discover a new world and then will theisland ofofthulethulethuie iceland no longer be the farthest land 21171117212727

the final section ofthe libro de laslasprofeciasprotprofecialecias which dealswith prophecies of the future and the last days revealscolumbussColumbuss eschatology here he begins to mention the pre-dictions of the thirteenth century abbot joachim of fioreconcerning the second coming and the last days but at thispoint ten pages of the manuscript are missing no clue is givenas to why when or how old testament citations follow withparticular interest in every mention ofking solomon his fleetsthe gold they brought from ophir and the island kingdom oftarshish spoken of in 1 and 2 kings 1 and 2 chronicles and inthe apocryphal books of 53 kings david andjudithand judith finally hecites twenty six scriptures that talk about the islands of the seaand their part in the last days 28

like the diario the libro de las profeciasprofprofeprope clascias is superblyedited andwell documented it presents the original version inthis case latin except for the prefatory letter to the sovereignswhich is in spanish on the left pages with the english translationon the right the translation is primarily the work of the latereverend august J kling formerly research fellow at thecenter of theological inquiry at princeton university andteacher at mcgill university and the universities of mexicoedinburgh paris and vienna delno C west also a researchfellow at the princeton center of theological inquiry andprofessor of history at northern arizona university completedthe work added a valuable ninety nine page introduction sum-marizingmarizing columbussColumbuss intellectual and cultural background acommentary on his piety and faith and a description of thehistory andmeaning of the libro de laslasprofecfasprofprotecialecias the introduc-tion concludes with notes bibliography general index andscripture index

the transcription translation and publication of thisremarkable book by delno westandandaugustaugust kling is an occasionworth celebrating those who pay attention to it will find agreat deal of food for thought and a columbus quite unlike thearrogant gold seeking indian nemesis depicted in the popularpress this year ofcourseofcourse that is whytheshythewhy the libro dezasprofecfasde lasprofecialecias hasbeen ignored for so long it does not fit the stereotype of a man

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interested only in material gain or secular methods hopefullythe issuing of this book in english by a prominent universitypress willwilwiil widen the spectrum of interest in understanding themind of the man who ushered in the modern world

NOTES

1 raccoltaraccostaRaccolta di docudocumentmenti e studipubblicatistudi pubblicati dalla R commissionedcommissioneCommissionecolombina neinetnelquarto centenariocentenario della scopertascopettascoperta dellamericadelldeildeli america ed cesarede lollis 14 vols rome ministro della pubblica istruzione 1892 96

2justinajustinustin winsor christopher columbus and how he received andimparted the spirit Discoveryofdiscoveryof boston houghton mifflin 1892

3romaaroma3 roma istitutoestituto poligrafico e zecca dello stato 1988 re edit andamplification of the 1892 96 raccoltaraccostaRaccolta with the intention of making itaccessible to a larger general audience that plan is further promoted by theohio state universitys coordinating the work of US scholars who aretranslating twelve selected volumes of the luovanuova raccostaraccoltaraccolta columbianainto english

4theathe4 the repertorium columbianumColumbianum project under the aegis of theUCLA center for medieval and renaissance studies is publishing additionalsource texts in english translation accompanied by extensive commentar-ies the general editor is geoffrey symcox the publisher is the universityof california press

I51 vialesviajes de coroncoloncoton transcribed by fernandez de navarrette in vol 1 ofcolecci6n de los vidiesviajesvidjes y descubrimientos que hicieronhicieron por mar losespanolesespafiolesespanoles desdefinesdesdesdedefinespinesfinesjines del siglo XV madrid imprentaimprontaImprenta real 1825

gelgei6 el primer viadeviaje de cristabalcrist6bal colancol6n transcribed by guillen tatomadrid institute hist6ricohistoricohistoricsHistonicoorico de marina 1943

7 diario7diario de colon libro de la primera navegaci6n y descuedescubramientorimientorim iento de lusinlasInrusinlaslndiaslasindiasdinsdias transcribed by carlos sanz 2 vols madrid grdficasgrantgraftcasYagiyagiiesyaguesiesles 1962

8 diario de a bordo de cristabalcrist6bal colon transcribed byjoaquinjoaquinby arceand gil esteve alpignanoalbignano turin A tallone 1971

9 diario del descubrimientos transcribed by manuel alvar 2 volsgran canaria cabildo insular 1976

10 cristabalcrist6bal coloncoign textostexts y documentosdocumentsdocumentos comcompletespletos relacionesRelac iones devialesviajes cartas y memorialesmemoriales edicionedici6neditionediedlcionclon prologo y notas de consuelo varelamadrid alianza editorial 1989

11 personal narrative of the first voyage of columbus to americaboston T B wait and son 1827

12 theybejournaljournaltournai of christopher columbus during his first voyage1492931492 93 and documents relating to the voyages ofofjohntohnjohn cabot andgasparcaspar corte real london hakluyt society 1893

13 the voyages of christopher columbus being rhethe journalsthejournals of hisfirst and third and the letters concerning his first and last voyageslondon argonaut 1930

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14 cecil jane trans and ed theybejournaljournal of christopher columbusrevised and annotated by L A vigneras new york bramhall house 1960

15 journals and other documents on the life and voyages ofchristopher columbus newyorknew york heritage 1963

robert fuson the log of christopher columbus camden maineinternational marine 1987 andjohnandyjohn cummins the voyage of ofcbristopherchristophercolumbus columbus own journal of discovery newly restored andtranslated new york st martins 1992

17 david henige in search of columbus the sources for the firstvoyage tucson university of arizona press 1991 283

wdilibroilibrolibro de las profeciaslasprofeciasproreprofe cias 85 the book was previously published inlatin by cesare de lollis in part 1 vol 2 of the raccoltaraccostaRaccolta from the originalvelum bound manuscript of eighty four folio sheets located in thebibliotecabibliotheca colombina in seville

19 libro de las profeciaslasprofeciasprofeprorecias 32021librolibro de las profeciaslasprofeciasprofecias 84dilibroilibro21 libro de las profeciaslasprofeciasprofecias 1011222librolibro de las profeciaslasprofeciasproreprofecias 1051323librolibro de las profeciaslasprofeciasprofecias 107 11124 libro de laslasprofecilasproprofeciasprofepecifeciveciciaswasfaspas 11115libro25 libro de las profeciaslasprofecfasprofeclascias 15115115315326 libro de las profeciaslasprofeciasproreprofecias 22527librolibro de las profeciaslasprofeciasproreprofecias 22728libro21libro de las profeciaslasprofeciasprofecias 239

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