The Admiral comes to court. The Catholic
Sovereigns entrust him with a commission to
return to the Indies
ON arriving on Castilian soil, the Admiral made ready to go to Burgos, where he was well received by their Catholic Majesties, who had come there for the wedding of their son Don Juan with Princess Margarita of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Maximilian of Austria. The princess had been brought to that city and solemnly received there by the greater part of the nobility and the largest and most distinguished company that had ever been assembled in Spain. But although I was present as page to his serene Highness, I will not enumerate the titles and distinctions of those present, since it has nothing to do with my story, and their Majesties’ chroniclers have, in any case, attended to this matter.
To return to the Admiral’s affairs, I will mention that on reaching Burgos he made a handsome present to their Majesties of many objects, including samples of the products of the Indies. Among them were birds, beasts, trees and plants, tools and other things used by the Indians for work and pleasure; also masks, belts and various images in which the Indians had put small gold plates in place of ears and eyes, and many grains of unworked gold, some very small and some as large as a bean or a chickpea, and a few the size of a pigeon’s egg. These were valued more highly then than at a later date when nuggets were found weighing as much as thirty pounds. But in hopes of greater things to come, the Catholic sovereigns accepted this gift most joyfully, and thanked the Admiral for the great services he had performed.
Having given an account of all that he had done for the improvement and settlement of the Indies, the Admiral desired to return as quickly as possible for fear that some disaster or misadventure might occur in his absence, since he had left the settlers very short of much that was indispensable to them all. But greatly though he insisted on this matter, affairs at court are subject to long delays, and this business was not disposed of promptly. Ten or twelve months elapsed before two ships were equipped for him and laden with provisions for the settlers, and put under the command of Captain Pedro Fernandez Coronel.
These ships sailed in February 1497, and the Admiral remained behind, still begging for the rest of the fleet that was necessary for his return to the Indies. But he did not obtain them quickly and was compelled to wait for more than a year in Burgos and Medina del Campo. While the court was in the latter city in the year 1498, the Catholic sovereigns granted the Admiral many favours and privileges not only in the matter of his own rank and affairs, but also the government and provisioning of the Indies. I will give an account of these favours and privileges, so that their Majesties’ will at that time to reward the Admiral for his merits and services shall be known to all;* also that all may know how greatly their minds were afterwards changed by the misinformation of malicious and envious persons. For soon they allowed him to be injured and insulted in a way that will be described.
Let me resume the Admiral’s story after he left the court for Seville. Here he met with further delays owing to the faults and mismanagement of the royal officials, especially of Don Juan de Fonseca,* archdeacon of Seville, and the dispatch of the fleet was unreasonably postponed, and there arose hi the said Don Juan, afterwards bishop of Burgos, a mortal and unceasing hatred of the Admiral and everything to do with him. He was chief of the plotters who procured the Admiral’s disgrace with the sovereigns. So that my brother Diego and I, who had been pages to the Prince Don Juan until his recent death, should not be prejudiced by this delay and remain absent from court until he sailed, our father sent us on 2 November 1497 from Seville to resume our service, as pages to her serene highness Doña Isabela of glorious memory.