Columbus and the Quest for Jerusalem

Spurred by their religious zeal, a few Franciscans, e.g., John Carpini (Giovanni de Plano Carpini) and William of Rubruck (Willem van Ruysbroeck), had ventured to the farthest reaches of Asia in the thirteenth century, even before Marco Polo, hoping to meet up with Prester John and the Grand Khan, whom they imagined would help them in the mission of conversion.

Even more pertinent for Columbus’s emerging plan might have been the story of Argun, the son of Kublai Khan, who had a chapel built at his court. Argun had his son baptized and named after the Franciscan pope, Nicholas IV (1288–1292), and he promised “to receive baptism in Jerusalem when it had been won by the allied forces of the Mongols and the West” if the pope would keep his “word and send troops at the appointed time.”

Spurred by their religious zeal, a few Franciscans, e.g., John Carpini (Giovanni de Plano Carpini) and William of Rubruck (Willem van Ruysbroeck), had ventured to the farthest reaches of Asia in the thirteenth century, even before Marco Polo, hoping to meet up with Prester John and the Grand Khan, whom they imagined would help them in the mission of conversion.

Even more pertinent for Columbus’s emerging plan might have been the story of Argun, the son of Kublai Khan, who had a chapel built at his court. Argun had his son baptized and named after the Franciscan pope, Nicholas IV (1288–1292), and he promised “to receive baptism in Jerusalem when it had been won by the allied forces of the Mongols and the West” if the pope would keep his “word and send troops at the appointed time.”40

On January 6, Epiphany, King Ferdinand entered the Alhambra, carrying a huge silver cross given to him by Pope Sixtus IV as his standard. For his bravery Columbus was allowed to be part of the procession. He wrote: I saw the Royal Standards of Your Highnesses placed by force of arms on the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of the said city; and I saw the Moorish King come out to the gates of the city and kiss the Royal Hands of Your Highnesses.