Lombardy Associates With Columbus and His Wife's Great-Grandparents

Summary: Lombardy associates with Columbus and his wife's paternal grandparents, according to Columbus's second son and to educator Antonio Maria de Freitas.

Coat of arms used by Perestrello family in Italy features four 8-pointed stars, with one on the shoulder of the crest's lion and three in the escutcheon's right field; N. Florentino (A.M. de Freitas) and R. Maney, The Wife of Columbus (1893), verso front cover: Public Domain, via Library of Congress

The north central Italian region of Lombardy associates with Columbus and his wife's paternal great-grandparents, according to Christopher Columbus's second son and to Azorean educator and historian Antonio Maria de Freitas.

A personal biography of 15th and 16th century explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus (Catalan: Cristòfor Colom; Italian: Cristoforo Colombo; Portuguese: Cristóvão Colombo; Spanish: Cristóbal Colón; ca. 1446/1451-May 20, 1506) by his second son, Ferdinand Columbus (Italian: Fernando Colombo; Portuguese: Fernando Colombo; Spanish: Fernando, or Hernando, Colón y Enríquez de Arana; Aug. 15, 1488-July 12, 1539), was published posthumously, in an Italian translation by Spanish editor, historian and translator Alfonso de Ulloa (1529-1570), in 1571. Ferdinand's biography has been short-titled as Historie (Historie del S.D. Fernando Colombo; Nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, ſuo padre: et dello ſcoprimento, ch'egli fece dell'Indie Occidentali, dette Mondo Nuovo, hora poſſedute dal Sereniſs. Re Catolico). American historian and colonial Latin America specialist Benjamin Keen (1913-Nov. 1, 2002) published his English translation, The Life Of The Admiral Christopher Columbus By His Son, in 1959.

The first two chapters of Ferdinand's biography considered his father's genealogical background. Six popularly suggested birthplaces (Bugliasco, Cogoleto, Genoa, Nervi, Piacenza, Savona) were presented in the first chapter (Della patria, origine, & nome dell'Ammiraglio Chriſtoforo Colombo. Capitolo primo; page 2; Chapter 1 Concerning the Birthplace, Family, and Name of the Admiral Christopher Columbus; page 3).

Of the six suggested birthplaces, five are located in the northwest Italian region of Liguria (Ligurian: Ligûria). The Ligurian candidates are listed as the region's capital, Genoa (Italian: Genova; Ligurian: Zêna), or nearby localities of Bugiasco (Italian: Bugliasco; Ligurian: Boggiasco), Cugureo (Italian: Cogoleto; Ligurian: Cogoeuo), Nervi and Savona (Ligurian: Sann-a).

Piacenza (English: Piacenza; English and French: Plaisance; Piacentino: Piaṡëinsa) is located in Emilia-Romagna (Emilian: Emégglia-Rumâgna or Emîlia-Rumâgna; Romagnol: Emélia-Rumâgna), Liguria's western neighbor. Piacenza is the capital of Piacenza Province, Emilia-Romagna's westernmost province. The Province of Piacenza (Italian: provincia di Piacenza) has longstanding associations with Emilia-Romagna's northern neighbor, the north central Italian region of Lombardy (Italian: Lombardia; Lombard: Lumbardia). Piacenza's Lombard history includes inclusion in the Lombard League (Italian: Lega Lombarda; Lombard: Liga Lombarda; 1167-1250), the dominions of the Viscontis of Milan (Italian: Visconti; Latin: Vicecomes; 1277-1395) and the Duchy of Milan (Italian: Ducato di Milano; Latin: Ducatus Mediolanensis; Lombard: Ducaa de Milan; 1395-1447).

Vague personal references to the explorer's parents appeared in the biography's second chapter (Chi ſoſſero il padre, & la madre dell'Ammiraglio, & le qualita loro; & la falſa relatione, che un certo Giuſtiniano fa dell'eſſercitio ſuo, prima che acquiſtaſſe il titolo d'Ammiraglio. Capitolo II, page 4; Chapter 2 Of the Admiral’s Parents and Their Condition, and of the False Account That One Giustiniani Gives of His Occupation Before He Acquired the Title of Admiral; page 5). Ferdinand connected events in Lombardy with the plummeted economic and social status of his paternal grandparents. He noted that, although his research failed to discover their livelihood or locations, his father had referenced his family's traditionally maritime occupations in a letter.

" . . . ritornando alle qualità, & perſone de' ſuoi genitori, dico, che, quantunque eſſi ſoſſero buoni in virtù, eſſendo per cagione delle guerre, & partialità della Lombardia ridotti a biſogno, & povertà, non trovo, come viveſſero, & habitaſſero: avvenga che lo ſteſſo Ammiraglio in una lettera dica, che il ſuo trafico, e d' ſuoi maggiori fu ſempre per mare," Ferdinand explained (Ulloa, page 4).

". . . turning to the condition of his parents, I say that they were persons of worth who had been reduced to poverty by the wars and factions of Lombardy. I have not been able to find how or where they lived, although the Admiral himself says in a letter that he and his ancestors always followed the sea" (Keen, page 5).

Filipa Moniz Perestrello (ca. 1452-ca. 1477/1485), Christopher Columbus's wife, was born on Porto Santo Island (ilha do Porto Santo) in the Madeira Archipelago (arquipélago da Madeira). Her father, Bartholomew Perestrello (Portuguese: Bartolomeu Perestrelo; ca.1395-1457), was the island's first Capitão Donatário ("donatary captain"; royal governor), according to Nicolau Florentino (pseudonym of Azorean Portuguese educator, historian and journalist Antonio Maria de Freitas; Feb. 10, 1859-Aug. 1, 1923) and Jewish Portuguese press correspondent (Mada) Regina Maney (1834-Nov. 4, 1894) in their genealogical study, The Wife of Christopher Columbus, published in 1893 (page 26).

Filipa's paternal great-grandparents, Gabriele Palestrello and Bartholine Biforti, alternatively spelled as Bartholomine Biforti, claimed Italy as their homeland. ". . . Messire Gabriele Palestrello, a native of the city of Placenzia, in Lombardy, and . . . his wife, Madama Bartholine Biforti, . . . both died in the place of their birth and residence," reported Florentino (de Freitas) and Maney (page 15).

Philippone Palestrello, Gabriele and Bartholine's son and Filippa's paternal grandfather, immigrated to Portugal. "Philippone, or Philip Palestrello, is the first Perestrello we encounter in Portugal, toward the end of the fourteenth century, among many other countrymen of his who came to this country in search of fortune" (page 15).

The association with the north central Italian region of Lombardy occurs in the ancestries of Christopher Columbus and his wife, Filipa Moniz Perestrello. This commonality raises interesting questions, such as possible interactions among their ancestors in Lombardy.

Piacenza (upper center; southeast of Milan) in Visconti dominions (green) at death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti (Oct. 16, 1351-Sep. 3, 1402), Lord of Milan (Italian: Signore di Milano; May 6, 1385-Sep. 5, 1395) and then first Duke of Milan (Italian: primo Duca di Milano; Sep. 5, 1395-Sep. 3, 1402): -kayac-, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Coat of arms used by Perestrello family in Italy features four 8-pointed stars, with one on the shoulder of the crest's lion and three in the escutcheon's right field; N. Florentino (A.M. de Freitas) and R. Maney, The Wife of Columbus (1893), verso front cover: Public Domain, via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.wifeofcolumbus00frei/?sp=1; LOC unaware of copyright restrictions, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/wifeofcolumbus00frei; via Wikimedia Commons @ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/The_wife_of_Columbus_%28IA_wifeofcolumbus00frei%29.pdf

Piacenza (upper center; southeast of Milan) in Visconti dominions (green) at death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti (Oct. 16, 1351-Sep. 3, 1402), Lord of Milan (Italian: Signore di Milano; May 6, 1385-Sep. 5, 1395) and then first Duke of Milan (Italian: primo Duca di Milano; Sep. 5, 1395-Sep. 3, 1402): -kayac-, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Massima_espansione_Viscontea.png

For further information:

Bandelier, Ad. F. (Adolph Francis Alphonse). "Columbus, Christopher (It. Cristoforo Colombo; Sp. Cristoval Colon)." Vol. IV, pages 140-149. In: Charles George Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas J. Shahan and John J. Wynne, eds., The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church. In fifteen volumes. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/07470918.4.emory.edu/page/140/mode/2up

Benigni, U. (Mgr. Umberto). (1911). "Piacenza." Vol. XII, pages 6-71. In: Charles George Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, Condé Bénoist Pallen, Thomas J. Shahan and John J. Wynne, eds., The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church. In fifteen volumes. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
Available @ https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12069a.htm
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/07470918.12.emory.edu/page/69/mode/1up

Black, Jane. Absolutism in Renaissance Milan. Plenitude of Power Under the Visconti and the Sforza 1329–1535. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Bueno de Mesquita, Daniel Meredith. Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan (1351-1402): A Study in the Political Career of an Italian Despot. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1941.

Colombo, Fernando; and Alfonso Ulloa, transl. Historie del S.D. Fernando Colombo; Nelle quali s'ha particolare, & vera relatione della vita, & de' fatti dell'Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo, ſuo padre: et dello ſcoprimento, ch'egli fece dell'Indie Occidentali, dette Mondo Nuovo, hora poſſedute dal Sereniſs. Re Catolico: Nuovamente di lingua Spagnuola tradotte nell'Italiana dal S. Alfonſo Ulloa. Venetia: Appreſſo Franceſco de' Franceſchi Saneſe, MDLXXI [1571].
Available via Gallica BnF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) @ https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58802t.image
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_qOHnTmUJTxQC/
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/historiedelsdfer00coln/

de Menil, Alexander N., ed. "A Literary Chapter: Regina Maney." The Hesperian, vol. 1, no. 4 (February-April 1895): 145-146.
Available via Google Books @ https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Hesperian/IDM1AAAAMAAJ

Florentino, Nicolau (Antonio Maria de Freitas); and Regina Maney, transl. "1. Jacintho de Pina Loureiro, perhaps the most conscientious of genealogists, who does not despise the most trifling indication, and who always bases his extensive work on irrefutable proofs and documents in the Torre de Tombo, tells us that the above document still existed at the beginning of the seventeenth century, in the possession of Donna Leonor Lobo Perestrello, who was then the wife of Diogo Saldanha, and that it was through it that it became known who were her ancestors and which the arms this family used in Italy. Tne arms of the Perestrellos are: Escutcheon perpendicularly divided; on the first field, in gold, a purple lion set off with red; on the second, on silver field, a blue band traversing it; on it three stars, of eight points each, between six red roses, three and three in horizontal line. Crest: A lion like on the escutcheon, with an eight-pointed star on its shoulder." Page 16, footnote 1. The Wife of Columbus, With Genealogical Tree of the Perestrello and Moniz Families. New York NY: Press of Stettiner, Lambert & Co., 1893.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/wifeofcolumbus00frei/page/16/mode/1up
Available via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.wifeofcolumbus00frei/?sp=34
Available via Wikimedia Commons @ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/The_wife_of_Columbus_%28IA_wifeofcolumbus00frei%29.pdf

Florentino, Nicolau (Antonio Maria de Freitas); and Regina Maney, transl. "Philippone, or Philip Palestrello, is the first Perestrello we encounter in Portugal, toward the end of the fourteenth century, among many other countrymen of his who came to this country in search of fortune. Philippone was son of Messire Gabriele Palestrello, a native of the city of Placenzia, in Lombardy, and of his wife, Madama Bartholine Biforti, who both died in the place of their birth and residence." Page 15. The Wife of Columbus, With Genealogical Tree of the Perestrello and Moniz Families. New York NY: Press of Stettiner, Lambert & Co., 1893.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/wifeofcolumbus00frei/page/15/mode/1up
Available via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.wifeofcolumbus00frei/?sp=33
Available via Wikimedia Commons @ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/The_wife_of_Columbus_%28IA_wifeofcolumbus00frei%29.pdf

Florentino, Nicolau (Antonio Maria de Freitas); and Regina Maney, transl. The Wife of Columbus, With Genealogical Tree of the Perestrello and Moniz Families. New York NY: Press of Stettiner, Lambert & Co., 1893.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/wifeofcolumbus00frei
Available via Library of Congress @ https://www.loc.gov/item/02012544/
Available via Wikimedia Commons @ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/The_wife_of_Columbus_%28IA_wifeofcolumbus00frei%29.pdf

Keen, Benjamin, transl. and annot. The Life Of The Admiral Christopher Columbus By His Son Ferdinand. New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1959.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.185547/mode/2up

Marriner, Derdriu. "Christopher Columbus's Wife Was Madeiran But Was He Really Genoese?" Earth and Space News. Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/10/christopher-columbuss-wife-was-madeiran.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Ferdinand Columbus Biographized His Father as Italian But Born Where?" Earth and Space News. Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/10/ferdinand-columbus-biographized-his.html

Taviani, Paolo Emilio. "Perestrelo y Moniz, Felipa (c. 1454-c. 1484)." Page 540. In: Silvio A. Bedini, ed., The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia, vol. 2. New York: Simon and Schuster.
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Urbano, Andrea. "PIACENZA, l’eterna sposa mancata di Milano: 5 motivi per farla diventare LOMBARDA." Milano Città Stato > Milano > Grande Milano. Sep. 14, 2020.
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