Beatriz Enríquez de Arana

Beatriz Enríquez de Arana (1465–1521?) was the mistress of Christopher Columbus and mother of Ferdinand Columbus, Columbus's natural son, whom he later officially recognized.[1][2][3][4][5]

Beatriz Enríquez de Arana
Born1465
Santa María de Trassierra
(near Cordoba, Spain)
Died1521 (aged 55–56)
Santa María de Trassierra
(near Cordoba, Spain)
NationalitySpanish
Partner(s)Mistress of
Christopher Columbus (1487-1506; his death)
ChildrenFerdinand Columbus

Biography

Beatriz was born in the small village of Santa Maria of Trassierra (near Córdoba) into a family of peasant farmers and small share holders.[6] [7]and had two brothers.[8][9]

According to historian Rafael Ramírez de Arellano, her father or stepfather was Pedro de Torquemada of converso origin and her mother was Ana Núñez de Arana. In his history of Cordoba he explains that she and her brother Peter took the name of their maternal aunt Mayor Enríquez de Arana. She was one of the relatives who took them in (with possibly Francisco Enriquez de Arana, a wine maker) when they became orphaned in 1471. The Núñez de Arana families were small landholders of modest means. Beatriz knew how to read and write, an unusual thing at the time, which indicates she had at least some status. Most historians agree that the lower social status of Beatriz is the reason why Columbus never married her, as he aspired to a woman of higher degree to help benefit his ventures.[10][11][12]

Relationship with Columbus

In 1479 Columbus had traveled to Lisbon, to conduct trade and visit his brother, where he met and married Filipa Moniz about 1479 or 1480, producing a son named Diego. Columbus' wife died in 1484, according to some historians; others speculate he may have simply deserted her and took their child, then around five years old, and moved to Spain.[13][14]

Posthumous portrait of Christopher Columbus by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio

In early 1486, Columbus was living in the court of the Spanish monarchs in Seville, while trying to convince them to finance his "Enterprise of the Indies". King Ferdinand V and Queen Isabella I were preoccupied at the time trying to unify Spain. They were interested in Columbus's idea but couldn't give it their full attention while the war in Granada was going on against the Moors. Meanwhile, Columbus was given subsistence and allowed to stay at the monarchs' castle in Cordoba as his project promised the possibility of future riches and spread of Christianity.[15][16]

While waiting for a decision and another meeting with the Spanish monarchs, Columbus patronized a local apothecary shop that was operated by people from Genoa, Italy, his probable birthplace. At the pharmacy he became a friend of a young Basque man named Diego de Arana.[17]

Diego had two orphaned cousins in his family's household: Beatriz Enríquez de Arana and her brother Pedro Enríquez de Arana.[17] Diego introduced Beatriz, then 20 or 21 years old, to the 35 year old Columbus in 1487.[16] In August 1488, they had a son named Ferdinand (aka Hernando Colon),[18] but did not marry.[17] Diego's family, who adopted Beatriz, had a prosperous wine business. They may have helped Columbus with money for his expeditions.[17]

When Columbus left for his first expedition to the New World, the two children, Diego and Ferdinand, were turned over to Beatriz to bring up. The care she gave them was noted and praised by Queen Isabella. Some historians think that the award money intended for the look-out man that would be the first to spot land went instead to Columbus's mistress.[19][20]

When Columbus died he left some provision for her in his will, directing his son Diego to hold her in respect and continue an annual allowance.[21][22] Diego appears to have been a bit remiss with payments; Beatriz' last recorded act in 1521 was hiring an attorney to collect some money, and Diego's will written in 1532 contained a directive that any unpaid monies from the last three or four years were to be paid out to Beatriz' heirs.[22]

Neither her cause of death, or the exact date have been recorded, but it is assumed to have taken place shortly after 1521.[22]

Footnotes
  1. Christopher Columbus Biography Page 2
  2. Brinkbäumer, p. 112 Diego de Arana, cousin to Columbus's mistress, agreed to serve as marshal of the fleet...
  3. Phillips, p. 126 During his time in Córdoba, Columbus established a romantic liaison with a young woman named Beatriz Enríquez de Arana.
  4. Wilford, p. 89 The cousin, a peasant woman of twenty, was Beatriz Enríquez de Arana. She and Columbus became lovers, and in August 1488 she gave birth to their son, Ferdinand.
  5. Thomas, p. 172 Another ship was commanded by Pedro de Arana, a cousin of Beatriz, the Admiral's old mistress in Cordoba.
  6. The World Book Encyclopedia, Vol 4, pp. 858-859
  7. de Arellano, Rafael Ramírez (1900). "Datos nuevos referentes a Beatriz Enríquez de Arana y los Aranas de Córdoba, encontrados por D. Rafael Ramírez de Arellano" [New data concerning Beatriz Enríquez de Arana and the Aranas of Córdoba, found by Mr. Rafael Ramírez de Arellano]. Virtual Cervantes (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  8. Thacher, p. 424
  9. Young, p. 101
  10. History of Cordoba from its foundation to the death of Isabel the Catholic. Ciudad Real: Tipografía del Hospicio Provincial, 1915-1919
  11. Phillips, p. 126 Marriage to a low-born orphan would do nothing to enhance his prestige and would surely impede his search for noble status.
  12. "Beatriz Enríquez de Arana, la amante de Cristóbal Colón". Archived from the original on 2008-12-29. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  13. Wilford, p. 84 His wife had died earlier that year, according to Hernando (or did he walk out on her, as Henry Harrisse supposes from an interlinear reading of a letter Columbus wrote in 1500?)
  14. Ryan, p. 27 Henry Harrisse, the "great authority", cannot produce facts, but he "thinks" that Columbus's first wife was living when he met Beatriz.
  15. Wilford, pp. 87-89
  16. Brinkbäumer, pp. 87-88
  17. Wilford, p. 89
  18. Young, p. 104
  19. Young, p. 264 "less excusable was his acceptance of the pension of ten thousand maravedis which had been offered to the member of the expedition who should first sight land...It may be true, as Oviedo alleges, that Columbus transferred it to Beatriz Enriquez;
  20. Thomas, p. 87 Before he left, Columbus was conceded a pension of 10,000 maravedis a year, deriving from the royal income in Cordoba; and it was there that, in this first year, Columbus's mistress, Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, received the money.
  21. Brinkbäumer, p. 292 for Beatriz Enriquez, mother of Fernando, my son, that she may be able to live honestly, being a person to whom I am under very great obligation....
  22. Beding, Silvio A. (2016). The Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia. Springer. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-349-12573-9.

References
  • Brinkbäumer, Klaus, The voyage of the Vizcaína: the mystery of Christopher Columbus's last ship, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006, ISBN 0-15-101186-9
  • Fiske, John, The discovery of America: with some account of ancient America and the Spanish conquest, Houghton Mifflin, 1895
  • Patrick, James, Renaissance and Reformation, Marshall Cavendish, 2001, ISBN 0-7614-7651-2
  • Phillips, Carla Rahn, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus, Cambridge University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-521-44652-X
  • Rafael Ramírez de Arellano, History of Cordova from its foundation to the death of Isabel the Catholic. Ciudad Real: Tipografía del Hospicio Provincial, 1915–1919
  • Thacher, John Boyd, Christopher Columbus: his life, his works, his remains: as revealed by original printed and manuscript records, together with an essay on Peter Martyr d'Anghiera and Bartolomé de las Casas, the first historians of America, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903
  • The World Book Encyclopedia, World Book Inc., 2007, ISBN 0-7166-0107-9; ISBN 978-0-7166-0107-4
  • Thomas, Hugh, Rivers of gold: the rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan, Random House, Inc., 2004, ISBN 0-375-50204-1
  • Wilford, John Noble, The Mysterious History of Columbus. An Exploration of the man, the Myth, the Legacy, Alfred A. Knopf (New York) 1991, ISBN 0-679-40476-7
  • Young, Filson, Christopher Columbus and the New World of His Discovery, J.B. Lippincott, 1906
  • Adam Leon Belden Standridge 1987

Further reading
  • Curtis, William Eleroy, The relics of Columbus: an illustrated description of the historical collection in the monastery of La Ra, William H. Lowdermilk Company, 1893, p. 117 item 521
  • Davidson, Miles H., Columbus then and now, University of Oklahoma Press, 1997, pp. 152–158, ISBN 0-8061-2934-4
  • Duro, Cesáreo Fernández, Colón Y La Historia Póstuma, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, pp. 184–163, 217, ISBN 0-559-79785-0
  • Foster, Genevieve, The World of Columbus and Sons, Charles Scribner's Sons 1965, pp. 133–145, Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-18410
  • Markham, Clements Robert, Life of Christopher Columbus, G. Philip & Son, ltd., 1902, pp. 60–63
  • Ryan, Sara Agnes, Christopher Columbus in Poetry, History and Art, The Mayer and Miller company, 1917, p. 4
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