by Manuel Rosa
A Portuguese historian believes he has solved the 500-year-old mystery of Columbus' true identity after a thorough investigation of medieval documents and chronicles. The origins of the man who discovered the Americas has long been a subject of speculation. Contemporary accounts named his birth place as the Italian port of Genoa to a family of wool weavers but over the centuries it has been claimed that he was a native of Greece, Spain, France, Portugal and even Scotland. Others claimed his origins were hidden because he was Jewish or secretly working as a double agent for the Portuguese royal family. But the latest theory suggests that the great navigator, who died in 1506 after four voyages to the New World, was in fact of royal blood: the son of King Vladislav III who was supposedly slain in the Battle of Varna in 1444. In his third book on the subject Manuel Rosa, who has spent 20 years researching the life of Columbus, suggests that Vladislav III survived the battle with the Ottomans, fled to live in exile on the island of Madeira where he was known as "Henry the German" and married a Portuguese noblewoman.
Links:
"Christopher Columbus 'was son of Polish king" The Telegraph
Academics Assert Christopher Columbus Was "Portuguese-Born" on PRLOG.org
Manuel Rosa „ Kolumb. Historia nieznana” on HistMag.org (in Polish)
Location: Balzekas Museum, 6500 S. Pulaski Rd., Chicago, IL 60629
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This program is made possible in part by Grants from the Illinois Arts Council, and the ECPC.
