News: Christopher Columbus was Polish. (Roman, Europeans, empire, Germans)
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Anyone who has studied European history. The Poles exhibit a lot of national pride and the tales of Polish Kings and their contribution to Europe in their wars against the Ottoman Turks are widely taught and memorialized.
Vladislav III led the Polish army at the Battle of Varna and was supposedly killed. The Turks claimed they had his head, but his body and armor were never found, which led to the legend that the King had fled the field and took refuge with the King of Portugal and became known as Henry the German forsaking his crown. Supposedly the legend holds that he saw a vision from God that he had done wrong and had to give up the crown. He went on to marry a woman from the Portugese aristocracy and have two sons. One of those sons is supposedly Christopher Columbus, if you buy into this theory.
Of course, the Poles still hold onto the fact that the King died in battle against the Turks and he is memorialized in many ways. I think this whole theory and the person supporting it is more or less trying to prove the Portugese tie in as much as a Polish one. The "evidence" is really just based on legend and rumor.
And Copernicus was Polish, too! P.S. Have you ever met a blue eyed Italian?
Plenty. Northern Italians share many features that would normally be attributed to French or German ancestory. Everything from pale skin to blue eyes to red or blond hair. As a major trade port and a city that had seen many different nationalities move through it and rule over it, Genoa was as much a melting pot as anywhere else. For instance, it's not a far stretch that Columbus' ancestors could have been French or German and simply settled in Genoa.
Not to mention on this whole Columbus was Polish thing, don't you think he would have pulled out that ace in the hole when his fortune and titles were stripped from him? If the legend is true, Columbus' children would have had a direct claim to the Polish throne. Better to be King of Poland than spend years suing Spain to try and get your money back. Also, Columbus was quite generous in his gifts to Genoa, at one point donating 10% of his reward for the discovery of America to the Bank of Saint George in Genoa for relieving food taxes in the city. Why give money to Genoa when you are the heir to the Polish throne and a member of the Portugese aristocracy?
So it's the Poles we should blame for bringing venereal disease to the New World?:eek:
Actually, it was the Caribbean people that passed syphilis, or what later was termed the French Pox, to the Spanish sailors, who brought it back to the Old World.
Christopher Columbus 'was Polish not Portuguese' claim historians
So that explains it. How many Polish today want nothing but to leave Poland? <s>
As of now I am going to consider this another press release to gain hype for a recently published book and upcoming documentary. It seems that the people behind this are most interested in publicity and sales.
When the rest of academia embraces this, when this material makes it into scholastic journals, and when it becomes consensus, I will freely embrace this if that is the case, until then consider me a skeptic.
Cristobal Colon, as he is known in Spanish, was from Genoa AFAIK.
"He cites documents that he claims reveal that Columbus and his brother both had access to four European royal courts -- a rare feat for supposedly poor Genoese weavers. "
wait THIS is the evidence? At the time he approached the european courts, he wasnt going based on his parents status, but his accomplishments as a mariner and merchant.
And IIUC the Portugese nobleman whose daughter he married was of Genoese origin.
So that explains it. How many Polish today want nothing but to leave Poland?
Probably not too many. This isn't 1912.
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