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Columbus and the quest for Jerusalem / Carol Delaney.

by Delaney, Carol Lowery, 1940-

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Free Press, 2011.

Columbus, Christopher -- Religion.

Columbus, Christopher -- Travel -- America.

America -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish.

9781439102374 (pbk.)

9781439109960 (e-book)

1st Free Press hardcover ed.

xvi, 319 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-304) and index.

"Scholar Carol Delaney claims that the true motivation for Columbus’s voyages is very different from what is commonly accepted. She argues that he was inspired to find a western route to the Orient not only to obtain vast sums of gold for the Spanish Crown but primarily to help fund a new crusade to take Jerusalem from the Muslims - a goal that sustained him until the day he died. Delaney sets the stage by describing the tumultuous events that had beset Europe in the years leading up to Columbus’s birth - the failure of multiple crusades to keep Jerusalem in Christian hands; the devastation of the Black Plague; and the schisms in the Church. Then, just two years after his birth, the sacking of Constantinople by the Ottomans barred Christians from the trade route to the East and the pilgrimage route to Jerusalem. Columbus’s belief that he was destined to play a decisive role in the retaking of Jerusalem was the force that drove him to petition the Spanish monarchy to fund his journey, even in the face of ridicule about his idea of sailing west to reach the East."--Provided by publisher.

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