The ''Pleitos colombinos'' ("Colombian lawsuits") were a long series of lawsuits that the heirs of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

brought against the Crown of Castile and León in defense of the privileges obtained by Columbus for his discoveries in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

. Most of the lawsuits took place between 1508 and 1536.

Background

The

Capitulations of Santa Fe The Capitulations of Santa Fe between Christopher Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, were signed in Santa Fe, Granada on April 17, 1492. They granted Columbus the titles of admiral ...

, between

and the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of Spain. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being bot ...

Queen Isabella I Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as Queen consort of Aragon from 1479 until 1504 b ...

of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, signed in

Santa Fe, Granada Santa Fe is a Spanish municipality in the province of Granada, situated in the Vega de Granada, irrigated by the river Genil. The town was originally built by the Catholic armies besieging Granada (''c.'' 1490) after a fire destroyed much of thei ...

on April 17, 1492 granted Columbus, among other things, the tenth part of all riches to be obtained from his intended voyage.John Michael Francis, Will Kaufman. ''Iberia and the Americas'', ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 176 Although not a formal agreement, the capitulations resulted from negotiation. During Columbus's third voyage, he encountered hostility from other

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

in Hispaniola, who felt deceived by Columbus's promises of riches. On several occasions, Columbus attempted to ally with the rebellious Taínos and

Caribs “Carib” may refer to: People and languages *Kalina people, or Caribs, an indigenous people of South America **Carib language, also known as Kalina, the language of the South American Caribs *Kalinago people, or Island Caribs, an indigenous pe ...

against other Spaniards. Others, returning separately from America, accused him before the royal court of poor governance. The king and queen sent royal administrator

Francisco de Bobadilla Francisco Fernández de Bobadilla (c. 1448 – 1 July 1502) was an official under the Crown of Castile and a knight of the Order of Calatrava. He was also the brother of Beatriz de Bobadilla, marchioness (''marquesa'') of Moya and of Peñalosa, ...

to Hispaniola in 1500, and upon his arrival (23 August), Columbus and his brothers were arrested and sent back to Spain in chains. Upon arriving in Spain, he regained his liberty but lost a great deal of his prestige and power. Upon Columbus's death in 1506, he was succeeded as Admiral of the Indies by his oldest son,

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. ...

. In 1508, King Ferdinand in his capacity as

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of Castile, gave Diego Colón the additional office of Governor of the Indies "for the time my mercy and will would have it" (''el tiempo que mi merced e voluntad fuere''). Link is to

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. Diego Colón held that it was "in perpetuity" and initiated a lawsuit against the Crown.

Lawsuit

In 1511 the first verdict was given, in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

. The judges recognized for the line of Columbus the position of

viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...

s in perpetuity and the right to a tenth of the benefits obtained from the Indies. The Crown received, among other things, the right to name appellate judges. Neither party was satisfied, and both sides appealed. In 1512, the suit was combined with the ''pleito del Darién'', a suit over whether the jurisdiction of Columbus's heirs extended to the mainland of America (the ''tierra firme''). The name ''Darién'', still used for the

Darién Gap The Darién Gap (, , es, Tapón del Darién , ) is a geographic region between the North and South American continents within Central America, consisting of a large watershed, forest, and mountains in Panama's Darién Province and the norther ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

near Colombia, then referred to a far larger and somewhat indefinite region extending further into

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. In 1520 was a new verdict, known as the "Declaration of La Coruña" (after the Galician city, now

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

). In 1524, Diego Colón was deposed from his position as governor and instituted a new suit against the Crown. He died two years later, but his widow continued the suit in the name of their son,

Luis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

, a minor at the time. The primary representative of the family at this time, if not the one with the standing for the suit, was Diego's brother, Fernando Colón. A verdict in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

on 25 June 1527 declared the previous verdicts annulled and ordered a new trial. The new royal prosecutor attempted to demonstrate that the discovery of the West Indies had principally been achieved thanks to

Martín Alonso Pinzón Martín Alonso Pinzón, (; Palos de la Frontera, Huelva; c. 1441 – c. 1493) was a Spanish mariner, shipbuilder, navigator and exploration, explorer, oldest of the Pinzón brothers. He sailed with Christopher Columbus on his Voyages of Christoph ...

, not Columbus. He called as witnesses surviving members of the crew of the first voyage to America. Two verdicts were given: in Dueñas (1534) and in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

(1535), but both were appealed.

Arbitration

Both parties finally submitted to arbitration. On 28 June 1536 the president of the

Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...

, Bishop

García de Loaysa Juan García de Loaysa y Mendoza (1478 in Talavera de la Reina, near Toledo, Spain – 22 April 1546 in Madrid, Spain) was a Spanish Archbishop of Seville and Cardinal. Biography His parents were nobles; at a very early age he entered the Domi ...

, and the president of the

Council of Castile The Council of Castile ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de Castilla), known earlier as the Royal Council ( es, Consejo Real), was a ruling body and key part of the domestic government of the Crown of Castile, second only to the monarch himself. It ...

, Gaspar de Montoya, delivered the following arbitration award: * They confirmed the title of Admiral of the Indies in perpetuity to the line of Columbus, with privileges analogous to those of the

Admiral of Castile Admiral of Castile was the representative of the King of Castile at the head of the Navy. It was a dignity created in 1247 that lasted until 1705. Admiral of Castile The title of Admiral of Castile was created by King Ferdinand III the Saint in ...

. * They removed the titles of Viceroy and Governor General of the Indies. * They established a

seigneury ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (o ...

for Columbus's heirs consisting mainly of the island of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

(with the title of Marquess of Jamaica), a territory of 25 leagues square in

Veragua {{unreferenced, date=January 2015 Veragua or Veraguas was the name of five Spanish colonial territorial entities in Central America, beginning in the 16th century during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The term was based on a Central Amer ...

(with the title of Duke of Veragua). * They confirmed the heirs' possession of their lands in the Hispaniola and the perpetuity of the titles of ''alguacil mayor'' (" high sheriff") of

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

and of the ''Audiencia'' (tribunal) of the island. * They ordered a payment of 10,000 ducats annually to the heirs of Columbus as well as 500,000 '' maravedíes'' per year to each of the sisters of Luis Colón.

Minor lawsuits

After the arbitration of 1536, minor lawsuits between the Columbus family and the Crown continued, but they were not of comparable importance. Lawsuits occurred between 1537 and 1541, between 1555 and 1563, and sporadically until the end of the 18th century.

Historical interest

Both the Columbus family and the Crown took testimony from witnesses to the various Castilian voyages of discovery to America. It has been a fundamental source of information for historians who study the era, but the accuracy of some of the testimonies is open to doubt.

References

External links

* Complete first edition of the documents and testimony of the ''Pleitos Colombinos'': This work has recently been published in English translation: ''Testimonies from the Columbian Lawsuits (Repertorium Columbianum)'', Brepols Publishers (2000), . {{Authority control Lawsuits Christopher Columbus Columbus family 16th century in law Legal history of Spain Colonial Central America History of Hispaniola Spanish West Indies