Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship (Santa Fé, AD 1492)

On patrongage:

Patronage involves the provision of encouragement and support, through financial, social or political means to advance the cause of another. The ancient world placed a high importance on the ability of a man to be a patron. The most well known form of patronage is the sponsorship of artists by the commissioning of artworks. Patronage has also been present in the fields of music, writing, philosophy, early science and scholarship generally. In Renaissance Italy, the Medici family were famous for off-loading their ill-gotten wealth (through charging unreasonable interest on loans) by funding artists’ work. When the Italian-born Christopher Columbus petitioned the Spanish queen, Isabella I of Castile, to fund his expedition to the Indies, she rejected him at least three times and took two years to accept his proposition. His voyage is detailed in the children’s rhyme which begins:

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue

Christopher Columbus kneeling in front of Queen Isabella I

Comprehension Questions

1. Samuel Johnson, to whom the writing of the Oxford Dictionary is attributed, once defined a patron as, “one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help”. With whom does his sympathy lie? In your own words, explain Johnson’s view of patrons.

2. How does Christopher Columbus present himself and his proposition to Queen Isabella?

3. Find four examples of words or phrases that suggest the power of Queen Isabella and then find four that suggest the powerlessness of Christopher Columbus.

4. This story is told in the present tense and contains interjections from Queen Isabella’s heralds (the two voices are indicated by the use of single and double elongated tildes). How do the Queen’s heralds view Christopher Columbus? Locate evidence from the text to support three criticisms they have of him.

5. How do the heralds view Queen Isabella? Locate three examples from the text to support your theory.

6. Examine Isabella’s reversal of position. What does she realise? What kind of a physical reaction does she experience? How does Rushdie link the idea of power and desire here? Draw on evidence from the text to support your view.

7. How is Columbus’ reaction to Isabella’s reversal of position like a lover’s?

8. Examine the title and the first appearance of the word ‘consummation’ in the story. Why do you think Rushdie has used this word? Locate the two statements Columbus makes about the ‘money and patronage’. What does this choice of word suggest about:
   (a) the nature of Columbus’ request;
   (b) the nature of the relationship between explorer and patron;
   (c) Columbus’ intention and his emotional state; and
   (d) Rushdie’s intended effect on his readers?

9. Isabella’s change of mind occurs in the Alhambra, a Moorish palace in Granade, Spain. Click here to see the Court of the Lions and go to the Nasrid Palaces. Given that the palace contains art from Jewish, Moorish and Christian cultures, and given Isabella’s treatment of the Jews and the Moors, what might the Ahambra symbolise in this story?

Writing Tasks

East West: a reading and creative writing unit developed by Ross Barham, Amanda Carroll, Blair Mahoney, and G. Marotous.
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