The brothers were sailors of great prestige along the coast of Huelva, and thanks to their many commercial voyages and voyages along the coast, they were famous and well off, respected along the entire coast
The strategic position offered by the historic Atlantic port of Palos, from which expeditions had set forth to the African coasts as well as to the war against Portugal, for which most of the armadas set forth from this town, organized, on many occasions, by this family.
Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez, captains of the caravels La Pinta and La Niña, respectively on Columbus's first voyage, are the best known of the brothers, but the third brother, the lesser-known Francisco Martín, was aboard the Pinta as its master.
It was thanks to Martín Alonso that the seamen of the Tinto-Odiel were motivated to participate in Columbus's undertaking. He also supported the project economically, supplying money from his personal fortune.
Francisco, master of the Pinta, appears to have participated in Columbus's third and fourth voyages of discovery as well as in the first, but because his name was a common one, the facts of his life cannot be easily sorted out from those of contemporaries with the same name.
Vicente Yáñez, the youngest of the three brothers, besides participating in Columbus's first voyage, once Columbus's monopoly on transatlantic trade was ended, made several voyages to the Americas.
Although they sometimes quarreled with Columbus, on several occasions the Pinzón brothers were instrumental in preventing mutiny against him, particularly during the first voyage.
On 6 October, Martín intervened in a dispute between Columbus and the crew by proposing an altered course (which Columbus eventually accepted) and thus calmed simmering unrest.
A few days later, on the night of 9 October 1492, the brothers were forced to intercede once again, and this time they proposed the compromise that if no land was sighted during the next three days, the expedition would return to Spain. On the morning of the 12th, land was sighted the island today known as San Salvadore in the Bahamas.
The Pinzón brothers lived in the era of the greatest splendor of the port town of Palos de la Frontera, participating in the majority of the activities undertaken by that port.
The historic port of Palos was a river port, protected from winds and from pirate attacks, both major hazards to the ports of the time. It was located on the lower portion of the Río Tinto known then as the Canal de Palos, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from its mouth at the Mediterainean and its confluence with the Odiel.
The port probably grew simultaneously with the town, first as an anchorage for small vessels engaged almost exclusively in fishing on the beaches and estuaries and occasional commercial transactions to supply the small population.
For many, the expression port of Palos brings to mind the present-day port with its old wharf, the muelle de la Calzadilla from which the Plus Ultra flying boat departed in 1926 to cross the Atlantic.
This is not the 15th century port. The municipal ordinances of the era focused mainly on regulating the town's maritime activities never use the terms puerto (port) or muelle (wharf). The caravels of Palos "arrived at the riverbank" where they discharged their goods and auctioned their fish.
That is to say, the activities of the port were not conducted in any single place, but along the length of the bank of the Río Tinto, because of the large number of ships and relatively high volume of merchandise they had to handle
. Progressively, the river became Palos's principal means of connection to the outside world and the port the axis of its relation to the surrounding towns. This maritime orientation modified the shape of the town, previously a conical area centered around the church and castle.
The Calle de la Ribera ("Riverbank Street") connecting the town center to the port became the town's principal artery, and the port the authentic heart of the local economy.
On the eve of Columbus's first voyage, the entire riverbank between the present-day wharfs near the center of Palos and 3 kilometres away at La Rábida Monastery was an active port. The caravels anchored in the center of the river, where the depth was sufficient for their drafts, and paid for the rights to anchor there. From the caravels, boats and dinghies loaded or unloaded the goods "tying up to the shore"
The port had a population density similar to that to the town proper, from what we can deduce from the Ordenanza Municipal, which prohibited weapons on the riverbank because the people there were as tightly packed as in the town proper.
Beginning in the first third of the 15th century, the port of Palos experieced continual economic growth, obtaining an importance well beyond the local area and achieving even international dimensions, as is testified by the frequent presence of English, Breton, Flemish, and Italian ships.
Following in the wake of the Portuguese, the ships of Palos traveled to the Canary Islands and Guinea, with their rich fisheries and the commercial possibility of trade in gold, spices, and slaves.
In the second half of the 15th century, Palos reaches a population of three thousand. The alota of Palos, a type of customs warehouse, paid the largest tribute of any such facility to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, its primacy being such that its fishermen were recruited from other towns along the coast and two residents of Palos. Juan Venegas and Pedro Alonso Cansino, were placed in charge of giving licenses to fish in the Afro-Atlantic waters from Cabo Bojador to the Río de Oro, which they leased from the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand.
The Pinzón family were one of the leading families of 14th-century Palos. The family may have come originally from the Kingdom of Aragón, but arrived in Andalusia either from la Montaña (now Cantabria) or from Asturias.
According to some historians, this surname could have been a corruption of Espinzas or Pinzas . Others say that the true family name was Martín, a widespread name with a long tradition in the area, the name of their grandfather, a sailor and diver in Palos, who was dubbed Pinzón when he went blind; that combined with his hobby of singing gave him the nickname Pinzón, the Spanish word for chaffinch. Owners of chaffinches sometimes blinded them, supposedly making them sing more beautifully.
His son, also a sailor named Martín Pinzón, was the father of the three Pinzón brothers. Their mother was named Mayor Vicente, so the three were full brothers and bore the surnames Pinzón and Vincent.
It appears that at quite a young age he shipped out on a locally based caravel as a cabin boy. His home, now the Casa Museo de Martín Alonso Pinzón, was on the old royal road to the Monastery of La Rábida. Martín's family contracted a marriage with a resident of the locality named María Álvarez.
They had five children: two sons—Arias Pérez and Juan Pinzón, who participated in several expeditions to the New World—and three daughters—Mayor, Catalina, and Leonor. Leonor, the youngest, suffered frequent attacks of what was then called "gota coral" and would now be called epilepsy.
His nautical experience and his leadership remained patent in the 1508–1536 lawsuits known as the pleitos colombinos, where the witnesses indicated him as the leader of the comarca (a region comparable to a shire). He was also famous for his battles against the Portuguese in the War of the Castilian Succession.
It is probable that even while in Portugal before coming to Spain, Columbus was aware of Martín Alonso, because he was known for his participation in the war, as well as for his incursions into the Canary Islands and Guinea.
He was captain of the Pinta on Columbus's first voyage and supplied half a million ("medio cuento") maravedís in coin toward the cost of the voyage. Thanks to his prestige as a shipowner and expert sailor and his fame throughout the Tinto-Odiel region, he was able to enlist the crew required for Columbus's first voyage.
On 23 May 1492 the royal provision was read out to the residents of Palos, by which the Catholic Monarchs ordered that certain residents deliver two caravels to Columbus and travel with him on his voyage that he was making "by command of Their Highnesses" and that the town should respect the royal decision.
However, the locals did not comply. The sailors of Palos had no confidence in embarking on this adventure with Columbus, who was largely unknown to them.
Independent of their greater or lesser credence in his ideas, the men of Palos found it difficult to support the Genovese sailor if he was not accompanied by a mariner known and respected in the town. The venture—risky and, above all, of uncertain profit—did not present great attractions. Opposition or indifference to Columbus's project was significant.
The Franciscans of the Monastery of La Rábida put Columbus in touch with Martín Alonso Pinzón. Pero Vázquez de la Frontera, an old mariner in the town—very respected for his experience, and a friend of Martín Alonso—also had an important influence on the oldest Pinzón brother deciding to support the undertaking, not only morally but also economically.
Martín Alonso dismissed the vessels that Columbus had already seized based on the royal order and also dismissed the men he had enrolled, supplying the enterprise with two caravels of his own, the Pinta and the Niña, which he knew from his own experience would be better and more suitable boats.
Furthermore, he traveled through Palos, Moguer and Huelva, convincing his relatives and friends to enlist, composing of them the best crew possible. He captained the caravel Pinta, from which Rodrigo de Triana was to be the first person to sight soil in the New World.
Columbus, in his diary, spoke favorably of Pinzón on several occasions. Nonetheless, after they had discovered the West Indies, the relationship between the two changed radically from 21 November 1492, when Martín Alonso separated from Columbus.
Admiral Columbus launched a series of accusations of desertion against Pinzón and his brothers, including Vicente who had saved him when the Santa María was shipwrecked !
Nonetheless, much of the testimony in the pleitos colombinos, as well as part of the specialized historiography and investigators, does not agree that these things happened in this manner, nor is there any accusation against Pinzón in Columbus's Letter on the First Voyage, which Columbus wrote on his return.
The good King Rene was in favor with his subjects, in all of his kingdoms. He maintained several castles and palaces, in which he was quite well revered, for his extravagant parties and lifestyle.
Entertainers and artisans came from all over
Europe to display their arts and skills. One
of his favorite places was the Palace at Palos, which he used for a retreat, where he escaped with his beautiful Queen to write
his books, in a peaceful environment.
The Good King wrote on knighthood,
voyages of adventure, heroic ordeals, and romance. His writings were
illustrated with paintings that have survived five hundred plus years of
history.
In the Good Kings books, and
sixteen portfolios of his illuminated thought, can gain a mindset of the
renaissance. King Rene, and his predecessor of the same palace, the castle of
Palos, where King Roger II, also known as, The Jolly Roger, are considered the
Fathers of the Renaissance.
These
writings are also what has become known as the “Grail Romances.” The Grail
Romances have hidden meanings and messages reserved for those with Sacred
Knowledge. In order to interpret the
hidden meaning you need to posses knowledge of mathematics and geometry which
was an occult knowledge during this time of history. King Rene was the Ninth Grand Master of the
Priory of Sion, the protectors of the Bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. King Rene’s Castle’s were also known as
“Rene’s Essence” which is where the term "Renaissance" comes from!
The
King collected a vast array of titles: The Count of Bar, the Count of
Provence, The Count of Piedmont, The Count of Guise. He was also a Duke:
The Duke of Calabrea, the Duke of Lorraine, The Duke of Anjou, Last but
not least he was the Monarch of more than one nation: The King of
Hungary, The King of Maljorca, The King of Valencia, the King of Aragon,
The King of Sardinia, the King of Sicily and the King of Jerusalem !
King
Rene rode at the side of Jeanne d’ Arc in her crusade to Orlean’s. Christopher Columbus gave credit to King Rene
for providing him with his first ships commission and also as a 12 year old boy
as a cabin boy on a “pirate” ship of the Good King’s out of Majorca.
King
Rene was also known as a pirate. History frequently represents that
Columbus was a cabin boy for the pirate Rene of Majorca.
In ancient times the conflict between nations was handled at sea through piracy.
King
Rene’ was instrumental in establishing the first” Library of Europe” open to
the public. The King and other noblemen from throughout Europe and the Mideast collected manuscripts in the
establishment of this facility.
It is
known today as the Library of San Marco which currently makes available the
history and thoughts that have been suppressed for centuries, opening the
renaissance and taking Europe out of the Dark Ages.
Both
of Nostradamus grandfathers were physicians in the palaces of King Rene
as was Leonardo Da Vinci's father. Nostradamous was also raised and
educated by
his grandfathers in the palace prior to attending the University of
Marseille.
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