Casa de Naomi: The House of Blessing, Book Two Historical Notes, by Paula Michelson

Since I finalized the galley proof of Casa de Naomi: The House of Blessing, Book Two and ordered two boxes of books this week, I’m going to forgo the scavenger hunt and begin writing this blog by posting sections of the Historical Notes from Book Two.

Historical Notes

(Historical Notes From: Wiesenthal, Simon. Sails of Hope, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1973)

Since research proves that the ships on all of Columbus’s voyages were filled with Spanish Jews baptized into the Catholic faith during the Inquisition, I have begun these historical notes by looking at the admiral’s life.

Earliest comments by Christopher Columbus lead us to believe that he went to sea at the age of fourteen as a cabin boy. However, since a cabin boy received no education in languages or science, one wonders how Columbus acquired this knowledge. While in Portugal, he worked as a cartographer and calligrapher. These professions were seldom held by anyone other than Jews who were Judaized and subsequently returned to the Laws of Moses as Spanish Jews called the Torah. The mystery of this noteworthy man surrounds his marriage to a Portuguese noble woman, who was far above his station in society. His writings mention that Castilian was his mother tongue. Yet some said if dissatisfied with his crews work, he reviled the men in Italian. Others claim that he spoke Castilian with a Portuguese accent.

At eighteen, Columbus said that he was the son of a weaver. However, a lower-middle class tradesman could not have afforded the studies that gave Columbus the ability to learn Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Genoese, Italian, and Hebrew. Furthermore, unless sponsored by a wealth patron or studying for the priesthood, someone of his rank would have no knowledge of the trades he pursued.

Nest we will look at Columbus around the age of 25… so I hope you’re on board!