188 Columban, Saint
among the PICTSand became influential in the politics of
Scotland. Long before his death on Iona on June 9, 597,
he was regarded as a saint.
Further reading: Adomnán of Iona, Life of St.
Columba, trans. Richard Sharpe (London: Penguin,
Books, 1995); Bede, A History of the English Church and
People, trans. Leo Sherley-Price (Baltimore: Penguin
Books, 1955); James F. Kenney, ed., The Sources for the
Early History of Ireland, An Introduction and Guide;Vol. 1
Ecclesiastical (New York: Columbia University Press,
1929); Anna Ritchie, Iona(London: Batsford, 1997); Ian
Finlay, Columba (London: Gollancz, 1979); Dáibhí
Óróinín, Early Medieval Ireland, 400–1200(New York:
Longman, 1995).
Columban, Saint (Columbus, Columbanus, Columba
the Younger)(ca. 543–615)Irish monk, pastoral writer,
abbot, missionary
Born about 543 Columban became a monk at Leinster in
IRELANDunder the direction of Saint Comgall (d. ca. 601).
He received a monastic education. A pioneer among Irish
missionaries to the Continent, Columban landed in Gaul
in 590. Welcomed by the king of BURGUNDY, Guntram (d.
592), he settled in the frontier forest between Burgundy
and Austrasia, founding monasteries at Annegray, Luxeuil,
and Fontaines. By the strength of his personality and faith,
he influenced rulers, the clergy, and many of the laity. He
criticized the moral state of the Gallic clergy and tried to
preserve Celtic practices for the date of EASTERand the
independence of monasteries from bishops.
Columban soon was in conflict with Brunhild (ca.
534–613), the queen of the FRANKS. Her grandson had
produced several illegitimate children, whom she
wanted to have blessed by Columban. He refused abso-
lutely and further criticized the court. In 610, Brunhild
had him expelled. Proceeding by way of the Moselle
and the Rhine, he reached Lake Constance, where his
disciple Saint Gall (ca. 550–ca. 645) established a her-
mitage that became the abbey of Saint Gall. After he
crossed the Alps, the Lombard queen, Theodelinda (d.
628), helped him to found the monastery of Bobbio in
the Ligurian Apennines. There he died on November
23, 615. Columban left letters, sermons, and perhaps
some poems; a very harsh monastic rule; and a peniten-
tial presenting a list of sins and corresponding fiscal
penalties.
See alsoMISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES; PENITENTIALS; SIN.
Further reading:James F. Kennedy, ed., The Source
for the Early History of Ireland: An Introduction and Guide,
Vol. 1, Ecclesiastical (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1929), 186–205; H. B. Clarke and Mary Brennan,
eds., Columbanus and Merovingian Monasticism(Oxford:
B.A.R., 1981); Michael Lapidge, ed., Columbanus: Studies
on the Latin Writings (Woodbridge, England: Boydell
Press, 1997); Johannes Wilhelmus Smit, Studies on the
Language and Style of Columba the Younger (Columbanus)
(Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1971).Columbus, Christopher (Cristóbal Colón, Cristoforo
Colombo)(1451–1506)Genoese sailor, navigator
Born at GENOAbetween August 25 and October 31 in
1451 to a family of weavers, Columbus acquired the prac-
tical education common among 15th-century MERCHANTS
and sailors. He first went to sea in the service of Genoese
businessmen, to LISBON from 1476, then along the
African coast, to Madeira, the CANARYISLANDS, and the
AZORES. He married Felipa Moniz, a Portuguese, in 1478
or 1479. In the meantime his reading, his experience of
the sea, and the information he gathered persuaded him
that it was possible to sail westward to China and Japan.
Early in 1484, he presented his project to the king of
PORTUGAL, who did not take it seriously. Columbus then
left for Palos in SPAIN, where he gained the support of the
FRANCISCANS, as well as some nobles and Genoese and
Florentine businessmen established at SEVILLE. He com-
pleted his reading and was introduced to court but had to
wait for the capture of GRANADAbefore Queen ISABELI
would consider and accept his project.THE VOYAGES
With two caravels and a ship manned by sailors from
Palos, Columbus sailed westward on August 3, 1492. He
made for the Canaries to profit from the trade winds
favoring travel westward. After a long voyage on
unknown seas, on October 12 he reached the little island
of Guanahaní in the Bahamas. He thought he had reached
the lands of the great khan, Cipango, or Japan. He
searched farther from island to island, as far as Cuba and
Hispaniola.
Columbus claimed these lands in the name of the
Catholic kings FERDINAND and Isabel I and was
impressed with the nature and physical characteristics
of the peoples he encountered. He dreamed of convert-
ing them to Catholicism. The search for gold, spices,
perhaps slaves, and ways to finance Crusades encour-
aged his search for the riches of the East. His dramatic
return to Spain was followed by a triumphant reception
(March–April 1493).
He made three further voyages, in 1493–96,
1498–1500, and 1502–04. He explored the Antilles, other
islands in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Orinoco
River delta, and parts of the coasts of Central America.
For a while he was the governor of the Indies, but he was
eventually removed from that post. Returning ill from his
fourth voyage, he died on May 20, 1506, at VALLADOLID,
without having fully understood that he had found two
continents, not Asia.
See alsoNAVIGATION.
Further reading:Christopher Columbus, The Four
Voyages of Christopher Columbus, ed. and trans. J. M.