CHAP. I I . ]
CHRISTOPHER
29
COLUMBUS.
search of lawless booty; these, with the holy wars waged against the Mahometan powers, rendered the narrow seas, to which navi gation was principally confined, scenes of hardy encounters and trying reverses. Such was the rugged school in which Columbus was reared, and it would have been deeply interesting to have marked the early development of his genius amidst its stern adversities.
All
this instructive era of his history, however, is covered with dark ness.
His son Fernando, who could have best elucidated it, has
left it in obscurity, or has now and then perplexed us with cross lights; perhaps unwilling, from a principle of mistaken pride, to reveal the indigence and obscurity from which his father so glori ously emerged. The first voyage in which we have any account of his being engaged was a naval expedition, fitted out in Genoa in 1459 by John of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, to make a descent upon Naples, in the hope of recovering that kingdom for his father King Reinier, or Renato, otherwise called Rene, Count of Provence. republic of Genoa aided him with ships and money.
The
The bril
liant nature of the enterprise attracted the attention of daring and restless spirits.
The chivalrous nobleman, the soldier of fortune,
the hardy corsair, the desperate adventurer, the mercenary parti san, all hastened to enlist under the banner of Anjou.
The vete
ran Colombo took a part in this expedition, either with galleys of his own, or as a commander of the Genoese squadron, and with him embarked his youthful relative, the future discoverer. The struggle of John of Anjou for the crown of Naples lasted about four years, with varied fortune, but was finally unsuccessful. The naval part of the expedition, in which Columbus was en gaged, signalized itself by acts of intrepidity; and at one time,