Roland Routier

Actually, there was only one ship, the Santa Maria and 2 caravels, the Pinta and the Nina.
No doubt you have guessed from this that I am at Los Palos de la Fronteras visiting the Monestario de Santa Maria de la Rabida from which Christopher Colombus sailed to the Americas.
How he got here is interesting. Genovese sailor loses ship off the Portugese coast but manages to swim ashore. Ends up in Madeira with a bit of a squeeze for a local lass and soon they have a son. Now dad-in-law is a money lender and often accepts sailor's documents and personal affects as collateral - not unusual at the time. From these our Chris becomes convinced that there is land to the West, that it is India and quicker to get to. So he asks the Portugese king for some cash and warrants to sail over for a bit of a gander.
"Don't be daft'" quoth the Royal Personage, "everyone knows the earth is flat and I don't have any spare lolly for an Atlantic cruise." End of dream.
Or maybe not for meanwhilst, in a small, almost forgotten part of a foreign land, sailors had been heading West for many years, and had a good notion of prevailing winds, currents and so on across the Atlantic. They may well have even landed, but being simple fishermen on the whole they were ignorant of the import of their landing and fearful of the boogeymen.
They came from Los Palos. The Phoenicians had built an altar on a nearby headland known since ancient times as Saturn's Rock. It was dedicated to their god, Melqart, the patron of Tyre, also called the Baal or lord of Tyre, (a deity often confounded with Hercules). In turn, the Romans venerated their goddess, Proserpina here and then Arabs built a mosque on the same spot: a site dominating the confluence of 2 rivers, the infamous Rio Tinto and the Rio Odiel, so a fisherman's paradise. Being Genovese, Chris knew this of course, but there was even more here to attract a mariner on the make.
The Arabs had built religious barracks here to train mounted monk-warriors like those of the Christian Orders, (hence 'rábida' or 'rápita', watchtower in Arabic,) overlooking the harbour of Los Palos. In this environment, Muslim ascetics sought to become perfected spiritually to battle the 'crusaders'.
In the twelfth century, the site passed to the Knights Templar under the protection of Our Lady of Miracles. Pope Eugene IV granted indulgences to all who rendered aid to travelers seeking refuge at this site: a prize for not being taken by pirates.
In 1261 Pope Benedict XIII issued a papal bull authorising Friar Juan Rodríguez and his Franciscan companions to establish a community on the coast of Andalucia. The the Order of Friars Minor Conventual naturally claimed the local holy spot. Despite this written evidence, as is so often the case with believers, tradition holds that St. Francis of Assisi himself visited here, in the company of twelve disciples, to found a community. In any event, little remains of the early friary; most of the existing buildings date from the 14thC and 15thC.
Our Chris knew of one more very salient support for his project.
Like many Franciscan houses at the time there were only 12 monks in permanent residence keeping open house for those in distress or need. However, there was more to the top man, Perez, than you might think, (what they call a Deep Frier,) having served at Isabella's court as the Queen's Treasurer and chums with the Queen's confessor. He was a player.
Now it so happened that CC was a lay Franciscan, or at least was seen dressed in the short frock favoured by Franciscans. I don't know he signed up before or after he got his Great Idea, so am not in a position to judge whether this was for real, as a disguise or just sucking up. Anyway, he hacked over with his son for a meeting with Perez, entering through the door in the photo.Read more