Proof that Columbus was Born in i^^i 273
October 31, 1451, as in that case he would not have been more than nineteen years of age at the date of the aforesaid document.
The error of this reasoning is so evident that it is simply astonishing that the argument could ever have been for a moment maintained. Had it indeed been that the laws of Genoa recognized a particular majority of nineteen years (as they did in fact admit majorities of sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and of twenty-five years), it might have been legitimate to argue that the phrase major annis decemnovem meant what it is sought to read into it. But such is not the case, nor does any one claim that it is so; on the contrary, all the authorities are agreed upon the point that the laws of Genoa make no mention of a majority of nineteen years. It follows therefore, as clearly as day follows night, that if Columbus had then been twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, or twenty-four years of age, instead of nineteen, the notary would have so stated. Why, otherwise, should he have hit upon nineteen years of age unless that was actually the age of Columbus?[1]
We do not possess a single deed of the Genoese notaries of the time wherein mention of the age does not state the actual age of the individual mentioned therein. For instance, when one of these notaries writes in a deed, dated September 10, 1484, referring to Jacopo or Giacomo Colombo, "major annis sexdecim, juravit", it is clear he wished to make evident that this younger brother of Columbus was then fully of sixteen years of age, because he adds that he has made him swear that such is the case. Had Jacopo been
- ↑ It is curious to note that M. Desimoni, who may be considered as the inventor of the four-majorities theory, admits that the declaration of age is only a means of verifying the identity of the contracting parties. Quistioni. p. 37. M. Ugo Assereto, who has studied this question from the legal point of view, makes the observation that when it was a question of verifying the fact that the contracting party had attained one of the legal majorities — the majority of nineteen years, for instance, which conveys the right of undertaking the engagement stipulated in the deed — the formula usually employed runs : minor annis vigintiquinque major tamen annis decemocto (of less than twenty-five years but of more than eighteen years). M. Assereto explains that very seldom in notarial engagements is mention made of an age intermediate between two majorities, such as those of eighteen and twenty-five years, and that when it does take place "it is to bring into prominence that the contracting party being older than eighteen, the age strictly required to validate his action, should for a greater reason be presumed to have a knowledge of the importance of the engagements he is undertaking". This judicious critic concludes, as we have ourselves done, that every time when "in a notarial deed it is stipulated that one of the contracting parties is older than nineteen, is older than twenty, is older than etc., we may be sure that he is not yet twenty, or twenty-one, etc., for, were it otherwise, there would have been every reason for mentioning the second age rather than the first." "La Data della Nascita di Colombo", in Giornale Storico e Letterario delta Liguria, La Spezia, January-February, 1904, pp. 6-7.
