on given
in favour of the project of Christopher Columbus which followed as a
consequence of the Christian victory. Though he nowhere states the
fact, Martyr must at this time[2] have known the Genoese suppliant for
royal patronage. Talavera, confessor to the Queen, was the friend and
protector of both Italians.

[Note 2: Navarrete states that the two Italians had known one
another intimately prior to the siege of Granada. _Coleccion de
documentos ineditos_, tom. i., p. 68.]

Fascinated by the novelties and charms of Granada, Martyr remained in
the conquered city when the Court withdrew. His friend Tendilla was
appointed first governor of the province and Talavera became its first
archbishop. Comparing the city with others, famous and beautiful in
Italy, he declared Granada to be the loveliest of them all; for Venice
was devoid of landscape and surrounded only by sea; Milan lay in a
flat stretch of monotonous plain; Florence might boast her hills,
but they made her winter climate frigid, while Rome was afflicted by
unwholesome winds from Africa and such poisonous exhalations from the
surrounding marshes that few of her citizens lived to old age. Such,
to eyes sensitive to Nature's charms and to a mind conscious of
historical significance, was the prize that had fallen to the Catholic
sovereigns.[3]

[Note 3: In the month of June, 1492.]

What influences worked to prepare the change which took place in Peter
Martyr's life within the next few months are not known. After the
briefest preparation, he took minor orders and occupied a canon's
stall in the cathedral of Granada. Of a religious vocation, understood
in the theological sense, there appears to have been no pretence,
but ten years later we find him a priest, with the rank of apostolic
protonotary. Writing on March 28, 1492, to Muro, the dean of
Compostello he observed: _Ad Saturnum, cessante Marte, sub hujus
sancti viri archiepiscopi umbra tento transfugere; a thorace jam ad
togam me transtuli_. In the coherent organisation of society as it
was then ordered, men were classified in distinct and recognisable
categories, each of which opened avenues to the ambitious for
attaining its special prizes. Spain was still scarcely touched by
the culture of the Renaissance. Outside the Church there was little
learning or desire for knowledge, nor did any other means for
recompensing scholars exist than by the bestowal of ecclesiastical
benefices. A prebend, a canonry, a