Christopher Columbus, Secret Agent?

Christopher Columbus returned to Spain in 1504 with little but poverty to show for his efforts. His will, according to my vague memory, attempted to leave his share of the loot from the lands he had explored to his son and family. But the Admiral of the Indies might as well have left them shares of Enron.

Google didn't find Columbus's will for me. But it did lead me to the theory that Chris was Portugese. Of royal though illegitimate blood! A secret agent of the Portugese crown!

As for the Columbus will, the blurb for a book published in Portugal but not yet available in English says it's a fraud:

"We will show solid proof that the Columbus Last Will and Testament dated 1498 is fraudulent, forged 67 years after Columbus died."

Historians Manuel Rosa and Eric Steele, authors of Unmasking Columbus: Lies, Spies Cover-up and Conspiracy, also suspect Columbus to have been a member of a super-secret organization:

The explorer’s cryptic signature, “XpoFERENS Colon” as we decipher it, indicates that he was a member of the super-secretive Templar Military Order of Christ, which had a stronghold in Portugal at the time leading up to his voyage. As a member, like his father-in-law and brothers-in-law, he was dedicated to ridding the world of Muslims, who had occupied his country several centuries before.

Dan Brown, are you taking notes?

Theories concerning the origins of the great explorer turn out to be almost as plentiful as algorithms for beating the S&P. See this Wikipedia discussion.

Portrait of Columbus by Alejo Fernández