The "Eye in the Hand" is a universal icon which has been used world-wide. The picture to the left is an escudo (shield) of Renaissance Italy during the Inquisition. Roughtly, it can be compared with Leonardo da Vince (1494 - 1547) and his sojourn in Court of Louis the Moor in Milan, Italy. As can be noted, the book comes from a later date, but compiled from the emblemataof the oldest established noble houses in Italy at the time.
It is said that Christopher Colombus discovered America in 1492 AD, yet there is a serious absence of information about the "New World" during the subsequent years. When Spain began to get rich off the gold that was being brought in from Nueva España, then certain information was allowed to be known. Yet not one thinks it strange that Pope Alexander VI died within three months after he signed the treaty between Portugal and Spain in 1494.
That treaty gave Spain ALL the gold bearing countries of the New World and left Portugal holding only Brazil. The reason this is not even remembered is because the Pope was known to be a dissolute priest. When writers look for information about this Pope, they are more interested in the depravity of the man and never appear to question his decisions.
Was there more to the discovery of the other half of the world that we still don't know. What does the "eye in the hand:" have to do with it all? And why was that particular phrase used as its motto?
. . .Picture Credit: Harry Ransom Conservatory
. . .at the University of Texas at Austin