European Treaties bearing on the History of the United States and its Dependencies to 1648/Document 06

by Alexander VI

6. The Bull Eximiae Devotionis (Pope Alexander VI.) May 3, 1493.^[1]

INTRODUCTION.

Although this bull bears the same date as the preceding,^[2] it would seem that its expediting was not begun until July. In somewhat more precise and emphatic terms it repeats that concession of the earlier bull, which ex­ tended to the Catholic kings in respect to the lands discovered by Columbus the privileges previously granted to the kings of Portugal in respect to their discoveries in "Africa, Guinea, and the Gold Mine".

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Text: MS. and facsimile. An official copy of the promulgated bull, made in 1515, is in the Archives of the Indies at Seville, Patronato, 1-1-1 no. 4. A facsimile of the text preserved in the Vatican registers is in J. C. Heywood, Documenta Selecta e Tabulario Secreto Vaticano ( 1893), and is reproduced thence in J. B. Thacher, Columbus ( 1903- 1904), II. 155, 159.

Text: Printed. The Vatican text is in Heywood, op. cit.; Thacher, op. cit., II. 156, 160; G. Berchet, Fonti Italiane ( 1892- 1893), I. 3, 4 (pt. III. of the Raccolta di Documenti published by the Reale Commissione Colom­ biana); S. E. Dawson, "Lines of Demarcation of Pope Alexander VI.", etc. ( 1899), pp. 535-536, in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 2d ser., 1899-1900, vol. V., § 2; and, except the formal conclud­ ing clauses, O. Raynaldus (continuing Baronius), Annales Ecclesiastici ( 1747- 1756), XI. 213-214. The text of the promulgated bull is in J. de Solorzano Pereira , De Indiarum Jure ( 1629- 1639), I. 612.

Translations. H. Harrisse, Diplomatic History of America ( 1897), pp. 20- 24; Dawson, op. cit., pp. 536-537; Thacher, op. cit., II. 157-161; Blair and Robertson, Philippine Islands ( 1903-1909), I. 103-105.

References: See under Doc. 5.

TEXT.^[3]

In nomine Domini, Amen. Universis et singulis presentes licteras sive presens publicum transumpti instrumentum visuris, lecturis, et audituris: quod nos, reverendus dominus, Don Didacus Hernandez, thesaurarius ecclesie collegialis Sancti Antolini de Medina Campi,^[4] et reverendi in Christo patris et domini, Domini Belnardini Gutterez, prothonotarii apostolici et abbatis dicte ville Medine, provisor offitialis et vicarius generalis in tem­ poralibus et spiritualibus, salutem in Domino et presentibus fidem indubiam adhibere placeat. Noveritis quod nos, ad spectabilis viri Domini Didaci Sal­ meron, in jure civili bachalarii, licterarum apostolicarum aliorumque jurium et instrumentorum Serenissime Domine nostre domine Joanne, divina favente clementia Castelle, Legionis, et Granate regnorum, etc. regine Catholice ad suumque regium patrimonium statum, jurisdictionem, facultates, et pre­ heminentias concernentium custodis petitionis instantiam et requisitionem, vidimus et diligenter inspeximus quasdam licteras apostolicas felicis recorda­ tionis domini, Domini Alexandri Pape Sexti, in forma ejus vere bulle sigilli plumbei in cordula sirici rubei croceique coloris, more Romane curie, pendentis bullatas, im pergameno et lingua Latina scriptas, coram nobis in juditio per eumdem dominum, bachalarium Didacum Salmeron, in sua originali forma productas et presentatas. Et quia per hujusmodi visionem et inspectionem prefatas litteras apostolicas sanas, integras, et illesas, omnique prorsus vitio et suspitione carere, ut apparebat, reperimus. Ideo, eas, ad prefati domini bachalarii, Didaci Salmeron, ulteriorem instantiam, per notarium publicum infrascriptum, transumi et exemplari ac in hujusmodi transumpti publici formam redegi fecimus et mandavimus, volentes, et ordinaria auctoritate qua fungimur decernentes, quod hujusmodi transumpto publico illa et eadem ac similis et tanta fides ubique locorum et terrarum ubi illud exhibitum fuerit et productum, tam in juditio quam extra, adhibeatur, que et qualis et quanta eisdem originalibus litteris apostolicis, unde presens transumptum sive ex­ emplar extractum fuit, adhiberetur, si in medium exhiberentur aut obsten­ derentur. Tenor veto licterarum apostolicarum predictarum de quibus supra fit mentio, sequitur et est hujusmodi:

Alexander episcopus, servus servorum Dei, carissimo in Christo filio Ferdinando regi et carissime in Christo filie Elisabeth, regine Castelle, Le­ gionis, Aragonum, et Granate, illustribus, salutem et apostolicam benedic­ tionem.

Eximie devotionis sinceritas et integra fides quibus nos et Romanam reveremini ecclesiam non indigne merentur ut illa vobis favorabiliter con­ cedamus per que sanctum et laudabile propositum vestrum et opus inceptum in querendis terris et insulis remotis ac incognitis in dies melius et facilius ad honorem Omnipotentis Dei et imperii Christiani propagationem ac fidei Catholice exaltationem prosequi valeatis. Hodie siquidem omnes et singulas terras firmas et insulas remotas et incognitas, versus partes occidentales et mare oceanum consistentes, per vos seu nuncios vestros, ad id propterea non sine magnis laboribus, periculis, et impensis destinatos, repertas et reperiendas imposterum, que sub actuali dominio temporali aliquorum dominorum Chris­ tianorum constitute non essent, cum omnibus illarum dominiis, civitatibus, castris, locis, villis, juribus, et^[5] jurisdictionibus universis, vobis, heredibusque et successoribus vestris, Castelle et Legionis regibus, imperpetuum, motu proprio et ex certa scientia ac de apostolice potestatis plenitudine donavimus, concessimus, et assignavimus, prout in nostris inde confectis litteris plenius continetur.^[6] Cum^[7] autem alias nonnullis Portugallie regibus qui impartibus Africe, Guinee, et Minere Auri, ac alias, insulas etiam ex^[8] similibus con­ cessione et donatione apostolica eis facta repererunt et acquisiverunt, per Sedem Apostolicam diversa privilegia, gratie, libertates, immunitates, ex­ emptiones, facultates, littere, et indulta concessa fuerint; nos volentes etiam, prout dignum et conveniens existit, vos, heredesque et successores vestros predictos, non minoribus gratiis, prerogativis, et favoribus prosequi, motu simili, non ad vestram vel alterius pro vobis super hoc oblate petitionis instantiam sed de nostra mera liberalitate ac eisdem scientia et apostolice potestatis plenitudine, vobis et heredibus et successoribus vestris predictis, ut in insulis et terris per vos seu nomine vestro hactenus repertis hujusmodi et reperiendis imposterum, omnibus et singulis gratiis et privilegiis, exemptioni­ bus, libertatibus., facultatibus, immunitatibus, litteris, et indultis regibus Portugallie concessis hujusmodi, quorum omnium tenores, ac si de verbo ad verbum presentibus insererentur, haberi volumus pro sufficienter expressis et insertis, uti, potiri, et gaudere libere et licite possitis et debeatis in omnibus et per omnia perinde ac si illa omnia vobis ac heredibus et successoribus vestris prefatis specialiter concessa [fuissent],^[9] auctoritate apostolica, tenore presentium de specialis dono gratie indulgemus, illaque in omnibus et per omnia ad vos heredesque ac successores vestros predictos extendimus pariter et ampliamus, ac eisdem modo et forma perpetuo concedimus, non obstantibus constitutionibus et ordinationibus apostolicis, nee non omnibus illis que in litteris Portugallie regibus concessis hujusmodi concessa sunt, non obstare ceterisque contrariis quibuscunque. Verum, quia difficile foret presentes litteras ad singula queque loca in quibus expediens fuerit, deferri, volumus, ac motu et scientia similibus decernimus, quod illarum transumptis, manu publici notarii inde rogati subscriptis et sigillo alicujus persone in ecclesiastica dignitate constitute, seu curie ecclesiastice, munitis, ea prorsus fides indubia in judicio et extra, ac alias ubilibet, adhibeatur, que presentibus adhiberetur, si essent exhibite vel ostense. Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam nostrorum indulti, extensionis, ampliationis, concessionis, voluntatis, et decreti infringere, vel ei ausu temerario contraire. Siquis autem hoc attemptare presumpserit, indignationem Omnipotentis Dei ac beatorum Petri et Pauli apostolorum ejus se noverit incursurum. Datum Romeapud Sanctum Petrum, anno Incarnationis Dominice millesimo quadrigentesimo nonagesimo tertio, quinto nonas Maii, pontificatus nostri anno primo.

L. Podocatharus.^[10] D. Gallettus.^[11] Registrata in secretaria apostolica. Crothonien[sis].^[12] Jul [io].^[13] Gratis de mandato b[eati] d[omini] nostri pape.

Jo[hannes] Nilis.^[14]

Nos, vero, provisor officialis et vicarius predictus, pro tribunali sedentes ad nostrum solitum banchum juris, hora solita causarum consueta im publica audientia, sit[uata] in dicta villa Medine, juxta^[15] sua manifesta confinia, omnibus et singulis premissis, tamquam rite et recte factis, auctoritatem nostram judiciariam et ordinariam pariter et decretum interponendum duximus, et interposuimus presentium per tenorem. In quorum omnium et singulorum fidem et testimonium premissorum, presentes litteras sive presens publicum exemplar aut transumpti instrumentum ex inde fieri et per notarium publicum infrascriptum subscribi et publicari mandavimus, sigillique dicti domini abbatis, quo in similibus utimur, jussimus et fecimus impressione com[m]uniri, ac manibus nostris roboravimus. Datum et actum in dicta villa de Medina, in publica audientia nobis inibi, ut supra pro tribunali hora solita causarum consueta sedentes, anno nativitatis Domini millesimo quin­ gentesimo quintodecimo, indictione tertia, die vero vigesima secunda mensis Martii, pontificatus santissimi in Christo patris et domini nostri Domini Leonis, divina providentia Pape Decimi anno tertio, presentibus Aloysio Hernandez de Medina et Johanne Garzia de Burgo, notariis audientie abba­ tialis predicte, et Stefano Salineprocuratore causarum dicte ville, et Francisco Rodregezclerico benefitiato in logare Carpi, testibus ad premissa habitis, vocatis, et rogatis.

Datharius et prodatarius. Ego, Felecissimus de Mugnonibus de Crevio, Spoletane diocesis, publicus imperiali apostolicaque auctoritate notarius et judex ordinarius, et ad presens Catholice Majestatis curiam sequens, et spetialiter per dictum dominum, provisorem officialem et vicarium, ad hunc actum, electus, assumptus, et deputatus, quia, premissis omnibus et singulis dum sic ut premittitur, coram prefato domino provisore, ac que per eum fierent et dicerentur, una cum prenominatis testibus presens fui, eaque in notam sumpsi et recepi, ideo supra insertas apostolicas licteras transumpsi et exemplatus sum, et cum suis originalibus comprobavi ac in omnibus con­ cordare reperi et presens publicum transumpti instrumentum subscripsi et publicavi, signoque et nomine meis solitis et consuetis una cum dicti domini provisoris manus appositione, et sigilli dicti domini abbatis impressione, signavi, in fidem et robur et testimonium omnium et singulorum premissorum, rogatus et requisitus.

Signum notarii

Here follows the notarial sign mei FELECISSIMI predicti.

TRANSLATION.

In the name of the Lord, Amen. To all and singular who shall see, read, or hear the present letters, or the present public transumpt, we the reverend lord, Don Diego Hernandez, treasurer of the collegiate church of Saint Antolin of Medina del Campo, and official provisor and vicar general in temporalities and spiritualities of the reverend father and lord in Christ, Don Bernardo Gutterez, apostolic protonotary and abbot of the said town of Medina, health in the Lord, and let certain credence be given to these presents.

Be it known that, at the instance and request of the petition of the honorable Don Diego Salmeron, bachelor in civil law and keeper of the apos tolic letters and of other privileges and instruments concerning the status, jurisdiction, faculties, and pre-eminences of the Most Serene Lady, our Lady Joanna, by the favor of divine mercy Catholic queen of the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, and Granada, and in respect to her royal patrimony, we have seen and dili­ gently inspected certain apostolic letters of our lord, of happy memory, the lord Pope Alexander VI., sealed in the form of his true bull, with a leaden seal hanging on a red and yellow cord of silk, in the manner of the Roman court, written on parchment and in the Latin tongue, produced and pre­ sented in its original form before us in judgment by the said lord, the bachelor, Diego Salmeron. And because, upon this view and inspection, we found the aforesaid apostolic letters whole, entire, and unimpaired, and, as it seemed, utterly without blemish or suspicious appearance, therefore, at the further instance of the aforesaid lord bachelor, Diego Salmeron, we have caused and ordered these letters to be copied and transcribed and brought into the form of this public transumpt by the notary public aforesaid, wishing and, by the ordinary authority which we enjoy, decreeing, that that and the same and similar and as great credence be given to this public transumpt, in whatever places or lands it shall be exhibited and produced, in court or out, as any of the same kind and degree as would adhere to the same original apostolic letters from which the present transumpt or exemplar was drawn, if they should be publicly exhibited or displayed. The tenor of the aforesaid apostolic letters of which mention was made above, follows, and is this:

Alexander,^[16] bishop, servant of the servants of God, to the illustrious sovereigns, our very dear son in Christ, Ferdinand, king, and our very dear daughter in Christ, Isabella, queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Granada, health and apostolic benediction. The sincerity and whole-souled loyalty of your exalted attachment to ourselves and the Church of Rome deserve to have us grant in your favor those things whereby daily you may the better and more easily be enabled to the honor of Almighty God and the spread of Christian government as well as the exaltation of the Catholic faith to carry out your holy and praiseworthy purpose and the work already undertaken of making search far-away and unknown countries and islands. For this very day of our own accord and certain knowledge, and out of the fullness of our apostolic power, we have given, granted, and assigned forever, as appears more fully in our letters drawn up therefor, to you and your heirs and successors, kings of Castile and Leon, all and singular the remote and unknown mainlands and islands lying towards the western parts and the ocean sea, that have been discovered or hereafter may be discovered by you or your envoys, whom you have equipped therefor not without great hard­ ships, dangers, and expense--and with them all their lordships, cities, castles, places, villages, rights, and jurisdictions; provided however these countries have not been in the actual temporal possession of any Christian lords. But inasmuch as at another time the Apostolic See has granted divers privileges, favors, liberties, immunities, exemptions, faculties, letters, and indults to certain kings of Portugal, who also by similar apostolic grant and donation in their favor, have discovered and taken possession of islands in the regions of Africa, Guinea, and the Gold Mine, and elsewhere, with the desire to em­ power by our apostolic authority, as also is right and fitting, you and your aforesaid heirs and successors with graces, prerogatives, and favors of no less character; moved also thereto wholly of our similar accord, not at your instance nor the petition of anyone else in your favor, but of our own sole liberality and out of the same knowledge and fullness of apostolic power, we do by tenor of these presents, as a gift of special favor, grant to you and your aforesaid heirs and successors that in the islands and countries, already thus discovered by you or in your name and to be discovered hereafter, you may freely and legally, as is proper, use, employ, and enjoy in all things and through all things, exactly the same as if they had been granted especially to you and your aforesaid heirs and successors, all and singular the graces and privileges, exemptions, liberties, faculties, immunities, letters, and indults that have been thus granted to the kings of Portugal, the terms whereof we wish to be understood as sufficiently expressed and inserted, as if they had been inserted word for word in these presents. Moreover we extend similarly and enlarge these powers in all things and through all things to you and your aforesaid heirs and successors, to whom in the same manner and form we grant them forever, apostolic constitutions and ordinances as well as all grants of similar kind made by letters to the kings of Portugal, as well as other things whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding. But as it would be difficult to have these present letters sent to all places where desirable, we wish and with similar accord and knowledge do decree that to copies of them, signed by the hand of a public notary commissioned therefor, and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical officer or ecclesiastical court, the same respect is to be shown in court and outside as well as anywhere else as would be given to these presents should they be exhibited or shown. Let no one, therefore, infringe or with rash boldness contravene this our indult, extension, enlargement, grant, will, and decree. Should any one presume to do so, be it known to him that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, in the year of our Lord's incarnation one thousand four hundred and ninety- three, the third day of May, the first year of our pontificate. L. Podocatharus. D. Gallettus. Registered in the apostolic secretariate. The Bishop of Co­ trone. July. Gratis, by command of our blessed lord, the pope. Jo. Nilis.

We, the official provisor and vicar aforesaid, sitting before the tribunal at our accustomed law bench at the hour when law suits are usually heard in the public audiencia situated in the said town of Medina, near its manifest bound­ aries, have thought that to all and singular the aforesaid, as rightly and cor­ rectly made, our authority and decree as judge and ordinary ought to be interposed, and we have interposed them by the tenor of these presents. In faith and testimony of these premises, all and singular, we have ordered the present letters or the present public exemplar or transumpt to be made therefrom, and to be subscribed and published by the notary public whose name is signed below, and we have ordered and caused them to be secured with the impression of the seal of the said lord abbot, which we use in such cases, and we have confirmed them with our hand. Given and done by us in the said town of Medina, as we sat in the public audiencia (as above) before our tribunal at the hour when causes are usually heard, in the year of the nativity of our Lord one thousand five hundred and fifteen, in the third indiction, on the twenty-second day of the month of March, in the third year of the pontificate of the most Holy Father and lord in Christ, our lord, by divine providence, Pope Leo X., there being present Luis Hernandez of Medina and Juan Garcia of Burgos, notaries of the audiencia of the abbey aforesaid, and Estevan de Salinas, attorney in legal proceedings of the said town, and Francisco Rodriguez, beneficed clerk in the village of Carpio, had, called, and summoned as witnesses to the aforesaid.

Datary and prodatary. I, Felecissimo di Mugnano of Crevio in the diocese of Spoleto, by imperial and apostolic authority notary public and ordinary judge, at present following the court of his Catholic Majesty, and especially elected, chosen, and deputed for this act by the said lord, the official provisor and vicar, because (in the manner aforesaid in the premises, all and singular) I, together with the aforenamed witnesses, was present before the said lord provisor and took notes of those things that were done and said by him, therefore I have transcribed the apostolic letters inserted above, and I have copied them and have compared them with the originals and have found them to agree in all respects, and I have subscribed and published the present public transumpt, and having been summoned and required, in faith and confirmation and testimony of all and singular the aforesaid, I have marked it with my usual customary sign and name, together with the apposi­ tion of the sign manual of the said lord provisor and the impression of the seal of the said lord abbot.

Sign [here follows the notarial sign] of me, FELECISSIMO, the notary aforesaid.

1. The bull as printed by Solorzano Pereira, De Indiarium Jure, I. 612, is dated May 4 (quarto nonas Maii), and some historians have accepted this as the date of the promul­ gated bull. The text in the Vatican Register is dated May 3 (quinto nonas Maii), which the text here printed proves to be that of the promulgated bull. In regard to the expe­ diting of the bull see Vander Linden, "Alexander VI. and the Demarcation of the Mari­ time and Colonial Domains of Spain and Portugal ", American Historical Review, XXII. 3-7.
2. Doc. 5.
3. The following text is from an official copy, made in 1515, and preserved in the Archives of the Indies, Patronato, 1-1-1, no. 4.
4. A bull of Sixtus IV. creating the collegiate church of Saint Antolin is printed in C. Pérez Pastor, La Imprenta en Medina del Campo ( 1895), pp. 183 ff.
5. The words juribus et are struck out. They appear in the Vatican text, but not in Solorzano.
6. The bull Inter caetera of May 3 (Doc. 5) is here referred to.
7. Compare with the passage that begins here and ends with the word ampliamus, twenty lines below, the corresponding italicized passage in the bull Inter caetera, of May 3 (Doc. 5), which begins with the words Et quia, p. 60.
8. The Vatican text has in instead of ex.
9. The word fuissent, which appears in the Vatican text, is omitted from the copy of the year 1515 and from Solorzano.
10. Papal secretary. See Doc. 5, note 17.
11. D. Galetti is mentioned in J. Burchard, Diarium (ed. Thuasne, 1883- 1885), II. 285, as an apostolic scribe.
12. In 1493 Giovanni Ebu was Bishop of Cotrone.
13. This date is the same as that in the margin of the copy of this bull entered in the Vatican register. It indicates the month in which the expediting of the bull began. See above, note 1.
14. Rescribendarius in the third quarter of the year 1493. Cf. Doc. 8, p. 81; and Vander Linden, op. cit., p. 7, note 19.
15. Justa in MS.
16. See Doc. 5, note 19.