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Text.[1]
Alexander episcopus, servus servorum Dei: carissimo in Christo filio Fernando regi et carissime in Christo filie Elisabeth regine Castelle, Legionis, Aragonum, et Granate illustribus, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Inter cetera Divine Majestati beneplacita opera et cordis nostri desiderabilia, illud profecto potissimum existit, ut fides Catholica et Christiana religio nostris presertim temporibus exaltetur, ac ubilibet amplietur et dilatetur, animarumque salus procuretur, ac barbare nationes deprimantur, et ad fidem ipsam reducantur. Unde cure ad hanc Sacram Petri Sedem, divina favente clementia, meritis licet imparibus, evocati fuerimus, cognoscentes vos, tanquam veros Catholicos reges et principes, quales semper fuisse novimus, et a vobis preclare gesta toti pene jam orbi notissima demonstrant, nedum id exoptare, sed omni conatu, studio, et diligentia, nullis laboribus, nullis impensis, nullisque parcendo periculis, etiam proprium sanguinem effundendo, efficere, ac omnem animum vestrum omnesque conatus ad hoc jam dudum dedicasse--quenadmodum recuperatio regni Granate a tyrannide Sarrace norum hodiernis temporibus per vos, cum tanta Divini Nominis gloria facta, testatur--[2] digne ducimur non immerito, et debemus illa vobis etiam sponte et favorabiliter concedere, per que hujusmodi sanctum et laudabile ac im mortali Deo acceptum propositum in dies ferventiori animo ad ipsius Dei honorem et imperii Christiani propagationem prosequi valeatis. Sane ac cepimus quod vos, qui dudum animo proposueratis aliquas terras et insulas, remotas et incognitas ac per alios hactenus non repertas, querere et invenire, ut illarum incolas et habitatores ad colendum Redemptorem nostrum et fidem Catholicam profitendum reduceretis, hactenus in expugnatione et recuperatione ipsius regni Granate plurimum occupati, hujusmodi sanctum et laudabile propositum vestrum ad optatum finem perducere nequivistis; sed tandem, sicut Domino placuit, regno predicto recuperato, volentes de siderium vestrum adimplere, dilectum filium, Christoforum Colon, cum navigiis et hominibus ad similia instructis, non sine maximis laboribus et periculis ac expensis, destinastis, ut terras remotas et incognitas hujusmodi, per mare ubi hactenus navigatum non fuerat, diligenter inquirerent; qui tandem, divino auxilio, facta extrema diligentia, per partes occidentales, ut dicitur, versus Indos, in mari occeano navigantes, certas insulas remotissimas, et etiam terras firmas,[3] que per alios hactenus reperte non fuerant, invenerunt, in quibus quamplurime gentes, pacifice viventes, et, ut asseritur, nudi in cedentes, nec carnibus vescentes, inhabitant; et, ut prefati nuntii vestri
- ↑ The text is from the original manuscript of the bull, preserved in the Archives of the Indies at Seville. The pressmark is Patronato, 1-1-1; but the manuscript is not in this legajo, but framed and hanging on the wall. To facilitate comparison with the bull Inter caetera of May 4, words in this bull which are not in the latter are printed in italics. The variant readings in the Vatican text are few and insignificant.
- ↑ The conquest of the kingdom of Granada was completed by the capitulation of the city of Granada on Jan. 2, 1492.
- ↑ Columbus at first supposed Cuba to be part of the mainland, but he describes it as an island in the letter written on his homeward voyage, of which one copy was sent to Luis de Santangel, steward of King Ferdinand's household, and another to Gabriel Sanchez, treasurer of Aragon. Nearly all the data for the following description might have been taken from this letter, which was known in Rome before April 18. Harrisse, Diplomatic History, p. 160. A translation of the Santangel letter is given in J. E. Olson and E. G. Bourne, The Northmen, Columbus, and Cabot ( 1906), pp. 263-272, in J. F. Jameson's series of Original Narratives of Early American History.
