Alexandrine Bulls

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ALEXANDRINE BULLS

The name usually given to the papal bulls of Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503) that divided the Americas between the Spanish and Portuguese Crowns, on the condition that they assume the obligation of converting the indigenous people within their territories to Christianity. Portugal began exploring the west coast of Africa in 1418. Spain recognized Portuguese control of the Cape Verde Islands in the Treaty of Alcaçovas (1479), and Portugal acknowledged Spanish ownership of the Canaries. Pope Sixtus IV extended the blessings given Portugal in five earlier bulls and confirmed the treaty (1481). Forced into Lisbon by bad weather while returning from his first voyage, Columbus explained his discoveries to King John II (March 9, 1493). John asserted exclusive rights south of the Canaries and west of Africa in the Atlantic. Before Columbus reached the court at Barcelona, the Spanish sovereigns reported to the new pope, Alexander VI, and a bull of May 3, 1493 confirmed Spanish title to lands newly discovered or to be discovered, provided

they had never been in the possession of any Christian prince. Rights previously granted to Portugal were reserved, and the two governments were treated as equals.

But King Ferdinand V demanded more. A second bull, predated May 3, was more emphatic than the first. A third bull, predated May 4, contained the Line of Demarcation between the spheres of influence of Spain and Portugal. Columbus suggested a line 100 leagues west of the Azores, believing he found there "a great change in the sky, the stars, the air temperature, and in the ocean…" A fourth bull (Sept. 26, 1493) unfairly revoked earlier papal grants that seem to have given Portugal title to lands not in her possession on Christmas Day 1492. Serious diplomatic discussions opened (Aug. 18, 1493) after John began obvious preparations for war. Ferdinand and Isabella wrote to Columbus (Sept. 5) concerning modification of the Demarcation Line. Spain and Portugal agreed on a line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands, longitude 46° 30′ west, in the Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494).

Earlier bulls, as well as that of 1481, recognized Portugal's exploring efforts, gave papal blessings to the declared intention of Christianizing the indigenous people, and attempted to preserve peace by asking observance of Portugal's commercial laws. The first two bulls of Alexander VI followed these precedents. The idea of the Line of Demarcation was a logical definition of spheres of influence, and not an attempt to divide the world between two nations. The great colonial expansion of Portugal and Spain was carried on with remarkably little friction. It is clear, however, that Ferdinand of Aragon applied pressures to obtain the unreasonable fourth bull. He "used the pope" as other statesmen have done before and since.

At the time the Alexandrine Bulls were issued, it was thought that the islands discovered by Columbus were located along the eastern coast of Asia. Therefore, those documents must be regarded as "pseudo-Asiatic," more than American, and could not really have provided any basis for an exclusive right of sovereignty over the Western Hemisphere on the part of Spain and Portugal. The remote antecedent of the bulls is found in the Donation of Constantine, a famous eighth century forgery, in which that Roman emperor is said to have given the popes, among other privileges, dominion over "the various islands." On this basis, the papal chancery elaborated what is now called by medievalists an "omni-insular doctrine," applied for the first time in 1091 when Urban II gave the Archipelago of Lipari to a local abbot and the island of Corsica to the bishop of Pisa. Afterward, Adrian IV and other popes granted dominion over various islands in European seas to several princes, demanding in exchange the payment of feudal tribute. In some of the final stages of its evolution during the Middle Ages, the collection of Peter's pence was linked to papal sovereignty over islands. Among the areas feudatory to the Holy See were England, Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, Castelrosso, the archipelagos of the Tyrrhenian and North African seas, Scandinavia (considered an island by the imperfect geography of the time), and finally, in the fourteenth century, the Canary Islands. The "omni-insular doctrine" was still a part of the public law of Europe when America was discovered.

Bibliography: f. g. davenport, ed., European Treaties Bearing on the History of the U.S. and Its Dependencies, 4 v. (Washington 1917–37) 1:33–100, texts and Eng. trs. of the treaties and bulls. h. vander linden, "Alexander VI and the Demarcation of the Maritime and Colonial Domains of Spain and Portugal," American Historical Review (New York 1896–) 22 (1916–17) 1–20. d. j. hill, A History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe, 3 v. (New York 1905–14). g. zeller, Les Temps modernes, 2 v. (Paris 1953–55) v.1. l. weckmann, Las bulas alejandrinas de 1493 y la teoría política del Papado medieval (Mexico City 1949).