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PRIVILEGES AND PREROGATIVES GRANTED BY THEIR

CATHOLIC MAJESTIES TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS1492*

FERDINAND and ELIZABETH, by the Grace of God, King and Queen of Castile, of Leon, of Arragon, of Sicily, of Granada, of Toledo, of Valencia, of Galicia, of Majorca, of Minorca, of Sevil, of Sardinia, of Jaen, of Algarve, of Algezira, of Gibraltar, of the Canary Islands, Count and Countess of Barcelona, Lord and Lady of Biscay and Molina, Duke and Duchess of Athens and Neopatria, Count and Countess of Rousillion and Cerdaigne, Marquess and Marchioness of Oristan and Gociano, &c.

For as much of you, Christopher Columbus, are going by our command, with some of our vessels and men, to discover and subdue some Islands and Continent in the ocean, and it is hoped that by God's assistance, some of the said Islands and Continent in the ocean will be discovered and conquered by your means and conduct, therefore it is but just and reasonable, that since you expose yourself to such danger to serve us, you should be rewarded for it. And we being willing to honour and favour you for the reasons aforesaid: Our will is, That you, Christopher Columbus, after discovering and conquering the said Islands and Continent in the said ocean, or any of them, shall be our Admiral of the said Islands and Continent you shall so discover and conquer; and that you be our Admiral, ViceRoy, and Governour in them, and that for the future, you may call and stile yourself, D. Christopher Columbus, and that your sons and successors in the said employment, may call themselves Dons, Admirals, Vice-Roys, and Governours of them; and that you may exercise the office of Admiral, with the charge of Vice-Roy and Governour of the said Islands and Continent, which you and your Lieutenants shall conquer, and freely decide all causes, civil and criminal, appertaining to the said employment of Admiral, ViceRoy, and Governour, as you shall think fit in justice, and as the Admirals of our kingdoms use to do; and that you have power to punish offenders; and you and your Lieutenants exercise the employments of Admiral, Vice-Roy, and Governour, in all things belonging to the said offices, or any of them; and that you enjoy the perquisites and salaries belonging to the said employments, and to each of them, in the same manner as the High Admiral of our kingdoms does. And by this our letter, or a copy of it signed by a Public Notary: We command Prince John, our most dearly beloved Son, the Infants, Dukes, Prelates, Marquesses, Great Masters and Military Orders, Priors, Commendaries, our Counsellors, Judges, and other Officers of

*Hazard's Historical Collections of State Papers, I. 1-6.

Justice whatsoever, belonging to our Household, Courts, and Chancery, and Constables of Castles, Strong Houses, and others; and all Corporations, Bayliffs, Governours, Judges, Commanders, Sea Officers; and the Aldermen, Common Council, Officers, and Good People of all Cities, Lands, and Places in our Kingdoms and Dominions, and in those you shall conquer and subdue, and the captains, masters, mates, and other officers and sailors, our natural subjects now being, or that shall be for the time to come, and any of them, that when you shall have discovered the said Islands and Continent in the ocean; and you, or any that shall have your commission, shall have taken the usual oath in such cases, that they for the future, look upon you as long as you live, and after you, your son and heir, and so from one heir to another forever, as our Admiral on our said Ocean, and as Vice-Roy and Governour of the said Islands and Continent, by you, Christopher Columbus, discovered and conquered; and that they treat you and your Lieutenants, by you appointed, for executing the employments of Admiral, Vice-Roy, and Governour, as such in all respects, and give you all the perquisites and other things belonging and appertaining to the said offices; and allow, and cause to be allowed you, all the honours, graces, concessions, prehaminences, prerogatives, immunities, and other things, or any of them which are due to you, by virtue of your commands of Admiral, Vice-roy, and Governour, and to be observed completely, so that nothing be diminished; and that they make no objection to this, or any part of it, nor suffer it to be made; forasmuch as we from this time forward, by this our letter, bestow on you the employments of Admiral, ViceRoy, and perpetual Governour forever; and we put you into possession of the said offices, and of every of them, and full power to use and exercise them, and to receive the perquisites and salaries belonging to them, or any of them, as was said above. Concerning all which things, if it be requisite, and you shall desire it, We command our Chancellour, Notaries, and other Officers, to pass, seal, and deliver to you, our Letter of Privilege, in such form and legal manner, as you shall require or stand in need of. And that none of them presume to do any thing to the contrary, upon pain of our displeasure, and forfeiture of 30 ducats for each offence. And we command him, who shall show them this our Letter, that he summon them to appear before us at our Court, where we shall then be, within fifteen days after such summons, under the said penalty. Under which same, we also command any Public Notary whatsoever, that he give to him that shows it him, a certificate under his seal, that we may know how our command is obeyed.

GIVEN at Granada, on the 30th of April, in the year of our Lord, 1492.I, THE KING, I, THE QUEEN.

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BULL OF POPE ALEXANDER CONCEDING AMERICA TO

SPAIN-1493*

EXEMPLAR BULLE seu Donationis Authoritate cujus, Epsicopus Romanus ALEXANDER, ejus nominis Sextus, concessit et donavit CASTELLE Regibus et suis successoribus, Regiones et Insulas Novi Orbis in Oceano occidentali Hispanorum navigationibus repertas. ALEXANDER Episcopus, Servus Servorum Dei, Charissimo in Christo Filio, Ferdinando Regi, et Charissimæ in Christo Filia Elizabeth Regina Castella, Legionis, Arragonum, Siciliæ, et Granatæ, Illustribus, Salutem et Apostolicam Benedictionem.

INTER cætera Divinæ Majestati bene placita opera et cordis nostri desiderabilia, illud profecto potissimum existit, ut Fides Catholica et Christiana Religio nostris præsertim temporibus exaltetur, ac ubilibet amplietur ac dilatetur, animarumque salus procuretur, ac barbaræ nationes deprimantur et ad Fidem ipsam reducantur. Unde cum ad hanc Sacram Petri Sedem Divina favente clementia (meritis licet imparibus) evocati fuerimus, cognoscentes vos tanquam vere Catholicos Reges et Principes: Quales semper fuisse novimus, et a vobis præclare gesta, toti pæne orbi notissima demonstrant, nedum id exoptare, sed omni conatu, studio, & diligentia, nullis laboribus, nullis impensis, nullisque parcendo periculis, etiam proprium sanguinem effundendo efficere, ac omnem animum vestrum, omnesque conatus ad hoc jamdudum dedicasse, quem admodum recuperatio Regni Granatæ a Tyrannide Saracenorum hodiernis temporibus per vos, cum tanta Divini nominis gloria facta, testatur. Digne ducimur non immerito, et debemus illa vobis etiam sponte, ac favorabiliter concedere, per quæ hujusmodi sanctum ac laudabile ab immortali Deo acceptum propositum, indies ferventiori animo ad ipsus Dei honorem et Imperii Christiani propagationem, prosequi valeatis. Sane accepimus quod vos qui dudum animum proposueratis aliquas Insulas et Terras firmas remotas et incognitas, ac per alios hactenus non repertas, quærere et invenire, ut illarum incolas et habitatores ad colendum redemptorem nostrum et fidem Catholicam profitendum reduceritis, hactenus in expugnatione et recuperatione ipsius, Regni Granatæ plurimum occupati, hujusmodi sanctum et laudabile propositum vestrum ad optatum finem perducere nequivistis. Sed tandem sicut Domino placuit, Regno prædicto recuperato, volentes desiderium vestrum adimplere, dilectum filium Christophorum Colonum, virum utique dignum, et plurimum commendatum, ac tanto negotio aptum, cum navigiis et hominibus ad similia instructis, non sine maximis laboribus, ac periculis, et expensis destinastis ut Terras

167.

Hazard's State Papers, I. 3-6. Peter Martyr's Decades (Edition 1555),

firmas et Insulas remotas et incognitas, hujusmodi per mare ubi hactenus navigatum non fuerat, diligenter inquireret. Qui tandem (Divino auxilio facta extrema diligentia in mari oceano navigantes) certas Insulas remotissimas, et etiam Terras firmas, quæ per alios hactenus repertæ non fuerant, invenerunt. In quibus plurimæ gentes pacifice viventes, et (ut asseritur) nudi incedentes, nec carnibus vescentes, inhabitant. Et ut præfati nuntii vestri possunt opinari, gentes ipsæ in insulis, et terris prædictis habitantes, credunt unum Deum Creatorem in Colis esse, ac ad fidem Catholicam amplexandum et bonis moribus imbuendum, satis apti videntur: Spesque habetur, quod si erudirentur, nomen salvatoris Domini nostri Jesu Christi in terris et insulis prædictis facile induceretur. Ac præfatus Christophorus in una ex principalibus insulis prædictis, jam unam turrim satis munitam, in qua certos Christianos qui secum iverant, in custodiam, et ut alias insulas ac terras firmas remotas et incognitas inquirerent, posuit, construi et ædificari fecit. In quibus quidem insulis, et terris jam repertis, aurum, aromata, et aliæ quamplurimæ res prætiosæ diversi generis et diversæ qualitatis reperiuntur. Unde omnibus diligenter, et præsertim fidei Catholicæ exaltatione et dilatatione (prout decet Catholicos Reges et Principes) consideratis, more progenitorum vestrorum claræ memoriæ Regum, terras firmas et insulas prædictas, illarumque incolas et habitatores, vobis Divina favente clementia subjicere, et ad fidem Catholicam reducere proposuistis. Nos itaque hujusmodi vestrum sanctum et laudabile propositum plurimum in Domino commendantes, ac cupientes ut illud ad debitum finem perducatur, et ipsum nomen salvatoris nostri in partibus illis inducatur, hortamur vos quamplurimum in Domino, et per sacri lavacri susceptionem, qua mandatis apostolicis obligati estis, et per viscera misericordiæ Domini nostri Jesu Christi attente requirimus, ut cum expeditionem hujusmodi omino prosequi et assumere prona mente orthodoxæ fidei zelo intendatis, populos in hujusmodi insulis et terris degentes, ad Christianam religionem suscipiendum inducere velitis et debeatis, nec pericula nec labores ullo unquam tempore vos deterreant, firma spe fiduciaque conceptis, quod Deus omnipotens conatus vestros fœliciter prosequetur. Et ut tanti negotii provinciam apostolicæ gratiæ largitate donati, liberius et audacius assumatis, motu proprio non ad vestram vel alterius pro vobis super hoc nobis oblatæ petitionis instantiam sed de nostra mera liberalitate, et ex certa scientia, ac de apostolicæ potestatis plenitudine, omnes insulas et terras firmas inventas et inveniendas, detectas et detegendas versus occidentem et meridiem, fabricando et construendo unam lineam a polo arctico, scilicet septentrione, ed polum antarcticum, scilicet meridiem, sive terræ firmæ et insulæ inventæ, et inveniendæ, sint versus Indiam, aut versus aliam quamcunque partem, quæ linea distet a qualibet insularum, quæ vulgariter nuncupantur de los Azores, et Cabo Verde, centum leucis versus occidentem et meridiem. Itaque omnes insulæ et terræ firmæ repertæ et reperiendæ, detectæ et detegendæ, a præfata linea versus occidentem et meridiem, quæ per alium Regem aut Principem Christianum non fuerint actualiter possessæ usque ad diem nativitatis Domini nostri Jesu Christi proxime præteritum, a quo incipit annus præsens millesimus quadringentesimus nonagesimus tertius, quando fuerunt per nuncios et capitaneos vestros inventæ aliquæ prædictarum insularum autoritate omnipotentis Dei

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