THE BULL OF POPE ALEXANDER VI. PARTITIONING AMERICA[1]

(1493)


The copy of the bull, or donation, by the authority whereof Pope
Alexander, the sixth of that name, gave and granted to the kings of
Castile and their successors the regions and lands found in the west
ocean sea by the navigations of the Spanish.

Alexander, bishop, the servant of the servants of God: To our most
dearly beloved son in Christ, King Ferdinand, and to our dearly
beloved daughter in Christ, Elizabeth, Queen of Castile, Leon, Aragon,
Sicily, and Granada, most noble princes, greeting and apostolic
benediction.

Among other works acceptable to the divine majesty and according to
our hearts' desire, this certainly is the chief, that the Catholic
faith and Christian religion, especially in this our time, may in all
places be exalted, amplified, and enlarged, whereby the health of
souls may be procured and the barbarous nations subdued and brought to
the faith. And therefore, whereas by the favor of God's clemency
(altho not without equal deserts), we are called to this holy seat of
Peter, and understanding you to be true Catholic Princes as we have
ever known you, and as your noble and worthy acts have declared in
manner to the whole world, in that, with all your study, diligence,
and industry, you have spared no travels, charges or perils,
adventuring even the shedding of your own blood, with applying your
whole minds and endeavors hereunto, as your noble expeditions achieved