Stephen R. Bown - 1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half

1494

STEPHEN R. BOWN

1494

How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain
Divided the World in Half

DOUGLAS & MCINTYRE
D&M PUBLISHERS INC.
Vancouver/Toronto

Copyright 2011 by Stephen R. Bown

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Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
ISBN 978-1-55365-556-5 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-55365-909-9 (ebook)

Editing by John Eerkes-Medrano
Copy editing by Peter Norman
Jacket design by Naomi MacDougall
Jacket illustration Alonso Sanchez Coello/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images
Interior images in the public domain, courtesy of the author
Map by Eric Leinberger

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia through the Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

Contents

The LINES of DEMARCATION
BETWEEN PORTUGAL and
SPAIN in the FIFTEENTH and
SIXTEENTH CENTURIES

{prologue }
INTERESTING TIMES

Among other works well pleasing to the Divine Majesty and cherished of our heart, this assuredly ranks highest, that in our times especially the Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and that barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith...

Christopher Columbus... with divine aid and with the utmost diligence sailing in the ocean sea, discovered certain very remote islands and even mainlands that hitherto had not been discovered by others; wherein dwell very many peoples living in peace, and, as reported, going unclothed, and not eating flesh...

We... give, grant and assign to you and your heirs and successors, kings of Castile and Leon, forever... all islands and mainlands found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered towards the west and south, by drawing and establishing a line from the Arctic pole, namely the north, to the Antarctic pole, namely the south... And we make, appoint, and depute you and your said heirs and successors lords of them with full and free power, authority, and jurisdiction of every kind.

POPE ALEXANDER VI, Inter Caetera, May 4, 1493

T HIS PAPAL Bull has been, and continues to be, devastating to our religions, our cultures, and the survival of our populations, claimed the Council for a Parliament of the Worlds Religions, an international organization intended to cultivate harmony among the worlds religious and spiritual communities. It issued the claim in 1994 in support of the U.S.-based Indigenous Law Institutes campaign to have the Vatican formally revoke the bull Inter Caetera. The institutes on-line petition, signed by about nine hundred people, is equally strong in its language and passionate in its convictions. The preamble states, We recognize that this initiative would be a spiritually significant step towards creating a new way of life, and a step away from the greed and subjugation in a history that has oppressed, exploited and destroyed countless numbers of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world. The Vatican responded to some of these requests and assertions in 2010, during the ninth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, but its response was evasive and indefinite.

What explains this interest in a five-century-old document issued by the head of one of the worlds major religions? Who has even heard of Inter Caetera, and why does it have any relevance today?

A papal bull is a form of decree or command or proclamation issued by the pope. It is named after the special leaden seal (the bulla) that was used to establish its authenticity. Originally a bull was used for any type of public announcement, but by the fifteenth century it was reserved for more formal or solemn communications, such as excommunications, dispensations and canonizations. Examples of historic papal bulls include Ad Exstirpanda in 1252, allowing for the torture of heretics by the medieval inquisition; Decet RomanumPontificem in 1521, excommunicating Martin Luther; and InterGravissimas in 1582, recognizing and sanctioning badly needed calendar reform.

The bull Inter Caetera and several other bulls from the same era form the basis of the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal. The treaty was, among other things, a catalyst in the development of the modern concept of the freedom of the seasthe unhindered use of the worlds waterways for trade and travel. Other legal concepts that inform the modern international law of the sea also stem indirectly from the Treaty of Tordesillas: the right of innocent passage, the definitions of territorial waters, internal waters, a nations exclusive economic zone and the definition of the continental shelf. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which came into force as a binding international convention on November 16, 1994, owes its origin to the conflict and debates in the centuries following the Treaty of Tordesillas. Although not every signatory country has ratified the convention, only twenty of the worlds countries have refused to recognize or sign it, and it is the closest the international community will likely ever come to consensus on governing an enormous part of the natural world that is common to nearly all. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is the culmination of a legal and philosophical process that began in the late fifteenth century, when Portuguese mariners discovered a sea route to India and the Spice Islands by sailing around Africa, and Columbus first crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

When Columbus returned to Spain in 1493 after a seven-month voyage, Spanish society was transfixed by his tales of primitive peoples inhabiting islands far to the west. Spaniards were particularly interested in the golden ornaments and jewellery worn by the kidnapped Indians of Cuba and Hispaniola. Gold meant wealth and power. There was, however, a complication. Columbuss successful return infuriated King Joo II of Portugal, who claimed that a series of papal decrees clearly intended that any new trade routes to heathen lands belonged to him alone. The king soon began outfitting a fleet to cross the ocean and claim the Indies for Portugal. With war imminent, the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella sent an official envoy to the papal court in Rome to argue their case.