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The papal bull ''Aeterni regis'' nglish: "Of the eternal king"was issued on 21 June 1481 by
Pope Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...
. It confirmed the substance of the
Treaty of Alcáçovas The Treaty of Alcáçovas (also known as Treaty or Peace of Alcáçovas-Toledo) was signed on 4 September 1479 between the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side and Afonso V and his son, Prince John of Portugal, on the other side ...
, reiterating that treaty's confirmation of Castile in its possession of the
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, :es:Canarias, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to ...
and its granting to
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
all further territorial acquisitions made by Christian powers in Africa and eastward to the Indies.


Background

The
War of the Castilian Succession The War of the Castilian Succession was the military conflict contested from 1475 to 1479 for the succession of the Crown of Castile fought between the supporters of Joanna 'la Beltraneja', reputed daughter of the late monarch Henry IV of Castile ...
was fought between Portugal and Castile from 1475 to 1479 over who should succeed
Henry IV of Castile Henry IV of Castile ( Castilian: ''Enrique IV''; 5 January 1425 – 11 December 1474), King of Castile and León, nicknamed the Impotent, was the last of the weak late-medieval kings of Castile and León. During Henry's reign, the nobles became ...
, his daughter,
Joanna Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from he, יוֹחָנָה, translit=Yôḥānāh, lit=God is gracious. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice ...
or his half-sister, Isabella. Joanna was married to
Afonso V of Portugal Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), known by the sobriquet the African (), was King of Portugal from 1438 until his death in 1481, with a brief interruption in 1477. His sobriquet refers to his military conquests in Northern Afri ...
and Isabella was wed to
Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia fro ...
. Underlying this were decades-long disagreements over hegemony of the Atlantic. Both kingdoms claimed territorial sovereignty over the Canary Islands and the West Coast of Africa. While Castile had some success in land battles, Portugal had the advantage at sea.


Treaty of Alcaçovas

Through the good offices of Beatrice, Duchess of Viseu, first cousin of Afonso V and aunt to Isabella of Castile, the parties negotiated a settlement. A treaty was entered into at Alcáçovas, in southern Portugal, (at the house of Dona Beatrice), on 4 September 1479. Each side agreed to relinquish any claims to the other's kingdom. The agreement incorporated terms of a 1431 agreement regarding restitution of places, release of prisoners, and demolition of fortresses. In addition Portugal ceded the Canaries to Castile, and Castile, in turn recognized Portugal's possession and rights of trade in the Azores, Madeira, the Cape Verde Islands, and the coast of Guinea. It was further stipulated that any violation of the terms would incur a fine of 300,000 gold "doblas". A collateral agreement, the "Tercerias de Moura" arranged the marriage of Afonso V's grandson Alfonso to Isabella of Castile's oldest daughter, also named Isabella. It provided that the children would live at Mouros, a town near the border between both kingdoms, under the supervision of Dona Beatrice, until they were old enough to wed. The treaty also states that the parties took a solemn oath to abide by its terms, and pledged not to subsequently seek or avail themselves of a dispensation from the oath from the Pope or his representative. On May 4, 1481, King Afonso V of Portugal granted his son, Infante Joao the trade and fisheries of Guinea, and prohibited anyone from going there without a license from the prince. By the end of August Prince John had succeeded his father as king. His main objective was to find a sea route to the East.


Papal endorsement

The bull confirmed the earlier bulls ''
Romanus Pontifex (from Latin: "The Roman Pontiff") are papal bulls issued in 1436 by Pope Eugenius IV and in 1455 by Pope Nicholas V praising catholic King Afonso V of Portugal for his battles against the Muslims, endorsing his military expeditions into Weste ...
'', issued by
Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V ( la, Nicholaus V; it, Niccolò V; 13 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene made ...
in 1455. It also incorporated the terms already agreed to by Portugal and Castile in the Treaty of Alcáçovas, lending moral authority to the parties' territorial division. According to Malyn Newitt in ''A History of Portuguese Overseas Expansion'', "Portuguese's ... empire was able to grow in a manner which would have been impossible if it had been challenged by a well-armed opponent." However, Isabella and Ferdinand were involved in the Granada War, England was embroiled in dynastic conflict, and
Louis XI of France Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...
was drawn to the affairs of Italy.


See also

* Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery * Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)


References


Sources

* * {{cite book, last=Davenport, first=Frances Gardiner, title=European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies, year=1917, publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington, isbn=978-0-598-21641-0 , url=https://archive.org/details/eurotreatiesus00daverich


External links


Latin text of ''Aeterni regis''
1481 works 1481 in Portugal 15th century in Castile 15th-century papal bulls Documents of Pope Sixtus IV