''Eximiae devotionis'' declared on 3 May 1493 is one of three

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

s of

Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into t ...

delivered purporting to grant any and all overseas territories in the west and ocean to kings of

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

that were found by the kings of Castile and León provided those territories were not already in the possession of another Christian lord. The document in addition to ''

Inter caetera ''Inter caetera'' ('Among other

orks Ork or ORK may refer to: * Ork (folklore), a mountain demon of Tyrol folklore * ''Ork'' (video game), a 1991 game for the Amiga and Atari ST systems * Ork (''Warhammer 40,000''), a fictional species in the ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe * '' Ork!' ...

) was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on the 4 May 1493, which granted to the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of ...

'' delivered on 4 May 1493 and ''

Dudum siquidem ''Dudum siquidem'' (Latin for "A short while ago") was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on , one of the Bulls of Donation addressed to the Catholic Monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon which supplemented the bu ...

'' delivered on 26 September 1493 make up what is known as the ''

Bulls of Donation The Bulls of Donation, also called the Alexandrine Bulls, and the Papal donations of 1493, are three papal bulls of Pope Alexander VI delivered in 1493 which granted overseas territories to Portugal and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. A fourth ...

''. ''Eximiae devotionis'' recognized the claims of the kings of Castile and León and their successors to any discovered lands not already held by a Christian prince, similar to previous recognition granted to the

Kings of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Thro ...

regarding trading rights in the regions of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

.Pope Alexander VI, ''Eximiae Devotionis'', 1493

References

15th century in Africa 1493 documents 15th-century papal bulls Documents of Pope Alexander VI {{RC-document-stub