Romanus Pontifex
Encyclopedia
Romanus Pontifex is a papal bull
written January 8, 1455 by Pope Nicholas V
to King Afonso V
of Portugal
. As a follow-up to the Dum Diversas
, it confirmed to the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands discovered or conquered during the Age of Discovery
. Along with encouraging the seizure of the lands of "Saracens, pagans ... and other enemies of Christ", it repeated the earlier bull's permission for the enslavement of such peoples. The bull's primary purpose was to forbid other Christian nations from infringing the King of Portugal's rights of trade and colonisation in these regions.
and to Africa
south of Cape Bojador
. It also repeats earlier injunctions not to supply items useful in war such as weaponry, iron or timber to either Muslims or pagans. The weight of the Bull's precedents exist in the passages:
. As a first step Prince Henry the Navigator launched expeditions to explore
the West Coast of Africa
.
The expeditions need long years and were expensive. The Portuguese expected, that a later profit need to be shared, because other European countries could use the new sea route, too.
Henry the Navigator, who was the governor of the Order of Christ
, negotiated with the Pope and offered him to propagate the Christian faith in the new countries. So the bull was enacted, which politically protected the rights of the Portuguese.
issued Inter caetera
stating one Christian nation did not have the right to establish dominion over lands previously dominated by another Christian nation, thus establishing the Law of Nations. Together, the Dum Diversas, the Romanus Pontifex and the Inter Caetera came to serve as a justification for the Discovery Doctrine
and the Age of Imperialism. They were also early influences on the development of the slave trade of the 15th and 16th centuries, even though the papal bull Sublimus Dei
of 1537 forbade the enslavement of non-Christians. Scholars note that the executive brief for Sublimus Dei was withdrawn by the Pope after protests by the Spanish monarchy. Paul III publicly sanctioned slavery in Rome in 1545, the enslavement of Henry VIII in 1547 and the purchase of Muslim slaves in 1548.
on October 5, 1455 to inform the foreign representatives of commerce.
With the bull the Portuguese had a monopoly for trade in the new areas in Africa and Asia. It also served as the legal basis for boarding
foreign ships in that area. From the Portuguese point of view, it was even legal to board ships from Asian countries. The sea trade with Asia, despite the great distance involved, proved highly profitable for Portugal.
About 1600, the Dutch
boarded a Portuguese carrack
in the Strait of Malacca
, which was transferred to Amsterdam
for a public sale. The auction proceeds were 13 tonnes of gold, and this helped to convince the Dutch government to engage in the Asian trade.
The Dutch East India Company
, which was founded in 1602, called the jurist
Hugo Grotius
to defend the seizure. The result of Grotius's efforts in 1604-1605 was a treatise that he provisionally entitled De Indis (On the Indies) and was long years later published under the title De Jure Praedae (On the Right of Capture). In 1609 a chapter of the treatise was published under the title Mare Liberum (The free Seas), in which he formulated the new principle, that all nations were free to use the sea for seafaring trade.
With that moral ground, the Calvinist
Dutch began to fight for the right of seafaring trade in Asia with military forces.
ruled in the 1823 case Johnson v. M'Intosh
that as a result of European discovery of lands not owned by Christians, the ownership and rights to the lands went from the original European conquerors to the Americans by treaties made with the European conquerors; the Native Americans
had no say in these discoveries or treaties, nor any rights as non-Christians to the right of title to the land. They only had the right to occupancy in their native lands, as long as permitted by Europeans and their successors to remain there. Since "discovery gave an exclusive right to extinguish the Indian title of occupancy either by purchase or by conquest", they could and would be kicked off the land at any time the Americans felt the need to do so. This is and has served as the basis for federal Indian law since 1823
This decision was upheld in the 1831 case Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
, giving Georgia authority to extend state laws over Cherokee
s within the state, and famously describing Native American tribes as "domestic dependent nations." This decision was modified in Worcester v. Georgia
, which stated that the U.S. federal government
, and not individual states
, had authority in Indian affairs, but it maintained the loss of right to title upon discovery by Europeans.
In recent years, Native American groups including the Taíno
and Onondaga
have called on the Vatican
to revoke the bulls of 1452, 1455, and 1493.
found the sea route to India in 1498, the Portuguese practiced just trading for four centuries. Portuguese clerics were only responsible for the needs of the Portuguese, and clerics of other nations were not allowed to operate in Portuguese India
.
In Goa
envoys of the Pope were arrested and sent back. So the Catholic Church threatened, to open the East for all European Catholics. Around 1540 King John III
started the Christian mission
by sending the Society of Jesus
to Goa. The missionaries were supported by the colonial administration, who offered incentives for baptized Christians (rice for the poor, good jobs for the middle class and military support for the local rulers). The missionaries were successful and spread in Asia.
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
written January 8, 1455 by Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...
to King Afonso V
Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V KG , called the African , was the twelfth King of Portugal and the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.-Early life:...
of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. As a follow-up to the Dum Diversas
Dum Diversas
Dum Diversas is a papal bull issued on June 18, 1452 by Pope Nicholas V, that is credited by some with "ushering in the West African slave trade." It authorized Afonso V of Portugal to conquer Saracens and pagans and consign them to indefinite slavery...
, it confirmed to the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands discovered or conquered during the Age of Discovery
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Great Navigations , was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with...
. Along with encouraging the seizure of the lands of "Saracens, pagans ... and other enemies of Christ", it repeated the earlier bull's permission for the enslavement of such peoples. The bull's primary purpose was to forbid other Christian nations from infringing the King of Portugal's rights of trade and colonisation in these regions.
Content
The bull praises earlier Portuguese victories against the Muslims of North Africa and the success of expeditions of discovery and conquest to the AzoresAzores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
and to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
south of Cape Bojador
Cape Bojador
Cape Bojador or Cape Boujdour is a headland on the northern coast of Western Sahara, at 26° 07' 37"N, 14° 29' 57"W. , as well as the name of a nearby town with a population of 41,178.It is shown on nautical charts with the original Portuguese name "Cabo Bojador", but is sometimes...
. It also repeats earlier injunctions not to supply items useful in war such as weaponry, iron or timber to either Muslims or pagans. The weight of the Bull's precedents exist in the passages:
History
In the early 15th century the Portuguese quest for a sea route to India to participate in the spice tradeSpice trade
Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...
. As a first step Prince Henry the Navigator launched expeditions to explore
Exploration
Exploration is the act of searching or traveling around a terrain for the purpose of discovery of resources or information. Exploration occurs in all non-sessile animal species, including humans...
the West Coast of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
The expeditions need long years and were expensive. The Portuguese expected, that a later profit need to be shared, because other European countries could use the new sea route, too.
Henry the Navigator, who was the governor of the Order of Christ
Order of Christ (Portugal)
The Military Order of Christ previously the Royal Order of the Knights of Our Lord Jesus Christ was the heritage of the Knights Templar in Portugal, after the suppression of the Templars in 1312...
, negotiated with the Pope and offered him to propagate the Christian faith in the new countries. So the bull was enacted, which politically protected the rights of the Portuguese.
Colonialism
These passages specifically granted to nations and explorers cause to seek out lands unknown to Christians. In 1493 Pope Alexander VIPope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
issued Inter caetera
Inter caetera
Inter caetera was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on , which granted to Spain all lands to the "west and south" of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands.It remains unclear to the present whether the pope was issuing a...
stating one Christian nation did not have the right to establish dominion over lands previously dominated by another Christian nation, thus establishing the Law of Nations. Together, the Dum Diversas, the Romanus Pontifex and the Inter Caetera came to serve as a justification for the Discovery Doctrine
Discovery Doctrine
The Discovery doctrine is a concept of public international law expounded by the United States Supreme Court in a series of decisions, most notably Johnson v. M'Intosh in 1823. Chief Justice John Marshall justified the way in which colonial powers laid claim to lands belonging to sovereign...
and the Age of Imperialism. They were also early influences on the development of the slave trade of the 15th and 16th centuries, even though the papal bull Sublimus Dei
Sublimus Dei
Sublimus Dei is a papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on June 2, 1537, which forbids the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and all other people...
of 1537 forbade the enslavement of non-Christians. Scholars note that the executive brief for Sublimus Dei was withdrawn by the Pope after protests by the Spanish monarchy. Paul III publicly sanctioned slavery in Rome in 1545, the enslavement of Henry VIII in 1547 and the purchase of Muslim slaves in 1548.
Portuguese colonial realm
King Afonso V gave a ceremonial lecture on the bull in Lisbon CathedralLisbon Cathedral
The Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Mary Major is a Roman Catholic parish church located in Lisbon, Portugal. The oldest church in the city is the see of the Archdiocese of Lisbon. Since the beginning of the construction of the cathedral, in the year 1147, the building has been modified several...
on October 5, 1455 to inform the foreign representatives of commerce.
With the bull the Portuguese had a monopoly for trade in the new areas in Africa and Asia. It also served as the legal basis for boarding
Boarding (attack)
Boarding, in its simplest sense, refers to the insertion on to a ship's deck of individuals. However, when it is classified as an attack, in most contexts, it refers to the forcible insertion of personnel that are not members of the crew by another party without the consent of the captain or crew...
foreign ships in that area. From the Portuguese point of view, it was even legal to board ships from Asian countries. The sea trade with Asia, despite the great distance involved, proved highly profitable for Portugal.
About 1600, the Dutch
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
boarded a Portuguese carrack
Santa Catarina (ship)
Santa Catharina was a Portuguese merchant ship, a 150 ton carrack, that was seized by the Dutch East India Company during February, 1603 off Singapore...
in the Strait of Malacca
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow, stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511.-Extent:...
, which was transferred to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
for a public sale. The auction proceeds were 13 tonnes of gold, and this helped to convince the Dutch government to engage in the Asian trade.
The Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
, which was founded in 1602, called the jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius
Hugo Grotius , also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law...
to defend the seizure. The result of Grotius's efforts in 1604-1605 was a treatise that he provisionally entitled De Indis (On the Indies) and was long years later published under the title De Jure Praedae (On the Right of Capture). In 1609 a chapter of the treatise was published under the title Mare Liberum (The free Seas), in which he formulated the new principle, that all nations were free to use the sea for seafaring trade.
With that moral ground, the Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Dutch began to fight for the right of seafaring trade in Asia with military forces.
America
The Papal bull Romanus Pontifex of 1455 has served as the basis of legal arguments for taking Native American lands by "discovery", and continues to do so today. The logic of the rights of conquest and discovery were followed in all western nations including those that never recognised papal authority. This continued under the Americans after they established the United States. The U.S. Supreme CourtSupreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
ruled in the 1823 case Johnson v. M'Intosh
Johnson v. M'Intosh
Johnson v. M'Intosh, 21 U.S. 543 , is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that held that private citizens could not purchase lands from Native Americans...
that as a result of European discovery of lands not owned by Christians, the ownership and rights to the lands went from the original European conquerors to the Americans by treaties made with the European conquerors; the Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
had no say in these discoveries or treaties, nor any rights as non-Christians to the right of title to the land. They only had the right to occupancy in their native lands, as long as permitted by Europeans and their successors to remain there. Since "discovery gave an exclusive right to extinguish the Indian title of occupancy either by purchase or by conquest", they could and would be kicked off the land at any time the Americans felt the need to do so. This is and has served as the basis for federal Indian law since 1823
This decision was upheld in the 1831 case Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, , was a United States Supreme Court case. The Cherokee Nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the state of Georgia depriving them of rights within its boundaries, but the Supreme Court did not hear the case on its merits...
, giving Georgia authority to extend state laws over Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
s within the state, and famously describing Native American tribes as "domestic dependent nations." This decision was modified in Worcester v. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515 , was a case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Indians from being present on Indian lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional.The...
, which stated that the U.S. federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
, and not individual states
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
, had authority in Indian affairs, but it maintained the loss of right to title upon discovery by Europeans.
In recent years, Native American groups including the Taíno
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
and Onondaga
Onondaga (tribe)
The Onondaga are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Their traditional homeland is in and around Onondaga County, New York...
have called on the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
to revoke the bulls of 1452, 1455, and 1493.
Mission
After Vasco da GamaVasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
found the sea route to India in 1498, the Portuguese practiced just trading for four centuries. Portuguese clerics were only responsible for the needs of the Portuguese, and clerics of other nations were not allowed to operate in Portuguese India
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
.
In Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
envoys of the Pope were arrested and sent back. So the Catholic Church threatened, to open the East for all European Catholics. Around 1540 King John III
John III of Portugal
John III , nicknamed o Piedoso , was the fifteenth King of Portugal and the Algarves. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the third daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile...
started the Christian mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
by sending the Society of Jesus
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
to Goa. The missionaries were supported by the colonial administration, who offered incentives for baptized Christians (rice for the poor, good jobs for the middle class and military support for the local rulers). The missionaries were successful and spread in Asia.
External links
- Romanus Pontifex Encyclical of Pope Nicholas VPope Nicholas VPope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...
, January 8, 1455 - Sublimus Dei Encyclical of Pope Paul IIIPope Paul IIIPope Paul III , born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to his death in 1549. He came to the papal throne in an era following the sack of Rome in 1527 and rife with uncertainties in the Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation...
: On the enslavement and evangelization of Indians, May 29, 1537 - The Popes and Slavery: Setting the Record Straight by Fr. Joel S. Panzer
- Sicut Dudum Encyclical letter of Pope Eugene IVPope Eugene IVPope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...
: Against the Enslaving of Black Natives from the Canary Islands, January 13, 1435. Sicut Dudum is one of two bulls issued by Pope Eugene (Eugenius) regarding slaves in the Canary Islands. Both are printed in appendix II, pp. 207–209 of Carácter de la Conquista y Colonizácion de las Islas Canarias: Discursos leidos ante la Real Academia de la Historia, (1901) by Don Rafael Torres Campos. See notes, p. 17 in Davenport's European Treaties... above. - U.S. Supreme Court Johnson & Graham's Lessee v. McIntosh, 21 U.S. 8 Wheat. 543 543 (1823)
- European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies Edited by Frances Gardiner Davenport, Washington, D. C., The Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1917