484 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



canonisU that a Bull was siilliciently promiilgattKl by being affixed to 

 Ihe gates of the \'alicaii and proclaimed in the j)iazza of the'* Cani]io di 

 I'iori :iit Honu'. Tills \v;is said to he |iul»lica,ti(in in nrhe el orhi. Tliat 

 was disputefl hv ntlicrs ; Imt, without waiKh'riiig into a disputed ques- 

 tion, it may conlidently he alUnned that a Hull unpul)lis]ied and un- 

 known to the persons whom it was inten(le<l to hind wanliMl that essen- 

 tial (jiiality whicli lirought it inti) life and force. 



Mow, while a Bull was in this inchoate stale, it might he entered 

 on the secret register of the Vatican and might he comj)lete in form ; 

 hut, l)efore |)romulgation, it was still open to modilication. It might 

 bo found on final examination that the instrument was not drawn in 

 precise accordance with the will or instructions of the Pope ; or some 

 omission or ei'ror might he pointed out by the person who had petitioned 

 for it. Tn such a c:ise (and it is not at all an uncommon one) a new 

 Bull would be drafted and it also would be entered at its proper date 

 ni)on the register, while the first would never appear. This, as will l)e 

 shown, was what occurre<l "in 1493, and recent researches having, after 

 three hundred and fifty years, unearthed the first draft, a controversy 

 has arisen most perplexing to students. 



These documents, BuMs or Briefs, are known, and always cited by 

 the first words after the salutation. The present paper is chiefly con- 

 cerned with two — the Eximiae devotionis, dated May 3, and the Inter 

 cetera dated ^lay 4 — ^l)oth of 1493. It will at once be seen therefore 

 that it is paradoxical to write of two Bulls Inter cetera as issned on two 

 successive days of the same year covering the same subject matter. It 

 is like quoting two statutes on the same subject, of the same chapter, 

 of the same rey;iud year, identical in their wording, save in two or three 

 s-ji'tences. One of the chief objects of this paper is to clear up this 

 apparent difficulty. It has been brought forward very prominently of 

 late and magnified rather than explained. 



l\^. — The Demarcation of 1493. 



On May I, I 193, l'ope Alexander VI. promulgated the Bull, 

 known from its first vvord.s as Inter cetera, in which he delimited, by a 

 line drawn from pole to pole, what Would now be called the "'spheres 

 "of influence" of Spain and Portugal. The Bull wa,s sent to Spain by a 

 special messenger. It was received by the Catholic sovereigns and acted 

 upon. A copy was desi)atched to Columbus, then preparing for his 

 second voyage, and another to h'ray Bull, who was going with him to 

 superintend the missions. It became the subject of innumerable dis- 

 cussions. Copies were made at the time and authenticated by ecclcsi- 



