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''Inter caetera'' ("Among other ()") was a papal bull issued by Pope Alexander VI on , which granted to Spain (the Crowns of Castile and Aragon) 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.〔A single meridian is excluded because no lands can be ''south'' of it. Two partial meridians are possible, one extending north from a point west of the Azores and another extending south from a point south of the Cape Verde Islands, the two being connected by a north-northwest south-southeast line segment. Another possibility is a rhumb line west and south of the islands extending north-northwest and south-southeast. All rhumb lines reach both poles by spiraling into them.〕 It remains unclear to the present whether the pope was issuing a "donation" of sovereignty or a feudal infeodation or investiture. Differing interpretations have been argued since the bull was issued, with some arguing that it was only meant to transform the possession and occupation of land into lawful sovereignty. Others, including the Spanish crown and the conquistadors, interpreted it in the widest possible sense, deducing that it gave Spain full political sovereignty.〔. Online, (Google Books entry )〕 The ''Inter caetera'' bull and others similar to it, particularly ''Dudum siquidem'', made up the ''Bulls of Donation''.〔"The Möbius strip: a spatial history of colonial society in Guerrero, Mexico", Jonathan D. Amith, p. 80, Stanford University Press, 2005 ISBN 0-8047-4893-4〕 ==Background== Before receiving support for his voyage from Isabella and Ferdinand, Columbus had first approached King John II of Portugal. His scholars and navigators reviewed Columbus's documentation, determined that his calculations were faulty, and recommended against subsidizing the expedition. Upon Columbus's return, a first landing was made in the Portuguese Azores; a subsequent storm drove his ship to Lisbon on 4 March 1493. Hearing of Columbus's discoveries, the King informed him that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas. The treaty had been ratified with the 1481 papal bull ''Aeterni regis'', which confirmed previous bulls of 1452 (''Dum diversas''), 1455 (''Romanus Pontifex''), and 1456 (''Inter caetera''),〔 recognizing Portuguese territorial claims along the West African coast. It was the King's understanding that the terms of the treaty acknowledged Portuguese claims to all territory south of the Canaries (which had been ceded to Spain).〔(Diffie, Bailey Wallys. ''Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580'', p. 172, University of Minnesota Press, 1977, ISBN 9780816607822 )〕 Columbus's arrival in supposedly Asiatic lands in the western Atlantic Ocean in 1492 threatened the unstable relations between Portugal and Spain. With word that King John was preparing a fleet to sail to the west, the King and Queen of Spain initiated diplomatic discussions over the rights to possess and govern the newly found lands.〔Kirkpatrick Sale ''The Conquest of Paradise'', p. 123, ISBN 0333574796〕 Spanish and Portuguese delegates met and debated from April to November 1493, without reaching an agreement. Columbus was still in Lisbon when he sent a report of his success to the Spanish monarchs. On 11 April, the Spanish ambassador conveyed the news to Pope Alexander VI, a Spaniard native of Valencia, and urged him to issue a new bull favorable to Spain.〔A copy of Columbus's letter is known to have arrived in Rome by mid-April (it is mentioned in a Venetian chronicle dated 18 April), Kirkpatrick Sale, p. 124〕 At the time, Alexander, as ruler of the Papal States, was embroiled in a territorial dispute with Ferdinand's first cousin, Ferdinand I, King of Naples, hence he was amicable to any requests of Isabella and Ferdinand, to the extent that they could write to Columbus saying that if he thought it necessary one of the bulls would be modified. They were at Barcelona, in close touch with Rome. The camera apostolica became almost an extension of the Spanish Court, which secured a rapid succession of bulls virtually liquidating Portuguese claims.〔(Spate, Oskar H.K., "The Alexandrine Bulls and the Treaty of Tordesillas", Chap.2, ''The Spanish Lake'' )〕 The Pope issued edicts dated . The third superseded the first two. A final edict, ''Dudum siquidem'' of , supplemented the ''Inter caetera''.〔 * The first bull, ''Inter Caetera'', dated 3 May, recognized Spain's claim to any discovered lands not already held by a Christian prince, and protected Portugal's previous rights. Both parties found this too vague. * The second bull, ''Eximiae Devotionis'', also dated 3 May, granted to the kings of Castile and Leon and their successors the same privileges in the newly discovered land that had been granted to the kings of Portugal in the regions of Africa, and Guinea.〔(Pope Alexander VI, ''Eximiae Devotionis'', 1493 )〕 * The third bull, also entitled ''Inter Caetera'', dated 4 May, exhorts the Spanish monarchs to spread the faith west from a line drawn "... one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the islands commonly known as the Azores and Cape Verde". Diffie notes that it has been suggested that this change may have been prompted by the Portuguese ambassador.〔 The ''Inter caetera'' and the following Treaty of Tordesillas defined and delineated a zone of Spanish rights exclusive of Portugal. In relation to other states the agreement was legally ineffective (''res inter alios acta''). Spain's attempts to persuade other European powers on the legal validity of the ''Inter caetera'' were never successful.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Inter caetera」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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