Page:European treaties bearing on the history of the United States and its dependencies.djvu/44

 n whom she had great confidence, as ambassador to Portugal with full powers to treat. On the side of Portugal, D. João da Silveira, baron d'Alvito, was appointed plenipotentiary, but negotiations were principally directed by Prince John.

On September 4 the plenipotentiaries concluded two treaties at Alcaçovas. One, called the Tercerias, dealt mostly with dynastic matters; the second, a treaty of perpetual peace, incorporated and ratified the treaty of peace con­ cluded on October 30, 1431, between John I. of Portugal and John II. of Castile, and also included a number of additional articles. These related mostly to such matters as the restitution of places, release of prisoners, pardoning of offenders, demolition of fortresses, and suppression of rob­ beries committed on land or sea by the subjects of one crown against those of the other. But by the eighth of these additional articles, Ferdinand and Isa­ bella bound themselves not to disturb Portugal in her possession of the trade and lands of Guinea, or of the Azores, Madeira, or Cape Verde Islands, or of any other islands in the region from the Canaries towards Guinea, and not to interfere in the conquest of Morocco. On the other hand, by the ninth article, King Alfonso and Prince John ceded the Canaries to Castile.

The treaty was apparently ratified by Alfonso and Prince John at Evora oil September 8,1479. It was ratified by Queen Isabella ( King Ferdinand being absent in his kingdoms of Aragon) at Trujillo, on September 27, 1479; proclaimed and published in the frontier cities of Badajoz and Elvas on September 15, and at Evora on September 30; and was ratified by Ferdinand and Isabella at Toledo on March 6, 1480.

Portugal at once took measures to secure her rights. On April 6, 1480, Alfonso ordered the captains of ships sent by Prince John to Guinea to capture such foreign ships as they might encounter within the limits laid down by the treaty of Alcaçovas ("das Canarias pera baixo e adjante contra Guinea") and to cast their crews into the sea. In the following year the Pope confirmed the clause of the treaty that excluded foreigners from Guinea.