Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/198

174 174 RETURN OF COLUMBUS. FART Jurisdiction with those formerly conceded to the kings of Portugal. This bull he supported by another, dated on the following day, in which the pope, in order to ob- viate any misunderstanding with the Portuguese, and acting no doubt on the suggestion of the Spanish sovereigns, defined with greater precision the intention of his original grant to the latter, by bestowing on them all such lands as they should discover to the west and south of an imaginary line, to be drawn from pole to pole, at the distance of one hundred leagues to the west of the Azores and Cape de Verd Islands. ^^ It seems to have escaped his Holiness, that the Spaniards, by pursuing a western route, might in time reach the eastern limits of countries previously granted to the Portu- guese. At least this would appear from the import of a third bull, issued September 25th of the same year, which invested the sovereigns with plenary authority over all countries discovered by them, whether in the east, or within the boundaries of India, all previous concessions to the contrary not- withstanding. With the title derived from actual possession, thus fortified by the highest ecclesias- tical sanction, the Spaniards might have promised themselves an uninterrupted career of discovery, but for the jealousy of their rivals, the Portuguese. ^^ 21 A point south of the meridian scilicet septentrione, ad Polum is somethintT new in geometry; yet Antarcticum, scihcet meridiem." so says the bull of his Holiness. 2- See the original papal grants, " Omnes insulas et terras firmas transcribed by Navarrete, Coleccion inventas et inveniendas, detectas ct de Yiages, tom. ii.,Col. Diplom., detegendas, versus Occidentem ct nos. 17, 18. Appendice al Col. meridiem, fabricando et constituen- Diplom., no. 11. do unam lineam a Polo Arctico,