Editing Pope Nicholas V (section)

===Slavery===
{{also|Slavery in Portugal}}
In late spring of 1452 Byzantine Emperor [[Constantine XI]] wrote to Pope Nicholas for help against the impending siege by Ottoman Sultan [[Mehmed II]]. Nicholas issued the bull ''[[Dum Diversas]]'' (18 June 1452) authorizing [[Afonso V of Portugal|King Afonso V]] of Portugal to "attack, conquer, and subjugate [[Saracens]], pagans and other enemies of Christ wherever they may be found". Issued less than a year before the fall of Constantinople, the bull may have been intended to begin another [[Crusades|crusade]] against the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name="sardar">Sardar, Ziauddin, and Davies, Merryl Wyn. 2004. ''The No-Nonsense Guide to Islam''. Verso. {{ISBN|1-85984-454-5}}. p. 94.</ref>

[[File:Portuguese_Morocco.PNG|thumb|Portuguese possessions in Morocco (1415–1769)]] 
Ownership of the [[Canary Islands]] continued to be a source of dispute between Spain and Portugal and Nicholas was asked to settle the matter, ultimately in favor of the Portuguese.{{sfnp|Stogre|1992|p=65}} The geographical area of the concession given in the bull is not explicit, but historian [[Richard Raiswell]] finds that it clearly refers to the recently discovered lands along the coast of West Africa.<ref name=Raiswell>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATq5_6h2AT0C&pg=PA469|title=The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery|first=Junius P.|last=Rodriguez|date= 1997|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780874368857|via=Google Books}}</ref> Portuguese ventures were intended to compete with the Muslim trans-Sahara caravans, which played a key role in the highly profitable Muslim slave trade and also held a monopoly on West African gold and ivory.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=okDypjibS0wC&pg=PA25|title=Amazing Grace in John Newton: Slave Ship Captain, Hymn Writer, and Abolitionist|first=William E.|last=Phipps|date=2004|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=9780865548688|via=Google Books}}</ref>

The Portuguese claimed territorial rights along the African coast by virtue of having invested time and treasure in discovering it; the Castilian claim was based on their being the heirs of the [[Visigoths]]. In 1454 a fleet of caravels from Seville and Cádiz traded along the African coast and upon their return, were intercepted by a Portuguese squadron. [[Enrique IV of Castile]] threatened war. Afonso V appealed to the Pope for moral support of Portugal's right to a monopoly of trade in lands she discovered.<ref name=Bown>{{cite book|last=Bown|first=Stephen R.|title=1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pDkfOAISLJIC&pg=PT84|year=2012|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-61612-0|page=84}}</ref>

The papal bull ''[[Romanus Pontifex]]'', issued on 8 January 1455, endorsed Portuguese possession of Cuerta (which they already held), and the exclusive right to trade, navigation, and fishing in the discovered lands, and reaffirmed the previous ''Dum Diversas''.<ref name="nyt-elliott-hughes-2019">{{cite web |last1=Elliott |first1=Mary |last2=Hughes |first2=Jazmine |title=A Brief History of Slavery That You Didn't Learn in School |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/19/magazine/history-slavery-smithsonian.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=20 August 2019 |date=19 August 2019}}</ref> It granted permission to Afonso and his heirs to "... make purchases and sales of any things and goods, and victuals whatsoever, as it may seem fit, with any Saracens and infidels in said regions; ... provided they be not iron instruments, wood used for construction, cordage, ships, and any kinds of armor."<ref name=Davenport>See full text pp. 20–26 (English) in [https://books.google.com/books?id=uLILAAAAIAAJ&q=nicholas+v+%22Romanus+Pontifex%22 ''European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and Its Dependencies to 1648''], Washington, D.C., [[Frances Gardiner Davenport]], [[Carnegie Institution of Washington]], 1917–37 – [[Google Books]]. Reprint edition, 4 vols., (2004), Lawbook Exchange, {{ISBN|1-58477-422-3}}; also at http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/indig-romanus-pontifex.html</ref>

The bull conferred exclusive trading rights to the Portuguese between Morocco and the Indies with the rights to conquer and convert the inhabitants.<ref>The Historical Encyclopedia of world slavery", Richard Raiswell, p. 469</ref> A significant concession given by Nicholas in a brief issued to King Alfonso in 1454 extended the rights granted to existing territories to all those that might be taken in the future.<ref>"''Slavery and the Catholic Church"'', John Francis Maxwell, p. 55, Barry Rose Publishers, 1975</ref> Consistent with these broad aims, it allowed the Portuguese "to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery". However, together with a second reference to some who have already been enslaved, this has been used to suggest that Nicholas sanctioned the [[Atlantic slave trade|purchase of black slaves]] from "the infidel":<ref>{{cite book |first1=T. F. |last1=Earle |first2=K. J. P. |last2=Lowe |title=Black Africans in Renaissance Europe |page=281 |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0521815826 }}</ref> "... many Guineamen and other negroes, taken by force, and some by barter of unprohibited articles, or by other lawful contract of purchase, have been ... converted to the Catholic faith, and it is hoped, by the help of divine mercy, that if such progress be continued with them, either those peoples will be converted to the faith or at least the souls of many of them will be gained for Christ."<ref name=Davenport/>

It is on this basis that it has been argued that collectively the two bulls issued by Nicholas gave the Portuguese the rights to [[history of slavery|acquire slaves]] along the African coast by force or trade.<ref name="nyt-elliott-hughes-2019"/> By dealing with local African chieftains and Muslim slave traders, the Portuguese sought to become key European players in the lucrative slave trade. The concessions given in them were confirmed by bulls issued by [[Pope Callixtus III]] (''Inter Caetera quae'' in 1456), [[Pope Sixtus IV|Sixtus IV]] (''Aeterni regis'' in 1481), and they became the models for subsequent bulls issued by [[Pope Alexander VI]]: ''[[Eximiae devotionis]]'' (3 May 1493),  ''[[Inter Caetera]]'' (4 May 1493) and ''Dudum Siquidem'' (23 September 1493), in which he conferred similar rights to Spain relating to the newly discovered lands in the Americas.<ref>"The Historical Encyclopedia of world slavery", Richard Raiswell, p. 469, "Black Africans in Renaissance Europe", p. 281, Luis N. Rivera, 1992, p. 25</ref>