THE DEMARCATION LINE
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Third, the earlier bulls to Portugal, and Alexander's, formed the corner stone of the old colonial system with its rigorous monopoly of commerce for the mother country, from the evils of which the civilized world is not yet free.[1]
Men now smile when they read or hear of the attempt of Alexander Sixth to divide the undiscovered world between Spain and Portugal, but what single act of any Pope in the history of the Church has exercised directly and indirectly a more momentous influence on human affairs than this last reminder[2] of the bygone world sovereignty of the Holy See?
- ↑ "Quibuscumque personis cujuscumque dignitatis . . . districtius inhibemus ne ad insulas et terras firmas, inventas et inveniendas . . . pro mercibus habendis, vel quavis alia de causa accedere præsumant absque vestra ac hæredum et successorum vestrorum prædictorum licentia speciali." Alexander's Bull of May 4, 1493.
- ↑ "Dieser Federstreich war die letzte Erinnerung an die Kosmische Autorität des römischen Papsttums." Gregorovius, Gesch. der Stadt Rom, 7, 326.
