Bulls of Donation

The Bulls of Donation, also called the Alexandrine Bulls, and the Papal donations of 1493, are three papal bulls of Pope Alexander VI delivered in 1493 which granted overseas territories to Portugal and the Catholic Monarchs of Spain.

A final edict, Dudum siquidem of 26 September 1493, supplemented the Inter caetera.

[1] Dudum siquidem of 26 September 1493 addressed to the Catholic Monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon which supplemented the bull Inter caetera and purported to grant to them "all islands and mainlands whatsoever, found and to be found, discovered and to be discovered, that are or may be or may seem to be in the route of navigation or travel towards the west or south, whether they be in western parts, or in the regions of the south and east and of India".

[4] The bulls were the basis for negotiation between the two powers which resulted in the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 (ratified by Pope Julius II), dividing the non-Christian world beyond Europe between them.

At first these arrangements were respected by most other European powers, but as the Protestant Reformation proceeded the states of Northern Europe came to consider them as a private arrangement between Spain and Portugal.