eorumque regna ac loca, etiam in long issimis nobisque incognitis partibus consistentia, pro defensione et augmento fidei hujusmodi debellare, suoque temporali dominio subdere, nullis parcendo laboribus et expensis facti evidentia cognoscimus, ut reges et principes ipsi, sublatis quibusvis dispendiis, ad tam saluberrimum tamque laudabile prose quendum opus peramplius animentur. Ad nostrum siquidem nuper, non sine ingenti gaudio et nostre mentis letitia, pervenit auditum, quod dilectus filius nobilis vir, Henricus,[1] infans Portugalie, carissimi in Christo filii nostri Alfonsi[2] Portugalie et Algarbii regnorum regis illustris patruus, inherens vestigiis clare memorie Johannis,[3] dictorum regnorum regis, ejus genitoris, ac zelo salutis animarum et fidei ardore plurimum succensus, tanquam Ca tholicus et verus omnium Creatoris Christi miles, ipsiusque fidei acerrimus ac fortissimus defensor et intrepidus pugil, ejusdem Creatoris gloriosissimum nomen per universum terrarum orbem etiam in remotissimis et incognitis locis divulgari, extolli, et venerari, nec non illius ac vivifice qua redempti sumus Crucis inimicos perfidos, Sarracenos videlicet ac quoscunque alios infideles, ad ipsius fidei gremium reduci, ab ejus ineunte etate totis aspirans viribus post Ceptensem[4] civitatem, in Affrica consistentem, per dictum Johannem Regem ejus subactam dominio, et post multa per ipsum infantem nomine tamen dicti regis contra hostes et infideles predictos, quandoque etiam in propria persona, non absque maximis laboribus et expensis, ac rerum et personarum periculis et jactura, plurimorumque naturalium suorum cede, gesta bella, ex tot tantisque laboribus, periculis, et damnis non fractus nec territus, sed ad hujusmodi laudabilis et pii propositi sui prosecutionem in dies magis atque magis exardescens, in occeano mari quasdam solitarias insulas fidelibus populavit, ac fundari et construi inibi fecit ecclesias et alia loca pia, in quibus divina celebrantur officia. Ex dicti quoque infantis laudabili opera et industria, quamplures diversarum in dicto mari existentium insu farum incole seu habitatores ad veri Dei cognitionem venientes, sacrum bap tisma susceperunt ad ipsius Dei laudem et gloriam, ac plurimorum animarum salutem, orthodoxe quoque fidei propagationem, et divini cultus augmentum.[5] Preterea cum olim ad ipsius infantis pervenisset notitiam, quod nunquam vel saltem a memoria hominum non consuevisset per hujusmodi occeanum mare versus meridionales et orietitales plagas navigari, illudque nobis occiduis
- ↑ Prince Henry the Navigator (b. 1394-d 1460).
- ↑ Alfonso V., surnamed "the African" from his conquests in Morocco, ruled from 1438 to 1481. He stood high in the favor of Pope Nicholas because, after the fall of Constantinople and in response to the Pope's summons, he alone, of all the western monarchs, seriously prepared to aid in resisting the Turks. In April, 1454, in recognition of his efforts, the Pope sent him the consecrated golden rose. L. von Pastor, Geschichte der Päpste, I. ( 1901), 608; Jordão, Bullarium, p. 35.
- ↑ John I., surnamed "the Great", the founder of the house of Aviz, ruled from 1385 to 1433.
- ↑ The conquest of Ceuta in 1415, in which Prince Henry played a leading part, marks the beginning of the colonial expansion of Portugal. An account of the crusade against the city is given in Major, Life of Prince Henry, ch. 3.
- ↑ The Madeira Islands were rediscovered in 1418- 1420; the Azores, in 1427 or 1432 or 1437. J. Mees argues for the last date in his Histoire de la Découverte des Îles Açores in Recueil de Travaux publiés par la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres, University of Ghent ( 1901), fasc. 27. The Cape Verde Islands were discovered in 1456, shortly after the issue of this bull. Azurara, Guinea (ed. Beazley and Prestage), 11. ix, lxxxv, lxxxvi, xcii-xcvi.
