d a disposition
to imagine that in the famous bull of partition Alexander VI.
acted not as supreme pontiff but merely as an arbiter, in the
modern sense, between the crowns of Spain and Portugal; but
such an interpretation is hardly compatible with Alexander's
own words. An arbiter, as such, does not make awards by virtue
of "the authority of Omnipotent God granted to us in St. Peter,
and of the Vicarship of Jesus Christ which we administer upon
the earth."

Since writing this note my attention has been called to Dr.
Ignaz von Doellinger's _Fables respecting the Popes of the
Middle Ages_, London, 1871; and I find in it a chapter on the
Donation of Constantine, in which the subject is treated with a
wealth of learning. Some of my brief references are there
discussed at considerable length. To the references to Dante
there is added a still more striking passage, where Constantine
is admitted into Heaven _in spite of_ his Donation (_Paradiso_,
xx. 55).]

[Footnote 547: The language of the bull is even more vague than
my version in the text. His Holiness describes the lands to be
given to the Spaniards as lying "to the west and south" (versus
occidentem et meridiem) of his dividing meridian. Land to the
south of a meridian would be in a queer position! Probably it
was meant to say that the Spaniards, once west of the papal
meridian, might go south as well as north. For the king of
Portugal had suggested that they ought to confine themselves to
northern waters.]

[Footnote 548: For the original Spanish text of the treaty of
Tordesillas, see Navarrete, tom. ii. pp. 116-130.]

[Footnote 549: See below, vol. ii. pp. 98-154.]

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca.]

Already in April, 1493, without waiting for the papal sanction,
Ferdinand and Isabella bent all their energies to the work of fitting
out an expedition for taking possession of "the Indies." First, a
department of Indian affairs was created, and at its head was placed
Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, archdeacon of Seville: in Spain a man in high
office was apt to be a clergyman. This Fonseca was all-powerful in
Indian affairs for the next thirty years. He won and reta