Principality of the Lucky Islands

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The principality of the Happy Islands ( Latin Principatus Insulae Fortunatae ) was a fiefdom of the Holy See planned for the Canary Islands . The principality was founded in 1344 by Pope Clement VI. created by the bull Tue devotionis sinceritas .

prehistory

Already in ancient times there were reports of the Happy Islands , which lay off the African coast. By the end of the 13th century, nautical instruments and information were so advanced that it was possible to reach these islands from Europe and come back again.

Seafarers from Genoa are known to have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with the aim of the fortunatorum insulae . Lancelotto Malocello , who visited the Canary Islands in the first third of the 14th century, settled down for a few years on the easternmost island, Lanzarote , which was named by his name in the cartography of the time. While the handbook of the Genoese Angelino Dulcert from 1325 does not indicate the existence of the Happy Islands, they are marked on his map from 1339. The northeastern island is marked with the note that this is the island of the Genoese Lancelotto Malocello.

The two ships of a voyage of discovery equipped by King Alfonso IV of Portugal left the port of Lisbon on July 1, 1341 . They reached the Canary Islands within five days . Parts of the crews went ashore on different islands. On their return in November 1341 they brought u. a. Goat skins and dyes with. In addition, four young men from the island of Canaria ( Gran Canaria ) came to Portugal. One of the leaders of the expedition, the Genoese Niccoloso da Recco, wrote a detailed report on the islands for the king. A Florentine merchant who was staying in Seville gave a detailed account of this trip in a letter to Giovanni Boccaccio , who then published a text dealing with the newly discovered islands beyond Spain.

The first voyages of Mallorcan ships to the Canary Islands, for which there is documentary evidence, took place in 1342. One of the voyages of discovery that went from Palma de Mallorca in the direction of the "illes de la Fortuna" in 1342 had been led by the Mallorcan King James III. get the order to bring the islands under the rule of the kings of Mallorca.

Establishment of the principality

Luis de la Cerda was a Spanish nobleman born in France. He was the great-grandson of King Alfonso X of Castile and King Louis IX of France . He was the ambassador of the French King Philip VI. at the Holy See in Avignon . He convinced Pope Clement VI. of the fact that it was in the interests of Christianity to proselytize the Happy Islands, which had been newly discovered in the Atlantic, and to commission a Christian prince with this task, who was to exercise the government as the pope's fief. He himself is ready to take on this task.

According to the legal opinion of the time, the Pope's jurisdiction extended over all distant lands inhabited by unbelievers. This gave rise to the power of the popes to dispose of rule in these areas and to transfer it to certain Christian princes with the obligation to proclaim faith in Christ there.

In November 1344, Clement VI issued. the bull "Tuae devotionis sinceritas". In a consistory held in Avignon on November 15, 1344 , he read the bull in the presence of a large number of cardinals , bishops and the ambassadors of foreign monarchs. The Christian rulers of Europe were informed about the founding of the principality and asked to support the prince in the conquest and Christianization.

On November 28, 1344 Luis de la Cerda took his oath of allegiance and received a crown and a scepter from the hand of the Pope as symbols of his power and rule over the newly created principality of the Happy Islands.

Contents of the bull Tuae devotionis sinceritas

In the bull Tuae devotionis sinceritas, the rights and duties of the princes of the Happy Islands and his heirs and successors were precisely defined. Apart from the duty to convert the subjects, they corresponded to the provisions that also applied to other papal fiefdoms.

The geographic location of the principality is only vaguely determined in the bull. Some formulations literally agree with the report of Niccoloso da Recco, in which he reported on the journey of 1341. It says there: “There are some islands in the ocean between the south and the west, some of which are known to be inhabited and some to be uninhabited. All together are commonly referred to as Afortunadas. ”Thereafter, eleven islands are named individually. The Roman Curia had sufficient information on the trips of the Genoese and Mallorcans to the Canary Islands in recent years. The ship's manuals and maps used at the time were already using new names. The names of the islands mentioned in the bull, on the other hand, come partly from the reports of King Juba II , as they were passed down by Pliny . Other names, however, come from classical mythology : Canaria, Ningaria, Pluviaria, Capraria, Junonia, Embronea, Atlantida, Hesperidum, Cernent and Gorgonas. The island of Galeta should be in the Mediterranean.

Reactions to the bull Tuae devotionis sinceritas

In a letter dated February 15, 1345 , King Alfonso IV of Portugal and the King of Castile , Alfonso XI, brought against the regulations of the bull Tuae devotionis sinceritas . objected in a letter dated March 13, 1345. They did not question the right of the Pope to be able to assign areas where unbelievers live to Christian rulers. Rather, the protest referred to the clause in the bull that the granting of fiefs only applies if the rights of other Christian princes are not affected.

Alfonso IV justified Portugal's claim to the islands with the fact that the first discoverers of these islands were Portuguese. Alfonso XI of Castile argued that his ancestors had made great efforts to spread the faith in Africa. Therefore Castile has a claim to the convertible countries in Africa.

The Pope's appeal to support the new prince met with little response. The government of Genoa issued an export license for weapons. The Dauphin von Viennois promised Luis de la Cerda in a contract that a fleet of 12 transport ships and six galleys would be built for the journey to the Happy Islands. Because of his crusade projects, he seems to have resigned from the contract.

King Peter IV of Aragon , who was also King of Mallorca , was inclined to take part in the venture and met personally with Luis de la Cerda in Catalonia at the Poblet Monastery to discuss the basics of effective collaboration. He promised galleys to support the company that Luis could pick up from the island of Sardinia with the equipment. It seems that in 1346 an expedition left Mallorca for the Canary Islands. It is not known whether this acted on behalf of the Prince of the Happy Islands.

It is certain that the Prince of the Lucky Islands never visited his principality. There are three views among historians as to what prevented him from doing so: firstly, the prince's early death, secondly, the war between England and France , and thirdly, that the Castilian court induced the Pope to withdraw the concessions made to Luis de la Cerda.

End of the principality

Luis de la Cerda died either on August 20, 1346 in the Battle of Crécy or in 1348. His son Luis de la Cerda y Pérez de Guzmán (1325-1383) is sometimes referred to in literature as the titular prince of the Happy Islands, it seems but not having held the title.

In 1351 Pope Clement VI, who in 1344 created the Principality of the Happy Islands with a missionary mission to his prince, created the Diocese of the Happy Islands (Fortunatae Insulae) without referring to the Principality.

The principality no longer appears in the documents of the time. Subsequently, sovereignty over the islands between Portugal and Castile was disputed. In the Bull Aeterni regis of June 21, 1483 Pope Urban VI confirms . the sovereign rights of the Crown of Castile over the islands without restrictions and not as a papal fiefdom . The Catholic Monarchs led at the end of her reign (1504) the title "Reyes de las Yslas de Canaria" (Kings of the Canary Islands).

literature

  • Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 (Spanish).
  • Luis Rojas Donat: La potestad Apostólica en las Bulas Ultramarinas Portuguesas y Castellanas . In: Revista de Estudios Histórico-Jurídicos . No. 29 , 2007, p. 407-420 (Spanish, online [accessed July 14, 2016]).
  • Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Príncipe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 43-104 (Spanish, online [accessed July 14, 2016]).
  • Alberto Quartapelle (Ed.): Cuatrocientos años de Crónicas de las Islas Canarias . VeredaLibros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2015, ISBN 978-84-943753-6-1 (Spanish, online [accessed July 28, 2016]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 , pp. 35 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Alberto Quartapelle (ed.): Cuatrocientos años de Crónicas de las Islas Canarias . VeredaLibros, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2015, ISBN 978-84-943753-6-1 , p. 49 ff . (Spanish, online [accessed July 28, 2016]).
  3. ↑ Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 , pp. 36 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ a b Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 , pp. 48 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 99 (Spanish, online [accessed July 14, 2016]).
  6. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 65 (Spanish, online [accessed July 14, 2016]).
  7. ↑ Antonio Rumeu de Armas: El obispado de Telde . Misioneros mallorquines y catalanes en el Atlántico. Ed .: Ayuntamiento de Telde Gobierno de Canarias. 2nd Edition. Gobierno de Canarias, Madrid, Telde 1986, ISBN 84-505-3921-8 , pp. 50 (Spanish).
  8. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 67 (Spanish, online [accessed July 14, 2016]).
  9. ↑ Buenaventura Bonnet Reverón: Don Luis de la Cerda, Principe de la Fortuna . In: El museo canario . No. 19-20 , 1958, pp. 76 (Spanish, online [accessed July 14, 2016]).
  10. ^ Ana Belén Sánchez Prieto: La intitulación diplomática de los Reyes Católicos: a programa político y una lección de historia. In: Juan Carlos Galende Díaz (ed.): III Jornadas Científicas Sobre Documentación en época de los Reyes Católicos . Dpto.de Ciencias y Técnicas Historiográficas Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid 2004, p. 276 (Spanish, online [accessed July 28, 2016]).