Editing Pope Eugene IV (section)

===Slavery===
{{See also|Creator Omnium|Sicut Dudum}}

Christianity had gained many [[Conversion to Christianity|converts]] in the [[Canary Islands]] by the early 1430s. However, the ownership of the lands had been the subject of dispute between the [[Crown of Castile]] and the [[Kingdom of Portugal]]. The lack of effective control had resulted in periodic raids on the islands to procure slaves. As early as the Council of Koblenz in 922, the capture of Christians as slaves by other Christians had been condemned.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.fordham.edu/halsall//source/1171latrsale.asp| title = "Decrees on Sale of Unfree Christians", ''Medieval Sourcebook'', Fordham University| access-date = 24 July 2014| archive-date = 14 August 2014| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140814182230/http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1171latrsale.asp| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Acting on a complaint by Fernando Calvetos, bishop of the islands,<ref name=Housley>Norman Housley, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5qCDL94HWN8C&pg=PA184 ''Religious Warfare in Europe 1400–1536''], Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 184. {{ISBN|9780198208112}}</ref> Pope Eugene IV issued a papal bull, "[[Creator Omnium]]",<ref>Full text, in Latin, with Spanish commentary, in: [https://books.google.com/books?id=JL%20IU1hpmsIC&pg=PA118 ''Monumenta Henricina'' Volume V] (Coimbra: UC Biblioteca Geral 1, 1963), pp. 118–123, no. 52.</ref> on 17 December 1434, annulling previous permission granted to Portugal to conquer those islands rescinding any right to Christianize the natives of the island. Eugene excommunicated anyone who enslaved newly converted Christians, the penalty to stand until the captives were restored to their liberty and possessions.<ref name=Raiswell>Richard Raiswell, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ATq5_6h2AT0C&pg=PA260 "Eugene IV, Papal bulls of"], in: ''The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery'', Junius P. Rodriguez ed., ABC-CLIO, 1997, pp. 260. {{ISBN|9780874368857}}</ref> In 1434, Eugene issued the bull ''Regimini Gregis Dominici'',<ref>Full text of the Latin bull, in: Rafael Torres Campos [https://books.google.com/books?id=RiZmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA207 ''Carácter de la conquista y colonización de las islas Canarias: Discursos léidos ante la Real academia de la historia en la recepción pública de don Rafael Torres Campos el día 22 de diciembre de 1901,''] {{in lang|es|la}}, (Madrid: Impr. y litogr. del Departmentósito de la guerra, 1901), pp. 207–208.</ref> forbidding the enslavement of Christian Canarians, and followed this with an order to suspend further conquest in order to allow the Franciscans to continue their work peacefully.<ref>Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YAFzrIOrP6MC&dq=Regimini+gregis+1434&pg=PA237 ''Before Columbus: Exploration and Colonization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 1229–1492''], University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987, p. 237 {{ISBN|9780812214123}}</ref>

Portuguese soldiers continued to raid the islands in 1435, and Eugene issued a further edict "[[Sicut Dudum]]" that prohibited wars being waged against the islands and affirming the ban on enslavement. Eugene condemned the enslavement of the peoples of the newly colonized Canary Islands and, under pain of excommunication, ordered all such slaves to be immediately set free.<ref>Dulles, 2005</ref> Eugene went on to say that, "If this is not done when the fifteen days have passed, they incur the sentence of excommunication by the act itself, from which they cannot be absolved, except at the point of death, even by the Holy See, or by any Spanish bishop, or by the aforementioned Ferdinand, unless they have first given freedom to these captive persons and restored their goods." 

Eugene tempered "Sicut Dudum" in September 1436 with the issuance of a papal bull in response to complaints made by King [[Edward, King of Portugal|Edward of Portugal]] that allowed the Portuguese to conquer any unconverted parts of the Canary Islands.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} According to Raiswell (1997), any Christian would be protected by the earlier edict, but the un-baptized were implicitly allowed to be enslaved.<ref>Richard Raiswell, pp. 260 & Sued-Badillo, 2007</ref>

Following the arrival of the first African captives in [[Lisbon]] in 1441, [[Henry the Navigator|Prince Henry]] asked Eugene to designate Portugal's raids along the West African coast as a crusade, a consequence of which would be the legitimization of enslavement for captives taken during the crusade. On 19 December 1442, Eugene replied by issuing the bull ''[[Illius qui se pro divini]]'',<ref>''Monumenta Henricina'', VII (Coimbra 1964), no. 228, pp. 336–337. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=WDNOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA21 Bullarium patronatus Portugalliae regum in ecclesiis Africae, Asiae atque Oceaniae]: bullas, brevia, epistolas, decreta actaque Sanctae Sedis ab Alexandro III ad hoc usque tempus amplectens'', Volume 1 (Olisponae: Ex Typographia nationali, 1868), p. 21.</ref> in which he granted full remission of sins to members of the Order of Christ and those enrolled under their banner who took part in any expeditions against the Saracens and enemies of Christianity.<ref>Raiswell, p. 261. ''Missionalia hispánica'', Volume 19 (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain). Departamento de Misionología Española, 1969), p. 22.</ref> In 1443, in the bull "Rex regum", the Pope took a neutral position on territorial disputes between Portugal and Castile regarding rights claimed in Africa.<ref>Frances Gardiner Davenport (ed.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=P9uz8nW0-qkC&pg=PA12 ''European treaties bearing on the history of the United States and its Dependencies to 1648''], p. 12.</ref>

Richard Raiswell interprets the bulls of Eugene as helping in some way the development of thought which perceived the enslavement of Africans by the Portuguese and later Europeans "as dealing a blow for Christendom".<ref>The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery", Richard Raiswell, p. 261</ref> Joel S Panzer views ''Sicut Dudum'' as a significant condemnation of slavery, issued sixty years before the Europeans found the New World.<ref>Panzer, 2008</ref>