# Dum Diversas (1452) *Dum Diversas* is a papal bull issued by Pope Nicholas V on 18 June 1452, addressed to King Alfonso V of Portugal. By apostolic authority it granted the Portuguese crown "full and free power" to invade, conquer, subjugate, and seize the lands and goods of "Saracens, pagans, and other enemies of Christ" wherever found — and to reduce their persons "to perpetual servitude" (*in perpetuam servitutem*). Together with *Romanus Pontifex* (1455) and *Inter Caetera* (1493), it became a foundational text behind the colonial Doctrine of Discovery, and its language helped sanction the early Atlantic slave trade. This entry hosts the **public-domain Latin** of the bull's operative grant together with an **in-house English summary** prepared by M2M². No openly-licensed full English translation of *Dum Diversas* exists; the only freely-circulating one (Olga Izzo, 2011) is self-described as "rough" and is not openly licensed, so it is linked for reference rather than reproduced. The good news for readers: *Dum Diversas* is **recited almost verbatim inside *Romanus Pontifex* (1455)**, which this library hosts in full in the public-domain Latin **and** English of the Davenport critical edition — so the bull's own words can be read there in a verified translation. **Source:** Latin reproduced from Frances Gardiner Davenport, *European Treaties Bearing on the History of the United States and its Dependencies to 1648* (Carnegie Institution, 1917) — Public Domain. Full text recited in *[Romanus Pontifex (1455)](/library/romanus-pontifex-1455.html)*. --- ## The operative grant — Latin (public domain) The heart of *Dum Diversas* is the clause below. It is reproduced here as it is recited verbatim within *Romanus Pontifex* (1455) and printed in Davenport's public-domain critical edition (1917); medieval orthography is preserved. > … quoscunque Sarracenos et paganos aliosque Christi inimicos ubicunque constitutos, ac regna, ducatus, principatus, dominia, possessiones, et mobilia ac immobilia bona quecunque per eos detenta ac possessa **invadendi, conquirendi, expugnandi, debellandi, et subjugandi, illorumque personas in perpetuam servitutem redigendi**, ac regna, ducatus, comitatus, principatus, dominia, possessiones, et bona sibi et successoribus suis applicandi, appropriandi, ac in suos successorumque suorum usus et utilitatem convertendi … *(The complete Latin original of the bull is printed in Levy Maria Jordão, ed., *Bullarium Patronatus Portugalliae Regum*, vol. I, Lisbon, 1868, no. 22, pp. 22–23 — public domain by age; see "Sources" below.)* --- ## In-house summary (M2M² — not a verbatim translation) The following is M2M²'s own plain-English summary of what the bull says, section by section. It is a summary for study, not a word-for-word translation; for the bull's exact wording in a verified translation, read the recited text in *[Romanus Pontifex](/library/romanus-pontifex-1455.html)*. **Address and occasion.** Nicholas V, "servant of the servants of God," writes to King Alfonso V of Portugal. He frames his concern as the defense and spread of the Christian faith against "the enemies of the name of Christ," and his pastoral duty to encourage Christian kings who fight for the faith. **The grant (the operative clause).** Because the king has expressed a pious desire to subdue the enemies of Christ, the pope grants him, by apostolic authority, **full and free power** to: - **invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue** the Saracens, pagans, and other enemies of Christ wherever they may be; - **seize** their kingdoms, duchies, principalities, dominions, lands, and all their movable and immovable goods; - **reduce their persons to perpetual servitude**; and - **appropriate** all of these kingdoms, possessions, and goods to himself and to his successors, the kings of Portugal, for their own use and profit. **Spiritual inducements.** The pope grants a **plenary remission of sins** to the king and to all who accompany him in this "fight of faith," and to those who, though they do not go in person, **fund or contribute** to the campaign — extending the grace of a confessor's absolution, even at the point of death. **Administrative provisions.** The bull directs that contributions gathered for the campaign be forwarded to the king in full, without skimming, under penalty of **excommunication** for any official who diverts the funds; and it provides that notarized, sealed copies of the letter shall carry the same authority as the original. **Closing.** It ends with the customary anathema — anyone who dares to infringe the grant "would incur the indignation of Almighty God and of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul" — and is dated at St. Peter's in Rome, 18 June 1452, in the sixth year of Nicholas V's pontificate. --- ## Why it matters *Dum Diversas* is the first of the three fifteenth-century bulls in the chain that became the Doctrine of Discovery. Its grant of conquest and "perpetual servitude" was confirmed and expanded three years later in *Romanus Pontifex* (1455), which quotes it directly, and the demarcation logic was carried further in *Inter Caetera* (1493). Read them together: - **[Romanus Pontifex — Pope Nicholas V, 1455 →](/library/romanus-pontifex-1455.html)** — recites *Dum Diversas* and confirms/extends it; full public-domain Latin + English here. - **[Inter Caetera — Pope Alexander VI, 1493 →](/library/inter-caetera-1493.html)** — the demarcation bull; full public-domain Latin + English here. - **[The Doctrine of Discovery →](/library/doctrine-of-discovery.html)** — the explainer that ties the chain together through *Johnson v. M'Intosh* (1823). --- ## Sources - **Latin (public domain):** Frances Gardiner Davenport, *European Treaties…* (Carnegie, 1917) — the operative passage above, as recited in *Romanus Pontifex*: https://archive.org/details/europeantreaties01daveuoft - **Complete Latin original (public domain, print):** Levy Maria Jordão, ed., *Bullarium Patronatus Portugalliae Regum*, vol. I (Lisbon, 1868), no. 22, pp. 22–23 — the standard complete Latin text (no fully-verified open digital copy located; held in major research-library digitizations such as HathiTrust). - **English (for reference only — not openly licensed):** the only freely-circulating full English translation is Olga Izzo's (2011), hosted by the Doctrine of Discovery network and self-described as "rough" / not for scholarly use. Linked, not reproduced: https://www.doctrineofdiscovery.net/1452-dum-diversas-issued-by-pope-nicolas-v-to-alfanso-v-of-portugal.html --- *Provenance & licence: Dum Diversas (Nicholas V, 18 June 1452) is in the public domain by age. The operative Latin passage above is transcribed from Frances Gardiner Davenport's public-domain critical edition (European Treaties, Carnegie Institution, 1917), where it appears recited within Romanus Pontifex (1455); medieval orthography is preserved and obvious OCR artifacts corrected. The English on this page is an in-house summary prepared by M2M² (not a verbatim translation) — no openly-licensed full English translation of Dum Diversas exists, and the one freely-circulating "rough" translation (Izzo, 2011) is linked rather than copied. The bull's own words can be read in a verified public-domain translation in the Romanus Pontifex entry, which recites it. Reproduced for the M2M² Source Library.*