Before 20th
CENTu
ry’s Rîght/S
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The French ‘Code Noir’ in 1685 was a decree passed by King Louis XIV, the French sovereign nicknamed ‘Roi Soleil’, who wanted to increase his power in the colonies. The ‘Code Noir’ defined the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire: it restricted the activities of free Negroes; it forbade the exercise of any religion other than Roman Catholicism; and it ordered all Jews out of the France's colonies (Jews were mostly active in the Dutch colonies, so their presence was seen as a Dutch influence in the Caribbean at that time: the Dutch and French remained at odds even after the kingdom of France, allied with that of England and with the bishops of Munster and Cologne fought and defeated the Dutch Republic 1672-1678).
The ‘Code Noir’ was inspired by Jean-Baptist Colbert (Controller-General of Finances under Louis XIV) to whom science was a way to improve the economy.
The practices of slavery contradicted the French law, for in 1315 the king of France Louis X had published a decree proclaiming that ‘France’ signifies freedom and that any slave setting foot on the French ground should be freed.
The contradictory decree of 1685 however became legislative because of the ‘Triangular Trade’ in and out of France colonies. But the ban or interdiction of slavery by Pope Paul III in 1537, was not appropriate for merchants/traders and not for non-catholic ship-owners (those who were denied access to the ports of the India Company nonetheless they were inhabitants).
The argument of the existence of God has a philosophical tradition in the Western World. After West-Europeans proved the world to be round, a theological prove of the existence of humanity was demanded. Before that discovery the idea of mankind living outside the surrounding waters of the know world, was adamatic problematic and led to the thesis ‘monster people’ out there (GVH, 2008). The discovery of the (new> ‘western’) world requested a theological affirmation for the ‘fair trade’ of slavery.
In the Papal Bulls Dum diversas (1452) and Romanus Pontifex (1455) during the late days and fall of the East-Roman Church of the Constantinople by the Muslim conqueror Osman, the right of taking pagans as perpetual slaves was granted to Christians. In the opinion of some these bulls served as a justification for the subsequent era of slave trade and colonialism. The Dum Diversas of Pope Nicolas V provided:
We grant you [Kings of Spain and Portugal] by these present documents, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property [...] and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery.
(line GVH)
As a follow-up to the Dum Diversas the Pope confirmed to the Crown of Portugal dominion over all lands discovered or conquered. The Romanus Pontifex repeated the earlier bull's permission for the enslavement and its purpose was to forbid other Christian nations from infringing the King of Portugal's rights of trade and colonization in these regions.
"…not only restrain the savage excesses of the Saracens and of other infidels, enemies of the Christian name, but also for the defense and increase of the faith vanquish them and their kingdoms and habitations, though situated in the remotest parts unknown to us, and subject them to their own temporal dominion, sparing no labor and expense, in order that those kings and princes, relieved of all obstacles, may be the more animated to the prosecution of so salutary and laudable a work."
“...since we had formerly by other letters of ours granted among other things free and ample faculty to the aforesaid King Alfonso –to invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever’s placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to apply and appropriate to himself and his successors the kingdoms, dukedoms, counties, principalities, dominions, possessions, and goods, and to convert them to his and their use and profit –by having secured the said faculty, the said King Alfonso, or, by his authority, the aforesaid infant, justly and lawfully has acquired and possessed, and doth possess, these islands, lands, harbors, and seas, and they do of right belong and pertain to the said King Alfonso and his successors, nor without special license from King Alfonso and his successors themselves has any other even of the faithful of Christ been entitled hitherto, nor is he by any means now entitled lawfully to meddle therewith.”
(line GVH)
The Sublimis Deus orders: “The enemy of the human race, who opposes all good deeds in order to bring men to destruction, beholding and envying this, invented a means never before heard of, by which he might hinder the preaching of God's word of Salvation to the people: he inspired his satellites who, to please him, have not hesitated to publish abroad that the Indians of the West and the South, and other people of whom We have recent knowledge should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service, pretending that they are incapable of receiving the Catholic Faith. We, who, though unworthy, exercise on earth the power of our Lord and seek with all our might to bring those sheep of His flock who are outside into the fold committed to our charge, consider, however, that the Indians are truly men and that they are not only capable of understanding the Catholic Faith but, according to our information, they desire exceedingly to receive it. Desiring to provide ample remedy for these evils, We define and declare by these Our letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, to which the same credit shall be given as to the originals, that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.” (line GVH)
In 1537, Pope Paul III declared in ‘Breve Veritas Ipsa’ and the Papal Bull ‘Sublimis Deus’ indigenous peoples of America to be rational beings with souls, denouncing any idea to the contrary as directly inspired by the ‘enemy of the human race’ (Satan). He condemned the reduction of American Indians to slavery in strongest terms, declaring it null and void for as well as for any people known or that could be discovered in the future, entitles their right to liberty and property, and concludes with a call for their evangelization.
The Sublimis Deus orders:
“The enemy of the human race, who opposes all good deeds in order to bring men to destruction, beholding and envying this, invented a means never before heard of, by which he might hinder the preaching of God's word of Salvation to the people: he inspired his satellites who, to please him, have not hesitated to publish abroad that the Indians of the West and the South, and other people of whom We have recent knowledge should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service, pretending that they are incapable of receiving the Catholic Faith. We, who, though unworthy, exercise on earth the power of our Lord and seek with all our might to bring those sheep of His flock who are outside into the fold committed to our charge, consider, however, that the Indians are truly men and that they are not only capable of understanding the Catholic Faith but, according to our information, they desire exceedingly to receive it. Desiring to provide ample remedy for these evils, We define and declare by these Our letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, to which the same credit shall be given as to the originals, that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or may be said to the contrary, the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”
(line GVH)
The ‘Sublimis Deus ’ followed Pope Paul’s ‘Veritas Ipsa’: “La Vérité elle-même, qui ne peut ni tromper ni se tromper ni être trompée ni devenir trompée, a dit clairement lorsqu'elle destinait les prédicateurs de la foi au ministère de la parole: « Allez enseigner toutes les nations ». Elle a dit toutes, sans exception, puisque tous les hommes sont capables de recevoir l'enseignement de la foi. Ce que voyant, le jaloux adversaire du genre humain, toujours hostile aux œuvres humaines afin de les détruire, a découvert une nouvelle manière d'empêcher que la parole de Dieu soit annoncée, pour leur salut, aux nations. Il a poussé certains de ses suppôts, avides de satisfaire leur cupidité, à déclarer publiquement que les habitants des Indes occidentales et méridionales, et d'autres peuples encore qui sont parvenus à notre connaissance ces temps-ci, devaient être utilisés pour notre service, comme des bêtes brutes, sous prétexte qu'ils ne connaissent pas la foi catholique. Ils les réduisent en esclavage en leur imposant des corvées telles qu'ils oseraient à peine en infliger à leurs propres animaux domestiques."
"Or Nous, qui, malgré notre indignité, tenons la place du Seigneur sur terre, et qui désirons, de toutes nos forces, amener à Son bercail les brebis de Son troupeau qui nous sont confiées et qui sont encore hors de Son bercail, considérant que ces Indiens, en tant que véritables êtres humains, ne sont pas seulement aptes à la foi chrétienne, mais encore, d'après ce que Nous avons appris, accourent avec hâte vers cette foi, et désirant leur apporter tous les secours nécessaires, Nous décidons et déclarons, par les présentes lettres, en vertu de Notre Autorité apostolique, que lesdits Indiens et tous les autres peuples qui parviendraient dans l'avenir à la connaissance des chrétiens, même s'ils vivent hors de la foi ou sont originaires d'autres contrées, peuvent librement et licitement user, posséder et jouir de la liberté et de la propriété de leurs biens, et ne doivent pas être réduits en esclavage. Toute mesure prise en contradiction avec ces principes est abrogée et invalidée.
De plus, Nous déclarons et décidons que les Indiens et les autres peuples qui viendraient à être découverts dans le monde doivent être invités à ladite foi du Christ par la prédication de la parole de Dieu et par l'exemple d'une vie vertueuse. Toutes choses passées ou futures contraires à ces dispositions sont à considérer comme nulles et non avenues."
(line GVH)
Rome, 1537 de Notre Pontificat