Letters Patent.
On 5 March 1496, King Henry VII granted a letters patent to John Cabot and his sons. This permitted them to investigate, claim and possess any new lands so long as they did not intrude on Spanish or Portuguese territories.

From André Vachon, in collaboration with Victorin Chabot and André Desrosiers, Dreams of Empire: Canada before 1700, Records of Our History series, English transl. by John F. Flinn (Ottawa, Ontario: Public Archives of Canada, ©1982) 23. Plate 7. Courtesy of Public Records Office, London, England: Chancery, Warrants for the Great Seal, Series II, C 82/146, no. 6.