THE UNHEARD VOICE OF LAW IN BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS’S BREVÍSIMA RELACIÓN DE LA DESTRUICIÓN DE LAS INDIAS by DAVID THOMAS ORIQUE A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of History and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2011 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: David Thomas Orique Title: The Unheard Voice of Law in Bartolomé de Las Casas’s Brevísima relación de la destruición de las Indias This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of History by: Dr. Robert Haskett Chairperson Dr. Carlos Aguirre Member Dr. Stephanie Wood Member Dr. David Luebke Member Dr. Stephen Shoemaker Outside Member and Richard Linton Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2011 ii © 2011 David Thomas Orique iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT David Thomas Orique Doctor of Philosophy Department of History June 2011 Title: The Unheard Voice of Law in Bartolomé de Las Casas’s Brevísima relación de la destruición de las Indias Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. Robert Haskett The organizing principle of this dissertation is that Las Casas’s most famous work, the Brevísima relación, is primarily an intricately reasoned legal argument against the excesses of early Spanish colonialism rather than a fiery polemical diatribe by the “first human rights activist.” Contrary to such anachronistic (though enduringly popular) characterization, this study employs a historical perspective to view this influential text as belonging to the genres of the early modern juridical tradition. Accordingly, this investigation begins by examining the historical matrix of fifteenth-century and early sixteenth-century Spain to properly contextualize Las Casas’s early life and certain initial colonial institutions of the Spanish Indies. Similarly, his juridical expertise is firmly rooted in an explication of his contemporaneous formation in canon law and theology. From these foundational strands of his life and work, his maturing juridical voice spoke most decisively in certain of the major debates among Spanish jurists, theologians, and politicians—as well as in the Brevísima relación—in the wake of the Iberian “discovery” of what was for all concerned a physical as well as philosophical “New World.” iv The combined focus of subsequent chapters elucidates the fundamentally juridical dimensions of the text, beginning with the specific context accompanying its genesis in 1542 until its publication a decade later. The treatise’s legal character as an official publication based on various evidentiary sources is further revealed by the text’s triple function—to inform, to denounce, and to petition, which in turn corresponds to the genres of relaciones, denuncias, and peticiones of the civil juridical tradition. The Brevísima relación’s content unveils far more than this; the epistemological rationale and analytic framework are intimately linked to canonistic, Thomistic, and biblical genres of the ecclesial juridical tradition. Continuing this historical investigation, the concluding chapter demonstrates anew the fundamental grounding of Las Casas’s approach in the vibrant first generations of juristic discourse of the so-called Spanish colonial era. His multifaceted juridical voice was distinctively encoded in a powerful melding of civil and ecclesial legal traditions. This dissertation intends to communicate this voice intelligibly with the proper accents of the past. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: David Thomas Orique GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA Instituto Teológico de San Esteban Universidad Pontificia, Salamanca, Spain Universidade dos Açores, Ponta Delgada, Portugal California State University, Fresno Reedley Junior College, Reedley, CA DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, History, 2011, University of Oregon Master of Arts in History, 2007, University of Oregon Master of Arts in Theology, 2001, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley Master of Divinity in Theology, 2001, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley Bachelor of Science in Business, 1986, California State University, Fresno Associate of Science in Agriculture, 1980, Reedley Junior College AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Early modern colonial Latin American and European history Modern Latin America Latino-Luso theological and cultural history PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Department of History, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2006-2011 Campus Associate of Newman Center, University of Oregon, 2005-2006 Director of Newman Center, University of Oregon, 2003-2005 vi Associate Director Newman Center, University of Oregon, 2001-2003 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Richard Maxwell Brown Award (Mexico), UO History Department, 2010 PhD Research Grant (University of Florida), UO History Department, 2010 PhD Research Grant (Mexico), UO History Department, 2009 Maxwell Angus Award (Yale), UO History Department, 2008 Summer Research Grant (Yale), UO History Department, 2008 Kislak Short Term Fellowship, Library of Congress, Kluge Center, 2007 Special Research Award (Library of Congress), UO History Department, 2007 Graduate Teaching Fellowships, UO History Department, 2007 to date D'Onofrio Academic Achievement Scholarship (highest GPA), Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley, CA, AY 1999 Luso-American Educational Foundation Annual Studies Scholarship (Luso- American Students of Promise), Bay Area, CA, 1999 PUBLICATIONS: Orique, David. “Bartolomé de Las Casas and Junípero Serra: the Two Poles of the Evangelization Enterprise,” forthcoming in Anuario Dominicano, Querétaro, Mexico, 2011. _______. “Las Casas's Confesionario,” forthcoming in Derek Malone-France, ed., Political Dissent—A Global Reader, Vol. 1: Ancient to Early-Modern Sources. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011. _______. “New Discoveries about an Old Manuscript: The Date, Place of Origin, and Role of the Parecer de fray Bartolomé de las Casas in the Making of the New Laws of the Indies,” in Colonial Latin American Historical Review 15, 4 (Fall, 2006, published 2010), 419-441. _______. “Journey to the Headwaters: Bartolomé de Las Casas in a Comparative Context,” in The Catholic Historical Review 95, 1 (2009), 1-24. _______. “Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566),” in The Literary Encyclopedia 7 vii October, 2008. _______. “Parecer de Fray Bartolomé de las Casas,” in The Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library of Congress, Fall, 2008. _______. “Catalog Entries on Bartolomé de Las Casas,” in The Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Library of Congress, Fall, 2007. Castro, Daniel. Another Face of Empire: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Indigenous Rights, and Ecclesiastical Imperialism (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007), reviewed in The Catholic Historical Review 94, 3 (2008): 616-617. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To my family, especially my parents and siblings, grandparents and godparents, who initiated and lovingly nurtured my intercultural understanding. To the many members of the Dominican community, at the local, provincial, inter-provincial, and eternal levels, who inspired and sustained my academic ministry. To my advisor, Professor Robert Haskett, and the faculty of the Department of History, particularly Professors Carlos Aguirre, Stephanie Wood, David Luebke, and Stephen Shoemaker for the many ways in which they supported, modeled and encouraged me as a historian. Finally, to God who gave me the gift of a meaningful vocation of service. ix Dedication To all those who suffered and suffer from conquests, then and now. x TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. ARGUMENTO .................................................. ........................................................ 1 Thesis Statement and Rationale ............................................................................. 3 Historical Significance ........................................................................................... 4 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 6 Literature Review................................................................................................... 8 Sources ................................................................................................................... 15 Organization ........................................................................................................... 17 II. THE FORMATION OF LAS CASAS’S JURIDICAL VOICE: HISTORICAL MATRIX ................................................................................................................ 19 Ascendancy of the Renaissance ............................................................................. 21 Continuity and Change in Fifteenth-Century Spain............................................... 36 Demographic and Economic Developments in Spain ........................................... 47 Political Power of Isabel and Ferdinand ................................................................ 55 Religious Purview of the Catholic Monarchs ........................................................ 64 Possession and Destruction of the Indies ..............................................................