Bartolomé de las Casas: biography of this Spanish friar and chronicler

The discovery of America, in 1492, marked the beginning of a new era for humanity as a whole.

Therefore, the stories of those who lived this event in the first person, are invaluable. Bartolomé de las Casas was one of the most important chroniclers, as we will be able to verify in this biography of one of the main figures of the conquest of America.

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Brief biography of Bartolomé de las Casas

Bartolomé de las Casas He was born in Seville, around the year 1474 or 1484, as this information differs according to different historians They have collected the information about his life. His family was of French origin. The knight Bartolomé de Casaux settled in this area after helping King Ferdinand III of Castile to reconquer these territories. Later he changed his surname, Casaux, to the Spanish version, las Casas.

From that knight the lineage of Bartolomé de las Casas himself, born two centuries later, would be born. For several generations, the members of this family had relevance and relationship with the nobility and even different kings. It is believed that he received his education at the Colegio de San Miguel, where he experienced an approach to the religious world.

After completing the first academic stages, he transferred to the University of Salamanca, where he studied state and canon law.. Precisely in the convent of San Esteban, located in the same city as this university, there was a relative of Bartolomé de las Casas, who acted as a liaison to introduce him to Christopher Columbus himself, who was I was staying there.

In fact, Admiral Colón had been related to his family for a long time, since he had also resided in Seville. So much so, that in the first expedition, that of 1492, which would finally connect the whole world, one of the crew was Juan de la Peña, who was the brother of Bartolomé's father. From this trip, Columbus and other members of the expedition returned with seven people from the Indies, and different specimens of animals.

Christopher Columbus toured the peninsula to show his findings to the Catholic Monarchs. During his stop in Seville, Bartolomé de las Casas himself was able to see him and observe in the first person the people who came from America.

Relationship with the Amerindians

Pedro de las Casas, Bartolomé's father, and his two brothers, joined the crew of Columbus's second voyage. On his return, the ships returned with no less than six hundred Indians, who were practically treating them like slavery. So much so that one of them was assigned to Bartolomé de las Casas, to be his servant.

But Bartolomé preferred to take advantage of this opportunity to study the characteristics of this person and his culture. He tried to make comparisons between his religion and Christianity itself, and even tried to find out if there was any connection between his language and Latin.. What he did, therefore, was a full-blown humanistic study, in which he tried to find out what the similarities and differences were between the two human groups.

The fact that Columbus's expedition returned with the group of Indians had consequences at the highest level. The Queen of Castile, Isabel la Católica, considered that the inhabitants of the newly discovered lands were subjects with the same rights and duties than others, and therefore it was strictly forbidden for them to be converted into slaves, under pain of death for those who do so. did.

There are discrepancies on whether Bartolomé de las Casas traveled to America on Columbus's second expedition, in 1493, or on the third, in 1498. Others even venture that it must have been later, around 1502. In any case, after completing his university studies, he became a doctrinaire and joined on one of the trips to the New World.

Although he was traveling on the Antonio Torres expedition, with Francisco de Bobadilla on board, A series of circumstances made him coincide in Hispaniola with the fourth expedition of Columbus. A hurricane had sunk several ships, and it is believed that Bartolomé de las Casas was one of those in charge of take care of the wounded and sick by the epidemic subsequently unleashed, as a result of the low conditions healthiness.

During the years to come, a series of battles against groups of Indians ensued, followed by as many truces. De las Casas was awarded a commission for his services in some of these struggles. He remained in America until 1506, when he returned to Spain and then to Rome to officially become a priest of the Church.

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Return to america

In 1508, Bartolomé de las Casas returned to Hispaniola and shortly after the Order of the Dominicans arrived., which would be key to relations with the Indians in the future. From the beginning, these religious people put a lot of interest in providing a dignified treatment to the inhabitants of America. This issue caused great disagreements with some leaders, who were not up to the task of complying with these requirements. itos.

The discussion reached such a level that some even made King Ferdinand the Catholic petition for expulsion from the religious order of the Dominicans, so that they would not interfere in their matters. The king listened to the representatives of both positions, and from these hearings the so-called Laws of the Indies, codes of conduct for the good treatment of the indigenous people, were born. This document supposes the foundations of the Human Rights that we know today, so its importance cannot be underestimated.

Bartolomé de las Casas he participated in the conquest of various areas of the island of Cuba, since he used a system consisting of sending an Indian emissary, who prepared the ground for the arrival of the Spanish. All these peoples were Christianized and added to the dominions of the empire. The main work of Bartholomew during that time was precisely the baptism of the Indians and the transmission of the word of the Christian God.

Disappointment with the conquerors

However, after a series of events, such as the Caonao massacre, in which Pánfilo de Narváez's men unjustifiably killed a group of Indians, Bartolomé de las Casas was very disappointed with these acts and threatened to transmit to the king what was happening in America.

For his services in various campaigns in Cuba, de las Casas received new orders, in the surroundings of Cienfuegos. Although he treated the Indians in a proper way, according to the law, and taught them the gospel, as his work dictated, he also used them to get gold from nearby mines.

But something happened that changed his perspective, and it was the arrival of another group of Dominican friars, who did know Bartolomé de las Casas how much they admired his reputation, for the good treatment he gave to the aborigines. This he made her realize that even though he received those compliments, he had not behaved fairly, and that the system they had developed needed changes.

It was at an Easter mass where he delivered an important sermon, denouncing the acts of the encomenderos. This fact generated a great controversy. They criticized him for attacking a group of which he himself was a member. It was then that he wanted to renounce all his commissions, no matter how much they tried to persuade him not to do so, as it meant renouncing all the riches that were to come.

Protector of the natives and last years

Bartolomé de las Casas returned to Spain and had an audience with Cardinal Cisneros, to let him know his observations. The cardinal entrusted him with a plan for colonization and appointed him universal protector of the Amerindians. In 1516, he returned once more to America. From here on, a series of struggles ensued between those in favor of enforcing the laws of projection of the Indians and those who were not for the work.

After many years of hard work, preaching Christianity and good treatment of the natives, in 1540, Bartolomé de las Casas returned to Spain and met with the emperor, Carlos I. In this hearing, he was able to convey to her all the problems that he had witnessed after his years of service in America. This hearing ended up unleashing the New Laws, which freed all the Indians from the encomenderos.

Bartolomé de las Casas was appointed bishop of Chiapas. He returned to America in 1544, but many received him with displeasure, not agreeing with the laws that he had managed to promulgate. In 1547 he returned to Spain, resigned his bishopric. He wrote some of his best-known works, such as the Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies.

He would spend his last years in Madrid, before dying, in the year 1566. Bartolomé de las Casas, known as the Apostle of the Indians, rests in Valladolid, as he requested in his last wishes.