VIRTUDES DEL INDIO.SENOR. POCOS MINISTROS HAN IDO A LA NUEVA-ESPAÑA, NI BUELTO DELLA MAS OBLIGADOS QUE YO AL AMPARO DE LOS INDIOS.[ascribed title and beginning of text].

[Palafox y Mendoza, Juan de]:

Edité par [N.p., but likely Madrid. ca. 1650-1651].

A propos de cet article

First edition of this exceedingly important work, quite rare in the market, by Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, addressed to King Phillip IV, in which he highlights the cruel and unlawful treatment of Native Americans by Spanish colonists, and espouses the nobility and inherent morality of the native people, and the duty the Spanish Crown has to defend them. It places Palafox, the Bishop of Puebla de Los Angeles, behind only Las Casas as the most prominent defender of the rights of indigenous Americans in the Spanish empire. A contemporary manuscript provenance note demonstrates that this copy was given to the original owner by Palafox himself. Written in Madrid not long after he returned from Mexico, this pamphlet was published clandestinely, without title, author, or place or date of publication, and is signed in type "El Obispo de la Puebla de Los Angeles" on the final page. It was not until Palafox's collected works were published between 1659 and 1671 that this work was explicitly noted as his. Church notes that "Las Casas found a worthy successor, in his advocacy of the rights of the native Indians, in Palafox, Bishop of Puebla, the writer of the present work; which is a memorial to the king respecting the virtues of the Indians, and was probably printed for the use of the King and Council of the Indies, as it is written without date, place of printing, name of printer, or any of the usual privileges." Although like Las Casas, Palafox argues for the inherent dignity and humanity of the Native Americans, he was more comfortable endorsing the Crown's tacit rationale for its colonization of New Spain, that is, evangelization. Thanks to this gift of the gospel, the Crown reasoned that it was entitled to compel labor from the indigenous people, and to the privilege of levying and controlling the tithes of the richest and most profitable colony in the empire. However, Palafox explains, the Native Americans gladly converted to Christianity, "like the meekest sheep," and they accepted the authority of the Crown with equal docility: "The Indians are the vassals who have cost the Crown the least, yet they are not the ones who have helped least to enrich the Crown." Thus the Crown was obligated to protect the Native Americans, both from surrounding enemies who might encroach on the colony, and especially from ill treatment by colonial officials. As noted in the recent translation and critical study of this work by Fee and Cañeque, Virtudes del Indio also serves as a valuable source for the in-fighting among the diverse interest groups responsible for the administration of the colony: Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, the Viceroy and his own administration, the official Visitor sent from Spain, and finally the local diocesan authority represented by its bishop, Palafox. Given the clandestine nature of this work's printing, there have long been questions regarding its date and place of publication. Early on it was assumed that it was printed during Palafox's tenure as bishop (perhaps on his own printing press in Puebla) and brought to Spain, however modern scholarship is mostly united in thinking it was written and printed in Madrid, after his return from Mexico. Its circulation in Spain was closely guarded until the publication of Palafox's collected works, although excerpts were included in Melchisédec Thévenot's Recueil de Voyages (1650-92), which was widely read and went through three editions. Virtudes del Indio was first brought to the attention of English readers through a review in Philosophical Transactions (vol. 7, 1672, pp.5125-30). Juan Palafox y Mendoza (1600-1659) was born in Navarre and educated at Salamanca. He was ordained priest in 1629, rose quickly in the court, and was eventually appointed a member of the Council of the Indies. In 1639 he was consecrated Bishop of Puebla de Los Angeles. He arrived in Mexico in 1640 and soon ran afoul of the local Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians, whose many exemptions and priv.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: VIRTUDES DEL INDIO.SENOR. POCOS MINISTROS HAN IDO A LA NUEVA-ESPAÑA, NI BUELTO DELLA MAS OBLIGADOS QUE YO AL AMPARO DE LOS INDIOS.[ascribed title and beginning of text].
• Éditeur: [N.p., but likely Madrid. ca. 1650-1651].