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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18098	The Spanish colonie, or Briefe chronicle of the acts and gestes of the Spaniardes in the West Indies, called the newe world, for the space of xl. yeeres: written in the Castilian tongue by the reuerend Bishop Bartholomew de las Cases or Casaus, a friar of the order of S. Dominicke. And nowe first translated into english, by M.M.S.; Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias. English	Casas, Bartolomé de las, 1474-1566.; M. M. S., fl. 1583.	1583 (1583)	STC 4739; ESTC S104917	106,639	150

the edge of the sword They made certayne Gibbets long and low in such sort that the feete of the hanged on touched in a maner the ground euery one enough for thirteene in the honour and worship of our Sauiour and his twelue Apostles as they vsed to speake and setting to fire burned them all quicke that were fastened Vnto all others whom they vsed to take and reserue aliue cutting off their two handes as neere as might bee and so letting them hang they sayd Get you with these letters to carry tydinges to those which are fled by the mountaines They murdered commonly the Lordes and nobilitie on this fashion They made certayne gra●es of perches layed on pickforkes and made a litle fire vnderneath to the intent that by litle and litle yelling and despeiring in these tormentes they might giue vp the ghost One time I sawe foure or fiue of the principall Lordes roasted and broyled vppon these gradeirons Also I thinke that there were two or three of these gredirons garmshed with the lyke furniture and for that they cryed out pitioussy which thing troubled the Captayne that hee could not then sleepe hee commaunded to strangle them The Sergeant which was worse then the hangman that burned them I knowe his name and friendes in Seuill woulde not haue them strangled but him se●fe putting boulets in their mouthes to the ende y t they should not crie put to the fire vntil they were softly rosted after his desire I haue seene all the aforesayd things and others infinite And forasmuch as all the people which coulde flee hid themselues in the mountaynes and mounted on the toppes of them fled from the men so without all manhood emptie of all pitie behauing them as sauage beastes the slaughterers and deadly enemies of mankinde they taught their houndes fierce dogs to teare them in peeces at the first viewe and in the space that one might say a Credo assayled and deuoured an Indian as if it had been a swine These dogges wrought great destructions and slaughters And forasmuche as sometimes although seldom when the indians put to death some Spaniards vpon good right and lawe of due Iustice they made a Lawe betweene them that for one Spaniarde they had to stay an hundreth Indians The realmes which were in this Ile of Hispaniola THere were in this Ile Hispaniola fiue greate principall realmes and fiue very mightie Kinges vnto whome almost all the other Lordes obeyed whiche were without number There were also certaine Lordes of other seuerall Prouinces which did not acknowledge for soueraigne any of these Kinges One realme was named Magua which is as much to say as the kingdome of the playne This plaine is one of the most famous and most admirable thinges of all that is in the worlde For it contayneth fourescore leagues of grounde from the South sea vnto the North sea hauing in breadth fiue leagues and eight vnto tenne It hath in one side and other exceeding high mountaynes There entreth into it aboue thirtie thousande riuers and lakes of the which twelue are as great as Ebro and Duero and Guadalqueuir And all the riuers which issue out of a Mountayne which is towardes the West in number about fiue and twentie thousande are very rich of golde In the which mountayne or mountaynes is contayned the prouince of Cibao from whence the mines of Cibao take their names and from whence commeth the same exquisite golde and fiue of 24. karrets which is so renowined in these partes The King and Lorde of this realme was called Guarionex which had vnder him his Vassals and Lieges so great and mightie that euery one of them was able to set forth threescore thousande men of armes for the seruice of the king Guarionex Of the which Lordes I haue knowen some certayne This Guarionex was very obedient and vertuous naturally desirous of peace and well affectioned to the deuotion of the kings of Castile and his people gaue by his commaundement euery housekeeper a certayne kinde of Dromme full of golde but afterwardes being not able to fill the Dromme cutte it off by the middest and gaue the halfe thereof full For the Indians of that Ile had litle or none industrie or practise to gather or drawe golde out of the mines This Caceque presented vnto the king of Castile his seruice in causing to be manured all the landes from the Isavella where the Spanish first sited vnto the Towne of Saint Domingo which are fittie leagues large on condition that hee shoulde exact of them no golde for he sayd and hee sayde the trueth that his subiectes had not the skill to drawe it out As for the manuring which he sayde hee woulde procure to bee done I knowe that hee coulde haue done it very easely and with great readinesse and that it woulde haue been worth vnto the king euery yeere more then three Millions of Castillans besids that it would haue caused that at this houre there had bin aboue fiftie Cities greater then Seuille The payment that they made to this good king and Lord so gracious and so redowbted was to dishonour him in the person of his wife an euill Christian a Captayne rauishing her This king coulde haue attended the tune and opportunitie to auenge him selfe in leuying 〈…〉 drawe him selfe rather and onely 〈…〉 thus being banished from his real●e 〈…〉 of the Cignaios where there was a great Lorde his 〈◊〉 After that the Spaniardes were 〈◊〉 of his 〈◊〉 and ●ee coulde 〈…〉 himselfe 〈…〉 against the Lorde whiche had 〈…〉 and make great ●l●●ghters through the coun●●●y 〈◊〉 they goe 〈…〉 they found and tooke 〈…〉 a Shippe to carrie him to C●stile which shippe was lost uppon the sea and there were wi●h him drowned many Spaniardes and a great quantitie of Golde amongst the whiche also 〈◊〉 the great 〈◊〉 of Golde 〈…〉 weying three thousande 〈…〉 GOD to wreake 〈…〉 The other rea●●tie was called of Mar●●● where 〈◊〉 at this day the port at one of the ●oundes of the play●● 〈◊〉 the North and it is farre greater then the rea●●e of Portugall 〈◊〉 of golde and copper 〈…〉 The king was called 〈◊〉 which had 〈…〉 many great Lordes of the which I have knowen and seene sundrie 〈…〉 first the 〈◊〉 admyrall when he ●●co●ered the I●dies whom at that time that he discouered the Ile the said 〈…〉 so graciously bountifully 〈◊〉 withall the Spaniardes who were with him in 〈◊〉 him 〈…〉 which the Admirall was carried in that he ●●ulde not haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made off in his owne countrey of his owne father This did I ●nderstand of the Admyrals owne mouth This king died in 〈◊〉 the slaughters and cruelties of the Spaniards through 〈…〉 ●●●yng destroyed and ●epri●ed of his 〈◊〉 And in the 〈◊〉 Lordes his subi●ctes died in the tyrannie and 〈◊〉 that shall be declared hereafter The thirde Realme and dominion was M●gu●●● a countrey also admirable very healthsome and very fertile where the best 〈…〉 The 〈…〉 was named 〈…〉

as afore time neither are they sory for the contrition of Ioseph The other is that in maner euery man generally hath an eye to his owne priuat affaires no 〈…〉 the common vnlesse it bee to reproove but not to help ●atr●● possesseth many of their heartes and which is more strange although there bee many in these Countries that haue heretofore felt the manifest iniuries of the spaniards yet as if their memo●y wholy failed them they be redy to compound with the 〈◊〉 they suppose to the destruction of their confederates 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 to the generall subuersion of the whole countrie To the end therfore they may at the least 〈◊〉 in a ●able behold the nature of their enimie his purpose intent here ●asueth a true history written by one of their owne nation wherein they may learne not that which is yet fully executed in these low countries but which had not god stopped their course they had long since put in execution and hereby I hope al good men wil 〈◊〉 to be resolute and ●mending their liues 〈◊〉 ioy●● 〈◊〉 not in wordes only but in deedes also to repell so arrogant and 〈◊〉 an enemie But there needeth no other admonitiō then the same which the authour hath set down and therefore I pray you reade him as diligently as he 〈…〉 graue and worthy 〈…〉 himselfe to his owne so cruell and barbarous nation and let vs render thanks to god for sending vs so good maisters to instructe vs in our dueties in this so miserable and wretched time in hope ●hat we not quailing in our office he will also finally graunt vs happie deliuerance The Argument of this present Summarie THe state of thinges happened in the Indies euen from the time they were most wonderfully discouered also since the Spaniards for a while began to enhabite those places and afterward successiuely vnto these daies haue in all degrees bin so maruailous incredible vnto such as haue not seen thē that they may seeme sufficient to darken and burie in obliuion and silence whatsoeuer els haue passed in all former ages throughout the world howe great so euer is hath been amongst which the slaughters and murders of these innocent people together with the spoiles of townes prouinces kingdomes which in those parts haue bin perpretated as also diuers others no lesse terrible matters are not the least These things whē dō Bart●●●w de las Casa●s being made of a monke a bishop at his comming to the court there to enforme our ● M. the Emperor as hauing 〈◊〉 an eiewitnes of the same had rehearsed to sundry persons who as yet were ignorant thereof thereby hauing driuen the hearers into a kind of extasie maze he was importunately requested briefly to set down in writing some of them 〈◊〉 of y e last which he did But afterward seeing sundry persons who deuoyd of remorse and compassion being through auarice ambition degenerate frō all humanitie and who by their execrable deedes were grown into a reprobate sence not being satisfied with such fellonies mischiefs as they had committed in destroying such a part of y e world by all strāge kinds of cruelties were now again importunate vppon the King to the ende vnder his authoritie and consent they might once more returne to committe the like or worse if worse might be he determined to exhibite the saide Summarie which he had in writing and record vnto our Lorde the prince to the ende his highnesse might finde meanes that they shoulde be denied which he thought best to put in print to the ende his highnesse might with more ease reade the same This therefore was the cause of this present Summarie or briefe information The Prologue of the Bishop Frier Bartholomewe de las Casas or Casaus to the most high and mightie prince Our Lord Don Philip Prince of Spaine MOst high and mightie Lorde as god by his prouidente hath for the guiding and commoditie of mankinde in this world in Realmes and Prouinces appointed kings to bee as fathers and as Homer nameth them shepheardes and so consequently the most noble principall mēbers of cōmon weales so can we not iustly doubt by reason of the good willes that kings and princes haue to minister iustice but that if there be any thinges amisse either any violences or iniuries committed the only cause that they are not redressed is for y t princes haue no notice of the same For certainely if they knew of them they would imploy all diligence and indeuour in the remedie thereof Whereof it seemeth that mention is made in the holy Scripture in the Prouerbes of Salomon where it is said Rex qui sedet in solio Iudicii dissipat omne malum intuitu suo For it is sufficiently to be presupposed euen of the kindly and natural vertue of a king that the only notice that he taketh of any mischiefe tormenting his kingdome is sufficient to procure him if it bee possible to roote out the same as being a thing that hee cannot tollerate euen one only moment of time Considering therefore with my selfe most mightie Lord the great mischiefes dammages and losses the like wherof it is not to be thoght were euer cōmitted by mankind of so large and great kingdoms or to speake more truely of this so large new world of the Indies which God and holy Churche haue cōmitted cōmēded vnto the K. of castile to the end they might gouern cōuert procure their prosperitie as well temporally as spiritually I therefore I say being a man of experience and filtie yeeres of age or more considering these euils as hauing seene them committed at my being in those countreys Also that your highnes hauing information of some notable particularities might be mooued most earnestly to desire his Maiestie not to graunt or permit to those tyrantes such conquestes as they haue found out and which they do so name whereinto if they might be suffered they would returne seeing that of themselues being made against this Indian peaceable lowly milde nation which offendeth none they be wicked tyrannous and by all lawes either naturall humaine or diuine vtterly condemned detested and accursed I thought it best least my selfe might become also guiltie by concealing the losse of an infinite number both of soules bodies whiche are so cōmitted to cause a few of their dealinges which of late I had selected frō amōg infinit others and that might truely bee reported to bee printed to the ende your highnes might with more ease peruse and reade them ouer Also whereas your highnes maister the Archbishop of Toleto when hee was bishop of Carthagena required them at my handes and then presented them to your highnes peraduenture by reason of such great voiages as your highnes tooke vpon you both by sea and by land for matters of estate wherein you haue bin busied it may be you haue not perused either haue forgotten them and in the meane time the rash and

THE Spanish Colonie OR Briefe Chronicle of the Acts and gestes of the Spaniardes in the West Indies called the newe World for the space of xl yeeres written in the Castilian tongue by the reuerend Bishop Bartholomew de las Casas or Casaus a Friar of the order of S. Dominicke And nowe first translated into english by M. M. S. ¶ Imprinted at London for William Brome 1583. To the Reader Spanish cruelties and tyrannies perpetrated in the West Indies commonly termed The newe found worlde Briefly described in the Castilian language by the Bishop Tryer Bartholomew de las Casas or Casaus a Spaniarde of the order of Saint Dominick faithfully translated by Iames Aliggrodo to serue as a President and warning to the xij Prouinces of the lowe Countries Happie is hee whome other mens harmes doe make to beware GOds iudgementes are so profound as mans wisdome no not the power of Angels is able to enter into their depth Thou shalt frendly Reader in this discourse beholde so many millions of mē put to death as hardly there haue been so many spaniardes procreated into this worlde since their firste fathers the Gothes inhabited their Countries either since their second progenitors the Sarazens expelled and murdered the most part of the Gothes as it seemeth that the Spaniardes haue murdered and put to death in the Westerne Indies by all such meanes as barbarousnesse it selfe coulde imagine or forge vpon the anueld of crueltie They haue destroyed thrise so much lande as christendome doth comprehende such torments haue they inuented yea so great and excessiue haue their trecherie been that the posteritie shall hardly thinke that euer so barbarous or cruell a nation haue bin in the worlde if as you woulde say we had not with our eyes seene it and with our hands felt it I confesse that I neuer loued that nation generally by reason of their intollerable pride notwithstanding I can not but cōmend loue sundry excellent persons that are among thē Howbeit God is my witnes hatred procureth me not to write those things as also the authour of the booke is by nation a Spaniard and besides writeth farre more bitterly then my selfe But two reasons haue moued me to publishe this preface which I do dedicate to all the prouinces of the Lowe countreys The one to the end awaking thēselus out of their sleep may begin to thinke vpon Gods iudgements and refraine from their wickednes and vice The other that they may also consider with what enemie they are to deale and so to beholde as it were in a picture or table what stay they are like to bee at when through their rechlesnesse quarrels controuersies and partialities themselues haue opened the way to such an enemie and what they may looke for Most mē do ground their opinion vpon the goodnesse of their cause concluding that in as much as God is iust he will graunt victorie to the right and will ouerthrowe the wicked This was Iobes friendes disputation where they concluded that for that Iob was afflicted vndoubtedly he was wicked Which reason is drawen out of a certaine rule which it seemeth that nature hath printed in our hartes that is that God punisheth the euill and in mercie rewardeth the good deedes There vpon did the inhabitants of Malta report that Gods vengeance would not permit S. Paul to liue when after he had escaped so dangerous shipwracke the Viper leaped vpon his hande Howebeit notwithstanding this rule be certaine and true yet do manie therein diuersely deceiue them selues concluding thereby that GOD sendeth no affliction but to the wicked as if hee laide not his crosse also vpon the good As Iob the Prophetes and Martyres yea his owne sonne Iesus Christ and that for the mortifiyng of the fleshe and more and more to quicken man in good liuing and for his sonne to the ende in him to punish our sinne which hee tooke vpon him Others doe beleeue that God wil neuer suffer sinne to bee long vnpunished notwithstāding y t hauing long waited patiētly for our repentāce his clemencie is at length conuerted into iustice Some againe that it is vnpossible for the wicked to gette the vpper hande in an euill cause notwithstanding wee dayly see it fall out contrary vndoubtedly the Turkes victories conquestes in Christendome haue no foundation but consist vpon meere tyrannie and vsurpation For although Christians sinnes especially the great abuse in Gods seruice haue bin the causes of our punishment yet must we confesse that the christians what errors soeuer some of them do in their doctrine maintain are not neuertheles so farre deuoid of the truth as are the Turkes and yet do we see howe mightily in few yeres they haue cōquered encroched vpō christendom Also before the comming of the Turkes namely soone after the time of Mahamet there came such a flock of Sarazins that they deuoured first Egypt then all Affrick rooting out Christianitie out of the said countries seazed vpon al Spaine yea proceeding forward they camped in Aquitain vpon the riuer of Toyre insomuch that it was to be doubted y t they might soone haue caught hold vpon France so vpon the rest of christēdom had not God raised vp that mightie Duke of Brubant Charles Martel who defeating them driue them beyond the Pirenean mountaines But if we list to consider the examples contained in the holy Bible whose reasons are more exactly expounded by the prophets we do find that in the time of K. Hezechias although the head citie namely Hierusalem was not forced yet the lesser townes being taken by the enemie the flatte countrey spoyled the K. and the princes of Iuda had no more left them but the bare walles of Hierusalem Also albeit God did marueilously strike the armie of Senacherib and that his own children flew him in his gods temples yet were not gods people free from suffering much and from seeing the enemie enioy the most part of their law their cōmons did beare that which nowe we know more then we would that is what an enemy entring by force of armes into a land is able to do But Nabuchadnezers victories were far others whē he tooke burned sacked euē the head citie together with y e very temple of Hierusalē took their K. P. hie P. prisoners ●lu pulled out y e eies fettered some of thē forcing the cōmons during the siege to eate their own dong Who is hee therefore that dare accuse God of wrong sith such tyrants be called the Axe in the Lordes hands as the executioners of his iustice Further wee see that those that haue the most right are by the wicked robbed slaine murdered which is neuerthelesse Gods doing For it is said Cursed be he that doth the Lordes worke negligently in which place the holy scriptures do speake of such ministers and instruments of God In this discourse of Don Bartholomew de las Casas wee do finde a manifest example For I pray you

kill and rende in peeces the Indiās That let all those y t are true christians yea and also those which are not so behold if euer there were the like thinge in the whole worlde that is to feed those dogs they led about w t them wheresoeuer they goe a great nūber of Indians in chaines as if they were hogs and kill them making a shambles of mans flesh And the one of them will say to another Lend mee a quarter of a villaine to giue my dogs some meate vntill I kyll one nexte altogether as if one shoulde borrowe a quarter of an hog or mutton There bee others which goe foorth a hunting in the morning with their curres the which being returned to eat if another aske him Howe haue yee sped to day they aunswere very well for I haue killed with my dogs to day fifteene or twentie viliacoes All these Diabolicall doings with others like haue beene proued in the sutes of law that the tyrants haue had one of them against another Is there any case more ouglie or vnnaturall I will here now deport me of this discourse vntill such time y t there come other newes of things in vngraciousnes more notorious and remarkable if it so be y t there can be any more greeuous or vntill such time as wee may returne thither to beholde them our selues anewe as wee behold them for the space of 42. yeeres continually with mine owne eyes Protesting in a good conscience before God that I doe beleeue and I holde it for certaine that the damages and losses are so great with the distructions and ouerthrowes of Cities massacres and murders with the cruelties horrible and ougly with the rauins iniquities and robberies all the which things haue beene executed amongest those people and are yet dayly committed in those quarters that in all the things which I haue spoken and deciphered as I was able the neerest to the truth I haue not saide one of a thousande of that which hath beene done and is dayly a doyng at this present be it that you consider the qualitie or bee it that ye consider the quantitie And to the end that all Christians haue the greater compassion of those poore innocents and that they complaine with mee the more their perdition and destruction and that they detest the greedinesse loftinesse and felnesse of the Spanish that all doe holde it for a most vndoubted veritie with all that hath beene aboue saide that sithence the first discouery of the Indies vntyll nowe the Indians neuer did harme vnto the Spanishe in any place wheresoeuer vntill suche time that they firste receiued wrongs and iniuries being robbed and betrayed but indeede did repute them to be immortall supposing them to bee descended from heauen and they receiued them for suche vntill suche time as that they gaue it forth manifestly to be knowen by their doings what they were and whereto they tended I will adioyne heerevnto this that from the beginning vnto this houre the Spaniardes haue had no more care to procure that vnto those people shoulde bee preached the faith of Iesus Christe then as if they had been curre dogs or other beastes but in lien thereof which is much worse they haue forbidden by expresse meanes the religious men to doe it for because that that seemed vnto them an hinderance likely to bee to the getting of their golde and these riches which their auarice foreglutted in And at this day there is no more knowledge of God throughout the Indies to wit whether hee bee of tymber of the ayre or the earth then there was an hundred yeeres agoe excepting ●ewe Spaine whether the religious men haue gone which is but a litle corner of the Indies and so are they perished and doe perishe all without faith and without sacraments I brother Bartholomewe delas Casas or Casaus religious of the order of S. Dominicke which by the mercie of God am come into this courte of Spayne to sewe that the hell might hee withdrawen from the Indes and that these innumerable soules redeemed by the blood of Iesus Christ shoulde not perishe for euermore without remedie but that they might knowe their creator and bee saued also for the care and compassion that I haue of my countrey which is Castile to the ende that God destroy it not for the great sinnes thereof committed against the fayth and his honour and against our neighbours for certaine mens sakes notablie zealous of the glory of God touched with compassion of the afflictions and calamities of others followers of this court howebeit that I was purposed to do it but I could not so soone haue done it because of my continuall occupations I atchieued this treatise and summarie at Valencia the 8. of December 1542. the force beeing mounted to the highest type of extremitie and all the violences tyrannies desolations anguishes and calamities aboue sayde spread ouer all the Indies where ther are any Spaniardes although they bee more cruell in one part then they bee in an other and more sauage and more abhominable Mexico and her confines are lesse euill intreated In truth there they can not execute their outrages openly for that there and not elsewhere there is some forme of iustice as slender as it is For because that there also they kill them with diuelishe tributes I am in good hope that the Emperour and King of I payne our liege Soueraigne Lorde don Charles the fifte of that name who beginneth to haue vnderstanding of the mischieues and treasons that there haue been and are committed against those poore people against the will of God and his owne for they haue alwayes cunningly concealed the trueth from him will roote out those euilles and take some order for this newe worlde that God hath giuen him as vnto one that leueth and doeth iustice whose honour and prosperous estate Imperiall God almightie vouchsafe to blesse with long life for the benefite of his whole vniuersall Church and to the saluauen of his owne royall soule Amen After hauing couched in writing the premisses I vnderstood of certayne lawes and ordinaunces whiche his Maiestie hath made about this time at Barcellone Anno. 1542. in the moneth of Nouember and the yeere following at Madrill by the which ordinaunces there is order set downe as the case them seemeth to require to the end to cut off the mischeieues and sinnes whiche are committed against God and our neighbours tending to the vtter ruine perdition of this new world His Maiestie hath made these lawes after hauing holdē many assemblies of persons of authoritie of learning and conscience and after hauing had disputations and conferences in Valladolyd and finally with the assent and aduise of al those others which haue giuen their aduise in writing and haue been founde neerest approching vnto the law of Iesus Christ and withall free from the corruption and foyle of the treasures robbed from the Indians the which treasures haue soyled the handes and much more the soules