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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 〈…〉

possible for those that liued so sorowfull heauie and woeful alife in such labour without food shoulde liue long The gouernour commanded they shoulde bee paide their day wages and expences for any labour or seruice that they shoulde doe to the Spaniarde and their wages was three blanckes euery two dayes whiche in the yeere amounted to halfe a Castelin that is worth 225 Maruedies wherewith they might buye a Combe a looking glasse and a paire of blew or greene beades Yea many yeeres they had nothing at all paide them but hunger and stripes did so abound that the Indians regarded none of this neither sought any more but euen once to get a good meales meat or to die for all as wishing to forsake so desperate a life He depriued them of their libertie suffering the Spaniards to keepe them in such bitter bondage and prison as no man that had seene it would or coulde once thinke for not leauing them any thing in this worlde free to vse at their pleasures yea notwithstanding the beastes haue some time rest and bee suffered to feede abrode in the fieldes yet woulde not these Spaniards that we speake of graunt the Indians any time or leasure so to doe but the gouernour himselfe would force them to an obsolute perpetuall forced vnwilling bondage For they neuer had their free wil to do any thing at al of themselues because the Spaniards couetousnes crueltie and tyrannie was stil forcing them to some labour not as captiues but as beasts that are led bound to do whatsoeuer man will appoint Againe if at any time they were suffered to depart to their houses to rest them then should they there find neither wife children nor food as also although they had there found any meat yet should they not haue had time to make it readie so that there was no remedie but death Thus grew they into sicknes through long and grieuous trauailes and that was sone caught among thē as being as is aforesaid of a very delicate and tender cōplection much against their nature it was to be thus sodenly contrary to their wont vnmercifully put to such labours to be beatē with staues spurned at besides the calling of thē at euery word Villacos vpbraiding thē that they counterfeated sicknesse like loytering losels because they would not labour When the Spaniards perceiued the sicknes increase so as there was no profit or seruice to be looked for at their hands then would they send thē home to their houses giuing thē to spend in some 30 40. or 80. leagues trauaile some halfe dosen of Radish or Refortes that is a kinde of nauet roote a little Cacabi where with the poore men trauailed not far before they shold desperately die som went 2 or 3. leagues some 10. or 20. so desirous to get to their owne home there to finish their hellish life that they suffered that they euē fel down dead by the waies so as many times we haue foūd som dead others at deaths doore others groning pitifully to their powers pronouncing this word hunger hunger Then the gouernour seeing that the Spaniard had in this wise slaine half or two 3. parts of these Indians whō he had giuen them in commaund he came a fresh to drawe new lottes and make a newe distribution of Indians still supplying the number of his firste gift and this did hee almost euery yeere Pedrarias entred into the firme land as a woolfe that had long beene starued doth into a flocke of quiet and innocent sheepe lambs as Gods wrath and scourge committing infinit slaughters robberies oppressions cruelties together with those spaniards whom he had leuied and laid wast so many townes and villages which before had bin replenished with people as it were an● hilles as the like was neuer seene heard of or written by any that in our dayes haue delt in histories Hee robbed his maiestie subiects with those whom he tooke with him and the harme that he did amounted to aboue four yea sixe millions of gold he laid aboue 40. leagues of land desart namely from Darien where he first arriued vnto the prouince of Nicaraga one of the fruitfullest richest and best inhabited lands in the world From this cursed wretch sprang first the pestilence of giuing the Indians in commaund which afterward hath infected al those Indies where any Spaniards doe inhabite and by whom all these nations are consumed so that from him and his commandes haue proceeded the certaine waste and desolation that your maiestie haue susteined in these so great lands and dominions since the yeere 1504. When we shall say that the Spaniards haue wasted your maiesties and laid you desolate seuen kingdomes bigger then Spaine you must conceaue that we haue seene thē wonderfully peopled and now there is no body left because the Spaniards haue slaine all the naturall inhabitants by meanes aforesaid and that of the townes houses there remaineth only the bare walles euen as if Spaine were all dispeopled and that all the people being dead there remained only the walles of cities townes and castles Out of the 13. reason YOur maiestie haue not out of al the Indies one maruedie of certaine perpetuall set rent but the whole reuenewes are as leaues and straw gathered vpon the earth which beeing once gathered vp do grow no more Euen so is all the rent that your maiestie hath in the Indies vain of as smal cōtinuāce as a blast of wind y t proceedeth only of y t the spaniards haue had y t Indi in their power and as they doe dayly slay and rost the inhabitants so must it necessarilie ensue that your maiesties rights and rentes doe waste and diminishe The kingdome of Spaine is in great danger to bee lost robbed oppressed and made desolate by forraigne nations namely by the Turks and Moores because that God who is the most iust true and soueraigne king ouer all the worlde is wrath for the great sinnes and offences that the Spaniardes haue committed throughout the Indies by afflicting oppressing tyrannous dealings robbing and slaying such and so many people without law or equititie and for the wasting of such and so large landes in so short a space whose inhabitants had reasonable soules and were created and framed to the image and likenesse of the soueraigne trinitie and beeing gods vassals were bought with his most precious blood who keepeth account and forgetteth not one of them but had chosen Spaine as his minis●er and instrument to illuminate and bring them to his knowledge and as it had bin for a wordly recompence besides the eternal reward had graunted her so great natural riches and discouered for her such so great fruitfull and pleasant landes and with al such artificial treasure together with so many incomparable mines of gold siluer stone and precious pearle with infinite other commodities the like whereof were neuer seene ne heard of all which notwithstanding shee hath

what right had the Spaniards ouer the Indians sauing that the Pope had giuen them the said land and I leaue to your iudgemente what right hee had therein for it is doubtfull whether his power doe stretch to the distributing of worldly kingdomes But admit hee had that authority was there therefore any reason that hee should for crying in the night There is a God a Pope a King of Castile who is Lord of these Countries murder 12. 15. or 20. millions of poore reasonable creatures created as our selues after the image of the liuing God Heere doe I as in the beginning I said see a bottomlesse depth of Gods iudgements For it is a small matter to say that the wicked doe molest better men then themselues for the causes aforesaide but to see a whole nation yea infinite nations perish so miserablie and as it semeth without any cause is it that maketh most men to wander yea euen astonisheth such as do examine these effects by the rule of their owne reasons Howebeit we haue two examples in the Bible though not altogether like yet very neere It is saide in the ouerthrowe of Sehon In those dayes wee tooke all his townes and destroyed men women and childen in the same neither left we any thing remaining The like sentence is there also of Og king of Basan yea Moses sone after alloweth all that was done commaundeth Iosua to doe as much to all the other kinges in his iourney as was done to those two If wee seeke the cause of such executions man will bee as it were at his wits ende and stande mute Againe if men should consider the example of king Saule whom God reiected because he did not wholy discomfit Amelec but saued their king and reserued the fattest of their cattell for the sacrifices their vnderstanding woulde giue sentence cleane contrarie to gods What will they say was it not a comēndable yea a noble minde for a king to spare his brother either for an Israelite to spare the cattell to the ende to sacrifice them to the God of Israel yet was Gods sentence pronounced by Samuel cleane repugnant thereto God loueth obedience better then sacrifice And not long before God had commaunded both namely that the Cananites and Amalekites shoulde bee rooted out and therefore hee was to bee obeyed and for their disobedience the Cananites remained thornes in the eyes of Israel and the king of Amalec whome Samuel neuerthelesse hewed in peeces was the subuersion of Saule and his royall familie But here may expresse reasons be alleadged for such iudgements of God which seeming seuere to man are neuerthelesse in that they proceeded from God meere iustice Moses saith when the Lord thy God hath reiected them before thy face think not in thine hearte saying The Lorde for my righteousnesse hath caused mee to enter possession of this lande seeing hee hath for their wickednesse rooted out these nations before thy face For thou art not through thy righteousnes and vprightnesse of heart come to inherite their land but it is for the abhominatiōs of these people whom the Lord thy god hath expelled before thy face True it is that as in a cleeare sunnie light we may more easily discerne all that is obiect to our sight euen so of things conteined in the holy Scriptures commonly the causes are to bee founde but for other matters as the destruction of diuers nations among the Heathen and finally for this so cruell and horrible example conteined in this booke there can bee alleadged no particuler reason other then that gods iudgemēts are bottōlesse pits also that sith he hath done it it is iustly done And yet are not the Spaniardes beeing the executors of this vengeance more excusable then Pilate for condēning our sauiour or Annas or Caiphas for procuring his death notwithstanding gods counsaile and hand wrought those things For behold gods sentence pronounced against the wicked whom he vseth in chastening the good whom by those meanes he doth trie and punisheth the wicked according to their desarts Oh Asshur the rod of my wrath and the staffe in their hands is my indignation I will sende him to a dissembling nation I wil giue him a charge against the people of my wrath to take the spoyle and to take the pray to treade them vnder foote like the mire in the streete But he thinketh not so neither doth his heart esteeme it so but he imagineth to destroy and to cut off not a few nations For he saith Are not my princes altogether kings Is not Calno as Charchemish Is not Hamath like Arpad Is not Samaria as Damascus Like as my hande hath found the kingdomes of Idols seeing their idols were aboue Ierusalem aboue Samaria Shall not I as I haue done to Samaria and to the Idols thereof so do to Hierusalē to the idols thereof But when the Lord hath accōplished al his worke vpō mount Siō Ierusalē I wil visit the frute of the proude hart of the K. of Ashur his glorious proud lookes because he said by the power of my own hand haue I done it by my wisdom because I am wise Therfore I haue remoued the borders of the people haue spoiled their treasures and haue pulled downe the inbabitants like a valiant man And my hand hath found as a nest c. So that although the wicked for a time doe triumph yet doth not God leaue their abhominable cruelties vnpunished But Gods iudgements being in the mean time such that by the wicked he punisheth those that be wicked notwithstanding their wickednes be somewhat lesse as also the good bee chastised by the cruell and bloodthirstie it is certaine that wee are not thereby to iudge that our selues shall haue the victorie ouer our enemies because our cause is the better for we are replenished with vice enough whereby to leaue vnto god sufficient matter to punishe vs. And therefore as I saide two thinges mee thought and yet mee seemeth in these Countries worthie admiration One is that wee trusting that the defence of our libertie is vnto vs a iuste occasion doe not in the meane time consider that wee commit no lesse faults then those which Ezech cast in the Sodomites teeth Beholde the iniquitie of thy sister Sodom was pride fulnesse of bread and the ease of Idlenes these were in her in her daughters and 〈…〉 as if we had made attonement with death we fear not gods iudgemēts If we looke vpon the 〈…〉 may see a great abuse in gods seruice but so far are we from indeuoring to correct it that contrariwise some would that the remembrance of God at the least for this time might be buried in obliuion therein resembling on or the children which would that during their infancie there might grow no twigge● in the wood● Others 〈…〉 reformed being neuer the lesse reformed but in mou●● 〈◊〉 For the wine and the harpe as the prophet saith are as common in their bankets

shewed herselfe so vnthankfull in yeelding euill for so many benefites which shee had receiued And God ordinarily vseth this rule in executing his iustice punishment that is that he chastizeth sinne with the same or with that which is quite contrarie to that wherwith the sinne is committed The destructions griefes violences iniuries cruelties and murders done and committed against those people are so greate horrible publike euident that the teares lamētations blood of so many innocent persons doe ascende to the high throne of heauen doe not returne before they haue sounded in y t very eares of God from whence they after descend and straying ouer the face of the earth doe ring in the eares of al forraigne nations so horrible and inhumaine as may be wherupon ensueth among the hearers great offence horror abhomination hatred and inf●mie toward the kinges and commons of Spaine whereof in time to come may ensue great damage Out of the said Bishop and authours protestation THose losses and detrimentes that by these occasions the crowne of Castile and Leon together with the rest of spain haue susteined as also such other spoyles and slaughters as hereafter will bee committed throughout the whole Indies both the blinde shall see the deafe heare the dumbe publishe and the wise shall iudge Further in as much as our life is short I doe take God to witnesse with all the Hierarchies and thrones of Angels all the saints of the heauenly court and all the men in the worlde yea euen those that shall hereafter bee borne of the certificate that here I doe exhibite also of this the discharge of my conscience namely that if his maiestie graunteth to the Spaniards the aforesaide diuelish and tyrannous partition notwithstanding whatsoeuer lawes or statutes shall bee deuised yet will the Indies in short space be laid desart and dispeopled euen as the Ile of Hispaniola is at this present which other wise would bee most fruitfull and fertile together with other the Iles lands aboue 3000. leagues about besides Hispaniola it self and other landes both farre and neere And for those sinnes as the holy scripture doth very well informe mee God will horribly chastize and peraduenture wholy subuert and root out all Spaine Anno 154● The Prologue of Bishop Bortholomewe de las Casas or Casaus to the most mightie Lord and Prince of Spaine Don Philip our good Lorde MOst high and mightie Lorde of late I was moued and by the kings most vigilant counsaile for the Indies vpon their zeale and honour that they beare to our Lord God as also hartie loyalie wherwith they be adorned for his maiesties seruice forced in writing to set downe suche matter as to your person by mouth I haue heretofore reported namely what I thought touching the title and claime that the kings of Castile doe make to the soueraigne and vniuersall principalitie ouer the Indians notwithstanding some did arise who misliking that I dealt and trauailed with his maiestie and your highnes about the discomfitures and losses compassed and perfourmed against the people of those countries and reported that in as much as I did so far detest and with such bitternesse and sharpnes did abhorre them as also I will still doe so long as I liue I doe call in doubt and somewhat deminish the said royall title and right In which deede as a testimonie what I did think and in truth according to God and his holy lawe doe still hold I exhibited 30. propositions deuoid of all other proofe then what eache of them in it selfe did conteine the one of necessitie following the other because I was driuen to send them to his maiestie vnder pretence of the great counsaile that then was holden Afterward proceeding and persisting in desire to serue god by 〈◊〉 felling some mens slanders who either for want of comprehending the truth or els hauing some other purposes contrarie meanings do presume vnder a fained and counterfet kinde of seruice to the kings who of thēselues naturally are endued with courteous simple mindes and hearts iudging measuring all other by themselues to present vnto them a poysoned bitter peraduenture a mortall drinke which doth not only waste kingdomes common wealthes in procuting their carefull calamities dolorous destruction but also doe bring euen the kinges owne persons to the pit of manifest danger irreparable detriments and losses With which frandulous counsails they doe infect so much as in thē lieth the good godly affections of kings and do subuert all the princes vertuous deuises studies Hereof did sometime that most mightie king Artaxerxes otherwise tearmed Assuerus complaine as appeareth in the booke of Hester I haue so indeuoured my selfe most mightie Lord that now I haue set in hand the proofe of the said 30. propositions some more comprehending the whole in this brief summarie which is taken out of a greater volume wherein euery article is more perticulerly expounded herein setting in sight only the 17. and 18. proposition because the whole substance of this matter may be reduced to these two propositions as to the principles ends The title here of should in my opinion haue been A probatorie tretise of the soueraigne Empire and vniuersal principalitie which the kings of Castile haue ouer the Indies As presupposing that it is manifest proued in that the Apostolike sea hath graunted it and that there needeth no other opening of the reasons whereupon the graunt of this empire consisteth I purpose in this treatise chiefly to discharge my conscience vsing that meane which it seemeth that Gods prouidence hath appointed me My great age for I am aboue 50. being the cause of my large knowledge and eye experience of the Indian affaires also to giue notice of that which passed in these partes as also what was to be done euer referring my self to the like desire that the disorders that I haue there seen practised might be redressed And the rather because those that hinder this redresse are most hurtful to those lāds are such as being deuoid of truth iustice do indeuout by counteseating and mingling that which is false vntrue and withall seeming to doe it for your maiesties seruice especially colouring your right to this new worlde are in trueth altogether withstanders of your seruice weale either spirituall or temporall as euery true christian wise man wil graunt The other benefite that I hope to obteine and reape by this treatise is that I shall detect and vnfold those mens errours who rashly dare affirme that the right and principalitie of the kinges of Castile ouer the Indians is or shoulde consist of armes and great force entring vpon them euen as Nemrod who was the first hunter and oppressour of mankinde did euer and establishe his principalitie as the holy scripture testifieth either as great Alexander and the Romans and all other cotable and famous tyrants doe lay the foundation of their Empires also as the