Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Introduction
- 1 Seville and Early Modern Spain
- 2 To the Indies
- 3 The Genesis of the Black Legend
- 4 Conversion
- 5 Protector of the Indians
- 6 “Micer” Las Casas at Court Looking for Good Spanish Peasants
- 7 Las Casas the Political Animal
- 8 Catastrophe in Tierra Firme and the “Long Sleep” in Puerto Plata
- 9 Coming Out to Battle
- 10 The New Laws
- 11 Bishop of Chiapas
- 12 The Great Debate
- 13 Court Activist and Historian
- 14 The Final Fights
- Conclusion
- Epilog
- Bibliographical Essay
- Index
- References
13 - Court Activist and Historian
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Figures
- Introduction
- 1 Seville and Early Modern Spain
- 2 To the Indies
- 3 The Genesis of the Black Legend
- 4 Conversion
- 5 Protector of the Indians
- 6 “Micer” Las Casas at Court Looking for Good Spanish Peasants
- 7 Las Casas the Political Animal
- 8 Catastrophe in Tierra Firme and the “Long Sleep” in Puerto Plata
- 9 Coming Out to Battle
- 10 The New Laws
- 11 Bishop of Chiapas
- 12 The Great Debate
- 13 Court Activist and Historian
- 14 The Final Fights
- Conclusion
- Epilog
- Bibliographical Essay
- Index
- References
Summary
I have not run away from being your shepherd;
you know I have not desired the day of despair.
What passes my lips is open before you.
Do not be a terror to me;
you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
Let my persecutors be put to shame,
but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
destroy them with double destruction.
Jeremiah 17:16–18Court Activist and Historian
Sometime in 1550 Las Casas turned sixty-five years old. After settling in at the Dominican College of San Gregorio in Valladolid and having resigned his bishopric, one might have expected a normal friar to have eased into retirement, a time of rest, perhaps reflection, certainly prayer, and camaraderie with his fellow Dominicans. This is, after all, the twilight of one’s life, the “golden” years in modern parlance, a time devoted to enjoying some of the pleasantries of life that one’s body and soul could still enjoy. And one prepared, directly or indirectly, for the transition from life in this world, through the portal of death, to life in the next.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Bartolomé de las CasasA Biography, pp. 387 - 428Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012