Bartolomé de las Casas
A Biography

This is the first major English-language and scholarly biography of Bartolomé de las Casas' life in a generation.

Lawrence A. Clayton (Author)

9781107001213, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 June 2012

504 pages, 10 b/w illus. 8 maps
23.6 x 15.9 x 3.2 cm, 0.81 kg

'… magisterial … Clayton offers an appreciative, and balanced portrait.' Thomas W. Jodziewics, Catholic Southwest

The Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas (1485–1566) was a prominent chronicler of the early Spanish conquest of the Americas, a noted protector of the American Indians and arguably the most significant figure in the early Spanish Empire after Christopher Columbus. Following an epiphany in 1514, Las Casas fought the Spanish control of the Indies for the rest of his life, writing vividly about the brutality of the Spanish conquistadors. Once a settler and exploiter of the American Indians, he became their defender, breaking ground for the modern human rights movement. Las Casas brought his understanding of Christian scripture to the forefront in his defense of the Indians, challenging the premise that the Indians of the New World were any less civilized or capable of practising Christianity than Europeans. Bartolomé de las Casas: A Biography is the first major English-language and scholarly biography of Las Casas' life in a generation.

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.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH], Church history [HRCC2], History of the Americas [HBJK], General & world history [HBG], History [HB]