Carta al Emperador: Refutación a Las Casas sobre la Colonización Española

Motolinia. Carta al Emperador: Refutación a Las Casas sobre la Colonización Española. México: Editorial Jus, 1949. First edition. Octavo. 111, [17]pp. Full morocco with gold tooling along edges of covers and gilt borders on spine. All edges gilt and gold tooled. Dentelles. Marbled endpapers. Title page in red and black lettering. Decorative initials. Critical edition of Motolinia’s famous letter to Charles V of Spain in which he undertook a virulent attack upon Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, intending to discredit him completely. He called him “a grievous man, restless, importunate, turbulent, injurious, and prejudicial” and even an apostate in that he had renounced the Bishopric of Chiapas. He furthermore advised the king to have him shut up for safe keeping in a monastery. Indeed, Franciscan Toribio de Benavente Motolinia did not share the opinions of the Dominican Bartolomé de las Casas who saw the conquest and subjugation of the Indians as a crime and against all Christian morality. Motolinia believed that God would protect the Indians once converted and that the missionary work thus was more important than fighting the encomienda system and he remained a defender of the conquest, the encomienda system and the evangelization. Some age wear on binding with spine and edges rubbed. Text in Spanish. Binding in overall good- to good, interior in very good condition. g. Hardcover. (30001) $65