KTHE TROUBLES OF CONVERTING AN EMPIRE

Kellen TiborCTH 220-01: Religion and Culture

14 November, 2014

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Table of ContentsIntroduction......................................................................................................................................2

When Worlds Collide......................................................................................................................2

Struggles Between Two Powers......................................................................................................5

The Horror of Slavery......................................................................................................................8

Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9

Bibliography..................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction

History is filled with examples of both human valor and human crisis. Time and time

again, the human race will either exemplify the glory of virtue or the terror of total devastation. It

is a cycle that inevitably repeats itself, and can indeed be considered a central reality of the fallen

state of human existence. But often, these two contrasting states of existence come together at

the same time as righteousness brings balance to crisis. Such is the case of the Spanish

colonization of the New World. In this moment of history, the opposing forces of secular

economic imperialism and genuine missionary zeal coalesced to form New Spain. This period is

wrought with controversy, confusion, and debate over the actions of the conquistadores and their

foils found in Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries. Thus, a question should be asked: how did the

interaction between secular and religious Spanish authorities influence Spanish missionary

activities in the Spanish colonies? The answer will be found to be rightly complex as this paper

argues that the two interacted in manner which hindered true missionary activities because of a

lack of intercultural dialogue wrought by the absolute nature of the Spanish conquest, the

differences in each authority’s motives for conversion of the native peoples, and the secular

encomienda system’s adverse effect on native people’s view of Christianity.

When Worlds Collide

As with any conflict between two radically different groups, the clash between the Native

Americans and the Spaniards reflected the dissonance between the two worldviews; thus, both

the Spanish and Native American worldviews ought to be considered. To properly understand

the Spanish colonization of the New World, it is imperative that one first comes to understand

the broader European context in which it took place. In 1492, the same year that Columbus came

to America, the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula was completed as the last Moors were

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expelled from Granada.1 At this point, the kingdoms of Spain were essentially comprised of a

conglomerate of European and Arab elements as both the geopolitical and philosophical

foundations of Spanish culture were formed. One element of this new Hispanic identity was the

idea that the aims of the Church and state were one and the same, an idea derived from the

former caliphate and the close link between Church and state in the Middle Ages.2 Indeed, the

motives of the monarchs Isabella, Charles, and Philip were all motivated by this; they believed

that Spain was elected by God to bring Salvation to the world.3

Settlers began to arrive en masse after the conquests of the Inca and Aztecs. By 1600,

approximately 175,000 Hispanic settlers lived in New Spain.4 Especially in the early 16th

century, many of the same ideas of the Reconquista were retained in the settlers, a mindset

served to be an obstacle to the motives of the Crown. It can be twistedly seen that a

fundamentalist view toward the native peoples took hold, analogous to the fighting spirit which

expelled the Moors from Iberia.5 Perhaps the summation of this view held by many secular

colonists is found in a quotation from Oviedo y Valdés: “Who can doubt that gunpowder shot

against the heathen is incense for the Lord?”6 No matter how noble were the intentions of the

monarchs, the reality of the situation was that many colonists went to the point of doubting the

existence of ratio in the minds of the native peoples, despite the Crown and Church’s clear

claims to the contrary.7

1 Herbert Eugene Bolton and Thomas Maitland Marshall, The Colonization of North America (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1936), 13.2 Enrique Dussel, A History of the Church in Latin America, trans. by Alan Neely (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 38.3 Ibid.4 Karl W. Butzer, “Spanish Colonization of the New World: Cultural Continuity and Change in Mexico,” Erdkunde 45, no. 3 (1991): 207.5 Dussel, 37.6 Oviedo y Valdés, Historia General, I, 523, quoted in Hans-Jürgen Prien, Christianity in Latin America, trans. Stephen Buckwalter, (Leiden: Konkinklijke Brill NV, 2013), 71.7 Hans-Jürgen Prien, Christianity in Latin America, trans. Stephen Buckwalter, (Leiden: Konkinklijke Brill NV, 2013), 69, 71.

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Both this twisted understanding of humanity as well as Christianity stood in stark contrast

to the worldview of the Native Americans. A fundamental belief of native religions, similar to

other pagan religions of Eurasia, was the necessity of preserving the cosmic order.8 Christianity,

in contrast, does not require the ritual preservation of anything of the physical world; this was a

barrier in the conversion of the pagans in Europe, and was certainly a barrier in converting the

Native American peoples. Ethics in Christianity is intrinsically tied to individual choice, whereas

the Native American view is that evil deities upset the cosmic order, leading to conflict and bad.9

These two views are vastly different, showing the basic philosophical difficulties in converting

primitive or ritual-stage religion followers to the theological level found in Christianity.

To compound the struggles found in basic questions of belief, the method of Spanish

conquest was so complete that it led to the complete disintegration of the Native American

world.10 For example, the institution of human sacrifice, however terrible, was an integral part of

Aztec culture; it was essential to ensuring the existence of the universe. When this practice as

well as other folkways of native cultures were eradicated, there was simply no one with a

theological or philosophical basis to bridge the gap between the two ways of life. With the entire

government and social systems under which the native cultures came into existence eradicated,

the people had no foundation from which they could learn to view the new worldview of

Christianity. The conquerors were unable to assimilate any native cultural traits for a multitude

of reasons, not the least of which being the combination of the aforementioned lack of

philosophers and the multitude of language barriers.11 The inability for either group to properly

understand each other was a major barrier to any authentic missionary work, and the further

actions of the Spaniards would make true conversions extremely difficult.8 Ibid., 68.9 Ibid.10 Dussel, 41.11 Ibid., 42.

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Struggles Between Two Powers

The relation between the Church and secular powers such as Spain during the

Renaissance was complex at best. To compound matters, the relationship between the Church

and the Crown was vastly different from her relationship with colonial authorities. A major

source of controversy which is debated to this day is the relationship between the papacy and the

monarchs of France. By the end of the fifteenth century, Spain had all but established absolute

control over the Church. The Patronato system, established in Provisionis Nostrae and Dum ad

illam, gave the Crown the right to nominate all bishops and eventually ceded all tithes to the

Church to the Spanish government.12 Obviously, the papacy was far from the strong power it

used to be. Inter Caetera was perhaps the summation of the Church’s subservience to Spain, as

she granted all lands west and south of Azores and Cape Verde to Spain13 (see figure 114). Inter

Caetera also brought with it a charge, however; perhaps the Church’s attempt to make some

good come out of her weak situation. The document charges Spain to “instruct the aforesaid

inhabitants and residents in the Catholic faith and train them in good morals.”15

The Crown was willing to undertake this task, and the mission of Spain was now

evangelical in nature. Indeed, it could even be said that the Crown and the Church were striving

for the same goals in New Spain. The view of the Church and truly of the Crown toward native

peoples can be summarized by Bartolomé de las Casas’s writings on “the only way” to

evangelize:

In the old days of paganism, there were countless peoples who were much less rational in their use of mind than our Indians… [All these people] have good and natural

12 Ibid., 39.13 Alexander VI, “Inter Caetera,” May 4, 1493, http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Alex06/ alex06inter.htm.14 Wikimedia, “Cantino Planisphere.” Wikipedia, Accessed October 26, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Inter_caetera#mediaviewer/File:Cantino_planisphere_(1502).jpg.15 Alexander VI.

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intelligence, have ready wills, and thus can be drawn to and taught a complete and sound morality, and more so to our Christian belief.16

As aforementioned, this view affirming the humanity and intelligence of native peoples was

solidified multiple times, such as found in Pope Paul III’s Sublimis Deus.17

Unfortunately, Ferdinand and Isabella were unable to personally lead the colonization

efforts. Indeed, this passage from Enrique Dussel deserves to be quoted in its entirety, as it

summarizes the failure of mission activity and cultural assimilation in New Spain:

According to the laws and decrees emanating from the Spanish Crown and from the Supreme Council of the Indies, the purpose of the conquest of the Americas was essentially missionary. But in actuality this missionary or evangelistic purpose was often negated by the actions of those who engaged in the conquest, actions which were in reality contrary to the laws.18

At some point, there was a miscommunication or a blatant refusal of orders on the part of the

colonial authorities and the conquistadores. In place of evangelization, subjugation ensued. The

details will be discussed later, but it is important here to note that the lack of unified vision

between the Crown and its administrators made the Church’s mission of evangelization

extremely difficult.

There were two major factors which kindled a different set of motivations for colonial

expansion for the colonial government. The aforementioned “crusader spirit” was still very much

alive,19 and the native peoples themselves soon found themselves the object of terms formerly

reserved for the Moors. “Perro indio” (Indian dog) soon replaced perro moro (Moorish dog) on

the lips of the Spaniard.20 Bruto, bestia, fiera, and a plethora of other insults were soon reserved

for native peoples.21 This historical proximity allowed colonists to believe that it was just as good

16 Bartolomé de las Casas, The Only Way, ed. Helen Rand Parish, trans. Francis Patrick Sullivan, (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1992), 66.17 Prien, 70.18 Dussel, 39.19 Ibid., 37.20 Prien, 72.21 Ibid., 71.

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that natives be driven out as it was that the Moors were cast out from the Iberian Peninsula, and

that it might even be God’s will that it be done so, just as they believed it to be at Granada.22

Naturally, this mindset is not predisposed to assisting the Native Americans in conversion.

The other factor was that of the accumulation of wealth. There was gold and silver to be

found in America, and that trade required mining and the agriculture needed to support

settlements. Despite many protests from clergymen, the encomienda system began the practice of

forced labor for Native Americans in 1497. Land was given to Spaniards, and with that land

came the “right” to the labor of the people living on it.23 In addition to the immediate financial

benefits of free labor, the government was able to receive all the income of the cost of

purchasing the land.24 The duty to convert was all but non-existent.

The combination of these two factors led to a massive system of forced labor in New

Spain. Thousands upon thousands of people were essentially enslaved. It is confounding that this

would happen, especially when one considers that Queen Isabella specifically stated that the

native peoples were to be free in 1503.25 The only possible good that may have come from this

was the ability for missionaries to work in areas concentrated with people; the next section will

state why even that was not the case.

The Horror of Slavery

The atrocities committed in the encomienda system stem from the aforementioned

fundamentalist and financial motivations of the colonists, and were recorded by Bartolomé de las

Casas in his work A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Reading the work is nearly

surreal, as it is hard for one to comprehend what can only be described as wanton destruction of

22 Ibid.23 Bolton and Marshall, 22.24 Timothy J. Yeager, "Encomienda or Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of Labor Organization in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America," The Journal of Economic History 55, no. 4 (1995): 844.25 Ibid., 856.

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people on such a massive and systematic scale. Figure 2,26 an original engraving which

accompanied its publication, is perhaps the best summation of the work. In it, thirteen Native

Americans are stripped naked, beaten, and hanged, and burned alive all in honor of the twelve

Apostles and Christ Himself. The work is full of similar stories detailing both the massacre of

people as well as the horrible working conditions under which they exist. One story in particular

recounts how a group of Spaniards on Hispaniola pillaged a village, violently murdering all its

inhabitants, even going so far as to throw babies into a river.27

It should be no surprise then that the Native Americans were slow to listen to any

Spaniard, religious or not, who tried to teach anything; in their mind, there was no difference.

The method of conquest employed by the Spaniards was such that the entire religious order was

destroyed; their temples were dismantled, prayers banned, and rites prohibited.28 This caused a

spiritual vacuum to form, which one might think would naturally be filled by Catholicism.

However, all the previously discussed factors made the mind of the Native American less than

willing to truly convert. So although the people may be baptized en masse, the Spaniards failed

to truly convert the culture.29

As time went on and the encomienda system became entrenched, the brutal system of

forced servitude soon was all that the native peoples knew of the Spaniards. Just as happens all

too often in history, the faith of the conquistadores soon began to be associated directly with

their actions. It was but a short while until the idea of the Spaniard and the Christian were one

and the same in the minds of the native peoples.30 Although the brutality and dehumanizing

26 Theodor de Bry, Indian Country Today Media Network, Accessed October 26, 2014, http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/10/13/indian-holocaust-poem-columbus-day-157325.27 Bartolomé de las Casas, A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, (London: Penguin, 1992; Columbia University Libraries Virtual Reading Room, 2002), http://www.columbia.edu/~daviss/work/files/presentations/ casshort/.28 Prien, 76.29 Dussel, 43.30 Ibid.

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natures of the encomienda system clearly stood in direct contrast to all that the Church is, that is

what existed in the mind of the Native American. This was a huge obstacle that would take years

for the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries to overcome.

Conclusion

The effects of Spanish colonial practices are still felt to this day in Latin America. It is

possible that the encomienda system itself may even have a direct link to the economic

instability of the region.31 For the religious character, it is indeed very possible that without the

appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, true conversion for any Native Americans would not

have been possible. Indeed, the fact that none of the previously used sources bring light to this

historical event is somewhat confusing. However, the brutality of the Spanish conquest was so

complete that even Our Lady has been construed as a strategic ploy to convert Aztecs.32 The

failures of conversion are instead emphasized, such as the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, where the

Franciscans were massacred by the native peoples in New Mexico.33 In the end, the debate which

rages to this day can show just how toxic was the relation between Spanish authorities and the

Church as the Native Americans were converted. The two interacted in manner which hindered

true missionary activities because of a lack of intercultural dialogue wrought by the absolute

nature of the Spanish conquest, the differences in each authority’s motives for conversion of the

native peoples, and the secular encomienda system’s adverse effect on native people’s view of

Christianity. Moving forward, may we all strive to evangelize in a spirit of charity and truth,

remembering the lessons of the past.

31 Yeager, 857.32 Carl Anderson and Eduardo Chávez, Our Lady of Guadalupe (New York: Doubleday, 2009), xiii.33 Sydney E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972), 42.

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Bibliography

1. Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People. Binghamton, New York:

Vail-Ballou Press, 1972. BOOK 1

2. Alexander VI. "Inter Caetera," May 4, 1493, http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Alex06/

alex06inter.htm. PRIMARY 1.

3. Anderson, Carl, and Chávez, Eduardo. Our Lady of Guadalupe. New York: Doubleday, 2009.

BOOK 2.

4. Bolton, Herbert Eugene, and Marshall, Thomas Maitland. The Colonization of North America.

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920. BOOK 3.

5. Butzer, Karl W. "Spanish Colonization of the New World: Cultural Continuity and Change in

Mexico." Erdkunde 45, no. 3 (1991): 205-219. JOURNAL 1.

6. Casas, Bartolomé de las. A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. London: Penguin,

1992; Columbia University Libraries Virtual Reading Room, 2002.

http://www.columbia.edu/~daviss/work/files/presentations/casshort/ PRIMARY 2.

7. Casas, Bartolomé de las. The Only Way. Edited by Helen Rand Parish. Translated by Francis

Patrick Sullivan. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1992. PRIMARY 3.

8. de Bry, Theodor. Indian Country Today Media Network. Accessed October 26, 2014.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/10/13/indian-holocaust-poem-

columbus-day-157325. IMAGE.

9. Dussel, Enrique. A History of the Church in Latin America. Translated by Alan Neely. Grand

Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981. BOOK 4.

10. Prien, Hans-Jürgen. Christianity in Latin America. Translated by Stephen Buckwalter.

Leiden: Konkinklijke Brill NV, 2013. BOOK 5.

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11. Wikimedia. “Cantino Planisphere.” Wikipedia. Accessed October 26, 2014. http://en.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter_caetera#mediaviewer/File:Cantino_planisphere_(1502).jpg

MAP.

12. Yeager, Timothy J. "Encomienda or Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of Labor

Organization in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America." The Journal of Economic History

55, no. 4 (1995): 842-859. JOURNAL 2.

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Figure 1.

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Figure 2.