The indians as "personas miserables" in bartolomé de las casas: The ecclesiastical jurisdiction as a remedy for the indies

Del Carpio A.M.V. · Revista de Estudios Historico-Juridicos (2020) · DOI: 10.4067/s0716-54552020000100397

Resumen

In 1545, Bartolomé de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, appealed for the first time to the legal category of personae miserabiles in order to safeguard the jurisdictional protection of the Indians, and to take part in the hearings and defence of their legal cases. This paper presents an analysis of the requests he made to the officials of the Audiencia de los Confines in 1545, as well as of the historical context that influenced Las Casas in claiming ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Indians. The purpose of this research is to expose the aspects of his thinking that underpinned his rationale for associating the Indians with the p e r s o n a s m i s e r a b l e s . I will argue that the essential character of his rationalization was that the Indians were personas miserables because of their state of vulnerability, oppression and abandonment, rather than, as presented in some modern analyses, that the Indians were considered personas miserables based on premises of minority and incapacity.

Instituciones: Universidad Católica San Pablo