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IMC 2014: Sessions

Session 1019: Legacies of Medieval Empire in Early Modern Iberia

Wednesday 9 July 2014, 09.00-10.30

Moderator/Chair:István Szászdi, Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Valladolid
Paper 1019-aSt James Mata-Indios: Reconquista Rationales in the Conquest of Mexico and the Growth of the Spanish Empire
(Language: English)
Sarah L. Reeser, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, Downtown
Index terms: Hagiography, Military History, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1019-bA Friar against Spanish Imperialism
(Language: English)
Flavio Sanza, Callaghan Centre for War Studies, Swansea University
Index terms: Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Political Thought
Paper 1019-cNatural Liberty and Natural Slavery in 16th-Century Colonial Mexico: Vasco de Quiroga's Critique on Aristotle's Theory of Natural Slavery
(Language: English)
Manuel Méndez Alonzo, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul / Department of Philosophy, University of Ljubljan
Index terms: Historiography - Modern Scholarship, Language and Literature - Spanish or Portuguese, Philosophy, Political Thought
Abstract

Paper -a:
When Cortes and his conquistadors reached the shores of Mexico in 1519, they brought with them the same spiritual protectors that had aided the Spanish during the wars and reconquests of the preceding centuries. Chief among these was St James, the patron saint of Spain and its growing empire, whose appearances in medieval battle chronicles as a heavenly intercessor continued in accounts of the New World. This paper will examine how a Reconquista model of righteous violence was adapted for use in the New World, indicating the changing religious justifications of violence needed by the Spanish and resulting in the transatlantic transformation of James Matamoros into James Mata-indios.

Paper -b:
Bartolome' de Las Casas, a Dominican friar, spent all his life fighting against Spanish imperialism in Central and South America. In 1552 he published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, a terrible and direct writing about atrocities Spaniards committed against Native Americans. My paper will show you how Las Casas was able to develop his ideas in his works (Short Account, De regia potestate, Historia de las Indias) against Spanish imperialism.

Paper -c:
I intend in this work to explore the implications of Roman Law and humanist literature in the New World during the 16th century. I will present the ideas of the bishop of Michoacán: Vasco de Quiroga. He is the creator of the social experiment called 'pueblos hospitales', but he made a critique to the School of Salamanca which grounded greatly on Aristotle and Aquinas. His defense of the Indians was based mainly on the Roman Law and humanist literature by stressing the existence of a natural liberty as universal and inalienable right and denying Aristotle's theory of natural slavery.