The Conquest on Trial: Carvajal's "Complaint of the Indians in the Court of Death"

Latin American Originals

by Carlos A. Jáuregui, Micael de Carvajal

Micael de Carvajal's fascinating and unusual play—published by Luis Hurtado de Toledo in 1557—is a rare sixteenth-century theatrical piece about the conquest of the New World. It is a long-ignored but fundamental source for the study of Latin American cultural history. A theatrical version of the Spanish Conquest clearly influenced by Bartolome de Las Casas, the play centers on a group of American natives filing a complaint against the Spanish conquistadors--before a tribunal presided over by Death. They denounce the horrors and crimes committed against them by the conquistadors and colonizers in their idolatrous greed for gold. The play constitutes an allegorical summary of the debates of the day about the emergence of the Spanish Empire, the justification of conquest, the right to wage war against the Indians, the evangelization of the natives, the discrimination against the newly converted peoples of the New World, the exploitation of Indian labor, the extent of the emperor's sovereignty, and the right to resist tyranny. The translation by Carlos Jaúregui and Mark Smith-Soto is the first English edition of this important work. It is presented in an annotated, bilingual edition, with a critical introduction that discusses the origins and ideological significance of the play.

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 2008

Reviews

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked how this book is set up. there is a 50-page introduction that covers historical context, questions of authorship, legal and feel logical debates surrounding the conquest, and other matters of background. The actual text is given in the original Spanish on one side (including original grammar and spelling) and an English translation on the other side. The footnotes explain peculiarities in the original language, historical references, and more information. In addition, the back of the book includes of a simile of the original printing as well as detailed references and an index. once I started reading this book, I could not put it down.