Prudentia: Thomas Aquinas Interpreted by Bartolomé de Las Casas (original) (raw)

In 1547, Bartolomé de las Casas returned definitively to Spain and resigned as bishop after enduring many struggles with the settlers in the diocese of Chiapa.1 From there, he continued to write the works which he had partially begun in the "new world."2 One was the Apologética historia sumaria, written in Spanish and the subject of this chapter.3 Las Casas planned a rather comprehensive natural and cultural history of the Native peoples, in large part informed by his personal experience. This plan contrasted with his Historia de las Indias, which attempted to be a systematic-chronological historical account of the Americas-beginning with the colonization by Columbus.4 Worth noting, however, is that Las Casas was not only interested in presenting a historical narrative; he also wanted a descriptive natural and cultural history, which was his core purpose. In the scope of his comprehensive Apologética historia, Las 1 Regarding biographical points, see Isacio Pérez-Fernández, Cronología documentada de los viajes, estancias y actuaciones de Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Estudios monográficos ii (Bayamón: Centro de Estudios de los Dominicos del Caribe, 1984); Thomas Eggensperger, "Bartolomé de Las Casas: Prophetischer Protest gegen Methoden kirchlicher Mission und politischer Kolonisation," in Die Orden im Wandel Europas: Historische Episoden und ihre globalen Folgen, ed. Petrus Bsteh et al. (Vienna: Lit Verlag, 2013), 191-208; idem, "Was bleibt? Zur aktuellen Las Casas-Rezeption," in "Ces gens ne sont-ils pas des hommes?" Évangile et prophétie ("Sind sie etwa keine Menschen?" Evangelium und Prophetie), ed.