Leyes de Burgos
Encyclopedia
The Leyes de Burgos promulgated on December 27, 1512 in Burgos
Burgos
Burgos is a city of northern Spain, historic capital of Castile. It is situated at the edge of the central plateau, with about 178,966 inhabitants in the city proper and another 20,000 in its suburbs. It is the capital of the province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León...

, Kingdom of Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...

 (Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

), was the first codified set of law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

s governing the behavior of Spaniards in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

, particularly with regards to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 ('native Caribbean Indians'). They forbade the maltreatment of the indigenous people, and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

. The laws were created to avoid the legal problem that had arisen from the conquest and Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...

 in the West Indies, where the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...

 of Castile
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...

 was not applied.

The scope of the laws was originally restricted to the island of Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

, but was later extended to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

. These laws authorized and legalized the colonial practice of creating Encomienda
Encomienda
The encomienda was a system that was employed mainly by the Spanish crown during the colonization of the Americas to regulate Native American labor....

s
, where Indians were forcibly grouped together to work under colonial masters, and limited the size of these establishments to between 40 and 150 people. However, they also established a minutely regulated regime of work, pay, provisioning, living quarters, hygiene
Hygiene
Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...

, and care for the Indians in a reasonably protective and humanitarian spirit. Women more than four months pregnant were exempted from work.

The document also prohibited the use of any form of punishment by the encomenderos, reserving it for officials established in each town for the implementation of the laws. It also ordered that the Indians be catechized
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...

, outlawed bigamy
Bigamy
In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...

, and required that the huts and cabins of the Indians be built together with those of the Spanish. It respected, in some ways, the traditional authorities, granting chiefs exemptions from ordinary jobs and granting them various Indians as servants.

The poor fulfillment of the laws led to many protests and claims. The laws were so often poorly applied that they were seen as simply a legalization of the previous poor situation. This would create momentum for reform, carried out through the Leyes Nuevas ("New Laws") in 1542, and the Laws of the Indies
Laws of the Indies
The Laws of the Indies are the entire body of laws issued by the Spanish Crown for its American and Philippine possessions of its empire. They regulated social, political and economic life in these areas...

 to encompass the Papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....

 and all edicts.

Origins

Cardinal Archbishop
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

 Domingo de Mendoza of Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

, heard reports of the abuse of the Americas' Indians and sent a group of Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

 missionaries to Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

 to try to stop the terrible treatment. Though they couldn’t physically stop it, the missionaries stirred up enough trouble that the settlers feared they would lose their property interests; Fray Antonio de Montesinos
Antonio de Montesinos (Dominican friar)
Antonio de Montesinos was a Spanish Dominican friar on the island of Hispaniola who, with the backing of his prior, Fray Pedro de Córdoba and his Dominican community at Santo Dominigo, preached against the enslavement and harsh treatment of the Indigenous peoples of the Island...

 preached to the colonists that they were sinning and didn’t have the right to force the Indians to serve them, claiming they should be converted to Christianity. The colonists disagreed and decided the best way to protect their interests was to come together as a group and choose a Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 Friar named Alonso de Espinal to present their case to King Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...

 and refute Montesinos’ accusations. Their plan backfired, though, and King Ferdinand was outraged by the abuses against the Indians; he pleaded ignorance, and to help remedy the situation commissioned a group of theologians and academics to come up with solution.
Dominican Friars
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

, under the sponsorship of Diego de Deza, supported the scientific examination of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...

's claims for exploring the West that he presented to the ruling Queen of Castile, Isabel I of Castile and her husband, King of Aragon Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...

. After 1508, the Friars formed a nucleus that pressured Spain to defend the aboriginal American Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 from becoming serfs or slaves of the new colonists. They obliged King Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand the Catholic was King of Aragon , Sicily , Naples , Valencia, Sardinia, and Navarre, Count of Barcelona, jure uxoris King of Castile and then regent of that country also from 1508 to his death, in the name of...

 and his daughter, ruling Queen of Castile, Joanna "the Mad", to approve and to be bound by the so-called 1512 Laws of Burgos. In Burgos on December 27, 1512, thirty-five laws were put into effect to secure the freedom of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 and to enforce Indian Reductions
Indian Reductions
Reductions were settlements founded by the Spanish colonizers of the New World with the purpose of assimilating indigenous populations into European culture and religion.Already since the beginning of the Spanish presence in the Americas, the Crown had been concerned...

 governing conversions.

Summary of Each Law

1: The Indians are to be removed from their land and placed into encomiendas. For every fifty Indians, four lodges shall be built (thirty by fifteen feet). This land cannot be taken from them since they were taken from their original land. Their original land will be burned so that they cannot return to it. The Indians will do the planting of all of the food. During the proper seasons, the encomenderos (men looking over the Indians) will have the Indians plant corn and raise the hens.

2: The Indians will leave their land voluntarily to come to the encomiendas so that they shall not suffer from being removed by force.

3: The citizen to whom the Indians are given must erect a structure to be used as a church. In the church must be a picture of Our Lady and a bell with which to call the Indians to prayer time. The person who has them in the encomienda must go with them to church every night and make sure they cross themselves and sing several hymns. If an Indian does not come to the church, he is not allowed to rest the next day.

4: To make sure the Indians are learning Christianity properly, they shall be tested every two weeks and taught what they do not know by the Encomendero. He shall teach them the Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

, the Seven Deadly Sins
Seven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...

, and the Articles of Faith
Articles of Faith
Articles of faith are sets of beliefs usually found in creeds, sometimes numbered, and often beginning with "We believe...", which attempt to more or less define the fundamental theology of a given religion, and especially in the Christian Church....

. Any encomendero that does not do this properly will be fined six gold pesos
Pesos
Pesos may refer to** Peso, the currency, in plural form* Fenfluramine, by the trade name Pesos...

.

5: A church will be built equidistant from all estates. On Sundays, Mass shall be observed and a feast will be eaten. If the encomendero does not bring his Indians, he will be charged ten gold pesos.

6: If The church is too far away, another will be built.

7: The priests who collect tithes from the estates must have priests continually in the churches of the estates.

8: There shall be churches built at the mines so that the Indians working the mines may hear mass on Sundays.

9: Whoever has fifty Indians must chose one boy who the encomendero thinks is able, to be taught to read and write, and also the importance of Catholicism. This boy will then teach the other Indians because the Indians would more readily accept what the boy says then what the Spaniards says. If the encomendero has one hundred Indians, two boys shall be chosen. The faith must be ingrained into their heads so the souls of the Indians are saved.

10: If an Indian falls sick near where there is a priest, the priest must go to him and recite the Credo
Credo
A credo |Latin]] for "I Believe") is a statement of belief, commonly used for religious belief, such as the Apostles' Creed. The term especially refers to the use of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the Mass, either as text, Gregorian chant, or other musical settings of the...

 and other profitable things of the Catholic faith. The Indian shall make confession without being charged a fee. If the Indian is to die, he shall be buried with a cross near the church. If he is not buried, the encomendero owes a fine of four gold pesos.

11: The Indians must not be used as carriers for transporting things to the Indians at the mines.

12: All Spanish inhabitants who have Indians in an encomienda must have the infants baptized within a week of their birth.

13: After the Indians have been brought to the estates, gold shall be searched for as follows: Indians in an encomienda must search for gold for five months a year and at the end of the five months are allowed to rest for forty days. During the forty days, the Indians are not to be employed, unless they are a slave and accept to plant the crops. During the forty days, the Indians will be further instructed in faith since they have more time do learn.

14: The Indians must be allowed to perform their sacred dances.

15: All citizens who have Indians are required to feed them breads, yams, peppers, and on Sundays feed them dishes of cooked meat. For every offense, a fine of two gold pesos shall be paid.

16: According to Catholicism, the Indians are not allowed to have more than one wife at a time and they are not allowed to abandon their wives.

17: Sons of the chiefs of the Islands who are under the age of thirteen are to be given to the Friars so they can be taught how to read, write, and other things about Catholicism. When the sons reach the age of nineteen, they are to return to the encomienda and teach the others.

18: Pregnant women are not to be sent to the mines or made to plant the crops. They shall be kept on the estate and made to do household duties such as cooking and weeding. After the child is born, she can nurse it until it is three years old. After this time, she can return to the mines and other duties.

19: The Indians should not sleep on the ground. Each encomendero should provide his Indians with hammocks.

20: The Indians are to be given one gold peso every year to pay for clothing.

21: Indians may not change their masters. One encomendero cannot employ or house an Indian belonging to another encomendero.

22: The Indian chiefs are allowed two Indians to perform personal duties for every forty of their subjects. Also, visitors to the estates must treat the Indians well and teach them what they know of Catholicism.

23: Official inspectors must keep records of the activities and also the treatment of the Indians in the encomiendas. They must keep track of the population and how much gold is being mined.

24: The Indians are not to be physically or verbally abused for any reason.

25: The Indians are not to be used in private trade or for any other economic interest.

26: Encomenderos that have their Indians working in distant mines shall combine efforts with other estates to help provide food for the Indians.

27 Indians from other lands must also be taught the things of the Catholic faith. They are to be treated kindly, unless they are slaves.

28: If an encomendero dies, his successor takes control of the Indians.

29: Two inspectors should be appointed to each Estate.

30. The inspectors are to be chosen by the Admiral, judges, and officers. These people should be compensated by being given Indians in encomienda.

31. Villages should be inspected two times a year, once in the beginning of the year, and once in the summer.

32: If there is a runaway Indian, inspectors cannot apprehend them. They must be given to a man of good conscience who will find the Indians' encomendero.

33: All inspectors should hold a copy of the Laws of Burgos, signed by the Governor.

34: Inspectors must be provided residencias.

35: One person may not have more than one hundred and fifty Indians and no less than forty Indians in encomienda at one time.

Amendments were added to the Laws or Burgos on July 28, 1513.

1: Indian women married to Indian men are not to be forced to serve with their husbands at the mines or anywhere else unless it is by their own free will or unless their husbands wish to take them.

2: Indian children do not have to do the work of adults until the reach the age of fourteen. They are then made to do the tasks of children, like weeding or working in their parents estates.

3: Unmarried Indian women who are under the authority of their parents have to work with them on their lands. Those not under the authority of their parents must be kept apart so they don’t become vagabonds.

4: After two years of service, the Indians are free to go. By this time they will be civilized and proper Christians, able to govern themselves.

Results

The Laws of Burgos did nothing to save the Native Indigenous peoples of Hispaniola. The Indians of the Americas were still heavily exploited, with significant population declines. This arose the conscience of Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...

, a former Encomendero who regretted his ways and spent the rest of his life working to bring freedom back to the Indians. He wrote, “What kind of Doctrine could be taught by unlettered and worldly laymen, commonly for the most part ignorant even of crossing themselves, to infidels of a language very different from Castilian who never learned but these few words: ‘Give me water; give me bread; go to the mines; go to work,’ and who had yet be taught the first principles of the Christian Faith?”

He believed that the New World was granted to Spain and Portugal solely for the conversion of the Native residents. The Indians, he believed, should not be used for other purposes, especially not for profit. The only solution was to remove the presence of the Spanish colonists from the Indians, except for practicing missionaries.

On 28th July 1513, 4 more laws were added in what is known today as Leyes Complementarias de Valladolid 1513, three related to Indian women and Indian children and another more related to Indian males. They were operational till 17th November 1526 whereby the so called Ordenanzas de Granada 1526  came effective. These new amended laws reflected the theological and political disputes within the Spanish theologians and the intervention of the Roman Catholic Popes advisers included .

They have been dealt with since the creation of the Council of the Indies, March 1523, by king Charles I of Spain, a.k.a. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V
Charles V
Charles V may refer to:* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor , also Charles I of Spain* Charles V of Naples , better known as Charles II of Spain* Charles V of France , called the Wise...

, the son of Queen Joanna I if Castile, "The Mad", whose 1st President was Dominican Friar and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church since 1530 under pope Clement VII Medici, (1478–1534), a former General of the Dominican Order
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...

, 1518–1524, Juan Garcia de Loaysa y Mendoza, (1478–1546), Archbishop of Sevilla, 1539 - 1546.

The later "Ordenanzas de Granada", 1526, were discussed, mainly, between king Charles I of Spain and "Licenciado" Rodrigo de Figueroa as a consequence of the extensive Institutional Battling promoted by famous Dominican Father Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...

, an offspring of a merchant family from Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

, dealing in the past with black African slaves brought to the Caribbean islands, apparently, since no less than 1501, borrowing perhaps, in some cases, of the sociological views on "evangelization" of renowned Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Professor at University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...

, circa 1510, John Mair
John Mair
John Mair was a Scottish philosopher, much admired in his day and an acknowledged influence on all the great thinkers of the time. He was a very renowned teacher and his works much collected and frequently republished across Europe...

, a.k.a. John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

, (1467–1550).

Some references

  • Pedro FERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ. "los dominicos en el contexto de la primera evangelizacion de Mexico, (1526 - 1550)", Salamanca, Edit. San Esteban, 308 pages, (1994),

  • A. MORO OREJON. "Ordenanzas reales sobre los Indios, (Las Leyes de 1512-1513)". Anuario de Estudios Americanos, 13, (1956), pp 317 – 371.

  • R. KONETZKE. Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de la Formacion Social de Hispano-America, 1493-1810, Vol. 1, 1493–1592, Madrid, C.S.I.C., (1953).

  • R. ALTAMIRA. "El texto de las Leyes de Burgos de 1512". Rev. de Historia de America, 4, (1938), pages 6 – 79.

  • V. D. CARRO. "La Teologia y los Teologos-Juristas Españoles en la Conquista de America", Madrid, C.S.I.C., 2 vols, (1944). 2nd edition, Salamanca, (1951).

External links



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