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"In 1940, [Renown historian] Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal...Bartolomé de las Casa['s writings] deems no historical value due to the inaccuracy of the data"

El Padre Las Casas: Su doble personalidad Paperback – June 1, 2013


Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal, en 1940, comenzó a interesarse por Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, con motivo de tratar de América y Carlos V. Su primera impresión fue adversa respecto a Las Casas, al comprobar su “intenso y monótono apasionamiento”, siempre violento en acusar a conquistadores y encomenderos, siempre melifluo en “exaltar a los indios”. En 1956, trató del Padre Victoria y de Las Casas y comprobó que la por él calificada de “grave inequidad” del dominico no era “una falta moral, sino intelectual”, lo que aclaró por completo en 1957, al examinar documentación fehaciente. Desde entonces, su interés por el problema lascasiano se vio impulsado por la falta de crítica en las biografías del fraile, debido a las circunstancias en que se había formado y propagado su fama póstuma, nunca fundada en la Historia del descubrimiento de las Indias y en la Apologética de los indios, pues se editaron en 1875 y 1909. La fama de Las Casas se debía al opúsculo Destruición de las Indias, impreso en Sevilla en 1552, traducido a seis idiomas en más de cincuenta ediciones y aplaudido con entusiasmo por ser denigrante para España y porque servía como propaganda antiespañola, tanto a los promotores del enfrentamiento en los Países Bajos como a potencias enemigas en la guerra de los Treinta años. La propaganda antiespañola se fundaba en el opúsculo Destruición de las Indias al que Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal no da valor alguno como fuente informativa para la historia, por la imprecisión de los datos que ofrece y por haber sido escrito sólo con el fin de mostrar que los españoles no habían hecho otra cosas en América que robar, destruir, atormentar y matar millones y millones de indios. Cuando escribió Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal el libro que hoy se reedita, La Destrucción de las Indias de Las Casas, con algunos fragmentos de otros folletos, era –y continúa siendo hoy- el único fundamento de la fama mundial de Fray Bartolomé, acrecentada al erigirlo en apóstol los independistas americanos en el primer cuarto del siglo XIX. Con esa fama continúa hoy. Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal escribió el libro que hoy reedita la Real Academia de la Historia con el fin de contribuir a esclarecer lo que era de verdad esta obra de Las Casas y colaborar así a que se formulara una valoración objetiva de las versiones del dominico. No lo consiguió, porque este libro de Menéndez Pidal, editado en 1963, se recibió con el silencio de quienes habrían de rebatir las afirmaciones que en él se hacen, silencio que continúa en nuestros días, como prueba el hecho de que nunca se haya reeditado.

Google translation:

In 1940, Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal began to take an interest in Fray Bartolomé de las Casas when he discussed the Americas and Charles V. His first impression of Las Casas was adverse, as he noted his "intense and monotonous passion," always violent in accusing conquistadors and encomenderos, always honeyed in "exasting [exalting]  the Indians." In 1956, he discussed Father Victoria and Las Casas and found that what he called the Dominican's "grave inequity" was not "a moral failing, but an intellectual one," a fact he clarified completely in 1957 upon examining reliable documentation. Since then, his interest in the Las Casas problem was driven by the lack of criticism in the biographies of the friar, due to the circumstances in which his posthumous fame had been formed and spread, never founded on the History of the Discovery of the Indies and the Apologetics of the Indians, since they were published in 1875 and 1909. Las Casas's fame was due to the pamphlet Destruction of the Indies, printed in Seville in 1552, translated into six languages ​​​​in more than fifty editions and enthusiastically applauded for being denigrating to Spain and because it served as anti-Spanish propaganda, both to the promoters of the confrontation in the Netherlands and to enemy powers in the Thirty Years' War. Anti-Spanish propaganda was based on the pamphlet Destruction of the Indies, to which Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal deems no historical value due to the inaccuracy of the data it offers and because it was written solely to show that the Spanish had done nothing in America other than rob, destroy, torment, and kill millions upon millions of Native Americans. When Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal wrote the book being reissued today, The Destruction of the Indies by Las Casas, along with excerpts from other pamphlets, it was—and continues to be today—the sole basis for Fray Bartolomé's worldwide fame, which increased when he was elevated to an apostle by the American independence movement in the first quarter of the 19th century. That fame continues today. Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal wrote the book now being republished by the Royal Academy of History with the aim of helping to clarify the true nature of this work by Las Casas and thus contribute to an objective assessment of the Dominican's versions. He did not succeed, because this book by Menéndez Pidal, published in 1963, was met with silence from those who would refute the assertions made within it, a silence that continues to this day, as evidenced by the fact that it has never been republished.

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