Is the Spread of Religion a Motive in the Conquest?
One of Spain’s justification for the invasion of the Americas has been said to be the spread of Christianity for the salvation of souls because it was the “Will” of God. However, was that an interest that all Spaniard conquistadors had or it was only in the interest of the Church. Most conquistadors accounts have said that they invaded indigenous territories in the name of God. However, their actions, beliefs, and procedures did not support this claim in any way in the beginning of the “Spanish Conquest”.
Some examples of these procedures and beliefs were: the belief that they were superior to the Indians, that they could and did massacre or exploited the natives, and their procedures were to act upon the interest of the King, therefore, acquiring wealth and power. Thus, these procedures did not follow the theology of Christianity in any way.
If it was not at the beginning that the natives notice this fact, then, they noticed it when they could further understand or compare the actions of the early conquistadors, to that of the teachings of the Church.
Chapter one of the book, “Seven Myth of Spanish Conquest”, explains the procedures conquistadors followed , “the request for submission that was rather absurdly to be read to native communities or armies before hostilities took place” (19). This was one of the first procedures conquistador's followed, thus, it does not hint or say anything about a procedure following religious procedures.
Furthermore, the sixth procedure of conquest was, “of displaying violence, or the theatrical use of violence” (24). These displays were means to create fear on the Natives, the procedures were to kill children, women, and the elderly. Clearly, this was not an act that implied or it could be part of the Christian religion.
Thus overall, there is little evidence in chapter one of, “Seven Myths of Spanish Conquest” that conquistadors followed protocols assign by the ecclesiastical hierarchy. They were, instead, following a procedure that were used in the tactics for warfare.
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ReplyDeleteReligion Was Used as an Excuse. I Agree.
ReplyDeleteI agree that religion is not a motive for conquest. The Spanish conquistadores, like Hernan Cortes, used the excuse that they were medios in the name of Christianity. However, one can see that this was far from the truth by understanding the meaning of the probanza. Matthew Restall states that the probanza, “…had a dual purpose. One purpose was to inform the monarch of events and newly acquired lands…The other purpose was to petition for rewards in the form of offices, titles, and pensions” (12). If the conquistadores were truly self-sacrificing in the name of God, then why did they have to write an embellished account of their deeds in order to gain fame and payment from the king? A true Christian, as anyone was has ever sat through a Christian church service or even read a few pages of the Bible knows, is not concerned with fame and fortune. The ideologies of Christianity are based on living a moral life where greed (profiting off the “spread of Christianity) is a sin.
The Franciscan friar Toribio Motolina wrote, “Who has loved and defended the Indians of this New World like Cortes?” (qtd. 15). While yes, Cortes did make a path for Catholics to be able to convert the natives, his method of conquering the natives was nowhere near “in the Christian spirit”. Using a native translator he captures the Aztec king Montezuma, while killing off massive populations with the diseases him and his men brought. Cortes neither “loved” nor “defended” the Indians, instead he lied to them and killed them. Through the actions of Cortes, one can see that there is no religious motive for conquest but conversion is ultimately inevitable. When a society is invaded and massacred, the remaining survivors, if they want to live, have no choose but to bow to their conquerors and their new God.
I also agree that religion was not a motive for the conquest; clearly, to me, greed and self-promotion were. Unlike the Christian Crusaders of the first crusade, the conquistadors went into the Americas solely for self-desires.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post and Amanda's response, I realize that Restall does not mention religion much, at least in the first few chapters. Perhaps it is not his aim in this book (and yes this is only one source out of many) - the lack of discussing religion helps enforce to me, as a small bit of evidence, that it was not a big motivating factor in the conquests. (Not in the beginning at least).