Vida y escritos de Don Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Tomo I

What it is

This is the first volume of a biography of Bartolomé de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, written by Antonio Maria Fabié and published in Madrid in 1879. Fabié was a member of the Royal Academy of History.

Why it matters

Written over three centuries after Las Casas's death, this biography gathers documents and sources to tell the story of his life and writings in detail. Works like this shaped how later generations understood Las Casas's role as a defender of Indigenous peoples under Spanish colonial rule.

Look closer

• Why might a 19th-century Spanish historian be interested in writing a detailed biography of a 16th-century friar?
• What kinds of documents might a biographer need to collect to write about someone who lived three hundred years earlier?
• How might a biography written in Spain differ from one written in France or elsewhere?