Dos Antiguas Relaciones de la Florida . By Genaro Garcia . (México: J. Aguilar y Comp. (S. en C.) 1902. Quarto, Pp. CII, 226.)

Under the above title Señor Garcia publishes for the first time two valuable documents, namely Vida y Hechos de Pero Menendez de Avilés, etc., by Bartolomé Barrientos, and Relacion de los Trabajos que la Gente de Una Nao Llamada Nra Señora de la Merced Padecio, etc., by Fray Andrés de San Miguel.

Señor Garcia's introduction to the volume, occupying more than ninety pages, is divided into three chapters. The first is made up of biographical and bibliographical notes on the authors whose works he publishes. Chapter II, entitled “La Florida,” contains nine sections, devoted respectively to early explorers, to Juan Ponce de León, Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón, Pánfilo de Narvaez, Hernando de Soto Jean Ribaut, René de Laudonniére, Pedro Menendez de Avilés, and to the natives. In the third chapter, treating of the natives of America under Spanish rule, Señor Garcia writes in a vein in keeping with his recently published Carácter de la Conquista Española en América y en México según los Textos de los Historiadores Primitivos (reviewed in The Quarterly, Vol. VI, No. 1). He exhibits from the Spanish historians themselves the harsh treatment received by the natives at the hands of the conquistadores. Nor does he spare the Spanish rulers, but charges them with not taking care to properly regulate the management of the Indians in the interest of humanity. He disproves of calling Isabella protector of the natives, and accuses Charles V. of neglect to clothe the local authorities in America with power to proceed against individuals guilty of ill treatment of the Indians. Although this chapter is not a constructive study of Spanish colonial institutions, it throws valuable light on some phases of the question with which it deals. In this connection the editor takes occasion to reply, in a foot note of perhaps a thousand words, to two Spanish writers who have attacked his recent work mentioned above. Señor Garcia knows his ground, has a high spirit, and can take care of himself in a tilt with his critics.

Among the few things that Señor Garcia is able to tell us about Barrientos, author of the Vida y Hechos, are the facts that he was professor of Latin in the University of Salamanca, an accomplished scholar, and an ardent Catholic. The work was written in 1568, but soon disappeared, and in spite of the efforts of bibliophiles to find it, remained hidden until 1885, when it was unexpectedly offered for sale in Madrid. It is divided into 52 chapters, occupying 152 pages. It deals in part with a description of Florida, but more largely with the deeds of Menendez de Avilés. Barrientos was partisan enough to look upon the massacre of the Huguenots as an `heroic deed' brought about by divine agency, and perhaps his prime motive in writing it was to give Philip II. the satisfaction of reading about the destruction of the `Lutherans.' Barrientos was probably not in Florida with Menedez, but, says Señor Gracia, as he wrote from plentiful first-hand material, furnished by personal witnesses of the events he describes, he has given us, perhaps, in spite of his strong Catholic bias, the most authentic account of the Menendez expedition.

Fray Andrés de San Miguel came to the New World in 1593, in a ship called Nuestra Señora de la Merced. His detailed account of the voyage is the second Relacion published in the volume under review. He came to America a second time in 1597, entered a religious house at Puebla, and later became a noted scholar and engineer. Commenting on his Relacion Señor Garcia says: `Independently of the unquestionable merit it possesses of having been written by a witness of the events embraced in it, other circumstances exist which make it doubly valuable, such as its constant truth, its delicate beauty, its natural and exquisitely tasteful grace, the ingenuous fidelity of the characters, the dramatic interest, sustained without effort, and the valuable teachings in which it abounds.'

H. E. B.

How to cite:
"Dos Antiguas Relaciones de la Florida", Volume 006, Number 3, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 255 - 256. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v006/n3/review_15.html
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