{ "id": "tratos-sobre-la-perpetuidad-de-las-encomiendas", "type": "entity", "name": "Ninety years of asking whether encomiendas should be perpetual, and a sale nobody could pay for", "summary": "From 1530 to 1619 the Spanish crown was repeatedly asked to make the encomienda hereditary. The proposal was refused, reversed, ordered, revoked, priced and consulted with theologians, and never resolved. Libro III capítulo XXXII of the Política Indiana sets out that record: the Ratisbon cédula of 1546, the Ghent resolution of 1558, a silver payment the encomenderos of Peru could not raise, and three memorials that died in the Council.", "locale": "en", "tags": [ "colonial-law", "encomienda", "americas", "spanish-empire", "sixteenth-century", "seventeenth-century", "legal-history", "peru", "new-spain", "political-thought", "consejo-de-indias", "moral-theology" ], "relations": [ { "rel": "related", "target": "razones-por-la-perpetuidad-de-las-encomiendas" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "encomenderos-perpetuos-y-el-trato-de-los-indios" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "razones-contra-la-perpetuidad-de-las-encomiendas" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "vuelta-de-las-encomiendas-a-la-corona" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "modos-de-acabarse-las-encomiendas" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "tercia-parte-de-las-encomiendas-del-peru" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "encomienda" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "solorzano-politica-indiana" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "consejo-de-indias" }, { "rel": "related", "target": "herrera-historia-general-decada-octava" } ], "questions": [ "Did Spain ever consider making the encomienda hereditary?", "Why were the New Laws of 1542 revoked in 1546?", "Did the encomenderos of Peru offer to buy perpetuity, and what happened?", "Was it lawful for the crown to sell perpetual encomiendas for money?", "Who argued for perpetual encomiendas and why did the Council never decide?" ], "claims": [ { "id": "c1", "text": "The chapter states its question in its heading and repeats it in its first paragraph, and it is a policy question rather than a doctrinal one. Libro III, capítulo XXXII of Juan de Solórzano Pereira's Política Indiana is headed \"SI HUVIERA SIDO, O SERA OY MAS conveniente conceder las Encomiendas con perpetuidad, y de suerte, que duren, y permanezcan en las casas, y familias de sus posseedores, al modo de los Mayorazgos de España?\" At §1 the author closes his treatise on the encomiendas by saying he wants to dispute by way of conclusion \"otra question, que he visto mover muchas veces à hombres prudentes: conviene à saber, si huviera sido, ò será oy mejor, que como estas Encomiendas se concedieron, y conceden por dos vidas, se huvieran dado, ò se dén de aqui adelante en perpetuidad, de suerte, que se continúen, à modo de los Titulos, y Mayorazgos de España por derecho de sangre entre los successores, de los que las tienen?\" The printed SUMARIO at the head of the chapter has forty-eight heads, numbered to 60, over two pages. This entry is scoped to §§1-10, the chapter's historical record of what was proposed and what became of it.", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c2", "text": "The question is dated to the very beginning of the institution, and the first refusal is tied to the New Laws and to the civil war they caused. At §2 \"hállo, que esta question es tan antigua, que nació casi con las mismas Encomiendas, como lo dice Antonio de Herrera, que los Oficiales Reales de Guatemala la propusieron año de 1530, persuadiendo la conveniencia de la perpetuidad con razones muy eficaces: Pero esto no se admitió por entonces, antes se trató de quitar, las que se havian dado, y que se reduxessen todas à la Corona Real, para lo qual se despacharon el año de 1540, y los siguientes, aquellas, que llamaron Nuevas Leyes de las Indias, de que tantas veces he hecho mencion, y ocasionaron las turbaciones, que son notorias en el Perú, y las mismas huviera avido en la Nueva-España, à no aver sobreseido en su execucion el prudente Consejero Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval, que la governaba.\"", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c3", "text": "The revocation of 1546 is given a reason, and the reason is a general proposition about legislating from reports. At §3 \"el Señor Emperador Carlos V, que firmó estas leyes en Barcelona el año de 1542, las revocò el de 1546, mandando, se distribuyessen las Encomiendas, como antes por dos vidas, por aver descubierto la experiencia, que era dañoso è inutil, lo que se presumió por relaciones, ò razones aparentes, que pudiera ser muy provechoso para aquellas Provincias\", as Justinian confessed in one of his Authentics where Accursius glosses him, \"que muchas leyes se promulgan creyendo ser buenas, y la execucion las descubre dañosas, y malas, de forma, que, es necessario hacer otras nuevas, cerca de lo qual, que es muy digno de notar para nuestros tiempos, discurre bien Pedro Gregorio.\" The page does not say whose experience, nor whose reports; the turbaciones of Peru named in the previous paragraph are the only harm it has specified.", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c4", "text": "Two royal instruments of 1546 are reported as having ordered perpetuity, and what they reserved to the crown is set out. At §4 \"se despachò Cedula por el mismo Señor Emperador en Ratisbona à 12. de Abril del año de 1546, en que se refiere, que los Provinciales de las Religiones, y el Procurador General de la Nueva-España, avian pedido esta perpetuacion, dando muchas razones de la necesidad, y utilidad de ella, y se manda à Don Antonio de Mendoza, que era à la sazon Virrey en aquellas Provincias, que lo ponga en execucion brevemente, dexando las Cabeceras, y Puertos, y otros Pueblos principales en la Corona Real, y la Jurisdiccion Civil, y Criminal, y otros Pueblos assimismo para que se pudiesse hacer merced, à los que adelante sirviessen.\" At §5 another provision of the same emperor given at Guadalajara on 3 August of that year orders the Licenciado Miguel Díaz de Armendáriz, visitador of the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, to distribute among the deserving the encomiendas taken from prohibited persons, \"entre tanto, que Nos proveemos en la perpetuidad de essas Provincias, lo que convenga.\" Neither instrument was opened here in its own printing; both are reported as this page reports them.", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.85 }, { "id": "c5", "text": "What moved the matter furthest was money, and the transaction is described as a purchase that failed for want of payment. At §6 the encomenderos of Peru sent to Spain as their procurador \"un Cavallero llamado Don Antonio de Ribera, para que tratára de este punto con su Magestad, y su Real Consejo de las Indias, y ofreciesse un servicio, ò donativo de dineros muy considerable en nombre de todos, porque se les perpetuassen sus Encomiendas. Porque con esta ocasion el dicho Señor Emperador tomó resolucion de perpetuarlas, estando en Gante à 5. de Septiembre de 1558\", and to execute it named the Conde de Nieva as viceroy of Peru with ample powers, with the Licenciado Virviesca de Muñatones of the Council of the Indies, D. Diego de Vargas Carvajal and Ortega de Melgosa as assistants and Domingo de Gamarra as secretary of the junta, whom \"aun oy llaman en aquella Provincia, el Conde de Nieva, y Comissarios\". The outcome is stated in one clause: \"Pero al cabo se volvieron sin hacer nada, assi por las graves dificultades, que se les fueron ofreciendo en poner en execucion, lo que llevaban à su cargo; como principalmente, porque los Encomenderos del Perú no acabaron de juntar, ni assegurar la gran cantidad de plata, que su Procurador havia ofrecido por esta composicion, y perpetuacion.\" The page names no sum.", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c6", "text": "Whether the crown could take that money at all was referred to theologians, and the author says he holds one of their opinions in the original. At §7, \"sobre si era conveniente hacerla, y licito, y seguro en el Fuero de la Conciencia, llevarles por ella este dinero, fueron consultados los mayores Theologos de aquel tiempo, y Yo tengo en mi poder el parecer original manuscrito, que dió el docto, y grave Varón Fr. Alonso de Castro en Londres à 13. de Enero de 1558, adonde havia passado acompañando à la Magestad del Señor Rey D. Phelipe II, quando se fue à casar con la Señora Reyna de Inglaterra\". Its resolution is quoted in italic on the page: \"que supuesto que las Encomiendas no se quitaban del todo, como lo havia pedido, y aconsejado el Obispo de Chiapa, le parecia mas conveniente, que se concediessen, ò vendiessen de alli adelante en perpetuidad, pues aunque se llevasse precio por esto, carecia de escrupulo, atendido, lo que Santo Thomás escribió à la Duquesa de Brabante, tratando de la venta de los Oficios, como el precio fuesse moderado, y se prefiriessen los mas idóneos, y benemeritos, y se pusiessen leyes saludables, y convenientes para el buen tratamiento de los Indios, y se guardassen, y executassen severamente, para evitar la tyrania de los Encomenderos.\" The licence is conditional on protective legislation being made and enforced; the page gives no evidence that those conditions were ever tested, since the sale never took effect. The \"Obispo de Chiapa\" is named by that title alone and the page supplies no personal name.", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c7", "text": "The second attempt is dated to 1572 and its stated motive is Indian mortality. At §8 \"Pero despues, viendo que los Indios del Perú se ivan disminuyendo mucho por los trabajos, que padecian, y que muchos hombres entendidos libraban el remedio de esto en la perpetuacion de las Encomiendas, se encargó à Don Francisco de Toledo, Virrey de aquel Reyno el año de 1572, que tratasse de introducirla, ò como quien tenia las cosas mas cerca, viesse, lo que podria ser mas conveniente, è informasse de ello al Consejo: el qual lo hizo como lo refiere Antonio de Herrera, y se quedó assi el negocio, sin que se tomasse resolucion.\" That perpetuity was canvassed as a remedy for the decline of the Indian population is the page's own statement of motive, reported at one remove from Herrera; it is not an assertion that the remedy would have worked, and the chapter later argues that it would not.", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.85 }, { "id": "c8", "text": "The last two attempts died in the Council, and the reason given for the failure is the state of the evidence before it. At §9 the procurador of the encomenderos of Peru revived the matter with a printed memorial referred to \"el docto, y grave varon Doctor Eugenio de Salazar, que era del Consejo de Indias, que segun parece no sintió bien de ella, como lo echo de vér por las glossa, ò apostillas, que puso al margen del dicho memorial, que tambien las tengo originales en mi poder.\" At §10 \"no tuvo despues mejor fortuna el Licenciado Juan Ortiz de Cervantes, que murió Oídor de la Audiencia de Santa Fè Nuevo Reyno de Granada, y aviendo venido à esta Corte con semejantes poderes, imprimió sobre la conveniencia de esta perpetuacion otro memorial docto, y bien trabajado, y le presentó en el Consejo el año de 1619. sin poder conseguir, que sobre él se tomasse resolucion, por ventura por las varias, y encontradas opiniones, y relaciones, que siempre ha avido en él, las quales sobre las muchas dudas, y dificultades, que en sí tiene, le han hecho mas perplexo, y confuso.\"", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.9 }, { "id": "c9", "text": "What this entry establishes and what it does not. It establishes that a hereditary encomienda was a live proposal in Spanish government from 1530 to at least 1619; that it was refused in 1530, reversed into total incorporation by the New Laws of 1540-1542, revoked back to two lives in 1546 on the stated ground that experience had shown the incorporation harmful, ordered in perpetuity by a cédula of Ratisbon of 12 April 1546 with cabeceras, ports, principal towns and civil and criminal jurisdiction reserved to the crown, and resolved on again at Ghent on 5 September 1558 in exchange for a money donativo from the encomenderos of Peru which they could not raise; that the licitness of taking that money was referred to theologians, one of whom approved a sale only on conditions of moderate price, preference for the deserving, and protective laws for the Indians severely enforced; and that three further attempts — Viceroy Toledo's commission of 1572, a memorial glossed adversely by Eugenio de Salazar, and Juan Ortiz de Cervantes's printed memorial of 1619 — all ended without resolution. It establishes nothing about what any of this did to the Indians whose tribute and labour were the subject: no encomienda, town or person of the Indies is named in these ten paragraphs, no number is given for the donativo offered, and the two 1546 instruments, the Ghent resolution and Herrera's report were all read here at one remove from a treatise written by a Council of the Indies minister. The pueblos being bargained over appear in the record only as the thing to be perpetuated, and no procurador speaks for them anywhere on these pages.", "sources": [ "solorzano-politica-indiana-1736-perpetuidad-tratos-y-consultas" ], "confidence": 0.9 } ], "takeaways": [], "faqs": [], "evidence_tier": "primary", "evidence": { "level": "industry_observation", "source_types": [ "paper" ] }, "moat_flag": false, "winning_edge": "English-language accounts of the encomienda usually stop at the New Laws of 1542 and their partial reversal, which leaves the impression that the argument about hereditary tenure ended there. It did not: it ran for another seventy years, and this entry prints the whole record from the digitised 1736 Política Indiana in its own words — the Guatemalan proposal of 1530, the revocation of 1546 with its stated reason that experience had contradicted the reports the law was built on, the cédula of Ratisbon and what it reserved to the crown, the Ghent resolution of 1558 and the plain sentence that the encomenderos of Peru could not assemble the silver they had promised for it, the London opinion of Fr. Alonso de Castro licensing the sale only on conditions of moderate price and enforced protective law for the Indians, and the two memorials that died in the Council with an adverse marginal gloss and with none at all. It gives the dates, the instruments and the named men in the order the source gives them, and it says as plainly what the record omits: not one American town, encomienda or Indian party appears in it, and no figure is ever put on what was offered.", "confidence": 0.85, "last_verified": "2026-09-20", "media": [], "x": {}, "canonical_url": "https://hispanic-legacy.com/k/tratos-sobre-la-perpetuidad-de-las-encomiendas", "api_url": "https://hispanic-legacy.com/api/k/tratos-sobre-la-perpetuidad-de-las-encomiendas.json", "jsonld": { "@context": "https://schema.org", "name": "Ninety years of asking whether encomiendas should be perpetual, and a sale nobody could pay for", "description": "From 1530 to 1619 the Spanish crown was repeatedly asked to make the encomienda hereditary. The proposal was refused, reversed, ordered, revoked, priced and consulted with theologians, and never resolved. Libro III capítulo XXXII of the Política Indiana sets out that record: the Ratisbon cédula of 1546, the Ghent resolution of 1558, a silver payment the encomenderos of Peru could not raise, and three memorials that died in the Council.", "url": "https://hispanic-legacy.com/k/tratos-sobre-la-perpetuidad-de-las-encomiendas", "license": "https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html", "dateModified": "2026-09-20", "citation": [ { "@type": "CreativeWork", "name": "Política Indiana, libro III, capítulo XXXII, heading, SUMARIO and §§1-10 — whether it would have been, or would now be, better to grant the encomiendas in perpetuity: the chapter heading 'SI HUVIERA SIDO, O SERA OY MAS conveniente conceder las Encomiendas con perpetuidad, y de suerte, que duren, y permanezcan en las casas, y familias de sus posseedores, al modo de los Mayorazgos de España?'; its printed SUMARIO of forty-eight heads numbered to 60, beginning in the right column of page 419 and ending at head 60 in the left column of page 420; the author's statement at §1 that he closes his treatise on the encomiendas by disputing a question he has seen prudent men move many times, 'si huviera sido, ò será oy mejor, que como estas Encomiendas se concedieron, y conceden por dos vidas, se huvieran dado, ò se dén de aqui adelante en perpetuidad, de suerte, que se continúen, à modo de los Titulos, y Mayorazgos de España por derecho de sangre entre los successores, de los que las tienen?'; the history at §2 that the question 'nació casi con las mismas Encomiendas', the Oficiales Reales of Guatemala having proposed perpetuity in 1530 on Antonio de Herrera's report, that it was not then admitted, and that instead the grants were to be reduced to the Corona Real by the laws despatched from 1540 'que llamaron Nuevas Leyes de las Indias, de que tantas veces he hecho mencion, y ocasionaron las turbaciones, que son notorias en el Perú', averted in New Spain by Don Francisco Tello de Sandoval; the revocation at §3, Charles V having signed those laws at Barcelona in 1542 and revoked them in 1546 'por aver descubierto la experiencia, que era dañoso è inutil, lo que se presumió por relaciones, ò razones aparentes, que pudiera ser muy provechoso', with the Authentic of Justinian glossed by Accursius 'que muchas leyes se promulgan creyendo ser buenas, y la execucion las descubre dañosas, y malas'; the cédula of Ratisbon of 12 April 1546 at §4 answering the Provinciales of the religious orders and the Procurador General of New Spain and ordering Don Antonio de Mendoza to execute the perpetuation 'dexando las Cabeceras, y Puertos, y otros Pueblos principales en la Corona Real, y la Jurisdiccion Civil, y Criminal'; the provision of Guadalajara of 3 August 1546 at §5 to the Licenciado Miguel Díaz de Armendáriz, visitador of the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, 'entre tanto, que Nos proveemos en la perpetuidad de essas Provincias, lo que convenga'; the offer at §6, the encomenderos of Peru having sent their Procurador Don Antonio de Ribera to offer 'un servicio, ò donativo de dineros muy considerable en nombre de todos, porque se les perpetuassen sus Encomiendas', the emperor's resolution taken at Ghent on 5 September 1558 and the junta sent to Peru — the Conde de Nieva as viceroy, the Licenciado Virviesca de Muñatones, D. Diego de Vargas Carvajal and Ortega de Melgosa as assistants and Domingo de Gamarra as secretary — which returned without effect 'porque los Encomenderos del Perú no acabaron de juntar, ni assegurar la gran cantidad de plata, que su Procurador havia ofrecido por esta composicion, y perpetuacion'; the theological consultation at §7 'sobre si era conveniente hacerla, y licito, y seguro en el Fuero de la Conciencia, llevarles por ella este dinero', with the author's statement that he holds the original manuscript opinion given by Fr. Alonso de Castro at London on 13 January 1558, and that opinion's terms, that since the encomiendas were not being taken away altogether as the Bishop of Chiapa had asked and advised it seemed to him more convenient that they be granted or sold in perpetuity, 'pues aunque se llevasse precio por esto, carecia de escrupulo, atendido, lo que Santo Thomás escribió à la Duquesa de Brabante, tratando de la venta de los Oficios, como el precio fuesse moderado, y se prefiriessen los mas idóneos, y benemeritos, y se pusiessen leyes saludables, y convenientes para el buen tratamiento de los Indios, y se guardassen, y executassen severamente, para evitar la tyrania de los Encomenderos'; the commission of 1572 at §8 to Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo, the Indians of Peru diminishing 'mucho por los trabajos, que padecian' and many able men placing the remedy in perpetuation, which ended 'sin que se tomasse resolucion'; the memorial at §9 referred to Doctor Eugenio de Salazar of the Council of the Indies, whose marginal glosses the author also holds in the original; and the memorial printed and presented to the Council in 1619 at §10 by the Licenciado Juan Ortiz de Cervantes, who died oidor of the Audiencia of Santa Fe del Nuevo Reyno de Granada, on which no resolution could be obtained either, 'por ventura por las varias, y encontradas opiniones, y relaciones, que siempre ha avido en él'", "url": "https://books.google.com/books?id=huEykw_YtzYC&pg=PA419" } ], "@type": "Article", "headline": "Ninety years of asking whether encomiendas should be perpetual, and a sale nobody could pay for" } }