Bernardo de Mesa

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Bernardo de Mesa (* 1470 in Córdoba ; † 1524 in Badajoz ) was a Spanish Dominican , Roman Catholic bishop and diplomat in the service of the Spanish King Ferdinand II.

Life

Bernardo de Mesa was born on June 7, 1508 the auxiliary bishop of Forli appointed in Italy and received the title of titular bishop of Trinopolis (= Drinawar in Hungary). He was ordained bishop by Libert von Broechem OFM , Auxiliary Bishop in Liège, co- consecrators were Auxiliary Bishop François Chaillet and Jean Bourgeois , Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Cologne .

On the fourth Advent in 1511, the Dominican Antonio de Montesinos preached the Sermón en defensa de los indios in Santo Domingo . As a result, there were further critical voices about the conquista from the Dominican order . Ferdinand II convened a junta in 1512 to prepare the Leyes de Burgos . Two of the opinions presented there have come down to us from Bartolomé de las Casas .

One opinion comes from Bernardo de Mesa, who justified the mass slavery of the indigenous people with Aristotle and who collectively believed them to be lacking in understanding and cleverness.

«[…] Yo creo que ninguno de sano entendimiento, podrá decir que en estos indios no haya capacidad para recibir la nuestra fe y virtud que baste para salvarse y conseguir el último fin de la bienaventuranza. Mas yo oso decir que hay en ellos tan pequeña disposición de naturaleza y habituación, que para traerlos a recibir la fe y buenas costumbres, es menester tomar mucho trabajo, por estar ellos en tan remota disposición, y dado que reciban la fe, la naturaleza dellos no les consiente tener perserverancia en la virtud […] »

“[...] I believe that no one with a sane sense can say that it is possible for these Indians to receive our faith and virtue which are sufficient to attain salvation and attain the ultimate goal of happiness. But I say that there is so little inclination and habituation in them that in order to bring them to belief and good morals it is necessary to go to great lengths because they are so far from receiving the faith and theirs Nature does not allow them perseverance in virtue [...] "

- Bernardo de Mesa

The other, similar position was taken by Gil Gregorio . He called the Indians "talking animals". Both agreed that the indigenous people are "inferior" people.

Bernardo was sent by Ferdinand II as ambassador to Paris to meet King Ludwig XII. condolences on the death of his wife Anne de Bretagne and to negotiate peace. At the Sorbonne he developed a theology for the conquista. At the Sorbonne, Juan Luis Vives dedicated his work Christi Iesu Triumphus y Yirginis Dei Parentis Ovratio to the SD Bernardo Mensae Antisti Trinopolitno in June 1514 .

On July 24, 1514, Ferdinand II wrote from Medina del Campo to de Mesa, his ambassador to Louis XII. from France, a letter: That an armistice and peace with France had been negotiated and that in future no armed ships would be allowed to leave Spanish ports to disturb French traders.

In 1515 Ferdinand II appointed de Mesa to be his ambassador to Henry VIII of England .

Bernardo de Mesa was called on September 10, 1515 to be Bishop of Elne (then Northern Catalonia ). In 1516 he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Cuba without this having already existed, which is why de Mesa did not go to Cuba. The first bishop of Cuba was Juan de Witte Hoos from the Dominican order. Bernardo de Mesa was appointed Bishop of Badajoz in Spain on February 20, 1521 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ FS Thomas: Historical Notes: 1509-1714. Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1856, p. 112 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  2. ↑ a b Los obispos des Badajoz (Spanish)
  3. ↑ a b Entry on Bernardo de Mesa on catholic-hierarchy.org ; accessed on November 24, 2017.
  4. ↑ Nikolaus Klein: Aren't you human? Antonio de Montesino - a sermon with far-reaching consequences (1511). ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Voices of the Time. Online exclusive. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stimmen-der-zeit.de
  5. ↑ Anthony Pagden: The Fall of Natural Man: The American Indian and the Origins of Comparative Ethnology . Cambridge University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-521-33704-6 , p. 48 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  6. ↑ La doctrina de la servidumbre natural. (PDF; 1.37 MB) In: Libertad Cristiana. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010 ; Retrieved November 24, 2017 (Spanish).
  7. ^ André Saint-Lu (Ed.): Bartolomé de las Casas . Historia de las Indias. Volume III. Biblioteca Ayacucho, Caracas 1986, ISBN 980-276-020-X , p. 35 ( limited preview in Google book search). After Francisco Castilla Urbano: El pensamiento de Francisco de Vitoria: filosofía política e indio americano. Anthropos Editorial, 1992, ISBN 84-7658-357-5 , p. 229 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  8. ↑ Joseph Bordat: annexation, connection, recognition: Global Relationship cultures in the early 16th century. tredition, 2008, ISBN 978-3-86850-293-0 , p. 35 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  9. ↑ Joseph Bordat: To the origins of modern international law. ( Memento of July 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) p. 7 (PDF; 289 kB)
  10. ↑ Agostino Sottili, Fabio Forner, Carla Maria Monti, Paul Gerhard Schmidt (eds.): Margarita amicorum. Volume 1. Vita e Pensiero, 2005, ISBN 88-343-1059-4 , p. 1107 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  11. ^ Francisco Javier Fernández Nieto, Antonio Melero Bellido, Antonio Mestre: Luis Vives y el humanismo europeo . Universitat de València, 1998, ISBN 84-370-3461-2 , p. 44 f. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  12. ↑ Jozef IJsewijn (ed.): Juan Luis Vives. Early Writings 2. Brill, Leiden 1991, ISBN 90-04-09223-4 , pp. 16 ff. ( Limited preview in Google book search).
  13. ↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=93630
  14. ↑ Thomas Duffus Hardy (Ed.): Syllabus (in English) of the Documents Relating to England and Other Kingdoms: 1377-1654. Longmans, Green, London 1873, p. 751 ( digitized in the Google book search).
  15. ↑ Christoph Strosetzki: The Europe of Latin America. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-515-05518-5 , p. 11 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  16. ↑ Robert Streit, Johannes Dindinger: American Mission Literature, 1493-1699. Bibliotheca missionum, Volume 2. Aachen 1924, p. 41 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  17. ^ Salvador Miranda : Catálogo cronológico por diócesis. In: Episcopologio de la Iglesia Católica en Cuba. Online at fiu.edu , Florida International University website , accessed January 4, 2019 (Spanish).
predecessor Office successor
Pedro Ruiz de la Mota Bishop of Badajoz
1521–1524 		Pedro Sarmiento
Juan Castellanos de Villalba Bishop of Elne
1515–1521 		Guillermo Valdenese
Luis de Carroz Villarragut Spanish envoy to England
1515–1516 		Georg van Thameske
personal data
SURNAME Mesa, Bernardo de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish Dominican, Roman Catholic bishop and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH around 1470
PLACE OF BIRTH Cordoba
DATE OF DEATH 1524
Place of death Badajoz