La Brevísima relación de la destruición de Indias de fray Bartolomé de Las Casas en el eje de las controversias

Abstract

The disputatio held in Valladolid (1550-1551) between Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda is one of the most significant moments of the debate in the New World. At that time, both contestants obeyed disputatio’s conventions, the medieval confrontation practice based primarily on the citation of authority. Shortly after, Las Casas published Brevísima relación de la destruición de las Indias, where prevails a new authority based on the method of inquiry, which takes into account the written and oral testimonies to reconstruct the truth of the past events. Las Casas implements a rhetoric of confrontation based on mundus inversus, retaliation, resemantization, demonization and anonymity of the adversary to make visible to his readers the narrated facts. This paper analyzes this transition –from disputatio to inquiry – in the authorization of the arguments as well as the contentious discoursive tropes that organize this text. The Brevísima is a extreme attempt of restoration of truth to make palpable the discursive distortion carried out by the Conquest.