9 - Spanish Catholicism in the Era of Exploration and Early Colonization

Summary

The centuries-long effort to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from North African Muslim invaders known as the reconquista ended in 1492 with the fall of the last Moorish stronghold, the city of Granada. In the same year, Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, known as the Catholic Kings for their service to Christendom, embarked on the transatlantic venture that would bring the crusading spirit and sense of providential entitlement of the reconquista to the New World. From the outset, the spread of Roman Catholicism was an immediate and pressing concern. The faith provided not only an identity for the budding Spanish Empire, but a legal and moral justification for the conquest and colonization of what was generally referred to as Las Indias (the Indies). There, being Spaniard was synonymous with being Christian, and no expedition set forth without at least one priest, whose task it was to minister to the troops and convert the natives. Saying that the sword went hand in hand with the cross has become a truism.

CONQUEST AND CONVERSION

The inextricable tie between the Church and the state is one of the most salient features of the Spanish evangelization efforts in the Indies. In a series of bulls issued in 1493, Pope Alexander VI granted possession of the newly discovered territories to the Spanish crown. In 1501, another bull assigned the tithes obtained from the territories to the crown for the purpose of founding and endowing new churches.