Page:Letters of Cortes to Emperor Charles V - Vol 1.djvu/136

116 in 1487. He wrote in Latin De Orbe Novo, printed in a complete edition by Hakluyt, Paris, 1587. He took great interest in the discoveries and colonisation, and was allowed to attend meetings of the Royal Council for the Indies. He was personally acquainted with Columbus, Cortes, and others, and their correspondence with the Court was open to him. His writings are those of a philosophical observer of historical events, unencumbered with the manifold details and small incidents which crowd and confuse the pages of the soldier chroniclers such as Bernal Diaz. He died in 1525.



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antonio de herrera

Antonio de Herrera was born at Cuellar in 1549, and was made Historiographer of the Indies from 1492–1554. His Historia General de las Indias Occidentales is divided into eight decades, of which the first four were published in 1601, the others in 1615, five volumes in folio. A very free English translation, with omissions, was made by Stevens. The plan of this work is confused and interrupted, wanting in sequence, and filled with irrelevant details. He had access to all the [sic]Statepapers, colonial reports, and every MS. relating to the discovery, conquest, and colonisation of the New World, and he quoted very freely from Las Casas. Dazzled by the wonderful events of the times and the equally marvellous achievements of his countrymen, he was blind to their faults and excesses, so that, while not exactly a panegyric, his work is coloured by a strong patriotism, which shows in his optimistic appreciation of the character and deeds of the conquerors. His work is, however, a compendium of authentic information which cannot be too highly esteemed. He died in 1625.



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juan de torquemada

Juan de Torquemada, Provincial of the Franciscans in Mexico from 1614-1617, spent more than fifty years of his