Page:The English Historical Review Volume 36.djvu/82

 1921 EARLY HISTORY OF JAMAICA (1511-1536) 75 Jamaica. The necessary bulls were procured * after a little difficulty, and Matienco seems to have taken possession by proxy, 2 presumably in 1516. He had trouble in collecting his share of tithes ; 3 indeed, the settlers objected to paying tithes at all, especially for the first years of the colony's existence, preceding the arrival of the treasurer Macuelo, who endeavoured to collect both these and other revenues due to the Crown. 4 On 11 March 1522 the Crown presented 5 the 'licenciado' Andres Lopez de Frias, apostolic protonotary, to the abbacy of Jamaica, Matienco being deceased, and he was duly instituted, 6 despite which, for reasons which the documents at present available do not disclose, the Crown on 27 March 1523 presented to succeed Matienco, a Jeronimite friar, Luis de Figueroa, whom the king desired at the same time to make bishop of La Concepcion, in Hispaniola, and president of the royal ■ audiencia ' at Santo Domingo. 7 At this time the Jeronimite tribunal of Santo Domingo seems to have paid some attention to Jamaican affairs. 8 In 1526 Peter Martyr, * abbot of that island and member of the council for Indies ', was interested in building a church in Jamaica with the labour of natives, whom Macuelo desired otherwise to employ, 9 and with money which the abbot and the Crown seem jointly to have contributed. To this work also the Crown devoted a hundred thousand ' maravedis ' appropriated for a hospital, which, it was explained, was unnecessary at Seville, where the settlers cared for the^sick, receiving them into their homes. 10 In 1528 the ' maestro fray ' Miguel Ramirez, bishop of Cuba, suc- ceeded on the death of Peter Martyr as abbot of Jamaica. 11 He visited the island in person, greatly to its detriment, as it was said in Cuba at the time. 12 He was succeeded by the ' licenciado ' Amador de Samano in 1535, who, presently arriving in Jamaica ' sick, thin and poor,. . . desired extremely ' to return to Castile. 13 The documents available suggest that, meanwhile, life moved monotonously in Jamaica. Development was slow, but there I Ibid. fo. 214 ; vii, fo. 99. » Ibid. 139, 1, 5, vi, fo. 7 ; 41, 6, 1/24, fo. 71. 3 Ibid. fo. 165 v. ; viii, fo. 192 r ; 79, 4, 1, Y II, fo. 10 r. 4 No. xv, below. 5 Arch, de Ind. 139, 1, 6, ix, fo. l r, 112. 6 Ibid. fo. 239. 7 Ibid. fo. 112 r. 8 Ibid. 139, 1, 5, vi, fo. 22 ; vii, fo. 16. 9 Ibid. 139, 1, 7, xi, fo. 165 ; xii, fo. 112 ; 79, 4, 1, Y I, fo. 128, 135. 10 Ibid. fo. 164. II Ibid. 139, 1, 7, xiii, fo. 68, 68 v, 80, 81 v , 101 ; 79, 4, 1, Y I, fo. 46 v. 12 Wright, The Early History of Cuba, pp. 120, .132. i3 Arch, de Ind. 79, 4, 1, Y II, fo. 31 T, 34 35, 35% 36% 136% 146, 147% 148 ; 54, 3, 29. The last document is an undated instruction to a proctor whom the abbot was sending to court. It seems to have been written from Mexico, perhaps about 1539, and contains evidence, which other documents also offer, that the ' licenciado ' Samano was interested in trafficking in ships, slaves, &c.