American Demons

Purity of Intentions

The special imperial ambassador Pedro de la Gasca unfolds the effects of a charismatic. Johannes Blattschneider claims in his standard work The Renaissance in the Mirror of Colonialism: "Gasca brought the cities of Quito, Cuzco and Lima to obedience with his letters and envoys."

With letters. What comes next? With dancing and singing? In reality, Gasca deploys troops and forces allegiance using the usual methods. He makes the territorial princes aware of the consequences of any disobedience. He undertakes a sea voyage. A hurricane attacks the ship, the captain wants to turn back, Gasca says simply: "I am prepared to die, but not to turn back."

At the beginning of April 1548, imperial troops encounter the enemy at Xaquixaguana. Gasca prays the enemy army into the ground.

Purity of Intentions

The purity of intentions. You often read this. In order not to cast a shadow on the purity of his intentions by accepting gifts, Gasca returns to Spain as poor as a church mouse.

The imperial Feuilleton celebrates the angelic effect of the priest in the tunic, whom Charles V appointed to pacify the viceroyalty of Peru. Gasca prays with his enemies and urges them to die as good Christians. This means recognizing good in the work of the executioner.

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The Society of Jesus came to Peru with the conquistadors. The nobles of Quito bequeathed fifty thousand pieces of gold to the missionaries. One hundred years after Gasca's American mission, Nicholas Ovale was acting at the head of the Society of Jesus in the style of a rocker of the Lord. The purity of his intentions is indisputable. He negotiates his place in the kingdom of heaven with God on earth. He prays to him about what he is doing for the almost lost souls of "the natives". He raises a generation of ambitious half-Spaniards. They are in a class of their own. It stands above other combinations. They experience their inferiority in relation to "pure-blooded" Spaniards as a tragedy.

The Spaniards have their legitimate sons from Spanish import brides. This offspring is preferred to mixed half-siblings. Nevertheless, being half-Spanish or even half-Hispanic means something. On a scale of "purity" from one to ten, every half-Spaniard is a two. Many bombastic signatures and contract texts resulted as a consequence of narrowly missing out on "purity".

Ovale demands nothing for himself so as not to jeopardize the purity of his intentions. He merely set in motion a legion of effective colonial lobbyists. Ovale dictates his thoughts. Hieronymus de Vargas takes the dictation. Teacher and pupil see each other every day. Ovale and Vargas worship the Lily of Quito, a charismatic mystic of "Spanish aristocratic origin" (Johannes Blattschneider).