My earlier books set Queen Isabel and King Fernando’s missionary plan for “Española” within the intellectual framework of their actions to Christianize their Spanish kingdoms through the Inquisition, the expulsion of the Jews, and the completion of the Reconquista and to conquer and convert the peoples of the Canary Islands. As depicted in Columbus and Caonabó: 1493–1498 Retold, the initial missionary work in Española failed to achieve more than a few baptisms; Taínos on the island, including Anacaona, Caonabó, and Guarionex, were devoted to their religion and spirits and distrustful or hateful of the conquerors’.
Isabel, Anacaona & Columbus’s Demise: 1498–1502 Retold continues that framing, depicting Isabel and Fernando’s decisions regarding the missionary effort side by side with their actions to expel the Muslims from Spain, sometimes with the assistance of the same advisor, Archbishop Ximénez de Cisneros. When dispatching Francisco de Bobadilla to replace Columbus in 1500, Isabel directed Cisneros to assemble friars to propose how to better evangelize the “Indians” and establish Española’s church. Six friars departed with Bobadilla, and after reviewing their recommendations, in 1502 Isabel dispatched twenty-five religious with Bobadilla’s successor, Nicolás de Ovando.
As narrated in Isabel, Anacaona & Columbus’s Demise, the twenty-five religious were spearheaded by seventeen Franciscans under the leadership of Fray Alonso del Espinar, the guardian of a small Galician monastery. The Franciscans assembled the sacramental accoutrements for establishing Española’s church, including eight sets of altarpieces, chalices, candlesticks, and bells; a wardrobe of garments; a small store of missals; and one complete bible. They also stocked the instruments, medicines, and potions necessary to found the island’s first infirmary. Espinar’s instructions were to establish new churches in Santo Domingo, Concepción, Xaraguá, and four new townships to be built.
Find the full book description, advance reviews, and purchase links on my website, www.andrewrowen.com
