This concise book provides a new translation of Luis Jerónimo de Oré's Relación de los mártires que ha habido en las provincias de La Florida. Oré was a Franciscan priest who surveyed Spanish missions and conversion efforts in La Florida in the early seventeenth century and produced a detailed account of his findings. Raquel Chang-Rodríguez and Nancy Vogeley have vast experience with early Spanish texts and materials. Their keen and careful approach provides an updated and much-needed translation and annotation of the document.
Chang-Rodríguez and Vogeley showcase the uniqueness of Oré's Account of the Martyrs. This text is not concerned with justifying conquest, debating the humanity of native peoples, or describing early encounters; Oré wrote his account as the dust from those earlier debates settled. This document records the colonial endeavors that followed the first generations of Spanish exploration, missionizing, and settlement. Account of the Martyrs thus provides...
