Roger Chartier * 68 To understand the subsequent interpretations and appropriations of Las Casas’s famous work I propose to divide its history into seven successive lives . The Brevíssima Relación, Sev ille 1552 The book’s first life is well known . It locates the Brevíssima Relación in the 1552 edition published in Seville consisting of nine tratados ( treatises or tracts ) written by Las Casas during the previous ten years . 3 Its title page proposed a strong contrast between the centrality of the coat of arms of Emperor Charles V and the reference to his motto “Plus Oultre ” – first used by Charles as a chivalric motto in 1516 and later, to designate the sovereignty of the King of Castile over the world beyond, the “ Herculis columnas ” – and the absence ( on the title page and in the book itself ) of any license, aprobaciones or privilege . The reason could be either that Las Casas wanted to avoid the regular mechanisms of censorship, delegated in Seville from 1502 to the archbisho...
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