Sixteenth-Century La Española: Glimpses of the First Blacks in the Early Colonial Americas Carving privileges within the slave system (1519)
ESPAÑA. MINISTERIO DE CULTURA, Archivo General de Indias,
ES.41091.AGI/24.3.2//JUSTICIA,43,N.4
TRANSCRIPTION
iiiio testigo
/
viiio testigo
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de la dicha ferida que el dicho esclavo le avia dado e avn dezia alguno que hera /
muerto Sacaron al dicho esclavo de la carçel E por la herida que asy le avia /
dado le enclavaron la mano en el Rollo de esta çibdad por el cuero entre /
los dedos y estando asy salieron los clerigos y el provisor de esta çibdad /
e quitaron e quitaron [sic] al dicho negro del dicho Rollo deziendo que aquello /
donde estava el dicho Rollo hera ementerio de la yglesya e le me /
tieron dentro en la yglesya E despues deesto otro dia A lo que este testigo /
Se acuerda el dicho ferido morio de la dicha ferida. E deSpues de esto /
hera muy notorio en esta çibdad E muy çierto . que el dicho liçençiado /
tenia el dicho esclavo en su Cassa e le faboresçia e Se Servia de el /
como sy Nunca oviera pasado nada. e el otro esclavo que hera negro /
del dicho liçençiado ayllon mato a vn negro que se llamavan [sic] moron /
en la vega e por la dicha muerte el dho esclavo nunca este testigo vio /
ni Supo que le hisiesen ningund Castigo e otro negro del dicho liçençiado /
mato a otro negro esclavo del liçençiado lebron todo a cabSa /
de ser el dicho liçençiado ayllone los faboreçer e tenerle en su Casa /
e que esto Sabe de esta pregunta e cree este testigo que por matar al dicho /
negro le truxieron a la verguença a lo que este testigo se acuerda por /
que por la dicha muerte nunca este testigo vio a3 le diesen ninguna pena /
al otro negro /
dize que no Sabe mas de quanto vn esclabo del liçençiado ayllon mato a que [sic] /
en esta çibdad a otro onbre que se llamava anbrosyo E Sabe que /
por la dicha muerte el dicho esclavo del dicho liçençiado fue preso e fue con /
denado A que le enclavasen la mano solamente e le truxiesen /
a la verguença e este testigo le vio estar en el Rollo enclavada la /
mano e despues le vio en Casa del dicho liçençiado e vio que se Servia de el /
e le vendio despues a vn veçino de Santiago. a lo que se acuerda /
no Sabe por quanto e que asy mismo otro esclavo del dicho liçençiado ma /
to a otro que se llamava moron en la çibdad de la conçebçion e por /
la dicha muerte e por que le acuchillo otro negro del liçençiado lebron /
fue preso e por ello le condenaron a traerle a la verguença y encla /
varonle la mano e fue desterrado para Castilla . e deSpues /
le vio en casa del dicho liçençiado ayllone en esto [sic] es lo que Sabe de esta /
pregunta /
dise que lo que sabe es e es muy publico e notorio que otros dos vno loro e otro /
negro del dicho liçençiado ayllon han muerto a otros dos e que por ello /
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
of the said wound that the said slave had caused and someone even said that the wounded had been killed, they got this slave out of prison and for the wound he had caused him, he had his hand nailed onto the pillory of this city by the skin between his fingers, and while he was like this, the clergymen and the cleric judge of this city came out And got the said Black off the pillory saying that where the pillory was placed belonged to the cemetery of the church and they took him inside the church, and after this, on another day, this witness recalls that the said wounded man died as a consequence of the wound. And after this, it was very obvious in this city and very true that the said licenciado was keeping the said slave in his house and was favoring him and being served by him as if nothing had ever happened. And the other slave who was a Black of the said licenciado Ayllon, killed in La Vega a Black slave whose name was Moron, and this witness never saw nor did he hear of any sort of punishment being done to the said slave. And another Black of the said licenciado
killed another black slave owned by the licenciado Lebron. All this was so because it was the said licenciado Ayllon and [
because ] he favored them and had them in his house. And this is what he knows of this question and this witness thinks that for killing the said black slave, they exposed him to public shame in so far as this witness remembers because this witness never saw the other Black being given any punishment for the said death
[On the left margin: fourth witness] he says that he only knows that a slave owned by licenciado Ayllon killed in this city another man named Ambrosio, and he knows that for such death, the said slave of the licenciado was imprisoned and sentenced to have only his hand nailed and to be exposed to public shame and this witness saw him at the pillory with his hand nailed and then he saw him at the house of the said licenciado , and noticed that he was being served by him and then he sold him to a resident of Santiago as far as he remembers, he does not know for how much, and that likewise another slave owned by the said liçençiado killed another one named Moron in the city of La Concepcion, and for the said death and for stabbing another Black owned by liçençiado Lebron he was imprisoned, and for this he was sentenced to public shame and he had his hand nailed and was exiled to Castille and later on he saw him at the house of the said liç
ençiado Ayllon and this is what he knows of this question
[On the left margin: eighth witness] he says that what he knows is, and it is very public and obvious, that another two, a Mulattoand another Black, of the said liçençiado Ayllon have killed another two and that for this
Governors’ Palace façade
Commentary
In late 1519, during a residencia against some of the government officials, a resident named Francisco de San Miguel reported that, about a year before, a Black slave owned by Audiencia judge Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, had been convicted of killing a man by stabbing him in the stomach with a knife and the slave had not been adequately punished. Francisco explained that the slave had not received further punishment beyond having one of his hands nailed publicly to the pillory.According to Francisco’s testimony, the slave had also benefited from having his nailed hand removed from the pillory before the time established by the sentence had elapsed. Francisco explains that some enslaved Blacks in early colonial La Española managed to enjoy certain rare privileges as a result of being the slaves of powerful members of the social elite whose clout arguably extended to their associates and their property. Slaves benefited according to which owner they belonged to.