The Library
1780 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
1501–1600
5 works
March 1525
German
The peasants of Swabia
Twelve demands — to choose their own pastors, to end serfdom, to fish and hunt freely, to have tithes used locally — each supported by a scripture reference.
2 June 1537
Latin
Pope Paul III · 1468–1549
A bull declaring that the peoples of the Americas are rational beings capable of the faith, must not be enslaved, and are to keep their liberty and property.
lectures 1539
Latin
De Indis
Francisco de Vitoria · c. 1483–1546
A dismantling of every justification offered for the conquest — discovery, papal grant, sin, unbelief — concluding that the Indians were true owners of their lands.
1550–1551
Latin
Bartolomé de las Casas · 1484–1566
The argument delivered at Valladolid against Sepúlveda: the peoples of the Americas are rational, their societies ordered, and no one may be made Christian by force.
1552
Spanish
Bartolomé de las Casas · 1484–1566
A province-by-province catalogue of atrocities against the peoples of the Caribbean and the mainland, addressed to the future Philip II.
5 of 1780 works