Dispossessing the barbarian: the language of Spanish Thomism and the debate over the property rights of the American Indians

In 1537 the Spanish Dominican Francisco de Vitoria, Prime Professor of Theology at the University of Salamanca, delivered a lecture entitled De indis whose purpose was, he declared, to discover ‘by what right the barbarians’ – by which he meant the American Indians – ‘had come under the rule of the Spaniards’. For although, he professed, the conscience of the Spanish kings and their advisors was of itself sufficient guarantee that everything ‘had been well-done’, all men are compelled to consult the wisest and best-informed persons they can find before reaching a decision on any issue where matters of conscience are involved.