Notes on Vitoria

Article written after the incident in which the conqueror Pizarro unjustly lynched the Incan leader Atahualpa in the viceroyalty (kingdom) of Peru, even though eyewitnesses reveal that there was no just cause for the killing.

Introduction:

Vitoria does NOT understand the justice of the war. He talked to witnesses of the murder of Atahualpa and concluded that Indians were not to blame for it (AND they had committed no violence/crime against the Spanish).

Vitoria: If the Crown considers these Amerindians as vassals of the Empire, then it would follow that they are engaging in an unjust war against "their own vassals." In addition, Indians are truly oblivious as to the "just causes" of the war, so they remain innocent.

Vitoria finds NO justification for the robbing and plundering of "unfortunate victims." There is no moral explanation for the loss of material and live possessions in the hand of the cruel conquistadors.

He also labels Spanish actions as "alien to Christian feeling" and goes on to say that there will be no one (not even Dominican priests) able to cleanse the Spaniard souls from the charges of conscience, especially after all the butchery and pillage has been committed.

"ON