Manuscript No. 027 - First Blacks in The Americas

Date: 1536, November 20. Valladolid, Spain
Theme: The Spanish Crown authorized the two Black slave servants of Santo Domingo’s fortress commander Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo to carry offensive and defensive weapons while walking next to him and not otherwise
Source: PARES, Portal de Archivos Españoles–Archivo General de Indias, SANTO_DOMINGO,868, L.1,F.14V-15R

The alcaidegonzalo hernandez

[fo. 14v.]

President and /oidores of our Audiencia /
and Royal Chancellery of the Española island and/
any of our other judicial officials in it to /
whom this my writ may be presented, /
Captain Gonzalo Hernandez de /Oviedo, our /
alcaide of the fortress of that city of Santo/
Domingo, has reported to me that he has /
two Blacks accompanying him with their /
weapons, as the other past alcaides /

[fo. 15r.] Xb/

used to do, and that now it has been /
proclaimed in that said city that Blacks may not /
carry weapons, and he pleaded with me that, despite the said /
proclamation, I should mandate that the said two Blacks /
may be allowed to carry them, offensive as well as defensive, /
while going about with him on foot or on horse, and that you should not/
take them away from them, or whatever my wish was, therefore I order/
you that, once the said Gonzalo Hernández de Oviedo gives /
enough bails to you by which they give assurance that /
with the said weapons the said Blacks will not offend /
any person, and that they will carry them only /
for the guarding and defense of his person /
you should allow and consent that the said alcaide /
takes around with him the said Blacks with offensive/
and defensive weapons, so they may accompany him /
and go about with him both on foot and on horse. Thus I, /
by this my order, the said bails being given /
as it has been said, give license and authority so that the /
said two Blacks may carry and do carry /
the said weapons while going about with the said alcaide
and not otherwise, despite any /
prohibition or impediment there may be on the contrary, since/
in regards to this one I exempt it. Done in the/
village of Valladolid on XX days of the month of /
November of one thousand and five hundred and thirty six years /
I the Queen, certified and signed by the said ones /

Date: 1536, November 20. Valladolid.
Theme: The Spanish Crown authorized the two Black slave servants of Santo Domingo’s fortress commander Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo to carry offensive and defensive weapons while walking next to him and not otherwise
Source: PARES, Portal de Archivos Españoles–Archivo General de Indias, SANTO_DOMINGO,868, L.1,F.14V-15R

There were growing worries harbored by many Iberian settlers in La Española during the sixteenth century regarding the disparity or imbalance between a Black majority of the colony’s population (especially an enslaved Blacks’ majority) and the predominantly Spanish white minority, and more concretely about the risks of Black slaves’ rebellions. In spite of this, fortress’ commander and chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo seem to have developed some trust towards two of the Black people that served him most directly.

According to this royal decree of November 1536, Fernández de Oviedo had petitioned the Crown to grant him an exception to the local ordinance that the authorities of La Española had issued prohibiting the carrying of offensive and defensive weapons by Blacks in the colony. Fernández reportedly had argued that it was already a tradition in La Española for the commanders of Santo Domingo City’s fortress to have Black body-guards that carried weapons.

The Spanish Crown responded positively to alcaide Fernández de Oviedo’s request, ordering the authorities of Santo Domingo to grant him a special permit that would allow his two guardian slaves to carry their weapons while on foot or while riding, provided they did so only while accompanying Fernández “and not otherwise.” The order also provided that Fernández payed a security deposit under the promise that the two Black body guards “will not offend any person and that they will only carry them for the guarding and defending of his person [Fernández’s].”

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