In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

We have gathered in these two volumes English translations of the basic documents relating to the expedition of Hernando de Soto to the presentday United States in the years 1539-43. In contrast to previous editions, where the items were published separately , at various times, and by various publishers, the four primary accounts of the expedition and some relevant supplementary documents have been included here. They appear in a single compact form, newly annotated, and with literary and historical introductions. As such, they should be readily available to scholars and to the general public alike. Of the four primary accounts, one was originally written in Portuguese and three in Spanish. The one in Portuguese by the "Gentleman from Elvas" had a fine translation in 1933 and we use that translation. The remaining three appear in new translations. Two of them, the accounts by Luis Hernandez de Biedma and Rodrigo Rangel, are most commonly referred to in translations published in 1866 and 1904, respectively. The third-the Garcilaso de la Vega account-was most recently done in 195 I. Nevertheless, a new translation of the Garcilaso account by a leading scholar in the field was discovered recently, and we publish that translation for the first time. In sum, all three of the Spanish chronicles appear in new translations, newly annotated. The classic literary account of the expedition, La Florida, was written by the Peruvian mestizo Garcilaso de la Vega, the Inca. This long, colorful narrative possesses an unchallenged literary quality lacking in the other three accounts. It has survived the ages and has been translated and republished many times in French, German, and English since first appearing in Spanish in 1605 in Lisbon, Portugal. Like other works by Garcilaso, it is considered by many to be a literary masterpiece. Its historical accuracy has not been so widely praised, however. When we came upon a new translation several years ago in English, and realized the translation had never been published, we decided to include it in this volume. The translation, done by a supremely well qualified Hispanicist , Dr. Charmion Shelby, more than half a century ago, essentially takes up volume two of The De Soto Chronicles. We realize that a great deal of controversy, both contemporary and modern , surrounds Garcilaso de la Vega's works: controversy over sources he used, over the literary merit versus the historical accuracy of his works, over his life and its significance as a mestizo son of a Spanish conquistador and an Inca noblewoman. He was, in essence, the first of a new race of people born of unions between the Spanish conquerors and the Native American peoples they conquered, and his perspective colored the way he wrote about Hernando de Soto. Accordingly, we asked a modern Garcilaso de la Vega scholar , Dr. Frances Crowley, to write an extended introduction to Garcilaso, and a Spanish specialist, Dr. David Bost, to review and edit the Shelby translation by comparing her work against the original. The results are volume two. We trust the reader will find Garcilaso as much of a "page turner" as have previous generations, providing us with insights into the age of the conquerors. The other three chronicles form the bulk of volume one of The De Soto Chronicles. The longest of these three was written by an unknown gentleman from the Portuguese city of Elvas who marched with De Soto in the expedition. The other two are shorter accounts, one produced by Hernandez de Biedma, the king's factor on the expedition, and the second by Rodrigo Rangel, De Soto's private secretary. As with the Garcilaso de la Vega account, we have new translations of the Biedma and Rangel accounts. Both were translated for this work by a young scholar, John Worth, whose anthropological training has been supplemented by indispensable experience in the General Archive of the Indies in Spain with original Spanish documents. John combines the best training of two disciplines-anthropology and history-and his annotations, reviewed by one of his professors, Dr. Charles Hudson of the University of Georgia, reflect a sensitivity to both areas. XXII ~ PREFACE ...

Share