Account of the Martyrs in the Provinces of La Florida by Luis Jerónimo de Oré (review)

In 1936 the Franciscan scholar Maynard Geiger singled out Luis Jerónimo de Oré as “one of least known and least cited chroniclers of Peru.” For decades, Geiger’s translation of the Martyrs of Florida (ca. 1619) served as the sole English source for this lost text, written after the Peruvian’s 1614 and 1616 journeys there. Translated from a rare copy now at the University of Notre Dame, the current edition ends the undue neglect. With a thorough introduction and ample scholarly apparatus supplied by Raquel Chang-Rodríguez and Nancy Vogeley, this lively text comes to us like a puzzle whose missing piece is finally restored.

This is a composite book, mostly a summation of other sources, and the kind of work that needs context. The first four chapters review Ponce de Leon’s 1513 arrival in la Florida; the series of ill-fated expeditions into what is now the US South; Pedro Menéndez de Avilés’s triumph over the French and the 1565 founding of St. Augustine; and the Jesuit missions at Jacán (Chesapeake Bay). The middle chapters recount imperial struggles between England and the Spanish from the Chesapeake to St. Augustine; native resistance to colonization and coerced conversion, culminating with a detailed account of the 1597 Guale Rebellion; pocket biographies of early Franciscan missionaries; and a chapter-length captivity narrative of Francisco de Ávila, valuable in itself as an early example of the genre.

The last three chapters sharpen in focus, as Oré reaches his point: a peaceful conquest of la Florida through Christianity. Chapter 9 folds in a field report from Francisco Pareja, who lived among the Timucuan for three decades. Chapter 10 testifies to Martín Prieto’s work among the Apalache of northern Florida, and the eleventh and final chapter, written in first-person, recounts Oré’s arduous visitations across the remote and swampy peninsula.

The chief contribution of the present volume lies in its scholarly apparatus. The translation (based on my own quick comparison) shows departures from Geiger, mostly in matters of tone, with some details restored. The original text, accessible in a 2014 Peruvian edition prepared by Chang-Rodríguez, had few paragraph breaks. Chang-Rodríguez and Vogeley take mercy on readers by adding indentations, successfully highlighting dramatic scenes of martyrdom. A thorough introduction, usefully broken into subheadings, explains Oré’s early ties to Peru, puts Martyrs of Florida within a religious and literary framework, closes the Peruvian-Florida links with El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, establishes Oré’s plea of a “peaceful” conquest alongside failed military expeditions and imperial reforms, and situates the book’s rhetorical strategies alongside other images of la Florida and Christian suffering.

To return to that missing puzzle piece, what we needed was the broad view. Scholarship on early Florida has traditionally been mired in parochialism, rarely venturing beyond current state boundaries, and this volume allows us to see the one piece within the bigger picture-puzzle. Some readers may quibble with footnotes, which are at times misplaced and do not reflect a deep knowledge of local geography or natural history (the Guales would not have used the tropical Bixa, or “lipstick” tree as dye, but more likely bloodroot). I had to flip around for places. But the deep contextualization brings far greater returns, allowing us to chart Martyrs of Florida on transatlantic, hemispheric, and cross-cultural scales.

I have already started telling colleagues about this timely, definitive, and handsomely produced edition. At least one colleague has promised to purchase a copy and order another for his university library. You should, too.