Further Details

Title: The Jesuit and the Incas
Condition: New
Subtitle: The Extraordinary Life of Padre Blas Valera,
EAN: 9780472030415
ISBN: 9780472030415
Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
Format: Paperback
Release Date: 30/11/2004
Description: In the spirit of justice Blas Valera broke all the rules—and paid with his life. Hundreds of years later, his ghost has returned to haunt the official account. But is it the truth, and will it set the record straight?

This is the story of Father Blas Valera, the child of a native Incan woman and Spanish father, caught between the ancient world of the Incas and the conquistadors of Spain. Valera, a Jesuit in sixteenth-century Peru, believed in what to his superiors was heresy: that the Incan culture, religion, and language were equal to their Christian counterparts.

As punishment for this treachery he was imprisoned, beaten, and, finally, exiled to Spain, where he died an untimely death at the hands of English pirates in 1597.

Four centuries later, this Incan chronicler had been all but forgotten, until an Italian anthropologist discovered some startling documents in a private Neapolitan collection. The documents claimed, among other things, that Valera's death had been faked by the Jesuits; that he had returned to Peru; and, intriguingly, while there had taught his followers that the Incas used a secret phonetic quipu—a record-keeping device of the Incas—to record history.

Far from settling anything, the documents created an international sensation among scholars and led to bitter disputes over how they should be assessed. Are they forgeries, authentic documents, or something in between? If genuine, they will radically reform our view of Inca culture and Valera. The author insightfully examines the evidence, showing how fact and fiction intertwine, and brings the dimly understood history of this author-priest to light.
Language: English
Country/Region of Manufacture: US
Item Weight: 445g
Author: Sabine Hyland
Genre: History
Book Series: History, Languages & Cultures of the Spanish & Portuguese Worlds
Topic: Philosophy & Spirituality, Biography
Release Year: 2004

Missing Information?

Please contact us if any details are missing and where possible we will add the information to our listing.