The deliberations which took place at Valladolid in the year 1550, in the royal council of the Indies, respecting the distribution of Indians in perpetuity.
In the year 1550, the licentiate De la Gasca came from Peru to the court, which was then residing at Valladolid. He was accompanied by a monk of the Dominican order, named father Martin, who was regent of his order, and whom his majesty soon after appointed to the bishopric of las Charcas. At the same time there appeared at the court the bishop of Chiapa, Don Bartolomé de las Casas; the bishop of Mechoacan, Don Vasco de Quiroga, and other cavaliers, who came as the representatives of New Spain and Peru; and also certain hidalgos, against whom several accusations had been brought. To this meeting I was also cited, as the oldest of the Conquistadores. The reason for assembling this council was as follows: De la Gasca, and those who accompanied him from Peru, had brought along with them a large quantity of gold, partly their own, and partly belonging to the crown. This gold was forwarded to Augsburg, in Germany, where his majesty was then staying with our present most fortunate king Don Philip, his beloved son, to whom God grant a long life. Several cavaliers repaired with this gold, in order at the same time to present themselves to his majesty as deputies from the Spanish settlers in Peru, and also to beg of him to grant us commendaries in perpetuity, in reward for the services we had rendered to the crown. A petition to the same effect had been laid before his majesty by Gonzalo Lopez, Alonso de Villanueva, and other cavaliers, who had purposely been deputed from New Spain.
Shortly after the arrival of the licentiate De la Gasca in Spain, the see of Palencia became vacant, and the emperor, it was said, had given it to this