lvcabbie
09-07-2010, 10:07 PM
I had someone read my historical novel and they questioned many of the things I wrote about. I got to thinking that I probably need something to either set the stage or clarify the events of the book.
What are your thoughts about the following?
FOREWORD
The Californias were a backwater of the massive Bourbon Spanish Empire in the early 18th Century. Spain held control over present-day Mexico and parts of the Southern United States for a century and a half, exporting untold wealth to make it a world power. South American had been divided with Portugal controlling the east as Spain kept the lands to the west. French, English and Dutch explorers had claimed lands to the north and east for themselves.
The colonization of Mexico came about by soldiers and Spanish-born settlers accompanied by Roman Catholic priests. These missionaries were members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Order Minor of Saint Francis (Franciscans) and the Dominican Order. While the natives were enslaved, the priests expounded their faith to them and often stood up for their rights to the representatives of the Spanish Crown.
Major changes in Europe spread to the New World in various ways. Charles the Third, a Bourbon, took the throne of Spain in 1759. George the Third, of the House of Hanover, was crowned king of Britain in 1760. The 1740s found a mood of dissatisfaction in the British colonies on the east coast of North America. In 1741, Vitus Bering of the Russian Navy discovered the Aleutian Island and returned home with holds full of sea otter pelts, instantly in demand for their richness. When word of this reached Madrid, the Spanish Court felt it represented a threat to their claims to the Pacific Coast of North America, or New Spain as they called it. The Seven Years War intervened, a conflict in which all the European powers became involved. When it ended, the Spanish Court once again looked to its possessions in New Spain and decided to act.
The impetus came when, after more than fifteen years of problems, Jesuits became embroiled in trade disputes and a clamor arose for their disbanding. On January 29, 1767, King Charles III ordered the Jesuits, who had established a chain of fifteen missions in Baja California, forcibly expelled and returned to the home country. Visitador General José de Gálvez engaged the Franciscans, under the leadership of Father Junípero Serra, to take charge of those outposts on March 12, 1768. This plan, however, was changed within a few months after Gálvez received the following orders: "Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monte Rey for God and the King of Spain." It was thereupon decided to call upon the priests of the Dominican Order to take charge of the Baja California missions in order to allow the Franciscans to concentrate on founding new missions in Alta California.
There would be no more unlikely individual in history to carry out the prodigious task of exploring and “civilizing” the land we know today as California. Miguel Joseph was born in Mallorca of farmer parents. He was small of stature, almost always ill and so small of stature he was unable to reach the lectern, nor could help his fellow novices in the necessary chores of the novitiate. But he was a dedicated student and was ordained a priest in 1739, taking the name Junipero Serra. He showed his intelligence by teaching philosophy at the University of San Francisco. Two boyhood friends would follow him, Brothers Juan Crespi and Francisco Palóu when he volunteered for service in Mexico. They reached Vera Cruz in December 1749. Instead of traveling to Mexico City by horseback, Serra received permission to walk the 270 miles. While it was not the rainy season, they ran into much rain and Serra’s feet swelled from fatigue and mosquito bites. He received a leg affliction that would make him lame the remainder of his life.
Serra was assigned to the office of Novice Master at San Fernando College in Mexico City. But, he was eager to work in the field and after five months was allowed to serve in the missions of the Sierra Gorda several hundred miles north of Mexico City. Brothers Crespi and Palóu joined him. He walked the long distance in spite of extreme pain in his leg. It did not take long until he was appointed president of five missions. He lived a simple life, dedicated to God and learned the local languages in order to preach to them in their native tongue, even compiling a dictionary.
Serra was recalled to San Fernando in 1758 and chosen to go to the San Saba River missions in Texas to replace two missionaries killed by Apaches. However, his wish was denied as the missions were closed. Instead, he spent ten more years at the university, often traveling to outposts throughout New Spain to preach and minister to the faithful. He traveled to what are now Oaxaca, Morelia, Puebla, and Guadalajara; the region east of Sierra Gorda; and in the province of Mesquital, part of Mazatlan. Serra never lost his humility. He continually strove to encourage his helpers in their troubles and loneliness, was full of energy and drive, and though impatient with routine, took the time to learn to sew and to cut out shirts, pants and blouses for the Indians so that he could instruct them to do things for themselves.
Serra was in the field when Visitador General José de Gálvez selected him to take over the Baja California missions from the Jesuits. Serra instantly accepted the offer and departed with fifteen other friars to the port of San Blas where, on March 12, 1768, he set sail on the barque Purísima Concepción, for Loreto, Baja California, arriving there on April First. He was fifty-five years of age, in poor health but with a zeal to carry out his mission. He and Don Gaspar Portolá, the governor, oversaw the orderly departure of the Jesuits and installation of Franciscan friars.
Father Serra would toil endlessly for the next fifteen years to establish missions in California, trying to bring a better way of life and The Word of God to the natives.
Thanks in advance for comments. :hooray:
What are your thoughts about the following?
FOREWORD
The Californias were a backwater of the massive Bourbon Spanish Empire in the early 18th Century. Spain held control over present-day Mexico and parts of the Southern United States for a century and a half, exporting untold wealth to make it a world power. South American had been divided with Portugal controlling the east as Spain kept the lands to the west. French, English and Dutch explorers had claimed lands to the north and east for themselves.
The colonization of Mexico came about by soldiers and Spanish-born settlers accompanied by Roman Catholic priests. These missionaries were members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Order Minor of Saint Francis (Franciscans) and the Dominican Order. While the natives were enslaved, the priests expounded their faith to them and often stood up for their rights to the representatives of the Spanish Crown.
Major changes in Europe spread to the New World in various ways. Charles the Third, a Bourbon, took the throne of Spain in 1759. George the Third, of the House of Hanover, was crowned king of Britain in 1760. The 1740s found a mood of dissatisfaction in the British colonies on the east coast of North America. In 1741, Vitus Bering of the Russian Navy discovered the Aleutian Island and returned home with holds full of sea otter pelts, instantly in demand for their richness. When word of this reached Madrid, the Spanish Court felt it represented a threat to their claims to the Pacific Coast of North America, or New Spain as they called it. The Seven Years War intervened, a conflict in which all the European powers became involved. When it ended, the Spanish Court once again looked to its possessions in New Spain and decided to act.
The impetus came when, after more than fifteen years of problems, Jesuits became embroiled in trade disputes and a clamor arose for their disbanding. On January 29, 1767, King Charles III ordered the Jesuits, who had established a chain of fifteen missions in Baja California, forcibly expelled and returned to the home country. Visitador General José de Gálvez engaged the Franciscans, under the leadership of Father Junípero Serra, to take charge of those outposts on March 12, 1768. This plan, however, was changed within a few months after Gálvez received the following orders: "Occupy and fortify San Diego and Monte Rey for God and the King of Spain." It was thereupon decided to call upon the priests of the Dominican Order to take charge of the Baja California missions in order to allow the Franciscans to concentrate on founding new missions in Alta California.
There would be no more unlikely individual in history to carry out the prodigious task of exploring and “civilizing” the land we know today as California. Miguel Joseph was born in Mallorca of farmer parents. He was small of stature, almost always ill and so small of stature he was unable to reach the lectern, nor could help his fellow novices in the necessary chores of the novitiate. But he was a dedicated student and was ordained a priest in 1739, taking the name Junipero Serra. He showed his intelligence by teaching philosophy at the University of San Francisco. Two boyhood friends would follow him, Brothers Juan Crespi and Francisco Palóu when he volunteered for service in Mexico. They reached Vera Cruz in December 1749. Instead of traveling to Mexico City by horseback, Serra received permission to walk the 270 miles. While it was not the rainy season, they ran into much rain and Serra’s feet swelled from fatigue and mosquito bites. He received a leg affliction that would make him lame the remainder of his life.
Serra was assigned to the office of Novice Master at San Fernando College in Mexico City. But, he was eager to work in the field and after five months was allowed to serve in the missions of the Sierra Gorda several hundred miles north of Mexico City. Brothers Crespi and Palóu joined him. He walked the long distance in spite of extreme pain in his leg. It did not take long until he was appointed president of five missions. He lived a simple life, dedicated to God and learned the local languages in order to preach to them in their native tongue, even compiling a dictionary.
Serra was recalled to San Fernando in 1758 and chosen to go to the San Saba River missions in Texas to replace two missionaries killed by Apaches. However, his wish was denied as the missions were closed. Instead, he spent ten more years at the university, often traveling to outposts throughout New Spain to preach and minister to the faithful. He traveled to what are now Oaxaca, Morelia, Puebla, and Guadalajara; the region east of Sierra Gorda; and in the province of Mesquital, part of Mazatlan. Serra never lost his humility. He continually strove to encourage his helpers in their troubles and loneliness, was full of energy and drive, and though impatient with routine, took the time to learn to sew and to cut out shirts, pants and blouses for the Indians so that he could instruct them to do things for themselves.
Serra was in the field when Visitador General José de Gálvez selected him to take over the Baja California missions from the Jesuits. Serra instantly accepted the offer and departed with fifteen other friars to the port of San Blas where, on March 12, 1768, he set sail on the barque Purísima Concepción, for Loreto, Baja California, arriving there on April First. He was fifty-five years of age, in poor health but with a zeal to carry out his mission. He and Don Gaspar Portolá, the governor, oversaw the orderly departure of the Jesuits and installation of Franciscan friars.
Father Serra would toil endlessly for the next fifteen years to establish missions in California, trying to bring a better way of life and The Word of God to the natives.
Thanks in advance for comments. :hooray: