us know what
is happening over there, and what is necessary for the service of God our
Lord in that country and among its natives. Therefore I charge and command
you that whenever the said bishop has anything to relate to you you will
listen and endeavour to help him in the service of God, your Father and
ours. And in whatever befalls him, you will help and favour and honour
him, according as his dignity demands.

Valladolid, 13th of February 1544--I, the Prince--by command of His Highness
Juan de Samano, signed by the Bishop of Cuenca and the licentiate
Gutierrez Velasquez, Gregorio Lopez y Salmeron.

THE PRINCE. President and judges of our Council and of Our Royal
Chancellery of the Confines; know ye that the Emperor King, my sovereign,
presented the bishopric of the city of Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa
to the licentiate Arteaga, and His Holiness, in response to the said
representation, conferred it upon him. After his death, His Majesty,
presented the said bishopric to Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, whom we
have commanded to depart without waiting for his bulls, and to fulfil the
good we hope he will accomplish among the natives of the said bishopric.
And that he may know the limits of the said bishopric, dividing it from
the bishoprics of Guatemala, Honduras, Tiascala, and Guascaco, I command
that upon his arrival there, you show him the limits to which the said
bishopric of Chiapa extends. Bearing in mind how the said Fray
Bartholomew de Las Casas has served and will serve us, and the good he can
do in the conversion of the natives in the said bishopric, the boundaries
which will be pointed out to him must be quite distinct from the other
bishoprics of the country, for as long as it is our wish--Dated in the town
of Valladolid 13th day of February 1544--I, the Prince, etc.

THE PRINCE. President and judges of our Audiencia and Royal Chancery of
the Confines. Fray Bartholomew de Las Casas, bishop-elect of the city of
Ciudad Real of the plains of Chiapa, has informed me, and we all well
know, that he and the other priests of his Order have worked hard to bring
peace to the provinces of Teculatlan, Lacandon, and others that were
engaged in warfare; these provinces are situated within the limits of the
bishopric and he beseeches me, since he and the said priests have
understood and are endeavouring to bring peace to the said provinces, to
be good enough to order that they shall be included within the lim