Examples of typical words and phrases, with a handwritten example of the abbreviation, the transcription, and the word or phrase expanded, showing how it was abbreviated.

Puzzle Pieces of the Past: Spanish Abbreviations 1500-1700 is a contextual presentation of hundreds of abbreviations found in the handwritten documents of the Spanish colonial period. Abbreviation examples include but are not limited to abreviaturas eclesiasticas, nexos, por signos convenciales, superposicion, por enclace, por apocope, sincopa y por sigla. All the abbreviations and phrases were scanned from photocopies of extant Spanish documents written between 1500 and 1700 and are presented in the original handwriting. Each abbreviation is presented with a phrase showing context and source reference. Together with each abbreviation and phrase is a printed display of the letters represented, the full spelling of the word or words in early modern Spanish, and the current Spanish spelling. This book contains four indices. A-D are related to this book. Index E is a selected Bibliography to assist with the study of Spanish, colonial paleography. Index F is a forty-five page dictionary of over one thousand abbreviations including the editorial expansions, and modern spellings. The format of Puzzle Pieces was planned to assist a variety of users, among them serious Spanish paleographers and historians, graduate students doing research for dissertations, and genealogists. It will also serve as an adjunct text for university-level courses in the history of the Spanish language, Spanish historical linguistics, and Spanish paleography."

From the days of the Spanish colonial settlements until the last state census in 1945, a variety of censuses have been taken within the regions now comprising the modern state, from lists of Seminole War refugees to modern school censuses. This book is a one-stop guide to the colonial, territorial, and state censuses, along with their supplements and substitutes. Covering original documents along with indexes, abstracts, translations, transcriptions, extracts, periodical articles, and digitized or microfilmed documents, the guide describes each source and evaluates its usefulness to modern genealogical researchers.

The Unheard Voice of Law in Bartolomé de las Casas’s Brevísima relación de la destruición de las Indias reinterprets Las Casas’s controversial treatise as a legal document, whose legal character is linked to civil and ecclesial genres of the Early Modern and late Renaissance juridical tradition. Bartolomé de las Casas proclaimed: "I have labored to inquire about, study, and discern the law; I have plumbed the depths and have reached the headwaters." The Unheard Voice also plumbs the depths of Las Casas’s voice of law in his widely read and highly controversial Brevísima relación—a legal document published and debated since the 16th century. This original reinterpretation of his Very Brief Account uncovers the juridical approach voiced in his defense of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Unheard Voice innovatively asserts that the Brevísima relación’s legal character is intimately linked to civil and ecclesial genres of the late Renaissance juridical tradition. This paradigm-shifting book contextualizes the formation of Las Casas’s juridical voice in canon law and theology—initially as a secular cleric, subsequently as a Dominican friar, and finally as a diocesan bishop—and demonstrates how his experienced juridical voice fought for justice in trans-Atlantic debates about Indigenous peoples’ level of humanity, religious freedom, enslavement, and conquest. Reaching the headwaters of Las Casas’s hitherto unheard juridical voice of law in the Brevísima relación provides readers with a previously unheard interpretation—an appealing voice for readers and students of this powerful Early Modern text that still resonates today. The Unheard Voice of Law is a valuable companion text for many in the disciplines of literature, history, theology, law, and philosophy who read Bartolomé de las Casas’s Very Brief Account and study his life, labor, and legacy.